Thirty years ago there were five Christian bookstores within a few mile radius of my house. Today there are none. Whereas once someone with a little time on their hands might very well stop in a Christian bookstore just to look around, as I did in 1982, now he cannot. There are no Billy Graham crusades to stumble across as you work the remote. Genuine news is becoming harder and harder to come by....as even foxnews.com is rapidly turning into a tabloid. Almost gone is the rigorous and challenging intellectual life on America's college campuses, replaced by safe spaces, censorship and Doublespeak. Conversation is primarily done on Twitter....and when the voice box is actually used the result is dull and boring. Even conservative talk radio no longer stimulates thought. The American mind has officially closed up....put out of business by artificial intelligence.
Could The Closing Of The American Mind be written today? Could The Scandal Of The Evangelical Mind be written today? Probably not, for they accomplished their purpose, albeit in a losing cause. The battle was won on November 8th but the war was lost. We had an opportunity in the past year to humble ourselves before our Creator but chose another road. We are the high and mighty right now....we conservatives....but we may soon find out that that which we hoped for.....political power.....was not the answer. Where do we then turn.....another political savior?
I submit to you that we will by then have had our fill of trusting in men and princes and ourselves. When that happens.....should God will it.....we will put a Bible in front of us as if it were the very first time. We'll open it and immediately hope will fill our heart. "What is this....I've seen these words before....why are they now penetrating a part of me I didn't even know existed?" We will devour the words....stare at them....pause and look up to heaven as they sweeten the palate....lift them to our face to take in the beautiful fragrance where there should have been mustiness!
At sixty-eight years old and thirty-six years bringing up the rear of God's army marching towards heaven, I now dwell on Bible verses...and even on individual words. Why have I been so fortunate to have been given this treasure? Of course I know the answer....in that God ...".... giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength." So, why are you reading this post when somewhere in your home is the greatest treasure on earth? Please go to it...."Take up and read"!
The Greatest Treasure On Earth.....July of 2014
America is shipwrecked, taking on water for decades, adrift and sure to sink if the director of the universe and of all that exists does not intervene, but Americans view this unfolding disaster with detachment! I see it every day in people's faces...."This can't possibly be as serious as it appears! Surely the cycle will return to one of prosperity and....normalcy!"
The further one's mind is from God on a daily basis the less one will feel imminent judgment. The Bible was once an American's most valuable possession. Today it is either an artifact, a talisman for prosperity, simply an aid to innocuous bible studies and Sunday School lessons, or a rather large and bulky ticket one must have in their possession to enter heaven...should heaven really exist.
In reality it is the Omnipotent God's Word to fallen man, the greatest treasure on earth, which brings the greatest joy, draws forth the most ardent love and applies a devastating guilt followed by a torrent of mercy that elicits praises upon praises for mercies undeserved...all given because of faith, faith in the One who took our sins to a tree on Calvary. If my words seem overly pious or even syrupy, might I suggest that there may be an underlying cause for your hesitance to shout praises yourself; or if the Bible does not literally captivate you as God's Word to you, overwhelm your objections and gratify beyond your wildest expectations then you might never have truly discerned the words therein.
Could The Closing Of The American Mind be written today? Could The Scandal Of The Evangelical Mind be written today? Probably not, for they accomplished their purpose, albeit in a losing cause. The battle was won on November 8th but the war was lost. We had an opportunity in the past year to humble ourselves before our Creator but chose another road. We are the high and mighty right now....we conservatives....but we may soon find out that that which we hoped for.....political power.....was not the answer. Where do we then turn.....another political savior?
I submit to you that we will by then have had our fill of trusting in men and princes and ourselves. When that happens.....should God will it.....we will put a Bible in front of us as if it were the very first time. We'll open it and immediately hope will fill our heart. "What is this....I've seen these words before....why are they now penetrating a part of me I didn't even know existed?" We will devour the words....stare at them....pause and look up to heaven as they sweeten the palate....lift them to our face to take in the beautiful fragrance where there should have been mustiness!
At sixty-eight years old and thirty-six years bringing up the rear of God's army marching towards heaven, I now dwell on Bible verses...and even on individual words. Why have I been so fortunate to have been given this treasure? Of course I know the answer....in that God ...".... giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength." So, why are you reading this post when somewhere in your home is the greatest treasure on earth? Please go to it...."Take up and read"!
The Greatest Treasure On Earth.....July of 2014
America is shipwrecked, taking on water for decades, adrift and sure to sink if the director of the universe and of all that exists does not intervene, but Americans view this unfolding disaster with detachment! I see it every day in people's faces...."This can't possibly be as serious as it appears! Surely the cycle will return to one of prosperity and....normalcy!"
The further one's mind is from God on a daily basis the less one will feel imminent judgment. The Bible was once an American's most valuable possession. Today it is either an artifact, a talisman for prosperity, simply an aid to innocuous bible studies and Sunday School lessons, or a rather large and bulky ticket one must have in their possession to enter heaven...should heaven really exist.
In reality it is the Omnipotent God's Word to fallen man, the greatest treasure on earth, which brings the greatest joy, draws forth the most ardent love and applies a devastating guilt followed by a torrent of mercy that elicits praises upon praises for mercies undeserved...all given because of faith, faith in the One who took our sins to a tree on Calvary. If my words seem overly pious or even syrupy, might I suggest that there may be an underlying cause for your hesitance to shout praises yourself; or if the Bible does not literally captivate you as God's Word to you, overwhelm your objections and gratify beyond your wildest expectations then you might never have truly discerned the words therein.
