ADVANTAGED BELIEVERS

One great advantage the believers have over non-believers is the law - -  the written set of standards - -  the unchangeable counsel of God.  Without the standard, according to Proverbs 13, here is what the wicked get: 

o Can’t hear correction (1)
o Contention (10)
o Destroyed, death (14)
o Hard way (15)
o Open folly (16)
o Mischief (17)
o Poverty and shame (18)
o Destroyed {20)
o Pursued by evil(21)
o Loss of inheritance (22)
o Hunger (25)

“Much food is in the tillage of the poor, but there is that is destroyed for want of judgement.”  I’ve thought of this as meaning that the poor do not have judgement, so they destroy their own wealth.  But someone else explained it as a second party not having judgement which results in making the poor unproductive, such as the government promoting big time agri-business over family farms.  It happened also when the government set laws that prevented Fathers living in households that were collecting certain types of welfare.  The intention was to keep truly indolent men from taking advantage of a "free ride", but it forced some truly well-intentioned men from caring for their families and made for many single parent households.

I prayed:  "Lord, please foil all attempts to destroy the family.  Family is your idea and I think you want them strong.  Fill fathers and mothers and sons and daughters with your Spirit so they will see and avoid the snares of the enemy.  Let the very things that were intended for harm prosper and strengthen families.  Let the wicked devices fall back upon the heads of those that formed them." 

IS THE RIGHT LIFE WORTH IT?

We are often tempted to think, as we choose a Godly way over an ungodly way (not fornicating, for example), “Will this really pay out in the end?  Is what God says true?  Will I get to the end of life and never have had enough sex, money, power, fame?”  Life seems to be a process of making that kind of decision over and over.  All we can do is have faith that doing what God says will benefit us. 

We also see those who have had the sex, money, etc., and who do not live following God’s word.  They choose their own way and do not perceive themselves to be missing anything and do not think that they are in trouble in any way. 

When we all get to the end of our physical life it will be up to God to show himself faithful.  He will be faithful to his word.  What his word says means something entirely different for us than for them. 

But he shows himself faithful the godly in this life.  My wife and I have enough to eat, we do not have the burden of broken relationships (caused by ourselves, at least), we have a measure of contentment.

Should the country fall to pieces we know that riches profit not in the day of wrath.  God says righteousness delivers from death.  We must believe what God says and trust he will give us the grace to be righteous (Christ is our righteousness) and to deliver us at that time.  We know that riches would not help if we had them in the day of wrath.  We may not have physical comfort, but we must have faithfulness, we must do the work of the Lord.  God will be faithful.

CONTRASTING THE RIGHTEOUS AND WICKED

In Proverbs 11 many verses contrast the outcome of a righteous life compared to a wicked one:

Verse   RIGHTEOUS             WICKED
4         Delivered from death  Riches profit not
5         Way directed               Fall by wickedness
6         Deliverance                Taken
8         Out of trouble             Into trouble
10       Exultation                   Overthrown
18       Sure reward                Deceitful work
19       Tends to life                Pursues death
21       Deliverance                Punishment
23       Good desire                Expects wrath
27       Gets favor                  Gets mischief
28       Flourish                      Fall (failing)
30       Tree of life                      - -
31      Reward in earth          Reward in earth

BAD SEED

In Matthew 13 Jesus tells the parable of an enemy planting bad seed.  He said:  “The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field: But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares [bad seed] among the wheat, and went his way.” (24, 25)  When asked about this the landowner said, “An enemy hath done this.” 

The person that sows discord among brethren is repugnant to the Lord.  The sowing may not result in an instant discord, but it is the very start of the discord.  There is no stem of strife or root of bitterness until the seed of discord has been planted.  We must be very careful never to sow this way:  to intend to persuade the opinion of one brother against another.  Why would we do this, to get ourselves allies as we oppose the one against whom we are talking? 

We get ourselves allies, but we caused two relationships to be destroyed: 
1) The one between ourselves and the one we talked against and
2) The one between the brother and brother.

How could this have been an advantage?  The results are mistrust, bad feelings and strife where were none before.  Is this an accomplishment of which to be proud?  How can it be good to be an aggravator and destroyer?  Better to choose to be a person of health and healing, a builder, not a destroyer.

LIGHT FOR THE PATH

Psalm 119:105  "Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path."

What is a "Lamp", and what is a "Light"?  A lamp is a portable or localized light source for seeing your way as you travel, or when you are reading a book.  A light is the source of a lamp’s light, it is that which emanates from a flashlight or a table lamp.  We could reason that a commandment is a lamp while the Law is the foundation for any commandment.  A commandment is more focused and specific while the Law is all of God’s instructions for conduct, moral and otherwise, taken together.  Commandments are components of the law, as in the Ten Commandments.

A lamp, or flashlight, illuminates s specific area for us, so does a commandment.  One commandment shows “Thou shalt not kill”, , another shows “Thou shalt not seal”, another shows “Thou shalt have no other gods beside me”.  As we walk the path of life, we need to remember and follow the commandments as the need arises.

As a light in a room shows all that is in the room, so the law is all of God’s desire for how we should conduct ourselves.  In the Room of Life the light of Law shows us we must not kill and have no other god, etc. 

The commandments help us to choose the path we should follow, the Law shows general condition of our present position

QUESTIONING HIDDEN KNOWLEDGE

Proverbs 25:2  "It is the glory of God to conceal a thing: but the honor of kings is to search out a matter."  Why is it a glory to God to conceal a thing?  What is it that he conceals?  Does not God show us all things? 

Well, no.  In the book of Revelation God sealed up what the 12 thunders said until after the judgement.  No man knows the hour of the last day but the Father in heaven. (Mark 13:32)  Even as we consider that God conceals some things, we know that what is to God’s advantage is also to our advantage.

Because God seals a thing up from one person does not mean he does not reveal it to any.  While  hiding a thing from one person he may reveal that thing to another.  This is a reason the saved can understand the Bible but the unsaved cannot.  Also, as a proficient teacher, God may keep a thing from a person who may be confused by that thing at an early point in his spiritual development to reveal it to him when he becomes ready for it.  It shows his power  . . .  that mankind just can not know everything there is to know.  It shows God’s involvement and concern with men.  God keeps his precious things from the godless and controls who gets what

We ourselves do not reveal all.  We conceal to hide something because the one seeking it should not have it.  We conceal to control the timing of the revelation to the seeker, or to exercise the seeker.  You don’t want him to find it, or you want him to have it at some later time, or you want him to exercise some character in the search for it.

Godless reasons to hide knowledge would be:  you want what belongs to someone else but can’t have it yourself, so you hide it from the rightful owner.  You hate the true owner and want to do them harm.  It is to your advantage to delay the receipt of the thing.  You don’t like the other and don’t want to be involved with him.

THINKING ABOUT THE HEART

Here is what we find in Proverbs 16:

V1  The preparations of the heart in man and the answer of the tongue is from the Lord.
V2  Every one that is proud in heart is an abomination to the lord
V9  A man’s heart deviseth his way, but the Lord directeth his steps
V21  The wise in heart shall be called Prudent.
V23  The heart of the wise teacheth his mouth and addeth learning to his lips.

When we think of a person we often think of “body, soul and spirit”.  We can also think of the essence of a person as “heart” of the person.  That being said, we could consider the heart encompasses all of a person: body, soul and spirit.

What are the preparations of the heart?  Someone, the Lord or the man, is doing something to the heart, getting it ready.

What is the heart?  If it is the very innermost seat of a man’s being, that from which his thoughts emanate, it must originate in the man.  It can be without God because it can be "proud" (V5).  God is not proud.  If a man can be proud in heart, he must not be regenerated by God because he is an abomination to God (as stated in verse 2.  Yet in a regenerated man the heart must be something God uses because the preparations of it are from the Lord (V1).  The heart comes before language and actions (VS 9, 23).  Yet something of the Lord seems to be added to the speech and actions intended of the heart:   “. . . is from the Lord” (V1), “. . . [God] directeth his steps” (V9).

•    Is the heart thinking, or feeling, or both?
•    Does a condition of the heart expressing itself to the outside influence the flesh to produce chemicals that lead to feelings such as joy or fear or even health or sickness?
•    Is the joy or fear within the heart itself?
•    Does the heart have emotion or are the emotions the result of something else or do they stand by themselves?
•    The heart must be under ownership of the man because a Proud one in an abomination of the Lord.  God does not make abominations.  A man can direct his heart away from God and become an abomination.
•    “There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth”   shows that the heart can continue from birth through eternity, in this case an eternity in hell.
•    So, the heart could be  the decision-making seat of a person, the essence of the character of a person, the spiritual essence of a person, a sub-lingual, pre-action impetus.

THE FROWARD MAN

What is a “forward” man?  To define the word: Fro = from, back; Ward = suffix, indicating direction, as in "toward", "backward", "afterward"
A forward man willfully goes away from; goes in a direction from; opposes what is being said or done, no matter what it is.  A forward person is like a whetting agent that makes things separate away or from, like soap disperses oil and grease. The direction does not count, only that things go “from”.
In Proverbs 6 we see what the wicked man does when he:
•    Walks with a forward mouth - - It is his manner to oppose everything.
•    Winks with his eyes - - He may say one thing but indicates by a wink that he means something else
•    Speaks with his feet - - You can tell what he really means by where his feet take him (which would be away from whatever is being discussed or done.)
•    Teaches with his fingers - - Points or states his opposition “one by one”; makes careful arguments against.  Maybe not even careful arguments, just arguments against.
•    Frowardness is in his heart - - Is a problem rooted in his very nature and has nothing to do with the issue he is “going from”.
•    Devises mischief continually - - He will invent ways to subvert the issue in question at all times.  He is comfortable with being in opposition.
•    Sows discord - - Gets people disagreeing with each other.
The Bible says he will be broken without remedy (v15)

BC AND AFTER BC

Before I was a Christian, being in church really felt like a dead place.  No wonder, since at that time I considered myself a Unitarian.  I felt that way particularly about Catholic worship observing their rites, clerical apparel, bells and smells, etc.  I have no idea why I, as an atheistic Unitarian, would have a clue, let alone a right, to judge any other religion as “dead”.  I felt it was a peculiar waste of time, sort of like a Unitarian service.  When people talked of their “love of God” it sounded like such a hard effort, full or various requirements, and ultimately a useless one.

But since I came to know Christ, I do not feel a deadness in my religion.  I think there are people in every Christian church who understand who Christ is, what he did, and what he will do.  These are the “Saved”.  There are others who do not know, who are the “unsaved”.  I think this is what the book of Romans describes.  When we were in the law ritualistically performing only the rites, the actions and reciting the “proper” words, and in the flesh, we were dead.  But now that we are in Christ (know who Christ is, what he did, and what he will do) we are alive.  When I was not a Christian (BC) I was spiritually dead; now that I am a Christian (after BC) I am spiritually alive.

KEEPING TO THE ROAD

When God came to earth as Jesus he walked the road of righteousness and fellowship with us.  The Nature of God is to have an open, giving hand; it is his heart to be in relationship with others; he is of action and came to live as an example for us and then to be a sinless sacrifice for our sins in our place and to take power and rise again for our forgiveness and benefit.

It is not God’s nature to be selfish; to keep in his own hands, to be unaffected in relationships with others; to refrain from action and to withhold his involvement.

(Prov 16:4) God made all things for himself - - even the wicked for the day of evil.  I do not think that God made the wicked just to destroy them.  I think they, the wicked, chose to walk in the wrong road, to make themselves evil.  So, God was constrained to make a day of evil for them.  A Day of Evil had already happened once before, as in the flood.

The wicked said to themselves, “We do not want to be this way.  What we want is to close our hands, not open them.  We want all relations to others to be for our benefit.  We want things for ourselves and for situations to go our own ways.  We want others to do what we want them to do, what is best for us.  We do not want to do these things that God wants us to do.”

(Prov 18:17)
"The highway of the upright is to depart from evil"
    The road stretches out ahead of us
    Distant images shimmering in the heart
    What are these distant images? 
        Jesus
        Heaven’s Gates
        A wholesome family
        Useful ministry
        A clean life
    We are driving away from evil
    This is the purpose for our being on this road
        To leave evil behind. 
        Our mind should be, “I am leaving evil behind.” 
Don’t turn off this road for
    “he that keepeth his way preserveth his soul.”

Keep to the road.

SCREENING OUT GOD’S LIGHT

People keep wanting to put something between themselves and God.  God wanted them to go up to the maintain to hear his law; they said, “Moses, you go up for us.”  God wanted them to follow his directions for themselves, listening directly to him: they said, “We want a king like all the other nations have.” 

     Using an idol a man built a screen
     Blocking God’s law with a shadow
     Hoping in shade that he would not be seen
     But rot soaked his bones to the marrow

We also tend to put up idols in the place of God.  Isiah 40 speaks of how God will come in power and glory.  It then moves into how the whole earth is as nothing before him.  It then moves into a place where one goes to build an image. 

Maybe it is a “natural” thing for men, when faced with the power of God and man’s powerlessness, to want to create an image, something they can fashion and controll.  This is another “something” between himself and God.

Yet how strange that man is so like Satan and seeks to climb “the sides of the North” and sit as gods.  The intermediaries and idols become as screens.  They block the light of God so we can be our own gods over what is in the shadow of the screen.  We think God can not see.  We really have only put on dark glasses.  There is no screen.

Speaking of wisdom (and hence the only source of wisdom, God:)  “Blessed is the man that heareth me, watching daily at my gates, waiting at the posts of my doors.  For he that findeth me findeth life, and shall obtain favor of the LORD.  But he that sinneth against me wrongeth his own soul: all they that hate me love death.”  (Proverbs 8:34)

I published a blog similar in subject in March 2017: “It’s the Middleman’s”.

ELEMENTS FORM PSALM 50

As I consider Psalm 50 I realize:  God will come and judge the earth.  He will not be angry for the sacrifices we should have been offering (he owns everything anyway).  He wants the stuff that is easy for us to give:  to offer thanksgiving, keep our promises to hem, calling upon him for advice, for comfort, to request blessing (for others and ourselves), for protection, when in trouble etc (vs14, 15).

Why is it hard to ask God for help when I am in trouble, am angry, need money, don’t know what to do about the family?  I think the Psalm shows God wants me to ask.  When I am feeling the least godly is when God wants to be involved.  He wants me to act to involve him in my life.

The psalm also speaks to what the wicked do:  Although religious appearing people talk of his statutes and take God’s covenant with their mouth, they hate instruction by casting his words behind them; i.e. they do not act out the instructions.  They see evil and consent with it.  The commit adultery even if only with their eyes.  They give mouth to evil.  They frame deceit.  They slander their brothers, both their fellows and family alike.

WISDOM VS FOOLISHNESS

We read from Proverbs 8 that wisdom cries so obviously and openly at the public places wanting to speak to all including the simple and fools.  There is no wrong speech in Wisdom.  It is right, truthful, excellent and plain to the understanding.  It is not difficult.  It seems right to those that find knowledge.  They know that wickedness equals abomination.  Wisdom has nothing forward or perverse.

The foolish woman also cries openly at the at the public places.  The fool of Proverbs goes to her.  She is the personification of the type of thinking that is without God.  As wisdom calls to everyone from the gates, so does this foolish woman.  Two women personifying two opposed ways of thinking:  one thinking in the context of a God-directed world and the other thinking in the context of a world without God:  Godly thinking and godless thinking.

There are two groups of people that can be unwise:  the simple and the fools.  The simple are those that, at this present time, do not yet have understanding or knowledge; but it is possible to make them have it.  The fools are those that, for some reason, want to refuse the truth.  Since they begin by refusing truth they can not be made understanding or wise.

It might be said that there is nothing that is inherently right or wrong; all things must be judged by the conditions and attitudes in which they are set.  Things like sex, the taking of a human life and love can be right in some circumstances and wrong in others.  It is important for us, then, to set what we find along life’s way into good conditions and attitudes.  In these circumstances we must listen to the proper woman.  We must listen to Wisdom and not Foolishness.

KNOWLEDGE OF WHAT GOD WANTS

The word of the Gospel has come unto us and brings forth fruit as it also does in the world.  If it had not been that I got saved, I would have become a much different man.  Possibly I would have been in jail by now.  Certainly, I would have depressed myself into a stupor.  A prayer of Apostle Paul for us, written to the Collisions, is that we have knowledge, walk in a right way, have might and be thankful.

- Knowledge of God:  who he is, what he means, what he wants, what he does.

- Knowledge of us:  what our place is, what we can do, what we should think,

- That we should walk worthy:  doing the right things, pleasing god, bearing fruit, increasing our knowledge of God.

- That we should give thanks:  to God who has given us all the physical things in our lives, shown us the right way to think, behave and made us fit to take a part of the inheritance of the Saints.

- That we have the might of God:  his power working out knowledge, patience, long suffering, joyfulness.  This is not usually what men want might for; they want it for dominance and for the fulfilling of their own lusts.  They hardly think of “might” in connection with patience, long suffering, and least of all joyfulness.  I seldom (if ever) think of it that way.

SUFFERING

Mental and emotional suffering can arise in many ways.  One is the suffering we experience from having committed sin; another is when we are being trained, exercised or otherwise undergoing a “learning opportunity” from God.  When we sin, we experience the consequences of sin, the natural (if unwanted) products of our actions. 

There could be many reasons that God allows or even instigates suffering in our lives.  I think one is so we may become more proficient and competent to lead the type of life he wants us to lead.  In other words, it is one of those “learning opportunities”.  While we could ask, “Does God want us to suffer?” we can also ask, “Does God want us to be strengthened in character?”  I submit God does not want us to suffer.  I submit further that character building is not suffering.  It is discipline and it is exercise, but it is not suffering.  When exercise my body I willingly go through discomfort to gain an improved body.  Likewise, I go through hours of instrument practice to someday be proficient at that instrument.

Sometimes character building seems like suffering because we do not want the element of character God seeks to build into us.  When we do not want an element of character God wants us to have, it is sin.  If we do not know we should seek to discover what character element God might be seeking and ask for his guidance during its development.

Mowing the lawn used to seem to our boys more like suffering, than character building but we, the parents, wanted our sons to know the value of work, the execution of home duties, the necessity to support and add value to the family, etc.

Christ suffered on the cross for our sin.  The suffering we endure for character development bears no relation to his.  Christ was perfect in character, we are not.

YOU BET YOUR LIFE

Years ago, while on a trip for work, I went to a Casino at Ledyard, CT. to see what it was like and see if there would be any entertainment there.  I heard there was good food and entertainment at casinos.   The place had a HUGE parking lot filled with cars (MA, RI, FL, CT, NJ, VT).   On the plane to go to my worksite there was a man was flying in from Washington state to go the casino.

In the parking lot there were just common looking cars.  The people walking in were common looking people.  There were hundreds of different sorts of card tables, electronic slot machines, wheels of fortune and crap tables.  It was NOISY. 

I looked at the people, the workers, saw an Indian museum, looked at the paintings.  There was no entertainment or food worth paying for.  There was a place called “Casino Credit”.  I imagine you could lose all your money, borrow more, lose it, and pay long after the excitement was gone.  Why do they do it?  Is it:  “I must have it all, I must have it now, any other life is better than the one I have, I must get excitement, I need to be an important person”?

BUYING THE WRONG BOOK

While on a business trip years ago in Hawaii I bought a book called “Listening . . .” (I can’t remember the full name).  I wanted to have a book that would teach me something about music.  I selected it over another (I should have bought) because of a praise I read:  “teaching the tone deaf how to sing”.  I said to myself, “I want to be a great teacher”.  When back at the McDonald’s off base I began to read it.  I found it was very Hindu oriented.  There ware long passages where he was speaking of his experience.  In one place he spoke of where some sound could be his “mantra”.  I thought, “On no, have I wasted my (Lizzie’s, the boys’, the Lord’s) money?”

I wondered, could I read this book, weeding out all the Hindu stuff?  Would I be risking harm to myself?  Maybe there are good ideas in there I should know and use.

The next morning during my morning reading I was asking the Lord to show me what he thought about the book.  I read Psalm 52.  It says:  “Thy tongue deviseth mischiefs like a sharp razor, working deceitfully, thou lovest evil more than good, lying rather than to speak righteousness, thou lovest all devouring words, o thou deceitful tongue.”  It says that God will destroy him (the man who is mischievous, in this case Doeg), take him away . . . root him out of the land”

I said, “Well, all right, I’ll rip up the book” and I did.  How much do we refuse to hear what those of other religions have to say about things, specially things that seem to directly relate to spiritual things? 

I want to learn, but not that which will separate me from my God.  God can teach me the things he wants me to know without the input of the godless.

REACHING OUT

I once was having a poisonous turn of mind.  Here is what I was thinking at the time:

When I was feeling bad I was thinking, “I am hurting and in need, yet I will not call out to people for help.  People can help (and possibly would help) if I called to them.  I do not call, and they do not reach out to me.  I feel bad that they do not reach out to me.  I feel they should reach out to me, but I know they will not if I don’t say anything.  I know they have no special care for me (and why should they)?  I feel as though we are all in a river, but I have been caught like a leaf on the side.  The other leaves continue downstream as we all are supposed to do.  I know if I do not call out I will be permanently stuck, and it will not be the other leaves fault, it will be my own fault – I could have called and possibly they would have helped.”

The big trick here is to realize that although you may want someone to reach for you (and perhaps they ought to reach for you) the greatest probability is that they will not reach for you.  They do not think of you, they don’t have to.  Even if God tells them to care for you people pretty much do as they wish, not as God wishes.

If there is reaching to be done, you must do it.

When you have reached, realize the scene will not play out as you imagined it in your mind.  The play you imagined will be re written by the other because he holds the pen that writes his life.  You only write your part, the other writes his.  What you write together is how life turns out.

Some feel hurt when the leaders do not recognize them, but the leaders do not have to.  The hurting will set stuck if they wait too long for the recognition to happen.  Maybe it all means we must look to minister than to look for, or expect, ministering.   All we can control is what we do and not what the others do. 

Herein has God manifested his great love for us:  in that when we were yet sinners he died for us,  He came to minister not to be ministered to. What is God like? – he shows us by what he did and does.  He ministers to us.  If we are to be like God, we must minister.

DISCOVERING ROOTS

The psychologists say that you have to look within yourself to find the answers to problems, such as pornography.  They say, if you can just understand why you do it, you will then be able to solve the problem.  There is even the idea that once the root causers of the problem are known, the problem will automatically evaporate.

On the other hand, some things are sin and ought to be avoided just because they are sin.  God defines them as sin, so they are sin.  Sin is to be avoided.  Since it is man’s nature is to sin it follows that a man will have some sort of difficulty avoiding the impulses of sin.

When you get all through with the psychological search for the roots of the “problem” behavior (which we know as sin), you still faced with the battle of doing away with the “problem”, except you have wasted time in searching, you have not been fighting.

Another danger is:  if you identify some “roots of the problem” in hopes of ending the problem, and the problem does not go away as you hoped, you may think “These are roots, but the problem is still here.  There must be more roots, I will keep searching.”  Thereby you have the problem, keep the problem, continue the problem, while you search for more roots.  This is all time wasted from fighting the sin.  A man needs to say, “This is sin.  God says it is sin.  I must fight sin.  With God’s Spirit and his help I will be victorious over this sin.”  It may take years, or a life time.  There may be total victory or only an advancing toward victory.  But you don’t have to dig up roots before you start.

God is interested in victory over sin.  He is interested in your victory.  He came to destroy the works of the Devil.  We are supposed to be holy as he is holy.  If knowledge of roots is important God will show you the roots while you stat on your battle.

There is always the possibility that digging up roots is harmful.  The process may divert true repentance from sin.  At the least it may be a waste of time

One could also get the idea that he can excuse his sin, and continue in it, because of his discovery of roots:  “I think too much about sex.”  “My parents abused me.”  “I am sick so I gamble.”  Knowing you have roots of weeds in your soil does not excuse you from fighting the sin.  Pull the weeds if you can, but fight the sin.

ARROGANT BOASTING

Psalm 10 seems appropriate to discern arrogant, boasting people:

The wicked boasts of  his heart’s desire.  He says those with large homes with swimming pools are best.  With pride on his face he will not seek God.  He says it is good to dump the “old fashioned stifling religion”.   God is not in his thoughts and thinks of those that regard God as childish and backward.  God’s judgments are behind his back (or way over his head) and out of sight.  He is not even aware of what they may be.  He has said in his heart, “I will not have adversity.”  He thinks that only his way is truth and safe, somehow eternal.  He puffs at those he makes his enemies, either in laughing pride when with his friends, or like a puffer-fish when confronted by others.  In his mouth is cursing, deceit, fraud, mischief and vanity.

He is deceived in his own mind and will resort to lies to convince others.  Convincing others to him is to gain a status above others, and that status is more important than truth.

He is in the secret lurking places. When together in their exclusive cocktail parties he and his pals talk against, and may even plot against the righteous.

I know all this is true, for I used to be one, and the people I spent time with were too.  God saved me from that.

ARMOR OF GOD

Here are some questions to think about when we consider the Armor of God:

(Eph 6:17-20)  Armor of God - - he equips us.  We can take the elements of warfare, which he has provided, but we must take it and wear it.  The Shield (of faith) and the Sword (of the Spirit [which is the word of God]) are implements which are not worn like the Helmet (of salvation) and breastplate (of righteousness).  If we do not “take” and “wear” the armor will be useless to us.

We are supposed to pray “in the Spirit” for the saints, and for Paul that he may speak boldly to make known the mystery.  Does this mean we are supposed to pray for those certain evangelists, or are we supposed to pray for evangelists in general and ourselves (the church) as well?  Here it indicates the evangelists.

- - Armor takes effort to put on
- - Clothing stays on easier than hand-held implements.
- - Hand-held implements are more useful in warfare, both for attack and defense than that which is worn.  (The breastplate protects you but you can not attack with it.)
- - The defense (breastplate and shield) is righteousness and faith, not the Spirit (sword - -  word of God).
- - The attack is the Spirit - - not righteousness and faith.
- - (Although in the attack the shield gets the soldier in close and can be used to shove and push).

Why do we as believers use our weapons against each other:  Christian against Christian, Baptist against Charismatic, and not against the principalities, powers, rulers of the darkness of this world?

CONSULTING THE FOREMAN

(MATTHEW 9:38)
Jesus heart was moved with compassion when he saw the multitudes, they  fainted (tired and lay down) and they were scattered (as sheep with no shepherd).  He described this as a harvest, and that the harvesters were few.

What does this mean for us?  We, as harvesters or disciples or laborers, should look around and see that there is a need for a harvest and have a concern for the harvest, i.e. a need to reach the lost.  We should train ourselves to have eyes to see a need and bring it to the attention of the foreman who would be Jesus.  He who may be waiting for us to do so.  The laborers part was to ask the harvest foreman for the harvesters.  By this I mean not to get their for themselves more capacity to harvest (although this could be part of the Foreman's answer).  It is not for my hands in the work but for other (more) hands in the work.  It is that will be sent forth, given a charge to go to the harvest and that God will personally direct more people to the work.  Presumably these harvesters will be equipped with harvest tools, scythes, rates, etc.

We can view it from both sides of the desk in the Foreman’s office:

Laborer – Gets the Work Order - - Foreman – Gives the Work Order
Laborer – hears “Go to the harvest” - - Foreman – Has the intent to assign
Laborer –  needs the tools - -  Foreman – Knows what tools to issue
Laborer – Perceives and reports the need - - Foreman – Hears and evaluates the report

PREPARING THE COURTROOM

(Psalm 9:3) When my enemies are turned back they shall fall at God’s presence. 

What a wonderful thing to know that the enemies fail because God is there at the judgment.  The wicked will have to deal with his face, his hands, his words, his agents. 

I think many of us will see good, experience fruitfulness and prosperity in our lifetime.  But there are others who are not seeing it, and will not see it on this earth.  These, like us, will see the justice of God.  It may be, because of their tribulations in this present life, their cases will be placed first on the docket before ours.

(7) God has prepared his throne for judgment.  He conceived of the idea of the throne;  He had it built; He had it delivered; He had it set up; and he is making plans for the judgment that will take place while he is sitting on it.  The crew of angel attorneys are preparing the papers.

Even if the country falls in economic ruin (18) and a swamp of lawlessness “. . . the needy shall not be forgotten:  the expectation of the poor shall not perish forever.”

JESUS THE VENDING MACHINE

The religion of the vending machine is a cold thing.  It asks God for actions by plugging the nickel in the slot and expecting the gumball out the bottom (the older of us will remember what gumball machines were – all others:  Google it).  As I sat in churches before I was saved it seemed to me people were carrying bags of nickles.  They were plugging in $2.50 before God finally dropped the gumball.  My thought then was:  why spend $2.50 here when you can go to the store and buy a gumball for 5 cents?

We have to be careful not to deal with God in our thinking, becoming requisitioners seeking for stuff, and not being children talking to their father.  We pay with nickles, we plead with nickles, we sweat with nickels when God just wants to give us the gum. 

I can’t come at Scripture with preconceived ideas, imposing them on the word.  Yet I can’t get so analytical that I won’t listen to the voice of God.  For example, I came at Psalm 26 and said, “What are these words saying?”  But I can get so argumentative about what this and that verse says that I don’t hear, or put away from me, what the Holy Spirit may be saying.  “This verse shows that a man does this and expects God to do that.”  “but God is not supposed to be that way.”  “do not bring outside things to the Word, look at what the Word says.”

Maybe being in some other part of the Word than what is being taught in church is good because you are not likely to bring the pastor’s teaching to the Word.  You are in the Word yourself and God can talk without (much) interference.  To balance:  hearing the viewpoint of others, particularly those practiced in the Word, can provide value you would not otherwise get.

PERFORMING CHURCH MUSIC

While I was performing at a worship service one night I asked the Lord to help me, and he did.  It seemed to me that the worship went well.  When the Lord is in even one of the performers does not the Spirit use that to inspire the congregation?  It is a powerful thing if one can depend on the Lord to do the reaching.  But the performer has to want only the furtherance of the Kingdom of God, and not glory for himself.

Music seems like such a frivolous thing.  We would peal away music from our lives before we would peal other things away (like clothing and food).  Yet it is so enjoyable. 

Perhaps it is like the way percussion is beneficial for music.  Percussion would be one of the first to be pealed away.  Melody and harmony are needed more.  Yet percussion adds much of the spice to the musical presentation.

What is a life that is only food and shelter?  It doesn’t seem if there were much enjoyment.  Music may add some enhancement that makes the living enjoyable.  Just as a life of legalism without the Spirit is dead, the Spirit through music can add the joy of the Lord to our worship.

I am not seeking God’s kingdom if:

- - I am concerned that the people react to with pleasure to my performance.
- - I am worried overmuch about my performance.
- - I am too casual about my performance, being lazy and expecting God to work through me.
- - I concentrate so much on the performance that I miss worship myself.

RICH AND POOR

I published this same post on 20 November 2017.  I just read the book, Hillbilly Elegy by J.D, Vance which supports much of what is said below. 

RICH:  GET RICHER      POOR:  POOR GET POORER

RICH:  Come from wealthy family      POOR:  Come from poor family

RICH:  Taught how to handle money, assets      POOR:  Not taught how to handle money, assets.

RICH:  Have education, specially advanced education      POOR:  No or little education.

RICH:  Thinks of the future      POOR:  Thinks only in the present.

RICH:  Has positive attitude      POOR:  Has negative attitude

RICH:  Keeps good company (i.e moral and like-minded friends and associates)      POOR:  Keeps bad company (may not have a choice of the type of company).

RICH:  Seeks competent advisers      POOR:  Does not seek advice.

RICH:  Sees seeking advice as helpful     POOR:  Sees accepting advice as a sign of weakness.

RICH:  Has supportive, uplifting family      POOR:  Has a non-supportive family, or adversarial family.

RICH:  Comes from stable community      POOR:  Comes from unstable and possibly dangerous community.

RICH:  Has some money or position from which to start and the vision to use it      POOR:  Has nothing to start with and no idea of how to change, or even that change is possible.

RICH:  From a community that seeks to advance it’s own (there many good communities, but the Mafia would also qualify)      POOR:  From a community that seeks to keep it’s members at the same level.

RICH:  Has been helped and is willing to help others      POOR:  Has not been helped and restrains self from offering help to others.

RICH:  Willing to accept help      POOR:  Will not accept help; sees accepting help as sign of weakness.

RICH:  Thinks about wealth a lot (perhaps to the exclusion of more important life/family issues)      POOR:  Gives no thought to wealth, or thinks it is not possible for people like him to obtain.

RICH:  Time and chance: they were in the right place at the right time      POOR:  No luck - - not just the excuse, “I’m not lucky”, but actually is not in the right place at the right time.

RICH:  Recognizes opportunity, taught what opportunities are possible      POOR:  Does not recognize an opportunity, does not believe any are available.

We, all of us, have the opportunity to change.  It is sad some of us don't know it, or don't believe we can take it, or just won't do it.

THE BATTLE FOR THINKING

The Other day, while indulging in some negative self-talk, the Spirit of God corrected me.  I had thought something like: “You idiot!”  Then immediately the thought came, “You are not an idiot.”  I am convinced this was from the Holy Spirit.  Thank you God.

Another time when I was working I saw a fit engineer dressing himself after his bike ride to work.  I thought, “My boys do not have a fit father who succeeded in a difficult discipline like engineering; I misused my educational opportunities in Secondary Science Education.”  Then the Spirit of God made me think:  “My boys like me because I am the only father they know.  They probably would never choose another man.”  Besides,  I chose education as a field of study because I wanted to do something noble that would have significance beyond my own life.  I wanted to have “real” impact, not just a comfort for my own being, my own self.  There is certainly nothing wrong with that motivation even though I never became an educator. 

Satan speaks is subtle ways.  Many of us are not aware it is happening.  It easy to overlook the “You idiot”.  The arguments in my mind, or in the circumstances of my life that cause me to put off something good are in reality very small and inconsequential.  Sometimes they are just not true, they are lies.  They are so “small”,  so “natural”, so “quiet”, so much in the background.  We even may not recognize they are not for our good, and certainly not good for the Kingdom of God.  We do not stop and think, “Where is this thought coming from?  Does it match who I am?  Does it match what I know God wants?  Is it good for my Family, my job, my nation?  Who is really at work here?”  Once we realize wicked spirits speak this way, and that it is easy for the flesh to accept them, we can be watchful, vigilant.  We can think more carefully, more critically and say “no”, “that’s not true”, or “I will do what benefits God, myself and my family!”

The battle for right thinking must be engaged the moment it starts.  If it is easy in the failing, it is also easy in the success.  The apparent power of sin is an illusion.  At the inception of the battle the fleshly influences are weak.  Do not let them gain strength.  Fight against them while they are weak.  They can not stand against Godly logic.  What choice is there between knowing the true way and not knowing it?  None; nothing is better than the true way.

Often I disparage myself but I bet I do not deserve the downgrade.  I don’t remember what the thought was but I do know I was not an idiot for whatever it was.  Under truthful light of examination I could not be called an idiot.  I have been foolish in the past, but Jesus has covered my sins with his blood.

FAKE BILLS

(14 August 1991)
Last night (that is last night 27 years ago) I had a dream I was in a diner-like place sitting at a booth by the windows.  There were six or eight naked women lined up at the counter.  One of them started dancing in the fashion of the topless bars.  They intended to get me excited.  I made up my mind to leave.  Then the scene changed and I was home (I guess) with Liz.  I had in my hands a VISA bill from the topless night club owner.  I knew I had paid the past bills off, but he was saying I owed $3000.00 and seemed to be threatening to make trouble.  I was worried about letting Liz know about the bill, even though it was in the past and the bill was obviously wrong.

The topless bar owner is Satan trying to tie my past to me and make me feel guilty.  But he has no authority or power;  the bills have all been paid off by Jesus.  It was not fair for Jesus to pay off my VISA bill for topless bars, but he paid them for me.  Satan is still trying to collect, but I will not pay – the bills are payed. 

This is an encouraging dream for it shows God is enabling me to pull free from the past.  I need to refuse to pay bad bills!

“. . . pass not by it, turn from it, go not near it, run from it and go away from it.”  Do not pay bad bills.

Put your money in heavenly real estate.

WHY IS BAD NEWS GOOD NEWS?

Who Is to blame that “good news is bad news” and “bad news is good news”? 

- - The reader who will not buy “good” news because it is not stimulating or interesting?  Who will read “Faithful Father Faithfully goes to work for 20 Years as Mother Drives Kids to School”?

- - The Journalist, who wants to see his story printed?  How can he make his living as a journalist if he is not published?

- - The Publisher who wants to sell his publication and knows “bad” news sells?  How can he stay in business if he can't sell newspapers or broadcast TV?

Who is to blame for offensive advertising?

- - The ad man who motivates with sex, power and consumptive wealth,

- - or the consumer that runs eagerly after sex, power and consumptive wealth?

GOD IN MARRIAGE

The family and marriage are the foundation to all that we are in life.  Most of our character is formed in family and marriage.  Yet these things are fragile for much has to do with thoughts and feelings.  They are built on the quality and consistency of relationships.  But human fragility raises the need for God to hold together families and marriages.  Where thoughts and feelings are weak, he is strong.  Where they are ephemeral, he is everlasting.  Where they are misdirected, he shows the way and helps us along it.

This illustrates the spiritual nature of life and also shows why exclusively human systems of thought are weak and prone to failure.

THE LAW OF THE LORD

In Psalm 1:2 God says of a blessed man that “. . . his delight is in the law of the LORD . . .”  How is the law of the Lord a delight?  All of us want to have an order a sequence or organization to our lives.  We don’t want things messy and confused; we want some sort of map.  God’s word is a map.  We appreciate standards:  a definition of what is right and what is wrong.  We may have some sort of nebulous sense of this but it’s best to have a well concrete, established and proven guide.  We are comforted to know the appropriate ways of health, building and restoration.  Moreover, as we read the Bible, we are glad that Daddy (as in our heavenly Father) talks to us .  Some of us did not have Fathers that provided active direction.  We are happy he is interested in us.  We are privileged that he shares with us the inside workings of the universe.

IMAGE CONTROL

I have been trying to do away with my imaginations; not the good ones, but the bad ones.  You know they are bad when they compare negatively with what you know the Bible says - - or the law of the land says for that matter.  Bad imaginations are wrong because they entertain unlawfulness.  They are wrong if they make predictions about people of which you have no absolute assurance. 

But I wonder if good imaginations undeveloped can also be harmful?  I wonder if they do not sort-circuit some good that I might do.  I imagine it, therefore (in my mind) I have “done” it, therefore I do not really do it.  The imagination of an action or event in some vicarious, not actual, fashion becomes a pseudo reality.

God says without vision the people perish.  Some sort of thinking about what might happen is good.  But I wonder if some of my imagining takes away from the positive action.  Certainly the negative imaging is not good for it sets an evil cast upon events which have not yet happened; or sets an evil cast on happening events that are not evil.  Sometimes it puts future events in the framework of the way we are familiar with events happening, but things don’t always happen the same way.

We need to be aware of how our imagination is guiding us.

PSYCHOLOGY

The field of human study called psychology is at times helpful and sometimes has benefited from scientific methods.  However, it is one of those areas which can be abused by men either unintentionally or intentionally, like religion.  As a group of humans psychologists become highly specialized in their knowledge, that knowledge becomes less attainable by the common man who does not, or can not, spend the time to gain the knowledge.  As a specialized group psychologists get to define standards and methods of what is, and what is not, acceptable in their field and what is acceptable, in their opinion, for mankind.  This is one of those areas where we must be vigilant to know what God says about the nature of mankind so we can judge if a given psychologist is helpful, or dangerous.

This is not to say Psychology is devious or evil.  But we can also realize mankind got along for thousands of years without it.  One the ways it can become troublesome is that it is (like many academic studies) self promoting.  As a field of study it is promoted by its own (other psychologists) and may try to exclude anyone else from providing help because others are not psychologists and therefore unqualified.  It may assume qualified people must have attended only recognized schools, and recognized courses of study.  Some may make the assumption that humans always need help.  It can make the assumption that the subject to be helped will not be able to function without the help.  It may denigrate any other kinds of help.  It may oppose other means of obtaining help.  It may uphold only the types of support groups psychologists recognize.  There is a danger of promoting a cycle of constantly studying a subject and never finding a cure.

Negatively it may foster a group of people who attempt to profit from every unfortunate situation.  They could seek to actively prevent any other kind of help. They might use earthquakes, wars, divorce, alcohol as reasons people need to have psychological help. They might seek to develop an income stream by becoming professional witnesses.  Some might try to do away with the "inconvenient" notion of GOD because God establishes ethical and moral standards outside of their definition.  They may actually promote sin to prolong treatment.

A few of us may find we need the help of a psychologist.  An honest professional with that type of training and experience may prove a help that no other human has provided.  But I suspect most would not need this type of help if we simply read the Bible and were connected to family and church.

BIRDS AND PRAYERS

Yesterday, while praying, I had the impression that sometimes God will not answer while we are listening for him.  It may be like going for a nature walk with another: that person may be expecting you to keep quiet and observe your surroundings as he is trying to do.  Perhaps God wants us to observe.  Maybe he gets exasperated if we are always chattering, never listening.  We do not stop to think perhaps he does not always have to be talking to us.

Do we even listen for God’s answer to us?  Do we expect it right away like lightening?  If we don’t get an immediate answer do we grow impatient and fly away?  If the answer is not the answer we were expecting would we even recognize it?  If we recognize an answer are we polite enough to thank him?

While thinking this I saw two sparrows fly into the tree next to me.  They came in high and chirped for a while (to establish territory? to attract interest?)  Then they were quiet and eventually came down lower on the branches.  After a while they flew to the ground.  Were they watching for danger?  The Bible says Got takes thought for all the sparrows (Luke 12:6, 7).  This illustrates that he cares for each (I say again, each) of us.

THE GATE

Imagine yourself outside a high stone wall in front of an iron gate.  Without knowing anything else, what assumptions are we tempted to make?  We may think by the wall we are meant to be excluded and have no right to be inside.  We may think a rich man lives in there and wants nothing to do with us.  We may suppose he is high-minded, exclusively snobbish, someone with an aristocratic, elitist attitude.  We are supposing things about someone else' life, not our own.  Perhaps we take no thought at all that we have done nothing to earn admittance and possibly have not recognized any opportunity for admittance if it was offered.

We might be tempted to be jealous.  Why is he rich and I am not?  He must have advantages I do not have.  His advantages are unfair, I should have had them.

We see a limo come out and it drives right by us.  We assume He wants no contact.  But in reality we know nothing (or at least little) about him.  We know nothing about his attitude toward charity.  We know nothing about how kind or unkind he is. We know nothing about how or what he desires about contact with other people.

How often do we think of ourselves a bit like Lazarus the beggar outside the rich man’s gate as in Luke 16:20?  We are the poor and needy: ignored by the rich and powerful.

But what if we had the gate advantage? 

We, in fact, do have advantages over others.  In our own ways we have advantages, though perhaps not in money.  Do we stop to think of what these are?  Can we name them?  Are we proud of them?  Do we position ourselves among others by using them?  How do we handle these advantages?    Do we use them well or do we use them to dominate?

It didn’t play out well for the rich man who drove past Lazarus day-by-day.  Let’s be aware of what is around us as we drive out our gate in our limousines.

CLIFF WALKING

Prov 2:7 – "[God] holds success in store for the upright, he is a shield for those who walk blameless . . .”  But there are those who do not walk “blameless”; in fact hardly any of us do.  As we walk near or into areas where we could be tainted by things or actions that might cause blame, we are putting at risk what success God has “in store for the upright”. 

God has been generous to give me a degree of success.  Yet for the success I have I know I have not been blameless.   This leads me to wonder:  How much more success might I have had? 

This is not a time to regret things of the past, but a time to concentrate on being upright, to avoid paths I know lead past items of “blame”. 

To flirt with areas for which you could be justifiably blamed for sin is to risk your success.  It is like walking too close to an edge of a cliff.  You don’t hear happy stories about people who walk too near the edges of cliffs.

UNTIL THE HARVEST

The ant provides her meat in summer and gathers her food in harvest. (Prov 6:8)  To provide means she had taken forethought to make sure it is there, available for use.  It is there for use in the summer when no other crops are available, for they are growing.  There will be no food available until the crops get ripe for harvesting.  This means there have to be plans to store and ration some of last year’s harvest until the new harvest is ready; and so on for all harvests. 

We can not be sluggards but must be like the ant.  We must protect the seed for planting and protect the crops as they grow.  We must keep our harvest tools prepared.  We must understand there is a constant rate of consumption and a cyclic rate of planting/harvest.  We have to match these together properly.  We have to be actively aware and plan and be ever vigilant of efficiency and avoidance of waste.

FRUIT OF THE ADULTEROUS WOMAN

(Prov 5)
Many hard things will happen to the man that goes after the strange woman.

- Gives his honor to others.  If “honor” means his act of giving his respect and consideration to another, he has given it to a person who certainly does not deserve it.  He has directed his attention to a thief:  a thief who is not only stealing what the man should have been giving to some one else (i.e. wife, mother, sisters . . . ) but who herself is stealing from those who should have been close to her (i.e. husband, father, brothers).  He shows very poor judgment to give his honor to such a person.  If “honor” means the receiving of respect from others, he demonstrates he deserves none.  He is breaking a fundamental law of God:  one of the ten commandments.  He demonstrates poor character.

- Gives his years to the cruel.  His time spent with adultery will last longer than the act itself.  Even if the adultery remains hidden from other people it is open and plain before God.  It will always remain in the adulterer's memory:  either with a sense of regret or with a wish to commit more sin.  If the adultery is known he will live with the fruits of ruined relationships and perhaps a ruined reputation.  He will be seen as one who is not reliable.

- Strangers filled with his wealth.  His financial wealth is taken minimally by whatever it costs to spend time with the adulteress: hotels, meals, doctors’ bills, abortionists, etc.  He is risking the loss of what he may have built up in law suits and lawyer’s fees.  If he was married and gets divorced he may face the loss of joint holdings:  houses, lands, automobiles, bank accounts, etc.  But worse of all he will have lost the wealth of his reputation as a stable well grounded man.

- Labors are in the house of a stranger.

If he comes to his senses he will [v11]  ‘mourn at the last, when [his] flesh and thy body are consumed, [v12] and say, ‘How have I hated instruction, and my heart despised reproof; [v13] and have not obeyed the voice of my teachers, nor inclined mine ear to them that instructed me!  [v14] I was almost in all evil in the midst of the congregation and assembly.’ “

You can also think of the “Adulterous Woman” in a figurative way rather than the literal way (as an actual flesh-and-blood human).  You can think of the right way of reasoning as God’s way; and the Adulterous Woman’s way as the World’s way.  You do not want to “honor” that which God says is not honorable, nor be honored by such.  You do not want to give your years to the cruel.  You do not want strangers filled with wealth which belongs to you.  Your labors belong in your own house, which God owns but allows you to use as if you own.  So stay away from the world’s way of thinking: the Adulterous Woman.

KEEPING THE MIND IN ONE PLACE

My mind easily wanders, straying from this thought to that, roaming down different rabbit trails.  Many things pass over the mind only to be replaced by other things, none getting developed too much.  It is like watching a train roll past that has many fascinating and beautiful cars.  There may be ugly cars too but it is best to ignore them if you can. 

Three things can keep the mind stayed:  writing (like this), a conversation with another and a book.  However I find my mind can easily wander while reading.  One thought brings up another which brings up another still.  It can wander while writing too, but not so much.  What I have written is right there in front of me to remind me where my thoughts were.  A conversation stays yet more focused because the other person has part of the control of it.  He can easily see if you have lost focus and call you to account.  But I find I can easily stray while someone is giving a speech as in the Sunday sermon or a TV broadcast.  Those mediums can establish no eye contact and no accountability and they will not stop to get your attention, rephrase or repeat.  A medium like Netflix is good because I can pause, backup and turn on the subtitles.

DEVICE DEMANDS

Information can come to our devices (Telephones, Laptops, etc.) from diverse places such at the Internet, email. or Facebook.  When we see the information we can use the device quickly to respond, almost a reflex, often without thinking too deeply.  The sources can be your family, friends, acquaintances, organizations we belong to, or some entity that wants to influence our thinking or to sell us something.  Some of these sources can be annoying or at their worst dangerous. Often they give you mandatory instructions.  One email I recently received had the header "Read it", "say Amen", “Forward”, “Tell all your friends”, etc.

These things are rude and inconsiderate.  Other examples are, "A MUST READ", "IMPORTANT".  Such instructions mean to me:  “I will not read it because it is insignificant.”

Some times the information can be advantageous as in the case of an emergency or an urgency.  Cases of urgency do require response.  The best course is to give some thought before responding.

Let’s face it:  many times the urgency is really not necessary, meaning it is not really urgent.  It just seems that way because of its appeal to respond right away. We feel the pressure to provide an instant reply as if the requester were talking face-to-face with us.  An instant response may lead us to say something careless, something ill-thought out.  We may regret the answer when given time and hindsight.

We have complete control over most of the time we are given.  Let us not be bullied by appeals through our devices masquerading as emergencies.

BULLIES

What are bullies?  They are people who try to get you to do , or think, something they want, knowing that you do not want that same thing.  The dictionary defines a bully as:  “A person who is habitually cruel or overbearing, especially to smaller or weaker people”.

We might ask, “Is God a bully?”  God wants us to do (or not) some things we would rather not do (or would rather do).  The difference between God and bullies is that he created us and all the world around us.  He gets to set what is right and wrong, what is fair and what is unfair.  A bully did none of that.  A bully intrudes into your world with demands.  He did not create your world and has no right to make changes in it.

Sometimes a plane flies overhead.  Many times you can see it. But sometimes you can’t.  When you can hear one you know there is at least one person, the pilot, inside. Maybe there are more.  The plane’s sound has some sort of dominance in your life.  Is the plane’s pilot a bully?  In some way the pilot is infringing on your life when you did not ask for it.  However the pilot is not flying the plane for the purpose of infringing on your life or in any way to control you.  Most likely he does not even know you.  The pilot is not a bully; the bully would fly the plane for the purpose of annoying you.

What about the car playing loud booming music that is plainly heard in the cars driving about it.  Is the driver a bully?  I can’t imagine he does not know how loud it is and that all around him can hear it.  I believe he is making a statement to everyone although no one has requested it.  He is a bully.

WHAT DO YOUR GRAND PARENTS KNOW?

I think it would be worth it to ask the oldest relative you know, “did your Grand Father or Grand Mother tell you of any of their early childhood experiences?”  I told my children about how my Grand Father told me about the masts of the ocean-going sailing ships in Boston Harbor and how they looked like a forest of trees.  If they tell their children this (or if I tell my grand children this) those children - -  having eyes that see today, in 2018  - - will have seen, touched and talked to someone who has known, seen and touched someone (my grandfather) who has seen with their own eyes sights that took place in the late 1800’s  That is 150 years of eyes on this world.

We could ask people we meet with for lunch or dinner or in the church lobby the same question.  What interesting answers we would receive.  Did they experience time of great political change?  Scientific change?  Wartime change?  For example I could tell my Grandchildren about the Civil Rights march I participated in at Boston, Massachusetts with Martin Luther King.  I could tell them I have seen the beginning of space exploration and I saw the Challenger explode in the sky as I was walking to lunch.  I could tell them I lived at the tail end of World War II and during the Korean war.  I could tell them that I participated in the Vietnam War while in the Navy.  I could tell them that as a teenager computers took up a series of rooms and only governments and large companies could own them.

DUMP THE BAD ONES

I think sometimes of people who have been mean to me like Father xxx or K.H.   When I do this I hardly think of people who have been good to me like Mr. Toland or Mr. McManus from High School.  A good technique for the mind would be to put out the bad people and immediately replace the thought with the good people.

When I was first on board the USS Ponchatoula I was placed in the Engineering division as an Electrician Mate.  I was to stand watch in front of the ship’s generators.  The controls included some gauges, dials and levers.  I was to watch the gauges and turn this thing and flip that thing when it looked like things were going crazy.  No one told be what these things meant or how they worked so as a result, things went crazy.  When “things went crazy” it put the ship in danger of “losing the load” meaning all electrical power.  “Losing the Load” is a pretty serious condition. Because no one rally cared to explain the procedures and meanings of things to me to me I failed at that job. 

When I transferred up to the Operations division in the Radio Shack as a Radioman I was put on watch by the receivers and transmitters which had many more gauges, dials and switches, but the other radiomen were willing to tell me what they meant and how to use them.  Because the others cared I succeeded very well at that job.

Others have an effect on us.  We should try to center our thoughts on those have had a positive affect.

[[I have no idea if I have used the words “affect” and “effect” correctly]]

EXTENDED BRAINS - 2

I read a concept in a book about the brain which explained that other things are extensions of the brain.  For example writing extends the brain’s memory.  Telephones (via the ears) extends the brain’s hearing.  Television (via the eyes) extends the brain’s sight.  One might argue these things don’t extend the brain, they extend the sense (hearing, sight, etc.)  In any case these make the reach of the brain go beyond the physical space it occupies - - even to distant places and different times, even non-existent places and times.

The written word might be different because it doesn’t effect the brain until it is read.  Books are on the shelves of the library but my mind is not engaged by the content until I read them.  What about photographs, recordings, movies?  When we engage these are we in some way in the presence of another’s brain?

Is a picture of nerve cells transmitting a signal from one to the other comparable to brains of individuals passing along information from one to the other?  Perhaps a country is comparable to a brain, the various states or provenances exciting each other - - a collection of cells “exciting” one another.  How about a corporation, is it a brain?  Is the Earth a brain?

BOOK VS iPOD

When I use a book I have much more control over it than an iPhone.  It feels good when I hold it.  I can turn the pages forward and backward.  I have some sense in terms of “distance”, i.e. number of pages, paragraphs, sentences when I want to go back to a previous point.  When I look at it I know its contents will not have changed between the times I read from it. 

I can do the same stuff similarly on a computer or an iPad, but it’s cold and plastic.  It has advantages like bookmarking and searching but pieces of paper and a pen can do the same in a book. 

A book will not loose batters or power.  A book will not update itself.  A book in simple and does not have menus and functions you have to learn and remember just to use it.

A book does not beckon you away to something else like a software machine does:  you have to put the book down to go to something else, it’s not as easy as a mouse button and a menu.

When I am reading for pleasure I think I will stick with a book.

THE TREE AND ME

The tree is often used as an analogy for ancestry, as in a family tree.  Think of the trunk as yourself:  the ground level; and the roots as your ancestors:  basement level one, two, etc.  The branches are your descendants, your children and grandchildren; second floor, third floor, etc.

The problem with the analogy is that the roots under the trunk (you) grow unseen, ever spreading, ever larger.  There are your parents, your grandparents, your great grandparents, and so on.  But it is impossible for the tree to represent humankind because the system can not increase forever.  At some point it must begin to shrink down to just two ancestors:  Adam and Eve.  Even the theory of evolution must start decreasing down to the original “evolved” humans or set of “evolved” humans.

I wonder what the mathematics behind all that process is?  Some factors would be:  average reproductive age, average life span, development of medical science, development of farming technology.

Another interesting view using a tree trunk to represent yourself is:  where I stand (ground level) I see many other trees.  They each have roots and branches.  At my children's’ level (first floor) they are trunks with roots (my wife and I) and branches (my grandchildren).  They can see many other trunks, each of those with roots and branches.

When we see other trunks like ourselves this is called a “generation”.

ON JOURNALING

Transcribing my old journal produces several things:

- - An exercise of the ego
- - A recollection of history
- - A re-opening of things learned or developed in the past.
- - A means of transmitting who I was and who I am to my family:
- Wife
- children
- daughters-in-law
- grandchildren
- - An exercise of writing, communication

I think the act of writing helps my think better.  It gives a feeling of some solidarity, somewhere to stick, somewhere to materialize and become visible.  It takes physical a form. 

In materializing what seemed wise in thought now looks foolish – OR – what seemed foolish now looks wise.

When I remember an event and write it down it becomes available to my family whereas I might never think of it in a conversation.  The conversation of a group goes as the group wants at the speed the group wants; it might be rude to run it the way I want.  It can be better thought out in a written form and it can have more detail written.  It can be better phrased.

ARGUMENT WITH AN EVOLUTIONIST

A few years ago (2014, in fact) I had an email discussion with a man who had changed his mind and decided to become an atheist.  He therefore adopted evolution as a world view.  I made the following points to him in a couple emails.  He never responded after email number two.

(Radioactive isotope half life proof of age.)  Why is it not possible for God to have created radioactive isotopes with a portion of their half lives already expended?  If he created the world he certainly could have done that.  G. Brent Dalrymple, an atheist advocate, and others can not create something from nothing.  Indeed, no man, or group of men can without using resources already in the creation.  No, not a single speck of dust.

The debate is about a difference between two worldviews  - - Creationist vs Evolutionist. Each must start by making basic assumptions.  They take these assumptions by faith.  One view takes the position that creation took place in six days, the other takes the view that creation is a process that has been on-going for billions of years.  It takes faith - assumptions - to hold to either view (perhaps much more faith to hold the evolutionist view).

Once you have the faith you can use whatever evidence you find to support your view, or abandon one view for the other.

I take the view that God created the world in six days to include the sedimentary layering of the Grand Canyon and the presence of radioactive isotopes that have apparently expended some portion of their half-lives.

Evidence is simply the presence of observable facts such as the half-life of isotopes or layering of geologic sediments.  The difference in world views determines what we do with the evidence.  What we do with that evidence requires assumptions and reasoning.  The reasoning part is easy,  it either stands up to the scrutiny of other (responsible and honest) peers,  or it doesn't. 

But,  try as you may,  there are always assumptions.  A good scientific paper lists the assumptions.  It then presents the evidence and draws conclusions about the evidence.  Some scientists have drawn the conclusion that isotopic half-life proves millions of years of evolution.  Other scientists do not accept the conclusion.

(The Scientific Method)  I understand what the Scientific Method is.  I never meant to imply that scientists do not work hard and they are not honest with their results.  I believe most evolutionists and creationists hold their beliefs sincerely,  though some from each camp have resorted to bickering and name-calling.

Man has free will and can decide to believe either the evolutionist or creationist view.  When pressed a person must eventually choose between:  “Did God create what we see and experience?” - - or - - “Is all part of natural processes that have no particular meaning?”

The creation is either old (trillions of years), or new (7000 to 8000 years).  Some scientists personally choose to believe that there is a God and that he is the creator of what we see and experience.  other scientists reject that notion.  At some point every scientist chose what group he/she would belong to, and he/she did it through faith.  They chose:  “I believe there is a creator” or they chose:  “I do not believe in a creator”.  This is why I say it's a matter of faith:  some choose to see the evidence as pointing to a creator and others do not.

As for transitional forms - -  evidence from the fossil record showing a transition from one species to another - - there are none.  To my knowledge there is no uncontested evidence of transitional forms.  The fossils show only discrete species and none that demonstrate a transition from one type to another.  Apes are always apes, and men are always men.  If evolution is true - - and the earth is millions of years old - - there should be lots of them.  They should be all through the fossil record.  They should be existent today.

Some might say, “the transitional form only exists for a short period before the more permanent form takes hold.”  On an evolutionary time scale this transition would be a sort of a “flash in the pan”.  Why do we not see “flashes in the pan” today?  We do not see them.  It takes faith to believe the “flash in the pan” exists.

THE HEARING VACUUM

My hearing has the affect of making me a person alone though amid a group of people.

HIGH VOLUME - - Oddly when the volume is high it grates on me rather than making it easier for me to hear.  It is difficult for me to to filter out what is noise and what is being sung or played or spoken.  This is true particularly if there is any reverberation, as being in a large room or when (as in church music) the audio man adds reverberation because he has a fondness for the affect.  When this happens in church I find myself in a fit of negativity.  I must endure it while all the others enjoy it.  If I can not endure I must stand outside until it ends.  The effect is to isolate me, to make me alone in the room, apart from the experience of the others.

IN A GROUP - - It’s the same way at a small group or with the family.  If I can not catch on to the subject, or make out what they are saying, I just have to wait until they are done and try to catch on to what comes next.  I am just taking up space.  I am not invisible because they can see me, I am physical because they can not pass through the space I am occupying, but otherwise I am just not there.  I have to wait until they are through.  They think I am participating but I am not.  They think I am having a similar experience as they, but I am not.  This is exacerbated when many are talking at once and I am not standing close to the talker or the talker is not talking directly to me.  Functionally I am alone in the room, all by myself, until the others get through.

THE COFFEE MAN

As I was sitting on the front porch one morning the man in the Coffee Truck drove by.  He had a lot of stops to make there being a lot of construction sites in the area at that time.  He had more to do than I because he was driving a route to sell the coffee.  He has to earn money, he had to make a schedule.  I don’t have to earn money because I have already spent decades earning money and had funded a retirement.

I could drive a coffee truck too.  I could either own one, or work for someone.  In a way it is easier to work for someone because he, not I, would have to responsibility of the ownership of the truck and the provisioning of the merchandise and all the ancillary expenses and responsibilities like insurance, registration, maintenance, proper business paperwork and taxes (for starters). 

If I worked for him he would put a demand on me to show up on a regular basis and he would be in trouble if I didn’t.   But I did not work for him.  I could have bought a coffee from him, but I didn’t.  I already had my coffee and the freedom to drink it.  I didn’t even make it, my wife did.

Like him, I once had work obligations and a schedule.  All that do have them have built this country.  Everything rests on the backs of the laborers, farmers, craftsmen, professionals . . .

Thank you Coffee Man.

PRESENT DAY WRONG DOERS

Since men are sinners we have been doing wrong for all of our existence. We look back to Adam’s son, Cain. He became angry that God did not value his sacrifice at the same (or greater) level than his brother Abel's. He was so enraged that he murdered Abel. Cane considered his works as a sacrifice, a sacrifice of works rather than blood. There was more labor in growing crops than raising animals. When he saw Abel's gift preferred before his own he became insanely jealous. Maybe he thought, “I have to plow, sow, reap, and transport this stuff. All Abel has to do is watch his sheep feed themselves and reproduce. God’s not fair; I worked and Abel skated. God should value me more than Abel.”

Are we in a figure murdering each other for jealousy over God’s gift to another and over the blessing of God for another? Are we troubling our own souls and spoiling the life of another?

The Moabites hired Balaam to curse the Israelites as they came to the Promised Land. But God prevented him from doing it, though he tried several different ways to get around the prohibition. He was doing this because he was being paid. He was seeking profit for doing some kind of spiritual work.

Do we seek riches in the doing of God's work? If not in money are we doing it to achieve some sort of advantage? We should do God's work because it is right. We should do God's work for God's profit, not our own. What are our real reasons for what we do in the church? Is it to worship God: or is it to “put our hands together” and jump up and down in some sort of hype?

Korah, Dathan, and Abiram sought to take the place of God's appointed men, Moses and Aaron. We forget that God positions the ones he wants to be leaders in the church. We should seek a church position to benefit God's work, not for self status. Are we seeking a position within the church body for the sake of our status?

TO GET OUT OF THE RAIN

Do you ever think of the easy life we have?

So you are standing there out in the woods while it’s raining.  You really do not like the idea of staying that way and would like shelter of some sort.  If you are going to have one it will take some thinking, materials and a schedule to build it. You will need some sort of plan in your mind of how it should be constructed.  You could build a lean-to using a tarp (if you had one), or of branches.  Whether or not you are aware of it you will have to schedule time to erect the shelter.  You should do it when you can, where you can and do it before it rains.

More permanence than a lean-to requires either a cave or a log cabin.  You must schedule again:  a time to locate a cave or to clear a site and gather trees.  Set aside hunting for now, find and gather the materials, then spend time building.

Want the convenience of more rooms?  You must schedule gathering yet more lumber, or stones, and set aside time for the construction.  Remember that time will include making a detailed construction plan and scheduling effort.  Arrange other activities, like food gathering around building the structure.

Want an inside bathroom?  Kitchen?  More planing, scheduling and gathering of materials required.  Have you thought of the tools you will need?

It’s nice to have other people around to grow our food, transport it to market, provide building materials and assemble it into housing, to generate and distribute electricity, to keep us safe from the few men who are criminally dangerous.

We rarely think of those things, or thank God for those things.  We should.

AVOIDING THE SANCTUARY

A few months ago I was sitting outside from a Saturday evening church service in the church’s cafe.  We were trying yet another new place.  I was using the cafe because I anticipated the music was going to be TOO LOUD.  Sure enough, it was.  Sitting out here the music, though softer, seemed loud enough to sing along with, the way it should have been inside.  The LOUD MUSIC in so many of these churches makes me want to avoid worship altogether.  I decided I would not enter the “sanctuary” for the sermon once the “music” stopped.

Does this have to do with my age?  Yet I see lots of people near my age sitting and listening in these places.  Is it just me and my particular set of ears?

Are the people (musicians[?]) behind the microphones subjected to the same levels of volume?  When these people reach my age will they have hearing difficulties similar to mine?

Out here even the voices seem TOO LOUD.  Are they really?

Whatever the case - - whether it’s them, or me - - I am clearly not of their group.

The voice that came out later, which I assumed to be the sermon speaker, seemed completely out of character with all that came before.  At the start it compared to Garison Keeler from “The Prairie Home Companion”.  But wait - - he picked up steam, like a train leaving a station.

FEET WASHING

Jesus set an example by washing the disciples’ feet. In those days it was necessary to have the servant wash your guests’ feet clean from all the horse and donkey poo they would get as a normal part of traveling from one place to another. The washing meant that the guest would not mess up your clean house. Our house must be kept clean. Imagine reclining at table in the ancient Roman fashion and smelling your neighbor’s dog-poo feet.

The significance is that Jesus cleaned the feet: his actions made them worthy of entering the house. Peter had to allow Jesus to wash his feet; he was not wanting the Lord to lower himself to the task. Similarly we have to be willing to allow our feet to be washed, to be helped to be better through others’ advice, aid, etc. And we must wash our brothers’ feet: be willing to help them. But before everything we must allow Jesus to wash out feet. If we go to someone’s house (and heaven is Jesus’ house) we must respect the wishes of the owner; it’s only polite.