Posted in biography, Uncategorized

Re-Post: 4th of July Memories: Bicentennial, Tall Ships, Messing Around in Boats

Originally published July 4, 2013

I’ve been reminiscing this morning about the 4th of July in 1976. It was our nation’s 200th anniversary, and I lived in Rhode Island then. I was 15 1/2 and massively excited about the Tall Ships.

My grandparents had bought a beach house in 1938. The thing to do back then was buy a seasonal cottage by the bay or ocean, and the family goes to the cottage all summer while the men commuted to work. The state’s nickname is The Ocean State because of so much ocean coastline everywhere.

So in 1938 my grandparents bought a cottage on a small hill overlooking Narragansett Bay, which led to the Atlantic Ocean. It was unfortunate/fortunate…the 1938 hurricane wiped out RI as far inland as Providence, and destroyed huge swathes of coastline and many hundreds died. It wrecked the cottage pretty bad. It was unfortunate that they had the beach house only a few months before the state’s worst hurricane hit, but fortunate because they could rebuild it to their liking. Over the years they added on and enlarged it, slowly.

The Bay was great. It was a giant playground for us kids and cousins.

Continue reading “Re-Post: 4th of July Memories: Bicentennial, Tall Ships, Messing Around in Boats” →

Posted in encouragement, Uncategorized

Praise for the Light

Before I was saved I breathed in the air of common grace, grace that is filled with the creation knowledge of Him. It was poison to my lungs. I flopped around like a caught fish on the deck, breathing grace but longing for the murky waters to envelop me once again, the weeds wrapping around my head, because I loved the darkness. (cf Jonah 2:5b)

And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. (John 3:19).

as it is written:

None is righteous, no, not one;
no one understands;
no one seeks for God.
(Romans 3:10)

And yet He loved me, a sinner, and set me upright, washed me, gave me common grace and and added saving grace to my soul.

For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.(Romans 8:2).

After salvation I breathe in the sweetness of special grace, the savor of Jesus and His sanctifying work of atonement. The Light came.

Posted in prophecy, Uncategorized

The Ark, The Rainbow, and True Liberty

“America was established not to create wealth but to realize a vision, to realize an ideal – to discover and maintain liberty among men.” – Woodrow Wilson

Then the LORD said to Noah, “Go into the ark, you and all your household, for I have seen that you are righteous before me in this generation. Take with you seven pairs of all clean animals,a the male and his mate, and a pair of the animals that are not clean, the male and his mate, and seven pairs of the birds of the heavens also, male and female, to keep their offspring alive on the face of all the earth. For in seven days I will send rain on the earth forty days and forty nights, and every living thing that I have made I will blot out from the face of the ground.” And Noah did all that the LORD had commanded him. (Genesis 7:1-5)

Six years in the planning and making, The Ark Encounter exhibit opens July 7, although the word “exhibit” might be understating it a little. The Answers in Genesis Creation Museum just over the state border from Cincinnati in Kentucky has almost completed their life-sized replica of Noah’s Ark, ready for thousands and thousands of visitors from all over the world. More from Wikipedia. The Museum itself is about 45 miles from the Ark Encounter Theme Park. Here are a couple of still shots from their May 2016 promo video. Continue reading “The Ark, The Rainbow, and True Liberty” →

Posted in encouragement, Uncategorized

Prata potpourri: Spiritual warfare, Salt of the Earth, Kings Kaleidoscope, Carthage cooling, Busy Nothings, more

My summer at home is halfway through. School ends in late May and we teacher’s aides have June and July off. School begins again August 1 for us and August 5 for the kids. It’s been great to be at home, with long stretches of time to myself. I enjoy reading, studying the Bible, crafts, web surfing, learning something new (this summer, bone china history & collectibles), and watching movies. How about you? What are your favorite things to do in the summer?

Here are a few offerings that resulted from my enjoyable summer web surfing of late. Continue reading “Prata potpourri: Spiritual warfare, Salt of the Earth, Kings Kaleidoscope, Carthage cooling, Busy Nothings, more” →

Posted in prophecy, Uncategorized

“Homosexual sin is different”

I was as grieved by the massacre in Orlando as much as anyone. I shed tears over the article that recounted a youth’s last texts to his Mommy. I shed tears over the bartender’s recounting of his and others’ escape. Omar Mateen perpetrated a heinous crime.

But another heinous crime in the face of God is homosexuality. In reading these articles, I was saddened by the sudden change of the newspapers publishing them of their website banners to rainbows. There were rainbows all over the place, in ‘support’ of the homosexual lifestyle. False teachers such as liberal Glennon Doyle Melton and influential Rachel Held Evans immediately responded with Facebook statuses in support of homosexuality. Evans said in her note that Christian theology “hurts” gay people. Evans’ note about the Orlando massacre got 2176 shares and over 200 comments before I quit looking.

I quote the passage at Romans 1:18-32 a lot. It is the section where Paul shows what God does to a society/individual that rejects Him. At the last, God judges them with homosexuality and that means that “They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity.” (Romans 1:29).

Homosexuality is the judgment upon a person. Its widespread presence in a culture indicates that the judgment upon a society is already here.

Continue reading ““Homosexual sin is different”” →

Posted in encouragement, Uncategorized

Why I am grateful for apostasy

If you listen to old time radio pastors from the 1930s through 1950s and later, each one at some point, has said that this generation of church-going Christians or this era of Christianity is going downhill. Charles Spurgeon famously published an anonymous article actually written by his friend Robert Shindler (with input from Spurgeon himself) addressing a visible downgrade in an 1887 issue of his magazine, Sword and Trowel. That article, and its follow up, famously brought the “Down-grade controversy” to the public’s attention.

A hundred and fifty years before Spurgeon, Jonathan Edwards wrote about the devil’s triumph in squelching a religious revival in New England and a lack of religious affections that had become evident in the people.

We can trace the genealogy of apostasy back to Genesis 6, or to Genesis 3. So is it anything new to say that this generation of church-going Christians, that visible Christianity itself is downgrading itself in a compounding manner, faster and faster as we go? No.

Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons, (1 Timothy 4:1)

Continue reading “Why I am grateful for apostasy” →

Posted in prophecy, Uncategorized

Kay Cude Poetry: Desertion

Kay Cude is a poet whose sensitivity to the glorious salvation of Jesus Christ is uniquely expressed through poetry and picture. Here is her latest offering, in which she explains her thought process. Enjoy

—————————–Kay Cude—————————–

If you look closely at the tower, you’ll see a tiny figure of someone, which refers to the statement, “As gazed I o’er the valley fair, to there below from tower high.”

That little figure caught my eye, as well as the city lighted up and the storm approaching from the left (approaching spiritual death). So I began to write. The city represents the safety of true salvation in Christ and understanding His Gospel.

The people represent those captured by a “different gospel” suggested as the “real” place of safety. Even though they “know” God’s truth — they are persuaded to run to false teaching and reject Christ.

Christ’s refuge is known to them and still stands in its truth, but when extreme peril approaches, they are convinced by someone’s whim (spiritual deception), to flee to eternal death and separation. Even the donkey digs in his heels against the “unknown” way,” and the dog barks at their sudden rejection.

Their end is eternal separation and eternal living death because they quickly deserted Christ’s truth for a distorted gospel.

 

did
Posted in discernment, Uncategorized

Introducing AutoBibleCorrect, the killer app of tomorrow

I know most of us are familiar with AutoCorrect. This is an application installed on cellular phones which automatically corrects misspelled words when the user sends a text. The AutoCorrect application takes it upon itself to correct items it believes are wrong, removing the user as thinking mediator.

Well now there is a new app! AutoBibleCorrect! Yes, all one needs to do is overlay the app on their online version of their Bible, whether it is on your phone or on your favorite website like BibleHub or BibleGateway, or on your tablet or even Kindle. AutoBibleCorrect works for all digital versions of the Bible.

Continue reading “Introducing AutoBibleCorrect, the killer app of tomorrow” →

Posted in discernment, Uncategorized

False teachers dishonor the mighty name of God

“The early church was married to poverty, prisons and persecutions. Today, the church is married to prosperity, personality, and popularity.” Leonard Ravenhill.

We are living in a plague now. It is a plague of false teachers. False teachers bring a different Gospel, or meld the true Gospel with a false one, and they try to make the people forget the True and Living God. Jeremiah had complained to God about the false prophets and their message.

“But I said, “Alas, Sovereign LORD! The prophets keep telling them, ‘You will not see the sword or suffer famine. Indeed, I will give you lasting peace in this place.’” (Jeremiah 14:13)

He was concerned that the falsely positive messages would dampen their fervor and alertness of the people. Any message that a person accepts that is not from God is inherently damaging. Paul referred to this process as gangrene. (2 Timothy 1:7). This is why we must insist on proper interpretation of biblical messages from our pulpits, read books that have proper representations of the Gospel and God, it is why we must study for ourselves so when a TRUE message of peace does come, we can rely on it.

Later, God answered Jeremiah, Continue reading “False teachers dishonor the mighty name of God” →

Posted in prophecy, Uncategorized

The Language of Death: Obituaries

Death, the final frontier. These are the lives of the starbaby Humans. Their 7000-year mission: to explore strange new hearts, to seek out new life and new religion, to boldly go where no man has gone before.

OK, a thousand pardons for re-writing that famous opening line from the original Star Trek television series.

Death IS the final frontier. All humans are eternal, death is just a passing over of the line between this life and the next. However, the life in the next is permanently and eternally fixed. One will either pass over the boundary into the final frontier into hell, or into heaven.

And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, (Hebrews 9:27) Continue reading “The Language of Death: Obituaries” →