Forsake Not the Assembly . . . .

I recently posted on my personal Facebook page a blurb about Christmas in which I said that Christmas 2020 just doesn’t seem like Christmas. What with the isolation of the Covid-19 Pandemic; virtually all of our social institutions being closed under the guise of preventing the spread of said virus; the lack o people in the stores; the absence of Christmas music and decorations in public areas; and, restrictions placed on travel and gatherings has robbed many of us of the things that reinforce the spirit of Christmas in our daily living. 

I spoke in my last posting about the fact that the governmental attempts at bringing the Covid-19 Pandemic under control has led to te systematic disassembling of the institutions in society that are essential for our social well-being. As humans we were created by God to be social in nature. We need places to assemble socially as much as we do food and drink. Churches, bars, restaurants, clubs etc did not grow out of an economic need but out of our need to “break bread together.”  

I am old enough to recall in my own extended family when the single most important event of the year

was the annual family gathering at Christmas. We celebrated the birth of our Lord Jesus but we were at the same time celebrating the importance and value of family and community. Now looking back over my 70 plus years I can see the gradual decline of our social structure and in the year 2020 the virtual dismantling of our social institutions rom the most secular to the exclusively religious and everything in-between. We now have governmental leaders not only ordering the closing of church and public businesses but also banning family gatherings. One has to wonder what is really driving these actions . . . .

From the very beginning when God created man God Himself observed that “It is not good for man to be alone.”  Here is something in community that allows for both the development and expression of our individuality. As surely as we live and breath we need community. We draw strength from one another. Someone long ago said it, “There is strength in numbers.” Even the military understands the concept of “overwhelming force.”  Perhaps that is why we are seeing all this ridiculous closings. If there is strength in numbers then it is also true that to win the day “one must divide and conquer” or control. As I see it that is precisely what is being done. 

These institutions are essential to the survival of a free and democratic society. I suspect that our own American Revolution was hatched in the pubs, churches and boarding houses of the colonies long before it reached the state houses. Those who support and enforce these draconian measures lie when they say it is in your best interest. It is in furtherance of their gaining absolute control of the nation and of your life.  

So, when the stores are empty, when the restaurants have no patrons, when the churches are empty of worshipers and yes, when the bars are closed we are weakened as individuals and as a society. Isolated means segregated . . . . separated into easily controlled units. If what I red is true this isolation is the occasion for a significant rise in suicide, divorce, elder abuse and violence of every kind.

How does this relate to Christmas you ask? Well, the Christmas season, both secular and sacred, is the most powerful community event of our culture. Oh, sure it has been, as the old time preachers warned, both commercialized and secularized far too much.  But in spite of this it still at every level screams hope for a better tomorrow. It celebrates light, life and renewal. It is truly a group celebration.  Shepherds came as a group and wise men traveled in a caravan. The child whose birth we celebrate would become known as the “Light of the World.” Gathering in His name became so essential to the health of individual Christians that the Apostle Paul warned against failure to assemble for fellowship, edification and service. 

What I am trying to say is: Not only is religious assembly a right it is a necessity and what is true for the church should also be true about so many of our institutions that allow us to gather for conversation, edification, and social interaction of all kinds.   

Use this year and its bogus isolation to determine to put an end to forced isolation and plan family events in 2021, support stores, churches, restaurants and other institutions that encourage socialization. Don’t let these traditions die. They are not just relics from the past they are necessary for a free, independent and democratic society to exist and thrive.

And finally lets put the joy of Christmas with all its lights, sounds, smells, joviality, worship, celebration, remembrance and hope for the future in full view. 

                                                                                                                                   

No, Never Alone

 WOW, that’s about all I can say about 2020. Well, that’s not exactly true but it does express my dominant emotional response to this past year. We’ve all faced unprecedented challenges and I’ll not detail them here. You have yours and I have mine. Suffice it to say not many of us have lived through a year like 2020.

I recently remarked to a friend that 2020 has been a revelatory year for me but I am still trying to find meaning in it all. Especially what a merciful God is saying to us through these difficult days. I know He has purpose in all this chaos . . . . . I am just having a hard time identifying it. 

We’ve all faced unprecedented challenges this year that we could have never imagined back on January 1, 2020.  I’ve discovered things about colleagues, friends, family and acquaintances that I never knew. I’ve had political fears and suspicions confirmed. More importantly I have discovered and in some cases rediscovered things about myself. Some of it has been positive and some of it, well, let’s just say some of it has been less than uplifting

I believe I could spend many a paragraph waxing eloquent about all the inconvenience, cost, loss and pain we have all suffered in 2020 but I’ll leave that to others. I’ll simply say that like so many others I have suffered loss in just about every aspect of life . . . . some permanent and other transitory. 

However, as I reflect on 2020 I have chosen to not focus so much on the negatives, and believe me, there are plenty of those. Family members have died as have dear friends who in any other year would still be with us. Assets have dwindled and income has slowed to a trickle.

Recognizing all that I suppose the thing that has impacted me the most in 2020 was the isolation. The outrageously and in my view counterproductive quarantining has probably killed more people, destroyed more marriages, caused more suicides and generated more anger than the pandemic that it was supposed to address. 

This enforced isolation and its effects has underscored for me the importance of relationships and connectivity, of humanity and kindness and of strength and resilience. These are things that have been seen time and again through the actions of my clients, colleagues, friends and family.

God did not create us to be alone. He created us to live in relationships. In fact, in Genesis 2:18 God Himself observes, “It is not good that the man should be alone.”  Isolation and aloneness breeds loneliness, melancholy and depression. I may not need you and you may not need me but we all need someone. 

We are social creatures and when deprived of social interaction we begin to die. I think often of my wife’s elderly aunt when told she would be isolated for her protection and to keep her alive. She responded, “This is not keeping me alive . . . . it is just a slow death and it certainly isn’t living.”

The loss of restaurants, bars, churches and a hundred other shut down businesses as “none essential” services is bogus. These institutions are essential to our humanity. These are the places where our social needs are met. Without them we begin to experience a steady decline in our humanity. Many of us, even the most isolationist of us, can go for short times without human contact. However, none of us can go for too long that way. Why do you think that “solitary confinement” in prisons is considered the worst kind of punishment. Many convicted sexual predators placed in isolation for their own safety end up committing suicide. 

To be clear, short periods of quarantining may be necessary and doable but long term isolation becomes counterproductive and even destructive. We were created by a merciful God in such a way as to make community an essential element in our well-being. 

One of the reasons, in my judgement, that social media has been such a major player this past year is that it provided us with a platform to form a false community. The need for human touch was being met without real touching. 

I suggest the following when this isolation/quarantining lunacy has past you involve yourself in some social group like a church or club of sum kind.

1. Become a part of and get involved with a spiritual/religious group or church. Nowhere can you experience community better than in a church. For Christians this is essential as Scripture warns against failure to live in community by failing to assemble as a body of believers. 

2. If you have an Alumni group (High School or College) get involved with the former student organizations.

3. Make an effort to bring together your extended family. This offers a terrific opportunity to build a community where both group and individual have significance.

4. Become involved in a civic club or political action group.

You should also keep in mind that socialization is the process of internalizing the norms and ideologies of society. It encompasses both learning and teaching and is thus "the means by which social and cultural continuity are attained."  Want to change the society then begin by breaking up the various social groups within that society/culture.

 You should also keep in mind that socialization is strongly connected to individual development especially as concerns what is proper behavior and what is not.

My point is, "Refuse to allow yourself to be severed from your community.”  Without you that community is diminished but more importantly you need community to remain vital emotionally and mentally. I want my friends to remain safe but I don’t want them, or me for that matter, to loose our ever loving minds. 

When Will The Real America Stand UP?

 

Today, as we are remembering the heroism of the first responders and the sacrifice of those who died on September 11, 2001 my thoughts are running  a gamut of interrelated related thoughts.  I have already mentioned elsewhere my thoughts on the 9/11 attacks themselves. so I will not be addressing that day in any detail.

I remember in November 2001 going to Bush International Airport in Houston to board an Air Canada flight to Calgary, Canada. I remember the bomb Squad searching the car as we entered the airport property and then waiting for the doors of the International Terminal to open and allow us in. We had to wait until the National Guard soldier were positioned throughout the terminal.

As we entered the airport I remember thinking, "I've never seen an empty airport like this but one previous time. That was in Zurich when  we arrived at 2:00 in the morning. It was me, Susan and a mouse running through the terminal. But I digress.

As I made my through the nearly empty airport I struck up a conversation with a First Sargent with his weapon in hand. We were both looking for coffee. We finally found a small place that had just opened, got our coffee and sat down to visit. I remember commenting that being in the airport under the present circumstances reminded me of when  the terrorist back in 1973 attacked the airport lobby and a man died right where I had been standing just one week earlier to the day and time.

As we talked he chucked as he showed me he ha no ammunition for his weapon and said if that happened today he'd be of little help. He said he was there as a "show" of force but not to be a force.

He asked me why we were flying so soon after the September 11th. attack. I said, my wife and I planned this trip one year ago and I was determined to set an example for my family, friends and church members that we cannot allow a handful of terrorist regardless of the scope of their crimes cause us to altar our lives. The times may not be "as usual" but I can certainly conduct myself as I always do.

I wanted everyone to know that those savage calculating animals (yes I called them savage and I called them animals) who commandeered those planes and destroyed so many lives had failed. Oh, sure they killed a lot of innocent people (that's what terrorist do) and destroyed a lot of property (again, that's what terrorists do) but they had not mortally wounded me or my country.  I celebrated the day when the head of this serpent’s was cut off.

In those days we stood tall during those sad difficult times; we stood united against Evil in those times; we showed sorrow over our fallen and compassion to those who survive; we showed resolute and determined will against our enemies; and we still press the battle to those who would destroy us from abroad.  Will we stand just as tall against todays Domestic terrorists?  

We need to make it emphatically clear that as a people we will not indeterminably tolerate or long endure those who seek to destroy our way of life. By-in-large we Americans have a high tolerance level with those who do not share our values, culture, virtues . . . our way of life. A way of life that has been built over hundreds of years a great pains, sacrifice and cost to a lot of people and that includes every and any grouping of people you wish to choose. However, that longsuffering should not be mistaken as eternal.

Clearly I am NOT talking about people and/or groups of people who peacefully assemble or even march in the streets to call attention to their cause. On of the rights we enjoy as an American is the right to speak our mind and redress our government for our causes. However, the First Amendment and the right to petition the government for redress of perceived wrongs does not permit, allow for or endorse rioting, looting beating and killing as a part of those Constitutionally guaranteed rights. Do not let the voices of tyranny convince you otherwise. 

There is not a “fine” line between protesting and rioting. No indeed, there is a broad and brilliant red line between the two. Unfortunately, Marxist insurrectionist are high-jacking the peaceful protests and turning these peaceful protesters into a mob and then inciting them to riots. 

Do not be mislead and do not be deceived those in the streets of America who are killing & maiming people; burning and looting buildings are as much terrorists as were the 9/11 terrorists.

When I see the stores burning, the people being dragged from the cars and trucks and beaten senseless and stores looted I see the faces of  Mohamed Atta Hijacker (Pilot) . . . . Abdul Aziz al Omari Hijacker  . . . . Waleed al Shehri Hijacker  . . . . Satam al Suqami Hijacker  . . . . Wail al Shehri Hijacker  . . . . Hani Hanjour Hijacker (Pilot) . . . . . Khalid al Mihdhar Hijacker . . . . Majed Moqed Hijacker . . . . Nawaf al Hazmi Hijacker . . . . Salem al Hazmi Hijacker  . . . . Ziad Samir Jarrah Hijacker (Pilot) . . . . Saeed al Ghamdi Hijacker  . . . . Ahmed al Nami Hijacker . . . . Ahmad al Haznawi Hijacker   . . . . Marwan al Shehhi Hijacker (Pilot) . . . . Mohand al Shehri Hijacker  . . . . Hamza al Ghamdi Hijacker . . . . Fayez Banihammad Hijacker . . . . Ahmed al Ghamdi Hijacker  . . . . Khalid Sheikh Mohammed Mastermind  . . . . Tawfiq bin Attash (Khallad) Potential Pilot . . . . Ramzi Binalshibh Potential Pilot . . . . Zakariya Essabar Potential Pilot/Hijacker . . . . Saeed “Jihad” al Ghamdi Potential Hijacker . . . .Mushabib al Hamlan Potential Hijacker and. . . .Ali Abdul Aziz Ali.

These are the calculating savage animals who carried out the attacks on 9/11 an d to them can be added the minions and leaders of Antifa and those who lead international BLM Organization. 

What Must I Do To Be Saved?

“Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be save and your house” (Acts 16:8).

My intention for this blog is that it be eclectic in nature. That is, it will cover a gambit of subjects which may or may not be related.  To some it will no doubt seem to be just a hodgepodge of rumblings. However, the title says it all . . . . . it is what’s on my mind at any given time. Some stuff is serious, some lighthearted and some nostalgic. There are tributes to friend and political opinions.  What the all have is that at some point they were on my mind and I wrote them down.

The Universal Problem: 

The universal problem of mankind and its solution, namely what the Bible calls SIN! Now hear me out. Sin is behind everything that is bad and evil in our world.  It is one of the few things that the Bible says has infected every single person who has been born of man.  

The Apostle Paul in Romans gives a long litany of sins all of which he says are the product of a sinful core in man himself. Now, my more Liberal minded friends take issue with that list depending where they fall on the sin list. They focus on their particular place on that list to the degree that they miss the underlying truth that the Apostle is declaring. He summarizes that list by saying, “All have sinned.”  Paul is not creating a pecking order for ranking our sin. He is simply casting a net to demonstrate that we are all sinners. 

People are not sinners because the commit sins. We are sinners and therefore we commit sin. Sinful actions are the product of a sinful nature. The theologian John Walvoord once said it this way: “The testimony of the Scriptures is clear that men are sinners by imputation, by nature, and by choice.”  Psalm 51:5 states that we all come into the world as sinners: “Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin my mother conceived me.” The Apostle Paul stress the same idea in Ephesians 2:2 where he says that all people who are not in Christ are “sons of disobedience” and again in Ephesians 2:3 saying that we are all “by nature children of wrath.”

There is a Biblical truism that asks, “Can two walk together except they be agreed?”  In the Garden of Eden, before man was cast from the Garden the Scripture says that God walked with man in the cool of the evening. Then somewhere in that journey man disobeyed God and his relationship with God changed . . . they no longer walked together. The problem did not lie with God or His actions but with Adam and Eve’s (mankind) so the Prophet in Isaiah 59:2 says, “But your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God,  And your sins have hidden His face from you so that He does not hear.”

Let me assure you that God has gone nowhere. He is still present and He is still loving but man, including all of us, has broken our relationship with God. It is no longer that peaceful and blissful walk with Him in the pleasantness of His garden. Our sins not his action has separated us relational from God. The entirety of the Bible is about God making it possible to restore that relationship.  This is the whole idea behind Paul’s statement in Romans 5:19 were we read, “For as by the one man's disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man's obedience the many will be made righteous.”

The Universal Solution:

If SIN and its resultant separation from God is mankind’s Universal problem the next question is there a universal solution to that problem. The answer is a resounding YES! And the really good news is that solution does not hang on anything that mankind or a person can do. I say fortunately because the only thing we could offer is our “good” works all of which flow from a sinful nature.  Isaiah 64:6 confirms that “we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousness are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.”  

You say, wow! That’s not good news. No it is not good news but it makes the good news especially new. Here is the good news “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that everyone who believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him. Whoever believes in Him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe has already been condemned, because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.”(John 3:16-18)

In Titus 3:5-7 we read, “Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Spirit.” That mercy was expressed through Jesus the Christ, God’s unique Son’s, sacrificial death and resurrection. 

So what was out of our reach because of our sinful nature is now within our reach because of the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Even Jesus said as the addressed the weeping sisters of Lazarus, “I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die.” (John 11-26-27)

So what we couldn’t do for ourselves Christ has done for us.  He has paid the price of our sinful nature. The blood of Christ, which He shed for us on the cross was enough. It was sufficient to redeem us all.  To reconcile every fallen piece of creation to Himself and restore that perfect relationship He designed from the beginning.  Once we are covered by the blood of the sinless, spotless Lamb of God we can come into the presence of Almighty God and stand before Him completely clean!  “The wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

So here is it clearly stated in scripture : That if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.” (Romans 10:9). It is important that you understand neither we or Scripture is saying that because Jesus paid the price for the sins of the world everyone will be forgiven and delivered. Not so. What we are saying is that God’s grace and Christ’s sacrificial death and glorious resurrection is sufficient so that IF everyone repents and believes (declares, “Jesus is Lord”) they will be saved. There is no deficiency it God’s provision. However, that declaration of faith must be genuine and not just convenient or superficial.  It begins in the heart (a person’s core) and is expressed in the world through the declaration that Jesus is Lord (ο Ιησούς είναι Κύριος). So that “Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord will be saved.”  

Those who do not believe in the heart in the sacrificial death, burial and resurrection of Jesus will not confess Him as Lord will not be saved in the end.  Now understand they have not been rejected by God. Instead, they have rejected God’s offer. A gift rejected is a gift not received not a gift withheld .

The Universal Result:

Now we have seen that the Universal Problem of man is SIN and that the Universal Solution is Jesus what is the Universal Result?  The answer to that question is wrapped up in the words of Jesus to Martha and Mary, “I give unto them eternal life and they shall never perish.”

What that means is that those who in the core of their being believe that Jesus Christ is the sinless son of God who died on a cross for their sins and rose from the grave to justify will declare him as their Lord, the one who saves them. This salvation package includes a number of elements. It includes the forgiveness of sin and a home in Heaven with God and Jesus when we die. It includes the indwelling Holy Spirit to enable us to life a life pleasing to and in keeping with the moral and ethical standards of Scripture. It includes inclusion in the Household of Faith, the church (a body of believes who sustain and pray for one another) and the privilege of sharing what God has done in Christ for you with those who have not claimed Him as their Lord and Savior.  Or as someone has said, “all this and heaven too.”

What this means for those who reject God’s offer is nothing special. First, they receive none of the above. God has made no provision for them. Instead, He simply borrows what He prepared for the disobedient angels, namely what we call Hell. The worst part of Hell is that the love, mercy and grace of God are not present. It is the repository of everything evil from all the ages. It is so grotesque as to be described as a place of  weeping, wailing and the gnashing of teeth; a place where the fire is never quenched and the worm never dies; a place of torment and thirst.  Jonathan Edwards described the plight of the sinner outside of Christ as hanging “by a slender thread, with the flames of Divine wrath flashing about it, and ready every moment to singe it and burn it asunder. . . . It would be dreadful to suffer this fierceness and wrath of Almighty God one moment; but you must suffer it to all eternity.”

God’s invitation to you is “Come unto me all you who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28).  Jesus stated, “All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out” (John 6:27).

So how do you come to Jesus . . . . You come just as you are right now.

Just as I am, without one plea,
But that Thy blood was shed for me,
And that Thou bid’st me come to Thee,
O Lamb of God, I come! I come!

Just as I am, and waiting not
To rid my soul of one dark blot;
To Thee whose blood can cleanse each spot,
O Lamb of God, I come, I come!

Just as I am, though tossed about
With many a conflict, many a doubt;
Fightings within, and fears without,
O Lamb of God, I come, I come!

Just as I am, poor, wretched, blind;
Sight, riches, healing of the mind;
Yes, all I need, in Thee to find,
O Lamb of God, I come, I come!

Just as I am, Thou wilt receive,
Wilt welcome, pardon, cleanse, relieve;
Because Thy promise I believe,
O Lamb of God, I come, I come!

Just as I am, Thy love unknown
Now, to be Thine, yea, Thine alone,
O Lamb of God, I come, I come!

Has broken every barrier down;

"Is the press a noble profession?

"Is the press a noble profession?

The French Revolution recognized three Estates among men, The Church, The Nobility and the Common Man. The Press was not included until some British MP in a speech pointed to the press gallery in the House of Commons and declared them the "Fourth" Estate.”  These four  estates were very much in the minds of our founding fathers.  It is the Fourth Estate, "The Press" that I wish for you to consider for a moment.

I took journalism in seminary from an old Ft-Worth Star Telegram guy who taught us that the emphasis in that class was going to be on concepts like "a good news story is the unbiased telling of both sides of a story."  We learned the "who, what, when and how" rubric of reporting and story writing. We also learned that a one sided piece is an editorial or opinion and belongs on the opinion or editorial page in not the news columns.   Liberal or conservative, Christian or non-Christian true journalists report facts without personal bias.

Finding a news source that reports an unbiased, two sided story on any national event has become almost impossible. I recently urged people to do their own research the other day failing to recognize that has become virtually impossible. Research is not just searching for the stuff which you agree it includes real wrestling with the stuff that conflicts with what you want to believe.  You can do the research but finding a balanced report will require you to  burn a lot of midnight oil.

I have watched one good news source after another become nothing more that a supermarket tabloid or one sided and single minded propaganda machine. 

The Fourth Estate as we are want to call the Media has never been a purveyor of truth. They have always played fast and loose with the facts and promoted a point of view. Hence, we have the terms like "Yellow Journalism" to describe the once powerful Scripps-Howard newspapers.  They were once looked down upon by mainstream news outlets but now they are indistinguishable. However, for the most part “hard news” went in the columns and “opinions” went on the editorial page. Now, opinion is subtlety and skillfully woven within the hard news.

Owners and editors learned that the more sensationally you tell the story the more papers you sell.  Editors and reporters soon learned that weaving an opinion into a news article could sway opinion in the direction they wanted.  Codes of ethics were just something to hang on a wall.  Regardless of the risk such action might put people or even the nation it was “Damn the torpedoes, full steam ahead.” They have become nothing more than large "Five Cent Westerns" chasing the almighty dollar or their own political bias.

My personal moral and ethical foundation requires that I understand a half-truth as the whole lie that it is. Hence, any news media that reports only half the story is lying and attempting to promote a point of view. How they tell that "partial story" serves to lead you to arrive at a conclusion of the journalists choosing.

Personally, I would prefer a Jack Webb approach to reporting, "Just the facts ma’am, just the facts."  I'll weigh them and I'll form my own conclusion. Sadly, so many seem to believe that if its in print or on TV it must be true.  

So I'll ask you, "Is the press a noble profession and why or why not?

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Just an aside: I Googled "The Press" and up popped the following. I thought it was descriptive enough.

National Complacency Will End Badly For America

Complacency with regard to BLM (the Organization not the popular phrase) and Antifa will end in disaster.  

I'll not confuse you with a differentiation between BLM the organization and BLM the popular slogan.  Suffice it to say that the former is a Marxist group who appropriated the slogan of a group protesting criminal injustice. However, since the BLM slogan has now been highjacked I’ll not be making a distinction. Antifa is a Fascist acting Socialist group purporting to opposing fascism while espousing and practicing Nazi based actions. Both groups are destroying major cities in America through violent behavior. 

I also will not be referring to participants in these movements as “peaceful” or even “mostly peaceful” protestors. I know that media such as CNN, MSNBC, NBC, CBS etc are doing so. I refuse to give legitimacy to the burning of buildings; the destruction of private businesses; the beating, maiming and killing of innocent people, and; their anti-American rants.  

In the Revelation the Lord says, "Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent." (Revelation 2:5). I fear this may well be what is happening in America today. Maybe, just maybe God has said enough to the iniquity of the people of America and he is removing her from her place as one of His “most favored Nations.” 

The clearly local government sanctioned rioting, and that is what it is, has nothing to do with Donald Trump, the Republican and Democrat Parties; or justice/police reform or any other high sounding goals . . . . it is outright anarchy and a move to destroy our capitalist economy and republic form of government in favor of Marxism. It is a movement to rid the country of Christians and all vestiges of the first and second Amendments to the Constitution. 

It doesn't take long for the unimaginable to snowball into a major calamity the like of which no sane person would hope or envision. Just ask the people who lived through the First and Second World Wars; ask the men and women of the Civil War: ask anyone who went to bed one night thinking it will all work out only to discover when they awoke that Ft. Sumpter had been fired upon, that a Duke had been assassinated and that Japan had bombed Pearl Harbor and now their world was turned upside down.  They never saw what was coming and yet the storm enveloped the world. 

I'm going to suggest to the rioters (there are no protesters left just rioters) that if you actually think that what you are doing is accomplishing anything save your own destruction you are mistaken. We will never come around to your way of thinking and your violence will not bring us there either.  You have us too busy dealing with the crises you have created to deal with any of the honest and just complaints others may legitimately have. Those issues will have to wait until the insurrection has been down and one way or another it will eventually be put down. People are already dying because of our forbearance and a few more may die as we finally reach the pivot point.                                                

If we do not act with firmness now sooner or later someone will act in the midst of all this madness in a malignant way and it will set a fire that all the firefighters on Earth will not be able to extinguish. In every journey there is a "point of no return." BLM and Antifa have set us on a journey and we are fast approaching our own national Point of No Return.  Personally I am already there. 

I am ready for the government to do whatever it takes. Whatever it takes, and I mean "whatever it takes." to put an end to the stupidity; and end to the lying; and end to the anarchy; an end to the burning, looting and vandalism; an end to robbing me and my children of our God given rights to pursue a life of happiness.

Brother, your rights to protest, riot or whatever you call what you do, end at my nose.  You are intent on bloodying my nose but unlike the folks on the news reports folks like me punch back harder than we get punched.  From my chair it is high time to punch back as a nation.  "Surely the churning of milk brings forth butter, and the wringing of the nose brings forth blood: so the forcing of wrath brings forth strife." (Proverbs 30:33) or as someone stated it plainly, "he that thrusts strongly teats to draw out milk, thrusts out butter; and he that smites greatly draws out blood; and he that stirs up anger brings forth discord." (Wycliffe Bible)

Reasonable people know all this. Even BLM and Antifa know it. But, that is the goal of both Antifa and BLM. That point of no return is the goal of both Antifa and BLM. That is precisely what BLM and Antifa know and are working toward. They want the peace disturbed; they ant jobs lost; they want people hurt and killed.  They hate this country and her good people so much that they are willing, no anxious and excited, to see her go down. They want our national collapse. There is no reasoning with them. 

Until the old snake is dead there will never be peace or unity.  The serpent's head must be severed or we will become so entangled that we may be devoured as a nation. By a strong and effective blow today we will avoid a disaster like that which Lincoln confronted.

Somehow they have swallowed to notion that out of the ashes of what they have destroyed a Phoenix will arise. Will someone one please tell them that the rise of the Phoenix is a myth.

What Does Your Favorite Hymn Say About You

Someone once told me "Every one has a story and that story is worth telling."  I do believe that.  

I also believe that those stories not only need to be told it is important that they be heard. Each of us has a unique life experience the majority of which will go with us to the grave. Our stories are just too detailed and intricate to be told between the covers of a book. They literally take a lifetime.

I am now in my seventies and living the last chapters of my life story. Most will never make it into print . . . after all, I have to live them first and that will get in the way of recording them for posterity.

Often it is the things that we pass over quickly because they are so "ordinary." People my age and those who were of my father and mother's generation often spoke of our favorite Bible verse, or our favorite place to visit. But no one ever asked, "Why is that your favorite hymn.

For example, my favorite hymn is Blessed Assurance. I have never asked myself why nor has anyone who has ever sang or arranged it for me asked why. I am confident there is a reason that of the thousands of hymns I choose (or perhaps it chose me) Blessed Assurance as my personal favorite. Perhaps I will say more about this down the road.  My point is simply that the choice of that hymn says something about me as a person.

I often reflect back on my Mom and Dad and the journey that brought them together and resulted my being here. It is a wonderful story.  Today while doing a little of that I remembered that my mother's favorite hymn was Face to Face and my father's was Follow Me.  I am sure those were not simply chosen from a list but in some way spoke to their individual hearts and lives.

Today I have spent some time thinking about my father and that song Follow Me. I wonder what there was about the song that it became a special . You have to understand that the song is all about struggle and acceptance. Listen to the song (See link above).  Check out the lyrics:

I traveled on a lonely road and no one seemed to care.
The burden on my weary back had bowed me to despair;
I oft complained to Jesus how folks were treating me,
And then I heard Him say so tenderly,
"My feet were also weary, upon the Calvary road;
The cross became so heavy, I fell beneath the load,
Be faithful weary pilgrim the morning I can see,
Just lift your cross and follow close to me."

"I work so hard for Jesus" I often boast and say
"I've sacrificed a lot of things to walk the narrow way,
I gave up fame and fortune, I'm worth a lot to Thee"
And then I hear Him gently say to me,
"I left the throne of glory and counted it but loss,
My hands were nailed in anger upon a cruel cross,
But now we'll make the journey with your hand safe in mine,
So lift your cross and follow close to me.

Oh Jesus if I die upon a foreign field someday,
'Twould be no more than love demands, no less could I repay,
"No greater love hath mortal man than for a friend to die"
These are the words He gently spoke to me,
"If just a cup of water I place within your hand
Then just a cup of water is all that I demand.
But if by death to living they can Thy glory see,
I'll take my cross and follow close to Thee.

As I reflect on his life as I knew it to be it seems this song was a perfect fit. He was born on a farm in Central Texas on December 21, 1911.  He spent his childhood watching the Great War unfold and finally come to an end only to be thrown into the Great Depression as he entered adulthood. At a young age he was introduced to alcohol by his youngest uncle (They were about the same age) and that began a struggle that would consume much of his life. That was followed by his own War experience in Europe during WWII.  

As the oldest son he had to accept family responsibilities that were beyond his years. He became the "fix it" guy for the family and the community. He was the last of the children to leave the farm and carried the weight of responsibility to not only fix the wagon but also the broken life.

He was required to chaperon his sisters on dates and keep an eye on his brothers.  He was a man from  whose lips I never heard a hard ugly word. He didn't swear and he didn't argue or fight. He was good almost to a fault.

He repaired his brothers and sisters cars and rarely charged them even the price of the parts. He did this despite of the fact that he knew what they said about him behind his back.  He was always there when they needed him.

Maybe one day I will try to tell his story as I know it but for now suffice it to say his favorite hymn pretty well sums up how he felt about his life. If you didn't really know him, live with him watch him closely every day as did I then just read the words of his favorite him and you'll get a pretty good idea of how he felt about himself.

What is your favorite hymn and what does it say about you?