Remind Me Dear Lord

© Copyright 2013 PJ Stassen

All Rights Reserved

Oh! The good times when we were so unhappy.

-       Alexander Dumas, 1803-1870.

   Jim Reeves sings the song, ‘Am I that Easy to Forget?  ‘Out of sight, out of mind’, goes the familiar adage. On the one hand are people sometimes inclined to forget too easily, especially things that ought to be really judiciously remembered, for instance birthdays and wedding anniversaries.  On the other hand do we sometimes so unnecessarily remember, too painfully, also the many things that were best discarded and forgotten instead, like old grudges and especially the myriad of embarrassing social blunders in our youth and young adulthood (and the multiplicities of later ones).   
   The most excruciating of them all, short of death itself, is the nostalgia of the memory of children that had left home, their beds bare and their voices silenced by the demands of emancipation, independence  and progress.  When my son left home in 1998, I used to stand for minutes on end at the foot of his empty bed every morning and just stare glassy-eyed into the empty bedroom, so saturated with the deafening silence of his painfully conspicuous absence.  My daughter, currently engaged in a missionary-outreach in Marseille, France, is thousands of kilometres away from home, and although we celebrate her vision, commitment and dedication, she is sorely missed. 

   I am a history-enthusiast, and I feel that films like (for instance) Schindler’s List, The Boy In The Striped Pyjamas and Nuremberg, although disquieting to the extreme, are sometimes necessary to shock us out of our suburban complacency and help us remember the plight of those parents and families who had been victims of probably the most monumental genocidal ‘mugging’ and extermination (The Holocaust) of the modern era

   I have only as recently as today heard testimony (by an eyewitness-survivor) of a farmer in South Africa who was killed last week by four masked men donning balaclavas; they used a 4-lb hammer to assault him and to bash his head completely in, and that in full sight of his female partner.  That was after an older man wielding a monkey-wrench (in self-defence) was shot dead mercilessly at close range.  Man’s inhumanity to man defies description, and I just love that bumper-sticker that reads: “If you’re not outraged, you are forgetting.” 

   Ask any parent … what could be more hauntingly hurting than the beautiful (but equally sad) memory of ecstatic children at Christmas or during family-celebrations on birthdays?  Shakespeare (Andrews: 3) writes:

Grief fills the room up of my absent child,

Lies in his bed, walks up and down with me,

Puts on his pretty looks,

Repeats his words.

   On a lighter note:  When the famous military leader, Lord Horatio Kitchener, a sworn bachelor, at the end of the Anglo-Boer War in 1902 left South Africa for India to resume his military duties there, he went and bought himself four black cocker-spaniels, obviously for companionship.  As an aid to memory (and perhaps also to emphasise that he actually was a quite indifferent shot) he reportedly named the four dogs Shot! … Bang! … Miss! … Damn! (Warner: 135).  What an innovative way to ensure not to forget your dogs' names!

   In this song, the author ironically endeavours to ‘remind’ God (!) that humans are inclined to be forgetful and negligent (“Remember, I’m human, and humans forget!”) … as if God would forget and needed to be reminded.  And then the prayer, “So remind me, dear Lord.”  Surely our Heavenly Father needs for us not to forget … for instance about Jesus, about Calvary and about the Second Coming. Remind me dear Lord, lest I forget.

                       

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Remind Me Dear Lord

(Dottie Rambo, 1934-2008)

The things that I love

I hold dear to my heart

They are borrowed and

Not mine at all

Jesus only let me use them

To brighten my life

So remind me, remind me dear Lord.

Nothing good have I done

To deserve God’s own Son

I’m not worthy of the scars

In His hands

Yet He chose the road to Calvary

To die in my stead

Why He loved me I can’t understand.

CHORUS

Roll back the curtain of memory now and then

Show me where You brought me from and

Where I could have been.

Remember I’m human, and humans forget ‒

So remind me, remind me dear Lord. 

Piet Stassen

eLiterature/eLiteratuur:

1. Scribd Publishing Site:  www.scribd.com/PietStassen (ENGLISH & AFRIKAANS)
2. eBook: 'Evolution: The Science That Evolved Into A Fairy Tale' (ENGLISH)  
3. eBook:  'Bertrand Russell Revisited: Rebuttal Of Bertrand Russell's 'Why I Am Not A Christian''(ENGLISH)
4. eBook: 'Meditations & Contemplations: A Reader For Both Atheists And Creationists' (ENGLISH)
5. eBook: 'Conservation, Rhino Poaching And Hypocrisy' (ENGLISH)
6. eBook: 'Why Darwinism ('Evolution') Does Not Make Sense' (ENGLISH)
7. eBook: 'Names And Titles Of Jesus Of Nazareth (ENGLISH)'
8. eBoek:  'Darwin Of Christus: Suid-Afrikaners By 'n Kruispad!' [AFRIKAANS].
9. eBoek:  'Bevryding Van Die Anti-Evangelie Van Ateisme-Evolusionisme' [AFRIKAANS].
10. eBoek:  'Name & Titels Van Jesus Christus' [AFRIKAANS].
11. eTracts, Christian (Free, Downloadable):  Free, downloadable Christian eTracts for free distribution (ENGLISH)
12. eTraktate, Christelik (Gratis, Aflaaibaar): Gratis, aflaaibabre Christelike Traktate vir gratis verspreiding (AFRIKAANS)

Bibliography

1.     Andrews, Allen (1969)   Quotations For Speakers And Writers.  Newnes Books.  Hamlyn Publishing  Group Ltd. London.

2.     OldieLyrics.  ‘Remind Me Dear Lord’.  Accessed At <http://www.oldielyrics.com/lyrics/alison_krauss_and_the_cox_family/remind_me_dear_lord.html> [online] 2013. 
3.    Warner, Philip (2006 ) Kitchener: The Man Behind The Legend.  Cassell. London.

Jesus Paid It All

© Copyright 2013 PJ Stassen

All Rights Reserved

A good poor man is better than a good rich man because he has to resist more temptations.

-       Plato, 428-347 B.C.

   In 1945, when the Allies were engaged in wrapping up World War II and busy entering Berlin (the Russians from Germany’s eastern borders and the rest of the Allies from Rome and Germany’s western borders) there were many people fleeing the country to get out of the way of the conquering armies. All kinds of refugees were crossing the borders … civilians as well as soldiers. Many of the refugees, if not most, apparently could no longer present to the border officials any decent I.D. documents, personal papers or passports intact, as the department responsible for the issuing of such documents had long since collapsed as the Nazis were fleeing and Heinrich Himmler, the Gestapo-chief responsible for the issuing of passports, himself was on the run from the Allies. 

   Himmler had, in the meantime, disguised himself as an ordinary German soldier and was trying to cross a British border-post with a falsified passport when he was finally recognised and captured. A few days later he swallowed a cyanide capsule and died, escaping the Nuremberg-trials just like his colleagues Adolf Hitler, Joseph Goebbels and Hermann Göring (among others) eventually would.  All over Germany and Europe surviving Nazis were being rounded up and sent to the cells in Nuremberg to await the trials. 

   But how was Himmler captured?  How did the British sentries and officials recognise him?  The answer is nothing short of a ‘miracle’ … but a miracle-in-reverse.  Bear in mind that many (if not most) of the refugees were crossing borders probably in tatters with their identity documents and passports etc. virtually in shreds or in some dilapidated condition or another.  The irony with the ‘privileged’ Himmler was that, as the head of the department responsible for the issuing of passports, he could arrange a last-minute, albeit desperate, issuance of a new bogus passport for himself in the comfort of his own HQ … a brand-new, fresh from the printing-press document in five-star mint-condition. 

   Technically speaking it was a perfect document.  There were no mistakes and no errors; it was absolutely above board, except for his alias, of course. And that was what nailed him … the nice-looking passport.  When incredulous British border-officials saw the immaculate document they understandably got suspicious and eventually recognised him as one of the kingpins most wanted by the Allies.

  Now the last thing I want to do is equate Christ with Himmler, but the analogy I want to introduce is that, when Jesus Christ was crucified, He was crucified as the only bona fide substitute or replacement for the rest of hell-deserving mankind.  Satan would then not have crucified any of us even had we volunteered to … our ‘passports’ were in tatters, our credentials non-existent.  In the eyes of the great dragon of the Book of Revelation, Jesus of Nazareth, as the Lamb of God to be slain for the sins of the world, was the only holder of a decent, respectable, valid, authenticated passport, a passport so perfect that it distinguished Him absolutely from the rest of the world. 

   In the end, when push came to shove, it was this perfect passport that nailed Him to the cross.  Jesus paid it all, so that miserable dregs like us could, with our clothes in tatters and clutching the useless, derelict ‘visas’ of our own self-righteousness in our greasy little paws, still anyway cross the borders of the spiritual holocaust of damnation into the marvellous light of His kingdom.  I do not know about you, but I have no merit of my own to present in defence of my past, my life and my soul.  Thank God … Jesus paid it all.            

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Jesus Paid It All

  

 (Elvina M. Hall, 1820-1889/John T. Grape, 1835-1915)

I hear the Savior say,

“Thy strength indeed is small!

Child of weakness, watch and pray,

Find in Me thine all in all.”

Lord, now indeed I find

Thy pow’r and Thine alone,

Can change the leper’s spots

And melt the heart of stone.

For nothing good have I

Whereby Thy grace to claim ‒

I’ll wash my garments white

In the blood of Calvry’s Lamb.

And when before the throne

I stand in Him complete,

“Jesus died my soul to save,”

My lips shall still repeat.

CHORUS

Jesus paid it all,

All to Him I owe;

Sin had left a crimson stain ‒

He washed it white as snow.

Piet Stassen

eLiterature/eLiteratuur:

1. Scribd Publishing Site:  www.scribd.com/PietStassen (ENGLISH & AFRIKAANS)
2. eBook: 'Evolution: The Science That Evolved Into A Fairy Tale' (ENGLISH)  
3. eBook:  'Bertrand Russell Revisited: Rebuttal Of Bertrand Russell's 'Why I Am Not A Christian''(ENGLISH)
4. eBook: 'Meditations & Contemplations: A Reader For Both Atheists And Creationists' (ENGLISH)
5. eBook: 'Conservation, Rhino Poaching And Hypocrisy' (ENGLISH)
6. eBook: 'Why Darwinism ('Evolution') Does Not Make Sense' (ENGLISH)
7. eBook: 'Names And Titles Of Jesus Of Nazareth (ENGLISH)'
8. eBoek:  'Darwin Of Christus: Suid-Afrikaners By 'n Kruispad!' [AFRIKAANS].
9. eBoek:  'Bevryding Van Die Anti-Evangelie Van Ateisme-Evolusionisme' [AFRIKAANS].
10. eBoek:  'Name & Titels Van Jesus Christus' [AFRIKAANS].
11. eTracts, Christian (Free, Downloadable):  Free, downloadable Christian eTracts for free distribution (ENGLISH)
12. eTraktate, Christelik (Gratis, Aflaaibaar): Gratis, aflaaibabre Christelike Traktate vir gratis verspreiding (AFRIKAANS)

Bibliography

1.     Andrews, Allen (1969)   Quotations For Speakers And Writers.  Newnes Books.  Hamlyn Publishing Group Ltd. London.

2.     Peterson, John W. et al (1968)   Great Hymns Of The Faith. ‘Jesus Paid It All’. Singspiration, Inc.  Zondervan Publishing House.  Grand Rapids, Michigan.

Leaning On The Everlasting Arms

© Copyright 2013 PJ Stassen

All Rights Reserved

The Athenians govern the Greeks; I govern the Athenians; you, my wife, govern me; your son governs you.
- Thermistocles, 514-449 B.C.

   What a memorable morning when, a few years back, my family and I had the enormous privilege of visiting the site in Kwazulu-Natal where the Battle of Spioenkop was fought along the Tugela-river between the Boers and the British on 23-24 January 1900 for the relief of the besieged town of Ladysmith, at the start of the Anglo-Boer War of 1899-1902.  The battle-site of Spioenkop (Mechanical translation: ‘Spy Knoll’ or ‘Spy Lookout’) was situated on top of the 1400 ft. (430 mtr.) hill (relative from the ground) where an Indian lawyer and human rights activist, Mohandas Gandhi, later to become known as the famous ‘Mahatma’, also served with his compatriots as a stretcher-bearer for the Indian Ambulance Corps, and Winston Churchill participated as a war correspondent for the British.

   According to Wikipedia the British suffered 243 fatalities (many buried in the trenches where they fell) and 1250 wounded or captured.  The Boers suffered 68 fatalities and 267 wounded.  So many books have been written on this war and this specific battle that it boggles the mind as to which titles to recommend, but the following remain firm favourites, i.e. The Boer War (Thomas Pakenham); The Anglo-Boer War (Arthur Conan Doyle); Commando (Deneys Reitz); The Anglo-Boer War: A Chronology (Pieter G. Cloete) and The National Army Museum Book of the Anglo-Boer War (Field Marshall Lord Carver).  The book by Pieter G. Cloete is remarkably thorough in terms of the major as well as some minor conflicts and the time lines involved.

   Now what made our visit to the site so special was that the conditions on top of the hill that morning probably were the same as it was on the day of the battle, almost as if it had been replicated in advance just for our convenience by a local tourist agency.  When we arrived at the battle-site following the long-winding road to the top by car, Spioenkop was still shrouded in a heavy, smothering fog, exactly as it must have been for both Boer and Brit on the morning of 23 January 1900. It is a place of eerie silence, almost as if all of nature is holding its breath out of respect for the fallen dead.  
   I immediately commenced with the typical layman and history buff’s ‘survey’ of the topography, and the lay of the British and Boer positions during the conflict. Boulders were scattered helter-skelter all over the place, still heavily pockmarked by (I suspect) Mauser or Lee-Metford and Lee-Enfield bullets. 

   I then did the stupid thing of straying from the main party and getting lost in the fog.  The tall grasses were soggy and wet and I battled to find my way back to where the car was parked.  Now, Spioenkop is reputed to supposedly house some ghosts from the historic battle and, although the idea of a khaki-clad Brit or slouch-hatted Boer appearing out of the mist and pointing the way first made my skin crawl, I later was beginning to wish that I could run into one of them just to help me find my way back.  As it were my luck was out i.r.o. meeting a rescuing party of ghosts, but fortunately I found my way back to the rest of the party without their aid anyway.  I do not really believe in ghosts, so my main concern really was getting lost on the hill and having to survive in the open and the freezing cold overnight, with family (perhaps) shivering in the car and frantic with worry.

   Life is strange, for although it was a bitter war replete with the typical carnage, heartache and misery of war for both sides, Boer and Brit went on to fight shoulder to shoulder as allies during World War I as well as World War II.  In fact, Winston Churchill went on to co-opt his former ‘enemy’ and later ‘friend’ (his ‘frenemy’?),  General Jan Smuts (as well as General Louis Botha) into the British War Cabinet during WWI as well as to induct General Smuts as a Field-Marshall into the British army during WWII. In fact, Smuts was not only instrumental in the development of the Royal Air Force (R.A.F.) but was also later, after the war, offered the governorship of Palestine, or, alternatively, the position of Viceroy of India, both of which he declined in favour of a premiership at home in South Africa.  General Smuts was the only surviving signatory to the Treaty of Versailles (28 June 1919) to also become a signatory to the UN Charter in San Francisco on 26 June 1945.  I stand to be corrected but I believe he also wrote the preamble to the Charter.    

   Isn’t it just amazing how drastically and dramatically fortunes, conditions and circumstances (for nations as well as for individuals) can change?!  We are in the same type of situation today, where the god of this world (Satan) is ruling with an unspeakable brutality and with sin, natural disasters, war, crime, pestilence, disease, famine, poverty and now also global warming wreaking havoc on planet Earth.  But the wheel will turn, and Jesus Christ will return as promised to rule with a rod of iron and with the righteousness we have been praying for, for over two-thousand years.  Rest assured, the everlasting arms of God will not disappoint:   Maranatha!

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Leaning On The Everlasting Arms

(Elisha A. Hoffman, 1839-1929/ Anthony J. Showalter, 1858-1924)    

What a fellowship, what a joy divine,

Leaning on the everlasting arms;

What a blessedness, what a peace is mine,

Leaning on the everlasting arms.

O how sweet to walk, in this pilgrim way,

Leaning on the everlasting arms;

O how bright the path grows from day to day,

Leaning on the everlasting arms.

What have I to dread, what have I to fear,

Leaning on the everlasting arms?

I have blessed peace,

With my Lord so near,

Leaning on the everlasting arms.

CHORUS

Leaning, leaning,

Safe and secure from all alarms;

Leaning, leaning,

Leaning on the everlasting arms.

Piet Stassen

eLiterature/eLiteratuur:

1. Scribd Publishing Site:  www.scribd.com/PietStassen (ENGLISH & AFRIKAANS)
2. eBook: 'Evolution: The Science That Evolved Into A Fairy Tale' (ENGLISH)  
3. eBook:  'Bertrand Russell Revisited: Rebuttal Of Bertrand Russell's 'Why I Am Not A Christian''(ENGLISH)
4. eBook: 'Meditations & Contemplations: A Reader For Both Atheists And Creationists' (ENGLISH)
5. eBook: 'Conservation, Rhino Poaching And Hypocrisy' (ENGLISH)
6. eBook: 'Why Darwinism ('Evolution') Does Not Make Sense' (ENGLISH)
7. eBook: 'Names And Titles Of Jesus Of Nazareth (ENGLISH)'
8. eBoek:  'Darwin Of Christus: Suid-Afrikaners By 'n Kruispad!' [AFRIKAANS].
9. eBoek:  'Bevryding Van Die Anti-Evangelie Van Ateisme-Evolusionisme' [AFRIKAANS].
10. eBoek:  'Name & Titels Van Jesus Christus' [AFRIKAANS].
11. eTracts, Christian (Free, Downloadable):  Free, downloadable Christian eTracts for free distribution (ENGLISH)
12. eTraktate, Christelik (Gratis, Aflaaibaar): Gratis, aflaaibabre Christelike Traktate vir gratis verspreiding (AFRIKAANS)

Bibliography

1.     Andrews, Allen (1969)   Quotations For Speakers And Writers.  Newnes Books.  Hamlyn Publishing Group Ltd. London.

2.     Peterson, John W. et al (1968)   Great Hymns Of The Faith. ‘Leaning On The Everlasting Arms’. Singspiration, Inc.  Zondervan Publishing House.  Grand Rapids, Michigan.

3.     Wikipedia.  ‘The Battle Of Spioenkop’. Accessed At  <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Spion_Kop> [online] 2013.  

Love Lifted Me

© Copyright 2013 P.J. Stassen

All Rights Reserved                                                                                                                                       

Greater love hath no man this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.

-       Jesus Of Nazareth, 4 B.C – A.D.29

   In South Africa, the true story is told, and passed on generation after generation, of how the young girl Rachel de Beer, during earlier colonial times, had saved the life of her little brother. Apparently the little sister and brother 'rescuing team' had themselves gone lost in the picturesque but unforgiving Drakensberg (‘Mountain of the Dragon’ or ‘Dragon Mountain’) after they went searching for a lost calf in extremely foul weather. 

   Unable to negotiate the way back to the farm, they crawled into a little hollow, huddling together for the duration of the hectic snowstorm, with Rachel sheltering her little brother from the freezing cold with the covering heat of her frail, shielding body.  Her brother survived, but she did not.  I am sure in many a nation’s history stories similar to this one (recalling the bravery of 'ordinary people', especially of children) must surely abound; stories that say: “Love saved my life! Love lifted me!”

   This is, incidentally, also the story of every born-again Christian-believer on this planet.  If it hadn’t been for Jesus Christ, that humble carpenter-rabbi from Nazareth, where would we have been today? When we were freezing from the cold of our self-imposed alienation from God, Jesus, the elder brother, sheltered us against the terrible onslaught of unforgiving fate, and paying for it with His life.  

(PS.  Also read about the life of Peter Snyman in the posts The Old Rugged Cross and Ship Ahoy!).   

YouTube

Love Lifted Me

(James Rowe, 1865-1933/Howard E. Smith, 1863-1918)

I was sinking deep in sin,

Far from the peaceful shore,

Very deeply stained within,

Sinking to rise no more;

But the Master of the sea

Heard my despairing cry,

From the waters lifted me

Now safe am I.

All my heart to Him I give,

Ever to Him I’ll cling,

In His blessed presence live,

Ever His praises sing,

Love so mighty and so true

Merits my soul’s best songs,

Faithful, loving service too

To Him belongs.

Souls in danger, look above,

Jesus completely saves;

He will lift you by His love

Out of the angry waves,

He’s the Master of the sea,

Billows His will obey;

He your Savior wants to be ‒

Be saved today.

CHORUS
Love lifted me, Love lifted me;
When nothing else could help,
Love lifted me; 
Love lifted me, Love lifted me;
When nothing else could help,
Love lifted me.

   

Piet Stassen

eLiterature/eLiteratuur:

1. Scribd Publishing Site:  www.scribd.com/PietStassen (ENGLISH & AFRIKAANS)
2. eBook: 'Evolution: The Science That Evolved Into A Fairy Tale' (ENGLISH)  
3. eBook:  'Bertrand Russell Revisited: Rebuttal Of Bertrand Russell's 'Why I Am Not A Christian''(ENGLISH)
4. eBook: 'Meditations & Contemplations: A Reader For Both Atheists And Creationists' (ENGLISH)
5. eBook: 'Conservation, Rhino Poaching And Hypocrisy' (ENGLISH)
6. eBook: 'Why Darwinism ('Evolution') Does Not Make Sense' (ENGLISH)
7. eBook: 'Names And Titles Of Jesus Of Nazareth (ENGLISH)'
8. eBoek:  'Darwin Of Christus: Suid-Afrikaners By 'n Kruispad!' [AFRIKAANS].
9. eBoek:  'Bevryding Van Die Anti-Evangelie Van Ateisme-Evolusionisme' [AFRIKAANS].
10. eBoek:  'Name & Titels Van Jesus Christus' [AFRIKAANS].
11. eTracts, Christian (Free, Downloadable):  Free, downloadable Christian eTracts for free distribution (ENGLISH)
12. eTraktate, Christelik (Gratis, Aflaaibaar): Gratis, aflaaibabre Christelike Traktate vir gratis verspreiding (AFRIKAANS)

Bibliography

1.     Andrews, Allen (1969)   Quotations For Speakers And Writers.  Newnes Books.  Hamlyn Publishing Group Ltd. London.

2.     Peterson, John W. et al (1968)   Great Hymns Of The Faith. ‘Love Lifted Me’. Singspiration, Inc.  Zondervan Publishing House.  Grand Rapids, Michigan.  

Take Time To Be Holy

© Copyright 2013 P.J. Stassen
All Rights Reserved

The louder he talked of his honour, the faster we counted our spoons.
- R.W. Emerson, 1803-1822.


   Have you the, in the light of the above, ever wondered why some choose evil (atheism and unbelief) and some choose good (faith in the cause of Christ)?  I have written a little piece of verse that (hopefully) explains it best: 

Jesus Christ: The Humble Carpenter From Nazareth

© Copyright 2013 P.J. Stassen           

So sad how the world at large so often 

recoils at the Name of Christ and stands so indifferent  

to the wonder of His touch ...

Admiration, it seems, was to come only 

from the magi from the East; and

Worship, from those destitute millions 

who have been forgiven much!   

   From childhood I've been taught that it takes time to be holy.  Just as it takes time to become a barrister, a doctor, an architect or a brain surgeon, it takes time to become holy.  Any goal worthwhile in life demands time, dedication, labour, concentration, focus and single-minded devotion for ultimate success.  The Christian's highest goal on Earth is to be, or to become holy ("Thy will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven").  
   Now I fully understand that, as believers in Christ, we have been sanctified by His blood (i.e. by His sacrifice at Calvary) and that our only hope for Salvation is the righteousness of Christ. Any personal merit based on 'good works' and 'an exemplary life' are considered 'tottered rags' in the eyes of the Lord. Yet, in spite of this cardinal Biblical teaching, the Bible also still teaches and admonishes us to be holy, and to pursue sanctification above all.   
   Is this an anomaly in doctrine?  Not at all; bear in mind that, thanks to the sacrifice of Christ, our legal position in Heaven is that we have been justified (just-if-I-had never sinned) by His blood.  There is, however, a big difference between our legal position (in Christ) and our moral condition (on planet Earth).  Sanctification probably thus focuses on the effort and aspirations of the believer to bring his moral condition (on Earth) on par with his legal position (in Christ). This kind of sanctification probably presupposes consecration. Consecration, in turn, may include or comprise many things, such as e.g. confession of faith, baptism, discipleship, Bible-study and -devotions, evangelism, missions, soul-winning, witnessing to others, teaching, Sunday school work, intercessory prayer, a music-ministry, Bible- and tract-distribution, caring for the sick and elderly, supporting orphanages and outreaches to the homeless, and all and diverse kinds of other ministries, chores and tasks.
   The purpose of consecration, however, is not salvation ... salvation comes through faith in Christ.  Consecration  follows because we are grateful to Christ and love and appreciate Jesus of Nazareth for who He is and what He had accomplished for us.  Consecration is (and ought to be) the natural and spontaneous result of our fellowship with Christ.  
   Two major forces dominate this secular world ... the forces of the profane and the forces of the sacred. Consecration to Christ's cause and His great command ("Go ye ...") helps us to dedicate (consecrate) ourselves to the forces of the sacred (the noble things of Heaven above), whereas consecration to Satan's cause helps people to dedicate themselves to the forces of the profane (the evil and profane things below). There is no so-called 'neutral' demilitarised zone in this war of ideas ... we are either for Him or we are against Him.  Atheism-Evolutionism and Christianity-Creationism are two mighty forces engaged in the clash of the titans.  East is east and West is west, and never the twain shall meet ... except in conflict and (hopefully civil) confrontation.  
   Of course, it is believed that in this battle of the doves against the hawks, ultimately the hawks cannot win. Love will conquer hate, and God's Heavenly wealth and abundance will conquer Satan's derelict, defunct kingdom and decrepit moral poverty ... it cannot be otherwise: Hell simply does not have the moral capital with which to pursue this war indefinitely.   The brutal, cruel and merciless wolves will fail and the sheep will survive.  Wolves have no shepherd, and eventually will be scattered, but the sheep has a loving Shepherd who will watch over them from now unto Eternity.  
   If life is about choices, then what do you choose? You must decide, and you alone. The choice is easy ... provided you have been forgiven much!

YouTube

Take Time To Be Holy

(William D. Longstaff, 1822-1894/George C, Stebbins, 1846-1945)

Take time to be holy, Speak oft with thy Lord;

Abide in Him always And feed on His Word

Make friends of God's children, Help those who are weak,

Forgetting in nothing His blessing to seek.

Take time to be holy, The world rushes on;

Spend much time in secret With Jesus alone, 

By looking to Jesus, Like Him thou shalt be; 

Thy friends in thy conduct His likeness shall see.

Take time to be holy, Let Him be thy guide, 

And run not before Him, Whatever betide.

In joy or in sorrow Still follow thy Lord,

And, looking to Jesus, Still trust in His Word.

Take time to be holy, Be calm in thy soul;

Each thought and each motive  Beneath His control.

Thus led by His Spirit To fountains of Love, 

Thou soon shall be fitted, For service above.

Piet Stassen

eLiterature/eLiteratuur:

1. Scribd Publishing Site:  www.scribd.com/PietStassen (ENGLISH & AFRIKAANS)
2. eBook: 'Evolution: The Science That Evolved Into A Fairy Tale' (ENGLISH)  
3. eBook:  'Bertrand Russell Revisited: Rebuttal Of Bertrand Russell's 'Why I Am Not A Christian''(ENGLISH)
4. eBook: 'Meditations & Contemplations: A Reader For Both Atheists And Creationists' (ENGLISH)
5. eBook: 'Conservation, Rhino Poaching And Hypocrisy' (ENGLISH)
6. eBook: 'Why Darwinism ('Evolution') Does Not Make Sense' (ENGLISH)
7. eBook: 'Names And Titles Of Jesus Of Nazareth (ENGLISH)'
8. eBoek:  'Darwin Of Christus: Suid-Afrikaners By 'n Kruispad!' [AFRIKAANS].
9. eBoek:  'Bevryding Van Die Anti-Evangelie Van Ateisme-Evolusionisme' [AFRIKAANS].
10. eBoek:  'Name & Titels Van Jesus Christus' [AFRIKAANS].
11. eTracts, Christian (Free, Downloadable):  Free, downloadable Christian eTracts for free distribution (ENGLISH)
12. eTraktate, Christelik (Gratis, Aflaaibaar): Gratis, aflaaibabre Christelike Traktate vir gratis verspreiding (AFRIKAANS)

Bibliography

1.     Andrews, Allen (1969) Quotations For Speakers And Writers. Newnes Books. Hamlyn Publishing Group Ltd. London.

2.     Peterson, John V. (1968) Great Hymns Of The Faith. ‘Take Time To Be Holy'.  Singspiration Inc. Zondervan Publishing House. Grand Rapids, Michigan.