A Most Wonderful Day in Eden

This evening one of our shepherds led our thoughts in devotion. He had us share what we thought might have been the best day for different people in the Bible. We started with Adam and Eve then Noah, Abraham, Paul and others. One thing he pointed out was how often good and evil come together in the same day. Similarly, the best and the worse appear seemingly back to back at the same time.

I thought, although I did not share it at the time, the worst day for Adam and Eve's life was their most wonderful day in Eden, also. The day on which Adam and Eve stood shivering in their leaf-covered nakedness was not because of the cold. Although they understood the obvious that they had eaten from the tree God had forbidden them to eat I doubt seriously that they understood the full impact and consequences: You will surely die resonated with a distant muffledness in their ears. I picture mirrored exchanges between husband and wife: Eve what have we done? Adam what have we done? Satan, who had succeeded in deceiving the man and the woman, must himself have been at a loss to understand, other than the fact Adam and Eve had disobeyed God, just what did it mean to die. Death was unknown prior to Eden.

I have often pointed out the first mention of the word love in the scriptures is a passage we readily recognize in Genesis 22:

Now take your son, your only son whom you love . . .

itself a portend of the gospel of John chapter 3:

For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son . . .

What turned the worst day for Adam and Eve also revealed the most wonderful thing about that day for them: God loves us. Still. Yes, we have sinned against him. He has cast us out of Eden, but he clothed us and continues to provide for us. Prior to that moment they had about as much understanding and appreciation for the love of God than they had about his stern warning concerning the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

The unconditional love of God is what turned the worst day into the most wonderful day in Eden. It's the same, ancient unconditional love which transforms the sinner who turns in obedience to the gospel message to become a child of God.

Read More

A Christmas Moment

A Christmas Moment

Read More

My Birthday

My Birthday

Read More

Humanists launch huge "godless" ad campaign

Humanists think. Indeed.  There's hardly anymore thought in the humanists' world view than his childhood school days show-and-tell: Just talk about what you can see with your eyes and feel with your hands. The "Humanists Think" slogan of humanists, atheists or by whatever stripe they wish to color themselves makes for a good sound bite, but like sound bites it too neither requires nor reflects any thinking. It's the same old oneupmanship of the American mindset: Thinking is better than believing. Of course, the reverse of that is no different: Believing is better than thinking.

The Speckhardt quotation illustrates this well enough: "We know that you can be good without God, but many folks in America don't know that," he said." I, as a believing theist, understand that without any problem. What Speckhardt and his brethren haven't and can't think about is how they would engage for a resolution in, for example, in a horrifically, all-to-common, (un)civil matter of homicide. One might anticipate nothing more than an adaptation of  the undiscerning Spechhardt's words, "It's quite obvious that  the Bible contains horrific material . . ." or something horrific has happened here. The feeble, anemic inability of humanists to foster a godless world runs amok very quickly once he takes it beyond his personal comfort zone. Better yet, stay in the comfort zone. Let the advertising madman do it.

Read More

What is Halloween?

This is an article, What is Halloween? I wrote a while ago.

I am not given to observing or celebrating Christmas, Easter, Halloween or an other holiday. I take no offense by my brothers and sisters in the Lord who choose to observe or celebrate holidays. My participation in these holidays is to join in their celebration without any violation of conscience on my part.

What I do find amusing and sometimes baffling is the impassioned, but uninformed message from the pulpits throughout the church. This is especially true of Halloween. What Halloween has become is a mix of various things.Some see it as a celebration of Satanic rituals, others engage in costume disguise and trick or treating. None of these can obliterate the original intent of Halloween. Briefly, here is the intent of Halloween. See the article for more detail.

1.  People observed a day at end of harvest season when they would invoke and invite the spirits of loved ones who had died.
2.  People set out treats for the spirits of those dear ones in preparation of their visitation.
3.  People realized an open door to the spirit world also meant unwanted evil spirits could come upon them.
4.  People disguised themselves in scary apparel to appear as evil spirits in order to escape harm from unwanted evil spirits.

What has come to be known as Halloween was not a worship or celebration of demonic spirits. Halloween was the belief of the Druids of enjoying a time of fellowship . . . with the dead.

A lesson Christians can apply to Halloween:

Jesus has been raised from the dead in spirit and bodily form. He comes, not for a visit, but to live in the heart of the obedient believer. The believer in Christ has been freed from the fear of death and of Satan himself who HAD (past tense) the power of death and has no need to disguise himself or to engage with Satan. Satan lost his power of death through the resurrection of Jesus from the dead.

Christians do not seek contact or fellowship with the dead. We do not remember or serve a dead Christ, but a risen and living Lord and Savior.

Read More

22 days

On Wednesday September 08 I began a 22 day journey. The journey ended Thursday September 30.

I took to heart an idea which came to me in my Wednesday night Connect: 4 Bible study. As part of our discussion reference was made to the Psalms. Truth is, I have never been big on Psalms. Any reading in the Psalms was either a random verse here or there or if an entire Psalm it had to be a short one.

So, it was especially daunting as it was captivating to allow (how else could I say it?) the Holy Spirit to speak to me specifically as concerns Psalms 119: The longest Psalm . . . all 176 verses.

This Psalm follows immediately after the exact middle of the Bible, Psalm 118, which follows immediately after Psalm 117; the shortest Psalm, all two verses. Psalm 119 is written in groups of eight verses each with a heading denoting the twenty-two letters of the Hebrew alphabet.

Actually, I started on Thursday 19 and backtracked to Wednesday 08. Then, I started. I wrote in my notebook the Aleph (verses 1 thru 8) for Wednesday. Then, I wrote the Aleph and Beth (verses 1 thru 16) for Thursday. The next day on Friday I wrote the Aleph, Beth and Gimel (verses 1 thru 24) adding a daily eight verses every day always starting with the Aleph, Beth, Gimel, etc until the twenty-second day.

On the twenty-first day I wrote the: Aleph,Beth,Gimel,Daleth,He,Vav,Zayin,Heth,Teth,Yodh,Kaph,Lamedh,Mem,
Nun,Smekh,Ayin,Pe,Tsadhe,Qoph, Resh and Shin.

On the twenty-second day I wrote the:
Aleph,Beth,Gimel,Daleth,He,Vav,Zayin,Heth,Teth,Yodh,Kaph,Lamedh,Mem,
Nun,Smekh,Ayin,Pe,Tsadhe,Qoph, Resh,Shin and Tav.

If just these two sentences of the Hebrew alphabet seem long you can began to appreciate a little bit the true length of the entire 176 verses of Psalm 119.

I knew it was going to be tough, but except for a momentary bit of a foolish, fickle thought my resolve was steadfast.

I did not do it for penmanship, flawless accuracy (though I was conscientious about accuracy) or memorization. I did not know what I would glean or what the Holy Spirit would instruct me, but I did and He did.

Since the start of our Sunday morning study on Romans I committed to reading not just the next few verses in preparation, but to reading the entire book every week. This is where I saw one of those blessings from the work of the Spirit in me through Psalm 119. I found the Psalm to be a record of my own journey of faith with my stumblings, waywardness, restoration and always, my love for the love of the Lord for me and my love for His word. It is He who has been ever faithful and steadfast with me.

As I read Romans, and read going forward, it is as through a template, virtually. Romans, as I am sure is true of all other New Testament writings is replete with the references or allusions to those ancient writings which so shaped and filled the lives of those who love the commandments, the testimonies, the ordinances, the law of the Lord as did the apostle Paul. One such reference, for example,

Then I shall not be ashamed.

After emptying four pens and filling one notebook I am all the more filled. Psalm 119 is not the longest Psalm in the Bible. It's become the Psalm closest and dearest to me. Take your journey.

Read More

Our moral code is out of date

Mr. Yaron Brook says,

If morality is about the pursuit of your own success and happiness, then giving money away to strangers is, in comparison, not a morally significant act. (And it's outright wrong if done on the premise that renunciation is moral.)

Personally, I would take no offense to Yaron Brook's moralist label for myself. I would state, for his enlightenment, I neither ignore nor condemn the earning of money. Yaron Brook's above statement with parenthetical is like the loaded mouse trap which failed to spring.

First, he packages an updated morality under the Science, freedom and the pursuit of personal profit label.

Then, he peddles his Science, freedom and the pursuit of personal profit morality dogma for our learning on Gates and Buffett's coattails, two men well-known of good reputation.

Brook won't thread the morality question on those who amass their fortunes in drug trade and other evils. Even less would he dare thread on them were they to give away their money as benefactors to charitable non-profit organizations. Furthermore, do you think he would pounce were a drug lord to renounce his riches and became an eager benefactor as the result of moral pangs in his conscience? Hence, Yaron Brook's moral argument could no more spring to catch a mouse than a evil doer among men.

This is not an updated moral code. However, it is quickly becoming known as the blind-folded atheists' anemic morality.

Read More