As in the Days of Noah

This morning, as I was working on this:

I believe, though, that God calls each one of us to be a voice calling in the moral wilderness in which we live. And wilderness it is, grinding steadily toward absolute, all-encompassing vileness and depravity not seen since Noah’s time. This corruption already stealthily and gently smoothers our God-ward sensitivity, slowly and steadily invading our hearts like smoky tendrils wafting gently and seductively on the numbing breezes of our culture.

I thought, “I should start a new category called Days of Noah.”

Next thought: “That’s a good search of the day.”

Then I thought, “That’s a good blog name. I could use such a blog to remind, warn, encourage, and prepare God’s people for the perilous times in which we live.”

Followed by: “I don’t have time for another blog. I already have four or five!”

Maybe I should retire this blog and start Days of Noah. No, not now. I’ll settle for a category called that here at Ain’t Complicated (aka, Mark’s Views, Perhaps). And I’ll do a search of the day also (using GoOgle, of course).

Among the top ten results for a Web search, out of about 290,000:

The Days of Noah are here again!!

According to the Bible there is nothing wrong with eating and drinking, marrying etc., etc., but these people who lived before the Great Flood were doing something which caused the Lord to drown them all. They were creating genetic monstrosities and polluting the human race with Satanic bloodlines in order to prevent the Messiah from having pure human blood.

Days of Noah

In the days of Noah (in particular the pre-flood period), persons were eating, drinking, interacting with friends and loved ones, etc. This sounds no different than our daily activities. From the Genesis chapter 6 account, individuals were also violent, corrupt, and wicked. “The LORD saw how great man’s wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time . . . Now the earth was corrupt in God’s sight and was full of violence” (Genesis 6:5, 11). One only has to look at our modern-day newspapers to get many examples of what passes for violence, corruption, and wickedness. Of course the instruments used to accomplish these activities would be different in the days of Noah, but the evil intent and the evil result were the same. Evil was their normal mode of operating.

In The Days

JERUSALEM: In his boldest foray into Mideast peacemaking, President George W. Bush has invited the Israeli and Palestinian leaders, along with representatives from nearly 50 nations and international groups, to next week’s conference in Annapolis.

Among the top ten results for a news search, out of 6:

Hasten the end – Apocalypse now!

The truth is that though nature’s four seasons continue to cycle serenely throughout the ages, and men and women, as in the days of Noah, continue to marry and be given in marriage, there is at the heart of history a continual battle going on. In fact, the battle began before human history, when Michael and his forces swept the legions of Lucifer out of heaven. There is a reason that we never get tired of love stories–love is of the essence of human life. There is also a reason that we never get tired of war stories–war has been our constant companion and will be so till the last trumpet.

Come out of her my peopleWhat kind of “news” search result is this!!! 🙁

On any given Saturday night in cities across this nation, it’s we who are killing each other. You make it easy for racist police to kill you because you are busy killing yourselves. We must become a community that respects the life of each other and will protect the life of each other, and will protect your women and your girls, then if an enemy of that peace comes in among us. How can I do what is right by you, while I watch what you are doing wrong by one another? Half of all murder victims in America are Black men, and 9 out of 10 of those that are murdered are murdered by their own Brother or Sister. But I warn the government, that at a certain time, if you don’t do justice by us, God will retaliate in a way that He has never retaliated on any nation that has existed in the past. If you go and read your scriptures and see the plagues that God brought in the days of Noah, in the days of Lot, to the people of Ad and Thamud, to the people of Salih, to the people of Moses, to the Roman Empire, to the Babylonian city, all that God has brought on them, He will bring on America. As it is written in the scripture, He will bring the blood of the righteous from Able to Zachariah, even to this very day, on one generation. I don’t want to see that happen. I would like to see America avoid that. I would really like to see us avoid such a call that would be suicidal.

News Journal Online

Walls and a roof would be a luxury for Ray Kelley’s congregation. For now, the field will have to do.

Hoarse from yelling, he reads to men and women in folding chairs. “As it was in the days of Noah so will it be at the coming of the Son of Man.” A cigarette tips precariously from a listening man’s lips, each tongue flick counting the seconds of the sermon. Ash-colored clouds sweep the sky and leaves rustle; a downpour can’t be too far.

“It ain’t going to rain,” Ray Kelley shouts. The crowd stirs. “It ain’t going to rain tonight.”

Among the top ten results for a blog search, out of about 13,926:

As in the days of Noah

As the Word of God declares the time of the Son of man coming would be as the days of Noah were. We are living in those days today. Perilous and exciting times. We are here to encourage you in your daily walk with the Lord and to help you wake up as our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed!

Becoming Real » What Does Noah Have To Do With the Moon?

We have really been immersed in what it must have been like in the Days of Noah. It was awful when every man’s thoughts were evil continually. It’s hard to imagine everybody in the world, except one family, being evil. How God must have grieved. And how sad and frustrated Noah must have felt to be preaching and warning all the time for 120 years and not having any converts, except perhaps for 3 women who became his daughters-in-law. Talk about an unsuccessful man! Or was he unsuccessful? I’d say he was the most successful man of his time! He sure came out on top in the end. He was the only one who survived. And he became the father and grandfather of everybody on Earth. What is the measure of your success? Obedience to what God has told me to do. That’s the measure of my success.

The Days of Noah: Do We Preach The Coming Judgment?

The Bible tells us that Noah’s time was marked by gross sexual immorality that devalued and debased marriage, that it was increasingly brutal and violent, and that the culture was opposed to God in every way.

It further tells us that when Jesus returns the conditions on earth will be the same.

God saved Noah through the ark and He will deliver His people at the Second Coming via the rapture of the church.

The rest will receive judgment, just as they did in the days of Noah.

Treasure — Trash — Treasure

There’s a lesson in this, right?

A painting found in a pile of trash on a New York street sold at Sotheby’s auction house late Tuesday for a million dollars, nearly 20 years after it was stolen from a warehouse in Texas.

“Tres personajes” (“Three People”), a 1970 work by Rufino Tamayo, one of Mexico’s best known artists, was bagged for 1.049,000 dollars by a north American buyer who fought off a telephone bidder, the auction house said.

It had been saved from the garbage by Elizabeth Gibson, who spotted the work while out walking one morning in 2003.

Maybe even more than one.

The painting, even while in the trash, was valuable.

Value isn’t always recognized by people.

Somebody had to put forth effort to rescue the treasure from the trash.

Does this apply to me somehow?

Jesus rescued me from life’s trash heap.

My value to Jesus wasn’t diminished by the fact I was in the trash heap.

I need to learn to value people better (and more accurately).

I need to work with Jesus in the We Rescue Treasure from Trash business.

Got Food?

We have lots of food — on shelves, in fridges, and in freezers; upstairs and downstairs; canned, frozen, dried, and fresh.

Some folks don’t.

So other folks help them.

Food pantries struggling with shortages

Operators of free food banks say they are seeing more working people needing assistance. The increased demand is outstripping supplies and forcing many pantries and food banks to cut portions.

Demand is being driven up by rising costs of food, housing, utilities, health care and gasoline, while food manufacturers, wholesalers and retailers are finding they have less surplus food to donate and government help has decreased, according to Lisa Hamler-Fugitt, executive director of the Ohio Association of Second Harvest Foodbanks.

“I’ve been doing this for 20 years, and I can’t believe how much worse it gets month after month,” she said.

What will their Thanksgiving be like?

Do I have any opportunities I’m missing?

Jesus said we should help those who cannot help us in return. He said our helping the destitute shows our love for Him.

Does anybody know of any reputable trustworthy efficient food banks in the Molalla-Woodburn-Canby-Silverton area?

Christians in Pakistan

Religious Intelligence (UK) reports:

New Muslim-Christian violence in Pakistan

A FRESH outbreak of Muslim-Christian violence has been reported in Pakistan as the country faces political uncertainty.

Two villages have faced attacks with Muslims using mosques to broadcast calls for attacks on Christians.

The first incident took place in Govind village, near Lahore, according to Christian campaign group Release International. They claim that Muslims there objected to prayers being relayed through loudspeakers at the village church and used rival loudspeakers at seven mosques to broadcast a call to war against Christians

HT: WorldMagBlog

Even Christian People

I decided to Google that word string after hearing (or reading) it somewhere two or three days ago.

For Web sites, in the top ten out of 2210 results, are . . . .

Calvin College

The research shows that even Christian people have the perception that Christian higher education is substandard—even some of our alumni think that.

J. Dudley Weaver

Oregon is 49th, next to the bottom, among the states of the Union in church attendance. While Oregonians may not be particularly church-going people or even Christian people, we are, nevertheless, rather spiritually oriented people.

Cherryvale (KS) Church of Christ

Whatever are your troubles and problems, being unable to go to church is probably not one of them. It may not be something you think would cause you to weep or be depressed at all. And indeed, it is true that many people, even Christian people, are thankful for any excuse to give them cover for not going to church.

And for blogs, in the top ten out of results, I found . . . .

The Lake County Lutheran

We do put people, even Christian people, on pedestals in small and large ways, and of course, this misses the point entirely.

Bethesda Daily Life

Working with people (even Christian people) can be a challenge. We are to be patient with each other. How many people (not counting yourself) do you know who like to argue, like to quarrel, and seem to enjoy being difficult?

New Vineyard

In a previous post (August 6, 2007), I reflected on the idea that the true Gospel is in complete opposition to many values people almost universally consider correct and normal (even Christian people). By the standards of the world, they (that is the teachings of the NT and their resultant values) must actually be considered insane. (The word usually used by the politically correct is eccentric.)

Veterans I Know

May there be many more to stand in their place in the ranks!

William Bennett asks, “Do you know our heroes?

That fits with a thought I had yesterday.

I personally know a few military veterans. One of them is Mark Hammerness. He and they are to be commended and thanked for serving their country.

But the veterans I have in mind are from a different type of war.

Missionaries

  • James and Noreen Roth — Mexico
  • Rosana Roth — Mexico, Puerto Rico
  • Karen Roth — Mexico
  • Marvin and Esther Boss — Mexico
  • Joe and Nancy Mast — Mexico
  • Raul and Vanita Tadeo — Mexico
  • John and Doris Miller — Mexico
  • Vince and Marcela Frey — Mexico
  • Larry and MaryAnn Taylor — Mexico
  • Elmer and Sheila Fehr — Central America, Mexico
  • Paul and Dorcas Smucker — Canada
  • Steven and Judy Headings — Puerto Rico
  • Mark and Enid Boss — Canada, Nigeria
  • Maurice and Jane Boss — Canada
  • Orpha Tice Smucker — Puerto Rico
  • Maynard and Helen Headings — Honduras, Mexico
  • Vivian Mast Turner — Mexico
  • James Kropf — Mexico
  • Urie and Delilah Sharp — Guatemala
  • Allen and Carolyn Roth — Nicaragua
  • Delbert and Joana Birky — Belize

School Teachers

  • Noreen Byers Roth
  • Rosana Roth
  • Margaret Miller
  • Shari Kropf Roth
  • Esther Strubhar
  • Dwight Strubhar
  • Ron Bontrager
  • Dorothy Turner
  • Caroline Smucker Yoder
  • Esther Slaubaugh Wolfer
  • Brenda Beachy Sauder
  • Kathryn Schrock
  • Lavon King Kropf
  • Danny Hertzler
  • Nolan Bechtel
  • Mary Strubhar
  • Geneva Allan Yoder
  • David Strubhar
  • Philip Smucker
  • Pat Turner
  • Emily Goertzen
  • Orpha Tice Smucker
  • Jonathan Kropf
  • John Smucker
  • Johanna Goertzen

Pastors

  • Maynard Headings
  • Sterling Roth
  • Raúl Vázquez
  • Manuel Torres
  • Stanley Troyer
  • Joe Mast

And (as far as I know) they’re all alive yet!

Thank you all for your service on the field of battle for the Kingdom of God! Happy Veteran’s Day to all of you.

May there be many more to stand in their place in the ranks!

Important Note: I listed only those who are no longer serving in those particular capacities.

On the Vaccination Front

OK, three articles to point you to — all from the same site.

Why, just because I thought you should know. 🙂

Adults Beware — New Vaccine Guidelines Released:

The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, a division of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), has released the 2007-2008 recommended immunization schedules for adults in the US.

The schedule includes 11 different types of vaccines for adults, including….

[…]

Vaccinations of all kinds hit you right at the core of your fears, no matter what vaccine we’re talking about.

[…]

But getting back to the vaccines, Big Pharma may appear idiotic, but they are no fools. They know people want guaranteed safety. “Here, take this shot and nothing bad will happen to you,” they say. And a lot of people believe them, even when evidence of the opposite comes out. They just want the magic pill to be true.

Some hard-hitting evidence released just a couple of months ago should make anyone think twice about the flu shot: flu vaccines have NEVER been proven to prevent flu-related deaths in people over age 65, which is one of the primary groups for which they’re recommended.

You may also be shocked to learn that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) grossly distorts the facts about flu deaths. If you go to the CDC’s main flu page, you’ll see their statistic that about 36,000 people die from the flu in the United States each year.

But if you search a little harder, you can find the actual number of people who died from the flu in 2005 (this is the most recent data that’s available). Want to take a guess at what it is?

In 2005, 1,806 people died from influenza, not 36,000.

[…]

How to Prevent the Flu Naturally

Then there’s this one on children’s shots and exemptions and education and stuff:

Growing Number of Parents Use Religion to Avoid Vaccines

Many states are seeing increases in the rate of religious exemptions from vaccinations claimed for kindergarteners, according to a review of states’ vaccination records and data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention conducted by the Associated Press.

A growing number of parents are claiming religious exemptions to avoid vaccinations for their children because they are skeptical of the shots’ effectiveness or are concerned about potential side effects, including autism.

The number of parents choosing not to vaccinate is still small, as only a few thousand children were not vaccinated, compared with 3.7 million vaccinated, among children who entered kindergarten in 2005.

[…]

More parents are clearly starting to understand that vaccinations are not a miracle cure-all that will keep their children from getting sick. Instead, they are seeing the truth: that vaccines carry the risk of serious side effects, including autism.

[…]

The topic of vaccinations is always emotional for both sides of the camp. People who have not done their research are quick to say that it is ignorant to avoid vaccinations. However, this is quite the oxymoron because mothers with college educations and higher incomes are those who are LESS likely to vaccinate their children.

[…]

The trend toward not vaccinating has been growing for some time now. One study found 93 percent of pediatricians and 60 percent of family physicians said at least one parent had refused a vaccine for their child in 2003. Also, 69 percent of the physicians said that the number of concerns from parents had increased significantly.

What’s your stance on vaccinations?

(I’m leery of them.)

Above all, love God!