"For from the top of the rocks I see him, and from the hills I behold him. . ." Numbers 23:9

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THE MOUNTAIN MESSENGER

JUNE 2004
Volume 1..........................Number 5
Crum, West Virginia

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"He Died Just 10 seconds From The Happiest Day Of His Life!"

By James E. Farley

Dale Earnhardt was killed in a crash at the Daytona 500 on Sunday, February 18, 2001. Earnhardt had, not long before, formed a corporation, "DALE EARNHARDT, INC." He was killed trying to protect the lead and victory of his teammate Michael and the 2nd place lead of his son, Dale Earnhardt, Jr. It was on the last turn of the last lap of the race . . . just about 10 seconds from the happiest day of his life. Three of his cars would finish . . . one, two, three in the prestigious Daytona 500. It would have meant over $260 million for the company! But . . . he died. He did not know he was going to die on that Sunday. He probably did not even anticipate it. He was just out there doing what he always did on Sundays for most of the year . . . he was racing, and enjoying it. But . . . he died.

Abraham Lincoln and his wife, Mary Todd Lincoln, had some very hard times during their marriage, and the four years of the American Civil War were some of the hardest for them. Lincoln was terribly bothered about the war and all of the blood that was being shed. Mary’s own brothers had become Confederates and therefore her enemies. It seemed that George McClellan would defeat Lincoln in the 1864 election, but General Sherman took Atlanta, and began his "March To The Sea," delivering a real death blow to the South. It wasn’t long then until General Lee surrendered to General Grant, and the war was over. Lincoln then began concentrating on how to best reconstruct the Union, and this too weighed heavy upon him. But the war was over . . . that terrible, divisive war was over, and Lincoln began to be able to finally sleep well through the nights.

In April of 1865 he and Mary seemed to be the happiest they had been in years. They took a carriage ride and talked and talked. Mary commented to Lincoln, "Your cheerfulness almost scares me, Mr. Lincoln." They decided to go to the theater that evening and relax. It was a happy time. At the theater, in their special box seats, Mary snuggled up to Lincoln and commented about how the people would react to her holding on to him so. They were happy . . . but John Wilkes Booth shot and killed Mr. Lincoln.

He did not know he was going to be shot at Ford’s theater that evening. He died some time later in an apartment house across the street.

That’s the nature of death. We all would like to picture our deaths as being in a comfortable bed with family all around us expressing our love one for another. That would be ideal, but it is not how it usually happens. It usually comes quickly and unexpectedly. Many times when people are feeling their best . . . or the best they’ve felt in years. Many times when people are making plans for the near and far future. The inspired James wrote, "Go to now, ye that say, To day or to morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain: Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away. For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that. But now ye rejoice in your boastings: all such rejoicing is evil. Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin." (James 4:13-17)

James E. Farley -To Contact Jim by email, click here

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His name was Jeroboam, and his actions live on in infamy! Here was a man who did not attempt to get God’s people to stop being religious. In fact, he encouraged religion, but it was his own brand. He convinced the people that it was too much for them to go up to Jerusalem to worship, so he ordained altars at Bethel and Dan, and even set up his own priesthood, and holy days. God had ordained that His people, under the Old Testament dispensation, worship under the direction of the Levitical priesthood, at Jerusalem. Jeroboam ". . . made priests of the lowest of the people, which were not of the sons of Levi." He . . . "ordained a feast in the eighth month, on the fifteenth day of the month, like unto the feast that is in Judah" He even offered sacrifices upon the altar he made at Bethel during this feast that was much like the one that God had ordained. It really resembled what God said to do. There was not much difference . . . There was a feast . . . there were priests . . . there was sacrificing . . . it was a "holy" feast day . . . Sure, Jeroboam was religious alright . . . but he was religiously WRONG! The Word says that he devised these things in his own heart. You may read about all of this in I Kings 12:25 through chapter 13. From this time forward the departure of Israel is often referred to as . . . "the sin of Jeroboam. (I Kings 12:30; 2 Kings 17:21; etc.)

Jeroboam’s legacy was that he planted into the hearts and minds of the people that it just did not matter what the Lord had said, and as a result of this kind of an attitude, great and damnable errors continued to flood through this "crack" that Jeroboam made in the "dam wall." It soon became a raging flood and the people even began to worship false gods such as Baal. Under King Ahab and his wicked wife, Jezebel, this religion flourished in the Northern Kingdom. (I Kings 16:29-33). And, as a result of the marriage of Jehoshaphat’s son, Jehoram, to Ahab’s and Jezebel’s daughter, this evil even crept into the Southern Kingdom as well! (2 Kings 8:16-19, 25-27).

When Jehu became king of Israel, he did a great deal to destroy Baalism and was very successful in ridding the land of the evil. (2 Kings 9 & 10). "Thus Jehu destroyed Baal out of Israel." (2 Kings 10:28). But the very next verse says, "Howbeit, from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin, Jehu departed not from after them, to wit, the golden calves that were in Bethel, and that were in Dan." (verse 29). Verse 31 continues, "But Jehu took no heed to walk in the law of the Lord God of Israel with all his heart: for he departed not from the sins of Jeroboam, which made Israel to sin." Even though Jehu did rid the land of the false worship of Baal, he did not go far enough. He left a hole in the floodwall and error just kept pouring in!

If changing the God-ordained plan for worship was wrong under that old Law, is it also not wrong today? Many attempt to be like Jeroboam of old, and say, "Oh, it is too much to try to ‘go back to Jerusalem’ and worship like the church of Christ of the first century . . . " And, like their father Jeroboam, they lead folks into a departure from God’s way . . . and this is SIN!!! (I John 3:4). We hear them say such things as, "The piano makes the singing better . . . we like it . . . it draws a crowd . . . etc." We hear them say, "Taking the Lord’s Supper every Sunday just makes it too common place . . . we will take it quarterly."

This kind of thinking . . . as innocent and as "small a thing" as it may seem to some folks, leads to folks rejecting anything they feel like rejecting from the Bible. Reject one "little thing," and it is easier to reject five "little things." Add one "small" innovation, and it is much easier to add the next one . . . and the next one. No, these do not call upon people to stop being "religious" . . . just change God’s Way "a little". And, like Uncle Luther Varney used to say, "A whole lot of little bit makes a lot!" With all of the "little" rejections over the years, is it any wonder that we are now hearing some "religious folks," both Protestant and Catholic, call for such error as homosexual marriages, and boldly saying that abortion is alright and not murdering of innocent children??? Oh yes, when the crack is made in the dam . . . first a trickle . . . then a small stream . . . then a FLOOD OF ERROR!!!

Some are like Jehu; they call for reform. They boldly mount their pulpits and cry out against those things with which they disagree, but like Jehu they will not depart from the sins of Jeroboam. They want to keep their denominational names, creeds, titles, worship, etc.

James E. Farley -To Contact Jim by email, click here