consciousness of duty faithfully performed
Greetings, brethren, in the name of JESUS, “a light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel” (Luke 2:32).
In a day when mobs all over this country endeavor to tear down Confederate memorials and effectively erase our nation’s history, let me say without apology that I am a direct son of a North Carolina Confederate veteran, a Bible-believing Christian man who was forced to defend his hearth and home against an invader and to fight for his country’s independence, just like his great grandfather did against the British 80 years prior. Say what you will, but if my 3x great grandfather who owned no slaves was a “traitor,” then so were George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, and the Continental Army’s General Nathanael Greene (also my ancestor). When a people collectively stands against tyrannical government, it is not traitorous, it’s RIGHTEOUS. And God blessed such a stand many times in Israel’s history. He sent prophets after the Babylonian Captivity to rebuke the people for fearfully caving to unlawful executive orders (Haggai & Zechariah), and some centuries earlier, He promised to bless the House of Jeroboam in the secession of the northern tribes of Israel, to make him “a sure house” (I Kings 11:38) if He would trust the Lord and obey His commands. Where Jeroboam and the people of Israel went astray was not in their secession or collective stand against the threatened tyranny of King Rehoboam . . . the king erred when he later failed to trust the Lord for the security of his house and took matters into his own hands. Many fail to remember that Jeroboam started off well and was obedient to the LORD. Sadly, this only lasted about six months. Anyway, I believe it was the Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard who said something along these lines: “Life can only be lived forward, but it can only be understood backwards.” Here, Here!Therefore, only a fool judges history; a wise man looks back and learns from it. For this reason, God warned Israel: “Remove not the ancient landmark, which thy fathers have set” (Proverbs 22:28).
The American Civil War, or as I prefer to reference it—the War for Southern Independence—is one of my favorite periods in all of history, second only to biblical history. I never got into Civil War reenactments, but I have walked many a battlefield and have studied many, many original sources. From 1860-1865 in America, God’s Divine Hand of Providence manifested itself in amazing ways; there was great spiritual revival in the darkest of times; and testimonies of great valor, courage, fortitude, and virtue shown bright at many points and in many different places against insurmountable odds. During this war, God judged a nation. Men repented, including President Lincoln, and found Christ. And, what later resulted was a true reconciliation without precedence in human history, a reconciliation that even Israel hasn’t found since the days of Rehoboam and Jeroboam. To me, the saddest part about the tearing down of the memorials is that they were erected in the early 1900s as a testimony to the reconciliation between North and South that, against all odds, ultimately followed the War and Radical Reconstruction. They were erected to give testimony of that RECONCILIATION and to further encourage it. There must have been this effect, for thereafter, many a southern son willingly spilled his blood right beside his Yankee brother on the battlefields of WWI and WWII, in defense of his country against a diabolical evil. Such is a testimony all but forgotten.
My wife's ancestors, who like mine owned no slaves, are remembered on this memorial in Newton to Catawba County Confederate dead.
Perhaps no other image captures the reconciliation that followed the Civil War better than these blue and gray veterans meeting again at the stone wall on the field of Gettysburg to shake hands. This tradition carried on for years.
My friends, there is no greater arrogance or high-mindedness than for a generation that doesn’t value or even know its history, and certainly hasn’t learned from it, to stand in judgment of those more righteous than they who faced very difficult and complex circumstances in a very different day and time, to stand in pious judgment by simplifying what was very complex and difficult at the time to understand. I believe the greatest sin of America today is the same sin that germinated Sodom’s destruction: “pride, fulness of bread, and abundance of idleness” (Ezekiel 16:49). And these things produced ABOMINATION. And that abomination wrought God’s fiery judgment (Ezekiel 16:50). Everything you see today in this country was born out of the pride, fulness of bread, and abundance of idleness that arose after World War II. As my Nepali pastor friend once said after visiting America: “You people have way too much time and way too much money in this country.” Therefore, we have wrought abomination, not the least of which is the “social justice” implacably screamed about in our streets. This is an abomination in the eyes of the LORD, and His judgment is coming . . . it’s already here.
Nothwithstanding, my Christian brethren, “fret not thyself because of evildoers” (Psalm 37:1). When things are out of our control and the wicked seem to triumph on every side, there is still much value in simply doing one’s Christian duty, whether or not it seems to produce any measurable result. I have been reading voraciously in 2020 and just finished my 11th book, not little novellas mind you, but big non-fiction texts, most of them pretty old. Book #11 was an 800-page work first published in 1944 about Confederate military command, and I was struck by something recorded at the very end. On April 9,1865, General Robert E. Lee surrendered the Army of Northern Virginia to the Union forces under General Grant at Appomattox Courthouse. Thereafter, he issued his farewell orders to the troops, including my 3x great grandfather, who had followed him into horrendous battle from the days of the defense of Richmond in the Spring of 1862. He said in that order, “Take with you the satisfaction that proceeds from the consciousness of duty faithfully performed; and I earnestly pray that a Merciful God will extend to you His blessing and protection.” His men then packed what little they had left and simply went home. I find that surreal, and I also find it powerful.
Dear Christian, how often are we satisfied with the simple consciousness of duty faithfully performed, even when that duty doesn’t bring the desired results? This ought to be our attitude about the Great Commission, obedience over results, and especially during times when much is beyond our control.
So far, 11 Books in 2020
Whether or not the Covid-19 madness ever ends, whether or not this nation ever returns to a state of normalcy, regardless of what happens in November’s elections . . . will we be able to look back and be satisfied as Christians “from the consciousness of duty faithfully performed” ? That duty is simple and not dependent upon any results. The Prophet Habakkuk expressed it thus:
Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labour of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls: Yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation (Habakkuk 3:17-18).
I also like the way Scott Wesley Brown, a former missionary to Africa, framed such duty in a great song entitled In These Final Days:
In these troubled times,
When the world is blind and lost,
When nations rage against your Name,
I’LL PROCLAIM YOU AT ANY COST.
Here at FPGM, our summer has not gone as anticipated. Many plans were wrecked. Yet, we are ok with that and have endeavored to faithfully perform our duty with what opportunities have arisen, to hold fast what we have and to be satisfied simply with proclaiming Christ and taking a stand against the spirit of Antichrist run rampant in this nation. And, we are going to keep doing so until the Lord returns for His Church or such time as international borders open and we are able to return to the fruitful fields where we once enjoyed outreach to the Israeli backpackers.
Since I last wrote, God has opened some doors of unforeseen opportunity, and we simply did our duty. I wouldn’t trade these things for the world.
The elders of Eric Trent’s local church, having recently completed verse-by-verse exegetical preaching through II Timothy, asked him to then take Chapter 1 of Titus. Eric faithfully performed that duty at a time when he and his family could not be ministering in Colombia, and it proved a huge blessing to a local body of assembled believers. I was immensely blessed and convicted, especially knowing that Eric truly practices what he preaches. I recall something he said concerning Titus 1:9:
A pastor can posses all of the qualities laid out in Titus 1:6-8. But, if he is unwilling to embrace verse 9 and take a stand for the Word of God, bowing down instead to the culture or the demands of the mob, he disqualifies himself from leading the flock of God. As men in the church, we cannot let our guard down with God’s Word. Keep yourself above reproach. Strive to live a life that is blameless! Hold fast the Word of God, and do not compromise!
What good is anything in ministry if we cannot hold fast the faithful Word when times are tough? And that faithful Word is clear: Don’t forsake the assembling of yourselves together; preach the Gospel; don’t be conformed to the world.
Eric Trent is a great martial artist, a faithful missionary, and a good preacher. We are blessed to have him and his family as partners in the work of Full Proof Gospel Ministries.
Eric Trent preaches through Titus 1 at New Testament Christian Fellowship. The NC Governor wouldn't approve, but Christ, not Caesar, is the Head of the Church. And Christ commands His church to assemble around the Word.
We also enjoyed an unforeseen opportunity to help out with an annual Friendship Camp hosted by New Testament Christian Fellowship, one of our supporting churches. Some years ago, a faithful young man, who was known to share the Gospel and preach it in the streets, tragically drowned while swimming with his family in a lake. He and his wife had adopted six small children—including three from Ethiopia and two from the Congo—and had one of their own. His widow was left behind to raise these seven orphaned children by herself. Our local church befriended them after this tragedy and has counted it a real joy to minister to them these past few years. Out of this was born a tradition of sorts whereby the entire family files out from Kansas in the summer for an annual Friendship Campwith the children of our church fellowship. Despite the Covid-19 madness, the camp carried on, and this time, FPGM was in town to help. What a blessing it was to host a martial arts seminar, a day of hiking, and a rock climbing class for all these kids! In and through these activities, we were able to clearly proclaim the Gospel and speak blunt truth into the lives of young people. It was nothing fancy, just duty faithfully performed . . . and the LORD threw an unexpected blessing our way. On the day we took everyone hiking up on the Roan here in North Carolina, we actually ran into an Israeli family out hiking. They had been living here in the United States for ten years. Eric introduced himself after he saw their children wearing kipas, and he shared with them about the Word of God and the Messiah. They took a Hebrew Gospel tract. I was reminded in those moments that the LORD is more than able to put Jewish folks in our path even when we cannot be doing what we love down in Peru and Colombia. Please pray for Ori and his family, that they would come to know and receive the Truth about the Messiah of Israel.
Back in 2015, Eric and I completed a 30-mile hike in a single day from Newfound Gap to the eastern end of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park at Cosby Campground. I wasn’t yet 40 years old, and that was the last time I broke my single-day hiking record. This past weekend, Eric and I went back to the Smokies with my daughter Bethany and a young man from Missouri who served on last summer’s Team Yeshua. This time, we wanted to set a new 24-hour hiking record from the same Newfound Gap all the way to the western end of the national park at Fontana Dam. At 44-years-old, I wondered if it would happen. We left Newfound Gap on the Appalachian Trail at 3:45pm on Friday afternoon and walked up on a pastor friend’s truck at 10:45pm Saturday evening. I didn’t crawl into bed back home until 4:30am but still got up and went to church and was incredibly blessed by a message from Titus 2 preached by Bob Hill, one of FPGM’s Trustees.
Anyway, my pedometer read 56 miles in 31 hours from Newfound Gap to Fontana Dam. I have found it to be accurate in the past. The AT and other trail signs, on the other hand, computed 42 miles. For years, people have said the trail signs in the Smokies always understate the miles. Our 24-hour distance fell somewhere between 30.5 miles and 42. Either way, we broke our single-day record and bagged 24 peaks along the way. More importantly, there were some good witnessing opportunities, Gospel tracts went out, and we stocked a few of the more remote AT shelters with a Bible. On Clingmans Dome, a place popular with tourists and 8 miles into our hike, we had a couple of great encounters. A Catholic lady from Michigan’s Upper Peninsula expressed some real fear about what is going on in our country. We spoke of the peace and comfort that can be found in God’s Word, and she took a New Testament.
While walking up to the summit tower of Clingmans Dome, my daughter noticed a mask thrown into a tree. She remarked aloud, “Why would someone wear a mask out here and then throw it in a tree?” A man from Kentucky was wearing a mask and standing nearby with his two young daughters. I guess he thought she was talking about him, which she wasn’t. Atop the tower, he approached and started lecturing her about masks and why he was wearing one. I politely intervened and told him he could talk to me instead of my teenage daughter. I explained that he was free to make his own health decisions and that we were free to make ours. Moreover, people trying to tell other people what to do is one of America’s biggest problems right now and that I don’t take too kindly to strangers bossing me or my children around. He cordially replied, “I respect that,” and the matter was concluded. Later, I asked my daughter what had happened and she promised me that she was not making fun of that man and had only commented about a mask hanging in a tree. I asked the LORD to give me another opportunity with him as we ate some dinner on the side of the trail near the area parking lot. Sure enough, he walked by. I approached and said, “Sir, I believe we had a misunderstanding. I confronted my daughter about what happened because I would never approve of my own children butting into someone else’s business or making fun of another man’s health decisions.” I then explained about the mask hanging in the tree and her comment about it. He immediately broke down and apologized with tears in his eyes, explaining that his wife had died a few years earlier, leaving him behind to raise his two teenage daughters. He confessed that he was deathly afraid of dying from Covid-19 and in fear that his daughters could become orphans. You never know what people are battling in their minds. The LORD then gave me the opportunity to comfort him, speak about the peace found in the Scriptures, and offer him a Gospel tract. He gladly received it, and we had a very pleasant conversation. As he left, I told him I would be praying for him. Please pray for Doug Roy and his daughters from Kentucky. Years later, he is still visibly shaken by the untimely death of his spouse, something I cannot imagine.
Late that night, some thru-hikers at Jenkins Knob shelter invited us to join them around a campfire. A fire you don’t have to work to build is very, very nice. Around that fire where we took a break for an hour, there was opportunity to share with two more people from Kentucky and a couple from Chicago. All took Gospel tracts. You never know what you can find along the highways and byways, even real late at night.
On Saturday afternoon, we bailed on the Appalachian Trail at Spence Field for what was supposed to be a shorter exit to Fontana with far less up and down. Stay off the Eagle Creek Trail for all time and eternity if you know what is good for you! Not only was it longer than the purported 14 miles, it was heinously overgrown, involved around 20 river crossings, and a real uphill slog at the end. But, we made it, and it was a small miracle that we were not covered with chiggers. God was good.
In view of all such unexpected opportunity this past month in unexpected places, pray for us next week. On Sunday afternoon, Eric and I (along with the local pastor who picked us up at Fontana Dam and the same young man from the Smokies slog who served on last year’s Team Yeshua) are heading out for a week or so to fish for men across West Virginia and part of Eastern Kentucky. Without going into a long explanation, this is what the LORD has led us to do. We will drive out with a clean slate, not knowing exactly where the route will lead. In the past, I have found Israelis in West Virginia malls, and I believe some of these have opened back up. Moreover, there are some very popular hiking and rock climbing areas up there where we will be able to find people. We also want to walk the streets of some of America’s poorest communities, some of the old coal mining towns like War and Coalwood, and see what seeds may be sown. The highways and byways really are the places to be during these times while the cities are on fire and full of mask nazis. People on a trail, in a far corner, or in a small podunk town seem to be more open and thinking about spiritual things. At least that is what we have learned this past month in Western North Carolina. Your prayers for open doors and provision are much appreciated. Hopefully, we can look back after this journey and take with us “the satisfaction that proceeds from the consciousness of duty faithfully performed.”
If all goes well, and the LORD opens some doors, Eric and I may hit the road later in August and go cross-country again, like we did earlier this year. There are a lot of highways and byways out there when the international borders are closed.
“And the lord said unto the servant, Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled” (Luke 14:23).
In closing, let me ask again: Whether or not the Covid-19 madness ever ends, whether or not this nation ever returns to a state of normalcy, regardless of what happens in November’s elections . . . will we be able to look back and be satisfied as Christians “from the consciousness of duty faithfully performed” ?
As for my 3x great grandfather, he went home after the war, having missed Gettysburg because of a debilitating dysentery. During that battle, its was his regiment, the 55th North Carolina, that made it to the stone wall at the end of Pickett’s Charge and was overwhelmed. But for being in the hospital in Richmond, he surely would have perished, and I would not exist. There is a lesson in this. Don't curse a terrible bout of diarrhea. It may be that God is using it to spare your life :)
After General Lee gave his famous Farewell Order at Appomattox, William Henry Green took “the satisfaction that proceeds from the consciousness of duty faithfully performed” and settled near Dexter, North Carolina with his wife and two small children. He rebuilt his life, enjoyed more children, and accumulated a good estate by hard work and honest living. In his last years, he helped to build Dexter Baptist Church, which still stands, and he would be the first person buried in the old cemetery. At his funeral in 1909, his pastor said of him: “He was a pillar and a model Christian. Few men in his generation have been more respected or more useful, and his death at the ripe age of 72 causes general gloom and sorrow. He lived to do good, and will be missed in church and state.” Sadly, as was with Solomon after his death, evil crept into the next generation or two and brought great chains of bondage to the Green Family despite great wealth. My grandfather was born into much disfunction but determined to be different. He broke those chains of generational sin, largely due to the seeds sown into him as a small child by a Christian black woman who worked for the family as a wet nurse. He grew up to be a faithful witness for Jesus Christ until his death in 2012, leaving behind a legacy much like that of our Confederate ancestor, men who simply took “satisfaction from the consciousness of duty faithfully performed.”
William Henry Green, my 3x Great Grandfather
As for the period of the Civil War in American history, something decried today with so many lies, here are a couple of resources that you might find interesting.
A chapter from J. William Jones' 1887 book Christ in the Camp details some of the colportage work that took place in the Confederate camps. These are amazing first-hand accounts from a time of great revival. You can read about it HERE, as posted on our ministry website.
Also, here is an interesting 2005 interview with H.K. Edgerton, a black son of a Confederate veteran and a direct descendant of slaves, who used to walk all over the country in a Confederate uniform with a battle flag. In this clip, he talks about life in the South and his heritage. This man is in his 80s now and has some real wisdom. I wish someone like him would run for President:
The LORD bless and keep you all!
Jesse Boyd, President
Full Proof Gospel Ministries
P.S. Financial support has dropped these last few months. Your prayers for God's provision are much appreciated. If the Lord should lay it upon your heart to give something financially to this ministry, contributions are tax-deductible and can be made online: paypal.me/zerayim.