The Missing 12 Smooth Stones

I am reminded of when the children of Israel were exhorted in their crossing of the river Jordan into the promised land that they were to take from the river 12 smooth stones to remind them of all that God had done for them in bringing them through the wilderness and crossing the Jordan. (And they had many more difficulties to go through and overcome so would need those reminders to prevail.) Their instructions were to take those 12 smooth stones and tell those stories to subsequent generations.... And, they were commanded that for a reason.

Even though the Acts of the Apostles (Actually the Acts of God through and witnessed by the Believers at the time) ends where it ends in the scripture, the book of Acts in the Church is not intended to end until the Coming of the Lord. Throughout history there have been saints of God who have walked in incredible grace. When we leave all those smooth stones of God's moving through His people back in the Jordan river of History that the Church has passed through, when we have sentenced them to be forgotten by subsequent generations, we are doing a vast disservice to future generations of Christians. Christian converts who will accept a life in Christ far less than He has intended or is capable of working in us.

Much of the present generation of newer Christians lack a certain foundation of those smooth stones of the continuity of the LORD's work in and through His Church throughout history. I have never seen a generation like this that so much seems to need to be entertained to come to and remain in Christ as opposed to realizing the deep and constant need for conviction of sin and the need to submit out lives to Christ and bear our own cross. That our lives are no longer our own. We have been purchased with a price. Part of that reason is that we have all but erased the testimony of God in prior generations and by doing so have shortchanged ourselves and this generation....

And They Were One

From the heart and mouth of the Lord Jesus:

"and there shall be one flock and one shepherd (Jesus)." John 10:16
"I and my Father are one." - John 10:30
"And the glory which You gave me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one." - John 17:22
"And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to You. Holy Father [GOD], keep through Your own name those whom You have given me, that they may be one, as we are."- John 17:11
"By this shall all men know that you are my disciples, if you have love one to another." - John - 13:35

And affirmed by the Holy Spirit upon His outpouring on the disciples:

"And all that believed were together and had all things common" - Acts 2:44
"And the multitude of them that believed were of on heart and of one soul." - Acts 4:32

---

Is it wrong to desire such a thing if Jesus himself desired it to be so??? Do we dare to entertain such a thought that seemed so prominent on the mind of Jesus prior to his crucifixion??? That after Jesus ascended the promised Holy Spirit came upon them became so apparent???

That those who follow Jesus would be ONE.

What is it that hiders us? Is it the desire to rule our own kingdoms as in the world? How is it that there are endless splits within what is outwardly known as the "Church" to the point now that we have 10's of thousands of independent organizations all claiming our own identities.

Is identifying with Christ insufficient to our hearts that we find ourselves chasing after strange fruit to satisfy some carnal desire within our ranks and in our own hearts to "have our own?" Can we possibly see that desire as sin that Jesus died on the cross for? Something that needs repentance? What is the call to repentance that so many have heard and professed really about?

"If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land." - 2nd Chronicles 7:14

It is not "America" (or any other country) that God is calling out to be saved. It is His Church splintered in spirit like a broken sheet of glass mirror, shattered into thousands of pieces all reflecting to some degree His image yet unable of it self to reflect that one quality of God that seems to have escaped our convictions: "Hear Oh Israel. The Lord your God is ONE God."

Jesus is not returning for the pieces of a shattered mirror but a perfect mirror image of his own likeness. We will either in our repentance finding ourselves being restored by Him or we will have to face the tremendous heat necessary to melt the shattered mirror that we have become to make us that perfect mirror image once again.

That day of extreme heat is fast coming upon us. Never underestimate the passion of a holy God for the purity of His Church. Individually, organizationally, locally or nationally...

No form of government either political or religious will save us from that day. We need to decide, each of us individually, organizationally, in our locality, nationally, to not break faith with one another other. To live in Christ as one. Rather than being puffed up about our differences to mourn before God over them until they are settled. To decide whom it is that we will truly serve, God or the shattered outward form. The failure of those in authority "above us" will be no excuse for us in that day.

"All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him (Jesus) the iniquity of us all." - Isaiah 53:6

I will leave you in this with a last thought to consider from Jeremiah 18:1-6

The word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying, "Arise, and go down to the potter's house, and there I will cause you to hear my words."

Then I went down to the potter's house, and, behold, he wrought a work on the wheels. And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter: so he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it.

Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying, "O house of Israel, cannot I do with you as this potter?" saith the Lord. "Behold, as the clay is in the potter's hand, so are ye in mine hand, O house of Israel."

The day of denominationalism is over. 
"That which is highly esteemed in the sight of religious men is an abomination in the sight of God." - Luke 16:15

We need to be careful that after 2000 years of religious traditions we are not found "choking on a gnat" yet having been tricked into "swallowing a camel"...

The "Oneness" of Cooperation

And the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul; neither said any of them that any of the things which he possessed was his own; but they had all things common. - Acts 4:32

Wikipedia is a non-profit effort formed to provide a knowledge forum where people can work together on any subject to enhance knowledge about it. The restriction is that they agree to allow others to use it freely and without restriction and that in passing that knowledge on they do not restrict others from using it or passing it on freely as well endlessly. The goal is to enable the passing on of knowledge not to profit financially from it and to insure that continues to be the case. It has always been upheld by that discipline and the contributions and financial donations of others whether small or large.

The same principle drives the working of the Free Software Foundation which cooperatively birthed the Linux operating system into existence worldwide as an alternative to Microsoft's which was produced solely on the basis of market control and financial gain. Microsoft shares nothing of it's advances unless it absolutely has to therefore it is often very slow or negligent to correct them. The free software and knowledge community shares with and cooperates on everything so that all benefit and can continue to develop and pass it on. We might be more familiar with the "Android" system, a somewhat derivative, that powers some phones and smaller computer devices as an alternative to Apple's potential monopoly.

Even though such efforts are prone to occasional error it is notable that correction or improvement of those errors can come by way of the most seemingly insignificant member/participant very often far quicker than those commercial systems can produce. It is inherent that because no one cooperating can claim exclusiveness in anything that there is tremendous openness to correction (rather than the hiding of errors and unwillingness to have them be corrected from the "outside" inherent in more commercial efforts.) The level of cooperation and selflessness is quite often astounding considering the dog eat dog world we live in.

When I built the software that powered the INCN site years ago, I learned what I needed to know from the freely available and correctable programing efforts of others in that cooperative world. In addition, the servers were running on Linux system created and maintained by the cooperative effort of others. The Christian news articles were all produced or passed on by various cooperative efforts. I only supplied (or at this juncture in my life prefer to say "funneled") the means to publish them efficiently on the web. I found myself cataloging them first and foremost according to country or locality rather than by organization, something that I partook of earlier in my walk and certainly not my own exclusively. How else could a carpenter with a GED and no experience accomplish something like that by himself. I can never say I did it or designed it because ultimately it was formed on the backs of others before me.

One day at my desk when I was finding myself overwhelmed by the awareness of all the cooperation that went before me, I was reminded of the scripture and warning from Jesus, 

"And the lord commended the unjust steward, because he had done wisely: for the children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light." - Luke 16:8"

What if the Church, the followers of Jesus in Christ was originally designed to function like that in utter selfless cooperation and willingness to be corrected. Where the greatest among us is as a servant. And, if so, is it possible that the Creator of the Universe who has His hands in every event that unfolds upon the earth, speaking to a Church which has fallen to the state of many independent Balaams that desire to prophesy for personal gain. Speaking to that Church through the very donkey that it is riding on? "All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him (Jesus) the iniquity of us all." Isaiah 53:6

How about a revival of Holy Spirit led "oneness in cooperation" among all the believers in Jesus Christ?

Corporate Identities

I was thinking today about something briefly (yes sometimes I do think briefly!). I tend to listen to my friends and the people around me even though I may not totally agree with them. Sometimes I do agree with them no matter what side of the identity game we play. Democrat or Republican Liberal or Conservative, I listen. I tend to detest that kind of man made identity so I will admit I am biased against it. I don't like human beings hiding behind the man-made skirts of their corporation. It is a strong trend among a lot of people today to almost resent that. People today are starving for genuine human interaction, not corporate informational handout sheets.

People are increasing growing sick of Corporate Identities, especially ones who seek to have an inordinate control and influence over their lives. I would very definitely agree with that frustration. - Especially if those corporate identities become predominant and bury our own individual identities. It's no longer about the quality of a facet of life or who is actually involved. It's all about improving Corporate Identity, something that is nothing more that a facade to hide the people involved who want power - something that reduces human beings to the value of mere cogs in a corporate wheel. It's that way in business, politics and and various other agendas. One other thing about Corporations is that they are always competing. It's a part of their nature. They just don't seem to feel good about themselves unless they are doing better that others.

Not everything about a corporation is intrinsically bad because, underneath it all, there are real human beings involved. People may have had the best intentions when they started a corporation. Sometimes really good things are done. Unfortunately, because of the nature of incorporation, it will eventually take on it's own identity and the original people involved will fade away leaving a vacuum waiting to be filled by who are more interested in power and acclaim than those that started it.

So what I'm trying to say is that there are a whole lot of people who are tired of living under the vast arrays of Corporate powers that rule over us in one form or another.

So what is the "Church" as a whole doing to reach out to these people? Guess what? We are doing exactly the same thing. People who are hungry for a non-corporate life and value as a person are being fed by and large the same diet in that sense in the church organizations as they are being fed in the corporate world. "Come to me all you that are heavily laden" is still there to some degree but in order to have it, you have to "Come to our Corporate  Church Identity" and are taught to embrace it exclusively as well. More often than not they are encouraged to become a part of that identity. They get lots of Jesus (hopefully) but unfortunately more of the same thing as it is in the corporate world in the way of organization, identity and loyalty. It is the concept that if one belongs to one corporate church identity then one does not belong to another. Whether we want to admit it or not, that format leads to destructive competition in one form or another and identificational pride.

Empathy and Gratitude

There is an old saying that we can never fully appreciate something until we have considered fully what it would be like without it. Far better to consider that than to have go through the actual loss of something (or someone) to find out.

I find it most humbling to be involved with people whose life circumstances have dealt them the blow of having to living under far less advantageous or even cruel conditions than I. Whether that blow is seemingly endless poverty, the absence of any daily sense of security from harm, the untimely loss of a loved one or the devastation of a missing leg or arm, these blows in life to others seems to bring a certain unique character to people. I dare not say I would stand as well as those that still carry on under those adverse conditions. Even though somewhat uncomfortable to our sensibilities, it does a world of good for us to be exposed to the hardships of others especially if we take the time to consider what it would be like for us if we were made to live under those same conditions. It's called empathy.

Empathy does not come without cost. It can actually hurt to relate to someone on that level. That is why many people choose to "turn away" from someone elses circumstances as it begins to make them start to feel uncomfortable. There is a benefit to it as well though. Empathy, by it's nature, can form a much deeper gratitude in us for or in spite of our own circumstances - even circumstances that we normally treat as uncomfortable or even with disdain.

Children who grow up with a healthy attitude of empathy will very likely grow up to be very grateful children, even more so if their parents carry that trait in them and actually communicate that to them. They are the very ones who will walk across the playground in school and without a single passing thought of "what the other kids will think of them" and offer to be a friend to that unpopular child, or the child that is being bullied, or that child that just doesn't fit in.

We might do well to learn something from being exposed to the lives of others less fortunate than us

- Something that is almost guaranteed to change how we think about our own lives. It's called Gratitude.

So the next time your child or grandchild complains about having to go to a well funded school like this,







Or to have to wear designer clothes like this,




show them a picture ...

of this makeshift school in Uganda, a country where children often can only dream of going to school,






Show them a picture ...


of children who would love to have more than one set of clothes even if it is only rags as is often the case.

Better yet,

do your child a favor and print these pictures and hang them around your house a little higher than their head and let their curiosity lead to a conversation about them. Children, unless they have been hardened, are naturally curious and empathetic. Don't make a lecture out of it. Let their curiosity and empathy lead the conversation. We might even learn something from from how they respond.


I'm sure Mukulu Jonathan, the director of Oasis Orphan Care Ministry (OOCM) and Okiror Geofrey, the director of Support Orphans And Street Kids (SOASK) in Uganda won't mind at all. They love children...

You can find out more about those local efforts in Uganda in the menu to the left. There is even a PayPal "Donate" button on each page where if so led you can connect your Empathy with your Actions. You can also "Donate" through my personal General Fund which goes to the needs as they present themselves. I never have to wait very long at all.

TODAY (09/08/2004) school just started in Uganda. There are children hoping and praying to go back to school - many of them orphans.  On average it costs about 25.00 USD for fees and supplies per quarter to send a child to school - a fortune for those living in poverty in Uganda. I can't think of anything more "sustainable" than a child's education.

Lessons From My Dad

I will give thanks unto thee 

for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.

Wonderful are thy works and 

that my soul knoweth rightfully well.

Some people get what they need from the supermarkets and malls and some people are forced to get it from the garbage dumps. When I was a kid in Hawaii, the dumps (just like this picture) was a viable option. Think I'm going to borrow this picture from a friend. If nothing else to remember from whence I came.
(cont. below)

A child scraping out a living in the dumps - probably in Mexico

When I was very young, about the age of that young child in the picture above, my dad used to take me to the dumps where in addition to his regular job, he would collect scrap metal along with a host of other things. To be honest, I hated going there. It was humiliating and a nasty environment that if I described it in detail I could with utter certainty guarantee that you would lose your breakfast. I don't have to imagine much what that child's life is like.

My dad was the son of a sugar plantation worker who himself was the son of a sugar plantation worker. My dad probably hated that plantation culture as much as I hated being in those dumps. When he was in about the 8th grade (possibly earlier) he was pulled out of school to work in the plantation store to help support my grandfather's very large family. That was plantation life. It wasn't always very fair.

He managed to escape that life when he signed up for the army during WWII in the pacific for about 5 years. When he came back, his eyes were open to many new things and many new people. He got a job as a welding equipment repairman and later in sales. He also married my mom, a nurse from Nebraska who worked at the plantation dispensary - something that was not exactly looked upon with favor by some people. My mom could have had a place with the elite, the managers and doctors hired from the mainland US but she chose to marry a "local" instead, come what may. He could have ended up cutting cane and she could have ended up at the "Yacht Club" with the rest of the "haole" manager class from the mainland.

My dad wanted better for us kids and his job couldn't pay for that so he would spend every day after work and saturdays at the dumps gleaning for scrap metals. He got pretty good at it. Later in life the dumps people used to call him "the King of the Dumps." Out of that extra they managed to send us kids to private school. They wanted better for us. It costs money to send your kids there. Up until the 8th grade, I went to school with the children of parents who were much better off financially. When I was about the age of this little girl in the picture, my dad started taking me to the dumps with him on Saturdays and in the summer, sometimes on weekday afternoons.

I utterly resented it because I lived in the utter fear of the humiliation I would suffer if one of my friends from private school were to ever come down to dump their rubbish and see me there in the midst of it all. (Again I will spare you a graphic description.) There was a tremendous stigma attached to being among the dumps people - the extremely poor. I had no idea as a child that those dumps were paying for my education and exposure to the very friends I had come to know in my life. I honestly didn't realize that until I was a young man in my mid 20's. I was somewhat spared humiliation when for some reason when I had finished 7th grade my parents took us out of private school and put us into the public school closer to where we lived.

We humans can be very adaptable to circumstances given the time and consistency. My dad took me to the dumps until I was about 16. I did manage after a while to find some solace in it all. It's amazing what people throw away. As long as I was gleaning for scrap metal I was also free to pick up anything else I wanted. By the time I was barely a teenager I had amassed quite a collection of bicycle parts and had my own little bicycle shop in a little corner of my dad's garage/warehouse. I was pretty good at piecing parts together to make complete bicycles. I easily had over a dozen of them at one point in time. So, I started learning something my dad had been trying to teach me all that time. Oh the stench was still there. The humiliation was still there but I found out what most dumps gleaners find out at least at some point in their lives and learn to appreciate. "One man's junk is another man's treasure."

When I was about sixteen I was old enough to go out and get jobs to make any money I needed doing odd jobs and yard work. I never really went back to the dumps after that except to dump the rubbish. Honestly, I would have been happy to never have seen those dumps again. My dad continued to go there for most of the rest of his life. He loved finding those treasures that other people had discarded, taking them home and cleaning them up and placing them on the shelves in their living room. In my later years as an adult I had the pleasure of knowing him and I realized that he could look past the grim and filth covering something he had found and he could see past all that to see the treasure that was underneath. When anyone would visit, he would watch their eyes and if he saw them paying a particularly appreciative attention to one of his treasures, he would reach up on the shelf when they were leaving and say, "I want you to have this."

I would love to say that I saw all this right away but I still had a certain distaste for the dumps and almost an embarrassment of my dad. It wasn't until after my mid twenties that I was utterly delivered from that resentment and shame. When I became a Christian, after a few years I had gotten to know quite a few people who were well endowed with the gift of the Spirit. Among them I noticed with a certain internal respect was a pastoral couple (Mr. and Mrs. Day) of a small gathering that most people seemed to have nothing to do with. I seemed to always take note of them as being a little different.

To make the point, one night a friend of mine was working as a security guard in the Psyche ward. He had a particular anointing to walk into that ward and bring a certain calm to all the patients, so much so that the nurses hoped he would be on the same duty roster. A young man had been brought in a few days before and they misdiagnosed him and mismedicated him so he fell into a coma. Apparently there wasn't much they could do so they were just waiting for him to die. Suddenly, that night, the double doors to the ward burst open and Mrs. Day, like a battle axe, burst into the ward, motioned to my friend and immediately proceeded into the young man's room to pray for him along with my friend. That young man suddenly sat up in bed alive and well. To say that I was impressed would be an understatement.

One day, the Holy Spirit spoke to me and said, "Go to the dumps." To be honest, as I said before, I wanted nothing to do with the dumps for quite a few years but because it was so clear, I reluctantly got in my car and went there. When I got there, I parked the car wondering why I was sent there because I had no urge to get out of the car. As I looked around, out there quite a ways was an older couple standing facing each other and holding hands and praying before they began to glean the fields. It was Mr. and Mrs. Day! There was a certain aura around them as they prayed. They were there to pick through used clothes to take home, clean and likely give them away the same way my dad used to do all those years.

I never looked at the dumps or my dad the same way again.

So in closing I would have to say something having lived some years on this earth. That there are some things that God wants to speak to us about. He wants to speak to us about the dumps and discarded treasures hidden in human filth. The same human treasures that He sent His Son Jesus to die for. He wants to gift us to see past all the human filth and recognize the treasure being concealed by it. To take them home, clean them up and treasure them.

He also wants us to see that underneath all the imperfections of our life long before we actually are aware of Him that He has hidden His treasures all along the way in our lives. Before we were ever born, He knew us in our mother's womb.

Above it all perhaps even warning us that we need to be more careful who and what we discard and toss in the trash heap. After all, somebody may just come along and see the treasure that we rejected. Just how will we feel then? God's greatest treasure, Jesus the Messiah, was also rejected of men.

If we feel like Jesus is strangely missing from our lives or our fellowship, it may very well be that He has gone dumpster diving for the lost and discarded treasures of humanity. If you really want to find Him, you may very well have to go to the dumps as well...

The Love Of God

This story was relayed to a group of us assembled together to hear our Jewish brother Art Katz speak many years ago. Art was a different sort of brother. He was very Jewish yet as convicted of Christ as any of us if not more so. He definitely brought a certain Jewish flavor of gospel with him. He NEVER spoke unless there was something God wanted to impart into us.

He had traveled to Japan to meet with a Japanese brother who went by the name of Professor Tashima. During WWII, the Christians particularly in leadership roles had to hide up in the mountains for the duration of the war. It was a dangerous time for them and as a result spent much time in earnest prayer. Many times God was Professor Tashima's only companion. After the war was over, Professor Tashima returned to ministry but there was something about him that made others uncomfortable around him so he could not find a pastoral position open for him. He was later assigned to the leper colony because nobody wanted the assignment.

During his first day at preaching there, he stood at the pulpit which was quite high above the gathering of lepers to keep the speaker from "contamination." He began to preach to them about the Love of God. He looked down upon the crowd of lepers below him and his heart was filled with the love of God for them. So much so that he was compelled to leap down off that high platform and went about hugging tightly each one of them telling them that God loved them. As he hugged each one of them with the Love of God in him for them, each one of those lepers was completely healed. Leprosy in the scriptures is a symbol of sin, of uncleanness. Those lepers had been set free by the Love of God in Christ to go about their lives free from the restrictions of the leper colony, free to live their lives in the freedom and gratitude of the Love of God.

After that Professor Tashima would go about street preaching and telling people of the Love of God always miracles accompanying his preaching. As he would go about preaching a woman who had been used by the Japanese soldiers for sex against her will during the war would stand in the back and cry out with a loud voice, "Where is the love of this God? I was used sexually all these years and I have sexual diseases that have disfigured me and my beauty and ruined my life. Who is going to love me? Tell me how can you preach the "love of God" when I have to live with such a thing? (This was before antibiotics were available for those diseases) She was very disruptive at all his meetings and would cry out each time so he prayed and prayed to God about how he could show this pitiful and bitter woman the Love of God. The Lord finally spoke to him. "I want you to marry her to show her my love..." So he went to her and married her to show her the love that God had for her. He never caught those sexual diseases.

When Art Katz was visiting and spending some time with them years later, he noticed that she was radiantly beautiful, almost embarrassingly so. He went behind a pillar so he could observe her better to understand how she could be so radiant (It was troubling him). To his surprise, her face was still very disfigured. Her radiance was the Love that she had received from God. She was literally radiating with the Love of God.

A simple message with such powerful results: "God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whoever believes in him will not perish but have everlasting life." "Of a truth, Jesus Christ died for All sin, for All mankind, for All time."

Now days there are so many people seeking after the "power of God" and the conviction of others when we should be seeking Him for His Love for ourselves and for others. Conviction will follow, miracles will follow but what good is it if we don't have the Love of God in our hearts for others? Jesus went about preaching the Love of God but He was driven in compassion to demonstrate it...

The Testimony of Jesus

"Greater love has no man than this, than to lay down his life for his friends." - Jesus

One of the greatest news stories I have ever had the privilege of publishing at INCN (Inter-National Christian News) will probably never make it to the "Christian News" that we have today. Oh I could tell you stories of dramatic healings (some that I have witnessed personally) and even resurrections from the dead in Jesus name. But of all those reports, this one stands out the most in my memory because, of all of the stories I have been privileged to publish  in those "Newsie" days or even witnessed, this one perhaps expresses the Love that God has for us the most. It demonstrates the definition of a "Christian," a follower of Jesus that by it's nature humbles us before Him.

I believe it was in Iran where it is the death penalty to convert to Christianity. A relatively newer Christian had converted and was charged and sentenced to death. Another man who had become a Christian years before very quietly maintained his relationship to God. He was a fairly highly placed government official. It was extremely dangerous for him to witness to anyone. Even though he wanted to share the love of God that he had discovered in his own life for years, there was very little he could do to share it because of his position.

There is (or at least was at the time) a law in that country that said that a man's guilt and sentence could be absolved if someone else were to take his place. It was the greatest witness of that high ranking official to show the love of God in Christ that he presented himself as the legal substitution for that newer convert's life. He took the death penalty upon himself so the other man would be set free. Of all the years of his life as a Christian, his greatest witness of the Love of Jesus and faith in the promises of Jesus to everyone around him was in his death.

If his final testimony doesn't grab our hearts and humble us to our knees before God, then we are yet spiritually dead in our sins.

ps that was in the days when news articles actually had to be fully confirmed by reliable witnesses...

Injustice

It troubles me when I see injustice. When nations and movements use their positions as bullies. You know the drill. A missile here, a bomb there, a drone assassination, a grenade or a burst of machine gun fire goes off and suddenly innocent civilians and even children get blown to bits or wish they had. It's collateral damage some people say as they wipe the guilt of innocent blood off their hands and go about their business and their politics. I think we can all agree on that one.

I think we can all agree that children especially shouldn't be punished for choices that adults or governments make and innocent adults shouldn't be either. It's an injustice when people suffer for what others do. But, I think the greatest injustice is when people get upset about injustice and then fail to cry out for JUSTICE (In any way that actually counts). We are really good at getting all upset about injustice. We will even stomp around and get down right mad about it. The truth is in this country is that only makes us feel good about ourselves. It does nothing for those who are actually suffering injustice at all.

 As some of you know, nothing gets done, openly at least, unless a majority here can be swayed to support it. There isn't a whole lot of conscience press wise or politically as to how it gets done or who gets hurt either. The only thing that is important is swaying public opinion towards a particular action and scoring political points. Whether it's an invasion of a country or punitive actions even at home, Republican or Democrat it is always the same mode of operation.

If the truth doesn't fit an agenda, a lie will work just as well. Just keep repeating it. WMD's anyone? Just ask anyone in Iraq if life is better since that US invasion. Ask the people in Libya how life is since the US helped their "Arab Spring" go over so smoothly. Or Egypt? Or the CIA's encouragement of a rebellion in Ukraine. Sanctions in Iran? Who really suffers from American intervention of any kind? Innocent civilians, the poor and yes children. Thousands if not millions of children are growing up with no sense of stability or safety courtesy of our government's foreign policies. Those children are going to grow up hating this country.

One in Him

I can't think of any content that I have more yearned for or more suffered for in the last three decades than what is in this post. It is not lightly presented and I would caution those that would misuse it for an excuse for rebellion. I have been spat at, shoved up against a concrete wall and beaten, threatened, castigated, accused, marked, cast out, moved more times than I would care to remember and exiled over the last 30 years for this content in one form or another, yet I still find myself loving those who perpetrated it. I understand it. Early in my walk I was taken through a scripture, "Go love a woman who is yet loved by her lovers so that you may know the love that I have for Israel. (and therefore the church)." I have always hated division and even been a victim of it. I very likely unknowingly caused some of it myself. In presenting this it is in no way prompted by a desire to do so but rather that we may all go forward to the promised land... Together... Little children love one another for love is of God...

I wrote a tract once about R.I.D.S. a disease that was spreading in much the same way that AIDS is except for one facet. AIDS attacks and weakens the immune system against other diseases where RIDS builds up the immune system to reject things that are beneficial to the Body by infecting and saturating the Body with a dead version of the real thing.

Religiously
Instituted
Deficiency
Syndrome

I just haven't figured out why so many people were offended by it. But then again that may have been an indicator of the disease itself. Like AIDS to a degree, RIDS comes with a certain level of shame and denial  (in at least half the cases of AIDS rightfully so) and people will go through any lengths to hide it. We haven't even remotely come close to resembling the early and much purer Church and may in fact be going further and further away from it. Centuries of religious viruses have polluted and disfigured the outward form of the Body of Christ. We cannot fix that. I would go so far as to say that we are powerless to fix it. It's like somebody once told me about the medical field: "In trying to fix one problem, we create two more."

We need to go back to the beginning when God established His Church. We as the Body of Christ need to be stripped down naked and go back to when Jesus was also stripped of His external clothing and made to hang on the cross. When He submitted His will to be ruled over by God the Father, He was acting out the words He spoke earlier in the night before, "Father not my will but yours be done." We need to die to our own will. To die to the desire to rule ourselves and rule over others. To submit to God to be stripped of our earthly organizational "garments" and identities in our hearts.

Jesus is the head of the Church, His Body. Without Him we are nothing. We are utterly connected to each other in Him. The life of the Body is in His shed blood which carries the life of the Holy Spirit in us and amongst us. The Church cannot be recognized by outward organization nor can it be restricted to it because that form of organization no matter how well intended is earthly and therefore corruptible. Yet, we endlessly glory in the 10's of thousands of "church" organizations and names, especially in the West (and counting) that we claim erroneously together constitute the Body of Christ. In doing so we are ignoring the scriptures and the pleadings of God to us all.

"In the beginning it was not so..."
"What God has joined together let no man put asunder..."
"If one suffers, All suffer. If one is blessed, All are blessed."

We are going to have to submit to God changing the way we think about how we are formed together by Him. The picture we have seen and for the most part are living is a distorted view of His reality. His reality is the blood that was shed on the cross. Our reality is, "If we feel like it."

"Now the multitude of those who believed were of one heart and one soul; neither did anyone say that any of the things he possessed was his own, but they had all things in common. And with great power the apostles gave witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And great grace was upon them all. Nor was there anyone among them who lacked; for all who were possessors of lands or houses sold them, and brought the proceeds of the things that were sold, and laid them at the apostles’ feet; and they distributed to each as anyone had need."

There is nothing symbolic about the words:
"The Body of Christ." 

"I would that you be one."
"We are fearfully and wonderfully made."
"Endeavor to keep the unity that was once given to the saints."


We are entering into the age of personal accountability where we start to realize that God sees us as individuals before Him knit together in Him not as a collection of organizations. The internet in many ways has opened the door even further because in many respects we "see" each other without the veil of organizational or geographical distance. We are beginning to see the Body as God sees it.  This is a great privilege that we should not ignore. But, with this privilege comes greater responsibility to God and each other in every way as much as we were living in the same house, the same family (because we are being led there in spirit - One House - One Family). We are in all reality being knit together as One in Him. What has in times past been wonderful symbolism is becoming a very real reality. We are going to have to change with that reality. We are going to learn to think, pray and respond as One in Him. We have been living with RIDS so long that we no longer envision or want the cure. There is no longer, like AIDS, the stigma attached to it.

We are being prepared like a sheep for the slaughter. Like a woman in childbirth approaching that time of transition and travail, there is nothing we can do to escape God's purposes in this age. The child will be born. Like a woman in childbirth the more submitted we are to the birth process the easier it will be. We won't escape the pain but rather will be able to endure it. God is teaching us to submit, to focus on the birth of the child. It is His child. We dare not claim it in any way.

There are those who like Herod will try to protect their kingdoms, their control, their identities but like in times of old, when they try to destroy the child, God will catch the child up and hide it in the wilderness until it is time.There is no stopping His plan...

"That which is highly esteemed in the sight of (religious) men is an abomination to God."

The Bride of Christ is not a harlot whose existence and identity are upheld by the governments of this world system. It is certainly not a brothel full of them.

The cure for RIDS cost God the blood of His only begotten Son...

One Note of Caution for those who would think to try to make this happen or use it as an excuse for rebellion: Don't! It isn't any of our jobs to judge anyone or to "make things happen." I can guarantee that if you do it will become exactly what God despises, yet another division or identity. We are talking about our brothers and sisters here. God is not a God of disorder. (At least the way He sees it.) What God is calling for is a change of heart in each of us individually to see the truth of this, embrace it and to live it out towards others. Not an excuse to abuse others or to hold ourselves above anyone else...
Amen?

Predictable Response

The way to manipulate people for your purposes is to get people to focus on very emotional issues that have predictable responses so that they can be sidetracked while you accomplish your real goal. It's actually a form of hypnotism and it works on the subconscious mind to produce the desired result.

Control

In reality all the issues we are being spoon fed politically by both parties are deliberately engineered and calculated on the basis of Predictable Response and are working together to accomplish the desired goal by a world power far above what we perceive as the government. The parties, the presidency and even the courts are only being used to accomplish the goal of a distracted and divided population. The divided press even more furthers this goal.

Manufactured Crisis

The events and outcome of the so called "Great Recession" were manufactured. They were in effect a test of a very effective economic weapon. This weapon placed incredible control in the hands of a few people to manipulate our currency. Over the years our gold and silver based currency has been transformed into a currency that's only true value is what is perceived and that perception is governed over by whoever controls the currency. It also downgraded a significant portion of the population's net worth. The "Fed" subsequently has loaned the country and it's banks, businesses and stakeholders a massive amount of currency since then.

Warning

Whoever controls the currency ultimately controls the government. The government is in hopeless debt, something that has been carefully manipulated including the manufactured wars that are being "blamed" for the debt. We need to somehow get our eyes off the hypnotic and divisive issues of politics being presented to us today and start paying attention to what is really going on. Watch the Fed. The Fed controls the currency. But who owns the Fed? Does anybody really know? And who ultimately, spiritually controls them? These are the men in this world who religiously are convinced that they are the only ones who are really qualified to rule the world. There are two things that they ultimately consider standing in their way. The USA's world dominance currency wise and militarily in the physical realm and any vibrant remnants of Christianity in the spiritual realm...

To the citizens of the USA, due diligence in watching over these things and rejecting distraction and manipulation. Avoid the predictable response.

To the Christian, We need to understand like no other generation what Jesus was saying when He said, "You cannot serve God and Mammon. You cannot serve two masters..."

Angels Unawares

Back about 23 years ago we were living near a tiny rural community about dead center in the state of Oregon. We ended up there because of almost a fluke of "fate" in life. I had bought several properties we lived on at first about 65 miles west close to where there was work and development for me as a carpenter but I also felt led to buy this older house on five acres out in the middle of no where. There was about 400 people living there in the town and surrounding ranches. The fluke was that I had hurt my back on a jobsite and it stuck with me for quite a while so when winter came and having serious financial difficulties, we were forced to move out to the Mitchell house. It was the only one of three properties that was in a finished state enough to live in the brutal cold winters there.

So there we were, me with a back injury, no work and the 7 of us as a family in a place we knew nothing about. We were in a valley surrounded by majestic hills and mountains all around us. It was absolutely beautiful and serenely peaceful out there away from the busyness of the towns further west. I eventually overcame the back injury and found out that I was the only carpenter in the entire area. All the ranch managers used to meet in the coffee shop in town in the morning and playfully argue over who was going to get me next. It was a carpenter's dream.

It was a great life. We added on 7 acres, got a bunch of animals, the kids all had their chores and their special animals. People in the country are so much more friendly and we had great friends. We used to gather with some of them on Saturdays and have fellowship. Deep honest fellowship.

I was working for quite a while on a custom Swedish log cabin up in the hills. One day after work I started down the 30 mile trip back home on a very hot summer day. The trip back home was through an incredibly beautiful, curvy, forested highway. As I made my way through the curves I passed by a rather dark man (unusual in that area) walking with his belongings on a pole over his shoulder motioning for a ride and I thought, "One of the ranchers will pick him up" and continued on. It was in the high 90's and I was in a hurry to get home.

For a whole quarter to a half mile after I passed him by I might as well have had a giant rubber band attached to my very being and that man. I literally backed up finally the whole way on the shoulder of the highway to pick him up. I was so convinced that God was not going to let go of my heart until I picked him up. I motioned for him to get in the cab of my truck but he motioned that he was very sweaty and wanted to ride in the back of the truck. Ok. Whatever. I kept checking him out in my rear view mirror and doubt began to fill my mind. He was sprawled out laying down in the back of my truck so full of joy to the point of ecstasy at getting a ride and the wind and the beautiful forest. Oh Lord! Hes go to be drunk. Nobody acts like that unless they are drunk.

I have a family. I'm very protective over them. I knew that if I dropped him off when I made my turn into our long driveway that he would be standing out there on the road trying to catch a ride cause it was late. I decided to go the extra six miles into town and drop him off there. "He'll get a ride from there," I thought to myself rather smugly forgetting all about the sense of being drawn so powerfully to pick him up. His exuberance never stopped the whole way. "Yep. He's drunk," I thought. Perhaps my reluctance was justified.

I pulled into the parking lot of the coffee shop and he jumped out of the truck and all excited put his things down. Then I noticed that he had grabbed a Bible out of his things as he approached me all excited speaking in very broken English, "You the first one! You the first one! This for you! This for you!." His finger was on a scripture in his Spanish Bible. "This for you! My name is Angel (name in spanish) and I am from Cuba. I have walked from Portland, OR and I am going to Montana to minister to some people. You the first one! This for you!." (In very broken English with his finger still pointing to that scripture in Matthew.) Then he went back and picked up his belongings and started walking again.

Let me explain this to those of you that don't know Oregon geography. Portland is about 125 miles from Madras. It's another 25 miles SE to Prineville and another 15 miles to where I picked him up. It's high desert. At that time of year it can get up over a 100 degrees F. That being said, I have never seen a man who had walked 165 baking hot miles get more excited for what he was trying to tell me to go home and read that scripture than he was about getting a 30 mile ride. He was excited for ME. I knew in my heart it was one of those "divine appointments" but I also knew for some reason that man could not turn back. Even the 6 miles back to our little ranch. The conviction of what I had been thinking of him was agonizing yet he was so excited over what had just transpired. After all my doubt one thing was certain. I did pick him up. I didn't feel like doing it but the tug of the Holy Spirit had it's way.

So I left and went home and looked up that scripture. (I have always been terrible about scripture numbers.)

"Whatsoever you have done unto the least of these my bretheren, you have done it unto me..." - JESUS

For all intents and Spiritual purposes, Jesus had walked 165 miles and nobody had given him a ride. Nobody! I was the first one... I used to tell friends almost in holy agony when I would think about it that if I had only known WHO was riding in the back of my truck, I would have taken him home, offered him a shower, fixed a feast and offered him a bed and probably driven him to Montana. But it was too late for that. He couldn't turn back from his mission. That opportunity was lost. And yet he was so excited about what I had done...



The Compassion Of God - "Freely you have been given, freely give." 
No not just our money - God wants us to give our lives.

Last year I had gotten to know a brother through a friend in another country. A very poor country where "the harvest is great but the laborers are few." He was running a small ministry to orphans and the destitute. Quite frankly his English was not so good so people had a hard time understanding him (much less  his culture.) Some time later I found out that the rent on the ministry property was way overdue and the landlord had told them to get out but gave them a deadline of a few days. For some reason I heard that in my heart but didn't have the resources to help. I was out of work at the time. (at least I thought I didn't.) So I was praying about it and a picture came to me of holding a sign explaining the need and standing on the sidewalk. So although quite reluctantly I made a cardboard sign and some flyers explaining the situation and contact info and went out and did just that.

We had just moved to that community so I didn't know anybody. It was hard watching all the people passing by knowing the desperate and immediate need. At the time this ministry was helping about 30 orphans. The whole time I am wondering, "Lord isn't there a better way to do this?" but I kept getting pressed on. There were some precious small donations from people that seemed to mean more to God than the larger ones. I found myself with a new understanding of the words, "God bless you!: There seemed to be such a new rich meaning when I would speak them to someone, even for a dollar.

I started to understand that God was doing something precious. Something hidden behind that need. I would find myself getting so excited sometimes even for a small amount of change. To be honest though, it was very very humbling. Another brother and I managed to collect almost half the rent in a few days.I was more familiar with things south of the river in Portland so when the landlords deadline was approaching I went down to the supermarket that I knew had a money transfer station in it hoping that their landlord would hold off.

I still had a little time so I felt led to go to the sidewalk at the back of the parking lot with my sign. I was tired but I did it anyway. A guy passed by and yelled a profanity and something about "your imaginary god." at me and gave a finger gesture from out of his window. I really didn't want to be there but somehow I couldn't leave. After quite a while and getting uncomfortably close to the time I had to send it, a car passed me by and almost erratically turned into a side parking lot and parked there. I kept it up for about 15 minutes more but I kept glancing over to that car. The driver appeared to be praying at first then scrounging around in the car.

An Asian lady about in her young 20's approached me from the car almost in tears saying, "I am an orphan but I was adopted by American parents." She handed me a lump of cash saying that she so much wanted to help but that was all she had. She understood more than most what the word "orphan" means. We had precious fellowship for a while then she left. The amount she gave brought it up to 1/2 the rent plus the sending fees. Somehow I knew that the amount I had was sufficient for the moment and I sent it. The landlord agreed to wait for a little while. That was on a Friday evening, Saturday morning their time and it was the last chance I had to send it.

There was still the issue of the balance due on the rent but for now it was stable. I had been checking out a local gathering that carries their service online for a while and I had this picture form in my mind of taking that sign to their parking lot entrance that Sunday but I quite frankly chickened out. I didn't know anybody there. I repeated the process again the next week knowing that the full amount was due. For some reason I seemed to get more response south of the river than in the community we now lived in north of that.

For some reason, that picture of me standing in front of the "church" parking lot kept haunting me so the next Sunday I decided to actually attend their service. I committed myself to God to do what I had seen but inside I was very reluctant. It was a nice very large gathering of believers, with a service of well over 1500 just for one of their two Sunday gatherings. The pastor was a really nice guy, not at all stuffy like some. Kind of looked a little like Keith Green if you know who that is. At one point, he was sharing about their goal to raise 10 million over 3 years to pay off the balance of the building debt. No matter how one get's into debt it is a noble cause to get out of debt. I'm used to smaller gatherings and house gatherings so it was quite a surprise to see the building I was in. I'm not going to get into describing it except to say that it was very very fancy. It's not my purpose to point out fault here but rather to point out that we have a great deal to learn about God's ways. His ways are NOT our ways. That is an important lesson.

Like I had promised the Lord, I went out after the service with my sign and a handful of flyers, stood out at the intersection of the street and the parking lot exit. I got $30.00 in donations mostly from some very nice youth and a few adults. I was dressed in nice clothes and well groomed but I was surprised how many people before they got to where I was standing on the sidewalk rolled up their windows some of them in disinterest and some of them in apparent fear but I smiled and waived anyway.

"Be careful to entertain strangers knowing that some have entertained angels unawares..."

Dawn Breaks Over Marblehead

Before you all get fuming mad at what you think is my opinion, you might want to check out the bottom of this post for a few other opinions I've included...

One thing I seem to have to learn over and over again is that politics in the USA is NEVER about what it appears to be. That in all the decades that I have been alive, NOTHING is ever done politically unless there is an economic value to those individuals that want to rule the world economically for their own benefit. Those people make a call and a country is taken over, someone gets assassinated, a new government is put in place, a war is started, funding is either provided or pulled back, alliances are made or broken, etc. Those financial interests will use the USA and it's government to accomplish their goals and it has been going on for a lot of years no matter what party is seemingly in charge. Politics in this country are just an illusion, a mask for what is really going on. It, like the TV and news is just an entertainment ploy handed to us to keep us distracted and manipulated. They know that a divided nation is a controllable nation so we are being constantly and deliberately fed divisive issues. Harsh statement?

This last Thursday I heard something on the news that literally made me so angry I was at the boiling point and I can count the times when I was that angry on the fingers of my right hand. It was an announcement by the government of the USA that they were removing funding from Uganda, "supposedly" without affecting the health and welfare of the people of Uganda. (which is not true at all because I have read reports of massive funding being cut even before this for humanitarian purposes). Prior cuts in funding have not brought the desired results of obedience and submission. It was supposedly because of the "anti-gay law" but that is only a convenience because there is a ready and willing public that will embrace that reasoning. Something that has been carefully crafted by the govt and the news agencies with exaggerations and outright lies that almost shock the senses of anyone who wants to know the truth and actually looks into the facts. Like "Obama Care" has anybody actually read that law?

Here's a hint. The American government does not make foreign policy based on "human rights"... EVER (Unless it is being used as an excuse)... Let me prove it to you. Let's take Saudi Arabia for instance. An ally in the "war against terror" which has funded the bank accounts of munitions manufacturers for over 10 years now. The penalty on the books for gay sex in Saudi Arabia (notorious for other massive and brutal rights abuses) is DEATH. Billions in logistics funding from the USA. They are the mortal enemy of "gay rights." If I was to suggest cutting off funds and denying visas to any of their government officials as punishment for their brutal treatment of "gays" and a whole host of others, the government of the USA would be on my doorstep in an hour or less. "Come with us." That is not an exception by any means as far as trade and military alliances with other countries who are rife with rights abuses go.

So considering all this and the severity of this attempt to dominate Uganda into submission on this issue is rather perplexing. The powers to be aren't even remotely interested in "human rights." If you don't believe me take a good look at some of their factories in other countries. Somebody wants something there (aside from control) and they are willing to bend the government and the population of the USA to get it. What is it? The up until now budding tourism with it's incredible lakes and wildlife preserves? It's incredibly friendly population? It's coffee crop? Maybe there is an untapped incredibly lucrative market for malaria carrying mosquitoes? (Hmm mosquito warfare?)...

How about dominating a country and population to the point of desperation that they would be willing to sell their rights to their largely untapped oil reserves and mineral deposits? Those deposits properly handled could pull Uganda from poverty to a robust economy. Robust economies are not conducive to major profit for the corporate powers to be. A desperate government willing to sell oil and mineral rights for next to nothing and a population willing to work for pennies on the dollar? Now that is worth something big time to them and there is no human cost too great to accomplish those ends. To the people who really control this country collateral damage is a forgone conclusion, maybe even a desirable one.

The AFA (anti-gay law) in Uganda is a convenient if not manipulated excuse for a much more aggressive economic agenda. The people in charge at the top of the world economic system and the USA know exactly how the government and people of Uganda would react. It is a predictable outcome engineered for a hidden purpose. I'm pretty sure the campaign contributions in the next election are going to be rolling in.

Here's my proposal in a fair and balanced approach. Immediately suspend all aid to all countries that have anti-gay laws. Cancel visas from those countries. Immediately suspend all federal aid to the states that have "anti-gay marriage laws." Put anyone in government or civil life that is responsible for upholding marriage as between a man and a woman on a no-fly list and forbid access to federal facilities and funds.

Who is this pullback of funding hurting in Uganda? I can well imagine and have seen graphic and painful evidence of that. But I will leave you with not my opinion but the opinion of others on the ground there in Uganda. Opinions not filtered by the Masters Deception in the USA.

“I’m not an advocate for aid cuts. Neither am I an advocate for bullying (political),” Julian Pepe Onziema, Programme Director of Sexual Minorities Uganda (SMUG), a gay rights organization, told IRIN. “There are so many horrible laws in this country, but to single out, to radically react to the AHA is not only patronizing but also further enhances LGBTI persons’ vulnerability to both non-state and state-sanctioned homophobia.”*

“This aid in particular is meant to serve vulnerable persons needing treatment and relief,” said Dora Musinguze, executive director of the Uganda Network on Law, Ethics and HIV/AIDS (UGANET). “I would firmly advocate for finding other formula of getting government attention,” she told IRIN. *

“As a human rights activist, I would not want the donors to cut aid to Uganda because they will deprive all Ugandans services that they need, most especially those living with HIV/AIDS,” Dennis Odwe, executive director of the Action Group for Health, Human Rights and HIV/AIDS (AGHA) Uganda, told IRIN.*

Way to go President O. Glad you did your research so well. Why don't you pick on someone your own size?....

* Source: IRIN
humanitarian news and analysis
a service of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs

The Lost Revival

And Jesus called them to him and said to them, “You know that those who are considered rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. But it shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” Mark 10:42-45

(This must have been the page that was stuck to another page in the Bible cause it sure hasn't gotten the attention it deserves...)

I once read a very small book about some believers in China before the communist takeover. Basically a fairly large village was touched by the Spirit of God and they were so transformed that they ended up "sharing all things in common and no man had anything they called their own." (That's another page in Acts that got stuck to another page) They experienced tremendous miracles and conversions. That went on for years but when unknown to them the whole communist takeover of China was approaching, they seemed to have less miracles and there was more teaching on suffering for their faith coming from the Holy Spirit.

When the communists took over they sent agents to approach this village to "preach" their communist doctrine but the agents were confused because this village was already living far above their doctrine and they willingly did so. After a couple times of visiting they asked, "Where is your leader?" The people of the village looked confused but finally decided to point out the man who had first brought the Gospel to them. He was busy working at his job clearing the ditches the villagers used the bathroom in. His job was to shovel out all the human waste, putting it in a crude wheelbarrow and taking it outside the village.

The communist agents were stunned that the leader of the village was doing this job because it was reserved normally for outcasts and criminals. They told him that he should not be doing this job as a leader of the village. He looked up at them imploringly and said, "Please do not take my job from me!" The agents left them alone after that for quite a long time even though the very violent communist revolution was taking place all over China. They were confused because they could find no fault with them...

Not to say that anyone should go out and make this all a doctrine (some of us know really well where that would end up) but it seems odd to me that of all that is taught about the early outpouring of the Holy Spirit starting with the day of Pentecost that somehow this fruit of that outpouring seems to be left out. One would do well however to recognize that it was a fruit and not a requirement. They were consumed with love for each other.

The Mystery of the Universe

What will our generation be likened to? We are like a group of intellectuals standing continually every day on one side of a wide river discussing how to make a way to cross it to get to the fertile ground and wealth on the other side. We have spent our whole lives pondering it and discussing it. 

Along comes a simpleton who walks past us, walks around a bend in the river and without giving it a thought keeps walking right across a bridge he comes upon to the other side. When he gets to the other side he thinks, "I should go tell those men." So he goes back to our group of intellectuals and tells us about the bridge around the bend. We, upon hearing it, mock him and tell him to go away. "We don't need the likes of you. We are intelligent beings. What you just told us is completely stupid. Such a thing cannot be because we have not yet found a way across the river." So the simpleton does exactly as we tell him and walks back around the bend and across the bridge to live in that fertile land...

I've often thought and occasionally said that if we were to go to the edge of the universe (and there is one.), to see what is out there and come back to earth, we would spent the rest of our lives in an insane asylum. Our finite limited minds would not be able to handle the truth of what we would find out... 

In reality, to an eternal God, the universe is nothing more in essence than an elaborate hologram of the eternal world that He exists in and has invited us to be a part of that eternal world by opening up the door of faith in His Son Jesus. "In the beginning was the Word and the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us." God made a way where there was no way. "God was in Christ Jesus reconciling the world to Himself." A way that bridges the distance between God and man. That is too simplistic for the modern mind to comprehend. The mysteries of the universe are so simple that our finite minds cannot handle the Truth. 

Paul the Apostle of Jesus was caught up into the heavens and saw things "that are unlawful to speak of." Are there things we are not allowed to know in this present life? What prompted him to write, "Eyes have not seen, nor ears heard, nor has it entered into the minds of men, the things that God has prepared for those who love Him."?


If the truth were to be known, the entire universe would be found to be contained in a glass-like ornament hanging in the reality that God and all heaven exists in. On our own, there is a massive gap between us and God that is as wide as the universe. We can spend the next ten billion years trying to get there or we can simply go around the bend in our river and walk across the bridge that God has made for us. Maybe our  "all knowing" brilliance can wrap our head around that one for a while. 

I'm sure the simpleton will come will come and visit us in the psych ward. Maybe he will even bring us some fruit from the other side of the universe (Umm I mean river)...

"I will make a way where there is no way." Says the Lord. And He did. We don't need to figure it out. We just have to believe that it is there and walk across it."

A Coalition Of The Willing

"After knowing the will of God in regard to a work which we undertake, we should continue courageously, however difficult it may be. We should follow it to the end with as much constancy as the obstacles we encounter are great." ~ St. Vincent de Paul

I'd like to do something I've been considering for a while now. I have quite a few friends I have met on facebook. Something I don't feel worthy of. Here are a few I have gotten to know over this last year and a half that we will very likely not read about in the news or see in the annals of history or even "Church" History. Beyond the organizational images they all love God and therefore love their neighbors. But their "love" goes beyond feeling and, however imperfectly as humans, translates into action. "Faith without works is dead." An opinion without action is meaningless. So with that in mind I present a few of some of the thousands of the COALITION OF THE WILLING  around the world who unselfishly give of their own lives for others as many of you do as well in your own way and in your own circumstances.

Luthy Monica - Uganda
Future Nurse in Uganda where there is one doctor for every 18,000 people. A country where people die for lack of adequate medical care, even her own parents. Nursing is a valuable and altogether badly needed profession there. People need care from people who care. She cares. She is motivated. She needs friends who are motivated to see her get there. I am indebted to her because knowing her brought me out of my "American" shell to care about others.
I have a page for her on this blog HERE:

Mukulu Jonathan - Kamuli District, Uganda
Founder and Director of Oasis Orphans Care Ministry (OOCM) that ministers the gospel and cares for the needs of orphans, widows and the destitute in Butale Village since 2010. Through thick and thin has kept going all these years. Presently tries to sponsor 78 children to go to school as well. It has been said of him that he loves those children.
There is a page on this blog that also has a link to their website HERE.
His Facebook page is HERE.

Okiror Geofrey - Mpumudde, Jinja, Uganda
A young Ugandan who has founded Support Orphans And Street Kids (SOASK) to more effectively minister to the needs of orphans, widows and the destitute north of Jinga, Uganda. Presently supports 20 children to go to school as well, although there are many more as it becomes possible. Recently was so sick that he could barely communicate on his phone. "My life is nothing. Pray for the children." There is a page on this blog set up for them HERE.
His Facebook page is HERE.

Patrick Ssenyonga - Lwabenge, Kampala, Uganda
Founder and Director of Community Child and Youth Center Network (CCYC-Net) in Uganda. He has been building up this organization since 2008 to minister to the needs of orphans and the destitute in several villages. They currently try to help over 150 children of impoverished parents to go school. They also encourage different projects that will improve the lives and incomes of the villagers.
Their website is HERE.


 
David Oteko - Jinja, Uganda
Jesus Is Lord Ministries - Uganda (JILM) Wairaka Village, Kakira Sub County, Jinja District in Uganda founded to preach the gospel and minister to the needs of the poor in their area. Recently had all his belongings stolen and got back up again some days later to rejoice in the fact that they were holding a bible study. They recently helped the poor children in the area to go to school.
Their website is HERE.
His Facebook page is HERE.

Javed Masih - Gajranwala, Pakistan
Pakistani Pastor of Church Growth Fellowship of Pakistan which is a growing church. Spends much of his time ministering to the people of several villages and training workers to go out and minister. (They presently have over 100 students in training yet have very few bibles. The also recently partnered with others to start a school for the poor in their home village. The people they minister to are the poorest of the poor. Some of whom live in squalid conditions. Their are many diseases to deal with as well.
Their website is HERE.
His Facebook page is HERE.

These are just a few of the thousands of workers around the world who are serving God towards others. There is a shift going on in the world of missions and it has been growing steadily now for some time. It used to be Western missionaries sent into other countries. Now it is the local believers who are standing up in their own countries and taking on the task. Get to know them. Support them in prayer and finances. Someday we may need them to come to us...

Tenacity

TENACITY IN SERVING OTHERS
You know, I have noticed a consistent characteristic among some of my friends that bares mentioning. Maybe you all can help me to understand how to describe it. It came up again today for the umpteenth time.

I had this burden for Okiror Geofrey (SOASK) for the last 4 days and a sense that his life was in danger (again). We are close like that so I'm not going to try and explain that. This time that sense didn't go away. No communication at all for over 4 days. I get a chat popup today and although he was too weak to chat much it was a relief to "hear" from him for a few minutes. He had come down with Malaria. Here not so much a problem. There in Uganda? Untreated? - Deadly. He told me that his relatives had found him in bad condition at his new quarters and carried him for treatment and now was at a relatives still being treated. That was a very close call. But the real clincher is this. I was telling him that his needs must be taken care of and that we need to really pray that through. His things and bed got stolen from his old place so he has been sleeping on the concrete at the new location where they found him. His last chat line before he got cut off chat?:

"Please pray for the children. My life is nothing seeing that I am doing well (now)". (Translation: Never mind me. Pray for the children.)

Almost 24 years old. Dedicated in heart. Loves the children, the widows, the poor. Driven by it. I've observed it time after time. More than I have room to express here although it would make good reading. Maybe even conviction.

Then there is Mukulu Jonathan (OOCM). Five years and running. Ups and downs, Bouts with malaria, Provision slowing down to a trickle, People get really sick, Some die, more are orphaned, Thick and thin I have observed him get back up from every potential crisis and go at it again. "God will do it... Prayer!.." I can hardly count the amount of times that I have tried to mention his needs to him and he will come back with,

"Focus on the children, the orphans, the widows, the destitute, Prayer, God will provide, It will get better... I know."

 I thought I knew something about tenacity before meeting him but I have learned more from him than I have given. There have been times when I have said in my heart, "Oh my God! This can't be happening." and he is under more pressure and hurting and yet he will come back from that experience ready to fight the good fight. He is like a cheerleader in the villages there cheering people on when sometimes it seems hopeless. Somebody from Uganda once said about him, "He loves those children." And there are a lot of them.

Then there is Luthy Monica a young nursing student in her twenties. I actually met Mukulu through her for which I owe her a debt of gratitude. She actually and amazingly got to go to nursing school for at least a year. but her "groom" mother fell ill of a debilitating long term illness and so her needs and that of her younger brothers fell in her lap making it even more of a struggle.

One thing became apparent that in her mind and heart, they come first. As much as it is her dream to become a nurse she will constantly choose to put others first. If I mention Mukulu and the children she has some inner priority that she will immediately turn attention on them even though she has serious needs herself. Ironically, Mukulu does the same thing when I mention Luthy. I mentioned her struggles to become a nurse once to Okiror (who doesn't even know her) and and his response surprised me. "Then she needs to be take care of first!" They know the value of a nurse. They know the struggle between life and death. Luthy was orphaned at a young age. She has that same quality about her. Others come first. The children come first. Yet, she is tenacious in her seemingly impossible pursuit to become a nurse. Not surprisingly, those seem like the qualities of a good nurse as well.