Tag Archives: Sweden

21st Century, ekklesia, Uncategorized, worship

Is time to PUSH yet? Pray Until Something Happens

Profound Samples. 2015 photoshoot. Mpls.

Below is a the text of both a hard-copy letter and e-mail blast I sent out this morning to everyone I know who names the name of Jesus, or is G-d fearing. We are living through a year where we are constantly receiving diametrically opposed messages from our neighbors, workplaces, media, governmental leadership, and iconic voices from pop culture. We are being asked to both trust science, (when it comes to the World Health Organization), but disbelieve science when it comes to the Covid response of nations like Sweden or states like South Dakota. We ask students to verify their sources, yet daily take in opinion-based current event stories who fail provide a single credible source for their information. We are taught the merits of observational truth, yet are comfortable in denying election judges from all parties observing something as basic as a vote tally!?

It seems we may be reaching an epoch in our society where these bifurcated beliefs have infected our process and methods of voting. We are taught, “Every vote counts”, but can observe dozens of populous counties where more than 100% of the vote has been collected and counted. We are taught “All politics are local”, but then can observe the influence of foreign actors such as George Soros, and nations such as Cuba, Venezuela, and China influencing the vote counting hardware and software of allegedly up to 30 states. Yet, we who know the risen Messiah do not have reason for fear, but to raise our appeal to a higher court than public opinion or even the Supreme Court of the United States. Let’s ask and see what He says today?

Tuesday December 1, 2020

GOOD MORNING! RISE UP AND PRAISE HIM!

I’m sending this to you because I trust your hearts and minds as voices of discernment. There is much contention still in this election process and the allegations are serious enough we need to respond prayerfully to call the Justice of Heaven to intervene.
Our nation, in my recollection, is experiencing a time of incredible partisanship. The “us versus them” mentality that is often present only at the times of revolution or great division.

I thank G-d that we are called out of this partisanship and into his kingdom. We are not here to build: the kingdom of the Democrats, the Progressives, the Greens, the Libertarians, or the Republicans to name a few. Like Daniel, we act as the authority of our authorities when we fast, pray, and agree with the eternal laws of heaven. Why did the Lord chastise Israel over dishonest weights and measures so often:
Proverbs 11:1 “Dishonest scales are an abomination to the Lord…”
Proverbs 20:23 “Unequal weights are detestable to the Lord…”
Micah 6:11 “Can I excuse dishonest scales…”
Leviticus 19:35-36 “You shall do no wrong in judgment…”
Deuteronomy 25:13-16 “You shall not have in your bag differing weights…”
Ezekiel 45:9-10 “Stop your expropriations from my people…”
Amos 8:4-6 Condemnation of conspiracy to cheat one’s neighbor
Hosea 12:7-8 “A merchant, in whose hands are false balances, he loves to oppress…”
Proverbs 22:28 “Do not move the ancient boundary which your fathers have set…”
He clearly loves honesty and integrity. When we practice these, we also are practicing His Presence in our homes, businesses, and in our city, county, state, and Federal Government.

But…
We do have a very clear mandate in I Timothy 2:1-5 to contend in prayer for our civic leaders. We are to pray the Grace and Truth and Justice of the Lord into the legal and political fabric of our society.

This movement, started by Dean Briggs of IHOP KC and Lou Engle, began during the week before Thanksgiving. Even though its “old news” I invite you to join in prayer, worship, and fasting for our 2020 Election process and its aftermath throughout December. Come bring clarity to our confusion, dear bright Morning Star!

Links to the Prayerstrike youtube.

Learn more about Lou Engle and his stalwart commitment to prayer!
https://louengle.com

Don’t believe the hype! See for yourself what the International House of Prayer of Kansas City is all about?
https://www.ihopkc.org

For those of you who are watching and waiting and praying through the night, you may need a little stronger gospel to keep you awake! Wink! Enjoy this “truth bomb” from Stryper!

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Awe, Faith, music, Uncategorized

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Wordwise Hymns submitted an article that really stirred me up today. Though mostly about hymns and John Newton, the author questions our sense of wonder of G-d at the end of his article. Where is the passion of the Church in its songs? Why don’t we invite our heart (and maybe brains?) to Church or Synagogue? Below, I took a stab at one idea that may limit us. What do you think limits passion towards G-d?

 

HOW TO USE THIS BLOG 1) The Almanac. Click on the month you want in the side-bar, then the specific date. The blog will tell you what happened in hymn history on that day. 2) Reflections. There is always a current article on a hymn. But you can find many others by clicking on the […]

via Let Us Love and Sing and Wonder — Wordwise Hymns

“I believe the wonder of the modern expression of the Church is quenched through decades of passivity, or maybe a failure of curiosity.
My spiritual heritage ranges from observant to belligerent, from the first pagan Swedish converts of Ansgar to atheistic Swedish socialists, from Polish Catholics to Polish Orthodox Jews to atheistic Jews. All this inheritance from Europe was then crunched and compacted into smaller boxes of American Protestantism: Episcopal, various Lutheran synods, Baptist Fundamentalism, Assemblies of G-d, the Vineyard (Non-denominations), Messianic Jewry.
I am surely not condemning the Church that I know and love, but am aware of how effective our common enemy is at lulling us to sleep.
Many of us only know Church history as told to us through secular scholars. We don’t know the backstory of the hymns or their authors. How many of them suffered for the privilege to worship G-d in Spirit and Truth?
We have disconnected from the Old Testament, in some cases, almost entirely. We don’t connect with its’ Feasts and Holidays so we are limited in relating to the founders of the Church and our Savior.
Surely, He loves us whether we read the newspaper or Herodotus, but it seems plain to me that one who remembers only 75 years of the Lord’s faithfulness may experience less passion than those who draw on the memories of Israel and the Church over the past 5775 years. May we be ever curious and ACTIVELY meditate on our King of Kings, and his unmerited favor shown through the stories of the faithful throughout history!” PTH

Do you ever wonder about G-d?

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19th Century, Business, Environment, Geology, History, Industry, Intercession, Mining, Minnesota, omnipresent history

Iron Industry Launch 1884

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1884

“With the state’s first shipment of ore from the Vermilion Range, Minnesota’s iron industry is launched. Within 20 years, new immigrants will mine from the region a great majority of the iron for the nation’s industrial boom.” *

Ore is moved by train to ports like Duluth. From there giant ships carry it to the blast furnaces of Ohio and Pennsylvania where it is melted and processed by the heat of burning coal from mines in Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Kentucky, and Ohio. The result is steel, which goes to factories in cities such as Detroit to become the rails of railroads, the skeletons of skyscrapers, and the chassis of cars. 

The growth of iron mining brings tens of thousands of new people to northeastern Minnesota. They come from almost every country in Europe and elsewhere, bringing different languages and cultures from places like Canada, Wales, Ireland, Sweden, Finland, Belgium, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Hungary, Italy, Greece, Syria, Russia, and China. 

Father, we adore You! You have given us an earth full of blessings! We thank You for the gift of iron ore. We thank You for the impact of this gift on our state and peoples!

Father, we are full of bitter roots and rusty hearts! This blessing has been corroded by our mis-dealings. We are guilty of judging the owners of the steel business: Carnegie, Morgan, Rockefeller, etc. We have stolen and tainted the land of the individual, the Indian nations, our neighbor’s business, our state, and our nation. 

We have judged our fellow workers on the basis of his race or culture: Canadian, Welsh, Irish, Swedish, Finnish, Belgian, Lithuanian, Romanian, Slovakian, Slovenian, Hungarian, Italian, Greek, Syrian, Russian, Chinese, and Native American! We have offenses based on interstate prejudices: Minnesota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Kentucky, Michigan, Sioux, Dakota, Ojibway. 

Lord, will You have mercy on our humanity? Will You replace this heritage of curses with blessings for us? Will You reverse the curses against the land, and all the pathways it has travelled out this state through out the world? I want to pronounce the blessing of the Lord to every molecule of steel that has passed, is passing, or will pass from this state!  May You grant us humility, wisdom, and imagination to properly use the resources of this state! May the iron of Minnesota, regardless of its present use or form, ring with the unlimited, infinite blessings of its’ King! Hallelujah!

* http://www.mnhs.org/about/dipity_timeline.htm

 

 

 

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19th Century, Americana, History, Immigration, Intercession, Minnesota, Politics, State Government

Attracting Settlers

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1867
“People mean progress and prosperity to the new state. Minnesota establishes a board of immigration to attract settlers. Hans Mattson, secretary of the board, makes several trips to Sweden to recruit immigrants. Mattson had been a founder of Goodhue County’s Vasa colony in the 1850s. Now he encourages newly-immigrated Swedes to farm mainly in the central part of the state, with great successes in Wright, Meeker, and Kandiyohi counties.” *

Thanks for the establishment of a board of immigration! Thank You for Hans Mattson and his work to advertise Minnesota. Thank You that this state could be a shelter for many Europeans, but in this case, especially Swedish immigrants.

May any bitter root judgments between Wright, Meeker, Kandiyohi, Mattson, Minnesota, or Sweden be broken in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ! Will You soothe the burning frustrations between citizens of Minnesota and illegal immigrants past? Will You show our nation how to resolve the problems of having a population of perhaps 20 million non-citizens in the present? Will You forgive our sins against You and our fellow human beings through this issue into the future?

http://www.mnhs.org/about/dipity_timeline.htm

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19th Century, Culture, Emigration, farming, History, Immigration, Intercession, Minnesota

Swedish Immigration 1862

1024px-Anti-emigration.propaganda.1869

Left side: Dreams of America Right side: Realities of America

Over the next 30 years more than 350 families from the province of Dalarna in Sweden pick up and move to Isanti County. They recongregate around their parish churches.
This emigration represents a second wave from Sweden, driven by hunger during lean years (1863-1877) in their native land.*

There were many reasons Swedes were disenchanted with life in their homeland in this era. Norway and Sweden were ruled by a shared aristocracy and common people allegedly despised the arrogance of monarch Charles XV and his tone-deaf response to their plights. Uppsala graduate Gustaf Unonius left Sweden for the Midwest, and his writings in the Swedish newspaper “Aftonbladet” drew interest in places like Wisconsin and Minnesota.**

Though this wave came from Dalarna, many future Minnesotans came from Smaland (Southern Sweden) where the poor soil and small plots made it difficult to survive. Imagine their surprise when one could buy an acre of excellent land for $1.25?! The climate of Midwest was familiar and pleasant to these northern peoples.

Numerous other factors tipped the scales towards them in the eyes of their American neighbors. “They are not peddlers, nor organ grinders, nor beggars; they do not sell ready-made clothing nor keep pawn shops, they do not seek the shelter of the American flag merely to introduce and foster among us … socialism, nihilism, etc … they are more like Americans than are any other foreign peoples.” ***

Lord, thank you for the gift that Swedes have been to our state! Thank you that they could find this new place to begin again! Will You bless every Minnesotan of Swedish ancestry; them, their generations, and their dwellings by the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ?

Jesus, forgive our judgments of these immigrants. Forgive us when we do not remember the trials of their homeland. Most Minnesotans’ of today do not realize that our Swedish ancestors fought starvation, various forms of slavery, political disenfranchisement, and religious persecution.

Lord, will You forgive our bitter judgments of Swedish-Americans! Forgive any counter judgments that enslave them! May we be Your forgiving and free people! Ljuset skringrar varje morker! Gud valsigne Sverige!

*P.T.H. cites timeline formerly at this URL: mnhs.org/about/dipity_timeline.htm
The Minnesota Historical Society Web site, http://www.mnhs.org , is fantastic! Check it out!

 

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