America Needs the Lord

This past week was déjà vu time for everyone old enough to remember the Clarence Thomas-Anita Hill controversy. But in the midst of many striking parallels between the Senate Judiciary Committee hearings in 1991 and 2018, we have largely overlooked a very telling, quite ironic comment from Justice Thomas.
But first, some of the parallels.

Then, As Today

Then, as today, there were two compelling stories.
Then, as today, there were two believable witnesses, a qualified male judge and a respected female professor.
Then, as today, there were charges of sexual impropriety.
Then, as today, there were concerns about political hit jobs.
Then, as today, the judge was a conservative nominated by a Republican president.
Then, as today, the woman was brought in by the Democrats.
Then, as today, the male judge was hailed as courageous for his impassioned denial of the charges against him.
Then, as today, the female professor was credited with helping to empower women who had suffered sexual abuse and harassment.
Then, as today, the woman was reluctant to come forward and wanted to preserve her anonymity.
Then, as today, the woman’s anonymity was compromised by leaks to the media.
Then, as today, the judge was considered to be a virtually certain appointee until the charges were leaked.
Then, as today, the man felt his reputation had been tarnished for life.
Then, as today, the man denied the accusations “unequivocally and categorically.”
Then, as today, the Republicans and Democrats voted along party lines.
Then, as today, the hearings were brutal.
Then, as today, the judge and the professor received death threats.

“A Travesty … Disgusting”

In fact, it was John Sununu, President George Bush’s chief of staff and a supporter of Thomas, who knew that Bush’s picking of a “true conservative” would result in a “knock-down, drag-out, bloody-knuckles, grass-roots fight.”Yes, the parallels are beyond striking, as indicated by these comments from Thomas in 1991 when asked by Senator Joe Biden if Thomas had anything to say to the committee.
Thomas remarked, “I think that this today is a travesty. I think that it is disgusting. I think that this hearing should never occur in America,” referencing the “dirt” and “sleaze” that had been dug up (really, manufactured) against him “by staffers of members of this committee.”
He continued, “I think something is dreadfully wrong with this country when any person, any person in this free country would be subjected to this.”
Dreadfully wrong, indeed, and a sentiment echoed by Kavanaugh.

Lesson Not Learned

But here’s the sad irony of all this. We have not learned our lesson, and the hopes of Clarence Thomas were not realized.
It was Senator Orin Hatch who asked Thomas if he had expected to go through the particular hell he endured as a result of his nomination.
Thomas responded, “Senator, I expected it to be bad. And I expected the awful treatment throughout the process. … I expected to be a sitting duck for the interest groups. I expected them to attempt to kill me. And yes, I even expected personally attempts on my life. That’s just how much I expected.”
But, he added, “I did not expect this circus. I did not expect this charge against my name. I expected people to do anything, but not this.”
And then the words that are so sadly ironic.
Thomas said, “And if by going through this, another nominee in the future, or another American, won’t have to go through it, then so be it [my emphasis]. But I did not expect this treatment. And I did not expect to lose my name, my reputation, my integrity to do public service.”
Tragically, we have not learned our lessons. We have not improved our conduct. We have not become more civil.

Healing, Restoring, Awakening

Quite the contrary.
Through the tidal wave of social media and endless news outlets, through our increasingly divisive politics, we are on the verge of tearing ourselves apart. And if the Thomas hearings could be likened to a “circus,” the Kavanaugh hearings can be likened to gladiatorial combat, with the bloodthirsty crowds cheering on. What in the world is coming next?
Recently, Rev. James Robison urged Bible believers to, “Release the powerful weight of [God’s] kingdom presence — right here, right now, for His glory and eternal kingdom purpose.”
Nothing other than divine intervention will do. Nothing less than a great awakening will work.
America needs the Lord. Desperately.
So I pray, “Heavenly Father, have mercy on us, and come and heal and restore our broken nation.”
Can I hear an Amen?
 By Michael Brown, Published on September 29, 2018

Wimpy Campers

We spent the weekend in Ohio with our daughter, Cheryl, and her family. The main purpose for going this weekend was Arianna's baptism on Sunday morning but it expanded to stretch from Friday evening to Sunday afternoon.

Gerald and Kelly were looking for a place to go camping that was not a campground. Cheryl said they have plenty of room to camp on the thirty acres they own above their house. They would pull their camper up the hill for Gerald and Kelly to use. They snapped up the offer and went with us. 

We got there a little after 7pm on Friday. Richard had the camper in place and a blazing fire ready to make mountain pies for supper. We hurried to make them because a thunderstorm was coming. 

We got some mountain pies eaten but retreated to the house when it was obvious the rain was coming. After it blew over, we went out again and made more mountain pies. I totally trashed my less-carbs diet. Gerald and Kelly slept in the camper but we are wimpy campers and went down to the house to sleep.

Cheryl said it had been in the 90s all week but the thunderstorm broke the trail for fall to arrive. There was an abrupt change Saturday morning and we needed jackets. We went up the hill to the campsite where Gerald had a fire ready to make breakfast. It was about 9:30 when we had breakfast but we couldn't believe how much food the seven of us put away. Must have been the cooler air and campfire that induced us to go through two dozen eggs, two pounds of bacon, a dozen sausages, coffee cake and cinnamon rolls.

The men went fishing in Richard's dad's pond.

The women went to watch a bit and Kelly even tried her hand at fishing.

While they were fishing, the women went to a coffee shop and to see the bulk food and deli store where Arianna works. Angie was surprised I had never been to a coffee shop. I decided to splurge and see how a latte tastes. It was good but I am much too tight to spend $3.75 for a cup of coffee unless it's an emergency.

The men came back with a string of ten fish for our supper. Josh caught the most but Gerald got a few too and Leroy caught two. They spent the rest of the afternoon shooting clay birds up at the campsite. We just watched them having fun blowing up their money.

Raindrops were threatening so the women went in the house to prepare supper. The shooting went on until it started getting dark. Then the men came to grill the steaks and Josh fried the fish.

It was a privilege to be able to be at Arianna's baptism Sunday morning. She was one of a class of six young people who were baptized. May all of them be faithful to the vows they made and grow in their walk with Christ.

We all went back to the house for lunch and then headed home as soon as possible. It was a good weekend of sort-of (for us) camping. Gerald thought his nephews enjoyed it and maybe they should do it again next year. Maybe we will---as long as I can sleep in the house!

Judaizers, Gnostics and Nicolaitans

The early church was attacked by three groups of false teachers, the Judaizers, Gnostics and Nicolaitans. Who were these people? What did they believe? Do they exist in our world today?

Judiazers

A Judaizer taught that, in order for a Christian to truly be right with God, he must conform to the Mosaic Law. Circumcision, especially, was promoted as necessary for salvation. Gentiles had to become Jewish proselytes first, and then they could come to Christ. The doctrine of the Judaizers was a mixture of grace (through Christ) and works (through the keeping of the Law). This false doctrine was dealt with in Acts 15 and strongly condemned in the book of Galatians.

Paul made the case that, in Christ, there was no longer any distinction between Jew and Gentile, for God had purified the hearts of the Gentiles by faith (Acts 15:8-9). He said it plainly in Galatians 2:16: “Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified."

There are many groups today with beliefs and/or practices very similar to those of the Judaizers of the New Testament. It's a doctrine that is a mixture of law and grace. They reason that such a grand gift as forgiveness from such a holy God must require some kind of payment from us. They thank God for His grace, but think He expects us to somehow earn that grace—in other words, there must be something that we can do to pay off the debt we owe to God. The Bible is clear that the attempt to add human works to God’s grace overlooks the very meaning of grace, which is “undeserved blessing.”

Not all Judiazers require people to keep the Mosaic Law. Those who uphold man-made traditions and prohibitions as necessary to obtain (or earn) salvation are also "Judiazers." If our faith is based on our own performance, we are missing the point. There are things Christians need to deny themselves and do to be right with God but we will never earn our salvation by good works. If we could earn our salvation, Christ would not have had to die to provide it.

Don't get me wrong. God is a God of order and His church should operate in an orderly manner with proper guidelines. We become Judiazers when we base our salvation on keeping the Ordnung (church rules) rather than on faith in Christ.

Gnostics

Gnosticism is difficult to define because it comes in so many flavors and interpretations. By itself, it is not a separate denomination or religion but a religious philosophy. It is a framework from which to explain the nature of God, creation, good and evil, man, and the purpose of life. Gnostics tended to focus exclusively on the inner life of the spirit, which they clearly differentiated from material life.

In its most basic sense, Gnosticism is knowing, but its knowledge, while sometimes including the Word of God, does not have it as its foundation. Gnostics valued what they experienced, what elders told them, or what they learned from "angels," astrology, or chemistry, more than what was contained in Scripture. 

This same distrust of God's Word is readily seen in today's world. Basically, Satan told Adam and Eve, "You do not need to follow God's way, for it is obviously unfair and far too stringent. You can follow your own way. You can take knowledge to yourself of what is good and what is evil. You can be just like God in determining what is right and wrong." They took the bait, and ever since, man has rejected God's standard of righteousness in favor of his own.

Modern Gnostics who believe in "progressive revelation" have also succumbed to this first of Satan's ploys, "Hath God said?" While God does reveal things to us, the critical point is that what is revealed—if it truly comes from Him—will never contradict what He has already revealed in His Word.

Currently, the Bible's legitimacy is undergoing an intense assault. Due to popular Gnostic writings like The Da Vinci Code book and movie, many people are questioning the validity of the Bible. Satan seems to be asserting that the Word of God is subject to the whims of men and thus cannot be trusted. At every turn, faith founded in God's Word is being undermined.

Nicolaitans

The early church's choice of "Nicholas of Antioch" as one of the first deacons implies he likely possessed natural abilities and leadership qualities, as well as fulfilling the apostles' qualifications of being "of good reputation, full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom" (Acts 6:3).  That Luke calls him a proselyte tells us that he was a Gentile who converted to Judaism before his calling to Christianity. 

Both Irenaeus and Clement of Alexandria consider Nicolas of Antioch to be the founder of the Gnostic sect known as the Nicolaitians. Another early writer, Hippolytus, adds that Nicolas "departed from sound doctrine, and was in the habit of inculcating indifferency of both life and food," meaning he taught the Gnostic belief of the irrelevance of physical things. This reinforces Clement's claim that Nicolas became an ascetic and that his followers later perverted his teachings to encompass idolatry and immorality.

Though sincere and devout, he came to believe that the only way to grow spiritually was to consider his body and its desires as unimportant. His fundamental doctrine of asceticism appears to have been "the flesh must be treated with contempt" in order to reach a high level of spirituality.
Over the years, however, this teaching took on a more Gnostic spin: Since the flesh is unimportant, even contemptible, what one does in the flesh is of no consequence. Spiritual life, growth, and ultimately salvation occur in the soul, and since God is spirit, He has no regard for the flesh. Therefore, Nicolaitans reasoned, what does it matter if one satisfies the flesh's desires? At some point then, Nicolaitanism evolved from an ascetic philosophy to a licentious one—one that Christ says He hates (Revelation 2:6, 15).
When members of the church teach and practice that they are not obliged to keep the laws of God, sin will inevitably break out and apostasy will increase. 

To summarize, Judiaziers corrupt belief in Christ with faith in their own works. 
Gnostics are their own god, trusting in their own knowledge and reasoning. Common labels today are Atheism or secular humanism which deny any spiritual reality.
Nicolatians today often say, "It's what's on the inside that counts."  They believe they can live as they please and nothing they do will cause them to lose their salvation.

In contrast, Theists believe God is the Creator of all things and a personal living God. Jesus Christ is the Son of God and our Savior. Only by faith in Him and Him alone can we have peace with God and enter His presence after this life. His Word is the absolute authority and the standard by which we must live. That is what I believe, but I think we need to be aware of the false teaching that can so easily creep into the church and deceive us.
"Ye therefore, beloved, seeing ye know these things before, beware lest ye also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own stedfastness. But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and for ever. Amen." 2 Peter 3:17-18.

End of Summer

Although summer doesn't officially end until a few weeks after Labor Day, this weekend is considered the end of summer. Many schools opened at the end of August and the rest will open after Labor Day. 

For quite a few years now we have gone to my sister on Labor Day to make apple butter in a copper kettle over a wood fire. The crowd is different every year with a combination of my siblings, children, grandchildren, nieces and nephews gather for the event. For some reason, this year we had the smallest crowd ever. Even some of those who always come had other things today. So those of us who could kept up the tradition and made a small batch of apple butter. A few more were there than are shown here. It was the first year Gene and his family were there.

We start with applesauce and each quart cooks down to three cups. By noon it was finished cooking and we took it off the fire to cool while we ate lunch. Then we each took our share.

We capped the day by crossing the Susquehanna River on the Millersburg ferry on the way home.

The Millersburg Ferry is the last operating ferry on the Susquehanna River. It crosses the river between Millersburg in Dauphin County and Buffalo Township in Perry County. The ferry was established in the early 19th century. The Millersburg Ferry crossing was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2006. It is believed to be the last wooden double stern-wheel paddle boat to be operating in the United States. It is owned by the Millersburg Chamber of Commerce and operated by the Millersburg Ferryboat Association from May until October when water levels permit.

It was fully loaded with four cars. 

It was a beautiful day and a smooth ride. Grayson wished it would have been a wider river and a longer ride. 

When we got to the other side there was a line of cars waiting to cross. So we drove off to make room for them and went home taking the memories with us. It was a lovely end to a good summer.

Shifting Gears

With the help of my daughters-in-law, we wrapped up the August canning season last week. Pears will come in by Labor Day but that won't amount to much. It seemed strange to not have any canning or freezing to do this week but I was not twiddling my thumbs. I shifted right into the next season along with the children who headed back to school this week. 

My schedule no longer revolves around the school year but each season has its own domestic chores to keep a household running smoothly. When the end of August rolls around it's time to start the fall housecleaning. I begin with scrubbing the front porch and enclosed patio behind the house while it is still warm enough to be slopping with the hose. 

Today was the day to begin with the front porch. I didn't realize until I started scrubbing how much mildew had grown there. It's been a very wet summer and I should have known. I expect I'll find a lot more of the black stuff inside the house as I get to it later. At any rate, the front porch is clean now and looks like it's been to the dentist to get its pearly whites shined.

As I was scrubbing I was thinking about how there's never a time when I have nothing to do. Finish one job and the next one is waiting. Just as canning comes to an end, housecleaning begins. I was reminded of what my my sister-in-law's mother once said. She raised a family of sixteen children and then adopted three more. And after that she kept foster babies until she was 80. Someone once asked her how she managed the work of raising such a large family. Her answer was simple but profound. "Just do the next thing."

Life is a series of things that need to be done in a daily, weekly, monthly, and seasonal pattern. What those things are will vary with our age and interests. We can get bogged down and frustrated when there are more things that need to be done than we have time to accomplish. I know because I've been there, done that. But what I couldn't do in one day always waited for the next and eventually it all got done somehow. My mother used to say, "Tomorrow is another day, and if it isn't, it won't matter."

So as we stand on the verge of fall which brings a change of seasons and schedules, take to heart some good advice from two wise women. Just "do the next thing." And if you don't have enough time to finish everything on your list for the day, "Tomorrow is another day, and if it isn't, it won't matter."

August Canning Season

August is rushing by like it can't wait to be over and I'm being pulled along with it. This is always the busiest month for canning and freezing with corn, tomatoes, peaches, and apples in season. Although I don't need to preserve nearly as much as I once did, neither do I have a flock of children to help. Besides, I'm older and slower so it takes me longer to do a smaller amount by myself. This year it's taking even longer because Rheumatoid Arthritis is slowing me down even further.

I was doing very well for several years but now the RA has flared up and stubbornly refuses to respond to the medication. So I'm hobbling around on swollen ankles and with fat fingers that don't have their normal strength. 

I am constantly asked if the weather affects the RA. The answer is no. It is not like other kinds of arthritis that comes from wear and tear. RA is an autoimmune disease and all the home remedies and potions will not help. It is incurable but the symptoms can be treated with medication. I am going to see the doctor again tomorrow and hope we can find something to knock it down.

The blessing in all this is that my children noticed the difficulty and the daughters-in-law are pitching in to get my canning and freezing done.  The beginning of the month Amy came and helped do the corn. One of the big four chalked off! I managed to get the peaches done by myself last week. Tomorrow Kelly is coming to help do the applesauce. And Velma offered to can some green beans and spaghetti sauce for me when she does hers. That will bring me to the finish line in a hurry. I will do a few quarts of pears yet but that won't be a problem. 

It's such a blessing to have my sons marry women who can see the need and know how to pitch in and help. I'd rather be on the giving than the receiving end of things but sometimes you just have to be a gracious receiver. This is one of those times and I'm thankful for the help. Lord willing, this will pass and I can be on the giving end again.

Two-day Tour

We chalked another little trip off our bucket list this week. When the Museum of the Bible opened in Washington DC in November 2017, Leroy said he wants to go there sometime. Some tour groups have gone but the dates never fit our schedule. So we decided to make our own tour. He scheduled a week of vacation this week and we invited my sisters to join us. They snapped up the offer, so I made all the reservations needed to visit the Museum of the Bible on Wednesday and the Holocaust Museum on Thursday. That included reservations for a parking garage and motel.

We left the house shortly after 7 a.m. Wednesday and met my sisters (and brother-in-law) at Harrisburg where they left their cars and jumped into ours. We found our first parking garage with no trouble and walked to the Museum of the Bible. It was around 11 a.m. so we found a park bench to eat the lunches we had packed. What self-respecting Mennonite would dare to buy food in a big city when you can just as easily take a lunch from home?

We were in the Museum of the Bible until it closed at 5 p.m. and still hadn't seen everything. There are six floors with lots of videos to watch and displays to see that trace the history of writing from clay tablets to electronic tablets. 

Some things are facsimiles, such as the Rosetta stone. The black stone is inscribed with decrees issued in Egypt about 196 B. C. The top and middle sections are written in Egyptian hieroglyphic and Demotic scripts while the lower section is written in ancient Greek. This writing was the key to understanding ancient Egyptian literature and civilization.

Many other artifacts are on display. One that attracted my attention was a display of Canaanite gods including Baal and Ashtoreth on the top shelf of this display. I'm sure there were much larger images when they were worshiped but I could not imagine believing something man-made like this had any power. How sad that the Israelites whose God had done great things for them became assimilated into the Canaanite culture and stooped to worshiping these idols! But then, is it any different with Christians today who are taking their cues from the world instead of the Word of God?

Another display that impressed me was the thirty shekels below. These silver coins are probably what Judas received when he betrayed Jesus. The life of a perfect man for a handful of silver! The larger objects are weights used in measuring commodities being sold.

Of course, the main attraction in the museum are the ancient scrolls, codex books and Bibles. This is one of the old copies of the Torah.

At one place a Jewish scribe was engaged in producing a new copy of the Torah. It is done very slowly and meticulously to produce an exact copy. If just one mistake is made he will have to throw away the sheet and start over.

There are many old and rare Bibles on display. I will show you just a few that had special meaning to me. This is the books of the Old Testament prophets translated into German in 1526 by two Anabaptists, Hans Denck and Ludwig Hatzer. It was printed in Worms, Germany, by Peter Schoeffer in 1527. Denck died from the plague in 1527 and Hatzer was martyred in 1529.

This is known as a Froschauer Bible because it was printed by Christopher Froschauer in 1556. It was translated into German by Ulrich Zwingli and based on Luther's translation until 1525 when Swiss vocalizations were added. The translation was the favorite of the Anabaptists and Mennonites brought these Bibles with them when they immigrated to America. They continued to be used as long as they were available and ordained men were expected to have a Froschauer Bible. 

Another interesting Bible is a Latin Vulgate which contains Martin Luther's signature. It was printed in Lyon, France, in 1542. The Vulgate was the principal Latin version of the Bible, prepared mainly by St. Jerome in the late 4th century, and (as revised in 1592) adopted as the official text for the Roman Catholic Church. Luther's signature is in the middle of the page below the date of 1545.

This is the first edition of the beloved King James Bible printed in 1611. It was not the first complete English translation but is the one which has endured through the centuries. This is called the "he" Bible because of the pronoun error in Ruth 3:15 "and he went into the citie." The second edition corrected the pronoun and is called the "she" Bible.

When we were chased out at closing time, we made our way back through the rain to the parking garage and got our car. We had supper at a Denny's restaurant and a motel at Camp Springs, Maryland. 

We had breakfast Thursday morning at the motel and struck out about 8:30 for the second day of our tour. The Holocaust Museum is not far from the National Mall. Carol has a National Parks passport book. She wanted to go to the Washington Monument to get her book stamped so we did that first. We dropped her off at the Monument and then circled around and picked her up again. She was able to collect a number of stamps there. 

After that, we found our second parking garage a half mile from the Holocaust Museum. Because parking is limited in that area, it is advisable to reserve a parking space in advance. The reservations and GPS were two life-savers on this trip. At one point we had an "old-fashioned" GPS device and three phones set to give us directions. We circled around sometimes but the devices always got us back on track. I can't imagine how high the stress level would have been without them. Country bumpkins should not venture into the big city without assistance!

Our tickets for the Holocaust Museum were for 11:15 so once again we found a park bench and had a bit of lunch across the street from the museum. We soon attracted a flock of hopeful sparrows. We shared some tidbits with them. They scorned bits of fruit but loved potato chips and cheese.

We were in this museum five hours and still didn't see everything. I didn't take many pictures because it was just too terrible. One of the few was this collection of shoes that were removed from the feet of the people who were sent to the gas chamber. Both sides of the aisle were filled with shoes of all sizes that were found at a prison camp in Poland when it was liberated.

This message is inscribed on the wall of the museum.

Traffic was terrible as we left the parking garage and started for home. It did not thin out until we were above Baltimore and on I-83. Then we finally stopped to fill the car with gas and our stomachs at Panera Bread. We sailed north then and got home about 9:30 p.m. It was a good trip, made more fun by sharing it with my sisters. And the memories will last longer than the two-day trip. If you have the opportunity, go see both museums. Unless you're a city slicker, be sure you have some form of a GPS with you!