LOVE TO GOD'S PEOPLE

"Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: they shall prosper that love thee" (Psalm 122:6).

"LORD, who shall abide in thy tabernacle? who shall dwell in thy holy hill? [He] in whose eyes a vile person is contemned; but he honoureth them that fear the LORD" (Psalm 15:1, 4).

"If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us" (1John 4:12).

"Blessed is he that blesseth thee, and cursed is he that curseth thee" (Numbers 24:9).

"God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labour of love, which ye have shewed toward his name, in that ye have ministered to the saints, and do minister" (Hebrews 6:10).

"We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother abideth in death. My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth. And hereby we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before him" (1John 3:14, 18, 19).

Clarke's Precious Bible Promises(Thanks, Tom!).

Karataaaaaaaaaayaaaah!

Ebaying...

A print depicting a group of Covenanters having their worship time interrupted by a group of soldiers coming to arrest them, by William H. Weatherhead.



My birthday is right around the corner (February).

For more info on Presbyterians being arrested, tortured, and killed by the government, while the government-issued "preachers" told everyone to submit this this "ordinance of God," see A Cloud of Witnesses. Thanks to two of my friends, A Cloud of Witnesses can also be read here.

Yeah, tell me about it.

"People seldom do what they believe in. They do what is convenient, then repent."

-Bob Dylan.

Waldensian Covenanters

from The History of Protestantism
Volume Second - Book Sixteenth
by Rev. James Aitken Wylie, LL.D.

Chapter 7:

The Waldenses of Lucerna sent deputies across the mountains, then covered to a great depth with snow, to propose an alliance with the Protestants of the Valley of Pragelas, who were at that time threatened by their sovereign Francis I. The proposed alliance was joyfully accepted. Assembling on a plateau of snow facing the mountains of Sestrieres, and the chain of the Guinevert, the deputies swore to stand by each other and render mutual support in the coming struggle. It was agreed that this oath of alliance should be sworn with a like solemnity in the Waldensian Valleys.

The deputies from Pragelas, crossing the Mount Julien, arrived at Bobbio on the 21st January, 1561. Their coming was singularly opportune. On the evening before a ducal proclamation had been published in the Valleys, commanding the Vaudois, within twenty-four hours, to give attendance at mass, or abide the consequences–"fire, sword, the cord: the three arguments of Romanism," says Muston. This was the first news with which the Pragelese deputies were met on their arrival. With all the more enthusiasm they proceeded to renew their oath. Ascending a low hill behind Bobbio, the deputies from Pragelas, and those from Lucerna, standing erect in the midst of the assembled heads of families, who kneeled around, pronounced these words-"

In the name of the Vaudois Churches of the Alps, of Dauphine and of Piedmont, which have ever been united, and of which we are the representatives, we here promise, our hands on our Bible, and in the presence of God, that all our Valleys shall courageously sustain each other in matters of religion, without prejudice to the obedience due to their legitimate superiors.

"We promise to maintain the Bible, whole and without admixture, according to the usage of the true Apostlic Church, persevering in this holy religion, though it be at the peril of our lives, in order that we may transmit it to our children, intact and pure, as we received it from our fathers.

"We promise aid and succor to our persecuted brothers, not regarding our individual interests, but the common cause; and not relying upon man, but upon God."

The physical grandeurs of the spot were in meet accordance with the moral sublimity of the transaction. Immediately beneath was spread out the green bosom of the valley, with here and there the silver of the Pelice gleaming out amid vineyards and acacia groves. Filling the horizon on all sides save one stood up an array of magnificent mountains, white with the snows of winter. Conspicuous among them were the grand peaks of the Col de Malaure and the Col de la Croix. They looked the silent and majestic witnesses of the oath, in which a heroic people bound themselves to die rather than permit the defilement of their hearths, and the profanation of their altars, by the hordes of an idolatrous tyranny. It was in this grand fashion that the Waldenses opened one of the most brilliant campaigns ever waged by their arms.

One Red Paperclip

Kyle MacDonald, a fellow Blogspot blogger, set out to get a house by trading one red paperclip for something of greater value, and that item for another item of greater value, and continued to trade up like this until he finally traded for a house.

He actually did it, in 14 trades over the course of one year!



LOL @ “I will go anywhere in the world except for Yahk, British Columbia.”!!!

This guy falls into that "Why didn't I think of that?!" category, like the inventor of the Pet Rock, or the original "Send me a dollar" website person. A paperclip? A paperclip! Wow.

Pain. Pain. And good on Daniel!

Please pray for me and my family. The problems mentioned in the previous post are not all resolved, and I'm having to make difficult decisions, and am being asked to answer problems that I have no answers for.

I am also in some physical pain in my neck and shoulders -- probably stemming from rolling full-on with my partner in karate class the other night. We were doing headlock escapes, and my (blackbelt) partner and I made a contest out it, fully resisting one another. I think I held my own, but I have sore muscles in my neck (and face!) that I didn't know could get sore. Yesterday it got worse (alot of driving, walking, pushing a stroller, piggy backing kids, and other daddy-duties), and overnight it got worse yet. Ouch.

IN OTHER NEWS:

The world may not be ready for this... but too bad, you's better get ready:



Daniel earned his white belt! Yep, at our school you must earn the white belt too. The fury has been unleashed -- prepare or suffer the consequences!

Oh, what a night!

In the course of reading this my blog, one might be able to gather that my life does not always go smoothly (whatever smoothly is). However, I often do not share all of the details, but only little tiny bits and pieces. This is because although I do want my friends to know of my struggles and triumphs, that they might weep with me and rejoice with me, yet I do not want this to be a river of crying and self pity, nor do I want to uncover the nakedness of my loved ones by naming them. And so, sometimes things like I'm about to say will not always make sense, unless you know me "in real life" and can put two and two together (two taken from blog entries like this, and the other two provided by real life info). That being prefaced...

MAN did I have a lousy night last night! The evening I intended to have was to be something like this -- I stop by the karate school to pick the kids up and bring them home, eat a nice meal together with my family, maybe catch a quick rejuvinating power nap, spend some helping little Daniel perfect the art of bicycle riding, and maybe go to karate class myself or lift weights in my basement (depending on my mood), and then end the day with family worship, put the kids to bed, and have some "husband and wife time" as opposed to all the "mommy and daddy" time we put in having seven kids.

Ok, I was able to pick the kids up and bring them home. Sometimes the best made plans and all that. A phone call started it. I had to go help, as I wasn't going to let him go through this kind of thing alone. So I kiss my wife goodbye for the night, tell the kids "I have to go take care of something, daddy will be back soon," and down the road like a Greyhound.

Long long long story short short short: My evening involved two very drunk people, one of them hostile from the beginning, one of them growing more hostile as the night went on; confiscating bottles and bottles of oxycodone, ativan, and many other pills, some of which are unlabelled; police; an ambulance; a crisis intervention worker; suicidal threats; physical violence; coming ~this~ close to having to put a guy flat on his back to take an involuntary nap for our safety and for his own good; disgusting filthy stories and accusations; and a few hours of the most blasphemous, ugly, bizarre, heinous, malicious, nasty verbal abuse that I've ever been subjected to collectively in my whole life.

But, I'm home and safe, though a little tired, and a bit sick to my stomach. Could've been worse, for sure.

God Keeps His Promises -- A Lesson from the Book of Joshua

"And the LORD gave unto Israel all the land which he sware to give unto their fathers; and they possessed it, and dwelt therein. And the LORD gave them rest round about, according to all that he sware unto their fathers: and there stood not a man of all their enemies before them; the LORD delivered all their enemies into their hand. There failed not ought of any good thing which the LORD had spoken unto the house of Israel; all came to pass." --Joshua 21:43-45.

The performance makes the promise appear very true and the promise makes the performance appear very kind.

I. God had promised to give the seed of Abraham the land of Canaan for a possession, and now at last he performed this promise (v. 43): They possessed it, and dwelt therein. Though they had often forfeited the benefit of that promise, and God had long delayed the performance of it, yet at last all difficulties were conquered, and Canaan was their own. And the promise of the heavenly Canaan is as sure to all God's spiritual Israel, for it is the promise of him that cannot lie.

II. God had promised to give them rest in that land, and now they had rest round about, rest from the fatigues of their travel through the wilderness (which tedious march, perhaps, was long in their bones), rest from their wars in Canaan, and the insults which their enemies there had at first offered them. They now dwelt, not only in habitations of their own, but those quiet and peaceable ones; though there were Canaanites that remained, yet none that had either strength or spirit to attack them, nor so much as give them an alarm. This rest continued till they by their own sin and folly put thorns into their own beds and their own eyes.

III. God had promised to give them victory and success in their wars, and this promise likewise was fulfilled: There stood not a man before them, v. 44. They had the better in every battle, and which way soever they turned their forces they prospered. It is true there were Canaanites now remaining in many parts of the land, and such as afterwards made head against them, and became very formidable. But, 1. As to the present remains of the Canaanites, they were no contradiction to the promise, for God had said he would not drive them out all at once, but by little and little, Exod. xxiii. 30. They had now as much in their full possession as they had occasion for and as they had hands to manage, so that the Canaanites only kept possession of some of the less cultivated parts of the country against the beasts of the field, till Israel, in process of time, should become numerous enough to replenish them. 2. As to the after prevalency of the Canaanites, that was purely the effect of Israel's cowardice and slothfulness, and the punishment of their sinful inclination to the idolatries and other abominations of the heathen, whom the Lord would have cast out before them but that they harboured and indulged them. So that the foundation of God stands sure. Israel's experience of God's fidelity is here upon record, and is an acquittance under their hands to the honour of God, the vindication of his promise which had been so often distrusted, and the encouragement of all believers to the end of the world: There failed not any good thing, no, nor aught of any good thing (so full is it expressed), which the Lord had spoken unto the house of Israel, but in due time all came to pass, v. 45. Such an acknowledgment as this, here subscribed by Joshua in the name of all Israel, we afterwards find made by Solomon, and all Israel did in effect say Amen to it, 1 Kings viii. 56. The inviolable truth of God's promise, and the performance of it to the utmost, are what all the saints have been ready to bear their testimony to; and, if in any thing the performance has seemed to come short, they have been as ready to own that they themselves must bear all the blame.

--Matthew Henry.