School finally just ended, so I decided it was time to start reading a book for my own personal enjoyment. Plus, my shelf of books to read is getting rather full and I have several that I've been putting off reading for 2 or 3 years now. My goal is to get those finally read this summer.
The first one that I just started on is titled The Rewriting of America's History, by Catherine Millard. In the introduction she writes, "Rewriting a nation's history is frequently one of the first strategies taken by a conquering nation. Why? Because a people who do not know from where they came also do not know where they are going. Thus, they become easy prey for a conquering nation....It's happening through the rewriting and/or reinterpretation of American historical records...In some cases, changes are subtle, and in others, blatant. It's done through removal of key historic pieces that do not support the current ungodly bias."
Millard is founder and president of Christian Heritage Tours in Washington, D.C. Their sole purpose, as you can probably guess, is to teach the Christian history of America that so many do not know about. This is also the purpose of the book. It begins with the sailing of Cristobal Colon (aka, Christopher Columbus) and ends with the founding of the original colonies (I think. I'm only on page 23, but by skimming the last pages it seems that that is where it ends). It's very straight forward, a little dry, but a very good read so far.
I'm sure I'll be posting more interesting facts from the book in the future, but here's a little piece from Columbus' own pen:
[Speaking of his son to whom he has sent some gold that was discovered] "that he shall help to maintain and sustain on the Island Espanola four good teachers of the holy theology with the intention to convert to our holy religion all those people in the Indias.
I said that I would state my reasons [behind my journey]: I hold alone to the sacred and Holy Scriptures, and to the interpretations of prophecy given by certain devout persons.
For the execution of the journey to the Indies I did not make use of intelligence, mathematics or maps....No one should fear to undertake any task in the name of our Savior, if it is just and if the intention is purely for his holy service. The working out of all things has been assigned to each person by our Lord, but it all happens according to His sovereign will even though he gives advice."
Columbus' desire was not to enslave the Indians for the profit of Spain. Much more is said in the book, but it is clear that his intention was to spread the Gospel. Also, he wasn't an idiot who didn't know where he was going. He didn't make use of maps or anything! He knew that, in doing God's work, God would guide him to his destination--even if it wasn't the one he was aiming for.
I am tempted to write more about this last part, but I'll let you make the application/connection between our own aims and God's.
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Rachel and I were at an FCA Coaches Retreat a couple weeks ago, and a guy did praise & worship who I'd never heard of. He did a set or two just him and his acoustic guitar. Then he got up and did a couple songs to tracks, karaoke style. I thought it sort of amusing.
Later, at an evening session, he did a couple songs (a mix of karaoke and play-along-guitar) and then asked us to be seated. He proceeded to tell us about his previous career as a singer/songwriter, specifically about a song he wrote that got recorded by some big name CCM artists. It was about Christopher Columbus and his being guided by God. To me, the song was sharp cheddar. I think there were two (2) minute-long guitar solos...meeedley meeedley meeee type solos. Looking around the room, it seemed that everyone else wasn't really sure what to think either. I turned to Rachel and was like, "I don't get it. Song-cheesiness aside, Columbus didn't even hit what he was aiming for. This guy's kinda weird."
Now I feel like an ass. But I still don't like the song.
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