Fillipino Update

It is quite difficult to get too much information on the latest disaster in the Philippines. I want to be careful with the information that I give out and also want to be sure on accuracy. All that I can say is that a couple from a Texas congregation rode out the storm in a motel as they had arrived from the US. The other report is that a Fillipino family from our church had their roof blown off---a god send-- because it allowed them to climb up into the rafters to escape the water. Do not build on these details, but rather use them to get a picture in your mind, so you can pray for the thousands affected by this tragedy. That is the best thing for our brothers and sisters and their families----remember them in prayer. No doubt they are in shock and have special needs. Thank-you for your interest. 

I had to think of the perils have Paul and yet he still stood firm----
Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I have been in the deep; 
In journeyings often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils by mine own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren; 
In weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness.  2Cor. 11:25-27

I apologize for any typo errors on this blog, but it seems that I rarely have enough time to thoroughly edit any of the material--Thank-you for your understanding.  JLT

A Short Take on Technology

It seems there are many snares and pitfalls for the Christian with technology. What does it teach me? 
Lean on my brother and the Church while standing on the Rock. Jesus Christ. He is unchanging. 
Our human natures are selfish by nature.
That is why we need to look around us and help others (to escape our self absorbed natures.)
I believe the brotherhood, the Church, and its give and take is the force of sandpaper that prepares me in my service to God.
Technology is the latest ultimate test.
It is a storm that will try us to see if we are truly grounded on the Rock.
If He is our security we will shun anything that desires to undermine our relationship with Him.
I do not like the thought of business use only allowances for technology.
I believe a Christian needs to give 101% effort to make it.
Do not be an empty storehouse waiting to be filled with entertainment---fill up by memorizing songs and treasures that motivate service. 
Too often the Lord gives us a clean slate that we squander-----trying to keep clean yet never using it to do good.
If the desire of the heart is set on Christ----like the sun flower you will always strive to face the "Sun".
So let the winds of technology or trials howl---I know where my security lies.
JLT

Ps 18:2
The LORD is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation,and my high tower.

Isa. 50:7
 For the Lord GOD will help me; therefore shall I not be confounded: therefore have I set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be ashamed.

Wiebe Quotes on Destiny's Wilderness

Do not forget that every man that has great destiny ahead has a wilderness to pass through.

Mary-Jane Akissin

From Trials to Triumph

The Voice of Christians’ Fellowship

April 2013

Wiebe Quotes: Tom Skinner on the Fruits and Gifts of the Spirit

I hasten to add that there is a distinction between the fruit of the Spirit and the gifts of the Spirit.  We need also to understand this as it pertains to the evangelist.

Quite often we become enamoured with gifted people.  And we often assume that because they are gifted, that they are also spiritual.  We say, “Wow, that sister can really sing. She’s a great woman of God!”  But the fact that she can sing does not make her a woman of God.  We say, “Boy, that brother can preach!”  He is not a man of God because he can preach.  The Bible says God gives gifts as he pleases.

For 28 years, I have been preaching the gospel on every continent.  I am gifted to preach.  But I recognize it is a gift from God.  It has nothing to do with me.  If you judge my spirituality by my preaching, I will snow you—because there is no relationship between my gift to preach and my spirituality.

If you want to find out whether I am a spiritual person, if you want to find out whether I am filled with the Spirit, you have to wait until I finish preaching and hang out with me.

The fullness of the Spirit is not a state of perfection; it is a state of surrender.  It is not a state of sinlessness; it is a state of abandonment to Jesus Christ—when a person simply says, “I renounce all rights to myself and I give Jesus the right to do with me whatever he pleases.”

-Tom Skinner

© 1989 BridgeBuilder.  This is an excerpt from an article originally featured in BridgeBuilder Magazine, published in Washington, DC.

If thou, LORD, shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand? Ps. 130:3

Wiebe Quotes on Creativity

A quotation from Psychology as Religion: The Cult of Self-Worship written by Paul C. Vitz (copyright 1977)

CREATIVITY AND THE CREATOR (pg. 138, 139)

For the selfist, creativity is conceived as personal growth through self-expression, and hence as an achievement. It is the way the individual self gains value, very often in comparison to others. In a sense, wealth, intelligence, and integrity all take a back seat today to this truly middle-class value of "creativity". Most application forms for graduate and professional schools give prominence to it, and to be labeled creative has become the ultimate goal for millions.

For Christians the emphasis is very different. It is on developing one's abilities in the service of God and others, as shown in Christ's parable of the talents. C. S. Lewis describes the Christian's indifference or antipathy to preoccupation with creativity as follows:

"Nothing could be more foreign to the tone of scripture than the language of those who describe a saint as a 'moral genius' or a 'spiritual genius,' thus insinuating that his virtue or spirituality is 'creative' or 'original'. If I have read the New Testament aright, it leaves no room for 'creativeness' even in a modified or metaphorical sense. Our whole destiny seems to lie in the opposite direction,... in acquiring a fragrance that is not our own but borrowed, in becoming clean mirrors filled with the image of a face that is not ours." [C. S. Lewis "Christianity and Literature" in Christian Reflections, ed. Walter Hooper (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1967) pp.6-7.]

Therefore a Christian artist or writer should never strive for creativity per se but instead should try to embody some reflection of eternal beauty and wisdom. Lewis notes that the Christian approach to literature, for example, groups itself with certain existing theories of literature as against others. The Christian position...

"...would have affinities with the primitive or Homeric theory in which the poet is the mere pensioner of the Muse. It would have affinities with the Platonic doctrine of the transcendent Form partly imitable on earth.... It would be opposed to the theory of genius as, perhaps, generally understood; and above all it would be opposed to the idea that literature is self-expression." [Lewis, "Christianity and Literature," p.7.]

I Am Still............

(A thought provoking piece)

I was hungry and you formed a committee to discuss my hunger,
I was imprisoned and you crept off to your chapel to pray for my release,
I was naked and in your mind you debated my morality,
I was sick and you prayed God thanking him for your health,
I was homeless and you preached to me of the spiritual shelter found in the love of God,
I was lonely and you left me alone to go pray for me,
You seem so holy, so close to God…
But I am still… very hungry, and lonely, and cold.

-Author Unknown-

source: Wiebe Quotes who sourced it from Confidence Clinic, Haiti

What the Bible says in Mat. 25:35-40

For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in: 

Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me. 

Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink? 

When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee? 

Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee? 

And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.

Typhoon Haiyan Hammers Fillipino Congregations

Not much has been reported in how it has affected our congregations there, but it could be bad. USA Today news mentioned the devastation at Tacloban with up to 10,000 dead. I do not have very many close contacts with that area, but will try to find updates. It seems important that people know---- so prayer can be offered as well as aid in the future.