AMERICA WITHOUT CHRISTIANS AND JEWS?

IMAGINE AMERICA WITHOUT ITS JUDEO-CHRISTIAN HERITAGE

By Ada Brownell

Jews and Christians continually are criticized in the United States today, but the world would be a sorry place without its Judeo- Christian heritage.

Those who obey the Bible change the world for the better, and not only by bringing good news of redemption and eternal life. Christian charities have housed and fed the homeless and hungry around the world for centuries. Missionaries often bring free health care and medicine when they go to tell the world about Jesus. Christians are there, too, when disaster strikes.

Religion was the reason people learned to read. Since the Middle Ages, there has been near universal literacy among Jewish men because they were required to read the Torah by age thirteen.

In the early church, Christians copied the apostles’ writings by hand, as was done meticulously for centuries with Old Testament scriptures. But with the Reformation came a desire for everyone to read scripture. Until then, it was read in churches. The first moveable-type printing press was invented by Johannes Gutenberg, and the first book printed was the Gutenberg Bible.

According to the Encyclopedia Americana, education in colonial New England grew out of the Reformation as well. Puritans made sure their children could read the Bible. In the Middle Colonies, religious sects birthed early schools. In the Southern Colonies, parents tutored their children or educated them in a private school, often so they could read God’s Word. In New England, teachers were hired because of their soundness in the faith. The home and church provided most education until the early 1900s.

Universities and colleges were started by religious organizations:  Harvard to train preachers; Yale for training in church work, civil duties, the arts and sciences; Vanderbilt for teaching law, medicine, theology and the arts; Baylor was the fruit of the Baptist General Convention; Boston University was started by Methodists for training in theology; Boston College was Catholic, as was Fordham; Cornell College was Methodist; Rutgers University for 80 years included the New Brunswick Theological Seminary of the Reformed Church of America.

The world still is being educated by Christians. Wycliffe Translators live with primitive tribes and give them a written language and teach them to read. Wycliffe translated the Bible into hundreds of languages, and brought literacy to many nations. In their “Last Languages Campaign,” Wycliffe’s translators hope to have the 2,200 last languages translated by the year 2025.  Currently, Wycliffe has 1,400 translation literacy and language development programs, touching nearly 600 million people in 176 countries.

The church birthed most of the hospitals in our nation.

Jews also established hospitals, some of the best in the world, such as National Jewish Hospital in Denver, and Hadassah Medical Center in Ein Kerem and Mount Scopus in Jerusalem, Israel. The Israeli hospital was founded by Hadassah, the Women's Zionist Organization of America, which still underwrites a large part of its budget. In 2005, Hadassah was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize because of its equal treatment of all patients regardless of ethnic and religious differences, and its efforts to build bridges to peace.

A Hadassah member told me the medical center treats Palestinians injured in the wars and conflicts between their states.

Christians visit those in prison, mental hospitals and nursing homes; care for orphans and speak for those who can’t speak for themselves, such infants in the womb.

The church teaches children to obey their parents--then they provide wholesome activities for youth—mostly for no charge.

Christians will come to our side when we’re dying, and comfort those left behind.

Yet, we don't do that to earn our way to heaven. "It is not because of works of righteousness that God saved us and gave us the promise of eternal life, but because of his mercy" (Titus 3:5).

-- Ada Brownell is a retired newspaper reporter and free lance writer.

PROPAGANDA AND BRAIN POWER

5. IMAGINE YOUR MENTAL WEALTH

What you need to know and what you don’t want to know

Excerpt from the book IMAGINE THE FUTURE YOU by Ada Brownell

 Chapter Five


You came into this life “empty-headed.”

When we were kids, my brother used to tell me he could look into one of my ears and see out the other. Then I had an MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) of my brain so I could do a firsthand story on the latest technology.

I started the newspaper article with “My brother was wrong. There is something in there.”

What I mean by “empty-headed” is that no stored information existed in our brains when we came into this world. New brains are like a blank sheet of paper, although fantastic stored data governing our neurological systems and instincts operate even while we’re still in the womb. What God “programmed” into us commanded our arms, legs, fingers, toes, and so forth to move even before birth. Instincts God installed in our DNA prompted us to suck, swallow, cry, and feel hunger, as well as caused the various inner parts of our body to function. Babies arrive with a brain download to literally cry for love, care, and being held, and they won’t thrive without these things.

When we were a few months of age, we learned to coordinate movements so we could reach for things because our muscles and brains developed that capacity.

Nevertheless, we all needed outside stimuli to use the potential from the brain. Children who are given no attention often don’t learn to sit, walk, or talk.

We learned our language skills by imitating. If Mom kept saying “Mama” over and over to us, soon we worked our mouths and tongues around, using our vocal cords so we could come up with a fairly good imitation. Sometimes the child says “Dada” first and learns later what it means.

If the parents speak Chinese, the child obviously will learn Chinese instead of English, and children of Spanish-speaking parents communicate in Spanish or whatever language is spoken in the home.

All through childhood, children imitate what they see and hear. Adults imitate other people—at least in some degree—all their lives. For instance, we like to imitate the experts on everything from sports to dancing, to gardening, to playing or singing music, to doing tricks on a bicycle or skateboard.

But imitation isn’t all there is. At some point we think for ourselves.

MIRACLES: GOD INSTANTLY RESTORED MY FATHER’S SIGHT

By Lorraine Golightly as told to Ada Brownell

An excerpt from the book What Prayer Can Do by Ada Brownell

*Summary of What Prayer Can Do follows

I became a believer in divine healing because I saw my father receive his sight when he was prayed for in a revival meeting.

The accident that caused Daddy’s blindness happened in 1950. I was 9 years old.

Daddy (John Feliciano) was doing construction work in Honolulu, Hawaii, where we lived, when dynamite exploded in his face. One eyeball was completely destroyed; the other was damaged considerably. The blast was so severe that doctors said Daddy should have been dead. Tiny pebbles embedded in his skin all over his body.

“Daddy probably will never see again,” Mom told us when she got home from the hospital.

I was panic-stricken.

“There’s still hope,” said Aunt Virginia, who had come home with Mom. “Jesus can heal your daddy.”

We didn’t know what to think of that. Daddy liked Aunt Virginia, but wouldn’t even let her talk about her religion in our house. When Daddy saw people from her church in street meetings, he’d always yell at them, “You crazy holy rollers!”

Daddy went to church, however, and believed in God. He just didn’t like Aunt Virginia’s kind of religion.

When he came home from the hospital, he had no hope of a miracle. His eyes were in bandages, and he was very depressed.

“’I’ve got seven children to support!” he’d say several times a day. “How can a blind man feed seven children? I might as well be dead!’

It was true that he couldn’t support us. Soon we had to live on welfare.

Surgeons hoped surgery would give Daddy sight in his remaining eye, but the operations were unsuccessful. After the last operation, the eye doctor told him there was nothing more they could do for him. There was no hope he ever would see again.

Because of his youth (Daddy was 31 when he was injured) he immediately was trained in a school for the blind. He learned braille and how to use a seeing-eye dog. He even learned how to feel money so he could tell denominations apart.

Yet he remained depressed and saw no reason for living.

“I’ll never be able to see my family again,” Daddy groaned one day. “I can’t take being blind. Killing myself is the only way out.”

Mom tried to talk him out of his despondency, but without success. He actually intended to commit suicide.

Finally, Mom called Aunt Virginia and asked her to come over and talk to my father.

As soon as Aunt Virginia got inside she began talking to Daddy about the Lord and told him what Jesus could do.

“We’re going to have a revival, and the evangelist will pray for the sick,” Aunt Virginia continued. “Will you come?”

“I guess I can try,” Daddy answered, “but I don’t believe it will do any good.”

When the revival started, my aunt and uncle, Dad and Mom, and all of us seven children went to the Pentecostal church. After the lady evangelist preached, it was time for prayer for the sick. Mom took Daddy by the arm and led him to the healing line.

The meeting was in a large church and people were getting healed and praising the Lord. Daddy couldn’t see what was happening around him, but he could hear, and he was scared. He began shaking.

One woman who was healed of deafness gave a big shout when her ears opened. Daddy was more frightened than ever.

Then it was his turn.

“Do you believe in Jesus?” the evangelist asked Daddy.

“Yes.”

She began praying that Daddy would receive his sight. Nothing happened.

“Do you really believe?” she asked my father again.

“Yes.”

She put her hand on Daddy’s eye and prayed again. Suddenly he began to shout, “I can see! I can see!”

“What do you see?” the evangelist asked.

“I can see shadows,” he cried. “Thank God.”

“The Lord isn’t through yet,” the lady minister told him. “Now believe! Believe!” She began praying for Daddy again.

“Come here,” the evangelist told us children, and we went to the front. I was scared and crying as she lined us all in front of my father.

We discovered the shadows had disappeared, and Daddy could see clearly. One by one we went to him and let him look at us. As he called each child—Margaret, Priscilla, Lorraine (me), Elenore, Johnny, Gordon, and the baby Diane, who was 3 years old, he hugged and kissed us and we cried together.

My sister Margaret and I accepted the Lord Jesus as our Savior that night. Mom and Dad did too. One by one the rest of the children gave their lives to the Lord, and all of us are still serving God.

After he was healed, Daddy was supposed to go back to the doctor, so he kept his appointment. The physicians didn’t believe it when he told them he could see. They were amazed when they took tests and discovered he recovered his sight.

“God did it,” Daddy said.

Daddy had served God faithfully for 19 years when he went to be with the Lord.

I’m glad God’s healing power is available to us today. Doctors thought my sister had a brain tumor, but after she was prayed for, they could find nothing.

I had an annoying, persistent ear problem accompanied by dizziness and ringing in my ears, which doctors couldn’t seem to help and over which I couldn’t get victory. Then I remembered how God instantly healed Daddy of blindness, and knew the Lord is the same “yesterday, today, and forever.” Immediately the ear problem disappeared.

Now I can say with the Psalmist, ‘Come and hear, all of you who reverence the Lord, and I will tell you what He did for me: for I cried to Him for help, with praises ready on my tongue. He would not have listened if I had not confessed my sins. But He listened! He heard my prayer! He paid attention to it! Blessed be God who didn’t turn away when I was praying and didn’t refuse me His kindness and love” (Psalm 66:16-20 Living Bible paraphrase).

The Pentecostal Evangel, October 16, 1977

WHAT PRAYER CAN DO

A Collection of true stories by Ada Nicholson Brownell Published by The Pentecostal Evangel

By Ada Brownell

Ennis L. Surratt clutched the cool metal handle of his .45 pistol. Through the weeds he could see three men coming. He knew they would come near where he crouched because they would be coming after the barrel of whiskey that had disappeared from his still the night before.

When the men were only a few feet from the barrel, Ennis stepped out.

“You’re not taking this barrel,” Ennis growled, keeping his right hand next to the gun. “You stole it last night, and we’re going to settle it right here.”

He drew his gun and aimed it at the thief.

“Shoot!” the thief yelled as he whirled with his double-barreled shotgun. An explosive charge sounded and Ennis fell to the ground. He raised up on one knee and fired the pistol.

With a cry of anguish, the thief dropped the shotgun and fell into the weeds.

Ennis became known as “the meanest man in town.” That caught the attention of two lady evangelists holding a tent revival who knew how to pray. Ennis Surratt became an evangelist as well as his sons and grandsons.

Read many other testimonies and truths in What Prayer Can Do, Purchase at http://ow.ly/9CEI30h4IdL

Ia falling in love an unavoidable dive?

Is falling in love an unavoidable dive, or a decision?

By Ada Brownell

An excerpt from the book, IMAGINE THE FUTURE YOU

Would you like your parents arranging your marriage? That still happens in many foreign countries. How would you guys feel about not knowing who your bride is until the ceremony is over and you lift the veil to kiss her? Some men experienced that.

An 11-year-old girl, apparently from Yemen, recently made a passionate plea to her parents to stop pressuring her into an arranged marriage. The resulting video caught international attention.

 In 1960, the Encyclopedia Americana reported more than one half of the total female population of India married before fifteen years of age, and sometimes while they were still infants. In the western provinces of India, a bride remained at home with her parents until she went through puberty. But in Bengal, girls commenced their married life at age nine.

In some countries, a hopeful suitor would give a girl’s father a certain amount of money or goods like cattle or sheep for his daughter, and sometimes the bride brought a dowry of property to her bridegroom. The amount depended on the status and economic circumstances of the families involved.

 Historically at the engagement, the suitor often gave an ornament of some value, which signified his pledge. That was the predecessor of the modern engagement ring.

IMAGINE WORKING SEVEN YEARS FOR A WIFE

In Old Testament times, many marriages were arranged.

Jacob met Rachel leading sheep and was so smitten he kissed her and wept (Genesis 29:11). Perhaps it was on the cheek. Who knows?

Jacob stayed with Rachel’s father, Laban, a month, working for him like a ranch hand. Finally, Laban asked what Jacob expected to be paid, and Jacob told Laban he was in love with Rachel and he agreed to work seven years for her.

Finally there was a wedding feast, and after the ceremony, Jacob discovered he had been given Rachel’s older sister, Leah, instead.

He protested, and Laban said he couldn’t give the younger daughter before the older girl married.

Despite having a wife, Jacob worked another seven years to get Rachel. In Old Testament times, God allowed men to have more than one wife.

IMAGINE GOD GIVING A MATE

Abraham arranged the marriage for his son, Isaac, and a servant picked her out. You can read the story in Genesis 24. He must have been worthy of the trust, because the servant traveled some distance to find her and then asked God to show him the right girl out of the dozens of women who came to a well to draw water.

“Oh Lord, God of my master,” the servant prayed, “give me success and show kindness to my master, Abraham. Help me to accomplish the purpose of my journey. See, here I am, standing beside this spring, and the young women of the village are coming to draw water. I will ask one of them for a drink. If she says, `Yes, certainly, and I will water your camels, too!’ Let her be the one you appointed as Isaac’s wife. By this, I will know that you have shown kindness to my master.”

As he prayed, a beautiful young woman, Rebekah, arrived with a water jug on her shoulder. She went to the spring, bent over, filled her jug, and straightened. Running over to her, the servant said, “Please give me a drink.”

“Certainly, sir,” she said, and she quickly lowered the jug to fill it from the well. When he finished gulping the refreshing liquid, she said, “I’ll draw water for your camels, too, until they have had enough!”

She emptied the jug into the watering trough and ran down to the well again. She kept carrying water until the camels’ intense thirst was quenched.

The servant watched Rachel in silence. When the camels finished drinking, he gave her a gold ring and two large gold bracelets.

The servant stayed with her family and told them about how his prayer was answered. But Isaac wasn’t even there.

The father gave Rebekah to the servant, but only after Rebekah agreed to go.

Isaac saw the servant coming home with someone. Excited, he raced out to meet them.

When Rebekah saw Isaac coming, she dismounted, covered her face with a veil, and ran to him.

Rebekah became Isaac’s wife and he loved her, the Bible says. She was a special comfort to him because his mother had just died.

WHY ARRANGED MARRIAGES SURVIVE

There is a reason arranged marriages work: Falling in love is an act of the will. Cupid doesn’t shoot you with a poison love arrow and “twang!” you’re a goner. Love happens to you because of several circumstances.

You are around the person of the opposite sex frequently (that’s called propinquity—what happens when you are near in time and space).

You desire someone in your life.

Your God-given instincts are telling you to create a family.

 The person will build your ego. You think, Won’t everyone be surprised I have a boyfriend? Won’t everyone be impressed with how pretty she is or how handsome he is? Won’t everyone be impressed because of how popular he or she is? He’s so tall he makes me feel so feminine; or, She has such a great figure it makes me feel great to walk beside her. She or he treats me so nice it makes me feel special.

Because you decide to fall in love to create excitement in your life.

Because no one better is available.

Because you have similar interests.

Because you are lonely.

Because someone else thinks it’s a good idea.

Most important: Because while you were in the womb God had a plan for both of you, and your love is so strong you feel you can’t live without one another (Jeremiah 1:5 and Psalms 37:33).  Some Pharisees came and asked Jesus, “Should a man be allowed to divorce his wife for any reason?” “Haven’t you read the scriptures,” Jesus replied. “From the beginning God made them male and female. For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh? What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder” (Matthew 19:3-6KJ)

There may be dozens of other reasons you fall in love, but even if you aren’t conscious of why it is happening, you allow yourself to love someone else. It’s a decision. If love happened spontaneously without your will being involved, people who are greatly overweight would have as many proposals for marriage as others. So would the handicapped or someone with facial deformities or pure physical ugliness.

I once knew a young woman whose father was quite wealthy, but one of her eyes was noticeably higher than the other. She was an old maid, at least the last I heard. But she was a sweet, talented young woman, and really not so bad-looking.

It seems Americans don’t know the meaning of love, although it’s before us all the time.

Well, we do know how we want others to love us, but many aren’t willing to give that kind of love back. We want others to love us unconditionally— the way God loves us, no matter how we look, how we act, or what we do.

God talks to us about love in 1 Corinthians 13. The Bible chapter is read during many weddings—but most couples don’t absorb what it says or promptly forget it. That scripture passage tells us if we don’t love others, we’re like clanging cymbals—all noise and little music. The fellow who tries to persuade his girlfriend to have sex before marriage is like that clanging symbol. If he really loved her, he wouldn’t think of stealing her chastity. If he really loved himself, he wouldn’t want the sin, the guilt, the possibility of disease, the guilt of an abortion, or perhaps bringing a child into the world whom he would be required by law to support until it turns eighteen.

There is no such thing as a “love child” born out of wedlock. It is a “lust child” if it was conceived before the wedding. Of course, this isn’t the child’s fault, and it should be loved no matter how it was conceived.

The scripture tells us, “Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous, boastful, proud or rude. Love does not demand its own way. Love is not irritable, and it keeps no record of when it has been wronged. It is never glad about injustice, but rejoices whenever the truth wins. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance. Love will last forever” (1 Corinthians 13:4–8).

Spiritually, marriage is a union between a man and a woman so they can enjoy, love, and protect one another, and also to protect the family. Children need a father to help guide, discipline, love, and financially support them. Children need a mother to nurture them, guide them, discipline them, and love them.

Even biologically, the object of marriage is to ensure the survival of the species and of the race, according to Drs. Abraham and Hannah Stone’s A Marriage Manual.[1]

God invented marriage and the family when he made Eve for Adam and they began to have children.

Marriage is a wonderful thing, and there is nothing more romantic than a guy and a girl vowing before God and the public, “I will love you and you only until death parts us.”

Americans probably talk and sing more about romance than any other society. We are allowed to choose our own mates, instead of our parents choosing them for us. Yet, half of all marriages end in divorce.

Just like falling in love in the first place, staying in love involves the will. We decide we will love our mates even when they get bald, fat, ugly, wrinkled, or sick, or we’re broke. We decide we will love them even when they’re grumpy or angry.

Some people say, “Our love just died,” or “It was a mistake in the first place.”

Perhaps. But in most cases, if both ride out difficult times, the passion will rekindle, romantic sparks will fly, fireworks will go off again, and the romance will be deeper and more satisfying than it was in the beginning.

I know. I’ve been married several decades, and even though it’s all about commitment, there still is romance and deep love.

As a reporter, I collected marriage license records from couples who remarried each other after divorce. There were about a half dozen when I contacted a few and interviewed them for a story. Most said the same thing: “Although we know we’re not perfect, we couldn’t find anyone better after we divorced. We were still in love and knew what we were doing the first time. Being apart was worse than dealing with our problems and learning how to make a marriage work.”

There are four important types of love: storge, natural affection between a parent and a child; phileo, the type of affection we have for friends; eros, romantic love; and agape, God-like unconditional love. We need all three types of love in marriage, and except parent-child affection, all are a matter of the will.

When you begin to court, look for real love.

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[1] A Marriage Manual (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1953), 3.

IMAGINE THE FUTURE YOU

A motivational Bible study by Ada Nicholson Brownell

This Bible study will help you discover evidence for faith; how to look and be your best; who can help; interesting information about dating, love and marriage; choosing a career; how to deposit good things into your brain you can spend; and how to avoid hazards that jeopardize a successful life on earth and for eternity, all mingled with true stories that can make you smile.

Unexpected bonuses include facts about science and faith, and information about sexually transmitted diseases. The author is a retired medical journalist, and worked with youth thirty years.

Review:  How I would have loved to sit at Mrs. Brownell's knee when I was a teen. This wholesome book resounds with sage, godly advice and could be picked up again and again as needs arise. Worthwhile for parents too. Much fodder for family discussion!

Also Available in audio!

Links: http://www.amazon.com/dp/1489558284