Avalon Chronicles #162" "If I were to be asked..." Part One

      At 82 years of age, "...what would you impart to young people as to what you have learned?" I would discuss several arenas: Wisdom Insight Discernment Knowledge Maturity. WIDKM for short. It is these I ask for each day. I pray to my Father, "I pray I would be bound to the Mind of Christ and have imparted to me WIDKM as I encounter decisions and issues every day" If I listen, I do believe I get answers.

     I am in advanced practical application phase of life, even though I know God is not finished with me in my basic faith walk. I have heard thousands of sermons and read hundreds of books, but I will never reach the depths of the deepest trench in the Pacific as to what I need to finish strong! Humbly, I continue to ask my Lord for His mercy. However, I never stop attempting to learn God's ways and live by those rather than my own ways. I will begin with Garden of Eden. I have been to a man's war in Vietnam, a secular conflict that cost lives and blood and pain and for me two limbs. But, the Garden experience set up up the ultimate strategic never-ending war of all time, that of Satan versus God, the Creator of our little planet earth and all the galaxies in space. Satan discovered that there would be established a human blood line that would provide a Christ that would establish a way out of the trials and tribulations of earthly existence. Since then to this very day there would be a spiritual battle for good versus evil in its simplest definition. There was Noah's Flood approximately 4344 years ago and only eight humans survived! Why did God wipe out humanity and start over? It takes a deep dive into Scripture and a tiptoeing into the Bible in obscure extra-Biblical writings in the Apocrypha to understand it all.

     After the Fall of Satan and one third of the angels, who rebelled with him, a group of those angels, as it is postulated, decided they liked the feminine beauties on earth and came down and mated with them. This produced the Nephilim, giants, whose ferocity, evil, killing and violence produced chaos. It was a major attempt by Satan to cut off the DNA of humanity to stop the birth of Jesus. The ever and always totally powerful God put an end to that disgrace for the population of the earth He originally created and He repopulated after drowning all those big and bad giant "dudes."

     Ever since, the history of the world has been one of constant conflict, wars and rumors of wars. I suffered in one of those! Even though the original Nephilim drowned and their giant skeletons are found ever so often, their DNA probably was carried by Ham's wife and they reappeared in force in what became the land God ordained for the Promised Land, current day Israel. Early Old Testament writings document the destruction of most of the post-flood "giants" under the leadership of that magnificent brave warrior Joshua. But, some survived, because God's orders to "kill them all" were disobeyed. Even though most were drowned in the Flood or killed in Canaan, their spirits lived on. Very simply put, "It is those spirits today that are within humans guiding, controlling and directing the forces of evil today to bring again the ferocity, sin, killing and violence we have suffered through the millenia. 

     Undeniably, Jesus Christ the Son of God came to earth to show us the way to live in peace and forever by faith in His sacrifice on the cross so we may enter Heaven as our final address.

 

 

Avalon Chronicles #161: Champions of the Faith; Charles Finney (1792-1875)

 Reference; Miller, Basil. Charles Finney The evangelist who sparked one of America's greatest revivals. Bethany House Publishers. Minneapolis, MN. 1941.

     The prior two Champions about whom I have written, Jonathan Edwards and George Whitefield, were instrumental in revivals of the First Great Awakening in the period prior to our American Revolution. Our Lord moved another Champion of the Faith, Charles Finney, to move on America in our nation's Second Great Awakening in the 1800s. The extent of his influence for Christ was that "under his ministry a half million souls yielded themselves to his Master's touch." His thrust was to call people to repentance. Multitudes of individuals go about their daily lives not knowing or caring how they live each day. God requires us to repent of our sins. One of the major benefits of a life lived by God's will is to follow the Ten Commandments and do the things that are pleasing in His sight. When I first became aware of this requirement to have my prayers met, the "pleasing in his sight" was somewhat mysterious and I needed to work on that subject. This is the requirement that is subject to review in each of our lives.

     Charles Finney was born in 1792. The Lord guided his early years for his calling as an evangelist by preparing him in educational endeavors. Intense Bible study brought him to the conclusion that the Book was truly the word of God and that prayers must be prayed in faith. A major turning point in his faith walk was when he grasped the "doctrine of justification by faith" This is how he defined a new state of his deepened faith. "I could now see and understand what was meant by the passage, 'Being justified by faith, we have peace with God...' I could see the moment I believed while up in the woods all sense of condemnation had entirely dropped out of my mind; and from that moment I could not feel a sense of guilt or condemnation...My sense of guilt was gone; my sins were gone...I felt justified by faith...I was in a state in which I did not sin. My heart was so full of love that it ran over." He got the big picture! That is what he based his life's work on. That is a key for us all. 

     A 1970 movie Love Story had a line in it, "Love means never having to say you are sorry." In a secular setting this means loving someone to such a degree in a relationship that you never hurt their feelings or commit an unpleasant or mean action against them. Finney would indicate that his love for our Lord was so deep and strong that his life was one of sinlessness to such a degree that he need not repent because he did not sin!

     "His style of preparation was as he went among the people 'to learn their wants. Then in light of the Holy Spirit I take the subject that I think will meet their present necessities...I pray much over the subject and then go and pour it out to the people.'" Finney was strongly convicted that his success was due to his baptism in the Holy Ghost, "...which is indispensable to ministerial success." One student of his at Oberlin College in his latter years said of him, "God had His giant at last."

     "Springing from the inner fount of his own life, he heralded from the pulpit, the lecture room and the press 'that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners.' This was his life-long theme song, this his white-hot passion." This he proclaimed until August 16, 1875. We need more heralds such as was he.! 

Avalon Chronicles #160: Champions of the Faith-The Historic Legacy of George Whitefield

 Reference; Mansfield, Stephen, Forgotten Founding Father. Highland Books Cumberland House. Nashville, TN: 2001. 

     At my 50th high school reunion in 2010 at the Phillips Exeter Academy in Exeter, New Hampshire I was walking near my hotel on the main campus of Front Street, viewed a low marble monument and became captivated by the life of evangelist George Whitefield. The monument indicated that on Sep. 29, 1770 Rev. George Whitefield preached his last sermon of perhaps a stunning total 18,000 sermons in his life time at this exact spot in Exeter. He spoke, "Works! Works! A man get to heaven by works! I would as soon think of climbing to the moon on a rope of sand." He preached a very simple message of salvation through grace, the unmerited favor of God. When he finished, he rode his horse to Newburyport, Massachusetts and died that night!

     Whitefield had been born in Gloucester, England in 1714 in Bell's Inn, preached his first sermon at St. Mary de Crypt Church a few blocks away and attended Pembroke College at Oxford. We walked past all three sites on a trip to England. Whitefield's teaching and preaching was needed in England and the American colonies. Darkness had covered England in the decades prior to his birth. Mansfield wrote, "In 1662 an anti-Puritan Parliament ejected more than two thousand Puritan ministers from their pulpits...rationalism...and Deism, transformed God into an absentee landlord, Jesus, into a deluded fool, and the Bible into a collection of empty myths." England had begun a period of newfound wealth "with all the soul-numbing entanglements of materialism in tow." England had become "a land of spreading spiritual darkness." Into this environment our Lord brought George Whitefield to proclaim the Gospel of Jesus all across England.

     Then he began several trips by ship across the Atlantic and Whitefield's preaching in the colonies was of such importance and impactful that he became "the most famous man in the world." He had been the principal representative of the Christian faith and "...had led the great revival from Georgia to New England . Tens of thousands had flocked to hear him as he roared the glories of the risen Christ." Five years after his death the stirrings of freedom were beginning to be heard in America and the United States of America was birthed. George Whitefield had become a "Forgotten Founding Father." He had been a major reason the colonists had risen up to break the chains of the British rule.

     Author Stephen Mansfield, with whom I had visited by phone once, wrote that freedom for Americans and our War of Independence "...grew in large part from the truth he preached. He was their spiritual father, the man who called them to Christ and Christ's purpose for their land. It was his vision of freedom for both soul and society..." that we revolutionaries fought to defend and achieve. George Whitefield with "...a preacher's courageous heart for God,..." began the fires of revival for a land that became a beacon of light proclaiming freedom from oppression of a secular empire. His preaching taught that freedom from oppression of sin and unforgiveness brought freedom from the shackles of the evils of the material world. A great privilege of my life was to have "stumbled across" a monument near where I had attended school for the eleventh grade of my education.

                           

Avalon Chronicles #159: Champions of the Faith- Rev. Jonathan Edwards(1703-1758) American Colonist

 Reference: Vaughn, David. General Ed. A Divine Light. Cumberland House Publishing: Nashville, TN. 2007.

     In my studies of the evolution of my homeland of America, I have always been persuaded that an impetus of the American Revolution was the spiritual effect of the Great Awakening upon the population of the colonies. One of the principal pastors, who preached about true Christianity, was the Reverend Jonathan Edwards, who preached in the mid 1700s. He lived from 1703 until 1758 and his major place of influence was a Congregationalist church in Northampton, Mass. 

     In just a single page it becomes challenging to cover all the salient points to describe his life and ministry and its impact on our colonists. My first study of his life and ministry was in 2014 and I renewed my study of his teachings this year. I had underlined in the first reading the teachings of points that I believed were important for my own faith walk. "It is the spirit of a truly godly man, to prefer God, before all other things either in heaven or on earth." (17). By the time of Jonathan's birth, "The fire of his Puritan forefathers was cooling to a smoldering ember...There is no doubt that religion had sunk to a new low in the colonies" (19-20). His preaching and teaching became a renewal of spiritual vitality. In 1727 he married Sarah Pierrepont. "... you could not persuade her to do anything wrong or sinful, if you would give her all the world, lest she should offend this great Being. (45). The desire of his parents for Jonathan was "...(he) might be filled with the Holy Spirit; from a child know the Holy Scriptures; and be great in the sight of the Lord." (24). 

     One of his personal Resolutions written in 1722 while at Yale was, "Resolved, never to say anything at all against anybody, but when it is perfectly agreeable to the highest degree of Christian honor, and of love to mankind..." (33). 'Thus holiness is not a burdensome duty; it is the beautiful condition of the soul in communion with God...it made the soul like a field or garden of God." (35). He wrote of his desire to teach the people, "...not the opinions of men--of other divines or of their ancestors--but the mind of Christ." Personally, I pray that I would be bound to the mind of Christ and have imparted to me Wisdom, Insight, Discernment, Knowledge and Maturity.

     He brought his service in ministry to his community to where, "...the entire face of the town was wonderfully altered. The old patterns of backbiting and quarreling were put away, the taverns were deserted, family life was renewed, and every day resembled the Sabbath." (57). Would that our own communities be touched in such a manner? His impact was, 'The old story of the gospel took on a new beauty and power. Scales fell from their eyes. They beheld the wonders of the cross and the beauties of the Savior. (57). He taught that individuals should,"... attain a love for God's written Word...there was no book so delightful as the Bible...there was a genuine love for the brethren and for the lost." (59).

     A highlight of his ministry was the commencement sermon at Yale in September 1741. He chose as his text I John 4;1; relative to testing the spirits. He proclaimed, "...there were five 'distinguishing marks' of a true work of God's Spirit...greater esteem of Jesus...against the kingdom of Satan...greater regard to the Holy Scriptures...leads into truth...operates as a spirit of love to God and man. (77).

     Perhaps his most enduring preaching is reflected, "In fact, he preached on subjects that many pastors refused to address--the heinousness of sin, the awful judgment of God, and the horrible reality of hell--" We hear too many messages of the "Love of Jesus" and not enough of the "Wrath of God." It is a feel good emotion to focus on love rather than wrath, but, there is a Hell awaiting those, who do not repent from sin and go on their merry way, denying there is a God, Who sent His Son to die for us all! 

Avalon Chronicles #158: Champions of the Faith-William Wilberforce a Force For Freeing Slaves

 Resource: William Wilberforce Freedom Fighter by Betty Steele Everett. CLC Publications: Fort Washington, PA 19034. 2007 printing.

"A rising star in British politics, young William Wilberforce led a life of privilege and power. Then he turned to Christ, and the Lord changed the focus of his heart. As a newly converted Member of the English House of Commons, he spent the rest of his long and honored political career promoting the freedom and rights of slaves." (Back Cover). In my opinion this was one of the signal turning points in history to address a horrendous evil that had existed since the beginning of humankind!

     William Wilberforce was a very slight young man. He had been born in 1759, small and frail. Early in his education he learned about slavery and began to condemn it. Due to the deaths of relatives and the bequests to him, he became a wealthy young man and entered St. John's College at Cambridge University. Early on after graduation he was moved to public service. A significant figure in his life became William Pitt. Wilberforce was elected to the House of Commons and for the next 45 years he was committed to this career. Pitt and he became fast friends. William Pitt became Prime Minister of England at 24! A rising star! On a trip to France with his old teacher Isaac Milner, he discovered Milner was an "Evangelical." "These believers were interested in personal religion and living like Jesus. They did not believe that merely going to church was enough to be a true Christian." (31). Wilberforce was urged to meet John Newton, who had been master of a slave ship when he was converted. 

     "Newton kept William both shocked and spellbound with his stories of cruelty to the blacks. He told in detail how the Africans were branded, then jammed into the slave ships so tightly that they could barely move except when brought up on deck for exercise. He told about the beatings and other inhumane punishments, and of the deaths-and how the bodies were dumped into the ocean without any religious service or attention." (35). This encounter with Newton changed Wilberforce's life. He became a Christian and his life changed. He became an Evangelical, founded by the Wesleys, who had started Methodism. It had appealed to the lower and middle classes as contrasted to the upper classes and their Anglicanism.

     Slavery had been banned in England, but not in the colonies. Wilberforce began a crusade for moral improvement in England. He began to support a Slave Trade Bill. His life was threatened. He believed his cause was slavery and it was a religious cause. He continued to pursue his great cause of a law forbidding the slave trade. 

     On Feb. 23, 1807 the long and arduous path that Wilberforce had walked down was voted into law. "The bill was passed that would make carrying of slaves in British ships, anywhere in the Empire, illegal after May 1." (71). William Wilberforce's crusade took a giant step forward to end parts of this abominable human tragedy that was ended with the act. Be it known "Slavery itself was not outlawed; only the trading and the carrying of slaves were illegal--and, of course, only in the British Empire." (74). But, the slave trade was still alive and well in the United States!!!!  Every thing William did came from his deep Christian faith. (90).

Avalon Chronicles #157: Talking Back Thoughts of the Tormenters

 Reference: Talking Back A Monastic Handbook for Combating Demons by Evagrius of Pontus. Translated with an introduction by David Brakke. Liturgical Press Collegeville, Minnesota. 2009.

     Spiritual warfare is a topic little known or understood by most. This book is a real gem to describe very specifically methodology from the word of God to combat evil and dangerous thoughts that confront us to keep us from exhibiting the righteousness  of God. When Satan rebelled against God in Heaven and departed, he was followed by one third of the angels of Heaven and they have wreaked havoc on humanity ever since. It is their task to keep us separated from our faith in God the Father, Jesus the Son of God and the Holy Spirit. But we can fight back and this book presents a practical application from the Word of God to do so!

     "Sometime in the final decade of the fourth century, a monk named Loukios wrote to Evagrius of Pontus, one of the leading spiritual guides among the monks of the Egyptian desert. Calling him 'honored father,' Loukios asked Evagrius to compose for him a treatise that would explain the tactics of the demons that try to undermine the monastic life."...Talking Back concerns itself exclusively with the monk's combat with demons, a topic that has not interested many modern historians and theologians." (Introduction). The monk's struggle with "virtue, purity of heart, and thus for salvation" is not just something worthy of study from sixteen hundred years ago, but something topical and timely for all, who desire to pursue a life of nobility. The Name of Jesus spoken out, when addressing demonic attacks is the strongest deterrent and weapon for those, who trust in Jesus as Savior. Demons must depart from us, if they have obtained a foothold via entry to our spirit due to unconfessed sin or lack of forgiveness and we say, "Demon (identified), in the Name of Jesus, I command you to submit to me because I take on the authority of Jesus to overpower you."

     When spoken in that manner, often one coughs and it is the demon being expelled. My "Go To" website for education and information on spiritual warfare is www.delmin.org, a ministry site based in Oklahoma City. The founder of the ministry Everett Cox has become a personal friend of mine. 

     This book covers specific temptations of thoughts of gluttony, fornication, money, sadness, anger, listlessness, vainglory, and pride. Here is a specific example related to anger. "Against the soul that accepts thoughts of anger and collects against the brothers wicked pretexts and false suspicions." (pg. 121).

     "Cease from anger, and forsake wrath; do not be anxious, so that you do evil. For the evildoers shall be destroyed, but those who wait for the Lord, they shall inherit the earth."

     This short book is power-packed to help us on our path each day to address the myriad of issues we face in daily living.

Avalon Chronicles #156: Champions of the Faith: Thomas a' Kempis-Withstanding Temptation

 Resource: of the Imitation of Christ Whitaker House. New Kensington, PA. 1981

     This writing from more than 500 years ago is a timeless classic! Authored by a German monk in Germany, the writings are important in reflecting this Christian's devotion and obedience to God. Both Catholics and Protestants may find significant insights and teachings to live more fully in one's life as a devout person of faith.

     "Everyone therefore ought to be full of care about his own temptations, and to watch in prayer lest the Devil find an advantage to deceive him. He never sleeps, but ever goes about 'seeking' whom he may devour." (1Peter 5:8). (pg. 28). We will all be tempted without end. We must recognize the attacks to get us to sin and walk out of strength in God and be overtaken. The Devil is relentless and has been on the attack to take us away from our Creator ever since the Fall. 

     "Yet we must be watchful, especially in the beginning of the temptation. The enemy is then more easily overcome, if he is not permitted in any wise to enter the door of our hearts, but is resisted without the gate at his first knock....(the process is) First...a bare thought of evil,...a strong imagination...delight,...evil motion,...consent." (30). However, "God...will vouchsafe...with the temptation also make a way to escape," Paul wrote: (I Cor. 10:13).

     Temptation to do evil and to sin is overwhelming. One must constantly be on alert to recognize evil ready to take one over and learn the scripture to repeat to withstand the temptation. . Matthew 6:13 "And don't let us yield to temptation, but deliver us from the evil one." Our Lord gives us a way out, but we must quickly pray for strength to withstand sinning. Our evil human desires lead us to sin. Our Lord leads us to repentance and forgiveness. 

Resource: Advanced Training Institute of America. A Comprehensive Course in Effective Counseling. Oakbrook, IL. "It is important to trace our surface issues to root problems and causes (5)." Main question for sinning relates to whether we maintain moral purity. "Counseling is helping a person resolve fear, depression, anger, lust and other destructive emotions by relating them to 'strongholds' which can be torn down with Biblical truth." (7). Sins of bitterness, greed or immorality gives up a part of us to Satan. Once that happens, there appears within us a "stronghold," wherein we become rooted until we recognize we have given territory to Satan over a part of our life. We accept false ideas, by which we make decisions, that are unwise. (9). Confession of our sin returns us to God's side of the equation and we are back on track for righteous behavior. Then the challenge becomes not to fall back. Daily Bible study becomes the reminder to turn us to God's truths for behavior.