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Illinois Valley News, Cave Junction, Ore. Wednesday, February 22, 2017
President Trump - Keep us out of Syria: by Dr. Glenn Mollette
President Trump must not authorize troops on the ground
in Syria. Once our troops are moved to a country they never
leave. Iraq and Afghanistan are cases in point. Part of our
economic despair in our country can be traced to the trillions of
dollars we’ve spent on foreign soil the last 16 or so years. This
doesn’t include all the countries where we have troops and bil-
lions of dollars invested in military bases. America is scattered
out around the world.
Our soldiers go and are killed or are maimed for life. We
reverence all they do for America but in the meantime our gov-
ernment continues to send thousands of troops overseas.
There is now a buildup of troops in Poland on the Rus-
sian border. I am sure Poland does not appreciate Russian
aggression against them. Is it America’s job to send thousands
of troops to this region of the world? More is now being said
about troops on the ground in Syria. Once we start we will be
there for years and maybe forever.
What will be the defining moment that stops our country
from making every world problem and conflict our problem?
Will it be when all Americans are poor and hungry? Will it be
when we no longer have bridges that we feel safe crossing or
roads in such shambles we can’t drive on them? Will it be when
we are so drained from spreading ourselves around the world so
thinly that we can no longer defend ourselves?
Inside of our own nation we are spread too thin. We
have welcomed the world to come here for many years. Many
of our major cities are beyond recognition, as thousands of
internationals have become a major presence in our country.
They need money, medical care, housing and on and on. In the
meantime we have hungry Veterans and homeless Americans
sleeping in cars, under bridges and in city parks. I see it all the
time and it’s not pretty.
I understand life is not pretty in Syria or many other
places on the planet. We cannot fix them all. ISIS is a threat to
America and destroying their oil refineries, bridges, commu-
nication abilities and airports is something we can do from the
sky. That doesn’t require military bases and thousands of troops
stationed in Syria. Plus, we can’t kill them all. There is not a
silver bullet that will eliminate the entire ISIS cell groups scat-
tered in Syria and now in other parts of the Middle East.
Please President Trump, do not put our troops on the
ground in Syria. We don’t want to lose another thousand Ameri-
can lives, spend another trillion dollars and try to police another
nation that we will later have to rebuild.
Glenn Mollette is a syndicated columnist and author of 11
books. He is read in all 50 states. Visit www.glennmollette.com
or contact him at GMollette@aol.com. You can like his face-
book page at www.facebook.com/glennmollette.
Church News
Valley Evangelical Free Church
Ordinary days
Have you ever noticed that life is made
up mostly of ordinary days? People ask what is
going on and we half-heartedly reply, “Noth-
ing, just the same old stuff.”
We wish for some excitement and noth-
ing happens so we go looking for it. Some
head for the movies, some to the local bar, and
others to find drugs to numb the sameness.
Still others spin donuts down Main Street at
2:00 in the morning or throw rocks through the
local church windows. And when it is over, the
excitement is short lived or nonexistent. We
still face another ordinary day.
May I suggest another approach? Listen
to what Jesus said to a lawyer who asked what
the greatest commandment is. Jesus said to
him, “‘You shall love the LORD your God
with all your heart, with all your soul, and
with all your mind.’ This is the first and great
commandment. And the second is like it: ‘You
shall love your neighbor as yourself.’” (Mat-
thew 22:37-39 New King James Version)
When you love God, He will show you
beauty in the midst of the ordinary. When you
love God, he will show you things to get genu-
inely excited about. When you love God, the
ordinary is not quite as ordinary.
When you love your neighbor, you
will find their ordinary day may be more of
a struggle than your ordinary day and you
can help them cope with it. When you help a
neighbor cope with their ordinary day your
day becomes less and less ordinary, it becomes
extraordinary.
So, in the midst of your ordinary day,
look for the extra ordinary happenings. In the
midst of your ordinary day, do something for
someone else to help them through their ordi-
nary day. In doing those things, you will find
your day not quite so ordinary.
In the meantime, if you need help cop-
ing with your ordinary days, come talk with
me. Maybe both our days will become extra
ordinary.
In Christ,
Pastor Marvin
Community Bible Church
Love covers a multitude of sins
1 John 4:9-11 (NKJV) 9 In this the love of God was
manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son
into the world, that we might live through Him. 10 In this is
love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His
Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 11 Beloved, if God so
loved us, we also ought to love one another.
Love in its truest form is sacrificial, it costs us some-
thing, and we willingly pay that cost. The following story is
old – from the days when the United Soviet Socialist Republic
existed. It drives home a most important point:
Katherine, a single woman of about 40, was a resident
of one of the labor farms in Siberia. She was of Mennonite
background in Russia, and because of her Christian persuasion,
she and others of her faith had been transferred to work on a
labor farm which was nothing but a slave labor camp. They
lived in a disgraceful barracks situation with no central heating,
only a board with some straw on it for her bed and inadequate
blankets for warmth.
Her relatives in Canada had for several years tried to
get permission from the Russian government for Katherine
to come and visit them. Finally permission was granted for a
three-month visit. Her relatives sent her a ticket and paid all
her expenses. When Katherine arrived in Vancouver she was
like an “Alice in Wonderland.” She just couldn’t imagine that
people could live with so many possessions. She went from
relative to relative in their beautiful homes with their lovely
cars and was treated royally.
Of course, the intent was that she would defect from
Russia and stay in Canada. After weeks of moving around
among her relatives they began to hear her say, “I will be so
glad when my visit is over and I can go home.” They were
puzzled and couldn’t figure it out. They had told Katherine that
they expected her to stay, that she could find work and would
be cared for by her relatives. But about two weeks before the
time was up she sat down with her relatives and said, “I want
to know for sure; is everything in order for me to return in two
weeks?”
“Katherine, you can’t be serious,” they responded,
“You want to go back to those conditions you’ve told us about
with no conveniences of life – just a cubicle with nothing in it?
What are you going back to?”
With a very contemplative look, she said, “I don’t
think I can explain to you why it is I want to go back. All I can
say is over here in this country you people have your things and
you are busy all day long with your things. Over there we don’t
have anything, but we have each other. I want to get back to my
brothers and sisters in Christ where we live for one another.”
To live for one another; to live for God may be the pur-
est essence of love. See you Sunday.
In Christ,
Pastor Dave
Ministry at CBC
Sunday
Morning Worship 10:30 a.m
Praise and Prayer 6 p.m.
Wednesday
AWANA 6:15-8 p.m.
Preschool – Grade 6
Community Christian Academy
Preschool – High School
Senior Exercise Class
Monday, Wednesday, & Friday
9-10 a.m. in Dining Room
Good Shepherd Lutheran Church
What’s your Son Sign?
When I was a kid, one of the things I
looked forward to was when my mom would
treat me to my very own horoscope from the
grocery store. I know what the Bible says
about fortunetelling, but it wasn’t the predic-
tions I wanted.
Maybe that was because I don’t think
there was ever one of those predictions I liked.
I would carefully unroll those pretty, little
scrolls that usually said something like: “You
will face many obstacles this week,” or “Your
perseverance will help you triumph over your
troubles.” This was not what dreams are made
of.
The part of those little scrolls that I did
find fascinating was the personality analysis.
I’d read the descriptions and try to decide how
well they matched up with me. Sagittarians are
supposed to be social, and I guess that de-
scribes me. I’m not a hermit or painfully shy.
Sagittarians also suffer from foot-in-mouth dis-
ease, and I do resemble that description from
time to time. Apparently being born in Decem-
ber gives me an excuse for those past mistakes.
But the thing I liked best about those
little scrolls was they helped me figure out
who I was; to understand my identity.
I bring this up because identity is such an
important part of understanding who we are
and how we relate to the world. A zodiac sign
is a trivial example, but changes in identity
can have real impact on us – psychologically,
emotionally, spiritually. In the Sermon on the
Mount, Jesus was challenging those around
him to change their hearts and their identities.
He was challenging them, and us, to re-create
the world; to reconstruct human life and rela-
tionships in a way that will reflect and embody
the Ultimate Reality.
It was shocking, disturbing, and unset-
tling for his listeners to redefine who they
thought they were as Jews. He was asking
them to change their thinking and reimagine
their identity, and their entire lives, in new
terms.
For Jesus’ listeners, their changed identity
would require acting on new ways of living out
Places of Worship
BRIDGEVIEW
COMMUNITY CHURCH
5181 Holland Loop Rd., CJ
541-592-3923
“Come Join the Worship!”
Sunday Worship 10:30 a.m.
Pastor Sonny Moore
www.bridgeviewcc.org
* * *
7th DAY ADVENTIST
265 S. Old Stage Rd., CJ
Sabbath School - 9:30 a.m.
Saturday Worship 11 a.m.
Pastor Christian Martin
Church (541) 592-3218
Madrone Adventist School
541-592-3330
* * *
IMMANUEL UNITED
METHODIST CHURCH
200 Watkins St., CJ
Phone 541-592-3876
Pastor Charles Chase
Sunday School - 9:15 a.m.
Sunday Worship - 9:15 a.m.
Child-care for small children
***
Illinois Valley Praise Center
28569 Redwood Hwy. CJ
Non-denominational
Bible-believing Church
Sunday school - 9:30 a..m.
Sunday Service 10:30 a.m.
Thursday Seekers 7 p.m.
Youth group Thursday - 7 p.m.
www.ivpraisecenter.com
COMMUNITY BIBLE CHURCH
Pastor Dave Gordon
113 S. Caves Ave., CJ
Office: 541-592-3896
Email: cbccca@gmail.com
Sunday Worship - 10:30 a.m.
Christian Academy
Pre-K to 12th grade
Awana - Wednesdays - 6 p.m.
* * *
ST. PATRICK OF THE FOREST
CATHOLIC CHURCH
407 W. River St., CJ
541-592-3658
Fr. William Holtzinger, Pastor
Mass - Sunday 11 a.m..
Sacrament of Reconciliation
Sunday - 10:30 a.m.
Holy Days TBA
* * *
TAKILMA BIBLE CHURCH
10343 Takilma Road, Takilma
Pastor Dan Robinson
Bible Study / Prayer Time
9:30 a.m.
Morning Worship 11 a.m
Wednesday Bible Study
7 p.m
* * *
First Baptist Church of Selma
18285 Redwood Hwy., Selma
541-597-4169
Pastor Monty Pope
Sunday School - 9:45 a.m.
Worship - 11 a.m.
GOOD SHEPHERD
LUTHERAN CHURCH
East River Street
& Lewis Court, CJ
Annemarie Richardson
Lay Pastor.
Sunday School - 9:15 a.m.
Sunday Worship - 10 a.m.
Church Phone: 541-592-2290
www.goodshepherdlutheraniv.net
* * *
VALLEY EVANGELICAL
FREE CHURCH
498 Laurel Road, CJ
P.O. Box 1248
Pastor Marvin Porter
Sunday School - 9:45 a.m.
Worship Service - 11 a.m.
evfree@frontiernet.net
541-592-6160
* * *
FOUNTAIN OF LIFE
ASSEMBLY OF GOD
451 S. Junction Ave., CJ
541-592-3956
Pastor Mark McLean
Morning Worship
9:30 & 11 a.m.
Wednesday - 7 p.m.
Adult Bible Study
* * *
ST. MATTHIAS EPISCOPAL CHURCH
25904 Redwood Hwy., CJ
541-592-2006
Rev. Bryant Bechtold
Sunday Worship
Service 10:30 a.m.
THE CHURCH OF JESUS
CHRIST OF LATTER-DAY
SAINTS
209 S. Junction Ave., CJ
Sacrament Meet - 10 a.m.
Sunday School - 11:20 a.m.
Priesthood, Relief Soc. -
12:10 p.m.
Bishop
Larry Hammersmith
541-592-3919
* * *
Illinois Valley Baptist Church
541-592-6149
102 S. Redwood Hwy.
(in the County Building)
Sunday Worship 10:30 AM
Wednesday Bible Study, Prayer
& Youth Program 7:00 PM
Friday Ladies Bible Study
11:00 AM
the Law in love, and we face that same chal-
lenge today.
Jesus’ words in the Gospel readings for
Epiphany, continually challenge us to see the
world with new eyes and to witness to those
in our lives who have a vision clouded by the
norms and laws of this world. He calls us to
testify to our changed identities that serve as
reminders of the living God incarnate among
us.
And so, in the event should someone ask,
“What’s your sign?” I hope we’re bold enough
to answer: It’s that water; it’s that bread and
wine; it’s that cross: signs that proclaim the
mystery of our faith and the glory of our sav-
ior, Jesus Christ.
The recent published
booklet on
Christian History by
Dr. Carroll Bierbower
a Baptist minister is now
available without charge
to those requesting
it. To receive a copy,
please send your mailing
address to P.O. Box 1944,
Cave Junction, OR 97523
or email it to
drcrb@icloud.com