'Doomsday' (aka the "Great American Eclipse 2017")

"Dad, do you know what happens during a solar eclipse?"  "No Sun."
How does the man on the moon get a haircut?  Eclipse it.
What do you need to do to have an eclipse party?  Planet.

Now that I'm through with the bad puns, let's talk about what really happened on August 21.  There was a facebook meme circulating prior to the "Great American Eclipse" that said "If people prepared for the second coming of Christ as much as they prepared for the solar eclipse, the world would be a far better place."  It's a good sentiment that is true and worthy of consideration.  I for one began planning to view the eclipse last October.  The last time I saw one was in 1978 and it was only a partial (I think around 50-60% from my location in Aurora Illinois), and I saw it illegally as a friend of mine and I played hooky from school so we could view it.  As the stuff that comprises legends and lore throughout history, a solar eclipse is indeed one of the most amazing celestial events we could ever witness, and it certainly did not disappoint.  And while I did indeed spend a great deal of time preparing for the day, I would also say that I am more than prepared for Christ's return, which is looking more and more imminent the way the world is collapsing around us.  More on that in a bit.

For me, I truly wondered if, despite that August is traditionally the hottest and driest (and thus clearest) month of the year, if we'd even see it as that would be the day of total cloud cover.  While there were parts of Nebraska that were indeed covered, the clouds we had were on the horizon around us only, as if a large window had opened directly over our viewing location in rural northeast Lincoln County, up on a ridge not far from the center of the path of totality.  The headline image says it all:  I photographed closeups of the sun throughout the entire eclipse sequence, and the most remarkable thing is that when the moon finally exited from in front of the sun, the clouds rolled in and obscured the sky!

The other amazing part of the eclipse, besides the totality phase itself, was that our daughter turned just before totality, as the ground got darker and darker, and shouted "look!"  We all turned to see a mass of blackness to the northwest, and could tell it was coming right at us.  It was the moon's shadow we saw, racing toward us at 1100 miles per hour.  Almost as soon as we saw it, it was upon us, and darkness covered the land for nearly two and a half minutes.  As a result, I didn't catch the "diamond ring" as it entered totality, but would not trade the experience of seeing the moon's shadow coming at us for that at all!

Now sadly, rather than merely take it all in and enjoy this most spectacular display of God's handiwork, the nut jobs all came out of the woodwork (and I don't think I'm being too harsh in calling them that).  Sadly, this would include many pastors and church leaders, who somehow think that they know when the world will end based on such celestial events, despite that Jesus himself says that no one knows the day or the hour, outside of God the Father.  Now there are indeed many passages in the Bible that tells us what signs will accompany the second coming of Christ, or the end of time.  Jesus also says after this:  “the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from the sky, and the heavenly bodies will be shaken. At that time the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and all the nations of the earth will mourn. They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky, with power and great glory…” (Matthew 24:29–30)   There is even the prophet Joel, who is also quoted by the Apostle Peter in his first sermon on the day of Pentecost:  “ ‘In the last days,’ God says,  ‘I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams. …I will show wonders in the heaven above and signs on the earth below, blood and fire and billows of smoke. The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord. And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’ ” (Acts 2:17–21) 

Now based on Jesus' own words, I do not believe someone could get such a prediction right, even by accident.  But for a moment, we shall assume the end is upon us.  What then?  “Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come," Jesus says.  (Matthew 24:42)  There are many other signs to accompany "the end," and this by itself is a rather common sign, compared to some other accompanying signs. Between now and the next North American eclipse in 2024, there are something like 7 other solar eclipses around the world.   Could it be a sign?  Of course.  If it is, what matters alone is that we are ready for it, meaning that our hearts are right with God and we trust and believe in the salvation that comes to us through the grace and mercy of Christ Jesus.

In reality, what St. Peter was driving at for us is that we’ve been in the “last days” since the time of Christ!  It has been 2000 years and counting in the making!  So don't worry about doomsday.  Don't worry about the signs, if they indeed point to the end.
Allow your hearts to be changed by Christ.
Call on the name of God daily.
Know your unworthiness before God, and cherish your worthiness given you through our Lord Jesus Christ.

I hope you who are reading this enjoyed that unique celestial phenomenon, and may it, like everything else, always point us back to Christ Jesus, who alone saves us from sin, from death, and from the Devil.

(adapted from the sermon for the 11th Sunday after Pentecost, August 20, 2017)

Photo compilations and a few eclipse photos can be purchased here, for those who have requested.

Room 235 (The Underground Bunker) Presented by Kevin McGinty and Still Safe At Home...: Tale of Two Completely Different Americas...

Room 235 (The Underground Bunker) Presented by Kevin McGinty and Still Safe At Home...: Tale of Two Completely Different Americas...: Turn on the news, read your local newspaper, listen to a college professor, just about any democrat and an ever increasing number of republi...

Exile! (Bible's Story parts 9 and 10)

To catch up on previous installments, you can read parts 7 and 8, along with  Part 1, Parts 2 and 3, Part 4, and Parts 5 and 6.

In 587 BC, the Babylonian armies once again marched across the now-destroyed “Northern Kingdom” of Israel, and what was left of the “Southern Kingdom” of Judah, completely looting and leveling everything in their path, including Solomon’s great Temple in Jerusalem.  A vast majority of the Hebrews they encountered where either put to the sword or carried off as slaves into exile in Babylon.  In other words, the Israelites were now enslaved and in exile in what is present-day Iraq.

Why?  Why did God let this happen?  It could be said that history does indeed repeat itself, especially for those who fail to learn from it.  Recall the great enslavement of the people in Egypt and the great event of the Old Testament: The Exodus from Egypt, where God leads his people out of the chains of slavery into a new land, with the understanding that they were to honor and glorify God and God alone.  Sadly, honoring God rarely happened.

Conditions throughout the kingdoms were horrific.   Morality had crumbled and society was in chaos.  The people by-and-large were morally and spiritually bankrupt as they engaged in open prostitution even within the temple, and filled the temple with shrines to all manner of false gods.  Its leaders were fiscally irresponsible, enslaving their own people and letting greed run as the center of their existence.  Taxation was through the roof.   Leaders only looked out for themselves (this includes the majority of the kings), and were as morally and spiritually bankrupt as the people.  As the end of Judges testifies, people were doing as they saw fit, not as God had commanded them.  God’s Word meant very little in those times.  The laws that Israel had to honor God by honoring their neighbor had long disappeared.  Prosperity had completely ruined them, and as a result, they had forsaken God who had given them this prosperity in the first place.  As a political note: if you change a few names, dates, and place locations, are we describing our own country?

Therefore, because Israel had forsaken God, who had granted them the prosperity they once enjoyed, God now threatened through a small remnant of faithful followers (the prophets) that disaster would fall on them if they did not return to their Lord and God and forsake the many sinful, selfish ways that God deemed destructive to them and the common good.  Warnings were issued for dozens, even hundreds of years, that went unheeded.

The books of 1 and 2 Chronicles essentially retell the story of the kings, but this time for a remnant of God’s people now in exile that would be restored.  If God had something to say before the exile, did God also have something to say even now to those who were in exile?  Was God still interested in them?  The answer is a resounding “yes.”  Israel needed to recall what had gotten them into this new slavery and this new mess in the first place: they themselves did.

Continuity with the past was perhaps the best way they could prevent the same thing from happening once more.  And of course, during this whole period of time, the prophets - those elusive, sometimes reclusive, often reluctant but faithful messengers of God, were not only warning them of disaster, but also reminding them that God’s covenant with Abraham was not fulfilled yet.  While their “predictions” of disaster did indeed come to be fulfilled, would their words of comfort and encouragement regarding the restoration of Israel and a coming Savior from God also be fulfilled?

There are numerous books of prophesy in the Old Testament.  They are divided into “major” and “minor” prophets.  These correspond largely to the size of the books.  Therefore, the books of Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel, and Daniel are considered “major,” while the majority of the prophets (Hosea through Malachi) are considered “minor.”  Other prophets also existed that do not have their words recorded in the Bible, such as Elijah, who was a prophet of God in the early years of the kings.  Nearly half (17 of 39) books of the Old Testament are books attributed to these elusive messengers of God.

What is a prophet?  It is someone, called by God, to deliver a message to God’s people.  A prophet’s primary mission for God is not to predict the future, but to deliver the message.  God’s prophets had a universal message that recurred over and over.  It is not unlike the message we saw throughout the history books telling us of the kings: the people had rebelled against and turned away from God, and needed to renew their commitment to the LORD.  Spiritually, the people were terminally sick.  Morally, the people were bankrupt.  Socially, however, things never appeared better, despite the lies, deception, corruption, and greed on a national level.

As God’s messenger, first and foremost, what is often associated with the prophet’s words is a statement such as “thus says the Lord...” (Jeremiah 2:2 and elsewhere).  Though the prophets spoke for God, their message was often ignored.  So how then, one might ask, does a person know if the prophet’s message is for real?  It can be measured on whether or not it conforms to the past history, and on whether or not its message comes true.

In the case of the Biblical prophets, they really weren’t telling the people anything new that they had not heard before.  If we recall the covenant God made on Mount Sinai (the 10 Commandments), there were certain stipulations that went along with it.  The prophets were simply reminding the people and the leaders of those stipulations, and warning them that the disasters foretold for them disobeying the covenant would take place soon if they did not change their ways (Deut. 27:15-26).

However, the prophets, in addition to warning the people of impending disaster according to the conditions of the Sinai Covenant, also foretold of a “restoration” after disaster hit, that would also be brought about by God.  The “restoration” prophesies all center on a future “Messiah” or “Savior” that was yet to come.  Some of these prophetic words are even affirmed when we read the four Gospels, especially in the Gospel of St. Matthew.  For example, Isaiah 7:14, which says “Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son...” is confirmed to be fulfilled in Jesus when we read Matthew 1:23.  So even though the disaster scenario of the Israelites disobeying their part of the covenant was going to happen, God wasn’t done yet, and had additional plans for not only Israel but also the whole world, Isaiah 11:10, 12 and elsewhere.

Though Israel was God’s chosen, eventually all peoples are chosen by God to live in covenant with Him through the examples both good and bad given us by the Hebrew people.   The foretold Messiah is to be the fulfillment of this future hope.  Today, we know this Messiah as Jesus.

A Sad State of Affairs

I recently joined (and have since left) a facebook page for pastors about Christian ministry.  The reasons for leaving are pretty simple, really.  It was not about Christian ministry, but about appealing to some bland, faceless, nameless worship of some generic god.  It demonstrated clearly that such things as the sovereignty of God, absolute truth, salvation through Christ, and the like, are simply lost on too many, including those shepherds who ought to know better and should be about certain convictions and certainties when it comes to the Christian faith.  It was a sobering indictment of the state of clergy today.  Sadly, the following exchange is becoming all to common in today's "Christian" world.

This is the thread that precipitated my quick departure from the page.  The original post was a question:  "On Thursday I must conduct a funeral for a 21 yr. old transgender girl who committed suicide yesterday. I am transgender myself so I understand the issues surrounding this situation. I am asking for words/ prayers to use for the service."

Now many responses simply offered prayers and thoughts, in a spirit of compassion.  But from there, it descended into paganism, as one response went thus (red comments are mine, in case it is not obvious):  "In Genesis 1, we read that God created male and female in God's image. This means God is male and female  (NO, it Doesn't). Our transgender siblings may very well resemble God more than I (cis), as their "image of God" bodies are complex and less definable... like our God."

Another response went like this:  "I have often times wondered this. If the pronoun Ze (Uh, "ZE" is NOT a pronoun...)  that is preferred by some transgender are more theologically accurate for God as well."  And from there it continued to descend:  "And a gentle reminder to all not to use the phrase "committed" suicide. Preference is for "died by suicide." It is not a criminal act, but a sad and tragic one."  There was more than one posting grasping at such trivial and pointless semantics.

Explicit references to Christ were absent, with the exception of some very pagan prayers offered, such as this one:

Jesus, as a mother (But he was a man?)  you gather your people to you:

You are gentle with us as a mother with her children;

There were two glaring exceptions to this appeal to a bland, generic god, and both of which came from Lutheran pastors within the "North American Lutheran Church."  They both commented that what was needed was to preach Christ alone, and also asked why the need to bring transgender into it at all?  Here is the dialog on one such comment:

Q:  Why the need to bring "transgender" into it? It is a death of a child of God. Preach to that, in the name of Christ Jesus.
R: Because being Transgender was an important part of who she was and the family has requested I do so.
Q: My point is that being transgender did not save her. Neither does my not being so save me. It is Christ who saves and Christ alone, in the midst of things the world cannot ever understand. That's what ultimately matters.
R2:  Why the need to put transgender in quotes in your original post? That makes it seem like you don't believe transgender is a real thing.
Q:  Oh good grief. really? Grammatically, that is the way the sentence should have been written is all. Did you happen to notice that in my followup where it is not enclosed by quotations? I'm guessing not.
R3: Being a woman or being 21 didn't save her, either, so does that mean those shouldn't be mentioned, either? Where is the line?

This whole, surreal denial of salvation through Christ culminated with the original poster and this comment:  Thank you for all your wonderful support and comments. I used many sentiments in writing the service. I am also Transgender and spoke of my own experiences. The family is Druid and I led a Druid Death Ritual which comforted the family greatly. Your support through this unbelievable tragedy was really appreciated.

Seriously?  A pagan ritual offers more comfort than salvation through Christ?  For those that think so, it is clear that they do not know Christ Jesus at all.  If in the midst of tragedy, some clergy turn to all manner of pagan rituals which deny the death and resurrection of Christ, then the state of pastors in America is in dire trouble (and the church is on a parallel track to it's own collective demise as a result).  I'm reminded of a quote by evangelist John Stott recently, who said "The modern world detests authority but worships relevance. Our Christian conviction is that the Bible has both authority and relevance, and that the secret of both is Jesus Christ."  Yes.  Simply yes.  That conviction is the supremacy of Christ Jesus as King of kings and Lord of lords.

This is just the tip of the iceburg in observing the sad state of the Christian church today.  Paganism, apostasy, lawlessness, and cheap grace abound.  They abound because a majority no longer have the capacity to comprehend that God stands above us all.  When we are  no longer mastered by God, we become masters of our own carnal lusts and desires.  I weep for the Christian church as it descends into 21st century paganism.  And I, like the psalmist, pray "How long, O Lord?"

Brainwashed

So-called "fake news" made the headlines with then-candidate Trump's criticism of media bias in 2016 (If you do not think there has been a largely one-sided bias in the media for quite some time, you may want to stop reading now).   Following the election, "the other side" began claiming that it was fake news that cost them the election.  What's more, there really are "fake news" sites out there that present either intentionally misleading information, or simply downright false narratives.  the presentation of false narratives or intentionally misleading information is far more widespread than we might think.  In fact, it is the rule, rather than the exception, on both sides of the current political debate.  Why?  Because it helps further a pre-set agenda that often ignores reality and any semblance of absolute truth in life as a whole.

The problem is not so much the actual false storylines that sometimes are presented as fact, or even the intentionally misleading narratives that rule the day.  No, it is that people believe them without fact checking (yes, even many of the so-called "fact checkers" themselves need to be fact-checked).  In other words, the media AND the government are indoctrinating the masses in telling them what to believe.  This indoctrination is done to selfishly gain what the individual or group is attempting to accomplish, no matter how noble or misguided that accomplishment might be.  In other words, society is being largely brainwashed today, and has been for quite some time.  In an age where it seems we trust no one, it is awfully strange that we trust the media to tell us the truth, when most often what we get from them is far from it.

As but one example, I would defer back to an earlier blog entry on a false quote from one of the founding fathers being quoted as factual today.  Not only is it intentionally deceptive in supporting a false narrative, but no one has really bothered to fact check it to see if Thomas Jefferson actually said what it was claimed he said.  (spoiler alert:  I did, and he did NOT in fact say it at all, and yet the quote is used to support a false narrative on separation of church and state all the time).  I am reminded of the Jedi mind control trick used by Obi-Wan Kenobi in the original Star Wars movie, where the stormtooper repeats back to him "these aren't the droids we're looking for..."  Yes, it really is that bad:  people often believe contradictory things, usually contradicted by reality itself, and yet we persist in trusting that those entrusted to report the truth are actually doing so!  The net result is a mimicry of talking points and social media memes that are usually untrue, and at the very least, distort the truth into something it is not.

Now today many claim that religion in general (and Christianity specifically) is just another form of brainwashing.  Nothing could be further from the truth when it comes to my faith in Christ.  While ultimately one cannot "prove" the existence of God, yet by a preponderance of the evidence, it is clear that God exists.  Yet don't take my word for it:  Read the Scriptures yourself and test it all to see.  The Lutheran Reformation was about just that, among other things:  getting the written account of the "Divine drama" into the hands of everyone so they were not believing simply because they were told to, but because they could read it for themselves, test it, and believe independently.  The recent book-turned-movie, "The Case For Christ," demonstrates just that.  While no one can ultimately prove it to be true, the preponderance of the evidence heavily weighs in favor of it all being true.  Now the difference between the Christian faith and every other religion on the face of the earth (and there are some pretty major and fundamental differences which sets the Christian faith alone among world religions) are also worth independently studying and verifying, but that is a topic for another day.

So back to the brainwashing of society in general.  What is the end result?  It is the extreme polarization of society, and the civil war mentality that now exists.  It is the confusion of what has widely been held as the distinction between good and evil for thousands of years within society.  That there are people who believe murder to be an acceptable solution to issues or problems (be it to attack police or just people at random) shows just how far down the rabbit hole of moral depravity we've gone.

The relativism of truth is also a victim.  There are no longer any absolutes, simply because of the false and misleading information that seeks to minimize the concept of any sort of absolute truth  It is this confusion of good and evil, along with the complete and total loss of absolute truth that hits at the heart of this nation's problems currently.

It could all be reversed in a matter of moments.  How?  By independently fact checking everything, and calling foul whenever someone either shares a false narrative or presents it as truth.  Stop the spin.  Stop the lies.  Stop the brainwashing.  More importantly, it is time that the American society speak with one voice and say that we are no longer going to tolerate the lies and deception that is brainwashing us.  And let us use our brains to ensure that we are not mere sheep, following helplessly as we are led to the slaughter eventually.  These are my thoughts as I watch the perpetuation of "fake news" all over TV Land.

The Highly False Sense of Entitlement

Learning from history.

We all claim to do it, and yet ignorance of history seems at an all time high today.  The reason?  History shows one certain constant:  With affluence comes apathy.  Apathy toward others, and most importantly apathy toward God.  Societies, Civilizations, and nations have come and gone, and the constant?  The relative affluence for either the leaders or the society in general that leads to the apathy and a sense of selfish entitlement.  And in this day and age, the barrage of false narratives and/or spin in media and government outlets shows that a lie is perfectly acceptable if it accomplishes the goal of getting what our selfish, agenda and politically driven desires are.

Everyone wants to claim a sense of entitlement, and if they are not claiming it for themselves, they are accusing others of it.  We go back generations to dredge up wrongs committed by certain groups of people to show that we have been wronged, and "they" owe us now.  And often, the claim of being owed for some past wrong comes at the expense of a complete rejection of the laws of the land, often leading to theft, destruction, and even murder.  We've become a lawless society, simply because we too often do not follow our own laws, and ignore it when others fail to do the same.

Actor Dean Cain commented a few days ago something to the effect that here in America, it's amazing how much we can fight over things that are just plain dumb, while much of the rest of the world simply struggles to live and survive.  The country of South Sudan would be a prime example:  the genocide and famine there that has virtually destroyed the new country is beyond comprehension.  My observations are that in our society, we have reached an all time high at doing just that:  arguing and fighting over things that are simply not worthy and often not true, believing that someone else owes us something for some past wrong.  Let me be clear:  We are owed nothing, right or wrong, because in the end, we are as guilty of wrongs committed as the wrongs we accuse others of!  In addition to this highly false sense of entitlement, we are reveling in our relative affluence (and even the poorest among us are often better off than most in 3rd world countries today).  As a result, we are becoming completely apathetic toward our fellow human beings, the rule of law, and what our charters of freedom identify as the source of those laws (and freedoms):  God.

My original field of study was geology.  I spent 7 years and two degrees (not to mention a great deal of money) to essentially pursue a career that never came to pass, and in part because I began to notice just how much science, humanities, the arts, and such had all gone from being pursuits that were often paralleling theology to becoming humanistic pursuits that ignored the very concept of God altogether.  Philosophy, like geology, over the past 150 or so years has done the very same thing.  This may explain why the Biblical book of Ecclesiastes is one of my favorite books, despite it's rather dark nature.  It also does not attempt to divorce the questions "what is the purpose of man?" and "why are we here?" from the reality of God's existence.

Ecclesiastes begins with the premise that "What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun."  We may indeed have developed "new" things and "new" technologies, but in the end, it is just becoming more efficient at things already done.  We are far more effective at destroying our world and the people in it, but it is still destruction, in the end:  that which we have done for millennia.  Part of his conclusion?

So I hated life, because the work that is done under the sun was grievous to me. All of it is meaningless, a chasing after the wind. I hated all the things I had toiled for under the sun, because I must leave them to the one who comes after me. And who knows whether he will be a wise man or a fool? Yet he will have control over all the work into which I have poured my effort and skill under the sun. This too is meaningless.  

In his pursuits of denying himself nothing, seeking wisdom, undertaking great projects, amassing great wealth, and the like, it was all motivated out of a sense of selfish desire.  His ultimate conclusion is that we are owed nothing by no one (including God), and therefore what we have (which comes by God's hand) should be enjoyed as such - not seeking to "keep up with the Jones's" but simply to enjoy whatever we have as the gift of God, and to always remember that all things come from God's hand.  Or as a commentary states:  "Life not centered on God is purposeless and meaningless. Without him, nothing else can satisfy (2:25). With him, all of life and his other good gifts are to be gratefully received (see Jas 1:17) and used and enjoyed to the full (2:26; 11:8). The book presents the philosophical and theological reflections of a typical person (12:1–7), most of whose life was meaningless because he had not himself relied on God." (Hoeber, R. G. (1997). Concordia self-study Bible (electronic ed., Ec). St. Louis: Concordia Pub. House.)

So how do we overcome all this?  Does this false sense of being owed something ever end?  Will it, like so many nations, kingdoms, and empires before us, destroy us in the end?  Will we continue to descend into chaos and anarchy?  Or can something turn it around before it is too late to prevent?  Two things must happen:  One is that others must become more important to us than we ourselves are.  It's NOT about me.  It's about others before self.  That's a basic Biblical perspective.  And speaking of the Bible, we've got to stop attempting to kill the God of the Bible off in society, especially at the expense of the many false gods we claim today.  And this is the eventual outcome whenever we make anything, especially our own selfish interests, more important than God in life.

Rejection

Let me first say that one will not fully comprehend the Holy Scriptures by reading it through once. Of course, that task is impossible if it is not even read at all.  In fact, my experience is such that after numerous times reading it, there are still issues, stories, and nuances that capture my attention and even my imagination to varying degrees.  This time is no different.  Our church began reading "The Bible in 90 Days" again at the beginning of the month, and like in past times, there are new things that stand out in the readings.

What has really stood out in my mind thus far, from the very beginning account of creation and fall, up through the Patriarchs, the constant flirtation with false gods made of stone, clay, and wood, the constant turning away from God toward these idols through the Exodus, the conquest, the judges, and even into the first kings - Saul and David - is the question "what was so appealing about these false gods that people would turn away from God and toward them in the first place?"  Honestly, with the promises of God, it seems that rejecting those promises is just plain silly.  And yet the Bible's history is replete with example after example of just that:  the rejection of God for the pursuit of anything and everything that is NOT God in the peoples' lives.  Come to think of it, the situation today is no different.

The answer to my question has come to me in a couple of different ways.  The first is seen in the last line of Judges, where it states "In those days Israel had no king; everyone did as he saw fit."    It was not about a collective good, or a common good, or appealing to a higher purpose.  It was only about doing what each person thought was right in their own eyes.  It was only about satisfying their own whims and desires.  Or there is Proverbs 14:12 - "There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death."   The "choice" in life is either to follow our own ambitions, (narcissistic self absorption) or to follow a higher purpose that comes from somewhere else - namely from God.  the false gods of the Old Testament (and even those we have today) do nothing more than fulfill our own selfish ambitions and desires.  They truly are gods created in our image, rather than us being created in the one true God's image.   That is the choice:  to follow our own ways or to follow the ways of God.  Oddly enough, the founders of America recognized this great truism in the appeal that all rights and liberties are granted by God.  The church, too, is at its' most prosperous when it also recognizes that it serves, worships, and follows a higher purpose established by God and fulfilled in Christ.  When church or society rejects that, it amounts to nothing more than turning to false gods of wood, stone, or clay.  And like history, which is replete with examples of the troubles and disasters that come from such narcissistic behavior, we face the same troubles and disasters ahead should we persist in doing here as each person sees fit in their own eyes.


Today is one of the more obscure commemorations for the protestant church:  the Martyrdom of the early church father Polycarp, Bishop of Smyrna.  On this day in the year 165 AD, he was burned alive as an old man for refusing to recant his belief in the triune God.  In an age that abounded in everyone doing as they saw fit in their own eyes, he was one who stood against that.  In today's age where the same conditions exist - everyone follows what they think is right in their own eyes - we need more Polycarps:   Those who are willing to die themselves because of what they believe rather than telling others they must die for their beliefs.  We need more people who appeal to a universal right and wrong, rather than a self-defined version of what right and wrong might be to them.
Now you may be one who doesn't buy into any such notion of a higher power or being.  You may reject the idea of God outright.  You may very well believe in yourself alone.  Yet look at history, and how well that has worked when everyone else does the same.  There has got to be some common good that is NOT defined by the selfish desires of humanity.  That collective good must come from somewhere else, and the founding fathers nailed it when they identified that at least our lives, our freedoms, and our happiness ultimately come from God.  Which god, you may ask?  How about the only god who recognizes the inherent ability of humanity to do it's own thing only.  How about that same God who knows we cannot save ourselves because of our selfishness, and therefore provides salvation for us not based on anything we can do, but on what He has done for us.  Of course I'm talking about the Christian faith.  It is the ONLY faith in which God saves us in spite of ourselves, because in the end, we cannot. 

Doing our own thing only satisfies our own selfish desires.  It's time to stop rejecting the idea of a universal truth from God - the God who saves us through Christ - and to start once again seeing the big picture.  That big picture includes our eventual demise if we persist in only doing what satisfies ourselves alone.  These are my reflections this Thursday, the commemoration of Polycarp, Martyr.

Saint Valentine: The Raw Story

It is just fascinating how much of our society, our worldview, and our customs stem from faith in the triune God.  Take today, for example:  it's all about flowers, candy hearts, red, love, etc.  Right?  Well, as the late Rev. Richard John Neuhaus once said:  "In the absence of truth, power is the only game in town."    We are not empowered by such things today, rather we are held captive to them by the lack of truth in understanding our own history.

You see, Valentine is really not a love story, nor is it particularly appealing.  It was not a holiday created by the greeting card companies, (though in the absence of truth it has certainly been perverted by them), nor is it a holiday at all, really.  It is a commemoration of the gruesome death of one of the church's saints.  Valentine (the real Valentine - now a Saint of the Christian church) lived his life during rather tumultuous times.  What little we actually know of his life is often supplemented with legend, but there is enough to know to point us to a basic picture of the man, apart from legend.

So who was Valentine?  He was a priest and physician in Rome, during the reign of Emperor Claudius II.  Rome was still very much a pagan empire, and polygamy, polyamory, and all manner of sexual expression abounded.  Valentinus the priest advocated for Christian couples to A:  Get married in the church; B:  only marry one person, in accord with the instructions of sacred Scripture; and C:  Remain faithful within that marriage, thus going against the societal norms.  The church has believed  and taught since the time of Christ that marriage was to be between one man and one woman only.  The emperor was neither Christian nor held to Valentine's views of marriage.

So when several bloody battles were fought, and the emperor found it hard to find and recruit new young men who would leave their wives and families to fight, he ordered that all weddings be cancelled.   Valentine, as a Christian and a priest, could not obey this order because of faith and conscience.   Yet because marriage was now illegal, they were conducted secretly.  Eventually, of course, Valentine was arrested, and while in prison was tortured extensively.  Many legends surround him during his imprisonment.  Eventually, however, he was sentenced to a 3 part execution of first being beaten, then being stoned, and finally being beheaded, which was carried out on February 14 269  AD.  His remains exist today at the church of St. Praxedes in Rome, where they were purportedly  transferred centuries ago.

Much of what else is believed about Valentine is more in the realm of legend than fact, including how this Saint's day morphed into its' generic and (dare I say it?) pagan meaning today.  This would also include a purported letter to his sister shortly before his death, in which he signed it "with love, your Valentine."  And from this legend, and his defense of Christian marriage comes a generic nondescript holiday today that is all about "love," candies, flowers, and the like.

I for one would "love" to see it return to it's origins, because at the heart of it all is Christ.  And if we truly want to talk of love today, all of our imperfect love, and all of our misconceptions on it are completely overshadowed by the perfect love of God in Christ Jesus.  If we want to celebrate love, and if we want to tout it as an extreme virtue that, as a recent campaign slogan said "trumps hate," then this would be the perfect place to start.  It was Jesus, after all, who said "But I tell you who hear me: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you..."  So yes:  Love one another, not in some generic sense but as we have first been loved by God.  Happy Saint Valentine's day.

Judges and Kings - Parts 7 and 8

To "catch up" on the Bible's Story, the reader can  look at previous installments:  Part 1, Parts 2 and 3, Part 4, and Parts 5 and 6.

The next book of the Bible after Joshua and the conquest of Canaan (the land promised to Abraham’s descendants as one of the three parts of God’s covenant with Abraham - Genesis 12, 15), is the book of Judges.  The question of a “human” ruler or king has come up, and as the later book of 1 Samuel hints at, Israel was supposed to acknowledge God as their king (8:7).  Here, however, fresh off of an incomplete campaign to rid the land of all foreigners, the book of Judges shows us repeatedly how in this instance: a) Israel sins (involving worship of the Baals and other pagan fertility gods), b) God sends various groups of foreigners in who fight against Israel, c) the people cry out in anguish, asking for someone to save them, and d) God raises up a “judge” (“judge” here refers to a warrior/leader, rather than our common understanding of someone who presides over a court room), and the judge rescues Israel according to God’s plan.

Perhaps the best way to summarize the book of Judges, as well as the newly formed kingdom of Israel, is to look at the very last verse of the book itself:  “In those days, Israel had no king, and everyone did as he saw fit.”  (21:25).  And though the “judges” were raised up by God to save Israel and restore the kingdom, the pattern of everyone “doing as they saw fit” demonstrates the Biblical nature of sin itself: for a person to follow their own ways and not the ways of God.

The book of Judges chronicles this repeating pattern and how such well known Judges as Othniel (3:7-11), Ehud (3:12-30), Deborah (ch. 4-5), Gideon (ch. 6-8), Jephthah (10:6-12:7), and Samson (ch. 13-16) carry out God’s ultimate plan and drives back such ethnic groups as the Moabites, the Canaanites, Midianites, Ammonites, and Philistines.  Other, lesser known Judges are also chronicled in the book.  It is noteworthy to see that there was a female Judge - Deborah, who was originally a prophetess for the people.  It is also worth mentioning that the beginning of every account of each Judge begins with stating that the Israelites “did evil in the eyes of the Lord” following the previous Judge, such as with the beginning of Gideon’s rule (ch. 6).

Many people might recall the story of the Judge, Samson (ch.13-16), who had great strength and had been set apart from birth, much the way John the Baptist from the Gospels had.  Samson was a man of considerable strength - one might call him the “strongest man in the world.”  Unfortunately, he was also gullible and succumbed to his wife, Delilah’s persistent attempts at trying to learn the secret of his strength to betray him to the Philistines (ch. 16). After several failed attempts by her to betray him, he finally admitted to her that the secret of his great strength lie in his head, which had never before been shaved or trimmed.  She had his braids shaved off (16:19), and he was defeated then by the Philistines.

Another and perhaps lesser known Judge was Jephthah - also an example to us of how we should think before speaking or making a promise.  He was “a mighty warrior” (11:1) and after Israel turned again to false idols, cried out to God for help, and made him their Judge, he made a vow that he would sacrifice the first thing to walk out of his house upon his return, should the Lord make him victorious in battle.  God did make him victorious, and the first “thing” to come out of his house was his very own daughter.  Ironically, it was the daughter who insisted that he needed to keep his vow to God (11:36).

Sadly, though, this pattern of everyone doing what was right in their own eyes and “doing evil in the sight of the Lord” continues, despite the “reign” of several Judges over the early years of Israel as a nation.

        If the time of the Judges demonstrated Israel “doing their own thing,” the time of the Kings showed the extent of them failing to listen to God.  Following the time of the Judges, Israel still clamored for a true “king” to lead them, despite that it has been God all along telling them that he was their king, and they needed no other (1 Samuel 8:7).  Their problem continued to be the first commandment - they could never seem to get over worshiping the false gods of their neighbors and the foreigners in their land.  God sent them a king anyhow, with the warning to the people, “if you persist in doing evil, both you and your king will be swept away.” (1 Samuel 12:25).  Thus begins the line of the Kings of Israel.

The books of 1 and 2 Samuel tell the stories of Saul and David.  Following Saul, who was eventually rebuked by God (1 Kings 15:26), comes the great kingship of David (2 Samuel 2), who is known in part for his battle with Goliath (1 Samuel 17).  Though he honors God in establishing Jerusalem as the spiritual center and trusting in God’s power, even David was not without troubles.  Eventually his sin compounded as he committed adultery with Bathsheba, then allowed for the murder of her husband Uriah, and finally claimed her as his own wife (2 Samuel 11).  Psalm 51 is David’s song of lament and repentance for these sins.

The books of 1 and 2 Kings follow the accounts of 1 and 2 Samuel and present a succession of kings who followed in later generations.  Solomon follows David after another, Adonijah, had himself wrongfully appointed as David’s successor (1 Kings 1).  As Solomon succeeds David as the true King of Israel, he asks God for a wise and discerning heart (1 Kings 3:9).  Sadly, even now, the people were forgetting God and worshiping false idols in the “high places” of Israel (3:2), and even Solomon did the same.   However, God grants him the wisdom he sought and despite his sin, he rules wisely.

Solomon arranges for the construction of a great temple to God (ch. 5), and it was eventually built, and the inner space called the “Holy of Holies” was the residing place for the “Ark of the Covenant,” which contained the stone tablets of the 10 commandments and God’s covenant with Israel on Mount Sinai (Exodus 19-20).  Despite his wisdom, and because of his sin, Solomon could not keep the nation of Israel together, and so it split in two during his reign: the northern kingdom of Israel (10 of the 12 tribes) and the southern kingdom of Judah (the tribes of Benjamin and Judah).  The kingdom of Judah is where David’s capitol city of Jerusalem, and thus the temple, was to be found.

The remaining chapters tell the account of the various kings of both Israel and Judah.  In most instances, these kings are described as one who “did evil in the eyes of the Lord...” (1 Kings 15:34 and elsewhere).    They worshiped false idols and failed to worship God.  Consequently, disaster was waiting to happen.  Israel’s kings were far worse, and the northern Kingdom of Israel was overrun and destroyed by the Assyrian empire in 721 BC.

Judah’s kings to that point had been much more obedient as a rule.  Josiah was one such king (2 Kings 22-23), who when having the temple refurbished, discovered the books of the Old Testament law, and instituted a series of sweeping reforms to try and return the kingdom to one that worshiped God alone.  His reforms were short-lived, however, as Judah returned to pagan worship and eventually it too was overthrown in 597 BC.  Its’ inhabitants were carried off into exile by the Babylonian empire, to what is present day Iraq.  The temple was looted and destroyed, and the kingdom was no more.

       Exile for both awaited, and the next installment will deal with both Exile and Restoration.

Intolerance

People are more divided than ever.  Never mind my thoughts on who is responsible for the current extreme racial divide (it's not the police, FYI), or the extreme social and political divisions in this country and in this world (dare I throw in religious persecution as well?), few would argue at how divided we've become.  Perhaps more would debate on whether or not intolerance plays a role, but irregardless, there is a mentality today that suggests everyone has a right to be offended by anything and everything and everyone who disagrees with them or merely voted for "the other party" even.

Last time I checked, nowhere in the charters of freedom does it identify the right to be offended.  Considering the history of the founding documents in America, which trace their origins to the Mayflower compact (the Pilgrims) which traces itself back to the Puritan (Christian) church, which traces back into the pages of the Bible, I would argue that it is just the opposite in fact:  NO ONE has the right to take such public offense over much of anything, and yet here we are.  Intolerance, Offendedness, and just downright hatred are becoming societal norms these days.  And sadly, these play out all too frequently on the most anonymous and cowardly of places:  social media.

Take last week's "Lifetime Achievement Award" speech by actress Meryl Streep, as a good example.  The election of the next U.S. President was over two months ago, but she chose the opportunity to attack the President-elect, rather than simply be grateful for living in a land where she can receive such an honor.  She did so by raising up clearly disputed claims about Mr. Trump (let me state that I was a fan of neither of the two remaining candidates, FWIW).  She did so by (whether intentional or not) insulting half the country who actually think that NFL football or MMA fighting are enjoyable sports to watch.  There's a lot of that going around these days, as just a few months back, a fourth of the country (part of the half that disagrees with a Democrat party liberal worldview) were tagged as "deplorables" who were "irredeemable."  And this is to say nothing of how the other candidate managed to offend just about everyone at some point with his rancorous statements.  Now in my mind and the Christian worldview, it is that level of animosity, hatred, and rhetoric that is truly deplorable.  And in regard to Ms. Streep's speech, when a high school classmate (among many others) posted on social media about how "inspiring" it was, I respectfully and politely said that we would have to agree to disagree.    I was then informed that that's how she felt, and was immediately dropped from her social media account.  Unfortunately I cannot post a transcript of the exchange to demonstrate what I thought to be polite and respectful since I can no longer access it.  But that does not matter.  What it demonstrated again is that there are many (Ms. Streep included) who live in such an insular bubble that they simply cannot handle any opinion or position different from theirs.  I've had many folks disagree with me on statements I've made through my own social media accounts, and though they post such disagreements publicly on my pages, I do not delete them nor do I censor their comments.

Now specifically I'm targeting a more progressive perspective here, because from my vantage, this intolerance seems to happen far more from the left side of the socio-political spectrum than the right.   8 years ago, there were many who saw then president-elect Barack Obama as flawed, inexperienced, and with a hyper-progressive, destructive agenda for the country.  There was anger over his election.  Yes, there were even a handful of those who resorted to name calling and insult.  But generally, the election was over, and it was time for most of those unhappy with the result to see what would actually happen next.  Fast forward to today, and the animosity and vitriol toward the more orthodox position is magnified 100-fold with chants of "not my president," Hollywood segments threatening to go on strike until Trump resigns, numerous unfulfilled promises by some to move to Canada if Trump was elected, rioting, hysteria, the need for therapy rooms, cry rooms, therapy puppies, coloring therapy, vows to fight him at every turn, public calls for his assassination, and so on.

In fact, it's safe to say that we've gone from downright intolerance to absolute hatred being expressed in the aftermath of the most unappealing election choices we've ever had in my lifetime.

If Hillary Clinton was right (and she was right, despite the "play" on Donald Trump's name) with her campaign slogan "Love Trumps Hate,"  Why then is there so much hate coming from those who supported her?  This hate crime out of Chicago is made more egregious in that they showed their extreme cowardice in attacking a man who, with special needs, likely couldn't or wouldn't resist them.  It was Jesus who said: "But I tell you who hear me: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you."  Seems when it comes to the intolerance of those who claim to be tolerant, His words need to be spoken again and again, and we need to heed them and be reminded of them constantly in this divided and intolerant age.

Sure.  Maintain conviction in your beliefs, assuming it's not just from a blind, uninformed position.  But to all of you on either side of the political spectrum:  Give up your hatred and intolerance now.  Do it, before it causes you to self-destruct.  To all you Christians out there:  don't give in to this hatred and intolerance.  And Pray.  Pray for this country and the new spiritual awakening and revival that is needed.