Pastor’s Letter 1-17-2020

General George S. Patton: “..I am not interested in merely holding our position…”

Are We? Hopefully Not

 

PROUD, ARROGANT, CONCEITED, YET BRILLIANT

He was always on the move. He was the American general that the German High Command feared the most. Often he overstretched his supply lines, pushing and leading his men. General Patton turned green American recruits at North Africa into a formidable army that eventually crossed western and then eastern Europe during World War II. Many referred to him as “Old Blood and Guts” and would follow up in saying “Yeah – our blood and his guts!”

Perhaps his most valuable and urgent contribution to the allied war effort was, through impending snow, to hurriedly march his men 100 miles in just 3 days to

rescue an entrapped American army in Belgium, on the verge of surrender at the surprising German attack in ‘The Battle of the Bulge”. 200,000 German troops and a 1,250 tanks broke through Allied lines in Belgium and threatened to drive the Allies back to Normandy.

Had the Germans been able to consolidate their gains, the Allies may have been set back a year or more in trying to collapse Germany’s grip on a battle- ravaged Europe.

But with such character flaws that I outline here, what is it that made Patton such a valuable leader when he was ego-centric, vain, impatient and often intolerant? He never fell in love with the status quo. He was always advancing. Always moving ahead. So many times he would address his army by lecturing his men by saying, “I don’t want to hear anyone advocating ‘holding our position’ when we must advance and keep the enemy on his heels.”

There are some important principles that we can learn from Patton’s life (even though we refrain from war):

Patton was not complacent.

We cannot become spiritually complacent.

Patton got the most out of his men.

We must allow God to get the most out of us.

Patton refused to surrender to his adversary.

Neither must we.

Patton envisioned his army moving forward.

We must also have spiritual vision.

Patton knew the terrain of the enemy.

We are in enemy territory; we must know it.

Patton never procrastinated.

Neither should we. Instead, we should seek God first (Matthew 6:33).

Patton was best known for not merely “holding his position” but moving forward. We must regularly be advancing in our overcoming, our spiritual focus, our spiritual development in leadership and our relationship with God.

If we can emulate Patton’s good qualities, we can advance against our own wrong tendencies that we typically face.

 

ON THE MOVE LOCALLY

 

FORT MYERS

Last Sabbath we held Ft. Myers’s first of three public seminars; this one dealing with the question of “Why Were You Born?” Three brand new people joined us plus a couple of others who have recently come. At least with our additional winter visitors we have outgrown the Candlewood Suites meeting room. It appears that beginning in February we will be able to meet weekly at the Baymont which is twice as large and may be available for the same price. It is something worth praying about as we negotiate. Thanks go to Helena and Jim Kocher who discovered this location. We have definitely secured this room for February 8 and March 14 when we will do the next two seminars for that area.

Also I am renewing an annual contract to continue our broadcasts every week on WKDW-FM as well as its internet reach. I expect to do all of the programs at a recording studio in Dade City, FL. with Lee Clark’s support based on his years of radio experience. We have been working together for the past 4 months. In doing a recorded studio broadcast, I am at liberty to offer literature every 20 minutes.

 

VERO BEACH

The next seminar of “Why Were You Born” will be in Vero Beach on January 25, a regular Sabbath. Letters will soon be mailed out. We will have our pot luck meal as usual and Bible studies preceding the weekend on Thursday and Friday evening. Locations will be announced by the next Pastor letter.

 

TALLAHASSEE

Services will be held in Tallahassee this coming Sabbath. There are two long-time church members from northern Michigan who will be in Live Oak for the winter months that expressed interest in coming to services in Tallahassee when we

meet. My next time there will be February 1 when I will do a public presentation, on what the Bible predicts on the future of Jerusalem. We expect to invite almost 200 subscribers.

 

OCALA

This Sabbath I will be in Ocala where we will have a regular church service followed by a pot luck meal.

I wish to express my sincere appreciation to our very precious brethren in these 4 areas for being a part of things.

In keeping with this week’s theme of General Patton, I want to do all that I can and hope you can do what you can to enable these 4 congregations to not simply be complacent in holding our positions but advance wherever we can.

Reminder of local matters to pray about:

WKDW Port Charlotte

New hall for Ft. Myers

Upcoming seminars (January 25 Vero Beach) (Tallahassee February 1) (Ocala February 15) & Ft. Myers (February 8).

Please remember Ross Winne, Sherrie, Sharri, and Starr all in Ocala with health needs; in Ft. Myers, Helena for her lower back and Jan who slowly but steadily makes small incremental steps of progress; and in Vero the Pacioreks who wrestle with health issues. Chuck Smith was able to visit them this past week (he baptized them) and did some house repair to help them more easily sell their home to move to Michigan to be with relatives there.

 

INVITATION LETTER FOR ROUND #2 Re: Jerusalem

 

Jerusalem - The Problem that Just Won’t Go Away

No other geographic location has been fought over as this one has. Jerusalem has been overrun by virtually all of the major empires of all time … the Babylonians, Persians, Greeks, and Romans. Add to that the Egyptians, Assyrians, Israelites, Edomites, Jebusites, Canaanites, Philistines, the Crusades, the British, the Turks, and so on. According to one estimate, Jerusalem has been besieged 23 times in its history, attacked 52 times, recaptured 44 times, and destroyed twice!

In Zechariah 12:2-3, the Bible predicts that in this present age, Jerusalem would become “a burdensome stone for all people.” It further states that nations who would involve themselves in this city would “be cut into pieces.” Multiple nations strive to control the area either through daunting, tenuous diplomacy or through weapons of war. But WHY? Why can’t the nations simply ignore this troubled hotspot? And if not, what are the forecasted events for Jerusalem that lead up to Christ’s return? Will this area always be plagued by strife? ... or will Jerusalem finally live up to its name “City of Peace”?

In our ongoing series of public presentations to connect with our BT subscribers, we offer this free seminar on Bible prophecy regarding the future of Jerusalem, with a provable understanding on how your life will be directly affected by what will happen here – through a sequence of events that will eventually leave most people breathless.

We invite you to our next presentation to learn of God’s personal plan to terminate the mindless strife of this region with a secure roadmap for peace of His very own.

We will meet as before, at the Baymont by Wyndham, 9401 Marketplace Road, Ft. Myers, 33912, starting at 1:30 P.M. Come join us as we unlock the mystery of Jerusalem’s future.

Most sincerely,

Braden Veller,

Beyond Today and the United Church of God—Fort Myers

https://www.ucg.org/congregations/ft-myers-fl

braden_veller@ucg.org

Beyond Today

Sponsored by the United Church of God

 

 

 

Let us Aim to Always Move Forward.

BV