Lamb Conquers Serpent

     Adam and Eve are guilty. God speaks to the serpent (the devil). A Seed is coming. The Seed will be bruised, but the serpent's head will be crushed.  

     The Seed is Jesus. Much later, at the cross it seemed the serpent had won. Jesus' disciples had feared so. But Jesus rose from the grave and is forever Lord of Lords. Among other names, He is the "Lamb that was slain." God allows the battle to continue, but Satan knows he is defeated.

     Football and basketball games continue until the time is over. One team leading by 20 points with only a minute on the clock ... play on.  

     Life and death. Fight on. There are countless people who aren't yet listed in the book of life. Jesus wants more people - his bride - to join him at "the wedding supper of the Lamb," (Revelation 19), before He returns - with them/us - to begin his millennium on earth. 

     So, the Trinity has been here and everywhere all along. Every covenant, every promise, every moment. God's first two humans let him down. As do all of us. He wants to redeem what He calls His people. 

     If the enemy has power over us, we gave it to him. He is defeated.

Prayer: Jesus, teach me not to give into fear, shame and accusation. Today I choose to walk in your victory and life. Amen.

 What Begat This Project? 

   Continued

      In the Forward of family history, I wrote: "Amateur moralist we may be; scientist we're not. A few scribbled notes at a Christmas-season dinner table led to this laborious project ... but a labor of love. 

     "Love always hopes and always endures. The reader may enjoy a Yankee soldier's recollections. Or marvel at the man who walked 58 miles to school. We found handwritten notes from the same era Katherine Lee Bates wrote America the Beautiful. We received photos that predate the U.S. income tax. 

     "There were puzzles to solve ... taking pieces of hazy memory and determining where to place them. We began to love people again for the first time. We awoke in the night, strangely enjoying their memories. Our stories begin when agrarian orientation dominated the life and structure of the USA, and end when modernization had begun to turn us inside out. 

     "The reader can judge whether we're better off with satellites and internets than we were with 8th-grade education, or less, superstitions notwithstanding. Their stories have passed through filters of the author's biases, and the reader will find lapses of literary license. 

     I ended the Forward with a tease of the first two chapters: Civil War. 

     "Now, dear reader, raise the footstool of your electric chair and load your musket. As you prepare for the fight, consider that if the trajectory of a Confederate bullet had been an inch on either side of the Yankee rifle it hit, 12 of 16 of these chapters might not have been written. Come to think of it, this author wouldn't be here either. Humbling, isn't it? 

     "On to Richmond!" 

                                    Tomorrow: Lamb conquers serpent

      

 Returning Home with Joy...

     ...the title of my book in 1996. Working in South Carolina then, we wrote about family...parents, aunts and uncles, grandparents, cousins...in Pennsylvania, Georgia, Florida, Arizona, Wyoming and Ohio. They contributed memories and pictures, some of them from the 1800s. Yes, we all wrote the book. 

     None of the relatives are still living, including my younger cousin who made 38 of the 90-page books in his printing shop. He would not take my money. 

     We won't bother you with the content, including a great uncle's service in the Civil War. But, history can teach. Here is a part of my Forward: 

     "Propeller planes begat television, begat jetliners, begat spaceships. Horses and buggies begat trains, begat trolleys, begat cars and trucks, begat radios, begat television. (Imagine how this would read today.) 

     "Character begats optimism, and usually prosperity and peace. People of character believe in a better tomorrow, that obstacles exist to be overcome, and that this country has a strong and beneficial role in the world. In our family stories covering more than 90 years, the reader will find rich memories of warm people who worked together. 

     "Working together. There may be the secret to "family values" we hear about, and some are trying to restore. Somewhere along the line of begats, we overcame the need to pull together. So, this writer won't praise too much the children born among gardens and sowing needles or criticize children born among supermarkets and mega-malls." 

     "G.K. Chesterton: 'The family is the factory that manufactures mankind.' If that is true, we have a problem with those who redefine the family. The magazine goes on to say that 'agreement is rare on what kind of family is better at manufacturing mankind.' America is increasingly a culture that celebrates individualism. Some offer an opinion on what type of family is best. These are social scientists." 

                                       Conclusion tomorrow 

Believe it or Not 

     Your blogger knew someone who lived during our Civil War. How is that possible? 

     First, the "someone" was born in 1864. The Civil War did not end for another year. Ora Dilley would eventually become my grandfather.

     He fathered three boys and three girls, one of which eventually became my mother, Mary Elizabeth. She was born in 1906, gave birth to me in 1938 and named me James. She lived 97 years. 

     Grandpa lived 36 years in the 19th century and another 53 years in the 20th, for a total of 89. He went way beyond average length of life in those times. Even beyond today's average. 

     I lived the last 15 years of his life. There were occasional visits to or by my grandparents. The man born during the Civil War. 

     The 162-year total for the three of us isn't over...yet. I inherited long life, but we take it a day at a time as the Lord commands.

            James

PS. Grandpa Ora did a variety of work while he was still single. There were no cars or trucks in the 1800s. Maybe trains, and horses. He lived near Pittsburgh when he chose to walk all the way to Edinboro, 58 miles, carrying two suitcases. He attended a school, but we don't know what level. Come time to return home, he walked again. 

Tuesday: My very own book

   

America's Christian Roots

     How many of us attended or will attend church today? "Christianity is central to any honest account of our history," says R. Robert Mohler. "The entire culture was saturated with Christian influence."

     By 1776, over 90 percent of the people identified with a branch of Protestantism. "Those people had no explanation for the universe, for their own lives, for the passage of time, or the meaning of human liberty and dignity," wrote Mohler. He says, today, "If secular liberalism reigns, civilizational collapse is inevitable. If Americans reclaim the affirmations held by our founders, there is hope." 

    "Secularism offers no basis for genuine hope. It provides no cement to hold society together. Is America a Christian nation? At the very least this would require a recovery of the Christian consensus that existed in 1776. We must pray that it can and will."

Baby Born Twice 

     A Florida child is celebrating his first birthday after surgery allowed him to be 'born twice,' and saved his life. 

     Thirteen weeks into pregnancy, the parents learned their son, Cassian, had a potentially fatal condition that blocks the airway. At 25 weeks, doctors partially delivered Cassian during a C-section while he remained attached to the placenta. They inserted a temporary airway tube, then returned him to the womb. 

     Mother delivered the boy six weeks later, and after 132 days in the NICU, Cassian came home. He faces likely challenges, but his mother told reporters, "God turned what was our greatest heartbreak into a leap of medical science, and now there's a whole new era of treatment for these babies." 

                       Jimmy

The Salesman's Call

     "In all our encounters with our fellow human beings, what must never be forgotten is that the person with whom we are speaking, whatever else he or she is - sailor, soldier, salesman - is first of all an image bearer of God. This is most basic." - Andree Seu Peterson. 

I call upon Americans to bend low before

God and to go to their knees as Washington

and Lincoln called us...years ago. No nation

is ever taller than when on its knees.

Hidden Blessings

     "The spiritual benefits of suffering are well known: the destruction of our illusion of self-sufficiency. Spiritual purification and deeper trust in God. The awakening of spiritual seriousness. Writing from a quadriplegia after a diving accident, Joni Eareckson Tada describes disability itself as both grievous and spiritually transformative." - Lynn Vincent

Socialism's Salesman

     "While Mamdani's socialism no doubt appeals to many Jews in New York City, this largest Jewish community outside of Israel should not rest easy while pro-Hamas Mamdani runs the city." - Howard Killion, Ph, D.

#

Isaiah Knew Him First 

     "He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter." - Isaiah 53:7. 

     Jesus was falsely accused, unjustly beaten, publicly mocked - and He stayed silent. Not because He was weak, but because He knew who and what He was fighting for. He trusted the Father who led him from birth, especially his last three years. 

     Hanging on the horrible cross, He said, Father, forgive them. 

     Forgiveness is not an emotion; it's a decision to obey. We're still human. We can't erase our own memories. 

     What do we do? We pray to God, "Help my emotions catch up to my obedience." We can forgive (like Erika Kirk) despite the emotion we don't feel yet. Silence is not weakness; it aligns with the Lamb who was silent while taking the punishment that saves those who trust and obey.  

Mostly provided by our pastor