Need For Good Answers

#1776

"From bondage to spiritual faith, from spiritual faith to great  courage, from courage to liberty, from liberty to abundance, from abundance  to selfishness, from selfishness to complacency from complacency to apathy,  from apathy to dependency, from dependency back to bondage." - Alexander Tyler

            Churches and governments have fallen into the anti-Christ trap. The horror pit into which the world has fallen, technocracy and the control which god has allowed Satan to hold on to worlds activities. When a telephone in your hand becomes a personality, when person hood of groups becomes supernatural reality (Alcoholics Anonymous, vegans , workmen-ship and security of robots.) The human genome must, if any intelligence left at all, fall upon the alter of humility and seek good answers on every direction of the sun dial. Obfuscation, a confused, bewildered, stupefied world population. Most just going through the motions of living. There is more to life than just surviving... eating, drinking, sleeping, exercising... the essentials to maintain homeostasis-physiology-cytology. Even the Christian, "joint heir" ("And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together" Romans 8:17,) with the creator of the universe have no idea of what it means to have the wealth-resources-comfort of a daily "breathing activity" with the one who threw the stars into space, measures the Himalayas with his fingers, so cares for us, that the very hairs on our head are numbered (Luke 12:7). What a constellation, such an answer for your depression, sleepless-ness, troubled mind.

            IF, as truly chosen, drawn of God, you would study the answer book. In Numbers 29, we find how the old testament, chosen of God, gave ceremonial sacrifices to God. We do not find that they questioned anything, why the unblemished animals of their flocks: why definite measures a flower: why definite goats or rams: why such waste such animals going up in smoke (a sweet savor to God) when probably in a wilderness of destitution, some human beings were hungry. In today's world, the new testament world, we would "compromise" that this sweet savor smoke gets into Gods eyes and he might miss a count. Surely, in today's world, the priest organizing the sacrifice, burnt offerings, might see a particularly tasty looking piece of liver. Would God really miss that?

            Thousands of years later, still, believing Jews, still celebrate "feasts of trumpets." Even in fancy, tall, New York buildings where orthodox Jews live... you still have limbs and tree branches built on to their decks where they sleep under the stars... remembering their ancient family who memorialized their redemption from slavery in Egypt and their humbling in the wilderness AND so many of you do not understand this writers despondency over new testament church members who do not have the time or salvation to observe our Lord's table. If your redemption-Christian experience is worth anything, it is worth everything and this is the most important question of your life. Old testament, believers, were serious about their ties and their offerings. God did not get "tips." God was not just a "bell hop." Prayer was not just a ritual.

            You do not get the answers to your problems or the worlds problems from talking boxes. Most people, with whom I come in contact, are materialistic in every way. Their world evolves money and what money can do. For those who are poor, usually their spending is more than their income... besieged on every hand, on every point on that sun dial, by the Madison avenue concept of keeping you dissatisfied with your world, your living conditions, your clothing, your transportation, your lifestyle. Movies, television, keep us all wanting lives of the "rich and famous." Hell will be filled with the rich and famous. This writer still remembers those saints of old, always in Gods house to worship (not to see and be seen.) Only one Sunday dress apparel-Sunday shoes. Most citizens of 80 years ago, when I was a child, never had but one Sunday outfit. Food was so scarce, exercise so essential, that you kept the same waistline your entire life. You kept your clothes nice and you were usually buried in them. Spring time, your winter clothing, like the bedding, went on the clothes line outside, so Gods good sunlight could detoxify rich resourcefulness of detoxification. Clothing lasted because, like

everything else in your life, you were taught to take care of things. We did not live in a Kleenex-disposable society. I still remember the day when my father and I were moving lumber and a big fat poisonous snake was curled up under a plank. My father killed the snake with a shovel, even though a rifle was close by. "We do not waste bullets." I remembered this many times when as a field grade army officer, I saw so much ammunition wasted, which your tax dollars had paid for. The time for role playing has ended. The time for assuming character on stage is over... church house, school house, court house, even your house. Destination is determined by character. True character, not just role playing on stage, is essential when looking for answers. The scientists looking into the microscope-telescope, forgets the letters after his name-his own ambitions. If a true scientist, he seeks answers.

Reality Enigmatic Plunge At Eighty-Five

#1773

“We have shared the incommunicable experience of war, we have felt, we still feel, the passion of life to its top. In our youth our hearts were touched with fire.” - Oliver Wendell Holmes

 

            When you reach the age of eighty-five, you no longer have fear of death. You no longer have the competitive spirit. You no longer have the fright of un-forgiveness. You have forgiven all those who have wronged you and if they do not accept such, they are on God's hook, after all, with mercy to spare God has forgiven me for all my rotten sins and if he can forgive "the chief of sinners" such as me, I can forgive others and ask forgiveness of others.. commission and omission.

 

            At eighty-five you have given up about your looks, about your ambitions, your relationships, you have learned not to be shocked at anything, to expect very little from the world and those who inhabit it. You realize how little you have affected those with whom you have come in contact. Those who should have been closest to you. Most were just pretending, like bureaucrats, politicians, even  the cashier at the grocery store, "have a good day," ALL were just going through the motions. You realize just how empty most phrases "I'm praying for you," and the death of a parent or friend, someone saying, "they are better off" (how do they know they are better off?) Or, some irrational statement, finding a needle in a hay-stack (most people have never seen a hay-stack, have no idea what it is like.) OR, "killing two birds with one stone" (those who would kill a bird or anything else have no idea about the intricacies of life... even bird life.) Some of these same people would vote for politicians or groups that are for planned parenthood, that would take the life of the most innocent. Most people I know have little concept of photosynthesis (plant life) or the homeostasis of animal life (clotting of blood, etc.) When my great grandparents were children the population of the United States was thirty-one million. Every time we pass a graveyard where these old people are buried, we should give them the honor of thinking about what they accomplished. Now, the population of the United States, three-hundred and fifteen million. Ninety million do not work, nearly fifty million on welfare, almost 200 million draw a government check of some sort.

 

          

In my lifetime, eighty-five years, I have seen America change completely. Just a small percentage of the population controls all the wealth (some say 1%.) Just a small percentage of the population pays all the taxes (some say 20%.) The middle class has largely become the working class, struggling for survival. The "talking box" in the living room, satanic fed desires for ease keeps from an early age, everyone dissatisfied with everything. The court house is over run by those with addictions. The school house has become a place for entertainment instead of education. The church house has become a battlefield for souls with the fight carried on from air-conditioned fox holes. Your house has become just a changing room or filling station. This world traveler (Doctor Morris' passport has been stamped in 157 countries, eight around the world trips... every continent) has see more commitment to false religions than committed-concerned-convinced-dedication to basic Christianity (in a so called Christian nation.) Most churches are just country clubs with steeples. In my days in speaking before civic clubs, I found more loyalty to civic club principles than I found at most Christian churches.

 

            I believe that the thing that bothers me the most, as most of us enjoy the comforts of 21st century living, just how little we appreciate what we have inherited... we are so busy picking flowers which we did not plant.  Never for one day has the poverty of my youth left my mind and not just me, all my family. We left the fundamental denomination of our forbearers of church house which did not have inside plumbing. We were embarrassed about our own homes, homes of love and understanding because of no inside plumbing... old drafty houses. We could not invite friends to our homes or our churches because they just might need to go to the bathroom. Most of our college educated friends had never seen an "out-house."

 

            This writer, like his parents-grandparents-great grandparents before him, followed his blessed Lord in baptism by being baptized in a fish pond (long before an inside baptistery was installed into our country church.) Women did not wear pant suites/slacks to church. Aunt Sarah who died at 98 would go around and use a safety pins to pin the girls dresses between their legs, so that the dresses would not rise up when they got into the pond. All believe in truth. Your truth is not necessarily my truth... your experiences are not my experiences. Our ancestors had not experienced the truth of inside plumbing, electric power, the bottomless ocean of technology. God forgive us for not appreciating them enough, for not celebrating the fact that they did the best they could with what they had.

           

            I participated at the funeral for the first graduate of the North Carolina State University, who died at one-hundred (N.M. Matthews, Goldsboro NC.) He and I would talk about the challenges of this new nation. My uncle turner told me about the first multistory, eight story, hotel building that went up in the county. Men carrying bricks and water, on their shoulders, up many feet to build that building. My great-grandfather wrote about his first experiences with electric lights, when he attended a baptist convention in Nashville, Tennessee. My own Grandmother and my relatives were land owners, talked about picking cotton  the day after her marriage. Can we even imagine the depths of poverty and despondency for the tenant farmers, the black people of that time in history. This writer still remembers studying the primitive medical instruments (still used until the beginning of the 20th century) at the UNC school of medicine, Chapel Hill. I will never understand my treatment as a totally blind, 100% disabled veteran. I will never understand my treatment by relatives who knew full well that I had worked very hard, lived a life of trust in God, to reach this time of disembarkation. I wonder how I would have been treated by my family-relatives-associates if I had been convicted of some crime and gone to prison. It suffices to say that most survivors who have reached the 21st century are just caught up in a world of me-ism.

            Most of us might go to God's house and sing such old Christian hymns as "Jesus keep me near the cross." When Jesus knows, we do not mean a word of it. The Christian religion is a supernatural religion. You can not be a Christian without believing in the supernatural. It is the supernatural love of God and love by God, which gives reality to life even in the 21st century. I so pity those who have no memories. I so pity those who have no hope for the future. Six hundred thousand Americans were killed in the great American Civil War. It was not that long ago, I have known family members who were alive during that time. They had the faith to keep on keeping on. I do believe that faith is ninety percent raw courage. This morning, eighty-fifth year my mind is clear, my body free of pain, ready to take the plunge into the depths of the river of reality. 

Choices

#1772

“If the soul is left in darkness, sins will be committed. The guilty one is not he who commits the sin, but the one who causes the darkness." - Victor Hugo

 

            William Butler Yeats said, "The innocent and the beautiful have no enemy but time." It is hard to imagine that we can not imagine. It is hard not to believe in the laws of nature, the rules of mathematics, what happiness and misery can do to a human being.

 

            When I had sight, I often thought the most marvelous thing in the world was to be born as a good looking man, or a beautiful woman and yet, we all know, that know one escapes the age scars from ones own history. The greatest cause of the death of human being, around the world, abortion, the killing of the most innocent. Only human beings abort their young, lesser animals do not AND those of us chosen for life know how quickly innocence fades. Ever since our first parents Adam and Eve, chose the spirit of death instead of the spirit of life, the sin nature has been born in all of us. It is not necessary to teach a child to sin.

 

            The older I get, the less I understand why people make the choices they do involving the only life they have to live. In visiting by phone with church friends around the nation, I hear the same lament, empty churches. Churches are empty because we have reduced Jesus in order to accommodate the world. Most church members have a self-imposed purgatory, wanting to hold onto Jesus with one hand and the world with the other. "Ye that love the Lord, hate evil: he preserveth the souls of his saints; he delivereth them out of the hand of the wicked." (Psalms 97:10)

 

            This writer was never a member of a social fraternity, not even a fraternal organization such as masons, moose, woodmen, etc. Once, one of my friends, an elk, invited me to go into his elks club with him. I will never forgot the sign hanging in that fraternal-secretive-social group's building. "What you see or hear here, stays here." Then, I knew why the members of the fraternal groups have their closeness to one another, their protection of one another, their knowing the sins of one another, secreted in a building away from the prying eyes of those who might not agree with their alcohol-gambling-pornography. I now know why, so many of us were never asked to pledge college social fraternities. I now know why, young Christian men, fresh from Christian homes, were stupefied when invited to a fraternity house where alcohol, drugs, pornographic films were shown so that shock or failing to "fit in" could be observed. After all, sinners have never felt comfortable in their sinful actions around those who have principles and character. The sinner does not fit in, feel comfortable, in places with the purpose of decadence. Christianity is not difficult, just tough... choice making. God chose you before the foundation of the world and he expects you to make certain choices.

 

            Many of us were raised in churches of negativity. "We do not smoke, drink or chew. Do not chase girls who do." We were raised in churches of "checklist" redemption, may have read Charles Shelton's, "In His Steps," but in clothing, in language, in interests, we were not very different from those who never darkened a church house door. This writer was in church houses, not that much different from fraternal houses... "what you see or hear here, stays here." In many of the great cities of the world, indeed in my own city, cold-icy mornings, homeless people hovered at locked church house doors.

 

            The world has a great problem in separating morality from Christianity. Someone asked Burton Russell what excuse he would give when God asked him why he lived his life as an atheist, an "unbeliever." The famed philosopher said, "you did not give me enough evidence." The universe is filled with evidence, everything of beauty, everything of goodness, everything of truthfulness, straight from the heart and mind of God.

 

            It is the universal law that an object in motion will stay in motion until stopped by an external force. There is a big elephant sitting in the room while everyone talks about a small mouse. The great choice of Christianity, birthed twice, death once ( clinical death.) The greatest comfort of Christianity, we will have a longer time to spend with children and believers who died early, than unbelievers who lived long lives. God give us the grace, your mercy to spare to introduce choices to a lost and dying world intent on observing very insignificant things.

SWEAT and Labor Day

#1771

"Then I looked on all the works that my hands had wrought, and on the labor that I had labored to do: and, behold, all was vanity and vexation of spirit, and there was no profit under the sun." Ecclesiastes (2:11)

        "Man plans, God laughs." There is not a maverick molecule in the universe. "God is boss." He is in charge of everything, every element, every virus, every act of nature, the fall of every bird, the drawer of every soul, "rebirthed" in Him.

        The most difficult thoughts of my long life, the "why's" of human existence... the un-evened field of life's battles. Every time I have considered my own sightless-ness, thought of the pain and the grief so many tender-innocent hearts have had to bare. (People not being able to understand what has happened to them.) The grief of death, afflictions of small children, the fact that the greatest cause of death on Earth is abortion. I can well understand why the agnostic trembles in an effort to understand.

        I have written many times about my boyhood life, the poverty of the farm. 80 years ago when I was a child, there were few conveniences to life. The 50 percent of the population who now spend their life in indolence... mostly living off the work of others... own "lazy boys" watching trash from a talking box, having nothing to do with the very creator of the universe on whom they must depend for their next breath. Despising the very government that gives them their "ease" of life... worshiping this idols of addiction, popularity, political correctness, self gratification, having no desire to know what our ancestors have gone through just to give us this nation. They have no desire to know about less fortunate areas of the world, where human beings spend their entire life just striving for food and water. This writer, world traveler (passport stamped in 157 countries,) eight round the world trips, traveler to every continent, has seen deprived villages, destitute children who have never known the joys of a sweet piece of candy.

        On our farm, where my father-grandfather before me had worked, There was one very large field, many acres. I still remember the feeling of desperation-depression-despondency , when, with a two mule plow, I would start the process of turning over the soil for a new planting year. Behind this two mule plow, you would turn the soil about ten inches at the time.... round and round that huge field. After the land was turned over, then it was "leveled-graded" by large mule drawn equipment so that rows for planting could be established. It was endless hard work, crops in season, year after year, to eek out our meager existence. This was before the time of mechanized equipment. My grand parents had a large tractor, large metal heels with spikes, but tractors were not used for cultivation. I will never forget the sweat of my father, my brothers, the tenant farmers, as we endured. BUT, we are not stuck where we started. Hard work, frugal living, industrious study at a small school house (thirteen in my graduating class.) Me, my brothers, my cousins, all left this existence. Through the hard work of our ancestors, we left the sweat of the farm for responsible professions, God given blessings and yet, perhaps our greatest blessing... removing the toxins of life from our bodies through sweating: and yet, learning the HONOR of hard work: and yet, committed-convinced-controlled by the creator of the universe who knew what he wanted for us before the world was formed.

        In thinking of this great field, and the many other lesser fields, where the same work was involved, such is life. It seems impossible looking toward the future, but one day at a time, we just "plow on" and so quickly, the seasons are over, the harvest is in and we are ready for new beginnings.

        Many of the days, that great sun rose on this boy plowing mules. Now, 85 years later, hard work, frugal living, conservative life, I can watch the sun rise over the ocean from my beach house. Our fellow man, generally speaking, resents-hates those who achieve. I can not understand people who do not enjoy their job. The highways are full of men and women rushing home from a day of work... accomplished, satisfied in well doing. I truly believe that happiness is going to bed at night, tired from a days work, but anxious to get up and do it all over again tomorrow. God help our people and our nation that has sunk into the bottomless pit of laziness-indolence. 

Basic Facts

#1768

The master deception of Satan! 

(Arthur Pink, "The Doctrine of Sanctification" 1937)

"I am the LORD your God. You must consecrate yourselves and be holy, because I am holy." Leviticus 11:44 

We do greatly deceive ourselves, if we imagine that we are drawing nearer to Heaven--while only following those courses which lead to Hell. 

We are woefully deluded, if we suppose that we are journeying towards glory--and yet are living in sin. 

Christ died to procure holiness--not to secure an indulgence for sin. 

To live in known and allowed sin, and yet expect to be saved by Christ--is the master deception of Satan! 

My reader, a faith which does not transform character and reform conduct, is worthless. 

Saving faith is only proved to be genuine by bearing the blossoms of experimental godliness and the fruits of personal piety.

Great multitudes of ignorant people who live under the Gospel, harden their hearts in sin and ruin their souls forever, by trusting on Christ for such an 'imaginary salvation' as consists not at all in holiness--but only in forgiveness of sin and deliverance from everlasting torments. They would be free from the punishments due to sin--but they love their lusts so well that they hate holiness and do not desire to be saved from the service of sin. If they do not desire to be made holy and righteous in their hearts and lives--then they do not heartily desire true salvation.

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          The shepherd smells like his sheep. He carries them on his shoulder. Drinks from the same spring from which they drink. There is a companionship between shepherd and sheep, they trust one another.

          One of the unanswered questions of my life, WHY those who claim to love god, put their redemption in the shed blood of his son, envy often imitate, those who despise God. I have associates, family members, neighbors, who say they are Christian, "Christ-like," and yet, in language, dress, habits, personal interests... can not be distinguished from those who are basically unbelievers-atheists. When you are in their company, they talk about the world, flesh, devil. THEY DO NOT WANT TO BE DIFFERENT. Those of us who love Gods word, love the Gospel, love Gospel music, have an aching hunger to associate-talk-visit with those who have a small knowledge of the holiness of God. We know that God has forgiven our sins, past, present and future. That we are in daily warfare against our flaws, but even the child recognizes hypocrisy.

          I shutter, even panic, when I think of the many times that I have failed my blessed Lord. This I know, from everything I have read in his word, from everything I have experienced in life... He has mercy to spare and although I have failed him, He will never fail me.  

Nakedness

#1767

"Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!" (Isaiah 5:20)

                                           

            The older I get the less I understand WHY, with only one life to live the way sane people will let their body go, knowing full well that what they put in their throat, their nutrition, determines their health... even their ability to fight disease. Incrementally, in my lifetime everything just gets worst. When I was a student, 70 years ago, cancer and diabetes were rare diseases. Today one half of the population have cancer and almost the same percentage have diabetes.

            This world traveler can tell you, without fear of contradiction, that there is only one nation in the world with so many obese-overweight people. Americans have a love affair with food, one in ten Americans say they spend 300$ a week on food.

            In one of my office buildings, one group of psychologists, fourteen rooms, a group specializing in eating disorders. When I was in practice, a patient talking to me about going on a diet, I would say, "There is only one effective diet. You must start eating each meal each day, for one week, with four other fat people. All of you eating your meal naked." There is nothing as ugly as a naked-flabby-fat individual. This is the reason clothing is so important, but I want to speak about nakedness.

            The earliest report of nakedness is found in scripture, when Moses and the three million children of Israel arrived at Mt. Sinai. Moses went up the mountain to converse with God, to receive the commandments. When he came down the mountain, those he had rescued from Egyptian bondage, were dancing around a gold calf naked.

            Nakedness has always been associated with sin, in every dark "strip joint," you will find nudity, even some beaches on haven islands. When this writer arrived on Reunion Island in the Indian Ocean, I put on my swimming trunks and went down to the hotel swimming pool. Everyone around the pool, except me, was naked. It is when you see nude ugly people, you'll appreciate clothing.

            I was sitting on the front porch of my beach house, on the ocean, with friends... one lady said to me, "Tom, I'm glad you cant see. There is a young girl in a bikini coming down the street and she seems to be eight months pregnant." Just the thought of such a sight, the thought of the disrespect to others at the beach, young children, her baby, I went into my house and vomited into my kitchen sink.

            And yet, our not thinking-concerned-committed church goers, even Christians, even in America... not showing the nakedness of themselves in their unconcern for what is happening to our nation... to the world.

            Think of the unequivocal evil, the burning alive of a Jordanian pilot in a cage, in Syria. Closer to home, think of the evil involved in planned parent hood, "chopped up" innocent babies... selling tissue and body parts.

            My seminary professors son told me that recently he was asked to speak at a large Texas church, located in a county seat. He said the church, which would seat hundreds, only had a small plump of about 20 people there just on one side of the building. Their church had died and these remaining old members did not seem to realize it, unconcerned that there was no young people in the church. Unconcerned about the great commission. In Shakespeare's "Hamlet"... "to thine own self be true." (Act 1) Generally speaking, everyday of my life, we lose ground. Only about ten percent of the population are interested in changing things: most of us hiding behind a shell of deceit, not even realizing the controls media, government, political correction, envy for popularity and acceptance, has on our life.

            We know about corruption, we just want to blame the wrong corrupter. "Ye that love the LORD, hate evil." (Psalm 97:10)

        

Squirrel Cage

#1766

Like dogs in a wheel, birds in a cage, or squirrels in a chain, ambitious men still climb and climb, with great labor, and incessant anxiety, but never reach the top.

            The most important fact in this life, a sin in which I have been caught many times... knowing the gospel, knowing the forgiveness of God, I still get enslaved by the troubles and trials, problems encountered on each new day. Were slaves to sin, often try to keep Gods laws even though we have been given liberty from law. Abandoned freedom, returning to the law, abandon our freedom, lust of the flesh. We want relationships of law, rather than relationships of love.

            Christians of maturity, Christians of age, become dismayed  from the electronic media and even from the pul pit, by those who have exchanged their liberty through Christ, their freedom through redemption with entanglement by those who mix and confuse law and grace.

            I so remember my confusion-consignation as a young person studying the gospel. There were poorly educated preachers at the country church who had never been able to separate law and grace. There were older women in the church who would not build a fire in their cook stove on Sunday, very few would cook on the Lord's day. It was much as I experienced on my travels through Israel, the holy land, which according to Jewish law, observed at hotels, you ate cold food on the Sabbath... no maid service, orthodox Jews in their costumes walking everywhere.

            And then I was in Muslim countries (there are 42 Muslim countries in Africa) on a bus, the driver would get out of the bus and kneel in prayer on his prayer rug. Called to prayer from the mosque, men rushing to their place of worship... hand washing spigot outside the mosques.

            As this writers approaches the problems, aggravations, pains, trials, which are certain on every day of my life, I just pray that God will have an excess of mercy to see me through "it all." 

            "Through it all, through it all,
            I've learned to trust in Jesus,
            I've learned to trust in God;
            Through it all, through it all,
            I've learned to depend upon His Word."

            I have stated it from the pul pit, before many groups of veterans and I might as well state it here... "Sightless, wrought by pain, the victim of every aggravations and crime that employees can exact against me, knowing full well that most healthcare individuals and agencies are just going through the motions. IF NOT FOR MY FAITH WHO WOULD CONTINUE IN THIS LIFE? Do you actually blame any unbeliever for ending it all and knowing that God knows all, would he really hold suicide against the salvation of a believer?"

            And yet the two thieves on the cross of Calvary, who died with him, one on either side, never having experienced anything as far as grace... evidently, both were believers. One wanted belief on his own terms, like most modernists in the religiosity of today's world. "If thou be Christ, save thyself and us." (Luke 23:39) The other thief, humble, promised heaven that day, "Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom." (Luke 23:42)

            As today's churches wither, most members depending on Christ to save his church and them, little humility by most of us to simply depend on grace. We get into the squirrel cage and just keep running, attempting to solve everything ourselves. It is too great an undertaking, it is truly remarkable that Jesus lived during the slavery and tyranny of Roman rule, perhaps the worst tyranny known to man. IF the saints who have gone on before us, IF my ancestors could survive through the horror story of their existence in the early years of this nation... SURELY I can bare up in this rat race, squirrel chase, anti-Christian, politically correct, broken culture in which God has chosen me to live.

            Our senses are besieged by sin that surrounds us. Our senses are bombarded by our fellow human beings. Lies are always used in direct proportion to their use. Almost, without exception, you evaluate the person-hood of EVERYONE with whom you come in contact. "How honest is this person, how far can I trust this person, what is this person attempting to get out of me?" This is not just the quandary of skepticism. Someone has said that a man is truly fortunate if he has enough friends to number on one hand. If he has two friends to whom he can go and borrow money without them asking any questions. As you age, you find that you have fewer and fewer friends... either outlived them or become so disappointed with them. Most do not want to indulge you, show any interest to your squirrel cage. Even our family members, our "so called" friends, neighbors, even those we pay to work for us, want nothing but a smooth road. Most of our friends are not concerned with the horror story of Planned Parenthood, GMO's in food, a nation mired in debt which it can never repay.

            Up until recent years, there was decency in all of us. We had rather work than take a hand out. My parents, ancestors, never thought about vacations/retirements. My grandfather was the last farmer to sign up for federal crop controls. My parents resented their parity check. "The doctrine of parity was used to justify agricultural price controls in the United States beginning in the 1920s-1930s." This writer was honored to work his way through eight years of university education. Now, every college student, regardless of the home from which they come, think that they must have a grant or surely a government subsidized loan AND from the bottomless ocean of knowledge and technology, has come several generations of Americans and even many in foreign countries who are tap dancing-running as hard as possible to keep up. Most are glancing at flowers they did not plant, certainly no time to smell a rose.

            I wish I had the ability to "re-gift" to my young grandsons and friends, the overwhelming desire of my youth for knowledge and success. We know that no man can come to Christ unless god "draws him." You could walk the isle of every Church, sign cards, but only the holy spirit of Christ re-birthing you will change you.

            In India, I saw water buffalo walking round and round, pumping water. The buffalo did not go anywhere except in a large circle. Only accomplished what the pole connected to him and mechanized pump desired. Water flowed because of the buffalo's work. In our lives, with all our activity, work, grief, we just may accomplish something, but life is for living. Jesus came to give us liberty, to set the captives free. This writer is in a cocoon of blackness, sightlessness, and I get exasperated with myself for letting the world, flesh, devil, re-enslave me. One who has spiritual freedom-liberty in Christ. 

Lutoria Waddell

#1765

"Take us the foxes, the little foxes, that spoil the vines: for our vines have tender grapes." (Song of Solomon 2:15)

           

            The greatest value in the pilgrimage of life is your contact with those with whom you can peer into their soul. God deliver me from politicians, pastors, physicians, even poets who have never peered into the souls of others.

            Recently, like most by-standers, I have paid limited attention to these political phonies who claimed they want to represent the common man as president of our nation. I'm talking about the republican contingent. Like Donald Trump, Jeb Bush, they have not one iota of imagination as to what the average hardworking, God fearing, tax paying American faces in his daily struggle for survival. Where would Mr. Trump be if not for the magnanimity of his inheritance, the Bush's and their inheritance from grandfather bush who hobnobbed with Hitler. I just want to vomit when I hear these frauds talk about their concern for my country, the country to which I have given all and they have given nothing. The anxiety of these 17 pretenders in restoring some essence of sanity to the nation. Like Bill and Hill who should be in jail, these people have no understanding or concern about the souls of man (perhaps that former preacher-governor of Arkansas, who said he attended a seminary, might know something about a soul.)

            My folks own most of the land on the dirt road, where I was born... no power, phone or water lines (this road has now been paved, is named for my father, the Joe Morris Rd.) Across one area of the farm was an old house in which lived Ms. Lutoria Waddell. I had never talked with the woman, had only seen her sitting on her front porch. My mother would stop and leave some food for her. I remember that my father had taken an old mattress to her house when some women at the church had told him about the mattress on which Ms. Lutoria was resting when they visited her when sick (at that time in my early life, before my travels around the world, before I saw hospitals in Africa, places where people slept on mats.) Back then, 70 years ago, we plowed with mules. I must've been around 13 or 14 plowing with mules across the road from Ms. Lutorias house. When I stopped for the mules to rest for awhile, I would go and sit on the steps porch and talk with her. I found in her, a tender soul. She was the first one to get me interested in silica... the most abundant element on earth, the element of sand and stone. She was the one who adjusted my interest in "grounding," the value of grounded magnetism to our bodies functions. To this day, I am convinced that our early ancestors had few sicknesses because they did not wash their bodies as much as we do now. The dirt (silica) on their bodies in contact with the largest organ of the body, the skin, removed the toxins of disease. Some smart scientist have now decided that the feet, coming in contact with dirt, is the best physical-physiological treatment the body can know in its conflict with pathology. Ms. Lutoria told me that I was wise to plow barefoot, my feet in the God given earth, provider of all mans needs, "grounded" with the magnetism of the earth.

            This tender soul was in her early 80's, the product of a tough life. Back then, when her husband died, a widow got a child's share of his estate as well as a life tendency in the home. So, from her share of the farm, rented out, she tried to live. There was no social security, welfare, etc, at that time in our countries life. One man from the church would prepare her garden and she did have a few laying hens. Her only son had been killed early in World War II. The 10,000$ insurance policy had been used to pay off the farm, repair her house and wire her house after the power lines had come in and she had electric lights. She had never owned a store bought dress... made a few dollars sewing and mending for people. She had three daughters, they had all left home to work in Baltimore... seldom returned home because they could not bring a husband or friends home to a house without plumbing.

            Ms. Lutoria loved to read. One of her neighbors would bring past issues of "The Grit Magazine." She had memorized most of the bible, had not been to town in many years, nor seen a doctor in many years. I stopped by to see her one time, she was eating her meal, nothing on her plate but butter beans, but I never heard her complain about her plight in life, that her old house leaked, that she was rough with arthritic pain. She was always so happy to see me, I truly believe she had peered into my soul.

            The only thing that people in that community would remember about her today, is that when her old house finally caught fire and burned down, she had come charging out the front door carrying her most precious possession... her sewing machine. My mother had told me that she had been placed into the poor house (county home) where she did not live very long. The county buried her in a cheap cardboard coffin, but did bring her back to lay her besides her husband in the family graveyard. I understand her daughters and grandchildren did come down to the graveside service, stayed in town in a motel, where they had running water. My mother said that Ms. Lutoria had grandchildren who had never seen her, so they opened her coffin at the graveyard. I can only imagine and imagination is one of mans greatest assets, the joy that would have entwined Ms. Lutoria's soul if she could have seen her own grandchildren. The mystery of life, why the pilgrimage of some human beings should be so tragic. Perhaps this is what writers such as Shakespeare was attempting to bring out when he wrote his tragedies... what Jesus was attempting to teach when he talked about the tragedies of many lives.

            How long will Americans be embarrassed-insulted with news about the mayhem involved in the abortions of planned parenthood. The selling of body parts for transplant from those who just happened to die conveniently in a hospital. Most hospitals can hardly wait to open the body of a deceased family member IF they have permission ahead of time to transplant body parts. I understand many persons, almost dead, are opened before death... of course without benefit of anesthesia. Body parts have become a money making business. We have become a profane civilization. There was a time when missionaries would have been sent to convert such heathens. The soul of man does not have mass, identity. Before my warn out body is cremated, it is worth nothing except maybe 80 cents for the chemicals that could be retrieved. The most valuable part of my existence, that which makes me what I am, my personality... that for which Jesus died, will take flight at my death accompanied by my guardian angel. My soul will never die.

            I was 7 years old when my paternal grandmother, Martha Lucas Morris, died. I still remember what one of the presiding preachers said at her funeral. Ms. Martha lies here in front of us, in this great church, but her soul is in heaven. I have that personal insurance with many, in whom I peered at their soul, including Ms. Lutoria Waddell. Now we understand the graciousness of death. 

Tattoos, Piercings and Graffiti

#1764

"Truth uncompromisingly told will always have its ragged edges."

-Herman Melville

            The worst way to start your day is like the rest of the world with a mind set, "And the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things entering in, choke the word, and it becometh unfruitful." (Mark 4:19) Over the trenches of political correctness Satanic developments there are still normal people. Satan always betrays his partners in crime. In a post modernist world of broken cultures those of us with more or less conventional attitudes find it extremely difficult to understand why some of our fellow human beings delight in violating-challenging the beauty of Jehovah god, creator of the universe. The word spoke and nothingness became something-ness.  The word spoke and everything in the world filled with beauty which the mind of man can only comprehend, never counterfeit the 110 elements of the earth, the 12 music tones of the earth, laws of nature, colors, everything in absolute symmetry and proportion. The mind of man is unable to comprehend the holiness of God. His ability to capture beauty.

            This world traveler has experienced/sensed (those sightless) the beauty of nature, as God developed it on every continent of the world.  We understand why god observed and saw that it was good (Genesis:1:24.) Nothing is uglier than finding God's handiwork defaced. Nothing is uglier than finding graffiti on a work of art, ugly symbols on a magical, balanced, work of symmetry. I remember so well the first time I was in the great opening in Petra, that great city of stone with its magnificent columns. Some jerk had actually defaced one column with graffiti. 

            Of course there are accidents of nature, the weirdos, circus people who display their deformities. There have always been those that have slowed down to watch a car crash. Who get a thrill from human beings battering one another in the boxing ring or the ancient gladiator arenas. I will admit that I have been to a bull fight both in Spain and South America. Ancient sports, people got a thrill from seeing lions tear apart Christians. Today sports people enjoy seeing millionaires abuse one another as they fight over a ball.  As the cruelest inhuman activity, warfare, has "progressed" from the closeness of the sword and bayonet into the inhuman activity of planes and drones dropping bombs from a huge distance, "the caretaker" of the planets must have revulsion with the decadence of his chief creation, Mankind.

            There has always been a fascination with the abnormal. I remember, so well, as a child, a farmer in the community had a cow who gave birth to a three legged calf. People wanted to go by and see this abnormal calf. The farmer started to charge to look at the calf. Warts, deformities, were never "beauty spots."  A polite society learned to ignore them. People invested in beauty appreciating great works of art wanted the comfort of manicured lawns, sculptures in parks, colors on buildings, the beauty of flowers which no horticulturist has ever been able to reproduce. Just in America billions of dollars are spent each year on supplements which we believe compliment our diets, give us better health. Our greatest national expense is healthcare. We do everything possible to live better and longer.  Every parent wants his child to be perfect.  Billions of dollars are spent on designer clothing.  Special education, America is besieged by universities that would make the ancient philosophers blush.  Why then, please tell me, where the thrill came from which has caused so many young intelligent people to deface/abuse themselves with tattoos, piercings. Those of us who are old wish we had the skin and musculature of the young. Why would any parent allow a child on whom they have spent a life preparing for the future to subject that body to the criminal stupidity of introduction of pathological disease through tattoos, skin scars, or piercings in other areas of the body. There is nothing more dangerous to the human body than making disease entrance easier. We know the problems just from artificial knee or hip replacements. We know the problems of the pacemaker/stints or other artificial means of prolonging life. Why then would anyone take the risk of decorating/desecrating the body with nonsense and in the case of a girl, a "tramp stamp?"

            This old blind veteran, sightless for many years is mostly home bound. But, I am told many people in church are tattooed/pierced. Who do they think they are fooling?  Satan has always been able to mark his followers...language, clothing and habits. Just as the western rancher branded his livestock with a tattoo/brand. So Satan clearly has his crowd "branded" with tattoos. Every human being, the world over, has an empty place in his heart for some thing or some one in which the person them self cannot fill.  There are religions/cults/traditions around the world seeking to fill that emptiness. The road to hell is paved with religion. It should not be strange that many "seekers" will find their way to the church pew.  But, as the Apostle Peter found, there is a difference in religion and relationship. Peter walked and talked with God as Jesus' feet caressed the land around the Sea of Galoli. Peter, the man who denied his precious lord, who actually walked on water. Who when he was crucified insisted on being crucified upside down, learned forgiveness. There are too many unrepentant-unrestricted church members who do not have an intimate relationship with God.  Christianity is not complicated, just tough. We must be tough, stand, never turn your back to Satan. With all the sincerity and humbleness of my heart, never yield to Satan's temptation of marking our body for him. He knows who "owns" us.  When Christ redeems us, we are a new creation in Him, ready to be seen and read of men (1 Corinthians 3:1-3.) I like to wear a cross on my jacket. I like for my fellow man to know whose side I am on.

"So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God." - 1 Corinthians 10:31 

Problems & Solutions

#1760

"Open my eyes, that I may see. Glimpses of truth, thou hast for me."

Scatty, cold breath of mentality on the neck. We often project solutions before we understand the problem. Boundaries of all problems have solutions built on eternal values, values already established in Gods answer book, God's word, the holy Bible. One-third of early Americans landing on American soil died from Malaria. They did not know how to handle this disease caused by a small mosquito, Plasmodium Vivax. It is of historical note that most European missionaries seeking to bring Africa to the cross, died from malaria. Many died before they got off the ship, in which they were traveling from Europe to Africa... such a dreadful all consuming disease. Yet, twenty-first century, with a bottomless ocean of technology and chemicals (treatment and cures,) thousands of Africans still die every year from Malaria... when mosquito netting is so cheap, when pesticides are so available. After all, we are not living in a century when 50,000 in London died of the bubonic plague, simply because they didn't know how to handle the fleas on rats. After all, we are not living in a century such as the American Civil War, when 50% of all wounded soldiers died, simply because the doctors did not have sense enough to wash their hands. The greatest cause of disease distribution in the world, civilized or not, are the valuable instruments we find at the ends of our arms... hands with fingers. Hands which hold the dirtiest, germ infested,  much loved, fiat paper money, are holding next, food, which you are putting in your mouth and shaking hands with someone whose hands have been god knows where. We as mortal-mental human beings given by god the brain wiring to think and make decisions, do not have sense enough to control our hands, to wash and keep them clean, as germ free as possible. Microscopic hitch-hikers get into the bloodstream so easily. We have two thousand miles of blood vessels, nourishing every tissue, including the largest organ of the body... the skin. Those of us who study the human body, if we have enough intelligence to do so, marvel that any of us survive. Our institutions of biological sciences have become ivy towered cathedrals of gastrulating manipulation, a wonderland of investigation. Just enough human integrity to pick the pockets of endowment funds, foundations, government grants. Most medical scientists can not get their heads out of the clouds, of complex knowledge, to bring themselves and their patients to a level of common knowledge. When was the last time your doctor asked you about what you eat? The two things that determine health are nutrition and exercise. When was the last time your doctor actually touched you? Most of today's young health professionals can only use their fingers on a computer keyboard... without laboratory studies of your body, they know nothing. This writer has learned, personally, that going to a physicians assistant (PA) you get a better examination and concerned treatment, than you do from "the robber" in the white coat. Most old cemeteries are filled with graves of those who inherited European diseases. The true epidemics of yellow fever, influenza (the early 20th century,) erased entire families and communities from the earth. I'm old enough to remember my grandmothers description of the flu epidemic of 1918. When a family member would start coughing, others in the community still able to work, would start building a coffin. From the old sawmills, used to saw the lumber, for the building of homes and barns (put together with wood pegs.) Wide boards would be "seasoned" to use as coffins. This is what our ancestors endured to build this great nation, which atheists-liberal idea logs are so easily destroying. My progressive friends promote the idea of destroying America because of bad treatment to native Americans. They build hospitals for turtles, rehabilitation for birds, but do not even whimper at the destruction of millions of human babies. Then, to further verify their deity antagonism, they talk of the slaughter of the old testament. The seven civilizations in the "promised land," when the Jews crossed over the Jordan River on dry land, were pagan, sacrificing their own babies in fire to their pagan gods. Have things really changed? Would an aborted baby rather have life sucked from him, or quick immolation. Life and love are essential to healing. God is a great physician, "for I am the Lord who healeth thee..." (Exodus 15:26)

            The Christian should be so ready at the Lords table, to take bread for healing, wine for forgiving. Jews do not read Isaiah 53, it is a precious message for the Christian, written 700 years before the birth of Christ. If god does not choose to heal, "and by his stripes we were healed," (1 Peter 2:24) healed now or later, "Jesus paid it all." In my youth, everything was prosthetic, now I'm living in it. Many times I viewed the "awful" instruments used in surgery and obstetrics, on display in the medical library in chapel hill. It was hard for me to conceive the mental trauma involved, both from the doctor and patient. Yet, with all the advances in knowledge, seeking solutions, have we lost sight of the problem. There are still as many warriors killed from disease as are killed in battle, more soldiers die from suicide then die in battle. More young people die in car crashes and from "exciting" designer drugs, than live to make a better world for everyone. Knowing the value of life, knowing today's opportunities, why do young people seek destruction? If only this writer, from poverty-very poor preparation for anything, could have had a college grant, computer, good diet, maybe I could have made something of myself. No, it is not what we can do with self, as the great prince of preachers Spurgeon said, "anything that makes a man get down on his knees to god, is gain to him." There are those who live in virtual worlds, but we live in a very real world. Jesus, God-man, put on a tent of human flesh and dwelled among us... send us. "If I told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things?" (John 3:12-17)

            In the countless years of my life, as I look at the political and spiritual condition of the world, man has been more interested in the politicians platform than the pastoral pool pit. More interested in what God can do for him, than what he can do for God. We, mortal men, want God in our image instead of our being in the image of God. Now, does the solution to the problem become more evident. We have tried to put the plow before the horse, solution before realizing the problem... same problem, same solution for thousands of years. 

Different

#1756

²⁶ For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called:

²⁷ But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty;

²⁸ And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are:

²⁹ That no flesh should glory in his presence.

³⁰ But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption:

³¹ That, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. (1 Corinthians Chapter 1)

Today's Puritan Audio Devotional:

Thomas Watson's choice excerpts on Scripture
Play Audio! Download Audio

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We soon grow dull, cold, lifeless, and inactive!

(James Smith, "The Great Comforter" 1858)

"It is the Spirit who quickens; the flesh profits nothing." John 6:63

All real religion begins with the quickening of the Spirit. When we experience this . . .
  we begin to breathe after spiritual things; 
  we open our eyes in a new world; 
  we hunger and thirst after righteousness; 
  and at length taste that the Lord is gracious. 
We then have . . .
  new thoughts, 
  new desires, 
  new hopes, 
  new fears, 
  new joys, and 
  new sorrows. 
The eye fixes on Christ, 
the heart goes out to Christ, and 
the chief desire of the soul is to be like Christ. 

The Spirit not only quickens us at first--but all through life we need and are dependent on the Spirit's quickening. He quickens us to pray, and He quickens us in prayer. It is His quickening which puts . . .
  life into our graces,
  energy into our prayers,
  confidence into our expectations, and
  enables us to resist Satan, steadfast in the faith.

If His quickening power is withheld--we soon grow dull, cold, lifeless, and inactive! We have . . .
  no power in prayer,
  no enjoyment in ordinances,
  no liberty in speaking to the saints,
  nor profit in reading God's Word. 
Every duty becomes a task, 
every privilege becomes a burden, and 
every cross appears insupportable!

While under the quickening operation of the Spirit--we can do all things; but without His quickening--we can do nothing. 

Often, very often, have we to cry out from bitter experience, "My soul cleaves unto the dust; quicken me according unto Your Word!" Psalm 119:25

Quickening Spirit, daily quicken my soul!

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We have published J.R. Miller's helpful short article, "The Cure for Weariness".

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Feel free to forward these gems to others who may be encouraged or profited by them!

Dr. Morris-

      This writer, like most people I have encountered inside the church house, caught in the same satanic trap- snare- plight of not wanting to be "different" from those outside the church house. Our lives have been tainted by the need for acceptance of Satan's crowd... Our dress- language- idols. We had rather be popular- proud- peculiar, than show the born again righteousness of Christ which should be shown in any person who has experienced true repentance, lost that old life of sin and indifference. God inhabits the praise of his people (Psalm 22:3).

      Real Christians, different people, care little about the "acceptance" of an unsaved world. Every minute of every day, I want acceptance of a holy God. We find this in prayer. It is a lifelong learning experience that, when you have notoriety, education accomplishment, success in business, houses and lands, even family and friends, you have what THEY can do. But, when you have a daily minute by minute experience with the holiness of God through prayer, than you have what God can do.

      Look around, look at the news, look at what is happening to our world, WE NEED, WHAT GOD CAN DO.