KEPT BY THE POWER OF GOD

 

COFFEE THOUGHTS Gerald D Hochstetler Jr. Sip….coffee time! There it stood up on the hill dark and tall. Huge trees hung over the farm house. Going by you’d look up the drive and always had this weird sad feeling. They had been deceived and excommunicated. There was a story, a long story, but it didn’t matter. It was already settled, they were deceived. Early in life I left the Amish community and started my journey. Sometimes I drove by the haunted farm house and I often wondered. What did they actually believe? Why were they shunned in such a strict manner? Years and years rolled by. I have been affiliated with Amish, Mennonites, Pentecostals, Baptists, and non-denominational churches. I have studied about every major doctrine there is to study. The battle between arminianism and calvinism has been intense for me. All these years and all this study and I’m still not positive on some of these doctrines. However, in this journey Jesus as Saviour has become precious. That I do know. The other day I noticed the lady from the haunted house had passed. The obituary read she was a pleasant person who loved to share the good news of our wonderful Saviour. She had a lovely kind smile. Again I thought, I wonder what they believed. Why were they so viciously shunned? The other day I happened to meet up with my friend Jerry Eicher. They were neighbors to this farm. The house sat across the road, a little to the left. So I popped the question. Why, what happened, and what was their theological belief that caused this excommunication? Jerry answered the question in Jerry fashion. “Probably the same thing you believe, he said. ”It all started on a Sunday when he was asked for “zuegnis”. The Amish preacher who does the sermon will ask others for “zuegnis”. It’s supposed to be a short speech confirming that they agree with the sermon and all is good. Well my dear brother said the unthinkable in zuegnis. “I had no more to do with my second birth than I did with my first birth,” In other words he came to realize that salvation is of the Lord. And he was willing to express it. That was the end of his Amish career. I had never really thought of it that way, but yes, I agree. I totally agree. I had nothing to do with my first birth other than doing what came naturally. Momma pushed me out, and I breathed. My second birth? God showered me with grace, gifted me faith, and now keeps me as the big book says, “kept by the power of God”. 1 Peter 1:5. I hope when we get to heaven we will recognize people for who they were here on earth. Because when I get there I would sure love to meet the couple who loved to share the good news and lived up on the hill in the haunted house. That little “zuegnis” he shared on that fateful day causes me to feel like I already know them. Like we are family! Gerald D Hochstetler Jr. #coffeethoughts on Facebook Used with Permission

 

MY JESUS, I LOVE THEE

 

MY JESUS, I LOVE THEE There is some confusion surrounding the actual author of this hymn, but researchers believe that James Haynes Duffell is the most likely. James Duffell was born in West Bromwich, England in 1811 where he lived most of his life. He worked as an iron smelter. He was married with three children. James emigrated to Sydney, Australia, in 1881 and died there in 1883 at the age of 72. The life of James Duffell was mostly unremarkable; perhaps even forgettable, except for close family members. But he did one small thing that brings his name forward to our time: he wrote a poem and mailed it to his aunt. A friend of Mr. Duffell’s said the poem was written during a period of great difficulty in the man's life. The aunt had it published. Someone else set it to music, and that poem became one of the most beloved songs in church hymnbooks: My Jesus I Love Thee. MY JESUS, I LOVE THEE 1 My Jesus, I love thee, I know thou art mine; for thee all the follies of sin I resign; my gracious Redeemer, my Savior art thou; if ever I loved thee, my Jesus, 'tis now. 2 I love thee because thou hast first loved me and purchased my pardon on Calvary's tree; I love thee for wearing the thorns on thy brow; if ever I loved thee, my Jesus, 'tis now. 3 I'll love thee in life, I will love thee in death, and praise thee as long as thou lendest me breath, and say when the deathdew lies cold on my brow: If ever I loved thee, my Jesus, 'tis now. 4 In mansions of glory and endless delight, I'll ever adore thee in heaven so bright; I'll sing with the glittering crown on my brow: If ever I loved thee, my Jesus, 'tis now. CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO THE HYMN ON YOUTUBE

 

THE DEMISE OF BABYLON

 

THE DEMISE OF BABYLON REVELATION 18.1 After these things, I saw another angel coming down out of the sky, having great authority. The earth was illuminated with his glory. 18.2 He cried with a mighty voice, saying, “Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great, and she has become a habitation of demons, a prison of every unclean spirit, and a prison of every unclean and hateful bird! 18.3 For all the nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her sexual immorality, the kings of the earth committed sexual immorality with her, and the merchants of the earth grew rich from the abundance of her luxury.” 18.5 for her sins have reached to the sky, and God has remembered her iniquities. 18.6 Return to her just as she returned, and repay her double as she did, and according to her works. In the cup which she mixed, mix to her double. 18.7 However much she glorified herself, and grew wanton, so much give her of torment and mourning. For she says in her heart, ‘I sit a queen, and am no widow, and will in no way see mourning.’ 18.8 Therefore in one day her plagues will come: death, mourning, and famine; and she will be utterly burned with fire; for the Lord God who has judged her is strong. -WEB Bible The Harlot Babylon is one of the monsters described in the book of Revelation, but she's not the same kind of monster as the others. Babylon is a construction of fallen humanity. She is described as a city, because many, many people have chosen to walk her streets. There are no boundaries for the whore of Babylon. She is devoted to the most indulgent excess and wealth. Pleasure, vanity, seduction, power, luxury, drunkenness, revenge, murder, cruelty, greed, corruption. She doesn't have a husband and she's proud of it: no one can tell her what to do. She answers to nobody. She is free of all controlling influences: Harlot Babylon will not submit to anyone. She violently resists anyone who criticizes her. In addition, Babylon leads others astray. Many have catered to her desires and pleasures, and they've become rich because of her excesses. Revelation 18:23 tells us, "Your merchants were the world's important people. By your magic spell all the nations were led astray." -NIV Babylon is so proud, callous and selfish that when she is destroyed, people rejoice at her demise. The only ones who mourn for Babylon are all her suppliers who got rich from her endless greed. Because Babylon is a symbol of every human who has scrabbled after the pleasures and power of this world, her demise is different from that of the other beasts of Revelation. The other beasts are powerful demonic spirits who are thrown into hell for punishment. But Babylon simply disintegrates as her wealth is destroyed. Like the witch in the Wizard of Oz book, there is nothing to bury: Babylon is simply gone and only the smoke of her burning remains. Furthermore, God promises that Babylon will never rise again. 1 John 2:15 Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. IMAGE CREDIT: Babylon burning, generated by SeaArt.ai and edited by C.A. Stevens.

 

THE HARLOT BABYLON

 

THE HARLOT BABYLON REVELATION 17.1 One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and spoke with me, saying, “Come here. I will show you the judgment of the great prostitute who sits on many waters, 17.2 with whom the kings of the earth committed sexual immorality, and those who dwell in the earth were made drunken with the wine of her sexual immorality.” 17.3 He carried me away in the Spirit into a wilderness. I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet-colored animal, full of blasphemous names, having seven heads and ten horns. 17.4 The woman was dressed in purple and scarlet, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and the impurities of the sexual immorality of the earth. 17.5 And on her forehead a name was written, “MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF PROSTITUTES AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.” 17.6 I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus. -WEB Bible When Eve picked the forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden, she made a selfish decision that was based on pride. She deliberately disobeyed God because she was deceived or enchanted by the evil serpent. She didn’t ask her mate Adam about it: she made this life-altering decision entirely on her own, and then she asked Adam to join her in eating the fruit. Now, fast-forward to the end of time, and we see the culmination of Eve’s one small sin. The harlot of Babylon is the ultimate example of all selfishness, vanity, pride and corruption. She gloats in her own self-sufficiency and brags that she submits to no man. She is vile in all her pleasures, and she delights in the destruction of God-fearing people.  She entices others to join in her sinful pleasures. Babylon is evil to the core, like the beasts and the dragon, but there is a difference. Like the Tower of Babel in ancient times, this Babylon is entirely a human construction. She may be influenced by demons, and empowered by them: but she is not a demonic beast like the others, so her demise is different from theirs. IMAGE CREDIT: Illustration of the Harlot of Babylon was generated by SeaArt.ai and edited by C.A. Stevens. The image of Eve was generated by Perchance AI. Part 2 of the Harlot of Babylon will continue tomorrow.