CSN - LightWing Messages - 3/10/2024
A Woman of God in a World of War
From the Witness of Luke (Chapter 10)
“Whoever listens to you listens to me; whoever rejects you rejects me; but whoever rejects me rejects him who sent me.”
The seventy-two returned with joy and said, “Lord, even the demons submit to us in your name.”
He replied, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you. However, do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.”
At that time Jesus, full of joy through the Holy Spirit, said, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for this is what you were pleased to do.
“All things have been committed to me by my Father. No one knows who the Son is except the Father, and no one knows who the Father is except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.”
Then he turned to his disciples and said privately, “Blessed are the eyes that see what you see. For I tell you that many prophets and kings wanted to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it.”
The Parable of the Good Samaritan
On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
“What is written in the Law?” he replied. “How do you read it?”
He answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”
“You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.”
But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”
In reply Jesus said: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he was attacked by robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to an inn and took care of him. The next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.’
“Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?”
The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.”
Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.” Luke 10:16-37 (NIV)
FOUNDER’S MESSAGE:
Last week’s LightWing Messages began with a passage from the book of Judith, the ancient lady of Judea who walked into the enemy army’s camp and cut off the enemy general’s head to save her people from devastation . In this week’s featured message, another woman of God is willing to serve her nation in a time of war and successfully brought healing to the wounded in the time of the Crimean War.
The featured article in that edition was focused upon Abigail Adams who held her family intact during the time of the War for Independence in America. Since the March has been designated as the month to remember women in history, the focus of this edition will be upon another one, a woman who stood out among those who lived in her time as an individual who was willing and determined to serve God and to serve humankind.
The featured article in today’s edition focuses upon Florence Nightingale, considered a well respected English social reformer and the founder of modern nursing. Nightingale was more than just some British woman who became famous as a nurse, hospital administrator, and writer. Not many people view Florence Nightingale as a woman of God, but it was her faith that compelled her and propelled her to greatness despite the layers of secular separation of God from her life. But, I found out; I started writing about Florence Nightingale ten years ago. It is a long article, but I figure readers may not read about the “Lady with the Lamp” as a woman of God in too many other places, unless there is a strong inspiration to know the truth of her life.
The second message is a brief excerpt from contributing writer, Jack Meyer. He published his very first book last year and we will interview Jack Meyer on Monday about this first book and about his new one about protecting the grid. The entry about his book entitled: Wayward Patriot: Preserving the Vote does have a brief video trailer of Meyer’s first book. Check it out and jump on our call Monday to catch the interview with Mr. Meyer.
We continue to hope those folks who are seeking form from the Citizens Sentinels Network are able to join us on the Monday Zoom calls. Our calls this year are following the same format of having a discussion or an interview linked to the topic covered in the preceding Sunday edition. This month we will offer an interview with author Jack Meyer. Our LightWing Zoom calls have been successful from last year, and in 2024, they will continue getting better.
Tomorrow, our regular Zoom call discussion will feature an interview with Jack Meyer, the author of The Wayward Patriot - The election is secure. Treason Awaits.
We invite our readers to call in and check in with other like-minded readers for mutual support in such turbulent times. Our readers can participate in the question and answer session, or just listen. If readers are not already on our list to receive a link to the call, please send an email request to this address: d.jamzon@gmail.com We’ll add you to our mailing list.
CSN LightWing Mission – Zoom call Monday 3/11/24 at 5:00pm PST NOW Mondays at 5pm PST (6pm MST; 7pm CST; 8pm EST).
These words are being freely offered to you – intended to shine light unto our paths, as written: “Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he.” Proverbs 29:18 - KJV
May God bless our readers and all of their loved ones. May God bless All His Children!
May we who are called by our Father in Heaven, humble ourselves , seek His face, repent, and turn from wicked ways - even if that may mean to become more serious about what was more important to Jesus – that which he urged should become most vital to us – or to proactively and purposely seek His Kingdom and His righteousness.
Florence Nightingale: 'Lady with the Lamp' and Her Mission from God
By Dennis Jamison 3/8/24
The month of March as presently designated as “Women’s History Month” provides an opportunity to remember women in history who rose above the ‘normal’ events of time as they crashed forward. One such woman was Florence Nightingale, an inspiration to millions, but she had to fight against so much prejudice and resistance in her life just to fulfill her dream of serving others. Yet, she worked it out so she could live her dream.
Sadly, not many Americans may remember much about the “Lady with the Lamp,” and a lot has been lost about Florence Nightingale. She was more than just a woman who became famous as a nurse, hospital administrator, and writer. Today, she is considered a respected English social reformer and the founder of modern nursing. Nevertheless, far fewer understand that Nightingale was a woman who received a calling from God and in her words, “God has blessed me with the fulfillment of my heart’s longings… “
Florence Nightingale’s life is rarely described as one in which she had been inspired by Heaven. Nonetheless, her life reveals a woman divinely inspired to serve humanity in her best possible manner. She personally gave credit to God and described four “calls” from Him beginning in 1837 when she was 17 years old. She sincerely believed she was called by God for a divine purpose, and to focus upon nursing as her calling of divine purpose for service to others. She wrote in her diary, "God called me in the morning and asked me would I do good for Him alone without reputation."
Florence Nightingale’s story, however, was not an easy one, though she was born into a very affluent and prominent British family that belonged to elite social circles. Her father was a wealthy landowner with high social standing in England. However, Nightingale lived at a tumultuous time in human history, from 1820 – 1910. Nevertheless, this lady still managed to leave an indelible imprint in her day and age. She had given so much of herself throughout her life that she became an inspiration to millions, and to future generations. Though without her testimony, it is easy to miss that she was a woman divinely inspired to serve humanity in her best possible manner. To renew one’s view of Florence Nightingale as a woman of God is illuminating, especially in light of the upcoming holidays rooted in the faith traditions of Judaism and Christianity.
Unfortunately, it was because she was born into a very affluent and prominent family and a very privileged background, that her story was not an easy one. Like most of the parents of daughters in the Victorian Era, the Nightingales expected Florence to follow the societal norms established for young women of such social stature: that she find a nice young wealthy gentleman and then get married and raise a family. But this was not Florence Nightingale’s destiny because while still a teenager, she was called by God to focus on nursing as a calling with a divine purpose. And, when she was 24 years old, she turned down a marriage proposal from such a fine young man named Richard Monckton Milnes. The young lady did not feel that she could pursue her dream of going into nursing as a wife and mother.
To Florence’s parents, rejection of such a marriage proposal was a significant blow, and they felt her youthful dream to pursue nursing was basically nonsense. They seriously opposed her desire to become a nurse for several reasons. They considered such a choice to be beneath the social stature of her family and their prestigious name. Also, the nursing profession in this time was not considered a substantive career, especially it did not represent a suitable profession for young women of the upper class. Actually in England of the 1840s, nursing was considered lowly employment and few qualifications or little training was required as nurses mainly received on the job training. In addition, public perception regarded it as the kind of job women took when they were not able to find a good husband to care for them.
Her parents were definitely concerned about their daughter’s reputation, as well as the reputation of their affluent family. Particularly, her mother did not share Florence’s vision. And although her father took it upon himself to personally provide Florence and her older sister with a classical education, including studies in German, French and Italian, both parents essentially forbade their daughter to pursue what was viewed as lowly menial labor and ultimately spurned by the upper class. The essential conflict in Florence Nightingale’s early life was the clash of wills between the young lady and her parents.
After a struggle of many years, from the time of her first vision until she turned 32, Florence Nightingale eventually freed herself from her family entanglements. During this time she struggled with her identity as a person to serve others, and with being a woman with regard to the proper Victorian and feminine ideal of a woman growing to marry and become a wife and a mother. In the course of her struggles, she fortified her genuine relationship with God, and this gave Florence Nightingale the strength and the courage to fight against the “normal” expectations for women of Victorian England, and to also help transform the world of healthcare in her time.
One of her diary entries in this period revealed an important resolution during this time of struggle:
I am thirty, the age at which Christ began his mission. Now no more childish things, no more vain things, no more love, no more marriage. Now Lord, let me only think of Thy will.
Toward the end (1851 – 52) of this period of her struggle, Nightingale wrote a polemical tract that examined such a struggle on deeper levels. Feminists point to this as a major work dealing with her rejection of the Victorian feminine ideal she experienced through Florence’s mother and her older sister, Parthenope. Yet, this work titled Cassandra reveals much about Florence Nightingale’s relationship to God
Cassandra is much more than a feminist polemic, and Florence Nightingale should be viewed beyond an identification of her as a feminist activist because she reveals much more about herself as a Christian and one who was concerned with pursuing God’s Will. This can be understood, especially, when one considers that the original title of her tract was: Suggestions for Thought to Searchers after Religious Truth, a more typical wordy nineteenth century title. Florence utilized her title Cassandra, the name of the virgin priestess of Apollo, as a serious statement in and of itself. The divinely inspired prophecy of the Greek priestess went unheeded by the people of her time, and she was stifled in her divine inspirations.
Suggestions for Thought to Searchers after Religious Truth has a great deal to do with Florence’s own experiences of being stifled by her mother, her parents, and society in general, and ultimately turns to very genuine concerns not limited to her time:
Jesus Christ raised women above the condition of mere slaves, mere ministers to the passions of man, raised them by his sympathy, to be Ministers of God. He gave them moral activity. But the Age, the World, Humanity, must give them the means to exercise this moral activity…
What should not be lost about Florence Nightingale, is that she was more than just a woman who rebelled against her confinement within society’s straightjacket for creative and inspired women. Nightingale had developed a genuine relationship with God, and He had a mission for her – a means to exercise her moral imperatives. In the course of her struggles, her relationship only grew stronger, and this gave Florence the strength and the courage to do what she felt He was asking of her. This view is a much truer perspective of Nightingale than that of a mere feminist asserting her indignation with the rights to vote, or whatever rights denied to women that may arise.
In Suggestions for Thought to Searchers after Religious Truth, Nightingale relates a story about how Jesus handled a situation that had a great deal to do with Florence’s own reality, yet she explores the essence of the perennial struggle for all to break free of the “World’s” constraints:
People talk about imitating Christ, and imitate Him in the little trifling formal things, such as washing the feet, saying His prayer, and so on, but if anyone attempts the real imitation of Him, there are no bounds to the outcry with which the presumption of that person is condemned.
For instance, Christ was saying something to the people one day, which interested Him very much, and it interested them very much, and Mary and His brothers came in the middle of it, and wanted to interrupt Him, and to take Him home to dinner, very likely… and He, instead of being angry with their interruption of Him in such an important work for some trifling things, answers, “Who is my mother? and who are my brethren? Whosoever shall do the Will of my Father which is in Heaven, the same is my brother and sister and mother.” (Mark 3:33-35 – Nightingale’s approximation)
But if we were to say that, we should be accused of “destroying the family tie, of diminishing the obligation of the home duties.
Despite initial success in obtaining training as a nurse and then receiving the position of superintendent of the Institute for the Care of Sick Gentlewomen in London, Florence Nightingale’s life changed dramatically based on upheaval in the world in 1853, as the first Crimean War broke out when the Ottoman Empire declared war on Russia. By July, Great Britain became engaged in the war by supporting the Ottomans. By October of 1854, the British had deployed thousands of men and boys to the Crimean front and at least 18,000 soldiers had been admitted to field hospitals; they had been overwhelmed with wounded and dying men and boys. Back in England, news of such hospitals being understaffed, unsanitary, and inhumane, generated public uproar.
Although seldom remembered, the Crimean War was the first major war in which women served as military nurses. It was the British Army who deployed the female nurses primarily due to the bravery and determination of Florence Nightingale. Sadly, mass infections were common in the hospitals and many became fatal, as well over a half a million men and boys died in this war. Nightingale and her nurses and less injured patients set to work scrubbing the inside of the hospitals from ceiling to floor.
In addition, Nightingale focused on care of the soldiers. She became one of the first to rise in the morning and one of the last to rest in the evenings. Soldiers began calling her ”the Lady with the Lamp" as she moved through the dark aisles late into the night, carrying her lamp as she made her rounds from one bedside to another looking after patients. They were sincerely moved by her seemingly endless supply of energy and comforted by her genuine compassion. Florence Nightingale became one of the most famous women in England, if not most of Europe during this time. If truth be known, she emerged from that horrible conflict more famous than most of the combatant generals.
Today, although Americans are not too familiar with Florence Nightingale, as indicated previously, she is considered the founder of modern nursing. After the war, the British public collected quite a bit of money for her to establish a formal nursing school at St. Thomas’ Hospital in London, which was the first secular nursing school in the world. It still exists as part of King’s College in London. Florence Nightingale truly viewed her life as a fulfillment of her dream, and near the end of her life, she wrote to a friend, “God has blessed me with the fulfillment of my heart’s longings, I only hope I may see Him soon to thank Him for all the gifts He has given me.” We should all be so blessed.
Wayward Patriot: Preserving the Vote: The election is secure. Treason awaits. -
By Jack Meyer - 2023
Excerpt:
The nation breathes a sigh of relief as a new, entirely secure voting system restores public confidence in election integrity. However, when corporate manager Brad Tillman discovers evidence that a vote has been manipulated, his world is turned upside down. Somebody knows what Brad has discovered, and now he's a target for murder.
Brad Tillman works as a numbers guy for the cybersecurity firm that developed the new election system. Following the death of his best friend and colleague, he finds evidence that a recent special election has been manipulated and begins to doubt that his friend's demise was accidental.
Suddenly, he finds himself completely out of his element and on the run as he tries to find the truth about who is behind the chaos. He must probe carefully, question his assumptions and sort out the facts from his own biases along the way.
The link below leads to the trailer for Jack Meyer's thriller, Wayward Patriot: Preserving the Vote. The trailer depicts the suspense as Brad Tillman discovers that a new, secure election system has been manipulated. Brad becomes a target for murder in order to keep the secret.
Book Trailer - Wayward Patriot: Preserving the Vote
Onward and Upward!
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