Satan's nation is the size of Mississippi. It has a population of 23 million. (Mississippi's population is 2.9 million.) North Korea, Satan's nation, immerses its citizen in propaganda all day, every day. They hear, see, and read nothing else: there are no cell phones; there is no Internet. Many don't know a man has walked on the moon.
They hear propaganda everywhere. They hear it at home. They hear it at work. They hear it as they walk on the streets. They see propaganda everywhere in graphic pictures, murals, portraits and monuments. In every apartment, every home, there hang pictures (more than one per dwelling) of the dear leader. Their dear leader is their god, his graven image is everywhere. He comes complete with attributes belonging only to God.
One N. Korean, now enjoying life outside of hell, says she believed that the dear leader was omniscient; she thought he could read minds. The all-day-and-part-of-the-night-propaganda (5 AM-11 PM blaring from sound trucks roaming the streets) had so done its work, that even after she escaped to China, she believed that the dear leader could read her mind in that country.
Her mother was the same, even after she and her daughter escaped.
When news came that the dear leader had died, she was incredulous and
asked, "The great leader is a god; how can a god die?" Her
daughter explained to her mother that the dear leader was not a
god.
When a news documentarian was filming a program for "National Geographic" about a doctor's trip into N. Korea, she asked one of the six government minders and a family she was filming, "Can the dear leader do wrong?"
Silence. The minders didn't understand the question, nor did the family. There was no answer; everybody just sat there on the floor of the apartment, silent. Did fear birth the silence? The documentarian doesn't think so. She thinks the reason is that the minders and the family have no vocabulary to answer such a question. If that's true, the dear leader is god in their minds--absolutely righteous.
it would be like asking the modern day church-goer, "How would your church decide important if there was no such thing as voting?" Silence. The church-goer has no vocabulary to discuss the question, much less answer it.
The doctor from Asia has come to perform 1,000 surgeries in 10 days to bring sight to the blind. He accomplishes his goal and a large number of the ones upon whom he's operated sit in a large room, eyes and faces swathed in bandages. The doctor and his assistants begin to unwind the bandages as the camera rolls.
The people can see! They see their fathers and mothers, their grandchildren, either for the first time or for the first time in a long time. After a bit, everyone of them, one by one, goes up to the front of the room and stands in front of a picture of the dear leader and, with upraised hands shout, literally shout, their praises to him. Some make vows to him. One now-sighted woman vows, "I will work harder in the salt mines to get salt for you, dear leader!" One man, an older man, vows before the picture, "With these hands, I will kill every American for you, dear leader!"
There must be public praises for this god in Satan's nation.
In every home and apartment, they bow. Grandparents, parents, and children, all bow, as they hold hands, before the pictures of the dear leader. There must be reverence for this god.
A photojournalist, on a tour of the capital city comes up to one of the massive statues of the dear leader. It so huge that he lies down on the pavement to get a full shot of it.
After he gets up, his minder comes up to him and tells him, "That is forbidden." Not the picture-taking, but the lying down. No one lies down in the presence of the dear leader, all must stand and reverently so. The minder says to the photographer: "You will have to leave our country tomorrow."
A journalist disguised as a tourist gets out of the approved, government-ordained route specified for his tour group led by their minders. He, having told the minders that he needed to use the restroom while on a tour of a N. Korean high school, makes a mad dash upstairs and finds a place where tourists aren't allowed.
He looks at the walls of the halls on the second floor and there he sees a mural of students in violent poses killing an American soldier with a fountain pen, stabbing him through the heart. He takes a picture and smuggles it out of N. Korea for the world to see.
While on tour of the high school, it's not easy to see down the halls. That's because the halls are dark; electricity in Satan's nation is in short supply. This is a picture of the spiritual darkness enveloping the nation, any nation, in which a man is their god.
On his tour, the journalist asks questions of the minders: "Why is it this and not that?" "Why do you do this and not that?" Why? Why? Why?" The minders have no answer because he can't conceive of anyone asking a "why" question. People aren't allowed to ask"why" in a nation where man is god.
The mind-control is so strong that those raised in it are like a fish breathing water. The fish never asks, "Why am I breathing water?" He just does. The propagandized never think, "Why?" It never occurs to them. That's really not so strange. The average church member never thinks to ask, "Why do we sit in pews?" To him, the pews just are. The football fan, until recently, would never have asked, "Why is the Washington team named, 'the Redskins?'" An Atlanta fan would never have asked, "Why is our team, 'the Braves?' " It just is, and that's all there is to it, thank you very much. The church attender never asks, "Why do we have to walk an aisle to be saved?" He just does, even though the New Testament never tells anyone to do so.
Now for the scary. The journalist, in the tour group herded by the minders, says that about 50% of those in his group bought it. What they were allowed to see, that's the way the people live, they left thinking, in a Utopia on earth.
Another scary: according to political correctness, we're not to make judgments, we can't condmen any person or culture. According to its handmaiden, multiculturalism, no one culture is better than another. There's no right, no wrong, to each his own and you'd better not offend another's "own." Political correctness and multiculturalism take the categories away from us, so we can't say that one culture is inferior to another.
To multiculturalism, "Everything is beautiful, in its own way." If a godless society shoots its citizens who are trying to get away from it because three million have starved to death in it and because of it, who are we to shout, "That's wrong!"? You can't judge, you can't condemn. Yet God condemned the culture of the Canaanites and the men of Sodom. Paul condemned false teachers and their teaching; he condemned the Cretans as liars.
This multiculturalism hit home with the movie,"The Interview," which, at least for a while, never opened in any American theater because, basically, it offended the dear leader of the North Koreans. It was one of the few times, maybe the first time, a foreign dictator dictated what Americans could see. (Disclaimer: I never saw the movie. I rarely see a movie in a theater. I have Roku. I haven't seen it on Roku either.)
There's quite a contrast, isn't there? Look at what a culture based on Christianity produces and look at what a man-is-god-culture produces.
All we have to do, in spite of political correctness and multiculturalism, is to ask, "If you were to remove the soldiers, the guns, the electrified fence, and the 1,000 land mines from the 150 mile border between N. Korea and S. Korea, which way would the people go?"
WITHOUT COST
Friday, August 21, 2015
Friday, August 14, 2015
SATAN'S NATION
There is a nation that we might call, "Satan's Nation," one that stands as the epitome of all that Satan desires for the human race. John tells us that the whole world-system lies cradled in the power of the evil one (I John 5:19). We can summarize Satan's goal for the world in one short command: Leave God out.
Satan's goal is to leave God out of education, to leave God out of the arts, to leave God out of families, business, government, the culture, any private discussion, and any national discussion. If one country is the example of that goal, it's North Korea, a nation in which its citizens are soldiers and slaves.
WHAT DOES SATAN'S NATION LOOK LIKE?
A little boy, Joseph Kim, less than 12 years of age, arises at 5 AM along with his sister. They will spend the day, the entire day, doing one thing and only one thing, searching for wood and food until midnight. Desperate for food, eventually this little boy watched as his father lay on the floor, starving, starving to death. If he could have only found some bread in the many trash heaps through which he had dug that day.
Joseph's mother disappears suddenly. No hugs. No good-byes. She's gone, gone to try to escape to China to make some money to feed the family. If the N. Koreans catch her, they'll kill her and her body will float in the river which serves as the border. If the Chinese catch her, they'll send her back to be jailed, tortured, and maybe executed.
The boy goes to work in a coal mine, deep, deep below ground in freezing weather. Neither he nor any other workers, men or boys, have any protection from the elements.
THE TEACHER
A young teacher, Suki Kim, wanting to learn what it's like to live in N. Korea, leaves S. Korea to teach in a school for the children (all male) of the elites of the N. Korean society. She wants to immerse herself in the N. Korean culture, right there in the belly of the beast, right there in its capital. It is there that she sees Satan's Nation at work, living first hand in its nuts and bolts, a nation whose government has brainwashed it's citizens to leave God out.
Miss Kim finds that, for the N. Koreans, there is no outside world; the government blocks all knowledge of it. Her students never heard of Steve Jobs. They never heard of the Internet. (Therefore, there's really no such thing as the "Worldwide" Web.) They know only two things about the outside world: S. Korea is their enemy. America is their enemy. That's it.
The teacher finds propaganda, the lies on which the government has built the society, everywhere. Sound trucks roam the streets and roads broadcasting propaganda from 5 AM to 11 PM, every day, all the time, world without end. Every book, every TV program, every newspaper article, every song is about The Great Leader. Flowers are named for him; they carve the mountains with his sayings. The propaganda tells the people that they are citizens of the most powerful and wealthiest nation on the face of the earth. Yet their citizens, during the Great Famine of the 1990's ate grass, bugs, and tree bark; over a million of them died.
The school where she teaches? It's a guarded prison. The students cannot write their parents. Officials record every class; there is no such thing as a private conversation. The school covers every blank space with a portrait of The Great Leader. Free time? That's spent honoring The Great Leader. School trips? The only place a teacher can take the class is to a monument honoring The Great Leader, accompanied by an approved monitor, of course.
Speaking of traveling, no N. Korean can go to a foreign country. They need a passport to travel even in their own country. (Some say we need a passport to go to Alabama, but that's a different discussion.)
She finds that her students have no idea how to write an essay: thesis statement, arguments for the thesis, conclusion. They don't know how because the government tells them what to think and they can't think any differently. There are no "arguments." They are taught to obey the government, The Great Leader, not to think about, "Why?"
Christianity? There is no evangelism. If you try, you die.
THE AUNT AND HER FAMILY
Hysonseo Lee sees her first public execution when she's seven; she thinks, "This is the way it must be all over the world." Her family receives a letter from her aunt, her mother's sister. Her aunt writes, "By the time you get this, we'll all be in the next world. We're lying on the floor, starving. We are ready to die." They were too weak to do what others were doing--going outside to eat grass, bugs, and tree bark. It was over and they knew it. The next world was waiting.
THE TEACHER CONCLUDES
Miss Kim concludes by telling what she would write, if she could write a letter to her students in that N. Korean school, knowing, of course, they'd never get the letter.
She reads us the letter, which says in part, "Gentlemen, you must now be 22 or 23, since it's been three years since I've seen you. You have often asked me if your capital city is the most beautiful on the earth. I know that you want me to say that it is, but I can't. Your city is a monster, feeding off the rest of the country."
She would write more: "I know you are fed up; fed up with the sameness of everything. But don't lead a revolution; let somebody else do it. Someone is always watching you. Live long, safe lives."
So there we have it. Satan's Nation. Satan's millennium.
Satan's goal is to leave God out of education, to leave God out of the arts, to leave God out of families, business, government, the culture, any private discussion, and any national discussion. If one country is the example of that goal, it's North Korea, a nation in which its citizens are soldiers and slaves.
WHAT DOES SATAN'S NATION LOOK LIKE?
A little boy, Joseph Kim, less than 12 years of age, arises at 5 AM along with his sister. They will spend the day, the entire day, doing one thing and only one thing, searching for wood and food until midnight. Desperate for food, eventually this little boy watched as his father lay on the floor, starving, starving to death. If he could have only found some bread in the many trash heaps through which he had dug that day.
Joseph's mother disappears suddenly. No hugs. No good-byes. She's gone, gone to try to escape to China to make some money to feed the family. If the N. Koreans catch her, they'll kill her and her body will float in the river which serves as the border. If the Chinese catch her, they'll send her back to be jailed, tortured, and maybe executed.
The boy goes to work in a coal mine, deep, deep below ground in freezing weather. Neither he nor any other workers, men or boys, have any protection from the elements.
THE TEACHER
A young teacher, Suki Kim, wanting to learn what it's like to live in N. Korea, leaves S. Korea to teach in a school for the children (all male) of the elites of the N. Korean society. She wants to immerse herself in the N. Korean culture, right there in the belly of the beast, right there in its capital. It is there that she sees Satan's Nation at work, living first hand in its nuts and bolts, a nation whose government has brainwashed it's citizens to leave God out.
Miss Kim finds that, for the N. Koreans, there is no outside world; the government blocks all knowledge of it. Her students never heard of Steve Jobs. They never heard of the Internet. (Therefore, there's really no such thing as the "Worldwide" Web.) They know only two things about the outside world: S. Korea is their enemy. America is their enemy. That's it.
The teacher finds propaganda, the lies on which the government has built the society, everywhere. Sound trucks roam the streets and roads broadcasting propaganda from 5 AM to 11 PM, every day, all the time, world without end. Every book, every TV program, every newspaper article, every song is about The Great Leader. Flowers are named for him; they carve the mountains with his sayings. The propaganda tells the people that they are citizens of the most powerful and wealthiest nation on the face of the earth. Yet their citizens, during the Great Famine of the 1990's ate grass, bugs, and tree bark; over a million of them died.
The school where she teaches? It's a guarded prison. The students cannot write their parents. Officials record every class; there is no such thing as a private conversation. The school covers every blank space with a portrait of The Great Leader. Free time? That's spent honoring The Great Leader. School trips? The only place a teacher can take the class is to a monument honoring The Great Leader, accompanied by an approved monitor, of course.
Speaking of traveling, no N. Korean can go to a foreign country. They need a passport to travel even in their own country. (Some say we need a passport to go to Alabama, but that's a different discussion.)
She finds that her students have no idea how to write an essay: thesis statement, arguments for the thesis, conclusion. They don't know how because the government tells them what to think and they can't think any differently. There are no "arguments." They are taught to obey the government, The Great Leader, not to think about, "Why?"
Christianity? There is no evangelism. If you try, you die.
THE AUNT AND HER FAMILY
Hysonseo Lee sees her first public execution when she's seven; she thinks, "This is the way it must be all over the world." Her family receives a letter from her aunt, her mother's sister. Her aunt writes, "By the time you get this, we'll all be in the next world. We're lying on the floor, starving. We are ready to die." They were too weak to do what others were doing--going outside to eat grass, bugs, and tree bark. It was over and they knew it. The next world was waiting.
THE TEACHER CONCLUDES
Miss Kim concludes by telling what she would write, if she could write a letter to her students in that N. Korean school, knowing, of course, they'd never get the letter.
She reads us the letter, which says in part, "Gentlemen, you must now be 22 or 23, since it's been three years since I've seen you. You have often asked me if your capital city is the most beautiful on the earth. I know that you want me to say that it is, but I can't. Your city is a monster, feeding off the rest of the country."
She would write more: "I know you are fed up; fed up with the sameness of everything. But don't lead a revolution; let somebody else do it. Someone is always watching you. Live long, safe lives."
So there we have it. Satan's Nation. Satan's millennium.
Friday, August 7, 2015
WHAT HITLER KNEW
Hitler, Stalin, Mao, or Kim Jong-il in Germany, Russia, China, or North Korea--they all knew they had to do one thing to establish their totalitarian rule: their government must come between and isolate every individual in society.
Therefore, they established national health care systems to come between the patient and his doctor. They nationalized education by giving the schools the official, government approved curricula. They came between the customer and merchant by creating agencies to regulate business. (Stella Moribito)
In education, the nationalized curricula centered on racial indoctrination. This included teaching young children how to spot a Jew by describing the physical traits which Nazis believed were associated with inferior peoples. In some classrooms, where Jews were still present, a Jewish child would be brought to the front of the class. The teacher would then use a pointer, highlighting certain facial characteristics.
The motto of the Nazi's national education policy was: "The supreme task of the schools is the education of youth for the service of the state in the National Socialist spirit." Teachers taught Nazi propaganda as fact which was then recited by their students as unshakable points of view with no room for disagreement or discussion. The teachers themselves were inferior teachers, since the only ones qualified by the government were those who were members of the party.
ONE OTHER "MUST BE"
Therefore, they established national health care systems to come between the patient and his doctor. They nationalized education by giving the schools the official, government approved curricula. They came between the customer and merchant by creating agencies to regulate business. (Stella Moribito)
In education, the nationalized curricula centered on racial indoctrination. This included teaching young children how to spot a Jew by describing the physical traits which Nazis believed were associated with inferior peoples. In some classrooms, where Jews were still present, a Jewish child would be brought to the front of the class. The teacher would then use a pointer, highlighting certain facial characteristics.
The motto of the Nazi's national education policy was: "The supreme task of the schools is the education of youth for the service of the state in the National Socialist spirit." Teachers taught Nazi propaganda as fact which was then recited by their students as unshakable points of view with no room for disagreement or discussion. The teachers themselves were inferior teachers, since the only ones qualified by the government were those who were members of the party.
ONE OTHER "MUST BE"
But, no matter what, all totalitarian regimes must accomplish one thing--if the state is to command the total loyalty of the citizenry, it must crush God's institution of the family and the citizen's loyalty to it. Therefore, the government must come between and isolate each each member of the family from the other.
To this end, the Nazi's instituted the Hitler Youth, the totalitarian answer to family loyalty and America's Boy Scouts. Ten-year-old
boys entered the Hitler Youth by swearing an oath: "In the
presence of this blood banner which represents our Führer, I swear
to devote all my energies and my strength to the savior of our country,
Adolf Hitler. I am willing and ready to give up my life for him, so help
me God." The child's loyalty to the government, not the family is paramount.
To further crush the family, Nazi Germany
planted informers everywhere, even the home. In each household there was the ever-present dread that someone may be listening. Children told authorities about
disloyal remarks they heard over dinner. Every family came to fear
the knock on the door in the early morning hours. It meant their child, a relative, or a neighbor had turned them in; they had heard some remark, real or imagined. This usually meant the arrest
of a family member. The secret police arrested and executed millions of so-called
traitors.
WALTER HESS, A NAME WHICH WILL LIVE IN INFAMY
WALTER HESS, A NAME WHICH WILL LIVE IN INFAMY
One case involved a teenager named Walter
Hess who turned in his father for calling Hitler a crazed maniac. The authorities hauled him off to Dachau. For setting such an example, Hess was promoted to a higher rank
within the Hitler Youth.
This represents an ultimate betrayal, the betrayal of the parents by the child; the betrayal of the child by the parents. Sitting at the dinner table or in the den, the question is always: "Whom can I trust?"
DINNERS OF TENSION
The problem is, you don't know; you can't know. Will your wife report you if you make a disloyal remark after reading some news article in the evening paper? Who knows? Will your child overhear some criticism you make at the dinner table and report it at tomorrow's Hitler Youth meeting? Will you hear the knock? This is DIVISION and ISOLATION in all caps. The constant question on everyone's mind is: "Is this conversation safe?"
DINNERS OF TENSION
The problem is, you don't know; you can't know. Will your wife report you if you make a disloyal remark after reading some news article in the evening paper? Who knows? Will your child overhear some criticism you make at the dinner table and report it at tomorrow's Hitler Youth meeting? Will you hear the knock? This is DIVISION and ISOLATION in all caps. The constant question on everyone's mind is: "Is this conversation safe?"
Children spy on their parents and shatter the family, sons-in-law spy on their fathers-in-law and mothers-in-law,grandchildren on grandparents. Nephews turn uncles, aunts, and their cousins over to the authorities for misstatements.
The state reigns. Long live the state!
But the Bible exalts the family and gives it sacred responsibilities. The book of Proverbs places the education of children in the cozy and loving confines of the home under the instruction of fathers and mothers. Ephesians tells fathers to raise their children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. The allegiance of the child is to his parents whom he is to obey. Husbands are to love their wives as Christ loved the church.
DID WE NOTICE?
Did we notice when President Kennedy said at his inauguration in January 1961: "Ask not what your country can do for you--ask what you can do for your country." Say what?
Did we notice that that's a statement to which all dictators would give a hearty, "Amen." At the time, both Milton Friedman and Ayn Rand heard that inaugural statement and stood aghast, seeing it as one which encouraged citizens to be subservient to the state. Friedman said both halves of the sentence were wrong: “Neither half of the statement expresses a relation between the citizen and his government that is worthy of the ideals of free men in a free society.”
An infuriated Ayn Rand put Hitler's words and Kennedy's words side by side and dared people to see any difference. She saw the words as a demand that man live for the state.
No, we didn't notice. Our press and our elites told us it was grand rhetoric for the ages.
DO WE NOTICE?
Do we notice those who teach our children. Just who is teaching your child? Who's the Sunday school teacher? Who's the children's church leader who guides? Do those teachers present the accurate gospel given in I Corinthians 15:1-4? "Now I make known to you, brethren, the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received, in which you also stand . . . For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures . . ." Do those teachers realize that John 3:16 calls for faith alone in Christ alone and nothing more or do they corrupt the good news of grace with the bad news of works, vows, and performances?
Those who teach your children don't stand above you, elevated six feet above contradiction. Have you questioned them? Why not?
Do we notice when churches separate and segregate family members from one another--separate classes for husbands and wives, children and adults, the older from the younger, children's churches, children's activities centers, children's this and children's that. Subtle and accepted without critique.
Do we notice movements abroad in the land, movements to divide, isolate, and destroy the family? One leader of the same-sex marriage rebellion said, "We lied. We've been lying all along. Our goal has not been 'marriage equality.' Our goal has been the destruction of marriage." (paraphrase)
In view of this trend to isolate, separate, and destroy familial relationships, the Christian family seeks to bring family members together--grandparents together with grandchildren, cousins with cousins, uncles, aunts, and parents together--in as many ways (dinners, trips, education, vacations, activities both serious and recreational, discussions and the ceremonies of life) as they can imagine.
Those movements which seek to divide, separate, and isolate always come cloaked with good and moral intentions, well-phrased, but Vergil's ancient warning applies: "Timeo Danaos et dona ferentes!" "I fear the Greeks even bearing gifts!"
But the Bible exalts the family and gives it sacred responsibilities. The book of Proverbs places the education of children in the cozy and loving confines of the home under the instruction of fathers and mothers. Ephesians tells fathers to raise their children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. The allegiance of the child is to his parents whom he is to obey. Husbands are to love their wives as Christ loved the church.
DID WE NOTICE?
Did we notice when President Kennedy said at his inauguration in January 1961: "Ask not what your country can do for you--ask what you can do for your country." Say what?
Did we notice that that's a statement to which all dictators would give a hearty, "Amen." At the time, both Milton Friedman and Ayn Rand heard that inaugural statement and stood aghast, seeing it as one which encouraged citizens to be subservient to the state. Friedman said both halves of the sentence were wrong: “Neither half of the statement expresses a relation between the citizen and his government that is worthy of the ideals of free men in a free society.”
An infuriated Ayn Rand put Hitler's words and Kennedy's words side by side and dared people to see any difference. She saw the words as a demand that man live for the state.
No, we didn't notice. Our press and our elites told us it was grand rhetoric for the ages.
DO WE NOTICE?
Do we notice those who teach our children. Just who is teaching your child? Who's the Sunday school teacher? Who's the children's church leader who guides? Do those teachers present the accurate gospel given in I Corinthians 15:1-4? "Now I make known to you, brethren, the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received, in which you also stand . . . For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures . . ." Do those teachers realize that John 3:16 calls for faith alone in Christ alone and nothing more or do they corrupt the good news of grace with the bad news of works, vows, and performances?
Those who teach your children don't stand above you, elevated six feet above contradiction. Have you questioned them? Why not?
Do we notice when churches separate and segregate family members from one another--separate classes for husbands and wives, children and adults, the older from the younger, children's churches, children's activities centers, children's this and children's that. Subtle and accepted without critique.
Do we notice movements abroad in the land, movements to divide, isolate, and destroy the family? One leader of the same-sex marriage rebellion said, "We lied. We've been lying all along. Our goal has not been 'marriage equality.' Our goal has been the destruction of marriage." (paraphrase)
In view of this trend to isolate, separate, and destroy familial relationships, the Christian family seeks to bring family members together--grandparents together with grandchildren, cousins with cousins, uncles, aunts, and parents together--in as many ways (dinners, trips, education, vacations, activities both serious and recreational, discussions and the ceremonies of life) as they can imagine.
Those movements which seek to divide, separate, and isolate always come cloaked with good and moral intentions, well-phrased, but Vergil's ancient warning applies: "Timeo Danaos et dona ferentes!" "I fear the Greeks even bearing gifts!"
Friday, July 31, 2015
DID YOUR TEACHER TELL YOU ABOUT THIS?
Emma Willard said this about George Washington:
"His mortal remains repose at Mt. Vernon near the scene of his domestic enjoyments. To that spot will every true son of America, in all future ages, be attracted in mournful, filial pilgrimage and thither, from every clime, will the votary of the rights of man repair, to renew his vow of devotion, and draw fresh inspiration in the sacred cause."
THE FAMOUS HAVE COME, HAVE SEEN, HAVE STOOD IN AWE
Many, the famous and the not famous, have made the "mournful, filial pilgrimage" to Washington's tomb. His military partner Lafayette came in 1827, and his personal assistant wrote: "Lafayette descended alone in the vault, and a few minutes thereafter reappeared, with his eyes overflowing with tears. He took his son and me by the hand, and led us into the tomb... We knelt reverentially near his coffin, which we respectfully saluted with our lips; rising, we mingled our tears with his.”
Other visitors who've stood in reverential awe at the tomb include the Prince of Wales and President Buchanan in 1860, Thomas Edison, King George VI in 1939, (the first reigning monarch of Britain ever to visit America) President Franklin Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, Madame Chaing Kai-shek, and French President Charles de Gaulle, photographed standing by the sarcophagus with his hat in his hand.
I was there; I stood, cap in hand, at the stately tomb of George Washington on the grounds of Mt. Vernon. As I looked at it through the iron gate, I saw something, and it made me wonder, "Do our teachers tell our children what I saw?"
BACK UP
But let's back up for a minute. When George Washington died on December 14, 1799, he died of an unpronounceable bacteria that we never hear of today because it's so easily cured. (All the doctors did for him was worse than useless.) When George Washington died, our nation deeply mourned him; they'd lost their "father" and they knew it. But we weren't the only ones who mourned the great man:
As you look into the tomb, you see the stately white sarcophagi of George and Martha Washington; their marble whiteness draws your eyes to them. Yet, if you stand there taking it all in, you notice something written on the back wall of the tomb. It's in a dim light, it shows a bit of age, but it's there, it's there all right. You see the words, "I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. John 11:25-26"
I saw those words. They comprise one of the great promises Jesus made, they're right there, plain as day, but do our teachers speak of this inscription? Right there, for however long visitors want to think about it, John 11:25-26 penetrates their minds. The Word of God is powerful, sharper than any two-edge sword, so we would expect those words to be like a stone in the shoe of the unbeliever who reads them and that stone is something he just can't seem to get out of his mind. He may suppress them; they may torture him, like Stephen's sermon was torturing Saul on the road to Damascus.
Those words come as a lightning bolt from the tomb of the great man. The famous and the not famous have read them, and God says, "So will My word be which goes forth from My mouth. It will not return to Me empty, without accomplishing what I desire, and without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it." (Is. 55:11)
NO WAY
No way. No how. Few, if any, teachers and historians mention that inscription on Washington's tomb. Many of them are debunkers, trying to bring the great man down. They spend their time telling students and readers of their books that he was a failure as a general (really? get real!), that he was rich and sought to get richer (yet, what's wrong with that, does not I Cor. 7:21 encourage us to better ourselves when possible? He refused to take a salary as commander-n-chief of the Revolutionary army from the Continental Congress; He refused the $25,000 salary offered by the Congress while he was president. He used his acreage to become as self-sufficient as possible. He and Martha let any and all visitors stay in their home, free of charge for as long as they wanted; in his will he stipulated that his elderly slaves or those who were too sick to work were to be supported by his estate in perpetuity. He freed them all.), and historian Sir Arnold Toynbee, without one shred of evidence, deemed Washington immoral.
THE WORLD AT WORK
In the descriptions I've read about Mt. Vernon and the final resting place of George and Martha Washington, I've never read about Jesus' words being there. But isn't this what the world system does? Does it not do everything in its power to shut God out? The world-system engages in a systematic effort to censor all references to Christ, Christianity, and the Bible.
Yet, "since 1860," according to the Mt. Vernon Ladies Association, "over 85 million people have visited Mount Vernon, when the estate officially opened to the public. Today, Mount Vernon welcomes an average of one million guests each year."
And what is it that the observant visitors see--John 11:25-26, carved large. When they read it, we have God's assurance that those famous words won't return empty; they will accomplish His purposes. They will either lead to trust in Christ, consideration of Christ, investigation about Christ, or expose rejection of Christ.
Those words, carved with artistic care, are great words, spoken by One greater than Washington.
"His mortal remains repose at Mt. Vernon near the scene of his domestic enjoyments. To that spot will every true son of America, in all future ages, be attracted in mournful, filial pilgrimage and thither, from every clime, will the votary of the rights of man repair, to renew his vow of devotion, and draw fresh inspiration in the sacred cause."
THE FAMOUS HAVE COME, HAVE SEEN, HAVE STOOD IN AWE
Many, the famous and the not famous, have made the "mournful, filial pilgrimage" to Washington's tomb. His military partner Lafayette came in 1827, and his personal assistant wrote: "Lafayette descended alone in the vault, and a few minutes thereafter reappeared, with his eyes overflowing with tears. He took his son and me by the hand, and led us into the tomb... We knelt reverentially near his coffin, which we respectfully saluted with our lips; rising, we mingled our tears with his.”
Other visitors who've stood in reverential awe at the tomb include the Prince of Wales and President Buchanan in 1860, Thomas Edison, King George VI in 1939, (the first reigning monarch of Britain ever to visit America) President Franklin Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, Madame Chaing Kai-shek, and French President Charles de Gaulle, photographed standing by the sarcophagus with his hat in his hand.
I was there; I stood, cap in hand, at the stately tomb of George Washington on the grounds of Mt. Vernon. As I looked at it through the iron gate, I saw something, and it made me wonder, "Do our teachers tell our children what I saw?"
BACK UP
But let's back up for a minute. When George Washington died on December 14, 1799, he died of an unpronounceable bacteria that we never hear of today because it's so easily cured. (All the doctors did for him was worse than useless.) When George Washington died, our nation deeply mourned him; they'd lost their "father" and they knew it. But we weren't the only ones who mourned the great man:
"[His] death brought tributes even from the British
who had fought him. Royal Navy battleships blockading Brest lowered their
colors to half mast and The London Morning Chronicle opined that ‘The whole
range of history does not present to our view a character upon which we can
dwell with such entire and unmixed admiration’. The US army wore black armbands
for six months and many ladies went into formal mourning, led by the First
Lady, Abigail Adams." (History Today)
BUT DO OUR TEACHERS TELL US WHAT I SAW?
At George Washington's funeral on December 18, 1799, Washington's body lay in a coffin that featured silver-plate ornament at the head inscribed with a Latin phrase, SURGE AD JUDICIUM and another inscribed with "GLORIA DEO."
Do our teachers tell our students about those words and what those Latin phrases mean? The first means, "Rise to Judgment" and the second means, "Glory to God." If ever there were two biblical concepts, there they were, right there at the funeral for all to see. "Rise" implies a bodily resurrection, life after death, while "to judgment" states man's accountability to God after death. "Glory to God," is a statement of praise to God. Do our teachers mention these things?
But that's not what I saw.
WHAT I SAW AT WASHINGTON'S TOMB
I saw those words. They comprise one of the great promises Jesus made, they're right there, plain as day, but do our teachers speak of this inscription? Right there, for however long visitors want to think about it, John 11:25-26 penetrates their minds. The Word of God is powerful, sharper than any two-edge sword, so we would expect those words to be like a stone in the shoe of the unbeliever who reads them and that stone is something he just can't seem to get out of his mind. He may suppress them; they may torture him, like Stephen's sermon was torturing Saul on the road to Damascus.
Those words come as a lightning bolt from the tomb of the great man. The famous and the not famous have read them, and God says, "So will My word be which goes forth from My mouth. It will not return to Me empty, without accomplishing what I desire, and without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it." (Is. 55:11)
NO WAY
No way. No how. Few, if any, teachers and historians mention that inscription on Washington's tomb. Many of them are debunkers, trying to bring the great man down. They spend their time telling students and readers of their books that he was a failure as a general (really? get real!), that he was rich and sought to get richer (yet, what's wrong with that, does not I Cor. 7:21 encourage us to better ourselves when possible? He refused to take a salary as commander-n-chief of the Revolutionary army from the Continental Congress; He refused the $25,000 salary offered by the Congress while he was president. He used his acreage to become as self-sufficient as possible. He and Martha let any and all visitors stay in their home, free of charge for as long as they wanted; in his will he stipulated that his elderly slaves or those who were too sick to work were to be supported by his estate in perpetuity. He freed them all.), and historian Sir Arnold Toynbee, without one shred of evidence, deemed Washington immoral.
THE WORLD AT WORK
In the descriptions I've read about Mt. Vernon and the final resting place of George and Martha Washington, I've never read about Jesus' words being there. But isn't this what the world system does? Does it not do everything in its power to shut God out? The world-system engages in a systematic effort to censor all references to Christ, Christianity, and the Bible.
Yet, "since 1860," according to the Mt. Vernon Ladies Association, "over 85 million people have visited Mount Vernon, when the estate officially opened to the public. Today, Mount Vernon welcomes an average of one million guests each year."
And what is it that the observant visitors see--John 11:25-26, carved large. When they read it, we have God's assurance that those famous words won't return empty; they will accomplish His purposes. They will either lead to trust in Christ, consideration of Christ, investigation about Christ, or expose rejection of Christ.
Those words, carved with artistic care, are great words, spoken by One greater than Washington.
Washington’s
death brought tributes even from the British who had fought him. Royal
Navy battleships blockading Brest lowered their colours to half mast and
The London Morning Chronicle opined that ‘The whole range of history
does not present to our view a character upon which we can dwell with
such entire and unmixed admiration’. The US army wore black armbands for
six months and many ladies went into formal mourning, led by the First
Lady, Abigail Adams. Congress, meeting in Philadelphia, adjourned on the
day of the funeral. - See more at:
http://www.historytoday.com/richard-cavendish/death-george-washington#sthash.aMJGGYz5.dpuf
Washington’s
death brought tributes even from the British who had fought him. Royal
Navy battleships blockading Brest lowered their colours to half mast and
The London Morning Chronicle opined that ‘The whole range of history
does not present to our view a character upon which we can dwell with
such entire and unmixed admiration’. The US army wore black armbands for
six months and many ladies went into formal mourning, led by the First
Lady, Abigail Adams. Congress, meeting in Philadelphia, adjourned on the
day of the funeral. - See more at:
http://www.historytoday.com/richard-cavendish/death-george-washington#sthash.aMJGGYz5.dpuf
Washington’s
death brought tributes even from the British who had fought him. Royal
Navy battleships blockading Brest lowered their colours to half mast and
The London Morning Chronicle opined that ‘The whole range of history
does not present to our view a character upon which we can dwell with
such entire and unmixed admiration’. The US army wore black armbands for
six months and many ladies went into formal mourning, led by the First
Lady, Abigail Adams. Congress, meeting in Philadelphia, adjourned on the
day of the funeral. - See more at:
http://www.historytoday.com/richard-cavendish/death-george-washington#sthash.aMJGGYz5.dpuf
Washington’s
death brought tributes even from the British who had fought him. Royal
Navy battleships blockading Brest lowered their colours to half mast and
The London Morning Chronicle opined that ‘The whole range of history
does not present to our view a character upon which we can dwell with
such entire and unmixed admiration’. The US army wore black armbands for
six months and many ladies went into formal mourning, led by the First
Lady, Abigail Adams. Congress, meeting in Philadelphia, adjourned on the
day of the funeral. - See more at:
http://www.historytoday.com/richard-cavendish/death-george-washington#sthash.aMJGGYz5.dpuf
Washington’s
death brought tributes even from the British who had fought him. Royal
Navy battleships blockading Brest lowered their colours to half mast and
The London Morning Chronicle opined that ‘The whole range of history
does not present to our view a character upon which we can dwell with
such entire and unmixed admiration’. The US army wore black armbands for
six months and many ladies went into formal mourning, led by the First
Lady, Abigail Adams. Congress, meeting in Philadelphia, adjourned on the
day of the funeral. - See more at:
http://www.historytoday.com/richard-cavendish/death-george-washington#sthash.aMJGGYz5.dpu
Washington’s
death brought tributes even from the British who had fought him. Royal
Navy battleships blockading Brest lowered their colours to half mast and
The London Morning Chronicle opined that ‘The whole range of history
does not present to our view a character upon which we can dwell with
such entire and unmixed admiration’. The US army wore black armbands for
six months and many ladies went into formal mourning, led by the First
Lady, Abigail Adams. Congress, meeting in Philadelphia, adjourned on the
day of the funeral. - See more at:
http://www.historytoday.com/richard-cavendish/death-george-washington#sthash.aMJGGYz5.dpuf
Washington’s
death brought tributes even from the British who had fought him. Royal
Navy battleships blockading Brest lowered their colours to half mast and
The London Morning Chronicle opined that ‘The whole range of history
does not present to our view a character upon which we can dwell with
such entire and unmixed admiration’. The US army wore black armbands for
six months and many ladies went into formal mourning, led by the First
Lady, Abigail Adams. Congress, meeting in Philadelphia, adjourned on the
day of the funeral. - See more at:
http://www.historytoday.com/richard-cavendish/death-george-washington#sthash.aMJGGYz5.dpuf
Washington’s
death brought tributes even from the British who had fought him. Royal
Navy battleships blockading Brest lowered their colours to half mast and
The London Morning Chronicle opined that ‘The whole range of history
does not present to our view a character upon which we can dwell with
such entire and unmixed admiration’. The US army wore black armbands for
six months and many ladies went into formal mourning, led by the First
Lady, Abigail Adams. Congress, meeting in Philadelphia, adjourned on the
day of the funeral. - See more at:
http://www.historytoday.com/richard-cavendish/death-george-washington#sthash.aMJGGYz5.dpuf
Friday, July 17, 2015
IT MEANS THAT BUT IT DOESN'T MEAN THAT
The Time: 1999
The Place: Mobile, Alabama
The pastor has prepared his Sunday morning sermon. It's typed and ready to go. It took 13 pages and 7,425 words. Sunday morning has come. The choir has sung beautifully, as usual. The announcements are over, the offering received. The pastor strides to the pulpit, ready, confident, and polished. He begins his sermon and one and all note once again that their pastor is a good speaker.
Time passes as the clock ticks its way toward noon, lunch, and the NFL. The pastor now comes to page 12, nearing the end, at which time the choir will sing all four verses of "Just As I Am" as the pastor stands at the front of the auditorium inviting people to come forward to be saved, to rededicate their lives, to be baptized, and to join the church.
Coming to the climax, of the day and his week, he says:
"The word 'repentance' means 'a change of mind.' But, biblically, it encompasses more than that. According to Scripture, repentance includes three necessary components —a change of mind, a change of heart, and a change of will—leading to a change of life and a change of eternal destiny.
"Reversing the effects of human depravity, repentance is a deep work of God’s Spirit which turns the heart away from all false gods, false beliefs, and false hopes in order to exercise faith in the finished work of Christ alone.
The Place: Mobile, Alabama
The pastor has prepared his Sunday morning sermon. It's typed and ready to go. It took 13 pages and 7,425 words. Sunday morning has come. The choir has sung beautifully, as usual. The announcements are over, the offering received. The pastor strides to the pulpit, ready, confident, and polished. He begins his sermon and one and all note once again that their pastor is a good speaker.
Time passes as the clock ticks its way toward noon, lunch, and the NFL. The pastor now comes to page 12, nearing the end, at which time the choir will sing all four verses of "Just As I Am" as the pastor stands at the front of the auditorium inviting people to come forward to be saved, to rededicate their lives, to be baptized, and to join the church.
Coming to the climax, of the day and his week, he says:
"The word 'repentance' means 'a change of mind.' But, biblically, it encompasses more than that. According to Scripture, repentance includes three necessary components —a change of mind, a change of heart, and a change of will—leading to a change of life and a change of eternal destiny.
"Reversing the effects of human depravity, repentance is a deep work of God’s Spirit which turns the heart away from all false gods, false beliefs, and false hopes in order to exercise faith in the finished work of Christ alone.
"No longer married to the world, a sudden divorce has occurred with all one’s idols. Believers are separated from previous allegiances, whether they be religious, secular, material, or otherwise. In genuine conversion, Christ becomes one’s newly recognized Lord who allows no rival loyalties or divided affections. Such radical repentance ushers in a complete commitment to Christ of those who genuinely belong to Him."
Seated in the section just to the left of the speaker, the fifth pew from the front, was John Bookman, a visitor that Sunday, who's been listening intently. But Mr. Bookman, new to church circles and churchspeak, begins to have a problem with what he'd just heard. Something didn't make sense. He went over it in his mind: "Did I hear this right? Didn't he just say, "The word 'repentance' means 'a change of mind.'" But didn't he go on to say in the very next sentence, "Biblically, it encompasses more than that"?
John started to think about what he'd just heard from the standpoint of logic. "It sounds like he's saying, 'Repentance means X, but it doesn't mean X," he thought to himself. "How can repentance mean a change of mind, but not mean a change of mind?"
This puzzled John, so he made sure he picked up a copy of the sermon the church always made available after the service in the foyer on a CD, a DVD, as well as in print. John Bookman made sure to got the print version, because he wanted to really get into the sermon.
That Sunday, after lunch and after watching the Dallas Cowboys, John sat down at his desk with the sermon and started to read over it quickly until he got to page 12, then he slowed down and noticed some things. The first thing he noticed was that the pastor had said, "The word 'repentance' means 'a change of mind.'" He'd heard that part right.
Reading on, he found that the pastor said "repentance" means "a change of mind, heart and will, leading to a change of life. . it means no rival loyalties or divided affections . . . a complete commitment to Christ, a sudden divorce, if his conversion is genuine. Yes, he had heard the pastor correctly; that's what he said.
John became despondent. He knew that he had never given Christ his full loyalty and he had some those divided affections. The idea of complete commitment bothered him to no end, as did the need of a sudden divorce from from previous allegiances, whether they be religious, secular, material, or otherwise. How "sudden" is "sudden?"
John began to doubt his salvation because he knew that his commitment wasn't anywhere near a complete one, he had rival loyalties from time to time, the divorces the pastor spoke of wasn't sudden by any means; it was still in progress.
John didn't like this doubt, but what else was he to do? The only thing he could think of was that in the future, he'd try harder to be a good Christian, one who gave evidence of the genuine conversion the pastor was talking about.
From that day forward, John spent the rest of his life examining his works, just to make sure that he was saved, but he never found any assurance in those. At times, John could be most carnal and he knew it. He lived the rest of his life always looking over his shoulder at his deeds. When it was all said and done, Bookman concluded, "Christianity isn't like they said; it's not joy, peace, stability, and happiness. It's made me miserable."
_______________________________________________________________________________
The portion of the sermon included above is verbatim, a sermon by a pastor given in the time period specified. John Bookman is fictional, but what happened to him isn't. His name is legion. What John had run into was a pastor who packed "repentance" with the baggage of complete commitment, works, and no rival loyalties. What John had heard was a speaker who talked about the finished work of Christ, only to go on and say it really wasn't finished, because you have to add all the works he mentioned to it.
The pastor was right when he said that "repentance" means "a change of mind," but then he went on to say that it doesn't mean that. John caught the logical problem, but few do.
Repentance is a change of mind about who Christ is, that is, He's the God-Man who died for our sins, rose from the dead and promises everlasting life to all who trust Him and Him alone for salvation from the guilt and penalty of sin. That's why it's called the "gospel," the "good news."
What John heard wasn't good news, it was news that tormented him for the rest of his life because works for salvation is never good news. All the works the pastor had mentioned have nothing to do with salvation; they have to do with discipleship. He mixed the two and thus the confusion. Why did he do that?
For many, faith alone is too simple. They'll say, "There's just got to be more than faith; you've got to do something," not realizing that "more than that" and "you've got to do something, mean works and the addition of just one work crushes grace. "More than that" and "you've got to do something changes grace into works. "More than that" and "you've got to do something" take the focus off Christ and place it on me and my commitment, my deeds, my allegiances, my sudden divorces. In short it puts the focus on the life I live, not the death He died.
John Bookman eventually quit, not only that church, but also all "church." He was just too miserable; he couldn't take it any more.
Friday, July 10, 2015
THAT GOOD OLD BAYLOR LINE
That good old Baylor line!
That good old Baylor line!
We'll march forever down the years,
As long as stars shall shine.
We'll fling our green and gold afar
To light the ways of time,
And guide us as we onward go;
That good old Baylor line!
Baylor is the oldest university in the state of Texas, established in 1845, whereas the University of Texas wasn't founded until 1881. (This would make a great Jeopardy answer, "The oldest school in the state of Texas.") It's the world's largest Baptist college with 16,000 students.
The words above are those of Baylor's school song penned in the fall of 1931. Up until recently, Baylor's football teams were a joke of Rodney Dangerfield proportions for decades. ("They don't get no respect.") But a recent change at Baylor is no joke. The change is a change in language, in the wording of the university's policy.
To understand the change, let's look at the way it was:
"Baylor will be guided by the understanding that human sexuality is a gift from the creator God and that the purposes of this gift included (1) the procreation of human life and (2) the uniting and strengthening of the marital bond in self-giving love. These purposes are to be achieved through heterosexual relationships within marriage. Misuses of God's gift will be understood to include, but not be limited to, sexual abuse, sexual harassment, sexual assault, incest, adultery, fornication and homosexual acts."
The new statement, replacing the old one:
"Baylor will be guided by the biblical understanding that human sexuality is a gift from God and that physical sexual intimacy is to be expressed in the context of marital fidelity. Thus, it is expected that Baylor students, faculty and staff will engage in behaviors consistent with this understanding of human sexuality."
We can easily see the omissions: the specific naming of "sexual abuse, sexual harassment, sexual assault, incest, adultery, fornication and homosexual acts" as is the positive statement about "heterosexual relationships as fulfilling God's purposes for marriage." We note the addition which turns the old explicit statement into fog, one which raises a question, a big question: What do they mean by "the context of marital fidelity"?
The Supreme Court recently redefined marriage, so is the statement in line with the new definition? Is the statement calling for "marital fidelity" in the context of the redefinition of marriage? Is the statement a cave-in courtesy to the world? Was the statement born of fear because the university board of governors read about the case of the Oregon bakers? Is Baylor compromising and trying to head off troubled times in court? Is Baylor fearful of offending?
Lori Fogleman, Baylor’s assistant vice president for media communications, said in an e-mail to The Washington Post that the changes “were made because we didn’t believe the language reflected Baylor’s caring community.” She went on to say, "We are pleased with the recent changes to the policy language and that it states more plainly the expectations of the university."
In support of the new statement, Sophomore Jailyn Parnell told The Lariat (the Baylor campus newspaper), “It is saying that we are not going to pinpoint homosexuals. It is saying that homosexual acts are wrong but heterosexual acts committed outside of marriage are also wrong. It is making it more equal.”
Say what? "More equal?" "Pinpointing homosexuals?" How's that possible when six other sins are mentioned in the old statement? And where does the new statement say that homosexual acts are wrong?
Really? More plainly? Fogleman said the statement is good because it states things more plainly. If the statement is so plain, then why did those who hailed the Supreme Court decision in June, praise the Baylor statement as a touchdown for their side, and why did others say that the statement was a reaffirmation of the Bible's definition of marriage, a statement which showed Baylor to be a "caring community." (One might ask, "What does that mean?" Is it an act of caring to stop calling sin "sin?")
If the statement is so plain, why did the two groups read the same statement, examine its wording, and come to two opposite conclusions as to its meaning? If it's so plain, why are both sides pleased with it? The statement is like something we'd hear from a consummate politician, a statement so vague that both sides take it as a victory.
We could ask the question, "And if the bugle gives an indistinct sound, who will get ready for battle?" (I Cor. 14:8)
That good old Baylor line; in saying something, they said nothing. Or did they?
That good old Baylor line!
We'll march forever down the years,
As long as stars shall shine.
We'll fling our green and gold afar
To light the ways of time,
And guide us as we onward go;
That good old Baylor line!
Baylor is the oldest university in the state of Texas, established in 1845, whereas the University of Texas wasn't founded until 1881. (This would make a great Jeopardy answer, "The oldest school in the state of Texas.") It's the world's largest Baptist college with 16,000 students.
The words above are those of Baylor's school song penned in the fall of 1931. Up until recently, Baylor's football teams were a joke of Rodney Dangerfield proportions for decades. ("They don't get no respect.") But a recent change at Baylor is no joke. The change is a change in language, in the wording of the university's policy.
To understand the change, let's look at the way it was:
"Baylor will be guided by the understanding that human sexuality is a gift from the creator God and that the purposes of this gift included (1) the procreation of human life and (2) the uniting and strengthening of the marital bond in self-giving love. These purposes are to be achieved through heterosexual relationships within marriage. Misuses of God's gift will be understood to include, but not be limited to, sexual abuse, sexual harassment, sexual assault, incest, adultery, fornication and homosexual acts."
The new statement, replacing the old one:
"Baylor will be guided by the biblical understanding that human sexuality is a gift from God and that physical sexual intimacy is to be expressed in the context of marital fidelity. Thus, it is expected that Baylor students, faculty and staff will engage in behaviors consistent with this understanding of human sexuality."
We can easily see the omissions: the specific naming of "sexual abuse, sexual harassment, sexual assault, incest, adultery, fornication and homosexual acts" as is the positive statement about "heterosexual relationships as fulfilling God's purposes for marriage." We note the addition which turns the old explicit statement into fog, one which raises a question, a big question: What do they mean by "the context of marital fidelity"?
The Supreme Court recently redefined marriage, so is the statement in line with the new definition? Is the statement calling for "marital fidelity" in the context of the redefinition of marriage? Is the statement a cave-in courtesy to the world? Was the statement born of fear because the university board of governors read about the case of the Oregon bakers? Is Baylor compromising and trying to head off troubled times in court? Is Baylor fearful of offending?
Lori Fogleman, Baylor’s assistant vice president for media communications, said in an e-mail to The Washington Post that the changes “were made because we didn’t believe the language reflected Baylor’s caring community.” She went on to say, "We are pleased with the recent changes to the policy language and that it states more plainly the expectations of the university."
In support of the new statement, Sophomore Jailyn Parnell told The Lariat (the Baylor campus newspaper), “It is saying that we are not going to pinpoint homosexuals. It is saying that homosexual acts are wrong but heterosexual acts committed outside of marriage are also wrong. It is making it more equal.”
Say what? "More equal?" "Pinpointing homosexuals?" How's that possible when six other sins are mentioned in the old statement? And where does the new statement say that homosexual acts are wrong?
Really? More plainly? Fogleman said the statement is good because it states things more plainly. If the statement is so plain, then why did those who hailed the Supreme Court decision in June, praise the Baylor statement as a touchdown for their side, and why did others say that the statement was a reaffirmation of the Bible's definition of marriage, a statement which showed Baylor to be a "caring community." (One might ask, "What does that mean?" Is it an act of caring to stop calling sin "sin?")
If the statement is so plain, why did the two groups read the same statement, examine its wording, and come to two opposite conclusions as to its meaning? If it's so plain, why are both sides pleased with it? The statement is like something we'd hear from a consummate politician, a statement so vague that both sides take it as a victory.
We could ask the question, "And if the bugle gives an indistinct sound, who will get ready for battle?" (I Cor. 14:8)
That good old Baylor line; in saying something, they said nothing. Or did they?
Friday, July 3, 2015
HANG DOWN YOUR HEAD, TOM DOOLEY
On July 4, 2002, a man shot a New York policeman 15 times, drove
over him with a car, then shot the officer twice more, in his face.
In 1997, a man kidnapped his former boss, 76, and then tortured, killed, and
dismembered him — with a hacksaw. Later, he murdered a man in a bar fight. A detective described him as "the most cunning, evil, sadistic person that I ever investigated."
STILL LIVING?
In 2015, those two men shouldn't have been, but they were. And there they were, the object of a million dollars a day manhunt, with the final total at $21 million of the taxpayers' hard earned money. Not only that, but they were terrorizing law-abiding men, women, and children who were locking their doors day and night, keeping their children inside, and looking over their shoulders with fear that one or both of the men might be behind them. 1,300 men had to go gunning for those two for three weeks in the jungles of Upper New York State, taking them away from their families and regular duties as law enforcement officers.
Finally, the authorities killed one of them, shot and captured the other one who was running away, back towards the tangled woods from which he had come. The officer shot him right square in the back twice as he was fleeing. (A round of applause for the officer.)
HEAR THE SOBBING?
Wouldn't you know it: this raised a hue and cry from some who thought that shooting a man in the back was somehow not the way to handle the matter. But it's all well, good, and proper to shoot a fleeing felon in the head, chest, or back. What if he'd made it back into the dense woods of Upper New York State, and what if he'd killed more people after that? But no. For some, they must shed tears for a monster shot in the back.
Sane people would say that those two men earned the bullets that brought them down, and they'd be right, but a better comment would be, "They shouldn't have been."
This is one more classic example of how the farther away from the Bible a society gets, the higher the price that society has to pay. The manhunt, terror, and fear shouldn't have been because those two shouldn't have been.
HANG DOWN YOUR HEAD, TOM DOOLEY
They should have been dead long ago, not serving "life terms with no possibility of parole." Genesis 9 says that they should have been dispatched with extreme prejudice way back when. Genesis 9 is the record of when God instituted government into the human race, giving it the authority to execute murderers. If any two people deserved to ride Old Sparky, face a firing squad, or a feel a noose tightening around their throats, those two did.
THE UNBEARABLE BEAR REPUBLIC
As an act of accumulating defiance against God, as of April, 2015, 746 people sit on death
row in California awaiting execution because the powers that be are studying the issue of capital punishment. Included in those 746 are Charles Manson and Richard Davis, the killer of
12-yr. old Polly Klaas who was murdered 22 years ago. (!) Manson and Davis, along with the 744 others will die of boredom before they meet the needle or inhale the gas in the Bear Republic.
Those two New York murderers aren't the only two who have been spared the death penalty and escaped to wreak havoc, terror, and kill again. If you'd like to read the accounts of the many killers who escape from prison, go to ProDeathPenalty.com, but before you do, you need a great deal of time to read through the list. Then go and lock your doors and secure your windows.
THE DEFIANT ONES
Do not think this defiance of God is only an American aberration:
The UN voted to abolish the death penalty in 1994 and . . .
"Since 2007, the European Day against the Death Penalty is celebrated by
the Council of Europe every year on October 10, along with the World
Day against the Death Penalty. The European Union has joined this
initiative as from its second edition in 2008.
"The aim of the European
Day against the Death Penalty is to achieve a complete abolition of the
death penalty in all circumstances in Europe, to support efforts by the
international community to introduce a world-wide moratorium and,
ultimately, universal abolition of the death penalty, to react against
attempts to re-establish the death penalty, and to raise the awareness
of the public about the fact that the death penalty is a travesty of
justice.
Every European and World Day against the Death penalty is marked by a
joint declaration
issued by the Council of Europe and the European Union."
As of February 2015, 99 countries have banned capital punishment, showing that this manifestation of defiance against God is one of Satan's worldwide strategies.
In March 2015, Pope Francis issued a strong statement against the death penalty when he wrote: "Today the death penalty is inadmissible, no matter how serious the
crime committed. Capital punishment contradicts God's plan for man and
society and does not render justice to the victims, but rather fosters
vengeance." (What Bible is he reading?)
WHY HAVE IT?
Capital punishment shows the value of human life. To kill a man is not like killing an animal or destroying plant. Capital punishment is a statement that man is a special creation of God, a creation created in His image and likeness; therefore, his life is precious to God.
Does the New Testament give the thumbs up to the death penalty. Yes, in Romans 13.
We read the accounts of the manhunt for two men who shouldn't have been alive to escape. In California we read of 746 who shouldn't be. We look at the worldwide secular and religious demands to abolish the death penalty.
That's the way it is on this, the defiant planet.
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