An excerpt from Dry ball
Id like to speak on a topic that most black powder shooters try to avoid. In fact, it is said that 99% of all black powder shooters have done this, and that the other 1% are lying. Now thats not entirely true. But I can say that almost everyone who has shot muzzle loading rifles for any length of time will have been guilty of this. If you havent, just wait. Youre times coming.
What Im talking about is dry balling.
I need to put in a definition here. Dry balling is the act of loading a lead ball into the barrel without putting in any powder. For a serious shooter, to admit that he has dry balled is about on a par with admitting that he has leprosy. In fact, being a leper would be preferable.
Some time back, I was attending a monthly shoot at our home club of Pequannah Muzzle Loaders, near Union City, IN. I had been shooting for some time, so I decided to take a break, have a little lunch, and jaw a bit with some of the other shooters.
I was leaning on the split rail fence that divides the spectator area from the loading/firing line, talking to one of the boys, when I happened to glance up at the club presidents shooting box. The box lid was open, and inside the box lid was a sign that the president had made for himself. There, in big, black label maker tape, were the following words:
POWDER-PATCH-BALL. THERE IS NO OTHER WAY!
I thought about that for a bit.
You know, hes right.
There is no other way.
You have to put the powder down the barrel first, and then the cloth patch, and then the lead ball, or the gun simply will not fire.
I dont care how steady your hand is. How sharp your eye is. The sights could be lined up just perfectly. But if you havent loaded your rifle in the proper powder-patch-ball sequence, it simply will not fire. . With a percussion gun, you could fire off a dozen of the percussion caps. You could knap your flint in the flintlock, charge and re-charge the priming pan, but if you havent loaded your rifle powder first-then patch-finally ball, it will not go off. There will be the pop of the cap going off or the whoosh of the priming powder in the pan, but thats it.
You might say, Thats really a bit close-minded. One would think that youd learn to be a little more tolerant of other ways of doing things.
I dont care how good your intentions were. I dont care if you had visualized getting a perfect score. If you havent loaded your rifle powder-patch-ball, then nothing will happen.
Call it close-minded if you want to, but there will still be no holes in your target. POWDER-PATCH-BALL
In John 14:6, Jesus said I am the way, the truth, and the life; no man cometh unto the Father but by me.
People try to be good, but they miss it. Time and time again. They try, but they just fall short. It doesnt mean that they are bad people, just that they have missed the mark. And thats all sin really is. Just missing the mark. And weve all done it, just like all the black powder shooters who have dry balled.
In Romans 3:23 the Bible states: For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.
POWDER-PATCH-BALL
But what about all of those alternate religions? you ask. Im not saying that they are bad people. Some of them are probably a lot nicer folks than a lot of Christians that I know. But they have missed the mark. They have spiritually dry balled. A lot of people say Well, it doesnt matter WHAT you believe, just as long as you believe something.
I have to take exception to that . You can be very sincere, but you can be sincerely WRONG!
Trying to come to come to the Father any way but through the shed Blood of Jesus is like trying to load a black powder rifle in some way other than powder-patch-ball. You may get it all down the barrel, but when it comes time for it to matter, Im sorry, but it just aint gonna work!
Jesus said I am the way, the truth, and the life; no man cometh to the Father but by me.
Is that being close-minded?
Is it being close-minded to insist that, when there is only one way to do something, that you actually DO it that way? I dont think so!
Its like trying to get from Cincinnati to Detroit. I dont care what you say; you just cant get there without going north. It doesnt matter which way that you start out. You can go as far to the west as you can until it becomes east, but at some point you are going to have to repent and turn north. Because thats the only way that you can get there.
POWDER-PATCH-BALL
Jesus said I am the way, the truth, and the life; no man cometh to the Father but by me.
Is God looking to condemn us? No! No! A thousand times no!
John 3:16-18 reads: 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.
You see, we already stand condemned! God is giving us the opportunity to pull that old dry ball, to come back to the foot of the Cross, and to start over
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