Recent world events have people fearful. Mr. Donald Trump made much of the reality of a dark world during his acceptance speech for the Republican Party’s nomination as the American Presidential Candidate. Even Christians are concerned.
The Billy Graham Evangelistic Association posted the following:
Lord Bless, Keep, Shine. . .
Bobby said he wants to write about his experiences with his crazy wife. He said no one would believe him if he wrote or even told anyone the things that have gone on in his life. Except me. I believe him. Bobby figures as a story, it could pass as weird fiction. He said he played around with beginning a story of a routine incident, that is pretty mild, just to get things started. Routine incident, is how Bobby put it. Those are like when a bolt of lightening strikes a tree next you when it’s a perfectly wonderful day, all blue sky with no clouds. Bobby’s story begins like this:
“It’s a small world after all.” Luke was dozing off. He thought he heard the song playing from the Disney ride, thought he was on it. That nice gentle ride with music from countries all across the world. Soothing. Calming. Dozing off.
It’s a small world, it’s a small world
It’s a small world, it’s a small world
It’s a world of laughter, a world of tears
It’s a world of hope and a world of fears
There’s so much that we share, that it’s time we’re aware
It’s a small world after all.
“You need to tell him he wears too much cologne.” From where did that come?
“I haven’t noticed,” Luke said. “If you don’t like it, tell him.”
The bump Luke felt next jolted him upright in his seat. He wasn’t on the Small World ride. This was Space Mountain and the cars had reached the top.
“I SAID YOU NEED TO TELL HIM,” she spat, venom drooling down her chin.
“IT’S YOUR JOB AS HIS FATHER TO TELL HIM THAT HE SMELLS HORRIBLE AND. . .”
Luke’s rollercoaster car was now dropping downward, picking up speed, and he was still groggy from his nap. The car headed for the first and biggest curve.
“Well, I don’t notice any smell,” Luke said. “Perhaps you’re just a bit over sensitive.”
Screams as everyone on the first rollercoaster car were thrust to the right. Luke’s car lurched up, down, then it felt as though it would fly off the track. Luke was awake now. He grasped the rail as he was flung to the right.
“MAYBE IT’S THE WAY YOU DO HIS LAUNDRY,” Luke’s wife screamed louder than if she’d really been on a rollercoaster ride.
Woosh! Luke’s wife heading for front door. Whump! The front door slams shut.
“Hope the door didn’t hit you in the butt on your way out,” mumbled Luke
When I spoke with Bobby, he said his wife was still not speaking with him, and it had been three days. He told me it it will all be over in another day. That was a small rollercoaster ride. Major blow ups take a lot longer to get under control.
I asked Bobby once why he didn’t do something about his wife’s behavior. He said he read about personal boundaries, and even tried them. It made things worse for him. Eventually Bobby will leave his wife—once the kids are old enough to be on their own. He said there is no way he’d leave the kids with someone as crazy as she is to fend for themselves.
Bobby’s wife’s behavior isn’t at all uncommon. There are about 14 million Americans like her—with Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD). According to the National Education Alliance for Borderline Personality Disorder this disorder “occurs in the context of relationships: sometimes all relationships are affected, sometimes only one. It usually begins during adolescence or early adulthood.”
“While some persons with BPD are high functioning in certain settings, their private lives may be in turmoil. Most people who have BPD suffer from problems regulating their emotions and thoughts, impulsive and sometimes reckless behavior, and unstable relationships.
“Other disorders, such as depression, anxiety disorders, eating disorders, substance abuse and other personality disorders can often exist along with BPD.”
What about treatment, I once asked Bobby. He told me it was sorta like the psychiatrist and the light bulb joke. Heard it? How many psychiatrists does it take to change a light bulb? Only one, but the light bulb has to be willing to change.
BPD affects both men and women. It is women that fair the worse and they are the ones most heard about. Men with BPD can be physically as well as emotionally abusive. We don’t hear as often about men in relationships with BPD women. It’s difficult for a man to admit a woman literally rules his days and nights.
Christian women often have it very bad. They are often told by their pastors and other church members, that they must submit themselves to such treatment, because it is somehow Biblical. Bobby said he’s of the opinion that any pastor or Christian that says anyone must submit to abuse is totally out of line, not walking with the Lord, and shouldn’t be paid any attention. He says those people will be judged. Harshly.
Lord Bless, Keep, Shine. . .
The Things We Leave Behind The Daily Post at WordPress.
It hadn’t occurred to me where I might be going, I just knew I was to leave Jerusalem very soon. I also knew it would be a long time before I’d return. I sorted out some things to give away, and other stuff not worth keeping I simply tossed. I packed a box of things to send to my folks; they’d store them in their attic with other things I’d left there. I knew I needed to travel light. I had only one thing left, my autoharp.
Some years before I’d learned to play the autoharp while staying in Morro Bay, California. It was the only instrument that I did well at playing. As a child, my mother tried to teach me piano. She was a graduate of the London College of Music. She’d played at a Welsh National Music Festival, the Eisteddfod. I was born with music in my soul and poetry running through my veins. I was not a good music student, much to my mother’s disappointment. The trumpet and the clarinet were next, but never truly did I master them. Later I tried the guitar and the recorder. Neither seemed to suit me well. But the autoharp, that was me.
I enjoyed singing praise songs accompanied by the autoharp. I felt a bit like a modern King David, praising the Lord with his harp. One year I and my autoharp traveled from Greece to Wales on a series of buses and trains, with stops along the way. I spent a “pilgrimage” on Mt. Athos, where I sat near an old monetary playing that autoharp and singing praise songs to the Lord. Through Turkey and the old Yugoslavia, Italy and into to France, autoharp in hand, backpack slung on across my shoulders. Across the Channel and through England and finally to Wales.
When I went to Israel, my autoharp went with me. I fell in love with Israel, especially with Jerusalem. I loved the Hebrew folk music and psalms I learned. I loved the people with whom I worked, and to whom I ministered. But when it was time to leave, I knew it was time to leave behind my autoharp. It was time to say good bye. I played that autoharp near the Temple. It had to stay. How could I play it any where else? It felt like it was part of Jerusalem and must remain. So I donated it to a music academy.
I think about that old autoharp every once and a while. One day, Lord willing, I shall return to Jerusalem. The music academy said, when I left the autoharp there, that I could use it whenever I was back. That was over twenty-five years ago. Will it still be there where I left it behind?
Lord Bless, Keep, Shine upon you. . .
By the waters of Babylon,
there we sat down and wept,
when we remembered Zion.
On the willows there
we hung up our lyres.
For there our captors
required of us songs,
and our tormentors, mirth, saying,
“Sing us one of the songs of Zion!”
How shall we sing the LORD’S song
in a foreign land?
If I forget you, O Jerusalem,
let my right hand forget its skill!
Let my tongue stick to the roof of my mouth,
if I do not remember you,
if I do not set Jerusalem
above my highest joy!
—Psalm 137:1-6
Battles have opening shots, as do politicians, directed against enemies perceived and real. Comedians have opening lines, while the Olympics have opening ceremonies.
Dr. Waldrop said on a table in a lecture hall waiting for the first class of the semester to settle in.
“Good morning,” he said casually.
A few murmurs were heard and a few said “hi.” Most of the guys were only half present, not necessarily wanting to be there but wanting student deferments; we really didn’t want to go to Viet Nam. Dr. Waldrop walked quietly to the back of the hall, exited though double doors, re-entered. Slamming the door shut, he raced down the aisle, resuming his place on stage.
“GOOD MORNING!” That got our attention.
A frail old man entered an assembly of seminary students, teetering occasionally, walked to the lectern, grasped it firmly, and looked out at the young students’ faces.
“Jesus loves me,” Alan Redpath sang. “Jesus loves me, this I know. . .”
Faces turned slowly toward that old pastor, whose voice cracked occasionally as he continued singing.
“For the Bible tells me so;
Little ones to Him belong;
They are weak, but He is strong.”
The hall was quiet except for the lone voice calling out.
“Yes, Jesus loves me!
Yes, Jesus loves me!
Yes, Jesus loves me!
The Bible tells me so.”
Pastor Redpath sang the entire song. By time he finished, not a dry eye was to be seen.
That’s the way to open whatever is worth opening.
Lord Bless, Keep, Shine. . .
Okay. Yesterday I quoted Apostle Paul’s description of the outward signs of love. In that description, he wrote:
Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 1 Corinthians 13:7
I ended the post with my advice to Bobby, and probably everyone else, to flee unkindness. How can I say that when Apostle Paul makes it clear that love is supreme and demonstrating love means never having to say your sorry. Oops. Got a song stuck in my head. No, he said love endures all things. That could mean that love endures unkindness. So even though unkindness is wrong, and a sin, we are obligated to endure it in someone. Really? There’s got to be a caveat in there somewhere. After all, unkindness is a sin. Unkindness is just plain wrong. Unkindness is murder—soul murder.
Seems to me, that a person that puts up with another person’s sin, is contributing to it. And that means enduring a sin is a sin.
What do you think?
Lord Bless, Keep, Shine. . .
Bobby told me once that neither he nor his kids wanted to go on holiday with his wife, the mother of his kids.
“She can be a wonderful person outside the home,” Bobby said. “But at home and especially on holiday, things get really crazy. She’s just not kind. And nobody wants to spent a week in the close confines that are the norm on holiday with someone that isn’t kind.”
Sam wrote about kindness recently. It reminded me of the Boy Scout Law: A Scout is Trustworthy, Loyal, Helpful, Friendly, Courteous, Kind, Obedient, Cheerful, Thrifty, Brave, Clean, and Reverent.
Apostle Paul spoke of Love and gave a practical example of what it means to love.
If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.
Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 1 Corinthians 13:1-7.
Seek G-d. Find Truth. Find Love. Then have the courage to walk away from unkindness. Flee it.
Lord Bless, Keep, Shine upon y’all.
Google the phrase “nothing new under the sun.” I did. Wikipedia pops up in the top of the list directing to its page where I discover it’s the name of an album. Vinyl no less. There is nothing new under the sun, by a Missouri group, Coalesce. Amazon offers books that some how, the Google search says, are related to Nothing new under the sun. Then there’s the link to Under the Sun, who headed to North Korea to check out the “carefully managed national image.” Hum. Okay. If their image is carefully managed, then it means the country wants to be seen as a bit, well, crazy.
Not exactly what I was thinking. I could go into the Bible software that I use. But its search capabilities are lacking. It was free, so I won’t complain. Scrolling down the search page I get to a reference to Ecclesiastes 1:9:
What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done, and there is nothing new under the sun.
Despite what all new crops of college graduates think, it’s all happened before. Not to burst their bubble, but there are wheels and axles, so no invention there.
It’s been twenty-five years since I graduated with a Bachelor in journalism. I concentrated on newspaper journalism. I remember one of the instructors saying, “today’s news is tomorrow’s fish wrap.” With the ubiquitous computer or iPad or “smart” phone for reading the news, we won’t wrap fish in the news any more.
Here’s the thing about the news. A week ago angry protests and allegations, and pending investigations, of potential police officer racism and murder are left by the wayside so that we can learn everything there is to know about police officers murdered in Dallas. Now everyone’s opinion is all over CNN about the tragic murders of French civilians. What’s real and what’s simple fabricated, is hard to make out too.
Too many talking heads. I told my wife last night that what I really appreciated about what I call Real News, is that as a reporter there is the issue of sources and quotating those sources, and having the article reviewed. I suppose the television news gets that to some extent, but when these supposedly intelligent television entertainment guys stand up and interview people who clearly haven’t got a clue, one does have to wonder if plain dead air—the dreaded “no, no” of broadcast—would be preferable.
Last night one of the news entertainers said, “these have been happening so often they all run together.” EXCUSE ME! I’m sure that the family of the American man and his daughter who where on a trip to Nice are not thinking all these things run together. Neither are the families of the more than eighty people murdered. They were murdered by. . . some guy. We’ll learn the name, but it seems no one can agree on a proper title to refer to “those people who drive over people, shoot people, who were simple celebrating a national holiday. And someone in the political structure of our government wants a declaration of war against an enemy without a country and without a significant, agreeable title to describe the enemy.
We could call them what they are: Cowards! They train to murder unarmed and untrained civilians–men, women, children. Really honorable. It’s sick.
This war that isn’t a war has been going on quite a while now. It started well before the U.S. was attacked fifteen years ago. America lost over three thousand people that day to attacks on two buildings in New York and on the Pentagon in Washington. D.C., and don’t forget the fourth airplane that went down in Pennsylvania after its highjacking. And one of America’s politicians is concerned that if we retaliate we will be baited into a ground war. Seriously. America—representing the superior might of the world—is suppose to cower, suppose to just bury its head in the sand.
And then there’s the United Nations. What gall. It want’s to investigate allegations of police brutality in America. Not to mention wanting Americans to disarm, despite America’s clear Constitutional rights. One might think the U.N. wants to be in charge of the entire world. Like that’ll work. Europe can’t even unit itself, not to mention protect itself. As far as I know, America still supports NATO, is the strength of NATO.
But this war stuff has been going on a long time, and the violence it has brought us. Just look at Cain and Able. Brother against brother.
War. Rumors of war. Earthquakes. Some things never change. There’s nothing new under the sun. I expect one day to hear an angry voice from Heaven yell, “Children! I’ve had enough of your behavior. Go to you rooms. Now!”
It’s that or all Hell’s gonna let loose. And that’s not going to be a good thing.
Can’t we all just get along? I guess not. Nothing new under the sun.
Lord Bless, Keep, Shine. . .
Christianity is a revealed religion. I heard this recently. From where I do not know. It wasn’t a compliment, either. It was said in a rather disdainful manner. And it’s been bothering me since I heard it. But it is true, though, that Christianity is a revealed religion, as is Judaism. Christianity came about through revelation to Jews whose faith came about through revelation to Abraham. Furthermore, knowledge has been revealed to us through men and women of G-d since Adam walked in the Garden with G-d.
And what religion isn’t revealed? I asked myself the question. I thought what might be the opposite of a revealed religion. There is knowledge about Earth that is observed. Science is based on observation. It seems to me that may be why I sensed a certain disdain for Christianity as revealed religion when I heard the term used. Christianity doesn’t make claims that are observable and repeatable, necessarily. Christianity is based upon faith. There are arguments about science as really nothing more than faith. It is faith in what is observed, that it will always be that way. Proof is a big deal in science. Still it’s faith.
After a little research, I discovered that the notion of Christianity as a revealed religion isn’t new—it’s just a new term for me. In fact:
“It was universally acknowledged as the Christian claim up until the eighteenth century. The manner and extent of revelation have been debated by Christians without a clear consensus emerging, but this only serves to highlight the impressive agreement on the fact of revelation. The claim goes back to the founders of Christianity, Christ and his Apostles, and was not simply an invention of the last three centuries thought up in response to the loss of Christianity’s self-evident validity.” —Lee Gatis, The Theologian. (http://www.theologian.org.uk/doctrine/revealed.html)
Natural religion is the opposite of revealed religion. It’s based upon observations of the world around us.
“The term natural religion is sometimes taken to refer to a pantheistic doctrine according to which nature itself is divine. Natural theology, by contrast” argues for the existence of God on the basis of observed natural facts.
“In contemporary philosophy, however, both natural religion and natural theology typically refer to the project of using the cognitive faculties that are “natural” to human beings—reason, sense-perception, introspection—to investigate religious or theological matters. Natural religion or theology, on the present understanding, is not limited to empirical inquiry into nature, and it is not wedded to a pantheistic result. It does, however, avoid appeals to special non-natural faculties (ESP, telepathy, mystical experience) or supernatural sources of information (sacred texts, revealed theology, creedal authorities, direct supernatural communication). In general, natural religion or theology (hereafter natural theology) aims to adhere to the same standards of rational investigation as other philosophical and scientific enterprises, and is subject to the same methods of evaluation and critique.” —Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy [Chignell, Andrew and Pereboom, Derk, “Natural Theology and Natural Religion,” The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Fall 2015 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.), URL = ] (http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/natural-theology/)
It’s easy to see how Christianity as an experience with G-d is questioned. Despite all attempts to quantify G-d, prove Him, if you will, Christianity is about faith.
Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. For by it the elders obtained a good report.
Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear. Hebrews 11:1-3.
The challenge today is to maintain our faith despite those who would turn us away. For in these last days, many will come to try to deceive us, to try to get us to turn from our faith. Our “religion” must be more than to believe in a G-d revealed to someone else; we must experience first hand the revealed Messiah. Y’shuaJesus said we may ask and we will receive. And though we’ve experienced the Father G-d through revelation of Y’shuaJesus through the power of the Spirit, we must also turn away from humankind’s scientific explanations by looking at the natural world with an awe and wonder that turns our eyes Heavenward to Y’shuaJesus.
Lord Bless, Keep, Shine up you always. . .
“The Lord works in mysterious ways,” was one thing my Mom often said. And so He does.
An old pastor sat one morning eating oatmeal and toast, and reading Rev. C.H. Surgeon’s comments on:
. . .after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you. 1 Peter 5:10.
“That was good, Lord,” the pastor said after reading.
“Thank you. I wrote it,” said The Lord.
The old man didn’t bat an eyelash, taking it all in stride as if the Lord spoke each day to him. It occurred to him that some might think it odd that the Lord would speak in such a manner. What about you? Does it seem strange or odd that a man might hear the words of G-d? Or perhaps only odd that the Master of the Universe would say He wrote that commentary, those words, published by Rev. C.H. Spurgeon hundreds of years ago? If it seems odd at all, why? Perhaps you find it objectionable that G-d would speak to a old man who in this world is very small.
G-d spoke to Moses. G-d spoke to Y’shuaJesus. G-d spoke to many individuals, and it is recorded in the Bible. Ah, that’s the problem. Those to whom the Lord spoke are famous people, whose lives are recounted in the scriptures.Yes, certainly that’s true. But why is it not possible that G-d speak to a mere man as that old pastor?
There are a couple of questions one may wish to ask concerning the words attributed to G-d, such as that old man heard. First, one might examine the words to see if they fit in the scriptural box. Are those words consistent with scripture. In this case, in scripture is there anything that might tell us that G-d in fact has spoken to men? Yes. All who are genuine in their believe in G-d understand that the scriptures are inspired by G-d, breathed by G-d, even while being recorded by men. Second, there was a Pharisee, Saul, who was an adversary of the followers of the Way. He was heading to Damascus, on the path of more destruction of Christians. The Lord stopped Saul in his tracks, closed his eyes, and spoke to him. Saul wasn’t famous at the time. Infamous, maybe.
G-d works in mysterious ways. . .
Here’s the text of Rev. Spurgeon’s commentary/devotional.
“You have seen the arch of heaven as it spans the plain: glorious are its colours, and rare its hues. It is beautiful, but, alas, it passes away, and lo, it is not. The fair colours give way to the fleecy clouds, and the sky is no longer brilliant with the tints of heaven. It is not established. How can it be? A glorious show made up of transitory sun-beams and passing rain-drops, how can it abide? The graces of the Christian character must not resemble the rainbow in its transitory beauty, but, on the contrary, must be stablished, settled, abiding. Seek, O believer, that every good thing you have may be an abiding thing. May your character not be a writing upon the sand, but an inscription upon the rock! May your faith be no “baseless fabric of a vision,” but may it be builded of material able to endure that awful fire which shall consume the wood, hay, and stubble of the hypocrite. May you be rooted and grounded in love. May your convictions be deep, your love real, your desires earnest. May your whole life be so settled and established, that all the blasts of hell, and all the storms of earth shall never be able to remove you. But notice how this blessing of being “stablished in the faith” is gained. The apostle’s words point us to suffering as the means employed—”After that ye have suffered awhile.” It is of no use to hope that we shall be well rooted if no rough winds pass over us. Those old gnarlings on the root of the oak tree, and those strange twistings of the branches, all tell of the many storms that have swept over it, and they are also indicators of the depth into which the roots have forced their way. So the Christian is made strong, and firmly rooted by all the trials and storms of life. Shrink not then from the tempestuous winds of trial, but take comfort, believing that by their rough discipline God is fulfilling this benediction to you.”
Lord Bless, Keep, Shine. . .
This morning I received an email from Witness Well. It’s a five-part series discussing the idea of churches canvassing. It’s a good article, and I recommend reading it.
According to the author there is a benefit to not just those contacted, but to those that make the contact.
“One of the greatest benefits a congregation will receive is when members are trained on how to proclaim the gospel when they go door-to-door.” The activity becomes more than passing out invitations to the church or a church activity, but an opportunity to share the Gospel of our Lord.
There is also great benefit to the entire congregation.
“The greatest benefit a congregation receives from members who have received a meaningful experience in proclaiming the gospel is a core group of Christians who have a zeal for reaching the lost – and are willing and able to do it.”
There are going to be difficulties in door-to-door interaction with non-Believers. It can’t be helped. In the area in which I currently reside, there are few church members that come around. Usually it’s members of a church that isn’t a ‘real’ church, i.e., won’t pass the Apostles’ test for a Believer. So when someone comes around from a Bible-believing Church, they are received as if they, too, are from a false church.
It also occurs to me that when someone hears to Gospel message presented clearly, truthfully, and in a loving, considerate manner, AND DOESN’T RESPOND, it could be a seed planted or a watering of another’s seed planted. And if never the hearer responds, at least they’ve heard the Gospel message. They can in no way ever say, “I didn’t know!”
Lord Bless, Keep, Shine. . .
Jonah’s Song 