Avalon Chronicles #43: "Love Story"
by Allen B. Clark allenbclark@aol.com
www.combatfaith.com www.combatfaith.blogspot.com
In 1970 I was graduating SMU in Dallas with an MBA in finance. I was struggling mightily with healing and recovery from the trauma of the combat operating stressors (later termed Post Traumatic Stress) of my wounds in Vietnam three years earlier when my legs were amputated below the knee. Our nation was still mired in the quicksand of our war in Southeast Asia.
It is extremely interesting, even amidst times in our history, when a certain very limited part of our population is off doing the bidding of the captains and the kings in faraway battlefields, how life continues on unchanged on the homefront, never touching most anyone unless, as it was in Vietnam, they view the body bags on the evening news. In 1970 a many times-recalled by me movie premiered. It was "Love Story," starring Ryan O'Neal as Oliver, a wealthy Harvard student, and Ali McGraw as Jennifer, a working class Radcliffe student. One third of my Phillips Exeter Academy prep school class attended Harvard so it has always held a certain degree of fascination for me especially at that time in 2003 when I sat in Harvard Yard upon the graduation of my daughter Elizabeth from the Harvard Business school with her own MBA.
One line in the movie is all the script I recall, "Love means never having to say you are sorry," spoken by Jennifer to Oliver, apologizing for his anger, and again by Oliver to his father, who expressed his sorrow when Jennifer died. For some odd and unfathomable reason that line has remained in my memory and been recalled time and time again through the past four plus decades later. In the world of supposed civility and assumption of repentance, reflecting being sorry and regretful to mend broken personal fences is not utilized nearly enough as it should be to extend our humility and true emotional state of regret.
However, I have always recalled it in its applicability in the spiritual realm. If we truly are a person who believes in a Supreme Being, our Lord God, and desire to follow Him in accordance with I John 3:22 (KJV), "And whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in his sight," then we are constantly needful of saying, "I am sorry." We are all constantly in disobedience of God because we do not follow this scripture. If we love God, we strive to obey and please Him, and when we do not, and come to Him in confession to right ourselves, we are continually in a state of saying, "I am sorry." Obviously, in both a worldly and spitritual sense, if we truly love someone or something and especially our God, then we must be constantly cognizant of not doing those things that require having to say, "I am sorry," Ponder that. Love others, ourselves, and God in such a magnificent and lofty manner that we need never have to say, "I am sorry."
Saturday, February 7, 2015
Sunday, January 18, 2015
Avalon Chronicles #42: "The Gathering Storm"
Avalon Chronicles #42: "The Gathering Storm"
by Allen B. Clark allenbclark@aol.com
www.combatfaith.com www.combatfaith.blogspot.com
On January 17, 2015 at Prestonwood Baptist Church in Plano, Texas prolific author Joel Rosenberg spoke on the topic of "The Gathering Storm." His points were compelling enough for me to relate them to my Avalon Chronicles friends. As best as I am able, I will relate his major subject matters. My own comments will be underlined in parentheses.
He read from Ezekiel 33: 1-9 regarding the "Watchman on the Wall". In ancient times alerts of danger were sounded by the watchmen on the walls of the cities. (The prophet Ezekiel was taken captive to Babylon in 597 BC, eleven years before the final fall of Jerusalem to the Babylonians in 586 BC. He was a preacher for twenty two years to the Jews in exile in Babylon). He preached about God's judgment if the Jews did not repent and obey God. Joel Rosenberg is a modern day "Watchman on the Wall" and he urges each of us to become one also.
Rosenberg addressed three major arenas of modern day life. The first relates to the manner in which America has been traveling in sinfulness and lack of attention to God's laws. He is convinced America is due for God's judgement. (God's hand of protection has been over our land, but political decisions and deliberate willfulness in sins of the flesh are not pleasing to God). Joel believes that we will face corporate judgment just as did Israel. (The book of Revelation prophesies the seven churches/periods of the Church Age since Christ. The seventh and last one is the Church of Laodecia, typically denoted as having begun in 1900 AD. Laodicea is defined as 'lukewarm," indifferent and apathetic without passion to the teachings and proper living of our Christian faith. Sound familiar?). Joel spoke in strong terms about the genocide in our own land, exceeding geometrically that of the Holocaust, of the fifty seven million babies aborted since the Roe v Wade case. He spoke of our past Great Awakenings and asked our prayers for a new Great Awakening and that America needs another Josiah. (Josiah was the king of Judah from 641-609 BC and was credited with recognizing the consequences of not following God's laws. He led Israel back to obedience to God's covenant and judgment was delayed). I believe one of the most important points Joel made strikes at the heart of Christianity. Jesus died on the cross for the redemption of our sins, a gift of which, if we do not accept from Him, we will pay for on our own for our sins.
Joel's second major point related to support of Israel. He spoke of blessings to those who support Israel and curses to those who do not. (This issue today is very topical as to the political efforts in different quarters to support Israel or to condemn her. Anti-semitism is on the rise. In France many Jews are departing France especially after the recent attacks in Paris).
The third point he raised was to discuss the genocide in the Middle East perpetrated by ISIS and other Islamist terrorists.He implored the Chrisian community to reach out in support of those threatened. He said we must be awakened and not neglect to understand radical Islam. He believes we are asleep at the wheel in not recognizing this threat. (Personally I believe many in our media, the educational sectors, and the government are not just ignorant of the threat, but have become willful appeasers and perhaps even traitorous in denial of the dangers).
(The bottom line is this. Perhaps God is using the Islamic radicals to be part of the judgment on our land just as He used the Babylonians to punish ancient Israel? Babylon is not awfully far from the current day area of operations of ISIS!).
by Allen B. Clark allenbclark@aol.com
www.combatfaith.com www.combatfaith.blogspot.com
On January 17, 2015 at Prestonwood Baptist Church in Plano, Texas prolific author Joel Rosenberg spoke on the topic of "The Gathering Storm." His points were compelling enough for me to relate them to my Avalon Chronicles friends. As best as I am able, I will relate his major subject matters. My own comments will be underlined in parentheses.
He read from Ezekiel 33: 1-9 regarding the "Watchman on the Wall". In ancient times alerts of danger were sounded by the watchmen on the walls of the cities. (The prophet Ezekiel was taken captive to Babylon in 597 BC, eleven years before the final fall of Jerusalem to the Babylonians in 586 BC. He was a preacher for twenty two years to the Jews in exile in Babylon). He preached about God's judgment if the Jews did not repent and obey God. Joel Rosenberg is a modern day "Watchman on the Wall" and he urges each of us to become one also.
Rosenberg addressed three major arenas of modern day life. The first relates to the manner in which America has been traveling in sinfulness and lack of attention to God's laws. He is convinced America is due for God's judgement. (God's hand of protection has been over our land, but political decisions and deliberate willfulness in sins of the flesh are not pleasing to God). Joel believes that we will face corporate judgment just as did Israel. (The book of Revelation prophesies the seven churches/periods of the Church Age since Christ. The seventh and last one is the Church of Laodecia, typically denoted as having begun in 1900 AD. Laodicea is defined as 'lukewarm," indifferent and apathetic without passion to the teachings and proper living of our Christian faith. Sound familiar?). Joel spoke in strong terms about the genocide in our own land, exceeding geometrically that of the Holocaust, of the fifty seven million babies aborted since the Roe v Wade case. He spoke of our past Great Awakenings and asked our prayers for a new Great Awakening and that America needs another Josiah. (Josiah was the king of Judah from 641-609 BC and was credited with recognizing the consequences of not following God's laws. He led Israel back to obedience to God's covenant and judgment was delayed). I believe one of the most important points Joel made strikes at the heart of Christianity. Jesus died on the cross for the redemption of our sins, a gift of which, if we do not accept from Him, we will pay for on our own for our sins.
Joel's second major point related to support of Israel. He spoke of blessings to those who support Israel and curses to those who do not. (This issue today is very topical as to the political efforts in different quarters to support Israel or to condemn her. Anti-semitism is on the rise. In France many Jews are departing France especially after the recent attacks in Paris).
The third point he raised was to discuss the genocide in the Middle East perpetrated by ISIS and other Islamist terrorists.He implored the Chrisian community to reach out in support of those threatened. He said we must be awakened and not neglect to understand radical Islam. He believes we are asleep at the wheel in not recognizing this threat. (Personally I believe many in our media, the educational sectors, and the government are not just ignorant of the threat, but have become willful appeasers and perhaps even traitorous in denial of the dangers).
(The bottom line is this. Perhaps God is using the Islamic radicals to be part of the judgment on our land just as He used the Babylonians to punish ancient Israel? Babylon is not awfully far from the current day area of operations of ISIS!).
Saturday, December 20, 2014
Avalon Chronicles #41: "My Tribe of Christians"
Avalon Chronicles #41: "My Tribe of Christians"
by Allen B. Clark allenbclark@aol.com
www.combatfaith.com www.combatfaith.blogspot.com
Upon my awakening this morning I began my meditation and prayers with the "really big picture." I pictured God, my Father, as the Creator of all. I pictured the farthest reaches of the universe and all the stars in all the galaxies. I came down and focused on our "ball," planet earth. I began to think of our richness and beauty, all created by God. I thought about the time all the way back to Adam and Eve and the Old Testament lining up the happenings of history with the Hebrews to bring the Savior, God's Son, Jesus, into our world to live here and set an example for life, behavior, love, and forgiveness in the New Testament. He was crucified so we could all have redemption of our sins and be able to follow Jesus and live holy lives.
I recalled something Linda found in secular history and I relate that from the best-known Jewish historian of Jesus' time:
Josephus Antiquities of the Jews
by Flavius Josephus
Chapter III: 3 page 379
"Now, there was about this time, Jesus, a wise man, if it be lawful to call him a man, for he was a doer of wonderful works, a teacher of such men to receive the truth with pleasure.
He drew over to him both many of the Jews, and many of the Gentiles.
He was (the) Christ; and when Pilate, at the suggestion of the principal men amongst us,
had condemned him to the cross, those that loved him at the first did not forsake him,
for he appeared to them alive again the third day, as the divine prophets had foretold these and ten thousand other wonderful things concerning him; and the tribe of Christian, so named from him, are not extinct at this day."
Our tribe of Christians is definitely still not extinct. It has continued to thrive despite persecutions and the works of the Devil to destroy us corporately and personally. But, we have stayed in the fight,our tribe lives on, continues to multiply, and each of us of this tribe knows our ultimate gift is Heaven itself for eternal life.
Merry Christmas and may you and all yours be blessed this Advent season.
by Allen B. Clark allenbclark@aol.com
www.combatfaith.com www.combatfaith.blogspot.com
Upon my awakening this morning I began my meditation and prayers with the "really big picture." I pictured God, my Father, as the Creator of all. I pictured the farthest reaches of the universe and all the stars in all the galaxies. I came down and focused on our "ball," planet earth. I began to think of our richness and beauty, all created by God. I thought about the time all the way back to Adam and Eve and the Old Testament lining up the happenings of history with the Hebrews to bring the Savior, God's Son, Jesus, into our world to live here and set an example for life, behavior, love, and forgiveness in the New Testament. He was crucified so we could all have redemption of our sins and be able to follow Jesus and live holy lives.
I recalled something Linda found in secular history and I relate that from the best-known Jewish historian of Jesus' time:
Josephus Antiquities of the Jews
by Flavius Josephus
Chapter III: 3 page 379
"Now, there was about this time, Jesus, a wise man, if it be lawful to call him a man, for he was a doer of wonderful works, a teacher of such men to receive the truth with pleasure.
He drew over to him both many of the Jews, and many of the Gentiles.
He was (the) Christ; and when Pilate, at the suggestion of the principal men amongst us,
had condemned him to the cross, those that loved him at the first did not forsake him,
for he appeared to them alive again the third day, as the divine prophets had foretold these and ten thousand other wonderful things concerning him; and the tribe of Christian, so named from him, are not extinct at this day."
Our tribe of Christians is definitely still not extinct. It has continued to thrive despite persecutions and the works of the Devil to destroy us corporately and personally. But, we have stayed in the fight,our tribe lives on, continues to multiply, and each of us of this tribe knows our ultimate gift is Heaven itself for eternal life.
Merry Christmas and may you and all yours be blessed this Advent season.
Sunday, December 14, 2014
Avalon Chronicles #40: "Battlefield Earth"
Avalon Chronicles #40: "Battlefield Earth"
by Allen B. Clark allenbclark@aol.com
www.combatfaith.com www.combatfaith.blogspot.com
Immediately after my speech Saturday Dec. 6, 2014 to a political group, Billy, the seventh grader son of the host and hostess, came up to me and hugged me and said, "Thank you for your service and sacrifice for all of us." Of course, I was touched immeasurably and he repeated that sentiment again when he assisted me in taking my books to my car. It was a great lift to my spirit after baring my soul again about my wounding in Vietnam and my healing process. It was an extraordinary evening. I speak at political functions and quote some of the remarks by President Ronald Reagan in his second inaugrural speech Jan. 21, 1985. He said, "History is a ribbon, always unfurling; history is a journey....a settler pushes west and sings a song, and the song echoes out forever and fills the unknowing air. It is the American sound. It is hopeful, big-hearted, idealistic, caring, decent, and fair. That's our heritage; that is our song." Admittedly I was touched emotionally and the entire passage as I spoke brought tears to my own eyes. I finished my quote and closed my remarks. Spontaneously the audience rose up and sang, "God Bless America." This has never happened in the hundreds of presentations I have made over the decades. This old soldier was touched by that outpouring and by what Billy said. Would that all my fellow combatants could be a recipient of these gifts of the heart!
The struggles of our men and women returning from battlefields in ages past to present are not recognized by many non-combatants. Since the first cave people clubbed each other, humanity has been forced, encouraged, cajoled or paid to wage war on others. Various causes or incitements have been evident or manufactured to incur conflict between tribes, nations, and groups. High-sounding and grandiose schemes, propaganda, and many well-founded grounds and purposes have been utilized to inspire young men and women to take up arms to kill each other. Many were in the name of "religion."
Old members of societies come up with reasons to fight and it is the young ones full of strength, bravado, and grit who march to the sound of the drums and charge with the bugles blaring amid battle flags unfurled. Some return in flag-draped coffins buried in the hallowed grounds of our national cemeteries and small country places of final rest. Others return with visible wounds caused by projectiles, shrapnel, and miscellaneous bits of metal, causing losses, scars, broken bones, and amputations. Yet others return with unseen wounds carried in their souls and spirits from the traumas of their fields of battle. These experiences on battlefields coupled with the wounds of life before and after military service compound to significantly impact the lives of our warriors.
Many of our combatants speak only to each other and not to those who were safely tucked in to warm beds at night while they sacrificed, sweated, bled, and suffered the traumas of war on faraway fields, sands, and mountains in places where the people did not always like us. Then they returned to homes where their own did not, nor could not, always understand what they experienced, nor the pain they endured.
The only hope for ultimate healing of our warriors is to recognize that they were strong enough to qualify for military service, were disciplined enough to serve, and were courageous and balanced enough to be a part of something way larger than those protected here and there could ever fathom. It was not voiced, but, in truth, we represented as American military what Presiden Reagan described as the American heritage. Their identity as a loyal patriot must be coupled with a strong identity of faith in understanding that from beginning of time to end of time there will be a continuous battlefield on earth, a struggle between good and evil. Some of us are called into that fight. Only in a belief in a Creator who loves us all can we even attempt to be resilient enough to achieve healing. Jesus, the Son of our Creator, is the reason for my healing. The least we all can do at this season of celebration is to reach out to the warriors we know and offer them our gratitude and respect and not wait until the next Veterans Day.
by Allen B. Clark allenbclark@aol.com
www.combatfaith.com www.combatfaith.blogspot.com
Immediately after my speech Saturday Dec. 6, 2014 to a political group, Billy, the seventh grader son of the host and hostess, came up to me and hugged me and said, "Thank you for your service and sacrifice for all of us." Of course, I was touched immeasurably and he repeated that sentiment again when he assisted me in taking my books to my car. It was a great lift to my spirit after baring my soul again about my wounding in Vietnam and my healing process. It was an extraordinary evening. I speak at political functions and quote some of the remarks by President Ronald Reagan in his second inaugrural speech Jan. 21, 1985. He said, "History is a ribbon, always unfurling; history is a journey....a settler pushes west and sings a song, and the song echoes out forever and fills the unknowing air. It is the American sound. It is hopeful, big-hearted, idealistic, caring, decent, and fair. That's our heritage; that is our song." Admittedly I was touched emotionally and the entire passage as I spoke brought tears to my own eyes. I finished my quote and closed my remarks. Spontaneously the audience rose up and sang, "God Bless America." This has never happened in the hundreds of presentations I have made over the decades. This old soldier was touched by that outpouring and by what Billy said. Would that all my fellow combatants could be a recipient of these gifts of the heart!
The struggles of our men and women returning from battlefields in ages past to present are not recognized by many non-combatants. Since the first cave people clubbed each other, humanity has been forced, encouraged, cajoled or paid to wage war on others. Various causes or incitements have been evident or manufactured to incur conflict between tribes, nations, and groups. High-sounding and grandiose schemes, propaganda, and many well-founded grounds and purposes have been utilized to inspire young men and women to take up arms to kill each other. Many were in the name of "religion."
Old members of societies come up with reasons to fight and it is the young ones full of strength, bravado, and grit who march to the sound of the drums and charge with the bugles blaring amid battle flags unfurled. Some return in flag-draped coffins buried in the hallowed grounds of our national cemeteries and small country places of final rest. Others return with visible wounds caused by projectiles, shrapnel, and miscellaneous bits of metal, causing losses, scars, broken bones, and amputations. Yet others return with unseen wounds carried in their souls and spirits from the traumas of their fields of battle. These experiences on battlefields coupled with the wounds of life before and after military service compound to significantly impact the lives of our warriors.
Many of our combatants speak only to each other and not to those who were safely tucked in to warm beds at night while they sacrificed, sweated, bled, and suffered the traumas of war on faraway fields, sands, and mountains in places where the people did not always like us. Then they returned to homes where their own did not, nor could not, always understand what they experienced, nor the pain they endured.
The only hope for ultimate healing of our warriors is to recognize that they were strong enough to qualify for military service, were disciplined enough to serve, and were courageous and balanced enough to be a part of something way larger than those protected here and there could ever fathom. It was not voiced, but, in truth, we represented as American military what Presiden Reagan described as the American heritage. Their identity as a loyal patriot must be coupled with a strong identity of faith in understanding that from beginning of time to end of time there will be a continuous battlefield on earth, a struggle between good and evil. Some of us are called into that fight. Only in a belief in a Creator who loves us all can we even attempt to be resilient enough to achieve healing. Jesus, the Son of our Creator, is the reason for my healing. The least we all can do at this season of celebration is to reach out to the warriors we know and offer them our gratitude and respect and not wait until the next Veterans Day.
Tuesday, December 9, 2014
Avalon Chronicles #39: "Holiness is Happiness"
Avalon Chronicles #39: "Holiness is Happiness"
by Allen B. Clark allenbclark@aol.com
www.combatfaith.com www.combatfaith.blogspot.com
Reference: Hutson, James H.. Religion and the Founding of the American Republic. Library of Congress. 1998. (RFAR).
About a year ago I became introduced to a series of biographies originally published by Cumberland House in Nashville, Tennessee. The series is titled Leaders in Action. Eleven of them were ordered, read, and have a special position on my book shelves. The stories relate outstanding men of faith in history and I was struck by the lessons of leadership of each, but more importantly of their goodness and virtue, in spiritual terms, their "holiness," the subject of my next few messages.
In my church worship service this past Sunday my minister refreshed us on the Ten Commandments (which require millions of laws and ordinances in our country to expand on for our behavior). Also, one of the hyms was Savior of the Nations, Come, one of whose verses is, "Wondrous birth! O wondrous child of the Virgin, undefiled!" We have all been defiled by others or by our own actions or inactions, but a belief in Jesus the Christ, whose coming procured mankind redemption of our sins and allows us through confession of our own sins to leave defilements behind spiritually, wherein we can be restored to a state of "holiness." We must hold fast to that state despite all the outside temptations and unhealthy inward behavioral choices which we face.
The messages will flow from great men of faith in the Middle Ages such as Martin Luther, John Calvin and John Knox to later men such as George Whitefield, Jonathan Edwards, Patrick Henry, William Wilberforce, C.S. Lewis, and Derek Prince.
In our America of today political correctness has the upper hand and in our increasingly secular and Godless society the mere mention of anything spiritual, and especially Christian, brings down disapproval from many circles of society. However, history relates, during the early years of our nation after the American Revolution, that there was decidely a different attitude toward expression of faith in our land. Some may call it related to a civil religion, but I will call it a bugle call to virtue.
As James Hutson wrote, the sanction of certain religious initiatives by the federal Congress (plus an even wider latitude for state legislatures) meant that both:
"....politicians and the public had an unarticulated conviction that it was the duty of the national government to support religion, that it had an inherent power to do so, as long as it acted in a nonsectarian way without appropriating public money. What other body, after all, was capable of convincing a dispersed people that a 'spirit of universal reformation among all ranks and degrees of our citizens,' would, as Congrees declared on March 19, 1782, 'make us a holy, that so we may be a happy people?' This conviction----that holiness was a prerequisite for secular happiness, that religion was, in the words of the Northwest ordinance, 'necessary to good government and the happiness of mankind'---was not the least of the Confederation's legacies to the new republican era that began with Washington's inauguration in 1789." (RFAR).
As I was conceiving and writing this message a short verse only from some song of my childhood kept coming to mind, "If you wanna have a happy life,..." which I complete it with "live a holy life." It is my personal proposition that the best legacy to pass on to our descendants, our nation, and our world is one wherein we reflect holiness and virtue, and perhaps the happiness which emanates will keep us off pills, out of hospitals, and more attuned to all we influence.
by Allen B. Clark allenbclark@aol.com
www.combatfaith.com www.combatfaith.blogspot.com
Reference: Hutson, James H.. Religion and the Founding of the American Republic. Library of Congress. 1998. (RFAR).
About a year ago I became introduced to a series of biographies originally published by Cumberland House in Nashville, Tennessee. The series is titled Leaders in Action. Eleven of them were ordered, read, and have a special position on my book shelves. The stories relate outstanding men of faith in history and I was struck by the lessons of leadership of each, but more importantly of their goodness and virtue, in spiritual terms, their "holiness," the subject of my next few messages.
In my church worship service this past Sunday my minister refreshed us on the Ten Commandments (which require millions of laws and ordinances in our country to expand on for our behavior). Also, one of the hyms was Savior of the Nations, Come, one of whose verses is, "Wondrous birth! O wondrous child of the Virgin, undefiled!" We have all been defiled by others or by our own actions or inactions, but a belief in Jesus the Christ, whose coming procured mankind redemption of our sins and allows us through confession of our own sins to leave defilements behind spiritually, wherein we can be restored to a state of "holiness." We must hold fast to that state despite all the outside temptations and unhealthy inward behavioral choices which we face.
The messages will flow from great men of faith in the Middle Ages such as Martin Luther, John Calvin and John Knox to later men such as George Whitefield, Jonathan Edwards, Patrick Henry, William Wilberforce, C.S. Lewis, and Derek Prince.
In our America of today political correctness has the upper hand and in our increasingly secular and Godless society the mere mention of anything spiritual, and especially Christian, brings down disapproval from many circles of society. However, history relates, during the early years of our nation after the American Revolution, that there was decidely a different attitude toward expression of faith in our land. Some may call it related to a civil religion, but I will call it a bugle call to virtue.
As James Hutson wrote, the sanction of certain religious initiatives by the federal Congress (plus an even wider latitude for state legislatures) meant that both:
"....politicians and the public had an unarticulated conviction that it was the duty of the national government to support religion, that it had an inherent power to do so, as long as it acted in a nonsectarian way without appropriating public money. What other body, after all, was capable of convincing a dispersed people that a 'spirit of universal reformation among all ranks and degrees of our citizens,' would, as Congrees declared on March 19, 1782, 'make us a holy, that so we may be a happy people?' This conviction----that holiness was a prerequisite for secular happiness, that religion was, in the words of the Northwest ordinance, 'necessary to good government and the happiness of mankind'---was not the least of the Confederation's legacies to the new republican era that began with Washington's inauguration in 1789." (RFAR).
As I was conceiving and writing this message a short verse only from some song of my childhood kept coming to mind, "If you wanna have a happy life,..." which I complete it with "live a holy life." It is my personal proposition that the best legacy to pass on to our descendants, our nation, and our world is one wherein we reflect holiness and virtue, and perhaps the happiness which emanates will keep us off pills, out of hospitals, and more attuned to all we influence.
Sunday, November 30, 2014
Avalon Chronicles #38: Martyrs of the Faith-Part Two"
Avalon Chronicles #38: "Martyrs of the Faith-Part Two (John Wickliff)"
by Allen B. Clark allenbclark@aol.com
www.combatfaith.com www.combatfaith.blogspot.com
Sources: Foxe, John. Foxe's Book of Martyrs. Whitaker House, 1981. (FBM).
Coffin, Charles C. The Story of Liberty (1879). Reprinted 1987 by Maranatha Publications (SOL).
After my previous message on the martyrs of the faith, one of my dear friends and loyal readers informed me thusly in addition to what I wrote, "There were more Christians executed under Constantine. While Constantine legalized Christianity, the next emperor, Diocletis, oversaw the most vigorous persecution of Christians, as he sought to restore the pagan religion of Rome as preeminent. It wasn't until Theodosius (347-397) that Christianity became the state religion of the Roman Empire. The state church is described as the 3rd of the 7 churches in Revelation 2 as the Church of Pergamum. The word "Pergamum" literally means married, as in church and state wed!" (End input).
The "wedding" of church and state was one of the major issues that caused so much downtrodding of the common people in the Dark Ages. It is a major challenge in all societies throughout history and is exemplified today in the combination of religion/political/governmental aspects of Islam in the sharia law propagation and the reinstitution of the caliphate of old. Our Founders were well aware of the pitfalls of a church/state combination and took heed for its separation in our founding documents.
Meanwhile back to the martyrs. A century after the Magna Carta, the common people of England lived a fairly subjugated and victimized life. Coffin wrote, "They must pay taxes to the King, to the barons, and to the priests...they are ignorant. They have no books...The priests and the parish clerks, the bishops, rich men, and their children are the only ones who have an opportunity of obtaining an education..." (SOL 32). There is a need for liberty, truth, and justice. God raised up people to begin to bring the light of God and the salvation message into the Dark Ages. "...monasteries, abbies, nunneries, convents, and bishoprics hold half the land in England and their revenues are greater than the King's." (SOL 33). The people attributed all misfortune to witches. Many of the priests for the most part even are ignorant. God raised up perhaps the first man to break the mold, to begin to reveal the unholiness of the so-called "holy ones." He was a priest who preached in the churches around Oxford. He believed holiness would be reflected in leading righteous lives. He was John Wickliff.
John Foxe relates Wickliff's time of about 1371 A.D. as, "...at what time all the world was in a most desperate and vile estate, and the lamentable ignorance and darkness of God's truth had overshadowed the whole earth, this man stepped forth like a valiant champion,..." (FBM 50). Foxe continues, "In these days the whole state of religion was depraved and corrupted...was altogether led and blinded with outward ceremonies and human traditions.....The simple and unlearned people, being far from all knowledge of the holy Scripture, thought it quite enough to know only those things which were delivered them by their pastors." (FBM 50,51). He became the enemy of the established church. It became another example of the Pharisees against another of God's chosen men. He was accused of heresy due to the doctrine he espoused.
A Wickipedia entry said he is sometimes called "The Morning Star of the Reformation," as one of the earliest opponents of papal authority influencing secular power. In 1382 he translated the Bible into English, the common language. He was opposed to the worldly possessions of the clergy. He believed firmly in the proclamation of Jesus to render unto Caesar what is Caesar's and unto God what is God's. He died a natural death in 1384, but later in 1428 his bones were disinterred and burned with his ashes thrown into a river. So this was a posthumous 'burning" example. Wycliffe Bible Translators, one of the world's largest international organizations dedicated to translating the Bible into every living language in the world, takes its name from his sterling example to have the Word of God available to all in their own languager.
by Allen B. Clark allenbclark@aol.com
www.combatfaith.com www.combatfaith.blogspot.com
Sources: Foxe, John. Foxe's Book of Martyrs. Whitaker House, 1981. (FBM).
Coffin, Charles C. The Story of Liberty (1879). Reprinted 1987 by Maranatha Publications (SOL).
After my previous message on the martyrs of the faith, one of my dear friends and loyal readers informed me thusly in addition to what I wrote, "There were more Christians executed under Constantine. While Constantine legalized Christianity, the next emperor, Diocletis, oversaw the most vigorous persecution of Christians, as he sought to restore the pagan religion of Rome as preeminent. It wasn't until Theodosius (347-397) that Christianity became the state religion of the Roman Empire. The state church is described as the 3rd of the 7 churches in Revelation 2 as the Church of Pergamum. The word "Pergamum" literally means married, as in church and state wed!" (End input).
The "wedding" of church and state was one of the major issues that caused so much downtrodding of the common people in the Dark Ages. It is a major challenge in all societies throughout history and is exemplified today in the combination of religion/political/governmental aspects of Islam in the sharia law propagation and the reinstitution of the caliphate of old. Our Founders were well aware of the pitfalls of a church/state combination and took heed for its separation in our founding documents.
Meanwhile back to the martyrs. A century after the Magna Carta, the common people of England lived a fairly subjugated and victimized life. Coffin wrote, "They must pay taxes to the King, to the barons, and to the priests...they are ignorant. They have no books...The priests and the parish clerks, the bishops, rich men, and their children are the only ones who have an opportunity of obtaining an education..." (SOL 32). There is a need for liberty, truth, and justice. God raised up people to begin to bring the light of God and the salvation message into the Dark Ages. "...monasteries, abbies, nunneries, convents, and bishoprics hold half the land in England and their revenues are greater than the King's." (SOL 33). The people attributed all misfortune to witches. Many of the priests for the most part even are ignorant. God raised up perhaps the first man to break the mold, to begin to reveal the unholiness of the so-called "holy ones." He was a priest who preached in the churches around Oxford. He believed holiness would be reflected in leading righteous lives. He was John Wickliff.
John Foxe relates Wickliff's time of about 1371 A.D. as, "...at what time all the world was in a most desperate and vile estate, and the lamentable ignorance and darkness of God's truth had overshadowed the whole earth, this man stepped forth like a valiant champion,..." (FBM 50). Foxe continues, "In these days the whole state of religion was depraved and corrupted...was altogether led and blinded with outward ceremonies and human traditions.....The simple and unlearned people, being far from all knowledge of the holy Scripture, thought it quite enough to know only those things which were delivered them by their pastors." (FBM 50,51). He became the enemy of the established church. It became another example of the Pharisees against another of God's chosen men. He was accused of heresy due to the doctrine he espoused.
A Wickipedia entry said he is sometimes called "The Morning Star of the Reformation," as one of the earliest opponents of papal authority influencing secular power. In 1382 he translated the Bible into English, the common language. He was opposed to the worldly possessions of the clergy. He believed firmly in the proclamation of Jesus to render unto Caesar what is Caesar's and unto God what is God's. He died a natural death in 1384, but later in 1428 his bones were disinterred and burned with his ashes thrown into a river. So this was a posthumous 'burning" example. Wycliffe Bible Translators, one of the world's largest international organizations dedicated to translating the Bible into every living language in the world, takes its name from his sterling example to have the Word of God available to all in their own languager.
Tuesday, November 25, 2014
Avalon Chronicles #37: "Introduction to the Dark Ages"
by Allen B. Clark www.combatfaith.com
www.combatfaith.blogspot.com
Reference: The Story of Liberty by Charles Carleton Coffin (originally written in 1879) republished in 1987 by Maranatha Publications, Inc. Specified in footnotes by (SOL).
In the beginning of a series of my messages about the "Dark Ages," it is critical to specify that as I write and recount the tragedies of those horrendous centuries therein that I render equal credit for denunciation to Protestants as well as Catholics, not their religions, but members of those faiths. Mr. Coffin wrote, "Facts of history only are given. Catholics and Protestants alike have persecuted, robbed, plundered, maltreated, imprisoned men and women for not believing as they believed. Through ignorance, superstition, intolerance, and bigotry; through thinking that they were right, and those that differed with them were wrong; forgetting that might never makes right; honestly thinking that they were doing God service in rooting out heretics, they filled the world with woe." (SOL 8).
In the interest of full disclosure I worship in the Anglican Communion, the Church of England-founded tradition of faith, that evolved as a separation from the Church of Rome due candidly to the passion of Henry VIII for Anne Boleyn. So there you have it up front about me. As I proceed in future messages to inform, illuminate, and educate (as I have myself been likewise over the past year since my 2013 visit to England), about the evolution and sometimes revolution from the combined church and state institutions of the European kingdoms, be aware of the thread that proceeded to bring liberty to the masses, bought by the blood of martyrs and the testimony of those who served Jesus the Christ.
History is related as learned by me for the first time. The abuses of members of the Church of Rome and the Church of England truly happened, but from those arose advances in the history of the world in the arenas of "Justice, Truth, Right, and Liberty." (SOL 9). These were events and movements and conditions that emanated to bring freedoms never before known in secular history. The freedoms for humankind were laid out in the New Testament in the teachings of Jesus, but man's pride and selfishness exhibited in acquisition of wealth and power kept a lid on the rights of the individual to appropriate and live those freedoms. After Christ's sacrifice slowly a light began to shine, but the forces of evil soon took over and the Dark Ages came about. Slowly, through the courageous actions of many, light began again and today the "Exceptional" native land of mine, the United States of America, is the result, the ultimate expression of an idea of civil freedom and government by us. (SOL Note).
When the Bible began to be translated in native languages, read, and studied, make no mistake, that transformed individual lives and, in turn, the world has become transformed. Stay tuned!
www.combatfaith.blogspot.com
Reference: The Story of Liberty by Charles Carleton Coffin (originally written in 1879) republished in 1987 by Maranatha Publications, Inc. Specified in footnotes by (SOL).
In the beginning of a series of my messages about the "Dark Ages," it is critical to specify that as I write and recount the tragedies of those horrendous centuries therein that I render equal credit for denunciation to Protestants as well as Catholics, not their religions, but members of those faiths. Mr. Coffin wrote, "Facts of history only are given. Catholics and Protestants alike have persecuted, robbed, plundered, maltreated, imprisoned men and women for not believing as they believed. Through ignorance, superstition, intolerance, and bigotry; through thinking that they were right, and those that differed with them were wrong; forgetting that might never makes right; honestly thinking that they were doing God service in rooting out heretics, they filled the world with woe." (SOL 8).
In the interest of full disclosure I worship in the Anglican Communion, the Church of England-founded tradition of faith, that evolved as a separation from the Church of Rome due candidly to the passion of Henry VIII for Anne Boleyn. So there you have it up front about me. As I proceed in future messages to inform, illuminate, and educate (as I have myself been likewise over the past year since my 2013 visit to England), about the evolution and sometimes revolution from the combined church and state institutions of the European kingdoms, be aware of the thread that proceeded to bring liberty to the masses, bought by the blood of martyrs and the testimony of those who served Jesus the Christ.
History is related as learned by me for the first time. The abuses of members of the Church of Rome and the Church of England truly happened, but from those arose advances in the history of the world in the arenas of "Justice, Truth, Right, and Liberty." (SOL 9). These were events and movements and conditions that emanated to bring freedoms never before known in secular history. The freedoms for humankind were laid out in the New Testament in the teachings of Jesus, but man's pride and selfishness exhibited in acquisition of wealth and power kept a lid on the rights of the individual to appropriate and live those freedoms. After Christ's sacrifice slowly a light began to shine, but the forces of evil soon took over and the Dark Ages came about. Slowly, through the courageous actions of many, light began again and today the "Exceptional" native land of mine, the United States of America, is the result, the ultimate expression of an idea of civil freedom and government by us. (SOL Note).
When the Bible began to be translated in native languages, read, and studied, make no mistake, that transformed individual lives and, in turn, the world has become transformed. Stay tuned!
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