Oh cry out sweet and gentle voice.
That the wind may carry your words
That an ear may hear
And bring to bear the stirring within
Oh waiting storm that longsuffering may hold you
O torn flesh and persecution
To wish upon a dream that they may see
The key they turned from
To grasp that last piece of life
That will soon be
Oh quiet the hums and glares
That my life may be
That which you would wish it to be
To leave would mean death
For a world that holds itself so high
Oh to stand one second within footprints
Footprints that got me here
For the time it calls
It never ceases
A last gasp from captivity
Until soon freedom comes
O words that they may not leave one behind
Oh Death your cold grip reaches past eternity
To a lost mass… oh that they would hear
O words
Monday, August 25, 2008
Bessie Haskell
While in Chicago, one of our witnessing teams visited a nursing home. As we were walking down the halls, surveying the different rooms, checking to see if any of our aged fellow humans were awake so that we could witness to them, a frail voice came from one of the rooms. It was a lady’s voice asking us to come in and visit her. She was a sweet little old lady, and her name was Bessie Haskell. She asked us, “Are you men Christians?” We told her, “Yes.” Bessie told us that she had had a very supernatural experience with the Lord Jesus. She said she made a promise to Him, and that promise was that she would tell everybody what Jesus is all about. She said she thought she knew what Jesus was about, but if you read on you will see that even after being in a church all her life, she didn’t have a clue as to what Jesus is all about.
Here’s what Bessie said:
I was born at Rensselaer, Indiana, on a farm along with nine other children.
I was the third from the bottom. I weighed only two and three quarter pounds when I came into this earth, and I was always very small and sickly. When I finally got big enough to go to church, One day my aunt said to me, “Bessie, you have never been baptized, and you can never become a member of this church until you come up to the altar and tell the people that you want to join the church and be baptized.” Then she said, “You do want to join the church, don’t you?” I told her, “Yes, I do.” A few weeks later, we went down to the creek; I was dipped down and brought up out of the water. That made me very happy, because now I was part of the church.
When I was seventeen, I went to Chicago to live with my aunt. While in Chicago, I seldom went to church. I had a job taking care of a baby for a family. The mother of the baby was very ill. The family I worked for were Catholics, and they believed everyone should go to church on Sunday. It had been so long since I had been to a church that I thought I had better join this church. Well, to join that church I had to be baptized again, so I was. After that, I met my husband, and over a period of several years we had two children. I had a house and children, and everything was beautiful, except that with the children so young, I couldn’t go to church again. Then we moved to a different neighborhood. My older sister died, so I took in her four-year-old daughter to raise. During this time, my father brought me three more children. He told me they were starving to death. Their father was a drunkard and had abandoned them, so I took them in. I now had six children to feed, and many times I wouldn’t have enough food for myself and would go to bed hungry. I found myself getting sicker and sicker. I finally went to the doctor and found out I had yellow jaundice.
Word had come that my uncle had his leg amputated, and they said he wasn’t going to live long. He wanted to talk to every one of my mother’s children and lead them to Christ. So after all my brothers and sisters had gone to see him, it was finally my turn. He begged me to accept Christ as my personal Saviour. I told him I would, but not tonight. He took my hand and said, “Bessie, I am going to die, but I want to see you saved before I die.” I left that night without accepting Christ. When I got home I was very restless because this yellow jaundice was getting worse. I was very sick, but never thought of taking Christ as my Saviour. I just got sicker and sicker. When the doctor came, he said, “Bessie, you must go to the hospital.” I told him that I couldn’t until after Uncle George’s funeral. I was so sick at the funeral I thought I would fall over dead. When I went by the casket, it looked to me like he pointed his finger at me and said, “Bessie, you’re lost.” I said, “I know, Uncle George, but you’re dead now, and I don’t know what to do.” On my way home from the funeral, I went into convulsions, so I went straight to the hospital in critical condition. They worked on me and got me ready for surgery. I was going in and out of consciousness, and I heard the doctors say that I would never live through the night. There I was. It kept going through my mind, “...and I’m not saved, I’ve been baptized twice but I’m not saved.” When I awoke, I said to my doctor, “I heard you say out of your own mouth that I was going to die. I want to go home.” So they got me an ambulance, took me home, and put me in the dining room where they could get a good hospital bed and a place to work. I would go into these light comas. When you go into a coma, you can hear part of the time if you’re not too far under, but finally, you go in and you don’t come back at all. And that’s what I went into, into the darkness of night.
I don’t know how they know that you’re still alive. You just hang between life and death. I think it was about the sixth day that I was taken out of my body. My spirit and my body separated, and I saw Bessie Haskell lying on the bed. The Spirit took me by the right arm and took me through the corner of the room. Just as quick as we were outside of the house, we sank into the pit of the earth, and we went right into a monstrous cave. Now when I say a monstrous cave, I mean a monstrous one. It had thousands upon thousands of people there. You don’t walk a step—there are no steps. But its gravity and the gravity carried me down. The faster we went down, the more I began howling, “Oh, God, I never wanted to come to this place. Since I can remember, I always said, ‘I wanna go to Heaven when I die.’ How did I get here?
Why am I in this awful place?” He only took me about half way, then He let me stop and look, and in front of me on my left side was a lake of fire, a lake that burneth with fire and brimstone, and it was a big one. It wasn’t a little lake. It looked like Lake Michigan, and the people were going over. They’d just gone over, and you’d hear those awful screams. Then I kept looking for where they were going to put me. And I told the Lord, “Lord, from the time I was a child, I used to never want to come to, and how on earth can I ever get out?” Then the Lord let me look up and see the Heavens, and oh, what a beauty! But I said, “How do I get there?” Jesus said, “There is a great gulf fixed, and no one will ever pass except those who have been born again by the Spirit of God and washed in His blood.” I said, “But it’s too late, it’s too late! Oh God, please don’t leave me in this awful place! Show me, Lord, what I can do. See, Father, You know I tried, and now here I am.” He showed me one big cross, and Jesus was carrying it up Golgotha’s hill. Down it went into the ground, and they nailed Him to it. They also had the other two, and they were barely alive. But it was Him I saw. When they got His hands nailed and His side pierced and the blood coming out, He looked up, and He looked right in my eyes and He said, “Bessie, this is what it is all about. This is what I died for.” He looked at me with such pity, and I cried, “Oh God, nobody ever told me! Father, nobody ever told me! I went always say that I want to go to Heaven when I die. Father God, if anybody ever worked themselves to death, it’s been me. I’ve got those four children and two of my own and hardly enough food to feed them, and I go without food over and over so that I can say I did my best to raise these children. I took them, Father, to church, when I was able. And Father, I couldn’t have done more than what I have done. I joined two different churches, and I got baptized two different times. Here I am in this place that I went from the time as a little child, Father, and nobody seemed to care. Did they know to tell me and failed to do so?” And He said, “Oh yes, but many miss it.” I said, “I have a husband, and I’ve got two little children at home. Father God, who will raise these children, who will take care of those precious little souls?”
“Father, let me go back. Let me go back, dear Father. I’ll be a witness for you as long as I live. I raise my right hand. You see this hand? It’s my oath and my promise to witness to every soul. I’ll serve You, Father. I’ll worship You, Lord. I’ll raise these children in the fear of the Lord. My poor husband doesn’t know it, very few people know it, but Uncle George knew it. But we don’t any of us know it; my father down on the farm doesn’t know it; my mother, dear God, don’t know it. But oh, God, I know it now!” I tell you, my heart was full; my joy had begun. I knew the way to Heaven, and I was going to tell it to doctors and grocers and insurance men and different ones that came to my door—every soul that I could. “Father, I’ll testify of your love and your power.” He just said to me, “I’ll take you back by your promise, Bessie. I’ll take you back.” And He took me again just like He did the first time with that right arm, and He touched me in back of my elbows, and He brought me back the same way He brought me down. I saw myself come through my own dining room, and I seen about eight or ten people. My sister, Ida, was sitting at the head of the bed, and there laid that cold body. It was as cold as ice, but my spirit just crawled back in. I remember I started at my feet, and I just came all the way up. They said, “You’re so cold, you’re so cold, you’re so cold.” I said, “Yes, but I won’t be for long, because I’ve got a heart that is warm. I’ve been with Jesus.” They said, “Where have you been?” I said, “In the pits of Hell, but I’ll never go back. I’ve found the Christ. I’ve found God. I found Uncle George’s God and I’m going to serve Him.” And that’s exactly what I did. For the next six nights I couldn’t sleep. I kept thinking of the vision and what I saw, and I kept thinking, “I’ll go to the people. They don’t know.” I’d look at another, and they didn’t know. I’d look at another, and they didn’t know, they didn’t know. I wondered, how am I going to get this to the people, so they will know that God has a place prepared for His own? I saw it; I saw it with my own eyes. You know, I went back and told my family, and they didn’t want to hear it. When I tell a lot of people today, they don’t want to hear it. They don’t understand because it’s not preached. You must be born again. And friend, I’m going to tell you, there is no other way under Heaven that you can get to Heaven, unless you confess you are a sinner, and you accept the Lord Jesus Christ as your sacrifice for sin, and you can do that right now. You have no promise that you will live five minutes from now, so please pray so that you can be born again right now.
Here’s what Bessie said:
I was born at Rensselaer, Indiana, on a farm along with nine other children.
I was the third from the bottom. I weighed only two and three quarter pounds when I came into this earth, and I was always very small and sickly. When I finally got big enough to go to church, One day my aunt said to me, “Bessie, you have never been baptized, and you can never become a member of this church until you come up to the altar and tell the people that you want to join the church and be baptized.” Then she said, “You do want to join the church, don’t you?” I told her, “Yes, I do.” A few weeks later, we went down to the creek; I was dipped down and brought up out of the water. That made me very happy, because now I was part of the church.
When I was seventeen, I went to Chicago to live with my aunt. While in Chicago, I seldom went to church. I had a job taking care of a baby for a family. The mother of the baby was very ill. The family I worked for were Catholics, and they believed everyone should go to church on Sunday. It had been so long since I had been to a church that I thought I had better join this church. Well, to join that church I had to be baptized again, so I was. After that, I met my husband, and over a period of several years we had two children. I had a house and children, and everything was beautiful, except that with the children so young, I couldn’t go to church again. Then we moved to a different neighborhood. My older sister died, so I took in her four-year-old daughter to raise. During this time, my father brought me three more children. He told me they were starving to death. Their father was a drunkard and had abandoned them, so I took them in. I now had six children to feed, and many times I wouldn’t have enough food for myself and would go to bed hungry. I found myself getting sicker and sicker. I finally went to the doctor and found out I had yellow jaundice.
Word had come that my uncle had his leg amputated, and they said he wasn’t going to live long. He wanted to talk to every one of my mother’s children and lead them to Christ. So after all my brothers and sisters had gone to see him, it was finally my turn. He begged me to accept Christ as my personal Saviour. I told him I would, but not tonight. He took my hand and said, “Bessie, I am going to die, but I want to see you saved before I die.” I left that night without accepting Christ. When I got home I was very restless because this yellow jaundice was getting worse. I was very sick, but never thought of taking Christ as my Saviour. I just got sicker and sicker. When the doctor came, he said, “Bessie, you must go to the hospital.” I told him that I couldn’t until after Uncle George’s funeral. I was so sick at the funeral I thought I would fall over dead. When I went by the casket, it looked to me like he pointed his finger at me and said, “Bessie, you’re lost.” I said, “I know, Uncle George, but you’re dead now, and I don’t know what to do.” On my way home from the funeral, I went into convulsions, so I went straight to the hospital in critical condition. They worked on me and got me ready for surgery. I was going in and out of consciousness, and I heard the doctors say that I would never live through the night. There I was. It kept going through my mind, “...and I’m not saved, I’ve been baptized twice but I’m not saved.” When I awoke, I said to my doctor, “I heard you say out of your own mouth that I was going to die. I want to go home.” So they got me an ambulance, took me home, and put me in the dining room where they could get a good hospital bed and a place to work. I would go into these light comas. When you go into a coma, you can hear part of the time if you’re not too far under, but finally, you go in and you don’t come back at all. And that’s what I went into, into the darkness of night.
I don’t know how they know that you’re still alive. You just hang between life and death. I think it was about the sixth day that I was taken out of my body. My spirit and my body separated, and I saw Bessie Haskell lying on the bed. The Spirit took me by the right arm and took me through the corner of the room. Just as quick as we were outside of the house, we sank into the pit of the earth, and we went right into a monstrous cave. Now when I say a monstrous cave, I mean a monstrous one. It had thousands upon thousands of people there. You don’t walk a step—there are no steps. But its gravity and the gravity carried me down. The faster we went down, the more I began howling, “Oh, God, I never wanted to come to this place. Since I can remember, I always said, ‘I wanna go to Heaven when I die.’ How did I get here?
Why am I in this awful place?” He only took me about half way, then He let me stop and look, and in front of me on my left side was a lake of fire, a lake that burneth with fire and brimstone, and it was a big one. It wasn’t a little lake. It looked like Lake Michigan, and the people were going over. They’d just gone over, and you’d hear those awful screams. Then I kept looking for where they were going to put me. And I told the Lord, “Lord, from the time I was a child, I used to never want to come to, and how on earth can I ever get out?” Then the Lord let me look up and see the Heavens, and oh, what a beauty! But I said, “How do I get there?” Jesus said, “There is a great gulf fixed, and no one will ever pass except those who have been born again by the Spirit of God and washed in His blood.” I said, “But it’s too late, it’s too late! Oh God, please don’t leave me in this awful place! Show me, Lord, what I can do. See, Father, You know I tried, and now here I am.” He showed me one big cross, and Jesus was carrying it up Golgotha’s hill. Down it went into the ground, and they nailed Him to it. They also had the other two, and they were barely alive. But it was Him I saw. When they got His hands nailed and His side pierced and the blood coming out, He looked up, and He looked right in my eyes and He said, “Bessie, this is what it is all about. This is what I died for.” He looked at me with such pity, and I cried, “Oh God, nobody ever told me! Father, nobody ever told me! I went always say that I want to go to Heaven when I die. Father God, if anybody ever worked themselves to death, it’s been me. I’ve got those four children and two of my own and hardly enough food to feed them, and I go without food over and over so that I can say I did my best to raise these children. I took them, Father, to church, when I was able. And Father, I couldn’t have done more than what I have done. I joined two different churches, and I got baptized two different times. Here I am in this place that I went from the time as a little child, Father, and nobody seemed to care. Did they know to tell me and failed to do so?” And He said, “Oh yes, but many miss it.” I said, “I have a husband, and I’ve got two little children at home. Father God, who will raise these children, who will take care of those precious little souls?”
“Father, let me go back. Let me go back, dear Father. I’ll be a witness for you as long as I live. I raise my right hand. You see this hand? It’s my oath and my promise to witness to every soul. I’ll serve You, Father. I’ll worship You, Lord. I’ll raise these children in the fear of the Lord. My poor husband doesn’t know it, very few people know it, but Uncle George knew it. But we don’t any of us know it; my father down on the farm doesn’t know it; my mother, dear God, don’t know it. But oh, God, I know it now!” I tell you, my heart was full; my joy had begun. I knew the way to Heaven, and I was going to tell it to doctors and grocers and insurance men and different ones that came to my door—every soul that I could. “Father, I’ll testify of your love and your power.” He just said to me, “I’ll take you back by your promise, Bessie. I’ll take you back.” And He took me again just like He did the first time with that right arm, and He touched me in back of my elbows, and He brought me back the same way He brought me down. I saw myself come through my own dining room, and I seen about eight or ten people. My sister, Ida, was sitting at the head of the bed, and there laid that cold body. It was as cold as ice, but my spirit just crawled back in. I remember I started at my feet, and I just came all the way up. They said, “You’re so cold, you’re so cold, you’re so cold.” I said, “Yes, but I won’t be for long, because I’ve got a heart that is warm. I’ve been with Jesus.” They said, “Where have you been?” I said, “In the pits of Hell, but I’ll never go back. I’ve found the Christ. I’ve found God. I found Uncle George’s God and I’m going to serve Him.” And that’s exactly what I did. For the next six nights I couldn’t sleep. I kept thinking of the vision and what I saw, and I kept thinking, “I’ll go to the people. They don’t know.” I’d look at another, and they didn’t know. I’d look at another, and they didn’t know, they didn’t know. I wondered, how am I going to get this to the people, so they will know that God has a place prepared for His own? I saw it; I saw it with my own eyes. You know, I went back and told my family, and they didn’t want to hear it. When I tell a lot of people today, they don’t want to hear it. They don’t understand because it’s not preached. You must be born again. And friend, I’m going to tell you, there is no other way under Heaven that you can get to Heaven, unless you confess you are a sinner, and you accept the Lord Jesus Christ as your sacrifice for sin, and you can do that right now. You have no promise that you will live five minutes from now, so please pray so that you can be born again right now.
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
Let Your Praise Come From God
1Cor 4:3-5 I care very little if I am judged by you or by any human court; indeed, I do not even judge myself. My conscience is clear, but that does not make me innocent. It is the Lord who judges me. Therefore judge nothing before the appointed time; wait till the Lord comes. He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of men's hearts. At that time each will receive his praise from God.
In the end, people's evaluation of you, whether good or bad, is irrelevant. What matters is that your praise comes from God. It's vain to do things to impress people. When your motives are revealed, you will lose face. But even if you act in a clear conscience, that is, you don't feel guilty, that does not clear you. For our conscience can be corrupted by sin. In particular popularity can corrupt the conscience - driving one to love the praise of men.
John 12:42,43 Yet at the same time many even among the leaders believed in him. But because of the Pharisees they would not confess their faith for fear they would be put out of the synagogue; for they loved praise from men more than praise from God.
How can you believe if you accept praise from one another, yet make no effort to obtain the praise that comes from the only God? John 5:44
The Boston Christian Bible Study Resources
For in this life all shall perish, passing into judgement and standing before God and giving an account of their lives both good and evil (lies, lusts, hatred, blasphemy, idolotry, etc.) and no good can forgive the evil in our lives; only in the blood of Christ Jesus can our sins be forgiven; All our good deeds are like filthy rags (the just judge of the universe cannot be bribed by our good deeds; the evil must be judged) but if your fine is paid you are free to go... only one can pay that fine... put your faith and trust in him before it is too late and repent (turn from wrong doing).
For if you look to this world for agreement, you may find it but to what end; at the loss of you very eternal life...
Friday, August 8, 2008
Saturday, August 2, 2008
The Self-Directed Man
In Touch Daily Devotional
Luke 12:16-21
Surely you've heard the old stereotype about men never wanting to stop and ask for directions. That's probably more true than we'd like to admit, but it isn't just males who are guilty. The world is full of both men and women, all driving full steam ahead, never wanting to stop or even slow down to ask for guidance.
If you were to look at this through spiritual lenses, you'd see a world of lost, hopeless souls trying to save themselves. They think they can somehow earn their way to heaven through good deeds and hard work. They assume it's possible to accomplish this on their own. They're wrong.
As you read through Luke 12:16-21 today, stop to count the number of times the "rich fool," as he is known, says the words "I," "my," and "myself." It's a sad picture of the self-directed man, trying to make his own way and secure his own future with no help from anyone--including God.
The Lord does not mince words with this man. Entering the scene in verse 20, God immediately calls him a fool! Don't miss the severity in the condemnation. By relying solely on his own short-sighted selfishness and pride, this man left nothing behind at the end of his life--except a pile of grain.
The message for us today is that, when we strike off on our own and initiate actions with no thought of God, we are behaving like fools. The Lord has a plan for your life. He knows where you'll succeed and where you'll fail. Trust Him to provide the direction you need.
If you are not sure where you stand look to the left side of the screen and scroll up/down and find the the good person test... take it, there is nothing more important then your eternal destiny.
Luke 12:16-21
Surely you've heard the old stereotype about men never wanting to stop and ask for directions. That's probably more true than we'd like to admit, but it isn't just males who are guilty. The world is full of both men and women, all driving full steam ahead, never wanting to stop or even slow down to ask for guidance.
If you were to look at this through spiritual lenses, you'd see a world of lost, hopeless souls trying to save themselves. They think they can somehow earn their way to heaven through good deeds and hard work. They assume it's possible to accomplish this on their own. They're wrong.
As you read through Luke 12:16-21 today, stop to count the number of times the "rich fool," as he is known, says the words "I," "my," and "myself." It's a sad picture of the self-directed man, trying to make his own way and secure his own future with no help from anyone--including God.
The Lord does not mince words with this man. Entering the scene in verse 20, God immediately calls him a fool! Don't miss the severity in the condemnation. By relying solely on his own short-sighted selfishness and pride, this man left nothing behind at the end of his life--except a pile of grain.
The message for us today is that, when we strike off on our own and initiate actions with no thought of God, we are behaving like fools. The Lord has a plan for your life. He knows where you'll succeed and where you'll fail. Trust Him to provide the direction you need.
If you are not sure where you stand look to the left side of the screen and scroll up/down and find the the good person test... take it, there is nothing more important then your eternal destiny.
Friday, August 1, 2008
Rescue the Perishing
Rescue the perishing, care for the dying,
Snatch them in pity from sin and the grave;
Weep o’er the erring one, lift up the fallen,
Tell them of Jesus, the mighty to save.
Rescue the perishing, care for the dying,
Jesus is merciful, Jesus will save.
Church Open Your Eyes once more
And see what Christ died for
Jesus is merciful, Jesus will save
Though they are slighting Him, still He is waiting,
Waiting the penitent child to receive;
Plead with them earnestly, plead with them gently;
He will forgive if they only believe.
Rescue the perishing, care for the dying,
Jesus is merciful, Jesus will save.
Down in the human heart, crushed by the tempter,
Feelings lie buried that grace can restore;
Touched by a loving heart, wakened by kindness,
Chords that were broken will vibrate once more.
Rescue the perishing, care for the dying,
Jesus is merciful, Jesus will save.
Church Open Your Eyes once more
And see what Christ died for
Jesus is merciful, Jesus will save
As we are playing our songs
While we're singing them well
Have we forgotten the lost
The reality of hell
If we say we love God
Want to see his will done
Will we offer our lives
Or just the songs we have song
Do we even care
When will we care
Rescue the perishing, duty demands it;
Strength for thy labor the Lord will provide;
Back to the narrow way patiently win them;
Tell the poor wand’rer a Savior has died.
Rescue the perishing, care for the dying,
Jesus is merciful, Jesus will save.
www.billyfoote.com
WOTM Minute
The Bible says of the Apostle Paul, that when he persuaded his hearers concerning Jesus from "the Law of Moses," he solemnly testified. The solemn use of the Law was second nature to Paul. He was brought up at the feet of Gamaliel, the great teacher of the Law, and was "taught according to the perfect manner of the law of the fathers ... "(Acts 22:3) He regularly used the moral law to humble those who transgressed its holy precepts. William Tyndale said, "Expound the Law truly and open the veil of Moses to condemn all flesh and prove all men sinners, and set at broach the mercy of our Lord Jesus, and let the wounded consciences drink of Him." There goes another minute. Gone forever. Go share your faith while you still have time.
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