Flout the devil?

"Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour" (I Peter 5.8).

Martin Luther famously said, "The best way to drive out the devil, if he will not yield to texts of Scripture, is to jeer and flout him, for he cannot bear scorn."

Let's see what Scripture says:

"Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places" (Ephesians 6.11-12).

"Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you" (James 4.7).

We are to: be sober, be viligent, to stand against, to wrestle, and resist the devil...would that include jeer and flout? He ain't a tabby cat, he is a "roaring lion"...best deal with him according to the Word.

The Sword of Grace

What exactly is the nature of this transformation, this re-creation, which lays claim to a man in such mysterious manner? It is perhaps best described by what it is not.

It is not simply a change in thinking, a new perspective, a different set of opinions or a new worldview. If anything, the mind is the last bastion of resistance to its influence, and often the greatest enemy of the very change needed to transform the whole of one’s being.

It is not simply an emotional experience. Although emotions may be powerfully affected, emotions often serve to inhibit or distract from true progress, and are notoriously unreliable guides to its course.

It is not simply a change of the will, a setting of a new direction and discipline to achieve new goals and improve one’s life. The will, indeed, must be conquered, shackled, broken like a wild stallion to suit the purposes of this new Master. The will becomes but servant — rebellious, recalcitrant, resistant, remorseless, fighting its new overlord at every turn.

It is not simply a change of heart — although the heart lies closest to the seat of change, and senses its arrival before all else.

It is perhaps best described as a genesis; an arid fountainhead bursting forth with fresh spring water; an ancient stygian chamber shot through with dazzling shafts of light; a Phoenix arising from the ashes of the heart. There is a primordial recess in the soul of man, a silent sarcophagus unheralded and unseen, which springs to life like the burst of new flora at winter’s demise, when this dawn first breaks.

Thus is the experience of this new creation — but it is far more than mere renewal. It is as well — unexpectedly, surprisingly — a force of sedition with an unassailable foothold in a hostile land, seeking to undermine and overturn the tyranny of self with the sword of grace.

We are now at war. “I have come, not to bring peace, but the sword.”

Its effects are immediate, and often profound. There is a new vision, a grasp of things formerly hidden, a new light disclosing much which was cloaked in darkness, a profound and unbounded joy of discovery, and purpose, and optimism.

The Sword of Grace | The Doctor Is In

(The good Doctor has hit the mark of what it is to be a new-creature in Christ. Alleluia! Alleluia! How wonderful when we apprehend it even a little. It is spiritually discerned and out of reach of the atheist thinking...in fact the atheist mind seems puny and small. Thank you, Dr. Bob. -Linda)

"Nattering nabobs of negativism". . .

William Safire, author, conservative political columnist, and White House speechwriter for President Nixon, died on Sunday at the age of 79.

He wrote, “nattering nabobs of negativism” for Vice President Agnew, which has to be one of the greatest all-time alliterative put downs.

As a remembrance to him, take a look at some of his comical yet instructive “Great Rules for Writing.”

Do not put statements in the negative form.
And don’t start sentences with a conjunction.
The passive voice should never be used.
Never use a long word when a diminutive one will do.
Unqualified superlatives are the worst of all.
A writer must not shift your point of view.
Don’t overuse exclamation marks!!
Avoid clichés like the plague; seek viable alternatives.

As an intelligent man, may he have used his time in life to explore the merits of Jesus Christ, and have trusted Him as his one and only Savior,the only source of wisdom.

"For a thousand years in Thy sight are but as yesterday when it is past, and as a watch in the night. . . .So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom." (Psalm 90:3-4, 12, KJV)

Yom Kippur

Yom Kipper or the Day of Atonement is the most solemn and important holy day of the Jewish calendar. In the Old Testament, the Day of Atonement was the day the High Priest made an atoning sacrifice for the sins of the people. This act of atonement brought reconciliation between the people and God. After the blood sacrifice was offered to the Lord, a goat was released into the wilderness to symbolically carry away the sins of the people. This "scapegoat" was never to return.

Time of Observance:
Yom Kippur is celebrated on the tenth day of the Hebrew month of Tishri (This year, September 28, 2009).

The observance of the Day of Atonement is recorded in the Old Testament book of Leviticus 16:8-34; 23:27-32.

Yom Kippur was the only time during the year when the high priest would enter the Holy of Holies in the innermost chamber of the Temple (or Tabernacle) to make atonement for the sins of all Israel. Atonement literally means "covering." The purpose of the sacrifice was to bring reconciliation between man and God (or "at-onement" with God) by covering the sins of the people.

Today, the ten days between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur are days of repentance, when Jews express remorse for their sins through prayer and fasting.

On Yom Kippur, the ram's horn (shofar) is blown at the end of evening prayer services for the first time since Rosh Hashanah.

Jesus and Yom Kippur:
The Tabernacle and the Temple gave a clear picture of how sin separates us from the holiness of God. In Bible times, only the High Priest could enter the Holy of Holies by passing through the heavy veil that hung from ceiling to floor, creating a barrier between the people and the presence of God. Once a year on the Day of Atonement, the High Priest would enter and offer a blood sacrifice to cover the sins of the people. However, at the very moment when Jesus died on the cross, Matthew 27:51 says, "the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent"(KJV).

Hebrews chapters 8 and 9 beautifully explain how Jesus Christ became our High Priest and entered heaven (the Holy of Holies), once and for all, not by the blood of sacrificial animals, but by his own precious blood on the cross. Christ himself was the atoning sacrifice for our sins; thus, he obtained for us eternal redemption! As believers we accept the sacrifice of Jesus Christ as the fulfillment of Yom Kippur, the final atonement for sin.

More About Yom Kippur:
When the Temple in Jerusalem was destroyed in 70 A.D., the Jewish people could no longer present the required sacrifices on the Day of Atonement, so it came to be observed as a day of repentance, self-denial, charitable works, prayer and fasting.
Yom Kippur is a complete Sabbath. No work is done on this day.
Today, Orthodox Jews observe many restrictions and customs on Yom Kippur.
The book of Jonah is read on Yom Kippur in remembrance of God's forgiveness and mercy.

Miss Pocahontas

Our Miss O was all decked out in face detail and feathers for an Early American study at her pre-school. She loved being Pocahontas...especially repeating the name.

A beautifully visual film, "The New World," tells Pocahontas's story. It's a favorite of mine, even with the Indians protrayed as noble and the white invader a sorry lot of sordid humanity. (A reality check to keep in mind if you see the film.)

The New World (2006)
Starring: Colin Farrell, Q'orianka Kilcher Director: Terrence Malick Rating: PG-13 Format: DVD

I bowdlerize

bowdlerize (BOAD-luh-ryz) MEANING: verb tr.: To remove or change parts (of a book, play, movie, etc.) considered objectionable.

ETYMOLOGY:
After Thomas Bowdler (1754-1825), a British doctor, who edited the Family Shakespeare, an expurgated edition of William Shakespeare's works. Bowdler believed the original wasn't suitable for the delicate sensibilities of women and children. He also edited other books, such as Edward Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire and the Old Testament in a similar manner.

L.
I like watching some movies on TV as they remove the smut, and I have been ashamed at some movies I have recommended after viewing the DVD and hearing the language used. I wish I could bowdlerize "Titanic" (it is way too long and the erotic scenes spoil the movie for family viewing), also "Toy Story" (Sid Vicious is too scary even for me!).

Oh, well, it's art you know. And instead of self-editing, in which I do object, (Mr. Bowdler edited the Old Testament in his misguided zeal!), perhaps it is best to push the OFF button instead.

Do you, or would you bowdlerize too?

No one like you

Today you are You, that is truer than true. There is no one alive who is Youer than You.

-Dr. Seuss,(1904-1991)

"O LORD...I will praise Thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are Thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well" (Psalm 139.14).

Grace too easy?

He had discovered a great law of human action, without knowing it - namely, that in order to make a man or a boy covet a thing, it is only necessary to make the thing difficult to obtain. -Mark Twain, author and humorist (1835-1910)

Maybe the gospel of grace is too easy?

Let's put some impediments, some requirements. Let's make people swim a moat, or climb a rope to the very top, or scour some bathroom floors. Perhaps a ceremony will do?

No?

That's not God's grace you say? Oh,...

Jesus paid it all,
All to Him I owe,
Sin had left a crimson stain,
He washed it white as snow.

We are locked onto God's way...it's too easy, but that's what God did through Jesus Christ, and only His Son's work will do.

The Lena’s Stone Forest is one of the most beautiful natural wonders of Russia.

Known also as Lena’s Stone Pillars, this incredible rock formation is not only beautiful to look at, it’s also holds important information on the formation of the organic world. Fossils from various organisms date back to the Cambrian era.(This according to the geological dating, I believe...no 10,000 year young earthers are in consideration. L.)

Colossal stone statues rise up from the earth and pierce the sky, like giants frozen in time. The pillars are grouped together and stretch for tens of kilometers, along the river banks.

The stone statues are in a part of Siberia not yet touched by civilization and it will take you roughly four days, plus a $500 fee to reach it, from Moscow. It will all have been worth it.

"The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth His handywork" (Psalm 19.1).

"Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind, and said...where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? declare, if thou hast understanding. Who hath laid the measures thereof, if thou knowest? or who hath stretched the line upon it? Whereupon are the foundations thereof fastened? or who laid the corner stone thereof" (Job 38.4-6).

Pulling for Leno

Jay Leno scored 18 million viewers yesterday. Letterman draws around 4 million on a good night.

Letterman is your television personality too cool for school. Leno parades around with a United States flag on his lapel.

(Although your five hours a week of viewing Jay could’ve otherwise been used to trash Christians and Republicans by viewing “Law & Order” instead.)

You want to be edgy in the entertainment business today? Be polite and keep the politics as across the board as possible. Walk on stage with the “edgy” goal of wanting to entertain and take away from their daily frustrations as many people as possible.

Jay Leno’s the new edgy. And that lapel flag makes him a downright iconoclast.

I didn’t see his show, but I’m pulling for him because all the right people are not. (by John Nolte from Big Hollywood)

(I don't watch the late shows, but I do have Law & Order on more than not. I'm going to do a better job of pushing the OFF button. How about you?)

No shadow of turning . . .

"When you meet the Almighty, only truth will do."
-George Washington

A period of grace. . .

Death forces a grace period on all of us. The dying offer the living a final chance to be the best that they can be. We must take our cues from them, value the moments that lead up to and follow their departure, and work toward the acceptance after they are gone.

And round and round we go...

Everything is moving all of the time--even your pet, although it might not be apparent. Like the Earth, the Sun spins on its axis. And the way the Earth revolves around the Sun, the Sun revolves around the center of the Milky Way galaxy. Even the Milky Way revolves in a cluster of galaxies. Plus, space itself is expanding, and everything is moving away from everything else. You are not where you were 5 minutes ago.

Endless surprise

Our shame, our brokenness, brings us great pain and wreaks much destruction in our lives. Yet it is by this very means that God equips us to be His hands, His heart, His voice, His compassion. In such can be found a purpose in life unmatched by anything else we might wish for or desire. Such are the ways of the God of endless surprise and limitless grace.

The Engine of Shame - II | The Doctor Is In

Galatians

Today we started the study of the Book of Galatians in our Grace Life School of Theology before the Sunday service.

Galatians is a Book of correction as legalism was introduced to the churches of Galatia. Law (works) and Grace are mutually exclusive. You cannot have a little of one in each system. It is Law or Grace.

Christ + our works do not = salvation.

Christ + our works do not = sanctification.

It is Christ alone, by Grace alone.

Pastor had a good introduction and I am looking forward to studying this Book in detail.

Wish you could join me.

A mission. . .

We close with an even higher authority to explain last night's odd spectacle before Congress.

"We're on a mission from God."

-Elwood, political director for the Blues Brothers:

Baal worship. . .

Carthage
Most of Roman Carthage (which was the third largest Roman metropolis in the 200-400 era, after Rome and Alexandria - the population was around 300,000) is buried beneath the modern town of Carthage, but some that is accessible has been excavated.

After the Third Punic War in 146 BC, very little remained of the old Phoenician Carthage - except things like these boxes. The Phoenicians worshipped Baal, who required that everybody's first-born be sacrificed. The ashes of these kids were buried in these sad little stone boxes.

God's heart . . .

Scripture that reveal God's heart. Isaiah 45:22 "Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God and there is none else."

Lovely. . .

YouTube - Perahia - Beethoven Emperor (II. Adagio un poco mosso)

The one true constant. . .

So how do we control this increasingly out-of-control, interlinked world?

Trust will become the critical factor. Without the luxury of time, trust will be the new currency of our times, whether in news sources, economic systems, political figures, even spiritual leaders. As change accelerates, it will remain one true constant.
(Tom Hayes and Michael Malone, WSJ 9-09)

Paul to the Corinthians, "But we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God which raiseth the dead" (II Corinthians 1:9).

"Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding" (Proverbs 3:5).

The solution is redemption. . .

The Judeo-Christian viewpoint on man’s essential nature is that man is fallen: created by a good God to be by nature good, but given free will either to submit to the good or to choose evil. Having rejected the good for personal autonomy independent of God, the natural gravity of the soul is away from God, not toward Him. In God is an unspeakable and unimaginable goodness; in His rejection is the potential for equally unimaginable evil. The Judeo-Christian solution is redemption, not psychology; inner transformation, not social programs.

Cult of Death or Heart of Man | The Doctor Is In

All beauty is God's beauty. . .

YouTube - J.S. Bach - Air on the G String, Sergei Nakariakov

All truth is God's truth?

WORLDmag.com | Community | Blog Archive | Common grace

I have been trying to sort out this thinking since my daughter and her friends accept this in culture, music and life. They say if something is true or beautiful, even if the person who says it is not a believer, it still can be taken as truth as all truth is God's truth, all beauty is God's beauty.

BUT let's think about this.

Scripture says Satan is turned into an "angel of light" (2 Corinthians 11:14)... he surely appears beautiful to the outward eye, but is his beauty something we should gaze and appreciate? Of course not, we should discern his beauty is being used to entice us away from truth and God.

The verse being used to say all truth is God's truth is James 1:17,

"Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning".

I appreciate the skepticism of the commenter to the above article who said:

Be careful with truth.

And those who convey it.

And beware the hidden hook.

And the camouflaged poison.

And be careful with the truth.

Can anyone out there help me with this? Appreciate any thoughts.

"Sanctify them through Thy truth: Thy Word is truth" (John 17:17).

A Michiganian worth listening to. . .

On Uncommon Knowledge, Rep. Thaddeus McCotter, the fourth-ranked Republican in the House, on what Republicans must not compromise away:

Our liberty is from God, not the government.

Our sovereignty is in our souls, not the soil.

Our security is from strength, not surrender.

Our prosperity is from the private sector, not the public sector.

And our truths are self evident, not relative.

A cardigan anyone?

If Lord Cardigan* had been the gambler and the Earl of Sandwich** was desirous of a jersey that buttoned up the front, why we'd all be eating cardigans and wearing sandwiches! : )


*Lieutenant General James Thomas Brudenell, 7th Earl of Cardigan,(16 October 1797 – 28 March 1868) commanded the Light Brigade of the British Army during the Crimean War. The “cardigan”, a knitted waistcoat supposedly as worn by the earl on campaign, became fashionable and many were sold.

**The modern sandwich is possibly named after Lord Sandwich. It is said that he ordered his valet to bring him meat tucked between two pieces of bread during a card game. Because Montagu also happened to be the Fourth Earl of Sandwich, others began to order "the same as Sandwich!"

America and Food

Day-to-day experience tells me that while the lumbering results of having "way too much food" are more than visible in America, so is the cult of "way too much exercise." The buffed anorexic and the wobbling obese are the opposite ends of the bell-curve.

In the middle I see that most Americans are mindful of what they eat because they can afford to be. Making this possible is a system of food production and distribution that delivers such a wide-spectrum of food choice at cheap prices (organic, non-organic, and junk) to every niche of the landscape. Indeed, the system is so advanced and sophisticated that we have achieved a society in which one of the major problems among the poor that remain is obesity.

The American Argument @ AMERICAN DIGEST

Einstein and Faulkner

Einstein said the arrow of time flies in only one direction. Faulkner, being from Mississippi, understood the matter differently. He said the past is never dead; it’s not even past.

And who among us, offered the chance, would not relive the day or hour in which we first knew love, or made a choice that forever altered our future, negating a life we might have had? Such chances are rarely granted.

Memory and grief prove Faulkner right enough, but Einstein knew the finality of action.

The true discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart...

Neither the God of the Bible, nor His instructions in Scripture, nor the work of the Holy Spirit in the life of a believer is about fixing our daily mental, emotional, and behavioral problems.

Every believer is a new creature in Christ, and his objective in life is to have Christ formed in him. That is the process of sanctification-being set apart from the ways, means, and lusts of the world to a life that is in submission to the Lord and in which choices are made that are pleasing to Him, the One with whom every true believer will spend eternity.

It's a growth process, which at times involves sufferings and trials that the Lord allows in our lives to help us depend upon Him and mature in our relationship with Him.

Those who function as counselors (biblical or otherwise) are erroneously involved in an activity that is primarily a function of the Spirit of Christ. He is our Counselor. More often than not, counselors supplant the Spirit of Christ as they try to do in the life of a believer what only God can do. It displaces the convicting, correcting, and comforting ministry of the Holy Spirit and the Word of God as the only true "discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart" (Hebrews 4:12). (From The Old Paths T. A. McMahon)

You think?

Man's day. . .

On Sept. 1, 1939, 70 years ago, the German Army crossed the Polish frontier. On Sept. 3, Britain declared war.

Six years later, 50 million Christians and Jews had perished. Britain was broken and bankrupt, Germany a smoldering ruin. Europe had served as the site of the most murderous combat known to man, and civilians had suffered worse horrors than the soldiers.

By May 1945, Red Army hordes occupied all the great capitals of Central Europe: Vienna, Prague, Budapest, Berlin. A hundred million Christians were under the heel of the most barbarous tyranny in history: the Bolshevik regime of the greatest terrorist of them all, Joseph Stalin.

"Wars and rumours of wars" (Matthew 24:6).

Today is man's day. Jesus Christ is rejected from this world, but He said He will return.

"Arise, O LORD; let not man prevail: let the heathen be judged in Thy sight. Put them in fear, O LORD: that the nations may know themselves to be but men" (Psalm 9:19.20).

Amen. Let it be so.

While the earth remaineth . . .

I trust in Nature for the stable laws of beauty and utility. Spring shall plant and Autumn garner to the ends of time.
- Robert Browning

"And God called the dry land Earth;...And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so" ( Genesis 1:11).

"While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease" (Genesis 8:22).

As the pressures of life lean in on us, we do not have to fret that the seedtime and harvest of our year will be disrupted. I believe the bonfires of ancient times were the superstitious caretaking of the people not taking any chances that the night would continue to grow longer, but that the daylight would return so they could plant and reap the harvest. This promise of God is indeed a stabilizing foundation to our year. We can forget about it, as we forget taking our next breath, -- God said it, and it will continue.

(Painting above is Breughel's Harvest)

Have I forgotten?

- If I can’t forgive then I have forgotten where I came from. I did not deserve to be forgiven by a Holy God, but I was.

- When I look with disdain at another person I have forgotten where I came from. That person is made in the image of God and deserves my respect.

- When I don’t accept another brother or sister I have forgotten that I was unacceptable to a Holy God. Jesus said you are acceptable because of Me. We must offer the same grace because of Jesus.

- When I can’t serve without expectation of personal return I have forgotten where I came from. If I remember where I came from I will serve because I am grateful for what Christ did for me.

- When I don’t give joyfully of my time and treasure I have forgotten where I came from. If you truly understand where you came from the natural response is to serve Him joyfully.

I don’t want to forget where I came from both as a person and as a child of God. My small town roots are a big part of who I am. And my encounter with grace at the foot of the Cross defines who I am spiritually. I pray that I will remember every day who I am and where Jesus brought me from.

“To be a Christian means to forgive the inexcusable, because God has forgiven the inexcusable in you.”
--C. S. Lewis

(From Dave Burchett, World Magazine article.)