The Ragman

[FineLinen]

The Escorial

In Madrid, Spain, there exists the Escorial, one of the greatest cathedrals ever built by man. For centuries the kings of Spain have been buried there. When that magnificent structure was under construction, the architect designed a vast arch, perhaps bigger than anything that had been built before. However, that arch was so flat at the top that the reigning king was frightened by the prospect of the tremendous weight of the roof collapsing on his head. He commanded the architect to build a column from the floor all the way to the center of that arch to hold it up. The architect protested vehemently that it was not needed, but the king insisted and, over the laments of the architect, the column was built. The king worshipped contentedly in the vast structure, having seen to it himself that the ceiling would not fall. The years went by, the church stood, and the king finally died. Only then did the architect reveal that between the top of the column and the bottom of the arch there was a quarter of an inch of space.

In all these hundreds of years that have passed the arch has not sunk so much as a quarter of an inch. Today a board is still passed over the column and under the arch for all to see. So it is with the plan of God - that over-arching plan that encompasses all of reality and all of life. It needs no human support to hold it up. God is the Lord of all and He is working out His purposes in our lives, in all of the world, and through the whole universe.

http://www.cyberspain.com/passion/sanloren.htm

[move]"Source, Guide, and Goal of all that is, to whom be glory for ever."[/move]

 

[FineLinen]

Egypt Miracle

To my good friends, see what the Lord Jehovah is doing in these times. Let us not lose heart, but take courage in serving the one who served us with his precious blood!

I received this from a friend in Israel! Shalom Betty Marie

From Deborah Khalil:

I don't want to wait until our next newsletter to get this story out to you. It begins with a tragedy but ends as an incredible miracle.

Victor received this by email a few days ago (5/20/04) and talked with the family in Egypt to confirm the details that were given there on the news.

A muslim man killed his wife and buried her with their infant baby and 8 year old daughter. The girls were buried alive! He reported to the police that an uncle killed the kids.

Fifteen days later another family member died. When they went to bury him they found the two girls under the sand - alive!

The girl was asked how she had survived.

A man wearing shiny clothes, with bleeding wounds in his hands, came to us every day to feed us. He woke my mum so she could nurse my sister.

She was interviewed on Egyptian national TV by a veiled Muslim woman news anchor. She said on public TV,

This was none other than Jesus because no-one else does things like this.

Muslims believe Isa would do this, but the wounds mean He really was crucified, and it's very clear also that He is alive.

The country is outraged by the incident and the man will be executed. But it's also clear that the child could not have made up a story like that, and there is no way these children could have survived without a true miracle.

Muslim leaders are going to have a hard time to figure out what to do with this, and the popularity of the Passion movie doesn't help. With Egypt at the centre of the media and education in the Middle East you can be sure this story will spread. Christ is turning the world upside down.

[move]I am He that liveth and was dead, and behold I am alive for evermore. And I hold the keys of death and of hell...[/move]

 

[brinny]

Incredibly awesome!! Praise God!!!

 

[FineLinen]

Hi there Brinny....glad you stopped by for a visit.

The Good Old Days

Life in 1500

The next time you are washing your hands and complain because the water temperature isn't just how you like it, think about how things used to be.

Here are some facts about the 1500s:

Most people got married in June because they took their yearly bath in May, and still smelled pretty good by June. However, they were starting to smell, so brides carried a bouquet of flowers to hide the body odor. Hence the custom today of carrying a bouquet when getting married.

Baths consisted of a big tub filled with hot water. The man of the house had the privilege of the nice clean water, then all the other sons and men, then the women and finally the children. Last of all the babies. By then the water was so dirty you could actually lose someone in it.

Hence the saying,

Don't throw the baby out with the bath water.

Houses had thatched roofs-thick straw-piled high, with no wood underneath. It was the only place for animals to get warm, so all the cats and other small animals (mice, bugs) lived in the roof. When it rained it became slippery and sometimes the animals would slip and off the roof.

Hence the saying

It's raining cats and dogs.

There was nothing to stop things from falling into the house. This posed a real problem in the bedroom where bugs and other droppings could mess up your nice clean bed. Hence, a bed with big posts and a sheet hung over the top afforded some protection. That's how canopy beds came into existence.

The floor was dirt. Only the wealthy had something other than dirt.

Hence the saying

dirt poor.

The wealthy had slate floors that would get slippery in the winter when wet , so they spread thresh (straw) on floor to help keep their footing. As the winter wore on, they adding more thresh until when you opened the door it would all start slipping outside. A piece of wood was placed in the entranceway.

Hence the saying a

thresh hold.

(Getting quite an education, aren't you?)

In those old days, they cooked in the kitchen with a big kettle that always hung over the fire. Every day they lit the fire and added things to the pot.
They ate mostly vegetables and did not get much meat. They would eat the stew for dinner, leaving leftovers in the pot to get cold overnight and then start over the next day. Sometimes stew had food in it that had been there for quite a while. Hence the rhyme,

Peas porridge hot, peas porridge cold, peas porridge in the pot nine days old.

Sometimes they could obtain pork, which made them feel quite special. When visitors came over, they would hang up their bacon to show off.
It was a sign of wealth that a man could

bring home the bacon.

They would cut off a little to share with guests and would all sit around and

chew the fat.

Those with money had plates made of pewter. Food with high acid content caused some of the lead to leach onto the food, causing lead poisoning death. This happened most often with tomatoes, so for the next 400 years or so, tomatoes were considered poisonous.

Bread was divided according to status. Workers got the burnt bottom of the loaf, the family got the middle, and guests got the top, or

upper crust.

Lead cups were used to drink ale or whisky. The combination would sometimes knock the imbibers out for a couple of days. Someone walking along the road would take them for dead and prepare them for burial. They were laid out on the kitchen table for a couple of days and the family would gather around and eat and drink and wait and see if they would wake up.

Hence the custom of holding a

wake.

England is old and small and the local folks started running out of places to bury people. So they would dig up coffins and would take the bones to a.....

bone-house

....and reuse the grave.

When reopening these coffins, 1 out of 25 coffins were found to have scratch marks on the inside and they realized they had been burying people alive. So they would tie a string on the wrist of the corpse, lead it through the coffin and up through the ground and tie it to a bell. Someone would have to sit out in the graveyard all night the....

graveyard shift

...to listen for the bell; thus, someone could be...

saved by the bell

....or was considered a

dead ringer.

And that's the truth... Now, whoever said that History was boring ! ! !

 

[FineLinen]

Whose Side Is The Eternal One On? -November 2, 2004-

Many years ago in a meeting held in England just before World War ll was about to sweep across the world, Watchman Nee expressed in prayer the meaning of having Christ as our 'first love.'

Japan had invaded China, and his country was in the beginnings of a devasting war, but this is the way he prayed as he sat with a Japanese speaker on the platform (Watchman Nee was Chinese); the war havac in China was fresh in everyone's mind, and when his turn came he led the morning intercession for the Far East in terms that to many back of us back in the thirties was a revelation. It was a prayer that few who were priviledged to be present forgot.

Watchman Nee's Prayer

The Lord reigns: we affirm it boldly. Our Lord Jesus Christ is reigning and He is Lord of all; nothing can touch His authority. It is the spiritual forces that are out to destroy His interests in China and Japan. Therefore, we do not pray for China, and we do not pray for Japan, but we pray for the interests of Thy Son in China and Japan. We do not blame any man, for they are only tools in the hand of Thine enemy. We stand for Thy will. Shatter, Oh Lord, the kingdom of darkness, for the persecutions of Thy Church are wounding Thee. Amen.

[move]Our God Reigns![/move]

http://songsofpraise.org/reigns.htm

Thine, o Lord, is the greatness;
Thine, o Lord, is the power
Thine, o Lord, is the glory
And the majesty and the splendor

For all that is in the heavens and the earth is Yours
Yours is the kingdom and You are
exalted as head over all,
Exalted as head over all.

http://newhopemusic.com/songs.s-z/thine.htm

 

[FineLinen]

God Calling

http://www.walkthroughlife.com/personal/pqv/stories/godcalling.htm

 

[Brutus/HisCatalyst]

Hey, Fine-Linen, I didn't realize you were here. Interesting. The ragman was a great story.

 

[FineLinen]

Hi there Brutus....It is a pleasure seeing you again. Isn't our Father wonderful!!!


[move]"....to those who are in God the Father, enfolded in His love, and kept for Jesus Christ....."[/move]

"...to those who are called, wrapped in the love of God the Father, and kept for Jesus Christ."

 

[Brutus/HisCatalyst]

I'll Give an amen to that. AMEN!

 

[FineLinen]

The Hum Of Heaven

Black Hole Music

http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/blackhole_note_030909.html

The Primal Scream

http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/big_bang_sound_040601.html

[move]The breadbox of heaven cannot be exhausted - and you should see His pantry! - Pastor Steve Wilber-[/move]

 

[JPPT1974]

Praise be to God the Almighty one! God bless!

 

[FineLinen]

I trust you who following this particular thread enjoyed the Primal scream and the deepest note ever heard in our Father's universe (to date). It is hard to imagine music that is more than a million billion times deeper than one can hear! The Song of all songs is sounding; our Father reaching in the Son of His love to lift us into the Symphony!

Oh, the fullness, pleasure, sheer excitement of knowing God on Earth! I care not if I never raise my voice again for Him, if only I may love Him, please Him. Mayhap in mercy He shall give me a host of children that I may lead them through the vast star fields to explore His delicacies whose finger ends set them to burning. But if not, if only I may see Him, touch His garments, smile into His eyes -- ah then, not stars nor children shall matter, only Himself. - Jim Elliot-

What we have been told is how we men can be drawn into Christ -- can become part of that wonderful present which the young Prince of the universe wants to offer to His Father -- that present which is Himself and therefore us in Him. It is the only thing we were made for. And there are strange, exciting hints in the Bible that when we are drawn in, a great many other things in Nature will begin to come right. The bad dream will be over: it will be morning. -C.S. Lewis-

 

[FineLinen]

Happy Thanksgiving America!

http://www.countrywhispers.com/odeturkey/

 

[Rockhead]

FineLinen, this is an incredible link! Thankyou.

 

[JPPT1974]

Tiny Tim...''God bless us everyone!!"

 

[draconus71]

very nice stories

 

[FineLinen]

Horatio G. Spafford

The words of the following hymn were written after two major traumas in Horatio Spafford's life. The first was the Great Chicago Fire of October 1871, which ruined him financially. Shortly after, while crossing the Atlantic, all four of Spafford's daughters died in a collision with another ship. Spafford's wife Anna survived and sent him the now famous telegram:

SAVED ALONE.

Several weeks later, as Spafford's own ship passed near the spot where his daughters died, he was inspired to write these words.

Philip P. Bliss

Philip Bliss wrote the music originally naming it "Ville de Havre" after the ship on which Spafford's four girls perished, the SS Ville de Havre. Ironically, Bliss himself died in a tragic train wreck shortly after writing this music.

http://members.tripod.com/~Synergy_2/lyrics/itiswell.html

 

[FineLinen]

Do Not Be Troubled!

When, after leaving Kailash, I reached the inhabited part and inquired from the people there the way to the nearest village, they, out of enmity, seeing I was a Christian, directed me to a dangerous forest path; as I was quite ignorant, I followed their direction and went that way. As I traveled, night came on, but no village appeared and the sun was setting when I arrived at the bank of a river. From every side the noise of wild animals came to my ears. I tried to cross the river but could not do so, and at length sat down in despair, feeling that things boded ill for me that day and that the end of my life was at hand. My eyes filled with tears.

Just then, when I raised my eyes and glanced across the river, I saw a man sitting and warming himself by a fire. He said,

Do not be troubled, I am coming to help you.

I was very glad to see him as he rose and came to me, and I was amazed to see how unhesitantly and fearlessly he entered the swiftly flowing river and came out. He said to me,

Sit on my shoulder and do not fear.

So lifting me, he very gently carried me across. The surprising thing to me was that while I could not get even myself across, yet he, bearing such a burden, came through without anxiety, I concluded:

As he is a resident of this place he is practiced in crossing, and now sitting with him I will preach the gospel to him and will also render my thanks to him.

But when I turned and looked back, immediatly both the fire and the man disappeared and there were no bounds to my awe, wondering what this was....Certainly our Lord is yesterday, today and for ever the same. There is no change in him, but the change is in our faith.

-Life & Writings Of Sadhu Sundar Singh-

[move]A man can receive nothing except it be given him out of heaven.[/move]

http://www.savioroftheworld.net/music/Third%20Day.htm

 

[FineLinen]

[move]Behold the Lamb of God who carries off the sin of the whole mass of mankind alienated from God: the whole ungodly multitude!"[/move]




http://www.savioroftheworld.net/music/Third%20Day.htm

 

[FineLinen]

The Cobras Come To Mukti

Pandita Ramabai was a beloved spiritual leader in India. She relates that following a wonderful and glorious visitation of the blessed Holy Spirit upon the girls in the home and school, the following transpired...

It was during the night that the cobras appeared and bit many of the girls in the compound. No doubt for a moment or two there was great fear; but so wonderfully did the Spirit of the Lord impart faith for the emergency, that instead of groans and cries of anguish, there arose to heaven a great shout of victory and praise. Not a girl died from the deadly bites! Every one was healed. The power of the Lord delivered them! It was imparted by faith of God which brought them through. There is belief in faith, but faith is more than belief! There is a rock on the mountain, but the mountain is more than the rock.

http://www.savioroftheworld.net/music/Third%20Day.htm