Followers

Saturday, December 27, 2008

A Woman Special to God

A Woman Special to God—Hagar

I have taught the story of Abraham, Sarah, and Hagar more times that I can count. Yet all of those times my focus was on Abraham and Sarah. Hagar received the status of a villain and certainly not that of a heroine. In a recent study of the book of Isaiah, in a commentary, I found a list of people in the Old Testament who experienced epiphanies. This was in connection with Isaiah 6 where Isaiah had his encounter with God. But something in the list surprised me. I came across the fact that Hagar experienced two epiphanies with God, something that very few people in the Bible can claim. So what does that say to us about Hagar? My contention is simple: Hagar was special to God. Her story is related in Genesis 16 and 21:9-21.

When we use the term special we usually mean special treatment. My dog is special to me, so he gets special privileges. He gets to sit in my chair either with me or when I am gone. I make sure that he is fed twice a day and take him on regular walks. My wife would tell you that Alexander is spoiled. He isn't spoiled, just special. Special people enjoy privileges, the good life, needs and wants being met, and are comfortable. So if Hagar was special to God, then why did she have such a rough time?

Chapter 11 of the book of Hebrews gives us a list of people who were special to God. Just a few of them are:

  • Abel, who died at the hands of his brother Cain because Abel was special to God.
  • Noah, suffered humiliation and ridicule for 100 years while he built the ark because God told him he was special.
  • Abraham, who left the security of Ur to go to a place he didn't know, led by a God he couldn't see on the promise that "someday" he would be special.
  • Sarah, given by her husband to kings to be in their harems, but never complained because she was special.
  • Paul was told he was a special messenger for God who would learn what it means to suffer because he was special.
  • Jesus was by far the most special person to God, and his special privilege was dying an excruciating death on the cross.

The list goes on. The point that Hebrews 11 makes is this: being special to God may cost you a great deal in this life.

Hagar's Story

We do not officially know how Hagar came into the picture, but since she was an Egyptian we can assume she was part of the deal Pharaoh made with Abraham in Egypt. Famine was in the land of Canaan when Abram (later changed to Abraham) arrived for the first time. As it would be in the days of Joseph, Egypt had grain for sale. Abram was afraid that the Egyptians would see his beautiful wife and kill Abram for her. So he told the story that Sarai was his sister. Actually it was a half-truth as she was his half-sister. They had the same father and different mothers. Sarai was taken into Pharaoh's harem. What is noteworthy is the fact that she was 65 years of age at the time.

Pharaoh's household came under a curse. Somehow Pharaoh discovered that Sarai was already married to Abram. God's protection of Abraham is apparent because Pharaoh could have easily put him to death and then taken Sarah. Instead Pharaoh chose to give Sarah back to her husband and also richly reward him. He gave him gifts which included male and female servants. It is quite likely that Hagar was one of them.

Regardless of where Abram and Sarai acquired Hagar the fact remains that she was a slave. As a person she had no rights and could never be free unless her master chose to free her. She could be called upon to do anything the master desired. The evidence of Hagar's lack of freedom is seen when Sarai decides that Abram can have a child by her. A woman of the same rank as Sarai could not be expected to do such a thing, but a slave was a slave and could be used as her owners saw fit.

Hagar accepted the role of surrogate mother for Sarai. The concept, still very much alive today, was that Hagar would have a child but the child would belong to Sarai. Such a practice was legal in Abraham's society. Once Hagar knew she was pregnant things became very tense between Hagar and Sarai. Sarai could not abuse the slave now at the risk of harming the unborn child. Hagar may have flaunted her expanding waistline. "You can't do this." Finally the antagonism between the two women became so intense Hagar chose to flee.

This was not a very rational decision on Hagar's part. It was an act of desperation. It would be better to be dead than to live in such circumstances. Hagar really had nowhere to go. No cities were nearby and it was a long ways between waterholes. In fact, Hagar had no idea where the waterholes or wells even were.

But God met her in the wilderness, the first of two meetings they would have. He told Hagar to go back to Sarai and Abram and submit herself to her mistress.

God's presence at this point said to Hagar, "You are special to me. And I have an assignment for you." The assignment was to bear the child of Abraham who would become famous in the world. Hagar heard the words, but did not have any idea of the significance of them. God promised Hagar the following: (Genesis 16:10-12)

10     Moreover, the angel of the Lord said to her, "I will greatly multiply your descendants so that they will be too many to count."

     11     The angel of the Lord said to her further,

"Behold, you are with child,

And you will bear a son;

And you shall call his name Ishmael,

Because the Lord has given heed to your affliction.

     12     "He will be a wild donkey of a man,

His hand will be against everyone,

And everyone's hand will be against him;

And he will live to the east of all his brothers."

Hagar then names the place Beer lahai roi, "the well of the God who sees." Afterwards she returned to the camp and there submitted to Sarai. 

Abraham is 86 years old when Ishmael is born. He loved Ishmael very much and wanted him to be the heir of promise. 

When Abraham reached 100 and Sarah 90, God chose to allow them to have a child. The child was named Isaac ("Laughter") because both Abraham and Sarah laughed when they heard they would have a child in their old age. When it came time to wean Isaac, Ishmael mocked him. This offended Sarah and she demanded that Hagar and her son be driven away.

Here we see the value of the individual. Abraham is told by God to listen to his wife. He gives Hagar a bag of water and some bread and sends them out into the wilderness. Did Abraham believe God would take care of Hagar? We don't know. But when Hagar was at the point of death along with Ishmael, now an 18 year old boy, God appeared to her again. He showed her water and she survived. 

God appeared to Hagar because she was special to him. God chose to care for her and to honor her in ways she would never understand. 

Lesson: God can use anyone he chooses. In Hagar's case he used a slave. Later God would use a slave named Joseph to save a nation. 


 

“Lawrence of Arabia”

Friday, December 26, 2008 was a beautiful day in Kansas. Before the day ended the temperature had reached a record 70 degrees. But the wind changed and by midnight we had rain and the temperature dropped to 30. I walked the dog and took the car in for its regular lube job. When supper was over my wife told me that "Lawrence of Arabia" would be on TCM. I checked the schedule and discovered this was a four-hour movie. I'm always interested in history especially of the Middle East. I also wanted to know more about this legendary figure of World War I.

The film belongs to a genre of movies that are epic in nature. What the director wants to do takes four hours to accomplish and none of the time is wasted. David Lean, who directed "Lawrence of Arabia," produced a number of these epics. They are powerful in their message presented in a powerful fashion. David Lean directed several other movies that have become classics: "Dr. Zhivago," "The Bridge Over the River Kwai," and "Passage to India." Each of these films is epic in nature. I have seen Dr. Zhivago several times. It is a great historical document of what communism did to the intellectual establishment in Russia. Dr. Zhivago is cut off from his life and left at loose ends until he finally disappears.

Both "Lawrence of Arabia" and "Dr. Zhivago" begin with a lengthy overture that speaks musically of everything that is to come. The theme songs will be replayed throughout the entire movie.

So when you have a little time on your hands and are tired of the garbage on commercial television, watch these two fine movies.

Tuesday, December 23, 2008

Friday, December 19, 2008

The News that is the News on December 19, 2008

News in KC Star for December 19, 2008
 
In a study of corrupt states, Kansas is rated as one of the three least corrupt states in USA. Florida has the highest rate of convictions for public officials while Illinois is 7th in the country. Louisiana has the highest conviction rates per capita and Illinois is 6th. Kansas is unranked.
 
The William J. Clinton foundation has raised $492,000,000 to build the Clinton library and other projects the Clintons are involved. Foreign governments including Saudi Arabia, Norway and India gave $46,000,000. Other high profile givers include Bill Gates and a whole host of the Hollywood crowd. Saudi Arabia alone gave $10,000,000. Other government donors include Kuwait, Qatar, Brunei, Oman, Italy, Jamaica, and Tenerife. The Dutch national lottery gave between 5 and 10 million dollars.
 
Also of interest in the article is the note that Hillary Clinton served on Wal-Mart's board of directors. Wal Mart gave between one and five million dollars to the Clinton foundation.
 
It is foolish to assume that Hillary Clinton will not be influenced in her decisions as Secretary of State by those whom support her husband's library. (WP)
 
On the more serious side Burger King has launched a new men's body spray called "Flame." It is described as having the scent of seduction with a hint of flame-broiled meat." (Guys using this should be careful that their dates are not hungry! WP)
 
In Rogers, Arkansas Michelle and Jim Bob Duggar had their 18th child, a little girl, delivered by C-section. Jim Bob is 43 and Michelle 42. Their oldest child is 20.
 
 
That's all the news that is the news for today.
 

Il Divo and Amazing Grace

This is one of the finest renditions of Amazing Grace I have heard.   

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YtrnB4FZ-yc

Sunday, December 14, 2008

“This Little Light of Mine”

"This little light of mine"

Years ago small children were taught a popular song—"This little light of mine." Not really heavy on theology, but actually loaded with meaning. Especially in the area of light.

At Zeandale we are going through Max Lucado's 3:16 in the morning Bible study. Today's lesson dealt with Hosea and Gomer. The focus was on Hosea's love for Gomer which was descriptive of the love God had for his people Israel. One of the greatest lessons we got from the lesson was the fact that God loves regardless of how people respond.

God's love is not exclusively for believers. We become believers by responding to God's love, but that doesn't change the fact that God loves unconditionally. Everything we have is a gift from God. Everything that the Muslim, Hindu, atheist, or evolutionist has is a gift from God. Whether or not people do not recognize the source of the gift does not change the fact about it's source.

There are believers who brag about their accomplishments. Sometimes they will include God up to the point that they must be very special in the sight of God because of all that God's for them. I used to have a good friend that no matter what I accomplished he did something either faster or better or he was obviously better blessed. Once I wrote him about some of medical experiences and his answer was to let me know that his medical experiences were worse than mine. The guy never changed!

Charles Chaffin led in the devotional time for the offering this morning and he focused on the fact that we have received light from God. Everyone receives light from God. Paul talks about this in Romans 1. So just like everyone receives everything they have from God, so also do they receive God's light as well. Charles suggested that the light could be seen in the fact that everyone has a conscience.

Again, it is a gift from God. If one studies anthropology he/she discovers that there is no culture without a moral system regardless of how "primitive" they may be. Where did they get their information? The earliest culture systems which began to use writing also developed legal codes. How did that happen? And how is that there are so many parallels found among the various legal systems? Some would suggest they just copied from one another. Even if they did copy they still recognized the value of a controlled value system.

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

A Socialist America takes another step forward

When Joseph rescued the Egyptians from the upcoming famine he took 20% of the grain grown and then sold it back to the Egyptians. The Egyptians first used up their money to buy food, then they sold their livestock, and finally their land to the Egyptian government. When the famine ended all the money, livestock, and land belonged to the government. After the famine the government let the people use the land and taxed them 20% of their produce. In essence, Joseph set up a socialist government. 

Our government is spending over a trillion dollars to bail out banks and industries who mismanaged their funds and businesses. But the one item that no one may have noticed is the placement of "czars" to oversee the industries that the government is helping. This is a giant step toward socialism in which the government takes control of industry and banking. Someone might say, "Never in America." But it is happening.  The republic the founders of this nation produced is long gone. It is also noteworthy that anything the government manages becomes notorious for waste.  

Tuesday, December 9, 2008

The Year of the Jubilee

When Moses received the Law, part of it included both environmental and economic sanctions placed by God upon his people. The environmental part was called the Sabbatical year. That law stated the Israelites were to let the land lay fallow (unplowed) every seven years so that it could renew itself. Back in the 1960s I lived in southern Illinois. While there I was given the chance to learn how to farm. A godly man, one of the elders in the church where I preached, took the time to train me how to farm. I learned how to harvest, plow, and cultivate. For some reason Frank Shepard never let me plant. That part he always handled. 

Farmers in that era practiced crop rotation. Part of the rotation was to leave a section of the land fallow every seven years. They would plant alfalfa on it and the next fall plow the alfalfa under. They were using artificial fertilizers by that time, but they still practiced crop rotation.  I'm not sure if this practice is observed anymore. 

The next part of the Law of Moses we want to consider is the year of Jubilee. This law stated that every 50 years all debts were to be forgiven and the land was to be restored to its original owners. This meant ever person had the opportunity to start over with a clean slate every fifty years. Certainly such a practice would not be popular with bankers, but it was the law of God. 

It is my own unhumble opinion that the Israelites never observed the year of Jubilee and it is possible that they were also careless about the sabbatical year as well. 

But, Praise the Lord, we are observing the year of Jubilee in 2008. Billions of dollars are being given to bankers and automobile manufacturers who are going broke. This is all being done on the premise that the little guy about to lose his home will be able to save it. So far I have yet to hear of one little guy getting so much as a nickel of the $700 billion. But the bankers and industrialists are all standing in line for their handout. It is almost a comedy to watch the auto makers pleading with Congress for billions. 

Here is my concern. I have debts--mortgage on my house, a credit card or two, an automobile.  Is there some way that I could get a small portion of that $700 billion? Now if I were making $22 million a year or more I would have a better chance. But my income is a bit less than that. I have friends that deserve a portion of that money since it is the year of Jubilee, but I doubt that they will get any either. I work for a non-profit institution that could use a bit of this bailout money and we work across from a major university that needs a minimum of $56 million to simply do the maintenance needed that has been delayed for years. Let me know if I am wrong, but I bet neither we nor the university will see a red cent from the big bailout. We have done nothing dishonest nor have we taken advantage of the foolishness of people. But that's not the way the bailout will work. Those who made financial fools of others will receive the reward. 

I'm sure that Moses would see this as an odd way to observe the Jubilee. 

Sunday, December 7, 2008

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas






















One of my colleagues called this afternoon and invited me to go with him and his wife to see "The Boy In the Striped Pajamas." My wife and I went with them to this powerful statement about the most tragic part of World War II. You can look up movie reviews to get a sense of the direction of the movie. But you will have to see it to fully appreciate the way it ends. It is, to say the least, a moving experience. It is not a film to enjoy, but it one from which we can be reminded of lessons from the past. Every adult needs to see it. It is not a movie for children. 

A question that must accompany such a movie and the events it points to is, "How in the world could such a situation develop?" 

We need to realize that after World War I Germany experienced a horrendous depression. People needed wheel barrows to take their money to the grocery market. The Allies had punished Germany severely for World War I and this added to the depression. In the midst of this economic circumstance a messiah arose. Adolf Hitler promised to lead the nation to the heights to which Germany belonged. People would have to put their trust in him and follow the direction of Hitler and his henchmen. Although there was some protest, Hitler's government quickly evolved and Hitler soon declared himself the dictator of Germany.  

In order to make people feel better, Hitler led them to believe that the Jews were the real problem in the nation. To get rid of this pox on the nation, the Jews needed to be annihilated. This would solve another problem--bring a great of wealth into the hands of the government. 

In Hitler's case, Nazism became the religion of Germany with Adolf himself being the high priest of the religion. 

Such messianic scheme dot the landscape since World War II. One that started much earlier in 1917 was the Communist party in Russia. Vladimir Lenin, Trotsky, and Josef Stalin were involved in this political experiment that promised to correct the financial abuses in Russia and the wealth of the rich would be distributed among the poor. 

The Pol Pot regime in Cambodia that massacred a million people. Fidel Castro and Che Chevera led people in South America and Cuba on the basis that each man was a messiah who was going to deliver his people. Such individuals are scattered all over Africa. The results of the work of these messiahs has been horrific. 

Some wise acre once said, "Those who refuse to learn the lessons of history are doomed to repeat them."

Wednesday, December 3, 2008

Zeandale Makes the news for Community Good Will

Community Good Will

Recently the local newspaper, the Manhattan Mercury, has made mention of the community service provided by Zeandale Community Church. The first was in an article about the Angel Food Program. Zeandale was instrumental in helping bring the program to the Manhattan area. For the time being our people as well as the rest of the churches involved in the Manhattan area, go to Topeka to pick up the items to be distributed. An hour after they leave Topeka a crew of busy people get the boxes ready and usually by 12:00 noon on Saturday the food is all gone, much of it to needy people who were wondering where their next meal was coming from.

The Angel Food program is unique in that it is open to anyone who wants to participate. One box of food, which is loaded with high protein products, costs $30.00. There is enough food in the box for one person for a month and for a family of four for a week. Purchases can be made either by cash or food stamps and the orders have to be placed and paid for three weeks before delivery. Last month we gave away 18 boxes of food to needy people.

Zeandale was again mentioned by Gary LaGrange who set out to raise school supplies for children in Iraq as an act of good will from our country to theirs. Gary noted that they had raised 38,000 pounds of goods—school supplies and backpacks—and $20,000 to help ship the supplies. Zeandale was mentioned as one of the contributing churches.

When this project started I asked one of new member if he and his wife would take this project on. They did gladly. In a short period the couple reported they wanted the stuff moved because they had one bedroom in their home fully packed with school supplies. Gary LaGrange was impressed. He was impressed enough that he remembered the little stone church in Zeandale that helped out in a big way.

Friday, November 28, 2008

Illegal Immigrant Air Service



Have you ever wondered about what happens to all the illegal immigrants arrested in the US. Do they go to jail  or when they are deported do they have to find their own way back home? Are they taken to the border of Mexico and sent across to make their way back to whatever Central or South American country which is their country of origin? Read this article in the Kansas City Star to find out what happens. http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_action=doc&p_docid=124B4B1867BCF558&p_docnum=1

Notice that over 350,000 made the trip to places as far away as Indonesia and Pakistan. 

Tuesday, November 25, 2008

The Zimbabwean travesty

A young child looking at what is left of his house in Porta Farm, west of Harare, after the Zimbabwean government razed it in 2005 as part of "Operation Murambatsvina," a campaign to eliminate "illegal" structures and shantytowns.

Between 1985 and 1988 I made several trips from Kenya into Zimbabwe. If you have never been to Zimbabwe you are unaware of the beautiful fruitful land that it is. The early white settlers in the region came in 1890 under the direction of Cecil Rhodes, hence the name Rhodesia, Southern Rhodesia (Zimbabwe) and Northern Rhodesia (Zambia)

Britannica tells us: "By 1892 about 1,500 settlers from the south had arrived in Rhodesia. The railway reached Bulawayo in 1896 and Victoria Falls in 1904. By the following year there were 12,500 settlers in the country, and in 1909 gold exports were worth more than £2,500,000. Agricultural development, however, was slower, and it was not until 1907 that steps were taken to facilitate the acquisition of land. By 1911 nearly £35,000 worth of tobacco was being exported annually, and the European population had risen to 23,600."

Mugabe became the first prime minister of the new independent nation of Zimbabwe on April 18, 1980. Mugabe's government was determined to correct the inequality that existed between whites and blacks. The land was to be redistributed. During the 1980s the economy began to seriously decline, first because of drought conditions, and second, because many of the white farmers chose to leave the country.

The economy of Zimbabwe continued to worsen throughout the 1980s and 1990s. At the beginning of this period 4,000 white farmers controlled about one-third of the arable land of Zimbabwe. Most of these farms were either taken over by squatters or forcibly taken by the government to be redistributed. It turned into a very ugly time in Zimbabwe. The end result was that the farming system was effectively destroyed and now millions of Zimbabweans are on the brink of starvation, totally dependent on outside food supplies because essentially very little is being grown in Zimbabwe.

And Mugabe remains in power. The picture included is one of his gentrification projects. Mugabe ordered bulldozers to level the slums around Harare driving thousands of people into the streets. What a solution for food shortages!

Zimbabwe needs to be returned to people who understand how to farm. Sounds racist, I know, but it is reality. What they have now is progressively starving the nation to death. The white farmers could progressive train Africans in the skills they need, but in the meantime provide the needed food for the land.

Unfortunately, Zimbabwe has no oil, so why should we care. After all the dying are just more Africans.

Monday, November 17, 2008

Mitch Morrow Ordination



(Picture--Geoffrey Paddock and Randy Ingmire)
On November 16, 2008, at Valley View Christian Church, near Wichita Kansas, Mitch Morrow was ordained to the Christian ministry. Mitch was a student of mine at MCC and then was involved in several projects around our house and at the Zeandale Community Church. So when Mitch asked my wife and I to attend his ordination we were glad to do so. 

( 2nd Picture: Tom and Judy Morrow with Mitch after the service)
Mitch is a man with a servant's heart. His concern the entire time I have known him is to serve others. I am confident he will go far in the ministry with his servant's spirit. At the moment he is ministering to the community of Vici Oklahoma which just happens to be one of our daughters-in law's home town. A number of her relatives attend the church. Mitch is already doing a good job there. 

Randy Ingmire, Vice President of Academic Affairs, gave the charge to Mitch. His message "Fire in the Belly" reflected on the importance of passion, compassion, and Jesus' passion when it came to being a minister. 

My oldest son, Geoffrey, and myself took part in the "laying on of hands" ceremony. It was a beautiful service and we pray for Mitch that he has a long and successful career. 

A Church Alive

The Zeandale Community Church is a small rural church east of Manhattan Kansas. Attendance runs between 50 and 80. But it is a very active church regardless of the fact that the majority of the congregation is over 50 years of age. 

Pictured here are sixty boxes packed for the Christmas Child project sponsored by Samaritan's Purse. We have been involved in this project for several years. Two years ago one of the missionaries we support in Kenya was involved in the delivery of Christmas Child boxes. We will never know whether or not some of our boxes were involved, but our church was involved on both ends. 

Over a year ago the church got involved in the Angel Food project. Angel Food provides high protein food for people an a minimum cost. At the moment Angel Food provides enough food for one person for a month for $30.00. The same amount will take care of a family for a week. No strings attached, no restrictions on who can buy.  So our people go to Topeka and collect the food we will distribute through Zeandale. Families in the church also buy Angel Food boxes that are designated "gift boxes" and are given to needy people every month, not just at Thanksgiving and Christmas. 

The church also supports a food pantry that is maintained at First Presbyterian Church in Manhattan. Every month a basket of non-perishable food is taken to the pantry to be distributed to people in need. 

Thursday, October 16, 2008

IRS law changes

Our grandson, Nathan, is studying and Mesa State University in preparation to become a CPA. This fall he began a course in IRS law. At the beginning of class his instructor gave each student a huge packet of material written in fine print. The students were amazed at all the material and wondered what it was for. The instructor said, "These are the law changes that came about as a result of the $700 billion bailout." Anyone dealing with the IRS will have to be familiar with this entire new body of law! 

Serious Natural Gas Shortage

As we made our way from Glenwood Springs Colorado to Grand Junction we were again amazed at the number of oil/gas derricks that were in operation. One company reported the starting up of 20 wells and 15 wells were completed. As of September 47 of the 52 planned wells had been started. As of September 80 wells were producing on an average 4.1 MMcfednet (million cubic feet equivalent per day). The wells drilled in the Piceance basin were producing 58 percent natural gas and 42 percent oil.

At the same time there are significant projects going in Kansas around Arbuckle and Lansing with 17 wells started there. Also there have been eleven workovers/recompletions have been completed.

The bottom line is that there is a good deal of gas and oil being produced here in the US. The potential for more is there as well especially in the oil shale deposits in Western Colorado.

From a different direction as we came by Belleville and Leonard Kansas we saw the huge forest of windpower generators. Down the hill from the big boys was one old-fashioned farm windmill pumping away providing water for livestock. Perhaps the little windmill was dreaming of being a big one day some day.

The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch


Several weeks ago Arletta bought me the book The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch. The title comes from a guest lectureship that Dr. Pausch held at Carnegie Mellon University. Here is the blurb from the website:

On September 18, 2007, computer science professor Randy Pausch stepped in front of an audience of 400 people at Carnegie Mellon University to deliver a last lecture called "Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams." With slides of his CT scans beaming out to the audience, Randy told his audience about the cancer that is devouring his pancreas and that will claim his life in a matter of months. On the stage that day, Randy was youthful, energetic, handsome, often cheerfully, darkly funny. He seemed invincible. But this was a brief moment, as he himself acknowledged.

Randy's lecture has become a phenomenon, as has the book he wrote based on the same principles, celebrating the dreams we all strive to make realities. Sadly, Randy lost his battle to pancreatic cancer on July 25th, 2008, but his legacy will continue to inspire us all, for generations to come.

This is a must read (or listen to) book. I want to see how I can incorporate this book into some of my classes. It is a work that challenges all of us in our day to day living. Dr. Pausch was a believer, but he does not make that point until the end of the book. That was probably wise. For many people to hear one more story about how God saves the day would have kept them reading any further.


 

Monday, October 13, 2008

Western Fellowship of Professors and Scholars 2008




Western Fellowship of Professors and Scholars

In Manhattan KS, October 3-4, the third annual theology conference was held. Dr. Mark Alterman, back from his sabbatical in Europe, led the program, although others accomplished the groundwork for the program this year. Dr. Alterman saw a similar program in St. Louis several years ago and encouraged others to consider doing a similar project at Manhattan Christian College.

This year the program enjoyed the facilities of Kansas State University. Excellent meals were served by the KSU kitchen and a comfortable room provided the backdrop for the presentation of several different papers.

A young scholar, Derek Maris, for the second year in a row, set the stage by presenting new ideas from Ray Anderson. Derek acknowledged that what he was doing was a work in process, but he wanted to bounce his ideas off others. Feedback lasted for 20 minutes.

Following Derek came Russ Dudrey from York, Nebraska. Russ always presents outstanding scholarship and dealt with the issue of interpreting the use of the Old Testament in the New Testament.

An Anglican priest, Andrew Grosso presented a paper on the situation of the Anglican Church today. My personal observation about Andrew indicated that he is very close to the Christian church position on the Bible, baptism, and the Lord's Supper. He personally believed in adult baptism and high respect for the Lord's Supper. It will be interesting to see what this man will do in the future.

A missionary to India, Lowell Bliss, dealt with the issue of global warming and its impact on missions. He belongs to the school that believes the latest trends on global warming as held by Al Gore and the Hollywood crowd. I personally was turned off by his rhetoric in that regard. But his greater concern caught my interest. Rather than trying to find someone to blame for global warming, he instead suggested that the church needs to be a significant part in helping people in the world deal with the problem. For example vast areas of Bangladesh are less the five meters above sea level. That means that whenever a typhoon hits the entire area is flooded and again when the rivers flood, the entire area is flooded. These are annual events and refugees from the area are trying to find a place to live. Not easy, because India does not want the refugees. Bliss reminded me of the Church Growth principle that says, "Areas that will be open to the gospel are areas that are going through change, whatever the cause." Certainly flooding and relocation are causes for change.

The program will be again next year at about the same time. It is possible that we will be able to meet in the newly refurbished Joliffe Hall on the MCC campus. Anyone interested in presenting a paper should contact Dr. Mark Alterman at alterman@mccks.edu.

Thursday, September 25, 2008

More from Chuck Colson

Take  time to go to Chuck Colson's website--Breakpoint--and review the offerings for the past two days. Colson provides an interesting perspective on the solution to the problem. 

Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Chuck Colson and the Financial disaster

Chuck Colson verifies what I  wrote in an earlier blog about the financial situation in Washington and the mortgage industry.  Where do we find men and women with an ounce of integrity to deal with our country today? 

Accounting for Disaster
Wall Street, Congress, and You

September 23, 2008

I have said for the past year on "BreakPoint" that much of the financial crisis we are facing stems from moral failure—moral failure on the part of greedy Wall Street speculators, and moral failure on the part of ordinary Americans who bit off more mortgage than they could chew. And all of that is true.

But there is another cause of this crisis that we cannot ignore: the near-incestuous relationship between politicians and big-time government-supported financial institutions.

The near collapse and buyout of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are prime examples of Washington corruption. For at least a decade, a few brave politicians have sought to reform these quasi-governmental behemoths, only to be beaten back by political power brokers. Why? Because, as they say, money talks.

Few politicians are unsullied. According to Politico.com, Fannie and Freddie spent more than $200 million lobbying Congress over the past decade. Among politicians, Barack Obama ranked number three in terms of campaign contributions received from the two agencies—more than $100,000. His chief advisor in the vice-presidential vetting process is a former CEO of Fannie Mae.

As for John McCain, to his credit, he has called for reform of both corporations. But according to the New York Times, his campaign manager "was paid more than $30,000 a month for five years as president of an advocacy group set up" by Fannie and Freddie "to defend them against stricter regulations."

So what did Fannie and Freddie get for their lobbying efforts? Political cover and huge compensation packages for their executives, like Franklin Raines, who received $91 million over a seven-year period. And they were pushed by House Financial Services Chairman Barney Frank to dive into the incredibly risky sub-prime mortgage business.

Why would Frank and other politicians encourage that? Well, according to a recent Wall Street Journal article, Congressman Frank "pushed through" an "affordable housing" trust fund in the Congress, a fund that "siphons off . . . as much as $500 million a year each" from Fannie and Freddie profits to another "fund that politicians can then disburse to their favorite special interests."

So while the politicians were busy padding their cozy little nests, the chickens have come home to roost, and U. S. taxpayers—you and I—need hip waders.

The first step in the cleanup is a massive $700 billion plan proposed by Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson. The government will buy up bad loans, some of which may be re-sold over time. The plan is necessary to stave off financial collapse.

Of course the people who are going to steer this plan through Congress are the very characters who brought us this crisis. And they are already looking for political and financial goodies they can hang on to the plan.

I've got a better idea. Those who steered Fannie and Freddie into the ground should return to the taxpayers their ridiculous compensation. And if there's criminality involved—either with corrupt executives or elected leaders—then let's have some indictments.  Churck Colson in Breakpoint

Monday, September 22, 2008

Training for Congress

An Indian walks into a cafe with a shotgun
in one hand pulling a male buffalo with the other. 
He says to the waiter:   

  
"Want coffee."

The waiter says,  "Sure, Chief. Coming right up." 

  

He gets the Indian a tall mug of coffee. 
The Indian drinks the coffee down in one gulp, 
turns and blasts the buffalo with the shotgun, 
causing parts of the animal to splatter everywhere 
And then just walks out.  


The next morning the Indian returns. 
He has his shotgun in one hand, pulling 
Another male buffalo with the other. 
He walks up to the counter and says to the waiter 

  
"Want coffee." 

  T
he waiter says "Whoa, Tonto! 


  
We're still cleaning up your mess from yesterday. 

  
What was all that about, anyway?" 




The Indian smiles and proudly says .. 

"Training for position in United States Congress: 
Come in, drink coffee, shoot the bull, 
leave mess for others to clean up, 
disappear for rest of day.

 
 

 

The Death of Freedom

Os Guinness told us a year ago that the secret to America's greatness was the ability to dialogue, to openly discuss issues and allow everyone to present his/her ideas without fear of rejection or reprisal. Dr. Guinness observed that we have lost that ability in our nation. Instead of dialogue the stress is on being politically correct. Many subjects are rapidly becoming off-limits.

See the following article from Mark Steyn:

Lights Out on Liberty


Mark Steyn
Author and Columnist

Mark Steyn's column appears in the New York Sun, theWashington Times, Philadelphia's Evening Bulletin, and theOrange County Register. In addition, he writes for The New CriterionMaclean's in Canada, the Jerusalem PostThe Australian, and Hawke's Bay Today in New Zealand. The author of National Review's Happy Warrior column, he also blogs on National Review Online and appears weekly on the Hugh Hewitt Radio Show. He is the author of several books, most recently America Alone: The End of The World as We Know It. Born in Toronto, Mr. Steyn lives with his family in New Hampshire.

The following is adapted from a lecture delivered at Hillsdale College on March 13, 2008, while Mr. Steyn was in residence as a Eugene C. Pulliam Visiting Fellow in Journalism.

ON AUGUST 3, 1914, on the eve of the First World War, British Foreign Secretary Sir Edward Grey stood at the window of his office in the summer dusk and observed, "The lamps are going out all over Europe." Today, the lights are going out on liberty all over the Western world, but in a more subtle and profound way.

Much of the West is far too comfortable with state regulation of speech and expression, which puts freedom itself at risk. Let me cite some examples: The response of the European Union Commissioner for Justice, Freedom, and Security to the crisis over the Danish cartoons that sparked Muslim violence was to propose that newspapers exercise "prudence" on certain controversial subjects involving religions beginning with the letter "I." At the end of her life, the Italian writer Oriana Fallaci—after writing of the contradiction between Islam and the Western tradition of liberty—was being sued in France, Italy, Switzerland, and most other European jurisdictions by groups who believed her opinions were not merely offensive, but criminal. In France, author Michel Houellebecq was sued by Muslim and other "anti-racist groups" who believed the opinions of a fictional character in one of his novels were likewise criminal.

In Canada, the official complaint about my own so-called "flagrant Islamophobia"—filed by the Canadian Islamic Congress—attributes to me the following "assertions":

America will be an Islamic Republic by 2040. There will be a break for Muslim prayers during the Super Bowl. There will be a religious police enforcing Islamic norms. The USS Ronald Reagan will be renamed after Osama bin Laden. Females will not be allowed to be cheerleaders. Popular American radio and TV hosts will be replaced by Imams.

In fact, I didn't "assert" any of these things. They are plot twists I cited in my review of Robert Ferrigno's novel, Prayers for the Assassin. It's customary in reviewing novels to cite aspects of the plot. For example, a review of Moby Dick will usually mention the whale. These days, apparently, the Canadian Islamic Congress and the government's human rights investigators (who have taken up the case) believe that describing the plot of a novel should be illegal.

You may recall that Margaret Atwood, some years back, wrote a novel about her own dystopian theocratic fantasy, in which America was a Christian tyranny named the Republic of Gilead. What's to stop a Christian group from dragging a doting reviewer of Margaret Atwood's book in front of a Canadian human rights court? As it happens, Christian groups tend not to do that, which is just as well, because otherwise there wouldn't be a lot to write about.

These are small parts of a very big picture. After the London Tube bombings and the French riots a few years back, commentators lined up behind the idea that Western Muslims are insufficiently assimilated. But in their mastery of legalisms and the language of victimology, they're superbly assimilated. Since these are the principal means of discourse in multicultural societies, they've mastered all they need to know. Every day of the week, somewhere in the West, a Muslim lobbying group is engaging in an action similar to what I'm facing in Canada. Meanwhile, in London, masked men marched through the streets with signs reading "Behead the Enemies of Islam" and promising another 9/11 and another Holocaust, all while being protected by a phalanx of London policemen.

Thus we see that today's multicultural societies tolerate the explicitly intolerant and avowedly unicultural, while refusing to tolerate anyone pointing out that intolerance. It's been that way for 20 years now, ever since Valentine's Day 1989, when the Ayatollah Khomeini issued his fatwa against the novelist Salman Rushdie, a British subject, and shortly thereafter large numbers of British Muslims marched through English cities openly calling for Rushdie to be killed. A reader in Bradford wrote to me recalling asking a West Yorkshire policeman on the street that day why the various "Muslim community leaders" weren't being arrested for incitement to murder. The officer said they'd been told to "play it cool." The calls for blood got more raucous. My correspondent asked his question again. The policeman told him to "Push off" (he expressed the sentiment rather more Anglo-Saxonly, but let that pass) "or I'll arrest you." Mr. Rushdie was infuriated when the then Archbishop of Canterbury lapsed into root-cause mode. "I well understand the devout Muslims' reaction, wounded by what they hold most dear and would themselves die for," said His Grace. Rushdie replied tersely: "There is only one person around here who is in any danger of dying."

And that's the way it's gone ever since. For all the talk about rampant "Islamophobia," it's usually only the other party who is "in any danger of dying."

War on the Homefront

I wrote my book America Alone because I wanted to reframe how we thought about the War on Terror—an insufficient and evasive designation that has long since outlasted whatever usefulness it may once have had. It remains true that we are good at military campaigns, such as those in Iraq and Afghanistan. Our tanks and ships are better, and our bombs and soldiers are smarter. But these are not ultimately the most important battlefronts. We do indeed face what the strategists call asymmetric warfare, but it is not in the Sunni triangle or the Hindu Kush. We face it right here in the Western world.

Norman Podhoretz, among others, has argued that we are engaged in a second Cold War. But it might be truer to call it a Cold Civil War, by which I mean a war within the West, a war waged in our major cities. We now have Muslim "honor killings," for instance, not just in tribal Pakistan and Yemen, but in Germany and the Netherlands, in Toronto and Dallas. And even if there were no battles in Iraq and Afghanistan, and if no one was flying planes into tall buildings in New York City or blowing up trains, buses, and nightclubs in Madrid, London, and Bali, we would still be in danger of losing this war without a shot being fired.

The British government recently announced that it would be issuing Sharia-compliant Islamic bonds—that is, bonds compliant with Islamic law and practice as prescribed in the Koran. This is another reason to be in favor of small government: The bigger government gets, the more it must look for funding in some pretty unusual places—in this case wealthy Saudis. As The Mail on Sunday put it, this innovation marks "one of the most significant economic advances of Sharia law in the non-Muslim world."

At about the same time, The Times of London reported that "Knorbert the piglet has been dropped as the mascot of Fortis Bank, after it decided to stop giving piggy banks to children for fear of offending Muslims." Now, I'm no Islamic scholar, but Mohammed expressed no view regarding Knorbert the piglet. There's not a single sura about it. The Koran, an otherwise exhaustive text, is silent on the matter of anthropomorphic porcine representation.

I started keeping a file on pig controversies a couple of years ago, and you would be surprised at how routine they have become. Recently, for instance, a local government council prohibited its workers from having knickknacks on their desks representing Winnie the Pooh's sidekick Piglet. As Pastor Martin Niemoller might have said, "First they came for Piglet and I did not speak out because I was not a Disney character, and if I was, I'd be more of an Eeyore. Then they came for the Three Little Pigs and Babe, and by the time I realized the Western world had turned into a 24/7 Looney Tunes, it was too late, because there was no Porky Pig to stammer, 'Th-th-th-that's all folks!', and bring the nightmare to an end."

What all these stories have in common is excessive deference to—and in fact fear of—Islam. If the story of the Three Little Pigs is forbidden when Muslims still comprise less than ten percent of Europe's population, what else will be on the black list when they comprise 20 percent? In small but telling ways, non-Muslim communities are being persuaded that a kind of uber-Islamic law now applies to all. And if you don't remember the Three Little Pigs, by the way, one builds a house of straw, another of sticks, and both get blown down by the Big Bad Wolf. Western Civilization is a mighty house of bricks, but you don't need a Big Bad Wolf when the pig is so eager to demolish the house himself.

I would argue that these incremental concessions to Islam are ultimately a bigger threat than terrorism. What matters is not what the lads in the Afghan cave—the "extremists"—believe, but what the non-extremists believe, what people who are for the most part law-abiding taxpayers of functioning democracies believe. For example, a recent poll found that 36 percent of Muslims between the ages of 16 and 24 believe that those who convert to another religion should be punished by death. That's not 36 percent of young Muslims in Waziristan or Yemen or Sudan, but 36 percent of young Muslims in the United Kingdom. Forty percent of British Muslims would like to live under Sharia—in Britain. Twenty percent have sympathy for the July 7 Tube bombers. And, given that Islam is the principal source of population growth in every city down the spine of England from Manchester to Sheffield to Birmingham to London, and in every major Western European city, these statistics are not without significance for the future.

Because I discussed these facts in print, my publisher is now being sued before three Canadian human rights commissions. The plaintiff in my case is Dr. Mohamed Elmasry, a man who announced on Canadian TV that he approves of the murder of all Israeli civilians over the age of 18. He is thus an objective supporter of terrorism. I don't begrudge him the right to his opinions, but I wish he felt the same about mine. Far from that, posing as a leader of the "anti-hate" movement in Canada, he is using the squeamishness of a politically correct society to squash freedom.

As the famous saying goes, the price of liberty is eternal vigilance. What the Canadian Islamic Congress and similar groups in the West are trying to do is criminalize vigilance. They want to use the legal system to circumscribe debate on one of the great questions of the age: the relationship between Islam and the West and the increasing Islamization of much of the Western world, in what the United Nations itself calls the fastest population transformation in history.

Slippery Slope

Our democratic governments today preside over multicultural societies that have less and less glue holding them together. They've grown comfortable with the idea of the state as the mediator between interest groups. And confronted by growing and restive Muslim populations, they're increasingly at ease with the idea of regulating freedom in the interests of social harmony.

It's a different situation in America, which has the First Amendment and a social consensus that increasingly does not exist in Europe. Europe's consensus seems to be that Danish cartoonists should be able to draw what they like, but not if it sparks Islamic violence. It is certainly odd that the requirement of self-restraint should only apply to one party.

Last month, in a characteristically clotted speech followed by a rather more careless BBC interview, the Archbishop of Canterbury said that it was dangerous to have one law for everyone and that the introduction of Sharia to the United Kingdom was "inevitable." Within days of His Grace's remarks, the British and Ontario governments both confirmed that thousands of polygamous men in their jurisdictions are receiving welfare payments for each of their wives. Kipling wrote that East is East and West is West, and ne'er the twain shall meet. But when the twain do meet, you often wind up with the worst of both worlds. Say what you like about a polygamist in Waziristan or Somalia, but he has to do it on his own dime. To collect a welfare check for each spouse, he has to move to London or Toronto. Government-subsidized polygamy is an innovation of the Western world.

If you need another reason to be opposed to socialized health care, one reason is because it fosters the insouciant attitude to basic hygiene procedures that has led to the rise of deadly "superbugs." I see British Muslim nurses in public hospitals riddled with C. difficile are refusing to comply with hygiene procedures on the grounds that scrubbing requires them to bare their arms, which is un-Islamic. Which is a thought to ponder just before you go under the anaesthetic. I mentioned to some of Hillsdale's students in class that gay-bashing is on the rise in the most famously "tolerant" cities in Europe. As Der Spiegel reported, "With the number of homophobic attacks rising in the Dutch metropolis, Amsterdam officials are commissioning a study to determine why Moroccan men are targeting the city's gays."

Gee, whiz. That's a toughie. Wonder what the reason could be. But don't worry, the brain trust at the University of Amsterdam is on top of things: "Half of the crimes were committed by men of Moroccan origin and researchers believe they felt stigmatized by society and responded by attacking people they felt were lower on the social ladder. Another working theory is that the attackers may be struggling with their own sexual identity."

Bingo! Telling young Moroccan men they're closeted homosexuals seems certain to lessen tensions in the city! While you're at it, a lot of those Turks seem a bit light in their loafers, don't you think?

Our Suicidal Urge

So don't worry, nothing's happening. Just a few gay Muslims frustrated at the lack of gay Muslim nightclubs. Sharia in Britain? Taxpayer-subsidized polygamy in Toronto? Yawn. Nothing to see here. True, if you'd suggested such things on September 10, 2001, most Britons and Canadians would have said you were nuts. But a few years on and it doesn't seem such a big deal, nor will the next concession, or the one after that.

The assumption that you can hop on the Sharia Express and just ride a couple of stops is one almighty leap of faith. More to the point, who are you relying on to "hold the line"? Influential figures like the Archbishop of Canterbury? The politically correct bureaucrats at Canada's Human Rights Commissions? The geniuses who run Harvard, and who've just introduced gender-segregated swimming and gym sessions at the behest of Harvard's Islamic Society? (Would they have done that for Amish or Mennonite students?) The Western world is not run by fellows noted for their line-holding: Look at what they're conceding now and then try to figure out what they'll be conceding in five years' time. The idea that the West's multicultural establishment can hold the line would be more plausible if it was clear they had any idea where the line is, or even gave any indication of believing in one.

My book, supposedly Islamaphobic, isn't even really about Islam. The single most important line in it is the profound observation, by historian Arnold Toynbee, that "Civilizations die from suicide, not murder." One manifestation of that suicidal urge is illiberal notions harnessed in the cause of liberalism. In calling for the introduction of Sharia, the Archbishop of Canterbury joins a long list of Western appeasers, including a Dutch cabinet minister who said if the country were to vote to introduce Islamic law that would be fine by him, and the Swedish cabinet minister who said we should be nice to Muslims now so that Muslims will be nice to us when they're in the majority.

Ultimately, our crisis is not about Islam. It's not about fire-breathing Imams or polygamists whooping it up on welfare. It's not about them. It's about us. And by us I mean the culture that shaped the modern world, and established the global networks, legal systems, and trading relationships on which the planet depends.

To reprise Sir Edward Grey, the lamps are going out all over the world, and an awful lot of the map will look an awful lot darker by the time many Americans realize the scale of this struggle.

Shame on the bailers!

The Super Bailout

The legislature is moving toward a 700 billion dollar bailout of the mortgage business. Part of the fable attached to it is that eventually we will get the money back. I would question this project even if I thought the purest of motives was behind it. But I have a greater concern. It is simple. Every time there is money involved, we also find a host of people who are more than willing to help themselves to it.

For example, benefit concerts were held for those who had lost loved ones in the 9/11 disaster. Much of that money simply disappeared. Very little of it made it to the people who were supposed to be helped. Entrepreneurs quickly saw an opportunity to make a quick buck and did so.

Every week we get calls from veterans organizations that call upon us to help veterans. It is a known fact that these telemarketing programs allow very little of the money they take in to get to the people for whom it is intended.

A young college girl in a skimpy outfit showed up at my door on Saturday wanting to tell me about how she was going to win a trip to Ireland and $5000.00 to go to school on. It all depended on collecting the necessary points. In a sultry voice, she said to me, "Would you like to know how I make points?" I told her I wasn't interested and she looked like I had just broken her heart. But I am familiar with this scam as well. Young people are conned into believing that they will raise big bucks and take great trips based upon the number of magazines they sell. But no one ever wins. Eventually this girl along with many others are going to be broken hearted because they were taken in.

In the September 10, 2008 edition of the San Francisco Chronicle an article discussing the waste by FEMA in New Orleans in the aftermath of Katrina reported:

"A report by the Homeland Security Department's office of inspector general, obtained Wednesday by The Associated Press, is the latest to detail mismanagement in the multibillion-dollar Katrina hurricane recovery effort, which investigators have said wasted at least $1 billion.

The review examined temporary housing contracts awarded without competition to Shaw Group Inc., Bechtel Group Inc., CH2M Hill Companies Ltd. and Fluor Corp. in the days immediately before and after the August 2005 storm that smashed into the U.S. Gulf Coast.

It found that FEMA wasted at least $45.9 million on the four contracts that together were initially worth $400 million. FEMA subsequently raised the total amounts for the four contracts twice, both times without competition, to $2 billion and then $3 billion."

Again, there were people more than willing to steal from the U. S. Government and most likely will go totally unpunished for the theft. These were people who took advantage of a disaster and pocketed the profits while the people who needed help were left low and wet (in contrast to "high and dry").

Now the government wants to come up with $700,000,000,000 to bail out the mortgage companies who foolishly issued mortgages for inflated loans that the recipients had little or no hope of repaying. For a while I was receiving from reputable lenders offers of $250,000-500,000 loans. If I paid my entire salary on such loans I could not keep up with the payments. Why would any business in its right mind (or left one for that matter) make such outrageous offers to people? Now they want the government to bail them out.

Seven hundred billion dollars offers unbelievable sums to those who are willing to steal under any circumstances. My humble prognosis is that if that money is made available at least one-half of it will be lost to corrupt politicians and bankers. Congress will call for hearings. There will be the traditional browbeating, but when the day comes to an end, a lot of people are going to be a great deal richer at the expense of my children and grand children.

This is a project to help the rich and famous, not the poor, the down and out, and the people who are going to lose their homes this year.

Thursday, September 11, 2008

9/11 seven years later

Anniversary of World Trade Center bombing—A Black Swan Event

Nassim Nicholas Talib, author of The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable, provides insight to the significance of this event. It has some powerful lessons, but I am not going to deal with them now.

As part of an exam today I asked students to reflect on what happened on this day seven years ago. Most of them would have been 13 or 14 years old. Out of 20 students few seemed to have any appreciation for what took place. Some were not aware of the number of aircraft involved and none knew that 3000 people died in all the disasters.

Student observations

Several students recognized the new status that "terrorists" received. They also recognized that some people have a tendency to label all Arab peoples as terrorists, which is unfortunate and unfair. It is much like the time when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. Immediately the Japanese in the continental United States, many of whom had been here several generations, were persecuted and moved to interment camps where they would spend their existence until the end of the war.

We also have the wars, first in Afghanistan and then in Iraq in the war against terrorism. But terrorism knows no battlefield. Anyplace can be the battlefield. The enemy can attack without warning and is difficult to control when we use conventional warfare tactics.

For a short period of time churches experienced significant growth, but it was not long lasting.

Good observations: "This event changed our nation forever."

"It showed the world what catastrophic damage a few people can cause."

"However, security, travel, and basic American freedoms have been altered."

Talib noted in his book we tend to spend our time analyzing what happened with the intent that we will keep it from happening again. For example, the intensity of airport security. Also the price of oil and petrol at the pumps. And the effect on Wall Street. But that is the nature of a Black Swan event. It comes in an unexpected fashion and thus there is no way to prepare to deal with it. Instead we have to deal with the aftermath.

The student who said, "This event changed our nation forever," saw the real picture. I'm sure studies will come out this week discussing the difference what it was like before 9/11 and what it is like after 9/11. The highest price we have paid is the loss of personal freedoms in the name of security.

The terrorists could not have found a more effective way to wage war than what they did. We are still attempting to bring them under control. They are still popping all over the globe and terrorizing people. If history has anything to say about this, we discover the terrorists usually win. A major change in the style of warfare gave the colonists the edge over the British who were still fighting wars in the old fashioned way. Terrorists exploit the statement, "All is fair in love and war." There are no rules. The one who is successful will be the winner regardless of the tactics.

Monday, September 8, 2008

Give Glory to God

A famous evangelist from the 19th century put it well when he said, "Prayer honors God, it dishonors self."

The Pharisees were noted for prayers that were designed to bring glory to themselves. They wanted people to notice that they were at prayer. Even by the way they dressed and acted they were desiring the glory of men. Of course, it is easy to condemn them. They are a convenient target especially since they lived 2000 years ago and are really incapable of defending themselves.

One of the troubling things that we find in our generation is the general disregard for the Bible and its message. I realize that I am definitely out of synch with this society. I am not a pluralist nor do I have a strong desire to be politically correct. For example, you have to be careful about how you use the term "Blackberry" which is actually a high-powered cell phone and pocket computer. Already some members of the African-American society have taken offense at the name. In my history the term "blackberry" referred to a fruit on the vine that made great jam, jelly and ice-cream topping. I did not see any racial connections with it.

We find other teachers, usually claiming to be Christians, who tell us that we can demand things of God. Especially noteworthy is the health and wealth gospelers who are telling people God owes them and all they need to do is ask for it. In other words God can be manipulated to meet my own desires and wants. I come from the old school that says we do not demand anything from God. Everything we have comes from God to begin with, and we are never to demand anything. Even in prayer, we are in the asking mode, regardless of how desperate we might be. James reminds us in 1:5-8 and 4:1-4 about this.


 

When we see Jesus we realize that in his prayers his concern was for the glory of God. Three things should be evident in our prayers:

  • Who God is
  • What God wants
  • How He can be glorified
  • "Those who teach otherwise are not preoccupied with the extension of Christ's kingdom or the glory of God's name but with the enlargement of their own empire and the fulfillment of their own selfish desires. Such teaching attacks the heart of Christian truth—the very character of God."


 

Jonah learned how to pray in the belly of a great fish. Jonah may have thought that he had the right to demand that God deliver him from the disaster he had created for himself. Instead he chose to give glory to God.


 

1     1Then Jonah prayed to the Lord his God afrom the stomach of the fish,

     2     and he said,

"I acalled out of my distress to the Lord,

And He answered me.

I cried for help from the 1depth of bSheol;

You heard my voice.

     3     "For You had acast me into the deep,

Into the heart of the seas,

And the current 1engulfed me.

All Your bbreakers and billows passed over me.

     4     "So I said, 'I have been aexpelled from 1Your sight.

Nevertheless I will look again btoward Your holy temple.'

     5     "aWater encompassed me to the 1point of death.

The great bdeep 2engulfed me,

Weeds were wrapped around my head.

     6     "I adescended to the roots of the mountains.

The earth with its bbars was around me forever,

But You have cbrought up my life from 1the pit, O Lord my God.

     7     "While 1I was afainting away,

I bremembered the Lord,

And my cprayer came to You,

Into dYour holy temple.

     8     "Those who aregard 1vain idols

Forsake their faithfulness,

     9     But I will asacrifice to You

With the voice of thanksgiving.

That which I have vowed I will bpay.

cSalvation is from the Lord."


 

The story of Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego.—Daniel chapter 3, see especially vv. 13-18.


 

There is not a hint of demand. These boys were innocent of disobeying God, but they about to die for their faithfulness. Why not demand the protection of God? Note again vv. 16-18.


 

Daniel in the lions' den. Entrapment involved. But Daniel does not cry out to God to demand that he be delivered.


 

And with that we are going to begin considering the various parts of the Lord's prayer, because it is a prayer designed to bring glory to God.

Lance Armstrong

For all you bicycling fans. Lance Armstrong is going race again in 2009. That will shake up the racing world.  He ought to be good for two or three more Tour de Frances. 

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/more/09/08/lance.ap/index.html

A Heart Set on God

A Heart Set on God


 

John MacArthur reminds us that because we live in such a free and prosperous society we tend to put our security in ourselves and where we live rather than depending on God's grace. We have accepted the idea that we have the best in our physical blessings and are not really concerned about spiritual blessings. Why should I be concerned about my relationship with God as long as I have good health, enough money, a good home, good car, and for some of us, a good computer, one dog and one cat, a good wife and happy children?


 

Likewise we look at the church with the same eyes of prosperity. If things are going well we thank ourselves for doing such a good job. If there is growth then we are responsible for it and we confuse human success with divine blessing. The materialism of the world is present likewise in the church. Everything must have a numeric value to it or we are not interested. Many live as though God is not necessary. If we count the amount of time we talk to him, then he is not necessary at all.


 

Think about your own children. Arletta and I have five children and a foster daughter. We have nine grandchildren. Some of our children we hear from regularly, several times a week. We never hear from our foster daughter. Rarely do we hear from our grandchildren. Some of them have not even taken the time to say "Thanks" for expensive gifts. What does that say about our relationship. If we were pragmatic non-Christians, we might say to the non-communicators, "Someday, when the final will and testament is read, you may find yourself receiving a token dollar. You did not have time for us when we were alive and we have nothing for you in death."


 

People who choose to ignore God all their lives even though they claim to be Christians may find themselves in a similar boat, except that this boat is crossing the river Styx on its way to Hades.


 

MacArthur then adds, "Christians can actually behave like practical humanists, living as if God were not necessary. When that happens, passionate longing for God and yearning for His help will be missing—along with His empowerment." So we are called upon by Paul to "pray at all times" (Eph. 6:18) and to "devote yourselves to prayer" (Col. 4:2).


 

THE FREQUENCY OF PRAYER

  • How often did Jesus pray?
    • Ministry lasted only three and a half years
    • Prayer was a daily habit
    • Often early in the morning
    • Usually alone
    • Had special places to pray, such as the Garden of Gethsemane or the Mount of Olives
    • "Prayer was the spiritual air that Jesus breathed every day of His life."

"He urged His disciples to do the same. He said, "Keep on the alert at all times, praying in order that you may have strength to escape all these things that are about to take place" (Luke 21:36)."    

  • Frequency of prayer in the early church
    • The 120 before the Day of Pentecost gathered in the Upper Room, "with one mind were continually devoting themselves to prayer" (Acts 1:14).
    • The first 3000 converts were noted for being involved in prayer.
    • The apostles believed prayer was their most important ministry (Acts 6:4)
    • The consistent practice of the Apostle Paul(Rom. 1:9–10; cf. 1 Cor. 1:4; Eph. 5:20; Phil. 1:4; Col. 1:3; 1 Thes. 1:2; 2 Thes. 1:3, 11; Phile. 4)
    • Paul: "Pray without ceasing." Also Phil 4:6, Col 4:2; Romans 12:12; Ephesians 6:18