The Certainty of God - Oswald Chambers

My Utmost For His Highest
By Oswald Chambers

April 29th.

THE GRACIOUSNESS OF UNCERTAINTY

"It doth not yet appear what we shall be." 1 John 3:2

Naturally, we are inclined to be so mathematical and calculating that we look upon uncertainty as a bad thing. We imagine that we have to reach some end, but that is not the nature of spiritual life. The nature of spiritual life is that we are certain in our uncertainty, consequently we do not make our nests anywhere. Common sense says - "Well, supposing I were in that condition . . ." We cannot suppose ourselves in any condition we have never been in. Certainty is the mark of the common-sense life: gracious uncertainty is the mark of the spiritual life. To be certain of God means that we are uncertain in all our ways, we do not know what a day may bring forth. This is generally said with a sigh of sadness, it should be rather an expression of breathless expectation. We are uncertain of the next step, but we are certain of God. Immediately we abandon to God, and do the duty that lies nearest, He packs our life with surprises all the time. When we become advocates of a creed, something dies; we do not believe God, we only believe our belief about Him. Jesus said, "Except ye become as little children." Spiritual life is the life of a child. We are not uncertain of God, but uncertain of what He is going to do next. If we are only certain in our beliefs, we get dignified and severe and have the ban of finality about our views; but when we are rightly related to God, life is full of spontaneous, joyful uncertainty and expectancy.

"Believe also in Me," said Jesus, not - "Believe certain things about Me." Leave the whole thing to Him, it is gloriously uncertain how He will come in, but He will come. Remain loyal to Him.

Israel My Glory

Israel My Glory
July/August 2006

Page 8: Arab-American psychologist Wafa Sultan in an interview on Al-Jazeera TV, translated by The Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI):

“The clash we are witnessing around the world . . . is a clash between a mentality that belongs to the Middle Ages and another mentality that belongs to the 21st century. It is a clash between civilization and backwardness, between the civilized and the primitive, between barbarity and rationality. It is a clash between freedom and oppression, between democracy and dictatorship. It is a clash between human rights, on the one hand, and the violation of these rights, on the other hand. It is a clash between those who treat women like beasts, and those who treat them like human beings.

“The Jews have come from the tragedy (of the Holocaust) and forced the world to respect them, with their knowledge, not with their terror, with their work, not their crying and yelling. Humanity owes most of the discoveries and science of the 19th and 20th centuries to Jewish scientists. . . We have not seen a single Jew blow himself up in a German restaurant. We have not seen a single Jew destroy a church. We have not seen a single Jew protest by killing people . . . Only the Muslims defend their beliefs by burning down churches, killing people, and destroying embassies. This path will not yield any results. The Muslims must ask themselves what they can do for humankind, before they demand that humankind respect them.”

Numbers 24: 5-9: “How goodly are thy tents, O Jacob, and thy tabernacles, O Israel! As the valleys are they spread forth, as gardens by the river’s side, as the trees of lign aloes which the LORD hath planted, and as cedar trees beside the waters. He shall pour the water out of his buckets, and his seed shall be in many waters, and his king shall be higher than Agag, and his kingdom shall be exalted. God brought him forth out of Egypt; he hath as it were the strength of an unicorn: he shall eat up the nations his enemies, and shall break their bones, and pierce them through with his arrows. He couched, he lay down as a lion, and as a great lion: who shall stir him up? Blessed is he that blesseth thee, and cursed is he that curseth thee.”

History in a Nut Shell
Bereshith
Islam is Slavery
Boycott the Jews?
Jewish Life After Death

The Pacific Ocean

This morning I hitchhiked from Philomath to Newport, Oregon on U.S. 20. It is a beautiful, partly-cloudy day here on the beach just west of Newport. There is a constant roar from the waves of the Pacific crashing onto the sandy beach. I found a nice rock with a flat top to do my writing. There is a grassy cliff behind me and a vast expanse of blue before me.

The last time I was in Newport was back in 2001. I had hitchhiked from Iowa to the coast of Oregon travelling mostly on U.S. 20.

I remember I was hitchhiking in Virginia in the late 1990s and this guy picked me up. He knew a guy who had been all over the world--this guy said that the most beautiful place on the planet was southwest Virginia; he also said that the most beautiful coastline in the world was the coast of Oregon.

I used to live two blocks from the Pacific Ocean while I was living in Venice, California. I lived in Venice on Howland Canal for three months in the spring of 1984. At that time, I was working with The Horse and Bird Press of Los Angeles: this press published the poetry of Carolyn Kleefeld. I sold books in New Hampshire, Vermont and California (I was not a very good salesman). I house-sat for Patricia Karahan who was the publisher of The Horse and Bird Press. Patricia had gone to Greece and Spain on vacation--that is how I ended up in Venice.

I was told by someone who lived in Los Angeles that LA was the most stressful place to live in the United States. I would have to agree. Every Wednesday I would drive to Century City and pick up the mail for The Horse and Bird Press. When I got back, I would have a splitting headache: the traffic, the people, the air pollution all contributed to the stress.

The first week that I was in Venice, I had a persistent sore throat. It was probably from the smog. So I would drink a quart of orange juice every day. My sore throat disappeared.

Usually, every night I would walk the two blocks to the beach just to sit on the sand and listen to the pleasant roar of the waves hitting the beach--I guess it was my therapy for living in such a stressful city.

I remember seeing this guy walking around the boardwalk in Venice in a white robe--he was also barefoot (but I don't think he was with the Discalced Carmelites). I thought that he was a Hare Krishna follower. So I walked up to him and asked him about his beliefs. He told me that he was a Christian and that he walked in faith. I told him that I had been a Christian for two years. I asked him if he needed a place to stay for the night. So he stayed at my place on Howland Canal for the night.

I made him some soup and sandwiches and then we had a good talk about the things of God that evening. He told me that he had spent some time in Italy: the people there thought that he was Francis of Assisi. I had a copy of Thomas Merton's The Wisdom of the Desert, so I gave it to him. He was very grateful.

He slept on the living room floor that night and left the next morning. That was probably in April of 1984.

Today, there is a gentle breeze coming in from the ocean. I am glad that it is not raining. It is sunny: there are clouds, but they are high-altitude clouds. There are people walking on the beach.

There is a lighthouse to the north--it is around three miles as the crow flies from where I am sitting. There are a few sea gulls gliding around just above the cliff. There are three people flying kites to the north of me. I see a ship in the distance on the horizon to the port side of me (I have always wanted to say that). So that means that the lighthouse is to the starboard (now I am starting to think of Moby Dick by Herman Melville). This reminds me of the time I hitchhiked up Highway 1 on the coast of California back in the late 1990s: I slept in this grassy field near this lighthouse--I believe it was Point Sur. California also has a very beautiful coastline.

Speaking of the coast of California. I hitchhiked from Nebraska to California back in April of 1983. I stayed with a friend in Big Sur for a week. I then hitchhiked down Highway 1 to a place near Santa Lucia (I don't think this town exists anymore). There was this Camaldolese Monastery near Santa Lucia; the monks let me stay there for three nights--I had my own hermit cell. During that trip, this man and woman picked me up and told me that a friend of their's had a dream about an earthquake that was going to hit California, so she flew to Thailand. Within a week or so of me hearing about this, an earthquake hit the Coalinga area of California (2 May 1983; 6.5 on the Richter Scale).

It has been a very blessed trip from Montana to Oregon. I am breathing and hearing and seeing God's Creation here where the Pacific meets the edge of the Universe. "Breathe, arch and Original Breath"--Gerard Manley Hopkins. The Presence of God has been very strong in the past few days. I thank the Lord for bringing me back to the Pacific Ocean.

God willing, I will head south from Newport on U.S. 101.

The Miraculous Defeat of the Spanish Armada, 1588

America’s Providential History
By Mark A. Beliles & Stephen K. McDowell

Including Biblical Principles of Education, Government, Politics, Economics, and Family Life

“The Miraculous Defeat of the Spanish Armada, 1588”

Pages 57-58: “Satan hates revival and will try to stop it anyway he can. The Catholic monarchs of France caused 72,000 Protestants (Huguenots) to be massacred on one day in 1572. Finding that persecution only strengthened the movement in England, Satan attempted to stamp it out by war.

“In 1588, Philip II of Spain sent the Spanish Armada to bring England again under the domination of Rome. A historian of the period, Richard Hakluyt writes of this event:

‘It is most apparent, that God miraculously preserved the English nation. For the L. Admiral wrote unto her Majestie that in all humane reason, and according to the judgement of all men (every circumstance being duly considered) the English men were not of any such force, whereby they might, without a miracle dare once to approach within sight of the Spanish Fleet: insomuch that they freely ascribed all the honour of their victory unto God, who had confounded the enemy, and had brought his counsels to none effect. . . . While this wonderful and puissant navy was syling along the English coastes, . . . all people throut England prostrated themselves with humble prayers and supplications unto God: but especially the outlandish churches (who had greatest cause to feare, and against whom by name the Spaniards had threatened most grievous torments) enjoyned to their people continual fastings and supplications. . . knowing right well, that prayer was the onely refuge against all enemies, calamities, and necessities, and that it was the onely solace and reliefe for mankind, being visited with afflictions and misery. . . .’

“Here is what happened: As the Spanish fleet sailed up the English Channel, they were met by the much smaller English navy. In the natural, the English had no hope, yet all of England had been fasting and praying. A storm arose which blew many of the Spanish ships up against the coast of Holland, causing them to sink. Oddly, the smaller English ships were not affected by the storm and were able to maneuver next to the Spanish ships and set many of them on fire. A few Spanish ships limped back to Spain without touching English soil.

“God had providentially intervened to protect His people and ensure that England would fulfill its purpose as a nation. Even the nation of Holland acknowledged the hand of God. In commemoration of the event, they minted a coin. On one side were ships sinking; on the other, men on their knees in prayer with the inscription: ‘Man Proposeth, God Disposeth,’ and the date ‘1588’.”

["Man Proposeth, God Disposeth" or "Men Plan and God Laughs" (an old Yiddish Proverb)]

Providence Foundation
P. O. Box 6759
Charlottesville, Virginia 22906

America's Providential History
Protestant Reformation

How Saved Are We?

How Saved Are We?
By Michael L. Brown

Has the Church fallen asleep in the enemy’s lap?

For years we have preached a defective message—and now we have a defective Church.

This unsettling book challenges us to ask ourselves what kind of born-again experience we have had if it calls for almost no personal sacrifice, produces virtually no separation from the world, and breeds practically no hatred for sin.

Do we really understand what it means to be saved? Why then are we so complacent? Why are we so at home in a fallen world?


__________


The American Church at the end of the twentieth century is experiencing a crisis. For years we have preached a cheap gospel and peddled a soft Savior. We have taught salvation without self-denial and the crown without the cross. We have catered to the unsaved and compromised with the world. Now we are paying the price.

Our “instant salvation” message has dishonored God and deluded men. Our faulty seeds have produced a flaky harvest. What a pitiful crop we are reaping!

As American “believers” we:

Spend hours watching television, but minutes watching in prayer; Are hungry for the sports page, but have little taste for the Word; Spend more money on pet food than on foreign missions; Love to feast, but hate to fast; Welcome God’s blessings, but are wary of his burdens.

Is this what Jesus died for? Is this our “new life” in him? Stop for a moment and think:

Anyone who spends more time playing video games than seeking God in prayer has no right to call Jesus Lord.
Anyone who takes delight in today’s perverted soap operas is serving another God.
Anyone who cannot die to sports for a season is worshiping idols.
“If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him . . . because friendship with the world is hatred toward God.” (I John 2: 15; James 4: 4)
In reality, whose friends are we?

It’s time for some serious soul searching. What kind of “born again” experience have we had if it calls for almost no personal sacrifice, produces virtually no separation from the world, and breeds practically no hatred for sin? How can we claim to be “born from above”? Where is the evidence of our “new nature”?

We call ourselves “citizens of heaven”—yet our hearts are caught up in earthly treasures. We sing, “We’re the people of God”—but we are entertained by the worst of the devil’s children. We claim to be “dead to the world”—yet we are more interested in temporal fashions than eternal souls. Something is wrong with our “salvation” experience! Bad fruits mean bad roots.

We say, “Just confess Jesus as Lord and you’re in!” He says, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of My Father in heaven.” (Matt. 7: 21)

We say, “Just come to the altar. It will only take a minute!” He says, “Make every effort to enter through the narrow door, because many I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able to.” (Luke 13: 24) Who do you think is right?

Maybe we have truly “come to Jesus”; but can we say we are following Him? Maybe we have believed the “Good News”; but are we daily carrying our crosses? Jesus commanded us to “go and make disciples of all nations.” (Matt. 28: 19) Maybe we need to become disciples first.

Yes, salvation is “by grace through faith” and we can add nothing to it. But it is the grace of God that “teaches us to say ‘No’ to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age.” (Titus 2: 11-12) And true faith is known by what it does, since “faith without deeds is useless.” (James 2: 20)

Paul warned the Ephesians not to let anyone deceive them with empty words. “Of this you can be sure,” he said. “No immoral, impure or greedy person—such a man is an idolater—has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.” (Eph. 5: 5) Do we think that God’s standard has changed? Do “carnal Christians” go to carnal heaven? No.

“Without holiness no one will see the Lord . . .Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires . . .You are not your own; You were bought with a price. [Only slaves were bought with a price.] Therefore, honor God with your body.” (Heb. 12: 14; Gal. 5: 24; I Cor. 6: 19-20) We must come to terms with these words!

Discipleship is not optional. Neither is it cheap. Peter said, “Lord, we have left everything to follow you!” (Mark 10: 28) What have we left to follow Him? “Every material gift increases its value if it comes not from money you can dispense with, but from the sacrifice of something you would love to have.” (Richard Wurmbrand) How much have we really given for him?

Johanna Veenstra went as a single woman missionary to Africa in 1920. She lived in a primitive hut with dirt floors, plagued with white ants and rats. “When having my evening meal,” she reported, “here were those [white ants] in swarms, sticking fast in hand, dropping in the food—and I concluded a plague was upon us. There was no ‘shutting’ them out because in these native huts we have no ceiling.” But there were no complaints from her lips; and in spite of very little initial success, she had no second thoughts. There has never been a single regret that I left the ‘bright lights and gay life’ of New York City, and came to this dark corner of His vineyard. There has been no sacrifice, because the Lord Jesus Himself is my constant companion.”

Like the disciples of old, she was saved.

What about us? How saved are we?

_____

Shiloh
By Tim Shey

Brutal deathdance;
My eyes weep blood.
Pharisees smile like vipers,
They laugh and mock their venom:
Blind snakes leading
The deaf and dumb multitude.

Where are my friends?
The landscape is dry and desolate.
They have stretched my shredded body
On this humiliating tree.

The hands that healed
And the feet that brought good news
They have pierced
With their fierce hatred.

The man-made whip
That opened up my back
Preaches from a proper pulpit.
They sit in comfort:
That vacant-eyed congregation.
The respected, demon-possessed reverend
Forks his tongue
Scratching itchy ears
While Cain bludgeons
Abel into silence.

My flesh in tattered pieces
Clots red and cold and sticks
To the rough-hewn timber
That props up my limp, vertical carcase
Between heaven and earth.
My life drips and puddles
Below my feet,
As I gaze down dizzily
On merciless eyes and dagger teeth.

The chapter-and-versed wolves
Jeer and taunt me.
Their sheepwool clothing
Is stained black with the furious violence
Of their heart of stone.
They worship me in lip service,
But I confess,
I never knew them
(Though they are my creation).

My tongue tastes like ashes:
It sticks to the roof of my mouth.
I am so thirsty.
This famine is too much for me.
The bulls of Bashan have bled me white.
Papa, into your hands
I commend my Spirit.

Ethos
February/March 1997
Iowa State University

Genesis 49: 10: “The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be.”

Principles of Forgiveness

From Beyond Tolerable Recovery
By Ed M. Smith
Family Care Publishing
Campbellsville, Kentucky

Matthew 6: 12: “Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.”

Matthew 6: 14-15: “For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.”

Quotations are from Matthew 18: 21-30:

Principle One: Forgiveness is not a means of changing another but rather is the avenue of release for the one holding the debt. “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven times?”

Principle Two: Forgiveness requires that we take a full account of the debt. “…a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. As he began the settlement, a man who owned him ten thousand talents was brought to him…”

Principle Three: The debtor does not have the means to repay the debt. “Since he was not able to pay…”

Principle Four: Anger is a normal reaction to injustice, but it must be released before freedom will come. “Since he was not able to pay, the master ordered that he and his wife and his children and all that he had be sold to repay the debt.”

Principle Five: The integrity and sincerity of the indebted offender is not critical for true forgiveness to be administered. “The servant fell on his knees before him. ‘Be patient with me,’ he begged, ‘and I will pay back everything.’”

Principle Six: Genuine forgiveness requires we find compassion. “The servant’s master took pity on him, canceled the debt and let him go…”

Principle Seven: Forgiveness benefits the forgiver more than the forgiven. The king “canceled the debt and let him go. But when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii. He grabbed him and began to choke him. ‘Pay back what you owe me!’ he demanded.”

Principle Eight: Forgiveness should not be confused with reconciliation.

RESENTMENT IS LIKE TAKING POISON AND THEN WAITING FOR THE OTHER PERSON TO DIE. HANGING ON TO RESENTMENT IS LETTING SOMEONE YOU DESPISE LIVE RENT FREE IN YOUR HEAD.

The Jerry Shey Family
Letter from Iran
A Conversation with a Vietnam Veteran

The Language of DNA

DNA, The Ultimate Oopart!

OOPARTS (out of place artifacts)
& ANCIENT HIGH TECHNOLOGY—Evidence of Noah’s Flood?
www.s8int.com

__________

“To suppose that the eye, with all its inimitable contrivances---for adjusting the focus to different distances, for admitting different amounts of light, and for the correction of spherical and chromatic observation---could have been formed by natural selection seems, I confess, absurd in the highest degree.”

--Charles Darwin, Origin of the Species, Chapter 6

__________

“The truth is, man with all his science and technological ability has not created anything as complex as the single living cell. The simplest single cell is infinitely more complex than are the Pentium 4, the G5, K8, or Athlon 64 microchips—arguably the highest technological achievements yet attained by man.”

__________

“Among the more incredible things about DNA, is the amount of information that can be imparted in the tiniest single cell. Hundreds and even thousands of these single cells could fit on the head of a pin and yet the amount of information in every one of these cells is nothing short of astounding; more than a sentence, more than a paragraph, more than a page, more than a chapter, more than a book.

“In fact, in the simplest single cell of bacteria, there is as much information as there is in every book in each of three metropolitan libraries combined.”

“Understanding DNA is just one small reason for believing you are ‘fearfully and wonderfully made.’ (Psalms 139: 14) . . . Center for Scientific Creation.

“ . . .Inside of every cell of everything alive is a language called DNA which gives explicit instructions to the cell detailing every phase of its existence!”

“‘This development is highly significant for the modern origin of life discussion. Molecular biology has now uncovered an analogy between DNA and written human language. It is more than an analogy, in fact: in terms of structure, the two are 'mathematically identical.' (In other words, its not analogous to a language—it is a language).’” Thaxton, DNA, Design and the Origin of Life.

__________

“H.P. Yockey notes in the Journal of Theoretical Biology: ‘It is important to understand that we are not reasoning by analogy. The sequence hypothesis [that the exact order of symbols records the information] applies directly to the protein and the genetic text as well as to written language and therefore the treatment is mathematically identical.’ (DNA IS A LANGUAGE)”

Laughing at Evolution
Why do Evolutionists Believe in the Religion of Evolution?
The Nakedness of Noah

Satan Puppets Destroying God Seed (DNA)

OUR DNA HOLDS A MESSAGE:  "GOD ETERNAL WITHIN THE BODY"

You are made in God's image unless you change it with the gene-editing death jab

DNA - Music

Our DNA Emits Light (36:30 - 41:00)

Hearing From God; Obeying God

Gleanings in Genesis
By Arthur W. Pink

Chapter 32. "Jacob’s Departure from Haran"

Page 278: "Jacob was in a strange land. He had been there for twenty years, yet he knew he was not to spend the remainder of his days there. God had assured him he should return to Canaan. How much longer then was he to tarry at Padan-Aram? When was he to start out for his old home? How could he be sure when God’s time for him to move had arrived? Pressing questions these. Note how the answer to them is found here in three things: first, a definite desire sprang up in Jacob’s heart to return home—this is evident from Gen. 30: 25. But this in itself was not sufficient to warrant a move, so Jacob must wait a while longer. Second, circumstances became such that a move seemed the wise thing; the jealousy of Laban and his sons made his continued stay there intolerable. (Gen. 31: 1,2.) This was ordered of God who makes all things “work together” for the good of His own people. But still something more was needed ere Jacob was justified in leaving. So, in the third place there was a clear word from God—'The Lord said unto Jacob, Return unto the land of thy fathers.' (Gen. 31: 3.)"

The Bullet Proof President

George Washington at Valley Forge

George Washington in the French and Indian War (1754-1763)

"This story of George Washington once appeared in virtually every student text in America, but hasn't been seen in the last forty years. This story deals with George Washington when he was involved in the French and Indian War as a young man only twenty-three years of age.

"The French and Indian War occurred twenty years before the American Revolution. It was the British against the French; the Americans sided with the British; and most of the Indians sided with the French. Both Great Britain and France disputed each other's claims of territorial ownership along the Ohio and Mississippi rivers; both of them claimed the same land.

"Unable to settle the dispute diplomatically, Great Britain sent 2300 hand-picked, veteran British troops to America under General Edward Braddock to rout the French.

"The British troops arrived in Virginia, where George Washington (colonel of the Virginia militia) and 100 Virginia buckskins joined General Braddock. They divided their force; and General Braddock, George Washington, and 1300 troops marched north to expel the French from Fort Duquesne -- now the city of Pittsburgh. On July 9, 1755 -- only seven miles from the fort -- while marching through a wooded ravine, they walked right into an ambush; the French and Indians opened fire on them from both sides.

"But these were British veterans; they knew exactly what to do. The problem was, they were veterans of European wars. European warfare was all in the open. One army lined up at one end of an open field, the other army lined up at the other end, they looked at each other, took aim, and fired. No running, no hiding, But here they were in the Pennsylvania woods with the French and Indians firing at them from the tops of trees, from behind rocks, and from under logs.

"When they came under fire, the British troops did exactly what they had been taught; they lined up shoulder-to-shoulder in the bottom of that ravine -- and were slaughtered. At the end of two hours, 714 of the 1300 British and American troops had been shot down; only 30 of the French and Indians had been shot.
There were 86 British and American officers involved in that battle; at the end of the battle, George Washington was the only officer who had not been shot down off his horse -- he was the only officer left on horseback.

"Following this resounding defeat, Washington gathered the remaining troops and retreated back to Fort Cumberland in western Maryland, arriving there on July 17, 1755.

"The next day, Washington wrote a letter to his family explaining that after the battle was over, he had taken off his jacket and had found four bullet holes through it, yet not a single bullet had touched him; several horses had been shot from under him, but he had not been harmed. He told them:

"'By the all powerful dispensations of Providence, I have been protected beyond all human probability or expectation.'

"Washington openly acknowledged that God's hand was upon him, that God had protected him and kept him through that battle.

"However, the story does not stop here. Fifteen years later, in 1770 -- now a time of peace -- George Washington and a close personal friend, Dr. James Craik, returned to those same Pennsylvania woods. An old Indian chief from far away, having heard that Washington had come back to those woods, traveled a long way just to meet with him.

"He sat down with Washington, and face-to-face over a council fire, the chief told Washington that he had been a leader in that battle fifteen years earlier, and that he had instructed his braves to single out all the officers and shoot them down. Washington had been singled out, and the chief explained that he personally had shot at Washington seventeen different times, but without effect. Believing Washington to be under the care of the Great Spirit, the chief instructed his braves to cease firing at him. He then told Washington:

"'I have traveled a long and weary path that I might see the young warrior of the great battle.... I am come to pay homage to the man who is the particular favorite of Heaven, and who can never die in battle.'"

From America's Godly Heritage
By David Barton

Mount Rushmore National Memorial

Wallbuilders
Ronald Reagan's Dream
Freedom to Bear Arms
Alvin C. York
A Vision about George Washington and America
A Dream about Donald Trump
Releasing the Mound Indians' Curse on America--Henry Gruver
The American Flag:  A Christian Symbol
Lessons from the Life of George Washington
George Washington's Prophecy of the Coming Invasion of America

A Week in the Life of a Hitchhiker

Northwestern United States

In the past week, I hitchhiked from Helena, Montana to Dayton, Washington. The ride from Helena took me to Missoula. This guy's name was Harry and he came from the Fort Peck Indian Reservation in northeast Montana. Harry was from the Assiniboine Tribe; we had a good talk. I told him that I was a Christian. He knew very little about Christianity. I told him about my faith in Jesus and that he should read the Gospel of John in the New Testament. I think he said that someone gave him a copy of the New Testament some years ago.

It had been snowing that morning when I left Helena and there was some slush on I-90. Harry was going 85 miles per hour when he hit a patch of slush. All of a sudden, we were going sideways down the interstate. Then we went sideways down into the median (I thought we were going to roll his van over) and continued going sideways into the next lane into oncoming traffic. This big tractor-trailer was bearing down on us and I thought we were going to get T-boned by the tractor-trailer when, all of a sudden, the van straightened itself out. Harry took control and we drove on the shoulder to the next exit. That happened near Clinton, Montana.

It was quite a rush for at least several seconds. It all happened so quickly. Harry and I looked at each other and heaved a sigh of relief. Harry said that my God saved us. I said, Praise the Lord!

Harry was in a hurry to get to this hospital in Missoula; he had injured his back getting bucked off of a horse during his rodeo days. We went to this hospital where they gave him some shots in his back. I sat and talked with Harry as he lay in the bed. The nurses thought it was pretty funny that he had picked up a hitchhiker.

After the hospital, Harry took me to his relations' place in Missoula and I slept on the floor that night. The next morning, his nephew drove me to Lolo where I started walking west on U.S. 12.

I walked a couple of miles or so and this married couple in a vehicle pulled over. They were Michael and Sandy and we had some excellent fellowship--they were really in tune with the Holy Ghost. We drove to a cabin that they had rented and had a powerful prayer meeting. The demons were manifesting in Michael as I commanded them to come out. We later had breakfast at a local bar/restaurant and then headed back to Clinton where I stayed at their place for the night. The next day Michael drove me over Lolo Pass to Lochsa Lodge and dropped me off. Then I walked a few miles and got a ride to Kooskia, Idaho.

From Kooskia I got a ride to Kim and Pat Hosking's place between Stites and Harpster. I met Kim and Pat while I was hitchhiking on U.S. 12 near Lolo, Montana in 2004. Kim builds wood furniture and has a portable band saw, so he can cut up logs into boards.

I hadn't seen Kim and Pat in a year. They let me stay for five nights. I helped Kim cut some white pine, yellow pine and red fir logs on his band saw. Pat was doing some editing on her book The Lion's Roar (her pen name is Margaret Hosking).

It rained last night; the skies are overcast now. I got a real good sunburn on my neck and arms after working with Kim on the band saw. It is a real blessing to be out of the sun for a few days.

Rose Hill Woodworks
Book Review:  High Plains Drifter

I Am a Stranger in the Earth

Dreams from the LORD 2003-2006

5 December 2006

Psalm 39: 12: “Hear my prayer, O Lord, and give ear unto my cry; hold not thy peace at my tears: for I am a stranger with thee, and a sojourner, as all my fathers were.”

Genesis 23: 4:  "I am a stranger and a sojourner with you: give me a possession of a buryingplace with you, that I may bury my dead out of my sight."

Genesis 47: 9: “And Jacob said unto Pharaoh, The days of the years of my pilgrimage are an hundred and thirty years: few and evil have the days of the years of my life been, and have not attained unto the days of the years of the life of my fathers in the days of their pilgrimage.”

Leviticus 25: 23: “The land shall not be sold for ever: for the land is mine; for ye are strangers and sojourners with me.”

I Chronicles 29: 15: “For we are strangers before thee, and sojourners, as were all our fathers: our days on the earth are as a shadow, and there is none abiding.”

Psalm 119: 19: “I am a stranger in the earth: hide not thy commandments from me.”

Hebrews 11: 13: “These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.”

Psalm 69: 8:  "I am become a stranger unto my brethren, and an alien unto my mother’s children."

Psalm 56: 8:  "Thou tellest my wanderings: put thou my tears into thy bottle: are they not in thy book?"

1 Peter 2: 11:  "Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul."

..

Hitchhiking
Wearing a Rough Garment
The Saint Must Walk Alone
Book Review:  High Plains Drifter
The Strange Wanderings of a Perfect Shepherd
We Are Sojourners and Pilgrims on Earth
The Difference a Sojourner's Lifestyle Makes to Settlers

“If ye were not strangers here, the dogs of the world would not bark at you”

--Samuel Rutherford

A False Prophet

Dreams from the LORD 2003-2006

29 November 2006

Jeremiah 23: 1-4: “Woe be unto the pastors that destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture! saith the Lord. Therefore thus saith the Lord God of Israel against the pastors that feed my people; Ye have scattered my flock, and driven them away, and have not visited them: behold, I will visit upon you the evil of your doings, saith the Lord. And I will gather the remnant of my flock out of all countries whither I have driven them, and will bring them again to their folds; and they shall be fruitful and increase. And I will set up shepherds over them which shall feed them: and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, neither shall they be lacking, saith the Lord.”

Jeremiah 23: 9-16: “Mine heart within me is broken because of the prophets; all my bones shake; I am like a drunken man, and like a man whom wine hath overcome, because of the Lord, and because of the words of his holiness. For the land is full of adulterers; for because of swearing the land mourneth; the pleasant places of the wilderness are dried up, and their course is evil, and their force is not right. For both prophet and priest are profane; yea, in my house have I found their wickedness, saith the Lord. Wherefore their way shall be unto them as slippery ways in the darkness: they shall be driven on, and fall therein: for I will bring evil upon them, even the year of their visitation, saith the Lord. And I have seen folly in the prophets of Samaria: they prophesied in Baal, and caused my people Israel to err. I have seen also in the prophets of Jerusalem an horrible thing: they commit adultery, and walk in lies: they strengthen also the hands of evildoers, that none doth return from his wickedness: they are all of them unto me as Sodom, and the inhabitants thereof as Gomorrah. Therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts concerning the prophets; Behold, I will feed them with wormwood, and make them drink the water of gall: for from the prophets of Jerusalem is profaneness gone forth into all the land. Thus saith the Lord of hosts, Hearken not unto the words of the prophets that prophesy unto you: they make you vain: they speak a vision of their own heart, and not out of the mouth of the Lord.”

In my life I have met several--maybe many-- false pastors. I have also met at least one false prophet. The false prophet I met (I think his name was Larry Nevenhoven) was living in Ames, Iowa back in 1995—he was a friend of my landlord. He definitely could talk the talk—he had a lot of Bible information in his head—but whenever he spoke, it never bore witness with my spirit. The last time I really spoke with him, I was grieved in my spirit for a number of weeks and I knew that I had to avoid him. There was definitely a spirit of witchcraft in him: he wanted to control people and he really wanted to be “The Prophet.” Whenever he spoke, it was not edifying; you were not built up in your spirit; he tried to talk down to you. In general, his life seemed to be under a curse—his life was not a blessing to others: he bore rotten fruit.

Thus Saith the Lord?

I Am Come in My Father's Name

Dreams from the LORD 2003-2006
14 October 2006

John 5: 31-44: “If I bear witness of myself, my witness is not true. There is another that beareth witness of me; and I know that the witness which he witnesseth of me is true. Ye sent unto John, and he bare witness unto the truth. But I receive not testimony from man: but these things I say, that ye might be saved. He was a burning and a shining light: and ye were willing for a season to rejoice in his light. But I have greater witness than that of John: for the works which the Father hath given me to finish, the same works that I do, bear witness of me, that the Father hath sent me. And the Father himself, which hath sent me, hath borne witness of me. Ye have neither heard his voice at any time, nor seen his shape. And ye have not his word abiding in you: for whom he hath sent, him ye believe not. Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me. And ye will not come to me, that ye might have life. I receive not honour from men. But I know you, that ye have not the love of God in you. I am come in my Father’s name, and ye receive me not: if another shall come in his own name, him ye will receive. How can ye believe, which receive honour one of another, and seek not the honour that cometh from God only?”

“Testify: (Gk. martureo) Strong’s #3140: This word means ‘to bear witness.’ According to Jewish law, a testimony to oneself is no testimony at all. Truth or validity had to be established by two or three witnesses (Deut. 17: 7; 19: 15). Therefore, Jesus’ witness to Himself would not validate His claims; He needed the witness of another. That other witness was not John the Baptist, but Jesus’ Father. In the following verses, Jesus called upon several witnesses to affirm His claims, but actually He needs only one witness, His Father’s.”

--The Nelson Study Bible, New King James Version

“If I bear witness of myself, my witness is not true.”
“But I receive not testimony from man.”
“But I have greater witness than that of John: for the works which the Father hath given me to finish, the same works that I do, bear witness of me, that the Father hath sent me. And the Father himself, which hath sent me, hath borne witness of me.”
“And ye have not his word abiding in you: for whom he hath sent, him ye believe not.”
“But I know you, that ye have not the love of God in you. I am come in my Father’s name, and ye receive me not.”

Testimony. Testify. To bear witness. To perceive in your spirit. Spiritual things are spiritually perceived. The carnal mind cannot perceive spiritual things or spiritual work. Even if a man is not a Christian, but is hungering for the things of God, he will eventually gravitate towards Jesus, because Jesus (His life, his work) will bear witness with his spirit that Jesus really has something to offer—not just lip-service, namby pamby, lollypop churchianity.

When a man walks towards a burning fire in the middle of the night, he knows there is a fire there because it is giving off light and heat. I don’t have to tell him that there is fire there—he already knows. When hitchhiking, I really don’t have to press the issue of the Gospel (cram it down someone’s throat), because they are already predisposed to hearing the Gospel or they are not. If people reject the work that I do or the life that I lead, they are not rejecting me, but Christ within me.

I can speak words (witness) and say, “I am doing the will of my heavenly Father” or “the Lord told me to hitchhike.” The other witness is my life: either I am abiding in Christ or I am not—I really don’t have to give two or three scriptures on why I am doing this work. People can hear Bible verses till the cows come home, but it won’t really matter. I am not trying to convince them in their head (to make an intellectual argument), I am trying to show them my life—either it will bear witness with them or it will not. Clever words really can do nothing, but a life that is truly submitted to Christ can move mountains all over the world.

When you see me you see the Father.

Cockroaches Love The Darkness

Dreams from the LORD 2003-2006
21 August 2006

I Kings 17: 17-18: “And it came to pass after these things, that the son of the woman, the mistress of the house, fell sick; and his sickness was so sore, that there was no breath left in him. And she said unto Elijah, What have I to do with thee, O thou man of God? art thou come unto me to call my sin to remembrance, and to slay my son?”

I Kings 18: 7-9: “And as Obadiah was in the way, behold, Elijah met him: and he knew him, and fell on his face, and said, Art thou that my lord Elijah? And he answered him, I am: go, tell thy lord, Behold, Elijah is here. And he said, What have I sinned, that thou wouldest deliver thy servant into the hand of Ahab, to slay me?”

I Kings 18: 17-18: “And it came to pass, when Ahab saw Elijah, that Ahab said unto him, Art thou he that troubleth Israel? And he answered, I have not troubled Israel; but thou, and thy father’s house, in that ye have forsaken the commandments of the Lord, and thou hast followed Baalim.”

Luke 4: 33-34: “And in the synagogue there was a man, which had a spirit of an unclean devil, and cried out with a loud voice, Saying, Let us alone; what have we to do with thee, thou Jesus of Nazareth? art thou come to destroy us? I know thee who thou art; the Holy One of God.”

The previous four verses remind me of when I was living in Ames, Iowa back in 1989. I was living in this Christian household and the elders of the church that my roommates attended kicked me out of the house. They kicked me out of the house because I was preaching the Baptism of the Holy Ghost with the evidence of speaking in tongues; I was also preaching that Christians can have demons in them and that the Lord had delivered me from many demons. My roommates’ church hated the power of the Holy Ghost; they preached salvation and then pretty much stopped there; a lot of bondage and churchy churchianity in that church: it was such a relief to be kicked out of that house.

I was told to leave the house on a Saturday. The next day when my roommates went to church, I packed up my things and moved three doors up the street to move in with a Christian who was into the Holy Ghost. That night the Holy Ghost fell on me so powerfully and so thick you could cut it with a knife. It was like the Holy Ghost was healing me from rejection. It was very, very powerful. I ended up staying in that house for five months and then I moved back into the former household and stayed there till 1994. It was God’s will for me to be there even though most of the guys in that household weren’t very hungry for God. If it is God’s will for you to be some place, it is very hard to fight against God.

It is sad that when the power of the Holy Ghost flows through a man, that not only do unbelievers reject you, but believers (young believers, carnal believers) also reject you. I remember after I got kicked out of the house, that I would meet someone from that church and they would say, “Oh, oh, here comes trouble.” That happened several times. It was as if these people were saying, “Leave us alone: we like being conformed to the world. We do not want to be a peculiar people. We love being in bondage; we are comfortable in our sin. How dare you bring the power of the Holy Ghost into our congregation to shine His Light on our lukewarm lives.”

Cockroaches love the darkness.

The day that I was told to leave the house, this deacon (whom I had great respect for—he was running the errand for the pastor) talked with me and told me to stop preaching about the Holy Ghost and about Christians having demons. He put me down and the church I was attending (a Pentecostal church) and, all of a sudden, I blurted out, “The Lord is going the spew the lukewarm church out of his mouth!” The deacon started shaking all over, immediately stood up, gave me a hug and ran out of the house. What I had just said was absolutely unpremeditated: the Holy Ghost put the words in my mouth and I let him have it.

I Kings 18: 38: “Then the fire of the Lord fell, and consumed the burnt sacrifice, and the wood, and the stones, and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench.”

I wasn’t a burnt sacrifice, but I was definitely a living sacrifice—and I pray that I continue to be a living sacrifice till my Father’s work in me is done on this earth.

“Then the fire of the Lord fell.”

Obedience: The Bondage Breaker

After the Power of an Endless Life

Dreams from the LORD 2003-2006

7 August 2006

Hebrews 7: 11: “If therefore perfection were by the Levitical priesthood, (for under it the people received the law,) what further need was there that another priest should rise after the order of Melchisedec, and not be called after the order of Aaron?”

Hebrews 7: 14-17: “For it is evident that our Lord sprang out of Juda; of which tribe Moses spake nothing concerning priesthood. And it is yet far more evident: for that after the similitude of Melchisedec there ariseth another priest, Who is made, not after the law of a carnal commandment, but after the power of an endless life. For he testifieth, Thou art a priest forever after the order of Melchisedec.”

Hebrews 7: 19: “For the law made nothing perfect, but the bringing in of a better hope did; by the which we draw nigh unto God.

Genesis 14: 18: “And Melchizedek king of Salem brought forth bread and wine: and he was the priest of the most high God.”

Abraham met Melchizedek before the covenant of circumcision and before the giving of the Law to Moses. Melchizedec is the Lord Jesus Christ. This meeting was the great foreshadowing of man meeting Christ (in faith) so that we can commune with God the Father.

The covenant of circumcision was a foreshadowing of the cutting away of demonic bondage in our body and soul so that we could have a more perfect, intimate, spiritual union with God. Circumcision (physical or spiritual) makes us a peculiar people—a people not conformed to this world—a Blood-washed people worthy to receive the powerful and glorious Presence of God—Rapture!

“For it is evident that our Lord sprang out of Juda; of which tribe Moses spake nothing concerning priesthood.” In Jacob’s prophecy in Genesis 49: 8-12, the tribe of Judah gets a powerful blessing from a great man of God. Jacob prophesies of the Messiah (Shiloh, verse 10) and of the First and Second Coming (verses 11 and 12, respectively). It is fitting that Jacob’s prophecy of the Messiah precedes Leviticus and Deuteronomy (the Law). The Messiah is before and after the Law, because he is greater than the Law: He is the Alpha and the Omega.

Abraham and Jacob were men of great faith. Moses was greatly used by God, but he acted in haste and in unfaith (sin) and struck the rock at the water of Meribah, so he was not able to enter into the Promised Land. The most important nation in the history of this planet is named after Jacob: Israel. The words of Israel precede (supercede?) the Law; the nation of Israel was formed (1948) after the Law, the Prophets and the New Testament were given. As we can see, the words of Israel have endured the test of time. Through Israel came the Lord Jesus Christ—the priest of the most high God—“by which we draw nigh unto God.” If we abide in Christ, we will also be of the order of Melchizedek: “after the power of an endless life.”

A Place Utterly Decadent by Reputation

Ruins of San Francisco, 1906

Dreams from the LORD 2003-2006

5 April 2006

In the latest National Geographic (April 2006 issue), there is an article about earthquakes that begins on page 120. On pages 128-130 there is a panoramic photograph taken of San Francisco after the April 1906 Earthquake/Fire. The caption under the photograph reads: “Some 500 blocks had been leveled and 225,000 people made homeless. Death-toll estimates run to 3,000 or more making this the deadliest quake in U.S. history.”

On page 127: “In April 1906 the city was the commercial and financial powerhouse of the West, a crucible of great fortunes, a place utterly decadent by reputation, gorgeous by any definition, with some 400,000 citizens and perhaps as many bars.”

“A place utterly decadent by reputation . . .” Sounds like New Orleans just before Hurricane Katrina hit and destroyed most of it in 2005. The destruction of New Orleans by the hand of God was because of sin. New Orleans has always had a reputation as a party town, e.g. Mardi Gras. Wherever there is a big party there is drunkenness, drugs, prostitution, adultery, fornication, homosexuality, etc. The fruit of such sin is abortion and the destruction of the family structure, like divorce.

New Orleans was destroyed because of sin. London in 1666 was destroyed by fire because of sin. I believe that the Lord will continue to destroy certain cities and towns and judge certain nations because of their sin.

If a city has an economy based on righteousness, that city will prosper because it is built on a Rock. A city whose economy is based on sin will eventually fall.

Genesis 18: 20-21: “And the Lord said, Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grievous; I will go down now, and see whether they have done altogether according to the cry of it, which is come unto me; and if not, I will know.”

Genesis 19: 13: “For we will destroy this place, because the cry of them is waxen great before the face of the Lord; and the Lord hath sent us to destroy it.”

Genesis 19: 24-25: “Then the Lord rained upon Sodom and Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven; And he overthrew those cities, and all the plain, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and that which grew upon the ground.”

New Orleans. San Francisco. London. Unreal. Unreal city. T.S. Eliot’s “The Waste Land.”

What city is next? I was talking to a Christian a couple of weeks ago and he thinks Las Vegas could be next. I hitchhiked twice through Las Vegas in December of 2005. It was very hard to get rides out of Vegas. I did a lot of walking through that city. I don’t care to go back.

Proverbs 10: 29-30: “The way of the Lord is strength to the upright: but destruction shall be to the workers of iniquity. The righteous shall never be removed: but the wicked shall not inhabit the earth.”

Proverbs 12: 7: “The wicked are overthrown, and are not: but the house of the righteous shall stand.”

California Earthquake
Jackson, Wyoming 
Las Vegas Earthquake