Why Amateur Radio: A Lesson For Believers

During this morning's 10 AM service, towards the end of the worship, I wasn't thinking about ham radio, but a thought about ham radio popped into my mind.  Then the Holy Spirit opened my eyes to the spiritual significance of that thought.

This afternoon, I wrote a short piece for a ham radio bulletin that I produce, and then included it in a post on my general blog, Random Contact.  The piece is entitled "Why Amateur Radio?"  Here is that post:

This is an excerpt from the TRO Signal Bulletin for 02 SEP 12:

As ham radio leaders are fond of reminding us, amateur radio is a hobby.  Most people that become hams do so because they enjoy doing things with radios.  Ham radio offers many opportunities to have fun, as well as chances for education, personal development, and fellowship.  But why should the government continue to allow ham radio to exist?

Much of what we do can be, and is, done by professional technicians and engineers.  If anyone wants to work with radios, they can go to school to get the training or education they need.  

Most of the professionals design, build, and maintain the communications systems used by the military, law enforcement, fire service, emergency medical, emergency management and other government agencies, as well as the broadcast industries that keep the general public informed.  Don't forget those that work to keep both the landline and cellular phone systems going. These systems do work most of the time, and nowdays, we see more and more interoperability incorporated into these systems.  In light of how well these system perform most of the time, someone might question the need for amateur radio.

But what often happens to these systems in major emergencies and disasters?  They fail, due to damage to the equipment, loss of power, or they become overloaded by the amount of traffic they have to handle immediately.

When this happens, the professionals concentrate their efforts on restoring and repairing these systems.  But vital messages still need to be passed.  The professionals don't have the time to handle this traffic.  What is obviously needed is a backup system already in place or easily deployable.  Amateur radio is that system.  That's why, "When All Else Fails...."

Craig Fugate, FEMA Administrator, recognized this at a recent conference, where he said, "But when you need Amateur Radio, you really need them."

For more about this conference and Fugate's remarks, go to this website:

http://nyc-arecs.org/last_line.html

The TRO Signal Bulletin is a text-only publication that I produce on behalf of the Tulsa Repeater Organization, and I send it out over the club's WA5LVT Yahoogroup.  It focuses on ham radio events and activities in the Tulsa, Oklahoma area.  To receive the Bulletin, you can sign up at the WA5LVT Yahoogroup here: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/WA5LVT/

"When All Else Fails...." refers to a catchphrase developed by the ARRL (American Radio Relay League), "When all else fails, Amateur Radio."  This emphasizes the fact that government and non-government responding agencies often have to rely on ham radio when normal communication systems go down during earthquakes, hurricanes, tornadoes, etc.  Hams are able to do this because they take the time to gain knowledge of radio systems, they have their own equipment, they maintain their own equipment, and they develop and maintain their communications skills.

But what is the spiritual significance of this?

Think of the fivefold ministries as the equivalent of the professionals spoken of in this article.  That's how religion often depicts them anyway.

Now equate natural and man-made disasters with spiritual warfare and/or opportunities for ministry, especially attacks on the whole Body of Christ.  During these times, the "professionals" might not be available to help people with their needs.  Someone needs to be able to fill that gap!  Who will that be?

As hams step in with their own equipment, their own technical knowledge, and their own skills to fill a very important need in a critical situation when the professionals are not available, so must believers take the time to pursue their own relationships with the Father, to develop their own faith and character, so that when the fivefold ministries aren't available, they will be able to meet the needs presented to them!  This applies whether the needs are the believer's own needs, or the needs of others.

Fasting Study Available For Download

Back in 2008, I wanted to do a comprehensive study of what the Word says about fasting.  The result was a document with as many fasting scriptures as I could find, plus my comments.  I believe I offered it to anyone who wanted it, but only through e-mail.  Now, I have uploaded it to Mediafire to make it more accessible.

http://www.mediafire.com/view/?jn367e3ywwm9ekf

Yoking Confession and Assimilation

Assimilation and confession of the Word are two of the major components of the Prayer Center message.  We often treat them as separate activities, so we spend time assimilating, then do our confessing later.  Why not yoke the two together?  

What prompted this thought is that Gary Carpenter has been encouraging people to use the "In Him" confessions that he has prepared.  These confessions are based on scriptures that state truths about our identity in Jesus Christ, and so they have phrases such as 'in Him," "in Whom," "by Whom, " etc.  By confessing these truths, we build within ourselves an image of our new nature that we gain when we are born again.

However, the document Gary produced is 26 pages long.  That is too much for anyone to start confessing the whole document every time, so he recommends doing it in stages.  When Gary recommended this, I was reading through Philippians. I knew most of the "In Him" confessions come from Paul's letters, so, I thought "Why not connect the confessions to the book I'm assimilating at the time?"

Well, I didn't complete the Philippians confessions before moving on to the book of Colossians.  Now for the rest of this month whenever I finish reading Colossians, I immediately read, out loud, my Colossians confessions.

I'm still new at this - marrying confession to assimilation - so I don't know yet what the effects will be.  The only negatives I can see is possible is that my soul gets overloaded and I go on a full-tilt goon binge, or I melt down in a Pinatubo-scale hissy conniption fit.  A more likely scenario is  that my transformation is accelerated. Maybe this will be something that helps the fast go faster.

If you wish to do this book-based confessing , I suggest you create your own confessions.  To help you get started, I will give you the first paragraph of my Colossians confessions:

I have heard the word of truth, the gospel which has come to me, and it is constantly bearing fruit and increasing, as I have heard and understood the grace of God in truth. I am filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so that I will walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; strengthened with all power, according to His glorious might, for the attaining of all steadfastness and patience; joyously giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified me to share in the inheritance of the saints in Light, for He rescued me from the domain of darkness, and transferred me to the kingdom of His beloved Son, in whom I have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

If you want to use Gary's "In Him' confessions, or if you want the scriptures he created them from, you can find links to them here:

http://www.garycarpenter.org/printedmaterials.html

Foundation Chain of Video Messages Complete

After two years, I have finally managed to record and upload a chain of three foundational teaching messages.  All 3 are full length videos, and audio of all 3 messages should soon be available at Iktusnetmedia.com under the Other Speakers section.

The first message is The Two Biggest Dangers of Religion:

The second message is Jesus Plus Nothing:

The third and final message is Jesus And Pentecost:

In this 3rd message, I refer to a study outline.  You can access the this document here:


http://www.mediafire.com/view/?mj6bvz6hvwa1w87


Part of the information is included in a diagram that shows the positional relationship between different aspects of this truth.  The diagram is available here:

http://www.mediafire.com/view/?px61fgx4kq4c5yf

Enjoy!

Paul's Associates

You will probably recognize some of these names, but as you read this list, you might realize that they all had something in common.

Stephen, Ananias, Barnabas, John Mark, Simeon Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen, Peter, James, Judas Barsabas, Silas, Timothy, Luke, Lydia, Phillipian jailer, Jason, Dionysius the Aeropagite, Damaris, Aquila & Priscilla, Titius Justus, Crispus, Apollos, Erastus, Sopater of Berea, Aristarchus, Secundus, Gaius, Tychicus, Trophimus, Phillip the evangelist, Agabus, Mnason of Cyprus, Phoebe, Epaenetus, Mary of Rome, Andronicus, Junias, Ampliatus, Urbanus, Stachys, Apelles, household of Aristobulus, Herodian, household of Narcissus, Tryphaena, Tryphosa, Persis, Rufus, Asyncritus, Phlegon, Hermes, Patrobas, Hermas, Philologus, Julia, Nereus, Olympas, Sosipater, Tertius, Quartus, Sosthenes, Stephanas, Fortunatus, Achaicus. Epaphroditus, Euodia, Syntyche, Clement, Epaphras, Onesimus, Aristarchus, Jesus Justus, Demas, Nympha, Silvanus, Crescens, Titus, Carpus, Onesiphorus, Eubulus, Pudens, Linus, Claudia, Zenas the lawyer, and Philemon.

All these people knew the Apostle Paul.  Some were his companions as he traveled and ministered.  Some were co-workers that had their own ministries, but they kept a close association with Paul.  Some were just helpers that might have had only one opportunity to assist Paul by letting him stay in their homes for a few days, or giving him a meal.  Stephen's intercession at his martyrdom brought Paul into the Kingdom.  Ananias interceded for Paul to boost him into ministry.  Barnabas stood up for, and beside, Paul when the Church wasn't ready to accept his conversion.

Paul is often looked up to as an example of ministry because he had such an impact and took the Good News into unreached territory.  But we see many today that seek to exalt themselves through their 'ministry."  Paul was not a lone wolf.  Throughout his ministry, he connected to other people.  He didn't do it all alone.

i remember one TV preacher that used to host a program where he would interview and converse with other preachers.  Then, he changed his program.  No more guests.  No more promoting other ministries.  I immediately saw this as a warning sign.  Sure enough, one of the major TV networks exposed him as a fake and a phony out to get money from his supporters.

Paul had no problem associating with, and working with others.  He knew he couldn't do it all alone.  He recognized that he needed other people.  He did this easily, because his ministry was about people.

Where are the Pauls of today?

Known Confessions Revisited.

In a couple of previous posts, I introduced and discussed a concept I called "known confessions."

Known Confessions - Getting Started Confessing The Word

Known Confessions - Why?

In this entry, I am not going to post the contents of my Known Confessions, but I am going to describe the content, as an additional guide to those needing some direction for composing their own known confessions.

I started with a statement of God's unconditional love, and my inability to change it.

I followed with statements of God's truthfulness.

Then I began what I call "basic Jesus confessions" -- "Jesus is Lord.... Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life...."

Then I personalized the Jesus confessions - "Jesus is my Lord.... Jesus is my Way to the Father...."

Then I confess the new birth and eternal life, and that I walk as a child of the Light.

Next, I go into a couple of "Holy Spirit confessions" - "The Holy Spirit guides me into all truth...."  This includes what happens when I pray in tongues.

Then I go into "New creation confessions," including transformation by the renewing of my mind, and the differences between my new nature and the nature of the world.

Next comes a basic healing confession.

I finish with a confession of God's provision for all my needs.

I still offer a copy of my own Known Confessions.  If anyone wants it, drop me an email at dougdlee@cox.net

BIRTHDAYS

I recently had a birthday. I won't say how old I am or what happened that day, but the next morning I got to thinking about birthdays in general. Here's what I came up with:

Meaning & Origin

In the early days of Christianity, the birth of Christ wasn't celebrated because it was considered a pagan practice to mark the date of a person's birth. So birthday celebrations most likely had a pagan origin, and probably were based on astrology. Most pagan religions have their own astrological system, and astrological predictions are based on the date of a person's birth.

In modern times, astrology is not a factor in most celebrations. But, as it was in ancient times, the focus is on the individual. The individual receives greetings that could come in a variety of ways, from an email, to a post on a social networking site, to an old-fashioned paper and ink card. The individual could also receive gifts, and/or get treated to a party, lunch or supper. Balloons and special desserts could also be involved, all to honor or to please the celebrated individual.

For the celebrated individual, their focus is often on self. As Christians, we are called to die to self, so the typical birthday focus on self seems to go counter to Christianity. On the other hand, sending a greeting encouraging or blessing someone is a very Christian thing to do. How do we resolve this? I believe the best way is for each Christian to put the focus on the Lord, by reflecting on what He has done in the past year in their own lives.

Oh, if you want Scripture on this, look up Col. 1: 18 and Rom. 14: 5 – 9.

Aging & Attitude

Rush Limbaugh has often made the statement that he looks forward to getting older. That is so contrary to way most of us think. We see old age as a time when we become weak, our senses start to fail us, our memory goes, and so does our appearance. But Rush's attitude might be the most youthful attitude of all.

Why? Think about young kids. What do they all want? They want to be bigger. They want to be able to do things they see grown ups do. Aren't most toys scaled down replicas of adult tools? Aren't most games based on grown up activities? Girls play house and have tea parties. Boys love trucks and trains.

Also, kids want to feel important. Isn't it typical for girls to ask Mommy if they can help with the cooking, or for boys to ask Daddy to help with household repairs? Children see importance in adults' activities, and they want to take part in them.

As Christians, we are to be conformed to the image of Jesus. Jesus Himself was and is the express image of the Father, so our goal is to become more like our Father everyday. If we see aging as a process of maturity and not as a process of loss, then we should also look forward to getting older. Getting older is not the same as getting old!

Oh, if you want Scripture for this too, see Eph. 5: 1.

I'll leave you with this thought: Statistics show that people who have the most birthdays live the longest.