Answers to Your Questions

Over the past several months I have been collecting the comments and questions that have been posted in response to my “Which Bible” entries. I hope I am clear when I say that I am not attacking anyone for their translation preference. I think we can agree that all of us, if not, then the greater majority of us, do not live our lives submerged in Hebrew and Greek language and culture (I see you, Short. Welcome! ). Most of us reading these posts are probably English speaking people with little or no knowledge of the original languages of the Scriptures. Our comparison then must be between English versions. Do they agree? If not, where do they differ, and WHY do they differ? Which Bible, if any, will be my final authority??? What is my doctrine based on? The following is an attempt to answer some of the questions that you have asked:

“Do you believe that King James in 1611 was ‘a holy man, moved of God’ to write the Scripture, in which case you would consider the KJV itself superior to the originals?”

No. King James was not “a holy man, moved of God”, not in the same sense that the men were to whom God gave the original words of the scriptures. But he was moved of God to authorize the preservation of God’s Word in English.

And no, the KJB is not better than (but it is as good as) the actual original manuscripts, but it IS better than many of the copies that were made, and from which later versions were translated. Case in point: see my post on “EASTER OR PASSOVER”, in which I explained why “Easter” is the correct word in Acts 12:4, regardless of the fact that most of the Greek manuscripts use the word pascha, translated “Passover” in all of the modern Bible translations.


“Are you of the position that in order for someone from a different language to read God's Word they must first learn English?”

No, God’s Word is NOT found only in the English language. I believe God’s Word has been PRESERVED perfectly in English in the KJB. And you will have to decide too, which English version is God's Word. Or else decide that we don't have God's Word anywhere.

There is a prevalent misunderstanding among those who oppose me on this issue. That is, they think I am saying that King James I, or his men who did the translating, were inspired by God in writing a new English version, just as Moses, Daniel, Paul, Peter, etc, were “inspired” when they wrote the original manuscripts. No. THIS IS NOT AN ISSUE OF INSPIRATION. (Capitals for emphasis only -- I am not yelling.) Neither King James I nor the translators of the KJB were inspired by God to write scripture. In fact, the original writers were not inspired, either! It is the WORDS which were God-breathed, not the men who wrote them (2 Timothy 3:16). The scriptures (the words) were GIVEN by inspiration, and PRESERVED by God, through men, sinners all, who wrote down those God-given words. I think I have already given Bible verses that promise the preservation of God’s words in previous “Which Bible” posts. There are several of them, not the least of which is Psalm 12:6,7.


“Noah, Job, Moses, and other patriarchs believed, had faith and had a heart for God … whatever did they do without the KJB?”

Noah, Job, Moses, and the other patriarchs had the very words of God as they were spoken, and later, written. While I sometimes think it would be nice to have God speak to me personally, too, and give me wisdom or direction like he did these men, God does not now appear to his children giving us revelation in addition to what he has already given to us in his Word. Here we have the promise of God that this prophecy which we can hold in our hands is now more sure than a voice from heaven:

1 Peter 2:16 For we have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his majesty
17 For he received from God the Father honour and glory, when there came such a voice to him from the excellent glory, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.
18 And this voice which came from heaven we heard, when we were with him in the holy mount.
19 We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts:
20 Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation.
21 For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.


“What do you think of the NKJV?”

It really doesn't matter what I think of it... is it really a new and improved version of the KJB? How does it compare to what we already know is true? One of the reasons why the publishers make changes in the Bible is to get a copyright ($). In order to get a copyright, the text has to be substantially changed from the original work. The thousands of word changes in the NKJV are subtler than in some of the other versions. The translators claim that the NKJV comes from the same set of manuscripts that the KJB does, and that the changes are all for the purpose of easier readability, but that is not true. The Hebrew text is different -- you can Google that if you want to.

Here are some examples of changes (why are we such suckers for something "new"?):
“Repent” is omitted 44 times.
“Blood” is omitted 23 times.
“Hell” is omitted 22 times.
“Damnation” is omitted entirely.
"God" is dropped 66 times.

Here are some other changes:
Genesis 22:8: (One of the greatest verses in the Bible proclaiming that Jesus Christ was God in the flesh.) "God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering:" The NKJV adds the little word "for”: "God will provide for Himself the lamb for a burnt offering.” I wrote a previous post on the miracle that God promised here, providing HIMSELF, the Lord Jesus Christ, the LAMB OF GOD, as the offering for our sins. The NKJV has removed this promise of a Saviour.

Matthew 7:14 changes “narrow is the way” to "difficult is the way”. There's nothing "difficult" about the salvation of Jesus Christ! 2 Corinthians 11:3, “But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.” Now there’s a contradiction.

1 Timothy 6:10: The NKJV changes "For the love of money is the root of all evil:” to "For the love of money is a root of ALL KINDS OF evil”. The words "KINDS OF” are found in NO Greek text in the world! Where did they get them? Straight from the NIV, NASV, NRSV.

1 John 5:13: The NKJV reads: "These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may CONTINUE TO believe in the name of the Son of God." They add "CONTINUE TO" without any Greek text whatsoever. Not even the other modern versions go that far. This is a subtle attack on the believer's eternal security. This passage tells us that we may KNOW, now, this moment, in the present, that we have eternal life, not temporary life that depends on what we do with Christ after we are saved.

The NKJV is NOT new. All of these changes (except that last one), and many many more, are already in the NIV, NASV, NRSV, or RSV.


“Most people fail to understand the meanings of words that have changed since the KJV was first written, so they get a very distorted view of what was originally expressed.”

That can easily be fixed by using a good dictionary, such as Noah Webster’s 1828 edition. If it too pricey for you, use the free, online version. This is no different than your pastor getting up and telling you what the “original” word was in Greek/Hebrew, except that you and I probably don’t speak or read Greek, and we don’t know which manuscript he is using as proof. He may not even know Greek -- it is simple to give a Greek lesson using a lexicon. If someone is telling you that YOU can't really know what God meant, but that HE could show you, since he knows the "originals", don't believe him. That is popery. The world was kept in spiritual darkness for centuries by men who insisted the common man could not know God's Word. If you don't know what a word means, look it up, just like you would do with any other book.

Peter and John were seen by the intellectuals of their day as “ignorant and unlearned” men, but they had been with Jesus, who is the Word of God, himself. Which is of more value – knowing about God, or intimacy with God? If you are intimate with God, spending time in his Word, you will know him. And if you aren't intimate with him, you can't know him; you can only know about him. I don’t doubt the sincerity of pastors who study Greek/Hebrew to better understand the Bible, but they don’t need to. We have wrongly elevated scholarship and education. People spend a lot more time in books that are written ABOUT the Bible than they do in the Bible! If English is your first (or only!) language, stick with the English, and dig deeper. You will be amazed at the buried treasure you will unearth.

(Written with help from various sources. )

The Case of the Disappearing Friends List

For those of you who are wondering, so am I!! Where did my Friends List go?    Your pages still load on my Friends page, so I know you are there.  Somehow I deleted the Friends List coding from my template...???  I must consult with the resident child computer gurus.

Ladies' Coffee Hour #2

We girls are having a good time in Ladies' Coffee Hour!  Among other topics of discussion:  what was "there" before God created the world, where sin came from, what kind of light God made when he said, "Let there be light" (since plants were created before the sun was), and why the earth brought forth the living creatures.  In my own reading, which is just ahead of our morning devotional reading, I am wondering about the fact that God made Adam, planted a garden eastward in Eden, and then placed the man in the garden.  When Adam sinned, he was expelled from the garden to till the ground he came from.  Hmm.  I always pictured Adam created right there in the garden.  I have read this many dozens of times, and never saw this... There probably isn't any deep theological meaning to this.  I just like it when I see something new.  I will never forget the first time I read where Peter saw the Lord Jesus turn and look at him immediately after Peter's third denial. Just imagine how Peter must have felt then!  ...It was the same time through my Bible when I read about the dead saints coming out of their graves and walking around in Jerusalem after Jesus gave up the ghost. (This was such a shock to me.  I thought I knew my Bible, but how could I, when I had never read through it cover to cover even ONE time?!?)  My prayer for my children is that they will be so well-grounded in the truth that they always recognize that which is false.  There is no need to fill them in on what the cults teach ("simple concerning evil", "learn not the way of the heathen"...) if they are being taught the truth.  Error will be easy to recognize! 

A Man That Hath Friends Must Shew Himself Friendly

Many thanks to my blogging friend and thread-of-the-shirt-tail relative, Denise, for this nice little gift:

Blogging has been a good addition to my life.  I have made some good friends these past few months, and I now have several e-pals with whom I have enjoyed good, meaningful, adult conversation. (You moms know what I mean. )  It has made me realize, though, that I would do well to spend more time cultivating the friendships that I have made locally, with ladies whom I can actually see and spend time with.  That is, for me, a good result of blogging, and an unexpected one. So tomorrow we will begin having our elderly lady friend over for "crochet" and chatting once a week (I say "crochet" because about a year and a half ago, she began teaching me how.  Since then, she has finished her project, and I have given up on mine.. so mostly we will just chat. lol.) Later this week I have the privilege of lunch with someone I really enjoy being with (oops, update that-- she just canceled), and next week, lunch with another very good friend. Somehow I have become wrapped up in myself the past few years... partly due, I think, to having a little one who occupied most of my vision while she was smaller, and now seems to be consuming less of it as she is getting bigger. It's just hard to see around those needy little ones, and that's okay for a while. I just got more absorbed with things going on in my home, and much less with activities (and sadly, people!) outside. I am hoping to change that somewhat.  My home and family are still my focus, but I am hoping to become a better example to my girls of doing for others, and seeing beyond our own little world and our own needs.  Just some thoughts tonight... thanks all of you, for prompting this change in me.

Ladies' Coffee Hour

I don't know why it is so much harder to be consistent with daily devotions with my girls than it is to be consistent with anything else, except for the fact that 1) our flesh rebels against anything that is truly spiritual in nature, and 2) Satan just doesn't want us to do them.  I have struggled with this for as long as we have been homeschooling, which is a long time. Every year I say, "Okay, this year we are going to be really good about devotions. We are going to have a schedule! We are going to do things in the same order and at the same time each day. Get up, dress, make beds, eat breakfast.  Then we will have devotions.  We will read a chapter of Bible, then read from such and such book (the title is liable to change), and then we'll pray together. Then we can sit and talk about stuff, and we'll call it 'Ladies' Coffee Hour', even though none of us drink coffee."  Each girl nods her pretty little head and is excited about this arrangement. 

The new "schedule" lasts about two days.  One girl will get up early and get a good start on her school work, and will be slaving away at the academics at the very moment when I want to start devotions.  (It is really hard to stop them when they are on a roll!)  Or I will wake up late, and the girls will be deeply involved in Legos and Tiny Dreams when I am finally ready, and at that point the day is already out of order, and it is my own fault.  Or four girls will be outside enjoying a beautiful morning, running or skating in a circle around the house, and I think, "Oh good, they are having P.E. today!" and I let them go.  Devotions here have definitely been sporadic, although I will say that we have all enjoyed the Ladies' Coffee Hour on those days when I have accomplished my goal in that area.

This morning I had two girls zealously doing math right after they had finished breakfast. One was standing idly by, hinting by her very presence that it was time to do devotions. "Look," I said. "We have this problem with devotions.  I don't like to have you stop what you are doing, if it is school work. Maybe we should have devotions after lunch," knowing as I said it, that after lunch is not going to work, either.  "No!  Let's have them now!" they all said.  I asked them whether they wanted to hear a preaching tape, and they all said, "NO! We like when YOU do it, Mom!"  Me?  Really?!?!  The mom??? Wow, I was flattered!

So now to decide what to cover. I have been wanting to read through the Bible together, because although my oldest two have a good handle on Bible chronology, the younger two don't. I began to turn to Genesis and then, on second thought, I turned to Luke 2.  I wanted to share with them the miraculous circumstances surrounding the birth of Christ and the wonder of it all, since it seems like we don't come across that section of reading in our regular evening family devotions very often.

 

After the reading we prayed together for some lost people we care about, and for some bad knees recovering from surgery, for Daddy's day at the office, and for help to bless the Lord with our school day. Then we talked about all kinds of things. Like, how far along was Mary in her pregnancy when she left Elisabeth's home? (Math!)  How did the shepherds know the baby they found was The Right One? (How many babies do you think were sleeping in a manger that night? lol)  What did Jesus' name mean?  What do our names mean? (Etymology, right? Not entomology?  I get them mixed up. --  Which one is the study of bugs? )  What would it have been like to grow up with a big brother who was perfect and obeyed every single time? Would you look up to him, or resent him? How did Jesus's mother feel, having a perfect child?? (Sociology) Would you be able to get away with straying away from your parents on a family trip, with the excuse that you were going about your father's business? (The answer here was NO, your father's business is that you stay with the family!)

 

Anyway, we had a great time.   For tomorrow's Coffee Hour, Genesis 1 and then some.

That NIV Again

I know it seems like I am really on the attack against the NIV, but that is only partly true.  All of the modern translations are faulty; the thing about the NIV is that it is the easiest one in which to point out errors, because there are so many glaring ones!  Here are just a few of them:


Compare Mark 1:2,3 in the NIV with the same passage in the KJB.  The NIV says the verses that Mark quotes here are taken from the book of Isaiah.  But that is only true of one of the passages.  The other is not found in Isaiah, but in Malachi.  The KJB says the quotes are from "the prophets".  Am I being picky?  No.  I am requiring inerrancy of a book that claims inerrancy.


Second, the NIV says in Hebrews 3:16, of those who came out of Egypt with Moses, "Who were they who heard and rebelled? Were they not all those Moses led out of Egypt?"  Compare this with the same passage in the KJB. "For some, when they had heard, did provoke: howbeit, not all that came out of Egypt by Moses." Joshua and Caleb were not among the rebels. Picky? No. Exact.


And here is a real kicker.  This is a really wicked corruption. See Isaiah 14:12 in the KJB.  According to the Bible, Satan, as Lucifer, fell from heaven and was cut down. (This is the only verse in the Scriptures which identifies Lucifer as Satan, and the name "Lucifer" never occurs at all in the NIV.) "How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!"  Now look at the NIV. "How you have fallen from heaven, O morning star, son of the dawn! You have been cast down to the earth, you who once laid low the nations!"  Do you see what the translators did here??!!!


Both the KJV and the NIV tell us in Revelation 22:16 that the Lord Jesus Christ is the "Morning Star". In Isaiah 12, the NIV wants you to believe that Jesus Christ fell from heaven, not Lucifer! "Morning Star" is a name which Jesus has reserved for himself.  How diabolical to assign to Satan any one of the names of God. Jesus did not fall, and he was not cast down from heaven, as a matter of fact, he is the one who will do the casting down. This is not an accident.


The words "Isaiah" and "prophets" are not the same words in Greek; neither are the words "all" and "not all".  "Morning star" and "son of the morning" are not the same words in any language. To say that the NIV is a more modern, correct translation is just plain falsehood.  One of the best ways to understand the works of men is to read what they say about their own efforts.  In their Epistle Dedicatory, the KJB translators refer to their finished work as "one more exact translation of the Holy Scriptures". They considered the Bible they produced to be an exact translation of God's words. On the other hand, the NIV translators refer to their work as one that "undoubtedly falls short of its goals". Why did they not achieve their goals before they published the book?  At least they were honest about this. Their goal was not to produce an accurate translation, but to produce a Bible that would be acceptable to the religious, but lost, world.  Their design was to remove or change every reference to the major doctrines of the Christian faith: the deity of Jesus Christ, his blood atonement and bodily resurrection, the virgin birth, the miracles of Jesus, etc.  They could not have made all these changes at one time, or their "bible" would not have been received by the general public.  Instead, they change a little bit more of the book every time they put out a new edition. One day they will have reached their goal, a bible with a human "savior", the perfect "holy book" for the coming one world religion.


Someday these men will face God Almighty, the Lord Jesus Christ himself, and they will give account for the changes and omissions they have made in his Word.  I would not want to be in their shoes. God himself warned against doing this in Deuteronomy 4:2 and Revelation 22:18, 19.  You don't have to accept inconsistencies in your Bible.  God's Book is true, and every word is pure. If you are reading along and you see something that doesn't agree with what you read earlier, question it! "STUDY to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed..." 2 Timothy 2:15. We who now know the difference must make a decision... which Bible?

Another NIV Quiz

I have been meaning to get back to my "Which Bible?" posts, and just haven't done it. One of these days I am going to do an expose' on Wescott and Hort, two men who prepared some of the manuscripts that were used in the translating of the 1881 Revised Version, and which have been used in every Bible translation (revision) that has been done since then. Until then, take this quiz, and ask yourself WHY men would change these things in a Book that claims to be the very words of God, and what spirit would lead them to do so.  If you are new to my blog, please go read my other posts on "Which Bible?" under Categories on my sidebar, and begin at the bottom.

Others May; You Cannot

I know there are some of you going through heart-wrenching struggles where you are feeling like the current of influence is strongly against you, and you are trying hard to hold your ground.  You don't understand why other Christians can't see things the way you do.  Keep doing right!  It is in hopes that this will be a blessing and an encouragement to you, that I copy this tract here:

     If God has called you to be really like Jesus He will draw you into a life of crucifixion and humility, and put upon you such demands of obedience, that you will not be able to follow other people, or measure yourself by other Christians, and in many ways He will seem to let other good people do things which He will not let you do.

     Other Christians and ministers who seem very religious and useful may push themselves, pull wires, and work schemes to carry out their plans, but you cannot do it; and if you attempt it, you will meet with such failure and rebuke from the Lord as to make you sorely penitent.

     Others may boast of themselves, of their work, of their success, of their writings, but the Holy spirit will not allow you to do any such thing, and if you begin it, He will lead you into some deep mortification that will make you despise yourself and all your good works.

     Others may be allowed to succeed in making money, or may have a legacy left to them, but it is likely God will keep you poor, because He wants you to have something far better than gold, namely, a helpless dependence on Him, that He may have the privilege of supplying your needs day by day out of an unseen treasury.

     The Lord may let others be honored and put forward, and keep you hidden in obscurity, because He wants you to produce some choice, fragrant fruit for His coming glory, which can only be produced in the shade. He may let others be great, but keep you small.  He may let others do a work for Him and get the credit for it, but He will make you work and toil on without knowing how much you are doing; and then to make your work still more precious, He may let others get the credit for the work which you have done, and thus make your reward ten times greater when Jesus comes.

     The Holy Spirit will put a strict watch over you, with a jealous love, and will rebuke you for little words and feelings, or for wasting your time, which other Christians never seem distressed over. So make up your mind that God is an infinite Sovereign, and has a right to do as He pleases with his own.  He may not explain to you a thousand things which puzzle your reason in His dealings with you, but if you absolutely sell yourself to be His love slave, He will wrap you up in a jealous love, and bestow upon you many blessings which come only to those who are in the inner circle.

     Settle it forever, then, that you are to deal directly with the Holy Spirit, and that He is to have the privilege of tying your tongue, or chaining your hand, or closing your eyes, in ways that He does not seem to use with others. Now when you are so possessed with the living God that you are, in your secret heart, pleased and delighted over this particular, personal, private, jealous guardianship and management of the Holy Spirit over your life, you will have found the vestibule of Heaven.

VICTORY

     When you are forgotten or neglected, or purposely set at naught, and you smile inwardly, glorying in the insult or the oversight, because thereby counted worthy to suffer with Christ -- that is victory.

     When your good is evil spoken of, when your wishes are crossed, your taste offended, your advice disregarded, your opinions ridiculed, and you take it all in patient, loving silence -- that is victory.

     When you are content with any food, any raiment, and climate, any society, and solituded, and interruption by the will of God -- that is victory.

"Lord Jesus, make thyself to me

A living bright reality;

More present to faith's vision keen

Than any earthly object seen;

More dear, more intimately nigh

Than e'en the dearest earthly tie."

For Bird and Bug Lovers and Young Authors, Too

My lovely daughter, Booklover, posted this amazing link on her blog, but since you all don't even know her informative blog even exists, I am helping her out here. This is a very interesting story for bird and bug lovers.  Go check it out!  What? You want to know what it is about first?  Oh, okay.  It is a short article, with photos, of course, about a praying mantis that caught a hummingbird for lunch.  It is incredible.  Unfortunately for the bird (or fortunately for the mantis, depending which way you look at it) this probaby is a common event, but not often seen by man?  Maybe I just live in the wrong part of the country. I'll have to keep my eyes open.

 

Also, did you know that Susan Marlow, author of the Circle C Adventures series for kids, is hosting a fiction writer's workshop for FREE?  Booklover is having an absolute blast creating characters, describing scenes, and giving life to the "dead" words in her stories. And she is getting wonderful feedback, from a REAL author, not just, you know, Mom. Best of all, this was Booklover's idea, not mine, and she does not classify this as "school work", because it is way too much fun to call it "school''. But you and I both know it counts, ha ha ha! Sigh, I just love it when that happens!  Anyway, back to the writer's workshop, it can be started at any time.  Just begin with lesson one.

 

Nothing Very Exciting Here...

Hi everyone, I think this is a record for me -- I have not posted an entry in six days!   I have surprised myself.  Maybe there is hope for a blog addict, after all. It has been a relatively eventful week for the girls in this house, not normal for us.  I was even too busy to go to the grocery store, and I like that!  Grocery shopping is not the highlight of my week.  It could be fun if it didn't cost so much, lol.

We have some homeschooling friends whose kids play instruments, so we got together with them a few days ago for a musical afternoon. I wish I had remembered to bring along the camera.  It was a blast.  We had seven kids and eleven instruments -- a trombone, a trumpet, a piano, two flutes, three recorders, and three violins. We played several hymns and spiritual songs, some of Handel's Water Music, and a few other common tunes. Each child gave us a solo, and then we formed our barnyard band. The kids are all at different levels of accomplishment, some having no skill at all as yet.  After not having much success at finding one piece for all of the musicians to play together, we found they could all play out of the hymn book, and luckily the other family had more copies of it than we had children.  Some played the melody, some harmonized, and the trombone played the bass part. One mom played piano, the other played trumpet, and two little girls tooted  recorders in a high-pitched monotone. We made a cacophony!  It was so lovely.  No, really, it was!  It's such a blessing when the Lord brings people into our lives who enjoy the same wholesome pursuits that we enjoy. 

Friday night my older two girls and I went with some ladies from church to a Taste of Home Cooking School, possibly the first annual one for our area. But hmmm, if they do it again, they will want to make some changes in logistics and planning... It was a fun night out with friends.  This area has kind of a small town feel to it, and even though the population of our valley is about 100,000, we said Hello to several other friends/homeschool moms whom we have not seen for several months. I enjoyed that very much!  The show was good, but wow, they were free with the wine given away as door prizes (what do you expect from casino-area sponsors?).  When they started announcing winners of wine bottles, I wondered how, in the event that my name was drawn, I would refuse the wine without looking like I just wanted something else in the prize pile.  Thankfully I did not have to handle that problem, but one of the winners was an eight year old girl in our party.  One of the other young ladies was a quick-thinker and yelled, "SHE'S UNDER AGE!!!" Sometimes there are benefits to being too young.  I decided that if my name was drawn, I also would yell that I am under age.  But I didn't win anything this time. Not even Amy won anything.  Amy always wins something!

And what else?  I created a new blog, my private, unlisted, incognito blog.  No one knows it's there but my husband.  Why I have it, I don't know, since no one is reading it anyway.  I have already wasted hours on my unlisted blog messing with the template, writing a couple of posts (Ha, I fooled you.  I'm not cured of my addiction.), putting a counter on it (how dumb is that?)and finding my way around the bloghost.  Well, it's there in case I ever decide to leave HSB.

We also baked cookies, shopped for shoes, did laundry of course, and made some homemade chicken soup.  Mmmm.  It is soooo good, perfect for colds, but we don't have any sniffles here, thank the Lord. (We never seem to have any of this soup around when we do have sniffles! Something is wrong with my home management.)

This week I'll be getting ready to leave town for a few days, experimenting with my new Taste of Home magazine, cleaning I hope, schooling I hope, and doing laundry, of course.  Does laundry never end?  I am very thankful for a working washer and dryer, and two good helpers! Oh yes, and I'll be blogging!

Potato Soup

As it so frequently happens, it got to be about 4:00 this afternoon, and I had nothing thawed out for supper.  The only time in my adult life when this did NOT happen was for the five weeks after we got home from Kansas last summer, because I had spent several miles of cross-country travel making up a five-week menu plan. I loved having the menus made out, but I found my grocery bills were higher that way. So I am back to fumbling around in the kitchen at the last minute, trying to figure out something to feed my family, something nutritious and quick.  Since many of you are into your wintry weather, I thought you might appreciate this quick potato soup recipe.  It is warm and thick and is wonderful topped with butter-and-garlic croutons. This recipe makes enough to feed six of us, plus left-overs.

Sally's Potato Soup

 

8 LARGE baking potatoes

1/2 C chopped onion

4 1/2 C chicken broth

6 T butter or margarine

6 T flour

3 C milk

dash white pepper

1/2 t salt

1 t dill (optional)

 

Peel and slice the potatoes and place them in a large soup pot with the broth, chopped onion, and dill, if desired. Bring to a boil and cook for 10 minutes or so, until potato slices break easily. In the meantime, melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat, and add the flour, salt and pepper. Cook and stir for a couple of minutes, then add the millk all at once.  Continue cooking and stirring until the white sauce thickens and begins to boil. Cook for 1-2 minutes more, and remove from heat. When the potatoes are done, mash them well in the same pot, with a potato masher, or if you like your soup very smooth, put it through the blender. Add the white sauce and stir well.  For variation, add cheddar cheese and/or cooked chopped broccoli.  Top with croutons or saltine crackers.

 

The Bible, or the TV Guide?

VS

 

 On the table side by side:

The Holy Bible and the TV Guide,

One is well-worn, but cherished with pride.

(Not the Bible, but the TV Guide.)

One is used daily to help folks decide.

No! It isn't the Bible; it's the TV Guide.

As pages are turned, what shall they see?

Oh, what does it matter, turn on the TV.

So they open the book in which they confide

(No, not the Bible, it's the TV Guide).

The Word of God is seldom read.

Maybe a verse e'er they fall into bed.

Exhausted and sleepy and tired as can be,

Not from reading the Bible, but watching TV.

So, then back to the table, side by side,

Are the Holy Bible and the TV Guide.

No time for prayer, no time for the Word;

The plan for salvation is seldom heard.

Forgiveness of sin so full and free

Is found in the BIBLE, not on TV!!

Water in the Desert

I was talking recently with a friend who was having a very difficult week.  She had many complaints, but the biggest one was of her own attitude in the midst of all her trials.  She was spiritually dry.  Parched.  Cooked.

 As it just so “happened”, the Sunday morning message at her church at the end of that awful week seemed to be directed right at her.  You know how that is, don’t you?  She had been desperately thirsty for some encouragement, for some empowering from God’s Word, and she told me it was there that morning like water in the desert.

Water in the desert.  We all know how important water is here in the desert Southwest.  Just as water is vital to our physical survival, God’s Word is vital to our spiritual survival.  It seems so amazing and refreshing to us when God seems to know (but of course he knows!) just what we need from his Word when our hearts are lonely, burdened, despondent, or frightened.

Do you remember Hagar? Hagar and her son Ishmael were cast out into the wilderness.  While wandering the wild and desolate land they soon depleted their water supply. Hagar left her son to die, and then she lifted up her voice and cried.  Here she was, wasted, far from home, far from her daily water supply.  Sometimes we wander far away from God’s Word, too, don’t we?  But when Hagar despaired, God, in his infinite mercy, heard her. The Bible says he opened her eyes, and right in front of her she saw a WELL! Water! Life!  God showed Hagar the source of life, and he gave her just what her soul and body craved.  He did not provide her with just a teaspoonful of water, but a lifetime supply!

What would have happened to Hagar if she had seen the well, but had not drawn out the water? How many times have you been spiritually dry, and neglected to open your Bible or receive the preaching of it? That God-given water was the saving of Hagar’s life and the life of her child.  All she had to do was draw it out. The Word of God is the saving of our spiritual lives, as well. I am glad to be able to report that my friend took of the water of life freely that Sunday morning.  She was spiritually revived and energized!  Praise the Lord for his provision!

God’s Word is like a well for us.  There is plenty there to satisfy our thirst! If, in your heart, you have been wandering in the wilderness, cry to the Lord for understanding, for comfort, for courage, for help as you read or listen.  He loves you and cares for you just as he did Hagar and her son. He is ever ready to show you just the thing your soul is longing for!  Don’t turn away from it, and don’t be satisfied with just a teaspoon of relief – keep going back for more.  Get your fill of God’s life-sustaining Word!