The Drawbridge Story

For some reason this story came to mind today. I cannot tell you if it is 100% true or not, it has served well as an illustration that sticks in the mind. I am sure it is based on a actual happening. Someone has done a little research on it. There is a English version, a American and a Prussian version. I personally like the Prussian version. You can read this at http://www.snopes.com/glurge/drawbridge.asp

This I would describe as the American version. If possible read the other versions.

John Griffeth lived in the western part of the United States [Oklahoma, according to some versions] during the depression years of dustbowls, dryness and drought. Married in 1929, the Griffeths watched their farming dreams blow into dust. Finally, they gathered their little son with their meager belongings and moved east.

There John landed a job at the Mississippi River tending a drawbridge. One summer day [April 5 in one version] in 1937, he took his son to spend the day with him. Wide-eyed and full of questions, Greg watched his father as he raised the bridge to let the ships pass, then lowered it for the great trains to roar across the river.

About noon, John put up the bridge and sat with Greg on an observation platform to eat their lunches. They enjoyed the activity on the waterfront. John dreamed about traveling so he told Greg stories about the ships and where they were headed. He was so caught up in the stories that he lost consciousness of time. Suddenly he was awakened by the shrill whistle of a locomotive. He glanced at his watch, noting that it was nearly time for the Memphis Express.

John made his way to the gear-room, sat on the stool and took the lever in hand. He looked up the river and back down to see if any ships were coming. Then he glanced below ... Wait! No! No! This can't be! Terror gripped him as his heart leaped into his throat and his blood froze in his veins! Evidently, Greg tried to follow his father, slipped off the catwalk and fell into the massive gears below. His leg was caught and as sure as the sun rises in the morning, if the bridge was lowered six tons of revolving metal would grind him to death!

Mind spinning, John frantically sought for answers! He thought, "I'll run back, tie a rope, let myself down..." -- but, no! There was not a third of the needed time.

John moaned! He was trembling and perspiring as his eyes brimmed with tears. The shrill cry of the train whistle was alarmingly close. More than anything, he wanted to spare his son; but if he did many would die! There was no other way to spare their lives! Stricken and overwhelmed with grief, John bowed his quivering head, covered his eyes, and released the lever. The gear room shook as the wheels turned and the great bridge settled down into place. In moments it was over and the Memphis Express came roaring past.

John lifted his head and looked in the train. There a man read the morning news, the conductor was looking at his watch, and a woman in the dining car was feeding her little girl with a long spoon. No one noticed the heart-broken Griffeth. No one was aware of the grieving father or the newly torn body of his dear son. Choking with passion John called out, "What's the matter with you people? I just GAVE MY SON for you! Don't you even care?" Nobody heard; nobody looked; nobody knew and no one responded as the train disappeared across the river.

The heavenly Father watches our own eternity-bound generation as we speed down the rails of life. Without Jesus we too are hopeless and headed for destruction. Our sovereign God "sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him" (1 John 4:9). What an amazing sacrifice as God "spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all" (Rom. 8:32).

Friend, do you sometimes wonder if God loves you? God's good news to man is this: that question has been settled forever! He points you to "the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all" (Heb. 10:10). God very definitely established the fact of His love! "But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us" (Rom. 5:8). Do you understand, my friend? It required the life of the Son of God to save us! We would hopelessly smash right into eternal destruction without the blood of Jesus! "Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him" (Rom. 5:9).

Sixty years ago, John Griffeth's heart was broken by pain and tragedy! He gave his son to save 400 lives. 2,000 years ago, God gave His own Son to spare millions! "Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many" (Heb. 9:28). We may ask, why not "all"? Many attempt to cross that river-of-no-return while rejecting the sufficiency of God's precious Son! Proudly refusing the Son is to say to the Father, "He's not good enough for me!" Why cling to sin rather than allowing the Lord Jesus to bear it? These reject "him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood" (Rev. 1:5). Didn't Jesus warn that the majority will end in the rubble of destruction and few will cross to the wonder of eternal life! (Matt. 7:13-14).

I wonder, friend, are you perhaps as the man totally intent with the news down here - or as the lady with the long spoon oblivious to the danger? Knowing of the sacrifice, will you ignore the crucified Son? We must not insult the One who gave His all! Today we travel the rails of life and the assurance for a safe arrival is free, but the cost is infinite! Jesus paid for our passage through the "sacrifice of himself" (Heb. 9:26). God is so concerned about saving you from the ruins of hell that He gave His "own blood" (Acts 20:28). As Griffeth brokenly cried, "Don't you even care?"

Would you be willing to sit on that train, trusting your own activity to save you apart from the son, or would you confess the son paid it all? Life was not granted because the man paid for his newspaper instead of stealing it that day. Obeying commandments and human acts of love never saved any one. We all fail! Jesus said, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life" (John 5:24). Will you cross that bridge from death unto life? We must never depend upon good works or church ceremonies to escape condemnation. Trust the Lord alone! 

Source - Rev. Chuck Brocka, originally derived from a sermon by Dr. D. James Kennedy; Holwick Illustration #152


The only thing I would point out is that this story happened as a tragic accident, with God it was not an accident that motivated Him, but His love for us and the mutual consent of Christ and His love for us, poor mortals.

Help Vote for Haiti Orphanage

http://givingoflife.com/browse/gods_littlest_angels_haitian_baby_ministry/

A brother that spent time in Haiti as a Volunteer, sent me this link. Check it out. They are tied fourth place and need a few votes to get the grant. I have not researched it extensively but it seems like a good cause.

Christ Life in the South Pacific Story

Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ 1 Cor 11:1
A missionary was once sent out to preach the gospel in the South Sea
Islands. His boat was shipwrecked on the rocks and he was the sole
surviving member of the group. The inhabitants of the island were
hostile, but allowed him to live among them on the condition that he
did not speak about his God. The man quietly and patiently lived his
dedicated Christian life. Day after day, year after year the life he
silently lived witnessed of the saving love and redemption of Jesus.
When he died they buried him on the island. Some years later another
group of missionaries arrived. This time the Polynesians welcomed them
and listened carefully. The missionaries were amazed at the people’s
interest in the gospel. “Do you know about Jesus ?” they asked. “Oh
yes!” said the islanders. “Who told you about Him?” the missionaries
asked. “He lived on our island” they said. “The man you are talking
about is buried here.”

They took the missionaries to the spot where the man of God had been
buried. “He is the man you are speaking about,” they said, pointing to
the grave of a man who was not allowed to speak about Jesus, but whose
dedicated life lived the pattern of Jesus every day.

Bible Flannel Graphs Popular with Bible Study Children

This picture and pictures is from the felt source http://www.thefeltsource.com/BibleSeparates.html This is the same flannel graph that we use.
     A couple that were missionaries in Mexico were elected Wednesday Evening Bible Study superintendents. They suggested and purchased a Deluxe Bible Flannel graph. They used it in Mexico to explain Bible stories. I had the opportunity to volunteer and experience this as a valuable tool to making Bible study come alive to preschoolers up to intermediate age children. The last evening the parents were amused how enthused the children were to going to class. 
     The graph consists of a foundation board where you can "stick" on landscapes, sea scapes, or buildings for a setting. You have a guide book with over a hundred Bible stories. It gives memory verses, basic story, summary of the moral, etc. It also tells you what is needed for a Bible scene. There is hundreds of felt people, objects, and props that are numbered. The book gives out the number code for all the felt items you need to tell that particular story.
    To tell the story you must interact with the children. Ask them questions. They enjoy when you set up the scenery because with a few pieces you can drastically change the setting. As for the presentation: It is best to read the story as many times possible in preparation so that when you present it --you can tell it without looking at your paper much. Challenge the children to memorize the memory verse. After the story and singing period we ask questions to see if everybody was paying attention. It is enjoyable and rewarding and a good idea for Wednesday Bible Study for children.

War in Heaven

This painting War in Heaven by Pieter Brungel has facinated me for a long time as a boy.


Rev.12:7-12

 ⁷And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels,

 ⁸And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven.

 ⁹And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.

 ¹⁰And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night.

 ¹¹And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.

 ¹²Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time.

The things that impress me about this passage is that it is the background to the spiritual battle we fight today. The accuser of the brethren, the great deceiver has been cast down to earth. He has great wrath because his time is short. However we can overcome this warfare by the blood of the lamb. Meaning in simple terms Trust and Believe wholly in Jesus and God's will for our lives. To do this is like having blood on the door post symbolized in the Jewish Passover in Exodus. I just earnestly want to be watchful and make sure to be an overcomer in this conflict.

Another Brungel painting the Triumph of Death that had a profound impact on my young mind as a child. It filled me with a fear of the end and how I do not want this nightmare to be my fate, as a result of ignoring the  Cross of Christ in my life. Note that there is a cross in the middle of the painting slightly to the left. Other than the lone cross there is a absence of hope in this picture--it is past. In fact the Saints must have already ascended to their reward and now the reality of the end has truly come. Sorry perhaps this may strike you as morbid but we do well to think on the big picture and see where our life's choices could lead us. 

Mathematics of Prayer: Andrew Murray speaks on Prayer and the Word

Little of the Word with little Prayer is Death

Much of  the Word with little Prayer gives a sickly life.

Much Prayer with little of the Word gives more life, but without steadfastness.

A full measure of the Word and Prayer each day gives a healthy and powerful life.

-Andrew Murray
The Prayer Life
(Must Read)

Who Are The Holdemon Mennonites- Church of God in Christ Mennonites?

This photo was observed at this address
http://theaestheticelevator.com/2009/07/01/intentional-observation-mennonites-in-flip-flops/

When you see the thousand different shades of Mennonites---Holdemons are like those pictured above. The men encourage one another to wear the beard and dress in plain (albeit, store-bought) clothing. The women usually have their dresses sown or sew their own dresses. They are encouraged to maintain a uniform modesty.
There is quite abit of material on the web about Holdemon Mennonites. There is quite amount of material that is misleading or even negative. This is usually the case when the doctrine of the One True Church Doctrine, or Church Discipline is discussed. It really is not that difficult or even unusual to comprehend. When talking to older people I find alot of denominations used to live alot of the Bible doctrines or teachings we still uphold today. The Church of God in Christ, Mennonite was started as a official "denomination" around 1859. This was spear headed by Mennonite reformer John Holdemon. He had concerns about a slip in spiritual well being of the Old Mennonite Church and a concern that unconverted people were being brought in and also a lapse in child training, etc.
What I write here is really a contemporary view and is not an "authorized" version. I am happily a member in this Church and recommend it as a Church that deals with sin . I personally have a heart out there for people that are looking for a Church that "really" is living the "Faith delivered to saints" and calls sin, sin.

Let me explain:
To become a member you must be "Born-Again"
When you become baptized you become responsible to "walk circumspectly" and righteously. We are all human and not perfect by any means, but we work together as a brotherhood to encourage one another to good works and keep our focus on Christ.
As far as the OTC doctrine it is only Bible based. It is necessary for Church discipline. A scary word? Discipline? Just because most Churches avoid it today does not make it any less Biblical. Does not every  successful business or company have a set of guidelines or code of ethics that are to be followed? God is a Lord of decency and order. You can not serve God and Mammon at the same time. So if you are harboring and living in sins like adulatory, fornication, premeditated lying, etc. you will be disfellowshipped, with the hopes of you seeing the seriousness of the sin and repenting of it so you can be restored. The Church is to be without spot or blemish and so to this end when such sin becomes known it is dealt with to keep the Church pure as well. It does not matter if you are an elder (minister) or lay member you must repent and become accountable for the sin in your life. Just because the World says it is okay to do away with moral obligations--it does not allow Churches to allow open sinning in the camp. To tell you the truth it also makes you think twice before throwing your life away to immorality and loose living (1 Tim 5:20) .
The Church has the keys to the kingdom to work as a body to work towards spreading the Gospel and making sure our lives are not a reproach to the World. The Church as Christ's bride needs to be a light to the World in these times. Alot of Christian people know what is right and wrong, but are helpless to collectively deal with sin.
Another plus is the bond of the brotherhood. For the most part one can travel from congregation to congregation and feel a common bond of fellowship. I find it refreshing to sit with someone you have never met before and talk about the spiritual fight as if you knew each other your whole life. I don't know really more what to say then that I want to recommend to you that there is still a place or Church that strives not to bow to Baal. We are not a utopia on earth but rather a people and a Church committed to making it to heaven. We have our human tendencies but that does not stop us for reaching for the mark of living for Christ. If you want to know more look up   http://churchofgodinchristmennonite.net/

May God Bless you and remember to pray for direction daily, because we all are truly in a spiritual war that is not being fought with guns and bullets, but rather with the matters that have to do with the soul, heart and spirit.

As far as Bible References about discipline and those things of which I feebly wrote:

The seriousness of ignoring sin and living a life of disobedience : Rev.20:12-15 Rev.21:8
Eph. 5:25-27
Mat. 18:15-17
1 Cor. 5:4-7,11
2 Thess. 3:14-15
Avoidance
1 Cor. 5:11
2 Thess. 3:6,14
Rom. 16:17

Witty Wisdom from Wiebe: Lutzer on Success

Better to love God and die unknown than to love the world and be a hero;

better to be content with poverty than to die a slave to wealth;

better to have taken some risks and lost than to have done nothing and succeeded at it.

- Erwin Lutzer

Plain Old Day Trip-- Don't Forget Gospel Tract Boxes

       Took my family to the zoo the other weekend. It came to me that adage, "You are not a tract worker unless you have a tract in your pocket". Availability is the key. I knew we would be passing a town I had been working near during the week. It had come to me to put out some tract display boxes in a few of the businesses along the road. So we took along three boxes to get started. When we stopped for gas, I put one in the gas station and walked across the street to put one in a laundromat. The idea here is not to tell you what I did as much as------ I was impressed how easy it was ---just to have tracts available in my vehicle to be able to take few minutes of a day trip and make it a small tract run. The difference could be that it might be in the right place in the right time for somebody. It is a must to have packets in the car also for handouts.
      On a different day I put some tracts in my pocket on the way to work. Later in the afternoon there was a time were it was the perfect time to hand them out. If they had not been there --I would not have used them. Trust me --I need more spontaneous tract work in my life. It is a small thing to do, but with a prayer it may do so much for yet another. It all starts with just having a tract in your pocket..........

The Smart Phone: Remembering The Tower of Babel and the Mark of the Beast?

 


       The story of the Tower of Babel has always intrigued me. I have wondered at the motives behind the building of it. Everyone wanted to be and stay connected. Imagine the potential of increasing knowledge if the whole world could speak one language.
  I think today and the world of internet and technology is the closest the world has ever come to rivaling the pre-Babel Tower connectedness. Just read the story:
  Now the whole world had one language and a common speech.  As people moved eastward, they found a plain in Shinar and settled there.

   Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves; otherwise we will be scattered over the face of the whole earth.”

  But the LORD came down to see the city and the tower the people were building.  The LORD said, “If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them.  Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other.”

  So the LORD scattered them from there over all the earth, and they stopped building the city. That is why it was called Babel because there the LORD confused the language of the whole world. From there the LORD scattered them over the face of the whole earth.

Genesis 11:1-3;5-9

It is amazing the unity of purpose and then the need God had seen to discourage such a effort. Technology has mushroomed in the last hundred and twenty years from horse and buggy-automobiles-planes-spacecraft-and now the internet. The internet apparently can even speed up communication so that great distances are as nothing. Interpreting languages via media is getting easier. And so on. Just thoughts...


  Now a little on the Mark of the Beast. I am in no way considering myself as having any authority at all in delving into the mysteries of Revelation. I only consider that every age and Christian can find some kind of Holy Spirit directed inspirations from this book. To me the verse on nobody can buy and sell without the Mark of the Beast has rolled around in my head when I hear Christians say they have to have the internet for their business. (even me) 

 It also forced all people, great and small, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hands or on their foreheads,  so that they could not buy or sell unless they had the mark, which is the name of the beast or the number of its name. Rev. 13:16-17

I will let me readers grab their own Bibles and read more if they care to. To me their is a power being unleashed like the world has not seen, at least as we know.

And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years, And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season. Rev.20:1-3

And Now Smart Phones....

  It was interesting to talk the other day about how they are tracking you every move. Persecuted Christians have to remove their batteries of their cell phones to prevent being tracked by government agencies when going to prayer meetings. If I understand Verizon can know every place you have traveled in the last couple years to the minute because your smart phone has a tracking device. Needless to say you internet and digital communication is recorded. For more info: http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,2019239,00.html

  The dangers of the device is that it is absolutely captivating enslaving the user with endless options and apps. Also the ability to do those things that are made available that we would not do if they were at our finger tips. Case study: a fellow I am aquainted with had up to 2,000 pictures on his phone which would not have been taken if it was not "so easy".  The major danger is the emotional attachment and dependency of the user. It is alot of thimes as omnipresent as God in their lives. Some stats:

Cell-phone texting has become the preferred channel of basic communication between teens and their friends, with cell calling a close second. Some 75% of 12-17 year-olds now own cell phones, up from 45% in 2004. Those phones have become indispensable tools in teen communication patterns. Fully 72% of all teens² -- or 88% of teen cell phone users -- are text-messagers. That is a sharp rise from the 51% of teens who were texters in 2006. More than half of teens (54%) are daily texters.

Among all teens, their frequency of use of texting has now overtaken the frequency of every other common form of interaction with their friends 

http://pewresearch.org/pubs/1572/teens-cell-phones-text-messages

Read more from the Pew Center:  

• Half of teens send 50 or more text messages a day, or 1,500 texts a month, and one in three send more than 100 texts a day, or more than 3,000 texts a month.
• 15% of teens who are texters send more than 200 texts a day, or more than 6,000 texts a month.
• Boys typically send and receive 30 texts a day; girls typically send and receive 80 messages per day.
• Teen texters ages 12-13 typically send and receive 20 texts a day.
• 14-17 year-old texters typically send and receive 60 text messages a day.
• Older girls who text are the most active, with 14-17 year-old girls typically sending 100 or more messages a day or more than 3,000 texts a month.
• However, while many teens are avid texters, a substantial minority are not. One-fifth of teen texters (22%) send and receive just one to 10 texts a day or 30 to 300 texts a month.

  Alot of numbers! As far as emotional attachment it is not figure of speech when people say they "love" their iphones. They have also become a " best friend, partner, lifeline, companion." People feel stressed out or somehow un-whole without their cell phones. They did brain imaging and the brain neurons firing showed not patterns of addiction when the subjects saw their iphones, but they showed the pattern of love and compassion as evidenced when in the presence of a girlfriend, boyfriend, or family member. These people actually "loved" their phones! I got this info from a article by Martin Lindstrom, New York Times. They conducted the tests on 16 people and I am not really into polls and stats, but these figures we have been studying are bringing out a point that you can observe on your own.

  What's the danger? These are the end times and satan has been loosed. If a device and power like this can rest in the palms of the hands of impressionable youth, where will this lead? If it has the magnetism of drawing such affection and keeping its captive so connected and dependent----what direction is it going in the future? The ability to call up distractions, media opinions and the temptation to view uncleanness. Not time for fear, but rather sitting down and counting the costs and taking the stand of "Watch and Pray". It is time to share caution about being on the cutting edge. We are not aiming to be Amish caught in the static of this date on the calender is where righteous living stops. Any advancement after here is sin. However we do need to sit back and watch developments. I am now thankful the Church has been slower to accept these things with a prayerful concern. May it continue. In the last days perilous times will come....If we believe that will we hold a device in our hand or on our lap that will keep us connected with the smorgasboard of the world every second of the day one click away from consciousnesses?

Of course I am typing away on my laptop on the internet. How connected am I. I have no desire to be hypocritical but to be less connected is better and I use this blog to share concerns and let the reader discern for himself --What is Truth. To that I point you to further Bible study guided by the Holy Spirit.