As I was packing to move to my new apartment this morning, I came across this quite that I had several years ago printed out and hung on my dorm door, back when I thought doing so made a strong statement to the rest of the world. (Hint to current dorm students: it doesn’t.)

Bible students may recognize the title (and definitely should, once I explain it) as a take on Warren Weirsbe’s NT commentary series, entitled Be _____, with some adjective that sums up whichever book he happens to be working on. Back in my undergrad days I remember working through some of these commentaries, particularly in the epistles, with my prayer group. I came across this snippet in Be Joyful, a commentary on Philippians (emphasis mine):

Too many people think that a “spiritual Christian” is mystical, dreamy, impractical, and distant. When he prays, he shifts his voice into a sepulchral tone in tremolo and goes to great lengths to inform God of the things He already knows. Unfortunately, this kind of unctuous piety is a poor example of true spirituality. To be spiritually minded does not require one to be impractical or mystical. Quite the contrary, the spiritual mind makes the believer think more clearly and get things done more efficiently.

We’ll call this a press release:
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Church Built for 150 MPH Winds Demolished

Something about this story immediately drew my thoughts to Matthew 7:26-28 [+/-] And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it." And when Jesus finished these sayings, the crowds were astonished at his teaching,. I don’t know anything about the church, what they believe, etc., so don’t automatically assume I’m proclaiming divine judgment on the church. After all, we understand from Rev. 2-3 [+/-] [2:1]"To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: 'The words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand, who walks among the seven golden lampstands. "'I know your works, your toil and your patient endurance, and how you cannot bear with those who are evil, but have tested those who call themselves apostles and are not, and found them to be false. I know you are enduring patiently and bearing up for my name's sake, and you have not grown weary. But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first. Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent. Yet this you have: you hate the works of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who conquers I will grant to eat of the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.' "And to the angel of the church in Smyrna write: 'The words of the first and the last, who died and came to life. "'I know your tribulation and your poverty (but you are rich) and the slander of those who say that they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan. Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested, and for ten days you will have tribulation. Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. The one who conquers will not be hurt by the second death.' "And to the angel of the church in Pergamum write: 'The words of him who has the sharp two-edged sword. "'I know where you dwell, where Satan's throne is. Yet you hold fast my name, and you did not deny my faith even in the days of Antipas my faithful witness, who was killed among you, where Satan dwells. But I have a few things against you: you have some there who hold the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel, so that they might eat food sacrificed to idols and practice sexual immorality. So also you have some who hold the teaching of the Nicolaitans. Therefore repent. If not, I will come to you soon and war against them with the sword of my mouth. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who conquers I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, with a new name written on the stone that no one knows except the one who receives it.' "And to the angel of the church in Thyatira write: 'The words of the Son of God, who has eyes like a flame of fire, and whose feet are like burnished bronze. "'I know your works, your love and faith and service and patient endurance, and that your latter works exceed the first. But I have this against you, that you tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess and is teaching and seducing my servants to practice sexual immorality and to eat food sacrificed to idols. I gave her time to repent, but she refuses to repent of her sexual immorality. Behold, I will throw her onto a sickbed, and those who commit adultery with her I will throw into great tribulation, unless they repent of her works, and I will strike her children dead. And all the churches will know that I am he who searches mind and heart, and I will give to each of you according to your works. But to the rest of you in Thyatira, who do not hold this teaching, who have not learned what some call the deep things of Satan, to you I say, I do not lay on you any other burden. Only hold fast what you have until I come. The one who conquers and who keeps my works until the end, to him I will give authority over the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron, as when earthen pots are broken in pieces, even as I myself have received authority from my Father. And I will give him the morning star. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.' [3:1]"And to the angel of the church in Sardis write: 'The words of him who has the seven spirits of God and the seven stars. "'I know your works. You have the reputation of being alive, but you are dead. Wake up, and strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not found your works complete in the sight of my God. Remember, then, what you received and heard. Keep it, and repent. If you will not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what hour I will come against you. Yet you have still a few names in Sardis, people who have not soiled their garments, and they will walk with me in white, for they are worthy. The one who conquers will be clothed thus in white garments, and I will never blot his name out of the book of life. I will confess his name before my Father and before his angels. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.' "And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write: 'The words of the holy one, the true one, who has the key of David, who opens and no one will shut, who shuts and no one opens. "'I know your works. Behold, I have set before you an open door, which no one is able to shut. I know that you have but little power, and yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name. Behold, I will make those of the synagogue of Satan who say that they are Jews and are not, but lie--behold, I will make them come and bow down before your feet and they will learn that I have loved you. Because you have kept my word about patient endurance, I will keep you from the hour of trial that is coming on the whole world, to try those who dwell on the earth. I am coming soon. Hold fast what you have, so that no one may seize your crown. The one who conquers, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God. Never shall he go out of it, and I will write on him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down from my God out of heaven, and my own new name. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.' "And to the angel of the church in Laodicea write: 'The words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of God's creation. "'I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot! So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth. For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked. I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire, so that you may be rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself and the shame of your nakedness may not be seen, and salve to anoint your eyes, so that you may see. Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent. Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me. The one who conquers, I will grant him to sit with me on my throne, as I also conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.'" that God has a message for every church that calls itself by His name, whether or not the purists of the day would look at that particular church as “right” or not, so it’s possible this was sent as a wake-up call. We don’t know and can’t assume. But like the folks at the Tower of Babel, the Lady Lake Church stands (or not) as a testimony that God will have His way, regardless of how sure and solid we think we’ve built things up.

Three musical things to mention while I let one of my compositions simmer on the back burner for the moment. First off, Time ran a very thought-provoking article the other day on popular Christian artist Chris Tomlin. (Link) It cast Mr. Tomlin in a pretty good light, and perhaps for good reason, all things being equal. After all, commercially speaking, if you can get your target audience to whistle your tunes and/or sing your songs without much training, then you’ve succeeded.
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Today brought some discouraging news, at least in the short term. As you (might) know I’ve been struggling with a back injury that’s kept me sidelined from life for the last two months. It’s all paid for through worker’s comp, but the downside is that the wheels of corporate medicine grind but slowly - I figured out today that every action that I’ve needed has taken a month to actually happen. It was a month after the injury before I was allowed to see a doctor under worker’s comp; it was a month after that before the MRI (tomorrow); and today’s news was that it would be yet another month before the follow-up visit with the doctor, currently on the books for November 1.
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This won’t be long. I’m officially trained as a preacher - so says my diploma - but sometimes preaching can muddy the waters. Sometimes it’s better to let a passage speak for itself. With that in mind, let me give some background before hitting my main point. This past Sunday, Chorale was scheduled to sing in the morning service on campus. Terry, the guy who runs the Calvary Quartet, with whom I sing tenor, has learned to accept the fact that one Sunday a month he has to find a replacement for me - prior obligations being what they are, I don’t ask to be excused from the Chorale’s ministry, even though I’m one of seven tenors there versus the only tenor in the Quartet. This past Sunday the Quartet was in Chattanooga, TN. Terry really wanted me the whole weekend, but he absolutely had to have me Sunday night. So we made a deal - I’d sing with the Chorale Sunday morning, pick up his van (which has cruise control and is more comfortable than It, my car) at his house, and book it to Chattanooga, a four-hour drive. I’d sing that evening, then try to get back to Greenville by midnight so I could be at work by seven the next morning. (It was closer to 2a by the time I got to bed.) Going into Sunday I admit I was viewing the Chorale activity as a bit of an inconvenience; looking back, though, I see God’s hand in ordering the schedules as He did.

The morning message Sunday was delivered by Dr. Berg. He preached from 2 Peter 1:1-15 [+/-] [1:1]Simeon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who have obtained a faith of equal standing with ours by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ: May grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire. For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins. Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to make your calling and election sure, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall. For in this way there will be richly provided for you an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Therefore I intend always to remind you of these qualities, though you know them and are established in the truth that you have. I think it right, as long as I am in this body, to stir you up by way of reminder, since I know that the putting off of my body will be soon, as our Lord Jesus Christ made clear to me. And I will make every effort so that after my departure you may be able at any time to recall these things.. As I read the passage between going onstage and actually singing, verse 12 popped out to me: “Therefore I intend always to remind you of these qualities [that he just wrote about in verses 5-7], though you know them and are established in the truth that you have.” Translation: I’m going to keep reminding you of what God’s done for and given to you, even though you already know about them. Dr. Berg then recited a list of those “precious and very great promises” (v. 4) - things like God’s promise of His constant presence (Deut. 31:8 [+/-] It is the LORD who goes before you. He will be with you; he will not leave you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed."); His promise that He works everything together for good (Rom. 8:38 [+/-] For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers,); His promise that what He does in my life is for good and not evil (Jer. 29:11 [+/-] For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.); and many, many more.

It was in that passage that it hit me - up until then, I had been questioning why God had brought these back problems into my life. (Quick recap - a work injury has put me in increasingly extraordinary pain for the last two months.) It’s not a sin to question. But it is a sin to question accusingly, which is what I was doing. Now, I know all these passages and promises. But I needed to be reminded of them. Badly.

God knew I needed that reminder, so He made sure I’d be in a place where I could hear them and be reminded. And so now I can actually rejoice in the middle of this pain. Doesn’t mean it doesn’t hurt anymore. Trust me - it hurts. A lot. Doesn’t mean I’m going to give up trying to get relief. Doesn’t even mean that I’m going to be walking around smiling all the time. More likely than not it’ll be more like a grimace. It does mean, though, that I can thank God for working in and through my life. God has promised that all of His plans turn out for good - His good, it should be noted - which means that, when all of this is said and done, He will have glorified Himself through me. That’s an awesome thought! God has chosen to bring Himself glory through this temporary trial in my life. Not your life, my life. In short, God has given me this very unique chance to show His power and glory to others. That’s an honor and a big responsibility. So if you happen to see me walking with a 30-degree tilt to one side, do pray for me, but also think of me as a reminder of God’s goodness and his promises to sustain His children.

It never ceases to amaze me. You frequent readers know I’ve said this before, and I’ll keep on saying it because it keeps on getting proven true. Very often, when an accusation is made, the one(s) being accused will prove those accusations correct while trying to disprove those accusations. Last time I said this, I was referring to Hysteric Fundamentalists © who prove their marginalistic and just plain crazy views while trying to prove they’re not marginalistic and just plain crazy. Typically this happens shortly after they run out of logical arguments against the accusation. Well now we see it again, this time well outside the Christian sector.

You all, I’m sure, have heard about some comments the Pope made in an academic lecture last week - how he quoted an ancient text that fingered the fact that violence seems to be the leading edge of Muslim missionary efforts. If you took the time to read the whole speech, you would have realized that the quote in question took a very small part of the larger speech. Of course Muslims took offense to this, just like they took offense at the political cartoons depecting Mohammed with a bomb in his turban, etc. Interestingly enough, if you read some of the comments from Muslim-controlled countries, you’ll find out the following:

1. We don’t actually know what he said,
2. but whatever he said, we think it’s offensive.
3. He should apologize, but we won’t accept it.

To greatly simplify things, let’s say the Pope came right out and said that violence and Islam go hand in hand (which isn’t what he said). For about two days there were folks getting up using the Koran to disprove that misstatement (at least the parts of the Koran that disproved it; what they did with the parts that do prove that misstatement is a mystery). Seeing that no one was believing it, they went and endorsed violence as the only way to correct this problem. And they apparently think that this makes perfect sense.

Read the Google headlines - there are fears of violence, violent protests, and calls for more violence in the wake of this misunderstanding. “Orthodox Islam isn’t violent, and if you don’t believe it we’ll just kill you!” Am I the only one that thinks this is nuts?

Did Ratzinger come out and say that pure Islam is violent? No, not really. He quoted someone else who did as an illustration. But he might as well have said that, for all flurry it caused. And he probably would have been right, too. Because whenever someone is ashamed about something, and that something gets fingered in a very public way, the typical reaction is not a calm, reasoned response. It’s usually an explosive tirade designed to deflect public attention away from that something. But when that something happens to be explosive in and of itself, there aren’t many other ways to turn. In the end, Islam will live by the sword. It’s been that way historically, and no amount of attention-deflecting can hide the fact that, in the four or five thousand years since Ishmael came and went, his descendants have been and will continue to be violent in their beliefs. Let’s stop pretending all these radical Muslims are really peaceful folks who are willing to live and let live. If anything, the events of this past week prove otherwise.

This afternoon marked the opening of a new bag of coffee, and the aroma went literally all through the office. The brand was Starbucks; the blend, Gold Coast. Nothing like opening that vacuum-sealed bag and letting out the rich aroma of some of the darkest “Extra Bold” beans you’ve ever seen. I ground them fresh at my desk, and it was a beautiful sight - the moist grounds sitting in the hopper, waiting for the hot water to pour through…I made a whole pot, and it was gone in five minutes. It truly was something to be experienced, not just tasted.

So that was the afternoon buzz. Perfect to contrast the thunderstorm that just now exploded over Greenville. And still that aroma is floating around my desk. As one co-worker put it, “37 milligrams of caffeine in every breath!”

Completely off-topic, this comic may illustrate the dangers of dumping the hymnal from church services altogether. Maybe.

By now those of you in our little Fundy orbit may or may not have heard of the resignation of Dr. Dave Jaspers as President of Maranata Baptist Bible College. It’s a bit of a saga, and it (as well as the fallout) unfortunately demonstrates a disturbing trend in our circles.
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Normally I hate doing things for the sake of tradition…but today I participated in one tradition I hope never dies. Every year, for the last society meeting, Z meets and has a steak cookout. This tradition was started by the great Melchizidek (or Jon Michalek, if you prefer) three or four years ago and has continued every year since. I have always been an eager participant in the cooking process. This year was no different. “Ich bin der grillmeister!” is something I frequently shout out. I had help, too - die zwei Untergrillmeisters Josh Sexton and Alden Park. Here’s to ya, boys. We cooked a lot of raw meat to all order specifications, and then we chose our prizes and cooked them with love and care not shown to the rest. After all, we were the last to eat, so no one was clamoring “I wanted a medium well and you gave me a medium! Swine!” Okay, no one said that. But we took our time and pulled off the perfect slabs of meat. I chose a moderately thick piece and grilled it to a perfect medium rare. Ah…good times.

Finished the last exams today. Now I’m fried, and that little filter that catches all my sarcasm before it escapes my mouth was gone by 3 in the afternoon, instead of 1 in the morning like usual. So I really need to hit the sack before I really tick someone off.

One question…with some background. The background is our patriotic program we’re singing for Commencement Concert in three days. One of the songs is René Clausen’s Memorial, written for the 1st anniversary of the 9-11 attacks. In there is a line taken from Psalm 22:1 [+/-] [22:1]My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, from the words of my groaning? (and later quoted by Christ on the cross) - “My God, why has thou forsaken me?” We’re singing along, and I just stopped. Okay - the terrorists carried out these attacks in the name of Allah - in the name of [g]od. So why are we, Christians who believe Allah to be not a god at all, a false god, why are we asking the true God why He’s forsaken us? Forget the obvious theological problem of comparing the attacks on the WTC to the death of Christ. Not even going there - I guess we’re not supposed to think about that and just sing the words, because we can do that because it’s not a sacred song and the words don’t matter. </sarcasm> More to the point, I think, is that in our haste to be remorseful and in our desire to remember those folks who died, we are each and every time allowing those godless men to win the day! Their attacks were as much motivated by politics as religion - only an absolute moron with an IQ of mayonnaise would deny that. So when we question God’s motives on that day, they’re winning. Their god has taken the stage from the true God.

But it’s all about the music, right? The music stirs up angst, remorse, and a general warm fuzzy feeling that may or may not be related to those three chalupas you had at Taco Bell before you came to the program. (Actually, chalupas sound pretty good right about now…) And that’s the point - to run everyone on an emotional tour of America. Well, I suppose it’s succeeded, then.

One more quote before I pack it in. “And even should the clouds of barbarism and despotism again obscure the science and liberties of Europe, this country remains to preserve and restore light and liberty to them” (emphasis mine). Who do you think said that? Sounds a lot like the current doctrine of “let’s rush in there with our military and start a war that has nothing to do with us so we can spread our brand of democracy around the world” that America seems to find itself using today, huh? Would you believe that was written more than 200 years ago? Thomas Jefferson’s the author. Seems like America has always seen herself as a country whose purpose is to enforce democracy around the world. Why? Why is it our job? Why should we spend our time and money, and why should we sacrifice our citizens just so some ungrateful nomads on the other side of the planet can risk their lives voting? Here’s another quote: “Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just.” That’s from our national anthem, folks. Read the last stanza sometime, the one that never gets sung anymore. Every time in the last 60 years that we’ve gone into some insect-infested nation for the purpose of establishing democracy, it’s been a disaster. Now, I like democracy. Nothing against it. But why does everyone in the world have to conform to our standard? Food for thought.

You read it here first. And you’ll read it here again. You who read often know I “call ‘em as I see ‘em.” A month ago, when a hilarious cartoon came out on Sharper Iron that essentially caricaturized all the less-than-savory elements of this quirky movement we call “Fundamentalism,” I noted that some people (who are otherwise great balanced people) were getting offended on behalf of the really unsavory elements in the movement. In a nutshell, it looked like this: “Oh, that’s really funny! Wait…won’t the easy-believism crowd get offended by the ship’s name? You mean they’re not offended? They’re laughing, too? Well, then we’ll just get offended for them!”

So today in my morning routine of checking email and reading a few comic feeds while I pour coffee, I stopped by SI just to see what the latest bombshell to hit narrower Evangelicalism might be. And wouldn’t you know, there was a dead-horse debate going on about inter-racial dating bans! At BJU! Who’d've thought? This debate (which I’m not linking to, so don’t ask - find it yourself!) could be summed thus:

White Guys: BJ banned inter-racial dating, and that was wrong of them. They should apologize to the world for being [present-tense] racist.
Bunch of non-Caucasians: Why? We’re not offended. They’re certainly not racist now - a quick look at http://www.bju.edu/ will show you that. Note the black guy on the front page. Note the minorities on every other page. We’ve gotten over it; why can’t you?
White Guys: Well, even if you don’t care, I still do.

Yes, BJ has gone from “racist white supremacist KKK haven” (as some would like to paint it) to your average mildly “integrated” school. C’mon - this is the Deep South. Everyone says racism is gone, but who believes it? The best anyone can do is accept anyone that comes down the pike and hope that more than just white people will come down the pike. But I digress. My point was that there seems to be an emerging trend in our little trickle of Evangelicalism, and that is the strange habit of getting offended on behalf of people who maybe should be (but aren’t) offended.

No, really, admit it - you see it, too. We’ve gotten so caught up looking after the needs of “the little guy,” making underdogs all over the place; and in the process we come off as wildly condescending. Almost something like, “You’re too ignorant to be offended,” or “If you knew more about what was going on, you’d be offended, too.” How Christian of us. For some reason (please don’t be offended; I certainly won’t be on your behalf if you’re not), I can’t get out of my head the image of a parent scolding a child for making fun of a mentally handicapped brother or sister. Really. Seems like here we are, the guardians of thinking Fundamentalism, and we’re going off scolding others like us for making fun of people we don’t think are offended enough. An insult against them is, strangely, an insult against us. Now, I’m not saying that people who don’t agree with me are mentally handicapped…just idiots. But it makes me laugh to see the “targets of oppression” not caring at all, while everyone else goes into a frothing rage. Kudos to the handful of people in that thread who should have been offended but let it go. They accepted the school’s statement six years ago that the rule should never have been there at all and probably didn’t give it a second thought.

Keep your eyes out for this new trend. Hopefully if it gets pinpointed enough it’ll stop, but I’m not holding my breath.

http://www.sharperiron.org/showthread.php?t=2626

This, friends and enemies alike, is what happens when people who take themselves too seriously try to understand a joke about themselves. Witness:

1. The cartoon drawn by a fundy with mad skillz in Photoshop,
2. The other fundies snorting OJ out their nostrils laughing at said fundy’s skillz, and
3. The handful of people who were afraid of offending the super-easily-offended and consequently took themselves much too seriously to get the joke.

There. I just summed up 20 pages of forum replies.

Granted, most of the people finally thought it was funny and settled down. But this is something I’ve been saying all along - the only sane way to make it through life is to stop taking yourself seriously every now and then. Granted, a little levity never hurt anyone. But neither did a little ribbing. Even here, it’s a problem. I met someone last night for the first time. As is Western custom, I asked this person what his name was. The reply: “Mr. Smith. Unless you’re faculty or staff, in which case I’m just Bob.” (There are no guarantees in that last quote as to name and/or gender.) He was quite serious. Now, policy handbook notwithstanding, only the people who take themselves too seriously introduce themselves to a peer in an informal setting using their proper title. I myself instruct people NOT to call me “Mr. Mount(y)” because, to quote (or not) the sea turtle from Finding Nemo, “Mr. Mount is my father.”

Here’s mounty’s take on the whole thing: someone draws a cartoon that caricatures all that is disdainful about mainstream Fundamentalism. Us fundies not on the good ship S.S. 1-2-3 Follow Me immediately chuckle, then realize that the segment of Fundamentalism that’s likely to get upset at just about anything might just get upset about this. Immediately a few don serious masks and wait a whopping hour for our easily-upset brethren to get upset. When the easily-upset brethren (who, because of an unfortunate time zone difference, are still in bed) do not get easily upset because they’re still snoring, the now-serious chucklers think, “If they’re not going to get upset, then we’ll just have to get upset for them. We didn’t get all serious for nothing, after all.” Suddenly a great rift opens up between the various chucklers, who are now fully awake and who should be crunching numbers, making phone calls, or operating heavy machinery, but who are instead online. Unwittingly, they accidentally declare war on themselves, as is wont in this particular camp. 20 pages later, almost everybody has had a good chuckle. (”You mean we’re all on the same side? Heh heh…oops. Well, it was fun while it lasted!”) What’s remarkable about this whole episode is how quickly the fundies who apparently have no hot buttons (no KJV button, no culotte button, fewer theater and music buttons than you might think, etc.) found one to push…and they pushed it themselves. Hard. Repeatedly. Then they started believing themselves. In short, they started taking themselves too seriously, right smack-dab in the middle of one of the biggest fundy jokes in recent memory.

So now I hit the semi-serious part of this discussion. Phil Johnson has twice now come down on those “crazies” in the Fundy movement. What I find humorous (you always gotta look for these things) is that, in our quick efforts to prove him wrong, we end up tripping over ourselves, blaming each other for the trippage, and ultimately proving him, well, dead right.

From time to time hymn texts hit me in a particularly special way. I’ve got a rare treat - two that I’d like to share in one day. First off is what Chorale did to kick off the Friday evangelistic meeting - a text entitled “I Could Not Do Without Thee” by Francis R. Havergal written in May of 1873:

I could not do without Thee
O Savior of the lost,
Whose precious blood redeemed me
At such tremendous cost.
Thy righteousness, thy pardon
Thy precious blood, must be
My only hope and comfort,
My glory and my plea.

I could not do without Thee,
I cannot stand alone,
I have no strength or goodness,
No wisdom of my own;
But Thou, beloved Savior,
Art all in all to me,
And weakness will be power
If leaning hard on Thee.

I could not do without Thee,
O Jesus, Savior dear;
E’en when my eyes are holden,
I know that Thou art near.
How dreary and how lonely
This changeful life would be,
Without the sweet communion,
The secret rest with Thee!

I could not do without Thee,
For years are fleeting fast,
And soon in solemn oneness
The river must be passed;
But Thou wilt never leave me,
And though the waves roll high,
I know Thou wilt be near me,
And whisper, “It is I.”

Not sure why, specifically, this text hit me like it did…could have been the fact that after singing it twenty times through one is forced to pay attention to the words to project the meaning well. But nonetheless the text is a very emotionally charged work, emphasising our need for complete reliance on God.

The other one is from about 100 years earlier and was written by the Englishman William Cowper (that’s “Cooper” for all you folks who haven’t heard his name before). It’s called “Sometimes a Light Surprises.” Yes, title sounds dorky. But the words are great, especially the second stanza:

Sometimes a light surprises the Christian while he sings;
It is the Lord, Who rises with healing in His wings:
When comforts are declining, He grants the soul again
A season of clear shining, to cheer it after rain.

In holy contemplation we sweetly then pursue
The theme of God’s salvation, and find it ever new.
Set free from present sorrow, we cheerfully can say,
Let the unknown tomorrow bring with it what it may.

It can bring with it nothing but He will bear us through;
Who gives the lilies clothing will clothe His people, too;
Beneath the spreading heavens, no creature but is fed;
And He Who feeds the ravens will give His children bread.

Though vine nor fig tree neither their wonted fruit should bear,
Though all the field should wither, nor flocks nor herds be there;
Yet God the same abiding, His praise shall tune my voice,
For while in Him confiding, I cannot but rejoice.

Haven’t heard a decent hymn tune for this…but Craig Courtney’s choral setting is second to none. It gently bounces along in a refreshing, spritely sort of way. (For you music people, he alternates between 3/4 and 6/8 meters every other measure, and there are little triplet sixteenth notes springing up everywhere.) Not very congregation-oriented, but it’ll sound great when we sing it on campus sometime in the next month or two.

Hope these do something for you.

http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/01/05/robertson.sharon/

I’ve about had it with Pat Robertson, and any Christian who’s not one of these xenophobic isolationist NWO-sniffing paranoids should, too. The man goes on record saying that killing a foreign head of state wouldn’t be too bad. Then he says God would be perfectly justified in wiping an entire town off the map for taking God out of the public school textbooks. Now he’s saying God’s “smiting” Ariel Sharon (PM of Israel, if you’ve been living in Togo for a while…though I have had people from Togo log onto this site) for dividing God’s land.

Robertson has gone from bad to worse to, IMO, blasphemous. The bad was the comment about the Argentinian PM, whom everyone’s more or less forgotten about by now. Worse was his presumption that God would take retribution for being excluded from the schools of a dot on the map in Middle Of Nowhere, PA. Blasphemous is his arrogance for making up quotes from God and presuming to speak not for God, but as God. Listen to the quote:

“He was dividing God’s land, and I would say, ‘Woe unto any prime minister of Israel who takes a similar course to appease the [European Union], the United Nations or the United States of America.’”

“God says, ‘This land belongs to me, and you’d better leave it alone.’”

This is my paraphrase, for better clarity of this guy’s thought process: “If I were God, I’d be angry for this man dividing my land. And hey, if I were God and I were angry, I’d sure enough do something about it, like maybe afflict the guy responsible with some disease. And wouldn’t you know it? God and I must be on the same page, because here Sharon’s been afflicted! Who’d've thunk it?”

Friends and relatives of mine know I like giving the benefit of the doubt, but I gotta say he’s not leaving much room for that. I feel like a heathen even trying to justify this, but the only thing I can see that might possibly be an excuse is that, at 75, Robertson is simply senile. And I hope for his sake’s he truly has lost his mind, because to say intentionally what he’s saying puts him in a very dangerous position. Who knows…maybe God will smite him. (Note sarcasm in last statement.)

Seriously, if you still watch The 700 Club, I suggest you stop. If you listen to this madman on the radio, I suggest you stop. He’s gone waaaaay overboard theologically if he presumes to speak as God would speak, and that makes any of his teaching suspect and dangerous. Besides, if we all ignore him, maybe he’ll go away. It works for other monsters…

Finally…the sweet sound of my video card fan whirring rather loudly. The gently red and blue LEDs of my case fans. A goatee I never knew my case had. Yes, the Big Dog is up and running again. To recap: for a while, once a week, the computer would shut down and refuse to restart. I’d have to cycle the power supply completely down and back up again before the power button would actually do anything…and even then all that would happen was the fans would come one for 1/4 second before shutting down. I found that reseating the CPU fixed the problem, most of the time. Until this past week, when nothing worked. I tested all the easy-to-remove components: CPU, memory, power supply - all were good. Still the problem would happen. Finally I took the entire thing over to Computer Direct Outlet on Laurens Rd., ripped it apart, and tested everything, motherboard included. The technician plugged my parts in one by one (I’d already done this; I was more interested in what happened when he put his CPU in my board. It worked.) until my entire board was reassembled and running just fine. So, he was about ready to shrug, until I suggested putting my power supply in, the same power supply they had tested two weeks prior and pronounced working, the same power supply I had put in another computer and tested, the same power supply that I had needled with voltage testers to make sure it was fine. Immediately the computer refused to boot. He plugged it into the PSU tester - dead. Completely gone. No juice whatsoever.

So, here I was worried it was a CPU or motherboard. The CPU tested out just fine in another board, and another CPU tested out just fine in the case. Problem - no power. And from a three-week old PSU, too! I hope I can get my $80 back.

But this isn’t just a feel-good “my computer’s back and I’m happy” post. See, I had prayed rather fervently today that I could somehow get it running again. My notes for my Wednesday exam live on my Palm and my computer. The Palm and the computer crashed in the same week. So now I had no notes and was seriously praying for one or the other to come back tonight. And this one did. So, praise the Lord!

BTW, the goatee thing is an extra case LED I didn’t know was on there. But since I had to connect all those case pins to the motherboard again, I must have connected something and activated a blue LED facing down from the power supply area. Makes the computer look like it’s got a blue goatee. Kinda funny, actually.

Since so many people have been asking, and I’m getting tired of sending a 2mb attachment, I’ve decided to upload the Holman Christian Standard Bible modules for e-Sword and PocketPC e-Sword to this site. You can get the PC version here and the PocketPC version here. My disclaimer is that I have no idea where these came from, and if the original author finds out and wants these taken down, that’s his right. But since I don’t know who the original author is, I’m distributing these in the public domain. Enjoy!

:EDIT: So Rick says that Broadman-Holman changed their minds about offering it for free for e-sword users. This means they’re trusting that no one who downloaded it will ever again share it with friends. This is a pretty dumb assumption, but then I’ve always been cynical that way. SO…

Since I never did download it for e-sword, I suppose I can’t offer it myself. But, perhaps someone who DID download it for himself and DOES have his own website and WANTS to have a sharing attitude could. And he’ll be getting an email from me shortly.

…along life’s road. I’ve been doing a lot of singing recently. This month has been especially hard: Chorale sings at Anderson College. Dan Kreider’s recital choir meets twice weekly to prepare for the recital Nov. 19. Chorale sings for High School Festival. Chorale practices for concert. Chorale sings two concerts. Quartet sings in Indiana that same weekend.

Tom gets sick last Saturday. Click for more…

This week’s quartet trip took us up the road a ways to Fayetteville, NC (next door to Fort Bragg, for you military buffs), then way up to Greenville, NC (which I was surprised to find out just now isn’t terribly far from the Outer Banks). In keeping with one of my original justifications for travelling, I have learned an important tidbit from this weekend. Click for more…

AP Wire | 10/12/2005 | Venezuela’s Chavez orders U.S. missionary group to leave country

If you’re too lazy to read the article, Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez gave all the New Tribes (website) missionaries their marching orders today, and those marching orders are orders to march straight out of Venezuela. Granted, Pat Robertson called for Chavez’ assassination a few weeks ago, so I suppose he has a right and a reason to do what he did.

I have to wonder if this is religious persecution (as I’m sure some will immediately see it as) or a result of Patty’s pie hole. I didn’t see anything in Chavez’ latest rant that said he hated the fact that they were Christians. He’s more concerned that they’re CIA spies. So I would tend not to view this as religious persecution. Seems to me this is a corporate version of I Peter 2:20 - “For what credit is it if, when you sin and are beaten for it, you endure? But if when you do good and suffer for it you endure, this is a gracious thing in the sight of God.” Short version: Pat Robertson sinned, and missionaries are being beaten for it.

Next time keep your mouth shut, Mr. Robertson. There are enough people in Christian camps that shoot their mouth from their hip without you making things worse. In this case, paranoid as he is, I think I sympathize with Chavez’ position. Courtesy of his instability and your tongue a good number of the misisonaries in Venezuela are being ordered out. Congratulations.

Oh, and quote of the day: “they take away sensitive, strategic information.” Yes, sensitive and strategic information. About Venezuela. And about Chavez’ secret mystery cabinet made up of men from Mars. So our military doesn’t get its collective behind kicked when we invade. From outer space. HELLO!!!! Remote mountaintop villages? What - are they reporting on the movements of parrots? How much sensitive information is there to be spied upon when you’re 8,000 feet above sea level, covered in a thick canopy of clouds, and miles away from the capital?? Get this man some Valium and a nice comfortable padded room!

My poor car. Hasn’t been under the sponge for nearly two years. But it’s getting clean now, more or less. It’s absolutely pouring down here, and it looks like it’ll continue for a few days. Some tropical storm whose name escapes me at the moment landed and is now lazily wandering over the Upsate. If nothing else the grass (and my car) will be greener by the weekend.

There are times down here that some people just come through in just the right way at just the right time. Today was one of those days. I went to chapel after being out in the rain feeling, well, “blah” would be a good word. I got into a bet with the guy next to me about the format of the chapel service - he thought because of the rain and a recent suggestion that we’d be having a singspiration. I didn’t think things would happen that fast - after all, the suggestion was made Monday. But Dr. Gus (who never ceases to amaze me) busted out the singspiration, and it was truly a blessed 40 minutes of chapel. It was pretty much exactly what we needed: a bright spot in a grey day, a pointing to Christ to get our thoughts off of how miserable we felt because of the weather. It was truly a God-send.