Comments on The Passover, the Cross and Resurrection of Jesus. By Chuck Stilwell

The early disciples and followers of Jesus recognized him as a man who was born of a virgin (Mary),

but inseminated by the Holy Spirit of God. In recent times the actual place of the three crosses was located with a crack in the ground right below the middle cross. Blood was actually found 20 below the cross having seeped through the crack and onto what could be the actual mercy seat which had been hidden there by Jeremiah right before the Babylonian captivity of the Hebrews of that era.
The exciting part, though not common knowledge, is that since blood never technically looses its properties, the blood on the “mercy seat”, if it truly is the mercy seat of the Hebrew worship, has only the properties of a male, but without the properties necessary to show the male had a human father. I think that is very interesting, since Jesus and others proclaimed though he was human that he came to earth miraculously as God in human form. I wonder if Jesus always knew that !???

Anyway, it does make the account of the last particular Passover meal Jesus had with a select few impactful. He made a covenant with them. He foretold his betrayal, his crucifixion and even his resurrection from the dead. When he defeated death and rose from the grave without the grave clothes, and instead what might be termed clothes from out of this world, at least 500 others were raised from death at the time according to the accounts. Then, amazingly, he wasn’t recognized at first until he broke bread with a few men in Emmaus after he had spoken to them about the scriptures and how they revealed him to anyone who would open their minds and spirits to understand them.
So, my take is this: Jesus came to put things back in order like they were with the first man who had such an amazing paradise in which to live. He paid the penalty once for all mankind that had been pronounced over our first created parents and who were sent out of the garden paradise. No longer were various sacrifices necessary, even though all around the world many cultures still do so, since they have not really met Jesus or his Holy Spirit.

Jesus said that if we would take him at his word and commit ourselves to him in this life, not only would he show us how to live life abundantly, but that his spirit would live in us to help direct our paths in this life. He also put to rest that God was not the one causing harm or calamity. He made it clear that God was not our enemy, but that the enemy many of us call Satan or the Devil only comes to steal, kill and destroy. In the same discourse he declares that he, Jesus, came to give us life and that abundantly.

He further decreed that not only would those who were committed to his new covenant be with him when they pass on from this present life to another eternal one, but that when all things that have been prophesied and been accomplished in the earth, he would bring us back as co-rulers with him in a perfectly newly created earth.

Quite something to think about! Read about it in the New Testament of the Bible as a starting place.
Happy Resurrection Day!

Christmas

Christmas is a fascinating time of year. Think about how it was in Galilee and Judea during

the days of Herod the “butcher King” and Caesar Augustus, who proclaimed a census to take place over the Roman Empire.

A young girl who is barely child-bearing age is promised to her legal husband. Yet, due to customs Joseph is not permitted to have an intimate relationship we call “having sex”, because of a time-frame necessary to prove himself to the family of Mary and probably Mary, herself.

Mary appears to be in a direct line of impressive forebears as well as Joseph. The messiah, the anointed one with the anointing of God, was prophetically promised to be in the line of the great King David. Surely this would be no problem since Joseph was in the direct line of King David. Yet, the circumstances of the birth of Jesus, the long sought messiah of Israel, were otherwise.

Joseph was a God-honoring man and seemed to have a heart open to the things of God. He appeared to have a heart of mercy. When he found that his betrothed wife was pregnant, he surely was brokenhearted at first, yet did not want to see his seemingly “unfaithful” wife stoned. So, he devised a plan to quietly divorce her.

The girl, Mary, had encountered Gabriel, an archangel of God, who told her she was going to have a son who would deliver his people and be the redeemer of mankind. There are enough verified instances of angels even in our modern day experiences to no longer doubt the scripture about the veracity of angels. They are God’s messengers.

The interesting thing is that Mary readily accepted the angel’s pronouncement and tells him she is honored to be the Lord’s handmaiden. She probably didn’t understand all he meant when he told her she would conceive not through Joseph or any other man, but that the Spirit of God would impregnate her. However it is not hard for us to believe that she knew the moment it happened.

She follows the lead of the angel and goes into the hill country to check if he was correct that her aging cousin, Elizabeth, was already in her sixth month of pregnancy with the one who would become John, the baptizer. Perhaps Mary wanted to make sure she wasn’t going crazy. Sometimes we can believe something for the moment and question it in the distance of time.

As it turns out, the moment she crosses Elizabeth’s threshold the child in Elizabeth’s womb leaped for joy in the presence of the seed of God in Mary’s womb. Elizabeth gives her famous and awesome prophetic word concerning Jesus. Mary magnifies the Lord and her spirit rejoices in God her Savior.

She truly seemed to understand that she was the one who would be called blessed, because she, even in her lowly state, was to become the mother of the Messiah, who would have all the DNA necessary for a man, except the necessary chromosomes signifying a human father. Instead, he would be born of a virgin by the supernatural touch of our Loving Heavenly Father. The one to be born would be Emanuel, God with us, Redeemer of Mankind.

When you celebrate Christmas or even Hanukah this year, realize that you are celebrating the true Light of the world. The One who’s light never goes out. The one who promises that the darkness which seems at time overwhelming at all its levels of evil intent will never put out the light. The factor of light is that in it there is an absence of the “dark side”.

The Light of the world is still Jesus, the Creator who became a child with the blood of the Loving Heavenly Father; who came to die for the entire world’s sinful iniquity and to redeem mankind and make a covenant as a man with God Almighty in our behalf. Then he died and rose from the dead, conquering death itself.

That’s the God/man no longer a babe in a manger we celebrate on the fascinating day of Christmas.

Thanksgiving

Many of our schools are not giving the documented story of the pilgrims or separatist protestants who proclaimed a 3 day feast from which comes most of our thanksgiving traditions.

The well documented story of the Pilgrims tell us that they set out on the Mayflower with a type of land grant from England to a particular area named Virginia. However, they actually landed on November 11, 1620 about 200 miles north of Virginia in what we now know as Massachusetts.

It was already a severe winter when they arrived and they had no homes or shelter. Half of them died by spring, leaving around 50 alive. The native people in the area were peaceful and had learned some English from a former native American who had been taken to England several years before. They taught the Pilgrims how to plant different crops and what and how to hunt and fish in this new and rugged country.

Because of the friendship with that peaceful tribal group, their first harvest was bountiful and helped them get through the winter. They proclaimed a three-day celebration which included feasting, athletic competition and a lot of fun. There were ninety Indians invited to share with the remaining 53 Pilgrims.

Here is one of only a few surviving records of that first feast day.

"our harvest being gotten in, our governor sent four men on fowling, that so we might after a special manner rejoice together, after we had gathered the fruits of our labors; they four in one day killed as much fowl, as with a little help beside, served the Company almost a week, at which time amongst other Recreations, we exercised our Arms, many of the Indians coming amongst us, and amongst the rest their greatest king Massasoit, with some ninety men, whom for three days we entertained and feasted, and they went out and killed five Deer, which they brought to the Plantation and bestowed on our Governor, and upon the Captain and others. And although it be not always so plentiful, as it was at this time with us, yet by the goodness of God, we are so far from want, that we often wish you (friends back home in Holland and England) partakers of our plenty."

It was in 1623, after a miraculous answer to fasting and prayer for rain that the group actually proclaimed a day of Thanksgiving. The Indians were so impressed that the God of the Pilgrims had given rain in the right manner at the right time that many were quite open to becoming believers in the one true God and his son, Jesus, the Anointed One.

I think it would be good for our school children to know more about the true and documented Thanksgiving days proclaimed and finally set into our national holiday calendar. Those early settlers and explorers had many threatening hardships and yet they were able to thank God and be thankful and happy for life itself in the midst of many challenges.

Americans have generally been a thankful people. If we ever allow that quality which is celebrated as a Thanksgiving Day to honor how God has blessed us and this nation, I fear we would have lost a part of the true character of this wonderful nation. That needs to be expressed, in my opinion, to our current educational system.

Seek professional help for Math and Reading Skills

There are many professional tutoring centers like Stilwell’s Learning Center across the

country. We are the only one in Southeast Arizona. Though each learning environment is different, a good learning center will always have personal face-to-face interaction between the tutor/teacher/coach and the student. The goal is not only to remedy the academic and learning difficulties and differences, but also to build confidence and retention. Math and reading areas appear to be the most crucial problems needing special help.

Stilwell’s Learning Center seeks to accomplish these goals by offering researched-based methods of tutoring while giving encouraging and personal attention to each student.

There appear to be 3 main requests for additional help from parents and students.

1.    Math help is requested by far greater numbers of students than any other subject. We suspect one reason is that Common Core has made it very difficult for both students and parents to understand simple math processes. Responsible learning centers continue to teach students how to easily memorize and mentally retain math tables so that no matter what types of teaching formulas are used in schools, the student will be able to do well.

2.    Homework help is the next issue parents and students face. Schools often offer afterschool homework sessions, usually for a fee. The most common problem with homework help at the school is the lack of enough personal help, since there are usually a large number of students needing help and only one person to help them and keep discipline and order at the same time. This problem is magnified when untrained aides are the ones monitoring the process. It also appears that most homework with Common Core doesn’t solve the majority of the learning difficulties the student has.

3.    Help for Reading Skills is the third most common request of learning centers in the United States. These concerns range from help for dyslexia, ADHD, Learning Disabilities to lack of confidence, reading accuracy, reading comprehension, test-taking skills, vocabulary and even reading rate of speed and speech concerns. It is suspected that since math seems to outweigh the reading concerns that many children and teens and even adults do not receive the help they really need when it comes to reading skills. Thus, they are not prepared or equipped to function skillfully in school or in job performance.

Consider these things when looking for a tutoring agency. Seek out professional help from learning centers with a positive philosophy as well as those learning centers where good results are prevalent. These are good reasons to choose Stilwell’s Learning Center, LLC in Sierra Vista, AZ. Stilwell also provides a unique distance learning opportunity. Every student is given an initial testing and evaluation session at no charge.

The Story Behind "Taps"

Recently I was reading the story of how we received “Taps” for honoring those who had died in the service of their country while in the armed forces of the United States. During the Civil War in the year 1862, Union Army Captain Robert Ellicombe and his men were near Harrison’s Landing in Virginia and the Confederate army was within firing range across a narrow strip of land. During the night, the captain heard a soldier moaning out in the strip of land between the two armies. Not knowing if the soldier was one of his or was a confederate soldier, he decided to crawl out to the soldier and bring him back for medical attention, no matter which army claimed him.

Risking his own life in the dark with bullets flying past him, he grabbed the soldier and pulled him back behind the Union line. It was then he looked into the confederate soldier’s face and was shocked to recognize his own son, who now lay dead. The son had been in the South before the war, studying music. The captain had not known that his son had joined the confederates.

Heartbroken over his death, he asked his superiors if his son could have a full military burial, including a band to play a funeral dirge. They replied they could give him a burial, but because he was a confederate soldier they could not send him a band to play. His superiors did, however, grant him one musician for the burial.

Captain Ellicombe chose a trumpet player and asked him to play a series of notes found in his son’s pocket. Those notes are what we now know as Taps. Unfortunately, they were first played for their composer.

There are many such stories of sorrow and tremendous overcoming feats by our veterans. Thinking of the Thanksgiving week coming up, we have much for which to be thankful in this country. We are approaching the most important election, perhaps in the history of our country and we dare not forget our true historical and religious heritage and the lives that have been sacrificed to give us the greatest nation the world has ever witnessed. Surely, it is to a great degree because in God we trust!

Be sure to vote for life and liberty and prosperity on election day. Socialism and disrespect for life is an afront against God and our founding fathers. Be sure you know the difference between the Republican and Democratic platforms.

The Republican party has chosen life and honor for our country and a rebuilding of our national economy and national pride. The Democratic Party endorses a continuance of heavy tax burdens, some of which would continue to be used to kill babies at an alarming rate. Their platform honors sodomy and disrespects our national heritage. The Democrat’s platform dishonors and disrespects their Creator and sustainer of life. I am choosing life and have already voted by absentee ballot.

Halloween

In my opinion, Halloween is not a very good thing for children. To offset the witchcraft and concentration on death, many of the churches in the Sierra Vista area are having the children come to the church or even to certain homes for a game and party and goodies. That is a much safer way to spend the evening. Shiloh Christian Ministries is hosting the Festival of the Father of Lights. There are at least 5 homes in the different areas of Sierra Vista where there will be games, and goodies and non-Halloween fun. No Halloween costumes are necessary, saving time and money. If you are interested you may call Pastor Atticus Register, who is the coordinator of the home parties, to see where you might want to take your children. His number is (425) 508-7634.

As an educator, I like to warn parents that the day after this particular holiday, it can be expected that children might be hyperactive, sick, unable to concentrate or stay as focused as they should. Be forewarned and limit the candy and sweets and be lenient on homework, if you are going to allow a lot of sugar and color-coated goodies.

Many decades ago, Halloween seemed to be a harmless time to “trick or treat”. Times have changed and with them we must also change. Yes, I even remember doing some humorous and harmless pranks. Today, even those harmless pranks could bring on a lawsuit.

On a more positive note, we are coming up to Thanksgiving and Christmas and Hanukah, which are very heart-warming holidays and can become very educational.

What is more important? Grades or a Child's Life?

I own and direct Stilwell’s Learning Center. Prospective clients bring their children to me for an initial evaluation. This initial session is free. Here are some of the concerns I hear from parents:

• He/she is falling behind or failing in school grades. 

• Unable to concentrate in the classroom.

• He has ADHD.

• The teacher says he has dyslexia.

• He is just lazy. 

• He can’t get along with the teacher.

• He is being bullied every day.

• The teacher won’t listen to him.

All these and more complaints often boil down to only a few real problems.

1. I haven’t found a lazy kid, yet. Something else is in the mix, which is one of the reasons I give the child some diagnostic tests with the parents present.

2. The government school curricula does not usually include a real systematic and intensely rehearsed form of phonics. The reason this is important is that the brain performs best with systematic learning skills. The English language is very highly developed and yet approximately 97% of it can be understood and spelling and reading can become excellent by learning a systematic approach to it! 

3. The educational system in the United States has been “dumbed down” for decades. Now, we are paying the price.

4. Huge homework tasks, most of which are useless, are frustrating both to parents and children.

5. Basic math skills need not only a directional system of learning, but also a lot of rehearsal, as does any subject expected to be retained.

6. Learning good reading and math skills usually solves problems like, dyslexia, ADHD, focus concerns, work ethics, self-confidence and eliminating blames-shifting.

7. Oh! One more thing! The personal attention we give students in Stilwell’s Learning Center assures them of their personal value. We may have as many as 20 students, but each one of them is given personal attention and approval. They tend to thrive on hugs and encouragement. We value each one and attempt to have fun with them and they know we care.

A child’s life is not based upon grades, but in the process of helping a child gain a personal worth, the grades seem to rise and learning problems tend to disappear.