Counting The Cost

 "For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard." (Acts 4:20) "And he answered and said unto them. I tell you that, if these should hold their peace, the stones would immediately cry out." Luke 19:40) "Return to thine own house, and shew how great things God hath done unto thee" (Luke 8:39) "For whoever may be ashamed of me and of my words...." (Luke 9:26a)   

Preface: Dealing on a daily basis with both a collapsing church and a collapsing nation does not bode well for smooth sailing in one's life. It's not good enough to just rant on about how bad Progressivism is for America....or how terrible Liberalism is for the church. That's the easy part of this whole mess.....and that's where most conservatives have settled in. It's when you go beyond those obvious enemies to the deceivers or the lazy or the ignorant in our own camp that the waters get rough and the winds blow fiercely. Whereas in the former....the 'cost of discipleship' can almost make one a hero....for everyone rails against Progressivism....but in the latter....where we look inwardly....one can become a pariah in one's own family and church and community. The former is more a badge....whereas in the latter it can be more of a wound.

The Cost Of Discipleship....August 3, 2017

              One of the failures of today's evangelicalism is that we fail to mention the cost of discipleship when we evangelize and I have been guilty of this as much as anyone. I put a couple thousand miles on our vehicle recently and that usually means listening to a few more sermons from R. C. Sproul than I usually do. I had to go back into his archives a little bit to find one that I had not heard and I'll give you easy directions to listen to it at the end of this post. I need not add that what you will hear will be eons in wisdom and knowledge beyond what I can type out!.
              You have close friends....maybe you have a wife and children....maybe even grown children. If your plans are in just joining into fellowship of a church because it's something that you think that you should probably do...don't worry about the cost of discipleship. You may annoy a person or two, and you may even offend someone, but you probably won't find that there is a quantifiable cost to you involved in your decision to become a Christian. Of course you'll be pretty much useless to the spread of the gospel but hey....you get what you pay for.
             Your parents...whom you deeply love...may show deep disappointment in you. R. C. had this happen to him with his mother, and I experienced the same thing. It's very difficult and in my case it turned out to be decades of praying for wisdom in presenting the gospel to my mother....and asking for forgiveness for the times that I felt that I failed miserably. It would have been so much easier to avoid the topic....but then I'm one of those strange birds who actually believe that one has to be born again....and I loved my mother too much to let a little thing like her disowning me stop me from telling her about Jesus Christ.
             A good friend will stay your friend but you will wind up either....one....letting him alone in his life without Christ....or two....you will try again and again to present the gospel to him and thus you may find that although you are still friends....you really don't have much to talk about anymore. Still, unless your parents disown you and all your friends avoid you like the plague then this also does not appear on the cost ledger.
            Doctrine does come with a cost. The word doctrine is simply a biblical truth that often is not simple....but often essential in becoming a Christian. If you stay with the basics then there will be little to no cost to you. Do you have a serious hobby? Most people do. Is there something you have worked at for years and you excel at? Maybe you are a scratch golfer? I was a scratch golfer....I'd hit the ball and have to scratch my head but maybe you actually know how to play the game? If you apply yourself to the Word of God in like manner then it will most likely cost you....because people generally have their own doctrine that is very palatable to their specific tastes. You may have to leave the church that you love. Other Christians may consider you divisive.....but there is One that will not abandon you.
            These are really minor costs compared to what others have paid. Your wife may wind up leaving you. Your kids may hardly ever bring the grand kids over.  I've witnessed these things with friends.  We have all read stories in the news where Christians lost their business or their livelihood because of their Christian faith. Every one of us should never allow much time to pass without thinking about and praying for Christians around this world whose cost to them was their lives or their families.
            These words were brief and not very profound. My intention was not to make a list of things that will cost you but rather to point out that we fail to mention any costs at all as we ....'share the gospel.' This sets the person in question up for some rude awakenings that may result in their abandoning their faith. This failure to mention a cost also winds up adding enormously to an American church filled with people who have never been born anew....born from above.....nor do they even know what that means,

Google....R. C. Sproul, The Cost Of Discipleship, Part II

White Privilege......Noblesse Oblige......And Royalty Through Being Born Again

                I was thirteen years old....and my mother....having separated from my father....moved back to her childhood home in East Pittsburgh....right alongside the giant Westinghouse factory that employed both of my parent's families since the early 1900s. I had a wonderful summer living with cousins but we had to find a place to live and a school to attend....this being my eighth grade year.
               My mother didn't have a lot of money.....and that's an understatement....so finding a modest apartment similar to what we left in Buffalo would not be easy. I remember the taxi ride....(her days of owning a car were long gone.) There was one very pretty community only a couple of miles away....with mostly family homes.....and a few developments with very nice newer homes. I'm guessing that it is only about 150 yards long....the street that God led us to. A young boy my age.....was on a bike....right as we turned the corner....with a raccoon on his shoulder....(and this was odd folks for this is not a rural community....and I had surely never seen a raccoon before.) He would become my best friend.
               Well there....right in the middle of brick and framed family homes was a duplex....our new home. Two doors down lived two boys....one just a couple years younger....and the other just a couple of years older. The younger is a professor at Carnegie Mellon....and the older spent his career as a professor at Clemson. A few doors the other way were five boys....that boy with the raccoon on his shoulder....and two younger....and two older. One was a professor at Pitt.....and my best friend an economist for the Army Corps of Engineers. Across the street was the mayor....and his grandson who is today an architect....and there was also the best man at our wedding who is a child psychologist.
                I was never able to reach their level of professional vocation....but just being one of them.....through years of front porch games and movies and pizza nights....kept me on the straight and narrow. (that would drastically change later) They naturally went to a private Catholic high school....super-rich in tradition....and I tagged along. They all excelled....as I just got the diploma. Three of us went into the service....two of us to Vietnam....and the third as a medic stationed at Okinawa....treating the wounded from Vietnam.
               Friends....this was my....'white privilege!' Had my mother moved to one of the other surrounding communities I would not have had the academic role models....and I would not have attended that high school....which I describe in my profile to this website...."where I would at least I experience, although hardly partake in, a scholarly atmosphere." I probably would not have gone to Pitt on the G. I. Bill after the army....because I would not have had all these friends to give me the impetus.
              This has to be said....there are many who did not need all of these benefits that I had....J. D. Vance comes to mind as an example....for they had the will and the determination to succeed on their own. I doubt that I would have had that ability. I am only referring in this post to a future economic status...for these white communities have no claim to being any better than anyone else....or having stronger more loving families....or more intelligence.
              The term bandied about so much today....'white privilege'....has legitimacy....I am proof positive of that....but like so many other things....it can and has been terribly distorted. This is what communist methodology does folks. It attempts to belittle and eventually destroy tradition and heritage. If we conservatives simply deny white privilege....then we are making matters worse. It is a difficult responsibility....being vigilant against communism....but at the same time remaining humble and thankful enough to realize blessings we were born into.....but it has to be done.
               Noblesse Oblige.....is that French saying where if one is born into nobility then they have a responsibility....an obligation....to show concern for those not so blessed. We are not on the level of nobility....as were the Kennedys....but we still have a choice...go the Ayn Rand way....where we do everything for our own benefit....or go the Christian way....white privilege in way....born again into royalty....only the white here is not the skin color....but the robes that we will be given....

"After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and people and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands..." Rev. 7:9

"But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for His possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of the One having called you out of darkness into His marvelous light" 1 Peter 2:9

Afterthought: I wanted to add this. There are some who in effect say....'Hey...I had it rough too. We had absolutely nothing....no one gave me anything....and I made it!" There is no doubt that there are multitudes of people like this....but even here....they may not understand the blanket effect of being raised in and by a specific culture. I walked safely to grade schools....sat next to children whose parents may have had a lot of money....nobody knew or cared....played some sort of sandlot sport after school....and then watched Father Knows Best or Gunsmoke or Lucy about people who looked like me....and talked like me. 

Artificial Intelligence Is A Vacuum....Ready To Be Filled

                 I was eighteen years old at the time....and accompanied my older scholar friend to the theater to watch Stanley Kubrick's....2001 A Space Odyssey. I do not recall being all that thrilled....although my friend was. Well he was more prescient than I....for the epic film would be a box office hit if it were only first introduced today. As for my friend....he was a professor his whole life at a major university....and eventually became a Christian.

                The plot? Well there is a monolith that is spotted on a planet in space. What is it? Star Trek was just beginning its second season when the Kubrick film came out....and an 'Enterprise' type of spacecraft is sent to investigate. There is a computer that runs the ship....and interacts with the crew. OK....I am not going to give spoilers here....but everything is OK until the computer makes a mistake. If it did indeed make a mistake then the crew would have to disable it....for it was never known to make mistakes....and mistakes could be fatal. Now the computer....the AI aspect of it....insists that it did not make a mistake....that it was human error. OK....that's it. I couldn't explain the ending even if I wanted to....and I don't think that Kubrick could explain it.....but Arthur C. Clarke....the author of the book that the film was based on had aliens and god and all kinds of other things in mind.
                Well back to real life....there have been literally hundreds of scientists make the effort to come out to express grave concern over the potential catastrophe of AI. This is not dissimilar to the invention of the atomic bomb. The potential was there....there were benefits that could be had....and there was no one to stop it. It is the same with drone technology. I would have to look it up.....it was quite a few years back....but I was concerned that these cute little flying devices would some day carry weapons.
                They literally laughed at the fundamentalists back in the early 70s as they warned about computers and chips of some kind on the hand....and a new world order. The Christians of course were right because they were merely repeating what God's Word was telling us.
                Artificial Intelligence....AI....is a vacuum ready to be filled....if it hasn't already started. It is perceived to be a money-maker....and that my friends is a hard thing to stop.

Note: My original plan was to reserve seats on the first day to see the new film coming out....Oppenheimer....which deals with the issue of atomic warfare....but in researching it as the reviews are just starting to appear....the R rating is more than problematic....and I need more information. I instead ordered the 2006 Pulitzer Prize winning....(biography)....American Prometheus....from which the film is based. We are becoming aware of the dystopia that we are creating whether it be nuclear war or AI or experimentation in human genetics or any one of a number of other things....but we never bring God into the equation. Once again God lets us know of these things in advance. Read the twelfth and concluding chapter of Daniel if you wish....but consider particularly verse 4....

"But you, Daniel, shut up the words and seal the book until....('until' being a key word)....the time of the end. Many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall increase."

There Are Variations Of What A Beautiful Mind Might Be....And How They Might Be Nurtured

                 We spent the last few days in Princeton, New Jersey....and on the campus of Princeton University. About a hundred yards from our room is the gravesite of Jonathan Edwards....and probably within 200 yards in the other direction is the house that he spent only 35 days in as the college president before he became ill and died at only 54 years of age.

The remains of  John Witherspoon....and Aaron Burr Sr....and Aaron Burr Jr....are only feet away from that of Jonathan Edwards.
             Before I continue let me say that the glory of God that once must have wafted through the numerous stone arches is long gone. The churches and chapels are just relics that haven't had time to crumble yet. On issues of the needs of black and hispanic Americans....I am of the Robert Kennedy mold....the most compassionate and caring politician that I have ever observed.  I have posted on the 'white privilege' that helped me earlier in life....and I have been extremely critical of how our main goal in the Republican Party today seems to be in keeping low-income housing away from our suburbs. That's where I am....but having said that....it is more than a quest for legitimate diversity on these higher education campuses of today....rather it is some sort of god. The plaque on the historic post that is in front of the house that once was home to the college presidents....began with...."THE PRESIDENT'S HOUSE, 1756-1878. In this house, home to Princeton University's presidents from 1756 to 1878, lived at least sixteen enslaved men,women, and children. All were the personal property of the Presbyterian ministers who served as presidents of this institution." That fact is what Princeton chose to highlight. I walked up to two women who were reading the plaque....(only fifty yards away from the historic Nassau Hall where the Congress of the Confederation convened for four months in 1783)....this called the Maclean House today....and I asked them if they ever heard of Jonathan Edwards. They hadn't and I gave them a short description and advised that they Google him.
              We spent time on the grounds of Princeton Seminary....where men like Charles Hodge and B. B. Warfield and J. Gresham Machen and John Murray....to name only four stalwarts in the Christian faith....where they worked and labored for the Lord....but it is not the same Princeton Seminary that it once was.
               I purchased literature at the local bookstore to help as we walked the grounds....and one photo stood out to me....a chapel....but no longer a chapel....the photo taken from the back....all the pews were old and scratched up. The caption read...."Generations fidgeted to sermons"....using their penknives to etch graffiti in the wood....(this in the late 1800s)....and on one occasion covering the pews with molasses so that services...."would be cancelled." Such was the slow....step-by-step transformation....from Christian....to liberal....to even anti-Christian....that plagued higher education in America.
               The architecture is beautiful....and the secular history also astounding....with men such as Woodrow Wilson and Albert Einstein permeating the air....if you are aware that they once taught here. As with many elite universities....they have individual colleges on the campus. I was reminded of touring Cambridge University back in early 2001....Emmanuel College it was....where John Harvard attended....and as I ascended the steps of the main building there was a statue of the Buddha. Anyway...there is Rockefeller College on I believe the NE corner of Princeton....where the film....A Beautiful Mind....with Russell Crowe as the mathematician John Nash....had many scenes. If you have seen or will see that film....you might ponder the secular definition of a beautiful mind....compared to a biblical definition....for there are variations of what a beautiful mind might be....and how they might be nurtured.
                 I recommend it as a day trip but two days would be better. The Nassau Inn is the only hotel right in town....and would certainly make the hours of walking easier....while there are plenty of restaurants and ice cream parlors and chocolate stores if that is your thing. 

Yeah....I'm A Fanatic....But Then So Are You

                 Let's get this out of the way right at the beginning....I listened to this Charles Spurgeon sermon four times within the past four days....A Clarion Call To Saints And Sinners. You might say or think....'You listened to a sermon four times....in four days....you've lost it friend!'

                Well let's look at that. It's possible that you....certainly many did....sat around the yard or park yesterday for four to six hours....just sitting in your lawn chair....laughing and talking to friends and family. Maybe you went to a baseball game...and was in the stadium for three hours.....or sat in front of NASCAR on TV....or  golfed 18 holes....or sunned at the pool for four hours....or played tennis for two hours....or pickle ball.....this for the fourth time this week....or whatever? Why isn't this considered fanaticism of some sort....but listening to the glorious preached word of our glorious God....more than an hour a week.....is considered fanaticism?
                How many hours does a serious runner put in on the streets or the track? I used to run four and five times a week....and that is comparatively moderate. How many people read a novel a week....or more....every week of the year....and maybe four novels on vacation?  How many women might spend ten times as much time in their garden....or getting their 'steps' in....than the hour they spend preparing their weekly bible study.
                How many hours a week do you think that a soldier might spend in training and getting physically fit? Well it would depend....is it in a time of war....or preparing for a coming war? Well there it is....if you are a Christian....then you are a soldier....and there is a war going on all the time!  That soldier can work in his or her garden....and be fighting this war at the same time....or running. I used to hit the track on hot summer days.....steam coming up from the rubber....and be praying the whole time. Where is the fanaticism there....in the running in the extreme heat....or in the praying? 
               I came across that sermon....from probably the greatest preacher that God has blessed his church with over the past century and a half....and I had to have it again and again. I will be listening to it again....Lord willing...in about two hours as I will be on the road. In all of these sermons from either....men of the past....or men today who preach like men of the past....I just sit there praising God for His mercies on the chief of sinners! My spirit is lifted....and my shoulders rise as I hear of the glories of my king....and how He is there....He is always there....to call to me...and give me the strength that I do not have!
               So ultimately.....yes....it is fanaticism....for we are all fanatics for something.....even the lazy are fanatics in their laziness! As for that particular sermon....A Clarion Call For Saints And Sinners.....Spurgeon had labored in London for four decades. Look him up on Wikipedia sometime to see what this fanatic had done for orphans and ministers and the poor and the lost right up until he preached that sermon....which was immediately after a number of years of fighting the liberalism taking over the church....a fight that left him physically weakened.....and often discouraged.....but always visited by God's Holy Spirit to continue his soldiering until God would call him home....which was only months after he preached this sermon!
                So yes I am a fanatic....but so are you! Chances are that the moment that you leave this post....you will return to the fanaticism that rules your mind. I told my wife yesterday that it is official....I am getting old. I think she rolled her eyes....but there is no retiring from soldiering! Yes others may have to pick up the dropped banner....but then some of the weapons....prayer for example....pleading and bleeding prayer....for those at the front....is a sharper sword than it has ever been.
                Spurgeon's message in this sermon is....a trumpet call....right up to your ears....'Rise....and depart this place!....get back on the path.' It is a message to you because it is a message to all of us! Friend....let God bless you through this faithful minister! If I helped you here....then you will be there to help me when I become discouraged....and need to hear that trumpet call.

Carnivale Royale

 

The following is from 2011....and is always over on my humor page....and I will return it there in about a day. An explanation of the above photo is at the end of this post:

Walking into the dark trailer from the bright sunlight temporarily blinded me. The man in the sport jacket over a turtleneck in 85 degree weather....who had his hand firmly clasped around my wrist....had no problem....for the dark sunglasses helped him make the transition easily. The character of Oddjob flashed through my mind as he fit the description complete with a bowler hat on top of his head. I was a little bit disoriented and tried to focus on where I was. There were small television monitors across the one wall and a man sitting in front of them who motioned for me to sit down on a wooden chair directly below the glare of a floor lamp with a flexible goose neck. At least it was cool in the trailer so I took a couple of deep breaths before complaining, "What's all this about?" He ignored my question and said "Tell me, are you a very good gambler...or just a very lucky one. Or is it maybe something else?" "I hardly call it gambling" I said, and he responded "Well, I guess that I shouldn't either for you seem to win all the time, not much gambling in that." "So that's why you brought me here. I win a lot?" "That's right," he glanced over at my winnings which the apparent security detective laid on the table in front of me and continued. "Is it mathematical equations? Nah....it can't be that....or are you some sort of magician?" "Look" I said brusquely, getting increasingly angry, "My wife must be out there looking for me." I paused to catch my breath and continued, "I pulled five bucks out of my pocket and if I had lost that I would be home by now." "Five bucks? You expect me to believe that you raked in that haul from five bucks?" "Yeah! I'm not going to waste more than five bucks in a dump like this!" With this Oddjob pushed me back into my seat and his friend said "We take a lot of pride in our work. We run a first class operation. A lot of people have a good time, we make a small profit, that is until someone like you comes around." "I have to find my wife." I said. "She must be getting worried by now." My interrogator was heavy set and bald. He began scanning the monitors on the wall. "Look at these screens. do you see her anywhere?" I pulled up closer to the monitors. She wasn't by the merry-go-round, or the caterpillar....or the french fry stand. "There she is. Look...she's looking all around....by the cotton candy booth" Curly, for lack of a better name, looked at Oddjob and said "Go get her. Tell her that we just have few questions for her husband." He looked at me "OK now?" I settled down "Make it fast." He got up from the desk and walked over and picked up Snoopy. It was a good three feet tall, white and fluffy, with a perfect likeness of Charlie Brown's dog. I fidgeted, for the tips of his fingers had nicotine stains. "Please keep your hands of my Snoopy." He set it down and pointed to each one of the stuffed Snoopys "One, two, three, four, five...and six...six huggable, squeezable Snoopys...all won on a game that, mathematically speaking, shouldn't give a winner more than once every other day..." I was getting more irritated and stood up "Look...I tossed the ball and it rolled into the red cup..." He met me face to face "Six Snoopys on five bucks... three balls a buck, that's 16 balls." Oddjob, who had returned, interrupted, "15 balls boss." "Fifteen balls... do you think I was born yesterday?" I didn't back down and shouted myself, in spite of the aroma of sauerkraut...very bad sauerkraut, coming from his flaming nostrils. "Look, there's 576 cups on that board...thirty of them are yellow, 16 are blue and one, in the center, is red! I just happened to toss fifteen wiffle balls and six of them rolled into the red cup!" He backed away "And I suppose you think that a jury will believe that?" "A jury?" I gasped. "This is a travelling street fair...and I won six Snoopy dolls....are you crazy?" "Crazy? Each one of those Snoopy dolls are worth thirty bucks! You walk off with a hundred and fifty bucks of my merchandise and..." Oddjob interrupted "A hundred and eighty bucks boss" "I don't care, a hundred and fifty bucks, a hundred and eighty bucks. I want to know how you did it?" "I told you....I rolled the little white wiffle balls and..." He interrupted again and grabbed a cellphone from his shirt pocket...putting it right into my face "You want me to call homicide?" Oddjob looked at him "Homicide...boss?" "Homicide, Vice, Immigration...whatever. You come into my house and rattle off how may blue and yellow cups.... I don't even know those numbers! You cased this place and I want answers!" I grabbed the phone out of his hand "I'll call the police! You can't pull me in here and give me the fifth degree because I rolled six little white wiffle balls into a red cup!" "One red cup" he shouted "out of six hundred and fifty two cups." Oddjob corrected him "576 boss" "I don't care how many cups are out there. What did you do...guide that wiffle ball into the red cup with some kind of remote control or satellite?" He stopped abruptly and his eyes widened. "Do you have an iPhone? You do, you have an iPhone!" he demanded. "Its an app...isn't it? You guided those balls with an iPhone app!" "Yes I do have an iPhone. Oh Look! Here it is" I said as I took it off my belt. " Lets see.... nine...one...one..." He grabbed the phone out of my hand and began jabbing on the screen all over with his finger, hoping to stop the phone call. Oddjob took it and tapped once to end the call. Curly ran his fingers over his scalp as if expecting to find hair and paced around for a minute or two. "Look. OK. You got me on this one. Tell you what...I'll give you three hundred smackers just to tell me how you did it." "I told you already. I just rolled the little wiffle..." He had had enough of my explanation and pushed me aside as he opened the door of the trailer. The bright sunlight invaded our space and I covered my eyes but not before I could see that he had no hair at all...absolutely none, and a very reddish complexion. "You can leave now...mister. But I'm warning you. By dawn I'll have your picture spread to every carnival...five counties wide... each direction! You stay away from Roll The Ball!" I didn't say anything. I just grabbed my Snoopys one by one and walked out. My wife threw her arms around me and helped me by carrying three Snoopys. As we were walking out of the street carnival, I turned and walked back over to the Roll A Ball. There were half a dozen kids and their parents standing by the rail, waiting to buy balls. I hoped Curly, or should I call him Goldfinger, was watching on his monitors. I started giving away the Snoopys to the kids. They were excited beyond belief and they and their families walked away, holding their prize for the night. I looked up and saw a camera pointing at me from a pole. I saluted into it and my wife and I walked off hand in hand.

                                                                  

There is only a grain of truth in this story. I did go to our local street carnival and bought a peanut covered caramel apple and spent a little bit of time at the Roll A Ball. Watching the kids faces is the real joy, especially since it seems that it was not that long ago that our son was rolling the ball. Today he's a lawyer who could have been called if this scenario had taken place. I did count the colored cups and spent some time trying to figure out just how to land that wiffle ball in the center cup. 

Update: The above photo is from tonight as I was drawn once again to Roll-A-Ball. The photo at the top is my winnings....and it only cost me ten bucks! 

"Puff.....Ayn Rand"

                 This is a difficult....and complicated....and long post....and I don't blame you if you choose to ignore it. Have you read my post of a few days ago that begins with the word....Puff? Assuming that you may have....Foxnews.com in their news and articles this morning....chose to....'Puff".....Ayn Rand...to make her appear as a wise prophetess. That's why I am bringing two old posts back....from 2011! 

Who Is Ayn Rand....April 25, 2011

                I had not read Atlas Shrugged in the early 1970s....(my early 20s)....because I was too busy reading Charles Reich's The Greening of America in between sips of beer at the Wooden Keg on Pitt's Oakland campus. If I had, I might have been a millionaire today, a Gordon Gekko! Thank goodness for cheap drafts, Charles Reich, Carlos Castaneda, Van Morrison, and Carole King. I still have not read completely through any of Ayn Rand's four novels but did....many decades ago...see the film The Fountainhead starring Gary Cooper and Patricia Neal, the final scene of which still haunts me today where the two stars stare heavenward as they rise in the construction elevator of Cooper's budding skyscraper. (My memory was a little off....as Patricia Neal looks up as she ascends the construction elevator of the world's tallest building....as Gary Cooper....Christlike....awaits the rapturous arrival of his wife.)
                   Who is Ayn Rand? She was born in Russia in 1905 and experienced, first hand, the Bolshevik takeover of human life and property. She came to America and was enamored by the silver screen ( I can relate to that) and wound up in Hollywood as a screenwriter and then author turned philosopher whose philosophy of Objectivism drew devotees including Alan Greenspan and has remained popular to this day. She died in 1982. They tried to make a movie of Atlas Shrugged for decades, finally accomplishing it recently in what could not be a more apropos time. I saw the film (first of a trilogy) this past week on a rainy day in Myrtle Beach. The small crowd (most families were filling the other theaters) applauded at its conclusion. If you do not see imminent catastrophe for America, or the world for that matter, or even the possibility thereof, you will probably find the film boring. If you do see dark tornado clouds moving fast over our heritage you will get your money's worth. It was well made and acted and it was good seeing a film that did not have the usual movie stars who hop from project to project.
                   A 2009 cover story from Hank Hanegraaf's Christian Research Journal, which can be Googled easily....(Was Ayn Rand Right, Jay W. Richards)....captured the allure of Ayn Rand....along with the reason for criticism. Rand....as Richards relates....called greed a virtue. He wrote "Rand was a staunch defender of capitalism, but also an anti-Christian atheist who argued that capitalism was based on greed." Richards contends that "she missed the subtleties of capitalism." He brings Adam Smith into the equation and his 1776 classic work on economics The Wealth Of Nations and points out in detail how Smith admitted that "It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker, that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own interest." Richards points out that "every time you wash your hands or look both ways before you cross a street, you're pursuing your self-interest-but neither activity is selfish."
                    Richards' second point concerning Smith is that "in a free market, each of us can pursue ends within our narrow sphere of competence and concern....our self interest....and yet an order will emerge that vastly exceeds anyone's deliberations." His third point from Adam Smith is that even if capitalism channels greed and...."even if the butcher is selfish....he can't make you buy his meat. He has to offer you meat at a price you'll willingly buy." So "capitalism doesn't need greed" and Richards would say that it doesn't need Ayn Rand either. The author continues with, and I would agree, that Rand's appeal is because she "mercilessly skewered every leftist cliche." That is what the American public is calling for, why the film is a success and why the audience applauded at the end.
                     It's Rand's defense of capitalism, and not definition of capitalism that allures. Richards mentions a survey that I had heard of before where he writes "In a poll conducted by the Library of Congress and the Book Of The Month Club in the 1990s, Atlas Shrugged came in second behind the Bible as the most influential  book." Richards' conclusion is that "her hatred of Marxism and collectivism led her to defend a caricature of capitalism more grotesque than anything Marx imagined." It was Ayn Rand's accurate critique of leftist economic philosophy that woke the author up many years previous. This critique by Ayn Rand's is her only contribution, but a contribution nonetheless. My only disagreement with Jay W. Richards' article is where he writes "Competition between entrepreneurs in a free economy thus becomes an altruistic competition, not because the entrepreneurs have warm and fuzzies in their hearts, or are unconcerned with personal wealth, but because they seek to meet the desires of others more than their competitors do." I agree with this statement but it stops short of seeing how a nation can in the beginning see desires and wants as....food, raiment and a home....and then evolve where those desires and wants become....65" television screens, risk derivatives, Facebook and various other narcissistic pursuits, etc., etc..  Wall Street is as capable of distorting capitalism into a grotesque caricature as Ayn Rand. Her contribution is best acknowledged and then put aside for the number one influential book in that survey.

Atlas Shrugged....May 19, 2011   

                      There are quite a number of Christian books that have been published, and films made, on the topic of the Antichrist. I submit to you that Ayn Rand's character of John Galt is a contender in principle. A few blogs ago I wrote of seeing Atlas Shrugged on a rainy day in Myrtle Beach. I went in knowing little about the novel of which the term cult-like following is inadequate. I came home and picked up the book and began where the film (the first of a trilogy) left off.
                       Ayn Rand provides a savior for us in Atlas Shrugged and it is John Galt. Two thirds of the novel looks ahead for the answer to the question "Who is John Galt?," which is a running theme of the book, as roughly two thirds of the Bible looks ahead to the coming of the Messiah. Described accurately as a dystopian United States, the setting of the novel has this Christ-like figure in John Galt who calls certain chosen disciples to himself to go into seclusion and watch the world collapse without them.  Confronted with his wisdom, these chosen disciples drop everything to follow him. He promises a paradise, or more accurately, the instruction of building one and freedom to do so.
                             John Galt's oath, repeated a number of times after his appearance on the scene, is...."I swear by my life and love of it that I will never live for the sake of another man nor ask another man to live for the sake of me." These disciples learn from him and fear for him as he exposes his person to the pharisees to confront their enslavement of truth. He is tortured...but lives....and his kingdom eventually comes to earth (this nation anyway.) Rand did indeed have the playbook of the leftist and the totalitarian, her avowed enemies, in writing Atlas Shrugged, for one can see their dangerous ineptitude and propaganda in today's newspapers, even in what will be the headlines of tomorrow's....but her utopian vision also comes from that same leftist playbook!
                             John Galt replaced original sin with original righteousness and received the love of man and woman because of it. The self-adulation of man has often been a temptation throughout history and in the hands of Ayn Rand's pen it is most formidable. She may not have thought too highly of libertarians but they apparently think the world of her. There is high tension today between some conservatives and some libertarians who are so close...yet so far away. The news media, in their infinite befuddlement, covers this early skirmishing among Republicans as if the election were next month while drooling on polls that are of very little use, if not useless, at this time. It is my contention that the eventual Republican nominee is not even in the mix as of yet. (Romney announced shortly after this post)
                      There are extreme dangers in the Middle East and the world's economy, and malicious intentions of the world's elites that may not even be completely formulated as of now, any of which can alter the best laid schemes of mice and men. Ayn Rand's philosophy which exalts the potential of the mind of man to the exclusion of God is not the answer to our problems but rather a steroid. A consensus is needed between all conservatives and all libertarians but it cannot be at the expense of the One who indued our intellects with the very potential to prosper and who will, and has, withdraw it when we exalt ourselves.

Is It Even Possible.....The You Even Reformed Pastors....May Have Made A Mistake....I'm Not Asking You To Concede Anything....Only A Simple 'Yes' Or 'No"....Is It Possible That Billy Graham....The Fundamentalist....Who Is Not As Knowledgeable As You Are In Theology....May Have Had More Discernment On Some Things Than You?

Preface: I remember when I wrote this post.....back in March of 2017. I was venting a little....come on guys....500 years....you are in effect telling your people....not....to look to and pray for the imminent return of our Lord and Savior and Mighty King! God is telling us to prepare....and you are essentially telling us not to be too concerned. Once again we are twenty-four hours from faithful men taking their pulpits. May God....if it be His will....and to His glory alone....even now burden these men with the responsibilities of the souls in their pews....(yes even the redeemed in the pews of reformed churches need warned….are we not susceptible to idolatry….I know that I am....are we not prone to laziness....I know that I have that fight daily)....cause them consternation....searching for the source of that burden....and then fill them with Thy Holy Spirit....calming them with the glory of such a Father....who is there to apply the balm....and strengthen the sinews....all to His everlasting praise....and our eternal redemption....in the joy of His presence!

Is It At Least Possible?          

             It may be the single most valuable Christian ministry in America....well that's my opinion anyway.... and they have a home conference coming up that they call The Next 500 Years. They are alluding here to it's having been almost 500 years since Martin Luther's writings began the 16th century Reformation. So it's natural to take the opportunity to envision what can be done in the next half millennium.
             I understand the message but what went through my mind upon hearing of the conference title was.....next 500 years....how about the next 500 days? Or even the next five years...or maybe even the next 500 souls surrendered to Christ...or even the next 5 million souls surrendered to Christ? I just don't agree with the emphasis on the next 500 years when....if I might use this expression in a very literal sense....all hell is breaking out in this world. (folks....within 500 days of my writing this....both R. C. Sproul and Billy Graham had gone on to be with the Lord....the first of two impeachments were to begin....followed by the pandemic....the horrors of January 6....along with multiple other horrors....including the collapse of evangelicalism....and the very possible beginnings of world war)
             What it boils down to is this.....some people see events in one way...and others see it in another way. So I'll be party of the first part here. This is not normal what we are seeing. This is not problems with a Third Reich and an Imperial Japan.  This is not a Cuban Missile Crisis. There is no America to defend the world anymore. We're dealing with nuclear weapons in the hands of maniacs...maniacs who actually want nuclear war... and we can't even come together to deal with them.
              Nothing is holding together! Do you read the news? I'm not talking about that worthless paper delivered to your door every morning....I'm talking about Drudge. He's where he is at because he actually links to real horror...and that's what it is....horror! A kid walks out of his house a couple days ago holding his mother's head in his hands! And this horror happens every single solitary day! And even if we somehow read about it it's a shake of the head and page over to the sports or weather.
              The party of the second part here happens to be the vast majority. By the way I'm only referring to Christians here whether the first party or the second....wonderful Christians! I'm but a gnat compared to any one of the dozen or so speakers at this upcoming conference. So what have we become...a church where only the well known are to be heard. I hope that we all can still give an opinion.
              It's not only war...the people with all the money want a one world government...and they want it bad! We do know what that means do we not? One half of our nation....one half of America....are blind to just about anything. I listen to them on the news and marvel....marvel....at how little the human mind can at times comprehend.
              The same men at that conference will admit that we are now pagan. We sacrifice children! New technologies are entering into areas that make the Tower of Babel look like child's play. The last one hundred years has been one warning from God after another.
               I am not alone in my concern by any means. There are atheists out there...Stephen Hawking for one says that "The development of full artificial intelligence could spell the end of the human race." Here's a man with no concept of God who sees what most of us don't.
               The party of the first part reads Revelation or the Olivet Discourse and sees a message that after nearly two thousand years may literally be written to them. The party of the second part reads the same words and says... "Uh...be careful there...don't want to be a date-setter!" Can anyone read my posts and think for a second that I have given up on proclaiming Christ? The crux of the matter is whether one can see disaster on the horizon...warn about it...and still trust God. I say that they can....in fact that seems to be what Scripture tell us to do. I would question others on if they trust in God so much why don't they trust in His warnings?
               Let me ask this question to the [men involved in this upcoming conference]....do they even think that it is possible that they may have made a mistake....that they may have actually come up short in this area? I'm just asking and honest question! I know how accomplished you are and how much good that you have done...and I praise God for that! I've admitted that you tower above me....but is it possible that you may have erred....is it somehow possible that an Arminian....such as Billy Graham....not educated in a Reformed seminary....or another who may wear an ill-fitting suit off the rack at Sears and dangle his misplaced modifiers...is it possible that he might have discerned what God is saying and you may not have?