She pastors 7,000+ men and women SDAs

[Gregory Matthews]

Quote:

Gregory Matthews:

John, based upon the above information which is true, how would you want to speculate on the effect of that governmental action on the mission and minsitry of that SDA School?

Would you likee to speculate.

I would like to but I can't because I don't know what nation you're describing, and it would depend on the country and what period of time you're talking about.

What country was it and when did it happen?

In two posts I referenced two countries:

Dictatorship: South Korea. I lived in South Korea during a time when it was under a dictatorslhip and martial law.

Marxist government: Grenada. In the dark of the night, flying below 500 feet above ground level some 400 U.S. Army Rangers exited U.S. Air Force aircraft and in the in the belief of SDA leaders in Grenada brought God's deliverance to the nation. I was personally in the country on the 7th day of the invasion.

NOTE: For any of you who have ever jumped out of an aircraft, in the air, I'll bet you have not done it below 500 feet above ground level. I have exited between 2,000 feet and 4,500 feet above ground level although I did once depart from a helicopter at 90 feet above the gound, but I was not wearing a parchute at that time.

[John317]

Thanks for that information.

I was a medic attached to an airborne unit but I never did jump out of a plane. But the guys I served with did, and they were some of craziest guys I ever saw. They once blew up a statue of a soldier on the base with a bazooka just for the fun of it. Robert E. Lee Barracks, Mainz, Germany. Those were some of the best times in my life. Went on manuevers with them playing war games in winter and summer and also worked in the dispensary.

Can I get your viewpoint of the following:

Seventh Day Adventists in Jinan forced to worship outdoors after being evicted from their premises. Was it the intense media spotlight? Or did someone just have a change of heart? Whatever the case, the prayers of the Seventh Day Adventists in Jinan that we told you about earlier have paid off because on May 1st the local congregation held its first indoor meeting since they were forcibly evicted from their premises on 27th February. The Huaiyin District Office for Ethnic and Religious Affairs had allegedly exerted pressure repeatedly on Zhangzhuang Brigade to demand that the landlord terminate the rental agreement on the church's venue. For over two months now, the Seventh Day Adventists, determined not to be victims of discrimination, have practised their religious worship in make shift venues, and even outdoors. But, by prayer or by politics, the Adventists appear to have induced a dramatic u-turn in police policy.

Source: http://shanghaiist.com/2010/05/06/jinan_adventists_allowed_to_worship.php

The picture shows Chinese SDAs worshipping outside:

[Gregory Matthews]

Crazy airborne: I was never airborne for personal reasons. However, I did sport jumping with the Green Berets (sp). That just blew people's minds: He refuses to go airborne but jumps for sport!

FYI: Jumping below 500 feet you do not have time to deploy a reserve parachute. So, those 400 Rangers jumped without a reserve parachute. If their main parachute had failed, they would have been toast.

NOTE: In the combat jump, under 500 feet (and onto the HARD runway of the airport), there were two injuries. One jumper broke his ankle upon landing. A second jumper exited the aircraft, but did NOT detach from the aircraft. He had to be manually pulled back into the aircraft after the airplane was able to reach a higher altitude. Until that happened he was banging against the body of the airplane--flap, flap, bang, bang!

NOTE: A combat jump is generally at 800 feet and with a reserve parachute. They went in below 500 feet because the installed antiaircraft batteries could NOT fire on an airplane below 500 feet. The result was that no aircraft sustained any direct hits until all jumpers had left the airplane and it was empty other than the crew and the airplane was attempting to gain altitude.

[Gregory Matthews]

John has asked me to comment on Jinan:

Of course we know that in many places religous freedom does not exist, or is limited. In any case, God is involved. If people have a change of heart, it is likely that the Holy Spirit has been working on them to change their heart. God is in ultimate control. We can thank God for the change that has taken place.

To go beyond that and to speculate as to the details and to point fingers of blame is often not helpful to the situation. We who are thousands of miles away from China simply will not often have the sense of the local situation and a knowledge of the specific facts to engage in the speculation that some might want to do.

[Gregory Matthews]

FYI for those who have never jumped from an airplane:

I did my sport jumping with a standard military parachute slightly modified with some additional safety built in. I jumped without the 100+ pound combat load that was typically carried in a combat jump.

NOTE: The Army jumps with dogs. Ever thought of a dog trained to parachute out of an airplane!

Under those conditions I hit the ground at a speed of 11 miles per hour. Immagine running into a concrete wall at 11 MPH!

Under standard conditions I reached a vertical descent rate of 200 miles per hour if I did not deploy my parachute (I jumped free fall.) prior to reaching that speed. Once I deployed my parachute my vertical descenet rate was about 1,000 feet per minute.

In a HALO jump (which I never did) using a so-called "square" parachute the jumper can "fly" for miles beyond the exit point of the aircraft and lands on the ground at 3 - 4 miles per hour.