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Google/Oracle judge loses interest in paid bloggers
Letter of the law more important
In a surprise move, the judge overseeing the court battle between Google and Oracle over Java patents used in Android has pulled his order that the parties provide a list of bloggers or journalists paid to promote their respective wares.
Last April, Florian Mueller, author of the FOSS Patents blog, outed himself as a paid consultant for Oracle. Mueller's blog has often found merit in Oracle's approach to the issues.
Oracle argued that Google's contributions to the wider intellectual property debate, sometimes through "soft" contributions to trade associations and lobbyists, meant that it influenced public discourse. Those efforts, Oracle argued, made it tougher for it to get a fair hearing. Judge Alsup, who is hearing the case, liked that argument enough to order both parties to disclose anyone in their pay whose contribution to debate or evidence could reveal a conflict of interest.
Verifying that cash flowed between Google and such organisations turned out to be easy, as the text ad giant filed a list of all the organisations it has supported whose opinions could inform the case.
Evidence offered by Oracle suggested that the presence of the Computer & Communications Industry Association on Google's list was especially telling. But Google's own list was arguably worse.
Java creator James Gosling, for example, is on the list of folks it funds in one way or another.
Alsup, however, seems to have decided that whether or not the litigants were sending cash to commentators was irrelevant, and declared their collected works didn't influence his decisions anyway.
Victory in the case therefore remains Google's, with Alsup saying Oracle overreached with its claims and didn't even defend its intellectual property until it became clear some of its patents were being struck out in other legal actions.
A further round of court action in the case seems likely. Which is a capital idea, for lawyers at least. ®


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McKenzie Wright made a name for herself last season on the Lady Laker track team, qualifying for state in both the triple jump and the high jump.
Finishing fifth in the triple jump and falling just short of the gold in the high jump, Wright has just been named the recipient of the Aldo Sebben Award for Class 4.
Her initial reaction on receiving the award was one of surprise and excitement.
"I had no expectations of getting this, so it's really exciting," Wright said.
She had no idea that she would earn this award after her stellar season, even though she was undefeated throughout the regular season and districts in the triple jump and high jump.
Wright's journey in world of track began in middle school.
"All of my friends were doing it, so of course I had to," Wright said.
But once she gave it a chance, she was hooked.
"I ended up being really good at it, and loved it, so I just kept at it throughout high school, and here I am," she said.
After her sophomore year, Wright and her family moved to Missouri from Liberal, Kan., where she began her first season on the track team under the direction of Coach John McNabb.
"I knew she was coming (to Camdenton)," McNabb said. "I did my homework, did some research, and I knew she was a legitimate athlete. My biggest concern was how well she would do making the change from the second biggest class in Kansas to the biggest class here, so I didn't know how that would equate. I knew she would do well, but didn't know how well."
In her first season as a Laker, Wright managed to sweep a first-place in win in the three jumping events (long jump, high jump and triple jump) multiple times, and eventually helped the Lady Lakers win the conference meet, as Wright once again finished first in all three events. According to McNabb, she was competing at a higher level ever before, reaching heights she had never touched at her previous school.
"She jumped better last year than she ever had before," Coach McNabb said. "By the end of the season, she was more consistent in the triple jump; she went 5'8" in the high jump a number of times. She had good meets and good distances, but last year, her average meet in the triple jump was as good as her best meets from the previous season."
Competing in multiple events can be a tough task, but she relishes the opportunity.
"It's crazy, because you have to have the endurance to go from event to event, and you have to have a different mindset for each one," Wright said.
Currently, the 17-year-old Wright and her coaches have some big expectations for the upcoming season.
"I worked really hard this year, and it showed," Wright said. "I'm definitely hoping for a return to state."
Wright's season ended with a second place finish in the high jump at state, which was a somewhat disappointing experience after judges had initially told her she had won. McNabb thinks that her fifth place finish in the triple jump may have been affected by the fact that, immediately after competing in the high jump, she had to compete in the triple jump, which is taxing for any athlete, not just physically, but mentally.
This season, the goal will be for that gold medal, which her coaches think is more than plausible. Coach McNabb has even expressed his thoughts that Wright could win state and receive another award for the 2014 season.

subset: commoncrawl


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Well, tonight we're going to be having a little time in questions and answers. Not what we had planned really, planned to carry on in the book of Revelation but when we did this a couple of weeks ago, there was such a huge number of people with questions, we felt we needed to satisfy, at least in part, what was on your heart. And we had such a wonderful time in question and answer, the last Sunday of December, that I'm very anxious to see the Lord bless even tonight as we share what might be on our hearts.
There are three microphones and there should be one of our pastors by each of them. Guys, where are you? There we go. Stan and Lance and I think Dick Mayhue, all right. And they're just there to kind of help you get in line and maybe crystallize your question in some way. So if the line is like...well you do what you wish, if you want to stand in line a long time, that's your privilege, I guess. But we're just going to ask you to mention the question as clearly and directly as you can. And then I'll do the best I can out of the Word of God to answer it for you. And we'll try to stop in about 45 minutes, at 7:30 so we don't keep you too late. I know these kinds of things can go on and on and on, we'd rather not have that happen.
All right, who will be first? Anybody ready? Dick, are you ready over there? Good.
????? I'm ready. John, I have two or three questions about having...it doesn't...I'm just concerned, it doesn't matter what the answer is really...(Laughter)
JOHN: I think I can handle this question. Okay.
????? Paul says it's better to depart and be with Christ. And Jesus told the thief on the cross, "Today you will be with Me in paradise," now one question...I'll ask two or three questions and then you can comment on them. When we leave...you can wait till I ask all three questions and then answer...when we depart from this earth, I know we're not given a new body right away, but are we in heaven? Then when we get to heaven, there are those that are in heaven, do they know what's taking place here on earth? Now if the answer is no...
JOHN: What?
????? In Revelation 6 it says, "And when He broke the fifth seal, I saw underneath the altar the souls of those who have been slain because of the Word of God and because of the testimony which they had maintained. And they cried with a loud voice, How long, O Lord, holy and true, will Thou refrain from judging and avenging our blood on those who dwell on the earth?"
JOHN: Okay.
????? If they're not...well just, if you can just...
JOHN: I got you. First of all, the first question that you asked is when we depart do we go immediately to heaven. And I think the answer Scripture gives is yes. I think it's clear from perhaps three passages. One of them would be Philippians chapter 1 where he says in verse 23, "I am had pressed from both directions, having the desire to depart and be with Christ." That statement "to depart and be with Christ" leaves no room for anything in the middle...to depart (snap) to be with Christ. And we know where Christ is, He's at the right hand of the throne of God on High, right? We see Him in the vision of Revelation 4 and Revelation 5 and where is He? He's the Lamb in the midst of the throne and John says that throne was in heaven because he was caught up to heaven to see it. So to depart and be with Christ is clearly the promise that is given to the believer who dies.
Second Corinthians chapter 5 also says, and I think this is equally strong, verse 6 of chapter 5, 2 Corinthians, "While we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord for we walk by faith not by sight," verse 8, "we are of good courage and I say...prefer, rather, to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord," 2 Corinthians 5:8, to be absent from the body, to be at home with the Lord, to depart is to be with Christ.
And I think one other Scripture perhaps that we could add to that would be the text of Hebrews 12:23 where you have the general assembly and the church of the firstborn who are in heaven, Hebrews 12:23.
Second question that you asked, do they know what's going on on earth? And the answer to that question is they...they know what went on, there's no reason to assume that all of a sudden they have had a blanked-out memory of the past, I think it's a selective memory because if they could remember evil they could...if they had the capacity to remember and cogitate with evil they could put themselves in a position where sin could influence them. So I think what they can do at that point in time is to remember what occurred on earth, but they remember it with a pure mind so that it never degenerates into an evil thought. And what you have then in Revelation 6 are not people in heaven who are watching what's going on in the world, there's no reason to assume that they do that. In fact, all that we know about heaven is that we will contemplate the Lord and we will contemplate His throne and we'll contemplate His glory and we will be face to face and we will know as we are known and the Lamb is all the glory of that place and so forth and so on. So I don't believe that there's anything going on on earth that can in any way distract them from the preoccupation that they have with the living Christ. So that what you have in Revelation 6 are people who are focused on Christ, who are enamored with the glory of Christ, who are so overwhelmed with who He is that they are pleading with Him to exercise the authority to bring the world in to harmony with His glory. So I think the vision that elicits the prayer is not the vision of the problems in the world, or even necessarily the memory, specifically of their suffering, as much as it is the preoccupation with the right that Christ has to be all in all and to be fully exalted. Okay?
????? Okay, thank you.
JOHN: You're welcome. I think you understand what I'm saying, I don't think people are in heaven looking down on earth. I don't think Hebrews 13...Hebrews 12, I mean, has any reference to that when it says we're compassed about by so great a cloud of witnesses, you know that passage, and you probably have heard sermons where you've got all the saints in heaven and they're in a big arena and you're down there running and they're watching you, and I don't think that's what that means at all. I think what you have there is a great cloud of witnesses. Witnesses to what? Not witnesses of you but witnesses to the validity of a life of faith as described in chapter 11. They are living in eternity as witnesses to the validity and the benefit of a life of faith. It isn't that they're sitting in an arena watching us do what we do, the glory of Christ would make us very disinteresting to them. And I think the only reason that they even pray about what's going on on earth is that Jesus Christ might have the fullness of glory and worship and majesty that He is due. And how long is He going to tolerate anything less when He's as glorious as He is? Okay?
????? Good evening, John. I have three questions, I've really got more...okay?
JOHN: Yeah, well we don't want to...
????? Okay, I'm going to cut them, sir.
JOHN: Okay.
????? I'm going to ask you a question...where did we get our marriage vows from? I mean, you know, the saying of the marriage vows when people get married? Where did this come from?
JOHN: You mean the ones that Grace Church uses?
????? No, what the ministers use, you know, for better and for worse...sickness and health.
JOHN: That's a sort of a traditional thing. I think you can trace most of that back to the English church for the most part. When I started in ministry, the basic format that I used came out of the Scottish Presbyterian Book of Marriage, just a very dignified expression. But I think that the root of all of those vows, however you articulate them, whatever may be the traditional or national source of those, the root of those marriage vows is tied to what Scripture affirms to be necessary to make that relationship what God wants it to be. In other words, they all relate to the leaving aspect of marriage, or the cleaving aspect of marriage, or they relate to the mutual respect of marriage. They relate to the protectorship and savior role that the husband plays as according to Ephesians 5. They relate to the nourishing and cherishing, they relate to the submission that the wife is to bring. They relate to the permanence of marriage, the fact that God has designed one man, one woman to cleave together for life. So all of those components no matter how they're framed up or verbalized in a given ceremony I think are reflective of what the Bible has to say about what marriage is.
Now if you go back in to pagan history you'll finds all kinds of different things that don't necessarily relate to Christianity but within any Christian service there would be some connection with a biblical view of marriage.
????? Okay, I've got another question. We hear in our church, and I hear it from you, where we tie Christianity as a religion. And as far as I'm concerned Christianity was...is...was created by Christ where religion is created by Satan. And I hear ministers tie them both together and we get the idea that Christianity is a religion where Jesus says, "I am the way, the truth and the life." And I look at Christianity as a way of life not a religion.
JOHN: Yeah, some people have said Christianity is not a religion it's a relationship. But in a technical sense, in just a dictionary sense, Christianity can be classified as a religion, that is to say it is a system of beliefs in the supernatural. Obviously we think it's the only right one. And that sets it apart. But it isn't necessarily wrong to call Christianity a religion if you look at the dictionary and you see that a religions defines some concept of God and system of beliefs that goes along with that concept.
But I understand what you're saying. If you just throw Christianity in the big pile of religions, some people might see that it's basically just one of many options. The best way to comprehend that distinction would be this...there are only two religions in the world...just two. There aren't five, there aren't 50, there aren't 500, there aren't 5,000 even though there are 330 million gods in Hindu, in the Hindu system. There are only two religions. There is on the one hand the religion of human achievement and on the other hand the religion of divine accomplishment.
The religion of human achievement says that man somehow earns favor with God, whatever God he believes in, or whatever gods he believes in. Christianity says man cannot earn any favor with God, the only way he can come into the knowledge of God is through what God has done. The religion of human achievement says that your relationship to God depends to one degree or another on what you do. The religion of divine accomplishment says that your relationship to God depends solely and only on what He has done for you. And so what you have then is Christianity as divine accomplishment and every other religious system in the world fits in to that other category, the religions of human achievement.
It is important that we make a distinction between Christianity and the rest of world religions but I don't think that simply saying Christianity is not a religion makes that distinction very clear. From a dictionary's standpoint we would be a religion. But from the standpoint of all other religions by which people judge and ascertain religions, we wouldn't be, we would be a relationship with the living God through Jesus Christ. So if you're going to make a distinction make a distinction in the fact that all religious systems in the world have people achieving salvation by something they do or contribute except Christianity which says you can contribute nothing, you are hopelessly sinful, you cannot save yourself, you must throw yourself on the mercy of God and receive the gift that God provided for you in Jesus Christ.
????? Before I ask the last question, the professor at Biola University when I was attending gave it a perfect example of basically religion versus Christianity and he used the example of a servant versus a wife. A servant does things because she gets paid for it, a wife does things for her husband because she loves her husband.
JOHN: Right, and that's the distinction between...between the achievement aspect and the relationship. Right.
????? Okay, the last question, the professor of Christian education department at Biola University made this statement, "If the church was doing its job we wouldn't be here," referring to attending Biola University, and that statement really struck home to me. Because I was raised in the Assembly of God Church and their big thing is speaking in tongues. And like you mentioned this morning, John, my mom asked me, "What did you talk about this morning?" I said, "About your attitude, about your behavior, about your capacity of speech and about really the Assemblies of God church." Because she sits down and listens to that one particular channel and she loves to listen to that Gene Scott and etc., etc. And...
JOHN: Okay, get to your question...you want me to respond to what that Christian education guy said. I know what you're asking. What you're saying is if we didn't have schools that corrected people and taught the Word of God...
????? No, no, no, no, I'm saying if the church was doing its job I wouldn't have to be going to Biola University.
JOHN: Yeah, okay, I understand what the guy is saying. On the...what he is saying is if the church was providing the full range of education you wouldn't need that. I don't agree with that. And I'll tell you why I don't agree with that. A college education is not something that a church can provide. I mean we're not here to teach you the wide range of academic subjects. But I think a Christian college is a tremendous thing because what happens in a Christian college is you learn that wide range of academic subjects that prepare you for a career in life, but you learn it in the context of a biblical perspective, which I think is really true education...that's true education. So I think when a college...Christian colleges come alongside the church and they say...Look, we want to teach mathematics and science and history and English and business and whatever else with a biblical perspective...that that is a tremendous assistance in the life of the church as young people are preparing for all kinds of things in the world. I think there's a sense in which the church needs to be doing a better job in theological training but I don't think the church can become a college or a university and cover the wide range of things that are there. Okay?
????? Thank you.
????? This is just theological, I don't know how much practical application it has to it, but I think I have a few. I have to hurry, I'm told. Between Ephesians 2:8 and 9 and between those verses and 10 something happens after salvation and it's denoted by the word "created," God creates us unto good works. And in Ephesians 4:24 where it's told to put on the new man, created in holiness and righteousness...and...so God creates righteousness in man as...so couldn't we say that at times when we're walking in the Spirit and not fulfilling the lusts of the flesh, the Christian becomes innately righteous and not just imputed righteousness?
JOHN: Yes...yes. That's a very important question. What he's asking is at the time of conversion is there only a forensic righteousness, or an imputed righteousness or a declared righteousness?...which is, by the way, what justified means. To justified means to be declared righteous. That is to say God looks at me and says...the fact, the reality is you're not righteous, but I input to you the righteousness of Christ and therefore clothing you, as it were, as Isaiah puts it, in the robe of righteousness, I now see you as righteous because your unrighteousness is covered by Christ.
That's a declaration. That's what justification means. But justification cannot be separated from sanctification. You are declared righteous in justification, and then the process of making you righteous begins to function. You have put on Christ and yet you must put on Christ. We used to say it's becoming what you are, you are righteous in Christ, now act like it. And I think that's what sanctification is, I think that that process begins at salvation. You're created unto good works. There is a life principle in you that produces those good works. And you have the ability in your fallen nature to resist that effort on God's part and that's why there are commands in the New Testament for you to line up with the power of the Spirit and let Him work that through you. But I am convinced clearly in Scripture that there is not just a declared righteousness, not just a forensic righteousness, but a real righteousness that is wrought in the heart of a believer. There are a number of reasons for that. Textually you can see frequently that salvation is even referred to by the word sanctified, that means to be set apart from sin. You're not only declared righteous, you are set apart from sin. So both those realities go together.
I just finished writing a new book called Faith Works,it is the sequel to The Gospel According to Jesuscalled Faith Works, faith a noun, works a verb, faith is a working faith, that's Ephesians 2:8, 9 and 10. It will be out the middle of February and it takes this whole issue of justification and sanctification and deals with it through all of the epistles of the New Testament. Good question.
????? Hi, Dr. MacArthur.
JOHN: Hi.
????? My question comes from John 3 and particularly verse 5 where Jesus says, "Truly, truly I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God."
JOHN: Right.
????? And my question is, what did he refer to when He said one has to born of the water, cause I know it doesn't mean we have to be baptized to be saved?
JOHN: It's a good question. Through the years there have been a number of different suggestions. In America just before a woman has a baby there's an expression that we use, we say a woman's water breaks. And I when I was very young used to hear people preach and say that what it means is you have to be born twice, you have to be born of water, that is that you're, you know, you're in that sack of fluid in your mother's womb and so you have...and that water breaks which means you have to be physically born. So that Jesus was saying to Nicodemus, you have to be physically born first, and then spiritually born. The problem with that interpretation is two fold. One, why would He tell a grown man he needed to be physically born, it was obvious he had already passed that test. Secondly,...secondly, the Jews didn't call that water, they didn't have that colloquial expression for that fluid we have, calling it water, so you can't read some kind of Americanism back into that.
Others have said it does refer to being baptized but you have to remember that Christian baptism isn't even instituted until Acts chapter 2. What does it mean? Very simply, it is a reference to the prophet Ezekiel and if you remember Jesus is talking to Nicodemus, Nicodemus is a teacher, he is a teacher of the Jews. In fact in verse 1 it says he's a ruler of the Jews. That would put him in a very preeminent place. In fact, I believe the definite article is there...THE ruler of the Jews and those who ruled over the Jews were in religious authority, not political or military authority.
And so how would Nicodemus have understood it? Would he have understood it as Christian baptism? No. Would he have understood it as the physical birth and the water breaking? No. How would he have understood it? Well the answer goes back to Ezekiel and there was a very famous passage in Ezekiel that every teacher in Israel knew because it was the promise of the new covenant. And in Ezekiel 36 verse 25, God made this promise to Israel about a new covenant. He said, "Then I will sprinkle clean water on you and you will be clean. I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols, moreover I will give you a new heart and put a new Spirit within you. I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh, I'll put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes. You will be careful to observe My ordinances, or My commandments."
Now what Ezekiel is writing there is that the day is going to come when the Lord will wash your heart, He'll wash your life, He'll wash your inner man, He'll put a new heart in you and He'll put His Spirit in you. So when Jesus talks to Nicodemus and says,"You must be born of the water and the Spirit," Nicodemus knows immediately that He is saying, "I am come to bring the fulfillment of the promised new covenant promised to and through Ezekiel." Okay? See, his is a Jewish Old Testament context. And so it would be...actually what the Apostle Paul calls...the washing of regeneration...the washing, the internal washing of regeneration and the renewing that comes by the Holy Spirit, that's Titus 3:5, where you have both the water and the Spirit. Okay?
????? Thanks.
JOHN: Good question.
????? Are there degrees of sin as far as...I'm thinking of lusting in your heart versus adultery?
JOHN: Well I think we would have to say that there are degrees of sin, yes, just from the practical standpoint. I may entertain a thought of sin briefly, I may entertain that thought at length, I may allow that thought to become a deed, I may allow that deed to become a habit. So there certainly would be degrees of sin. And the Lord would say the first time you have the thought, deal with it then. And if you continue to have it, deal with it. And if you start to do the act, deal with it. And if it's become a habit, deal with it. I mean, at any point in the process the Lord would want us to halt it and not carry it to the next degree...to the next expression. So yes, I believe there are degrees of sin. I believe sins of thought are an abomination to God because any iniquity no matter how small abominates God.
But from the standpoint of practicality, God will bless you if you cease from your sinning. God, I'm sure, would be grateful if the thought of sin never became the act of sin, if it was dealt with at the point of the thought. Do you understand what I'm saying? So from God's standpoint, it isn't...you can't just say,"Well I thought the thought, I might as well do the deed." "I did the deed, I might as well make it a habit." I don't think so. I don't think so. So God would be satisfied if you just stopped over here and not convince yourself that because you've thought the thought you're as good as having done the deed and you might as well let it run its course. No.
There's another...there's another component to that and I think it perhaps is worth mentioning. And that is in Hebrews 10 and here is a specific sin that certainly brings about a severer degree of punishment. Hebrews chapter 10 verse 29, "How much severer punishment do you think he will deserve who has trampled under foot the Son of God and has regarded as unclean the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified and has insulted the Spirit of grace."
What's he saying? Well all...all those who aren't saved go to hell. All those who do not come to God through Jesus Christ will go to hell. But the hottest hell and the severest punishment is reserved for those who knew the most fully the gospel and trampled on it. If a person rejects God, never hears the gospel, doesn't live up to the light they have is indicted on the basis of Romans chapter 1, they will suffer punishment. But it won't be like the punishment of one who has come to understand the gospel, come to understand what Christ did, who He was, fully understand that and trample it under his feet. That person will suffer the greater punishment. So I think there are degrees of sin from the practical standpoint and there are definitely degrees of punishment which would reflect back on the level of one's sin. So I think the answer to the question is yes. And I think what God would want you to do in your life is to cease at whatever degree you have reached and not let it go any more beyond that. And the wonderful truth is...as Carrie was singing a little bit earlier...that God forgives that sin and as the guys were singing, God wipes out and blots away the past and remembers it no more. So the sooner you cease, the sooner it's forgotten. Okay?
?????(youngster) Yeah, I just wanted to ask what your view was on double predestination and why?
JOHN: My view on double predestination and why?
Pastor: He's entering seminary next week.
JOHN: Yeah, I understand. (Laughter) That's good. Well double predestination is the viewpoint that God in eternity past just basically laid out for all intents and purposes all of humanity that would ever be born and just said...Okay, you go to hell, you go to hell, you go to heaven, you go to hell, you go to heaven, you go to hell...and just went down the line. That's what is called double predestination. He predetermined some to salvation and He predetermined and selected some to damnation. That is not taught in the Bible and that's why I don't believe it.
What is taught in the Bible is that we are chosen for salvation. A good passage...nowhere in the Scripture does it say that God chooses people to be damned, no place, does not say that. In fact, the Old Testament says that God has no pleasure in the death of the wicked, none. Jesus said you will not come to Me that you might have life. Jesus sat and wept over the city of Jerusalem and said,"How oft would I have gathered you as a hen gathereth her brood, but you would not come." And He wept. Isaiah said, "Oh everyone that thirsts come," Isaiah 55. Jesus said in John 6, "Him that comes unto Me I will in no wise cast out, or turn away." The end of the book of Revelation says, "Whosoever will, let him come." Jesus said to the Jews, "If you will not...if you will not believe on Me, where I go you can never come," but He always ties damnation to unbelief, never to predestination...never to predestination, always to unbelief.
A good illustration of that is a little bit technical but I think you'll understand it. It's in Romans 9 and Romans 9 is a very important passage because here the Lord is talking about this very issue. Verse 23 it says, verse 23 talks about vessels of mercy, I won't go into the whole text, but it talks about vessels of mercy which He prepared before hand to glory. Now vessels of mercy would be Christians, believers. God prepared them before time for glory. He chose them for glory.
We go back to verse 22, God is active then in the preparation of those for glory. Back to verse 22, what if God although willing to demonstrate His wrath and make His power known endured, not prepared, but endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction? Now the difference is this, this is where it gets a little technical. The verb in verse 23 is active. An active verb, if you remember your English class, is when the speaker does the action...the subject does the action. A passive verb is when the action is done to the subject, right? I hit the ball...is very different than...I was hit by the ball. In an active verb the subject does the action, in the passive verb the subject receives the action. Here you have an active verb in verse 23, God actively preparing vessels of mercy for glory, you have a passive verb in verse 22, you have certain vessels of wrath that were prepared for destruction, God is not the actor, He receives the action. So God never takes the responsibility for damnation, except for the fact that He will be the judge and the executor, but He is not responsible for the unbelief. So you don't have double predestination.
People go to heaven because they believe and were chosen before the foundation of the world. People go to hell because they do not believe. And that's as far as the Scripture goes. And I know that's hard to understand, very hard. And there's really no way around it. People say, "Well I feel a lot comfortable...more comfortable if God doesn't choose anybody and everybody does what they want." If everybody did what they wanted nobody would be saved. But even if everybody did what they want and some people chose not to be saved, you'd have to ask the question...if God knew...God knows everything and He knew that when He created them they wouldn't choose Him, why did He go ahead and create them? You've got the same problem. If you're trying to get God off the hook, you do have a problem. You can't get Him off the hook. And it's just...it's just an impossible thing to harmonize in your mind, impossible to harmonize in my mind. I can't...I can't understand how people go to hell and they're fully responsible for rejecting Christ and they go to hell because they failed to believe. And on the other hand, they go to heaven because they believe because they were chosen and God is all responsible for that. How does that harmonize? I don't know, but it isn't important that it harmonize in my mind. If I fully understand that I'd have the mind of God. That's, by the way, one of the great proofs the Bible was written by God because it doesn't resolve those apparent paradoxes.
You know, all you have to do is just think for a minute. If this Bible was edited by any committee, they would have taken all that out. I work with editors all the time. They take everything out that doesn't square. But if...I'd like to just point out the fact, if you have trouble with that, you also have to realize you have trouble with a lot of things. And I can just illustrate it by asking you a few simple questions. Who wrote Romans? Paul. How many of you think Paul wrote Romans? Any other answers? Holy Spirit. How many of you think the Holy Spirit wrote it? This is a basic question, folks, we've been here a long time. Who wrote Romans? You say, "Well Paul wrote a verse, the Holy Spirit wrote a verse, Paul wrote a verse, the Holy Spirit wrote a verse, alternating. You say,"Every word was out of the mind of Paul...every word was out of the vocabulary of Paul...every word was out of the experience of Paul, the heart of Paul." That's right. "And every single solitary word came from the mind of the Holy Spirit." Right. How can that be? I don't know. I don't know.
What about the doctrine of security? You say we're secure. We're kept. We're kept by His power forever. Once we're saved we're kept forever. But the Bible also warns us...don't fall in to unbelief because you must persevere. There's a persevering side, that's our part, there's a keeping side, that's His part. If He's keeping us, why do we have to worry about persevering? But that's the way the Scripture outlines it.
I'll ask you another question. Since you're doing so well on these. (Laughter) Is Jesus Christ God or man? Yes...good. That's very good. Yes. How can He be fully God and fully man? It's incomprehensible.
Let me ask you another question. Who lives your Christian life? Who lives it? You ought to know this because, you know, this is you, folks. Who lives your Christian life? If it's both of you, the Lord is doing a much better job for His part, right? In fact, anything good happens in my life He did it, anything bad, I did it. It's impossible. You say, "It's me...it is me, I beat my body to bring it into subjection, it's me." Then you have some people that come along and say, "Let go and let God." (Laughter) So you have these two...and there's a kernel of truth in that. Paul had it...Paul had it, you know how he said it? He understood it fully, this is what he said, Galatians 2:20, "I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live, yet (laughter) not I," see he didn't know either. (Laughter) It's the same kind of tension. John Murray the great theologian says, "In every major doctrine in Scripture you have apparent paradoxes." You want to talk about the trinity? There's another one.
So don't get...that's a long answer, but it's an important category of questions. Don't get caught up in trying to harmonize everything in the mind of God. You can't. You have to take it by faith. Leave those doctrines where they are. Leave them at the poles they're at. If you harmonize them in the middle you destroy both of them. And God will resolve it sometime in the future when we know as we are known. Good. Good question.
Over here, are we? Yes, hon.
LITTLE GIRL: Pastor John, I have a question. The trinity, how could there be three in one? (Laughter & clapping)
????? By the way, this is Stephen Kelly's daughter.
JOHN: I know who that is...I know who that is. Honey, I haven't got the faintest idea. (Laughter) But there are three in one. And it's not something that I can understand in my puny mind, but God is one in essence and yet manifests Himself at all times in three different persons. I've heard all kinds of kind of silly little descriptions of it, like somebody said it's like H20. H20 can either be steam, water or ice. That doesn't do it for me. But you understand what they're trying to say. The problem with that argument is it can't be steam, water and ice all at the same time. That's the nature of God. And God is...one of the things you want to learn about God is God is beyond comprehension. You know, there are some things you just don't understand. You just can't understand them. And no matter how hard you try you can't understand them. And if you work at it harder and harder, you still won't understand them. And if you keep doing that you'll find yourself under the bed saying the Greek alphabet because you're trying to unscrew the unscrutable. It's just impossible to understand. But God is three in one. And He's so far beyond us that we can't fully comprehend what that means. I know this, God is one...that's clear. The Lord our God is one, Deuteronomy 6:4, and at the same time within the oneness of God the Father loves the Son and the Son loves the Father and the Spirit loves the Father and the Son and the Father and the Son love the Spirit and they work together in perfect harmony. And they're not just blended together because they talk to each other. How that can be explained humanly, I don't know. That's one of those things you just believe. Okay? All right.
????? Hi, John. I just had a question, I was reading in Genesis and I'm coming across where it's kind of confusing to me, that I was wondering why different people had more than one wife. Is it because they were in the Old Testament and they weren't in the New yet? Or did God allow it? Was it sin?
JOHN: It's always sin. The...you go back to Genesis and God designed one man, one woman, leaving, cleaving for life. That's always...
????? That's what I thought.
JOHN: That's always God's standard. In the Old Testament period, people who violated that suffered. Read the rest of the story. I mean, look at the life of David. Look at the life of Solomon. Look at other people who had more than one wife...bigamists, or polygamists...and you will always see trouble, distress, difficulty. But at the same time there's a certain sense in which God was patient...to put it in maybe terms you can understand, the Scripture is very clear about marriage, but God was very patient in the early years.
You know, the Apostle Paul talks about it in the book of Acts. He says there was a time that God overlooked to some degree these things, the times that God winked at that, just kind of looked away. There needed to be the progress of revelation, the full bloom of spiritual truth. And in the process of that unfolding, God was very patient and God was very gracious.
And I'll tell you, just in case you think that's odd for God, take a look at your own life. You're not dead and neither am I and it...maybe our thing isn't polygamy but there's a lot of other stuff for which we had every reason to be killed by God, right?
????? Amen...yeah.
JOHN: If the wages of sin is death. So the fact that in those early years when the world was filled with bigamy and polygamy and it starts right off in the book of Genesis, you see it right after God lays down His law and then the Fall and then the mess. And what do you have? You have prostitution, incest, homosexuality, polygamy, all right in Genesis. And God is simply expressing what happens in the Fall. He never advocated it. There were times when He restrained His judgment.
????? Oh, I see.
JOHN: That's all.
????? Thank you very much.
JOHN: In His mercy. Okay.
????? Okay, thank you. God bless you.
????? I understand all the Old Testament feasts have had a New Testament fulfillment except for the Feast of Trumpets. Aside from the caution against date setting, could that be the Rapture?
JOHN: Ahh, you know, I'm not really very good on all of that approach. Could the Feast of Trumpets be a parallel to the Rapture? Possibly, I don't want to be dogmatic about that. Could it be a parallel to the return of Christ to set up His Kingdom. That could be part of the image in that. Certainly those feasts intention...the intention of those feasts is to look back but we can also assume there could be a forward look as well. I mean, some people would say...Obviously the feast...the great feast of Pentecost which is the gathering in, and there you have the church being gathered in and the harvest and all of that...and then the Feast of Trumpets being the culmination and the celebration of glory. I can see that. There's some...there are some Bible teachers that I've read in years past who equated that with the Rapture and others who equated it with the Second Coming of Christ as certainly the ultimate fulfillment of the trumpets and the glory of Christ and all of that. But I'm not...I'm not much...I'm not much of a symbolic guy, you know, so I haven't spent a lot of time on that. But whether or not that is the intention of God with the imagery of the Feast of Trumpets, it's going to happen, whatever you call it.
And, of course, I think in the Old Testament there's no separating the Rapture from the return. So I hesitate to think the Feast of Trumpets would be associated only with the Rapture...rather with the whole perhaps of the coming of Christ. Okay?
Who is next?
????? Yes. I have a verse that you can interpret. For John chapter 20 verse 23, "If you forgive the sins of any, their sins have been forgiven them. If you retain the sins of any, you have been retained...they have been retained."
JOHN: Right. This is a verse that Catholic priests use to claim the right to forgive sin. Jesus said this, by the way, on other occasions. And what He means by this, you can go back to Matthew 16 and we dealt with it in great detail, in fact there's a whole tape on that very thing. But what He is saying to His disciples is this. If you say to a person your sins are forgiven, they're forgiven. If you say to a person your sins are retained, they're retained. On what basis? On what basis can I say that? I have said that. I have said to people...Your sins are not forgiven, they're retained. I have said to other people...Your sins are forgiven. On what basis can I say that? On the basis of what they do with whom? With Jesus Christ. You see, once I give them the gospel, and then see their response, I have on the basis of their response the authority of the Scripture to say your sins are forgiven or your sins are retained, right? That's what He's saying.
When the Apostles were given what Matthew...what the gospel of Matthew calls the keys to the Kingdom to open and close the door and let people in and out, that was essentially the gospel, the saving gospel. And so I can say to a person...your sins are forgiven, or your sins are retained...not ipso facto on my authority, but based upon how they respond to Jesus Christ. And Jesus is saying to them, when the Holy Spirit comes upon you and you become My witnesses and He breathed on them really as a symbol of the coming of the Holy Spirit in Acts chapter 2, He was anticipating that great event and He was saying to them...Of course, when the Spirit comes and the death and resurrection has taken place and you are empowered with the gospel on the basis of how they respond to that gospel, you can affirm their sins either to be forgiven or retained. Okay? Good question.
????? What are the symptoms of being chastened by the Lord and how can you tell it's from Him?
JOHN: Sometimes it's hard. Job experienced that. Job had a bunch of friends that nobody would want. You know, Job...do you know that Job's friends came and didn't say anything for a long time, they just sat. They thought he needed sympathy. I mean, everybody in his family was dead except his wife and she was saying curse God and die...as if cursing God would make them go away and as if dying would get you out of His power. And..so his friends just came and they were sensitive and they just sat for a long time. And finally one of them spoke, the oldest one, you thought he would be the wisest and what he said was..."Your problems are related to sin." He was wrong. He couldn't tell. And you know something? Job couldn't tell too well either for a while until he really examined his heart. So I think...I don't think I can help you with that unless I know flatly about your sin. I think you're the only one before God who can discern that. And what is chastening? It might be physical illness, it might be a loss of joy. We read Psalm 51 this morning, didn't we, and David says, "Restore unto me the joy of Thy salvation." Make these bones which literally ache be healthy again. He was feeling physical pain. In Psalm 32 he says my life juices are dried up. His blood flow was probably restricted. His saliva problematic. The fluid that conducts the impulses on his nervous system effected as physiologically we know that trauma can do. It may be physical, it could show itself in that traumatic way.
It may be the tremendous oppressive burden of guilt. We know that David felt that as he cried out, Against Thee only have I sinned and done this evil in Thy sight. So if God is chastening you, my personal conviction is if God is chastening you He wants you to know it. And so if you seek to know why these things are happening in your life, I think you'll know. But you're really the only one who can know unless I know you're living in sin and I can say to you there's every reason to assume this is chastening, look at your life. If I can't see that, then only before the Lord God can know.
And I know what happens in my life if things are difficult and there are trials in my life, the first thing I do is do a spiritual inventory. And go through my life as carefully as I can to see if there's anything in my life that isn't right.
I remember telling you some couple of years ago when my son Mark had the brain tumor and they told us that he might die. The first thing I did wasn't pray for Mark, the first thing I did was a spiritual inventory in my own life because I didn't want to be the cause of any...anything in his life that was sort of a spill over from my unfaithfulness. I examined my own life, first of all, to see if something is wrong there. And if there's something not going well in my own life, I want to examine my own heart.
If I get through that inventory and I can't...and I'm not holding on to a sin, you know, I may find some things but I confess and let go of them, and I'm not holding on to them, then I can assume that maybe this isn't a chastening, maybe this is a strengthening. Second Corinthians 12:7 to 10, Paul prayed three times for something to be removed. I'm sure he did a spiritual inventory when he had the thorn in the flesh and he's probably saying...Lord, why? Why? What did I do? What did I do? When he went through the spiritual inventory he just basically said...Well, I've prayed, I've pleaded, I've asked, You've said no, I'm going to leave the thorn in the flesh there. And the Lord said...Here's why, My grace is sufficient for you and My power is perfected in your weakness.
Sometimes it's chastening and sometimes it's a humbling process to make you more powerful. The only way ultimately to know that unless your sin is widely known or obvious is to do an inventory before the Lord. Okay? Good question.
I think we have time for maybe one more question and then we'll have to stop. Thank you all for waiting. Is there somebody who is desperately needs to ask a question, your life will not go on? If there is, Lance, hold them there. Okay.
????? Okay, in Colossians 1:24 it says, "Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake and in my flesh I do share on behalf of His body which is the church in filling up that which is lacking in Christ's affliction." And seeing the last part it says, "And filling up that which is lacking in Christ's affliction," and all that He went through on this earth, what was lacking in His afflictions?
JOHN: Nothing from His perspective. But a lot from the perspective of people who rejected Him. What Paul is saying is a wonderful thing. He's saying I rejoice in my sufferings. You know, Paul suffered, right? Stoned, shipwrecked, beaten...he suffered. And he suffered for the church's sake. What does that mean? Well because he was trying to reach them with the gospel, he was trying to build them up, he was trying to bring them to faith and maturity. So I rejoice in my sufferings. Why? The sufferings I share on behalf of His body which is the church. Why? Because I am filling up what is lacking in Christ's afflictions. It doesn't mean I'm adding to some insufficiency in His atonement, what it means is this...the world still hates Christ. The world still persecutes Christ. They can't get Him because He's there, so they're getting me in His place. That's what he meant. He says the same thing at the end of Galatians, "I bear in my body the marks of Jesus Christ." Christ isn't here for them to whip so they whip me. That's what he means.
What a privilege, he's saying, to be able to suffer for the sake of the church and the growth of the body knowing that my suffering is taking the blows meant for Christ who on the cross took the blows meant for me. Okay?
????? Thanks.
JOHN: All right. Thank you very much. Boy, good questions, right? It's a great place to finish, isn't it? We should be willing...and we're going to have to do this again I think because you have all these good questions.
Father, we thank You tonight for this wonderful time in Your Word, a time really orchestrated by Your Spirit, to lead us to discuss the things that we trust You wanted discussed. And we just pray that You'll make us ever thankful for Christ who did take the blows meant for us, and though we cannot fathom all these things, this we can fathom, Jesus came into the world to save sinners like us and we thank You for our salvation, in His dear name we pray. Amen.


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Cowboys-Bengals… Oh yea and a guy named "Chad Ochocinco"
Good Afternoon Cowboy Fans…
Looking ahead to the Dallas Cowboys-Cincinnati Bengals game this Sunday, I look at this game as just another step on the Cowboy's journey to Tampa and the Super Bowl. Over the next four weeks, the Cowboys host the Bengals, travel to Arizona, St. Louis, and back home to play the Buccaneers. I really feel the Cowboys even though not playing well this past Sunday against the Redskins', have a great opportunity to be 7-1 when they make their annual stop to the beautiful confines of Giants Stadium for their game with the Super Bowl champs.
But first things first, The Cincinnati Bengals. On paper the Bengals are not a very good team. This team possesses a lot of talent, but year after year they seem to always find a way to hang around the cellar of their division. It would not be fair to the Bengals though without mentioning that even though there are in the cellar, they are not alone as they share the room with their cross state rivals the Browns.
The Bengals come into Dallas on Sunday ranked 30th in offense and 24th in defense. That is not good news for Cincinnati fans when they will be facing the # 1 offense, and the 9th best defense in the NFL. That can only be a recipe for disaster and an opportunity for a lot of fans to beat the traffic leaving Texas Stadium.
Now I will enjoy the game as I enjoy all the Cowboy's games (well didn't enjoy last Sunday much), but we can just keep on kicking that dog over and over. I will be paying very close attention to a guy named "Chad Ochocinco" formally an artist known as Chad Johnson. "Chad Ochocinco"…hmm… Kind of sounds familiar I guess. There used to be a guy called "Prince" that became an artist formally known as "Prince", then just "Prince" again. Man this is getting confusing to say the least. Of course, we also had a sport's icon named Cassius Marcellus Clay who later became Muhammad Ali, but never confuse Chad Johnson aka "Chad Ochocinco" with the great one Ali!! Johnson changed is surname to "Ochocinco" which is Spanish for eight five, which is the number he wears.
Chad Johnson or "Chad Ochocinco" (I love saying that name) is off to a very rocky start. Johnson has 11 catches for 116 yds and one touchdown in the first 4 games, and has one end zone celebration. A lot of Bengals fans believe that when Johnson changed his name it put some kind of curse on him. When I researched for this story, I noticed that he has been known to get off to slow starts, but nothing compared to this year. Johnson is a very talented receiver and has led the AFC in receiving the last 4 years. Not to mention he has been to 5 Pro-Bowls.
I just often think the real problem with Johnson is that he spends more time worrying about himself than winning football games. In the past he has changed his teeth (or his grill he likes to call it), "mohawked" and colored his hair (blonde I might add) and has had his share of gilded earrings. In 2006 he was voted by Fox Sports as one of the top ten showboats in professional sports. Lastly, I remember one of his most memorable moments in 2007 during a Monday Night game against the Ravens. Johnson caught the first touchdown of the night, proceeded to grab a jacket resembling a Hall of Fame inductee and pranced up and down the Bengal's sideline to the cheers of all his adoring fans.
The Bengals will come into "Big D" ready to play and with the new insurgence of Chris Perry at tailback, T.J. Houshmandzadeh, Carson Palmer and "Chad Ochocinco"; they will not be a team to look past. I just think at the end of the day, the Cowboys will add another victory notch to their belt and continue their journey to reach that pinnacle of being the first team in NFL history to win 6 Super Bowls.
Oh by the way Chad… in case you did not know, the real spelling is actually "Ochenta Y Cinco", but I guess that is not easy to spell when you write a check. So whether you like "Chad Ochocinco" or not it should be interesting to see if he can out-do our showman, T.O..


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The Student Hurricane Network (SHN) is a national association dedicated to providing long-term assistance to communities affected by Hurricane Katrina. SHN works with law students and administrators from all over the United States to create and coordinate volunteer opportunities for law students in the Gulf Coast.
Mardi Gras Party!
(Fat) Tuesday, February 24
Come celebrate Mardi Gras with us and raise funds for the Student Hurricane Network!
The event will feature music by New Orleans-inspired voo-doo rock band, High End Trio.
Rockit Bar and Grill
(22 W. Hubbard)
$5 cover for food and music
Food will be served from 8-9pm
High End Trio starts playing at 9pm
For more info on the band, go to: www.highendtrio.com
Raffle drawing during the set break
Spring Break Trip
March 14 - March 22, 2009
Our Spring Break Trip is now full. If you want to go but haven't signed up for the trip, please contact Gwynne at email@example.com and she can put you on the waiting list. We hope to raise enough money at our Mardi Gras fundraiser to sponsor a couple more students on the trip. Gwynne will contact those on the waiting list next week regarding possibile opening on the trip.
Alternatively, student can attend if they are willing to pay for their own housing in New Orleans. A spot in the hostel cost $160 for the week. Deadline to register is March 1. Please contact Gwynne for more information.
Leadership opportunity
We need a couple people to serve as Chicago-Kent representatives on the Student Hurricane Network's Membership Calls.
These calls are a great way to learn more about public interest and recovery work in the Gulf Coast. They are also an opportunity to make connections with students from across the country who are doing public interest work. In the past, some people who participated in these calls have found new ways to get involved with SHN. For example, some learned about internship and job opportunities in the Gulf Coast. Others have helped create or lead new projects in the Gulf Coast. Still others have gone on to join the Student Hurricane Network's National Advisory Board. Contact Gwynne at firstname.lastname@example.com if you'd like more information.
Winter Break Trip Updates
Thanks to the 21 students and 1 alum who dedicated a week to volunteering in New Orleans this past January. For more information and pictures from our trip, check out the Chicago-Kent SHN Home Page.
Contact Information for Chicago-Kent SHN 2008-2009
President.......................... Gwynne Kizer (gkizer)
Treasurer......................... Jonathan Rhodes (jrhoades)
Secretary......................... Mariana Karampelas (mkarampelas)
SHN Liaisons..................... Tim Steinhelfer (tsteinhelfer) and Katie Lemanski (klemanski)
Outreach Coordinators....... Cati Heindel (cheindel) and Ruth Lopez (rlopez)
For more information about the National Student Hurricane Network, check out www.studentjustice.org You can also join the group on Facebook.
.: Main Chicago-Kent event calendar
.: Academic calendar
.: CLE calendar
.: Alumni event calendar
.: Admissions calendar


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Filed under: Etc., BMW, Buick, Chrysler, Ford, Honda, Lexus, Mercedes-Benz, Mini, Porsche, Toyota
The sixth edition of the Kelley Blue Book Brand Image Awards have crowned a wide range of winners – in a couple of cases the recipient of the laurels might say more about KBB users than they do about the actual winner. Compiled from the responses of more than 12,000 shoppers on KBB.com over the past year, there are 13 categories broken into non-luxury, luxury and truck segments "representing the combined wisdom of the American car-buying public."
The award categories have been revamped this year, with some dropping off, some new ones appearing and at least one other given a new term. What isn't surprising is that Honda won Most Trusted Brand for the second year running, Best Value Brand for the third year in a row and took Best Overall Brand, which wasn't on last year's list of awards.
On our own shores, in the non-luxury categories Chrysler got Most Refined Brand and Buick took Best Value Luxury Brand. Neither one of those marques won anything in last year's Brand Image Awards, while Cadillac, which won Best Interior Design Brand and Best Comfort Brand last year – those awards disappeared this year – went home without a single accolade.
Winners that made us go "Hmmm…" are Toyota for Best Overall Truck Brand and Mini for Best Performance Brand in the non-luxury segment. Last year's truck award was for the Most Rugged Truck Brand and was won by Ford; the switch to "overall" takes things in a completely different direction for KBB users, it seems. And Mini dominating non-luxury performance is something we'd like to hold some focus groups to find out more about.
Check out the press release below for all the winners and the details.
Continue reading KBB 2013 Brand Image Awards has some obvious and oddball winners
KBB 2013 Brand Image Awards has some obvious and oddball winners originally appeared on Autoblog on Sat, 30 Mar 2013 08:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.


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The Amherst news-times. (Amherst, Ohio), 1922-03-16
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jT THE AMHERST NEWS-TIMES VOL. III. No. 48. IMUBO THURSDAY <a) AMHBRST, OHIO, THURSDAY, MARCH 11, 1922. \y Subscription Prlee. St.00 par Yen* BUSINESS IMPROVEMENT WILL CONTINUE THE ECONOMIC LAW IS LEVELING CONDITIONS SLOWLY, SAYS OFFICER Of FEDERAL RESERVE BANK Editor's Note—The following was taken from the March issue of the Monthly Business Review, official paper of the Fourth Federal Reserve Bank. A big majority of uur correspondents this month report an Improvement in business, and most of them declare it as their opinion that the Improvement will continue. The economic law is leveling conditions slowly, just as the physical law of gravitation works by degrees rather than all at once. During 1921 manufacturers and others were directing their efforts towards cutting down their Inventories and were not ordering anything that they could possibly get along without. This holding off On buying continued until Inventories were taken on December 31, when a resumption of buying in a moderate volume began In a number of Industries. The process at this stags, is more one of 'matching dollars," relieving the unemployment situation, but without much prospect of profit on plant operation. Without question there le more activity in business than there was a month ago. It is true that a great many people are pessimistic at this time, but It must be remembered that this Is the season when financial statements from commercial and- manufacturing concerns showing last year's operations are being exhibited. People feel worse when they come (o a realisation of their actual condition which has in fact existed for some time. An outstanding feature of tbe reports received this month Is the frequent reference to lower stocks of goods carried. Such expressions as these occur: "Our customers a year ago were carrying large stocks of goods which have since bean absorbed." "The visible supply of materials In our industry has been greatly redafced." "Like everyone else in the Industry, teday we ear* mot purchase materials in anticipation of orders, and therefore unless we have from 30 to 60 days advance notice it is going to be most difficult to give you the shipments which you will require." Our correspondents refer to the "invisible supply of goods" (meaning In the hands of the consumer) and are sure in many commodities that supply Is near exhaustion. It would seem, therefore, that the business situation is gathering elements of strength underneath; reflecting Itself in this country in Increased turnover both in commodities and transactions, and abroad in the improvement of the exchanges. While seasonal trade will be emphasized and spurts occur followed by reaction in those industries repend- ent upon a seasonal demand ,it is our judgment that the renewed activity in many lines of business is the beginning of a steady return to "better times." HIGH CAGERS TO MEET VERMILION SATURDAY The high cagers will battle with Vermilion at the local gym Saturday night. The local lads were able to defeat Vermilion at Vermilion a short time ago and are confident of a victory Saturday night. Tbe local girls have been defeated twice by the Vermilion girls at Vermilion, the scores, however, being close. The girls' game Is expected to be close. This will be the last game of the season for the local teams with other high schools. The last game will be played with the Alumni. PIONEER RESIDENT DIES SATURDAY WAS YOUNGEST MEMBER OF G. A. R. POST—LIVED IN AMHERST FOR FIFTY-FIVE YEARS A. C. Field, aged resident of Amherst and a veteran of the Civil war, passed away at his home on Spring street shortly before twe o'clock Saturday afternoon, following several years of falling health. Heart fall- re was the cause ot his death. The deceased was born In Germany and came to this country at the age of eight with hts parents. The family came to Amherst In 1867 and made their permanent home here. Mr. Field had been a resident of Amherst for 65 years and was 76 years ot ace at the time ot his death. . Mr. Field enlisted In the northern army at the age of 15 years and wm a member of the 124th Ohio Volunteer Lnfantry- He remained in training at Cleveland for a short time and saw active service at Fort Henry, Fort Donaldson and participated in the siege of Gettysburg. He was the youngest member of the Richard Alien post of the Q. A. R. of Klyrla and had been an active member in this organisation. By trade, Mr. Field was a carpenter and built many houses In Blyria, Lorain and Amherst. He is survived by his widow, one .daughter, Addle; two sons, Henry ot Akron and Alfred. Funeral services were conducted from the late home on Spring street Tuesday afternoon. Members of the atwoifew WwB? -aMBsmrE AXtvu G. A. R. and Spanish American War veterans association attended the funeral services. Military rites were held at the grave. Burial was made in Cleveland street cemetery. JUNIORS PLANNING FOR JUNIOR-SENIOR RECEPTION The Junior class of the local high school are now making plans for the Junior-Senior reception which will be held the latter part of April or the first of May. The entertainment com mlttee Is now working on a play which will be presented after the dinner. The place for the banquet has not as yet been decided but will be arranged by next week. "A RUSTIC ROMEO" TO PLAY T CAST IS MADE UP OF TWENTY- TWO LOCAL PEOPLE—AUSPICES OF K. OF P. LODGE Final arrangements for the presentation ot "A Rustic Romeo," which will be given at the Opera House this evening, have been made. The play Is being given under the auspices of the local order of the Knights of Pythias and includes a cast of twenty- two local people. Nolan Dreltsler, noted singer of Lorain, also appears In the cast. Mr. Dreltsler has been secured by the order to-polish the fine points of'the play, as he has specialised In coaching similar plays. Rehearsals have been held regularly for the past several days and everything ia In readiness tor tbe presentation. The setting of the ploy is In Chow- dervllle, a fishing village on Long Island Sound. The scenes are "Main street of Chowdervllle on a .busy day" and "Doollttle's hotel on tbe Fourth of July." The cast of characters Is as follows: John Jabe Doollttle, Heart Smasher of Chowdercille.. Jerry Tenhope Hlnk Spinney, Peddles tinware, wood ware, hardware, everywhere Art Dill Sid Roberts. Who yearn for tbe great White Way Wm. Heller Asartol Figs, Storekeeper, postmaster Ed. Moeblus Qrandpaw Blue, Oldest Inhabitant i W. R. MacCarthy Miss Dee, A olrn, lone critic Mrs. H. Williams Evallnd Fupper, Chowdervllle belle —Mrs. J. Tenhope Mrs. Sarah Ellen Bprlggs, Looking tor a third Mrs. J. Orcutt Honeysuckle Spriggs, Her little sunbeam Helen Orcutt Society Leaders of Chowdervllle: Marigold Springer Rena Miller Columbine Summers Viola Weiss Fushla Fling Edith Heller Sellna Falls Esther Deuschle Wanda Winters Mrs. H. Eschtruth Ethelyn Beavers Edith Ehrman Lucretla Nome .Clara Schults Altbea Van Floss Louise Wernert Chowdervllle Fire Brigade: Bill Tenner .Nolan Dreltsler WMl Notes .-■—_.-.L.i.Fmnk Smith Curtiss Cleft Harry Williams David Keeper A. N.' Heller Reserved seats have been on sale at the Kuss drug store for several days and reports show that the seats are going fast. WANTED—Rags suitable for * cleaning presses. Will pay 10c * per pound. Phone Main 342 and * we will send for them. News- * Times. • FOREST 8TREET RE8IDENT DIES THJS MORNING Mr. and Mrs. Ed Pletch of Cleveland avenue are the proud parents of a baby daughter, born at the local hospital Thursday, March 9th. iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiin South Amherst George Oorr, Correspondent. illlllliilllll ENTERTAINS SOCIETY The Ladles' Aid society of the Methodist church was entertained by Mrs. Lewis Merchant, Sr., and Mrs. John Kauffman at the church parlors on Thursday afternoon. A business meeting was held, after which luncheon waa served by the hostesses. The society will be entertained on March 23rd by Mrs. William Allsop. MANY ATTEND DANCE A large crowd attended the dance given by the South Amherst Dancing club at the Foresters hall Saturday evening. Music for the event was furnished by the Berlin Heights orchestra. About fifty couples attended. LEGION TO GIVE DANCE The South Amherst Post ot the American Legion will give a dance at the Foresters' hall Saturday evening, March 25th. A large crowd Is expected to attend and a good time is assured. Music for the event will be furnished by the South Amherst orchestra. TO ENTERTAIN SOCIETY The Ladies'. Aid society ot tbe St. John's Evangelical church will be entertained by Mrs. F. Gasser at her home on West Main street. Tuesday afternoon. All members are requested to attend, as some important business will be discussed. !;*' SOUTH AMHERST BRIEFS Mr. and Mrs. Martin H. Schroeder and John Bruce spent Friday in Blyria. Mrs. Harry Dute returned to her home In Elyria Friday after spending several days visiting at the home ot Mr. and Mrs. Andrew Schleferstlne. Mr. and Mrs. John Wagner, Mrs. Charles Bryant and Mrs. Theressa Dute spent Thursday in Elyria. Ben Martin and Andrew Schleferstlne spent Friday in Elyria. Mr. and Mrs. George Schroeder, Mr. and Mrs. Peter Becker and children, George and William Garthe and George Cox spent Monday evening visiting at the home of Mr. and Mn. George Gorr Miss Fern Hahn of Ridgeville spent the week-end with her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Henry Hahn. Miss Muriel Baldry of Cleveland spent the week-end with her parents, Mr. and Mrs. George Stephenson Fred Almroth made a business,trip to Oberlln Thursday. Mr. and Mrs. Herman Witt ot Brownhelm spent Friday visiting with Mr. and Mrs. Philip Buler. The high school orchestra will practice at the Foresters' hail Monday evening. All members are requested to attend. The South Amherst band will practice at the town hall Tuesday evening. The Foresters ot Amerloa will hold an Important meeting in their hall on Wednesday evening. Fred Almroth spent Monday in San dusky on business. Mrs. Sarah McCord of Cleveland is spending several days with ber son, Robert McCord, on Bast Main strset. Andrew Schleferstlne Is confined to his borne with the flu. Contused en Mrs. Henrietta Godhard died at her home on Forest street Thursday morn Ing at 1 o'clock, at the age of 79 years. Gangrene was the cause of her death, she having suffered for tbe past several months. The deceased and her husband, who Is seriously ill at his home at the present time, moved here from Cleve- lad about a year and a half ago. They purchased the Mlschka property on Forest street, where they have been living since coming to Amherst. She Is survived by two daughter. Mrs. Lena Hall ad Mrs. Bertha Brown, also four sons: Amll, Justun, George and Henry, who all reside In Cleveland. Funeral arrangements have not been completed. Excuse Our Dual. GRANGERS SERVE SUGAR & Sandstone Censer ef the We#**» -UlC The Hlckor> ae^Vrrange met Tues day afternoon ,n the I. O. O. F. hall In regular session. Tbe meeting open ed with a maple sugar dinner, open to the public. A Isrge number of people attended this dinner which was served l>y the ladles of the Orange. Following the dinner the regular routine of business was transacted, which consisted of taking In new members, reports from the committees and u short prorgam. ATHLETIC BANQUET AT H. E. B. M A. BANQUET 8ET FOR NEXT THUR80AY The final arrangements for the Amherst business Men's Association banquet, to be held at the Congregational church In Brownhelm, have been completed. There will be toasts given by various members, also other entertainments. As the tickets are selling rapidly, all those who wish to attend should see the committee about same before Monday or Tuesday. If there are some who have no way of getting there, be sure and make arrangements with the committee, Conrad Zilch, Frak Mlschka and C. J. Ehrmann. About 125 people are planning to attend and a good time is assured for all. The members of the boys' cage team of the Iocs 1 high school were banquetted last night In the Methodist church parlors by the members of the girls' basketball team as a closing event of tbe successful cage teams. About thirty wefce present, including the members ot t&e tsam and the faculty. - A chicken dinner was served at 7 o'clock, which was followed by toasts. Miss Lucille Pippert, captain of the girls' basketball »p*m. acted as toast- mlstress. Miss Donola Holllngsworth, tbe girls' coach, was tbe first speaker Coach Hurling was next called upon and he explained the success of the team, and In connection, the good times that he has had with the fellows during the season. Captain Neumeister and Monger were called upon from the team and they further explained the season on the whole, Including the trips and several noteworthy games. All of the members of the faculty were called upon and they voiced their opinion on the efforts put forth by the team in their march to another championship. Following the toasts, Louis Reichert sang two vocal solos, which were enjoyed. As a climax to the evening's entertainment, a one-act play was presented by the members of the girls' team and Ralph Hahn, who took the leading part. The play called for laughs from start to finish and was a fitting climax to a very enjoyable evenings entertalnemnt. ANNUAL CLEAN-UP WEEK APRIL 1 TO 7 STATE FIRE MAR8HAL HAS ESPECIALLY URGED THE OBSERVATION OF THIS CAMPAIGN COUNTY INSTITUTE AND MIDYEAR MEET AT ELYRIA The mid-year meeting of the Lorain County Institute and County Executive meeting of the W. C. T. U. will be held at the Methodist church, Blyria, on next Tuesday. Several speakers are on the program, one of which Is Mra. Helen Green, president of the Cuyahoga .county W. C. T. U. Programs have been arranged for a morning, afternoon and afternoon session, consisting of music, discussions and reports ot tbe last year's progress. Tbe morning session will start at 9 o'clock. FORD SALES TEAM WIN FROM ELYRIA The Ford Sales romped off with another victory last Friday night when "they downed the Elyria Y. M. C. A. outfit by a score of 37-12 in a onesided contest. The Elyria aggregation took the measure of the Fords a short time ago by a one-point margin and revenge came in full measure Friday night The first hulf was a walkaway for the Fords, their opponents being held to one field goal, which was made by ii,lis, playing at the center position. Urges and Mitchell each put the ball ili'iiuuli the hoop three times and Heuin followed with two field goals in the first half, the score being 16-2 at the end of the period. lit the last half tho teams battled evenly for a short time, neither team making any headway. Bruce started ..ho scoring aud caged five field goals In this period. .Hearn came next with three and "Val" lloggle followed with two. Mitchell caked one foul Keller and deals, ot the visitors, were each credited with two field goals In the last period, leaving a score of 27 to 12. AH of the Amherst team played a fine brand of basketball, Bruce having an alert eye for the cage and Heggie and Friend being able to take the ball trom Elyrta's goal almost at ease. The game decided the championship of Lorain county and the Fords boast ot a decided victory, defeating the Estarols of Lorain and the "Y" team ot Elyria. Word was received here today that the state fire marshal, H. A. Dykeman, has set aside the week of April 1 to 7 inclusive, as "1922 Clean-Up Week." For tbe past tew years a week in the spring of the year has been set aside as National Fire Prevention week and the results have been so enormous tl\at It haa been advisable to set aside a week of this year for a similar purpose. To get to the foundation of such a matter, letters have been sent to every chamber of commerce, every mayor, every civic organization and every woman's club in the state of Ohio, urging them to take part In this fire prevention week. It has also been suggested that the schools take an active part in this affair as the influence of a clean-up weeqk of this type will be most impressive on young minds and that it will reflect itself In later years. Just why this week has been set aside can be explained by the questions which Mr. Dykeman has asked: "Why burn up 343 people In one year? Why sacrifice the lives of 115 children and cripple 116 more? Why kill 72 mothers and wound nearly 200 more, when 87 per cent of these horrors can be avoided?" The above tacts are taken from official reports and are true, which Is a good reason why communities should take hold of an affair of this sort. The village council have already acted upon Mr. Dykeman's request and their plans for the week ot April 1 to 7 inclusive, will be announced later. It Is not known whether or not other organizations will help In this matter but it is the earnest hope that they will not tall down when such an opportunity is afforded. CABERS LOSE TO STRUTHERS LOCALS SLOWED UP IN LAST QUARTER, ALLOWING OPPONENTS TO WIN BY FOUR POINTS The local high cagers met defeat at the hands of the Struthers high outfit at the Warner gym at Oberlln last Saturday afternoon by a score of 19- 16. The game was arranged by the Northeastern board of control to decide the champions ot the entire northeastern dlatrict of Ohio. The local cagers came to light when they won the Northern Division tournament at Oberlln a short tlms ago. Struthers came to light at the same time when they won the Southern championship at Alliance. The game last Saturday gave Struthers the title of champions of the entire Northeastern district. The locals started out In low speed in the first quarter and Struthers obtained a lead In this period. The locals pepped up a little in the second quarter and tied the score, which stood 10 10 at the end of the first half. For the remainder ot the game neither team showed any great ability and a slow game was the result. Amherst took a one-point lead early in the last quarter but their opponents scored five points in the last few minutes ot play. The scoring of these winning points was due to poor playing on the part of the locals. Several Amherst fans who witnessed the last games of the tournament a week ago and also the one last Saturday stated that the flrat games were by tar superior to the one played against the Struthers team. ' However, the game left Amherst with the Northern championship and with a trophy presented by Oberlln college. SUNDAY SCHOOL CONVENTION AT OBERLIN REPORTS ON LAST YEAR'S WORK WILL BE READ AT THE MEETING FORD SALES AND CLOTHIER8 TO BE IDLE The Ford Sales and the Plato Clothiers will be idle this week as no games have been scheduled. The teams will, however, be In action on next Friday but the teams they are to play have not as yet been scheduled. FORD RETAIL 8ALE8 GO OVER MILLION Mr. and Mrs. James Brennen and daughter left for Brie, Pa., today. Retail Hales of Ford cars, trucks aud Fordson trustors have ugaln exceeded the million mark for the year 1921, according to a statement given out today by the Ford Motor Company. The Ford factory and assembly plant production figures reached a total of 1,050,740 cars, trucks and tractors for the yeur, with retail sales by dealers approximating 1,093,000, which in the United States alone surpassed the 1920 retail sales record by 104,213 Ford cars and trucks. The Ford Company says the outlook for 1922 is decidedly optimistic. In fact, concrete evidences already exist in that car and truck retail sales for December, 1921, exceeded December, 1920, spies by almost 25 per cent, and Fordaon tractor retail sales for the same periods show an increase ot over 100 per cent for • December, 1921, as well as an increase over the total tractor sales tor the month of November. These facts seem to Indicate that not only are the farmers buying more freely, but that the general public is becoming more responsive and receptive. CARD OF THANKS We wish to sincerely thank the many friends for their remembrances of flowers, tor their kindness and sympathy during the recent illness and death of our beloved son. Also for the consoling words of Rev. Howath. MR. AND MRS. SZARKA AND FAMILY. •Efficient Church Schools'' Is the theme of the 1922 Sunday School convention of Ijorain county, to be held ut the First M. E. church. Oberlln. the first week in May. The Lorain County Sunday School association has had marked success during the past year under the leader ship or its president, E. P. Posts of Elyria. The one big thing that tans been accomplished is the establishment ot teachers' training classes In the smaller communities ot tho smbv ty. It is recognized by Mr. Posts and his associates thai the efficiency ot the school depends upon its teachers, and hence this point has been attacked. The theme, "Efficient Church Schoola - Objectives, Organization and Program,'' to be takMi, up at Oberlin, will be handled by recognized experts in the Sunday School field. One day of three sessions will be devoted to this convention. Two state workers will be present as speakers. Divisional conferences for the young people, the educational division, the children's and adults' division will be held under expert leadership. There will be something in every session of the convention for every Sunday School wotaatr of the county. Personal reports from the various community training schools for tbe past year's work will be given which will fnnii the ground work of the convent Ion und will serve to show the Sunduy School workers what is needed to further individual school effl- clency. Sunday school work has taken on new life during the past year in many churches of the county. The county organisation is doing its bit to help the weaker schools. The annua! convention will be the starting point for another year's work in teaching the living Christian principles to (Joel's children. An attempt is being made to develop religious training In the Sunday schools ot the county In a way that will appeal to the practical Ideals of common folks. MRS. FIGLER DIES AT LORAIN MONDAY Mrs. Alice Figler. aged 20, died at St. Joseph's hospital at Lorain Monday afternoon. Death followed the birth of a child which occurred early Monday morning. MrB. Figler hud been a resident of South Amherst for the past few years and wus well known In that vicinity. The deceased Is survived by her husband, who was gassed in the late war and is now suffering from the results, and one daughter, who reside at the borne. The funeral services will be held from St. Joseph's Catholic church tomorrow morning, the Rev. Father Eichein officiating. Helen Nugent and Leonora Wohlever spent Saturday in Cleveland. ^iiiwirtttiHiminiHHtHiMiHiitiiiiinMinMniinnitiiiiiiHiiiiiuiiMiHiHi Society News llll METHODIST LADIES MEET. The Ladles' Sewing society ot the Methodist church met yesterday after- uoon with Mrs. George Hough and Mrs. George Schlbley in the church purlors. A profitable afternoon was spent in sewing, which was enjoyed by ull. Luncheon,was served. 8T. ANN'S SOCIETY MEETS. The St. Ann's Society of the Catholic church met yesterday afternoon ut the home ot Miss Catherine Lawless on West street. Mrs. Christ Brucker assisted in entertaining. A very enjoyable afternoon was spent by all. SEWING SOCIETY MEETS. The Ladles' Sewing society of the I,lulu-ran church met this afternoon in the church parlors. Mrs. William Koepp wus hostess. A very enjoyable afternoon wus spent by all. SUNDAY SCHOOL CLAS8 MEET8. Miss Agnes Rosle entertained the Wide-Awake Sunday school class of the Methodist-Congregational church at her home on Lincoln street Monday night. A brief business meeting was held, after which games were the chief diversion. Refreshments were served at a late hour. Mrs. Walter Burgenheim returned to her home in Cleveland Sunday after visiting ber sister, Mrs. L. F. Kree- gsr ot Tenney avenue. CARD OF THANKS We wish to express our appreciation and thanks to our friends and neighbors for their sympathy and floral offerings. Also to all those who so kindly assisted us during the Illness and death of our beloved husband and father. MRS. A. E. STIWALD AND CHILDREN. Mr. and Mrs. Jacob Baus and son Norman were Cleveland visitors Sunday. STUDY CLUB MEETS. Mrs. F. I. Hubbard wus hostess to the Amherst Study club at her home on Clevelund uvenue Monday afternoon, ut which time sixteen members were present. The following program was carried out: "The Mountain State"—Mrs. George Parker. "Alaska"—Mrs. J. H. Schlbley. The next meeting will be an outing which will be at Oberlln. The members of the club will visit the Oberlin Art Museum. Y. P. A. TO MEET TONIGHT. The Young People's Association of the Stone church will meet in the church purlors of the Methodist church this evening. The meeting will be for both business aud social actlv- 'ities. All members are urged to attend. Ben Welngarten and Wm. Kratt ot Lorain visited friends in Amherst on Sunday. W. C. T. U. TO MEET. . The Woman's Christian Temperance Union will meet lu the Oonrgegatlonal church parlors on Thursday evening, 7:30. March 23. Miss Hinman. state secretary, will address the meeting. A program ot musical selections nnd recitations will also be given. A silver offering will be taken at this meeting. Everybody welcome. •w •» n / « ■itaa&fiuAi ^'•'aaaai" -fr"*''"'1 ■'■'■■ u ikii"Ai a .
Object Description
|The Amherst news-times. (Amherst, Ohio), 1922-03-16
Amherst (Ohio)
Lorain County (Ohio)
|Date of Original
|Searchable Date
|Amherst News-Times
|Submitting Institution
|Amherst Public Library
|Online access is provided for research purposes only. For rights and reproduction requests or more information, go to http://www.ohiohistory.org/images/information
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text:
Sully's is sold to Associated Grocers of New England
John Denoncourt, grandson of the original founder of Sully's, confirmed that the store has been sold to wholesale supplier Associated Grocers of New England, and new ownership will take effect Dec. 29.
Denoncourt, who owns the store with his wife, Debbie, said the sale wasn't something they had planned.
"I wasn't out looking," Denoncourt said. "They came to me and made the offer."
The original Sully's opened in 1937 on South Main Street in Manchester, and expanded in 1987 with the opening of the Goffstown location.
The family eventually closed the Manchester store to focus on the Goffstown business.
According to a statement issued by AG New England, the company supplies independent grocery stores and also owns and operates a number of stores through a subsidiary company, including Harvest Market in Bedford, Hollis and Wolfboro, and Vista Foods in Laconia and Newport, Vt.
"Sully's has been an affiliated store customer of AG New England for several years, and it is a logical transition for the family to pass the reins of the business to a company that is fully dedicated to the success of the independent retail grocers who are the owners of the cooperative," said Mike Bourgoine, president and CEO of AG New England.
In terms of operation, not much will change, he said.
"We intend to continue operations under the Sully's name for the forseeable future," Bourgoine said. "We're extremely pleased to be acquiring this successful business."
Denoncourt said management will also remain the same, as well as current employees.
"They were able to keep all of the employees, which was a big thing for me," he said. "The only face you won't see is mine."
Denoncourt, who said he's worked in the business his grandparents built since he was 14, said he will miss his employees and customers the most.
"You develop a relationship with the customers," he said.


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A cool wind stroked the grass, making a soft rustling sound. The sun had sent its last dying rays over the horizon and had stepped aside to make place for the silent darkness that now covered the land. The stillness was so deep that it seemed to fill the air with a peaceful melody. No cars or screams or machinery disturbed the silence.
With soft footsteps the missionary wandered through the deep grass. He loved this time, right after dusk when the world was slowly going to sleep and he could spend time alone with his Lord. His steps were directed to the three small mounds in the ground. Three children that he had buried there. His children. Gone even before he could hear them say "Daddy", even before he could feel their little arms around his neck. And now a fourth mound would be added.
The missionary lifted his face to the sky. His eyes were not bitter, his mouth did not utter words of accusation. This was the price he had to pay. Was it worth it?
"They cry in the night; they perish in the darkness." Again, he saw the people before his eyes. He remembered that night more than 20 years ago. Slowly he let his gaze travel around, piercing the darkness. This was Africa - Dark Africa - His Africa. Yes, it was worth it.
n 1882 Harmon Schmelzenbach was born as second son to Barnett and Elizabeth Schmelzenbach, who had come to the United States from Switzerland, met and married in 1880. He was only 12 years old when his parents died and left behind three sons and a daughter. Harmon was taken in by a family who took him out of school and made him work hard. Not before long, he ran away and worked in various potteries along the Ohio River. While working in a pottery in Carrollton, Ohio, he attended a campmeeting with several other young men. During the campmeeting he felt the Lord's presence and opened his heart to him.
In the next two years, he became more and more popular as a speaker at tent meetings, until he felt the urge to further educate himself. He was given the advice to go to Peniel Bible College in Texas, where he enrolled soon after.
One night not long after his arrival, he was reading a book about the life of David Livingstone. Suddenly he saw before his eyes all those unreached, lost people, people that had never heard of the good news that Jesus died for them. That night, Harmon felt a distinct urge to go to Africa and serve as a missionary. His urge was so great that he decided not to wait but rather go right away. His fellow students and faculty pledged themselves to support him with $200 per year for the following five years, and Harmon traveled to New York to catch a ship to Africa.
On the same ship with him traveled also two girls, Miss Eta Innis and Lula Glatzel, who had heard the Lord's call as well. After a long journey they finally arrived in Port Elizabeth, where they left the ship.
In Port Elizabeth the three found a small mission called the White Holiness Mission, in whose work they soon became involved. On June 19, 1908, a year and a day after their landing in Africa, Harmon Schmelzenbach and Lula Glatzel married.
At that time, only missionaries from specific mission organizations were allowed to live directly with the Africans. Harmon Schmelzenbach did not have this position. But he knew that if he wanted to reach the people, he had to live with them and learn their ways. So he and his wife traveled far to a place where it was possible for them to live closer to the people.
At almost the same time, the Church of the Nazarene was founded in Pilot Point, Texas, and Harmon Schmelzenbach automatically became a member. However, it still took several years until he was accepted as an official Nazarene missionary.
In the meantime, Harmon was busy getting to know the people and learning yet another language, which he did so well that the Africans said he spoke like one of them.
A letter arrived asking whether Harmon Schmelzenbach would be willing to open the work of the Church of the Nazarene there in Natal. He wrote back, explaining that there already were quite a few missions in Natal, but basically none in a more northern tribe called the Swazi. With the official church documents and some funds he would be able to start the work there.
After some correspondence the couple received the documents, but no funds. So they saved on their own, and when they had saved enough they set out northward, with a 15-month-old baby and a young Zulu herdboy who assisted them with the donkeys. The journey was slow and tedious, especially with a little baby, and Mrs. Schmelzenbach was pregnant again.
Every Sunday they stopped and Harmon went into the villages nearby and invited the locals. He then preached to them and showed them slides of the life of Jesus in order to illustrate the story.
Months of trekking followed. Finally, on December 10, 1910, they reached the police post at Pigg's Peak in Swaziland. In that area they would settle down and launch the Church of the Nazarene in Africa. They soon received help from Miss Innis, who had been sent from the Foreign Mission Board. Yet, the queen of Swaziland did not like Whites and had not given them permission to stay. Thus they had to live in their wagon for another ten months, during which time a second son was born.
The work in Swaziland was not easy. People were afraid of the white missionaries and avoided them. Harmon had to travel on foot for miles and search for them. At some point he found a village full of Christians, who were eager to learn more, and he stayed and taught them.
In the years that followed, the gospel slowly took root. The Schmelzenbachs faced many problems, not least among them diseases, hostilities and other obstacles of any kind. But in 1914 the tide turned. The work started to grow. Still, there were many problems to be overcome. Finances were very low, and the children were malnutritioned. There were almost no clothes to wear, and all the household savings had been used up.
Yet, they did not despair. And their perseverance was rewarded. Things started going better, more money came in, and Dr. Reynolds (General Superintendent) came on a tour and visited Africa. He dedicated the first Nazarene church built on African ground.
As the year 1914 came to an end, the missionaries were very encouraged and ready to go on. Many prayers had been answered and many obstacles overcome. The Schmelzenbachs had now been in Africa six and a half years.
In the next years the work expanded greatly. Schmelzenbach trained new workers and built new churches. His language and culture abilities helped him a great deal with reaching out to the people. New missionaries started coming in and the work grew steadily.
One of their children died a month after it was born, and in 1916 another son was born.
A hospital was build and the battle with darkness and disease was fought on. Many people died in the service of the Lord, and many souls were saved. Again, a birth was celebrated in the Schmelzenbach home: twins were born to the family. Yet only soon after both died.
It was decided that Lula and her four children should return to the States for a furlough, while Harmon battled on. It was a difficult parting for both sides, but there was much work to do. New missionaries and pastors had to be trained, illnesses had to be fought, believers had to be encouraged who suffered much from their tribespeople. But there were also victories. After a long battle, the Queen of Swaziland finally consented and gave permission to build a church, even though she had sworn that there would never be one on her ground.
Lula and the children returned and life went on as normal. Yet another child died in infancy. The three oldest children were sent to America for their education. This, too, had been a difficult decision, and the children did not found it easy to go. But they all promised to return.
When he mounted the platform, it became evident that the fire of the veteran's spirit was undimmed. With arms outstretched and a world of pathos in his voice, the great-souled missionary pled for Africa - Dark Africa. All the wealth of his passionate love for the lost in that dark land was poured forth in eloquent and rapid utterance which left a profound impression upon his audience.
"They cry in the night; they perish in the darkness."
When he mounted the platform, it became evident that the fire of the veteran's spirit was undimmed. With arms outstretched and a world of pathos in his voice, the great-souled missionary pled for Africa - Dark Africa. All the wealth of his passionate love for the lost in that dark land was poured forth in eloquent and rapid utterance which left a profound impression upon his audience.
"They cry in the night; they perish in the darkness."
Dorli Gschwandtner
Author: Webmaster (Joe Gschwandtner)


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Rinnai solar hot water system.
Floor to ceiling robes with sliding mirrored doors in all bedrooms.
Honeycomb security screens.
Fully framed shower screens and mirrors.
Stainless steel kitchen sink and pullout veggie spray mixer.
Stylish glass canopy 60cm rangehood.
Quality plumbing fittings with a 15 year warranty.
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