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While this has been the worst year in American history, God is yet at work. The story He is writing through the course of time is filled with triumphs that came out of tragedies. One of these was when the Jews were carried away to Babylon for seventy years. Their temple was torn down and the palaces of their kings destroyed. Nothing was left of their previous civilization. And yet, in that darkest of all days in their history, God was still writing His-Story. He promised them that this tragedy would be used to work their repentance, which would bring them back to His order—and, in His order, there is always the flow of His blessing.
At this, the lowest moment in all their long history, God gave them an encouraging word through the prophet Jeremiah. He boldly declared to the nation that, out of this tragedy, He would,
“…give them a heart to know Me, that I am the Lord: and they shall be My people, and I will be their God: for they shall return unto Me with their whole heart.” (Jeremiah 24:7)
He said, “I will give them a heart to know Me, that I am the Lord…” They had gone into captivity because they had forgotten He was “the Lord”; that is, He was the Owner and Master of everything—including them! He owned their possessions; and those should have been used for bringing their children and others into agreement with God’s way of thinking. Instead, they had Continue reading
The date was December 7th, 1941. The time was 7:55am. To the complete surprise of American forces in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, Japanese planes began to sweep down and drop devastating bombs onto our fleet and also our planes on the ground. When the attack was done, eighteen of our ships were sunk or sinking and nearly all of our planes were destroyed. Over 3,500 of our servicemen were dead. We were shocked at such a bold and devastating attack on our U.S Navy. Many wondered if the Navy would ever recover. Even worse, we wondered if our liberty would shortly be ended and we would be required to worship the Emperor of Japan as god.
Her name was Pocahontas and she met the Jamestown settlers quickly after they had landed. Captain John Smith, the bold adventurer, wanted to meet the natives. He left the safety of the group shortly after they landed and went looking for the inhabitants of the region. However, his experience with them would not prove altogether friendly. He was quickly captured and taken to Chief Powhatan, the father of Pocahontas. After preparing a meal for him and treating him like an honored guest, suddenly the Indians turned on him, apparently preparing to kill him. They bound him and laid his head on a large stone. Then, picking up clubs and dancing wildly, they advanced toward him. Smith expected at any moment to be beaten to death. But then, in a shocking move, young Pocahontas, only eleven or twelve years of age, suddenly moved toward him, taking his head and pulling it up into her lap, she bent over him, shielding him from the screaming braves and cried out to her father to spare his life. By the mercy of God, Powhatan did spare Smith’s life. Indeed, he accepted Smith into the tribe as a brave friend. That friendship would 
tacked on the door of the church in Wittenberg, Germany a document that changed the course of history. Martin Luther was that young priest, and his bold act threw off the religious yoke of “the tyranny of the mind”. And while most in America now think of October 31st as Halloween, that’s a “Johnny-come-lately” idea. Up until the mid-1800s, on October 31st, we celebrated “Reformation Day”, for that was the day the mind of man began to be set free from hundreds of years of living in the fear of what other men thought. Once again, man began to learn that only God has the right to shape our minds for He created us, and thus by rights, owns us and our minds. What Martin Luther did would start to restore the precious freedom Jesus talked about when He stated,