He Gave Me Beauty For Ashes

Earlier this moth California experienced a series of terrible fires which were said to be the worst in the state's history. One of the fires wiped out the town of Paradise killing many dozens.

Last year the same type of fire tore through Redwood Valley in Northern California. I have a cousin whose family owns and lives at a vineyard there. She had only twenty minutes warning to rouse her immediate family, collect anything else important that would fit in their cars and then escape via back roads which were basically just two-track ruts. Some in the community did not make it out alive but praise God everyone in her family did. Nine homes on the vineyard were totally destroyed as was the building where they produced the wine. Eighty per cent of the vines made it as did the new winery they were in the process of building. With the help of others in the community their business was able to survive.

When my cousin was allowed back to the smoldering ruins of her home she combed through the grit and ashes and found parts and bits of her life history which of course could never be replaced. Silverware, jewelry, a watch and other irreplaceable things passed down or given from dear relatives or marking special occasions, now melted or distorted. She recently posted a photo of a mirror she made. It's frame which she called Beauty from Ashes was a collection of those things. Included as well was a story she wrote about the ordeal titled - The Missing Ring - which was a wedding ring she was not able to find that came from her mother, having a lot of special family connections.

Her story inspired the poem which ends this post. The first verse is in no way intended to diminish the grieving that comes with loss or the efforts we make to remember those special things of the pass. Her work and writing were both inspiring and beautiful.

The title Beauty from Ashes recalled for me the old gospel song - Beauty For Ashes. I've incorporated into my poem ideas from that song and Scripture.

 He gave me beauty for ashes
 the oil of joy for mourning
 a garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness

This comes from Isaiah 61:3. When Jesus was first beginning His ministry he goes to His hometown synagogue in Nazareth. When the time for the reading came Jesus was handed the book of Isaiah. He finds the following passage (61:1 and 2)

The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free those who are oppressed and to proclaim the favorable year of the Lord.

Jesus then tells the Jewish people there that this particular passage has now been fulfilled in their sight.

The song comes from the verse from Isaiah that follows which Jesus did not read.

to grant those who mourn in Zion
giving them a garland instead of ashes
the oil of gladness instead of mourning
the mantle of praise instead of a spirit of fainting
so they will be called oaks of righteousness
the planting of the Lord
that He may be glorified

The one thing that I would like to convey today from this Scripture is there are certain things we do and certain things God does. We can't will ourselves to be glad in the midst of our grieving. We usually can't see how God will be able to transform our ashes into garlands. We're stuck with the first and the last lesson that God wants every person to learn. We just need to trust that He is the Lord who releases, who gives sight and who sets free.

The response we show from our trusting is to offer, even in the midst of our sorrow, praise to Him for what He has done, what He is doing and what He will do. Doing this releases God to do the things he so much wants to because of how much He loves us.  We grow, we become changed and He is glorified in all of it.

I have often found that the times that are the hardest to glorify God are the times that I need to the most. And He has never failed to remove from me that spirit of heaviness, that spirit of fainting. He has never failed to pour out to me joy and gladness.


Beauty For Ashes

Is life not so much more than bits and scrapes of things we cherish
of memories that like the flesh eventually will perish

For there are beauties far beyond a person's comprehension
we see through mirrors darkly in a world of apprehension

And in this realm of raging flames engulfing the unwary
there is an enemy that waits whose plans will never tarry

Our temporary earthly home is precious for the moment
but there are treasures stored above made ready by atonement

He's poured the oil of gladness on to heal the hurts we're moaning
sets out fresh garments filled with praise to silence bitter storming

So we can tread those fields of grace unfettered by our weakness
to find the strength to carry on rejoicing in His meekness

The Lord that made a fertile earth with rain upon the soil
gives bread to eat and wine to drink and comfort from our toil

Moving From Curses To Blessing

When I was a young believer in the 1970's we did not have spiritual teaching apps on our phones, U tube, pod casts, DVD's and a heck of a lot of other things we take for granted today. We did have books and magazines with good spiritual stuff that would get passed around between family and friends
as well as cassette tapes. Ah, cassette tapes. We once even had a machine that would duplicate cassette tapes.

Bob Mumford was a favorite, partly because his tapes included a lot of humor. Derek Prince (who has now been dead for over 10 years) was another, partly because of his wonderful deep English voice and command of the language but mostly because of the great depth of his insights into Scripture and how the Holy Spirit works in the life of the believer. Each one of his many books were excellent resources as well.

Today as I was scanning my favorite U tube sites I noticed a sermon by Derek Prince. It's title talked about passing from curses to blessing. Interested at first just to hear that old sweet voice I became hooked on the message and it's importance for our time. Just to sum it up briefly, our words have in them, whether we realize it or not, the power to bless or curse. Curses affect us in many ways and can be transferred over generations, as can blessings.

Most people have been subject to curses of one type or another. They range from things said by parents or teachers to involvement in one way or another in the occult. Perhaps we have a relative that was involved in a secret society or own religious objects from other religions.  If we recognize these things we can take the proper, Scriptural actions, to break any activity by evil spirits that those things will cause.

The video runs for an hour and a half, is impactful throughout and ends with Mr. Prince leading a prayer to break any curses that may be in your life. The link is here if interested.

Media Zoo

I find that I must keep reminding myself that all of the recent sound and fury we have been enduring is primarily a spiritual battle - For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world powers of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places (Eph. 6:12)

There would then be little benefit to support what I believe the truth is by engaging in worldly tactics such as name calling or demonizing those whose political or social views are different from mine. That said I do believe that the evil one is aligning all of his forces in an attempt to maintain the culture of abortion, to continue the destruction of the family unit, to make normal things that for thousands of years were considered perversions, to marginalize and then ultimately destroy both Christian influence and Christians and finally to divide us as a means to change and control our society.

This poem reflects my belief that the partisan liberal main steam media (and of course at times the right steam media) has been easily manipulated by the evil one in order to help advance these plans. This is what they often look like to me.

Media Zoo   

They are hyenas, strutting around
dancing their dances, stomping old grounds
making sharp noises, deep angry sounds
they are hyenas, strutting around

Constantly braying, hungry to eat
ripping and tearing, needing fresh meat
saliva spraying, primal defeat
constantly braying, hungry to eat

Animal instincts, wild at heart
incessant clawing, pulling apart
always relentless, eyes shift and dart
animal instincts, wild at heart

The Tree Of Life

A terrible tragedy took place this week in Pittsburgh where a crazed gunman shot and killed 11 at a Jewish Synagogue called The Tree of Life. Antisemitism is still alive and is actually increasing in several European countries. Here in the United States it resides in a small group of Neo-Nazis, among many in the growing Muslim populations but is showing even greater signs of resurgence on many college and university campuses.

The evil one has always hated the Jewish people and is certainly behind the "death to all Jews" sentiment proclaimed by the individual who carried out this atrocity. The upper room where the shooting took place would have normally been filled with children but as fate would have it the crowd that day was much older. One married couple were in their 50's, the rest were in their 60's, 70's, 80's and one in her late 90's.

I have been in Genesis recently and recall God noticing of man before the flood that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually (6:5). Of all the men on earth only Noah was found righteous. God destroyed all life from that world but saved Noah and his family through the ark. Yet righteousness is not inherited. There was a chosen line though that went from Adam to Seth, from Seth to Noah and from Noah's son Shem to Abraham, father of the Hebrew people.

There is another line that takes us from Abraham through the tribe of Judah to David and finally to the promised Messiah Jesus. He would by the shedding of His blood and His glorious resurrection defeat the serpent of old and reverse the curse of Adam and Eve eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

We would now know the will of God not from law and tradition but rather from the Holy Spirit who could now dwell within us. Jesus is also the Tree of Life and all who partake of Him will have eternal life with Him and the Father.

Below retells part of our original story, ending with a short poem inspired by the shooting.

The Tree Of Life

The garden was filled with many fruit giving trees
and in the center of Eden was placed the tree of life
as well as the tree of the knowledge of good and evil

God told Adam that they were free to eat the fruit of
any tree except the tree of the knowledge of good and
evil - 'for the day you eat from it you shall surely die'

later the serpent appeared to Eve and asked - 'did God
really say you could not eat from it?' / Eve took from
the tree and gave some to Adam and for the first time

they realized they were naked / when God came to walk
through the garden in the cool of the evening they hid / but
God found them and in His mercy shed the blood of an

innocent animal to cover their nakedness with skins / yet
now there would be pain in childbirth and the ground was
cursed with thorns and thistles and bread would be eaten

by the sweat of their brow / death would be the end of each
man for they came from dust and to dust they would return
God said they have become like Us, knowing good and evil

so He sent Adam and Eve outside the garden to cultivate the
ground and placed a Cherubim to guard the way back in / lest
they eat from the tree of life and live, condemned, forever

In the midst of sparse wilderness
where grey owls are found waiting
came muted sounds of deep wailing
from wide rivers of bitterness

Yet the tears of His tenderness
flood soft grounds that were calling
spread fragrant ointment with caring
from the hands of His righteousness

Great Lakes Revival

Fresh waters of November
stirred into a turmoil

Ears shielded from deafening roar
terrible gales upon their surface

Face seared from burning heat
consuming flames extend past the horizon

Wave after wave after wave come crashing
each rolling ridge higher than others before

Whirlwind and fires lift me high above
molten red rivers of revival

Swiftly flowing past every village and town
sparks igniting fields and forests

In the midst of this shaking a strong voice
declaring - I am Righteous and True

From smoke rising up both day and night
come low groans and mighty shouts

Emerging from swirling haze the young armies
fearless, bold, earth shaking beneath them

Awake! Awake! you inland seas
now is the day you will give up your dead

There Is An Uproar In The Land

In the midst of all of the uproar and craziness that has been going on in our country over the last two weeks, and the last two years (and for years before to be honest) I want to present to you some encouraging news. We must start though with a little theology to understand the context of what is happening now.

You need to know that this craziness is primarily a spiritual battle, being waged on levels by forces we do not see and have a hard time comprehending. This is affecting us personally, locally, regionally, nationally and globally. We have an enemy called the father of lies who oversees a legion of fallen angels and demonic forces and they have their tentacles into governments, education, institutions, media, entertainment, religious denominations and so on. The evil one has an overall goal, a detailed plan with a specific timeline and the resources to carry out his desires.

That said there are a few difficulties in his path. The first is that his ruling elite in the spirit world, creatures of pride themselves, compete against each other for power and territorial dominion. These forces will eventually unite when the evil one and his forces realize that their time is running out.

The second is that people have a free will. While they are often ignorant or rebellious of God's plan and thus cooperate with the plans of the first rebel, most are not will-less zombies utterly reliable to do his bidding.

Third, there are traditional institutions of government, faith and family which, even if not Christian, reflect God's will to one degree or another toward proper moral, ethical and societal behavior. Knowing that the enemy wants to corrupt those institutions might help you better understand the current attacks against faith, family and gender identity as well as why the atheistic political views of radical socialism  are now coming to the forefront in our country.

Fourth, the plans and agents of the enemy are tempered, opposed and even defeated by a believing Church which has been infilled by the Holy Spirit. The Church of Jesus Christ has been commissioned
to proclaim the good news of salvation to the ends of the Earth and has also been equipped to defeat the forces of darkness.

The war between the Church and the enemy has been going on for almost two thousand years and will continue, but this conflict will not last forever. Scripture says that at a specific point in time Jesus will return and rule as Divine King from Jerusalem for one thousand years.

When Jesus returns the evil one will be bound and the world will be a much better place. Even so there will be individuals and countries that will not accept His lordship. Near the end of the thousand years the enemy will be released for a short time to gather a coalition of rebels and countries which will march against Jesus and the holy city. They will be defeated and it is at that point that the evil one will be judged and forever removed from influence. There will then come a new Heavens and a new Earth and all rebellion will have been done away with.

However, just prior to Jesus coming back to rule there will be a period of time when God responds to the prayers of His Church and He will bring judgment upon peoples and lands of the Earth. This is not the normal type of historical tribulation that many have already gone through but rather is a one time period where evil spiritual forces of evil as well as God's angelic forces will be much more visible and God's judgments will be overwhelmingly devastating.

I personally believe Scripture indicates that because of God's purpose for doing this the Church, the dead first and then the living, will be removed from the scene before God's judgment begins. This is commonly known as the rapture.

Because the Holy Spirit, which resides in all believers, thus acting as a restrainer to the works of the evil one, is removed it will allow the evil one free reign to further his final plans. The time for him to do so is limited. Many will come to know Christ after the rapture and will thus have the same Holy Spirit but many of those will soon become martyrs, their prayers adding to the raptured saints prayers giving impetus to God's judgment.

So here we are in a period of time which is very near the end of the Church age. It has always seemed to me, although there are pockets of light here and there and many major moves of God currently happening in the nations, that morally things in the world are progressively getting darker and ever more under the control of the evil one. I could easily list dozens of examples.

I was looking for one last great revival to take place in the U.S. as well as world wide in order to bring in the full number of saints before Jesus returns in the clouds for His Church. I also thought that revival was most likely to take place when believers were under persecution as well as various other stresses.

But surprise, surprise, it seems God has stepped in to shake up absolutely everything in a way totally unexpected, and the demons are howling and using every dirty trick in their book to try to stop His plan.

After a long period of prayer and fasting I chose at the last moment to place my vote for Donald Trump. Frankly, before that he was at the bottom of my list. I did not believe his promises nor respect his moral history or like his name calling and bragging. However I now see that of all the Republican candidates Mr. Trump was the only person who could have made a dent in exposing the rampant deceit and corruption in government and elsewhere and is the only person who could have done what it seems God desires for our country. His election has been a true miracle and I believe that God is in ultimate control of what is happening today.

Here is what I am thinking and what I am hearing from some trusted and tested prophets (who predicted Trump's candidacy and eventual win).

Donald Trump was chosen by God to upset and wreck havoc on the plans and timeline of the evil one. He was chosen because of the spiritual history of his ancestors, his love for our country, his love for Israel, his hatred of all the insider dealings of the ruling elites in this country and worldwide, his ability to stand up to the media, his superior intellect and because he couldn't be bought.

God wanted a wrecking ball to expose and take down not only the deep seeded corruption (on both political sides) in government but also to expose and take down the enemies plans for an atheistic socialistic America. He wanted to financially bless America in the immediate years ahead. God also wanted to upset the plans of the world financial elites (many at the top who actually secretly worship the evil one) who were looking to create and then benefit from chaos in order to both enrich themselves and to form out of the recovery a global union which would benefit them. God has a plan to neutralize a bunch of countries hostile to us (like N. Korea, Iran and others), to bless other countries, and he chose Donald Trump to accomplish that.

These same prophets are saying they believe a major world wide Holy Spirit led revival is now beginning, that this year's November elections will prove to be a sweeping win for conservatives, that President Trump will win in a landslide in 2020, that President Trump will be able to place a few more justices on the Supreme Court and the next one placed will be a tremendous woman of influence (who will face even a more nasty confirmation battle). They think that there will be major shakeups in the media and other places of influence as well.

I have been praying for and believe that all of the insanity and bold face lies and secret and not so secret attempts to take down President Trump and now Judge Bret Kavanaugh will be exposed for what it truly is and will ultimately back fire.

May all evil secrets be exposed no matter where they are. May the Holy Spirit move in strength to renew hearts, to change minds and to heal all those afflicted. May God raise up a new generation who will honor Him and will be His hands and feet in the great harvest. May we all have spiritual eyes to see and spiritual ears to hear. And may God give us righteous judges in the courts and righteous men and women at all levels of government who will seek first His will and not be corrupted by greed, power and the evil spirits who inhabit the halls of power.

Who knows, our Lord may decide to come for His Church tomorrow, and if so I say - Come Lord Jesus! Or these prophets may be right and we have been granted a season of renewal before things turn sour again. If so I say - Use me Lord Jesus! Either way I am praying for truth and justice to rise up and sweep over this land.         
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Across The Mediterranean

During WWII my father flew fighter planes that also carried bombs. His unit experienced 180% casualties. If new pilots survived after a couple of weeks their odds of survival went way up and veteran pilots would finally make an effort to get to know their names. The saying then was; "There are old pilots and bold pilots but no old bold pilots".

Dad crash landed five planes. One time his plane belly landed on the make shift air strip, skidded to the end of the runway which ended at a cliff, and then went over the cliff. He said he remembered climbing up the embankment, yelling "I'm OK, I'm OK" and then waking up on his cot with no idea how he got there.

The poem below is based on a story he wrote for The Catholic Digest. It tells the story of a mission that took him from his base in North Africa, crossing the Mediterranean Sea, to Italy. This ended up being the end of the war for him.


Across The Mediterranean 

How did it feel in that brisk chilly air
above rough and deep hazy seas
on way to a coast where enemy camped
between autumn's late season trees

Head on a swivel for incoming dots
a sharpened knife strapped to your side
thoughts of the service you're missing right now
to deliver bombs for a ride

Were senses composed when load was released
then heightened while turning to leave
as flack signed it's name and an oil line ceased
did you sense life leaving your steed

When altitude dropped to four hundred feet
with cockpit jammed open to fly
your chute took one swing fore hitting the waves
were worries this was sweet goodbye

Nylon entangled then dragged down below
quick slashing each strand with your blade
inflated Mae West to battle the deep
were you wake when rescue was made

They said your fingers were glued to a pole
twenty minutes to pry away
were prayers or keen steel or new wedded life
which carried your hopes through the day

In ravages war many stories told
brave people that traveled the sky
who wondered like Dad why hate had to rise
still left for his son to ask why