Daily Devotional; formerly Chaplains Corner

[BlackEagle]

Big AMEN to that, Terry;
God has a reason and purpose for each of us.
Abraham's servant said, "I being in the way, the Lord led me." I figure if I keep getting in God's way He will lead me.

[ampaterry]

Thank you, guys, for your support!

Todays devotional draws from Smoke On The Mountain by Joy Davidman.

Unfortunately, mankind can’t handle the common sense of God. Side by side with Christianity, and often mistaken for it, there has always existed a dark Eastern religion of despair. Perhaps it first came out of exhausted and overpopulated India, where the Lord Buddha decided long ago that life was a mess, a huge disappointment.

The religion of despair often achieves a glaze and appearance of something noble. This is very impressive to those who are impressed by dramatic gestures. I remember several young men that I worked with at various times who would sit with their legs crossed in the Lotus position, chanting their Mantra as they performed Transcendental Meditation. This is the exact opposite of the true gospel. The Christian gives up his own desires for the love of others; the Eastern ascetic renounces the world because the world is flawed! He works to attain perfection, from which lofty position he can look down on the world with condemnation, because he thinks himself too good for it. Pride pretending to be love; that is nothing but a subterfuge of Satan himself!

The Word of God tells us:
Matthew 9:14-15 (KJV);
"Then came to him the disciples of John, saying, Why do we and the Pharisees fast oft, but thy disciples fast not? And Jesus said unto them, Can the children of the bridechamber mourn, as long as the bridegroom is with them? but the days will come, when the bridegroom shall be taken from them, and then shall they fast."

Colossians 2:20-23 (MSG);
So, then, if with Christ you've put all that pretentious and infantile religion behind you, why do you let yourselves be bullied by it? "Don't touch this! Don't taste that! Don't go near this!" Do you think things that are here today and gone tomorrow are worth that kind of attention? Such things sound impressive if said in a deep enough voice. They even give the illusion of being pious and humble and ascetic. But they're just another way of showing off, making yourselves look important.

May God Bless you, guys -

[ampaterry]

Tomorrow is Sexigesima. When I first read that word, I thought it was dealing with mathematics somehow, because the Sexigesimal system is a numbering system using the base 60, and comes from ancient Sumeria. As an engineer, I dealt a lot with this system. If you have a GPS or have otherwise dealt with latitude and longitude, you are familiar with this system even if not with the name. It is the system in which we express angles as Degrees, Minutes and Seconds'. And this knowledge is somewhat helpful in determining what this day signifies; it is traditionally part of the countdown involving Easter and Lent, and is Latin for “sixty days”, just as last Sunday was “Seventy days” and next Sunday is “Fifty days”. The problem I have is that these Sundays mark ten days difference between them, while the week is only seven day long -
But a time to prepare for the coming season is a good thing, regardless of whether we ever even hear the word “Sexigesima” or not. We prepare for the most solemn day in the Christian calendar; the day our Lord was crucified for our sins. It should be very real to us, increasingly so, over the next few weeks as this time approaches.
God loved us enough to do this.
God loves us enough to do this.
God will always love us enough to do this.

This took place on the grueling bloody trek to Calvary:
Luke 23:26-28 (KJV);
And as they led him away, they laid hold upon one Simon, a Cyrenian, coming out of the country, and on him they laid the cross, that he might bear it after Jesus. And there followed him a great company of people, and of women, which also bewailed and lamented him. But Jesus turning unto them said, “Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for me, but weep for yourselves, and for your children.”

Today, let us heed that advice. We may be incapable of not weeping for Christ, but let us be sure to weep for all the souls that will die in their sins because they never accepted the gift he gave us by sacrificing himself.

May the God of all creation bless each and every one of you today -

[ampaterry]

Today is the birthday of Abraham Lincoln. His life reminds me of the opening line of the classic work “A Tale of Two Cities”; “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.” Lincoln was loved by the anti-slavery people. Lincoln was hated by the pro-slavery people. He was loved by those who wanted a strong central government for our country. He was hated by those that worried about the erosion of the rights of the free states that made up the union. He was loved by most of the people in the North, and he was hated by most in the South.
When he was shot, John Wilkes Booth shouted “Sic Simper Tyranus!”, which is Latin for “The same to all tyrants!” The Civil War is still to this day called the “War of Northern Aggression” here in the South.
His honesty, reflected in the reference of “Honest Abe”, was so legendary that his entire life has become for us just a series of tests of his character, all of which we are told he passed easily.
But the truth, I suspect, lies somewhere in between these two opposite images which are presented to us.
My mother was born in 1905 in Chandlerville, IL, and as a little girl she heard many conversations about Lincoln from a lot of people that actually had met and talked to him. This puts me in the unique position of hearing from an unimpeachable source what folks of his day thought of Lincoln.
What pearls of wisdom did my mother pass on to me?
When I asked her about Lincoln, mom frowned, dropped her voice to one that she did not want anyone else to hear, and said:
“He told the dirtiest stories!”
We may never know what Lincoln, Obama, or any other president is truly like. But one thing we can be sure of:
Titus 3:1-2 (KJV); Put them in mind to be subject to principalities and powers, to obey magistrates, to be ready to every good work, To speak evil of no man, to be no brawlers, but gentle, shewing all meekness unto all men.

We are told, very clearly, that we are to obey magistrates. We can campaign against them, we can vote against them, we can speak our minds about them, but we are to obey the law, at least in the areas where the law of man does not conflict with the laws of God.

May God bless each and every one of you -

[BlackEagle]

Thanks once again, Terry;

Paul told Timothy, who was in his first pastorate, I think, to pray "for all people, and specifically for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way."

I guess that means we need to pray for our political leaders, no matter how it badly it goes against the grain.

The Covenanters in Scotland during the killing times did pray for King Charles, even though he was actively persecuting them. They obeyed the laws right up to the point where those laws cut across what God's Word says. They "rendered unto Caesar what was Caesar's, and unto God what was God's", and would not cross the line of obeying the king at the expense of disobeying God.

They also protected themselves on occasion: The wikipedia account of the Battle of Drumclog is fairly good http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Drumclog . (The BBC history of the Covenanters shows the BBC's typical anti-Christian bias.)

A couple of hundred years earlier Christians in France and Switzerland obeyed their kings, but resisted the religious persecution of the Inquisition.

[ampaterry]

You're sure right, BlackEagle -
And it is VERY hard at times - -

For today:

The problems of the world can weigh heavily upon each of us. If you feel no concern for the world situation, then you must not know what is going on. We have fine young people being killed in more than one area of the world, and this has always been the case; I remember Nixon lamenting his desire for a Generation of Peace. We have never seen this, nor are we likely to in this physical life.

And yet, there is a greater enemy than those who desire to kill us by using military weapons to end our lives. I am speakling of depression, often brought on by those people who profess to HELP us.
In the Viet Nam era, we had thousands of young people killed in battle by the North Vietnamese. During this long and protracted conflict, there was a great deal of political dissension among our own citizens, and some sadly misguided individuals (such as Jane Fonda!) allowed this political disagreement with the war itself to spill over and become hatred for our soldiers that were fighting the war. Miss Fonda and her fellow travelers led the movement to hate the returning troops. They called them 'war criminals' and 'Baby killers', and spat on them when they arrived back home. This had such a deep effect on these fine young people that a deep depression settled in on many of them. Some years later, statistics showed that although 58,000 were killed in that horrid conflict, 100,000 had committed suicide since the conflict ended.

The Word of God speaks of this depression:
Job 3:20-22 (KJV);
"Wherefore is light given to him that is in misery, and life unto the bitter in soul; Which long for death, but it cometh not; and dig for it more than for hid treasures; Which rejoice exceedingly, and are glad, when they can find the grave?"

Ecclesiastes 4:1 (KJV);
"So I returned, and considered all the oppressions that are done under the sun: and behold the tears of such as were oppressed, and they had no comforter; and on the side of their oppressors there was power; but they had no comforter."

We must work to bring comfort to those that are depressed – and we must examine ourselves to assure that we never contribute to such depression.

[pipeman525]

Good one Terry. A lot of people have forgotten Hanoi Jane and I'm glad to see your not one of them. It was her and a lot of others that started the degredation of American moral values during those troubled times.

[BlackEagle]

Amen, Terry;

Psalms has God's expression of every emotion we can experience. I have turned to the Psalms for comfort many times when I was feeling down. They are a lot better at bringing hope than humanist psychology. Haven't done much work on PTSD and Psalms, but I'm sure God has answers there.

Psalm 22 starts off with the words Christ used on the Cross--my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me... and ends up with a shout of triumph.

Psalms 42-43 have the recurring chorus of
"O why my soul art thou bowed down?
Why so discouraged be?
Hope now in God! I'll praise Him still!
My help, my God is He!"

There are others, all good for helping me to pull up out of a downward spiral.

[pipeman525]

Black eagle the one that keeps me from that spiral sometimes is PSalm 46:10

Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth.

It really helped today when I read about the NJ senate approving a gay marriage thing. I need to put that over my computer moniter.

[BlackEagle]

Originally Posted by pipeman525

Black eagle the one that keeps me from that spiral sometimes is PSalm 46:10

Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth.

It really helped today when I read about the NJ senate approving a gay marriage thing. I need to put that over my computer moniter.

Amen. Sorry to hear about the NJ senate vote. UK did that several years ago. When the BBC reported it, there was a cheer in the radio background that sounded demonic. It's difficult sometimes to remember that God is still on the throne when people are pulling all this crazy stuff, but HE IS!!!

[pipeman525]

Originally Posted by BlackEagle

Amen. Sorry to hear about the NJ senate vote. UK did that several years ago. When the BBC reported it, there was a cheer in the radio background that sounded demonic. It's difficult sometimes to remember that God is still on the throne when people are pulling all this crazy stuff, but HE IS!!!

Hey man the more of these things that happen, the closer we are to seeing Christ coming through the clouds.

[pipeman525]

I hate to be the bearer of bad news but Washington's governor just signed same sex marriage into law.

[76Highboy]

Amen brother. Keep it going.

[ampaterry]

Thank you, guys, for the support!
Our problem is, there is no Straight, Conservative, Constitution supporting, Working Class PAC. The squeeky wheel, as they say - -

But let us be glad today - for this is to be a HAPPY day - Valentines Day! This holiday is dedicated to love and lovers. The history of this holiday is really a mystery; there are at least THREE Saint Valentines in history, and knowledge of them ranges from scant to none. There are so many myths and legends about this day that one can pick and choose which one to believe, and I will relate the one that I like best as the origin of this day.

In ancient Rome, February was considered Spring, and they had a festival in the middle of the month named Lupercalia. To start this festival, the priests of the order would gather in the cave where Romulus and Remus, the founders of Rome, were raised by a wolf. There they would sacrifice a goat (for fertility) and a dog (for purification). They would then cut the goat hide into strips, dip them in the blood of the sacrifices, and take to the streets where they would touch people and crops with the strips for fertility during the coming year. Later in the day, the young women would put their names into a big urn, and the young men would then draw a name out of the urn, and live with the woman they had drawn for the next year. This practice was encouraged by the Roman government, because they believed that keeping young men unmarried made them better soldiers.

The Saint Valentine I speak of today worked to end this pagan practice. He continued to conduct normal marriages during this period, which caused him to be imprisoned. While imprisoned, he fell in love with the jailors daughter, who visited him in prison. During this time, he sent the very first valentine; a love letter to her, signed “from your Valentine.” February 14th was chosen to celebrate Valentines day in an effort to counter the Lupercalia festival.

When did all this romantic love stuff start?

Genesis 2:21-24 (KJV);
And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof; And the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man. And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man. Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.

May God bless each and every one of you today -

[BlackEagle]

Thanks, Terry. God knew what He was doing when He created man, male and female,and I'm glad.

[BlackEagle]

My wife had this posted on facebook...just had to steal it.

[Python]

Pagans in Rome celebrated the evening of February 14th & 15th as an idolatrous festival in honor of Lupercus "the hunter of wolves & the god of fertility". It was not until the reign of Pope Gelasius that the holiday became a "Christian" custom. "As far back as 496, Pope Gelasius changed Lupercalia on February 15th to ST. Valentine's Day on February 14th". The original Saint Valentine was Nimrod, on this day in February, Semiramis, the mother of Nimrod, was said to have been purified and to have appeared for the first time in public with her son as the original "mother and child".

[ampaterry]

Thank you, Guys -
Last night on the News on TV (Fox IIRC), I was very surprised to hear them recount the same story which I had chosen to represent Valentines Day. Considering that there are so many conflicting claims (Consider Python's, for one), I found that to be very coincidental indeed -

And speaking of coincidences -

I have discovered a most strange phenomenon. Sometimes when Judy and I go to town, just about everyone I encounter is in a good mood. They smile when I pass them, sometimes say “Hello!”, and seem to be happy with life in general.

At other times, I find just the opposite; almost everyone has a grim expression, and no one ever speaks. If I have dealings with them, their responses are short and void of any friendliness at all.

At first, I tried to tie this down to the day of the week – everyone is grumpy on Monday because the work-week has just started, or happy on Friday because it is ending. Not so.

Maybe the weather – on sunny days, people are happier than on rainy days. No again.

Gas prices! When gas is up, people are down – and when gas is down, people are up! No correlation at all.

Paydays! Many people are paid on the 1st and 15th of the month, so are happiest around those dates. Nope.

Phase of the moon? Season of the year? Astrological sign? Stock Market? Hemlines? No, no, no, no and no.

The coincidence here is the fact that the world is grumpy on the same days that I am grumpy, and is only happy on days that I am already happy.

That is the thought that solved the little mystery. If I walk down the street happy and smiling, most people smile back! If I have had a bad day and am frowning, no one speaks to me.

The difference in the attitude of the world depends on one thing – the attitude the world sees in us.

The Word of God tells us that our attitude is crucial to our well being:
Proverbs 17:22 (KJV);
"A merry heart doeth good like a medicine: but a broken spirit drieth the bones."

And that how we feel inside controls how we communicate with others:
Job 10:1 (KJV);
"My soul is weary of my life; I will leave my complaint upon myself; I will speak in the bitterness of my soul."

Smile, guys - it DOES make a difference!

[tcox4freedom]

Thanks Terry!
That's one I really need.

[Python]

FAITH REST. Be aware, but don't get caught up in the "cares" of this world. Just the thought that I've been blessed by God to have been born into this last generation to witness His prophetic word being fulfilled on a daily bases, and the only generation of Christians that will not experience physical death, is more than enough to make me smile.

[RunningOnMT]

Originally Posted by Python

FAITH REST. Be aware, but don't get caught up in the "cares" of this world. Just the thought that I've been blessed by God to have been born into this last generation to witness His prophetic word being fulfilled on a daily bases, and the only generation of Christians that will not experience physical death, is more than enough to make me smile.

Not to hijack the thread but I have to ask what makes you so sure that you are among "the only generation of Christians that will not experience physical death"? Since the first century there have been Christians believing that same thing.

I guess there is no harm in believing that except when you make a public pronouncement of it that gives the impression your faith in your pending rapture is as strong as your faith in Christ himself. So what if it doesn't happen and you die an old man? Will you go to your grave believing the Bible is untrue?

You see, you never say "I have the belief" or "I have a hunch" the rapture will happen in your lifetime, you state it as indisputable fact. It's OK to speculate based on current events and scripture, but I think too many people take such speculation as gospel. "Acts 1:7 He said to them: "It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority."

My brother, I also believe the rapture is near and could happen at any time, but it's more of an educated guess. I believe the church will be caught up prior to the tribulation, but only after the fullness of gentiles have been saved. There are preachers today who spend so much time focusing on the rapture that there is little left to try to reach the lost. And THAT should be our primary focus.

[ampaterry]

+1 ROMT -

I, too, believe the end is VERY close -
But as you say, I BELIEVE it, I will not state it as a fact.

[jack404]

i too think its close , but prepping that it's not , cause no man knows...

Cheers Terry

[Python]

Regardless of if I die before the Rapture, this is the "last generation" and the only generation of Christians that will not experience physical death when the Rapture takes place. I don't put my primary focus on the Rapture, however, as the Lord said..Luke 21:31 "When you see these things happening, recognize that the kingdom of God is near. Truly I say to you, this generation will not pass away until ALL of these things have happened". I hear the news everyday. I don't have a problem seeing and recognizing the "things" that the Lord instructed me to watch for and be aware of, maybe you do, but I don't.The end of the "Age of Grace" when the fullness of the gentile have been saved is the time of the Rapture that will take place in this last generation. Of course our primary focus should be on saving the lost, and knowing how short time is, it's just as important to focus on the Rapture in an effort to open the eyes of those thinking there's still ample time. I don't want to see anyone left behind, "We must work the works of Him who sent me, while it is day, the night is coming when no man can work".

Quite to the contrary, there are not enough preachers today focusing on the Rapture or the Last Days/Last Generation that we're presently living. Because of this, too many are asleep. Knowing that time is so short and the next thing for Christians to experience before the Tribulation begins is the Rapture, is a great reminder and encouragement to live each day walking close with the Lord. You can believe anything you want to and express that belief, so can I. We can agree to disagree as they say, but when it comes to the word of God, I will always say "I believe". I hope that I will never be so pompous as to tell anyone what they can or cannot say concerning their "belief". And so that you're not confused, my faith in the pending Rapture is as strong as my faith in Christ Himself. The Rapture is the word of God, therefor, it is a fact. Jesus Christ rose from the dead, that is a fact. To say that I believe God's word, and say that I would not state what I believe as God's word to be fact, would project the wisdom of a fool. God knowing the beginning and the end does not "speculate". Prophecy is the word of God, I don't have a problem understanding what God has prophesied. If anyone has a problem believing God's word only after it has already happened for it to be a fact that's their problem. I don't have that problem.

[BlackEagle]

Thanks for the daily message, Terry;
Wherever we go, there we are, along with whatever emotional baggage we are carrying with us.

Mathew 24 & 25 talk about the return of Christ, and the verse that has stood out to me over the years is 25:13--"Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour." Nobody can tell for sure when it will happen; Jesus says only the Father knows. Our job is, like the faithful servant, to keep plugging away doing what God has given us to do until He comes.

There have been plenty of predictions of "The End Of The World". The first one I recall was to be on a particular day and hour when I was in junior high school. Well, that day I was walking home from school and suddenly realized that the world should have ended about an hour before, and everything was still going as usual. My parents were home, so I didn't miss the Rapture. Everyone was still going about thier business. I thought something like "Nobody knows the day or the hour; it's the Father's secret and He'll let us know when He's ready."

Lots of people have spent lots of time talking when the end will come. There is a whole section of Theology, called Escatology, devoted to the subject. God has given us some indications in His Word, but there have been countless times throughout history that those signs have been around but the world has not come to an end. It will come, sooner or later and that perfect time is in God's good hands.