Kay Cude poetry. Used with permission. Right-Click to open larger in new tab or see text below.
REMAIN: You are Chosen by God the Son
The storms that break to drown your soul, ‘neath trials that swirl with rage; Still now your fear and live your faith, and Christ His Strength engage.
Take heed the storms rend not your moor, to toss you to and fro; Be anchored to the Saviour’s Word, God’s Word do not forego.
Though deep the pain that batters you, and weak your grasp may seem; It is The Lord Who’s Chosen you, and you who He’s Redeemed.
And when confronted by the thought, that faith of yours is naught; Remember you are not undone, but by His Blood Are Bought.
And from the rage and storm that brews, reach out and clasp onto; The Truth that God is Sovereign, His Plan He’ll carry through.
“…Lord, to whom shall we go? You have Words of Eternal Life. We have believed and have come to know that You are The Holy One of God” John 6:68-69.
Jesus answered, “Did I Myself not choose you?” John 6:70a “You did not choose Me but I chose you, and appointed you that you would go and bear fruit, and that your fruit would remain, so that whatever you ask of the Father in My Name, He may give to you.” John 15:16
kay cude, December 2015 ADⒸ
TOWER SHIPWRECK Ivan Constantinovich Aivazovsky (1847).Image-
Text addition by author, Kay Cude, purposed solely for non-profit and educational sharing.
Making the rounds on social media this week is a 4 minute rendition of the hymn Nearer My God to Thee. It is a live clip from André Rieu’s tour in Maastricht a couple of years ago. It is now on his album The Sound of Heaven. The Album has a mixture classical masterpieces, romantic melodies, and evergreens, beautifully performed by André Rieu and his Johann Strauss Orchestra.
In this clip, the jumbotron occasionally pans from the players, conductor, or singers, to the audience members who are caught wiping a tear or two from their eyes. The music is so moving.
A famous line from the 1697 play The Mourning Bride by English playwright William Congreve is: “Music hath charms to soothe a savage breast, to soften rocks, or bend a knotted oak.” I was surprised when I looked this up just now because I thought the attribution was to Shakespeare. But no. The concept in the quote is that music enchants. It soothes. It can calm anger, or appease the hardest heart.
Can you imagine the music in heaven? The New Song that will be sung by blameless tongues of the 144,000 who had been purchased from the earth. (Revelation 14:3).
And in Revelation 15:3 the tribulation martyrs sing the song of Moses and the song of the Lamb, holding the harps of God.
And in Revelation 5:8-9a the four living creatures and the 24 elders with the harps sang a new song.
We will sing in heaven and there will likely be instruments there too. Hezekiah said “We will sing with stringed instruments all the days of our lives in the temple of the Lord.” (Isaiah 38:20)
The wider issue is that we need beauty. We respond to it deep in our souls. We need it in music, art, architecture, nature, all ways and and at all times. We thirst for beauty. This world is beautiful, but there is much ugliness too, much cruelty, much pain. Let us drink in the Lord’s magnificence through beauty when we find it.
Indeed, the Psalmist in Psalm 27:4 said his ONE pursuit is to behold God’s beauty-
One thing I have asked from the Lord, that I shall seek: That I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, To behold the beauty of the Lord And to meditate in His temple.
What an incredible honor we believers have, to soon look upon the enthralling face of the Savior, his perfections, glory, infinite holiness. His beauty is unmatched by anything seen, created, or imagines. It was David’s ONE hope, and should be ours.
Jesus is the ultimate beauty, and all earthly beauty comes from Him. This is why we respond to it.
If hymns praising Him then move us toward that pursuit of His beauty, then all the better.
Further Resources
Sheehan Quirke is otherwise known as The Cultural Tutor. He has a variety of resources such as a book, podcast, newsletter, and social media speaking on topics of art, architecture, history, poetry, and literature. He is interesting. His website is here.
RC Sproul’s teaching series at Ligonier on Recovering the Beauty of the Arts is here. I took the course. It’s good. Download & stream the 9 lessons for $14.50
Synopsis: Leah is remembered, but Bilhah and Zilpah often fade into the background. Given as slaves, used as surrogates, they still bore sons who shaped Israel. Their stories expose suffering but a God who did not forget them.
Here are some practical ideas on HOW to love as Jesus would have us love. Love these days is in short supply in the world. Our love will shine brightly if we love as Christians- loving our brethren, our families, the pagans, and even our enemies.
Extended quote from Free Grace Broadcaster #159, Love, from Chapel Library: essay The Triumph of Forbearing Love by Otto Stockmayer,
“Let us stop and consider the form of the expression. Of course, so far as we are children of God, Christ is in us. We cannot be born of God without having Christ in us. Christ must indeed be formed in us (Gal 4:19), but at the very moment we are born again from above He is in us.
Might it not be a very practical test, and a Biblical and Scriptural way of proving that Christ is in us, to get into the holy habit of always seeing Christ in our brother? Even if he were born again but yesterday, or only an hour ago, it is well for us at the very beginning of his Christian life to see in him, through faith, Christ abiding in his heart by the Spirit of God; a being of whom God—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—has taken possession.
Let us learn to look at our brother as seeing in him the unseen Christ, and we shall help him in a mighty way to take heed that Christ may shine in his life. By this means he will become conscious of the holy ground on which he stands and moves and walks, by having become a Christian. We who have for years walked with Christ must help the babe, the child, to awake to his high calling as quickly as possible.
By recognizing Christ in him, we shall help him to become conscious of the wonderful secret of his new life; and we must prove ourselves to be men in Christ by not stopping short at what we see with our eyes and hear with our ears of the manifestations of the flesh which we may find in the young Christian. We must be able, through Divine love shed abroad in our hearts and free grace in our lives, to look beyond what is seen; we must love our brother through faith in God, that He may bring out the new creation in him in a beautiful way… more beautiful, it may be, than in our own lives.”
The Benny Hinn-style of prosperity gospel is well known and easily seen among those Christians with even a snippet of discernment. The Hinn-style prosperity gospel, labeled ‘hard prosperity gospel’ in the article below, promises instant health or wealth, or immediate financial gains. These prosperity gospelers frequently use terms like ‘breakthrough’, urge positive confessions, (AKA ‘name it and claim it’), and press their audiences for donations they call ‘seed faith’ giving. Joel Osteen is one of these. So is Kenneth Copeland.
But there is another type of prosperity gospel that is much harder to detect. As always, that old serpent is subtle. It is in fact the first quality we learn about him, from Genesis 3:1. The first mention in the Bible of the serpent tells us of his subtlety. The word means cunning in a bad way, crafty, or shrewd. So it stands to reason satan adjusts his methods of deception. The “softer prosperity gospel” is one of those.
At 9Marks’ article quoted below, we learn of this more subtle prosperity gospel which in the quote below, says assumes its audience knows the Gospel already:
This is not a new concern. Others have described facets of this prosperity gospel under names like moralistic therapeutic deism, Christless Christianity, and the commodification of Christianity. In truth, all three descriptors overlap to describe a prosperity gospel that is easily missed, because it is seems reasonable to Christians who love God and the American Dream.
That said, the ‘soft prosperity gospel’ can be just as ruinous as the hard prosperity gospel. Any deviation from Christ’s standards for life and doctrine is ruinous. Why? Because any deviation comes from either our flesh, the world, or from satan, and stands opposed to Christ’s Good News. Just because it’s soft does not mean it’s less hard on the soul.
9Marks: “While evangelicals have traditionally decried the prosperity gospel in its “hard” form, there is a softer form of this teaching that is all too common among us. Often undetected by Bible-believing Christians, it assumes the gospel and leads its adherents to focus on things like financial planning, diet and exercise, and strategies for self-improvement. In contrast to the hard prosperity gospel, which offers miraculous and immediate health and wealth, this softer, subtler variety challenges believers to break through to the blessed life by means of the latest pastor-prescribed technique.”
I liked the use of the term “assumes the Gospel”. Too often as a Christian ministry whose goal of presenting information to its audience assumes its audience as Christians already know the Gospel. However, genuine Christians need to be reminded of it all the time. And we can never assume that anyone reading or listening to our output is actually a Christian and/or already knows the Gospel. The Gospel as Good News should be shared incessantly to one and all.
The 9Marks article mentioned diet & exercise as a location for one of the ways softer prosperity gospel enters in. Among the Christian circles I frequent, which focus on women, there is a huge emphasis on diet and exercise. It’s also called ‘wellness’. I’ve written previously about the trad wife & crunchy Christian woman. In these realms it seems a softer prosperity gospel abounds. Angela Mitchell of Raising Apologists has done a yeoman’s work on this topic as well. See some of her links below.
Wellness Christianity is not the only potential soft prosperity pitfall, of course. The pitfalls exist in spheres of financial planning, self-improvement, and other American style problems we think we have.
We do want to be healthy, plan wisely with our finances, and improve ourselves. That is not the issue. The problem comes when promoters of a soft prosperity shift the focus from Jesus’ blessedness to the blessings.
The 9Marks article continues with presenting 5 trademarks of soft prosperity.
Soft prosperity elevates “blessings” over the blessed God.
Soft prosperity detaches verses from the redemptive framework of the Bible.
Soft prosperity diminishes the curse that Christ bore and the blessing of the Holy Spirit.
Soft prosperity relies on pastor-prescribed therapeutic techniques.
Soft prosperity largely addresses first world, middle class problems.
It is easy to get drawn in to these, so please take a look at the article and see if you have or haven’t been fooled by these subtleties. If you have, of course Jesus will accept your repentance and the Spirit will respond to your request to be strengthened in discernment. If you have not been taken in, pray in praise to Jesus that He has delivered you from this error. Remember we do nothing on our own. We always abide in Him.
A leader falls. He goes away, out of the public eye. He is supposed to repent, practice the discipline or the guardrails his former fellow elders placed on him, then he goes to humbly sit in the pew and worship from there from then on. His fellow congregants are supposed to rejoice with him over his repentance and move forward as if the sin that made him fall was forgotten, because God forgets it when we repent. Grace abounds.
Sadly, that is not the experience of many of the publicly fallen pastors we see. Some who are less well known, of course, follow the prescribed method for repentance and restoration to the pew. But many more who have built their platform publicly, don’t.
They offer some kind of faux repentance or washed-out apology open letter, slide out of the public eye for a while. Then they come back. They either plant a new church, or join an existing church, or start up some para-ministry and begin again as a ‘leader’.
However, a leader who falls is under reproach. He can never regain that necessary trust that’s implicit in a leader-congregant relationship. His sin made him lose the position forever. He is surely forgiven if he repents, but he cannot lead. He has squandered the enormous gift of leading in Jesus’ name.
Why do so many fallen leaders fail at this restoration-to-the-pew process? Why do so many resume leading, as if the scriptures describing what he must do don’t exist?
1 Timothy 3:1-2a says The saying is trustworthy: If anyone aspires to the office of overseer, he desires a noble task. Therefore an overseer must be above reproach…
The word for ‘noble’ in the verse according to Strong’s Greek is “properly, beautiful, but chiefly good (literally or morally), i.e. Valuable or virtuous.”
Again from Strong’s Greek, ‘above reproach’ means simply blameless, unrebukeable.
A leader who has sinned and falls under reproach is no longer able to lead because he is no longer virtuous or blameless.
Why are churches so eager to restore fallen pastors to leadership? Why don’t they walk away?
The Master’s University also has some good insights as to how to minister to the fallen leader, “The church should do everything possible to minister to those who have sinned and repented. But that does not include restoring the mantle of leadership to a man who has disqualified himself and forfeited his right to lead. Doing so is unbiblical and lowers the standard God has set” but also an excellent thought on a reason why they keep getting vaulted up to the pulpit again, here in their essay, Forgiving Fallen Pastors.
If you see a fallen pastor re-ascending to the pulpit, just know he is in rebellion. If you see a fallen pastor or leader, especially one in your congregation, humbly seek Jesus from the pew, you can and should forgive, offer grace, and love him like the restored brother he is.
I’m enjoying HB Charles’ new book Psalms of Trust: Living with Confidence in God at All Times. He is a good writer. In chapter 1 Charles covers Psalm 23. I liked the quote he chose from Dr. John Phillips (1927–2010). See below the Psalm Have a wonderful Lord’s Day, or whatever day you are reading this.
1 The LORD is my shepherd, I will not be in need. 2 He lets me lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside quiet waters. 3 He restores my soul; He guides me in the paths of righteousness For the sake of His name. 4 Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me. 5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You have anointed my head with oil; My cup overflows. 6 Certainly goodness and faithfulness will follow me all the days of my life, And my dwelling will be in the house of the LORD forever.
Twenty-five years have passed…the pain is still real.
THE FACTS
I wrote yesterday in part 1 of my personal reflections about that terrible day known as 9/11. Twenty-five years ago, on September 11, 2001, four planes heavily loaded with fuel and souls, took off from the northeast with Muslim Terrorists on board. Their intention was to honor Allah and to perform a ‘death to America’ act of evil by flying the passenger planes into high value targets. These targets were buildings that represent the best of America: the Twin World Trade Towers in New York City representing our strength and our economy, the Pentagon which represents the greatest military on earth, and a target thought to be either the White House (home of the President) or the Capitol Building (seat of government/ cradle of Democracy). I said ‘thought to be’ because passengers on the 4th plane by then had heard of the previous three from cell phone calls, and knew the target was Washington DC, given where they were heading. The passengers knew they were to die but they would not allow the terrorists to accomplish their mission. The plane, United 79, was re-commandeered by the passengers and forced into a field in Pennsylvania.
The first plane hit the north tower of the World Trade Center at 8:46AM. To my knowledge, it wasn’t recorded on any video from news helicopters abuzz over the skies for traffic reports. Nor did any tourist accidentally capture the event. But once it hit, the news focused on it intently. Reporters wondered what could have happened. The day was so crystal clear and bright, surely a pilot would have known the building was there…was it a small commuter plane with an inexperienced pilot? Or was it some kind of explosion? What could make a hole that big?
Since the news cameras were all aimed at the North Tower, when the Muslim terrorists flew the second plane into the South Tower at 9:03, we knew instantly. THAT was the moment American changed.
I watched a documentary on 9/11 called “9/11: The Lost Tapes that Revealed the Chaos“. It focused on the communications between the FAA, Air Traffic Controllers, and The Northeast Air Defense Sector (NEADS), the military unit that protects the skies over the eastern United States and operates as part of NORAD (the North American Aerospace Defense Command).
The Muslim terrorists had gained the cockpit and turned off the locating transponders of each plane. The Military scrambled jets but they absolutely did not know the targets. And being passenger planes, the Air Defense was hesitant to shoot down randomly or mistakenly. Only after there was a command to ground all planes, the order to shoot down any non-responding plane still in the air was given. By then it was too late. All 4 targets had crashed, done what they set out to do (except United 93, which the passengers saved from destroying innocent lives on the ground).
The documentary made it clear just how unique and unexpected the use of passenger planes was at this given moment. Because of this, the Muslim terrorists’ goal in that respect was accomplished. The emotional grappling with such an event, using passenger planes AS the bomb, the disrespect for life, the use of the planes to strike high value targets, attacking the United States out of nowhere, was something not even thought of by the military (NORAD or NEADS), or Air Traffic Control, or the Federal Aviation Administration.
In fact, in the documentary, on tape, one Commander was told of the hijackings and she said “Cool.” She explained in her current day interview that she had said ‘Cool’ because hijacks were something known and prepared for, and there was a protocol and sequence to follow. But no, this was no ordinary hijacking. The mind took quite a while to catch up.
Shortly before 9/11, actor James Woods was on a flight to Los Angeles. Apparently, he saw four men Woods suspected to be Muslim terrorists making a dry run on his flight. He stated this to the Flight crew who said a report would be made. Bureaucracy swallowed the report.
After 9/11 Woods called the FBI, who showed up on his doorstep at 7am on Sepotember 12 door, woke him up, and interviewed Woods on the details. Here is Woods talking about it- https://youtu.be/GI_jVBd7gok?si=NftnkPTG_HICGedc
And here we have the fallout. The dividing line for our nation was between the first and second planes. There is “before” and there is “after.”
I can’t say enough about the fear, confusion, emotional and mental groping, and unbalance we all felt on that day. We had no words.
Any person could be an enemy. Any disaster could come from any direction. Planes used as bombs? Would there be missiles? Nukes? Shooting attacks? Submarines bursting out of the waters to shot missiles on shore? An army? We were completely unbalanced. Fear and perplexity! We were in shock and grief for the poor individuals who were killed on the planes and on the ground. We mourned the first responders. We could not articulate what we were even feeling or thinking. Many were angry. Many became patriotic at that instant the 2nd plane hit. I know I and my friend thought the world was ending. It felt like Armageddon. End of the world. Everything was crumbling.
THE RELIGIOUS PART
There will be a day to come when Jesus will unleash terror unlike even on 9/11, or Pearl Harbor day or Atomic Bomb over Japan day. It will be REAL Armageddon at the end of a time period of trouble unlike the world has ever seen. (Matthew 24:21).
It will be so bad that as even the powers of heaven are shaken, people fainting from fear and the expectation of the things that are coming upon the world; (Luke 21:26 NASB). Other translations say ‘men’s hearts failing’.
Barnes’ Notes explains, “Men’s hearts failing them – This is an expression denoting the highest terror. The word rendered “failing” commonly denotes to “die,” and here it means that the terror would be so great that people would faint and be ready to die in view of the approaching calamities.”
The fear and perplexity we felt on 9/11 will occur again but be exponentially worse on the Day of the Lord.
From a sermon: “How does the world as we know it end and what will be the signs? In this passage, [Mark 13] Jesus teaches his disciples the final signs marking the end of the age and the coming of his kingdom. And there are three of these final signs. Let’s look at them one by one. The first sign of the end of the age is the upheaval of the heavens. The upheaval of the heavens. There will be cosmic chaos when all the celestial bodies in the sky are thrown into turmoil. First of all, the heavens will be darkened.
Jesus says in verse 24, in those days after the Tribulation, the sun will be darkened and the moon will not give its light. So the world will fall into darkness because neither the sun nor the moon shine on the earth. How dark will it be? Well, the word Jesus uses, darkened, the sun will be darkened, suggests that the sun won’t shine at all.
It’s a word that describes not so much the dimming of a light as the turning off of a light. It’s the same word that Paul uses in Romans 1 to describe the darkness that is in sinners’ hearts. In a rebellious sinner’s heart, No light of the gospel shines. It’s pitch black. It’s completely dark.
And Jesus uses that same word here. In the same way, the light of the sun will not shine on the earth. God will supernaturally prevent the sun’s rays from reaching the earth and the world will fall into blackness. Now obviously with no light from the sun, the moon will also, as Jesus says, not give its light. Both day and night will be completely dark.
Now everyone, no matter where they are on the earth, will see this sign. It will be impossible to miss. It will be an unmistakable sign that life on earth will never be the same again. Everyone will realize that. Something momentous has occurred that cannot be fixed with human ingenuity or technology.
Jesus says that not only the heavens will be darkened, but also the heavens will be disordered. He says in verse 25, and the stars will be falling from heaven and the powers in the heavens will be shaken. That word stars refers to really any luminous body in the sky other than the sun, such as planets, comets, meteors, anything that’s visible into the space, into the heavenlies. And Jesus says that these celestial bodies will be falling from heaven, that’s a present tense participle indicating continuous like an asteroid shower, a meteor shower, just continually coming down. He says, these celestial bodies will careen through the heavens, many falling to the earth as if they had spun out of control.
Even the powers or the forces that seem to hold everything together and constant in the heavens will be shaken. Somebody has likened it to a cosmic earthquake. Except the quake won’t be on the earth, but in the heavens. The universe will appear to crumble. Well, you can imagine how this will affect people on earth. If the world were cast into utter darkness, life on earth could not last long.
And all this will cause panic and terror in the hearts of those not trusting in the Lord. In Luke’s account of the Olivet Discourse, Jesus says in chapter 21, verse 26, there will be signs in sun and moon and stars, and on the earth distress of nations in perplexity because of the roaring of the sea and the waves. And then Jesus says again, Luke 21, 26, people fainting with fear and with foreboding of what is coming on the world, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken. They’ll be used to powers on the earth shaken through earthquakes, or fires, or famines, or wars. But to look up in the sky and see chaos, cosmic chaos, will cause people to panic.
They will panic to the point of fainting away in fear, or will faint dead because they are having heart attacks. It will be a time of judgment from above and below, a time of hate and evil and disaster and fear.
9/11 was bad because men are evil. The solution to evil is Jesus. He is Good. He is the only good, and as such, will forgive our sins which deserve punishment and judgment, because He died as the sacrifice for those sins. He endured God pouring out man’s evil sins onto His son on the cross. Now, any person who repents and believes Jesus as the Savior will be seen by God the Father as Good. He will be seen as a righteous person with no condemnation will be upon Him.
and He Himself brought our sins in His body up on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live for righteousness; by His wounds you were healed. (1 Peter 2:24).
Jesus is the Hope! You do not have to remain on earth when He sends these terrible judgments upon the world. If you repent of your sins and turn to Him, you will be safe in heaven when these things happen. I will never forget that awful day. It truly was an event that sears itself on my mind and heart. 25 years later I still cry when watching some of these documentaries.
Sin is the reason these troubles happen, and one day, if you repent, sin will be no more in heaven. All will be at peace. At long last, peace.
Photo of the fallen towers in New York City, taken by an American Legionnaire a few days after the terror act, and given to me
In March of 2001 I started a newspaper. It was a weekly community paper where I’d determined to cover our local government. I was fiercely committed to our First Amendment rights, especially a free press and the right to assemble.
The local community had a newspaper already but it had drifted from its origins when founded 30 years prior, and was now actually oppressing the citizenry. They were effectively a government arm. I had a goal of using my paper to teach the locals what their rights and responsibilities were as participating citizens of a great country and how to grow our town into a thriving society, based on those aforementioned freedoms.
On the morning of September 11, 2001, it was a Tuesday. I’d arrived at my newspaper office early since Tuesday was a big paper day, we go to print early Wednesday morning. We weren’t digital then, I’d have to drive the laid-out boards to a nearby city, so the timing was important. Tuesday then, was the day we put the paper all together.
I was renting my news office from my friend who lived a big, rambling farmhouse. I was in the front room, she and her family lived in the back rooms. She called me from her living room. I thought it was unusual that she phoned, being just a few feet away from me in the same building. But her usually quiet voice evaporated all other thoughts. She said with fierceness, “COME HERE NOW”.
The first plane had just hit the twin tower in NY. Shoulder to shoulder we stared at the burning hole in the North Tower, trying to comprehend what had made such a big hole. We watched with eyes wide, breathing shallowly, standing with arms numbly at our sides…
As we watched, the second plane hit at 9:03. Our heads swiveled toward each other, eyes locked. We knew. We knew without saying a word that this was an attack. We were being attacked from an enemy combatant.
We also knew that nothing would ever be the same. It only took seconds for us to realize this.
A knot was in my stomach and comprehending thoughts refused to form in my head. But we did know that when a war starts you do a few things right away. We got our purses and first we walked across the street to the hardware store and we bought the biggest flag they had. We went back to the office and put it up.
AMERICA!
Then we drove down the street to the bank to get money. Cash was going to be important if the electricity went out or we were ordered to evacuate. We didn’t know what was coming next and we wanted to be prepared. It could have been a nuke coming next, for all we knew. We worried about nukes. There was a huge Navy telecommunications station in Cutler, Maine that the Russians had their missiles aimed at for a long time. Maine certainly was a target. We felt exposed, unsafe, with an enemy that could be lurking anywhere.
At the bank, they had the TV on in the break room with the door open and the volume up so customers could hear what was going on. A third plane had crashed into the Pentagon. We saw the fire and military men running around to evacuate that military building. The Muslim terrorists had struck the building that represented the strongest military in the world! This was a different kind of war.
While we were at the bank we saw a fourth plane had just gone down in PA. The smoking crater was being shown. We knew that plane was part of whatever was happening. It seemed like it was coming from all directions. The feeling was disorienting, not just for us but for everyone. Everyone around us seemed like zombies…with unsure gait, eyes wide, half-sentences drifting off as the mind groped.
We did not know if we would have to evacuate so after the bank, we gassed up our cars. Better be prepared. Then, with the flag up at the office, cash in hand, and cars parked and ready, we went into the office and got to work.
FREEDOM!
We resolved that our freedom was under attack. Running a newspaper which reported the news and offered a platform for the people to speak their thoughts on any political or civic matter freely, we decided our most patriotic thing we could do to support the Constitution that day was to get the paper out. The terrorists were not going to stop the presses. They were not going to stop freedom from ringing out. And that is what we did.
Those Muslim terrorists were evil. But we are all evil before we repent. I wasn’t saved on 9/11. I was about to be soon, but not yet. Jesus is the hope we have to become good. Not on our own merits. We do not become good through our own efforts. No, “Why do you call me good?” Jesus answered. “No one is good–except God alone.” It is not a popular thing to say, that we are not good, but we are not.
In Islam the only sure way they have to get to heaven is to kill in Allah’s name. The terrorists thought they were gifting Allah with their lives but 1 second after they died they learned Allah is a figment. There is no Allah. They met the one True God – Jesus- who will pour out His wrath upon them in hell for all eternity. (Revelation 14:10). As He will to all sinners.
In Islam you pour out your life so that others die. I thank Jesus that He poured out His life so that we may live…and become righteous. “It is because of him [God] that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption.” (1 Corinthians 1:30).
Even at that, our fleshly lives on earth are a struggle, a struggle against sin and growth in righteousness. I long for the day when flesh shall be glorified and sin shall be banished.
Part 2 tomorrow, upon the 25th anniversary of 9/11.
Here are John MacArthur’s sermons during that terrible week that aimed to help people understand-
Jesus will return in glory with His glorified saints. He will institute new nations and new cities populated by sinless resurrected chosen ones. There will be no more war because our hearts will be made right with Him. There will be no more terror because we will want nothing, having been given it all by our Savior. If you bow low to the Savior and repent, He will lift you up high. Please do it soon.
I have always loved paper. I’m a writer, to comes with the territory! Especially since I spent half my life expressing myself on paper before computer screens were invented. When I was in Italy, I purposely made a trip to the town of Fabriano. That place is one of the earliest and most important places in the West that sparked the trade in paper. The tradesmen there in the 1200s invented vats with multiple hammers, shortening the pounding time necessary to grind fiber to a malleable state. They also invented the watermark.
With a love of paper naturally comes a love of journals. I recently discovered the paper-journal-site Archer & Olive. This is an upscale, super-beautifully designed journal site. Their mission statement says,
At Archer & Olive, we believe creativity and planning should feel inspiring not overwhelming. That’s why we create premium journaling tools designed to support your mental wellness and help you stay organized in a way that feels joyful.
Archer & Olive’s Stamp Collector Collection
Premium is right. They make stunningly beautiful designs for their journals, notebooks, washi tape, and so on. An especially exciting product is their Subscription box. Inside are a myriad of freshly designed items sent to the subscriber. Each box bundle, and each season’s release of new individual collections, is freshly and uniquely designed by the talent behind the scenes.
For subscribers, the anticipation quickens as the date nears for the quarterly subscription box’s contents to be previewed and then released to the subscribers. They sell out quickly, I understand, and no wonder. They are beautiful as well as practical for the journaler or crafter who likes to create art in such notebooks.
Archer & Olive’s Homespun Collection
Last week, on September 1, the Subscriber box was released to current subscribers, and a few days later, the opportunity for new quarterly subscribers to buy one was opened on their site.
I enjoyed seeing the glimpses and previews of the new designs, as well as viewing old “unboxings” on Youtube. These designers really know their craft.
Yesterday I read a statement from Archer & Olive that saddened me. Now, the state of social media is known to one and all. You can carve out a quiet corner for yourself by making intentional follows and relentless blocking… but still, the negativity, trolling, and downright hate will be present even when you make innocuous statements or put out a benign vibe. And so it was with A&O. They wrote:
In the past week, we have been getting an unprecedented number of comments questioning our design process. We will be honest, we were taken by surprise by the sudden influx. Our team have a longstanding history of gorgeous designs, long before generative Al developed to where it is now, and we naively believed those years of designs spoke for themselves. However, as more new people find us, we understand that we haven’t built your trust yet, so here’s what we’re doing going forward.
MAKING OUR STANCE CLEAR
Our team quickly put together this page to clearly state our stance against Al-art, as well as including some insights on our design processwe have shared before:
This page is not comprehensive, but we wanted to respond quickly to show we are actively engaged in the discussion, and working on ways to make our stance clear.
WHAT WE WILL BE DOING GOING FORWARD?
We have plans to continue to share more behind the scenes, and we are talking to our artists about sharing more of their process. However, we hope that everyone can understand that we will first and foremost be prioritizing the privacy and mental health of our staff. All our artists are in-house employees, and after being met with hostility when personally engaging with comments, many have become hesitant to have a public presence.
We do genuinely understand the vigilance when looking for Al, but our designs are created by real humans; real people who are seeing the unfounded comments and increased negativity towards their work. If you see an error, there was a real person behind that error. Our team are amazing, many who have been with us from the early days of Archer and Olive, and some newer faces who have allowed us to expand our designs and style over the years. We only hope going forward their work can be met with the praise it deserves.
How bad does society need to be that floods an innocent design site with trolls spewing hate! So sad. Here they are, making beautiful things, selling them, enjoying their own products, wanting to help people through journaling, and along come a flood of negative nellies who are skeptical that real, live designers have toiled hard to bring these pretty items to the public. Real, live designers whose work is not only not acknowledged positively, but denied at all!
How unkind.
You know that photo of all the men saluting Hitler in the Nazi salute and one guy rebelliously has his arms crossed?
In these days of unkindness, we can be that guy. Being kind in an unkind world will stand out. It will be a balm, a breath of fresh air, a sweet zephyr of repose for those around you.
To fellow Christians, Be kind to one another, compassionate, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you. (Ephesians 4:32).
Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with hearts of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. (Colossians 3:12).
Kindness is a spiritual fruit. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness (Galatians 5:22).
As in like manner, kindness will also stand out in a darkening world in our attitudes and behavior toward non-Christians, too.
So then, while we have opportunity, let’s do good to all people, and especially to those who are of the household of the faith. (Galatians 6:10).
Even to those who are enemies! We should be kind. Luke 6:35 says, But love your enemies and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High; for He Himself is kind to ungrateful and evil people.
It profits no one anything to be unkind. I know I have failed myself in this regard many times. I begin each day with an appeal to the Holy Spirit to help me be kind to one and all. Fading energy, irritation, illness, are some reasons why I fail to restrain the unkindness and it comes out. But to purposely troll a business with floods of unkind negativity is beyond appropriate.
Stand out by being kind, even in the face of unkindness. Paul quoted Proverbs 25:21–22 in Romans 12:20 (ESV), To the contrary, “if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.” As GotQuestions explains,
Verse 21 explains the idea of heaping burning coals on someone by saying, “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” Anyone can return evil for evil. But when a Christian does so, the watching world sees nothing different about our lives. It is not even clear who is right and who is wrong when we respond in kind to the one who wronged us. But, when we follow Jesus’ instruction to love our enemies (Matthew 5:43–44) and return good for evil, the contrast is stark. Our kind and gentle reaction to hatred spotlights the depravity of the one who treated us poorly and leaves the hurtful person alone in his or her hatefulness. Nothing pricks the conscience of a hateful person like a soft, forgiving spirit in the one he has wronged (Proverbs 15:1).
the-end-time.org 