Pen of Fire

A Dusty Meditation/Testimony From an Old Journal

2011-03-07T14:45:00.000-08:00

I remember growing up in the big wide, open spaces of our farm and wondering what fascination in life lay before me. All around me seemed to speak of goodness and purity and hope for my ideals. I’ve heard it said that big dreams come easy in the dark and stillness of night, but for me, big dreams came with the sunshine shining on all of life, under the covering of a shimmering, azure sky. I remember looking through my crayon box to find a name for that glorious color of blue that seems to invite you to heaven itself. When I found it, I’d never heard of such a word, ‘azure’, but even now, just to let it slide quietly off my lips conjures up all the notions I ever dreamed under its inspiration.

I believe God allowed me to live in that simplicity of life – carrying my ideals as truths and always allowing the beauty of His creation to occupy my mind – so that I would have the foundation of the undeniable existence of heaven, when I came face-to-face with the reality of hell.

I didn’t stay on the farm. As the skies kept changing, so did I and I chose to seek my way in the world. Carrying every high hope a youth could carry upon my shoulders for all to see, I touted the words of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow: “Life is real! Life is earnest! And the grave is not its goal! Dust thou art to dust returneth was not spoken of the soul!” What was it that Life was going to reveal to me? Where would I find the Truth of my dreams? The anticipation I held was overwhelming – and my enthusiasm was contagious – that is, until someone translated it into naïve vulnerability.

One by heartwrenching one, those high hopes I had carried were ripped from that pack upon my shoulders and replaced with much heavier things: disillusionment, loss of self-worth and identity, fear, anger, mistrust and even hatred. When my feet could no longer move forward under the weight of these burdens, when I could not raise my head beyond all the guilt and shame that bound this new pack upon my shoulders – when I could not even recall that I ever knew the word ‘azure’, there came from the depths of my spirit, from that overgrown foundation of unquenchable life, a cry. A cry to the One Who created that life. One I had only known in the beauty of my childhood and had quite forgotten. One Who had been waiting for me, patiently, to recognize Him as One Who far exceeds the beauty in the color of the sky.

Thus with that one cry, on the brink of death, I enabled the angels in heaven to rejoice in a victory over the author of death. I enabled Jesus to do what He wanted to do all along, but what I never would have understood prior to the pain. I will never forget what it is like to look death squarely in the face. I mean spiritual death – the kind of death where your heart stops beating even though it’s still hard at work. The kind of death where you stop seeing with your eyes wide open, where your feet move and you go nowhere and the work of your hands is always a work of frustration.

Thanks be to God Who always gives us the victory in Jesus Christ! All that I lost from my original pack was restored to me as I laid down the terrible weight of the second pack at the cross. “Come unto Me you who are heavily laden, “ is what Jesus calls, “I will give you rest!” What blessed words to a tormented soul!

But salvation is just the beginning. Another of the splendors of life on the farm is the ability to see things come full circle. A baby bird hatches and returns the following year to teach its own to fly, a seed begets a flower, which drops of its bounty to beget yet more, a leaf falls to the ground and nourishes life, the examples are endless. Salvation surely means we shall see God, yet its purpose, its aim, in stride with Longfellow’s claim is not the grave, despite the promises we now hold for the hereafter.

No, salvation’s purpose is in the land of fruitful living. “I have come that you might have life and have it more abundantly!” What greater harvest, what greater completion of a holy circle can there be, than to sow in tears and reap in joy? To lead another into the land of the living from the doorstep of death in the spirit and become a progenitor of generations who will call upon the name of the Lord? Without a vision, the people will surely perish – let us gain a vision, claim the hope and establish the dream of a world where every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.

Click on this link and check it out!

2010-07-12T09:10:00.000-07:00

WHEN GOD SPEAKS

2009-10-13T09:32:00.000-07:00

Wow - are we ever in a season of being stirred in our spirits! For the past couple of years, we have just been languishing, yearning, feeling empty and frankly -purposeless. To imagine Christ's return and standing before Him fruitless and empty-handed was haunting me. Having my biggest, most obvious purposeful activity coming to an end as Ben graduated from high school hit me hard! What next? I busied myself gathering weeds and learning about their medicinal qualities just to achieve some kind of level of purpose (improving myself through learning something that could serve my family's needs). It sure wasn't spirit-filled, though!

David and I were able to spend time on PEI seeking God this summer and I rejoiced at being delivered while there from an idolatry of sorts. The notion of motherhood as my only viable purposeful venture in life had been consuming me to where I was basically nonfunctional and unable to serve my husband or God. Thanks to Tom for preaching the true Word of God! After that liberation, I foolishly thought that since my affections had been redirected I could still attempt to hold the wood or metal of the idol without it affecting me. So we got back into the foster care adoption scene again after having left it the previous January.

Enter a growing lack of peace, confusion, distractions and a drivenness that revolved almost every thought of every day around the adoption proceedings (or lack thereof!). The idol was consuming me again and I wasn't really seeing - but I was very aware of a distance growing between the Lord and myself. First thing on my mind in the morning and last thing on my mind at night was "The Search." I was really getting to be a mess! Last week, in the midst of processing great discouragement, I walked our long driveway alone at night and cried out to God for help. One thing I know from His Word is that He hears me and answers when I cry for help - and so He did.

At some point after that prayer, I happened upon a WV 'hoopie' transferred here by the burgeoning gas well work -in Wal Mart (He asked me if an onion chopper would slice potatoes!). I found out he was a believer and boldly (very unlike myself) invited him for dinner. So David called him and he came over for Sunday dinner. Well, this man who can't read knows the word of God inside and out! He wound up giving me a prophetic exhortation that just sent me from conviction to repentance to deliverance!

The gist of what the Mr. WV had to say was: We're all in a battle. Our enemy looks for our weak point so he can make the move to disable us for the kill. My weak point is fear and he has capitalized on it. Fear of an empty house, fear of an unfruitful future, fear of being purposeless standing with my hands empty before the Lord. Indeed, all this adoption pursuit was borne out of that fear. Our new WV friend exhorted me about being content with what I have (being discontent is a big root for me, feeling like I don't have enough kids), judging myself by the Word of God in the meantime, being faithful in His Word and living according to what He reveals - and waiting on God. He has our future in store, I don't need to design it for Him. He paused at one point and said, "You two are so blessed. There is peace and LOVE (said with an emphatic WV twang!)in this home! God has given you so much that is of value! The key for you two right now is to continue in obedience and wait." And so I rest! No more chasing after kids!

I giggled in giddy glee at an adoption worker's conclusion yesterday that our homestudy was deplorably useless. (A lot of our stress was coming from working with an inept agency - which had providentially just been very much revealed!) It was just a confirmation and I was happy to hear it. God is so faithful and I just praise Him for His ever-so-personal care of our family! He who began this good work of the Polczynski family will be faithful to complete it!

From the desk of Thomas Sowell: Listening to a Liar

2009-09-09T12:34:00.000-07:00

Thomas Sowell - Syndicated Columnist - 9/8/2009 10:20:00 AM

The most important thing about what anyone says are not the words themselves but the credibility of the person who says them.

The words of convicted swindler Bernie Madoff were apparently quite convincing to many people who were regarded as knowledgeable and sophisticated. If you go by words, you can be led into anything.

No doubt millions of people will be listening to the words of President Barack Obama Wednesday night when he makes a televised address to a joint session of Congress on his medical care plans. But, if they think that the words he says are what matters, they can be led into something much worse than being swindled out of their money.

One plain fact should outweigh all the words of Barack Obama and all the impressive trappings of the setting in which he says them: He tried to rush Congress into passing a massive government takeover of the nation's medical care before the August recess -- for a program that would not take effect until 2013!

Whatever President Obama is, he is not stupid. If the urgency to pass the medical care legislation was to deal with a problem immediately, then why postpone the date when the legislation goes into effect for years -- more specifically, until the year after the next presidential election?

If this is such an urgently needed program, why wait for years to put it into effect? And if the public is going to benefit from this, why not let them experience those benefits before the next presidential election?

If it is not urgent that the legislation goes into effect immediately, then why don't we have time to go through the normal process of holding congressional hearings on the pros and cons, accompanied by public discussions of its innumerable provisions? What sense does it make to "hurry up and wait" on something that is literally a matter of life and death?

If we do not believe that the president is stupid, then what do we believe? The only reasonable alternative seems to be that he wanted to get this massive government takeover of medical care passed into law before the public understood what was in it. Moreover, he wanted to get re-elected in 2012 before the public experienced what its actual consequences would be.

Unfortunately, this way of doing things is all too typical of the way this administration has acted on a wide range of issues.

Consider the "stimulus" legislation. Here the administration was successful in rushing a massive spending bill through Congress in just two days -- after which it sat on the president's desk for three days, while he was away on vacation. But, like the medical care legislation, the "stimulus" legislation takes effect slowly.

The Congressional Budget Office estimates that it will be September 2010 before even three-quarters of the money will be spent. Some economists expect that it will not all be spent by the end of 2010.

What was the rush to pass it, then? It was not to get that money out into the economy as fast as possible. It was to get that money -- and the power that goes with it -- into the hands of the government. Power is what politics is all about.

The worst thing that could happen, from the standpoint of those seeking more government power over the economy, would be for the economy to begin recovering on its own while months were being spent debating the need for a "stimulus" bill. As the president's chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, said, you can't let a crisis "go to waste" when "it's an opportunity to do things you could not do before."

There are lots of people in the Obama administration who want to do things that have not been done before -- and to do them before the public realizes what is happening.

The proliferation of White House "czars" in charge of everything from financial issues to media issues is more of the same circumvention of the public and of the Constitution. Czars don't have to be confirmed by the Senate, the way Cabinet members must be, even though czars may wield more power, so you may never know what these people are like, until it is too late.

What Barack Obama says Wednesday night is not nearly as important as what he has been doing -- and how he has been doing it.

From the desk of Peter Marshall

2009-08-10T18:42:00.000-07:00

The Nanny (State) Needs to Be Fired!

"Why do you not know how to interpret the present time?" (Lk. 12:56)

The Obama Administration hit a new low two days ago. Under the Briefing Room on the White House website they posted a blog that said:

"There is a lot of disinformation about health insurance reform out there, spanning from control of personal finances to end of life care. These rumors often travel just below the surface via chain emails or through casual conversation. Since we can't keep track of all of them here at the White House, we're asking for your help. If you get an email or see something on the web about health insurance reform that seems fishy, send it to flag@whitehouse.org."

The White House is asking us Americans to become snitches -- to spy on each other! The only difference between this and Communist East Germany is that the government is not ordering us to do it -- at least not yet. Notice that they are not only asking us to monitor each other's emails, but to report "casual conversation" that "seems fishy" and might constitute rumors about Obama's healthcare program. I suspect the White House would call "rumors" anything critical we might say about it.

Of course they would hotly protest that all they are seeking to do is to correct the "misinformation" abroad in the land, that there is absolutely nothing sinister in the suggestion that we report on one another. Yet, I would suggest that Obama's word "stupid," which he applied to the quite legitimate actions of Cambridge police officer Crowley last week, really need to be applied to his own White House team for that blog posting. What kind of public relations blunder is it for an administration that is already grabbing power every way it can to ask Americans to spy on one another? Stupid, indeed. But very revealing.

It is characteristic of totalitarian governments that they spy on their citizens. Why do they do this? Because they are not so much interested in serving their people (the true function of government) as controlling them. That is the only way they can stay in power.

I am not calling the Obama Administration totalitarian, but what I am pointing out is that they are very interested in control. They are committed to growing the government's power and control over the American economy. Already they are exerting ownership of banks, financial institutions, and General Motors (new name: Government Motors?), and Obama is now after the biggest prize of them all -- healthcare. Obamacare would directly or indirectly take control of an additional 20% of the nation's economy.

The American people are getting angry. Good! High time. The White House flaks, including Press Secretary Gibbs, are accusing those who protest -- those who accost their Senators and Representatives -- of being a mob. It's interesting to note that that is exactly what the tyrannical government of Great Britain said about the Patriots in the months prior to the Revolution: that they were a mob.

For months I have been calling for a new grass-roots rising up of the American people -- a second American Revolution, if you will -- to stop the Federal Government from bankrupting the country. And I predicted in last week's commentary that as the Senators and Representatives got back to their districts and states in the August break and held meetings with their constituents, they were going to get an earful. It is starting to happen, and people are voicing their anger about the government, particularly the senior citizens. Keep it up, folks. Let 'em have it! They need to hear from us.

What is appalling, though it's predictable, is what the government is saying about those of you who are showing up to protest in these meetings. Here's White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs: "I hope people will take a jaundiced eye to what is clearly the Astroturf nature of grass-roots lobbying. This is manufactured anger." Yes, it's manufactured all right -- by the Obama Administration! Everything they've been doing has created much grass-roots anger, and rightly so.

And then we have this off the wall reaction by Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D-TX) to a meeting with his constituents. He referred to them as "a mob," saying, "This mob. . . did not come just to be heard, but to deny others the right to be heard." Or, maybe they were really just patriots reacting to government tyranny?

The latest poll, from QuinnipiacUniversity, shows conclusively that the American people do not want government-run healthcare. Fifty-two percent of American voters disapprove of the way Obama is handling the health-care issue and only thirty-nine percent approve. Even more telling is the fact that by a huge 72%-to-21% margin, voters don't believe President Obama when he says his plan will be paid for or is "deficit neutral." Additionally, by a 20-point margin, 57%-to-37%, voters say healthcare reform should be abandoned if it adds to the deficit. The people coming to these town hall meetings are no mob -- they are patriotic Americans who represent the 72% and 57% referred to in this poll. When the President and his fellow Democrats attack their fellow citizens they are speaking for the 21% and 37%.

What is really going on here is that the majority of the people running our Federal Government (symbolized by Barack Obama, Nancy Pelosi, and Harry Reid) actually believe that the government, or the state, is the solution to everyone's problems. We can call them statists. They are committed to the idea that government is the chief caretaker and provider for the people. We conservatives, and especially those of us who are Christians, believe that God is the source of our welfare, and our provider.

The statists reject that last sentence in practice (though they might pay lip service to it in theory), because true statists cannot abide the idea that people would have an allegiance that supersedes their relationship with the state, or government. Hence they attempt to regulate and control everything from marriage (the campaign to support homosexual marriage through the courts) to healthcare. It is always about power and control for statists, in contrast to the conservatives, who believe with Thomas Jefferson that the best government is that which governs least.

The big government advocates will attack anything that threatens their control. That is why they reject the reliance on a traditional and strict interpretation of the Constitution in the legal system, preferring to manipulate the Constitution through the courts into a "living" document that can be twisted to mean whatever they want it to mean. At the same time they vigorously fight against any expression of the Christian faith in the public square. Why? Because the Constitution is based on the belief that people possess natural rights that precede government, and that these rights are the gift of God. These bedrock beliefs of the Founding Fathers constitute the foundation of American government. Their understanding of government was that its only proper function is to protect and defend the people in the exercise of their God-given rights. And that is a total threat to a government looking to be everyone's Nanny (Nanny always knows best, and is not to be disobeyed!).

The statist believes that government bestows rights. The most recent illustration of this is Obama's insistence that the people have a right to healthcare (and Nanny is going to make sure you get it, dear!).

Of course, the people have no such "right."

Because for statists it is always about amassing power and control, they tend to magnify a problem into a great crisis, and then use this to scare the public into surrendering yet more control of their lives to the state. The statists know that in a crisis the people look to the government to do something. Case in point: The cries that came from New Orleans during Katrina: "Where's the government? Why don't they do something?" Obama Chief of Staff Rahm Emmanuel gave the game away when he commented: "You never want a serious crisis to go to waste. And what I mean by that is an opportunity to do things you think you could not do before."

The statists will use junk science, outright lies, and fear-mongering to convince the public that we are in a crisis of gigantic proportions. This is precisely what Al Gore did in his hysterical global warming documentary "An Inconvenient Truth." There was little truth in it. But the enviro-statists, to borrow author Mark Levin's term, will scream that the sky is falling to justify their imposition of new Federal regulations on carbon emission from cars and power plants and refrigerators and cows and everything else you can think of. Power and control. The worse the people think the threat is, the more they will surrender their freedoms.

Of course, the government environmental police and their supporters always hurt the poor the most -- the very people they claim they are trying to help. There are 600 million poor in India who have no electricity. Yet Greenpeace campaigned against the incandescent light bulb there, calling it "a hazardous product to everyone." It would be easy to laugh off these Greenpeace agitators as insane, if there weren't so many people in Washington who think just like them. (Nanny always knows best). For example, the Congress passed a law in 2007 that phases out incandescent light bulbs completely by 2014. But, it now turns out that if you break one of the new CFL bulbs that are supposed to supplant incandescent bulbs, you release mercury -- a powerful neurotoxin very poisonous to children and babies. Most landfills will not even take these bulbs, with the result that if government persists in this program we are going to have to come up with separate disposal facilities just for these mercury-laden bulbs. But, remember, Nanny always knows best.

Very important to the statists is the control over our children's minds. The government school minions (the National Education Association et al) fight viciously against Christian schools, the burgeoning homeschool movement, school vouchers, and anything else that threatens their control over our children. They have succeeded in turning public schools into a laboratory for their court-assisted programs of homosexual indoctrination, which if successful will produce legions of young voters to keep the big government folks in power for years to come.

The struggle between the statists and the conservatives is heating up. Is there any hope to limit big government -- to roll back its increased power and control over our daily lives? Well, was there any hope of throwing off British tyranny in 1775?

Absolutely. But, it was a hope visible only to the eyes of faith.

On the morning of March 23, 1775, at the Virginia Revolutionary Convention in St. John's Church, Patrick Henry made one of the most famous speeches in American history. Admonishing the delegates that "if we wish to be free . . . we must fight" he went on to say "they tell us, sir, that we are weak, unable to cope with so formidable an adversary. But when shall we be stronger? . . . Shall we gather strength by irresolution and inaction? . . . We are not weak. . . Besides, sir, we shall not fight our battles alone. There is a just God who presides over the destinies of nations, and who will raise up friends to fight our battles for us."

It is still true.

And we will find that it is still true, if "we the people" prayerfully and actively rise up in a grass-roots movement to change things.

The Nanny (State) needs to be fired!

Gird Your Blogs!

2009-04-22T23:49:00.000-07:00

Gird Your Blogs!
Under "Cybersecurity", Congress Will Be the Internet's Greatest Threat!

By Brad O'Leary

Gird your blogs, because if liberals in Congress get their way, President Obama will have sole discretionary authority to shut down the Internet or critical parts of the Internet should he feel his presidency is being tested. Worse, under the guise of cybersecurity, Obama will essentially be granted the power to destroy free speech on the web.

On April 1st of this year, Senators Rockefeller, Snowe, Bayh and Nelson introduced bills S. 773 and S.778, collectively called the Cybersecurity Act, which would give President Obama dictatorial power over the Internet during a time of national crisis or emergency.

All of the bills' sponsors voted for the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002 that prohibited organizations and individuals from running advocacy ads against candidates 60 days in advance of a general election. Now it seems these same people have conjured up a gag order for the Internet.

According to the current drafts, under the Cyber Security Act of 2009 the President may "declare a cybersecurity emergency and order the limitation or shut down of Internet traffic to and from any comprised federal government or United States critical infrastructure information system or network". He may also "order the disconnection of any Federal Government or United States critical infrastructure information systems or networks in the interest of national security."

What constitutes "cybersecurity emergency" or "critical infrastructure information system or network" is left completely up to the President to define. We know that the Administration, according to Rahm Emanuel, never wants "a serious crisis to go to waste". We also know the Administration supports the regulation of free speech on the Internet.

President Obama's choice to lead the powerful Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs is none other than Cass Sunstein, a radical Harvard law professor and supporter of the Fairness Doctrine for the Internet. According to Sunstein, "A system of limitless individual choices, with respect to communications, is not necessarily in the interest of citizenship and self-government."

Obama campaign fundraiser and FCC Chair nominee, Julius Genachowski, is a supporter of "Net neutrality", the first step in applying the Fairness Doctrine to the Internet.

"Net neutrality" proponents like Genachowski would have government decide what content Internet operators and network owners must provide. Incredibly, they claim this is to keep the Internet free and open to all, when in reality, their goal is to usher the heavy hands of federal regulators into the tent.

Stifling any venue where ideology competes with left-wing mainstream media has always been a goal of the left and Obama. Obama has just been more evasive in his means by supporting policies such as "net neutrality" and wobbling on the reinstatement of the Fairness Doctrine to talk radio. Liberal members of Congress are now set on sending America on an unconstitutional b-line away from Uncle Sam and directly to Big Brother.

The Cybersecurity Act is also includes a provision where "The Department of Commerce shall serve as the clearinghouse of cybersecuirty threat and vulnerability information to the Federal Government and private sector owned (emphasis mine) critical infrastructure information systems and networks." Shelving all privacy laws including the requirement for warrants, the Secretary of Commerce "shall have access to all relevant data concerning such networks without regard to any provision of law, regulation, rule or policy restricting such access." Senator Rockefeller made it clear in his statement what "relevant data" this act could include when he stated "We must protect our critical infrastructure at all costs – from our water to our electricity, to banking, traffic lights and electronic health records – the list goes on."

While we have worried about cyber attacks from Russia and China, who would have thought the greatest threat would come from members of our own Congress.

Random Happy Thoughts

2009-04-14T10:48:00.000-07:00

I decided to post some vignettes I wrote to be used for a radio station which wants to put our region on the map as the better alternative to pricey New England. Being that they are pretty universal in their sympathies and ability create warm fuzzies, I decided to post them here for a change of pace to all that's sober and serious.

MUD SEASON

Here in Route 6 country there is a transitory time between winter and spring when anticipation is high and our spirits have to carry us through the mud – literally. Many’s the time when our family would have to park at the end of a mile long driveway and battle the temptation to grumble about it. Once that battle’s won, the beauty of the circumstance reveals itself. Bodies, overpacked with cushioning against the winter chills, are forced to move into action and with the blood flow comes an invigorating sense of coming alive with the rest of creation which has spent the last 4 months in dormancy. Walking along inevitably provides opportunity for connecting with one another that a swift car ride home aborts. We find ourselves lost in the moment, not minding the molasses-like pull of the mud on our boots, but inadvertently willing the walk to last as long as possible. The spring calls of the returning birds provide the background symphony for a setting of reconnecting with the pace of nature in the midst of our high-tech realities. The kids, now young adults, revert to a childhood tradition as they look around for “signs of spring” and we all rejoice to see little patches of coltsfoot coming to life. Our talk is light, yet deepens the bonds between us and the reality of a fifth season in our year, mud season, only adds to our rejoicing at the blessing of being able to live in such a place.

SPRING

Ahhh, spring! The great outdoors testify at every turn to the glorious new beginnings of life and hopes. One can’t help but gain an enlarged vision as you walk a trail which has undergone the ravages of a stormy winter and yet, with the feistyness of the American spirit, pushes forth new life to overcome what is drab and dead. Life just jumps out at you and fills every sensory channel enlisted to take it all in. Chickadees, mating, call to eachother in suave tones very unlike their chattering throughout the long winter. Peepers make our own hearts sing as they announce the cycle of life ready to burst forth at the ponds. A flock of baby turkeys crosses the path unaware that you are once more in awe of the many reminders of the beauty of families. Rivers and streams join in spring”s New Life symphony as they swell with the God-given refreshment of new rain mixed with the meltdown of the winter’s icy countenance. The air smells of fresh earth and brings to mind the mouth-watering produce all the seedlings being carefully tended indoors will soon produce. And then there’s the children’s laughter. Winter frolics can’t compare, in the bondage of snow gear and heavy boots, to the liberty of running sneaker-clad and coatless through an open field. Enveloped in the spring sunshine, cavorting with the warm breezes, one’s spirit swells watching the children laugh and play as ones released into a carefree fairyland. This is life in Route 6 country!

SUGARIN' TIME

Sometime in that quiet lull between winter and spring, unseen and unheard, there is a hidden pressurization towards a cellular dam break within sugar maple trees. With the temperatures freezing at night and warmer during the days, this dynamic transition occurs and the joys of “Sugaring Time” are heralded from the hilltops to the dales of Route 6 country. Piles of wood stacked the previous year are ‘on deck’, ready to be tossed into the boilers where they’ll fuel the fires, round the clock, for as many weeks as the sap continues to run. Sugar shacks dotting the landscape all around send up their seasonal smoke signals that the boiling has begun. From commercial operations, to small family experiments, from huge tank trucks and evaporators to small pails and pots over an open fire, families join together for this seasonal harvest of liquid gold. Everyone has a part to play whether it be harvesting the sap, feeding the fire, stirring the boiling sap, working the finished syrup through filters, filling bottles, grading the product or just being an on-hand taste tester. The aroma coming from the evaporating pan makes every mouth water in anticipation of the many recipes which will take a sweet turn as the new harvest is added to everything from cakes to stews or is poured into milk or over ice cream. Many varying grades of the syrup conform to the many taste preferences of its fans. The lightest is considered the fancy grade, with the most delicate maple flavor, while the darkest is has the more robust maple flavor, best for baking. Stories and fun flow as easily as the sap as the comraderie of work has its magical effect. Many’s the long watch of the night for those on duty in the sugar shacks, but it’s a season none would trade as an opportunity for quality time with friends and family or just musing on the privileges of country living.

On Friendship

2009-03-06T16:42:00.000-08:00

I sought the Lord today on the matter of Christian friendships and what they are supposed to look like and was blessed, convicted and challenged by what I learned. In our millions of books, the Lord pointed me to a book on our shelves which I had never looked into before (I love when He does that!) and lo and behold, it had an entire section on friendship from a Christian perspective! It's a seminar textbook by Bill Gothard for his IBYC seminars. I'd been steered clear of things by him before because people said he operated in an oppressive religious spirit. While this may be an accurate assessment (I honestly don't know!) I honor him for his extreme clarity and wisdom in presenting the many levels and biblical angles involved in glorifying God in friendships. So, I will attempt to briefly homogenize and pour out all I read.

First and foremost - and this was revolutionary to me, sadly - we should consider every acquaintanceship, every person we meet, as a divine appointment arranged by a sovereign God who desires to form us-and them- into the image of Christ! We should take no interactions lightly! Questions we should train ourselves to inwardly ask upon meeting someone: What are God's purposes in this person's life? How far has he come? What has hindered God? How can I cooperate with God? What can I learn from her? Now, I actually do go through these questions sometimes, more by how I'm wired than by any merit of my own. But I find that when I meet someone with whom I really 'click' I am much less apt to follow through on any of these thoughts beyond the initial meeting, as I'm usually just too busy having my selfish flesh satisfied somehow in spending time with my new friend, and so I lose God's farsighted vision and purpose for the friendship in the first place and usually wind up disappointed or hurt somewhere down the road that two sinful human beings are apt to walk together. Which is sad. I should always proceed in a developing relationship with the solid conviction of the other person's worth to God, wanting to learn what God has for me to learn through interacting with this person and also desiring to help her reach God's potential for her life.

Secondly, I must realize, that as sinners, we all have the working out of our salvation and the completion until the day of Christ things going on in our lives. We're all in process. There are times when I will note an unpleasant trait in a person's character and write them off as unworthy of my time - or too much effort involved. Again, how sad. (Although there are toxic friendships which would be another discussion) The truth is that one of the most important levels of friendship is where we help each other develop Christ-like character qualities. Every negative trait in a person is really a virtue soured. The blessed balm of friendship including the faithful wounds of a friend are the tonic needed to turn the sour to sweet. But how many people allow themselves this level of transparency these days? Almost everyone I know, including me, holds just about everyone else in their lives at arms length. "Not too close!" we say, "Don't invade my space!" And such an attitude snuffs out any chance for revival fires borne out of a biblical friendship. Can you imagine trying to get away with that as one of Jesus' disciples? Well, guess what? We ARE Jesus' disciples!

Then, finally, I think the area he spoke about that hit me the most was regarding seeking out intimate friends (the deepest level of friendship) who have the freedom to tell me what my blind spots are. God has certain norms/standards of morality and sometimes we are caught in a trap of comparing ourselves with our unregenerate past or worse, with others. A person who is in our lives with the liberty to speak into our lives (as all spouses should be to one another) can see things from a different perspective that we may not be seeing! We might think we're doing pretty well, but then our friend comes and holds up God's perfect standard to us, exhorting us to lift our vision higher - and what do most people do when this happens? Get offended and cut off a relationship! Yikes! Granted, a level of intimacy must be cultivated through time and sharing before we attempt such help and many people short-circuit what could've been a long friendship for life by speaking out of turn, before that intimacy and trust has been settled. I've done this more than once, because I just get so passionate about things - but that's about ME needing to express myself, not caring for my friend.

So at what point does a sincere concern for another person become a judgement of them? I really want to end with this as it totally knocked me off my feet. Gothard lists 7 comparative aspects of discernment and judgement and as I looked them over I found that my first impulses seem to err mostly on judging! Lord, have mercy. My husband has a gift of wisdom and so has impulses of discernment, for which I am sooooo grateful!

1.Discernment asks questions until all important factors are understood. "...the honor of kings is to search out a matter." Pr.25:2

Judgement accepts hearsay at face value and forms opinions of motives on a few known factors. "The simple believes every word, but the prudent man looks well to his going." Pr. 14:15

2.Discernment studies all important factors in order to discover root causes for the present problem"...he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of his ears." Is.11:3

Judgement openly shares conclusions with those not related to the solution of the problem. (Otherwise known as slander) "He that answers a matter before he hears it, it is folly and shame unto him." Pr. 18:13

3.Discernment looks for a comparable problem in personal experience. (I love these next 3 steps - and need to grow in them the most!) 2 Cor.1:4

Judgement avoids personal self-evaluation by projecting hostility toward the offender and his offense.

4.Discernment carefully reviews the steps taken personally to overcome a similar problem.

Judgement has not yet overcome the same problem.

5.Discernment accepts the offender as he is and waits for the right opportunity to approach the problem in a way that will care for the offender.

Judgement fails to differentiate between the sin and the sinner and therefore, reflects a rejection of both.

6.Discernment gains the confidence of the one in need and then shares the steps taken to overcome a similar problem.

Judgement tells a person where he has been wrong without providing direction for a solution.

7.Discernment assumes the responsibility for restoration. (A biggie!)

Judgement reminds God of the shortcomings of the offender. (Me again, "OH, God could you help THEM to see...."

I just see the matter of how we treat people who are supposed to be brothers and sisters in Christ, sharing the same fellowship of the spirit, pilgrims together on the transient journey toward eternity as a matter of utmost concern for the health of Christ's Body and its members. May we all search our hearts and be willing to let the spirit of God humble us, break us and rebuild us ! Me first! As Paul said in every letter, Grace be with you.

What God Has Taught Me Through an Aborted Foster-Care Adoption

2009-01-20T08:28:00.000-08:00

1. Realize that when God says to do something, it is obedience He looks for and the results are up to Him.
2. Never trust your own heart - it is deceitfully wicked. But do trust your spirit - a lack of peace and joy means something is wrong!
3. Light has no fellowship with darkness.
4. Compromise and error can be subtle and mixed with a bunch of truth.
5. God's precepts and standards cannot be compromised under the guise of a means to an end.
6. God is way more interested in my sanctification than my happiness.
7. Embrace challenges and hardship as opportunities to know God and receive His provision and enabling grace.
8. Seek to grow in mercy so that you have a reservoir from which you may extend that mercy when treated unmercifully.
9. Know that contentment comes from a heart full of the knowledge of God and that circumstances have nothing to do with it.
10. In the words of Longfellow," Not enjoyment, and not sorrow, Is our destined end or way ; But to act, that each to-morrow Find us farther than to-day."

2009-01-07T13:38:00.000-08:00

I am so stirred right now, after having read a speech given by Geert Wilders, Chairman of the Party for Freedom, while introducing an Alliance of Patriots, and announcing the Facing Jihad conference which was held in Jerusalem in December, at the Four Seasons Hotel in NYC this past September. The speech is incredibly articulated and full of facts and teaching that we all should know! Parents should read this speech with their children and discuss it for a history/current events lesson. The speech looks long in print, but every word is worth the time it will take you to read it. Hang in there! Remember: All that it takes for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing. With that, here is Chairman Wilders:

Dear friends,

Thank you very much for inviting me. Great to be at the Four Seasons. I come from a country that has one season only: a rainy season that starts January 1st and ends December 31st. When we have three sunny days in a row, the government declares a national emergency. So Four Seasons, that's new to me.

It's great to be in New York . When I see the skyscrapers and office buildings, I think of what Ayn Rand said: "The sky over New York and the will of man made visible." Of course. Without the Dutch you would have been nowhere, still figuring out how to buy this island from the Indians. But we are glad we did it for you. And, frankly, you did a far better job than we possibly could have done.

I come to America with a mission. All is not well in the old world. There is a tremendous danger looming, and it is very difficult to be optimistic. We might be in the final stages of the Islamization of Europe. This not only is a clear and present danger to the future of Europe itself, it is a threat to America and the sheer survival of the West. The danger I see looming is the scenario of America as the last man standing. The United States as the last bastion of Western civilization, facing an Islamic Europe. In a generation or two, the US will ask itself: who lost Europe ? Patriots from around Europe risk their lives every day to prevent precisely this scenario form becoming a reality.

My short lecture consists of 4 parts:

First I will describe the situation on the ground in Europe .

Then, I will say a few things about Islam.

Thirdly, if you are still here, I will talk a little bit about the movie you just saw.

To close I will tell you about a meeting in Jerusalem .
The Europe you know is changing. You have probably seen the landmarks. The Eiffel Tower and Trafalgar Square and Rome's ancient buildings and maybe the canals of Amsterdam . They are still there. And they still look very much the same as they did a hundred years ago. But in all of these cities, sometimes a few blocks away from your tourist destination, there is another world, a world very few visitors see - and one that does not appear in your tourist guidebook.

It is the world of the parallel society created by Muslim mass-migration. All throughout Europe a new reality is rising: entire Muslim neighborhoods where very few indigenous people reside or are even seen. And if they are, they might regret it. This goes for the police as well. It's the world of head scarves, where women walk around in figureless tents, with baby strollers and a group of children. Their husbands, or slaveholders if you prefer, walk three steps ahead. With mosques on many street corner. The shops have signs you and I cannot read. You will be hard-pressed to find any economic activity. These are Muslim ghettos controlled by religious fanatics. These are Muslim neighborhoods, and they are mushrooming in every city across Europe.

These are the building-blocks for territorial control of increasingly larger portions of Europe, street by street, neighborhood by neighborhood, city by city. There are now thousands of mosques throughout Europe. With larger congregations than there are in churches. And in every European city there are plans to build super-mosques that will dwarf every church in the region. Clearly, the signal is: we rule.

Many European cities are already one-quarter Muslim: just take Amsterdam, Marseille, and Malmo in Sweden. In many cities the majority of the under-18 population is Muslim. Paris is now surrounded by a ring of Muslim neighborhoods. Mohammed is the most popular name among boys in many cities. In some elementary schools in Amsterdam the farm can no longer be mentioned, because that would also mean mentioning the pig, and that would be an insult to Muslims. Many state schools in Belgium and Denmark only serve halal food to all pupils. In once-tolerant Amsterdam gays are beaten up almost exclusively by Muslims. Non-Muslim women routinely hear "whore, whore". Satellite dishes are not pointed to local TV stations, but to stations in the country of origin. In France school teachers are advised to avoid authors deemed offensive to Muslims, including Voltaire and Diderot; the same is
increasingly true of Darwin.

The history of the Holocaust can in many cases no longer be taught because of Muslim sensitivity. In England sharia courts are now officially part of the British legal system. Many neighborhoods in France are no-go areas for women without head scarves. Last week a man almost died after being beaten up by Muslims in Brussels, because he was drinking during the Ramadan. Jews are fleeing France in record numbers, on the run for the worst wave of anti-Semitism since World War II. French is now commonly spoken on the streets of Tel Aviv and Netanya, Israel. I could go on forever with stories like this. Stories about Islamization.

A total of fifty-four million Muslims now live in Europe. San Diego University recently calculated that a staggering 25 percent of the population in Europe will be Muslim just 12 years from now. Bernhard Lewis has predicted a Muslim majority by the end of this century. Now these are just numbers. And the numbers would not be threatening if the Muslim-immigrants had a strong desire to assimilate. But there are few signs of that. The Pew Research Center reported that half of French Muslims see their loyalty to Islam as greater than their loyalty to France. One-third of French Muslims do not object to suicide attacks. The British Centre for Social Cohesion reported that one-third of British Muslim students are in favor of a worldwide caliphate. A Dutch study reported that half of Dutch Muslims admit they "understand" the 9/11 attacks.

Muslims demand what they call 'respect.' And this is how we give them respect. Our elites are willing to give in. To give up. In my own country we have gone from calls by one cabinet member to turn Muslim holidays into official state holidays, to statements by another cabinet member, that Islam is part of Dutch culture, to an affirmation by the Christian-Democratic attorney general that he is willing to accept sharia in the Netherlands if there is a Muslim majority. We have cabinet members with passports from Morocco and Turkey .

Muslim demands are supported by unlawful behavior, ranging from petty crimes and random violence, for example against ambulance workers and bus drivers, to small-scale riots. Paris has seen its uprising in the low-income suburbs, the banlieus. Some prefer to see these as isolated incidents, but I call it a Muslim intifada. I call the perpetrators "settlers". Because that is what they are. They do not come to integrate into our societies, they come to integrate our society into their Dar-al-Islam. Therefore, they are settlers. Much of this street violence I mentioned is directed exclusively against non-Muslims, forcing many native people to leave their neighborhoods, their cities, their countries. Politicians shy away from taking a stand against this creeping sharia. They believe in the equality of all cultures. Moreover, on a mundane level, Muslims are now a swing vote not to be ignored. Ou
r many problems with Islam cannot be
explained by poverty, epression or the European colonial past, as the Left claims. Nor does it have anything to do with Palestinians or American troops in Iraq . The problem is Islam itself.

Allow me to give you a brief Islam 101:
The first thing you need to know about Islam is the importance of the book of the Quran. The Quran is "Allah's" personal word, revealed by an "angel" to Mohammed, the "prophet". This is where the trouble starts. Every word in the Quran is "Allah's" word and therefore not open to discussion or interpretation. It is valid for every Muslim and for all times. Therefore, there is no such a thing as moderate Islam. Sure, there are a lot of moderate Muslims. But a moderate Islam is non-existent.

The Quran calls for hatred, violence, submission, murder, and terrorism. The Quran calls for Muslims to kill non-Muslims, to terrorize non-Muslims and to fulfil their duty to wage war: violent jihad. Jihad is a duty for every Muslim, Islam is to rule the world - by the sword. The Quran is clearly anti-Semitic, describing Jews as monkeys and pigs.

The second thing you need to know is the importance of Mohammed the "prophet". His behavior is an example to all Muslims and cannot be criticized. Now, if Mohammed had been a man of peace, let us say like Ghandi and Mother Theresa wrapped in one, there would be no problem. But Mohammed was a warlord, a mass murderer, a pedophile, and had several marriages - at the same time. Islamic tradition tells us how he fought in battles, how he had his enemies murdered and even had prisoners of war executed. Mohammed himself slaughtered the Jewish tribe of Banu Qurayza. He advised on matters of slavery, but never advised to liberate slaves. Islam has no other morality than the advancement of Islam. If it is good for Islam, it is good. If it is bad for Islam, it is bad. There is no gray area or other side. Quran as "Allah's" own word and Mohammed as the perfect man a
re the two most important facets of Islam. Let no one fool
you about Islam being a religion. Sure, it has a god, and a here-after, and 72 virgins. But in its essence Islam is a political ideology. It is a system that lays down detailed rules for society and the life of every person. Islam wants to dictate every aspect of life. Islam means 'submission'. Islam is not compatible with freedom and democracy, because what it strives for is sharia. If you want to compare Islam to anything, compare it to communism or national-socialism, these are all totalitarian ideologies.

This is what you need to know about Islam, in order to understand what is going on in Europe. For millions of Muslims the Quran and the life of Mohammed are not 14 centuries old, but are an everyday reality, an ideal, that guide every aspect of their lives. Now you know why Winston Churchill called Islam "the most retrograde force in the world", and why he compared Mein Kampf to the Quran. Which brings me to my movie, "Fitna"*. I am a lawmaker, and not a movie maker. But I felt I had the moral duty to educate about Islam. The duty to make clear that the Quran stands at the heart of what some people call terrorism but is in reality jihad. I wanted to show that the problems of Islam are at the core of Islam, and do not belong to its fringes. Now, from the day the plan for my movie was made public, it caused quite a stir, in the Netherlands and throughout Europe . First, there wa
s a political storm, with government
leaders, across the continent in sheer panic. The Netherlands was put under a heightened terror alert, because of possible attacks or a revolt by our Muslim population. The Dutch branch of the Islamic organization Hizb ut-Tahrir declared that the Netherlands was due for an attack. Internationally, there was a series of incidents. The Taliban threatened to organize additional attacks against Dutch troops in Afghanistan , and a web site linked to Al Qaeda published the message that I ought to be killed, while various muftis in the Middle East stated that I would be responsible for all the bloodshed after the screening of the movie. In Afghanistan and Pakistan the Dutch flag was burned on several occasions. Dolls representing me were also burned. The Indonesian President announced that I will never be admitted into Indonesia again, while the UN Secretary General and the European Union issued cowardly statements in t
he same vein as those
made by the Dutch Government. I could go on and on. It was an absolute disgrace, a sell-out. A plethora of legal troubles also followed, and have not ended yet. Currently the state of Jordan is litigating against me. Only last week there were renewed security agency reports about a heightened terror alert for the Netherlands because of "Fitna"*.

Now, I would like to say a few things about Israel. Because, very soon, we will get together in its capitol. The best way for a politician in Europe to loose votes is to say something positive about Israel. The public has wholeheartedly accepted the Palestinian narrative, and sees Israel as the aggressor. I, however, will continue to speak up for Israel. I see defending Israel as a matter of principle. I have lived in this country and visited it dozens of times.

I support Israel. Why?

First, because it is the Jewish homeland after two thousand years of exile up to and including Auschwitz,

second because it is a democracy, and

third because Israel is our first line of defense.
Samuel Huntington writes it so aptly: "Islam has bloody borders." Israel is located precisely on that border. This tiny country is situated on the fault line of jihad, frustrating Islam's territorial advance. Israel is facing the front lines of jihad, like Kashmir, Kosovo, the Philippines, Southern Thailand, Darfur in Sudan , Lebanon , and Aceh in Indonesia . Israel is simply in the way. The same way West-Berlin was during the Cold War.

The war against Israel is not just a war against Israel. It is a war against the West. It is jihad. Israel is simply receiving the blows that are meant for all of us. If there would have been no Israel, Islamic imperialism would have found other venues to release its energy and its desire for conquest. Thanks to Israeli parents who send their children to the army and lay awake at night, parents in Europe and America can sleep well and dream, unaware of the dangers looming.

Many in Europe argue in favor of abandoning Israel in order to address the grievances of our Muslim minorities. But if Israel were, God forbid, to go down, it would not bring any solace to the West. It would not mean our Muslim minorities would all of a sudden change their behavior, and accept our values. On the contrary, the end of Israel would give enormous encouragement to the forces of Islam. They would, and rightly so, see the demise of Israel as proof that the West is weak, and doomed. The end of Israel would not mean the end of our problems with Islam, but only the beginning. It would mean the start of the final battle for world domination. If they can get Israel , they can get everything. Therefore, it is not that the West has a stake in Israel. It is Israel.

It is very difficult to be an optimist in the face of the growing Islamization of Europe. All the tides are against us. On all fronts we are losing. Demographically the momentum is with Islam. Muslim immigration is even a source of pride within ruling liberal parties. Academia, the arts, the media, trade unions, the churches, the business world, the entire political establishment have all converted to the suicidal theory of multiculturalism. So-called journalists volunteer to label any and all critics of Islamization as a 'right-wing extremists' or 'racists'. The entire establishment has sided with our enemy. Leftists, liberals and Christian-Democrats are now all in bed with Islam.

This is the most painful thing to see: the betrayal by our elites. At this moment in Europe's history, our elites are supposed to lead us. To stand up for centuries of civilization. To defend our heritage. To honor our eternal Judeo-Christian values that made Europe what it is today. But there are very few signs of hope to be seen at the governmental level. Sarkozy, Merkel, Brown, Berlusconi; in private, they probably know how grave the situation is. But when the little red light goes on, they stare into the camera and tell us that Islam is a religion of peace, and we should all try to get along nicely and sing Kumbaya. They willingly participate in, what President Reagan so aptly called: "the betrayal of our past, the squandering of our freedom."

If there is hope in Europe, it comes from the people, not from the elites. Change can only come from a grass-roots level. It has to come from the citizens themselves. Yet these patriots will have to take on the entire political, legal and media establishment. Over the past years there have been some small, but encouraging, signs of a rebirth of the original European spirit. Maybe the elites turn their backs on freedom, the public does not. In my country, the Netherlands, 60 percent of the population now sees the mass immigration of Muslims as the number one policy mistake since World War II. And another 60 percent sees Islam as the biggest threat to our national identity. I don't think the public opinion in Holland is very different from other European countries.

Patriotic parties that oppose jihad are growing, against all odds. My own party debuted two years ago, with five percent of the vote. Now it stands at ten percent in the polls. The same is true of all similarly-minded parties in Europe. They are fighting the liberal establishment, and are gaining footholds on the political arena, one voter at the time. Now, for the first time, these patriotic parties will come together and exchange experiences. It may be the start of something big. Something that might change the map of Europe for decades to come. It might also be Europe's last chance.

This December a conference will take place in Jerusalem . Thanks to Professor Aryeh Eldad, a member of Knesset, we will be able to watch Fitna in the Knesset building and discuss the jihad. We are organizing this event in Israel to emphasize the fact that we are all in the same boat together, and that Israel is part of our common heritage. Those attending will be a select audience. No racist organizations will be allowed. And we will only admit parties that are solidly democratic. This conference will be the start of an Alliance of European patriots. This Alliance will serve as the backbone for all organizations and political parties that oppose jihad and Islamization. For this Alliance I seek your support.

This endeavor may be crucial to America and to the West. America may hold fast to the dream that, thanks to its location, it is safe from jihad and shaira. But seven years ago to the day, there was still smoke rising from ground zero, following the attacks that forever shattered that dream. Yet there is a danger, even a greater danger than terrorist attacks, the scenario of America as the last man standing. The lights may go out in Europe faster than you can imagine. An Islamic Europe means a Europe without freedom and democracy, an economic wasteland, an intellectual nightmare, and a loss of military might for America - as its allies will turn into enemies, enemies with atomic bombs. With an Islamic Europe, it would be up to America alone to preserve the heritage of a Judeo-Christian life style.

Dear friends, liberty is the most precious of gifts. My generation never had to fight for this freedom, it was offered to us on a silver platter, by people who fought for it with their lives. All throughout Europe American cemeteries remind us of the young boys who never made it home, and whose memory we cherish. My generation does not own this freedom; we are merely its custodians. We can only hand over this hard won liberty to Europe 's children in the same state in which it was offered to us. We cannot strike a deal with mullahs and imams. Future generations would never forgive us. We cannot squander our liberties. We simply do not have the right to do so. This is not the first time our civilization is under threat. We have seen dangers before. We have been betrayed by our elites before. They have sided with our enemies before. And yet, then, freedom prevailed.

These are not times in which to take lessons from appeasement, capitulation, giving away, giving up or giving in. These are not times in which to draw lessons from Mr. Chamberlain. These are times calling us to draw lessons from Mr. Churchill and the words he spoke in 1942:
"Never give in, never, never, never, never, in nothing great or small, large or petty, never give in except to convictions of honour and good sense. Never yield to force; never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy".

Movie "Fitna": http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3369102968312745410

Will it be a Happy New Year?

2008-12-31T20:20:00.000-08:00

As I sit and await the ticking down of the last minutes of yet another year of the many I've lived, I can sit and wonder - what will the next year hold? Will it bring blessing or cursing? Health or sickness? Prosperity or need? But as I wonder all this, a more important question arises: In what or Whom do I put my trust? I just wrote some emails to friends and a little verse came to mind for it: Looking back, so many reasons to praise Him...Looking forward, so many reasons to trust Him. How true. God has so faithfully demonstrated his love and care for our family through the years by revealing more and more of Himself to us, by walking with us through life and teaching us by His Holy Spirit, by lovingly chastising us, by showing us over and again the sterling integrity of His Word which is a reflection of His nature - to a degree that we can rest in WHO HE IS. No matter what may come, we can rest and trust! He will order our steps! He will keep us! He will finish what He has begun in us! He will lift our heads above our enemies! He will train us for battle! He will never leave us or forsake us! His joy will be our strength! Oh, there is so much to anchor us in peaceful waters for our spirits no matter what stormy depths swirl around us and dash up against us. God, who has called us, is faithful.

From the Puritan treasury of heartfelt cries of faith, Valley of Vision:

O Lord,
Length of days does not profit me
except the days are passed in Thy presence,
in Thy service, to Thy glory.
Give me a grace that precedes, follows, guides,
sustains, sanctifies, aids every hour,
that I may not be one moment apart from Thee,
but may rely on Thy Spirit
to supply every thought,
speak in every word,
direct every step,
prosper every work,
build up every mote of faith,
and give me a desire
to show forth Thy praise;
testify Thy love,
advance Thy kingdom.

I launch my bark on the unknown waters of this year,
with Thee, O Father as my harbour,
Thee, O Son, at my helm,
Thee, O Holy Spirit, filling my sails.
Guide me to heaven with my loins girt,
my lamp burning,
my ear open to Thy calls,
my heart full of love,
my soul free.

Give me Thy grace to sanctify me,
Thy comforts to cheer,
Thy wisdom to teach,
Thy right hand to guide,
Thy counsel to instruct,
Thy law to judge,
Thy presence to stabilize.
May Thy fear be my awe,
Thy triumphs my joy.

May His kingdom come! HAPPY NEW YEAR!

My Glorious Hope

2008-11-22T18:09:00.000-08:00

I am wending my way through the gloriously full book of 2 Corinthians and found myself at chapter 4 today. Oh, how I love Bible study! I also love my Amplified Bible because I do not know Greek and Hebrew and it has been such a help in getting the heart of what is said in the Scriptures into my heart. My children joke that I am on intimate terms with it because it speaks the same way as I. Perhaps!

Anyway, chapter 4 starts with "Therefore" so I genuinely spent prayerful reflection on what I'd already read previously, asking the Spirit to help me link it with what was said after the "therefore". (As the well known phrase says, "to find out what it is "there for"!) Paul had been talking about the power of the Holy Spirit, so my conclusion seemed to be able to be paraphrased, "Since God is the power behind everything we do and we are graced to be ministers of the Gospel because of His mercy to our formerly wretched carcasses - we can have great hope and expectation for the future!"

It's a pretty heady mystery to consider the sovereignty of God in conjunction with our part in being saved by faith. I won't even go there for this post because I'm tired and have a headache! Even the renowned Systematic Theologian, Wayne Grudem, concludes that it is 'mystery'. I doubt I could bring any more clarity than him, but it IS a fascinating filter to attach to your Bible reading glasses - you see God's hand and our part pretty consistently intertwined throughout Scripture.

Today's reading got me thinking...Here Paul had just said that God is driving the car, but in verse 2 he specifies ways that he has purposed to be able to commend himself - and thus, the Gospel- to every man's conscience. We have renounced disgraceful ways (secret thoughts, feelings, desires and underhandedness, the methods and arts that men hide through shame); we refuse to deal craftily (to practice trickery and cunning) or to adulterate or handle dishonestly the Word of God, but we state the truth openly (clearly and candidly). And so we commend ourselves in the sight and presence of God to every man's conscience. (2 Cor. 4:2 AMP)

These are specific things that Paul and his team did in light of the fact that they were reaching out to ones who had their minds blinded by the god of this world. Seems to me that the Gospel could be breaking through more in this season of history if all of the ministers of the Gospel made some radical commitments like Paul.

I'm never guilty of mincing words - the church looks too much like the world! We have obviously not renounced disgraceful ways! I see Christians reading things, watching things, dressing in things, talking about things that exhibit NO sanctification awareness -or desire- in their lives. Paul says in Romans 1:1 - that he was "set apart" to preach the Gospel. The word holiness is defined as 'set apart'. See the connection? He was set apart to be changed - transfigured by the Word of God into the very image of Christ from one degree of glory to another. (See 2Cor.3:18) I look around and I see a 'tolerant' church, a 'loving' church unwilling to confront sin and call it what it is. Is it loving someone to let them walk complacently in sin? I think not! "Faithful are the wounds of a friend," it says in Proverbs, and I fear we are in superficial relationships as the Body of Christ that cannot be classified as friendships under that criteria. I long for true Christian fellowship.

Then there's the second behavioral aspect to which Paul committed himself and his team: not dealing craftily. Let me just say that I am meeting more and more limping Christians who have been stumbled by the deceit and trickery of pastors who were nothing more than hirelings aspiring to assets in this world, peddling false doctrines and compromise to keep the numbers coming in along with the tithe checks. sigh. Paul also mentions quite a few times that he is preaching "in the presence and sight of God." Oh, that many pastors today had such a fear of the Lord! If they had a revelation of the glorious hope that is the eternal glory - not a passing splendor like that of the dead law - but an eternal glory borne of the living, liberating Gospel of Jesus Christ. That they could all say with Paul, "Since we have such glorious hope (such joyful and confident expectation) we speak very freely and openly and fearlessly." (2 Cor. 3:12 AMP)

The line between ministers and congregations is fading. We are all called to be ministers of the Gospel. We are all called to radical commitments, as was Paul. May God give us a heavenly-mindedness that enables us to walk boldly and courageously into a fruitful tomorrow to the glory of God! All because of Jesus, our shining Glorious Hope.

Emerging From the Darkness

2008-09-19T17:40:00.000-07:00

I've spent the last 3 years or so of my life sorting through false doctrines (doctrines of demons-1 Tim.4:1) and crying out to the Lord Who sustains me for wisdom and discernment to cut through the myriad layers of deception that enshroud us in this evil age. It has been anguish to my spirit to see the enemy of our souls so succeed within the Christian church today. "For false christs and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect." We have entered into an age of apostasy. Lighthouse Trails, Roger Oakland, Gary Gilley, Ray Yungen, Sonlife Radio with Frances and Friends have all been used mightily by the Lord in supplementing my searching of Scripture for Truth. It has been extremely humbling to see how unscriptural my own foundation had been, being led by false shepherds in a charismatic stream and admitting that I trusted them more than I searched the scriptures to see if what they were saying was true. (Acts 17:11)

What is even more disturbing is to see the segue of this apostate movement (largely known as The Emerging Church) into the political realm of this nation and into the world. My heart sinks with the weight of history reminding me that civilizations last at best for 200 years. I see political candidates holding the lowest regard for integrity and advancing dark agendas through deceit and shaking hands with their enemies (Believers for Barack) knowing all the while that their intentions are not honorable. I contemplate the recent institution of sharia law in Great Britain and I shudder that noone in my country, which is also experiencing sharia law in judgements from benches of supposed justice, is talking about it. I hear of bunkers being built nationwide and angry city dwellers being recruited to attack the very freedoms that allow them to be angry. The enemy is insidious and wily and he is gaining ground in the USA.

Meanwhile the church sleeps. Distracted by the agendas of wouldbe world dominators aka pastors (Rick Warren and the Purpose Driven Church proponents), the church is being led like sheep to the slaughter. Many are being added in physical principal, perhaps, but the numbers in the roll book of heaven are not increasing in kind. Why? Because church has become a place where sin, repentance and the cross of Jesus Christ are dirty words which ought not to be spoken lest they discomfort some. To keep their pockets lined and agendas secure these peddlars of half-truths have eliminated the true gospel and substituted doctrines of demons which feed people's fleshly appetites for self-promotion as well as feeding the lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes and the pride of life. (1 John 2:16) The Word of Faith movement is indicted in this accusation.

All over this nation, a remnant is wandering looking for likeminded adherants to the Cross and finding little succor. We know that God's justice cannot sleep forever as Thomas Jefferson trembled to recall, and we also know that God is longsuffering and merciful. Years ago I was impressed deeply by the verse in Isaiah 51 which reads: "Listen to Me, My people, and give ear to Me, O My nation; For law will proceed from Me, and I will make my justice rest as a light of the peoples."

May what is coming in this land ultimately serve to bring many into Truth and into the Kingdom of God eternally!