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Monday, October 7, 2024 - 04:47 PM

INDEPENDENT CONSERVATIVE VOICE OF UPSTATE SOUTH CAROLINA

First Published in 1994

INDEPENDENT CONSERVATIVE VOICE OF
UPSTATE SOUTH CAROLINA

Tablecloth Lamb 2023
Antique needle lace filet tablecloth: "God is Love" - Made in 1904.

Have you ever contemplated just who decides the fate of the universe, the locations of the stars, the courses of the seasons, the history and direction of mankind, the countries men and women inhabit, and the final destination of the lives of each and every one of us?  Who decides?  Who directs?  Who, if anyone, is really in control in this immense expanse of stars and galaxies, and on this tiny and insignificant planet?  WHO IS SOVEREIGN IN THIS UNIVERSE?  That is the question, is it not?

Is the Supreme Creator in control, or is He merely a fiction of primitive man’s mind—an attempt to explain what was to our far distant ancestors virtually unexplainable?    Throughout history there have been those who firmly believed  that what God’s people today consider to be The Creator of All—The Triune God of Scripture who we who call ourselves “Christians” profess to believe in and love—is merely a fiction sustained by superstitious people who were (and are) afraid of the unknown and controlled by sorcerers, priests, rabbis, and pastors who delighted (and still delight)  in controlling their fearful fellow men, reveling in their own power over our “unsophisticated” and “unscientific”  minds.  Many in this world believe that to be so.

So I ask:  Does God really move in “mysterious ways” His wonders to perform, or is all of history--from the “Big Bang”  or the latest “theories” of creation that cosmologists love to prattle on about, to today’s news--ALL just a matter of happenstance—of just blind “luck”, as many insist, or is there a “Divine Plan” for everything that has happened, is happening, and will happen?  My Christian Faith, shared in varying degrees by hundreds of millions of humans (and attacked and vilified by hundreds of millions more), assures me that God, the Creator, is in control of everything; and if we doubt this it is because we only see “through a glass darkly”.  It also teaches me that there is an evil entity—a God-hating force—that has since the beginning tried to resist God’s eternal Will for this world and substitute its will for mankind.  That’s all too obvious.

Some time ago a fraternity brother sent me the following very touching tale, supposedly a true story originated by a Pastor Rob Reid.  Perhaps this modern “parable” can help answer our question of “who decides” even small details in this flow of eternal time.  The story was titled,

THE TABLECLOTH

“The brand new pastor and his wife, newly assigned to their first ministry to reopen a church in suburban Brooklyn, N.Y., arrived in early October, excited about their opportunities.  When they saw their church building, it was very run down and needed much work.  They set a goal to have everything done in time to have their first service on Christmas Eve.

“They worked hard, repairing pews, plastering walls, painting, etc., and on Dec. 18th were ahead of schedule and just about finished.  On Dec. 19th a terrible tempest—a driving rainstorm-- hit the area and lasted for two days.  On the 21st, the pastor went to the church.  His heart sank when he saw that the roof had leaked, causing a large area of plaster to fall off the front wall…just behind the pulpit, beginning about head high.

“The pastor cleaned up the mess…, and not knowing what else to do but postpone the Christmas Eve service, he headed home.  On the way he noticed that a local business was having a flea market type sale for charity, so he stopped in.  One of the items was a beautiful, handmade, ivory colored, crocheted large tablecloth with exquisite work, fine colors and a cross embroidered right in the center.  It was just the right size to cover the hole in the front wall.  He bought it and headed back to the church.

“By this time it had started to snow.  An older woman running from the opposite direction was trying to catch the bus, but she missed it.  The pastor invited her to wait in the warm church for the next bus in 45 minutes.  She sat in a pew and paid no attention to the pastor

while he….put up the tablecloth as a wall tapestry, to cover the damaged plaster.  He could hardly believe how beautiful it looked, as it covered up the entire problem area.

“Then he noticed the woman walking down the center aisle, her face like a white sheet.  “Pastor”, she asked, “where did you get that tablecloth?”  The pastor explained its provenance.  The woman then asked him to check the lower right corner to see if the initials, “EBG”, were crocheted onto it.  They were!  These were the initials of that woman, who had made the tablecloth 35 years before, in Austria.

“The woman could hardly believe it as the pastor told her how he had just obtained her tablecloth.  She explained that before the war she and her husband were prosperous people in Austria, but when the Nazis came (in 1938) she was forced to leave.  Her husband was going to follow her the next week.  But he was arrested, sent to a prison, and she never saw her husband or home again. The pastor wanted to give her the tablecloth, but she made him keep it for the church.  He insisted on driving her home, which was the least he could do.  She lived on the other side of Staten Island and was only in Brooklyn for the day for her housecleaning job. 

“What a wonderful service they had on Christmas Eve.   The church was almost full.  The music and the spirit were great.  As it ended, the pastor and his wife greeted everyone, many saying that they would return.  One older man, whom the pastor recognized from the neighborhood, continued to sit in one of the pews and stare at the tablecloth.  The old man asked him where he had obtained the tablecloth on the front wall, because it was identical to one that his wife had made years before when they lived in Austria.  He asked how could there be two tablecloths so much alike?

“He recounted how the Nazis came, how he forced his wife to flee for her safety and that he was supposed to follow her, but that he had been arrested and spent years in prison.  He never saw his wife or his home again.  The pastor smiled through his tears, asking the old man if he would allow him to take him for a ride.  They took the ferry to Staten Island, then drove to the same apartment building  where the pastor had taken the woman three days earlier.  He helped the man climb the  three flights of stairs to the woman’s apartment, knocked on the door, and then witnessed the greatest Christmas reunion he could ever imagine!”

So, does this beautiful story confirm that our God “moves in mysterious ways”, according to His Will?  Perhaps.  Or perhaps you prefer to heed doubting mankind’s usual explanation  that only “blind luck” was in play.   Now I don’t believe in “luck”—I believe that my Savior—my Heavenly Father—The Triune God of Scripture--- exists now and has existed eternally, and through His “Divine Providence” is ALWAYS in control of everything.  I believe His LOVE is always with those who love Him and are called by His Name and, indeed, even extends to those who foolishly revile and curse Him.  I believe His promises are always true, and that long ago He manifested Himself to this world as a tiny baby boy, not to condemn the world a second time, but so that the “world”—we miserable and faithless and  selfish and violent and undeserving human beings—through HIM could be saved and witness His sacrificial love for us-------and for two elderly people whom He covered with His love for them, miraculously reuniting their mutual love for each other with a lovely old tablecloth that had been “miraculously” preserved for such a time!

SO WHO IS “SOVEREIGN”—GOD OR MAN?

Scripture tells us that King Herod thought he spoke as a “god”, not just as a king (see Acts 12:22).  But he was only a deluded man, and God soon proved to Herod and his toadies just who it was that rules Heaven and Earth.  Herod denied God’s sovereignty over him, so he shortly thereafter became food for worms, struck down by an angel of our LORD because he denied God His glory (Acts 12:23).  It appears to me (and I know I’m not alone in thinking this) that our nation is well along the road to making the same choice that Herod made.  Our U.S. currency has “In God We Trust” on it, but I fear that we put far more trust in the currency, which is rapidly failing us, than we put in the God of our creation!  How short-sighted—how stupid—is that?

I’m far from the only writer who has long warned his fellow citizens that God’s “patience” will not abide forever, and that our former strength and prosperity are but “weak reeds” that are even now in the process of failing the American people, a reminder that that prosperity and strength came through HIM, not through the machinations of various political parties who have always served THEIR own agendas, while seldom serving the cause of freedom.  I have long feared that if we, as Americans generally, and as American Christians specifically, continue to ignore God’s warnings to us to “TURN FROM OUR SINFUL WAYS”, then this nation is doomed.  It’s truly frightening to write those possibly prophetic words, but I feel that I must.

I leave you with these words of wisdom, and warning, from our Creator God.  They come from Deuteronomy 8:17-20 (N.I.V.):

“You may say to yourself, “My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me.”  But remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth, and so confirms his covenant, which he swore to your ancestors, as it is today.  If you ever forget the Lord your God and follow other gods and worship and bow down to them, I testify against you today that YOU WILL SURELY BE DESTROYED.  Like the nations the Lord destroyed before you, so you will be destroyed for not obeying the Lord your God.” (Emphasis mine—whl).

I think that says it all.  Further words from me are useless.

 

WHLambBioMug2

A native of Cleveland, Ohio W. H. (Bill) Lamb was graduated from Cleveland State University (Ohio) in 1960, and relocated to South Carolina in 1964.  For many years he was an Industrial Engineer, Chief Industrial Engineer, and plant manager in the steel, electronics, and apparel industries in Ohio, South Carolina, and Alabama. 

An avid and long time writer concentrating on political and cultural issues of concern to America’s Christian Patriot community, he was published in the Lancaster, S.C. “News” during the mid-to-late 1960’s and in Greenville’s “The Times Examiner” since 1999.   The late Christian Patriot, Col. Bobby Dill, was his first editor for The Times Examiner, the publication he always refers to as “a great journal of truth”.

Married to Barbara for 65 years, he has two adult kids, five grandkids, and six great grandkids, plus a “feisty and opinionated” 80 lb. Pit Lab named Hayley, who runs the entire house.

A long time member, with Barbara, of the patriotic John Birch Society, he believes that it is the duty of ALL Christians to first, share the love of his Savior, Jesus, with others, and then to be dedicated patriots and do everything possible to both resist the evil of collectivism that is smothering Western Civilization and educate and motivate his fellow Americans in the preservation of our unique Constitutional Republic.