Tag Archives: #Musings

Paws-4-thought: And now a PC Gospel?

Posted on by
Reply

A little play on words in this header: a ‘Politically Correct’ Gospel?

Definitely NOT!  No how, no way, no when, no where!  NEVER may the Word of the Living God be so; unless politics itself gets ‘properly correct‘ and follows Godly principles based upon the beginning of wisdom:

‘…and He said to man, “The fear of the Lord – that is wisdom, and to shun evil is understanding”.’  (Job 28.27-28).

An outline of proper political correctness is in Job 29, where young Job was blessed by the Lord with His own heart for justice, mercy and righteousness. (A modern example of that scripture may be the standards under which Patricia King’s ministry in Maricopa, Arizona, is rescuing both victims and culprit’s of the child sex trade in Cambodia and Thailand, for which the latter’s government has given them freedom of action.)

But what about a ‘Personal Computer’ Gospel?

Is there such a thing? There’s lots of Bible-related software, but how could a desktop computer itself be connected with – or even demonstrate – the good news of Jesus Christ? Consider this intriguing lesson thrust upon me the year before last.:

Last year my pc failed to boot up; not even the dreaded ‘blue screen of death’, just total darkness with cyclic coughs of trying to start. I had to test its ‘motherboard’ and return it under warranty. Having no laptop to fall back upon I dug out bits of 6 years-old kit to re-jig a working pc. Doing that reminded me of an amazing Gospel lesson which had hit me when previously rebuilding the pc, and for which I have to thank our kitten! Why?

Finding she could jump onto this desk, kitty then found the window ledge was a good place to espy the outdoors. Perhaps she was being prophetic?  She would ‘keep watch’ with me as I kept an eye on developments in the Middle East.

Soon, however, I found the speakers on that ledge weren’t producing any sounds! Upon checking the pc’s rear panel, I discovered the audio plug drooping at an angle from its socket. Somehow kitty must have dropped down the gap between ledge and desk, hit the speaker lead near the plug and bent the end of its pin.  Hence, all quiet. So I straightened the pin and the status quo resumed – until she once again pulled down on the lead. This time the pin’s point was completely broken and, when I removed the plug, that same end bit was left stuck at the bottom of the socket!

I had no option but to get under the ‘bonnet’ and found that audio socket couldn’t be fixed or replaced as it’s an integral part of the main circuitry, or motherboard. Also, and more frustrating, upgraded photo software kept crashing when I tried using it!  The task manager’s process monitor showed me the 2005 pc’s single-core processor simply wasn’t up to the job.

The only answer seemed to be to either buy another pc or laptop, or perhaps build one myself! I accepted that challenge  with relish, and research. Technology had rapidly advanced and my plan was to buy the latest components, an anti-static strap and latex-free gloves and follow a novice-friendly, clearly written do-it-yourself manual.

Dah-dahh!  All done…..now switch on….. the moment of truth has arrived!

But all I got was the CD drawer opening and shutting with a flashing light and internal speaker making sounds reminiscent of the loud, intrusive verbiage heard on radio adverts!

OH NO!!  AND the monitor screen was blank!!!  (It should show the basic input output system to prepare for installing the operating system.) Oh Lord, help!

What had I missed? All connections between all bits of new kit had been correctly made – so it seemed.  However, I soon found I’d made a choice contrary to the instructions in the motherboard’s handbook!

Also, looking closely I saw the ‘how to’ manual’s photo of an 8-plug power connector is actually of two 2×4-plugs. Both are black and the two halves look identical – not easy to see.  Upon plugging one of these into the appropriate 4-hole socket on the board I saw the other much too close to the power supply’s fan. So I simply swapped the plugs around. The handbook’s instructions on this had been the only part I’d totally ignored!

So I extracted the connector I’d plugged in and noticed the small square 4-hole socket was divided into four small squares, all separated by dividers in the shape of a cross (see picture of board – right). And there was a slight difference between those two near-identical connectors in that two plugs of one connector had bevelled corners. I realised that by getting that connector’s ‘attitude’, or alignment, in the correct position it would exactly fit the corresp-onding part of the socket. Note this 12 volt socket provides power to the central processing unit, the pc’s heart (thin black cable toward top left below).

Hey presto! As soon as the correct connector was in place the pc powered up without any problem whatsoever. Hooray!

THEN, the Lord dropped this into my mind:

“Only the correct attitude to the Cross produces the full power of My Holy Spirit!”

I was suitably chastened to realise that my poorly informed choice and failure to obey direction was similar to that of those who go their own way in life without reading and following the Best Instruction Before Leaving Earth.

Furthermore, even when familiar with the Holy Bible, unless there’s a correct reverence for and understanding of Jesus’ atoning sacrifice one may not, as a consequence, be fully empowered by the Holy Spirit.

A wonderful Gospel lesson within the heart of a Personal Computer…and all thanks to a pussy cat!

Be encouraged and blessed.

Read another event at Paws 4 thought from ‘under the bonnet’ – (‘hood’, in US English)

Paws-4-thought: a special town in the Thames Valley?

Posted on by
2

Yet again – right place, right time.  Some may think it ‘spooky’ – but please, it’s definitely not some sort of boast.  Maybe, it’s just that I’m alert to these kind of things, or perhaps it’s a  gift of discernment.  Whatever it is, it’s far too frequent to be my imagination, especially as actual physical events are involved.  My last few postings considered a strange series of serendipity which ended up being validated by yet another ‘coincidence’!  So, would you bear with me once again?

Last Saturday I attended a day’s teaching led by Christen Forster, senior leader of River Church in Maidenhead, at The Emmanuel Centre, Marsham  Street, Westminster.  He spoke about authority, power and control in the Church and in the world.

I was particularly interested to learn the outcome of a recent gathering of about 90 senior leaders from church, commerce, culture and politics who met in St Mary’s Undercroft directly beneath the House of Commons. They’d listened to Jesus in silence for an hour and then fedback what they felt He was saying to the nation.

As Christen reports in his blog:

This was a historic event and at the same time a single step in a flow of developments putting the Word and Presence of God back into the Foundation of the United Kingdom. On the floor in the middle of the corridor that divides the House of Commons from the House of Lords there is a Latin inscription. In translation it read…

“Lest the Lord builds the house, those who labour do so in vain…”

Words that remind us that despite the Godless direction of so much policy conceived and enacted at Westminster today, the roots of authority in the UK are in the word and presence of God.

(click on Listening to Jesus in the Palace of Westminster.)

He said that the listening-prayer time under Parliament was unique and it had started and closed with the ringing of a bell – where’ve we heard about that before? (here and here).  Yet even more remarkable was the consistency of the spirit and themes. There was weight and authority in what God is saying yet, being nationally-relevant, it is quite broad. Even so, some points could be applied to us as individuals.

Of the many points I was impressed with the recognition that the nation is reaping the consequences of our moral collapse.  Also, divisions and death in the nation have reflected those between/within the body of Christ. The church must, therefore, be changed, improved and rebuilt and not hold back in proclaiming the Gospel. As a nation we should recall and build upon the former solid foundations of Christianity.  The whole report will verified, signed and published in due course. (Initial overview now available here.)

Next week, there will be a follow-up evening of prophetic prayer for Parliament and government at The Emmanuel Centre (see Kingdom Come).

NOW, I was surprised that Christen briefly referred to two other matters for they are relevant to this blog’s recent posts.:

  1. Healing On The Streets is taking off faster than did the Alpha course!
  2. “Windsor and Westminster” are important in what the Lord is doing!
  3. Jesus is moving evangelists into focussing upon proclaiming the Cross.

[This last from my notes was reserved but is added for cross-referencing here! – 25/7.]

Where did we last encounter a Godly reference to Windsor? – the previous post.  And the next day at a church we’d been invited to, this royal town on the river Thames  cropped up in the pastor’s conversation about the vision for starting that church! So, serendipity strikes yet again!!  Therefore, it really must be of God.

But there’s much more. Here’s what I talked about with Dr Sharon Stone during a conference in February:

After talking about her class in Windsor an image of its Castle’s famous round tower came to mind. This was followed by the notion that its crenellated battlements looked like the teeth of a giant cogwheel which could fit into some sort of invisible socket where earth could get plugged into heaven. 

It’s a little hard to explain but then the thought dropped into mind that such engagement would enable the heavenly kingdom to ‘wind up’ our earthly kingdom – or ‘queen-dom’ – for the Lord’s purposes (eg. revival) – rather like putting a key into and winding up a clockwork toy.

Windsor Castle, courtesy CopyrightFreePhotos

Combine all that with this unique photo Alan May took (original link removed as demand crashed website but see copy here) during Garter Day on Monday 13 June 2011 at the Castle..:

WOW, WOW, WOW !!

Paws-4-thought: what’s prophetical about weather?

Posted on by
1

They’re saying it’s unusual weather. A couple of weeks ago water supply companies announced intentions to ban the use of garden hosepipes in order to save water. Two extremely dry winters have left supplies at low levels. As I’ve not followed weather  developments I’ve not been thinking about it, but an unusual and lucid dream left me wide-awake a week ago today.

That dream featured very dark stormy clouds with very heavy rain and stormy winds – which has since been increasingly so!  (Friday’s Telegraph photo is uncannily similar!)

I recalled a prophetic word that Lance Lambert gave last August and which reported the Lord as saying, “I will change her (Britain’s) climate, even her weather…”.  Then last night I re-read Jarrod Cooper’s blog 10 Clouds in the Sky dated 5 January and noticed that he opens, “It’s 2012 and I hear the “sound of a heavy rain” (my emphasis)….”!!

The well-known Bible verse on rain is from the early prophet Joel, as at verse 2:23:

“He has given you the former rain faithfully, and He will cause the rain to come down for you – the former rain and the latter rain in the first month”

My NKJV Study Bible’s note on this is interesting:  ‘The latter rain is the spring rain that occurs just before harvest. This outpouring of refreshing rain which renews the fertility of the parched ground prefigures the outpour-ing of the Spirit, which will bring spiritual renewal (as in vv 28-32).’  Those later verses are quoted in Acts 2:17-21.

Also, I recall Dr Stone’s reference to unusually strong winds during New Year and which signifies, she suggested, an unexpected and strong move of the Holy Spirit, or breath of God.  So, perhaps my dream about weather may have some significance, especially as it strongly hints at the Lord’s plan:

The Dream

Cannot recall the full scenario, but am with my wife and a couple of believers in a public building that’s been badly damaged by strong wind and heavy rain. Someone comes to tell me of their concern over what’s happening all around and I sense a deep fearfulness. 

So to my very great surprise, I hear myself replying, “It’s all to do with the two words received this week!”  That is, with the prophetic words I’d emailed and posted as, “Get ready!”

At that moment my mind is very lucid and clear, as though knowing in my spirit that what I was saying was of Holy Spirit. [The deep certainty was identical to my response when dreaming last 3rd Sept about angelic preparations for setting up the Kingdom.]

Afterwards, the weather gets worse as a tempestuous wind flattens almost everything before it, but we remain safe…

Upon waking, I was atremble with excitement over perceiving the deep truth behind ‘get ready’. Also because of this, I sensed the Lord wanted me to insert a reference in my just reworked outline of the purpose of this blog. Then on putting my hand to my NKJV study Bible, ‘Jeremiah 10’ sprang to mind and to which I immediately turned. The opening three verses read:

Hear the word which the LORD speaks to you, O house of Israel. Thus says the LORD,

“Do not learn the ways of the Gentiles [unbelievers?]; do not be dismayed at the signs of heaven, for the Gentiles are dismayed at them, for the customs of the people are futile;…”

The chapter is headed ‘Idols and the True God’ and those opening verses describe well what I dreamed. Then I noted verse 10 and 11 read:

But the LORD is the true God, He is the everlasting King At His wrath the earth will tremble, and the nations will not be able to endure His indignation.

Thus you shall say to them: “The gods that have not made the heavens and the earth shall perish from the earth and from under these heavens”…

Could what had been unfolding in my sleeping and waking mind indicate that the Lord really is up to something very powerful, something that may shake and remove all that is not of Him?

Have we not a little food for thought??