Patriotic concerts

Gospel recording artist Sandi Patty (pictured) will perform at Crossings Community Church’s patriotic concert, one of several events planned for the July Fourth holiday.

“But the angel said to me, ‘You will become pregnant and have a son. Now then, drink no wine or other fermented drink and do not eat anything unclean, because the boy will be a Nazirite of God from the womb until the day of his death.’”

— Judges 13:7

Before Samson’s birth, God determined that Samson would be a Nazirite dedicated to God, a judge and a mighty man of valor with superhuman strength. A Nazirite took a special vow to never drink alcohol, never eat anything unclean and never cut his hair. Samson’s strength depended on keeping this vow. Samson grew up as a Nazirite from the moment of his conception. The angel told his mother that during her pregnancy she was to eat and drink as a Nazirite. She was forbidden to drink alcohol or eat anything unclean as determined by the Law of God. The angel revealed, and this ancient Biblical text reveals, that what a mother eats and drinks during her pregnancy can have a beneficial or a detrimental effect on her unborn baby. Samson’s mother was forbidden to drink alcohol, and modern research has revealed that some newborn babies suffer from fetal alcohol spectrum disorder or the more severe form called fetal alcohol syndrome. Samson’s mother and father gave him an excellent start in life and raised him in a godly home. He learned as he ate and drank that God had set him apart to be a strong and godly judge in Israel. At the right time the Spirit of God led him into action to save the Israelites from the Philistines. Only after Samson broke every part of the Nazirite vow did he lose his power to serve God effectively, but he died a Nazirite.