Heart wish . . .

Oh, for a heart to praise my God,
A heart from sin set free;
A heart that's trusting in the blood
So freely shed for me.

A humble, lowly, contrite heart,
Believing, true, and clean,
Which neither death nor life can part
From Him that dwells within. -Charles Wesley

Where?

Where is the Life we have lost in living?
Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge?
Where is the knowledge we have lost in information? -T.S. Eliot, poet (1888-1965)

- It takes a lifetime to figure this out! : ) but satisfying to know you know some of the differences.

Why cruelty?

It is the certainty that they possess the truth that makes men cruel. -Anatole France, novelist, essayist, Nobel laureate (1844-1924)

Our Sunday School has gone over the history of the church and the cruelty that man put upon his fellow human being if they don't believe the same way. I'm trying to understand the cruelty and maybe the above quote has truth in it? Better watch ourselves!

More Ayn Rand

BY Xion 06.17.11 AT 7:51 PM

Rand thought she came up with a new philosophy and people often attribute her with creating something new. It wasn’t new at all. Objectivism is quite simply existentialism with a purpose. The purpose is to “be all you can be” as the Army slogan goes. If you love architecture or making steel, then build the best buildings and make the best steel and ascend to the highest heights of your potential.

It is amusing to see how wrong Rand was about Christianity and yet to see her espousing principles which aren’t far off. A Christian would say “be all God would have you to be”. Fulfill your God given purpose.

Rand’s arch-enemy was collectivism which is contrary to individualism. One’s purpose is to serve the state and not ascend to the heights of your potential, but the state’s. The state is run by moochers, lawyers and politicians who produce nothing but feed off of the productivity of others. In the name of fairness and equity they destroy prosperity.

Rand viewed Christianity as a tool of the state, as the opiate of the people, which demands self-sacrifice and service of others. This was the greatest evil in Rand’s view. She got it wrong.

Serving God is a personal, individual aspiration. Service of others is not an end in itself. Service of God is the fulfillment of one’s maximum potential and it goes far beyond concrete and steel, the stuff of this life.

Existentialists are not wrong. The problem is their view is too narrow. Solomon, the wisest man in history aside from Christ spoke of things under the sun. Vanity of vanities.

If the secular world is all there is, then existentialism is the truest philosophy around. It accurately captures the vanity of existence and proposes no hope other than to burn brightly before your light is snuffed out.

Solomon went on to explain that there is another dimension to life above the sun, i.e. a spiritual dimension which gives life meaning even beyond the grave. I pity Rand for never having embraced this wisdom. Her philosophy, i.e. plain old existentialism, is quite good for materialists. But reality is more than the rudiments of this world and its vain philosophies.

“Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the traditions of men, after the rudiments of the world,and not after Christ.” (Col 2:8 KJV)

(She missed the cross, but freed my thought to reject the collective view of the church to the individual love of Christ for me. Yes,"God so loved the world...", but "I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me." (Galatians 2:20)

Amy Carmichael

Amy Carmichael was commissioned by the Church of England Zenana Mission. Hindu temple children were young girls dedicated to the gods and forced into prostitution to earn money for the priests i.e Devadasi. Much of her work was with young ladies, some of whom were saved from forced prostitution. The organization she founded was known as the Dohnavur Fellowship. Dohnavur is situated in Tamil Nadu, thirty miles from the southern tip of India. The fellowship would become a sanctuary for over one thousand children who would otherwise have faced a bleak future.

In an effort to respect Indian culture, members of the organization wore Indian dress and the children were given Indian names. She herself dressed in Indian clothes, dyed her skin with dark coffee, and often travelled long distances on India's hot, dusty roads to save just one child from suffering.

While serving in India, Amy received a letter from a young lady who was considering life as a missionary. She asked Amy, "What is missionary life like?" Amy wrote back saying simply,

"Missionary life is simply a chance to die."

In 1931, Carmichael was badly injured in a fall, which left her bedridden much of the time until her death. She died in India in 1951 at the age of 83. She asked that no stone be put over her grave; instead, the children she had cared for put a bird bath over it with the single inscription "Amma", which means mother in the Tamil.

Her biography quotes her as saying:

"One can give without loving, but one cannot love without giving.

Amy Carmichael - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

No Scar? is one of my favorite of Amy's poems first heard read by Elizabeth Elliot on her radio program.

NO SCAR?

Hast thou no scar?
No hidden scar on foot, or side, or hand?
I hear thee sung as mighty in the land,
I hear them hail thy bright ascendant star,
Hast thou no scar?

Hast thou no wound?
Yet I was wounded by the archers, spent,
Leaned Me against a tree to die; and rent
By ravening beasts that compassed Me, I swooned:
Hast thou no wound?

No wound? no scar?
Yet, as the Master shall the servant be,
And pierced are the feet that follow Me;
But thine are whole: can he have followed far
Who has nor wound nor scar?

Lying

Lying to ourselves is more deeply ingrained than lying to others.

-Fyodor Dostoevsky, novelist (1821-1881)

The first step to trust Jesus Christ as our Redeemer is to realize that we are helpless and need to be rescued. Satan "hath blinded the minds of those which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them" II Corinthians 4:4).

It is a miracle that our spirit will listen to God's Spirit that we might be saved, but God has made it possible and reasonable to those who seek. Praise God!

Differences in Christianity?

Solomon writes in Proverbs: “Only by pride cometh contention.” There’s a certain amount of pride.

Pride, in religion per se, it just runs the show. This is what Jesus dealt with, with regard to the Jewish religious leaders, the Pharisees, Sadducees and so on.

(I often wonder how the differences in denominations are possible...but, could it be as simple as pride? We are certainly a self-aggrandizing bunch of humanity, aren't we? Lord, guard our heart from our own deception of ourself. Amen. - Linda)

Does the Bible Mention Denominations? | thebereancall.org

HOPE IN YOUR WORKS?

If God announces the gift of righteousness apart from works, why do you keep mourning over your bad works, your failures? Do you not see that it is because you still have hopes in these works of yours that you are depressed and discouraged by their failure? If you truly saw and believed that God is reckoning righteous the ungodly who believe on Him, you would fairly hate your struggles to be "better"; for you would see that your dreams of good works have not at all commended you to God, and that your bad works do not at all hinder you from believing on Him, - that justifieth the ungodly!

Therefore, on seeing your failures, you should say, I am nothing but a failure; but God is dealing with me on another principle altogether than my works, good or bad - a principle not involving my works, but based only on the work of Christ for me ... God, in justifying me, acted wholly and only on Christ's blood-shedding on my behalf.


--William R. Newell (1868-1956), pastor, assistant superintendent of Moody Bible Institute, and writer of the beloved hymn "At Calvary."

Amen, amen! - Linda

Ann Barnhardt: The Boston Speech.. .

“Sir, you are deeply confused. I killed Jesus. The Jews are merely the historical proxy for me.”

Ann Barnhardt: The Boston Speech. @ AMERICAN DIGEST

Reading with thought. . .

Reading is sometimes an ingenious device for avoiding thought. -Arthur Helps, writer (1813-1875)

My words fly up, my thoughts remain below: Words without thoughts never to heaven go. -William Shakespeare, playwright and poet (1564-1616)

My kids were avid readers from the time they could put some words together. I should be delighted, and am, that they love the story, but reading with thought is what would be best. I know that I cannot enjoy the reading of the Bible on tape etc. as the reader does not stop for thought! You too?

Are Angels and Demons Reality or Myth?

I think Satan is a self-deluded egomaniac who probably to this day thinks he’s going to win. After all what does he offer? He offers people all that their selfish ambitions would want. Self as god and instead of taking that, who is going to follow this lowly man of Nazareth who all he promises you is take up your cross and follow me? You’ll be hated by the world and so forth, and Satan promises you the world. So rationally, you would think he would have the biggest following and in fact he does. I often say to young people especially, if Satan has more to offer than God, if what Satan is offering you is better and your conscience can go with it and in the long run it’s going to prove to be better than what God offers, by all means follow Satan. God is not trying to trick anyone, but he is up front with what he’s offering. Satan is a deceiver and a liar—

Are Angels and Demons Reality or Myth? | thebereancall.org

A good read from Dave Hunt. - L

"O What A Savior" (Marvin P. Dalton)

Once I was straying in sin’s dark valley
No hope within could I see
They searched through Heaven
And found a Savior
To save a poor lost soul like me.

Chorus
O what a Savior, O hallelujah
His heart was broken on Calvary
His hands were nail scarred
His side was riven
He gave His life-blood for even me.

Death’s chilly water I’ll soon be crossing
His hand will lead me safe o're
I’ll join the chorus in that great city
And sing up there for evermore.

YouTube - "O What A Savior" By Squire Parsons/Larry Ford

Today, not judgment but grace and peace. . .

"Thy word is true from the beginning...," "Thy word is truth" (Psalm 119:160; John 17:17).

"As even the limited evidence we've presented suggests, this winter's extreme weather, animal deaths, and even earthquakes are not the beginnings of divine judgment...but rather these events appear to be the consequences of entropy, in conjunction with the wickedness of men" and Satan's power.

You mention God's chastenings in men's lives, to either bless them or call them to repentance. It is true that the Lord chastens those whom He loves (Heb 12:6). This principle applies to God's children--those who have been made joint heirs through faith in Christ(Rom 8:17). Scripture tells us that it is not God's wrath but His kindness that leads us to repentance (Rom 2:4)

With the professing church, it's important to note that in the New Testament we see God's judgment of unrepentant believers: "deliver[ing] such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh" (1 Cor 5:5). This may occur in a sudden, catastrophic manner, or perhaps in a slow but obvious deterioration of health. God simply allows Satan to do what comes naturally as the thief and destroyer and sworn enemy of God's people. This method of justice seems consistent with what we see in regard to peoples and nations today.

There is no scriptural or physical evidence to suggest that our Creator is presently doing the "thundering" or "shaking" that results in catastrophic death and devastation. Instead of a biblical view of love, grace, and mercy, this paints the Lord as a spiteful, vengeful being, who indiscriminately hurls lightning and waves upon the continents. Such a picture is largely indistinguishable from that of a mythological or pagan perspective.

Today in the age of grace, God "maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust" (Mt 5:45)--not for judgment, but for blessing.
(From The Berean Call Newsletter, May 2011.)

Did Jesus come to England?

And did those feet in ancient time
Walk upon England's mountains green?
And was the holy Lamb of God
On England's pleasant pastures seen?

And did the Countenance Divine
Shine forth upon our clouded hills?
And was Jerusalem builded here
Among these dark satanic mills?

Bring me my bow of burning gold!
Bring me my arrows of desire!
Bring me my spear! O clouds, unfold!
Bring me my chariot of fire!

I will not cease from mental fight,
Nor shall my sword sleep in my hand,
Till we have built Jerusalem
In England's green and pleasant land.
- William Blake

Gillian.E. Shaw wrote:
This poem was written about the Industrial Revolution that took place during the early 19th century. The first verse asks did Christ visit Britain. This may be metaphorical or literal. There is an old English legend that Christ came to Britain as a boy.

The poet questions Christianity in Britain (2nd verse) and illustrates the point by using the adjective 'satanic' when describing the industrial mills. (In the North of Britain at this time many people; men, women and children, worked in the cotton industry.) This clearly gives the impression that the poet thinks the mills are evil places.

In the final two verses he poet summons up his faith and reveals he will not rest until there is justice in society.
This is a beautifully written poem and is sometimes used as a national anthem.

(L. This song was sung at the Royal Wedding today of William and Kate. It was wonderful to see the respect for Christianity. The name of Jesus Christ was spoken often during the service. I'm afraid our country would not acknowledge the Lord Jesus Christ as England has done today. This is sad for us, isn't it?)

NOT YET ACCOMPLISHED

Now it must be freely granted that Messianic prophecy as a whole has not yet received its full accomplishment, that only a part of it has done so. "The woman"s seed" has not yet completely crushed the serpent"s head, as is evident from his present tremendous and universal activity in our world, where the tempter is undeniably still alive and at large! He is still in our day what our Savior called him in His day, "the prince of this world, " and what Paul called him, "the god of this world," "the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience" (John 14:30, 2 Corinthians 4:4, Ephesians 2:2). Sin still reigns unto death. No one contends that the work of human redemption is as yet complete.

This Christian age, though fast nearing its close, has not yet run its course; and according to Scripture, another age the millennial is to succeed the one in which we live before the old serpent will be fully destroyed, before redeemed humanity will rest and rejoice in the new heavens and new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.
-- Dr. Henry Grattan Guinness, The Divine Program of the World's History, 1889

Perfection in the cross. . .

Good Friday teaches me that failure is not to be avoided at all costs, but instead embraced as a great opportunity. Good Friday teaches me that my lifelong struggle for perfection is doomed to failure, and is chasing after the wind. Good Friday teaches me that I have no idea what is best for me, that pain and suffering have a purpose which I need not, and often should not, understand. Good Friday teaches me that God can make sparkling diamonds out of filthy coal, that my worst attributes, my most painful failures, the most disastrous events which have befallen me beyond my control, are but the building blocks of a new and far better life in hands of God.

Read:
Meditation on Good Friday | The Doctor Is In

Thank you, Doctor Bob, for this wonderful essay on the cross. It reads true and encourages me. - Linda

Beneath the cross...

Beneath the cross of Jesus I fain would take my stand,
The shadow of a mighty Rock within a weary land;
A home within the wilderness, a rest upon the way
From the burning of the noon-day heat, and the burden of the day.

I take, O cross, thy shadow for my abiding place,
I ask no other sunshine than the sunshine of His face;
Content to let the world go by, to know no gain nor loss,
My sinful self my only shame, my glory all the cross.

"But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world" (Galatians 6:14).

Jesus Christ is the most important person who ever walked this earth. His cross is glory to all who believe.

Good Friday

"Jesus therefore again groaning in Himself cometh to the grave. It was a cave, and a stone lay upon it." (John 11:38 cf. vs. 33).

groaning, Gr.(Strong's 1690) embrimaomai, to snort with anger. Translated "groaning", "straitly charged" (Mark 1:43).

"Jesus wept" (John 11:35).

Not a passive picture of our Lord when connected to the Greek word. Jesus snorted with anger at the death of his friend, Lazarus.

Jesus suffered our death; the last enemy is death. He did it in opposition to the power of darkness, and He did it with righteous anger against the evil one.

"And when He thus had spoken, He cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth" (John 11:43). "And he that was dead come forth. Jesus saith unto them, Loose him, and let him go" (John 11:44).

The good news of Good Friday. "It is finished."

Simple answers . . .

“There are no easy answers, but there are simple answers. We must have the courage to do what we know is morally right.” - Ronald Reagan (1964 Republican Convention)

Yes, I think this rings true. We are in the world, but not of the world. We are the light. We are the salt. You think?

The perfection of God...

"Remember the perfections of that God whom you worship, that he is a Spirit, and therefore to be worshipped in spirit and truth;

and that he is most great and terrible, and therefore to be worshipped with seriousness and reverence,

and not to be dallied with, or served with toys or lifeless lip-service;

and that he is most holy, pure, and jealous, and therefore to be purely worshipped;

and that he is still present with you, and all things are naked and open to him with whom we have to do.

The knowledge of God, and the remembrance of his all-seeing presence, are the most powerful means against hypocrisy."

-- Richard Baxter, English, Calvinistic, Puritan church leader. (From The Berean Call.)

Richard Baxter (1615-1691) wrote hymns and was a great leader. Two quotes might be familiar to you:

"I preach as never sure to preach again,
And as a dying man to dying men."

"In necessary things, unity; in doubtful things, liberty; in all things, charity."