Tag Abraham

Save, Back-Up, Restore

Allen Frederick 3 Comments

Random Ramblings from the Resident Raptor

Insight from the Journey across the Sky

By Allen Scott



6 Take to heart these words that I give you today. 7 Repeat them to your children. Talk about them when you’re at home or away, when you lie down or get up. 8 {Write them down, and} tie them around your wrist, and wear them as headbands as a reminder. 9 Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates. Deut 6:6-9 (GW)

Save, Back-up and restore are three terms familiar to every computer IT tech, especially those who working in a ‘Microsoft Windows ™’ environment. With all the malicious malware circulating over the internet and hackers sending out viruses and denial of service attacks, it is not a matter of if, but when a computer will crash. Firewalls and virus protection can only do so much, therefore it is important that when your computer is running smoothly, you take the time to back it up.

If you get in the habit of doing regular back-ups, then restoring a computer system after a crash is pretty simple. However if you fail to back-up your hard drives and save it in a secondary location, then the restoration process will take a lot longer, in fact the lost data may never be restored. Failure to have a back-up is failure to plan ahead for a crash.

I had a run-in with the dreaded drive crash over the weekend. I had been noticing a slowing down of the computer while performing normal computing tasks. I knew that a reboot was in order and so I saved all important data and backed-up the most used documents and proceeded with the reboot. Initially all seemed to go well until the computer shut down and started the reboot process again, and then again, and again. I knew from experience this was not going to be good.

After these endless restarts I was able to get the computer to start in SAFE mode and proceeded to remove the offending program. The offending program was supposed to protect my computer from malicious viruses and malware and yet it was the program that was causing my computer to not operate properly. During one of the program’s normal overnight updates the downloaded patch caused instability in my computer. Therefore it had to be removed, and the computer restored to an earlier date, to eliminate the problem caused by the program. Thank God there was a restoration point.

I have had non-repairable computer crashes in the past, in those cases I had no back-up, there was no restoration point. In fact the only thing I could do was forget the past and start over anew. Loosing all my previous work was difficult to handle but at least I was able to start over. Since then I have learned to save important documents to several locations as well as backing up important data and directories. Especially my daily journal. I have over two years worth of writings and thoughts recorded in this daily journal that I would really hate to loose. Thoughts of what God has been teaching me along this ‘Journey Across the Sky’. It contains thoughts and feelings I have about certain events occurring in the world and reminders of the goodness of God through difficult situations.

Not having a recorded history of where you have been, and where you are going makes remembering difficult, if not impossible. Not having a back-up from which you can draw from in case of a memory loss is frightening. Those who suffer from the physical affliction of Alzheimer’s know first hand the horrors associated with memory loss.

It would be nice if we could simply do a restore for memory loss, but alas that is not possible, even with the advances in modern medicine. Computer hard drives can be restored to almost like new condition, and lost data found again through the back-up, restore process. You save it, and back it up so that it can be restored if needed in the future. For humans it is not quite so simple.

God warned Israel to write the word of God upon tablets and door posts, and to teach them to their children so that when God finally gave them the land promised to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, they would not forget who it was that delivered them from Egyptian bondage. God warned them to remember where they came from, and to not forget who got them to where they are now. He warned them to not forget His words, but to make sure they backed up this information by writing it down and repeating it often, and by teaching it to their children.

Can you imagine the Bible being lost? Can you imagine our lives without the word of God to fall back on? Can you imagine not being able to re-read those stories of deliverance found in the pages of scripture? What would we do if God had not preserved His word down through the ages? What would your life be like if you had never heard the Gospel of Christ?

Continue reading “Save, Back-Up, Restore” →

Columbus Day, a Voyage of Discovery

Allen Frederick 1 Comment

Insight for your “Journey across the Sky”
A View from the Nest www.eagleviews.org

By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to the place which he would receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going. By faith he dwelt in the land of promise as in a foreign country, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise; for he waited for the city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God. Heb 11:8-10 (NKJV)

In the year 1492 Columbus set sail on a voyage of discovery. Being an accomplished mariner he had sailed the Mediterranean and traveled to parts of Africa, to Ireland, and probably even to Iceland. He boasted later in life, “I have gone to every place that has heretofore been navigated.” He knew the Atlantic as well or better than anyone, and he probably knew more about how to read currents, winds, and surfaces of the sea than do sailors today. Driven by what he described “a hand that could be felt, the Lord opened my mind to the fact that it would be possible … and he opened my will to desire to accomplish that project.… The Lord purposed that there should be something miraculous in this matter of the voyage to the Indies.”

Part discoverer and part missionary Columbus never gave up on his internal quest to seek that which others said could not be found. His was a journey of discovery. With a burning desire to fulfill what he felt was God’s purpose for his life, he tirelessly lobbied the courts of Spain for nearly seven years to be granted permission to set sail for the Indies. Finally permission was granted and the rest as they say is history. A devote Catholic Cristóbal Colón sailed the high seas, driven by the wind and an inner strength, to discover a new land.

We, like Christopher Columbus can also set sail on the winds of the Holy Spirit to find that inner strength that can only be found in our discovery of Christ. As we start this week let us set sail for new discoveries to the riches of God found hidden between the covers of His inspired word. If you feel you have sailed over the same seas many times and there remains nothing new to discover I want to challenge you to open up your heart and allow the Lord to burn a new hope within you. Allow the Lord to give you a new vision of a greater place, a greater purpose, a new insight in His word.

Perhaps like Columbus you too have been discouraged many times as you set sail on life’s seas to fulfill the Lord’s purpose for your life. Do not give up! For like Columbus himself said, “If it strikes often enough, a drop of water can wear a hole in a stone.” Although at times the wind may be blowing against you, do not give up. If the seas of life get tempest tossed, do not give up. If those closest to you rise up against you, do not give up. Although you may not be able to see the shore line do not give up hope because the Lord promises to be with you, to never leave you nor forsake you. You are not alone. If you are on a journey of discovery with God, you too shall find a safe haven in the midst of life’s storms. If you continue to seek the Lord with all your heart, mind, body and strength, then you too will discover new places in God. You too will find a new land.

Columbus knew in his heart it could be done, Abraham believed God to be faithful, both set out to discover a new place, a new land; they sought the fulfillment of hope. Neither were disappointed. Neither will you be if you put your hope in God.

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths. Prov 3:5-6 (NKJV)

Like Columbus and Abraham and you too can sail into the unknown holding onto the hand of God. If you but trust Him, He will never leave you comfortless. He is your hope, He is your destiny, He desires for you to discover the riches of God through Christ Jesus.

Here’s to your journey of discovery! Ship Ahoy!

But those who are waiting for the Lord will have new strength; they will get wings like eagles: running, they will not be tired, and walking, they will have no weariness. Isaiah 40:31 (BBE)


Armageddon and an Independent Palestinian State

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Image via Wikipedia

By Don Costello

There is much talk in the news lately about the formation of a Palestinian state. It has become a major goal of President Bush. I believe that he is making the worst mistake of his Presidency. Biblically the West Bank, as it is called today is part of the land that Almighty God covenanted with Abraham to give his descendants through Isaac. Even more important is the fact that one of the reasons Jesus Christ is coming back at Armageddon is to destroy the people trying to steal the land of Israel away from Him and Israel. Although the Golan Heights are included in that Covenant, I want to focus on the area of the West Bank because that is the area the whole world is trying to make an independent Palestinian state.

A crucial element of this debate for the Bible believing Christian is that the West Bank as it is known today is referred to in Scripture as “Judea” and “Samaria” or “the mountains of Israel”. In 1999, the magazine “Christians for Israel” published an article documenting this entitled, “The Mountains of Israel”, by Karel van Oordt and Pee Koelewijn. There is also a book entitled, “The Mountains of Israel” by Norma Archbold that refers to this.

According to scripture, from the time when Lot and Abraham separated until after God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, Abraham lived on the plain of Mamre, which is present day Hebron in the West Bank. The events of Genesis 15 of the cutting of the covenant and the giving of the land occurred at that very place. In these scriptures we see the elements of the ancient Middle Eastern covenant. In Genesis 15:9, the animals are chosen, in verse 10 they are divided and laind against one another and in verses 17 and 18 the participants pass through the divided animals. The purpose for this according to Unger’s Bible Dictionary was to confirm the covenant, “by slaughtering and cutting the victim into halves, between which the parties passed, to intimate that if either of them broke the covenant it would fare with him as with the slain and divided beast.” The element not mentioned in the Genesis passage but most definitely took place at the time of the oath in Ezekiel 47:14 (NIV) where God, “swore with an uplifted hand”, to give the land to Israel. We get that impression from Jeremiah 34:14, which says the LORD will punish those, “which have not performed the words of the covenant which they made before me, when they cut the calf in twain, and passed between the parts thereof.” The picture we see when all these elements are included is when the LORD was passing through those pieces, He was swearing with an uplifted hand He was going to give Israel the land.

According to Isaiah 62:4, God is married to Israel and the land. The New American Standard Version says, “It well no longer be said to you “”Forsaken”” Nor to your land will it any longer be said, “”Desolate””; But you will be called, “”My delight is in her,”” and your land, “”Married.”” It is no wonder then that the first three verses of Ezekiel 36, which deals with the mountains of Israel, i.e. the West Bank, are laced with a very stern warning from God in the spirit of a jealous husband. Ezekiel 36:5 says the LORD is speaking, “in the fire of my jealouslyagainst the rest of the nationswho appropriated my land for themselves as a possession with wholehearted joy and scorn of soul.” The LORD God in Jeremiah 12:14 (NIV) calls those nations “wicked neighbors” who would “seize the inheritance I gave my people Israel.” Continue reading “Armageddon and an Independent Palestinian State” →