Future Patriarchs

R.G. with cousin Emma, who turned 1 last week.

Matthew with his 4 month old cousin William.

“Polls indicate that the typical high school male laughs at the idea of giving up his seat on a lifeboat to help a woman or child. In a society that promotes “survival of the fittest,” aborts its young, and thrives on androgyny, this should not surprise us, but it should grieve our hearts.” Doug Phillips, Vision Forum.

And it does grieve our hearts. Out and about in the culture, I am constantly amazed at the boldness and audacity of young men when it comes to brashness and coarseness. There seems to be no restraint and no level to which they will not stoop.

Of course, the world does not understand that this overt behavior is simply the outworking of evolutionary thinking – if there is no Creator to Whom we are accountable, then why concern ourselves with acting civilly? Why let anyone restrain our behavior? Who cares about the younger ones watching our lives and learning from our examples?

Thank God, thank God for the different generation He is raising up!! What a blessing it is to see the young men in our family l-o-v-v-v-e to be with and tote around babies! As I watch the older grandsons with babies – their own siblings or the baby cousins, especially – my heart is so blessed and touched by their gentle strength. They would never disappoint the little ones by lowering their standard of discourse to that of the crude culture around them. Oh, they are boys, for sure, but they are patriarchs in the making, and they are quick to catch occasional slips. Thank God for His patient forebearance and for godly parents who are His tools to shape and mold them for the furtherance of His kingdom. God bless you, boys! You are the hope of our family for the future!!

Gentle Doctrine

Danny has been reading to me from Deuteronomy in the evenings, and what a blessing it has been! Then this morning, when the school-aged grandchildren were here for “Monday School” (Grandmother and older granddaughters do Latin, Spanish, FL History, Art, Music with them), he shared from Deut. 32 with them for our usual devotions. Such a refreshing blessing is God’s Word – especially when shared by our family patriarch!

Deut. 32:2 “My doctrine shall drop as the rain, my speech shall distil as the dew, as the small rain upon the tender herb, and as the showers upon the grass:”

Danny had the children look out the door and observe the dew on the grass – how gently it forms and distills. He shared with them about the best rain for the grapefruit grove being the gentle, steady, soft, or “small”, as the verse describes it. It comes almost “line upon line, precept upon precept”, rather than beating down like a hurricane.

When doctrine comes into the good soil of our hearts like the sweet dew and small rain, it makes a lasting impact, it becomes a part of our very being. Oh, yes, there is a time for the driving force of the rain and storm – we experienced 3 hurricanes in the 2004 season. It was a rare thing for our area in Florida, since we are 40 – 50 miles from either coast. Charlie, the first and most powerful, did the most “damage” to our area. But Charlie did a lot of pruning and uprooting of dead and unproductive trees. Sometimes, the storm is needed as a serious cleansing time.

But most of life, physical and spiritual, is ordinary, and the growing and nourishing time is gentle and continual. What a blessing to be nourished by the Lord on His good Word! And how it makes us cognizant of the need for us as parents to be about the business of sprinkling good doctrine into the lives of our children in a steady, regular, gentle way – line upon line and precept upon precept, here a little and there a little. This business of raising godly seed is a commitment, not to be completed in a quick sprint. It is a process that requires our presence and our heart attention.

Thank you, Lord, for your “clearly seen” Word and for its good fruit in the lives of your precious children!

Gracie's Essay

I trust you were as blessed by Sarah's sincere essay as I was. This is Gracie. If I didn't know of the inscrutable sovereignty of Almighty God, I would declare that she was born in the wrong century! What a gift she has as a storyteller! She regales her younger sisters with delightful tales of Celtic history, especially that of Scotland. Well, in this essay, she incorporates that love of history with her desire to see God's truth become known everywhere.

SO NOBLE A WORKE
by Virginia Grace

“The heart of him that hath understanding seeketh knowledge, but the mouth of fools feedeth on foolishness.” Proverbs 15:14

This verse aptly describes many of today’s scholars, historians, and men of wise renown, particularly in regard to their treatment of the beginning of our country – the first successful English colony on American soil – Jamestown, Virginia. Many wish to disgrace and forget that significant milestone in our history through dishonest and deceitful fabrications concerning our founders, their actions and intents, and their treatment of the native tribes. Today’s Americans are resentful and ashamed of the proudly-proclaimed Christianity, vigorous manhood, and devout faith of our fathers. While there were blunders and mistakes made by the Jamestown colonists, these imperfections should only compel us to a more profound gratitude for the mercy of the Lord for allowing Jamestown to survive and for His providence in the lives of these determined forefathers. It is our duty as Christians and Americans to counter these attacks on our nation’s heritage. The world’s warped teachings must be refuted.

One of the most common misunderstandings concerning Jamestown and her people is the motive behind their colonization of Virginia. “Jamestown was marked by failure of commitment and an atmosphere of greed. They were motivated by secular goals of finding gold,” states John Godwin, author of Freedom Works, who is one of the many foes of Jamestown. “Those who founded Jamestown had a pirate mentality. The motivation of those who settled in Jamestown was one of easy wealth” While it is true that the Virginia Company was colonizing as a “joint stockholding company” for the purpose of "making a profit," it was not the colonists’ chief motivation in settling.

The first and foremost purpose mentioned in the 1606 charter was to spread the Christian religion. “Wee, greately commending and graciously accepting of their desires to the furtherance of so noble a worke which may, by the providence of Almighty God, hereafter tend to the glory of His Divine Majesty to such people as yet live in darkness and miserable ignorance of the true knowledge and worship of God and may in time bring the infidels and salvages (sic) living in those parts to humane civility and to a settled and quiet government…” This passage plainly states the Company’s desire to bring those “as yet live in darkness” into the radiant glory of God. In light of this, the prevalent assumption of the colonists’ greed and materialism as their primary objective is entirely unfounded, and is, in reality, refuted by all substantial and verifiable evidence.

Another flawed belief concerns the character of Captain John Smith. There are those who seek to blemish the high regard with which he has been, in previous years, esteemed. Across America, John Smith is being attacked and condemned; schoolchildren are being taught that this devout, steadfast, and valiant man of God was a merciless dictator who abused and mistreated the American Indian to an alarming degree.
The Daily Press, a Newport News, Virginia-based newspaper, recently presented this query: “In his dealings with Virginia Indians, was John Smith an accomplished trader or a robber?” The answer from The Daily Press: a robber. Their reliable source? A recently published book, The True Story of Pocahontas: The Other Side of History, by Dr. Linwood “Little Bear” Custalow, which opens in a prayer to “the spirit gods,” otherwise known as demons. Custalow states that the Princess Pocahontas was physically abused and foully murdered, in the midst of which shocking handling she was converted to Christianity by force. It portrays Smith as a deceitful, two-faced scoundrel. This is the volume upon which thousands of Americans have based their opinions of one of America’s most influential and heroic founders.

Captain Smith has also been reported to be a “braggart,” a “liar,” and many other such epithets. Nearly all early historians, however, and the majority of his contemporaries, never questioned his honor or truthfulness. In his book of 1992, Did Pocahontas Save Captain John Smith?, author Leo Lemay stated, "Dozens of contemporaries testified that Smith was honest and truthful. Not one critic or enemies (sic) denied it." There are even now some modern writers who choose to follow through with extensive research, and by doing so, stick to the true facts. Phillip Barbour, a modern day defender of Smith, states in his book The Three Worlds of Captain John Smith, “Let it be said that nothing John Smith wrote has yet been found to be a lie.”

Smith’s veracity was first extensively questioned when, in his 1858 History of New England, John Gorham Palfrey was “haunted by incredulity” concerning some of the Captain’s adventures. Charles Deane, Boston merchant and historian, looked further into the matter and decided that Smith was a notorious liar and braggart who had invented the story of his rescue by Pocahontas after the lapse of many years. These, and many others, based their conclusions upon the fact that Smith only made known his extraordinary rescue after the death of Pocahontas, Powhatan, and any others who could have protested against the story. However, this is not, in its entirety, true. Smith wrote of the account in 1617, some years before the death of Princess Pocahontas, in a letter to Queen Anne, begging her to receive Pocahontas in a royal way, stating, as one of his reasons, Pocahontas’ saving of his (Smith’s) life.

The battle over John Smith continued over the centuries until Smith was nearly blotted out by an overseas strike from Hungarian historian and journalist, Lewis L. Kropf. In 1890, Kropf stated that he had researched the people, battles, and locations cited in Smith’s accounts of his Turkish experiences, and that none of them even existed. He asserted that there was not any foundation whatsoever to believe that Smith had ever journeyed to southeast Europe at all, much less been a wartime hero of great renown. Kropf published many original documents disproving Smith’s report; unfortunately, however, each of them appeared in Kropf’s native language, so British and American scholars, unable to re-examine the obscure Hungarian documents Kropf cited, took him at his word. They were stunned and shocked. Their logical reasoning questioned Smith’s account of his colonial narratives. If his pre-Virginian chronicles could be such falsehoods, what cause had they to trust his latter works?

Smith’s admirers shriveled into obscurity with Kropf’s incriminating attack upon their hero. Once more, however, a lady came to the aid of John Smith. Hungarian historian Laura Polanyi Striker vindicated America’s slandered champion. She proved that Smith had not conjured up men, women, and battles for the mere purpose of promoting himself. No, she found, through extensive research, that the truth of the matter was that Smith, like so many Englishmen before and since, had a genius, if not a passion, for misspelling foreign names.

The Lord “Ebersbaught,” who gained him a hearing with “Henry Volda, Earl of Meldritch,” turned out to be one Carl von Herbertsdorf. “Volda” was actually Folta, one of a number of noble families which had been given domains near the place where the battles Smith described were fought. In reality, Smith knew exactly of what he spoke, down to the smallest detail.

To use the logical thinking, which was stated above, in reverse, it would be quite rational to assume that if his writings concerning his southeastern Europe affairs were so detailed and accurate, the same would apply to his Virginia Narratives. Therefore, Captain Smith remains one of America’s greatest heroes and one of the world’s most astounding men.

Children all over the Earth have viewed, enjoyed, and believed the story of Pocahontas, the 1995 Disney production. This movie, however, as well as the common impression of the Princess Matoaka Pocahontas, is, by all accurate and upright standards, an absolute falsehood from beginning to end. Pocahontas begins its errors with portraying Pocahontas as a lovely Indian woman, in the prime of life, at the time of her saving of Smith’s life. In actual fact, she was no more than 13 years old. In his letter to Queen Anne in 1617, Smith writes, “…the king’s most dear and well-beloved daughter, being but a child of twelve or thirteen years of age… hazarded the beating out of her own brains to save mine…”
Likewise, her relationship with John Smith was of a father-daughter character. When Pocahontas crossed paths with Smith in England in the year 1616, she rejoiced at finding her “father,” and when he objected to the title, she defiantly replied: "…I should call you father: I tell you I will, and you shall call mee childe, and so I will be for ever and ever your Countrieman..." There is absolutely no evidence which supports the idea of a romantic relationship between Smith and Pocahontas, contrary to what Pocahontas the movie and countless books, plays, and other productions would have us believe.

Another erroneous belief is quite the reverse of the romantic Pocahontas myth; this is the theory supported in the previously mentioned The True Story of Pocahontas: The Other Side of History. It does bear one similarity, however; both are false. Pocahontas was kidnapped, but even in the midst of that disgraceful seizure, she was treated as the royalty she was. Disregarding that instance, Pocahontas was never ill-treated. Nay, she was loved and cheered by the Englishmen whenever she visited their settlement, and later, in England. The name by which she was called at Jamestown was “Nonpareil,” from the French, its meaning being “unequaled.” The English considered her the savior of their colony; their unequaled champion – Pocahontas.

Another false statement given in The True Story is that, as a stipulation for her freedom, she consented to a marriage with the Englishman, John Rolfe. Many have also questioned Rolfe’s motives in approaching Pocahontas. According to all evidence, however, Pocahontas loved and was loved in return by John Rolfe. In his letter to the governor, requesting his permission to marry the Princess Pocahontas, Rolfe writes, “To whom my heart and best thoughts are, and have a long time bin so intagled, and inthralled in so intricate a laborinth, that I was even awearied to unwinde my selfe thereout… namely, Pokahuntas.” Rolfe was awearied to try to entangle his feelings for Pocahontas, so deep were they. A further section states his assurance of her regard for him. “…Likewise, adding hereunto her great appearance of love to me…”

Later on, Rolfe asserts his good and holy intentions. “…But knowing mine own innocency and godly fervor…” Another place, “Let therefore this, my …protestation, which here I make between God and my own conscience, be a sufficient witness…if my chiefest intent and purpose be not… no way led (so far forth as mans weakness may permit) with the unbridled desire of carnal affection: but for the good of this plantation, for the honour of our country, for the glory of God, for my own salvation, and for the converting to the true knowledge of God and Jesus Christ, an unbelieving creature, namely Pocahontas.”

Virginia's Gov. Dale not only endorsed Rolfe's request, but he blessed the marriage and later sought to marry a converted Indian woman for himself. And so, in the year of our Lord, 1614, two warring nations were joined together, in the persons of John Rolfe and the Princess Matoaka Pocahontas – the Englishman’s Nonpareil.

In conclusion, the fools of whom Proverbs speaks are they who deny our Christian heritage and the rich, godly culture of those Virginian founders. The Jamestown settlers were imperfect, and they had their “warts, bumps, and bruises…,” but, on the whole, God’s Providential Hand was wholly evident in Jamestown. “…for every plantation which our heavenly father hath not planted shall be rooted out.” Our Heavenly Father did plant Jamestown, and, as such, we must preserve it against the attacks of the world and seek out the true knowledge.

Sarah's Essay

Sarah's essay reveals her serious nature . . . she contemplates principles and how God intends them to apply to life. God will use this gift to bless her family for generations to come.

“What Mean These Stones?”
By Sarah Elisabeth

It was the heat of summer, August 1864, and thousands of men crowded, with little shelter, food or clean water, inside the Confederate prison in Andersonville. Georgia. Many died every day, crying out for water. In the corner, a small group of men were seen praying, beseeching the Lord to intervene and deliver them. They would continue to pray for clean, fresh water until they died of thirst, or God answered their prayers. After some time, a storm appeared on the horizon. Bolts of lightning ripped the sky, and rain poured down. Suddenly, there came a blinding flash, and a tremendous roar shook the ground. Looking quickly toward the sound, what a sight met the eyes of the weary men! Flowing from the ground was a spring of fresh water!
Almost from the time the stream came forth, the men christened it “Providence Spring,” for it was truly the providence of God that was bestowed that day. In 1901, a stone house was erected on the site, bearing this inscription. "The prisoner's cry of thirst rang up to heaven. God heard, and with his thunder cleft the earth and poured his sweetest waters gushing here.” On another side of the building, it reads, “God smote the hillside and gave them drink, August 16, 1864.”
Throughout history, there is seen a pattern of God’s people erecting monuments to His faithfulness. This act is essential to the preservation of history and the advance of Christian civilization down through the generations.
The Old Testament gives us the biblical basis for the raising up of “Ebenezer” stones. In Genesis 22, the Lord tested Abraham’s faith, by asking him to sacrifice his son. When the Lord saw that Abraham was a faithful and willing servant, he provided a lamb to take the place of Isaac on the altar. Abraham called the place “Jehovah-jireh”, or “The Lord Provided”, in remembrance of what the Lord had done there. That became a proverbial phrase, passed down through the generations of Abraham’s descendants, as they remembered what God had done.
In Genesis 32, as Jacob was running from his brother Esau, an angel came from heaven and wrestled with Jacob. The Lord crippled Jacob, and the angel won the match. Jacob was humbled and was given the courage to turn and meet his brother. As a memorial, Jacob named the place “Peniel”, “The Face of God.”
Again, in Joshua 4, the Lord parted the Jordan River and allowed His people to cross over on dry land. Joshua instructed one man from every tribe of Israel to take up a stone from the midst of the Jordan and carry it over to the other side. When all had crossed, Joshua set the stones in a place of remembrance. He built a memorial where the priests, which bore the Ark of the Covenant, had stood. “That this may be a sign among you, that when your children ask their fathers in time to come, saying, What mean ye by these stones? Then ye shall answer them, That the waters of Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of the Lord; when it passed over Jordan, the waters of Jordan were cut off: and these stones shall be a memorial unto the children of Israel for ever.” (Joshua 4:6,7)
This custom is not only seen in biblical days; examples can be found in more recent history as well. For example, the laying of the Magna Carta stone at Runnymede in 1957 commemorated the signing of the Magna Carta by King John of England. Also, in 1965, an oak tree was planted on Jamestown Island in Virginia to commemorate the 750th anniversary of the sealing of the Magna Carta.
On December 21, 1620, a boatload of weary travelers rowed from the Mayflower to the shore of Massachusetts. Once on dry ground, William Bradford led them in a prayer of praise and thanksgiving to the Lord. They knelt only a few feet from the Plymouth Rock. This huge slab of stone stands as a reminder of God’s providential care in bringing the Pilgrims safely to the Massachusetts shore.
The year 2007 is the 400th anniversary of the founding of Jamestown, Virginia, the birthplace of the American republic. For the last 200 years, Americans have acknowledged God’s providential goodness with celebrations and laying of monuments for the generations to come. In 1807, Revolutionary war hero, John Tyler, and his 17-year-old son John Jr. stood by the James River remembering what God had done for their ancestors at Jamestown 200 years before. President John Tyler, no longer known as John Jr., was a keynote speaker for the 250th jubilee celebration in 1857. In 1907, the Tercentenary observance saw one in every twenty-nine Americans travel to Virginia to honor the settlers of Jamestown and their faith in God. Notables such as President Theodore Roosevelt himself, Booker T. Washington, Mark Twain, William Jennings Bryan and John Tyler’s own son, Lyon Gardiner Tyler attended with over three million other Americans. The 350th commemoration was graced by the presence of Queen Elizabeth II of England. Many memorials, inscribed with Holy Scriptures, were established during these celebrations to insure that the mighty acts of God would never be forgotten.
Is God’s hand in America’s history still remembered today? In this era of political correctness, the culture appears to be more concerned with tearing down the ancient landmarks that proclaim God’s faithfulness. It is ignoring and re-interpreting what God has done for His people to bring them to where they are today. During Jamestown’s official 400th government-sponsored commemoration, the word “celebration” was banned. "You can't celebrate an invasion," Mary Wade, an influential Jamestown 2007 Commemoration planner and Indian activist, stated.
In spite of this discouraging outlook, however, there is hope. A new generation of young believers is being raised up today, and they understand the importance of passing on their godly heritage to their own descendants by erecting memorials, as illustrated in Psalm 78:6,7, “That the generation to come might know them (God’s wonderful works), even the children which should be born; who should arise and declare them to their children: That they might set their hope in God, and forget not the works of God, but keep his commandments.”
For months, multitudes of grateful American children saved their pennies for a monument to commemorate the founding of America in Jamestown and God’s providence through the years. On June 15, thousands of these children and their families gathered beside the James River to see the memorial unveiled on the grounds of President John Tyler’s estate. Carrying on the Tyler legacy, Harrison Tyler, grandson of President Tyler, served as Grand Marshal for the event. Beneath the granite stone was buried a time capsule containing the names of every child who made the occasion possible. Also inside were placed letters from faithful fathers, written to their grandchildren. In 2107, on the 500th anniversary of Jamestown, that capsule will be opened.
Just as Psalms 145:4 states, “One generation shall praise thy works to another, and shall declare thy mighty acts,” the children and grandchildren of those who gathered on the banks of the James for the 400th anniversary will listen to the stories of God’s faithfulness that were passed down from their fathers and grandfathers.
God’s people are admonished in Proverbs 22:28, “Remove not the ancient landmark, which thy fathers have set.” Looking back at the memorials throughout the past, God’s hand is evident throughout all of history. It is impossible to deny that the Lord has been with His people wherever they have been. If the truth is destroyed, there is room for revisionist history. If God’s people neglect to acknowledge and document God’s providence in their lives, past and present, accurate history will be forgotten, and the truth will no longer be told.
All Christians must remember those old landmarks. As a grateful people, they must reclaim them by celebrating and raising stones of remembrance to proclaim for generations the greatness of God in the founding of a Christian nation! It is a necessity that God’s people recognize the importance and significance of erecting memorials in remembrance of what God has done. It is imperative that history not be tainted and God’s faithfulness not be forgotten. "

Sarah Elisabeth

Telling to the Generations to Come . . .

Sweet Gracie and Sarah Beth -- sisters who love to express what God has done in their lives!

Last week, I was privileged to spend two evenings in a most exhausting, yet pleasant enterprise. (Oh, my stars! Gracie is rubbing off on me!) Sisters Sarah Beth and Gracie decided to enter the current Homeschooling Today magazine essay contest. The topic in general was the Vision Forum Jamestown celebration in June, with each entrant able to choose a direction of interest to himself or herself. It was this grandmother’s absolute joy to be asked to help with organizing thoughts and proofreading.

Sarah felt compelled to talk about the importance of God’s people raising up stones of remembrance to God’s faithfulness. Then when future generations ask, “what mean these stones”, we can share the story with them and strengthen their faith. She gave examples from biblical history and the history of the founding of America. One of those memorials is Providence Spring at the Civil War prison at Andersonville, Georgia. As a family, we hope to be able to visit this memorial in October when we take a trip to Ft. Benning.

“Earnest” would be my adjective for Sarah’s writing style. She takes each opportunity to share with others very seriously. What an impression this topic has made on her, and what a good job she did of expressing her desire to be vigilant in carrying forth the memory of the hand of God on His people!

Gracie’s topic of choice was the importance of refuting the current politically-correct mis-information about the purposes for the founding of the Jamestown settlement. She stressed the need to be careful of our sources and especially to make every effort to make decisions based on primary sources.

Gracie tends to . . . well, let me say that Gracie is the most prolific reader I have ever known. She has read many older classics twice and tends to appreciate books far above what most people think of as 15-year-old fare. So her writing tends to be 18th or 19th century-leaning. It is delightfully quaint and usually flowery (thus the parenthetical remark in the first paragraph!). She is learning to restrain herself and reign in her desire to use up every allowable word!

Kitty, who is now 18, has been our most prolific writer in times past, easily taking a story premise and turning it into a creative work of fiction in no time. But lately . . . well, let’s say the winds of change are blowing, and Kitty has taken to buckling down to her graduation requirements. She is looking forward to the possibilities of the new season she is entering, and she just didn’t think she could take the time to write an essay.

I will ask the girls if I may post their essays, because I know they would be a blessing to many. They certainly have been a blessing to this grandmother! Thank you, Lord, for precious young ladies who love to share what You have laid upon their hearts.