The Swamp

...stretches from sea to shining sea. Donald can't drain it. As technology takes the Gospel to the hinterlands,  it provides satan with a powerful vehicle to destroy our nation, one person at a time.  Just as did Rome, we are falling from within. 

Oh, dear ones.  I am sad and I am afraid for you, the next generations.You seem to have little understanding about what "holy sex" is but you  know about same sex and every other kind. 

Oh, please forgive me if I sound "preachy". My generation will soon be leaving. We want you to be armed for the battle that rages against you. Suggestion: Go on line and listen to a man who understands the facts about the inevitable results of pornography, one of satan's most effective  weapons meant to destroy you.  Moody Bible Institute Founders Week. Josh McDowell. 2015. 

The good news has never changed.  All the power that raised Christ from the dead fortifies you if Christ dwells in you.  You and I have been set apart to bring His Light into an ever-darkening world. Some of my generation seem to be awakening to the reality that we are losing our country. Is it too late? Only our Lord knows.

Send the light, the blessed Gospel Light
Let it shine from shore to shore.
Send the Light and let its radiant beams
Light the world forevermore. 

Love, Jo

TRUE/ FAKE NEWS

Both are frightening. The warrior, David did not deny that he was afraid. In Psalm 56:3 this is what he said: "When I am afraid, I will trust in Thee."

Fear can sink us into depression. That Depression Pit is right next door to the Hell Pit. If you are depressed swallow your pride and tell somebody who will duke it out alongside you against principalities and powers in high places. Make no mistake: Not only are we Christians the enemy's target. We are his bulls eye! 

My Ted was gifted with a great way to overcome fear.  Not only did he have a reservoir of scripture deep in his soul; he was an athlete.  ..a ball player.  He let fly a racquet ball,  tennis ball,  baseball  or golf ball, imaging the name of a toxic person or institution on each, then he whapped it into Kingdom Come.  I don't think he suffered a day of gloom in his entire life. ...but he's not here.  I am. 

Yesterday four resident women who have lived in four different cities and towns came to study Genesis.  S.,  thirty-six years old,  young-in-Christ,  already an Air Force veteran knocks our socks off with her well-prepared lessons and questions. Long after I am in Heaven these and many others of the next generations will be making disciples.  It will cost them. ...possibly, even their lives. 

This is what I think: Counting on The Rapture has lulled many evangelicals into waiting around with Christians, instead of building relationships with the lost, many of whom are desperately afraid. ...with good reason.  We are not going to get our nation back.  As Francis Schaeffer asked in the 80's: "How shall we then live?"

Smoke from California fires has cleared and no tremor has made my house quiver in awhile. Our lovely mountain winter is coming;  the crock pot is on my kitchen counter,  ready to simmer.  I'm still here, so are you and this is today! 

 "I will say of the Lord: 'He is my refuge and my fortress, my  God. In Him will I trust".  Psalm 91:2. 

Trust and obey, 
For there's no other way
To be happy in Jesus, 
But to Trust and Obey. 

Love,  Jo

What is Truth?

Nancy,  my long- time friend from Houston is sleeping upstairs. She is a warrior for The Truth. Steve and Nancy were not forced to evacuate during Hurricane Harvey but nobody escaped the effects of that vicious storm.

Pilate asked: "What is Truth".  He did not wait for the answer.  This man was looking right at Jesus, the WAY, the TRUTH and the LIFE. Was he afraid he would lose his prestigious job if he believed?  Had he been so disillusioned by politics that he had given up hope that there was anybody who told the truth?  Probably, yes and yes.

Questions:

1) If you knew the missile was going to zing into Los Angeles tomorrow what would you do different today?

2) Do you care about the confused/afraid  people around us? 

3) Have you earned the privilege of telling them the TRUTH?  ...that JESUS was/is God-in-the- flesh and that He died, then rose again that we might have life? 

 4) Do you really believe that all other religious news is FAKE?

5) Do you have the courage to tell people that there is no hope for them or for the world unless the above is true and they believe it?

We know what to do.

 FIX our eyes only upon the Lord Jesus Christ.

INTRODUCE the lost to the Lord Jesus Christ.

FEED them God's Word. Note: I did not say "Take them to the pastor." Our children and grandchildren may not have a pastor in days to come.

One more thought:  Do not  count on His zapping us out of here before this nation is judged by our Righteous, Merciful, Just, Loving, Mighty God.

Jesus paid it all; 
All to Him, I owe
Sin had left a crimson stain
He washed it white as snow. 

Love,  Jo

Being Elderly. Part II

I have new neighbors. I have been included on their list of Tourist Attractions. Cathy and
Rick bring children and adults to meet "the lady who lives up the hill in a big house who tells true stories about wild animals and entertains from her piano".  Early every morning Cathy looks out her kitchen window to see if my garage door is open. Since this dear couple lives just a whoop and a holler down the road, who needs "Life Alert?"

Being elderly, as I mentioned last week has benefits.

1)  I can opt out of some meetings and relationships, leaning hard into scriptures like: "As much as is possible, if it lies within you,  live at peace with all men."

2)  Winter storms are coming. I can whisk out my Elder Trump Card and stay home.

3)  I can flip on my cell phone and listen to God's Word. ...just for myself.

4)  I can turn on one of several "devices" and listen to God's Word being taught by someone with mileage on their odometer.  I can blip off the youngster/preachers who seem to be blowin' in the wind.

5)  I can skip the clamorous noise that is currently touted as "worship" and sing hymns whose writers knew and depended upon powerful, biblical Truth.

6)  I can "cut off" entanglements and "fix my eyes upon Jesus,  the Author and Finisher of my faith."

7)  I can relish thinking about meeting my loved ones at The Gate, or In the Air.  ...whichever.

8.  I can't  "go into all the world" anymore, but I can "pray without ceasing". 

9.  I can , with joy turn over the teaching of God's Word to the younger disciples who come here for Bible study.

10.  I can wrap all who come into my life in God's love.

            NEAR TO THE HEART OF GOD

There is a place of quiet rest
A place where sin cannot molest
Near to the Heart of God.

Oh, Jesus, Blessed Redeemer
Sent from the heart of God.
Hold us who wait before thee
Near to the heart of God.  

Love,  Jo

Being elderly

...isn't all bad. There are benefits.  Right now I can't think of many because my body hurts. A couple of months ago I lifted my deck bed and literally heard my back cr-a-c-k.  This bloop occurred at 4 P.M. on a Friday. My doctor lives down the hill.  I can see his house from my deck.  I could call him.  I won't.  If I were dying,  I might. On Monday, in his office in town this is what he concluded:  "Jo, you didn't break anything. Put ice on it. You'll heal.  Eventually",

A month later the pain had diminished from a piercing jab to an aching throb. Right about then a friend told me about Sketcher shoes. Love 'em!  I bought six colors. They feel like house slippers. ... with class. Now I have happy feet but my right arm is screaming blood murder. Rubber soles can stick on carpet.  I plunged headlong,  took the fall on my shoulder, lay on the floor too scared to move before scooting over to my bed and crawling in to wait for dawn, which came.  Eventually.  I am not going all the way into town just to hear my doctor/neighbor say,  "Jo, you didn't break anything. Put ice on it. You'll  heal.  Eventually".

I am healing. Do not advise me to invest in "Life Alert".  I already did.  After a month I told the nice lady who installed the device to come and get it.  Too cumbersome. It's ugly. So is the black wristband. The word "device" is a sinister word.  My handyman, John recently replaced two electrical outlets that sputtered and sparked from Multiple Device Cord Overload.

I don't hang with the elderly much but connect, delightedly,  with the next two generations. Yesterday, as some of them gathered at my house to study about Abraham and Sarah's stupid Plan B which will,  eventually, suck the world into Armageddon, we promised God to do our best to keep our personal screw-ups at a minimum.

                                     THROUGH IT ALL

Through it all; through it all.
I've learned to trust in Jesus.
I've learned to trust in God.
Through it all; through it all
I've learned to depend upon His Word. 

Love, Jo