Fear of the LORD

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; all those who practice it have a good understanding. (Psalm 111:10)

Matthew Henry commented that: “No man is wise who does not fear the Lord; no man acts wisely except as influenced by that fear. This fear will lead to repentance, to faith in Christ, to watchfulness and obedience. Such persons are of a good understanding, however poor, unlearned, or despised.”

The Fear of the LORD is also addressed in Psalm 34 verses 12 through 15. “Since David speaks in this Psalm of the extraordinary care G-d grants to those who fear Him, David saw fit to advise us how we can achieve this stature. He instructs that fearing G-d requires discipline and discretion in speech, action and thought: avoiding inappropriate or hurtful speech, refraining from misconduct, performing Mitzvot, and pursuing social harmony.

“This chapter thus speaks of the benefits of Yir’at Hashem (Fear of G-d), and of what it means to live a life of Yir’at Hashem. David reminds us here that fear of G-d guarantees a person protection and blessing, and that fear of G-d is well within the reach of every individual who is prepared to commit himself to the values and laws of the Torah.” Daily Tehillim.

As I think about discipline and discretion in speech, action, and thought, I think about not only refraining from the negatives in each area, but also of the positives. Take speech for instance. While in the book of James, we are instructed about controlling our tongues, we are told by Paul in his letter to the Ephesians (4:25) “Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another.” This means that we are obligated to not only refrain from hurtful speech, but to speak out based upon our love of G-d, and truth.

For some of us, it is difficult to hold our tongues, to not say what is on the top of our minds. It is easy, then, to let loose an uncontrolled tongue, to lash out. This is the tongue that James says needs to be controlled. This is the tongue that spews forth venom. But for some of us, it is easy to hold our tongues, to control them and not speak. We are the doormats. It is to those of us that Paul speaks. For we too easily withhold truths from people that maybe necessary for growth.

Balance. The Fear of G-d results in wisdom, a wisdom producing the balance necessary for righteous speech that speaks the truth in love.

Bobby’s Rant

Bobby recently vented his frustration. He said his wife, Donnybrook, “found some of my stashed food stocks. She tossed some into the trash, then put bags of rice and beans in her car trunk, saying she would give it to Salvation Army.” Bobby’s anger, barely contained, was thrust into his stomach. Several antacids later, he still felt the burning in his throat. Bobby is a passive man, and a doormat Christian. I’ve talked about Bobby and his Borderline Personality Disordered (BPD) wife. Bobby takes all Donnybrook dishes out and tries his best to smile, say he’s sorry, and forever and ever respond to all that she says with a polite, albeit meaningless, “Yes, Dear.” Poor Bobby.

Bobby is one of the many “passive men” in America. While the causes differ, Bobby said he “was raised in a home where my father doted upon my mother, yielding to every whim and fancy. All of it translated to me learning to submit totally to women.” Bobby went on to say, “It’s a generational defect: my grandfather did the same thing, and probably his father, too.”

Passive men are the feminized men of a Twenty-First Century American in decline. A report by Steve Connor, of The Independent – UK, speaks to feminization of men as displayed in a reduced sperm count, and he reports on the research into such reduction. Theories abound, of course. One is that males eating ever-increasing amounts of fat are increasing the oestrogens that interfere with male reproductive function. Another theory is that oestrogens are in the water. Connor reports that “environmentalists have suggested that it could be ‘gender-bending’ chemicals – endocrine disrupters – in the environment that are the cause of the gradual feminisation [sic] of men. But despite intense research to find these endocrine disrupters, the precise reasons for the problems have not so far been identified.”

There is some evidence that the feminization of men today is a product of our increasingly liberalized culture. “We could devote an entire book to examples of how our culture is confused (at best) about what a man is and vilifies (at worst) what it does know,” wrote Paul and Sandy Coughlin in their book, Married But Not Engaged.

What has happened over the past fifty years is that American society views women in a much more positive light that ever before, while at the same time denigrating its men. “The root idea: Men are a serious problem that must be fixed, not a gender to be appreciated. Men are not okay as men. Masculinity, in and of itself, is negative,” say the Coughlin’s. One need only turn to Hollywood, to whom the American public honors as a view of what American culture is to be. Where are the programs like Father Knows Best, Leave It To Beaver, Sea Hunt, Maverick, Gunsmoke, Bonanza, Dragnet, and a whole bunch of others with strong male leads, respectful characters? In those shows men were, well, men. What do we have for the television line up this year, and for the past several years? We have programs dominated by strong women and sniffling men. Family life, as modeled by Father Knows Best and Leave It To Beaver, has been replaced with Modern Family. GAG! Today, Hollywood shows us that when men try to be men, they are evil and deserving of criminal status. Where are the John Waynes, the Ronald Reagans, the Charles Hestons? Today, mostly, we have whiney men that portray whiny men for which women berate.

Today we have pseudo-men like Bobby who don’t fully appreciate that passivity, total appeasement of women, is sin. Bobby virtually puts his head between his knees and avoids any thought of the conflict that would ensue should he “resist the evil manipulations of a decisive, self-centered, wicked woman,” as he, himself, has described her ways. She is a Twenty-First Century Jezebel! “She condemns any opinions, any actions, that are different than hers. She presents to the world that she is always right,” said Bobby. “She works only with women, has no need for men. A modern Jezebel who need no man.” Except perhaps virtually neutered, emotionally dead, Bobby that serve her every whim and fancy. “When a man does not feel needed, something in him dies. Even an emotionally healthy man turns passive and loses energy,” say the Coughlin’s. Thus, satan wins in the continued seduction and fall of Adam.

Kaleidoscope

Kaleidoscopes used to be a big thing for kids, yet I’ve not seen one in a while. As described by Wikipedia, “A kaleidoscope is a cylinder with mirrors containing loose, colored objects such as beads or pebbles and bits of glass. As the viewer looks into one end, light entering the other creates a colorful pattern, due to the reflection off the mirrors. Coined in 1817 by Scottish inventor Sir David Brewster, “kaleidoscope” is derived from the Ancient Greek καλός (kalos), “beautiful, beauty”, εἶδος (eidos), “that which is seen: form, shape” and σκοπέω (skopeō), “to look to, to examine”, hence “observation of beautiful forms.”

The Basic Elements of a kaleidoscope are: Colorful Images; Moving Images; Beautiful Images; Symmetrical Images. And if the technology had been available to Sir Brewster, he might have added soothing music to the collection, music for meditation. But the music isn’t necessary; it’s the bursts of color, constantly changing as the tube is rotated, that satiate the visual sense to such a point that the other senses are less acute, less active, less attention paid. In ways this is what television does to us as we watch. I remember when my parents brought home their first television. The actual viewing screen, the tube, was small, but the cabinet was very big. It was black and white, and we could watch one or two channels. I remember one night when I awoke from a nightmare and stayed up for a while watching the Phil Silvers Show. It was captivating enough that my nightmare fell away quickly into the hole of forgetfulness. And that was in black and white. It wasn’t until many years later that we had our first color television. Now that drew our attention. And for me it still does.

It happens when I’m at peoples homes who are unaccustomed to silence. Entering their homes I’d find a television in centrally located in the main room. In more than one home, I’ve found televisions strategically located throughout the house, even the kitchen. For me, the presence of a television, regardless to which station it is tuned, is a magnet for my attention. Sitting in a living room with several others having a conversation, I’d find myself constantly drawn to the TV, and I noticed so did the others in the room.

And televisions are appearing every where these days. They’re in restaurants. They’re in waiting rooms. They’re on buses and metro trains. I imagine them to line the streets some day. Oh, wait, that’s already happening with moving images on bill boards along highways. This reminds me of the child-care/pre-school up the road. It was only the second business to be opened along the rural road, and started with a small sign. Just this last year, the sign was replaced with an electronic bill board that scrolls various advertisements and slogans in bright lights. Even the schools and churches are putting up these electronic bill boards with bright scrolling advertisements crossing the sign. I wonder how many near-accidents have occurred while drivers tried to read the bill boards.

Maybe the reason there aren’t kaleidoscopes around any longer is that the world has become one big one. Everywhere we go, every where we turn, colorful images, moving images, beautiful images abound. There’s a saying, “can’t see the forest for the trees.” Today, we can not see the forest, we cannot see the trees, for all the images thrust before us, grabbing our attention. Aren’t we missing something through all this? Just like the kaleidoscope, our visual sense is overloaded to the point that our other senses are dulled. What would we feel, what would we hear, if we focused away from the images bombarding us?

In the second chapter of the Book of Proverbs (v.2), we are instructed to:

. . . make your ear attentive to wisdom.

The commentary in my Jewish Study Bible describes two lady personifications. One is Wisdom, the other the “strange woman,” that is Lady Folly, the symbol of wicked counsels and a figure for heresy, of foreign wisdom.

Like the television that is magnet for the eyes, images daily inundate our senses–we miss the call of Lady Wisdom and are seduced by the sensual pleasure offered our flesh by Lady Folly. We are being deceived. G-d is being undermined by fast-paced images beconing us toward the abyss.

Lord Bless, Keep, Shine. . .

Asia Bibi, a Pakistani Christian, will be martyred

The appeals are over for Asia Bibi, who has been tried and convicted of blasphemy (see earlier post). Unless the Islamist government of Pakistan grants some extraordinary stay she will be executed soon. The Spirit of G-d has upheld Ms. Bibi; the Lord’s right hand kept her from falling away from her commitment to our Lord. She has not denounced Messiah. She has endured.

Have you ever seen one of those action movies where a team of mercenary soldiers go into a country to rescue someone? This is one person that should be rescued. But that isn’t likely to happen, unless the Lord opens the cell doors and releases her. Our prayers and our hopes for her release, for her return to her children, have come to nothing. Well, that isn’t totally true. For she has endured. Lord willing, she shall endure until the end. Then shall she be summoned to the foot of our Lord, given a new white robe, and encouraged to wait a little while until all who are to die for the Lord Y’shuaJesus do so.

But the one who endures
to the end will be saved.
Matthew 24:13

And yet I have to ask a few questions: Why didn’t I do something for Ms. Bibi? Why hasn’t there been an outcry from Christians worldwide against her being held a prisoner? Why hasn’t there been an ‘million man march’ on Washington to get attention to the injustice being committed by a country we support, that is suppose to be our ally?

We’ve been told that Islam is a peaceful religion. We’ve been told that only a few Muslims are terrorists, and that they don’t really follow the Qur’an. Pakistan is our friend. Our friend is going to murder Ms. Bibi for expressing herself. Expressing herself is not her right, according to the law in Pakistan. Is Pakistan then not following the Qur’an? Or is Pakistan carrying out what is actually in the Qur’an? Is that the way it’s going to be throughout the world where Islam is able to take over?

It seems to me, as Christians, we’ve turned the other cheek a few too many times; we’ve been good little doormats. Here in America we’ve let atheists and homosexuals and humanists determine the way we conduct ourselves in public. Hotels and motels are being pressured to remove Bibles from rooms. Christian clubs are forbidden in many schools. Even children who bring Bibles to school are being sent home. In Houston, TX, pastors are not allowed to exercise their rights of free speech and freedom of religion as granted by the U.S. Constitution. Christians who meet at home are, in some places, in violation of a local ordinance prohibiting such acts. In some “free” countries, speech can be termed “hatefull,” and the speaker fined or jailed or both. Christian businessmen and women are being told they must go against their own faith and do what is unthinkable just so as not to offend an unbeliever. For instance, Christians who run businesses having to do with weddings are told they must take on homosexual wedding customers. (And if you say, “What’s wrong with that?” to any of the above, then you are part of the problem; and you are a lukewarm mouthful of water that the Lord will one day spit out.)

Soon we’ll be coming to the winter holiday season. Yes. Winter Holiday Season. Not Christmas anymore. We’re told not to say “Merry Christmas” because someone might be uncomfortable with it. And, yes, I know, the Apostle Paul talked about not eating meat sacrificed if it may make a weaker brother stumble. Does that apply? But really, is Christmas our holiday or theirs? And, yes, it’s about them and us. Us being the Christians. Them being the pagans, the unbelievers.

Lord forgive us. We really haven’t a clue of what we’re doing. We don’t deserve Your blessing. We don’t deserve being kept by You. We don’t deserve You shining upon us. We don’t. But by the grace You granted to us, through the sacrifice of Y’shuaJesus, we are saved anyway, not based upon our actions or in-actions, but based upon Your desire, Your decree.

For God So Loved the World:

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.
John 3:16-21

Lord Bless, Keep, Shine. . . for it is for this that He came, died, and rose. Praise The Name of the LORD our G-d.

The Movie: GoodBye World!

In programming classes, during the dawning of the computer age, I recall the phrase, “Hello World.” It was used as the first statement a newbee programmer would have his first program write to a screen. This movie, “Goodbye World!” used a spin-off of that phrase as the last thing to be displayed on all cell phones as the computer age crashed into night. The movie, set in Northern California, centered on a group of old college friends, now middle-aged, that managed to get together as the world plummeted into chaos. It is explained that after college, after these friends went their own ways, two of the them, James and Lilly, were awakened to the fragility of the world, especially food production, electricity, and transportation. They not only saw that the modern world was headed toward an abrupt halt, they acted upon that vision. They left the city, heading to Northern California to build a self-sustaining home high on a mountain.

. . .let us keep awake and be sober. (1 Thes 5:6)

It is in this home that the old college friends gather. It’s not a movie with “we all lived happily ever after.” Right from the start the group finds it must deal with diverse personalities and perspectives. Ever the pragmatist, James has collected a sizable cache of food and medicine, and developed a large truck garden. He has a filtered well and solar panels providing power not only for the well, but also for the house. Lilly, on the other hand, would rather not think about tomorrow, and simply eat, drink, smoke dope, and be happy for the moment. James and another, more pragmatic friend, head into town to the small grocery store to pick up some supplies. They find that a motorcycle gang has taken over the store, and raise the prices a thousand percent. They pay with cash and a gold watch. Once outside the store, the witness three men taking groceries away from another man, and they leave without helping him. On the way home, they stop at a neighbor who often has sold them meat and things they don’t raise. They buy it at the same cost, added to their “tab,” that they’d always paid. They are neighbors, after all.

Internal tensions rise in the house as they learn of the extent of civil breakdown in the United States, and that two members of this old-college group, have contributed to the meltdown of society through their computer-hacking and virus-creating activities. Then the neighbor who’d sold them some meat comes by the house to ask for spare medicine. Someone from town has an infection and the motorcycle gang took all the drugs from the store when it left town. James says he doesn’t have anything to offer.

Next major event is that many of the neighbors from lower down the mountain have gathered at the home below James’s. Along come two armed National Guardsmen. They are told they can’t stay at James’s home, that the Constitution forbids it. They don’t leave the area, but settle in with the now larger group living in the home farther down the mountain. Trouble brews when that group is stirred up by these “soldiers,” when they learn of the large food cache and medicines that James and his friends have in their home. These soldiers come to James’s home, and at gun point, declare that James will not only share the food cache, but give all medicine to them. James sees no recourse, and agrees. The next day, James takes food down the hill, but not the medicine. He says that he will share the medicine, but the ill must come to him. It is his preparations, after all. One of the soldiers, a man named Damien, decides to kill James to make a point that to all not to defy Damien and his authority. That group does nothing. Just as Damien is about to kill James, he is shot by one of the old college friends, a woman, who’d come down behind James. She then makes a speech that begins with one spoken by General George Washington:

“The time is now near at hand which must probably determine whether Americans are to be freemen or slaves; whether they are to have any property they can call their own; whether their houses and farms are to be pillaged and destroyed, and themselves consigned to a state of wretchedness from which no human efforts will deliver them. The fate of unborn millions will now depend, under God, on the courage and conduct of this army. Our cruel and unrelenting enemy leaves us only the choice of brave resistance, or the most abject submission. We have, therefore, to resolve to conquer or die.” (Address to the Continental Army before the battle of Long Island, Aug. 27, 1776.)[Read more at http://www.notable-quotes.com/w/washington_george_ii.html#x4CP8VkwaPuVvH70.99]

Someone yells, “Who’s our enemy?” To which the woman says, “We are are own enemies.” She then goes on to say that we need to work together, for if we are are going to live free, we must work together.

What strikes me from this movie is that the character James is a hippie sort, yet wants to maintain control of that which he has stored, without sharing beyond his own household. Additionally, while wanting to maintain his home as his, to maintain his freedom and liberty, he is unwilling and unable to fight for it. It is the woman who ends up shooting the soldier Damien, that is willing to not only share, but to band together to form a cooperative, to work together for all their common good. And obviously she is willing to fight for that freedom, that liberty.

This soldier, Damien, represents the reign of tyranny an individual can inflict upon a community. These tyrants are not leaders, not rulers, not raised by G-d to serve people. They only wish to dominate, to control, to live at ease at the expense of humans for which they have no respect, no love. They gather others around them who’d rather join them than be against them. They suck the lives out of those they attempt to control. They are bullies. They deserve nothing more than to die. This is my opinion. As Christians we have a moral obligation to work toward righteousness, keeping always an eternal perspective. What does that mean? I think the meaning includes that the righteous have nothing to do with the schemes of the devil. I think the schemes of the devil include using willing humans to bring chaos and slavery to the lives of the righteous. If we fail to be on guard, fail to watch, we are going to sleep and darkness will fall upon us and we will be enslaved, economically, socially, morally. We will lose the rewards that we’ve gained, we will lose our crowns. If, as so many believe, the time is short, we must be doubly sure that we fall not into the devils way.

Lord Bless, Keep, Shine . . .

As the Days of Noah. . .

The Last Days. It’s on a lot of minds these days. Wars. Ebola. Islamic Terrorists. Rampant Crime. How could we not think that these are the Last Days. Yet, in all sincerity, as a human race we’ve had wars, famine, plague, and more than enough crime. The past looks pretty ugly. And yet, the mass of men, living lives of quiet desperation (thanks HD Thoreau) just kept on living. “Eat, Drink, Be Merry, for Tomorrow We May Die!” is the prevailing motto. This is the paradigm in which we, as Earth-dwellers live.

That’s what the Days of Noah were all about. Just going on despite the violence they perpetrated or experienced. That’s my sense of it all. We talk of the Last Days, but do we really believe it is here? Reading Genesis chapter six tells of G-d’s disappointment with the sin of the people. They’d become a real pain [ in King James English that was translated as G-d repenting of His creation] to Him. It’s Y’shuaJesus’s view of those times that opens things up for me.

But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only. For as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, and they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. Matthew 24:36-39

Generally, people are simple unaware. Period. Sure, we occasionally get a Chicken Little running about yelling, “The sky is falling. The sky is falling.” And lots of things point to toward the Last Days. But we largely ignore the signs. We go on marrying, eating, living, dying. And maybe that’s okay, too. Maybe our lives are meant simply to be lived, that we just need to be good and do good, in the capacity that we find ourselves. Maybe that’s enough. But in the Days of Noah, the people were violent, sinful, because they’d lost their view of G-d. They’d forgotten G-d. The people of Israel, years later, did the same thing. A judge would arise, chosen by G-d to turn the hearts and minds of the people back to G-d–and to vanquish the enemy that had come against Israel. Than the judge would die and the people would again forget.

What I think. . . maybe. . . it’s okay to go on marrying, eating, and going to church weekly or whatever; but we need to turn our eyes toward the Heavens, we need to turn our eyes toward the Lord. The Lord must be the center. For if the Lord is the Center, then the Center will hold and our lives won’t fall apart.

Awake in the morning rejoicing G-d; go to bed at night thanking G-d for another mundane, ordinary day living for and through Him. And if at night we hear a voice calling our name. . . Listen Up! Look Up!

Lord Bless, Keep, Shine. . .

Bobby’s Mother’s Day

Yesterday, Mother’s Day, was “like eating a bad meal,” Bobby said. “The bad taste just lingers on and on.” It’s not just that one day particular day each year either, but all the ruined holidays and trips over the last fifteen years that float the the surface weighing so heavily upon him today, the day after. For Bobby, it feels like his tiny piece of the universe is being torn apart, like documents going through a paper shredder. He said that it takes several days to return to something less disturbed, and life really isn’t normal–ever.

The way Bobby describes it, the rage in his wife erupts like a volcano, spewing fire and sulfur and lava on anyone foolish enough to be in the path. “The rage attacks come upon her out of nowhere, without provocation,” he said. It reminds him of King Saul:

The next day an evil spirit sent from God took control of Saul, and he began to rave inside the palace. David was playing the lyre as usual, but Saul was holding a spear, and he threw it, thinking, “I’ll pin David to the wall.” But David got away from him twice. 1 Samual 18:10

For Bobby, appeasement is the lyre (harp) he plays attempting to sooth his disquieted wife. And just like in this story of King Saul’s raving, the soothing music of the lyre or appeasement isn’t enough. “There are times when I bite my tongue and don’t say anything, just ignore the outbursts, and eventually, like air released from a deflating balloon, they are over. “Mother’s Day,” Bobby said, “turned into one of the times that when the fire directed at me didn’t burn too badly, but was redirected to our child.”

Later in the day, Bobby’s wife’s rage deflated, they sat at the dinner table. The two wounded souls who’d barely survived the flames of rage a few hours earlier, and still reeling from the outbursts, sat amazed when she began to talk about going on a family vacation. “No way I’m going,” Bobby said he’d thought to himself. “But I know I’ll do exactly what she wants, regardless of having the money to do it, or my wanting to do it.”

Bobby’s wife is one of over six million Americans that exhibit signs of what is called Borderline Personality Disorder. According to a U.S. government website, “Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is a serious mental illness marked by unstable moods, behavior, and relationships. Because some people with severe BPD have brief psychotic episodes, experts originally thought of this illness as atypical, or borderline, versions of other mental disorders. While mental health experts now generally agree that the name “borderline personality disorder” is misleading, a more accurate term does not exist yet.”

There are some psychiatric professionals who believe that BPD is a biological condition, and as such can be “cured” with drugs. Others professionals believe it has its roots in early childhood, and can only be somewhat alleviated by behavioral-modification therapy.

From Bobby’s experience with his wife, and his mother who he believes suffered similarly, the BPD may be somewhat controlled by behavioral conditioning, but it’s like the joke “How many psychiatrists does it take to change a light bulb? Only one, but the light bulb has to want to change.” In Bobby’s case, his wife doesn’t see anything wrong with raging to get what she wants. “On too many occasions,” Bobby said, “my wife has put it this way: “You make me act this way because you don’t do what you need to do!”

People who are in relationships with BPDs are often referred to as “Nons.” There is one online forum that once spoke of the metaphor of being in the Land of Oz as living with a BPD, and getting back to Kansas, in which the Non is in control of his or her life. In Oz, the BPD is the pitiful little man behind the curtain, and the Non is deluded enough to follow the instructions of the wizard.

Even after becoming aware that he was living in Oz, getting back to Kansas is proving difficult. “I got out several times,” Bobby said, “but was Hoovered back.” Hoovered is the term used by Nons when they are pulled back into these destructive relationships. A BPD can be sweet, endearing, especially when in a position to lose their prey, a husband or wife. When the rage is over, when they’ve successfully wounded their lover, the BPD works hard to win back the object upon which they heap their self-loathing, their self-hate. And the Non is often so co-dependant, he or she is simply drawn back into the foray.

“But I’m going to get out,” Bobby said, “as soon as our child is old enough.” Many aren’t able to wait, and move on to divorce, which are usually bitter battles against an enraged foe. BPDs are sore losers. BPDs can also look to all that don’t know them well, as perfect, loving mates, that are themselves being abused by their spouses. Many other Nons wait until some point of exit after children are out of the house. Unfortunately, it is often too late to get out without damage; many by then suffer greatly from stress-induced diseases. Many are nearly crippled from their own inner weakness exhibiting itself through weakened muscles and bones.

“We, as nons, try to bare our cross bravely,” Bobby said, “but we lose a lot in the process.”

Pray for those with BPD, that they may be healed. Pray for those entangled with a BPD, that they may endure and get out with something left of themselves.

Lord Bless, Keep, Shine. . .

Cucamonga

Comedian Jack Benny once told a story about how the small town of Cucamonga got its name. He said that there was once a wagon train traveling what is now Route 66 through southern California that was in need of a cook. The wagon master called to settlers in the area where the town now is saying, “Is there a cook among ya?”

Cucamonga doesn’t exist anymore, exactly. It’s old downtown, if that is what it could be called was leveled. Then Rancho Cucamonga was born, a new creation of modern buildings and stores, its area expanded by grabbing several small unincorporated areas in the vicinity. It looks nothing like the Cucamonga that I remember as a child. I lived on Red Hill, about three miles from the old center of town. Red Hill rose above the old Route 66, with views of surrounding orange groves that extended many miles to the south. For the first year I rode the bus from my house to the small school in Cucamonga.

I remember the school buildings and the rooms. One entire wall of each room was glass windows with black-out draperies that would be pulled closed in the event of an attack. It was the glorious fifties when we feared a nuclear attach by Russia. We practiced pulling the draperies closed and climbing under our desks. Its ironic that today we have no windows on our school classrooms, and there is no fear of a nuclear attach, yet we dread the though of a student or someone else bringing a rifle to school to create chaos, to kill.

At the main intersection of Route 66 as it ran through the old downtown of Cucamonga sat Dee’s Diner. It was an old railroad car with seating along a counter. I got in a little trouble for sneaking out of school during lunchtime one day, going to Dee’s. I remember for the same price as lunch at school, 35 cents, I got a hamburger with fries and a piece of wonderful apple pie. The diner is gone now, and so are lunches for 35 cents. And there aren’t pies made like that anymore, either.

The house that we lived in on Red Hill was along a wash that sat dry most of the year. It was only during the rare storms that it filled up with water running down from the mountains to the north. Across the wash there were orange groves. During the late spring, when the temperatures dropped, smudge pots were lit to ward of the frost that would destroy the newly budded oranges. Smudge pots burned oil, and produced an oily smoke that drifted around the groves, and out toward our house.

A couple other memories come to mind about that house. One is that my dog, who had been on the ranch with us, got old and could no longer walk or eat. My mother and I had to take her on her last trip to the veterinarian. I loved Bonnie, a part German shepherd part collie. She’d sat with me, watching over me, while I as an infant slept in a pram in the yard by our ranch house. When my mom wasn’t home, I used to let her inside. Mom always new, for Bonnie shed long brown hair, leaving a bit of a mess.

The other memory is the hobo that came around occasionally. My mother taught the man how to sharpen knives on the cement porch at the back of the house. In trade, he was given a sandwich and a glass of something to drink. I’ve always thought it pretty cool that my mom helped a guy learn to earn his meal, rather than simply giving him something that only filled his stomach for a short while. These days in international development circles–a big business–we used to say, “Give a man a fish, feed him for a day; teach him how to fish, feed him for a lifetime.”

That house was rented. We lived there for two-and-a-half years then moved to a house we built on the other side of Red Hill. I don’t recall seeing the Hobo again. I wonder if he continued coming to the old house, and getting a meal for sharpening knives. I always thought that he may have traveled all over sharpening knives for people, all because my mother refused him a free lunch.

I tried doing something similar once. I suggested to a homeless fellow that I’d give him lunch if he’d sweep the back room of a grocery store at which I once worked. He couldn’t be bothered. He didn’t need to work when he could go on to the next place and get something for nothing. Times had changed. It seems sort somehow odd that with the demise of the old Cucamonga, and the rise of an affluent and fancy, upscale city, the old hobos with a sense of personal responsibility and a certain integrity gave way to deadbeat homeless.

It seems to me that Y’shuaJesus wants us to over a safety net to help those who truly can’t help themselves. But certainly Y’shuaJesus doesn’t intend for the nets to become hammocks upon which the lazy can lounge.

Lord Bless, Keep, Shine. . .

“Die Religion … ist das Opium des Volkes”

Some weeks ago something was said that reminded me of a time, long ago, when someone pointed out to me that my religion was simply an opiate that dulled and blinded me to reality. This came from a person with whom I’d been very close. She told me she wanted to live her life fully, somewhat echoing H.D. Thoreau’s thoughts on life from his book, “Walden’s Pond.” I was, if I understood her correctly, living a life that was based on the illusion of better life after death, one that believed the illusions fed to me today, keeping me in a sort of bondage, addicted to a false hope that allowed me to endure without complaint the hardships of today, and to submit joyfully to them all.

So I began a little research. I learned the full quote from Karl Marx (published in 1843) is: “Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium of the people.”

Then I looked at one of Karl Marx’s other publications, “Manifesto of the Communist Party,” published in 1848. According to Wikipedia, “it has since been recognized as one of the world’s most influential political manuscripts. Commissioned by the Communist League, it laid out the League’s purposes and program. It presents an analytical approach to the class struggle (historical and present) and the problems of capitalism, rather than a prediction of communism’s potential future forms.

“The book contains Marx and Engels’ theories about the nature of society and politics, that in their own words, “The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles.” It also briefly features their ideas for how the capitalist society of the time would eventually be replaced by socialism, and then eventually communism.”

Class struggle. For Marx, religion permitted the poor to remain poor through their religion suppressing any objection of those that controlled them. For Marx, those that exploited the poor used a little bit of charity once and a while to make them feel okay about their exploitation of the poor. And all the while “religion” allowed this to happen.

Now look at a source for Marx’s idea of opium of the masses: According to Wikipedia, The phrase “This opium you feed your people” appeared in 1797 in Marquis de Sade’s text L’Histoire de Juliette. Marquis de Sade. What a character. He was a total mess. He believed in unbridled freedom: the freedom to whatever one pleases regardless of who is hurt or murdered. What Sade is saying in his book is that the State uses religion to appease the people, to keep them in line and controlled. People are controlled when they look to their religion, their government, any world enterprise or institution, as their savior. And their religion supports this view, exploited, which is fully exploited by the state.

Furthermore, Sade said that that the appeased people become fully dependent upon their controllers, and fall into a mortal weakness. If their nation is threatened, they are easily overcome. It makes no difference to them who is controlling them, for they are poor, blind, and too weak to now object.

And it’s true, we see admonishment after admonishment by the Apostles in their writings that we are to live at peace with the government, live in harmony with each other, as best we can. And if that’s as far as we understand our religion, then we will submit to all forms of enslavement, joyfully going onward, blindly.

For the class struggle Marx desires is to envelope the world, for evil capitalism to be defeated, for socialism and communism to succeed and dominate. The way it played out in Russia after the Bolshevik revolution was a suppression of religion.

But it seems that suppressing religion is not enough; it must be replaced. Hence, in the case of USSR, the communist party becomes the religion, for it, itself, is the savior of the people from the clashes of class. Class is done away with, stamped out, molded by the Party into exactly what Marx accused religion of doing: first making the people into soulless serfs, announcing that they are the property of the State, and that the State will provide their “soul.”

While Communism and Nazi Fascism are different, opposed, the aim of each is similar, to control the people through replacing G-d with a hero-worshiped man. Take Austria in 1938. The country was in terrible economic shape. Stories of Germany rising out of economic depression at the false=messianic hand of Adolph Hitler led Austrians to vote to become one nation with Germany, to accept Adolph Hitler. Adolph Hitler was to the Germany people a savior, and now he would be the savior of Austria. There were few outcries from the religious institutions of Germany. Hitler took over. We know how that worked out.

In Germany, the religious institutions supported the Germany government, with some exceptions. One pastor didn’t go along with the Hitler. Dietrich Bonhoeffer. He paid with his live.

Dr. David Livingston, a Biblical archeologist and scholar, writes that:

“There are some basic principles for “using” religion in controlling others. If we know and understand them, we may not so easily be caught in a trap ourselves.

“To begin with, everyone yields final authority to someone, some person. There are five possibilities among which everyone chooses who will control his life.

“First, we may choose ourselves. This kind of person may say, “I am the captain of my own fate, and hang everybody else. I will do my own thing.” Such a one tends to be proud, defiant and sometimes lawless because he has set himself up as his own final authority. This was the position of the kings and emperors of the ancient near east, Mesopotamia, Egypt, Greece, and Rome.

“A second possibility is to yield to someone else’s final authority. This can be imposed on people by force. But however it happens, people become somebody else’s slave.

“The third possibility is to yield to God. This may sound like a good way, but there can be trouble with this position. The problem is that if the god to which a person yields is a figment of his own imagination, he is in the first category mentioned above. He is worshipping himself. People may think they are worshipping God, while they are only worshipping an idea of God they themselves imagined. Or, they say “visualize God to be as He is represented in some great painting.” But, that is not God at all. Some may say that actually all ideas of god are nothing but the creation of man to meet a deep-felt “god-need.” Those believing this need to go on to consider the next two possibilities.

“The fourth possibility is to yield final authority to someone else’s idea of God. This is where real trouble arises. If we yield to someone else’s concept of god, we become his servant. This makes one a slave of the most complete kind. Because anybody who controls someone else’s religious thoughts really controls his whole person. Israel was warned in Exodus 23:33, “. . . if thou serve their gods, it will surely be a snare unto thee.” And by the time of the Judges, Israel had already discovered that serving someone else’s idea of god ultimately leads to servitude (Judges 2: 12,14). Jeremiah later pled with Israel not to serve the gods of the nations, “And it shall come to pass, when ye shall say, Wherefore doeth the Lord our God all these things unto us? Then shalt thou answer them, like as ye have forsaken me, and served strange gods in your land, so shall ye serve strangers in a land that is not yours.” (Jeremiah 5:19, see also: Amos 5:25-27).

“When we serve a god that someone else has “dreamed up,” we become their slave. That is what the rulers of Russia, Japan, China, and other nations have done to their subjects. Rulers in the Ancient Near East did exactly the same.

“By now the reader will have begun to discover the most basic method used in gaining control over others. It is simply this:

“Whoever controls a person’s religion, controls his will; whoever controls his will, controls his thought-life; and whoever controls his thoughts, controls that one’s actions. Possession of another person as totally as this, makes him a complete slave, even though the person may actually seem free and have a high living standard.

“If there is one word which describes the method used to control others, it is “deceit.” Those who employ deceit are following the Father of Lies who has gone out to deceive the whole world (Revelation 12:9; 20:3,8,10). The fact that he can deceive everyone indicates that he has a number of agents using his methods. It also indicates that great masses of men — hundreds of millions of them — have been living in spiritual slavery.
How to be really free

“Thank God there is a fifth possibility. That is, we can allow our lives to be controlled by the True God Jesus Christ as revealed in the Scriptures. Jesus said,

If the Son shall make you free, you shall be free indeed.

(John 8:32)

“To be sure we have yielded our wills to Jesus Christ Himself, we should read for ourselves about Him in the Bible, the Word of God. No other description of Jesus is completely trustworthy. And having decided to follow Him, we want to be certain we are not just following someone else’s understanding of Him! Of course, we should listen to and read of the exposition of God’s Word by other men of God. A very important aspect of our obeying Christ is to be in fellowship with those of like mind. But, even so, we want to get God’s will for ourselves as directly as possible from His revealed Word.

“The True and Living God HAS revealed Himself. He is not hiding from us. He reveals Himself in His Word very plainly. Then, in the written Word we discover that in this last period of time in history, He has come into the world in the Person of His Son.

“God, who at sundry times and in divers manners, spake in time past unto the fathers by prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by His Son, Whom He hath appointed heir of all things, by Whom also He made the worlds; Who being the brightness of His glory, and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high. (Hebrews 1:1-3)

“Will you ask yourself, “To whom have I yielded to have the final authority in my life?”

“”Religion” IS an “opiate”… but CHRIST IS LIFE!
And He said, “You are my friends if you do whatever I command you.”

“The antidote to spiritual slavery is to surrender our wills to Jesus Christ, then let our minds be washed with the pure water of the Word of Truth as we determine to obey Him. Meditating on God’s Word day and night will make one prosper and set him free (even though he might be a slave in Caesar’s court: Psalms 1: 2,3).”

Lord Bless, Keep, Shine. . .

Vengeance

Vengeance:
noun
1. infliction of injury, harm, humiliation, or the like, on a person by another who has been
harmed by that person; violent revenge: But have you the right to vengeance?
2. an act or opportunity of inflicting such trouble: to take one’s vengeance.
3. the desire for revenge: a man full of vengeance.

Reading through the three listed definitions of vengeance, it becomes clear to me why the Apostle Paul was against such behavior. The very desire for revenge consumes, and as such opens a very large trap in which the arch enemy of G-d’s people can use to our own ruin. We are admonished to give place to G-d and His wrath. We are to forgive, right? Here’s how Paul put it to the Romans:

Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.

Romans 12:19

Having finished Acts, I turned to Judges. In the first chapter I see the wrath of G-d visited upon an enemy of Israel, the Canaanites.

And Judah went up; and the LORD delivered the Canaanites and the Perizzites into their hand: and they slew of them in Bezek ten thousand men. And they found Adonibezek in Bezek: and they fought against him, and they slew the Canaanites and the Perizzites. But Adonibezek fled; and they pursued after him, and caught him, and cut off his thumbs and his great toes.And Adonibezek said, Threescore and ten kings, having their thumbs and their great toes cut off, gathered their meat under my table: as I have done, so God hath requited me. And they brought him to Jerusalem, and there he died.

Judges 1:4-7 (emphasis added)

Here’s what Matthew Henry has to say:

“The Israelites were convinced that the war against the Canaanites was to be continued; but they were in doubt as to the manner in which it was to be carried on after the death of Joshua. In these respects they inquired of the Lord. God appoints service according to the strength he has given. From those who are most able, most work is expected. Judah was first in dignity, and must be first in duty. Judah’s service will not avail unless God give success; but God will not give the success, unless Judah applies to the service. Judah was the most considerable of all the tribes, and Simeon the least; yet Judah begs Simeon’s friendship, and prays for aid from him. It becomes Israelites to help one another against Canaanites; and all Christians, even those of different tribes, should strengthen one another. Those who thus help one another in love, have reason to hope that God will graciously help both. Adoni-bezek was taken prisoner. This prince had been a severe tyrant. The Israelites, doubtless under the Divine direction, made him suffer what he had done to others; and his own conscience confessed that he was justly treated as he had treated others. Thus the righteous God sometimes, in his providence, makes the punishment answer the sin.” (emphasis added)

The Lord has said He will take vengeance. For vengeance is His. And here, in the Book of Judges, He does so through inspired acts of His people.

Lord Bless, Keep, Shine. . .