Opus 2026-385: Keep Walking

Do you have the discipline to keep walking?  This came to mind today as I was carrying a load of laundry toward the bedroom and the microwave beeper went off.  The first thought that came to my mind was, “I need to go take care of that.”  Common sense kicked in, and I kept walking.  That was the catalyst for the thought.

Have you ever had the experience where you will be on your way to do something, think of something else you should be doing, turn around head back to your starting point, realize this is silly, turn around and go on your way again, think “No I need to do this while I’m thinking about it”, turn around…  You get the picture.  This happens to me every once in a while.  I find that I need to develop the discipline to finish one task before I start another.  It is so easy to get distracted.

My wife loves to distract me.  I can be in the process of making oatmeal in the morning and she will ask me to do something.  What she wants is no big deal . It only takes a moment.  In the moment, I forget what’s going on and before I know it the oatmeal is sticking to the bottom of the pan.  That’s what happens if I’m lucky.  If I really drift off, then we have major cleaning issues.

So I need to learn to keep walking.  Usually the house is not burning down no matter how frantic my wife sounds.

homo unius libri

Opus 2026-384: Bring Back Anarchy

Anarchy gets a lot of bad press if anybody ever bothers to think about it.  Usually it’s associated with spies running around with those cannonball type bombs and a fuse running out the top.  In reality anarchy is not the destruction of established government but a government that is not centralized at all.

God’s original plan seemed to be a type of anarchy.  In the book of the Judges there was no king.  There was no ruling power.  There was no central authority.  I would even take that far enough to say that in the spiritual realm, there was no central authority.  I did a study, I need to check again, but the law is not mentioned in Judges at all.  I can’t think of any reference to priest or Levi’s.  Obviously, there was no king.  The big turning point comes when the people are demanding a king and God gives in and consents to that.  He warns them about it.  They don’t listen.  They want a king.

Thus central governments are not in God’s original plan.

I’ve heard a lot about how they were able to live in this chaos because there were no major empires trying to conquer them.  I’m not sure that’s an accurate statement.  Egypt was an empire. I’m pretty sure that Mesopotamia had empires.  The Levant had empires.  The sea people were doing their thing.  I need to check on this, but I think there were plenty of empires that could’ve had their eye on Israel and yet God kept raising up judges to push them back.  Is that a model for us today?

Jesus established the church.  We look at Pentecost as the beginning.  And while it’s true that He said he would build His church on Peter most non-Catholics consider that to be the proclamation that Jesus was the Christ, not an organized religion.  Jesus did not leave a hierarchy.  That was established by Paul up to a point.  Paul appointed elders, bishops, deacons to preside in the churches.  He didn’t give them the authority that came later, so I’m not sure we can say that Paul established the hierarchy of the church as we have it today.  It’s very possible that the church was originally intended to be like the book of Judges, and not like the reign of David.

Perhaps we need to return to the days of judges where each family was responsible to God, for what happened in their sphere. Perhaps God needs to raise up a new judge to bring his people together to focus on the invading enemies.
    
Any voluneers?

homo unius libri

Opus 2026-383: My Calling

I am called to provide an outlet for my wife’s ADHD.  When we got married I did not even know that such a thing existed.  Little did I know what I was getting into.  I swear it is getting worse.  I would like to say I accept the challenge with dignity but in reality I try to avoid it as much as possible.

My calling gives her someone to blame for what is not getting done.  Did you know that the baseboards in our house have not been cleaned?  Hard to believe.  Why haven’t you swept off the front porch?  It doesn’t matter that we are having high winds.

She needs someone to assign the latest task that has popped into her mind.  It must be done right now.  What do you mean the groceries are not put away?  Well, when you get them all out of the car it needs to be done in the next 15 minutes.

She needs things to do.  I am quite willing to provide them.

It requires subtlety.

homo unius libri

Opus 2026-382: Bible Reading Gurus

What?  We need experts and programs in order to read our Bibles?  This mystifies me. 

We had a lady share in our service a few months ago about how she had gotten serious about reading her Bible.  Yay her.  It’s an exciting step forward.  As she shared her experience, it became clear that she was not just reading her Bible, but was following someone else’s program for reading her Bible.  Again, it was a good thing and I think the goal was to get through the Bible every year.

Recently someone else was talking about how much they were enjoy reading their Bible.  Yay her.  Then she went on and talked about how she didn’t listen to the teaching until after she read it.  Evidently she was supposed to listen before she read, but she, being rebellious, did it afterwards.  Again, I’m glad they’re reading their Bibles, but I keep wondering just why it is that we need people to tell us how to read our Bible.

My wife is also into some kind of Bible reading program.  It has her jumping around from place to place and occasionally she asks me why.  I really can’t tell her.  It probably gives an explanation somewhere in the fine print, but she is relying on someone else to guide her reading instead of just plunging in and letting the Holy Spirit speak to her.  That is supposed to be how it works.  It usually works that way for me.

That sounds a bit arrogant on my part.

homo unius libri

Opus 2026-381: Why Not?

I had the opportunity to preach last Sunday.  I’m not an evangelist, but I do believe that people need to be reminded that they need to accept Jesus and to move into the kingdom of God.  So at one point in my sermon I came to the fact that many people in the congregation had not allowed God to begin the good work in them.  This is from Philippines 1:6.

The question of course is “Why not?”  It’s not that they never had an opportunity in our church.  Almost every sermon that is preached I would put into the category of “Turn or Burn”.  There’s a little bit of teaching that goes along with it, but that’s the major theme every Sunday.  If you have not allowed God to begin a good work and you, lack of opportunity is not a real good reason.

Why is it important to make that decision?  There are two different directions you can go on this.  First, you may put it off so long that the end comes and you’re not prepared.  That should be obvious.

The second reason, which in many cases is more important, is that God cannot begin to do a good work in you and perfect you in Christ Jesus if you haven’t made that decision.  If you make the decision now, then the potential for blessings starts counting in reality.  God can pile up the blessings quicker and faster than you can read the benefits.  If you make that decision today, then it starts building immediately.

Think of the concept of compound interest.  If you’ve ever seen the charts, or talked to anybody who’s into investing, it’s very important to start a regular savings plan early in your life.  Give compound interest a chance to build.  You can’t make it up later with large contributions.  So if you happen to be one of those who has not made that decision yet I invite you to confess your sense of Jesus, believe that He died for your sins and that you can be forgiven, declare him your Lord, believe in the resurrection and start moving forward into that that Paul talks about.

(Php 1:6 NAS77) For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.

homo unius libri

Opus 2026-380: Worship Recommendation

Get out of the house.  It needs to be a place where you can think and listen without interference.  I am blessed with a large front porch and a view.  You might only have a small balcony that opens over the freeway.  If you are in an apartment I would think that the area around the pool is sparsely populated at 6:00 A.M.  Of course it might be locked too.  When I was working I made a Panera close to work my morning pause,

Keep in mind that Proverbs suggests a corner of the roof is for escaping a nagging wife.  That helps in worship.

It isn’t that God cannot communicate in your room.  He can and does.  I think the point is more that you can hear Him better outside.

Blessings in your search.

homo unius libri

Opus 2026-379: Part B

About a year ago I came across some click bait from a source called the Alliance for Responsible Citizenship.  I listened to a few of their speakers and felt like they were a group that had their heads on straight.

Time marches on and this year I began finding more speakers that were less than inspiring and often off base by my measurement.  I am wondering if this is another example of bait and switch that we see in so many venues.  I recently tuned in to a speaker that was new to me.  He was Yemi Osinbajo, former vice president of Liberia.  He began by listing the high points of the progress made in the 20th century.  He started with items I would agree with.  Among those was the pursuit of free speech.  Then at the end he snuck in a kidney punch.  He mentioned a rule based international order.  What also struck me was that he left out the other points of our first amendment and completely ignored the second.

He kept throwing around the term “democracy” as if it was a good thing and seemed to be totally unaware of the history of democracy.  He attributed all progress to this “rule based international order.”  He then listed how confidence was eroding and, to be fair, most of what he said was correct, but he slipped in a little phrase that would grow as he spoke:  Economic systems that were fair.

Then he went on and came back to the idea of free speech.  That sounded good, at first.  He pointed out that it was once a bedrock of our freedoms in liberty.  He wasn’t satisfied with that.  He said now it has become divisive and he threw out the idea of misinformation.  Where he’s going with this is that we need to find ways to limit free speech because free speech is divisive.  He’s not going to say that clearly because he knows how that will be received by the audience, but that’s what’s in his heart.

He works through a few more positive things until he comes to free enterprise.  He starts off talking about the wonders that is produced, but then he says that it is degenerated into widening inequality and economic insecurity and declining social mobility.  He completely ignores the destructive role of central planning and government regulation.  He does not acknowledge the role of free enterprise in raising the standard of living around the world.

Trust in government is declining because of political polarization.  He moves on to immigration and quickly stakes out a position against barriers to people being able to move freely.

At 4:40 he makes his first reference to climate change.  This theme will keep reemerging.  This is where he really lost me.  If you believe that open borders are good and climate change is a major issue you have traded in your scholars robe for a dunce cap.  Call it a litmus test if you will.  To paraphrase Shakespeare, “A rose by any other name, be it oh so sweet, is still a socialist.”

Like most One World Government people he has no understanding of economics.  He laments the fact that Africa has incredibly high interest rates when they try to borrow money . He seems unaware that interest is a reflection of risk and Africa is very risky.  He does not mention that part of the problem is that Africa never, or seldom, pays back what it borrows.

He fears AI.  He calls for more government regulation.  He sees a need for global organization.  Reforming international finance of course requires lower interest and debt relief.  There is nothing about people learning to stand on their own two feet.  In short he is a One World Government Wolf in the skin of a liberty loving sheep.

We need to wrap our arms around the entire first amendment.  Note that the first concern of the founders was making a state church impossible and allowing Americans to approach God in the way they wanted, or to not approach Him at all.  We need to understand that the glorious concept of free speech is meaningless without the freedom of religion and the other rights guaranteed in that paragraph.  They become impossible without the second amendment.

I shall keep looking for rational voices.

homo unius libri

Opus 2026-378: Hello Humor

One of the great things about humor is it tells us we are not alone.  It is so easy to get isolated in your situation and think you are the only one with rocks in your mattress.  Then you turn on a comedian.  Suddenly you realize you are not a freak unless most people are freaks.  That is always a possibility but if everyone is a freak then what we would call normal is strange.

I am enjoying all the comedians sharing jokes about every day life.  They mock just about everything and hit home more than I like.  In the process I realize that everyone forgets a word now and then.  Everyone misses a turn or spills a glass.  It happens and by mocking everyday events they make us feel more human.

They mock us as men.  Have you seen the marriage counselor who talks about the “Nothing box”?  How about the couple in bed and she is wondering if he is thinking about other women and he is wondering how much ammunition is enough.  I am not the only one who questions the need to make up a bed every day.  The real problem is women who put the toilet seat down.  I am not alone.

They mock marriage. In addition to that fact they are really funny it is shattering the illusion that I am the only one experiencing what it means to live with a woman.  Have you seen the parody of the women with a nail in her forhead?  I have her in my home.  Are all husbands hard of hearing?  It would seem so or else it is just the lack of ability to understand statements made from the other side of the house with a mouth full of crackers.  Your choice.

People have different ideas of humor.  I have never enjoyed the Three Stooges or I Love Lucy.  George Burns, the Smothers Brothers and Bill Cosby before he took a stand on racial issues are more my cup of tea.  If you can believe it, some people don’t appreciate my sense of humor.

I will keep seeking to be the one who laughs last.

homo unius libri

Opus 2026-377: The Gleaning

We may be approaching a time in history when the results of being civilized run into the accumulated weakness of the gene pool.

I have always assume kids are dumber because of cultural influences.  As a teacher I could often see the potential that was buried under a gilding of absentee parents and woke educators.  It could have been my imagination.  Maybe the dumbing down we see is the natural result of a society that keeps people alive who would normally have died in the course of growing up.  It would not necessarily be from neglect or euthanasia.  The world is a dangerous place and a child that cannot learn to look both ways or insists on getting out of a moving car would not have lived to grow up in the past.  

You would think we would see that in nature.  You would expect deer would be getting smarter as the dumb ones are turned into road kill.  I don’t see it happening.  At the same time I have heard hunters share that the deer seem to know when hunting season begins and disappear.  There must be many variable for survival in different species, even humans.  

Lions culled the herd.  They did not go after the alpha males.  They dragged down the infirm and weak.  During rutting season the strongest stag drives away weaker rivals and thus keeps the blood line strong.  The world of animals has a way of trying to build strength even without knowing the philosophy behind it.

Microbes do the same.  I have not done the research but I have been told that if you chart the deaths from different diseases the rate gradually declines over time.  This is seemingly true even in modern times with things like polio and measles.  The strong have bodies that fight off the disease, the weak succumb.  Some people sailed through the influenza season like it does not apply to them.  Maybe it doesn’t.
    
It is possible the same thing happens in cultures.  Rome did not fall in a day because the barbarians showed up and stomped them.  They did not forget how to make swords.  What they lost was the desire to use them.  Rome had repeated waves of lunatic, sword swinging illiterates that kept pushing at the gates.  Rome eventually died in a whimper.  Are we facing such a time in our world?  Are the barbarians of the Middle East going to bring down the West?  In the short run I am not an optimist.  In the long run the Christians might wake up and begin to assert themselves again.  If that happens it will be no contest.

We live in exciting times.  That is reported to be part of a Chinese curse.  Whether it came from the Chinese or not it is still a thing of concern.

homo unius libri

Opus 2026-376: Water Bottle Dating

For some it is a badge of youth.  For some it is a crutch for an old voice.

The water bottle may be replacing the cigarette as an accoutrements of coolness.  I remember how as I child I would have a candy cigarette hanging from my lip and thought it made me look like Humphrey Bogart.  Now it is a designer label water bottle.  The one from Cosco doesn’t count. 

Old people use them so they can keep talking.  Young people use them so they can pause and stop talking.  

homo unius libri

Opus 2026-375: Not in My Circle

The power of advertising and first impressions is well known.  It doesn’t always carry past the first impression but is important to get people to take a second look.

I just came in from walking and as usual, I emptied out the mail that had come in the day before.  It only had one piece of junk mail which was called “Business and Dining Guide”.  What caught my eye on the front was the caption for the business that was advertising.  In consideration for lawsuits, I won’t mention the name of the business, but it got me to wonder what it was all about.  That’s half the battle for an advertiser.

I looked at the picture of people who were proudly displayed in a well-thought-out array.  It was confusing enough that I was still interested enough to keep looking.  Win number two.  It was when I looked at the bottom and found out just what they were selling that I lost interest.  Evidently it was a yuppie beauty salon.  The first thing that met my eye was Botox.  Then it told me I could get fillers, waxing, and it went on from there.  Well, you can’t win them all.

Advertising is powerful, but as I looked at the people on the front, the first thing that struck me was, they weren’t exactly people I would want to look at.  There were five ladies and one man. At least I think he was a man, he had a millennial beard.  The others went from mildly attractive to someone that would be good at flipping burgers.  You’ve heard about a face for radio.  That’s kind of what I was seeing.  Then you look at one of them holding a head cut in two to show you all the veins, another one with a pair of scissors and an expectant smile on her face, another was sitting like a psychiatrist with pen and paper.  You get the idea.

Nice try . I’m sure that you will get some response.  My response involves the circular file.

I think I will stay in my circle.

homo unius libri

Opus 2026-374: On the Street: Dog Smarts

Does a dog chase the ball and bring it back because he’s smart or because he’s stupid.

This comes to mind as I was out walking and one of our neighbors was out having their dog chase a ball.  The dog seemed to really enjoy it.  I’m not sure how much the neighbor was into it.

It brought to mind when we had a dog and took it out to play fetch.  We threw the ball.  The dog took off and ran and picked it up.  The dog brought the ball back to us.  We threw the ball again.  I can’t remember if he went for a second time, but I know at least by the third time instead of going and bringing it back he just looked at us like we were stupid.

We always thought that was an indication of how intelligent our dog was.

How about us when we get into the habit of doing things without thinking.  We mow and edge the grass.  It grows back.  We move it again.  And the cycle goes on.  Think about our tasks: Washing the car, making our bed, folding clothes, adding cream and sugar to our coffee.  Add what you want.  Does that mean we’re smart or stupid?

Ask your dog.

homo unius libri

Opus 2026-373: Double Edged Envy

Recently I was part of a discussion about the proposal to ban large corporations from buying single family homes.  I was a very small part.  I can remain quiet when the situation dictates it.  We had nine men in the group and several had a lot to say.  Most of my insight was kept for my own counsel.  Maybe I will get a chance another day.

It is amazing how quickly people abandon the concept of free enterprise.  The destructive force of government trying to solve people’s problems is forgotten before the paint dries.  Think of previous government attempts to provide “affordable housing”.  Does rent control sound familiar?  Have you ever walked through a housing project?  Do zoning laws make things better?

The answer to problems that people face is never more government programs or plans.  I doubt if there has ever been a government program that made things better or avoided criminal levels of mismanagement and graft.

We hear about how identity politics is based on envy.  We rouse the same sentiments in ourselves at the drop of a hat.  To repeat a frequent sentiment, be careful what you wish for.

homo unius libri

Opus 2026-372: The Wonder of It All

I’m on my way to meet my son for breakfast.  It’s 7:15 in the morning.  I usually would be up by this time, but not showered, dressed and on the road.  Over the past several years as I am retired and he is working from home we have developed a pattern where we get together once a week for dinner or now breakfast.  I am constantly amazed at his willingness to meet with.  In fact, he often brings it up himself.

We have a great time discussing just about everything from theology to cooking recipes.  When I get home, my wife will often ask me, “What did you talk about?”  And my general answer of course is, “I don’t know.”  Given time I can run through some of the things, but generally speaking there’s no agenda.  It is a great time.

What constantly amazes me after I get over thank[ng God and being grateful for the blessing of having children that seemed to have turned out well, I asked myself, “What did I do right?”  I can come up with a lot of answers, but I find more answers to the question of “What did I do wrong?  When I filter out the arrogance, ego, and just plain blessings of Providence I don’t come up with much.

What are the topics that comes up on a regular basis is my discussions with my crazy friend.  You might not recognize him as crazy but if you talk to him long enough and get him off on his topics, he is definitely living in another world.  As far as I know and can tell he is solid in the Lord, but he has a lot of opinions about eschatology and such that make you wonder what he’s been smoking and who he’s been listening to.

When trying to figure out why my kids are turned out as well as they have I often wonder about having strong opinions and being relatively stubborn.  The trouble is that having strong opinions and being relatively stubborn seems to be consistent even with people who I think have not done as well as they should with their kids.  I think it may be that as stubborn and opinionated as I am, that I am still willing to listen to what other people have to say.  Someday I may come up with a solution.  I don’t know, but right now I’m just grateful and rejoicing that my children will still talk to me.

homo unius libri

Opus 2026-371: Using Useful Idiots

I’m beginning to temper my attitude toward AI.

We get a lot of fear mongering about how AI is going to take over the world, kill us all, make slaves out of humanity, take away all the jobs.  I’m not sure that there is no valid concern in these areas but like so much of what we get when we pay attention to click-bait there’s a lot of hyperbole involved and a lot of very creative imagination.  Keep in mind the fear factor. Remember the book State of Fear and the military industrial complex..

AI is probably a lot like any other new technology that comes along.  It can be used for evil or it can be used for righteousness.  I think of the way in which conservative Christians reacted to television when it first came out.  I think of the doom and gloom over the VHS format.  The fears were valid.  They have produced the evil that everybody was afraid of.  At the same time there have been tremendous benefit to individuals and society as a whole.

I was looking up a subject the other day and I told Google what I was looking for and hit the button and of course, in the usual format the first thing that showed up was an AI summary.  Now my general pattern is to skip over the AI summary and go start looking at actual sources where human beings have possibly written things down.  Unfortunately, many those sources are also provided by AI and don’t help much or at least don’t get any more reliable than the initial summary.  After consulting everything that was available on the first page and not finding an answer to my question, I went back and took a quick glance at the AI summary and what do you know?  There on the second line was the name of person who turned out to be the one I was looking for.  Maybe I will be able to find a use for these AI bots that seem to want to run our lives.  I say “maybe” with a big note of caution.  I know what a middle C note looks like on the piano and score but I wonder what a note of caution looks like, but I digress.  

I’ve watched different podcasts and read different articles laying down the statistics that show how dependence on AI tends to lower our ability to think on our own, negates research skills, overwhelms discernment, and other evils.  I think you could say the same thing about television when it came out.  I’m sure the television also lowered the test scores of students.  I’m sure the television kept people from reading and thinking on their own.  At the same time you have Maverick, Zorro, Gunsmoke and other distant memories.  Who would want a society that was not influenced by those marvelous cultural icons.

So I guess AI is winning.  It seems to present a commodity that can be actually useful.  As always as painful as it is, I find that I must keep my mind open to new things and keep exploring the possibilities.

homo unius libri

Opus 2026-370: A Tip

I am not a big one for eating out.  As a tightwad I resent the cost.  As an American I don’t think people should be waiting on me.  I can refill my own soda, thank you.  I can bus my own table.  I can also do my own cooking as basic as that is.  

However, if I am going out to eat there are certain proprietary actions that I take.  I treat the server like a human being worthy of consideration.  I don’t assume I am superior.  I try not to be too picky on issues that are not perfect.  I also believe that if I get good service, I should tip well.  Even if they are getting a minimum wage they still deserve to be rewarded for extra effort.  It is amazing how tipping well one day will get you even better service the next.  People respond to approval.

If I can’t afford to tip well maybe I should be going to fast food or eating at home.  It is part of the expense of eating out.  It is one reason why this cheap guy would prefer a self-serve place.

Tipping is part of our culture.  Tipping is part of the social contract between us and people who serve us.  It is unspoken and usually not required but it is part of what sets the heart of America apart from those who just want to take and not give.

By all means let your tip reflect the service given.  Don’t be afraid to reduce the amount for poor or sloppy service.  Make sure that you are not the problem.

homo unius libri

Opus 2026-369: Options to Figurative

Maybe we are asking the wrong question.  Maybe we should not be asking whether something in scripture is literal or figurative.  Maybe the option should be interpretive rather than figurative or literal.

At the core of the issue is the fact that everyone wants to make these judgements on their own and those judgements are usually rooted in the traditions that we are rooted in.  It would really be nice if the Greek and Hebrew had some part of their grammar that registered a scale of one to ten from totaly literal to pure word picture.

I have been reading in Isaiah and I must say that it is almost impossible to make any sense out of all the word pictures.  I can’t imagine being a Hebrew scholar and trying to put it all together.  What I find even harder to accept is the different solutions that people want to declare as settled.  The more I read the less I am willing to accept the eschatology of anyone.

Leviticus 26 also comes to mind.  I had my eschatological friend read me the entire chapter twice in one discussion.  This kind of thing is not only useless but insulting.  I can summarize the first 13 verses in a sentence and the rest of the chapter in another.  In the process I would lose none of the intended meaning.  These kind of people would also read the entire census of the warriors of the twelve tribes and consider it a mark of spiritual maturity.

In some things I would prefer to be immature. 

homo unius libri

Opus 2026-368: Wish List

As I was scrolling through an agrigate site I saw a phrase attributed to the DSA, Democrat Socialists of America.  It accused them of requiring their candidates to support dismantling the U.S. Government.

My first thought about that was, are they trying to get me to vote for them.  From what I see of the government’s actions in fraud, insider trading, coercion and domestic terrorism I am not sure that we would be worse off if it was dissolved and we worked to put something else in its place.

Even anarchy has its points.  Picture an armed society without the power to tax unless the citizen agreed to the need and rates.  Think of all the research projects that would put left wing “scientists” and “researchers” out flipping burgers and digging ditches.  It brings a smile to my face.

So DSA be careful what you wish for.  I will apply the same advice to my life.

homo unius libri

Opus 2026-367: Uncharted Revelation: Seals and Altars

In chapter seven we have a pause in the opening of seals.  It will pick up again in chapter 8.

Verse one has four angels holding back the four winds.  Since the four winds are a poetic reference I would assume that the angels are also poetic.  Either way the point is that God is holding back the wind.  I don’t see any great theological truth here.

Verses 2-4 give more questions than answers.  After loosing the four horses to create mayhem we have another angel coming and telling them to hold off,

(Rev 7:3 KJV)  Saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads.

Then we have the 144,000, 12 from each tribe.

At the beginning of this series I said it would be uncharted but I am starting to see why people who have the final answer on Revelation need their charts and graphs.  I could use a big white board with arrows right now because things seem to be repeated and contradicting.  We have already seen the souls that were under the altar who were given white robes and told to go back to sleep.  Are they part of the 144,000 or part of the next group in chapter 7 which includes the whole world?  How come the seal is coming so late?  Are the ones under the altar sealed?

Am I the only one confused?

homo unius libri

Opus 2026-366: Monday Pulpit: Definitions Matter

I had to write it down on the fly so I may not have gotten it down accurately. What I thought I heard was,

“The law’s definition was that anything done outside of Christ is sin.”

That is an incredibly broad definition.  Does that mean eating breakfast is a sin unless I have had some spiritual experience that told me what cereal to eat?  I know I am stretching but the definition, coming from someone who claims to be Wesleyan, is a bit extreme.

Definitions of sin are varied.  I prefer one that defines sin as an action done deliberately, outside the known will of God.  This rules out many ignorant actions and mistakes.  If the definition I heard is accepted then it is no wonder that some people consider mankind so depraved.  Striking out in a baseball game would make you descend to a lower pit in hell.

This seems like a good time to remind people that Jesus did not die to see how many people He could send to hell.  He died to save as many as He could.  Think through your definitions.  Ask yourself what is the logical conclusion if followed out to the end.  You might be startled.

homo unius libri

Opus 2026-365: Identity Crisis

Today, I thought I was going to have to identify as a family . I was at Costco looking for a bathroom.  The only entrance I saw that looked hospitable said family bathroom.  I have never thought of myself as a family but I was getting geared up.

Then I looked a little further down the side corridor and saw signs for the normal choices.  It always pays to take a second look.

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Opus 2026-364: Cut and Paste

One indication of the facade of modern academia is plagiarism.  We have frequent revelations of the educational elites who do little but copy the work of others.  I experienced it teaching middle school.  It was easy to discover at that level because illiterate eighth graders have a very limited vocabulary and copy and paste the silliest things, including the references at the bottom of the page and hyperlinks.  With modern technology it is childishly simple to find out if something is copied.

A famous line of Margaret Thatcher was “The problem with socialism is that eventually you run out of other people’s money.”  I thought of that in regard to the plagiarism that goes on in the academic world.  You see where I am going with this, don’t you?  “Eventually your run out of other people’s ideas.”  

I find that many of the books I try to read may be honest in giving their sources but the end product is often just a chain of quotes with little original thinking.  I have heard it called “term paper style”.  You remember what those were like.  

Another face of the problem is a reliance on tradition.  I am examining that in my own life with the focus on theology.  It amazes me how people don’t listen to my ideas.  I accept they may be lacking in great wisdom but that is not why people don’t listen.  They just don’t want to hear and have a hard time grasping something outside their comfort zone.

One of the ideas that I am exploring is the proposition that the Jews of Jesus day did not teach the Torah.  They taught what would become the Talmud.  At that point it was the oral law which is a scholarly way of renaming the game of Telephone.  If you want an example of how the oral law is a joke read about the reforms of Josiah.  At that point the religious leaders had even forgot to celebrate the Passover.  How can you claim to have an unbroken oral law when you can’t remember one of the key points of Jewish history.

Keep thinking.  One way to know if you are being successful is that people won’t listen.  Of course that could also mean you are spouting nonsense.

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Opus 2026-363: Strike Two

My heart goes out to Solomon.  First he is chosen to be king.  Sounds good but there seems to be a condition attached,

(1Ch 28:10 KJV)  Take heed now; for the LORD hath chosen thee to build an house for the sanctuary: be strong, and do it.
(1Ch 28:11 KJV)  Then David gave to Solomon his son the pattern of the porch, and of the houses thereof, and of the treasuries thereof, and of the upper chambers thereof, and of the inner parlours thereof, and of the place of the mercy seat,

David leaves Solomon with this tremendous burden.  It is not only a charge to build a temple but an expectation that he build it to David’s plans.  Solomon got the temple built.  He enriched the kingdom.  We have examples of his wisdom.  We also have a chronicle of him turning from the Lord and walking in the ways he was warned against.

I wonder if his failure in later life was because of the shackles put on him at the beginning.  The burden of living out someone else’s dream can be crippling.  How often has a son withered under the dominant dream of a father?  How many great men in history have sons that turn out to be useless?  It is hard to know but real leadership does not pick out hard tasks and assign them to others.  Leadership molds people and establishes conditions that motivate them to stretch and achieve.

We need more motivators and fewer people willing to assign work to others.

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Opus 2026-362: The Benefits of B

As I try to figure out why my plans for life did not work out I come up with lots of speculations.  In reality that is all I have.  In trying to understand how life works, it is all any of us have.  I felt called to preach.  I struggled with it, gave in and put all my eggs in the basket.  Then came the day I had no place to preach.  Although I kept looking for chances I was forced into plan B.

Plan B turned out to be in education.  I taught middle school for the next 29 years.  I think I did a good job.  I never felt like it was a life calling.  I had chances to preach on occasion but nothing worked out to allow plan A.  B was it.  

I have many theories.  I know I never said “No” to anything God asked.  I was not living in disobedience.  I was frustrated but kept moving forward.  One of my theories is that if I had forced the issue I would have lost my children.  I think I would have put the church first and caused them to hate the things of God.  Another theory is that the struggle with plan B kept me on my spiritual toes.  I was not able to stick in my thumb and pull out a plum as the nursery rhyme goes.  

Think back over the people you know who have had “success”.  How many have lost their children?  How many have gone through divorce?  How many have abandoned the faith?  Does substance abuse figure into their lives?  One of the truths of life is that there are few people who can handle being on top.  The Bible character in my mind today is Solomon because I am reading about him in II Chronicles.  He started out so well.  Even today he is remembered for his wisdom.  Few bother to remember how he ended up.

Chronicles leaves out the bad part of his fall.  You need to go to Kings for that.  In the chapter after the visit by the queen of Sheba you find a chapter entitled “Solomon Turns from the Lord”.  That is not in the original Hebrew but it is a good summary.  A few key verses,

(1Ki 11:5 KJV)  For Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Zidonians, and after Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites.
(1Ki 11:6 KJV)  And Solomon did evil in the sight of the LORD, and went not fully after the LORD, as did David his father.
(1Ki 11:7 KJV)  Then did Solomon build an high place for Chemosh, the abomination of Moab, in the hill that is before Jerusalem, and for Molech, the abomination of the children of Ammon.

I would suggest that Solomon started being impressed with himself and that became his downfall.  He needed a little more suffering and a little less praise.

There is a good reason for the paths that God leads us down.

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Opus 2026-361: The Eternal Millennial

In reading John Adams diary, I came across an interesting spectacle.  He related the same experience two days in a row.

“I spent one evening this week at Billy Belcher’s.  I sat, book in hand, on one side of the fire, while Dr. Wendell, Billy Belcher, and Steven Cleverly, and another young gentleman, sat in silence around the card table all the evening.  Two evenings I spent at Samuel Quincy’s in the same manner.  Doctor Gardiner, Henry Quincy, Ned Quincy and Samuel Quincy, all playing cards the whole evening.  This is the wise and salutary amusement that young gentleman take every evening in this town.  Playing cards, drinking punch and wine, smoking tobacco and swearing, etc., etc., while a hundred of the best books lie on the shelves, desks, and chairs in the same room.  This is not misspense of time; this is a wise and profitable improvement of time – cards and backgammon are fashionable diversions.  I know not how any young fellow can study in this town.  What pleasure can a young gentleman who is capable of thinking, take in playing cards?” p. 62

While they were doing this, at least it seems that the narrative is, Adams was in a corner reading.  I’m not sure if he was reading because they didn’t invite him to play, he didn’t know how to play, they were playing a game involving gambling and money and he had none, or if he was just there because it was the only corner in town that had a good lamp.

Anyway you want to look at it, his comment about his contemporaries was not complementary. When you get down to it, there’s not that much difference between the younger generation of the 18th century and the millennials of the 21st-century.  There is very little about how these young men are earning a living.  Adams himself is always relating how he has dinner with this person, tea with another, and spent an evening in conversation at someone else’s house.  There is never any account of how he himself is generating income to pay for things like this at this point in his life.

That is the depressing news.  The good news is that he went on to become happily married, a pillar of society, a successful lawyer, Founding Father, and the second president of the United States.

May your time wasters be as valuable as his.

Adams, John.  The Works of John Adams, Volume 1.  Norwalk, Connecticut: The Easton Press, 1992.

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Opus 2026-360: A Moment Is Not Forever

There is a danger in spiritual snapshots.  We know that is true in our own lives but it is also true in the Bible.  Take for instance Solomon.  He is remembered for his wisdom.  When God gave him the opportunity to choose any gift he wanted, that is what he asked for.  It worked well at first.  Later on, not so much but that is the topic of another day.

What I want to recognize as wisdom and humility comes early in his reign.  He had been told he was to build the temple and was embarking on that challenge.  What hit me as I read was this observation of Solomon:

(2Ch 2:6 KJV)  But who is able to build him an house, seeing the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain him? who am I then, that I should build him an house, save only to burn sacrifice before him?

He had a realistic understanding of the greatness of God and the futility of trying to build Him a house that would contain Him.  In fact, notice the real purpose he lays out for the temple.  It was a focal point for us to come to so that we could offer our sacrifices.

I know there are lots of pictures in the Bible of God’s presence in the temple.  You can’t take away from that but Solomon wisely points out that God was making allowance for our needs rather than His own.  That is typical of the God we serve.  His majesty is beyond us.  His glory would consume us.  His knowledge would trip all the circuit breakers in our brain.  Yet He knows that we need something within our comprehension to grab hold of.  In His plan the temple was that place for Israel.  Since Pentecost the Holy Spirit has been available.  Some say we become the temple.  In Revelation we have this,

(Rev 21:22 KJV)  And I saw no temple therein: for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it.

Will the temple be rebuilt?  I am not sure why it would need to be but I am not a member of your brand of eschatology.  I can live with these simple Bible statements.

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Opus 2026-359: Sudden Letdown

It’s a good thing that I’m not in the dating market anymore.  I never was a great success at it but that is not the issue.  I am afraid that as what I have to offer has gone down my standards have gone up.  

As I was doing some shopping at the grocery store I was doing my usual people watching.  It is amazing how many strange people there are out in public.  There are others who stand out in a pleasant way.  I saw one young lady who was attractive at first glance.  As I was heading for the cashier she showed up again.  She seemed to have everything until she walked in front of me and I saw the back of her arm where she had a tattoo.  I suddenly developed a real pity for her.  Why do attractive people decorate themselves with ugliness?

I know it is a hangup I have.  In my daughter’s church there are many godly people with more tattoos than should be legal.  They are still good parents and productive citizens.  You would think I would learn by that but it doesn’t seem to be happening.

Maybe I should get one as a form of penance.  

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Opus 2026-358: How Do You Explain the Red Baron?

As I was feeding my grandson we were discussing all the characters on his Charlie Brown glass.  He recognized Snoopy but could not remember the birds name.  He claims he never knew.  I think I knew but I can’t remember.  It will probably come back to me in the middle of the night.  (Such prophetic ability: Woodstock.)

I was naming the characters I recognized but mentioned that I didn’t see the Red Baron.  This, of course, brought up the question of the Red Baron and who he was.  This generated the question of, “Was he a good guy or was he a bad guy?”  How do you explain such complexity to a six year old?

The Red Baron was on the losing side.  That automatically makes him a bad guy.  When he wasn’t shooting at you he was probably quite gracious.  That makes him a good guy.  Explain that to a six year old.  In the real world even adults have trouble with such things.

We tend to want to paint with a broad brush and only use black and white.  The world is really full of tiny brush moments and is either shades of gray or a whole palate of colors.  Many choices we have to make are multiple choice, not true/false.  As much as I want things to be simplified, I accept it isn’t going to happen.

That being said, it is still necessary for us to make choices.  Sunday when talking about voting the pastor pointed out how we often have a choice between two evils and many people don’t want to vote for evil.  His advice, vote for the lesser evil.  Utopia isn’t and won’t be but we can be salt.

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Opus 2026-357: Past the Peak

I’m noticing a serious deterioration in some of the new sources that I have been reading and feeling like I could interpret.  I’m getting more and more of what turns out to be Clickbait for what they call a Promoted Post.  A promoted post is simply an advertisement that they try to get you to watch to sell you something.  They sandwich them within the other articles.

Another scam that goes on is they will link you to a news article in a source that requires you to register if you want to read it.  Sometimes in their nefarious plotting, they actually let you read down past the first page so you think you are getting somewhere and suddenly it fades out, and you are given the opportunity to subscribe.  If I wanted to subscribe, I would have subscribed already.  The reason I come to these aggregate sites is to find news that I would want to listen to and be able to digest.

Another way this manifest itself is on the radio.  I don’t generally listen to the radio, but on our cross-country trip, my wife, when she doesn’t insist on talking, insist on looking for something on the radio.  I find myself listening to many things that I would not normally pay attention to.  What gets me is I will be listening as they move along discussing something and suddenly without any change in the tone of voice or the pace they start on a commercial.  Usually, it only takes a couple sentence for me to realize where they are going and tune them out, but it is very frustrating when people take the trust that they have built with the listener and use it to get them to listen to something they would normally not paying attention to.

Every day it gets harder to get a feel for what is going on in our world.

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Opus 2026-356: The Purpose of Prophecy

Years ago I heard prophecy defined two ways: Foretelling and forth telling.  One had to do with declarations about the future and the other focused on repentance.  We tend to think of them as two different goals and in that we err.  Even the promises of restoration have the goal of bringing Israel to the place of obedience.

Too often the prophecy buffs focus solely on the fulfillment aspect because their theology requires the restoration of Israel to all fit together.  The purpose of prophecy was not to force feed us on the end times.  It was to motivate Israel to turn back to their God.

It is dangerous to take writings loaded with figurative language and make them literal.  It is dangerous to ignore the conditional promises, emphasize the unconditional promises and act like they are the same.  It is dangerous to substitute the future of someone else for the clear directions on how you as an individual are to live.

Read and enjoy but keep your priorities straight.  The promise of the resurrection does not hing on a red heifer or a rebuilt temple.  Paul does not say we are without hope if the temple is just a vison, but our faith is useless if Jesus was not resurrected. 

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Opus 2026-355: Read with Discernment

I’m almost finished with a book that was given to me.  The title is Horse Soldiers.  It deals with the early involvement of the United States in Afghanistan in trying to drive the Taliban out.  It’s a good story, told by a good writer.  I’m just not sure how accurate it is on all of its details.

It was written, I believe in 2009 so that was 15 years ago before the disaster of abandoning all that military equipment to the Taliban by the Biden administration.  I’m now to the epilogue and one gets the feeling in reading this that all of the sacrifice and suffering that went on was worth it because we had won the war against the Taliban.

I wish.

There was always a certain sense the author projected writing of nobility and a sense of calling.  I accept that with no difficulty, but there was also this sense that we actually could win this thing and that the people of Afghanistan were actually on our side.

Sandwiched in were insights into the culture of Afghanistan.  When the battle waged you would find the different tribes working together to defeat the Taliban.  Somehow in the pauses that occurred now and then that unity disappeared, and they started shooting at each other, killing each other and so forth just as they have done for centuries.  Victory was always one opportunity away from defeat.  At key moments, various warlords and leaders would switch sides because they felt like it was temporarily to their advantage.  You could never trust anybody beyond the last bullet.

We tend to forget that about many cultures in the world.  It goes double for the cultures of Islam and double that for the cultures of Afghanistan.  Your first loyalty was to your family and as long as there was nothing serious in the way, your next loyalty would be your tribe.  Loyalty to the nation was simply a matter of pragmatics.  What was good for you today might not be good for you tomorrow.

While the author often brought this out in relating what was going on he failed to connect the dots.  We as Americans have no understanding of tribalism.  The Marxist, who are trying to destroy the country are working hard to bring back a sense of tribalism to Americans, which was abandoned when we left Europe.  They are making progress.

We need to be always discerning of the motives of people and try to keep our heads above water and move towards being one nation under God and out of many, one.

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Opus 2026-354: The First Two Questions

We are all philosophers.  I know.  I know.  You say you get bored by philosophy but that does not keep you from criticizing the behavior you see going on all around you.  I does not keep you from pondering whether it is time to move out of California, or way past time.  The fact is we are all philosophers and we all do philosophy.

Do you mean to say you have never pondered the meaning of life?  How about, “Why should I go to work instead of signing up for welfare?”  Again there are philosophical questions we ask on a moment by moment basis.  Some are more important than others.  Some impact what you buy and where.  Others determine the future of your children.

Two questions are more important than any others and form the foundation for answering the others.

First and most important, “What must I do to be saved?”  This is generated by other questions such as “What is wrong with the world?”  Modern society tries to say what is wrong is in society.  That is a philosophical position.   It is always someone else’s fault.  The victim culture thrives.  Of course when you blame society the answer always seem to be more government and more oppression.  

If people are honest they will eventually start wondering what is wrong within themselves.  They will then seek out all kinds of therapists to help them find the inner flaws.  Some with genuine disorders may find help.  Most, after many years and thousands of dollars, will see that approach as worthless.  

Eventually they will start listening to their grandparents or the radio preacher and realize that the problem is that they are sinners.  They will then decide if they really want to answer that question or just ignore it.

The second, and equally important in God’s eyes I think, is “How then shall we live?”  If you reject the Biblical solution to the first question you will still have to deal with this but you will have no foundation to answer it.  If theft if only wrong if you get caught you will keep trying to plan the perfect crime.  If you are a child of God you know what He expects.  To be honest, this path is clearly laid out and easy to follow.  You may not like the path but it is there.  How well you follow may not keep you out of eternal life but it may influence whether your children go to hell or heaven.  It may also determine whether God lowers the boom on the country you live in.

Knew the first two questions and make sure you answer them correctly.  This is pretty much a pass/fail quiz.

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Opus 2026-353: Uncharted Revelation: An Aside

I recently was seduced by click bait of a Bible teacher who proposed to explain Revelation 20.  It was generally interesting and I plan on finishing it but it brought a question to my mind: Why?  That is a “why” in “Why bother?”  If you are a die hard dispensationalist or a Revelation junky you may be angry or puzzled by the question but something occurred to me as I tried to puzzle my way through the study being presented.  I asked myself what the down side was of never understanding Revelation.  To be honest I could not find any serious consequence.

It seemed like an addiction to cross-word puzzles or an addiction to win a lottery with a prize of 10 cents.  A lot of Revelation addicts seem to think that coming up with the right eschatological plan will insure that Israel will be guaranteed a place at the table in the end.  They have the idea that if one single point is out of order it will condemn the mistaken to hell.  It reminds me of some of the computer games I used to play.  The first few levels were interesting but they would eventually get to a point where progress could only be made by investing more of my life than I was willing to give up.  And what was the pay-off?  You got to buy their next game.

I think that it will be interesting to know what the Seven Eyed Jesus means but I am willing to wait for the resurrection to find out.  Until then there are other issues like the gifts of the Spirit or defining agape.  I would submit that understanding Romans 12:1-2 is more important than knowing if things will be pre or post.

What did John say?  

(Joh 20:31 KJV)  But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name.

I am going to trust that Jesus will not overlook me at the resurrection.  I am committed to not having to worry when I stand before Him.  That being said have you ever calculated the size of the New Jerusalem?  

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Opus 2026-352: On the Road: Turn the Coin Over

I just returned from a road trip.  At the turn-around point I spent three full days in dialogue with my MAD (Mid-Acts Dispensationalism, his acronym not mine) friend.  I use the term “dialogue” a bit tongue in cheek but it will suffice.

It was three days of frustration and well as three days of stimulation.

The frustration comes from trying to understand someone who has a very narrow understanding of the Bible and who seems at times to be bordering on heresy if not fully commited to nonsense.  We have some basic foundational differences that are hard to get beyond.  I believe that the central point of scripture is the cross followed by the resurrection.  He is adamant that the entire Bible is about the restoration of Israel in the final age.  I believe that Paul meant all scripture in II Timothy 3:16 while he maintains that if Paul did not write it then it does not really apply to us.

The stimulation comes from being forced to reinvestigate my memory and assumptions.  So far I have not found myself in error on the foundations.  I have in the process had sudden serendipity moments when I see things I had not noticed.  This usually happened as he droned on after saying, “Will you let me finish my sentence?”  Unfortunately his sentence is a run-on that sets new records in how long you can speak without taking a breath.  I also found that when he would cast some pejorative accusation I would start by denying it and, as I found out what he meant, realized that his put down was a back handed compliment.  At first I denied being into “replacement theology”.  When I learned what he meant I embraced the concept and began to explore it.

My family wonders why I continue.  I sometimes ask myself the same question.  That is because they only see the frustration side while I have both.  We all can benefit by someone who does not agree with us.

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Opus 2026-351: Intellectual Spectrum

The Bible gives us an outstanding spectrum of intellectual challenges and rewards.

At one end, you have the very solid foundation given to us by the attributes of God.  He is dependable and, in the sense of His attributes, unchanging.  That means that we can investigate the world around us, not to question God’s authority, but to try to understand how He put it together and how it works.  This is the basis of all scientific inquiry.

At the other hand, we have the mysterious realms of the impossible.  Let’s face it.  We cannot even begin to understand the meaning of infinity, let alone the awesome reality of an eternal God.   Recently, I had a discussion with a friend about what the Bible teaches about heaven.  We pretty much started out agreeing that it doesn’t really say much in describing what it will be like.  At the same time we agreed that it was glorious beyond our comprehension.  What little we did have was just a courtesy call by God to give us something to hang onto.  We rejoiced as we speculated.

In between you’ve got the gradual morphing of certainty chemistry.  If you build on that which provides a solid foundation you can make progress.  If you start to speculate based on your own assumptions and theories the edifice gets wobbly and crashes.  This is what we see happening in much of scientific “progress”.  

That is one of the glorious things about the word of God and following Jesus Christ.  You may not know the details of your goal or exactly where the path leads, but you can be sure of the rock beneath your feet.

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Opus 2026-350: Uncharted Revelation: Literally Figurative

The fifth seal was hiding the martyrs who had been “slain for the word of God.”  They are anxious to get out, as you would expect, but are given white robes and told there would be more to join them before the end came.  You might ask yourself how this relates to the tribulation and also how it relates to the final resurrections.  If you interpret Revelation literally you have issues.  Figuratively the world is your oyster.

The sixth seal initiates a series of earthquakes and falling stars.  For some reason the entire population of the earth goes to hide in caves because they are afraid of the Lamb.  I don’t know about you but the last place I would hide in an earthquake is in a cave.  

When I read this,

(Rev 6:12 KJV)  And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood;
(Rev 6:13 KJV)  And the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind.

My mind goes to a friend who claims that God will never break His covenant with Israel.  As part of his arguement he quotes this,

(Jer 31:35 KJV)  Thus saith the LORD, which giveth the sun for a light by day, and the ordinances of the moon and of the stars for a light by night, which divideth the sea when the waves thereof roar; The LORD of hosts is his name:
(Jer 31:36 KJV)  If those ordinances depart from before me, saith the LORD, then the seed of Israel also shall cease from being a nation before me for ever.

It would seem to me that the events in the sixth seal would go a long way to fulfilling this impossible requirement.  I wonder if this would convince him that Israel has broken the status of chosen.

This is all very dramatic but I fail to understand what it has to do with us today.  Tomorrow will be too late.  For those who insist on taking Revelation literally it has always been too late.

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Opus 2026-349: Firsts: Debugging

Moving to Texas has been in some ways learning a new way of life.  When I was younger, I read through the western adventures of Louis L’Amour.  I enjoyed them immensely.  Certain pictures stuck in my mind.  One of them was how every morning when a cowboy would get up the first thing he would do, after putting on his hat of course, was to shake his boots so that any bugs or snakes who had taken up residence would be removed or shaken out.  Since moving to Texas, I have adopted this custom.

When we first moved here, I remember having to stomp a couple of centipedes which were five or 6 inches long.  This was in my bedroom.  They were at least long enough to stick out an inch on both sides of my foot and I have a very big foot.  They took a lot of stomping.  In addition to that you have scorpions who make their periodic appearances.  I remember one night I woke up with something crawling on me and somehow managed to slap it to the floor without getting stung and it turned out to be a scorpion.  I have several times found scorpions climbing up the shower curtain in the bathroom.  Such as the richness of living in Texas.

As a part of this, I have begun to shake out my shoes to make sure there are no bugs inside.  This week, for the first time, I actually found a bug that had gotten in.  It was not a scorpion or anything that looked dangerous, but it was a bug.

So now I join all those rugged frontiersmen who experienced the joy of finding bugs in their shoes.

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