America stands upon the brink of a decision this day with eternal consequences - whether she will openly embrace the sin of homosexuality and protect it with her laws, or whether she will hold to her Godly heritage.
But first let's be clear about a few things. True Christians - those who have given their lives to Jesus Christ and follow His teachings - do not hate homosexuals, nor do they fear them. True Christians hate homosexuality and fear the consequences to their society and nation. There is an enormous difference between the sinner and the sin itself, for each of us are sinners by nature. Christians hate homosexuality because God hates it. This is ABUNDANTLY clear and easily shown from His Word throughout both Old and New Testaments. God hates all sin, yet loves all sinners and desires deeply for us to come to Him in repentance and humility, but the choice is given to each individual.
Likewise, Christians recognize that marriage is an institution created and ordained by God - not Man! From the very beginning of Creation this has been so. It is specifically and explicitly designed to join one man and one woman in a life-long bond that produces offspring and, by its very nature reflects Who He is, who we are, and portrays deep spiritual truths about our relationship to God in ways which specifically require one man and one woman. This too is affirmed throughout both Old and New Testament and in the words of Jesus Himself repeatedly.
Human history is littered with the wreckage of nations that have abandoned God's moral laws and, specifically, His design for marriage. From the time before the Great Flood, to Sodom and Gomorrah, to Egypt, Greece, Rome, and so forth, one of ... perhaps THE primary trigger of the downfall of each of these empires was their abandonment of God's Laws - and homosexuality in particular. More specifically though, it is not the just immorality in general that portends the destruction of a nation, for there is always sin present in every nation. Rather it is the point at which the nation's leadership begins to publicly, officially, and even legally protect and promote such immorality. For THIS is the point at which the nation's leadership has openly and officially defied God, His design, and His laws.
Such a nation cannot long endure, and history bears this out.
America was founded upon God's laws and rose to greatness because she proudly proclaimed the Lord as her Source, Protector, and Light. Though children have been taught otherwise in public schools for decades now, even a cursory review of the actual writings of our Founding Fathers proves this in abundance. Yet in recent decades, America has increasingly drifted from her roots and her God. Her governing institutions have been systematically eradicating every public proclamation of her reliance upon God and set about erasing all traces of her historic roots in His Word (The Bible). Steadily, America's populace has softened to, not just the presence of, but the "normalcy" of homosexuality and begun to openly embrace and even promote it. I have watch with both sadness and horror, the percentages of the population opposed to open, legal, homosexual unions plummet. In many places, the majority opinion is no longer held by those who understand and respect God's design and Word. Not long ago every state in the Union held laws against homosexual acts, and the very idea that the legal institution of marriage could be perverted to apply to homosexual "unions" was so unthinkable that virtually no such legal definitions were thought necessary. But recent history has seen many states have to pass laws or constitutional amendments defining and protecting marriage as God designed it and requires.
Today however, even those states' efforts to protect the historical, Biblical definition and institution of marriage has come before the highest court in our land and are in imminent danger of being struck down permanently. Today, having already slidden far down this slippery slope of immorality and defiance of God, America stands upon the last precipice ... her last opportunity to turn back, or at least postpone, an official, legal embrace of defiance against God's most sacred institution. If America's government officially states that homosexuality is not only acceptable but protected and even promoted by law, we will have taken that last fatal step of defiantly slapping the face of God and daring Him to render judgment unto us as He did the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah ... along with every other great nation in history in who's footsteps we now tread. I emphasize again that the downfall of Sodom was not simply the sin of homosexuality, but the open condoning of it by its leadership.
In the first chapter of Romans, the Holy Spirit, through Paul the Apostle, lays this out with precision and clarity:
"For this reason God gave them up to vile passions. For even their women exchanged the natural use for what is against nature. Likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust for one another, men with men committing what is shameful, and receiving in themselves the penalty of their error which was due. And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind, to do those things which are not fitting; ... who, knowing the righteous judgment of God, that those who practice such things are deserving of death, not only do the same but also approve of those who practice them." -- Rom 1:26-32 (emphasis mine)
That last line highlights the point here ... they not only do such things but also "approve of those who practice them".
And as George Mason1 so aptly stated at the Federal Convention of 1787,
"As nations can not be rewarded or punished in the next world they must be in this. By an inevitable chain of causes & effects providence punishes national sins, by national calamities."
This is it America. Before you lies the same choice that lay before the ancient Israelites 4 millennia ago:
"And if it seems evil to you to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord." -- Joshua 24:15
To paraphrase a line from the movie Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, "You must choose. For whereas the true cup will give you eternal life, the false cup will bring death."
Choose wisely America. For Heaven's sake ... choose wisely.
- Tim -
1. [George Mason: Virginia delegate to Constitutional Convention, often regarded as "the father of the Bill of Rights"]↩
Wednesday, March 27, 2013
Sunday, March 24, 2013
Happy Palm Sunday!
A happy and blessed PALM SUNDAY to everyone!
Few Christians know the true significance of Palm Sunday in that it was Jesus' formal presentation of Himself as the Messiah to the leadership of the nation of Israel. As He rode the donkey into Jerusalem, He fulfilled multiple prophecies of the coming of the Messiah and many of the Jewish people recognized it as such singing Messianic Psalms (Ps 118, etc.) to the consternation of the Pharisees (Lk 19:39).
What even fewer Christians realize is that the exact day of this "Triumphal Entry" was given to the prophet Daniel by the Angel Gabriel more than 450 years earlier and recorded in one of the most amazing and precise prophecies of the Bible (Daniel 9:24-27). In 1894, Sir Robert Anderson (Chief of Criminal Investigation Dept. of Scotland Yard - 1888-1896) published the book "The Coming Prince" in which he detailed the calendar, archaeology, and Biblical scholarship that shows that Gabriel's prophecy was fulfilled to the exact Day on April 6, 32 A.D.
Jesus Himself confirms this in Luke 19:41-44 where He holds the nation accountable for having missed this special day of days. Even the Creation itself knew that "this [was] the Day the Lord has made..." (which is another prophecy concerning Palm Sunday, from Ps 118) as Jesus indicates that if His followers were silent, that "even the stones would cry out" in praise of the arrival of the long-awaited Messiah (Lk 19:40).
Luke 19:41-44: "Now as He drew near, He saw the city and wept over it, saying, If you had known, even you, especially in this your day, the things that make for your peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. For days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment around you, surround you and close you in on every side, and level you, and your children within you, to the ground; and they will not leave in you one stone upon another, because you did not know the time of your visitation."
Here, Jesus pronounces a national blindness ("now they are hidden") upon the Jewish people because they rejected Him on this day. Yet God has promised that He is not finished with Israel. For there will come a day, after the "fullness of the Gentiles has come in" when He will turn His face back to the nation of Israel. Paul emphasizes this heavily in Rom 9-11, but in particular verse 11:25-27 spells it out clearly:
Romans 11:25-27 "For I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own opinion, that blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written: The Deliverer will come out of Zion, And He will turn away ungodliness from Jacob; For this is My covenant with them, When I take away their sins."
Our God has always been a God who makes and keeps His promises. He is eminently trustworthy and His timing is always perfect - even when we were expecting something different or miss it entirely. Jesus is always right on time.
For more information on the 70 Week prophecy see this link:
http://www.khouse.org/articles/2004/552
Or hear Dr. Missler teach the subject personally here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PywcLTSCs60
Grace and peace to you all this Holy Week and Easter.
- Tim -
Monday, March 4, 2013
An Update From The Millers
Hi All;
It's been way too long since I've written anything here and folks have been asking how things are going. Well, things are going - sometimes it seems way too fast. Weeks and months roll by and at some point I sit up and wonder where it all went. Some of it, I'm sure is just a by-product of my new senior citizen status. There are in fact way too many of those by-products in my life right now, but I'll not go any farther down that road.
ANDREA:
Andrea has been reasonably well. Things are largely holding steady. She continues to struggle with lack of energy and "gut problems" of all types. I'll spare both her and you any further details. Her oncologist continues to blame the chemo therapy drug she takes daily. However, we know that many of these problems preceded the cancer treatments and it's been extremely difficult to sort out what's what and what we might be able to "fix" vs. what we just need to learn to live with. So we continue to try various things through our family doctor and on our own to improve what we can. She's doing her best (and succeeding) to keep up with most of the housework and Daniel's school. Her family is going through some real challenges right now and that's been stressful on all of us, but especially her. It's been a difficult situation for many years, but it appears things are rapidly building to crisis level and we're trying hard to figure out the wisest form of involvement for us to have.
Lately, she's been busily trying to plan Daniel's trip through the Children's Wish Foundation (we recently found out it was NOT the Make-A-Wish Foundation, but apparently the exact same kind of thing. Regardless, They provided Daniel with one "little wish" and one "big wish". The little one was a (rather large) Lego set early last year. And for the big one, Daniel has chosen a trip to Disney World - which is, not surprisingly, a popular choice. As he's getting much of his strength back now, we thought it would be a good time to try to get him down there. So Andrea's trying to coordinate all the permissions and paper work and timing, etc. It'll be fun to see how this all comes together. But the stories we've heard form others who have done this are just phenomenal. I think Andrea's more excited than Daniel! :-) If all goes as planned, we'll be going in early May.
DANIEL:
Daniel is also doing well. His hair is coming back in really full now and he's quite happy about that. He's NOT been very happy about the fact that it's come in very curly. Formerly, his hair was bright blond and very straight. Now it's a fairly dark brown and curly. Despite a couple of dozen people assuring him that this is going to be a big hit with the girls one day soon, he remains skeptical. We've also been glad to see him beginning to grow again in both height and weight. He's behind the curves a bit, but moving the right direction and that's a HUGE relief to me. I remain frustrated that we've never gotten any traction from the medical community as to why he was completely stunted in both height and weight gain for two to three years, but at this point, it appear we never will. Unfortunately, much of his weight gain has been the result of gaining disproportionate pounds - probably as a result of ongoing steroid treatments. Though both the dosage and frequency are greatly reduced in the current Maintenance phase, he's once again putting on quite a bit of weight. Some of it is likely from simply being house-bound in the dead of winter. I've been extremely cautious about letting either one of them out with as bad as the cold and flu season has been this year. For awhile, it seemed EVERYONE was sick and I was terrified to let either of them out of the house. But by the grace of God, we've made it through largely unscathed to date ... well until today, but I'll come back to that. Daniel has been slowly increasing his involvement again in both his weekly home school co-op and the church's AWANA program. He's doing very well in (home) school and excels at Math. Last weekend, we attended the Heroes Foundation Gala / fund raiser downtown where Daniel was invited to be a V.I.P. representative of Team Joey - a program that raises support for both cancer research and cancer patients. The Team Joey component was created in honor of Joey Keller's legacy, our friend who lost his battle with brain cancer last November. Daniel took the stage with Colts coach Chuck Pagano (who's fighting leukemia himself), radio personality and former pro football player Joe Staysniak, and Heroes Foundation founder Vince Todd during the evening and thoroughly enjoyed himself. It was his first formal event and we had to get him a suit for the occasion. He loved dressing up and proved himself a natural "schmoozer". I was in awe!! There must have been a dozen different women fawning over him afterward and telling him how special (and cute) he was. As a V.I.P. he'll be delivering toys (mostly Legos) to other cancer patients on behalf of the foundation.
His chemotherapy is still a daily routine with a few different drugs he takes daily (along with various vitamins & supplements), but the clinic visits are down to once-a-month and will remain so until we're finished in the spring of 2015, God willing. It's a 3-month repeating schedule where 2 of the 3 months include a spinal tap & injection at the clinic visit. He hates those with a passion ... and so do his mother & I. But this is the course we've chosen to follow and, right or wrong, it's the one I believe best. I remain open and often searching for any word from the Lord that would release us from continuing down this road, but until it comes, we will stay the course we're on. Yet it doesn't stop the almost daily heart-ache at having to put my son through all we've done and all that lies ahead. We rely regularly on Romans 8:28!
ME:
For myself, things have remained busy. VERY busy. I'm down to the last couple of weeks in teaching my Systematic Theology class with Water-To-Wine. It's been enjoyable, but actually much more work than I anticipated. Things at work have continued at a fairly steady pace and the job itself remains enjoyable overall. I'm extremely happy to be in a job at all, especially one with good health insurance. The fact that it's also largely enjoyable has been a huge blessing. Not having to deal with past stresses and simply dreading going into work every day in the midst of all we've gone through in the last couple years has been of immeasurable value. I thank God regularly for that!
In the past couple weeks, we've finalized plans to start up another weekly Bible study that I'll be teaching at our friends the Rikker's house. We did this for several years awhile back and it was a fantastic blessing. We still count those folks among our closest friends and we're very much looking forward to getting most of the old group together again as well as some new faces. I'll be teaching Genesis (which is actually where we left off when the group ended several years ago) which is always a favorite for me. So despite the fact of having two studies going for a brief overlap coupled with a busy work schedule, trying to keep up with the house and some remodeling projects, and several family problems right now, the next few weeks are looking a bit challenging!
Right on cue, as we finalized plans for the new study over the weekend, I came down with what appears to be laryngitis. It's like clockwork. It was the same month in which I agreed to teach with Water-To-Wine that Daniel was diagnosed with Leukemia last year. I was teaching Genesis as my first course in fact. Before that, it was while teaching this same group at the Rikkers' house that I had an eye infection that had me out of work for the better part of 4 months and ended up with corneal replacement surgery. When I got through that and eventually started teaching Genesis, the group disbanded. It's always something - especially when teaching Genesis. The warfare that comes with any form of ministry is intense. Teaching the Bible is obviously something our enemy hates vehemently ... and Genesis in particular for lots good of reasons! I believe it was Martin Luther who said something to the effect that, "anyone who doesn't believe the devil exists need only try resisting him!" Amen to that!
PRAYER REQUESTS:
1. So we could ALL use your continued prayers. The road ahead remains challenging in lots of ways, but we're also very relieved that it seems the worst is behind us (famous last words, I know).
2. I would like to specifically ask for your prayers for myself in the next few weeks as I try to juggle a lot of plates and keep healthy. Please pray for this throat infection in particular.
3. We could also use your prayers for several family members also going through some real difficulties right now - as well as wisdom on our part in how best to help them.
4. Lastly, I'd like to pass on a special prayer request for another family that a friend recently brought to my attention. They are a Christian family who immigrated to Indiana from Iraq last year because of the intense persecution of Christians there. Their son Lowees (Luis), who is 12, has been diagnosed with an aggressive form of lymphatic cancer (Burkitt's Lymphoma) and is undergoing chemotherapy at Riley. Having been in the states for only a very short time, they don't have a lot of connections yet much less having to adapt to a new culture. Learning to navigate the medical system is challenging enough. While learning a new language, culture, living situation, and all the rest at the same time is just unimaginable. I was also informed that Lowees' father recently lost his job here and is struggling with depression. They certainly need our prayers. I'll pass on more info as it comes.
Thanks everyone for your ongoing love, support, and prayers. You have been God's hands, feet, and voice to us more times than I can possibly count or even acknowledge. And above all, we thank our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ Who's love, faithfulness, peace and comfort through these times has sustained us in every way. To Him be the glory in all things.
Grace and peace,
- Tim, Andrea, & Daniel -
It's been way too long since I've written anything here and folks have been asking how things are going. Well, things are going - sometimes it seems way too fast. Weeks and months roll by and at some point I sit up and wonder where it all went. Some of it, I'm sure is just a by-product of my new senior citizen status. There are in fact way too many of those by-products in my life right now, but I'll not go any farther down that road.
ANDREA:
Andrea has been reasonably well. Things are largely holding steady. She continues to struggle with lack of energy and "gut problems" of all types. I'll spare both her and you any further details. Her oncologist continues to blame the chemo therapy drug she takes daily. However, we know that many of these problems preceded the cancer treatments and it's been extremely difficult to sort out what's what and what we might be able to "fix" vs. what we just need to learn to live with. So we continue to try various things through our family doctor and on our own to improve what we can. She's doing her best (and succeeding) to keep up with most of the housework and Daniel's school. Her family is going through some real challenges right now and that's been stressful on all of us, but especially her. It's been a difficult situation for many years, but it appears things are rapidly building to crisis level and we're trying hard to figure out the wisest form of involvement for us to have.
Lately, she's been busily trying to plan Daniel's trip through the Children's Wish Foundation (we recently found out it was NOT the Make-A-Wish Foundation, but apparently the exact same kind of thing. Regardless, They provided Daniel with one "little wish" and one "big wish". The little one was a (rather large) Lego set early last year. And for the big one, Daniel has chosen a trip to Disney World - which is, not surprisingly, a popular choice. As he's getting much of his strength back now, we thought it would be a good time to try to get him down there. So Andrea's trying to coordinate all the permissions and paper work and timing, etc. It'll be fun to see how this all comes together. But the stories we've heard form others who have done this are just phenomenal. I think Andrea's more excited than Daniel! :-) If all goes as planned, we'll be going in early May.
DANIEL:
Daniel is also doing well. His hair is coming back in really full now and he's quite happy about that. He's NOT been very happy about the fact that it's come in very curly. Formerly, his hair was bright blond and very straight. Now it's a fairly dark brown and curly. Despite a couple of dozen people assuring him that this is going to be a big hit with the girls one day soon, he remains skeptical. We've also been glad to see him beginning to grow again in both height and weight. He's behind the curves a bit, but moving the right direction and that's a HUGE relief to me. I remain frustrated that we've never gotten any traction from the medical community as to why he was completely stunted in both height and weight gain for two to three years, but at this point, it appear we never will. Unfortunately, much of his weight gain has been the result of gaining disproportionate pounds - probably as a result of ongoing steroid treatments. Though both the dosage and frequency are greatly reduced in the current Maintenance phase, he's once again putting on quite a bit of weight. Some of it is likely from simply being house-bound in the dead of winter. I've been extremely cautious about letting either one of them out with as bad as the cold and flu season has been this year. For awhile, it seemed EVERYONE was sick and I was terrified to let either of them out of the house. But by the grace of God, we've made it through largely unscathed to date ... well until today, but I'll come back to that. Daniel has been slowly increasing his involvement again in both his weekly home school co-op and the church's AWANA program. He's doing very well in (home) school and excels at Math. Last weekend, we attended the Heroes Foundation Gala / fund raiser downtown where Daniel was invited to be a V.I.P. representative of Team Joey - a program that raises support for both cancer research and cancer patients. The Team Joey component was created in honor of Joey Keller's legacy, our friend who lost his battle with brain cancer last November. Daniel took the stage with Colts coach Chuck Pagano (who's fighting leukemia himself), radio personality and former pro football player Joe Staysniak, and Heroes Foundation founder Vince Todd during the evening and thoroughly enjoyed himself. It was his first formal event and we had to get him a suit for the occasion. He loved dressing up and proved himself a natural "schmoozer". I was in awe!! There must have been a dozen different women fawning over him afterward and telling him how special (and cute) he was. As a V.I.P. he'll be delivering toys (mostly Legos) to other cancer patients on behalf of the foundation.
His chemotherapy is still a daily routine with a few different drugs he takes daily (along with various vitamins & supplements), but the clinic visits are down to once-a-month and will remain so until we're finished in the spring of 2015, God willing. It's a 3-month repeating schedule where 2 of the 3 months include a spinal tap & injection at the clinic visit. He hates those with a passion ... and so do his mother & I. But this is the course we've chosen to follow and, right or wrong, it's the one I believe best. I remain open and often searching for any word from the Lord that would release us from continuing down this road, but until it comes, we will stay the course we're on. Yet it doesn't stop the almost daily heart-ache at having to put my son through all we've done and all that lies ahead. We rely regularly on Romans 8:28!
ME:
For myself, things have remained busy. VERY busy. I'm down to the last couple of weeks in teaching my Systematic Theology class with Water-To-Wine. It's been enjoyable, but actually much more work than I anticipated. Things at work have continued at a fairly steady pace and the job itself remains enjoyable overall. I'm extremely happy to be in a job at all, especially one with good health insurance. The fact that it's also largely enjoyable has been a huge blessing. Not having to deal with past stresses and simply dreading going into work every day in the midst of all we've gone through in the last couple years has been of immeasurable value. I thank God regularly for that!
In the past couple weeks, we've finalized plans to start up another weekly Bible study that I'll be teaching at our friends the Rikker's house. We did this for several years awhile back and it was a fantastic blessing. We still count those folks among our closest friends and we're very much looking forward to getting most of the old group together again as well as some new faces. I'll be teaching Genesis (which is actually where we left off when the group ended several years ago) which is always a favorite for me. So despite the fact of having two studies going for a brief overlap coupled with a busy work schedule, trying to keep up with the house and some remodeling projects, and several family problems right now, the next few weeks are looking a bit challenging!
Right on cue, as we finalized plans for the new study over the weekend, I came down with what appears to be laryngitis. It's like clockwork. It was the same month in which I agreed to teach with Water-To-Wine that Daniel was diagnosed with Leukemia last year. I was teaching Genesis as my first course in fact. Before that, it was while teaching this same group at the Rikkers' house that I had an eye infection that had me out of work for the better part of 4 months and ended up with corneal replacement surgery. When I got through that and eventually started teaching Genesis, the group disbanded. It's always something - especially when teaching Genesis. The warfare that comes with any form of ministry is intense. Teaching the Bible is obviously something our enemy hates vehemently ... and Genesis in particular for lots good of reasons! I believe it was Martin Luther who said something to the effect that, "anyone who doesn't believe the devil exists need only try resisting him!" Amen to that!
PRAYER REQUESTS:
1. So we could ALL use your continued prayers. The road ahead remains challenging in lots of ways, but we're also very relieved that it seems the worst is behind us (famous last words, I know).
2. I would like to specifically ask for your prayers for myself in the next few weeks as I try to juggle a lot of plates and keep healthy. Please pray for this throat infection in particular.
3. We could also use your prayers for several family members also going through some real difficulties right now - as well as wisdom on our part in how best to help them.
4. Lastly, I'd like to pass on a special prayer request for another family that a friend recently brought to my attention. They are a Christian family who immigrated to Indiana from Iraq last year because of the intense persecution of Christians there. Their son Lowees (Luis), who is 12, has been diagnosed with an aggressive form of lymphatic cancer (Burkitt's Lymphoma) and is undergoing chemotherapy at Riley. Having been in the states for only a very short time, they don't have a lot of connections yet much less having to adapt to a new culture. Learning to navigate the medical system is challenging enough. While learning a new language, culture, living situation, and all the rest at the same time is just unimaginable. I was also informed that Lowees' father recently lost his job here and is struggling with depression. They certainly need our prayers. I'll pass on more info as it comes.
Thanks everyone for your ongoing love, support, and prayers. You have been God's hands, feet, and voice to us more times than I can possibly count or even acknowledge. And above all, we thank our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ Who's love, faithfulness, peace and comfort through these times has sustained us in every way. To Him be the glory in all things.
Grace and peace,
- Tim, Andrea, & Daniel -
Sunday, January 20, 2013
2012-13 New Year’s Letter
Family and Friends;
Greetings! We hope you’ve had a wonderful Christmas and
holiday season. 2012 was an
eventful year to say the least. It’s been a challenge for us to even get this
letter out! Yet we wanted to try to sum
up the way each of us experienced these past 12 months and, in some way, to say
thank you to all who have been a part of it with us – through your prayers, help,
encouragement, and thoughts. We’ve
appreciated each one of you through both the dark times and the
highlights. Thank you all!
TIM’S CORNER
 | |
| The Miller School of Chivalry |
As I write this (Jan 2nd), I
recall a year ago at this time when Daniel was suffering daily, horrible head
and body aches, frequent fevers, and I was in near panic searching for any possible
forms of treatment - traditional, chiropractic, holistic, or faith healing for
some kind of answers for Daniel. The events that followed in the next few days
changed our lives forever.
Page Training
For the past couple years, I’d
been designing a program to be more “intentional” in my father-son time with
Daniel. It would focus on activities
ranging from Bible study, to learning crafts & trades, to P.E., to
developing character virtues and manners using the theme of “chivalry” to progress
through ranks from “Page” to “Squire” to
“Knight”. On Jan 1st, 2012 we
inducted Daniel into the “Miller School of Knighthood and Chivalry”
after taking his oath and signing his “Page’s Pledge”. He received an honorary dagger and a
“Certificate of Induction”. (See picture
links at the end)
An Unexpected
Change in Character Development Curriculum:
However, we had no sooner gotten started
when my curriculum took an unexpected detour.
On 1/5, we had a doctor's appt. at Riley hospital. I’d been extremely frustrated with previous
doctors’ inaction and expressed to her the seriousness of Daniel’s
symptoms. She listened to me and we
began with some blood tests The
appointment ended and I went back to work.
A few hours later, she left a message telling me that she was concerned
about the test results and had scheduled an appointment the next morning for a
bone marrow biopsy. I was pleased that
she was being “proactive” but I’m glad I didn’t understand the implications of
her ordering that test or I wouldn’t have gotten any sleep.
The next morning, we were back at
Riley for a bone marrow test. The
doctors met with us in the recovery room and broke the news ... Daniel had Acute
Lymphoblastic Leukemia (A.L.L. for short) – cancer of the bone marrow. It was similar to Andrea’s C.M.L. diagnosis
from a couple of years prior, but the treatment would be very different – full
blown chemotherapy. He was immediately
admitted to the hospital and surgery was planned for the following morning to
install a “port” (an under-the-skin pin cushion) in his chest through which
they would administer the hundreds of injections and blood draws over the
coming months along with the first spinal tap.
We cried – all of us. Our world stopped, spun backward awhile, and
then flipped upside down. Breathing
became a labor-intensive process. We
phoned, texted, and emailed family and friends.
And I wrote my first blog entry on http://timmillersblog.blogspot.com
titled “Jan 6, 2012 - A Date of Infamy”. The doctors told us how he would be “immune
compromised” for the next 3 years or more and we began to learn the lingo,
process, and what our lives were going to look like for a long time. We learned how to monitor his health, about
new diets and drug restrictions, and how to protect him from infections …
especially molds & fungi. I
instantly thought about the lousy old carpets in our house that we hadn’t yet
been able to afford to replace. More
than once, I’d discovered mold hiding under it during repairs. So I decided I would rip them out now and
just put sealer on the underlayment until we could replace the actual flooring
later when we had the time and money. I
wouldn’t allow Daniel into the house until everything was at least sealed. But I knew tearing out all that carpet,
cleaning, and sealing was going to be a huge job – especially while trying to
keep up at work and spending huge amounts of time at the hospital.
God Comes Through:
 |
| Daniel at Riley Hospital |
God showed up early in all of this
though. Of course, He’d never really
left! We were immediately surrounded by
family, friends, and a constantly growing army of people willing to help. My folks volunteered to let us stay at their
place until I deemed the house safe enough for Daniel. We were admitted to the hospital on Fri
1/6. On Sunday morning (1/8), I made a
brief Facebook petition for volunteers that afternoon to help me start pulling
up carpet – I would be home by about 2:30. Most people I knew were at church and
unlikely to see the post until much later.
I headed home about 2p. By the
time I got there, my driveway and entire front yard was filled with cars. I never counted, but figure about 20-30
people showed up - one even drove up from Kentucky to help! When I walked in, the job was nearly
done. They boxed up our Christmas
decorations, moved the furniture from 3 rooms, and tore up the carpet, padding,
and tack strips from every room. Already
home, Andrea was overwhelmed with trying to direct the work, or answer many of
the questions. I left instructions, and scrambled
to the store to pick up enough sealer to do the whole 1st floor. Andrea ordered pizzas, and then headed back
to the hospital to be with Daniel. By the time I returned almost everyone was gone
and all the carpet, pad, and tack strips were loaded into my trailer. “Awesome” doesn’t cover it. A job I expected to take at weeks was done in
a couple hours. It was only the first of
MANY blessings God would be sending our way.
With the help of other great
friends over the next 2 weeks, I was able to purchase and install laminate
flooring in most of the first floor (all except the hallway & entry which
will require some repair first). I
blocked off the Family room from the dogs, bought a special air purifier, and
made it Daniel’s room for the foreseeable future. With the new easy-to-clean laminate flooring,
no stairs, and immediate access to a bathroom and small entertainment center,
it was a much better choice for him than his bedroom. This set up remained largely unchanged
throughout 2012.
A Very Long Year:
 |
| Daniel & Papaw after the State Fair |
The year has consisted mostly of
innumerable trips to Riley Hospital, mid-night ER visits with fevers, many scheduled
& unscheduled hospital admissions, learning to give chemo drugs at home,
and my working some horrendous hours at work trying to make up for all the time
at the hospital. But through what can
only be described as another miracle of God’s timing and providence, my
employer has been wonderful. Not only
has the work been mostly enjoyable, but the insurance is considerably better
than any of my previous employers, and my boss and team have been incredibly
accommodating with my work schedule.
It’s meant precious little time at home with the family in the evenings
and that’s been hard on everyone. Daniel
complains he never sees me anymore even though we’ve probably actually spent
more time together this year than several previous years – it’s just all been in
hospital rooms on fold-out chairs, often with him asleep. My clearest memories of this past year
revolve around endless hours of research; long sleepless nights of alarms, and
nurses, and urinals, back massages, endless McDonalds food, uncountable
Facebook/CaringBridge/blog entries; and prayer … lots and lots and lots of
PRAYER.
Some FUN Along the Way:
 |
| Daniel's 1st Small Plane Flight |
There were of course MANY other
things happening this year too –there were also good times & fun
activities. In Feb and March, I taught a
class in Genesis at a local Bible college and currently teaching a class in Systematic
Theology in the evenings. In March a
number of our musician friends put on a benefit concert for Daniel to raise
awareness and money to help with his medical bills. We were blown away at the response and the
generosity of those who performed (some coming from other states!) and those
who attended. In May, Rolls-Royce
sponsored several cancer patients at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway for
Carburetion Day. It was Daniel’s first time to the Track! He was given a huge duffle bag
filled with gifts, and visits from the drivers and the Mayor. In June, Daniel & I visited the Air Force
Museum in Dayton. In July a friend from work, and fellow pilot,
flew us to Greensburg
for dinner – it was Daniel’s first flight in a small plane (since Daniel’s own dad hasn’t been flying since
he was born!) In Sept, I was invited
back to Lawrence United Methodist Church, for their 175th anniv. (I had
been a Youth Pastor and on several committees & boards there for many years). In Oct, we attended two Renaissance Faires – and
in Nov, Andrea put together a wonderful surprise birthday party for my 50th. She also collected nearly 50 personal notes
from friends and family and put them into a binder for me. It’s one of my most prized-possessions.
Joey:
 | |
| Daniel & Joey Keller at Joey's 9th bday pty |
In July, we attended the 9th
birthday party of a very dear friend of ours named Joey Keller. Daniel and Joey had met in our homeschool
co-op. Joey had been battling a very
serious form of brain cancer for the past couple of years and so they became
much closer when Daniel was also diagnosed with cancer. Over the past year, our paths crossed frequently
with the Kellers and we often exchanged experiences and MANY prayers for one
another. We got to know one another much
better. Joey became markedly worse in
October and we began praying very often for them as a family. I felt led to set up some on-line prayer
vigils to schedule people to pray around-the-clock for the Kellers during some
of the worst times. Joey recovered briefly
and our hopes soared. But after a couple of weeks his cancer returned and his
condition deteriorated rapidly. He went
home to be with the Lord on 11/18 and we were all absolutely devastated. Having fought constantly against this very
nightmare ourselves for the past 11 months only to watch it happen to our
friends Nick and Elizabeth cannot be expressed in words. We continue to solicit your prayers for them
and Joey’s grandparents as well.
Thank You!
There are many more people to whom
we owe a debt of gratitude than I could ever write thank you notes to this
year, but again here I will express my deepest and most sincere gratitude to
the many who have come alongside us this year.
From helping with the house, to bringing food, to financial gifts, to
going shopping with or for us, to the fathomless amounts of prayer which has
gone up on our behalf … thank you! And
may the Lord richly bless you as only He can in the coming year.
ANDREA’S
CORNER
As you have seen, this year has
been one of stretching, growing, crying, and above all else, trusting in the
Lord. Never in a million years would I
have thought our son would get Leukemia also.
Tim and I have both frequently said that if we could trade places with
Daniel we would in a heart-beat! But,
for whatever reason, this is the road we are on.
Our new “normal” has been changed
for years yet to come. I never expected
to spend Valentine’s Day, Easter, and Mother’s Day at Riley hospital with
either clinic appointments, or admissions due to fevers. Nurses, needles, hospital lingo, etc. have
all become common-place for us now. I
still remember walking through a grocery store once, looking at the “healthy”
kids, and wanting to scream inside, “it’s not fair!” But, if I am honest with myself, I have to
admit I have seen our family draw closer, and grow more this year than ever
before. The outpouring of love and help
from our brothers and sisters in Christ has been overwhelming! All the meals, help with cleaning, running of
errands, financial help, and especially the prayers have been our life-line this
past year. The growth and maturity I
have seen in our son as he gone down this path has been humbling, and makes
this momma’s heart swell!
I’ve struggled with my own health
issues during all this too. I started
seeing a new holistic Dr. and he has me taking a fistful of vitamins now daily. Some have helped, but I struggle daily with
low energy levels, body aches and pains, and stomach issues. A lot of it may be side-effects of the oral
chemo drug I take, and will be on the rest of my life. This year I became a distributor
for Young Living Essential Oils, and
have found some to be helpful at helping me keep from catching bugs so easily. I had a sleep study this spring and was also diagnosed
with Fibromyalgia, and Sleep Apnea. I
still haven’t done much to address these issues. This spring I developed a bad case of Planter
Fascitis in my left heel, and am seeing a podiatrist. Walking is very painful most of the time
now.
But despite of all the health
issues, we’ve managed to have some fun this year! We had play days, trips to the park, and pool
days this summer. In the Spring my
cousin Ed from Tampa was here a couple of times on business, and one of them both
he and my cousin Kammie and her family from Evansville were over for
dinner. I was so happy to get to spend
time with them! We finally made it to
the State Fair with the Grandparents and cousins and Daniel had a ball.
Unfortunately shortly afterward Daniel got the flu (probably at the fair) and
ended up back in the hospital for several days.
We spent Labor Day weekend at Turkey Run Inn while friends from church
camped. We were giving Daniel his last
at-home IV chemo treatments in the hotel!
In spite of the heat and rain we had a great time. Daniel also had fun dressing up for Halloween
this year as a character from one of his video games. He looked great, and had fun
trick-or-treating with our dear friends the Loobies. We also got in our annual trip to the pumpkin
patch, and Daniel and I went to the Headless Horseman hayride at Conner Prairie
for the first time. We had hoped to spend Thanksgiving in Iowa, but with the sad news of the passing
of our dear friend Joey Keller, attending his Celebration service the day after
Thanksgiving had to be our priority. We
still enjoyed a delicious meal with Tim’s family and extended cousins at a
local restaurant. In mid-December we
celebrated our 23rd anniversary in Nashville, IN and enjoyed walking
around town, touring Oliver Winery, and seeing “The Hobbit.” Daniel and I both had pretty bad colds, but
we still had a great Christmas with the family.
We continue to homeschool Daniel,
and that has been a huge blessing with our schedule now. Daniel would have missed so much time if he
were in public schools, but finished 4th grade just a couple weeks
past our normal time. So far 5th grade hasn’t been far behind
normal, and Daniel is doing well with his studies. Having had to miss most of the second
semester of co-op and AWANA 2nd semester last year, it’s been nice
to be involved again this school year.
He’s missed some meetings due to low blood counts, and the bugs going
around, but has been able to participate a little more recently. We got rid of our chickens and miss the fresh
eggs, but couldn’t keep up with their care with all going on this past
year. We still have our two dogs, Diezel
and Samson, who have lovingly been by our sides through thick and thin. This year has been a stretch for them as
well! We briefly had a pet garter snake,
but released her this fall back to the woods.
Our newest family member is Daniel’s Leopard Gecko named Draco. We’re hoping
and praying that 2013 will be a “healthier” year for the Miller family, and
that we will continue to grow ever closer to the Lord and to each other as we
continue this journey together.
DANIEL’S CORNER
This past year has been the most
intense year of my life. The worst
things were being diagnosed with A.L.L., which was the worst of all, and all
that came with it – getting the port installed, all the shots, spinals, chemo
drugs, bone marrow tests, being admitted to the hospital so many times, not
being able to have play days (because of low counts or having to stay away from
others who might be sick), and not being able to eat many of the foods or
places I like to eat, and losing my hair.
Although they were very hard, tough, intense, and stressful, I’ve made
it through, I’m OK, and now that I’m in the Maintenance phase, things should go
smoothly.
 |
| Christmas at Tim's folks' |
Other than all the bad things,
I’ve had a fairly good year. I’ve gotten
many presents and surprises, such as my Nintendo DSi (which Dad would have
NEVER let me have if it wasn’t for Riley), my “small” Make-A-Wish Foundation
gift (a giant LEGO Star Wars ship with an eight-legged tank), making several
new friends in the cancer ward at Riley, getting to know Joey Keller better,
and the nurses – some of whom I’d almost consider to be close friends now, and
many new LEGO sets. We had a great
Christmas this year, and I can hardly believe I’m 11 years old now. I actually feel older this year – taller,
stronger, and more mature. I always
remember looking up to others who were 11 years old, and now I’m 11 and I want
to be the kind of person I most appreciated in older boys when I was
young. I remember certain friends who
never left me out or walked away from me when I was littler than them and I
remember how that made me feel.
This year, I’ve also learned a lot
spiritually. I’ve learned a lot about
spiritual warfare, and my dad taught me how to visualize Jesus sitting next to
me and I use that a lot when I’m fighting depression or feeling anxious, or
sometimes just to have Him with me. I
look forward to my hair coming back in to be as long as it was before. I hope everyone else had a good year last
year and will have a great year in 2013.
I’d like to say a big thank you to everyone for all the great presents,
cards, games, visits, and those who looked after me (especially the one who
brought cookies!) Thank You!
Wishing you all the very best in 2013,
Tim, Andrea, Daniel,
(Samson, Diezel, and Draco)
To see our "Best of 2012" Photo Album, please visit one of the following links:
Facebook: (small size. No account needed)
Picasaweb:(full size. No account needed)
Other
Miller Links:
Daniel’s Caring Bridge
site here:
Tim’s
Facebook page:
Andrea’s
Facebook page:
Saturday, January 5, 2013
Remembering A Year Ago Today
It's hard to believe. It seems at once like it was only a month ago and
also like 10 years ago. But exactly one year ago on this day (the 5th
as I write this), Daniel went in for a scheduled doctor visit to a
specialist at Riley Hospital for Children. He'd been having a lot of
awful symptoms for a month or more and I had had it with waiting around
on doctors to take us seriously. I let this doctor have an ear full
of my frustration and she patiently listened to me and, thankfully, took
me seriously. She ordered an immediate blood test and called me back
within a few hours after I'd returned to work. She said she'd
taken the liberty of scheduling another appointment for us the
following morning for a bone marrow biopsy. I was happy she was being
so proactive. Little did I know what she suspected.
The next day, Friday 1/6/2012, the biopsy test came back positive for leukemia and our entire world stopped cold. My first blog entry here tells the story, titled, "Jan 6, 2012 - A Date of Infamy". What a year it's been. We're still trying to put together our "Christmas Letter". I guess it's a "New Year's Letter" now, but it'll be out soon I promise. (I'll post it here as well).
Tonight as I tucked Daniel into bed, I'm still checking his temperature, asking how he feels, and find myself fighting the urge to panic at every cough, or ache, or decision to go to bed early. I do my best never to show TOO much concern and to temper it with a few "manly" father-to-son responses such as: "Ahh - suck it up boy", or "Walk it off - you'll be fine". But if I'm candid with myself (and you: my dear blog readers), the truth is it's a constant battle with anxiety and fear. Watching the Kellers go through the hell they endured has certainly had an enormous effect on me as well.
This year has been filled with MANY lessons - most of which I'm probably not even aware of. But if I were to name the single, greatest, most persistent challenge that's plagued me (and I presume Andrea as well, but I'll only speak for myself here) it's been the control of FEAR.
Fear is the enemy. Fear is a sin. Fear is our mind saying to God, "I don't trust You with the future. Deep down I think You either can't or won't do what's best for me". The Bible has a great deal to say about Fear. It is insidious, and must be stopped at its very onset, for the longer it continues, the tighter its hold becomes on your soul ... I know. When the Word instructs us to "take every thought captive unto the obedience of Christ" (2 Cor 10:5) it's providing us with very specific and practical instructions for dealing with such thoughts as Fear and Anxiety that can ensnare us. I'm not here to tell you I've become good at this. I haven't. But I'm better than I was a year ago today and I thank God for these lessons along the way.
That following day, Jan 6th, was easily one of the worst days of my life. I'm not sure it tops the list, but it's in the top 3 for sure! Yet God was with us every step of the way and He remains with us today. As we settle in to sleep tonight, our lives are no more or less secure than they have been on any other day. Our sense of "security" and "normalcy" is a complete illusion except insofar as it is based in the faith that God controls all things. Some of what God brings to us we enjoy, some we do not, but we can be sure ... we MUST be sure ... "that ALL things work together for good" (Rom 8:28) when we give our lives to Him. This year has seemed like one gigantic test of whether we truly believe that to be true. Some days have been better than others to be sure. But we do know, that only when we rest in Him is there any real and lasting peace, joy, comfort, rest, or security. Gradually, I'm learning to do this. Learning to trust God in ALL things - even with the life of my only son - is among the most challenging tasks I've ever been given, yet it is also clearly among the most important and eternally significant lessons any of us can learn ... ever.
We will be "celebrating" the completion of the first and, we pray, the hardest year of Daniel's chemotherapy on Monday. It's been a difficult road, but we've been amazingly, astoundingly blessed over and over and over by God's grace, His providence, His comfort, and His love directly to us as well as through so many of His wonderful people who have gathered around us. We thank you all and we thank God for all He has done, and all He continues to do.
Grace and peace to all;
- Tim -
The next day, Friday 1/6/2012, the biopsy test came back positive for leukemia and our entire world stopped cold. My first blog entry here tells the story, titled, "Jan 6, 2012 - A Date of Infamy". What a year it's been. We're still trying to put together our "Christmas Letter". I guess it's a "New Year's Letter" now, but it'll be out soon I promise. (I'll post it here as well).
Tonight as I tucked Daniel into bed, I'm still checking his temperature, asking how he feels, and find myself fighting the urge to panic at every cough, or ache, or decision to go to bed early. I do my best never to show TOO much concern and to temper it with a few "manly" father-to-son responses such as: "Ahh - suck it up boy", or "Walk it off - you'll be fine". But if I'm candid with myself (and you: my dear blog readers), the truth is it's a constant battle with anxiety and fear. Watching the Kellers go through the hell they endured has certainly had an enormous effect on me as well.
This year has been filled with MANY lessons - most of which I'm probably not even aware of. But if I were to name the single, greatest, most persistent challenge that's plagued me (and I presume Andrea as well, but I'll only speak for myself here) it's been the control of FEAR.
Fear is the enemy. Fear is a sin. Fear is our mind saying to God, "I don't trust You with the future. Deep down I think You either can't or won't do what's best for me". The Bible has a great deal to say about Fear. It is insidious, and must be stopped at its very onset, for the longer it continues, the tighter its hold becomes on your soul ... I know. When the Word instructs us to "take every thought captive unto the obedience of Christ" (2 Cor 10:5) it's providing us with very specific and practical instructions for dealing with such thoughts as Fear and Anxiety that can ensnare us. I'm not here to tell you I've become good at this. I haven't. But I'm better than I was a year ago today and I thank God for these lessons along the way.
That following day, Jan 6th, was easily one of the worst days of my life. I'm not sure it tops the list, but it's in the top 3 for sure! Yet God was with us every step of the way and He remains with us today. As we settle in to sleep tonight, our lives are no more or less secure than they have been on any other day. Our sense of "security" and "normalcy" is a complete illusion except insofar as it is based in the faith that God controls all things. Some of what God brings to us we enjoy, some we do not, but we can be sure ... we MUST be sure ... "that ALL things work together for good" (Rom 8:28) when we give our lives to Him. This year has seemed like one gigantic test of whether we truly believe that to be true. Some days have been better than others to be sure. But we do know, that only when we rest in Him is there any real and lasting peace, joy, comfort, rest, or security. Gradually, I'm learning to do this. Learning to trust God in ALL things - even with the life of my only son - is among the most challenging tasks I've ever been given, yet it is also clearly among the most important and eternally significant lessons any of us can learn ... ever.
We will be "celebrating" the completion of the first and, we pray, the hardest year of Daniel's chemotherapy on Monday. It's been a difficult road, but we've been amazingly, astoundingly blessed over and over and over by God's grace, His providence, His comfort, and His love directly to us as well as through so many of His wonderful people who have gathered around us. We thank you all and we thank God for all He has done, and all He continues to do.
Grace and peace to all;
- Tim -
Saturday, December 22, 2012
Our Desperate Need for Christmas
America's current state strikingly illustrates our desperate need for Christmas. Let it not be lost on us this season, as the very tragedies we are reeling from as a nation are precisely the reason why there is a Christmas. For if we continue to fail to make that connection, we are lost ... as a nation, and as individuals. The stakes could not be higher.
As my recent Facebook posts illustrate, I am NOT a fan of gun control. I believe very strongly that we have enough gun control laws already ... far too many actually. What is needed is not more controls (which have no effect upon criminals anyway), but rather internal controls ... aka "SELF-control" ... and self-control will never come through governments or laws. Self-control only comes through good parenting and the development of sound inward convictions - both of which must be based on a solid moral foundation and upon the principle of personal accountability for one's actions.
Ultimately, this means the Judgment of God ... in a word: HELL. Without understanding that there exists a Holy, Perfect, All-knowing, and All-powerful Judge and that there are eternal consequences to our behavior ... sin ... there will never be any basis or motivation for personal responsibility (not to mention a defendable basis for our legal system) or self-control.
Despite what our children are being taught today, our nation was in fact conceived, founded, built, and administered upon the moral code of God found in the Judeo-Christian Scriptures. It is the basis for our Declaration of Independence, our Constitution, our Legal System, and even the very "triune" structure of our government. For nearly 200 years, America was run in such a way as to recognize and magnify God as our Creator, Judge, and Provider. We taught our children the moral laws of God in public schools (and spanked them when they misbehaved!); we held our citizens accountable to them through our legal system; and our churches openly and clearly taught the Biblical foundations of accountability and consequence both in this life and the next for our choices - as individuals and as a nation. This is not to say that people weren't allowed to practice the religion of their choice, they have always been. But our laws and culture are based on the Bible. Period. The practice of other religions has always been free only insofar as it has not contradicted the laws of America - which are based on the Law of God.
Today however, in a staggeringly rapid and accelerating fall from all that once made us great, our government, schools, and even churches have walked, nay RUN, away from even acknowledging, much less teaching these values and principles. We have eradicated them from our schools, stricken them from our laws, reinterpreted our own Constitution, and banned the public display of even the symbols of these great principles and truths.
Yet, God's laws have not changed, for they are based on His nature and character which is immutable and timeless.
Sin is still sin.
Judgment is still Judgement.
Hell is still Hell.
And it awaits all those who do not surrender their lives to God's will and control as it always has.
I personally harbor no further hope that our government is capable of saving our nation from its ongoing decay and coming destruction. Sorry if that sounds overly pessimistic. I would call it "realistic". Our lawmakers are indeed a primary source of this decay and daily demonstrate that they have no grasp of the root problem, thus no solution will be forthcoming from that quarter. If our nation has any hope of even slowing its headlong rush into oblivion (much less recovery), it lies not in the election process (recent events have demonstrated this beyond argument), but in calling its people back to God ... to a knowledge of sin and our personal (and national) responsibility and accountability for it, and thus need for a Savior/Messiah both personally and nationally - which can be filled by Jesus Christ Who was sent specifically and uniquely for the purpose of saving us from the consequence of sin.
As we reel from recent and ongoing tragedies that have rocked our nation, we are brought face-to-face with the very problem I speak of - the black, ugly, evil of sin that pervades the human soul. The Evolutionists, Humanists, and Post-Modernists try their best to deny its existence teaching than Man is inherently good or at least neutral, and that evil acts such as school shootings must be the result of some kind of external corrupting influences. They therefore look to external means to try to control them - gun control for example. But attempting to control the inward evil of sin in a heart by external means is like the proverbial act of gold-plating a turd (please forgive the vernacular, but the analogy is appropriate). For God's Word describes the condition of the human heart apart from Him in this way:
"Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually." -- Genesis 6:5
"All we like sheep have gone astray; We have turned, every one, to his own way; And the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all." -- Isaiah 53:6
"... For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" -- Romans 3:23
Outward controls will never change the inward sin nature from which the evil originates. Indeed, God Himself demonstrates that His own outward Law can never fix the problem of sin.
For the purpose of even God's Law was never to "fix" men's hearts, but rather to spotlight sin and hold them accountable for it.
No, the solution to the problem of sin is not more laws - either from God of from Men - but rather a new heart, and inward change of nature which can only be wrought by God Himself.
THIS is reason that God sent His Son into the world - that the penalty for our own sin could be paid for by Someone other than ourselves
Without the life-changing power of God available through Jesus Christ, we would all not only be accountable for our sin but powerless to change ourselves or our destinies. But in His love God gave us Christmas. Of course I mean the advent of Jesus Christ (whatever time of year it was :) as the only true solution to the problem of sin and evil. By extension then, it becomes also the only true solution to the problems facing our nation as well.
This Christmas season, as we wrestle with the long list of tragic events and difficulties we face looking forward, let us not only remember and reflect on God's "indescribable gift" (2 Cor 9:15), but let us also commit to doing all we can - as individuals, as families, and as citizens - of proclaiming the only True Solution to our problems. Teach your children and proclaim to those you know that America's future lies not gun control, or a balanced budget, or immigration reform or smaller government. It lies where it always has - in Jesus Christ, and in making Him and His principles and His solution for Mankind's evil the center of our personal actions as well as those of our nation.
We must of course continue to do all we can as citizens to slow the tide of this decay through the legal and democratic means afforded us. We would be remiss to not. But we must also recognize that these can only slow the tide we face until we restore our Nation to Godliness and her people to recognition of and accountability for sin. When we have done that, we will once again rejoice to sing these forgotten verses of "America The Beautiful".
To each and all, a very merry and blessed Christmas season in all the full meaning thereof,
- Tim -
I leave you with the words of the 3rd and 4th verses of "It Came Upon A Midnight Clear"
As my recent Facebook posts illustrate, I am NOT a fan of gun control. I believe very strongly that we have enough gun control laws already ... far too many actually. What is needed is not more controls (which have no effect upon criminals anyway), but rather internal controls ... aka "SELF-control" ... and self-control will never come through governments or laws. Self-control only comes through good parenting and the development of sound inward convictions - both of which must be based on a solid moral foundation and upon the principle of personal accountability for one's actions.
Ultimately, this means the Judgment of God ... in a word: HELL. Without understanding that there exists a Holy, Perfect, All-knowing, and All-powerful Judge and that there are eternal consequences to our behavior ... sin ... there will never be any basis or motivation for personal responsibility (not to mention a defendable basis for our legal system) or self-control.
Despite what our children are being taught today, our nation was in fact conceived, founded, built, and administered upon the moral code of God found in the Judeo-Christian Scriptures. It is the basis for our Declaration of Independence, our Constitution, our Legal System, and even the very "triune" structure of our government. For nearly 200 years, America was run in such a way as to recognize and magnify God as our Creator, Judge, and Provider. We taught our children the moral laws of God in public schools (and spanked them when they misbehaved!); we held our citizens accountable to them through our legal system; and our churches openly and clearly taught the Biblical foundations of accountability and consequence both in this life and the next for our choices - as individuals and as a nation. This is not to say that people weren't allowed to practice the religion of their choice, they have always been. But our laws and culture are based on the Bible. Period. The practice of other religions has always been free only insofar as it has not contradicted the laws of America - which are based on the Law of God.
Today however, in a staggeringly rapid and accelerating fall from all that once made us great, our government, schools, and even churches have walked, nay RUN, away from even acknowledging, much less teaching these values and principles. We have eradicated them from our schools, stricken them from our laws, reinterpreted our own Constitution, and banned the public display of even the symbols of these great principles and truths.
Yet, God's laws have not changed, for they are based on His nature and character which is immutable and timeless.
Sin is still sin.
Judgment is still Judgement.
Hell is still Hell.
And it awaits all those who do not surrender their lives to God's will and control as it always has.
I personally harbor no further hope that our government is capable of saving our nation from its ongoing decay and coming destruction. Sorry if that sounds overly pessimistic. I would call it "realistic". Our lawmakers are indeed a primary source of this decay and daily demonstrate that they have no grasp of the root problem, thus no solution will be forthcoming from that quarter. If our nation has any hope of even slowing its headlong rush into oblivion (much less recovery), it lies not in the election process (recent events have demonstrated this beyond argument), but in calling its people back to God ... to a knowledge of sin and our personal (and national) responsibility and accountability for it, and thus need for a Savior/Messiah both personally and nationally - which can be filled by Jesus Christ Who was sent specifically and uniquely for the purpose of saving us from the consequence of sin.
As we reel from recent and ongoing tragedies that have rocked our nation, we are brought face-to-face with the very problem I speak of - the black, ugly, evil of sin that pervades the human soul. The Evolutionists, Humanists, and Post-Modernists try their best to deny its existence teaching than Man is inherently good or at least neutral, and that evil acts such as school shootings must be the result of some kind of external corrupting influences. They therefore look to external means to try to control them - gun control for example. But attempting to control the inward evil of sin in a heart by external means is like the proverbial act of gold-plating a turd (please forgive the vernacular, but the analogy is appropriate). For God's Word describes the condition of the human heart apart from Him in this way:
"Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually." -- Genesis 6:5
"All we like sheep have gone astray; We have turned, every one, to his own way; And the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all." -- Isaiah 53:6
"But we are all like an unclean thing, And all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags; We all fade as a leaf, And our iniquities, like the wind, Have taken us away." -- Isaiah 64:6
"... For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" -- Romans 3:23
"So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God." -- Romans 8:8
"...Without Me you can do nothing." -- John 15:5
"...Without Me you can do nothing." -- John 15:5
Outward controls will never change the inward sin nature from which the evil originates. Indeed, God Himself demonstrates that His own outward Law can never fix the problem of sin.
"For when we were in the flesh, the sinful passions which were aroused by the law were at work in our members to bear fruit to death." -- Romans 7:5
"The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law." -- 1 Corinthians 15:56
For the purpose of even God's Law was never to "fix" men's hearts, but rather to spotlight sin and hold them accountable for it.
"For until the law sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed when there is no law." -- Romans 5:13
No, the solution to the problem of sin is not more laws - either from God of from Men - but rather a new heart, and inward change of nature which can only be wrought by God Himself.
"For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh," -- Romans 8:3
THIS is reason that God sent His Son into the world - that the penalty for our own sin could be paid for by Someone other than ourselves
"For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." -- Romans 6:23
"For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. " -- John 3:16-19
"For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. " -- John 3:16-19
Without the life-changing power of God available through Jesus Christ, we would all not only be accountable for our sin but powerless to change ourselves or our destinies. But in His love God gave us Christmas. Of course I mean the advent of Jesus Christ (whatever time of year it was :) as the only true solution to the problem of sin and evil. By extension then, it becomes also the only true solution to the problems facing our nation as well.
This Christmas season, as we wrestle with the long list of tragic events and difficulties we face looking forward, let us not only remember and reflect on God's "indescribable gift" (2 Cor 9:15), but let us also commit to doing all we can - as individuals, as families, and as citizens - of proclaiming the only True Solution to our problems. Teach your children and proclaim to those you know that America's future lies not gun control, or a balanced budget, or immigration reform or smaller government. It lies where it always has - in Jesus Christ, and in making Him and His principles and His solution for Mankind's evil the center of our personal actions as well as those of our nation.
We must of course continue to do all we can as citizens to slow the tide of this decay through the legal and democratic means afforded us. We would be remiss to not. But we must also recognize that these can only slow the tide we face until we restore our Nation to Godliness and her people to recognition of and accountability for sin. When we have done that, we will once again rejoice to sing these forgotten verses of "America The Beautiful".
O beautiful for pilgrim feet,
Whose stern impassion'd stress
A thoroughfare for freedom beat
Across the wilderness!
America! America! God mend thine ev'ry flaw,
Confirm thy soul in self-control,
Thy liberty in law!
O beautiful for heroes proved In liberating strife,
Who more than self their country loved,
And mercy more than life!
America! America! May God thy gold refine
Till all success be nobleness,
And ev'ry gain divine!
To each and all, a very merry and blessed Christmas season in all the full meaning thereof,
- Tim -
I leave you with the words of the 3rd and 4th verses of "It Came Upon A Midnight Clear"
Yet with te woes of sin and strife
The world hath suffered long;
Beneath the angel-strain have rolled
Two thousand years of wrong;
And man, at war with man, hears not
The love song which they bring:
O hush the noise, ye men of strife,
And hear the angels sing.
For lo! the days are hastening on,
By prophet bards foretold,
When, with the ever-circling years,
Shall come the Age of Gold;
When peace shall over all the earth
Its ancient splendors fling,
And all the world give back the song
Which now the angels sing.
Thursday, December 20, 2012
On The End of the World ... "Apocalypse"? Not So Much
This post is somewhat of a rant, I'll confess up front. I've actually been enjoying, in a somewhat perverse way, all the silliness about the end of the world tomorrow (12/21/12). Most people that I know don't seem to be taking it seriously, but I know there are many who are. And I suspect that a lot more are actually harboring some secret level of "concern" about it but not letting on.
Whatever.
When much of the hubub started several months ago, I did about 10 minutes worth of digging and found enough evidence to recognize that the entire thing was based on a misrepresentation of the facts, even if you DID take the Mayan calendars & beliefs seriously. The Mayan's calendar system was, similar to most parts of ours in that it was based on "cycles" rather than "lines". By that I'm referring to the portions of our calendar that repeats itself - seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, months - they all run in cycles which repeat. There are 60 seconds in a minute and then it starts over. There are 24hours in a day, 7 days in a week, etc. etc. To some extent, we even do this with years as we count numbers of centuries or millennia from a given point. However, in general, our years run in a straight line though ... they'll just keep counting up until ... well until something really big happens.
The Mayans did this too, but where are largest, named, repeating cycles are probably months, they included bigger cycles called "baktun". Each baktun was 144,000 days in length (400 years with each year being 360 days in length - yes the Mayans used 360 day years as did most ancient cultures prior to a particular date - but that's another issue. ;-) The "calendar" everyone is talking about "rolls over" or restarts at the end of each baktun in the same way our months start over at the conclusion of each yearly cycle. Once you get to the end of December, we start back at January and increment the year. The baktun cycle has started over 11 times since it was started and we are currently in the 12th baktun. The last time it rolled over (from the 11th baktun to the 12th) in the year A.D. 1618. It's probably relevant to note that the world didn't end in 1618 ... as far as we know.
Tomorrow, 12/21/12, the same thing happens and the calendar will roll over from the 12th to the 13th baktun and start the counting over again. That's it. Nothing else. About the same amount of excitement as watching the car odometer roll over from 99,999 to 100,000 miles. Cool to watch, but then you move on.
I find it fascinating that people get so hung up about these kinds of "roll-overs" and believing that they're bringing the end of the world (note I'm NOT using the word "apocalypse" - I'll come back to that in a moment. When the first millennium rolled over (the year 999 to 1000 back in medieval times, people went berserk too. We saw some of the same thing at the end of 1999 for the end of the 2nd millennium. There's probably much to be learned from the very fact that people seem to have a built-in expectation for the world to end at some point ... and they are afraid of it. All kinds of lessons there, but that's for another post.
Now for my rant. Whether the context is Nostradamus, or zombies, or Mayans, or any other non-Biblical reference to some end-of-the-world event, the use of the word "apocalypse" is wildly inappropriate. When I hear it used in these contexts, it produces a strange mixture of annoyance and amusement. The latter is because I'm pretty sure that if the people using it this way had any idea what it actually meant, they'd run away screaming hysterically, "NO! NO! THAT'S NOT WHAT I MEANT!!!" And that makes me smile. :-)
The word "apocalypse" is a transliterated Greek word (meaning it's still pretty much the original Greek word, just "Englishized" in the way it's spelled) that literally means "unveiling" in the way an artist might unveil a newly finished statue or painting. "Revealing" is a close synonym. It is the first word of the first verse of the Biblical book of Revelation and, obviously, where the book gets its title. However, what most people don't know (because they're only knowledge of the contents of the book comes from Hollywood) is that the "revelation" that is being referred to is NOT knowledge about how the world ends. In fact, contrary to popular misconception, the world does not end in the book ... EVER! It does go through some pretty rough events for a few years, but this is immediately followed by 1000 years of the greatest peace and harmony the Earth has seen since its creation. Later, it is replaced by a new Earth ... in fact a whole new Universe, but it continues onward ... forever.
So what IS revealed in the book of Revelation? Jesus Christ! His true nature, mission, and glory are revealed - first to Him (by the Father), then to His disciples (us) through the writing and publication of the book. The first line of the book is, "The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show His servants--things which must shortly take place." Although these events are referred to as "the End Times", they do not relate to the end of the world itself, but only the end of the reign of Men upon this planet - the "End of the Age" is a more appropriate understanding, or the end of God's tolerance and patience with Mankind's (and Satan's) rebellion.
So every time the word "apocalypse" is used in some relation to the end-of-the-world (zombies, Mayans, Mad Max, etc.) I have to chuckle because they are inadvertently referencing the "Revelation (apocalypse) of Jesus Christ" and the very idea that God's patience with our foolishness WILL run out. There will indeed be a resurrection of the dead, but we can be sure that it has nothing to do with zombies!
"Armageddon" is another one, but I'll not go into details here except to say that it is a Hebrew word which refers to the specific location (the Valley of Meggiddo in Israel) where the final battle will take place between Israel and the other nations of the world that initiates the Return of Jesus Christ (aka "Second Coming"). So here again, when secular people and media use the term "Armageddon" to refer to the end of the world, it's just another testament to their own ignorance as they inadvertently reference Second Coming of Jesus Christ to defeat those who have aligned themselves against Him and to usher in the Millennial age of His own Kingship over the planet Earth and all its peoples and nations.
As Christians, while there is that certain "perverse" sense of amusement that comes with watching people who have no idea what they're talking about inadvertently bear testimony to the Bible's prophecies about the Return and Preeminence of Jesus Christ, it's also an incredibly sad testimony to the ignorance of the general population and the media in particular of God's Word and what the near future holds in store for Mankind. We Christians should see this as opportunity to proclaim what the Bible teaches us about these things. The next time you hear or see someone misuse "Apocalypse" or "Armageddon", you can jump in with a friendly, "I was just wondering - do you know what that word really means?" After all, THEY brought it up! :-)
Grace, Peace, and a very merry Christmas to all;
- Tim -
Whatever.
When much of the hubub started several months ago, I did about 10 minutes worth of digging and found enough evidence to recognize that the entire thing was based on a misrepresentation of the facts, even if you DID take the Mayan calendars & beliefs seriously. The Mayan's calendar system was, similar to most parts of ours in that it was based on "cycles" rather than "lines". By that I'm referring to the portions of our calendar that repeats itself - seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, months - they all run in cycles which repeat. There are 60 seconds in a minute and then it starts over. There are 24hours in a day, 7 days in a week, etc. etc. To some extent, we even do this with years as we count numbers of centuries or millennia from a given point. However, in general, our years run in a straight line though ... they'll just keep counting up until ... well until something really big happens.
The Mayans did this too, but where are largest, named, repeating cycles are probably months, they included bigger cycles called "baktun". Each baktun was 144,000 days in length (400 years with each year being 360 days in length - yes the Mayans used 360 day years as did most ancient cultures prior to a particular date - but that's another issue. ;-) The "calendar" everyone is talking about "rolls over" or restarts at the end of each baktun in the same way our months start over at the conclusion of each yearly cycle. Once you get to the end of December, we start back at January and increment the year. The baktun cycle has started over 11 times since it was started and we are currently in the 12th baktun. The last time it rolled over (from the 11th baktun to the 12th) in the year A.D. 1618. It's probably relevant to note that the world didn't end in 1618 ... as far as we know.
Tomorrow, 12/21/12, the same thing happens and the calendar will roll over from the 12th to the 13th baktun and start the counting over again. That's it. Nothing else. About the same amount of excitement as watching the car odometer roll over from 99,999 to 100,000 miles. Cool to watch, but then you move on.
I find it fascinating that people get so hung up about these kinds of "roll-overs" and believing that they're bringing the end of the world (note I'm NOT using the word "apocalypse" - I'll come back to that in a moment. When the first millennium rolled over (the year 999 to 1000 back in medieval times, people went berserk too. We saw some of the same thing at the end of 1999 for the end of the 2nd millennium. There's probably much to be learned from the very fact that people seem to have a built-in expectation for the world to end at some point ... and they are afraid of it. All kinds of lessons there, but that's for another post.
Now for my rant. Whether the context is Nostradamus, or zombies, or Mayans, or any other non-Biblical reference to some end-of-the-world event, the use of the word "apocalypse" is wildly inappropriate. When I hear it used in these contexts, it produces a strange mixture of annoyance and amusement. The latter is because I'm pretty sure that if the people using it this way had any idea what it actually meant, they'd run away screaming hysterically, "NO! NO! THAT'S NOT WHAT I MEANT!!!" And that makes me smile. :-)
The word "apocalypse" is a transliterated Greek word (meaning it's still pretty much the original Greek word, just "Englishized" in the way it's spelled) that literally means "unveiling" in the way an artist might unveil a newly finished statue or painting. "Revealing" is a close synonym. It is the first word of the first verse of the Biblical book of Revelation and, obviously, where the book gets its title. However, what most people don't know (because they're only knowledge of the contents of the book comes from Hollywood) is that the "revelation" that is being referred to is NOT knowledge about how the world ends. In fact, contrary to popular misconception, the world does not end in the book ... EVER! It does go through some pretty rough events for a few years, but this is immediately followed by 1000 years of the greatest peace and harmony the Earth has seen since its creation. Later, it is replaced by a new Earth ... in fact a whole new Universe, but it continues onward ... forever.
So what IS revealed in the book of Revelation? Jesus Christ! His true nature, mission, and glory are revealed - first to Him (by the Father), then to His disciples (us) through the writing and publication of the book. The first line of the book is, "The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show His servants--things which must shortly take place." Although these events are referred to as "the End Times", they do not relate to the end of the world itself, but only the end of the reign of Men upon this planet - the "End of the Age" is a more appropriate understanding, or the end of God's tolerance and patience with Mankind's (and Satan's) rebellion.
So every time the word "apocalypse" is used in some relation to the end-of-the-world (zombies, Mayans, Mad Max, etc.) I have to chuckle because they are inadvertently referencing the "Revelation (apocalypse) of Jesus Christ" and the very idea that God's patience with our foolishness WILL run out. There will indeed be a resurrection of the dead, but we can be sure that it has nothing to do with zombies!
"Armageddon" is another one, but I'll not go into details here except to say that it is a Hebrew word which refers to the specific location (the Valley of Meggiddo in Israel) where the final battle will take place between Israel and the other nations of the world that initiates the Return of Jesus Christ (aka "Second Coming"). So here again, when secular people and media use the term "Armageddon" to refer to the end of the world, it's just another testament to their own ignorance as they inadvertently reference Second Coming of Jesus Christ to defeat those who have aligned themselves against Him and to usher in the Millennial age of His own Kingship over the planet Earth and all its peoples and nations.
As Christians, while there is that certain "perverse" sense of amusement that comes with watching people who have no idea what they're talking about inadvertently bear testimony to the Bible's prophecies about the Return and Preeminence of Jesus Christ, it's also an incredibly sad testimony to the ignorance of the general population and the media in particular of God's Word and what the near future holds in store for Mankind. We Christians should see this as opportunity to proclaim what the Bible teaches us about these things. The next time you hear or see someone misuse "Apocalypse" or "Armageddon", you can jump in with a friendly, "I was just wondering - do you know what that word really means?" After all, THEY brought it up! :-)
Grace, Peace, and a very merry Christmas to all;
- Tim -
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