Bittersweet Farm
Re-post from last Thanksgiving…
Our first-born was here for Thanksgiving Eve. I gave him the pulpit. He brought a brief Thanksgiving message. It was a meaningful message–worth a listen. You can hear it right here:
Reposted from 2003.
We have had a wonderful week at the Character Inn. The Verity students are arriving from around the country to begin their new term of study. The staff are returning from their holiday. Friday we were preparing for my brother Nathan and his family to visit when I got word that a very special family was stopping by for a visit. Helen and Reinhold Barth, their daughter and two granddaughters wanted to tour the Inn.
I was thrilled. Helen Barth was my mother’s favorite singer. When I was a little boy mom would often play Helen Barth’s recordings as I went to sleep at night. She was my mother’s vocal role model. She recorded over 20 albums and sang for years on WMBI in Chicago. Now she and her husband Reinold are in their eighties. He has been a pastor since his late teens. When he was only eighteen he started Dawagiac Bible Church. It was there a few years later that my own Grandmother Shipley was saved.
I met the Barths at the door and greeted them warmly. I convinced them to stay for the evening meal and to remain over night. I offered to let them sing for their keep. They accepted. After dinner we gathered around the baby grand in front of the fireplace and Mrs. Barth told of her conversion and she sang for us. She sang with deep conviction and an anointing from the Lord. Even in her eighties she has a beautiful voice and radiant countenance. She has unusual sincerity of expression.
She sang Constantly Abiding and my little brother Nathan played for her. Her daughter borrowed Chuck’s guitar and sang with her two daughters. What a beautiful evening. In the morning after brunch we talked her into singing again. Then we talked about the goodness of God through the years, how he leads and provides.
I watched the young people as Helen Barth gave her testimony and as she sang. I wondered if they could possibly appreciate what they had just been privileged to hear. I wished that my mom could be present to see what was happening.
There are so few today with such a radiant testimony. There are so few with such depth to their message. There are so few who do more than entertain. There are so few that have the hand of God upon their life, the mark of God on them, and the breath of God in their message. Reinhold and Helen Barth, their daughter and granddaughters are such people.
While I am writing about the Character Inn, please plan to attend our Family Enrichment Weekend, March 7-9 2002 here at the Character Inn. Cost is only fifty dollars for a room and ten dollars each for meals . Children two and under are free. If you have a large family and you need more than one room we have a special rate for you.
Kenneth L. Pierpont
ken@kenpierpont.com
The Riverfront Character Inn
Flint, Michigan
January 6, 2003
Last week Lois and I enjoyed a quiet autumn drive over to Hillsdale County to visit family. The Interstate near Ypsilanti was backed up. I noticed just in time to take Historic U. S. Route 12. It was the old way between The Windy City and the Motor City. It’s a colorful way I like to drive. It was late afternoon. The angle of the sun toward evening is beautiful this time of year. It was fresh and clear and cool. I knew we would be returning after dark so I savored the view on the way.
It was a nice evening of conversation with the family. We did a little eating and a little laughing and we closed the evening with prayer. Then we stepped out into the night to drive home.
We all met at my niece Hillary and her husband Terry’s country home. It is an old farm house on a back road miles from any city lights. For the last eight years we have had to leave home to get a real good look at the night sky, so when I get to speak at a camp or visit friends in the country, just looking up at night is a worship experience. I was surprised by the beauty of the night sky. There are so many more stars to see in the country than there are in the city. I stood for a moment and just drank in the beauty of the night sky and the cool of the evening.
I spend a significant part of every week of my life studying to prepare Bible messages for the people of Evangel. If I had another lifetime I would spend more of it mastering the Bible. I never tire of it. It never disappoints. The basic truth of the Bible lies on the surface for any sincere reader to see, but it is a universe of truth you could spend your lifetime exploring.
You don’t have to have a telescope to gaze into the night sky in wonder. You don’t have to have a Ph.D. to enjoy the heavens. Even a small child can be thrilled with the spinning universe overhead on an autumn night.
The Bible is like that. You don’t have to be a scholar to understand the basic truth of the Bible. Any Spirit-enlightened believer can see the truth of the Bible just by faithful reading, but students of Scripture—scholars, have spent whole lifetimes studying one strand of Bible truth. They find connections, inter-relationships, mysteries revealed, themes, sub-themes, counter themes, history, literature, satire, irony, parody, poetry, narrative, lament, apocalyptic literature, and stories with plots and sub-plots that interlace through centuries of time. The Bible was not scrawled out by ignorant, uncivilized people in primitive cultures. It was formed in the mind of God, written by inspired men who were carried along by the Spirit of God. It is the breath of God. It is ignorant, unenlightened people who carelessly dismiss it.
For centuries scholars have been discovering the mysteries of the night sky. More powerful telescopes scan whole galaxies once out of reach. The Hubble Space Telescope is mounted on a satellite and it has taken pictures of things never before seen with clarity never before possible. Still you can sit on the dock at a cottage in northern Michigan on a summer evening and be moved to tears by the reflection of the moon and stars on the glassy surface of the lake and you don’t have to own a telescope or even understand what you are seeing to experience it.
The Bible is a beautiful universe of God’s truth. If you don’t believe me, see for yourself.
Ken Pierpont
Granville Cottage
Riverview, Michigan
October 18, 2010
Well, now I’ve just laid down the Saturday paper in disgust. Yet another scandal in high places. This time military leader had been exposed for wrong-doing after 26 years of service to God and his country. He is the second-ranking officer out at the Air Force Academy in Colorado, Brig. Gen. Johnny Weida. He was up for a second star but the Senate did not act on his promotion. Seems that his darker side has now come to the surface and now he has to pay. It has come to light that he was involved in a little scandal back in 2003 and there’s no covering it up now.
He is one of those “born-again” Christians and he is not keeping it to himself. According to charges he has been urging cadets and staff to pray. He even went so far as to say that they are “accountable first to their God.”
Maybe I’m just a little sensitive, being a one of those contemptible “born-agains” myself, but I have some questions. Have the senators read history during the course of their training? Are they aware of the overt faith of our founding fathers? Have the read the writings and addresses of George Washington? Have they seen a print of him keeling in the snow at Valley Forge? Would they consider him a worthy military leader? Would they have confirmed his promotion? Would they dare sensor him for being a man of faith and urging others to pray and consider their accountability to God?
Aren’t there real scandals they could attend to? Might they even consider policing their own ranks rather than participating in clear discrimination against an officer of good reputation and faithful service? Do we really want to be governed by men and woman who consider prayer and accountability to God scandalous behavior?
They say after 26 years of faithful service with an impeccable record Gen. Weida has issued an apology. I think the senators should apologize.
Ken Pierpont
Riverfront Character Inn
Flint, Michigan
August 8, 2005
Lois’ homeplace is just a few miles from the vast Daniel Boone National Forest. Even for young, healthy, able-bodied hikers and climbers it can be a dangerous place. Last week a man hiking a path that I have hiked before was attacked and nearly killed by a Black Bear in the Red River George. In September of last year a part-time census worker was hanged with the word FED written on his chest. In the gorge a path that looks like it is leading through the woods may stop abruptly at the foot of a huge, dangerous precipice. While hiking I have often seen signs bearing the names and dates of death of young people who had fallen from the cliffs in the forest. It is a wild, beautiful, dangerous place.
While visiting one summer the word spread through town that an elderly woman with dementia had wandered into the forest and was lost. Hours passed then the sun set. The hunt went on through the night. She was eventually found after spending the night wandering in the dangerous wilderness and she was treated for exposure and dehydration.
America has spiritual dementia. She has forgotten God. America is wandering in the wilderness, naked, wounded, confused, vulnerable, and in great mortal danger. She has lost her bearings morally and spiritually. America’s condition is not medical, it is moral and spiritual and willfull. She has willfully forgotten God. She has chosen her sin over God’s law. She has walked away from the God of her fathers.
Jeremiah 2:32 Can a virgin forget her ornaments, Or a bride her attire? Yet My people have forgotten Me days without number.
Most Americans have forgotten God’s providence, protection, blessing, and provision. They have forgotten the Lord’s Day. They have forsaken God’s law and disregarded his word. Millions have disregarded God’s warnings against fornication, adultery, and sexual sin. Most live to seek their own profit, positions, and pleasures. They pursue ease and recreation and all but ignore God. If you watch the mainstream media you will see that America has forgotten the facts about her spiritual heritage and her godly founders. She has forsaken the gospel, the law of God, and the mercy of God. She has forgotten the love of God. She has rejected the truth about creation and put her faith in pseudo-science instead.
More and more she has mocked the word of God and the prophets of God. She has disregarded the law of God. She walked willfully away from God. In most cases Americans feel no outward antagonism for God, but they do not have appropriate affection for God. The do no worship or serve him and they are not thankful. They are not aligned with God through the gospel.
About the past creation and the coming judgment of God Peter says that mockers willfully forget God. It is an act of determined rebellion. For this they willfully forget… (2 Peter 3:5 See also 5-14)
Ezekiel 23:35 “Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: ‘Because you have forgotten Me and cast Me behind your back, Therefore you shall bear the penalty Of your lewdness and your harlotry.’ “
Faithful people of God in dark times will gather and write a book of remembrance (Malachi). They will form a faithful, godly remnant and trust an omnipotent God to do what is best. They have the Spirit within them so they will never forget.
John 14:26 But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.
Psalms 44:17 All this has come upon us; But we have not forgotten You, Nor have we dealt falsely with Your covenant.
Ken Pierpont
GRANVILLE COTTAGE
Riverview, Michigan
July 4, 2010
“C
hristianity is an out-of-doors religion. From the birth in the grotto at Bethlehem (where Joseph and Mary took refuge because there was no room for them in the inn) to the crowning death on the hill of Calvary outside the city wall, all of its important events took place out-of-doors. Except the discourse in the upper chamber at Jerusalem, all of its great words, from the sermon on the mount to the last commission to the disciples, were spoken in open air. How shall we understand it unless we carry it under the free sky and interpret it in the companionship of nature?”
-From Out-of-Doors in the Holy Land by Henry VanDyke
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