The Secret Holocaust Diaries: The Untold Story of Nonna Bannister

I just read this book and it was very moving and I'd encourage everyone to read it. Below is a poem that I thought summed up the entire book and I know there are a lot of people that would be able relate to it.


WHY?

While my body was imprisoned,
My soul was free.
Now that my body is free,
My soul is restless.

How could this happen (or be)?
Have I not dreamed of total freedom?
The dream that stayed with me for years
I dream no longer—shed no tears.

Embraced with memories so vivid,
I suffer quietly alone.
There’s no one left who shared my sorrows,
Who walked with me the road of horrors.

How many thoughts remain unspoken,
But memories can’t fade away.
The horrors of the past still haunt me,
The ghostly shadows won’t dissipate.

I tried to free myself, pretending it never happened.
Oh, what a fool I was in thinking I could easily forget.
My nights are long, my thoughts are lingering.
The past will always be with me.

No matter how I try, there’s no escape from what was real.
Should I continue to reveal?
Should others learn the true life story
Of more than one who can no longer tell?



Bannister, Nonna (2009-03-20). The Secret Holocaust Diaries: The Untold Story of Nonna Bannister (pp. 239-240). Tyndale House Publishers. Kindle Edition.

My Life in Fundyville by Fundy Rebel

I want to encourage you to read this woman's blog at My Life in Fundyville. This is a brand new blog. I'm sure you'll want to read all her entries and definitely read the comments where others have told their stories. I know this is going to be interesting and I'm looking forward to future posts.


Everyone's journey in/through/& out of "fundyville" will be different. I have considered what I grew up in as an average fundy church. I've been to "fundy lite," average, and even a couple of extreme fundy churches and there is a difference.

In some ways, I think that "fundy lite" can be more dangerous because it's subtle. It's easier to overlook because you don't realize the hold it has on you. As I went through life, what I thought was the Holy Spirit was just the "principles" and "guidelines" that I was taught to be a good Christian. It's not that the principles and guidelines were wrong but the things that we did and didn't do based on them caused us to think we were sinning, that others were sinning, or if they were better Christians, they wouldn't do certain things.

When you only show up for church services and not involved in any part of the ministries of a "Fundy lite" church, it is very easy to think that you're church is different and not involved in the power, manipulation, and control that you hear about it "other" churches. It's easy to miss that only certain people get "loved on" when sick or having a baby. Or, that only certain people, no matter talent or experience, get to teach a class, sing in front of the church, or be visible beyond working in the nursery.

You also come to believe that all other churches outside the baptist "umbrella" are wrong and teach a false gospel. When you finally venture out from under that "umbrella", you realize that this is not true.

One of the problems of growing up "fundy lite" is that it preps people for "hardcore fundy." I've seen multiple people make that step and it seems to be a natural transition. Unfortunately, these people see this step as a growth of spirituality instead of another level of control.


Anyway, I'm looking forward to reading Fundy Rebel's blog. I know there are too many people out there who will be able to relate to her story.

Ezekial 18 – Sins of the Father

I have been listening through Ezekial this month and chapter 18 stuck out to me. Sometimes I wonder if I have to pay for the sins of my father or if I raise a son who defies God, will I have to pay for his sins. I’ve always felt we’re responsible for ourselves but God’s Word and His clarification on the subject really meant a lot to me this week.

Ezekial gives this list of sins several times in this chapter but to save time I’ll list them here.

1.       Violent

2.       Shedder of blood

3.       Eats upon the mountain

4.       Defiles his neighbor’s wife

5.       Oppresses the poor and needy

6.       Commits robbery

7.       Does not restore a pledge

8.       Lift up his eyes to the idols

9.       Commits abomination

10.    Lends at an interest and takes a profit

Ezekial also lists the behaviors of a righteous man, which parallels the list of sins.

1.       Does not eat upon the mountain

2.       Lift his eyes to the idols of Israel

3.       Does not defile neighbor’s wife

4.       Does not oppress anyone

5.       Restores to the debtor his pledge

6.       Exacts no pledge

7.       Commits no robbery

8.       Gives bread to the hungry

9.       Covers the naked with a garment

10.    Withholds his hand from iniquity

11.    Withholds his hand from injustice

12.    Executes true justice between man and man

13.    Takes no interest or take a profit

14.    Obeys my rules

15.    Walks in my statutes

16.    Keeps my rules by acting faithfully

Here’s the good news, the lesson for today.

1.       The soul who sins shall die. (vs. 4, 19)

2.       The righteous man shall live. (vs. 9)

3.       The righteous man shall not die because of his sinful son. (vs. 13)

a.        He shall not pay for the iniquity of his son. (vs. 20)

4.       The righteous man shall not die because of his sinful father. (vs. 17)

a.       He shall not pay for the iniquity of his father. (vs. 20)

5.       If the sinful (wicked) turn from their sin, they shall not die and his transgressions shall not be remembered against him. (vs. 21, 27-28)

6.       If the righteous man turns to wickedness, he shall die and his righteous deeds will not be remembered. (vs. 24, 26)

Have I any pleasure in the death of the wicked, declares the Lord God, and not rather that he should turn from his way and live? (vs. 23)

For I have no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Lord God; so turn, and live. (vs. 32)

J. Frank Norris: The Shooting Salvationist by David R. Stokes

I encourage you to read this book.

This was a fascinating book and story of a man that I've heard about but didn't know much about.

The best synopsis of this book is from the book itself on the last page.

The Reverend Doctor J. Frank Norris was many things: a pastor who led the nation's first megachurch, a provocative publisher and a pioneer broadcaster. At his apex during the Roaring Twenties, Norris preached to a congregation of 10,000 at First Baptist Church in Fort Worth, Texas. With the flair of a great showman, he railed against vice and injustice.

Rev. Norris was also a killer.                                         

To those who dared to challenge him, J. Frank Norris was a formidable foe, as demonstrated with swift brutality in 1926, when he shot an unarmed critic to death. The killing and subsequent trial became a national media sensation. 

      Using more than 6,000 pages of newspaper articles, court records, and a variety of other published works, author and minister David Stokes vividly recreates the story of the fundamentalist movement's most controversial figure. Mesmerizing in its vivid details, APPARENT DANGER: The Pastor of Americas First Megachurch and the Texas Murder Trial of the Decade in the 1920s skillfully explores the events leading up to one of the most intriguing—yet least known—true crime dramas in America's legal history.

You also might be interested in the website from the author regarding this book. The Shooting Salvationist

Enoch Kelly Haney paintings

I bought these paintings almost 15 years ago. They are signed by the artist and a numbered edition. I am not able to display them and I'm not sure what they are worth if someone wanted to buy them but I thought I'd share them with others who might be interested.

The Patriot

I don't know what this one is called. I have not been able to find a picture of it online.

Wings of Democracy

Haydn's Baptism

Tonight I was able to baptize Haydn. It's such a great experience to get a chance to baptize your own children. I baptized Suzanna a couple of years ago and I might get to baptize Aria in the next year or two.

I tried to upload a video but it's not working. You can see it on my FB page. 

Death & Assuming God's Reasons

When a person dies a fairly young death, people like to assign a reason as to why God would remove them from this earth. A lot of time with religious people, and especially fundamentalist, make a determination depending on what they think of the person. When it comes to people that are deemed good and wholesome, it's considered a tragedy and figure that "God must have a reason even if we don't understand."

Both my mothers died at relatively young ages. My first mom was 26 and my second mom was almost 53. They should have had years to live but God saw fit to take them "home" to heaven. Sometimes I've wondered why and I could make some assumptions but I've never thought that God took them home because of some evil that they have done. Anyone who knew my mothers probably never thought that either.

When it comes to others, they wonder what sin that person was committing. If they know about certain sin or don't agree with their religious beliefs, they start quoting James 1:15 "sin bringeth forth death" and other examples of lives in the Bible being cut short.

I know it's true and I even wrote about it in my family about James 1:15 personified in our family.

I know a young man who died in a motorcycle accident. I was told that he had gone back to his sinful life and that it was God's punishment for not serving God anymore.

A few years ago, one of my Bible college professors died an early death. On facebook I saw a pastor I know say it was because the man had become a staunch atheist and was writing a book refuting God's substitutionary death on the cross for our sins and that God killed this professor because he was making a mockery of God.

In the past year or so, a couple of young men of highly visible religious people have committed suicide. One's from fundamentalist background and the other from a evangelical background. What's sad is that the fundamentalist's family received sympathy and a "wonder why" but the family from the evangelical background received condemnation and suggestions that it was because they're not really serving the "true God."

Here's my question? Why do we speculate the worst? Why do we think that a person must have done or is doing something wrong and that is why they died?

We should not assume the reason why tragedy and death come to people at a young age. Only God knows.

It's insensitive, callous, and just cruel to state publicly that God killed someone out of what you might perceive as "righteous judgment."

Let's support the families by showing love and compassion. Stand with them in prayer. They don't deserve your unfounded opinion of God's purpose of allowing a tragedy to come into their lives.