...And Of A Sound Mind

Posting Bible Notes Daily

2012-01-02T19:08:00.000-06:00

I decided to try something and we will see if I can keep it up without it becoming too time consuming.

As I read through the Bible in 2012 using the calendar bookmarks we give out at church, I am going to try to put notes on my Bible Notes blog corresponding with the daily Bible reading. If you are not already reading my other blog, I encourage you to check it out (click the link). On all my blogs, you can easily sign up to receive new posts by e-mail - just enter your e-mail address right on the sidebar.

Today I have already posted all my Bible notes from the chapters covered in the first two days of reading, Genesis chapters one through four, Psalm chapter one and Matthew chapter one. I intend to keep it up daily if I can, or at least not get too far behind. Anyone else following this schedule will be able to see notes on the very chapters they have read for the day. For this reason, I encourage anyone who is following the bookmark schedule to sign up to receive that blog by e-mail.

I am tagging all those posts as "2012 Daily Bible Reading" so you can always click that tag to see all the posts. There are already nine different posts covering a bunch of notes over the first few chapters of reading for the year. Some you may find interesting and some you may not, but they are there for your help.

God bless and Happy New Year!

VM

How the Husband Can Love the Wife

2011-12-16T13:19:00.002-06:00

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HOW THE HUSBAND CAN LOVE THE WIFE

(Friday Church News Notes, December 16, 2011, www.wayoflife.org , Email: fbns@wayoflife.org, Telephone: 866-295-4143)

“Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it” (Ephesians 5:25).

Consider some ways a husband can love his wife:

By verbalizing his love and expressing love to her in tangible ways (Ephesians 5:25).
By not being bitter and critical toward her (Colossians 3:19; Ephesians 5:28-29).
By being faithful to her morally (Hebrews 13:4).
By providing for her and for the family (1 Timothy 5:8).
By helping her learn the Bible and grow spiritually (Ephesians 5:25-26) (leading the family in faithfulness to church, reading Bible together, helping her have time alone for the Lord, sharing thoughts about the Lord).
By being concerned about her physical needs (Ephesians 5:28) (proper diet, medical care, vitamins, exercise).
By leading in and overseeing the discipling and training of the children (Ephesians 6:4).
By being understanding of and sympathetic with her weaknesses (1 Peter 3:7).
By maintaining a good Christian testimony as an example to her and so she will not be ashamed. (Proverbs 12:4 is true for the husband as well as the wife).

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The above was written by David Cloud of Way of Life Literature and published in his weekly "Friday Church News Notes." I have reformatted it for the blog here. Roll your mouse over any scripture reference to pull up the verses, as always on all my blogs.

Much more could be added to this list, but I thought it was an excellent list for a basic reminder. None of these things are new information for most Christian husbands. Yet we need these reminders often, and we need more practice at it!

Hey Husband, have you loved your wife today in these ways?

VM

When Does God Direct Us?

2011-12-08T15:29:00.001-06:00

The angel Gabriel appeared unto Zacharias while he performed his daily duty in the temple, in chapter 1 of Luke. Commenting on this, Dr. Wiersbe says:

"You have probably noticed that God often speaks to His people and calls them while they are busy doing their daily tasks. Both Moses and David were caring for sheep, and Gideon was threshing wheat. Peter and his partners were mending nets when Jesus called them. It is difficult to steer a car when the engine is not running. When we get busy, God starts to direct us."

-- Warren W. Wiersbe, The Bible Exposition Commentary, on the first chapter of Luke.

I could make some personal observations along these same lines, from my own history of God's leading when I am after His work and His lack of leading when I am simply idle. We do need to also remember, however, that sometimes we get too busy to be able to hear God. And often enough God leads when we will just "be still and know..." and listen for that "still small voice." Samuel was called as a child while trying to sleep. Others were deep in prayer. Above all, we must not be idle and lazy and then expect God to drive us and direct us and motivate us; it probably will not happen.

VM

God Answers Prayer In His Way

2011-11-30T14:25:00.001-06:00

Let's talk about a prayer request, corporate prayer, and the ways of an all-knowing ever-loving God.

A man in another state, we will call him "Ray" on this public blog, is living the American Dream. Ray was starting a new life and needed a new job in a new city he had moved to about a year or so ago. Several churches were praying for Ray to find a good job, even though the country is in the middle of an economic downturn. Even though many people have been out of work for a long time, Ray still got a job. Even though he had several personal hurdles to overcome that would make some jobs off limits, he still landed a job.

Ray's job involved a lot of lifting and such. It was a menial job, part time with few benefits, but it would pay the bills. He was happy to have the job, but his age and some back problems made him realize he needed to find something else as soon he could, hopefully a full time job that paid a little better.

As the back problems became worse, Ray's friend in Kansas City submitted this prayer request for the church here to pray about:

"I am trying to find him work within our company in [his new home state] as his back is giving him problems (disc). His job requires heavy lifting and with a bad back he is in constant pain."

This request was placed on the church prayer sheet last Wednesday, November 23rd. There were a number of people not in attendance at that prayer meeting due to winter illness, Thanksgiving travel or plans and various other reasons, but the small crowd who was there faithfully prayed for this request along with the other prayer requests.

I remember that we broke up into a group of men and a group of ladies in opposite corners of the same room to pray. There was a small enough group that the men could all stay together and the ladies likewise. As the men prayed one by one, I could overhear the ladies praying one at a time as well. I have always imagined this is how some of the first century church prayer meetings sounded, with multiple voices lifting up to God at the same time, praying for the same requests. I get this picture in my mind each time I read of an early prayer meeting of the believers in Jerusalem, Antioch or elsewhere.

These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication, with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brethren. Acts 1:14.

And they continued stedfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers. Acts 2:42.

And being let go, they went to their own company, and reported all that the chief priests and elders had said unto them. And when they heard that, they lifted up their voice to God with one accord, and said, Lord, thou art God, which hast made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all that in them is.... And when they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled together; and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spake the word of God with boldness. And the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul: neither said any of them that ought of the things which he possessed was his own; but they had all things common. Acts 4:23-32.

Peter therefore was kept in prison: but prayer was made without ceasing of the church unto God for him. Acts 12:5.

And, behold, the angel of the Lord came upon him, and a light shined in the prison: and he smote Peter on the side, and raised him up, saying, Arise up quickly. And his chains fell off from his hands.... And when he had considered the thing, he came to the house of Mary the mother of John, whose surname was Mark; where many were gathered together praying. Acts 12:7, 12.

As they ministered to the Lord, and fasted, the Holy Ghost said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them. And when they had fasted and prayed, and laid their hands on them, they sent them away. Acts 13:2-3.

And on the sabbath we went out of the city by a river side, where prayer was wont to be made; and we sat down, and spake unto the women which resorted thither. Acts 16:13.

And when we had accomplished those days, we departed and went our way; and they all brought us on our way, with wives and children, till we were out of the city: and we kneeled down on the shore, and prayed. Acts 21:5.

Every time I read these scriptures, I cannot help but picture in my mind that some of the time, these groups of believers gathered together with multiple voices rising simultaneously. Other times, no doubt, one man's voice would lead the entire group. In any case, all were in one accord, with one mind praying for God's will in a particular matter.

When one man leads in prayer, the hearts of those others gathered are tuned toward God, pleading for the same requests. God still hears the hearts of these silent ones just as if they were voicing the same prayer as the man leading. When multiple voices are directed toward God at the same time, His ears are not limited; He hears them all.

We call this "corporate prayer." Corporate means "body" - that is a group of people, specifically a local church, praying together in one accord. Look at the promises Jesus gave us of the power of corporate prayer:

Again I say unto you, That if two of you shall agree on earth as touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven. For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them. Matthew 18:19-20.

That is what happened on Wednesday, November 23rd, 2011 at the prayer meeting of Providence Independent Baptist Church. I could hear the ladies praying for this request of a new job for Ray, just as the man prayed the same. We were all in one accord. That is we "agreed on earth" concerning this matter. We asked. We were gathered together in the name of Jesus, with Him in our midst.

And it was done!

Ray did not get a job with his friend's company. He might have gotten such a job and solved some of his problem. Instead, in less than four days after we prayed, Ray got a promotion that solved his back problem as well as blessed him in other ways. I received this praise report on November 28th:

"Ray just got promoted to supervisor. This means he is relieved from [lifting], gets 40 hours a week, after 3 months gets a raise, and is eligible for paid vacations."

This actually illustrates the whole point I am making, that God answers prayer in His own way. We thought getting a job with his friend's company might be Ray's solution, so we prayed that way. But we also prayed for God to perform His will. We did not box God in and try to nail down the solution for God to perform. We prayed for God to solve this problem as He sees fit. That is what He did.

Let's look at what the Bible says about this:

Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and shew thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not. Jeremiah 33:3.

Notice that God will show great and mighty things. "Mighty" is from a Hebrew word that means "inaccessible / restrained." That is why the translation is "mighty" but the marginal reading given by the translators is "hidden." In answer to prayer, God can answer with "hidden" things, things we had not even considered as possible answers to prayer. "Things which thou knowest not."

The Apostle Paul puts it this way:

Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen. Ephesians 3:20-21.

He is able to to "above all that we ask or think." He goes above and beyond what we pray for, above and beyond what we even think possible or probable. And not just "above" but "exceeding abundantly above" it.

I know that many times if I had gotten exactly what I prayed for, in the way I hoped for God to answer, I would have been robbed of the greater blessings I received when God answered in a way "exceeding abundantly above" all that I asked or thought.

And so it has happened with our prayer request for Ray. We rejoice to serve and be able to pray to a God that knows the beginning from the end, that ordains events after the counsel of His own good will, that works in the affairs of men to bless as only He can.

To the all wise and all benevolent God of all blessing be glory and honour and praise forever, AMEN!

VM

PS - Watch my sermon preparation blog for a detailed study on prayer from Jeremiah 33:3. I recently gave this study on a Sunday evening and wish to post my outline.

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Happy Thanksgiving

2011-11-24T06:00:00.004-06:00

This post more properly belongs on my Wide Margin Bible Notes blog, where I will in fact post it later.

Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:6-7

Notice this promise of the "peace of God" is a conditional promise. We like verse 7, often talking about and singing about the peace that passes understanding. In context, this peace comes only as a result of obeying verse 6, which is rightly paraphrased, "Worry about nothing; pray about everything; be thankful." It is then that we gain this peace.

I am placing in my Bible margin the following note, which could be placed anywhere that the Bible speaks of Thanksgiving, but seems to fit best here.

"Thanksgiving is...the barometer of our spiritual condition. It is the answer to the question, "What does God mean to me now?" If we are really in touch with God, thanksgiving will not be a once-a-year affair but an every-day practice. Just how much of the thankskgiving spirit is there in your life? Look at this barometer often."

Taken from the article "Thanksgiving—A Barometer" by Keith L. Brooks and published on the Fundamental Evangelistic Association web-site here.

VM

No Emotion in Decision to Marry?

2011-11-23T15:35:00.000-06:00

From time to time on my blog, I answer questions that were posed to me by e-mail from church members and others. This is one such post.

THE QUESTION:

Should there be the spark of love or attraction between a couple before their wedding, or should they instead wed based strictly on other factors and expect and assume that the love and/or attraction will grow? In other words, is it right or wrong for a couple to expect there to be feelings for one another before they commit to a marriage?

To many, this seems like a ridiculous question. However, there are sincere brethren who teach that feelings should not at all be involved in deciding God's will for marriage. The question - as always - is, What does the Bible say?

FALSE INTERPRETATIONS:

One Bible verse is often falsely used to indicate that emotion should come only after the marriage: Genesis 24:67 - And Isaac brought her into his mother Sarah's tent, and took Rebekah, and she became his wife; and he loved her: and Isaac was comforted after his mother's death.

This verse is claimed to be an order of events, a "timeline," so that the love comes after the marriage, because it is listed afterward in the verse. However, this is not a clear statement of the order of events. If the verse states the events in order of time (event 1, followed by event 2, then 3, etc.), then we have the following problem. We would have Isaac and Rebekah fornicating before their marriage. Notice the order stated in the verse: (1) Isaac brought her into the tent; (2) Isaac "took" her (clearly a reference to the physical act); (3) She became his wife, etc. Therefore, if you use this verse to teach an order of events, to teach love came after marriage, then you are also implying that Rebekah was not yet Isaac's wife at the time he "took" her. Therefore, you are willing to make Isaac and Rebekah into fornicators in order to support your false interpretation of scripture that love only comes after marriage.

Further, the context of this verse indicates there was a clear spark between the two before Rebekah ever went into the tent. You cannot separate the verse from its context. Note verse 64: "And Rebekah lifted up her eyes, and when she saw Isaac, she lighted off the camel." Literally, the Hebrew word indicates that she jumped off the camel. She sounds pretty excited when she first lays eyes on him.

GODLY EXAMPLES OF LOVE AND/OR ATTRACTION BEFORE MARRIAGE:

And Laban had two daughters: the name of the elder was Leah, and the name of the younger was Rachel. Leah was tender eyed; but Rachel was beautiful and well favoured. And Jacob loved Rachel; and said, I will serve thee seven years for Rachel thy younger daughter. And Laban said, It is better that I give her to thee, than that I should give her to another man: abide with me. And Jacob served seven years for Rachel; and they seemed unto him but a few days, for the love he had to her. Genesis 29:16-20.

And Michal Saul's daughter loved David: and they told Saul, and the thing pleased him. I Samuel 18:20.

And Saul saw and knew that the LORD was with David, and that Michal Saul's daughter loved him. I Samuel 18:28.

And the king loved Esther above all the women, and she obtained grace and favour in his sight more than all the virgins; so that he set the royal crown upon her head, and made her queen instead of Vashti. Esther 2:17.

He brought me to the banqueting house, and his banner over me was love. Song of Solomon 2:4. The entire book of Song of Solomon is filled with such examples that there was a love, a longing and desire before the consummation. The speakers in the book seem to go back and forth between speaking as newlyweds and as those that are not yet wed, however chapter 8 is clearly from the standpoint of those not yet brought together in marriage.

WHAT ABOUT UNGODLY OR IMPROPER EXAMPLES OF LOVE AND/OR ATTRACTION BEFORE MARRIAGE:

And when Shechem the son of Hamor the Hivite, prince of the country, saw her, he took her, and lay with her, and defiled her. And his soul clave unto Dinah the daughter of Jacob, and he loved the damsel, and spake kindly unto the damsel. And Shechem spake unto his father Hamor, saying, Get me this damsel to wife... And Hamor communed with them, saying, The soul of my son Shechem longeth for your daughter: I pray you give her him to wife. Genesis 34.

And Samson went down to Timnath, and saw a woman in Timnath of the daughters of the Philistines. And he came up, and told his father and his mother, and said, I have seen a woman in Timnath of the daughters of the Philistines: now therefore get her for me to wife. Then his father and his mother said unto him, Is there never a woman among the daughters of thy brethren, or among all my people, that thou goest to take a wife of the uncircumcised Philistines? And Samson said unto his father, Get her for me; for she pleaseth me well. Judges 14:1-3.

And it came to pass afterward, that he loved a woman in the valley of Sorek, whose name was Delilah. Judges 16:4.

And it came to pass after this, that Absalom the son of David had a fair sister, whose name was Tamar; and Amnon the son of David loved her. And Amnon was so vexed, that he fell sick for his sister Tamar; for she was a virgin; and Amnon thought it hard for him to do any thing to her. II Samuel 13:1-2.

These examples cannot be used to prove that there should be no emotion before marriage, or that such emotion is necessarily ungodly. Rather, they simply illustrate that man perverts and misuses what God has given him for his enjoyment.

LONGING AND ATTRACTION IS A PROPER REASON TO SEEK A GODLY MARRIAGE:

Nevertheless, to avoid fornication, let every man have his own wife, and let every woman have her own husband. I Corinthians 7:2.

But if they cannot contain, let them marry: for it is better to marry than to burn. I Corinthians 7:9.

But if any man think that he behaveth himself uncomely toward his virgin, if she pass the flower of her age, and need so require, let him do what he will, he sinneth not: let them marry. I Corinthians 7:36.

GODLY LOVE IS ALWAYS NECESSARY FOR THE PROPER ENJOYMENT OF THE MARITAL ACT:

Drink waters out of thine own cistern, and running waters out of thine own well. Let thy fountains be dispersed abroad, and rivers of waters in the streets. Let them be only thine own, and not strangers' with thee. Let thy fountain be blessed: and rejoice with the wife of thy youth. Let her be as the loving hind and pleasant roe; let her breasts satisfy thee at all times; and be thou ravished always with her love. Proverbs 5:15-19. "Always" would have to include the first time, the consummation of the marriage, so that her ravishing love obviously exists beforehand.

POETIC USAGE INDICATES VARIOUS FEELINGS BEFORE A MARRIAGE:

In them hath he set a tabernacle for the sun, Which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, and rejoiceth as a strong man to run a race. Psalm 19:4b-5.

I will greatly rejoice in the LORD, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels. Isaiah 61:10.

Then will I cause to cease from the cities of Judah, and from the streets of Jerusalem, the voice of mirth, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride: for the land shall be desolate. Jeremiah 7:34.

For thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will cause to cease out of this place in your eyes, and in your days, the voice of mirth, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride. Jeremiah 16:9.

Moreover I will take from them the voice of mirth, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride, the sound of the millstones, and the light of the candle. Jeremiah 25:10.

The voice of joy, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride, the voice of them that shall say, Praise the LORD of hosts: for the LORD is good; for his mercy endureth for ever: and of them that shall bring the sacrifice of praise into the house of the LORD. For I will cause to return the captivity of the land, as at the first, saith the LORD. Jeremiah 33:11.

And Jesus said unto them, Can the children of the bridechamber mourn, as long as the bridegroom is with them? but the days will come, when the bridegroom shall be taken from them, and then shall they fast. Matthew 9:15.

He that hath the bride is the bridegroom: but the friend of the bridegroom, which standeth and heareth him, rejoiceth greatly because of the bridegroom's voice: this my joy therefore is fulfilled. John 3:29.

IN MARRIAGES WITHOUT LOVE BEFOREHAND, THE FEELINGS DID NOT FOLLOW - ALSO, NOT A SINGLE BIBLE EXAMPLE WHERE LOVE DID FOLLOW:

And Sarai Abram's wife took Hagar her maid the Egyptian, after Abram had dwelt ten years in the land of Canaan, and gave her to her husband Abram to be his wife. And he went in unto Hagar, and she conceived: and when she saw that she had conceived, her mistress was despised in her eyes. And Sarai said unto Abram, My wrong be upon thee: I have given my maid into thy bosom; and when she saw that she had conceived, I was despised in her eyes: the LORD judge between me and thee. But Abram said unto Sarai, Behold, thy maid is in thy hand; do to her as it pleaseth thee. Genesis 16:3-6a. Abram apparently had not yet grown fond of his new wife Hagar.

And Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, which she had born unto Abraham, mocking. Wherefore she said unto Abraham, Cast out this bondwoman and her son: for the son of this bondwoman shall not be heir with my son, even with Isaac. And the thing was very grievous in Abraham's sight because of his son. Genesis 21:9-11. It was grievous to Abraham because of his son Ishmael, not because of his wife Hagar.

And when the LORD saw that Leah was hated, he opened her womb: but Rachel was barren. Genesis 29:31.

And Leah conceived, and bare a son, and she called his name Reuben: for she said, Surely the LORD hath looked upon my affliction; now therefore my husband will love me. Genesis 29:32.

And she conceived again, and bare a son; and said, Because the LORD hath heard that I was hated, he hath therefore given me this son also: and she called his name Simeon. Genesis 29:33.

And she conceived again, and bare a son; and said, Now this time will my husband be joined unto me, because I have born him three sons: therefore was his name called Levi. Genesis 29:34.

And Leah said, God hath endued me with a good dowry; now will my husband dwell with me, because I have born him six sons: and she called his name Zebulun. Genesis 30:20.

If a man have two wives, one beloved, and another hated.... Deuteronomy 21:15.

LOVE BEFORE MARRIAGE (DURING BETROTHAL OR COURTSHIP) IS A BIBLICAL "TYPE" OF THE LOVE SHARED BETWEEN GOD AND HIS PEOPLE:

Hearken, O daughter, and consider, and incline thine ear; forget also thine own people, and thy father's house; So shall the king greatly desire thy beauty: for he is thy Lord; and worship thou him. And the daughter of Tyre shall be there with a gift; even the rich among the people shall intreat thy favour. The king's daughter is all glorious within: her clothing is of wrought gold. She shall be brought unto the king in raiment of needlework: the virgins her companions that follow her shall be brought unto thee. With gladness and rejoicing shall they be brought: they shall enter into the king's palace. Psalm 45:10-15. See the whole of Psalm 45 to see this is typical of God's love for His own. Clearly there is much emotion before this wedding.

Thou shalt no more be termed Forsaken; neither shall thy land any more be termed Desolate: but thou shalt be called Hephzibah, and thy land Beulah: for the LORD delighteth in thee, and thy land shall be married. For as a young man marrieth a virgin, so shall thy sons marry thee: and as the bridegroom rejoiceth over the bride, so shall thy God rejoice over thee. Isaiah 62:4-5.

Go and cry in the ears of Jerusalem, saying, Thus saith the LORD; I remember thee, the kindness of thy youth, the love of thine espousals, when thou wentest after me in the wilderness, in a land that was not sown. Jeremiah 2:2.

See Ezekiel 16:1-14. For example, verse 8: Now when I passed by thee, and looked upon thee, behold, thy time was the time of love; and I spread my skirt over thee, and covered thy nakedness: yea, I sware unto thee, and entered into a covenant with thee, saith the Lord GOD, and thou becamest mine.

And I will betroth thee unto me for ever; yea, I will betroth thee unto me in righteousness, and in judgment, and in lovingkindness, and in mercies. I will even betroth thee unto me in faithfulness: and thou shalt know the LORD. Hosea 2:19-20.

This typology is given throughout the book of Hosea, illustrated with the marriages Hosea is to make. Interestingly he is commanded to "love" a woman and this command results in his purchase of her for his wife (so the love came first): Then said the LORD unto me, Go yet, love a woman beloved of her friend, yet an adulteress, according to the love of the LORD toward the children of Israel, who look to other gods, and love flagons of wine. So I bought her to me for fifteen pieces of silver, and for an homer of barley, and an half homer of barley: And I said unto her, Thou shalt abide for me many days; thou shalt not play the harlot, and thou shalt not be for another man: so will I also be for thee. Hosea 3:1-3.

THE ULTIMATE EXAMPLE IS CHRIST AND HIS ESPOUSED BRIDE, THE CHURCH:

Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it. Ephesians 5:25.

"Loved" is past tense, just like "gave Himself." This love existed beforehand. Even in this day, the Marriage of the Lamb is still yet future, yet Christ's love for us is a present reality, though we are yet the espoused Bride, waiting to be presented to the Bridegroom: That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish. Ephesians 5:27.

In presenting the ultimate example for our marriages, Paul gives a picture of love that existed long before the bride is presented to the bridegroom.

We love him, because he first loved us. I John 4:19. His love for us was before we belonged to Him; then in response to His love for us, we loved Him and accepted Him.

THE ESPOUSED BRIDE LONGS FOR THE CONSUMMATION WITH CHRIST:

Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also. And whither I go ye know, and the way ye know. John 14:1-4. The picture is of the middle eastern marriage ceremony where the bridegroom snatches away the bride to his father's house.

For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ. Philippians 3:20.

And to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come. I Thessalonians 1:10.

Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ. Titus 2:13.

And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. Revelation 22:17.

CONCLUSION:

There is no honest way to claim the Bible teaches that feelings, emotions, love or attraction should not be involved before a marriage. You cannot point to any verse which specifically states this. You cannot find any examples to clearly indicate this. You cannot find any principle of scripture that can be plausibly applied in this way. To the contrary, there are a multitude of verses, examples and Bible principles to indicate the opposite, including the ultimate example of our Bridegroom, Christ, and the mutual love between Him and His espoused bride, the Church.

I fear that many of our brethren have placed marriage on the level that the fictitious Vulcans of "Star Trek" hold it. When Mr. Spock once asked his emotionless father why he married Spock's mother, Spock's father simply said, "It seemed like the logical thing to do at the time."

For the Christian, the logical thing to do is the thing that God leads you to do. God's leading in emotional matters will even involve emotion, because the Christian led by the Holy Spirit has placed his or her emotions under the Spirit's direction. "And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God." Romans 12:2. "For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's." Contrariwise, to claim that there must be no emotion in discerning God's will for marriage is to assert that God has no power over the human emotion. We hold a bigger view of God than that.

Throughout the scriptures, God moves the emotions of people to lead them into His will. We even pray for others that He will do so; for example as we pray "for kings and for all that are in authority" (I Timothy 2:2) we pray so because "The king's heart is in the hand of the LORD, as the rivers of water: he turneth it whithersoever he will." Proverbs 21:1. We pray for our desires to match God's desires, so that "he shall give thee the desires of thine heart." We have the indwelling Holy Spirit praying for us, for He knows both our emotions and the will of God, Romans 8:26-27. Clearly, discerning God's will is not necessarily to be separated from the emotions, especially in emotional matters such as marriage.

I therefore find it arrogant, conceited, prideful and unbiblical for anyone to say that God cannot or does not lead (at least in part) through emotion, especially in emotional decisions such as marriage. Again, we have a bigger God than that.

Victor Mowery, Pastor
Providence Independent Baptist Church
http://www.turntochrist.org/

Baptist Pastor's Mocking Prayer Revisited

2011-11-21T06:47:00.000-06:00

Thanksgiving this year reminds me of a prayer of thanksgiving that made the world news a while ago. Back in July, a minor uproar / media sensation was stirred when an Independent Baptist pastor mockingly prayed before a NASCAR racing event. I wrote a bit about it when it happened (click here to read that post or to refresh your memory) and I promised to write more about this event after the shock had cleared. Let me now make good on that promise with a few observations.

First of all, there is the issue of biblical separation. Question: Should a Bible believing pastor be involved in "blessing" a secular sporting event? To answer that, let's examine the ramifications.

A) Does the fact of his presence there to say an opening prayer give off the impression that God endorses the event, the sport, etc? At least in the minds of some, it would do exactly that - somehow consecrating the event or the sport in their minds as not simply "okay with God" or "indifferent to God" but actually blessed and/or endorsed by God. You can argue that such a prayer does not truly imply God's endorsement, but you cannot argue that in many people's minds that is exactly what it implies.  Why do you think they invite a pastor to say the prayer and not just anybody else? It fits in with their idea that now the event is "blessed" by God because a man of God came along and blessed it. (This is the same false idea many people have about being married "in a church" versus another location). So whether or not it truly invokes God's endorsement, the issues of appearances and stumbling blocks come into play. A pastor standing there and saying a prayer of blessing allows people to remain comfortable in their false ideas about such matters. And right off the bat, as soon as the pastor agrees to give this invocation, he has already tied God's holy name together with everything the sport represents, including the wicked advertising of sponsors such as alcohol, tobacco and pornography, the Sunday events taking the place of the local church, the idolatry toward sports figures, the covetousness of the entire industry, the booze sales in the stadium, etc, etc. All this is now given God's blessing in the minds of many, and that pastor is to blame whether he intended that or not.

B) Continuing along the lines of whether or not the pastor should be involved in saying this prayer would be more questions about separation.  The pastor has to know that he is leading in prayer a large group of people whose vast majority is unsaved. They are all going to "co-sign" his prayer by saying "Amen" after him. They are all bowing their heads and at least making an outward appearance of joining with him in prayer. Should God's people join together in prayer and/or lead in prayer a group of unsaved people? According to the Bible in II Corinthians 6, between believers and unbelievers there is no fellowship, no communion, no concord, no part together and no common agreement. How can such a mixed multitude pray together? Does that sound like the kind of prayer meeting that God wants to hear?

Moving beyond the issue of biblical separation, there is the question of his purpose in agreeing to pray. Did he share at all any portion of the Gospel with those who needed to hear it? Or did he simply invoke God's name to allow them to continue on more comfortably down the road to hell? I did not hear the Gospel in his prayer at all and chances are, with it being broadcast worldwide, he would have been prevented from giving the Gospel by the organizers and the broadcasters. So what is his purpose in giving this invocation if he is not going to communicate the Gospel to the unsaved?  It could not have been a biblical purpose.

I think we can conlude based on biblical separation and lack of proper purpose that a pastor should not be publicly leading an invocation over such an event.

Now let's move on to the content of the man's prayer itself. That is what stirred the media pot, made the man a laughing stock and irritated many Christians.

It is not my regular practice to critique anybody's public prayer. Boy, oh boy! Over the years I have heard some real doozy prayers in churches, family gatherings and elsewhere - prayers that made very little sense or even had false doctrine stated in them. Worse yet, I have myself prayed out loud, in public, things that I regretted saying almost as soon as I said them. So I do not go around as the Prayer Police, correcting prayers and issuing citations for "bad" ones or atta-boys for "good" ones.

In fact, public prayer should be, in our minds, completely disconnected from public speaking, speech giving, eloquence, preaching and those kinds of things. Pubic prayer is not to be evaluated in those senses at all, for it is not even closely related. (By the way, it is completely foreign to me how someone gets up to pray publicly but then reads their so-called prayer from a prepared manuscript, such as those who open congressional sessions or city council meetings with prayer). We should not be listening to men pray publicly with an ear toward judging their abilities as a speaker. Likewise, men who are called upon to pray should not shrink from it or be nervous because of their lack of eloquence.

I say all this to say that we need to treat with grace those who pray in public, not being ready to pounce on them for every tongue twister, misstatement or lack of "technique" in their prayers. However, in the case of Pastor Joe Nelms and this particular prayer at the NASCAR event, he is the one who determined to attract attention to his prayer by the words he chose.

He stated in his prayer, "Lord, I want to thank you for my smokin' hot wife tonight." Put aside the fact that this is reported to be a line straight out of a wicked movie that he should not have viewed in the first place (it was rated PG-13 for "crude and sexual humor, language, drug references, etc."). Just forget that movie for the moment and ask yourself what is the RESULT of such a statement in a public prayer.

The first result is that he has managed to arouse the lust of the men who heard him. Their immediate reaction is to wonder what his wife looks like. Is she really "smokin' hot" and something to look at? While he is standing there praying, men in front of him have their heads bowed, eyes closed, and minds fixed on the imaginary "smokin' hot" woman of their bedroom fantasies. That is NOT of God!

"No!" you say. "Nobody really thought about that!" Don't bet on it. While trying to find out what church this man pastored, I started to search for his name on Google. When I simply typed in "pastor joe" in the search field, the auto-complete came up as follows, based on the most popular searches (click on the image for full size):

You can see that for a while at least, Pastor Joe Nelms' wife was a very popular search on the internet. Men everywhere were trying to find a picture of this man's "smokin' hot" wife so that they could lust after her. As you can see above, she was even a more popular search than best-selling author "Pastor Joel Osteen."

So is that what you want to do with your prayer? Get men around the world to lust after your wife? That's what Joe Nelms accomplished.

The second result of course was to take people's minds off of God during prayer and put them on a person (his wife).

A third result was to imply to people that physical appearance is what counts in a biblical marriage.  He didn't say "Thank you for my godly wife" or "for my wife that prays for me, stands by me, supports me, submits to me" or anything else that he should also be thankful for.  Whether or not he meant to, he made at least some people think that what should be the exemplary marriage of a pastor and his wife (I Timothy 3:4-5) is based on the man's physical attraction to her. If having a "smokin' hot" wife is what is important to the pastor for his marriage, what signal does that send to young single men, young ladies or married Christians who are to follow their pastor's example? Frankly, a man should be very thankful to God if he has been blessed with a wife who is physically attractive. But this is something to thank God for in the private prayer closet and certainly not in terms designed to arouse the lust of others.

The fourth result of this line in his prayer brings us back to the movie from which he apparently quoted, "Talladega Nights." Now we are back to the matters of separation, endorsements and stumbling blocks. "Daddy, if Pastor watches PG-13 movies, then why won't you let me watch them?" There are a million other things to say about his quoting a line from an unholy movie. The signal that it sends is not consistent with the example the man is supposed to be to people who are commanded to "be holy in all manner of conversation (behavior)."

Finally, what can you say about closing a prayer with "In Jesus' name, boogity, boogity, boogity, Amen?" I don't even know where to start with that one except to say it is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard in a prayer anywhere.

I am not saying that Christians can't laugh, have fun, joke around, or that we have to be constant prudes. We can have a true fun that the world cannot even comprehend. But prayer is a solemn matter. Our privilege of being able to come to God in prayer was purchased by the shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ (Hebrews 10:19). To pray like this man prayed is a mockery of what Jesus did on the cross to bring us into God's favor. Let's be reminded by the word of God some things that should NEVER come out of our mouths:

Neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting, which are not convenient: but rather giving of thanks. Ephesians 5:4

In his "giving of thanks" this pastor invoked all three: filthiness, foolish talking and coarse jesting. I pray God that it may not be laid to his charge, but that he may find mercy in repentance. May God forgive us all for our own shortcomings in prayer, in giving of thanks, in foolish talking and more. Let's not get on our high horse above Pastor Joe Nelms, but rather use this incident to be instructed and in some way edified.

VM

P.S. - By the way, a great book on the subject of prayer, including the subject of nonsense prayers like the one herein discussed is "Sense and Nonsense About Prayer" by Lehman Strauss. I can loan it out.

11/21/2011

Excellent Brief Article About "King James Only" Label

2011-09-22T00:51:00.000-05:00

In 1996, David Cloud of Way of Life Ministries first published his brief article entitled "King James Only" and explaining whether or not he embraced that term to describe himself. His updated version some years ago I thought was good enough that I linked to it as a "suggested reading" link from the church web-site.

Recently the article has been published again, with a few updates to account for what is going on in the world of "King James Only-ism." Once again, I think the article is excellent and I recommend it as a good resource for every Christian concerned about the issue.

Before linking to the article, let me make a few clarifications for those not briefed on such things.

"Textual Criticism" to which the article refers is the process that modern "Bible scholars" use to try to figure out which ancient manuscripts are the right ones, actually containing the inspired word of God. The logic they use for which manuscripts they pick is very flawed.

The paragraphs in the article that start out as "If King James Only defines...then I am not King James Only" - those paragraphs refer to some people who take very extreme views of the King James Version, such as Peter Ruckman, Gail Riplinger and those they have influenced. This is especially true of the last paragraph. This is important information - you cannot just fellowship with anybody based on their support of the King James Version. They might be absolute heretics on the subject.

Finally, there are a few minor statements in the article that I don't completely agree with but I am 98% in agreement with everything Cloud says in this article.

Here is the article link. I value your comments here at my post if you'd like to discuss it: "King James Only" by David Cloud.

VM

Was Jesus Perfect?

2011-09-14T23:44:00.002-05:00

I do not like the title of this article, "Was Jesus Perfect?" But it is part of the point I am making. People tend to talk about Jesus in the past tense, using words like "was" instead of "is" and so forth. This minimizes the fact that Jesus Christ *IS* alive today, enthroned in Heaven, still a man (though in a glorified body), and as always, still God Almighty. Jesus is still supremely active in the world and in the lives of men today. If Jesus *WAS* perfect, then He still *IS* and the question would be better phrased, "Is Jesus Perfect?"

But that was not how the statement was worded to me. Recently I was speaking with someone about their profession of faith in Christ, trying to determine whether they were a genuine believer or not. In dealing with their assertion that they try to keep the Ten Commandments, I made the point that none of us could keep them, though Jesus did. The reply was a bit shocking from someone who claimed to be a Christian: "And even Jesus said He wasn't perfect. I don't know the Bible verse where it says that, but He said it...."

The person did not know the Bible verse, because it is not there. However, this person may have been instead thinking of the Watchtower Cult's favorite verse on this subject. When you speak to a Jehovah's (False) Witness about Jesus as God, they are drilled to respond with the following passage, which I will give from all three Gospels where it is found. Jesus is approached by the fellow we usually call "the rich, young ruler" and asked "Good Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?" (Luke 18:18). The Lord Jesus responded as follows:

Matthew 19:17 - And he said unto him, Why callest thou me good? [there is] none good but one, [that is], God: but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments.

Mark 10:18 - And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? [there is] none good but one, [that is], God.

Luke 18:19 - And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? none [is] good, save one, [that is], God.

At first glance we might, just like the Jehovah's (False) Witnesses, think that Jesus is denying being good here; that He is claiming He is not good. But that is not at all what He says.

Notice very carefully that Jesus never says that He is *NOT* good. In fact He doesn't make a statement with regard to Himself at all. He gives a question, not a statement. It is quite a ridiculous jump for the JW to go from Jesus asking a question to Jesus making a statement. The statement is simply not there.

So what is the purpose of the question? The question Jesus asked was "Why did you just say what you just said about Me? You just called me 'Good' - why?" That does not imply that Jesus is not good. It only implies that Jesus wants the rich young ruler, as well as those listening in, to think very carefully about this subject.

Good teachers use questions all the time to make the student think, and therefore to learn by experience. Rather than spoon-feeding the answer, good teachers have the student find the answer on their own, often with questions that help lead in the right direction. The other day I had my children solve a problem. When one came very close to the solution and gave an incomplete answer, I asked, "Why do you say that?" My question did not imply that her answer was wrong. My question was a teaching tool to further engage the brain and have her lead herself to the more complete answer.

Jesus asked such questions all the time. For example, three times in a row, Jesus asked the multitude concerning John the Baptist, "What went ye out into the wilderness to see?" His question does not imply that John the Baptist was not worth going out to. It is rather a question designed to get the listener to THINK about it.

Likewise, Jesus' question "Why callest thou me good?" does not imply that He is not good. In fact, He gives the rich young ruler part of the answer ("only God is good") and leaves him to make the logical conclusion. Follow the logic that *should* have went on in the young man's mind:

I just ran up to Jesus, kneeled in front of Him (Mark 10:17), and called Jesus "Good Master."
Jesus asked me why I called Him "good."
Jesus said the only one that is good is God.
Ummm.... Did I just imply that Jesus is God?

So the entire point of the question Jesus asked was to elicit some kind of brain activity on the part of the rich young ruler.

How can we tell this? Look at the rest of what Jesus told the young man, which was also designed to make him think. The actual answer Jesus gave to the ruler's question further helps us to see that He was trying to engage the young man's brain. Jesus says, "If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments."

We all know very well that keeping the commandments will not gain anyone eternal life, because none of us are able to keep them. So why did Jesus say this? The word of God says:

Romans 3:20 - Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law [is] the knowledge of sin.

"By the law is the knowledge of sin," the Bible says. The instruction Jesus gave to "keep the commandments" was so that the rich young ruler would come to a knowlege of his sin, and therefore his need of a Saviour. "Keep the commandments" should have prompted the young man to say, "Impossible!" Instead, the ruler would answer, "All these things have I kept from my youth up: what lack I yet?" Jesus had pointed him to the law in order for him to come to the conclusion in his mind that he had not in fact kept the law, but it did not work.

Everything Jesus says to this young man is to get him to thinking, and thinking hard. Whether it is His question about being called "good" or His assertion that keeping the commandments would gain him eternal life, everything Jesus said is designed to make the young man THINK! In any case, you cannot use this text to prove that Jesus "is not perfect" or "is not good." He does not say this at all.

Let's however look at and discuss some direct statements Jesus did actually make about the subject of His goodness and perfection.

THE TESTIMONY OF JESUS

In John 8:29, Jesus says, "And he that sent me is with me: the Father hath not left me alone; for I do always those things that please him." How could someone who always does, in every circumstance, the things that please God be less than perfect? This is perhaps the clearest statement of Jesus that He is perfect. That is why we read in the very next verse that many believed on Him (John 8:30).

Along these lines, Jesus further states, "as the Father gave me commandment, even so I do." (John 14:31). And, "My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work." (John 4:34). And, "I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me." (John 5:30). And, "For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me." (John 6:38). And, "I have kept my Father's commandments" (John 15:10). And, "I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do." (John 17:4). And, "Then said I, Lo, I come...to do thy will, O God." (Hebrews 10:7, quoting Psalm 40:7-8 and attributing it as Christ speaking to the Father). Jesus perfectly performs God's will in everything. He always does exactly what God the Father would want Him to do.

In John 8:16, Jesus says, "And yet if I judge, my judgment is true." Jesus is perfect in all His judgments.

In Matthew 5:17, Jesus says, "Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil." This word "fulfil" speaks of a perfect and complete fulfilling of the law, as we are told in Romans 10:4, "For Christ [is] the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth."

In Matthew 3:15, John the Baptist is reluctant to baptize Jesus because he does not feel worthy. Jesus tells John to do it, saying of His baptism, "thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness."

SUMMARY THUS FAR:

So far we have seen that Jesus is perfect in doing the Father's will, perfect in all His judgments, perfectly fulfills the law and perfectly fulfills all righteousness. And this is just from what Jesus says about Himself.

Now let's examine what the rest of the New Testament says about whether Jesus is perfect.

THE TESTIMONY OF THE NEW TESTAMENT

I John 3:1 calls Him, "Jesus Christ the righteous." He is the only man who can be called righteous, for "As it is written, there is none righteous, no not one" (Romans 3:10). For Jesus to be called righteous despite Romans 3:10, we must understand that Jesus is completely perfect in His righteousness.

Jesus is perfect in righteousness because He is without sin of any kind. "In him is no sin" (I John 3:5). This verse teaches not only that He did not commit sin, but that there is no sin WITHIN Him, like there is sin within us due to our sin nature. Furthermore, He "did no sin" (I Peter 2:22) and He even "knew no sin" (II Corinthians 5:21).

We also read that Jesus is "holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made [not created, but become] higher than the heavens" (Hebrews 7:26).

Comparing scripture with scripture, we find that Jesus is a perfect man: "For in many things we offend all. If any man offend not in word, the same [is] a perfect man, [and] able also to bridle the whole body." (James 3:2). We find that Jesus perfectly met this standard and did not offend in word, for "neither was guile found in his mouth" (I Peter 2:22). So between these two verses, we see that Jesus is a perfect man.

Jesus is also a perfect sacrifice for sins. In Romans 3:25, I John 2:2 and I John 4:10, Jesus is called the "propitiation" (PRO - PISH - EE - AY - SHUN) for our sins. The word means "the sacrifice that completely satisfies." God is forever satisfied with the sacrifice of Christ for our sins. Whereas the former sacrifice of bulls and goats and lambs and doves and such was merely a "covering" for sin, and had to be repeated over and over, the sacrifice of Christ is a complete taking away of sin and needed only to be performed once. That is what the word "propitiation" means. He is the perfect sacrifice.

Twice in Hebrews, the word "perfect" is applied to Jesus Himself in his manhood or humanity: Hebrews 2:10 and 5:9. The full teaching of those verses is outside the scope of this article, but it is worth mentioning that those verses call Him perfect through His suffering as a man.

That is just a small sample of what the New Testament teaches about the perfection of Christ. He is righteous; He is sinless; He is a perfect man; He is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners; He is a perfect sacrifice; He is perfect.

Let us now apply some very simple logic regarding those whom Christ saves, as that relates to Christ's perfection.

THE TESTIMONY OF SALVATION, SANCTIFICATION AND GLORIFICATION

The Bible states that those who belong to Jesus have been made perfect in the sight of God. We call this "positional" - our position in Christ. Hebrews 10:14 puts it this way: "For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified." Furthermore those who are of the "church of the firstborn" (Church of Jesus) are referred to as "the spirits of just men made perfect" in Hebrews 12:23.

If Christ saving someone makes them "perfect" then it is not possible that Christ is not perfect. He could not make someone to be any better than Himself. Either He is perfect or this just would not work.

From the moment of salvation, the new creature in Christ is pefect in the sight of God - positionally. What about practically? What about their practice? Theirs is a positional perfection; is there ever a practical perfection? We see the testimony of Salvation, let's move on to the testimony of Sanctification (Christian growth) and how it implies that Jesus is perfect.

Many times in the New Testament, believers are told to be perfect. For example, II Corinthians 13:11 concludes Paul's letter with these words: "Finally, brethren, farewell. Be perfect, be of good comfort, be of one mind, live in peace; and the God of love and peace shall be with you."

Be perfect, we are told. It is not likely to happen, but we are told to strive for it. And yet Jesus told us, "The servant is not above his master." So if we are to strive for perfection, but we cannot go beyond our master Jesus, then it logically follows that Jesus must Himself be perfect. In fact, let me more fully quote Jesus: "The disciple is not above his master: but every one that is perfect shall be as his master." (Luke 6:40). That's pretty clear.

Then there is the fact that we have a future perfection awaiting us. Not only does the testimony of Salvation and of Sanctification indicate Christ's perfection, but the testimony of the believer's future Glorification makes it very clear as well.

Let's notice this future perfection:

Ephesians 4:13 - Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ.

Notice very carefully that the future perfection that awaits us as "a perfect man" is in fact "the fulness of Christ." That indicates very strongly that our future perfection is that which Christ already possesses.

Additionally, Paul states his goal in Colossians 1:28 is to ultimately "present every man perfect in Christ Jesus." You cannot be "perfect in Christ Jesus" if either (a) you are not *IN* Christ Jesus through faith in Him; or (b) Christ Jesus is not perfect Himself. Both have to be true or this is a logical impossibility. You cannot be perfect "in" something that is not perfect itself.

So the testimonies of Salvation, Sanctification and Glorification all indicate the perfection of Jesus.

CONCLUSION

According to a recent Barna Group research project, of those Americans identified as "born again," more than 1 out of 3 actually believe that Jesus committed sin. This is 1 out of 3 Americans who claim to be trusting Jesus for salvation. How can a sinner save another sinner? These must be the kind of people that talk about Jesus in the past tense, as if He is not doing anything today.

Friend, if your Jesus is a sinner, then your Jesus is not the Saviour. If your Jesus is not perfect, then you have the wrong Jesus and he cannot save you from your sins. He needs his own Saviour.

But the Jesus Christ of the Bible is perfect in every way. And He is a perfect Saviour, able to save you, clean you up, "make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you."

Won't you trust Him to do it? Because whatever He does, He does it perfectly.

AMEN!

VM

The View from the Back of the Car

2011-09-06T22:30:00.008-05:00

I have been taking snap-shots of interesting bumper stickers and personalized license plates. What makes one interesting? Whatever hits me at the time. Enjoy.

Luke 6:39 - And he spake a parable unto them, Can the blind lead the blind? shall they not both fall into the ditch?

This car reminded me of the Munsters' family vehicle. I tried to get a nice shot from the front or side but could not.

AMEN!

This one hit me funny. It seems like somebody who was actually "high class" would be too classy to try to tell people how high class they were. Am I right or wrong on that?

Notice the writing on his window? Next the ice cream man will probably be taking food stamp cards (EBT) as well. I just stood in line behind an entire extended family (five adults and several teens) at the gas station who all got fountain drinks, popcorn, pizza slices and junk food, and paid for it all with one person's EBT card.

Just shut it! I don't want to hear it!

Long way from home for Scimeca's to get their van serviced. I wonder if they deliver to Edwardsville?

The plate says "God 1st" on a high-dollar sports car. You draw your own conclusions.

Watch this space for more pictures from my family's busy summer!

VM

Reacquainted With an Old Book

2011-08-25T12:00:00.006-05:00

The journalist William L. Shirer's classic work, "The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich: A History of Nazi Germany" once adorned the bookshelves of most well-read American homes. First published in 1960, this massive volume for the first time pieced together a comprehensive view of Hitler's Germany. The author had combed through the voluminous amount of German documentation that the Allies had captured in 1945 and put together an insider's look that was not available before. This is THE classic work on the subject, of which most other works on Naziism are derivative. Nobody tells the story like Shirer, who was a foreign correspondent in Germany during much of the time period covered.

Shirer's massive classic was on many family bookshelves, but I always wondered how many people had actually read through it. It weighs in at 1,143 pages of text, plus another 50 or so pages of explanatory notes and bibliography and an index of 50 pages. I had the pleasure of reading most of the book in the 8th and 9th grades, a laborious and tedious endeavor for a teenager. I don't believe I ever completed the book due to some family situations about that time, but I was well toward reaching the 3/4 mark.

From my father's bookshelf, I had "inherited" (first swiped, then borrowed, then eventually asked for ownership of) my copy, in excellent condition, and it is probably boxed up in our shed or storage unit. I have not laid eyes on that copy in many years. Meanwhile, I recently bought another copy in the thrift store, though it was missing the dustjacket. Many copies are missing the dustjacket due to the current stigma of the swastika symbol that adorns both the front cover and the spine. Some bigoted or misunderstanding people throw the dustjacket away, which is a shame.

On a whim, I picked up the thrift store copy and read through the Foreword. I think I am going to enjoy reading this book once again, if I ever get the time. Maybe I will read it on the free seven day cruise for which I just received a postcard!

Here are some interesting quotes from the frontispiece:

I have often felt a bitter sorrow at the thought of the German people, which is so estimable in the individual and so wretched in the generality... - Goethe

Hitler was the fate of Germany and this fate could not be stayed. - Field Marshal Walther von Brauchitsch, Commander in Chief of the German Army, 1938-41.

A thousand years will pass and the guilt of Germany will not be erased. - Hans Frank, Governor General of Poland, before he was hanged at Nuremburg.

Within the Foreword, written by the author himself, I found several interesting statements that I would like to share.

Speaking on the availability of Nazi insider documentation after the war, Shirer states:

It is quite remarkable how little those of us who were stationed in Germany during the Nazi time, journalists and diplomats, really knew of what was going on behind the facade of the Third Reich. A totalitarian dictatorship, by its very nature, works in great secrecy and knows how to preserve that secrecy from the prying eyes of outsiders. ...The fateful decisions secretly made, the intrigues, the treachery, the motives and aberrations which led up to them, the parts played by the principal actors behind the scenes, the extent of the terror they exercised and their technique of organizing it -- all this and much more remained largely hidden from us until the secret German papers turned up.

Two thoughts entered my mind as I read the above paragraph. The first was how this statement could have just as easily been written by someone living in ancient Israel and Judah, who was finally able to read through Samuel, Kings and Chronicles and see firsthand documentation of the intrigues, the treachery, etc. The second thought concerned the facade and secrecy of the totalitarian dictatorship of which he speaks, and how that could also describe the cults, the Roman Catholic Church, and unfortunately many local churches.

Next, writing a short 15 years after the war, Shirer gives the following about the timing of his book:

Some may think that it is much too early to try to write a history of the Third Reich, that such a task should be left to a later generation of writers to whom time has given perspective....

There is much merit in this view. Most historians have waited fifty years or a hundred, or more, before attempting to write an account of a country, an empire, an era. But was this not principally because it took that long for the pertinent documents to come to light and furnish them with the authentic material they needed? And though perspective was gained, was not something lost because the authors necessarily lacked a personal acquaintance with the life and atmosphere of the times and with the historical figures about which they wrote?

In the case of the Third Reich, and it is a unique case, almost all of the documentary material became available at its fall, and it has been enriched by the testimony of the surviving leaders, military and civilian, in some instances before their death by execution. With such incomparable sources so soon available and with the memory of life in Nazi Germany and of the appearance and behavior and nature of the men who ruled it, Adolf Hitler above all, still fresh in my mind and bones, I decided, at any rate, to make an attempt to set down the history of the rise and fall of the Third Reich.

I am so glad that he decided to do so. The lessons necessary for the world to learn from the tragedy of Naziism could not wait fifty or a hundred years for perspective. The blood of 12 million murder victims cried out that this is a story that must be told right away; that no facts, no matter how brutal, must be held back; that the seeds of such destruction must be plainly identified so they can be prevented in the future; that the very nature of racism leads to utter ruination; that power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.

I find something of Shirer's humility in the following two paragraphs. The first:

No doubt my own prejudices, which inevitably spring from my experience and make-up, creep through the pages of this book from time to time. I detest totalitarian dictatorships in principle and came to loathe this one.... Nevertheless, in this book I have tried to be severely objective, letting the facts speak for themselves and noting the sourch for each.

I wish the modern day American journalists, editorialists and media members were as transparent as Shirer. The liberal slant and lack of objectivity in today's media is as plain as the nose on your face. Yet the media members today not only claim objectivity, as Shirer does above, but go a step further and deny even the possibility of their prejudice slipping into their work. With that knowledge of today's media, I found Shirer's comment above very refreshing.

The second humble paragraph was equally interesting:

My interpretations, I have no doubt, will be disputed by many. that is inevitable, since no man's opinions are infallible. Those that I have ventured here in order to add clarity and depth to this narrative are merely the best I could come by from the evidence and from what knowledge and experience I have had.

I really liked that statement. Every book author, article author or speaker of any sort could realistically preface their work with that same statement, and I would appreciate much more their work because of their transparency, humility and openness to correction.

I found the following paragraph to be part of Shirer's stated goal of objectivity.

Adolf Hitler is probably the last of the great adventurer-conquerors in the tradition of Alexander, Caesar and Napoleon, and the Third Reich the last of the empires which set out on the path taken earlier by France, Rome and Macedonia. The curtain was rung down on that phase of history, at least, by the sudden invention of the hydrogen bomb, of the ballistic missile and of rockets that can be aimed to hit the moon.

Now that is objective! Shirer despised everything Hitler stood for, yet he was not above pointing out the mark that Hitler made on history as a "great adventurer-conqueror." Additionally there is some insight in Shirer's assertion that such adventurer-conquerors cannot long endure in the nuclear age. I had never considered that before.

However, Shirer is shortsighted as he apparently does not know that according to the God's word, there will be at least one more mortal man to achieve world domination, and at least one more rise of a revived Roman empire. Unlike Shirer's history of Nazi Germany, written 15 years after its demise, the history of the Man of Sin and his reign of terror was already written millennia before his birth.

I think, if I get the chance to read it again, I will get much more out of this book than I did the first time. At the very least, I recomend it to any student of history.

I will also say that with 50 years more perspective on the matter than Shirer had in his day, we can look back and see that Hitler and the Nazis were the inevitable end result of Secular Humanism, Darwinism, Evolutionism and Atheism. We should be sure to learn that lesson.

VM

A Basic Misunderstanding of the Tribulation Period

2011-08-18T03:48:00.004-05:00

The "Tribulation Period" is a future time of God's judgment on the world that we believe will last seven years, according to the Bible. This seven year figure is based on several biblical math equations that I won't get into here, but they are very simple. We further believe that all true Christians will be called home to heaven prior to this Tribulation Period. They will all be snatched away in a single moment to meet Jesus in the air and be carried away with Him. This doctrine is known as the "Pre-Tribulation Rapture" or "Pre-Trib" for short.

Recently I have been running in to more and more people who were taught the Pre-Trib doctrine but have been wavering on it, possibly moving to a Mid-Trib (a rapture 3.5 years into the Tribulation) or even a Post-Trib position. Some of these folks (not all) are wavering because they have a very basic and very fundamental misunderstanding of what the Tribulation Period is all about.

Let me give two examples, of many that I could give, of the kind of thinking I am talking about.

Person A (who represents several people I have run across) looks at the current political situation, the apostasy, the worldliness of professing Christians, the downfall of American society and the persecution of Christians worldwide. Person A then concludes that if things get much worse, it will in fact be the Tribulation Period. Therefore, Person A is tempted to change their doctrine and abandon the Pre-Trib Rapture position, because we haven't been raptured yet.

Person B (who also represents several) says that the Pre-Trib doctrine is "escapism" and that we should just ask Christians under persecution in other countries whether they think they are going to escape the Tribulation. Person B claims that Christians under persecution are convinced they will have to go through the Tribulation, and therefore the Pre-Trib doctrine is wrong.

The fundamental flaw in the logic of both these examples is a basic misunderstanding of the Tribulation. I will get to that in a moment, but let me first point out some other flaws here.

Both Person A and Person B are historically shortsighted. They have either ignored, forgotten or never learned that things have been much, much worse in prior centuries with regard to persecution, not to mention worse politically or in other areas. To focus on what has gone on in our brief, measly lifetime, to the exclusion of 2,000 years of Christian history will naturally lead us to seemingly reasonable, but incorrect conclusions of the relative state of things today. Yes, it is bad. But it has been MUCH worse MANY different times, sometimes lasting hundreds of years and affecting more of the world. Hundreds of generations of Christians could have thought they were in or near the Tribulation if the criteria was to look around and see how bad things were getting. The Thessalonians had this exact problem and Paul wrote II Thessalonians to correct it.
Secondly, both example persons are basing their doctrine on experience rather than scripture. This is dangerously close to walking by sight instead of by faith. They are not changing their doctrine as they read the Bible more, but rather as they read the newspaper more.
In the third place, both example persons are focusing on what is happening in a relatively small portion of the globe. Even if the experience of "how bad" things were getting was our guide, it is not completely bad on a global level. There are pockets, small and large, of persecution here and there, pockets of political or social problems, pockets of economic problems, etc. There are even large areas of various turmoil. But there are plenty of places on the globe where the situation for Christians is the best it has ever been. We cannot let our America-centric view determine how we see the world as a whole.

Now let me go back to the original point. Beyond these logical flaws above which have led to the wrong conclusion, both the Person A and Person B examples have a seriously flawed view of the Tribulation Period. They do not understand it, so that is the main reason why they have come to the wrong conclusion about it.

Let's examine these misunderstandings.

I. WHOM.

The most serious misunderstanding is about WHOM does the Tribulation affect. Both example persons are basing their change of doctrine on the fact that things are getting worse for believers - that believers are supposedly going through more and more trials lately. But the Tribulation is NOT a Tribulation of Believers; it is a Tribulation of the WORLD! The unbelieving world is going to be under the Tribulation. Let's see this in the Bible.

In Revelation 3:10, Jesus calls the Tribulation "the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth." Isaiah 26:21 tells us the Tribulation is the time when "the LORD cometh out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity." The angels delivering the Tribulation judgments say things like "Woe, woe, woe, to the inhabiters of the earth" in Revelation 8:13. The 24 elders in heaven state that "the nations were angry, and thy wrath is come" in Revelation 11:18.

Furthermore, when we read the details of those undergoing suffering during the Tribulation, we do not read of believers but we read of the wicked who are hoping to hide from the wrath of God and of His Lamb, and still not repenting of their wickedness. For example:

"And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains; And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?" - Revelation 6:15-17.

"And the rest of the men which were not killed by these plagues yet repented not of the works of their hands, that they should not worship devils, and idols of gold, and silver, and brass, and stone, and of wood: which neither can see, nor hear, nor walk: Neither repented they of their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their fornication, nor of their thefts." - Revelation 9:20-21.

Just a very brief survey of the Bible passages dealing with what goes on during the Tribulation will make it clear: IT IS UNBELIEVERS WHO ARE GOING THROUGH THE SUFFERING OF THAT TIME.

Will there be believers suffering during the Tribulation? Absolutely! Those who trust Christ after the Pre-Trib Rapture will suffer just as there are believers suffering during every age. There will be martyrs and other sufferings. It may be worse than ever. But the Bible does not place any emphasis on their suffering during this period. The Bible does not go into great detail about how they suffer, what they experience, or any specifics. It simply tells us that it is going to happen and there are going to be those who are faithful to the end. The real emphasis is on the details of what the UNBELIEVING WORLD will suffer. Page after page is devoted to this in every prophetic scripture passage, while just a very few verses briefly show that believers have suffered. The overriding emphasis is on the suffering of the unbelievers, yet these example people above see suffering of believers as indicative of the Tribulation.

So basing your Tribulation doctrine on how bad things are for believers is completely missing the whole point of the Tribulation Period. The Tribulation is not about believers suffering. It is about the wicked world suffering the wrath of God.

II. WHO.

The second major misunderstanding is about WHO is causing the suffering. Both example persons above seem to think that the Tribulation is about what man will do - governments, armies, society, whomever. They have based their doctrine on what man is doing bad today and likely to do worse in the future. Once again, that is missing the entire point. The Tribulation is not about what mankind will do, but about what the Lord God Almighty will do. He will be the One causing the suffering that is called the Tribulation. What man does in response - such as persecuting believers - is less than spit in the ocean compared to what God is doing. Right off the bat when the seals are opened, one fourth of the entire world population will be killed in judgment. That is just for starters. Read about the seal judgments, the trumpet judgments and the final vial (KJV "bowl") judgments to see the suffering that God pours out on the world. God will be very active for seven years unleashing His wrath on the unbelievers.

Meanwhile, Israel will be protected, just as they were protected in Egypt while the Egyptians suffered the wrath of God in the ten plagues:

Come, my people, enter thou into thy chambers, and shut thy doors about thee: hide thyself as it were for a little moment, until the indignation be overpast. For, behold, the LORD cometh out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity: the earth also shall disclose her blood, and shall no more cover her slain. - Isaiah 26:20-21.

It is clear that the main Actor in the Tribulation Period is the Lord God and His Son, Jesus Christ. The suffering of that time can be attributed directly to Him. If you are going to base your doctrine of the Tribulation on what Christians are suffering today, are you going to attribute that suffering to the hand of God? Because that is Who will be causing the suffering of the Tribulation.

So basing your Tribulation or Rapture doctrine on the fact that mankind is causing suffering today is also completely missing the whole point of the Tribulation. God will be causing that suffering.

III. WHY.

The third misunderstanding about the Tribulation Period that leads to the wrong conclusions above has to do with the question WHY? Why will God send Tribulation? What are the purposes for God doing this?

The only purposes for the Tribulation that we can find in the Bible, either stated or implied, are the following two:

To prepare Israel to receive Jesus as the Messiah. This purpose can be found throughout the Old Testament major and minor prophets (Isaiah through Malachi; especially Daniel and Zechariah), within the Olivet Discourse (Matthew 24 and 25) and throughout Revelation (such as chapter 12).
To judge the nations for their wickedness. This purpose can be found in the context of most of the verses already quoted in the sections above.

So those are the two purposes for the Tribulation - the only two expressed in scripture. Where do you fit in? If you are neither an unbelieving Israelite nor a wicked Gentile, then you have no reason to enter into the Tribulation period and no reason to think it has anything to do with you. It is not about you. And it is not about anything that is going on in your life today. And it is not about anything going on in the life of any Christian you know.

So defining your Tribulation or your Rapture doctrine based on what is going on with Christians today is also completely missing the entire point of the Tribulation. The Tribulation is for Israel and for the unbelieving nations. It is not for you if you know Christ as Saviour.

It seems fitting to conclude this study with some words of comfort that the Tribulation period is not a part of God's plan for us who already know Christ as Saviour:

And to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come. - I Thessalonians 1:10

For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape. But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief. - I Thessalonians 5:3-4.

For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ - I Thessalonians 5:10.

Seeing it is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you; And to you who are troubled [to give you] rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ - II Thessalonians 1:6-8.

The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations [tribulations], and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished - II Peter 2:9.

Let us keep our doctrines faithful to the Bible in this time, despite our experience. It is the inspired scriptures that are profitable for doctrine (II Timothy 3:16), not the newspaper, our feelings or anything else. May God richly reward your Bible study and completely frustrate your departure from His truth to man's reasonings.

Till Jesus takes us!

VM
08/18/2011

New Holiday on Monday

2011-08-12T00:50:00.001-05:00

The third Monday in August will be observed as Y2K Solution Appreciation Day (click the link). This year it will be observed for the first time on August 15th.

Who is going to buy me lunch for all my hard work toward saving the world?

:) :) :)

VM

Common Church Hypocrisy

2011-08-06T13:52:00.000-05:00

This subject is on my mind (again) and just needs to be said (again). Modern churches, including fundamental Bible believing churches, are involved in horrible hypocrisy in many ways. What they preach is right, but what they practice is wrong, wrong, wrong. Here are some examples.

The pastor preaches "abstain from all appearance of evil" and "make not provision for the flesh, to fulfill the lusts thereof." But then he hires a female secretary who will end up spending hours alone with him every week.

The church takes a biblical stand that women should be "keepers at home" but they also run a day care and a Christian school, enabling those moms who want to forsake their duty and become career women. Then they hire other women from the church to work in the day care and school.

The church claims to be reinforcing parents to fulfill their biblical role in their children's lives, but then looks down on homeschoolers who don't have their kids in the church's Christian school. They are not "with the program" or "supporting the church" or "backing the pastor." This happens more often than you think.

The pastor says rightly that the local church is "the pillar and ground of the truth" and that the local church has been given "evangelists and pastor teachers for the perfecting of the saints for the work of the ministry." But when a young man comes to the pastor and says he is called to preach, the pastor opens his desk drawer and whips out brochures for several out-of-state Bible colleges and tells the young man to pray about which one to pick.

The church takes a stand and even has it in their Confession of Faith that the scriptures are fully sufficient for all faith and practice. But then they fundamentally change the church's worship practice by setting up systems and ministries that are not mentioned at all in scripture, such as the Youth Group, the age-segregated Sunday School and children's church. If all you really had to go by was the sufficient scripture, you would never dream these ministries up, let alone Youth Pastors and all the rest.

The church rightly takes a stand against modern Church Growth philosophy such as the "Purpose Driven" church model, the "Willow Creek" model and all the rest. But then they employ the exact same practices in their own children's and youth ministries to get kids on the bus or in the church door. The typical fundamental church calls another church liberal because that other church does the same thing to attract adults which the fundamental church is also doing to attract children and teens. Amazing! And then the fundamental church wonders why the teens grow up and leave church when they graduate the youth group! It is for the same reason that the Purpose Driven church can't get many to attend a serious church meeting, such as a weeknight prayer meeting. For both groups - the "fundamental" teens and the Purpose Driven adults - church is supposed to be about pleasing the flesh and if that isn't happening then they just aren't going to be there. To make this long paragraph short, the fundamental churches are preaching against the Purpose Driven model while at the same time ingraining that exact philosophy into their young people.

Much more could be said but I don't have the time today. I do praise God to know of many solid churches that have seen through the modern hypocrisy and are committed to ordering the local church after the New Testament pattern. May their tribe increase!

VM

Church Programming Equals Pride

2011-08-04T17:29:00.003-05:00

The following is taken from "Papal Pastors" by Charles A. Kempf. ("Papal" refers to the Roman Catholic Pope and ideas associated with his rule and reign over his "subject" people).

In order to maintain growth in measurable success, the church gradually shifts its focus from being people-oriented to being program-oriented. It is easier to measure the number of individuals than it is to measure the growth in individuals. It is a simple matter to count bodies, dollars, and facilities. Measuring the fruit of the Spirit is impossible. The result? Instead of using programs to build people, people are used to build programs. "Making merchandise" of people, a characteristic generally associated with false prophets, can also crop up in Bible-preaching churches. When a church is more concerned about the measurable externals of its ministry than meeting the needs of people, that attitude can often be traced to leaders who feel a need to prove they are worthy of the veneration they demand. (Bold added).

This paragraph is in the context of an article about pastors who expect to be elevated, venerated, reverenced or blindly followed. The point Chuck Kempf is making here is that, in a lot of cases, a church filled with programs is the direct result of the pastor's desire to be puffed up, and it feeds into his pride as these programs are "successful." The various modern "church growth" strategies would also fit in this description.

Kempf goes on to say:

Pride causes a pastor to focus on programs instead of people. He views God's sheep as his servants, as instruments he can use to bring him glory and feed his ego.

I have never viewed it this way before, but it makes a lot of sense. So often, Church Programming Equals Pride.

As Kempf says, "May God deliver us from such self-centered shepherds!"

The article was in Foundation magazine, volume 32, issue 2, by the Fundamental Evangelistic Association.

VM

Baptist Pastor Makes Public Mockery of Prayer, Blasphemes the Name of Jesus

2011-07-26T11:00:00.001-05:00

Take an Independent Baptist Pastor in Tennessee and invite him to ask the blessing over a NASCAR race event. This is what you might get when he prays:

Product placement: "Thank you for the Dodges and the Toyotas. Thank you for the Fords. Thank you for Sunoco racing fuel and Goodyear tires that bring performance and power to the track..."
Comedy straight from a wicked Hellywood movie: "Lord, I want to thank you for my smokin' hot wife tonight." That portion of the prayer is reportedly a line from the movie Talladega Nights, which is rated PG-13 for "crude and sexual humor, language, drug references," etc.
A ridiculous and blasphemous "Amen," tying Jesus' blessed and holy name together with a stupid Southern car racing tradition: "In Jesus' name boogity, boogity, boogity, amen."

This is in public. This is broadcast on national television. This is in front of unbelievers. This is blasphemy.

This was Pastor Joe Nelms of Family Baptist Church in Lebanon, Tennessee publicly praying before the NASCAR Fedarated Auto Parts 300 in Nashville.

I will write more on this later after I get over the shock. Read about it here if you like, where you might also be able to link to the video, or just Google it for yourself, as there is plenty of internet buzz about it: http://www.kmbc.com/family/28668386/detail.html

VM

Not A "Sunday Christian" (An Original Poem)

2011-07-09T00:00:00.004-05:00

The following is an original poem composed by Victor E. Mowery on Friday evening, July 8, 2011. Of course there is a story behind it. Some people are "Sunday Christians" - holy on Sunday and in church, then living like the devil all week. And some people are definitely NOT "Sunday Christians."

Not A "Sunday Christian"

On Monday I said Grace at all my meals.
On Tuesday a "Jesus fish" decorated my wheels.
On Wednesday I searched "The Shepherd's Guide" for deals.
You see, I'm not a "Sunday Christian."

On Thursday I went to the Bible store.
On Friday I watched a Christian film once more.
On Saturday I hung a cross on my front door.
You see, I'm not a "Sunday Christian."

On Sunday, Oh! Where did the time go?
My tired eyes and my aching toe!
The Spirit said "Yes" and the flesh said "No."
You see, I'm not a "Sunday Christian."

Sunday morning came and went,
I don't want to misrepresent...
I had stayed up late and I woke up spent.
You see, I'm not a "Sunday Christian."

I didn't have anything to wear.
Or I took too long fixing my hair.
For some reason or other, I wasn't there.
You see, I'm not a "Sunday Christian."

I'm not one of those church hypocrites.
On Sunday, he's holy; by Tuesday, he quits.
I think those "Sunday Christians" are the pits.
You see, I just don't want to be a "Sunday Christian."

"But I am a hypocrite," you say?
Why do you look at me that way?
Hey, I'm a Christian every day!
Six days a week, what more can I say?
I'm just not a Christian on the Lord's Day.
You see, I'm not a "Sunday Christian."

VM

Various Updates

2011-07-07T16:44:00.001-05:00

The following are just some random updates on things I've blogged about in the past.

First of all, over to the left of the blog you will notice you can now subscribe by e-mail to this blog. You will get an e-mail whenever there is a new post. This is a brand new feature for Blogger that should have been available from day one back in the 1990s.

Next, let me report on the drop in call volume from female "missionaries." After this blog post, which was a follow-up to this blog post about female missionaries, I have not had a female missionary call the church in quite some time. I guess the word is out that they shouldn't bother calling Providence Independent Baptist Church for meetings or support. Maybe good old Dr. J. Juniper Jumbleweed, President of BONKERS Mission Agency told all the other mission boards to make sure their gals steer clear of me. That's fine.

When I posted about pastors preaching the most basic stuff to the congregation, such as stop stealing / drugging / thugging / dressing like a hoochie mama / etc, I wondered how many Christians there are out there that really needed to hear that stuff over and over. It was like these pastors were preaching to Christians who were living worse lives than most unbelievers. Instead of teaching them how to be Christians, those pastors are stuck teaching them how to be decent human beings. I wondered are there really that many Christians in churches like that? Ever since then, I have been running into those "Christians" left and right. For the first time in my life, I have gotten to know a number of people that give credible professions of faith with their lips and even with changes in their lives, but still regularly do things that the average unbeliever wouldn't even do. I wonder what is God's reason for bringing all those people into my life? What am I to learn from this? How would Jesus minister to these people?

I posted the Adventures of a Gas Saver about my experiment with driving my car like an off-duty firefighter. I had to delay the experiment due to a leaking gas tank. That is fixed, but I still have a check engine light that I'm trying to troubleshoot - probably an oxygen sensor but I won't know for sure till I spend the money to replace it, which I don't have to spend right now. The experiment must go on (some day).

I have not yet finished the Hezekiah Harvey book I posted on before. I have been too busy with some other things for spare time reading, but I am looking forward to finishing it.

Nobody asked what was the particular disease mentioned in this post. Some people probably already know what it is. When I am able to apply some spiritual lessons to it, I will post a complete description of the disease and my managing of it.

I have made some changes I talked about in this post about avoiding diabetes. Not enough changes yet, though.

That's all I have time to write now. Be sure to check recent posts on my other blogs (at left).

VM

My Favorite Car Ate My Favorite Comb

2011-06-30T05:21:00.003-05:00

**** Aimlessly Rambling Blog Post Alert ****

My favorite comb was purple - a mottled kind of purple, almost like it was tie-dyed. I guess that plastic comb was similar to my purple-shade tie-dyed tee shirt which I wore practically everywhere back then. Did I mention this was twenty years ago or so? I would not be caught dead in such a shirt today, nor with such a comb. It was the kind of comb with the curved handle; remember those? So the handle stuck out of the top of the jeans pocket for very easy access. It was the smaller sized version, not the big old fat plastic kind with the contoured sides, but the slim plastic downsize, flat version. But you had to buy the big fat kind with a whole bag of combs in order to get the smaller comb sold in the same bag. That's just the way it was back then. It may still be that way, I don't know - I have little reason to go around buying combs these days.

So my favorite comb and my favorite tee shirt were both purple. I went through a purple phase. Did I mention this was twenty years ago? I said that already? Okay. I had a purple guitar too, but please don't bring it up. That guitar is part of some painful memories I would rather forget. But you get the point - I bought a whole bag of combs just to get this purple one. Call it a purple phase I went through. I still have the purple dress shirt I wore the day I got engaged to marry, but it has not fit me in a long time and will likely never fit again.

That purple comb resided in my back left pocket for years and years. Except of course when I was combing my hair, and then naturally the comb was not in my pocket. I think you can see how it just works out better that way, that your comb should not be in your pocket when you are trying to comb your hair. And I combed my hair a lot. I had a lot of hair. It was not long hair, but it was very thick and needed a lot of regular attention. Those memories are also now painful for a different reason. I miss having hair.

Moving on... (before I start crying...)

My favorite car ate my favorite comb. Do you want to hear the story? It is probably a long story, as far as comb stories go. In fact, I don't recall ever reading a comb story, long or short, so not only will this story be somewhat long but it will possibly be unique as well. I hope it will also be entertaining to the reader, but I will settle for slightly interesting.

In May of 1992 I began a lifelong love affair with the 1977 Ford Thunderbird and related models (Mercury Cougar, Ford LTD II and to a lesser extent the LTD sedan and the various Lincolns, though the Lincolns were too gaudy). After my first year of college, I began a summer job working nights in a warehouse. I found in the paper a used car for sale so that I did not have to rely on my parents' car to get back and forth to work. When I saw the 1977 T-Bird, I recognized the body style from childhood memories. When I was a kid, my best friend's mom had a black 1977 Thunderbird that we used to ride in to deliver newspapers. That was a great car. I had forgotten all about that car until I saw this gray one. My family also at one time had a 1977 Mercury Cougar with the same exact body style. Again, I had forgotten all about that car but seeing this T-Bird brought back the memories. Those were beautiful cars and comfortable rides.

That first 1977 Ford of mine (did I mention I've since owned a total of four?) was bought as a one-owner car from Oklahoma, so it was mechanically perfect and had no rust (due to no salt on the winter streets of Oklahoma). The old lady who'd owned it had died and her sister and brother-in-law had brought the car to Kansas City, Kansas. The elderly sister drove it a little but then slightly rear-ended a bread truck. The truck's rear bumper was the exact height of the T-Bird's front turn signal covers, so they both busted out. The grill was also cracked from the truck's bumper. There was no damage to the body and I knew the junkyard I could go to in order to get it all replaced for ten bucks, so that didn't bother me at all. (And I got those replacements on my first day of owning the car).

When we found the T-Bird for sale over in the Turner district, my father and I took the car for a test drive and I was very impressed. We went back to the couple's house to talk turkey, and inside their very nicely furnished house was a nice jazz style hollow-body electric guitar, a Barney Kessel signature model by Gibson Guitars. The old man plugged it in and my dad and I both played a little bit to the couple's amusement. I think that is probably the most expensive guitar I have ever played.

I offered to buy the car for $750. I showed them my first paystub, told them I needed a car to get to work, and offered $150 now and the other $600 over my next three paychecks and I would pick the car up when it was all paid off. They agreed and said they would rather the car went to someone like me with a job than to "some other young punk that would just hot-rod it around." I did not know if the word "other" implied that I was also young punk. Actually, I just now wondered about that for the very first time, 20 years later. Back then I was just overjoyed to be getting the car.

Three weeks and $600 later, the old man and I headed to the notary public with the title and a bill of sale and the car was soon mine for keeps. When my dad later took me to get the car, it would not start up. The old man and we all agreed that the problem was probably the battery from sitting so long. We knew we could jump start it, but the old man insisted on buying a brand new battery for the car. He drove us up to the auto store and he paid for the best battery they had and for new cable ends "just in case" there was corrosion. This was totally unnecessary on his part and I tried to pay for it all, but looking back I think I would have done the same thing in his position. He and Dad put on the battery and cable ends and the car started right up.  Like I said, I went straight to the junkyard for cosmetic parts. The car was otherwise flawless.

Something should be said about driving the 1977-1979 Ford models at highway speeds. Back in the 1950s, they put the big fins on the rear fenders of the cars and the front end was rounded down. I am guessing that the aerodynamics were pretty decent, kind of like a fish moving through the water would be. For some reason, by the late 1970s, this was completely reversed. Some genius in Detroit decided along the way that the front fenders should became big tall fins and the rear should be slanted down. So in these cars, you were going down the road like a backwards fish. This was common to all American car models of the time, but the 1977-1979 Ford front fenders were the biggest.

They were the biggest, and also the beautifulest. Is beautfulest a word? It ought to be, because that is the only word to adequately describe the 1977 Thunderbirds in comparison to the other "mid-sized" uglies that Detroit was putting out at the time. As far as the fins being on the front, I don't care about aerodynamics. And back then I didn't care about gas mileage. But something has to be done about the wind resistance. At 65 to 70 miles per hour, those cars want to blow all over the road, even on a calm day. Add a little wind and it can be hard to maintain control.

I once watched a documentary about jet test pilots breaking the sound barrier, and right before they broke past the speed of sound their planes were bucking and the ride was very rough. That is almost what it is like at 65 to 70 mph in a 1977 Ford on a windy day. The jet pilots just push through it and find that it is extremely smooth sailing as soon as they have finally broken through the speed of sound. That same thing happens in a T-Bird. The aerodynamics are such that there is a "sweet spot" at a certain speed. Once you get up faster than 70 mph on a windy day, the car bucks and shimmies like nobody's business. At 71 you are gritting your teeth. At 72 you are looking for a place to ditch out. But as soon as you hit 72.5 mph, everything settles down and you are in for a beautiful ride.

I know what you are saying: "Vic, you're crazy." Nobody believes all that 72.5 mph business at first, until they try it for themselves. I know what I am talking about and I have proved it to many people. Just get in one and try it, you'll see. The gas mileage is even better at 72.5 than it is at 55 with those cars. I put a lot of highway miles between KCK and Emporia on those cars, and between Kansas and Indiana, and I can tell you that 72.5 is the speed they were designed to be driven. The excellent cruise control will hold the speed dead on the money, too. (These days I strictly follow the posted speed limit. But Kansas just raised the speed limit to 75, so maybe it's time to find an old T-Bird again).

Well enough about that first T-Bird of mine. It is not the one that ate the comb. I just had to share all of that because it is pertinent to how my favorite car became my favorite car in the first place.

My next 1977 Thunderbird was cream colored. I believe it was technically called "butterscotch." It had dark brown leather seats that were COLD in the winter and HOT in the summer. My first T-Bird had crushed velvet, which I prefer to leather for comfort. The butterscotch T-Bird actually belonged to my future in-laws when I first saw it. It turned out that my future wife grew up riding in that car.

When my future bride and I first started getting to know each other, I took her home to Indiana in my gray T-Bird for a holiday break. It was a "meet the parents" sort of situation for me. My gray T-Bird met their butterscotch T-Bird for the first time in their large driveway. I remember the topic of conversation among the men for several days was a comparison of the two, including why I got so much better mileage running premium gas ONLY in mine. That week I came to realize that this girl who grew up in that car was probably the girl for me. (Yes, Honey, our entire relationship is based on the fact that your parents had a T-Bird). Years later, we ended up buying that car from her parents after we were married a while. But that is not the car that ate my comb either.

Back in 1994, my gray T-Bird was seriously abused by a friend who borrowed it to pull a loaded 23 foot trailer over the "mountain range" on the northern Kansas / Missouri border. Don't argue with me that Kansas is flat; that part of Kansas really is like a small mountain range in places, at least all the places he found to drive my car. It is the part of Kansas that the Great White Father found in his heart to grant to the Indians for some reservation land. Naturally they got the worst part of the state - the mountains! Shortly after this abuse, my beautiful car went kaput. That's German for "mahvolmuş", which is Turkish for "naar z'n mallemoer".

So I was Fordless for a while. We still had not yet bought "Old Butterscotch." My dad came to the rescue. By late November of 1994, I had a job back in KC, MO while my new bride finished her last college semester and prepared to move our household from Emporia to KCK. My dad found me a car to get back and forth to work. He told me I would love the car, it was just like my T-Bird, and on his word alone, I told him sight unseen to buy it.

It was a 1977 Ford LTD II. This was not the big four door LTD; it was a two-door. In fact, it was a Thunderbird by a different name. There was very little difference.

There was little difference, but I came to find out the differences were of great significance. Because of these differences, this red car became my favorite car, and it is the one that ate my favorite comb. We'll get to that part soon, I promise. Are you still awake? Go get some coffee or something and stop snoring, I'm trying to tell a story here. You are being a little impolite with all that blinking and nodding off. You said you wanted to hear this.

The differences between the LTD II and the Thunderbird in 1977: First of all, there are some body trim differences. Secondly, the Thunderbird usually came standard with a 351 Windsor motor and a C4 transmission. The LTD II (at least mine) had the 351 Modified paired with the FMX transmission. This produced a much smoother shift that you could barely feel or hear, quicker acceleration in passing gear, smoother low-end and was just a great combination.

The second big difference was a smaller wheel size, bringing the LTD II noticeably much closer to the ground. As a result of the lower gravity center and better low-end torque, this big rear-wheel-drive car NEVER slid or got stuck in the snow or ice, whereas a T-Bird was guaranteed to slide all over in a moderate blizzard. I remember taking my dad to get his paycheck during a major snowstorm. His front-wheel-drive Chevy could not even get him around the corner. I drove over to his house and picked him up in the LTD II, drove him clear across town and back and he was amazed at how well the car did. I had told him beforehand that the LTD II simply refused to get stuck in the snow. It just wasn't going to happen.

Dad paid $700 for this car from an airline mechanic retired from TWA. The rich mechanic had bought the car brand new, simply for a work car, and he had used it to drive from Belton to KCI every day for years and years. The odometer showed about 90,000 miles and he told Dad it had already flipped over twice. So the car had 290,000 miles on it when I got it. The airline mechanic had rebuilt the engine one time already.   I paid Dad his $700 (in payments by the way) and tagged the car.

Before the odomoter turned over again, I started having the usual problems you will have with a car that old. My mechanic replaced the oil pump, timing chain and flywheel and the car was as good as new. This would have been in the early spring of 1995.

A year or two after this we bought "Old Butterscotch" from my in-laws. They let me make payments, by the way. So we now had two 1977 Fords parked in front of the house. I had the opportunity to compare the LTD II head to head with the Thunderbird. For looks, the Thunderbird wins hands down.  Ford tried too hard with the LTD II to make it look like a Lincoln, which in the late 1970s was too gaudy. The Thunderbird was clean looking. But mechanically, the LTD II was the winner, as explained above.

Okay, I will get to the comb story if you insist. In the 1970s, Ford was crazy about sending every car and truck out of the factory with a Motorcraft carburetor with automatic choke. The automatic chokes tended to stop being so automatic after about ten to fifteen years. Sooner or later, you would have to manually choke the carb in order to start the car on a cold day. This involved carrying around a screwdriver in your car. If the car would not start on a cold day, you would open the hood, unscrew the breather cover wing-nut, stick a screwdriver in the carb to hold open the butterfly, get back behind the wheel, pump the gas twice and turn the key to start the car. After the car warmed up a little, you would take out the screwdriver, put things back the way they were, shut the hood and be on about your business.

I think maybe you can see where this is going. Have you figured it out yet?

On a cold winter day I had no screwdriver, but I had my favorite comb sticking out of my pocket. I got real smart and I used the comb to hold the carburetor open. Yes, the car started right up! Awesome!

Who knew the engine would warm up so quickly? Who knew it got so hot down inside the carburetor? Who knew that plastic combs melted so easily?

The car kept running, no problem. But the comb was gone. My favorite car ate my favorite comb. It took months for the purple plastic goo to finally burn off of the carburetor, but it did not seem to affect the motor.

This signaled the end of an era in my life. My purple phase was officially over. My purple comb was gone. My purple tie-dyed tee shirt was in wrags by this time. My purple guitar was gone (please, I told you, don't ask). The purple dress shirt already did not fit. There was nothing left. Nothing but the memories, which I am still trying to sort through, late at night when I cannot sleep (like tonight).

The 1977 Ford LTD II continued to run like a champion. Five or six years after I bought it for $700, I sold it for $500 to a family friend. He paid me in payments, by the way. The friend drove it for about two years, and then it was wrecked into by a van running a red light. The engine, now with close to 400,000 miles on it, was installed into a pick-up truck and kept on trucking. The transmission was put into a station wagon. The family friend was amazed at how good a car, engine and transmission he had bought. The motor and tranny are probably still out there on the road.

What is NOT still out there is my purple comb. My favorite car ate my favorite comb. Shortly after that, I started losing my hair - In payments, by the way.

VM
06/30/2011

Y2K Solution Appreciation Day

2011-06-07T16:36:00.000-05:00

I have an idea for a new holiday of remembrance and appreciation. All of this talk about Harold Camping's judgment day prediction and all the ridiculous 2012 talk has me thinking lately about The End of the World as We Know It (TEOTWAWKI) and how it almost happened in the year 2000.

One of my biggest pet peeves is hearing someone who doesn't know better speak sarcastically about the "big flop" or "big bust" that the potential Y2K disaster turned into. Because more or less "nothing happened" at midnight on December 31, 1999, people assume that it was a big bunch of hype over a non-issue. That is not the case at all. The reason "nothing happened" is because those of us who worked in the Information Technology industry were busting our humps night and day for years before the big date, fixing all of the problems that we identified - and there were plenty to fix, that would have in fact crippled our society for a period of time if we hadn't fixed them beforehand.

Here is why it is a big pet peeve of mine to hear this sarcastic whining from the media and the uneducated. Let me give an analogy about a TEOTWAWKI scenario. Suppose a huge asteroid was on a direct collision course for earth in several years and its impact would throw us into the dark ages, at least for a period of time. Suppose you were on the worldwide team of professionals that were working around the clock to solve the problem - to prevent the impact by any means. Everybody else in the world knows about the problem and is stocking up supplies and getting prepared for the possible disaster. You and your team around the world work together, over extended hours, while you still maintain your regular job duties (non-asteroid-related) as well. Your work is hard, time consuming and takes you away from your family and recreational activities for years, but you do it because you know how important it is. All of your colleagues in your local office and around the world are in the same situation. You all solve the problem and are pretty sure you have sent the asteroid in another direction, so earth is safe - but just in case, everyone is still counting down the minutes till "doomsday" when the asteroid would have hit. You know the asteroid is going to come close to earth, so you and your colleagues are sweating bullets to find out how well you did your jobs. The asteroid passes pretty close and there are some minor problems, but nothing like the doomsday event that could have happened. So everyone on your team breathes a sigh of relief. But then for the next ten years, everywhere you go, people talk about the asteroid and say things like "What a bunch of hype. The asteroid never hit! It was all just a bunch of malarkey! And I spent all that money getting prepared!!!" You want to scream and say, "Would you have been happier if it had hit? Would that satisfy you? The reason it didn't hit is because we DID OUR JOBS!!! The reason it didn't hit is because it was HYPED ENOUGH that it got the attention it needed and we therefore took the problem seriously! We solved the problem, but just barely in time!"

That is what it's like for someone who worked in I.T. during the Y2K crisis to hear others talk about the "non-event." The ignorant are mad because they prepared and then nothing happened. But we did our jobs and we did them well, with little appreciation afterward. And we knew the consequences would be steep if we did not fix the problems. I don't mean people like the nice computer hacks in the PC repair shops or the guys making computer house calls or working computer telephone support - most of them had no idea of the scope of the problem. It is not consumer computers that would have been the problem. I am talking about the corporate Information Technology folks who identified the problems on their systems. We knew the score.

Like it or not, corporate computer systems are an integral part of our society. If they stop working even for a couple of days, there will be chaos. Those in corporate I.T. know this. At the time, I worked for the third largest financial institution in the world - and it was the very largest when it comes to institutional investors. We did the investing for the investors. We did the accounting for the accounting firms. We moved the money for the money movers. We did the banking for the banks. Our computer systems were at the heart of the worldwide banking system - along with other companys' systems as well. And let me be clear - there was not a single system at my company that was not affected by the Y2K bug. Every single system needed to be fixed and tested before the fateful day, and it was a lot of work for a lot of people. Come 1/1/2000, without those systems being fixed, the world's financial system would have shut down. Every other company we dealt with was facing the same problem, as was every national and local government around the world.

The utility companies all had to fix their systems as well. As did the communications and telecom, hospitals, the airline industries, the trucking companies, the trains, everything. For many decades, a simple measure of a decent society has been "Do the trains run on time?" When everything else breaks down, somebody can look and say, "At least the trains run on time." That's what they said about Italy under Mussolini, for example. Well if the Y2K bug didn't get fixed in time, that would not be the case anywhere. There would be total chaos, including the trains, and eventually affecting the social order. There would be pandemonium in the streets, looters in your yard and fires in your neighborhood if the problem was not solved. That is a fact.

Let's look at a history of the problem.

In the 1940s and 1950s when computers were first becoming a reality, one of the big hurdles was system resources such as memory. That continued to be an issue right up into the 1980s, from the largest mainframe systems to the smallest personal computers. Programmers designed their systems to save on memory everywhere. If you could take a shortcut to save one single bit of information somewhere, you took it.

Now with that in mind, let's go back to the the 1960s. The computer needs to know the date, for various calculations. Maybe it is a train scheduling computer or a utility billing system. For whatever reason, most computers need to know the date in order to be useful. Suppose you build a new computer and launch it on March 2nd, 1960. To the computer, you could enter the date as 03/02/1960. You need two digits for the month, since there are twelve, and two digits for the day. But do you really need four digits for the year? The year is going to be stored millions and millions of times - in databases, in files, in system memory, in applications. And those first two digits, "19" are going to take up a lot of space over those millions of uses. Why not cut out the "19" and design the system to recognize a two-digit year? You would save tons of precious memory, and who is going to be using that system by the year 2000 anyway? Nobody.

And nobody was really using the same systems or programs by 2000 as they were in 1960. But the way that each new system or program evolves from the prior system or program - that underlying assumption about a two-digit year was still there. We were still dealing with two-digit years by the 1990s, even though memory was no longer that big an issue. Nobody had just ever bothered to think much more about it until about 1996 or 1997, someone finally realized it would be a big problem after 1999.

So what would the computer do when the year rolled around past 99? Would it go to "00" and think the year was 1900? Some systems would, and would keep on running with just the wrong date, day of week, etc. That's actually a big problem though, even if the system does still run. Most systems would simply stop working altogether. Some systems would work but give the wrong results. In any case, NOTHING would work like it was supposed to, and that would be a BAD thing. Majorly bad. Remember, we are talking about the computers "that make the world go 'round." They were all going to stop working.

What was the solution? Fix the code. ALL the code. Fix the operating system code, which the computer manufacturers and OS providers did. Then fix all of the programs used. There was the bigger problem. Our company was using many programs from companies that had gone out of business. That's just the nature of the industry. So we had to find replacement programs that (a) did all the same things as the old program did and (b) were Y2K compatible. That was a VERY big deal. For the programs whose companies were still in business, we had to trust them that they would have a solution in time, which was a big deal as well, since they were usually providing the fix at no cost. In other words, the software industry was spending a lot of money to be able to provide free Y2K upgrades, so they were in a bind. An even bigger deal for corporate I.T. was programs that were custom written in-house. IF the source code was still around, and IF the original programmer was still around, you might get off kind of easy. More often, the program had to be completely rewritten from scratch, to (a) do all the same things as the old program did and (b) be Y2K compatible. Every company that had systems integral to our society was in the same pickle as the company I worked for.

So...long story short, a lot of people around the world worked a lot of extra hours and missed a lot of sleep to make sure the clocks kept ticking and the trains kept running come 1/1/2000.

A few good things to come out of the fiasco were some changes in the way programming source code is handled. Programs like SourceSafe to store all the source code (from all current and former versions) were all of a sudden quite a big hit. The industry also realized how important it was to keep good records of what was changed in every code version; for programmers to make good comments; etc. The days of the "quick and dirty" programming solutions were over. The corporate I.T. shops began running like German factories.

Now let me explain to the uninitiated how the solutions were implemented.

After you thought a system was fixed - the computer, the network and all the programs it used - you had to test the system by setting the date forward and seeing what happened when 1999 rolled to 2000. But there was a problem - you could not do this test on a system you use "for real" because it will mess up your "for real" stuff. So nearly every company had to set up a network of completely "pretend" systems to test everything on. It had to be the exact same kinds of systems and software as the "for real" systems, but it had to be disconnected from the real systems - completely segregated. If you had databases, you had to have "pretend" databases. If you had network equipment, you had to have "pretend" network equipment. The real hardware and software - just pretending to do the real work and separated from your real network. If you were connected to other companies (through the internet, phone lines, leased lines, etc), you had to connect your "pretend" systems to their "pretend" systems and coordinate your testing with theirs.

So companies had to set aside extra space and extra equipment for this "pretend" network. Even extra phone lines, leased lines, internet connections, etc. And most larger companies had some people assigned full time just dealing with the problem. But besides the full time "overseers", everybody else was involved, even non-I.T. folks like end users such as accountants or whomever, because they were the ones that had to do the testing. So there was a lot of expense to the industry, including not just equipment and utility but labor and overtime. This was an expensive problem to solve.

You had to run several days' worth of production through this test system. Not only did you have to make sure it went from 12/31/1999 to 01/01/2000, but you also had to test leap year. Leap year is not as simple as most people think. It is not simply every four years that February 29th comes along. It is "every year that is divisible by four - unless the year is also divisible by 100 - except in the case that it is divisible by 400." Example, 1600 was a leap year, but 1700, 1800 and 1900 were not. 2000 was a leap year but 2100 will not be. So we had to make sure that 2/28/2000 rolled over to 2/29/2000 and then test every leap year and non leap year through 2020 or so to make sure the system would correctly figure them all.

Long story short, testing usually revealed more problems. Every time we thought one thing was fixed, it turns out another was still broken. Perhaps your company had everything fixed, but the company you were testing with found another problem on their end. It went on like this for several years.

Government regulators were also involved in any industry that has government oversight, such as the financial, shipping or transportation industries. So there was the added overhead of dealing with the government, meeting their deadlines, getting things up to their standards, etc.

Y2K was a big, expensive, time consuming, very frustrating pain for the industry. But we got the job done. Most people outside the industry fail to recognize the significance, and that is why we get so tired of hearing what a "big flop" it all was. We truly did face the possibility of a global social meltdown. But we got the job done.

There were a few little hitches that did not get fixed in time. All of the credit and debit cards issued by one major card issuer stopped working for several days. Several monitoring systems failed at nuclear power plants in Japan, but they were not critical and were able to be fixed. Some models of cell phones completely stopped working and had to be replaced with a different model. A few power plants around the world shut down temporarily and had to be fixed. And some gambling slot machines stopped working (praise God). During 2000 and 2001 some other minor problems popped up and had to be fixed such as billing systems and payroll systems, but these were able to be handled easily. The hard work had been done.

All of these problems could have happened on a much larger scale worldwide, but years of hard work averted that. I think we ought to establish a holiday in order to thank your nearest I.T. guru for all of his or her hard work back in the day. "Y2K Solution Appreciation Day" should now be observed every year. Since there is somewhat of a lack of holidays in August, we could make it the third Monday in August and everybody who worked on the Y2K bug gets the day off work and gets a free lunch at a restaurant or something. It's a thought.

VM

A Little Thorn in the Flesh

2011-05-30T02:05:00.002-05:00

Since childhood, I have been afflicted with a very infuriating disease. The reasons it is so infuriating and frustrating are as follows:

My disease is usually misdiagnosed. One doctor after another told me it was something different than what it actually turned out to be. The thing(s) that it is often thought to be are all very embarassing conditions. At some points as a child that brought me great shame, since I thought I had a more embarassing problem, and others thought so as well. I was over thirty years old before a doctor finally told me exactly what it was - and I suspect he has it himself, which is why he could diagnose it.
Once diagnosed, I learned there is no cure. The steps required simply to keep it manageable are an enormous commitment and possibly a great waste of time, since they are not even close to foolproof. Some people spend a lot of money and two to three hours daily taking the necessary steps just to keep the disease somewhat in check.
It is rare, so it is misunderstood. I rarely talk about it. Only one in 5,000 people have it, and of them only ten percent have the form that I currently have. (I had a different form in childhood, but still the same disease).
It is extremely painful and affects my physical abilities. I have to force myself to do some of the things that others take for granted, including things involved with serving the Lord. It could adversely affect my ministry if I let it, but God gives the grace to push forward.
The worst pain strikes at the worst times, such as when I am trying to get ready for bed or even just before I fall asleep, keeping me awake. So it is affecting the rest of my health as well.
The only effective solution for the pain has its own potentially serious health risks. I have not experienced those problems yet, but I risk it every time I take steps to manage the pain, which is several times a week most of the year and daily during bad seasons with the disease.
The possible causes, triggers, potential treatments, etc, are so widely varied with so many different opinions and options that it's hard to even find a starting point. There is no way in one lifetime it would be possible to sort out. I have found some management steps that work for me, as risky as they are, and I am sticking with that until there is a pill or shot that would just make it all go away. (They may be close to clinical trials).

This is a completely physical disease with physical pain, not an emotional or psychological problem, by the way, in case you are wondering. I am not naming the disease because the disease itself is irrelevant. It is not contagious and nobody knows why people get it. The above points summarize it well enough that anybody else who has it would guess it. If somebody (anybody) wants to guess, I will entertain guesses and answer "Yes" or "No" in the comments. Some who know me well might be able to guess it, even if they don't know the name of it. I'll name it after a while.

Here is the thorn in the flesh: not the physical disease itself, but the frustration it brings. Now I am talking about my flesh in the spiritual sense; my "flesh" in the biblical sense of the carnal side of me. I am a flawed human being (like the rest of us) and I get frustrated. This thing is so frustrating it is hard to describe to somebody that doesn't live with it. That's why I think the doctor who diagnosed me has it himself. He said, "Some people get so infuriated with it that they..." / "Some people get to the point where they..." / etc. Living with this is a major frustration.

Instead of being frustrated, I should be rejoicing in the following:

I no longer have the form of the disease that I had in childhood, which would put a more serious damper on my ministry.
My disease is nowhere near as bad as the form shared by most people who have it. Every time I do an internet search to see any news related to it, I always learn of other people whose lives are much more affected by it or even ruined.
I can keep it managed more easily than most.
My family totally understands and even helps me when I need help with managing it.
God is keeping it from affecting my ministry like it could. There is definitely an indirect effect, since it bothers my sleep and such. But I am often able to shut out the pain when I am doing the work of the ministry.
Despite the pain, it does not exactly "handicap" me like it does some other people. I can do pretty much anything anybody else can do, I will just have to bite the bullet on the pain and probably "pay for it" later. But others with this disease are much worse off.

My thorn in the flesh is my frustration and anger with my disease. I pray God to take away the negative feelings about it and help me to focus on the blessings. Please pray for me in that as well, if you would. In Jesus' Name, Amen.

Mary (Bethge) Powers

2011-05-10T11:07:00.001-05:00

Excerpted and edited from the Richmond Palladium-Item:

RICHMOND, Ind. - Mary (Bethge) Powers died Friday, May 6, 2011, at Friends Fellowship Community. Mrs Powers was born in Wayne County, Indiana, Dec. 27, 1917, the daughter of Ross and Agnes Kuth Markey. After graduating from Morton High School, Mrs. Powers married William Bethge. For the next 30 years they lived throughout the Midwest as they transferred with International Harvester until Mary returned to Richmond, Indiana in 1973 after Mr. Bethge's death.

In 1975 she married G. Fred Powers Sr. and resided in Richmond and Fort Myers, Fla., for the next 20 years.

Mrs. Powers is survived by her stepdaughter, Sarah (Numon) Johnson; stepson, John (Connie) Powers of Liberty; nephews, Pierce Marlin Markey, Paul (Janet) Markey of Colorado; a niece, Barbara Lee Nugent of Florida; grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

Her parents; husbands; stepson and daughter-in-law, Fred, Jr. and Patty Powers; two sisters, Martha and Joan Markey; and three brothers, Pierce, Cleatus and Jonas Markey, preceded her in death.

Services will be conducted by Rev. Robert Wyrick, a cousin of the family, at Riggle-Waltermann Mortuary on Tuesday, May 10, 2011, at 2 p.m. Friends and family may call one hour prior to the service. Burial will be in Earlham Cemetery.

Mary will be buried next to her first husband, William Bethge; Fred Powers was buried next to his first wife, Edith, as Fred and Mary agreed when they wed.

Spin Master Customer Service - Excellent

2011-04-25T11:43:00.001-05:00

I just got off the phone with the Customer Service for Spin Master, a company that manufactures neat children's toys including Air Hogs radio controlled helicopters. So far, my customer service experience is the best I have ever had with any company. Let me explain.

Daughter number two received an Air Hogs Sharpshooter helicopter for Christmas. We flew it, crashed it, flew it more and got a lot of fun out of it. I was amazed at the crashes it could take without a scratch and keep on flying.

At some point, she crashed her Sharpshooter for the hundredth time, but this time a small part came off the chopper. The part helps stabilize it in the air, so after that crash it would no longer fly straight. We looked around all over the area of the crash but could not find the tiny part. We set the chopper on the shelf until I thought I could spare the money and the time to take care of getting a replacement part.

Over the course of several months of other busy-ness and relative pennilessness, I looked online for replacement parts but could not find any. Last week I told my daughter, "On Monday, when I will have both the time and the money, remind me to call Air Hogs and I will order you a replacement part."

This morning she reminded me as I told her to. So I called Spin Master, the parent company of Air Hogs and went through the prompts to get to Air Hogs customer service. I spoke with an agent right away. There was never even any hold music, it was an immediate connection to a live person after going through the proper menu prompts.

The agent told me that they do not sell replacement parts for the Sharpshooter. Before I asked for another option, she told me she would just send a new helicopter on a "one time" waiver of the warranty period for replacement.

Our problem would have been covered by a 90 day warranty if I had called within the 90 days. I did not call right away because I did not think it would be covered by warranty since we crashed it and lost the part. How is us losing a part a warranty issue? According to the Air Hogs customer service agent, that was definitely a warranty issue and would have been covered. Now it is covered anyway thanks to their generosity.

The only thing I had to do, which is quite reasonable, is e-mail a picture of the proof of purchase UPC code and also permanently disable the old helicopter and e-mail a picture of that. I was told to take scissors and cut the rotor, then take a picture of it and send it in e-mail. Then they will ship a new helicopter out within 15 days and they won't even charge me for shipping!

As soon as I got off the phone, I had an e-mail in my Inbox with the case number and repeated directions from Customer Service. All I had to do was reply to the e-mail with the attached pictures they asked for. This is what I call amazing customer service. Air Hogs has my radio control business FROM NOW ON and I will definitely call them next time at the first sign of trouble. Meanwhile, I will be checking out other Spin Master brands of products.

On the web:

Spin Master

Air Hogs (page not loading as I type this)

VM

Survey Says...?

2011-04-25T09:26:00.001-05:00

I occasionally take online surveys and earn a little extra money. It is not really "extra" money, as it seems to come right when we can really use it to make ends meet. That's not what this blog post is about though. I am posting a couple of screen captures from some surveys I took, just because they were interesting, funny or otherwise worth noting. Click on any picture for a larger view (to be able to read it if necessary).

Check this one out about grocery shopping. I don't have any comment about this, what can you say?

Here was an interesting survey question about families. Be sure to read all the options, and then take your preferred headache medicine. These are confusing times we live in.

Here is something a little less confusing. It illustrates the fact that the world knows the difference between clothing that is essentially male or female, but somehow Christians can't seem to figure it out.

Really, my first thought when I hit that survey question was which option would a woman click who never wears skirts?

Here is the last one for today. This was a screening question that ended up going into a survey on banking options. They apparently wanted to screen out people who make stupid money decisions. So they gave a list of stupid money decisions to choose from. My guess is anybody who selected one of these options was screened out of the survey.

That's all for now. Happy Monday!

VM

Pray for Bryan & Rachel to Be Saved

2011-04-15T13:50:00.002-05:00

As I was driving to my office this morning, I saw a young man and young woman with packs on their backs, walking along a very quiet road, obviously hoping to catch a ride. They said they had flown out west to visit a grandmother and were trying to get back home to Pennsylvania. Their names are Bryan and Rachel.

After putting their heavy packs in my trunk, with a promise from me to take them to a more busy location at I-70 and 18th Street, they got in the car. Bryan commented on a box of books in my trunk and asked if I like to read. I said that I read a lot of books, but I read the Bible most of all. "How about you, Bryan?" I left the question open-ended - he could interpret it as to whether he liked to read, or whether he liked to read the Bible. He gave me the opportunity I hoped for, the latter option.

"I read a lot, but I have never read the Bible," Bryan told me. Before I could say anything more about that, he continued, "I didn't grow up in any kind of religion or a religious home at all." The door of opportunity to witness to these two was opening wider and wider every second.

I asked Bryan as we got onto the interstate on-ramp, "Bryan, what do you think God is going to do about your sins when you die?" Bryan said, "I don't know, I've never really pondered it much or thought much about that."

Then Bryan asked me, "What do you think?" I love it when people ask me what I think about such matters, because that is a chance to point them to God's word in a way that makes them consider it as the mind of God. "It doesn't matter what I think," I told them. "It matters what God thinks. When you die, I am not going to judge you, and you are not going to judge me. Neither of us is going to judge Rachel. God will be the judge, so it only matters what He thinks. Thankfully, God has already told us what He thinks. It is called the Holy Bible."

I explained how fulfilled prophecy and the resurrection of Jesus Christ prove that the Bible is the word of God, in contrast to the Koran or any other so-called "holy" books. "Mohammed is still in the grave. Buddha is still in the grave. Jesus Christ rose again from the dead, proving that He is exactly Who He said He was. It proves that the Bible alone is God's word."

By this time we were arriving at our highway exit where I had agreed to take these two. I offered to stop and open up the Bible and show them how to be forgiven of their sins, and they both readily agreed.

We stopped in a parking lot and I opened up the Bible. I explained sin, its penalty and its remedy very clearly. At each step along the way, I stopped to make sure they understood each Bible verse we looked at and my explanation of it. I asked where they would go if they died today. Bryan said, "I'd go to hell." Rachel said, "According to that there that we've read so far, we would go to hell." Her comment prompted me to ask, "Do you believe that so far?" to which she said, "I'm thinking about it."

I explained the death of Christ in payment for our sins. He was buried and He rose again. I took them to each scripture and had them each read portions by themselves. I gave several illustrations to help understand the concepts. I explained repentance as a desire to turn away from sin and turn to Jesus Christ as Lord - a new Master.

Bryan's prior statement helped me illustrate Romans 5:8 - "while we were yet sinners..." I said, "Bryan, you told me you had never really pondered it much. You had never thought much about God. We might as well as have been spitting in God's face. But even though you were not thinking about God, God was thinking about you. That's what this verse teaches - God's love for us while we were yet sinners."

They both indicated that they understood the plan of salvation. "Is there anything that would keep you from calling upon the Lord Jesus Christ to save you today?" I asked. Rachel was the first to respond that, "I don't make any decisions right away, I like to think about it." That is certainly a scriptural answer, as Jesus told us to "Count the cost." Bryan indicated that he, too, would consider what he's heard today.

We exchanged contact information, I prayed over them, and Bryan and Rachel are now back on the road to Pennsylvania. Please earnestly pray that God would break through to them. Pray that their next ride would be from a bold Christian that gives them the Gospel again. Pray that they will realize how dangerous a life they are living on the road and that they want to be in God's will. Pray that Satan cannot come and snatch away the word they have heard (Matthew 13:19). Pray that Bryan, who seems more open to the conviction of the Holy Spirit, would not be influenced by any doubts of Rachel. Please pray that I would hear from them soon and we would all see them in heaven.

Please pray as well that God would make us all more bold to be able to witness like this all the time.

VM

Springs of Living Water

2011-03-25T16:48:00.004-05:00

Our plumbing ordeal is more or less over. Here are some interesting statistics of what we have come through by the grace of God. Following that are some pictures.

70 days without fully functional indoor plumbing / water supply. Some of that time, a not insignificant part of that time, without ANY running water. Truly thankful for very nearby relatives and for very helpful friends.
Many days of labor, when weather and other circumistances permitted.
Many days when inches of water, melted snow, or inches of thick clay mud made any work completely impossible.
Over a dozen times when the "very last leak" was repaired only to turn on the water and find another leak. I am not exaggerating at all how many times this happened on both the hot and cold water supply lines.
Five different workers under the house at various different times.
30 feet of 1/2" CPVC pipe
10 feet of 3/4" CPVC pipe
10 feet of 3" ABS pipe
Two whole cans of purple primer, two whole cans of all purpose cement
Various ABS fittings
Countless, and I mean COUNTLESS CPVC elbows, tees, couplers, etc.
Two new 1/4 turn CPVC shutoff valves replacing old & bad Copper valves under house
Three new stainless shutoff valves beneath sinks
One new laundry spigot
One new kitchen faucet (THANKS FRIENDS)
One new bathtub spout
Two new bathroom faucet cartridges (the part "inside" the handle)
$325 so far on total cost to fix, not counting kitchen faucet gift received, and not yet subtracting from that total any leftover parts to be returned soon (small stuff like fittings). I expect to spend about $100 more later this summer on various items to ensure this never happens again.

None of this is complaining, mind you. This is a testimony of God's mercy and grace.

I am thankful that my wife has gotten to a point in her walk with Christ where the strain of something like this (which obviously affects her much more than me) results in compassion for my plight rather than what it could have been.

I praise God that people have understood why we might have been much more busy and maybe preoccupied quite a bit of the time this winter. The water supply problem came right after and even right in the middle of several other costly and difficult trials regarding the house, the automobiles and other issues.

I thank the Lord for the many wonderful gifts of time, money, supplies and offers of help received from brothers and sisters in Christ. I would not want to go through something like this without belonging to a caring church family.

Meanwhile here are some pictures of one day's work. I wish I had taken more pictures.

Here is a picture under the house about halfway through the work. You can see the pipe insulation that was taken off to enable work. You can see the electric heating element in process of being removed, a "rope" that was supposed to keep the pipes from freezing. This element, in place for 13 years, had apparently gone bad, causing this mess. It will be replaced later this summer with a new style that has LED lights to indicate whether they are working. These LEDs will be checked every winter.

Heh, heh, heh, he doesn't yet know what he has gotten into! He will think twice before considering a career as a plumber.

Not very fun under there, is it?

Some people cannot go ANYWHERE without their sunglasses.

Is there room under there for that great big smile?

Another young fellow who thinks maybe plumbing is not so great a career choice.

It is easy to look back on all of this and say it would have probably been cheaper and certainly quicker to hire a plumber. But hindsight is twenty-twenty. Remember that every day I worked, I believed I would be able to complete all the repairs that very day. More issues showed themselves every time prior issues were repaired. Only after completing it all do I have an accurate view of all that was going to be involved. It always seemed best to handle it "do it yourself (with some help)" and I am actually glad that we did it that way. It is satisfying to look back on what the Lord has allowed you to accomplish.

There are just a few minor issues I have to take care of in the next day or three, such as changing out a faucet and resolving a minor leak inside the house. Then when it is warm and dry, I will be able to do the rest of the work beneath the house to better insulate the pipes and install the new heating elements. I also have to reconfigure the ABS drain pipe to prevent some issues we have had with it in the past. But more or less we are done with this and so glad it is behind us. Praise the Lord.

Boxing Ring - Rikki's Thoughts

2011-03-24T23:33:00.002-05:00

I received this from a friend and sister in Christ, Rikki. Most of the readers here know Rikki. She does not have her own blog (right now) but she sent this to me to share with me how she is feeling lately. I asked for her permission to post it here because she wants to also share it with her brothers and especially sisters in Christ. Feel free to comment to Rikki here and I will make sure she sees the comments. This is also an opportunity to pray for her and express it to her.

BOXING RING

Why am I constantly fighting against what I know is right for my life? I feel as if I am in a boxing ring with Satan; I want to fight him and win but I keep coming back to fight him instead of winning and taking my prize and be done with it. I want to leave him defeated, and quit giving him a chance to defeat me. I allow him to have a chance with my mind and my heart and I am so sick of it!! I have all the answers for life right in front of my face there is an answer on every single page. Just one page strikes my heart and challenges my fleshly worldly mind. And I ask my self today, "If I had a deadly disease would I not take the medicine to help cure that disease? Would I do what the doctors say to cure my mortal body?" The answer is yes I would, I don't want to die, I don't want this disease to consume my body and kill me. If I had the cure I would accept it and do whatever it takes to cure my body. I have a more deadlier disease consuming me right now at this very moment. It not only kills my body but it kills my never dying soul, my spirit, the very thing that keeps me alive in this shell, and that disease is called Sin. Sin has killed more people than any other disease in this whole world. The thing about sin is We have had a cure for it for ages. Why am I allowing sin to destroy me? Sin not only affects my relationship with my Jesus but it effects my every day life, it destroys my marriage, my motherhood, my ability to do my job well, and most importantly it destroys my spirit, the very thing that keeps this mortal clay alive. I know the cure and that cure is to lay down my selfish wants, mute this wicked world that surrounds me, pick up the holiest of holiest and let the words change me and cure my curable disease; just read and listen to what the Great Physician has to say, and hide the words in my heart. If I am consistent I will not feel as I am boxing with Satan, I shouldn't even be in the ring with him, I want to totally surrender to Master Jesus. Please Lord forgive me, I want to be serious, take me and change me oh God.

Rikki

Piano Book Giveaway

2011-03-10T00:45:00.000-06:00

Attention all pianists and piano students: Be sure to register for a drawing for a free piano book over at the Church Pianist Blog. Just click the link I provided and enter your name with a comment there and you will be registered for the drawing. You can register twice - first by commenting and second by posting it to your Twitter, Facebook or blog like I am doing right here. Then you go back and comment that you've done so and that is your second entry.

Have fun!

VM

New Entry on my Preaching Blog

2011-02-24T03:54:00.001-06:00

After too long of an absence, I updated my preaching blog with the fifth entry in my series, "Speaking For the Lord." The series is an exposition of Isaiah 6:1-8 with the preacher in mind.

I really encourage anyone interested at all in the subject of preaching and preachers to read through the entire series from the beginning. I apologize for taking so long to continue it. It's not like I've been busy or anything... :) I hope to not be so long with additional entries (you've heard that before from me and other bloggers, I'm sure).

See you later.

VM

Two for Sick Leave

2011-02-19T21:13:00.000-06:00

Please pray for me and for my younger daughter as we are both very sick.

I spent much of the day Thursday working under my house and started coughing Thursday night at a Bible study. I felt very dry so I thought it was from dust under the house, even though it has never affected me like that before.

All day Friday the cough kept getting worse and it started burning under my sternum when I coughed. I also had severe body ache, like I had pulled muscles that I know I did not really pull, especially in my back (my left latissimus dorsi, to be exact, the largest muscle in the back was killing me). At my office Friday, I spent a great deal of time lying flat on my back when I prayed instead of kneeling like usual. Nevertheless, even through it all, I was able to get a lot of work accomplished on Friday, including completing a sermon outline and updating my Wide Margin Bible Notes blog with lots of notes from my current series in Psalm 27.

Friday evening I just continued to get worse and worse. My in-laws had come to town and we spent Friday evening with them at their hotel and I just kept getting worse. I woke up Saturday morning with a fever, cramps, headache and body ache, sinus drainage and stoppage, sore throat, worse coughing, etc. I knew I needed to stay in bed all day, rather than visit more with the in-laws. I called in a pinch hitter to preach both services on Sunday and went back to sleep. Meanwhile, the rest of my family went out to the hotel to visit.

I woke up later and took a hot shower. My dad fixed me some chicken soup and I felt a little better but very light-headed. I went back to bed.

I know I have been exposed to RSV, which is not really dangerous in adults but I don't want to spread it to children. Saturday evening my younger daughter has come down with all the same symptoms as me now.

If I remember correctly, tomorrow will be the first time in over five years that I have missed church on the Lord's Day due to illness. There have been some close calls, and probably some days I should have stayed home. But I have long been the type that no matter what, I am going to be in church if there is any way possible. I am feeling a bit better tonight, but somebody has to stay home with Ab and I still don't want to possibly spread RSV around.

I do not know if this is RSV, but it feels different than a cold or influenza.

Long story short, please just pray for our recovery. Please also pray for some babies I know of with RSV, Faith and Grace. Thank you.

VM

The Unisex Agenda Marches Forward In Fashion

2011-02-15T02:38:00.002-06:00

The unisex agenda is a small but integral part of Satan's overall plan for society. It involves removing all traditional virtues of God's well-ordered design for the roles and relationships of Man and Woman. God ordained these roles and relationships at the very Creation of Mankind. He then confirmed, after sin entered, that these virtues would be difficult to maintain because they will be painful and because they will be under attack by our own now-sinful flesh:

Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee. - Genesis 3:16.

The interesting clause "thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee" is difficult to interpret until we notice the same phrasing in the next chapter, when the LORD speaks to Cain after the murder of Abel:

If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him. - Genesis 4:7.

In Genesis 4, God is telling Cain (and by extension, all of fallen mankind) that sin has a "desire" to rule over a person but the person should instead be the master over sin. Armed with this interpretation, we go back to Genesis 3:16 - "and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee." We now can clearly see that God is indicating that after the Fall, the woman will have a sinful and prideful desire to be the head of her husband, i.e., to be the leader in the relationship, but the man is to have that role.

Now enter Satan. He was there when this curse was pronounced and he knew exactly what God meant. From that moment forward, Satan has been attempting to exploit this weakness that he knows about.

God is the God of order. Satan is the author of confusion. Wherever God has ordained order, such as the virtues of manhood and womanhood, Satan wishes to destroy that order and replace it with confusion. Here are the main battle fronts Satan seems to have chosen lately in his ages-old quest to destroy God's order for Man and Woman:

The acceptance of homosexuality, making a meaningless mockery of the God-ordained institution of orderly marriage.
The rise of feminism, bringing the decline of gender-based roles of any kind.
The brainwashing of men to accept the passive, clueless roles that Satan envisions for them.
The use of every facet of Satan's power in this world to accomplish the above, including his control of the entertainment industry, the media, the fashion industry, etc.

Let us focus on point 4 above. Remember that God's word plainly declares in I John 5:19 that "the whole world lieth in wickedness", meaning literally that the entire world system "reclines in the lap of the Wicked One." Satan has overt control over the systems of this present evil world and he uses it for his goal of promoting confusion.

The unisex agenda of confusion is promoted most subtly (at times) but perhaps most effectively by the fashion industry. Even many Christian men and women who claim to eschew feminism have embraced the clothing fashions that promote feminism and Satan's unisex agenda. Christian women have unwittingly become Satan's pawns as they adorn themselves with clothing that outwardly proclaims, "I do not feel very feminine today."

Now Satan's unisex agenda takes even further great leaps forward on the fashion front, revealing to all who have eyes to see what the original goal was from the very beginning. Not all that long ago, male garments being worn on women and redesigned for women debuted in America, accompanied at the same time by radical feminism in the quest to erase all that distinguishes between men and women. Fast-forward forty years and the ultimate goal of the fashion industry's unisex plunge is now in full sight, as we shall see in the below review of this year's Fashion Week in New York.

----- BEGIN NEWS ARTICLE EXCERPT -----
Feminine twist on classic menswear at Fashion Week

By SAMANTHA CRITCHELL, AP Fashion Writer

Mon Feb 14, 3:55 pm ET

NEW YORK — In every fairytale there's a princess and a hero. Unless she comes to her own rescue.

Luxe textures, sheer fabrics and fitted shapes offering feminine twists on traditional men's suiting are all over the runways at New York Fashion Week. It's strength combined with confidence, boy style, by Day 5 of fall previews.

Prabal Gurung has his share of frilly princesses. But, as in the case of his muse for the season, Miss Havisham of Dickens fame, the knights don't always show up.

"Her story is a lot about men," said Gurung from the front row of his mentor Carolina Herrera's show Monday.

Other designers mixed princess beauty and the strength of menswear.

Tommy Hilfiger sent classic tailoring and pinstripes down the catwalk. Donna Karan's DKNY turned traditional men's jackets into capes. Brian Wolk and Claude Morais looked to the history of menswear to please a Ruffian woman's search for "unkempt elegance" via a white silk blouse with black bow tie and tailed jacket.

Paula Gerbase, the creative director for the Black label collection of Woolrich John Rich & Bros., trained on London's Savile Row. No surprise she drew on 1940s hunting clothes to deconstruct the women's line....

TOMMY HILFIGER

He of global brand launched his collection with menswear more than 25 years ago. He returns to those roots next season, reinterpreting them for women.

A gray herringbone double-breasted jacket with matching wide-leg trousers set the borrowed-from-the-boys mood....

There were glen plaids, peacoats and jackets with leather patches on the elbows.

Handkerchiefs peeked out of pockets.....
----- END NEWS ARTICLE EXCERPT -----
Full story here.

The article above has a headline that says "Feminine twist." Considering the picture that accompanies the article, I am trying to figure out just which part of it was supposed to be feminine. I would have said it was the long hair, but it actually looks like the hair of a man I know.

Moving on, here is another recent find along these same lines. An online catalog lists certain women's clothing items as being "Menswear-Inspired" and "Borrowed-from-the-boys." Take a look:

What has happened recently is very interesting. The world system has discovered that they can be out of the closet about their unisex agenda in the fashion world. Nobody is paying attention anymore; nobody is speaking out against it anymore. Now they can proudly proclaim that their fashions for women are actually just slightly modified men's clothes. Even the Christian women have already been wearing men's fashions for a few decades now, so why bother to keep the unisex agenda secret any longer? Who cares about it? Who is going to fuss if they just stand up and say out loud what they've been up to for the last 40 years?

An even further interesting tidbit is this, as our Lord said, "the children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light," Luke 16:8. The world now plainly admits that certain items of women's clothing are identified with men, while Christians want to deny that fact and defend to the death their women wearing what pertains to the man.

These are interesting times in which we live.

VM

For Our Beloved Timothy's Family

2011-02-04T00:11:00.001-06:00

All Things Work Out for Good
Words: John W. Peterson
Music: Thomas Hastings
Arranged: Peterson

Click here to LISTEN (instrumental, two verses).

All things work out for good, we know
Such is God's great design;
He orders all our steps below
For purposes divine.
For purposes divine.

This is the faith that keeps me still,
No matter what the test,
And lets me glory in His will--
For well I know 'tis best.
For well I know 'tis best.

So now the future holds no fear,
God guards the work begun;
And mortals are immortal here
Until their work is done.
Until their work is done.

Some day the path He chose for me
Will all be understood;
In heaven's clearer light I'll see
All things worked out for good.
All things worked out for good.

-----------
Some times it is hard to see it now, but we know it is true because we have God's word on it.

Your pastor loves you.

Jesus loves you.

VM

Blizzard Approaches - Time for Pictures

2011-01-31T21:48:00.000-06:00

As a blizzard approaches Kansas City with a forecasted 97 inches of snow and low temperatures of minus 213 expected, since we are all going to die I thought it would be a good idea to first save all the recent pictures from my cell phone camera. Here you go.

I thought this sort of thing was against the Civil Rights Act!

I don't think I can ever order "Chicken Fingers" again!

I don't know why this was so funny, but my wife just laughed and laughed when she saw it. She still mentions it from time to time.

Talk about bad theology!!! And I always thought you could trust anything written on a gaudy collector plate or a truck stop T-shirt.

There is a huge cross beside I-70 near Effingham, Illinois. We always drive past it but finally had time to stop. Just a couple of pictures playing around.

Hey bloggers, let's play a game. For every inch of snow we get in the blizzard, post a new picture. 12 inches means 12 pictures, get it? Are you in?

VM

Working Moms Feel Guilty

2011-01-31T13:14:00.000-06:00

Reading a news article online, I ran across a link to a poll for working moms. According to a poll on iVillage.com (not a recommended site for holy living), most working mothers responded that they felt guilty for not being home full time. As of 1/31/2011 at noon, the poll numbers were something like 3 out of 4 working moms felt guilty.

Here is a snapshot of the poll from 1/31. It was still ongoing, so the numbers may have changed by now. You can click on the picture for a full size view:

I am not trying to put a guilt trip on anyone with this post, but this guilty feeling is called a conscience. It was given to men and women by a wise Creator, the Lord Jesus Christ, and it helps us to instinctively know right from wrong. This guilty feeling for these moms is not false guilt; it is given to help guide them into making a necessary change as soon as possible.

Here is the really interesting part of all this for me. Based on the site on which this poll was found, we can assume the vast majority of responding women were not born again. We can also assume that they are mothers of school-aged children, so they are mostly the under 40 crowd. This is the generation (my generation) for whom it was constantly repeated that women should be out working and there was nothing wrong with it. We saw our own mothers working outside the home, the first generation of mothers to do so in large numbers. We did not see June Cleaver on prime-time TV; we saw the working feminist and the single mother. We read in the Weekly Reader about the fight for the Equal Rights Amendment. Our public school teachers were mostly feminists. We grew up in a culture that not only tolerated but actually CELEBRATED the woman "liberated" from her responsibilities at home. That is how the women responding to this poll grew up.

In other words, the women responding to this poll are the ultimate product of decades of feminist brainwashing and propaganda. They are the best that feminism has to offer. I am not saying they are the best at debating feminism or promoting feminism (that was the generation who were vocal in the 1970s). I am saying that these mothers are the best that feminism has actually produced. They are the "END PRODUCT" of the movement.

And yet their lifelong brainwashing cannot overcome their inborn conscience. God wins again.

VM

Q & A: The Lord's Blessing for Good Works

2011-01-28T21:53:00.001-06:00

I received the following question by e-mail and gave more or less the following answer, though I am expanding my answer a bit after thinking about it some more. I believe questions like this are common among believers, so I am posting it here for the public. I encourage your comments and discussion.

From: X
Sent: Friday, January 28, 2011 8:09 PM
Subject: Question

If you do something for someone because you want to but you are also thinking the Lord may bless you for doing it, is it wrong?

Hi X,

That is a good question.

Thinking that the Lord will bless you for doing good is only exercising faith in God's promises to bless. And it is never wrong to exercise faith. We do not do the things we do simply to receive the blessings, but at the same time we understand that God does bless and there is nothing wrong with holding that in our minds. In fact, sometimes the promise of blessing is a good motivator to help us do the hard things.

Many times in the word of God, we are told that when we do good we shall be rewarded. This is taught for example in Ruth 2:12, Proverbs 11:18, Matthew 6:1-6, Luke 6:35, Colossians 3:23-24 and many more places. God would not tell us these things if he then expected us to do good but to cast out of our minds the fact that He will bless us for it.

I hope that helps!
------

My expanded answer:

Many verses teach that the believer will be blessed for doing good, but some verses actually teach us to THINK about the blessing. The following verses specifically speak of the fact that we are to hold in our minds the blessings of God for doing good:

And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men; Knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance: for ye serve the Lord Christ. - Colossians 3:23-24.

Honour thy father and mother; (which is the first commandment with promise;) That it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth. - Ephesians 6:2-3.

Knowing that whatsoever good thing any man doeth, the same shall he receive of the Lord, whether he be bond or free. - Ephesians 6:8.

Cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompence of reward. - Hebrews 10:35.

Look to yourselves, that we lose not those things which we have wrought, but that we receive a full reward. - II John 8.

Some of these verses are plainly speaking of blessings in this life for following God's will in good works. Some of these are speaking of rewards in heaven rather than in this life. Some of these verses could go either way and it is (as always) up to God to decide how and when He will bless. Regardless, all of these make mention of our confidence of blessing. It would be impossible, and apparently is not God's will for us, to do good without at least considering that God will bless.

The ultimate verse on this subject is the verse that actually goes as far as to tell us to put God's promise of blessing to the test:

Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it. - Malachi 3:10.

Receiving God's blessing is not the reason that we do good, help others, give tithes and offerings, live righteously, take a stand for truth, etc. But it is promised of God and there is absolutely nothing wrong with rejoicing that God lives up to His promises.

VM

Yet Another Blog

2011-01-09T01:45:00.000-06:00

I can't even keep two blogs going, let alone three. But I have long been meaning to digitize and categorize the notes I've written in my Bible margin, so a blog seems the best way. That way the notes may also be helpful to others.

To that end, I just started another blog, Wide Margin Bible Notes. I will start posting Bible notes there in a few days.

Enjoy.

VM
01/09/2011

How To Make People Think You're Smarter Than You Are

2011-01-06T21:03:00.005-06:00

The following is a chapter out of my new book, "How To Get Ahead In This Life & Forfeit The Life To Come: A Manual for Hypocrites of All Kinds." Copies are a dime a dozen and available wherever fine literature is stole.

CHAPTER 1
How To Make People Think You're Smarter Than You Are

You have a problem. You are smart, but you're not that smart. Admit it, you're not. But you really want people to think that you're smarter than you actually are. Here are some of the steps you can take.

First, always make certain to carry around books so people are sure you're reading them. If there is ever a camera around, be certain you are photographed with the book title showing, not hidden against your body. This takes skill - you will want to hold the book from the open end instead of cradling your hand under the spine like your instincts tell you to do. Fight your instincts and be sure the book title makes it to film. Also, if you are a public figure, leak to the media the titles of the books you are taking on vacation and be sure to pick titles that will improve people's opinion of you. A couple of examples might help:

Above we see that even the most incompetent persons are assumed to be able to read as well as to be interested in reading if they will follow this plan. The assumption may even be that they read everything they sign, even if it is over 1200 pages and just came out in final form a day before the signing.

Next, in your quest to be viewed as smarter, now that you've gotten your reading figured out, you have to get a handle on your writing. Be careful not to write too much. You do not want very many opportunities for your ignorance to show through. Always use spell-check and grammar-check, but don't rely on them completely. Get a smart English major to act as editor. If you want to write a larger work, hire a ghost-writer. (I would explain what a ghost-writer is but you're already smart enough to know about that).

If you are in an academic field, such as in a college setting as a professor or student, or if your work actually involves a lot of writing, such as a serious journalist or researcher of some kind, you MUST learn to make proper use of Latin phrases, especially the more obscure ones. Everyone knows what "et cetera" and "status quo" means. You need to go for the more Latinny Latin. Pull out the "et seq." or give them the old "aetat." It is especially important to use Latin phrases that are abbreviated, such as "et al." instead of the complete "et alii." Sprinkle your writing with these and do NOT explain what any of them mean. Write like you assume your reader is already familiar with the most obscure Latin imaginable. Your clueless reader will therefore assume you are smarter than them, and since just about everybody thinks they are very smart themselves, it will make you seem extremely smart.

In some of your writing you may wish to quote from foreign language literature. Do NOT translate it for your reader. Quote it in the original language and then comment on it as if you and your reader both understand it. This is especially important in any religious writing. All of the smarter Bible scholars do this. If you are writing any kind of religious commentary, this is a MUST.

Next, come up with a string of letters to put after your name in your e-mail signature, business card, letterhead and online profile page. The letters do not have to mean anything - in fact, it is better if they don't. Check out your letters first to make sure they don't mean something you don't intend. You do not want to send correspondence as "Frank Jones, F.A.C.S." and then have people calling you for surgery. There are all kinds of obscure letters used in various fields, so people don't usually check into these. If they do check and cannot find out what it means, then they will esteem you even higher for holding a very obscure title. If someone asks you about your letters, just laugh it off and say that your credentials are meaningless to you and that doesn't really matter, what matters is the important work like [fill in the blank related to your work]. Here you've got a two-fer - they think you're smart AND they think you're modest about it.

Finally, in your quest to make people think you are smarter than you really are, the biggest key is VOCABULARY. Learn to use a few big or unusual words and learn what they mean. Most people go around with this attitude: "Anybody who uses a word I've never heard before is automatically considered smarter than me no matter how stupid they seem otherwise." This is really true about the way people think. If you are obviously a total idiot but you use unusual words, you will just be considered an eccentric genius, like Einstein always forgetting to comb his hair and tie his shoes. Or at the very least, you will be thought of as an idiot savant like "Rainman." But if you are even halfway competent or intelligent in the slightest, then a rich vocabulary is your key to really impressing others.

Be certain to put these simple rules into practice and you will have everyone convinced that you are very smart. You should be able to get a raise at work, better dates, more interesting friends and the best seats at social gatherings.

By following these steps along with the instructions in later chapters of this book, you will also have your chance for an all expenses paid trip to check into (but not check out of) the Hotel Inferno.

VM
01/06/2011

ADDENDUM:
The idea for this satire was born when I recently read an e-mail periodical I am signed up to receive regularly. I have been reading the fellow's articles for years and he recently started using obscure Latin phrases without explanation. About four or five times in the latest issue, he used "inter alia" and used another even more obscure Latin phrase two or three times. This was in only 8 or 10 pages of articles he wrote, so it definitely jumped out. I began to wonder if he consciously chose to start using more Latin and why so. I fought the urge to assign a motive to his change of style, and I do not believe the man is a hypocrite, but it reminded me that Christian ranks are filled with hypocrites of all kinds, including those whose hypocrisy is trying to be impressive with their intelligence, feigned or actual. I started writing with just the idea about the Latin phrases and the rest flowed from there. I may publish additional chapters of this "book" for hypocrites.

VM
01/07/2011

Diabetes: The Family Curse

2011-01-03T02:55:00.000-06:00

Prevention Magazine recently listed "12 Ways to Never Get Diabetes" online. I just took a quick browse through the list and compared it with my lifestyle. There was nothing new there for me, and nothing I didn't already know about. But it was just one more reminder. Somehow staring at the twelve items in the list and realizing that I am not doing any of them, 0 for 12 was yet another wake-up call. It was like when my sister was diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes not long ago. She has a healthier body weight than me and is more active, but the family curse struck her first. Can I be far behind?

Anyway, as depressing as it is (and as motivating as it should be) here is the list, along with my honest reaction. Certainly I will be putting some of these into practice. My only questions are (a) how much of this can I really accomplish long-term and (b) will it be too little, too late to keep me from getting Type 2 Diabetes?

"Nudge the Scale." They mean lose even just a little weight and it will reduce your risk. I can do that, I do it all the time. I have lost like 600 pounds in the last 10 years, all in 5, 10 or 20 pound increments. It is easy to lose and easy to gain it back, which I also do all the time. Maybe the people around me can help me remain serious about making it last.
"Pick the Right Appetizer. May we recommend the salad? Eating greens with a vinaigrette before a starchy entrée may help control your blood sugar levels." I can do this, but to me, this just seems like a halfway measure - half a loaf. Why not just skip the "starchy entree" altogether for some protein instead? Have the salad, fine, but the starch is the problem. I do not do anything halfway. I know others can, but I just don't. If I were to change my diet, which I should, it would be a radical change, which I have been VERY succesful with in the past. The trouble is that a radical change is a lot easier when everybody else in your house is with you in it. I really do not know what to do about this one.
"Ditch Your Car." Of course - exercise more, including walking. When I started thinking about this in my life, I missed my walks to my office earlier this year. But then my office was only a few blocks from my house. I started thinking about walking the 12 miles to my current office and wondering how many minutes (hours? days?) it would take. This is the kind of question I now have to resolve to answer. It is going to bug me until I know how long it takes to walk to Edwardsville. Watch for me walking down K-32 some day. If I like it, it may become regular. One thing I always liked about walking alone is time to pray, quote scripture and meditate on my current studies. A lot of my sermons are developed while I am walking or driving alone with the Lord.
"Be a Cereal Connoisseur." Yeah, yeah, whole grains, we get it. Again, half a loaf to me. I am not usually hungry at breakfast time anyway, so I will just modify this suggestion to knock off eating the bad cereals.
"Indulge Your Coffee Cravings." You got the wrong guy. The only thing I crave about coffee is I crave a world where there is a complete coffee shortage and nobody has any except for the Navy. The world would be a happier place. If the same diabetes-reducing effect is available without coffee, like popping No-Doz or something...I don't know if I want in on that either.
"Ditch the Drive-Thru." Stop eating fast food so often? I should. Am I willing to? Am I too busy to? Am I too LAZY to? Am I just too good at making excuses to myself and my family for our fast food lifestyle? Can I quit cold turkey or would it be easier to taper off gradually? As a matter of fact, I am actually getting sick and tired of fast food lately. I can't imagine me saying that but it is true. This is something I really have to consider. I have actually felt very sick to my stomach on fast food MANY times in the last six to ten months. That has never happened in all my life. It is probably time to give it up.
"Go Veggie More Often." Cut out the red-meat they say. Of course this suggestion is based on current typical low-fat dietary thinking rather than the revolutionary and proven ideas of low-carb dieting, and also this suggestion is based on studies of women, whose protein needs are lower than men's. I should eat more vegetables, but eat them in place of starches and sugars rather than in place of meat.
"Spice Up Your Life. Cinnamon may help rein in high blood sugar." I have heard this one before. They even make cinnamon capsules so you don't have to actually eat it. It is something I will look into.
"Unwind Every Day. Chronic stress can send blood sugar levels soaring." Ummm, can you say "Small Church Pastor" five times fast without getting stressed? "Unwind" does not even begin to explain what I need.
"Get a Perfect Night’s Rest." Either too little sleep or too much sleep is a serious risk factor for developing diabetes. As for me, my life switches off between nights with too little sleep followed by nights with too much sleep. So I get double points for this one. Read all about my sleep struggle here if you are interested. The only thing I can do about this is pray for God to cure me and rest in His sufficient grace until He does.
"Keep Good Company." Actually, I am doing this. Only I am doing it too often at McDonald's & Wendy's after church, so it does not count. See point 6 above.
"Have a Blood Test." This is to see if you are at risk. I already know I am at risk. No blood test needed until I want to see if I have actually developed the disease full-blown. Hopefully I will be able to change enough so that I won't get to that point.

So that is the list. Something has to work. I covet your prayers.

VM 01/03/2010

Describe Strange People

2010-12-30T14:43:00.000-06:00

Here is a little exercise for fun. In the comments below or on your own blog, describe a person you have known who is completely normal and average except for one very oddball trait. No names, just a description. Here is mine.

I once worked in an office with a lady who would never write "August 16th" or "8/16" on anything at all. Most of the time she would take August 16th off work to avoid writing it. You see, Elvis Presley had died on August 16, 1977 and she did not wish to even acknowledge the day, because to acknowledge the day was to acknowledge the death. So for important office documents that had to be dated August 16th, she would not even touch it or act like it existed. Everybody else in the office knew about this longstanding issue and it was never mentioned or spoken of with her, so anything that had to be done with that date was kind of automatically picked up by someone else. What I don't understand is how she initially explained this to anyone at the beginning of her career there to get them to do the work. (She started working there long before me). And otherwise, the lady was perfectly, absolutely the nicest, most normal person you would ever meet. If I remember correctly, she was also a Christian with high moral standards - though having been born again some time after 1977.

Your turn. A "normal" person with just one very oddball trait. You can't use me because I have more than one.

A New Career?

2010-12-28T05:43:00.001-06:00

Okay, here is another one of those posts when (a) I am being totally transparent and (b) I am just talking about my life and there are probably very few (if any) lessons here for anyone else and (c) I am mainly just rambling stream-of-consciousness because it has been another one of those nights, like Monday nights often are for me. But I just feel like sharing.

For 16.5 years of marriage, I brought home the bacon and the mama-san wrote the checks. She worked full-time before kids and part-time for a little while after, which thankfully has long ago changed and she is home full time for the last 8 blessed years. But even when she worked full-time, I brought in the big check. After all, that was my job as "the man" right?

I had her manage our money and pay our bills and work the budget, etc. And that is fine too. If the wife is better at money management (which she definitely was), I suggest the husband maintain his role as head (and therefore final decision maker) but let her "guide the house" (I Timothy 5:14) when it comes to bill paying and budgeting and such. And if he is better, then get on it, Mister.

Well, she was better. Way better. I was not at all a money manager 16.5 years ago when we got married. So she just stepped up to it and I never bothered to change things. Until now.

Lately I have seen the stress that money management causes my wife. I do not want her to even have to worry about it or stress over it or whatever you want to call what she does when she is looking at the checkbook in one hand and the stack of bills in the other.  I saw that it was time for me to step up and give it another try.

I want my wife to feel about our budget and finances the same way my children feel. Not to even think about it one time, ever. My kids have never asked me if the electric bill is going to get paid on time or if we have enough money for groceries or how much is in our emergency fund. Never asked, probably never thought about it. They just live their lives taking care of what they are responsible for and leave the rest to me. If they ask if we can have something and the answer is "We can't afford it" then they don't ask again and go on their merry way. That is how I want my wife to view our money from now on. I would like to keep her assured that the bills are paid, and give her a budget to work with on groceries and such, and have her not even think anything more about it than that.

So I have been managing our budget since November 12th, a month and a half ago at the time I write this.  The mama-san is learning how to handle it - she still looks at the bills and the balance, but she has learned to stop fretting (I think). After all, it has only been a while, so I will give her time to catch on that she doesn't even have to think about it any more.

But that is not the big news. The big news is this: I LIKE IT!!! I actually enjoy it. And what's more, I think I am good at it.

I like going online and looking at the bank and then comparing it to my spreadsheet and seeing what has cleared and what hasn't and seeing that my balance matches to the penny the balance reported by the bank.

I like making a deposit at the bank and then grabbing a stack of bills and writing out all the checks and then the satisfying feeling that comes when I am all out of bills to pay but there is still some money left over for gasoline and groceries. And on top of that, I had put something into savings.

I like entering into a computer spreadsheet all the transactions every single day and balancing it with the bank's records. And it doesn't even take that much time. Just a couple of minutes with my saved debit card receipts and duplicate checks and that is all it takes to stay on top of it every day.

I like knowing at any given moment how much money we have in the checking account, to the penny, after everything would clear that is outstanding. (Total transparency blogging moment: My bills are all paid through the first week or two of January and I have very little left over for gas, groceries and extras until I get paid again. We will probably use up all of it, but I am satisfied and contented and I believe it will be just enough).

I like knowing at any given moment how much cash is tucked away in my safety deposit box, where it cannot be spent in a moment of weakness but has to be deliberately removed, only during bank hours.  (Total transparency moment in the safety deposit box: Cuba trip fund from sale of Bibles; a few cash gifts designated for specific purposes; a small amount to start back up our emergency fund after it was recently wiped out). Even in the safety deposit box all this money is tracked on the outside of bank envelopes in hand-written spreadsheets. And I like it that way.

I like not having bills hanging over my head but paying them almost as soon as they come in, even if it means we have no extra money for a while.

I like the way God is blessing this arrangement, too, by the way. Since the day I committed to this I have been 100% assured that I am doing the right thing and that I am making the right decisions financially for my family. God has led and then blessed with the ability to pay bills EARLY for the first time in quite a while. Not late but just before the late charge kicks in; not right on time; not mailed a day or two before the due date, but when the bill comes in the mailbox, if the money is in the bank then the bill is right back out the door even if it is not due for three weeks! And then God blesses with the ability to get by on the money that's left over!

Mondays are my big TCBB days. TCBB means "Takin' Care of Business, Baby!" If you call me on Monday and ask what I'm doing, I'll say, "Takin' Care of Business, Baby!" Well, depending on who you are, I may not call you "Baby." But I'll be writing checks and licking envelopes and putting on stamps and driving to the bank and balancing my spreadsheet and generally getting a kick out of seeing my money go out the door. How odd is that? And I will have a smile on my face the whole time, can you believe that?

The other day I told my wife that we are paying the mortgage about a week early and some other bills two and three weeks early and that meant no extra spending AT ALL for the next week or two. She looked at me and said, "What happened to my husband?" Then she reminded me that when she married me and took over my bills, I was four months behind with just my lousy old $10 monthly credit card payment. So what happened to her husband, anyway? Did I just grow up a little more in that area in the last 16 years and not realize it till now?

Now here is the strangest part. From 1997 to 2007 I worked with accountants. I ran the computers and the network for them and they ran the numbers and the spreadsheets. I don't know how many accountants you know but trust me, by and large they are some odd people. They are generally nice and helpful and sweet, but they just have a different way of viewing the world. It is hard to explain to someone who doesn't work with them, but any other non-accountant who has worked in a large accounting firm knows what I am talking about. I love accountants but I am trying to explain that I have always considered them so different from me. Not inferior or superior or anything at all like that, just so vastly different. Accountants are so similar in that they are different. (Of course I know I am a very odd and "different" individual myself).

Well, now I feel like an accountant. I get a kick out of the numbers in one column matching the numbers in another column. I get a sense of accomplishment about my numbers coming out right. I get a smile on my face when I finish entering in all the transactions for the day. I get a sense of satisfaction about entering all the data days before the bank knows about my transactions and then finding out days later that the bank ends up on the same page with me. It is actually a feeling of empowerment, like I finally have the upper hand on the bank and not the other way around. I am no longer waiting to see what the bank says anymore and see whether or not I am right; I am waiting to see whether or not the BANK is right because I KNOW I am staying on top of my money.

So now I feel like an accountant; like one of "them" that I so long felt I had little in common with and no middle ground between us. And the feeling is very odd, but I LIKE IT!

Maybe a new career? No, I don't think I could become an accountant, no matter how much I like all this. There is one thing I like more than any of this and that is staying in the Lord's will. Right now I know that I am in His will as the pastor of a wonderful little church. Even this latest turn of events in my home has confirmed it more strongly. There have been times when more money was in the bank and more money was coming in every week. But there has never been a time when I have felt so content that every dollar is a blessing from God and has God's blessing on the way we use it. If I had the choice between twice the income without this contentment - and I have been there - or my present situation, the choice would be easy. I actually made that choice several years ago but it has finally sunk in what all would be involved. Jesus said to count the cost of following His leading. I am here to tell you that the cost is nothing compared to the benefit. Can I get an "Amen" ?

From the Mouths of Babes / Childlike Faith

2010-12-24T21:12:00.000-06:00

One of my habits is to constantly spot and point out flaws in the Theory of Evolution. I will read a news article or an encyclopedia entry or something else about an animal's design and it just strikes me as odd and inconsistent with the idea of millions of years of natural selection and beneficial mutations. So I voice my objections out loud: example here. Around my house, I usually explain out loud what I have just read and then exclaim, "How could evolution ever account for that?"

If my younger daughter is around, she will listen to the explanation and listen to me say, "How could evolution ever account for that?" Then she is very likely to exclaim herself the following:

"Yeah! Monkeys would never even be able to figure that out!"

When I hear that, I am just laughing too hard to explain anything to her. She is just convinced that monkeys are at the center of a conspiracy about evolution! Somehow monkeys are behind it all!

Actually, the theory makes about as much sense as if monkeys had come up with it. I think she is on to something!

VM 12/24/2010

Interesting Book Titles

2010-12-22T01:21:00.005-06:00

I have an experiment for all bloggers who read this. Make a list and post it on your blog (or in the comments here if you do not have a blog) of interesting book titles you own or have seen. You do not have to have read the book, just post the title and possibly why it is interesting.

Here is a list of interesting titles from my own library. (My comments are based on the title and are not a true reflection of the book contents, nor an endorsement or criticism of the book.)

Preacher, Behave! I know of a few preachers that apparently did not read this one yet.
88 Reasons Why the Rapture Will Be in 1988. Good try.
A Biography of the English Language. Just a catchy title.
How the Clinton Clergy Corrupted a President. Apparently about some more preachers that also did not read the first book in the list.
Shocked by the Bible: The Most Astonishing Facts You've Never Been Told. This title is interesting because the only people shocked by anything in this book are people that have never read the Bible or attended anything remotely like church or Sunday School, such as Bill O'Reilly who promoted the book. Example shocking fact: Jesus was not the only one to walk on water. Well, you don't say? Any 5 year old in the average decent church can tell you Peter also walked on water.
The Pentecostal Movement in the Catholic Church. The title tells me there are some REALLY confused people out there.
What Does the Bible Really Teach? Of course this book by the Watchtower cult teaches the opposite of what the title says.
The Coming Destruction of the Baptist People. Catching title.
Election And... Talk about an interesting title. Just the title could keep you up nights wondering!
Star Book for Ministers. Sounds like a preacher's guide to astronomy but actually a handbook for special services and such.
Things That Are Different Are Not the Same! Thank you Dr. Obvious. Actually, this is part of my library on the Bible translation issue.
Cookbook of Foods from Bible Days. Finally, you can have the secret recipe for Jacob's pottage and go around stealing birthrights, it smells so good. I really do wonder where they got recipes handed down for over 2,000 years.
God's Two Clocks! Umm...okay.
The Indestructible Jew. Posing as a mild-mannered accountant for a great metropolitan newspaper, fights for Truth, Justice and the Zion way! (Really, think about it and the "indestruction" of the Jewish people is a testament to the truth of God's word).
United States of Europe. Of course this prophetic little booklet was published in 1963, nearly forty years before it really came to pass.
This Little Church Went to Market. Interesting title and all too true.
Visitation Made Easy. I wonder what they mean by easy.
One More Night With the Frogs. That title has to grab your attention.
Person to Parson. Read the title again slowly if you do not get the pun.
The Meanest Man in the Whole USA. Actually I do not own this Oliver B. Greene title but I am on the hunt for it just to solve the mystery of who he was preaching about.

Okay, if you own any books or have ever seen interesting titles, then TAG YOU'RE IT. Post!

VM 12/2010

Wisdom from 1689

2010-12-20T00:57:00.002-06:00

What kind of things do you read for fun? I sit around and read Confessions of Faith, among other things. I find them very intriguing as well as eye-opening about the conditions of the time that produced them.

The following is from the introduction to the Second London Baptist Confession of Faith, drafted in the year 1689:

And verily there is one spring and cause of the decay of religion in our day...and that is the neglect of the worship of God in families by those to whom the charge and conduct of them is committed. May not the gross ignorance and instability of many, with the profaneness of others, be justly charged upon their parents...?

Remember this was the year 1689. It was not long before the Sunday School came along and allowed the festering of this neglect by parents. And then not much longer before the youth group and other programs came along to actually promote this neglect. Though that was not the intent or stated goal, any honest person armed with the facts can see that it has been the result.

Furthermore we note that ALL churches were what we call "family integrated" back in 1689. And yet these Baptists saw some of the same kinds of problems many (including the church I pastor) have been trying to avoid by going back to "family integrated" church services. Obviously it was not as bad then as we see today in the program-driven churches, but we must take note of this fact illustrated by this quoted statement: A "family integrated" church is not the entire solution; parents must still do their jobs. (That fact of course is part of the entire philosophy of family integrated churches, but it bears repeating to parents).

I just thought I would share the thoughts that struck me as I was doing my fun reading after church tonight.

How Would I Finish That Sentence? (More Thoughts)

2010-12-19T00:30:00.000-06:00

I just reread my most recent prior post and then this line from a hymn stuck in my head, along with a Bible passage as well:

Nothing in my hand I bring;
Simply to Thy cross I cling.

...Rock of ages, cleft for me.
Let me hide myself in Thee.

We can bring nothing into the relationship. It is all Christ. Christ or nothing. Indeed, let me hide myself in Thee. "For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God." Colossians 3:3.

How can we ever comprehend what all Jesus Christ accomplished for us? How can we ever realize how many wasted minutes, wasted opportunities and failures to completely follow the will of God were made perfectly right in God's record books by the Blood of Jesus? How can we ever know how close or how far we came on any certain day to being in God's perfect will, but Jesus Christ made up the difference in God's sight?

That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God. - Ephesians 3:17-19.

That is part of Paul's prayer for believers. I am going to start praying this for myself. I am not yet "able to comprehend" these things, nor yet able to know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge. But over 30 years ago I nevertheless believed it and received it by the grace and mercy of God.

Just sharing some semi-random (and somewhat rambling) thoughts tonight.

All for Him!

How Would I Finish That Sentence?

2010-12-14T04:34:00.001-06:00

In my last blog post, I asked How would you finish this sentence?

"The more I come to learn about myself, the more...."

I had four takers (commenters) so far, and they were all thinking along the same lines as I was. Either (a) Great minds think alike, or (b) We are all rubbing off on each other or (c) We are all growing more biblical and therefore more similar, or (d) Any combination of the above and more.

In any case, let me explain the background behind the original blog post.

The sentence I asked you to complete was part of my prayer a while back. I was on my knees in the church nursery when this hit me. (I pray on my knees in the nursery because there is carpet, unlike my office, which I shall remedy some time. By the way, if you have never spent much time praying on your knees, I highly recommend it for a fuller, richer prayer time once you get used to it.) I was praising and thanking God for tolerating me, continually forgiving me, putting up with me, casting my sins behind His back, using me despite my general uselessness and massive inability to follow His simple directions a great deal of the time, etc, etc. Do not get me wrong. I was not beating myself up. Quite the contrary, my focus was on God, not on myself. I was simply admitting to God what He already knows about me (and about you too) and then marvelling at what God keeps doing even with me.

God keeps working on me (through me, with me, for me, despite me) simply because of the Cross of Jesus Christ and for no other reason. Just try to imagine how much Jesus Christ accomplished on that cross. He not only paid for my sins, but He also gave God a reason to put up with me day in and day out. He not only made right my sins of commission (actions), but He made right my sins of omission (inaction), my shortcomings, my failures, my missing the mark in any way of what I should be in God's eyes. Every minute that I should be praying or studying or reading the Bible or witnessing or cherishing my wife and children but am doing something else instead, Christ covered that with His blood. Every time I should say "X" but I said "Y", even if "Y" was an okay or pretty good thing to say, but it was not perfect; Jesus Christ made that imperfection right with God. Every second that I miss out on the Lord's work because my flesh demands more sleep, Jesus paid the cost of that. Every time I let anything come before what God expects of me; every time I simply fail to realize what God expects of me; Jesus Christ pleads my cause with the Father and His shed blood secures my pardon.

This feeling is something that is hard to put into words, but I had put it into words this way when I thanked God recently: "The more I come to learn about myself, the more I appreciate what Jesus did on His cross." I do not think we can ever fully comprehend it all. But I understand more and more of it as I come to understand more and more of the wretched man that I am.

O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. - Romans 7:24-25a.

Ten years ago I would have had a different completion to the sentence. I would have said, "The more I come to learn about myself, the more I realize how little I really know about anything." That is still true, but that doesn't even begin to cover how I feel today. Today I am rejoicing in a new appreciation for the sacrifice and the person of our Lord. Today I am rejoicing in this fact:

For in Him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. And ye are complete in Him, which is the Head of all principality and power. - Colossians 2:9-10.

I am actually rejoicing that there is nothing in me that God can use. I am rejoicing that there is nothing in me WORTH using. I am rejoicing that all my righteousnesses are as filthy rags. I am rejoicing that anything I have for God derives completely from Christ. That fact is not insulting or degrading or debasing to realize. It is uplifting. Because it shows the magnitude of everything Jesus has done for me. It shows how much He was willing to do for me, which is everything. It shows that He could get along just fine without me, and even better, but God still chose me anyway.

I have tried to explain that point to some believers and they never seem to get it. Even some professing Christians who know they can never earn their way to heaven still think they have something to offer God in some way, be it service for Him or good works after salvation or even worship. There is NOTHING! Your entire value to God is the value of Jesus Christ because you are in Him. Get it? That is a FAR greater value than anything you could come up with, so rejoice with me in the fact that you have nothing to bring.

And then appreciate even more what Christ has done. The more you come to learn about yourself as God knows you, the more you will marvel at the HUGE job that Jesus took on when He took you in.

One final thing here. Even this learning more about yourself is also only through what God reveals to you. You will never come to know yourself through your own efforts. Read this next verse very carefully:

The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? - Jeremiah 17:9.

Who can know it? You cannot come to know your own heart. At least not without God opening your eyes to it.

A study several years ago showed that stupid people are so stupid that they are too stupid to know how stupid they are. If you did not get that tongue twister (read it again if you must), let me explain it: the lower that people scored on an intelligence test, the more likely they were to think that they scored higher. So as I said, stupid people are too stupid to know how stupid they are.

I would like to suggest that like them, we are too wicked to really know how wicked we are. We are too dirty to have any way to measure how dirty we are. The only thing clean that we can hold ourselves up to and compare is the standard that is set in the Word of God and exemplified by Jesus Christ. And so if you would learn more about yourself and learn the truth about yourself, you will do so only from what time in the Word of God reveals to you. Daily Bible reading year in and year out is the only thing that will bring you to any better knowledge of yourself.

And then, however it is that you would finish that sentence today, you would finish it even more completely and more biblically five or ten years from now.

How would you finish this sentence?

2010-12-04T18:55:00.000-06:00

I have something possibly fun and possibly introspective for the readers here. How would you finish the following sentence?

"The more I come to learn about myself, the more...."

I will finish it in my next blog post hopefully on Monday. Please comment below with how you would finish the sentence.

More Cellphone Snapshots

2010-11-27T15:06:00.002-06:00

The following photos are not tied together by any theme other than I took them all with the cell phone camera when the fancy struck me.

I took the above photo I believe at the Topeka Zoo. The interesting thing to me was the second paragraph, which I will quote here so you don't have to squint:

Zerbras play an important role in conservation in Africa. Zebras have very strong teeth and are able to eat the tough tops of grass shoots, which other grazing animals are not able to eat, making tender vegetation close to the ground available for other animals to eat.

When I first read this, it struck me very suspicious that anybody could expect evolution to account for this. Are we supposed to believe that other grazing animals just stood around hungry for a few million years twiddling their hooves and waiting on the zebras to finally evolve strong teeth? There are just WAY TOO MANY inter-dependencies between the various species for evolution of any one individial species to account for.

The next picture was just cool. I have never seen a caterpillar this big before. Unfortunately, it looks like he was already gushing from being stepped on or run over. This was on the street in front of our house. Of course the coins are for size reference.

Below, Mike H. was hooked up in the hospital for his extended brain event test. He was supposed to push the button whenever he was experiencing his symptoms, so they would have his experience to correllate to the EKG and video camera that were both rolling around the clock. He thought his wife would like some pictures since she was not able to visit the hospital.

Next, I saw the "Spirituality" section on the magazine rack at a book store. It was either Border's or Barnes and Noble, I cannot remember. In any case, the title selections were very eye-opening. There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that demonism and the New Age movement have been steadily on the rise and out in the open in the last decade. These below are just two out of a half dozen New Age titles that were available; the pictures were taken to illustrate the points below.

A couple of things are worth noticing here. First, you will note that "Witches & Pagans" magazine is sub-titled "Earthwise Spirituality for Today" and "Circle" magazine was about "Celebrating Nature." The reason this is interesting is because it is very common for those in "earth-based" religions to deny that they are witches or following witchcraft. How can they deny it when their own magazines affirm it?

Another thing you will notice is the phrase "Healing Labyrinths" on the cover of "Circle" magazine. Watch out for churches that are using Labyrinths - it is a pagan practice and there are even Baptist churches using them as "tools" for prayer. I saw a sign for a Labyrinth at Prairie Baptist Church on 75th and Roe Avenue in Mission, Kansas. "Learn not the way of the heathen" - Jeremiah 10:2.

The next two pictures speak for themselves.

Finally, here is one that illustrates the fallacy of many arguments made against the "outdated" language of the King James Version.

Signs like this one were in front of many exhibits in the Creation Museum. Many visitors to the museum got a chuckle. I found it interesting that they use this style of language for a sign such as this. It illustrates the following points:

The so-called "thees and thous" are intimately associated with Bible themes. This sign was not in a secular art gallery or museum, where it would seem out of place, but in a biblical Creation museum, where it fit right in. Why should we "update" the Bible to change from language that everyone already associates with the Bible?
The so-called "thees and thous" are also associated with authority. The sign does not just say "Please do not touch" as you might find elsewhere. The museum staff wanted to convey an authoritative demand, not simply a request. They could not use the language of a modern Bible version for that: "You shall not touch" just doesn't carry much weight. The authority of the sign is underscored by using familiar phrasing that our culture already associates with authority. For additional evidence of this point, see any epic biblical film from the 20th Century - God always speaks in "thees and thous" in those movies. Of course that is not a true reflection of how God actually speaks. It is rather a reflection of our culture - Americans associate biblical English with God speaking authoritatively - "Thus saith the Lord." When we remember that the entire Bible is God speaking authoritatively, why wouldn't we stick with the language already associated with that? Though any valid translation carries God's authority (I want to be absolutely clear and plain on that), we are a step ahead by using the translation whose style of language has already come to mean authority in our culture and in our minds.
Beyond the cultural associations of KJV-style English, there is the understandability factor, and this is the main reason I took a picture of this sign. These are the only signs in the entire musuem that tell visitors not to touch the exhibits. They did not feel the need to make sign versions in "updated, modern English." They expect and assume that everyone who reads those signs will understand perfectly what they mean, even though 50% of the words ("thou" and "shalt") are in forms we would not typically use today. We might not use those words, but we understand them perfectly well and this sign proves it. So the argument that we need a new Bible because we can't understand "thees and thous" or verb tenses is just ridiculous. We understand them just fine and we would understand them even more if we spent more time in our Bibles.

Of course these points above are all about the language style itself, irrespective of the textual arguments, the translation method or other issues in Bible translation. The main point is that this sign clearly shows that the English style of the King James Version is perfectly understandable to native English speakers and already has an association with the Bible and with authority. I do not deny that there are a few specific words in the KJV that could be made more clear, but they are such a small percentage of the whole, we need to be careful about straining at gnats and swallowing camels. Thank God we already have the Word of God today, providentially preserved in the original languages and faithfully translated into English.

More pictures soon.

Summer Cellphone Snapshot Super Bonanza

2010-11-23T01:00:00.002-06:00

Hooray, I found my cell phone memory card with all my pictures on it! I also used it to transfer pictures from my wife's phone to the computer. Most of the pictures are from this Spring and Summer, so since it is getting cold out (finally!) I will warm you up with some scenes from summer. As always, click on a photo to view it full size.

To start with, let's take a trip in May down to Baldwin City where brother R.S. has to take his turn at work every couple of months. From the "Outpost" or "Line Shack" there on the edge of civilization, they run ambulance service to the rural part of that county. Our brother gets lonely when pulling a tour there, so we surprised him with a visit one day. It was a lot of fun and God blessed us with the ability to visit several hours without an ambulance call interrupting. We toured the house that was converted to a station and we carefully inspected the ambulance and equipment. We even brought hymnals and Bibles and R.S. joined us as we held family altar time in the back of an ambulance! How many families can say they've ever done that?

A wonderful time was had visiting our friend. Now leaving Baldwin City, we will be sure to visit the wagon ruts still deep in the prairie from the days of the Santa Fe Trail. Just one picture, and that of the marker. I should get out there and take more pictures because there are government land survey markers inscribed from the 1820s with the lettering worn down. Can you imagine what it was like for a government survey party in 1820s Kansas?

Now let's move along into July. Church moving time! Imagine nearly an entire church nursery packed away into a 4x8 storage unit:

Now let's go down to the new church building and see if we can get any help painting.

Yeah, that's more than enough help! Oh, don't look now but somebody finally found a shirt to match her boots!

Let's go back to church and work, um, roller skate some more!

Well Bean, that's what you get for skating when you should have been working! Maybe you will feel better in time to go fishing for your combined birthday party with Sister.

I think everybody caught something who actually kept their line in the water... Can you guess who did not?

That's okay, she got a huge catfish just a few weeks later.

This was the Summer of Whooping Cough. Here were the two worst cases:

Baby Ben was actually having a good day that day with a few smiles. It is good to see him all smiles all the time lately.

That ought to be enough summer pictures to warm you up this week! Watch the blog for more pictures soon. I will have pictures and commentary from our trip to the Creation Museum.

Poll: How Far Does Submission to Your Pastor Go?

2010-11-18T00:27:00.001-06:00

Just for fun I decided to try a poll on the blog. Then I found the article that will serve for the first poll.

A New Jersey pastor of a mega-church has stated that 20 church couples there in the past six months have had marital problems due to Facebook connections to old romantic interests. I personally know Christians who have had the same issue.

So this pastor issued a requirement for church workers (not every member, just those with a regular ministry) that they delete their Facebook accounts. If you are interested, here is a link to the news story that I just read about it.

This brings up the poll question. Several places in the Bible tell us directly that we are to submit to our pastors. The most specific are both in Hebrews 13:

Remember them which have the rule over you, who have spoken unto you the word of God: whose faith follow, considering the end of their conversation. Hebrews 13:7.

Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves: for they watch for your souls, as they that must give account, that they may do it with joy, and not with grief: for that is unprofitable for you. Hebrews 13:17.

Salute all them that have the rule over you, and all the saints. They of Italy salute you. Hebrews 13:24.

In all three verses, the pastors are referred to as them that "have the rule over you." You are told to "remember them" - be mindful of them; "obey them" and "submit yourselves"; and to "salute" them.

So the question is, does submitting to your pastor extend as far as allowing him to tell you whether or not to be on Facebook? I know the way I would answer the following poll, but I want to hear from others. The poll is open to anyone, whether you are a member of the church I pastor or just a stranger who wandered by.

For the record, this poll is just for fun. I am not testing any waters to see what I could get away with as a pastor. I welcome not only your poll response, but your comments to this post. If you view the poll results, there is a place to comment there - please do not; please comment here at the blog. Sorry for the way the poll is formatted, if you know of a better poll code for blog posts, please let me know.

Fiftieth Blog Post

2010-11-16T04:29:00.000-06:00

I just noticed that I have 49 blog posts on this blog, so I decided to celebrate the 50th. Here is what is going on with me and with this blog lately.

First of all I changed my mind in our little church survey. The question was whether we should remove the spare pew that sat against the office wall. A clear majority was in favor of removing it to make more room to walk. I was against moving it, but I marked my vote in the "No Preference" column just because. Since so many people seemed in the survey to feel strongly that we should move it, the pew was in fact moved today and placed in storage with the others (while we wait on the Lord to supply a fundamental church who will take them off our hands). After the pew was moved, I could not believe how much roomier the space became. The pew was only taking up two feet of width! How could that be such a problem? But it was. The space is so much roomier I just cannot believe it. So I switch my vote. We should remove the pew, okay? I think you will agree when you see the space.

We bought a new phone with a digital answering machine that will handle both our home phone and the church line. The one we bought when I first became pastor died a while back. I had bought another one earlier this year at a bargain price from a bargain basement, only to get it home and realize that it did not have an answering machine. I was so excited at the price that I wasn't thinking clearly. So we just bought another one on clearance at Staples and the answering machine works! That is actually a load off my mind since now I know the church will not be missing calls every time nobody is home. I have been just absolutely certain that the phone was ringing off the hook every time we left the house. It was really gnawing at me. This will ease my mind. Really, if I have been cranky lately, this is probably the entire reason why!

Back in March, I posted on the Adventures of a Gas Saver. I promised a follow-up post after my experiment was complete. I have had to delay that for two reasons. Number one, during the experiment I discovered that my car was pitifully low on oil. The car was fairly new to me so I was still getting used to it. Now I know how often to check the oil and how much it uses, so that problem is solved. But the low oil condition ruined the experiment. Since then, the gas tank developed a leak, so that would ruin the experiment. I am anxious to get it fixed but it will be at least two days in the shop so I have to time it right. All this means I will be completely re-doing the experiment from scratch some time this winter. And it also means, please do not smoke cigarettes around my car!

You may know that I love posting cell phone camera snap shots on this blog from time to time. I have a bunch stored on my memory card ready to post. They will be great! The only problem is that I have lost my memory card. I was using it to shuffle data between home/office/church/somebody else's computer/etc and it got misplaced. I am searching for it. I could buy another one cheaply enough, but there are some great pictures on the one I lost.

What else is going on...?

I finally got everything moved out of my rented office space Monday and taken either back home or to the church building. I still haven't gotten completely unpacked at church yet, though. I told the management at the rented office space that I have not used the room for anything at all since early August. I have not used any electricity or even breathed much of the air in the room since then. I have not paid rent since July or so because I was moving out "any day" and they would have to pro-rate the month based on the day I was finally out. They were aware of that situation. Complicating things is that the internet service to my room was knocked out in June and they never fixed it, and that was part of my rent, so it was going to take some math geniuses to pro-rate everything when I finally got moved. So when I turned in the keys Monday and said "How much do we owe?" I was told "Don't worry about it." I kept checking and offering to pay and they kept insisting I did not owe any additional rent. How cool is that?

In other news, I have just passed the halfway mark in the Hezekiah Harvey book I mentioned in a prior post. The book is excellent. I have a few minor quibbles with it, but no more than I would have with anyone else. I hope to post a complete review of the book on my preaching blog. Unless the man goes way off course in the last half of the book, this book will go in the church book shop for certain.

Here is another quote from the book that I am putting in the margin of my Bible:

"The Holy Spirit acts on the soul by means of the truth.... Truth is the medium of the Holy Spirit's power in men." - H. H. Harvey, The Church: Its Polity and Ordiances, p. 113.

This note could be the basis of a preaching point on the Holy Spirit, to be expanded upon when preaching one of the following texts. The note will go in my Bible in the margin at I John 5:6 where it says "because the Spirit is truth." References pointing to this marginal note could be placed at John 14:17, 15:26 and 16:13; Ephesians 5:9; I Peter 1:22; I John 2:27 and 4:6. And possibly also pointers to this note could be placed at Psalm 31:5; John 17:17; II Thessalonians 2:13.

Harvey was pointing out something I knew but never really gave a lot of thought to - that the church ordinances (baptism and the Lord's table) are part of God's revealed truth - not in written form as in the Bible, but in pictorial form. The ordinances truthfully picture the facts of the Gospel just as much as the Bible truthfully explains in words the facts of the Gospel. The ordinances are truth given to God's people every bit as much as the Bible is truth given to God's people. He goes on, on the basis of this, to state how wicked it is to change the form of the ordinances from that form given through the apostles. In other words, he states, changing baptism from immersion to sprinkling is just as dastardly as intentionally changing the written word of God. Either one is modifying something that God gave to convey and to perpetuate truth to men. Additionally, someone saying that the form of the ordinances or other details are unimportant, as even many Baptists are saying today, is akin to their saying that the details of the written truth are unimportant. But God's truth is God's truth. If we would not stand for anyone modifying the Scriptures, why should we politely pass over those who have modified the ordinances? That is his argument, but he states it in such a gentle and thought-provoking manner. There is much to chew on in this book.

Another thing I am chewing over because of this book is the requirement for baptism before partaking of the Lord's table. I have always held to this requirement - not because I could clearly show it from the Bible, but because it was always taught in every other church I had ever had a part in and it made clear sense. It was kind of an instinctual thing that we just sort of knew - "of course you have to be baptized first, who doesn't know that?" However, the church's Confession of Faith has not insisted upon it, so neither have I as the pastor. I have insisted on it with my own daughters, so with only one of two baptized, only one is partaking. I have counseled others the same way. But I have not yet desired to amend the Confession of Faith to reflect that, since I had no clear evidence (and had not really studied it much). I am starting to get my clear evidence from the Bible with the help of Harvey's teaching on the ordinances. So you can look forward some day to having some teaching and discussion on this subject.

By the way, the book was written by a Baptist. So can you guess which chapter is the longest? Naturally, the one on BAPTISM!!!

That is what is going on with me. What's going on with you? Leave a comment!

Christian Response To Public Cursing: Upholding The Standards for Public Manners While Simultaneously Spreading the Gospel

2010-11-12T23:02:00.009-06:00

I was thinking about my old childhood neighborhood tonight and I remembered the very first time I was ever "cussed out." It was more like being cussed at than cussed out, as only a single curse-word was used and it is thought of as one of the more mild words. Nevertheless, it shocked me at the age of seven that an adult would use such language directed at a child.

In the early Autumn of 1980, I lived on a dead-end street in a semi-suburban area. My friend Sean and I were at the end of the street in front of Sean's house kicking a ball around. The ball got stuck high in the branches of his next-door neighbor's tree and Sean climbed up the tree to retrieve it. The neighbor and his wife were both known in the neighborhood as old, mean, crabby grouches and their German Shepherd was a mean, crabby grouch too.

The neighbor man came outside, appearing just slightly drunk, and started giving us grief about Sean climbing up in the tree. In our defense, I tried to explain that our ball had become lodged in the tree. The man pointed his finger down at me and yelled, "You're a [condemned] liar!" and then stormed back into his house. Sean immediately said that I should tell my dad on the man, to which I agreed. I did not stop to think why Sean was not suggesting we tell his dad, who was right next door.

I went straight home (halfway down the block) and walked in and told my dad that I was just called a liar and cussed out by a mean old man. Dad asked me what the man said and I said I do not want to repeat it. He said it would be okay if I whispered it in his ear, so I repeated what was said word for word. My dad immediately got up from his chair at the kitchen table, pulled on his boots and we walked down the street together so I could show him which house the man lived in. I waited at the street while Dad knocked on the door and rang the doorbell. The man never answered the door, but their car was still in the driveway. I should point out that this was not the first time the man or his wife had yelled at me, just the first time I was cursed. After they refused to answer the door for my father, they never again said a word to me, despite many opportunities over the next several years that I lived on that block.

After thinking through this scenario tonight, I would like to suggest it would have played out much differently than a similar situation these days might. Let's review the facts:

A slightly drunken fellow uses a curse-word to insult a seven-year-old boy.
The boy's father attempts to speak to the man in order to obtain an apology and a promise that it will not happen again.
It never happens again (though the confrontation does not occur).

Fast forward to the second decade of the 21st Century. I believe our society's public manners have fallen far below acceptable standards today. I believe today that the following differences would be noticed in a similar situation in 2010:

The average child would not be totally shocked as both Sean and I were at being cursed by anyone, especially by an adult.
The average parent would not attempt to deal with the neighbor or try to uphold the acceptable standards of public behavior.
If a confrontation did occur, it could easily get ugly.
The rudeness would likely continue.

As for myself, I determined long ago to be bold in upholding acceptable standards of public behavior. I will not allow anyone within earshot of my wife or children to continue using foul language without rebuke. They will be politely confronted and firmly asked to consider the ladies and children around them. I will not stand for my children's ears being defiled or my wife's ladyhood being ignored. My family has every right to enjoy being in public without being assaulted by profanity all around us. If necessary, I will involve the management of any public establishment such as a store, mall or restaurant. They want their environments to remain family-friendly as much as I do.

I find that in some cases, just a look of disapproval achieves the desired result. "Sorry" one fellow told me at KFC, from four tables away, when all I did was look up from my food in his direction and think about what I should do regarding his cursing with his lunch-mates.

In another instance six or eight years ago, several Christian families went out to a restaurant after Sunday evening church services. The restaurant advertises itself as a family-friendly place, so I was dismayed at the loud, filthy talk going on at a large table nearby our party. I was also surprised that none of the other men in our group (all older and presumably wiser than me) seemed to be prepared to do anything about it. One man in particular kept flinching as if personally injured with each curse-word or improper use of our Lord's name, but still he did nothing. It became clear it would not stop unless we did something, and equally clear that none of the brethren more senior to me were willing to do anything. So at the next curse word uttered, I simply leaned over in my chair in the other party's direction waiting for a break in their conversation so I could politely voice my concerns. Without acknowledging me, they took the hint; someone there said something hushed to the others and their filthy talk ceased. They continued having a good time without the cursing, so I was not a party-pooper for them. I actually seemed to be more of a stick in the mud with my own party as my boldness seemed to mildly shock some of the brothers and sisters (judging by looks on faces; nothing was said).

I said that in some cases things go rather easily when I uphold public manners. About half the time, things get a bit more strained and even freaky. To be honest, I can usually tell before I say anything whether someone is going to respond politely or aggressively. After years of doing this, I have learned how to spot certain types of people that will respond politely and gladly stop their cursing. Other types of people I know beforehand are very likely to get upset with me for daring to infringe on them. I am not stereotyping; this is my experience.

For example, see if you can spot any trends in these people who have responded politely to me:

The fellow in KFC was about age forty, a hands-on tradesman out to lunch with several other men in his trade.
The large, loud party at the restaurant averaged around age forty-five, all just out for a fun evening together.
Another polite response came from a small gathering of elderly veterans who forgot they were in public and lost themselves in bawdy talk of their war stories. They gladly apologized when thanked for their service to our nation and kindly asked to stop cursing about it.

Do you see the characteristics of those who tend to respond politely when I desire they uphold certain standards of public manners? They are people who formerly belonged to a society where these standards were firm and well-known. They are people who grew up in a more polite society and have just occasionally lost control of their manners in today's filthy world.

Would I now surprise you to say that I just automatically assume anybody under 35 will either totally ignore me or even fly off the handle when I politely ask them to cease their cursing and naughty talk? Some will even perform a crazy freak-out in front of my wife and my children. Would I surprise you to say that in my years of experience being bold about this, this has always been the case for that age bracket? ALWAYS. Not one person under 35 has EVER responded politely to my request. And not one person over 35 has EVER freaked out. Again, I am not simply stereotyping. I am telling you what I have seen. I was well under 35 myself when I started this practice, by the way.

Would you be surprised to learn that people covered in tattoos and/or piercings almost always tend to fly off the handle and launch into a tirade when confronted? That statement excludes bikers, since I have never heard one cursing or talking naughty in front of my family.

Would you be surprised to learn that I have received several threats or hints of violence simply for asking someone not to curse? Would you believe that every one of these threats came from people within a certain cultural background? Not one threat of violence has come from a person outside a particular culture. I have no bias against anyone or any group of people. I would happily tell you if my observation had been otherwise. I am just telling you what I have seen in years of doing this and why I am considering changing the way I go about it.

In addition to the visual cues that tell me how someone is likely to respond, there are other hints that come from their behavior before I confront them:

People who curse right in front of their own small children or even at their children will always throw a big fit when you ask them to knock off their talk for your children's sake. They make a HUGE scene, right in front of their kids. You can count on it. Spoiled brats raised by spoiled brats raising more spoiled brats!
People who publicly talk about sexual things with no regard to public decency tend to tone it down but later show they are not remorseful. They will make a remark or gesture when you or they leave the area. For example, someone speaking of the most vile perversions right in front of my children was asked to stop. Later when I was no longer nearby, he very loudly yelled "EARMUFFS!" This is typical for those who enjoy perverted talk. They are cowards of the worst sort.
People who have no respect for authority, such as cursing at a store employee, at police or at their boss, etc, typically think the whole world wants to fight them. They do not threaten violence but they prepare to defend themselves when confronted even politely. Someone asks you to stop cursing and you prepare for a "fight or flight" response? Very strange.

Let's go back to the neighbor that cussed me out when I was seven. How would that situation play out today? I have four nearby neighbors with children. Three out of four all cuss their own children out, right in their front yard and loud enough for the whole block to hear. (The non-cussers are the only Christian family). How would any of these parents react if their children were cursed by a neighbor like I was? They probably would not even be told, let alone do anything about it but laugh.

I want to drive home three points with this post.

First of all, the standards of public decency and expected behavior in our society have dramatically dropped just in recent times. Can you imagine in 1980 or even 1990 hearing or seeing the kinds of things we today have to assume we will hear and see whenever we go out in public?

Secondly, I believe we should attempt to publicly uphold and enforce the proper standards that should be in place. Despite some people's improper reactions to my request, a seed has been planted.  They will be thinking about it. And if more people confronted them more often, they would stop. (Keep reading though for a better idea of how to confront the problem).

Finally, this is all just another reminder of the necessity to stand our ground and try to salvage our society while we spread the Gospel message. These people need to get saved, not just stop cursing. Simply standing our moral ground or seeking moral reform in our society is not enough. And spreading the Gospel while not confronting the evil is not productive either, as there has to be conviction to effect salvation; conviction comes from an awareness of sin. The solution is two-fold: stand ground and spread Gospel. Remember that we are "in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world; Holding forth the word of life." Who can deny that those words are more true in America today than when Paul penned them to the Philippians?

We have to remember where we are: "in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation." Not a part of it - just in the midst of it. And then we have two jobs in this place: to "shine as lights" while always "holding forth the word of life." One will not work without the other. We uphold the right moral standards while we hold out the right message.

With that in mind, for a while I have been tossing around the idea of responding differently to public cussers. Perhaps a specialized Gospel tract simply handed to them with a polite smile will get the message across better than I have done so far.  A simple tract is not likely to produce the freak-outs I have sometimes seen. And a well-worded tract cover could produce the conviction that stops their cursing. It could convict them without provoking them.

I do not believe that I have done anything wrong in confronting public cussers. The polite responses I have received from calmer people should prove that the problems others have are their problems, not mine.

However, we also have the biblical principle of becoming all things to all men, I Corinthians 9:19-23. This does not mean that we tolerate sin in our society or stoop down to the level of the unsaved, as some people twist that scripture to mean.  What the principle of this passage teaches is that in order to reach certain segments of the population, we take into account what we know about them and how they are likely to respond. Our approach has to remain within the parameters set by God, but there is some room for variety within those parameters. The passage teaches that Paul had a different approach to reach a different group of people, all the while staying biblical.

I am thinking of a different approach to public cussers.  My former approach has not been wrong, just not as effective in sharing the Good News. When politely confronting a public cusser to protect my family, if they fly off the handle it does not mean I have done anything wrong. However, now I do not have the chance to reach them with the Gospel. So I have not erred, but I have also not made the most wise use of the opportunity.

They will not even accept a tract from me at this point, despite how graceful I may remain throughout their tirade. In fact, one guy when offered a tract at this point cussed me for the second time and then told me how "fake Christians" like me give a bad name to "true Christians" like him and his mother, who also cussed me and blamed me for ruining her son's first day out on parole and also for destroying the mood of their nice Christian family cussing potty-mouth reunion time that they had been formerly enjoying with his two little kids before I so wickedly intervened. (Shout out to Mike S. This incident was his official welcome to Kansas).

Meanwhile, back to my point about not only standing our ground but also spreading the Gospel. With a different approach, such as a tract to start with, I could have gotten the point across to this family to stop cussing, while also sharing the Gospel and probably also sparing myself and my girls (and Mike, and all the others within earshot) the tirades we heard. I think a well worded tract cover could provide the necessary conviction to get them thinking they are in public and shouldn't be talking like they are. This approach accomplishes my goal of upholding the standards for public manners - being "lights in the world" and it is also "holding forth the word of life."

This is just something that's been on my mind for a while. Sorry for the long rambling about it. I want to start praying to find the right tract or to write my own. There are becoming more and more opportunities to use it.

Always a Bride But Never a Brider

2010-11-04T00:24:00.002-05:00

Every time I turn around lately I am running into Baptist Brider and Landmark Baptist doctrine. It is getting ridiculous!

Meanwhile, on a refreshing note, I picked up a little book called "The Church: Its Polity and Ordinances" (1879) by Hezekiah Harvey, D.D. (1821-1893). This Backus Book reprint's introduction by a 20th Century pastor stated that this book had convinced him of the biblical truth of the Baptist doctrines of the church. With that introduction, I fully expected a treatise on Landmarkism or Baptist Briderism, but was instead treated (so far) to a refreshing Bible-based view of the doctrine of the church. It is distinctively Baptist and distinctively NOT Landmark. Amen!

In skimming through the book, I find so far that Dr. Harvey was a Baptist all the way, but definitely not a Landmarker or a Baptist Brider. Below is an especially stunning paragraph of his on the validity of a New Testament church. Most Landmark Baptists and all Baptist Bride proponents would say that a certain local church is only "valid" if it was planted by another "valid" church, tracing all the way back to the apostles, which is impossible to prove but must be "accepted by faith." This belief is known as Succession and is a wicked doctrine that those Baptists share with the Roman Catholic Church. Below is Dr. Harvey's answer:

SECTION X

THE CHURCH: VALID ONLY AS CONFORMED TO GOD'S WORD.

...The question remains to be considered: How may a true church of Christ be known? What constitutes a body of professing Christians [as] a true church of Christ? We answer:

I. NOT MERE HISTORIC SUCCESSION FROM THE APOSTLES.

1. Were such an historic succession essential to the validity of a church, it would follow that the Scriptures are an insufficient guide in faith and practice, since the fact of such succession in the case of any church could not be ascertained from Scripture, but only from tradition. In this case, also, the great body of Christians could never certainly know the true church, as they could not make the historical investigation; and even if the investigation were made, their confidence must then rest on the testimony, not of God, but of man.

Wow! In a simple, logically reasoned way, this man has destroyed the false doctrine of Succession in two well-crafted sentences. He presents in these two sentences the strongest arguments against Succession that I have ever seen, neither of which I had ever even considered before, namely that (1) Succession denies biblical sufficiency and (2) Succession requires reliance upon the testimony and traditions of men.

I was just skimming through this book trying to figure out where the author stood as a Baptist. This is just one of several sections I have read with amazement in the last 20 minutes. Now I must in short order read the entire book in earnest, as well as find his other books, one of which is reportedly titled "The Pastor: His Qualifications and Duties."

I may have a new favorite Baptist author.

P.S. - After I fully approve of the book, I have an extra copy for the church book shop!!

This Blog's Title, Part One: The Spirit of Fear

2010-10-24T01:14:00.002-05:00

Back in my first blog post here ( "Okay, So I Started a Blog" ), I indicated that the title of this blog is from II Timothy 1:7. This verse is very personal to me. I would like to exposit the verse in its context today, as well as use the verse to expose my inner person. I stated at the outset of this blog that I will be totally transparent and give here insight into my most personal feelings, including those both positive and negative. So with an explanation of this verse, I will also explain some of my own shortcomings and why I cling to this verse for constant help.

For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. II Timothy 1:7.

THE SPIRIT OF FEAR
We notice first that there is such a thing as a "spirit of fear" and that this is not from God. "Every good gift" is from God (James 1:17), so the spirit of fear, or fearfulness in general, is not from God. The fear spoken of here is any kind of cowardice, shyness or timid spirit. We shall see that it is the fear of obeying God because of the circumstances. It is the fear that might come upon those who are trying to serve the Lord, and it will hinder their service if they give in to the fear.

We pick up in Paul's two letters to Timothy the idea that Timothy must have been prone to timidness or some kind of weakness in attitude, a form of this fear; and that Paul has to prod him along to get over it. We see in First and Second Timothy several possible ways that young Timotheous may have been suffering in the ministry because of his shyness and weak disposition. I can personally relate to every single one of these experienced by Timothy:

1. TIMOTHY'S FEAR OF OTHER BELIEVERS. Timothy was warned against being intimidated by the more mature church members or older ministers and pastors in the local church (I Timothy 4:12). Timothy's remedy against such intimidation is to be certain of his own strong example (v. 12); to continue in strong preaching and teaching (v. 13); to be reinforced in, reminded of and recommitted to his call to preach (v. 14); to give himself completely to the labor and study so that all people, including these more mature believers, would themselves see evidence of Timothy's growth (v. 15); to be watchful over his manner of life and take heed to sound doctrine, for the benefit of himself as well as others (v. 16); and to hold the proper attitudes about all the other believers, leading to a proper ministry toward them (5:1-2).

We could expand on each of these themes, but the sum of the matter is our first conclusion regarding fear in the Lord's service: Do not be concerned with pleasing others, but be concerned with obeying God.

2. TIMOTHY'S FEAR OF FAILURE. Throughout First and Second Timothy, we get the distinct impression that the young preacher is being encouraged to continue on because he is fearful of becoming a failure in the ministry and possibly considering quitting. To help Timothy get over this fear of failure, Paul reminds him two times of the prophecies concerning his ministry (I Timothy 1:18 and 4:14); Paul gets Timothy in several ways thinking of his ministry in terms of a soldier (I Timothy 1:18, 6:12, II Timothy 2:3, 4:7), including the idea that Timothy has been drafted (II Timothy 2:4); Paul gives Timothy direct commandments from God (I Timothy 1:18, 4:14, 6:13-14, 6:20; II Timothy 2:2 and many more) and reminds him that he will answer for these at the Judgment Seat of Christ (I Timothy 5:21-25, 6:13-16; II Timothy 1:18, 2:5, 2:11-13, 4:1-2, 4:8); Paul reminds Timothy not to look to himself for the power of successful ministry (II Timothy 1:9) but to God working through the power of God's Word, which Timothy must give out faithfully (I Timothy 4:6; II Timothy 3:16-4:2, etc). In short, Timothy will be a failure in the ministry only if he quits doing what he was told to do. If he remains faithful to the task, regardless of his or others' perceptions of success on earth, he will be judged a success in the day when the rewards are handed out in eternity (II Timothy 4:6-8).

Second conclusion: Do not be concerned with failing, but be concerned with obeying God.

3. TIMOTHY'S FEAR OF PERSECUTION. Second Timothy chapter one seems written especially to address any possible fear of persecution on Timothy's part. To help overcome this fear, Paul mentions the Lord Jesus Christ's persecution (v. 8), Paul's persecution (v. 8 and following), the departure of some who possibly feared persecution (v. 15) and the example of Onesiphorus (pronounced "oh-neh-sif-or-us") who was not afraid of persecution (vv. 16-18). II Timothy 2:1 then sums all this up: "Thou therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus." Further, Paul explains that persecution is a natural result of godly living (3:10-12) and a necessary part of the ministry (4:5). Finally, during persecution there is the enduring strength to be found in the Lord Jesus Christ for those who are faithful to Him (4:16-18).

Third conclusion: Do not be concerned with persecution, but be concerned with obeying God.

4. TIMOTHY'S MINISTRY TO UNBELIEVERS. This point is not titled "Timothy's Fear of Unbelievers" because that is not quite so clear as these other fears. The theme of fear does not come through so strongly in Paul's instructions about dealing with unbelievers, but he still gives application to the fearful minister. I believe this fear was present in Timothy based on everything else we've seen about this young preacher. In II Timothy 2:23-26, Paul repeats some of the advice he has previously given as well as gives new instruction and revelation about dealing with unbelievers. Let's look at that passage verse by verse and make application to any fear we might have in our ministry to the lost.

But foolish and unlearned questions avoid, knowing that they do gender strifes. II Timothy 2:23.

This is repeat advice from I Timothy 1:4, 4:7, 6:4-5 and II Timothy 2:14. Apparently this sort of thing was a big problem in Timothy's area of ministry. What we see in this verse, as well as in the related verses, is that in evangelizing the lost the Christian has to overcome fear so that he can maintain control of the conversation. We cannot let the unbeliever drive the conversation or we will not know where it could end up. We have to keep steering back to the Gospel. We cannot let our fear of people or desire to please people place us in or keep us in unfruitful discussions and debates. We are happy to discuss any topic we can answer with sound Bible doctrine, but we have to recognize it when our evangelism efforts are not gaining any ground. "Neither cast ye your pearls before swine" (Matthew 7:6) and "Answer not a fool according to his folly" (Proverbs 26:4). The only thing that would keep us from breaking off an unfruitful conversation or one that has devolved into debate is either our own hurt pride or our fear of offending. Neither is proper for the Christian witness.

And the servant of the Lord must not strive; but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient, In meekness instructing.... II Timothy 2:24-25.

Here is a subtle reminder of our status: "servant of the Lord." Greek "DOULOS" - bondslave of Jesus Christ. This thought should keep us from saying or doing things in our witness based on our pride, or on saving face or trying to salvage our feelings. Bondslave. Get over it and do your job.

We also see two very interesting words - encouraging words for those of us who struggle with timidness: "gentle" and "meekness." For the timid one, these are our natural tendency. We see there is not only nothing wrong with being gentle and meek in our witness, but everything right with it. Nevertheless, this meekness is not weakness; and it is not based on fear. It is based on the fact that we possess the truth and we want others to share in it, but we cannot force it on them. And so our natural shyness can be used to our advantage in witness - speak, but be meek. The timid witness is already ahead of the one who is ready to enforce his doctrine on others. Our responsibility is simply to share the Gospel in a way that gives people the opportunity to respond. And we are to be "patient" in this, a unique Greek word here that means "putting up with wrongs against us." In other words, getting the door slammed in our face or being cursed or treated rudely is no reason to quit or be discouraged. We have to overcome the fear of these things, for this fear is not from God.

In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth; II Timothy 2:25.

We see in this verse that the lost do not oppose us when they resist our presentation of the Gospel. They oppose themselves. Like the resistant Jews, it may be said, Ye "judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life" (Acts 13:46). So we must overcome our fear by realizing they are not against us, they are against themselves.

Next in this same verse, we see that God is responsible for the results, not us. Our task is simply to be obedient. How can we fear when God is in control of the situation and the outcome? There is no place for fear in witness.

And that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will. II Timothy 2:26.

Oh, maybe here is something to fear? By no means, "because greater is He that is in you, than he that is in the world" (I John 4:4).

So our fourth conclusion regarding fear is: Do not be concerned with the resistance of unbelievers or even the result of our witness, but be concerned with obeying God.

Apparently, the right response to any fear of serving the Lord is just to focus on obedience and let God do what He wills.

Now is time for personal application to myself. Let me say once again that on this blog I am being transparent, and the reason for it is so that I might possibly be a help to others. The struggles that I face may relate to someone else and they may gain from my failures and lessons learned. If that be the case, I glorify God on their behalf.

I here and now confess to all that I am very fearful by nature. For my entire life, I have been extremely afraid of what people think of me, how I fit in, whether I measure up to expectations, whether I have offended, whether I have said or done the improper thing, whether people like me, etc. And the strangest part of it is that when I sit down and think about it, I honestly don't care to fit in or whether people like me. I have never gone out of my way to try to fit in. Odder still, when I do know for sure that somebody does not like me, it is actually a relief of some sorts (as strange as that seems, please don't try to analyze it). I am a loner by nature and would actually prefer to keep to myself, if I had my own way about it. But then when the people close to me actually give me that space alone, I start fearing their rejection or that they are upset with me or something.

In other words, I am a walking contradiction.  I am socially weird on the inside. I am fearful in my mind but I am in some strange sense detached in my heart from this fear. I really don't care what someone else thinks of me, but I am still afraid of what they might think. I'm really not concerned with impressing people, but I still worry about it, all the while wondering where the fear comes from. This is a very odd dynamic in my personality. I am one strange individual and I have always known this. You may have figured out that there were some very oddball things about me; now you can put your finger on one of them. I am actually afraid of you!

How have I dealt with this fear in the past? By "overcorrecting." Let me explain.

I just read in the newspaper of a nearly fatal single car accident. A young lady driving on a rural highway went into the ditch on the right side of the road. Steering to the left, back out of the ditch, she "overcorrected" - she yanked the steering wheel so hard left that she came out of the right side ditch and ended up in the left side ditch, striking a tree head on. The car was totalled and she barely survived.

Overcorrecting is trading one ditch for another; it is yanking out of one ditch with such force that you land in the opposite ditch.  Now I am talking about the ditches on the road of life: spiritual ditches, emotional ditches, etc. Some people are so worried of falling into one ditch, or they come out of the ditch with such force, that they land smack dab into the ditch on the other side. And the results can be tragic. You will hear me say it often: "There is a ditch on both sides. Keep it between the ditches, greasy side down."

Now let me speak of my fear and my overcorrection of it. Instead of staying home alone all day biting my fingernails and fretting over how I fit in, I have always had to go out into the big, bad world all of my life. I grew up in public schools, in medium to large sized churches, in suburban housing developments with tons of kids. I attended a public college, worked jobs side by side with coworkers of every kind, etc. In other words, I could not and did not allow my fear to socially cripple me, as it does others who experience the same issues.

But in dealing with my fear, I tend to overcorrect. Some people who know me less well than they think they do may about this time be wondering how I can claim to be timid or fearful around people. They have heard me speak out, even out of turn. They have seen me step forward. They have seen in me someone they might describe as "opinionated" or possibly even "brash" at times, especially among large groups of people. How can someone like me claim to be timid? How can I claim to be fearful about how I am perceived?

It is absolutely true. I am timid and I am afraid. But I overcorrect. And my fear is so strong that when I overcorrect and pull out of the Ditch of Fear, I end up in the ditch clear over on the other side. I yank out of the Ditch of Fear, right past all proper boldness and I end up in the Ditch of Folly, regretting what I just said and the way I said it as well as how foolish it made me look.

Consequently, because I seem bold when I am really not, I regularly get misdiagnosed. A high school friend wrote in my senior yearbook something like the following: "For the longest time I used to think you were a stuck-up snob.  Then when I got to know you, I realized that you are just shy...." Here is what this person had seen. In school I would always be ready to speak up loudly in classroom discussions, but I stuck to myself the rest of the time. So because of my seeming boldness in class, this future friend had no reason at the first to think I was shy, and therefore took my quietness to be snobbery. The bold student I became in class was overcorrecting for the fearful teenager I was in the hallway.

In another instance, a dear brother some years ago told me that a few Christians perceived me as prideful. I knew why they thought this and I also knew that I was being misunderstood by them. (Side note: to deny any pride would itself seem prideful, but in this particular case, the details of which I will not give, I knew it was definitely not a matter of pride). These people saw the outer me, the one who had fallen into the Ditch of Youthful Brashness on one side of the road. They had not seen me when paralyzed in my fear in the other ditch. I had overcorrected and they were right to point out that I looked cocky. However, it was the farthest thing from cockiness on the inside. What they saw was someone trying too hard to fight the fear.

With age (and hopefully more wisdom), I have learned to stop overcorrecting more and more. It still happens, but I pray not to the extent of the past and not as often. I am thankful to have people around me who understand my weaknesses and are not afraid to correct me when necessary. I am thankful to belong to a family and a church that is willing to forbear in love while at the same time holding me accountable. I am thankful for some difficult situations in years past that taught me how to stop overcorrecting my fear.

So what do I attempt to do now instead of overcorrecting? What is the proper response to fear? Just obey God. We saw exactly that in every instance of Timothy's fear. Do not concern yourself with consequences, people's perceptions, outcomes, results or anything but obedience.  The way I have dealt with fear in the past was an attempt to influence how people felt about me. I need to take heed instead to how Jesus Christ feels about using me for His service.

Instead of shunning the fear or trying to do the opposite of what it tells me, I am learning to ignore it. It is not from God, so it has nothing for me. God hath not given us the spirit of fear. Responding to the fear is not responding to God.  We need to learn not to respond to those things in us which are not from God. Our response must be to God's word, therefore with regard to those things in us not from God, we are "Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ" (II Corinthians 10:5).

I am afraid of you but I still love you. One of these is from God (I John 4:7) and one is not. By God's enabling power, I will respond to God. Peace be with you.

For God hath not given us the spirit of fear. Watch for the conclusion of the verse in Part Two.

Thinking About Your Pastor

2010-10-10T01:58:00.001-05:00

In preparing for a future message, I listened once again to another message I had heard several times before (and heard in person when it was recorded). I use sermons like I use commentaries - to get my head wrapped around a word study or a theme and to get my mind in the mood for preaching. So for some help with a word study for a future message on a different text, I turned to a message that I really learned from, which I knew contained a good illustration and explanation about the word study in question. I listened to the entire message again (probably the tenth time I have heard it) and it was so good as well as timely that I decided to recommend others listen to it, even if they have heard it before.

My former pastor (and the former pastor of the church I serve) skillfully and wonderfully brought a message from I Corinthians 4:1-2 back in 2006. This passage and the expository sermon brought by Pastor Scott Reeves should help us think properly about the pastor, his role, his responsibility, and the church member's responsibility toward him.

I say this is timely because October is often considered Pastor Appreciation Month. You usually will not hear me making any mention of this month as such, or expecting or desiring any fanfare or notice of it. Setting the pastor above anyone else is not to be encouraged or tolerated, even for only one month a year. Every month should in fact be a time for all brothers and sisters to exhort and encourage one another all month long, to the glory of Christ alone. Like every other church member, the pastor should reap the benefits all year long of encouraging others as well as being himself constantly encouraged.

Nevertheless, since I do know how church members feel toward their pastor, and since this message gives us the biblical framework for that feeling, including its proper boundaries and its application, I think it appropriate to post it here at this time and encourage all to listen and to take heed. It is one of my favorite sermons of all time, just for the sake of so clearly explaining and applying the word of God.

Link to the sermon audio by clicking here. (Title: "A True Servant of God." Format: MP3, 5.83 MB download, 33:58 audio run-time.)

Link to the sermon outline / notes by clicking here.

The sermon text:

"Let a man so account of us, as of the ministers of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God. Moreover it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful." I Corinthians 4:1-2.

May God richly bless you through the preaching of His word.

Just Some Minor Rearranging

2010-10-09T10:05:00.003-05:00

I know that some people come here to follow other blogs because I have them listed over on the left, sorted by the last update. I have done some minor but necessary rearranging there. I separated out all of our church family's blogs from all the other blogs listed by making two distinct blog lists.

So over on the left, you will see "PIBC Family Blogs" with all the blogs that I regularly read from our church family, sorted by the last update. Then below that list, you will see another list: "Other Blogs (Not Necessarily Endorsed)." This second list contains the Kansas City Kansan, the Way of Life articles and other blogs that I read whenever they get updated. Some of those blogs I have been reading for years and years before I ever started my own blog.

The biggest reason I made this change was that I wanted to make it clear that I don't always endorse the content of these other blogs. These are blogs that I read, and they are listed here for my own personal ease of access. I listed them for myself, to have one place where I can easily check for updates on them. I did not list them as an endorsement or to point other people to them, but of course you are welcome to take advantage of the list. If you benefit from having them listed here, then praise the Lord. If you are edified by the content, then praise the Lord. I just want to make it obvious that I am not always in agreement with something you might read over there. I read them regularly just like you might subscribe to a newspaper and read the editorial. It does not mean that you always agree with the editorials.

In particular I want to point out one blog that I regularly read but disclaim any endorsement. The blog "WHAT IS TRUTH" by Kent Brandenburg is always interesting and thought provoking but quite often extreme. He is somewhat of a Landmark Baptist, holding to a "local church only" doctrine of the Body of Christ. I believe he falls into the ditch on several other issues as well. I read his blog to be challenged and sharpened as a preacher, but I definitely do not endorse it. I just wanted to make that clear.

In other words, to make a long story short, the blogs I have listed here are for my own ease of access. They are not listed to say to church members or others, "Hey, check this out." This explanation from me should have come a long time ago and I apologize for its tardiness or for any stumbling blocks these other blogs may have presented to anyone who thought I endorsed them.

The External Performances of Religion

2010-09-28T14:11:00.003-05:00

In reading Proverbs 7 recently, I once again ran across the temptress who seduced the young man into adultery with her. As part of her seduction, she tells the young man in verses 14 and 15:

"I have peace offerings with me; this day have I payed my vows. Therefore came I forth to meet thee, diligently to seek thy face, and I have found thee."

I have always found it odd that one person suggesting to another that they go and commit sin together would start out by saying they have just now performed their religious duty. In the past I have just continued reading and not tried to figure it out, but this time it really struck me. It sounds as if she is saying, "Since I am now square with God for past sins, it is time to start running up the score again."

In seeking a way to word this idea in the margin of my Bible, I looked to Matthew Henry for some eloquent remark and found the following wonderful paragraph:

Her profession of piety. She had been to-day at the temple.... She had paid her vows, and, as she thought, made all even with God Almighty, and therefore might venture upon a new score of sins. Note, The external performances of religion, if they do not harden men against sin, harden them in it, and embolden carnal hearts to venture upon it, in hopes that when they come to count and discount with God he will be found as much in debt to them for their peace-offerings and their vows as they to him for their sins. But it is sad that a show of piety should become the shelter of iniquity (which really doubles the shame of it, and makes it more exceedingly sinful) and that men should baffle their consciences with those very things that should startle them. The Pharisees made long prayers, that they might the more plausibly carry on their covetous and mischievous provisions. The greatest part of the flesh of the peace-offerings was by the law returned back to the offerers, to feast upon with their friends, which (if they were peace-offerings of thanksgiving) was to be all eaten the same day and none of it left until the morning, Lev. 7:15. This law of charity and generosity is abused to be a colour for gluttony and excess: "Come,’’ says she, "come home with me, for I have good cheer enough, and only want good company to help me off with it.’’ It was a pity that the peace-offerings should thus become, in a bad sense, sin-offerings, and that what was designed for the honour of God should become the food and fuel of a base lust.

I added the bold above. The bolded text is what jumped out to me as an excellent note in the margin of my Bible beside these verses.

The following phrase of Matthew Henry's commentary especially deserves expounding upon. As a tribute to that commentator, I will make my exposition of his statement in the style of his own writing, indeed, in the style of all the great Christian writers of his day.

Here then is a statement of Matthew Henry on Proverbs 7:14-15 and my own thoughts bearing on the subject:

"The external performances of religion, if they do not harden men against sin, harden them in it."

First, the external performances of religion.
There are many external performances of religion which are given clearly in the Scripture and which must needs be performed with all diligence, such as for New Testament saints: the duty of prayer, of assembly with the brethren, of giving, of shewing of all piety, &c. Notice though that these are not to be simple external performances. The duty of prayer is to be attended with much heartfelt thanksgiving and childlike asking in faith; of assembly with the brethren to be done joyfully and faithfully; of giving, cheerfully; of all piety, as the outpouring of the fruits of the indwelling Holy Spirit. We therefore see that without exception, each external performance of religion given in the Scripture, yea in both Testaments, is to have its root in the internal man and not merely given to be an outwardly performed rite, for the sake of duty. Nevertheless, let mere duty compel to their performance even when the heart fails to do so, for Commit thy works unto the LORD, and thy thoughts shall be established, Proverbs 16:3.

There are a great deal many more external performances of religion which have their root in the traditions of men, such as for the Pharisees, washing of hands, &c. We are compassed about on all sides with such Pharisees even still. Observe the outward performance of the speaker in tongues or the many other external signs which accompany that religious movement. Observe a number of our fundamental brethren whose own estimate of spirituality is strictly based upon the manner of clothing worn to the Lord's House, measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves among themselves and becoming judges of evil thoughts, 2 Cor. 10:12 & Jas. 2:4. Observe the certain lewd fellows of the baser sort who call themselves the Emerging Church, who, piously claiming to cast off all external performance of religion, have instead simply exchanged it for another external performance, to wit, a shew of worldliness to exhibit and to prove and to approve of the grace of God even in their lasciviousness.

We see a similarity in these manmade external performances of religion with those of Scripture. These too have their root in the internal man. They are not merely external, but are an external display of the inward fallen nature, which inward nature longs for the justification of God through its own merit and justification of men through its shew of feigned piety.

Secondly, the hardening of man to sin.
The external performances of religion, that is those that are truly scriptural, should result in a man being hardened against his sin. The sacrifices of old were given, in part, to make a man realize that his sin will always cost him. The New Covenant duties of confession and repentance, like those of the Old Covenant, are to be intimately associated with deep sorrow, regret and determination to change due to the heart and mind's agreement with God about the folly and abomination of sin. The external performance of regularly assembling with the brethren is for the hearing of exhortation against sin; for the seeing of the examples of other brethren; for the intimate acquaintance and fellowship of others who are striving against their own sin with all malice toward the flesh; for the encouragement to move forward on this pilgrimage alongside others who are no better or worse than ourselves but are likewise wretched sinners who have merely come to the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. Pity the man who in the performance of these externals has not taken them to heart to realize their true intent, and to plainly see that it is sin in the first place which has brought us to the need of these things, at such time in the beginning when it separated us from the sweet fellowship with God which our first parents formerly shared without any need of religion.

Finally, the hardening of man in sin.
The unconverted finds in the external trappings of religion a certain solace for his seared conscience. His guilt is briefly assuaged and pressed back down beneath other cares for a spell. His internal desire to please God, graciously given him by Almighty God in his Creation, has been met to his own satisfaction for a time. His weekly or occasional meeting with other sinners reassures him of his own worth in comparison to them, for he no doubt knows that some of them have a sin greater than his own, at least according to a man's estimate of sin. His giving of tithes and time is his favor to God. Is he not so gracious toward God as others? Should not the Lord God look upon this man's external performance to see that his heart is in the right place? Wherefore in every way of religion he is assured of his own merit and the necessity to continue in religion without discontinuing in sin. For what need had he of religion if he were without sin? Surely the religion is the key and not the forsaking of sin, so he reasons either consciously or in the secrets of his wicked and impenitent heart. In this, even his mind and conscience is defiled and he knoweth it not.

It behoves the children of God to take the external performances of religion to the inside, to enjoin them internally with their intended benefit. Such benefit is the hardening of a man to sin, his softening to Jesus Christ and his daily throwing himself at the mercy of a God Who for the sake of the precious Blood of His Son, hath not dealt with us after our sins; nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. Amen.

Ten-Year-Old Hymn

2010-09-23T03:07:00.001-05:00

The following is a ten-year-old hymn. Not a hymn that is ten years old; a hymn that was composed by a ten-year-old.

Oh! the winds of the world blow cold on my face,
But Jesus did something through His shining grace.
While He was on that Cross, He suffered for my sins,
And, now, I am BORN AGAIN!

My older daughter wrote this and showed it to me on 9/22/2010. I confirmed with her that it was original to her and I had to keep asking her because I partly did not believe it. I was frankly surprised at how good it was. We have no music to it yet, and it may need worked over to fit a meter. It will need additional verses and maybe a chorus, but I will leave that all up to her.

I've thought for a long time that she was a budding hymn writer. When she was only about four, she not only made up the words but also the music to the following little jingle that I heard her singing around the house. I kept asking her and asking her where she had heard it and she kept insisting that she made it up. I searched the internet and could not find anything else like it, so I took her at her word.

(Very light-hearted, upbeat tune)
Look in the day.
Look in the night.
Look for somebody
To tell about Jesus.
(Repeat.).

(Key change a half-step upward, changes the mood slightly, tempo increases slightly)
Pray in the day.
Pray in the night.
Pray for the courage
To tell about Jesus.
(Repeat once).

(Key change up another half-step, builds tension as the tempo crests)
Tell every day.
Tell every night.
Tell everybody
All about Jesus
(Repeat once)

(Key change back down to original key, tempo slows and releases tension and ends the song with an affirmitave, committed mindset)
Look in the day.
Look in the night.
Look for somebody
TO TELL ABOUT JESUS!

If you heard it sung to the tune, you too would wonder and marvel that it was composed by a four-year-old.

I have not strongly encouraged her hymn writing or poetry before now, but I believe it is time to think about it a little more seriously. There are not enough doctrinally sound and musically edifying hymns being written in the 21st Century. There are only a handful of fundamental hymn writers and their music all tends to sound the same after a while.

In an earlier day, hymn publishing companies would come out with a new paperback booklet of 40 to 80 hymns every six to twelve months. This has been the case since before the days of P. P. Bliss or Fanny Crosby. In the 20th Century of course, I am thinking for example of publishers like Singspiration, Stamps-Baxter and others. John W. Peterson and other editors would collect new hymns from various writers (including Peterson himself) and bundle them into mass-market stapled booklets. Churches and families subscribed to receive these series of booklets by mail. Book stores stocked them by the dozens to be sold to families for their home musical times. (This was before TV had taken over most American living rooms). I have several examples of these booklets in my library going back many decades. These "new" hymns would then make their way into the churches to be learned by Christians worldwide and a few stand-out favorites would eventually make it into the next hardback hymnal from that publisher in ten years' time or so.

Many of the hymns we now enjoy began in that way. The hymnal that we use at Providence, Singspiration's 1968 "Great Hymns of the Faith" has a ton of songs that were previously published in inexpensive booklets from the 1800s through the 1960s. They finally made their way from the booklets into hymnals. Some for the first time in a hardback hymnal were printed in that particular hymal and we now consider them tried and true, 42 years after they made it to hardback. I have some of the old booklets that contain the first published copies of hymns we now consider to be old standards. These songs were one day "hot off the presses" and had to be learned by the churches from these very booklets. Imagine holding a booklet containing the first printed edition of "Heaven Came Down" and knowing that this new, unfamiliar song was learned and sung by a certain church somewhere for the first time right out of that booklet!

It is a shame today that we are not seeing a regular stream of newly written, doctrinally solid, musically conservative Christ-honoring hymns. A few publishers are putting out holiday cantatas and special music pieces, and even some choruses, but only a few hymns for the congregation.

Christians in former decades were greatly blessed and edified by regularly learning additional hymns. Our hymns are to be teaching tools (Ephesians 5:19; Colossians 3:16). For that to continue to be the case, we should desire to be learning more and more hymns that will teach us more and more about the things of the Lord. The problem is that more and more hymns are not being produced today.

This modern problem can be confronted in at least two ways.

1) We need to encourage more hymn writing, by young and old. I hope to write more on the practical side of doing that in a later post, Lord willing.

2) We need to take the various decades-old hymnal books that we do have and learn the unfamiliar songs from them. Lester Roloff regularly "resurrected" old forgotten hymns to the edification and delight of many souls. I am thinking of making a regular weekly or monthly challenge for the church to learn forgotten songs from Singspiration's Great Hymns of the Faith. If we ever run out of songs from that hymnal, we'll start learning songs from another. We don't need to be always on the lookout for the newly published hymnal. There are plenty of different hymnals out there from the days when Christian music stood on solid ground. Let's take advantage of our already-published Christian musical heritage.

One way the problem of a lack of new hymns should NOT be solved is by giving up on traditional or conservative styled music and going the so-called Contemporary route, as many have done. This is a different topic for a different day, but going Contemporary is NOT a solution to the lack of solid hymns being composed today. If the problem is, "We need to expand our range and ability of teaching and admonishing one another in psalms, hymns and spiritual songs," then how exactly can that problem be addressed by songs that do NOT teach anything but just repeat shallow lyrics over and over? How can that problem be addressed by switching from "psalms, hymns and spiritual songs" to "upheld palms, hips and carnal sing-alongs"?

I take this Ten-Year-Old's hymn and use it as my inspiration to learn the hundred-year-old hymns that the Body of Christ has forgotten. And also to encourage everyone from five-year-olds and eighty-five-year-olds to look inside themselves and see if there is a hymn writer just waiting for an opportunity.

When Baptists Go Apostate

2010-09-17T03:55:00.002-05:00

I keep finding more cell-phone snapshots to blog about. Down at the Baptist Seminary near my house is a nice, well-kept campus that is perfect for walks in the park and pic-nics and such. It was on a recent pic-nic with my family that I took the following photographs.

A little bit about the seminary: (1) It was established in 1901 as Central Baptist Seminary by the Northern Baptist Convention, now known as the American Baptist Churches USA. That denomination went liberal and horribly apostate long ago. (2) The seminary itself moved to Shawnee, KS within the last five to ten years. Now the old Seminary is what I fondly call "the Baptist Cemetary." Although it could probably have been described as a Cemetary while it was still active, as could the new location in Shawnee, "like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness," Matthew 23:27. (3) The seminary grounds are a beautiful place for some peace and quiet, full of all kinds of trees and some wildlife. Those grounds are the focus of my pictures and the title of the blog post, "When Baptists Go Apostate."

Please understand that I am not nit-picking with these pictures of the campus and the signs and such below. I think these are neat ideas to have in a park or on a campus. However, I was stunned by one sign in particular and so decided to use them all simply to illustrate what can happen when Baptists Go Apostate. I am using the pictures as a springboard for discussion only; not taking issue with most of the signs themselves. They are just illustrations for some thoughts on the subject at hand. Each picture will build up to the grand finale sign that clearly shows the apostasy.

First, when Baptists Go Apostate, they continue to speak of the Cross. Other liberals of other denominations have gotten away from the Cross, the Blood, the "gory" theology of a sacrificial redemption. For example some have gone so far as to remove the Blood or the Cross from many of the old hymns. Not the liberal Baptists; true Baptist roots have they, for they still stick with the idea of the Cross. But remember that symbolism does not indicate the spiritual state. You can go into any den of iniquity in this country and find both employees and customers wearing crosses around their necks. Exhibit A, the beautiful wooden cross on the grounds of the Apostate Baptist seminary. It is a nice place to sit on a warm Spring day or a cool Autumn day or any comfortable day in between. I resorted there last evening and played some fun ball-toss games with my two girls:

A wooden cross looks nice to the eyes, but carries no weight with me. A member of a United Methodist Church once mentioned in conversation to me that he did not like it that "Now some people are building church buildings without a single cross inside." I asked him if the church he belonged to had a cross. Upon the answer, then I asked if the liberal church he belonged to PREACHED the Cross. I am sure you can guess the answer I received as well as the truth of the matter.

Next, when Baptists Go Apostate, they continue to love the history of Bible times. Knowledge of history and culture can help bring the Bible more into our appreciation. It helps to learn a little bit about Roman customs, Greek customs, Hebrew customs, Egyptian customs, etc. These things are not essential to salvation or growth in godliness, but they can aid our understanding and enjoyment. For example, the Pharisees are not explained in great detail in the Bible itself. We can learn of them from other sources and that is a good thing. But you can tell that a Baptist may be headed for Apostasy when history is studied for history's sake and not for the sake of aiding Bible knowledge. Exhibit B, a historical lesson from Bible times found on the grounds of the apostate Baptist seminary - from Bible times, but with no connection or significance at all to the Bible itself; and helpful to no better understanding of God's word.

Third, when Baptists Go Apostate, scholarship into Bible minutiea and trifling details takes the place of solid Bible doctrine. Exhibit C:

Twenty one times the oak tree is mentioned. That is a neat little fact, but a very useless one. We can all easily get caught up in interesting tid-bits and tickling notions from the Bible, even if they have no consquence to our lives or Christian walk. I have a friend that will study the Bible looking for math story-problems to work out. I met a self-declared "fifth-generation reverend" who will give entire sermons on something he reads in the Bible that just happens to catch his fancy or tickle his brain. It makes for interesting study and interesting teaching and people walk away knowing what a great scholar the man is. But does it challenge them to strive to live for Jesus more earnestly?

There are interesting things in the Bible beyond the main message. There are facts, figures, tid-bits and trivia. There are things you will see as you read it that make you say, "Hmmm...." You could sit down and figure out what King Solomon's annual income would be in today's dollars (I Kings 10; II Chronicles 9). If it was 100 billion, or 100 million, or a measly 1 million, would that change how you respond to the word of God? Would that help you in your quest to "Grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ"?

When Baptists Go Apostate, the tid-bits and trivia can become more relevant to them than the message of "Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumblingblock, and unto the Greeks foolishness; But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the widsom of God."

When Baptists Go Apostate, their message of minutiae, trivia and tid-bits resembles more closely the TV show "Mysteries of the Bible" than it does the apostles' doctrine.

Fourth, when Baptists Go Apostate, they still continue to profess familiarity with the Scriptures. There is no clear indication from Apostate Baptists that they actually believe the Bible, just a profession that they know what it says. Exhibit D:

How about "Zaccheus repented, trusted Christ and was gloriously converted the day he climbed a Sycamore tree to see the Saviour." I think that would have fit on the sign, or something similar to it. But we just have the facts that Zaccheus is a "familiar story" to Apostate Baptists. Hansel and Gretel is a "familiar story" as well, but they don't believe it either.

Finally, the grand finale. When Baptists Go Apostate, they consent to "science falsely so called" and accept the wisdom of men despite what the Bible says. Feast your eyes on Exhibit E, found on the campus of a so-called Baptist Seminary where people were once supposedly learning the Bible:

150 million "yrs." indeed! This is the only sign with any abbreviations - even though they weren't running out of space. Whoever printed this sign must have been so embarrassed to contradict the word of God with evolution that they could not bring themselves to spell out "years," for they knew it would be a lie!

By the way, while I was thinking about this sign, I thought to myself, "Well maybe they just hold to the 'Gap Theory', as many who claim to be Fundamental hold it." I knew better of course. But while I was thinking of this, and of this sign about a tree species existing for 150 million years, I came up with another argument against the "Gap Theory." I may expand on this in a future post, but here is my argument in a nutshell. The "Gap Theory" with a "ruin / recreation" or "ruin / restoration" viewpoint states that there was a world system with intelligent life, animals, plants, etc, for millions of years before Adam, and then Genesis 1:2 should be translated, "And the earth became without form and void...." The assumption is that God destroyed it all and started completely over with the six day creation in Genesis 1. This is based on the scientific evidence dating rocks and even some extinct species to millions of years old or more, which were supposedly around before "the earth became void." But what does the Gap Theory crowd do with all the currently existing species that are supposedly millions of years old or more? How does the Gap Theory explain the Ginkgo tree species (above) being on earth both BEFORE and AFTER "the earth became void" ??? You simply cannot reconcile the Bible account with modern man's science as the Gap Theory attempts. Pick one or the other - the word of God or the word of men.

When Baptists Go Apostate, they choose the word of men over the word of God. They choose what the word of men says about the word of God. They choose what the word of men says in contradiction to the word of God. They choose what the word of men says despite the word of God. Then one day the word of men will be, "Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name?" But they will have no choice but to hear and to heed the word of God, "Depart from me, ye accursed, into everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels."

When Baptists Go Apostate, it is not as easy to spot as the apostasy from other denominations. But you can see it if you are careful and you know what to look for.

God forbid that we ever take our guard down against apostasy, Baptist or otherwise.

VM

The Fact of Church Membership

2010-09-14T11:52:00.001-05:00

What a blessing we shared in a few weeks ago to add two more believers to the local church membership! I continue to pray for these two brothers.

Some people do not believe in local church membership, saying something like, "If I am part of the Body of Christ, why should I have to join a church? I became a part of the 'Church' when I got saved." This may sound pious to some and even logical, but is this attitude biblical?

I have formerly compiled a list of Bible passages that clearly indicate the first century churches had a recognized membership roster, along with other passages that indicate the necessity of church membership. I taught this to the church when we studied the Doctrine of the Church (Ecclesiology) some time back. The New Testament is very clear that local churches are to have established church membership rosters. Praise the Lord that it is entirely biblical to know who is who!

Meanwhile, Way of Life Literature / David Cloud has published a similar list from the late Bruce Lackey. The literature from Way of Life is often very helpful. In fact, that article was so good that I decided to repost it here.

Standard Disclaimer: My posting materials here from other ministries is not a blanket endorsement of that ministry, as I rarely agree with every position another ministry takes. In general, I endorse Way of Life Literature, but even in the article below there are a few small items I would not entirely agree with. I won't take issue with them here as they are still instructive. For the most part, I think the article below is perhaps the best defense of local church membership I have ever seen. Enjoy and be edified!

(Here is a link to the original article on the Way of Life site).

VM

15 BIBLE REASONS A CHRISTIAN SHOULD JOIN A BIBLE-BELIEVING CHURCH

September 14, 2010 (Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061, 866-295-4143, fbns@wayoflife.org; for instructions about subscribing and unsubscribing or changing addresses, see the information paragraph at the end of the article) -

The following is by the late Dr. Bruce Lackey:

New Testament Christians joined a local church. The churches had membership lists, either in writing or in memory. Since the Scripture was given for instruction in righteousness (2 Tim. 3:16), God evidently wants us to follow their example. Although there is no specific verse that says, "Thou shalt join a church," there are fifteen places that either require or teach by example that we should do so.

(1) THE FIRST CHURCH HAD A MEMBERSHIP. "And in those days Peter stood up in the midst of the disciples, and said, (the number of names together were about an hundred and twenty,)" (Ac 1:15). This Jerusalem church had a list of about 120 names that made up its membership. Even though the Bible says "about an hundred and twenty," it does not mean that there was any uncertainty. "About" is used commonly in scripture to designate a number, in keeping with the usual practice of that day, when people were not trying to be as specific as we are in the twentieth century. For example, John 1:39 says, ". . . it was about the tenth hour." It was not important in those days to know whether it was 9:55 or 10:05, since they did not have watches, clocks, etc. Likewise, John 6:19 says, ". . . rowed about five and twenty or thirty furlongs." Similarly, Acts 5:7 describes Sapphira coming to the church "about the space of three hours after." We must remember that the Holy Spirit inspired words that people would normally understand and speak, but this does not mean that He was uncertain! The events of John 1:39 and Acts 5:7 did happen at a specific moment, although that moment is not recorded. And the very mention of "the number of names" in Acts 1:15 shows that a collection actually existed, even though we are not told the exact number. The important thing to note is not that there were 119, 120, or 121, but that there actually was a "number of the names together," in short, a membership of definite individuals who made up that church.

(2) ALL THOSE MEMBERS ASSEMBLED TOGETHER ON PENTECOST. Acts 2:1 says, "And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place." The word all certainly indicates that a specific number was there. He did not say "a majority," or "several," but all.

(3) SPECIFIC PEOPLE WERE ADDED TO THIS MEMBERSHIP ON THE DAY OF PENTECOST. According to Acts 2:41, "Then they that gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls." Again, the word about has the same significance. The important word is added, showing that the number grew. Whether they were written down on paper is not the issue; the fact is that certain specific people were saved, baptized, and added to certain specific people! (This is interpreted by some to mean that they were added to the Lord, or to the whole body of Christ, but the context has been speaking of that group of 120, ever since Acts 1:15, and continues to speak of that earthly group which met together in Jerusalem, through v.47).

(4) THE LORD ADDED PEOPLE TO THE LOCAL CHURCH. "And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved" (Acts 2:47). This church was not the whole body of Christ (or the comprehensive church, or the universal church, or whatever the term one might prefer), but the local church, because of the context. The word church must be interpreted by context. For example, no one would say that "the church in the wilderness" (Acts 7:38) was the same as the church in the New Testament, since the context clearly shows that it was the nation of Israel at the foot of Mt. Sinai. Likewise, Heb. 12:22-23 would obviously not be a local church, but "the heavenly Jerusalem," etc. Context must determine meaning, and the context of Acts 2:47 is that of the church at Jerusalem. . . . Therefore, the church mentioned in Acts 2:47 is that church at Jerusalem that had just evangelized and baptized and was meeting in the temple and from house to house, teaching doctrine and breaking bread (vv. 41-46). And, in saying "the Lord added . . ." we conclude that He led these people to join that Jerusalem church, and gave the apostolic leaders of that church the terms on which the new believers were to be added.

(5) THERE WAS A DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE CHURCH AND OUTSIDERS. Acts 5:11 contrasts "the church" with others who "heard these things." It is referring to the surprising deaths of Ananias and Sapphira when it says "And great fear came upon all the church, and upon as many as heard these things." Therefore, it must have been common knowledge that some specific persons belonged to the church, while others did not. And we must remember that the Holy Spirit inspired these words, so it was actually He that made this difference.

(6) SOME PEOPLE DID NOT DARE TO JOIN THE CHURCH! Immediately after the deaths of Ananias and Sapphira, and subsequent miracles by the apostles, Acts 5:13 tells us that "of the rest durst no man join himself to them: but the people magnified them." It was common knowledge who belonged to this new church, and after such a harsh judgment on two members who did not conform, some people did not dare to join them! Some belonged; others dared not join, for one reason or another. When one joins, there is a membership!

(7) SPECIFIC MEMBERS ELECTED OFFICERS. The apostles commanded the congregation, "Wherefore, brethren, look ye out among you seven men of honest report, full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business" (Acts 6:3). They were speaking to a specific group whom they knew as "brethren"; they said that these men were to be chosen from "among you," obviously designating a specific group of people. Any way we look at this, there must have been a membership.

(8) THE MEMBERSHIP OF THE CHURCHES INCREASED. Acts 9:31 clearly implies membership by saying, "Then had the churches rest throughout all Judaea and Galilee and Samaria, and were edified; and walking in the fear of the Lord, and in the comfort of the Holy Ghost, were multiplied." There had to be a number of people to start with, and a bigger number when they were multiplied. To say that 50 people became 250 is to designate a membership.

(9) THE CHURCHES WHICH PAUL ESTABLISHED "INCREASED IN NUMBER DAILY" (Acts 16:5). Such a statement would have been impossible unless they had had a specific number to begin with. If 23 were increased to 25 on Sunday, 28 on Monday, etc., there was obviously a membership to start with. And it is significant that all believers in those areas were considered to be in the churches. The same situation prevailed everywhere Paul went; when people were converted, they were organized into churches. See Acts 14:21-23 and 15:36, compared with 16:4-5.

(10) ELDERS WERE RESPONSIBLE FOR CERTAIN PEOPLE. The Ephesian elders were told to feed the church of God, the flock, over which the Holy Ghost had made them overseers (Acts 20:28). Obviously, the church, the flock, was a specific group of people. How else could these elders carry out their responsibilities? It had to be clearly known who made up the church, the flock. Such would be a membership.

(11) TROUBLE-MAKERS CAME FROM INSIDE AND OUTSIDE THE CHURCH. Paul warned, "For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock. Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them." Their dangers would come, not only from "grievous wolves" outside, but from men "of their own selves." Some were outside the church; some were in. Again, this is obviously a membership.

(12) THE CORINTHIAN CHURCH WAS COMMANDED TO EXCLUDE SOME BRETHREN. "But now I have written unto you not to keep company, if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner; with such an one no not to eat" (1 Cor. 5:11). This eating could not refer to ordinary meals, since the Lord Jesus ate with publicans and sinners (Mat. 9:10). It must refer to eating at the Lord's table. He likewise says, ". . . put away from among yourselves that wicked person" (1 Cor. 5:13). This could not mean to stop associating with, or speaking to, such a person, because a parallel passage in 2 Thes. 3:14-15 says, ". . . note that man, and have no company with him, that he may be ashamed. Yet count him not as an enemy, but admonish him as a brother." It would be impossible to admonish him if they never associated with or spoke to him. To "have no company" must mean church company or fellowship, preventing him from the privileges of membership (holding office, voting, partaking of the Lord's supper).

(13) THERE IS NO WAY TO EXERCISE CHURCH DISCIPLINE UNLESS THERE IS A MEMBERSHIP. Mat. 18:7 instructs the church to consider an unrepentant brother as a "heathen man and a publican." How would this be done? Certainly not by denying him access to the meetings! We would most assuredly want heathen people to attend our services and hear the preaching of God's Word. 1 Cor. 14:23-25 shows the importance of this. Neither could it mean to stop speaking to the person. Christians should definitely speak to heathen people; how else could we win them to Christ? But, a church could not permit a heathen to be elected as one of its officers, or preach, or teach, or vote on church matters, or partake of the Lord's Supper. Therefore, to say that only certain people are eligible to hold office, etc., is to designate a membership.

(14) 1 COR. 6:1-11 DISTINGUISHES BETWEEN "THE UNJUST . . . THE SAINTS." Paul spoke of "a wise man among you (who) shall be able to judge between his brethren" (v.5). He rebuked them for going to law before the "unbelievers" (v.6). These brethren were called a church in 1 Cor. 1:2. Some people were known to belong to the church, some were not.

(15) 1 PET. 4:17 DISTINGUISHED BETWEEN "THE HOUSE OF GOD" AND "THEM THAT OBEY NOT THE GOSPEL." When we remember that the "house of God" is the local church, according to 1 Tim. 3:15, it becomes obvious that those who had obeyed the gospel were in a church. Whether or not their names were written on some list is unknown and unimportant; what is obvious is that they knew who was in the church.

The point is that we have no instance of New Testament believers refusing to belong to a local church. Joining the church was the normal thing to do, after conversion. The person who has settled the matter of salvation should then be baptized, following Christ's example and command, and join a Bible-believing and Bible-practicing church.

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Would you submit to your pastor in this situation?
	Yes: Submit to your pastor in anything that does not cause you to disobey God.
	Yes: Submit to your pastor in all matters of your "public life."
	Yes: Submit to your pastor in this instance to keep the peace.
	Yes: This is a matter of not offending a brother with our liberty.
	No: I would leave the church or drop my ministry.
	No: I would seek to have the church fire the pastor.
	No: I would disobey quietly without making a stink.
	No: I would just disobey and see what happened.
	No: I would hide my Facebook usage from church folks.
	I do not know what I would do, or it would depend on more variables.

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