Life and Death

Till death do us part! We often vow our eternal love for our loved ones. Then we are parted by death. Due to the death of my "oldest" friend and 'relative' in Poland, the world known prof.zw. Zachariasz Łyko, I made my way to Poland. A friend paid for my ticket and encouraged me to go. Dazed and shocked I arrived in Warsaw on Friday. A short visit to the Messianic-Evangelicals, and a short sermon on the topic of Plan of Salvation " to the Jew first and then to the Greek also" and I was ready to fall asleep on the way to Joe's. Poland was cold, drizzly, windy, lonely. Thanks to Joe's hospitality I at least had a roof over my head. Connected with Jonas and Adam Łykos at Janusz's apartment and determined to be of some help and support to drs. Margot, Janusz, Martha and Alex. After the 'state' funeral and inspiring speeches of many dignitaries from the Academia, and various Christian Churches, at the Military Cemetery, attended by a military honor guard, the ~500 friends went to their homes. The immediate family met for a little snack and then....the much needed rest. The next week I spent visiting friends at Podkowa school [WSTH] including mostly my 'young' friends, the students. KJ, again provided the needed funds for some students' tuition and I enjoyed listening to the latest HG [holy gossip] about the school. Visits with dr. Margot, my family in Jedrzejow, and also the lunches with Kozirogs and Tarasiuks, Barons, and my cousins Poloks, filled my few remaining days. Joe cooked and I prepared the drinks, and somehow we survived. There was always the culinary feast at Lazars.I visited the Greeway couple of times, the Pierogarnia on Aleje near Nowy Swiat. I sang with the "Chmielna Orchestra"...they let me when I gave them some change. On Tuesday was the feast with the Professor zw. Maciuszko and his wife Barbara. Superb food and a wonderful company. Prof.zw. Janusz Maciuszko is, among other things, an expert on Church History and Comparative Religions studies. A man after mine own heart. He has books everywhere! He is gentle and genteel, with a healthy dose of quaint humor. On the way there we visited the tomb and the monument of the Hero of the Ghetto Uprising Mordechi Anielewicz, the last defender of the Jewish Ghetto. Cześć jego pamięci! The best social interaction in Poland is always at the home of Andrzej Sankowski. The guests-club members are all highly intelligent, accomplished in their own fields and young. The women are pretty and the food is exquisite. My last sermon at the Warsaw Central church was an occasion to invite the many friends to meet their God, like ap. Paul on the road to Damascus. There were some interesting discussions with students at the Seminary, and delightful Judy, Tatiana, Oleńka, Nadia and some others...in the Convent. this is to be continued ...when I wake up. The Jetlag is getting to me.

Happy New Year

This year is coming to a close and memories flood the corridors of my mind. So many events, so many exciting experiences. So many blessings, all of them undeserved. One is humbled by the watch care of the Providence. As long as the health is holding one should never complain. The visit to Loma Linda,the Family and friends. Heather's graduation, a gala performance, enjoyable reunion. Exciting news that Jessica is studying to become an archaeologist at La Sierra University. Then in August the delightful trip with Joe and Co. to the ASI meetings. Visit to the Mammoth Caves, then St. Louis, then home. Two weeks later I was on my way to Poland, for 5 weeks. The visit to Poland was a mixed bag of blessings and disappointments. I went looking for a hot weather and found cold and rain. Thanks to Joe and his hospitality I survived. Often he would take me to his club for supper, and meetings with some very interesting friends of his. Joe has a lovely 'flat' according to the Britts, and it is super nice and comfy. Friday nights were the weekly highlights since Joe took me to the Synagogue for supper, singing, prayers and socializing. I miss those Friday evenings. Every Sabbath I managed to preach in some church, and my only message was Evangelize now and do not wait till the time when you will only have regrets. This is still a sore point with me. Almost 20 years of 'freedom' and the evangelistic work continuing to be almost non existing. At least in Stalinist era situation, the 'workers' worked !!! By 'work' is meant evangelism' The brethren from the Division will have to answer soon, before God, for holding back the evangelistic opportunities in Poland. Almost every other country in Europe availed herself of massive evangelistic efforts [free !!]except Poland. I managed some delightful tennis with Tado in Cieszyn, visited my cousins in Jedrzejow, ate dinner with my oldest [in terms of friendship] friend Olek Sosin and his family...the beautiful Olenka and her 3 'boys.' Olek saved my skin by loaning me a winter coat and I survive the cold days. The interesting times included our Friday night suppers at Andrew's, notably on my birthday [70th] anniversary. Mrs. Maciuszko, the wife of Prof. Maciuszko from CHAT, baked or made a super super tasty cake....and we celebrated in style. I managed to get an official visit with prof.zw. Z, and Doctor M Łykos. That spells 'family' and the food and time spent was delightful and delicious. The Family that I enjoyed most were the Lazars, Friends for the last 12 years. The food? the Poles have a saying : 'niebo w gębie' thanks to Mamuska's cooking. Peter, a friend closer to my 'age' in interests and superb English speaker and scholar, and the Prymas of Polish Adventist Church Paweł. In Podkowa, the place of our seminary, pleasant times included dinners with the Rector Koziróg and his lovely daughter, pro-Rector dr.dr.Tarasiuk and Family, and the pro-Rector dr. W. Polok, and a visit with dr. Igor Baron. We celebrated 60 anniversary of dr. and mrs. Dabrowski's wedding at their new home. Then home sweet home, to my Wife and Family. Now my days are filled with delightful memories, tennis games, visits from friends from Poland and a reunion of our young friends from the days when Andrew was a student at Southern. This much for a brief outline of the year. I will share also other interests and details of my life a bit later. Happy New Year to all my Friends.

The Season of Emotions

Happy Season to you all.

What makes me different from animals is the image of God given to man by God at the time of creation. That 'image' in my view of life and life's setting, consists in the 'intellect' and in the emotions. I am a "true Jew", that is I subscribe to the faith of Abraham our Father on the human side. My Messiah was, is, and always will be a Jew in the same sense. Like Saul of Tarsus wrote, Jesus of Nazareth was the son of David according to the 'flesh' and a son of God 'by the resurrection from the dead'. I have accepted Moses and his writings and all the prophets, I have accepted Jesus, the Jew, as the Messiah, and consequently also the so called New Testament. I accept any thing and anyone that agrees with Moses. This is the intellectual part of my life and an intellectual decision. Now the question comes concerning the 'emotions' of life. Broadly speaking the emotions bring out the 'inner soul'. When the emotions are engaged in any relationship, we speak of 'being in love'. Certain people evoke in us a response of emotions and then we 'love them'. Some people engage our intellect and they appear interesting, charming, mysterious, challenging....but what is needed to complete the relationship is the emotion of 'love'. The awakening of love emotions can be accomplished by words, actions, appearance etc... and then we 'love' the scenes of nature, the sounds of nature, the appearance of nature. To 'love' means to decide on a relationship with another person, in which relationship we live for that other person. The Bible tells us that we should do all things 'for God's sake' out of love for Him. Then comes the question how do we maintain the emotional charge of love day by day, year by year? First of all by 'hearing'. We hear stories about God from our parents and then teachers and then preachers and then...others. Then, by seeing! We read for ourselves the messages from God in the book called the Bible. This is the place where God speaks directly to us, reveals Himself to us and enters into a 'relationship'. The statement: 'we love Him, because He first loved us' is a true picture of God's relationship to us. Then comes the 'need' to respond. Love is a two way street. It is a reciprocal relationship. Binding two people for ever. How do I reveal my emotions to God? We 'recount' back to God all the things we learned (the characteristics of God), by our words and actions. When king David wanted to express his love for God he sang 'psalms'. The ancient way to memorize events and ideas was to put them in a form of a poem and then sing it. I too express my emotions by singing...all sorts of songs...but to remember their tunes they must be melodious and not like the modern excuse for songs. That is why I can take the SDA church hymnal and go through it page by page and 'sing my heart out'. Those that have a melodious tune...I memorized, those that are 'the work of art', I skip. This brings me to the so called X-mas Season. Sure it is pagan in origin, no question there. Sure Jesus was not born in...December...but that is not the point . The point and value of Xmas Season is that it is the occasion to sing 'love songs' about Jesus, God and their work for our salvation. We are so busy all through the year that we have little time to 'really sing' about God and Jesus. Now we have 'an excuse' to do so, and I love to do it. The cheap, third rate 'entertainment' that is practiced in some of our churches, in the form of modern so called songs and dramatic presentations, and dancing, clapping and other things, miss my soul and make me feel that I have wasted at least an hour of my life in there. But songs, by the whole congregation, like the "We have this Hope", The Old rugged Cross, Lift up the Trumpet, etc...make me feel that I have been worshiping my God in the congregation of the saints. I was blessed with a mother that used to sing everyday all day long. The evening before her death, she played piano in a nursing home till 10 pm, she was 94 years of age! When I need to revive my emotional ties to God...I sing. I sing my heart out to God. It does not matter that my voice is not what it used to be and my hearing needs...a hearing aid. So what, I sing to my God, and He understand the intentions of my mind ( heart). So my friends, readers, sing, sing, sing...even if it is during the paganized Xmas Season.

To quote the Preacher: Remember now your Creator in the days of your youth, before the days come of which you will say 'I have no pleasure in them'.

I still enjoy my days...when I sing.

Ben Marshak

A short tribute to my brother Ben who lives in Sydney Australia.


DZIEŃ URODZIN


Czołem biję przed mym Bratem w dzień urodzin, dzień radości,
Za wpływ jego na me życie, za pomocne wychowanie,
Za braterską silną rękę, za wyrwanie mnie z nicości,

Co miesiąca mi posyłał środki na konieczne rzeczy
Często radził, i zachęcał, swym przykładem pokazywał
Boża siła nas buduje a grzech tylko nas niweczy.

Oddał miejsce swe na UW, żebym ja mógł tam studiować
I pomagał gdym sie uczył stawiać pierwsze kroki wiedzy
Zawsze będę jemu wdzięcznym, nie przestanę go miłować.

Zawsze będzie moim wzorem, życia mego bohaterem
On zachęcał mnie do Greki, Hebrajskiego i Historii
Bez pomocy i zachęty mego Brata...byłbym zerem

W jego miejsce pojechałem też do Newbold by studiować
A on stał sie profesorem w Seminarioum, tym w Podkowie
Aby nowe młode kadry, dla kościoła przygotować.

Nikt nie wierzył, że przeżyje lat czterdzieści pięć następnych
Wychowując swoje dzieci na dalekich ‘antypodach’
Zawsze blizki dla przyjaciół , a dla wrogów...niedostępny.

Dzisiaj życie swe umila, żyjąc w Sydney z Piękną żoną
Nas odwiedza raz w dwa lata, aby dzielić się radością
Wieczne życie ma za darmo, a doczesność...zasłużoną.

Przyjmij pokłon aż do ziemi, a na ręce przyjm całusa
Ja wysyłam hen do nieba modły o Twe dobre zdrowie.
Sercem jestem zawsze z tobą, chociaż żyję w kraju USA.

Reflexions from Poland


Five interesting weeks in the land of Poland. Some losses and some victories and a lot of fun. I was given a room in the "convent" in Podkowa and also by the grace of my friend Joe a place in Warsaw. Near to everything and far from home. They, whoever "they" are or were promised me a very warm weather and I brought with me only "summer"
clothes. Needless to say often I was freezing, specially in Krakow, until one friendly soul loaned me his winter jacket and from then I was ok. Touching bases in Podkowa was pleasant and entertaining. Contacts with the Rector of the school and the prorectors provided me with some friendly encounters and superb food. Four sermons in 5 weeks....not bad for a stranger. I made sure that after each sermon I departed to the seclusion of friends' house. My burden for Poland was and still is the evangelism.
I am amazed that one man in TED and GC, singlehandedly can hold back the efforts of evangelism in Poland. God has provided the causes for retirement....old age...so that the "pillars of the church" will not be able to "hold up" the progress of the church too long. Pun intended!!! The sinner will die because of his sins, but his blood I will require from the hand of the "watchman on the walls" who did not warn him of the danger.
And now for a lighter side of my visit to Poland. I met "old" friends some were glad to see me others pretended, but wished I had stayed home. Then there were my "younger" friends who greeted me with joy. Just to see them was a good enough reason to visit Poland. The friendly...genuinely friendly...crowd at Andrew's place, the pleasant atmosphere and the delicious food, are the memories that call me back to Warsaw. I stayed at the den of Mr. Smok, and with him I enjoyed the services on Friday evening at the Jewish center, the visit to the museum to the "Niemalowany Żyd",and delicious suppers at the club...I was impressed by his generosity and friendliness and helpfulness. Then, there was "nasza wiara" an old expression in Polish, the students from Poland and the Ukraine at Podkowa. Nadia and Zbyszek, Judy and her Hebrew, Irina and her husband Mariusz, Dolly the director of the school of foreign languages, the beautiful MM, My one and only Gosposia, Adjunct professor Baron and his family, and the new star on the horizon of life Olena,Lena,Oleńka etc, the specialist in computers and the girl of sterling character, dedicated to work for the spreading of the Gospel. Of course there were other young fiends from the time past Victor, Carol and his Agatka, Lukasz (did not see Marysia), Arequ and his cat.
The delicious suppers with the prorectors Tarasiuk and Polok. The unforgettable dinners with the rector Kozirog and his lovely daughter (the apple of his eye)and the evening escapade to the ice cream parlor "downtown" Podkowa. The rare glimpse of Pashka the old and enterprising friend. A friendly talk with director prof. Ples, and prof. Ryback. The friendly "evenings" with close friends at room number 26 at the "convent".In Warsaw there were other and different friends, the more sophisticated and all professionals. Mrs. Maciuszko z ChAT who made the best torte in the world for my birthday party, Danusia from Berlin, Ester the beautiful poetess, Sylvia the linguist, Dorotka (Pępuszek) the globe trotter, with a body like Venus de Milo, but alive(!), Peter the generous and practical soul, plus others mainly teachers. The last Friday in Poland we were joined by Veronica and her little kitten. The one highlight of my visit to Poland was the supper with Prof. and dr., Lyko at their place.My last Sabbath in Poland included a sermon (in Polish) on the topic of evangelism. I am glad that though they uploaded it to the internet...they edited my remarks especially those that referred to Benedict XVI, the bishop of Rome. The juxtaposition of names like "father/bachelor and mother/virgin" make sense only in the contorted theology of the Roman Church. It is true that many popes were fathers, but the church would like to forget and expunge those pages of history. I have kept the best for the end of memories. The numerous feasts at the home of Lazars, my friends since 1995, the company , the food and the atmosphere in their home and their hospitality were always unparalleled. Thank you.

Snow, snow, everywhere...

For the first time in several years I have seen snow in Collegedale. The first thing that came to my mind was ..the feeding of my critters. Had to clear the snow off the ballustrade and give generously of the sunflower seed for my two and 4 legged friends. This done I was able to eat my own breakfast and then of all things ...I went downtown to play some tennis. My partner is "Rocky" a man who never moves [much] because of his knees. Somehow we manage to always win every set. Usually two . On the 5-th we have a party to open the new club house [remodeled]., and also watch the super bowl game. Since Ann is going with me we will not stay long to watch the game. Several weeks ago I lost my good and old friend from my Newbold days Rex Riches. We kept in touch through the years and it is hard to accept that he is gone. Our X-mas gift this year was Dorothy and Patty. What a pleasant date I had with them at Panera. While health lasts and the knees carry me on I play tennis almost everyday and am having fun and satisfaction that I am not slowing but actually improving my game. In the evenings I work with Ann at the office I am the chief Sanitary Officer [ I take the trash out] and I complete and file all the piled up patients' charts. Uncle Bill is staying with us...until he sells his house and moves to his son's place near Memphis TN. For my reading I indulge grossly in the field of NearEastern history and archeology. Occasionally I read some Polish poetry from the period of 1800-1950. I have been looking also at Russian poetry from the Soviet era. I have finished my first [and only so far] volume of my own poems, and will try to have it shared with my close friends. I like to hear from my friends and family in Poland. I am hoping to visit Poland this year ...when it is warm, who knows when that will be. Once a week when health permits I have a date with a prof. of music Oscar Kosarin. We manage to go for a cup of coffee or chocolate at Barns and Nobles and chat away fro a couple of hours. So as you see my friends and [readers], life is good and I am trying my best to make my old age last as long as possible. Every time I read the blog of a certain Beauty that run away from here to Poland, I am encouraged to write something myself. She is an artist in many areas and in blogging as well. Till the next blog, ta ta.

Weeks befor Chanukka

The roller coaster feeling is gone, and I am back to normal. The weeks have flown by very quickly. I still try to read every night something or other. Sometimes Desire of Ages sometimes Great Controversy, other times I read Zane Gray...nature stories from the West. I teach SS school from time to time and try to support our class, by attending and participating in the discussion. Often creating the discussion when the teacher is at a loss what to do next. The last few weeks I kept in touch with Marian Knapiuk a former student from the seminary days in Bielsko, and a friend. I hear the disquieting news about the Polish churches in Melbourne, and Sydney. Ten days ago I lost a friend, prof. Jarocki, who helped me a lot with the publishing of the book Epochal Events in the OT. I will miss him and his input into scholarly atmosphere at Podkowa school. Thanks to my friend Ken, I continue to play tennis at the Chattanooga tennis club. Some of my friends there are getting more than interested in learning more about what I believe and what the church teaches. Tomorrow my friend Marshall , a lawyer, will come to my SS class. Talked to my brother Ben in Sydney, all is well and we are grateful for God's guidance and blessings of life and good health. My Sister Zofia and her husband Jonas are doing well and looking after Eva up north and Adam in Loma Linda. My Daughter Cynthia continues doing well , teaching at Calimesa Academy. I do keep in touch with my extra friends in Cieszyn. I will bring extra racket with me for Tado so we can have fun again, playing doubles on clay courts. Today is Sabbath day. On the 19th is Zosia's birthday anniversary and we will celebrate with a small group of friends. Dolly has landed in Pennsylvania today and hopefully we will see her here in a week or two. I am not writing any poetry lately...maybe when I relax emotionally I will be able to write some more.