All of the world is divided into three parts

Some day I would like to write a book, and this book would begin with the words "all of the world is divided into three parts."
If we begin at the top of the realm of reality we will see that the Godhead is divided into Father, Son, Holy Spirit. If we come to the universe that these Three created, we will find that there is a continuum of time, space and matter, if we enter the universe itself we will come to earth to see that one of the most basic of all molecules, water, is two parts hydrogen one part oxygen, three parts. The human body is in three parts, legs, trunk, head. The legs are in three parts, calf, lower leg, foot. The foot is in three parts, the body, and the two parts of the toes. The fingers are in three parts, divided by the knuckles. The fish are, most commonly, composed of head, body, and tail.
The tree has its three parts, as does the flower, the foliage, the trunk, the roots.
And then there is society. Society is composed of three parts. Church, family, state. The church is composed of the elders, the deacons, and the people. The family is composed of the father, the mother, the children. The state is composed of the executive, the legislative, the judicial. These three are not to spill into each other's domains.
All of these three are equal. If one of these three fail as an institution they will drag the other two down. If the family fails to raise up Godly children in the fear and admonition of the Lord as they are commanded to do in Scripture then the Church will have no one to carry out its work in future generations and the government will be ruled over by tyrants created by failed homes without proper guidance or Biblical Patriarchy.
If the church fails, and either usurps the authority of the family over the children by fractionalizing the household or if it takes on disciplinary responsibilities it was not meant to hold, it will tear down the family. If it attempts to, as a corporate body move into the state's jurisdiction of wielding the sword, the nation will fall apart from within.
If the state overreaches its own bounds, and either takes the rod from the family or the keys from the church, it too will cause the social order that God created to fall to pieces.
In America, in 2012, the three part social order that God has designed has fallen into disarray, like an army, defeated by an enemy, and running for all it is worth. The church has abdicated its responsibilities over the keys, and has, on the whole, stopped disciplining its unruly members, taken on roles of discipleship it was not meant to have, and forgotten its God given orders to take care of widows and orphans.
The family has thrown their burdens on the state, and many fathers have become infidels  because they have not taken care of their own. (I Timothy 5:8) Many of the disciplines that are essential to a vibrant family have been left behind, and fathers and mothers rely on the state to watch their children, while they themselves reverse gender roles and get almost everything else confused as well.
The state has made use of the disaster and rushed in with a thousand programs, taking authority they were not meant to have, stealing things they were not meant to own, and taking care of those they were not meant to take care of. The abdicating fathers then complain that there spheres are being violated. Not the authority, that may be taken, no, it is the pocket book they are concerned about.
The church does not want anything to with caring for those it is supposed to care for, but of course, it would like to put up a manger scene in the park at Christmas time, and they will start crying if Uncle Sam does not let them.
The state argues over which type of program to have, not if they should have programs.
However, in all of this there is no Biblical precedent of change, nowhere does the father stand and say "Never again will I abdicate my responsibility to govern my family." The pastors do not stand to decry the loss of Biblical law in the workings of the state, rather they sit at the stand and sue to put a picture of three men with crowns kneeling before a baby with a halo around its head.
We will not save this nation by putting the ten commandments on the halls of the schools, but rather by stamping them in the hearts of the people.
This nation will not be saved by elections, nor by rhetoric, nor will it be saved by being "good people" it will only be saved by bringing the Scriptures to preeminence in all three of the social spheres. We must be willing to face the problems we have caused, to understand what it will entail if we are to fix it, to accept the blame for our sins, and then to set to work rebuilding a culture that is buckling before the wave of humanism like the dikes before Sandy.
Through His Strength We Will Conquer,
Andrew C. Abbott

Loving Words to a young man

The following is a quote from the White Unto Harvest Conference, however, as it is taken from notes hastily scribbeled down with a dull pencil it will not be word perfect.
Paul Washer:
"A young man called me once and said 'brother Paul, I want to give my life away to hte people of Peru.' And I asked him 'how is your prayer life?' and he said 'that is not one of my strong points, but I really want to give my life away to the people of Peru.' And I asked him 'how is your scripture reading?' and he replied 'again, that is not one of my strong points, but I really just want to give my life away to the people of Peru.' And I said 'young man, there is no one in Peru that needs your life.' Either we want someone that can open their mouth and tell us about God, or who can open their mouth and tell God about us."

The White Unto Harvest Conference

For the last several days I have been enjoying the NCFIC conference, hosted by Scott Brown, on the Great Commission. A wonderful panel of speakers in state of the art facilities, along with a great deal of fellowship and talking among Christian brethren. For the next several days my posts will be on this conference. Allow me to begin with a quote by Paul Washer.
"The hope for the world is not homeschooling, is is Jesus Christ."

Loyalty

We are not Democrats first or Republicans first, we are Christians first.

Will someone please stand up for life?

Among the unalienable rights is life. Given by God, life is sacred, and only He has the right to tell us when to end it. The killing of innocent persons is never, under any circumstances, just or proper, unless it arises out of accident. Abortion is rarely by accident.
If it is murder of a person under some circumstances, it is also murder under other forms of conception. Since the conception of Planned Parenthood, America has marched ever forward toward the loss of one of its greatest rights, that of life.
Politicians, statesmen who are duly elected to govern their country, are to defend the rights of their citizens, they are to defend justice, and they are to defend life. If a man running for an elected office, and he does not protect the sanctity of life, he is not Biblicly qualified to be elected to that office, no matter what his other qualifications.
Life should be sacred, it should be protected, America is sadly in need of men who are willing to stand and defend it.
Through His Strength We Will Conquer,
Andrew C. Abbott

The Devil's Web

"Oh what a tangeled web we weave, when first we practice to decieve."
Sir Walter Scott.

Trading Virtues

"They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety."

Benjamin Franklin.

Men Wanted for Hazardous Journey

 

The London Times, December 19, 1912, ran this advertisement.

“Men wanted for hazardous journey, small wages, bitter cold, long months of complete darkness, constant danger, safe return doubtful. Honor and recognition in case of success.”

 

How many men in the modern era would sign up for such a trip? Over a thousand did in 1912.
The advertisement was not an understatement. Sir Earnest Shackleton took a small team of men with the hope of reaching the South Pole and crossing the land mass completely, the pole having already been reached by another explorer. Their ship's name, the one with which they would be sailing through cold ocean waters, past ice flows and endure freezing storms on, was fitting, they named it Endurance, after the family motto "By Endurance we conquer."
The "Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition" set sail at last, in two ships, each manned by twenty eight men, on September 27, 1914.
World war I had already begun.
On December 5 they left the last major, inhabited island and set out for Vashel Bay. Once in the Weddel Sea, the ice began to thicken, until they had to use the Endurance as a ram to cut through the ice simply to make headway. The ice continued to slow them down, until in the end, on January 19, 1915, the ship Endurance was trapped on all sides by ice. By February 24, Shackleton realized that there was no hope of getting the ship free before the spring sun came and melted the ice. They would have to wait for the long winter to end before continuing on with their expedition. With good cheer they set up a winter camp on the ice next to their trapped ship, and began to race the sled dogs and go hunting.
And then the ship began to grown. "What the ice takes, the ice keeps." There was no hope for the Endurance, she was going to sink. Soon, water began pouring in as the ice drifted together from both sides, crushing the ship in between the flows. The ship was abandoned. "She's going down!" and so she did.
And there they were, less than thirty men, a few dogs, three row boats and one knight, sitting in the harshest climate in the world, with no chance of rescue. Perhaps some of them began to wish they had not picked up the newspaper on December 19.
But Shackleton was not a fellow to let the ice melt under his feet, no longer worried about their first objective, he now had only one thought in mind, bringing everyone back alive.
After attempting to march across the rough ice, they built Patience Camp, hoping that they would drift to Paulet Island, where stores were known to be cached. The flows broke and they had to take to the boats, after five days they arrived at Elephant Island. Shackleton gave his mittens to a crew member.
However, this island was out of the way of ships, and there was still no hope of rescue. Shackleton would have to go and find it.
It would be a trip of 800 miles in an open boat, across freezing waters with sick men. But that was the important thing, they were men. If they missed the small island they were aiming for with guesswork (dead reckoning) navigation, they would be lost at sea.
Through God's Providence they made it to the island they were aiming for, but on the wrong side of thirty miles of uncharted mountains and without a rudder to go around the island. The mountains would have to be crossed. Well, of course no one else in history had ever been able to cross them, but then, none of those people had ever been named Sir Earnest Shackleton.
They made it, with fifty feet of rope, little sleep, freezing cold, weakness, exhaustion, near death, they made it, and Shackleton stood at the top of the last hill, overlooking the settlement. They were in such a state that the first people that saw them, some children, ran for their lives.
After more than one try Shackleton was able rescue his men he had left on Elephant Island, after they had been there four and a half months. When he did, he stood on the boat, watching the men come out of their shelter, and said "They are all there."
Not one of the expedition members died. And now I ask you, are you willing to face for  cause of Christ what they faced for the cause of science?
“Men wanted for hazardous journey, small wages, bitter cold, long months of complete darkness, constant danger, safe return doubtful. Honor and recognition in case of success.”
There are adventures still to be had, battles still to be won, who will answer the call of Christ? Not for their own glory, but for His.

Through His Strength We Will Conquer,

Andrew C. Abbott

George Wahsington on Foreign Affairs

'Tis our true policy to steer clear of permanent Alliances, with any portion of the foreign world.

George Washington, Farewell Address, September 19, 1796

A Poem by Robert Burns

Written in the crude Scottish style, this is a poem of patriotism that burned so strongly in the breasts of the Scots, such as Robert and Bruce.

Scots, wha hae wi Wallace bled,
Scots, wham Bruce has aften led,
Welcome to your gory bed
Or to victorie!
Now's the day, and now's the hour:
See the front o' battle lour,
See approach proud Edward's power---
Chains and slaverie!

Wha will be a traitor knave?
Wha can fill a coward's grave?
Wha sae base as be a slave?---
Let him turn, and flee!
Wha for Scotland's King and Law
Freedom's sword will strongly draw,
Freeman stand, or Freeman fa',
Let him follow me!

By Oppression's woes and pains,
By your sons in servile chains,
We will drain your dearest veins,
But they shall be free!
Lay the proud usurpers low!
Tyrants fall in every foe!
Liberty's in every blow!---
Let us do, or die!

Robert Burns

A choice

Sometimes we have to decide what is more important, our pride, or our relationships.

Burning Ships

In 1519 Hernando Cortes took five hundred Spaniards, thirteen horses, a few cannons from the island of Cuba to mainland Mexico, the empire of the Aztecs.
The Aztecs were bloody men. Under the spell of the blood-thirsty priests, they would kill, according to one, during the dedication of their temples, eighty thousand people in four days. The emperor would, every night at dinner, pick up a stone knife, take a man, tear out his heart and go on with his meal. Such was this dark empire.
And so five hundred men were here, in the midst of an empire of bloodthirsty, screaming, howling savages. Spears, arrows, poison, it was a death trap.
"On November 8, 1519, they were peacefully received by the Aztec Emperor Moctezuma II. Moctezuma deliberately let Cortes enter the heart of the Aztec Empire, hoping to get to know their weaknesses better and to crush them later. He gave lavish gifts in gold to the Spaniards which enticed them to plunder vast amounts of gold. In his letters to Charles V, Cortes claimed to have learned at this point that he was considered by the Aztecs to be either an emissary of the feathered serpent god Quetzalcoatl or Quetzalcoatl himself — a belief which has been contested by a few modern historians. But quickly Cortes learned that several Spaniards on the coast had been killed by Aztecs while supporting the Totonacs, and decided to take Moctezuma as a hostage in his own palace, indirectly ruling Tenochtitlan through him."
After a long, long series of battles, running fights, drowning in the lake, horses being killed, the Indians closing in. The city bathed in blood. Cortes looked up, beyond the city walls, at the top of the temples, he saw his men sacrificed. Through God's Providence, these barbarians, in the end, with all of their idols, all of their weapons, buildings, and thousands and thousands of warriors, could not defeat this handful of men.
Cortes won his empire, and his gold.
On the way to Tenochtitlan, as they were surrounded with armies of Indians closing in, danger mounting and dissension in the ranks, Cortes had to decide either to retreat to the ships or to advance. He burned his ships.
In our lives there may come times, as we seek to advance the Kingdom work of Christ, that in front of us our dangers, troubles, and difficulty. If we advance we will seemingly be cut to pieces, and yet if we fall back we will have comfort. It is then that we must burn our ships. Will you burn yours?
Through His Strength We Will Conquer,
Andrew C. Abbott

Neglect

"If you do not worship God in your family, you are living in positive sin. you my be quite sure you do not care for the souls of your family. If you neglected to spread a meal for your family to eat, would it not be said that you did not care for their bodies? And if you do not lead your children and servants to the green pastures of God's Word, and seek the living water, how plain is it that you do not care for their souls. Do it regularly, morning and evening. It is more needful than your daily food-more needful than your work."
-Robert Murray M'Cheyne-

Through God's Providence

In 1588, in the country of England, there was a crisis; threat of invasion.
For years the nation had walked a narrow tight rope over an abyss of war, with the raging, boiling waters of Catholicism down below. But by this year the rope had been swaying for quite some time, and then, abruptly, suddenly, and without much warning, it was cut.
And so the battle began. England was out manned, outgunned, and had fewer, smaller ships. The Spanish were the great nation, and they would almost certainly smash this little group of men, Drake and the others, these impertinent fools, who thought they could stand up against the might of the nation of Spain.
If Spain won, the catholicc church would regain control of England, and the reformation there would die like a kitten left out on a winter day.
But they were not destroyed, they did not fall apart, they did not sink to the bottom of the sea like a second Atlantis, instead they won, and became "Magna Britannia."
After s few days of battling in the channel,a running fight, a shot here, a mast carried away, perhaps a closing to board, but nothing of any great interest. The water barrels were leaking, and the Spanish needed to refurbish them. And then a storm came up, and England became Great Britain.
But it was not Britain's greatness that won this battle, it was not their courage, it was not their fortitude, or their tactics that won the battle for the English Channel.
It was God's through Providence.

Through His Strength We Will Conquer,
Andrew C. Abbott

The Lesser of the two evils

In these times “that try men’s souls” we are not called upon to vote for the lesser of two evils. We are commanded in Scripture to glorify God. If in an imaginary country two men are running for office, one by the name of Adolf Hitler and the other by the name of Joseph Stalin, one will unjustly kill twenty million people, (Stalin) and the other six million people, (Hitler” and there is a tie between the two, with your vote being the deciding factor in the race, you may not Biblically cast your vote for either one. We are not called to vote for what would do us the less harm; we are called to vote for what would glorify God.

Through His Strength We Will Conquer,

Andrew C. Abbott

Self Reformation

Throughout history many men and women have come to the forefront offering society a relief of reform; from the men in the reign of terror during the French Revolution to Nazi Germany. The probation movement was a reform as was the woman’s rights movement. The homeschool movement began a reformation as did the hippy rebellion. Old styles of dress have been thrown violently off all throughout history and politicians have promised New Deals with which to reform their country, or to change things for the better with wars on drugs, poverty, or Iraq.

However, while some of these reformations may have been sincere, Godly and edifying, many of them were led by men that wanted to rebel against everything about them, seeing all of society as evil, but thinking that they themselves were perfect.

When a man wants to reform a country, he must first reform himself. No overweight man dare stand on a high pinnacle and shout about the sin of obesity, and so should no man with a family that he cannot govern, seek to rule a country. No governor of a state that ruled poorly would be given an empire to oversee. Many young reformers shriek and shout about how their nation must be changed to their way of thinking, thus implying that they themselves are perfect. However, if they were to look in the mirror they would find enough there that needs to be reformed to last them several decades. Before attempting to reform all else, first reform yourself.

Through His Strength We Will Conquer,

Andrew C. Abbott