Modesty Mentionables

What are we advertising when we dress? Are we out to display ourselves, and the fashions of this world, or a life hidden in Christ? A little bit of a challenging thought for myself.

Ponderings

Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in my house, and prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it. 

Malachi 3:10

Have I brought all the tithes into the storehouse? Not just of the profits I earn in the day, but what about the tithes of my heart? My love, my joy, my hopes, my ambitions, my dreams, my reputation, all that I desire and hope for? Have I given them over to God? He's not looking for just our silver and gold; He's looking for the deep part of who we are, the passion that drives us and the heart to trust Him unreservedly. What a challenge to my heart to trust Him, to try Him, to open my hands and let Him have all that I have clasped onto, the things that are near and dear to my heart. To let Him have His way in my life.

It's a journey of faith and it might mean laying aside my own logic and reasoning, and simply believing His way to be much richer and better than my own. All I can do is trust and obey as He leads each step of the way.

Is there a "tithe" He is asking of you? Have you brought everything into His storehouse? Do you know that He wants to bless? He wants to pour out a blessing that there will not be room enough to receive it! But we must be emptied, emptied of ourselves, of all that we have. Emptied of our pride and reputation. Emptied of all our own endeavors. Emptied of this world's delights and amusements. He wants to be our all in all. And when he receives all the tithes, just wait and see the blessing He's promised to pour out!
God is good! And He has good things in store for those who trust Him!


"For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord.
For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts."   Isaiah 55:8-9

More Untold Truths of American History

 I find that there are two extremes when it comes to looking at history and especially the founding of this nation. We have one side, that in it's attempt to remove God from our society, they twist and manipulate history to meet their goal, making out the founders to be athiests, agnostics, and deists, who broke off from Great Britain because of taxation, and who killed or drove the Indians off their land.

Then we have another side that believe wholeheartedly and without question that America was founded as a Christian nation, by great Christian men, and hold the founders in high esteem, perhaps at times on a pedastal.

Rather than criticizing the founders for where they were wrong, or glorifying the facts to make them out to be more than what they were, I would like to just take an honest look at history and pull out some facts that are left untold.

Honestly, some of my own doctrines conflict greatly with the doctrines of the founders, especially in the areas of war and nonresistance. I do believe they tried to honor God tho, and were sincere in their way of following Him. You can see that in their journals, documents and writings. And God blessed them and this naton because of that.

True, they did break off from England and fought for their Independence. It is interesting to know that taxation was not the main purpose of breaking off like we've been told; it was in fact, a minor factor. It was actually number 17 in a list of 27 reasons for breaking off from Great Britain. The two major reasons for breaking off had to do with freedom of religion and to end slavery. Many bills were sent to King George the 3rd concerning these issues, but the king vetoed them all. Now true, slavery didn't end in America nationwide til after the Civil War, but what you might not know is that probably 70 percent of the founders were oblitionists.

Also, they wanted to evangelize the Indians, but the king wouldn't allow it. Now wait!! Why would they evangelize the Indians when they ran them out or killed them for their land? Truth be told, that's not what happened! True, the Indians were badly treated in later years, but that was not how it was from the start. The land was purchased from the Natives at their own set price, and every piece of property had a title to it. The pilgrims had the longest lasting treaty with the Indians. There was Rev. Thomas Hooker and his settlers who bought Connecticut, and Rev.Roger Williams purchased Rhode Island. And then we have William Penn. The King owed William Penn a great debt and to pay it off he gave Penn the land of which is today Pennsylvania. However, Penn came over and said it was not his to take; it belonged to the Indians. As it was, several tribes claimed ownership of the land and so Penn bought it from each tribe and had titles from each one.

In the Northwest Ordinance of 1789, article 3, it stated:

 'The utmost good faith shall always be observed toward the Indians; their lands and property shall never be taken from them without their consent.'

Now perhaps some people did come in and take some land or kill some Indians. I am not gonna say that it never happened. The deal is, we always hear the exception to the rule and we don't get the facts that for the most part, it wasn't that way.

Now let's take a moment and look at Thomas Jefferson. There's been a lot of myths floating around out there that he had major issues with the Bible and cut out verses he didn't agree with. But did you know Jefferson was a lifetime member of the Virginia Bible Society? He also gave very large donations to the Bible Society because he couldn't imagine anyone in Virginia being without a Bible.
He helped fund the printing of the John Thompson Bible and the Charles Thompson Bible. He gave Bibles as gifts to each of his grandchildren. He was president of the Washington DC schoolboard, and helped plan the education. The Bible was used as a textbook and annual reports were given by the children using Old and New Testament readings.
So why did he cut out portions of the Bible? Well, after sitting under a message by William Bennet on evangelizing the Indians, Jefferson went away with an idea. Bennet said in order to reach the Indians, you must first start out with something small. There was no way they could take in the whole Bible at once, they must first begin with the highlights and basic teachings. Thus Jefferson went home and began cutting and pasting key verses and parables to create what we might call a Synoptic Gospel. It contained Jesus

• Raising the dead
• Healing the sick
• Casting out demons
• Jesus the Son of God
• The Second Coming
• Heaven, Hell and Angels

The title he gave it:

'The Philosophy of Jesus of Nazareth Being Extracted from the Account of His Life and Doctrines given by Matthew, Mark, Luke and John; Being an Abridgment of the New Testament for the Use of Indians.'

That was in 1804.

Jefferson was a critic. He critiqued the morals in other nations-what worked and what didn't.  He also critiqued the writing of Antoninus, Epicurus, Plato, Aristotle, and many others, all who had moral teachings in their writings. Jefferson compared every one of them and said nothing came close to the teachings of Jesus, and in 1820, he compiled 'The Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth Extracted Textually from the Gospels.' It contained 50 moral teachings of Jesus including
• The Good Samaritan
• The olden Rule
• Tuning the Other Cheek
• Kindness to an enemy
• Forgiving offenders
• The Lord's Prayer
• The Great Commandment
• Morality we owe to God and man

Well there is just a tad bit of history that might be new to you. Some of it was for me! A lot more could be shared, but maybe another time.

In closing, a lot of debate could be made whether the founders were Christians or not. Certainly some were not, but I do think many were sincere in their faith even if their doctrines weren't all correct. In short, they did found a nation that is unlike all others and we can clearly see that God has blessed it. We have had freedoms like no other land, especially in our freedom of religion. No, they might not have been a perfect people, but let's not knock them down when we live here and have so enjoyed the religious liberties they passed down to us.

In Regards to the Last Post

In response to a comment on my last post from a well-meaning brother, and to anyone else who may have questions on where I am coming from on this subject of the Untold Truths of American History:

First off, may I say that this is a subject/doctrine I have thought over and over time and again. I admit, I was not raised with the "Two Kingdom" theology that is taught in plain circles.

I grew up a patriotess. American history was my favorite subject in school, and I was a die heart American. I reveled in the teachings that David Barton gave on America's Godly Heritage and the Providence of God throughout the founding of this nation.

We were introduced to Charity teachings when I was a young teen, and honestly, I thought the whole teaching of non-resistance and the separation of church and state was totally ridiculous. My heart changed over time tho, and I began really taking in their teachings. I went to YBS and soaked in all their preaching, including the teaching on the two kingdoms. I read David Bercot's book, "The Kingdom that Turned the World Upside Down" and Dean Taylor's "A Change of Allegience." I embraced the teachings despite any misgivings.

As time has gone by, I have come to see and understand that there are Christians on both sides of the spectrum, and I don't know that either one is in the "wrong." I think a lot of judgment is passed on sincere Christians outside the plain circles and it grieves my heart when I hear them referred to as "so called christians" just because they are not from a plain church.
 In all, I think it's a matter of following one's conscience and Holy Spirit guidance. For myself personally, I do lean more on the non-resistance side, but I am not going to condemn someone if they don't see it the same.

I realize I'm treading on very controversial ground here, but the truth of the matter is that this nation was founded on Christian principals, and there is an agenda to sweep God out of the government, the schools, and out of this land. And hey, I know the beginnings of this nation wasn't all perfect....no person, church, group or country is.....we can see that all through the Bible....but that doesn't mean we can't focus on the good and acknowledge that our founders were for the most part Christians and sought to put God first in this country. You may not agree with everything I have to share on the subject, and that's ok, but I think you would be surprised with the lies we all have been taught and that are circulated thru the education system, the media and anywhere else you turn. My heart is to share the truth that is covered up and expose the lies and misconceptions of our forefathers that are throughout the textbooks of America.

As for the matter of driving the Indians off their land, I will have a post for that topic coming that will hopefully answer your questions.

The Untold Truths of American History

Did you know...

 29 out of the 56 signers of the Declaration of Independence held Seminary or Bible School degrees.

Interestingly, we're told that our founding fathers were Atheists and Diests. 

Hmm, does that add up to you?!!

Ponderings

The greatest spiritual crisis comes when a person has to move a little further on in his faith than the beliefs he has already accepted. 

Oswald Chambers

I read this the other day in my devotions and it challenged me as I thot about it. Am I willing to go beyond the beliefs I have already accepted, and even more so, the beliefs accepted among my circle of friends, relatives, and other Christians if God so asks me to?

 When I think over the spiritual journey our family has been on, I realize more than ever the  faith and courage that it must have taken for my parents to step out in obedience and embrace beliefs and convictions that were foreign to them and to everyone they knew. It was difficult for friends to understand and accept the changes our family made. Sometimes I don't think we hardly understood ourselves; only that God had touched on this thing or that and we were to obey. Other times, there was no question why God was putting His finger on one thing or another, and we zealously followed His leading. At times it took us down lonely roads as the changes we made were more than what our friends were comfortable with. There were times we were misunderstood for being legalistic and judgmental.

Leonard Ravenhill said it well: "If you're going to be a true Christian, I'll tell you one thing amongst others, it'll be a lonely life. And it'll get narrower and narrower and narrower. " 

 And it does get to be. Thankfully, the One who bids us further on in faith never leaves us nor forsakes us, and His presence sees us thru the night seasons. And in time, He does bring fellow travelers along the way, and we find we are not alone in this journey. Others, too, have chosen to go a little farther on in their faith than the beliefs they had already accepted, leading them down the same narrow way! And what blessed fellowship we share together in the journey!

But oh, I ponder, what if God asks me to go yet a little farther on beyond the beliefs I've already embraced? What if it meant another narrow and lonely journey? Would I have the courage and zeal to follow the call? By His grace and strength, I pray I would. 

Most Blessed Place

Came across this today and it so inspires me as a homemaker and what a blessed calling it is. Some may disparagingly look down and say 'only a homemaker', but truly it is beautiful and priceless calling. We have the ability to make the home a sweet gathering place, a place of warmth and refuge, a place of rest and comfort, a place that draws us closer together and closer to God. It's a place where we can be real. It needn't be perfect or home beautiful; just a place where love and laughter dwells, where children are glad to be, and where all who enter find it hard to leave. A place where God's presence can be felt, where His love can be shared, where His healing can take place.

Home can either be a little piece of heaven or a little piece of the other, and the way it turns out is greatly determined by the one who keeps the home and spirit in which she does her work. If the work is but drudgery, and if we don't have eyes to see beyond it to the ministry that is ours in serving, caring and loving those closest to us, and the opportunities that we have in opening our doors with warm hospitality to the lost and hurting world around us, then we surely have a most a miserable job indeed.

It thrills my heart when I consider what an ultimate calling it is to make the home the most blessed place on earth!