Our Mighty Fortress

Our Mighty Fortress

Dr Mike Grisanti Teaches Living a Godly Life in an Inmoral World

June 25-27, 2015

Dr Mike Grisanti 

Dr. Mike Grisanti, Pat & Rhich

teaches "Living a Godly Life in an Immoral World".  It was a wonderful conference  and we had the privilege to host him for a meal.  It was a great conference and we look forward to his next visit to MEDA.

Repost - An Open letter to TMS Alumni

"The highest court in the land has passed its judgment. The headlines proclaim that a slim majority of Supreme Court justices considers freedom of sexual orientation a right for all Americans. This exchange of one set of values in favor of another does not come as a surprise to us who already know that the god of this world has blinded the minds of those who don’t believe (2 Cor. 4:4).  June 26th, 2015 stands as a significant milestone in the American demonstration of this ancient reality.  ...  I also want to communicate the below thoughts that I trust will help you frame the issue in a biblical way.

1. No human court has the authority to redefine marriage, and the verdict yesterday does not change the God ordained reality of marriage. God was not defeated in this ruling, and every marriage will be judged according to biblical grounds on the last day. Nothing will prevail against Him (Proverbs 21:30) and nothing will thwart the advance of His Kingdom (Dan 4:35).
2. The Word of God has pronounced judgment on any nation that would reclassify evil as good, darkness as light, and bitter as sweet (Isaiah 5:20). As a nation, America continues to put herself in the crosshairs of judgment. As a proclaimer of truth, you are responsible for never compromising on these issues. In every way you must stand firm.
No human court has the authority to redefine marriage, and the verdict yesterday does not change the God ordained reality of marriage.
3. This ruling proves that we are clearly in the minority, and a people set apart (1 Peter 2:9-11;Titus 2:14). As I wrote in the book Why Government Can’t Save You, the standards that shaped Western culture and American society have given way to practical atheism and moral relativism. This decision has simply accelerated the rate of decline. A country will not rise above the morality of its citizens, and the majority of Americans don’t have a biblical worldview.
4. Religious liberty is not promised in the Bible. In America, the church of Jesus Christ has enjoyed unprecedented freedom. This is changing, and the new normal may include persecution that is new to us. There has never been a more important time for gifted men to help lead the church by capably handling the sword of the Spirit (Ephesians 6:17).
5. Marriage is not the ultimate battleground, and our enemies are not the men and women who seek to destroy it (2 Corinthians 10:4). The battleground is the Gospel. Be careful not to replace patience, love, and prayer with bitterness, hatred, and politics. As you carefully guide your flock around the dangerous pitfalls ahead, remind them of the indomitable power of forgiveness through the cross of Christ.
6. Romans 1 clearly identifies the evidence for the wrath of God on a nation: sexual immorality followed by homosexual immorality culminating in a reprobate mind. This most recent step reminds us that God’s wrath has come in full. We now see reprobate minds at every level of leadership – in the Supreme Court, the presidency, cabinet, legislature, press and culture. If our diagnosis is in line with Romans 1 then we must also follow the prescription found in Romans 1 – we are not ashamed of the gospel for it is the power of God unto salvation! In this day it is our divine duty and calling to strengthen the church, families, and gospel testimony by shedding the pragmatic nonsense that distracts the church from its mission given by God. Homosexuals—like all other sinners—need to be warned of impending eternal judgment and lovingly offered the forgiveness, grace and new life through repentance and faith in the lord Jesus Christ

In the final analysis, your greatest contribution to your people will be to show patience and a steady confidence in the sovereignty of God, the Lordship of Jesus Christ, and the authority of Scripture. Turn their eyes toward the Savior, and remind them that when He returns, all will be made right.

We are praying for your steadfast proclamation of truth, and your uncompromising stand for Christ.

John MacArthur

Re-post from Luciano Joshua Gonzalez

6 years ago today, June 28th in the early hours of the morning Manuel Zelaya was thrown out of Honduras for trying to invalidate the constitution, either by outright ignoring the Constitution, or by attempting to create a new one. His desire was a plebiscite in which the people voted on what they would think of if a president announced a new constitutional convention. The plebiscite would take place at the next election, after which Zelaya would be stepping down anyway. He was thrown out for this, which was titled the "Forth Ballet Box Referendum", and was largely the justification for the coup.

When Hernandez was defeated in an attempt to modify the constitution to declare the PMOP (Honduras's military police) a part of the Constitutional Armed Forces, in a way to strengthen their right to exist, he declared a plebiscite in which the people would vote. Part of the justification for Zelaya's removal from power is that in the constitution it says that only the Supreme Court can declare Plebiscites. Yet no one (to my knowledge [Luciano Joshua Gonzalez ] anyway) has said how weird that is. This is related to a law in 2012 which passed concerning plebiscites, which enabled the president to order one if he has the backing of the secretaries of state. However, we can and should call him out on it, because this is occurring in direct defiance of the National Congress, who did a vote and decided that the PMOP didn't deserve constitutional protection.

Additionally this year the other main justification for Zelaya's removal was thrown out the window with the defeat of the 239th article of the constitution, the article which prohibits discussion of, and reelection of former presidents. In April when the Constitution was thrown out the window, the primary reason Zelaya was removed, was thrown out too. Many have speculated that Zelaya wanted to remain in power and that that was why he proposed the FBBR. But now that article of the constitution is gone. Admittedly it wasn't JOH who did it, it was Callejas (another former president) who was the primary actor in favor of reelection, but when he proposed it and joined the small group of Nationalists who were fighting against the Constitution they weren't thrown out of the country, or banned from participating in politics because of it, like the Constitution said they should be.

So where does Honduras go from here? Well, the recent tidal wave of activism in Honduras is showing that Honduras's best is yet to come. Every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, thousands of Hondurans who make up every demographic have come together to march miles across the cities, chanting, and shouting for justice. The IHSS scandal has awakened the people of Honduras, and brought them together. From here, anything could happen. However today represents an extremely important event, an event which has left scars in Honduras, and divisions. When Zelaya left, and Micheletti took over it signaled the ending of what little human rights remained in Honduras. Since then the Nationalists have had control of the country and things have changed. For the better, or for the worse is largely an opinion issue. But things have changed.

The IHSS scandal is but one of the burning issues running through Honduras at this time. More and more violence is impacting LGTBQ people and their straight allies. More sources in English, and in Spanish, are talking about the violence women face in the country. The Honduran government is teaming up with the Foundation for a Drug Free World. Some individuals are discussing an elderly woman who murdered a man who was going to rape her daughter. Outraged Hondurans (the movement who organizes the marches with torches) have given up their hunger strike. Last week there was a minor arson attempt on the Supreme Court building, which Ebal Diaz, a government official, blamed on the Outraged Hondurans.

But this is a time to remember, a time to dream, and a time to think. This day, at least until this year with the decision in April to begin to ignore Article 239 of the Constitution, was/is the most significant in modern Honduran history. But the country is waking up. Change is coming. Let's hope that it is peaceful change, and not violent change.

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Getting To The Root of The Problem

So, I  (Rhich) have been reading the blogs of other missionaries and I am now motivated to give this blogging thing another try.  I don't have any delusions of possessing any kind of writing talent but, I will do the best with the abilities that I have.

We have undertaken a large project of trying to rehab one half of the duplex for the Kensinger family here at MEDA.

Kensinger family serving in Honduras

   Our motivation for this undertaking was to remove the presence of mold and remove some interior walls to allow for expansion of certain rooms and allow more light and air flow within the home.  In the process of removing a few walls we discovered the reason for the mold.  The top of the footers for the walls were below the surface of the dirt and thus moisture from the dirt was absorbed by the bricks used to construct the walls. They used dirt instead of gravel as a filler.  This meant removing all the flooring (ceramic tile, concrete and dirt) throughout the house.  We dug out the dirt until it was six inches below the top of the footers and in that process we discovered roots from the large tree in the back yard in two of the bedrooms.  Back to the tree in a moment. 

The installation of the new floor is still ongoing as of this writing.  We installed two inches of "pea gravel" (at least the Honduran version of pea gravel)  a plastic moisture barrier, rebar and four inches of concrete.  The guys installing the ceramic tile are at work as I am writing this.  My participation in this project was the tree that I mentioned earlier.  

                                           Normal ficus tree -->
  I was tasked with removing the nearly forty foot Ficus tree with branches extending beyond the fence and over half the roof of the house.  This meant starting at the top and working my way down.  

about the size of the ficus in the back yard

the beginning of the trunk

 

The pictures I have enclosed are the last phase of removing the tree trunk.  Since we don't have a stump remover per say, we find ourselves doing it the old fashioned way, axe, shovel, grub hoe and straight bars.  One more day of digging and we should be  ready to hook on to it with a chain and the Excursion for the final phase of the excavation.  Well, that's it, off to work now.

Chandeliers and Ceiling Fans

Pastors studying in the classroom/dining room

This is the last week of this module for the men at seminary.  The curriculum is intense and the hours long, but well worth the time invested to study and learn how to teach the Word of God.

Ladies in the kitchen prepare delicious meals to nourish the body as the men get their souls nourished.

Sometimes the students come to the back area of MEDA to study 

A Welcome Thunderstorm

After a very dry past few weeks, it was so nice to have a little thunderstorm to bring out the beauty of MEDA.  Above is a look at the baptistry, with classroom in the background.

Simple flowers

Amazing honeysuckle.  The smell is fabulous.

Lots of ornamental ginger

One of many Bougainvillea

Potted miniature roses