KANSAS HOLDS OFF DAVIDSON TO REACH FINAL FOUR

Five years after Roy Williams left Kansas, Jayhawks get their shot

Kansas holds off Davidson to reach Final Four Kansas 59, Davidson 57

Kansas’’ cakewalk to the River Walk turned bittersweet on Sunday.

• You were hard-pressed to find any evidence inside Ford Field that the champion of the Big 12 is superior to the champion of the Southern Conference. Kansas’’ biggest lead was six points, and the boys from the tiny Carolina school of 1,700 students controlled the tempo, the action, from start to finish. With 16.8 seconds left, they had possession and the ball in the hands of the tournament’’s best player, shooting star Stephen Curry
  

GOD'S GRACE AND GOODNESS IS FAR TOO MUCH FOR US TO CRY OVER EVENTS IN OUR LIFE THAT ARE NOT ALWAYS PLEASANT.
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WHEN WE LOOK AT EVENTS FROM THE HUMAN SIDE, OFTEN THEY DO NOT MADE SENSE TO OUR HUMAN, SINFUL, AND LACK OF UNDERSTANDING OF GOD'S PROVIDENCE AND SOVEREIGNTY AND HIS GOOD PURPOSES FOR HIMSELF.

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I may never learn the purposes of God for events in my life, they usually don't happen as I had expected. I didn't expect so great a Salvation, I didn't expect to be married to a wonderful WIFE for thirty nine years.

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In ministry I never expected the events, the success or disappointment,

to turn out as they have.

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If you are truly willing to be a "slave" for Jesus Christ, you know

He is LORD, and His purposes are what you desire.

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I believe the LORD "called" me into ministry to be His "slave" to be yielded to His purposes that He will accomplish.

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If I have expectations for what I believe should happen, generally I could be disappointed, but in the purposes of Christ they could be exactly what He has Designed.

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CAKES TO PLEASE EVERY ONE

UNION MILLS CONFECTIONERY

OLIVER B. GREENE A MAN THAT CAUGHT MY ATTENTION FOR CHRIST

My father really liked Dr. Greene, and we had the radio on each day to listen to him teach verse by verse the Word of God. My heart and mind was stirred to know the Word of God in such manner.

^

Oliver B. Greene1915 - 1976

"See the river of blood that ran from the slit throats of innocent animals through four thousand years of time from Eden to Calvary. See the vast multitude of weary, sin-laden souls as they went to altars of sacrifice with their offerings...But now, see Christ, the Lamb of God...and the offering in His own blood made once for all....Only Jesus could make the announcement, 'It is finished!'""From disgrace to grace" is not our title for one of America's greatly used men of God-that was Oliver Greene's own appraisal of himself. He was born on February 14, 1915 in Greenville, South Carolina.

Oliver's youthful life was that of a wastrel, living in wanton wickedness. Drinking, stealing, bootlegging, immorality-he was a veteran of all those vices. But at age twenty, God saved that wayward youth when he attended a revival meeting (solely in an attempt to date a pure country girl) and heard a sermon on "The wages of sin is death."

That night he was convinced, convicted and converted! He got a mighty good dose of salvation! Five months later God called him to preach. To prepare for this, he attended North Greenville Baptist College but was expelled in his second year because of his reluctance to cooperate with the denominational program.

Early in life it was immediately evident Oliver B. Greene was an independent Baptist. Through all of his ministry he carried the honor of being one who "could not be bought." In 1939, the 24-year-old bought a tent, and for 35 years he conducted revivals all across America, until failing health forced him to stop.

Carefully kept records reveal that over 200,000 found Christ under his ministry. Perhaps his single greatest campaign was in Rocky Mount, North Carolina, where 7,000 professions of faith were registered. He held his last tent revival in Bel Air, Maryland (this tent was 100 feet by 300 feet).

Surely another genius of Greene's labors for Christ was his radio ministry, which grew from one station in 1939 to 180 stations at his death. The Gospel Hour is still heard coast to coast by his taped messages. He prepared these taped messages "to continue on the Gospel Hour hopefully until Christ comes back."

Dr. Greene was called Home to be with the Lord on July 26, 1976, but he "being dead, yet speaketh," not only by radio but by his writings. His books, pamphlets, tracts, totaling above 100 titles, are still mailed out by the thousands.

Aye, DISGRACE TO GRACE, a fitting appraisal as well as a fitting epitaph for a great man of the Gospel and the greatly used messenger of the Gospel Hour-Oliver B. Greene!

OLIVER B. GREENE, EVANGELIST, TEACHER

A office and library to die for.

Now "The Gospel Hour" headquarters is the new home for The Jay E. Adams Ministry

As a boy I grew up listening to Oliver B. Greene on radio in Roanoke Virginia. Dad had most of his books on the Bible. In 1966 I meet him at the Baptist Tabernacle in Danville, VA.

• Dr. Oliver B. Greene founded the Gospel Hour, Inc. in 1956 as a Christian outreach using radio, personal appearances, books and audio tapes. The radio program, which began on one station in Georgia, spread through syndication until it reached across the nation. At one time the program was heard on more than 150 stations. The program is currently heard on more than eighty stations in America; on Caribbean Radio Lighthouse, which carries the program throughout the Caribbean area; and worldwide by way of the internet.


• Dr. Greene began preaching as an evangelist in the early 1940's and went wherever he was invited to preach. This eventually led to his standard practice of holding revivals in churches and arenas during the winter and holding tent campaigns in the summer. His tents were quite impressive, the largest one being 300 feet long and 150 feet wide. He also travelled extensively overseas, visiting and raising money for missionaries in many different countries. He was truly a "triple threat", spreading the gospel through public speaking, the written word and the medium of radio. His personal ministry ended suddenly on July 26, 1976 when he died of an aneurism in the heart. However, through the prayers and donations of many friends the ministry has continued and reaches thousands daily throughout the world.
• The Gospel Hour check this out.
• 
  

COMPETENT TO COUNSEL BIBLICALLY

DEPRESSION: TAKE A BRIEF LOOK: part one

Depression has been called "a room in hell," "a howling tempest in the brain.". In 1621, Robert Burton put his finger on it, "They are in great pain and horror of mind, distraction of soul, restlessness, full of continual fears, cares, torment, anxieties, they can neither drink, eat, nor sleep.." His description caputres the experience of million of people who at this very moment that you are reading this struggle with depression.

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In the photo on the right:

• On the Threshold of Eternity. In 1890, Vincent van Gogh painted this picture seen by some as symbolizing the despair and hopelessness felt in depression. Van Gogh himself suffered from depression and committed suicide later that same year.

Depression can make the most dedicated friends, family, and ministers feel incompetent because there are times when it seems absolutely resistant to change. But here is what I know, depressed people have an inner spirit like all the rest of us, and they can be renewed by faith even in the midst of the pain.

The basic steps to follow with those who have depression, a term that is generally used by society at large.

1. Understand the experience of depression. Understand what people mean by "depression"
2. Make tentative distinctions between physical and spiritual symptions. The need a be physical that can be treated, but it could be spiritual that also needs to be address.
3. This distinction will allow you to focus on heart issues. In doing this if a person is not a Christian, the hope I trully believe is in knowing Christ as LORD. If a person is a Christian than the hope is still in Christ, and a bibically understanding of what that person is suffering can be address. Personally I believe in a believer, the issue could be one of "faith" in the providence and will of God.
4. Its possible and I understand and often happens, that when issues of life is not address, there is pain of emotions. The longer one does not address the issues that is causing the pain, the deeper the problems becomes.
5. Address the issue with some one who is a Christian, who will be willing to address the issue from a biblical point of view.

Every Person In Life has to Deal with Living Life

THE NAME OF "EASTER"
Name of Easter

The origins of the word "Easter" are not certain, but probably derive from Estre, an Anglo-Saxon goddess of spring The German word Ostern has the same derivation, but most other languages follow the Greek term used by the early Christians: pascha, from the Hebrew pesach (Passover).
In Latin, Easter is Festa Paschalia (plural because it is a seven-day feast), which became the basis for the French Pââques, the Italian Pasqua, and the Spanish Pascua. Also related are the Scottish Pask, the Dutch Paschen, the Danish Paaske, and the Swedish Pask.
Date of Easter

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The method for determining the date of Easter is complex and has been a matter of controversy (see History of Easter, below). Put as simply as possible, the Western churches (Catholic and Protestant) celebrate Easter on the first Sunday following the first full moon after the spring equinox.

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But it is actually a bit more complicated than this. The spring equinox is fixed for this purpose as March 21 (in 2004, it actually falls on March 20) and the "full moon" is actually the paschal moon, which is based on 84-year "paschal cycles" established in the sixth century, and rarely corresponds to the astronomical full moon. These complex calculations yield an Easter date of anywhere between March 22 and April 25.

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The Eastern churches (Greek, Russian, and other forms of Orthodoxy) use the same calculation, but based on the Julian calendar (on which March 21 is April 3) and a 19-year paschal cycle.
Thus the Orthodox Easter sometimes falls on the same day as the western Easter (it does in 2004), but the two celebrations can occur as much as five weeks apart.

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In the 20th century, discussions began as to a possible worldwide agreement on a consistent date for the celebration of the central event of Christianity. No resolution has yet been reached.

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History of Easter and the Easter Controversy

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There is evidence that Christians originally celebrated the resurrection of Christ every Sunday, with observances such as Scripture readings, psalms, the Eucharist, and a prohibition against kneeling in prayer. {6} At some point in the first two centuries, however, it became customary to celebrate the resurrection specially on one day each year. Many of the religious observances of this celebration were taken from the Jewish Passover.

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The specific day on which the resurrection should be celebrated became a major point of contention within the church. First, should it be on Jewish Passover no matter on what day that falls, or should it always fall on a Sunday? It seems Christians in Asia took the former position, while those everywhere else insisted on the latter. The eminent church fathers Irenaeus and Polycarp were among the Asiatic Christians, and they claimed the authority of St. John the Apostle for their position. Nevertheless, the church majority officially decided that Easter should always be celebrated on a Sunday. Eusebius of Caesarea, our only source on this topic, reports the affair as follows:

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A question of no small importance arose at that time [c. 190 AD]. The dioceses of all Asia, as from an older tradition, held that the fourteenth day of the moon, on which day the Jews were commanded to sacrifice the lamb, should always be observed as the feast of the life-giving pasch, contending that the fast ought to end on that day, whatever day of the week it might happen to be. However it was not the custom of the churches in the rest of the world to end it at this point, as they observed the practice, which from Apostolic tradition has prevailed to the present time, of terminating the fast on no other day than on that of the Resurrection of our Saviour. Synods and assemblies of bishops were held on this account, and all with one consent through mutual correspondence drew up an ecclesiastical decree that the mystery of the Resurrection of the Lord should be celebrated on no other day but the Sunday and that we should observe the close of the paschal fast on that day only.With this issue resolved, the next problem was to determine which Sunday to celebrate the resurrection. The Christians in Syria and Mesopotamia held their festival on the Sunday after the Jewish Passover (which itself varied a great deal), but those in Alexandria and other regions held it on the first Sunday after the spring equinox, without regard to the Passover.

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This second issue was decided at the Council of Nicea in 325, which decreed that Easter should be celebrated by all on the same Sunday, which Sunday shall be the first following the paschal moon (and the paschal moon must not precede the spring equinox), and that a particular church should determine the date of Easter and communicate it throughout the empire (probably Alexandria, with their skill in astronomical calculations).

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The policy was adopted throughout the empire, but Rome adopted an 84-year lunar cycle for determining the date, whereas Alexandria used a 19-year cycle. } Use of these different "paschal cycles" persists to this day and contributes to the disparity between the eastern and western dates of Easter.
Catholic Encyclopedia.

Wheatie Box Collection Charles e Whisnant

JANUARY 15, 2000 - LEXINGTON HERALD-LEADER NEW

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WHEATIES AT KROGERS

Charity had picked up a box of Wheaties at Kroger, back in 1999 and at the counter she met Beverly Fortune, staff writer. Beverly made comment about Charity buying a box of Wheaties. Charity said, "My husband collects Wheaties". Beverly said, I am a staff writer for the Lexington Herald, and I am doing a series on Collectors, could I come by and interview your husband about his collection?" Charity said, "Charles would be happy about that."

Sure enough, several weeks later, I received a phone call, from Beverly and we set up an appointment. She came to the house and was really in shock when she saw my collection. We spent several hours talking about the collection. Then a few weeks later, the article appeared in the Herald-Leader.

Beverely writes "Last night at 12:30 a.m. I went to Kroger's and found a new box of Wheaties," said Whisnant, a Baptist minister who lives on North Ashland Avenue. With each new Wheaties purchase, Whisnant carefully opens the bottom of the box and pulls out the bag of cereal, so he doesn't dent the top." That was it, placed in the center page of the Home & Garden insert of the newspaper. There was a front page picture as shown in the above photo. and two photos on the inside page.

This article in the Herald Leader, went out through the Knight-Ridder News Agency all over the United States. Really. Over the next year, I received a number of calls from Chicago, Ill. Asheboro, NC. , Mass., Texas, Mich., and a number of letters. One person, sent me a set of pictures of his collection of Wheaties.

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One person, called and asked if my father's name was Everette Whisnant. She said she and her husband were saved in a Tent meeting in Ashville, NC, and my dad had established a church in Asheboro, NC. She said the church is doing good today. She said our family had been to their home many times when I was very young. Amazing. Her husband had passed away a few weeks before she called, and they did not know where we were living the last thirty years. She had seen the article in their local newspaper, and for some reason she read the article. Now that was amazing that she would read it. How she knew that was a Whisnant in the picture I will never know.

Charles

THEOLOGICAL LIBRARY BINDERS

THEOLOGICAL LIBRARY BINDERS

From 2003 thru 2006 I made a study of the Doctrines of Grace. Through the Internet and my Technical Library Books, studied the major doctrines of the Bible

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While I have studied Theology for thirty years, I have just begun to know a little about the theological aspect of the Bible. Understanding Theology in Bible Baptist Seminary in Arlington Texas was brief for three years. Dr. George L. Norris was a master of Theology, the time spend on these subject was limited. And taking Liberty University of Life Long Learning Master's program was very good as well. But to spend so much time on each topic was just wonderful. The journey is not over yet.

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SOME TOPICAL Studies

• Arminianism, Semi Pelagianism
• Atonement of Jesus Christ Definite
• Atonement: Definite
• Assurance
• Perseverance of Saints
• Bad Theology: Synergism, Seeker Sensitive Purpose Driven Model, Antinomianism, No Lordship, Legalism, New Perpective, Open Theism, Religious Pluralism, Relativism, Tolerance, Hyper-Calvinism, Finneyism, Oneness Pentacostalism, Liberal Theology, and Neo-Orthodoxy.
• Biblical Theology
• Calvinism: Five Points
• Church Confessionals
• Covenant Theology
• Cross/Crucification
• Depravity of Man
• Election
• Eschatology in Reformed: Israel, Amillennialism, Dispensational, Historical Premillennialism, Postmillennialism, Full Preterism,
• Fall of Man
• Five Solas of the Reformation:

1. Sola Scripture: Scripture
2. Solus Christus: Christ
3. Sola Gratria: Grace
4. Sola Fide: Faith
5. Soli Deo Gloria: Glory to God Alone

• Foreknowledge of God
• Free Will:
• God's Will
• Grace Alone
• Grace Key Passage
• Holy Spirit's Work
• Irresistible Grace
• Jesus Christ in Salvation
• Justification
• Monergism
• Ordo Salutis: The order of Salvation
• Original Sin
• Predestination
• Providence of God
• Regeneration, New Birth
• Reformed Theology: Reformation
• Repentance
• Redemption
• Soteriology/Salvation
• Sanctification
• Salvation Sermons
• Glorification
• Heaven
• Hell
• History and Historical Theology
• Structure of Scripture
• Apologetic
• Critical Thinking
• Church Theology
• Total Depravity
• Sovereignty of God

These studies came by researching the topic, downloading the articles from a number of writers, preachers and theologians. Each topic had as many as 100 articles and some over 200 articles.

NOW LET'S

LOOK AT THIS

MATTER OF

ATONEMENT:
part two

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Here are a few questions we need to answer:

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(one bookcase of books in Library)

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· Did God because of something within His own nature or something intrinsic to man have to save sinners?


· Did God's attributes of love, mercy and compassion necessitate or force Him to act?

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· Could God have left the whole human race to perish in their sins if He so desired?
Here is the answer to these questions:

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· The scriptural answer as I understand it: God's decision to save a people for Himself was a free choice that was not determined by any internal or external necessity.
> Paul says that God's predestination of the elect to salvation in Christ was "according to the good pleasure of His will" Eph 1:5. "Jesus Christ..gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us from this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, Galatians 1:4. In Colossians, Paul said, "it pleased the Father..to reconcile all things to Himself by Him."(1:19).

These verses I believe clearly show that God's decision to save sinners was a free sovereign choice

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Have you wondered why the Bible often speaks of salvation, being born again, as a "free gift" from God? So what does this mean? It doesn’t mean that achieving redemption was without cost. I Corinthians 6:20, 7:23 Christians are "bought at a price." Christ redeemed the church with His own precious blood (1 Peter 1:19). So this free gift refers to the fact that God imparts salvation to the elect freely or voluntarily.

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God was not obligated to save anyone, but out of His own good pleasure He gave "freely".

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God did not have to save anyone! What do you mean by that? But He "freely" did. As Paul said that believers are "justified freely by His grace." Romans 3:24; that God will "freely give us all things," Romans 8:32,; that the Holy Spirit enables us to "know the things that have been freely given to us by God"I Corinthians 2:12. This is what happened when the Holy Spirit enabled me at seven, I believe, to understand what Jesus Christ was freely giving to me, salvation.

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God’s free spirit in giving salvation to the elect, (that is a term I have used forever to mean that God elects people unto salvation, He personally brings people unto Himself, not by anything we do but wholly by His own free will), is directly connected with the biblical concept of grace.

What do you mean?

GRACE as I understand, is that God gives His favor and salvation to those who deserve wrath and hell-fire, to those who hate God and are His enemies. Salvation that is presented in the Bible is never given by obligation or debt. Nor given by God seeing before hand one’s faith, good works, or bloodline, or nationality. Those things have nothing to do with God’s free choice to give as He Himself is glorified. Remember that verse in Romans 9:18 "Therefore He has mercy on whom He will, and whom He will He hardens."

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So was this sovereign good pleasure of God just a decision that was done purely arbitrarily. No. This atonement, the means whereby God could bring one to salvation,was by an act that was rooted in His nature. That was ‘love." John 3:16 "For God so loves the world that he gave His own begotten Son." And I John 4:9-11, "In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the World, that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loves us, we also ought to love one another."

Here it is about atonement, the love of God is the spring from which the atonement flows. Jesus’ death was the absolute manifestation of God’s love. "But God" in Romans 5:8, "in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." That is love.

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In Romans 8:29 Paul writes that God’s love preceded election. He loved us first, then elected us to Himself. "For whom He foreknew , He also predestinated to be conformed to the image of His Son." "To love before hand."

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Why did Jesus come and die? He didn’t have to. We were all His enemies. No one, nobody loved Jesus. He loved us so, that He did come, and die on the cross.

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God so loved, that He by His free sovereign choice, freely gave grace to those who by His good pleasure, He chose to bring to Himself. Why He set His love on me, I don’t know; but I know it was He who first set His love on me.

OUR SPIRITUALITY IS FOUND IN THE LORD JESUS CHRIST NO OPRAH,

SORRY ABOUT THAT!

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I started this article here. This MONDAY Opray is having her 4th session on the "NEW EARTH>"

Anytime 1.8 million people converge for any objective on a regular basis, there’s a story. Have you really taken the time to take a look at what this new spiritual enlightenment is all about? Have any of the readers of this blog really though there might be something good about what Opraha is saying? What ever you faith or belief, any new movement such as this with so many members so rapidly increasing warrants analysis. If you know me, I have never taken any book or person at face value, I will always analize what they are saying and why they are staying what they are writing.

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During the month of February, you heard on The Oprah Winfrey Show, you heard them ask, "Are You Ready to Be Awakened?" They began an interactive class on the interent. I was beginning to think could this be another cult? So I looked up the word cult. Wikipedia says, the word cult "typically refers to a cohesive social group devoted teo beliefs or practices that the surrounding culture considers outside the mainstream, with a notable postive or negative popular perception." My understanding of the book "New Earth," is clearly the views are not typical mainstream views. My understanding of the material has the concepts presentsed require you to suspend critical thinking and say there is only "the Now." They give such phrases like, "If you are aware, you cannot be totally possessed by the ego, by the thought form or the emotional form."

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A seed is planted in your mind, that is very small, and then they seed is watered little at a time, and before you know it, the seed has sprouted up in your mind, and before long it’s a full grown concept that you know believe.
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In the book Tolle says, "this book itself is a transformation device that has come out of the arising new conscious. The ideas and concepts presented here may be important, but they are secondary. They are more than signposts pointing toward awakening. As you read, a shift takes place within you."

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ROBERT J. LIFTON

• In 1961, Robert J. Lifton wrote the definitive book on the subject "THOUGHT REFORM, and the Psychology of Totalism after studying the effects of mind control on American prisoners of war under the Communist Chinese.
• One of the factors Robert Lifton describes is the concept of ‘LOADING THE lNGUAGUE." He said: "The group interprets or uses words and phrases in nenew ways so that often the outside world does not understand. This jargon consists of thought-terminating clicki’s which serve to alter members’s thought process to conform to the group’s way of thinking."

JAY LIFTON

Jay Lifton (born May 16, 1926) is an American psychiatrist and author, chiefly known for his studies of the psychological causes and effects of war and political violence and for his theory of thought reform. He was an early proponent of the techniques of psychohistory.

• Lifton's 1961 book Thought Reform and the Psychology of Totalism: A Study of "Brainwashing" in China was a study of coercive techniques that he labelled thought reform or "brainwashing", though he preferred the former term. Othes have labelled it also as "mind control". Lifton describes in detail eight methods which he says are used to change people's minds without their agreement:

• Milieu Control -- The control of information and communication.
• Mystical Manipulation -- The manipulation of experiences that appear spontaneous but in fact were planned and orchestrated.
• Demand for Purity -- The world is viewed as black and white and the members are constantly exhorted to conform to the ideology of the group and strive for perfection.
• Confession -- Sins, as defined by the group, are to be confessed either to a personal monitor or publicly to the group.
• Sacred Science -- The group's doctrine or ideology is considered to be the ultimate Truth, beyond all questioning or dispute.
• Loading the Language -- The group interprets or uses words and phrases in new ways so that often the outside world does not understand.
• Doctrine over person -- The member's personal experiences are subordinated to the sacred science and any contrary experiences must be denied or reinterpreted to fit the ideology of the group.
• Dispensing of existence -- The group has the prerogative to decide who has the right to exist and who does not.

Contrary to popular notions of "brainwashing", Lifton always maintained that such coercion could only influence short-term behavior or produce general neuroses, not permanently change beliefs or personality. Psychologists like Margaret Singer and Steven Hassan (author of the book Combatting Cult Mind Control), later loosely adapted his theories and applied his terms "totalism" and "thought reform" to the practices of certain religious and other types of groups

TOTALISM: THOUGHT REFORM

• Totalism, a word first used in Thought Reform, is Lifton's term for the characteristics of ideological movements and organizations that desire total control over human behavior and thought. (Lifton's usage differs from theories of totalitarianism in that it can be applied to the ideology of groups that do not wield governmental power.) In Lifton's opinion, though such attempts always fail, they follow a common pattern and cause predictable types of psychological damage in individuals and societies. He finds two common motives in totalistic movements: the fear and denial of death, channeled into violence against scapegoat groups that are made to represent a metaphorical threat to survival, and a reactionary fear of social change.

In his later work, Lifton has focused on defining the type of change to which totalism is opposed, for which he coined the term the protean self. In the book of the same title, he states that the development of a "fluid and many-sided personality" is a positive trend in modern societies, and that mental health now requires "continuous exploration and personal experiment", which reactionary and fundamentalist movements oppose.


According to Penguin Publishers, "A NEW EARTH" will be the biggest selling book of all time.

Those who have researched Oprah Winfrey, and those who have influenced her, say she is the most powerful woman in the world, and she has made it her mission in her own words, "transform the world." Her "spiritual" evolution and the persistent determination of her mission.

• She is trying to change South Africa, in the girls home. Then she backed Obama. Oprah said of Obama, "He has an ear for eloquence and a tongue dipped in the unvarnished truth."
• So when did she cross over from TV personality to spiritual and political advisor to the masses? It all started ever so slowly years ago........ and isn’t that the way all will go.

Charles E. Whisnant

OUR YOUNGEST SON CAME TO VISIT US SUNDAY

TEMPLE

TEMPLE BAPITST CHURCH, PORTSMOUTH OHIO EASTER SUNDAY MARCH 23, 2008

R

RESURRECTION MORNING AT FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH, ALTOONA, KANSAS

^

Sunday Morning Sunrise Services were a part of my youth in Roanoke Virginia, then when I was pastor/teacher in FBC in Altoona, those Sunday Morning services at the Nunnenkamp's were the best times of the year.

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OUR PRAYER IS THAT JESUS CHRIST HAS BECOME LORD OF YOUR LIFE

ON THE PHYSICAL DEATH OF JESUS CHRIST

• Jesus of Nazareth underwent Jewish and Roman trials, was flogged, and was sentenced to death by crucifixion. The scourging produced deep stripelike lacerations and appreciable blood loss, and it probably set the stage for hypovolemic shock as evidenced by the fact that Jesus was too weakened to carry the crossbar (patibulum) to Golgotha. At the site of crucifixion his wrists were nailed to the patibulum, and after the patibulum was lifted onto the upright post, (stipes) his feet were nailed to the stipes. The major pathophysiologic effect of crucifixion was an interference with normal respirations. Accordingly, death resulted primarily from hypovolemic shock and exhaustion asphyxia. Jesus’ death was ensured by the thrust of a soldier’s spear into his side. Modern medical interpretation of the historical evidence indicates that Jesus was dead when taken down from the cross.
  (JAMA 1986; 255:1455-1463)
• Read this article on the Physical Death of Jesus Christ, it is amazing.
• Click on the title

Jesus was lying in the tomb during the Sabbath, and the Pharisees secured Roman guards to keep watch of the tomb (Matt. 27:61-66; Mark 15:47; Luke 23:55-56).
[Harold W. Hoehner, Chronological Aspects of the Life of Christ, 92] The above picture.

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THE ATONEMENT OF JESUS CHRIST THE MOST IMPORTANT AND SIGNIFICANT EVENT IN THE HISTORY OF THE WORLD WAS THE CRUCIFIXION OF JESUS CHRIST

Part One

When I was saved!

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Most people know that Jesus was crucified almost 2000 years ago in Palestine. Some people even have an idea as to why Jesus was crucified, or at least what Christians say He was crucified. They seem to know that his death on the cross had something to do with ones salvation, and going to Heaven.

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When you question folks regarding the biblical, theological significance of Jesus's person and work most people are quite ignorance of God's Word.

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Terms like "atonement" and "substitutionary work" and "reconciliation" are unknown to most people today.

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I am not sure that as a youth I understood those terms. As a fundamental Baptist those terms were way too big. I think I was in college before I heard those terms. Yet the library that dad had was filled with theological books, and Charles Spurgeons books were on the front row. I even read Spurgeon a lot, and used his outlines as study tools to teach the Psalms, and other sermons I would preached.

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The word "atonement" is a theological term that is used to describe the substitutionary work of Christ. The word occurs in the KJV in Romans 5:11, and the basic meaning of the term is "reconciliation." (another big word).

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The word "atonement" is takes on the meaning of Christ's work of redemption on behalf of His people. From Genesis 3:15 to the New Testament, the theme was about Christ and His need to become the Savior.

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THE DEATH OF CHRIST ON THE CROSS

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The center of the Christian faith is the death of Christ on the Cross. Its the very heart of our faith. The New Testament writers ascribe the saving efficacy of Christ's work directly to His death, or sometimes used "His blood," even sometimes "His cross."

• Romans 3:25
• Romans 5:9
• I Corinthians 10:16
• Ephesians 1:7, 2:13
• Colossians 1:20
• Hebrews 9:12,14
• I Peter 1:2, 19
• 1 John 1:7, 5:6-8

Now this whole topic would take a book or two to fully address. People have a number of ideas as to why Christ died on the Cross. And a number of reasons are giving as to what happen as a result of Christ dying on the Cross. Why was it necessary for Christ to die? Why did God require Himself to die on the Cross? And what did the shedding of his blood have to do with salvation? And many can't figure out all that went on in the Old Testament with the blood, the killing of animals. And why was it necessary to redeem people as a result of what Adam did in the garden?

Most of us were saved as a youth, and had no idea of the atonement. Many of us couldn't understand why we would even go to Hell and not to Heaven. Why would God let any of us go to Hell? Why we needed to be "saved?? Saved from what we would ask? And that term "sin", we were "sinners" where did that come from? I knew that I had taken some candy from across the street, but that was'n real bad, besides I got caught and punish by Dad, but I didn't think it would cause me to go to Hell. You know?

I had a hard time knowing who Jesus Christ was! Of course I must say I slept a lot in church. Thank goodness Mom was a good Sunday School teacher. But I didn't get a whole lot out of preaching (sorry Dad). But I did learn about sin, and Heaven, and Hell, and the need to "get saved." I knew if I didn't do something I was really in trouble about getting to Heaven. I wasn't really ready to go to Heaven at five or seven.

Now when Evangelist Bob Obton came to our church, and the preached, the old fashioned way, and he did some really neat stuff to get our attention. He would bend a two penny nail and would get into a bag and have it locked, and we would escape. That was impressive.

At the end of his sermon, he would ask, "WHO WANTS TO GO TO HEAVEN?" Well of course who wouldn't, right? So I went to the front of the church to see how I could get to Heaven from Roanoke, Virginia. (had to do that,sorry).

Here is what I remember: "Charles do you know John 3:16?" "No." I said. "And you are a preachers son and you do not know John 3:16?" I really felt bad about that. So I went back into the back room to learn that verse. Then I believe someone help me to learn the verse and what they believed the verse meant. We are sinners, and need to be saved, and Jesus died on the cross and rose from the grave, and if we had faith to believe that by Jesus dying on the cross He made it possible for us to be saved. I believed that for sure. That is about all I remember.

Was I saved that Sunday Morning? Good question. I didn't understand the "atonement." I really didn't know why it was necessary for God to have His Son Jesus to be born, and live and die for me in the first place. But you know, something happen in my life that day, that really changed my ability to understand all this about Jesus Christ. And when Mom would teach and Dad would preach, I got it. Of course, not theologically.

Looking back, knowing what I know now, theologically, I believe I was saved then. Because of God's grace, He saved me the moment my heart was open to His grace, and the faith to believe was not mind but Christ.

Part Two later:

THIS LITTLE GIRL DAD IS HOLDING HER, AND THEN MOM IS HOLDING HER AND I am STANDING UP (I think), the pictures are rather old, (sorry Ellen) Then I believe Ellen is in her teens. I think. This is really fun. But by pix taking could take a lesson from someone. I wish these pictures were clear but at least you can get a little view of us when we were younger. We were living in Roanoke Virginia. Dad was pastor of the Williamsroad Baptist Church, then Victory Baptist Church and later the Roanoke Baptist Temple. All the churches were of the same membership, we just moved. (I think).

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Dad and Mom were daily involved in the ministry of evangelism and the local church, but they were always involved with their children. I owe a lot to my dad, and mom. There are a few stories I would like to tell about Ellen as a child. She was really loved by her ten year older brother. Even if Don and I had her playing the piano, when she couldn't yet sit up, and she fell off the bench. But she has done okay.

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IN 1947 WE WERE LIVING IN LYNCHBURG VIRGINIA. THE PHOTO IS A POSTCARD THAT WENT OUT TO RADIO LISTENERS FROM ALL OVER THE WORLD.

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Dad and Mom had been on the radio for several years before. I have a Newsletter from 1944 in which mom was the Editor. I will try to take a pix. One of these days I hope to get a scanner.

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I under stand I was popular with the listeners. I have heard from several people that they had a copy of this postcard. Mom was twenty-four years old I believe, and dad was fourty-two I believe.

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Dad was pastor of the Ward Street Baptist Church in Lynchburg, and later the Park Ave Baptist Church in Lynchburg. Mom played the piano, and was a wonderful soloist, I understand. I do know when I got older I thought she was very good.

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Everette T. Whisnant, and Pauline Greene Whisnant and Charles E. Whisnant

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ERIC AND LESLIE AND ZIPPY WHISNANT

HOW DO YOU SAY YOU BECOME A CHRISTIAN?
WHAT’S RIGHT? WHO’S RIGHT?
CONTROVERSY, HAVE YOU NOTICED, IS PREVALENT, COMMONPLACE

Controversy, fair and balanced points of view?
It’s only on FOX News, the Church doesn’t have it.

I have heard "hate speech" from preachers on the subject of salvation, as well as "hate speech" from preachers on the KJV only folks. I use the term "hate speech" because they have such harsh words for those who hold the position that is not theirs.

There has been no subject that has received such reaction from people as the subject of "HOW DOES A PERSON BECOME A CHRISTIAN?"

• One dear saint while I pastored Madison Baptist said, "Pastor, please! I don’t need another heart attack from the discussion of election.". There is no subject that is more rejected from both points of view as to how a person can become a believer in Jesus Christ.


• While pastor/teacher at FBC in Altoona, KS. The topic of election was always the hardest for people to understand.


• When I taught the discipleship class at Bigelow Church for a month, the topic became a very hot issue at the time. And after that class, I spent the next three years on the study of the Doctrine of Grace.
  

What is your point of view on how you become a Christian? What I am saying is, how do you say you became a Christian?

This is the way I became a Christian! This is how I remember how I became a Christian... How has your understanding of becoming a Christian changed since you have been saved? What I understood at seven years old is different now, as to what happened when I was saved..

"Why am I what I am as a Christian? There is only one answer, I have been "highly favored" by the grace of God. I give Him all the glory. "He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord (I Corinthians 1:31). Is this your view of salvation? Are you giving the entire glory to God, or are you reserving a little for yourself? Are you saying that it is your belief that saved you? If so you are detracting from the glory of God. The glory is entirely His - "to the praise of the glory of His grace in which he has highly favored us in the beloved."
- Martin Lloyd Jones (from An Exposition of Ephesians)

Justification is by grace alone through faith alone because of Christ alone. This is the article by which the church stands or falls. There is no gospel except that Christ’s substitution in our place whereby God attributed to Him our sin and credited to us His righteousness. Because He endured our judgment, we now walk in His grace as those who are forever pardoned, accepted and adopted as God’s children. There is no basis for our acceptance before God except in Christ’s saving work, not in our flag-waving, church devotion or moral decency. The gospel declares what God has done for us in Christ. It is not about what we can do to reach Him. We reaffirm that justification is by grace alone through faith alone because of Christ alone. In justification Christ’s righteousness is assigned to us as the only possible satisfaction of God’s perfect justice. We deny that justification rests on any merit to be found in us, or upon the grounds of an infusion of Christ’s righteousness in us, or that an institution claiming to be a church that denies or condemns sola fide can be recognized as a legitimate church.
- - - Adopted from the Bible, but in part from the Cambridge Declaration

• One said the other day, "I hate that text which says, "Jacob I loved, but Esau have I hated." "Why" said a friend; "what is the difficulty to your mind?" The reply was, "I cannot see why God should hate Esau." "No," said our friend. "I am not at all surprised that God hated Esau, but I am greatly amazed that God loved Jacob."
  
  transmute \trans-MYOOT; tranz-\, transitive verb:
  1. To change from one nature, form, substance, or state into another; to transform.2. To undergo transmutation.

The Origin Of The Saying "Don’t Drink the Kool-Aid"

In November of 1978, the world was shocked by the suicide deaths of 913 members of the People's Temple cult. Jim Jones, the leader of the group, convinced his followers to move to Jonestown, Guyana, a remote community that Jones carved out of the South American jungle and named after himself. Jones constantly feared losing control of his followers. His paranoia was the main reason he moved the cult to Guyana.

The mass suicide occurred after U.S. Rep. Leo Ryan of California and a team of reporters visited the compound to investigate reports of abuse. After some members tried to leave with the congressman’s group, Jim Jones had Ryan and his entourage ambushed at the nearby airstrip. He then ordered his flock to commit suicide by drinking grape-flavored Kool-Aid laced with potassium cyanide.

The mass suicide wasn’t a spur-of-the-moment decision. During the weeks that preceded the dreadful event, Jones had conducted a series of suicide drills, according to survivors. An alarm call would sound and every person in the camp would line up to receive a fatal dosage. These exercises in insanity proved that all of the adults at the compound knew what would be the result of their actions.

The People’s Temple did not start off as your average mind-controlling cult. It initially gained much respect as an interracial mission for the sick, homeless and jobless. Jim Jones did not manifest his darker side until near the end.

One lasting legacy of the Jonestown tragedy is the saying, "Don’t drink the Kool-Aid." This has come to mean, "Don’t trust any group you find to be a little on the kooky side."

Of course, you would have to know of Kool-Aid’s dubious connection to Jim Jones to understand the proverb.

Maybe this is why I have come to like the seach engine to "Google" a new term's meaning, I want to research the person, book or idea. And I also have come to like Wikipedia, that gives data on just about anything.

You can be sure that there is an open or a hidden agenda that is being set forth in most movements. Don't drink the kool-aid until you have checked the ingredients.

And this post is a set up for what I want to address as a Don't Drink the Kool-Aid.

ROANOKE BAPTIST TEMPLE

YOUTH DIRECTOR OF
ROANOKE BAPTIST TEMPLE, ROANOKE, VIRGINIA
December 1963 - February 1966

When I was the Youth Director of Roanoke Baptist Temple from Dec 1963 thru February 1966 in Roanoke, Virginia, our youth group had a wonderful time. Melvin Gray, my assistant, who was saved in our church during a revival meeting, loved helping. Melvin provided transportation for us. He worked at the Bus Station and was able to get us this bus for a youth trip.

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While I was still in Jefferson High School dad asked me to be the teacher of the Youth Class. Donnie Taylor the teacher of the class left for the War in 1963. It was a wonderful experience as teacher of this class. For twenty-seven months, until my father died, we really had some wonderful times. While I played football at Jefferson and played basketball and other sports and club activities at the school, I was very involved with the ministry at the church. We were having activities each night with the youth during the school week, and we had a lot of activities during the summer. And I was dating Sandra Richardson for three years.

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Those twenty months we had a membership of thirty boys and forty girls. We established a good ministry with the youth. We began the "Team Captains" concept, which was the program we used in each church that we were to go in the future. Of course, after forty five years I cannot remember them all, but some I remember most: Those I have already mentioned above, and others: Jean Cundiff, Linda and Joyce Clay, Margie Pugh (her parents were very active in our church) Bonnie Greer, Sue Crigger, Brenda Williams, Barbara Eakin, Sue Becker, Beverly Dodson, Gary Correll, David Crager. Wayne and Jimmy Sanders who were our best friends. I have a list of over eighty, but these are the ones I really remember the best. I would really love to have a reunion of members of RBT.

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Dad always had a local radio program and during this time we were the director of a Youth Program each Sunday Afternoon live on the radio. We had a thirty minute program of music and I would preach. Donald and I would also go to preach in other churches for a Youth Rally.
Youth Camp was part of our ministry at RBT. Each year our youth group would travel to North Caroline to camp. Those were some very good days. I only wish I had pictures of those days.


Photo One: Charles Whisnant baseball at youth camp.
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Photo Two Front Row
Ones I can remember: Ellen Whisnant, Elaine Clay, Denny Campbell, Henry Clay, Melvin Gray

Sandra Richardson, Algie Myers, Donald Whisnant, Robert Shaver
Photo Three: Algie Myers at Youth Camp
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Photo Five: Robert Shavor, Myself, and Donald, Sue Crigger, Barbara Campbell, the Bus Driver, and Melvin Gray.

TIGER BIRDIES 18 TO RUN STREAK TO 5 ON PGA

ARNOLD PALMER INVITATIONAL PRESENTED BY MASTER CARD
PRESEENTED BY MASTER CARD

MARCH 16, 2008

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Tiger Woods holed a remarkable 24-yard putt at the 18th to win the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill as he continued his six-month winning streak.

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TENT EVANGELISM AND CHURCH PLANTING

THE TENT MINISTRY OF EVERETTE T. WHISNANT AS I REMEMBER
PREACHING UNDER THE TENT EACH NIGHT FOR A MONTH(S)
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Evangelism: I don’t know the history of Tent Evangelism.
I need to Google that:(which I did)
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I only wish Dad’s experiences in the tent ministry had been recorded or written down. Dad was in Tent Evangelism way before I was born. My brother Don and I grew up with Dad preaching and Mom playing the piano. My understanding of what Dad was doing, was as a youth, who really had little understanding of the ministry. What I remember most was helping get the shavings from the local lumber yard. Dad would get a truck and drive to a lumber yard where they would have shavings from the lumber. I remember getting into the bin with the shavings or chips of wood and shoving them into the truck. We did this for hours and then went to the tent site and shoved them onto the ground. When I was younger Dad would store the canvas tent at our house. Once I recall the tent was stretched out flat over the back yard. I would crawl under the canvas from one end to the other end. My hair was totally green by the time I got out from under the canvas.
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You have heard the old phrase "THE OLD SAWDUST TRAIL" TENT MEETINGS. I recall the days of the sawdust tent meetings in the late ‘50s and early ‘60s, when I was a boy. We would witness times when hundreds of people would come ...
You can see in this old sixty-year-old photograph the number of poles needed to hold up this old canvas tent. In the aerial photograph you can see how the center pole steel spikes protrude through the bale rings in the canvas. Tents were both fascinating and effective. I can recall trying as a young boy, to hammer a stake down into the ground. And then trying to help put the rope that would hold up the tent up. I am sure I was more trouble than help. I recall also putting chairs up inside the tent. I recall even sleeping with friends inside the Tent.
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One of the best experiences I can remember was when Dad and Mom went to Blackstone, Virginia, and Amelia County, Virginia at the Fairgrounds. This was in the early sixties. Dad was pastor in Roanoke, Virginia, and he knew some folks in Amelia County. They asked him to come to the county and preach. So during the week all of us went, and we stayed, as I remember, in a building that was part of a Virginia Mansion. I understand we could have stayed in the Mansion but Dad didn’t want to. Dad would preach all week, then go back to Roanoke on Sunday, and then back to preach the next several weeks in Amelia County. Dad’s tent meetings were never less than a month. Usually at the end of the meetings, there was always a group of people that would want to start a church in the area, and Dad would help them organize a church.
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To be continued


However, tent technology has changed.. Most larger, modern tents no longer use only poles and bale rings nor are they constructed of canvas. Larger tents today use "masts" in place of center poles and the ""fabric"" is made of hi-tech vinyl as opposed to canvas. Modern tents are often referred to as "tensile structures".
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Proof Read by Charity Whisnant

NOT EVERY CHRISTIAN IS ALWAYS HAPPY. NOT EVERY MOUSE HAS SUCH A DAY?

• "Not every Christian is always happy. Perhaps the King of Saints gave you a season of great joy at first because you were a raw recruit and he would not put you into the roughest part of the battle when you had first enlisted. You were a tender plant, and he nursed you in the hot-house till you could stand severe weather. You were a young child, and therefore he wrapped you in furs and clothed you in the softest mantle. But now you have become strong and the case is different. Capuan holidays do not suit Roman soldiers; and they would not agree with Christians. We need clouds and darkness to exercise our faith, to cut off self dependence, and make us put more faith in Christ, and less in evidence, less in experience, less in frames and feelings. The best of God's children I repeat it again for the comfort of those who are suffering depression of spirits have their nights."

-Charles Spurgeon