Why Know Your History?

Over the last several weeks we have been “having a time” with Lighthouse University. In the class I have been privileged to teach we have been going over the history of the Church. Not just the global body of Christ, but also our local assembly. To some, that might seem unnecessary, or how it fits in with the other amazing classes that were going on, but let me explain why I think it not only fits in, but is one of the best classes you can take (definitely not because of the teacher).

Diane Ravitch published "Why Study History" in American History Illustrated in March/April 1991. In her review of history, Ravitch stated that "the simplest and truest answer is that the study of history makes people more intelligent."
Now, at first that may seem like a rather odd statement. But when we actually do learn from our past, we see a lot more about our present and future. History makes us more aware of the world around us.  "History is an investigation of causes," Ravitch wrote, "it is a way of finding out how the world came to be as it is. Without history, we are without memory and without explanation."  Imagine experiencing amnesia and not knowing where you come from or where you live. You would have no past and no idea of where you are going.

When we look at the birth of the Church and the years that followed, we saw great revivals and great persecution. If you follow the Church through the ages, You see the pattern for revival. Weeks and months of persecution and prayer, prayer and fasting, and more prayer was followed by an outpouring of God's presence that changed the course of of people, cities and even nations. Seeing that pattern in the past, can show you the pattern we need to follow for the future. Our Past Influences Our Future.

If Charles Parham wouldn't have learned the truth about Holy Ghost baptism, the revival at Topeka, Kansas would never have happened and he wouldn't have been able to take that message to Texas and teach it to a man named William J. Seymour. If William Seymour hadn't taken that message to Los Angeles, the Bonnie Brae/Azusa Street outpouring wouldn't have taken place. If Glenn Cook had not taken the message of of the new birth from Azusa St to Indianapolis, Frank Curts wouldn't have went on to build one of the first Apostolic mega churches in the USA, let alone the fact that it was in Cincinnati. The influence of Frank Curts inspired Ulysses “Pop” Pennington to start a storefront mission in Newport, Ky. From that Apostolic Temple came a young minister with a passion for souls who would start a church in Silver Grove in 1981. Thirty-one years and two locations later, Bro Wayne Smith still pastors the Lighthouse.

We can see our bright and rich history. It is clear and defined. Built upon the message of Repentance, Baptism in Jesus' Name and Receiving the Holy Ghost and living a holy and separated lifestyle. As long as we can look back at these landmarks as beacons, we will continue to have a bright future.

Who is TR Precht?

Religiously speaking, I am an Apostolic in doctrine, Pentecostal in experience, and Holiness in lifestyle. First and foremost, I am called to be a worshiper of the Most High God. Second, I am also called to Preach the Gospel. I am the Assistant Pastor at the local assembly, Lighthouse Ministries of The Apostolic Faith, which is in Bellevue, Kentucky.

I believe in Ethical Monotheism - One God (Deut. 6:4) and his name is Jesus. February 26, 1997, I was saved the only Bible way as described in John 3 & Acts 2:38. I repented of my sins; was baptized in the name of Jesus Christ (Acts 4:12) and was filled with the Gift of the Holy Ghost with evidence of speaking in tongues, just like in the Bible.

I believe that one should live a Holy and separated life, with Holiness on the inside that will manifest itself outwardly. It is with a great honor, and humbleness that I am used of God. I do not deserve any glory, let it all be unto the Lord. I seek always to be as clay broken by the Potter's hand, that I might become more usable.

On Dec 6, 2004, I was blessed with the most wonderful wife in the world, Roxanna. She is my strength in my hardest hours.

Our family grew on January 28, 2015, when we welcomed into our lives our amazing son, Yonatan Asher. His name means 'Blessed Gift From God' or 'Happy Gift From God' which is perfect either way. He is a very happy blessing that keeps us on our toes!

I hold an Associates in Applied Science for Computer Information Technologies from Gateway Community & Technical College. I currently hold CompTIA A+ as well as several vendor specific computer certifications. I am forever a student. I am a licensed minister with the United Pentecostal Church International.

Reviews PinguyOS + Fuduntu

PinguyOS

• Boot time is around 20 seconds.
• Runs at 315mb sitting idle
• CPU usage 2& at idle
• Has Dual Apple-like docks (location shortcuts on the left, app shortcuts on the bottom) plus a menu bar at the top.  Excessive for my tastes.
• Built in resource monitor widget on desktop.
• Webshot-like rotating desktop provided by Webilder
• Great standard app selection that most users download after install, all included.
• Notable extra apps, PlayOnLinux, DiscWrapper, LaCie Lightscribe and Shutter.
• A nice backup reminder notification about 3 minutes after boot up. Which if experience has taught me anything, if you don’t set up a backup solution shortly after install, you won’t install one at all.
• One notable con, had to click around a bit to find the menu option to logout/shutdown.
• Overall take away: I could recommend this to friends wanting to try out linux; It doesn’t bring enough to the table to make me want to change distros at the moment, and I would only use it after making several changes.  In “as is” state on LiveCD, not for me, but future releases could change that.

Funduntu

• Booted to LiveCD OS in about 20 seconds (if hit enter as soon as options show up)
• A VERY minimalistic dristro….but in a good way.
• Extremely clean cut, no fluff on the UI, a simple dock at the bottom and an uncluttered menubar at the top.
• First distro that I’ve seen that included Dropbox as a feature, infact I don’t remember seeing a linux version mentioned anywhere prior to this.
• Covers all of the essential software types with competent programs that all have minimal footprint sizes.
• Third or fourth distro that I’ve tried that I’ve noticed Shutter on, but this is the first one that it seems like it belongs there. In other distros it always seemed like an afterthought app that conflicted with other packages and gave errors. But on Fuduntu it ran smooth and almost looked like it was custom just for it.
• Actually every app I ran was smooth and looked like it was made for Fuduntu.  Great job integrating everything.
• Overall take away:  Fuduntu is amazing. One of the top distros I’ve had the good pleasure to try. It’s not cookie cutter in any fashion and it has taken some interesting steps that might be followed later by others. Would recommend to new converts and old alike, especially for a netbook type setting.

Review Zorin OS6

Zorin OS 6 – LITE

• Boot time is under 20 seconds.
• Windows users would be very comfortable with the Win2000 clone layout. While it does have that feel “windows-feel” it is done nicer than windows.
• Built on Lubuntu, it is lightweight and super fast.
• Very minimalistic on the apps, and a couple choices that I think were made to make it fit on CD, but better alternatives exist.
• Zorin Extra Software Installer was a nice touch, very user friendly and would help new converts or Windows-refugees decide if they need certain extra softwares.
• I’m pleased to see Chromium set by default and the interesting twist with the “Browser Selector” which lets you decide which browser you want and install it quickly. Give the options of FireFox, Chromium, Opera and Midori.
• A noticeable firewall configuration option to encourage security.
• Zorin Look Changer that gives options to change from the Windows 2000 look to look like OSX (requires user to re-login to change)
• Overall take away: I’m impressed, would definitely consider recommending it to those wanting to change from Windows or OSX but were still wanting something familiar.

Zorin OS 6 – Core

•  Booted in 30 seconds but menu wasn’t usable for another ten seconds, total “usable boot” time up to 40seconds.
• Windows users would be very comfortable with the Win7 clone layout. While it does have that feel “windows-feel” its not as nice as the Lite version’s menu.
• Chrome set by default and the “Browser Selector” lets you decide which browser you want and install it quickly. Give the options of FireFox, Chrome, Opera and Midori.  – I’m surprised they went away from Chromium to Chrome, but that’s just personal preference.
• App selection doesn’t differ that much from Ubuntu 12.04 which it is based on, with the obvious exception of the desktop environment.
• Some might see this is a con, but I did like that the Installer icon for the distro is buried a couple of clicks deeps into the menu bar, which would help from accidentally wiping drive while testing.
• Noticed a nice diagnostic tool, Ubuntu System Tester.
• Being ever the backup minded individual, I enjoyed seeing the backup app firmly attached to the GnoMenu’s quicklaunch.
• I noticed that both the Update Manager and the Package Manager were buried a few clicks deep on the menu bar, which could slow things down slightly when trying to update.
• One negative that I saw was that just to pull up the option for the Look Changer, you are notified you have to perform a full install just to test that feature.  Their website shows it has several options, which honestly they could have included without install since they are still under 2gb on their iso.  The major downside of this is that the full install requires 8.4 gb of hdd and my sandbox only was set for 8gb.
• Overall take away: I’d have to test it again after an install, but it’s slightly sluggish as a LiveCD.  I think there should be another spin option somewhere between Core and Lite, which would be the perfect disc to hand out to friends to help convert them from their current shackled desktop.

OS (mainly Linux) Reviews

From Time to time (ok quite often really), I am split between my love of the Kingdom and my love for technology, so I test out various operating systems.  Honestly, I will not likely do a review of OSX unless they do major changes and I might do one of Windows 8 since I have the preview edition, but most of the time I spend my efforts looking at open-source operating systems; mainly Linux-based.

So I have decided that I will take some time and review several Linux distributions and post my findings and opinions on them.  Keep in mind, at this point I am NOT the goto type of person for expertise on using Linux, just someone who has been casually using it for several years. Many of my friends and co-workers have asked me questions about Linux so I want to expand my knowledge and experience with the different desktops, window managers and packages systems. Hence, the oncoming flood of reviews that I have typed up and a few more to be posted over the next few days.

Eventually I will spin off my linux reviews to another blog (as these came from my website that I am in the process of revamping and not wanting to lose any info) to keep my two focuses of writing separate and not bore any potential followers of either section away. 

Let's Get Rolling....

Why Open Source?

Why open source is a question I have been asked a lot lately, in fact only a few hours ago was the most recent time. I will try to answer that here. I may use names or terms that you are not familiar with, I will try to link back to wikipedia for the most common ones, if I miss one, please forgive and bounce over to http://en.wikipedia.org/ and drop that term/name in the search box. 

I have had a collision of worlds...my passion for the technical world had met my passion for the Kingdom of God. I like freedom, no I LOVE freedom.  Here in the USA, we currently have many freedoms and liberties.  I say currently because anything granted by legislation can be removed by legislation.  As a Christian, I have freedom in Christ through His Word and His Spirit.   Again, I love freedom.    Thy why would I want to burden or bind myself when it comes to the software I use?

Non-free software bind you in many ways from the features they offer to the licensing they use. Remember, I love freedom.  Wanting free software doesn't mean I'm cheap, poor or a pirate.... it means I want freedom on how I use my software.  Time for some definitions. 

In the English language, we have some problems when we have too many definitions to the same word.  The adjective "free" has two definitions that can be exclusive of one another.  Free as in "for zero price" is where we have the word gratis.  Gratis comes from a Latin word meaning "free of charge" in the sense that a good or service is supplied without payment, even though it might have a great value.  The other definition of "free" is 'having freedom' which we get from another Latin derived term, Libre.   As you might guess we also get the word liberty from this term as well.    

In the computer world, freeware is obviously gratis, but most of the time NOT libre.  A great example of that is a Windows program called E-Sword.  It is an amazing gratis Bible program, but it is locked into a proprietary code, on one platform (Microsoft Windows) and while there are many free and paid plugins to the program, you still are limited as to what you can do with it.   Then there is free, libre open source software (FLOSS) such as the SWORD project, which is the launchpad for several Bible applications that run on Linux, Windows, Mac, Android and iOS.  The reason that it is so flexible and has so many off-shoots is because it's licensing allows others to not only see the source code, but to make changes to it and redistribute those changes. 

So what is the simple answer for why I have chosen to go the open source route? I enjoy the freedom to legally and ethically do what ever I wish with the software I am using.