Friday, September 14, 2012

How Times Have Changed


7 comments:

Byker Bob said...

When David ben Ariel passed away, I wondered what we were going to do for amusement. Clearly, there is no void. Seems like there's always someone just waiting to step into the weirdness zone.

Times do change, but, in the ACOGs it becomes a case of different time, different weirdo.

BB

Anonymous said...

Oh, BB, do you mean you agree with Solomon, who was inspired to write the following?

"The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun." Eccl 1:9

Then again there is a party represented by a bunch of elephants and another party represented by....yes, Ass's, or donkeys.

In another sense, that's a lot of miracles...

John

Anonymous said...

When an ass speaks today, it's usually an Armstrongist cult leader.

Anonymous said...

Let us bray.

Byker Bob said...

I think it's good practice, (and also edifying) to share real miracles.

Today in church, the sermon was on the methods God used in having Joshua lead the children of Israel into the promised land. Faith was a huge part of it, as God used a prostitute for part of the plan, and incapacitated all of the soldiers via circumcision just prior to the battles.

Towards the end of the sermon, the pastor stated that he wanted us to listen to a young man's story about how God helped him through the major battle of his life. The man had been a highly trained soldier in special ops, and while in Iraq, the transport he was riding in ran over two closely placed mines, which split the vehicle in two, spreading debris over 185 yards in each direction. Everyone was killed except the sharer of the story. When he awoke in the hospital, he had no feeling in his legs, was told by the doctors that he would never walk again, or be able to have children. This man had been a Christian at the time he signed up for the military, and this disaster made him ask many questions. But, he trusted God.
This all took place in 2005.

The video on the Jumbotron ended with the man telling about how God had healed him, he regained excellent usage of his legs, and several stills were shown of him playing in the park with his wife and child. We thought that was the end of the story as the screen went dark and the band began to take the stage for the final song. But, as the stage lights came back on, we saw that it was not the worship leader who began singing, it was the man whose story we had just seen! I can't even begin to describe the reaction of the congregation. I've never seen people stand up so quickly, applaud as wildly, all while having their tear ducts betray them. It was just awesome.

Just thought I'd share that as something to think about for the next time someone wants to talk about my transmission.

BB

Anonymous said...

Lets see... all the other people in that special ops dealie died.
Isn't that special!?
It's jumbotronific!

Byker Bob said...

Yes, they did die, and not knowing any of them, we are left to draw our own conclusions. Yes, it would have been wonderful if they had survived as a result of this man's faith, and I've heard some other soldier stories where that was indeed the case. What I find interesting is that the one who survived has used his testimony in such a wonderful and positive way. I mean, he's certainly not a fence sitter, is he? He leads a daily life as a responsible citizen, a mentoring father, and a good husband. Regardless as to what others might think of his belief, his daily life acts as an antidote to a lot of the bad going on around us. Isn't that what we would want of all of our family members, friends, neighbors, bosses, etc?

At least, when he had a nice opportunity to share, he didn't turn red, shuffle his feet, and mumble that a "strong hand from someplace" had helped him.

BB