Wagler Wisdom

The old Ford F150 , 1993 model year, groaned but would not turn over this AM in 30 degree morning chill. Yes , we have been noting the last week or two that morning starts are a bit iffy . Until now it has always started .

We tend to buy Advance Auto stuff , not that it is so good , but that there always is a store close by no matter where one is . We had an unfortunate experience several years back with an Exide Top – of the line battery , that needed warranty attention . The original seller had gone out of business , and other Exide dealers failed to help out on it .

Advance has a ”Gold” battery that with all the fees and core charge and all taxes comes to about $140 or so .

Son-in-law Mark Stolzfus had mentioned to me a while back that Advance Auto stores always has on-line deals worth checking out . We checked on-line and sure enough , a $20 on-line shopping coupon applied to this battery . And whoa, something much bigger was there too. Until Dec. 12 , a $50 coupon on future purchases applied too, on this particular battery , E-mailed to you and good for 21 days after that . Thanks ,Mark, for the tip.

Wow , a full 50% off in a round-a-bout way . We purchased it with Paypal , drove the 5 miles to the store to pick up the waiting battery order , and were through with it ………….

Continuing the Winterising of the Ford F150 , our hearer core had given out some time ago , and since heat is not a factor in summer , we simply by-passed the heater for then , until a month ago. We purchased the heater , and considered the installation options . We decided to do it ourselves , knowing the Ford F150 heat core  is notoriously tough to do . It is deep in the dash behind the cubby-hole , and requires major dismantling to get in and out of there . Major-Major.

We did it the Shortcut way . After the Cubby- hole was removed , we used a screw-driver , pliers , a UT knife, and a saw . The wires , and the main-brainy thing , we did not cut , but everything else was fair game . A rather quick installation , we must say , and the heat works fine ,looks fine too , looking down , though there is no directional control at all for the hot air , a rather minor glitch on an older truck …………..

And why are we driving a somewhat tired 18 year old truck for our main work Vehicle ? Well , let us just say it replaced the 1978 Ford F150 some years back . Fords are Tough , the 93′ somewhat resembles Uncle Jess’s truck in the ”Dukes of Hazard”.  The truck is all white , somewhat dulled by age . Having a different color hood , or a door or so with different color would perhaps carry that idea too far .

My clientele seems to appreciate us not driving fancy new trucks , that seems to hold true throughout the South ,not to drive expensive work trucks. Many of the Yank Mennonites that have in the past immigrated South have done that , bought shiny monolith monster trucks that roar a lot and look expensive . A good many of them are now waiting on tables and punching time cards , come to think of it .

Today ,December 14th , we are well into the Holiday season . Almost all work projects are grinding to a halt . If one prefers not to do something just now , ”We’ll look at it after the Holidays ” , will do it just fine . That can mean up to Jan. 15th or so …….

Now is also a good time to take stock of whatever is important to oneself , Whether it’s one’s weight , or accomplishments , or lack of them ,or nothing at all . Almost everyone in the South takes off a few days , or weeks , or whatever they can swing , in time or financially from their jobs . And start some serious decorating and cooking up of foods of all kinds .

Our daughter last night achieved something we always wanted to do but never have quite managed to find time for . And what was that ?  Ringing the Salvation Army Bell in front of the little red kettle , to raise the change and small bills for their works. Ah, maybe next year , Ho-Ho-Ho.

One of the most astounding things we have found ourselves in this past year is that we now find ourselves the owner-operators of an old fashioned Single-wide Mobile home park ,often as not referred to as a ”Trailer park”. .

We’ve about always landlorded a handful or two of houses  . Over 20 years ago we permanently washed our hands of ever , ever , owning or renting out a trailer , especially single wide ones ,and all the problems they tend to entail with them. and we have faithfully abided by that , until this year , that is .

How this came about , is a bit complicated . An Investor friend held a note to the property , and in this economy it came about that the ”Trailer Park” ripened up to an ownership situation. The hunt for a partner to run the thing ended up at our door .

Twice we rejected the Idea of being involved in it quite vigorously , and with good reasons . The 3rd time was the charm , we suppose , or perhaps the hot summer heat dissipated the oxygen in the air around us , making rational thought hard.

It is a rather small Park , 28 spots in all , about 16 of them producing income when we took it over.  There was one burned out hulk , 3 unclaimed trailers of unknown ownerships , and 2 vacant park-owned ones badly needing repairs ,too.

The previous Park owner had somewhat let things slide , and what seemingly kept the Park habitable was the presence of a number of long term trailer owners who leased the lots only , and were very nice folks to get to  know  .

One older leaser mentioned to me that he had been living in the same spot there for 42 years .  He noted that mostly it had been in his ”newer ”’mobile home . Further conversation revealed that it was a 1975 model year home..

Our first job there was to put up an attractive covered Bulletin Board , which also was the location of the metal lock box for rent collecting.  ”Checks only, No cash allowed ”,was printed up prominently .

We were warned by several Park residents that ”They’ll hook a car and chain to it the first night and bust it open to make sure no cash was in it”.

The ”They ” they were referring to were  several functional druggies who purportedly lived in  there. (Folks who drugged , but still were able to hold jobs).

We were tempted to put a lot of iron and heavy wire mesh all over it , but ended up just neatly bolting it to a post . The first month hardly anyone used the lockbox , but gradually use of it picked up . And no one has tried to bust it up ,yet.

We’ll branch off here and talk a bit about the  supposed hectic life of a Landlord . We keep our work phone on 24-7 , but rarely hear from any tenants except an occasional emergency , like water running where it shouldn’t be , which will happen anywhere .

Otherwise we never expect to hear from any tenants , and when we do we know almost 100% of the time it is an ”angle” call . We always try to act cheery and uncomplicated when we answer , but know that any tenant who calls has his or her very own good in mind . Always .

So, if you rent a house now , you can expect your landlord to sound  cagey and withdrawn when you call him or her.He is expecting a hook in the conversation somewhere .

We once rented a house in Florida several weeks from an old acquaintance . When we left I called her just to thank her again ,and all that. From her stiff phone demeanor you would have thought we had fired up the house or something like that . I’m sure she rushed over to check it out right after we left the place . I got to see the other side of the equation that time .

to be continued

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Amish settlements all over the USA have faced this question over the last  decades . The more conservative Amish have always tolerated , sometimes even touted the use of Tobacco .So ,shall we continue using it , or not ? That question has periodically been asked among themselves.

Those who have a Right-wrong equation about it, and things like that , or want to know if it is Biblical to use it , have moved away from it , if  rather slowly . Those to whom the Right or wrong question comes way down on the list if at all , still use Tobacco products , and claim to be Okay with it .

A side question arose quite quickly when the Tobacco use questions came up . How about the folks along the East Coast that raised it , and were Amish ?

All these questions came to a head in 1969 .(Admittedly a while back.) A new Amish Publishing house was just started in Aylmer, Ontario , called Pathway Publishers . They had a stable of very good writers of the Right -Wrong persuasion . In other words ,” I  will reason with you , point out how I am right and you are wrong , if you then do not agree with me I will try and Ban you ” type of thinking . That group of Amish, in Aylmer, Ontario ,have never been known for being very tolerant of diverse thinking. (They almost go berserk concerning Amish or Mennonites with Cars)

A then young Amish writer , and historian by the name of Joseph Stoll , published an article in the Amish Family Life Magazine in the August 1969 issue pointing out the evils of tobacco  use among the Amish.

It is a well written , and researched article that shows that the early Anabaptist , and even Jacob Ammon himself were on record as being against Tobacco use ,except for medicinal purpose. The article never mentions the Raising of the  leafy crop . Just how bad it is for one’s health , and the poor witness to ‘outsiders’. This particular article is almost always referred to in today’s media mention of tobacco use by the Amish . especially for what it did not mention , the cultivating of the stuff. A sort of Ground Zero about Tobacco & the Amish.

”There ,the Reasoning was out in the open ”, the  Aylmerites may have thought , ”surely this will make a difference , Amish everywhere will surely consider this and at least try quitting the poison leaf.”

The Postman is the center of most Amish interaction or question, and it took a while for the question to be presented by letters to the Lancaster Pa . Amish Leaders, and those of them with influence. “Why are you raising Tobacco , and making money off it’s use , when it is plainly shown (by us ) to be Wrong ?”

‘There Now” ,the Aylmer Amish writers must have assumed, their fellow brethren in Amish-dom would surely see the error in their way , and not only consider to stop using Tobacco , but surely not to raise the stuff too  .

They and their new-finagled ideas  did not even come close , if that was their goal .

In today’s conservative Amish settings , What is right or wrong or biblical is often not at all the most important thing in the Equation . If it is even in the Equation. Other things are thought much more important ….

Like , have we and our forefathers done this for generations , and does it not work well for us ?would we not dishonor our forbears by changing things now ? Does this help pay off our farms ? Does this keep us from being what we think of as Worldly ?   The right or wrong content of the question about a matter is thus not very important to a very large segment of Amish folks today .

We suspect that type of thinking would be mostly found with the same stricter Amish folks that would also not allow ”going to Florida in Winter times”. That would also include the ”Hardscrabble crowd” . Amish who have pretty well painted themselves into a corner . Not allowed to have a business, not allowed this and that , certainly no interaction with the ”World ” , many of those about do not survive financially today . They would not dream of giving tourists buggy rides at $10 a person for a 15 minute ride .

One big exception to the above is the Lancaster Pa. mainline Amish who do go to Florida in the winter, gladly interact to fleece the Tourists at home daily in every way imaginable  , And use any and all means to pay off their expensive farms , now as they did in 1969.And they absolutely love Money , as in $$$$ , love to quietly sack it up .

That said , they can be very helpful if a need arises that they believe in . In the  1800′s Lancaster co. pa Amishmen raised $60 K in hard cash to save the entire Amish-Mennonite  settlement in what is now  Kitchneer -Waterloo Ont. They had run into severe problems with their land titles.

So, having sacks of cash available does come in well sometimes. Back then it bought clear title to 60000 acres.This episode in Amish-Mennonite  history is little acknowledged by most Anabaptist historians , because the  desperate delegation from Canada had been turned down by all the other  major Amish-Mennonite Settlements , before they arrived in Lancaster Pa. , which was to be the last stop .

That part of the eastern Pa.  Amish and also Mennonite Psyche, their fixation on the hard cash life, may be due to a severe farm depression back in the 1880′s when a large number of  Amish and Mennonites  In Lancaster Co. lost their farms .. And they , and their Noch-comma never forgot  ,up to today.

Tobacco use today is still there , and the tobacco raising by Amish in Lancaster Co. and that area is much expanded today after quotas were abolished several years ago and it is a free market in it now. During the 1990′ s less and less tobacco was being raised by the Amish , some thought they were “seeing the light” . Now, however , when there is again money to be made from the Cancer plant they are flocking to raising it again. Beliefs, anyone ? Or is it all just for show , The “Monkey see, monkey do ” Thing ?   (That is an old saying , not one tailored just for Amish )

Back to 1969 , and the challenge by the Aylmerite writers , to Amish leaders in eastern Pa. to step up to the plate and do what was right , on the tobacco issue.

Well , they stepped up to the Plate , alright , In defense of their fathers , their father’s fathers on back  as far as they were in Pa. The ”What was good enough for them is surely now good for us” reasoning won a total victory with them .

Today’s Internet is a remarkable thing . Someone puts a snippet on there , a letter pops up that was written decades ago , and things come together , what happened and perhaps why . so it is with the Tobacco issue in 1969 and afterwards.

As the Amish Leaders and Thinkers of Lancaster co. Pa. were slowly banding together to address this bold challenge to them and their ways , even in 1969 it did not take them long to come to a consensus .

Not only did they reject the idea that the use and raising of tobacco products was not good or right , They as one turned and took a new look at these bold folks from afar who dared question them and their affairs. What they saw they did not especially care for .

One of the most influential Amish men in Lancaster County in the past 50 years was perhaps a man named Andy Kinsinger . Not a preacher , but a Hard working Print-shop man ,having a shop in Gordonville Pa. An uncomplicated man of impeccable character who said and did exactly as he believed . A really nice giant of a man , equally comfortable talking to lawmakers in the halls of Congress , as he was Chairing the dozen or so Amish Interests committees he was involved in . When you saw the back of an Amish man strolling out of the US Supreme Court Building , it was probably him .A really nice man to know , and surely one to reason with , the aylmerites in 1969 may have thought.

After soundly rejecting the challenge from afar to Lancaster tobacco tilling, It was the influential Andy Kinsinger who suggested they might need to look at some of the Aylmerites’ other Activities and ideas. In a letter , since archived, he noted that the School curriculum that the Aymer Ont  Amish Publishing house was even then putting out , was not so good , because it ”Contained bits of religion , and young children should not be exposed to religion in School , they may think it common and tire of it , they should get their religion in Church”. (Not an exact quote ,somewhat condensed)

The Pathway School books from Aylmer are Amish-Oriented , but with no pictures or drawings of people . They became quite poplar with the Homeschooling movement in the 1990″s and sold a pile of material to Non-Amish customers then. Today they would be somewhat dated for the Homeschoolers as that movement has matured , and a lot of better material is now available.

As for the Amish , their newest material now available is called “Study Time” , out of northern Indiana, A system that is set up to really teach children new things. That is very unusual in and of itself , to teach Amish children new things .

Andy Kinsinger was not a devious man , just a true “The old way is surely the only way ” practitioner.

So today , as in 1969 , as in 1949 , as in 1929 , most Amish School curriculum in Lancaster Pa . and that general area consists of reprinted spelling and math, and reading  books from the 19th or early 20th century . The exact same material used by their Fathers and Grandfathers ,and perhaps even their Great-Grandfathers . And it just so happened that the Gordonville Amish print shop was ,and still is the main supplier of all those ancient reprints of old school books.

Our point for this article is that there are many , if not most , so called Anabaptist that are living something that they have no particular belief in . This is not only found among Amish ,but also among Mennonite factions of all levels . Historically , this has washed itself out , come hard persecutious  times , and it will surely happen again .

Jesse Wagler Nov. 2011

We recently purchased several books by Frank Viola , a prolific Christian writer who questions a lot of what is Considered Church today.He is not writing from an Anabaptist viewpoint , but from the same Holy Scripture.

We very quickly found out why he is so reviled by many Church leaders today . He questions almost everything that we do in or about Church today .He is especially adamant about Christ being the leader and head of the Church , and not some person , as we all are so used to . We would think there is some middle grounds there . Perhaps a leader with a serving heart ?

Most of what he points out applies to all Protestant Churches , and Anabaptist too. We need to keep in mind that just because one reads a book , does not mean one understands or agrees with all of it . It should , and does tend to make one think, and may help evolve one’s beliefs too.

In clearer terms, some of his ideas are hard to follow , If we believe our God is really omnipresent , and that the Church is always present somewhere ,in spite of man’s maneuverings .

We would like to point out just a few of his points here , that we would feel are often overlooked or smoothed over in today’s too often convoluted Churches that are substantive.Adding a few of  our own Comments ,too.

1. He quite often takes issue with today’s Bible layout of  Chapter & verse , especially the verse layout , that it impedes the tone and purpose .. It may come as a surprise to many that the Verse dividing in Our Bible is a fairly new thing . He also points out that Paul’s Letters are laid out in the Bible Longest letters first , Down to the shortest letters last . He pointed out that if Apostle Paul’s Letters are studied in Chronologically correct order , a lot of Confusion is avoided , in learning from his evolving Ministry.

We have in our library a Copy of a Copy of the Wycliffe New Testament , the first English translation , put out by John Wycliffe . It has no Verse division at all , and the so called English is almost indecipherable ,compared to The later KJV.

Almost everyone I have ever showed this translation to , especially Preachers , are totally bored by it , consider it like an imposition , even if it came out several centuries before the KJV. It’s compiler was executed as a heretic for his works.

2. An issue is made of Church Pews , the high backed wood benches so many of us sit on uprightly on Sunday mornings . (Hopefully padded). He points out how they evolved , that at the early Church services most folks were standing throughout , or setting on stone benches at the sides of the room .

He makes the point that Today’s Pews are set up for one and only one purpose , to watch a performance ,and that is a reasonable assumption , from our own personal observation over many years .

What he says about any and all pompous Pulpits , we won’t bother to go into here , we’ve felt that way for some time. Any kind of Pulpit , raised or at floor level ,has never been a part of Anabaptist history or heritage. Until the recent past , that is .

The Bishop-worship as practiced by the Amish,and others ,up to today ,is an appalling example of Man’s fallacy when it comes to Worship not centered on God or the word. And they try and back it up with Scripture , too.

3. And ”Running ” a Church either by Dictatorship, or by a  Majority Vote , has exactly the same end result according to the thoughts in the books.. Both methods divide and compartmentalize folks , and the end result is always chaos or the dreaded split , and bad blood .Between haves and have -nots, In- power or out-of-power factions tend to  develop.

He points out that a  Godly way is by consensus of believers , and that it is imperative in every way , for a Godly Church to function and grow upon. That Churches often have an abundance of unbelievers in it , complicates matters a lot.

And what could be a main difference between Voting and a consensus in a Church ? A consensus is when everyone to some degree  supports a matter. A vote , every major voted decision has the seeds of division in it , every time .

That many, if not most , rules and strictures in our Anabaptist circles are there for folks in the Church who may have no core beliefs , is something for us  to think about..

4. Wearing of special or different clothes for Church . The books take a dim view of the reasons for that . Especially in the Clergy’s case, of their special garb, special seating , even special walk , (the stick in the back pant-legs look ?) .in or to the forefront .

. We must realize that the clothing issue is greatly changed from even a generation ago . Clothes are so abundant now , availability is not even an issue . Clean clothes may not mean what it used to . Apostle Paul missed his cloak , and made special effort to get it back . He perhaps used the same cloak for work and preachings , and almost surely would not have washed it as often as we pop clothes in the washers. It seems credible that he would have blended into any street scene with his cloak , because it was what was in his heart that made the difference.

Some  Anabaptist often take it out on their women to be different in dress appearances ,in the name of modesty . While so many of the Strictest Anabaptist Men too often live lives that are a sham .That the strictest , most unbending of men in an Anabaptist Church are also Corrupt is almost a given .

5.The issue of Tithing that is taken from several verses in the OT , and is never commanded or mentioned as a thing to dwell on , or practice  in the NT.

. We would note that about the only mention of the practice in the New Testament is when people tried to show how upright or holy they were . It seems to us that that trait continues to this day . People bragging about themselves often tout  their own OT practice of strict Tithing .

For a child of God, it all belongs to the lord , not just 10% .

6. The idea that every Christian must be under some appointed Person’s authority or even a Denominational ‘covering ‘ is addressed in some detail . He notes that this always ends in sordid corruption , If any man sets himself up. or allows himself to be set up as “God”‘ in any form .  This is a huge one for most Mennonite settings we are aware of , that the leader , right or wrong , must be obeyed at all and any situations. He points out rather severely that this whole thinking is not from the Bible , but from the Devil , and that all the fruits bear that out .

So what if he is right in this  ? It would toss much of current Anabaptist authority & succession  practice into the scrap pile . Our own observation and experience in the past, is that utter corruption always has followed this type of one- way authority  practicing.  Our God really is a jealous God in every instance.

To be continued…….

Reading about the Ohio beard-cutting Amish crazies , it is odd to see their mad Bishop-leader saying on tape that ”Certainly we are not a Cult”.  So, that got us to wondering , exactly what and who can be a cult and not know it , as those chaps plainly appear to be .

Looking up the origins of the word ”Cult”  gets confusing to say the least , it is a word first used in about 1932 by a noted sociologist to describe certain attributes in a religious group or groups. No one , and we mean no one,ever  sees themselves as a Cult in any way  today, including the mad-Bishop in the hair-cutting saga.

But the meaning we attribute to the word Cult today, is age old , as long as there have been words written , to denote false and-or faked religious activities. A Church , or any group of religious adherents can cross that line and not know it . The line we are talking about here is the one between serving God and serving The Evil one , Satan and his empire. There is some scripture that would indicate both can be served very short term , but one has to win out quite quickly , To serve and worship either God or Mammon.

That is warned about when Jesus taught that one cannot serve both God and Mammon .  About the Sheepfold and also about the false Shepherd . One of the most Spiritually alarming passages about misled believers  in the New Testament is found in Rev. 3 verse 9…..

It describes ”Those of the Synagogue of Satan,who claim to be Jews ,though they are not, but are liars”….(Like the One  they serve)..

We won’t here try to decipher  that in our way , or any which way , just let it say what it does . So often  much of Scripture is minced and diced any and every way , until one is entering into confusion of every sort . We would point out this appears to refer to a group of misled folks , not just a slick leader serving Satan .

Were those described in Rev. 3-9 sincere but sincerely wrong ?  Regular Church goers and attenders , perhaps members in good standing , but serving Satan as noted ?     All questions here , for now ………..

So, we will offer up a few suggestions of signs of progression as to what we refer to as Cults gravitate towards , a few are original with us , most are thoughts gleaned from other studies on this peculiar Often mentioned but elusive  subject.   What does a Cult tend to do or not do?  What to look out for ,If our desire is to stay away from Cults  today ?

Anabaptist history is rife with examples of what we would call a Cult today , from the Munsterites of the 1600′s ,through today’s actual weird Amish reasoning that ”Having a car may keep one out of heaven , but not having a car surely will not keep one out of heaven”.  Trade the word car off for a lot of other inane things and the thicket of confusion widens.And not for the  good.

First of all,  as far as we know ,there are no professing cult members anywhere to get first person accounts or warnings from . none that we are aware of .. Sure, there are lots of stories out there about long ago ones or these or that crowd we are sure are cults , because you see ”They aren’t like us , so they have to be a Cult”.

I Cor. 7-23 .”You were bought with a price, do not become slaves of men .Brothers ,each man,as responsible to God, should remain in the situation God called him to …  (Called ”Christ’s Slave”   in v. 22).

No 1”. Do not become a Slave to man”, sounds elementary , but shows a way that fosters a Cult-atmosphere, often the buzzwords of ”brotherhood” and”accountability” may mean Slavery to other mankind, in action.

2. Saying ,teaching, commanding  that ”Christ is the way ,but we are  the way for you to get to the way ”  . cults are a jealous guardian of their sheep , try to  control about everything.

3.Isolating of the ”Sheep” ,supposedly it is for their own ”Good, Growth,protecting  from the unknown factor”.It can also mean separating them from exposure to all  competing worldwide influences ……(Cars ,  Internet , news, other cultures ,etc,etc ) .Also exposure to Truth .

A twisted example comes to mind of a very Plain Anabaptist group that existed In Tennessee some years ago . James 1;27 was taken to an extreme ”To remain unspotted from the world”.Any and all inventions were out the Door .Motors , calculators, anything invented in the last 100 years to make life easier . Curiously enough , bicycles were allowed .

And did it last ? No. And were they sincere in their beliefs ? Absolutely .This was not a case of Blindly following the Blind . Perhaps hundreds of thousands of words were very well written to espouse this particular small group’s very narrow view of the World , and their own supposed part it . They far out-Amished the Amish view ,and attemptted to live it fully.

4 Mind control of followers of man,by man , not by the Holy Spirit …. An old saying ,which may have a lot of truth to it ,is that many if not most Church programs would continue as is , if the Holy Spirit removed itself from it, and them .

4b “A Leader That is not Christ” . a Physical leader , with or without Charisma , is usually found in or around a Cult . The last word needs to come from the Bible ,not from anyone’s lips.

5.”And if you try to leave us ,we will pursue you relentlessly,  like a hound after a hurt rabbit, because we fear you will expose us in some way , so we will do what it takes to destroy you and yours…””  all cults, and budding Cults do this , otherwise anyone may be enlightened.

6.Preaching and Teaching of the word tends to take a complete hiatus in Cults . It becomes all about our self or ourselves .It is all about me , in words and actions . It is the tone instead of the substance that gets and keeps  the faithful sheeple  occupied . Gibberish is to be expected where Satan rules the hearts. Selfishness and selflessness are spelled about the same ,but are a long ways apart indeed.

A cassette recording of the Rev. Jimmy Jones ‘ ranting still exists , where he is shouting incoherent religious monologue as over 700 of his followers die.(People’s temple, Guyana , ) Originally he started out as a Bible preacher .

Another major Anabaptist problem is that their Preachers sometimes think quite well of themselves , and their abilities , when in truth they could almost all use some formal training , in what a sermon consists of …….

7.Cults tend to have few, if any, bible beliefs , only practices . There is a big difference ,as practices change with the leader’s whims ,or popular vote, or any way the wind happens to blow just then . Belief based on truth should not ever change .

If it is all practice , and little if any Biblical Belief to go with it , It’s perhaps like what the Texans call an ”All hat , no Cattle” guy . In other words ,lots of show and little if any Bible Knowledge to put to use.

8.A Cult is a closed Society . Look around you in church ,if everyone is like you in background and names , you may have a problem coming up…..And a much bigger problem later on at the end of  time.

9.The Social-economic closed circle of so-called true Believers, is a sign of selfishness, setting the Christain’s charge to “”Go to all the world”, on hold. Overly being concerned or expectant about increasing in this World’s goods is warned against in the Word ….Mega-Churches that teach that the Lord’s Blessings are to be bestowed in hard cash ,down  to  the small congretant’s public rejoicing about found moneys  is  perhaps often only  all about oneself , Not God’s works. The story of Jabez is a good thing , but let us not get selfish over it . Many hundreds of thousands of folks went gaga over a book about a few verses about Jabez , mostly enriching the compiler of the booklet .

10.Putting a lot of significance  in One’s or other’s  dreams and signs  ,can be , and often is an attribute of a cult . The Anabaptist bishop Claus Epps in the late 1800′s would be an example to take a warning from, about following Dreams and such . He was the one that would baptize in the names of the Father, Sons, & Holy Spirit . He considered himself the 2nd Son of God , and had a sizable following of faithful Mennonites till his death, in about 1913.

11. In our World of Churches , Anabaptist has always held sway ,and it has many worthwhile spiritual attributes . Mix the Roman Catholic and Anabaptist together , and you have what can only be described as a Cult . Intolerant of Other’s Ideas and lives , Spiritual rigidness , Forms of Godliness , without Spiritual content , we would contend that that is not from God , is is from the Evil one.

We must wonder what some of the original Anabaptist would think, or say of the mixture we have today , They almost tirelessly strove to get rid of the Reformed- Catholic influences to an excess ..

And what is the difference between a Cult , and Homeopathic Religions ? A good question , one we can’t address just now . Our sympathies to any who follow Homeopathic Medicines , you are following something that is ”Nothing built on many Nothings’. Herbal medicines we can understand ,and use confidently . Homeopathic Medicines can be diluted with one drop of the original in many a million gallon , and it is considered  more powerful , the more it is diluted . Sounds rather familiar with the way some folks try to “practice” religious beliefs .

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The biggest technological advance in 100 years is the World-wide-Web . If you are reading this you are involved in it . So be it , learning is never outdated . Unless you are ignorant.

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12.The Republicans are mud-debating to get the chance to run against Pres. Obama next year . It looks now that Mitt Romney is edging ahead , a Mormon for president it may very well be……..

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11. A credible new study points out that the Social Security system is going to be around for the next 50 years , with a few minor adjustments here and there . The Amish do not collect it in any form we are aware of , and never have ,while Amish .Also ,they tend not to pay into it . Across the board .

Those with Plainer background but who drive cars now , that are exempt from paying into it somehow , are problematic.  Almost all of those folks I am aware of or know of , are not seemingly against filing to draw SS of some sort once they reach retirement age .

That has got to be corrosive to the soul . Living cheaply by lying about your beliefs on paying into SS , to save money now , will cost in some form .

Most wage earners with dependent children have so many credits of various kinds coming to them , that the SS tax is mostly offset ,and they do not need to lie about it , to stay on the program .Oct21-11

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10 . Today is the day , Oct 21 , according to the 90 year old Camping fellow in CA, that the Earth will be destroyed in it’s entirety , Kaboosched , so to speak ..

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9, The Amish That are cutting off other Amishmen’s beards at the command of their Bishop in Ohio bring to the forefront the corruption of such ”Bishop-powers”. That the Bishop’s reasoning was that he has a right to discipline his wandering members is not at all an unusual  claim.They are displaying what is found everywhere, even ex-ex-ex-Amish , that the stricter the demands , the more of the bad is hidden away.  Call it what it is , a Cult.

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8. The days when the US Postal service literally brought the world to your door , or mailbox , have more or less ended .  The Internet , FedEx and UPS have all taken their toll from the venerable old institution that Benjamin Franklin helped set up . They will probably always be around , but a whole lot less important to most folks.

Maybe it is a bit like Kmart has become over the years .Still there ,but not indispensable . Unlike Walmart which is a must for most folks.

Now if one is not online , like most Amish , the Postal service would still be crucial to one’s day to day activities . The Christmas rush of mail is over , good riddance , giving in to face-book and such type of doings . Oct 20-11

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7. So tonight the wood-man calls well after dark. We burn some wood here and supply at least 2 other households too,sometimes 3.  Anyways , he needs money right now , and has a nice trailer load ready , well over one and a half face cords of split partly seasoned oak, for $50 , with him setting the price  .

Sure , bring it on out .  We prefer not to cut firewood ourselves , for several reasons .

He has 3 more loads just like that , so ,sure we’ll find a place for it ..So he can pay his Insurance bill , or whatever .  Several things we always do . Someone always eyeballs the load when he brings it , and pay up when it is unloaded , in that order .

It will get cold here , maybe even snow once this winter? Hopefully a few brisk nights will perk up the wood-selling demand , for the poor chap. He lives on the main Highway , and I tried to explain to him he needs to set out little racks of wood , to sell for $10. as most folks around the area like to buy wood just as they need it.  Oct 19-11

A face cord of wood is 4 feet high and 8 feet long  & 16 inches deep.

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6. We recently attended an evening service at a local Mennonite church that was conducting a week-long preaching series . The speaker was very able , articulate , and hit point after point brilliantly and hard . The Brother was also about so strict minded , I wondered if he perhaps had a horse and buggy hid in the parking lot . Very interesting , worth while to listen to , keeping one’s interest with sharply slanted stories and illustrations .

It would not have meshed at all with his teaching ,to mention to him that one has not been a formal member of a Church for close to 3 years , we think.

The crowning admonition of the night came at the very close of the service , and was a doozy ……… “”If you have problems here tonight , there are lot’s of Ministers here tonight and also Minister’s Wives , that can help you if you will only let them ”’……We presume the rest of the audience was the intended target of that .

Having said that , we did enjoy it , and it makes us remember stricter , more controlled  by Man times in our lives . Control is fine ,but needs to come from following the life of  Christ. Aug 19–11

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5. We survived another Yard Sale in the Wagler’s yard . We could’nt stand it so we went on to work ,or something , and let the others carry on with it . They sold about $250. worth , but it was obvious the economy is tightening even in that category . Lots of looking , and some  buying . Oct. 12-11

P.S. Add $100 to that for the old pop-corn machine someone bought off the Front Porch , it wasn’t for sale but someone spotted it , and wanted it, since then ..(you can see it there on the left ,behind the A , an old 10 cent one).

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4, Steve Jobs , the Apple Computer  founder, has died , another example of an unhappy, very Rich man , passing on . Note the following situations.

Many Apple products are made by slave Child labor in China , There has never been any public record of  Apple charitable activity in spite of all the wealth. Steve Jobs was always the Meanest , most foul-mouthed ,rudest,person , wherever he was . We’ll leave it at that .

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3. and now , a wild but reasonable prediction . By prediction ,we mean like a weather outlook , where one looks at the weather map , and draws conclusions from the radar map of what may,or may not come about . It may not happen , but tomorrow it is another day ,the Lord willing.

Gasoline (What you put in the car), will continue to drop and should fall below $2 a gallon next year . All kinds of things come into play for it to go there . The election , The desire of big oil to knock the solar and wind power folks down to size , maybe even the collapse of the Euro , that funny money over there across the ocean .The coming Greek default shouldn’t affect it much , it is what the rest of Europe does is perhaps what will affect us .

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2. We recently bought one of those less then $5 flashlight-lanterns at Lowes’ to fill out an order to make it $50 so we could use the $10 off coupon. Surprise, it is actually an LED light with 3 little bulbettes that claim they will last 5 times longer then the regular ones . Oct 03-11

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1.Here In the Abbeville SC area , we have just lately had an unusual phenomena we have noticed taking place in about all the Mennonite Churches. A Goodly number of married , hopefully upstanding  middle aged Mennonite men ,(aged 30 into the 50′ s ) , Have been buying up these huge cruising Motorcycles , and all riding around together on sunny Sunday afternoons.(Men only). These aren’t the crotch rockets , but heavy bikes that have lots of chrome and go ‘Roarrrrrr” rather then  ”’Varhhhrooom”. All are older bikes , a main subject is at how good a price that the bike has been purchased for from some poor hard-up redneck Cycle Buff.

Maybe it is something in the water , or the pretty fall weather , or some sort of mid-life crises being worked out,Working out things about their wives,  or perhaps something to do with all the weird Spiritual stuff going on locally in most of the ”Plain” Churches. Who knows ?  Just be careful out there .

We see these yellow signs around that say ”Save a life , look twice”. We would say ” Grow up , graduate from 2 or 3 wheels to 4 ”.

Excuse us now , we need to go on craigs’ list to see the latest cruising bike offers ,just looking of course , unless it is a really super deal ……..     Oct 04-11

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Like a good Anabaptist , we ourselves seem to be 20 to 30 years behind in a lot of things , and so be it with movies we watch from time to time . Proverbs 17;22 may enter in as a reason to consider in this activity .

The Amish did not allow things like hay loaders , grain binders or even buggies until they were about over with . They rode horses with rough wooden saddles when roads were improved enough to use buggies on . Then they graduated to wagons without springs or backs to the seats . They were not allowed to use most styles of the buggy until the car came upon the scene ..

And now , back to watching of Movies today . For us it is VHS all the way , the slightly grainy picture gives it more character , and since many are 20 or even 30 years old by now , a bit of a squeak too ..

We only watch several hours of it (VHS)  a week , so it is not a major time taker .

So here are several of our favourite ones , with comments to them as we go..

“Gilligan’s island” all 3 seasons of it . Yes , they are the new-fangled DVD’s but they are also the very first ones for us ..Actually about 7 years of watching  it .And Ah yes , that would have been during the times of ”Pulling the blinds , putting out the lights , hope the dog barks if someone drives up” time..  The girls and I liked these immensely , Lynda liked them not so much .

As an Old Farm boy , I can’t get enough of the Animal VHS ones .” Babe the Pig” ”Babe Pig in the City”  “Gordy the Pig”  ” Gus the Football playing Donkey”, We could fill the several hours a week watching them over and over .

“The Andy Griffith show ” in all its glory , is good as they get .

The rest of our family enjoy ”The Walton’s ”  more then I do . To me ”John Boy” , and “”Gram-pa Walton” are an irritation.

”George of the Jungle ” ,We have watched so often , perhaps over a dozen times , That youngest daughter Virginia , who always watches with me , refuses to watch it with me anymore..

“”Kangaroo Jack”  , and “”Big fat liar ” , where the main guy turns blue , round out the favourite list for now .

Then off course there are the Red-neck , Car chase ones , like ”Smoky and the Bandit ” , ”Dukes of Hazard”  etc. When you get done watching One of those , one realizes one has probably wasted some time .

On the historical note ,, ”Apollo 13” the true tale of the Moon shot gone awry , and the Amish movie ”witness ” filmed in the mid 1980′s , are good , but contain a bit of  foul language . ”Apollo 13” does have a newer version where the language is clean , but the original one is possibly more authentic .

In the year 423 A.D., in eastern Europe , a man named Simeon Stylite built a 60 foot tall pillar of rock about 6 feet wide at the top . Somehow , he got to the top of it , and stayed up there for 37 years , Meditating and shouting religious phrases at the folks who came from far and wide to observe him and get advice.

He did not know it , but his example was followed by hundreds , if not thousands of people over the next almost 1200 years , through all the dark ages . And almost entirely in Eastern Europe and those parts of Asia that called themselves “Christian”.

The western European “Christians” Did not mess with anything so benign or harmless in the name of holiness. They went on massive campaigns or crusades to free the Holy Lands , killing and being killed by the hundreds of thousands , for God , they said. The 4 major Crusades took place from about 1190 A.D. to 1370 A. D.

In the spring of 1492 A.D. Christopher Columbus signed a covenant to the effect that if he brought back a lot of Gold from his forthcoming exploring trip , his share would go towards organizing yet another ”Christian” Crusade to free the holy Lands from the unbelievers.!!!

With a rope and basket , the Pillar setters would take up ,and let down things that needed to be moved , but they stayed right there , to please God , they said.

One man stayed up there on a Column and alive for 52 years before he died. We would call that Ascetic today , or punishing oneself to try and please God. it got so popular a thing to do that some towns had several tall pillars  with competing religious hermits arguing back and forth for years from way up on high .perhaps confusing the faithful that gathered to watch them .. they today are called Stylites , in honor of that first one that was noted .

Asceticism in itself can be a good thing if practiced for the right reasons . John the Baptist comes to mind , also the Apostle Paul in some aspects .

Roman Catholic Monks historically practiced it to a degree unimaginable today . The Monks in their Monasteries mostly did it very privately ,sometimes going for years without speaking . The Roman Catholic Church is by far the oldest “Christian Church’ in history . Most historians believe the Monks in their secluded enclaves  saved western Civilization During the thousand years of the dark ages , up the the years of the Reformation , starting at or before 1500 A.D.

Then they were known more for their excesses then the good works . They did not think much of Anabaptist or their ideas.

The Anabaptist themselves veered off into a good bit of ascetic beliefs more often then one would think of . Some of the attributes of asceticism often can closely resemble or even take the place of Spirituality itself.

To be continued

The Plain way does not have to be the dumb way ……………

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6. Do you hear all the talk about the high price of Gold , and are not sure what that has to do with you as an ordinary citizen ? We do not know either .

The USA has the world’s largest reserves of Gold stored away at over 8000 Tonnes of it . That works out to about an ounce of it per person in the country .

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5. An unusual sight yesterday, in our local town. An old dilapidated concrete mixing plant , not used for almost 30 years was being dismantled , including the cement tower . I noticed men cutting on the legs of the tower with torches, to weaken it , we suppose .

It was some kind of professional demolition crew , with all the trucks and equipment , and supervisors to go with it. Something did not look quite right to me , a mere bystander , so I warned several fellow bystanders to step well back clear of the area .They did.

At the final push ,with a screech of metal , the legs of the tall tower buckled , it fell , but in exactly the wrong direction . Electrical wires sparkling   ,ka-boom , it hit the ground , bursting open in a cloud of dust .

Whoa , contrary to all information they thought they had , the tower had been chock full with many tons of dry cement powder. So now , because there is no documentation of what it really is , a  special environmental  waste team has to move in to clean it all up. Sept20-11

Update …With a full day of filtering , men with white suits and masks , probably many Thousands of $$$  , it is all gone . \

In about 1985 this small mixing company was bought out by a large Rival called Metromont concrete , they shuttered it the same day , as is . Now the holding company , called cemex. that appears to own it now , is paying the price .

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4′ The Greek National Debt crises is coming down soon. If they just tell the greedy world Bankers ”We prefer not to pay you back” , they will have a chance for a new beginning . That was what Iceland did 2 years ago and they are coming along fine now . Or somewhat fine .  Sept 19-11

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3. The government’s regulations often are without sensible reason , but here are a few that do make a lot of sense , and that the industries never would have done without a government push , and at no extra cost to the consumer ….. Lawn mower blade brakes save hundreds,maybe thousands  of feet and lives every year………Chain saw chain brakes save even more .a chain saw is still the most dangerous tool one can buy on the open market , they still main & kill thousands every year .About every man occasionally thinks they can easily cut down a tree , and every now and then , the tree wins.

And splitting up the massive telephone monopolies was a huge win for mankind back in the mid-1980′s . It is hard to imagine renting one’s telephone from the phone companies month after month . And rates for calling more then 10 miles or so took one’s breath & money away. Compared to today .

Add to that Automobile windshields that do not decapitate a person in a minor car wreck , and seat belts that save a lot , though not all , lives .

Sept 12-11

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2. We’ve just returned from a Labor day Camping excursion to the North Carolina Mountains . Camping is hard work , and calls for several days of relaxing,after getting back home . We were to a Private Campground near Marshall NC , no cell phone or Internet for 4 days . That was the tough part . The good part was that the Church group we are attending put this on , and the food was never ending and plentiful indeed.

We do feel good about the fact we never imbibed any soda pop the whole time . And only one day and night of rain affected the trip . Sept 07-11

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1. The Waglers have just purchased their annual supply of Charcoal for grilling & cooking outdoors with . Lowe’s Lumber is just now getting rid of their seasonal supply at a reasonable price . 2- 20 lb bags wrapped together sell for $7.95 plus tax . We used a  Lowe’s $10. off card which brought the price even lower . A good thing we took the pick-up truck to haul the 240 Lbs of charcoal  home .

With any Lowe’s card you can get 5% off at the register , only if you ask for it . You cannot combine discounts though .

If you are in a real need for a Lowe’s discount card , and haven’t got one , go to a US post office and pick up a ”Change of address’  pamphlet , one is in there .

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We used to have van loads of Amishmen arrive here in Abbeville SC to visit a Doctor , until that particular doctor moved on several years ago.

I myself dress rather “English’ like ,including a Bill-cap , but I always looked at the Amishmen’s hats to figure out how strict they were in consideration if We wanted to attempt chatting with them . A strict Amish Man always wears a Hat Outdoors, sometimes indoors ,or he is not a true Amishman .

As a rule of the thumb , the wider and straighter the brim , the stricter the Amishman.  The rolly- nollys have a flatter crown , always a round dome on the hat . An Amishman will never have a pointed front to the dome of his hat , as that is too worldly indeed . Occasionally one may see a pointed front on a straw hat of an advanced Amishman , the kind of man that probably has rubber tire buggies too ..

In Sarasota .Florida , in the winter , one sees a lot of smaller hat , even no hat Amishmen about . One reason for that is that the stricter Amish are forbidden to go to Florida , in the winter or anytime , unless it is to “Doctor”.

The wide, straight brimmed wool hats with rather flat round crowns usually belong to the ‘swartzentrubers’ , an extra strict flavor of Amishman . The times I chatted with them , I was surprised at how talkitive and friendly they seemed .

If they were smoking ciggies or those long brown cigars , I avoided them , I can’t deal with that . Once they figured out who you stem from or where , they often proved quite interesting to me . and I to them . Every Amishman over about 50 years old knows of my Dad , who was and still is a proliferate Amish writer. The younger generation would not , so I would sometimes play that card , so to speak .

One large Van load of Amish I met had among them only 1 person who Doctored , but that gave the rest the excuse to travel .What a hard life indeed !

The Ideal setting of the all-important brim of the hat to an Amishman is straight out ,perhaps slanting slightly down . The Humble look . If the back brim was turned up even slightly , it is a sign of creeping Worldliness ,or pride for sure.

If the sides of the hat are turned up , even slightly like a cowboys’ , That is and was a sure sign of the Devil’s getting the nod all around . You were toast .

A stricter Amish person may think that ”What is in a man’s heart will come out in how he wears his hat”.

There is a tale about my ancestor Great , Great gram-pa John S Wagler , Who became somewhat senile in his mid-80′s back when folks did not know what that was . He decided to ” run away” by train from Montgomery Ind, to St. Louis and wanted to disguise himself for a getaway.

So what did he choose to effect that ? He got a stylish little ”English ” hat , perhaps with a feather in it , and wore it to and onto the train . And did it work ? No . The family searching for him  recognized him immediately , and hustled him home . We wonder what happened to the little hat .

The wearing of the Suspenders comes in a distant 2nd in importance in many Amishmen’s lives . If you’ve ever been forced to wear them you hate them for life, even if they become a necessity.

The Amish that do not allow elastic in clothes ,have to do with strips of denim sewn together for suspenders, and that has to hurt .

I’ve heard said that some of the strictest do with only one suspender , to hold one’s pants up , but I can’t recall ever seeing that , as if you are that strict you won’t bother to ”Doctor” much ,just let things run it’s course .

To be continued.An evolving article..  Aug.–11