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"How can Rare Jewel
Magazine be FREE?"
Following the Lord’s guidance,
we formed Rare Jewel Ministries and launched Rare
Jewel Magazine (read the Assist News Service
article, “Magazine Founder
Puts Everything on the Line to Obey God.”)
In Matthew 10:8, Christ instructs us, “Freely
you have received, freely give.” Likewise, the
Apostle Paul proclaims, “What then is my reward?
Just this: that in preaching the Gospel I may offer
it free of charge” (1 Cor 9:18).
God freely gave us the vision for, and invited us
to join Him in this mission called Rare Jewel
Magazine -- a mission to proclaim the Kingship
of Jesus Christ over all areas of life: our selves,
our families, our communities and states, and our
nation -- in both spiritual and temporal matters.
As the Lord provides, we will likewise “freely
give” Rare Jewel Magazine and related
products and services to others.
If you feel led to be actively involved in supporting
this effort, please email support@RareJewelMinistries.org
for more information or mail your contribution to:
Rare Jewel Ministries
PO Box 2895
Rome, GA 30164-2895
706-936-6457
You may also
donate
using your credit card. Please note: Change
"Quantity" and click the "Recalculate"
button to specify your donation amount in increments
of $10. (Ex: Change "Quantity" to "3"
to make a donation of 3 x $10 = $30.)
Thank you.
Tuesday, May 24,
2005
MAGAZINE FOUNDER PUTS EVERYTHING
ON THE LINE TO OBEY GOD
By Jeremy Reynalds
Special Correspondent for ASSIST News Service
ALBUQ., N.M. (ANS) -- Outwardly successful
but emotionally and spiritually bankrupt, Tim Ewing
put everything on the line to launch a vision that
he believed came directly from the heart of God.
The result was a new Christian publication
called “Rare Jewel Magazine.
In a recent e-mail interview, Ewing
said, “The Bible teaches that God's people are
destroyed from lack of knowledge. We must seek to
know God and to know His role for America, our government,
our churches, our families and us as individuals.”
Ewing said the magazine’s philosophy
is not to “save America for America's sake,
or even for the sake of our posterity. Our guiding
premise is to acknowledge that our nation has fallen
into disobedience from the purpose for which God established
the United States of America, that is, to be ‘as
a City on a Hill’ ... Our overriding purpose
is to have America return to this God-given national
calling.”
Ewing said, “God birthed not only
the name of a magazine, but the mission for our ministry:
To equip and empower citizens with knowledge about
the important cultural issues of our day in light
of our nation's Christian heritage, and also, to provide
a call to action for all Christian patriots to restore
our nation's Christian foundation.”
Christ and the citizenry of our nation;
for God's glory alone.”
Marlene Bagnull, director of the upcoming
Greater Philadelphia Christian Writers Conference,
and where Ewing will be the keynote speaker (www.writehisanswer.com/Philadelphia)
said in an e-mail interview, “Rare Jewel Magazine
is a must-read for all Christians who are concerned
about our nation and long to impact our culture. It
addresses critical issues intelligently, responsibly,
and most importantly from a Biblical world view. Rare
Jewel Magazine is equipping readers to make a difference.”
In an e-mail interview, Rare Jewel’s
Managing Editor Rick Marschall said he feels his life’s
experiences up until now have prepared him for his
present position.
Marschall, who among other jobs, has
been a political cartoonist and columnist, an editor
with three newspaper syndicates, editor of Marvel
Comics and a writer for Disney Comics as well as writing
59 books and hundreds of magazine articles, called
his job the privilege of a lifetime.”
In an e-mail interview, Marschall said,
“Rare Jewel Magazine addresses the vital issues
of the day -- in nation, fireside, and church -- and
God has graced us with resources, circumstances, and
talent (I mean our writers and partners) to have an
impact to serve Him and redeem the culture. I feel
a particular burden to encourage Christian patriots
to develop and exercise a Biblical world view. Every
issue, every article, deals with our Christian heritage,
crises that currently threaten us, how we can be better
informed, and what practical measures we can take
to reclaim the culture.”
BEFORE RARE JEWEL
Ewing talked about the series of events
that led up to the magazine’s birth. He said
that while the vision for Rare Jewel Magazine “was
conceived in an instant, God had been laying the groundwork
for the several years preceding.”
Reflecting back to his self-described
spiritually bankrupt days of mid-2001, Ewing said
that while he was a Christian who was confident of
his salvation, something was still missing.
“On the outside I was enjoying
success at work. I was living the American dream:
I had a wife, kids, a house, a dog, two cars and a
401k,” he said. “But inwardly I had become
discouraged and anxious. I was ‘weary and heavy
laden,’ to say the least; I had been running
on empty for a long time. The abundant life promised
to me in Scripture was never more than a mirage. I
was desperately seeking answers to questions that
I couldn't even consciously form-I needed God, I hungered
only for Him, and had no desire even to eat food.
I didn't purposely choose to fast, I wasn't trying
to prove anything to God; I simply quit eating because
I had no desire for anything except God because something
(the Holy Spirit) prodded me that He was my only hope.”
Ewing continued what he called his “accidental
fast,” finding some comfort in the Book of Job.
“I prayed and I read the Bible,
specifically finding some solace in the Book of Job,”
Ewing said. “I was numb to my family and the
rest of the world. I had a thirst that could only
be quenched by a Word from my Lord.”
On day three, Ewing said he sensed a
glimmer of hope as he began to sense the Lord speaking
to him in a still small voice.
Ewing said he felt God say that His
desire was for Ewing to have a relationship with Him.
“If there was ever a meaning to
life, this was it,” Ewing said. “The Christian
‘way’ meant nothing if God and I did not
have a vibrant personal relationship with each other
... This was a concept that I had heard in sermons
and read in books, but what had only been ‘head
knowledge’ before had now become a reality deep
within my heart ... It literally changed my life.”
There was more. Ewing said that God
convicted him of an area of his life that he had not
yielded to the Lord.
“Though I had accepted Christ
as my Savior and Lord I had not entrusted to Him ALL
of my life,” Ewing said ... “I devoted
first place in my life to my job and the pursuit of
a larger paycheck. To me, a giant 401k account and
other accumulated assets some twenty to thirty years
in the future would be my ultimate security and reward
for a life of diligence and success; a point I thought
where I would finally find ‘rest.’”
Ewing said when he realized this, he
recommitted his life to the Lord.
Ewing said, “For the next year
I pursued God like never before ... Inwardly I was
growing and maturing in Christ, but outwardly I was
frustrated with my job. I was still enjoying a measure
of favor and success, but the satisfaction that I
used to receive was gone ... I didn't understand why
God would allow such unrest. Here I was seeking Him
more than ever yet I now began to loathe my job. Certainly
God did not want me to work for the rest of my life
at something I disliked.”
How to get out of his job and the “rat
race,” Ewing said, became his ongoing cry to
God. But it wasn’t that easy.
“How could I walk away from my
job,” Ewing said. “What would I do? The
only thing I was good at (working for a computer magazine
publishing company) I now loathed. Though this was
the most frustrating time of my life, unbeknownst
to me, God had a plan that He would soon reveal.”
BIG CHANGES
God’s plan for Ewing and his family
began to unfold in a way he would have never expected.
In Aug. 2002, Ewing, his wife and children took their
(almost) annual trip to Montana to visit Ewing’s
in laws.
“However, on this particular trip
my wife picked up a real estate guide and began to
look at houses for sale in the area near her parents,”
Ewing said. “She eventually persuaded me to
look at a few properties she had circled. What I discovered
stunned me. Housing was so inexpensive in Montana
compared to Colorado that we had enough equity in
our home to buy a place in Montana and be debt free!
Within a few days the Lord had spoke to me that we
were to move to Montana, that I was to quit my job,
and then wait on Him for the next step. Meanwhile
my wife would get her dream-come-true by living in
the country with a few acres to support some farm
animals (pets).”
In Nov. 2002 the Ewing family moved
to Montana and Ewing drew his last corporate paycheck
a month later. Ewing said he was prepared for an easy
ride ahead. After all, he reminisced, he and his family
were now right where they believed the Lord wanted
them. But that was not to be.
“Instead of smooth waters.”
Ewing said, “we were met with some of the most
difficult life circumstances we had ever faced as
a family. But through it all, God proved He was faithful;
we grew and matured in our faith.”
Months went by, Ewing said, and he still
had no idea what the Lord has in mind for his life.
“I was open for anything and had
my mental and spiritual ‘antennas’ up
full time just waiting for God to show me the next
step,” Ewing said. “Four or five times
I pursued one thing or another only to have the door
close. I did not want to force God's hand. Likewise,
I did not want to be guilty of missing God's answer
for me.”
However, God has not forgotten the Ewing
family. “Nine months after the move ... God
revealed to us that next step. On Aug. 20 2003 while
reading Proverbs 20:15, ‘Lips that speak knowledge
are a rare jewel,’ I received my marching orders
to launch Rare Jewel Magazine.”
Although Ewing was not overtly aware
of it, the Lord has been training him for what would
be his new ministry in the years preceding his move
to Montana. Ewing had been finding he had an ever
increasing passion to educate himself about America’s
true heritage – its Christian foundation, its
original form of government, its public policies based
on Biblical principles and the Christian faith and
practice of the Founding Fathers.
God was also encouraging him, Ewing
said, to be informed about “the big issues of
our day” that include sanctity of life, homosexual
activism, judicial tyranny; creation versus evolution,
education, the culture war on Christian faith and
family traditions.
Ewing said for a long time he had been
very concerned about the “immoral direction”
being taken by America. “I knew I should somehow
enter the fray, to try and make a difference,”
he said. “Nonetheless, I found myself hesitant
to actively engage our culture or get involved in
political processes because I lacked confidence. I
didn’t understand enough about the issues to
be an effective communicator of truth, and I was unsure
about how and where to invest my efforts.”
As Ewing studied American history from
original source documents, he discovered something
important.
“I realized God has a divine purpose
for the United States of America. The Founding Fathers
acknowledged this and established our form of government
and laws accordingly,” Ewing said. “However,
recent generations have turned their backs on the
God of the Bible-whom the Founders recognized as the
source of all law and the giver of our freedom and
prosperity-and our nation's historical record. Recent
generations are instead using God's blessings upon
America for selfish and licentious ends.”
Ewing added, “Our nation’s
first president said, ‘It is the duty of all
nations to acknowledge the Providence of Almighty
God, to obey His will, to be grateful for his benefits,
and humbly to implore His protection and favor….’
It is to this end that we serve in the war for our
nation's soul and to shine the light of Christ.”
As the Ewing family continue to obey
the call of God, walking by faith and not by sight,
Ewing said he discovered something remarkable.
“What used to cause me stress,
this uncertainty about what the future holds for us,
this adventure that God has us on, not knowing how
or when our next paycheck will come; what used to
cause me stress has now become the spice of life!
I think I'm beginning to scratch the surface of what
this ‘Abundant Life’ thing is all about!”
Additional information is available
about Rare Jewel Magazine at www.rarejewelmag.com.
Subscription instructions can be found at www.rarejewelmag.com/subscribe/index.shtml
Jeremy Reynalds is a freelance writer
and the founder and director of Joy Junction, New
Mexico's largest emergency homeless shelter, http://www.joyjunction.org
or http://www.christianity.com/joyjunction.
He has a master's degree in communication from the
University of New Mexico and is a candidate for the
Ph.D. in intercultural education at Biola University
in Los Angeles. He is married with five children and
lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico. For more information
contact: Jeremy Reynalds at jgreynalds@aol.com. Tel:
(505) 877-6967 or (505) 400-7145.
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