Thistle Cove Farm

Come on over....

I've moved over to http://maidmyown.livejournal.com/, just in case anyone was wondering.....no special reason other than I like the communities over there, and it was time for a change....

Come and say Hello!

All Righty, then ... time for a Disclaimer

Is it too late?

Dear Laura,

          I appreciate very much your leaving your comment.  As I read, I felt sure your questions are rhetorical, and a call to us to think about the choices we make every day.   Much needed.

          Also, as I read your note, I began to think of verses ... so I wanted to share those with everyone.

Here goes ... Your original comments are in italics.  I hope the font will behave itself, so it will be clear.

Evil.
So do you think, we who are called by His Name, should be more "bold"?

          ABSOLUTELY.   Proverbs 28:1    Psalm 107:2  

Should we "come out, and be different" and call sin, SIN?

Should we "come out and be different" and call evil, EVIL?
          There can be only one answer to this:  II Corinthians 6:17  

         
 
We are supposed to be "light"!! If we 'blend in' with the world, how will anyone see our lights?

          Matthew 5:14

Do you think if we are bold calling sin sin, evil evil, wrong wrong.........do you think there is a chance for Revival?

          I think if we do not, there is NO chance for revival.  

Abraham interceded for Lot’s city five times, and the Lord kindly and lovingly allowed him to decrease that number until it was only ten.    Genesis 18:17 -- .  The Lord is long suffering – because He loves us.  I pray we haven’t waited too long!

I’m done preachin’ now.   But, there is one other thing that I want to mention and ask you all to pray about.  I don’t know this woman’s name – I only have heard of her through a young seminary student who reported what he had heard on the radio ... But, I believe the young man is trustworthy – and I know that the Church needs to be praying about this.

Apparently, this woman, who calls herself a “Baptist pastor” somewhere in California has declared that every person who died at Virginia Tech last Monday deserved to die and that they are all in hell.  AND, that she plans to lead a delegation of picketers to our campus to continue spreading her vile message of hate.  The “god” she serves is definitely NOT the God of the cross!  Pray that our sweet loving all-gracious Father, Who will one day become the world’s most terrifying Judge, will put a stop to this woman’s agenda.  We here, at Virginia Tech, are hurting.  Our hearts are grievously wounded; we are in pain.  We don’t need anyone else coming here to pour poison into the wounds!  But, the pain of Virginia Tech is NOT the main reason I ask you to pray, although it is definitely a need ...

The REAL reason I ask you to pray that she be stopped is because her “message” will brand every God-fearing true Christian as a hate-monger, and make matters so much worse for the Lord’s church.  HE will intervene, IF we ask Him!

I John 5:12-16    James 1:5

Something Horribly Wrong ... VA Tech - the world ...

  Something Horribly Wrong                                     "BreakPoint with Chuck Colson”     

A friend at work sent me this and it speaks, clearly, to the problem.  

The Reality of Evil                                                                                                  April 19, 2007

Less than seventy-two hours have passed since the shootings that killed thirty-two innocent people and injured another thirty at Virginia Tech. Americans can relate to what Virginia Tech President William Steger said immediately after the killings: "I'm really at a loss for words to explain or to understand the carnage that has visited our campus . . . "

This is especially true as a frightening picture of the killer emerges: a young man, by all accounts a loner, who, according to the Washington Post, wrote poetry about death and "expletive-filled rants against the rich and privileged." Clearly, on the dark side.

As we seek to understand what happened and why he did this, it is vital that we not exclude an important part of the equation: evil.

Faced with this kind of horror, we automatically assume that we are dealing with a madman—a word the media has already used to describe the killer. That's because we can't imagine ourselves or anyone we know doing anything remotely like this. Therefore, we conclude that something must have been "wrong" with the perpetrator.

And, since our culture is defined by what sociologist Philip Rieff called the "therapeutic ethos," the "something" that's "wrong" must be a psychological defect. Mental illness, not human evil, is our preferred explanation for what happened in places like Blacksburg or Columbine.

I witnessed an extreme example of this therapeutic thinking during a visit to a Norwegian prison years ago. Throughout the tour, officials bragged about employing the most humane and progressive treatment methods anywhere in the world. I met several doctors in white coats.

That prompted me to ask how many of the inmates, who were all there for serious crimes, were mentally ill. The warden replied, "Oh, all of them." I must have looked surprised, because she said, "Well, of course, anyone who commits a crime this serious is obviously mentally unbalanced."

Stated differently, there is no such thing as sin and evil, and the only reason why people might commit serious crimes is that they are mentally ill. Thus, the best—and perhaps, only—response to crime is behavior modification and all of those other up-to-date psychological techniques.

While the Norwegian approach would strike most Americans as very naïve, the difference between them and us is one of degree not kind. We also blame crime on external factors, like mental illness, culture, dysfunctional childhood, and the like.

We are uncomfortable attributing events like this to human evil, much less to a kind of evil that seeks to undo God's creation—what Christians call the demonic.

Yet without this idea, events like this massacre can never be understood. We might learn that the killer was "mentally unbalanced" or on anti-depressants. But, absent evidence that he was clinically delusional, this knowledge will not explain why he walked onto a college campus, locked people in a lecture hall, and killed them.

Events like this not only horrify us—they unsettle us. We think of sin and the demonic as not-so-quaint relics from a superstitious age. And even more destructive, random events like this remind us how little we know about ourselves and what we are capable of, as well. But failing to call evil evil misleads us about the world we live in and our need for God's grace, the only real answer and hope for any of us.

BreakPoint with Chuck Colson

such a small world - and a much needed prayer

i apologize

am i ok? ... more on VA Tech

maybe.  i think so. 

Many wonderful people have asked me that ... The best way I can describe it is with the answer I wrote to Jane:

“The press and others are trying to demonize Pres. Steger.  And I think that's just awful.  He's an honest, caring, wise man, who did the best thing he knew to do at the time, with the information he had at that time.

“I'm sure there are people who just need to talk and tell somebody about it all -- it seems when anyone asks me anything about it, i start running off at the mouth without even meaning to -- but yes, people need their privacy!!  The problem is, the news media, however well-intended,  will make a circus out of it today -- and then, next Monday, when everyone here is thinking, "oh, dear God, it's a week ago today", the news media will be off somewhere else, with another fresh circus.   And, inevitably the only ones who will remember after that are the ones who have a direct connection to Va Tech.

“Am i working today?   well, the answer to that is no and yes, sort of.  i'm sitting at my desk and trying to figure out why i can't think.

“i know why i can't think.  but then, i wonder why my mind feels so numb, and why i'm so exhausted.  And then, i'm grateful to God that i'm not the one planning a funeral...”

OOOHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH   ...    

i just feel like howling.  and screaming.   and running and running and running until i just pass out.

i reckon that's normal.

maybe.

i think i'm okay.

am i?

Virginia Tech

i work here. 

i’m numb, and almost incoherent – and heartbroken.

but i am safe.

I cannot keep from thinking of all the parents, grandparents, friends, husbands, wives, children, sisters, brothers, aunts, uncles, cousins, co-workers, acquaintances ... but when i do, i cry ... Oh, Dearl Lord, all the funerals!!!

and i am at my desk, but i’m not working.

Father God, we trust You!  We know You make no mistakes.

But, our hearts are grieving ... for those who are gone ... for those who loved them ...

and for those who didn’t know You, with now no chance.

Readers, if you saw the convocation yesterday (which I didn’t, but read about later) there was no mention of our Lord Jesus Christ, there was no calling on His name for help or comfort.  There were representatives of members of various “world” religious groups who were invited to speak, but the lack of recognition of our God, Jehovah, the First and with the last, Alpha and Omega, the mighty God, the Everlasting Father, Who founded, blessed, protected and prospered our nation was, not only appalling, but a death knell.

Deuteronomy 8:19  “... if thou do at all forget the LORD thy God, ... I testify against you this day that ye shall surely perish.”

And, we’re not talking about Allah here.

I mean The LORD, Jesus Christ – the Word – Who became flesh and dwelt among us.  Without Whom nothing was created ... The Lamb slain from the foundation of the world!!!

Do NOT mistake what I am saying!  PLEASE do NOT misquote or partially quote what i have said.  The ones who have died, and the ones who loved them, are NOT the ones I am talking about!!  i’m talking about each and every one of us, who are in a position to acknowledge and bow before Almighty God, and who daily refuse/neglect to honor and exalt Him as the only One worthy of our praise.  Christians who sit idly by while university Powers-That-Be leave out the only One Who can help us.  It is time that we stand!

that i stand

Ya’ll, out there, please pray for us.

All of us:

Virginia Tech.

The USA.

But most of all, that this horrible tragedy –

with its staggering refusal to acknowledge the LORD God, the Almighty Creator of heaven and earth –

is not the beginning of the end of our nation.

Christian Women Online

Much has happened ... I had written a long long entry, detailling some of it ... and naturally, forgot to save before I did a websearch looking for a link ... so ... Now I have to start over on that.  But, thanks to all you loyal, LOYAL people who are still checking to see if I'm alive.   I think so. 

Here's a good    site that I want to spend more time looking at ... and that I believe you folks will all enjoy!

Christian Women Online
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