Anxiety

#1751

Are you not put to shame by every little bird that sits upon the bough and sings, though it has not two grains of barley in all the world?

(Charles Spurgeon, "A Good Start!")

"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life--what you will eat or drink; or about yourbody--what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns--and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire--will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For thepagans run after all these things--and your heavenly Father knows that you need them." Matthew 6:25-32

Undue anxiety is very common among the unsaved--I suppose they cannot help it. Yet Christiansmust help it; for the Lord's precept is plain and binding: "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus!"Philippians 4:6-7

Fretful anxiety is forbidden to the Christian! 

It is needless. "Look at the birds of the air," said Christ: "they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?" If you have a Father in Heaven to care for you--are you not put to shame by every little bird that sits upon the bough and sings, though it has not two grains of barley in all the world? God takes charge of the birds of the air, and thus they live exempt from anxious care--why do not we?

Our Lord also taught that such anxiety is useless as well as needless; for, with all our care, we cannot add a single hour to our life!

Can we do anything else by fretful care? What if the farmer deplores that there is no rain? Do his fears unstop the bottles of Heaven? Or if the merchant sighs because the wind detains his ship laden with goods--will his complainings turn the gale to another quarter? 

We do not better ourselves a bit, by all our fretting and fuming. It would be infinitely wiser to do our best--and then casts our care upon our God!

Prudence is wisdom--for it adapts means to ends. 
But anxiety is folly--for it groans and worries, and accomplishes nothing! 

Besides, according to our Savior, anxiety about worldly things is heathenish: "For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them!" They have no God and no providence--and therefore they try to be a providence to themselves. Let the heir of Heaven act a nobler part than the mere man of the world--who has his portion in this life, and lives without God and without hope. 

Our distrust of our God is both childish and dishonoring. I was driven through the streets one day by a friend in a four-wheeled carriage, and he, being a good driver, must needs drive into narrow places, where it seemed to me that we would be crushed by the vans and omnibuses. I shrank back in my timidity, and expressed my unwise alarms so freely, that with a smile he laid the reins in my hand, and said, "If you cannot trust me--would you like to drive yourself?" From that ambition I was wholly free, and I assured him that he might drive as he liked, rather than make me the charioteer!

Surely, the great God might well put the same proposal to those who are complaining of His providence. If we cannot trust Him--could we manage better ourselves? 

If we are Christians, let us believe in our God, and leave the governance of the great world to the Lord God, our heavenly Father, who will surely cause all things to work together for good to those who love Him!

   ~  ~  ~  ~

Anxiety

The question and mystery of my lifetime, should I prepare, work hard, go through all the trials and turmoil of living a responsible- productive- accumulating life, or just throw up my hands, and say, "God will provide." I truly believe that God equips us to have the intelligence to do the best we can with what we have... To make preparations for what we can. The Roman soldiers carried barley and other food with them. Soldiers in Americas wars, revolution- civil-Spanish, did not have the "backup" of those in more recent 20th century wars. Even the modern farmer provides irrigation.

There is no way that we can discount the providence of creator God. This week, Elizabeth Elliot was buried. She, like most missionaries, depended on the sovereignty of God. In this sightless mans daily life, as I face the anxiety of making a living, the anxiety of problems on every hand, the anxiety of old age, with Gods anointing, I press on. 

Need To Know

"Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things."

Philippians 4:8

The writer CS Lewis said "The most difficult thing in prayer, the real me talking to the real God, not what I think I am, or what I think he is." 

As a Field Grade Army Officer, I knew and lectured about the Military "Need to Know" restrictions. If anything is specific sensitive enough, there are only certain people who are allowed to know. The more sensitive the information, the more qualifications there are for meeting the "Need to know"  approval access... such as espionage. 

We go through life keeping to ourselves many things which we should reveal... The opportunity is just never there. I could not tell you how many times I have been called about ancestry, where people in my family are buried. A cousin called recently to ask me if I had any idea about the age of the "foot washing basins" in the family church. They all know that I am the oldest, they know that I payed attention to such things. WHO WILL THEY ASK WHEN I AM GONE? This is one reason I have written these blogs about my life, my ancestry, my travels, my ancestors land holdings, even the mannerisms-attitudes-intelligence, of the past.

In my lifetime, the entire world has changed. All knowledge now comes from a thinking machine. Today's youth cannot fathom the joy and suffering of mothers over sick children anymore than they can understand the joy and suffering of Christians as they look across a sin ravaged world. 

When the North Vietnam Officials first entered Saigon and gained control of that city which had been headquarters for the United States and the South Vietnamese, these Anti-Christian, false religion, leaders first words were: "we must get rid of all this Western decadence."

Words that so aggravate me, whether they come across in one to one conversation, or the parsing of words on television and talk radio, "Do you know what I mean?" or "Do you know what I'm trying to say?" Of course we do not know what you mean or what you are trying to say. It is in your mind, and do you think we have a right to know? If so, make it plain, speak your mind. It is from the heart that the mind speaks. Most of us are smart enough to discern hypocrisy, deceit. 

"Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God:
But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:
And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross." 

Philippians 2:5-8 

Do you hunger and thirst for honesty?

Is it possible: that families and nations can unite for the benefit of man kind?

Is it possible: babies can be born loved, cared for? Not abused as children?

Is it possible: that government can be honest with it's citizen's, not deceitful?

Only 1% of the American population believe the Governments account of 9-11.

Is it possible: that modern men can look at news broadcasts without being ambushed by false flag news such as a ridiculous story about a psychotic pilot taking down a plane? 154 college students being slained in Kenya? Or 219 school girls kidnapped in Nigeria. 

Even more ridiculous and they expect the world to swallow such in the bottomless ocean of technology: Malaysian 370 totally disappearing from the face of the earth?

Is it possible: the international bankers could be satisfied with small profits instead of profits from constant warfare, terrorism and spending (America is constantly involved in war, our enemies cannot produce war equipment or the books which radicalizes them)?

General Smedly Butler told us long ago that "War is a racket."

Is it possible: that justice can reign on earth? In this bipolar world, where adults spend an average of four hours per day watching trash on television? Where it is the ambition of big pharma and big medicine to have every human being addicted to prescription drugs?

Is it possible: ever, that austerity would start at the top instead of the involuntary servitude visited on the hard working, tax paying, god fearing poor people who can barely survive?

The atheist can never understand or explain the caretaker of the planets. The conscious in the mind of every man. God's greatest creation is man, the mind of man. This world traveler noted that across every continent, people talked their own language. You know what is in their mind by their words. Just as you know the mind of a man by his conversation. This writer can read a man very quickly from his appearance: if he wears a clean shirt and tie, if his shoes are polished. I can tell the quality of manhood by the way a man keeps his car. It is a sorry man who has a dirty car (cups, cans, trash on the floorboard). I can tell you much about a man by his habits, his correspondence, the books he reads. Most of all, how he treats his mother. 

But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.

Hebrews 11:6

Faith is a verb. Action based on belief, sustained by confidence. For one to be a man of faith, one must have courage and courage is 90% faith. We know about the Martyrs of the past. We know about many of today's martyrs, men and women living and proclaiming Christianity in spite of torture, we know about those in Syria, Iraq. Many church members, who claim the name of Christ do not have the courage to remember what he did for them at his table, his broken body- shed blood. "There is a need to know about his healing, forgiving through his death and resurrection."

#1718

Adventures of War

Checkpoint Charlie was located in the wall dividing East and West Berlin.  The Berlin Wall was 96 miles long, dividing the Eastern-Russian section of Germany from the Allied-Western section of Germany. Checkpoint Charlie was an opening made famous by movies and the media, because it was a symbol of the Cold War. In going from the western side to the eastern side through Checkpoint Charlie, I was amazed at the security measures involved. There were dogs sniffing everything, large mirrors were put under the vehicles to make sure people or contraband was not being moved, everything was searched. The amazing thing, no one from the western side would possibly want to escape to the eastern side and escape from the eastern side to the western side was extremely rare.

Before the division of the city, these people, speaking the same language, enjoying the same history and culture, had fought together under Hitler. It was almost unthinkable that those captured and aligned on the eastern side with the Russians, where life was a bleak struggle for existence would “synapse” with the Russians against their countrymen on the western side of the wall. (Perhaps this was the case of the Stockholm syndrome, where captives become friends with the captors). Western Berlin, not that long after WWII, was one of the most prosperous places I have encountered, in spite of the damage of warfare. Of course, since the “tearing down” of the Wall in more modern history, after a time of cultural problems, the East and West Germans have formed a good union.

King Arthur, a legendary British leader, led the defense of England against the Saxon invasion. In one great battle, hundreds of men were lined up on Arthur’s side ready to go to battle, a short distance opposite, the Saxons were lined up ready for battle. Two front lines of healthy, well armed men who had no knowledge of one another, yet ready to kill each other with the command of their leader. Arthur, seeing the futility of such action, as well as the “waste of war” decided to have a meeting with the opposing commander. Sitting together with their aides, they had worked out a peaceable solution to their problem. When a poisonous snake attacked one of the aides, the aide took his sword to kill the snake. The sun reflecting off the sword was interpreted by both sides as the signal for war, a tremendous battle ensued and only four men of all the hundreds survived, hundreds were dead for no apparent reason.

There will be few survivors after a nuclear blast. All it will take is one deranged person near a switch on a nuclear silo, a coup d’éta in a third world country with nuclear weapons such as Pakistan. A nuclear cloud from just one weapon, and there are thousands, can wipe out civilization.

From ancient history to modern times, there have only been three years in the history of man when a war was not taking place. During the past 500 years, England has been to war 75 times, France has been to war 63 times and Russia 62 times. There was only 21 years between WWI and WWII. During that time, over 4,000 peace treaties were signed.  It cost America $20,000 dollars for each opposing person killed in WWI, it cost America $200,000 dollars for each person killed in WWII. Can one even imagine what it is costing today for each person killed on the opposing side? And can one even think how much it is costing America for each of our finest killed, as well as the thousands who are wounded and must be cared for, for life?

During WWI, one newspaper had the following headline, “Great Battle Fought, Only One Man Killed.” It was only one man for the country, but it was a father, a husband, and a son for one family and a valued member of one community. The grief of such a loss, although only one, was almost unbearable for this one man’s four children, this one man’s wife, and this one man’s parents. Such is war. Many live with war everyday of their life, the blind, the amputee, the mentally inflicted.

You wear your uniform proudly, but you never recover from military service. In a VA hospital, I saw a large sign, “We honor our veterans”. Any veteran who has had the experience of the ineptness and callus service at a VA facility knows, that like the advertisements on TV and radio concerning veterans, that it is just so much talk, and talk is cheap. The only truth from any of these Public Service Announcements: “Freedom is not free.”

War has always been romanticized. In European history, very much like a family dispute, very few people realized that, WWI when England was at war with Germany, Queen Victoria’s grandson was the Kaiser of Germany. Conglomerate corporations on both sides, continued to do business with one another. People of wealth in countries at war just travel to expensive resorts in nations not at war and just “sit the whole thing out”. It has always been the sons of the disenfranchised who have paid the price of war.

Hypocrisy has always been a way of life. Military orders can be changed with the right political influence. I still remember the very handsome, articulate, wealthy, young doctor who had the political influence to get his orders changed so he got my assignment and I got his. In war, as in everything else, it is not what you know, but who you know.

I employed a housekeeper for a long time, a black woman, member of a large black church, she amazed me with details of church activity, the most gruesome. The pastor felt it was his obligation to visit the “widows” and other single women in the church and extend to them sexual attention.

Perversion has become glorified, particularly among young people. The glorification and acceptance of homosexuality, same-sex marriage, increased popularity of a president who did not hide his perversion, has led the entire nation down the path of promiscuity, permissive parenting, and total anti-Christian behavior. The everyday chant and dance, “anything goes” and so has gone the integrity of a blessed nation.

In 1949, a reporter asked Dr. Albert Einstein, “What is the future of nuclear energy?” He said, “If we are still around, ask me in 20 years.” The great preacher Dr. R.G. Lee said, “Most people want to live, but we have produced a generation intent on death.”

Adventures of War

Adventures of War

Checkpoint Charlie was located in the wall dividing East and West Berlin. The Berlin Wall was 96 miles long dividing the Eastern-Russian section of Germany from the allied-Western section of Germany. Checkpoint Charlie was an opening made famous by movie’s and the media because it was a symbol of the cold war. In going from the western side to the eastern side through Checkpoint Charlie, I was amazed at the security measures involved. Their were dogs sniffing everything, large mirrors were put under the vehicles to make sure people or contraband was not being moved. Everything was searched. The amazing thing, no one from the western side would possibly want to escape to the eastern side and escape from the eastern side to the western side were extremely rare.

Before the division of the city, these people, speaking the same language, enjoying the same history and culture, had fought together under Hitler. It was almost unthinkable that those captured and aligned on the eastern side with the Russians where life was a bleak struggle for existence would “synapse” with the Russians against their countrymen on the western side of the wall. (Perhaps this was the case of the Stockholm syndrome, where captives become friends with the captors) Western Berlin, not that long after WWII, was one of the most prosperous places I have encountered, in spite of the damage of warfare. Of course, since the “tearing down” of the Wall in more modern history, after a time of cultural problems, the East and West Germans have formed a good union.

King Arthur, a legendary British leader, led the defense of England against the Saxon invasion. In one great battle, hundreds of men were lined up on Arthur’s side ready to go to battle, a short distance opposite, the Saxons were lined up ready for battle. Two front lines of healthy well armed men who had no knowledge of one another, yet ready to kill each other with the command of their leader. Arthur, seeing the futility of such action, as well as “waste of war” decided to have a meeting with the opposing commander. Sitting together with their aides, they had worked out a peaceable solution to their problem. When a poisonous snake attacked one of the aides, the aide took his sword to kill the snake. The sun reflecting off the sword was interpreted by both sides as the signal for war, a tremendous battle ensued and only four men of all the hundreds survived. Hundreds were dead for no apparent reason

Their will be few survivors after a nuclear blast. All it will take is one deranged person near a switch on a nuclear silo, a coup d’éta in a third world country with nuclear weapons such as Pakistan. A nuclear cloud from just one weapon, and there are thousands, can wipe out civilization.

From ancient history to modern times, their have only been three years in the history of man when a war was not taking place. During the past 500 years England has been to war 75 times, France has been to war 63 times and Russia 62 times. Their was only 21 years between WWI and WWII. During that time, over 4,000 peace treaties were signed. It cost America 20,000 dollars for each opposing person killed in WWI, it cost America 200,000 dollars for each person killed in WWII. Can one even imagine what it is costing today for each person killed on the opposing side? And can one even think how much it is costing America for each of our finest killed as well as the thousands who are wounded and must be cared for, for life.

During WWI, one newspaper had the following headline, “Great Battle Fought, Only One Man Killed.” It was only one man for the country, but it was a father, a husband, and a son for one family and a valued member of one community. The grief of such a loss, although only one, was almost unbearable for this one man’s four children, this one man’s wife, and this one man’s parents. Such is war. Many live with war everyday of their life, the blind, the amputee, the mentally inflicted.

You wear your uniform proudly, but you never recover from military service. In a VA hospital, I saw was a large sign, “We honor our veterans”. Any veteran who has had the experience of the ineptness and callus service at a VA facility knows, that like the advertisements on TV and radio concerning veterans, that it is just so much talk. And, talk is cheap. The only truth from any of these Public Service Announcements “ Freedom is not free.”

War has always been romanticized. In European history, very much like a family dispute, very few people realized that, WWI when England was at war with Germany, Queen Victoria’s grandson was the Kaiser of Germany. Conglomerate corporations on both sides, continued to do business with one another. People of wealth in countries at war just travel to expensive resorts in nations not at war and just “sit the whole thing out”. It has always been the sons of the disenfranchised who have paid the price of war.

Hypocrisy has always been a way of life. Military orders can be changed with the right political influence. I still remember the very handsome, articulate, wealthy, young doctor who had the political influence to get his orders changed so he got my assignment and I got his. In war as in everything else, it is not what you know but who you know.

I employed a housekeeper for a long time, a black woman, member of a large black church, she amazed me with details of church activity, the most gruel some. The pastor felt it was his obligation to visit the “Widows” and other single women in the church and extend to them sexual attention.

Perversity has become glorified, particularly among young people. The glorification and acceptance of homosexuality, same-sex marriage, increased popularity of a president who did not hide his perversity, has led the entire nation down the path of promiscuity, permissive parenting, and total anti-Christian behavior. The everyday chant and dance, “anything goes” and so has gone the integrity of a blessed nation.

In 1949, a reporter asked Dr. Albert Einstein, “What is the future of nuclear energy?” He said, “If we are still around, ask me in 20 years.” The great preacher Dr. R G Lee said, “Most people want to live, but we have produced a generation intent on death.”