CSN - LightWing Messages - 10/9/2022
Encouragement of Joshua
After the death of Moses the Lord’s servant, the Lord spoke to Joshua son of Nun, who had served Moses: “Moses My servant is dead. Now you and all the people prepare to cross over the Jordan to the land I am giving the Israelites. I have given you every place where the sole of your foot treads, just as I promised Moses. Your territory will be from the wilderness and Lebanon to the great Euphrates River—all the land of the Hittites — and west to the Mediterranean Sea. No one will be able to stand against you as long as you live. I will be with you, just as I was with Moses. I will not leave you or forsake you.
“Be strong and courageous, for you will distribute the land I swore to their fathers to give them as an inheritance. Above all, be strong and very courageous to carefully observe the whole instruction My servant Moses commanded you. Do not turn from it to the right or the left, so that you will have success wherever you go. This book of instruction must not depart from your mouth; you are to recite[c] it day and night so that you may carefully observe everything written in it. For then you will prosper and succeed in whatever you do. Haven’t I commanded you: be strong and courageous? Do not be afraid or discouraged, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”
Joshua Prepares the People
Then Joshua commanded the officers of the people: 11 “Go through the camp and tell the people, ‘Get provisions ready for yourselves, for within three days you will be crossing the Jordan to go in and take possession of the land the Lord your God is giving you to inherit.’” Joshua 1:1-11 (HCSB)
Preceding the Fall of Jericho
Now when Joshua was near Jericho, he looked up and saw a man standing in front of him with a drawn sword in his hand. Joshua went up to him and asked, “Are you for us or for our enemies?”
“Neither,” he replied, “but as commander of the army of the Lord I have now come.” Then Joshua fell facedown to the ground in reverence, and asked him, “What message does my Lord have for his servant?”
The commander of the Lord’s army replied, “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy.” And Joshua did so. Joshua 5:13-15 (NIV)
FOUNDER’S MESSAGE:
There have been several Sundays in succession, I had offered the primary message of light in each week. As I mentioned last Sunday, it is not because I’m attempting to dominate the content of our LightWing Messages. However, America is rapidly moving closer and closer to Election Day, and as noted last week, I sense that Americans have strayed so far from the intent the framers had in our Constitution that we are in serious danger of losing our Republic, the land of the Free, which God helped in conceiving and creating. Yet, the time is upon all of us, and it matters not whether we are ready or whether we are oblivious, or if so many could care less.
The time is upon us. And in such a time as this, there is a great amount of fear present across the nation. It has been planned and predetermined as a force to intimidate and regulate all of the people. As I submitted in last week’s Founder’s Message, it is very “tragic when our trusted elected or appointed officials actually ignore the Law of the Land, or work against it, either in an overt or a covert manner.” Too many incidents, not theories, are being observed almost every day that negatively impact, inhibit, or limit our hard-earned freedoms. Regular citizens, not just political opponents are being harassed or targeted for attack, especially people of faith.
Soon October will flow into November, and in such a highly charged election year, Americans are witnessing something they’ve never seen in our nation. The territory seems to be uncharted or unfamiliar. However, humanity has been exposed to suppression and oppression throughout the course of human history. Again, as I mentioned last week, there is a clear increase of chaos: “violence on city streets and the pervasive anger, fear and uncertainty all add to the division. It seems as if we are now becoming a “Divided States of America” at an ever increasing pace.”
Where is the relief? Where is the escape route? Will the elections bring a solution? Are the elections even fair and honest? They certainly aren’t transparent.
The fear sweeping across the land needs to be countered. Unfortunately, innocence or naivety and ignorance have contributed to the sense of pervasive fear. Not sure of this? Consider the number of people wearing face masks either out of fear of contagion or compliance to those who demand it, and who know the masks are ineffective. They have become a signal of simple obedience to an illusion of safety, or compliant obedience, period. The fear needs to be checked and people need to secure a strong grasp upon their faith – if they have much faith left.
In August of 2019, a year before the 2020 presidential election, we posted a message from the Lutheran minister, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who stood up to the Nazis at the time they were rising to power in Germany. This week’s message, in light of the current circumstances in America, again features a message from Bonhoeffer. It is apparently from the first sermon he delivered in 1933, on the threshold of a very dark time in Germany. A time that is beginning to seem eerily familiar to such a time as this. Due to the current state of affairs in America, Bonhoeffer’s message is a sermon entitled, “Overcoming Fear.”
For those readers unfamiliar with Bonhoeffer, he was a German Lutheran minister concerned over the rising hatred towards Jews, the political turmoil brought about by the National Socialist Party (Nazi Party) as well as the Lutheran Church’s sanctioning of Adolf Hitler’s political views. We have presented other excerpts from Bonhoeffer in previous editions. His book, Life Together,
which was used for some of his excerpts was once reviewed by an American who once stated:
“It is my belief that if the Christian church picked up this book — you know, bought it… read it, and applied many of its principles, our churches would be stronger.”
Of course, the Nazis banned his sermons and his books, something that American Christians are facing in this time simply because many do not offer the “politically correct” message, or align with contemporary “wokism.” Bonhoeffer was a leader of the dissenting ("Confessing") Church and was forced to take his writing underground. He even smuggled his words out of prison after he had been arrested by the Gestapo. Sadly, he became a Christian martyr when the Nazi Gestapo executed him, in April of 1945. Ironically, he was hanged a month shy of when the United States military liberated many of the prisoners in Hitler’s concentration camps in Germany.
Additionally, among the various aggregated features we also offer is a video of a presentation of
Eric Metaxes, who has written a biography of Bonhoeffer: Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy | Eric Metaxas The video is highly recommended among the other items that could attract raiders’ attention as it is a very appropriate message for our time.
Yet, we hope our readers would consider all the messages in this edition relevant or meaningful, and if readers know others who might value them as well, consider becoming one of our official LightWing messengers and please pass this newsletter on to those whom you feel would be able to welcome it. Or simply, please receive it yourselves. May God bless all of our readers and all of their loved ones. May God bless America!
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May we, who are called by His name, humble ourselves in such a time as this, when the foundations of the Land of the Free are being shaken right before our eyes. May we seek Heavenly Father’s face, and pray in sincere repentance as if America’s existence really depends on it (as it does). May we genuinely turn from our corruption and wickedness, even if it may mean one’s failure to speak up for our brothers and sisters and put into tangible practice Jesus’ command to love our Heavenly Father and our neighbors.
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"The Kingdom is to be in the midst of your enemies. And he who will not suffer this does not want to be of the Kingdom of Christ; he wants to be among friends, to sit among roses and lilies, not with the bad people but devout people. O you blasphemers and betrayers of Christ! If Christ had done what you are doing, who would ever have been spared?" - Life Together Dietrich Bonhoeffer
In January 1933, shortly before Hitler came to power, Bonhoeffer preached this sermon at a vespers service on the evening of the second Sunday after Epiphany. It was a time of great tension in Berlin, and of widespread fear. The Hindenburg government was tottering, indeed was about to go under, and with it Germany’s fragile first republic, created at Weimar after World War I. There was fear of Communism—the “Red Tide from the East”—and other extremist movements, and danger from open fighting in the streets. In the midst of this storm, Bonhoeffer was no more certain of the future than anyone else, but he was sure that followers of Christ should know where to turn.
“Overcoming Fear” (Part 1)
By Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Berlin, January 15, 1933
The following sermon is taken from “The Collected Sermons of Dietrich Bonhoeffer,” edited and introduced by Isabel Best. It is the first part of a two part sermon because the original sermon is over 3,000 words. Part II will follow in a subsequent edition of the LightWing Messages. However, for the readers who cannot wait, a link to the entire sermon at the bottom of this message.
Note of Context: In January 1933, shortly before Hitler came to power, Bonhoeffer preached this sermon at a vespers service on the evening of the second Sunday after Epiphany. It was a time of great tension in Berlin, and of widespread fear. The Hindenburg government was tottering, indeed was about to go under, and with it Germany’s fragile first republic, created at Weimar after World War I. There was fear of Communism—the “Red Tide from the East”—and other extremist movements, and danger from open fighting in the streets… Introduction by Isabel Best.
Matthew 8:23–27: And when he got into the boat, his disciples followed him. A windstorm arose on the sea, so great that the boat was being swamped by the waves; but he was asleep. And they went and woke him up, saying, “Lord, save us! We are perishing!” And he said to them, “Why are you afraid, you of little faith?” Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the sea; and there was a dead calm. They were amazed, saying, “What sort of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him?”
The overcoming of fear—that is what we are proclaiming here. The Bible, the gospel, Christ, the church, the faith—all are one great battle cry against fear in the lives of human beings. Fear is, somehow or other, the archenemy itself. It crouches in people’s hearts. It hollows out their insides, until their resistance and strength are spent and they suddenly break down. Fear secretly gnaws and eats away at all the ties that bind a person to God and to others, and when in a time of need that person reaches for those ties and clings to them, they break and the individual sinks back into himself or herself, helpless and despairing, while hell rejoices.
Now fear leers that person in the face, saying: Here we are all by ourselves, you and I, now I’m showing you my true face. And anyone who has seen naked fear revealed, who has been its victim in terrifying loneliness— fear of an important decision; fear of a heavy stroke of fate, losing one’s job, an illness; fear of a vice that one can no longer resist, to which one is enslaved; fear of disgrace; fear of another person; fear of dying—that person knows that fear is only one of the faces of evil itself, one form by which the world, at enmity with God, grasps for someone. Nothing can make a human being so conscious of the reality of powers opposed to God in our lives as this loneliness, this helplessness, this fog spreading over everything, this sense that there is no way out, and this raving impulse to get oneself out of this hell of hopelessness.
Have you ever seen someone in the grip of fear? It’s dreadful in a child, but even more dreadful in an adult: the staring eyes, the shivering like an animal, the pleading attempt to defend oneself. Fear takes away a person’s humanity. This is not what the creature made by God looks like—this person belongs to the devil, this enslaved, broken-down, sick creature.
But the human being doesn’t have to be afraid; we should not be afraid! That is what makes humans different from all other creatures. In the midst of every situation where there is no way out, where nothing is clear, where it is our fault, we know that there is hope, and this hope is called: Thy will be done, yes, thy will is being done. “This world must fall, God stands above all, his thoughts unswayed, his Word unstayed, his will forever our ground and hope.” Do you ask: How do you know? Then we name the name of the One who makes the evil inside us recoil, who makes fear and anxiety themselves tremble with fear and puts them to flight. We name the One who overcame fear and led it captive in the victory procession, who nailed it to the cross and committed it to oblivion; we name the One who is the shout of victory of humankind redeemed from the fear of death—Jesus Christ, the Crucified and Living One. He alone is Lord over fear; it knows him as its master; it gives way to him alone. So look to Christ when you are afraid, think of Christ, keep him before your eyes, call upon Christ and pray to him, believe that he is with you now, helping you . . . Then fear will grow pale and fade away, and you will be free, through your faith in our strong and living Savior, Jesus Christ.
Let’s say there is a ship on the high sea, having a fierce struggle with the waves. The storm wind is blowing harder by the minute. The boat is small, tossed about like a toy; the sky is dark; the sailors’ strength is failing. Then one of them is gripped by . . . whom? what? . . . he cannot tell himself. But someone is there in the boat who wasn’t there before. Someone comes close to him and lays cold hands on his arms as he pulls wildly on his oar. He feels his muscles freeze, feels the strength go out of them. Then the unknown one reaches into his heart and mind and magically brings forth the strangest pictures. He sees his family, his children crying. What will become of them if he is no more? Then he seems to be back where he once was when he followed evil ways, in long years of bondage to evil, and he sees the faces of his companions in that bondage. He sees a neighbor whom he wounded, only yesterday, with an angry word. Suddenly he can no longer see or hear anything, can no longer row, a wave overwhelms him, and in final desperation he shrieks: Stranger in this boat, who are you? And the other answers, I am Fear. Now the cry goes up from the whole crew; Fear is in the boat; all arms are frozen and drop their oars; all hope is lost, Fear is in the boat.
Then it is as if the heavens opened, as if the heavenly hosts themselves raised a shout of victory in the midst of hopelessness: Christ is in the boat. Christ is in the boat, and no sooner has the call gone out and been heard than Fear shrinks back, and the waves subside. The sea becomes calm and the boat rests on its quiet surface. Christ was in the boat!
We were along on that voyage, weren’t we? and the call, Christ is in the boat, was once our salvation too. And now, strangely enough, all of us are at sea again, on that voyage without faith, without hope, overwhelmed, in chains, in bondage, paralyzed by fear; we have lost heart, lost the joy of living, our limbs heavy as lead; each of us knows what it’s like. Perhaps, or most likely, we don’t even quite realize what has happened to us; we are already so used to this state of affairs that it seems natural to us, and we almost like it that way, all this misery around us and in our own lives. What would we do if we couldn’t even complain anymore?
And that’s the worst of it: we don’t even want to find a way out. That is the final triumph of Fear over us, that we are afraid to run away from it, and just let it enslave us. Fear has conquered us; it can be found among us in various forms. Some persons have become dull and insensitive and just live from one day to the next, brooding gloomily and doggedly along, but too apathetic to take their own lives. Others are noisy about their fear, pouring it out to everyone else in the form of crying and complaining. Still others, on the other hand, think they can drive out their fear with fine words and bold fantasies, and if they shout these words loudly enough it may seem to take care of things for awhile. But those who know can recognize in such empty words the horrifying power of fear all over again. Fear is in the boat, in Germany, in our own lives and in the nave of this church—naked fear of an hour from now, of tomorrow and the day after. That is why we become apathetic, why we complain, why we intoxicate ourselves with this and that. What else is all the razzle-dazzle and drunkenness of New Year’s Eve, other than our great fear of a new era, of the future? Fear is breathing down our necks.
Those who would try to keep up their pride, as if all this had nothing to do with them, as if they didn’t understand what it’s all about, would hardly be human. No one human could fail to understand what the people of the world have to be afraid of today.
But look here, right in the middle of this fearful world is a place that is meant for all time, which has a peculiar task that the world doesn’t understand. It keeps calling over and over but always anew, in the same tone, the same thing: Fear is overcome; don’t be afraid [John 16:33]. In the world you are frightened. But be comforted; I have conquered the world! Christ is in the boat! And this place, where this kind of talk is heard and should be heard, is the pulpit of the church. From this pulpit the living Christ himself wants to speak, so that wherever he reaches somebody, that person will feel the fear sinking away, will feel Christ overcoming his or her fear.
You of little faith, why are you so fearful? In these words we must hear all the disappointment of Jesus Christ in his disciples and all his love for them. Do you still not know that you are in God’s hands, that where I am, God is? Why are you so fearful? Be of good courage, strong, firm, adult, sure, confident, not shaking with fear. Don’t hang your heads; don’t complain about what bad times these are . . . I am in the boat. And Christ is here, too, in the nave of this church. So why not hear him and believe him?
Click here for the link to the entire sermon - "Overcoming Fear"
Onward and Upward!
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Recommended Reading…
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What affects one, can affect all!
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* News From Our Canadian Neighbors -
From the Toronto Sun: POILIEVRE SPARS WITH TRUDEAU: Conservative leader goes toe to toe with PM - 10/7/22
From Reuters: Danielle Smith, new premier of Canada's oil-rich Alberta, set to defy Trudeau - 10/7/22
* News From Our Israeli Friends -
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News From Colorado -
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Recommended Resources - follow the links…
Excellent Election Education Resource: US 2020 Election Fraud at a Glance
Excellent Non-Partisan Election Resource: Election Integrity Project California
Excellent Constitution Education Resource: LIBERTY TREE ONLINE UNIVERSITY
Excellent Citizen-Patriot News Resource: Steve Bannon's War Room
Excellent Citizen-Patriot News Resource: From Frank Speech - the Home of Free Speech
Excellent Citizen Comprehensive Resource: David Horowitz Freedom Center
Excellent Expose’ of Political Prisoners within the US: American Gulag
Excellent Source of CRT information for parents: Moms for America
Excellent Christian Homeschool Resource:
https://ed-exit.com/
Excellent Citizen Activist Resource: Precinct Strategy: Home
Excellent Guide to Protecting Families: A Guide to Protecting Your Family From the Coming Insurrection and Violence 1 ARE YOU SAFE?
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