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03-01-11

THE REMOVAL OF CHAOS FROM THE EARTH

(Gen 1:1-5)  In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness [Heb: fig. misery, destruction, death, ignorance, sorrow, wickedness] was upon the face of the deep [and the earth was chaos]. And the Spirit of God [the Spirit of Order] moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, Let there be light [Heb: illumination, happiness]: and there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light [order] from the darkness [chaos]. And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.

THE RETURN OF CHAOS TO THE EARTH

God bless you dear brothers and sisters. Your receipt of this newsletter is running a little late, and you may be wondering where I have been. Well, for the last couple of weeks I have been mentally shocked, stunned, unbalanced, confused, uninspired, and therefore unable to focus upon a proper theme for this monthly newsletter, after a goodly number of false starts of course. Why? Because all the information that I am receiving into my poor widdle overworked brain (which is being mercilessly inundated by true and false information on all fronts) from the news media is overwhelming chaos (synonyms: disorder, confusion, bedlam, anarchy, pandemonium, commotion, disarray, turmoil, madness, mess, unruliness). The antonym of “chaos” is “order.” Please pause and note for a moment that not just one or two of the eleven dictionary synonyms for chaos seem to witness to the present state of worldly affairs, but all of them, every single one of them, which circumstance adds a great deal of evidential veracity as to the correctness of our “sweeping general conclusion.” And who is the champion of “chaos,” and who is the champion of “order?”

(2 Th 2:7,8 NKJV)  For the mystery of lawlessness [Gk: unrighteousness] is already at work; only He [the Holy Spirit] who now restrains [Dict: to hold back from action; keep in check or under control] will do so until He [the Holy Spirit] is taken out of the way. And then the lawless one will be revealed [Gk: to take off the cover, i.e. disclosed], whom the Lord will consume with the breath of His mouth and destroy with the brightness of His [second] coming.

Yes indeed, Chaos, our old enemy, is returning. As of late, I have actually become awestruck, fascinated, and almost mesmerized (really) by the daily world news, particularly middle-eastern sound-bytes and visuals showing colored maps of half a dozen Muslim countries currently experiencing mass protest demonstrations and overt and very violent rebellions, stretching from Tunisia in west Africa eastward thousands of miles into Iran. And the Promised Land  (a land of order – God’s order) is situate right smack-dab in the middle of all this “chaos.”  What do you make of that? Order surrounded by encroaching darkness. Good thing we don’t live there, huh? J

Well, fret not dear brother and sisters, the emerging pattern of Chaos is alive and well in the USA and becoming more discernable and defined, daily taking on more body – growing darker and more solid, having more gravity and sway, influence. The citizens of our own country, the United States of America, perhaps in their anger and confusion over the steadily diminishing economic demise of themselves and our beloved country, are beginning to manifest the characteristics of Chaos through their own protest demonstrations in an increasing number of States, protests that started in Wisconsin and are expanding. Although, comparatively speaking, the American demonstrators are much less violent, at least presently, than their middle-eastern counterparts, the principle of aggressive and divisive demonstrations of protest remains acceptable, and the thought-seeds and sights of disunity are being cheerfully spread by the news media. Conequently, one might reasonably expect the highly probable prospect of greatly enhanced violence in the USA as a rapidly approaching daily reality. Well then, what shall we do?

Reckon that I have been associated with this Rescue Mission for about fourteen years now, and happily performed as the Executive Director and the Pastor for the last twelve years… and have become very fond of my biblically studious crew (staff) of working shipmates, brothers and sisters, and the very many gracious willing-hearted volunteers, and the thousands upon thousands of sincerely weeping passengers, many now glorified, that have been “saved” by grasping onto the Lord’s lifelines thrown out from all sides of this wonderful old wooden ship, as we sail upon the wings of eagles J onward through the “turbulent chaotic seas ” dotted with struggling men, women, and lost little children desperately clinging to broken fragments of debris. Our vigilant crew is diligently searching for depressed discarded souls, ever heedful for the sound of a faint pleading voice carried in by the wind, or a desperate hand of quivering hope thrust high above the raging waves, here am I… here am I… here am I….

LIFELINES ARE STREWN ABOUT THE SHIP FOR SAVING LIVES

Well for sure the chaotic sea is going to get rougher, much much tougher, but I am confident that we shall trust this heavenly ship to bear us through in good stead to The Promised Land; and throughout, we shall continue to man the lifelines until we reach that glorious shore. What “lifelines” you may ask? Lifelines are outreaches that extend beyond one’s physical boundaries. For example, our first outreach lifeline began probably ten years ago and was (and still is) the open hand of salvation extended to the patrons and merchants of The Wagon Wheel Flea Market, wherein approximately 10,000 persons traverse every weekend. Rescue Mission staff and volunteers pass out Christian brochures from a booth and offer the open hand of eternal salvation through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ to whomsoever will grasp the proffered lifeline. Sowing seed into souls and winning people to Christ.

Another proffered lifeline that willing-hearted lost persons may grasp is our Rescue Mission website located at www.havenofrest.com which garners approximately 100,000 hits per year. Another similar lifeline is the Church Inside The Tabernacle website located at www.tabernacleofmoses.org which garners about 1 and ½ million hits per year. And then we have our Day Labor Lunch program wherein we freely distribute bag lunch meals to unemployed job seekers at day-labor businesses throughout Pinellas County five days a week. On Saturday evenings, staff and volunteers prepare several hundred well-balanced meals, and transport them up to Pinellas Hope (tent city), and serve the impoverished residents living there. Staff members preach the 10:00am Sunday morning sermon at Arlington Gardens (a hospice) and provide a fellowship meal there on Thursday evenings. A staff member is the acting Youth Pastor at The Korean Presbyterian Church USA and leads their 10:00am Youth Bible study. I teach the Church Inside The Tabernacle Sunday morning service broadcast on live streaming video commencing at 11:00am, when our sent-out preachers (staff members) have returned from their various outreaches. On Monday evenings, our staff and volunteers transport another delicious cooked meal and serve over three hundred poor residents living at Pinellas Safe Harbor, which is an annex building of The Pinellas County Jail. And myself and two other persons are Chaplains at The Pinellas County Jail and preach the Word of God there several times a week. And of course there is this monthly newsletter that is received by several thousand willing-hearted brothers and sisters.

ON-CAMPUS ACTIVITIES

Please do not forget that we are also constantly busy like crazy with hurting persons inside our Rescue Mission. Our staff maintains a Day-Center where hurting persons can obtain mail, a shower, clean clothes, and a variety of healings from available social services programs. One hundred and seventy-one other needy nonprofit corporations receive bulk foods from our warehouse. Last month we gave away (thank you for your gracious help) 87,880 pounds of food to thousands of very hungry people in Pinellas County. That poundage number converts into 131,820 meals that were given away in one month. And then from 5:30-6:00pm M-F, and 1:00pm Saturday and 3:30pm Sunday, pastors and lay preachers preach a half hour evangelical message which is broadcast live streaming video on both our Internet websites. Ooops, almost forgot, and then we have two hour long excellent (you should tune in) Seminary level Bible studies on Tuesday and Wednesday evenings from 7-8:00pm which are broadcast live streaming video, and we have three Christian based 12 Step AA/NA Recovery meetings which are open to all for participation, but privacy maintained for contents.

God Bless you, and thank you for your participation, prayers, and love offerings. Help keep our doors open. Your service is “a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God” (Rom 12:1). Sincerely, Rev. Lionel  J

(Mark 16:15,16)  And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.

He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.