Avalon Chronicles #122: Taming the Tongue

      The Evidence Bible (NKJV) James 3: 5-10. "...See how great a forest a little fire kindles! And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity. The tongue is so set among our members that it defiles the whole body, and sets on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire by hell....But no man can tame the tongue. It is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison. With it we bless our God and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in the similitude of God."

     The Everyday Life Bible with notes and commentary by Joyce Meyer has some incredible thoughts about our tongues. Life Point(2055) in James 1: "Our words are verbal expressions of our souls. Until our mouths are brought under control and submitted to the Lord, He usually does not redeem and restore our souls-our minds, wills, and motions." Her commentary (2056): "There is power in the tongue indeed for good or evil. We can bless ourselves or curse ourselves by the way we speak. When we bless, we speak well of something; when we curse, we speak evil of something. By the words of our mouth, you and I can bless our own lives and bring joy to them, or we can curse them and bring misery upon ourselves."

     What we say, when we say it and how we say it, is one of the most critical aspects of everyone's life. How often do we get home or after a conversation look back and question how we spoke? Sometimes our tongue can hold the power to uplift or embarrass, lose a career, lose friendships or just place us in an unfavorable light. It establishes positively or negatively who we are and what is our reputation. Better to hold our tongue than to perhaps be known in a negative light. Each day we are prone to express ourselves in supposedly innocent conversation and hurt someone or even ourselves. It is a natural human instinct to desire to express our opinion, especially in supposedly innocent personal conversations, but those are the ones that are most liable to be misunderstood or worse to be understood!

     Remember we learn nothing when we speak and do not listen. 

Avalon Chronicles #121: How to Pray for Others

      Admittedly it is not every day I pray for others within all the following categories; Provision, Comforting, Blessing, Healing and Recovery, but, as I reflect on relationships and friendships, I do bring before our Father prayers for others. I do not leave out myself!

     My first and overriding prayer for others is that they know Jesus as Savior. He died on the cross at Calvary 2000 years ago so that we, believing in the shedding of His blood for the remission of our sins, can very attain eternal life at earthly death. It takes a proclamation by each of us that we believe He is the Son of God and we desire to live by His standards proclaimed in the Bible, not by the example of the world's standards. To walk and behave by His guidance requires a giving up of much for most of us to gain much more in peace and tranquility every day. We must confess sin and forgive all others!

PROVISION: There are so many individuals in each of our lives that need more earthly substance, a more satisfying and fulfilling career or life's purpose, a life mate to overcome loneliness, a raise to be more comfortable financially or a myriad of other needs. Many of my friends are very forthright in indicating their needs. I pray with them in person and on the phone immediately, when I become informed of their needs. I do not leave them and say, "I will pray for you!" I do it there and then.

COMFORTING: When one of my friends indicates a malaise of spirit perhaps for a loss or a need, it is time for a prayer of comfort. That is simply a prayer of consoling, one of "I cannot really understand, because I have not personally faced that, but I can empathize with you."

BLESSING: One day I spoke at the Dallas County, Texas Jail to perhaps fifty incarcerated men. I spoke and related my own blessings from God that I was spared death on June 17, 1967 at my Green Beret camp in Vietnam, where a mortar round shredded my legs, causing their amputation. Afterwards two men, much younger than I, approached me and asked, "Will you bless me?" I put my hand on their head and called for blessings on them for the multitude of their needs. 

PROTECTION: This need is predominant at a time when there is much lawlessness, criminality and danger.. I pray protection from one's own benign neglect, malignant intent to one from another, intersection of evil and our own "stupids.'

HEALING and RECOVERY: At age 81 I find so many with ills of body, soul and spirit. Each may be brought before the Father in the Name of Jesus and by the Holy Spirit for healing.

Avalon Chronicles #120: Parenting

      Early in August 2023 I was awaiting a plane and in front of me walked a mother and six children, beginning perhaps early teens down to age four or so. I observed them for perhaps an hour and the entire group of children were quiet, well-behaved and close. A couple at a time would share a chair in the waiting area. They were active, but remained very contained in the area near their mother. After a period of time, I could no longer confine myself in not inquiring of the mother as to what was her secret to parenting success as evidenced by the model behavior of her children. I went over to her, introduced myself and indicated how I had been noticing her well-behaved children. She introduced herself as the wife of a pastor. That indicated a probable explanation for her children and their calmness and peace. In retrospect I recognized that it would not take being a ministerial family only to raise children with their degree of extraordinary behavior. I asked her to relate, if she would, three reasons for the apparent success she exhibited with her children. She expressed her principles.

     CONSISTENCY: She said she and her pastor husband proclaimed the same uniformity and constancy in their oversight and communication with their children. They did not deviate from what they believed should be how they raised their children. Simply put, they set standards and stuck with them together so the children always knew what their standards were and there was no questioning. 

     DISCIPLINE: They were not reticent in the youth of each child to "Spare the rod and spoil the child." (Proverbs 13:24). She indicated they spanked the children, when they were young, and the children recognized there were consequences to misbehavior.

     PARENTAL AGREEMENT: Together they maintained the same standards for guiding the lives of their children. They agreed to preserve cooperation and express together the same level of expected behavior to impart to their children. None of this "Go ask your mother or your father" to avoid taking a stand on morals, scruples, ethics or behavior. 

     PRAYERS: As a parent couple they prayed often for and with the children and were committed to raise their children in a Godly fashion.

     Simple response full of wisdom. The proof of their success was exhibited in the six children I watched for perhaps two hours! 

Avalon Chronicles #119: The Titanic: Are you on one of the Lifeboats?

      The recent sad story of the destruction of an undersea vehicle with five passengers, seeking a "sightseeing" trip to the deep burial site of the Titanic ship, struck by an iceberg in 1912 off the coast of Newfoundland, has generated an immense amount of attention. The Titanic story came to my attention recently by "accident" in the NKJV of The Evidence Bible (Bridge-Logos 2011 page 175) in a commentary by Ray Comfort. 

    Allow me to paraphrase from the commentary. The sinking of the ship in the freezing cold waters of the Atlantic Ocean has its comparability to the plan of salvation instituted upon the sacrifice on the cross of Jesus, the Savior of mankind, sent to earth by the Creator God to establish a way by which humanity has the Lifeboat of the Savior that takes us from this world, wherein we can live forever and not perish and not sink due to our sins. So many of us know there is a World with all its enticing entanglements of living lustful, hateful, jealous, acquisitive and thieving lives. God provided us an alternative to the Worldly life and that is a life based upon the Word of God. A great moral code, the Ten Commandments, was established by God to the Hebrews seeking the Promised Land after their Egyptian captivity. 

     There will be those, who attribute no value to these timeless truths, embodied in the Commandments. However, living by them does provide us a lifeboat. Obviously, the crew members of the Titanic marshaled rescue of the women and children first. There never were enough lifeboats for all anyway, but, even had there been, there were those on the ship that believed the ship was unsinkable and would not have taken advantage of rescue with the boats. The life jackets they wore were not enough. A life jacket today of only "good works" will not be enough for salvation. Only living a righteous life through true faith in Jesus will be enough to save us. 

     The "ship" carrying many through their lives will sink. There is a way out. That is to believe that the story of Jesus, dying on that cross two thousand years ago at Calvary outside the Old City of Jerusalem, was real and that believing the story told and retold for two millenia is what will be our ultimate lifeboat. 

     All of us need saving from something or other than the ultimate spiritual salvation to guarantee eternal life, but, as we swim our way through life's challenges, I believe my favorite scripture as one to live by is 1 John 3:22: "And whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do those things that are pleasing in His sight." With this scripture as a guideline we can keep our head above water daily as we face the traumas and travails of life.

The Honorable Allen B. Clark

Author Soldiers Blood and Bloodied Money

Avalon Chronicles #118: Exodus From Human Bondage The Declaration of Independence of America

                                   July 4, 1776 a Day in History that will Endure Forever!

     A treasured book in my personal library is Unto the Generations The Roots of True Americanism        written by Daniel L. Marsh and published by the Long House Publishers in Connecticut in 1968. Author Marsh, at the time Life Chancellor of Boston University, writes of certain historical events, documents and speeches of America's past. He adopts a rather unique rendering for our nation of these special aspects of our history as they relate to Biblical times, Old and New Testaments. Very compelling is his comparison for the signing of our Declaration of Independence to the Exodus of the Hebrew people from Egypt. A student/reader of the history of this ancient time will recall how Moses gathered up the Hebrews, who had endured 400 years of oppression and slavery under Egyptian domination. They broke free and began their journey to the Promised Land.

    The British colonies in America had developed from the original landings at Jamestown and Plymouth and had blazed trails south and west and established new frontiers of settlers, who had become very independent. One of the historical facts of complete historical significance is that the trails were blazed through lands occupied by many native Americans, who were dispersed to other areas. Over the decades the rule and control of Great Britain became tighter and tighter in governance and especially in taxation. It was not a slavery as experienced by the Hebrews, but nonetheless it was most oppressive. The colonists in America decided it was time to break free and that we did with the establishment of a nation that had never been nor ever would be again.

     Many documents established throughout history are very much secular, but in our nation we developed a different approach. It had its roots in several evangelistic happenings centered around Great Awakenings, when many colonists developed strong personal spiritual roots in the decades preceding our Revolutionary War. Hamilton Long in 1963 wrote Your American Yardstick another classic book in my possession. Recall that fundamental foundation in our Declaration of Independence, "...all men are created...and endowed by their Creator..." He wrote, "The fundamental principle underlying the traditional American philosophy is that the Spiritual is supreme" The adoption of our Declaration of Independence reflected that we have a nation founded upon, "This governmental philosophy is, therefore, essentially religious in nature...it is uniquely American; no other people in all history have ever made this principle the basis of their governmental philosophy."

     What we established in 1776 is unique in recorded history and, if ever lost, would most assuredly never be repeated. Let us ensure that our Exodus to our own Promised Land is permanent!

The Honorable Allen B. Clark 

Author Soldiers' Blood and Bloodied Money

      

Avalon Chronicles #118: The Ultimate Father's Day

     17-20 June every year are most consequential and emotional days in my life! Each June 17th I reflect back to June 17, 1967, at Dak To Green Beret camp in Vietnam. An enemy battalion, after ambushing two of our patrols miles west of our camp, was moving toward us. I was ordered by my detachment commander to be ready for evacuation at 9:30 AM  that Saturday morning. I was a military intelligence officer under cover as an infantry officer with an assumed name. I missed that flight because at 4:30 AM, when the fast-moving enemy unit mortared our camp, I was wounded to the extent that I had both legs below the knees amputated. Miraculously, my Father in Heaven saved me on that battlefield through two Green Beret combat medics, who treated me. Otherwise I would have died and never been able to be a father to my loved two daughters. I wrote them yesterday that "To be their father was reason enough to be saved that day so many decades ago!"

     Coincident always in this time frame is Father's Day and my 81st birthday is June 20. Obviously, a special time of year always! Both my daughters called me this morning and others messaged me to have a Happy Father's Day. But, really most significant in my life is wrapped up in the fateful day in 1967, which we combatants, who suffer serious wounds, term our "Alive Day." I woke up yesterday praising my Father in Heaven, who allowed me to continue with life and breath itself. 

     Linda and I had an extraordinary time of prayer and conversation this morning. Actually for the first time ever I focused on gratitude that the Ultimate Father is He in Heaven above. Secular Father's Day is the focus culturally, partially focused as always commercially on gifts, etc. But, today I focused on Him, the Father of Jesus the Christ, and Creator of all in Heaven and this earth below. 

     My favorite dictionary is the 1828 original Noah Webster American Dictionary of the English Language. In looking up "ultimate" Webster wrote "The ultimate end of our actions should be the glory of God, or the display of his exalted excellence. The ultimate end and aim of men is to be happy, and to attain to this end, we must yield that obedience which will honor the law and character of God." A life in obedience to the Father yields many "Alive Days" in life and the ultimate gift of life after death.

Avalon Chronicles #117: 7 Reasons You May Not Hear From the Lord

This is outline from a message Mar. 12, 2023 delivered by Pastor Ryan Binkley at Create Church Richardson, Texas. Commentary is by Allen Clark

1. Disobedient: One of the major ways in which we are disobedient is to sin and not confess our sins. Reflection: "I confess my sins of thought, word and deed, known and unknown in the Name of Jesus and I ask forgiveness." This is the major way to put disobedience behind us. We all pretty well know about the Ten Commandments we should obey, but one must also evaluate that we do those things that, "...are pleasing in His sight." This takes a bit more reflection. 

2. Distractions: This relates to how one spends their time. Do you pray? Do you read your Bible? Do you waste time?

3. Disbelief: This is a major impediment to one's Godly life. This relates to not believing at all there is a Supreme Being that was the Creator of all. This is unbelief that here is a supernatural presence that is available to be connected to us in all aspects of our life. Our Lord is One, who may be called on to assist us in all issues, if we call on him.

4. Disingenuous: I had to go to my Webster's for this definition. I use the original Noah Webster 1828 dictionary, which is the classic. When one is disingenuous, it is reflected in an attitude or behavior that is, "Unfair; not open, frank and candid; meanly artful; illiberal(not free or generous, not noble, cold in charity, uncharitable in judging."

5. Demonic Attacks: When one has unconfessed sin, lack of forgiveness, or an addiction,etc. that allows one to not have the protection of our Lord, then pathways of evil allow the aspects of spiritual warfare to predominate in our lives and demonic spirits have the legal authority to infest us until cast out.

6. Desert Seasons; These are times of dryness, when we are demonstrably not walking a life of faith. These are times we are disconsolate, angry, irritable and not praying.

7. Don't Read One's Bible: Our Lord wants our hearts and minds. The best way for that to happen is to read and study the most important book ever written, the Bible. 

With a personal family legacy of Hispanic heritage I like to end by saying "Vaya Con Dios!"