The fledgling National Vintage Motorcycle Drag Racing Association has been in need of a sort of clearinghouse/communications center since its inception. Well, due to the wonders of the Internet, there is something now in place.
With the blessing of NVMDRA founder Wayne Skinner, I just finished setting up an online forum for the association. Initially, at least, it will be a place for updates, suggestions, clarifications and information. As such, I would urge any of my readers who have an interest in vintage motorcycle drag racing to follow this link: NVMDRA Forum
Please register, give us your thoughts, and bookmark the site. We need your feedback as to what you would like to see, what you think should be done to draw in more participants, and please let us know if you would be interested in participating in an event if one is held in your area.
And maybe, just maybe, we can finagle some of the old timers to let loose of their long guarded speed secrets!
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
Thursday, August 25, 2011
Why the Rage?
With this post I am instituting a new category on this blog (for those few who may notice such things). Not of sufficient length to be considered "Lessons from the Pulpit", I have decided to label the new category "Short Shots" - not to be confused with the Harley exhaust pipes known for looks and not performance - but rather something more along the lines of "Short Shots in the War Against our Sinful Nature.
Psalm 2:1-3 "Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD, and against his anointed, saying, Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us." ...
Certainly what is laid out here in this section of Psalm 2 is as true today as it was the day it was written. History shows us that with very, very few exceptions those in the positions of kings and rulers have always followed the example of the father of lies in rebelling against their Creator ....and it is not the leaders alone.
Submit to God and to his laws? NO! Truly God's word is as burdensome as a slave collar riveted around their necks; constantly bearing witness against their sin. They are far too proud to submit to Jehovah, and they love their sin far to much to admit it as sin. Better to rail against those who would follow the Lord and to rail against the fact there even is a God. Their hearts are set against truth as if made of stone. But plotting against the Lord is a vain thing. Nothing changes the fact that there is a Creator and there is a coming day of judgment.
The good news is that it doesn't have to be that way. The Psalm ends with this point of gospel light; "Blessed are all they that put their trust in him." Turn from your sins, put your trust in Christ's payment for those sins and you will no longer be counted among those who rage against God.
Psalm 2:1-3 "Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD, and against his anointed, saying, Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us." ...
Certainly what is laid out here in this section of Psalm 2 is as true today as it was the day it was written. History shows us that with very, very few exceptions those in the positions of kings and rulers have always followed the example of the father of lies in rebelling against their Creator ....and it is not the leaders alone.
Submit to God and to his laws? NO! Truly God's word is as burdensome as a slave collar riveted around their necks; constantly bearing witness against their sin. They are far too proud to submit to Jehovah, and they love their sin far to much to admit it as sin. Better to rail against those who would follow the Lord and to rail against the fact there even is a God. Their hearts are set against truth as if made of stone. But plotting against the Lord is a vain thing. Nothing changes the fact that there is a Creator and there is a coming day of judgment.
The good news is that it doesn't have to be that way. The Psalm ends with this point of gospel light; "Blessed are all they that put their trust in him." Turn from your sins, put your trust in Christ's payment for those sins and you will no longer be counted among those who rage against God.
Friday, August 19, 2011
What I Did on my Summer Vacation
Well, ...not really.
I did take a few days off recently to attend the NVMDRA vintage nationals in Harrisburg, Illinois though. We have to enter that story at a point about a week earlier though. A week ago Sunday afternoon, I decided it was high time that I started the Knuckledragger to check out a few things.
Number one was how it would react to dropping the clutch at RPM on dry pavement. Due to various minor setbacks since I did the initial start up on the Knuckledragger late last summer, the only running under power has been in the "burn out pit" here at the shop. Now, the Knuckledragger is set up to replicate a mid '50s drag bike as much as possible. As such, it has a vintage transmission which had been converted to a two speed (third and fourth gears only). Along with the lack of gear reduction in the transmission, it was also outfitted with a 28 tooth VL trans sprocket necessary to fit the early '30s VL frame. Add a new M&H 5" drag slick with traction capabilities exceeding '50s era tire technology by multiples of 10 and you can begin to see my concern.
The second item I wanted to get a better feel for was how good the brakes work. Stock springer front drum brakes are notoriously bad. Often, they will do little more than hold your bike from rolling backwards when stopped on a hill. I had done my best to make this one work to the best of its capability, but did it? The rear brake is of course also a stock '40s era drum. These rear brakes maintain a much better reputation than the fronts, but they are after all still just a rear drum brake. It would be nice to know in advance how well the brakes would (or would not) stop me.
The third item I wanted to check out was the shifting. The original (to this trans) set up was just not something I could make myself like. So, even though the bike only needed to be shifted once, I thought it important to know it would happen.
But, of course things did not go exactly according to plans. Somewhere along the way of making all these plans I neglected to put a fresh charge on the starter batteries. Strike one. Although the Knuckledragger did start, before I got it off the rollers, I managed to let the motor die. That is when the weak state of the batteries manifested itself. After a quick charge we managed to get the bike running again; only to do a repeat performance of stalling it. A few more repetitions of a three stooges type starting drill and I finally got the bike to the end of the parking lot and turned around. But now the engine was audibly running "sour." Now what? A valiant attempt to bring the RPMs up and drop the clutch resulted in stalling the engine ....again!
Well no sense in beating a dead horse, so to speak, so it was back up on the bench to sort things out ....much to the disappointment of a couple of the grandchildren who had been lured to the shop with promises of a daredevil riding exhibition. The excitement obviously over for the day, they went home with their parents. After only a few minutes of fruitless troubleshooting, by chance as much as anything, I felt one of the carb needles. Loose as could be. The idle mixture and the power mixture needles on both carbs were similarly loose and badly out of adjustment, having turned themselves out from engine vibration. Now, if only I remembered what the final adjustment I came up with on them last summer was ....
Which brings us up to the vintage race this past Saturday. Once we were set up in the pits, I would still need to start the Knuckledragger and adjust the low speed mixture. I had a pretty good idea of where I had adjusted the high speed, and so was less concerned with that. Most of the alcohol for the high speed circuit is supplied by fixed jets inside the float bowl, so I was using the "power" needles more like trimmers, even though with the M35 bodies it is capable of supplying a goodly amount of fuel.
Once the carbs were back in adjustment, I was ready for a pass down the track, still with the same three concerns that I had not addressed the previous weekend. Would the bike launch, would it shift, and if it did those two things, would it stop? They say with age comes wisdom ....yeah they say that, ...but "it ain't necessarily true."
The whole issue of shifting, while it would have been nice to test ahead of time, was not something that I was too worried about. Stopping on the other hand, is a fairly important part of drag racing, though to be honest it was not something that worried me too much. I have been off the end of the pavement enough times on a dragbike with good brakes that I was confident that the speeds involved would not make it an issue.
The "launch" however, was a whole 'nother matter. My biggest fear was standing the bike straight up. I had never been on a bike with a drag slick and no wheelie bars. Like I said, the tire on this bike provides way, way, way more traction than anything available back when drag bikes were built the way this one is. The chances of recovering from such a launch without major damage to the bike, not to mention myself, are pretty slim. Nearly as scary though was the flip side of that equation (no pun intended) where I bog the motor or even kill it. That would indicate a lack of power and reflect poorly on my engine building ability. Talk about embarrassing! Now that's something to worry about!
I wound up making two passes down the track on Saturday. I must say, I have mixed emotions about the results. First I'll describe how it felt from the pilots seat. On the first pass, I decided to throw caution to the wind and rev the motor pretty good before dropping the clutch. It felt like I was spinning the rear tire hard with just a hint of fish tailing. Somewhere between 100 and 200 feet it seemed that the tire finally found traction and the bike pulled like a freight train. When I shifted to high gear I had to let off the throttle (due to an unsolved issue with my shift mechanism) and when I got back on it the clutch broke loose badly, only starting to grab again just before the finish line. I fully expected to receive reports of at least a haze of tire smoke from the first part of the pass.
After wearing gloves to remove the now blue steel clutch plates and laying them out to cool, John Endrizzi (my volunteer pit crew for the day) and I found a fairly flat piece of concrete to "resurface" the fiber plates on. A little adjustment on the shifter and we were ready for one more pass, just in case our back yard clutch repair was successful.
This time my second to worst fear was realized. I stalled the engine at the starting line; no fault of the engine, I had forgotten to open the petcocks and ran the float bowls dry. Quickly back to the rollers and restart the Knuckledragger.
The second pass was much like the first, with the sensation of a lot of tire spin, though not quite as much as on the first pass. Then, again the feeling of the engine pulling like a freight train.
The shift into high gear worked essentially as designed this time, or at least a slow motion version of it. This time it took most of the shut down area to get the bike stopped, owing to the mediocre brakes.
So what's to have mixed emotions about, you ask? Well, there is this. My wife, after helping to start the bike each time, grabbed a video camera (one she had never used before, no less) and managed to record the passes. The video shows no tire smoke, in fact it is inconclusive as to whether the rear tire is spinning at all. Is it possible that what I perceived as tire spin was only clutch slippage? Don't know.
If you watch the video closely, on the second pass you can see what looks like a significant wobble in the rear wheel. It's not. After checking the bike over closely since seeing the video, I have come to the conclusion that the rear section of the frame was twisting from the combination of traction and horsepower. I hate to give up the look of the 5 inch slick, but I believe the best solution is to put a tire on the bike that more nearly mimics the traction capabilities of the era. After all, the frame is at least 75 years old.
Overall, the weekend could really only be counted a success for my wife and myself. We finally got the Knuckledragger down the track, and left with only minor issues to sort out. We had a great time and did a little sight seeing on the way home. The down side is that turn out for the race was what one participant called "a disaster." Taking place at the end of Sturgis week may have been a big factor, as well as glitches with the advertising. But, just as the Knuckledragger came away in need of some "fine tuning" to work better next time, so the NVMDRA came away with some fine tuning to be worked out. Plans are already in process towards both those goals.
I did take a few days off recently to attend the NVMDRA vintage nationals in Harrisburg, Illinois though. We have to enter that story at a point about a week earlier though. A week ago Sunday afternoon, I decided it was high time that I started the Knuckledragger to check out a few things.
Number one was how it would react to dropping the clutch at RPM on dry pavement. Due to various minor setbacks since I did the initial start up on the Knuckledragger late last summer, the only running under power has been in the "burn out pit" here at the shop. Now, the Knuckledragger is set up to replicate a mid '50s drag bike as much as possible. As such, it has a vintage transmission which had been converted to a two speed (third and fourth gears only). Along with the lack of gear reduction in the transmission, it was also outfitted with a 28 tooth VL trans sprocket necessary to fit the early '30s VL frame. Add a new M&H 5" drag slick with traction capabilities exceeding '50s era tire technology by multiples of 10 and you can begin to see my concern.
The second item I wanted to get a better feel for was how good the brakes work. Stock springer front drum brakes are notoriously bad. Often, they will do little more than hold your bike from rolling backwards when stopped on a hill. I had done my best to make this one work to the best of its capability, but did it? The rear brake is of course also a stock '40s era drum. These rear brakes maintain a much better reputation than the fronts, but they are after all still just a rear drum brake. It would be nice to know in advance how well the brakes would (or would not) stop me.
The third item I wanted to check out was the shifting. The original (to this trans) set up was just not something I could make myself like. So, even though the bike only needed to be shifted once, I thought it important to know it would happen.
But, of course things did not go exactly according to plans. Somewhere along the way of making all these plans I neglected to put a fresh charge on the starter batteries. Strike one. Although the Knuckledragger did start, before I got it off the rollers, I managed to let the motor die. That is when the weak state of the batteries manifested itself. After a quick charge we managed to get the bike running again; only to do a repeat performance of stalling it. A few more repetitions of a three stooges type starting drill and I finally got the bike to the end of the parking lot and turned around. But now the engine was audibly running "sour." Now what? A valiant attempt to bring the RPMs up and drop the clutch resulted in stalling the engine ....again!
Well no sense in beating a dead horse, so to speak, so it was back up on the bench to sort things out ....much to the disappointment of a couple of the grandchildren who had been lured to the shop with promises of a daredevil riding exhibition. The excitement obviously over for the day, they went home with their parents. After only a few minutes of fruitless troubleshooting, by chance as much as anything, I felt one of the carb needles. Loose as could be. The idle mixture and the power mixture needles on both carbs were similarly loose and badly out of adjustment, having turned themselves out from engine vibration. Now, if only I remembered what the final adjustment I came up with on them last summer was ....
Which brings us up to the vintage race this past Saturday. Once we were set up in the pits, I would still need to start the Knuckledragger and adjust the low speed mixture. I had a pretty good idea of where I had adjusted the high speed, and so was less concerned with that. Most of the alcohol for the high speed circuit is supplied by fixed jets inside the float bowl, so I was using the "power" needles more like trimmers, even though with the M35 bodies it is capable of supplying a goodly amount of fuel.
Once the carbs were back in adjustment, I was ready for a pass down the track, still with the same three concerns that I had not addressed the previous weekend. Would the bike launch, would it shift, and if it did those two things, would it stop? They say with age comes wisdom ....yeah they say that, ...but "it ain't necessarily true."
The whole issue of shifting, while it would have been nice to test ahead of time, was not something that I was too worried about. Stopping on the other hand, is a fairly important part of drag racing, though to be honest it was not something that worried me too much. I have been off the end of the pavement enough times on a dragbike with good brakes that I was confident that the speeds involved would not make it an issue.
The "launch" however, was a whole 'nother matter. My biggest fear was standing the bike straight up. I had never been on a bike with a drag slick and no wheelie bars. Like I said, the tire on this bike provides way, way, way more traction than anything available back when drag bikes were built the way this one is. The chances of recovering from such a launch without major damage to the bike, not to mention myself, are pretty slim. Nearly as scary though was the flip side of that equation (no pun intended) where I bog the motor or even kill it. That would indicate a lack of power and reflect poorly on my engine building ability. Talk about embarrassing! Now that's something to worry about!
I wound up making two passes down the track on Saturday. I must say, I have mixed emotions about the results. First I'll describe how it felt from the pilots seat. On the first pass, I decided to throw caution to the wind and rev the motor pretty good before dropping the clutch. It felt like I was spinning the rear tire hard with just a hint of fish tailing. Somewhere between 100 and 200 feet it seemed that the tire finally found traction and the bike pulled like a freight train. When I shifted to high gear I had to let off the throttle (due to an unsolved issue with my shift mechanism) and when I got back on it the clutch broke loose badly, only starting to grab again just before the finish line. I fully expected to receive reports of at least a haze of tire smoke from the first part of the pass.
After wearing gloves to remove the now blue steel clutch plates and laying them out to cool, John Endrizzi (my volunteer pit crew for the day) and I found a fairly flat piece of concrete to "resurface" the fiber plates on. A little adjustment on the shifter and we were ready for one more pass, just in case our back yard clutch repair was successful.
This time my second to worst fear was realized. I stalled the engine at the starting line; no fault of the engine, I had forgotten to open the petcocks and ran the float bowls dry. Quickly back to the rollers and restart the Knuckledragger.
The second pass was much like the first, with the sensation of a lot of tire spin, though not quite as much as on the first pass. Then, again the feeling of the engine pulling like a freight train.
The shift into high gear worked essentially as designed this time, or at least a slow motion version of it. This time it took most of the shut down area to get the bike stopped, owing to the mediocre brakes.
So what's to have mixed emotions about, you ask? Well, there is this. My wife, after helping to start the bike each time, grabbed a video camera (one she had never used before, no less) and managed to record the passes. The video shows no tire smoke, in fact it is inconclusive as to whether the rear tire is spinning at all. Is it possible that what I perceived as tire spin was only clutch slippage? Don't know.
If you watch the video closely, on the second pass you can see what looks like a significant wobble in the rear wheel. It's not. After checking the bike over closely since seeing the video, I have come to the conclusion that the rear section of the frame was twisting from the combination of traction and horsepower. I hate to give up the look of the 5 inch slick, but I believe the best solution is to put a tire on the bike that more nearly mimics the traction capabilities of the era. After all, the frame is at least 75 years old.
Overall, the weekend could really only be counted a success for my wife and myself. We finally got the Knuckledragger down the track, and left with only minor issues to sort out. We had a great time and did a little sight seeing on the way home. The down side is that turn out for the race was what one participant called "a disaster." Taking place at the end of Sturgis week may have been a big factor, as well as glitches with the advertising. But, just as the Knuckledragger came away in need of some "fine tuning" to work better next time, so the NVMDRA came away with some fine tuning to be worked out. Plans are already in process towards both those goals.
Monday, August 8, 2011
Another Dual Carb Manifold
It's not every day that somebody walks into my shop with a really cool piece of vintage speed equipment ....but it did happen recently. My friend Teach came in to finish assembling a set of Knuck heads that I had reworked for him, and with him he had a Seeley manifold that had recently found its way to him. To be perfectly honest I had never heard of a Seeley manifold, and at first glance I thought it was the same as a manifold that I had built 15 or 20 years ago. At the time, I assumed that I was the first one to come up with the idea. Of course the truth is, there is no new thing under the sun (a very wise man said that a very long time ago).
Judging by this vintage ad someone beat me to the punch by about a half a century!
Closer examination of the Seeley manifold, however revealed that it was indeed different than what I had built. You see, the Seeley has the clever addition of a diagonal plate which separates the manifold into two equal individual runners, whereas mine was simply open so that both carbs fed each cylinder.
It's little difficult to photograph the actual divider (as shown above), however in the photo below, a straight edge placed on the outside of the manifold shows the orientation of the internal wall that separates the two intake tracts.
It's little difficult to photograph the actual divider (as shown above), however in the photo below, a straight edge placed on the outside of the manifold shows the orientation of the internal wall that separates the two intake tracts.
So, how well does the Seeley manifold work? Well, the proof will be in the pudding, so to speak. The vintage advertisement claims a 20% increase in horsepower. Is that accurate or is it hype?
It is obvious examining the manifold that the cross section is visibly smaller at the divider wall. Not that there is anything that Mr. Seeley could have done about this; there's only so much room between the heads. So, while Teach was installing the rocker boxes on his heads, I took the opportunity to put the Seeley manifold on the flow bench. The bench confirmed that there was a restriction in the Seeley manifold. How much of a restriction? Well, comparing it directly to a stock Linkert manifold, (each checked with a velocity stack directly attached to the manifold - no carb) the Seeley is 22 cfm down. That's not the whole story though. Flow testing both manifolds with an M35 carb attached showed it was only down by 5 cfm (because the carb was more of a restriction than the manifold).
Now, 5 cfm at a 28 inch test pressure is not a huge amount. It could very well be that a better "tuned length" effect of the individual runners on the Seeley manifold could indeed lead to more power despite the slight loss of cfm. Or not. We'll just have to wait for a report back from Teach as to real world performance!
Friday, July 29, 2011
The Walls
My guess is that anyone who grew up attending any kind of Church/Sunday School would recognize a children's song that goes like this: "Joshua fought the battle of Jericho, and the walls came tumbling down."
Joshua 6:1-5 Now Jericho was straitly shut up because of the children of Israel: none went out, and none came in. And the LORD said unto Joshua, See, I have given into thine hand Jericho, and the king thereof, and the mighty men of valor. And ye shall compass the city, all ye men of war, and go round about the city once. Thus shalt thou do six days. And seven priests shall bear before the ark seven trumpets of rams' horns: and the seventh day ye shall compass the city seven times, and the priests shall blow with the trumpets. And it shall come to pass, that when they make a long blast with the ram's horn, and when ye hear the sound of the trumpet, all the people shall shout with a great shout; and the wall of the city shall fall down flat, and the people shall ascend up every man straight before him.
The children of Israel, after wandering in the wilderness for 40 years, had recently crossed the Jordan River into the land that God had promised to Abraham over 700 years earlier. Now it was time for them to occupy the country as God commanded them. But the first obstacle in their way was the city of Jericho and its walls. The inhabitants of Jericho had decided to trust in their walls to keep the Israelites and their God out, rather than to come out and fight or to negotiate.
What about these walls? Earlier Moses had sent scouts into the land and they had brought back word that "the cities are great and walled up to heaven". Now, obviously this was a bit of an exaggeration, however, the fact that they used such a description gives us a pretty good indication that these were very formidable walls. Certainly the inhabitants of Jericho felt that their walls were impregnable. With that in mind, what do you think the natural reaction of the Israelites to the method that was presented to them for overcoming the city of Jericho would have been? It just does not seem reasonable. Bringing the walls of a city down by marching around it, and then blowing horns and shouting just doesn't seem to make sense. No ladders, no ropes, no battering rams. Just horns and shouting.
Why would anyone believe that would work? Only because God said it would and they believed God
Joshua 6: 15-16, 20 And it came to pass on the seventh day, that they rose early about the dawning of the day, and compassed the city after the same manner seven times: only on that day they compassed the city seven times. And it came to pass at the seventh time, when the priests blew with the trumpets, Joshua said unto the people, Shout; for the LORD hath given you the city....So the people shouted when the priests blew with the trumpets: and it came to pass, when the people heard the sound of the trumpet, and the people shouted with a great shout, that the wall fell down flat, so that the people went up into the city, every man straight before him, and they took the city.
The children of Israel were obedient in following God's instructions as to how they were to take the city of Jericho, and God fulfilled his promise to them. Despite how impossible it seemed, how miraculous, it all played out exactly as God had said.
Clear at the other end of the Bible it says this: "By faith the walls of Jericho fell down, after they were compassed about seven days." (Hebrews 11:30)
The bringing down of the walls of Jericho was an act of God, but it was also an act of faith. Had the Israelites refused to follow the Lord's directions for overcoming the city, the walls would not have come down. That's what it teaches us in Hebrews 11: by faith the walls of Jericho fell down. It was required of them that they believed God would do what he said he would.
The same it also true of salvation. In fact, you might look at sin as a towering wall that separates you from God.
John 3:14-18 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
The question then is, do you have faith? Do you believe what God said in these verses? Do you believe that whosoever believes in Jesus will not perish, but will have eternal life? Do you believe that God sent his Son into the world that through him you can be saved?
If you have a biblical understanding of your own sin, then you will see salvation from that sin, and gaining eternal life, to be as monumental a task as bringing down those towering walls of Jericho. And God's plan for how to rid yourself of that sin may seem just as unlikely as the method he gave the Israelites to bring down those walls. Man's natural inclination is to try to make up for sin by doing right; to try to earn eternal life by doing good. But what does the Bible say?
Romans 4:2-5 For if Abraham were justified by works, he hath whereof to glory; but not before God. For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness. Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt. But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.
In the Bible, God makes it clear we are not to follow our natural inclinations to try to earn our way to heaven, but rather that the only way is by faith in the fact that Jesus Christ paid for our sins.
A little further in the same chapter and still speaking of Abraham we read this:
Romans 4:20-25 He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God; And being fully persuaded that, what he had promised, he was able also to perform. And therefore it was imputed to him for righteousness. Now it was not written for his sake alone, that it was imputed to him; But for us also, to whom it shall be imputed, if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead; Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification.
Faith is the simple answer to that towering mountain of sin that is on our shoulders. It doesn't seem to make any more sense than God's method of bringing down the walls of Jericho does it? But God has promised it, and if you believe, he will deliver forgiveness of sins and eternal life just as he delivered the city of Jericho to the Israelites.
Joshua 6:1-5 Now Jericho was straitly shut up because of the children of Israel: none went out, and none came in. And the LORD said unto Joshua, See, I have given into thine hand Jericho, and the king thereof, and the mighty men of valor. And ye shall compass the city, all ye men of war, and go round about the city once. Thus shalt thou do six days. And seven priests shall bear before the ark seven trumpets of rams' horns: and the seventh day ye shall compass the city seven times, and the priests shall blow with the trumpets. And it shall come to pass, that when they make a long blast with the ram's horn, and when ye hear the sound of the trumpet, all the people shall shout with a great shout; and the wall of the city shall fall down flat, and the people shall ascend up every man straight before him.
The children of Israel, after wandering in the wilderness for 40 years, had recently crossed the Jordan River into the land that God had promised to Abraham over 700 years earlier. Now it was time for them to occupy the country as God commanded them. But the first obstacle in their way was the city of Jericho and its walls. The inhabitants of Jericho had decided to trust in their walls to keep the Israelites and their God out, rather than to come out and fight or to negotiate.
What about these walls? Earlier Moses had sent scouts into the land and they had brought back word that "the cities are great and walled up to heaven". Now, obviously this was a bit of an exaggeration, however, the fact that they used such a description gives us a pretty good indication that these were very formidable walls. Certainly the inhabitants of Jericho felt that their walls were impregnable. With that in mind, what do you think the natural reaction of the Israelites to the method that was presented to them for overcoming the city of Jericho would have been? It just does not seem reasonable. Bringing the walls of a city down by marching around it, and then blowing horns and shouting just doesn't seem to make sense. No ladders, no ropes, no battering rams. Just horns and shouting.
Why would anyone believe that would work? Only because God said it would and they believed God
Joshua 6: 15-16, 20 And it came to pass on the seventh day, that they rose early about the dawning of the day, and compassed the city after the same manner seven times: only on that day they compassed the city seven times. And it came to pass at the seventh time, when the priests blew with the trumpets, Joshua said unto the people, Shout; for the LORD hath given you the city....So the people shouted when the priests blew with the trumpets: and it came to pass, when the people heard the sound of the trumpet, and the people shouted with a great shout, that the wall fell down flat, so that the people went up into the city, every man straight before him, and they took the city.
The children of Israel were obedient in following God's instructions as to how they were to take the city of Jericho, and God fulfilled his promise to them. Despite how impossible it seemed, how miraculous, it all played out exactly as God had said.
Clear at the other end of the Bible it says this: "By faith the walls of Jericho fell down, after they were compassed about seven days." (Hebrews 11:30)
The bringing down of the walls of Jericho was an act of God, but it was also an act of faith. Had the Israelites refused to follow the Lord's directions for overcoming the city, the walls would not have come down. That's what it teaches us in Hebrews 11: by faith the walls of Jericho fell down. It was required of them that they believed God would do what he said he would.
The same it also true of salvation. In fact, you might look at sin as a towering wall that separates you from God.
John 3:14-18 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
The question then is, do you have faith? Do you believe what God said in these verses? Do you believe that whosoever believes in Jesus will not perish, but will have eternal life? Do you believe that God sent his Son into the world that through him you can be saved?
If you have a biblical understanding of your own sin, then you will see salvation from that sin, and gaining eternal life, to be as monumental a task as bringing down those towering walls of Jericho. And God's plan for how to rid yourself of that sin may seem just as unlikely as the method he gave the Israelites to bring down those walls. Man's natural inclination is to try to make up for sin by doing right; to try to earn eternal life by doing good. But what does the Bible say?
Romans 4:2-5 For if Abraham were justified by works, he hath whereof to glory; but not before God. For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness. Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt. But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.
In the Bible, God makes it clear we are not to follow our natural inclinations to try to earn our way to heaven, but rather that the only way is by faith in the fact that Jesus Christ paid for our sins.
A little further in the same chapter and still speaking of Abraham we read this:
Romans 4:20-25 He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God; And being fully persuaded that, what he had promised, he was able also to perform. And therefore it was imputed to him for righteousness. Now it was not written for his sake alone, that it was imputed to him; But for us also, to whom it shall be imputed, if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead; Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification.
Faith is the simple answer to that towering mountain of sin that is on our shoulders. It doesn't seem to make any more sense than God's method of bringing down the walls of Jericho does it? But God has promised it, and if you believe, he will deliver forgiveness of sins and eternal life just as he delivered the city of Jericho to the Israelites.
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
2nd Vintage Nationals August 13
2nd Vintage Nationals set for August 13
cars for kids accelaquarter raceway park Harrisburg Illinois)
Last month's inaugural running of a National Vintage Motorcycle Drag Racing Association event was a success on many fronts. Kosman Specialties was there with their new vintage style drag chassis on display. Also in attendance was Don Rothwell, fabricator of a reproduction of the legendary Yetman drag frame. M&H had a couple prototypes of the new run of 4" x 18" drag slicks which are in the works (these have been out of production for longer than most of us can remember, and having them available again should be a major milestone in vintage drag racing). It is my understanding that initially these will be available through Kosman. New billet crankcases for pre-unit Triumphs were on display courtesy of Donny Racing Engines in Australia.
All that said, despite pre-registered total of 72, the turn out of actual vintage drag bikes was lower than expected, though that did provide a silver lining of unlimited passes for those able to make the trip. Those of us who are interested in the success of a vintage motorcycle drag racing sanction can be thankful that Wayne Skinner, the mover and shaker behind the NVMDRA, is a man of vision. His plan is to run this and possible one more race this year, and hopefully a full schedule of six races next year. The plan is to have them in different sections of the country so that everyone will have easy access to one, and then one larger centrally located event as a grand finale. Sounds like a good approach to me!
With a little more preparation time to get those vintage racers out of mothballs, this event should be even bigger and better than the first one, and next year should be phenomenal!
Thursday, July 14, 2011
Ten Lepers - Part Three
.... the final installment of this three part series based on Luke 17:11-19
Verse 14 "And when he saw them, he said unto them, Go shew yourselves unto the priests. And it came to pass, that, as they went, they were cleansed."
Jesus told the lepers to go and show themselves to the priest. The priesthood and the command for the leper to show himself to the priest was established by the law of Moses
Notice that Jesus did not tell them "I am here now, you have no use for the law, you're cured!"
Instead, it might be said that in a sense, he sent them to the law. Isn't it our duty likewise to send those who are seeking a cure for their sin problem to the law?
Romans 7: 12-13 "Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good. Was then that which is good made death unto me? God forbid. But sin, that it might appear sin, working death in me by that which is good; that sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful."
Here we see another purpose of the law: the blackness of sin shows up best next to the holy light of the law.
It seems that much of modern Christianity wants to give a cure without a diagnosis. They want to give you the answer to your sin problem without ever telling you that you are a sinner!
You may say "only the doctor really needs to make the diagnosis, not the one with the disease." But verse 19 of our text says "thy faith hath made thee whole." If this was what we might call a real live "faith" healing in the purest sense of the term, then the one with the disease does need to agree with the physician's diagnosis in order for him to have faith!
also in Verse 14 "As they went, they were cleansed."
These ten lepers were cleansed of their leprosy. Does this mean they were saved, born again, cleansed of their sins? If the leprosy here is a symbol of sin, then perhaps the cleansing from it is also symbolic in nature, however that does negate the lessons we can learn from it.
Verse 15 "And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, and with a loud voice glorified God,"
One of these ten, when he saw that he was healed glorified God. This one leper recognized that only God could have performed this miracle of healing. Did he recognize that Jesus was God? I don't know. He certainly at least recognized that Jesus got his power from God.
Recognizing God's mercy in salvation will certainly cause a saved man to give God the glory!
Verse 16 "And fell down on his face at his feet, giving him thanks: and he was a Samaritan."
This one leper fell down on his face and gave Jesus thanks. We can only assume that this leper saw how lowly he was in relation to Jesus. True salvation causes one to have a right view of where you are in relation to a holy God . This leper was truly thankful for the cleansing that he received. True salvation will cause one to be ever mindful and ever thankful for that salvation. True salvation will cause one to be ever mindful and ever thankful for being saved from sins. Not just the penalty for sins, but the bondage of living in sin.
Verse 17 & 18 "And Jesus answering said, Were there not ten cleansed? but where are the nine? There are not found that returned to give glory to God, save this stranger."
The other nine were cleansed, and they did as the law commanded, in fact as Jesus commanded them, to go and show themselves to the priest. I find it interesting that they went to the Jewish priest, the one who was the administrator of the ceremonial law. Could this be a symbol of those who merely trust in the trappings of religion, but never stop to worship Jesus. How many are there out there today who find their comfort in the rituals and ceremonies of religion, in their baptism, in communion, but never stop to truly worship Jesus?
Verse 19 "And he said unto him, Arise, go thy way: thy faith hath made thee whole."
Thy faith hath made thee whole. Jesus does not say this about the other nine. The other nine were cleansed, but I suspect that they were not made whole. How many today come to Jesus "asking him into their hearts" in what has become known as "easy believism". 1, 2, 3, pray after me. Do you think some of them may only receive an outward cleansing, but are not made whole?
I think we've all known at least someone who has made a change in their life; they have "cleaned up their act. Maybe they started attending church and to most outward appearances they have turned their life around, but then something happens and they return to their old ways, or you catch them off guard and find that maybe they haven't changed as much as it appeared. Perhaps those were just outward changes, a cleansing, but there is never any inward change, no new heart.
2 Corinthians 5:17 "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new."
All things are become new; could that really be the cleansing that happened to the nine of these lepers? Could you really become a new creature in Christ without it causing you to return to Jesus to worship him? The one who was made whole turned back to worship Jesus.
In closing I would just like you to consider a few questions. How do your experiences compare with those of these 10 as touches leprosy being a symbol of sin? Have you ever experienced a cleansing?
If so, did you do as the one out of the ten and glorify God with a loud voice? And when I say with a loud voice, I mean that symbolically. Its not a matter of volume so much as sincerity and boldness. Have you ever testified to someone about the miracle of God making you whole?
Have you ever fallen at Jesus feet? And again, I mean that symbolically; have you seen your lowliness compared to a Holy God?
Or, instead have you gone on to find your comfort in the ceremonies of religion like these other nine lepers did?
Are you sure that you didn't just receive an outward cleansing, rather than being made whole?
Verse 14 "And when he saw them, he said unto them, Go shew yourselves unto the priests. And it came to pass, that, as they went, they were cleansed."
Jesus told the lepers to go and show themselves to the priest. The priesthood and the command for the leper to show himself to the priest was established by the law of Moses
Notice that Jesus did not tell them "I am here now, you have no use for the law, you're cured!"
Instead, it might be said that in a sense, he sent them to the law. Isn't it our duty likewise to send those who are seeking a cure for their sin problem to the law?
Romans 7: 12-13 "Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good. Was then that which is good made death unto me? God forbid. But sin, that it might appear sin, working death in me by that which is good; that sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful."
Here we see another purpose of the law: the blackness of sin shows up best next to the holy light of the law.
It seems that much of modern Christianity wants to give a cure without a diagnosis. They want to give you the answer to your sin problem without ever telling you that you are a sinner!
You may say "only the doctor really needs to make the diagnosis, not the one with the disease." But verse 19 of our text says "thy faith hath made thee whole." If this was what we might call a real live "faith" healing in the purest sense of the term, then the one with the disease does need to agree with the physician's diagnosis in order for him to have faith!
also in Verse 14 "As they went, they were cleansed."
These ten lepers were cleansed of their leprosy. Does this mean they were saved, born again, cleansed of their sins? If the leprosy here is a symbol of sin, then perhaps the cleansing from it is also symbolic in nature, however that does negate the lessons we can learn from it.
Verse 15 "And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, and with a loud voice glorified God,"
One of these ten, when he saw that he was healed glorified God. This one leper recognized that only God could have performed this miracle of healing. Did he recognize that Jesus was God? I don't know. He certainly at least recognized that Jesus got his power from God.
Recognizing God's mercy in salvation will certainly cause a saved man to give God the glory!
Verse 16 "And fell down on his face at his feet, giving him thanks: and he was a Samaritan."
This one leper fell down on his face and gave Jesus thanks. We can only assume that this leper saw how lowly he was in relation to Jesus. True salvation causes one to have a right view of where you are in relation to a holy God . This leper was truly thankful for the cleansing that he received. True salvation will cause one to be ever mindful and ever thankful for that salvation. True salvation will cause one to be ever mindful and ever thankful for being saved from sins. Not just the penalty for sins, but the bondage of living in sin.
Verse 17 & 18 "And Jesus answering said, Were there not ten cleansed? but where are the nine? There are not found that returned to give glory to God, save this stranger."
The other nine were cleansed, and they did as the law commanded, in fact as Jesus commanded them, to go and show themselves to the priest. I find it interesting that they went to the Jewish priest, the one who was the administrator of the ceremonial law. Could this be a symbol of those who merely trust in the trappings of religion, but never stop to worship Jesus. How many are there out there today who find their comfort in the rituals and ceremonies of religion, in their baptism, in communion, but never stop to truly worship Jesus?
Verse 19 "And he said unto him, Arise, go thy way: thy faith hath made thee whole."
Thy faith hath made thee whole. Jesus does not say this about the other nine. The other nine were cleansed, but I suspect that they were not made whole. How many today come to Jesus "asking him into their hearts" in what has become known as "easy believism". 1, 2, 3, pray after me. Do you think some of them may only receive an outward cleansing, but are not made whole?
I think we've all known at least someone who has made a change in their life; they have "cleaned up their act. Maybe they started attending church and to most outward appearances they have turned their life around, but then something happens and they return to their old ways, or you catch them off guard and find that maybe they haven't changed as much as it appeared. Perhaps those were just outward changes, a cleansing, but there is never any inward change, no new heart.
2 Corinthians 5:17 "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new."
All things are become new; could that really be the cleansing that happened to the nine of these lepers? Could you really become a new creature in Christ without it causing you to return to Jesus to worship him? The one who was made whole turned back to worship Jesus.
In closing I would just like you to consider a few questions. How do your experiences compare with those of these 10 as touches leprosy being a symbol of sin? Have you ever experienced a cleansing?
If so, did you do as the one out of the ten and glorify God with a loud voice? And when I say with a loud voice, I mean that symbolically. Its not a matter of volume so much as sincerity and boldness. Have you ever testified to someone about the miracle of God making you whole?
Have you ever fallen at Jesus feet? And again, I mean that symbolically; have you seen your lowliness compared to a Holy God?
Or, instead have you gone on to find your comfort in the ceremonies of religion like these other nine lepers did?
Are you sure that you didn't just receive an outward cleansing, rather than being made whole?
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