Avalon Chronicles #148: The Benefits of Obedience

     As young children in a home where discipline and boundaries are applied lovingly, we grow in maturity recognizing that being obedient children has its benefits: trusting parents; latitude of freedom; and good feelings about ourselves derived from knowing we are doing things right as well as doing the right things. This good behavior at home is also evident at school, in personal relationships and in our workplaces, where we are held in higher esteem by teachers, friends and employers. Obedience begets favor in all arenas of life.

     Obedience as a child of God to God's laws and adherence to that which is pleasing in God's sight, yields incredible benefits and rights. We begin with knowing and being obedient to the Ten Commandments. There are other guidelines for our lives that reflect what God taught His people to adopt and live by. He taught us the actions and lifestyles that are abhorrent to Him. Living with  God's standards yields us immense benefits. Freedom from normal worries follow, because we seek and belong to God and live obediently in His kingdom. By using His word we wield a powerful weapon, which is a benefit to assist us to recognize and change our thoughts and behavior, especially as to our judgmentalism or criticism of others. 

     The ultimate benefit of obedience relates to our spiritual dimension. There are two major areas where our obedience to God is most critical. That relates to confession of sin and forgiveness. There is a benefit to us of obedience. We all have a myriad of needs and desires of our hearts for which we need the blessings of God. We believe in prayers being answered and are aware of God's Word in I John 3:22 NKJV "And whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do those things that are pleasing in His sight." God hates sin and unforgiveness, so in faithfulness to His Word, we right ourselves, when we confess our sins and forgive all others. This is a major benefit of obedience!

     Many of us are under the influence of religious rituals, which provide no benefits of inner peace, because these provide only a surface feel good with adherence to rules rather than the depth of positive attitude due to true obedience to the desires of God to guide our lives. 

      Only in Him can we find true peace by a life lived in the protective umbrella of dwelling in Him alone.

Avalon Chronicles #147: "When All is Said and Done The Bottom Line"

 Reference: The Complete 54-Book Apocrypha 2022 Edition by Covenant Press. Covenant Christian Coalition. In the Preface to the 2022 Edition it is very plainly written that; "This library of apocryphal work is not Scripture but is the definitive collection of very early extra-biblical writings in the Judeo-Christian tradition."

"While it is unwise to hold the apocryphal Deuterocanon to the same God-breathed standard as 66 books of the Bible, we hold as Martin Luther did, to their value as possibly true and good to read, but unverified:

                                          "Apocrypha, that are books which are not considered equal to the Holy Scriptures, but are useful and good to read."

     In order to insure readers of these messages that it is not the author's intention to even hint at any heretical beliefs, please note on page 6 of this compilation of historical writings, it is proclaimed:

                                                THE GOOD NEWS OF SALVATION

In accordance with the Scriptures, Christ the Messiah, the Son of the living God, became human, incarnate in the person of Jesus of Nazareth, lived a morally perfect and sinless life, died for our sins on the Cross as a substitutionary sacrifice, was buried in a tomb, and was raised bodily from the dead on the third day. Everyone who hears and accepts this message of salvation, believing in their heart that God raised the Christ from the dead, will be pardoned of all their sins, given the gift of the Holy Spirit, and granted everlasting life in perpetual union with God. Salvation is found in Christ alone by grace alone through faith alone and not by works.

     If this were to be the final message of all that have been written over more than a decade, the above Good News of Salvation would be the final content for all readers to be absorbed and understood and captured and believed and lived by all who read these writings. 

     No human has lived a morally perfect and sinless life as did Jesus the Christ, but His life was a goal and the Gold Standard for all of us mere mortals. The world may be approaching the End Times of the Book of Revelation and if not already there, this is the time in one's life to get serious about where we wish to be when our earthly life is over! And not only for that final goal, but for peace each day!

Avalon Chronicles #146: Casualties of War

      As a wounded Casualty of War of Vietnam, uppermost in my emotions there has always been a special melancholy for those wounded in my war, but, especially for the families of those who were Killed in Action in my war. There is a never-ending pain of the loss for all those family members, who visit the Vietnam War Memorial in Washington D.C. It will be with them until their own deaths. For me the history of all warfare in the past and uppermost for the current conflicts is that of the losses of mostly young men, who never had the opportunity to live out normal lives. The families of war dead always live with holes in their hearts.

     A Linked In connection for me is Justin Roberts, Film Director for Echo Bravo Productions. He visited Kyiv, Ukraine recently and posted his thoughts on his experience there. I relate a part of his touching words with his kind permission. Rarely have I read such touching words!

"I walked in downtown Kyiv and came across a statue of a Cossack overlooking a field of flags of the fallen. As I walked I saw two young women who were lighting candles and laying down flowers. They were crying.

What we always miss in these moments is the scale of it all. Every flag is a mother and father in unimaginable pain. A spouse and child broken. A soldier who could have had a life. Times thousands upon thousands and for nothing. Nothing but greed and ambition.

Every generation faces great evil and how we respond to it tells us about ourselves and our generation.

And while we as a nation debate what we will stand for and are pushed left and right by the winds of propaganda the sea of little flags continue to grow. And the Cossack watches."

     This past Memorial Day I was invited by my niece Charlene Miseli to present remarks at a ceremony she planned as a representative of the Travis Manion Foundation at the DFW National Cemetery in Dallas, Tx. Volunteers of the Foundation paid respects at numerous gravesites at the cemetery. It was an especially poignant and memorable time for me, since thirty years ago I had recommended this be the site for the cemetery, when I was serving as Director, National Cemetery System at the Department of Veterans Affairs. My wife Linda, sister Betty and grandchildren Brooke and Beau were able to accompany me to the ceremony. As I spoke I looked out over the straight rows of the crosses over the graves, obviously not only war dead, but graves of Americans, who served our nation in uniform and died normal deaths. The setting is beside a lake and its closest neighbor is Dallas Baptist University.

     My closing remarks included;

Freedom flies in your heart like an eagle

Let it soar with the high wind above

Among spirits of soldiers now sleeping.

Guard it with care and with love.

                         Audie Murphy

They shall not grow old

     As we that are left grow old.

Age shall not weary them,

     Nor the years condemn.

At the going down of the sun,

      And in the morning, 

We will remember them.

                          Laurence Binyon  1914

Americans and our allies in WWI, our brave in wars since, as well as those Ukrainians memorialized in that field of flags sacrificed for freedom. We who cherish and enjoy freedom will never be able to repay the debts we owe them for what they did for us all and their fellow citizens.