A Proud Time for US

Thank God for Answered Prayer ... the rescue of Captain Richard Phillips from Somali pirates, wich involved the greatest Navy in the world and a squad of Navy super hero SEALS.

While the administration and liberals are giving this country away to the world and apologizing for our way of life, for our high ideals and morals based on the Judeo/Christian moral value system, God answered prayer and set the scene for a display that the God of the Bible is the one true God over all ... believe it or not or believe anything you want, HE IS GOD ... NO MAN CAN CHANGE THAT! He is for life and they are for death. And He looks down on the sons of men and intervenes into the affairs of man.
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And one brave man of high ideals sacrificially faced death at the hands of godless pirates and cut throats in order to take the place of his crew, to free his crew members ... a great simile of John 3:16, "God so loving the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosover believe on Him shall not die, but shall have everlasting life."
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This country is still in the business of dispensing compassion to our neighbors and providing rescue from their destructions. We may be tested by those who want to destory our way of life and success, but they use their militaary for murder and extortion; we use ours for our security and offer the lives of our young men and women for their security and relief.

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I am so proud to have been a merchant seaman in WWII, a part of the crew of the SS Robert L. Hague, a Liberty Ship in the service of the US Merchant Marine, a ship which was armed, by the way and prepared to defend itself.

I swell with thankfulness and pride in hearing the accounts of the rescue of this brave captain who offered himself to save his crew ... a fantastic Easter story.

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(Photos: The American stars and stripes, which is higher than the Gadsden flag, yet the Gadsden flag stands for unity and independence. Developed by Benjamin Franklin in 1775, features a rattle snake on a yellow background with the words, "Don't Tread On Me."
Captain Phillips with the destroyer, USS Bainbridge Captain, Commander Frank Castellano.

HE IS RISEN INDEED!

Have A Blessed Easter Observance!

It is good to rise up on Easter morning and rejoice over the death, burial, and resurrection of the LORD Jesus Christ. "HE IS RISEN!" is the shout from the tomb, and echoing from the hills of Judea, "HE IS RISEN INDEED?, and as Paul wrote twice in the passage, 1Corinthians 15:1-8, "according to the scriptures".
He is very God and very man, whose life split time in two, from BC to AD.

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But foolish men and women in high government porisitions and with self gain as their motivation, and greedy and godless wealth-seekers of all ilks and sorts, foolishly attack Jesus and the word of God he left us to guide us in civil matters and in our love to God, ourselves and to our neighbors. How foolish they are "spots in . . . feasts of charity . . . feeding themselves without fear: clouds they are without water, carried about of winds . . . " (Jude 1:12). "These are wells without water, clouds that are carried with a tempest ... " (2Peter 2:17).

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God has a management system: He tells man what it takes to please God and then lets the evil ones whose hearts are set on destroying the knowledge of God, set their own course and ultimately destroy themselves and innocents along with them. But when His cup is full, He dispenses judgement against unrighteousness. Have you read about Job? The man that was severly tested when God let the Devil have his way with his life, family and fortunes, but Job never cursed God; he asked for a hearing.

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"The Hand of providence has been so conspicuous in all this, that he must be worse than an infidel that lacks faith, and more than wicked, that has not gratitude enough to acknowledge his obligations ... The blessed Religion revealed in the word of God will remain an eternal and awful monument to prove that the best Institution may be abused by human depravity ... It is the duty of all Nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey his will, to be grateful for his benefits, and humbly to implore his protection and favors." --George Washington

Billy Graham's Prayer For Our Nation

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  Heavenly Father, we come before you today to ask your forgiveness and to seek your direction and guidance.
  
  We know Your Word says, 'Woe to those who call evil good,' but that is exactly what we have done.
  
  We have lost our spiritual equilibrium and reversed our values.
  We have exploited the poor and called it the lottery.
  We have rewarded laziness and called it welfare..
  We have killed our unborn and called it choice.
  We have shot abortionists and called it justifiable.
  We have neglected to discipline our children and called it building self esteem.
  We have abused power and called it politics.
  We have coveted our neighbor's possessions and called it ambition.
  We have polluted the air with profanity and pornography and called it freedom of expression.
  We have ridiculed the time-honored values of our forefathers and called it enlightenment.
  Search us, Oh God, and know our hearts today; cleanse us from every sin and Set us free. Amen!'
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  With the Lord's help, may this prayer sweep over our nation and wholeheartedly become our desire so that we again can be called 'One nation under God..'

What Manner Of Love . . .

From BLESSAY, Number 210, December 6, 2008

Denial is setting in like concrete in the minds of millions who are sick and tired of . . . they don't know what. I believe it is because world events that affect our lives are happening so fast that it is confusing and frightening. The world is out of control and there is no force of a gyrocompass to keep it on course. And . . . I need a hug!

Denial is a “cop out.” It is a naive cover-up for issues that won't go away. Denial cannot stop the spread of cancer or killer stress build-up. The most dangerous result of denial is refusal to prepare sensibly to fight . . . whatever it is that's bothersome. The initial sting of bad news is useful in making one take action to prevent more killer stress, and to keep a clear head to find reasonable remedies.

The world does not know what it means to be “connected” to the God of all creation and to feel the warmth of His love, the guidance of the Holy Spirit and to receive His mercy and grace. I cannot imagine a world without Almighty God looking down on the sons of men and hearing our pleas.

I come from a railroad family and when I think of connection I look back at the images of long freight trains standing in the yards ready to take their load of materials to Texas. I see the conductor at the back wave his lantern to the engineer and off they go . . . that is, just the engine and the first ten cars. The last 75 cars don't move an inch while the front end goes speedily away. Whoops! The brakeman assumed every car was connected.

There are many gods men worship, but there is only one God, the Lord God, and Jesus is His name, who is connected in a personal way in the hearts of believers. Men make assumptions in regard to their eternal state, but an assumption is a form of denial. It keeps them from having God in all their thoughts so that they cannot visualize the truth of the Bible in regard to eternal life. Without God in his thoughts and the Holy Spirit of Christ in his heart, man cannot think beyond his Day Planner.

"Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not (1John 3:1).”

Who can describe the love of God that exists in the hearts of believers? Does "joy unspeakable" or "peace that passes all understanding" do it? Well, it is adequate for right now until we see Him face to face.

It is a love the world does not have nor does it know how to get, because it comes by faith through grace and it cannot be manufactured by our own efforts. Yet the Bible says “For God so loved the world . . . just think of the price He paid to redeem us to Himself.

Whoever assumes the love of God without accepting it is not connected and when the promise that we will be caught up to meet Him in the air occurs, they will be left behind on the tracks. Better check those lynch pins. Assumption is without knowledge and brings on denial.

There is a remnant of the world's population that the Bible calls "sons of God", and sets us apart from "the sons of men." The “sons of men” find deep faith in the one true God, whose name is Jesus, to be revolting. They resent believers for what we have that that they say they have. They have faith, they say. But to what and to whom is their faith aimed? A positive outlook assumes faith, but there is no connection through grace by faith, and they are left standing on the tracks.

"A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort." Herm Albright (Illustrator, 1876-1944)

What they do not have is faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, His death on the cross, and His resurrection from the dead. They see no reason for their atonement. The Christian faith is the only belief system that is based on grace through faith, not of works of righteousness. All other religions are require some form of works for purification and atonement. But faith is a gift from God and it comes by hearing the gospel and the gospel comes by the word of God. "Aye, there's the rub."

The sons of God live by faith in and from God (Romans 1:17), but the sons of men live by their faith (works, Titus 3:5), which is self-righteousness, not the righteousness of God. They live in denial with no connection.

"Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure" (1John 3:2).”

Lorica of Saint Patricck

Lorica, fr. Latin meaning "body armor (of Roman soldiers)," describes the evangelist priest and Bishop, who was born of Scottish and English parents. His early life in the 14th century was hard, having been kidnapped by raiders, when in his teens, twice, and sold and made a keeper of sheep. During his first escape from slavery, he was sold back into slavery in Ireland, escaped again and spent seven years in Europe. Having found Christ as his master during his sheep-herding days, he wanted to further his education and study the Christianity at the Lerin Monastery in France.

After becoming a priest and returning to England, he had a dream that the Irish people called out to him to return to Ireland to minister to them. He did and by his deep faith that the Lord was ordering his steps, he preached “Christ and Him crucified, buried and risen from the dead,” to pagan Druids. This fiery priest was made a Bishop in 432 AD. The term "lorica" or breastplate is similar to the Apostle Paul's admonition in Ephesians.

"Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness; And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace; Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God: (Ephesians 6:11-17). "

Patrick and his band of dedicated followers, were responsible for many conversions. His zeal to drive paganism, symbolic of snakes, from Ireland, motivated him to write many breastplate prayers, like this one from the 4th century, attributed to St. Patrick.

I bind myself today
The power of God to hold and lead
His eye to watch, His might to stay
His ear to hearken to my need
The wisdom of my God to teach
His hand to guide
His shield to ward
The word of God to give me speech
His Heavenly Host to be my guard.

Patrick tried hard to see to the conversion of the King of Tara, who gave him freedom to spread the gospel throughout the land. He plucked a Shamrock from the ground and told him that there was but one stem, but three branches representing the Holy Trinity. It impressed the king greatly, but there is no evidence of his conversion, much like Paul preaching to King Agrippa, "Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian (Acts 26:28)."

Nevertheless, Patrick and his followers were free to spread their faith throughout Ireland and did so to great effect. He drove paganism (symbolized by the snake) from the lands of Eireann.

"Patrick died on March 17th in the year 461 at the age of 76."
Source: Ireland Information
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Chuckle: When we think of Ireland, we also think of Limericks. My favorite is as follows:

The Reverend Fiddle from Tralee,
Received an honorary degree,
But he reeled in dismay,
When he heard people say,
Here comes The Reverend Fiddle, D.D.
(Author: don't know, don't ask)

Happy 100th Mr. Shea

George Beverly Shea turns 100
Associated Press - 2/1/2009 4:10:00 AM
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George Beverly SheaOn the ladder of life, George Beverly Shea says he's almost reached the 100th rung.
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Shea says he will be honored Monday evening with a birthday party at The Cove, a North Carolina facility of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association. Graham is among some 270 invited guests.
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The long-time Christian singer says he had a wonderful career singing at Billy Graham crusades. "I overwork the word 'privilege,' but I can't find anything better," he tells Associated Press. "It's been a great privilege to be associated with Billy and his son and his whole organization."
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He and Rev. Billy Graham have been friends for almost 70 years. "He's been a wonderful man to be with all these years," Shea shares. "I met him when he was 21 and I was 31. I was an announcer and singer at a radio station in Chicago."
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In the meantime, Shea has been receiving congratulations, including a birthday card that came in the mail from England's Queen Elizabeth.
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Shea is in remarkably good health and spirits as he completes his first century. When asked if there has been any secret to his long life, he recited a hymn about God's love and then broke into song.
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Article posted Feb. 1, 2009, by ONE NEW NOW.COM

Antoehr Article on George Beverly Shea by the Associated Press, Click link or paste in browser.
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Photo image of George Beverly Shea talks at his home in Montreat, N.C., Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2009. Even at age 100, the songs that defined his career just seem to burst out of Shea, booming in a signature bass-baritone voice that can still quiet a room in an instant. (AP Photo/Chuck Burton)
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Note: Robert and Helen Adams had the pleasure of hearing Mr. Shea sing the night we both accepted Christ as our Saviour after the preaching of Mr. Billy Graham: the 1968 Kansas City Crusade . . . Singing, Preaching, Accepting, the route to eternity.

"AND A TIME TO [BELLY] LAUGH"

(Ecclesiastes 3:4) A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;

Even today, when I think about it, there is a deep interior surge that wants to break out into a gigantic horse laugh.

It was a sitcom episode that was one of the funniest in TV history. Helen and I laughed, and we laughed harder until we could not see because of the tears. We doubled over, we clutched our sides, and when it was over, we felt drained. It was cathartic. We were completely relaxed and strangely refreshed.

Medical scientists, from Galen, Hippocrates, Aristotle and the physicians of ancient Greece, to the present time, have prescribed humor as the greatest relief of stress. Pindar, the poet, wrote, “The best of healer is good cheer." Hippocrates, father of modern medicine, was the first to consider that the physician’s job was to heal the whole person instead of only the parts of the body. It is a sense of humor that puts the whole body at ease and makes it easy for the immune systems to work.

The surgical specialist MD who shot cobolt 60 into my cranium was rather humorless. I sensed that when I first met him, so I enjoyed trying to get him to take a joke and smile. "Good morning, Doctor. How are you?" Without a lot of grace he replied, "Mngnfiskllsllll" (meanng okay). My stock and trade ice-breaker is, "Your looking good, whatever you're doing, keep it up." You would have thought I accused him of mal-practice. But he did smile eventually and was courteous - and a darn good surgeon.

Under inspiration the Apostle Paul wrote to the church at Thessalonica, "And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ (1Thessalonians 5:23).

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow wrote, "Joy, temperance and repose, Slam the door on the doctors nose." And in seeking more about “laughing” in the Bible, I must confess that, “belly laugh” could not be found anywhere. However, it is “joy” that is most frequently given. The words “joy” and “mirth” cover the whole range of laughter from a titter and a tee hee, to an earth-shaking guffaw.

Consider the experience who, after a long weary travel from the East, ”When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy” (Matthew 2:10). I find it hard to believe that a rough and ready bunch of shepherds gave out anything less than uproarious gales of laughter that could be heard from Bethlehem to Damascus.

Solomon, probably the wisest man who ever lived said, "A merry heart doeth good like a medicine; but a broken spirit drieth the bones." (Proverbs 17:22) He also wrote that there is a time for everything, even laughter (Ecclesiastes 3:3-4). He was also the world’s greatest cynic with 1,000 wives. He understood what real stress was like. Think what his Nordstrom’s bill would have been like . . . and that's not very funny!

Solomon wrote "a time" for a total of twenty-eight times in that passage that covers everything "under the sun." But there is truth in his cynicism, else the Holy Spirit would not have dictated its inclusion in the Bible. But over the span of his life, nothing escaped his inquiry. He went from a man who had it all, materially, to a man who realized he had nothing at all, spiritually. And now, he’s not laughing, he’s just giving advice, “To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven” (Ecclesiastes 3:1).

I have lived over seven decades of “twenty-eight times,” and I can look back and see wars, fights, squabbles, murders and the taking of lives for lives, so I am inured to it all and understand the “times.” Ever hear of the Rehoboam syndrome (1Kings 12:6)? Young leaders abandon the advice and teaching of their elders and opt for the direction of “the wild ones.” There is a war every two decades and they get worse. We never learn from history. But I am not depressed or cynical or do I have the urge to give in to cynacism or licentious abandon (as Solomon also suggested). My Bible tells me who is in charge of it all . . . EVERYTHING, and I know a lot about His will and plan for EVERYTHING - even for you and me. He is a very personal God, knowing our thoughts, intents, and needs.

When it’s time to heal, you just have to stop what you’re doing and go to bed. With all of the issues of the world confronting us, it’s enough to make us sick and your mind-set makes healing so much harder for you, and worse yet, is that it is difficult to open that Bible to let God talk to you.

How is your approach to reading the Bible? Is it, humorless, lifeless, knowing the answer is in there, but worry has clouded over your walk with the LORD? It seems to you that you are the only one to be so persecuted with your affliction. But that belief just makes 1Corinthians 10:13 invalid. You are not alone. And yes, Jesus heals and Jesus saves, "For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost" (Luke 19:10).

Call in the troops, those dedicated prayer warriors who have been in the same spot you are in and have the spiritual tenacity to go to God with importunity. There is no point in going it alone. It only makes hope deferred, which makes the heart sick, "but when the desire (hope) cometh, it is a tree of life (Proverbs 13:12). You will find that it is easier to laugh then, but can you laugh when sick?

Side-splitting laughter is good for managing stress - some stress is good, but it is like coughing. It forces good things to happen as more oxygen is pumped into our bodily systems, like increasing the flow of oxygen to the brain. First, it causes the stress that causes illness to break up, so that the forces that cloud your constructive reactions and keep you from having peace in your soul give way to joy and peace. It works, God made it to work, so use it.

When that is done, the body is free to do what God designed it to do: employ all the healing systems of our bodies to build us up with "Joy unspeakable and full of glory" (1Peter 1:8) and "peace that passes all understanding" (Philippians 4:7). Bring it on and lighten up!

by Pastor Bulldog