October 14,
2017
Friday night we parked at the
Norwich SDA Church. We connected to
water there and enjoyed showers! Sabbath
we had a wonderful service and potluck.
The head elder and his wife took us to a park for a walk through their
beautiful woods. We stopped at the top of their Misery Mountain on a slab of
rock and talked. Their “mountain” was
about 50 feet tall and 0.5 mile long trail; I chuckled to myself. Then we went back to their house and had a
wonderful vespers, pizza, and popcorn before they took us back to our motorhome
at the church parking lot.
October 15,
2017
Sunday we headed to Mystic
Connecticut. It was a huge shipbuilding
community in the late 1800’s. We went to
the largest Maritime Museum in the U.S. and were able to see and board lots of
old restored ships. We learned a lot
about the whaling industry of the late 1800’s.
More puzzle pieces started coming together. The industrialization of America caused a
need for huge amounts of oil to run the engines and light the factories. Whaling was a pretty gruesome and dangerous
work a sailor would only return home about once every 3 years. Whaling was quickly
causing populations of whales to become extinct. Whaling ended when petroleum was discovered
for the use of oil and electricity was used to light the factories.
INDUSTRIALIZATION
We are truly seeing how much industrialization changed the world. First, it caused the family to leave the farm
and no longer be self-sufficient. Next,
it caused women and many times children to leave the home to go to work. Pay and working conditions usually weren’t
that good. It caused people to leave the
country life and move into cities increasing crime and decreasing quality of
life. The people who benefited were the
select families who owned the factories who became mass millionaires/billionaires
and lived in these gilded mansions we saw October 13. And those people ended up with immorality and
mental illness. Fast forwarded to our
age today: We are being working in/being
trained for jobs that usually do not directly impact meeting our needs for
daily life. We have lost the
knowledge/ability to care for our needs and must rely on the government and on
the leaders of this industrialized world who are benefiting financially from
the laborer’s hard work. The family is
divided as kids go to school and all learn and compete for the same jobs in
this industrialized world rather than to be inventors and entrepreneurs
themselves. The mother is left to go to
work to support the family while continuing to keep her jobs of housekeeping
and feeding the family. And in the end,
nobody is left to train up the next generation to be a blessing and have a
solid foundation and sense of purpose in their life, and so our social society
is falling apart.
This causes me to think of my own life.
Are there “things” in my life I covet and I think would bring me
happiness? And yet in my experience it
is truly the free and simple things in life that have brought me the most
pleasure. When we dream, work hard, and
complete a job that is when we find satisfaction. The best tasting food is what comes from our
gardens and our own hard labor. Why are
we always searching for some advance object to bring us the most
happiness? True happiness is found in
Christ alone – and His ways He gave us in the Garden of Eden are simple. To build our own homes, grow our own food,
and enjoy the fruits of our labor along with the relationships of those close
to us. This is my desire – to enjoy the
simple pleasures of life.
October 16,
2017
Ok, your clue for today is we
went to a president’s home who married his fifth cousin, and thus she did not
have to change her name when they married.
Where did we go? President
Franklin Roosevelt’s home in Hudson Valley in the state of New York. Remember the gilded age of Newport, Rhode
Island? Well, we found out why they were
only in Newport 6-8 weeks in their mansions there. They also had mansions in Hudson Valley where
they stayed for the Spring and Fall. I
am now guessing we will found their winter mansions down south further on our
trip… While in Hudson Valley we went
through a very detailed museum about FDR’s life and all the history that went
on during his presidency. We learned a
lot about the depression and World War II.
I realized that as I learned history throughout my school years, I have
always learned it as periods of time. I
never realized the relationship between all these different events. It was the industrialization of America (when
Americans left the farms and went into the cities and specifically the
factories) that caused the gilded age, the depression (which I discovered was
worldwide not just in the U.S. I am
really curious to go back and study European history to see what caused their depression
but I have a pretty safe guess I think….
Industrialization.) This
depression set the stage for dictators to arise in other countries promising a
better way and thus lead to World War II.
In the U.S. instead of dictators arising, we had the “government” arise
who to solve the problem began printing paper money that meant nothing,
creating jobs for people who they gave this printed money to, and providing
welfare, social security, and unemployment (more printed money with no
value). Their reasoning was that every
human being DESERVES a fair life – ie. Everyone deserves to have money. This was in direct violation of the Bible who
says “He who does not work shall not eat” and in direct violation of what our
country was founded on – the principle that each person can come to America and
find himself an opportunity to provide for himself. What really shocked me though was while
people in America and around the world were starving, do you know what FDR
did? He paid farmers to not farm their
land. Yes, I typed that correctly…. He paid farmers to not farm their land. Why?
Because the price of food was so low because nobody had money (well,
except the rich owners of the factories) – and so he paid them to not farm so
it would force the price of food to increase.
As I thought upon all this it brings me back to Genesis. The first few chapters has the answers to
everything in life – who created us? Why
do we wear clothes? What is sin? What
were we created to eat? And even what
kind of lifestyle are we to have? The
answer: we were made to garden. FDR said
that America had no safety net for financial problems and that is why the
depression arose. Well, if Americans
still lived on their farms, or even in town with a little garden, their safety
net (the garden) would cost only a few dollars a year in seed and would ensure
the family did not starve to death. The
trees on their property would ensure the family had a shelter and a warm fire
in the winter. What other safety net do
we need? Oh God, you are so simple,
profound, and wonderful, and yet we are so ignorant, stubborn, rebellious, and
selfish. Please forgive us! At the end of my time at this excellent
museum, although they pushed a very different view with the facts, I realized
the importance of Americans living a simple farm life.
I think the depression was a
warning from God. A chance for America
to relook at their roots, their values, what made them great, and change before
it was too late. Unfortunately, we did
not look at the root of the problem and fix it.
We simply looked at the fruit of the problem and found a fake method to “fix”
it. Our fruit has been growing for
years, it is now overripe, and ready to explode with rotten slime.
Ok, onto something
positive. I was really inspired by a
part of FDR’s personal life. After he
started his political career (which was very young in life) he contracted polio
and was severely crippled from his waist down.
He spent years trying to find a cure but was unable. One day he came out to the drive that entered
his estate (About ¼ mile long) and decided he was going to “walk it.” He used two crutches and drug his body down
the entire path collapsing at the end.
He was determined he was not going to let polio ruin his life. He then entered politics again while always
doing what it took to not allow anyone to take a picture of him in his
wheelchair. He would stand holding onto
the podium (government officials would have to go ahead of him and bolt the
podiums to the floor), holding onto his son’s arm, or to a pole. He said the only thing to fear was fear
itself. I would agree except before it I
would put “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.” But if we fear the Lord, we have nothing else
in this world to fear. With God in
control, the future is bright before us.
I was saddened at the end to see
that his wife and him although they began a very loving relationship, one that
was so “loving” he even married against his very-controlling mother’s wishes, within
a few years they were both having affairs and while sticking close to use each
other for their individual political advancement. Oh, how one can be successful in the eyes of
others, and yet fail in their own homes – in their foundations. And what was even sadder to me is that it was
their daughter who for decades secretively planned her father’s secret rendezvous
with his mistress saying that it improved his moods. Oh how we are deceived as
to what brings us pleasure in life and deceived as to the very definition of
what pleasure is! Lord help us!
We ate a quick lunch and hit the
road flying. We made it with 5 minutes
to spare at West Point (where they train the top officers in the Army.) We visited a gorgeous church that has the
largest pipe organ in a church in North America. Oh, how we all longed to play that! We also saw gorgeous stain glassed windows
inside the beautifully crafted stone church that sits on the top of the
hill. Below were their green fields for
sports and marching. West Point sits on
the outside of a beautiful bend in the Hudson River. It was a military strategic point throughout
several wars. While there the tour
operator asked several questions such as who was General MacArthur and why
there were 13 chain links preserved for viewing from the original chain that
stretched across the entire river to block ships. The boys answered his questions. He was shocked. He said that many tours he leads not a single
person knows this and he has been wondering what kids are taught in
school. He said he was comforted by
their knowledge. I think when we told
him they were homeschooled though it just furthered his theory. What is American education these days? IDK, but I wish every American could go on a
tour across the country like we are at my age and after reading the Bible and
EGW.
HISTORY
REPEATS ITSELF
For those of us who read
Revelation and think “How could the U.S.
ever bow to the Pope of the Catholic Church to lead our country and allow him
to enact a Sunday law? I saw it so
clearly today. History repeats itself… when the great depression fell across the
entire earth in the early 1900’s, people were so desperate for hope and their
needs of survival, that when a charming dictator came around who was willing to
meet all their needs in exchange for their allegiance and blind faith, people
by the thousands gave their undivided allegiance. FDR’s policies may have saved America from
the depression in the 30’s, but I fear it was only a bandaid, or a stint to the
heart, and it is ready to explode. We
are now living in the gilded age again when there are large businesses selling
goods in mass that really are not required for survival. People are receiving paychecks of printed
paper that truly have no value, and Americans have left their farms where they
are able to provide for themselves.
I have been studying Daniel in
depth the last month so here is another interesting note that fits in. In Daniel 7:25, when God describes the Roman
Catholic Church, he says they will attempt to change law and time. Attempt – is because he will not actually
change the law of God eventhough he will change the law of man. But what law is the only law that deals with
time? The Sabbath. Also, it is interesting to note that the
Roman Catholic Church says that the fact that Protestant churches keep Sunday
is their proof of allegiance to the Roman Catholic Church. So it is the Sunday law that the Roman
Catholic Church has used for over a thousand years to “prove” their authority
and it will be the same in the final test on earth in the final moments of
earth’s history. EGW says that in those times
those who live in the country and have a garden will live better than those in
the cities. It was the exact same in
World War II, and I see how it will be the same very soon, when the end of
times come.
JESUS IS
COMING AGAIN SOON! (You have been saying
that for a century!)
When I study history I see all
these events as happening so quickly – the farm age turned to the industrialization
age with the gilded age turned to depression, turned to World War II, etc. It all seems to roll right into each
other. As I study the wars I think in my
mind how quickly these battles ensued and the world was changed through the
revolutionary war, civil war, etc. But
when I stop to read the dates, I am shocked to see these wars lasted for years
and these time periods lasted for decades!
Some may wonder how we can be saying for so long “Jesus is coming soon!” It is the same way – all the signs are
building up, the world is changing, the stage is being set, and in that moment
prophecy will be fulfilled. His delay
does not show anything wrong, His delay is to allow all the events to play
themselves out. According to the parable
of the tares and wheat, He is waiting for his faithful wheat and the
hypocritical tares to reach their full fruit so that the truth and the false is
clearly seen by all beyond a doubt. What
is Jesus waiting for to come? For us to
come to Him and by His grace ripen into His full fruit – fully reflecting His
true character. Seem impossible? When I plant those little seeds in my garden
it seems impossible. But if I water them
daily and fertilize them and allow God’s sunshine to shine upon them, I reap
amazingly delicious fruit after months of attention – and in that moment it is
worth it! Heaven is cheap enough!
October 17,
2017
The night before we drove in the
late evening into New Jersey, just across the harbor from New York City. This is the best place for a motorhome so you
can avoid New York City Traffic, but simply take a 5 minute ferry and be in
lower Manhattan. As we drove in it was
beautiful to see the statue of liberty and the city lit up. On Tuesday morning we woke for our long day
in New York City – the rush to see everything important in only 1 day. We took a ferry to the Statue of Liberty
first. It was a lot smaller to all of us
than we thought, but it was still cool.
Did you know it is made of copper the thickness of a penny and attached
to a structure underneath that was built by Mr. Eiffel? The goal was for the French and Americans to
come together and edify liberty.
Next we went to Ellis Island and
toured where so many of the immigrants came through. (Yes, this is a separate island than where
the Statue of Liberty is.) It was quite
a task. Huge ships were coming over from Europe with thousands of immigrants on
them. Many of them had contagious
diseases, most of them spoke no English, and there were thousands of them in a
day to process. On one day alone they
processed over 5,000! The museum made it
sound as though these immigrants were treated very harshly because of their
cramped courters on the boats. (They
didn’t mention this was better conditions than they had in their native
countries where they were starving to death and that they chose this.) They talked about how many were turned around
because of America’s prejudice in not accepting sick immigrants. (They didn’t mention if they had let them
pass what would have happened to America’s health – and it was in very small
letters that the health exam lasted less than 10 seconds because of how many
there were, and that only 2% of immigrants were denied.) They said immigrants were treated like cattle
and an example given of inhumane treatment was that tags were pinned onto
people’s clothes that would say what trains they were taking and where they
were going. (They didn’t mention that
they did this because these people didn’t speak a word of English, they were
leaving the interpreters that were provided at the immigration center to board trains
headed for all over the U.S. and so there wouldn’t be anybody who could
understand them to help them get on the correct train. By having tags with the names of the cities
on them, people could help them get on their correct trains.)
We ate a quick sack lunch while
taking another ferry to New York City.
We took the subway into Central Park.
It was so beautiful! We thoroughly
enjoyed walking around, climbing on gigantic rocks, and taking a row boat onto
one of the many lakes. It was much
bigger and more beautiful than I had ever imagined! I just wanted to stay there! But, we couldn’t find a vegetarian hot dog
and we were getting hungry, and we wanted to go to the 911 Memorial before it
closed its doors.
We arrived at the 911
Memorial. They had two GIGANTIC square
holes in the ground that were fountains coming from the outside, and within
each of the squares was another square with a fountain tumbling down so that we
could not see the bottom. These were
placed in the place where each of the twin towers was. We went to the line and were told on Tuesdays
there are free tickets and they are all handed out in the morning and gone by
10am with nobody else allowed in afterward.
We were nice and talked to the lady and were able to get in. The museum went under one of these square
holes and showed the very foundation of one of the towers along with the
staircase that people used in evacuating.
We went through the museum. It
was sobering; there were many gruesome pictures and videos such as the people
jumping out of the top levels. What was
the most amazing to all of us however was how accurately EGW prophesied this
100 years earlier when these towers didn’t even exist.
EGW
PROPHECY – Testimonies Volume 9 beginning page 11 (Is the volume and page
coincidence also?) for sake of space I
took a small exhort from page 12&13
…On one occasion, when in New York City, I was in
the night season called upon to behold buildings rising story after story
toward heaven. These buildings were warranted to be fireproof, and they were
erected to glorify their owners and builders. Higher and still higher these
buildings rose, and in them the most costly material was used. Those to whom
these buildings belonged were not asking themselves: “How can we best glorify
God?” The Lord was not in their thoughts.
I
thought: “Oh, that those who are thus investing their means could see their
course as God sees it! They are piling up magnificent buildings, but how
foolish in the sight of the Ruler of the universe is their planning and
devising. They are not studying with all the powers of heart and mind how they
may glorify God. They have lost sight of this, the first duty of man.”
18As these lofty
buildings went up, the owners rejoiced with ambitious pride that they had money
to use in gratifying self and provoking the envy of their neighbors. Much of
the money that they thus invested had been obtained through exaction, through
grinding down the poor. They forgot that in heaven an account of every business
transaction is kept; every unjust deal, every fraudulent act, is there
recorded. The time is coming when in their fraud and insolence men will reach a
point that the Lord will not permit them to pass, and they will learn that
there is a limit to the forbearance of Jehovah.
The
scene that next passed before me was an alarm of fire. Men looked at the lofty
and supposedly fire-proof buildings and said: “They are perfectly safe.” But
these buildings were consumed as if made of pitch. The fire engines could do
nothing to stay the destruction. The firemen were unable to operate the engines…
LIBERTY
I have spent some time
contemplating the last few weeks – what is liberty? Serenity says “freedom to do whatever I want.” (she calls our talks her civil government
class.) Is freedom good? Well, it is good if it allows me to follow
Christ. Is freedom bad? Just ask any parent. Daily we see our children take their freedom
and use it to their ruin. So should a
government be founded on liberty? What
were to happen If you put Al-Queda and Christians in the same government and
told the both they had liberty to accomplish whatever they were convicted
on. I don’t think that would work… So what government would truly work? After much contemplation I have discovered
the perfect government – Christ’s – which is based upon the 10
commandments. True Liberty – freedom to
do whatever I want – would never work.
There has to be a law and there has to be a fair judge to punish those
who do not follow the law. So God is a
dictator – but what is so amazing is that God’s dictatorship works because He
is the perfect God of perfect love.
Unlike other dictator’s he does not rule out of a desire to make the
rest of his kingdom miserable while he exalts himself. He makes His laws, and He reigns in such a
way as to show true love, mercy, grace, and justice. His law is based upon true love. His mercy gives us time to see the difference
between good and evil and to choose to submit ourselves to His government; His
grace gives us His truth and power to follow His law even when Satan tries to
tempt us away; His justice protects those who are loving from those who are
unloving. And the coolest part of all is
that he allows us for 6,000 years to experience other governments so we see the
weakness and evil of all the governments and see the beauty of His
government. But then after 6,000 years
the judgment is rendered, and at that time we have chosen whether we will live
in His kingdom or die with the earthly kingdoms.
BWT, on another side note of
liberty as a Christian… God gives us
liberty to choose what we want without immediately blotting us out. However, truth be told, God created me – thus
I am His creation and belong to Him and not to myself. Later Christ died and paid for me a SECOND
TIME because of my stubbornness and selfishness, giving me ANOTHER chance to be
part of His amazing kingdom. Paul speaks
of the liberty that God gave us – not to use it for our own benefit, but to use
it to choose Christ. This is my prayer
for you and me! That we will choose
joyfully and cheerfully to obey Christ with all of our heart, soul, and
mind. So to hogwash in with liberty –
and spurn it and choose to be a loyal subject of the most amazing King of the
Universe.
BLESSINGS
As I go through all these
museums, I see a common theme of looking at the negative, complaining,
paintings things in a light of “how terrible life is.” I agree to some extent. We live in Satan’s world. This world has a low of sorrow and
misery. But if I look at everything this
way, it will not improve my life. The
most inspiring people I know in this world are those who have miserable
conditions, and yet choose joy and happiness.
Dave saw a guy the other day in an electric wheelchair with no arms and very
short feet that ended in a few toes. He
had a beautiful wife, 4 kids, one of which was riding on the footpegs of his
wheelchair, and a big smile on his face.
He could have been on a street corner begging for food, or feeling sorry
for himself being born that way, and yet he was choosing joy. I choose joy!
I have so much to be thankful for!
My life could always be WAY worse!
October 18,
2017
Wednesday morning we awoke
exhausted from the previously very busy day in New York City. We had driven out of New York City the night
before when traffic was low and so we were North of Philadelphia. We went to Valley Forge. It was fun to learn more history about the
Revolutionary War. We learned that
Washington had set up camp here because the British had overtaken the capitol
(Philadelphia). They were looking for a
place on high ground, a day’s march from the city so the British couldn’t
attack them easily, and yet close enough that their spies could keep an eye on
the British. When arriving at Valley
Forge (named after all the forges in the valley – places that produce pig iron
from iron rock), the men were put in groups of 12 and told to use the trees and
build cabins. 12,000 men went to
work. Some had cabins up in a couple
days and all were completed within a month.
It was the 3rd largest city in America built up in less than
30 days! It was not the worst winter of
the war, but it was the worst condition the men were in because many of them
lacked shoes and clothing – thus rendered disabled due to nakedness! Washington’s letters describing the situation
brought relief to them eventually. That
Spring a new French official arrived who trained them all in war. Upto this point
each person fought however he knew and this caused a lot of chaos. Afterwards the Americans began winning more
wars.
October 19,
2017
Thursday morning we drove very
early into a parking lot in the outskirts of Philadelphia next to a subway line. We caught the subway into Philadelphia. Here were saw Independence Hall (where the
declaration of Independence was fought over, concluded, and signed), the
cracked Liberty Bell, Congress Hall (the first place Senate and Congress met
when Philadelphia was the U.S. Capitol), Tomb of Unknown Soldier, Benjamin
Franklin’s house and museum, the U.S. Mint (where American coins are made), and
the Federal Bank.
We learned a lot of interesting
things about Benjamin Franklin. When he
was a child he bought a whistle. He was
so thrilled! He came home and whistled
it throughout the house so gleefully!
Besides annoying his more than a dozen siblings and all his cousins, he
discovered he had paid over 4 times what his whistle was worth. At this point he hated his whistle! He learned from them that many people pay too
much for their whistles. He said that
people will pay lots of money for something they think will make them happy,
but in the end it becomes their misery.
So true! Lol
Watching all the coins being
made was amazing! Unfortunately they don’t allow any pictures – the only reason
I can figure is that they must be admitting it is illegal to print money that
doesn’t mean anything! Another
interesting tidbit is America didn’t have its own form of money for over a
decade after we became a nation. While
driving through town we noticed the houses were like Europe: bumper to bumper
with no space inbetween and tall and skinny – a lot like Boston. East Coast and West Coast is definitely
different, although West Coast is building homes closer together and more
cookie-cutter looking all the time. Lol
October 20,
2017
We went to Fort McHenry – this was
outside Baltimore. It is famous for
Francis Scott Key writing the “Star Spangled Banner.” Once again, as speed of history goes…. It was written in 1814, it became our anthem
in 1931.
It is Friday – we are exhausted
from all the big city walks! We are SO
VERY THANKFUL to God though for keeping us safe, watching over our motorhome,
and always allowing this to work out for us.
So we are headed to Calvert Cliffs in Maryland. Our dear friends Joel and Pam Allen visited
this summer and said you can find Shark teeth – so we are excited to have some
beach time out in nature! The weather is
great today hopefully it will last!
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