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3/11/2020

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And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us; And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him. 1John 5:14-15

THESE ARE THE MASTER-VERSES ON PRAYER. All the promises and instructions on prayer come under these verses. “According to His will.” Jesus lived and prayed that way. In the Garden of Gethsemane, He prayed O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou wilt. (Matthew 26:39)

“iF IT BE THY WILL, LET THIS CUP PASS FROM ME." We should learn to think and pray that way. God’s will is the highest order and the greatest blessing we can imagine. “Thy will be done in earth as it is in Heaven…” (Matthew 6:10)

A SONG SAYS: “Thank you for the valley, I walked through today.” Jesus’ disciples liked it better on the mountain of transfiguration. We read the text of that experience on Mount Herman:

"And after six days Jesus taketh Peter, James, and John his brother, and bringeth them up into an high mountain apart, And was transfigured before them: and his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light. And, behold, there appeared unto them Moses and Elijah talking with him. Then answered Peter, and said unto Jesus, Lord, it is good for us to be here: if thou wilt, let us make here three tabernacles; one for thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elijah.

While he yet spake, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them: and behold a voice out of the cloud, which said, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him. And when the disciples heard it, they fell on their face, and were sore afraid.

And Jesus came and touched them, and said, Arise, and be not afraid. And when they had lifted up their eyes, they saw no man, save Jesus only. And as they came down from the mountain, Jesus charged them, saying, Tell the vision to no man, until the Son of man be risen again from the dead." (Matthew 17:1–9, KJV)

I LEARNED WHILE WORKING IN THE GARDEN that you can “get more taters” if you dig all around and go a little deeper. Let’s dig a little deeper. The disciples Jesus selected, do not appear to be anything special. They were out of their league when they teamed up with Jesus. They had no idea what they were getting into. How on earth would Jesus launch a world-wide ministry with these fellows? They were unlearned and selfish to the core. It was like trying to make a silk purse out of a fertilizer sack.

THEY DIDN'T KNOW WHAT THEY WERE DOING ON THE MOUNTAIN or what was about to take place. When it took place, they didn’t know what to do with it. “Man alive! We have arrived! Let’s make this a permanent thing. Let’s build three shelters: one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.” They wanted to stay on the mountain top, permanently! They didn’t know that was a temporary meeting. But they needed this one-time experience. They would need to remember it many times. I’ve had a few extraordinary experiences that have been good to remember. I'm sure some of you have had unusual times when God came through in an unusual way and you are helped by remembering them.

GOD BROUGHT THEM UP ON THE MOUNTAIN for a “show and tell” session. Their real, long-term mission was going to be in the valley, down where it was ugly. It was hot and sweaty in the valley. People got sick and died in the valley. People fought and squabbled and killed one another in the valley. They wouldn’t need a retirement program because they wouldn’t live that long. The hardened Roman soldiers said that Christians died well. Tradition and various records say that the disciples all died a violent death, all but John, who lived to be 93-94. (Judas hanged himself.)

JESUS HAD TOLD THEM AT THE BEGINNING: And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me. (Luke 9:23)

SO, BEING A CHRISTIAN IS NOT FOR SNOWFLAKES AND SISSIES. People are not going to make it easy for you to be a Christian. If you are dead-serious about being a Christian, you are going to need a firm grip on the Bible and learn how to pray. Being a Christian involves a partnership between you and God; a relationship. It’s not just a set of rules and a set of songs to sing. We need to meet with God every morning and then to pray throughout the day. I like:

Let the words of my mouth,and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O LORD, my strength, and my redeemer. (Psalm 19:14)

Memory Verse This Month:
He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the LORD, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust. (Psalm 91:1-2)

Read Through the Bible in a Year
March 11, 2020 - WEDNESDAY
A.M. Deuteronomy 14-16 P.M. Mark 13:14-37
(Bible Gateway will read this to you if you like. Look for the speaker icon.)

Song for Today:
It’s Not an Easy Road (3:16) (Peterson Trio)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NK5kTlDiTxQ

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why have ye done this?

3/9/2020

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Why Have Ye Done This?
And ye shall make no league with the inhabitants of this land; ye shall throw down their altars: but ye have not obeyed my voice: why have ye done this? (Judges 2:2)

(I WROTE THIS ARTICLE FOUR YEARS AGO. But I need to edit it and send it out again. Our new readers haven’t read it and we all need to be reminded.)

OUR NATION IS IN MORAL CRISIS. Many Americans had rather cuss and rail as to pray. Our nation increasingly rejects the Bible as its moral anchor and authority.

WE HAVE BECOME A CULTURE OF DEATH and do not seem to notice or care. We have moved from abortion to infanticide (recently in Virginia). We are moving rapidly toward euthanasia (mercy killing) and the next step is enforced euthanasia as was practiced in NAZI Germany under Hitler. Germany killed over 300,000 infirmed Germans before turning on the Jews. They were called: “useless bread eaters.” When we have the death of God, we soon have the death of man. It is as certain as night following day.

IN AMERICA,THE MOTHER HAS TO SIGN THE EXECUTION ORDER for the death of her unborn baby. The president of the United States or the doctor cannot do that. Only the mother. Only a tiny fraction of the abortions is to save the life of the mother, or for rape or incest. The rest of them are “convenience” killings, murder. We have murdered over 60 million of the most helpless people in our nation and we wonder why our hearts are so hard and hateful toward each other.

CHILD ABUSE HAS ROCKETED SINCE WE EMBRACED ABORTION. A mentality of “kill those who bother me” generates a cruel society. If killing those who bother us is the order of the day, knives and stones will do. Cain killed Abel without a gun.

HITLER KILLED 6 MILLION JEWS. We have out-murdered Hitler ten times. The government didn’t force it upon us. The government allowed us to do what our own wicked impulses influenced us to do; millions of us! Millions of mothers murdering millions of babies. Many boyfriends and husbands and parents have insisted that it be done.

AND GOD DIDN'T NOTICE 60-MILLION BABIES SHOWING UP IN HEAVEN before their time to be there?

WE GOT THE "SLAUGHTER OF THE INNOCENT" bad wrong and now we are getting other things wrong. We have become a culture of death and defiance of the God of Heaven. We will tell God what He can have and what is right and wrong. Half of our nation wants the people of God to shut up and let the wicked make the rules for everyone to live under. We would do well to pause and do some serious thinking.

GOD IS OVER ALL NATIONS AS WELL AS INDIVIDUALS. God is over Israel and God is over America. We would do well to read God’s opinion on how a nation should conduct itself. A nation that serves God is always in great danger when an old generation dies off and a new generation takes over. Put them in fear, O Lord: that the nations may know themselves to be but men. Selah. (Psalm 9:20)

And the people served the LORD all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders that outlived Joshua, who had seen all the great works of the LORD, that he did for Israel. (Judges 2:7)

IN OUR DAY, THE DANGER OF A NEW GENERATION should be taught. There are token young people who are truly smart and realize they have a lot to learn. But as a whole, the younger generation thinks it already knows everything and is smarter than the “old folks”. The younger generation cannot spell D-A-N-G-E-R or W-I-S-D-O-M. I knew a teenager who was arguing with her dad: “Dad, you just don’t understand!” To which he quickly replied: “Oh, I understand alright. I just don’t agree with you.

WHEN I WAS 16, THERE WAS NO DANGER in running the family car at 100 M.P.H. on a two-lane country road. It’s terribly dangerous now but it wasn’t dangerous 69 years ago. It was going on big-time in our community and our loving, wise English teacher knew about it. Mrs. Looney required her entire class to memorize an article in the Reader’s Digest, stand before the class and recite it. If they couldn’t recite it, they had to read it aloud to the class. We memorized it and heard each other recite it 25 times:

“EARLY ONE MORNING LAST FALL in Hammond, Indiana a car careened around a curve…for one paralyzed moment a gasoline truck driver saw the glare of headlights as the machine bore down upon him. Then came the impact of steel upon steel…heads burst against the dashboard like overripe fruit…bones snapped….lungs collapsed…smothered hearts lurched into another beat and then died. Even before the uninjured truck driver leaped from his cab, it was all over…all over but the funeral bills for four dead people.” (Classmates?)

I CAN STILL QUOTE MOST OF IT. I understood this better after I ran my Dodge under the rear end of a log truck parked in the road at night. The point of this story is that young people are vulnerable to danger because they lack knowledge and perspective. Hosea said: My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children. (Hosea 4:6) Now that I’ve got that out of my system, let’s move on.

THE BOOK OF JUDGES IS ABOUT generation after generation that would not learn from the previous generation. In our day poll after poll shows that 60% of the young people are leaving Bible-believing churches by the time they leave high school, BEFORE they enter college. So, the decisions are being made to leave church while they are still attending church. I think this is what’s going on: For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them: but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it. (Hebrews 4:2)

DADDY AND MAMA CAN'T BELIEVE GOD FOR THEIR CHILDREN. The children have to believe God for themselves. If parents could only get hold of this truth, maybe they would be more committed to having a Godly home to model Christianity to their children; reading Bible stories to their young children and reading the Bible to their older children. Maybe parents would kneel and pray with their children hundreds of time. Give the children something to have to climb over if they are determined to go to hell. And after the best of parenting, some kids are determined to rebel against parents and God and live hell-bent.

WATCHING A FOOTBALL GAME WITH YOUR KIDS may be good camaraderie but it won’t necessarily move your children toward Heaven. Play catch with your children one minute and talk about John 3:16 the next minute. Live the Christian life in front of your children. Make it hard for your children to turn away from God. You can’t make your children choose God, but you can make it harder for them not to. Notice the tragedy that happened in Israel:

And also all that generation were gathered unto their fathers: and there arose another generation after them, which knew not the LORD, nor yet the works which he had done for Israel. And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the LORD, and served Baalim: And they forsook the LORD God of their fathers, which brought them out of the land of Egypt, and followed other gods, of the gods of the people that were round about them, and bowed themselves unto them, and provoked the LORD to anger. And they forsook the LORD, and served Baal and Ashtaroth.

And the anger of the LORD was hot against Israel, and he delivered them into the hands of spoilers that spoiled them, and he sold them into the hands of their enemies round about, so that they could not any longer stand before their enemies. (Judges 2:10-14)

Whithersoever they went out, the hand of the LORD was against them for evil, as the LORD had said, and as the LORD had sworn unto them: and they were greatly distressed. Nevertheless the LORD raised up judges, which delivered them out of the hand of those that spoiled them. And yet they would not hearken unto their judges, but they went a whoring after other gods, and bowed themselves unto them: they turned quickly out of the way which their fathers walked in, obeying the commandments of the LORD; but they did not so. (Judges 2:15-17)

And when the LORD raised them up judges, then the LORD was with the judge, and delivered them out of the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge: for it repented the LORD because of their groanings by reason of them that oppressed them and vexed them. And it came to pass, when the judge was dead, that they returned, and corrupted themselves more than their fathers, in following other gods to serve them, and to bow down unto them; they ceased not from their own doings, nor from their stubborn way. (Judges 2:18-19)

Memory Verse This Month:
He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the LORD, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust. (Psalm 91:1-2)

Read Through the Bible in a Year
March 9, 2020 - MONDAY
A.M. Deuteronomy 8-10 P.M. Mark 12:28-44
(Bible Gateway will read this to you if you like. Look for the speaker icon.)

Song for Today:
Rise Up O Men of God (1:57) (Unknown)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1XObMcJfNxI
(I learned this as a teenager from one of the older hymnals. Perhaps the Broadman Hymnal, page 186.)
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Historic Quote:
"The propitious smiles of Heaven can never be expected on a nation that disregards the eternal rules of order and right which Heaven itself has ordained.” (George Washington – 1789, Inaugural Address)

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In good health

3/4/2020

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In Good Health

Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth. For I rejoiced greatly, when the brethren came and testified of the truth that is in thee, even as thou walkest in the truth.I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth. 3John 1:2-4

JOHN WROTE GAIUS A SHORT LETTER in which he almost immediately went to the subject of physical health. He complemented Gaius on the good reputation he had among the brethren. A reputation for a commitment to truth (whatever it is and wherever it is found) is refreshing, indeed! There are people like that, and they are the kind of people you want to talk to when you’ve got a knotty problem of some kind. “Well, you may not like what he says, but you know you are going to get the truth when you talk with him.”

IT SEEMS THAT GAIUS WAS NOT IN GOOD PHYSICAL HEALTH and John wishes that his physical health would come up to his reputation for telling and living the truth. I was curious what some of the most reliable Bible commentators would say about this. They all agree that John was targeting Gaius’s physical health: not spiritual health. It was common then for people to greet one another and immediately reference their health. Don’t we say: “Good morning! How are you doing?” Same thing.

JOHN TAKES IT A STEP FURTHER AS IF TO SAY: “Someone told me you were not feeling well, and I just want you to know I’m concerned about it. Since John had been one of Jesus’ disciples, he had been well-trained by the Master to be concerned about the health and well-being of people as you mix with them. Jesus “went about doing good,” How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him. (Acts 10:38)

THE KING JAMES BIBLE LISTS: “one another” 547 times in 238 verses. That declares us to be quite “sociable,” wouldn’t you say? The Bible is about us and God. The Bible is also human-to-human. We go to church to worship God and we also go to church to exercise and refine our social natures And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works: Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching. (Hebrews 10:24-25)

IT IS BIBLICAL FOR US TO BE CONCERNED about the physical well-being of one another. James dealt with our need for food and clothing. And one of you say unto them, depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled; notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body; what doth it profit? (James 2:16)

AS WE HAVE THEREFORE OPPORTUNITY, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith. Galatians 6:10 The local church has some duty to see to the welfare of others, as we are able, especially to those of the household of faith. (If you are not able, you do not have opportunity.) The church is unable to perform the function of an enormous government program such as Social Security. The limited ability of the church to meet community needs is built into the phrase: “as we have opportunity,” or, as we are able.

WELL, HERE WE ARE IN THE MIDST OF ANOTHER PLAGUE, the Coronavirus. Some of the news is true and some of it is hype. It’s also a thing to politicize and use as a football, while people get sick and die. We commoners should do what people have always done: talk to the doctor’s office on the phone and stay out of the office if possible, quarantine, drink water, sleep, etc. Check in with www.cdc.gov often and see what’s really going on. Congress has appropriated $8-billion. That ought to do it.

Also, you may want to check in with CBN and listen to Lorrie Johnson, the very able and honest health reporter. https://www1.cbn.com/cbnnews/health (browse and learn) https://www.cbn.com/special/BuildABetterGut/ Get this free booklet or download it. There is also a 2-page summary you can download.

In America, the Coronavirus is killing mostly older people and people who already have underlying health problems. The new thing America is beginning to learn is that 80% of our immune system is in our gut, in the bacterial colonies that live in our gut. Take probiotics (capsules of gut bacteria) and prebiotics (what the bacteria eat to stay alive). Some of the best bacteria food is raw kraut and kimchee (bigger chunks of fermented vegetables).
Go to Google and type in: “how to make sauerkraut.” Try this website here: https://www.thekitchn.com/how-to-make-homemade-sauerkraut-in-a-mason-jar-193124. This will make 2 quarts of kraut, or one half-gallon jar.

TODAY, I CHOPPED UP 1 1/2 HEADS OF GREEN CABBAGE, put it in a dishpan, sprinkled 2 tsp salt, with clean hands stirred and squeezed the cabbage for ten minutes. Put in a crock and placed inside the crock, on top of the cabbage, about 2” of water in a plastic bag and let the water in the bag flow out to the wall of the crock. I put a weight on top of the bag of water, which went down onto the plate. Covered with cloth. Set the crock in a bedroom on a rug. Will check it in a couple of days and then every day until the product begins to turn sour. If it foams (normal thing) remove weight and water and remove foam; return water and weight to crock. In 5-6 days the product should be about ready to put into pint or quart big-mouth jars.

YOU CAN MAKE SAUERKRAUT IN QUART OR HALF-GALLON JARS. Jars make the product faster than crock. For 20 years, I searched for “why is salt used in making kraut?” Books, websites, old-timers. No one knew. I found the reason salt is used in making sauerkraut in this book I saw advertised on a website: Fermented Vegetables, 375 pages. About 9”x11”, paperback. New: $24.95. Amazon Books: $18.83. You may find a good used copy.

I’VE BEEN MAKING SAUERKRAUT IN A CROCK for about ten years. I’m making it now to boost my immune system against the Coronavirus and all other infectious diseases that lurk in the wings for 85-year-olds. I hesitate to be taking in much salt. I balance it out by upping my intake of potassium. (These two things are antagonistic to each other.)

Too much salt will raise blood pressure in some people, will swell the nasal passages and swell the feet. Swelling is a signal to increase potassium or back away from the salt. When eating kraut, refuse other salted products such as corn chips.

Read Through the Bible in a Year
March 5, 2020 - THURSDAY
A.M. Numbers 34-36 P.M. https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Mark+10%3A32-52&version=KJV
(Bible Gateway will read this to you if you like. Look for the speaker icon.)

Good Verse to Memorize:
Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth. 3John 1:2

Song for Today:
Give Me Jesus (3:05) (Calvary Memorial Church)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h64X3dotG5A
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why have ye done this?

In good health

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