Up the water shaft

Building Character one story at a time!

www.lamplighter.net

Lamplighter Ministries

As an avid reader and a professional educator for 35 years, I found myself with a renewed passion for the impact of great literature. In four days, I read five of

them. I was addicted to these books. I was so inspired that I called Lamplighter to talk with someone who could understand what this experience was like.

I find myself unable to stop. I introduced my 82-year-old mother to these books.

She recently had a cold and she read non-stop. I found myself jealous of her.

It is easy to become spiritually weary in Christian service. These books have spiritually revitalized me.

Dr. Carolyn Brock, Houston, TX

Dear Mark:I will tell you that my children love the lamplighter books. Thursday, I had a day off from work and we read most of The Little Lamb together on the couch. I think I had intended to read a couple chapters, but the children kept saying “another chapter, please!”, so we kept reading. It was a wonderful relationship building day. So, I see the immense value these books hold. Anything that can keep a 5 year old daughter snuggled by her daddy on the couch is a wonderful thing!

Jason Southerland

Last night my kids had the choice of watching a half an hour of TV, playing video games or having me read an extra half an hour to them and they chose reading a Lamplighter book. They knew I was going to read to them at bedtime anyway, but still chose the extra half hour of "story time". I was very excited to have my 9, 7, 5 and one of our neighbors kids (also 5) all want to sit around my living room while I read a couple chapters of Giant Killer and Basket of Flowers. If they could have stayed awake, we would have read until midnight. They loved the stories and so do I. Lamplighter is having a tremendous effect on me and my family. Grace is flourishing in our home.

George

My 14 year old daughter's life has been extremely transformed as a result of "The Lamplighter", House of Love, The Wide Wide World, and countless others. We value these books more than our food. No joke. Thanks a million!!! About My Father's Business, Joan

I, on my part, here renounce all acquaintance with you! I will NEVER sit down at the same

table; enter the same room; or breathe the same air with you;

never speak to you; listen to you; or recognize you in any manner,

until my deep wrongs are avenged!

UP THE WATER SHAFT!





Jerusalem & Jebusites

And the king and his men went to Jerusalem against the Jebusites, the inhabitants of the land,

II Samuel 5:6





Jebusites

When the Lord your God brings you into the land that you are entering to take possession of it, and clears away many nations before you, the Hittites, the Girgashites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, seven nations more numerous and mightier than yourselves, and when the Lord your God gives them over to you, and you defeat them, then you must devote them to utter destruction. You shall make no covenant with them and show no mercy to them. You shall not intermarry with them...for they would turn away your sons from following, to serve other gods.

Deut 7:1-5





But the Jebusites, the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the people of Judah could not drive out, so the Jebusites dwell with the people of Judah at Jerusalem to this day.

Joshua 15:63





The King & His men

And the king and his men went to Jerusalem against the Jebusites, the inhabitants of the land,

II Samuel 5:6





Faces Like LionsAnd they were among the mighty men who helped him in war. They were bowmen and could shoot arrows and sling stones with either the right or the left hand; they were Benjaminites...mighty and experienced warriors, expert with shield and spear, whose faces were like the faces of lions and who were swift as gazelles upon the mountains.

I Chron 12:1b,2,8b; Judges 15:14-16; 20:15-17





Blind & LameAnd the king and his men went to Jerusalem against the Jebusites, the inhabitants of the land, who said to David, “You will not come in here, but the blind and the lame will ward you off”--thinking, “David cannot come in here.”

II Samuel 5:6





Suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces

character,and character produces hope,

and hopes makes us not ashamed Romans 5

(doesn’t disappoint, motivates, forges self worth, removes fear, restores confidence: I want to be like…).





Blind & Lame*Magical force; a visible curse that would befall any attackers.*Represented fighting to the very last ounce of strength.*Hitite Loyalty-Oath ceremony in which a blind and deaf woman was paraded before the assembled army as a warning of what would happen if the soldier failed to keep his oath.*Mocking one of lesser strength--one who mimics the handicap to mock.

And David said on that day, “Whoever would strike the Jebusites, let him get up the water shaft to attack, ‘the lame and blind,’ who are hated by David’s soul.”

II Samuel 5:8

Up the Water Shaft

With access to knowledge and information, the medieval class system started to crumble and social mobility shot up, as commoners started their own businesses and in some cases became wealthier than their feudal masters.

Arthur W. Hunt, in his new book, The Vanishing Word, shows how Christianity and the written word have prospered together. He also shows what happens when the habit of reading is lost and people orient themselves instead to sensate images. Reading encourages thinking, reflecting, and the cultivation of truth, but image cultures tend to be driven by subjectivism, superstition, hedonism, and propaganda.

The great media critic Neil Postman—who recently died—pointed out the ways that reading encourages certain habits of mind. Reading teaches us to think in a logically connected way.





Prepackaged Images

When we read, the words create mental images that awaken our imaginations. TV and video give us prepackaged images that appear by the second giving the brain no rest for reflection. And unless the imagination is engaged even reading is of no value. Reading and listening exercises the imagination literally. Just as bodily exercise builds physical strength and endurance, reading strengthens the mind’s imaginative powers.





Victory

Nevertheless David took the stronghold of Zion, that is, the city of David.

II Samuel 5:12-14*





DefeatAnd David knew that the LORD had established him king over Israel, and that he had exalted his kingdom...And David took more concubines and wives from Jerusalem, after he came from Hebron, and more sons and daughters were born to David. And these are the names of those who were born to him in Jerusalem: Shammua, Shobab, Nathan, Solomon, Ibhar, Elishua, Nepheg, Japhia, Elishama, Eliada, and Eliphelet.

II Samuel 5:12-14*





New King – BewareOf

Gold, Geldings, & Girls

You may indeed set a king over you whom the LORD your God will choose. One from among your brothers...he must not be a foreigner...he must not acquire horses...you shall not return that way again. And he shall not acquire many wives for himself, lest his heart turn away, nor shall he acquire for himself excessive silver and gold.

Deut 17:15-17





First things FirstAnd when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, he shall write for himself in a book a copy of this law, approved by the Levitical priests. And it shall be with him, and he shall read it every day of his life, that he may learn to fear the LORD his God by keeping all the words of this law and these statutes, and doing them, that his heart may not be lifted up above his brothers, and that he may not turn aside from the commandment, either to the right hand or to the left, so that he may continue long in his kingdom, he and children, in Israel. Deut 17:18-20

Learn to Fear God - Learn Humility - Learn Obedience





George Mueller for the first 4 years after conversion at age 20 said, "I made no progress in my spiritual development. But when I regularly read on through the whole bible with reference to my own heart and soul, I directly made progress. Then my peace and joy continued more and more; now I have been doing this for 47 years; I have now read through the whole Bible about 100 times and I always find it fresh when I begin again. Thus my peace and joy have increased more and more." He said this when he was 71. He lived 21 more years; A.T. Pearson who wrote his biography said that Mueller by the time he was 92 had read the Bible from cover to cover, 200 times. Which means that from 71 to 92, he was reading through the Bible four times each year!

Presentations & Public Speaking

Up the water shaft