World Order. A Failure To Lead. Why Keep The Commandments? Disability Can't Do To You. Bomb Shelters. Yom Kippur War. Natchez Trace Parkway.

 

For "Scripture Sunday":

Has the World Order Changed?

Tuesday, October 1, 2013  "A month ago America was set to bomb Syria. That has changed. Now the US government is in shutdown. How does this impact its standing in the world?"

Transcript at: http://www.ucg.org/beyond-today-daily/news-and-prophecy/has-world-order-changed

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A Failure To Lead

Friday, October 4, 2013  "The United States government continues in shutdown. What's missing from leadership to move the country forward on this and other issues?"

Transcript at: http://www.ucg.org/beyond-today-daily/christian-living/failure-lead

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Why Keep the Commandments?

An Amazing Fact: "In the days when many public schools in America displayed the Ten Commandments, a higher percentage of the population was familiar with them. Now, according to one poll, less than 60 percent of Americans know the commandment regarding murder and only 34 percent are familiar with the Sabbath commandment.

Paul said, “The law is not made for a righteous person, but for the lawless and insubordinate, for the ungodly” (1 Timothy 1:9). The Ten Commandments show people who are sinning where they are going wrong.
“Now the purpose of the commandment is love,” he adds. The Ten Commandments show us how to live in a way that reflects the love of our Creator.
Since “the law is not made for a righteous person,” does this mean that morally upright people don’t need to bother with keeping the law? Of course not. It means they are already keeping it!
God wrote the Ten Commandments on stone to signify their unchanging nature. While He was on Earth, Jesus always upheld the commandments as a reflection of His character of love; they were part of His teaching. And He says to all His disciples, “If you love Me, keep My commandments” (John 14:15).
KEY BIBLE TEXTS
Now the end of the commandment is charity out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned: From which some having swerved have turned aside unto vain jangling; Desiring to be teachers of the law; understanding neither what they say, nor whereof they affirm. But we know that the law is good, if a man use it lawfully; Knowing this, that the law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and for sinners, for unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers, For whoremongers, for them that defile themselves with mankind, for menstealers, for liars, for perjured persons, and if there be any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine;
- 1 Timothy 1:5-10

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What Disability Can't Do to You

"For some, disability means an end to a real life. But, for others it's a challenge to adapt and do things they never thought they could do.

A little girl walks through the shopping mall, tightly gripping her mother's hand as they pass by a man in a wheelchair. With disarming innocence, the child loudly asks, "Mommy, why is that man in a funny chair?"

The child isn't rude; she is simply frank and open. She has noticed that this person is different from the average person and is honestly curious. Mom, however, is horrified by her child's openness. Embarrassed, she whispers, "Shhh!" and quickly leads her daughter away. The disabled person was "different" -- a fact which was both curious and awkward.

If you are the one with the disability, you cannot simply walk away from the awkward challenges this situation presents. "Why is that man in a funny chair?" can now be asked about me, for I have often needed a wheelchair for long periods of time. I have also become familiar with the mental lows which often accompany disability. There has been an overwhelming sense of a loss of control over my life. All standards by which I once measured success -- my career, the freedom to pursue any hobby, the ability to play sports, participating in rough 'n tumble activities with my children -- collapsed along with my health.

What about you? How do you feel about yourself now that you have a disability? Are you worth less to yourself? To those around you? Do you struggle with feelings of inadequacy?

I was left, in my pain and fatigue, with a profound feeling of worthlessness and hopelessness. Does that sound familiar?

You know his name, but do you know his story?

The following letter was written by a woman to a friend about a mutual acquaintance on November 14, 1921:

"I am staying up here with a dear friend. It's a lovely region, but tragedy rather overshadows this once so happy and prosperous family, for their only son was struck down in August with a terribly serious case of infantile paralysis [polio]. He is only 39 -- both too old and too young for such a germ to disable him. He's had a brilliant career. Now he is a cripple -- will he ever be anything else? His mother is wonderfully courageous and plucky, but it's a bitter blow."

"He's had a brilliant career. Now he is a cripple -- will he ever be anything else?" Therein lies an assumption we need to shake out of the folds of our minds.

"Cripple" is an unpleasant-sounding word. It comes from an Old English word meaning to creep or to go low to the ground. It is used in the above letter to convey a sense of pity for "the poor man."

(You may wonder why I do not use the term "handicapped." Most organizations which work with people with disabilities, as well as government agencies, are shunning its use due to its origin. The word comes from an Old English game, literally called "hand-in-cap". Players each contributed to a common fund which an umpire held in a cap. The umpire decided who was in need and gave the cap's contents to him. Hence the term "handicap" carries a connotation of condescension with it.)

Did you ever analyze what it is that makes a person "whole"? Is it 20/20 vision in both eyes? Is it full use of both arms, hands, all ten fingers and both thumbs? Is it the ability to be ambulatory, that is, to walk around? Is it the ability to run? Is it "perfect" [whatever "perfect" is] hearing? Is it being pain-free and constantly energetic? Is it never aging?

It is oh, so easy to assume that a "whole" or "normal" person is one who possesses the average physical abilities of the general population. The negative continuation of that assumption is that a person with a disability -- who clearly has less than average physical abilities -- is somehow less of a person.

Here is a surprise which challenges that assumption! The prosperous and successful family in the 1921 letter was the James Roosevelt family. The son who was crippled at age 39, of whom it was assumed he could never be anything but "a cripple", was Franklin Delano Roosevelt! His career was far from being over. With his previous success in serving as an Under Secretary of the Navy he went on to become the longest serving President of the United States, leading it through one of the most challenging times in human existence.

Who today thinks of President Roosevelt as a "cripple" whose worth ended at age 39? Yet, it is true that throughout campaigning for and serving as President, Franklin Roosevelt could never walk more than a step or two without leaning on someone, usually his son James. Even at that, Roosevelt could never walk without an uncomfortable, cumbersome brace. Most of his time was spent in a wheelchair.

Millions of people with chronic pain have benefited from Roosevelt's great accomplishments in a field far removed from political service. He developed and pioneered many fundamental techniques of hydrotherapy, enabling the exercise of painful limbs in warm water."   Rest of the article at: http://www.ucg.org/christian-living/what-disability-cant-do-you-0/ Article by Cecil Maranville

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This morning's program on WGN TV:

Will a Temple Be Built in Jerusalem?

The answer to this query is vital to your spiritual life now and your eternal life with God. Discover why.

Transcript at: http://www.ucg.org/beyond-today-program/news-and-prophecy/will-temple-be-built-jerusalem

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On This Day:

Kennedy urges Americans to build bomb shelters, Oct 6, 1961:

"President John F. Kennedy, speaking on civil defense, advises American families to build bomb shelters to protect them from atomic fallout in the event of a nuclear exchange with the Soviet Union. Kennedy also assured the public that the U.S. civil defense program would soon begin providing such protection for every American. Only one year later, true to Kennedy's fears, the world hovered on the brink of full-scale nuclear war when the Cuban Missile Crisis erupted over the USSR's placement of nuclear missiles in Cuba. During the tense 13-day crisis, some Americans prepared for nuclear war by buying up canned goods and completing last-minute work on their backyard bomb shelters."

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Yom Kippur War begins, Oct 6, 1973:

"The surprise attack by Egyptian and Syrian forces on Israel in October 1973 throws the Middle East into turmoil and threatens to bring the United States and the Soviet Union into direct conflict for the first time since the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962. Though actual combat did not break out between the two nations, the events surrounding the Yom Kippur War seriously damaged U.S.-Soviet relations and all but destroyed President Richard Nixon's much publicized policy of detente.

Hoping to win back territory lost to Israel during the third Arab-Israeli war, Egyptian and Syrian forces launch a coordinated attack against Israel on Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar. Taking the Israeli Defense Forces by surprise, Egyptian troops swept deep into the Sinai Peninsula, while Syria struggled to throw occupying Israeli troops out of the Golan Heights.

For Syria, the Yom Kippur War was a disaster. The unexpected Egyptian-Israeli cease-fire exposed Syria to military defeat, and Israel seized even more territory in the Golan Heights. In 1979, Syria voted with other Arab states to expel Egypt from the Arab League. On October 6, 1981, Sadat was assassinated by Muslim extremists in Cairo while viewing a military parade commemorating the anniversary of the Yom Kippur War."

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Natchez Trace Parkway arches are complete, Oct 6, 1993:

"The last segment of the Natchez Trace Parkway's Double Arch Bridge is put into place on October 6, 1993. The $11 million, 1,572-foot–long bridge carries the parkway over Route 96 near Franklin, Tennessee. It was the first precast segmental concrete arch bridge to be built in the United States.  (These bridges are more cost-efficient than traditional ones, because workers at the bridge site simply need to assemble concrete pieces that have already been cast.)"

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Yesterday:

After Wendy and I had our usual Saturday phone call, I got ready for the morning church on FM 1097.  I like that little church, it is a very small congregation, and I feel at home. 

One reading was Deut. 23, and the other was 2 Samuel 22. The song service was great, and the talk was about The Millennium.  Quoting several verses from Timothy 1 and 2, including the famous 2 Timothy 3:1-7 "But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days.² People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy,³ without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, ⁴ treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God— ⁵ having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with such people. ⁶ They are the kind who worm their way into homes and gain control over gullible women, who are loaded down with sins and are swayed by all kinds of evil desires, ⁷ always learning but never able to come to a knowledge of the truth."

I took some frozen burritos for the potluck.  The afternoon church on FM 830 has many Mexicans from old Mexican families in the congregation, so I had stocked up on them. The congregation on FM 1097 likes them for a change, and they really like them.  We had some delicious lasagna, salads, lots of veggies, and some more homemade bread.

This church goes by the old Jewish calendar, so their Feast of Tabernacles starts on a later date than the church on FM 830. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_observances_of_Jewish_holidays

"Then the seventh angel blew his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, saying, 'The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever'" (Revelation 11:15, English Standard Version).

"The Day of Trumpets heralds the intervention of God in the affairs of humanity on a global basis—a dramatic turning point in world history and the return of Christ to this world."

"God has always had a heart to warn people before He executes His judgment. God warned the people before the Flood, and He warned Nineveh before it was ruined. The Feast of Trumpets reflects God’s desire to summon His people to repentance so that He can vindicate them on the day of His judgment.

The Feast of Trumpets fell on the first day of the seventh month , a month which stood out in the religious year as the Sabbatical month that ushered in the last three annual feasts, namely, Trumpets, Atonement and Tabernacles. These feasts, which became known as "The High Holy Days," marked the conclusion of the religious year and typify the conclusion and consummation of the plan of redemption."

So, I will be going to the church again on Monday.