The following is my personal manifesto which I bring back from time to time:
The free men of the thirteen colonies choose who, or in this case "what" was to be their king. They made this decision for those who were not free or could not vote, slaves, indentured servants, the native population and women. Indeed, not all that were free made that decision for many wanted no part of independence from England, but the die was cast...they had crossed their Rubicon, and a nation would arise.
Their first choice was independence, their second was a representative government and their third was a constitutional republic. That constitution would rule in the affairs of the whole through the administration of those chosen by the majority. Our representatives are bound by that piece of paper and that paper allows for amendments to it which eventually gave freedom and suffrage to all. Our Supreme Court is bound by that same paper and judges are bound by the laws that that constitution permits us to make for ourselves.
Man (please allow that generic term) is fallible...more than fallible, even prone for error. Indeed, the Founding Fathers knew this and made every attempt to secure the preeminence of the Constitution against the whims and machinations of man himself, for he may see what he wants to see in the words therein and not what is in fact there, and may sit in the judgment seat fully convinced of his own interpretation. He may even come to despise the words of his fathers and their intent but keep this to himself as he twists the self-evident truths before him. Others may call him to account on this. If they are successful the nation will go on as designed. A proverb of Solomon says Those who forsake the law praise the wicked, but such as keep the law contend with them. If those who contend... fail, the nation will proceed as an entirely new entity. The Constitution will no longer be the ultimate rule for it will be little more than a handmaiden to the autonomy of man himself, changing as different men ascend to power, changing as the winds of self-indulgence change course, changing as the powers of one group becomes stronger than the powers of another.
Another Proverb of Solomon says He who pampers his servant from childhood, will have him as a son in the end. At first glance one might think that this recommends pampering for it will buy a son but in actuality it says that to pamper a servant will cause that servant to demand his rights as a son. A charitable society will receive honor but an entitlement society, built on bribes, will fall from within. Lex Rex...the law is our temporal king. It is to the law that we owe our allegiance. It is to the Constitution that we gave powers over us, not to those who represent us in upholding that Constitution.
Our prayer to the King of Kings is not for the Constitution but for those who administer it. They do not have our allegiance but our prayers which are more valuable. Insofar as they do not legislate against the specific laws of God we are subject to those laws. If they do, we are subject to our responsibility to elect those who will not depart from the intentions of those who designed the freedoms and the liberties with reverence for Almighty God and dependence upon their Creator that this nation was built upon.
Thursday, December 26, 2013
Sunday, December 22, 2013
Duck Dyansty
I was standing in front of the ground floor elevator at work yesterday and it came to me that I started working there thirty-four years ago to the day. I had walked through the door next to me for the job interview, showing up in a three piece suit, and the personnel manager asked me politely "You do know that this is an entry level job?" I was young and strong and shoveled a lot of coal for a lot of years. I thank God every day for the employment he provided for me.
Until about a week ago I didn't know very much about Duck Dynasty. I hear the guys at work talk about the show but since I don't get extended cable, and therefore not A&E, I never saw it. Well, I was given an early Christmas present, the CD Duck The Halls, A Robertson Family Christmas. I have probably played it twenty times since receiving it, it's that good! I did then get to see a sample of their show and I like these folks and see what all the fuss was about. And then came the GQ article. Other than the mention of specific body parts I thought Phil Robertson's answers were eloquent, tolerant and even loving but you would never know that from the mainstream news coverage.
Camille Paglia is a professor and prominent social critic whose views even conservatives pay attention to. She is a feminist, an atheist and is gay, and she is also fair-minded. She was on the conservative Laura Ingraham radio program and spoke her mind just as Phil Robertson did. She responded to a question with this, "I think that this intolerance by gay activists toward the full spectrum of human beliefs is a sign of immaturity, juvenility.......this is not the mark of a true intellectual life. This is why there is no cultural life now in the U. S., why nothing is of interest coming from the major media in terms of cultural criticism." Professor Paglia then commented on something that Christians have known for quite some time that the elite northeastern universities put out graduates that are "cultural illiterates.....because they are not being educated in any way to give respect to opposing view points."
The other day I picked up a DVD at Rite-Aid. It was a three hour HBO mini-series from the 90s starring Robert Duvall and titled Stalin. In spite of the magnificent portrayal that Duvall gave it was a difficult film to watch and he himself has said that it was a difficult character to, in effect, become. Duvall gets my vote as America's finest actor. I'm thinking of his portrayal of Robert E. Lee in God's And Generals, Stalin and just about everything else he did. It was reported this week that the U. S. Army War College in Carlisle, Pa., which I enjoy visiting on occasion, is considering taking down portraits of Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson because they were Confederates. Back to Camille Paglia, she likened the uproar over comments by the Robertson patriarch as "utterly Stalinist." That's what this is. Whether it is over Duck Dynasty or these portraits it is attempts to purify society of the vestiges of its past. We are in the middle of a coup in our government and an attempted forced cultural shift that has elements from Brave New World, 1984 and Fahrenheit 451 not to mention the Stalinist purges!
The very first post that I had written back in November of 2009 was on a topic that comes into play with the Duck Dynasty uproar. The bundling of cable stations that we are forced to accept if we want a specific channel has been a huge tool in this attempted cultural shift. One cannot boycott A&E, nor can it evict MSNBC from their home as it stands now. My position has been that a la carte cable for consumers, for Americans, would be a "game changer!" In a short period of time after we were allowed to pick and choose the cable channels for our television the hold that the liberal and progressive television industry has on us would be broken! No, we do not have to watch their indoctrination programming today but the temptation and the visual enticements are an effective tool in breaking down our resolve. Cancelling specific channels would be much easier and would shake the industry to the core as to their agenda which is true intolerance. But enacting laws for a la carte cable is a long-term plan and we have to deal with the situation as it presently exists.
Prayer is and has always been our primary weapon and the Robertson's apparently do that well also.
Until about a week ago I didn't know very much about Duck Dynasty. I hear the guys at work talk about the show but since I don't get extended cable, and therefore not A&E, I never saw it. Well, I was given an early Christmas present, the CD Duck The Halls, A Robertson Family Christmas. I have probably played it twenty times since receiving it, it's that good! I did then get to see a sample of their show and I like these folks and see what all the fuss was about. And then came the GQ article. Other than the mention of specific body parts I thought Phil Robertson's answers were eloquent, tolerant and even loving but you would never know that from the mainstream news coverage.
Camille Paglia is a professor and prominent social critic whose views even conservatives pay attention to. She is a feminist, an atheist and is gay, and she is also fair-minded. She was on the conservative Laura Ingraham radio program and spoke her mind just as Phil Robertson did. She responded to a question with this, "I think that this intolerance by gay activists toward the full spectrum of human beliefs is a sign of immaturity, juvenility.......this is not the mark of a true intellectual life. This is why there is no cultural life now in the U. S., why nothing is of interest coming from the major media in terms of cultural criticism." Professor Paglia then commented on something that Christians have known for quite some time that the elite northeastern universities put out graduates that are "cultural illiterates.....because they are not being educated in any way to give respect to opposing view points."
The other day I picked up a DVD at Rite-Aid. It was a three hour HBO mini-series from the 90s starring Robert Duvall and titled Stalin. In spite of the magnificent portrayal that Duvall gave it was a difficult film to watch and he himself has said that it was a difficult character to, in effect, become. Duvall gets my vote as America's finest actor. I'm thinking of his portrayal of Robert E. Lee in God's And Generals, Stalin and just about everything else he did. It was reported this week that the U. S. Army War College in Carlisle, Pa., which I enjoy visiting on occasion, is considering taking down portraits of Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson because they were Confederates. Back to Camille Paglia, she likened the uproar over comments by the Robertson patriarch as "utterly Stalinist." That's what this is. Whether it is over Duck Dynasty or these portraits it is attempts to purify society of the vestiges of its past. We are in the middle of a coup in our government and an attempted forced cultural shift that has elements from Brave New World, 1984 and Fahrenheit 451 not to mention the Stalinist purges!
The very first post that I had written back in November of 2009 was on a topic that comes into play with the Duck Dynasty uproar. The bundling of cable stations that we are forced to accept if we want a specific channel has been a huge tool in this attempted cultural shift. One cannot boycott A&E, nor can it evict MSNBC from their home as it stands now. My position has been that a la carte cable for consumers, for Americans, would be a "game changer!" In a short period of time after we were allowed to pick and choose the cable channels for our television the hold that the liberal and progressive television industry has on us would be broken! No, we do not have to watch their indoctrination programming today but the temptation and the visual enticements are an effective tool in breaking down our resolve. Cancelling specific channels would be much easier and would shake the industry to the core as to their agenda which is true intolerance. But enacting laws for a la carte cable is a long-term plan and we have to deal with the situation as it presently exists.
Prayer is and has always been our primary weapon and the Robertson's apparently do that well also.
".....but the real cross of Christ is not there."
The following is my Lord's Day post which I will leave up for a day and then transfer to another blog:
In roughly twelve hours from now pastors will take to pulpits across this land. What will be preached from those pulpits will entertain, inform, motivate and comfort. Folks, I don't mean this as a compliment. From other pulpits doctrine will be preached in amongst extravagant worship... doctrine that is man-made and worthless, and yet in others there will be a condemnation with no love and no realization that that condemnation was first ours before God reached in and plucked us out of the fires. In other pulpits, and I don't know what percentage this is, the Gospel of Jesus Christ is indeed preached. The cross is preached. The love of God, demonstrated to us from Calvary, is evident along with judgment mixed with mercy for those who believe.
My hope, my prayer for America, has been what I wrote first in a post from July of 2011: My prayer has consistently been for God to allow 40 more years...one more period where we would be a source of stability in the world, one more generation added to a storied past of spreading freedom and liberty, one more testimony to the rest of the world that God upholds nations who trust in Him. I hope only for 40 years because of human nature. A couple decades of trusting solely in Jesus Christ and we surely would begin to fall away again. Pessimism, you say? I look at it as the opposite for it is only God's mercy and grace that permitted the world to reach this stage and God is as real today as when He, time and again, humbled and blessed repentant Israel.... as when He sent His church throughout the world with the gospel of Jesus Christ.... as when the Reformation of the 16th century exploded in the hearts and minds of peoples and nations.... as when he guided the Mayflower to Plymouth Rock and as when He crushed the occult Nazi Third Reich. We will turn to Him as a nation...should He will it. And if we do not then that is also His will, also glorious as it would be His plan and maybe...maybe...a precursor to His Second Coming in power and glory, the fulfillment of all of history and the final triumph of good over evil. As bleak as the future of our nation is it is within one word of restoration and that word would be spoken within the Godhead. If you are not overly concerned right now, any words that I write would surely seem ridiculous. If you are, then we are two of hopefully many who are petitioning God for one more manifestation of His power in mercy and blessings upon our nation...and therefore the world.
Personally, I'm convinced that should God have mercy upon us as a nation it will begin in our pulpits. If you should happen to agree with me then please pray for your pastor. Pray that he would be overcome with dread at what we as a nation have become and then filled with the power that only God's Holy Spirit can give, the power to preach the redemptive graces won on that cross of Calvary. Graces that can protect us from the deception that engulfs us as a raging forest fire destroying everything in it's path.
The Chapel Library is a ministry that "Send (s) Christ centered materials from prior centuries worldwide." I would like to quote the 19th century Anglican preacher from London, J. C. Ryle, from some materials I just received: "You may know a good deal about Jesus Christ, by a kind of head knowledge. You may know who He was, where he was born, and what He did. You may know His miracles, His sayings, His prophesies, and His ordinances. you may know how He lived, how He suffered, and how He died. But unless you know the power of Christ's cross by experience, unless you know and feel within that the blood shed on that cross has washed away your own particular sins, unless you are willing to confess that your salvation depends entirely on that work that Christ did upon the cross-unless this be the case, Christ will profit you nothing.... you must know His cross and His blood, or else you will die in your sins."
The Reverend Ryle, who preached at the same time and in the same city as Charles Spurgeon, continued, "As long as you live, beware of a religion in which there is not much of the cross (emphasis his).....there is carved oak and sculptured stone; there is stained glass and brilliant painting; there are solemn services and a constant round of ordinances; but the real cross of Christ is not there. Jesus Christ is not proclaimed in the pulpit. The Lamb of God is not lifted up, and salvation by faith in Him is not freely proclaimed. And hence, all is wrong......Do not be ashamed of the 'old paths' in which men walked who were inspired by the Holy Ghost. Let not the vague talk of modern teachers, who speak great swelling words about 'catholicity' and 'the church' disturb your peace and make you loose your hands from the cross."
Our pulpits, many of them, are filled with men who love Christ but for one reason or another failed in their calling to preach Him. Pray for them for in doing so you will be praying for us all in a nation that, evidenced by news items every day, is hastening to oblivion.
The Gideon's
The Apollo 8 mission in 1968 saw, for the first time, man leave the gravitational pull of the earth and come under the same force of another heavenly body. Frank Borman commanded the mission that included James Lovell and William Anders. On Christmas Eve, on the ninth orbit of the Moon, with the world watching on television, the three astronauts read in turn the first ten verses from the Book of Genesis:
In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters
And God said, "Let there be light", and there was light.
And God saw the light, that it was good; and God divided the light from the darkness.
And God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.
And God said, "Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.
And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament; and it was so.
And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day.
And God said, "Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear"; and it was so.
And God called the dry land Earth, and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas: And God saw that it was good. (KJV)
There was a Japanese correspondent watching this on television from his hotel and called NASA for a copy of the script that the astronaut was reading. He was asked where he was calling from and told to look in the desk drawer and he would see it in the first ten verses of the first book, Genesis, of the Gideon Bible that would be there. The correspondent was impressed that NASA Public Relations would leave him an advance copy of the script! (This from an old Parade Magazine I believe.)
In 1982, as a new Christian, my wife and I were on our first cruise. As we rounded the western end of Cuba there was a storm that rocked the boat so much that the passengers could do nothing but sit in their cabins. Too new of a believer to even bring a Bible with me, I opened the desk drawer and there was a Gideon Bible. I opened it and read the first verses that I came to. It was the 93rd Psalm. As the boat rocked, I read:
The Lord reigns, He is clothed with majesty;
The Lord has clothed and girded Himself with strength;
Indeed, the world is firmly established, it will not be moved.
Thy throne is established from old;
Thou art from everlasting.
The floods have lifted up, O Lord,
The floods have lifted up their voice;
The floods lift up their pounding waves.
More than the sounds of many waters,
Than the mighty breakers of the sea,
The Lord on high is mighty.
Thy testimonies are fully confirmed;
Holiness befits Thy house,
O Lord, forevermore. (NAS)
I'm writing this blog from a motel room and the ever present Gideon Bible is in the drawer. They have distributed over 1.5 billion Bibles since 1908 and I am reminded of Romans 10:15b:
How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news. (NIV)
In roughly twelve hours from now pastors will take to pulpits across this land. What will be preached from those pulpits will entertain, inform, motivate and comfort. Folks, I don't mean this as a compliment. From other pulpits doctrine will be preached in amongst extravagant worship... doctrine that is man-made and worthless, and yet in others there will be a condemnation with no love and no realization that that condemnation was first ours before God reached in and plucked us out of the fires. In other pulpits, and I don't know what percentage this is, the Gospel of Jesus Christ is indeed preached. The cross is preached. The love of God, demonstrated to us from Calvary, is evident along with judgment mixed with mercy for those who believe.
My hope, my prayer for America, has been what I wrote first in a post from July of 2011: My prayer has consistently been for God to allow 40 more years...one more period where we would be a source of stability in the world, one more generation added to a storied past of spreading freedom and liberty, one more testimony to the rest of the world that God upholds nations who trust in Him. I hope only for 40 years because of human nature. A couple decades of trusting solely in Jesus Christ and we surely would begin to fall away again. Pessimism, you say? I look at it as the opposite for it is only God's mercy and grace that permitted the world to reach this stage and God is as real today as when He, time and again, humbled and blessed repentant Israel.... as when He sent His church throughout the world with the gospel of Jesus Christ.... as when the Reformation of the 16th century exploded in the hearts and minds of peoples and nations.... as when he guided the Mayflower to Plymouth Rock and as when He crushed the occult Nazi Third Reich. We will turn to Him as a nation...should He will it. And if we do not then that is also His will, also glorious as it would be His plan and maybe...maybe...a precursor to His Second Coming in power and glory, the fulfillment of all of history and the final triumph of good over evil. As bleak as the future of our nation is it is within one word of restoration and that word would be spoken within the Godhead. If you are not overly concerned right now, any words that I write would surely seem ridiculous. If you are, then we are two of hopefully many who are petitioning God for one more manifestation of His power in mercy and blessings upon our nation...and therefore the world.
Personally, I'm convinced that should God have mercy upon us as a nation it will begin in our pulpits. If you should happen to agree with me then please pray for your pastor. Pray that he would be overcome with dread at what we as a nation have become and then filled with the power that only God's Holy Spirit can give, the power to preach the redemptive graces won on that cross of Calvary. Graces that can protect us from the deception that engulfs us as a raging forest fire destroying everything in it's path.
The Chapel Library is a ministry that "Send (s) Christ centered materials from prior centuries worldwide." I would like to quote the 19th century Anglican preacher from London, J. C. Ryle, from some materials I just received: "You may know a good deal about Jesus Christ, by a kind of head knowledge. You may know who He was, where he was born, and what He did. You may know His miracles, His sayings, His prophesies, and His ordinances. you may know how He lived, how He suffered, and how He died. But unless you know the power of Christ's cross by experience, unless you know and feel within that the blood shed on that cross has washed away your own particular sins, unless you are willing to confess that your salvation depends entirely on that work that Christ did upon the cross-unless this be the case, Christ will profit you nothing.... you must know His cross and His blood, or else you will die in your sins."
The Reverend Ryle, who preached at the same time and in the same city as Charles Spurgeon, continued, "As long as you live, beware of a religion in which there is not much of the cross (emphasis his).....there is carved oak and sculptured stone; there is stained glass and brilliant painting; there are solemn services and a constant round of ordinances; but the real cross of Christ is not there. Jesus Christ is not proclaimed in the pulpit. The Lamb of God is not lifted up, and salvation by faith in Him is not freely proclaimed. And hence, all is wrong......Do not be ashamed of the 'old paths' in which men walked who were inspired by the Holy Ghost. Let not the vague talk of modern teachers, who speak great swelling words about 'catholicity' and 'the church' disturb your peace and make you loose your hands from the cross."
Our pulpits, many of them, are filled with men who love Christ but for one reason or another failed in their calling to preach Him. Pray for them for in doing so you will be praying for us all in a nation that, evidenced by news items every day, is hastening to oblivion.
The Gideon's
The Apollo 8 mission in 1968 saw, for the first time, man leave the gravitational pull of the earth and come under the same force of another heavenly body. Frank Borman commanded the mission that included James Lovell and William Anders. On Christmas Eve, on the ninth orbit of the Moon, with the world watching on television, the three astronauts read in turn the first ten verses from the Book of Genesis:
In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters
And God said, "Let there be light", and there was light.
And God saw the light, that it was good; and God divided the light from the darkness.
And God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.
And God said, "Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.
And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament; and it was so.
And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day.
And God said, "Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear"; and it was so.
And God called the dry land Earth, and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas: And God saw that it was good. (KJV)
There was a Japanese correspondent watching this on television from his hotel and called NASA for a copy of the script that the astronaut was reading. He was asked where he was calling from and told to look in the desk drawer and he would see it in the first ten verses of the first book, Genesis, of the Gideon Bible that would be there. The correspondent was impressed that NASA Public Relations would leave him an advance copy of the script! (This from an old Parade Magazine I believe.)
In 1982, as a new Christian, my wife and I were on our first cruise. As we rounded the western end of Cuba there was a storm that rocked the boat so much that the passengers could do nothing but sit in their cabins. Too new of a believer to even bring a Bible with me, I opened the desk drawer and there was a Gideon Bible. I opened it and read the first verses that I came to. It was the 93rd Psalm. As the boat rocked, I read:
The Lord reigns, He is clothed with majesty;
The Lord has clothed and girded Himself with strength;
Indeed, the world is firmly established, it will not be moved.
Thy throne is established from old;
Thou art from everlasting.
The floods have lifted up, O Lord,
The floods have lifted up their voice;
The floods lift up their pounding waves.
More than the sounds of many waters,
Than the mighty breakers of the sea,
The Lord on high is mighty.
Thy testimonies are fully confirmed;
Holiness befits Thy house,
O Lord, forevermore. (NAS)
I'm writing this blog from a motel room and the ever present Gideon Bible is in the drawer. They have distributed over 1.5 billion Bibles since 1908 and I am reminded of Romans 10:15b:
How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news. (NIV)
Friday, December 13, 2013
Reject The Fool's Errand
The line that the Establishment wing of the Republican Party will give is that unless the party sticks together the Democrats will continue to win. It's an odd statement because that Establishment wing essentially gave us the Clinton and Obama administrations! Every trick in the book will be used against Conservatives before the primaries. The following is the last half of a post from this past November 6th.
What Are Republicans To Do?
As for the turmoil in the Republican Party, my advice has been and continues to be a stalwart defense of our Constitution by supporting candidates who are outraged as we are by the incompetent leadership, broken promises and now full-fledged attacks by Establishment Republicans upon those who actually see the carnage to our Constitution and immanent disasters that face us brought on by not only Progressives of the Clinton administration and Marxists in the current administration but what has proven to be hopelessly flawed strategies of a political class of Republicans who even if they would regain control of our Senate and Executive Branch would have compromised, as they are now very clearly proving, the principles that originally put most of them into office.
Work for men and women of integrity in the Congress, work to put the political class out to pasture, nominate a true conservative who will be running in the primaries against an Establishment candidate who will lie through his teeth as to conservative principles, support and win with a third Party candidate should we fail in the nomination process, and all the while hold in abeyance the current occupant of the White House....... All of this is under the condition that God even permits us to continue as a Republic for we have gone beyond presumption that he will bless us and now find excuses to openly, egregiously and even pridefully thwart and even mock His law, all in the name of political pragmatism which is a fool's errand for it thinks that it can survive these imminent disasters that threaten us without God's enabling, sustenance in times of trouble and mercy for current and past abuses.
What Are Republicans To Do?
As for the turmoil in the Republican Party, my advice has been and continues to be a stalwart defense of our Constitution by supporting candidates who are outraged as we are by the incompetent leadership, broken promises and now full-fledged attacks by Establishment Republicans upon those who actually see the carnage to our Constitution and immanent disasters that face us brought on by not only Progressives of the Clinton administration and Marxists in the current administration but what has proven to be hopelessly flawed strategies of a political class of Republicans who even if they would regain control of our Senate and Executive Branch would have compromised, as they are now very clearly proving, the principles that originally put most of them into office.
Work for men and women of integrity in the Congress, work to put the political class out to pasture, nominate a true conservative who will be running in the primaries against an Establishment candidate who will lie through his teeth as to conservative principles, support and win with a third Party candidate should we fail in the nomination process, and all the while hold in abeyance the current occupant of the White House....... All of this is under the condition that God even permits us to continue as a Republic for we have gone beyond presumption that he will bless us and now find excuses to openly, egregiously and even pridefully thwart and even mock His law, all in the name of political pragmatism which is a fool's errand for it thinks that it can survive these imminent disasters that threaten us without God's enabling, sustenance in times of trouble and mercy for current and past abuses.
Thursday, December 12, 2013
A Pilgrim's Progress
I wrote what follows in January of 1999. Back then I had to rely on a word processor, copier, envelopes and stamps to get my message out. Reading this old A Pilgrim's Progress showed me that the message hasn't changed. The great books that came out during this time period lit a fire under the church that has expanded in many areas. I'd like to recommend one area here. It is 24/7 sound biblical radio/internet teaching from many teachers that you probably already have heard of and can easily be accessed at www.refnet.fm.
We are indeed a "destitute nation" as I concluded the following writing with but I could not have imagined back in 1999 that we would elect a communist as our president and that the elites of the Republican Party, the Guardians of our intellect and decisions if you will, would turn their wrath, not on the enemy within but on those trying to salvage a national defense, an economy and our very heritage. But I was aware then and know very well today that politics could never save us. Yes we have to be involved but if that involvement impinges upon the realization that there never was, is not and never will be any glory for America or its heritage unless that glory is gratefully thrown at the feet of Jesus Christ to whom it belongs, then all of our efforts will be in vain!
A Pilgrim's Progress.....January, 1999
A few years ago David Wells wrote a book called No Place For Truth, Whatever Happened To Evangelical Theology. Although this was not the first book on the topic, it proved to be a catalyst to a movement attempting to call the church back to its theological moorings that had been weakened after decades of sectarianism that quite naturally evolved when creeds, confessions and catechisms of the historic church were devalued and even ignored. Os Guinness wrote a small book, Fit Bodies, Fat Minds, that accused evangelicals of not thinking and even mapped out the peculiarly American characteristics such as "pluralism, pragmatism" and five other "isms" that quite naturally influenced our evangelical church. Mark Noll's Scandal Of The Evangelical Mind was given the Book Of The Year award. Gene Edward Veith did the best work on postmodernism in Postmodern Times. Michael Horton has repeatedly addressed these issues, his latest effort being a call to return to the Apostles Creed in We Believe. John Armstrong, Iain Murray, R. C. Sproul, John MacArthur, John Piper, Alistair Begg, James M. Boice, D. A. Carson, Hank Hannegraaff, Don Matzat and many others have taken turns trumpeting the dire need of a Reformation today.
What was it that they wrote of that all of a sudden made me realize that I was treading on holy ground? Maybe it was the Puritan William Gurnall's great work Christian In Complete Armour that made me realize that my understanding of spiritual warfare was dangerously in error? Maybe it was Sproul's Knowing Scripture that caused me to use proper hermeneutical tools in studying Scripture? Maybe it was Horton's Putting The Amazing Back Into Grace that made me understand that I did not choose Christ, that if He did not choose to have mercy on this poor miserable soul that I would never have seen the glory of Christ? Maybe it was the incomparable John Bunyan, the tinker whose Pilgrim's Progress, written from prison, that states so poignantly and profoundly that we truly are pilgrims on a journey, people of The Book on our way to the Celestial Kingdom? Maybe it was Arthur Bennett's compilation of Puritan prayers, Valley Of Vision, that sits worn on my dining room table that every dinner time lays me low in my wretchedness only to enable me to more clearly see and feel God's grace? Please forgive my rambling like this, for I look lovingly at these men but fully realize that it is Christ who redeemed me, it is the Father who chose the weakest, unsightliest jar of clay and it is the Holy Spirit who dragged me to belief, opened my eyes and gave me faith. And it is Christ again who keeps me, who keeps all of us, though we let Him down time after time.
The modern church bears scant witness to the glories that underlie the gospel. Its doctrines permit man to credit His own choosing of Christ as evidence of his salvation. Christ is less than sufficient, the Bible is less than adequate and the Holy Spirit hastens to our beckon call. Large churches legitimize us, oblivious of the warnings to the Laodiceans. Reformed churches sit on the laurels of sound doctrine forgetting the command to the Ephesian church to return to their first love. Evangelicals pass out 'four spiritual laws' booklets with a place for a signature for salvation as if they were handling out coupons for a free Big Mac. Pray for a Reformation, that we return to the cross of Christ, that pastors would preach His glories, that fathers would teach His truths and that we would be salt and light to a destitute nation.
We are indeed a "destitute nation" as I concluded the following writing with but I could not have imagined back in 1999 that we would elect a communist as our president and that the elites of the Republican Party, the Guardians of our intellect and decisions if you will, would turn their wrath, not on the enemy within but on those trying to salvage a national defense, an economy and our very heritage. But I was aware then and know very well today that politics could never save us. Yes we have to be involved but if that involvement impinges upon the realization that there never was, is not and never will be any glory for America or its heritage unless that glory is gratefully thrown at the feet of Jesus Christ to whom it belongs, then all of our efforts will be in vain!
A Pilgrim's Progress.....January, 1999
A few years ago David Wells wrote a book called No Place For Truth, Whatever Happened To Evangelical Theology. Although this was not the first book on the topic, it proved to be a catalyst to a movement attempting to call the church back to its theological moorings that had been weakened after decades of sectarianism that quite naturally evolved when creeds, confessions and catechisms of the historic church were devalued and even ignored. Os Guinness wrote a small book, Fit Bodies, Fat Minds, that accused evangelicals of not thinking and even mapped out the peculiarly American characteristics such as "pluralism, pragmatism" and five other "isms" that quite naturally influenced our evangelical church. Mark Noll's Scandal Of The Evangelical Mind was given the Book Of The Year award. Gene Edward Veith did the best work on postmodernism in Postmodern Times. Michael Horton has repeatedly addressed these issues, his latest effort being a call to return to the Apostles Creed in We Believe. John Armstrong, Iain Murray, R. C. Sproul, John MacArthur, John Piper, Alistair Begg, James M. Boice, D. A. Carson, Hank Hannegraaff, Don Matzat and many others have taken turns trumpeting the dire need of a Reformation today.
What was it that they wrote of that all of a sudden made me realize that I was treading on holy ground? Maybe it was the Puritan William Gurnall's great work Christian In Complete Armour that made me realize that my understanding of spiritual warfare was dangerously in error? Maybe it was Sproul's Knowing Scripture that caused me to use proper hermeneutical tools in studying Scripture? Maybe it was Horton's Putting The Amazing Back Into Grace that made me understand that I did not choose Christ, that if He did not choose to have mercy on this poor miserable soul that I would never have seen the glory of Christ? Maybe it was the incomparable John Bunyan, the tinker whose Pilgrim's Progress, written from prison, that states so poignantly and profoundly that we truly are pilgrims on a journey, people of The Book on our way to the Celestial Kingdom? Maybe it was Arthur Bennett's compilation of Puritan prayers, Valley Of Vision, that sits worn on my dining room table that every dinner time lays me low in my wretchedness only to enable me to more clearly see and feel God's grace? Please forgive my rambling like this, for I look lovingly at these men but fully realize that it is Christ who redeemed me, it is the Father who chose the weakest, unsightliest jar of clay and it is the Holy Spirit who dragged me to belief, opened my eyes and gave me faith. And it is Christ again who keeps me, who keeps all of us, though we let Him down time after time.
The modern church bears scant witness to the glories that underlie the gospel. Its doctrines permit man to credit His own choosing of Christ as evidence of his salvation. Christ is less than sufficient, the Bible is less than adequate and the Holy Spirit hastens to our beckon call. Large churches legitimize us, oblivious of the warnings to the Laodiceans. Reformed churches sit on the laurels of sound doctrine forgetting the command to the Ephesian church to return to their first love. Evangelicals pass out 'four spiritual laws' booklets with a place for a signature for salvation as if they were handling out coupons for a free Big Mac. Pray for a Reformation, that we return to the cross of Christ, that pastors would preach His glories, that fathers would teach His truths and that we would be salt and light to a destitute nation.
Monday, December 9, 2013
My Top Three Talk Radio Show Hosts
I've been a radio talk show person for almost fifty years now going back to KDKA's Party Line with Ed and Wendy King and later midnight's Jack Wheeler then Mike Levine and then Roy Fox who was avant-garde with his Fox's Den that was a lot like today's talk radio with the exception that conservative talk radio of today is our news in a culture where the mainstream news has become state-run, profligate in its responsibilities to inform and almost as if hypnotized in its cultic devotion to Barack Obama. I slowed down a little in the 80s and it took me a while to get my nose out of a book long enough to find conservative talk radio but that's where I often go today, out of necessity, for news on this war on America from both without and within.
So there's my resume' and here are my top three conservative talk show hosts. Rush Limbaugh is indeed the best even though he's not nearly as accurate as the 99.7% of the time that he jokingly reminds us of every day. It's one of his traits that will be the focus of this post. Mark Levin gets my vote for #2. Quite simply, he holds Republican's feet to the fire far better than anyone, he's uncompromising on truth as it pertains to the defense of our heritage, plus he's an author of significance with his legal and constitutional expertise. You may or may not have heard of my #3. He's a former disk jockey Jim Quinn that I used to listen to here in Pittsburgh in the 60s and 70s.
Quinn is part of the Quinn and Rose (Rose Tennent) team (www.warroom.com). Up until recently you could hear them on XM and other venues emanating from their home base at a Pittsburgh radio station. XM Satellite Radio inexplicably had Jim Quinn on an alternate conservative channel 244 until in what was even more baffling they did away with that channel and Quinn and Rose! More recently, within the last month, his Pittsburgh home base dropped his show. I don't claim to know the ins and outs of this decision but it certainly wasn't based on popularity or profits. This man is ultra popular in this area and for good reason. I don't mean to slight Rose but Jim Quinn is up there with Limbaugh and Levin. He has insight into the ploys of the liberal politician and he cuts to the quick. He knows what issues are important and he has a gift for explaining them. I won't speculate on executive decisions but I will on high level liberal political operative's anxieties. They were very uncomfortable with Jim Quinn and with good reason. Hopefully their celebrating will be short lived.
OK, now for my disagreement with Rush. He consistently reminds us that he is an optimist on America. It's part of who he is, on the radio at least. There was a Grammy nominated #1 song by Starship in the mid-80s called We Built This City. Well, we built America as it has become today. I bear plenty of responsibility for I added to the defective brick and mortar into my 30s and I was well into my 40s until I finally realized that America had turned from its Benefactor and had not only rejected God but in its influential professions and entertainments brazenly began to ridicule Him. As it stands today, God's judgment on America must be near. I am an optimist in that I do believe that America will repent, I just don't know if it will be from the ashes of a ruined nation or from an awakening beforehand as to what we have become.
I finally picked up Diana West's 2007 book The Death of the Grown-up, How America's Arrested Development Is Bringing Down Western Civilization. George Will and Michele Malkin both used the word "wit"..."witty" in their blurbs but I personally can no longer smile at witticisms concerning the mockery of reason that describes our government and our nation. No, there were even tears formed as I read and recognized her description of our journey to the center of perpetual adolescence that has rendered us Godless, defenseless and clueless as to who and what our enemies are. Read it and weep might be my blurb. So that's my difference with Rush. We have to address politics and government and foreign affairs and taxes and on and on but our sickness is stage four and the doctor....the only doctor.... is God. These are very sad times and they are going to get worse. The question, as I previously inferred, is will we realize beforehand, when there may be time, that God's hand has already been withdrawn.
So there's my resume' and here are my top three conservative talk show hosts. Rush Limbaugh is indeed the best even though he's not nearly as accurate as the 99.7% of the time that he jokingly reminds us of every day. It's one of his traits that will be the focus of this post. Mark Levin gets my vote for #2. Quite simply, he holds Republican's feet to the fire far better than anyone, he's uncompromising on truth as it pertains to the defense of our heritage, plus he's an author of significance with his legal and constitutional expertise. You may or may not have heard of my #3. He's a former disk jockey Jim Quinn that I used to listen to here in Pittsburgh in the 60s and 70s.
Quinn is part of the Quinn and Rose (Rose Tennent) team (www.warroom.com). Up until recently you could hear them on XM and other venues emanating from their home base at a Pittsburgh radio station. XM Satellite Radio inexplicably had Jim Quinn on an alternate conservative channel 244 until in what was even more baffling they did away with that channel and Quinn and Rose! More recently, within the last month, his Pittsburgh home base dropped his show. I don't claim to know the ins and outs of this decision but it certainly wasn't based on popularity or profits. This man is ultra popular in this area and for good reason. I don't mean to slight Rose but Jim Quinn is up there with Limbaugh and Levin. He has insight into the ploys of the liberal politician and he cuts to the quick. He knows what issues are important and he has a gift for explaining them. I won't speculate on executive decisions but I will on high level liberal political operative's anxieties. They were very uncomfortable with Jim Quinn and with good reason. Hopefully their celebrating will be short lived.
OK, now for my disagreement with Rush. He consistently reminds us that he is an optimist on America. It's part of who he is, on the radio at least. There was a Grammy nominated #1 song by Starship in the mid-80s called We Built This City. Well, we built America as it has become today. I bear plenty of responsibility for I added to the defective brick and mortar into my 30s and I was well into my 40s until I finally realized that America had turned from its Benefactor and had not only rejected God but in its influential professions and entertainments brazenly began to ridicule Him. As it stands today, God's judgment on America must be near. I am an optimist in that I do believe that America will repent, I just don't know if it will be from the ashes of a ruined nation or from an awakening beforehand as to what we have become.
I finally picked up Diana West's 2007 book The Death of the Grown-up, How America's Arrested Development Is Bringing Down Western Civilization. George Will and Michele Malkin both used the word "wit"..."witty" in their blurbs but I personally can no longer smile at witticisms concerning the mockery of reason that describes our government and our nation. No, there were even tears formed as I read and recognized her description of our journey to the center of perpetual adolescence that has rendered us Godless, defenseless and clueless as to who and what our enemies are. Read it and weep might be my blurb. So that's my difference with Rush. We have to address politics and government and foreign affairs and taxes and on and on but our sickness is stage four and the doctor....the only doctor.... is God. These are very sad times and they are going to get worse. The question, as I previously inferred, is will we realize beforehand, when there may be time, that God's hand has already been withdrawn.
Tuesday, November 19, 2013
Seven Score And Ten Years Ago
This post is only about a week old but I bring it to the front because of the 150th anniversary of President Lincoln's Gettysburg Address. We have been to the Gettysburg battlefield more times than I can remember and I've written about that time period in America's history quite a few times in these posts. In my short novel titled Isaac Crockett that you can read at www.isaaccrockett.blogspot.com I had a whole chapter where the title character visits the battlefield to reflect on the courage of the men on both sides of that battle and apply that to his own life. There is more than a few things I put in that novella that came from my own life. One of my favorite possessions is a battlefield artifact that I bought. It's a small plain metal cross with a broken loop that once attached it to a chain. It was picked up on Pickett's Charge in the early 1900s. I sometimes hold it in my hand and think about another believer in Christ who probably wore that as he ascended that hill.
The Gettysburg Address is not in the timeline below for it was not the subject of the post but it stands out as one of the great presidential moments of our history, a history that is attacked today along with our entire heritage.
Day Of Prayer......and Humiliation
The Gettysburg Address is not in the timeline below for it was not the subject of the post but it stands out as one of the great presidential moments of our history, a history that is attacked today along with our entire heritage.
Day Of Prayer......and Humiliation
The following is taken from the definitive work on General Stonewall Jackson, Stonewall Jackson, The Man, The Soldier, The Legend by James L. Robertson:
"One military site Jackson did visit was the great battlefield at Waterloo. Years later Jackson discussed the pivotal engagement with his army physician, Dr. Hunter asked whose troops dispositions were the wisest, Napoleon's or Wellington's, Jackson leaped up from his stool and replied with much enthusiasm, 'Napoleon's, by all odds!' McGuire then asked, 'Well, why was he whipped then?' Jackson answered without hesitation 'I can only explain it by telling you that I think God intended him to stop right there.' "
The following is taken from Abrahamlincolnonline.org:
By the President of the United States of America. A Proclamation. Whereas, the Senate of the United States, devoutly recognizing the Supreme Authority and just Government of Almighty God, in all the affairs of men and of nations, has, by a resolution, requested the President to designate and set apart a day for National prayer and humiliation. And whereas it is the duty of nations as well as of men, to own their dependence upon the overruling power of God, to confess their sins and transgressions, in humble sorrow, yet with assured hope that genuine repentance will lead to mercy and pardon; and to recognize the sublime truth, announced in the Holy Scriptures and proven by all history, that those nations only are blessed whose God is the Lord. And, insomuch as we know that, by His divine law, nations like individuals are subjected to punishments and chastisements in this world, may we not justly fear that the awful calamity of civil war, which now desolates the land, may be but a punishment, inflicted upon us, for our presumptuous sins, to the needful end of our national reformation as a whole People? We have been the recipients of the choicest bounties of Heaven. We have been preserved, these many years, in peace and prosperity. We have grown in numbers, wealth and power, as no other nation has ever grown. But we have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace, and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us; and we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own. Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us! It behooves us then, to humble ourselves before the offended Power, to confess our national sins, and to pray for clemency and forgiveness. Now, therefore, in compliance with the request, and fully concurring in the views of the Senate, I do, by this my proclamation, designate and set apart Thursday, the 30th. day of April, 1863, as a day of national humiliation, fasting and prayer. And I do hereby request all the People to abstain, on that day, from their ordinary secular pursuits, and to unite, at their several places of public worship and their respective homes, in keeping the day holy to the Lord, and devoted to the humble discharge of the religious duties proper to that solemn occasion. All this being done, in sincerity and truth, let us then rest humbly in the hope authorized by the Divine teachings, that the united cry of the Nation will be heard on high, and answered with blessings, no less than the pardon of our national sins, and the restoration of our now divided and suffering Country, to its former happy condition of unity and peace. In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed. Done at the City of Washington, this thirtieth day of March, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and of the Independence of the United States the eighty seventh. By the President: Abraham Lincoln
William H. Seward, Secretary of State.
Timeline:
December of 1862.............The Union army suffered a major defeat at the Battle of Fredericksburg.
March 2, 1863...................The U. S. Senate introduces a Resolution for a National Day of Prayer.
March 3, 1863...................The Senate adopts the Resolution.
March 30, 1863.................President Lincoln signs it.
April 30, 1863...................National Day of Prayer and Humiliation is observed.
April 30 to May 6, 1863...The Union suffers a crushing defeat at the Battle of Chancellorsville.
May 10, 1863....................Stonewall Jackson dies from injuries sustained at Chancellorsville.
July 1-3, 1863...................The Union army is victorious at Gettysburg, the tide of the war is turned.
The above Resolution was a legitimate plea for mercy from God and not a political ploy. The humility is obvious and should be humbling to us today if we would permit it. God will raise nations and He will cause them to fall....all according to His purposes. Whether it was Napoleon or Jackson, or America in past wars, or America today, God's will shall be done and all to his glory, and that 'will' may not be what we might expect. Another defeat for the Union began on the very day of prayer and humiliation. Many may have expected a victory. Stonewall Jackson accepted his fate as God's will, for that is all he would ever want! Even if we as a people would humble ourselves before God over our own "presumptuous sins' our immediate future may be bleak but we would know this for sure.... that His will shall be done, it shall be to His glory, and we will forever praise Him for that.
"One military site Jackson did visit was the great battlefield at Waterloo. Years later Jackson discussed the pivotal engagement with his army physician, Dr. Hunter asked whose troops dispositions were the wisest, Napoleon's or Wellington's, Jackson leaped up from his stool and replied with much enthusiasm, 'Napoleon's, by all odds!' McGuire then asked, 'Well, why was he whipped then?' Jackson answered without hesitation 'I can only explain it by telling you that I think God intended him to stop right there.' "
The following is taken from Abrahamlincolnonline.org:
Proclamation Appointing a National Fast DayWashington, D.C.March 30, 1863 Senator James Harlan of Iowa, whose daughter later married President Lincoln's son Robert, introduced this Resolution in the Senate on March 2, 1863. The Resolution asked President Lincoln to proclaim a national day of prayer and fasting. The Resolution was adopted on March 3, and signed by Lincoln on March 30, one month before the fast day was observed. |
William H. Seward, Secretary of State.
Timeline:
December of 1862.............The Union army suffered a major defeat at the Battle of Fredericksburg.
March 2, 1863...................The U. S. Senate introduces a Resolution for a National Day of Prayer.
March 3, 1863...................The Senate adopts the Resolution.
March 30, 1863.................President Lincoln signs it.
April 30, 1863...................National Day of Prayer and Humiliation is observed.
April 30 to May 6, 1863...The Union suffers a crushing defeat at the Battle of Chancellorsville.
May 10, 1863....................Stonewall Jackson dies from injuries sustained at Chancellorsville.
July 1-3, 1863...................The Union army is victorious at Gettysburg, the tide of the war is turned.
The above Resolution was a legitimate plea for mercy from God and not a political ploy. The humility is obvious and should be humbling to us today if we would permit it. God will raise nations and He will cause them to fall....all according to His purposes. Whether it was Napoleon or Jackson, or America in past wars, or America today, God's will shall be done and all to his glory, and that 'will' may not be what we might expect. Another defeat for the Union began on the very day of prayer and humiliation. Many may have expected a victory. Stonewall Jackson accepted his fate as God's will, for that is all he would ever want! Even if we as a people would humble ourselves before God over our own "presumptuous sins' our immediate future may be bleak but we would know this for sure.... that His will shall be done, it shall be to His glory, and we will forever praise Him for that.
Sunday, November 17, 2013
Choosing A College
This is my Lord's Day offering.
My son is 27 years old now. He graduated from high school in 2004 and it was in his junior year that he, I should say we, started getting serious about choosing a college. I have had friends tell me that they gave their son or daughter complete freedom in choosing the school they would go to. I was a little bit different. To begin with I enrolled in a masters degree program in Higher Education in no small part to learn more about our colleges and universities and their history in order to have a more valuable input in helping our son choose a school. I was going to learn all that I could to give him the best advice that I could before he would make that very important decision.
I had all the reference books and used them to research everything about the schools and then we started on the campus visits. I'll just write about one here. There is a prestigious college down south that is known to be very conservative. So we got in the car and travelled. My son wasn't exactly thrilled with this visit for it is an all all-boys school. So it wasn't a good start and then I got a speeding ticket about two miles from the campus. Reaching that campus after a long tedious drive, a young man took us on a tour and the first stop we made was the dormitories. I causally asked him what the policy was for girls in the room, fully expecting him to say something like...'Oh girls are not allowed in the rooms." He answered me with "Three days." Three days...hmmm...what does that mean? He answered my thought..."Girls are only allowed to stay for three days....anything more than that would be considered a residence!" My son and I looked at each other. That was the end of that but we finished the tour anyway and came home visiting two other schools on the way. We were fortunate that at the end of this college search we both loved the same school. He matriculated there and graduated two years before his future wife.
But this post isn't a trip down memory lane for there is a message that I'd like to give here, primarily to the parent, on searching for a college for their son or daughter. What are the churches like near the college being considered? What good would it be to have four years at even a solid educational institution without a Christ preaching pulpit for your son or daughter to sit before every Lord's Day? Four years is a long time to go without a good church, particularly in what is often the radically secularized environment of higher education. Is it any wonder that statistics show that many young people fall away from faith in college? There will indeed be churches near every college and university but finding one that consistently preaches Christ therefore consistently preaches His cross is very hard and often impossible to do!
And to the student reading this... the nearness of the church, the friendliness of the congregation, the music, the comfort....what good are any of these things if Christ and His cross are not preached? What good is the prestige of the diploma if you have lost even the discernment you came to college with? What good are friends next to you in the pew if all of you become spiritually malnourished due to a touchy-feely church where preaching our Savior's blood shed on Calvary is considered too morbid for church growth? The key to your education begins on the Lord's Day! Seek a pastor who consistently preaches Christ and run to that worship, then trust Christ to protect you and strengthen you on the other six days and provide you with the discernment necessary to navigate the shoals that are all around the college student of today and to keep faith while a tempest of monumental proportions is rocking our ship of state and wreaking havoc on a populace with little sailing experience and less desire to learn.
My son is 27 years old now. He graduated from high school in 2004 and it was in his junior year that he, I should say we, started getting serious about choosing a college. I have had friends tell me that they gave their son or daughter complete freedom in choosing the school they would go to. I was a little bit different. To begin with I enrolled in a masters degree program in Higher Education in no small part to learn more about our colleges and universities and their history in order to have a more valuable input in helping our son choose a school. I was going to learn all that I could to give him the best advice that I could before he would make that very important decision.
I had all the reference books and used them to research everything about the schools and then we started on the campus visits. I'll just write about one here. There is a prestigious college down south that is known to be very conservative. So we got in the car and travelled. My son wasn't exactly thrilled with this visit for it is an all all-boys school. So it wasn't a good start and then I got a speeding ticket about two miles from the campus. Reaching that campus after a long tedious drive, a young man took us on a tour and the first stop we made was the dormitories. I causally asked him what the policy was for girls in the room, fully expecting him to say something like...'Oh girls are not allowed in the rooms." He answered me with "Three days." Three days...hmmm...what does that mean? He answered my thought..."Girls are only allowed to stay for three days....anything more than that would be considered a residence!" My son and I looked at each other. That was the end of that but we finished the tour anyway and came home visiting two other schools on the way. We were fortunate that at the end of this college search we both loved the same school. He matriculated there and graduated two years before his future wife.
But this post isn't a trip down memory lane for there is a message that I'd like to give here, primarily to the parent, on searching for a college for their son or daughter. What are the churches like near the college being considered? What good would it be to have four years at even a solid educational institution without a Christ preaching pulpit for your son or daughter to sit before every Lord's Day? Four years is a long time to go without a good church, particularly in what is often the radically secularized environment of higher education. Is it any wonder that statistics show that many young people fall away from faith in college? There will indeed be churches near every college and university but finding one that consistently preaches Christ therefore consistently preaches His cross is very hard and often impossible to do!
And to the student reading this... the nearness of the church, the friendliness of the congregation, the music, the comfort....what good are any of these things if Christ and His cross are not preached? What good is the prestige of the diploma if you have lost even the discernment you came to college with? What good are friends next to you in the pew if all of you become spiritually malnourished due to a touchy-feely church where preaching our Savior's blood shed on Calvary is considered too morbid for church growth? The key to your education begins on the Lord's Day! Seek a pastor who consistently preaches Christ and run to that worship, then trust Christ to protect you and strengthen you on the other six days and provide you with the discernment necessary to navigate the shoals that are all around the college student of today and to keep faith while a tempest of monumental proportions is rocking our ship of state and wreaking havoc on a populace with little sailing experience and less desire to learn.
Saturday, November 9, 2013
Purge Of The Generals........Redux
I want to preface the following post that I bring back often titled America...Free.....Free Fallin' with a quote taken from an article on WorldNetDaily titled Obama 'Gutting' Military By Purging Generals. The quote is from retired Army General Paul E. Vallely....."Obama is intentionally weakening and gutting our military, Pentagon and reducing us as a superpower, and anyone in the ranks who disagrees or speaks out is being purged." Yes, General Vallely has been a critic of Barack Obama but he is a respected military analyst who co-authored with Air Force Lieutenant General Thomas McInerney Endgame: The Blueprint for Victory in the War on Terror. Quoting the article itself by F. Michael Maloof..."President Obama this year alone has fired some nine generals and flag officers, on top of at least four similar dismissals during his first term, suggesting that a purge may be the real reason behind the removals, which are being described as cases of personal misbehavior."
I remember a few of those firings and this has concerned me for quite a while now as it obviously has others. I'm not insinuating that the new generals and fleet officers are involved in any conspiracy, rather that stronger generals are problematic to Barack Obama's plans for our military and our foreign policy. It has been my contention that our White House is occupied by a Manchurian President, who was prepared by those with an ideology that seeks to fundamentally change America. Using Barack Obama's own words here five days prior to his first election victory..."We are five days away form fundamentally transforming the United States of America." Five days should have been enough for a legitimate media to question this statement. Earlier in that year of 2008 Michele Obama was quoted as saying..."We are going to have to change our conversation; we're going to have to change our traditions, our history; we're going to have to move into a different place as a nation." They told us what they intended to do but we, as a people, either misinterpreted their statements or totally ignored them.
To read the full article go to www.wnd.com
...............................................................................................................................................................
Events with mind-numbing potential consequences are happening so fast in this world that it is time, maybe long past time, that Americans at least consider that their lives may be about to change....abruptly! America, the long established leader of the free world, is four and a half years into a suicide attempt and three and a half years away from any hope of even partial recover if that suicide is not a fait accompli. I bring the following post back often. America's descent into the abyss has continued since it was first written. May God open our eyes to that descent that we might call out to Him, for the forces arraigned against the United States at this time, along with the gross ineptitude of this government that was once was a nation to be reckoned with, and coinciding with denials of the Gospel and of God's judgment upon an unbelieving world by whole 'Christian' denominations and institutions, is more than enough reason to literally fall on our knees and cry out for His mercy.
America....Free....Free Fallin'
Dawn breaks and pull by pull the flag rises until its stars and stripes blend into the red sky. The 21st century America cold front collides with the warm heritage of American liberty. Dark clouds form above the eagle perched atop the pole and the flag snaps as the winds begin another day of adding to the tatters and waiting for the rain that month by month fades the blue and red hues that Americans have savored as the taste of freedom for so long.
An icy chill settles in the bones of the one raising the flag for he knows that its stars and stripes will be indiscernible before long. He looks down to see if the cracks in the foundation supporting the pole have widened from the tremors that increasingly shake America...they have. He steps back, standing as erect as he can under the burden of seeing his nation collapse, and salutes; a tear forming as he knows that he may be the last to perform this duty. His mind wanders from, first... the drum and piper escorting the newly created flag, to the inspiration for Francis Scott Key's poem, to the charging Union soldier picking up the banner dropped by a fallen comrade in arms, to the lifting of the flagpole on Mt. Suribachi, to the camo flag on the fatigues of the grunt in Vietnam, to the brilliant contrast of red, white and blue with the gray mountain of fallen steel, brick and mortar of the World Trade Center, to the lone flag now raised in the Green Zone of Baghdad.
In only a few hours cheers and shouts will be heard off in the distance, not for returning heroes, not as a President passes by, not as a war ends in victory but for the beginning of a football game. The Star Spangled Banner will play and be sung by the latest celebrity seeking a national spotlight but not a word of its lyrics will resonate with the power it had since Fort McHenry. We are not as the Roman Empire falling, we are as the Roman Empire beginning whose gods are numerous, whose Caesars consolidate powers given by a populace that only wants another day at the Coliseum. God's hand is being lifted and the exhilaration of choosing our own destiny emboldens us to stare into the eyes of Caesar and say not, "Give me liberty or give me death" but "Give me liberty to choose my own death." All the while the remaining Christians gather in their catacombs wondering if God's mercies on America are over; imploring of Him one more time for America to be a beacon to the nations, a people that not only openly proclaim Jesus Christ as the Savior of mankind but evidence the beneficence, mercy, majesty, power and glory of Him who created the universe and without whom not one molecule would continue to exist.
It was a marvel and a wonder while it existed in its original form....these United States of America, but now they are afflicted for lack of a shepherd (Zech 10:2.) They are a people once different as night and day in their habits and their speech that bonded together as a new entity...Americans, freed from the tyranny of kings, freed from serfdom and most importantly freed from the lie that man is the master of his fate, the captain of his soul, but that freedom, once defended, is now merely petted in the lap of luxury, "Free" as the famous rocker penned..."Free Fallin'." The American Creed, never spoken but always evident, is now but a liberal screed against God, against tradition, and against history itself.
The sun, obscured throughout the day by clouds, sets in the West. The rain that would normally give life to the fields, runs off of the frozen, barren and lifeless ground. The flag is lowered and gently folded into the shape of a tri-cornered hat, one of the last vestiges that remain of the fight for independence. No Taps is heard, only the music of the night coming from wherever the revelers gather after the game. The winds die down, no longer needed, for the flag has been taken down, while angels sent by God prepare to blow their trumpets.
Wednesday, November 6, 2013
What Are Republicans To Do
Barack Obama was elected, in part, because many people naively and self-aggrandizingly thought that electing an African-American as president would assuage the guilt of racial discrimination in America. These voters also believed the rhetoric of the campaign; that being that Barack Obama was a man of peace, a man who cared for the welfare of all Americans, a man who would bring hope for a secure future. All of these preconceptions have come crashing down. He is not what many perceived him to be and unfortunately is exactly what others knew him to be, but even I who opposed his ideology from the beginning could take heart at first in the faces of many Black Americans who had a special pride in their president and I still hope for the day when we can all do that.
Under any kind of normal conditions impeachment proceedings would have long ago started for Barack Hussein Obama. If a Republican were president it would have...and I would have supported it! But these are far from normal times. What is truly amazing is that our media has not been clamoring for impeachment. Even in this polar political climate I would think that many would have said enough is enough. I have written on this many times in these posts of almost five years. Whether it be the abuse of executive orders, or circumventing our Constitution through csars, or delinquency on foreign affairs bordering on outright treason, or insurmountable debt accrued through dubious bailouts and stimulus, or a backdoor strong-armed passing of Obamacare where the true motivation is total control of our lives, or encroachment of government in corporations such as the global warming bunk attempting to bankrupt utilities where the true motivation is a redistribution of wealth from America to more enlightened nations, or the abuses of our Justice Department, or the attempted cover-up on the investigations into Benghazi, or the deception behind Fast and Furious..... there is more than enough evidence to support proceedings.
In reality, actually impeaching this president would be more than difficult. Harry Reid holds enough power in this area to throw a monkey wrench in any Senate trial. A good read on this would be Catching Our Flag: Behind The Scenes of a Presidential Impeachment by James Rogan. He was one of 13 House Managers in the impeachment proceedings against Bill Clinton and is now a Judge of the Superior Court of California. There are more problems with impeachment. Our enemies are already licking their lips and know that their window of opportunity with Barack Obama is now three years. Impeachment might exacerbate their decisions. Obama, should he realize that he might be impeached, conceivably could implement a doomsday scenario and claim to be temporarily taking full control of the government.....to preserve the government! Even with these scenarios informal impeachment proceedings should begin with intensity and patience so that they can formally begin when and if Barack Obama passes a line that...hopefully...even Democrats could no longer acquiesce to.
As for the turmoil in the Republican Party, my advice has been and continues to be a stalwart defense of our Constitution by supporting candidates who are outraged as we are by the incompetent leadership, broken promises and now full-fledged attacks by Establishment Republicans upon those who actually see the carnage to our Constitution and immanent disasters that face us brought on by not only Progressives of the Clinton administration and Marxists in the current administration but what has proven to be hopelessly flawed strategies of a political class of Republicans who even if they would regain control of our Senate and Executive Branch would have compromised, as they are now very clearly proving, the principles that originally put most of them into office.
Work for men and women of integrity in the Congress, work to put the political class out to pasture, nominate a true conservative who will be running against an Establishment candidate who will lie through his teeth as to conservative principles, support and win with a third Party candidate should we fail in the nomination process, and all the while hold in abeyance the current occupant of the White House, and trust that the American people will wholeheartedly agree. All of this is under the condition that God even permits us to continue as a Republic for we have gone beyond presumption that he will bless us and now find excuses to openly, egregiously and even pridefully thwart and even mock His law, all in the name of political pragmatism which is a fool's errand for it thinks that it can survive these imminent disasters that threaten us without God's enabling, sustenance in times of trouble and mercy for current and past abuses.
Under any kind of normal conditions impeachment proceedings would have long ago started for Barack Hussein Obama. If a Republican were president it would have...and I would have supported it! But these are far from normal times. What is truly amazing is that our media has not been clamoring for impeachment. Even in this polar political climate I would think that many would have said enough is enough. I have written on this many times in these posts of almost five years. Whether it be the abuse of executive orders, or circumventing our Constitution through csars, or delinquency on foreign affairs bordering on outright treason, or insurmountable debt accrued through dubious bailouts and stimulus, or a backdoor strong-armed passing of Obamacare where the true motivation is total control of our lives, or encroachment of government in corporations such as the global warming bunk attempting to bankrupt utilities where the true motivation is a redistribution of wealth from America to more enlightened nations, or the abuses of our Justice Department, or the attempted cover-up on the investigations into Benghazi, or the deception behind Fast and Furious..... there is more than enough evidence to support proceedings.
In reality, actually impeaching this president would be more than difficult. Harry Reid holds enough power in this area to throw a monkey wrench in any Senate trial. A good read on this would be Catching Our Flag: Behind The Scenes of a Presidential Impeachment by James Rogan. He was one of 13 House Managers in the impeachment proceedings against Bill Clinton and is now a Judge of the Superior Court of California. There are more problems with impeachment. Our enemies are already licking their lips and know that their window of opportunity with Barack Obama is now three years. Impeachment might exacerbate their decisions. Obama, should he realize that he might be impeached, conceivably could implement a doomsday scenario and claim to be temporarily taking full control of the government.....to preserve the government! Even with these scenarios informal impeachment proceedings should begin with intensity and patience so that they can formally begin when and if Barack Obama passes a line that...hopefully...even Democrats could no longer acquiesce to.
As for the turmoil in the Republican Party, my advice has been and continues to be a stalwart defense of our Constitution by supporting candidates who are outraged as we are by the incompetent leadership, broken promises and now full-fledged attacks by Establishment Republicans upon those who actually see the carnage to our Constitution and immanent disasters that face us brought on by not only Progressives of the Clinton administration and Marxists in the current administration but what has proven to be hopelessly flawed strategies of a political class of Republicans who even if they would regain control of our Senate and Executive Branch would have compromised, as they are now very clearly proving, the principles that originally put most of them into office.
Work for men and women of integrity in the Congress, work to put the political class out to pasture, nominate a true conservative who will be running against an Establishment candidate who will lie through his teeth as to conservative principles, support and win with a third Party candidate should we fail in the nomination process, and all the while hold in abeyance the current occupant of the White House, and trust that the American people will wholeheartedly agree. All of this is under the condition that God even permits us to continue as a Republic for we have gone beyond presumption that he will bless us and now find excuses to openly, egregiously and even pridefully thwart and even mock His law, all in the name of political pragmatism which is a fool's errand for it thinks that it can survive these imminent disasters that threaten us without God's enabling, sustenance in times of trouble and mercy for current and past abuses.
Tuesday, October 22, 2013
The Star-Spangled Banner............Redux
The Star-Spangled Banner
I've researched this time and again and cannot come up with the particular person. It wasn't too long after the terrorism of 9/11, maybe a year, that a famous American rock star returned from touring in Europe. As he travelled around the United States after being out of the country for a while he was amazed at how many American flags were being flown in front of individual homes. I cannot remember his exact quote but in essence, seeing so many flags flown.....seeing such evidence of nationalism....of love of country....well, it made him ill! I think that his remark made me ill, for I may not remember the quote verbatim but I have never forgotten his admittance of revulsion at seeing the Stars And Stripes flown from so many homes!
Let me set the scene for you that I experienced tonight. The setting was a church....in a fairly conservative community...a community where even today many American flags are flown on the front porches of people's homes.....mine being one of them. It was a benefit where classical music artists, both professional and students of the genre, donated their time and extraordinary talents with the proceeds in the form of donations going to a very good cause. Just about all of the people were seated and chatting with neighbors and friends who sat around them. Two very young, pretty and talented girls set the ambiance for such an event by playing their violins very softly. So softly that the music was barely discernible over the conversations and laughter.
They played one piece after another and included in this was the Star-Spangled Banner. One by one the people in the audience turned to the two young violinists and stood up until all in attendance were standing. The girls must have thought that the main concert was beginning and they stopped playing. The audience laughed at this to ease the violinist's embarrassment and someone must have told the girls to begin playing again. They did and we softly sang along... the words penned by Francis Scott Key during another period when our nation was under attack. It was an emotional moment for me, a stark change of tempo and attentiveness, so natural, yet so almost out of place today depending on the venue, an audience picking up on the faint notes of our national anthem and immediately standing. It was a beautiful moment really, and an encouraging one!
Let me set the scene for you that I experienced tonight. The setting was a church....in a fairly conservative community...a community where even today many American flags are flown on the front porches of people's homes.....mine being one of them. It was a benefit where classical music artists, both professional and students of the genre, donated their time and extraordinary talents with the proceeds in the form of donations going to a very good cause. Just about all of the people were seated and chatting with neighbors and friends who sat around them. Two very young, pretty and talented girls set the ambiance for such an event by playing their violins very softly. So softly that the music was barely discernible over the conversations and laughter.
They played one piece after another and included in this was the Star-Spangled Banner. One by one the people in the audience turned to the two young violinists and stood up until all in attendance were standing. The girls must have thought that the main concert was beginning and they stopped playing. The audience laughed at this to ease the violinist's embarrassment and someone must have told the girls to begin playing again. They did and we softly sang along... the words penned by Francis Scott Key during another period when our nation was under attack. It was an emotional moment for me, a stark change of tempo and attentiveness, so natural, yet so almost out of place today depending on the venue, an audience picking up on the faint notes of our national anthem and immediately standing. It was a beautiful moment really, and an encouraging one!
Monday, October 21, 2013
More Food Sir?
OK....I'm going to conclude this three-post series to college students with a piece of very practical advice. You are a little bit more pensive than most of the other students around you. At least it appears that way for they always seem to be talking sports or girls (boys) while you are often nagged by doubts that life is not as carefree as that. Some of you were raised in church. You're not angry at it for all the people were loving but you are sure that there must be more to the Christian Faith. You want it to be so and time and again you tried to renew the feelings you once had years earlier. Or you may not have been raised in a Christian or even religious home but on a very few occasions, maybe it was in a conversation or over something you read about or heard, you felt a jolt to your system as if it were a jolt from God. Maybe it was a sudden consciousness of your own sin against a holy God or maybe it was intellectual where some particular thought all of a sudden made sense about the Bible and faith in God but it disappeared quickly.
I've been where you are on a few occasions in my youth and mentioned some of them in the course of this blog of five years, but I would like to mention two of them here. The first was in 1982. God was moving mightily in my heart but I had little to no knowledge to make sense of things or to guide me. I needed help. So I called a television ministry and simply asked if they knew of a church in my area where I might hear about this born again thing. They recommended a church and my wife and I attended there for about ten years and I'm very thankful for that. By then I was reading older Christian books like it was going out of style, which by the way I think that it is, and I saw some fairly serious errors in today's modern theology of which that church was a part. I was like Charles Dickens' Oliver Twist who had the audacity to take his bowl up and plead....Please Sir, may I have more food? I needed help again and again I made a phone call to a minister that I heard on the radio. Again I was directed to a church in my area. I wasn't afraid to ask for help and that's where I hope that you are today.
I can't recommend a church to you for obvious reasons... I don't know you or where you live, but I can do this. I can recommend a resource that if you give it a chance and give it time you will find answers and you will find people that you can call for further help. It's a 24/7 internet/radio ministry. It has numerous teachers on it and all of them are sound in their doctrine. You can tune in any time of the day or night...any day of the week. How easy is that? You can listen to it online or get an app for your iPhone or iPad. The url is www.refnet.fm. I'll be praying that some who found their way to this rather odd blog of mine, which really isn't even a blog, will make the effort and find these teachers!
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John Kennedy's "last official words" never delivered
I've been where you are on a few occasions in my youth and mentioned some of them in the course of this blog of five years, but I would like to mention two of them here. The first was in 1982. God was moving mightily in my heart but I had little to no knowledge to make sense of things or to guide me. I needed help. So I called a television ministry and simply asked if they knew of a church in my area where I might hear about this born again thing. They recommended a church and my wife and I attended there for about ten years and I'm very thankful for that. By then I was reading older Christian books like it was going out of style, which by the way I think that it is, and I saw some fairly serious errors in today's modern theology of which that church was a part. I was like Charles Dickens' Oliver Twist who had the audacity to take his bowl up and plead....Please Sir, may I have more food? I needed help again and again I made a phone call to a minister that I heard on the radio. Again I was directed to a church in my area. I wasn't afraid to ask for help and that's where I hope that you are today.
I can't recommend a church to you for obvious reasons... I don't know you or where you live, but I can do this. I can recommend a resource that if you give it a chance and give it time you will find answers and you will find people that you can call for further help. It's a 24/7 internet/radio ministry. It has numerous teachers on it and all of them are sound in their doctrine. You can tune in any time of the day or night...any day of the week. How easy is that? You can listen to it online or get an app for your iPhone or iPad. The url is www.refnet.fm. I'll be praying that some who found their way to this rather odd blog of mine, which really isn't even a blog, will make the effort and find these teachers!
...................................................................................................................................................................
John Kennedy's "last official words" never delivered
The following are two posts. The first from this past Spring and the second from almost three years ago. I hope to be on a university campus a few hours after posting these. Unless God's Spirit works mightily in the hearts and minds of our youth... we as a nation, have little hope to turn back those who by denying our heritage and distorting our past.... destroy our discernment in charting our future. It was not chance that President John Kennedy's last official words, which you will read about below, were never delivered, for we would not have believed them nor heeded them and our nation fifty years later is one of leaderless chaos, tottering on a precipice, oblivious to the warnings posted all around.
The Shortest Commencement Speech Ever!
You finally have that degree....it will be worthless if you forget.... Except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain.
Whatever your degree is in.....it must now be built upon this....Except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it.
You might already have a position at the biggest law firm in New York City.....God's Word reminds you.... Except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain!
You're already an expert at investing and have great plans for your portfolio.....is this the title of that portfolio...Except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it?
You're patient and willing to work your way up....good traits, but keep in mind...Except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain.
You just might want to work to build peace....but remember this.... Except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it.
You might want to protect the environment .....if not for the glory of God your efforts will be in vain, for.... Except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain!
This may be the shortest commencement speech ever given but one does not have to be a PHD, or a celebrity, a statesman, general or financial wizard to relay God's wisdom to graduates......
"Except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it. Except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain."
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This is my Lord's Day offering...a post from October of 2009. I wanted to keep on the topic of college. I'll leave it up for only a day.
I'm an incurable pack rat. My wife came up to me yesterday with a gray disk, about the size of a silver dollar and wanted to know if I knew what it was. It was slightly beveled and had little holes throughout. I had no idea what it was and she was about to throw it away. What! Wait a second. If we throw this out, there will be a day, when I need a disk about the size of a silver dollar, slightly beveled with little holes throughout. She'll never learn. Just throw the thing out and don't ask me about it.
I have in my hands, well actually I'm typing but I have here in front of me a book that I bought from the National Record Mart in the winter of 1973. Its title is Reach Out, The Living New Testament (illustrated.) It was published by Tyndale and I paid $2.95 for it. It has just a little bit of commentary in it and was aimed at young adults. I showed up at church services in Vietnam when in a solemn and introspective mood but the thought of church never entered my mind during my last 7 months at Fort Bragg . I started at Pitt in January of 1973. It was a heady time. I read constantly, occasionally even textbooks from classes that I was supposed to be reading. I would take my latest book into the college bar and my friends and I would discuss philosophy or some other subject that we were interested in, until I could no longer pronounce my words. That's when my genius really came out.
I remember one night particularly well. We were discussing The Teachings of Don Juan by Carlos Castaneda. Here was a UCLA anthropology grad student taking lessons from a Yaqui Indian shaman on how peyote was instrumental to understanding the mysteries of life. We were absorbed in this while unaware that a couple of quarts of Budweiser did the same thing. In between this nonsense I would occasionally show up at St. Paul's Cathedral. It would be almost a decade before God opened my eyes and I could see the marvel of the gospel and the majesty of His Son, but I had a taste in 1973.
Sometimes I open this book up and press the pages to my face, smelling them and imagining how that word Jesus would thrill me before I even understood. I'll read a few verses from this paraphrased translation, for it not a true translation, and be transported back for only a moment. And only a moment is what I would want for I was lost. I was in love with me and only the grace of God kept me from facing Him until a time when He would use the words of the Bible as a mirror where I would see only corruption. There are so many mysteries that will be explained to us when this life is done but none to me as impenetrable as why God opened my eyes. If you are firm in your decision to reject God, and you want a good excuse to bolster your case, just think of me. If God would redeem me, then there is no fairness in the world. And don't listen to the voice on the other shoulder that says If God would forgive me, then there is hope for you also. And whatever you do, don't open His book!
The Shortest Commencement Speech Ever!
Well the lists are out on the "top" college and university commencement speakers and once again just about all of those speakers are die-hard liberals. I was in attendance of a graduation commencement a week ago Friday and the message from the speaker was, in essence, encouragement to seek employment with the United Nations if you really wanted to be on the forefront of service to peoples of the world.
Once again, another year has passed and I wasn't invited by anyone to be their commencement speaker. So I dreamed a dream and in that dream a very fantastical thing happened. Joe Biden was to be the commencement speaker at the University of Pennsylvania (which he is to be) but a couple of his hair plugs fell out at the last minute and he refused to go on stage. The Ivy League school administrators were frantic in trying to find a replacement. When they heard my name, Special Dog, they thought I must be a rap singer and thus eminently qualified to give a commencement speech.......then I woke up. So I sat down and penned the speech that I would have given had I in fact been invited as a commencement speaker...anywhere, and here it is.......ahem!
Well this is it! Four years....a hundred thousand dollars in debt.....and all you got is a piece of parchment and a t-shirt saying "I survived four years of American higher education." I just want to say one word to you. Just one word....plastics! Actually that's a quote, one of the top 100 film quotes by the way, from the 1969 movie The Graduate.
I'll start my real advice with a little history...the "last official words" of President John Fitzgerald Kennedy! The magazine sized book published in 1964 that most everyone has seen... Four Days, The Historical Record Of The Death of President Kennedy, described it this way, "These were President Kennedy's last official words-the conclusion of the speech he was to have delivered in Dallas." That speech ended with these words, "...the righteousness of our cause must always underlie our strength. For as was written long ago: 'Except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain'." That Bible excerpt is the last half of the 1st verse of Psalm 127... from the King James Version, which begins with this "Except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it."
So I pass these words on to you in this commencement speech as encouragement, President Kennedy's last official words, for they are the only truly reliable words that I will speak: Except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it. Except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain!
Now you will be going out trying to find a job...maybe you already have one lined up.....please remember...Except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it.
Once again, another year has passed and I wasn't invited by anyone to be their commencement speaker. So I dreamed a dream and in that dream a very fantastical thing happened. Joe Biden was to be the commencement speaker at the University of Pennsylvania (which he is to be) but a couple of his hair plugs fell out at the last minute and he refused to go on stage. The Ivy League school administrators were frantic in trying to find a replacement. When they heard my name, Special Dog, they thought I must be a rap singer and thus eminently qualified to give a commencement speech.......then I woke up. So I sat down and penned the speech that I would have given had I in fact been invited as a commencement speaker...anywhere, and here it is.......ahem!
Well this is it! Four years....a hundred thousand dollars in debt.....and all you got is a piece of parchment and a t-shirt saying "I survived four years of American higher education." I just want to say one word to you. Just one word....plastics! Actually that's a quote, one of the top 100 film quotes by the way, from the 1969 movie The Graduate.
I'll start my real advice with a little history...the "last official words" of President John Fitzgerald Kennedy! The magazine sized book published in 1964 that most everyone has seen... Four Days, The Historical Record Of The Death of President Kennedy, described it this way, "These were President Kennedy's last official words-the conclusion of the speech he was to have delivered in Dallas." That speech ended with these words, "...the righteousness of our cause must always underlie our strength. For as was written long ago: 'Except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain'." That Bible excerpt is the last half of the 1st verse of Psalm 127... from the King James Version, which begins with this "Except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it."
So I pass these words on to you in this commencement speech as encouragement, President Kennedy's last official words, for they are the only truly reliable words that I will speak: Except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it. Except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain!
Now you will be going out trying to find a job...maybe you already have one lined up.....please remember...Except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it.
You finally have that degree....it will be worthless if you forget.... Except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain.
Whatever your degree is in.....it must now be built upon this....Except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it.
You might already have a position at the biggest law firm in New York City.....God's Word reminds you.... Except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain!
You're already an expert at investing and have great plans for your portfolio.....is this the title of that portfolio...Except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it?
You're patient and willing to work your way up....good traits, but keep in mind...Except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain.
You just might want to work to build peace....but remember this.... Except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it.
You might want to protect the environment .....if not for the glory of God your efforts will be in vain, for.... Except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain!
This may be the shortest commencement speech ever given but one does not have to be a PHD, or a celebrity, a statesman, general or financial wizard to relay God's wisdom to graduates......
"Except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it. Except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain."
.................................................................................................................................................................
This is my Lord's Day offering...a post from October of 2009. I wanted to keep on the topic of college. I'll leave it up for only a day.
I'm an incurable pack rat. My wife came up to me yesterday with a gray disk, about the size of a silver dollar and wanted to know if I knew what it was. It was slightly beveled and had little holes throughout. I had no idea what it was and she was about to throw it away. What! Wait a second. If we throw this out, there will be a day, when I need a disk about the size of a silver dollar, slightly beveled with little holes throughout. She'll never learn. Just throw the thing out and don't ask me about it.
I have in my hands, well actually I'm typing but I have here in front of me a book that I bought from the National Record Mart in the winter of 1973. Its title is Reach Out, The Living New Testament (illustrated.) It was published by Tyndale and I paid $2.95 for it. It has just a little bit of commentary in it and was aimed at young adults. I showed up at church services in Vietnam when in a solemn and introspective mood but the thought of church never entered my mind during my last 7 months at Fort Bragg . I started at Pitt in January of 1973. It was a heady time. I read constantly, occasionally even textbooks from classes that I was supposed to be reading. I would take my latest book into the college bar and my friends and I would discuss philosophy or some other subject that we were interested in, until I could no longer pronounce my words. That's when my genius really came out.
I remember one night particularly well. We were discussing The Teachings of Don Juan by Carlos Castaneda. Here was a UCLA anthropology grad student taking lessons from a Yaqui Indian shaman on how peyote was instrumental to understanding the mysteries of life. We were absorbed in this while unaware that a couple of quarts of Budweiser did the same thing. In between this nonsense I would occasionally show up at St. Paul's Cathedral. It would be almost a decade before God opened my eyes and I could see the marvel of the gospel and the majesty of His Son, but I had a taste in 1973.
Sometimes I open this book up and press the pages to my face, smelling them and imagining how that word Jesus would thrill me before I even understood. I'll read a few verses from this paraphrased translation, for it not a true translation, and be transported back for only a moment. And only a moment is what I would want for I was lost. I was in love with me and only the grace of God kept me from facing Him until a time when He would use the words of the Bible as a mirror where I would see only corruption. There are so many mysteries that will be explained to us when this life is done but none to me as impenetrable as why God opened my eyes. If you are firm in your decision to reject God, and you want a good excuse to bolster your case, just think of me. If God would redeem me, then there is no fairness in the world. And don't listen to the voice on the other shoulder that says If God would forgive me, then there is hope for you also. And whatever you do, don't open His book!
Monday, October 14, 2013
Shrinking Sidelines!
It amazes me, and then it doesn't...two almost entirely different peoples within America, one... flawed certainly but traditional.....patriotic...God-fearing; the other moribund as to discernment.... progressive....metropolitan....international....almost anti-American as American has always been known, and God-rejecting, unless one fashions a god as one might attractively depict themselves with liberality on their Facebook page. And yet examples of two opposite peoples within a nation litter recorded history....... Christian pastors may someday soon have to either choose between proclaiming a government sponsored god or preaching the Gospel in the open fields. Where do you stand?
This from December of 2011:
How are we to explain it? At one moment the people were laying palm branches before the approaching colt that carried Jesus into Jerusalem, shouting "Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord," and only a few days later they shouted "Crucify, crucify him!" Or were they the same people? Luke describes the first as his "disciples," and the second as the "chief priests, rulers and the people." Is this not the dichotomy of the people of this world from that day to the present? I remember watching an awards ceremony (probably the Tonys) on television in the mid-eighties where there were two musical performances, one after the other, that effected me enough to recall and relate it many times since. My memory on the specifics is not that clear but I do remember a gospel themed performance from a large choir. Certainly it must have been related to one of the nominees. It was a powerful ensemble performance and the audience was enthusiastic in its response. Then came the second performance. What I remember about it was the very wild theme as if from a Mardi Gras or a Brazilian festival. Again, the power of the music was displayed and the audience responded in kind. I felt that I had witnessed a spiritual battle right before me on the television screen. It astounded me that two themes of such opposite polarity where presented next to each other. Certainly, some cheered only for the gospel ensemble, others cheered only for the wild festival-like performance, while still others cheered for both, oblivious to the clash of messages. Who may have won that battle...I don't know, but it became etched in my own mind. Not all Christians are consumed with passion for knowing Christ, nor awestruck by the majesty and radiance of the Risen Lord nor do they cling to His Word as more valuable than gold and more precious than pearls, but many do. Not all of those that are lost and unredeemed grit their teeth in hate at the mere mention of Jesus Christ, but some do, while the lukewarm in the middle are often confused as to what all the fuss is about. The Israel of the Old Testament either sang praises and danced to its God or they killed the prophets sent by Him. Even today, we are conflicted not only between nations, but within nations, even at times within ourselves. There is no safety in trying to avoid the battle between God and those who oppose Him. The only safety is in shouting salvation and glory and power belong to our God!... to the only righteous king... and the only true God!
This from December of 2011:
How are we to explain it? At one moment the people were laying palm branches before the approaching colt that carried Jesus into Jerusalem, shouting "Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord," and only a few days later they shouted "Crucify, crucify him!" Or were they the same people? Luke describes the first as his "disciples," and the second as the "chief priests, rulers and the people." Is this not the dichotomy of the people of this world from that day to the present? I remember watching an awards ceremony (probably the Tonys) on television in the mid-eighties where there were two musical performances, one after the other, that effected me enough to recall and relate it many times since. My memory on the specifics is not that clear but I do remember a gospel themed performance from a large choir. Certainly it must have been related to one of the nominees. It was a powerful ensemble performance and the audience was enthusiastic in its response. Then came the second performance. What I remember about it was the very wild theme as if from a Mardi Gras or a Brazilian festival. Again, the power of the music was displayed and the audience responded in kind. I felt that I had witnessed a spiritual battle right before me on the television screen. It astounded me that two themes of such opposite polarity where presented next to each other. Certainly, some cheered only for the gospel ensemble, others cheered only for the wild festival-like performance, while still others cheered for both, oblivious to the clash of messages. Who may have won that battle...I don't know, but it became etched in my own mind. Not all Christians are consumed with passion for knowing Christ, nor awestruck by the majesty and radiance of the Risen Lord nor do they cling to His Word as more valuable than gold and more precious than pearls, but many do. Not all of those that are lost and unredeemed grit their teeth in hate at the mere mention of Jesus Christ, but some do, while the lukewarm in the middle are often confused as to what all the fuss is about. The Israel of the Old Testament either sang praises and danced to its God or they killed the prophets sent by Him. Even today, we are conflicted not only between nations, but within nations, even at times within ourselves. There is no safety in trying to avoid the battle between God and those who oppose Him. The only safety is in shouting salvation and glory and power belong to our God!... to the only righteous king... and the only true God!
Stonewall Jackson.........Stonewall DeMint
A few days ago a friend asked me why I haven't been saying too much about the government shutdown. My response was that the main problem we faced at that time was the establishment class of the Republican Party. The past few days proved out that thought. Just yesterday I was in the car and turned on the Mark Levin Show. Mark was interviewing Wisconsin Senator Ron Johnson who assumed office in 2011 in no small part due to Tea Party endorsements. It was somewhat of a contentious interview because of Senator Johnson's recent votes on the attempt to defund Obamacare. At one point the Senator referred to the questioning as an inquisition. I wondered how it was that he considered himself above critical questioning. In July of 2010 Ron Johnson was endorsed for the Senate by Jim DeMint's Senate Conservatives Fund. When those Republican challengers won their elections Jim DeMint sent a letter to them warning them the establishment elite in the Senate would try to bring them under their control. The pressures put on Senators by the godlike party leadership must really be intense. Personally, I don't know if we can make it to the 2014 elections without national catastrophes. We have no leadership in this nation to speak of. Having long since rejected God, He has left us to our own devices. The following post is from earlier this summer:
Press On
Press On
This past Saturday my wife and I had a nice afternoon at a county fair in Ohio and on the way home I put in the CD of the month from R. C. Sproul's Ligonier Ministry. He was telling of the marvel of raising children which included a little story of one time when he was carrying his grandson around his living room and naming objects on the wall and having the little boy repeat the words. He laughed as he told this and I certainly laughed along with him but for a different reason as he pointed to a picture on the wall and said very slowly Stone...wall...Jack...son. I looked at my wife.... finally vindicated! I was not the only person to have a painting of Stonewall Jackson on the wall! You would have to know a little bit about this great general and modest, humble and dedicated Christian to know where I'm coming from. If you can't get past the confederate aspect of this you may indeed not understand. Let me give you one small anecdote that characterized his entire life:
Mrs. Jackson tells the story. The first battle of Manassas or Bull Run was over and the people of Lexington, Virginia were anxious for news. The mail came in and the people all gathered around to hear the facts. A Letter was handed to the Rev. Dr. White who "immediately recognized the superscription of his deacon soldier and explained to the eager and expectant group around him...'Now we shall know all the facts'." He began to read out loud, "My dear pastor, in my tent last night, after a fatiguing day's service, I remembered that I had failed to send you my contribution for our colored Sunday-school. Enclosed you will find my check for that, object, which please acknowledge at your earliest convenience, and oblige yours faithfully, T. J. Jackson." Around my neck as I write is a pendent and on the reverse side are the words...Press On. I had that made up because those were the words that Jackson would call out to his men...infantry...who were sometimes called his...foot cavalry...for they moved steady, sure, and fast. But Stonewall Jackson is not the topic of this post, not directly anyway.
The Republican Establishment has numerous generals but no Jacksons...no Lees...no Chamberlains....no Grants... no MacArthurs and no Pattons! Those few true leaders out there oppose the current Republican leadership that is lackadaisical, insincere and impotent. I'm reminded of another anecdote as I write, this time about Oliver Cromwell. I've never seen this in print, only in the film Cromwell that starred Richard Harris and Alec Guinness. Lord Manchester led the Parliamentary forces early in the English Civil War. The film depicts him as indecisive and timid with Cromwell extremely unhappy with the lack of resolve, vigor and determination. Cromwell confronts Manchester with words that are probably different than what I remember but the message was the same "Manchester, we are going to defeat the king's army even if we have to go through you first!"
We have our Jacksons and our Cromwells. Jim DeMint is one, Rand Paul another, Ted Cruz another, Rush Limbaugh and Mark Levin, are two of many more. Should the Lord have mercy upon America and extend our republic for a time, we are going to have to go through the establishment elites. What we will probably find is that they will take trick after trick from the Democrat's playbook. I don't expect honesty, rather pure power politics. They have proven themselves self-serving, grossly indecisive, all too often condescending to us and everything but prostrating themselves before those they claim to vigorously oppose. Their arguments will be persuasive to many for they are tried and appear true, having been given to us so many times through so many elections.
These are not mere problems that we face in America. If they were this would not necessarily be the path that we have to go; and this path also will lead to certain defeat if we think that we can do it without first seeking God's mercy, fortitude and guidance. That is the way it has always been. George Washington knew it to be true as did Abraham Lincoln. The question to be answered is...do we?
Highly recommended:
Gods And Generals (film)
Stonewall Jackson, The Man, The Soldier, The Legend, by James L. Robertson Jr.
Cromwell (film)
.............................................................................................................................................................
...and this post from a few weeks ago:
Usually, when I go four or five days without a new post it's because I have been down with something and such was the case again this time. There was a blessing though, as there also usually is, in that I could just lay there and listen to most of Senator Ted Cruz's 21 hour and 19 minute speech, or filibuster if you will, to Senate seats...and to America. It was not only American history being written, it was one of the great oratorical stands in our history, a history with the likes of Patrick Henry. I don't know if we have time to right this ship of state. If I were to guess it would be that we do not, that our presumption upon God's longsuffering with our rebellion has long since reached its limit, for His judgments upon us have already started, the greatest being that more often than not we cannot even distinguish good from evil nor right from wrong let alone choose between the two.
If....God will have mercy upon us, then the last few days may have been a beginning in the political arena, for a great statesman, and a few other stalwarts, have emerged out of a cesspool of ethical and intellectual delinquency...the United States Senate. If God's hand is indeed stayed then you may one day proudly look back upon what our House of Representatives and handful of Senators are attempting and say something such as "I remember those days....I was there!" To those of you outside of the United States, and there are quite a few who visit this blog, you are witnessing somewhat of a second American revolution, the rebels being.... freedom and liberty loving patriots with a reverential fear of Almighty God, needing only the heat of the cauldron turned up for the dross of our past sins to rise to the top leaving us dripping in the sweat of pure humility while seeking mercy and forgiveness. Whether we rise or fall, the hold of the Republican Establishment Class is broken and though when all is said and done that they may win here, there will someday be, should God will it, another crossing of the Delaware, and they and their political consultant class of mercenaries will lose that hold that stifles participation in our republic and fails to defend or even warn.
Lastly, the censure, ridicule and recriminations towards Senator Cruz continue but the spell is broken. The more that they lambast good men and women, the louder and clearer they tell Americans that though they failed time and again over decades, though they long ago gave up trying, though they sold their birthright for a mess of pottage.... that they can cut the legs out from men like Ted Cruz but will find that he still towers over them on his knees and they can attempt to demoralize us but will find that a....plain, russet-coated Captain will not bow before the rostrum of elitism. I bring this older post back to explain the previous sentence:
plain, russet-coated Captains........Redux!
Mrs. Jackson tells the story. The first battle of Manassas or Bull Run was over and the people of Lexington, Virginia were anxious for news. The mail came in and the people all gathered around to hear the facts. A Letter was handed to the Rev. Dr. White who "immediately recognized the superscription of his deacon soldier and explained to the eager and expectant group around him...'Now we shall know all the facts'." He began to read out loud, "My dear pastor, in my tent last night, after a fatiguing day's service, I remembered that I had failed to send you my contribution for our colored Sunday-school. Enclosed you will find my check for that, object, which please acknowledge at your earliest convenience, and oblige yours faithfully, T. J. Jackson." Around my neck as I write is a pendent and on the reverse side are the words...Press On. I had that made up because those were the words that Jackson would call out to his men...infantry...who were sometimes called his...foot cavalry...for they moved steady, sure, and fast. But Stonewall Jackson is not the topic of this post, not directly anyway.
The Republican Establishment has numerous generals but no Jacksons...no Lees...no Chamberlains....no Grants... no MacArthurs and no Pattons! Those few true leaders out there oppose the current Republican leadership that is lackadaisical, insincere and impotent. I'm reminded of another anecdote as I write, this time about Oliver Cromwell. I've never seen this in print, only in the film Cromwell that starred Richard Harris and Alec Guinness. Lord Manchester led the Parliamentary forces early in the English Civil War. The film depicts him as indecisive and timid with Cromwell extremely unhappy with the lack of resolve, vigor and determination. Cromwell confronts Manchester with words that are probably different than what I remember but the message was the same "Manchester, we are going to defeat the king's army even if we have to go through you first!"
We have our Jacksons and our Cromwells. Jim DeMint is one, Rand Paul another, Ted Cruz another, Rush Limbaugh and Mark Levin, are two of many more. Should the Lord have mercy upon America and extend our republic for a time, we are going to have to go through the establishment elites. What we will probably find is that they will take trick after trick from the Democrat's playbook. I don't expect honesty, rather pure power politics. They have proven themselves self-serving, grossly indecisive, all too often condescending to us and everything but prostrating themselves before those they claim to vigorously oppose. Their arguments will be persuasive to many for they are tried and appear true, having been given to us so many times through so many elections.
These are not mere problems that we face in America. If they were this would not necessarily be the path that we have to go; and this path also will lead to certain defeat if we think that we can do it without first seeking God's mercy, fortitude and guidance. That is the way it has always been. George Washington knew it to be true as did Abraham Lincoln. The question to be answered is...do we?
Highly recommended:
Gods And Generals (film)
Stonewall Jackson, The Man, The Soldier, The Legend, by James L. Robertson Jr.
Cromwell (film)
.............................................................................................................................................................
...and this post from a few weeks ago:
Usually, when I go four or five days without a new post it's because I have been down with something and such was the case again this time. There was a blessing though, as there also usually is, in that I could just lay there and listen to most of Senator Ted Cruz's 21 hour and 19 minute speech, or filibuster if you will, to Senate seats...and to America. It was not only American history being written, it was one of the great oratorical stands in our history, a history with the likes of Patrick Henry. I don't know if we have time to right this ship of state. If I were to guess it would be that we do not, that our presumption upon God's longsuffering with our rebellion has long since reached its limit, for His judgments upon us have already started, the greatest being that more often than not we cannot even distinguish good from evil nor right from wrong let alone choose between the two.
If....God will have mercy upon us, then the last few days may have been a beginning in the political arena, for a great statesman, and a few other stalwarts, have emerged out of a cesspool of ethical and intellectual delinquency...the United States Senate. If God's hand is indeed stayed then you may one day proudly look back upon what our House of Representatives and handful of Senators are attempting and say something such as "I remember those days....I was there!" To those of you outside of the United States, and there are quite a few who visit this blog, you are witnessing somewhat of a second American revolution, the rebels being.... freedom and liberty loving patriots with a reverential fear of Almighty God, needing only the heat of the cauldron turned up for the dross of our past sins to rise to the top leaving us dripping in the sweat of pure humility while seeking mercy and forgiveness. Whether we rise or fall, the hold of the Republican Establishment Class is broken and though when all is said and done that they may win here, there will someday be, should God will it, another crossing of the Delaware, and they and their political consultant class of mercenaries will lose that hold that stifles participation in our republic and fails to defend or even warn.
Lastly, the censure, ridicule and recriminations towards Senator Cruz continue but the spell is broken. The more that they lambast good men and women, the louder and clearer they tell Americans that though they failed time and again over decades, though they long ago gave up trying, though they sold their birthright for a mess of pottage.... that they can cut the legs out from men like Ted Cruz but will find that he still towers over them on his knees and they can attempt to demoralize us but will find that a....plain, russet-coated Captain will not bow before the rostrum of elitism. I bring this older post back to explain the previous sentence:
plain, russet-coated Captains........Redux!
.......A much more likely scenario for myself and others would be to work for principled true Republican conservatives for Congress and a third party candidate for the White House. This pitched battle that is just commencing between Conservatives and Royalists is not a chance encounter. It has been brewing for many years and the Republican Establishment, or Royalists as I like to call them, have taken advantage of us, their base, time after time. They launched a volley this week announcing that 100 Republican donors, mostly gentlemen I presume, signed on to their cause. I gave this quote by Oliver Cromwell before but it seems extraordinarily apropos today: "I had rather have a plain, russet-coated Captain, that knows what he fights for, and loves what he knows, than that you call a Gentleman and is nothing else." Here is the situation. As it stands now we could not win the presidency with a third party candidate but if America does not experience a reformation and a great awakening... then even winning both houses and the Oval Office would do nothing to stop the hemorrhaging. On the other hand should Americans return to the God who gave them their very existence, all the money in the king's purse could not help Karl Rove. Should God will it, the numbers will be there in abundance, both in 2014 and 2016! That is, should He will it that we even make it that far as a nation unscathed and unbroken.
Friday, October 11, 2013
Yelling "Free Will" At A Lynyrd Skynyrd Concert
The following is my Lord's Day offering originally posted in July of 2010:
Saturday's Wall Street Journal highlighted an article by Jane Goodall on her life among the chimpanzees of Gombe Stream National Park in Tanzania. It was touching, but there was one glaring error as the anthropologist looked upon these wonderful creatures as being our common ancestors from six million years ago whereas our ancestors were, one created man and one created woman, only six thousand years ago. This creation... us... has a free will. Martin Luther wrote a book and Johnathon Edwards, two hundred years later, wrote another with titles that seem, at first glance, to be saying something opposite of each other but Luther's Bondage Of The Will proclaims the same thing that Edward's Freedom Of The Will does.
German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer concentrated on man's will. To him it was when one man's will did not coincide with another man's will that suffering ensued. Desire was the problem and denial the answer. Schopenauer claimed to be an atheist and talked often as would a Buddhist. I cut out a Bizarro comic that might address this, an Eastern monk kneels before his teacher and says what do you do when you have freed yourself of all desire except the desire to be free from desire. Third Reich filmmaker Leni Riefenstahl's historic work Triumph Of The Will deifies the will and the object of it, and the consequences of that are in our history books.
When a Christian enters the debate a genuine conversation on free will may come up, and the challenges pour in over the Christian's claim that a free will does exist but so does a fallen nature that determines what that free will chooses. Chief among these arguments might be If such is the case...why bother to try at all and If such is the case then God is unjust. I think that you have to step back a little bit and consider this, Are you a person...do you exist? Is it a silly question? No, for if you acknowledge that you are an individual...and also that God exists...there has to be either a relationship, or a broken relationship. Who determines that relationship, the creature or the Creator? Well, if it's the Creator, He's telling you that you are the culprit but He has provided a way. One might then say hold on, I'm not the culprit! If you deny culpability...how can you then complain about the method God has designed for forgiveness, for you have rejected his premise to begin with? Why do you barter over the cost of a car that you have no intention of buying? Address the first issue and you will be surprised how little challenge there is to the second!
If you truly had an unimpinged free will and consequently have no problem with rejecting the God that does exist, would it not have been better to have had a fallen free will and forced to depend, not on an intellectual decision of perceived truths or your own righteousness, but on a merciful Savior who has already promised forgiveness for coming to Him in sorrow for your sins and faith alone in His ability to redeem you?
So to recap, if you do not have the ability to have faith in God without His intervention (free will and a fallen nature) then God is unjust; but if you do have the free will yet freely reject Him, He is not unjust? When God commands everyone to believe in His Son and one refuses to, it is not the evidence of a choice as much as it is the evidence of a fallen nature! Man already has a choice but also a fallen nature so to demand of God a choice is not necessary, but a plea for forgiveness from sins emanating from that fallen nature is never turned down! It is not one's choice to seek forgiveness even though one does. It was God's choice to intervene! Is He to be called unjust for this....for overcoming your fallen nature through the power of His Holy Spirit?
Would you really rather to have not existed at all? There is an infinitesimal number of people.....who could have been.... but were never created therefore never existed. The ratio of created souls to souls never created would also be infinitesimal. Would God not then have to be infinitesimally fair and just to have created only those He has? Think of the innumerable multitudes that He never had to offer mercy, innumerable multitudes that would have rejected Him! Or is the injustice in that He has created you knowing you would have a fallen nature? But had He not created you, you could not call Him unjust for there would be no you. If just one soul is condemned, would that not, to some, be enough for a charge of injustice? Then again, if everyone were to be given salvation, would not the ultimate injustice be in the existence of suffering in this life throughout the course of this world at the hands of multitudes with no threat of punishment? If God never had created, there would be no suffering...and no one to know that there is no suffering, but also no joy....and no one to experience the glory, majesty and righteousness, mercy and love of God who "gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life." (ESV) Is it possible that the origin of our claim that God is unjust really in that we do not know everything that He knows, and would this not be us, the creature, demanding to be as God, the Creator?
What is the ultimate demand that you might give to God in order to absolve Him of the charge of injustice? If you eventually find God innocent of injustice, and He is taken out of the dock, might it not be wise to dwell on His goodness. The offer of forgiveness, adoption and redemption would then be seen, not as unjust, but as wonderful. This is undeniably a poor treatise on free will but I only hope to encourage you to reconsider charges of injustice towards God and ask yourself who rightfully lays the groundwork for salvation, you or God.
For resources on this topic that are infinitesimally better than mine visit www.ligonier.org
Tuesday, October 1, 2013
Pirates.......and Barbarians
As I write this the Pittsburgh Pirates baseball team is about an hour into their first playoff game in over two decades. It's also a single game playoff between wild card teams, so this is it! There was a day, oh there was a day, when I would be pacing the floor with every pitch. It was much the same for football and other sports. I had my teams and I went from one sport to another and from one year to the next.
The following is a very short synopsis of two of the topics I have written about in this blog over the years and there is a reason for me writing them here. On politics first...Barack Obama was a Manchurian Candidate and is a Marxist if not Communist plant in our office of President. I doubt if he has a single good feeling about America and for that matter any of the special interest groups that were conned into putting him into office. He is no friend to Israel and way too friendly to Israel's enemies...and our enemies. He has continuously ignored our Constitution, lied all along the way while he golfed and partied his free time away, which was considerable.
Let me move on to.....the church.....in America. Only God knows what a graph of the spiritual health of the church in America would look like but what we can know is that today's church would be on a very low, if not the lowest point. It thinks that it is healthy...naturally....Laodicean churches always do, but it is not. It is a lack of knowledge and a lack of shepherds and not a lack of care that ails it. It desperately needs to turn inwards to find what its moorings were once tied to, moorings broken away from in this postmodern fog covering all of America.
OK, these are two very strong statements. Why do I believe them where you probably do not? I'm not smarter than you nor am I a better Christian. It's closer to the fact that I don't have a concern in the world what happens in that Pirate game tonight. It's not that baseball is bad for anyone for it isn't....it's that sports, and many-many other things, can kill one's discernment. Do the folks in that stadium tonight realize that their nation is collapsing, that barbarians are not only at the gate but within the walls and have been handed positions of authority? If they did then they would know that their children's lives and happiness are in extreme jeopardy! Oh they might still be at the game for various reasons, and many humbled Christians probably are, but it would be scheduled into a daily regimen, with a shedding of tears and rending of garments, of continuous prayer and studying to seek discernment on why we are where we are as a nation and a church and to plead God's mercy upon us.
One last comment, a comment I have made before... if I could not express my thoughts in a different way than most others who hold to the same beliefs that I do then there would be no purpose in a blog like this. Others can do the theology better and there are numerous resources in print and on radio where one can hear the same warnings. So I bring up the Pittsburgh Pirates. Maybe someone takes offense at it but then maybe, just maybe, they might consider the thoughts I tried to convey here and reapportion their time, talents and efforts to God's glory!
The following is a very short synopsis of two of the topics I have written about in this blog over the years and there is a reason for me writing them here. On politics first...Barack Obama was a Manchurian Candidate and is a Marxist if not Communist plant in our office of President. I doubt if he has a single good feeling about America and for that matter any of the special interest groups that were conned into putting him into office. He is no friend to Israel and way too friendly to Israel's enemies...and our enemies. He has continuously ignored our Constitution, lied all along the way while he golfed and partied his free time away, which was considerable.
Let me move on to.....the church.....in America. Only God knows what a graph of the spiritual health of the church in America would look like but what we can know is that today's church would be on a very low, if not the lowest point. It thinks that it is healthy...naturally....Laodicean churches always do, but it is not. It is a lack of knowledge and a lack of shepherds and not a lack of care that ails it. It desperately needs to turn inwards to find what its moorings were once tied to, moorings broken away from in this postmodern fog covering all of America.
OK, these are two very strong statements. Why do I believe them where you probably do not? I'm not smarter than you nor am I a better Christian. It's closer to the fact that I don't have a concern in the world what happens in that Pirate game tonight. It's not that baseball is bad for anyone for it isn't....it's that sports, and many-many other things, can kill one's discernment. Do the folks in that stadium tonight realize that their nation is collapsing, that barbarians are not only at the gate but within the walls and have been handed positions of authority? If they did then they would know that their children's lives and happiness are in extreme jeopardy! Oh they might still be at the game for various reasons, and many humbled Christians probably are, but it would be scheduled into a daily regimen, with a shedding of tears and rending of garments, of continuous prayer and studying to seek discernment on why we are where we are as a nation and a church and to plead God's mercy upon us.
One last comment, a comment I have made before... if I could not express my thoughts in a different way than most others who hold to the same beliefs that I do then there would be no purpose in a blog like this. Others can do the theology better and there are numerous resources in print and on radio where one can hear the same warnings. So I bring up the Pittsburgh Pirates. Maybe someone takes offense at it but then maybe, just maybe, they might consider the thoughts I tried to convey here and reapportion their time, talents and efforts to God's glory!
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