From Malaysia with Love

It has been five years since I wrote a blog post. That disqualifies me as a blogger, I suppose.

But three days ago I began advertising for an incredible series of meetings that begin this coming Friday (the same day that my nephew, Zachary, arrives from the states). I have been living in Asia for more than a year now, and I find Tampin to be my favorite place of all the areas where I have spent considerable time.

Why? The People are incredibly kind (though differences in race, language and religion make some people less likely to talk than others). And the mountains are full of monkeys and birds. (Yes, I have identified more than 100 species here near Tampin!)

But more than these two reasons, it is because of the Health Center called Aenon Farm. ("Aenon" is a transliteration of a Chinese phrase that roughly means "Love is Powerful." The Aenon Farm helps people overcome disease (including heart conditions, cancer, diabetes, etc.). And since I have been here, Aenon allows me to give lectures on Tuesday and Wednesday morning on holistic health.

What is holistic health? It is the idea that our bodies, our minds, and our characters are very directly linked together. So when I have the attention of the "health guests" I explain to them how being depressed literally lowers the immune system and invites colds and flues. I explain how guilt does the same thing. And I explain how good health makes it easier to think and to fight addictions. (Of course, I give plenty of science data in those lectures, but is a blog a place for that?)

Heidi and I returned from Australia just last week after three weeks down under. I was lecturing around the country (Melbourne, Sydney, and Brisbane) on philosophy, prophecy, and on how to find truth.

And that is why I am promoting these upcoming meetings so energetically. I know the presenter. I know that he will not pressure anyone to change their beliefs. Rather, he will present facts and data that will help people think through their believes and to identify places where they have may have beliefs that do not well match reality.

For those followers of mine who live in the USA, Heidi and I come home in June and may see you in Virginia (at Piedmont) or in Washington (at YD) or in Tenneseee (with my mother and brother and his growing family) or in Arkansas (with my inlaws and church family).

P.E.A.C.E.

It has only been four months since I blogged.

So what has happened since then? An entire book's worth of events! Currently I am at PEACE (originally that stood for the Pan-European Center of Evangelism), an AFCOE affiliate in Birmingham, England.

The students are enthusiastic learners and next week I get to teach Daniel and Revelation, two of my favorite books in the Bible.

Heidi and I arrived here on Monday after several weeks teaching in California at AFCOE and AFCOE-to-Go. (And during that time I acquired a wonderful new sister when my brother married Sarah Lyons Prewitt.)

Since June I have been writing a series of Bible studies for My Bible First (out of Georgia) on a great many subjects (313 of them, a six-year cycle of weekly studies) aimed at late teens and and those in their early-twenties. But whatever interests that group will interest those older, so I am looking forward to the time when these studies will be widely available.

Then I was with Young Disciple camp in July and had a most wonderful time training the canvassers there. These were perhaps the most courageous (in a faith-strong way) group I had ever trained at camp! And the result was that they were more successful than any previous group. (In the second week, every pair of students were blessed with a sale every single day we went out!)

The canvassers in KS faced the hottest summer ever (and it didn't cool down there when they left a few weeks ago!) and yet managed to do remarkably well. Two vans (and sometimes three) managed to put out 320+ boxes of books. Other students of mine ran programs in Montana, Mississippi, New York, and Kentucky. Overall it seems that the students in these five programs knocked on 300,000 doors.

And some of them flew to Australia to organize getting the work done there. There first three days there were incredibly successful ($300/person/day!). The work will soon be prospering there.

After the summer and YD camp Heidi and I spent time in Romania for the Romanian Youth Conference (a GYC spin-off). That country is poised to fill the world with evangelistic oriented youth. (Before the summer canvassing we had been at a similar GYC-inspired meeting at Mountain View College in the Philippines.)

We miss Ouachita Hills College and Academy, our home for the last seven years). But we will see our friends there again when we return to Arkansas in November.

There is much more that could be mentioned, but I will close with this. Be faithful. Always.

Canvassing Victories Won, Travels, Other Victories

Tomorrow the last canvassers will knock doors. It looks like the total sales for the four weeks will be about $77,000 (about 360 boxes). As always, this time of year, those planning to canvass for the summer are being attacked (with sickness, fear, prosperous offers, etc.) because Satan knows by long experience that if they canvass, they will be victorious. The victory is as good as won when the canvasser hits the field in faith.

So, as I say, the Devil is trying to negotiate a truce. He says "change your mind and I will let up." Cheap loser, that he is, hiding the obvious nature of his coming failure.

Heidi and I are just returned yesterday from four days backpacking along the beautiful Ouachita National Forrest Trail. We were hiking for 21 miles in the segments between the Hwy 7 and Hwy 9. Wild iris and other flowers, with happy birds and ideal spring weather made for a most enjoyable trip. We focused on Bible memory. I "roughed in" the book of Philippians (meaning that I memorized every part, but with very insufficient review to be able to retain or say it connectedly.) This morning I reviewed the first 91 of 104 verses but think I will have to almost start from scratch on half of the last 13.

Memorizing this portion of scripture has deepened my conviction that I am handicapped in my emotions. I guess that is OK. Some are blind, some are unable to walk. My problem is that I am unfeeling. I was pray-talking to my Father in Heaven yesterday about this. I said something like "I love you earnestly. I love you in the practical ways of doing your commandments. I recognize something of how much I am indebted to you. I wish, at times, that I felt it all." 

What I mean is that I wish that I felt as warm as Paul talks when he says "how greatly I long after you all" and as sympathetic as Epophriditus who was in "great heaviness" because friends had heard that he had been sick.

This handicap troubles me. But I have resolved that I can talk and act as if I feel. And that will have to do. For a long time I have talked and acted as if I didn't feel deeply and maybe this was inflicting an injury on myself. (I do not mean to become selfishly sensitive, but selflessly so, to mourn with those that mourn.)

It is time to write another mass email. This one will be hard to keep short. I waited a whole month and now there is too much to write. But I will get to it today.

Calls to travel have been coming rapidly. Maybe I will post an itinerary on this blog. May I have wisdom from heaven to know when to say "Study your Bibles and God will teach you as he teaches me. I can not come now." Or maybe I could say it as Paul did, "I trust in the Lord to send Timotheus to you shortly." In other words, "since I can not come myself at present, I will send a trusted person in my stead." I know several strong trusted young men who could go in my stead. Wisdom, I need wisdom.

Enough for now. It is almost time for breakfast.

Week One, Weak One

We have just finished our first full week of canvassing for the spring break. $36,000 worth of books have been sold since we started. And for visual persons, that is about 170 boxes.

Heidi and I were driving east to visit the program in Kentucky when we broke down in Nashville. In view of that we secured lodging at my mother's home nearby while getting the van fixed. Yesterday I was taking a walk from her home and met a lady that invited me to preach at her church tomorrow. It turns out that her daughter was my student five years ago and even sang in Heidi and my wedding. I just got off the phone with that daughter and think that our break-down may have been for her benefit. Wonderful are the ways of God.

Personally, I am thinking that the revival in my own life needs to be more significantly paralleled by a reformation in the same. For one thing, I think I will have to swallow my nervousness and find a kind and honest way to share with several persons (that appear confident of their favor in God's sight) that they are in danger of losing their souls. I have put it off for too long.

For another, I will need to spend more time praying in a kneeling position. I frequently talk to my Father in Heaven as I go about my business, but am persuaded that more truly focussed worship time is in order.

And for another, I will want to find the best way to apply the following statement:

     Every true child of God will be sifted as wheat, and in the sifting process every cherished pleasure which diverts the mind from God must be sacrificed. In many families the mantel shelves, stands, and tables are filled with ornaments and pictures. Albums filled with photographs of the family and their friends are placed where they will attract the attention of visitors. Thus the thoughts, which should be upon God and heavenly interests, are brought down to common things. Is not this a species of idolatry? Should not the money thus spent have been used to bless humanity, to relieve the suffering, to clothe the naked, and to feed the hungry? Should it not be placed in the Lord's treasury to advance His cause and build up His kingdom in the earth?  {2SM 317.1} 

Finally, I talked to Heidi today about spicing up our conversation with more heavenly items and less temporal ones. But that will, methinks, require doing more personal evangelism so that we will have more to talk about.

But enough for now. More from the programs soon. We appreciate you all.

Beautiful experiences, bad math, spring timing

Yesterday was a powerful day for the group working out of Ola, Arkansas. The six man team had out 142 magabooks. (Six? I hear some saying. Yes, Aimee and Lorina were sick and not able to go out.) I was working in the afternoon, leading with Beth Johns, and that was convenient in that I had a witness of the kind of daily miracles that gladden my life.

For example, six or seven homes on a certain street were not going to be done. That was OK with me since there were lots and lots of homes that we wouldn't get done and these were low more inconvenient than most (across the street from the Watchtower, on a road that only had houses on one side, etc.)

But as I was driving to check on a certain student, I made a wrong turn that put me on that street. And at that moment a vehicle turned onto the street also and parked in one of those driveways. I had the thought "you can't skip these homes." And as I came to the end of the block (read, 14 seconds later...) Heidi Hunt appeared at the intersection at the perfect time for me to roll down my window and ask her to briefly ignore my directions and to do those homes. The result: three of the homes bought magabooks and the one where that car pulled in...bought six of them.

Two separate families that we have met already here have been invited to church and Lorina and Helen expect at least one (maybe both) to show up tomorrow.

One of the young ladies (I won't share her name) had another kind of miracle yesterday. She badly needed to use a restroom and I wasn't available to get her to one. She kept hoping to find a friendly home where she could ask...but at one door, when it opened, she realized she couldn't hold it any longer. She handed the books in her hand to the confused homeowner and confessed that she badly needed to use the restroom immediately. Thankfully, the lady of the home pointed her to the hallway. When the relieved canvasser returned to apologize for the odd introduction, the lady with the books asked how much they cost...and she hadn't even been canvassed yet! She bought several.

On the other fronts, the group in Pennsylvania started working yesterday. I invited them to quit early since they arrived at 3:00 AM after a 1200 mile trip. Georgia and Kentucky both had their first full day and all was and is well.

Today I will head home to get more books for the Arkansas group...and will try to do my taxes in two hours or less while I am there...and return to the group in the evening time.

One high point of our program here in AR has been that we had Michael Wolford working with us for two days. He is the pastor of our church plant in Arkadelphia, but is a stipend pastor there. And he will be canvassing part-time to supplement the stipend he receives for pastoring.  I am convinced that this will be a great boon to our ministry in Arkadelphia.

The house sale is moving along smoothly, though today I will probably have to explain how I can be a college teacher and have pay stubbs that show that I earn $1,000 per month.

Sabbath comes this evening...wonderful news. Be faithful,

Eugene

Changes to my email habbits and etc.

The Prewitts have sold a lot of things in the last three weeks, and what a relief to have less stuff!

Also, we have had comments from recipients of our email notifications. These have indicated that we were sending too many emails. So if you are on the email list, expect the next email to give you a chance to choose whether you would like an email once or twice a month (plan A), an email once a quarter (plan B), or a physical snail-mail letter once a year (plan C) or very frequent updates (plan D...which will mean "subscribe to the blog.").

Today we are booking tickets for the round-the-world trip that will allow us to help this establish and support these mission-training centers in England, Ukraine, India, and at Weimar. Here is the incredible blessing: The total cost for this circumnavigation of the globe is $2200 per person. Praise God for butlertravel.com, a travel agency that specializes in missionary and humanitarian discounts. 

Heard from Adam Ramdin this morning. He is the head of the England center. While Heidi and I are there the whole class of students will take a trip to Iona in Scotland and I will be able to share some truth in that place so illustrious in history as a source of evangelical missions to the then-pagan continent of Europe. Wonderful.

The school in India will be about 30 miles southeast of Hyderabad. I am praying often and earnestly about how to help this nation of victims of pagan superstition and corruption. (I do not mean to sound demeaning. We in the west are victims of post-Christian materialism.)

Time for breakfast....

See and Believing

Seeing and Believing and Bye Bye Facebook

On Friday I had the second of two LASEK eye surgeries. That “e” in LASEK isn’t a typo. Rather, it is a different procedure than LASIK and one that, after study, I concluded was certainly the better of the two. Now I am on my third day of life-without-glasses (OK, I had about 2400 of these days between birth and when I first dawned spectacles. But that was so long ago as to hardly be memorable.)

Though the procedure went great and the outcome will be wonderful, I am having a painful allergic reaction to one of the post-surgical drips. So I will see the doc (Frank Teed) in a few hours and he will figure out what to do about that. I highly recommend that doctor, by the way, to anyone considering eye surgery.

Amazing Facts has authorized the Prewitts to secure housing here in Arkansas and so we are housing hunting and selling lots of our personal books and items. Have sold about 400 books from my personal library in the last ten days. My students have good taste – books by the pioneers, by Ellen White, on church history, have gone faster than others.

Last evening I was talking to Pastor Dwayne Lemon (by phone) regarding the Trumpets and Woes of Revelation when… someone knocked on my door. I yelled “come in!” and they did… three boys and a box with a “duck” that “couldn’t fly” that they were trying to “help.” It jumped out of its box and I dismissed the boys and said we (the Prewitts) would take care of it. Heidi tried to coax it to waddle onto an absorbent mat. “Duck” did not cooperate and began pecking at the shoe Heidi was using to coax it. I told pastor Dwayne that we would talk more later.

First, out with the bird book. This was a pied grebe. It dives, swims, sinks…and rarely flies. It probably needs quite a stretch of water to get airborn (other grebes do) and so when it was discovered by my students on land gathering nesting material…it was, umm, a sitting duck.

I picked up the grebe (those pokes don’t really hurt) after Heidi had filled our tub with cool water, and I placed the bird where it could navigate more gracefully. We invited the boys to come back over and see how healthy their bird was. (Our bathtub has two wall mirrors above it that meet in the corner…making an interesting effect for the duck when she (I think it was a she) looked at the mirror and suddenly saw a flock of grebes. (But grebes are solitary birds…) She went back into the tub.

When we had had our fill of watching her dive and swim under water and preen, etc., I carried her down to a local pond and set her free. Watching boys expected to see her scurry away…but she just saw there in the water. At night it is not safe for such birds to move much. They can’t see and the things that eat them…can. So they generally stay sensibly still.

We would do well, also, to learn from the birds. When we are in times of darkness we would do well to not make big decisions, big changes. Look for the light and wait for the Lord to resolve perplexities before shipwrecking your faith in the shallow water of your understanding.

Today I give a test on the Mark of the Beast and the Seal of God. It is one of the most important tests I give in Revelation class. And as a test, it is directly related to the test that is coming. I think that the chapter on this topic in the book Deeper (1045 copies sold so far, for those who care) is one of the most important. The test will be a hard one…there is more info on this topic in scripture than most people think.

And later today…I leave facebook permanently. I have so many loose ends to tie up there! 400 facebook emails await my reply. And probably 395 of them will wait forever. But it is for the good.

And earlier today I have worship for the academy. I would love to recruit them to our summer canvassing program in Wichita, Kansas…but it is now full.

Pray that God will prosper our efforts to secure a home and to plan our future work. It is daunting. And pray for “Enkhtevan” in Mongolia and for Jacob elsewhere. They need it and would appreciate it. Our work is to believe that the Lord Jesus can handle our case and make us to be like Him and that He can even “heal our backslidings.”

Jeremiah 3:22  Return, ye backsliding children, and I will heal your backslidings. Behold, we come unto thee; for thou art the LORD our God.

Be faithful,

Eugene