Avalon Chronicles #36: "A Christian History of Hawaii-Part One"
by Allen B. Clark allenbclark@aol.com
www.combatfaith.com www.combatfaith.blogspot.com
Hawaii. Awesome scenery. Waikiki Beach. Surfboarding. Magical islands. Unparallelled relaxing vacations in the tropics. Hawaii is all that and much more. I had been there seven times before, four times as a West Point cadet when my parents were stationed there, once in 1967 on a medical airlift flight, stopping only with wounded from Vietnam, once as a vacationer in 1979, and once at the 50th anniversary of the Pearl Harbor attack in 1991, when I made remarks at the Punchbowl, National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific for a memorial service.
Linda and I travel often and we have begun to pray that we would experience "divine encounters" on our trips. This we were not denied in Hawaii. On Kauai we stayed on the western side at Barking Sands Navy Base and I had read about a former Congregational missionary church (now United Church of Christ) nearby at Waimea and named the Waimea Church. As we drove up to tour the church, a Bible study was just finishing and the choir director and a local gentleman just "happened" to walk over to our auto and happily opened the church and gave us a tour. The gentleman was a local island literary figure, "Kit" Cook, who just "happened" to be the author of a soon-to-be published book about a Hawaiian, Henry Obookiah. Obookiah actually originally inspired the introduction of Christianity to the islanders because he had been taken from Hawaii as a youth to Connecticutt, became a Christian, and from there an effort began to send the original missionaries to Hawaii. Meeting Cook started me on my quest to learn about the Hawaiian pioneer missionaries. This Waimea church was originally founded in 1820 (two years after Obookiah died at age 26) by two Congregational missionaries, the Reverend Samuel Ruggles and Samuel Whitney and their wives, who had taveled from New England. MissionariesWilliam and Mary Alexander in 1834 left Waimea Church by double canoe and founded a church at beautiful Hanalei Bay on the north side of Kauai. The Waioli Huuia Church still stands in this picturesque old town. A wedding was just finishing when we arrived to visit this church.
This trip, my eighth to Hawaii, was to celebrate the tenth anniversary of Linda's and my wedding on Sep. 11, 2004. The night before our anniversary on Sep. 10th we had attended a Dinner Theatre play of "South Pacific" and on our anniversary we dined at the St. Regis Resort Princeville perched above Hanalei Bay and looking across to the movie scene of the mysterious "Bali Hai." Another "happening" was our waiter was a fellow Vietnam veteran, Tom Hamilton, who was the real-life father of the real-life young woman, Bethany Hamilton, who had been attacked by a shark while surfing. She lost her arm and her story was depicted in the movie "Soul Surfer." Dennis Quaid had played the father in the movie. A writeup for the movie said this, "Rushed to the hospital, she remains calm, and maintains her faith in God." Her father told us she lived only due to her faith in God because she had lost so much blood. These things happen to us! Originally we had been at another table with another waitperson before I had us relocated to have a better view of the bay and the sunset.
We were privileged while in Honolulu to worship on two Sundays at the Episcopal Cathedral of St. Andrew, an imposing and historic cathedral on Queen Emma Square in downtown Honolulu. King Kamehameha IV and his Queen, Emma, were responsible for introducing Anglicanism to Hawii. The King and Queen donated the land for the cathedral site. It was not completed until 1886 after both had died. The Queen had purchased its stone building material from Caen in Normandy. During the greeting period a member of the pastoral staff came down the aisle to greet us and I noticed her ring. It so "happens" she is a fellow graduate of West Point.
The first Sunday we worshipped at the cathedral there was a communion service in the Hawaiian language and we just "happened" to be there for the annual service to celebrate the birthday of Queen Lili'uokalani, the last monarch of the Kingdom of Hawaii, who was deposed in 1893 in a coup of businessmen. On this special occasion a splendidly colorful group of Hawaiians were in the processional as members of the Royal Society (I believe officially the Royal Order of Kamehameha I). The women were elegantly gowned in black and white and the men wore dark suits with colorful short back capes. This organization today continues to guard, maintain, and preserve the rituals and the memory of the ruling chiefs of Hawaii. It was quite a ceremony harkening back to earlier days of Hawaii before the transformation it is today of a tourist mecca.
Prayers for "divine encounters" were answered and always are for us.
Thursday, October 16, 2014
Sunday, October 12, 2014
Avalon Chronicles #35: "They Rode to the Sound of the Guns"
Avalon Chronicles #35: "They Rode to the Sound of the Guns"
by Allen B. Clark allenbclark@aol.com
www.combatfaith.com www.combatfaith.blogspot.com
"Oz," "Tig," and "Tanto," sat before the crowd of upwards of one hundred or more, seated and standing, squeezed into a narrow space at the Plano, Texas Barnes and Noble. As I walked in, I spotted the uniformed security guard. Upon noting my limped gait, an observant and thoughtful employee directed me to be seated in a chair in the front section.
The three, definitely "warriors" as I had known them to be beforehand, during the presentation, and definitely as depicted in their book they were there to publicize, displayed no bravado or outsized pridefulness. They were jocular with each other, as only men who had served in combat with each other can be. They were humble, open in answering questions with candor, very regular, and definitely likable, not cold, callous killers. As I commented to "Oz" as he signed my book, I said, "It is good to be around real men."
In the 1969 movie "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid," the two bank robbers were played by Paul Newman and Robert Redford, relentlessly pursued in Bolivia by a posse. I recall one of them saying, "Who are those guys?" I knew before I arrived who were these three "guys." They were in a band of six brothers, "...a band of elite warriors who'd left the United States military and had joined a clandestine organization that protected American covert intelligence operatives abroad." (Zuckoff 4). "Oz" and "Tig" were Marines and "Tanto" was an Army Ranger. On Sep. 11, 2012 when the U.S. State Department Special Mission in Benghazi was attacked, "Tig" and "Tanto" and three other members of the Global Response Staff of the CIA rode to the sound of the guns to extract five Americans who had basically become hostages after the terorist attack on the besieged Mission. They had been based at the CIA Annex complex a little over a mile away.
By the time they arrived at the Mission Ambassador Stevens' body was not found. State Department communications officer Sean Smith was dead, asphyxiated by the smoke after the compound had been set on fire by the attackers. "Oz" had arrived back at the Annex after having been in Benghazi and began to prepare the defense of the CIA facility, which later that night also came under attack. The book I was there to purchase was 13 HOURS The Inside Account of What Really Happened in Benghazi by Mitchell Zuckoff and published by Twelve of the Hatchette Book Group. I had previously read three other books on Benghazi, renditions of what I would personally term, and what may eventually be called by history, "The Battle of Benghazi, " but this is the first one to personalize the combatants, combatants whom I had assumed were permanently "muzzled" by non-disclosures.
"Oz" was Mark Geist, "Tig" was John Tiegen, and 'Tanto" was Kris Paronto. Two days later my speedreading capability or lack thereof being what it is, I have not yet read their story, but I know it will be educative, engrossing, and inspiring. It will go to the top of the stack of approximately fifty other books awaiting my attention. The question and answer with the three was illuminating and I got three questions in. They were open, affable, and sincere. One of their six, Tyrone Woods was killed later in the Annex battle along with fellow SEAL Glen Doherty, who had come from Tripoli later that night. All of us filed by their table to obtain their signatures. I am sure their publishing company "handlers" would have preferred a more speedy signing process, but these gentlemen would have none of that. They chatted casually with all and paused for photos. They were my kind of Americans, members of that special fraternity of those of us who have served our country in uniform.
When the three had signed my book, I circled around behind them for the most important signature of all, that of Sean Smith's mother, Pat, seated off to the side. I thanked her for her contribution. She said she gave nothing. I said, "You gave everything, you gave your son."
P.S. They have signed a movie deal I believe they said with Paramount. So stay tuned to see these "guys" on the big screen some day.
by Allen B. Clark allenbclark@aol.com
www.combatfaith.com www.combatfaith.blogspot.com
"Oz," "Tig," and "Tanto," sat before the crowd of upwards of one hundred or more, seated and standing, squeezed into a narrow space at the Plano, Texas Barnes and Noble. As I walked in, I spotted the uniformed security guard. Upon noting my limped gait, an observant and thoughtful employee directed me to be seated in a chair in the front section.
The three, definitely "warriors" as I had known them to be beforehand, during the presentation, and definitely as depicted in their book they were there to publicize, displayed no bravado or outsized pridefulness. They were jocular with each other, as only men who had served in combat with each other can be. They were humble, open in answering questions with candor, very regular, and definitely likable, not cold, callous killers. As I commented to "Oz" as he signed my book, I said, "It is good to be around real men."
In the 1969 movie "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid," the two bank robbers were played by Paul Newman and Robert Redford, relentlessly pursued in Bolivia by a posse. I recall one of them saying, "Who are those guys?" I knew before I arrived who were these three "guys." They were in a band of six brothers, "...a band of elite warriors who'd left the United States military and had joined a clandestine organization that protected American covert intelligence operatives abroad." (Zuckoff 4). "Oz" and "Tig" were Marines and "Tanto" was an Army Ranger. On Sep. 11, 2012 when the U.S. State Department Special Mission in Benghazi was attacked, "Tig" and "Tanto" and three other members of the Global Response Staff of the CIA rode to the sound of the guns to extract five Americans who had basically become hostages after the terorist attack on the besieged Mission. They had been based at the CIA Annex complex a little over a mile away.
By the time they arrived at the Mission Ambassador Stevens' body was not found. State Department communications officer Sean Smith was dead, asphyxiated by the smoke after the compound had been set on fire by the attackers. "Oz" had arrived back at the Annex after having been in Benghazi and began to prepare the defense of the CIA facility, which later that night also came under attack. The book I was there to purchase was 13 HOURS The Inside Account of What Really Happened in Benghazi by Mitchell Zuckoff and published by Twelve of the Hatchette Book Group. I had previously read three other books on Benghazi, renditions of what I would personally term, and what may eventually be called by history, "The Battle of Benghazi, " but this is the first one to personalize the combatants, combatants whom I had assumed were permanently "muzzled" by non-disclosures.
"Oz" was Mark Geist, "Tig" was John Tiegen, and 'Tanto" was Kris Paronto. Two days later my speedreading capability or lack thereof being what it is, I have not yet read their story, but I know it will be educative, engrossing, and inspiring. It will go to the top of the stack of approximately fifty other books awaiting my attention. The question and answer with the three was illuminating and I got three questions in. They were open, affable, and sincere. One of their six, Tyrone Woods was killed later in the Annex battle along with fellow SEAL Glen Doherty, who had come from Tripoli later that night. All of us filed by their table to obtain their signatures. I am sure their publishing company "handlers" would have preferred a more speedy signing process, but these gentlemen would have none of that. They chatted casually with all and paused for photos. They were my kind of Americans, members of that special fraternity of those of us who have served our country in uniform.
When the three had signed my book, I circled around behind them for the most important signature of all, that of Sean Smith's mother, Pat, seated off to the side. I thanked her for her contribution. She said she gave nothing. I said, "You gave everything, you gave your son."
P.S. They have signed a movie deal I believe they said with Paramount. So stay tuned to see these "guys" on the big screen some day.
Wednesday, October 1, 2014
Avalon Chronicles #34: "Martyrs of the Faith-Part One"
by Allen B. Clark allenbclark@aol.com
www.combatfaith.com www.combatfaith.blogspot.com
It has been ten months since Linda's and my return from our trip to England in Nov. 2013. Before our travels there from where many of our own ancestors originally lived, we viewed the almost forty episodes of The Tudors, a rendering of the history of King Henry VIII, his break with Roman Catholicism, and formation of what evolved to be the Church of England and Anglicanism, which is the tradition in which we both worship today. We learned of the horrid history of "burnings at the stake" perpetrated against religious reformers, Roman Catholics, Protestants, and proponents of Henry VIII's brand of Catholicism. The persecutions became an equal opportunity effort by all branches of so-called "Christianity."
Our visit stimulated intensely my appetite to learn about the king's schism, the Protestant Reformation, and even earlier the history of the faint evolution of the light of Jesus beginning to shine forth brightly after the Dark Ages. Upon my return I found a long-ago acquired copy of John Foxe's Book of Martyrs and expanded my understanding of the roots of the Protestant Reformation and the challenges of bringing alive to the people the Bible in their own written languages and the person of Jesus Himself as a real Being, and not just some historical figure. John Foxe was an Englishman, who lived from 1516 to 1587, through the reigns of Henry VIII, Catholic Queen Mary, and Protestant Queen Elizabeth. In chapter 16 of the Gospel of St. Matthew Jesus was first acknowledged by Peter to be the Son of God and proposed that His (Jesus') church would not only be established and would come under intense attack, but would prevail.
Our Christian Church has indeed prevailed, but many of its adherents have suffered with their very lives for their beliefs, which perhaps could be termed in today's phraseology as not being "politically correct" at that time in history or under that religious/political state. Actual persecution of Christians began in the Roman Empire when the Emperor Nero set Rome afire and blamed it on Christians. Martyrdom of Christians began with Christ's crucifixion and continues today with the horrendous atrocities being perpetrated by the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria. The stories of horrific martyrdom of the early Christian missionaries would take up an entire volume all by itself. Foxe wrote that Jerome related the story of Apostle Andrew, Peter's brother. In 80 AD Andrew had preached the Gospel as far away as Ethiopia.
The story of Andrew, one of the first Christian martyrs, gives me, and should give all Christians, great heart and motivation in defense of our faith and beliefs. We have evolved today threatened in America only by secular society, atheists, "lone wolf" Islamic jihadists, and our own lack of dedication to the principles and precepts of our Christian faith, but so far are not subjected to beheadings and burnings at the stake. What our Christian brothers and sisters suffered up into the 1600s is unimaginable today.
The story of Andrew ended in Achaia in modern day Greece on the island originally popularized and populated by the Spartans. He was crucified by the region's governor, Aegeas. Andrew boldly spoke of Jesus to this Roman proconsul Aegeas. Andrew spoke of spiritual warfare when he spoke to Aegeas, saying:
"Andrew did plainly affirm that the princes of Rome did not understand the truth and that the Son of God, coming from Heaven into the world for man's sake, hath taught and declared how those idols, whom they so honored as gods, were not only not gods, but almost cruel devils, enemies to mankind, ...and so by the wicked service of the devil, they do fall headlong into all wickedness, and, after their departing, nothing remaineth unto them, but their evil deeds." (Foxe 8).
Obviously this was not taken well by the proconsul and it is no different today when we boldly proclaim the tenets of our faith in dedicated fashion. History is just new dates, but old bad people, and those who do not wish to be told of Jesus and what He came in to the world to change. On the way to his own crucifixion Andrew was calm, cool, and collected and is reported to have proclaimed, "O cross, most welcome and long looked for! with a willing mind, joyfully and desirously, I come to thee, being the scholar of Him which did hang on thee: because I have always been thy lover, and have coveted to embrace thee." (Foxe 9). (In a footnote Foxe writes that the accounts of the martrydoms of the apostles are mainly traditional). Andrew was buried at Patrae on the north part of the island. There were ten waves of persecutions of Christians through succeeding Roman Emperors until approximately 300 AD when Constantine came to power.
We are so comfortable to worship in freedom today in our land, but I became motivated to learn of the pioneers of our faith who gave their very lives to pave the way for us today.
www.combatfaith.com www.combatfaith.blogspot.com
It has been ten months since Linda's and my return from our trip to England in Nov. 2013. Before our travels there from where many of our own ancestors originally lived, we viewed the almost forty episodes of The Tudors, a rendering of the history of King Henry VIII, his break with Roman Catholicism, and formation of what evolved to be the Church of England and Anglicanism, which is the tradition in which we both worship today. We learned of the horrid history of "burnings at the stake" perpetrated against religious reformers, Roman Catholics, Protestants, and proponents of Henry VIII's brand of Catholicism. The persecutions became an equal opportunity effort by all branches of so-called "Christianity."
Our visit stimulated intensely my appetite to learn about the king's schism, the Protestant Reformation, and even earlier the history of the faint evolution of the light of Jesus beginning to shine forth brightly after the Dark Ages. Upon my return I found a long-ago acquired copy of John Foxe's Book of Martyrs and expanded my understanding of the roots of the Protestant Reformation and the challenges of bringing alive to the people the Bible in their own written languages and the person of Jesus Himself as a real Being, and not just some historical figure. John Foxe was an Englishman, who lived from 1516 to 1587, through the reigns of Henry VIII, Catholic Queen Mary, and Protestant Queen Elizabeth. In chapter 16 of the Gospel of St. Matthew Jesus was first acknowledged by Peter to be the Son of God and proposed that His (Jesus') church would not only be established and would come under intense attack, but would prevail.
Our Christian Church has indeed prevailed, but many of its adherents have suffered with their very lives for their beliefs, which perhaps could be termed in today's phraseology as not being "politically correct" at that time in history or under that religious/political state. Actual persecution of Christians began in the Roman Empire when the Emperor Nero set Rome afire and blamed it on Christians. Martyrdom of Christians began with Christ's crucifixion and continues today with the horrendous atrocities being perpetrated by the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria. The stories of horrific martyrdom of the early Christian missionaries would take up an entire volume all by itself. Foxe wrote that Jerome related the story of Apostle Andrew, Peter's brother. In 80 AD Andrew had preached the Gospel as far away as Ethiopia.
The story of Andrew, one of the first Christian martyrs, gives me, and should give all Christians, great heart and motivation in defense of our faith and beliefs. We have evolved today threatened in America only by secular society, atheists, "lone wolf" Islamic jihadists, and our own lack of dedication to the principles and precepts of our Christian faith, but so far are not subjected to beheadings and burnings at the stake. What our Christian brothers and sisters suffered up into the 1600s is unimaginable today.
The story of Andrew ended in Achaia in modern day Greece on the island originally popularized and populated by the Spartans. He was crucified by the region's governor, Aegeas. Andrew boldly spoke of Jesus to this Roman proconsul Aegeas. Andrew spoke of spiritual warfare when he spoke to Aegeas, saying:
"Andrew did plainly affirm that the princes of Rome did not understand the truth and that the Son of God, coming from Heaven into the world for man's sake, hath taught and declared how those idols, whom they so honored as gods, were not only not gods, but almost cruel devils, enemies to mankind, ...and so by the wicked service of the devil, they do fall headlong into all wickedness, and, after their departing, nothing remaineth unto them, but their evil deeds." (Foxe 8).
Obviously this was not taken well by the proconsul and it is no different today when we boldly proclaim the tenets of our faith in dedicated fashion. History is just new dates, but old bad people, and those who do not wish to be told of Jesus and what He came in to the world to change. On the way to his own crucifixion Andrew was calm, cool, and collected and is reported to have proclaimed, "O cross, most welcome and long looked for! with a willing mind, joyfully and desirously, I come to thee, being the scholar of Him which did hang on thee: because I have always been thy lover, and have coveted to embrace thee." (Foxe 9). (In a footnote Foxe writes that the accounts of the martrydoms of the apostles are mainly traditional). Andrew was buried at Patrae on the north part of the island. There were ten waves of persecutions of Christians through succeeding Roman Emperors until approximately 300 AD when Constantine came to power.
We are so comfortable to worship in freedom today in our land, but I became motivated to learn of the pioneers of our faith who gave their very lives to pave the way for us today.
Tuesday, August 26, 2014
Avalon Chronicles #33: "Bad, Sad, or Mad?"
by allenbclark@aol.com www.combatfaith.com
www.combatfaith.blogspot.com
For thirty months (January 1979-June 1981) it was my privilege to be a political appointee in the administration of William P. Clements, Jr., the first Texas Republican governor since Reconstruction after the Civil War. When he became a candidate in the spring 1978 primary, I quickly signed up to help him because I had met him by sitting next to him at a head table when he addressed an audience in his position as Deputy Secretary of Defense. His business success and leadership experience at the Pentagon convinced me he would be an outstanding governor of Texas and that he was!
As it evolved I was his first selection to help staff his office after he won a hard-fought uphill battle against a heavily-favored Democrat. I was hired on the staff of the outgoing Democrat Governor Dolph Briscoe in early December 1978 to assist in laying the groundwork for Clements' assumption of office in January 1979. He appointed me his special assistant for administration and when one entered the governor's office suite, if one turned right instead of left to his office, one entered my office. One of the unexpected responsibilities of my new position was to help screen the intermittent "characters" that were drawn as magnets to the governor's office. They were a diverse crowd of "bag ladies," recently released patients from state mental hospitals, paranoids who were being invaded by messages from outer space, CIA mind control victims, individuals seeking all sorts of redress of grievances at all levels of government, and even a representative of a "cultic" religion who said his leader could be the returned Messiah. It was my desire to derive some sort of perspective on this interruption of all the many other duties consuming my time.
Eventually I requested a psychiatrist from the state's Mental Health Department to visit with me to impart some wisdom and equity to the approach I should follow to respond to these people from circles I was encountering for the first time in my life. He differentiated "challenged/troublesome" persons in three ways, "bad, sad, or mad." It was a simple manner of triage for those who presented themselves to our receptionist
and the Department of Public Safety security person in the Governor's Reception Room. The definition has always stuck with me and I tend to catalogue some people in one of those categories. Since I have had my own healing from Post Traumatic Stress after losing my legs in Vietnam, I have dedicated myself to helping combat veterans and active military heal also. Many troubled combat vets, who will admit issues from wartime, are in the "sad" mode, grieving from the emotional or spiritual wounds of horrific wartime experiences. Many suffer sadness from moral injury in the war from killing others, especially women and children in the fog of war, or when they did or did not do something which caused injury to others.
Clint Eastwood starred in a 1966 movie, "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly." That title was apropos for my eleven months in Vietnam beginning in 1966. We recognize the "bad," serious criminals amongst us. Among the "bad" are also those "uglies" who hurt others through perpetrating or not performing actions that harm others emotionally, bodily, or financially through wrongful emotional or ethical actions. My manifestly "good" Lord Jesus healed my "sads", and faith in Him can go a long way to healing everyone's "sads," and maybe also many of the "bads" that relate to wrongful and sinful behavior, and, who knows, maybe even some of the "mads," although those admittedly are best left to medical professionals.
By faith in Jesus it is my definite belief that all who are "bad, sad, or mad," can perhaps obtain some relief, if not healing, through faith in Jesus with the transformational changes that only come through His teachings in our Bible. I tried it and liked it! It just may work for all of us and many we know.
www.combatfaith.blogspot.com
For thirty months (January 1979-June 1981) it was my privilege to be a political appointee in the administration of William P. Clements, Jr., the first Texas Republican governor since Reconstruction after the Civil War. When he became a candidate in the spring 1978 primary, I quickly signed up to help him because I had met him by sitting next to him at a head table when he addressed an audience in his position as Deputy Secretary of Defense. His business success and leadership experience at the Pentagon convinced me he would be an outstanding governor of Texas and that he was!
As it evolved I was his first selection to help staff his office after he won a hard-fought uphill battle against a heavily-favored Democrat. I was hired on the staff of the outgoing Democrat Governor Dolph Briscoe in early December 1978 to assist in laying the groundwork for Clements' assumption of office in January 1979. He appointed me his special assistant for administration and when one entered the governor's office suite, if one turned right instead of left to his office, one entered my office. One of the unexpected responsibilities of my new position was to help screen the intermittent "characters" that were drawn as magnets to the governor's office. They were a diverse crowd of "bag ladies," recently released patients from state mental hospitals, paranoids who were being invaded by messages from outer space, CIA mind control victims, individuals seeking all sorts of redress of grievances at all levels of government, and even a representative of a "cultic" religion who said his leader could be the returned Messiah. It was my desire to derive some sort of perspective on this interruption of all the many other duties consuming my time.
Eventually I requested a psychiatrist from the state's Mental Health Department to visit with me to impart some wisdom and equity to the approach I should follow to respond to these people from circles I was encountering for the first time in my life. He differentiated "challenged/troublesome" persons in three ways, "bad, sad, or mad." It was a simple manner of triage for those who presented themselves to our receptionist
and the Department of Public Safety security person in the Governor's Reception Room. The definition has always stuck with me and I tend to catalogue some people in one of those categories. Since I have had my own healing from Post Traumatic Stress after losing my legs in Vietnam, I have dedicated myself to helping combat veterans and active military heal also. Many troubled combat vets, who will admit issues from wartime, are in the "sad" mode, grieving from the emotional or spiritual wounds of horrific wartime experiences. Many suffer sadness from moral injury in the war from killing others, especially women and children in the fog of war, or when they did or did not do something which caused injury to others.
Clint Eastwood starred in a 1966 movie, "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly." That title was apropos for my eleven months in Vietnam beginning in 1966. We recognize the "bad," serious criminals amongst us. Among the "bad" are also those "uglies" who hurt others through perpetrating or not performing actions that harm others emotionally, bodily, or financially through wrongful emotional or ethical actions. My manifestly "good" Lord Jesus healed my "sads", and faith in Him can go a long way to healing everyone's "sads," and maybe also many of the "bads" that relate to wrongful and sinful behavior, and, who knows, maybe even some of the "mads," although those admittedly are best left to medical professionals.
By faith in Jesus it is my definite belief that all who are "bad, sad, or mad," can perhaps obtain some relief, if not healing, through faith in Jesus with the transformational changes that only come through His teachings in our Bible. I tried it and liked it! It just may work for all of us and many we know.
Saturday, August 16, 2014
Avalon Chronicles #32: "The Good Life"
By: allenbclark@aol.com
www.combatfaith.com www.combatfaith.blogspot.com
Ecclesiastes 3:13 "And also that every man should eat and drink, and enjoy the good of all his labour, it is the gift of God." (KJV)
Last weekend I journeyed to the northeast to visit my younger daughter, her husband, and two grandchildren. Friday we drove to Hershey, PA to enjoy Hershey Park for the day. Enjoy is too mild a word to describe the experience. The exuberance, wonder, and simple joy exhibited by young children is indeed a sight to behold. All over the park were young families, grey-headed grandparents (with me in that group), young couples, teenagers, all partaking in "the good life" for the day. The smells of chocolate permeated from the shops, the tastes of many delicacies were satisfied over and over again, and the sounds of thrills on the roller coasters were always in the background. All walks of life and styles of clothing were evident and cute little children clinging closely to older siblings or parents were constantly in view. For the day it definitely was "the good life" in America, our special and "exceptional" place on this planet in the August sun and I drank it in in big gulps.
At my daughter's church on Sunday the pastor's topic was "the good life." He made reference to the above quote from Ecclesiastes, written by King Solomon. In my King James Life Application Study Bible (Tyndale House Publishers) the book's introduction states, "Grasping the sweet things-possessions, experience, power, and pleasure-they find nothing inside. Life is empty, meaningless...and they despair." Hershey Park that day and definitely for me was a place of pure pleasure, full and meaningful with no despair evident. The attendees with the admission charges, vendors, and numerous places of culinary delights were enjoying the good of someone's labor and it was all "the good life." The end of the day for all could have been nothing but full of peace and contentment. It was a day when I marveled at this example of America's "exceptionalism" in a purely physical environment. The pastor and Solomon, "...affirms(ed) the value of knowledge, relationships, work, and pleasure; but only in their proper place. All of these temporal things in life must be seen in the light of the eternal."
Eventually at the end of the day for sure and always in life, the tastes are no more, the squeals of delight of the children are quieted, the bright lights are turned off, and the carousel stops its circling. For many life is meaningless. But, for those of us who know that Jesus is the Son of God, who entered our physical world two thousand years ago, we can partake fully in all these fleeting pleasures knowing that eternity awaits us. Perhaps in Heaven God will provide carousels and Hershey Kisses if those are important any longer.
We finished the day at the water park area where I patiently waited while my daughter and her children lazily floated on inner tubes around a water way. By myself my eyes took in the peace, tranquillity, and enjoyment before my eyes, but my mind wandered to the order by the president the night before to provide humanitarian aid to the thousands of minority Iraqis besieged by the fanatics to reestablish their caliphate by means of barbaric terror. The contrasts with my eyes and the thoughts in my mind were unsettling. Ecclesiastes 3:2 states, "A time to be born, and a time to die,..." Park attendees that day were born to revel in the well-deserved pleasures of that oasis. Also that day for some it was a time to die in all the strife and warfare all over the rest of the world. My prayer is that sometime somewhere all that feel that "the good life" goes on forever will recognize that it is ephemeral and that by ensuring their place in eternity with its lasting "existence" is the only "forever" there can truly be.
Sunday, August 3, 2014
Avalon Chronicles #31: "The Magna Carta"
by Allen Clark allenbclark@aol.com
www.combatfaith.com www.combatfaith.blogspot.com
In November 2013 on Linda's and my trip to southwest England we toured Salisbury Cathedral, defined as "Britain's finest 13th century cathedral." We had two very delightful and instructive guides, one a retired Navy captain aviator and a retired Army major, who had been an advisor to the Abu Dhabi Army. Some of my favorite conversations on our trip were with former military men.
One very distinct feature of all the cathedrals we visited is that they have memorials dedicated to their military. At Salisbury there were several windows and a plaque dedicated to the Wiltshire Regiment that had been in the British Army invasion of Washington that burned our White House in the War of 1812. The guides did not impart that fact with any degree of relish and I had a lack of enthusiasm upon learning about it, but this was their history and I accepted it. They have a decided degree of pride in their local units that serve in their army. A very poignant plaque, dedicated to the Burma Campaign of 1941-1945 is quoted thusly, "When you go home, tell them of us and say for your tomorrow we gave our today." Very fitting words for America's youth and those protected in America by our own military.
The most compelling sight to view at Salisbury Cathedral is that is home to the best preserved of four surviving original Magna Carta sealed by King John on June 15, 1215. On one of my previous trips to England I had gone to the site on the Thames River outside Windsor Castle at Runnymede where this monumental document was signed. According to the cathedral's pamphlet, "...the document set down the relationship for the first time between the king and his subjects and their rights." It inspired our own Constitution. The Magna Carta was most significant to the western world because by its signing, a significant end came to the "divine right" by which the English King John and other monarchs before him had ruled. King John had been such an oppressive king that his barons and knights forced him to sign the Magna Carta.
It has had tremendous influence in the United States. Russell Kirk wrote in The Roots of American Order that the Magna Carta "...became the rock upon which the English constitution was built. It is the principle of the supremacy of law....it is the root of the Declaration of Independence." This document laid the foundation all these many centuries ago for the freedom and liberty enjoyed today by us in America.
In The Light and the Glory Peter Marshall and David Manuel wrote about the situation in our land that contributed to our own Revolution, "Americans were now being taxed for the mother country's own revenue and at the same time denied the basic right of all Englishmen to representation in the government which was levying the taxes...For the King to ignore this right which was guaranteed by the Magna Carta, meant that he was putting himself above the law and that settled it." Besides this cause of our Revolution it must be recalled that a major impetus to securing our freedom was due to our Christian ministers. "Thanks to the Great Awakening there was now a new generation of committed clergy salted throughout America." (Marshall and Manuel).
It is easily said that the foundations of our own Declaration of Independence and Constitution had their roots in that document which by 2015 will have been signed 800 years ago to curb the power of a king who had run roughshod over his subjects.
www.combatfaith.com www.combatfaith.blogspot.com
In November 2013 on Linda's and my trip to southwest England we toured Salisbury Cathedral, defined as "Britain's finest 13th century cathedral." We had two very delightful and instructive guides, one a retired Navy captain aviator and a retired Army major, who had been an advisor to the Abu Dhabi Army. Some of my favorite conversations on our trip were with former military men.
One very distinct feature of all the cathedrals we visited is that they have memorials dedicated to their military. At Salisbury there were several windows and a plaque dedicated to the Wiltshire Regiment that had been in the British Army invasion of Washington that burned our White House in the War of 1812. The guides did not impart that fact with any degree of relish and I had a lack of enthusiasm upon learning about it, but this was their history and I accepted it. They have a decided degree of pride in their local units that serve in their army. A very poignant plaque, dedicated to the Burma Campaign of 1941-1945 is quoted thusly, "When you go home, tell them of us and say for your tomorrow we gave our today." Very fitting words for America's youth and those protected in America by our own military.
The most compelling sight to view at Salisbury Cathedral is that is home to the best preserved of four surviving original Magna Carta sealed by King John on June 15, 1215. On one of my previous trips to England I had gone to the site on the Thames River outside Windsor Castle at Runnymede where this monumental document was signed. According to the cathedral's pamphlet, "...the document set down the relationship for the first time between the king and his subjects and their rights." It inspired our own Constitution. The Magna Carta was most significant to the western world because by its signing, a significant end came to the "divine right" by which the English King John and other monarchs before him had ruled. King John had been such an oppressive king that his barons and knights forced him to sign the Magna Carta.
It has had tremendous influence in the United States. Russell Kirk wrote in The Roots of American Order that the Magna Carta "...became the rock upon which the English constitution was built. It is the principle of the supremacy of law....it is the root of the Declaration of Independence." This document laid the foundation all these many centuries ago for the freedom and liberty enjoyed today by us in America.
In The Light and the Glory Peter Marshall and David Manuel wrote about the situation in our land that contributed to our own Revolution, "Americans were now being taxed for the mother country's own revenue and at the same time denied the basic right of all Englishmen to representation in the government which was levying the taxes...For the King to ignore this right which was guaranteed by the Magna Carta, meant that he was putting himself above the law and that settled it." Besides this cause of our Revolution it must be recalled that a major impetus to securing our freedom was due to our Christian ministers. "Thanks to the Great Awakening there was now a new generation of committed clergy salted throughout America." (Marshall and Manuel).
It is easily said that the foundations of our own Declaration of Independence and Constitution had their roots in that document which by 2015 will have been signed 800 years ago to curb the power of a king who had run roughshod over his subjects.
Tuesday, May 20, 2014
Avalon Chronicles #30: "Defecting to the Enemy"
Avalon Chronicles #30: "Defecting to the Enemy"
By Allen Clark allenbclark@aol.com
www.combatfaith.com www.combatfaith.blogspot.com
When the Korean War started on June 25, 1950 with the attack on South Korea by the North Korean Communists, I was in Sendai, Japan where my father was an officer in the Army of Occupation. I remember going to the railroad station and seeing off the troops traveling south to go to war. During the war many of our troops were captured by the Communists. My father was in Korea when the war ended in 1953. During the war when I was in Japan, I avidly read the Star and Stripes newspaper and kept up with the war. After the war I was appalled to read an article that about 23 American prisoner of war soldiers had chosen to remain with the enemy when prisoner repatriation occured. They had defected to the enemy. As a West Point cadet, Army officer, and Vietnam War Special Forces officer involved in clandestine operations, keeping my activities and information confidential, and especially away from the enemy, was a part of my life. Especially in Vietnam, we were always on the alert for any of our agents to have been defectors to the enemy. Military enemies are pretty well-defined. They are in the history books and deeply embedded in the memories of those of us in military and diplomatic circles.
Less well-recognized are our own personal spiritual enemies. Unequivocably, undeniably, and emphatically I believe in personal spiritual warfare. In my previous Chronicle I addressed "strategic" spiritual warfare. It is now time to address "tactical" spiritual warfare, the incessant and constant struggle we face each and every day to combat our individual enemies in the spiritual realm, wherein we are tempted mightily to defect to the enemy and leave God's protective fortress.
Back in the 1970s Flip Wilson starred in a television series and when he acted wrongly, he always claimed, "The devil made me do it!" There is great wisdom and truth in that simple comment and claim to deflect accountability for our inappropriate thoughts, words, and deeds, some not just "stupids," but also outright sins.
There is not time to reflect extensively on my beliefs in spiritual warfare, but allow me to be as succinct as possible. This is what I believe. Take it or leave it! An angelic being at one time high in the Heavenly power structure decided to defect from allegiance to God and became the "enemy." That being was Lucifer, and God evicted him from Heaven with one third of the angels who became the enemy force. In the New Testament in I Peter 5:8 it is written, "Be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour." The footnote in my KJV LASB elaborates thusly, "Lions attack sick, young, or straggling animals; they choose victims who are alone or not alert. Peter warns us to watch out for Satan when we are suffering or persecuted. Feeling alone, weak, helpless, and cut off from other believers, so focused on our troubles that we forget to watch for danger, we are especially vulnerable to Satan's attacks." In James 4:7 it is written, "...Resist the devil and he will flee from you." The footnote states this, "Satan is here now, however, and he is trying to win us over to his evil cause. With the Holy Spirit's power we can resist Satan and he will flee from us." Otherwise we may be taken in by the devil's wiles and if we succumb, by definition, we have defected to the enemy.
Back to those angels thrown from Heaven to earth. Their assignment is to oversee the toils, tribulations, and trials perpetrated by the higher earthly powers addressed by C.S. Lewis in the previous Chronicle. Our daily adversaries are demonic spirits. There is much discourse about from whence they emanate. I put all that academic discussion aside and just believe thay are prevalent as the enemy foot soldiers of Satan. Just as I was cognizant of my military enemies, I am cognizant of my spiritual enemies. If I allow them to direct me rather than following God's direction for my behavior, I have, in effect, "Defected to the enemy."
A friend of mine sent me just today a perfect scripture that relates how we can be armed to fight the schemes of the devil. It is Philippians 4:8, "Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report, if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things." I add also, ACT on these things. Stay tuned as to how we must continue to arm ourselves to counter the personal spiritual enemies we face each day so that our behavior honors the Creator God and does not cause personal discord and unhappiness for us or others.
By Allen Clark allenbclark@aol.com
www.combatfaith.com www.combatfaith.blogspot.com
When the Korean War started on June 25, 1950 with the attack on South Korea by the North Korean Communists, I was in Sendai, Japan where my father was an officer in the Army of Occupation. I remember going to the railroad station and seeing off the troops traveling south to go to war. During the war many of our troops were captured by the Communists. My father was in Korea when the war ended in 1953. During the war when I was in Japan, I avidly read the Star and Stripes newspaper and kept up with the war. After the war I was appalled to read an article that about 23 American prisoner of war soldiers had chosen to remain with the enemy when prisoner repatriation occured. They had defected to the enemy. As a West Point cadet, Army officer, and Vietnam War Special Forces officer involved in clandestine operations, keeping my activities and information confidential, and especially away from the enemy, was a part of my life. Especially in Vietnam, we were always on the alert for any of our agents to have been defectors to the enemy. Military enemies are pretty well-defined. They are in the history books and deeply embedded in the memories of those of us in military and diplomatic circles.
Less well-recognized are our own personal spiritual enemies. Unequivocably, undeniably, and emphatically I believe in personal spiritual warfare. In my previous Chronicle I addressed "strategic" spiritual warfare. It is now time to address "tactical" spiritual warfare, the incessant and constant struggle we face each and every day to combat our individual enemies in the spiritual realm, wherein we are tempted mightily to defect to the enemy and leave God's protective fortress.
Back in the 1970s Flip Wilson starred in a television series and when he acted wrongly, he always claimed, "The devil made me do it!" There is great wisdom and truth in that simple comment and claim to deflect accountability for our inappropriate thoughts, words, and deeds, some not just "stupids," but also outright sins.
There is not time to reflect extensively on my beliefs in spiritual warfare, but allow me to be as succinct as possible. This is what I believe. Take it or leave it! An angelic being at one time high in the Heavenly power structure decided to defect from allegiance to God and became the "enemy." That being was Lucifer, and God evicted him from Heaven with one third of the angels who became the enemy force. In the New Testament in I Peter 5:8 it is written, "Be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour." The footnote in my KJV LASB elaborates thusly, "Lions attack sick, young, or straggling animals; they choose victims who are alone or not alert. Peter warns us to watch out for Satan when we are suffering or persecuted. Feeling alone, weak, helpless, and cut off from other believers, so focused on our troubles that we forget to watch for danger, we are especially vulnerable to Satan's attacks." In James 4:7 it is written, "...Resist the devil and he will flee from you." The footnote states this, "Satan is here now, however, and he is trying to win us over to his evil cause. With the Holy Spirit's power we can resist Satan and he will flee from us." Otherwise we may be taken in by the devil's wiles and if we succumb, by definition, we have defected to the enemy.
Back to those angels thrown from Heaven to earth. Their assignment is to oversee the toils, tribulations, and trials perpetrated by the higher earthly powers addressed by C.S. Lewis in the previous Chronicle. Our daily adversaries are demonic spirits. There is much discourse about from whence they emanate. I put all that academic discussion aside and just believe thay are prevalent as the enemy foot soldiers of Satan. Just as I was cognizant of my military enemies, I am cognizant of my spiritual enemies. If I allow them to direct me rather than following God's direction for my behavior, I have, in effect, "Defected to the enemy."
A friend of mine sent me just today a perfect scripture that relates how we can be armed to fight the schemes of the devil. It is Philippians 4:8, "Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report, if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things." I add also, ACT on these things. Stay tuned as to how we must continue to arm ourselves to counter the personal spiritual enemies we face each day so that our behavior honors the Creator God and does not cause personal discord and unhappiness for us or others.
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