Category: religion

‘How Much Honesty Is There in Civil Government?’ REPRINT

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(from the Chalcedon Foundation’s Youtube channel)

From November 19, 2019

Very little news escaped R.J. Rushdoony’s notice; and his commentaries, recorded 30, 40, or 50 years ago, seem right on target today. A lot of us just now are asking, “How much honesty is there in civil government?” What with the talentless offspring of various high-level politicians being awarded fantastically lucrative no-show jobs with assorted foreign business entities… Gee, it sure doesn’t look honest.

In 1980, Rushdoony recalls, the Internal Revenue Service audited 168 of its own auditors–and found “serious errors” perpetrated by more than half of them. And their underpayments were about twice as big as those made by the citizens whom they were auditing.

“When we trust in God,” Rushdoony said, “we become more trustworthy ourselves, to the extent that we obey Him.”

The IRS can’t make us honest. Only God’s Spirit can do that.

The Courage of Old Age REPRINT

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Solon | Atlantis: The Lost Empire Wiki | Fandom

From July 2, 2020

The Athenian lawgiver, Solon, lived to see his laws broken and his city fall into the hands of a tyrant named Pisistratus. Solon came out of retirement and took every opportunity to criticize Pisistratus, tear into his policies, and oppose him in every way he could.

Horrified, his friends asked him what gave him the courage to oppose the tyrant.

“My old age!” said Solon.

He was right, you know. And we who are today’s elderly ought to look to his example.

We’ve already lived most of our lives, so they can’t take that away from us.

We may not be physically up to marching in a demonstration, but we’re not too weak to say “Get lost!”

We may not be strong enough to fight it out on the streets; but we can absolutely refuse to say the things they want us to say, believe the things they try to force us to believe, and worship the idols they demand we worship. We have read the Bible. We remember Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.

If they can’t make us, in our old age and our weakness, bow down to them, how will they control our sons and daughters?

And we can pray, and God will hear us. He can shut this bad stuff down whenever He pleases: the date for that is already on His calendar.

We say with Winston Churchill, “Never, never, never, never give in.”

Please Don’t Lose Heart! REPRINT

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Ancient "City Of Giants" Just Uncovered In Ethiopia

From July 9, 2021

When Moses sent out spies to reconnoiter the Promised Land (see the Book of Numbers), they came back to him with grim reports.

“We’re finished! Game over, man! Those cities are giants’ cities, and the people living there are giants! We’re like grasshoppers, compared to them. They’ll crush us! Oh, why couldn’t we have stayed in Egypt? Why has the Lord done this to us?” And so on and so on. It was a total loss of heart, a total failure of trust; and God decided not to let that generation enter the Promised Land.

Only Caleb and Joshua were spared; for among the dozen spies, they alone trusted God and urged Israel to take his inheritance.

God does not like despair to take root among His people. He doesn’t like it when they don’t trust Him. It is as if they are saying to Him, “You can’t do what you said you’d do!” It’s insulting.

I hear more and more of it, these days. Especially since the “Election” of 2020. A lot of “We’re screwed, the bad guys win, no way out, things’ll never be good again!” Yes, I hear a lot of that.

My editor thinks I’m a pessimist. Sheesh! I’m Mary Sunshine, compared to some. Yes, things are bad! Yes, we are very badly up against it!

But at the same time, our God is an awesome God, who made the heavens and the earth: the judge of all the earth, who will always do right. Through much tribulation we enter His Kingdom, Paul warned us. And so did Jesus Christ Himself: in the world, He told us, we will have tribulation.

But our tribulating doesn’t go on forever, it doesn’t go on without God’s notice–and compared to certain other times in history, we have very little to cry about. We have not faced Nero.

May God forgive us for losing heart, for giving in to defeat; may He strengthen us, breathe spirit into us, fight for us, defend us, avenge us, and conquer for us.

We can at least stop talking as if we were already swallowed up by the ungodly.

Hebrews Chapter 11–read it more often! We all need it.

 

More College Ca-ca REPRINT

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From  March 14, 2017

I don’t know why no one seems to perceive that God is chastising our whole Western civilization–chastising us in the kind of destructive idiots He raises up to be rulers over us, and in the increasingly vain and empty-headed exercise which we still call “higher education.”

At Carlton University, they’ve taken the scales out of the gym because, in the words of one student, “Scales are very triggering” ( https://townhall.com/columnists/michaelbrown/2017/03/14/what-this-campus-has-done-is-beyond-stupid-n2298659 ). And in the words of the university administration, “Being fixated on weight does not have any positive affect [note the misspelling: has Joe Collidge been promoted?] on your health.”

Wanting to get in on the act, Bucknell University has taken away the mirrors, because mirrors are bad for “body positivity.” And to think I’ve lived this long, only today to hear of “body positivity.” Where has this concept been all my life?

Yo, Western world, wakey-wakey! God is mad at us. Does anybody really, truly think it’s a good idea to turn millions of young people into totally dysfunctional wastes of space?

You know what scares me the most? The strong suspicion that we are still a long, long way from even realizing that we’re being chastised for our sins, let alone from actually repenting and turning away from them, turning back to God. The fear that the fun has only just started: we’ve only seen the warmup tosses–wait’ll we get the high hummer right between the eyes.

Remember us, O God, who have been praying for our country, that the people would come back to their senses. Father in Heaven, for Jesus’ sake have mercy on us, and bring us back to sanity–before the full bill comes due. Amen.

Are We All Missionaries? REPRINT

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From August 3, 2020

Saint Patrick - "found Ireland all heathen and left it all ...

We read of saints like St. Patrick, St. Columba, and St. Boniface who went among the heathen and converted them. We read of other saints who died trying. And others who didn’t die, but didn’t get anywhere, either.

In that we belong to Jesus Christ, each and every Christian is called to represent Him in some way: we are all His servants. That’s why the heathen rejoice when we fall short–as we all do, from time to time.

My question is: Are we as Christians required to engage in “dialogue”–very often a euphemism for getting shouted at–with persons who hate us, who despise our faith, who deny God, and go out of their way to make their feelings known? Some say yes, that’s our mission field. Others say don’t bother, it’s casting pearls before swine.

I think that some are called to do this while some are not. It takes a special kind of moral strength not to lose your temper, not to give way to intemperate language, not to punch the scoffer in the nose as St. Nicholas once did. I don’t have that kind of moral strength, so there’s no point in my trying to dialogue with a pagan pinhead. I’ll just get mad.

Somebody has to try to convert these heathen. What odds would you have given against St. Patrick actually being able to convert the pagan Irish? But I think he would tell you it was the Holy Spirit’s power, not his own, that did it.

Those of us who are called to do other things, should do them. You can sell insurance with honesty and grace, and represent the love and righteousness of Christ. You can prepare a good meal, play a nice song on your guitar, mix up a batch of medicine that helps somebody cope with illness–there are more ways to do it than there are people. And how many times did St. Paul preach that lesson?

I’m not going to wade into situations wherein I know I’ll only lose my temper. Let those deal with it who can.

If St. Columba thought the Picts were a tough audience, he should see the leftists of today.

What Would You Do with Your Second Chance REPRINT

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Hezekiah's Sundial — Friendship Presbyterian Church

From June 27, 2020

I’m only sharing this because I’m sure a lot of you have had the same experience.

A good friend of mine had to resign his position as pastor of a local church because he’d had a stroke. I didn’t find out about it until there was no one at the church who knew how to get in touch with him. This was too bad: over the years, we’d done a lot of things together. Prayer. Basketball. And some acts of charity, when we could.

So he was in my prayers every day for I don’t know how long–at least a year. I prayed for God to heal him so he could return to the ministry.

Well, the Lord healed him. And yesterday I saw him “protesting” with his new friends from Only Black Lives Matter–a group devoted to fomenting racial hatred, abortion, homosexuality, and marxism. I was profoundly disappointed to see him there. But I was in my car and I couldn’t stop to talk. Besides, what would I say?

Sometimes when your back is to the wall, God gives you a second chance–just like he did for King Hezekiah (in Isaiah 38, and 2 Kings 20). And some people who get it don’t know what to do with it. I knew one man, miraculously spared from deadly pancreatic cancer, who took the opportunity to run out on his wife and whoop it up until the cancer found him again.

I’m glad the Lord spared my friend’s life and put him back on his feet. But what he’s done with his second chance–well, it makes me wonder why God bothers with us.

Wonderful speech by Denzel Washington A must-hear

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Lee had this in one of his posts.  Denzel Washington’s speech at Dillard University. Short and powerful.   I love this man!

On Trusting God REPRINT

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From January 1, 2016

2016 looks like it could be a pretty hard year. The wicked tower over us, and they think their time has come: they will separate God’s people from Him, once and for all, and engineer the demise of Christianity. They will hold on to all the power they’ve accumulated for themselves, and do everything they can to get more.

Looking at the state of this fallen world today, the thought comes creeping in, “Are we crazy? Don’t we see what’s being done? How are we to trust in God?”

Because, if we trust in God, and we’re wrong, then we lose everything. Absolutely everything.

But there’s a catch. By not trusting in God, we can’t hold on to anything. Not even our souls.

But if we’re right to trust in God, if we’re right–

Well, then we gain everything. Everything. Eternal life. A place in Christ’s kingdom, and a share in His glory. A mansion in His Father’s house. Blessings without number. No matter what we’ve suffered, no matter what has been taken away from us, we gain. And what we gain will be infinitely greater than our loss.

Faith is very much an all-or-nothing proposition. There is no safe middle ground, no way to put just some trust in God and reserve the rest. Playing it safe will get us nothing.

They tower over us, and we are like grasshoppers in their sight.

But as Caleb said, when the other spies reported on the unconquerable might of pagan Canaan, inhabited by giants, “Let us go up at once, and possess it, for we are well able to overcome it” (Numbers 13:30)

Trust in the Lord. Pray harder. Sing louder.

And remember what happened to Goliath.

 

A Great Big Gulp of Theology (‘Consummation,’ by Martin Selbrede) REPRINT

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We look for the resurrection of the dead – FORWARD IN CHRIST

From July 18, 2023

Is history moving inexorably to the full establishment of Christ’s Kingdom over a new heaven and a new earth? And if so, why can’t we see it?

Consummation, by Martin Selbrede, is a long essay that attempts to answer this question.

I have to admit that for all my reading, all my study, this text is hard for me to understand. That’s because you and I are here, on the old earth, saturated with sin, and we can’t see as God sees. The smoke of battle blinds us.

But if we keep reading, we come to a final paragraph in which the fog begins to lift:

“[B]ecause providence is well orchestrated to subserve the ultimate ends of consummation. History moves towards, not away from, its appointed goal, and God Himself will push it over the finish line to release the final grip of the curse from Christ’s world (Romans 8: 19-23).”

Let me quote the cited Scripture, in case you don’t have a Bible handy:

“For the earnest expectation of the creature [all created things] waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God. For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope. Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.”

Yes, there’s a whole lot of groaning going on in this fallen world today; but Jesus Christ has paid the fare, and God the Father will get us there.