Word

And I [John the Baptist] knew Him not: but

that He should be made manifest to Israel, therefore am I come baptizing with water.

 John 1.31

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Sankey Quote

“We have a responsibility to discern;

we do not have a responsibility to judge.

– Leonard Sankey, 9/17/96, (Shelbyville,IN)

 

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Cold or Could

COLD Church? – add a “U” – it changes to COULD. 

Could be Warmed,

Could have Revival. 

“U” could make the difference. 

– eab, 1980s

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WHICH?

 

The great God above,

Where all Beings have love,

May welcome you home with a smile.

– – – Or the god of doom,

Where flowers ne’er bloom,

May “welcome” you below, after while.

– eab, 1/31/06

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Hans Egede – born

ON THIS DATE

Hans Egede was born 1/31/1686 at Harstad, Norway, 150 miles above the Arctic Circle.  After being schooled by his Lutheran uncle he got a ThB from the U. of Copenhagen.  He married a woman 13 years his senior; they had 2 sons and 2 daughters.  At 35 he became a missionary to Greenland, sailing with 46 others to establish a station there which was nearly wiped out by smallpox 12 years later.  Hans returned to Denmark but his devoted nursing of the Eskimoes during the epidemic led to conversions.  His son, Paul took the work – Hans started a translation of the Bible which Paul finished in 1760.   Hans died 11/5/1758.

He was quoted saying, “He wished to live & die here in order to teach the savages the knowledge of God.”

He wrote of his wife “dear & faithful helpmeet & wife who, when she understood that I had resolved to forsake my native country, for the love of God & me, like a faithful Sarah, accompanied her Abraham to a strange, nay, hard & heathen country.”

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WORD

“This is He [ Jesus Christ ] of whom I said,

‘After me cometh a Man which is preferred before me:

for He was before me.’”

John 1.30

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Ruth Quote

“A mistake is a thing you did when you knew no better;

a sin is a thing you did when you did know better . . .

the motive determines the morality of the act.”

– C W Ruth, from his book Bible Readings

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Prepare

Make preparations for earth –

may be here longer than we think.

Make preparations for eternity –

may be there sooner than we think.

– eab, 1/98

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I LOVE YOU LORD

 (opening lines of a much longer poem)

I love you Lord Jesus, I love you fine Lord,

Who can wondrously, carelessly, joyfully afford,

To wind up your wind machine and run it all night,

To help humble Jews escape Egypt, in flight.

It plowed through the Sea called red burrowing, pushing

Water to north of it, water to south creating an isthmus

Creating the opposite of a stream mouth

The wind came from the east, plowing a groove

Of dry sandy marching ground in the sea’s belly,

Pilling water north of it, stacked up like jelly,

And water to south of it equally stood,

(Waves folded their hands, as all good waves should.)

And when you were done proving You could

Do what those gods were falsely proclaimed,

(Showing how they were all illfully named)

You closed up your wind machine, closed it so tightly,

Egyptians were caught in it, sadly but mightily  —

-eab, 1/03

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Menno Simmons – separates

ON THIS DATE

Menno Simons 1/30/1536 felt his time had come to choose between the authority of the church and that of Scripture and left the Roman Catholic system (his doubts started with transubstantiation).  He was born January 1496, was a priest, is known to have read some works of Desiderius Erasmus, Martin Luther, Martin Bucer, and Heinrich Bullinger and while still catholic regarded himself an “evangelical preacher.”  After years of staying one step ahead of his enemies (there was once a price of 2000 guilders on his head) he died a natural death in 1561 in Schleswig-Holstein (Germany).   Some time after converting to the Anabaptist movement he became a leader.  From him the Mennonite churches derive their name.

Menno Simons quotes:

 “True evangelical faith is of such a nature it cannot lie dormant, but spreads itself out in all kinds of righteousness and fruits of love…”

“We do not teach and practice community of goods but we teach and testify the Word of the Lord, that all true believers in Christ are of one body…”

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