Monday Morning Music Ministry

8-24-26

This is the time of year when children, and parents, are getting ready for “back to school” prep and good-byes. Elementary school, home schooling curricula, college, and various send-offs to trade schools and military deployments.

Perhaps parents share similar emotions to their kids’. Oh, the jokes are that parents feel relief to see the kids leave home so they might savor some peace and quiet. And it is a cliché that children can’t wait to leave home, whether for summer camp or college.

Regarding parents’ feelings, which are much closer to my present state of dignified decrepitude, I have shared a song by Suzy Bogguss before, and to which I listen every year around this time. It is called “Letting Go,” and relates a parent’s point of view when the family’s daughter prepares to leave for college:

She’ll take the painting in the hallway,
The one she did in junior high.
And that old lamp up in the attic,
She’ll need some light to study by.

Mother sits down at the table,
So many things she’d like to do:
Spend more time out in the garden,
She can get those books read too.

She’s had 18 years
To get ready for this day.
She should be past the tears;
She cries some, anyway.

Oh, letting go – There’s nothing in her way now.
There’s room enough to fly.
And even though she’s spent her whole life waiting,
It’s never easy letting go…

Confession time: I came across this song (written by Suzy’s husband Doug Crider and her drummer Matt Rollings) about the time my eldest was preparing for her freshman year… at a college about half an hour away. Yet it was traumatic for me. And I still shed a tear when I hear it (and watch the music video Suzy produced), despite the fact that my youngest child finished college some 25 years ago.

That is to say, the emotions are the same. Or they should be, when family relationships, generational bonds, parent-child connections, familial ties are concerned. Neither geographical distance nor passage of time should weaken, much less cancel, these precious relations.

Things happen, of course, in families. There are common warnings these days about toxic topics at Thanksgiving dinners (if families still gather, that is): you know – “avoid religion, politics, Trump…” Sometimes an obscure misunderstanding can cause a daughter to cut off all communication with her father despite his crying himself to sleep many nights, and grandchildren deprived of knowing him. Sometimes a child is “too busy” with a career and lets her parents become strangers, perhaps until it is something “too late” to retrieve. Or a hundred other impediments – minor or major, or factors that are deep or evanescent – that can destroy the concept, the reality, of family.

Even contemporary ruptures like ones I have listed cannot dissolve the bonds of affection between parents and children, nor soften the heartaches of separation. We parents are not like birds who push their offspring out of the nest, to fly on their own. Nature’s examples seem cold… but birds are meant to fly; parents are tasked with encouraging their young; life’s cycles are not optional, but imperative.

Yes, the “empty nest” is inevitable. In fact a necessary and vital role for parents to manage. But that fact makes the situation no less tender.

The Bible has much to say – of course – about families and the bonds of responsibilities, heritage, and love between parents and children. Parents make uncountable and often subtle sacrifices for their children; and children absorb uncountable traits and values from their parents. Sometimes “too late” – my father used to paraphrase Mark Twain as often as many Bible verses, that when he was 20 he thought his own father was the dumbest man on earth, and when he was 30 he was surprised to realize how much his father had learned in 10 years.

Back to Scripture:

Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it. (Proverbs 22:6)
Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins. (I Peter 4:8)
Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. “Honor your father and mother” – which is the first commandment with a promise – “so that it may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on the earth.” Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord. (Ephesians 6:1-4)

Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb a reward. (Psalm 127:3)
Bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. (Colossians 3:13)
Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth. (I John 3:18)

“Letting go” is part of God’s ordained cycle of life, so parents must take satisfaction that their roles are being fulfilled. Life and death are parts of the Great Adventure, and so is nurturing children, and sending them into the world.

But all the same… It’s never easy, Letting Go.

Category: Family, Healing, Life

Tagged: Doug Crider, empty nest, Mark Twain, Matt Rollings, Suzy Bogguss

Copyright © 2010 Rick Marschall
Designed by Mark McCorkell
Reworked by Norm Carlevato

Last week’s music video, related to the message titled “Scared Spitless,” was a song called “Not Lukewarm,” and it elicited many comments and questions. The quartet that performed the song comprises handsome black singers sincerely sharing a musical Gospel in tight harmonies.

The group is called Advent World, and I learned that its headquarters is in Dayton, Ohio, despite the vaguely Caribbean accents.

The group, although I had been unaware of it, is popular, and has a catalog of many commercial songs and albums. The repertoire includes traditional hymns and contemporary Christian songs. I confess that seldom have I altered my perception of an artist or musical group so abruptly or quickly as with Advent World, and most of the correspondents to MMMM shared the same reaction.

What we focused on: no problem with Advent World’s theology or Christian witness, at all. But after watching a video, or several, after clicking on their YouTube selections, we notice that their harmonies are somehow too tight; the quartet members’ mouths move in machine-like precision; the facial expressions are uniform; the eyes seldom blink; and so forth. A growing feeling takes hold, that we are watching robots.

… in fact, we are. Sort of. It is called Artificial Intelligence. The website of the “group” describes its chosen mode: “We use digital media to share Christ-centered content with people around the world…. Our songs and visuals are produced through a human-led, AI-assisted creative process. AI assists with voices, music, images, and visual production under human direction.” Again, there should be no misunderstanding that viewers question the faith or commitment of the creators of these productions. But many people think it is somehow creepy. (Or curious why all that technology and those efforts and apparently real voices are employed to substitute for… performances by real people.)

Its name also confused me a bit, and I learned that “Advent” refers to the producers’ affiliation with the Seventh-Day Adventist denomination. Despite some points of heterodoxy, Adventists are regarded as largely mainstream Protestants. Ironically, Advent World does not list its relation to Seventh-Day Adventists. Where did I learn of its relationship? By consulting AI, Artificial Intelligence.

Yes, ironic; or, these days, appropriate. But is it dangerous?

What could be dangerous about AI?

Is it not a portal to greater understanding? Not necessarily: AI accumulates facts and shares knowledge… but is not an automatic dispenser of understanding.

Is it an aid to wisdom? Not necessarily: wisdom requires grounding, morality, and a perception of reality, none of which are imparted by clicks on a keypad.

Can AI be anything but a boon to creativity, social maturity, human progress? Not necessarily: the same promises were made when the internet itself came upon the scene, and more than half the “hits” dredge up bogus claims, political propaganda, and porn. Television was to be a blessing, but even in its early days the FCC Commissioner himself called it a “vast wasteland” and today it consists of mindless programming and seemingly endless commercialism. The “nuclear age” was to humankind’s salvation, and now…

None of these things are bad in themselves. But as Theodore Roosevelt said about the right to vote, “its usefulness depends upon the character of the user.” Human nature is inherently evil – “deceitful and sick above all things,” Jeremiah 17:9 – redeemed only by Salvation in Christ; and therefore the greater social latitude given to people, the more dangerous (that word again!) and double-edged advancements like AI can be.

“Dangerous” is bad – AI puts thoughts in our minds and words in our mouths when we unhesitantly rely on it. But “Destructive” is even worse – AI discourages independent thought, research, and creativity. It will spread like a spreading stain.

For any sort of writing, from communication to scholarly papers to persuasion, AI makes us lazy. In politics, it substitutes for debate and the deep dives that vital issues demand of us. In religion, it can make a mockery of Faith – force-feeding matters of doctrine and belief. For those who seek the Truth, it tends to remove the “seeking.” It becomes Artificial Intelligence without the Intelligence – which is like being Godly without the God.

I will relate this to another contemporary term that insults our “intelligence”: Intelligent Design. If there is a design, there must be a designer, and the intelligence of a designer becomes almost irrelevant. That term seems to me “designed” to deny the presence, role, and work of Creator God. Another misuse of the word “Intelligent” to flummox otherwise intelligent people. Yet… many people are persuaded.

One of my favorite Gospel singers, Vestal Goodman, was also a mighty prayer warrior. She began many of her powerful prayers of thanksgiving, “Father God, how You must trust us…” and indeed the Lord does trust us, in many ways. He sends the Holy Spirit to indwell believers, so technically we earn God’s trust as His vessels precisely to the degree we yield ourselves to His Spirit.

That view of God’s trust is not to diminish God’s role, but in humility to acknowledge the source of our wisdom, strength, and spiritual initiatives. Yes, we can view it all, taken together, as intelligence in life.

But God sent the Holy Spirit to impart Real Intelligence. Nothing Artificial. Know the difference.

+ + +

Click: I Know Who Holds Tomorrow

8-17-26

My pastor years ago at the Assemblies of God church Christian Life Center outside Philadelphia, David Cawston, used this phrase to technically be polite but also to make an important point. And, perhaps, to wake up members of the congregation who might have been dozing. Or maybe to have some folks check their hearing aids.

Whatever. Sometimes we need the spit scared out of us; and even other euphemisms. And many sins or shortcomings.

Spitting is an odd topic for a spiritual essay, perhaps. But my immediate thoughts, or temptation to think, have been triggered by a spate of videos from Israel. Tourist photos, security cams, and amateur photographers have captured incidents of Israelis spitting on Christians.

They are identifiable by their peyots (sidelocks), kaftans, kipahs, etc. The images online and videos from around the world are of Christian clergy being spat upon; nuns being pushed to the ground and kicked; a statue of Mary having a cigarette pushed into her mouth; a statue of Jesus with His head knocked off; Christian churches being spat upon.

Of the many reasons that people choose to spit, absent chewing tobacco, the flu, and simple bad manners, the common purpose is to indicate disrespect.

One time I was invited to the Manhattan loft of friends, a Pulitzer Prize winning cartoonist and his wife, Art Editor of a popular magazine, to answer a question that confused them. They are Jewish, and knew that I am a Christian. They had seen advertisements for Christian apparel with messages about Jesus spitting people out. I will spit you out. – Jesus. The passage, and context of the products, appeared serious enough, not irreverent, but seemed to my friends out of sync when attributed to a holy figure, the Son of God. Could I explain this apparent anomaly?

Well, that was an easy one. I was able to direct them to Revelation 3:16 (have you ever noticed how many important verses are in chapter 3s and verse 16s?) – Jesus tells the church in Laodicea, Because you are lukewarm – neither hot nor cold – I am about to spit you out of my mouth. Referring to the quality of people’s faith.

Jesus cannot be the only person who gets frustrated by apathy, indifference, hypocrisy, spiritual laziness, insincerity; or at the other extreme, arrogance, hostility, presumption, prejudice, self-righteousness, and a closed mind. “Lukewarm” specifically was a description of those who avoided reality and did not come face to face with the Gospel. It was to their own detriment to choose to be lukewarm in their faith. And if the Savior of humankind would feel like “spitting such people out of His mouth,” so should we. Such people… and each other; and ourselves, if applicable? No?

Yes, we must pray for the “lost.” Yes, we must lift up situations 70 times 7 times. Yes, pray without ceasing when we can. Is it Biblical to exercise “tough love” (the world’s terminology) in order to break through to some folks? Can we be frustrated when people are determined to avoid the Truth, even regarding their own salvation? – Jesus was frustrated, as we see rather explicitly.

And for other examples of spitting, we need not go far. Jesus was spat upon, and worse, while He was humiliated and tortured before He was condemned by the Jewish holy officials and executed by the Roman authorities. In Deuteronomy, Numbers, Job, and Isiah are examples of spitting as a severe sign of disapproval.

We should be conscious of people who spit on others, or on sacred symbols, as a metaphor for contempt. Perhaps, as increasingly in the news, these are veiled (?) warnings of rejection and violence, even in cultures that make public claims of tolerance.

Why have I been motivated this week to think about the ancient (but not extinct) choice of spitting on others? I wondered the same thing, but, well, these increasing numbers of news stories and images have disturbed me. What in the world is going on in the world?

As I have maintained above, in Jesus’s case His threat to feel like spitting lukewarm “believers” out of His mouth focused more on the deficient quality of their faith, not the people themselves. And as I have addressed, we pray for these people – after all, Jesus ultimately died for their chance at salvation.

So it is better to be a spitee, to coin a phrase, than to be a spitter. Neither condition is ideal in this broken world. Jesus referred to that act, but in a very specific context and justification.

The worst condition? Being lukewarm!

+ + +

Click: Not Lukewarm (Full Song)

8-10-26

I call it “Blessed Ambiguity.”

There are some things the Bible does not fully explain. Having been written over several centuries, scribed by many men, in three languages, on three continents – yet confirming itself in thousands of major and minor details, never with a significant contradiction in its 66 component books – we can trust it as God’s inspired Word.

Yet there are points where He left us to wonder. One such point that causes me to wonder “Why mention it in the first place?” is when Jesus was confronted by a bloodthirsty mob of Jews who wanted His opinion on their intention to stone an adulterous woman to death. Scripture tells us that the Savior was calmly writing in the dirt. Huh? Why? And what was He writing? And why even mention this?

My own opinion, and others have different guesses, is that He might have written the numbers 1 to 10… to prepare a reminder to the supposedly religious mob of the 10 Commandments. And “let him who is without sin cast the first stone.” But… that is an opinion.

There are more major points of doctrine – for instance, elements surrounding the Rapture; and when the Tribulation will occur; and many et ceteras – where God could have been clear. But He chooses ambiguity… I believe for three reasons:

• To keep us focused on the more important topics: that is, such questions do not affect our salvation.

• To have us do, in these latter days, what He had the writers of Bible books do before the Apostolic Age – search Scripture, look for antecedents, confirmations, and what God has already decreed on vital topics. After all, that is what Christ and His Church mean to us: “It is finished” is not an open door to engage in everlasting debates.

• To “keep us on our toes” – to be conscious and prayerful about spiritual matters.

Therefore I invite us to think of other “Blessed Ambiguities.” The world and skeptics might see these as “Aha!” moments – flaws in the Bible’s claim to inerrancy, but I see them as God challenging us to prioritize matters that matter in our spiritual lives. Besides, God is God! Trust the ways He presents His truths and His purposes and His will.

• Countless times, a theme of Scripture is presented as “surrender” leads to “victory.” Is this logical? In a spiritual context, this is not a contradiction.

• Similarly, despite examples of God’s people being warriors, e.g., David; the Bible paints many pictures of boldness for the Lord from a posture of… being on our knees. Is this logical? In a spiritual context, this is not a contradiction.

• When it comes to the matter of prayer, approaching our Heavenly Father, the Bible sometimes counsels us to be insistent… but sometimes patient. We often must pray, in other words, about how to pray. Is this logical? In a spiritual context, this is not a contradiction.

• Job, among other heroes of the faith, urgently prayed… and then waited on the Lord. Yet elsewhere we are told to “boldly” approach the Throne of Grace. Is this logical? In a spiritual context, this is not a contradiction.

• God issued Commandments, and uncountable rules for behavior, yet He also invited mankind to “come, let us reason together.” Is this logical? In a spiritual context, this is not a contradiction.

• He is “God Who delivers us,” yet many believers are troubled that He still has us walk through the valley of the shadow of death and enter the fiery furnaces, instead of sparing us the trials. Is that “delivery”? Yes to God, but is this logical to mankind? In a spiritual context, this is not a contradiction.

• There is the basic, and age-old, universal question – Why is there sin in the world? Why does God permit evil? Why do bad things happen to “good” people? People forget God’s sovereignty and the trust we must show. It is a matter of whether this is logical. In a spiritual context, this is not a contradiction.

• Hebrews 11 is called the Hall of Fame of Faith: a list of figures throughout Bible history who are amazing examples of obedience, forbearance, and faith. Yet not one of them realized the goals they adopted and to which God pointed them! Is this logical? In a spiritual context, this is not a contradiction. (This is a list of the faithful, not personal accomplishments: a clear lesson to us of God’s priorities.)

… and so forth. There are many such “blessed contradictions” in this perfect and complete record of God’s will for our lives. Is this logical? In a spiritual context, these are not contradictions!

They are all matters to pray about, however. They all affect our behavior… our obedience… our conduct… our examples to others… our “witness”… our relationship with God… but not our acceptance by Him. Trusting in Christ as His Son, His sacrificial atonement, His victory over death, and His resurrection – those simple (?) matters are not ambiguities!

Is this logical? For God’s sake – and ours – yes..

+ + +

Click: God Is God

8-3-26

I am going to share an old song, and its lyrics. Anyway it seems like an old song – 1979, which makes it seem like “Old Testament days” for me, because I am old. It was a Christian radio hit, Oh Buddha by the Imperials.

First, I will share a story that presents a slight intersection of mine with this great song.

When Oh Buddha was a hit on Christian radio, my wife and I attended a revival in Madison Square Garden in New York City. I believe it was R W Schambach, whose ministry I still revere; or Kenneth Copeland, whom I followed at the time. It was very well attended, and protesters were on the sidewalk outside the Garden.

Today, those protesters might be Black Lives Matter types, or feminists, or Muslim extremists; or (very likely in Manhattan at that time) militant Zionists. The small group of protesters rallied against the thrust of the revival inside the Garden. They chanted for Buddha, or Mohammad, or Reverend Sun-Myung Moon (“Universalist Church”), or an Eastern mystic via chants of Hare Krishna, or some arcane gods or “religions” of the time.

It was a modest and quiet demonstration. But the emerging crowd of revival-goers circled ‘round them and were not exactly arrogant… but however were confrontational. Someone started singing the contemporary radio hit, and scores joined in:

Well, old Buddha was a man And I’m sure that he meant well, But I pray for his disciples Lest they wind up in hell.

And I’m sure that old Mohammed Thought he knew the way, But it won’t be Hare Krishna We stand before on Judgment Day.

This was, as I said, a hit song in the Christian community of the day. Do you know it? Me, I see nothing wrong with its theology – for, despite its novelty-category aspects, it speaks Biblical truth, and Christ’s hard message. If we care about the souls of others, it is a doctrine we should follow. Peoples’ salvation is at stake.

The song was recorded by the Imperials, one of the legendary quartets of Christian music. It was founded by the great Jake Hess, whom I was privileged to know, when he left the Statesmen Quartet; and through the years its personnel included giants like Henry Slaughter, Gary McSpadden, Armond Morales, Jim Murray, Terry Blackwood, Larry Gatlin, Sherman Andrus, and Russ Taff. For a time the Imperials sang backup for Jimmy Dean and even for Elvis.

But on the evening I recall, the song was not sung as a novelty tune, but to attack. The group of revival attendees was mocking, not ministering. I felt moved to rebuke the crowd singing that song, but not self-righteously. (I mean my putative motivation, not theirs.) Our job as Christians – our duty, our command, in fact – is to persuade others to be strong in their faith… or that we be dedicated to sharing, encouraging acceptance, and fostering the embrace of the Gospel’s saving grace.

Jesus is the incarnation of God among mankind. He was sent to be our stand-in for the punishment we deserve – His plan that by believing in Him and His sufficient sacrifice, and that He rose from death and ascended to return to the Father – and we will therefore spend Eternity in Heaven.

To believe otherwise; that is, to let others believe that their idea of a new home in Glory, to Heaven forever, can be anyone’s random idea… is to consign those people to oblivion. Or to Hell. That is not indifference. It is not dismissive. It ought not to be done in mockery nor even in cruelty. Do you hate someone that much? Is ridicule more important than sympathy, than love?

I don’t hate anybody, So please don’t take me wrong. But there really is a message In this simple song.

You see, there’s only one way, Jesus, If eternal life is your goal And meditation of the mind Won’t save your soul!

As I said, I did not feel self-righteous that day, when rebuking the folks I had spent hours worshiping with. And I have the same impulse now; Christians should. Let us reach out – whenever we can, however we can, as often as we can – to those who don’t know the message of salvation!

And, by the way I plead to us all about this priority: It is not only Buddhists or Hindus or Muslims or Confucians or mystics or agnostics or atheists we should care about. There are friends and neighbors and co-workers – people we know and see and talk to every day; maybe even relatives – who might not fully know the Truth; or have “backslidden” or fallen away. Yes, it is a common condition. Maybe folks who are seated in the next pew from you on Sundays!

Well, you can call yourself a Baptist, And not be born again. A Presbyterian or a Methodist And still die in your sin.

You can even be Pentecostal, Shout and dance and jump a pew! But if you hate your brother You won’t be one of the chosen few.

Because it won’t be a Baptist Who’s sitting on the throne; A Presbyterian or a Methodist Who’s calling us home.

And it won’t be a Pentecostal Who plays that trumpet tune, So let’s all just live for Jesus Because He’s coming back real soon!

Amen!

It won’t be old Buddha Who’s sitting on the throne, And it won’t be old Mohammed Who’s calling us home!

And it won’t be Hare Krishna Who plays that trumpet tune, And we’re going to see the Son, Not Reverend Moon.

+ + +

Click: Russ Taff – “Oh Buddha”

7-27-26

There was a time when governments, from kingdoms and principalities to major nations, ran their economies on the gold standard. That meant using gold bullion or, when solid gold became impractical to exchange, gold coinage. And when coins became too onerous to create relative to values, systems were developed to represent deposits in banks or government vaults. Eventually silver entered economic systems, both to elasticize the currency (being more common and less valuable as a commodity) and to facilitate manipulating trade and exchange values, for good or ill.

There is something reassuring when a nation’s currency has real backing – that a dollar in your pocket is worth… well, a dollar. We hope so. But we all know that is not always the case. We hear statistics that (for instance) a 1958 dollar would purchase only 17 cents in today’s marketplace; and so forth. The US, and many countries, have gone on and off the gold standard through the years. Reasons have included artificially countering effects of depressions and wars, which might be forgiven as rationales, to engaging in irresponsible and suicidal spending sprees. The United States, though not alone, is a national poster child for this economic anarchy and legal brigandage.

Not all economists consider a false currency reserve or planned inflation to be a negative practice, to coin a phrase. Some see deficit spending to be a wise policy, the best way to fuel a growing economy. Others of us consider it to be a ticking time-bomb at best – and horribly dishonest at worst. No way to run a household, or a country. (Also: who profits besides the amorphous “future economy”? Bankers, moneylenders, and currency manipulators make huge profits while average citizens invariably tighten their belts.)

So basically (Reductio ad absurdum, almost) we have, at least in the United States, money in our pockets that is intrinsically worth nothing. Not worth the paper it’s printed on? Well, coins are starting to sound like plastic when we toss them; the penny is extinct; we can not exchange dollars for gold or silver at banks as we once could. The government no longer has a ghost of a system where “reserves” in Fort Knox and elsewhere match the “money” in circulation.

We truly have an economy where values – prices, loans, debt repayments, etc – represent a massive system of silent agreements regarding what “money” is “worth.” No true context beyond agreed-upon lies. One major factor that keeps the US economy afloat is our dominance of the world financial system. We impose the dollar as the international unit of exchange. Transactions, exchange, and trade have to be filtered, and often manipulated, by arbitrary decisions by international bankers who at the moment are US pawns (or vice versa, more the case). We inflate our currency value, for instance, in order to repay debts in cheaper dollars. That kind of thing once was against countries’ laws, a form of usury.

This situation lies behind (though seldom discussed in the news) Trump’s foreign policies. There is also the looming threat of BRICS – a new international standard of exchange based on the economies of Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa. Notice that the US, Europe, and Canada are not included in this revolutionary proposal – reflecting our growing impotence. Our economy would “tank” if we lose control of the international monetary (and fiscal) structure.

If it sounds like I know what I am talking about, I scarcely do. But I might know a little more than Federal Reserve board members, which is scary. And I never will understand the Bitcoin world. “Let’s invent coins that don’t really exist but people can be convinced they should shell out their life savings for…” Huh?

However I do understand what gold is. I have held it; I know it has been a primary medium of exchange through history, in virtually all societies; that it is valuable to own, to behold, to use in lavish decorations and fine art; that men and women and groups and nations have fought over it, sometimes to deadly ends.

Gold is real. Gold is precious – increasingly not only rare but likely close to disappearing, even as undiscovered lodes. Gold is poetic – symbolic of wealth, of beauty, of desire. The Bible itself frequently refers to gold as a metaphor: value; purity; able to be refined; beautiful to behold; constituents of temples and tabernacles.

But the Bible also warns against lusting after such material units of value and wealth. It is a “perishable thing” by which we cannot be “redeemed from the empty way of life.” The “gold is mine, declares the Lord of Hosts.” “Their gold shall not be able to deliver them in the day of the wrath of Jehovah.” And so forth. There are more than 400 references in the Bible to gold!

One of the last references, and one of the most quoted Bible passages about gold, is in the Book of Revelation’s description (21:21) of Heaven. “The great street of the city was of pure gold, like transparent glass.” The Bible does not cite “as of gold,” or “the color of gold,” but gold itself!

Many people read that promise and marvel at how glorious Heaven will be. Properly so. But let us think about a larger truth. Lampstands and gates and towers and thrones may be made of gold, but this passage refers to streets. And here is my thought: we walk on streets; they often are dusty and literally looked down upon, certainly taken for granted; common.

I read Revelation 21:21 and I wonder whether Christ wants us to consider that life with Him for eternity will be so wonderful that Heaven’s golden streets are not special in themselves, but that Heaven itself will be so special that even the streets will be of pure gold!

Now there is a Gold Standard we all can embrace and look forward to!

+ + +

Click: City of Gold sung by Yvonne St Germaine

7-20-26

“American Exceptionalism” is one of those concepts that is viewed by many citizens with a perception somewhere between ignorance and disdain. I am referring to American citizens themselves, which makes my assessment especially damning.

Otherwise it should be something for which we should thank God and our civic ancestors for; yet so recent a celebrity as Barak Obbama displayed abysmal ignorance of it. American Exceptionalism does not mean that if you wake up as an American citizen with a pulse, you are superior – relatively “exceptional,” that is – compared to other humans across the globe. It does mean that American citizens have an exceptional patrimony; that our rights are better defined, more broadly asserted, and holding greater promise for advancement than are available to many other people of the world.

“Inalienable,” the Founding Fathers called those rights. The “Framers” of our Declaration and Constitution defined the set of rights that they were willing to assert, protect, and die for. Letters, proclamations, petitions – basically lists of complaints – had been sent by Colonial leaders and legislators to the king and parliament and were received with varying degrees of sympathy. However, the Mother Country ignored colonists’ more substantial grievances and answered those with half-hearted assent or annoyed dismissals. Some British officials, for instance Edmund Burke, were eloquent in defense of colonists’ complaints, but little changed.

Leaders in the New World sensed there was something different about the American Experiment: Something New in the New World. We (yes, we can all say “we,” despite in my own case my family’s arrival here only around 1900 – which is an exceptional aspect of being an American) we inherited English Common Law and the Teutonic Germ Theory of democracy, but on American soil, more things took root: a democratic ethos; a sense of justice; Christian principles actually put into practice.

Exceptionalism. An exceptional people, aware of their exceptional inheritance and limitless possibilities. Exceptional opportunities to correct institutional mistakes, seize the moments, and forge a new future. Exceptional men – truly, a blessed group of responsible thinkers and actors – who did exceptional things. And these men knew the risks! Previously, they had sent suggestions to England, but with the Declaration of Independence, they committed treason. They pledged their “lives, their fortunes, their sacred honor,”

Pay attention to the order of those words. Their priorities!

Words matter. Exceptionalism, despite being misunderstood or misapplied. Sacred honor. And, to the point of my thoughts here, words so important to the Framers: Freedom and Liberty. It struck me, during 250’s inevitable but empty parades and fireworks, that those words have become empty and abstract; misapplied and misunderstood.

Without running to a dictionary, I ask you: what is the difference between Freedom and Liberty?

We, most of us, use the words interchangeably these days. To the extent that is so, it is more than a crime against grammar; it is a crime against self-respecting principles once regarded as nearly sacred. Basically – that is to say, precisely – freedom is the ability to do what one desires to do, or think or speak. Liberty is exercising those freedoms while respecting restrictions, rules, and consequences. To violate either “right” is to invite anarchy, license, and repression. They are the type of standards, especially respecting their distinctions, that Americans should embrace and not ignore.

What does this have to do with America’s “birthday”? The same thing that finds its relevance in God’s word – as with all matters of action and integrity. The Founders and Framers, for all of today’s prattle about their “Deism” and such, knew the Bible well; they relied upon it as a blueprint for inventing a nation; and they frequently beseeched God for wisdom and guidance.

Therefore we can ask the same question in 2026 as they asked in 1776: What is the difference between Freedom and Liberty? The Founders and Framers knew the difference, and would confuse the principles to their peril. And citizens were informed too.

Today we ask ourselves the same question and, I am afraid, do not answer correctly. In our day, Americans – and Christian especially – have confused the two principles. Even the churches have come to regard Freedom as meaning the ability to do as one pleases, rather than be free from mistakes, sin, guilt. And that is a license to be corrupt. Freedom to self-destruct. American Christianity is trending toward defining freedom as liberty, and defining liberty precisely as ignoring consequences of sin, resisting God’s commands, and disobeying Christ’s teachings.

We are free to disobey God, of course. I believe He has given us free will. But defying the rules and responsibilities that are implied by Liberty, and His manifold commands, has led every time and in every land and dispensation in history, to God’s inevitable Justice.

We are to welcome God’s just treatment of our actions. “Covered in the Blood of Jesus,” we trust His provision and promises. Once upon a time we Americans respected the liberty embedded in the phrase Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness. But contemporary American Christianity has opted for a very loose re-interpretation of the word. Not respecting the distinctions and traditional meanings of these once inviolate words threatens the loss of life, of liberty itself, and happiness. That is happening now in America’s 250th.

And we are losing our freedoms too, as we see all around us. It is an exceptional tragedy.

+ + +

Click: O Freedom

7-13-26

“Paying It Forward” is not a new concept, despite its newish-sounding nickname. Have you seen acts of charity when someone pays for another’s groceries at the check-out counter? Have you heard of a driver covering the next car’s toll at the highway booth? Did you ever see a customer pay for a stranger’s tab at a restaurant? Perhaps you have done these things… or been a recipient. Paying forward.

Charity it is, in one of its purest forms. Paying forward, as it has come to be called, is – or should be – a basic human impulse. In fact it has been a staple of works of fiction (more than fact?), movies, and drama in many forms as far back as the ancient Greeks. Benjamin Franklin, the wisest of our wise Founding Fathers, described his motivation for the practice: I do not pretend to give such a deed [responding to a request for money]; I only lend it to you. When you meet with another honest man in similar distress, you must pay me by lending this sum to him; enjoining him to discharge the debt by a like operation, when he shall be able, and shall meet with another opportunity. I hope it may thus go through many hands…. This is a trick of mine for doing a deal of good with a little money.

In attempts to institutionalize if not codify the concept of Paying Forward, there are several foundations that encourage and assist the practice. Some charities publish instructions for enabling donors to pay forward in various ways. We can assume that donations – for instance, contributing food and clothing at “pantries” – are motivated in part by a feeling that such acts will be multiplied in ways down the chain… or a subconscious possibility that such “bread cast upon the water” will return in kind or increase. Truly, a major purpose of tithing and church offerings, in addition to supporting the local church, is to “pay forward” the work of the church in ways we can only trust. St Augustine dwelt upon the necessity of cultivating charitable impulses.

Great contemporary examples of Paying Forward are Christian health-related alternatives to insurance, or relief from crushing medical bills – organizations like Medi-Share, Christian Healthcare Ministries, and WeShare Health.

That famous phrase from Ecclesiastes, Cast your bread upon the waters, for you will find it after many days, is – let us parse and let us pray – not only a kindly admonition, but a promise of God. The Lord is good at such things, is He not? Kindly admonitions and powerful promises. Which means that we can have our hearts “right,” and at the same time – with our motivations in proper, godly priorities – we may rely on God’s providence in “return.”

As I say, God is good at such things. In fact He is the author, among so many other blessings, of “Pay It Forward.” How has He done that? Let us visit life’s greatest example of the principle: For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly…. God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. (Romans 5: 6, 8-9)

In these ways we know the love of God. We can know the love of God. Yes, we can pay for a stranger’s cup of coffee, and wave to another driver after paying a toll on the highway as a favor. But the Lord of the universe is willing to withhold judgment on rebels and sinners as we are, and “pay forward” forgiveness and salvation to those who believe in Jesus, His sacrificial death and resurrection.

Paying it forward… for eternity. How He must trust us. How He must love us!

+ + +

Click: Jesus Paid It All – Kim Walker-Smith | Worship Circle Hymns

7-6-26

We are coming through a spate of celebrations surrounding the 250th “birthday” of America. Literally, the signing of the Declaration of Independence – not independence from the British monarchy itself, nor of the country known as the United States (1787), but the Fourth of July is a traditional and useful date. So we celebrate.

Dates are useful tools when they assist people who are losing touch with important aspects of their heritage; and aspects of our heritage are useful indeed when we need, as I believe, to appreciate their current situations. We cannot know where we are, in an important sense, unless we know how we “arrived” here. Who founded our nation – and are we a nation or a country? – and what was rejected, not just established, in that founding? What gifts did leaders bestow on their people and design with us in mind? What lessons did they learn and impart? What dreams did they have… and do we appreciate them?

More essentially, do contemporary Americans know the difference between a democracy and a republic? How many students – how many adults – understand the details of sacrifices made by uncountable American patriots since 1776? Why (according to many statistics) are most Americans either indifferent or hostile to principles of earlier American leaders – individual responsibility; personal probity; marital fidelity; the nuclear family; the sincere practice of Christian religion; not being, as a nation, subservient to a foreign country.

Old-fashioned standards? Yes. Principles that carried expiration dates? God forbid. Yet we have let that happen.

History has eras and chapters. Recognition of this viewpoint helps us understand our society, and ourselves, for good or ill; but conveniently for instruction. If we pay attention. For humankind, the life and Resurrection of Jesus is the dividing line of our “story”: one life, one covenant, one relationship with God and man before; a new life, a new covenant, new relationships with God and humankind after.

Regarding America and its current state, readers will note that I am a student of Theodore Roosevelt. Many are the reasons that I admire him and in major ways have devoted my life to his career, his example. He possibly was the most observant Chrsitian of all our presidents, certainly no less so than others. He titled three of his 40-odd books from Bible verses. After the presidency he shunned lucrative job offers to become Editor of a small weekly Christian magazine. He wrote an article for a popular family journal, “Nine Reasons Why Men Must Go to Church.” On a West Coast trip he altered his schedule to deliver, totally impromptu, five 90-minute speeches about the duties of a Christian in American society…

TR did not explicitly wear his faith on his sleeve, as it were, despite his vaunted exuberance and these forms of witness. But he practiced it.

This is one reason that Theodore Roosevelt stands as a human fulcrum in American history. Presidents since him have seldom referred to Christian faith as frequently, or with such zeal, as he did. Exceptions would include, at least at times, Calvin Coolidge and Ronald Reagan. Before TR the list is long: George Washington, John Adams, James Garfield, William McKinley, and especially Abraham Lincoln, the speeches and proclamations of whom, during the last year of his life, are like sermons.

There are many other before-and-after aspects to the presidency of Theodore Roosevelt. With rare exceptions, the office was weak until TR, who invented the Imperial Presidency, a strong chief executive. For good or ill, America itself became an empire under TR, and has not looked back. He developed the Regulatory State, with the national government playing a positive role in many aspects of life from the national parks to public safety. (As the author of three books on TR, I am convinced that the current Bureaucratic State he would view as a Frankenstein monster; it was Wilson who perverted progressivism).

Theodore Roosevelt’s role is more significant, especially this year, than all these reasons. Coincidentally, he became president exactly 125 years after the Declaration of Independence. And this year is exactly 125 years after he became president.

We can see this, mathematically, as a trivia fact… or we can pause to consider What Now? What’s Next? What can we learn, what should we regret, what can we restore? I maintain that we have nearly squandered the riches and blessings of Almighty God; that we have in many ways sinned against Him and frankly are deserving of punishment, individually and as a country. Our churches are frequently apostate, our popular culture is shallow and filthy, our society often is immoral, abusive, and indulgent. We are an aggressive, far-flung, corrupt empire… a bankrupt, rude, resented city on a hill.

Is there a civilization that has ever sustain itself, having made such choices? Should we assume that America can long endure thus?

Rather than seeing America’s “birthday” as of the “first 250 years,” let us see Today as the starting-point of a Revival… maybe the commencement of a third, bright, shining, course-correction for the next 125 years. Pray to God – the god of Our Fathers – that this may be so.

+ + +

Click: Faith of Our Fathers | The Great Controversy

6-27-26

As June draws to a close, so does Pride Month. It is worth noting the celebrations or festivities or whatever we are supposed to feel, or do, to honor homosexuals.

Many groups and nationalities and causes have parades these days, and even associated holidays, some to honor peoples’ heritage, and some to pander to voting blocs, or both, in the American spirit of multi-tasking. It strikes me that, among the flags and lapel-pins there is no White Month or WASP Parade, but some might respond that every day and month in America is an affirmation of White-Majority Christianity; but that statistic is rapidly losing validity.

I have attended, but not marched in, Steuben Day parades in New York City, being of German ancestry. The tradition began in Ridgewood, Queens, a few blocks from my parents’ home when I was a kinder pre-garten. It is now held in Manhattan, centered around the formerly German neighborhood of Yorkville on 86th Street.

But I love, and attend, ethnic festivals of all peoples, and do so frequently. I genuinely love seeing blacks attend St Patrick’s Day events; Poles at Columbus Day festivals; and other cross-cultural happenings. It confirms the basic goodwill of the American people, despite stereotypes of the nay-sayers.

There are still some people, however, who say Nay regarding aspects of some types of group-ID festivities. I suppose I share the bewilderment of Norm Macdonald, who pictured a Gay Pride parade where a father bragged about his son who was Number One in his class at Harvard and loved to fondle other men’s privates. What else, really, is Gay Pride?

I still resent “gay” being hijacked as a word, but my thoughts this month are centered on the “Pride” part of the phrase.

Of course there is a type of pride that is legitimate, like being proud of your child winning a race. That is a human emotion – a reflection of love – that cannot offend or presume. The Bible warns against other forms of pride… and this armchair theologian holds the view that pride can be regarded as the chief sin. To my way of thinking, pride is the underlying motive for other other sins enumerated by God in the Garden, prohibited in commandments, and warned against by Jesus.

• What I mean is this: When we rebel against God, we are presuming that we are exempt from His rules. Worse, we act as if He will give us a pass.
• When we break Commandments, our pride persuades us that His rules are for other people, but we are above His laws.
• God has carefully and fully shared His laws for living… but it is pride that says we know better than the Lord of Creation.
• When we fail to completely surrender to Jesus – to spread His message and opportunity for salvation – we pridefully act like we have a better plan (even if we continually postpone acting on it).
• If we doubt the Bible… or pick-and-choose portions of it… or are seduced by extra-Biblical philosophies… our pride says, in effect, that we know these things better than God and His revealed Word.
• Salvation? Eternity? Heaven? Concern for our loved ones’ souls, much less our own? Taking such vital questions lightly is a reflection of pride; we act like our wishes are stronger than God’s truths.

Back to Pride Month. In the contemporary world’s parlance, I understand that homosexual relationships are what’s being celebrated; and to quote one of the most legitimate of bumper-strip theological truths: I don’t hate the sinner, but I do hate the sin. And the Bible clearly preaches against the practice of homosexuality. A fuller exegesis is that I pray against the transgression, and for the transgressor. No false humility: in the sense that Paul referred to himself as chief among sinners, I frequently sin and I am aware that God despises all sin. Oh, I am conscious of it, and pray for – and accept – forgiveness all the time. I love, and pray for, fellow sinners. That’s what Jesus has us do.

But our sins are properly matters of regret, remorse, and repentance. God forbid that we ever turn them around and build holidays around them or organize parades to brag about them. Who would attend Shame Day parades?

… actually, in this life, there are virtual Shame Days, Shame Months, and Shame parades all the time. How many do we march in, unknowingly or intentionally?

+ + +

Click: Toby James – Speak Truth (Music Video)

6-22-26

This last week, evidently with the Wanderlust still coursing through my veins, we hit the road again, driving from Michigan to Ohio for a convention of my wife’s family reunion; thence to Kentucky and Tennessee. People – old friends and new – are always fun; but Mickey and I managed to see new sights and sites too.

Without our planning, there were unifying themes and affinities along the way. God lit our paths.

Our main targets were the famous Ark Encounter and the related Creation Museum in Kentucky.

The former museum is a 100 per cent re-creation of Noah’s Ark, built according to the Bible’s construction details. Large (of course), Ken Ham’s museum and the nearby Creation Museum are mature walk-throughs overflowing (sorry) with signage, information, models, animals, dioramas, and please-touch displays that anticipate the questions of adults, and excite the imaginations of children. It is neither condescending nor preachy, but yet cites the answers in Genesis to a multitude of questions about Creation, seeming anomalies in the Bible, the age of rocks, and, ultimately, the Rock of Ages.

At the other end of the spectrum, at the end of our trip we visited the Titanic Museum Attraction in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. Spending a few days with my friends Penny and Norm Carlevato (Norm is this blog’s webmaster) and my old writing buddy Diane Obbema, afforded us the opportunity virtually to set sail on the replica – 50 per cent sized – of the ill-fated White Star luxury ship. Penny has written several books on the Titanic.

This was also very impressive: reconstructed rooms; a wealth of information – everything about the astounding construction to biographies of every passenger; displays of retrieved artifacts; the ability to plunge your arm into the 28-degree water into which passengers plunged; and, again, signage and stats and history at every turn.

As I mentioned, it was not our intention to visit in one vacation the world’s premier museums devoted to history’s most famous boats – the ancient Ark and the famous luxury liner that sank in 1912. Yet the contrasts, and the affinities, were compelling.

There is a joke that virtually has become an aphorism about the two ships. To wit, the reminder that the Ark was built by amateurs, but Titanic was built by professionals. It has been attributed to humorist Dave Barry, preacher Joel Osteen, and performers Mark Lowery and Toby Mac; its launching has floated a thousand quips. Most recently Titanic has inspired TV productions, motion pictures, all sorts of merchandising, and notable scrambles for the salvaging of its treasures.

Beyond the jokes (and the truths) about perspectives that we should recognize, and motivations we ought to emulate, are very serious lessons.

Yes, the Ark was built by amateurs, Noah and his sons. But these guys were not half-wits wondering what ends of primitive hammers to hold. This was a time in God’s temporal dispensation when He communicated with His children (one reason for His heartbreak over humankind’s rejection of Him and His precepts). Read Genesis chapters 6 through 9 and review the ship’s length and width; the kinds of wood to use; the pitch to make the ship watertight; and calculate that the construction was over decades, perhaps more than a hundred years (in pre-Flood times people lived longer than today). And so forth. Two animals of every kind? That was practical in a time of earth’s history when there were “kinds” of dogs, for instance, before breeding, cross-bredding, and species variations. Dinosaurs? Young dinosaurs might have been the dragons, leviathans, and behemoths in Biblical accounts and fossil records.

The Ark’s “builder and maker” was the Lord; Noah and his sons handled the tools.

The Titanic might not have been designed by God, but there were many hands in the science of its design. There were many hands involved in its construction – over several years Harland and Wolff (for the White Star Line) was the largest employer in Ireland. And there were many records set by the ship, even before it sailed. For instance, it was the largest moveable transportation machine in the world; it was certainly the most luxurious ocean liner of its day; and so forth.

Yet Bruce Ismay, head of the White Star Line (although J P Morgan had a controlling interest), was obsessed with PR-related records being set. An eyewitness claimed she heard Ismay urging extra speed on Captain Edward Smith during the voyage. Smith, by the way, went down with the ship as per the naval honor code; Ismay hopped on the last lifeboat and lived another 25 years in general obloquy.

We are confronted by tempting contrasts between the two ships, their manner of construction, and their fates.

• The Ark was built in obedience; Titanic was built according to commercial desires.
• The Ark’s goal was to rescue creatures of God’s creation; Titanic’s goal was to attract paying customers from rivals.
• The Ark followed God’s instructions; Titanic occasionally cut corners with iron rivets instead of steel, among the shortcuts.
• The Ark provided for all creatures great and small, animal and human; Titanic was allowed to have fewer lifeboats than passengers.
• … and so forth.

There is no doubt that Titanic was an engineering marvel, and many amenities were gracious, for instance the higher standards of third-class accommodations. The Ark – whether of Biblical fidelity or legend – was no less, perhaps greater, of a marvel. Thousands of years before Christ, watertight, sufficient for animate creation’s survival.

I suggest that there are many lessons to be drawn in this comparison. Some are obvious; some become evident when we contemplate the times, motivations, and fates. Amateurs vs professionals? It is a question of limited relevance – floating or sinking, so to speak, according to whether we heed the large question: do we listen for God’s direction or do we follow human desires?

Answers will come flooding upon your thoughts.

+ + +

Click: The Old Gospel Ship

6-15-26

Some things in life run in parallel tracks. Coincidences, maybe. Mixed blessings, invariably. Like a kid whose birthday is on Christmas Day: convenient for relatives buying presents; tough on the kid whose gift is a “combination.”

This year, D Day celebrations, just passed, are close to Fathers Day, just ahead. And with Memorial Day in the calendar’s neighborhood too, none of us has to stretch our memories and emotions to appreciate the role of fathers in our lives. You dad did not have to die in a war or go ashore on “The Longest Day” for you to savor the role of fathers in the human family… nor the role of father-figures assigned to us, going forward.

Obviously I am addressing men and boys, but the nuclear family – those duties, responsibilities, and blessings that God has laid out – are generally universal. Ignoring the liberal halfwits who think they are smarter than God as they think they can better arrange the physical plumbing (so to speak) of peoples’ bodies and minds, we all do have assignments in life.

Back when Theodore Roosevelt was the first major political figure to advocate full voting rights for women, he also warned that “Equality of rights does not suggest equality of functions.” Contemporary America has a way of taking a good idea and hijacking it to absurd extremes, and this curious tendency is the cause of many social tensions. Ignoring the common-sense dictum of TR, or believing that idiots can turn boys into girls on a whim, illustrates my point.

In my case (regarding the confluence of holiday observances, not social pathologies) I remember my father who served in World War II, participating in the D Day invasion – not on the beaches, but overflying the battles in weather reconnaissance flights. Three reasons to remember him during these days… not that I need special days on a calendar, or promotions by Hallmark Cards. Every time I finish a piece of writing, or give advice to my kids, or discover a new piece of classical music, I have the impulse to wonder what Dad would have thought, or done, or discussed.

… and it is the same with recollections of my mom. The same impulses, but different contexts: and that is how God designed us: The same love, different expressions.

Yes, the same love, different expressions. That IS God. He is Father of all; “God is love,” as the Word reminds us – a definition of God! – yet an emotion He expresses in 8 billion ways. Even more ways than that, of course. Every creation, every act, every blessing in life is a manifestation of God’s love. Which brings us back to the “confluence” I mentioned earlier.

That is to say, our Father which art in Heaven has a surrogate on earth. Yes, His Son Jesus was God in the flesh come to redeem us from the punishment to which our sins sentence us. But I rather point us to our earthly dads… and ourselves, in turn, as parents; and how we are to be heads of our households, examples to our families; protectors. We are representations of our Heavenly Father, or should be.

Can we be perfect and consistent “imitators” of God as per Ephesians 5:1? Of course not; but we can devote ourselves to that goal. We must devote ourselves to that goal. A multitude of Biblical injunctions paint the picture of Godly fathers. To be good and faithful servants is not an option; not even a marching order; but supremely, a privilege.

“Honor thy father and thy mother.” When the cycle of time is due, receive honor too. We teach by example, and we learn by leading. This is God’s way, and worthy of celebration!

+ + +

Click: Daddy And Home

6-8-26

I suppose every generation of human history thinks it has discovered a better way, or even the perfect way, to communicate the truth. Or truths… via legends, epic sagas, poetry, art, literature, song, allegory, comic strips. Contemporary post-modernists congratulate themselves for discovering “story” as the greatest mode. Yet Aesop and even the Lord Jesus made effective use of tales and parables to amuse, inspire, and educate.

Sharing the Gospel – the “good news” of Jesus Christ – is often regarded as a unique skill by Christians, perhaps even a spiritual gift, like prophecy or imparting wisdom or a healing ministry. And many times when it is employed by Christians, stories are shared of God’s great power, or lessons that Jesus taught, or events and incidents – even miracles – that are cited to make powerful points.

Indeed there are lessons that can be shared in these ways. Not everybody needs a miracle, but a story about someone else’s miracle might be effective in certain situations.

… But wait. Are we nervous about calling down a miracle? Who are we to decide whether a miracle is needed in a person’s life? In fact, who are we to decide what a miracle is? Some folks enduring anguish might be moved in a major way by a little ray of sunshine, a reassurance, a word of faith. Many times I have witnessed a change in someone’s spirit, even body, by a simple smile, prayer, or the sharing of a Bible verse. A story, perhaps about someone who had been in their situation, has had a great impact.

Christians should think beyond that. Stories about others, no matter how pertinent to your friend’s situation, are never as powerful as when the story involves yourself. There scarcely is a situation that is unrelated to something in your life. Anguish, yes; doubt, fear, challenges, crises, desperation, loneliness; even a toxic confusion when no friend is present.

In those moments, all too common, the personal empathy – not calling upon something you read or heard about – can connect your soul with a hungry person.

It is not difficult, yet we seldom rely on the mode. Are we shy? Do we feel presumptuous? Can we “close the circle” with the point we attempt to make? No matter: everyone appreciates the connection, the sympathetic outreach, the humanity when invoked in the Name of Jesus.

I recently returned from a postponed honeymoon, three weeks in Europe. My wife and I encountered several opportunities to share the Gospel or a brief prayer. God arranges these moments… if we choose to recognize them. I returned to America and was in the hospital and quickly found myself in the hospital with a travel-related malady, and encountered five opportunities to share and pray; two with Christian hospital staffers, three with staffers who saw my Bible and were moved to ask questions about faith.

Each of us has uncountable opportunities to share, pray, “be Jesus” to someone. We disobey God when we let chances go by!

I think some of the most powerful prayers I have shared was during my family’s hospital ministry years ago, with transplant recipients or survivors of surgeries gone wrong. Through tears people would ask, “Why me?” or “Why is this happening to my family?” and, having at one point been through those challenges myself, I was moved to say… “I don’t know!!!”

And then I followed up, after sharing what I could, with invitations to pray together for answers, and to search Scripture together. No offense to wise stories or anecdotes, but real stories proved more powerful than hearsay.

I don’t believe that God sends sickness and disease to His children; He is not a child abuser. Yet there is evil in the world, and we are all victims at times. It is our job – our privilege – to share with others how we have coped and triumphed. And a hint: sometimes sharing and discussing our own trials helps us grow even as we minister to others!

Get personal! And if you pray with someone whose details don’t closely track with yours… tell him or her the story of Jesus. “Can I remind you that He loves you?” – How personal can you get?

All things are not good, no; but All things work together for good to people who love God and are called according to His purpose. – Romans 8:28

+ + +

Click: Tell Me the Story of Jesus / I Love To Tell the Story

6-1-26

“Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth.” Among the many popular phrases that we regularly employ and whose origins are obscure, this one has a logical source.

Its earliest recorded use actually quoted a saying that had already been in use.

The Church Father St Jerome writing around 400AD, in the Patristic Era, referred to a popular proverb Noli equi dentes inspicere donati – basically, “when you receive the gift of a horse, do not insult the benefactor by critically examining the animal’s teeth.” (You would appear ungrateful by checking if it were “long in the tooth,” another latter-day proverb.)

As is often the case, the Bible has its own version, a relevant application of the aphorism. In Luke 14 a rich man prepares a sumptuous banquet for his friends, only to find that many of his guests declined to attend. Worse, the flimsiest of excuses were proffered by those who bothered to RSVP. As Jesus related this parable, the rich man sent out for strangers to be invited; and then, to fill out the table, the highways and byways were combed for the poor and destitute to share in the banquet.

As I related last week, Mickey and I recently returned from a postponed three-week honeymoon in Europe. Adhering to today’s theme, we visited drop-dead gorgeous and famous sites, but did not look a gift horse in the mouth at any time (although there are butcher shops specializing in horse meat, for humans, in France and Italy…)

Horse meat, no. But we did enjoy beef cheeks in Ireland; frog’s legs in France; pig cheeks in Germany, where it was also white-asparagus season; smoked salmon and caviar (for breakfast!) in Florence; and exotic dishes like deep-fried baby artichoke chips in Rome. We loved it all – not exactly American picnic food – discovering odd-sounding but tasty dishes like pajata (the ancient Roman dish with little sausages made of the naturally filled intestines of unweaned calves).

Don’t look gift cheeks or lizard legs or veal offal or fish eggs in their so-to-speak mouths.

But in the parable of Jesus, the rich man’s friends did exactly that. They did more than answer his generous invitations with rudeness. They cheated themselves. In the story they did not turn up their noses, or mouths, at the esoteric menu of a rich man; surely he offered the basic meats and vegetables and breads and wines too. No, they were too rude, or lazy, or self-centered, to return their host’s gracious invitation. As I said, they cheated themselves.

They bypassed more than filling their bellies: They flouted basic courtesies. They missed fellowship, great relationships, and possible long-term personal fulfillments.

The truths behind the parable are obvious. Christ is the Rich Man who has prepared a wonderful spiritual feast for us all. He happily welcomes everybody – even those people frequently shunned by the world; the outcasts, the forlorn, the hungry. All are invited to the Banquet of the King.

To me, a major focus is the group of invitees who would otherwise consider themselves “first in the line.” How often are people too “busy,” or preoccupied, or self-centered, to respect the Host, the Invitation, the amazing fruits of the Master’s Table? Answer: Too often. All of us frequently are deaf to the Lord’s appeals to us.

His banquet table is open to us (we are part of the “all”!) Are we too good to respond to God, His gifts, His love? How dare we ignore His spiritual and material blessings!

Whether exotic fare or simple bread and wine, our priority must be the One who invites us, not the specific menu items!

Dinner is served!

+ + +

Click: Welcome Table

5-25-26

Memorial Day is as close as America can come to a non-sectarian holy day. Veterans Day, for instance, is a large and proper “thank you” to military veterans; but Memorial Day has been set aside for honoring those who died in uniform. Protecting us; sacrificing; sustaining injuries; willingly enduring much for family, friends, even strangers back home; dying.

We honor them not so much for hating enemies but for loving their homeland.

By “honoring” we are asked much less than was asked of them. We should pause, pray (by tradition at 3 p.m. local times), and share lessons of history. The holiday was originally proposed by Gen. John Logan of the Grand Army of the Republic, an association of veterans after the Civil War; and was for some years called Decoration Day. Celebrants were asked to decorate graves of late servicemen as a basic token of respect. I remember mothers in Ridgewood, Queens, in New York City where I was born, decorating baby carriages with red, white, and blue bunting, and marching in parades. Such observances occurred in towns across America then; I wonder how many places host such memorial events today.

Through the years the “official” date for Memorial Day has changed. Sad, but somehow appropriate, as the society has changed. A “holy day” has become a holiday. It has been moved to a certain Monday instead of a fixed date, so, as with other adjustments to commemorations, used-car dealers and Walmarts can smother patriotic impulses with commercial overlays. Memorial Day now is confused with Veterans Day and perhaps the 4th of July, Presidents Day, and maybe even 4/20, the day celebrated by drug users.

God forbid – whoops, too late to employ that cliche – that people think soldiers sacrificed themselves to secure Americans’ freedom to smoke weed and take cocaine; or have the liberty to abort their babies and have the government pay for the murders; or save a country that eventually would chill the free exercise of religious worship and free speech, by calling Bible “hate speech” and impose transgenderism and sexual perversions on students; and so forth. Are these what the stars on our flag have come to represent?

America is not the only country that honors its war dead; other nations do in their own fashion. Germany, for instance, whence I recently returned, observes “Peoples’ Mourning Day” (Volkstrauertag) which is a sombre commemoration of all people around the world, military and civilian, who died in armed conflict or as a result of civil unrest and oppression. In this way it expands, so to speak, the flags of countries and honors the larger communities of martyrs.

This is eminently proper. In Lincoln’s words, “It is for us the living… to be dedicated to the unfinished work which they who fought have thus far so nobly advanced.” In other words, to me, what we can memorialize on this holiday transcends flags and borders. We honor that aspect of the human soul that consists of love, sacrifice, and dedication. We honor acts of bravery, which is an instinctive reaction to threats or danger.

Moreso do we honor courage – a far superior characteristic. Courage consists of a conscious commitment, intentionality, and a certain disregard of personal consequences. It is why military forces sometimes plan elaborate burials of hard enemies: recognizing that humans can achieve nobility by fighting, even dying, for a cause. A larger fraternity. In Americans’ case at one time the causes were just, and courage inspired acts of bravery.

Let us honor those principles, and honor those whose martyrdom ennobled them, as the rest of us mortals went about our business at home, and still do – by God’s grace and the courage of exceptional people.

I tell you, my friends, do not fear those who kill the body, and after that have nothing more that they can do to us. – Luke 12:4

+ + +

Click: Traurermusik for our times?

5-18-26

I return to the blog-essay field here after a hiatus of three weeks. I hope that some readers have noted it, and I hope even more that some have missed our posts. I know that I did; after 15 years of weekly MMMMs this is the first “vacation” I have taken, yet I continually am in the mode of seeing themes and inspirations for comments and thoughts to share.

I call the three weeks a Hiatus, but actually it was more: it was a Honeymoon. I married again a year ago, but a book deadline and my wife Mickey’s son announcing his decision to marry himself (not literally) at the time we might have honeymooned, postponed our trip till this Spring. We Sprung to Europe – Ireland, Paris, Germany, and Italy – and were mightily blessed by God with safe travels, seeing old family members, meeting new friends, train travel, famous monuments, obscure sights, beautiful scenery, gorgeous weather, spontaneous side-trips, and great food. Not necessarily listed in order of visceral delights. But God saw to all the connections, which always are a dicey proposition for travellers.

So I quickly will share some impressions from our adventure. This was my 69th trip to Europe; and Mickey lived in Germany for three years, but every journey even to familiar places holds promises of changed environments and new situations. And great food.

We particularly were impressed by our visit to the restored Notre Dame cathedral in Paris (in view from the window of my favorite room of my favorite hotel, the small centuries-old Esmeralda). Mickey and I had been to Notre Dame before the horrific fire, and I had cried like a baby when I watched the 24/7 coverage on France 24 television. Its renovation and restoration has been masterful. Things people had gotten used to – dark images, gray statuary, dusky paintings – are once again alive with brilliant colors and clarity. Stunningly “new” again after almost a thousand years. Among the throng of tourists there were some people praying too, in reserved seats.

For us, as uplifting as this was, as Christians we were sorrowful that this grand cathedral was constructed to honor “Our Lady” and not Our Savior, and so with many other churches honoring saints who themselves honored Jesus – Who is rightfully the proper object of our faith.

In Germany I renewed a connection with an old college friend (55 years since our last face-to-face) who was ordained as a Lutheran minister and moved to Germany. He is hardly a rebel, yet he suffered rebuke from his denomination and dismissal by a congregation for the offense of being too traditional, too Biblical, in his beliefs and preaching.

He occasionally serves these days with Catholic brethren – ironic, in the land of Martin Luther, that the protest-ant church has become “woke” and deserving of reformation itself.

In Italy we noticed a rather familiar role reversal, that churches have the feel, and often the function, of being virtual museums; and in museums and art galleries there is almost a spiritual atmosphere. Not heretical in itself, but the sense of awe and wonder once reserved for “holy” places is now found among hushed pilgrims practically worshiping paintings and statues.

In many European countries, there has been a radical shift over a mere generation. Many people frankly admit that they go to church three times in their lives: to be baptized, married, and buried. Under governments where clergy are paid by the state, pastors become regarded by people in the way that doctors, therapists, and plumbers are.

Returning to America, in person and in this essay, we take no joy nor even temptation to proclaim a clearer spiritual condition, nor superior exercise of Christian faith, back home. In a country settled by varieties of pilgrims committed to Biblical principles and long informed by faith-based standards, we have strayed far. This is now a secular society and a culture of death.

The suppression of religious expression; persecution of churches and sermons threatened by “hate speech” accusations; the acceptance of homosexuality and transgenderism; the advocacy and promotion of abortion; the “educational” establishment exercising in loco parentis “rights” over families’ children; the ubiquity of drugs, abuse, abortion, failed marriages… the West has no right to claim any superior spiritual standing.

But we know that Satan is the prince of this world. We do not look to the past, as marvelous as cathedrals and statues and illuminated manuscripts are (and, they are!) but we must always look to the Celestial City, the life of the world to come.

That is a real journey we must all take.

+ + +

Click: God Of Our Fathers

4-13-26

In St Paul’s first letter to the Church in Corinth, he challenged believers to consider who they were, their identity as Christians… and, importantly, how to explore those vital questions.

Now you are the body of Christ, and members individually. And God has appointed these in the church: first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, administrations, varieties of tongues. Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Are all workers of miracles? Do all have gifts of healings? Do all speak with tongues? Do all interpret? But earnestly desire the best gifts. And yet I show you a more excellent way (27-31).

These questions are rhetorical: of course we do not all possess every secular or spiritual gift. And God has us not only desiring gifts – talents and ministries – but receiving them. We all have some special aptitude. God has not favored any of His children over others!

Continuing his analogy of the members of the body of Christ being as parts of a physical body, he wrote:

If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I am not of the body,” is it therefore not of the body? And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I am not of the body,” is it therefore not of the body? If the whole body were an eye, where would be the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where would be the smelling? But now God has set the members, each one of them, in the body just as He pleased. And if they were all one member, where would the body be? (15-19)

As important as, say, the brain is, or the torso, what functional benefit would there be if other parts were absent? As humans – as Christians in life – where would we be? Of what use to ourselves, to others, to God?

But now indeed there are many members, yet one body. And the eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you”; nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.” No, much rather, those members of the body which seem to be weaker are necessary. And those members of the body which we think to be less honorable, on these we bestow greater honor; and our unpresentable parts have greater modesty, but our presentable parts have no need. But God composed the body, having given greater honor to that part which lacks it, that there should be no schism in the body, but that the members should have the same care for one another. And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; or if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it. (20-26)

Let us carry this forward from the First Century to our day, although the principles laid out by St Paul are pertinent to all people of all places and times. That is: I grieve that there are many Christians who grow comfortable – no matter how thankful they are to God, and perhaps a bit too humble – as they believe that Salvation is a way-station in their spiritual growth… but is sufficient enough to allow neglect of their spiritual growth. I am not arguing for a Gospel of works; Salvation is enough to secure eternity with God in Heaven…

But the teachings of Jesus, the commands of Almighty God, and the lessons of the New Covenant make abundantly clear that eternal security also frees us (and commits us) to “do these things that Christ did” – to be like Christ, to minister, to share the Gospel. He commanded us to “go into all the world.”

Oh? And do what?

The manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all: for to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, to another the word of knowledge through the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healings by the same Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another discerning of spirits, to another different kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually as He wills (4-11).

The Lord has given us marching orders. Do we dare ignore them… think that they are not for us? You are a slacker, a deserter, AWOL, if you think that neglecting His gifts is OK! I sugget an agenda for Christians. Not my words, but Christ’s through these passages.

You have spiritual gifts – actually spiritual obligations. Even if it is “merely” one gift, identify it. If you can’t identify it from past experiences, then pray that God reveal it to you.

Once you have discerned what your gift is (and we mean ministry, not born-again Salvation, which we all share) step out and exercise it! You don’t have to stage-manage a script: God will provide opportunities before you blink.

“Step out”? Instead of praying for “God’s will” over a sick friend, pray for healing! What a concept! – God will do His will, after all, but He wants to receive the desires of our hearts. Speak wisdom as the Spirit inspires you! Don’t only pray for comfort: be comfort as only a Christian sister or brother can be! Be Christ to those who need Him. Obey God’s prompting!

My suggestion, by yourselves spontaneously or in your fellowship or congregations: Instead of pinning a name tag with your name, “Hi! My name is…” write your ministry gift. “Hi! I exercise my Gift of Hospitality!” or “Hi! Please call on me when you need prayer!” or “Hi! Can I share how God helped me overcome?”

There are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. There are differences of ministries, but the same Lord. And there are diversities of activities, but it is the same God who works all in all. (5,6)

Included in these “Name-Tag” Suggestions,” by the way, are not instructions to see results or put notches in your belt. Those are the Holy Spirit’s proper follow-up duties. God wants us not so much to be “successful” but obedient.

And remember that what we might call “orders” or “instructions”… God identifies as gifts.

+ + +

Click: God Leads Us Along

4-6-26

But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. 2 Peter 3:8

My version of this basic truth is in a child-rearing context, that the days drag on, yet the years seem to whiz by. An anomaly. And for God, infinitely wiser and more just than any of His mortals, I wonder how He must be amused (or perplexed) that we seldom apply His perspective. He hears intense debates about whether His universe is 6000 or billions of years old; He must grieve that humankind has always speculated about life on other planets, but is so casual about killing lives on the earth He made for us.

Yet we go on our way. Have we learned bitter lessons? Have we learned from mistakes and horrible sins? Have we learned anything from the precepts of God that He has offered freely so we may be spared of consequences?

My framing of the question about condensed time is inspired by meditating on Holy Week… and from today’s headlines as well. The events – I should say the very fact – of Jesus’s earthly life is as fresh and relevant today as when the Incarnate Lord walked among mankind. And, of course, He lives today in our hearts and through the Holy Spirit. It is further the case that the truths He shared are not relics of other times and other cultures! It is, parenthetically, the reason in King James translations many of the verbs are italicized to read in the present tense: everything about the Savior is the same yesterday, today, and forever. “He changeth not.”

In a “micro” sense, to borrow from contemporary parlance, this week I am struck by the similarities between the few years encompassing the weeks of Jesus’s birth and Jesus’s death. Famously, Mary and Joseph found “no room in the inns” and Jesus was born in a humble stable – a gentle but striking representation of the Divine affinity with humanity; no respecter of persons, the Lord is accessible to all.

What are we confronting two millennia later? A raging bloodbath in the Middle East, including upon the very sand where Jesus walked. The footprints of Abraham, too, father of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Mohammad walked on those sands. And so many figures central to the world’s faiths. In the City of Peace. The region, however, has always endured anything but peace, and we know that “wars and rumors of wars” will beset us.

But these very days are very different. News reports are published and denied; press releases obscure facts; policies change when leaders are embarrassed. However the thrust of the horrifying news this week is literally unprecedented. I am a voracious consumer of news from various sources around the world – one has to be in the era of biased media – and the situation seems to be clear that a genocidal Israeli government, openly declaring a crusade for a “Greater Zion” that would stretch from the Mediterranean to eastern Persia (Iran) and from the Nile to Turkey, has attacked, and dragooned its client the US to join, in deadly attacks on neighbors near and far. Collaterally, it has just annexed southern Lebanon, a country with, by the way, a Christian president. (Many American Christians, who blindly support Israel’s government, are not aware that the leaders of Iraq and Syria, murdered under our interventions, were tolerant of Christianity compared to their Zionist-approved successors.)

Numerous countries around the world have accused Israel of war crimes and will arrest its leader Netanyahu if he travels to their lands. The holocaust in Gaza – 70,000 slaughtered in response to the October 7 slaughter of 1200 – is one pretext for the war that has drawn the mighty United States into the vortex that pulls others into the bloodbath as well.

Offenses to the spirit and soul can be as grievous as to the body. For the first time during its occupation of Jerusalem, or that of any power, free access to holy sites has been completely denied… even, or specifically, during Holy Week. Israeli authorities blocked access to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre to three clergymen – not the throng of pilgrims who traditionally gather to worship this week at the spot believed to be where Jesus was crucified and buried, but merely three priests. They were willing to comply with the edict even to broadcast their modest ceremony to the world. But they could not. “Security concerns,” yet the priests were willing to risk falling shrapnel or whatever the police “protected” them from.

Muslims were prevented with similar restrictions from entering the Al-Aqsa Mosque (a familiar ban) but 50 rabbis at a time are permitted to remove slips of paper from the Wailing Wall, an annual event at the old Roman edifice. Authorities have claimed to be reconsidering these bans on Christian worship, but the pilgrims will be prevented from retracing Jesus’s Walk where He carried His cross. These pilgrims are willing to face death, as Jesus did, to exercise their faith, but Israel wants to shield them from stray bombs, it says. (I am waiting for a “stray bomb” to somehow find its way to the Dome of Rock, so Israel may conveniently build its “Third Temple” in its place. (Christians – like the American so-called Christian Zionists mentioned above – have forgotten that Jesus declared Himself to be the Temple of prophecy, the fulfilled Seed of Abraham, not a new building).

In the meantime, returning to the nearby “yesterday” of history, how can we ignore the similarities between the persecution of Christ and His followers in that first Holy Week and current events? How can we not hear the guttural demands of crowds who ignore the many evidences of fulfilled prophecies before their eyes? – any convenient Barabbas will do today. Jesus is still being persecuted by those who have not given up; the main difference today is that multitudes of those who call themselves Christians are complicit! Heads of state, even of largely secular countries, have condemned Israel, but the American Ambassador Huckabee, an ordained Baptist minister, has only called the closing of the Holy Sites an “unfortunate over-reach.” Neither has President Trump condemned the bans.

Ecco Homo – “Behold the man,” Pontius Pilate said in a futile attempt to change the minds of the Jewish mob as Jesus’s death was demanded. This year, can we put aside bunnies and Easter-egg hunts and imagine, through space and time, whether we too would be spitting at the Prince of Peace, or serving Him. We still have that choice.

+ + +

Click: Please Bring Peace to Palestine

3-30-26

When we consider the vastness of Space, the anomalies of Time that had no beginning, and a Universe with no boundaries – besides these things making our heads hurt – we cannot help but confront the utter greatness of our Creator God. Secularists and skeptics, and the foolish, can scoff and say that insane theories like Big Bangs and Intelligent Design explain it all. But frankly these are all ways to grasp at straws.

Many people are senseless, or deluded, or a form of suicidal, convinced either that if they don’t believe in God there must be no God; or that they can gamble their mortality – and immortality – away.

I mentioned the enormity of the universe, and ask us to consider the utter greatness of God. Not only the physical realms to consider… but ourselves. The earth – as we learn what a tiny speck it is in the vast universe – we are reminded that the Bible teaches against the possibility that there are “other” earths out there. No other people, no other creatures, no other civilizations. Those secularists and skeptics claim that it is absurd that a God would create only one world with beings out of millions of planets, ignoring that God can do what He pleases. They also argue that we should feel insignificant, inhabiting one tiny speck in a galaxy among billions of others.

Well, God says, and we say, that such a fact makes us not insignificant, but special.

More than that, we are so special to this God that He sacrificed His incarnate Son to die in order to redeem our transgressions. He holds you and me so special that His care is almost incalculable.

• Job addressed our special status with God (7:17,18): What is man, that You should exalt him, that You should set Your heart on him, that You should visit him every morning, and test him every moment? Have you asked such elemental questions?
• In the Garden, Jesus sweated drops of blood in His prayerful agony over our sins. And indeed God’s love for us was so special that His plan for us, His children, to be reconciled to Him requires only that we acknowledge Jesus as Savior.
• The Psalmist earlier acknowledged God’s special love (Psalm 139:13-14): For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
• Cast your burden on the Lord, and he will sustain you; he will never permit the righteous to be moved (Psalm 55:22).
• We cannot avoid John 3:16 – For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
• Regarding whether we are “special” to God, or not; or how special, remember these words from Jesus: Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. But even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows.

These things we know, as believers – or should know. The world hears these words, and routinely ignores them, neither inspired nor in fearful awe. I want to challenge ourselves, however. Do we believers really know these things? Do we take them to heart? If they are life-affirming, life-changing, do our lives reflect our acknowledgement?

For instance, “God can count the hairs on our head.” Now that is likely metaphorical as well as literal, and without going to secularists’ image of God with a great white beard… But do you endeavor to know God as well as He knows us? He has shared His ways, His laws, His precepts, His commandments, His promises… do you work to make “understanding” a two-way street?

He blesses us in uncountable ways. How often and how sincerely do we praise, honor, and bless Him in “harp, song, and voice” – everywhere, every way?

Do we actually realize what a miracle life is… and that we are the apple of God’s eye: special above specially created things?

When we fail to recognize how special we are to the Almighty Creator, we not only demean ourselves but display gross ignorance and ingratitude to Him. He numbers the hairs on our head? – that is, He knows everything about us, more than we know ourselves. Conversely, we can not know everything about Him… or we would be Gods.

But we can try. We can pray, acknowledging and in gratitude. We can accept Jesus as Lord, Son of God, Savior of our souls. We can praise Him. We can share the Good News of the Gospel.

And we can remind ourselves that, no matter how vast the sparkly universe seems, that little speck, our home, is very special to its Creator. And that He is very special to us.

+ + +

The great Mosie Lister song, performed by the Old Friends Quartet. Around the fireplace: Ruth Graham, George Beverly Shea, Cliff Barrows, and legendary singers. Taped at Billy Graham’s retreat center The Cove.

Click: How Long Has It Been?

3-23-26

This week is seeing multiple turnings of Nature’s pages, so to speak. The mid-Lenten season, looking toward Easter. Nowruz (the ancient Spring rite rooted in Zoroastrianism, celebrated from Kurdistan to Persia). Eid al-Fitr, the end of Ramadan. Even Daylight Savings. Not to mention the official beginning of Spring.

One can extrapolate. In many ways this is a season of newness, renewal, fresh starts. Nature is coming alive (I avoid the pagan anthropomorphic title of Mother Nature, except as I did as a kid, thinking of “her” as Mrs God by His design). Much of America experienced bizarre weather this past winter: severe cold snaps, blizzards, even tornados and thunder and lightning during snowstorms. Yet – to borrow the dispositive argument against global warming – the climate operates in normal cycles: cold and warm come and go; wet and dry.

“Everybody talks about the weather,” wrote Charles Dudley Warner, a collaborator of Mark Twain, “but nobody does anything about it.”

But Spring is about more than celebrations and adjustments to clocks and calendars. Anybody with eyes, and sensitivity to the smells and colors of outdoors, and thinner jackets and sweaters in their closets, appreciates the unique glories of Spring. It touches deeper than our sensory reactions, and lifts our hearts.

Spring is translated to elemental and visceral sensations. It is difficult not to be aware of apparently dead things coming to life, of revivals, of essential optimism. Beethoven’s Pastoral Symphony is the theme song of the season. We see; we hear; we are aware of life in a new way.

But, with no offense meant against Spring, every part of the year, every cycle of Nature, has a theme (think of Vivaldi’s evocative Four Seasons). And the themes are wonderful. Special. God’s glory is manifested in myriad ways. My favorite season, frankly, is always the one that is about to happen. Turn, turn, turn.

To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven: A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted; A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away; A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace (Ecclesiastes 3:1-8).

So in God’s power and wisdom, He created time and other wonders of the physical worlds. Nature, and seasons, therefore are spun off, so to speak. We enjoy good weather and endure bad weather; both are aspects of the infinite beauties of Creation. Do we give thanks enough for each glorious season, as we should? Do we accept “natural” disasters being termed “acts of God”?

These thoughts about Nature and the change of seasons can remind us that dark storms have sunshine on the other side of the clouds. That a tiny flower can push through cement and stone, and flourish. That rainbows follow the most violent thunderstorms.

Back to Spring, our current season. It is an affirmation that life is an essential component of… life. That is, death occurs and often seems certain; decay and corruption surround us. But so do rebirth and regeneration, just as surely. It is a cycle, of course, but whether you think that everything eventually dies or everything is capable of its own form of resurrection actually defines your outlook in uncountable ways about uncountable things.

Myself, I am a member of the life-affirming team. Dormant seeds sprout; skeletal plants burst forth in brilliant colors; bare fields and forests cloak themselves in all shades of green once again. And not only in Springtime, in fact for all time, we too can be born again. It is nature’s greatest possible gift, and God’s most wondrous miracle, of all.

+ + +

Click: Spring is Coming Lyric Video

3-16-26

The Bible foretells of the End Times and signs of its imminence. We have discussed that here, as everyone should be discussing the matter – continually, not just during violent flare-ups as we find ourselves consumed these days.

I have my own views on this current war. God does too. Whether I am in agreement or not ultimately is His to judge, and my opinions are irrelevant in that regard. I remember Abraham Lincoln’s brilliant maxim that we dare not pray that God is on our side, but we should pray that we are on God’s side.

How do we know? Pray; study the Word; pray.

But in this time of frequent holocausts all over the world, on the nightly news, God keeps us on our toes. We know that wars, like the poor, we always have with us. Has there ever been a good war or a bad peace, as many have asked through the ages? I say yes; there might be just wars, and the willingness to do battle is irretrievably part of a nation’s soul.

“If I must choose between peace and righteousness,” Theodore Roosevelt famously said, “I choose righteousness.”

Nevertheless, lately I am persuaded to settle for a long wait if people want to find a war to be joined. And it is a bizarre time in the history of our nation and the world that some people, some nations, itch for war instead of striving for peace.

Humankind seems not to have “advanced” much through the centuries; and this is true of children on playgrounds and adults on battlefields that once were playgrounds; or in faraway, sterile command centers. We congratulate each other – that is, we fool ourselves – that “progress” is the hallmark of our times. Yet the bloodiest death toll from wars, in any century of the earth’s existence, was in the Twentieth Century: more than in all previous centuries combined.

We brag that we – “civilizations” – have finally ended the scourge of slavery; yet there are greater numbers of slaves today than ever in human history. The numbers now are not the faces that flash in our minds: bondservants in chains. But instead, all manner of children, women, minorities, homeless, voiceless, migrants, the anonymous.

As long as there are power elites; as long as greed outpaces love; as long as hypocrisy can always find a nicer name, humankind will be (in the Bible’s phrase, Proverbs 26:11; and II Peter 2:22) like dogs returning to their vomit.

I was in Europe during the “First Gulf War” and encountered passionate street protests demanding “No blood for oil.” Yet that war – those wars – continued. And oil seems to be the ignition-switch time and time again. But some day it will be water that is the reason. Or rare-earth minerals. Just as were fertile soil, or silk, or spices, or superstitious beliefs, in the past. Maybe it is all superstition; maybe it is all mere greed and bellicosity in our souls.

But… humankind is progressing, we are told. Congratulations. We are advancing.

Think about what changes have occurred, however, when science develops new ways to save lives… as it also invents new ways to end lives. At near-birth, at old age, and in between. What a spectacle, when people march to save baby seals and whales, and simultaneously march for the right to kill babies.

Today we watch children being shot by soldiers; churches being bombed indiscriminately, perhaps intentionally; cities being levelled; medicine, food, and electricity withheld. Toys like drones are weaponized to obliterate homes and hospitals. In the name of peace.

Technology relentlessly “advances.” The world’s cultural heritage is at our fingertips, but approximately one-third of internet traffic is on pornography sites. Progress? Food – history’s routinely treasured commodity – is no longer scarce in much of the world, and the result in America, at least, is epidemic-level morbid obesity. Progress?

Whether this current war ends suddenly by surrender or negotiation or more slaughter, we cannot tell, we cannot know. It might end in the twinkling of an eye, or drag on for years like a vortex drawing into itself countries and peoples from farther and farther places around the globe. Leaders and states justify their policies by citing their gods. Many states cloak their blood lust not only by misquoting their scriptures, but by daring their gods – trying to force their gods’ hands and write their own apocalyptic scripts for End Times.

From the least to the greatest, all are greedy for gain; prophets and priests alike, all practice deceit. They dress the wound of my people as though it were not serious. “Peace, peace,” they say, when there is no peace (Jeremiah 8:10-11).

They have misled my people, saying, “Peace,” when there is no peace, and… when the people build a wall, these prophets smear it with whitewash (Ezekiel 13:10).

Again: Peace vs righteousness. Remember that Jesus said, “Blessed are the peacemakers.” Where does that leave the war-mongers?

+ + +

Grandpa Elliott of New Orleans, by the “miracle” of video fellowship, is joined by musicians and singers around the world:

Click: Down By the Riverside

3-9-26

Jesus taught about “wars and rumors of wars.” In Matthew 24 we find His warnings not only of events to expect, but the contexts we should anticipate.

At no time in recent memory have we confronted such real wars, virtual wars, threats of war, proxy wars, excuses for war, and euphemisms for war. Oh, and deadly, bloody, wars that are sanitized and marketed as righteous.

In all these regards I will invite the words of Jesus Himself into this message. He referred to the End Times, speaking to His disciples but also, of course, to believers today:

… The disciples came to Him privately, asking… “What will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?” And Jesus said to them: “Take heed that no one deceives you. For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will deceive many. And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the End is not yet.

“For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of sorrows. Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for My name’s sake.

“And then many will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another. Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many. And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold. But he who endures to the end shall be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come….

“See, I have told you beforehand…. Watch therefore, for you do not know what hour your Lord is coming.”

There is much to learn here! Jesus foretells – He promises, not hints – of many, many things; signs of the End Times, of believers being deceived, of natural calamities and man-made disasters, and of… wars and rumors of wars. That situation seems to confront us today.

“Rumors” do not only mean gossip and speculation. The rumors today consist of wars we know only from TV and from marketing campaigns; that is, propaganda. Wars begun under false pretenses. Wars supported by populations who cannot correctly identify the issues at play.

Today – to address the Iran War – I assert that many Americans cannot intelligently defend their support of Israel in this conflict, nor acknowledge that America’s foreign policy has been hostage to Israel’s for years. That Israel has maintained false claims to “God’s promises” for years, despite the Bible’s definition of “Abraham’s seed” and Christ being the fulfillment of that inheritance (please see my three essays here from Dec 6-13 of 2025). That American Evangelicals have been complicit in Gazan genocide, the holocaust of our day.

Western Civilization has lived through such periods as the Thirty Years’ War, the Hundred Years’ War, even the “Phony War” at the commencement of World War II. A “rumor” certainly can mean a theory or an interpretation too. German, Soviet, and Chinese governments provoked local populations to justify military interventions. The United States clearly has done this in hemispheric situations, and to topple governments in Central Europe. History might record the past 75 years as the Era of False Flags.

Countries that have staged attacks on allies, or even themselves, have filled history books. Today, analysts and podcasts are rife with commentaries about Israeli terrorism against the British in the 1940s; about the 1953 Lavon Affair, where Israel recruited Egyptian Jews to bomb American targets and blame Muslims; about Israel’s lethal bombing of the USS Liberty by air and torpedoes; hundreds of deaths of the American Marines in Lebanon; since-debunked rationales behind American attacks on Libya and Iraq; countless reports that Iran has been “moments away” from developing nuclear weapons. All possible False Flags committed by Israel and/or the United States. Some analysts even suspect that Israel was behind the 9-11 attack.

Most recently, the “October 7” attack was a possible False-Flag pretext for Israel to ethnic-cleanse and occupy Gaza as part of its oft-stated goal of a Greater Israel that would stretch from the Mediterranean to the Nile and Euphrates rivers and into Turkey. It sounds absurd except for its endorsement by Netanyahu and Israeli leaders. Some analysts give credence to the suggestion of False Flags, pointing out that Israel can pinpoint missiles over 1200 miles to individual homes and a specific floor of a high-rise office building, but it “never noticed” the construction of hundreds of miles of tunnels, the removal of tons of dirt, etc., on its border with Gaza over the course of years.

What further possibilities are ahead? That is, what should we discern about plausible events – Israel and the US encouraging Kurds to attempt (again) independence by joining the war, which would draw their host countries Turkey (a NATO ally that Israel recently has threatened), Iraq, and Syria into the Iran War. It would push the current conflict towards a world war. Plausible too would be the “accidental” destruction of the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, the second holiest Moslem site which Israel recently has closed and where Zionists seek to build the “Third Temple” in its place. Conspiracies, rumors – or prophecy?

False Flags… real deaths… false history vs current reality… these are among the things Jesus warned of. Even false assertions have real consequences. Deadly. For innocent people (the guilty often insulate themselves) and for policies. We are still a democracy, but have trouble learning the truth because of distortions and manipulations of corrupt media and suborned politicians. Are Jesus’s words about today? Tomorrow? The distant future…?

Thank God (literally) through the “fog of war” we have the Words of Jesus. When believers read about the Tribulation, we are chillingly reminded that things in this world might get much worse before the actual End of Days arrives. He tells us to be very wary of false prophets – those who twist Scripture in pursuit of political ends. He stated that we can be tempted to think the Rapture, or some Divine intervention, might be at hand.

… or not. Jesus’s prophecies mix warnings and reassurances. We must watch, and wait; to be ready. In the twinkling of an eye peace, or war, might come… and — always — rumors of war. Whether we be wary or nervous, optimistic or pessimistic about End Times, our best position as informed Christians is to stand on His Word… and be on our knees in prayer.

+ + +

Click: The Great Judgment Morning

2-23-26

There. I got the pun (Rhodes Scholar, ha) off my mind. I thought today of roads real and metaphorical, partly because I am charting the itinerary of the postponed honeymoon of Mickey and me, a celebration delayed by an important book deadline, other weddings, and such. We will be taking perhaps a month to visit Ireland, Germany, Austria, France, and Italy.

We will not walk the Appian Way – an ancient road in Rome taken by St Paul to evangelize citizens in the belly of (to Christians of the day) the beast. He first proselytized at the Temple of Agrippa. We will not traverse that long road, except to visit Catacombs, but we will stand where Paul stood. This will not be a real pilgrimage – I have friends who have traced believers’ pilgrimages in Europe and the Holy Land – yet we are choosing significant roads to walk on.

We are all familiar with Robert Frost’s iconic poem The Road Not Taken (often mis-titled The Road Less Traveled). Whether literal or metaphorical, it opens: Two roads diverged in a yellow wood / And sorry I could not travel both / And be one traveler, long I stood / And looked down one as far as I could / To where it bent in the undergrowth… We identify.

I also noted, today as I write this, that Neil Sedaka, the soft-rock star of recent decades, has died. Again: Roads. I once attended a publishing conference in Las Vegas and left so early it was morning but more like a Red Eye. In the small waiting lounge at the airport gate was Neil Sedaka, a fave from my teen years. He played Vegas a lot, and also had to fly east early that day. I introduced myself and we got to talking.

By a bizarre coincidence, he lived in my town, Westport CT, so we had things to chat about. When I told him that I recently had interviewed Jimmy Swaggart, Neil lit up. He was a Jew but said he had been watching Swaggart’s TV services and was taken with the Gospel piano of the evangelist (who was also a cousin of Jerry Lee Lewis). The door opened, so to speak, and I shared Christ with him. I never learned what impact my conversation had on him, but I often think of roads that “cross” in such ways in life.

Nicole Shanahan, who was on RFK Jr’s ticket when he ran for president, recently confessed her conversion to Christ. The liberal former convert to Judaism spoke of a miscarriage, a near-death experience, and “opened eyes” about forces of spiritual warfare in America. The day before Trump’s inauguration she was water baptised and declared, “I had to live a lot of life to understand the true significance of trusting in this covenant of Jesus…. In order to fulfill a true relationship with God, it’s this recognition of Jesus as the Messiah.” A road with detours? Yes, but she found her destination.

The best-selling book in the English language after the Bible, we are told, is John Bunyan’s The Pilgrim’s Progress, written 350 years ago, and that never has been out of print, now translated to 200 languages. The entire book traces the journey of Mr Christian (all of its characters are named by their personal traits) from the City of Destruction to the Celestial City. Another road… with many tempting detours to places like the Slough of Despond or Vanity Fair. It is a compelling book, with undertones by which all humans can identify. Especially about roads.

The Bible itself is the source of life’s roadmaps, warning signs, and directions. Scripture overflows with references to roads, paths, and ways to proceed through life. We all know how to ask strangers for directions; and many of us have GPS. That’s OK to attend your cousin’s retirement party, but not for God’s will for our lives. He charts our paths.

Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the road is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. But the gate is narrow and the road is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.

Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.

Thus says the Lord: “Stand by the roads, and look, and ask for the ancient paths, where the good way is; and walk in it, and find rest for your souls.”

My people have forgotten me; they make offerings to false gods; they made them stumble in their ways, in the ancient roads, and to walk into side roads, not the highway.

I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

A highway shall be there, and it shall be called the Way of Holiness; the unclean shall not pass over it. It shall belong to those who walk on the way.

There is a road that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death.

I mentioned detours. Sometimes we can take alternate routes, or scenic drives, or choose to wander in some way, eventually to find our way home. That’s fine, as I said, except when it comes to God’s strongly stated destination. He does not allow us to stray an inch. Why would we? Yet… many do. Mr Christian was a Pilgrim, but he knew it was his duty to make progress. Not right in life, nor left; not backtracking but forward; not your own destination, but God’s.

On His travel plans for each of us, GPS means to stay on God’s Perfect Street.

+ + +

Click: Gospel Legends – Highway To Heaven

2-23-26

“Christian-Speak.” Followers of Jesus do not have a code-language, or mysterious signs and passwords. In fact we try to be easily understood, not secretive.

Yet there are terms that are common to our conversations that have slightly different meanings from the World’s everyday vocabulary. Saved. Convicted. Confession. Revival. Testimony. Witness.

Some of these terms overlap into apparent courtroom jargon or legal lingo, but all of them express very different spiritual meanings too. Witness, for instance. In “Christianese,” we mean bearing witness to the truth – that is, not so much recounting something one has seen, like an accident report, but describing the truth and consequential meaning behind an experience. And the effect on one’s life.

A Christian’s witness shares a truth one has learned. It is an attempt to convey a profound lesson, something personal that deserves to be shared and adopted by others. You can be a witness in various natural and supernatural ways, but Believers also have a “witness” (or a testimony). We witness to what God has done. In a sanctified context, it is tattling on God, which can only be a positive thing.

The Bible can be appreciated as a collection of stories about average people and how God intervened in their lives, interacted, and how those people were changed by coming to know Him. In that regard, we have inherited testimonies of folks in the Bible getting saved (and all those other words) to receive blessings; to their benefits, and our profit, generations later. We hear their stories, and we pass them on. Beyond the Bible stories, we share stories of others who have been transformed.

Profound spiritual truths are most powerfully communicated by stories. Postmoderns think they have discovered the power of story, but throughout humankind’s history, writers and poets have been storytellers. Tales are spun not to entertain but often to make important points or to present a moral. A story about someone’s experience can be used to convey an impactful lesson.

But.

The greatest impact you can make is not sharing the experiences of others – no offense to Confucius, Aesop, or even Jesus with His parables. Stories about others can make clever points or have intense effects. But they cannot approach stories about yourself. Witnessing about your very own experience. Sharing your own “testimony,” not someone else’s.

People will be moved – and sometimes be changed – when they see into your eyes, when they hear the sincerity in your voice, when they can feel what you feel.

When you share your own witness of how and when your life was changed… when you yourself experienced a miracle like healing… when you were saved from a lifestyle of self-destruction… when you can share exactly how you encountered the Master… how you overcame your reluctance to read the Word of God to earnestly pray or choose a life of faith… about how you accepted Jesus, and not a story about someone else you heard about – that is being an effective witness.

But.

You cannot be such a witness or have such a testimony unless you actually have experienced these things yourself. A personal testimony is more powerful than an anecdote about somebody else. God blesses us in so many ways, the first priority I believe is to individually address our lives, our salvation, our souls. But close behind is to empower us – to equip us, really – to effectively share the Good News with others. And sharing our own testimonies is more powerful than passing along stories and gossip (no matter how holy) about other people.

I don’t want to be wonky about words here (well… actually I do; I love the art of communication) but witnessing and sharing impactful testimonies in spiritual contexts is more important than going through the plot of a courtroom drama. Except that a “life sentence” is involved, for real.

Live in such a way that you can experience God for yourself… but more powerfully share that experience with others. It might be why He let you have these experiences.

+ + +

This week the legendary actor Robert Duvall died. I believe his greatest performance, among many, was in the self-written, self-financed, starring role in the movie about an itinerant preacher, The Apostle. Here he sings a Gospel classic from that movie, with Emmylou Harris.

Click: I Love To Tell the Story

2-16-26

The Virgin Birth confirmed that God is sovereign. Jesus’s ministry and miracles prove that He was anointed. His death on the cross fulfilled age-old prophesies. His resurrection affirmed His power over sin and death. ~~ The Ascension of Jesus was the Truth that He is Divine.

Over an average week, you will hear God’s name taken in vain far more times than it being invoked in prayers.

In some churches, more people seem to be more in love with the band than the Message.

Some worship leaders encourage people to smile, and berate them when they don’t look happy enough. But some people go to church in order to cry before the Lord – in contrition, in repentance, in conviction.

Many Christians today effectively are followers of a “Diune” God – ignoring or rejecting the Holy Spirit’s working and equal position in the Trinity.

Some believers hold to the idea that parts of the Bible are allegories or metaphors or poetry and not literal Truth. But Jesus believed in Adam and Eve, and Noah’s flood, and in fact He is identified as the One through whom the heavens and the earth were created. Was He stupid? Forgetful? Presumptuous? A liar?

Where in the Bible does it say that no one who has heard the Gospel and does not acknowledge Jesus as Lord and Savior can get to Heaven… except for Jews? They are free to reject Jesus and nobody else is? (A hint: the Bible does not say that.)

Numbers: If people accept the Ten Commandments as God’s law, and that God has revealed Himself in Three persons, and that there will be a Second Coming – and other Scriptural numbers – why do many Christians regard certain of the Nine Gifts of the Spirit, as enumerated in the Bible, as invalid today? Irrelevant? Is there an expiration date on the promises of God?

Some Christians rebelled against the church in their youth because of perceived “legalism” and strictures like virtual dress codes. Many of these people now belong to churches where clapping, hugging, and applauding a band’s performance are required behavior, and where worshipers are uncomfortable unless they wear torn jeans, baseball caps, hoodies with logos = a new dress code. If “people should feel to dress as they want”… why do so many worshipers, even pastors, dress like slobs? Is that what they want, that’s how they want to approach Almighty God?

The New Gospel seems more devoted to making sinners comfortable “where they are,” more than to leading sinners to be uncomfortable in their sinful ways.

The Disciples shushed the blind man Bartiramus not because He called out for Jesus to heal him, or that he slowed down their procession, or that he was too lowly and insignificant to bother the Master… but because he was disruptive in the moment. Are you dissuaded from crying, calling, shouting the Name of Jesus as He passes by? Even in church? (Especially in church?)

Jesus died for you. Do you live for Him?

+ + +

Click: He’s God

2-9-26

The Bible is theology: words from God, and a means of understanding Him. It is also history: researchers and archaeologists increasingly discover artifacts and even buried cities that confirm Biblical accounts once considered mere legends or fictional tales. The Bible is also doctrine: it tells us how to live; what is Truth; and the ways to experience joy and salvation… and the ways to be saved from misery and punishment.

Despite these factors, there are people who reject the Bible, starting their critique with the Book’s foundational reliability. I am not referring to non-Christians. It is humanity’s most populous faith, yet only about one-third of the world identifies as Christian. Christians are severely persecuted in some lands, and given a measure of credence in others; even Islam regards Jesus as a major prophet, while Jews still reject Him outright.

But Christianity’s major challenges are not with skeptics nor rival faiths nor persecutors so much, today, as with many who actually call themselves Christians.

Christianity – “Mere Christianity” as C S Lewis termed its basic tenets; and its simple Biblical elements, so clear in Gospel accounts of Jesus’s ministry, and exegesis of His teachings – finds its bitterest enemies in those who corrupt the faith, not only those who ignore it. A false church, after all, cannot hope to be an effective advocate… or even a plausible welcomer.

The very last words of the Bible’s very last book (Revelation 22:18-19, specifically cited by John as a literal transcription of words he received from Jesus) has a frightening warning – If any man shall add unto these things [words of Jesus] God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book.

In other words, God’s Word is sufficient (a Truth stated many times in many ways through Scripture) and must be the basis of our faith. Nothing more, nothing less. Sects and new denominations and cults – I will say, for instance, Mormons with “new” Bibles and even Catholics with inventions of way-stations between earth and Heaven like Purgatory and Limbo – are daring the Lord to fulfill this threat.

Such warnings, and controversies, are not new in the Church. But I believe no less a threat to the Church today are movements that subtract, not only add, to God’s Word.

Indeed, there is a tendency in the post-Christian West to change the Gospel not so much by adding to God’s Word, but subtracting – modifying, reinterpreting, pick-and-choosing, corrupting. Adding and subtracting from Scripture are both heresies, but (not to excuse) adding to God’s Word at least might represent efforts to be more holy or helpful or relevant. The opposite, however – subtracting from Scripture – weakens the Message, compromises with lazier theologies, aims to be more “comfortable” with the world’s standards instead of God’s.

What am I talking about? What “subtractions”? Avoiding preaching against sin. Compromising with “uncomfortable” Biblical teachings. Accepting Politically Correct standards. Not believing the Virgin Birth and other signs of Christ’s Divinity. Calling Good evil and Evil good. Vitiating the Gifts of the Holy Spirit for today. Excusing personal behaviors that the Bible condemns.

Are these elements of modern Christianity? Yes… in many places, many churches, many sermons. Subscribing to these beliefs – we can say, rather, this collection of non-beliefs – might be sending more people to hell than aggressive, rebellious sinning. Being half-Christian is like being half-pregnant.

This life-threatening evil was warned against elsewhere in God’s Holy Word:

Do not add to what I command you and do not subtract from it, but keep the commands of the LORD your God that I give you (Deuteronomy 4:2).

Whatever I command you, be careful to observe it; you shall not add to it nor take away from it (Deuteronomy 12:32).

Do not add to His words Or He will rebuke you, and you will be proved a liar (Proverbs 30:6).

I will reply, ‘I never knew you. Get away from me, you who break God’s laws’ (Matt 7:23).

If your beliefs are pick-and-choose…
You lose, you lose, you lose.

+ + +

Click: The Love of God

2-2-26

These words, this question, “Why do you persecute me?” was famously asked of Saul of Tarsus on the road to Damascus.

Who asked the question? It was a voice Saul heard as he was knocked to the ground, blinded by a light. He heard the audible voice of Jesus, a direct question from the Man who had preached and ministered, was indeed persecuted – harassed, arrested, tortured, and executed. This encounter of Saul’s was subsequent to Jesus’s resurrection from the dead three days after burial; subsequent to 40 days of appearing to masses of people; subsequent to His bodily ascension to Heaven.

Saul, a distinguished scholar and Pharisee, was a Jew who was also a Roman citizen. He had rights in society, and a degree of power that he exercised to persecute the followers of Jesus… even after Jesus was “gone” the second time. He was zealous in rounding up Believers; it is supposed that he was present, perhaps ordering, the stoning of Stephen, a martyred follower of Christ.

Why did the risen Savior choose Saul to cease his persecutions, to mend his ways, and ultimately, as we know, become the most prominent Christian evangelist, author of more than half of the New Testament, the architect of the Church’s beliefs and practices?

We cannot know the ways of God, but God knew the ways of man, and in Saul He had created someone of obvious powers of… persuasion. And clarity of thought. And patience and purpose. Saul needed to discern the Truth, and to re-purpose his desire to apply himself to vital tasks. After his experience on the road to Damascus, he even changed his name to Paul (no theological significance, but plausibly a sign that he savored a “new life” as a new creation). He might not directly have answered the question “Why do you persecute Me?” – except by radically changing course, renouncing his sins, redeeming his life.

Despite the spread of the Gospel, conversions of many people, and the establishment of churches from India to England before the year 60, we know that a myriad number of Jews still were persecuting new Christians. It was not Jews alone, but Romans too, of course. Rome felt threatened by independent thinkers as they protected their political outposts. Many Jews who should have known better – Christ fulfilled uncountable prophecies they had studied; He was the obvious Messiah they prayed for – also felt threatened. If Paul had not converted, he might have become one of the obstinate Jewish enemies of the Gospel remembered through the centuries.

If there is a lesson inherent in Paul’s life as an evangelist and apologist, it is NOT “what goes around comes around.” Are you tempted to think that? For Paul – despite his legal standing and protections as a Roman citizen of the day – was persecuted himself until his (brutal, sacrificial, martyr’s) death. He was shunned, chased, arrested, imprisoned, and tortured. He also survived shipwrecks and storms. Yet he never asked Jesus, “Why do you persecute me?”

Back to the original question, or the original interlocutor, Jesus Christ. It is still being asked… of us, today. Why do we persecute Jesus?

I don’t mean the world’s form of persecution, because peoples’ rejection of the Son of God who endured shame, gave His life, and overcame death for each of us is a form of ingratitude at best, and a form of persecution at worst. But individually, we must see our lack of reverence… our failure to acknowledge Him in all ways… our choosing not to pray or care for others or share Him… our consigning Jesus to a corner of our lives and not at the center – are all ways in that we persecute Him, bit by bit, again and again.

Taking His name in vain I believe to be no less offensive to the Lord as failing to act in His name when we have that choice.

“Persecution” comes in many forms.

I have friends from many walks of life, and from many backgrounds. The casual persecution of Jesus is rife today. I wonder, sometimes, when I walk down supermarket aisles or listen to soundtracks of movies, whether many Americans invoke the Name of Jesus more as blasphemy than in prayers. I have a Jewish friend, a prominent academic, who lards her social media posts with frequent Jesuses and Christs – believe me, not in reverence or respect. She has “unfriended” me, probably because I asked her to be more polite to my best friend. She pushed back, of course. A TV producer I once worked with began, or ended, almost every sentence of his with a Je-sus Christ similarly. I offended him by inventing oaths in my conversations, like “By the strings of Moses’ moneybags” and such. I could see little difference, but somehow he took mighty exception.

That’s one end of the spectrum. At the other end – I realize not everyone virtually crucifies Him – but we’re talking about the Creator of the universe and the Savior of our souls. If you and I don’t take His name in vain, or persecute Him more intentionally… are we better if we stand by and watch, as Paul did when Stephen was being stoned to death?

Does the Lord need to knock us to the ground and temporarily blind us and virtually shout His truth, in order for us to serve Him the best we can? Paul might say, “Been there; done that,” or “I experienced that so you don’t have to.” And thank God, literally, for that.

But we can go where we can – or where we are – and share the Good News of Jesus Christ. We can even write a few Epistles of our own. Try it!

+ + +

Click: From Saul to Paul

1-26-26

Skeptics abound in our society, around the world, and of course are manifest throughout the entire human race. Doubting is part of humanity’s DNA. Humankind is getting “smarter”; we can walk on the moon and we might cure cancer, but there still are flat-earthers, and believers in evolution, among us.

Skepticism is a prime component of agnosticism and atheism. Of course. Is there a God, really? Can He show Himself to us? Why not? Why did His Son come to earth as a baby, not a king? Did a man really perform miracles like healing the afflicted, walking on water, raising the dead? Why would He allow Himself to be tortured and killed? His Resurrection easily could have been faked; how could Romans, Jews, and other witnesses of the time not recognize the likelihood of fraud and deception?

Well, as you might anticipate, I will offer answers to these questions. Of course God exists; He has left His imprint on me, and all of us as individuals. If He did not create the universe, who did? – which in logic is not sufficient evidence, but I patiently will await a better answer. (If there was a Big Bang, who triggered the Bang; and what existed before it? And when we get to the edges of the universe… what is beyond them? Dear God: my head hurts, please help me…) Jesus came as a baby in humility, to identify with us. These and other questions fulfilled myriad prophesies.

Helpless skeptics and arrogant haters flail about, when they allege fraud and deception by Jesus and His Disciples. Yet scoffers scoff. They love the darkness and embrace rebellion.

Sixty years ago a British Jew called Hugh Schonfield wrote a book, The Passover Plot, that carefully laid out a story that a Jesus conspired with others to fake his death and resurrection in order to claim the realized predictions of a rebel who would challenge Roman rule over Palestine. It was a popular book and movie that, if little else, encouraged increased skepticism among the scoffers and doubters.

It has been that way through the centuries. Nothing new. Do you think you would more easily, or deeply, believe in Jesus if you could only see Him? Well, many of His day saw Him, and witnessed miracles… and yet doubted. Even some Disciples, those who walked and lived with Jesus, scattered like dry leaves on a windy day, “when push came to shove.” Would you react differently than they did? Really?

Here is a test – or Exhibits A through M or so, if this were a trial. Let us review the lives of the 12 Disciples after Jesus ascended to Heaven.

Judas drove himself to suicide, filled with remorse, after betraying the Savior.

James, son of Zebedee, was beheaded by Herod Agrippa.

Peter was crucified – upside-down because he wanted to avoid comparison with Jesus.

Andrew: Crucified on an X-shaped cross in present-day Russia, on a missionary trip.

Philip was executed, probably in north Africa.

Thomas, the Disciple who once doubted, was killed with a spear as a missionary in India.

Matthew was martyred in Ethiopia while establishing some of the first Christian churches.

James, son of Alphaeus, was thrown from the Temple and then stoned to death.

Jude was a missionary to Persia, where he was martyred.

Simon “the Zealot” likewise was murdered in Persia.

Matthias, chosen to replace Judas, was burned at the stake in Syria.

Bartholomew was whipped to death and beheaded in southern Arabia.

John was the last to die – and the only Disciple to die of natural causes, although exiled to the remote Isle of Patmos. It was there he transcribed the Book of Revelation.

Paul, the persecutor of Christians who converted and became a missionary and author of half of the New Testament, was martyred in Rome. My pied-a-terre in that city is near the Basilica of “St-Paul-Outside-the-Walls,” a wonderful site for contemplation.

This list of names is more historical than canonical. The Bible traces only two martyrs in the group; the rest are of tradition and local accounts, but surely reliable. Historians of the day, chiefly the Jew Josephus, and Eusebius, and Origen recorded the activities and deaths of the early church leaders.

How many of these martyrs and men who sacrificed themselves were skeptical of Jesus’s divinity when they gave up their lives? Obviously, none.

If they had participated in hoaxes and frauds, would they have carried to their graves the schemes to torture, crucifixion, impaling, burning at the stake, beheading? Would you?

I would not die for a scam artist; and it would take a rock-solid embrace of Jesus as the Son of God, Who remains the lover of my soul and clearly is the Savior of humankind, for me to choose any of these deaths over confessing a Passover Plot.

Would you choose their lives – and deaths – if it came to that?

But it might come to that for all of us: the Bible foretells a tribulation and persecution of the believers in End Times.

Would you die for a lie?

Would you die for the Truth?

+ + +

Click: When I Am Laid in Earth

1-19-26

Years ago in one of my previous lives I was a cartoonist and an editor. I served as Comics Editor of three syndicates (later in that capacity at Marvel Comics, and as a writer at Disney and consultant for European and American comics publishers), and for a reason I now forget I was invited to Manhattan by John McMeel. John’s relatively new enterprise was Universal Press Syndicate.

Universal was so new that its New York office was a shared apartment with Garry Trudeau, its star cartoonist who drew Doonesbury. Its Kansas headquarters had seen its first light in a basement. John had unerring instincts, as his eventual empire proved – other strips like Calvin and Hobbes, Ziggy, For Better Or For Worse, The Far Side; and Uclick and Andrews McMeel Publishing enterprises. That afternoon, he showed me samples of a strip Universal was considering: Cathy. He wanted my opinion. I read through several dozen strips, and while I could picture Cathy finding an audience, my assessment of its violations of basic design and reproduction rules began, “John, the lady can’t draw.”

“You’re right,” he said, casually. “She’ll probably work that out in a year or two.” I thought this attitude was the death-knell of newspaper comics. In fact, rather, it marked a time when good drawing and adherence to craft became irrelevant to cartooning success. (Also, the end of Marschall as an oracle about anything commercial created subsequent to oh, 1927…) Doonesbury, after all, a colossus as Cathy would become, was also drawn execrably. Trudeau had the sense to hire a ghost artist, I believe never acknowledged, as many cartoonists do and even more of them should.

But we live in different times. The levels of craft and self-respect have dropped in the comics field; and the same attends the concepts, writing, and premises of many contemporary strips. Part of the reason is that the public is less demanding of its daily fare. In fact I think many readers are devoted to strips because they think, even subliminally, “If I had the chance to have my own strip, I couldn’t draw well either, but I’d stake my claim!” This is a general indictment of the contemporary arts in America, more than of one creation.

This week I am thinking of a creator of this sort, and a contemporary strip: Scott Adams, creator Dilbert, who died on Jan 13, 2025. Dilbert, Dogbert, and the rest of the cast of archetypal drones of the cubical culture never were drawn well. In fact they were drawn as if by Etch-a-Sketch, intentionally and aggressively badly. Not by mistake or by Scott’s clear limitations. He seldom attempted close-ups and never depicted a character’s reactions or emotions. The depiction of banality required such – the evil of banality, if I may misquote Hannah Arendt.

Whatever the inspirational source, the soulless population of Dilbert were middle-distant actors with stereotypical attitudes not in command of their environment but rather reflecting aspects of it. Almost mechanically (in fact appearing to be virtual schematic diagrams) they helplessly manifested the roles consigned to them by the bureaucrat-industrial complex.

In that regard, Scott’s clunky, amateurish drawing style was irrelevant. Of course it was irrelevant to readers: Dilbert found incredible acceptance. It was carried by 2000 newspapers, filled reprints books, shelves of licensed products, and was made into an animated TV series. The point, or a point, is that comic strips overwhelmingly have become observational bits – comedians’ monologues come to “life” – and have inspired their readers to replicate wisecracks and sarcastic walk-away lines in their own “lives.” Exhibit A: eavesdrop on any group’s conversations at restaurants. The sympathetic chuckles are demand-notes for reciprocal assent, so “laughter” substitutes for wisdom.

Humorous comic strips have had stylistic cycles: stereotypes; slapstick; farce; character-based interplay; irony; commentary. Charles Schulz developed a rhythm where the “punch” is in the penultimate panel, and a character comments to self or to the reader in the last panel. Scott Adams used a variant of that structure, which usually attracts the reader into the gag’s environment. All legitimate. What made Dilbert different was the environment itself, offices that contained acres of dull, sterile cubicles.

Throughout history, in my view, two classes have kept humans safe and sane: the saints (priests, prophets, theologians) and the silly (jesters, humorists, cartoonists). Grumpy, insecure Establishment types always have cultivated martyrs among these groups, and by body-counts they have achieved some success… yet we are only encouraged, not defeated. Thanks to happy contrarians like Scott Adams.

America has become a bureaucratized culture. Everyone knows it, and is accepting to varying degrees. People live and commute to and from cookie-cutter houses and neighborhoods. The government and its tentacles want to homogenize us. Every innovation in life is co-opted despite bread-and-circus efforts to persuade us that things can be changed, and we can change things, and the Establishment does not impose its agendas. But to join the Bureaucratic life is to automatically accept marginalization.

In a different, or earlier, context a century ago, Franz Kafka recognized, was crushed by, and addressed this new world. So did other writers and poets and playwrights. They reacted with gloom and despair. Scott Adams was a rare creator who beheld the same soul-crushing Bureaucratic State… but reacted with humor, irony, and identification. More and more people recognized those felt-lined cells called office cubicles. Everyone knew the contemporary versions of humanity’s nitwits, incompetents, poseurs, and hypocrites. Dilbert struck a chord… even as its creator scribbled his observations from a cubicle at Pacific Bell, where Scott labored 9 to 5 at first, unconsciously gathering inspirations.

As Scott’s fame grew so – inevitably – did the Establishment’s opposition. Who could object to jokes about computer programs and fax machines? Not readers, who identified. But, you see, Scott Adams was more than a jester; he eventually wrote serious books; and, thank God for the liberating nature of the internet, began sharing his larger thoughts about life, politics, and current events. His common sense reflected uncommon sense. Ever the iconoclast, this jester became a respected commentator; he endorsed Doanld Trump and was invited to the White House; and discomfited the Establishment.

One discussion about a poll by the great Scott Rasmussen that roughly half of the Black population would not choose to be White – or some such news-cycle filler – moved Scott to say that, if true, he would be less inclined to stroll in some Black neighborhoods. The simple remark was pronounced as racist by the Bigotry Police. He lost a multitude of self-righteous clients; his syndicate cast him out into the cold; and Scott was reduced to his books and podcast

… at which pursuits he thrived even more than before. The web carried Dilbert. The podcast audience was phenomenal. Now Scott could, and did, reach more people, easily combine humor and commentary, and continue to visit the White House.

At the apex of his greatest successes and cultural influence, however, that most evil of Establishmentarians, Satan, planned another attack. Scott was diagnosed with Stage IV prostate cancer that had spread to his bones. He suffered further maladies like partial paralysis, challenges to his ability to draw and speak, and pain. President Trump and Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr fast-tracked alternative medicines.

Only weeks before his death Scott Adams addressed the public about his impending death. A startling portion of the statement addressed his imminent conversion to Christianity. Previously known for his rejection of faith, he wrote: Many of my Christian friends have asked me to find Jesus before I go. I’m not a believer, but I have to admit the risk-reward calculation for doing so looks so attractive to me. So here I go: I accept Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior and look forward to spending an eternity with him. The part about me not being a believer should be quickly resolved if I wake up in heaven. I won’t need any more convincing than that. I hope I’m still qualified for entry…

Adams, who could have statues or plaques in the Halls of Fame of Cynicism and Sarcasm, was totally serious. His remark betrays no panic but rather a calculated Pascal’s-Wager calculation, coldly triangulating between Mother Nature as oddsmaker, “What do I have to lose?” insouciance, and… an avoidance of what Christianity IS.

I tried to get through to Scott in his last weeks, hoping as many friends did that he “find Jesus.” There is always the possibility of a “deathbed conversion,” of course; and it. is. never. too. late to accept Christ, whose invitations have no scheduled start-times, nor expiration dates. But whether a person is in distress or has sudden lucidity or is the recipient of an urgent appeal at the end of life, whether from a friend or the Holy Spirit… We are blessed by such opportunities and workings of Grace. We do not know; we cannot know.

But the reception of Jesus into one’s heart is by definition life-changing. And life-saving. Personal conversion – after all, being saved from sin; yes, the prospect of eternal life – cannot be a “risk-reward” calculation. If one does “accept Jesus” you walk, talk, act differently. Of course! – whether you are eight and beginning life, or 68, moments from it ending. You can be smart, like Scott Adams, but never smarter than God.

I pray that Scott is in heaven now. No cubicles! Jesus promised, “In My Father’s house there are many mansions. If it were not so, I would have told you.” It would be the ultimate irony, in this rotten culture against which Scott Adams crusaded for years and lies to us about Christian truths, that he never realized the simplicity and beautiful promises of the Christian life.

+ + +

Click: Dame Judi Dench sings “Send in the Clowns” – BBC Proms 2010

1-12-26

A late friend of mine, a prominent science-fiction writer, taught me a lesson, or rather two lessons at least, about addiction and such personal challenges and crises. He was not a Christian, despite my puny efforts to witness the Truth to him. I was not particularly discouraged, however, because as Christians our main job in such situations is to share the Gospel; the Holy Spirit was sent among us to minister to peoples’ souls – to “close the deal, so to speak.” We plant; He cultivates; the Lord harvests.

The first life-challenge he shared was about his wife. Throughout his entire marriage he endured her unfaithfulness. She was a serial adulterer, and he knew it because she left countless evidences. His two sons were not his. At different times she was an alcoholic, a chain smoker, consumer of various drugs, anorexic (she looked like a concentration-camp survivor), and, contrarily, a binge foodie. Usually these addictions slightly overlapped – she bounced from one self-destructive addiction to another, sometimes returning to a former disorder seemingly at will.

My friend sought counseling for her, or them together, and the usual result was futility, or his wife having an affair with the therapist. I finally asked him why he didn’t leave his wife, and his answer startled me: “Well, I love her.”

Yes, a lesson in love and commitment, and forbearance and patience and faith of some sort. The putative convert taught the missionary a lesson.

The other perspective I gained was about addiction itself. I don’t know whether there have been volumes written on his view of addiction, or if it were his own battle story, or method of coping. No matter: it made sense to me. He told me that he grew to recognize that people are not so much addicted to alcohol or nicotine or a type of drug or the pleasures of sex or the thrill of escaping discovery; or the flavors or particular sensations. He theorized that most of these people – and that includes most of us – are rather addicted to addiction itself.

Putting aside whether addictions are a disease (which argument many people regard as an “out” of personal responsibility or decisions to sin) the perspective is persuasive. The Bible preaches that there is Original Sin. The core of Christianity is that Jesus, the Incarnate God-Made-Flesh, lived and died and rose in order that we may be forgiven and saved of our sins. “None is holy, no not one.”

Sinning is an addiction. We all commit transgressions against God and against each other, more often than a drunk hits the bottle, or a druggie snorts. We are addicted to sin, though we fight it to varying degrees and inconsistency. It is, literally, the bane of our existence: self-destructive; malignant; in fact deadly.

But. There is a silver lining to this situation.

As addicts seek counseling, we all have a spiritual therapist. Yes, Christian friends, clergy… and the Lord Himself, by immersing ourselves in the Word and through earnest prayer.

As my friend’s wife proved, albeit through myriad backslides, we are capable of switching addictions. We can therefore commit to become addicted to doing good. Rejecting evil and harmful tendencies. Being kind and forgiving. Putting God first in all we do. Are we doomed to fail? – yes, of course: no one is perfect among us. But even drug addicts routinely try to “swear off”; adulterers occasionally repent. The road to reform is always before us. We can do the same. Switch addictions; change habits.

I am seeking to counsel a prominent addict-of-sorts right now. One of the hats I wear is in the cartooning world, as a former cartoonist and editor and historian. Scott Adams (the Dilbert comic strip creator) is a confirmed atheist behind his persona as a clever cartoonist and a brilliant political commentator. He is enduring a diagnosis of terminal cancer, and recently has stated that he will convert to Christianity as a practical matter, hedging his bets that there is a heaven.

Unfortunately that is the most formulaic – therefore empty and futile – impulse. Jesus invites us to love and believe in Him, to save our souls. Not to manipulate the God of the Universe and wrangle an eternal motel room in Paradise. There is another form of addiction from which we all suffer: self-delusion. We never will be smarter than God.

And if we seek secular help in secular worldly crises, we more easily can approach the Throne of Grace, going before our loving Father who has expressed His yearning for us to reach out to Him. He has proven His love for us, sending to Jesus to sacrifice Himself for our sins, even while we are yet sinners. He has called Himself a “jealous” God – hurting when we don’t seek Him in times of trouble.

And the best part of the Christian’s seeking to break the addiction to sin: we actually do not have to achieve emotional “strength” or other prerequisites. Christians achieve victory not by marching and battling: we win on our knees. Surrendering. We admit our weaknesses and addictions; we don’t explain or justify them. And our Counselor materially helps us. Not advice, but Salvation.

Pat your chest by your heart. Say Hello to your Savior. The Great Physician ministers, but He also heals. Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance (Mark 2:17).

+ + +

Click: T. Graham Brown – Wine Into Water (Acoustic) // The Church Sessions

1-5-26
Janus, the Roman god who had two faces, one looking backward and one looking
forward, was among other things the source of January’s name. We logically are
prompted at this time to review the past year and contemplate the next. (By the
way, it strikes me as appropriate that a false god can be considered two-faced…)
My favorite pied-a-terre outside Bologna (Sasso Marconi) is the ancient villa Torre
di Iano, Tower of Janus. The old guy has been around for a long time, as have
superstitions and traditions like new year’s resolutions.

I will not offer resolutions, nor even suggestions, this week because I likely will
have broken my own before I hit “send” on the keypad. However I will share
observations I have jotted down over this past year. Advice, wisdom, challenges,
irrelevancies, take your pick – ‘tis still the season.

More people search the Scriptures looking for loopholes than for direction.

Contemplating the vast universe makes a lot of folks confess to feeling
insignificant. But shouldn’t we feel, placed on this planet amidst the vastness of
space and was created by God, special? – MORE significant!

We are berated every day to be Politically Correct. It is more important, however,
that we be Spiritually correct.

Pro-abortion forces insist that “blobs,” not lives, grow inside expectant mothers. So
why do they call their prescriptions “BIRTH control pills”?

Christians – in fact all people – are like moths: We are drawn to the Light.

In Life, there is a difference between GIVING and FORGIVING. Specifically,
come to think about it, not much of a difference! Each act blesses you as much as
the recipients.

Be not deceived – God is not mocked. (I had help on that one. Namely Galatians
6:7)

Pastors and priests once were condemned for what they preached. Today, many
pastors and priests should be condemned for what they DON’T preach.

A mathematical certainty: Life without Christ can yield half-successes. But it also
leads to total failures.

Satan tempts; God tests.

We want to cry out that God change our circumstances. God, however, desires to
change US.

Let us all banish from our vocabulary the word “luck.” What we call “bad luck”
we usually bring on ourselves. And what we attribute to “good luck” are insults to
the loving will and care of our Father God.

If your life were made into a movie, could it state truthfully in the opening credits
“Based on a True story”?

America needs a backbone. Instead, it has been looking for a wishbone.

Listen to the debates about Creationism vs Evolution, hotter than ever. For my
part, I care more about the Rock of Ages than the age of rocks.

Why is it that pundits attribute mass church shootings to racial and sexual and
political motivations? These are churches… children and adults praying…
Christians worshipping. Why not discuss our culture’s hatred of Jesus, its
animosity toward faith?

Jesus knocks at the front doors of our lives. Satan climbs in the back window.

The world foists “Pride Month” on us. Dare anyone call it “Shame Month”?

Our coins and public buildings say “In God We Trust.” Oh, really? Where does
He fit on the “truth” meter with favorite politicians, military weapons, “luck,”
guns, insurance policies, unions… Whom do you really trust?

And, from two of my best friends, Penelope Carlevato and Clive Staples Lewis:

We take our children to malls to see the Easter Bunny and to meet Santa Claus.
How many take children to church and meet Jesus?

Jesus claimed to be the Incarnation of God, the Savior of Humankind. By these
claims He was a madman, a liar, or… indeed the Son of God, Savior of your soul;
the only way to eternal life. There is no other choice.

• + +

Click: My Tribute

youtube.com/watch?v=KcE5IlUL_focom/watch?v=KcE5IlUL_fo

12-25-25

Some wars are years, or generations, festering; some start on a random morning, or so it seems. But one thing we seldom encounter is peace breaking out. In the midst of a raging war, interrupting a bloody battle. Yet it has happened. Not many people know about the Christmas Truce. It was a virtual miracle during the first Christmas, in 1914, of World War I – the so-called Great War, surely the most useless of history’s many useless wars.

A few months after war was declared in Europe, by almost every big and small nation on the continent, almost a million soldiers already had been slaughtered. Christmastime had come, and soldiers were mired in trenches that were to become so established that for more than two years the battle line never moved more than 30 miles one direction or another. In that unlikely hellhole a miracle occurred.

Minor details differ but the dispositive facts are acknowledged: Peace broke out.

Soldiers of Germany, England (Scotland, actually), and France, at night, spontaneously sang Christmas carols… and were joined by their “enemies” who could hear across No Man’s Land. Nervous soldiers climbed from trenches to greet their foes, and shake hands; gifts were exchanged, even little trinkets, but also pastries and wine that had been sent from home. They shared pictures of wives and children… sang more hymns… and flares, intended to illuminate battlefields so to aim the cannons, were now shot skyward in celebration. There were tentative, but successful, attempts to communicate.

Of course they communicated. The languages that night were hymns and Bibles and chocolates and cigars. Handshakes and smiles and tears.

A Merry Christmas. A Holy Christmas. Peace on earth… at least in that narrow 27-mile-long battle line, south of Ypres and east of Armentieres, site of the song about les Mademoiselles, that night.

A British soldier recalled the Christmas Truce almost two decades later: We stuck up a board with a Merry Christmas on it. The enemy had stuck up a similar one. … Two of our men then threw their equipment off and jumped on the parapet with their hands above their heads. Two of the Germans did the same and commenced to walk up the river bank, our two men going to meet them. They met and shook hands and then we all got out of the trench.

We and the Germans met in the middle of No Man’s Land. Their officers were also now out. Our officers exchanged greetings with them.… One of their men, speaking in English, mentioned that he had worked in Brighton for some years and that he was fed up to the neck with this damned war and would be glad when it was all over. We told him that he wasn’t the only one that was fed up with it [Frank Richards, “Old Soldiers Never Die,” 1933].

Another history records: [The British Brigadier General G.T. Forrestier-Walker] issued a directive forbidding fraternization: “For it discourages initiative in commanders, and destroys offensive spirit in all ranks.… Friendly intercourse with the enemy, unofficial armistices and exchange of tobacco and other comforts, however tempting and occasionally amusing they may be, are absolutely prohibited” [Stanley Weintraub, “Silent Night: The Story of the World War I Christmas Truce,” 2001]. Officers commanded that their men stopped these spontaneous endorsements of peace. After all, they had wars to run.

How much different would the next day have been – how much different would the world be today – if the Truce had held?

Note that chocolates and cigars were only the presents. The GIFTS were hymns and Bible verses – they brought the soldiers out of trenches; not the prospect of snacks or smokes or a soccer game in the snow.

Christmas. God did not intend for Jesus’s Incarnation, the spirit of that Christmas Truce, to be a one-time miracle; but to be everyday life. He intended that we know-and-show that love and fellowship can be normal, not rare. We can be changed by the Holy Day, not be annoyed by yet another holiday.

“You started it!” “No, you did!!!” Wouldn’t it be great if we all exchanged those words happily, about starting love, sharing affection, and living in Heavenly Peace?

Who “started it”? God did.

+ + +

Click: A TRUE account – The Christmas Truce

12-22-25

“Never Again” should be dusted off as a watchword.

This is the third of three parts of a message that has been on my heart. It could have been 30 or 300 parts. It addresses the issue of our times (and has been, and will continue to be); that is, the radical, aggressive role Israel is playing; its eventual negative effect on our country; and American Christians’ role in supporting and enabling malignant Jewish influence. I especially have focused on Christianity’s role in the perversion of Bible passages, which provides a unique role in fostering the increasingly toxic situation.

Next week we will return to a new year and familiar themes.

+ + +

Is today’s country of Israel the Biblical Israel of prophecy?

It was taught by eschatologists to be so when I began to study End Times years ago. The “clock started ticking” – for the End of the Age – within the generation after the reestablishment of Israel. But 1948 happened, with nothing since except…

… Israel is a very secular country, in any event hostile to the Gospel.

… the Knesset mostly is filled with lawmakers who believe that Jesus was a false rabbi who deserved to be tortured and killed.

… It is a country, an “ally,” that allows abortions and gay/transition “rights,” even government financing of medical support.

… and is a country that grants limited freedom for Christians; has presided over attacks on believers and churches; and in Gaza the ethnic cleansing of 50,000 people, including 20,000 children it blanket-brands as terrorists.

Many Americans, if they heard a list of Middle Eastern terrorist acts would recoil at such events as these: the bombing of the King David Hotel in Jerusalem and the death of 91 people; the massacre of more than 100 residents of the Deir Yassin village; the kidnapping of two occupying soldiers, their torture and hanging, and their bodies being booby-trapped to explode when attended to; bombs detonated in embassies, airports, oil refineries, bus stops, and airfields associated with occupying forces.

Of course civilized people would condemn such terrorist acts. People have however largely forgotten – or excused – these bits of history, because they were committed by Israeli terror groups like Irgun Zvai Leumi and the Stern Gang, against the British in the 1940s. Leaders from these groups later became “statesmen” of the country of Israel; even prime ministers. They simultaneously orchestrated infiltration of governments and institutions in Britain, the United States, and around the world.

This infiltration has extended from a virtual saturation of ownership of media outlets, news organizations, entertainment studios, religious denominations’ official stands, to personnel — for instance in government. Jews, who constitute less than 2.5 per cent of the population of the United States, have comprised nearly half of presidential cabinet and sub-cabinet positions for decades. There were so many Jews in Biden’s cabinet that minyan jokes (referring to Jewish quorums) were rife. Biden’s children all married Jews (Hunter has a Shalom tattoo). Kamala Harris’s husband is a Jew. The same profiles described previous cabinets; and the same is the case in Trump’s cabinet and family. His grandchildren are Orthodox Jews. Many of the people described above are not merely neighborhood Jews but almost all are committed Zionists, activists in Israel causes, or noted fundraisers, advocates, and lobbyists; sometimes dual citizens.

In the “opposite direction,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was reared in the US, went to high school in Cheltenham PA (where his classmate was pro-Israel commentator Mark Levin) and who encourages Americans to adopt dual citizenship. Americans can serve in the Israeli armed forces without losing American citizenship. The American Jonathan Pollard stole thousands of sensitive US military documents for Israel, was sentenced to life imprisonment, was released by Trump, and was welcomed at an airport ceremony in Jerusalem by Netanyahu. Pollard kissed the ground and recently was honored at the US Embassy itself by the “American” Ambassador Mike Huckabee.

The news media traditionally are lockstep in support of Israel, but not lately (not monolithically any more). American academia traditionally is lockstep in support of Israel, but not lately (facts and images of the massacres in Gaza are changing minds). The political establishment traditionally is lockstep in support of Israel, but not lately (the Jewish lobby AIPAC, which has been exempted from requirements of other lobbyists, has “handlers” assigned to every senator and congressman). The American church traditionally was lockstep in support of Israel, but… largely remains so.

Why? Churches traditionally cling to the questionable interpretation (discussed in our previous essay) of Bible verses addressing a contemporary country in fact being the Biblical Israel of the Old Testament. Why? Many ministries receive great donations from the Israeli government and from American Jews (who retain their rejection of Jesus as the Son of God, of course). Why? Many are afraid that any appearance of criticizing Israel’s government might be seen as embracing the Holocaust. In the meantime, Gaza is a gargantuan pile of rubble. Thousands of civilians, many children, have been slaughtered. Zionists expect America to endorse all, as usual.

But the wheels are coming off the Zionist wagon. A growing number of American Jews themselves are speaking out against Israeli atrocities, ethnic cleansing, and genocide. Among the many Jews going public with declarations of independence from Israeli bullying are Glenn Greenwald, Max Blumenthal, David Smith, Ethan Klein, Jeffrey Sachs, Katie Halper, Gabor Maté, Norman Finkelstein, and Adam Friedland. Prominent Jews like Yiddish singer and actor Many Patinkin are speaking out for persecuted Gazans. Jews like podcaster Andrew Klavan have converted to Christianity and are sharing their testimony.

There also has been a mass exodus away from once-predictable gentile support of Zionism. Decades ago Pat Buchanan recognized Congress as “Israeli-occupied territory” (and was effectively “cancelled” across the media) but today, gentiles are not so lonely in this regard, on a range of issues like the Gaza war and “Greater Israel” expansionism: Tucker Carlson, Ann Coulter, Ana Kasparian, Cenk Uygur, Joe Rogan, Steve Bannon, George Galloway, John Mearsheimer, Candace Owens, Nick Fuentes, Darryl Cooper, John Kiriakou, Dave Chappelle, Zach Costello, and the late Charlie Kirk no longer are silent (except for Charlie, of course). In Kirk’s case he was pressured by a phalanx of wealthy Jews to recant his growing skepticism of Israeli policies. Mere weeks before he was assassinated, he refused and had at least $2-million withdrawn from Turning Point support, amid other pressures to “tow the line.”

The names are difficult to parse – Dave Smith is Jewish; Dr Mearsheimer is not – but the point is not about birth certificates but of chosen identities. Many Jews are realizing that Zionism is not the only path to celebrate being Jewish; but many Christians still fear that criticizing Israeli acts of genocide means that they must, perforce, be anti-Semites. A growing number of anti-Zionists are realizing that influencers have been propagandizing all their lives and from every corner of the media, entertainment, politics, and… from Christian pulpits.

Where does this leave us… what does all this suggest?

If the problem is primarily spiritual – which I have argued: the essence of the misunderstandings, crises, and threats – then the answer also is spiritual. Whether the leadership of the country of Israel and its internal and external policies are consistent with Biblical prophecies, or are separate matters, is something American Christians must confront. Maybe for the first time.

American Christians must decide whether their government should be paying astonishing amounts of money – a large percentage of American foreign aid – to this one little country; and why that country receives favors and exemptions not granted to other countries; and why Israel controls uncountable portions of the American media, the entertainment industry, and the government to the extent that its leaders contemptuously laugh about it. American Christians must decide whether it is safe, physically, to declare independence from Jewish secular influence.

And American Christians also must decide whether we, ourselves, believe that Jesus is indeed the Son of God. Decide whether His words and the spiritual thrust of the entire Bible are true – that every person must meet, embrace, and believe that He died for our sins, rose from the dead, and ascended to Heaven. Jesus fulfilled the Law; He did not scheme to issue exceptions to those who hated Him. And all this was because He loved them. And still does. He offers Himself to all humankind.

… as we should accept and love all peoples, too. None are cast away; none are more special than others. To encourage otherwise is to consign people to hell. We cannot sit back as the world slips into hell on earth today.

+ + +

Click: Mary, Did You Know – English, Hebrew, Arabic from Bethlehem

What Scripture Really Says About “Blessings and Curses”

12-15-25

In my previous essay I addressed the disastrous set of circumstances besetting us at the moment – “us” being the world, the international order, peace in the Middle East, the American government and politics; and Christians. I am only one of many who identify Israel as the source – not to say “the Jews,” but expansionist Zionism and the impetus toward Greater Israel – and its influence on American politics and media.

As many people discuss many aspects of these profoundly significant challenges – even to the point where a growing number of Jews decry Israeli policies – I primarily want to address the spiritual factors. The relative paucity of religion’s role is surprising in public debates. Biblical history and God’s injunctions are essential components of the conflicts, however, and continue to exacerbate the dangers… when they should be, rather, informing and guiding us.

+ + +

It is ironic that Zionism and the creation of Israel in 1948 might not have occurred without the narrative of the Holocaust, nor have been sustained without charges of anti-Semitism. The irony increases as humanitarian impulses have morphed – most recently over the Gaza campaigns – to ethnic cleansing and genocide. The founder of modern Zionism (ironically, a secular Jew) envisioned a religious country of broad borders where displaced people would themselves displace people. Europeans, mostly, displacing Middle Easterners.

A majority of Jews reportedly consider Israel’s government to be committing war crimes in Gaza; suicides in its military are at the highest rate of any country’s. The world community largely shares these views. Israel however persists in its policies, and in fact has doubled down in justifying its actions. The awful reports of the October 7 attacks provided the trigger for virtual annihilation of Gaza’s already shaky infrastructure, and of many thousands of civilian deaths.

The defenders and sustainers of these policies are primarily of three sources: the extreme Zionist class in Israeli governments; the influence of the “Jewish Supremacist Billionaire class” (I am quoting Jewish critics themselves about influence on politicians and ubiquitous media themes); and American Evangelical Christians.

There are Orthodox Jewish sects, we have noted, that do not accept contemporary Israel as Biblical Israel, believing instead that only the anticipated Messiah’s return can bring that about. Yet American Evangelicals frequently support any and every Israeli government’s claim and action. Many believe that God spares the Jews from needing to accept Christ as a means of salvation. As a group, Evangelicals’ financial support and political pressure are unconditional. Why?

Many American Evangelicals place virtually their entire rationale on the oft-cited passage I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you (Genesis 12:3). Later in Genesis the Covenant with Abraham is expanded, In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.

To Jews and American Evangelicals these promises of God have been interpreted as to mean any people who are circumcised (a condition of the Covenant) are free of God’s other conditions. If they are of a geographic group or are people with certain names or DNAs, or are members of a political party or a country, that is deemed sufficient. If a country called Israel is one that was founded by terrorists or persecutes Christian believers or allows abuse of Jesus followers – they are free of God’s rules supposedly meant for the rest of humankind. A “Get Out of Jail Free” card?

Many Jews and American Evangelicals ignore other portions of the Old and New Testaments: “Abraham’s seed” in His promise was not a string of nephews and nieces, but… Jesus Christ.

Jesus Himself confirmed His centrality to the Abrahamic Covenant. One of myriad times He asserted His divinity and identity as the successor of Abraham and fulfillment of Covenant promises was when He distinguished between Abraham’s seed and Satan’s seed. Accusers wanted to stone an adulteress (John Chapter 8):

“I know that you are Abraham’s descendants, Jesus said to the Jewish mob; but you seek to kill Me because My word has no place in you. I speak what I have seen with My Father, and you do what you have seen with your father.” They answered and said to Him, “Abraham is our father.”

Jesus said to them, “If you were Abraham’s children, you would do the works of Abraham. But now you seek to kill Me, a Man who has told you the truth which I heard from God. Abraham did not do this. You do the deeds of your father….You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. …Because I tell the truth, you do not believe Me. He who is of God hears God’s words; therefore you do not hear, because you are not of God.

“Before Abraham Was, I AM.”

The Biblical record clearly indicates that ancient Jews were Chosen as a people to be the ancestors of Jesus. Subsequently, the spiritual descendants of Jesus are God’s Chosen.

One of the earliest Pauline Epistles, written to correct misunderstandings about God’s heart and will, was to the church in Galatia: Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. God did not say, “And to seeds,” as if of many, but as of one, “And to your seed,” who is Christ (Galatians 3:16). We should note, being grammatical: not countless offspring; but singular – the Messiah Jesus Christ. Abraham’s seed.

Abram (before God chose him, later changing his name to Abraham) was the father of the faith ordained by God, and leader of humankind’s first major monotheistic people. His descendants would be found in Judaism, Islam, and Christianity. Members of all these major world religions commonly and mutually are called “People of the Book” and “Abrahamic” faiths. Muslims revere Abraham (and, similarly, they have a higher regard for Jesus Christ, whom they consider a major prophet, more than do the Jews, who outright reject Jesus and any aspect of His divinity).

My notes here are not shared as Bible lessons. Well, actually… they are, because misunderstanding essential Biblical doctrines has consequences. The world seems to be slouching towards not Gomorrah, but worse: broad international conflict, possible nuclear war, institutionalized injustice. At the other extreme of eventualities is not peace and harmony but mutilated babies and grieving mothers. No positive aspects.

We may grant that zealots are blinded by feelings of insecurity and hatred, perhaps doctrines of Supremacy; and that well-meaning Christians are Biblically ignorant or naive. In any case, sympathy is useless, even deadly, as the world hurtles toward calamity.

To return to my main thesis, begun in the previous essay, the questions I raise finally are being discussed openly by many people. Overdue. But some influencers are blowing smoke, changing the subjects, scattershot-blaming random parties, and kidnapping debates. For instance, Charlie Kirk’s legacy is being eclipsed by charges peripheral to his program (in the weeks before his murder, by the way, he had declared himself free of the Israel Lobby and Zionist influence).

It is tragic that American Evangelicals are major culprits to these malignant trends through their ignorance and prejudice and self-righteousness. They effectively practice divided loyalty and have Chosen to encourage distinguishing between dead babies shown on the nightly news. God forbid!

+ + +

Next Week: Are the End Times Beginning?– A final discussion of Biblical clarity and the responsibility, culpability, and choices facing American Christians. The degree to which America – the cultural establishment, the media, the government – has been subservient to foreign influence, and might regain its independence and integrity.

+ + +

Click: Lacrimosa

12-8-25

I am preparing a magazine article on what I believe has become the most pressing issue facing America today. I shall focus here on the Biblical and spiritual aspect of the sudden and menacing collapse of what recently appeared to be the dawning of reform and renewal, even revival.

Political reforms were accompanied by an amazing spirit of renewed faith – frequently among the young, and igniting revival in Christian communities. The impact of Charlie Kirk – his life AND death – promised a Great Awakening in America, perhaps around the world.

Almost overnight, the progress and hope, good will and alliances, seem fractured. From many, many sides come distractions. Bizarre unrelated urgencies. Recriminations and bitter feuds between those who recently joined forces. I believe these “speed bumps” and detours are not coincidences. Many of their authors are malignant and are happy to fracture the furtherance of civil peace, progress and prosperity, and the advancement of the Gospel.

I have dug deep, prayed for guidance and wisdom, and… I welcome comments.

+ + +

History’s inflection points and paradigm shifts can happen unannounced, catching us by surprise. We often observe the trees but not the forest, as the proverb says.

It is difficult to realize that we suddenly find ourselves today in a time of major, worldwide, and extremely consequential change. At the very least, the trajectories of international diplomacy, cultural assumptions, and even religious understandings are dissolving. Most of us know the elements, but are not connecting the dots. We will be face-to-face with dangerous realities… soon enough.

Christians are at the center of many of those currents, appropriately so because Western societies (home to many of the Faith’s bases) are severely threatened. Ultimately, and importantly, Christianity is relevant to the controversies, conflicts, causes, and conclusions. And ironically it is Christians – for the most part, contemporary Evangelical American Christians – who are the most unaware of their role, the threats they inspire, and the consequences they stoke.

A major source of these disruptions unfortunately has echoes of the sad history of societal turmoil: Israel. Not “the Jews,” not “prejudice,” not “persecution.” Not “the Jewish Question” and all of history’s baggage – and not even the country of Israel, its foundation and existence; but rather its governments’ policies. Eons of discrimination and contemporary, continuous Holocaust tales cloak, and often excuse, the maladministrations and offenses of the Zionist “state.” Plausible blessings and arguable curses have ever been the Jews’ lot, and in our day are intensifying.

Isolating one flash-point of many, I invite attention to Gaza. That strip of sand has superseded “Palestine” as an umbrella-term for lands, peoples, and nearly insoluble dilemmas. Gaza is a non-country (no government, flag, native population, nor identity: an empty place on maps; crowded with 2-million people minus those recently slaughtered). Since the cross-border terror attack on and Israeli festival Gaza is described by every observer as a wasteland of rubble. As previous to the Israelis’ unending ”retaliation,” the Gazans’ access to water, electricity, and food is severely restricted.

A recent survey indicates that 40 per cent of Israelis themselves view their government’s policy toward Gaza as genocide. Sixty-one per cent believe their government intentionally is committing war crimes. It is well-known that the majority of the world’s nations routinely have condemned Israeli policies, not only toward Gaza but the expansionist goals of Zionism. The majority of American Jews disapprove of the Zionist agenda, and many prominent Jews are quite vocal in that regard: Hannah Arendt, Noam Chomsky, Norman Finkelstein, Glenn Greenwald, and Max Blumenthal represent dissident critics of a new country imposed on the sands of Transjordan and traditional Palestine-Protectorate neighborhoods. Today there is a tsunami of Jewish activists including many “Holocaust scholars” who oppose the genocidal policies and in many cases Zionism itself. (So do Orthodox sects that believe that only the coming Messiah can re-establish Biblical Israel.)

However, despite proponents of expansionist Zionism – those who plan for occupation of the entire Levant, from the Mediterranean to the Tigris and Euphrates; from Egypt to Turkey, and the Israeli Military and Mossad (intelligence service) – the most effective Zionists are American evangelicals.

Many Christians have been persuaded by interpretations of the Bible presented to them. Among the prominent persuaders are leaders who regularly receive subsidies from Israel and its proxies. Without blind support from the Christian Right, especially since the wars of 1967 and 1973, Israelite foreign and military policy would not have triumphed as spectacularly as it has. The 10 most recent Administrations would not have become subservient rubber-stamps to Israel.

Pastors, denominations, and ministries have taught their followers to reject any skepticism about, and cancel any opposition to, all of Israel’s policies, even when its government impedes the sharing of the Gospel. Many Christians have been led to believe that Jews have a “free pass” to salvation, exempted alone among all humanity from accepting Christ as their Savior. By their financial and political support, Evangelicals are complicit in genocide and ethnic cleansing that frequently plant seeds of generational resentment, hatred, and dedication to revenge… not merely against festivals on the border of Gaza but perhaps downtown American cities too.

American Evangelicals rightly have been taught to reject racial hatred, the displacement of entire populations, the assignment of collective guilt, suppression of minorities and their rights, and Supremacy as a governing doctrine of an exclusive class. They boo Nazis every week the swastika appears on TV and movie screens. However, they embrace every mirror-image of these actions and policies when practiced by the Israelite government — consistently, virtually without reservation or second thought. Even gleefully.

Why?

How do they avoid seeing a double standard? Many believe the Bible tells them so. “The Jews are God’s Chosen People.” That should not mean that Israel can practice bigotry and genocide, but it has had the stamp of approval of the American government, which decades ago was characterized as a virtual vassal state of Israeli diplomatic and military prerogatives. And, again, the Bible also approves…

Or thus saith Evangelical leaders.

+ + +

Next Week: The Chosen People and Abraham’s Seed – “Those who bless Israel shall be blessed.” An examination, seldom undertaken by contemporary Christians, of what Scripture tells God’s people about… God’s people. Biblical history and recent, though suppressed, history.

+ + +

Click: Hallelujah

12-1-25

I have been studying and praying about a message focused on the controversies roiling the church and public debates in the wake of the Charlie Kirk assassination – personal thoughts, as I was a guest on his podcast, but also the impact he had and has on issues that concern us, from faith to war to Israel. It is getting me “deeper” than I expected… but also I should pause to share thoughts with you about Thanks-giving. Some time-tested, and timely, insights.

I’ll see you next week after – I pray – you will have had a blessed Thanksgiving.

+ + +

It was President Abraham Lincoln who conceived the idea of setting apart a day for government and citizenry to beseech God for mercy and forgiveness, and literally count our blessings, in the midst of a nightmarish, bloody, brother-against-brother civil war.

His Thanksgiving Proclamation in 1863 began a tradition that held for generations. He wrote in part after enumerating some of the gifts God bestowed upon America:

No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy. It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently, and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and one voice by the whole American People. I do therefore invite my fellow citizens… to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens. And I recommend to them… ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings….

Almighty God does not demand gratitude and thanks from us… Well, yes, He does, actually.

He is a “jealous God,” and through the Bible we are told, by Him and His prophets, that gratitude and thanks are due Him. Our worship liturgies remind us that it is “meet, right, and salutary that at all times and in all places we give thanks to Him”… “Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; His love endures forever”… “Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus”… “Enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise; give thanks to Him and praise His name”…

At one time we were a people who knew that God was the source of good things, and that He was worthy of praise and thanks. Now we are a people routinely expecting entitlements.

I want to view the Lord and Thanks-giving in one more way. It is proper that we have an attitude of gratitude. But through the Bible, God does not only demand our thanks, praise, and obligation. We should also recognize that Christianity is a two-way street, so to speak.

What I mean is this: God thanks us, too. The Creator of the Universe thanks US?

Yes, His blessings often are “thanks” for our faithfulness. His amazing Creation was given, a gift, to humankind. Answered prayers are “thanks” for our devotion and supplications. The Gifts of the Spirit surely are His reaching down to bless us. The very fact that He became incarnate flesh to dwell among us and offer a plan of salvation is a manner of advance-thanks.

God demonstrated His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us (Romans 5:8).

Was there ever a more heartfelt “Thank You”? The Lord considers us worthy of thanks, this verse says, before we would even deserve it. Thanks for believing in Him; loving Him; serving Him. The challenge to Christians is how we return thanks, how we give life to “You’re Welcome, Lord” when our attitudes are sincere.

But respond we must, with passion and purpose.

Gratitude. And a spirit of giving Thanks to the God who nevertheless remembers mercy. Let us solemnly, reverently, and gratefully acknowledge Him with one heart and one voice. We say “Thank You” to each other, our Lord and ourselves; and as He savors our humble “You’re Welcomes,” let us indeed welcome Him into our hearts.

+ + +

Click: Thank you Lord For Saving My Soul

11-24-25

Like a superhero character who is not aware of his powers, or like the movies’ Pa Kettle who was once tossed unjustly into the town jail and missed the point of his friend the jailer “accidently” dropping the cell keys in front of the iron bars, many Christians don’t realize the gifts, blessings, and rights God has granted them.

Power, too. And authority. Being blessed, and the right to bless. The ability to do “greater things” than Jesus did – as He promised (John 14:12) when He said He was leaving the earth but be succeeded by the Holy Spirit. The very Spirit of God, to live in our hearts. Humbling.

That manifestation of the Triune God was indeed sent on the Day of Pentecost, and lives today in the hearts of born-again believers. “Our elder brother Jesus,” as evangelist R W Schambach used to call Him, said He was ascending to Heaven but be followed by “One who was greater,” the Spirit. And do “greater things,” beyond the attributes listed above. Also the power to heal; to forgive in the name of Jesus; to exercise gifts of wisdom and knowledge; to receive supernatural giftings of faith; to work miracles; to to speak prophetically; to discern spirits; to speak in unknown tongues and to interpret tongues and supernatural, edifying words of God.

These gifts are called Gifts of the Spirit. They are apart from one’s salvation (assurance of eternal life) but are God’s provision for Jesus-followers. Who would reject gifts… especially from God?

Yet many Christians do reject them. They are too shy to claim them. Or are embarrassed to exercise them in public. Or are “happy enough” just loving church. I can share that I have experienced them, in ways I did not expect or rehearse. I have prayed for people in turmoil and found myself knowing things they had not shared… but speaking them in prayer broke through their angst and blessed them tremendously. I have been aware of afflictions people had but were chary of detailing; how did I know? The Gift of Knowledge, and their souls were blessed.

When my son Ted was being born (my wife having been in hospital only for tests) I drove through the night, emotionally unsure, praying through my tears, unable to form my prayers, realizing my words were confused, too self-conscious to form my pleading… but then I let my heart cry out in words not familiar to me, but aware that I connected with the Throne by the Holy Spirit. I knew that I knew that I knew that God knew my desires and heard my cries. Peace that passed understanding. That has been my closest experience with that particular Gift of the Spirit.

Tongues are not the greatest (but not the least) of the Gifts, however often there is too much emphasis, by those who embrace it and those who decline its exercise.

In the larger sense, all of the Holy Spirit is ours. When God sees the born-again believer, He sees the Jesus in our hearts – and so does the devil, who wages war on us to the degree we are indwelt by the Spirit. It is simple: if we sin after conversion, God no longer sees us, but the Jesus who lives in us. We are “covered by the blood” He shed on the cross, and that’s all God sees.

When I was a new Christian I prayed with a friend and addressed God humbly, as a sinner, ashamed of my low standing, conscious of my offenses… and my friend stopped me and said I was reminding God of things He promised to forget (throwing my sins “into the sea of forgetfulness”); as a follower of Christ it was the shed blood of His Son that God saw when He dealt with me ever after. Not my sins and faults and dirty rags.

Realize your super Powers… pick up those keys… open the Gifts… let Jesus into your life in ways you never dreamed of… ask for the Holy Spirit’s guidance and comfort and Power. Christianity is the only place in life where to be Power Hungry is a good thing. Its potential awaits.

+ + +

Click: Holy Spirit

11-17-25

Lately, here, I have found myself referring to martyrs – those who have died for their faith or beliefs. This has not been an intentional obsession, nor aspect of morbidity; nor yet a celebration of courage, sacrifice, and integrity.

I think my themes have been prompted, rather, by calendar-dates like Reformation Day and All Saints Day, and events like the threats Martin Luther endured, and the assassination of Charlie Kirk.

And, avoiding deathly aspects, martyrdom does not require ravenous lions, the rack, the pyre, the firing squad, or what Alice E Duffy called history’s “antidotes or heterodoxy.” Martyrdom ain’t what it used to be; that is to say, today there are milder forms of punishment, and subtler means of imposing conformity, throughout the world.

But there are myriad punishments, and uncountable methods of crushing individual will, that contribute to 21-century martyrdom.

For individuals are being crushed; personal prerogatives are seduced; and big lies run the culture. Examples range from Woke “education” (i.e., secular propaganda) to, at the other extreme, mass execution of Christians in Nigeria. Socrates drank hemlock to poison himself rather than teach lies. “E pur si muove” was supposedly muttered by Galileo when the Catholic Church demanded he renounce his belief that the earth rotated around the sun – “Yet still it moves!” His life was spared.

Galileo nonetheless was grievously inconvenienced, so we are reminded that martyrdom does not require death. Would you deny the truth when you know that such a denial would change nothing? You might live to pursue other truths, and perhaps live to see your views vindicated.

Obviously every case is different. Justice is measured on a scale, not stamped by a template.

If the culture’s incessant standards and versions of truth are persuasive, it makes history’s martyrs seem more distant to us: many of them stood alone, threatened with torture and death, or as innocent victims of terror (as the Nigerian Christian girls when they know fior certain that their murderers lurk in the forest).

Which category is braver is not my question. I am wondering how many of us realize that we are martyrs, most of us, every day of our “normal” lives. You lose friends because of your political views. Worse, you change your opinions due to peer pressure. You refrain from condemning sins because you are afraid of “offending” someone. If your cancelled counseling could have saved their lives, you make martyrs of them, as well as of your own integrity. You believe that abortion is murder and drugs are destructive, but you keep quiet. You conform to the “world” in order to advance in school, your job, clubs, or councils; surely that is sacrificing your self-esteem at the very least.

In these examples you do not escape being burned at the stake, but – a curse of contemporary life – your standards are chipped away bit by bit by bit. Society wants us to believe that minor compromises are better than one huge offense… but that is like being just a little bit pregnant. Life doesn’t work that way, and neither do our consciences no matter how we deaden them, or let society lull them to sleep.

I invite you to remember that our “little” conflicts of conscience are not separate but descended from martyrs’ battles in earlier times. Without martyrs who stood their ground or put to death when challenged over their beliefs, we are the inheritors of freedom. And responsibility. And inspiration. We gloss over minor inconveniences when we compromise, but they sacrificed all for principles. We stand on their bloody shoulders.

The Declaration of Independence pledged “our lives, our fortunes, our sacred honor” (interesting, that order) when to be silent was an easy alternative when authority was challenged.

Hebrews Chapter 11 talks of a “great cloud of witnesses” who watch us and record our choices. Feel-good appearances before this contemporary version of civilization will gain us nothing… except the loss of our souls.

• + +

• Stand up, Stand Up For Jesus

11-10-25

There is knowledge and there is belief. If we are humble enough we believe what we know, and that we don’t know everything. And people should – but many do not – know what they believe.

Many of us actually are aggressive about their lack of beliefs. When Jesus, on the cross, asked His Heavenly Father to forgive the tormentors and executioners “for they know not what they do,” the Romans and the Jews actively sought His blood. But today there are people who are indifferent about their beliefs: which translates to not having core principles. Can such a thing be? You better believe it.

In contemporary America, society’s standards certainly have been lowered from previous times, and a swath of the population is content about that… or, again, indifferent about the consequences. No standards of right and wrong in society, or for themselves. The virtual absence of standards results from the lack of basic convictions, and of selfishness and self-indulgence. The lack of self-respect, diminished morals, indifference to others’ concerns, and (let us say essentially) the loss of faith, complete the ugly picture.

Back to “knowledge.” Does the accumulation of knowledge, of accessible facts, replace beliefs? Surely it does in the sense that “nature abhors a vacuum,” however as magpies acquire random shiny objects to pile in their nests, newly formed or discernible facts are abstract and not pertinent to most of us. Scientific knowledge, we are told, doubles every five years; if that is a fact, it presumably advances civilization, but represents mysteries to most of us everyday folks.

I was prompted to think about these things and share my thoughts (yes, I believe you can know that I have a point) because of Internet pop-ups and other news I have noticed lately. I realize that certain stories come my way because of algorithms. I discuss the Thanksgiving dinner with my wife, and the next day I receive posts advertising vacation packages to Turkey. This portends a New Paranoia that ought to be the subject of another blog essay, no?

In the meantime, I open one site and others follow like ducks in a row. For the moment, the current e-onslaught is actually interesting to me. I will not promote the sites nor go into detail, but I have been learning (knowing? believing? at least my interest is piqued) –

• The Webb telescope estimates ever more and more stars. There seems to be a trillion galaxies, many of which contain trillions of stars and planets. Matters pertaining to the formation or collapse of galaxies, their rotations, and such, contradict the Big Bang hypotheses.
• More evidence accumulates for the existence of a great flood several thousand years ago. We know Noah, no? Geological signs point to evidence of a Biblical flood based on physical evidence.
• In similar regards, anthropological and biological discoveries are pointing away from the theory (remember, theory) of evolution and its Old-Earth claims. The co-existence of animal species and mankind, the fossil record of giant life forms, the tarnished reputation of carbon-dating… are upsetting the apple carts of scholars. Or should.
• Archaeologists are almost routinely unearthing things from chards of clay tablets all the way to foundations of entire cities that confirm Biblical accounts. What scientists and historians once dismissed as Scriptural allegories now confront them. “Legends” are now acknowledged as facts. A 2700-year-old cuneiform message from Assyrian invaders demanding treasure from the king of Judah exactly parallels a Biblical account to the last penny, so to speak. This was unearthed in a drainage ditch under construction near the Temple Mount in Jerusalem.

I have not cited news stories nor academic journals about such things; my purpose here is not to enroll any of you in Biology 101 again. Refer to Mr Google. But I have been impressed that many things we (humankind) “knew” or thought we knew… we should be intellectually humble about. Review the dogmatic assertions of history’s experts about the earth being the center of the solar system; the efficacy of bleeding sick patients; the wisdom of infant sacrifice.

It is baffling how people can be dogmatic about, say, the “prehistoric eras” and age of earth when few of them were around “millions” of years ago as witnesses; but they fiercely refuse to accept tangible signs of a creator God’s work and inspiration and signs and wonders; of fulfilled prophesies; of confirmed miracles. They will trust bogus science and disgraced theories, but ridicule our counterpart: faith. The definition of faith? — “Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen (Hebrews 11:1).

I have a little method I rely on when I consider such questions or anomalies, contradictions, theories, dilemmas (let the world can take its pick) . I believe Jesus was God-in-the-flesh; He was sinless but sacrificed Himself as a means to assume the punishment for our sins and rebellion; that He rose from the dead to confirm His divinity. If Jesus believed in a six-day Creation; if He believed in Adam and Eve and the Flood and the prophets of old… who am I to contradict Him?

He knew because He was present in all those cases. If He was mistaken about those things of which He taught, He surely could not have been correct, about anything else. He had knowledge and belief as well as trust and faith — all things that He desires us to embrace.

I believe the incarnate God. What else can I do?

When we rely upon “facts” and knowledge to be the bases of our beliefs – instead of faith as a foundation of our worldviews – our standards, values, passions, loyalties, and actions are not reliable blueprints for living. Many facts and even scientific theories change; they have changed; they will change. God’s Word is unchanging; His promises are everlasting.

“Y’know, God, I believe You, except for what that guy on TV said. No, not him; he admitted he was wrong. I mean the guy on Facebook last week…”

+ + +

Click: I Believe; Help Thou My Unbelief

11-3-25

We have all been there. Every member of the human race is different in some way or other. But one aspect we all share is that we occasionally feel alone, neglected, unloved. It might be for a short day, praise God if only that; but for some people it haunts and re-visits; for a few, God forbid, it is part of daily life.

Does anybody care? is indeed a common question. A plea from hearts and souls.

Hallmarks of these feelings include isolation and loneliness. We have arrived at the “communication culture,” with all sorts of ways to speak and share and interact… yet everyone around us seems buried in their cell phones. They text people who are across the room. Ear buds feed them something-or-other while shutting out the rest of the world. In some ways we choose to be alone, and then lament our loneliness.

And, ironically, many of us ask Does anybody care?

In ancient days, even the Psalmist cried out: Look and see, there is no one at my right hand; no one is concerned for me. I have no refuge; no one cares for my life (Psalm 142:4). Have you been there?

Of course, people scarcely ever actually are without caring folks around them. Perhaps we might not always be aware of them, but, famously, there are puppy dogs and mothers and grandmothers. “A friend in need is a friend indeed,” and they might be nearby too. I am intentionally veering in to clichés, for clichés become clichés because they are true.

Fear not: I will remind us that Jesus cares; He is that Best Friend. His promises are true to Everlasting; He is a Brother who sticks to us closer than a shadow does; His mission on earth was to save our souls by embracing His sacrifice.

But I want us to think about the conditions that are real, before any remediation by spiritual life-preservers. The heart’s cry Does anybody care? is a growing, not a receding, neurosis in society. The World (secularism, pop culture, government) has myriad solutions. It prescribes drugs. It advocates mindless distractions. It encourages variations of authentic human relationships.

Perhaps worst, the contemporary world actually dismisses serious responses to emotional ills. It says to us that spiritual crises cannot be answered by spiritual solutions. Not for the first time, the World System’s advice falls somewhere between foolish and suicidal.

In this drama, the major villain to me is Government – specifically the Socialist templates upon which most countries these days run their affairs. Don’t be fooled: that includes the United States to a major degree. The latest government shutdown revealed in its coverage how many welfare, redundant, and useless programs there are, massively funded by Washingt… er, you and me.

When first ran for president, Franklin Roosevelt was the anti-Big Government candidate, believe it or not. He said: “The present [Hoover] administration… has piled Bureau on Bureau, Commission on Commission. Bureaus and Bureaucrats have been retained at the expense of the taxpayers.” Yet within 15 months, FDR created 92 new government agencies, and he didn’t stop there.

FDR’s disciple Lyndon Johnson declared a War on Poverty in 1964; and after many trillions of dollars were allocated in that war, the poverty rate in America has increased exponentially. And so on. Ronald Reagan once said the nine scariest words in the English language are “I’m from the government and I’m here to help.” Yet despite him and recent reformers… government programs grow and grow, as the society sinks and sinks.

St Augustine, around 300 A.D., looked back on Jesus’s words The poor ye shall always have with you, and ahead to the failure of Socialism as he addressed that reality. In his view, Jesus was not being pessimistic nor fatalistic; rather he reminds us that there will always be those who are worse off than we are. God wants us to discover, nurture, and exercise a charitable impulse. To care.

If governments usurp the role of charity – picking our pockets in order to bestow gifts elsewhere – then we no longer need to care. We surrender our rights to choose, indeed our consciences, because government agencies pick and choose for us. We stop caring… we cease looking to churches and private charities to channel our caring… and when we stop caring for others – which is the natural consequence – we eventually feel that no one cares for us, either.

And, “not so quick,” Capitalism comes in for blame, also. It is less coercive than governments, generally, and Socialism especially. However the profit motive is a two-edged sword, and greed has been cloaked by uncaring attitudes all too often. Free enterprise employs freedom, but Capitalism, in whatever varieties called “Finance” or “Crony…” is pernicious.

So, Does anybody care? Yes, Jesus does. An extreme cynic might respond, “OK… what is ‘caring’ when you are hungry or sick or friendless?”

That’s easy. Just ask anybody – ask me – anybody who has been hungry, sick, or friendless. The ray of hope… the shoulder to cry on… the word of encouragement, can mean all the world. Especially when they are brought to by the Savior of humankind, the Lover of your soul.

Who cares? The One who changes you from feeling like nobody cares… to knowing that Somebody cares, One Who cared enough to die for your sins, Who feels your hurts, and will fill those voids.

+ + +

Click: Does Jesus Care?

10-27-25

Some Christians will be celebrating All Saints’ Day this week, more specifically observing several feast days of the Catholic Church – also All Hallows’ Eve (Hallowe’en) on October 31 and All Souls’ Day on November 2 – bookends to All Saints’ Day, which itself was formed as a catch-all holiday. Sort of like Presidents’ Day. It remembers saints of the Catholic Church, real and imagined, whose significance fell short of their individual celebrations.

By coincidence, another Christian commemoration is on October 31 each year, observed by Protestants and celebrated by many others around the world: Reformation Day. It revolves around the figure of Martin Luther (1483-1546), and is not an arbitrary date nor his birthday. It was the date in 1517 when Luther, a Catholic priest who was appalled by corruption throughout the Church, and non-Biblical heresies in its teachings, nailed 95 “theses” – basically, complaints – to the Castle Church door in Wittenberg, Germany.

Five hundred years ago, such was the Internet of its day. What Luther hoped would be a spirited debate locally and perhaps up the chain of clergymen… became a spark that ignited a flame, ultimately splitting Christendom, encouraging free thought, and inspiring democratic revolutions across the West.

Deeper than Luther’s critiques of the Church’s scheme of selling peoples’ access to Heaven (that is, promising such things), denying the right of believers to read the Bible, and Popes maintaining mistresses, was a profound set of theological revelations. Chief was Luther’s reliance on Scripture, not priests; that Salvation comes from faith alone through the Grace of God, not earned by one’s accumulation of worldly works and good deeds.

Luther did not intend anything but Reform (hence, “Reformation”) yet his views begat Revolution. Princes defied the Holy Roman Empire. Denominations were established on serious theological points, as well as on whims. Earnest debates fueled literacy and, eventually, Enlightenment thought in ways still felt today.

Many scholars think that the Catholic Church, in spite of itself, eventually would have designated Luther a saint (not that he would have coveted such a title: he recognized that the Bible declares all born-again believers to be saints)… if it had not excommunicated him. No matter: the man stands as one of the great men of history. Luther is a monumental figure, not only in ecclesiastical matters, but in the unique maturation of Western Civilization.

As I have documented, he represented the concept of the Individual as a legitimate force in society. He opposed the “System” that sought to stifle him, as many of his fellow theological rebels were made martyrs by the Church through torture and death by flames. He eventually had to rein in many of his followers because of excesses. He accomplished the feat (contrary to the Vatican’s orders) of translating the Bible from dead Latin.

It seems impossible to overstate the significance of this man to the sweep of history’s many aspects – religion, scholarship, political independence. Yet he embodied contradictions. Kicked out of the priesthood, he married. His language and recorded thoughts were both earthy and, today, politically incorrect. He rejected “modernism” and regarded Reason as the enemy of Faith. His theology and philosophy were as scholarly as one could imagine, yet volumes of his “table talk” reveal a man of broad humor.

“Tomorrow I have to lecture on the drunkenness of Noah [Gen. 9:20-27], so I should drink enough this evening to be able to talk about that wickedness as one who knows by experience.”

“A natural donkey, which carries sacks to the mill and eats thistles, can judge you – indeed, all creatures can! For a donkey knows it is a donkey and not a cow. A stone knows it is a stone; water is water, and so on through all the creatures. But you mad asses do not know you are asses.”

“Holy Scripture does not deal much with great sinners like tax collectors and poor little whores because such people can also be recognized and judged by heathens. Rather, it deals with spiritual little worms and scorpions who pretend to have an appearance of holiness and great piety.”

Martin Luther also revolutionized worship modes, and was a great proponent of music in church – he said that music was a gift of God, and that the devil should not be allowed to monopolize it. His greatest contribution in this field was the “battle hymn” of the Christian church, A Mighty Fortress Is Our God. The Lutheran Johann Sebastian Bach set it to powerful harmonization, and its words still bring tears to this Christian’s eyes every time I hear it:

A migh­ty for­tress is our God, A bul­wark nev­er fail­ing; Our help­er He, amid the flood Of mor­tal ills pre­vail­ing.

Did we in our own strength con­fide, Our striv­ing would be los­ing; Were not the right Man on our side, The Man of God’s own choos­ing:

Dost ask who that may be? Christ Je­sus, it is He; Lord Sa­ba­oth His name, From age to age the same, And He must win the bat­tle.

Let goods and kin­dred go, This mor­tal life also; The bo­dy they may kill: God’s truth abid­eth still, His king­dom is for­ev­er!

History is populated by many military leaders and rulers. Epochs, lands, and peoples inherited their names; statues and faces on coins survive them. Today, celebrities – every one of them flawed – are called heroes.

But the truly noble people among us mortals are those who have been heroes of conscience, of integrity, of moral courage. They defended eternal truths or consecrated them for the next generations of humankind. Their beliefs and spirits prevailed against intellectual and physical onslaughts; but their bodies and lives frequently paid the ultimate price.

Occasionally a generation will have crises met by such inspirational figures. In our day – it is not too early to state that this will not become an empty cliche – Charlie Kirk bids fair to join such ranks. Jan Hus was burned at the stake; Socrates drank poison; Charlie was assassinated. Martin Luther was kidnapped by supporters to escape martyrdom. Ironically he escaped being killed by a segment of the Church he ultimately helped to salvage.

Remember Luther this week. The bo­dy they may kill; God’s truth abid­eth still. When on trial for his life, he refused to deny things he believed and wrote. “Here I stand,” he said. “I can do no other.”

Where do we stand today?

+++

Click: A Mighty Fortress Is Our God – Martin Luther

10-20-25

Only last week most of the world was celebrating peace in the Middle East. The “Deal” had 20 points – which is impressive, considering that God Almighty had only 10. It remains to be seen (a phrase that always accompanies every war and every peace) whether the nit-picking about bodies’ DNAs or soldiers’ weapons will be like pebbles in sandals or major stumbling-blocks.

I am not carping. The current (at best) cease-fire is, in the context of the region’s continual animosities, a monumental achievement. There is an aspect that aided President Trump’s negotiations, one that was out of his hands: It happens in history that nations occasionally grow weary of hating each other. Peace sometimes presents itself as less costly, more attractive to politicians, and even a shinier legacy than the fruits of war. Israel brutalized all of its neighbors except for an unorganized band of murderers that attacked it, and peace has broken out.

I suspect that the Ukrainian war soon will end in similar fashion. Horrendous deaths now lead to exchanges of mere miles of land, as was the case for much of World War I. Ukraine had been part of Mother Russia for centuries; a significant portion of its land is Russian-speaking; spiritually, half the country is Russian Orthodox; etc. The leaders of the two countries display the quality of thugs, but they likely will seek Trump, or someone like him, to help them save face. Borders will be redrawn, history will be rewritten, and peace will come. Maybe even for a generation.

“Even for a generation” is not sarcasm nor cynicism. It is hardly a prediction. It is an observation, “past being prologue” and all that.

We can be certain of one thing, however. Donald Trump, that unlikely angel of peace, has been far off the mark in his post-negotiation comments. He suggested that the Gaza deal would bring peace forever to that land. He increasingly has promoted and identified himself with evangelical Christianity, yet even atheists are aware that the Bible in many places forecasts the End Times, the final war between good and evil, the forces of the anti-Christ versus Christian believers, the Battle of Armageddon, in those very patches of sand, the Holy Land. Trump should know that.

Even more troubling was his banter with reporters when asked about his role as peacemaker. Will it gain his entry to Heaven? Half-joking and half-humble, and not for the first time, Trump addressed his standing with Eternal Life: “I don’t think there’s anything going to get me in heaven.” He has said, “I want to try and get to heaven, if possible. I’m hearing I’m not doing well. I am really at the bottom of the totem pole.” Last year, Trump explained that going to heaven is “very important” to him.

Half-joking or half-humble, spending Eternity in any place other than with Jesus is a matter of, well, life and death far more significant than any accomplishments on earth. Hell is no laughing matter, but it is not out of our hands, as the president suggests. God is the Judge, but He has already promised a place in Heaven for those who accept Jesus. Trump would have to be a Catholic, a superstitious heathen, or a theologically ignorant Protestant to think that good works – even negotiating the end of wars – is enough to “go to Heaven.” But the Old Testament features many people who are still on a faith-pathway to be His instruments nevertheless.

Since we are discussing spiritual matters, including prophecies about the Holy Land, we can dig a little deeper, spiritually. Let us address the nature of miracles.

I will switch from specifics like the Middle East conflict and the president, because both represent larger points. It might seem to most worldly people – and in fact might be so – that the end of a generational conflict is a miracle. Certainly it is a blessing! But the conversion of one single person, let us say a victim in such a war or, at the other extreme, leaders who are warmakers and peacemakers, would be a miracle too. I can classify it as such, because my own rotten, sinful self was cleansed and saved. I know where I was; I know where I am; and I know what was involved.

Just as a sin is a sin is a sin in God’s eyes, so are miracles.

People tend to think that miracles must be of a certain magnitude to be regarded as such… or to merit our respect for God. I think humankind would understand God better, and draw closer to Him, if we didn’t take a pass on every act of His that is short of a Hollywood spectacle.

Settling a war, or settling your kids’ argument… perhaps are the same in God’s eyes.

Funding a homeless shelter, or sharing a simple meal… your heart is equally moved.

Performing a life-saving operation, or fervently praying with someone for her healing if that’s all you can do… surely moves God’s heart equally.

As followers of Jesus we should never presume things of our own thoughts. But neither should we neglect things because of ignorance of the Gospel.

And “humility” as a Believer? Let us never say, “OK, God; I’ll take it from here.” If our faith sometimes is weak… that is when He wants us to lean on Him more.

That’s how miracles happen.

+++

Click: Help Me Turn the Wine Back Into Water

10-13-25

Only last week in this space we addressed Peace – the concept and definition; the dream and reality; its frequent transitory nature and its elusive permanent state; the world’s quest and our personal desire. On cue, in a sense, Peace was in the headlines: an apparent “peace deal” in the Middle East, brokered by President Trump. Focused on Gaza, a treaty has been signed whose peaceful ripples can circle out to the wider region, and from this week into the future.

Yes, this is possible. History’s wars inevitably have ended not from sudden awareness of justice nor hunger after righteousness nor dawning revelations of amity. Rather, solutions routinely have resulted from crushing military defeats, or bankruptcy (of arms and money, often sustained by both sides), or abject weariness. And the Gaza Peace accord might last for a generation, or be one more well intentioned memory before this is posted.

I desire to take nothing away from President Trump and his team. Their efforts to mediate numerous conflicts have been bold and clever and, it surely seems, successful at the moment. An element of timing has been a blessing to the peacemakers’ work. Israel, after pummeling its enemies and toppling regimes, was at a stalemate with, ironically, anonymous thugs. When Russia and the Ukraine have bled each other dry, they will eventually seek to save face, partition the country as has happened frequently across Europe, and call it Peace.

Regarding the Middle East, the “Holy Land,” we must thank God for the interruption in bloodletting – the chance to dry so many mothers’ tears – but remember to peek ahead to the end of the Book, where the final battles at the End of the Age will take place, once more staining the sands with blood.

I am not being cynical, and certainly not pessimistic: we observe human nature on one hand… but we also should recognize God’s nature. Can good come from bad?

Wars end in peace. If it proves flawed or short-lived, nevertheless we seek it and savor it. Most legends and novels deal with conflict, and most of them end in sweet resolutions. So with life. When lovers quarrel, there is no sweeter affection than that of making up. In spiritual terms, once sin entered the world and corrupted our natures, God Almighty moved Heaven and earth, if I may characterize it so, to create a means to effect reconciliation with Him.

You’ll find that plan in John 3:16; but, really, in every page of Scripture. The Bible, from Genesis to Revelation, is God’s love letter to us. Its theme is peace – that quality that we claim to need and need to claim – specifically the Peace of God, which passes all understanding. It comes through Salvation, which is the only quality more desirable than peace.

We are broken people, all of us individually and as groups and nations, but Jesus can and does make us whole. This “formula” should not surprise us, because the Bible’s stories feature myriad heroes who were broken and then transformed into great examples for us. In a larger context, such examples surround us:

Majestic cathedrals are built of broken stones.

Ornate stained-glass windows are comprised of small, broken pieces.

Think of it: beautiful works of music are collections of notes that by themselves are random or cacophonous until arranged.

These analogies remind us that so many things in life – plans, projects, intentions, acts, relationships – get broken. They might start in broken states, or end that way… or be that way in between the dream and the realization…but broken, in need of fixing, making whole, redeeming, restoring. Even as we make peace with others, souls are to be reconciled to God. Ultimately, peace to be made with ourselves too.

We meet God in new ways when we understand these contexts. Remembering the analogies with the building of cathedrals, arranging stained-glass windows, and composing music, we see the Lord as Architect, Artist, Composer. To the extent we are all broken in various ways – and see this in our brothers and sisters – we note that faith requires trust. And patience. God is at work. The more we ignore or resist the work God does in us through His Holy Spirit, the longer we might delay the amazing work He desires to do.

We can view “brokenness” as an ugly brand, a permanent disqualifier. But God sent Jesus to be a carpenter able to mend broken bodies. In His repair work, nails are sometimes required. Jesus knows about nails, too. But take joy in the restoration God will do in your life.

We are not born “whole” but we can be made whole. We remember that even the angels cannot sing “Amazing Grace” as we can: they do not know the miracle of Salvation.

Go thou in peace!

+++

Click: This Is How Emptiness Sings

10-6-25

Readers of this weekly message know that I married about six months ago; and perhaps wondered why I have not posted photos or stories of our honeymoon. I had been gifted with an important book to write; Mickey’s workload exploded; and her son announced he wanted to get married himself, and at our house which often serves as a beautiful wedding venue.

So we decided to postpone the European wedding tour (Ireland, Germany, France, and Italy) till the Fall; now the Spring. It didn’t seem fair, and I might not live till then, so last week we had a half-honeymoon on Mackinac Island in northern Michigan.

Reviewers have called Mackinac Island one of the most stunning getaway spots in America. (What a great job – visiting and reviewing America’s stunning getaway spots!) Anyway, we planned to see Fall colors on the island where no cars are allowed, only horse carriages and bicycles. The Grand Hotel is a magnificent Victorian manse where you are required to dress for dinner, and rocking chairs line the veranda that faces the sunset.

“Mackinac,” I learned, is pronounced “mackinaw”; it has no peaches; and evidently is some Indian tribe’s word for “expensive.” But… besides romantic, it was peaceful.

Peaceful.

I have realized that peace is one of the rarest of commodities in our world; these days, anyway. I mean real peace, not, in our private and home lives, “time out” or “rest” or “vacation.” Somehow peace seems an odd thing to plan and schedule and stop-and-start. Peaceful, that?

The same with nations: Peace is not only the absence of war; unrighteousness often fills the vacuum, and such a fraught situation merely postpones conflict. And in any event, many uneasy Peaces produce more tension and angst than do armies confronting each other.

The Bible frequently addresses peace. They have healed the wound of my people lightly, saying, ‘Peace, peace,’ we read in Jeremiah 6:14… when there is no peace. There are dozens of references to conflicts, friction between nations, and continual plans and reports of hostility; the most famous is You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come (Matthew 24:6).

It is not battlefield carnage that exclusively troubles us. We operate at a fast pace that excludes the Calm which ought to be a component of our lives. “Action movies” are most popular around the world. I try to avoid them, but I see trailers – presumably the best moments to lure us in – and they are three minutes of carnage, chases, explosions, gunshots, and killing. Kids’ video games matter-of-factly traffic in pursuits, attacks, and deaths. I have noted to my old friends in the comic-book field that every cover, story, and sketch features villains, and heroes too, with clenched teeth and angry brows – good guys and bad guys ready to run, fly, punch, and maim. Speed, threats, violence, noise, and…

Can’t we just turn down the volume on life; slow the pace?

In the Christian context, there is not much armed conflict these days between factions. Serious schisms have plagued the church since the Apostolic Days, and when heresy is blatant, it ought to be addressed. Not by burning people at the stakes, as Catholics practiced on Reformers hundreds of years ago, but by all believers’ solid familiarity with Scripture. There are bitter divisions in the church today, however, and we see opponents calling each other Evil and Spawns of the devil. Too many cheeks to turn.

This situation grieves me, not because it is undignified nor theologically unsound – we are all idiots as well as sinners in need of God’s grace – but because many of these “wars” distract from the message of salvation. Not one person more, or fewer, will gain Heaven over their view of the Rapture, or when the Tribulation will occur, or whether they speak in tongues. These wars are more futile than any of humankind’s many senseless battlefield wars throughout history.

These “issues” have little to do with whether the “lost” can be led to embrace Jesus. Believing He is the Son of God who died for their sins, and was raised to Heaven so that they may be, too, is all that matters.

What a peaceful Gospel.

Yes, Jesus said He came with a sword; that we will have to defend the faith even against family and friends (and a culture) that may oppose Him and hate us. But His overall message was Love. Our job should be to “make Heaven crowded,” the stated goal of Charlie Kirk. People might be beaten, but seldom persuaded, by a Gospel message presented in confrontational frenzy. Speaking of Charlie (as many, many will for many, many years to come), his style was brilliantly non-confrontational. At events it was characterized by laying his microphone down when he finished speaking, and listening to others.

I am afraid to say that many sincere Christians want to share Jesus with others… and act aggressively like they alone have to “close the deal.” Sometimes that leads to a fervid delivery that offends. Also… it can offend the Holy Spirit. Drawing people to repentance and salvation is the reason the Spirit was sent to us. Our job is to plant seeds, not stage-manage the harvest.

As Christians, we can multi-task: be earnest and rational and loving.

Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid (John 14:27).

+++

Click: Softly and Tenderly

9-29-25

A “guest” message today, recently written by Ben Stein, the economist from Nixon days, actor, television host and commentator. Ben is a Jew, but shared a message of clarity and caution for people of faith – particularly these days, I believe, Christian patriots.

I don’t like getting pushed around for being a Jew, and I don’t think Christians like getting pushed around for being Christians.

I think people who believe in God are sick and tired of getting pushed around, period. I have no idea where the concept came from, that America is an explicitly atheist country. I can’t find it in the Constitution and I don’t like it being shoved down my throat…

Or maybe I can put it another way: where did the idea come from that we should worship celebrities and we aren’t allowed to worship God as we understand Him? I guess that’s a sign that I’m getting old, too. But there are a lot of us who are wondering where these celebrities came from and where the America we knew went to.

In light of the many jokes we send to one another for a laugh, this is a little different: This is not intended to be a joke; it’s not funny, it’s intended to get you thinking.

In light of recent events… terrorist attacks; school shootings; etc.. I think it started when Madalyn Murray O’Hair… complained she didn’t want prayer in our schools, and we said OK. Then someone said you better not read the Bible in school… The Bible says thou shalt not kill; thou shalt not steal, and love your neighbor as yourself. And we said OK.

Then Dr. Benjamin Spock said we shouldn’t spank our children when they misbehave, because their little personalities would be warped and we might damage their self-esteem (Dr. Spock’s son committed suicide). We said an expert should know what he’s talking about.. And we said OK.

Now we’re asking ourselves why our children have no conscience, why they don’t know right from wrong, and why it doesn’t bother them to kill strangers, their classmates, and themselves.

Probably, if we think about it long and hard enough, we can figure it out. I think it has a great deal to do with “We reap what we sow.”

Funny how simple it is for people to trash God and then wonder why the world’s going to hell. Funny how we believe what the newspapers say, but question what the Bible says. Funny how you can send “jokes” through e-mail and they spread like wildfire, but when you start sending messages regarding the Lord, people think twice about sharing. Funny how lewd, crude, vulgar and obscene articles pass freely through cyberspace, but public discussion of God is suppressed in the school and workplace.

Are you laughing yet?

Funny how when you forward this message, you will not send it to many on your address list because you’re not sure what they believe, or what they will think of you for sending it.

Funny how we can be more worried about what other people think of us than what God thinks of us.

Pass it on if you think it has merit. If not, then just discard it… no one will know you did. But, if you discard this thought process, don’t sit back and complain about what bad shape the world is in.

+ + +

Click: Faith of Our Fathers

9-21-25

A friend recently shared words of Erich Fromm, the social psychologist and psychoanalyst, from many of whose ideas I dissent, but a broken clock is right twice a day. Seriously, this comment addressing the contemporary crisis of humankind is on the mark:

Alienation as we find it in modern society is almost total… Man has created a world of man-made things as never existed before. He has constructed a complicated social machine to administer the technical machine he built. The more powerful and gigantic the forces… he unleashes, the more powerless he feels himself as a human being. He is owned by his creations, and has lost ownership of himself.

We must add, of course, the most consequential factor – that is, missing factor – regarding alienation. It was supplied by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, whose life and (literal) trials were a more intense crucible than any experienced by the theoretician Fromm: Mankind has forgotten God; that’s why all this has happened.

Henry Adams, the descendent of two US presidents, despaired of an American culture that was dissolving into pockets of personal alienation, with disunity as a harbinger of worse. In the early 20th century he visited two Medieval French cathedrals, Mont St-Michel and Chartres, and wrote detailed letters about them to nieces. He intended to address architecture, but found himself admiring the societies that built them during the so-called Dark Ages. Despite the putative retreat from accomplishments of the Roman Era, communities were structured and unified, where all classes communed and shared purposes, where beliefs were common, accepted, and cherished. These factors Adams admired.

The unifying force was the Church. Every town and city was built around the church; every civic event (not only religious) occurred in the church; every worker toiled at his or her job, and then worked for hours to build churches – often over generations. At this time all conversations, correspondence, and arts were centered on Biblical teachings. Every symbol in carvings, every image in stained-glass windows, every narrative in tapestries, every color in cloths and vestments, had spiritual significance that even the peasants understood.

It was unity. Individuals engaged in activities and crafts and professions… but worked as one. Foundational beliefs, common purposes, and communal loyalties were the essence of one’s existence on this side of Heaven.

Adams recognized that in his day, the essential matters of life – individual and collective – unity was disappearing in Western civilization. Despite advances in literacy, medicine, and prosperity, the “Dark Ages” were not totally dark, and that era’s demise was to be mourned. He attended a world’s fair in 1900 and beheld an exhibition called the Dynamo, a massive, clanking machine that did nothing except represent the coming “Machine Age.” Adams understood the thematic purpose; but he lamented its prophecy – that the coming world would be centered on, and virtually worship, machines. Machines (read: computers, AI, etc) would replace God.

The critiques of Plato, the early church fathers, St Augustine and Luther; Adams and Solzhenitsyn; secular observers like Kafka and Fromm; resonated in the person and legacy of Charlie Kirk. An unlikely heir? He is at home with most of the great prophets and great martyrs of Western history. Sadly but proudly.

This morning I had a call from my daughter Emily in Northern Ireland, where she has lived for 20 years. She expressed concern about the Charlie Kirk situation… and I expressed surprise that she knew of Charlie beyond my appearance on his show. She replied that he was quite well known in Ireland. Her family listened to him online at least once a week, and has done so for two years. My granddaughter is now 14. I asked what attracted her to Kirk; the main reason was his strong anti-abortion stand; next was “his intelligence in debates and how he was strong in sharing his ideas.” TurningPoint USA is a youth movement, but not only for youth.

Around the world there have been spontaneous and massive protests and vigils in the wake of Charlie’s murder. London, three million in the streets (all, as elsewhere, peaceful – to be compared with left-wing violence). Parades in Ireland, Berlin, Hamburg, Rome, Warsaw, Korea, Australia. Charlie’s mode of mentioning Jesus and promoting Christianity (focusing on faith more than himself), spread his larger message across the globe. His spiritual and related social themes coincide with the political upheavals throughout America and Europe: my family told me about a protest in the Northern Irish town of Newry where Unionists and Nationalists – that is, Protestants and Catholics who have been killing each other (the “Troubles”) for generations – were locked arm in arm in… unity.

Charlie’s message plugged into the West’s emotional dissolution. Frustrated societies have found hope in his spiritual, social, and political critiques. A worker in that Irish protest said to an interviewer that “even the church has let us down.”

Undeniably, this is true for many people. In fact virtually every institution in Western societies has let people down – Big Media, traditional political parties, the Entertainment Industry, the Education complex. Liberals in the church and other monopolies can push back or say that we are paranoiac. But perception is reality.

People believe they have been let down because they know they have been let down. Proven in the recent US election – and the political storms brewing in every European country – is the realization that traditions, culture, and community mean more to people than, even, poll-taker’s headline “issues.”

Returning to my first point, people are finally sick of alienation – being forced into modes that resist traditional, folkish identity and interaction. They are sick of dealing with what Fromm called powerlessness. Charlie Kirk’s major message was not political nor even social, but spiritual. Turning to Jesus, returning to Jesus, is the comfort food that is attracting hungry youth. His ministry, raised to the nth degree by his martyr’s death, is the spark that likely will ignite a fundamental change in America, the West, and around the world.

It is why he was killed. He was a Christian patriot… he argued for change… but most significantly, he was effective.

Think of all history’s examples of malignant opponents who “killed the messenger.” Every time it has been futile; that is, the advance of reform and renewal has withstood the desperate and usually evil attempts to stop it. The System, all over the world, has pressed down individuals and tried to mold an obedient mass distracted by bread and circuses, supposed to hate whom they are told to hate.

Mankind has forgotten God. Perhaps, by martyr’s blood, they are remembering.

+++

Click: Abide With Me

9-15-25

Uncountable posts, messages, memes, press releases, and announcements are being offered about the assassination of Charlie Kirk. I can contribute little more than, perhaps, a different point of view.

“We have lost Charlie,” say people who knew him, or felt like they did because he was so accessible. An everyday guy, just a bit more spiritual and patriotic, and braver than most of us. At a spontaneous street parade in London (yes, England, where there are chapters of Turning Point UK), crowds chanted his name. My great friend Janet Casserly was there, revisiting her homeland, and when a marcher cried, “We have lost Charlie!” Janet responded – “Charlie Kirk is not lost. We know where he is right now!”

That is what’s different about Christians. Franklin Graham said he did not feel sorry for Charlie: he is with his Savior now. We can feel sorry for Erika and the two little children; we feel sorry for each other that we have lost an advocate and leader; we feel sorry for the nation he was effectively transforming.

But Charlie would scold us. History is replete with martyrs, and we should dedicate ourselves, rather, to the different view that he did not die in vain. That is, we must pick up his torch and flag and charge forward. We have the feeling that he can have a successor, but not really be replaced. Martyrs of conscience through history suffered various fates: Socrates, Tyndale, Luther, Galileo; it was Charlie Kirk’s sad but noble turn.

Among those uncountable responses to his assassination are grief-filled expressions from surprising sources. Aaron Judge, Mahomes, Paul and Ringo, Dylan, many more; some pledging donations to Charlie’s kids for their education. That’s different, even discounting the percentage that spiteful web-liberals insist are fake reports. There have been moments of silence in baseball stadiums and at football games. That’s different. Massive rallies and parade vigils for Charlie across the US and in London, Berlin, Hamburg, Warsaw and other world capitals. That’s different.Even elected officials would not receive such tributes.

I am calling him the familiar “Charlie” because he was an accessible guy, but also because I had a slight association with him, being a guest on his podcast in 2023, one hour, one-on-one. He was affable and remarkably informed about history and every subject we touched, just as he appeared to be in all the web’s video clips.

Regarding those video clips, and this being 2025, many people knew about Charlie primarily through memes and clips – which, this being 2025, generally means “pro” and “anti” spins tailored to the posters’ points of view. Sigh, our contemporary world is different. It was astonishing to see how many edited clips of his back-and-forths on campuses suggested that he was a monster (rather futilely, but haters did their best). Of course I was a follower so people can assume I am biased too – but watching every full session, you can see that Charlie Kirk was patient, respectful, always backing his assertions, and challenging the assumptions of hostile questioners. That grace is different these days.

Another thing that was different was his overarching theme. To be Christian first – for a faith not generic, but devoted to Jesus was his aspiration as he spoke to students. He quoted Founders who believed that a Republic was suited only for a moral people. He quoted the Bible, to support his statements and to persuade his opponents (he did not attend college nor seminary, but was more learned and evangelical than half the professors and clergymen I have encountered). God, family, country – Charlie dusted off that ancient priority and made it live again. Different.

There he sat, minding his own business – or, actually, God’s. For these basic themes, this freelance commentator with no party, no TV platform, no corporate affiliation; only his own educational outreach, helping students to organize clubs. For this, he was hated, reviled, attacked, misrepresented, ridiculed, and censored more than any figure of our generation… including Doanld Trump.

But they killed Charlie. They failed to kill Trump. That is different.

Why? His ideas were common-currency only a few years ago. He was forthright for Christ? Sure: in the face of growing apostasy, Charlie shared the Gospel with more clarity, and possibly more often, than many preachers we have in our churches. The World cannot stand that. But why else?

Charlie Kirk was effective. That was his sin. Turning Point USA has more than a thousand chapters in schools. Charlie is credited with tipping the votes of several states to Trump’s side of the ledger. It is estimated that 44 per cent of Gen Zers changed their party registrations during two recent years, led by Charlie’s efforts.

That was the real difference, explaining his assassination. He was effective. They could not have that. Even “allies”: Enough of fake conservatism, RINO identifications, accommodations with those who hate us, hate the country, hate Christianity. Charlie rekindled a flame that almost had been extinguished. The Left’s hope was that by killing Charlie they would silence us. They need to continue what Michael Savage calls the one-way civil war.

But there are different things happening. The massive, widespread, vehement vigils and protests. Different. The reports of people vowing to leave the Left, to shun its yapping voices. Different. The mood of the country, especially among young people… different. Maybe you have experienced, right up till now, friends who say (in my case, virtually and patronizingly) “Well, Rick, I disagree with you but I still respect what you do about history and cartoons and such” but then defend liars and assassins and subversives… Now I say, “Shut up.” What’s different?

What’s different is that this has become a war. Powerful forces, having attacked our culture and our souls, are now gunning for our heritage and our future; our families and our God-given rights.

“Guns kill,” and you and your buddies say Charlie deserved to be killed because he defended the Second Amendment. Well, guns also are designed to defend, protect, ward off attackers… perhaps against those with crowbars at your back door; perhaps against those with knives on a train; perhaps against someone raping your wife. Perhaps — as argued by those who wrote the Second Amendment — against a government that could confiscate guns and physically take over your life and property.

Get ready. We have targets on our backs. I have suffered – many of us have – for our views. Harassment; jobs lost; and by the way, “you can’t lose a friend you never had.” Do what you can in silence. Example: Charlie’s wife Erika runs her own business in NYC called Proclaim Streetwear. For every sweatshirt they sell, one gets donated to a homeless person living on the street. OOOh, Mrs Fascist, really? Or do your work boldly.

Proclaim Christ, protect your family, stand up for your country while it still exists. To quote Martyn Lloyd-Jones, whom Charlie had quoted: “The way to overcome sin is not to preach morality. It is to preach the Gospel.”

Things are different. Now make a difference.

+ + +

Click: For Charlie…

9-8-25

Those who follow these weekly thoughts know that I occasionally obsess over language, grammar, and precise meanings. I realize that it sometimes is annoying – even to me, believe me. But I want to be understood when I speak and write; and so should we all.

There are many friendships and business partnerships and marriages that have blown up over misunderstandings; and many wars have broken out because of crummy communication. Too often. Needless.

English is full of linguistic land mines because it is the recipient of two major strains: Indo-European via Germanic; and Romance languages. This results in a potential for rich communication (despite contrary examples like Icelandic, which has 100 words for “wind”) but also leads to confusion. Germans and French are logical languages and scarcely permit exceptions to their rules. The French even have an official body, the Académie Française, that regulates usage and abusage of grammar, spelling, and literature.

In contemporary America… well, you suss where I’m at.

I am as much an observer of the American language as a practitioner, and sometimes a slave; a latter-day Diderot or Mencken in my own way. I am fascinated by memes for several reasons. They frequently summarize a thought, even substituting for longer explanations, often with heightened clarity. They are almost by definition clever and humorous or ironic. Many memes rely on a visual component, which pleases me as a cartoonist and illustrator.

Memes are paths to clarity, which has positive effects on social communication. But some of those paths have potholes and detours.

A friend of mine is one of the Internet’s wisest meme-mistresses. As Adri Ana she consistently posts terrific words and quotations and images that start the day with Good Morning coffees, and fill the day with humor, provocative thoughts, and wisdom. (Does that make her a “poster” girl?)

She recently posted one of Anaïs Nin’s most quoted passages: I weep because you cannot save people. You can only love them. You can’t transform them, you can only console them (“Nearer the Moon” from A Journal of Love: The Unexpurgated Diary, 1937-1939).

I am ambiguous about La Nin (that is, I agree with only some of her peripatetic thoughts: her emotional inconsistencies are compelling) but her statement is not pessimistic. It is where reality meets love, and compassion is the result. A reader of the meme’s post replied: Sure you can [save people], good advice at the right time is the difference between a bad choice and a good choice. Most of the bad choices happen when you don’t have someone to give you proper advice. Giving love is not enough.

Here is where language can seduce us into acceptance of perceived wisdom, but can dig some potholes. And it might cripple some peoples’ search for truth. Of course the subject under discussion is “save” – what is the definition? Physical? Emotional? Spiritual? For the moment? For eternity? “Saved” from what, and for what?

The pitfalls of English, and common misunderstandings. Many of us think that words are interchangeable when they are not. And some people respond, “Oh, you know what I mean,” when I don’t, and neither oftentimes does the speaker. Not guilty is very different than Innocent. To Dismiss is not to Forgive. A Reprieve is not a Commutation, nor a Pardon. And Saving someone has deeper implications and nuances than Rescuing them.

Nin advises “loving” and “consoling” as effective, and maybe definitive, alternates to “saving.” Yes, they are precious actions. For my part, responding to that, I have always resisted telling people I will keep them in prayer: it takes the same amount of time, and breaths, to actually pray with them on the spot. And God never advised postponing prayers, especially to fit our schedules of comfort zones.

Well, you knew I’d go spiritual on you. The words saved, salvation, and, you guessed it, Savior all have common roots, at least conceptually. Human beings, at all times and in all places, have myriad dissimilarities… except for one common aspect. We all need a Savior; we all have sinned; we all fall short of holy standards; and we all know this is the case, instinctively.

Anaïs Nin came close in her secular deconstruction. She says that love and consolation are decent substitutes; her correspondent replies that even love is not a sufficient response, suggesting palpable action. I think that we “cannot save people,” which made her weep, is a profound statement.

And that is what completes this discussion’s circle. The most intense compassion we can summon – the spiritual context – indeed cannot save anyone. We can love, we can forgive, we can excuse, we can pardon, we can rescue, and yes again, we can love. But we cannot save a single soul. They can seek salvation; they might accept salvation – but that is not ours to give.

God grants salvation; it is why He sent the Holy Spirit, to lead us to salvation. Through Him we accept Jesus, the “only way unto salvation.” All other ground is sinking sand. This proper understanding is not to denigrate our love for friends and family and humankind; but to think we have the power to save is an insult to God’s ways. We are to plant seeds; the Holy Spirit’s job description is to reap the harvest.

Properly speaking – to coin a phrase – it is a privilege to discern our places in God’s plan for humankind. Word up.

+ + +

Click: In the Garden

9-1-25

There they were. Grim-faced and angry. Raced to their marks before the cameras. Not to console but to scold. The first to lecture was Gov. Tim Walz. Lord, hasn’t this community suffered enough already…?

Nevertheless he told that community, and the world, what we are supposed to think about the Morning Massacre at the Annunciation School. And ourselves, don’t you know. Then followed, seriatum, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey; the school principal; the police chief; and the city’s archbishop Bernard Hebda. They spoke against violence and assured us that their “hearts were broken.” Even Pope Leo, in a letter written by the Vatican Secretary of State, wanted us to know about his shock too.

We were also chastised about prejudice and hate. Not so much about the emotions that motivated the shooter, no; but any negative feelings toward the shooter, a member of the amorphous transgender “community.” The killer whose feelings we are supposed to respect reportedly had barricaded the school’s doors and shot repeatedly into the chapel through its stained-glass windows. The children and a few elderly adults were at Mass. Suddenly there were blood stains amidst the stained glass.

But you would be forgiven if you thought the local leaders regarded the shooter as the victim. In fact he had not merely gotten up on the wrong side of bed that morning. He had, inevitably, prepared a manifesto; he carried three weapons; he scrawled hate-filled messages on his magazines like “For the children” and “Kill Donald Trump.” In their sociology lessons the assembled politicians and officials managed, with all other factors addressed and avoided, earnestly to scrub God from the discussion.

The air was filled with obfuscation even as the guns’ smoke cleared. As always. During the day Mayor Frey, like a wind-up toy, called for gun control. Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar decried “leaders more concerned with appeasing the gun lobby than keeping our children safe.” Others mocked those who shared their “thoughts and prayers,” not because that could be a routine cliche – but properly is a minimal response – but asserting the futility of prayer itself. Jen Psaki, Biden’s old press flak, from afar, was one of several who even mocked those who prayed in the midst of their grief. Rather, “action” (somehow not a routine cliche) and “praying with your feet” became the memes of the day.

The Catholic school’s principal, who had the opportunity to minister to the hearts of his children and the larger community, said there is “nothing about today that can fill us with hope,” overlooking the many souls who survived, the myriad acts of heroism, the maturity of the little children who protected each other. Let a little child lead him, and teach the man what hope can be.

Worse than the deficient response from politicians and officials was the message from Pope Leo; that is, what he did not say. It was the same thing that all the assembled people did not say: there was not one statement, written or spoken, that offered a prayer. Not an appeal to God, nor a painful thanks to God for signs of mercy that morning. Not even a perfunctory, generic prayer from the clergy or a speaker who has a personal faith. This, unfortunately, is the hallmark of our contemporary culture – no faith, or fear to express faith. Sympathy for a deranged sexually confused murder, more than for his victims. Values of faith locked out of the debate, just as the killer constructed barricades at the chapel doors.

My friend Hope Flinchbaugh wrote to me after the massacre: The children had faith. The children were in prayer when attacked, and testified they prayed during the attack. Did you hear the testimony of one adult who gathered the children into the gym? A reporter asked him how he brought the children to focus together immediately in the gym. He replied, we sang a song that we sing frequently here. Then he repeated the lyrics of the entire song on the news clip:

Lord, prepare me to be a sanctuary

Pure and holy, tried and true.

With thanksgiving I’ll be a LIVING

Sanctuary for You…

No one is more alive right now than the two children who are now in Heaven.

Perhaps if God had not been locked out of schools two generations ago, so to speak, the Annunciation massacre would not have taken place. Not that Jesus would have stood in the schoolhouse door – but maybe the shooter himself would have experienced prayer and public expressions of faith as part of his upbringing, and had different impulses.

The gunsmoke cleared and the officials finished their TV moments. Then came the realization that nobody prayed that morning. Except the murdered little children and their classmates.

+ + +

Click: Lord Prepare Me To Be A Sanctuary

8-25-25

I have told this story before, a few years ago. So forgive me, please, if “you’ve heard this one before.” But some readers have asked about it; and it is about a holiday weekend. Labor Day approaches, and my “mind” goes back. I remember a simple BBQ, but one of the most profound days of my life. A holiday far away from my home… but very close to my heart. It happened on a Summer holiday more than 25 years ago.

I was working on a book back then, a three-part biography of rock ‘n’ roll pioneer Jerry Lee Lewis; evangelist Jimmy Swaggart; and country-music superstar Mickey Gilley, all first cousins to each other. My good friend Maury Forman offered me his unused condo in Montgomery, Texas to get away for a bit of personal research and writing as a hermit. (I have spent the past two weeks completing my latest book on a tight deadline.) Since Lewis lived in Mississippi, Swaggart in Louisiana, and Gilley in nearby Pasadena Texas, it made geographical sense.

Once settled, I took out the Yellow Pages (remember them?) to chart the location of nearby Assembly of God churches, intent on visiting as many as I could through the summer. East Texas was in every way new to me, and I wanted to experience everything I could.

Well, the first one I visited was in Cut and Shoot, Texas. That’s a town’s name; you can look it up. A small, white frame AG church was my first stop that summer… and I never visited another. For one thing – coincidence? – I learned that a member of the tiny congregation was the widow of a man who had pastored the AG church in Ferriday, Louisiana, the small town four hours away where, and when, those three cousins grew up in its pews. She knew them all, and their families, and had great stories. Beyond that, the pastor of the church in Cut and Shoot, Charles Wigley, had gone to Bible College with Jerry Lee Lewis and played in a band with him, until Jerry Lee got kicked out. Some more great stories.

But there was more than that kept me there for that summer. In that white-frame church and that tiny congregation, it was, um, obvious in three minutes that I was not from East Texas. I was born in New York City. Yet I was treated like family as if the folks had known me for decades. A fellow named Dave Gilbert asked me if I’d like to go to his farm for a barbecue where a bunch of people were just going to get together and “do some visitin’.”

I bought the biggest watermelon I could find as my contribution to the pot-luck. Well, there were dozens and dozens of folks. I couldn’t tell which was family and who were friends, because everybody acted like family. When folks from East Texas ask, “How are you?” they really mean it. There were several monstrous barrel BBQ smokers with chimneys, all slow-cooking beef brisket. (Every region brags about its barbecue traditions, but I’ll fight anyone who doesn’t claim low-heat, slow-smoked, no sauce, East-Texas BBQ the best!) There was visitin,’ surely; there were delicious side dishes; there was softball and volleyball and kids dirt-biking; and breaks for sweet tea and spontaneous singing of patriotic songs.

I sat back in a folding chair, and I thought, “This is America.”

As the sun set, the same food came out again — smoked brisket galore; all the side dishes; and desserts of all sorts. Better than the first time. Then the Gilberts cleared their house’s porch. People brought instruments out of their cars and trucks. Folks tuned their guitars; some microphones and amps were set up; chairs and blankets dotted the lawn. Dave Gilbert and his brothers, I learned, sang gospel music semi-professionally in the area. Pastor Wigley, during the summer, had opened for Gold City Quartet at a local concert, playing gospel music on the saxophone. But everyone else sang, too.

In some churches, in some parts of America, you are just expected to sing solo every once in a while. A “special.” You’re not expected to – you want to. So into the evening, as the sun went down and the moon came up over those farms and fields, everyone at that picnic sang, together or solo or in duets or quartets. Spontaneously, mostly. Far into the night, exuberantly with smiles, or heartfelt with tears, singing unto the Lord.

I sat back in the folding chair, and I thought, “This is Heaven.”

I have grown sad for people who have not experienced the type of worship where singers and people who pray do so spontaneously. From the congregation. Moving to the front. Sharing their hearts. Crying tears of joy or conviction. Loving the Lord, freely. If you have not… then visit a church where this is commonplace. Even witnessing it is an uplifting balm to the soul, where there is freedom and joy in singing impromptu, from the heart.

I attach a video that very closely captures the music, and the feeling – the fellowship – of that day. A wooden ranch house, a barbecue picnic just ended, a campfire, and singers spontaneously worshiping, joining in, clapping, and “taking choruses.” Smiling, hugging. There were cameras at this particular get-together, but it took this city boy back to that holiday weekend, finding himself among a brand-new family, the greatest barbecue I ever tasted before or since… and the sweetest songs I know.

+ + +

Click The Sweetest Song I Know [Live]