Opus 2024-254: The Canaanites Among Us

I was raised to turn the other cheek.  I was raised with the Biblical idea, found in the Declaration of Independence, that all men are created equal.  I was raised to give people the benefit of the doubt.  I’m finding it harder and harder to adhere to that standard.

I’m beginning to think that the Canaanites have been resurrected.  If you look at the Old Testament, you see how God told Israel to at least drive out, and in many cases totally destroy the Canaanites, who lived in the promised land.  There was a reason for that.  It was because of the consummate evil that was part of their culture.  Not only was it part of their culture, but it summarized their culture.  In addition to all the aspects of general pagan practices, they were also very committed to the concept of child sacrifice.  And it wasn’t just child sacrifice as we would look at abortion.  It was taking a living baby and placing them in a heated cauldron to burn to death.

Today’s culture models one side of the divide that is rapidly approaching that point, if they have not already crossed the line.  It is impossible for those of us raised as Christians, or as Americans in a basically Christian culture, to grasp the evil that is going on around us.  At the base level it is out and out lying.  When is the last time you read a newspaper article about anything controversial that you felt you could believe?  When was the last time that you heard politicians speak the truth?  From general lying the lies move on to specifically undermine everything of value.

When we had just one or two in our midst we had special names for them.  We called them “psychopaths”. Or “sociopaths”.  Or we just considered them some kind of mental deviant that didn’t understand how to function in our culture.  We locked them up to make the rest of society safe.  Now they are main stream.  Now I’m afraid we call them Democrats.  If we want to be more inclusive, we call them Progressives.  In reality they are Canaanites.  They are evil.

Does that mean that every member of the Democratic Party is totally and irrevocably evil?  No, there are some that are so ignorant or so isolated that they don’t understand what’s going on.  I think of abortion.  I’ve seen the sonograms.  I’ve also seen the body parts.  I’ve watched two of my children to be born.  I know what is in the womb.  I taught human development in my science classes.  I showed students the copy of Life magazine, which had pictures of the developing babies and pointed out to them at the end that each and every one of those developing babies was the result of an abortion.  It is really hard not to be aware, but some people manage.

Is ignorance evil?  Not if you’re talking about what your wife wants for Christmas.  Not if you’re wondering whether you should order medium or medium well.  But if you are choosing presidential candidates, who are in favor of murdering babies, bringing back communistic pricing of groceries, wanting to disarm America, open borders, censorship and a myriad of other positions, then yes, you at least make it to the semifinals.

Pray that God intervenes so that the Canaanite solution is not necessary.

homo unius libri

Opus 2024-253: Texas Vocabulary

I really don’t know if they say this anywhere else in the country, but I get this phrase from people when I go shopping.  Instead of saying “Have a nice day”, they say “Have a blessed day.”  I am determined to adopt that greeting.

As I sit here, thinking of my blessings and thanking God for all of the wonderful surroundings he has given me I sometimes get touched by a little bit of guilt.  You may have experienced this.  You look at how good you have it, and realize that it is so much better than most of the world, or most of history for that matter.  You feel guilty.

What have I done to deserve living in an air-conditioned house in Texas with a view across the valley and plenty of food in the refrigerator?  What have I done?  I will admit my wife and I made some good choices but so did many others.  How am I better or more deserving than someone living hand mouth in a Third World country?

The simple answer is nothing and I’m not.  I have not earned it.  I do not deserve it.  And that’s the glory of the blessing.  All of this wonder is because of the gifts of God.  I don’t need to second-guess Him.  I don’t need to be overcome with inadequacies.  What I need to do is thank Him and know that tomorrow is as much in His hand as today is.

I honestly believe in my heart that if things go south in our country, if the economy crashes, if the communist overlords take over and force us into camps, I will still be able to praise my God.  I honestly believe that even in that situation, I will be able to reach out to Him and He will meet me at the point that my reach stops.  It won’t be as comfortable as it is now.  I would not enjoy it as much as I do now.  But I will still bask in the presence of Almighty God.  The Holy Spirit will still be the Comforter.  I can still recite. “the Lord is my Shepherd.”

I hope it never happens.  I hope I never have to test it.  But I have the hope if it does.

homo unius libri

Opus 2024-252: Precious Memories

Will our memory in eternity be perfect or selective?  If it is perfect, will all of the fog and distortion be removed so that we see everything with clarity?  That could be very painful, let alone embarrassing.  If it is selective, what is the criteria?

I believe that there are reservoirs within us.  Those reservoirs contain buried treasure, and to be honest, dead frogs.  There are many things that I will celebrate remembering.  There are many things that I don’t want to admit happened.

In this day and age as we get older and die later, dementia and mental problems become a real issue.  We look at loss of memory as a tragedy.  It can be if we forget who our grandchildren are.  It can be if we forget things that are treasures in our life.  At the same time we are probably able to forget some of our worst moments.  I don’t think I’m there yet, so I’m not sure how this works.  Some people may totally dispute this and say that they remember their failures with great clarity, and wonder if they were ever successful at anything.

As anything I ever say, having to do with eternity, I fall back on the belief that whatever God has for us is going to be so more glorious than what we have now that we won’t even recognize where we come from.  I picture harmony with 100 parts.  I picture delectable delights with no health issues.  I picture scintillating arguments with no anger and possibly no resolution.

There are times when I can hardly wait, but God says I have to.

homo unius libri

Opus 2024-251: The Glory of Hard Times

One of the great things about hard times or what we face now, the unknown, is that it gives us the opportunity to decide which way our hearts are going to go.

Are we going to give into despair?  Are we going to surrender to the defeatist attitude?

Or, are we going to continue to glorify our God and look to eternity?

We get to decide.  God is not going to change.  We don’t know how He’s going to work things out but we can decide whether we are going to live in despair or hope.

The choice may not change anything in our surrounding world, but it will change the way in which we interact with our environment.  One of the great truths of life is our attitude towards what is around us affects how that surrounding deals with us.  It’s a mystery.  It doesn’t make sense.  It does make a difference.  I think of the old story about two shoe salesmen who went to the South Seas island where the locals all went barefoot.  The first salesman wired back, “This is a hopeless situation. No one here where is shoes.”  His replacement got all excited and sent word back, “Send more shoes.  No one here has any.”

An old story, but an even older reality in our lives.

Live in hope if you know Jesus.

homo unius libri

Opus 2024-250: Tradition

One of the traps that we can fall into has to do with tradition.  Much of what we believe, declare and practice is based more on tradition than actual truth.  This applies to both the Bible and the Constitution.  That can be a problem or it can be a blessing.

Some tradition is simply taking old habits and rituals and continuing to apply them because that was how it was always done.  This does not have to be evil but it can be if it replaces the clear teaching of scripture.  Tradition in a good sense does not conflict with what the Bible says; it enhances it.

Other traditions are made up out of whole cloth.  They have no substance behind them and again they can be either beneficial or damaging depending on how they’re applied and how much you build using them as a foundation.  Traditions should be decorative and enhancing not foundational.

Then there are those traditions which are clearly the manipulation of carnal men try to make the Bible say what they wanted to say.  These are the traditions that Jesus spoke out against.  These are the traditions that Paul responded to.  We need to be careful about these kind of conditions because the odds are that they have nothing to do with the Bible and in fact are often contrary to what the Bible teaches.

Let me say it again, our foundations and our theology should be based on the clear teachings of scripture not the interpretations of theologians or scholars or, worst of all, heretics.  When it comes to the Constitution you can substitute “lawyers” for “heretics”.

homo unius libri

Opus 2024-249: Honing Your Brain Palate

I was enjoying my oatmeal this morning and being thankful for the presence of honey in it.  I realized that this was rather mundane and ordinary, compared to being thankful for the incarnation, and the crucifixion, and the resurrection and so forth.  Yes, it was still gratitude at the blessings God gives.

From there my mind went to how do I tell the difference between the honey and the artificial sweeteners I have used which are made up of chemicals and additives.  When all I had were the chemicals in additives, it was quite adequate.  Once I went to the honey, I could tell the difference.

This brought to mind the old illustration of how do you bank tellers know the difference between genuine money and counterfeit bills.  The answer was not that they knew all of the attributes of counterfeit money, but they knew what the real thing felt like.  So much of our life we fall short in because we have never experienced the real thing.

To be honest, some people never can experience the real thing.  I think of how taste buds are actually different, how some people taste bitter, and others taste nothing.  We even taste sweets differently.  It is literally a genetic difference.  There is nothing they can do about it.  Then you have limitations like bad eyes.  Some people can correct their vision totally either with glasses or some type of surgery.  Others like myself have a bad eye which is just a bad eye there is nothing to do about it.  You learn to live with it.  You’re aware of the problem but you get on with life.

In many areas, we can develop an awareness of the differences.  I think of politics.  The elites that try to manipulate our thinking, and are doing everything they can to destroy the country know exactly what to tell us.  They know how to get inside our minds and warp are thinking.  If we are not alert and aware they can do a very good job.  The best antithesis to phony thinking is being aware of the real thing.  The many different branches that lies can take can never be kept up with.  However, if you have actually read the Constitution, then you know when they are feeding you bogus nonsense.

I find the same true when it comes to such phrases as “Islam is a religion of peace.”  That sounds really good.  People want to believe it.  You can quote the Quran in such a way as to make it sound like that’s what it teaches.  However, if you have read the entire Quran, you find that is a nonsense statement.  When you know the real thing, it’s hard for the lies to sneak by you.  It can still happen.  We need to stay awake and keep our boloney meters turned on.  But we can tell the difference.

homo unius libri

Opus 2024-248: Differences

The first place that it really came home to me that everyone is different was when I was in the early stages of admitting I was diabetic.  I saw how diabetes strikes different people in different ways, and often it seems to have nothing to do with what they have actually practiced.  Obviously, there is a correlation between lifestyle and type 2 diabetes.  At the same time, for reasons I certainly can’t figure out, two people can do the same things and have different results.

Where that is coming home to me currently has to do with answers to prayer.  Some people are healed.  Some people aren’t.  We recently had a man in our church who went through triple bypass surgery.  He is the picture of fitness.  Slender, active, walking 45 minutes today, and yet, one of his arteries what is 100% clogged.  Go figure.  He survived and is doing well.

Where this is leading is the thought that crossed my mind that these kinds of differences reflect upon the nature of God.  God is not a machine where you punch a button and get a candy bar.  According to the Bible, He is a living being.  He feels anger.  He feels disappointment.  I think He experiences the gamut of emotions.  That means that He is free to respond to us as individuals based upon what He says needs to happen.  We don’t have the big picture.  He does. We don’t have the final word.  He does.  We are not God.  HE is.  Yes.

homo unius libri