Finding Heaven (Best of 2024) - John Burke
Friday, February 7, 2025
My Testimony - The Early Years! Chapter 3
My Testimony – The Early Years
Recently I have been reading through the documents I presented to my local draft board back in the year or so before receiving my notice for induction into military service in November 1971. I had applied to the board for a deferment as a conscientious objector. I was asked by them to explain my beliefs and from where, from whom and how I arrived at them. I will quote from the documents I presented to the board in this first part of My Testimony. Remember, I was twenty-one years old when writing this.
"I am the second son of Roman Catholic middle-class parents. My parents are good people. My father is a good-natured man who reads only the comics and the sports page. My mother passes the time away with television soap operas.”
I need to interrupt here and confess that the above statement was how I was viewing my parents at that time. The truth actually was that my parents were a lot deeper and intellectually and politically aware than I thought. Now that I have made that point, let’s go back to my letter to the military draft board.
“I have never talked seriously with my parents, but I remember in high school my mother’s words in regard to my sister's dating.... ‘Do what comes naturally,’ which I interpreted as, ‘Do what you think is right, or what your conscience dictates.’ It is from my parents that the philosophy of love has been so deeply ingrained in me, though I suspect they are not aware of it."
My article to the military continued.
"I attended public school and with childhood resistance the Tuesday afternoon Catechism classes. As a young Catholic, I learned to fear the ‘Almighty Lord’ from nuns who seemed out of the tradition of Jonathan Edwards. In my childhood years, I would every night before sleep say prayers for all the people I liked and especially for those I disliked. My fear of God made me overly conscious of my thoughts and actions. I constantly watched and scrutinized my behavior to be aware of sins."
"In the sixth grade, I was appointed captain of the safety patrol, though I hated the leadership position because of my shyness and my inability to tell others what they should do. With the advent of Junior High School came puberty and peer group relations. At 15, I had a complete falling out with my father and our relationship remained distant until just recently. In High School, I was very religious and obsessively conscious of the churches commandments. I tried to imitate the life of Christ. I was an average student, with friends that were ‘jocks,’ and friends that were ‘nerds.’ The most intriguing reading I did in High School was Thoreau's Walden Pond. I also enjoyed Ralph Waldo Emerson. One quote of his still remains with me,
Every Stoic was a Stoic, but where in Christendom is the Christian? [1]
"In my senior year I gained a deep relationship with a girl, my first intimate girlfriend. I seldom read a book or the daily newspaper. I graduated High School as president of my senior class, with the American Legion School Award for courage, honor, leadership, patriotism, scholarship and service. I had a vague hope of becoming a social worker or ‘something like that.’ I toyed with the idea of joining the military ‘to do my duty.’ But I was accepted to a college in Ohio and decided to go there instead."
Thursday, February 6, 2025
The Bible: a Book of Prophecy! - Chapter 2
The Bible: a Book of Prophecy
I was listening to a lecture by Bill Salus entitled “The Future of America in Bible Prophecy.”[1] Bill is a famous American author, radio host and lecturer on Bible Prophecy. He starts off his lecture by quoting Isaiah,
Can we know the future? God’s Word says that we can, because God can reveal it. The prophet Amos said,
Surely the Lord God will do nothing but he reveals his secret to his servants the prophets.[3]
Here, Amos is making a conditional statement. God is going to reveal His secrets, not unto everyone, but unto His servants the prophets. The prophets were chosen of God, because of their love and obedience to Him. They were tested by God and had proved their faithfulness to Him. They desired to serve God, rather than man. They chose God over material things, over comfort and conformity. They preferred to live and die for the truth, than to live a life of compromise. Therefore, because of their dedication to God, to truth, to righteousness, God revealed His secrets unto them.
The prophet’s job was to give the Word of God to the people, to follow God’s instructions in spite of opposition by family, friends or community. Many of them bemoaned their fate as God’s mouth-pieces, because they were ill received. In Chronicles we read,
In this book, I am going to reveal to you what God has revealed to me, one of his servants. I am going to talk about where I believe America fits in Bible prophecy. It will be an interesting study. I hope you will enjoy it. But first I must share a little about who I am and what qualifies me as one of God’s servants. In these first chapters of the book I will share my story and I will let you judge from there. May God bless us as we study His Word together.
Psalm 6 Reading: Seeking Comfort in Times of Distress
For a deeper Bible Study on Psalm 6 click below:
SALMO 6 - O Senhor ouviu a voz do meu pranto!
Para ler o estudo bÃblico sobre o Salmo 6, clique no link!
