The Danger from the New Apostolic Reformation (NAR) aka the Signs and Wonders Movement

In the process of moving to Ecuador from the United States, we've gone through many adjustments and changes.  One that we never would have thought of has to do with what local congregation we associate with in the worship of God.  Surely there's a church in our new country and city that does the things we know are worthwhile and appropriate in terms of worship, small groups, and outreach. . . right?  Well, yes - but we have since learned one needs to look deeper and with more diligence than we've done in the past.  Let me explain.

Appearances can be deceiving.  Consider this: when one comes to a new country, with a different language and culture, a person is more apt than not to not understand what a particular group is all about.  You have the disadvantage of not being completely fluent in the new language, as well as not being used to how things get done within this new congregation.  You're new here, after all.  It takes time getting used to new people, new ways of doing things you once took for granted, and to reasonably assimilate in a new environment.  Add to that one's own history on how their previous church did things and operated, and from that prism of personal experience a person can be fooled into buying into the new church's belief system and ways of operating.  It looks good on the surface, so it must be valid and good, right?  Wrong.  

Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world.  (1 John 4:1, ESV)

Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves.  (Matthew 7:15, ESV)

4 And Jesus answered them,“See that no one leads you astray. 5 For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and they will lead many astray. 6 And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not alarmed, for this must take place, but the end is not yet. 7 For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places. 8 All these are but the beginning of the birth pains.

9 “Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations for my name's sake. 10 And then many will fall away[a] and betray one another and hate one another. 11 And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. 12 And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold. 13 But the one who endures to the end will be saved. 14 And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.  (Matthew 24:4-14, ESV)

But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction.  (1 Peter 2:1)

 28 Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God,[d] which he obtained with his own blood.[e] 29 I know that after my departure fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; 30 and from among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things, to draw away the disciples after them. 31 Therefore be alert, remembering that for three years I did not cease night or day to admonish every one with tears.  (Acts 20:28-31, ESV)

Be alert, counseled the Apostle Paul in Acts 20:31.  Over a period of months, my wife and I were exposed to a Signs and Wonders/New Apostolic Reformation (NAR) environment that we now realize is theologically a cult in its beliefs and practice.  What were (are) the clues to its presence?  

Not surprisingly, the differences were small and seemingly insignificant.  Only when one looks at the totality of the whole picture of the "church" can one start to understand the significant differences between a heterodox NAR type "church" versus a truly Biblically centered orthodox church. 

Here's one: the music was reliably uptempo, loud in sound level, and overly repetitious in repeating lyrics.  The unstated goal, I have since learned, is to get you to memorize the words, and thus the "church's" aberrant theology.  One song was sung for over 11 minutes, in fact!  Talk about repetition!  The second to last song generally gets softer and provides for a "nice landing" in terms of emotional feel to the words and music.  Then, after a leader's prayer, a previous louder style song is repeated by the worship team and congregation.  There's no connection between the lyrics of the songs and the messages taught in terms of content.  

This has been a newer development in the life of the congregation we were a part of, but bears mentioning: the last few weeks of our attendance, one older woman reliably came up to the front of the platform and was given a microphone to read a Bible passage stressing prophecy.  In the end of our time there, this was every Sunday.  Again, the passage had no direct connection to the worship music or the teacher's message.  Looked good, felt good, but the emphasis on feelings and the overemphasis of the "church's" aberrant teachings to the exclusion of the rest of the whole counsel of God was evident to this observer.

Teaching from the platform by the leaders left much to be desired.  Topical, rather than verse by verse, chapter by chapter, book by book of the Bible.  Bible passages were displayed on the front two screens, like what you would find in an orthodox Bible believing church, but in truth they were cover for what the pastor or leader wanted to say anyway.  So one could read the words of Scripture in the teaching time, but not have those same words exposited in a correct manner befitting a proper exegesis.  This sadly led to what might best be called "spiritual malnutrition". . . looking at the "steak" - the meat of the Word of God, but given the "sizzle" or sauce only.  Hard to grow spiritually in the manner God intends and says from His Word when this kind of malpractice occurs.

The topical teaching ran in what we learned were predictable themes.  Pentecost and the coming of the Holy Spirit was one, and parenting and raising children in the home was another.  Relationships one to another - humanly speaking - was one more that was common in our time there.  Advent at Christmastime of course.  Lenten topical messages during that time of the year, too.  These themes or "series" of messages would last for several consecutive weeks.  Teaching on parts of the Bible that are more difficult to grasp, regarded as controversial or are more likely to be avoided were. . . avoided.  

The pastors and leaders were always working to get the congregation to respond by coming up front for prayer and healing.  Sometimes receiving Jesus as Savior was mentioned, but not often.  We saw, especially in our first few months of attendance, some attendees falling down on the carpet up front by the platform as they were being prayed for and having hands laid on them.  These people and instances were the distinct minority of cases.  The net result desired by the "church" leadership was to have things end in an upbeat fashion, where people would feel good.  That seemed to be true from what we could observe, as far as we knew from our linguistic handicap of not being fully fluent in Spanish and not knowing the particular culture of the "church" or the congregation.      

Once the leaders finally set up a regular date and time for native English speakers to meet in a small group setting at the "church" cafeteria, being able to more closely evaluate the "church's" aberrant doctrine became easier.  The meetings were used to hear attendee's testimonies. . . not a bad thing at all, but virtually the entire meeting was used for that purpose week after week, month after month.  Not anything like we'd ever encountered before at a foundationally solid Bible believing church in the United States.  We heard from the pastor leading the small group that after the testimonies were given, we would study a paperback book on whatever topic was desired.  Not a verse by verse chapter by chapter Bible study like what we knew was good and appropriate.  This was a big Red Flag to us.  

There were other nagging things, too.  Commanding the Holy Spirit to do this or that.  "Speaking" against this spirit or that spirit.  I knew this was from aberrant Word of Faith theology I had encountered in an open air "church" hosted by a mainline congregation in Southern California.  The pastor's wife started to say each week in the small group "does anyone have a prophetic word that they are feeling right now?"  I knew what she meant by "prophetic word" was far different from what I knew the term meant in an orthodox understanding of those words.  I began to reflect and dig up more.

I had an encounter regarding another false teacher with one of the English speaking expats that later attended the English speaking small group the "church" had finally started.  We had an exchange of words, emailing of information and Internet site pages, and after all that, I determined that I was best to "answer not a fool according to his folly, lest you be like him yourself." 

But I did have the temerity - and evidently, looking back, the chutzpah - to ask the son of one of the founding pastors about this encounter with this expat.  As it turned out, he was fresh from attending, with his new wife, the Bethel School of Supernatural Ministry in Redding, California.  More on that in a bit.  He wouldn't reprove this obviously false teacher my expat acquaintance so adored, and when it came right down to it, he equivocated on if he would or could do that with any such teacher that one regarded as suspect regarding the faith.  

At that particular time in my knowing this young "church" leader, he was more open in opening up himself to my wife and I.  He let on that he had doubts about this Bill Johnson guy who was the leader at Bethel in Redding.  He and Bill Johnson sat down for a time of getting together and working things out, and according to this young leader, he came away convinced that Bill Johnson was as ordinary as anybody else, and a regular guy who could be trusted.  I wasn't there, of course to see and hear what that conversation was all about, and took his statement at face value at the time.  

Looking back after a few more months, I could put the pieces of the theological puzzle together.  The source of the strange and unnerving practices, beliefs and theology underlying all that we were encountering was the people who were espousing and promoting this stuff - Bethel Church in Redding.  Time for an Internet surfing session.  

Whoa! (to ironically use a well worn phrase by these people)  I had hit paydirt!  What Bill Johnson and Bethel stood for was well documented by those within the true Body of Christ with the spiritual gift of discernment.  And the "church" we were attending at the time and their international association of "churches" was tightly bound up into Bethel and what it teaches.  

Here's a link from Apologetics Index on Bill Johnson: http://www.apologeticsindex.org/1399-bill-johnson  

Here's a link from Apologetics Index on New Apostolic Reformation:Influence and Teachings, which is very complete without being overly detailed in the many tentacles this aberrant movement reaches into: http://www.apologeticsindex.org/2977-new-apostolic-reformation-overview  If you only click on one of these links, click on this one.

Here's a short YouTube video on Bill Johnson in a Q and A session, where he equivocates and makes up answers off the cuff, which is then contrasted with what the Scripture says: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FYA7ZkkutPw

Are you easy prey for False Prophets?  Here's a checklist to help: http://www.spiritoferror.org/2013/08/are-you-easy-prey-for-false-prophets/3895

Going along with the previous item, here's a great writeup showing how one may become easily deceived by extra fantastical stories. . . made up on the spur of the moment.  Read it and weep: http://www.renewamerica.com/columns/mwest/141106

How pastors can help their congregations from being ensnared in false teaching from the false teachers: http://www.spiritoferror.org/2013/08/pastors-5-ways-to-protect-your-people-from-false-teachers/3981

A missionary in Ecuador who was previously part of the Signs and Wonders Movement discusses the dangers it brings - two parts.  http://www.howcantheyhear.org/2012/05/the-danger-of-seeking-signs-and-wonders-part-1/

and

http://www.howcantheyhear.org/2012/05/the-danger-of-seeking-signs-and-wonders-part-2/

You'll notice the citations above come from a variety of sources, not just one.  

I asked one of the founding pastors of the "church" we had attended about the healings he would mention from time to time.  Had he ever taken the time to document them?  "We've had so many, I haven't had the time to write them down," he replied.  Again. . . sounds plausible and believable, but in the end, without the proof documented for the congregation - and the outside world - to see, just a bunch of words without substantiation.

You would think that in the case of genuine healings, the world would be coming to the church and knocking down the walls for them to be healed.  People would realize what was going on, get their loved ones and friends out of the hospitals, and get them to the church so they didn't have to suffer any longer, right?  Think about it.  It doesn't happen because these stories are fake and bogus. . . plain and simple.  

Words without substance.  Actions without true power.  Power. . . now, there's a word we've heard at the alleged "church" over and over.  People claiming to have power to (fill in the blank).  Again, no proof that the power really came from the one true God.  

For false christs and false prophets will arise and perform great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect.  See, I have told you beforehand.  --Jesus in Matthew 24:24-25

We thank God we were ultimately not led astray.  I post this as an object lesson to our friends and the public at large.  Perhaps you may learn from our experience and wisely discern biblical truth from the error of man.  That is my humble prayer to all who read this.

Knowing You (All I Once Held Dear)

It has come to this. . .

All I have in material possessions sold, given away, or (a very small amount) in storage.  Gone.  Poof!

Furniture, furnishings, that have reminded me of who I am and whose son I am. . . gone.  Donated, in fact. No one can recognize quality furniture these days, or if they can, they don't care. 

All just memories.  It's as though I conducted a "Living Estate Sale," and indeed I have.  This world couldn't care less about my possessions.  It matters not to them one whit. 

This residence, Pilgrim's Rest, where I first lived and grew up, and spent a lot of my adult years as well. . . now sold.  Escrow officially closed today.  60 years in one family, three generations.  Gone.  Like that. 

In that context, Graham Kendrick's worship song "Knowing You (All I Once Held Dear) has significant meaning to me.  I can say like the Apostle Paul

But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ.  Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.  For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith - that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.  (Philippians 3:7-11, ESV, emphasis mine) 

Share his sufferings. . . well, hmm. . . not nearly as much as the Apostle Paul in such a delightful place as our next permanent residence, Cuenca, Ecuador.  But yes. . . becoming like him. . . in his death.  Yes, Lord.  I'm willing.  I'm going following you to a land I never went to before, because this thing pleases you as I become even more obedient to your Word in my personal life, my habits and practices in the financial and health realms.  Knowing you, Jesus. . . knowing you. . . there is no greater thing!

With that perspective, I now give you the wonderful Graham Kendrick and his inspiring song based on the Philippians passage cited above. 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tkr9p09k01I

If you want to follow along and sing the words as they are being sung, this page from Graham Kendrick has the words for you.  Well crafted, theologically sound lyrics. . . a real treat.  You'll no doubt be touched, as I have been. 
 http://www.grahamkendrick.co.uk/songs/item/2-knowing-you-all-i-once-held-dear

"Just Over in the Gloryland"-Crimson River & Cross Road Quartets

Now this is "traveling music" for the Pilgrim on their way to the Eternal Home that is Heaven.  Heavenly, uplifting, joyous music performed a number of years ago - circa 2005 - by the Crimson River Quartet (CRQ) and the Cross Road Quartet. 

Cross Road nowadays is a defunct group, but the CRQ is still going strong in an age where there is less and less of live traveling Southern Gospel musical groups singing this kind of music in churches. I've got several of their CDs which were purchased after hearing them live at a church in Bakersfield a few years ago.  Great investment versus the programming on subscription radio, which, like cable television, offers lots of programming but less and less quality in that programming. 

I've been listening a lot lately to CRQ's "Live at Lake Hills" CD, where this musical number may be found.  Recommended, and I'd go so far to say that the Crimson River Quartet is one of the official musical groups for this weblog.  Rick Moore (no relation - I asked) and group love to "fun" each other by telling jokes in between songs, and their love of the Lord and his people are evident in their music ministry.  OK, so some of the jokes are literally corny. . . but the "Oak Street" joke hits home to me a couple of different ways.  An acquired taste, and one you'll not be ashamed to have.  Just a great time listening to these folks.

Anyways, this tune is infectious.  Clap your hands and sing the tenor part if you dare - and I can and do - and enjoy!  I love the piano accompaniment in this piece. . . listen for it towards the end. 

Funeral honors hero of NASA's Apollo fire

The following front page article from the Antelope Valley Press (Palmdale, California) of June 2, 2014 gives a description of the funeral my wife and I missed due to us not getting word of it in the process of returning Stateside from Ecuador.  The Celebration of Life honored the life of one Don Babbitt, whom we got to know from our time here at Grace Chapel in Lancaster.  The story is by Dennis Anderson, Valley Press Editor. 

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LANCASTER - One of the men in the space shuttle program who knew Donald Oliver Babbitt as a mentor also knew that the seasoned space program engineer loved to tell tall stories, but there was one great story that he never told, and it was about himself.

Phil Burkhardt, who was one of the last of the last in the space shuttle program before it was shut down, remembers coming out to Dryden, the NASA center at Edwards Air Force Base, "and I felt like I had died and gone to heaven." 

Burkhardt arrived in the glory days of the space shuttle program to work on ground operations and recovery, the part that involved the team that went out and retrieved the orbiter after it landed and carried the astronaut crew back for de-briefing. 

His boss was Babbitt, a Navy veteran electronics man who had worked in the space program from its earliest days, the Mercury program profiled in Tom Wolfe's "The Right Stuff," the Gemini and Apollo programs, and finally the space shuttle operations team. 

"It would get cold out at Dryden, down into single degrees," Burkhardt recalled, "and as the sun came up, the temperature would actually drop, and Don liked to tell stories, and as long as he was telling a story, we would stay in where it was warm." 

Finally, they would get out onto the lakebed at Rogers Dry Lake to commence the day's operations.  That was in the mid-1980's, when Babbitt was the lead engineer in ground operations, and he acted as a teacher, mentor, and friend to Burkhardt, who was in his mid-20's at the time. 

Babbitt, who was 85, died May 21, and his memorial service, with military honors, was conducted Saturday at Grace Chapel with Assistant Pastor Pat Tanner officiating. 

"Today is both bitter and sweet, in that we will honor the life of Donald Babbitt," Tanner said.  "I read his obituary, and I find I always learn something else about someone I believed that I knew, and knew well."

Babbitt's record of exemplary service, humility and courage was underscored by his strong faith and belief in Jesus Christ as his way, his truth, and his life, Tanner said. 

The story Babbitt never shared about himself was one that was resurrected for the obituary. 

"If you knew our Dad, you may not have known that he was a 'hero.'  Not just to us, but to the United States.  He hardly ever talked about his accomplishments, but they were many," the obituary started. 

Babbitt's is a story that was told in the book, "Lost Moon," and it was the story of the tragic and devastating fire that took the lives of three Apollo astronauts trapped in the capsule, atop the gantry at Cape Kennedy, Florida. 

Babbitt, the "pad leader," meaning launch pad, was with the team closest to the burning capsule  that was intended to carry the first-ever team of Apollo astronauts aloft. 

This is from the official NASA history of what Babbitt and his team did.  Instead of running away from the fire consuming the capsule and its astronauts, they ran toward the fire to attempt rescue. 

NASA history stated, "Nestled beside an umbilical tower, surrounded by a service structure, and encased in a clean room at Cape Kennedy's Launch Complex 34, spacecraft 012 sat atop a Saturn 1B on Friday morning, 27 January 1967. 

Everything was ready for a launch simulation, a vital step in determining whether the spacecraft would be ready to fly the following month."

It is hard for anyone born, say, after 1969, to make sense of what the Apollo 1 fire meant.  The Apollo program was the late President John F. Kennedy's vision, "to send a man to the moon and return him safely to Earth within the decade." 

Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo programs were NASA's steps on the way to realizing Kennedy's vision, and the United States national mission.  Apollo 1 was commanded by Ivan "Gus" Grissom, one of the original Mercury astronauts.  The venture was heroic and symbolic of the scale of the nation's ambition as it tilted lances with the Soviet space program in a Cold War race to the moon. 

The loss of Apollo 1 was a national tragedy that pre-dated the loss of shuttles Challenger and Columbia, and the first warning shot that space shots with humans aboard involved mortal risk every minute of every day. 

By 8 a.m. Jan. 27, 1967, there was an army of a thousand men to support three spacesuited astronauts - Virgil "Gus" Grissom, Edward White, and Roger Chaffee - who were checking systems to make sure that everything was in order before pulling the plugs. 

A variety of tests took the crew and support team through the day into evening. 

'All of these men and several others in the vicinity at 6:31 heard a cry over the radio circuit from inside the capsule: 'There is a fire in here.'

'Stunned, pad leader Babbitt looked up from his desk and shouted to Gleaves: 'Get them out of there!'

'As Babbitt spun to reach a squawk box to notify the blockhouse, a sheet of flame flashed from the spacecraft.  Then he was hurled to the door by a concussion.  In an instant of terror, Babbitt, Gleaves, Reece, and Clemmons fled.  In seconds they rushed back, and Gleaves and Clemmons searched the area for gas masks and for fire extinguishers to fight little patches of flame.  All four men, choking and gasping in dense smoke, ran in and out of the enclosure, attempting to remove the spacecraft's hatches. 

'Approximately 90 seconds after the first report of fire, pad leader Donald Babbitt reported over a headset from the swing arm that his men had begun attempts to open the hatch.  Thus the panel that investigated the fire concluded that only one minute elapsed between the first warning of the fire and the rescue attempt. 

'For more than five minutes, Babbitt and his North America Aviation crew of James D. Gleaves, Jerry W. Hawkins, Steven B. Clemmons, and L. D. Reece, and NASA's Henry H. Rodgers, Jr., struggled to open the hatch. 

'The intense heat and dense smoke drove one after another back, but finally they succeeded.  Unfortunately, it was too late.  The astronauts were dead.  Firemen arrived within three minutes of the hatch opening, doctors soon thereafter. 

'A medical board was to determine that the astronauts died of carbon monoxide asphyxia, with thermal burns as contributing causes. . . Fire had destroyed 70% of Grissom's spacesuit, 25% of White's, and 15% of Chaffee's.  Doctors treated 27 men for smoke inhalation.  Two were hospitalized.'

Babbitt was awarded the National Medal for Exceptional Bravery, one of the nation's highest awards for civilians, after he suffered severe burns on January 27, 1967, while attempting to rescue the astronauts during the Apollo 1 fire.  

On Saturday, friends and family remembered what a kind man Babbitt was.  They remembered how, after retirement, he and his wife of 62 years, Jeanne, were consistent volunteers for the Friends of the Lancaster Library.  They remembered the stories of the Babbitts watching over children growing up in the neighborhood.  

Burkhardt, who worked with the Lockheed space shuttle operations team, remembered the day he began work out at Edwards, April 22, 1988.  

Diane Lindquist, formerly Cox, who worked with the Lockheed shuttle team, said: "It was the best job I ever had, with the best people.  We were one big family."

Of Babbitt, he said, "He was our engineer.  He was kind, very intelligent, and up through the ranks of the technicians.  He would listen to you, and he made you want to come up with ideas."

"It was his humility," Tanner said, remarking that the Apollo 1 story was never widely known.  "He did not have a doctorate.  He just knew what to do."

Burkhardt said the Apollo 1 fire is studied to this day as a case history of response to emergencies.  

"You can look it up, and you will see Don Babbitt, and it's something.  That was an awesome guy."

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I, along with my wife, was Don Babbitt's regular visitor while he was in his assisted living home in Lancaster.  We visited him for over one year there.  

       

     

I Must be Making Progress. . . the Gossips and Slanderers are Out and About!

One of my pastimes in my spare moments is to contribute discussion comments to a Facebook group on local current events.  I've also been made an administrator of the group due to my reasonable nature and willingness to thoughtfully contribute. 

Not everyone out there reading my comments on the 'Net cares for what I say, of course.  Not everyone agrees with everybody else. . . me included.  Some times it's hard to find out what position to take.  Many times it's best to take a position of "I don't know for sure without a lot more research" which is more true of the situation than most.  Cool heads prevail, hot heads just get steamed. 

There's a culture amongst some here in the United States of making partisan politics *THE* only thing that is worth discussing, and having your candidates and/or your party and/or your ballot issues win. . . or else.  It literally is a blood sport with these people, to the point of becoming an actual religion in my humble opinion.  When it goes that far, I'd call that making a false idol of politics and political speech, forgetting the Lord and his rightful position in one's life. 

Anyways, with the help of our small group of administrators/moderators, we found - in the normal course of comments made yesterday - one such person.  And they have it in for me personally in the world's worst way for reasons I don't even begin to understand. . . so sad.  I've never even met the person as far as I know.  Why make such drama on Facebook?  I dunno.  The person's arrogance and insistence that they were right, and everyone else opposing them was wrong, combined with some extremely bad advice concerning the primary election just concluded, gave all of us pause.  I put two and two together and realized that this person commenting must be a sockpuppet. . . someone having the cowardice to wear a mask on Facebook and say they were a non real name person.  We checked, and it was agreed this person was a fake person. . . not allowed under the group's rules, by the way. . . and POOF!  They were gone.  They'll no doubt try to get back in under yet another nom de plume sockpuppet personality. . . but their way of speaking, their vocabulary, their passions, and their arrogance always identify them once again.  Go ahead. . . make my day!

Anyways, in the course of the day, I was notified that this person was gossiping and libeling me in some other forum somewhere.  So what?  What is that to me?  I love many of the quotes of Sir Winston Churchill, a leader who took his responsibilities in leading Great Britain in World War II seriously.  One of them is this apt statement: "You have enemies?  Good.  That means you've stood up for something, sometime in your life." 

Indeed I have.  I have enemies.  Jesus had enemies, too.  The Pharisees, for one, were constantly trying to trip him up and get him killed.  Serious business, being in that position he was in.  As His follower and disciple, I am told I will get the same treatment Jesus got.  Goes with the territory. 

Here's some applicable Bible verses on gossip and slander - and wise speech - I've found. 

• My enemies speak evil against me.  "When will he die, and his name perish?"  And when he comes to see me, he speaks falsehood; His heart gathers wickedness to itself; When he goes outside, he tells it.  All who hate me whisper together against me; Against me they devise my hurt, saying, "A wicked thing is poured out upon him.  That when he lies down, he will not rise up again."  Psalm 41:5-8
• When there are many words, transgression is unavoidable.  But he who restrains his lips is wise.  Proverbs 10: 19
• A fool's lips bring strife.  And his mouth calls for blows.  A fool's mouth is his ruin, and his lips are the snare of the soul.  Proverbs 18:6-7
• He who guards his mouth and his tongue, Guards his soul from troubles.  Proverbs 21:23
• A fool always loses his temper, But a wise man holds it back.  Proverbs 29:11
• But I tell you that every careless word that people speak, they shall give an accounting for it in the day of judgment.  "For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned."  Jesus in Matthew 12:36-37
• At the same time they learn to be idle, as they go around from house to house: and not merely idle, but also gossips and busybodies, talking about things not proper to mention.  1 Timothy 5:13
• Argue your case with your neighbor, And do not reveal the secret of another, or he who hears it will reproach you, And the evil report about you will not pass away.  Proverbs 25:9-10
• For the lack of wood a fire goes out, And where there is no whisperer, contention dies down.  Proverbs 26:20
• You shall not bear a false report; do not join your hand with a wicked man to be a malicious witness.  Exodus 23:1
• Whoever secretly slanders his neighbor, him I will destroy; No one who has a haughty look and an arrogant heart will I endure.  Psalms 101:5
• He who conceals hatred has lying lips, And he who spreads slander is a fool.  Proverbs 10:18
• . . . being filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice; they are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents. . . Romans 1:29-30
• Set a guard, O LORD, over my mouth; Keep watch over the door of my lips.  Psalms 141:3
• He who goes about as a slanderer reveals secrets,  Therefore do not associate with a gossip.  Proverbs 20:19

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Do not associate with a gossip.  Great advice from God's word today!  And for those gossipers, slanderers (verbal malice), and libelers (printed malice). . . I'll be doing everything I can in the spare moments I may have to either help you to see the error of your ways. . . or be gone from a particular Facebook group.  Don't have time for foolish strife. . . there's better things to be doing for God's Kingdom, and I'll be about them versus such small minded things like backbiting and gossip. 

Announcing a New Weblog. . . and a Redirection

As you've seen by now, the last two months have been spent on the topic of retirement, and where to live in that retirement at the overseas location of Ecuador, specifically Cuenca.  Whole blogs have been devoted to the subject by US expats (from which I've learned quite a bit from, thank you), and I have come to the realization it's time to spin off that whole process from my main narrative journaling here and let it have its own dedicated spot on the 'Net.  So I created a place for writings on that very subject here: http://outofpalmdale.blogspot.com/

Meanwhile, it's important for me to keep on with regular life and reflections centered on my Christian faith. . . what I am learning, and where I am struggling and making progress in life.  So a redirection is in order for this blog.  Consider it done.  Cuenca and associated goings on with the move may well be mentioned here, but not as the centerpiece of what I will be writing about.  There's still much more to write about, and not near as much time as I'd like to have to write about it. 

So here we go, once again. . . down that Pilgrim road, going the Pilgrim way. . . holding the hand of the Master, and enjoying His presence and His smile as we journey together forward to His wonderful land.  Please come join us as we do so! 

Marcos Brunet - Al que está sentado en el trono (To Him who sits on the throne)

Even if you don't know any Spanish, this worship song which was sung at Iglesia Verbo Cristiana in Cuenca is one that readily lifts up the name and power of Jesus Christ. 

Several contemporary worship songs were sung in the worship services at Iglesia Verbo - some translations of English language praise and worship songs, many not - but this one has stuck in my head for some reason.  Perhaps the quality of the artistic musical score and the heartening words from the Book of Revelation are part of that. 

Anyways, it's here for you to listen to and view.  Enjoy!

Translation into English

Song Title: To Him who Sits on the Throne

I want to know
Everyday more of you
Being in your presence and worship
Reveal your Glory
We want to go much more in You
We want your Presence. . . Jesus

Chorus:

To Him who sits on the throne
That lives forever and ever
Is the Glory
Is the Honor and Power
Is the Glory
Is the Honor and Power

To Him who sits on the throne
That lives forever and ever
Is the Glory
Is the Honor and Power
Is the Glory
Is the Honor and Power

*     *     *

(Some) thanks to Google Translate for the translation. . . with assist from my common sense.  Language is a funny thing sometimes, and you have to have a sense of what the original author in the original language is trying to get across, rather than being too literal with the wording.  Thank God I'm not doing Hebrew or Greek translations of the Bible just yet!  (smile)