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The Gift of a Savior

The Gift of a Savior

By: Dr. Jeff Fuller

            Rockford, Goodwater, and Weogulka are getting ready for Christmas Parades, as other prepare floats and clean up the antique cars.  Decorations are being put up in homes and businesses around the county.  The air is filled with Christmas cheer.

            Children are excitedly waiting for the big day when the Big Man will bring surprises and goodies in the cold night, placing presents quietly under the trees found in house after house.  Not only the children, but the parents are anticipating the day when they too will tear unto pretty wrapping paper to find all sorts of special gifts from children and loved ones.

            ‘Tis the season.  We have celebrated Black Friday and Cyber Monday, looking high and low for the right gift at the right price for the right person.  Others have cased in the Christmas Account at the local bank and been for a shopping spree, while still others have used Lay-a-way Plans at Wal-Mart and K-Mart to pay for that special something or other that someone can not live without.

            Then there are the parties.  Oh my, the parties.  I believe I put on more weight at Christmas than at any other time of the year.  While I enjoy each one, the host is planning the menu, stocking on up on the necessary ingredients, and working themselves into a nervous breakdown as they pull at their hair and have sleepless nights contemplating the various things needing to be accomplished.

            All of this aforementioned commercialism is good for the economy, but there is so much more to this Christmas reveling than just presents, Santa Clause and feasting on food.  Yes, we enjoy the gifts and the food, the fellowship and time with friends and family, but there is more. 

            Yes, there is more, more than we admit sometimes.  Christmas is the time we celebrate and remember the birth of the Child in a manger.  While the shepherds were out on the hillside the angels came to tell them the Good News in Bethlehem’s stable:

“Lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men. And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us.” (Luke 2:9-15 KJV)

            The angels announced the marvelous birth of Jesus.  Mary and Joseph has found shelter in a stable, making a manger a bassinet, and there the Savior was when the shepherds came to see what the angels had told them.

“She brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.” (Luke 2:7 KJV)

            Amazingly, God’s love was shed for us, even when we were yet in rebellion to Him and His laws.  In the book of Romans, Paul writes these sobering words, “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8 KJV)  Take a minute and focus on the first part of that one verse, where we are told that God showed His love for us; a love that was undeserved.

            God’s love is seen in the manger in Bethlehem, because at the appointed time God came to us and for us in the form of a baby.  See how John writes about this wonderful birth:

“He came unto his own, and his own received him not. But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.” (John 1:11-14 KJV)

            Later Jesus would say of this wonderful, beautiful gift:

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.” (John 3:16-18 KJV)

            What a wonderful, beautiful present God gave to us; He gave Himself.  The first Christmas present was God in the form of man, coming to earth, to give Himself as the sacrifice required under Old Testament law.  He did so for you and me.

            This Christmas season, as you rush and hurry along the way from one house to the next, from one Super Sale to another, be mindful of the fact that we are celebrating Christ, born in a manger.  We are thankful for the gift of life found in that manger. 

            I am; are you?

            (Dr. Jeff Fuller is pastor of the Rockford Baptist Church in Rockford, Alabama.  You may reach him through the church office at 256-377-4900 or by email at fuller0717@gmail.com.)

CONSERVATISM IS CALLING

Emergency 911

This Investigative Report appeared in the August Edition of the Coosa Journal (www.coosacountyso.org)

Quick Facts 

Who Designed and Installed The First US 911 System?

           

· B.W. (Bob) Gallagher - President of the Alabama Telephone Company a subsidiary of Continental Telephone. Initiated and directed the overall 911 effort.

· Robert (Bob) Fitzgerald - Inside State Plant Manager. Designed and engineered the needed circuitry for the first U.S. 911 system.

· Jimmy White - Technician on 911 installation team.

· Glenn Johnston - Technician on 911installation team.

· Al Bush - Technician on 911 installation team.

· Pete Gosa - Technician on 911 installation team.

The ability to dial a single number to report emergencies was first used in Great Britain, in 1937. The British could dial 999 to call for police, medical or fire departments, from anywhere in the country. In 1958, the American Congress first investigated a universal emergency number for the United States and finally passed the legal mandate in 1967. The very first American 911 call was placed on February 16, 1968 in Haleyville, Alabama made by Alabama Speaker of the House, Rankin Fite and answered by Congressman Tom Bevill.

The new emergency number had to be three numbers that were not in use in the United States or Canada as the first three numbers of any phone number or area code, and the numbers had to be easy to use. The Federal Trade Commission along with AT&T (which held a monopoly on phone services at that time) originally announced the plans to build the first 911 system in Huntington, Indiana. Bob Gallagher, President of the Alabama Telephone, was annoyed that the independent phone industry had not been consulted. Gallagher decided to beat AT&T to the punch line and have the first 911 emergency service built in Haleyville, Alabama.

B.W. (Bob) Gallagher consulted with Bob Fitzgerald, his state inside-plant manager. Fitzgerald let Gallagher know that he could do it. Gallagher moved quickly getting approvals from Continental Telephone and the Alabama Public Service commissioner, and releasing a press release on February 9 announcing that the Alabama Telephone Company would be making history.

Fitzgerald examined all twenty-seven Alabama exchanges choosing the Haleyville location, and then engineered the new circuitry and made the modifications needed for the existing equipment. Fitzgerald and his team worked around the clock to install the first 911 emergency system in under one week. The team worked their regular day jobs in Fayette, traveling each night to Haleyville to do the 911 work during off-peak hours. The work was completed on February 16, 1968, at exactly 2 p.m. celebrated with a team cheer of "Bingo!"

            In the earliest days of telephone technology, prior to the development of the rotary dial telephone, all telephone calls were operator-assisted. To place a call, the caller was required to pick up the telephone receiver and wait for the telephone operator to answer with "Number please?" They would then ask to be connected to the number they wished to call, and the operator would make the required connection manually, by means of a switchboard. In an emergency, the caller might simply say "Get me the police", "I want to report a fire", or "I need an ambulance/doctor". It was usually not necessary to ask for any of these services by number, even in large cities. Indeed, until the ability to dial a phone number came into widespread use in the 1950s (it had existed in limited form since the 1920s), telephone users could not place calls without operator assistance. During the period when an operator was always involved in placing a phone call, the operator instantly knew the calling party's number, even if the caller could not stay on the line, by simply looking at the number above the line jack of the calling party. In smaller centers, telephone operators frequently went the extra mile by making sure they knew the locations of local doctors, vets, law enforcement personnel, and even private citizens who were willing or able to help in an emergency. Frequently, the operator would activate the town's fire alarm, and acted as an informational clearinghouse when an emergency such as a fire occurred. When North American cities and towns began to convert to rotary dial or "automatic" telephone service, many people were concerned about the loss of the personalized service that had been provided by local operators. This problem was partially solved by telling people to dial "0" for the local assistance operator, if they did not know the Fire or Police Department's full number.

            In many cases, the local emergency services would attempt to obtain telephone numbers that were easy for the public to remember. Many fire departments, for example, would attempt to obtain an emergency telephone line with a number ending in "3-4-7-3", which spelled the word "Fire" on the corresponding letters of the rotary telephone dial. In some areas (especially during the time when local numbers could be reached by dialing only the last five digits), picking up the phone, dialing one's own local exchange prefix then "F-I-R-E" would ring the nearest fire station.

            Some cities made early attempts at a centralized emergency number, using a conventional telephone number. In Toronto, Canada, for example, the Metropolitan Toronto Police communications bureau attempted to promote their emergency number "Empire" 1-1111, or "361-1111", for use in all emergencies (Empire was the name for the exchange "3-6"; all telephone exchanges at the time had corresponding names). The rationale was that the abbreviation of the Empire exchange in common usage, "EM", corresponded to the first two letters of the word "emergency" and that the caller only had to remember the number "1" beyond that. This was never widely accepted, in that the City's fourteen local fire departments continued to tell the public to call them directly and the service never actually included ambulances, which in those days were considered a private transportation service. This was further complicated by the fact that the numbers changed by municipality, and the emergency number and emergency services on one side of a street might be completely different from the other side if the street was a municipal boundary. When a caller was uncertain of his or her exact location, emergency responses could be delayed, and so, for most people, it was simply easier to rely upon the telephone operator to make the connections. The efforts of telephone companies to publicize "Dial '0' for Emergencies" were ultimately abandoned in the face of company staffing and liability concerns, but not before generations of school children were taught to "dial 0 in case of emergency", just as they are currently taught to dial 9-1-1. This situation of unclear emergency telephone numbers would continue, in most places in North America, into the early 1980s. In some locales, the problem persists to this day.

The first known experiment with a national emergency telephone number occurred in the United Kingdom in 1937, using the number 999. The first city in North America to use a central emergency number (in 1959) was the Canadian city of Winnipeg, Manitoba, which instituted the change at the urging of Stephen Juba, mayor of Winnipeg at the time. Winnipeg initially used 999 as the emergency number, but switched numbers when 9-1-1 was proposed by the United States. In the United States, the push for the development of a nationwide American emergency telephone number came in 1957 when the National Association of Fire Chiefs recommended that a single number be used for reporting fires. In 1967, the President's Commission on Law Enforcement and Administration of Justice recommended the creation of a single number that could be used nationwide for reporting emergencies. The burden then fell on the Federal Communications Commission, which then met with AT&T in November, 1967 in order to come up with a solution.

            In 1968, a solution was agreed upon. AT&T chose to implement the concept, but with its unique emergency number, 9-1-1, which was brief, easy to remember, dialed easily, and worked well with the phone systems in place at the time. How the number 9-1-1 itself was decided upon is not well known and is subject to much speculation by the general public. However, many assert that the number 9-1-1 was chosen to be similar to the numbers 2-1-1 (long distance), 4-1-1 ("information" or directory assistance), and 6-1-1 (repair service), which had already been in use by AT&T since the 1920s.

            Another consideration is that most phones of the time used the pulse dialing system, which could be misdirected if the dial did not spin freely, either from sticky mechanism or a user keeping the finger in the dial. Using 9-1-1 forced the user to remove the dialing finger after the first number (whether using pulse or DTMF dialing) and go to the opposite end of the dial or keypad, thus reducing both accidental failure to dial the number and accidental dialing of the emergency number. Accidental dialing of 9-1-1 has become an increasing problem, as an increasing number of cellular phones are carried in pockets, purses or other places where objects may rest against the keys and repeatedly press them.

            Not all such N11 numbers are common throughout the telephone systems of North America. Some of the designated services provided by these numbers are regional, and there are significant differences in number allocation between Canada and the United States; only 4-1-1 and 9-1-1 are universally used. In addition, because it was important to ensure that the emergency number was not dialed accidentally, 9-1-1 made sense because the numbers "9" and "1" were on opposite ends of a phone's rotary dial. Furthermore, the North American Numbering Plan in use at the time established rules for which numbers could be used for area codes and exchanges. At the time, the middle digit of an area code had to be either a 0 or 1, and the first two digits of an exchange could not be a 1. At the telephone switching station, the second dialed digit was used to determine if the number was long distance or local. If the number had a 0 or 1 as the second digit, it was long distance, if it had any other digit, it was a local call. Thus, since the number 9-1-1 was detected by the switching equipment as a special number, it could be routed appropriately. Also, since 9-1-1 was a unique number, never having been used as an area code or service code (although at one point GTE used test numbers such as 11911), it could fit into the existent phone system easily. AT&T announced the selection of 9-1-1 as their choice of the three-digit emergency number at a press conference in the Washington (DC) office of Indiana Rep. J. Edward Roush, who had championed Congressional support of a single emergency number.

            Soon after, in Alabama, Bob Gallagher, then-president of the independent Alabama Telephone Company (ATC), read an article in The Wall Street Journal from January 15, 1968, which reported the AT&T 9-1-1 announcement. Gallagher's competitive spirit motivated him to beat AT&T to the punch by being the first to implement the 9-1-1 service. In need of a suitable spot within his company's territory to implement 9-1-1, he contacted Robert Fitzgerald, who was Inside State Plant Manager for ATC. Fitzgerald recommended Haleyville, Alabama as the prime site. Gallagher later issued a press release announcing that 9-1-1 service would begin in Haleyville on February 16, 1968. Fitzgerald designed the circuitry, and with the assistance of technicians Jimmy White, Glenn Johnston, Al Bush and Pete Gosa, they quickly completed the central office work and installation. Just 35 days after AT&T's announcement, on February 16, 1968, the first-ever 9-1-1 call was placed by Alabama Speaker of the House Rankin Fite, from Haleyville City Hall, to U.S. Rep. Tom Bevill, at the city's police station. Bevill reportedly answered the phone with "Hello". At the City Hall with Fite was Haleyville mayor James Whitt; at the police station with Bevill were Gallagher and Alabama Public Service Commission director Eugene "Bull" Connor. Fitzgerald was at the ATC central office serving Haleyville, and actually observed the call pass through the switching gear as the mechanical equipment clunked out "9-1-1". The phone used to answer the first 9-1-1 call, a bright red model, is now in a museum in Haleyville, while a duplicate phone is still in use at the police station.

Public Safety Answering Point

In all North American jurisdictions, special privacy legislation permits emergency operators to obtain a 9-1-1 caller's telephone number and location information. This information is gathered by mapping the calling phone number to an address in a database. This database function is known as Automatic Location Identification (ALI). The database is generally maintained by the local telephone company, under a contract with the PSAP. Each telephone company has its own standards for the formatting of the database. Most ALI databases have a companion database known as the MSAG, Master Street Address Guide. The MSAG describes address elements including the exact spellings of street names, and street number ranges.

            Each telephone company has at least two redundant telephone trunk lines connecting each host office telephone switch to each PSAP. These trunks are either directly connected to the PSAPs, or are connected to a telephone company central switch that intelligently distributes calls to the PSAPs. These special switches are often known as 9-1-1 Selective Routers. The use of 9-1-1 Selective Routers is becoming increasingly more common, as it simplifies the interconnection between newer office switches and the many older PSAP systems.

            The effectiveness of this technology may sometimes be affected by the type of telephone infrastructure that the call is routed through. The PSAP may receive calls from the telephone company on older analog trunks, which are similar to regular telephone lines but are formatted to pass the calling party number. The PSAP may also receive calls on older-style digital trunks, which must be specially formatted to pass Automatic Number Identification (ANI) information only. Some upgraded PSAPs can receive calls in which the calling party number is already present. The location of the call is drawn from a computer routine which supports telephone company service billing, called the Charge Number Parameter. With some technologies, the PSAP trunking does not pass address information along with the call. Instead, only the calling party number is passed, and the PSAP must use the calling party number to look up the address in the ALI database. The ALI database is secured and separate from the public phone network, by design. Sometimes, on calls using land lines, the originating telephone number may not be passed to the PSAP at all, generally because the number is not in the ALI database. When this happens, the call receiver must confirm the location of the incoming call, and may have to redirect the call to another, more appropriate PSAP. ALI Failure occurs when the phone number is not passed or the phone number passed is not in the ALI database. In most jurisdictions, when ALI database lookup failure occurs, the telephone company has a legal mandate to fix the database entry.

Funding 9-1-1 services

            In the United States, 9-1-1 and enhanced 9-1-1 are typically funded based on state laws that impose monthly fees on local and wireless telephone customers. In Canada, a similar fee for service structure is regulated by the federal Canadian Radio Television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC). Depending on the location, counties and cities may also levy a fee, which may be in addition to, or in lieu of, the state fee. The fees are collected by local telephone and wireless carriers through monthly surcharges on customer telephone bills. The collected fees are remitted to 9-1-1 administrative bodies, which may be statewide 9-1-1 boards, state public utility commissions, state revenue departments, or local 9-1-1 agencies. These agencies disburse the funds to the Public Safety Answering Points for 9-1-1 purposes as specified in the various statutes. Telephone companies in the United States, including wireless carriers, may be entitled to apply for and receive reimbursements for costs of their compliance with federal and state laws requiring that their networks be compatible with 9-1-1 and enhanced 9-1-1.

            Fees vary widely by locality. They may range from around $.25 per month to $3.00 per month, per line. The average wireless 9-1-1 fee in the United States, based on the fees for each state as published by the National Emergency Number Association (NENA), is around $0.72. Since monthly fees do not vary based on the customer's usage of the network, the fees are considered, in tax terms, as highly "regressive", i.e., the fees disproportionately burden low-volume users of the public switched network (PSN) as compared with high-volume users. Some states cap the number of lines subject to the fee for large multi-line businesses, thereby shifting more of the fee burden to low-volume single-line residential customers or wireless customers.

For a PDF copy of the Coosa Journal go to www.coosacountyso.org. 

November Election

In the upcoming Presidential Election there are two unique and very different individuals running.  Some have said they will not vote because they do not want to choose between a Muslim and a Mormon.  Others are saying all manner of thing about the records of each candidate, while proposing that we do not have a choice.

Read this article and gain insight for voting day.

A BreakPoint Commentary

Nobody's Perfect: Purists and Politics

Yesterday you heard Chuck Colson talking about the need for Christians to vote.  Today, I want to talk about an aspect of voting that deeply troubles some Christians every time we have an election.

I'm talking about the fact that nobody's perfect.

Wait a minute, you say, everybody knows that.  That's elementary-school stuff.  Maybe so, but the truth remains that every election year, many Christians discover this simple fact all over again, and it throws them into a tizzy.  They go into the political process as if they were picking a pastor instead of an elected official.  They look for someone who is right in every category that matters to them, instead of looking for someone who will advance the common good and agrees with them as much as possible.  When they don't find the perfect person, they become disillusioned.

Politics is a rough business, but so is all of life.  There's always something that triggers this trend.  This year, some of those triggers include the Foley scandal and David Kuo's book TEMPTING FAITH, which attempted to persuade evangelicals that they were being used by those in power, even those who claimed to be on their side.  And for some, it worked.

Thus, for example, Rod Dreher writes at his blog on Beliefnet.com, "I'm not prepared to be used ... again....  I can't bring myself to vote Democratic, because I have no faith in the Democrats....  [But] I doubt very much I'm going to vote for [the Republicans] at the national level, because they have not earned my vote."  I guess we're left with the conclusion that no one is good enough to vote for.

Rod is a good man, a good journalist, and a faithful Christian.  He's a brother.  But I think he's dead wrong.  If you read more of his blog, it appears that he, and others with the same mindset, are insisting that politicians not only make the right decisions, but that they make them for the right reasons and that they make them all the time.  Take it from someone who's been in politics - that's just not going to happen.

Are we right to want our leaders to share our values?  Of course.  But will we always have the choice?  What should our response then be?  To choose as wisely as we can - or not to choose at all?

The great conservative writer Russell Kirk called for us to be guided by "the principle of prudence," or of sound judgment and consideration for long-term consequences.  It might feel good if you feel disillusioned to refuse to vote, sitting on your hands at home, registering your protest.  It might make you feel like you've taught the politicians a lesson.  But if that's the case, we've only failed to stand up and tell the politicians what we believe in.  How can we expect our government to take an interest in what we believe if we won't take the simplest action of voting to defend it?

The fact is, we always have a choice, whether we realize it or not.  We have a choice between candidates.  We have a choice to influence our government, or to stay silent.  This year, I hope that all of you all around the country will make the right choice.

Go to the polls.  Pray for wisdom and prudence.  Then vote.

Copyright (c) 2006 Prison Fellowship Ministries.  Reprinted with permission.  "BreakPoint with Chuck Colson" is a radio ministry of Prison Fellowship Ministries. Mark Earley; 11/2/06.

Praying for the Nation and Churches

For almost twenty three years my wife has used the phrase, “Checking on the chickens.”  Those first ten years of getting to know each other, spending time together in various church activities, going places together, this phrase became a well known, well meaning phrase in our lives.  If I got a call in the middle of the night, answered the phone and Tina said, “Sorry, just checking on the chickens,” I began to understand.

After thirteen years as a married couple, this is still something that is a part of our lives.  Tina will be sitting in the den, leaned back in the recliner, with the television on and suddenly jump up, grab the phone and start dialing a number, and look at me with that knowing look.  It is the look that says it all, “Just checking on the chickens.”

She will call several people, mostly family and close friends, talk for a few minutes and then find whatever it is that is bothering her.  She will immediately know-the revelation will be clear-why it was necessary to “check in the chickens.”  It may be something simple as someone needing to talk out a problem, or a sickness in the family no one knew about, or some ongoing problem in someone’s life that seemed to have exploded for the moment.  Whatever it might have been, her spirit will testify that this was the reason for the need and she will do whatever ministry she might be able to extend, and most likely pray with them.  Afterwards she will rest and relax, with the pressure gone and the situation passing, for the moment, until the next crisis.

Jesus was always “checking on the chickens.”  There was one vivid moment, as he stood overlooking Jerusalem,

O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!

Matthew 23:37 (KJV)

The scene Jesus speaks of is a tender, intimate scene.  It is one that is seen in the barnyard.  The picture is of a mother hen, as danger approaches or maybe a storm is brewing in the sky above, she is seen scurrying around the dirty floor of the hen house, gathering all her little, fuzzy chicks together.  She pulls them up against her body, hiding them under her wings. 

It is there the little helpless ones are protected, sheltered from whatever may attempt to come against them.  Under those wings they feel the heat of her body, smell the familiar scent of her being, and hear the calm beating of her heart.  She is their shelter, their protection, their hope for safety in the midst of the situation they are in.  She is fighting their battles for them; waging war on their behalf.

Jesus says that is the things He wanted for the people of Jerusalem.   He wanted them to know His protective power, His warm love, and hear His beating heart.  “Sheltered in the arms of Jesus,” is the place all of us need to be, right now especially.

As we pray through our 40 Days of Prayer, we need to realize that the battle is not ours, but the Lord’s.  The battle we fight is often one that is not seen-oh, it is felt-but it is one that is between the Warriors of God and the Demonic host of Hell.  It was the Apostle Paul who wrote these words:

“Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness; And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace; Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God: Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints…”

Ephesians 6:10-18 (KJV)

The Battle is not a person or entity; it is not a party or people: no the battle is a spiritual battle.  It is waged not on a battle field of government authority and boardrooms and banquet halls-it is waged in the heavenly.  Heavens Warriors fight with Demonic demons for the souls of man.  If we could view the battle with human eyes it would be one of great conflict, great fear, and great panic on our part.

God gives us a call to hide in Him, to shelter in His protection, to come to Him with our burden and struggles and to rest in Him.  He is our refuge in our time to need.  We feel the battle, we see the way the devil uses individuals as pawns in his game to conquer and destroy-we need a place to get away and Jesus offers us the opportunity to rest in the folds of His robes, as He shelters us in the storm.

There is something I want you to notice in Jesus’ words to the people of Jerusalem.  He said, “You would not.”  He is speaking of their unwillingness to bend, to bow, to humble themselves in the Incarnation of God through Jesus Christ.  The people exercised their free will to throw off the restraints and do as they always did.  They refused to listen to the preachers and killed them for their stand; they stoned all who were before Jesus-Stephen-for taking a stand for truth.  They turned to their evil ways, their traditions and their own man-made philosophies; they forsook the God of their Father’s and refused to follow after hope.

That takes me back to the words of 2 Chronicles, “If my people…”  We as God’s people in this world today are facing a daunting time in the life of America and the Church.  This is a time like never before where the church is being intimidated by the world without and discouraged from within.  We live in a time that is an overwhelming, disheartening, and even demoralizing time in which America seems destined to destroy itself from within, while the church sits idly by and knowing the answer, is more prone to allow the world in, than allowing Jesus out.

“If my people…”  We have the will to make a choice, to choose righteousness or rebellion.  We can decide to make Jesus Lord and say with Joshua, “As for me and my house we will serve the Lord.”  Or we can do what we see the world doing.  The world is accepting the new norm-which is not new, nor normal-and wave the flag, while another society breezes in with their new, exciting ways of big government, big brother, and big money to make us all like the other, without a will.  Can you live that way?

I am going to do what the Word of God says.  For as I kneel before the heavenly Father, there are a few things I will submit to, willingly: I am going to humble myself under His hand of leadership.  I am going to pray as I am doing now and pray the prayer that never fails: “Your will be done!”  I am going to seek the face of the Father while I can, while He is still active and His Spirit is still moving.  Most importantly, I am willingly turning from sin and short-comings to face Him completely, wholly. 

Then I am going to wait.  I am waiting for the promise, that promise that is “coming down the dusty road.”  He promised and He who promised is faithful.  He promised He would hear our prayers, forgive our sin and heal our land.

It all starts with one person, obediently following the commands of the Heavenly Father and surrendering themselves to His will, His purpose, His plan of their life.  That is where revival begins.  May it begin with me!  “If it is to be; it is up to me!”

I read recently a quote that I feel compelled to share with you:

“Your THEOLOGY is no better than your KNEE-OLOGY.”

39th Day of 40 Days of Prayer

“We must pray for and experience spiritual regeneration, then recognize and accept our responsibilities as Christians to be salt and light…”

-Richard Land

In the book of 2 Chronicles, chapter 7 and verse 14, we find the words that propel us toward revival.  Many will assert that these words were for the Children of Israel, and rightly so, but they will go too far saying these words are not applicable to us, the Christian Church in America today.  I am a dissenter of such a limited, near-sighted philosophy of the Bible.

In my humble opinion, the Word of God is profitable for us today, all of it and not parts and pieces.  I stand with the Apostle Paul, as he wrote to his young preacher boy, Timothy, as he penned the words, “Every scripture inspired of God is also profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for instruction which is in righteousness. That the man of God may be complete, furnished completely unto every good work.” (2 Timothy 3:16-17 ASV)  Therefore, I stand on solid, unmovable, and righteous ground when I say that I will adhere to all scripture and find that it is instruction for my life.  May I honestly say, this is true for all of us-for the Christian church in America and around the world, for America, for all nations in the entire globe.

When I refer to the passage from Chronicles, I am saying that this verse is a section of scripture we find applying to society today.  Particularly to the church in America:

 If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.

2 Chronicles 7:14 (KJV)

Yes, friend, this verse speaks to the very things we need in America today.  We need to find ourselves humbled, praying, seeking the face of God, and turning from our sin.  If-that word is a conditional word that represents a willingness to follow or reject the instructions placed before us-we do those four things, then the promise is that God will hear, forgive, and heal the nation.

For too long, far too long, we have sung out the words of the song, “I Did It My Way.”  We have taken pride in who we are and what we have done as an American people.  We have righted civil and social issues, fought the battles of prejudice and shortsightedness, and we have happily gone our way patting ourselves on our own backs, all the while thumbing our noses at God, saying “ We've got this.”  We have dreamed and planned out our courses of action, seeking to do what we thought was right and just, smiling along the way at our own intellectual well educated minds, forsaking God’s plan and purpose proclaiming our independence and free will.  Then when we have needed His help or assistance we have gone to Him en mass, hoping He will help us out of the mess we created.

On September 11, 2001 we watched as our world was devastated by the terrorist attacks.  Thousands died within a few hours on American soil, while many more thousands were injured, and hundreds of thousands were deeply impacted for the rest of their mortal life.  As the events of that morning transpired, churches around the country filled up as people found their way toward an altar, to pray for the immediate need, the sorrow and senselessness of the hour.  Over the next few months pews were packed in churches on any given Sunday morning as people found renewed interest in the only one they thought could help them survive.  Others found a new relationship in the Lord Jesus Christ, busying themselves in the task of serving the one true God-the God of Abraham, Jacob and Isaac.

While I do not believe God did what happened that day, I do believe He allowed it as an opportunity to bring us back to Him.  Today there are those who were eternally changed on that day, but as a whole we are more patriotic, more flag waving, but less Christ-like than ever before.

As a whole we are touting freedom of expression, freedom of selectiveness, freedom from religion as ever before, as we tumble into the abyss.  The acceptance of things once totally considered sinful, vain, and unacceptable are now waved in the noses of those who hold the truths of God’s Word as clearly the guide to live life by and through.  We have seen the acceptance of same-sex marriage, abortion, and abandoning Israel as the norm for society.  In the midst of this new morn God has been forsaken and delegated to just a good thing for those who need a crutch; casting aside of the Church in America, those who reject God easily debase and demean those who follow Him.  Or worse, God has been completely denied and dethroned from the conscience and soul of America.  

For centuries those who have held to a society of humanistic thought, proclaiming a clear line of separation of Church and State, denying God’s people any form of debate in social matters, now want to use the power of the government against the church.  This is truly a violation of the Separation Clause.  Today we have the government wanting to tell the church and Christian business they must provide insurance that is contrary to Christian principles, and if they do not do as they are told they will be heavily fined for failure to do so.  This is big government at its worst.

         I say all of this to say that America must humble herself before a mighty, all powerful, all knowing God.  It is He who establishes nations and leaders, and it is He who brings down and will cast aside nations and leaders.  We are at his disposal!

            Once we find ourselves humbled, we will pray to the one true God, for He is the power and strength of our lives.  It is then we will see our sin for what it is-a black spot, a cancerous sore, a plague that is slowly consuming us.  This sin is rebellion, self reliance, pride, and high mindedness.  This is an acceptance of things which are clearly condemned by the Word of God.  This is sin is a willingness to accepted and condone things God has called unclean, impure, and a barrier between us and Him. 

In His love and through the sacrifice of His Son upon the cross of Calvary He reaches out to us and calls us to recognize our sin and turn from our ways of rebellion, calling us to repentance.  He said, through His Son Jesus Christ, “That whosoever believes in Him will have eternal life.” (John 3:16)  Through the Apostle Paul, God tells us:

That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed. For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.

Romans 10:9-13 (KJV)

            This is accomplished by seeking God’s face.  You and I must turn away from the faces of leadership for a moment; we must stop putting our trust in a man to lead our country.  We must stop putting our trust in a government bailout, or hand out; we must stop looking for the answer in the vain philosophy of man, or a creed or form of religion.  We must seek God-the author and finisher of our faith-the true Father of all of life and giver of eternal life.  We must seek Him, while the time is available to us. 

            This is when revival will come.  David wrote these words:

Lord, thou hast been favorable unto thy land: thou hast brought back the captivity of Jacob. Thou hast forgiven the iniquity of thy people, thou hast covered all their sin. Selah. Thou hast  God of our salvation, and cause thine anger toward us to cease. Wilt thou be angry with us for ever? wilt thou draw out thine anger to all generations? Wilt thou not revive us again: that thy people may rejoice in thee? Show us thy mercy, O Lord, and grant us thy salvation.

Psalms 85:1-7 (KJV)

Today is Day 39.  This is the second day of praying for 40 Days of Prayer for Our Nation and the Christian Church.  It is also 39 days until Election Day in America.  Can you pray with me?  Will you seek God for how you will vote on Election Day?  Will you prepare to vote on November 6?  Real revival begins with me and “If it is to be, it is up to me.” 

I am praying for an out pouring of a new fire in the life of Christians in America.  I am seeking renewal in my own life and in the life of our leaders.  May God have mercy and revive us, so we might praise Him!

            

Alabamians fixed the budget?

On Tuesday September 18, Alabama went to the polls for a special election regarding an amendment change to the Constitution of the Great State.  Due to a shortfall in the projected budget, the necessity of presenting a balanced budget for Alabama, and changes needing to be made in the Alabama Trust Fund (ATF) regarding the flow of money from that account to the state treasury Alabama had to mark a very short, brief ballot and allow their voices to be heard.

At 2230 hours the tallies were in favor of the constitutional change, with 357,036 votes or 65% saying “yes” and those who voted “no” was 193,072 voters or 35%.  At that time 1,900 of 2,136 precincts were reporting returns.  With this said, Governor Bentley and others were proclaiming a victory for the states deficit.

This Amendment change to the state constitution allows the State Treasurer to make a special transfer of $145.8 million a year for each of the next three years from the ATF to the General Fund, a major source of money-according to the media-for prisons, courts, Medicaid health care for the poor and disabled and other non-educational areas.  The vote also changed the decades old ways that regular annual transfers made to General Fund from the ATF which now has $2.3 billion in invested assets and collects most of the royalties paid to the state by companies that pump natural gas offshore. 

The Birmingham News reported, “All together, the Legislative Fiscal Office estimated that Tuesday's yes vote will pump $259.8 million into the General Fund in fiscal 2013: $145.8 million from a special transfer and $114 million from the new way of making regular, annual transfers…the yes vote produced a net gain [from] the trust fund of as much as $197.8 million next year.”

This is a three year temporary fix to a problem that dates back to 2008,  when what some have dubbed as the Great Recession, as jobs were lost, businesses were scaled back or shut down all together and the tough economic times hit Alabama with a vengeance. 

It is also fair to mention that the Governor has pledged the money is more of a loan than a robbing of the ATF coffers, and will be paid back.  There was a demand to fix a problem during these tough economic times, as Alabama must have a balanced budget by October of each year, and the budget presented by the legislature was missing a means of supplying enough cash to fill the void.  This then became the instant fix.

Again, the Birmingham News reported, “Most of the money will go to Medicaid, which provides health care for about 940,000 disabled and lower income Alabamians, and the corrections department, which runs state prisons.”

Here are two important points we need to pay close attention to:

·        With the referendum's approval, General Fund spending for Medicaid in fiscal 2013 is budgeted at $615.1 million, an increase of $39.7 million, 6.9 percent, from this year.

·        General Fund spending for the corrections department in fiscal 2013 is budgeted at $365.5 million, a decrease of $15.3 million, 4.0 percent, from this year.

Education was a talking point as we rushed toward the special election.  As the polls opened, phone calls were being made by the AEA to get a yes vote out.  Henry Mabry, executive secretary of the Alabama Education Association teachers' lobby, said the yes vote protected Medicaid patients.  He was reported as saying, "Hallelujah…Alabama voters chose to take care of God's children."

He also said the referendum's approval likely would make it less likely that legislators would try to shift money to the General Fund from the Education Trust Fund, the main source of state money for public schools and colleges. "I think it does take pressure off," Mabry said.

State Senator Scott Beason (R-Gardendale) who urged people to vote “no,” said "scare tactics" by referendum proponents -such as threats that cuts in Medicaid funding could have led to massive job losses at nursing homes and hospitals-helped win the referendum.

He also said scheduling a separate election for one ballot issue, at a cost to the state of $3 million, let proponents encourage people dependent on state funding to go to the polls while many other voters didn't pay much attention.

"Most folks in Alabama, I think, will wake up tomorrow and say, 'We passed what?'" Beason said Tuesday night.

Becky Gerritson, president of the Wetumpka Tea Party and a referendum opponent, said she thinks "the-sky-is-falling scare tactics" and ballot language played big roles in the big yes vote.

The description of the referendum on the ballot said the proposed amendment would, in part, "prevent the mass release of prisoners from Alabama prisons" and "protect critical health services to Alabama children, elderly and mothers."

"The manipulative ballot language was huge," Gerritson said.

While Alabamians have now voted on the fix and we sit back in our easy chairs waiting on the dust to settle to see how this works out there are some things that need to be addressed.  

First is the issue of $3 million approved by the legislature and Governor for this special election.  We went to the polls in our respective cities, towns and communities to vote to increase the income of the General Fund for Fiscal Year 2012-2013, while doling out money-money we must not have or we would not be voting to access more money-and money we could have used in another area, another place, maybe the Nursing Home or hospital or for law enforcement.

The first leads to the second: We spent $3 million on a called election, because the boys and girls who gather in the Capitol during legislative sessions, who work part-time, making more money than many of those who work full-time, could not make a decision on the budget.  These $60,000 plus paid employees of the state were too busy playing games and pushing their personal agendas in order to take care of the actual business of the state. 

Maybe we need to make them reimburse the state for this special election that cost us $3 million!

Then we need to focus on this issue of “scare tactics” used by several businesses and organizations to get the vote to swing in their favor.  Really stirred it up, did you not?  These groups pitched in big money to tell folks that prisoners would be released to roam the streets, the Medicaid would suffer, our children would go hungry, granny would be tossed out on the street because the Nursing Home she was living in was going to close, and that doctors would have to relocate to other states.  Now, that is the way to get this thing done, right?

Listen, we use to have to have a saying, “Liar, liar, pants on fire.”  And I smell smoke!  That is all that was, a smoke screen!  Intimidation!  The rudest thing I have ever witnessed.  I believe, with all of my heart, that the Governor and the legislature-in a called session, which would have cost the taxpayers of this state-would have come up with a plan, but then again they should have come up with a plan, back a few months ago, instead of playing games during regular session. 

Maybe these special interest groups, organizations and businesses would also like to ante up and help reimburse the state for the cost of this special election.  It appears they have money to waste on lies and half truths, stands to reason they have money to take care of a few million spent because someone could not do their job.  Sorry, I digress…

Those prisoners that were going to be released, those grannies homeless, those children hungry, those doctors relocating: none of this would have happened.  You know why?  It is simple, if you will think about it.  Those boys and girls were voted in by people attached to or affected by one or all of those situations named above and they like their job!  They would have come up with something; someway would have been hammered out to fill the void in the budget.

Yet, now we have voted to take money from the ATF and fill the hole; on Tuesday September 18, the people of Alabama did the work of the legislature.  We worked!  We went to the polls-not everybody, but some-and did the work that should have been accomplished in May of this year.  We served notice, saying YES OR NO, recording our votes for posterity.  If the legislature had recorded their votes on the big boards we purchased in their respective meeting places-the Chambers or the House-then we would not have had to do what we did yesterday.  No, they earned the money and we spent the money to pay them and to have a special election.  We did their work for them and they got paid for doing nothing!

Now, we live with the decision that the majority of the people of this Great State decided was the thing to do.  You will notice that I did not use the word “BEST” or “RIGHT.”  I feel, and this is my feelings, that we did not do the best or right thing; but we did what we had to do so that we might see that the constitution of our state was honored and that we made our state solvent. 

By voting, either way, you have a stake in what I am about to write.  You may have marked the word “YES” or you may have marked the word “NO” and that is your business; it was your choice.  Either way you now need to address these concerns, with me.

As Alabamians we need to tell our elected people to do what we elected them to do.  We elected them to fulfill their promises, to serve the people and to earn their keep.  They need to go to Montgomery and take care of the business of this state, leaving their petty special interest concerns for a later time.  The first things they need to take care of as they assemble is to pray for wisdom and get on with the job of making our state a shining star. 

As Alabamians we need to get those who are in Montgomery to build a strong economic base from which to pull much needed finances for our state.  I applaud the new industry which we have seen move into Alabama over the last few years, but there is more to do.  We need to capitalize on the natural resources of our state, bring in more industry, and put a stop to industry leaving our state for foreign soil.  One thing that will turn things around for Alabama and all the other states is to get the Federal Government to stop sending business to foreign countries.  Repeal of Clinton’s act which opened the door to this would be a start. 

Alexander City and Sylacauga have lost more than their fair share of businesses and somebody in Montgomery needs to see this and help put viable, cash printing jobs in those buildings which stand abandoned.  Central Alabama, particularly Coosa County, is a place where we could make a difference, yet we get left in the dust as others around us get the industry and the jobs.  I still stand by the old adage, “The squeaky wheel gets the grease.”

In light of the promise by Governor Bentley to pay the money back to the ATF, we need to make sure he and the legislature see that this is done and in a timely manner.  I do not know how they will do it, but they better do so.  A plan needs to be assembled and revealed to the people in January of next year.  Please do not blame the Governor.  He is trying his best to clean up the mess of the legislature and is the lightening rod; he did not have to push this issue because he could have called a special session.  The legislature should have taken care of this during the regular session.  Now we live with their mess and we need to hold them accountable.  Demand that they give us an answer and in the next regular session.

I know we are living in lean times.  Yes, we are in a recession.  But there is hope and we need to let our voices be heard so that we might position ourselves for a better time yet to come.

            Is the budget fixed?  I do not think so.  There are people down in Montgomery who will not do what needs to be done, because they have their own, personal agenda.  As long as this is true, the real business of the state is not going to be done.  We need people who have wisdom and understand what it means to be a statesman in this age and time.  We the people need to make that happen!  If you voted yesterday then stand up, let you voice be heard and make a difference.  If you did not vote yesterday, then you forfeited your right and your opinion.  So hang on for a bumpy ride.

Let me leave you with this thought: On the General Election ballot in November there will be eleven (11) amendments to be voted on by the people of Alabama.  We need to educate ourselves and inform ourselves about these things and be ready to voice our opinion.  I will have more at a later date, but until then, get involved!  Be ready to VOTE!

News articles referenced are from www.al.com dated September 18 and 19, 2012.