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Coming back to our study of the book of Galatians tonight we come to Chapter 5, verse 26 and then Chapter 6 verses 1-6. And the title is how to restore a sinning brother. I'm very much concerned about the message tonight because I believe that this is one of those very basic subjects that is essential to the health of the church. It is critical that we understand this priority. This is the kind of message like the one I preached some time ago on prayer that ought to be repeated frequently, because this is so very germane to the health, progress, and holiness of the church.
Now sin, and this is an introduction, sin is a problem for everybody, even Christians. Now, I know that there are in some theological circles some Christians who claim they don't sin, but that's rather problematic to me. In 1 John 1:8 it says, "If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us." If on the other hand we are confessing our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar and His word is not in us.
Now, twice our Lord says speaking through the apostle John, that to deny sin is to deceive ourselves and to make God a liar, for God says we are sinners. Sin is a problem for every believer, just as it is for every man. In James 3:2, it says, "For in many things we all stumble." "For in many things we all stumble." Now Satan and his foes relentlessly pursue the Christian. In Ephesians Chapter 6, in verse 10, just drawing your attention to the statements that are made there. He says, "Finally my brethren be strong in the Lord and the power of His might put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the craftiness of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against..." and then he names the ranks of demons.
So we not only have the problem of sin in a general sense, but specifically we're being hassled by Satan's emissaries. Now in addition to that, the flesh itself, even when it isn't a demon or it isn't one of Satan's planned programs, the flesh itself is activated to cause even the Christian to sin. James 1, verse 14, "Every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust." And when lust conceives it brings forth sin. Every man is tempted in terms of his own lust, every man. He says to believers, "put away," verse 21, "all filthiness and overflowing of wickedness." It is a problem for the Christian. He has to face sin, both from Satanic emissaries and from his own flesh. Now sin in the life of a believer has three areas of affect. When you as a Christian sin, it affects three dimensions, yourself, God, and the other Christians. And we might include in that last one others all together, because it also affects unbelievers.
First of all, when you sin and when I sin as a Christian, it affects ourselves. When I sin, what happens? Well, let me just give you a...run by a list real quick. One, I lose joy. And there are verses supporting that. Two, I lose peace. All of a sudden, I am at odds with God practically speaking. I lose confidence. Peter says, for example, in 2 Peter 1:10, "That you can make your calling and election sure if you add to your positional inheritance virtue and goodness and all these other things." When your life is holy, the result of that is confidence. When you're living an impure life, you tend to doubt your salvation. So the believer loses joy, loses peace and he loses confidence. He loses also His strong anticipation of the second coming.
John says in 1 John 2:28, "you ought to live a pure life so that you will not be ashamed that it's coming." Some Christians living in sin are really hoping Jesus doesn't come. Other Christians living a holy life are anticipating His coming. One guy said "I'm so anxious for Jesus to come I'm...and I believe He's coming so soon, I'm not even buying any more long play albums." Now some people who are living in anticipation and some people who are living in shame. So a loss of joy, loss of peace, loss of confidence, and a loss of the great anticipation of the coming of Jesus when you're living in terms of a sinful life. And then there's the loss of usefulness. 2 Timothy, Timothy says in Chapter 2, verse 21, "that there are some vessels unto honor and there are some vessels unto dishonor and to purge yourself that you might become a vessel unto honor if you're not purged." If there's sin in your life, you're useless.
John 15 indicates that when there is sin in the life of a believer, there is the loss of fruit. There is the loss of fruit. Instead of having much fruit, it dwindles down to just the bear basics. So when you sin it tremendously and dramatically effects your life. In another dimension, it completely cramps the ministry of your spiritual gift, doesn't it? Because they're ministered in the midst of sin. Now secondly, when you sin and when I sin, it not only affects me, it affects God. It affects God, because you see the Bible says in 1 Corinthians 6, he said to the Corinthians, when you join yourself to a harlot, don't you know you're violating at the divine level the union that you have with Him. "For he that is joined to the Lord is," what, "one Spirit."
And when you join to a harlot, you have joined the harlot to the members of Christ, you see. You have in a sense defiled God by such a union. Any sin then defiles God in the life of a believer and I think this is pointed out aptly in 1 Corinthians Chapter 10 where you have Paul's instruction regarding the Lord's table. In verse 16, he says, "The cup of blessing which we bless is it not the communion of the blood of Christ, the bread which we break is it not the communion or the fellowship of the body of Christ." And then he says in 17, "we're one body." And he pictures us all united with Christ. The he says in verse 21, "you can't keep on drinking the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons." And these people were going out and living it up in the pagan religions and they were coming in and taking the Lord's table. And he says, you can't keep doing this, because you're dragging God into those things because you're one with Him.
He says in verse 22, you're going to provoke the Lord to jealousy and then you're going to have to be in real trouble. And then he asked the question do you think you're stronger than he is, because if you provoke him to jealousy, he's going to act against you and you're not going to be able to handle it. God judged such people in Chapter 11, verse 30. Many were weak and sickly and some of them were dead. God actually to the life of those believers because they had polluted the relationship with Him.
The Lord's table, mark it, is the common symbol of our fellowship with Christ and with one another. And when those believers sinned, they were forbidden to come to the Lord's table. They could not celebrate a union that they were not holding in purity. Do you see? He says, I don't want you to mock me by celebrating our oneness when you're violating that unity. It's just like in the Old Testament when God espoused Israel to be His wife and Israel ran after other gods and committed spiritual adultery. When you sin, you're committing spiritual adultery. You're unfaithful to Jesus Christ with whom you are joined in union. Who in effect is your bridegroom.
Thirdly, when you and I sin as Christians, we not only affect ourselves and God, be we affect everybody else. Because it's very clear, for example, in 1 Corinthians 12 that we are one body and when one member malfunctions, the whole body's crippled isn't it? So sin in your life really has a tremendous affect on me and on everybody else and consequently on the world, because they're looking at us and Jesus said, "If you are one, they will believe that the Father sent me. But if your unity is destroyed that will be suspect and your unity will be destroyed by sin and it is and it is suspect."
So sin then is absolutely devastating in the Christian's life. Last night, I was up at the college conference and somebody asked me the question what is the...what is your greatest heartache in the ministry. What is the thing that grieves you the most and I said, it's simply this. To see Christians sin who know that they should not sin. To willfully sin and violate the purity of the body, violate the holiness of God, violate the union that they have with Him and lose their own joy, their own peace and everything else that comes along with the really a holy walk to see them do that willfully when they know better. That's the greatest grief that you could ever have.
Sin devastates. It devastates you, it violates God, and it destroys the unity of the body and consequently hampers our testimony. Now, the most important issue facing Christians, watch this, is the issue of holiness. Because you say well, I thought evangelism was. No, you see, evangelism is a function that grows out of holiness, right? I mean, really being effective in the world is going to be the overflow of a godly life, right? So the priority with the Christian is holiness.
Now if that's true on my life and the thing that I am most concerned with in my life is holiness. And if I'm living before God as I ought to be living, confessing my sin and repenting of my sin, God is going to be using me. And evangelism will happen out of that won't it? Now let me ask you this, if the most important thing for me as a Christian is holiness, what's the most important thing for the church as a unit? Holiness. What is the church, but a whole bunch of us. And so whatever is most important for us is most important for us together. Now I say that because I want you to understand this, maybe in a way you've never understood it before. The absolute number one priority in the church in terms of its practical life is purity, holiness. The great concern is that you be holy, because if you're holy everything else will happen. You'll live and walk in the Spirit. God will produce in your life...I mean just imagine a whole bunch of totally committed pure holy Christians. Man what an affect.
Now if that's true, now mark this, if that it is true and I believe you can substantiate as I've tried to, that holiness is the most important, then what is the priority that every Christian should be really working on? The holiness of his own life, first of all, and secondly, what? The holiness of the church. Now if I'm going to work for the holiness of the church, what does that involve? Well, that really involves me dealing with sin, first of all, in my life and then in somebody else's life.
Now most people say well, I'll work on me, you work on you and let's not get mixed up. I'm not sure I want somebody else working on my sin. Well, maybe that's good, because maybe that's a deterrent. But I believe that the priority of the church is holiness and if the priority of the church is holiness, then that's going to be my priority to work for the purity of the church. That's why Ephesians 5:11 says, "And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them. Beloved it is a priority in the church that we react negatively to sin, not neutrally. Now most, in most cases, the church reacts neutrally. They sort of go, oh. And then they sort of fade. See.
We are to react negatively, vocally negatively. That's priority if we're working for the purity of the church. Listen to what Paul told Titus. "These things speak and exhort and listen, and rebuke with all authority and let no man despise you." He says, Titus, you have the right to rebuke sin. Now beloved this becomes a very important feature in the New Testament and I want you to see this thing in context tonight and that's why I'm begging to point just a little bit because I want to establish a foundation. The discipline of the church is for its holiness. You know, you discipline your kids because you want them to grow up and be good kids. And our Lord disciplines His children, is that true? Hebrews 12, "He disciplines all His children, every son he scourges." Why? Because that's the only way He can whip them in to shape.
God disciplines His children. Now the church is His children and God mediates His rule in the church through the Holy Spirit and the life of believers and God will use us to be tools in the act of discipline toward other believers. If God is operating in His Spirit in His church and His Spirit dwells within me, then I can enact the rule of God in terms of this. Now you say, well, why does God want to do this? Why does He enact discipline? The answer is He in Hebrews 12:11. "No chastening for the present seems joyous, but grievous, nevertheless afterwards, it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness." God wants to produce in His church righteousness. So discipline is needed to produce it in the church, just like it's needed to produce it in the child.
The church then, and when I talk about the church, I mean you and I mean me, because we are it, must be very conscious of sin. First in my own life, then in the lives of others in the church. Now in 1 Corinthians 5, which we'll refer to several times tonight, the church is told to be on guard and to be careful that, watch this, that they keep the leaven of evil from entering. Remember that passage? Watch out for the leaven of evil creeping in. Those Corinthians they didn't watch out for it and it hit them. Now God wants to reveal His glory to the church. What's His glory, His attributes. God is Holy, do you believe that? If God's going to manifest His holiness through the church, He's going to have to do it through a holy church, right?
God wants the church to be holy. In fact, on many occasions our Lord through the writers of the New Testament commands the church to discipline. And while we're in 1 Corinthians 5, Paul says this, verse 1, "It is reported commonly there is fornication among you," that's porneia, pornography, "and such pornography is not such as named among the pagans." What happens is incest. Somebody having relations with his mother or maybe his stepmother, but it's still the same. Verse 2, "And you are puffed up and have not rather mourned that he had done this deed might be taken away from among you."
You see what happened in the Corinthian church is they didn't deal with sin. Here's a guy that's sleeping with his own mother or stepmother and they don't even do anything about it. In verse 4 he says, "In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when you're gathered together and my spirit and the power of our Lord Jesus Christ deliver that one to Satan for the destruction of his physical body that his soul may be saved." He was a believer. Do something? Your glorying isn't good. Your positive attitude is ridiculous in the midst of a horrible situation like that.
Get rid of that old leaven. Verse 9, "I wrote unto you an Epistle not to even accompany with people involved in pornography." Don't have a thing to do with them. "Yet not all together with the fornicators of the world with the covetous, extortioners, idolaters, for the must your needs go out of the world." Some say that means that if you do keep doing that the Lord will take your life and just remove you.
"But now I've written unto you not to keep company. If any man is called a brother, be a fornicator or covetous or idolater or railer or drunkard or extortioner, don't even eat with that kind of person." You've got to watch who you sit down a meal with, right? Pretty strong language even a brother, verse 11.
"For what have I to do to judge them also that are outside? Do you not judge them that are within?" Let's start where we are, like Peter says "judgment must begin at the house of God, but them that are outside God judges." You're going to have to deal with the ones inside. Put away from among yourselves that wicked person. Now here he says to the Corinthians, instead of just being neutral and kind of grinning about your sin, why don't you get into it and do something about it? This is a command. In Titus, the Lord again speaks through Paul. In Titus 3:10, "A man that is an heretic," that's a false teacher, "after the first and second admonition reject." What does that mean? Well, it's just like eject with an R. Push the button that fires him out. "Knowing that he that is such is subverted and sins being condemned of himself."
2 Thessalonians Chapter 3, Paul speaks of the same thing again, verse 6. "We command you brethren in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, you withdraw yourselves from every brother that walks disorderly and not after the tradition which he received of us. For you yourselves know how you ought to follow us for we behaved not ourselves disorderly among you." This is you've got a guy doing this, separate yourself.
Verse 11, "We hear there are some who walk among you disorderly working not at all, but are busybodies." You say, you mean, busybody is something to be disciplined? That's sin. That's sin. Now you see the Bible is very clear about it. In 1 Timothy 5:20, it says, "An elder that sins rebuke before the whole congregation that everybody might fear." Now beloved when the Bible says that much about the same thing, it's laying down some pretty important stress. God wants us to deal in the church with sin. You say well, John, just what sin is the church to discipline? I'll give you a simple answer. All of it. Because all of it pollutes.
There are things mentioned in Scripture like difficulties between brothers are to be disciplined according to Matthew 18. Disorderly conduct is to be disciplined, we just read it in 2 Thessalonians 3. Divisiveness and false teaching is to be disciplined. Titus 3, we just read. Gross sin is to be disciplined, and that's a general category, 1 Corinthians 5. False teaching is to be disciplined, 1 Timothy 1:20. So all categories of sin, whether they're doctrinal or whether they are moral are to be disciplined.
Now you say, well, John that's good, how is the church to discipline? How do we do this? Turn in your Bible to Matthew 18, verse 15. Here's the pattern for church discipline by our Lord. "Moreover if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone." The first act that you take when you see a sinning brother is go to him individually. You don't tell on him to somebody else, you go to him. You don't say "did you know that so..." you go to him.
"And if he shall hear thee, you've gained a brother, your brother. And if he won't hear you then take with you one or two more that in the mouth of two or three witnesses, every word may be established." So if he doesn't hear you when you talk to him personally, then you take two or three witnesses. "And if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it to the church. If he neglects to hear the church, let him be unto thee as a tax collector or a heathen man." Tax collectors in those days were charlatans and crooks who bilked money out of the people.
Three steps in the pattern of discipline. Number one, you go to him individually. If he hears you, you've gained a brother. Number two, if he doesn't, you take two or three witnesses and you go to him. If he doesn't hear that, you tell the church and I take it that this emphasis would mean you probably would instruct the leaders of the church, the elders who would act on behalf of the church in terms of going to him. If he still didn't hear, they would treat him like a pagan. What does that mean? Whish, throw him out. That's what it says.
Now, in the midst of all of these steps, you are warning, admonishing. In fact, I love the fact that Paul told the Thessalonians that when you do admonish, admonish them as a brother. There's to be a kind of gentleness in the warning and the admonishing. But if he doesn't hear, get him out. In Corinth, in 1 Corinthians 5:4-5, the Corinthians were to gather together. He says, "When you gather together take action." So it was the church acting as a total. Apparently the first two steps followed with no success. Take action as a church. Get him out.
You don't need that kind of pollution. I'll tell you something else, 2 Corinthians 2:6 calls for total church forgiveness. Sufficient to such a man is the punishment which was inflicted by the many. In other words, apparently the whole church inflicted the punishment. The whole church leadership voted him out. Then in verse 7, "On the contrary, you ought rather to forgive him and comfort him." So when he comes back, I believe the whole church is to receive him with open arms and love. We'll see more about that.
Now you see from all of this that I've just shared with you, that sin in the church is a tremendous problem. It is the problem. It is the only problem. You eliminate sin, you eliminate every problem. And so the church, to be healthy, must deal with sin. And Paul castigates the Corinthians because they didn't do that. They just dilly dallied around and were indifferent to the sin that was going on. And the Lord desires the church to execute discipline. That's a one on one thing. You start with a Christian that you know that's sinning, you go to them in love, if they don't hear you take two or three witnesses. If they don't hear you, tell the leaders of the church, that's a pretty simple format. And it works, we've seen it work.
And I add this, in all the consideration of New Testament discipline there is to be love, there is to be gentleness, there is to be humility, and there is to be an eagerness to forgive and restore. That's part of it. That's part of it. Now all of that leads us to our passage and now our passage will just kind of fall together for us, hopefully.
Paul here is answering this dilemma. Now watch this, what do we do when go to the guy and he says, okay I did sin and I want to get back and get right with God. I want to come back to like it used to be. I don't like what's happened to me. I want...and he agrees with your admonition and he says, help me, what do we do? And that's where Paul jumps in in Galatians Chapter 5 and 6.
What do you do with the sinning brother who receives your admonition, receives your rebuke and says okay, I want to be restored? What do you do with him? Well, we're going to see that. Now as we approach Chapter 5, verse 26, the apostle Paul writing the book of Galatians has defended himself against the Judaisers. They condemned his apostleship as illegitimate. They condemned his gospel of grace as libertinism and that you needed to be circumcised too. They condemned the Christian life of liberty as a violation of all mosaic law and so they blasted Paul and he answers them in Chapter 1 and 2, he defends his apostleship. In Chapter 3 and 4, his gospel. Chapter 5 and 6, the Christian life of liberty.
Then he defends it all the way through. Now as we approach this particular text, he realizes there's a problem. Some of those Galatians, now watch this, some of those Galatian Christians had believed the Judaisers, right? And so you know what they had done? They started in the Spirit. Remember Chapter 3, he says, "You began in the Spirit, how come you got messed up in the flesh?" They started out so good, just walking in the Spirit having a great time. But some of them bought the bill of goods from the Judaisers and they were now living legalistic lives.
The Judaisers came and said you've got to do this, you've got to do this, you've got to do 49 of these and 84 of these little deals and God will be real happy. So they started functioning in the flesh, just doing little works things. Now you know what happens when you try to live in the power of the flesh under the law? I'll give you the definition of what happens. Sin happens, always. Why? Because you can't obey God's law. You can't function. You can't operate at all in the flesh to please God. So what happened? Now watch this. Some of these Galatians bought the thing that the Judaisers were selling. They tried then to live under the law and the consequence was what? Sin.
In fact, Paul even goes so far as to say in Romans 7 that the law actually stirs up, what, sin. It stirs it up. So these people were walking in the Spirit and everything was great and then they bought the bill of goods from the Judaisers. They started walking in the law, in the strength of the flesh, and they were flopping all over the place in sin. So now in the churches in Galatia, Paul faces two factions. You've got the spiritual people walking in the Spirit and having a great time in holiness and you've got these people living under the law falling flat on their nose every step.
And the potential there is a tremendous fracture. And Paul can see two factions in the church. And he can see the spiritual ones sort of becoming proud and as it says in 26, "Let us not be desirous of vain glory provoking those other people causing them to envy." He could see that the...it was a potential problem that the spiritual ones could begin to sort of feel superior and lorded over the ones who were falling all over into sin. They were back in Romans 7 folks. They were trying to do it without the Holy Spirit. And you know they had good motives. We love the law of God. We want to observe the law of God. Like Paul said, and I want to do it, but I can't do it, and what I don't want to do, I do. You know Romans 7?
That's a perfect illustration of a guy in the flesh trying to live the law and he never meets the Holy Spirit until Chapter 8 and all of a sudden he just goes way on away. So they were trying to live in the flesh and they were falling on their faces in terms of sin. Now how are you going to correct this. He says don't be desirous of vain glory, kenodoxos, it means conceited. Don't be conceited thing you have a rightful claim to honor. And by your conceit, you'll provoke envy. So he sees these potentially stronger brothers liberated in the Spirit, lording it over these poor people, flopping all over everywhere and he could see a tremendous fracture in the church and the last thing he wanted was the church split, right? That would have grieved his heart.
So what's he going to do? How are you going to stop it? He's got a great solution. You know what he does? He gives the total responsibility for the problem to the spiritual ones. It's the only place you could give it. And he gives it to them. Notice verse 1, "If a man be overtaken in a fall, ye who are," what, "spiritual." He talks to them. He appeals to those people who are in the position of doing something. Don't you see the beauty of this thing? That's how God can affect unity in the church. It's the strong holding up the weak. The great priority. Some of us think the church is nothing but you just come and sit there and it's nice and you listen and then you go to class and maybe you teach a little thing and it's just sort of a lot of nice little activity thing that you do.
Paul always, in all of his writings, put the burden of the church on the strong spiritual Christians. For example, I'll just prove this to you by showing you...I'll read it to you. Don't have to turn to it. Listen to Romans 15:1. "We then that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak." It's our responsibility. Listen to what he says in 1 Thessalonians 5. "Now we exhort you brethren, warn them that are unruly, encourage the fainthearted, support the weak." And again, it's the same idea. 1 Thessalonians 5:14. The strong support the weak. Beloved, this is the only way the church an ever be healthy is when we who are spiritual take the responsibility for lifting up the fallen.
And so Paul says, I don't want you to be vain glorious. Instead of standing up in pride and looking down on fallen sinners in your midst, I want you to get down where they are and help them up. This is a preoccupation. Great concern of our Lord for His church that we be concerned about holiness, not programs, not all that nickels, noise, and numbers stuff that you read about all the time regarding the church. But holiness, it's important. I could wail away on that. I won't.
Now, let me give you a three point outline. Here it is. Number one, the first thing you do for a sinning brother who wants to be restored is pick him up, pick him up. I knows that's really literary, but that's it. Pick him up. Look at it, Chapter 6, verse 1. "Brethren if a man be overtaken in a fall, ye who are spiritual restore such an one in the spirit of meekness considering thyself lest thou," what, "also be tempted." That's pick him up. You know, the first thing a fallen brother needs is to get up. That's fairly obvious.
The activity of believers, brethren, he says. Now notice it says, "if a man be overtaken in a fall," here's the situation, interpreting this idea of overtaken is very interesting, prolambano, it means to catch unawares. Listen to this, if you catch a Christian in the act of sin is what it's saying. Now, I don't think that we have to say that you can't say anything unless you actually saw him do it. If you know it, normally Christians try to hide their sin. Would you agree to that? I mean, that's sort of normal. We usually try to do that. I can't imagine Christians who didn't. I think that's fairly the normal deal, but if we happen to know of one caught in the act as it were, we know this to be a fact and, you see, the Lord puts a safeguard in here by having His apostles say when overtaken in a fall, one that you know about so that everybody isn't going around speculating about everything. It needs to be something which you are confirmed in, that you know about.
A carnal deed resulting from a failure to walk in the Spirit, it issues in sin and you know about it. I want you to just give another glance at that word overtaken. It seems too, to have latened in it the possibility that the sin kind of snuck up on him. The word can have that meaning. It's not so much that he ran out and said I'm going to sin, boom. No, it's the idea that he said I'm going to live the law in the flesh whap, and he couldn't do it, see. It's more default than it is anything else. In fact, that's the word he uses. A fall, he doesn't use hamartia, the word for sin or the word for transgression, but this word fault peroptima, means to stumble or to fall or to blunder. It's the antithesis of walking. To walk is to walk, to fall is the opposite.
And so here's this guy who's trying to walk in the flesh and keep the law and hmmm, he keeps flopping all the time. Though the major idea is not so much willful sin, it's not like parabasis in 3:19. It's the idea of just active sin so much as it's kind of a slip. Maybe his motive was to try to serve God in the flesh and he couldn't do it. It's just as bad. But that's the meaning of the term. Now perhaps in the Galatians case some of these Gentiles were trying to live the Jewish law in the flesh and they kept falling down. Now what's the first step. Well, first of all, if the guy's willing to repent, that's what we said is the first thing. If he's willing to get up that's where it all begins. If he isn't, then you go to him, if he doesn't want to do it, go to him with three, if he doesn't want to do it, you throw him out. You bring it to the church. If he says yes, I want help, the first thing here it comes, "Ye who are spiritual." Now who are they? Well, that's the ones that are strong.
You say okay, who are they? Who are the spiritual ones? I'll introduce you to do them. 1 Corinthians 2:14, now listen, "The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God. They're foolishness unto him, neither can he know them, because they're spiritually discerned." All right we know that natural people don't understand spiritual truth. Now if you'll look at verse 1 of Chapter 3, "I couldn't write unto you as unto spiritual, but as a carnal." Paul says, carnal people can't even receive good solid meat truth. He says I have to feed you with milk and not with meat.
So in the first place, natural people don't know anything. Carnal people know a little bit, but not very much, but the person who's in a position to do the picking up is in verse 15 of Chapter 2. "But he that is spiritual judges all things." In other words, he's got sights on everything. He interprets well. He knows. Verse 16, "For who hath known the mind of the Lord that He may instruct him, but we have," what, "the mind of Christ." Do you know what a spiritual man is? A man who thinks like Christ.
A man who is Christ conscious. A man who say fulfills the statement of Colossians 3:16, "who has the word of Christ dwelling in him," what, "richly." That's a spiritual man. He has the mind of Christ. He's not thinking independently of Christ. He's thinking what Christ is thinking. Christ dominates his thoughts. That's a spiritual man. So the spiritual ones, those who are ruled by Christ, who have the mind of Christ, who are dominated by Christ, it is their responsibility to pick up the one that stumbles.
Now notice it says to restore such in one. This is interesting because it's a command. And the word restore means to repair or to restore to a former condition. It's used in other Greek writings of mending bones or putting dislocated limbs back into the proper place. It's also used in mending nets. It's used of reconciling various factions of people. So here you have the idea of restoration to former behavior.
Now it assumes this, that he was a spiritual Christian living in the Spirit thinking the thoughts of Christ. You need to bring him back to the place where he was spiritual. You say how can I help him do that? I'll give you a simple way. You help him judge his sin, confess his sin, and repent of it. That simple enough? You say, you know what your sin was? Yes. Do you want to talk to the Lord about it and tell Him you did and confess it to Him? Okay. Now you're going to turn from it and forsake it? Yes. Do you know what you've just done? You've restored a fallen brother.
And you see it's predicated on his will to be restored. So what do you? You help him judge his sin, that is evaluate it. You help him to confess it to God and to repent of it and move out depending on the Spirit. Then you say to him lastly now go to it brother, not in your own strength, but in the Spirit. Now the idea here beloved is not punishment. No, no, this is not punishment. Why? Because this guy wants to get picked up, right? If he was belligerent and didn't want to, then comes punishment. This is the act of restoration for the willing one.
So the unfallen are to assist the fallen. I think this, I think the sooner we get involved in spiritual restoration, the sooner we're going to obey our Lord Jesus Christ, the sooner the church is going to be pure, and the sooner the world's going to see who our God really is. You say well, what should be our attitude when we pick the guy up. You stupid klutz, why do you do dumb things like that. You...I never do that. Why you should follow the way I live. No, you should do it like this. You restore such in one of the Spirit of what? Meekness, humility, gentleness. Why should you do it that way? "Considering thyself lest thou also be tempted." Boy you know sometimes Christians can pick up sinning brothers and man they can make them more miserable than they were when they were sinning.
I read a testimony by a Christian pastor, this is what he said. "I have often thought that if I ever fall into a peraptima, the noun used here for the fault. "If I ever fall into a peraptima, oh God do not let me fall into the hands of those censorious, critical judges in the church. Let me fall into the hands of the barkeepers, street walkers, dope peddlers. Why? Because so often church people would tear me apart with their long wagging gossipy tongues cutting me to shreds."
He didn't have too good of an experience in the church, I guess. Our attitudes should reflect the attitude of Jesus Christ when He picked up a sinner. Did you ever see Jesus pick up a fallen sinner? Oh it's exciting. Look at Luke 9. I'll show you His Spirit in doing it. Luke 9:56, just to give you this thought. "For the Son of man is not come to destroy men's lives, but to save them." Here is the Spirit of Jesus not the spirit of destruction of a person, but the Spirit of restoration of salvation. Now watch how reacts to this woman in John Chapter 8.
"A woman taken in adultery," and here we see that principle in action. John Chapter 8, He meets this woman, she was taken in the act of adultery. The very act, verse 4. And they all said well, the law says we should stone her. Remember the story of what Jesus did. He stooped down and wrote on the ground. This would be an interesting debate about what He wrote. Somebody suggests that maybe He wrote down the sins of all the people looking on. And then He said, "He that is without sin let him cast the stone at her," and everybody left. The oldest first, why? They had more stuff written on the ground probably.
And verse 10, "When Jesus lifted Himself up and saw none but the woman, He said unto her, woman, where are your accusers? Has no man condemned you? She said, no man Lord. Jesus said unto her, neither do I condemn you. Go and," what, "sin no more." Now that's the Spirit of restoration. You say well now, John, you talk about all this we have to go to the person and rebuke their sin and reprove their sin. How do you justify that in terms of Matthew 7:1, "Judge not lest ye be judged."
I used to hear that verse a lot. "Judge not lest ye be judged." See, remember that little beauty. Used to get that all the time. Well, you have to understand the situation in Matthew 7. Again, people take everything out of context, but He's talking there to Pharisees who had not the ability to be just judges. They were not fair. They were not balanced. They were not impartial. They were condemning all the time. Theirs was a ridicule. You say well, what about James Chapter 4, verses 11-12, because it says something very similar. It says, "Speak not evil one of another brethren. He that speaketh evil of brethren judges his brethren speaks evil of the law and judges the law." So that statement, "speak not evil of one another," don't judge your brother. Again, you have the same idea. It is a failure here to be fair. It is a person who is proud and because of the exaltation of self, he just condemns everybody else.
It is not the idea of picking up a sinning brother at all. It is a judgmental person. It is a cruel critical, judgmental, ego centered, self-righteous, pious individual who can't be at all fair in any judgment in view in both of those passages. And so that's a different story altogether. That's Phariseeism that he's rebuking there. Here he's giving the Christian the responsibility to rebuke sin. When the guy says okay fine, I don't want to sin any more, I want out, then you life him up. How do you lift him up? You help him to judge his sin, evaluate it, confess it, and forsake it, and walk in the Spirit. And you do it in a Spirit of meekness and gentleness because you should remember that you can be tempted in the same areas. Let's face it, we're all made out of the same stuff.
Now there is a time when such gentleness turns to judgment. There is a time that if the person refuses and refuses to respond that there must be discipline. You must be put out of the church, but if he's willing he's to be picked up. Second point, what do you do with a sinning brother after you pick him up? Point two, hold him up. Hold him up. You know, one thing that I think is important is that once you've picked up a sinning brother, don't just leave him. Hold him up, verse 2. Are you ready for this? "Continue to bear one another's," what, "burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ."
What is a burden? A burden is anything that oppresses a believer spiritually. Anything that threatens to induce him to sin or keep him sinning is a burden. He says you hold up his burdens. You hold up those things that press on him. You help him carry the load of this temptation. I remember one time when a brother had sinned grievously and he came to me and we talked about it and I picked him up and I...after I picked him up I wanted to hold him up and so I didn't really know how to do this and so I said I want you to do something for me. I want you to make a note that I'll be praying for you every day and we're going to meet periodically. And so I met with him periodically over this same period of time following the sin and we talked about his life and his growth in the Spirit and so forth. And we talked about all of the details of this thing. We continue to do that. And I told him that I was always concerned about his sin and that every time he ever entered into that sin or even was tempted to remember that I was diligently praying for him and that he was going to need, if he did that sin, we had a little pact, he was going to need to come to me and tell me that he did it again.
And you know, it was amazing how that kept him from doing that. The fact that he loved me and respected me, he did not want to have to tell me that he did it. And it became a deterrent. That was one way that I saw to hold him up, to put my life up against his life and to support him. And say, I'm going to pray with you. I'm going to meet with you once or twice a week and I'm going to be thinking about you and I'm going to make a deal with you that when you do it, you've got to tell me about it. That's one way. Hold him up. Any kind of oppression that threatens him spiritually that induces him to sin is a burden that you are to carry along with him.
Oh beloved, can't you see the beauty of what the church is all about? You pick up the sinning brother and then you wrap your arms around him and carry him? This is Christianity. Christianity isn't a spectator sport. Not at all. Some people think well, I'll carry all my burdens alone. That's fortitude. You know, great right arms. And you know what that is? It's hypocrisy. It really is. It's unfair to do that too because you're not giving us a chance to do what we're supposed to do. How can I bear your burdens if I don't know what they are?
That's why it says in James 5:16, "Confess your faults one to another." Right? You can't carry your load for you if you're not going to tell me. There are others who say well, I don't share those things with people. I take all my burdens to the Lord. You know Psalm 55:22 says, "Cast your burden on the Lord and He'll sustain you." I like that, it's good. 1 Peter 5:7 says, "Casting all your care unto Him, for He cares for you." But did you know that the agency through which the Lord bears a lot of burdens is the church?
That's right. You know, the apostle Paul, he had a lot of burdens and he was prone to be tempted and you know he was tempted to the sin of discouragement did you know that? That's right. And in verse 5 and 6 of 2 Corinthians 7, he says, "For when we were come into Macedonia our flesh had no rest and we're troubled on every side fightings and fears." Man he was bearing a burden that was going to induce him to sin. "Nevertheless, God who comforts those that are cast down comforted us," watch this beauty, "by the coming of the Titus."
Yes, it's right to say I give my burden to God, but watch out God may send some human to carry it. Now don't try to do it alone and don't just get it kind of theological about it and send it to heaven and drop it at that. Allow somebody here who's got flesh and blood that the Lord can send along to carry it for you. That's our responsibility. And look at what it does. He says in Galatians 6, "It fulfills," what law, "the law of Christ." What is the law of Christ? Do you know what the law of Christ is? "Jesus had a new commandment I give unto you that you," what, "love one another." That's the law of Christ.
The law of Christ is fulfilled then when I carry my brother's burden. When I help him shoulder the thing that tempts him, the thing that drives him to sin, and that means I've got to get my arms around him. That means I've got to get close to him. You know, sometimes preachers talk together and one of the things that I used to hear when preachers talk is one thing you'll learn son, they used to say to me, is that you can't...in the ministry, you can't get close to anybody. Do you know that if I believed that, I couldn't be in the ministry.
I feel like I've got to get close to anybody who needs to be gotten close to, you know? I mean, how could you say you can't get close to anybody? What are you a preaching machine? I mean, if...I mean, I think I'm close to some people. I feel close to people and I love people that are close to me. And I try to be supportive of them. So this fulfills the law of Christ. How could I fulfill the law of Christ if I didn't get close enough to love my brother.
So he says, not only pick them up and hold them up, bear their burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ's love bears burdens people. Love bears burdens. Look at verse 3. "For if a man thinks himself to be something when he's nothing, he deceives himself." You know, we say how did that verse get in there? Well, I think Paul is probably figuring that the reason some Christians don't stoop down and carry other people's burdens is because they think they're what? They're too good. Well, that's his own problem. He got himself in that mess. I've got other things to do.
And the problem potentially there is that Christians just don't have time to bother with anybody else. They're rather conceited and if you think that you're something when you're nothing...you say well, fortunately, I think I'm something and I am something. Well, yeah, you sure are something. Let me tell you, you're all nothing. You got it. Yeah, it doesn't say when...if you think yourself to be something and you are something, it says when you think to be something and you are nothing.
You're kidding yourself. Now when you think you're nothing, you're something. And that is to be honest. And so he's assuming that some people won't do this because they're just too good for it. But verse 4, he says, "Let every man prove his own work and then shall have he have rejoicing in himself alone and not in another. For every man shall bear his own burden." You know what? This is an interesting statement. Instead of comparing ourselves with a poor fallen brother, we must test our own work for its own innate qualities. He says, instead of just looking at ourselves and saying well, I'm so much better than he is. I must be wonderful, we are rather to prove our own work. In other words, God doesn't grade on the curve. Do you understand that?
God does not grade on the curve. God grades in absolutes. And so you must prove your own life then you're going to have true rejoicing in yourself and not rejoicing just by comparison with another. But you know we do that so much. Man we say well, I'm not so bad, look at him. Don't we do that? I do that. Dumb thing, I do that. I say well, you know, I'm...I know I have my faults, but man did you see that guy? Gees, he's got so many faults you can't believe it. He says, no, you prove your own work and then when you rejoice, you won't be rejoicing because of comparison. You won't be rejoicing in the A you got on the curve. You'll rejoice with the absolute A you got.
And every man's going to bear his own burden. You say I thought it just said you're supposed to bear one another's burdens. That's where the English language gets you into trouble, because those are two different Greek words. Are you ready? Watch. The word in verse 2 is, barus, it means a heavy load. A heavy load, brethren if a man be overtaken in a fault, the idea there, pick him up. Verse 2, "Then bear his burden, carry his heavy load." The implication is that it's too heavy for him to handle. But the word that is used in verse 5, fortian, a light pack. I like this now. We don't want to get too involved in it, but listen, we are to bear the burdens that are too heavy for others to bear, but watch this, there is one burden that we can't share with anybody and it's light enough for us to bear and it's the burden of our responsibility when we face Jesus Christ at the judgment seat.
There's coming a day beloved when we're going to bear our own backpack to that judgment seat. It's light enough for us to carry. Nobody can get under us and support us then. Nobody can say well, I know he goofed it up, but I...it's my fault. No, you're going to carry your own load then. Two different words. On the day of judgment everybody carries his own pack folks, but in this life his on fortian, but in this life we carry the others barus, the other's heavy load.
Well, what makes us really tender, gentle, gracious brothers who restore really as we're supposed to and who carry a brothers burden is that we realize we ourselves amount to so little. So I'm not concerned with how I look compared to somebody else. I'm concerned with how I look period before God. So what's my responsibility? Pick him up, hold him up, ready for the third one?
Build him up. If you don't build him up, you haven't done much good because you're going to fall again. Build him up. That's verse 6. Now verse 6 is very, very controversial verse. And I had kind of a good time with this verse and I have often referred to the verse, I suppose, in my thinking, if not publicly, as a verse that was teaching you ought to pay the preacher. And I suppose the reason that's a popular interpretation is because there's so many preachers who like to be paid. And then maybe that lends itself to the interpretation. But listen to what the verse says. "Let him that is taught in the word share with him that teacheth in all good things."
And so many interpret...in fact, most interpret it as saying that the...Paul is simply giving a little statement to the Galatians to pay the teachers and maybe there was a problem there and they weren't paying their teachers. But as I read that over and over and over and meditated on that, that was a couple of hours thinking about that. I thought that can't be. I mean, why in the middle of all of this does he give a commercial for the salary of the guy teaching. I mean, it doesn't make any sense. I couldn't fit it in at all. I tried everyway I could. I read every commentary and nobody seemed to satisfy my mind.
So I thought it doesn't make sense. Then I thought and it doesn't say a thing about money anyway does it? So I just took my Greek text and I just started tearing apart the whole verse and I found out that it really says this, let him who receives instruction share with him who gives instruction in all good things. Now the word is kateketo again it's the catechumen. Let the learner share with the teacher. Share is the word koinoneo. It means to hold equally. Now that was a problem for me. How could he pay the preacher and still hold the money equally? Because it's to fellowship. You know, once I've given my money to someone, I'm not fellowshipping with it anymore. It's he is. He's got it all to himself, see.
So I couldn't quite fit koinoneo into the thing. Whatever this is, it's a common fellowship. So the learner is to have a common fellowship. This is being taught in the word. Is to have a common fellowship with him that is doing the teaching. Now what is there fellowship over? Well, their fellowship is in all good things. Does that mean money? I don't know. Maybe it does. I mean maybe everybody's right. I don't know. It certainly doesn't say money. You say well, what's the Greek word? Agathios, that's a plural form of agathos which get Agatha, it means good.
It means good. Now if it's plural what it really translates is this, let him that is taught in the word share with him the teaches in all goodies. That would be the most literal English translation. Now you say what are the goodies. Well, some would say money. No, interestingly enough the word agathos is used primarily of spiritual excellence. The word kalos, k-a-l-o-s, is another word for good that is used to refer to goodness as it takes physical form. So it would seem in my mind that to be consistent, if it was money involved it would be the word kalos, which is good in terms of a physical form. Whereas, agathos for the most part, speaks of a qualitative kind of goodness. Spiritual excellence. It is so used in Romans 10:15, Hebrews 9:11, Hebrews 10:1 and many other places.
So let him that is taught in the word share with him that teaches in all the things of spiritual excellence. Paul is saying this, when you've picked up the sinning brother and you've held up the sinning brother, then you make sure the sinning brother shares all the spiritual truths with his teacher. Does that make sense? To me man, that just fits the pattern because now, you've got the guy picked up, held up and build up. That's the final aspect of restoration, isn't it?
David said, "Thy word have I hid in my heart," what, "that I might not sin against thee." So you pick him up, you hold him up, and you build him up. What a blessed pattern. God help us to take this ministry and fulfill it.
Lord, thank You for our fellowship tonight. Thank You for the tremendous statements of Scripture in regard to this priority of ministry. Oh Lord God give us a desire to function in the area of what matters. Save us from trivia and inconsequential things. Give us a tremendous desire for the holiness of the church, first of all, realizing that it is only as we are spiritual that we could even be used to lift others up. And so may we first look to ourselves to see that we're walking in the Spirit and then may we watch our brothers and love. First to rebuke and when they repent to lift them up.
God, we know we can't maybe go beyond the bounds of this place to begin with, but if we could just have holiness here, oh what a testimony we'd have. May it be so we pray in Jesus' name. Amen.
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text:
THESSALONIKI, GREECE— Dozens of Greek anti-austerity protesters forced their way into an exhibition site where Greek and German government officials were holding a conference, with some demonstrators almost breaking into the meeting before being repelled by riot police.
The protesting municipal workers pushed and threw coffee on a German consul, Wolfgang Hoelsche-Obermaier, as he arrived to attend the conference, which brought together Greek and German mayors in the northern city of Thessaloniki.
MORE: Anti-austerity strikes sweep southern Europe
The workers later forced open shutters and tried to enter the building where the conference was held, but were pushed back by police.
A German deputy labour minister who has been appointed special envoy to Greece, Hans-Joachim Fuchtel, was also attending the event.
Fuchtel raised hackles in Greece after saying Wednesday that the work handled by 3,000 Greek municipal workers can be processed by 1,000 of their German colleagues. He later said his comments had been misunderstood.
"These people haven't come here to help us, but to announce our death sentence," said Themis Balasopoulos, leader of Greece's municipal workers union, who was at Thursday's demonstration.
The protesters chanted "Nazis out" and "This will not pass" as they tried to obstruct municipal officials from attending the conference.
Hoelsche-Obermaier said he was not upset by the attack against him.
"It was a misunderstanding. I am more pro-Greek than I was before today," he told reporters.
Germany is the biggest contributor to Greece's rescue loans and has been one of the most vocal advocates of the tough austerity measures demanded of Athens. As a result, protesters in Greece often target Germany in their demonstrations.
Last month, around 50,000 people demonstrated in Athens when German Chancellor Angela Merkel paid here first official visit to Greece since the country's massive debt crisis broke out. She expressed support for the conservative-led government's efforts to limit high budget deficits.
The Greek Parliament last week passed a new austerity package that bailout creditors had demanded in exchange for paying out more rescue loans. The package raised the retirement age and cut pensions and raised taxes. It has also has eased restrictions on firing workers.
In a chaotic scene on Thursday, riot police chased protesters through the exhibition complex from building to building. There were no immediate reports of arrests.
The protesters played Nazi anthems over loud speakers, as well as Greek radio recordings from World War Two.
Left-wing German lawmaker Annette Groth joined the protesters outside the conference centre, where clashes with riot police also occurred.
"I have also been unemployed," she told the crowd. "It is not you who should pay the price for this crisis but the rich."
That argument resonates with many Greeks, who feel that low income earners have borne the main brunt of the country's brutal austerity program.
The recent revelation that Greek tax officials took no action to investigate lists of people with accounts in Switzerland — provided by French authorities — provoked outrage.
On Thursday, Finance Minister Yannis Stournaras formally asked Britain to forward information on Greek nationals with offshore HSBC accounts on the Isle of Jersey. The move followed a request from Greek prosecutors, after a list of more than 4,000 alleged HSBC customers with accounts on the offshore financial centre was leaked to British authorities.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Duty, Fate, and Beauty:
A Norwegian-American Pioneer Legacy Remembered
(a repost from February 2008)
Timeline for Regina Winje Strand:
July 13, 1873
Born in Sparta Township, Chippewa CO., MN
Autumn 1874
Sent to live with paternal grandparents
Oct. 23, 1888
Wrote letter telling of uncle's death
Married Thomas E. Strand in Chippewa CO., MN
Jan. 15, 1899
Bore 6th child, Thomas R. Strand
Jan. 22, 1899
Death from "heart disease"
While studying data and details in genealogical research, we often come across statistics regarding pre-modern era populations and epidemic disease. Most of the time we do not have to think much beyond the statistics. In the days of our immigrant ancestors, epidemics and untreated health conditions were an inevitable part of life, and though much feared, were met with courage and acceptance. The early demise of children and young adults was common, and yet it cuts to the heart when one studies the past and finds personal evidence of just such heartbreak and loss. The story behind the short life of Regina Winje Strand touched me in just such a way.
|Berthe Regine (Winje) Strand, 1873-1899.
Photo ca. 1895, Chippewa County, Minnesota
"Regina" Winje was born during the heat of a plague-filled summer on July 12, 1873, on the prairie in Sparta Township, Chippewa County, Minnesota. The surrounding land had been claimed by the first homesteaders only a few years before, in 1868. She was the firstborn child of my great great grandmother, Thibertine (Johnson) and her second husband, Eric Larsen Winje, both immigrants from Norway. The summer of 1873 brought one of many severe locust infestations in the southwestern plains of Minnesota, and that year, it followed upon the heels of a devastating January blizzard. After catastrophic weather and other natural events, times were hard for local homesteaders and farmers, including Regina's family. Many homesteaders had to take out loans in order to survive, selling any extra cattle or livestock that they owned.
When Regina was about a year old, her brother Louis, was born, and Regina was sent to stay with her paternal grandparents in Sparta Township, Lars and Ragnild Winje. Perhaps the arrangement was never meant to be permanent, but in the end, it was, and the reason can only be surmised. While caring for her lovely little granddaughter, Ragnild Winje may have found a longtime need fulfilled in such a way that she found it difficult to return the child. Ragnild had given birth to two sons, but no daughters. In Norway, children were often placed where it was deemed most practical, so it was likely that Eric and Thibertine saw the gift of their daughter as a way to ensure company and help for her grandparents during their elder years. Fortunately, Sparta Township, where Lars and Ragnild Winje had their homestead, was only a few miles from Granite Falls Township, where Regina's parents lived. All family members saw each other frequently, and even attended the same Lutheran Church for several years, in spite of the alternate living arrangements for Regina.
|Regina Winje, ca. 1883.
The earliest known photograph of Regina, taken in about 1883, shows a reserved young girl with a slightly sad, Mona-Lisa style loveliness and mystique. In spite of her youth, she seems to possess an inner acceptance of what life holds in store, a resignation almost. Wearing homespun clothing, there is unusual grace for a child of her age revealed in the hand she poses on the photography studio's velvet chaise.
At the age of 16, Regina revealed maturity of an adult level in a letter she wrote to a longtime friend of her father and her uncle, Ingebrigt Winje (translated from Norwegian). It is young Regina who must write for her grandparents and inform the family friend of her uncle's death:
Mr. Doran Wessell
Good Friend,
I must now send you some lines as an answer to your letter to Ingebret Winje, since he can not.
Your childhood friend is dead! He died the 26th of May 1888. He was sick for 9 weeks this winter from arthritis but then he got a little better again, so much so that he could work, but then he became again lame in his right foot and had to in the end, be in bed and was so frightfully sick for 2 weeks that he lost his understanding right up until the last hour, his last hour he was however calm.
Here there were many people who followed him to the grave. If you come to Minnesota, then you must come to us. You shall be heartily welcome. We wish to get to talk with you, then you will have gotten to hear more about your friend that you thought you soon should get to see again, but it doesn't always go as one imagines.
You are now most heartily greeted from Lars and his wife. I should write this letter for my grandfather and you must excuse me if it is bad, but it is so much for you to know that your friend is dead. I am the oldest daughter of Erik but I am living with my grandparents and I have been here since I was 1 year and have been raised together with Ingebret and no wonder that I have sorrow for he was always friendly and good toward me. I have also this summer lost 2 of my youngest sisters so that the sorrow becomes even greater. If you want to come here then you must get a ticket to Myers Station, Chippewa Co., Minnesota.
We live not so far from there. I must now end my poor writing with a greeting to you.
Regina E. [Eriksdatter] Winje [1]
The "youngest sisters" mentioned by Regina were Hattie Christine and Annie Jorgene, who died from diphtheria within days of their uncle, Ingebrigt Winje. Hattie was 5 years old, and Annie was just 2, when their deaths occurred. The young girls were living with Regina's parents in Duluth at the time, where Eric L. Winje worked first as an attorney, and later as a municipal court judge.
Within several months after the letter was written, Regina married Thomas Einersen Strand, who hailed from Soer Troendelag, Norway, like her father and grandparents. As the wedding photograph reveals, Regina was already expecting her first child by the time the marriage took place, which was not an uncommon occurrence in early Norwegian-American culture, as it had been in rural Norway. The only real shame involved was when a birth occurred without marriage beforehand.
Newlyweds Thomas and Regina Strand set up housekeeping on the homestead in Sparta Township where Regina had been living with her grandparents. Lars Winje, who was ill at that time, added his granddaughter to his will. Regina stood to inherit the Winje homestead when her grandmother, Ragnild, no longer needed it. Shortly after Thomas and Regina were married, Lars Winje died, and Thomas Strand began renting the land from his mother-in-law in order to farm and support his family.
Thomas and Regina had six children together, all of them sons, and all but one survived birth. Regina was only 25 years old when she bore their last child, on January 15, 1899. Thomas was most certainly proud of his growing family, and although it is doubtful he ever said it aloud, he must have felt that he had the most beautiful and graceful wife on the Chippewa prairie. Now, he also had five strapping sons to carry on his legacy: Elmer, Arthur, Theodore, Lambert, and the newborn, Thomas Raymond.[2]
But, as Regina so aptly states in her letter to Doran Wessell: ". . . it doesn't always go as one imagines." A week after giving birth, on January 22, Regina slipped into unconsciousness and died. Her husband, sons, and elderly grandmother were left in a state of shock. [3]
Regina's death certificate indicates "heart disease" as the cause of death, but her family understood the direct cause to be either a heart attack or a blood clot. It is likely that, as a child, she contracted a light case of diphtheria when her uncle suffered from it and died. Survivors of diphtheria often developed a weakened heart from the ravages of the disease, and after six pregnancies in rapid succession, Regina's physical reserves were severely depleted. Even after the immediate danger of an epidemic had passed, it was never certain what the lingering effects would be.
Regina was laid to rest at Saron Lutheran Cemetery, near the old Winje farm. Her headstone has an image of two hands clasping, along with the following engraving in Norwegian: [4]
Farvel [Farewell]
Berthine R. Strand
Dode [Died] Jan 22, 1899
Alder 25 Jahr, 6 M, 10 D [Aged 25 years, 6 months, and 10 days]
|Saron Lutheran Church, Chippewa County, Minnesota, ca. 1915. Minnesota Historical Society, Photographs Collection. Location no. MC4.5 p11. Negative no. 58207. Photographer: Louis Enstrom (1873-1947).
Thomas Strand's duty to his family necessitated finding a housekeeper as quickly as possible. In local-born Matilda Nelson, he found a healthy young woman with the stamina necessary to chase four young boys about the farm, as well as take on most of the household duties that had previously been relegated to Regina. After several years of building a bond through daily routines together, Thomas and "Tilda" were married in 1902, and promptly began a family of their own, which eventually included eight children: Alvin, Stella, Noel, Gearda, Olaf, Gerhardt, Maude, and Margaret. Strand eventually became one of the best-known farmers in Sparta Township. He purchased the homestead outright from his mother-in-law, Ragnild Winje, and continued to care for her until she passed away. [5]
In looking over the brief details known about Regina's life, she was obviously a dutiful daughter who did her best to live up to her parents and grandparents expectations. She may have found a purpose and direction of her own by marrying young, hopefully finding love in addition, though she continued to serve her family above all else. Regina's beauty could have instead led her toward vanity and unrealistic expectations, but it is doubtful she ever considered taking advantage of her gift.
When fate called Regina in the prime of her young adulthood, she left a legacy of personal sacrifice and acceptance that continued to strengthen her husband and sons, as well as grandchildren, who faced the future without her help and guidance. Regina's story is similar to the lives of many American pioneer women who suffered day to day hardships without complaint, hoping only for increased opportunity and better lives for their children and descendants.
Photographs (except the image of Saron Lutheran Church) are from the Johnson and Winje family collections. All rights reserved.
[1] Letter, Regina Winje, Wegdahl, Chippewa County, Minnesota, to Doran Wessel, Seattle, WA, Oct. 23, 1888; In Regina's signature, the middle initial "E." stands for "Eriksdatter," her patronymic name; note the typically Norwegian self-depreciation in the last line: "I must now end my poor writing with a greeting to you."
[2] A sixth child died in childbirth: obituary for Regina (Mrs. Thos. Strand), Montevideo Leader, ? January 1899 (copy in the possession of the author).
[3] Death certificate for Berthe Regine Strand, January 22, 1899, Sparta Township, Chippewa County, Minnesota.
[4] Information from Regina Winje Strand's headstone acquired by the author's visit to Saron Lutheran Cemetery, Chippewa County, Minnesota, September 2002.
[5] A biography of Thomas E. Strand is included in: L. R. Moyer and O.G. Dale, joint editors. History of Chippewa and Lac qui Parle Counties, Minnesota. Indianapolis, Indiana: B.F. Bown & Company, Inc., 1916. Vol. II, pp.127-128.


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South Africa carried the dubious title of being home to the world's hottest hotspot, the Cape Floral Region. Situated at the tip of Africa, this majestic floral kingdom is the only to be fully contained within a single country.
Incredibly it has the highest known concentration of plant species in the world, its nearest rival, the South American rain forest, has only one third the number of species. Even more remarkable is that 70 percent of the Cape's impressive 9,600 plant species grow nowhere else on Earth.
The Cape is also home to many charismatic animal species, and has particularly high reptile and amphibian diversity. One such species is the rare Geometric Tortoise (Psammobates geometricus), which is one of the most threatened tortoises in the world, having lost 97 percent of its habitat to agricultural expansion. The hotspot is also home to many rare, endangered and unique frog species, including the elusive Table Mountain Ghost Frog (Heleophryne rosei), which only occurs on Table Mountain and has one of the most restricted ranges of any amphibian in the world.
This World Heritage Site is by far the smallest and the richest of the World's six floral kingdoms, but it is also the most threatened. Alien plant infestation, too frequent fires, commercial afforestation and agricultural and urban expansion has transformed 80 percent of the landscape. This has left scatted fragments of natural vegetation, across the Cape, harboring high numbers of endangered species.


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As I looked at him cradled there in my arms, the dark downy velvet of his head against my chest, love for him poured into my soul like the morning mist that pours over the hills into our valley. His name was engraved on my heart; the depth of his dark, liquid eyes imprinted in my soul.
His soft, pink wiggliness, his fingers helplessly grasping the air, the very fragrance of his fresh newness to the world. I loved him. So help me, I loved him with my every nerve, every muscle with every drop of blood flowing through my veins.
My son grew. I couldn't help but delight in his every new accomplishment, every first step. I love both my sons, of course, this one and his older brother. But the older one was a more serious lad; he played little and reluctantly but worked with determination. This younger one was different. In those early years there was an unconscious joy about him that made me smile.
My family and I are farmers. We make a life on this dry plain by subduing the earth, by making plants and animals work for us and give us the sustenance we need. As my sons grew, sometimes the older one became impatient with his playful brother. I didn't like them to argue and fight, but I supposed that all brothers do.
Too late I began to notice the change in the younger lad. Too late I noticed a distant expression about his eyes, a disappointment that rested on his brow. At first the change appeared only when he was working with his often-disapproving older brother. Too late I realized that the sadness had found a permanent home on his face. Perhaps that's why I overlooked his carelessness, why I said nothing when he failed to appear for work, when he caroused late with his friends. It was because only then, only when he turned from responsibility, that the anger and disappointment faded from his brow. Only then did I glimpse the face I had loved when it was still innocent and untroubled.
And when he came to me one evening and told me he was leaving, it was too late to change his mind. He'd had a fight with his brother. Certainly not their first fight, but this time the relationship was beyond repair.
My serious older son would inherit the bulk of my farm and possessions; the younger would be left with the remainder, and the thought of life as his brother's inferior was more than he could tolerate.
Give me the value of my inheritance now," he said, "and let me go somewhere else and start my own life."
In my heart, I knew that he had the right to make it on his own. Still, I pleaded with him to change his mind. As distant and disobedient as he had been, I couldn't face life without him. I knew that if he left, I might never see him again. But it was already too late to recall him to our life.
Only his body remained with us; in spirit he was already gone.
I sold animals and land and handed him a leather bag with some gold coins in it. "Be careful," I said. But he wasn't listening. He was living in his dreams of distant places and great adventures. He turned with hardly another glance and walked away.
I went down the road with him as far as I could, still pleading with him to change his mind. Finally I could follow him no farther. I turned him toward me, a hand on each shoulder. I looked him in his eyes and said, "You know I will always love you." For a moment, there was a glimmer of the affection I remembered. Then his face hardened, and he turned and walked away. As he disappeared behind the next hill, tears coursed down my face.
My older son merely kept working. He was angry about losing part of the farm's assets to his careless brother, but if he missed his brother, he didn't show it. He was an excellent manager, and before too many years had gone by we had more cattle, more land, more crops than we'd ever had before. We were successful.
But only in possessions. My heart was broken. Each day I walked to the place on the road where we'd parted. Each day I wept there. Each day I prayed there that my boy had found happiness—and that he would come home. Sometimes I saw a distant figure on the path, and sometimes I would imagine I recognized his energetic gait.
But as the traveler came nearer, it always turned out to be someone else. Some neighbor returning from the market, some stranger. Those were the bitterest days of all.
This article originally appeared in the Signs of Times magazine in 2000.
Signs of Times 2000, v127, mar p16-17, 23


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We are looking for a freelancer with iOS and Android expertise to debug an existing mobile application. The app takes its data from a server application written in PHP. You are only responsible for the mobile app, but need to be able to understand the PHP code. The app uses (amon other things) location services and the Uber API. More details will be discussed in an initial skype interview. In a second step, we want to make enhancements to the existing app to incorporate new functionality( e.g. Lyft and others). Candidates need to be experienced in both environments. Have exceptional communication skills. Be able to deliver in tight deadlines. No part time candidates, have to online with the team during the MST.
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New York Yankee Captain and shortstop, Derek Jeter, hosted a Youth Summit to promote social change and healthy lifestyles at his Turn 2 Foundation's 2011 Jeter's Leaders Leadership Conference at the University of Tampa. He was joined by former New York Yankees Tino Martinez and Gerald Williams; Super Bowl Champion Green Bay Packer, Greg Jennings; Kalamazoo Mayor Bobby Hopewell; and Best Selling Author & Activist Sister Souljah in a panel discussion addressing adversity and tenacity in achieving social, academic, and career goals.
The bi-annual conference, themed "Social Change: Today's Challenges, Tomorrow's Solutions," brought together approximately 250 high school students from across the country who share a common goal to make a positive change in their schools and communities. The event featured eight workshops created and presented by the New York and Kalamazoo Jeter's Leaders based on topics they feel are most affecting teens in today's ever-changing society. Additionally, the three day event included a variety of team building activities and special events that were educational, motivational, and entertaining for the students as they continue through high school and prepare to enter college. Over the course of the week, the students experienced college life by staying in dorms on campus, eating in the cafeteria, and simulated the academic side of college life by attending workshops.
The event was kicked off in style with a Welcoming Ceremony featuring Tino Martinez, a recent graduate of the University of Tampa and the University's President, Dr. Ronald L. Vaughn.
A highlight that truly exemplifies the spirit of the conference was the community service project at St. Peter Claver Catholic School, the oldest African American Catholic school in the state of Florida. The Turn 2 Foundation worked with a local organization, Keep Tampa Bay Beautiful, to till soil, plant flowers, shrubs and trees, install garden fixtures and benches and stain picnic tables. The effort helped to motivate the elementary school's participation in continuing to refurbish the property. The project included a mentoring component: the high school students paired up with the elementary school students from St. Peter Claver to foster a spirit of sharing and community spirit. Each attending group painted a flower pot with motivational messages to inspire incoming students.
The Jeter's Leaders Program was designed to promote healthy lifestyles, academic achievement, leadership development, and social change activism among high school students. The Jeter's Leaders serve as ambassadors for Derek Jeter in their communities.
The Turn 2 Foundation, established in 1996, has awarded more than $12 million in grants to create and support signature programs and activities that motivate young people to choose healthy lifestyles. Through these ventures, the Foundation strives to create outlets for children to achieve academic excellence, develop leadership skills and remain drug and alcohol free. These programs all share the same goal of helping today's youth become the leaders of tomorrow.
To learn more about the Turn 2 Foundation, please visit us at


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In 1720, the masters' workshops and their apprentices gradually disappear and the first art schools are created. Artists no longer have apprentices to prepare their pigments and binders. Chardin decides to ask a tradesman supplier to prepare his colours, an ancestor of the Lefranc family, runs a business selling pigments and spices in Saint Germain in Paris. A close relationship is established with the artists : the fine arts industry is born.
Due to inherent differences in computer monitors, colors displayed on this page may not accurately represent the actual color.


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Penn State Shenango faculty, staff and students will be collecting mittens, gloves and hats to donate to Joshua's Haven, the Prince of Peace, and West Hill Ministries as part of its "Operation Warm Hands" during the Hermitage Light Up Night Parade on Saturday, Nov. 23. Volunteers will be collecting the items while walking next to Penn State Shenango's "Winter Wonderland" float.
Donations also will be accepted at the Shenango campus in Sharon Hall room 200, located on Penn Avenue in downtown Sharon, Pa. Individuals may participate in this outreach effort by purchasing a hat or a pair, or two, of mittens or gloves, so no child or adult goes without them this winter.
For more information, call 724-983-2860.
Last Updated November 13, 2013


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A note from Luke
Hey Guys!
We're up and rocking!!
I'm doing my best to get previous customers taken care of and limiting incoming orders.
I can't even express in words how great, and loyal this community is.
We started a little slow getting things running, but we're now shipping about every other day.
Thanks for your support and we will keep you updated with the latest updates.
Stuff Sacks and Dry Bags
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You are now leaving The United States of America Vietnam War Commemoration web site and are linking to another site that is not operated by the United States Department of Defense. The Department of Defense does not endorse this web site or the information, products, or services contained therein. The Department of Defense does not exercise any editorial control over the information you may find at other web sites.
For seven days each year, the aviation world descends on Oshkosh, Wis., for the Experimental Aircraft Association's (EAA) AirVenture air show, billed as the World's Greatest Aviation Celebration.
This year, American Airlines, a sponsor of the show held July 29–Aug. 4, hosted a Special Salute to Veterans. On Friday, Aug. 2, American flew 114 Vietnam veterans to Washington, D.C., onboard a 737 aircraft, newly painted with American's livery, to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the end of hostilities in Vietnam.
Old Glory Honor Flight, the Northeast Wisconsin hub of The Honor Flight Network, and the EAA arranged a one-day whirlwind tour in the nation's capital. The veterans from across the country got the chance to visit the awe-inspiring monuments built in their honor, including the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall.
Upon their return to Wittman Regional Airport in Oshkosh (OSH) — the grand finale of Friday's air show — the heroes were greeted by thousands of people waving flags and hoisting handmade signs, an emotional reception for their service and sacrifice.
Later that evening, Gary Sinise & The Lt. Dan Band gave a performance that lived up to the band's motto — Honor. Gratitude. Rock & Roll — and Tony Orlando sang "Tie a Yellow Ribbon" to the veterans and their families. Special thanks goes to DAV (Disabled American Veterans) and EAA Warbirds of America for sponsoring the concert.
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Transform your photos into one-of-a-kind, hand painted masterpieces!
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Today we celebrate two years of blogging as Destructoid.com, an independent web site my friends and I update daily for the love of the hardcore gaming community. It fills me with tear-jerking pride that we've been able to come this far on our own steam, coupled by an eternal gratitude for every editor, contributor, c-blogger, and reader that supports what we do. While there is much I can say about what the future may hold for us, I think that birthdays are also a great time to look back on the past. Its true that Dtoid was my first blog, but I've been writing about video games as a hobby for a long, long time.
Let me tell you an irresolute story about kids who love video games.
My closest friends and I grew up in a canyon of low-income apartment complexes in Hialeah: a lovable ethnic armpit where you can still find the best greasy food and greasy mechanics on the cheap at your own risk. We weren't poor, but when you live next to a water processing plant your options are a little limited. There were no nearby swimming pools or parks where our 100-pound K-mart bikes could safely rest, so we mostly stayed indoors with our
army dolls action figures, LEGOs, cartoons, Skinemax, comic books, Sears-brand Atari, and my favorite at the time: transformable die-cast robots. Little did we know that the Miyamoto army would soon make landfall and take us by storm.
No warning: It was a 90-degree winter's day in Florida when I first saw Nintendo Entertainment System commercial. The ad aired late in the middle of our precious Saturday morning cartoons, cutting through whatever we were doing like a silver bullet. Christmas was coming up. This thing had to be discussed. I rallied my local brethren over a game of boxed ball (that's four square for you Midwest kids). Confession: I was extremely skeptical.
I presented my case: You can't just piss away the time of the year when your otherwise frugal parents allow you to ask for big ticket items. If they needed to put this thing on lay-away, they needed to know ASAP. This was a crisis! The Atari 2600 was solid but the later versions were to be approached with caution. Nobody we knew had them. They were expensive and required *color* televisions. I thought it was a bad idea to be an early adopter until we knew more. Lucky for me, my best friend was the wiser. He had done his research and discovered that my leading suggestion of Fortress Maximus had a flaw: the giant transforming robot city was primarily made of cheap colored plastic. F*ck that.
And so due to due to cost-cutting by Hasbro toys, the likes of R.O.B., Gyromite, Duck Hunt, Super Mario Brothers, and the Nintendo Entertainment System was introduced into our circle of friends days at the end of that year. More importantly, it came with a giant strategy guide and a subscription to a video game club run that would mail a monthly magazine to your door. A video game club! A solution to mitigate my fears of having an expensive console we couldn't buy games fast enough for. And so our group made the strategic decision that I should get Mike Tyson's Punch Out and the bare Control Deck for my upcoming birthday and continue to pool our collective resources for game purchasing decisions, game passwords, cheat codes, and use our fanboy powers to also pull in other kids in school and neighborhood into our cult. The second NES arrived on my block on my tenth birthday: March 16, 1988. And so, my first video game club was formed.
The trouble was … the club was flat broke. I could barely afford games, much less running a proper club! Nobody we knew had their own yard – our dads didn't have power tools or wood lying around either, so a Monster Squad-style clubhouse up was also out of the question. There were no computers, no Internet, no blogs. What's a Nintendo Club owner to do? Hold meetings, track club activity, and document our top secret tricks and knowledge until we had more steam. And so with some determination, wad of colorful pens, and a stolen floral memo pad from the kitchen I got to work.
The gallery of images in this post is essentially what Destructoid was like in 1988 during the NES and Super Nintendo era, my favorite period in gaming for sentimental reasons. The two notebooks I kept are roughly 80 pages thick each and contain stuff like:
- Tips for playing better, including quotes from Skip Rogers and stuff like "if you give up, you're a weed!" I'm amazed I didn't get my ass kicked throughout my childhood years for saying crap like that. Then again, saying something was "tubular" or "gnarly" was perfectly acceptable at the time.
- A list of "club accomplishments" which primarily included games finished and quizzes about the games. Achievement points? Pffft. We've been doing that for years. Chad's retro quizzes remind me of making these and our retro podcast bares a similar name (RetroforceGO)
- Full color illustrations of where to find 1-ups, special items, saved passwords, gameplay advice, and cheat codes of every kind.
- Game gossip, such as full tech specs on the Super NES CD-Rom
- More Nintendo fanboy nonsense and typos than most humans can bare.
The club wasn't much of a success. We had seven members, tops. Nevertheless, it was a formative experience I'll never forget – the works of little Niero and his video game club live on as Dtoid today. The kids who run the club have all changed, but the end of the story is far from over. Here's to two (or twenty) years of video game blogging: Long live Destructoid!
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