We will call an end to our “Rooted” series with these few words today. Many of you have spoken to me of particularly enjoying this theme. And it is a good one … as I’ve said a couple of times, it is near the center of the kernel of it all (to use another agrarian reference).
Let’s just think back through some of our themes of the past seven weeks …
– The soils – is your heart condition that of the good soil? Is it more than just a hobby with this faith thing, something you’ll lose interest in over time or with persecution?
– The roots of the tree – are your roots deep into a steady source of nourishment, like a tree by the river?
– Abiding in the vine – are you well-connected to Christ and truth, or do you honestly throw down your own alternate roots system?
– And related to growing among the tares and weeds – are you growing fruitfully even in a cross-cultural setting?
So, in summary, what do we do? We remain rooted. We grow and produce fruit. We seek to influence the field around us. We wait patiently for a final day when all the wrong is set right.
As I shared at the end on Sunday … What I can tell you after approaching 40 years (as a pastor) of having a front row seat in the lives of other people is this: there is a categorical difference in those who are rooted, versus those you can simply see really don’t have a faith component in their lives to fall upon as a resource in times of crises.
You need to be a “prepper” – being prepared for whatever this crazy world brings at you. And preparation is defined as being rooted in God and in his Word, and anything less is a foolish mistake with disaster written all over it.
So, be rooted, don’t be a casual fan. And don’t be a weed in the wheat field. Check your roots, nourish them, and think intentionally about producing fruit in your life and through your service. That is a winning plan.
Seriously 
http://www.infowars.com/preparing-for-war-russian-citizens-stocking-up-on-essential-supplies/
Old russians are reportedly prepping.
Just a comment on my comment. Since it always a good idea to get information from multiple of sources and since info wars isn’t a “laid back” academic type of cerebral organization – it is worth digging to see if the facts are there to back up the claim.
The link on the info wars site provided a link to a NewsWeek article:
http://www.newsweek.com/europe-and-russia-theres-talk-war-481510
Which in turn cited:
https://www.wilsoncenter.org/article/war-fever
At the bottom of the pages at that webdomain it says the following:
“The Wilson Center, chartered by Congress as the official memorial to President Woodrow Wilson, is the nation’s key non-partisan policy forum for tackling global issues through independent research and open dialogue to inform actionable ideas for Congress, the Administration and the broader policy community”.
The following article gets to a worthwhile bit of the truth. It is actually very fair and helpful for American’s to read (though written from an American perspective).
http://wilsonquarterly.com/quarterly/the-post-obama-world/russia-the-u-s-and-the-backstory-behind-the-breakdown/
The Wilson Center seems to be a legitmate and scholarly think tank.
https://www.wilsoncenter.org/about-15
The Kennan institute is a segment of the Wilson Center with a particular focus including Russian American relationships and developing understanding. “The mission of the Kennan Institute is to build and sustain deep mutual understanding, cooperation, and exchange among intellectual and opinion leaders in the United States, Russia, and the surrounding states—a bedrock for regional and global peace, prosperity, and security.”
https://www.wilsoncenter.org/program/kennan-institute
Maybe I should have just put the quote directly to the source at the Wilson Center (Kennan division) website.
What is the opinion right now of your typical Russian and what is the opinion of Former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev?
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“Former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev complains that NATO’s rhetoric at its summit in Warsaw “simply howls about the effort to almost announce war against Russia.”
NATO, he told Interfax news agency, “talks about defense, but actually is preparing for offensive action.”
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It should then be clear that concerns in Russia right now are really deep. Gorbachev, whatever you might think about him, is reflecting these concerns as well.
I just added all this because a tagline to infowars doesn’t seem to carry much credibility. Yet I have moved beyond the point where I expect to get real news from major media outlets. If something big happens mainstream media will (or may) tell you about it. But when significant things happen that require analysis … it is probably too deep for many people. Or maybe a major story doesn’t advance the agenda of the people in the newsroom, nor the advertisers who pay to push candidates, nor the agenda or the financial networks of the companies that own the networks. Sure … all the news is supposedly produced by independent departments.
But “Sharyl Attkisson, five-time Emmy Award winner and recipient of the Edward R. Murrow award for investigative reporting” found she had to leave network news in order to cover the news. http://fullmeasure.news/about
She was the reporter to break the real story about a certain Pres. candidate claiming to have a daring disembarkment in a war zone.
I am very dissappointed by so much news on networks.
Below I”m putting up a link of Vladimir Putin saying to the Western Media that he is alarmed that we are not alarmed and that our press is controlled. You could argue that he is alarmed that people in the West are not listening to his Sabre Rattling, but maybe he is alarmed about what the West is doing and he is in fear.
I cringe at times listening to Alex Jones, and I don’t know if he is trying to make money, is a rabble rouser and I don’t totally trust his information.
But that is the way it is across the news spectrum. Dems hate Fox News. Republicans generally dislike the “Mainstream Media” and some call them “The Lamestream Media” or “The DriveBy Media”.
Supporters of Bernie Sanders are “hopping mad” and half of them will never vote for Hillary Clinton. Bernie Sanders supporters are now distrusting the leftwing media, and many of them are turning to right-wing media just to get news about the scandals surrounding the leading Dem candidate.
The British people just voted to extricate themselves from the EU.
Alternate media is now claimed to be more powerful than large networks. Fox’s Megyn Kelly’s take down of Donald Trump didn’t work and recently someone suggested Matt Drudge of the DrudgeReport helped Trump more than anyone.
Matt Drudge has at least one interview with Alex Jones, (The YouTube Video is three hours long) (Am I supposed to watch such an ardously long video?)
Matt Drudge gets a lot of hits on his website (I see remarks like “Billion” clicks or views or whatever) and he is now directing web traffic to InfoWars and Alex Jones.
I suppose what I am saying and thinking, is that despite Alex’s dramatic and hyerbolic style or whatever, he is probably on the rise as a news commentator.
Because I have some concern about international incidents happening I almost now feel I must keep in touch with what alarmists are saying.
In all our last wars (except the cold war) we did not have to fear things happening in an instant.
Now a host of international characters can launch damaging cyber attacks, put up threats in orbit that can wreck… you know the threats.
We may be in a period “of rumors of wars”
Even the President jokes about “The End of the Republic”
This link is cued up to where starts to set up his joke. Maybe it meant to make fun of alarmists. Maybe it is meant to egg them on and make them look ridiculous. The thing is the idea is so prevalent (alarmism) is that it even passes as joke. But given that Presidents like to stay in power … maybe it certainly creates worry among those who don’t trust him. The President is funny and it will be hard to stop watching, but the relevant material to my point ends within 40 seconds of the video.
I’ve got to roll. Enough alarmist material for the day. Some analysts say that it will be another five or ten years before China and/or Russia are in a real position to challenge the US militarily.
Reminds me that we are supposed to pray for our leaders. I fail miserably at that. Maybe I should start doing that better.
The claim for old Russians prepping now is traced back to this source.
https://www.wilsoncenter.org/article/war-fever
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At the office I ask a Russian employee about the mood in his working-class Moscow neighborhood. The old people are buying salt, matches and “gretchka,” (buckwheat) he tells me – the time-worn refuge for Russians stocking up on essentials in case of war.”
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If anyone wants an in-depth analysis of the deterioration of US/Russian relations the following article written from a US perspective makes an effort to explain it.
http://wilsonquarterly.com/quarterly/the-post-obama-world/russia-the-u-s-and-the-backstory-behind-the-breakdown/