Handle With Care

  



         At my first holy communion in the second grade, the custom was to receive a Bible. It was my uncle who provided me with one and I remember being somewhat disappointed for it was pocket size and very unreadable. I cannot remember why it was that I wanted a regular Bible but it was a genuine desire that I can recall today. In grades three through six we would attend Mass every morning before school and I did have a missal that was a prized possession. I liked its smell, the thin delicate pages, the red and black printing and particularly the Latin that was recited from the altar and responded to by us in the pews. In high school we were given two paperback textbooks, one the Old Testament and the other the New Testament and we studied them for their literary content. I still had no concept of the Gospel and no personal Bible of my own. Scan ahead to about 23 years of age where I had come out of the army and started at Pitt. My habit was to stop in the National Record Mart on Forbes Avenue in Oakland and browse their books before catching the bus home, often coming out with a purchase and one day it was a modern language paperback paraphrase of the New Testament titled Reach out, The Living New Testament. I have this paperback in my hand now and can remember the feeling then of holding something special but not really knowing what that was. My first Bible was a Christmas present from my wife and I also have that Bible in front of me now.
          I related this story before of how in 1982 my wife and I were on a Caribbean cruise and while rounding the western end of Cuba we were in a storm that rocked the ship such that we driven back to our rooms. With nothing else to do, I opened the drawer in the table next to the bed and there was that ubiquitous motel room Gideons Bible. I opened it up and began reading where my finger found itself resting. Glasses were sliding across the table from the ship rocking in the waves and I read this from the 93rd Psalm:

The floods have lifted up, O Lord,
The floods have lifted up their voice;
The floods lift up their waves.
The Lord on high is mightier
Than the noise of many waters,
Than the mighty waves of the sea.

       As a new Christian, God was gracious to give me this glimpse of His Word through an unorthodox method, a method that I would not presume upon today for I now know that the Bible is God's Word to us...God breathed words. Without the movement of God's Spirit in us, they will seem to be just words, but under the power of His Spirit their meaning not only begins to become clear but they reverberate every atom of our being and every neuron involved in our thinking. Consider these words from Hebrews 4:12 For the Word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
       If one wishes to remain in rebellion to God, one would do well to not pick up His Word for, should God will it, it would make very clear the folly and repercussions of holding on to our own autonomy and it will convict the conscience. On the other hand, if one desires to see just what is in this perceived time capsule it will be an illumination that is easy on the eyes, sweet to the pallet, exhilarating to the touch, soothing to the ears and of a pure aroma of cleanliness. It is powerful and will remain powerful even into old age. It is provision for all that we will need on this journey. It is nourishment. It is radiation to kill cancer cells and minerals to build bones. It is exercise, laughter and fulfillment. It is knowledge and understanding, precision and order, intellect and emotion, humility and motivation. It is oxygen to the Christian life but it is kryptonite to Nietzsche's uberman. It will not only cause you to love but define love itself. It will bring division in the world but discerning that division will show unity of redemption to all who are under the shed blood of Christ. So, the next time that you pick up a Bible, please know that if you are not careful, an ax may be laid at the root of your paradigm of life.

Is This Still America?

      Texas Congressman Kevin Brady made headlines today in asking the former IRS head this question: "Is this still America?" and then described a government that appeared "drunk on power," a government that would hurt its own people. Is this still America? Yes it is but only by the grace of God. We wouldn't have a Congressman asking that question if it wasn't but we may be nearing the end of that grace. The following blog entry were first published on March 24th of last year.


The Forty Year Petition

 I sit here and just wonder what percentage of Americans are becoming unnerved as the days wear on and chaos seemingly develops in so many areas of our society. Surely even the most skeptical can see that we are in much more than just another economic downturn, that we are dealing with catastrophe and not just difficulties in our foreign policy, that we on the verge of anarchy followed by tyranny rather than just political division, that we are becoming not only increasingly violent but suicidal, that we are almost breathless at times at what transpires on our news and in what is supposed be the Executive Branch of the United States of America... a Constitutional Republic. I have to believe that whatever the percentage is, it is increasing but I don't want to get too excited because I've felt this way before. I thought that surely the American public would overwhelmingly reject the Clintons but it didn't happen. I hoped that 9/11 would unite America...but it didn't. I thought that the economic collapse might convince Americans that Wall Street was not going to be the answer to our problems...it didn't happen, and I thought that the vast majority of Americans would be outraged that its Constitution was being dismantled article by article but as of yet, it hasn't happened. We have all probably seen a rope that was supporting something begin to look dangerously taut only to unravel and break before our very eyes. We are beyond a weakened rope holding up America and are in the unravelling process. This great empire is in its last days. 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.

WWPD...(What Will Putin Do?)

      The phenomenon of Barack Hussein Obama reached its high-water mark shortly after his second inauguration but the revelations of the stand down and then cover-up mentalities during and after the terrorist attack in Benghazi, Libya that left four Americans dead may be the catalyst for the downfall of this administration. The aura of hope and change dissipated over the years and beneath it was the permanent odor of workers of the world, unite! What many of us have known all along, many others are just now finding out, that being that Barack Obama does not have America's best interests at heart.
       I am in no way saying that Obama's agenda has been foiled. If he knows that his free ride is over, and he probably does, he may choose to throw all pretense to the wind as to defending a constitutional republic and devise schemes more treacherous than we have imagined up till now. My concern is also in what Putin and Ahmadinejad, to name only two of our enemies, might do. Communism and Radical Islamic Fundamentalism both have had a friend, or at the very least...a dupe, in the White House, and they now know that they may lose that advantage. It would be very natural for Conservatives to openly rejoice over the misfortune of our Manchurian President but our only rejoicing should be Biblical rejoicing as in Philippians 4:4-7 (ESV):

"Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone.
The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."

Cinco De Mayo

The following was first published on May 5th of 2010:


In 1862, a large French military force was defeated in the town of Puebla by a smaller Mexican army. It was the beginning of the French defeat in which, although the United States was involved in its own Civil War, it did apply what pressure it could in support of Mexico. Today, the 5th of May is a day of celebration, to one degree or another, across America, moreso even than in Mexico. The American of Spanish heritage is an integral part of American society. They are not cousins, they are us. They are part of the fabric of this nation, productive, a blessing in their joining with us in citizenship and a key to our future. The heritage they bring is as wonderful as any other nation's contributions to our country. Immigration of Latinos needs be expedited for our benefit as well as theirs. Illegal immigration, if not halted, would play no small part in the collapse of our nation. We cannot afford incorporating a mass exodus. The entitlements would cripple us, the precedent of an amnesty would do a great disservice to those who have come to join us legally, it would be a personal and economic assault on Americans in most affected states, it would leave our Constitution in tatters. the only benefit, and that temporarily, would be for those politicians in office who live to pad their positions of prestige, a prestige that is now as admirable as a governor in Vichy France. Amnesty would not be an addition of people who respect, admire, even love America and its heritage, it would be an invasion of people who wants the benefits regardless of who it harms. This should be a strong litmus test for any Republican running for office. We have a lot of official holidays in this nation, but if we were to have another, I would opt for a celebration of all those who, patiently but determinately, legally, and not only for their benefit but in hopes of strengthening us, come and join us. Mark Levin's book Liberty And Tyranny is a short read but powerful and profound. Please make the effort to read this, or listen to it on CDs. In his chapter on immigration he quotes from George Washington's Farewell Address in this: Citizens, either by birth or choice, of a common country, that country has the right to concentrate your affections. The name of American, which belongs to you, in your national capacity, must always exalt the just pride of Patriotism, more than any appellation derived from local discriminations. This does not describe an amnesty, but does point favorably to those who have respected our laws and come to be part of us and help defend those laws.