shofarhorn

SPIRITUAL Tip

Bro. Lawrence on God's Presence

He said that useless thoughts spoil all - that mischief began there. We ought to reject useless thoughts quickly and return to our communion with God. In the beginning he had often passed his time appointed for prayer in rejecting wandering thoughts and falling right back into them. He could never regulate his devotion by certain methods as some do. At first, he had practiced meditation but, after some time, that went off in a manner of which he could give no account.

Brother Lawrence emphasized that all physical and mental disciplines and exercises were useless, unless they served to arrive at the union with God by love. He had well considered this. He found that the shortest way to go straight to God was by a continual exercise of love and doing all things for His sake.

Also, he noted that there was a great difference between acts of the intellect and acts of the will. Acts of the intellect were comparatively of little value. Acts of the will were all important. Our only business was to love and delight ourselves in God.

He then said that all possible kinds of self-sacrifice, if they were void of the love of God, could not efface a single sin. Instead, we ought, without anxiety, expect the pardon of our sins from the blood of Jesus Christ, endeavoring only to love Him with all our heart.

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SURVIVAL Tip

There are many choices for fuels and wicks that work very well with this type of lamp.A wick may be fashioned by simply hand twisting a two-ply strand of cordage from Cedar bark you have stripped from the side of a tree, rubbed between the palms and fluffed up. If you have Cat tail down to cord in with it, all the better. Mullein leaves that have been rolled green and allowed to dry make a great wick. Jute twine also works as well as any type of corded wick. A wick may be as simple as lichen or a piece of moss that will absorb the fat as it floats. A wick that I like particularly well, that I use quite frequently, is Cat tail fluff.

Rendered animal fats as well as vegetable oils perform very well. Vegetable oil burns much cleaner and with less smoke than animal fat. Fat from seals, horses and cattle seemed to be used most. The consideration here is that the particular fat being used melt quickly and at a low temperature allowing the wick to absorb the melted fat by capillary action all the way to the burning end at a rate faster than the wick consumes itself. I find that a wick just long enough to have one end in the fuel, not coiled up in the fuel, is much more efficient, for fuel does not have as far to travel up the wick. You must also keep the flame from being drowned by excess fuel. Pecking out a slot for it to lie in while one end dangles down into the fat and the other end is lit works very well.

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SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT! Westerners who first met the Shoshonean bands of Indians in the Great

Basin Desert typically described them as being "wretched and lazy". Many observers remarked that they lived in a total wasteland and yet seemed to do nothing to improve their situation. They built no houses or villages; they had few tools or possessions, almost no art, and they stored little food. It seemed that all they did was sit around and do nothing. The Shoshone were true hunter-gatherers. They spent their lives walking from one food source to another. The reason they did not build houses was because houses were useless to them in their nomadic lifestyle. Everything they owned they carried on their backs from place to place. They did not manufacture a lot of tools or possessions or art, because it would have been a burden to carry.

We often expect that such primitive cultures as the Shoshone must have worked all the time just to stay alive, but in actuality these were usually very leisured peoples. Anthropological studies in different parts of the world indicate that nomadic hunter-gatherer societies typically worked only two or three hours per day for their subsistence. Like the deer and other creatures of the wild, hunter-gatherer peoples have nothing more to do than to wander and eat.

Nevertheless, what you will discover for yourself, as you learn the art of doing nothing is that you are much more at home in the wilderness. No longer will you be so dependent on a lot of tools and gadgets; no longer will you need to shape the elements of nature to fit our western definitions. You will find you need less and less, until one day you find you need nothing at all. Then you will have the time on your hands so that you can choose to do nothing, or even to go do something. Thomas Elpel

I want to commend to you the richness of simplicity!!!!!

HAVE YOU CONSIDERED? In this column I try to share some helpful tips on a regular basis. If you watch from time to time I may cover a question you have, or a point of personal interest for you.

THE CHURCH, THE TITHE AND THE GOVERNMENT

Sometimes I feel I have to ask myself, "does the church exist by permission of the government?" In many of our democratic countries, we find the church registering with the government for financial reasons. It was not always so, but as of recent has become an expected behavior, both by these governments and by the church members themselves. In totalitarian countries this also is expected, but most feel it is for different reasons. If we examine this practice in the US and Canada, two of freest countries in the world, we may find that even here it may not be such a great idea.

Although in the beginning it was developed by the Roman Empire and the Roman Church, the present practice was initially developed by government to give the church a tax break. As this continued it also placed a test of "authenticity", so that every weird group could not qualify, and thereby rob the government of it deserved taxes. On the surface what a great idea, as both of these countries clearly started out as Christian nations, with a Judeo-Christian legal and moral system of ethics. The church owned most of the schools, universities, hospitals and welfare programs, and it was good business for the government to see that they took in ample money to make their system work effectively. Then early on in the last century, all that began to change, and the powers that be, decided to take all of those responsibilities upon themselves, and so they needed more tax money. Thus the test for church qualification began to change. Now the standards are very much different from then, and un-thought-of groups are becoming tax exempt, while some sound churches are finding it more difficult to qualify.

How did all of this come about? This chapter will be much too brief to add the detail necessary to completely clarify the process. But let me take you to just one of many causes. When WWI ended there was a failed effort to unify the nations of earth under the League of Nations. So we tried again, and this time at the end of WWII, there was a successful attempt through the United Nations. These "Christian free nations", are still supposedly sovereign over their own affairs, and on the surface may appear so. Yet a closer look will reveal that many of the policies and laws of our countries, now more closely reflect the will of many of the pagan countries that are also members of the UN. These are the nations that have no love for our way of life, our God, and our spiritual roots. Now much of what we do as foreign and domestic policy, is because of approval or disapproval of the UN, some whose laws and policies are in conflict sharply with our very own constitution.

Did Jesus and Peter tell Rome when they paid their tithe or the Temple tax when Jesus instructed Peter to catch a fish, take the coin from its mouth, and pay tax for both of them? Do the Chinese Christians tell Mao, or the Iranian Church tell the Iotola how much they give to God? No you say? I don't think so either. How ironic, but these are probably the most powerful churches on the planet, even without the government's permission. Will you be willing to get a license from the socialist authorities in your state or country? Jesus said it would cost to be a Christian.

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For the next number of News letters, I want to include exerpts from a comentary that does not necessarilly agree with many of todays theological thinkers; but perhaps that is exactly why there are no more Patrick Henrys.

CHRISTIAN DUTY UNDER CORRUPT GOVERNMENT

A Revolutionary Commentary on Romans 13:1—7 by Evangelist Ted Weiland.

VERSE 2 RE—EXAMINED

Whosoever therefore resisteth the power [authority, NASV], resisteth the ordinance of God: and

they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation. (Romans 13:2)

The modern translation

Anyone who resists or rebels against any civil authority commit’s a

crime and opposes God Himself and will therefore be punished by

God.”

Rebellion: What Exactly Is It?

If the modern interpretation of verse 2 is correct, Shiphrah and Puah (Exodus I): Amram and Jochebed (Exodus 2); Moses (Exodus 2, 5 through 14); Rahab (Joshua 2); Ehud (Judges 3); Gideon (Judges 6—8); Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego (Daniel 3); Daniel (Daniel 6); and Peter, John, and the rest of the Apostles (Acts 4 and 5) should have been condemned and punished by God for opposition to the rulers of their day.

Were America’s founding fathers — George Washington, Benjamin Franklin. and Patrick Henry — condemned by God for resistance to their governing authorities? Does this mean that Christians are in transgression when they renounce today’s “Mystery Babylon” as their governing authority as commanded in Revelation 18:1—4?

There is not one Biblical example where God blessed anyone for practicing what many Judeo-Christians today teach regarding Romans 13. While this is true, Christians must still exist while wicked rulers reign. During such times, if the people of God are “wise as serpents”* they may even prosper, although they must be careful not to compromise God’s laws while doing so. This is essentially what the Prophet Jeremiah told those in the Babylonian captivity:

..Thus saith YHWH of hosts, the God of Israel, unto all that are carried away captives, whom I have caused to he carried away from Jerusalem unto Babylon; Build ye houses, and dwell in them; and plant gardens, and eat the fruit of them; take ye wives, and beget sons and daughters; and take wives for your sons, and give your daughters to husbands, that they may bear sons and daughters; that ye may be increased there, and not diminished. And seek the peace of the city [Babylon] whither I have caused you to be carried away captives, and pray unto YHWH for it: for in the peace thereof shall ye have peace.... For! know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith YHWH, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end. Then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you. And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart. And I will be found of you, saith YHWH.... (Jeremiah 29:1—14)

Scripture does not honor anyone for submitting to man’s law when it places that person in violation of God’s Law. Just the opposite is true with the great Biblical role models previously furnished. God did not condemn them for their disobedience to the unrighteous decrees issued by the governments of their day, but rather blessed and honored them because of their disobedience. In fact, many of them are honored in Hebrews 11 where we find the following concluding remarks:

And what shall I more say? for the time would fail me to tell of Gideon, and of Barak, and of Samson, and of Jephthah; of David also, and Samuel, and of the prophets: Who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight. turned to flight the armies of the aliens. Women received their dead raised to life again: and others were tortured. not accepting deliverance; that they might obtain a better resurrection: And others had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover of bonds and imprisonment: They were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword: they wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins; being destitute, afflicted, tormented; (Of whom the world was not worthy:).... (Hebrews 11:32—37)

These men and women were certainly not considered ungodly, nor were they condemned by God when they resisted wicked authority. Instead, their active faith provides us an example to emulate, and without their type of faith, we fail to please God (Hebrews 11:6).

Many Christians today react negatively to the idea of any kind of rebellion against civil authority; yet, consider one of the definitions for “rebellion” found in Webster’s 1828 American Dictionary of the English Language:

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(continued: Membership )

Could it be time for a fat church to pay up? How about separating from government supervision and accepting God's complete control once again.

Can your church say whatever it feels the need to, whether it is politically correct or not, or even to make a political statement? Are we choosing our words in order to speak well for God, or the government? In Canada at this writing, it may soon be hate speech to preach all of Romans chapter 1. Could it be in these days, that the government has tied income to spirituality, knowing that the church of Jesus is just as materialistic as the rest of the world. Could it be, we have made it so that the enimies of God, can easily police a large portion of what can and cannot be said by its unwitting pulpit spokesmen. Does the government supervise what you do with your grocery, auto, rent, or play money etc.? No? Well it certainly does your tithe. If it does not like what it is seeing or hearing "at your place", it can move very quickly, at any time in America, to initiate an endless battle with any particular group it chooses.

Is 501(c)3, actually a tool to help charities get more money, or to give government control over those who give, and the organizations they give to? Depending on the desired message or method of the organization, it can be the control it offers under the guise of "charity". How many times has the National Election Commission hassled or sued a charity based on its message, and then used the IRS to heavy hand the "uncooperative"? If an organization should desire the benefits of tax relief, few realize, but churches already have 501(c)3 status without registering. My question is, "Why would we even want it?" Do we seriously expect Uncle Sam to finance the church? Do we tithe because it belongs to God, period? Or do we tithe because it is a tax break?

If the government continues to call for its "separation of church and state" doctrine, in a climate that is steadily cooling toward God, the best thing any church can do is to separate itself from any knowledge or control that the state has toward it. The church would still have the same access to the issues of state business, which is the buisness of the people and of the church. To some degree, this could hinder the reverse pressure of those who don't honestly care much for spiritual matters, from thwarting God's purpose. Irregardless of what the secularists say, lets not forget that God has a Christian world view, is still in control, and His will and work must take precedence in all matters of every believer's life.

1 Thes. 5:3, "For when they say, 'Peace and safety!' then sudden destruction comes upon them, as labor pains upon a pregnant woman. And they shall not escape". The end times are upon us and we need to be alert. The antichrist will lead a one world government that will be put in place by the powers that be. How long will we go on fooling ourselves by trusting that a government that is progressively against any recognition of God in public, is in any way going to be a friend of the church in the future? Why then do we feel it is necessary for the church to be entangled in such things?

The approval of the church comes from Christ, His opinion, and the principles laid out in the scriptures for it. The government's opinion according to scripture, is bound to be negative, or not in agreement with God's opinion, therefore we should never feel we need their seal of approval. The bible makes it clear that we are not to expect to be spoken well of by all men. The problem is that we have often gained the blessing of man when we have done the will of God, and it felt so good we came to expect or desire it. We have repeated this, and have integrated this feeling of well being into our expectations. Then when the approval does not come, from having following the bible instead of their will, we felt that we were the ones who messed up, instead of those who are opposed to Him.

We are never to feel or act like the government is our enemy, for in fact, it has been instituted and exists today by the will of God. On the other hand, we must recognize that the enemy of the church, historically, has always sought to use the government to do its bidding for it. Let us then, as Jesus said, "be wise as serpents and gentle as doves" in relationship to the powers of the earth. We really do not need to submit our tithe to the government, and there is coming a day when that will be very "unhealthy". Let's "render unto Caesar, the things that are Caesar's, and unto God, the things that are God's"

Norm Cook, Th.D

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(commentary continued)

An open and avowed renunciation of the authority of the government to which one owes allegiance; or the taking of arms traitorously to resist the authority of lawful government....Let there be no mistake: According to the Apostle Paul, Christian resistance or rebellion against authority is wrong, but only against lawful or God commissioned government or authority. Pastor Mayhew pointedly inquired:

Here the apostle argues that those who resist a reasonable and just authority, which is agreeable to the will of God, do really resist the will of God himself, and will, therefore, be punished by him. But how does this prove that those who resist a lawless, unreasonable power, which is contrary to the will of God, do therein resist the will and ordinance of God? Is resisting those who resist God’s will the same thing with resisting God? Or shall those who do so “receive to themselves damnation?”

Once again, the usual interpretation of verse 2 is, “Anyone who resists any authority commits a crime, opposes God Himself, and will therefore be punished by God.” How can we reconcile such theology with Scriptures like the following that teaches we are to expose government impropriety? And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove [expose, NASV] them. (Ephesians 5:11)

This applies as much to the misdeeds of government as it does to any other unfruitful work committed by an individual. Of course, to expose or reprove something unjust is to oppose it.

The Prophet Daniel was forbidden by man’s law to pray; nevertheless, he demonstrated that opposing civil authority is not necessarily wrong in itself. After being thrown into the lions’ den, and following his remarkable deliverance, Daniel declared: ...0 king, live for ever. My God hath sent his angel, and hath shut the lions’ mouths, that they have not hurt me: forasmuch as before him [YHWH] innocency was found in me; and also before thee, 0 king. have I done no hurt [committed no crime, NASV]. (Daniel 6:21—22)

Did Daniel commit a crime when he disobeyed the king’s edict? He certainly did in the estimation of the ruling authorities. Nevertheless, Daniel knew better. Daniel understood that he was not obligated to obey any edict of man that was contrary to the will and laws of Almighty God. He knew that he had neither committed a crime against God nor against the king.

Although the supporters of total obedience to government authority would have us believe that God is going to punish anyone who disobeys man’s commands, the Prophet Hosea taught the exact opposite: Ephraim [Israel] is oppressed and broken in judgment, because he willingly walked after the commandment [of man, NASV]. (Hosea 5:11)

It is man’s command, not God’s, that teaches submission to man rather than to God! And is that so surprising?

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RAMBLINGS

processes and behaviors, and also has made him "good" at many of the things he does today. He knows the power of addictions first hand and some of what is intended by the term dysfunctional.

So often also, we look back on behaviors of the past as just lost time and life, a period that could have been so much better spent in better persuits. But the sad thing is that if we had just paid more attention to the lessons that were available to us at the time, what truely productive times they could have been. Better actually than a four year degree in many instances.

Henry David Thoreau, who was very well educated, in his esssay "On Walking", describes today's academia, though written some two hundred years ago, in one of his infamous word pictures. While walking and gazing at the power of the natural that was all around him, he was drawn back to all that he had missed in his formal education. He describes the education system of his days, and those in charge of it, he likened to farmers whose job it was to feed and nourish their cattle. Seeing all the wonderful pasture grass on their property, they set out to cut it all down, turn it in to hay and store it securely in their barns. When feeding time came for the cattle all one had to do was herd them into a conveinent spot and fork it over to them, instead of turning them lose to God's creation and the fresh and lush grasses of the pastures of spring.

Though there is certainly a time and place for stored hay (or knowledge), there is no substitute for fresh first hand experiencial knowledge. Life in God's creation is ripe with so much of what He has intended each of us to know, yet somehow, we usually find ourself in someone else's barn, eating someone else's hay, and ignoring our own full potential through a direct relationship with our own understanding and God Himself.

This principle has carried over not only into acedemics, but also in our churches. Too often we alow some acedemic to give us interpretive dogma with "hay" stored in historic illustrations of God's glory, when what we really need are fresh first hand experiences of our own.

Then there are those who create a need and then fill that need through financial gains for the carrot dangling CEO of an industry that is just synthetizing our reality, but we don't check to know if is real or not; not caring just as long as it feels good.

Lastly, the hay mow has told us, that the more we can make, buy, horde and display, the more successful we are (or at least appear). The guy in the picture, who by his first hand practice taught me, an important lesson that is becoming more real the older I get. It is best summed up in this thought: most people make a life out of making a living, but true peace makes a living out of living life.

God has created you in His image. Don't pass from this life in the image of a Hay Stacker. Be God's person and live on purpose, do something truely great!! Simply be who God created you to be, and in the words of that old song, Let the rest of the world go by!

Any guessses as to who that lost soul in the picture might be?