Google Earth

Not to advertise for anyone, but I heard about Google Earth several months ago. Well, a couple of weeks ago I went ahead and installed the program on my computer, and began poking around the world. Literally, around the world.

Ten years ago this month, my family and I left Misawa Japan for the States as I retired from the USAF after 24 years, 2 months, and 23 days of service (then I quit counting), and thirteen and a half years in Japan. Our kids grew up there; from before the time they were old enough to remember, everything was Misawa and Japan.

How are these two things connected? Well, I “Googled” (is that a verb?) Misawa, Japan this week and, sure enough, the globe spun to the West, so far west that I was looking at the Far East: Japan. And then it zoomed in on the city of Misawa, and the military base of Misawa Air Base. I could look from thousands of miles high down on the city and the air base. I can see the steeple of Calvary Baptist Church! I can even find two or three of our favorite hot baths.

Oh, Look! There is the Base Exchange and Commissary, Headquarters, and the Post Office with its’ horribly designed parking lot. There is the Burger King, and even the old Goofy Golf/ Put-Put course. It looks like they are replacing the old Legal office with a new building of some sort, and something is going on at Flag Pole Circle; I can see a crane. One of the Navy hangers is getting a new roof, right down to the rafters.

And there is the main base housing area! But it looks different, somehow. When we left ten years ago, they were going to tear down our housing area (USA Housing) and build housing towers; until, that is, I asked a question at the Base Facilities Board: “Would the new towers be far enough away from the runway for take off clearances?” They considered “mini-towers,” or half-towers, but that was unresolved when we departed.

Well, Google Earth showed me that there are new houses where our old one was located. The loop of our road was kept, but all the old USA houses are gone. They needed to be “gone.” They were originally at Chitose Air Base right after WWII, and when we gave that base back to the Japanese Self Defense Forces, the housing was dismantled and relocated to Misawa! Ours were perpendicular to the street, but the new ones are parallel to the street; and there is a new road through TOW (Termination of War, WWII, that is) housing leading to the area.

Looking at Security Hill, I can see that some of the things I was planning for when I left have been accomplished! The old water tower, damaged in an earth quake in 1996, is gone and the new one is up. There is a gym building right where I had projected it to be in our “out-year-plan.” There is another building next to it that I don’t recognize, but the old ESG HQ building is gone (I didn’t have anything to do with those projects). The Project ASSETT antenna is plainly visible; it was actually under construction when we left in 1997. Project ASSETT required the removal of unused cables to the defunct Project Landway antennas. Well, Project Landway, and all eight of its antennas and support building are gone! YES! That was a nose bleed for me, at the end! All I could do was get the cables cut, someone else got the antennas and supports taken out. My project to replace the old electrical substations on the roof with units on the ground has been accomplished! YES!! But my project to replace the Tohoku Denki electrical substation appears to have not been done. The project may have been scrapped, or just not done yet. That one would have required GOJ (Government of Japan) involvement, maybe even their funding; well, no wonder then.

Also, I had submitted plans for the demolition and removal of two “temporary buildings” inside our compound. There was some controversy about their demolition, because once a base gets a building, no one really wants to give it up. But, in my proposals, I had found out that the authorization for the two buildings was a “temporary authorization” from Congress; and when the permanent buildings were in place, the old ones were supposed to go away. Well, many years later these buildings were a maintenance and security nightmare as far as their being SCIF’s was concerned. Google Earth showed me that both of those buildings are gone: the original Project LadyLove building is gone, as is the ancient “Training Section.” I know the 301st Security Police people were happy when that was done!

I can see where our old Prime BEEF encampment on the Hill has been made into a permanent training area for the Base Civil Engineers, and a Rapid Runway Repair training area has been added, good idea someone. A mock “runway” has been paved, and it has been used it a few times; I can tell because of the look of the concrete that is there.

Both “Port-a-Mod” plastic dome/roofed storage buildings are still there, I see; right across from the baseball fields. The roofs of these 'buildings' used to leak, and the manufacturer wanted mega-bucks for repairs. These buildings were only supposed to be there five years; twenty years later there they are!!

I see that the base got smart about the road to Security Hill between Rockies’ Roost and the Ski Lodge. Turn lanes have been constructed so vehicles don’t have to stop at the top of the hill to connect to the Base Perimeter Road. A new base commander wanted to make it a full stop for the people coming from Security Hill until I challenged the wisdom of the idea (with all due respect) because of the ice on the road during the winter months.

And, drop my jaw, Deep Space is gone; I mean the buildings are there, but the antennas are not! Deep Space began after I went to Security Hill in 1988, but was still going when we left Misawa.

The base was going to close the old POL gate (its official name was changed to something else, but I can’t remember what that was). Looking through Google, I see that, far from closing it, there is an entirely new gate system and building there. A new back gate to the housing area has also been added!

Well, enough reminiscing; I know that I have bored you to tears.

Google your Earth! It's free.

Genesis 3:16 ~ Desire

I recently read a part of an old sermon titled “I Now Know Who’s the Boss,” from a Southern Baptist trustee. Something about the sermon just did not sound right. Here are two excerpts from adjacent sections of his written message:

Introduction: Remember Sunday morning I said that in my understanding of marriage forty years ago, we operated best when my wife understood who was the boss -- and “God said I’m the boss.”

I based my view on an understanding of the following verse.

Genesis 3:16 - “Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.”

After the fall in the Garden, God said two things about Adam and Eve's relationship with each other.

1. Eve … she will 'desire' her husband The word 'desire' is often misunderstood. It means in scripture 'to exert domininion' and the word is used just a chapter later:

Genesis 4:7 “If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his (sin's) DESIRE . . .”

Well, his subject was relationships within marriage. Is the husband to dominate the wife? Or is the marriage to be mutual? Based on Ephesians 5:18-21 “And do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit, 19 speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord; 20 always giving thanks for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God, even the Father; 21 and be subject to one another in the fear of Christ,” he said:

So what does a spirit-filled person look like?
v. 19 – joyful – this Spirit produced
v. 20 – grateful – this Spirit produced
v. 21 – serving, submissive – this Spirit produced

This would appear to completely negate the headship of the husband, and make marriage a purely complimentary relationship. Now, I will be the last one to say that the husband is to “dominate” his wife, because the implication there is that the husband is “using” his wife. “Using” one another is not Scriptural, not Spiritual, or Christian.

Without solving, or even addressing, the question of the headship of the husband over his wife (Who’s the Boss?), I want to deal exegetically with one of his passages. My problem with his sermon is what he said about Genesis 3:16: “To the woman He said, ‘I will greatly multiply Your pain in childbirth, In pain you will bring forth children; Yet your desire will be for your husband, And he will rule over you.’”

The preacher said that his previous misunderstanding came from the meaning of the word “desire,” that this did not mean that the wife “desired” her husband:

Eve … she will 'desire' her husband. The word 'desire' is often misunderstood. It means in scripture 'to exert domininion' and the word is used just a chapter later:
Genesis 4:7 “If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his (sin's) DESIRE . . .”

My question is this: What does the word “desire” mean in the original Hebrew text and in the LXX Greek translation of that text? Let me show you what I found without boring you with the actual Hebrew and Greek texts:

This noun appears only three times in the Old Testament, once in Song 7:10. The woman says of her beloved: “I am my beloved's and his 'desire' is for me.” The two remaining references are Gen 3:16 and Gen 4:7. In the latter passage God is speaking to Cain and says to him that sin is like a crouching beast "hungering, intent upon" Cain. In the former passage God says, "Your 'desire' shall be to your husband and he shall rule over you." This is obviously neither an intensification nor a warping of a pre-existing hierarchy between the sexes for no such hierarchy is alluded to.

There are two differences between the Gen passage (Gen 3:16) and that in the Song of Solomon. In the former the reference is to the wife's desire for her husband. In the latter it is the bridegroom's desire for the bride. Second, in the Gen passage the reference to "desire" is in a context of sin and judgment. In the latter, the reference is in a context of joy and love.

Eve desires her husband, and the bridegroom desires his bride; and, in a twisted way, sin crouched at the door for Cain and desired him. Genesis 4:7 “If you do well, will not your countenance be lifted up? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door; and its desire is for you, but you must master it.” Sin lusted to possess Cain; now that is powerful temptation! Headship is another question altogether, aside from this preacher’s misuse of Genesis 3:16.

Clearly the word “desire” does not mean “dominion” as the preacher said. Eve did not want dominion over her husband (that’s not what she wanted), and Adam did not need to “dominate” Eve. This is a sexual term. Christians need not be prudish about sex in the proper relationship of marriage! We need not pretend that the Bible does not speak to these issues. We also need to not be imprudent about discussing the topic. Discretion and propriety in all things, please!

Mentoring and Disciplship

I have recently taken up a new hobby: on-line evangelism. This is where I met the JW I spoke of in an earlier blog. Many of the questions posted in the Yahoo questions site are either not serious questions, or are phishing for someone to argue with. Often there are a lot of atheists that lurk there, and they pounce on the innocent questions/ questioners.

To those who are not serious questioners, I love using lines of Scripture that point to their lack of faith, and disbelief in God and the Word. To the innocent questioners who are seriously asking for information, I also use the Word, but less confrontationally. Sometimes I find a strong Christian there and enjoy a brief fellowship in private emails as we share the faithfulness of the Lord.

I believe that the people who come into the Yahoo Questions web page, come there of their own free will; that is, they come there because they are drawn there by God, the Holy Spirit: John 6:44

"No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day.

For the JW's and Mormons, I tell them that they do not worship the same Jesus that I worship, because their Jesus was either just a man (Mormons), or else their Jesus was just an archangel (Michael). Neither of their Jesus' is the Jesus of the Bible, neither of them is the Divine God-Man.

For the atheists, I put in extra voltage, even sarcasm. For example, one guy was making a joke about worshipping "baby Jesus," saying "Oh, yeah, I forgot, we don't need to worship him. He never existed." I tackled him with archeology, then apologetics, and then Scripture:
2 Thessalonians 2:11

"For this reason God will send upon them a deluding influence so that they will believe what is false,"

Ending with, "Oh yeah, I forgot, you are deluded."

I do this in the spirit and expectation of Isaiah 55:11

"So will My word be which goes forth from My mouth; It will not return to Me empty, Without accomplishing what I desire, And without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it."

God's Word is what is at stake, not me or anything about me.
God has made a promise, and His reputation is what is at stake.

I wield the Scripture in the spirit and expectation of Hebrews 4:12

"For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart."

Deeply Saddened

I am intentionally not posting the link to the website and the blog to which I here refer. There is a website and a blog site that are all about the pastoral mistakes, and problems that are happening at Bellevue Baptist Church since Steve Gaines came on as their senior pastor.

My wife reads the blog, I do not. She does read some of the "better" postings to me, the "eyuu"'s, the "ahh"'s, and the "ah ha"'s, and I think that is cathartic for her.

Communications are not occurring. Repentance is not occurring. Forgiveness is not occurring. Self-glorification is occurring, humility is not occurring. Self-agrandizement and hagiography (leader worship) are common. There is an air of "gottcha," and an attitude of "you-can't-touch-God's-anointed." I cannot tell you how sad and distressed this entire situation makes me.

Isaiah 52:5
"Now therefore, what do I have here," declares the LORD, "seeing that My people have been taken away without cause?" Again the LORD declares, "Those who rule over them howl, and My name is continually blasphemed all day long."

Romans 2:24
For "THE NAME OF GOD IS BLASPHEMED AMONG THE GENTILES BECAUSE OF YOU," just as it is written.

The short and the long of this is: the entire situation at Bellevue Baptist Church is negatively impacting the work of soul-winners, missions work overseas, and it is destroying the fellowship at Bellevue itself; people are leaving that church. It may yet destroy the relationship between Bellevue and Mid America Baptist Seminary. It appears to this lover of Jesus, and Baptist non-Bellevue preacher, that things are going Satan's way fast.

Please pray for repentance, restitution, and fellowship at Bellevue Baptist Church; that the Kingdom of God be increased and Bellevue Baptist Church be restored to her former glory. There is much to be done for this to occur.