JREnsey blog January 2024

Happy New Year! Welcome to the first 2024 blog!

The Word for today

 “And this is his commandment: We must believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and love one another, just as he commanded us” (I John 3:23 NLT).

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The Serenity Prayer

Some time ago I read a prayer prayed by Reinhold Niebuhr that really seemed to make sense. I like things that make sense, even prayers, so I wrote it down. You may have read it, too.

God, grant me the serenity to accept the things

I cannot change;

The courage to change the things I can,

And the wisdom to know the difference.

That prayer, authored by Dr. Reinhold Niebuhr, can quieten the disturbed spirit within us when we don’t know how to take the next step. It may interrupt our charging ahead into family matters and life situations that are actually too tough and beyond our ability to manage or control.

I recently read of an interesting way others think about difficult life challenges. It was in a “can’t lay it down” book called The Change Agent by Damon West, a young Texas man who spent time in prison learning about life—not just prison life but life as it is lived by all. While incarcerated, he learned there are two lines in life:

The line on the top is God’s line. It represents all the things He can touch and do. If we try to touch them, problems arise. We have to leave them to Him. Our over-involvement quickly becomes a source of frustration and sometimes disillusionment.

The bottom line is our line—the things we can change. Many situations will demand courage, humility, and self-discipline. Those virtues are admittedly in short supply today. That is why the things we can change are on the short line.

So we pray for those things that will help us address the changes that we can effect.

There are four things WE —you and me—can change and perhaps control:

1) What we think.

2) What we say.

3) What we feel.

4) What we do.

That’s basically our limit. Give everything else to God was Niebuhr’s point, I think. Knowing the difference is the wisdom we must pray for and develop. It will tell us when to say, “That’s not on my line!”

So when you are all balled up in a tight situation and trouble is staring you in the face, take a moment and pray this prayer. Let God soothe your nerves when He says, “Let me handle it.”

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New Bible manuscripts being found and digitized

CSNTM, the Center for the Studies of New Testament Manuscripts, was founded by Dr. Daniel Wallace, who serves as it Executive Director as well as Senior Research Professor of NT Studies at Dallas Theological Seminary. Dr. Wallace, is committed to following in the footsteps of the countless scribes who copied the New Testament for later generations. He leads his team to travel the world digitizing ancient manuscripts

CSNTM is committed to following in the footsteps of the countless scribes who copied the New Testament for later generations. As one scribe wrote at the end of his manuscript (pictured here, the colophon outlined in red and printed at right) more than one thousand years ago: “The hand that wrote this is rotting in the grave, but the letters remain until the fullness of the times.”

Dr. Wallace often posts a brief video about the manuscripts that ultimately brought the Word of God down to us. A recent post was dedicated to answering the question: “How many manuscripts did Erasmus use when he published the first critical edition of the Greek New Testament? It is only six minutes in length. It would be well worth a few minutes of your time to listen to this noted expert tell about the manuscripts that were available to Erasmus when he merged them to create the Greek New Testament. Over a hundred years and many editions later, that work would become known as the Textus Receptus, or Received Text. It would form the basis for Luther’s German NT and most of the early English Bibles, including the KJV. You will find it an interesting and helpful six minutes. Here is the link: https://www.csntm.org/2023/05/03/ask-the-prof-how-many-manuscripts-did-erasmus-use-when-he-published-the-first-critical-edition-of-the-greek-new-testament/

At right is a sample page from the Revelation manuscript used by Erasmus in creating the Greek New Testament in 1516.

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A visit with Kelsey Griffin

My wife and I enjoyed a recent visit with Bro. Griffin at his home in China Spring, TX, near Waco. We started our active ministry at the same time and are just a few months apart in age. His tenure as Instructor at Texas Bible College paralleled and overlapped mine. He was an amazing teacher and beloved by the students. His unique style lodged memories in the minds of all who heard him. After leaving TBC shortly after I retired in 1996, he traveled extensively at home and abroad teaching and sharing his wealth of Bible knowledge. He settled down in St. Paul, MN for several years to teach at Apostolic Bible Institute before retiring to Texas a few years ago.

Before returning to TBC as president in 1982, I was pastoring in Wichita Falls, TX. In 1979 we baptized twenty-three airmen from nearby Shepherd AFB. At least three of them became Apostolic ministers. One of them was James Fitts. After I returned to TBC, he and his wife came three years later after his tenure in the military. He then went to Anchorage, AK  and planted a church. He pastored for 32 years before turning it over to his son due to ill health. He visited us recently at Living Way Church in Conroe, TX. We had a wonderful time together turning the pages of our memories. Before he boarded a plane back to Alaska, he gave me a gift to pass on to Bro. Griffin.

A few days later, we drove to Bro. Griffin’s home and delivered it. What a great reunion. It had been several years since we had an opportunity to visit with him. Although he is wheelchair-bound, having broken both hips, he still communicates by phone text daily with scores of ministers who enjoy his scriptures and comments.

Bro. Griffin attends Bro. Steve Daywitt’s church in China Spring. He is given a few minutes each Sunday to share one of his scriptural nuggets with the congregation. The church, with financial and construction aid from former students and friends, built him a three room apartment not far from the church. We thank all  of you who helped make “a room for the prophet” possible, especially Steve and Leticia Daywitt.

Kelsey Griffin is a true soldier of the cross. Remember him when you pray.

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How intelligent are you?

According to some experts (definition: anyone fifty miles from home carrying a briefcase), there are four types of intelligence:

1) Intelligence Quotient (IQ)

2) Emotional Quotient (EQ)

3) Social Quotient (SQ)

4) Adversity Quotient (AQ)

1. Intelligence Quotient (IQ): this is the measure of your level of comprehension. You need IQ to reason, solve math, memorize things, and recall lessons.
2. Emotional Quotient (EQ): this is the measure of your ability to maintain peace with others, keep to time, be responsible, be honest, respect boundaries, be humble, genuine and considerate.
3. Social Quotient (SQ): this is the measure of your ability to build a network of friends and maintain it over a long period of time.

People that have higher EQ and SQ tend to go further in life than those with a high IQ but low EQ and SQ. Most schools capitalize on improving IQ levels while EQ and SQ are played down.

A man of high IQ can end up being employed by a man of high EQ and SQ even though he has an average IQ.

Your EQ represents your Character, while your SQ represents your Charisma. Give in to habits that will improve these three Qs, especially your EQ and SQ.

Now there is a 4th one, a new paradigm:

4. The Adversity Quotient (AQ): The measure of your ability to go through a rough patch in life, and come out of it without losing your mind.

When faced with troubles, AQ determines who might give up, who might abandon their family, and who would possibly consider suicide.

Parents please expose your children to other areas of life than just Academics. They should embrace manual labor (never use work as a form of punishment), sports and arts to some degree.

Develop their IQ, as well as their EQ, SQ and AQ. They should become multifaceted human beings able to do things independently of their parents.

Finally, do not prepare the road for your children. Prepare your children for the road.

(I will let our readers evaluate the wisdom and benefit of this article. It was excerpted from: https://cambrilearn.com/blog)

PS: You might ask yourself, which quotient do I personally need upgraded? Or, you may want to grade yourself on a 1-5 scale on each of the quotients.

You can also subscribe to Quora or join the Quaint Quibblers Quorum.

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Vaccine, anyone?

I recently spent a couple of days, not consecutively, in the hospital’s ER. They asked me twice about getting my vaccines—the Covid and the flu. I had to explain to them that I don’t volunteer for innoculations, unless it is required to go overseas to some country that is known for certain diseases and it is a requirement for a visa.

Florida Surgeon General has alerted us to the discovery of DNA fragments within Pfizer and Moderna Covid vaccines. And who knows what else? Has anyone noticed we’re running out of unproven conspiracy theories?

See attached letter and link below.

OSF Preprints | DNA fragments detected in monovalent and bivalent Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna modRNA COVID-19 vaccines from Ontario, Canada: Exploratory dose response relationship with serious adverse events.

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How the “evil” petroleum industry single-handedly saved the whales

Did you realize that THE PETROLEUM INDUSTRY SAVED THE WHALES? This is absolutely true. In the first half of the 19th century, the primary fuel for night time illumination was whale oil burned in lamps. Whales were hunted down and slaughtered by the thousands to provide this fuel. But in 1859, Colonel Drake drilled the first oil well in western Pennsylvania and the primary commercial product refined from crude oil at that time by refiners (including John D. Rockefeller in Cleveland) was kerosene, which was far more abundant, far cheaper and far easier to produce than whale oil. As a result, people stopped burning whale oil for light, the hunting of whales nearly stopped, and the populations were able to recover. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how the petroleum industry saved the whales. Next time, we’ll talk about how fossil fuels saved the forests of New England.

—Doug Kutilek, in “As I See It,” v20/4/23

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Views from the playpen

 Since the new year is often represented by babies, we decided to fall into line.

“I’m scheduled to speak at the Ladies’ Conference in a few years!”

“That was a very relaxing sermon! I will meditate on it for awhile.”

“Either shave that prickly beard or forget about a hug from me. Understood?”

Why some policemen retire early:

We used to call it a Snowman, but evidently not this one.

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Last Words

• Today, I am marked safe from attending Harvard, and Columbia, and Cornell, and Yale, and…well, any university that has “Ivy” in its description or “State” in its name. How about you?

• “Regarding the current pool of women heading Ivy League universities, there are very smart women in the academic marketplace, but apparently they have to dumb down the pool when the selection process comports with the leftist DEI narrative.” – Mark Alexander

• For those seeking a copy of William Penn’s booklet on Oneness titled The Sandy Foundation Shaken, it can be bought on Amazon or read free at https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Sandy_Foundation_Shaken/MsEItVQQUOoC?hl=en&gbpv=1&pg=PR6&printsec=frontcover

F. F. Bruce had a way with words:

“Steadfast adherence to the apostles’ teaching, and not the production of an impressive pedigree, is the best evidence of being built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets.”

“It is a vain thing for Christian individuals or groups to imagine that they can better attain to the fullness of spiritual maturity if they isolate themselves from their fellow-believers.” – The Epistle to the Ephesians (London: Pickering & Inglis, Ltd. 1961);  pp. 57,68.

* HAPPY NEW YEAR to all our subscribers and contacts. If you know of someone who may like to be on our notification list, please share this post with them and encourage them to subscribe.

Let’s all go to Heaven and have a good time on the way!

JREnsey