April 2005 - Religious News -
Reporting - Biblical Commentary -
Updated Periodically |
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| Intelligence or Negligent Delusions
A big problem with “intellectuals”
and faith is the account we read in Genesis chapter 1. The more
they learn and the more they read the account it seems ludicrous
to them. After the short explanation of what happened, they
cannot understand how the world(s) were created in 6 days.
Forgetting the short account formulates what happened and not
how it happened; the intellectual will stumble upon Evolution.
Even though evolution presents its own problems, at least it
doesn’t claim the world was created in 6 days. It does however
get rid of the blessed Creator who sent His Son to save men. The
question must still be answered, “Where did the world come
from?” Such a simple answer from those who call themselves
experts, even a child would be astounded. A million years ago.
Wow, that’s a long time, indeed anything can happen in that
amount of time. To a child 100 is an exiting number, but as
adults we spend $100 in one ungrateful day.
A million dollars used to be thought unattainable; surely only
chance could get us that amount (i.e. State Lottery). But as
greed surmounts, so does our desire for more; and just when we
turn the bend of buying and selling homes equaling a quarter of
a million dollars and up; a million years doesn’t seem quite
long enough. Our minds begin to grasp that in a million years it
would be impossible for all of this to evolve from a dot. Oops,
now our conscience is crying out louder than ever “There is a
God and I’m responsible to Him.” Hurry, shut it up a while
longer, “The earth is a billion years old.” And a billion more
years is added, in an attempt to sear the conscience as with a
hot iron.
Matt Simonson 4/29/2005 |
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I searched for LOVE
I searched for LOVE in the acronym database and found only one
entry: LOVE -Live Only Virtuous Expressions. It explains:
“living only virtue in expressions, is when one is expressing
what love is” (?). I say, we got trouble in River City and it
starts with an L
and ends with an E which rhymes with T which stands for Tea
Party and that’s with a hare that’s madder than a hat (but
that’s love).
Chris Simonson 4/28/2005 |
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Equipping the saints
I handed the tract to a middle-aged man. “What’s this about?” he
asked, seriously studying the back page. I had already told him
it was about Jesus, so I began to explain how that Jesus Christ
died for our sins, and he stopped me, explaining that he already
knew Christ. He wanted to know what church I was representing
and why I was out on the street passing out tracts that did not
have the name of a church printed at the end of the message. We
run into this all the time. After some lengthy conversation, in
which he showed good grasp of the Scriptures, he made it pretty
clear that we ought to be ought serving a particular church and
inviting people to it, not preaching the gospel and leaving them
on their own. I said that I cannot recommend a particular church
because I’m not sectarian. He said that he had felt the same way
until God had showed him that he must submit under authority to
a church (of our choice, of course), no matter what. I asked him
what was the point? He said that this is how God equips the
saints to do the Lord’s work. I asked him if his church was
equipping him for his ministry. He said it was, sort of. I asked
him what his present ministry was (obviously, he wasn’t downtown
at 10:00 p.m. doing any evangelizing). His reply: “I mow the
yards at the church."
Chris Simonson 4/27/2005 |
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Centered
Many people who say they are Christians are nonetheless centered
on other things besides Jesus Christ. Positions of
anti-abortion, anti-homosexual, anti-liberal, anti-Bush,
anti-Pope, anti-public education, anti-organized church, etc.,
center the individual around something else than the gospel of
Christ. It really doesn’t matter if a person calls himself
pro-life, pro-family, pro-decency, pro-ethics, pro-anything: He
is not concentrating on the gospel. There are many good brothers
and sisters sidetracked by all sorts of seemingly worthwhile
pursuits, but they are deceived. They are deceived by their
churches, their spouses, their friends, their dearest and best
relations. Christ has a message that addresses this, if we will
only hear it: “The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye
is sound, your whole body will be full of light; but if your eye
is not sound, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then
the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness! No one
can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love
the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the
other. You cannot serve God and mammon.” Mammon is funny word.
But we serve it when we seek after the things of this world,
even if we try to compensate for our lack of faith by attacking
something else of this world. Let us center on Christ. He was
hated by the world because he exposed its deeds as evil. We can
do the same only if we abide in Christ. We don’t do this by
attacking everything that moves; we do this by conforming our
lives to his and speaking only his words. That’s enough of a
task in and of itself. We will find ourselves having a word of
grace that salts every sacrifice. But we must not look somewhere
else, even to a ‘cause,’ or we will surely be off balance or
become totally sidetracked.
Chris Simonson 4/26/2005 |
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Does their hypocrisy know no end?
The Catholic Church, known for its hypocrisy, has many friends
in most Protestant churches. She is their mother, for crying
out loud. Anyway, the mourners of the late pope-what’s-his-name
added to the hypocrisy by attending another sham church function
led by the nurturer of sodomites within the Church’s ranks -
Cardinal Law. This would be humorous if it weren’t so deserving
of death. The Vatican hires this lout named Bernard Law, who
has previously resigned because of his indiscretions, to lead
the Mass at pope-what’s-his-name’s funeral. A fitting tribute
to a man who claims to be the Vicar of God. Outside the holy of
holies, a man who had been sodomized by the clergy protested
outside St. Peter’s basilica for the blatant hypocrisy of the
proceedings within, but the local police, bought by the Church,
hauled the criminal off to jail. So, we see that Law prevailed.
The grace of Jesus Christ continued to be trampled by these
perverts who call themselves Christians, while the Baptists and
President Bush mourned for their lost comrade. A woman, Barbara
Blaine, founder of SNAP (Survivors Network or those Abused by
Priests), was also hustled off by the Vatican police when she
attempted to hand out tracts. In all fairness, Cardinal Bernard
Law had apologized to the press for overlooking some things, so
it’s O.K. to sodomize children and apologize afterwards.
Religion of the lost.
Chris Simonson 4/25/05 |
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Sin
Do you ever feel that in your Christian walk as if you cannot
overcome certain sins? It is as if you are on the high seas,
adrift, moving further and further from God, feeling the hot,
afternoon sun beating down on your flesh; thirsty for God's Word
but unable to drink. When you attend Sunday Service, like a
bitter spring on a desert island, they shake your hand and say
"how are you doing?", and you religiously deflect, "I am fine,
thank you; and yourself?" And yet, you attend the service in
order to fill this spiritual vacuum in your soul, though never
being fully edified nor satisfied. How can this be remedied? You
have to trust in the grace of our Lord Jesus and continue to
walk by faith, knowing that God forgave us once for all. I guess
the point is that when you fall down you brush your knees off
and continue to walk, not wallowing in your sin, but confessing
your sins to one another. It is a struggle and it will always be
one, as long as we are on this earth, but His grace is
sufficient. Do we continually sin that grace may abound? No. We
should live as if the Lord is returning today. Just a thought.
Steven 4/22/2005 |
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| The Curse of Comfort
The Scripture says: "Yea, and all
that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.
Notice it says "all that live godly", not some, or just the
poor, but all WILL suffer persecution. That is a tough pill to
swallow, especially when we see very little persecution here in
the United States. In fact, most people I know whom claim faith
in Christ do not suffer any persecution, whatsoever. What gives?
Is the Scripture wrong... or are we just not living godly in
Jesus Christ? I suppose that persecution can come in many forms,
but I do not see many 'christians' suffering even a little; they
actually are doing quite well, economically and politically:
they have their chunk of land with a house, a two car garage,
two incomes, their SUVs, they tithe regularly, go on vacations,
their kids grow up and go to college... they have all their
ducks in a row. They say that god has blessed them and if you
were more diligent, like them, god would bless you with the same
things. But, my thought is, what was good enough for my Lord is
probably good enough for me; as far as the Scriptures say He had
no place to lay His head and as far as monetary gain, He said to
give what we have to the poor, that we may reap treasures in
Heaven. Now, have I given everything I have to the poor?
No, and that is probably why I am not as effective as I could
be. Obedience comes with a price and it depends upon how much of
a price you are willing to pay. Just a thought.
Steven 4/21/05 |
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| A pope in a puff of smoke
Finally, dingy white smoke poured
from the infamous Sistine smokestack, as if to relieve the
pressure inside. Some time later Benedict the 16th popped out of
his cathedral and swilled the crowd with Latin blessings. The
hordes roared and screamed as if they were witnessing a game
winning goal with a hip pity-hop victory dance. German flags
waved furiously like storm troopers in the night and Catholics
all around the world can continue in their sins, knowing that
this holy 'father' will give them indulgences. Greeting the
people, he proudly called himself humble, after becoming the
Pope, and said "the Lord works through insufficient
instruments". The final Benediction, no pun intended, ended with
"and, Mary the Holy mother is on our side." Clapping crosses,
the pope waved and smiled for the masses before wandering
majestically inside again. So what does all this pomposity mean
to you and me? About as much as a puff of smoke.
No man can forgive sin, only God
can forgive sin, sins in which we stand condemned; save for the
blood of Christ, you will not enter into the Kingdom of God
after you die. Just a thought.
Steven 4/20/2005 |
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Wake up call
Tuesday, April 12, 2005. I have decided to check out Richard’s
anti-Theosophy meeting. He has been very active in time past in
preaching against public schools and homosexuality. He knows his
Bible pretty well. So, now, is he starting to take on false
religion too? He is talking about government and the effects of
Theosophy on our children and our society at large. He passes
out a sheet with lots of graphics on it showing in simplified
form how Theosophy has progressed since the 1800's into the
nightmare it is today. There are about a dozen men and one woman
in the room. I am not following any of this. It’s like a dream.
I ask (for the group’s sake as well as mine), “What are the main
philosophical differences between Theosophy and Christianity?”
He seems stumped. He says, “I haven’t really done an analysis,
but I don’t see how a comparison between them would help define
our goal here.” This irritates me, because I know that this is a
good question that will bring the perversity of Theosophy into
the light. I say, “It isn’t as though I had asked you to compare
Theosophy and Communism. There may be 50 other basic
philosophies besides Christianity, but I don’t think any of them
were used in forming this government.” I figure if I stick to
the word ‘philosophy’ and the subject of government, he has no
excuse to go around the obvious use of the gospel here. He fails
to get the message. I’m thinking, I’m going to give him one last
try and if he flunks the third time, I’m leaving and having no
more to do with his causes. I’m trying to think of something
else to say. There is silence. Suddenly, the woman goes into a
litany about God and love and the necessity for loving, not
hating anyone or anything...I woke up from the dream and it was
4:00 a.m. Later in the day, I saw the front page of Monday’s
paper and there is a picture of Richard dressed up as a bright
red devil in front of the high school with a large sign that
says, “Tolerate Perversity Workshop” with an arrow pointing to
the building in which the school is having a workshop to prevent
hate against gays. Nothing about Theosophy. Whew!
Chris Simonson 4/19/05 |
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You are what you eat
We, as an overfed under-exercised nation, are practically
nothing if not faddists. We run from one diet to another and
from one medicine to another, thinking that what we put in our
mouth affects the outcome of our lives. We eat Atkins, or Jenny
Craig, or Zone, or Pritikin, or Ornish, or, lately, the “Blood
Type” diet. Jesus said, “I am the bread of life... He who eats
my flesh and drinks my blood... shall live forever.” The
Catholic Church thinks this means to eat wafers and drink grape
juice. Seventh-Day Adventists are also finicky eaters. Then
there’s the older generation who avoid salt and call it bad for
them, even if Jesus said, “Salt is good.” The new generation,
wallowing in their sexual immorality, demand organic food, all
the while on drugs to get high and fight STD’s. There is only
one way to get healthy - healthy enough to live forever. We must
obey Jesus Christ. We don’t do this by eating the right foods or
drinking the right beverages. We do this by remaining in Jesus.
Where his Spirit leads, we must follow. Even if it means going
away from all the things and people we love, we must obey his
gospel. Many of the disciples, after hearing Jesus say these
things, did not follow him anymore. Many Christians have been
taken off the path that leads to eternal life by worrying more
about their flesh than their spirit. They call themselves
Christians, but the Father knows they are not his. Jesus said to
the twelve apostles, “Will you also go away from me?” Simon
answered for the rest of them (except for Judas Iscariot),
“Lord, to whom will we go? You have the Words of Eternal Life!”
If we read John chapter 6 carefully and prayerfully, we will
come to see that our salvation depends on our faith, and that
depends on the Father. If we would eat of the bread of life and
drink freely of the water of life, we should humble ourselves
before the Father and ask for mercy. Don’t be fooled - God
isn’t. Whatever a man sows, that he will reap. If he sows to the
flesh he will reap rottenness. If he sows to the Spirit, he will
reap eternal life. No other options. Do not be careful about
what you eat and drink, but be careful how you hear.
Chris Simonson 04/18/05 |
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Religion of vulnerability
“We must lose our armor, let’s become vulnerable,” they say.
This is new psychology; old trap. We must keep our hearts
guarded. We can have soft hearts towards the needy and the
poor, but we must harden ourselves against the wiles of the
devil. What happens when people give in to this “vulnerability”
silly women’s talk? They leave the way open for every wind of
doctrine and they are tossed to and fro on the sea of false
love. They remain fearful of the wicked and harden themselves
against the needy. In order to pull this whole thing off, they
must enlist the help of false pastors. Do not be vulnerable, or
you may end up in the belly of a wolf.
Chris Simonson 04/16/05 |
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Holy Spirit or Self-Will?
Always within the church there are people who get special
attention from the Holy Spirit. They have ecstasies, visions,
dreams, messages, visitations and more. However, the main
method for their special treatment seems to be feelings or
intuitions. This is according to our feminized gospel of
“love.” And so we have men and women going around bumping into
objects, led away with various desires and thinking this is the
Holy Spirit. They speak in tongues, cast out demons, make great
prophecies about this and that, and when they are done, they are
shipwrecked. They are self-willed and experts at hiding it
under pretended care for others. If they get the proper
response from their friends, spouse, children, then they know
this is the Holy Spirit. They can be little saints running
around like Mother Teresa, oh so humble but oh so self-deceived.
The Holy Spirit needs to come into their lives and reveal to
them their self-will that masquerades as service to God. The
Holy Spirit needs to crush them, as Chuck Swindoll said in a
radio sermon. The Holy Spirit comforts the afflicted and
afflicts the comfortable. If we are comfortable with our lives
and we claim to be Christians, let us look at the message to the
Laodicean church: “Because you say I am rich and increased with
wealth and have need of nothing, and you do not know that you
are wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind and naked...”
Revelation 3:17.
Chris Simonson 04/15/05 |
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The most critical issue in the
world today:
Energy
Medical science
Health
Communications
Education
Transportation
Family
Environment
Women
Children
Equality
Rights
Economy
Alien abductions
Men will go to hell following after issues that seem more
important than escaping the wrath of God. It doesn’t matter how
legitimate any of them are: They will all stop a man from
entering the kingdom of God unless he sets his heart to escape
sin and do good. Doing good does not consist of a social gospel
or some form of earth worship. It comes down to: Are we willing
to give up our energy, medical science, health, communications,
education, transportation, family, environment, women, children,
equality, rights, economy, imaginations - all of them, for the
gospel? If not, let’s not kid ourselves. We need to repent if
we expect to be saved from the wrath to come.
Chris Simonson 04/14/05 |
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Old Wive’s Tales
That sexist Paul the apostle was at it again, with his
denouncement of women in front of the children, especially
Timothy. Why, he told Timmy not to listen to old wive’s tales,
putting in the side note that these lead to nonsense and
faithlessness. We happen to appreciate all these stories
circulated on the Net by depressed housewives about God’s
unconditional love. Our hearts are touched by the sentimental
value of these little stories about children and how their sweet
little spirits overrule the mothers’ harshness and discipline.
Over and over again, we are shown that our duties as parents
(husbands not welcome, only fathers, and that on a limited
basis), consist of making sure we do not discipline children and
to make sure we spend a lot of time imitating their innocent
behavior. It is no wonder that men do not make good church
members.
Chris Simonson 04/13/05 |
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| Iconoclastic modern Jesus
Is the open-mindedness of the
'modern Jesus' in sharp contrast to the Holy Scriptures? In the
modern christian culture in America, 'Jesus' has become a bottom
line for profits and a poster child for the acceptance of all
without Lordship, true repentance or confession. Is this modern
Jesus vanquishing the doctrine of the Biblical Jesus in the Body
of Christ, attempting to deleteriously annihilate the very
nature of Christ, spoken of in the Scriptures? By
discombobulating the very foundations of Faith in Christ, we
have created a drive-through window of 'I love Jesus - get your
trinket salvation now, at low prices!' Through your local Acme
Church, by the name of Tithe and cheap love, you can get your
sugared candy injected straight into the vein.
Just a thought.
Steven 04/12/05 |
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Evangelism Void
This weekend I attended a show at a lovely art gallery in a
seedy section of town; the art was charming, the grapes and brie
were fresh and the decaf piping hot. In my perusal of the
paintings, I noticed a familiar, pastoral leader of a local
congregation. We cordially greeted each other; in our brief and
rather awkward conversation he proceeded to tell me that his
congregation had recently purchased this gallery as well as the
café next door and the large suite in back that they were
remodeling into a theater and gathering place for their
congregation. So, I asked him, “What evangelism does your church
do?” He paused, gesturing around the room as if to ‘give it to
God’, saying: “this is our evangelism.” he orated a phrase
similar to: we use this to build loving relationships; he then
abruptly turned to his wife and said, “we need to go.” Nodding
at me, with no further ado, he took his leave.
looking around the room for that of which he spoke, I noticed
the Gospel of Christ was conspicuously absent: there was no
mention of a need for a savior, no call for repentance, nor
concern for the people whom have rejected Christ and are heading
to eternal damnation; and yet, there was a boast about their
loving, relationship-building skill (which in my case must have
been on sabbatical). And, of course, it would not truly be
modern, confused ‘Christianity’ if there was not a buck or two
to be made in the process. Just a thought.
Steven April 11, 2005 |
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Sunday
Special - The death of a pope
This last week we all were deluged with coverage of the pope’s
dead body on display amid banners of crimson and purple. The
slowly moving throngs of enthusiastic mourners sobbed and wept
with religious tears at the sight of the slightly bloated body.
it seemed that 24/7 there was complete and utter coverage by the
media of this event, wrapping up the morbid week with what is
reported to be the largest funeral in the history of mankind,
with unprecedented dignitaries, royalty and presidents of many
countries showing up to bury a man whom called himself the Holy
father, a man whom died of natural causes brought on by old age.
Unlike Christ, whom suffered greatly, was murdered, buried and
resurrected, this man still lies dead in his coffin underneath
the Basilica. This is a great example of modern-day religion:
wrapping themselves up in death, they celebrate a man whom was
neither God nor sinless, nor anyone’s father; he was merely a
man whom had an outward expression of modern religion, and thus
in his death they chanted “make him a saint” as he lay there
decaying.
Modern day religion is void of Christ, but Christ has made all
those whom believe on Him as Lord, righteous, and saints;
co-heirs with him in the eternal Kingdom of God. Yet modern
religion ignores this and finds solace in death. Just a thought.
Steven April10, 2005 |
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Life and death on easy street
From the headlines, you would think that some great political
figure had been assassinated. Two people out of six billion
persons died a natural death recently, and they died because
modern medical science (spell that “money”) couldn’t keep them
alive. Right wing mollycoddled Christians are throwing their
usual epithets of “murder” when opining on Terri S., and they
put on their best sad face for pope what’s-his-name and say,
“Isn’t that sad?” for the both of them. You would think these
two were saints or heroes or something. What did Terri do except
go comatose? The pope, why you would think he had done something
for the Christian church besides live in luxury at the expense
of the souls he duped. So now we have the nauseating task of
listening to false eulogies from the lips of worldly minded
Christians who have nothing better to do than judge the actions
of others, keeping themselves looking lily white with their
feigned concern for persons whom they will never meet, while
doing nothing themselves to keep men out of hell. I hope Terri
made it to heaven. She probably was hoping that by being a
Catholic she would join pope what’s-his-name. She probably will
(which is not a good thing if we believe in the Protestant God).
Her husband: he is a servant of his own self interests and
shouldn’t be condemned. In the respect of being greedy, he is
the same as many of the people who will read this. Let’s stop
the feminist politically correct platitudes coming from our
lips. Let us look around our immediate vicinity and see the
gross sin that passes as respectable. Let’s do something about
it besides say we are tolerant, non-judgmental and loving. We
are surrounded by well-fed -and cared-for neighbors, even though
some of them are on life support now. They have had their food
and fun and now must shortly face judgment. If we help someone
physically, let us look to the poor, miserable, starving,
diseased people who will never have the luxury of being hooked
up to machines. Let us feed them and give them the gospel,
seeing as our fellow Americans have plenty of food and time to
kill and want little to do with a God who calls them to account.
Let us warn our wicked countrymen that they will stand in front
of God and give an account for their actions, and that this will
be based on their opportunity (money, time, Christianity) to do
good and yet did it not. Or...let’s go to Disneyland on an
all-church day!
Chris Simonson 04/08/05 |
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| Whale story
O.K., I stole this off the Net but
it is so cute. A little girl was talking to her teacher about
whales. The teacher said it was physically impossible for a
whale to swallow a human because even though it was a very large
mammal its throat was very small. The little girl stated that
Jonah was swallowed by a whale. Irritated, the teacher
reiterated that a whale could not swallow a human; it was
physically impossible. The little girl said, “When I get to
heaven I will ask Jonah.” The teacher asked, “What if Jonah went
to hell?” The little girl replied, “Then you ask him.”
Chris Simonson 04/07/05 |
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| Truth
Once we used to look for the truth.
Some of us. We thought there would be no higher calling, no more
worthy adventure, than to sacrifice anything for truth. We were
told in the public schools that truth was in our textbooks,
given by our teachers. Math was truth, or science was truth,
maybe even social studies were truth. What we learned, however,
was that social behavior was all we needed to know of the truth.
If we got popular or got high or got sexual adventure or got
rich, those things, and not some objective truth, were the real
truth for us. As our moral boundaries eroded and shifted, we
invented new truths that had been long condemned as lies. But it
didn’t matter: we were taught there is no real truth, only what
we make up in our own minds. So our jails filled up. Our
marriages broke down. Our governments became parodies of law and
justice. Where did all the money and empowerment for this
insanity come from? “Because they rejected the simple truth, God
gave them over to strong deception, that they might believe a
lie.” -the Holy Scriptures That’s the truth.
Chris Simonson 04/06/05 |
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| For Kirk and Covenant, the Stalwart Courage of John Knox By Douglas Wilson, 2000
Highland Books, Cumberland House Publishing, Nashville, TN.
This is a nice little biography.
Did I say little? You bet. This book could be put in your Army
jacket and read on breaks. It measures a mere 5 inches by 7
inches and is just over 200 pages long. Oh, and the print is
large (good job on the printing). O.K., so what? My point is,
biographies tend to get long-winded and do not really display
the life of the subject, but rather subject the reader to a
display of how very dull and learned the author is. This book is
not like that. The author, Douglas Wilson, is unashamedly a John
Knox fan. John Knox was very much against the Roman Catholic
Church. Although it might be fitting for a pro-Knox biography,
the author does not flay the Catholic Church. Instead, he uses
the life of Knox to hold the feet of the modern church to the
fire. The modern church has cast an unkind caricature of John
Knox, and he contrasts this with a different Knox, one who is
kind, humble and of pure motive. There were character flaws in
Knox, but this book simply does not grind away on them. We must
remember these were times when a man was arrested for preaching
a gospel not allowed by Rome and then put on a slave ship for
years. Men had to eat, sleep and relieve themselves while
chained to one spot on a wooden bench, usually until they died,
rowing as hard and as long as the captain desired. John Knox was
one of them. He survived and came back to harry the queens and
kings who ruled in the name of the pope. Those thus judging him
for occasional misconduct are handily blind to continual and
repeated abuses and corruption against which he and other
Protestants fought. “This pattern of selective reporting has
occurred over and over again in the history of the Reformation.”
(pg 103). As dreary as the subject may be to us carefree
moderns, the author tells the story of the Reformation in
Scotland in an upbeat sort of fashion. He uses modern examples
to get his points across. Speaking of the tendency of those
clergy (and politicians) who speak evil against any right action
but who will nonetheless grab all the credit and glory if the
right action goes platinum, the author says, “First thing you
know, the place is crawling with suits and haircuts,
administrators and PR men, management consultants and bean
counters.” (pg 119). Not that this is a light treatment of a
serious subject. We are shown how the times in which John Knox
lived were dangerous to souls. However, it pays to contrast “the
gross and blackened condition of the Church” with humor, to
backhand a few lies with good-natured sarcasm. “A corrupt clergy
is always good for a few laughs.” (pg. 7). It’s a little like
Jay Leno doing a serious biography of a man known for his
austereness and zeal. “Just imagine today a law forbidding any
jokes at the expense of televangelists” (speaking of the hell it
would be if modern Christians were in charge of government, pg.
8). Another: “It reminds us of the story of an Anglican vicar
who said that everywhere the apostle Paul went there was either
a revival or a riot, but that everywhere he went, tea was
served” (speaking of the deadness of modern sermons, pg. 225).
It’s a fun read, for a biography. You may not like it at all.
Especially if you find yourself confronted with the truth and
don’t like it. Or if you just don’t care for that sort of
excitement. The author calls us to take account of ourselves in
recounting the story of Knox and his beloved Scotland. He tells
us not to look at the outward appearance of history but at the
condition of the man and his times. “Our photographs from an
earlier era hardly show anyone smiling, and today everyone
smiles for the camera. To judge from this that our era is the
more cheerful of the two would be a great mistake indeed. This
is our custom, not our heart.” (pg. 101). Have fun reading; get
serious about your faith. I recommend it.
Chris Simonson 04/05/2005 |
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| Sky is falling
We know the story: Chicken Little
runs around in an agoraphobic panic warning other chickens about
the end. Christian Little does the same thing. Therefore, to the
mind of the flesh, there is a direct comparison between the two.
No need to worry. Things will continue on the same, and weak-
minded Christians are not to be taken seriously. Science tells
us that the sky cannot fall. It tells us that the sky consists
of different spheres. Troposphere, stratosphere, ionosphere,
etc. It clearly shows that the sky is held by gravity and
couldn’t fall if it tried to: it’s too light and wants to escape
the gravitational pull of earth. Therefore: the sky cannot fall.
The Bible tells us that the sun and the moon and the stars are
in the sky. If we substitute the word “sky” for the word
“heaven” in the first chapter of Genesis, this is not hard to
see. The sky, according to the Bible, is everything we see when
we look up, including far off galaxies through the Hubble
looking glass. If this sky were to fall, this thing we call the
universe would have to fall. Impossible, says science. Possible,
says the Bible. As a thought experiment (fun to do even if it
leads only to speculation), lets say that the sky is falling
right now. Let’s say it is falling really fast, say, 186,000
miles per second, right towards the earth. Question: how would
this look to us right now? Answer: the light from the stars is
traveling at the same rate, so we wouldn’t see anything unusual
until the sky fell on us. But it is possible that the collapse
of the universe could be happening at some other rate, so that
we might see something unusual such as a third of the stars
(galaxies, nebulae, etc.) disappear before the rest were
annihilated. I haven’t worked this out in my mind, but if it
were possible that God created all of this, including light
(first day of creation) and stars (fourth day), then it is
easily possible that he can uncreate it in a spectacular way. He
destroyed the earth once by a flood. Many do not believe this.
Many do not believe he is going to destroy this earth and the
sky with it. Peter and John thought he was going to do away with
this creation and have a completely new heavens and earth. Peter
somehow knew that the earth and the rest of the universe were
going to be dissolved by an enormous heat and noise, much like
the reverse of the science that tells us that the universe
started as a Dot with enormous heat and is cooling off. The
Bible tells us that there will be a Big Bang at the end of the
universe, commencing with the return of Jesus Christ. Science
tells us the sky cannot fall. Are we willing to trust our
eternal souls to that theory?
Chris Simonson 04/04/05 |
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When should John Q
Public experience The Church?
Is John Q's habitual participation at church limited to a
three-hour experience on a single day, or can he experience The
Church every day? To further clarify: "For where two or three
come together in my name, there am I with them." Matt. 18:20 So,
if two or three John Qs meet in His name, at what point does the
dynamic experience and authority of The Church happen? For
example: John Q works at the Choke N' Croak Hash-house; during
his small lunch hour he has a Bible study with John Q2 . Is this
meeting greater or lesser than, or equal to, when John Q and
John Q2 meet on Sunday along with John Q3 - 3000? Does:
6(JohnQ + John Q2) = 1(JohnQ1-3000) ?
After eviscerating this issue neatly by some form of scientific
method, I reach a conclusion that input is critical.
Posted By Steven 4/01/05 |
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