CAR AND DRIVER TIPS — Tip #10- Stopping a Runaway Car

In recent months news reports have surfaced of runaway cars complete with grisly details of accidents that have occurred as a result. In some cases police dispatchers can be heard offering counsel to those who automobiles are speeding down a highway out of control.

Even now automobile manufacturers are at work correcting this problem that has involved many vehicles. In some cases the auto’s engine has dropped back to slower speeds allowing the owner to bring it to a halt. In other instances more tragic results have occurred.

In years gone by a time or two, while I worked on my car, I have allowed the throttle linkage to become disconnected. Under certain circumstances this can allow the engine to “run off.” On older model cars the device that controls engine speed is often quite simple, merely a metal hinge or slide type device that is retained by a spring keeping the engine at a speed acceptable to the driver who works the accelerator pedal.

Newer and more sophisticated automobile engines have speed controls that involve throttle position sensors and other sensitive devices. At present opinion seems to be divided among those studying the problem of engine speed control as to the major causes that create this “runaway effect.”

Listening to a nationwide broadcast by an auto “expert” recently, I heard the following advice:

“If your car suddenly accelerates press the brake pedal firmly, pull over to the side of the road and turn the key off.”

My response to this advice was astonishment as to its simplicity. My response was also surprise at making the solution to the problem sound so simple. It is not! Here is the problem.

When a modern motor car goes to maximum RPMs (revolutions per minute) even a small engine can produce tremendous torque (twisting power). If it does, it is highly unlikely that applying the brakes of the vehicle will result in shutting down the engine — there is simply too much power for the relatively small brake surfaces to overcome.

At high speeds, applying the brakes while the engine is delivering power to the wheels will simply “glaze” the braking surfaces, making them of no effect. Once so disabled the braking system figures little in effectiveness.

One awful circumstance in which a gentleman’s expensive foreign car was running off, at speeds over 100 mile per hour, the terrified driver can be heard saying, “We are in trouble.” He had tried braking with no result. As it turned out, his cry was terribly prophetic. The car crashed killing him and his family. So very sadly, this driver had the means to save the lives of himself and his loves ones basically in his lap.

Here is what needs to be borne in mind by every driver when he or she pulls away from one’s home headed to an intended destination. No engine can operate if it is deprived of electrical power. This simply means that among the other alternatives at one’s disposal in such an emergency is the most simple of all: switch the engine ignition to the “OFF” position. In every vehicle I remember driving in the past many years this means specifically reaching up to the steering column with the right hand and, with hand on the key or ignition switch, turning the top of the switch back to the driver, this is counterclockwise. The result will be that instantly the engine will “die,” that is will shut off.

Whether the auto is traveling at high or low speeds the effect will be a noticeable slowdown almost instantly. Once the engine is no longer turning the brakes may then be applied with good effect to allow the car to be steered safely to the side of the roadway. In my opinion this is the simplest,  and probably safest means of overcoming the problem of a runaway vehicle.

Note: When the engine shuts down the power steering unit will no longer assist with steering.,  You can still steer the car to a safe stop!

A second solution to the problem of bringing a runaway car to a safe stop is to place the gearshift lever in “NEUTRAL” position. I do not advise this as a first resort for the following reason. A panicked driver may have a difficult time moving the shift lever the rather tiny amount to find the neutral position. Even if that is successful, the racing engine can be unnerving to the point of confusion as to whether what the driver did made any difference. Nevertheless, once shifted into neutral, the transmission will not convey power to the wheels regardless of engine speed. The vehicle in neutral can be guided to a safe stop.

Some have suggested that placing the shift lever into “LOW” or even “REVERSE” position. I am not knowledgeable enough about modern transmissions to speak to this issue. It seems highly unlikely to me that shifting at high speeds would effect a stop. Even if it did, the vehicle would be basically out of control. I do not see this as a wise or workable option.

Turning off the engine ignition switch or shifting to neutral are effective ways to overcome a runaway situation. When either of theses options is employed the vehicle’s braking system should be capable of maximum effect to bring about a safe stop.

Just one final word of caution. Most drivers have never heard their engine racing at full power. When shifting to neutral while engine is racing at its peak RPMs will create such a roar that many drivers can be unnerved to the degree that loss of control of the vehicle is a real possibility. Never mind the engine roar, a driver must tell himself or herself, if the engine is in neutral the engine’s power is not being transferred to the wheels. Turning off the switch will silence the engine.

Be careful, drive safely and work through your options. A runaway vehicle CAN be brought under control safely. If you suspect your vehicle shows signs of unexplainable power surges or abnormally high idle speeds it would be advisable to have the dealership of that vehicle check it out. The safety of you and your family and others on the road demands that we take proper precautions for safe driving and control.

To be sure one is prepared to shut down a runaway engine, I recommend that at slow speeds, perhaps in a relatively deserted place, the driver shut off the engine and coast over to a stop. By practicing this maneuver a driver may be better prepared to take emergency action.

Safe driving everyone!

GOD DOES ANSWER OUR PRAYERS
John 15:1-7

Introduction
PRA-11

A man once adopted a young child into his family.,  He worked and sacrificed all that he had to provide for his child. He met the child’s every need. He showed the child his love and affection always.

Finally the day came when the child decided he wanted something from his father that he didn’t have as yet. First he called softly to his father and apparently the father did not hear for nothing seemed to happen.,  The child cried out more loudly, then even frantically.,  Not satisfied, the child tried to bargain with his father.,  After awhile he tried threats to his father and screamed and yelled.,  He even called out, “You don’t love me!”

At last the child lay down in exhaustion and concluded that his father was cruel and uncaring and that would never answer him.,  Little did the lad know that at that very minute his father was in the process of building a beautiful lodging, a mansion for the child, a place that would be his very own for his whole life.

Now this is not a real life story, but it could have been.,  It is merely my description of how many Christians view God, their heavenly Father, and the lack of answers they seem to receive when they pray.,  I am sorry to say but it is silent evidence that we do not know God very well.

Prayer is not a matter to be addressed as lightly as ordering up a rib-eye at your favorite steak house.,  It is not something to be “tried to see if it works.”,  The person who does not know Christ can hardly be faulted for reaching into his pocket to rub his rabbit’s foot. But, God has called His children to have a far higher view of prayer.   Make no mistake about it. God does answer our prayers.,  Let’s talk about it.

I. GOD’S PROMISE TO ANSWER PRAYER

A.   The logic that He will answer

1. “If his son ask bread, will he give him a stone?” (Mt. 7:9)
2. “If [a child] ask for a fish, will he give him a serpent?” (Mt. 7:10)
3. “If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your heavenly Father give good things to them that ask him? (Mt. 7:11)
Logic demands that He will give you an answer.

B. The promise that He will answer
1. “ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you” (Jn. 15:7)
a. You mean we can ask for anything? — Yes.
b. You mean God is prepared to open the windows of Heaven? — He is.
c. You mean this applies to everyday things? — Absolutely.
d. If this is so, then people right and left should be getting whatever they ask? — Right.

C. Supporting Promises

1. “Behold the Lord’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear” (Is. 59:1).
2. “Ask and it shall be given you, seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you” (Mt. 7:7)
3. “All things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive” (Mt. 21:22).
-God does promise to answer our prayers!

II. GOD’S PREREQUISITE TO ANSWERED PRAYER   (II Chronicles 7:13-14)

A. The Condition He Sets: Cleanliness from all known sin

1. The Psalmist said: “If I regard iniquity in my heart the Lord will not,  hear me (Ps. 66:18),  (“Cherished evil thoughts”, NEB)

2. The writer of the Chronicles, perhaps Ezra, addressed Israel’s,  national sins.,  The imperative of confessing and forsaking these sins is demonstrated in II Ch. 7 as God addresses Solomon: “If I shut up heaven that there be no rain, or if I command the locusts to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among my people” (v. 13)
-Why would God shut off the rain upon a nation? — Because of sin
-Why would God send a scourge of locusts upon a nation? — Because of sin
-Why would God send pestilence among his people? — Because of sin

Note: There is abroad today, in our land, and around the world, a scourge, a dreadful physical sickness (some refer to it as a judgment from God).,  Today it is at epidemic stage. Some medical people refer to it as a plague.,  This no- cure disease was unknown in the world until 1981.,  I refer to AIDS (Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome).,  Leading up to it is a condition referred to as “HIV.”,  Our present plague has, unfortunately, struck the innocent.,  At its beginning it was not so.,  It was a disease originally among only sin-laden, degraded,  victims because of immorality.

The condition He sets is a heart right with God, not one trapped in deliberate sin, such as Israel would enter here in this text (“but         your SINS!” Isaiah 59:2.,  Putting away known sin is God’s prerequisite to answered prayer.

B. The fivefold description He gives   v. 14

1. “If my people” (Those who know and belong to the Lord)
2. “shall humble themselves”- “be converted” (Douay, Catholic version)
3. “and pray” — many prayers are unanswered because they are unprayed- We didn’t even ask!
4. “and seek my face” (“search for me” — TLB)
5. “and turn from their wicked ways” — if the sins of America were piled in the middle of the world, like sacks of flour, they would make a mountain of stench in the nostrils of,  God as big as Everest- 29,000 feet of Divine heartbreak.
- God’s prerequisite is to make a clean break with sin!

III. GOD’S PATTERN FOR ANSWERING PRAYER

A. Union with Him

Note: The doctrine of “union with Christ” is much neglected.,  When the believer is in union with Christ in his or her heart and life, the attitude of prayer will be much different than many assume.

1. This is what prayer is

Andrew Murray, on prayer in his little book With Christ in the School of Prayer mentions that there are three classes of worshippers in prayer:

a. Some who in their ignorance hardly know what to ask
b. Others with a better knowledge who try to pray with their hearts set upon God, but they know no fullness in prayer
c. Third, those who ask of the Lord to take us into worship and into spirit and truth (p. 19)

Note: The palsied man of Mark chapter 2.,  The text notes that when our Savior saw “their faith” He said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven” (v. 5).

Note: Misunderstandings that mislead us with respect to John 15:7

The phrase: “ask what ye will” is the heart of what we are talking about with respect to praying and receiving.,  It is very easily misunderstood.

Before we begin to interpret this all-important invitation of our Lord, we need to state clearly a principle of biblical interpretation. (Biblical interpretation is called hermeneutics in colleges and seminaries that train preachers.,  It is of critical importance in these days when attention to,  Scripture tends to be downplayed.),  II Peter 1:20 says “no prophecy of the Scripture is of any private interpretation.”

As plainly as I can break it down, here is what that comes to:
No interpretation of any passage of Scripture is necessarily correct until it is understood within the context of every other,  passage of Scripture that may bear upon that subject.

The late Dr. Arthur F. Williams,,  at Cedarville, said: “All truth is harmonious.”,  It is not being a good Bible student to try to make a passage of Scripture say something that other passages, if considered, would temper.

2. “Ask what ye will” John 15:7

Note: Now we come to the heart of the matter, why so many prayers are not answered.,  Negatively, “Ye ask and receive not because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts” (James 4:3).,  It is easy to,  pray either as a substitute for our own labor or merely as an extension of something we couldn’t finagle through our own effort. They are lustful things, that is things asked with wrong motives, to be “spent upon our own pleasures” (NASB).

This is to “regard iniquity in our hearts” thus to make even the act of praying itself a sin- we have not even met God’s first requirement.

a. It must be asked in Jesus’ name   ¦whatsoever ye shall ask the Father, in my name, he will give it you” (John 16:23).

ILLUSTRATION:

When my father passed away and went home to the Lord on October 22, 1980, my mother said to me on the phone a few weeks later, “Ken, your dad wanted you to have some of his things .,  The next time you come home, be sure to take them with you.,  When we did return home, I remembered what she had said.

- I walked into the garage and saw the old bench vise that had repaired many objects under my dad’s caring,  hands, many of them mine.

- I saw the post-hole diggers that had dug, I suppose hundreds of holes. I saw the worn places on the handles where my father’s hands had labored.

- I saw the old shoe last that had resoled so many of my brother’s and my shoes over the years, often from old discarded belting my dad had received permission to take from his employer.

- I went down into the basement and knelt at the base of the workbench. I opened the doors and saw many of my father’s machinist tools- the micrometers, the taps and bits, the delicate gauges and tools I couldn’t even name.

- There was the old corn cutter my dad had labored with literally under the light of the moon to provide a little extra before he went into work at midnight at the factory.

- I went into his study and stood, gazing. There was the old manual typewriter that my dad had used, two-finger style, to punch out a thousand sermons.

- I saw the papers on his desk just the way he left them after he prepared his final prayer meeting notes a few weeks before.,  I thought of his faithfulness, sitting at the pulpit, too weak to stand, only fourteen days to the hour, before his death when he delivered that final humble Bible study.

- I went to his gun case and saw his two shotguns, identical Winchesters. There was “old bellerin’ Betsy,” the 12 gauge, and “new bellerin’ Betsy, single barrels- Dad didn’t respect the hunters who shot up the woods with their pump guns.,  I remembered my dad’s careful woodsmanship.

Now came my mother’s words: “You have your father’s name, take anything you want.”

“Mom, I can’t take anything”¦,  It’s all sacred- it has my father’s blood on it!”

Yonder, on Calvary
-I see the cross and the blood that ran down upon it

-I see the rumpled grave clothes which released His triumphant resurrection body

-I rise to the mountain and I survey the riches of puny men whose selfish sin nailed my Savior there.

-I turn and look, down in the valley of death.,  I see the Son of God languishing under the terrible burden of every one of my sins.

Roy Hessian’s little book The Calvary Road tells of the vision of a Chinese Christian.,  The Christian is toiling up a huge hill in his Christian life.,  Down below him, he sees another man also making his difficult way up the hill.,  He sees the man has an enormous black bag, a burden on his back.,  As the man draws near, the Chinese Christian sees that the Man is Jesus.

“Dear Lord,” he calls, “I see you there,  carrying the sins of the whole world upon your back!”

“No, my son,” the Lord answers, “These are your sins!”

“You have your Father’s name- take anything you want.
“Father, I can’t take anything.,  All this is sacred, it has my Savior’s blood on it.”
______________

3. Now, I know what union with my father (Father) is

a. I go back to my mother,  and father’s home and take:
- a big old end wrench, we called it the “knuckle buster.”,  The men who have worked with them know why it is so-called.

- the famous,  old half and nine-sixteenths box wrench we, Dad I, had used toadjust so many tappets.

- I take some precious volumes from his library- I dole them out to my four sons like nuggets of gold, including the four-leaf clovers old “Eagle Eye” had found and had pressed into the pages.

b. I go back to Calvary and to my Father’s house:
c.
- I brush aside my vision of the shiny car, expensive hobbies, fancy houses, the trinkets of human preoccupation!

- I see the one walking afar from His fold.,  I must have him for God’s kingdom.

- I see the sorrow on that wrinkled brow.,  I vow to have a blessing from my Father for this fallen one!

- I see my Savior’s work in disarray.,  By His grace I ask Him for the wisdom and courage to make a difference

Now I know His pattern for answering prayer. I am in union with Christ.,  I ask what I will and it shall be done to me.

B. The four patterns for answered prayer (I am indebted to Dr. W.W. Welch)

a. Direct- “Dad, may I have a bicycle for Christmas?”,  – And there it was.

b. Delayed- “Dad, I’m nine years old now.,  May I have a car for Christmas?,  “Son, I’m not going to give you a car for Christmas now.,  I will wait until you are 46, then I will give you a car.,  — And he did.

c. Denied- “Dad, may I have a box car full of dynamite so I can celebrate,  the 4th of July with my friends?” — NO!

d. Diverted- “Father, may I have Barbara for a wife, now that we are both six years old? (When I tried to kiss her on the way home from school, I got a nasty surprise on the side of the head.” That didn’t work out!)
“Can I have ________ for a wife?” (No, she will die of a brain tumor as a young woman.)
“Can I have ________as a wife?”,  (No, she will be murdered by age 50.)
Son, I’m going to wait until you are 21, then I am going to give you a little girl named Jane!,  (Hallelujah!)

-God’s four paths to answered prayer.,  They are all answers: Direct- Yes! Delayed- Yes, but later!,  Denied- No, that wouldn’t be good for you!,  Diverted- How about this instead!

Conclusion: “If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you” (John 15:7).,  — Amen

Pastor Kenneth F. Pierpont

THE TRAGEDY OF HAITI

Zechariah 14:4-5; Romans 8:18-22

Introduction

It has now been three weeks and five days since the mighty earthquake struck tiny Haiti on January 12, 2010.,  A school teacher in an orphanage was instructing his class.,  Suddenly the building began to tremble and shake violently.,  The terrified children scurried for the door as the,  teacher struggled for composure and shouted for them to flee. Thank God, they made it out!

The paved highway in the major part of the capital of Port-au-Prince began to pitch and sway, bucking up and down as security cameras recorded the terror of those moments.,  Soon the highway was a shambles,  as though some giant had kicked and torn it to shreds.

The National Cathedral, the pride of the capital city, with its majestic roof and ceiling in the shape of a giant cross, presenting a gorgeous aerial view,,  trembled and pitched,  before the entire roof collapsed making a mockery of this symbol of,  the pride of the tiny impoverished nation.

Government buildings constructed mostly of concrete and steel were quickly overwhelmed by the mighty power of this massive earthquake. Hundreds of them pancaked, floor after floor. Violent immediate death plunged many into eternity.,  The Richter Scale marked more than 7 which surely,  struck terror upon the seismologists who monitored it from numerous places around the globe.

So thousands of Haitians who worked in and around these large buildings were overcome in the awful fury of their collapse.   Known only to God are the names of this mass of humanity still buried under this crushing debris.

The Presidential Palace was not to escape this holocaust.,  Many parts of it lay in ruin after the short minutes of quaking it took to devastate the capital city and its environs.,  Haiti’s president was quickly made a homeless man.,  Before this evening of terror was over he was to have plenty of company.,  It is now believed that three million of the country’s nine million or so are now residents of the broken streets and applicants for a place in the tent cities donors are setting up for them.

The shantytown hovels where numberless thousands led squalid lives were unbelievable and tragic,  masses of ruin.

I was aghast at a large color photograph in the January 25, 2010 issue of Newsweek magazine.,  It pictured the front of a morgue.,  A man was making his way from the morgue and was sensitively stepping, again and again over a heartbreakingly large mass of corpses that lay on the ground but there was no room left for them inside.

On and on one might go with this catalog of human misery.,  I think it is fitting to,  remind ourselves of the statistics of death and privation it caused in terms closer to home for us in the good old U.S. of A.,  Let us move into south central Michigan, for example. Let us imagine what the statistics would look like due to a quake if one came in our area.

MICHIGAN’S EARTHQUAKE THAT HAS NOT COME— YET!

Had this mighty quake come in our area, it is possible to compare its
destructive force to some degree at least.

Therefore, in the mind’s eye we see what it did to our neighbors.,  All the residents of these cities combined would have been victims of a violent,  death: Hillsdale, Coldwater, Marshall, Jackson, Battle Creek and even Kalamazoo. No less than 200,000 people, souls for whom Jesus died, all gone in basically a moment of time.

Then there are the homeless.,  Imagine the size of the great metropolis of Detroit.,  In our imaginary setting of this earthquake’s power we see this city of Detroit where every citizen, every citizen, has one thing in common.,  Drive up and down the streets and boulevards, the freeways and side streets, the housing projects and,  businesses, the government buildings and the sprawling,  blue collar housing developments.,  Here is a city of well over a million persons and every single one of them is homeless.,  In fact as I speak news reports have stated that,  Haiti has an incredible,  three million such displaced persons. Such depth of human misery I am unable really to grasp.,  Even churches and mission stations were leveled, killing some of those who had come to Haiti to help.,  The United Nations Headquarters completely collapsed killing many hundreds who were there trying to make a difference in,  this poorest of nations.

DARE WE ASK GOD WHY,  THIS HAPPENED?

Not surprisingly, news magazines are already asking why.,  They are reminding us that God allowed this to happen.,  They openly ask: “Would a loving God allow the horrors of this enormous killer earthquake to happen.”

I find it interesting that secular venues that hardly ever give the subject of God a second thought or a first word are vocal in their offers of criticism.,  The article mentioned above in Newsweek depicted theologians and ministers as totally inept in coming to grips with any sensible explanation for the,  January 12th killer quake. The author’s glib remarks barely masked her scorn for the things of the Lord.

One minister, a television preacher, suggested the practice of voodoo in Haiti had led to a pact with “the devil” that had sealed the Haitans’ fate.,  In other words, because of their evil,  religion, God slew them hip and thigh.,  Many registered objection to this characterization of Haiti.

When sensible people look at this enormous visitation of death, destruction and human misery, I personally believe it is absolutely fair to ask ourselves, and even the Lord, “Why?” Let’s spend a few minutes asking the important “why” question.

We could simply do what one of our former presidents did when he was asked the “why” question about Hurricane Katrina that devastated New Orleans and other parts of the South.,  When questioned, he merely replied, “God has nothing to do with natural disasters.”,  Then he got on his airplane and flew away. Is that true? Is God uninvolved into natural disasters?,  Is someone else the author?,  The simple answer is, of course not!

It would be difficult to convince the Egyptians that the ten plagues visited upon Pharoah and his people were not from God.,  Those hail stones that killed animals and people and ruined crops certainly got Pharoah’s attention. He knew they were from God.

The wind storm God sent for Elijah the prophet’s benefit was from the Lord.,  So was the earthquake that followed it (I Kings 19).,  God also sent a miraculous fire.,  They got Elijah’s attention.,  But the lesson he learned came when he listened to the “gentle whisper”,  (,  v. 12).,  God sent the gentle whisper too.

Upon the death of our Savior the earth experienced a great quake.,  It caused the Roman Army officer to confess that the “criminal” they had put to death was really, in the officer’s words, “the Son of God” (Mt. 27:54).

No, it won’t do to try to shift responsibility away from God for natural disasters, whether from fire, wind, disease or the earth itself. And He wouldn’t want us to miss the meanings they hold for us.,  Let’s take a deeper look at the terrible earthquake of January 12th and how God might be using it.,  I don’t happen to have some new revelation from God as to the “why” of this most devastating disaster, but I don’t need one.,  I have my Bible and the knowledge of what God has done in the past.,  We have His infallible Word and we know the Scriptures,  give us warnings to about the future too (I Co. 10:1-7: READ).

DARE WE IGNORE THE LESSONS OF THIS EARTHQUAKE?

Let me spend the last of my minutes today sharing with you five lessons I believe the Lord has used to remind me of things I need to learn from this awful holocaust.,  I consider it my Christian duty to learn and remember them.

Lesson one:,  The Privilege of Being an American

Within hours after the quake soldiers of an advance party of our 82nd Airborne Division were forming up to go the Haiti to prepare for the sending of an entire brigade there to help.,  The first pictures showed them helping and speaking kindly to these Haitian survivors.,  Troops from an African nation, also shown, were addressing some of the same Haitians with kicks from heavy boots and threats from rifle butts. The compassion of our soldiers was clearly evident.

Soon, our Marines were there.,  They were not threatening the citizens. They were passing out MREs (meals ready to eat, the same as they themselves,  eat while in the field).,  They were passing them out at the rate of 50 per minute!,  Our Marines are trained to kill their enemies when they are called upon to do so.,  I loved it when I saw them feeding our friends instead.,  The morale among our soldiers and marines there is sky-high the reporters say.

Our giant aircraft carrier the USS Carl Vinson quickly turned to this island nation.,  As soon as it was within range combat helicopters began flying in our military and,  relief supplies.,  She is now tied up just off the coast, a floating command station.

The beautiful USNS Comfort, the most sophisticated hospital ship in the world, got up steam and made for Haiti, a week’s sailing distance away.,  As soon as she got within helicopter range her flyers began rescuing horribly injured survivors from Haiti for surgery in her dozens of operating rooms. Soon her mighty crew of doctors, nurses, technicians and support personnel were overwhelmed with the need.,  On they work to this day!

By God’s grace I will never lose appreciation for my beautiful country. God made me an American.,  Thank you Lord Jesus Christ!

Lesson two: The Privilege of being a member of the Church which is His body.

Every believer is a part of the church universal.,  Oh, yes, we may be and should be a member of a certain local church.,  But, every believer is a member of the body of Christ, the church universal.

You say, how did that happen?,  It happened when you got saved.,  You joined the ranks of those covered by His blood.,  Some day you will live and reign with Him in His Kingdom, praise God almighty!

As a part of that great company of the redeemed kindly missionaries are going about bringing water, food, tents, clothing and counsel about our loving Savior.,  I am so grateful for them.

Ten Baptist missionaries have been trying to get Haitian children to the neighboring Dominican Republic.,  They say they have signed papers allowing them to do so. Somehow, apparently, not everything was done right.,  If they are criminals, their pictures from jail cells are deceiving.,  Their faces and demeanor and testimony betray the innocence of new-fallen snow.
The missionaries are in a jail in Port-au-Prince. They may be prosecuted.,  I’m betting their motives were pure. Let’s pray for a good outcome that honors the Lord.

World Vision is the largest distributor in the world of food from the World Food Programme.,  When the quake struck they had about 370 workers there.,  They began distributing aid minutes after the quake struck.,  Now there are 700 there.,  In Christ’s name they are bringing life-saving help to multiplied thousands.,  I’m glad I am a part of the Church of our Savior. Many years ago their founder, Mr. Bob Pierce, coined a phrase.,  He said, “Let my heart be broken by the things that break the heart of God.”,  I know mine is.

Lesson Three: The Privilege to Know that God wants Haitians to be Saved

One man, in my hearing said, a day after the quake, “Those people in Haiti don’t do anything to help themselves. They just stand around.”,  I asked myself, “What would I do if I were in their shoes?”,  Well, for one thing, many don’t have any shoes.,  They don’t have clothes except for the soiled ones on their bodies.,  They don’t have a house to go to.,  They don’t have food to eat.,  They don’t have water to drink.,  They don’t have a place to get water,  to wash themselves.,  They don’t have toilets to use.,  They don’t have lights at night.,  They don’t have shelter from the sun glaring down its 100+ degree heat every day.,  They don’t have a Bible to tell them about God.,  They don’t have protection from the 5,000 hardened criminals roaming the streets of Port-au-Prince with machetes.,  And, finally, many have never heard the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ given even one time in their lives. I guess the man I heard was right: all they do is stand around or faint or die!

They don’t help themselves.,  Of course one of the things they also don’t have is tools and shovels.,  If they did they wouldn’t have to use their bare hands to try to dig their loved ones from under tons of concrete in which the earthquake buried them.,  Too bad. But, my Bible says God loves the world of men. Did you ever stop to think that God’s heart must be broken too?,  READ: Jn. 3:16-18, NIV.

16,  “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
17,  For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.
18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.

What a privilege to know that God wants Haitians to be saved.

Lesson Four:,  The Privilege to Knowing the truth that sin has awful consequences

But why would God allow Haiti to suffer such devastation?,  The answer if because of sin.,  The Bible teaches us that the very “ground” is cursed because of Adam and Eve’s sin (Ge. 3:17).,  Paul said the whole creation is in bondage because of sin with its decay, its groaning, its subjection to frustration (Ro. 8:18-23).

You mean, earthquakes come because there is sin?,  Absolutely.,  Do you think for one moment that God would have brought any earthquakes to the Garden of Even?,  Of course not.,  If I didn’t know the Bible, I wouldn’t know the terrible consequences of sin. God’s wrath is “being revealed from heaven against all godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness” (Ro 1:18).

Could it be that the effects of sin extend even to the earth itself?,  I believe they do.,  The “creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God” (Ro. 8:21). It will be liberated when Christ’s Millennial Kingdom comes.,  No wonder our Savior taught us to pray “Thy Kingdom come!” No wonder natural disasters take such a toll on life.,  All of nature is out of kilter because of sin.

Wow!   I’m glad I’m not in Haiti to suffer the wrath of God.,  Really!,  Me too, but I am afraid there is more.,  Please don’t misunderstand me.,  We can’t, any one of us, speak for the Lord, specifically why He allows this or that.,  I would never attempt that.,  On the other hand, when the Scriptures,  state that sin has consequences, it must be true.

We poor fallen men can easily rationalize: “Why can’t God just let bygones by bygones and take us all back into His good graces.,  Answer: He could if He were not holy.,  On the other hand, if He were not holy He would not be God.,  Therefore, sin has its consequences.,  To save all humanity, God had to do something. He did.

Sin nailed our dear Savior to the cross of Calvary.,  Sin breaks hearts, ruins marriages, perpetuates warfare, wrecks lives and,  plunges the whole civilization into failure.

When we face honestly,  God’s standard of holiness, we can understand why He says: ¦your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear (Is. 59:2, NIV).

A lost world will never understand this but we who have been saved by the Lord are privileged to know this holy and awful truth: sin has consequences.

The big question that jars my mind is not why Haiti had a killer earthquake, but why we don’t.,  Between the years 1973 and 2005 45 million babies were put to death,  by abortion in the U.S.A.,  We don’t have statistics about the past four years, but it is bad.

Listen to the “Creation Psalm” as some like to say: Ps. 139:13-18, NIV

“you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.
My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth,
your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.
How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them!
Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand. When I awake, I am still with you.”

Ignorant of or hardened against the truth that all life comes from God, the slayers of little unborn babies, pull them,,  with their mothers’ permission, from the womb into this world where they never live to grow up, but are dead and discarded like road kill.,  And now the conclusion.

Conclusion

Lesson Five: The Privilege of Surrendering Myself to God to help hurting People

I can’t go to Haiti to help.,  But there are three things I can do:,  I can give of whatever resources God has given me to those who are there.,  I can, in Christ’s name, help someone here who is hurting. And I can pray for and encourage the cause of righteousness in Haiti.,  The real tragedy of Haiti is if I merely do nothing.,  If I forget why God allowed this worst disaster perhaps ever to occur in the western hemisphere, I am part of the problem.,  May the Lord,  God help me never to forget!

Ladies and gentlemen.,  Don’t you think there is something we can all do to help?,  I pray so! — In Jesus’ Name,,  Amen.

Last Thursday’s attack on innocent soldiers and civilians at Fort Hood, Texas makes abundantly clear the deadly danger,  of fundamentalist followers of Muhammad to free people everywhere.

Major Nidal Hasan M.D. and his unthinkable crime of slaying and wounding dozens of our troops and others makes abundantly clear the fact that “radical Islam” is perhaps the most dangerous threat to peace-loving people in the world today.

Read again my paper “Muhammad’s Quran Examined by the Scriptures.”,  (below)

by Rev. Kenneth F. Pierpont, M.Div., M.Ed., D.Min.
Copyright 2009
The religion of Muhammad, “Arab prophet and founder of Islam,” is set to become the world’s largest religious movement.   It is currently second only to Christianity and boasts of well over a billion followers. Some of its most vocal followers vow to take over the world.

President George W. Bush referred to Islam as “that great religion of peace.” President Obama said, “Islam never has been the enemy of America and never will be.” Understandably, both presidents wanted to be fair to those followers of Muhammad who are peace-loving.,  Yet, all nineteen hijackers of those aircraft that brought down the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, were followers of Muhammad.,  In both the Iraq and the Afghan Wars we have been fighting since shortly after that unspeakable crime, we have faced the same enemy: followers of Muhammad.,  Keep reading →

THE TWO PATHS
Proverbs 4:18-19                                                                         SAL-96

Introduction

Two first-year deer hunters were high in the mountains in the State of New York.,  To their amazement, they had shot their first deer. He was a prize: an enormous,  buck with a majestic spread of antlers.,  They began dragging the huge animal out of the woods.,  They stopped to catch their breath again and again.

A veteran hunter not far away had heard the report of their weapons as,  they had blazed away over,  and over.,  He instinctively made his way toward them.,  Not long after, he saw them toiling along the trail out of the woods.,  They looked desperately tired.,  He offered them some advice. Keep reading →

(A Christmas Story for the People I love)

It was December in 1940.,  Usually we didn’t have much snow in Ohio that early but Mom and Dad said Santa Claus would be coming to the square in downtown Newark on Saturday.,  I was a little puzzled because his reindeer and sleigh, it seemed, would have to make a landing on the bare courthouse lawn.,  But, there were a couple of days to go so maybe it would snow in time for the sleigh runners to use.

Keep reading →

Everyone who drives has had at least one run-in with a discourteous driver.,  In recent years experiences such as these had led to a new phenomenon called “Road Rage.” Sad to say, awful experiences as a result of outrageous acts perpetrated against other drivers have resulted in damage to property, injury to drivers and passengers and even death.

As one who had plied the highways and streets for more than fifty-eight years,,  and having been a former discourteous driver, I can say with assurance that courtesy is critical to being a good safe and, yes, happy driver. Keep reading →

Introduction

By the time I had arrived in the world and was old enough to know them, my grandparents Pierpont were retired and lived in the lazy little village of Chatham, a few miles north of my hometown, Newark.,  Neither of them lived very far into my adulthood, so my memories of them were mostly as a child.

Grandpa (William) Pierpont passed away in 1955 while I was in the Navy and Grandma (Lily) lived only until about the time our daughter, Melony was born in 1956. Their home was simple and my grandfather raised gladiolus to make a little money selling them on the Columbus farmers market.,  He had lost “the old home place” early in the Great Depression.,  A deficiency judgment had been taken against him as a result.,  They had very little of this worlds goods but always radiated peace and contentment.,  They were members and workers in the Chatham Methodist Church, just on up the road from their home.,  Across the corner to the south Roberts Grocery and filling station presided over the village as its only business. Keep reading →

Have you ever ridden with someone who seemed to think his or her car was a wild bronco with the drivers only responsibility being to hold the reins? Its a fun experience only if you are a young kid and the driver has promised to let you drive next!

Most passengers in a motorcar, I believe, appreciate a driver who is thoughtful of them. In fact, I honestly believe safety itself is a good reason to practice smooth driving. In this day of gasolines astronomical price rise, I am sure your fuel efficiency will improve, too, with the mastery of some simple but important principles of smooth driving. Keep reading →