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"Huh?"

7/31/2015

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I was laying on my stomach in bed, half asleep, when I heard my door being opened. I half rolled over, squinting, to see Savannah coming in. "Huh?" I more than likely grunted, wondering if there was something wrong with Grandpa.

The information she imparted was that my new chickens (the hatchery replaced them ALL!!) had arrived. They were in the back seat of the car at that moment. Apparently the Post Office had called at 5:30 and Daddy went and got them. As I crawled out of bed, I saw that it 6:30. I normally get up someplace between 7 and 7:30, so it wasn't drastically early, though I definitely wasn't ready to get up because I hadn't finished my "ease out" as I call the way I wake up.

I scrambled into my "chicken-clothes" and helped Daddy rig up the second brooder box--literally a card-board box. It required a little cutting and taping, but the end result is fine.
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That's the moon...
I didn't have enough feeders and water-trays, so Daddy and Mama went into town and got them and a couple more heat lamps after a bit. I had already put the chicks into the brooder coop though and split the pre-extant feeders, water trays, and lights between the two boxes.

Because there were so many (102 or 103 depending on if I actually messed up the count that once), I put some of the new ones, Red Rangers (rather than the Black Rangers) in with the Black ones. That was hilarious, because the black ones (a week old--I count from the day I got them rather than the day they were actually hatched--which would probably be Wednesday the 22nd) were all bunched up at one end and when I plopped that first Red in (yes, they are actually yellow at this stage of the game), they all went (figuratively), "Eeee!!! What is that!!"  The Reds just plowed in and made themselves quite at home. 
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By the time of this writing, those black chicks have grown. Seriously. I'm not kidding. I went back out roughly three hours after this photo was taken and they were bigger!
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"You can't see me...I'm camouflaged!"
It is also Market Day (#1), so that flurry was going on this morning too. I made brownies, with a brownie mix, since the other bakers are out of town this weekend and we're doing stop-gap business. ;) Since I cannot eat them, I cannot say whether they turned out well or not. But they smelled good--but since when does chocolate NOT smell good???

Katherine whipped up some Rice Crispy squares (people do like their licky-chewy's you know) all the while saying, "I hate making these..." I don't really see why, but she doesn't enjoy the processes for some reason. :D  I should have said, "Here you make the brownies and let me make the rice crispies..." Oh well...

I managed to puncture the bottom of my heel with a screw this morning. It's inevitable, I must puncture myself at least once a year! It bled a bit, but quit bothering me rather shortly afterwards. 

Well, my coffee is gone and the dishes need washing and I need to get to work on more rompers. I'm trying to get a decent stack made up before Remembering WWII. (We are going as vendors again.) I have a few made, but I'm trying to specialize in ones that actually look authentic...this is my first one using modified modern patterns:
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(I finally broke down at some point earlier this year and got a Pinterest account...the thing comes in really handy for this kind of fashion research.)

I have a minor problem which I have decided to go ahead and fix--one of the buttonholes is really quite tight. I'll have to rip it out (or part of it) and redo it. I did all the buttonholes by hand since my machined holes are always rotten and I like doing handwork.

Anyway, I was getting off of here...

     Racheal

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Stinky Minky

7/30/2015

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About the time I got done washing the breakfast dishes yesterday morning, just as I was setting up to pour my tea and turn on my computer, Mama comes in and demands if my rifle is loaded. It wasn't, but as she explained that there was something in the chickens, I was collecting ammo. Whatever it was had killed one of the birds.

I was right behind her on the way out the door when Daddy came busting by to go snatch up his pistol. Before I was completely loaded and cocked (I had a few extra cartridges in my apron pocket), Daddy was back and passing us. 

He went in and I stood guard, ready to shoot whatever it was if he flushed it through the fencing. We didn't see it at that point, though I did see the grass waving in the next paddock as if a creature was walking along in the high grass. 

Daddy set to work chopping down the tall stuff with his bowie knife while I dressed out the dead bird. Her neck was cleanly broken right at the base of the head...but no blood.

On my way back to the house with the bird, I turned and glancing over my shoulder I looked straight into a face with little beady eyes--that actually reminded me of Runty when she thinks she's in trouble. I said, barely above a whisper, "Daddy! There he is!"

Well, the critter slipped back into the paddock Daddy was in and Daddy took to semi-blind shooting into the grass and sent me after a pitchfork. Suffice to say, the "creature" got the short end of the stick:
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Turns out, it was a mink...and one of the first things Mama said to me was, "I'll let you tan this one." (You may recall the raccoon hide adventure...I think she was rather incredulous about that one.)

So...in short order Daddy and I skinned it out. I ended up with a blood splatter on my left leg from when the hide slipped off the head and the carcass (which I was clinging too) necessarily jerked rather violently. I went right to work scraping with the bronze scrapers Daddy has. They work much better than just a pocket knife and the thumb and first finger...
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Making faces at each other...
I didn't get completely done with the scraping before lunch, so I tossed it in a bucket and after washing it later on I went back to scraping. I still didn't do a perfect job, partly because I was really beginning to feel awful. 

Because we haven't any tanning solution in stock, nor enough salt, I rolled him up and stuck the hide in the freezer until we do. You'll find out about that and the finished look once it happens. :) 

While he has a few pitchfork and bullet holes in him, they aren't overly noticeable, so mayhap he'll end up being a collar. :) I would kind of like to know how to save the heads like the ones you see in the old mink stoles. Perhaps next time--if there is a next time. 
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May be nuts...but this kind of work is interesting to me despite it's tedium...and the smell. (Actually he smelt quite mild in comparison to "Rascal"--the coon, y'all.)

      Racheal

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The Assurance of Salvation, Part 2 + Appendeix

7/26/2015

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Chapter Twenty completed today! I wasn't sure I was going to make it, but shortly after I thought my brain was going to freeze on me, I got a sudden "second wind" so to speak and was able to finish! Including both appendixes.

Therefore, to being where we left off last week: The basis of our assurance of salvation.
In discussing the basis of assurance of salvation, we are speaking of the ways in which the true believer in Jesus comes to this assurance of his salvation, not the basis of his eternal security....our assurance of our possession of this eternal salvation rests on and grows out of: (1) The Divine authority of the promises of God in the Bible and our faith in them; (2) The inward evidence of a sanctified life, i.e., the inward evidence of those graces unto which these promises are made; and (3) The testimony of the Holy Spirit witnessing with our spirits that we are the children of God (WCF, XVIII, ii). (276-277)

If a person is to attain infallible assurance of salvation, he must believe the gospel promises of God revealed in the Bible; and it is by faith in these promises of salvation that assurance of the possession of eternal salvation is attained. (277-278)

The Old Testament believers looked in faith beyond their deaths to fulfillment of the promises of God, assured that the Word of God was true and would not fail.
"So real were God’s promises to him [Abraham] that their fulfillment, though not yet, was as certain to him as something already and inalienably possessed. Thus the existential power of faith made the distant hope a present reality, and these
believers of the ancient world “saw” and “greeted” the promised consummation, even, and indeed especially, in the hour of death, as though already face to face with it." 31. Philip E. Hughes, A Commentary on the Epistle to the Hebrews (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1977), 478. (279)

Such graces—faith, repentance, love, submission, obedience, hope, hunger after righteousness—are gifts of the Spirit in the life of the believer, and therefore are signs of His presence and work in the believer’s life, as well as evidences that the promises do in fact belong to him. (281)

According to the texts listed above, the witness of the Spirit has two aspects: (1) A work of the Spirit upon the heart enabling the believer to cry “Abba! Father!” to God in Christ; and (2) The testimony and certification of the Spirit in the believer concerning His work in his heart. (283-284)

Because of the work of the Spirit on the heart, regenerating it, and placing the gift of faith in it, the believer is brought by the Spirit to the consciousness of that intimacy of relationship between himself and God the Father so that the believer spontaneously gives expression to it in the words, “Abba! Father!” (284)

Along with the work enabling the believer to know and bear witness to his intimate sonship to God, “the Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God” (Rom. 8:16). (284)

Two things should be noticed in this statement: (1) The Spirit’s witness is a joint-testimony; and (2) It is a witness to our spirit. (285)

Keeping the commandments of God is proof that the believer makes his home in God and God makes His home in him. We can have certain knowledge that we are thus related to God because of the Holy Spirit which God gave to us in the moment of our regeneration by that Spirit. He is the source of our sure knowledge of
salvation because He is the source of our ability to obey the commandments of God from the heart. (287)
There three witnesses to Christ: the water, the blood, and the Spirit:
Jesus “came by water and blood… not with water only, but with the water and with the blood” (1 John 5:6)....it appears that it is referring to the two decisive events in the life of Christ defining His person and ministry: His Baptism in the Jordan River and His death on Calvary.....At Christ’s baptism, God Himself spoke out of Heaven declaring Him to be His Son: “Thou art My beloved Son, in Thee I am well pleased” (Luke 3:22). And with that declaration God poured out His Holy Spirit on Him. This is not only the beginning of Christ’s ministry, it is the explanation of His ministry as well as the Divine certification of all His claims. Christ’s bloody death on the cross of Calvary is not merely the close of His earthly ministry, it is the explanation of His suffering by which He obtained our eternal redemption, reconciling us to God. (289)

“It is the Spirit that bears witness because the Spirit is truth” (1 Jn. 5:7). Every believer is indwelt by the Holy Spirit of God (vs. 10). And it is that indwelling Spirit that continually brings the truth of the Incarnation and of the Atonement home to the souls of men. (290)

The two historical, objective witnesses to Christ—His baptism and crucifixion, and the subjective witness to Christ—the indwelling Holy Spirit “are in agreement.” Together in perfect harmony they accomplish one object: establishing the truth of Christ in the heart of the believer. (290)

If we trust the apostolic witness of men who accompanied Christ in His days on the earth (1 Jn.1:1–3), the witness of the Spirit of God to Christ in the heart is an even greater witness....John does not say that God witnesses verbally and audibly, but that every believer is convinced that Christ is true and that his faith in Christ is real, because God is its author; and being its author He will without doubt be its finisher. (290)

The person who receives Christ as He is presented in the Bible, and rests upon Him alone for salvation has the witness of God to the truth of Christ in himself as an abiding possession. (291)

The witness of God in the believer not only convinces the believer of the truthfulness of Christ’s claims, it also convinces the believer that having accepted the objective witness of God to Christ in the Bible by faith, eternal life is now his present and eternal possession (John 3:16, 36). (292)

The Holy Spirit gives the regenerate heart the spiritual gifts, graces, virtues, and “fruit,” and excites them to lively activity. He then illuminates them so as to give a joyful assurance of a true sonship to the believer in Jesus. (293)

This testimony of the Holy Spirit to the believer’s sonship is always in concurrence with the witness of the believer’s own spirit to his sonship with God. It is NOT, as Wesleyanism teaches, “an independent revelation by which the Holy Ghost reveals immediately to the convert’s mind, without a mediate process of self-examination
and comparison that he is now reconciled.” 50. Dabney, Lectures in Systematic Theology, 711.  (294)
There follows a discussion on the means and conditions by which the witness of the Spirit may be expected to be borne in the believer's soul. First, in general, by Christian diligence and faithfulness and secondly, by particular self-examination.
Presumption, or taking one’s salvation for granted, is a dangerous sin. Self-deception about one’s standing with God is possible and frequent. (297)

"In the meantime, the faithful are taught to examine themselves with solicitude and humility, lest carnal security insinuate itself instead of the assurance of faith." 54. Calvin, quoted in Dabney, Lectures in Systematic Theology, 709. (297)

First, self-examination and soul-searching must be done with a due regard for the presence and assistance of God. ...
Second, self-examination must be done deliberately. It cannot be done effectively and reliably in a hurry. ...
Third, self-examination must be done frequently, and not just occasionally or haphazardly.
Fourth, self-examination must be done diligently. Arriving at a true knowledge of ourselves requires diligence, care and honesty of heart.   ....
Fifth, self-examination is to be done with the greatest impartiality.  ....
Sixth, self-examination must be done with the determined resolve that by the grace of God we will “make a right improvement of that judgment which we are bound to pass on ourselves.”58    ....
Seventh, self-examination must be done with judgment.
58. Ridgeley, Commentary on the Larger Catechism, 2:204.
(298-299)

What are some of those marks or evidences of God’s gracious work in us by which we may discern that we are truly and eternally saved from sin?
First, a strong impression of feeling that we are saved is not to be considered a mark of grace....Intense emotions are like iron heated in the fire. When it is taken out of the flames it grows cold again.
Second, a profession of faith in Christ, and the correct performance of external rites of worship are no certain marks of grace. Many have had the form of godliness but have denied the power thereof. ...
Third, the mere performance of external moral actions are not certain marks of grace in the heart. A person may obey God’s demands externally only out of self-interest rather than for the glory of God. ...
Fourth, the true and genuine effects of faith and all the godly virtues that accompany or flow from faith are sure marks of God’s saving grace within us....Faith tends to “purify the heart” (Acts 15:9), enabling us to abhor, flee from, strive against, guard our hearts against everything and anything that tends to corrupt and defile the heart and life. (300)
There are a number of effects and results of the witness of the Spirit and the assurance of salvation. They are:
It increases spiritual joy....
How could an infallible assurance of infallible salvation keep from bringing to the believer a deep sense of joy and peace? ...
It promotes usefulness in God’s work and stimulates us to the work of evangelism. Knowing for certain that we belong to God and joint-heirs with Christ has the effect on us of stimulating us to more diligent service to God. Knowing that we have victory over sin and death in Christ we will be “steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord” (1 Cor. 15:55–58). ...
It opens the heart to love and praise to God...
It lifts us above the seductions of this world and assists us in resisting sin, enabling us to beat back temptations and to triumph over them. ....
It will make us contented with the certainty, eternity and all-sufficiency of God’s grace regardless of how much or how little material things we possess in this life....It enables the believer to persevere with patience and joy in the midst of sufferings. ...
Assurance of salvation strengthens us in the face of death. ...
It does NOT, however, raise the believer above conflict with sin nor does it encourage self-righteousness. ....
Some have considered such assurance of salvation to be an arrogant boast producing pride. If we expected to save ourselves, it would be arrogant boasting and pride. “To be in suspense whether Christ is able, and willing, and faithful, surely is no mark of our humility; but on the contrary, it is a dishonor to Him.”71 ...
"The facts are that the more intelligent, the deeper and the more unwavering the assurance of salvation is, the humbler, the more stable and the more circumspect will be the life, walk and conduct."72
71. Dabney, Lectures in Systematic Theology, 712.
72. Dabney, Lectures in Systematic Theology, 712-13.
(300-305)
What is the relation of faith to assurance of salvation?
Saving faith is not the belief that we are saved; it is an act of entrusting ourselves to Christ and resting upon Him alone for salvation as He is freely offered to us in the gospel, IN ORDER THAT WE MIGHT BE SAVED FROM OUR SINS....The assurance of faith proceeds from the assurance that we are saved by faith, while faith proceeds from the conviction that we are lost and in need of a Savior. And, although the two may be distinguished, and some believers may wait long before they obtain assurance, that does not mean that assurance must always be separated in time from the primary act of faith. (306)

At the same time, while a measure of assurance is implicit in saving faith: “now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen” (Heb. 11:1), a full and infallible assurance of faith doth not so belong to the essence of faith, but that a true believer may wait long, and conflict with many difficulties, before he be partaker of it (WCF, XVIII, iii). (307)

This failure to attain to a full and infallible assurance even when faith in Christ is present in the heart is due to several things. (1) Immaturity in knowledge of the nature and effect of the grace of God. (2) A lack of reflection or spiritual development because of inexcusable misconceptions and misapplications of the truths of the gospel and the nature of salvation in Christ. (3) A weakness of faith arising from negligence in the cultivation of the fruit of the Spirit. (4) Disobedience
to the commandments of God. (5) Backsliding. (6) A failure to be on guard against Satan’s assaults and to guard one’s own heart. (7) The excessive care for material and social things. (8) A serious lack of prayer. (9) A love for this evil world. (10) Manifold distempers, sins, temptations, and desertions. (307)

...it must be made clear that, although full assurance does not always accompany true faith in Christ, nevertheless true faith has no lack of certainty regarding the Object of that faith. Every true believer is most certainly assured of God’s reality,
of the truth of the Gospel and the claims of Christ, of the Divine authority of the Bible. (308)
Two points in conclusion. 
First, how to maintain and strengthen an infallible and full assurance of salvation:
Be diligent and constant in your use of the means of grace instituted by God: the reading and preaching of the Word of God, the Sacraments, prayer and worship, Christian fellowship and obedience to God. ...
Meditate every day on the spiritual and eternal privileges and blessing that belong to all believers in Jesus: regeneration, effectual calling, justification, reconciliation, adoption, sanctification, glorification (1 Pet. 2:9). You will find that concentrated and frequent meditation on the things of Christ will tend to strengthen and maintain your assurance.
Make sure that “your hearts run more out to Christ than to assurance; to the sun than to the beams, to the fountain than to the stream, to the root than to the branch, to the cause than to the effect.”92 Assurance of salvation is precious; but Christ is more precious. No assurance can be compared to Christ. ....
Make sure that your heart is more taken up with Christ than with the evidences of the Spirit’s work in your own life. ...
Make good use of your assurance of salvation. Let it fortify your heart and mind against temptations, increase your resolve to live like a Christian, inflame your affections for Christ, and improve your daily walk as a Christian. ...
Walk humbly with your God. ....
Be on guard against the particular sins by which others have had their assurance diminished. Beware of presumption and the neglect of self-examination. (See Psalm 30:6, 7.) Beware of the neglect of the means of grace. Beware of spiritual carelessness, sluggishness and stubbornness. ...
Consider the sorrow and misery that accompany the loss of an infallible assurance of salvation.
92. Brooks, Heaven on Earth, 307.
(315-317)
Secondly, how to recover you assurance of salvation if it weakens:
Strive to find out what sin or sinful habit or sinful pattern robbed you of your infallible and full assurance.
Mourn over those sins that have turned your day into night and your rejoicing into weeping (Ps. 51). ...
Do not sit paralyzed by despair. Get up, do what it takes to recover infallible assurance. “Repent and do your first works” (Rev. 2:4, 5). ...
Wait patiently on the Lord with persevering faithfulness to Him. (317)

God never has failed those who wait on Him, nor will He ever fail them. (318)
There are two Appendices to this chapter, one an exposition of I John 2: 18-20, the other an exposition of the parable of the vine and branches found in John 15.

Briefly then, Appendix I:
John makes a sharp distinction between “they” who left and “us” who remain. Their defection gave clear evidence of their true character. Their apostasy was proof, not that they were believers who had lost their faith (which is impossible), but that they were never regenerate believers at all. (320)

So then, here we have the two safeguards against being deceived by heresy: the preaching of the Word of God and the anointing of the Spirit of God. John says “you heard” the Word (v. 24), and “you received” the Spirit (v. 27). The Word came from the inspired Apostles (1:2–5); and the Spirit came directly from God (2:20, 27). (322)

First, we learn from 1 John 2:18–20 that perseverance in faithfulness to Christ and His Word is the hallmark of those who are eternally saved and secure in Christ. They will not apostatize, nor will they “totally and finally” fall away from faith and salvation. ....
"He, in short, means that they who fall away had never been thoroughly imbued with the knowledge of Christ, but had only a light and a transient taste of it." 108. Calvin, Commentaries on the First Epistle of John, 192. (323)

Second, how does it happen that many who seemed to have faith in Christ often fall away into apostasy and heresy? John Calvin answers:
"there are three sorts of those who profess the Gospel: there are those who feign piety, while a bad conscience reproves them within; the hypocrisy of others is more deceptive, who not only seek to disguise themselves before men, but also dazzle their own eyes, so that they seem to themselves to worship God aright; the third are those who have the living root of faith, and carry a testimony of their own adoption
firmly fixed in their hearts. 109. Calvin, Commentaries on the First Epistle of John, 192. (323-324)

Third, such trials are useful and necessary for Christ’s Church. (324)

Fourth, our text gives us Biblical warrant for distinguishing between true and counterfeit believers in the institutional (visible) church. John knew well that not everyone in the church is of the church, not everyone in the church is a true believer in Jesus, not everyone in the church is elected and saved. (324)
Appendix II:
Here is the argument: a person can be genuinely in union with Christ, through baptism be in possession of the blessings of salvation in Him, and yet bear no fruit for Him and eventually wither up and die and be cast into hell. He or she, once abiding in Christ, have ceased doing so, and so are cut off from the union with Christ they once enjoyed; and although they were once truly in union with
Christ, having fallen from that position, they are sentenced to hell.  (326)

Another approach to John 15:2, 6 and other admonitions in the Bible (as in Hebrews 6:4–6), is this: (1) Since the Bible exhorts us to persevere in faithfulness to God, it must be that such perseverance depends upon our will and exertion. (2) Admonition presupposes not only responsibility for that to which we are admonished; but
this responsibility presupposes that we are able to perform what we are admonished to do. (3) Such verses teach that the final salvation of Christians is dependent upon our diligent obedience to these admonitions. All this means that the preservation and perseverance of the saints depends upon the will of man, so that it is possible for some to stop abiding in Christ and are sentenced to hell. (326-327)

These very arguments and interpretations have been ably refuted time and again throughout the past hundred years of Reformed Protestantism. The problems with these views are exegetical, theological and covenantal. They simply do not fit the Biblical facts.
First of all, let us consider some of them theologically and practically. The Scriptural admonitions to believers to be persevering and steadfast and not to apostasize from the faith in no way contradict the truth of the preservation and perseverance of the saints.  (327)

"Not that it ever happens that any one of the elect is dried up, but because there are many hypocrites who, in outward appearance, flourish and are green for a time, but who afterwards, when they ought to yield fruit, show the very opposite
of that which the Lord expects and demands of His people." 114. Calvin, Commentaries on the Gospel According to John, 110. (328)

Although no real believer in Christ can totally and finally fall away and perish, the elect need to have the danger of apostasy and the dreadful wrath of God that comes with it kept before their eyes to make them afraid of defection and to press them to their duty, even though it is only the fruitless, non-elect branches that will be cut  off. (328)

"We are dealing with figures and pictures, mercifully used in order to meet our weak capacities; and we must take care we do not draw doctrinal conclusions from them, which contradict other plain passages of Scripture." 117. Bishop J. C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on the Gospels, (John, Vol. 3) 4 vols. (New York: The Baker & Taylor Co., 1873), 98. (329)

{The Point}
The parable has three principal parts: (1) We have not power to do good except what comes from Christ; (2) We, being rooted in Christ, are pruned by the Father to bear more fruit; (3) Unfruitful branches are cut away and burned in the fire.
The one central point is this: The vital sap—that is, all life and strength—proceeds from Christ alone; therefore we can bear no fruit for God apart from Him....We
must be in union and communion with Jesus Christ to do good; and once His life-giving “sap” flows into our lives we WILL produce fruit. (330)

{The "Problem"}
Now, the problem for some in this parable is that Jesus says: “Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away… and they are burned” (John 15:2, 6). (331)

{The Answer}
In John 15, Jesus describes metaphorically two kinds of people who come into close contact with Christ and who are members of His church on earth: branches that bear fruit (15:2b, 5, 8), and branches that do not bear fruit (15:2a, 6). (331)

Furthermore, we see in verse 8 that abiding in Christ and bearing much fruit for Him is proof of true discipleship. Hence, the fruitless branches were not true disciples, although they may possibly have been disciples only by profession. (332)

These two groups of people have one thing in common: they both were in close contact with Christ and the Gospel in the visible church. Both groups of branches were in the vine, but not at all in the same sense. (334)

In what sense, then, are the fruitless branches to be said to be in the vine: “every branch in Me?” In their own opinion and in the opinion of others, because they have joined the church by baptism, they are actually and vitally in Christ in a saving sense.  (334)

{Conclusion}
Therefore, this parable of the vine and the branches in John 15 does NOT teach that a person can be genuinely, spiritually and vitally in union with Jesus Christ and fail to bear fruit. Baptized unbelievers, who profess to be disciples of Christ, and who are members of the visible church, are NOT as attached to Christ as the fruit-bearing believers are. Both groups do NOT partake of the vital sap of the vine....Those who are in vital union with Christ will never be cut off from the vine. (335)

{Application}
First, a true Christian is always becoming a Christian, in that his life is one of continuing growth. The true disciple is always becoming more fully a disciple. ...
Second, when Jesus declares: “I am the true vine and my Father is the vinedresser,” He is saying that He is our life and the source of our strength to live for Him; and that God the Father is involved in our lives as the One judging our fruitfulness. ...
Third, the purpose of our lives is not our salvation, but our productivity
in Christ’s kingdom.
Fourth, whatever the imperfections of those who are in true
union and communion with Christ, those imperfections will not
cause them to be cast aside by Him, rather those imperfections and
frailties will endear them to the Lord’s care, for such branches shall
not be cut off, but lovingly and tenderly pruned.
Fifth, fruit is proof of being in the vine.
Sixth, Jesus says to you, dear believer,
"Abide in Me. Cling to Me. Stick fast to Me. Live the life of close and intimate communion with Me. Get nearer and nearer to me. Roll every burden on Me. Cast your whole weight on Me. Never let go your hold on Me for a moment. Be as it were rooted and planted in Me. Do this, and I will never fail you. I will ever abide in you… Severed from Me, separated from Me, you have no strength, and can do nothing. You are as lifeless as a branch cut off from the parent stem."130
Seventh, here is how to be a useful and happy servant of Christ:
(1) [v. 7] “If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it shall be done for you.” This is “a distinct promise of power and success in prayer.”
(2) [v. 8] “By this is My Father glorified, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples.” The meaning of this promise is that “ fruitfulness in Christian practice will not only bring glory to God, but will supply the best evidence to our own hearts that we are real disciples of Christ.”132  ...
(3) [v. 10] “If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love; just as I have kept My Father’s commandments, and abide in His love.” The person who conscientiously and diligently obeys Christ’s commandments is the person who will continually enjoy a sense of Christ’s love for him in his heart and soul.
130. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on the Gospels (John, Vol. 3), 101–02.
132. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on the Gospels (John, Vol. 3), 105.
(335-337)
Thus then, the end.

     Racheal

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A Slightly Miffed Farm-Girl...

7/25/2015

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Yes sirree, that'd be me. You see, my chicks didn't arrive until this morning. The hatchery took them to the post office Wednesday morning, as scheduled, but they didn't actually get shipped until yesterday morning!!

So, out of 100 chickens, I have 51 dead with 3 to 4 more that I do not expect to make it. That is an over half mortality rate--to be blamed on (allow me to indulge in my appreciation of British-ism for a moment) bloody incompetence on the part of the post office.

Now, I don't know if it was simple carelessness or stupidity, but anybody who works at a post office should be aware of the fact that boxes that peep need to be shipped ASAP because the creatures inside do not have either food or water and consequently will die within a relatively short period of time. A'right then. That's my rant.
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Box #1
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Box #2
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Poor chickies...
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These here seem to be lively enough. I am grateful for the ones that survived!!

      Racheal

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Livestock Chats

7/23/2015

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Now, y'all may be scratching your heads here...wondering how on earth I can be chatting with livestock when I haven't any cattle or sheep or goats here--you know those animals typically considered livestock. 

*insert a snicker*

Well, I have chickens and bees. Both livestock. Sure, they may not have four feet and chew the cud, but they are live stock. 

I'll let you in on Racheal's method of livestock keeping...

First off, I tend to be the lazy keeper kind. The way I see it, critters can pretty much handle themselves and since they did before domestication, I consider that they will be stronger and healthier if I don't pamper them. That being said, I am not a careless livestock owner either, nor do I abuse my animals. I most definitely see to it that they are fed...and since it has warmed (and dried!!) up, I attempt to clean the chicken coop once a week--that is, when I am feeling up to it. If I don't, well, those birds can keep right on living on week old+ straw and you know. They really don't seem to mind, but then again they do kind of like the new straw--if only because they scratch through it and find whatever lurking wheat berries might still be in it. That's a chicken for you--put down a nice layer of straw and in an hour you can see the mud again. 

Second off, I talk (sometimes goofy) to my animals--chicken and bees. I can talk chicken fairly well, but understanding the bee's humming is summing I haven't quite gotten the hang of yet. I imagine it's kind of ridiculous, but I stand with an elbow on top of the hive, my ankles cross and say nice, encouraging things to my bees. I ask them questions (I know, I sound like a dope)...for instance, "How's your Queenie doing?" and stuff of that ilk. Naturally, they don't answer me, but I enjoy my idiocy, even if they don't. This serves a double purpose--comfortableness around bees and so, perhaps, they get to know me as something other than a threat. I don't know...but it's an interesting question: can a bee tell one human from another? 

Oh, and speaking of livestock, I should be getting my meat birds (finally!) tomorrow morning. All one hundred peeping baby birds. Now, that's a racket for you! I do look forward to it, for, as stinky as chickens can be, I rather enjoy raising the noisome, nosesome critters. I also, I must confess, thoroughly enjoy eating them as well...and it is rather hard to get emotionally attached to any in such a dramatic number as 100. Cows, perhaps, but not chickens. While it is true that chickens do have different personalities, cows are so much more personable--and more easily distinguishable from one another--maybe, if you don't have a pure bred herd--which has never been the case with our cattle as far as I am aware.

Hopefully by tomorrow I shall feel good and full of energy (unlike the past two days) and be all properly enthusiastic, as well as having the brain power to do something useful. I need to make more rompers...but that's another subject for another time.

Here's to hopes that all my chickies make it alive! 

     Racheal

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Of Confederate Battle Flags and Slavery

7/21/2015

 
I have been rather neglecting my blog lately...for various reasons. I'm welcoming myself back with a post of potentially gargantuan proportions.

Some of you all may be some what surprised that I have yet to fling myself into the controversy surrounding the Confederate Battle Flag. I know that it's petered out to a great extent, but I have kept thinking on it on and off--as have many others by the various posts and comments I have seen on social media. And last evening, I watched a video (or half of one; I couldn't get through the second half) which set me off again.

The subject of the video: A black woman who proudly carries a Confederate Battle Flag. The commentary given after the interview with this lady was done by a black man who obviously disagrees with her. However, so you better understand, let me kind of give you a brief synopsis of what the lady said.

First off: she was originally from New York--Muslim it sounded like--and "people are so racist it's not even funny". She moved to Virginia and started thinking differently about white people when "people I had never seen before waved at me". I am going to assume, though she did not say so, that she started doing some research because she essentially said that she agrees with the Confederate position--and she did say she believes in very limited government. I suspect that she has Libertarian leanings from something else she said, but that doesn't matter here. But...what the talk host really took issue with was this: "I believe that slavery is a choice".

Whoa. I had never heard anybody say that before...and I had never considered it. But you know, I think that she is right to a degree. However, back to the very indignant black man. "Slavery is a choice". Well...I listened to him for a little bit until he started prating about how this woman could only say the things she did if she were "uneducated"...and then brought up the slave revolts (Nat Turner in particular) and runaways. 

For starters, if you just look at it like that, then his reasons really just gave her more credence. Now, I am unaware of how many slave revolts there actually were--other than Nat Turner's unsuccessful one. What really burned me though was his passing her off as 
"uneducated" simply because she disagreed with his point of view. He was angry, you could see that, even if he was keeping his voice nice and level.

Anyway, I wanted to talk...to get some of the stuff in my mind out...perhaps coherently, perhaps not. 

Then...I saw this this morning in another article that is connected to the murder of the valiant and unarmed service men at the Chattanooga recruiting station: “Don’t listen to the lies of the leaders of our country telling you that Islam is not evil and that it’s just another religion,” he said. “It’s not. Those same leaders who are trying to turn the North versus the South, and whites versus black, are dividing this country greater than we’ve ever seen. ”

The speaker nailed it on the head. I do believe that the government, by making a stink about the Confederate Battle Flag on a monument is doing exactly that. Trying to plunge us into another Civil War (bah!) Tell you what folks, we need to stand steady and not do anything foolish--but, at the same time, we can't just let our rights be torn down, spat upon, and destroyed. As my sister says, ever since Obama was elected the first time, it is as though the nation has just been waiting for the other shoe to drop. I believe the evil people in charge are trying to push us over the edge before they find themselves out of power--just as firmly as I believe that Obama's reelection was achieved only by fraud. 

However, to go back to the Flag...I initially got all fired up after reading Joel McDurmon's article (which I am not going to go take the time to dig up). If you read it, you may remember his three reasons by which he justified his call for South Carolinian to "Tear down that flag!" Slavery really was the primary one. He took the mainstream line on that one. It infuriated me. (Each of his three reasons, the first of which I'm having trouble recalling, could just as equally be applied to the US flag.) I stewed on it for days...I raved to available family members...I think I even cried a little bit in frustration. I was mad.

South Carolina buckled. I guess Savannah is right, it was the only thing they could do without starting another shooting war--which is probably why the media camped on it as they did. (If you have yet to grasp that the mainstream media is just a tool of the liberals [I don't care if either Democrat or Republican...or Libertarian...they all stink alike], it's about time to. Don't trust them--at all.)

Since it seems impossible to talk about the flag that so many godly men served and died under in defense of FREEDOM from governmental tyranny without bringing in the fact that some of the men who fought and died under that flag owned slaves; I want to address slavery as an institution. But real quick, just to put this into prospective, here are the numbers: of the white's in the antebellum South only 1% owned slaves. Amongst the freed blacks 10% owned slaves. Oh, and as someone mentioned someplace, not all slaves were black. Slaves in the South may have been primarily black, but it was not so much "ethnic" as perhaps we have been told--seriously...blacks sold blacks to whites (those slave ships never came into Southern ports by the way; the slave trade was carried out by Northern shipping companies). Whites bought them, tis true, but so did other blacks. 

(And no, I will not use the politically correct "African-American". I think it is insulting to a black person whose family has been here almost as long, if not as long, as my own blood line. If it's not, then I, a white woman, should be insulted because I'm not called a "Scots-Irish/English-American". Foolishness. They are just as much Americans as I, they just have a different pigment!)

Slavery then. As with anything and everything we should not try to justify it by circumstances et al. No, let's go to our Bibles. What does the Bible say about slavery? Does it ever condemn it as morally wrong? 

The first time I ever had that question scamper across my brain, I probably changed channels pretty quick. This is a subject that is vicious and vitriolic. "I won't think about that yet..."

Well, as I have become more and more confident in my Confederate-ness and more and more nailed to my gray heritage (to the extent that I barely ever introduce myself to anyone without pointing out the fact that I am a Southerner), I have naturally had to look at the subject. I have yet to sit down and do a comprehensive study on slavery, but I cannot say that I see, from Scripture, that slavery in and of itself is a moral wrong. I'm not trying to justify the fact that many of my Confederate heroes owned slaves--or even that my very own great-great-great grandfather owned eight. (Though, I confess, I have more moral issues with the fact that he fathered a child with one of them, Rachel Davis. However, even the outcome of that demonstrates that blacks and whites were "family" as H.K. Edgerton says--for, as far as we can determine, my great-great Uncle Lloyd was as much the son of John as his other, fully white, sons. I actually think Lloyd, being the youngest, was the one that took care of his aging father. That is speculation, but founded on actual reasons which I won't go into here.)

So, is slavery a moral wrong? I do not think so:
  • God sets forth standard for slavery in the Law. Even what would be called "ethnic" slavery--those from other nations. A Hebrew had a seven year work cycle--after which they were either a) set at liberty or b) could become, of their own volition, permanent slaves. Slaves taken from other nations were permanent unless they a) were set free or b) bought their freedom. That part isn't mentioned in Scripture, but I imagine that it is a logical deduction.
  • If slavery, as an institution, were morally wrong, God would have told us so. Take for instance: "Bondservants, be obedient to those who are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in sincerity of heart, as to Christ; not with eyeservice, as men-pleasers, but as bondservants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart, with goodwill doing service, as to the Lord, and not to men, knowing that whatever good anyone does, he will receive the same from the Lord, whether he is a slave or free. And you, masters, do the same things to them, giving up threatening, knowing that your own Master also is in heaven, and there is no partiality with Him." (Eph. 6:5-9) 
    Notice that Paul does not tell the masters to free their slaves. And don't tell me that "bondservants" doesn't mean "slaves"--this was the Roman world. 
  • Nowhere, at least that I have seen, does God condemn slavery in and of itself as a moral wrong. 
Now, I do not think that slavery is normative, nor do I want to appear to be advocating a return to enslaving other men in our nation--not the way one initially thinks when they hear "slavery". I believe that many, many persons, both black and white (and a variety of other "races") are already slaves in this country. Slaves to Big Government.  I feel myself to be so to a degree as well. (Seriously. Inheritance Tax? Land Tax? Income Tax? Those are morally wrong! The State declaring that it owns you.) So with that being said, let us take a quick look at antebellum Southern slavery.

Was there abuse? Absolutely YES.

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Are pictures like this one "doctored"?

No. I don't think so. There was cruelty. However, I seriously doubt that most masters would have treated their slaves in such a fashion. Evil men are evil and will commit evil acts regardless of whether they are slave owners or not. 

This photo also brings up a question I hadn't considered before, until listening to H.K. Edgerton speaking. What did this man do that warranted that?

Mr. Edgerton points out that "we are told about these [punishments], but we aren't told that that black man had just burned down a barn with ten other black men inside it!"  (I will post the video this came out of down at the end.) [Not that I am claiming that to  be the case with the man in the photograph...I know nothing about him or his situtation.]

In general, punishments were a little more harsh back in previous centuries anyway--no matter what your colour. Just thought I would tack that on for consideration. Public whipping wasn't unheard of for a white man either.

Did slaves have to work long, hard hours out of doors in the sun? Yes. But no more (and perhaps less) than poor white farmers who could neither afford to buy slaves (who were quite expensive) or maybe even hire temporary help. 

Could slaves own anything of their own? Yes. In fact, I've seen where slaves had enough gold stored up to have purchased their freedom and THEY DID NOT. (So maybe that lady we started the post with has a valid point...)

Was their mutual respect between white and black? I believe, for the most part, there was. Take for instance, the following story which I read in JEB Stuart: The Last Cavalier (B. Davis): The Yankee's had come through and in their ransacking of a plantation, they stole the old house slave's gold watch. Well, some of Stuart's men came through and heard the story. They caught up with the thieves and apprehended them. Capt. Blackford (the man in charge) demanded the gold watch and returned it to it's rightful owner--a black man. A slave. 

Could a black man be educated? That one varied from state to state--and doubtless, some masters violated rules and taught their slaves to read and write and do arithmetic. One thing I do know is that a large portion of slave owners saw to the religious education of their slaves. Ever wondered why there are so many old black spirituals?

Was there justice for black men--free and slave? More or less. I confess I need to do a whole lot more study on this particular question, but I suspect that law and order applied to them in much the same way as it did to whites. (Going back to the video I mentioned at the beginning, one of the claims the host made was that the "police forces" were really more "slave control". I honestly doubt that. White people are just as prone to thieving and murdering and arson as persons of different colours.)

Was there discrimination? Yes. Of course. There was also discrimination against Indians, against white people of different nationalities...and it wasn't universal and it was as much in the North as it was in the South. Northern factory workers hated blacks because the blacks would work for less than the whites. There is STILL discrimination amongst whites against other whites and blacks against other groups of blacks and so forth. Discrimination is a sin problem, not a colour problem. 

So yes. There was slavery in the South. Slavery that probably, quite frequently, fell below the standards of biblical slavery. And no, I do not try to justify where it failed...but neither do I discredit the righteousness of the cause of liberty for which brave patriots--some of them black men who loved freedom from governmental tyranny and justice just as much as their white brothers-- fought and fell for beneath this flag.  

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Give me my flag, Tyrants! (And that goes for you, you modern KKK scalawags who have used it for tyranny!!)
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May God preserve the Memory of the Faithful Men who Fought for Liberty beneath the Cross of Saint Andrews--Black, White, and Indian. 

     Racheal

As promised, the inestimable H.K. Edgerton! I want to meet him...a lot.

Chapter 20: The Assurance of Salvation

7/19/2015

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Chapter Twenty addresses LCQ's 80 and 81: Q. 80: Can true believers be infallibly assured that they are in the estate of grace, and that they shall persevere therein unto salvation?
A.: Such as truly believe in Christ, and endeavour to walk in all good conscience before him, may, without extraordinary revelation, by faith grounded upon the truth of God’s promises, and by the Spirit enabling them to discern in themselves those graces to which the promises of life are made, and bearing witness with their spirits that they are the children of God, be infallibly assured that they are in the estate of grace, and shall persevere therein unto salvation.
Q. 81: Are all true believers at all times assured of their present being in the estate of grace, and that they shall be saved?
A.: Assurance of grace and salvation not being of the essence of faith, true believers may wait long before they obtain it; and, after the enjoyment thereof, may have it weakened and intermitted, through manifold distempers, sins, temptations, and desertions; yet are they never left without such a presence and support of the Spirit of God as keeps them from sinking into utter despair.

Dr. Morecraft starts us out with the five prevalent views on the assurance of salvation:
Roman Catholicism denies that a certain assurance of salvation can be attained except by eminent saints and ascetics to whom God gives it by extraordinary revelation. Otherwise, it is not attainable, not to be sought for, not beneficial if attainable, and not even desirable. 

Non-Reformed Protestants (Arminians), teach that certain assurance of final salvation is not attainable in this life, and that to doubt one’s salvation is beneficial and conducive to humility.

Followers of John Wesley believe that, although salvation can be loseable, assurance of present salvation, followed by some hope of final salvation, is possible and essential to the life of every believer.

Fundamentalism holds that one should have assurance obtained by reason
without the necessity of a changed life to prove the reality of faith. (1) He who has the Son has life. (2) I have the Son by faith. (3) Therefore I have eternal life. (4) I should never doubt or question my salvation no matter what I do.

Reformed Christianity teaches that the believer can know for certain without special divine revelation that his sins are forgiven forever, that he is a new creature in Christ, and that he is eternally accepted with God, from Whom nothing can separate him in life or in death.

(258-259)
Next he addresses the attainability of assurance, first reasserting that this is for the "average" believer and not reserved for some super-saints.
Over against Wesleyanism, Roman Catholicism and the charismatic movement, the certain and undeceivable assurance of eternal salvation is possible for a believer without extraordinary revelation from God. It is true that this assurance is ours as the Holy Spirit witnesses with our spirit that we are the children of God, but this
witness of the Spirit is not a verbal and audible revelation from God; it is more like enlightening assistance in our self-examination and inner persuasion from the Spirit regarding the reality of God’s work within us.    .....
So then, assurance of salvation does not come by extraordinary Divine revelation but by faith grounded upon the truth of God’s promises. (260-261)

If a purpose of the Bible is that believers may know with certainty they have eternal life, then the implication is that this assurance of salvation is attainable. (261)

“We” as believers can know that after we die, i.e., after our “earthly tent…is torn down,” we will live happily with God, i.e., “a building from God… eternal in the heavens.” Paul is speaking with certainty about these things, not simply as an apostle, but as a believer in Jesus. (262-263)

If God will not withhold any good thing from His people, then certainly He will not always withhold assurance of our salvation from us, which is one of the greatest of all the “good things” God can give us. (263)

The true believer in Jesus has within his new heart several sources (springs and fountains), from which assurance of salvation flows. True saving faith in Christ is one such “spring.” ....
Hope is another “spring” of assurance in the believer’s heart: “Christ in you the hope of glory” (Col. 1:27)....“Souls that are big in hope,will not be long without sweet assurance.”10   ....
A good, clear conscience cleansed by the blood of Christ (Heb. 9:14), is another spring of assurance in the believer: “For our confidence [glorying] is this, the testimony of our conscience that in holiness and godly sincerity, not in fleshly wisdom but in the grace of God, we have conducted ourselves in the world, and especially toward you” (2 Cor. 1:12). ....
Lastly, love is another spring of assurance in the believer—“We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brethren” (1 John 3:14). 
10. Brooks, Heaven on Earth, 22. (264-265)

...He [Holy Spirit] is commanding us to exert all effort, immediately, with all seriousness to make certain that we are in fact saved people. Do not cease your efforts until you have obtained this certainty. (266)

The way to assurance of salvation is the diligent and increasing adding to our faith in Christ moral superiority, knowledge of God and His revealed will, self-discipline, perseverance in well doing, godliness of character and behavior, brotherly kindness and Christian love. As we purpose and endeavor to manifest this Christ-likeness
in our lives as believers, we become more and more certain about our eternal salvation in Christ.
The second means for obtaining full assurance is self-examination: “Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you—unless indeed you fail the test?” (2 Cor. 13:5). (267)

The sacrament of the Lord’s Supper is a sign and seal of the blessings of salvation to the believer. It has as its purpose to assure those who partake in faith that they do in fact belong to the Lord. (268)

“Joy and rejoicing is a consequent and effect of assurance… and therefore… believers may attain unto a well-grounded assurance of their everlasting happiness, else it is impossible that they should ‘rejoice evermore’.” 17. Brooks, Heaven on Earth, 29. (269)
Following is a discussion of the nature of assurance of salvation.
The assurance of salvation attainable by all true believers in Jesus is an infallible assurance, or as the Larger Catechism has it: Such as truly believe in Christ… may… be infallibly assured that they are in the estate of grace, and shall persevere therein unto salvation....It is an assurance that is certain, unerring, undeceivable, and
therefore full of rejoicing, peace, and sense of security. (270)
The distinction between true and false assurance:
False assurance is a reality because self-deception is a reality. A person can be certainly persuaded that he is at peace with God, when in fact he is not....Such a position is presumption, i.e., presuming one’s self to be a Christian, when he has no reason whatever to think of himself as such, largely because he is a stranger to selfexamination, and he has adopted the rationalistic and deceptive approach
to assurance of Fundamentalism, or else he thinks he believes what is demanded of him by the gospel, but he is mistaken. (270)

Thomas Brooks, in his book on true assurance, entitled Heaven on Earth, gives us eight differences by which true assurance is distinguished from counterfeit assurance.
True and well-grounded assurance of salvation is accompanied by a deep admiration of God’s love and favor in Christ. ...
It produces in the heart an earnest yearning after a clearer and fuller enjoyment of God in Christ. ....
It is sometimes violently attacked by Satan, who hates joy and peace in the believer. ...
It makes a believer as bold as a lion; valiant for Christ and His kingdom, even in the face of danger and death. ....
A well-grounded assurance of a person’s own eternal happiness and salvation will make him endeavor to increase the happiness and holiness of others....“Assurance
will strongly put men upon the winning of others by counsel, by example, by prayer, and by communicating their spiritual experiences to them. Assurance will furnish a man with will, skill, and experience to confute all those false reports that vain men frequently cast upon the Lord and His ways.”21 ....
It strengthens a believer against all sin (Ezek. 16:60-63). ...
It is accompanied by love, humility and joy. True assurance makes the believer sing: “I will love Thee, O LORD, my strength” (Ps. 18:1). ....
It springs from the witness of the Holy Spirit together with the spirit of the believer that he is in truth a child of God: “The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are the children of God” (Rom. 8:16). 
21. Brooks, Heaven on Earth, 293. (271-273)

The Catechism Question 80 sets forth the character of those to whom infallible assurance of salvation belongs as bearing two marks. They are those who truly believe in Christ and those who endeavour to walk in all good conscience before Him. (274)

(1) When a person believes in the name of the Son of God, God gives him eternal life immediately upon believing. (2) This eternal life God gives is in His Son. (3) To possess eternal life from God a person must have the Son of God as his Lord and Savior by faith. (4) Those who truly believe in Christ the Son of God may KNOW for certain that they have eternal life. (5) Because only those who believe in Jesus Christ have eternal life, only those who believe in Christ can be infallibly and undeceivably certain that they possess eternal life. (275)
As you can see, I didn't get very far into the chapter...but the girls were playing music and I decided to pitch in myself. :) 

     Racheal

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A Rather Disorganized Day

7/10/2015

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I guess it was fairly productive, but the actual layout was a bit on the disorganized side.

In no particular order, I got my beehives painted--kind of a blue-gray to distinguish the second hive body from the first one. I went ahead and painted the four supers the same color; consider it convenience sake. Them bees give to move into bigger houses soon. 

I played my guitar for the first time in too long. You have full permission to laugh at me, but I started out with the seven page "Dixie" arrangement that uses the full range of the neck. For cold turkey and stiff-ish hands while sitting on the floor, it actually sounded somewhat decent. I didn't play it slow, but plowed right into it full speed. My muscle memory helped out a lot. One of these days, I am actually going to be able to remember all those notes up there without having to stop and either use my cheat sheet or quickly run through them from the first fret. I played one other piece in that position then I had to get up. Sitting on the floor with both knees elevated makes my hip joints ache. :P 

Katherine came and we howled and banged and strummed and picked for probably about an hour. My voice sounds horrid...just so you know. 

Toward late afternoon, Mama and I started pulling stuff out so I could photograph it for my Etsy shop. I do have one, yes. Currently, there are only four measly items on it. There is still more to photograph, but I think I got a fairly decent start. Now I just have to list and list and list... 

Anyway...here's the word/phrase for the day from that fascinating dictionary of "Slang and Unconventional English":
A horse to a hen
Long odds. 
A sporting colloquialism from roughly 1810-1860 
Oh yes...a horse sure could outrun a hen--but it doesn't look near as hilarious either at a dead run!

     Racheal

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The Romper

7/9/2015

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And so, it may have taken most of the day to get it completed, along with a little ripping out and rethinking--but I completed that little sailor suit romper! I made it in the largest size--which goes right into toddler size, so I put it on one of our old walking dolls. Sarah, Katherine's doll, modeled it. The little blonde beauty doesn't exactly look like a little boy, but oh well. :)
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If I want to make a smaller size, I will have to re-size the collar for each size...and probably the little center piece too. After making this, Mama suggested that I cut the "V" on the bias so it has a little stretch. I think that is a good idea, and so I add that to my mental checklist. 

In addition, I finally got my ironing board cover made--and on!! Sorry, no pictures. I was going into food withdrawal about that time and the idea didn't even cross my mind. Essentially though, it looks like the other one I made back aways for the other ironing board.

Tomorrow's plan is to get my hives painted--because I am really going to need that second hive body as soon as possible next week! Both hives are thinking about busting...

And, just for fun, while Mama was doing some clean up in the living room and sorting through one of the piles (mountains) of books, she ran across one that is almost three inches thick, red in color, and has this fascinating wording along the spine (which feels rather worn): A Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English. She was considering getting rid of it, but the writer in me screamed "NO! That may come in handy." So...now I just have to find a place to keep it. :D However, I thought it might be fun to randomly pick a word or phrase per day and put up here. I will avoid the profane, of course...

So, here goes:
Norsker
A Norwegian: nautical colloquialism. Mid 19th century to 20th century. 
I suspect that that isn't politically correct. I also promise that I will not call the Norwegian lady in our congregation a "Norsker".

     Racheal

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"Be Strong"

7/8/2015

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I was just rather hunting and pecking through a book of poetry this evening since the writing I was attempting was feeling flat and terrible and this book was handy. I stumbled upon the following poem and thought that it was rather fitting for us, as Christians in the current times.
Be strong!
We are not here to play, to dream, to drift;
We have hard work to do, and loads to lift;
Shun not the struggle--face it; 'tis God's gift.

Be strong!
Say not, "The days are evil. Who's to blame?"
And fold the hands and acquiesce--oh shame!
Stand up, speak out, and bravely, in God's name.

Be strong!
It matters not how deep entrenched the wrong,
How hard the battle goes, the day how long;
Faint not--fight on! Tomorrow comes the song.
~~Maltbie D. Babcock
I know nothing about the author, so I don't know how orthodox he was necessarily, but I like the poem...and the message.

     Racheal

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    New post on The Bee Project! 04/26/18
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    The Middle Kid

    I chose to title this blog "The Adventures of a Middle Kid" because that is exactly what I'll be detailing (mostly). I chose 'kid' over any other word, like 'girl' (I am the middle girl so it also would have worked) or 'child'
    (since I am no longer exactly a child).

    I am a middle kid and I will always be a middle kid--even when I'm 80!

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