In other words, to zed

• adorbs, adjective. (Informal) Inspiring great delight; charming, cute, or adorable (e.g., totes adorbs is slang  for totally adorable).
• blagging, noun (Caribbean). An informal conversation in a public place, often deceitful.
• catchword, noun. A word under the right-hand side of the last line on a book page that repeats the first word on the following page; a word printed or placed so as to attract attention.
• emprise, noun. An adventurous enterprise; knightly daring or prowess.
• fabulate, verb (used without object). To tell invented stories; create fables or stories filled with fantasy.
• feculence, noun. The accumulation of dirt, sediment, or waste matter.
• flatulence, noun. The accumulation of gas in the alimentary canal; inflated or pretentious speech or writing; pomposity.
• internecine, adjective. Destructive to both sides in a conflict; relating to conflict within a group or organization.
• lionize, verb. Give a lot of public attention and approval to (someone); treat as a celebrity.
• phantasmagoric, adjective. Having a fantastic or deceptive appearance; having the appearance of an optical illusion; changing or shifting, as a scene made up of many elements.
• philological, adjective. Related to or having to do with the branch of knowledge that deals with the structure, historical development, and relationships of a language or languages.
• pilcrow, noun. A symbol (e.g. ¶) used to mark a new paragraph or section of text.
• pore, verb. (intransitive) To gaze intently; to read or study attentively; to reflect or meditate steadily.
• stagflation, noun. Persistent high inflation, high unemployment, and stagnant demand in a country’s economy.
• Tarmac, noun. A brand of bituminous binder, similar to tarmacadam, used for surfacing roads or other outdoor areas, consisting of crushed rock mixed with tar; (lower case) a runway or other area surfaced with tarmac.
• typography, noun. The style and appearance of printed matter.
• zed, noun. (chiefly British) The letter z.

Constructing a biblical theology

“...the believers’ churches have never really been noted for their contributions to the scholastic artistry of summa theologia. This is not so much a failure as a continual rebuke to the aridity to which academic theology is too commonly subject...the focus of the believers’ church theologian is upon the church rather than the academy. And the church is busy about reading the Bible and living from it. Indeed, the undisciplined evangelical academy is recognized for what it has imported into the church, an unbiblical order...In the believers’ churches the idea that constructing a biblical theology is the responsibility of every believer is accompanied by the idea that theological judgment is best carried out by the church.”

Malcolm Yarnell III in The Formation of Christian Doctrine, pp. 76-77.

Love of Jesus

The author of this hymn, William Edensor Littlewood, was the son of George Littlewood and Catherine Stothart, born August 2, 1831, and died September 3, 1886. He married Laetitia Thornton and they had several children. According to John Julian in his Dictionary of Hymnology, Littlewood was educated at Pembroke College, Cambridge, and served as Vicar of St. James, Bath, from 1872 to 1881, resigning because of his wife’s ill health.
 
The hymn first appeared in A Garland from the Parables in 1858. It is Hymn XXVI on page 56, with the heading from the text of John 10:11 - “I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.”
 
1. There is no love like the love of Jesus,
Never to fade or fall
’Till into the rest of the house of God
He has gathered us all!
 
2. There is no heart like the heart of Jesus,
Filled with a tender lore;
No throb nor throe that our hearts can know;
But he suffered before!
 
3. There is no eye like the eye of Jesus,
Piercing far away;
Never out of the sight of its tender light
Can the wanderer stray!
 
4. There is no voice like the voice of Jesus,
Ah! how sweet its chime;
Like musical ring of some rushing spring
In the bright summer-time!
 
5. O might we listen to the voice of Jesus!
O might we never roam;
’Till our souls should rest in peace on his breast,
In the heavenly home!

The following chorus or refrain appears with the hymn in Songs of Salvation by Theodore E. Perkins and Alfred Taylor, but not in A Garland from the Parables. Perkins, who wrote the tune, likely wrote or added the chorus. In Songs of Salvation, the song is titled Love of Jesus and associated with John 15:13a, “Greater love hath no man than this...”

Jesus’ love, precious love,
Boundless, and pure, and free;
Oh, turn to that love, weary wand’ring soul;
Jesus pleadeth for thee.

Ballot Harvesting, 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.

• Abortion Trends by Gender -- “The second set of graphs displays men’s and women’s self-identification since 1995 as ‘pro-choice’ vs. ‘pro-life’ on the abortion issue.”
• Ballot Harvesting, the Big Lie, and the 2020 Election -- “...ballot harvesting occurs when operatives essentially vote for massive numbers of people who would not vote otherwise. They fill out the ballots for people who would not vote.”
• Breakthrough: Researchers Identify Possible Cause Of Deadly SIDS Infants’ Disease -- “Dr. Carmel Harrington, who has a PHD in Sleep Medicine from Sydney University in Australia, lost her two-year-old son Damien to SIDS in 1991.”
• Folk’s Golden Hour -- “Buffalo Bill made a fortune and built his Wild West show into an international empire by following one simple rule: Perform where people are already gathering.”
• Hackers fool major tech companies into handing over data of women and minors to abuse -- “Some major tech companies have unwittingly opened harassment and exploitation opportunities to the women and children...because they provided information in response to emergency data requests from law enforcement accounts that hackers had compromised.”
• Jigsaw Puzzles: Piecing Together Headstone -- “While we were getting some shade, it was obvious there were stone pieces all around us. Some just above the soil line, some that one would never see without digging.”
• NPR’s Totenberg Claims The “Leading Theory” is that the Leaker is a Conservative Clerk -- “However, we do not know what evidence is available to investigators and Totenberg does not claim such knowledge.”
• Remembering Bo Pilgrim -- “Bo and his brother Aubrey started Pilgrim’s Pride in 1946 when they opened a feed store in Pittsburg, Texas. Bo became CEO after Aubrey’s death in 1966.”
• Right on Rain -- “Skeptics may scoff, but whenever purple flowers appear on this neighborhood shrub, wet stuff happens.”
• Roe Leak Explodes in Dems’ Faces - 1st Poll After SCOTUS Report Shows GOP Lead Soars, Tied for 25-Year High -- “The leak of a draft Supreme Court opinion that would overturn Roe v. Wade and return the issue of legalized abortion to the individual state legislatures was supposed to energize Democrats ahead of the midterms.”
• Spurgeon on the Martyrdom of John the Baptist -- “John did not mince matters, or leave the question alone. What was a king to him, if that king trampled on the law of God?”
• The Evangelical Mob -- “So pastors and professors, fearful of the mob have remained in their academic domiciles, intimidated by the Academy or Church that will have them fired if they speak against them.”
• The Unravelling of an Expert on Serial Killers -- “Can you imagine yourself in a long hallway? Each time you open a door, behind it there’s another door. That’s how many lies there were.”
• Why you should be taking security advice from your grandmother -- “Older folks are dodging COVID-19 scams and all sorts of other shenanigans. Meanwhile, the news is definitely not as good the lower down the age slide we go.”

Do 2 Samuel 10:18 and 1 Chronicles 19:18 contradict?

Q. Do 2 Samuel 10:18 and 1 Chronicles 19:18 contradict?

2 Samuel 10:18 “And the Syrians fled before Israel; and David slew the men of seven hundred chariots of the Syrians, and forty thousand horsemen, and smote Shobach the captain of their host, who died there.”

1 Chronicles 19:18 “But the Syrians fled before Israel; and David slew of the Syrians seven thousand men which fought in chariots, and forty thousand footmen, and killed Shophach the captain of the host.”

A. The two verses do not contradict, though it may appear so without due consideration.  2 Samuel 10:18 describes the deaths of an unspecified number of men who rode in “seven hundred chariots.”  1 Chronicles 19:18 describes the deaths of “seven thousand men” who rode in an unspecified number of chariots.  In other words, 2 Samuel 10:18 gives the number of chariots and 1 Chronicles 19:18 gives the number of men.

• 2 Samuel 10:18 describes the number of chariots, 700. The men of seven hundred chariots.
• 1 Chronicles 19:18 describes the number of men, 7000. Seven thousand men which fought in chariots.

Another comparison, 2 Samuel 8:4 and 1 Chronicles 18:4

“And David took from him a thousand chariots, and seven hundred horsemen, and twenty thousand footmen: and David houghed all the chariot horses, but reserved of them for an hundred chariots..” 2 Samuel 8:4

“And David took from him a thousand chariots, and seven thousand horsemen, and twenty thousand footmen: David also houghed all the chariot horses, but reserved of them an hundred chariots.” 1 Chronicles 18:4

Thoughts of others

John Gill’s Commentary on 2 Samuel 8:4 - here are meant the ranks and companies of horses David took, which were seven hundred; and these having ten in a company or rank, made seven thousand; and there the complement of soldiers in those companies and ranks are intended.

Matthew Poole’s Annotations on 2 Samuel 8:4 - Seven hundred horsemen; Or, seven hundred companies of horsemen, that is, in all seven thousand; as it is 1 Chronicles 18:4, there being ten in each company, and each ten having a ruler or captain.

Another comparison, 1 Kings 4:26 and 2 Chronicles 9:25

“And Solomon had forty thousand stalls of horses for his chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen. 1 Kings 4:26 

“And Solomon had four thousand stalls for horses and chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen; whom he bestowed in the chariot cities, and with the king at Jerusalem.” 2 Chronicles 9:25

This shows that Solomon had 40,000 stalls for the horses of his chariots and he had 4,000 stalls for teams of horse and chariot together. That comparison shows a string of 10 horses per chariot.

Tyndale’s biblical archaism

For his translation of the New Testament, William Tyndale revived archaic pronoun and verb ending usage. Here is a quote from The Diachrony of Written Language Contact: A Contrastive Approach by Nikolaos Lavidas (Brill Academic Publishing, 2021, p. 41), which I think makes the same point.

“Tyndale’s texts, translations and polemical texts, contains examples of syntactic archaisms (Canon 2016), that is, borrowings and re-introductions of obsolete forms from an earlier period of the language—what one would characterize as evidence of a type of written contact with earlier forms of English. One such example is the use of the early/archaic second person singular and plural pronouns in Tyndale’s texts: the second person plural pronoun had begun to appear in all, singular and plural, contexts in Early Middle English. Tyndale used the verbal forms for second singular and plural number productively, as well as the distinction between the subject pronoun ye and the object pronoun you, following earlier texts. However, the first attestations of the nominative you, instead of ye, appeared in the 14th century and was productively used in the literary language by the 1540s.”

This settled into English Bibles the precision of grammar present in the Greek New Testament (and later, Old Testament Hebrew as well). The valuable decision of Tyndale remains for our benefit in the King James Version.

[Note: The “Canon” reference is to a journal article: Elizabeth Bell Canon, “Buried Treasure in the Tyndale Corpus: Innovations and Archaisms,” Anglica, an International Journal of English Studies, 2016, 25/2, pp. 151-165.]

Writings of Edward Freer Hills

This began as an effort to document the writings of E. F. Hills. I decided there should be a brief bit of biography.

Biography

Edward Freer Hills (1912–1981) was a preacher and scholar in the Presbyterian & Reformed tradition. He is perhaps best remembered as a defender of the Textus Receptus or Greek Received Text of the New Testament.

Hills pastored Presbyterian churches at Handsboro and Ocean Springs, Mississippi in the late 1940s and early 1950s, as well as Crossroads Fellowship Christian Reformed Church (then known as Des Moines Christian Reformed Church) from 1954 to 1962. He also served as president of Iowans for Moral Education (Des Moines Register, October 29, 1979, p. 3A).

Edward F. Hills died in December of 1981 and is buried at the Glendale Cemetery at Des Moines, Polk County, Iowa.

Writings

• “The Teaching of the Scriptures concerning Slavery: the Attitude of the Church toward it, and their Significance for Present-day Social Problems,” Edward F. Hills, ThM Dissertation, Columbia Theological Seminary, 1941
• “The Caesarean Family of New Testament Manuscripts,” Edward F. Hills, ThD Dissertation, Harvard University, 1946.
• “Harmonizations in the Caesarean Text of Mark,” Edward F. Hills, Journal of Biblical Literature, Vol. 66, No. 2 (June, 1947), pp. 135-152
• “The Inter-Relationship of the Caesarean Manuscripts,” Edward F. Hills, Journal of Biblical Literature, Vol. 68, No. 2 (June, 1949), pp. 141-159
• “A New Approach to the Old Egyptian Text,” Edward F. Hills, Journal of Biblical Literature, Vol. 69, No. 4 (December, 1950), pp. 345-362
• The King James Version Defended: A Christian View of the New Testament Manuscripts, Edward F. Hills, Des Moines, IA: Christian Research Press, 1956
• Space Age Science, Edward F. Hills, Des Moines, IA: Christian Research Press, 1964
• Believing Bible Study, Edward F. Hills, Des Moines, IA: Christian Research Press, 1967
• Evolution in the Space Age, Edward F. Hills, Des Moines, IA: Christian Research Press, 1967
• “Introduction” (pp. 17-67) and “Bibliographical notes” (pp. 69-72), Edward F. Hills in The Last Twelve Verses of the Gospel according to S. Mark, John William Burgon, Grand Rapids, MI: Associated Publishers and Authors, circa 1971
• “A History of My Defense of the King James Version,” Edward F. Hills, published in The Burning Bush, Volume 4, Number 2 (July 1998)
• Text and Time: A Reformed Approach to New Testament Textual Criticism, Edward F. Hills, Mary E. Hills Mueller (editor), Ankeny, IA: Christian Research Press, 2018 (Kindle Edition with original title; same book as The King James Version Defended)

Des Moines Register, December 28, 1979, p. 4C

See also Forgotten Pilgrim of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church and Edward Freer Hill’s Contribution to the Revival of the Ecclesiastical Text by Theodore P. Letis (Emory University, Philadelphia, PA: Institute for Renaissance and Reformation Biblical Studies, 1987).

Old Testament verses in Syriac/Aramaic

Q. Are there verses in the Old Testament that are written in a language other than Hebrew?

A. Yes. Some texts in the Old Testament are in Syriac, more commonly called Aramaic today.

According to language experts, the earliest inscriptions in the Syriac or Aramaic language use the Phoenician alphabet. Over time it developed into the square style we know as the Hebrew alphabet. I would illustrate the biblical Syriac as somewhat like our reading something in English, then running across a portion in Latin, Spanish, or such like – using the same alphabetical letters but with different vocabulary.

There are four undisputed passages of the Old Testament written in Syriac/Aramaic:

• Ezra 4:8–6:18. This passage begins with a letter written to King Artaxerxes (“Rehum the chancellor and Shimshai the scribe wrote a letter against Jerusalem to Artaxerxes the king”), followed by other letters and official documents. Ezra includes some of the narrative in this language as well. 
• Ezra 7:12-26. This writing in Syriac is a copy of the letter that King Artaxerxes gave unto Ezra, which Ezra inserted into the record.
• Jeremiah 10:11. This is the only verse in Syriac in the book of Jeremiah. This warning is one sentence that occurs in the midst of Hebrew text. This certainly would have grabbed their attention.
• Daniel 2:4b–7:28. This section includes five stories about Daniel and his friends, as well as a prophetic vision (chapter 7).

In addition, these words are considered Syriac/Aramaic words, and some researchers might suggest and include a few others.

• Genesis 31:47 – translation of a Hebrew place name, Jegar-sahadutha (Syriac) versus Galeed (Hebrew).
• Proverbs 31:2 – the Syriac word “bar” is used instead of the Hebrew word “ben”, both of which mean “son”.

It is correct that some of the Old Testament is written in Syriac/Aramaic rather than Hebrew – though this constitutes only a small portion of the total. Though no passages (sentences, paragraphs, chapters) of the New Testament are written in Syriac/Aramaic, it does include some words and phrases – including Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani (Matthew 27:46), Talitha cumi (Mark 5:41), and Maranatha (1 Corinthians 16:22). This creates an appealing affinity of Syriac as a “second language” of both the Old and New Testaments.

Are You Being Tracked, 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.

• Are You Being Tracked by an AirTag? Here’s How to Check -- “The best way to disable an AirTag is to remove the battery. To do this, flip the AirTag so the metallic side with an Apple logo is facing you...”
• Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy: Due for an Update, or Doomed from the Start? -- “Any who are concerned about the changes that may be coming to the Chicago Statement should also take some time to consider whether its statement on biblical authority was sufficient in the first place.”
• Community Crusader -- “Dad was probably most proud when the Texas Gulf Coast Press awarded him first place for editorial writing.”
• Excavations reveal huge underground city in Turkey’s Mardin -- “Matiate has been used uninterruptedly for 1,900 years. It was first built as a hiding place or escape area.”
• Hunter Biden Laptop Whistleblower Sues Schiff, CNN, the Daily Beast, Politico -- “Mac Isaac said he came into possession of the laptop when President Biden’s son Hunter dropped it off at his shop for repairs in April 2019 and never came back to claim it.”
• Idaho law students file suit after university punishes them for their religious beliefs -- “Students of all religious and ideological stripes must be free to discuss and debate the important issues of our day, especially law students who are preparing for a career that requires civil dialogue among differing viewpoints”
• Pro-Life Group Attacked In Wisconsin -- “No one from the organization was in the building at the time of the attack, which included a Molotov cocktail that was thrown through a window and failed to ignite.”
• She told her Christian college she was raped. Then she was banned from campus. -- “When Mara Louk told an administrator at Visible Music College, where she was a senior, that a male classmate had choked and raped her last November, she expected that school officials would help her file a police report...”
• The First Amendment Option: An Easy Way For Musk To Restore Free Speech on Twitter -- “Now this market has one major competitor selling a free speech product. The fear is that Musk might be proven right and that Twitter could become larger and more profitable by allowing more free speech.”
• ‘They Effectively Endorsed It’: White House Dragged For Failing To Condemn Protests At Justices’ Homes -- “This is against the law. The White House refused to condemn this. They effectively endorsed it.”
• Tulsi Gabbard Connects The Dots Between What Obama Wants And What Biden Does -- “Biden is just a front man. Obama, April 21: social media censors ‘don’t go far enough,’ so the government needs to step in to do the job. Six days later, Homeland Security rolls out the ‘Ministry of Truth’ (aka Disinformation Governance Board).”
• Update: Jack Schaap Early Release -- “On May 4th, 2022 convicted sex offender Jack Schaap was given an early release. This has been confirmed by a phone call to the federal correction institute in KY where he was incarcerated.”
• What Americans Really Think about Abortion -- “Meanwhile, polls that ask Americans for their views on specific abortion policies tend to find that most Americans disagree with the status quo created by the Court in Roe and Doe v. Bolton and bolstered in Casey...”

Nothing added or taken away

“The holy Scriptures...being of such perfection, that nothing may be added unto them, nor any thing taken away from them: of such infallible certainty, that heaven and earth shal sooner passe away, than one tittle fall to the ground: so pleasant and delightfull, that they exceed the hony and the honycombe: and so profitable that no treasures may be compared unto them: seeing they are able to make us wiser than our enemies, than the aged, than our teachers; to make us wise unto salvation, to give us an inheritance among them that are sanctified: nay, able to save our soules.”

From the Dedication to Robert, Lord Rich, Baron of Leeze, by Rodolfe Cudworth, in A Commentarie or Exposition upon the Five First Chapters of the Epistle to the Galatians, William Perkins, p. 154 (contained in The Works of That Famous and Worthy Minister of Christ in the University of Cambridge, M. William Perkins. The Second Volume, London: John Legatt, 1631)

Savior, Breathe an Evening Blessing

Savior, Breathe an Evening Blessing, by James Edmeston in 1820.

1. Saviour, breathe an evening blessing,
Ere repose our spirits seal;
Sin and want we come confessing;
Thou canst save, and thou canst heal.

2. Though the night be dark and dreary,
Darkness cannot hide from thee;
Thou art he who, never weary,
Watchest where thy people be.

3. Though destruction walk around us,
Though the arrow past us fly,
Angel guards from thee surround us,
We are safe if thou art nigh.

4. Should swift death this night o’ertake us,
And our couch become our tomb,
May the morn of glory wake us,
Clad in light and deathless bloom.

Beware of hurried prayers, 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 if possible.)

“Faith and repentance can be distinguished, but cannot be disentangled or divided, and no one should attempt to do so.” -- Jeremy Walker

“He who kneels the most, stands best.” -- D. L. Moody

“The church of God can be established only where the Word of God rules.” -- John Calvin

“May we then have the courage to make students unfit for the modern world.” -- Richard M. Gamble

“Success is serving and doing and being where God wants you; it could be in India preaching to thousands or a small assembly of eight in Possum Trot, Kentucky.” -- Mike Slone

“Toxic femininity has made the womb a war zone and children are the victims.” -- Lila Rose

“Progressive Christianity is a doorway out of Christianity.” -- Mike Winger

“I try not to pick fights, but I do finish them.” -- Elon Musk

“The trouble about always trying to preserve the health of the body is that it is so difficult to do it with out destroying the health of the mind. Health is the most unhealthy of topics.” -- Gilbert K. Chesterton in Come to Think of It

“Health is not valued till sickness comes.” -- Thomas Fuller

“Free speech is the oxygen that liberty and freedom must have to survive, if a society wants to be or remain free.” -- Unknown

“Free speech is the oxygen of democracy. Without it freedom suffocates and dies.” -- Unknown

“Proclaim the truth and do not be silent through fear.” -- Catherine of Siena

“On other people’s graves it is written, ‘Here lies so-and-so,’ but of Christ’s tomb it is recorded, ‘He is not here.’” -- C. H. Spurgeon

“Beware of perpetual hurried prayers, hurried Bible-reading, hurried church-going, hurried communions.” -- J. C. Ryle

In other words, eminently imminent

• betide, verb. Happen, or happen to.
• contronym, noun. A word with two opposite meanings.
• credent, adjective. (Archaic) Believing; credible.
• eminent, adjective. High in station, rank, or repute; prominent; distinguished; conspicuous, signal, or noteworthy.
• grasshoppering, noun. With allusion to the fable of the ant and the grasshopper: the practice of living in a frivolous manner, without planning or preparing for the future; the improvident passing or wasting of time.
• imminent, adjective. Likely to occur at any moment; impending.
• income, noun. Money received, especially on a regular basis, for work or through investments.
• interlocutor, noun. One who takes part in dialogue or conversation.
• lagoon, noun. An area of shallow water separated from the sea by low sandy dunes.
• laguna, noun. A bay, inlet, or other narrow or shallow body of water (often used in place names).
• ludology, noun. The study of games and gaming, especially video games.
• ludonarrative dissonance, noun. The conflict between a video game’s narrative told through the story and the narrative told through the gameplay (ludonarrative, a portmanteau of ludology and narrative).
• narrative, noun. A spoken or written account of connected events; a story.
• nonjuring, adjective. Not swearing allegiance (especially, historically, of a member of the Anglican clergy refusing the oath of allegiance to William and Mary and their successors after the Glorious Revolution of 1688).
• outgo, noun. Outlay, expenditure. Frequently opposed to income.
• petrichor, noun. The distinctive scent which accompanies the first rain after a long warm dry spell.
• presbycusis, noun. The gradual loss of hearing in both ears, especially when age-related.
• psithurism, noun. The sound of wind in trees rustling leaves.
• psyop, noun. Military actions designed to influence the perceptions and attitudes of individuals, groups, and foreign governments.
• recidivate, verb. Relapse; (of a convicted criminal) reoffend.
• riposte, noun. A quick, clever reply to an insult or criticism; (In Fencing) a quick return thrust following a parry.
• scrum, noun. (British) A place or situation of confusion and racket; hubbub.
• tradent, noun. One who is responsible for preserving and handing on the oral tradition.

Beware, beware, beware

Philippians 3:2 tells us of three fiends of which to be aware and beware! “Beware of dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of the concision.”

Beware (βλέπετε be) means to be on guard against; be cautious and alert to the dangers of; be wary or careful.

We can understand this of one class of men described in three aspects, cf. Phil. 3:3ff.

• in character, dogs
• in works, evil
• in the spirit, uncircumcised

Notice these texts of scripture:

• τοὺς κύνας Revelation 22:15 For without are dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie. Matthew 7:6; 2 Kings 8:13 (despicable person)
• τοὺς κακοὺς ἐργάτ 2 Corinthians 11:13 For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. workers - They have a zeal, but not according to knowledge.
• τὴν κατατομήν (a cutting off; the cutting in pieces) Ephesians 2:11 Wherefore remember, that ye being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called Uncircumcision by that which is called the Circumcision in the flesh made by hands; Galatians 5:12 I would they were even cut off which trouble you.
• wanting in the inner, spiritual circumcision

May we bravely and cautiously heed Paul’s warning.

Leaked “Queer Inclusive” Presentation

Leaked “Queer Inclusive” Presentation EXPOSES What Kids Are Being Taught in Schools

Matt Walsh: “Leaked audio from a ‘queer inclusive’ presentation at a major education conference reveals exactly what our kids are being subjected to at school.”

The material referenced by Walsh is from a National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS) conference. (Note, independent schools as opposed to public schools.) Listen at your own risk of hearing some vile stuff that many teachers are being trained to do in private schools. Here are at least three takeaways.

1. With this mayhem and madness being foisted on children beginning in preschool, it is no wonder how much gender dysphoria children are now experiencing. “Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.”

2. Don’t think the problem is solved simply by putting children in private and/or religious schools. Many of those teachers are trained in the same places as the public-school teachers. “know them which labour among you”

3. Don’t believe that bills such as the Florida “Parental Rights in Education” bill are not needed just because there are some people who claim this is not happening in our schools. It is happening. This shows it is. “ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”

“A time is coming when men will go mad, and when they see someone who is not mad, they will attack him, saying, ‘You are mad; you are not like us.’”

Hogs and Dogs

2 Peter 2:22

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, by now you have heard of the leaked Supreme Court draft. Politico (a political “journalism” company) leaked it to the public on Monday. Chief Justice John Roberts acknowledged that the leak is of a legitimate draft, and said, “This was a singular and egregious breach of that trust that is an affront to the Court and the community of public servants who work here.” I have a few thoughts. Roberts has directed the Marshal of the United States Supreme Court to investigate the leak.

The leaked document is a draft – unfinished business – despite Politico leading the article with Supreme Court has voted to overturn abortion rights. This may indicate the outcome of Dobbs vs. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, but it is not final or official. It’s not over till it’s over.

This is an unprecedented breath of trust.

Politico should be excoriated for their hypocrisy. They try to provide cover regarding one worldview and try to expose things regarding another worldview. They are not journalists, but political hacks working to promote their own worldview and their associated political outcomes.

Politico and its authors Josh Gerstein & Alexander Ward ought to be ashamed of their lack of integrity (they will not be). The only reason to leak a draft document seems to be to work up enough opposition to frighten the Court into changing their opinion. Courts must provide judgement on the merits of the law, not public opinion.

All the Congress in Washington, D.C., if they have an ounce of integrity, ought to denounce this breach of the America’s trust, regardless of their personal and political opinions about abortion. Many have shown the opposite tact, that they will not let a good “crisis” go to waste.

The Far Left are howling like a hit dog, squealing like a stuck hog, as if this is the end of the world. If the opinion in the draft comes to fruition, it actually only means that the question of abortion goes back where it belongs – to the states. Constitutionally, in the United States, individual states define and dispose of criminal matters such as murder.

Constitutionality aside, killing an innocent life is biblically and morally wrong.

[Note: Josh Gerstein acknowledges that he knows what he is doing to cause controversy, stating, “No draft decision in the modern history of the court has been disclosed publicly while a case was still pending. The unprecedented revelation is bound to intensify the debate over what was already the most controversial case on the docket this term.”]

On the Early Christians and Bible Quotes

I ran across “On the Early Christians and Bible Quotes” report at Academia.edu. In it Mark McCabe researches whether early Patristic Bible quotations support one Greek text-type over another – such as whether the quotes of scripture are Alexandrian versus Byzantine.[i]

McCabe’s purpose.

“This Report seeks to determine the original text of the New Testament as written by the Apostles, as far as is possible, by going back directly to the first non-biblical Christian writings and thereby bypassing not only the oldest extant manuscripts but also the consolidations and harmonisations of the text. By doing so, therefore, this Report seeks to identify the underlying text used and relied on in the early Church, in order to identify which, if any, English translation of the Bible is nearest to the original as written as can be best determined.”

McCabe’s scope.

For his research, McCabe used the writings of thirteen early Christians:

1. Clement of Rome (c. 96 CE)  
2. Ignatius of Antioch (c. 35-107 CE)
3. The Didache or, the Teaching of the Twelve Apostles (c. 50-c. 110 CE)
4. Polycarp of Smyrna (c. 69-c.155 CE)
5. Papias of Hierapolis (c. 100 CE)
6. Epistle of Barnabas (c. 70-c. 131 CE)
7. 2 Clement (c. 95-c. 140 CE)
8. Justin Martyr (c. 100-165 CE)
9. Tatian the Assyrian (c. 120-c. 180 CE)
10. Aristides of Athens (c. 124 CE)
11. Mathetes (c. 130-c. 170 CE)
12. Athenagoras of Athens (c. 133-190 CE)
13. Irenaeus of Lyons (c. 130-c. 202 CE)

“The Greek (or, in some cases, the Latin) of the early Christians writings have been relied on instead, to avoid the bias of translators and to compare text with text directly. Thus, this Report is not concerned with the work of the early Christians in themselves. The original language of the early Christians writings are compared to the Greek of the New Testament, as contained in the Westcott-Hort text of 1881 representing the Alexandrian Text and in the Patriarchal Text of 1912 of the Orthodox Church representing the Byzantine Text.”

McCabe’s conclusions.

35. If one takes all the conclusions and adds them together, the following picture is formed:

(1) over twice as many quotes of the early Christians at an early date are of the Byzantine Text rather than the Alexandrian Text:

(2) the lack of the geographical spread of Alexandrian variants:

(3) the widespread distribution of the Byzantine Text in all decades, by all the early Christians, in all places to the full extent of Mediterranean Christendom:

(4) the systematic absence of the Alexandrian Text in all decades, by some early Christians, in some places in Mediterranean Christendom:

(5) the links in the chain are unbroken for the Byzantine Text in all early Christians, in all places and in all decades, which cannot be said of the Alexandrian Text:

(6) the chain of custody of the Byzantine Text is unbroken through all early Christians, in all places and in all decades, which cannot be said of the Alexandrian Text.

36. All this points to the Byzantine Text being the original text of the autographs written or dictated by the apostles themselves, and it therefore seems more likely than not, more probable than not, indeed virtually certain, that the Byzantine Text is the original text of the autographs.

37. With the constant chain of evidence supporting the Byzantine Text over any other, it appears that the only reasonable inference that can be drawn is that the Byzantine Text is, mindful of and discounting the errors that have crept in over centuries of hand-copying, the direct descendant of the original autographs.

38. The Byzantine Text has been demonstrated to be the original text of the autographs, the text which today underlies the Textus Receptus, which itself underlies the King James Version and the New King James Version. The text underlying all other modern Bibles, the Alexandrian Text, started to be used definitively after around 90 CE, when the readings distinct to that text began to appear.

39. However, one must add a strong word of caution. One is not saying and does not argue that the current text of the Byzantine Text is free from error. Some well-known corruptions have crept into the text over the centuries (such as 1 John 5:7-8). The corruption just mentioned is absent in the leading compilation of the Byzantine Text, the Patriarchal Text, and so the Patriarchal Text must be considered, it seems, the best representative of the Byzantine Text, the text of the autographs. The Patriarchal Text is a compilation of all the manuscripts held in the Orthodox Church’s possession.

This report is dated 2014. I am not in that research loop, but I have not noticed that any text critics have acknowledged McCabe’s work. It seems reasonable to me that the Bible quotes of the earliest Christians should tell us something about the scriptures they possessed.

McCabe is not a conservative, fundamentalist, or Textus Receptus proponent. In the course of his report he indicates he believes there are corruptions in the preserved text, he does not believe that the Bible has been protected by God in a particular text, or that the Bible is infallible. He sees the Bible as a writing of an historical record of religious belief, and does not even consider the canon of the New Testament is closed (i.e., in theory, other apostolic writings could be discovered and added to the biblical canon). Certainly, he is a clear candidate of research in the style of modern textual criticism, working solely from a naturalist academic perspective. However, he seems to contradict some of their own foundational ideas.

---

[i] University of Glasgow, 2014. At Academia.edu, McCabe describes himself as an independent researcher with an honours degree in theology, a graduate of the University of Glasgow, Scotland.

Amazon Targets Conservative Children’s Book, 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.

• Amazon Targets Conservative Children’s Book by Matt Walsh -- “Once again, Amazon has shown it’s on the side of leftist activists, not free speech...Amazon is clearly trying to squash Walsh’s book. ”
• Dort, Westminster, and the Johannine Comma -- “The Synod of Dort and its annotations on the Bible stand as a weighty historical witness to the Comma’s authenticity and usefulness as Scripture regarding a key doctrine about God Himself.”
• How to keep snakes away from your home: What works and what doesn’t. -- “Mothballs absolutely don’t work. I’ve tested them.”
• If Jackson’s SCOTUS grilling angered you, what about Gorsuch, Kavanaugh and Barrett? -- “Apparently, recent letter writers critical of the senators’ questioning have not researched previous confirmation hearings. This toxic and judgmental attitude began at the hearings for Robert Bork and Clarence Thomas.”
• I’m a city girl who moved to a 90-person community in remote Canada. Here are 6 things that surprised me most. -- “I always imagined we’d stay in Beaver Creek for the shortest time possible and move on. But the moment I arrived, I realized this place would change my life.”
• Oklahoma middle school families alarmed over daughters sharing bathroom with transgender student -- “There are biological differences between male and female, and teenage boys should not be given open access to a girls bathroom or locker room”
• Spring clean your machine — you’ll be amazed how much faster your computer will run -- “But before you start moving furniture or mopping floors, here are six ways to spring clean your computer—all without breaking a sweat.”
• Union Primitive Baptist, Org. 1837, Lamar County, Georgia -- “Union Primitive Baptist was established in what was then Monroe County in 1837, on land donated by Benjamin Dumas and two of his sons (one being Elder Edmund Dumas) in the village of Coggans, named for John F. Coggins, a successful planter and businessman.”
• White Principal Claims She Was Bullied Into Quitting After Racist ‘Slip of the Tongue’ -- “During the last training session in June 2021, the lawsuit says Mais accidentally used the term ‘colored people’ instead of ‘people of color’ while making a comment during the presentation.” [Yet it is quite alright to have the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People?]
• Why ‘Cathonomics’ Is Neither Catholic nor Economic -- “The title of the book Cathonomics: How Catholic Tradition Can Create a More Just Economy is intriguing...However...In the name of ‘tradition,’ a Cathonomic hybrid emerges that is a spectacular clash of contraries, which ends up being neither one element nor the other.”
• Why Your Local Church’s History Should Matter to Your Church Members -- “...understanding your church’s history is one way to recount how God has providentially worked amongst a particular group of people.”
• Words Now Being Axed by Scrabble Association To Avoid Offending Anyone -- “The NASPA will ban 226 words that many would find offensive...John McWhorter’s take is that it should be the black players deciding on the words — because if it wasn’t, it was basically white people ‘testifying to their goodness as anti-racists.’”

The shortest prayer

“The shortest prayer, which is not animated by a consciousness of need and a throb of desire, is too long; the longest, which is vitalised by these, is short enough. What becomes of the enormous percentage of public and private prayers, which are mere repetitions, said because they are the right thing to say, because everybody always has said them, and not because the man praying really wants the things he asks for, or expects to get them any the more for asking?” 

Alexander MacLaren

Of the Glory of God in the Starry Heavens

Joseph Addison (1672-1719) wrote the hymn that begins with this line – “The spacious firmament on high.” Its title is, I believe, “Of the Glory of God in the Starry Heavens.” This hymn agrees with and supports the teaching of Psalm 19:1-6. The creation wondrously testifies of the Creator!

1. The spacious firmament on high,
With all the blue ethereal sky,
And spangled heavens (a shining frame!)
Their great Original proclaim.
 
2. Th’ unwearied sun from day to day
Does his Creator’s power display,
And publishes, to every land
The work of an almighty hand.
 
3. Soon as the evening shades prevail
The moon takes up the wondrous tale,
And nightly to the listening earth
Repeats the story of her birth:
 
4. Whilst all the stars that round her burn,
And all the planets in their turn,
Confirm the tidings, as they roll,
And spread the truth from pole to pole.
 
5. What though, in solemn silence, all
Move round the dark terrestrial ball;
What though nor real voice nor sound
Amid their radiant orbs be found?
 
6. In reason’s ear they all rejoice,
And utter forth a glorious voice,
For ever singing, as they shine,
“The hand that made us is divine.”

One early tune paired with this hymn is Kettering. It seems by far its most common pairing is with the tune Creation, adapted or arranged from the works of Franz Josef Haydn. A tune found in The Sacred Harp that I think fits with it nicely is Uxbridge.