The following was written by Inglis Fleming (1859-1955) (One of his grandsons was Pete Fleming, one of the five missionaries killed by the Auca Indians in 1956.)
‘”Let the saints be joyful in glory: let them sing aloud upon their beds.” Psa. 149:5. “Any bird can sing in the daytime; God gives songs in the night,” it has been remarked.
Above all the power of trial and weariness and pain, the Holy Spirit of God can lift the suffering Christian, so that “in the night” of testing and “upon their beds” of affliction, they may sing aloud with joy.
Happy is the believer who, confident in his God, can thus rise above his present circumstances and rejoice in the Lord. Such an one, in the spirit of Habakkuk of old, may exultingly say,
“Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labor of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls: yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation. The LORD God is my strength, and He will make my feet like hinds’ feet, and He will make me to walk upon mine high places.” Hab. 3:17-19.
To the Jew, the fig tree, the vine, the olive, the fields, the flocks and the herds spoke of prosperity. Without these and their produce, famine would stare them in the face. Habakkuk’s confidence is of a marked character therefore. Is not such faith to be followed? May we not say that it honors God and is delighted in by Him?
“How great is Thy goodness,” exclaims David, “which Thou hast laid up for them that fear Thee; which Thou hast wrought for them that trust in Thee before the sons of men!” Psa. 31:19.
Paul could write from the Roman imprisonment which he was enduring, “Rejoice in the Lord alway: and again I say, Rejoice.” Phil. 4:4.
“Songs in the night” are these. And perhaps the night seasons are allowed to come upon us in order that such songs may rise from our hearts.
Amid the changing circumstances of life we may not be able to rejoice in them, but the Lord in His all-sufficiency is above all circumstances. In Him let us rejoice, as we journey on to our everlasting portion.
“And there in mine inheritance, My kingly palace home: The leaf may fall and wither, Not less the spring will come. Like winds and rains of winter, These earthly sighs and tears, Till the golden summer dawneth Of the endless year of years.”‘https://www.wholesomewords.org/etexts/fleming/songs1.html
‘Before turning against the U.S. military to command the Confederate army, Robert E. Lee served as the superintendent of West Point, the hallowed military academy that produced patriots like Ulysses S. Grant, Douglas MacArthur and Dwight Eisenhower.
But in the coming days, the storied academy will take down a portrait of Lee dressed in his Confederate uniform from its library, where it has been hanging since the 1950s and place it in storage. It will also remove the stone bust of the Civil War’s top southern general at Reconciliation Plaza. And Lee’s quote about honor will be stripped from the academy’s Honor Plaza.
Really, this is no surprise when ‘more than 300 Muslim scholars met during a conference in Istanbul to sign the “Covenant of the Muslim Scholars” to end the growing wave of normalization with Israel.
The conference’s statement confirmed that “Islamic Sharia bans normalization with Israel because of the dangers it poses to the Palestinian cause and the resistance”
The Covenant was signed by 300 Muslim Scholars from different countries, including Turkey, Syria, Palestine, Egypt, Iraq, Malaysia and Mauritania, calling for an end to normalization with Israel.
The Covenant stated that “normalization with the Zionist entity (Israel) is forbidden according to Sharia, because it contradicts the requirements of faith and its obligations which is based on loyalty to the believers and their mandatory support”
And that “all attempts to undermine the Palestinian cause through the resettlement of [Palestinian] refugees, or the Judaization of holy sites (especially in occupied Jerusalem) do not establish any legitimacy for the Zionist entity and does not change its description as occupation and aggression.”‘https://ikhwanweb.com/more-than-300-muslim-scholars/
‘California utility regulators have just made significant changes to rules applied to the state’s rooftop solar market, saying that the moves will ensure solar-powered homes contribute their “fair share” to maintain the power grid.
The state has long led the nation in adoption of rooftop solar panels, and today more than 1.5 million California homes and other buildings have them. Under a decades-old program, people with solar panels can get paid by their power companies by sharing excess solar energy they don’t need, leading some solar homes to pay minimal electric bills.
That’s led to criticism that rooftop solar customers aren’t paying their fair share into the rest of the energy grid, which many still rely on for power when the sun goes down. Power rates also include things like transmission equipment and wildfire prevention work, and regulators approve a set amount of money that utilities can recover from customers.
Utilities and consumer groups have argued the incentive payments have unfairly favored wealthier consumers and harmed poor and low-income households. But solar companies and renewable advocates have said that lowering the compensation would slow solar installations and hinder the state’s goals to address climate change.
The proposal, which California utility regulators unveiled last month, will change a net metering policy by paying solar owners for extra power at a lower rate, which is determined by the cost the utility would need to spend to purchase clean power from an alternative source. The solar industry has said the plan would amount to a 75% cut in average payment rates to customers.
‘Westerly, Rhode Island, father Robert Chiaradio was convinced that if only people could see it with their own eyes, they would join his battle to remove Maia Kobabe’s book, Gender Queer: A Memoir, from the high school library.
So when he took the podium at the Westerly School Committee meeting last December, Chiaradio came prepared with more than just his talking points. Filing in behind him were his supporters, each one holding up a poster-sized illustration from the book [graphic material at link]. Together they revealed a revolting display of images for the whole room to see.
It didn’t last long, though. Soon, a group of seven teachers crowded around him and positioned themselves in front of each poster, blocking its view from the audience. Though everyone had already seen the sickening pictures, the teachers refused to budge, their arms folded in defiance, as if to say, “You’re not seeing that.”
Chiaradio wanted to know why it was fine for a 14-year-old at Westerly High School to see the book, but not the adults at the meeting. When he asked the Westerly Teachers Association head, Colleen Saila, that question, he says she replied that the teachers in the room were “offended” because they didn’t have a choice about seeing the poster-sized pictures from the book.
There was another choice they didn’t have that night. Like it or not, the second those posters were raised in the air, the school lost control of the narrative. The secret of Gender Queer was out.
And covering it up after the fact didn’t change the fact that the school was offering pornography to its students.
He has been in his adversaries’ crosshairs for over two years, ever since he started asking his pesky questions about critical race theory (CRT) in Westerly’s public schools. By now, he’s gotten used to being sabotaged, gaslit, lied to, and called the worst sorts of names. Few would be up for the abuse and aggravation that have come with his two-steps-forward, one-step-back battles.
But while Chiaradio is relentless, so are his opponents.
‘Nearly a year after Judicial Watch launched an investigation into the theft of U.S. COVID relief funds by foreign hackers, the Secret Service confirms that cyber criminals connected to China’s government stole $20 million in benefits. This includes Small Business Administration (SBA) loans and unemployment insurance money in multiple states, according to a national news story that identifies the perpetrators as a APT41, a hacking group based in Chengdu. The report cites U.S. law enforcement officials and cybersecurity experts who believe the multi-million-dollar theft of government pandemic funds by the Chinese faction “may just be the tip of the iceberg.”’https://www.judicialwatch.org/hackers-steal-20-mil-in-covid-relief-funds/
‘The doctor who prescribed the reversal pill to Amrita, Dr Dermot Kearney, came to the stage and the thunderous applause he received would make anyone think he was the most popular doctor in the country. Dr Dermot looked towards the small group of abortion supporters which had congregated nearby and directed a sentence towards them ‘People here say they are pro-choice – we were the ones helping the women who decided they wanted to try and save their babies’. He went on to add ‘The pro-life movement has one simple message ‘Every single life has equal, inherent value without exception’.’ https://www.marchforlife.co.uk/aiovg_videos/dr-dermot-kearney-march-for-life-uk/
