The Third Virtue

I’m not sure how we developed the idea of "rank" among the Trinity. Probably because of the order they are mentioned in Matt. 28:19. They are all the same entity that we call "God", but we usually see Father as first, Son as second, and Holy Spirit as third. We get into real trouble if we imagine that one is lesser in power and authority.

We do, however, have scriptural evidence for rank among the three great virtues: 1 Cor 13:13 And now abideth faith, hope, charity , these three; but the greatest of these is charity. Charity, or love is #1. It envelopes faith and hope, for if we do not love God and neighbor, we will not exercise faith and hope. Actually, they are interdependent. We study much on charity and faith, but it seems to me that hope is not the subject of nearly as much meditation.

Of late, I have seen the tremendous importance of hope, and I would like to sing it’s praises in this essay.

THE PIT



The place where I work has a lime pit. It is a lagoon where the city water plant deposits lime which is used in the purifying of water. We dredge the lime and pump it into large holding tanks where tanker trucks are loaded. They take it to spreaders which apply it in fields to "sweeten" the soil and make it more productive. We use a raft to move around and position cables to guide the dredge and position the pipes behind the dredge. We all must wear life jackets. In the case that we should fall into the lime, we are instructed to fall backward, spread eagle, and wait to be picked up. The worst thing we could do would be to stand, for the lime is like quicksand. We could quickly sink to a point between the naval and chest. At this point, suffocation happens because you can no longer move the diaphragm that pulls air into your lungs. People caught in quicksand are dead long before their head goes under. Even before that, an attempt to pull one out would dismember the body. Sometimes we must flop down flat on the promises of God. Help will come. The Spirit will move to rescue us. Soaked and muddy we may be, but we are moving again. A cleansing shower and dry clothes await if we make our rescue possible.

Sometimes the water is very shallow. The lime is piled almost to the surface. Therefore, the dredge does not power through the lime with a propeller. It has a bull wheel that pulls it at a steady rate along a cable which is anchored securely to the shore. A diesel engine turns the wheel and keeps the dredge moving at a snail’s pace, even through the shallows. Our hope is the engine and cable; and we have an anchor, that saves the soul. Steadfast and sure while the billows roll. Anchored to the Rock which cannot move. Grounded firm and deep in the Savior’s love.

THE BLACK DOG

Churchill called depression and despair the "black dog". The "black dog" came and went throughout his life. It is not so amazing that a man like this could lead Britain through her darkest hour. It is not so amazing that he could say, "Never, never, never, never give up!" He had seen his own dark hours many times, and he knew that they did not last forever.

Long ago, the black dog came and sat on my porch. Then he moved into my house. Then he got into bed with me. Then he crawled into my head. Ministers deal with long stretches where they have a steady diet of dysfunction, suffering and death to deal with. It is no one’s fault. That’s just the way it is in a fallen world. Each ring of the phone would send a shock up my spine. Someone else has been rushed to the emergency room. Someone was contemplating suicide. Someone was on the verge of divorce. A wise elder gave me the best advice. He ran his gnarly fingers through his thin hair and said, "All I know to tell you, Ken, is just to keep working. Things will get better. I’ve been in this church a long time and these things always blow over." In other words, move on with the hope that things will get better.

Leaden sky, collar up, hands in pockets, hat pulled low against biting wind; my head was down because I was watching the Spirit move my feet. Through one hospital door after the other, up the steps, down the steps. The hope that things would get better was what kept me moving. And things got better, and the next time it got bad, the Spirit moved me again. Now I know He is faithful. When things get tough, He gets tougher. Sometimes He is a gentle dove; but if need be, He turns into a Pit Bull. The black dog is handily dispatched. I know the black dog will come again, but I fear him no more.

The black dog has run off. I have not seen him for a while, and I have carried the message of hope to those whom he has visited.

THE TUMOR

On 10 Sept. 2013, my wife brought to my attention that it was the 1 year anniversary of her surgery to remove a malignant tumor. I thought back on our saga with this issue; a great test of our faith. It has elevated the virtue of hope to a new level in my practice of the virtues, and I have developed a new respect for hope and a greater understanding of it’s importance.

From the time of the diagnosis, her doctors have not only been practitioners dealing with the physical aspects of our situation, but they have also treated the mental and emotional side, and their main purpose in these has been to give hope. The Stephanie Spielman center in Columbus, Ohio, where we have gone for treatment, is not a dark and foreboding anteroom of the doomed. It is a happy place. It is decorated with bright wall coverings & carpet, large windows overlooking the bustling city, flowers and balloons, and heavy emphasis on the word "survivor". The halls are decked with smiling, victorious pictures of those undergoing treatment. The staff members have continually given us statistics and probabilities; assurances of the low expectations for recurrence and life threatening consequences. Free cappuccino machines are everywhere. The patients who sit waiting, some of them in bright colored head wraps to cover their bald heads, are friendly, talkative, and cheerful. I enjoy their company while I sit and wait. I think this, as much as any of the other treatments, has done the most to help us weather the storm thus far. There have been many hugs, pats on the shoulder, and positive nods because the cancer was detected early and remained localized. The employees, from receptionists to doctors, radiate with hope.



Through this experience, I have also gained a greater respect for hope in our spiritual lives. Heb 6:11 And we desire that every one of you do shew the same diligence to the full assurance of hope unto the end: The Christian’s hope is solid assurance. Many worldly hopes can be dashed. Not the hope that we have in Christ. I know the answer to the riddle of what would happen when the irresistible force met the immovable object. The immovable object would prevail. God is the irresistible force and His promises are the immovable object. Since it is impossible for Him to lie, under no circumstance will He break a promise; therefore, the promise stands. Our hope is anchored in His promise.

Each 3 foot thick cable of the Golden Gate bridge is anchored into a 60,000 ton concrete block buried in earth. Even they could conceivably fail in an earthquake. When Jesus picked Himself up by His own bootstraps and walked out of the tomb, hope became anchored in that which is immovable under any circumstance. Hope is the fuel in our tanks. Hope is what keeps our feet in motion, continually putting one in front of the other. Without it, we slow down, finally stopping and sinking into despair. If we dwell there, our demise quickly follows.

THE SUBMARINE

I heard the story of a submarine that sunk in about 250 feet of water. The crew waited for endless hours. Hope of rescue was dwindling as the air inside became low on oxygen. Finally, the clanking of a diver was heard on the hull. In Morse code the message was: "Is anyone alive in there?" One of the trapped seamen ran to get a pipe wrench and tapped a code from the inside: "Is there any hope?" "Yes" came the reply. "We will lower a rescue chamber which we can attach to he hatch. We’ll bring you up a few at a time." Hope brought 33 crewmen safely to the surface. Later, even the sub was salvaged.



THE SONG

The late singer, Waylon Jennings, may be an unlikely source for wisdom; but he had a song that I have sung to myself over and over for years: "Storms never last, do they Jessi; Bad times all pass with the wind; Your hand in mine stills the thunder; You make the sun want to shine." Now I don’t know who "Jessi" is, but I know Whose hand in mine stills the thunder. He stills it with hope.



THE WEATHER


Many may see that hope is in the promise of Heaven, and that is certainly true; but I don’t think hope is only in Heaven. Hope is also in the fact that our condition in this life is much like the weather. Here in Ohio, weather changes rapidly. Yesterday morning when I got up to go to work, it was 43 degrees. Today we hit 96. The day after tomorrow the predicted high is 64. Sometimes in Winter it can be wet and gloomy for two weeks. Some days are so dark that the street lights stay on; but we know the sun will shine again. That’s what keeps us truckin’ through the fog. Things will get better. We must see our lives in the amalgam. When we do, I’m sure we will conclude that we’re not that bad off after all.

THE ABSENCE OF HOPE

I love baseball. In basketball or football, there comes a point before the end that you can safely head for the parking lot. In baseball, there is hope until the last putout of the last inning.

The poet, Alighieri Dante, pictured the gates of Hell with an inscription above: "Abandon hope, all ye who enter here." To him, this was the most exquisite torment. No one will pay or pray us out of a non existent purgatory. Separated from God irrevocably. Abandoned to an eternal cauldron. Contemplating this makes hope the first straw I would grasp for. If someone would only promise me that it would last for just 1000 years; or a million; or a billion! If only someone would tell me that I would just go out of existence!

When we think of the absence of hope, the presence of it becomes immeasurably precious.

　

Practice Charity, for it is the purest imitation of God. Have Faith, for without it, it is impossible to please God. Don’t neglect hope, for it is anchored to God, and it will surely bring us safely through, and eventually home to Him.

these kids today!

These Kids Today!

 

  I will say right off the bat:  There are some exceptional young people today.  Against the backdrop of the “normal”, they are nothing short of heroic.  If you are one, please know that I recognize, value, and salute your existence.  You have more “grit” than I.

 

  Solomon observed;     Prov 22:15  Foolishness is bound in the heart of a child; but the rod of correction shall drive it far from him. 

  By “children” I am speaking of teen to early twenties.  A certain amount of “foolishness” is unavoidably bound in their hearts but I chalk that up to childish irresponsibility, not malevolence.  Wisdom takes time.   However, the environment in which today’s kids live allows them to take that foolishness to depths unprecedented since perhaps the days of Noah.

  Now humor me as I tell you what it was like “when I was your age”.  The rod of correction was used on me.  Mom and Dad stayed together.  I was the first to an “old time” church each time the doors were opened and the last to leave.  I was kept very busy.  I had a paper route, mowed yards, was in Boy Scouts, 4H, dug ditches for the city, milked cows, helped my grandpa with farm work, and handled tens of thousands of hay bales over a 7 year stretch.  When night fell, I was in bed because I was tired.  I went straight from High School into a Bible College with strict rules, and straight from there into the ministry.  So was I a paragon of virtue?  Maybe not.  Foolishness was in my heart also, but providence didn’t give me a chance to explore it.  I have always said that I would have had to work as hard to get into trouble as today’s kids have to work to stay out of it. 

  Current youth have no more propensity toward foolish behavior than my childrens’ generation, nor my generation, nor any preceding;  but again, several factors in our modern culture have enabled them to take the propensity they do have to extremes.  Some of these factors are as follows:    Access to media that exploits foolishness//  Technologies to access evil//   God free school environments//  Fragmented families// Churches that go shallow on Biblical teaching and pander to narcissism//  A relativist culture//  Tarnished “role models”//  Less parental sacrifice, vigilance, intervention//  Laws prohibiting kids from laying block or working concrete all day.  No more yards to mow or ditches to dig.  Too much fear of liability by potential employers.  Farmers don’t make many small bales of hay anymore and have the youngsters buck them and wrestle them under a tin roof at 140 degrees.  You can probably name others.  A lot of those “juices” that make the young vulnerable can be “sweat out”. 

  Were I to say about today’s youth, “Aw, they’re just being kids!” or something like “Well, we were all young once.” I would be in denial.  The majority of them are just plain bottom feeders.  Hyperbolic?  If you think I am, then what percentage of 15+ year olds would you say haven’t been gassed on Bud Light or huffed or puffed or snorted or popped or shot up?  What percentage do you think are still virgins??   If they are, what percentage would you say are ashamed of it??  In any case, you dare not spank them.  You may cause a brain injury. 

  Their language is a bellwether because:  Matt 12:34  for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.  I have noticed a shift from profanity to obscenity.  I think this has been led by most forms of media.  I am curious about this shift.   I define profanity as blasphemy, a violation of the 3rd commandment.  I define obscenity as that warned against in Ephesians 5:4 Neither filthiness (aischroitees), nor foolish talking, nor jesting, which are not convenient: but rather giving of thanks.   “Aischrotees”  in the Greek denotes offensive or filthy language, not necessarily a taking of the Lord’s name in vain.  Aischrotees may vary from culture to culture, but it is designed to be offensive to other people. My generation was into projecting a “devil may care” personae by poking God in the eye with profanity.  It was God Who took the brunt.  Today’s obscenities are aimed specifically at  other people.  To rankle them.  To show not only a lack of respect, but an attitude of hostility toward others.  The young need to be careful of their belligerence, for some elderly are growing hostile toward the young.  Our “system” is reducing old folks to the point that they have nothing to lose, and that makes them dangerous.  Very dangerous.  Many have lost their faith.  There is nothing left to intimidate them.  Prison or the Nursing home makes no diff.  They have nothing left but an M1 semi automatic and plenty of ammo.  They may decide to go out in a blaze of glory by wasting an obstreperous young person.   Remember:   2 Kings 2:23-24  And he (Elisha) went up from thence unto Bethel: and as he was going up by the way, there came forth little children out of the city, and mocked him, and said unto him, Go up, thou bald head; go up, thou bald head.  And he turned back, and looked on them, and cursed them in the name of the LORD. And there came forth two she bears out of the wood, and tare forty and two children of them.

 

   Despite all this juvenile decadence, I am not ready to hang my harp on the willows yet as the Israelis did when they finally knuckled under to the Babylonian captivity.  Let me offer some reasons why.

 

  I am not evolutionist to the point that I preclude the necessity of God as the original cause and present sustainer;  but I do believe that the world He has made tends to “cull” the herd.  I believe it because I have seen it.  Humans do not want to be “culled”.  Not wanting to be culled is called “survival instinct”, and wanton behavior will put a man in touch with his survival instinct.  Witness the prodigal.

  Part of the “foolishness” bound up in the heart of a child is that he believes the avenue to freedom is through anarchy.  He entertains fantasies that he would survive and thrive under such an economy, and achieve the greatest amount of fulfillment from life.

  In 1979 an Australian movie called “Mad Max” was made.  The plot is about how the world would be when oil supplies were depleted.  Governments collapse.  There is no law.  Only the strongest survived, until someone stronger came along.  The herd was culled until there was no one left except the most deviant and violent and they were battling down to the last man standing.  This movie spawned a genre of movies called “dystopian” (characterized by human misery brought on by overcrowding).  Many video games built on this concept have also proliferated.    The hero is the survivor and that survivor is the most ruthless.

 

  Children are foolish enough to believe that they would be that survivor.

 

  My generation was the 60’s and early 70’s.  “We” (comprehensively speaking) tried “it” (anarchy).  Free drugs, free sex, “free” food (usually stolen).  “Woodstock” became the signature microcosm.  Several other microcosms called “communes” were attempted;  but evolution ensued. One person was full and the other one hungry.  All the women only wanted to sleep with the handsome guys and all the men only wanted to sleep with the pretty women.  Humans just cannot tolerate injustices like these.  One worked blisters on his hands while the other sat in the shade stoned on his drug of choice.  The communes were short lived because sooner or later, there had to be “rules”;  the very things “we” detested.  “Who will make these rules?”  “Who will interpret these rules case by case?”  “Who will enforce these rules?”   “Let’s take a vote.” “Oh oh!  Oh oh!”  Sounds like a democracy to me.  A self appointed tyrant said “We ain’t votin’!  I’m the biggest guy here and I’ll make the rules!  Any objections?”  “Oh oh!  Oh oh!”  Sounds like a dictatorship to me.

  Then one day “we” looked into a mirror and saw our first grey hair (or lack of hair where there used to be some.)  “We” got to counting the Winters we had weathered, and there had been 30 some.  The commune had long since dissolved.  Billy decided he didn’t want to play anymore and took his VW van home.  And “we” found ourselves alone. We looked down and our ribs were sticking out like those of a P.O.W.  The drugs didn’t make us feel good any more, but “we” had to do them just to keep from feeling like we had been stripped and dragged through prickly pear behind a scared horse.  “We” were going to have to knock off another liquor store.  “We” decided to make one more score, and swallow the whole bag, and that would be it.

 

  But some of “us” decided that breathing is nice.  “We” took the cure.  “We” took that job cleaning toilets and windshields at the truck stop.  “We” saw the truckers get out on hot Summer days with sweat on the back of their shirts.  “We” got an idea.  “We” thought of a wicker seat cover that had thin nylon tubing woven through it.  A tiny circulating pump could be plugged into the power point.  A little reservoir of water could be mounted in front of an air conditioning vent.   “We” would call them “Cool Backs”.   We set up a hand made sign with a slogan:  “No cool front ahead? Put a ‘Cool Back’ behind”.  “We” thought that we could make them and set a few up in the truck stop for sale.   “We” kept cleaning toilets and lived in a tent and soaked pinto beans until we had saved enough to have a grub stake. We made a down payment on a little shop and we started a business.  “We” worked all day there and slept a few hrs. there.  Word got around that our seat covers helped. “We” started turning a profit.  We plowed the money back into R&D and refined our product.  A big truck stop chain called and ordered a thousand to display in their stores.  “We” found some of our old friends who decided breathing is good.  “We” hired them. 

  Time passed and one day “we” met this other person that we liked so much that we wanted to be with them alone and they wanted the same, so we saw the Justice of the Peace.  And “we” wanted to give another person life.  And another.   And “we” put on some weight.  And “we” got more grey hairs.  And “we” got wrinkles beside our eyes from smiling often.  And “we” became what “we” used to curse;  all because breathing is better than not breathing.

 

  If no one else will take the responsibility of whipping you, life itself has a way of whipping the foolishness out of you;  and that’s why I haven’t hung my harp on the willows.

 

  If you are a teen or twenty something, “we” were the people you are.  “We” are the people you swear you will “never turn into.”            Oh oh!

The Ultimate Evil

The Ultimate Evil
When I read a book you will most likely get an essay on the subject if it is good. Not a book report; just my thoughts on the subject. The most recent book I have read is D. A. Carson’s "The Intolerance of Tolerance". I would recommend it highly. Mr. Carson has characterized the "new tolerance" of our present "post modern" society very accurately and thoroughly documented it’s evolution. The "old tolerance" said, "I respect your right to hold beliefs that differ from mine." (my quote) The "new tolerance" of post modernism says, "I respect everything except a belief which embodies absolute truths." (my quote) This rationale is in keeping with relativism; a firm conviction that there is no absolute truth. Absolute truth is that truth which is eternal and immutable.

Absolute truth is that truth about which it can be said; "there are only two options: one person can be right and one wrong, or both can be wrong, but in no case can both be right." There are absolute truths in the "hard sciences"; i.e. mathematics, physics, chemistry, etc.; but these are outside the scope of this discussion. We are speaking of absolute truths within the social sciences: Theology, Philosophy, Sociology, etc; especially when these disciplines deal with morality. The new tolerance is a conviction which is itself a belief system with an absolute truth: that there is no absolute truth with respect to the social sciences. This new tolerance is especially intolerant of those who find absolute truth established objectively; outside the parameters of the collective human "conscience" of a given culture.

Today, there are 3 big targets of this intolerant tolerance. These targets all claim that there is truth in the social sciences and that they have found it. They are Christianity, Islam, and Judaism, specifically the branches of these three who tend to interpret their holy book literally and hold to ancient doctrines as truth. To the disciple of this new "tolerance", the "ultimate evil" is to hold beliefs that consider some behavior as wrong. By the way, "ultimate evil" is a term coined by Carson. The "tolerant" would never use the word "evil" because it betrays their zealotry.

Carson’s book intentionally begs many questions, and one of mine is: "When has Christian fundamentalism ever been tolerated by the rest of the world?" Or fundamental Islam or Judaism for that matter? To hold beliefs to be absolute truth necessitates rejection of other beliefs with opposing "truths". There is no escaping it.

This ideology is far from new. This "toleration" that becomes intolerant of the intolerant has always morphed into the worst kind of totalitarianism that the world has had to endure. It’s seeds are being sown again.

As Carson points out, the bloodiest century in human history was the 20th. Mao, Stalin, Hitler, Pol Pot, etc. wiped out close to 100 million people because their skin color was not right, their heritage was not right, they needed vengeance wrought upon them, or because they held to beliefs that could not be tolerated by those bent on fascism. These people were considered a threat to the peace. (the peace as defined by the fascist.) What do you do to people who threaten the peace? You commission their genocide! You eventually turn into the most intolerant and violent of people.



Jesus warned: Mark 13:13 And ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake : but he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved. I have said before and will say again; the reason is very simple. Christians are hated because they hold to a belief that some natural urges of the flesh are "wrong" AND that that wrong will be divinely punished if not expiated by Jesus, the Christ, and Him alone. It is not an act of physical violence that Christians have perpetrated; it is simply a belief that they hold; but it appears that even holding the belief that something is immoral is not to be tolerated.

Our preacher, who is an avid golfer, told a true story about a pro golf tournament in which Billy Graham participated as a guest. One pro golfer was so upset about Graham being there that he finally said, "Why does he have to be here and shove his religion down my throat?" An interviewer said, "What did Mr. Graham say to you?" "Nothing, yet. I haven’t seen him." said the golfer. "It’s just that he’s here!" Apparently, we have committed the ultimate evil just by being here and holding to certain beliefs.



What I hope you have seen thus far is the oxymoronic nature and self contradiction of those who claim to be tolerant. As long as there is absolute truth, some will not align with it. In order to make everyone OK, they must abolish absolute truth, and censure everyone who believes in it. In so doing, they become the very thing that they reprimand.

As Christians, we have the Bible which we believe to be truth. We have the truth personified in Jesus. Jesus and the apostolic writers say that we should be peacemakers, patient, kind, longsuffering, people who suffer persecution. So far, so good. The scriptures also show that Jesus was intolerant of the temple moneychangers and the hypocritical Pharisees. It shows that the fornicator was not to be tolerated in the Corinthian church. The Thyatiran church was not to tolerate Jezebel. Some acts of the flesh are called "abominations". Clearly, toleration has a limited context. There comes a point when a line must be drawn in the sand. The preacher was right when he said Eccl 3:8 (there is) A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.

The advocates of tolerance in our society have labeled intolerance as wrong. If it is wrong, they have indulged in that wrong themselves by being intolerant of those who draw lines in the sand, even though they have drawn a line of their own in the sand against people who draw lines in the sand.



It is impossible to tolerate everything. Many cry "Don’t judge!" But we must. All of us make hundreds of judgments a day. Many of the people I hear crying "toleration" are those who are gay or have gay friends or those who want to have sex with anyone anytime and have that ace in the hole of an abortion to get out of a pickle. They are people who don’t want freedom of religion but freedom from religion. Now wait a minute! You can’t hate me for saying that. You must tolerate!

Tolerate this next paragraph if you have the stomach. Many of the cries for intolerance of people with absolutist belief systems emanate from our college campuses. We have male and female on their own for the first time and at their most vulnerable, then we throw them together into co ed dorms and hand out condoms and let them hang "do not disturb" signs on their dorm room doors while they are having sex. Then we exonerate and banish guilt by teaching them that there is no right or wrong. We infer that they have now left the knuckle draggers behind and are on their way to becoming the avant garde of the brave new world ruled by more highly evolved members of the species. Room mate wants to study but has to do it in the student lounge because his room has become a brothel. He gets jealous because he’s not getting any sex, so he comes out of the closet and says "I’m gay! See! I don’t need you girls anyway!" Small wonder that they demand toleration!

Don’t tell me I’m in la la land! I’ve seen too many of our good young boys and girls come out of our churches with promising futures. I go to visit them on the state funded campus to see how they are getting along, only to see them being destroyed before their freshman year is over. Their professors only use textbooks that support the "tolerant" lifestyle. They revise history to prove that this is the way our progenitors behaved. Many of these kids are so buzzed and confused that they can’t hold a job of any kind; they become a part of the 47% of Americans living off the taxpayer. Too few of them come to their senses before it is too late.

Tell me what "tolerant" man’s toleration would not end when another man was holding his little daughter at gunpoint. I think we need to revisit the old tolerance at the very least. A respect of persons’ rights to hold beliefs differing from our own, and our right to peacefully challenge those beliefs. As "un peaceful" as it sounds, the public square should be like Mars Hill in Athens, a free marketplace of ideologies. I don’t want a theocracy like many Muslim states have. Neither do the "tolerant". Let each individual decide for himself what rings true. Of course I am not advocating violence to get our various points across. If violence arises, it is the duty of government to shut it down, violently if need be. He does not bear the sword in vain. This goes for Christians who become violent as well as people of other belief systems.



The crusading Catholic of the 11th and 12th centuries was misguided to think that people could be coerced to become Christians. The militant Muslim of today is misguided to think that people can be coerced to become Muslim. If a person is brainwashed or tortured, can it truly be said that he is converted? Only a sick mind would affirm that.

I don’t try to "hard sell" my beliefs anymore. Now I know the wisdom of not casting pearls before swine. I know when to hold ‘em and when to fold ‘em. I don’t put thumbscrews on a person and force the good confession out of him. If I do that, I have not "converted" him at all. Paul said Rom 1:16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth I tell the gospel. The gospel seed converts if the soil is good. All I can do is tell the old, old story and all I want is the freedom to do so whenever and wherever an opportunity presents itself. Let there be an open market place of ideas, and let me have my say there too.

How do I think Christianity will fare in a free marketplace of ideas? About as well as Paul fared on Mars Hill (Acts 17: only two, Dionysius and Damaris wanted to hear more). The Epicurean hedonists certainly couldn’t be bothered. They had to get down to the baths with their wine to meet their prostitutes. Christianity teaches that some carnal things are "wrong" (a word the "tolerant" cannot use) and so the carnal appetite and those ideas that sanction it will always be more popular.

When the dust settles and the smoke clears, that is what this issue of "tolerance" is all about. It is all about forcing people to accept and help pay for the results of the whole society’s carnal behavior. It is about allowing the postmodern hedonist to indulge his appetites with no consequences, no repercussions, no guilt.

And so, fundamental Christianity will never be popular in a fallen world. Only people who are willing to deny themselves and take up their cross will accept it; and those are few. I suspect that there are more of those than we realize, but still few in comparison to the whole. Does their scarcity mean that they should be disallowed and excluded from the public forum? California has 37 million citizens and Wyoming has 560,000. Should we then deny Wyoming representation in congress? Really now! Only an intolerant society would do that.

I am in the same situation as Peter and John in Acts 4. The powers had told them to shut up. I suppose I shall have to answer like they did. Acts 4:19-20 But Peter and John answered and said unto them, Whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge ye. For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard.

What will the intolerant "tolerant" do to me? In other countries, theocratic governments are allowing Christians to die at the hands of radical Muslims. In Western European countries where Atheism prevails, some have suffered light jail sentences. I don’t think it will happen in America. There are too many believers who represent too large a voting bloc for the policy makers to ignore. As the tolerance people turn up the volume, so do the evangelicals. These believers may not be of the same stripe as I, but they would go to bat for me and I for them. For the foreseeable future, I believe the intolerance of the tolerant will continue to manifest itself in condemnation from the state funded academic community, the media, and the popular culture in general. So what’s new? I plan to keep on committing the "ultimate evil". There are lines drawn in the sands of my conscience. I will behave within those lines. I will vote for the candidate who most closely aligns with those lines. I will speak about my lines and be able to defend them verbally and in written word. I will withhold my support from those who cross those lines. I believe this is right in the sight of the Lord.

Jehovah-jireh

Jehovah-jireh

I hadn’t been "into town" for a while. I had been working long hours and when I got off I just wanted to go home to my peaceful little nest in the country and spend a few hours with my wife before I dropped off to sleep; but I finally had to go to the drugstore. Have mercy! Gas was over $4 a gallon and the insulin I need to stay above ground raised from $10 to $89 out of pocket. I sinned. I thought, "So this is how it will end. (My life, I mean) I am dependent on capricious pharmaceutical companies and I won’t be able to afford my insulin. What a bummer! I wanted to be a martyr, or maybe die trying to set a land speed record at Bonneville on my motorcycle, or something glorious like that; but it looks as though I will just be the victim of a ridiculous economy. My epitaph will say:

"The Boz; ’neath this stone doth lie.

His goals were so noble, and high.

But people got greedy,

and he became needy,

so finally he just had to die."



I sinned because I forgot about all the times that God has provided for me when the wolf was at the door. Correction. The wolf had burst through the door and had his teeth on my jugular!

Jehovah-jireh is the name Abraham gave the place where God provided the ram as a substitute sacrifice for Isaac. I love that story, but the "providence" story that I relate to most is in I Kings 17. A great famine had swept the land. This widow, along with her only son, was about to cook a "last supper" and then get ready to die of starvation. The prophet Elijah told her to make him a supper first and then she and her son could eat. By faith she watched the prophet gobble down the last of her provisions, but when she went back to the barrel, there was just enough for another meal. And so on it went throughout the famine and she survived. That is the way it has been for me. God has never dumped a big load of surplus on me. Perhaps He knows that if He did, I would trust in it and not in Him. There has always been enough in the bottom of the barrel, though.



Ps 37:25 I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread.
The rest of this essay will be my personal testimony to you, that you might not fear nor worry.


The belated wedding gift.

My wife and I got married while we were students in Bible College. Finances were always tight. About a year into our marriage, there came a day when we were flat broke. There was no food in our larder. We didn’t even have anything we could sell to get food except our wedding rings. We were 3 days away from the next paycheck. We went without supper. The next morning I went to classes and checked my mail slot. In it was a letter from someone I barely knew. Inside the envelope was a belated wedding card and a $10 bill! $10 would buy a week’s worth of groceries for two in that day. By that time I was planning on going into ministry and I knew preachers’ salaries were pretty meager. (Churches do much better now). I think it was the Lord’s way of saying, "Go ahead with your plans. I will take care of you."

 The year on $800 a month.



In 1983 I was challenged to teach at a Christian school. I had two kids. My wife and I had made a firm decision that she would not have a job as long as we were raising kids. $200 a week was a bare necessity wage for a family in that Wyoming boom town, IF nothing unexpected happened. The coal and oil industry creates local inflation. Starting salary for a deck hand with no experience on an oil rig was $20 an hour for a 70 hour week. Prices for things in that town 30 years ago were about what they are now. I took the job. I taught 7th and 8th grade all subjects, drove the bus, was the janitor, and filled in for the administrator who had health problems. The school was on a 7000 acre ranch, so we cowboyed on weekends in the Spring. We made a garden plot out of sand and sheep dung. To everyone’s surprise, we had a lush garden in the midst of a shale wasteland. Dick, the ranch owner, let us teachers hunt. I couldn’t even afford ammo at the time, but we got lots of wild turkey and venison given to us. We wanted to go see my family in Missouri during Christmas break. We calculated that we would need $50 worth of gas to make the 1500 mile round trip. Dick had several rental houses. One was between renters and needed a thorough cleaning. Cindy, Nichole, Joe and I did it. Guess what we got paid. $50! After we got through paying bills that year, there was $5 left each week. During that year, none of us got sick enough to need a Dr. visit. We had no car expenses except gas and oil changes. None of our appliances broke. We didn’t need to buy new clothing. There were no financial surprises that whole year. We made it! My salary raised to a more comfortable level the next year.

The trip to Haiti.

In 1997 I made my first short term mission visit to Haiti. We were each allowed two large plastic tubs of medical supplies and toiletries on the plane, plus a carry on with our personal needs. We gave away our two tub’s worth pretty fast. We were nearing the end of our two week stay. We kept seeing people with vital needs. A friend of mine and I decided to give away all of our money and personal needs on the last day. We had our plane tickets home and that was all besides the clothes on our backs. Our footwear on the plane were the rubber sandals we used to shower in. We had several delays getting out of Haiti. In all, it took 24 hrs. to get home. It was about 10 hours until we got on the big plane at Port Au Prince bound for Miami. The stewardess came down the aisle with pop, crackers and peanuts. He looked at me and said, "You hungry?" "No. You?" "No." We passed up the freebies on the plane! A long layover in Miami and back on a plane bound for Toledo. Stewardess comes down the aisle. "You hungry?" "No. You?" "No." We passed up the freebies again! Finally home. "You hungry?" "No. You?" "No; I just want to get some sleep."

That time God didn’t provide the meals. He just kept us from getting hungry. That’s the way He works sometimes. Elijah made a 40 day journey on the sustenance from just one meal. (I Kings 19)

The Healthcare crisis.

We supplicate often for good health and safety. Safety God has given; but not the best of health. We have spent many tens of thousands out of pocket for medicine since about 1986. Today, between my wife and I, we pay about $400 a month out of pocket for medicine. Were it not for insurance, our drugstore bill would be close to $2000 a month.

About a year ago, my wife got a case of the cancer. She went to the Stephanie Spielman center in Columbus, OH. The tumor was removed and we go back this month to see if any has come back. She has to take medicine for 5 years to keep it from recurring. With medicine, there is only a 5% chance of recurrence. Without, there is a 25% chance. That was going to cost us an amount out of pocket that would have put us in deep debt.    We told her doctor that we just couldn’t do it and we’d have to take our chances without it. The Spielman center went to bat for us. We went back for an appointment. They got the price reduced to a pittance. "Cool!" said we. It is air mailed monthly and delivered right to our door!

I retired in 2011 due to poor health (kidney failure). Like most of you, I couldn’t really afford to retire. A renal specialist told me that at the rate my kidney function was declining, I had two months left before dialysis and I’d better get ready to make the adjustment. I was already spending so much time on Dr. visits, lab work, and insulin management that I knew I couldn’t do my ministry justice and do dialysis too. That was the last straw. At this time I am a little over a year from Medicare, but I hear that’s no picnic either. I pursued government "benefits". I worked for days filling out paperwork. One doctor told me to just give them a list of my prescriptions and that should suffice. I hit a brick wall. I decided that I’d have to be totally blind and missing both arms before I’d get any help from them. It’s obvious that they’ve taken their share out of every paycheck I’ve earned for about 50 years and they have no intention of giving it back when I need it. I was tempted to become an expatriate; but after reflection, I really don’t blame the federal agencies. I understand why they seem obstinate. There are so many people out there who don’t need benefits but they are getting them anyway by lying and "working the system". Heads will roll. People who have had the same hassle told me to get a lawyer. I checked it out. The lawyers’ fees would have been over half of anything I would have gotten; so I dropped that idea.

After I retired my health began to improve to the point I felt I could work again. I couldn’t go back into preaching because there were no churches close by in need of a preacher. I am at the point where a long move is nigh impossible. Our roots are too deep here. There are about 7 of them all under the age of 17.

God came to the rescue in a way I never expected. Along came a job offer from the most unlikely of places: A Farmers’ CO OP. I wasn’t looking for a job because at my age I felt my applications would be futile. A friend who worked at the CO OP said they needed help during the busy season. I went to the manager. "Can you pass a drug screening?" "I hope so." "Well, come in tomorrow after you go to the lab." "Well", says I, "Be forewarned, I don’t have much experience with chemical fertilizers and herbicides." "Aw", says he, "Once you get a snoot full of Anhydrous, you’ll learn."

Lots of fresh air and sunshine, lots of physical exercise, a friendly, fun crew to work with and a regular schedule. I’m physically worn out enough when I come home that I sleep like an angel. Evidently just what I needed! The busy season has come and gone but the manager has no present plans to lay me off. Now the financial pressure has eased. My kidneys have regained 40% of their function so far which puts me a comfortable distance from dialysis. I was in stage 4 which is the final stage and am now back up to stage 2. Not perfect, but functional.



I know we shouldn’t let right know what left does, but you need to know that we have never had to forsake our giving. We could have, and God may still have blessed us. Look at those who never give a penny and they have wealth untold. The tithe was always the most non negotiable thing in our budget, not because we believed God would bless us for giving or curse us for not; it is simply an urgency that the Spiritual nature gives us. I know what Malachi 3:10 says about giving the tithe and God will open up Heaven and pour out a blessing. It’s true. He does. BUT; people who give in order to get are viewing God as a Mafia Don who is running a divine protectionism racket. "Give, and I’ll make sure you don’t get hurt." They are simply missing the point. God doesn’t need my money, but as a person with a spiritual nature, I need to give. I need to give for the same reason a coyote needs to eat meat. To withhold is to deny my nature; my identity. The Christian needs an outlet for the new energy that is now coursing through his veins. To withhold is to stagnate spiritually.

I could go on and on singing the praises of Jehovah-jireh, and so could you; so if you are worried, I suggest you just sit down and start listing the times God has come to your rescue. He has fulfilled His promise to you or you wouldn’t be reading this right now. We just go from day to day like Jesus told us to in the first place; and there is always enough. Not a truckload. Just enough for each day. It’s been that way for 23,129 days now. I haven’t had to resort to stealing or begging. Don’t fret over the economy because there’s nothing You can do about it except prioritize your budget and start cutting out the stuff at the bottom of the list. Live within your means. I don’t think it will happen, but if I can’t buy food or medicine, I believe God will either make me healthy without medicine or give me the grace to die when the time comes. I didn’t figure on living forever in this world anyway.

I don’t ever want to take God for granted, but bless His heart; He is SO faithful and SO consistent that I’m afraid I do sometimes.

I think I will call this place Jehovah-jireh!

The Thorn of Time

Ps 90:4 For a thousand years in thy sight are but as yesterday when it is past, and as a watch in the night.

I will reveal the proposition of this essay up front so that you will know that I am working toward a conclusion and not merely rambling in vain speculation, for I do tend to be a ramblin’ man. I propose: Those who have died in Christ are beyond time; therefore they are, as we who are enduring time speak, enjoying fellowship with those of us who will be with them in Heaven in our future. This thought gives me a great deal of joy here and now. I am happy that they are not languishing in a state of waiting for us to join them.

The elapsing of time is either eternal, or it only happens during the existence of the material universe. I think the latter because time is pointless unless there is something that can be measured by it, and I have not known God to do pointless things. We sing a song: “When the trumpet of the Lord shall sound and time shall be no more…”. I agree.

The elapsing of time began when God said, “Let there be….”. When the earth was spun and the greater and lesser lights were flung throughout the heavens, space and matter began to relate to time, but only to the slightest degree. Even after the creation of man, the passing of time was a non issue. I doubt that Adam and Eve were continually checking their day timers; BUT, when the fall of man took place in the garden, the whole creation came under a curse. Death, of course was one aspect of the curse. Thorns and thistles another; but death came into the picture and man’s days were numbered. When that happened, time vaulted into position as a tyrannical king over all things material. The second law of thermodynamics and its irrevocable entropy began, not just for man but the whole creation groans under it. All matter began it’s forced march toward absolute zero. I believe the enduring of time’s relentless despotism is a “thorn” of man’s curse. The hope of escaping our bondage to dwell in an existence where the meaning of “past” and “future” are annihilated is a blessed hope indeed, and the more time I endure, the more I know it. We speak in terms of “the present”, but loosely. We are riding the “train” of time, so the precise “present” is always passing by the window of our conveyance, just beyond our grasp. Before we have said “I am”….we were. The hope of the Christian is that he will finally disembark at the most joyous of destinations and at last “be” as the great “I Am” is.

Mercifully, time is relative. Let me be a little silly. A house fly has a life span of about a month. Should we then pity them? How do we know how fast time is passing for them? They seem to us to be buzzing and burning themselves out at an incredible rate, when perhaps they see themselves as eagles, lazily wafting on the currents. I can imagine two of them sitting on my knee enjoying carelessly discarded remnants of a sandwich. I gear up to make my hand move as fast as possible to swat them. Perhaps one says to the other: “I see the hand beginning to move.” “Yes” says the other. “I guess we’ll eventually have to fly, but let’s have lunch first. Mmmmm, peanut butter and jelly! Let me check the radar and see where the hand is. Yes, the hand is still coming in our direction, but it won’t be here for a while. When it gets over us, let’s fly and meet on the other knee. Perhaps he wiped some of his sandwich on that one too. We’d better get some sleep before the long trip. It’ll take a thousand flaps to get over there non stop.” Now back to my awareness of time. My hand comes down so hard I hurt my knee, but to no avail. They are already gone. Do flies go through puberty on the 6th day? Do they get fat and bald and have mid life crises on days 12 and 13? Who knows?

About 4 months ago, I began my 34th avocation; working for a Farmers’ Coop in the fertilizer dept. On rainy days when we can’t spread or spray we only work 9 hrs. These are terribly long days we spend in the shop fixing what broke, maintaining machinery, topping off Roundup shuttles and fuel tanks, filling anhydrous wagons, laughing and crying with customers and playing Euchre. When it dries out, all that isn’t set in concrete breaks loose. First light ‘til dark; but it seems that the Sun fairly flies across the sky! I think we all prefer these days when time finds another gear.

At my age, time has found another gear. Far from lamenting it, I see it as one of the benefits of aging. We are made to know full well that we will not be stuck here forever, thank God! Perhaps the acceleration of time as we age is preparing us to be free of it all together.

When I say that those departed brethren are dwelling beyond time, I am not saying that they are, like Oxenham’s thoughts, “Bees in Amber”; in stasis, awaiting activation. That is not a very alluring prospect. It certainly was not the state of Abraham and Lazarus in Luke 16. No. They have “Zoe” life. In other words: life as God has it. A living, active, blissful and purposeful type of existence. Those of us who have been saved have “Zoe” life also in our spirits, but because our bodies are still slaves to time we can only see it through a glass, darkly. We should also remember the rich man of Luke 16. He was in eternity, but not with Zoe.

Let the more precise Greek language elucidate. The Greeks had at least two words for life. One is “Bios” which simply means “life” by its most rudimentary definition. Using oxygen, consuming and excreting, reproducing. Amoebae have “bios” but certainly not the other term for life: “zoe”. (I don’t think. Perhaps Amoebae have some pretty wild parties.) When Jesus said John 10:10 The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly . He used the term “zoeen”. An abundant life that is far beyond mere bios. We Christians who are still here enduring the curse of time have a foretaste of “zoeen”, but we will not know it’s full glories until we pass over into a dimension where time is not a factor.

It is we who are still in time who endure the suffering caused by the loss of loved ones; but my suffering is considerably ameliorated by the thought that my mother, my grandparents, and other Christian friends who have escaped, as I write, may be in my company in a land where we have realization of our full potential and are employing and enjoying it without limits. “Without limits” is the wonderful abundance of this sort of life.

One may object to my theme because of Rev. 6:10 where the souls of the martyrs cry out “How long?” How long before you avenge our deaths, Lord? If this is taken literally, then trash this essay; and I will have to trash a lot of what I believe about the afterlife. My opinion is that the souls of those martyrs are not suffering pangs of impatience. My opinion is that they no more literally cried this out than Abel’s blood literally cried out for vengeance on Cain. It is symbolic imagery depicting the nature of God’s justice; which sometimes seems slow, but is nevertheless inexorable. Surely any martyr for the faith will be too overwhelmed by the glories of this wonderful estate to worry about past indignities. If anyone would have been within rights to call God to hurry His vengeance it would have been Paul. Instead he says 2 Cor 4:17 For our light affliction , which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; Surely any martyr who is made fully like his master has forgotten his suffering and would rather cry for forgiveness. I can’t fathom a place called “Paradise” being similar to a street in Tehran full of people burning their enemies in effigy and screaming for the powers that be to even the score. If that’s paradise, I don’t wanna go.

One may also object to my inferences on the basis of Paul’s statement about the Christian martyrs in Heb 12:1 Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses…. Many assume from this that they are in Paradise as if in a great grandstand watching (witnessing) us as we run the race here and cheering us on, hence, waiting for us to finish the race and join them (which necessitates the endurance of elapsing time). I believe Paul is not saying that they are witnesses of us, rather he says that they are witnesses to us by the lasting memory of their lives.

Any reference to the afterlife that seems to require the element of passing time must be a concession needed to convey it to us in understandable terms.

I do not believe that those who have passed on are aware of anything we are doing “down here”; because for them we are already there. To be absent from the body and present with the Lord is an existence free of tears. Surely, if they were witnessing our journey through time, our foibles and struggles would cause them tears. Oh! How I would hate to think of my mother observing my temper tantrums! (Which, I must hastily add, are mild and fleeting compared to what they used to be) I remember how they bothered her so when she was rearing me. I was the oldest of 5 children and sometimes took advantage of my size in order to subjugate my siblings. In short, I was a bully. Back before every child had to have a room of their own, we three brothers all slept in a small bedroom. A full bed and a half bed were squeezed in wall to wall. If I wanted to sleep and my brothers were horsing around I would threaten; “One more ‘peep’ and it’s 5 minutes in the ‘crack’”! Sure enough, one of those little imps would go “peep”. My wrath instantly fell upon him and he was shoved down into the dreaded “crack” between the mattresses where he remained immobilized (and perhaps suffocating, which concerned me not in the least.) Mom called my treatment of them “strong arm tactics” and she cared not at all for them. Regardless, the last words I remember her saying to me were “You’re doing a wonderful work, son.” I was 750 miles away doing that work when she died. I tried to talk with her on the phone when my sister called and informed me that she was on the “home stretch”. By that time she was unable to communicate with me. Sometimes time and space are a terrible curse. I was always gone. She called me “the wandering Jew.” I was gone a wandering when she died. Gone a wandering when Grandpa and Grandma died. Gone a wandering when my nephew died. Gone. Gone a wandering. Now, praise God, I believe that as far as they are concerned I am not gone. They are not anxiously watching and waiting; straining to see over some distant aqueous horizon for the first glimpse of the flag on my mast. I am already there with them in a land where time and space are of no consequence. It is I who must endure what few years I may have left without them. It is I who must endure time.

It is they who are temporarily gone from me. If I remain faithful to the profession of my faith, I am no longer gone from them.

Golf, Healing, Ugly Cars

Golf used to fascinate me. I lived within a few blocks of a beautiful 9 hole course in a sparsely populated area. For $90 a year you could play as much as you wanted and you never had to call for a "tee time". If I needed to clear my head and get a little fresh air and exercise, I could jump out of my office chair and be teeing off in 5 minutes and back in an hour and a half. I probably averaged 3 rounds a week for several years. Sometimes I played using only a 3 wood. Sometimes I had the course all to myself and I played without clubs and threw the ball, rolling it like a bocce ball when I was on the greens. I even played in the dead of Winter, though the clubs lose their flex and shots are shorter. Yes, you can see the ball. As white as it may be it is not nearly as white as snow. I was never good enough to play in a tournament but good enough to stay out of the rough and enjoy the game.

The fascination was that I couldn’t master it. I would think, "now my slice is cured" but it would come back. I would think, "I can sink every put within five feet" then I would start missing the easy ones. Breaking 80 was a quixotic dream, but 84 was the best round I ever had, no "mulligans". There are so many variables that one simply cannot foresee and compensate for them all. Even after I had reached the peak of my game, I could go out with someone who had never held a club before and he could give me serious competition. I had a friend who was a carpenter. His hand eye coordination was sharply honed. He said he had never played before, and I was amazed at how quickly he caught on. The fourth round I played with him, he beat me; and I never beat him again. Among us duffers, it seems that golf is the great equalizer.



This is also how it seems when it comes to interpreting scripture. I have been taught the Bible all my life, informally and formally; and people paid me a salary for over 40 years to study and teach it. Despite this, new territory keeps appearing. I try never to discount what new converts say in my classes, simply because of their naiveté. They have the guidance of the indwelling Holy Spirit also and they are viewing the scripture from a fresh perspective. I pay attention to their questions and comments and sometimes they open new pastures of thought for me to graze in.

I think some Bible teachers will not suffer to be challenged, perhaps because of insecurity. They feel that showing a hesitancy or admitting an outright mistake will damage their credibility. Even experts in the "hard" sciences may have a lapse of competence, but with the Bible, who would dare to think he has cornered the market on knowing the mind of God? Is that not what we believe the Bible is? If we tell someone that the Bible is the Word of God, and then purport to be an infallible judge of all it says; I should think we are at more risk of losing credibility.

I think I have taught in err on a certain subject, and the balance of this paper will be a "mea culpa" and hopefully a correction of that mistake. The scripture in question is I Corintians 13:8-10 Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away. For we know in part, and we prophesy in part. But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away.

I do not believe that the supernatural gifts ("charismata") from the Holy Spirit are in existence today. I have often used the above text as proof of that. I learned that this was a "proof text" in Bible College; not from a professor, but from a fellow student in an informal home Bible study. Since college, I have heard various teachers and preachers use it as a proof text against the current existence of the charismata. It made sense to me at the time, and so I have perpetuated it also. Most of you who read this have never had an experience that you thought might be the charismata. I say again, I do not believe the charismata to be in existence today; but I no longer believe the above text to be proof of that. There are other passages that prove that to me, some Patristic writings (2nd century historical testimonies) and many personal experiences. The book of Acts, particularly the 8th chapter makes it clear to me that the charismata could only be conferred by the laying on of the hands of one who held the apostolic office. They were also conferred by the arbitrary volition of the resurrected and ascended Jesus, and that was only on 2 specific occasions and for obvious reasons: Pentecost (Acts 2) and the first Gentile conversions (Acts 10).

No one can qualify for the apostolic office today. No one today was witness to the ministry of Jesus from His baptism by John. No one today has seen Him resurrected. (Acts 1:21,22) No one can be bitten by deadly snakes or drink poison unharmed. (Mark 16:17,18) Handling snakes that have been kept in a pop cooler is one thing. Being bitten by one is another. Sometimes those pop coolers get a little warm and someone gets bitten. He swells up and dies without medical help just like anyone else would. There are those who claim to hold the office, but how can they verify it? I could claim it too, but what reason would you have to believe me? The Pope claims it, but why does he have to apologize for and rescind the supposedly inspired statements of his "apostolic" predecessors? Can an apostle resign? If the apostolic office still exists, then we do not have "the faith once delivered unto the saints." (Jude 3) Who knows what new information will issue forth in the next Papal encyclical or from the next "prophet"? Who can be sure of anything?

No. There the office of "apostle" does not exist today. Of course I believe Jesus still has the ability to confer the charismata, but He has made no prediction or promise to dispense it to modern folk. He fulfilled His promises and the prophecies on the Day of Pentecost. I have witnessed nothing that convinces me that the charismata exist today. In fact, what I have witnessed and experienced has only confirmed my belief that they do not now exist. What is being called the "charismata" today bears little resemblance to what transpired in the 1st century. Today’s exercises are for personal benefit, with no transfer of valuable information to edify the whole congregation. They may excite but they do not instruct. A football team may have sensational pep rallies but if it’s players do not know the playbook, they will lose. Today’s "tongues" are not known languages and dialects. Today’s exercises violate instructions for their usage given in I Cor. 14.

I said that personal experience was a part of my motive to believe that the charismata do not exist today. May I bare my soul about something that happened long ago?

I am fearful to tell this because I know this paper may fall into the hands of some of my former professors who taught me better. You must understand that I had not seen any evidence that God was at work in me for many months. I had been in ministry for a while. Long enough for a steady diet of death, suffering, and running to put out one brush fire after another to wear me down to the point of despair. When the song leader picked out the hymn "There is Joy in Serving Jesus" I did not sing. For me, it would have been a lie. I wasn’t serving Jesus at all. I was serving my perception of my congregation’s expectations of what the minister ought to be and do.

I had just returned from a long trip to the hospital where a dear lady lay ill. In my opinion, it was not her time. She was a sterling example of Christian womanhood; a "Dorcas" to our congregation. She had many more years to give, I thought. I prayed fervently, in full faith that the Lord would restore her. She died in surgery.

You must understand that it had been a hard year for our church. We had lost 3 faithful members to illness. I was like Jacob, wrestling with the Lord and swearing not to let Him go until I received a blessing. "Lord" I said, "Where is Your power? I must have Your power executed when I pray! If I cannot see some results soon, I will judge myself an unfit servant and give up the ministry!" I was stunned by this lady’s death. I felt like I had been slapped in the face by God. I was ashamed that my grief was mostly for me; not the lady’s family. I felt as if God was saying "You don’t count little preacher! I have better things to do than answer the prayers of a nobody like you. Bug off and don’t bother Me any more!" I remember nothing about the 3 hr. return trip from the hospital.

I had a good friend in my community who was a minister who believed in the charismata. I didn’t go to my house. I drove straight to his office. He knew something was wrong when I walked through his door. "I MUST get the gift of healing!" I blurted out. Immediately he took my shoulders and we both sank to our knees. Prayers of desperation began to flow cathartically from both of us. He laid hands on me. "Ken! You must speak in tongues!" I said, "I don’t want to speak in tongues. I want God to heal when I ask Him to." "I know", he said, "but before God will give you any other gift, you must speak in tongues. That is the first sign that God has baptized you in the Holy Spirit." I knew what I had been taught about Spirit baptism but I was ready to chuck it because what I knew wasn’t working. We prayed for probably two hours. Long enough that our knees got painful. We both laid face down on the carpet. We soaked that poor carpet with tears and sweat. 3 more hours went by. It was dark, long past suppertime. The late afternoon sun that had been streaming through his window had turned to stars. All of a sudden he jumped to his feet and pulled me up. "Look at me!" he demanded. "Don’t blink! There is an evil spirit keeping God from blessing you! Don’t blink! Let me see if I can tell what it is! Don’t blink! I am seeing letters! "T" "H" "E"….he kept going until he had spelled the word "theology". "That’s it! Ken! You must throw everything you have learned about theology out of your mind and start over again!"

At this point I lost all hope of receiving the charismata, but I tried not to show my disappointment. He had worked so hard with me for so long and I still appreciate his concern for me and willingness to help. I forget what I said next but our meeting ended. He said "God bless you and keep praying brother! You’ll get it!" I walked out his door and groped my way slowly home. For the next few days I was in a fog. People noticed my preoccupation and asked if I was feeling well. Was there a Holy Spirit? Was there a God at all? No one could have been more pure in heart and fervent about a genuine need than I was. Then I sank into the well of self loathing. Perhaps I was not pure in heart at all. Perhaps I was just too wicked to receive gifts. Perhaps God knew I would become proud. And what about God? Perhaps He was an elitist Who only gifted people who smelled of success. Did He deem me a non player? Had I been cast onto the scrap pile? Perhaps even a person of no consequence; someone to be ignored? I felt like Isaiah saying "Here am I! Send me!" But the Lord just looked over my head as if I were invisible.

I studied the scriptures hard. I remember poring over and over Reese’s special studies on the Holy Spirit. Notes I had filed. Other commentaries. Greek lexicons. There was no sudden epiphany, but gradually little shafts of light began to penetrate. I decided to quit begging God. If He wanted to heal He would do it; if not, then forget it. "His will be done". I became Stoic and fatalistic (and am to this day). The passion went out of my intercessory prayer life, and I don’t necessarily consider that a bad thing. "The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh. Blessed be the name of the Lord." I came to depend upon my "covenantal" relationship with God. Sometimes I felt it, sometimes not; but how I felt didn’t matter anymore. The covenant still said the same thing. At least I finally had peace.

I know this is a subjective experience that cannot be corroborated; but perhaps it will help you understand why I believe as I do. Prayer is always a matter of faith and obedience. Only by faith can we say He has heard and answered. I know God still hears and answers prayer, but He no longer uses specially gifted persons as mediums through which to channel His power. He can use me, or He can use a maggot if He wishes. He always does what is right, and I don’t always know what is right.

Now let us get back to the words of I Cor. 13. Paul says that when the "perfect" comes, that which is "partial" will end. We know that the "partial" is referring to the charismata; but what is "that which is perfect"? Many who claim to practice the charismata today say that the "perfect" is Christ. Since Christ has not come yet (so the reasoning is) the charismata still exist. The flaw in this rationale is that the original word for "perfect" was rendered in the neuter gender, meaning that it was a perfect thing and not a perfect person; to wit, I am fairly sure it was not referring to Christ.

What, then, is the perfect thing? Here is where I believe my reasoning was wrong. I thought the perfect, whole, completed thing was the completed and circulated New Testament. It made sense because the particular charismata referred to: (prophecy, tongues, and knowledge) were primarily means of revealing God’s will to men before they had the whole New Testament.

I have since realized that it is highly unlikely that the 27 books of the New Testament were suddenly available to everyone at the end of the first century. All 27 books that we have were not recognized as inspired until 170 ad at the earliest, and the common man would not have access to all of them for centuries after that. The completion and circulation of the New Testament was not the thing that caused the charismata to cease. It was the death of the apostles and the subsequent deaths of those upon whom they laid hands. That doesn’t seem to be an event qualified to be called "that which is perfect".



What I failed to do is a cardinal error in Bible interpretation: I failed to think within the context. What is the main emphasis of I Cor. 13? Do we not call it "the love chapter"? The whole gist of Paul’s message is to seek after the traits of Christian maturity; and there is none more exhibited by the mature than love (charity). He has just finished a beautiful description of what love is. It is clear that through the whole chapter that Paul intends to elevate love in comparison to prophecy, tongues, etc. Look at the introduction to his thoughts on love: 1 Cor 13:1-3 Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing. It is obvious here that there are traits of varying importance. The charismata are at the bottom of the list.

Examine the conclusion to his thoughts on love: 1 Cor 13:11-13 When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things. For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known. And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.



Clearly Paul is saying; (my paraphrase and commentary) "The charismata are scintillating, but they are for the immature. As one becomes mature, he will devalue these by comparison and realize that charity is where the rubber meets the road. Charity is the purest imitation of God. Charity is what will propagate, proliferate and become the hallmark of the Kingdom. The charismata are the ‘childish things’. The charismata are granted to the new Christian. The mature may still be able to perform them, but they prefer things often less glamorous, but more useful. Things like sacrificial love."

Illustration: I used to like cars that pleased the senses. It had to have "curb appeal". But cars have to do more than look good sitting by the curb. I couldn’t stand the sound of anything but a gas guzzling big block. When I sat in the seat, I liked my rear to ride about 6 inches off the pavement. I liked wide tires, fancy wheels, and four barrel carbs. Funny how things change. Now gas mileage is job #1. Small, ugly vehicles with horns that go "beep beep" instead of playing "Dixie". Spartan accommodations; getting me from point A to B as cheaply as possible with room for luggage. Cars that handle ice and snow well. Function is all I care about.

I guess you could compare these different styles of cars to the charismata, and things that are not so charismatic. The young believer is at first fascinated by the aesthetic. As he matures, his interests turn to things that get the job done in the trenches. Things like faith, hope, and love.

In summary: Do I believe the charismata exist today? No. Do I believe I Cor. 13:8-10 proves that? No. I believe "that which is perfect" refers to Christian maturity.

We will never be fully grown in this life. Not until we reach Paradise will we see face to face and know as we are known. Until then, love is the highest goal we can achieve.

Henceforth I will see vs. 8-10 in their proper context, adding even more wealth to one of the richest chapters in all of scripture.

It Should Have Been Me

It Should Have Been Me.

Rom 6:3-5 Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection:


Being a preacher had it's "perks". It was not all suffering and sacrifice. Do you remember the movie "The Passion of Christ" directed by Mel Gibson? It came out in 2004 and turned out to be a blockbuster. May I hasten to say that there were parts of it that I didn't understand. I surmise that they were drawn from some esoteric tradition; not Biblical; but the treatment of Jesus during His arrest, trial, and crucifixion was probably more realistic than other passion stories I have seen.

Before it came out, all of us preachers in the area were invited to a "sneak preview" at a local theatre. The place was packed with over 200 of us. There are only 165 churches of all denominations in our county, so some probably came from far away. It was uncharacteristically quiet as the movie ran. During the crucifixion scene I heard gasps and some weeping. Also odd; when the movie ended, there was not a sound from the audience. All solemnly stood and began to file out in an orderly fashion. What happened next was spontaneous and a bit eerie. No one left the theatre. All stood in the lobby. Men who didn't know one another began to talk. Then there were groups of 3, 4, 6. I sauntered from group to group, curious as to what the topics of conversation were.

You must understand that preachers have a hard time getting serious when they are together. It is loud. There is usually a lot of noise coming from professionally trained voices that carry and echo. Lots of laughing and joking. There was none of that here. Everything was hushed and there were no smiles. A lot of furrowed brows and staring at the gaudy carpet, the shaking of heads, tears.

Here was the recurring theme of the conversations: "IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN ME!" Priests, Protestants, Pentecostals, Pastors, and just plain old preachers; high flyers and nobodies; local televangelists and bivocational strugglers with grease on their hands; shepherds of thousands and shepherds of a handful. The movie was shown on the Friday before Resurrection Sunday. Normally our spellbinding Easter sermons that would "wow" our paritioners and put us on the map would have been at the front of our thoughts; but for a few brief moments we were stunned and staggered like boxers, by a blow that caught us squarely on the jaw. There was no posturing or thinly veiled vying for prominence as is common at clergy gatherings. Any fragrance of pretentious cologne was mixed with the odor of perspiration. I, as usual, was pretentiously unpretentious. One theme had captured us: "It should have been me!" All the pomp and pompadours, thoroughly ringed fingers; all the backward collars, all the differences of opinion; all the smug, supposed doctrinal superiority and erudition and preferred titles were, for a blessed moment on that "Good Friday" nine years ago, a million miles away. "It should have been me!" That golden nugget of overarching truth bowed every haughty head. One man said with clenched fists and gritted teeth, "I just wanted to go up there and take Him down and have them nail me there in His place!" This was no self ingratiating rhetoric. It burst forth from waxen bowels. Gradually we all left and got into our fuel efficient rusted out little conveyances and went our separate ways, and things were different for quite a while after that.

We were reduced to a common denominator. We were jerked unceremoniously back to our roots. We were reminded of that first blush of motive that began to steer us toward our respective careers. The Master of ocean and earth and skies....bare, bruised, bleeding; doing something that we couldn't do for ourselves. We came thinking we had plenty, and left in a grinding, humiliating poverty of the soul. We left to gird ourselves about with a towel and to get down on our knees and wash feet.

When Jesus had set His face toward Jerusalem for the last time on earth (and be assured He will set His face that way again) I think some of his disciples thought He had a death wish. He had just restored Lazarus from a state of miasmic decrepitude and incited the furor of His enemies to white heat. He was walking into a buzz saw and they knew it. Some thought they may become collateral damage. Thomas said, and I don't believe in a noble way, John 11:15b Let us also go, that we may die with him . I believe it was a tongue in cheek rebuke of His master's seemingly "bulletproof" bravado. But isn't that the first decision anyone who wants to be a follower has to make? Didn't He say, Matt 10:39 He that findeth his life shall lose it : and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it. Did He not turn the rich man away, saying, Matt 19:21 If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me. ? Jesus didn't spurn him because he was rich; the scriptures say He loved him. He knew this man had some dying to do before he could ever live. And so do we all.

I remember a TV ad for some menopause medicine that had a frustrated daughter yelling at her mother: "Mother! Please! I can do it myself!" We seem to want that from the day we are born. Even as little children when trying to do a task that is above our heads; someone reaches down to help and we jerk it away. "No! Me do!" You know it is a matter of pride. Perish the thought that we should display a vulnerability to someone else! "I am a rock! I am an island!"

Remember that scene in Samaria at the well: A hot, bedraggled, thirsty, hungry, utterly exhausted Lord of the universe beseeches a prostitute for a drink of water (water that He created, by the way). Water that no one is making any more of. The same molecules that quenched His parched throat that day may have fallen upon you as rain today. Who made the Sun to lift it into the Heavens where the cool upper reaches would purify and condense it and let it fall again, and again, and again; and yet He is in need.

You are in need and I am in need. There is a man in South America that has himself crucified every Easter season. He has himself scourged and crowned with thorns; nails driven through his hands and feet and languishes on a cross for a few hours before they take him down. He heals enough to do it again the next year. I don't go to that extreme but I certainly understand why he does it. The preachers in the theatre foyer came nose to nose with their desperate need. Certainly we cannot turn back the hands of time and carry His cross like Simon. I'm not sure Simon wanted to then. For all he knew, this was just another insurrectionist getting what he deserved. Little did Simon know that his name would be forever etched into the pages of history as one to be extolled for easing the burden of our Lord. No. We cannot go back. But the Lord knows our need. He knows our need when in our contemplation of the gospel message, though we have heard it again and again, it's full impact finally runs over us like a freight train. It will someday if it hasn't already. And we say, "Oh, my God! Let me die!" Dying is the whole duty of the sinner. Not once. "Dying" is in the continuous tense. Dying is not what we do to save ourselves, nor could it be. It is our nature, a natural response to what we have heard. A need we must accomplish, because it is our nature. "If I can't die in Your stead, then let me die with You Lord."

He says, "So you want to die like I am dying? Well; then come up on this cross with Me. You need to. I needed to die so that I could be raised again, and so do you." John 12:24 Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit. Perhaps some do not understand the symbolism behind our conversion, especially our baptism. It is precisely the manner in which our Lord has instructed us to get up there on the cross with Him. Go ahead! Get up there and die! For after all, truly have we said, "It should have been me."