CSN - LightWing Messages - Sunday - 6/11/2023
The Day and Hour Unknown
“But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other left. Two women will be grinding with a hand mill; one will be taken and the other left.
“Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come. But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into. So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.
“Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom the master has put in charge of the servants in his household to give them their food at the proper time? It will be good for that servant whose master finds him doing so when he returns.
Truly I tell you, he will put him in charge of all his possessions. But suppose that servant is wicked and says to himself, ‘My master is staying away a long time,’ and he then begins to beat his fellow servants and to eat and drink with drunkards. The master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he is not aware of. He will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the hypocrites, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” Matthew 24:36-51 (NIV)
FOUNDER’S MESSAGE:
The world learned that Pat Robertson passed away and much of the Christian news has been dominated with his story and in tributes to the very well-known evangelist and founder of the Christian Broadcasting Network. He even ran for POTUS back in 1988, challenging the basic mythologies around the concept of the separation of church and state. In such a time as this, America needs more great people of faith rather than fewer, but Pat Robertson lived a long and full life of living for the sake of others.
In light of his passing, we have a few links to the coverage of his life and legacy. We also offer two featured messages today. The first is from Dr. Robert Owens who shares his testimony of how he came to Christ. His message is appropriately entitled: “The Two Witnesses Who Helped Change My Life.” It is another excerpt from his book Hope.This is also a time in which witnesses to Christ’s message and mission are needed in greater abundance, not in fewer numbers.
In recent years, several adverse events have plagued the United States of America, and patriots and Christians cannot ignore the peril America is in at such a time. God’s people, who have been called, must see the proverbial “handwriting on the wall,” before this nation takes a great fall. The scripture verse for today expresses a similar peril from one of Jesus’ parables. And, I believe it expresses a universal, timeless truth that shines upon our nation in this day.
God helped to form this nation based upon a foundational covenant through the Pilgrims and others of genuine faith. However, the Lord trusted His stewards to take care of this nation, as well as helping the rest of the world revere freedom.
Now, Christ’s question of whether he would find faith when he returns is critical to our time and the recent events occurring in this nation. Jesus’ hypothetical question in the parable can easily apply to our nation as a whole, not to just the ruling class, or one political party, or one religious group. This nation was assisted in its creation by Almighty God – the Founders attested to this. It was a government they created as of the people, by the people, and for the people. We are the sovereigns of the nation and we are all responsible for what has happened here in recent years. How much should we be concerned that “We the People” will be assigned a place with the hypocrites, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth?
Before readers are frightened away, the second message is a bit less heavy. Charles Rein has written a light piece on the ‘Sunday Scaries.’ It has nothing to do with the heavy question just posed. However, it is something to be considered. And, for those who are honestly not aware of this spiritual phenomenon, you need to read the message. It is real, but Rein helps us wade through the scaries and come out on the other side with greater enlightenment.
As always, we hope our readers enjoy this LightWing edition today as well as some of the other features and aggregated messages we offer today. Read, enjoy, absorb and share, and practice letting God’s light within you.
And again, we remind readers that our Zoom calls are continuing on each Wednesday at 5pm PDT (6pm MDT; 7pm CDT; and 8pm EDT). This coming Wednesday, we will have a discussion on the messages today, or the biblical reference.
If readers would like to partake in this upcoming Zoom call on Wednesday (which will be Flag Day) and take part in our discussion, please reach out. Readers who are interested in receiving the Zoom link to the call, are asked to please send a brief email request to this address: d.jamzon@gmail.com
CSN LightWing Mission – Zoom call Wednesday 6/14/23 at 5:00pm PST
Finally, we hope our readers would consider all the messages in this edition meaningful, or relevant in some way, and if readers know others who might value the messages as well, please consider passing this newsletter on to those whom you feel would welcome it. Or simply, please receive it yourselves.
These words are being freely offered to you and are intended to shine light unto our paths, as it was 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 all of our readers and all of their loved ones. May God bless America!
May we be open to God’s guidance for our lives as we seek an honest and genuine relationship with our Heavenly Father - and NOT put Him ‘on hold,’ or try to pretend we are not witnessing the manifestation and metastasization of evil in our nation and across the world. May we truly seek His Righteousness in such a terrible time of tribulation. May we follow His guidance without excuse in building HIs Kingdom.
The Two Witnesses Who Helped Change My Life
By Dr. Robert Owens
[This is an excerpt from the book Hope by Dr. Owens] - May 22, 2023 (submission date)
If it’s my way or the highway I choose the Highway, God’s way. You see I tried my way and it led to depression, despair, and loneliness. The best I could figure out is if this is all there is let’s roll out the barrels and have a party. My life before Christ was like the meaningless forever party at The Restaurant at The End Of The Universe in Douglas Adam’s iconic Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. The band plays on, the people careen through life in a mad dash to nowhere, everyone is laughing, smiling, miserable, and heading toward oblivion.
In the doomed life without Christ people mistake happiness and laughter for joy and waste their lives trying to tickle themselves to death.
After thirty wasted years sacrificed on an altar of senseless, self-indulgent, self-destructive tickling I chose the Highway. I chose to make Jesus the Lord of my life because I believe in my heart God has raised Him from the dead. I came to believe Jesus offered Himself up as a sinless sacrifice to pay the price of not just my sin but of everyone’s sin. I came to understand that the wall of separation caused by sin between humanity and God was broken down and we can all be united with Him. I embraced the truth that we can become His children. We no longer are strangers but members of His family welcome to walk boldly into our Daddy’s throne room.
Have you ever felt as if there’s no hope? Don’t be fooled by the god of this world. There is hope. Have you ever felt like you were too far gone, too wrong to ever be right again? Don’t be fooled by the confusing systems of laws that litter this world, or by gnawing feelings of guilt. We can be right with God.
Christ told us to take His light to the world and in our finite wisdom we constantly attempt to build lamps. They may provide light but it’s not His light. The bewildering mazes of religious laws are paths built by men. The feelings of guilt that inform us we have a consciousness of sin are themselves pinpricks and poundings delivered by God to prod us into the way, His way, the Highway. They don’t mean we’re lost forever. It’s just the opposite. They mean God hasn’t given up on us yet.
And if God hasn’t given up on us, why should we give up on God?
Happiness can be affected by what we had for dinner last night. Did it taste good? Did it sit well, or did it give us indigestion? Happiness can be impacted by whether or not we’re rich or poor, sick or healthy or any combination of things that are here today and gone tomorrow. Laughter can be a mask to hide the tears.
But joy is something else again. Joy is rooted in our relationship with God, and since the world didn’t give it to us the world can’t take it away. That’s why it’s called the joy that passes all understanding.
This God given joy is a powerful life changing thing.
Seeing this joy in action when I was an unbeliever is one of the things that eventually convinced me the Bible was true, salvation was real, and I could have it if I wanted it.
When I was at the depth of my unbelief, calling myself an atheist and a hater of all things godly, I witnessed people live through the birth of a very special child. One whose physical challenges led to a short life among us but a life having a major impact on at least one life I know of: mine. His parents loved that child. They praised God for that child. They gave all they had to care for that child. And when that child passed leaving them physically, emotionally, and financially drained they held a celebration to praise God for blessing them in such a great way.
I can remember thinking they were crazy. I shook my head and wondered how anyone could be
so different from everyone else I’d ever known. I didn’t know it at the time but I was a witness to people living out the reality of a passage from the book of Job who was the greatest of all the people of the East.
After Job lost everything; his home, his children, and all his wealth, he was struck with painful boils from the sole of his feet to the crown of his head. While sitting amid the ashes of his life he took a broken piece of pottery to scrape off the scabs his wife said to him, “Do you still hold fast to your integrity? Curse God and die!” which is what the world was screaming at the two followers of Christ with their family disrupted, their finances destroyed, and their child dead.
These born-again believers said with their actions to the world what Job replied to his wife, “You speak as one of the foolish women speaks. Shall we indeed accept good from God, and shall we not accept adversity?”
Years later, as I reflected upon whether it was possible to live for God in a fallen world, the memory of those two saints, Judy and Harry, praising God for blessings in the middle of what the fallen world saw as a curse, I knew it was possible. Now after forty years of walking with my hand in the hand of the Man who stilled the sea, I know it from personal experience.
Choose God and accept His gift of salvation not for what we’ve done but because of what Jesus did. He paid the price for our lifetime membership in the family of God, but we still may have to pay some dues down here. If we trust in Him when the wind and the waves smash against us we’ll stand like a house built on a rock. If we choose to give our lives to God in Jesus, we get them back again better and brighter than we could ever imagine. If we instead try to keep our lives for ourselves we lose everything, and when the wind and the waves smash against us we’ll crumble like a house built upon the sand.
We never know who’s watching. We never know what someone else may see. So let’s quit tickling ourselves to death, find the joy of the Lord which is our strength and let the joy, joy, joy of the Lord down in our souls and watch our lives become the witness He’s called us to be.
Thank you, Judy and Harry, for being two witnesses who helped change my life. I praise God for you both, and I love you with the love of the Lord.
This is an excerpt from the book Hope by Dr. Robert Owens. This and all his books are available from Amazon in paperback or kindle at Amazon.
Dr. Owens teaches History, Political Science, Global Studies, and Religion. He is the Historian of the Future @
http://drrobertowens.com
© 2021 / Edited by Dr. Rosalie Owens / Contact Dr. Owens drrobertowens@hotmail.com Follow Dr. Robert Owens on Parler, Facebook, Twitter, Gab, or MeWe @ Drrobertowens, Hope and all his books are available in paperback or Kindle at Amazon.
The Sunday Scaries?
By Charles Rein – 5/23/23
Now we'll skip the heavy news topics and choose something from the unbelievable Wackadoodle news file. Heard of this?
It now appears Millennials are concerned with something called the “Sunday Scaries.”
Only in America could this artificial panic attack make it into our national news.
According to a LinkedIn survey, 80 percent of professionals say they experience the Sunday Scaries, with over 90 percent of Millennials and Gen Z reporting it.
Fortune.com expresses the opinion that, “The Sunday Scaries are real.” An article from October 2022 states, “The phenomenon known as Sunday Scaries which entered the Urban Dictionary in 2009, refers to anxiety about the upcoming workweek. Also called the Sunday blues, it leads to a variety of symptoms, like a racing heart rate, irritability, restlessness, looming negative thoughts, an upset stomach, headaches, and sweating.”
Scary Sundays in turn create BBM – Bare minimum Mondays, as reported in an article from KOST 103.5 FM in Los Angeles. These workplace trends are where “employees do the least possible work on Mondays to avoid burnout during the remaining workdays.”
According to the article, examples of these practices include “attending only important meetings, starting Monday with a self-care routine, and taking a break from checking emails. Bare minimum Mondays are similar to 'quiet quitting,' where employees do the least work required to stay employed.”
I'll quote humor columnist Dave Berry, “I am NOT making this up.” To me, this feels like the equivalent of my last two weeks of high school, when we as students jokingly got infected by a made-up disease affecting 17-year-olds about ready to graduate. It was called “Senioritis.” Even if you didn't skip classes completely, when you showed for school, you were a slow moving, lethargic, inactive student – sort of a “Walking Dead” zombie. But we all knew Senioritis was fake! Now, are Scary Sundays on the way to being an official diagnosed mental health condition? I feel like shouting “Imaginary diseases are NOT real diseases!”
That's why I enjoy a character portrayed in the popular Netflix comedy-drama series “Cobra Kai.” Set 34 years after the 1984 film, “The Karate Kid,” it begins in 2018. An early episode is titled “Strike First.” We find blond Johnny Lawrence, the former karate bad boy, now middle aged and recently fired as a handyman. Desperately needing to pay his bills, he opens his own dojo, a karate school. So, pulling up his big boy pants, uh make that pulling up his Gi (pronounced ghee) Johnny enrolls teen-age Miguel, his first official student. After receiving an unexpected training punch, Miguel gasps and explains “I have asthma,” whipping out his inhaler.
Sensei Johnny shouts, “Not anymore!” Flinging away the inhaler, he forcefully explains, “We do not allow weakness in this dojo. So you can leave your asthma and your peanut allergies and all that ... outside!”
Long story short is no one cries – no one dies. Adversity builds character. That's karate Sensei Johnny Lawrence's philosophy, not only for karate but for life.
That's why this “Cobra Kai” TV show is priceless. Johnny is a character with real backbone, willing to stand up and say, “That's just stupid! I'm not buying what you're shoveling!”
National Senior Citizens day is Aug. 21st, but May is Older Americans Month. One such seasoned individual is stand-up comedian Brad Upton.
Upton is a “well-preserved” comedian who gained instant fame when his Dry Bar Comedy clip about Millennials went viral in 2018. His jokes target those under 30 as “the dumbest people I've met in my life! Not personally, just as a group.”
“I know they're dumber than people my age. When I was growing up we didn't have any child proof caps. You dropped a coke bottle, it didn't bounce ... it shattered. Our parents let us play with guns and knives and fireworks ... You know what happened to the dumb kids? They didn't make it.”
There's a lot of truth to Upton's comedy. He's living proof for seniors, “You're not old. You're vintage.” Look him up on YouTube.
I'd hire someone with wrinkles. Give me someone who's lived through earthquakes, fires and difficult bosses and learned to overcome these difficulties called life.
So this month, let's honor our parents and grandparents and even the cranky old person who yells at the TV about the news.
These Baby Boomers haven't been paralyzed by the so called Sundays Scaries. Instead they've lived their lives as accountable and responsible even through the toughest of times.
Let's focus on honoring their diligence, their persistence, and their “my word is my bond” attitude.
Just let me get a quick nap in first.
We’re Celebrating Natural Family Month!
The Citizen Sentinels Network wholeheartedly supports James Harrison’s efforts to promote and maintain a month-long awareness of the value of, or the “Celebration of the Family,” as a national holiday. Pursuing this Natural Family Celebration is a positive approach to repairing our nation in such a divided time. Mr. Harrison, National Director of Natural Family Strong Natural Family Foundation initiated a new holiday in the Ohio region to celebrate the Family! Again, we remind readers in this edition by offering a link to the Natural Family Foundation website.
In concert with other local community leaders, Natural Family Strong established the time period between Mother's Day in May through Father's Day in June as an annual celebration of the Natural Family. The CSN is attempting to keep readers aligned with such a month-long celebration at local or regional levels. To get involved, or to get more information, please call 614-890-4008 for the details. If needed, please don't hesitate to leave a message. Let them know if you’re interested in learning more or participating.
Or reply to: christianminman@gmail.com Start Celebrating Natural Family Month!
Onward and Upward! –
Additional Faith & Spirit-filled links…
From André Rieu: Amazing Grace - André Rieu w/ bagpipe - 5/31/2011
From PSALM: Jesus Tells Us Exactly What He Means by “Just Like the Days of Noah” // Matthew 24:36-39 - 5/15/2017
From Nathan Pacheco Music: BE THOU MY VISION -- My Favorite Irish Hymn! :) - 2/24/2017
From World Outreach Church with Allen Jackson: The End of the Age [Growing Season] | Pastor Allen Jackson – 6/3/23
From Fitah Rasendrahasina: The Lord's prayer by H. Malotte by Fitah Rasendrahasina - 3/25/2011
From Jonathan Cahn: The Call in Your House | Jonathan Cahn Sermon
– 6/3/23
From CMA Awards 2020: Thomas Rhett, Reba McEntire & Chris Tomlin - "Be a Light" - 11/12/20
From CBN News: The Life and Legacy of Pat Robertson | News on the 700 Club - June 8, 2023
From GENTRI: "Home" (Official Music Video) | GENTRI - 10/26/2017
From The American Minute with Bill Federer: American Minute for June 11 – Dr. Joseph Warren, who sent Paul Revere on his midnight ride to warn Lexington the British were coming, fought courageously and died in the Battle of Bunker Hill on this day in 1775.
Podcast links…
From CBN News: The Power of Obedience | Christian World News - June 9, 2023
Podcast - From Dutch Sheets Ministries: The Increase of His Government | Give Him 15 Daily Prayer with Dutch | June 9, 2023
Podcast - From Rev Dr James Kearny: Invitation to "Preparing for the Next Great Awakening" – 5/2/23
Podcast – From “Bold & Blunt” w/ Cheryl Chumley: America Is Pessimistic Because America's Losing God- Washington Times – 6/6/2023
Podcast - From Dinesh D’Souza Show: DEFINING WOKENESS Dinesh D’Souza Podcast Ep597 – 6/9/2023