3 Amazing Cemeteries, and other links

The posting of links does not constitute an endorsement of the sites linked, and not necessarily even agreement with the specific posts linked.

• 3 Amazing Cemeteries -- “Cemeteries around the world are gaining popularity as tourist attractions and destination points.”
• A Black videographer got stabbed at the Portland protests, and he says it is because he is pro-Trump -- “The man then turns and makes a sudden movement, sending Duncomb falling to the ground yelping in pain, the footage shows.”
• A Dubious Order against the Seattle Ban on Police Use of Non-Lethal Force -- “As Professor Turley points out, judges are not supposed to do policy — that’s for lawmakers.”
• Black Lives Matter: Affirm the Sentence, Not the Movement -- “‘Black lives matter,’ taken as a sentence, is profoundly true...the Black Lives Matter Global Network adopts and promotes the entire worldview of the sexual revolution, which seeks to liberate humanity from the oppressive chains of biological gender.”
• Dutch stand firm: no nationwide requirement to wear face masks -- “So far, the OMT has only recommended the use of masks in places where 1.5 metres social distance cannot be maintained, such as in public transport.”
• ‘Even If Genocide Were to Happen’ -- “Tohti’s research interests included the economics and social standing of Uighurs, and he repeatedly criticized Chinese government policies toward the Uighur population, drawing the attention of police.”
• Goodbye, Uncle Myron -- “Myron Houghton was probably the most widely respected theologian to represent contemporary fundamentalism in the marketplace of ideas.”
• How the Horrific 1918 Flu Spread Across America -- “The toll of history’s worst epidemic surpasses all the military deaths in World War I and World War II combined. And it may have begun in the United States.”
• Hydroxychloroquine Study Proves Trump Right, Says It ‘Significantly’ Cuts Death Rate – “‘Our analysis shows that using hydroxychloroquine helped save lives,’ said neurosurgeon Dr. Steven Kalkanis, CEO, Henry Ford Medical Group and Senior Vice President and Chief Academic Officer of Henry Ford Health System.”
• No country for face masks: Nordics brush off mouth covers -- “According to a recent survey by YouGov, only five to 10 percent of respondents in the Nordic countries said they used a mask in public settings, a figure that has remained stable since the start of the crisis in March.”
• Portland has become the focal point of Black Lives Matter protests in America, but it has a tortured history when it comes to race -- “It says something when you’re at a Black Lives Matter protest, you have more minorities on the police side than you have in a violent crowd and you have white people screaming at Black officers.”
• Prophecy Is Not… Prophecy? -- “A biblical view of NT prophecy, however, is to see all of it (whether by apostles or their fellow recipients of revelation, the prophets; cf. Eph 2:20) as parallel to OT prophecy, and furthermore, as something that ceased once the Scriptures were complete (cf. Rev 22:18–19).”
• Scientists solve mystery of the origin of Stonehenge megaliths -- “Geochemical testing indicates that 50 of Stonehenge’s 52 pale-gray sandstone megaliths, known as sarsens, share a common origin about 15 miles away at a site called West Woods...”
• Sen. Hawley Sets New Pro-Life Standard for Supreme Court Nominees -- “Roe...marks the point the modern Supreme Court said, ‘You know, we don’t have to follow the Constitution. We won’t even pretend to try.’”
• This Man Nearly Lost His Eye After a Black Bear Attacked Him in His Home -- “For me, this was an experience where it resets things for you. I really felt soon after like I had another lease in life. It’s interesting how it’s affected me, but it has been positive.”

Hypocrisy, thy name is NBA

Basketball star LeBron James reacted to President Donald Trump’s comment that “he was done watching NBA games if players were going to protest racial injustice during the national anthem.” Speaking for himself and apparently the entire National Basketball Association, James said, “We could care less.”

There is plenty of evidence that he could also care less about human rights violations elsewhere in the world that does not affect his local social justice wokeness! “Defending democracy is vital, but @KingJames only talks loud in the US. All he cares about is money, not human rights. Hypocritical.” So says Joshua Wong as he calls out Lebron James for his silence on China. Yes, China, the NBA’s favorite civil rights violator. The NBA vicariously uses forced labor from China’s Uighur Muslim minority for some league-branded merchandise – including LeBron’s name brand stuff.

James Durso at The Hill says the NBA continually proves the most powerful color in the NBA is not black, but green!

Hypocrisy, thy name is NBA.

Bell“saint”

Open letter to Bellsaint, aka Caroline Gohmert Brooks

(As if all who wear masks never catch the Covid-19 virus, or all who do not wear masks catch the Covid-19 virus.)

Honour thy father and mother; (which is the first commandment with promise;) that it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth. Ephesians 6:2-3

Whom do you trust?

A few weeks ago – maybe more – I read a “Covid” article that asked whether you trust Dr. Anthony Fauci or Texas’ Lt. Governor Dan Patrick. The question was rhetorical, framed in a context where the answer should be Dr. Fauci. However, to myself, I answered that I am not sure I trust either of them. I have tried to explain my nagging distrust of Fauci, excusing him based on the changing scenarios of a new virus. After his evasion during a Friday July 31 House subcommittee hearing on the novel coronavirus, I decided he certainly has at least some political agenda. Under questioning by Ohio representative Jim Jordan, Dr. Fauci slipped and slid and continually evaded “opining” on whether protests spread coronavirus.[i]

In the past months, Dr. Fauci has opined on just about everything else – crowds in churches, isolating individuals, closing schools, bars, and restaurants. In April, he even opined on dating and sex during the time of coronavirus. He has opinions on all these and more, but none on protests? Come on, Doc!

Says the guy who wants to limit all kinds of things, when asked about protests: “I don't know how many times I can answer that. I’m not going to opine on limiting anything.”

Says the guy who judges the safety of all sorts of activities: “And I don't judge one crowd versus another crowd.”

Says the guy who says crowds, but won’t say protests: “I said crowds. I didn’t say specifically — I didn’t say protests.”

This exchange confirmed my suspicions about Dr. Fauci. Perhaps Dr. Anthony Fauci can be rightly called the nation’s top infectious disease doctor, but his seminal evasion of Jordan’s question put a question mark on him. How far can I trust him? He does not just have the nation’s best interest at heart, but he also has some political agenda at heart as well. If not, the man who says “churches,” “bars,” “restaurants,” and even “dating” ought to be able to say “protests.” Come on, Doc. How we gonna trust you?

---

[i] However, he did answer without answering. Dr. Fauci said, “You should stay away from crowds, no matter where the crowds are.” We all know protests are crowds—most often crowds without social distancing, and often crowds without masks.

A Closer Look, and other links

The posting of links does not constitute an endorsement of the sites linked, and not necessarily even agreement with the specific posts linked.

• A Closer Look at ‘White Fragility’ Theory -- “The organizers opened by telling participants—which included white, black, and multi-racial people—that they were creating a safe space to discuss difficult topics. However, white attendees were then informed...”
• Calvary Chapel Dayton Valley v. Steve Sisolak, Governor of Nevada, et al. -- “In Nevada, it seems, it is better to be in entertainment than religion. Maybe that is nothing new. But the First Amendment prohibits such obvious discrimination against the exercise of religion.”
• Duration of Isolation and Precautions for Adults with COVID-19 -- “Accumulating evidence supports ending isolation and precautions for persons with COVID-19 using a symptom-based strategy.”
• Epidemic Mask Theatre, Past and Present -- “The symbolic and useless mask-pageantry in which we Americans are now engaging, on the other hand, is less forgivable.”
• Five Reasons The Bible Is True -- “Dr. Peter Stoner, PhD astrophysics, Cornel University, in his book Science Speaks says that "the probability of someone fulfilling just 8 of the messianic prophecies is 1 in 1 in 1017.”
• It’s Getting Harder and Harder to Distinguish Satire from Earnest Wokeness -- “If you’ve seen the Smithsonian American History Museum’s ‘white culture’ graphic, you know what I mean.”
• It’s Getting Harder and Harder to Distinguish Satire from Earnest Wokeness, II -- “Rutgers English Department says grammar is racist.”
• J.K. Rowling returns to transgender debate as she predicts 'medical scandal' over gender identity clinics -- “The bleak truth is that if and when the scandal does erupt, nobody currently cheering this movement on will be able to credibly claim ‘we couldn’t have known.’”
• Masks Don’t Work: A Review of Science Relevant to COVID-19 Social Policy -- “No RCT study with verified outcome shows a benefit for HCW or community members in households to wearing a mask or respirator. There is no such study. There are no exceptions. Likewise, no study exists that shows a benefit from a broad policy to wear masks in public.”
• Masks-for-all for COVID-19 not based on sound data -- “There is no scientific evidence they are effective in reducing the risk of SARS-CoV-2 transmission. Their use may result in those wearing the masks to relax other distancing efforts because they have a sense of protection.”
• My Family’s Slave -- “She lived with us for 56 years. She raised me and my siblings without pay. I was 11, a typical American kid, before I realized who she was.”
• My views on cloth face coverings for the public for preventing COVID-19 -- “If we fail to assess studies on cloth face coverings critically, we fall prey to confirmation bias and risk developing policy not based on sound scientific evidence...”
• Planned Parenthood in N.Y. Disavows Margaret Sanger Over Eugenics -- “Too bad they will not repudiate and disavow the practice of aborting babies!”
• Supreme Court again rejects church challenge to virus restriction -- “That Nevada would discriminate in favor of the powerful gaming industry and its employees may not come as a surprise, but this Court’s willingness to allow such discrimination is disappointing.”
• The Lies of the 1619 Project -- “Contrary to what the 1619 Project would have you believe, slavery and racism do not define what America was in 1619 or what it is today.”

The Hope of our Salvation

“For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.” 1 Timothy 2:5

That he is God, is the very foundation of his salvation; for it is his eternal Godhead that gives virtue, efficacy, and dignity to all that as man he did and suffered for his chosen people. If he were not God, God and man in one glorious Person, what hope would there be for our guilty souls? Could his blood atone for our sins, unless Deity gave it efficacy? Could his righteousness justify our persons, unless Deity imparted merit and value to all the doings and sufferings of his humanity? Could his loving heart sympathise with and deliver us, unless “as God over all,” he saw and knew all that passes within us, and had all power, as well as all compassion, to exert on our behalf?

We are continually in circumstances where no man can do us the least good, and where we cannot help or deliver ourselves; we are in snares, and cannot break them; we are in temptations, and cannot deliver ourselves out of them; we are in trouble, and cannot comfort ourselves; are wandering sheep, and cannot find the way back to the fold; we are continually roving after idols, and hewing out “broken cisterns,” and cannot return to “the fountain of living waters.” How suitable, then, and sweet it is, to those who are thus exercised, to see that there is a gracious Immanuel at the right hand of the Father, whose heart is filled with love, and whose bowels move with compassion; who has shed his own precious blood that they might live; who has wrought out a glorious righteousness, and “is able to save unto the uttermost all that come unto God by him.”

Joseph Charles Philpot (1802-1869)

The weakest saint upon his knees

Exhortation to Prayer.
By William Cowper. No. 60, Book II, Olney Hymns, 1779 (Long Meter)

In this hymn the author exhorts and encourages us to prayer. He acknowledges the hindrances to prayer, but then spells out it worth, including the “Satan trembles when he sees the weakest saint upon his knees.” Though who oft complain they have no words for prayer and praise usually have plenty when time comes to complain. May our prayer, praise, and good cheer “oftener be.”

1. What various hindrances we meet
In coming to a mercy seat!
Yet who that knows the worth of prayer,
But wishes to be often there?

2. Prayer makes the darkened cloud withdraw,
Prayer climbs the ladder Jacob saw;
Gives exercise to faith and love,
Brings every blessing from above.

3. Restraining prayer, we cease to fight;
Prayer makes the Christian’s armour bright;
And Satan trembles when he sees
The weakest saint upon his knees.

4. While Moses stood with arms spread wide,
Success was found on Israel’s side;
But when thro’ weariness they failed,
That moment Amalek prevailed.

5. Have you no words? Ah! think again,
Words flow apace when you complain;
And fill your fellow creature’s ear
With the sad tale of all your care.

6. Were half the breath thus vainly spent,
To Heaven in supplication sent;
Your cheerful song would oftener be,
“Hear what the Lord has done for me!”

Church, Covid, and State

The church in word and by nature is an assembly. While a church may voluntary choose to temporarily comply with certain advice due to health concerns, governmental restrictions against assembly attacks the very nature of the church.

Do black police lives matter

...to violent white protestors in Portland?

Multiple local Black people have been speaking out against the violence, saying the BLM movement has been co-opted by radical protesters.

Among the critics was a Black Portland Police officer who called out the mostly-white protesters for hurling insults at himself and other Black police officers.

“It says something when you’re at a Black Lives Matter protest, you have more minorities on the police side than you have in a violent crowd and you have white people screaming at Black officers,” Officer Jakhary Jackson said in mid-July.

Portland has become the focal point of Black Lives Matter protests in America, but it has a tortured history when it comes to race

In other words, ageusia, amnesia, and anosmia

• Aesopism, noun. A condition, story, practice, or other feature characteristic or reminiscent of Aesop.
• ageusia, noun. Loss or impairment of the sense of taste.
• amnesia, noun. Loss of a large block of interrelated memories; complete or partial loss of memory caused by brain injury, shock, etc.
• anosmia, noun. Absence or loss of the sense of smell.
• bothsidesism, noun. A tendency to treat all policy debates as if the opposing sides present equally strong arguments, or are equally valid or equally dangerous.
• clamber, verb (used with or without object). To climb, using both feet and hands; climb with effort or difficulty.
• coulrophobia, noun. Extreme or irrational fear of clowns.
• ensky, verb. To place in or as if in the heavens; exalt.
• esoteric, adjective. Intended for or likely to be understood by only a small number of people with a specialized knowledge or interest.
• fakement, noun. A scheme or device (typically for some dishonest purpose), a ploy, a dodge, a trick; (sometimes more vaguely) a thing, an item.
• gaiter, noun. A covering of cloth or leather for the ankle and instep and sometimes also the lower leg, worn over the shoe or boot.
• journalism, noun. The activity or profession of writing for newspapers, magazines, or news websites or preparing news to be broadcast.
• micro-cheating, noun. Inappropriate behavior that crosses healthy and expected boundaries in a relationship, but stops short of physical infidelity (e.g. emotional affairs, flirting).
• revanche, noun. The policy of a state intent on regaining areas of its original territory that have been lost to other states as a result of war, a treaty signed under duress, etc.
• social climber, noun. A person who attempts (frequently by means considered disreputable) to attain a higher social status, esp. acceptance in fashionable society, or is anxious to do so.
• social contract, noun. Any mutual agreement between specific persons, groups, or elements within a society.

What Passes for Journalism

journalism, noun. The activity, occupation, or profession of writing for newspapers, magazines, or news websites or preparing news to be broadcast.

Houston doctor Stella Immanuel rapidly became an internet sensation, defending the use of hydroxychloroquine to combat COVID-19. Almost as rapidly she because the brunt of jokes, mocking her weird ideas about reptilians and demon sperm. The latter mockery was not just a fun outing, but designed to invalidate what she said about hydroxychloroquine. What Dr. Immanuel said about hydroxychloroquine is that it works, that all 350 patients she had treated with hydroxychloroquine have survived.

Here’s what I noticed. Anybody with a computer can search and find something strange someone has said. Almost everyone will agree that Dr. Immanuel has said some strange things about various subjects. What a real reporter could do, though, is actually research the actual statement Dr. Immanuel made about the actual subject. In two “demon sperm” articles I read, the authors attacked some weird ideas Dr. Immanuel holds – but DID NOT debunk her claim of helping people with hydroxychloroquine. That is the relevant question to COVID-19. That is what a journalist ought to research and report on. Is that claim valid? Did it work? What has happened with her 350 patients treated with hydroxychloroquine? It is  telling that the authors could not or would not address it.

Why? Dr. Harvey Risch, epidemiology professor at the Yale School of Public Health says, “It’s a political drug now, not a medical drug.” This is largely due to the fact it has been touted by President Donald Trump. I don’t want political reports about medical issues. In real time and real life, what matters me is the accuracy of the doctor’s claim that all 350 patients she had treated with hydroxychloroquine have survived. A mechanic may have some weird ideas about the moon, but can he fix a car? A chef may think chickens are aliens, but can she whip up an excellent chicken cordon bleu?

What passes for journalism in 2021 seems to be political opinion parading as fact.

A Biblical Approach, and other music links

The posting of links does not constitute an endorsement of the sites linked, and not necessarily even agreement with the specific posts linked.

• A Biblical Approach to Worship Music -- “God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.”
• Bluegrass Bridge -- “Richard...had opened the shop in 1999 as a place for veterans to gather and build community.”
• R.E.M., Rolling Stones, Elton John and Dozens of Artists Send Letter Demanding End to Unauthorized Political Use of Music -- “This is not a new problem. Or a partisan one. Every election cycle brings stories of artists and songwriters frustrated to find their work being used...”
• ‘Sacred Harp’ Singing Treats Every Human Voice as Holy -- “In the rural American South, these non-denominational sing-alongs are part of a long musical tradition.”
• Scripture-Formed Music -- “If works of art express particular ways of imagining God, then it is quite possible to express through art an imagination of God that does not correspond to how he chose to communicate himself in Scripture, even if the propositional content of the work of art is technically accurate.”
• The 25 Most Popular Christian Hymns -- “This purpose of this post is to encourage you by sharing classic and modern Christian hymns and their gospel-centered lyrics.”
• The Top 15 Traditional Christian Hymns -- “Music, specifically Christian hymns, it seems to me, has the unique capacity to reach us at an emotional level that few things do.”
• To Make Orchestras More Diverse, End Blind Auditions -- Orchestras used blind auditions to end discrimination; now some want them to end blind auditions to achieve diversity.
• 25 Hymns to Sing in Troubled Times -- “Here are 25 songs to sing in trying times. Though there’s a ton of relevant Christian music out there, I’ve limited myself to hymns suited for congregational singing...”

Plain Gospel, Jesus Died for Me

I could not find any information online about an old cassette tape I have, so I decided to put this online to preserve the information. Someday I would love to find that this is on a CD.

Gospel singing group from Eva, Morgan County, Alabama is called “Plain Gospel.” The title of the tape is “Jesus Died for Me.”

The group members were: 

• Phillip Robinson, tenor
• S. D. Childers, lead
• Barbara Frost, lead
• Gayle Frost, alto
• Charles Frost, bass
• Sandra Childers, piano
• Mike Riddle, bass & guitar

The songs on the cassette tape are:

1. Gloryland
2. Heaven Will Be Mine
3. I Call Him Lord
4. Inside the Gates
5. It’s So Peaceful
6. It’s Still the Blood
7. Jesus Died for Me
8. Light At the River
9. My Best Friend
10. No Other Fountain
11. We’re Just Pilgrims
12. What a Meeting

I did not find a date on the liner notes, but this was probably recorded in the 1980s. It was produced by Dawn Studios/New Morning Asheville, North Carolina.

10 Flavors of Works-Based Salvation, and other links

The posting of links does not constitute an endorsement of the sites linked, and not necessarily even agreement with the specific posts linked.

• 10 Flavors of Works-Based Salvation -- “Well, even people who are ‘not religious’ feel this way—and their feelings are based on some version of being good.”
• Americans tune in to ‘cancel culture’ — and don’t like what they see -- “One of the few things that Barack Obama and Donald Trump agree on is cancel culture.”
• Atlanta Church Splits With SBC for Downplaying Racial Issues -- “Pastor John Onwuchekwa’s decision comes a year after Cornerstone Church received a $175K grant from the denomination to renovate its building.”
• Boston College Again Denies Campus Conservatives’ Request for Their Own Newspaper -- “...students at Boston College were once again denied the opportunity to start a conservative newspaper, due to the fact it was not considered a ‘necessity’.”
• COVID-19: Why You Can’t Compare US Stats to Other Countries’ -- “...in other countries, if someone had a preexisting condition and came to the hospital and died of COVID, it might not be counted as a COVID death, while in the United States, it might.”
• Christianity and Liberalism and Homosexuality -- “Stop making the pretense about the affirmation of Christ as Lord, because it isn’t really Jesus who is Lord. You’re lord. And you’ve used Jesus as a cipher into which you impute your own ideological meaning and make him say, like a marionette puppet, whatever you want him to say.”
• FDA expands hand sanitizer recall to at least 75 brands across the U.S. -- “Ten deaths and dozens of hospitalizations in Arizona and New Mexico are believed to be linked to methanol in hand sanitizers. The cases are also associated with alcohol use disorder.”
• FDA Updates on Hand Sanitizers with Methanol -- “The agency is aware of adults and children ingesting hand sanitizer products contaminated with methanol that has led to recent adverse events including blindness, hospitalizations and death.”
• How to Make Homemade Ice Cream in a Can – Fun for Kids! -- “To make homemade ice cream in a can, you will need two empty and clean metal coffee cans, with the lids.”
• ‘I Can't Do That, Boss’: Texas FedEx Driver Refuses to Help Fallen 89-Year-Old -- “A FedEx delivery driver refused to assist an 89-year-old man asking for help after he had fallen on a porch in Freeport, Texas, on July 18.”
• Reflections on ‘One Assembly’ and the Immigrant Church -- “...immigrant churches deal with the added challenge of operating in multiple cultures and languages. Immigrant churches often confront this challenge by establishing multiple services in multiple languages.”
• The Past is a Foreign Country -- “The immortal first line to L. P. Hartley’s The Go-Between wistfully condenses the problems inherent to memory and history.”
• The Requirements for a Pastor -- “The list below primarily follows the list in 1 Timothy 3:1–7 and adds what is left from Titus 1:5–9 and 1 Peter 5:1–4. The list is categorized into four types of requirements—family, character, ability, and circumstances.”
• UPDATE: Arrests Made In Frostproof Triple Murder Massacre Of 3 Friends Fishing -- “After the brutal killings, the three suspects drove to McDonald’s, where they
• ordered 10 double cheeseburgers, and two McChicken sandwiches. They went home to eat.”
• Walled Lake teacher says Trump tweets led to firing; school district denies it -- “But he noted that other teachers have tweeted negative opinions against Trump and haven't received the same censure.”
• Why It Seems Like Bullies Are Everywhere—and How to Stop Them -- “People tried to push each other around before the pandemic. But lately it seems as if the bullies are taking over.”
• Woman Shot Dead After Following Community Leader’s Advice To Settle Disputes With Rioters Without Police -- “The victim, 33-year-old Shatavia Walls, was following the advice of Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams to try resolving non-violent disputes through “community policing,” which does not involve calling actual police officers...”

Theology is a cat’s cradle

“As an activity, theology is a cat’s cradle [something that is intricate, complicated, or elaborate] of interrelated though distinct disciplines: elucidating texts (exegesis), synthesizing what they say on the things they deal with (biblical theology), seeing how the faith was stated in the past (historical theology), formulating it for today (systematic theology), finding its implications for conduct (ethics), commending and defending it as truth and wisdom (apologetics), defining the Christian task in the world (missiology), stockpiling resources for life in Christ (spirituality) and corporate worship (liturgy), and exploring ministry (practical theology).”

J. I. Packer (1926–2020)

“Tolerance is the last virtue of a depraved society. When you have an immoral society that has blatantly, proudly, violated all of the commandments of God, there is one last virtue they insist upon: tolerance for their immorality.”

D. James Kennedy (1930-2007)

I sing the mighty pow’r of God

1. I sing the mighty pow’r of God,
That made the mountains rise,
That spread the flowing seas abroad,
And built the lofty skies.

2. I sing the wisdom that ordained
The sun to rule the day;
The moon shines full at His command,
And all the stars obey.

3. I sing the goodness of the Lord,
Who filled the earth with food,
Who formed the creatures through the Word,
And then pronounced them good.

4. Lord, how Thy wonders are displayed,
Where’er I turn my eye,
If I survey the ground I tread,
Or gaze upon the sky.

5. There’s not a plant or flow’r below,
But makes Thy glories known,
And clouds arise, and tempests blow,
By order from Thy throne;

6. While all that borrows life from Thee
Is ever in Thy care;
And everywhere that we can be,
Thou, God, art present there.

Hymn written by Isaac Watts

Jeremiah 10:12-13
He hath made the earth by his power, he hath established the world by his wisdom, and hath stretched out the heavens by his discretion. When he uttereth his voice, there is a multitude of waters in the heavens, and he causeth the vapours to ascend from the ends of the earth; he maketh lightnings with rain, and bringeth forth the wind out of his treasures.

To dismiss grief, and other quotes

The posting of quotes by human authors does not constitute agreement with either the quotes or their sources. (I try to confirm the sources that I give, but may miss on occasion; please verify when possible.)

“To dismiss grief is to forfeit growth.” -- Luke Martinez

“What feels like rejection is often God’s protection when your heading in the wrong direction.” -- Donna Partow

“The greatest good that God intends for his people, he many times works out of the greatest evil.” -- Jeremiah Burroughs

“Men are not to be flattered in their sinful ways because they prosper in the world, but even then must be faithfully reproved, and plainly told that their prosperity will not be their security, nor will it last long if they go on still in their trespasses.” -- Matthew Henry

“We must recognize that God is at the heart of things and that we exist for his glory, that is to say, we exist for him, not he for us.” -- J. I. Packer

“Good judgment comes from experience; a lot of experience comes from bad judgment!” -- Unknown

“We come to worship, we stand to praise God, we kneel to confess our sins, we sit to receive the Word and the elements, and then we go to bring Christ’s love to the world.” -- Scott Sunquist

“The safest place in all the world is in the will of God, and the safest protection in all the world is the name of God.” -- Warren Wiersbe

“Legalism lack the supreme sense of worship. It obeys but it does not adore.” -- Geerhardus Vos

“In prayer it is better to have a heart without words than words without a heart.” -- John Bunyan

“It doesn’t take a strong person to carry a grudge.” -- Unknown 

In other words, howcatchem and whodunit

• bastille, noun. A fortified encampment of a besieging army; any of the buildings comprising this.
• Christophobia, noun. The irrational fear or hatred of Christianity or Christians; intolerance of, hostility towards, or discrimination against Christians.
• cultural appropriation, noun. The adoption or co-opting, usually without acknowledgment, of cultural identity markers associated with or originating in minority communities by people or communities with a relatively privileged status.
• derelict, adjective. Abandoned especially by the owner or occupant; also, run-down.
• don’t-carishness, noun. The quality of not caring; carelessness, indifference, unconcern.
• dystopia, noun. A society characterized by human misery, as squalor, oppression, disease, and overcrowding.
• howcatchem, noun Informal. A narrative which begins by showing or describing the commission of the crime, revealing the perpetrator’s identity, the plot shows or describes how the detective proves the perpetrator’s guilt; an inverted detective story.
• indict, verb (transitive). To charge with a crime by the finding or presentment of a jury (such as a grand jury) in due form of law; to charge with a fault or offense.
• indite, verb (transitive). Compose, make up; to give literary or formal expression to; to put down in writing.
• nomen sacrum, noun. Any of various words of particular religious significance given a standard contracted form by early Christian scribes; the contracted form itself (sacred name, a borrowing from Latin).
• pacation, noun. The act of pacifying or appeasing.
• placate, verb ( with object). To appease or pacify, especially by concessions or conciliatory gestures.
• psithurism, noun. The sound of rustling leaves.
• risible, adjective. Causing or capable of causing laughter; laughable; ludicrous.
• satisdiction, noun. The action of saying enough.
• sheeple, noun (functioning as plural) Informal. People who tend to follow the majority in matters of opinion, taste, etc.
• staycation, noun. A holiday spent at home or in one’s country of residence.
• whodunit, noun Informal. A narrative dealing with a murder or a series of murders and the detection of the criminal, emphasizing search for the perpetrator; detective story.

Parental Authority in Education

Some want to make a black Michigan teenager the new face of systemic racism. The case involves A Teenager Didn’t Do Her Online Schoolwork. So a Judge Sent Her to Juvenile Detention. “Because of the confidentiality of juvenile court cases, it’s impossible to determine how unusual Grace’s situation is. But attorneys and advocates in Michigan and elsewhere say they are unaware of any other case involving the detention of a child for failing to meet academic requirements after schools closed to help stop the spread of COVID-19.” The case is a little more involved than just that. The fact that the teenager was already on probation is also involved. A judge ruled that her not completing her schoolwork violated her terms of probation. Recently the Judge denied release of teen girl who was jailed after not doing homework. Whether it is an actual case of racism is open to question. Everything that happens to a person who is black does not mean it happened because he or she is black.

All that said, that this should happen is a result of the liberal Left mentality that the state rather than the parent has the authority in and is responsible for a child’s education. This should not have happened, but, in my opinion, this is an outgrowth of the educational philosophy of the very people who are decrying it. For example, political commentator Melissa Harris-Perry says, “We have to break through our kind of private idea that kids belong to their parents or kids belong to their families and recognize that kids belong to whole communities.” On the other hand, some philosphies view parents as having authority “because they have special obligations to their children.” New Testament Christians understand parental authority to rear and educate their children as a special obligation entrusted to them by God. “Children, obey your parents in all things: for this is well pleasing unto the Lord.” Colossians 3:20

Open and shut

Open and Shut: a Study in 2 Kings 6:8-23

The king of Syria frustrated verses 8-12

The king of Syria took steps to encroach on the territory of and defeat his enemy the king of Israel. In counsel with his servants, he planned encampments in which his army would lay a trap for the armies of Israel. These “best laid plans” came to naught, however. God revealed to Elisha the plans, and Elisha relayed the plans to the king of Israel (cf. Amos 3:7). By the Lord’s revelation, the king of Israel saved himself, his armies, and his kingdom. Jehoram of Israel was a wicked king who “wrought evil in the sight of the Lord.” Though he did not serve Baal, he condoned and practice the worship of the calf idols that king Jeroboam had made 2 Kings 3:1-3. Elisha, nevertheless, remained a dutiful citizen of his country, both serving God and honoring the king (1 Peter 2:17).[i]

His plans were frustrated with such consistency that the king of Syria suspected a spy in his midst. There was no spy among them – just a prophet in Israel to whom God revealed “the words that thou speakest in thy bedchamber.”

He disappointeth the devices of the crafty, so that their hands cannot perform their enterprise. (Job 5:12)

The man of God protected verses 13-17

If the prophet is the problem, then the king must send an army to fetch him. He sent horses, chariots, and a great host of soldiers to Dothan to capture Elisha. Perhaps the king never considered that the prophet, who knew his private words in planning military ambushes, might also know his secret plans to capture him! Alternatively, perhaps he just thought he had to try something. They surrounded the city, under cover of darkness, preparing to take Elisha.

Elisha’s servant awoke early, saw the siege of soldiers, and was struck with fear. Elisha was not awash in the same fear. His spiritual eyes saw the protection of God, and he prayed for the same for his servant. When the servant’s spiritual eyes were opened, he saw a host of angels surrounding and defending them (cf. Psalms 34:7; Hebrews 1:7,14). He saw them as comparable to (horses and chariots), as well as more powerful than (of fire) the host of the Syrians.

Fear not: for they that be with us are more than they that be with them. (cf. 1 John 4:4)

The army of Syria maneuvered verses 18-20

The prophet who prayed to God to open his servant’s eyes now prayed to God to close the Syrians’ eyes – “Smite this people, I pray thee, with blindness.” God answered Elisha’s prayer. Elisha then told the soldiers to follow him and he would reveal the man whom they sought. The Syrians were confused and confounded, but apparently not aware that they were blind. They could “see” to follow Elisha away from Dothan to Samaria. This sort of blindness Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown called “a mental hallucination.” The blind are easily deceived – yet all too often, the spiritually blind think they see the most and see the best! Elisha had maneuvered them just where he wanted them.

Once in Samaria, Elisha prayed to the Lord, “Open the eyes of these men.” God answered. They saw. What they saw was they were in in the midst of the capital city of Israel, Samaria, in the presence of the king of Israel and his host. No doubt, it is they who are now surrounded!

Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart (Ephesians 4:18)

The army of Syria protected verses 20-23

The king of Israel displays the glee of a child rather than the composure of a king. He wished to enjoy that on which he had not laboured (Jonah 4:10). He wished to smite an army he had not captured, even asking twice. Elisha quickly remonstrated, reminding the king he would not normally execute those he has captured in battle.[ii]

Elisha went beyond expectations. He demonstrated compassion to the very host intent on capturing him. He helped the helpless; he saved those without strength (Job 26:2; Romans 5:6). Elisha saw to it that the Syrians were protected, provided for, and eventually even liberated Proverbs 25:21). “When he had them at his mercy he made it appear that he was influenced by a divine goodness as well as a divine power.”[iii]

Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you (Matthew 5:44)

The sovereign creator God of the Bible reveals secrets unto his servants the prophets; forsakes not his saints; opens & none shall shut and shuts & none shall open; and has mercy on whom he will have mercy.

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[i] Elisha had, however, earlier expressed great distaste over the idolatry of the king (2 Kings 3:13-14).

[ii] Though on some occasions war criminals were executed, the law provided for taking prisoners of war (Deuteronomy 20:10-11; Deuteronomy 21:10).

[iii] Matthew Henry, in his commentary on II Kings.