My mind has a tendency to wander at its own pace, and wherever it chooses; sometimes I am even surprised at where it can take me. This morning’s Bible reading took me into the twenty-first chapter of the gospel of Luke. What an interesting chapter…the disciples asked Him what they should be looking for when the end time would be.
But for me, the impetus, that caught my attention was verses 34 through 36 as I read them in the New American Standard edition:
34. Be on guard, that your hearts may not be weighted down with dissipation {The act or state of being dissipated; mental distraction; excessive indulgence in luxury, especially drink or vicious pleasures. Noah Webster} and drunkenness and the worries of life, and that day come on you suddenly like a trap; 35. for it will come upon all those who dwell on the face of all the earth. 36. But keep on the alert at all times, praying in order that you may have strength to escape all these things that are about to take place, and to stand before the Son of Man.
My mind reminded me of my discussions regarding dispensationalism. The gospels were written for Jewish Christians, yet, Jesus is recorded as saying, “It will come upon all those who dwell on the face of all the earth”. That apparently eliminates the idea of the gospels only being directed to the Jews. Funny, as I read the five books of Moses, I see the idea that God is more than willing to incorporate non-Israelites into the Israelite family, provided they will voluntarily relinquish any and all allegiance to foreign gods: of course they could never attain to the priesthood, but they were allowed all the other privileges available.
We are, today, in the dispensation of “Grace”. I understand that to mean, that we are not responsible for any sins we may commit, because the Blood of Jesus has forgiven all our sins, past, present, and future. Yet, here, practically in the same breath Jesus tells His disciples, and the entire world, to be on guard to not let their hearts be weighted down with the three most popular reasons for existence in this postmodern world. So, how do we answer Jesus at this point? I will be the first to admit that only God knows who is going to be saved for eternity; and only God knows how much our dissipation, drunkenness and the worries of this life, hurt God.
Finally, Jesus commands that we keep on the alert at all times, praying in order that we may have strength to escape all these things that are about to take place, and to stand before the Son of Man. I am of the mind, that if we are keeping on the alert and praying, at all times, we are going to have less of an opportunity to relish in dissipation, drunkenness, or the worries of life. And I believe, therein lies the beneficence, or efficaciousness of Grace: for in that state we are going to be less distracted by anything, and definitely more involved with building and deepening our relationship with Jesus Christ. As we become closer to Jesus, building our relationship through prayer, we know that He knows us, and that gives us the strength to stand before the Son of Man. It is always good to have a close friend, when you move to a new place.
Saturday, May 9, 2009
Friday, May 8, 2009
Pause for the cause...
Here it is Friday, already, and I realize I haven’t said anything on this blog, since Wednesday. Well, sometimes we do get overtaken by events…
Last weekend, I traveled to Olathe, KS where live my son and his wife. Last Wednesday they welcomed a beautiful daughter, Lenore Elise, into this world at 20-¾” and 8lbs, 15oz. So, grampa went down to spend some time with the lovely family. She is so precious!
And of course, we need to have the obligatory picture with grampa!
I praise God for giving me such a wonderful son, and providing him with the perfect mate. And now, God has given them a precious child. I am so proud, I could bust the buttons off my vest; yet, I am humbled.
Though I fear what this country, and this world, is turning into; I trust that Almighty God is in control. He knows His own, He knows the future, and He knows how much we are capable of handling on our own.
Last weekend, I traveled to Olathe, KS where live my son and his wife. Last Wednesday they welcomed a beautiful daughter, Lenore Elise, into this world at 20-¾” and 8lbs, 15oz. So, grampa went down to spend some time with the lovely family. She is so precious!
And of course, we need to have the obligatory picture with grampa!
I praise God for giving me such a wonderful son, and providing him with the perfect mate. And now, God has given them a precious child. I am so proud, I could bust the buttons off my vest; yet, I am humbled.
Though I fear what this country, and this world, is turning into; I trust that Almighty God is in control. He knows His own, He knows the future, and He knows how much we are capable of handling on our own.
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
Stinkin thinkin
About a year and a half ago, I was in a small town in Missouri, staying in a motel. A lady, I came across, asked me to read a book and comment on what I read. I honestly do not remember the title of the book, but the gist of it was that Christians had given up on the Bible, and only paid attention to parts of the New Testament. Then in the latter portion of the book, space was given to document how the “holiness” people were the greatest violators.
My comment to her, was that I came from the “holiness” tradition, and had never heard of the things the book was claiming. Having been a preacher/minister, I was familiar with including ALL of the Bible in messages. I had to claim ignorance on what the book was professing.
More recently, I was introduced to a Bible study group who were studying the New Testament book of Romans. In the course of the meetings, the leader handed me a book to read. I don’t recall the title of this book either, but it laid out for all the world to see, the particulars of dispensationalism.
As I understood the premise, in order to rightfully divide the Word of God, we must first recognize to whom each portion of the Word is addressed to. Basically, any passage after the covenant with Israel, nee Jacob, was only applicable to the sons of Israel. Anything listed in the gospels was only applicable to Jews.
The Pauline epistles were directed to the “gentiles”, and therefore, efficacious for use by our non-Jewish world.
In a later discussion between myself and the leader of the group, he intimated that he was a “dispensationalist” and did not see the entire Bible as being pertaining to us non-Jews in the modern world. As we talked, I felt like I was being backed up against a wall, and was being dared to articulate why I was not a dispensationalist.
In hindsight, I sense that what I was witnessing, to help me understand this idea of dispensationalism, is the idea of not necessarily rightly dividing the Word of God, but dividing the Christian belief. It all kind of came together for me, this morning as I read My Utmost For His Highest, by Oswald Chambers, Dodd, Mead & Co, New York, 1935, pg 127.
LIBERTY ON THE ABYSS OF THE GOSPEL
“Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free.” Gal. v. 1.
A spiritually minded man will never come to you with the demand -- “Believe this and that;” but with the demand that you square your life with the standards of Jesus. We are not asked to believe the Bible, but to believe the One Whom the Bible reveals (cf. John v. 39-40). We are called to present liberty of conscience, not liberty of view. If we are free with the liberty of Christ, others will be brought into that same liberty -- the liberty of realizing the dominance of Jesus Christ.
Always keep your life measured by the standards of Jesus. Bow your neck to His yoke alone, and to no other yoke whatever; and be careful to see that you never bind a yoke on others that is not placed by Jesus Christ. It takes God a long time to get us out of the way of thinking that unless everyone sees as we do, they must be wrong. That is never God’s view. There is only one liberty, the liberty of Jesus at work in our conscience enabling us to do what is right.
Don’t get impatient, remember how God dealt with you -- with patience and with gentleness; but never water down the truth of God. Let it have its way and never apologize for it. Jesus said, “Go and make disciples,” not “make converts to your opinions.”
And that kind of settles it for me. My belief, and trust, is in Jesus Christ alone. Whatever the current dispensation may be, the bottom line for me, is I have found refuge in Christ alone, and His promise that His Holy Spirit would be with me, within me, to remind me of all He has said, and to lead me into all truth.
My comment to her, was that I came from the “holiness” tradition, and had never heard of the things the book was claiming. Having been a preacher/minister, I was familiar with including ALL of the Bible in messages. I had to claim ignorance on what the book was professing.
More recently, I was introduced to a Bible study group who were studying the New Testament book of Romans. In the course of the meetings, the leader handed me a book to read. I don’t recall the title of this book either, but it laid out for all the world to see, the particulars of dispensationalism.
As I understood the premise, in order to rightfully divide the Word of God, we must first recognize to whom each portion of the Word is addressed to. Basically, any passage after the covenant with Israel, nee Jacob, was only applicable to the sons of Israel. Anything listed in the gospels was only applicable to Jews.
The Pauline epistles were directed to the “gentiles”, and therefore, efficacious for use by our non-Jewish world.
In a later discussion between myself and the leader of the group, he intimated that he was a “dispensationalist” and did not see the entire Bible as being pertaining to us non-Jews in the modern world. As we talked, I felt like I was being backed up against a wall, and was being dared to articulate why I was not a dispensationalist.
In hindsight, I sense that what I was witnessing, to help me understand this idea of dispensationalism, is the idea of not necessarily rightly dividing the Word of God, but dividing the Christian belief. It all kind of came together for me, this morning as I read My Utmost For His Highest, by Oswald Chambers, Dodd, Mead & Co, New York, 1935, pg 127.
LIBERTY ON THE ABYSS OF THE GOSPEL
“Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free.” Gal. v. 1.
A spiritually minded man will never come to you with the demand -- “Believe this and that;” but with the demand that you square your life with the standards of Jesus. We are not asked to believe the Bible, but to believe the One Whom the Bible reveals (cf. John v. 39-40). We are called to present liberty of conscience, not liberty of view. If we are free with the liberty of Christ, others will be brought into that same liberty -- the liberty of realizing the dominance of Jesus Christ.
Always keep your life measured by the standards of Jesus. Bow your neck to His yoke alone, and to no other yoke whatever; and be careful to see that you never bind a yoke on others that is not placed by Jesus Christ. It takes God a long time to get us out of the way of thinking that unless everyone sees as we do, they must be wrong. That is never God’s view. There is only one liberty, the liberty of Jesus at work in our conscience enabling us to do what is right.
Don’t get impatient, remember how God dealt with you -- with patience and with gentleness; but never water down the truth of God. Let it have its way and never apologize for it. Jesus said, “Go and make disciples,” not “make converts to your opinions.”
And that kind of settles it for me. My belief, and trust, is in Jesus Christ alone. Whatever the current dispensation may be, the bottom line for me, is I have found refuge in Christ alone, and His promise that His Holy Spirit would be with me, within me, to remind me of all He has said, and to lead me into all truth.
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
His Word, His story...
The more things change, the more they stay the same.
And one of the lawyers said to Him in reply, “Teacher, when You say this, You insult us too.”
But he said, “Woe to you lawyers as well! For you weigh men down with burdens hard to bear, while you yourselves will not even touch the burdens with one of your fingers.
“Woe to you! For you build the tombs of the prophets, and it was your fathers who killed them.
“Consequently, you are witnesses and approve the deeds of your fathers; because it was they who killed them, and you build their tombs.
“For this reason also the wisdom of God said, ‘I will send to them prophets and apostles, and some of them they will kill and some they will persecute, in order that the blood of all the prophets, shed since the foundation of the world, may be charged against this generation, from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, who perished between the altar and the house of God; yes, I tell you, it shall be charged against this generation.’
“Woe to you lawyers! For you have taken away the key of knowledge; you did not enter in yourselves, and those who were entering in you hindered.”
And when He left there, the scribes and the Pharisees began to be very hostile and to question Him closely on many subjects, plotting against Him, to catch Him in something He might say (Luke 11:45-54, NASB).
Appears to me, that there is not required a lot of discussion regarding where we stand today in the area of lawyers and belief in God. Has it really gone unnoticed that nearly all “lawmakers” in our country are lawyers? In fact, two of our most recent three presidents have been lawyers. And where is this country now?
It has well been said, that the person who fails to learn from history is doomed to relive it; but I add to that, the person who fails to learn from God, is doomed!
Oh, how much we need a great Holy Spirit revival in our hearts, and in this country!
And one of the lawyers said to Him in reply, “Teacher, when You say this, You insult us too.”
But he said, “Woe to you lawyers as well! For you weigh men down with burdens hard to bear, while you yourselves will not even touch the burdens with one of your fingers.
“Woe to you! For you build the tombs of the prophets, and it was your fathers who killed them.
“Consequently, you are witnesses and approve the deeds of your fathers; because it was they who killed them, and you build their tombs.
“For this reason also the wisdom of God said, ‘I will send to them prophets and apostles, and some of them they will kill and some they will persecute, in order that the blood of all the prophets, shed since the foundation of the world, may be charged against this generation, from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, who perished between the altar and the house of God; yes, I tell you, it shall be charged against this generation.’
“Woe to you lawyers! For you have taken away the key of knowledge; you did not enter in yourselves, and those who were entering in you hindered.”
And when He left there, the scribes and the Pharisees began to be very hostile and to question Him closely on many subjects, plotting against Him, to catch Him in something He might say (Luke 11:45-54, NASB).
Appears to me, that there is not required a lot of discussion regarding where we stand today in the area of lawyers and belief in God. Has it really gone unnoticed that nearly all “lawmakers” in our country are lawyers? In fact, two of our most recent three presidents have been lawyers. And where is this country now?
It has well been said, that the person who fails to learn from history is doomed to relive it; but I add to that, the person who fails to learn from God, is doomed!
Oh, how much we need a great Holy Spirit revival in our hearts, and in this country!
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Time out
The tragedy of today is that there is a tacit kind of agreement, conscious or unconscious, that Christianity is impossible. And this agreement is not among non-Christians, but very often among Christians.
It is clear that Christianity is regarded as impossible in the international world.
A world which has agreed that the only way to keep peace is to possess so-called nuclear deterents has clearly come to the conclusion that Christianity can be written off as an impossibility in the relationship between nation and nation.
It is clear that Christianity is regarded as impossible in the industrial sphere.
It seems impossible for the two sides to sit down at any industrial dispute without each of them being firmly convinced that the one thing that matters is self-interest.
It is clear that Christianity is regarded as impossible in the political sphere.
Any politician who announced that he proposed to judge each issue in terms of soul and conscience and so to cast his vote would quite certainly be told in effect that the party whip was very much more important than his conscience, and that the party line was very much more important than the Christian gospel.
It is even clear -- God forgive us -- That Christianity is regarded as impossible in the Church.
Before a man, at least in certain quarters, is allowed to preach the gospel or to come to the communion table, the question that is asked is not, “Is he a Christian?” but, “To what denomination does he belong?”
We have come to a stage today when we are content to shut Christ up within the church, and when we quite bluntly regard it as impossible to bring Christianity into the ordinary concerns and affairs of the world. Christianity has become rather an optional extra on the circumference of life than a complete essential, dominating the whole of life. What happens if we let Christ out? That is not the question, for the question for the Christian ought always to be, not, “Is it safe?” but, “Is it right?”
Daily Celebration, William Barclay, Word Books, Waco, TX, 1972, pg 111
It is clear that Christianity is regarded as impossible in the international world.
A world which has agreed that the only way to keep peace is to possess so-called nuclear deterents has clearly come to the conclusion that Christianity can be written off as an impossibility in the relationship between nation and nation.
It is clear that Christianity is regarded as impossible in the industrial sphere.
It seems impossible for the two sides to sit down at any industrial dispute without each of them being firmly convinced that the one thing that matters is self-interest.
It is clear that Christianity is regarded as impossible in the political sphere.
Any politician who announced that he proposed to judge each issue in terms of soul and conscience and so to cast his vote would quite certainly be told in effect that the party whip was very much more important than his conscience, and that the party line was very much more important than the Christian gospel.
It is even clear -- God forgive us -- That Christianity is regarded as impossible in the Church.
Before a man, at least in certain quarters, is allowed to preach the gospel or to come to the communion table, the question that is asked is not, “Is he a Christian?” but, “To what denomination does he belong?”
We have come to a stage today when we are content to shut Christ up within the church, and when we quite bluntly regard it as impossible to bring Christianity into the ordinary concerns and affairs of the world. Christianity has become rather an optional extra on the circumference of life than a complete essential, dominating the whole of life. What happens if we let Christ out? That is not the question, for the question for the Christian ought always to be, not, “Is it safe?” but, “Is it right?”
Daily Celebration, William Barclay, Word Books, Waco, TX, 1972, pg 111
Monday, April 27, 2009
True Marine Confessions
True Marine Confessions; subtitled, You Can't Handle The Truth Commission.
Well, part of my reason for joining the Marine Corps and not the Navy, was that I didn't like serious swimming...fast forward to second or third week in boot camp.
Ed, spoke of weighted feet, but I remember having a forty pound pack on my back and an M-14 rifle in my hands.
Truth be known, boot camp showed how we can dig down inside, and come up with the will to excell, and survive.
God bless the Corps, and Chesty, where ever he is.
Well, part of my reason for joining the Marine Corps and not the Navy, was that I didn't like serious swimming...fast forward to second or third week in boot camp.
Ed, spoke of weighted feet, but I remember having a forty pound pack on my back and an M-14 rifle in my hands.
Truth be known, boot camp showed how we can dig down inside, and come up with the will to excell, and survive.
God bless the Corps, and Chesty, where ever he is.
Health care
The astute Dr. Helen comes through with another thought provoking post on health care... Thoughts on health care .
I have been enrolled in the VA health care program and found it very lacking. I have come to realize that the VA is simply another beauracracy intent on maintaining and sustaining their existence.
Truth in advertising would require us to rename the VA health care system to "Disabled VA Health Care".
Please don't misunderstand me, I have nothing against disabled veterans...how I managed to complete 29 years in the naval service with only a less than 5% disability will always be a mystery to me.
I have been enrolled in the VA health care program and found it very lacking. I have come to realize that the VA is simply another beauracracy intent on maintaining and sustaining their existence.
Truth in advertising would require us to rename the VA health care system to "Disabled VA Health Care".
Please don't misunderstand me, I have nothing against disabled veterans...how I managed to complete 29 years in the naval service with only a less than 5% disability will always be a mystery to me.
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