Why do the heathen rage?

No doubt you’ve seen the news about the out-of-state group who plans to erect a monument to the pagan “goat demon” next to the Ten Commandment monument on the Capitol grounds. The strongest legal opposition to this action is that the “goat demon” has never been worshiped in these parts, whereas the Ten Commandments forms the basis of American Law. I’m no legal scholar, and it’s likely that in the end the Ten Commandments monument will have to come down, one more victim of liberal secularism.

But before the barristers meet to debate the subject, allow me to interject these observations. The goat demon was worshiped in the Near East, thousands of years ago. Images of it were found in an obscure Palestinian hillside, pitted with age, in a long-ruined shrine. In its day, there would have been well-traveled roads and a well-kept shrine. Now, there are only ruins that only a trained archaeologist could recognize.

By contrast, images of the Ten Commandments reside on the walls of the Supreme Court. It is still recognized as the best law ever written and all good laws since then have their basis on the Ten Commandments. Countries which have based their legal system on it have enjoyed prosperity and power. Societies that worshiped the goat demon languish in forgotten ruins.

If the courts are persuaded by the arguments set forth by eastern lawyers, just remember: The resulting site can only vividly illustrate the nature of two kingdoms: one that leads to peace and prosperity, the other, which leads to ruin and devastation.

—Bill Whaley

The Evil Clock

Einstein is quoted as saying, "Time is relative. Fifteen minutes working feels like an eternity. Fifteen minutes sitting with a pretty girl seems only an instant."
How true. The hands on my clock move like fan blades from the time I get up until I get to work, then they make up for all the time they ate up. Once at my desk, they move at glacial speed--before Al Gore told us all that we're melting the polar ice cap by driving Suburbans and Tahoes--which we may well be, but that's another story. At this writing, I'm waiting for grandbabies to come. One of my co-workers delivered twins, and lost one during the birth. I'm nervous. Can't help it. At least I'm closer than when I lived in Rockdale. Then, it was an eight hour drive, which would have only been 6-1/2 if you didn't have to drive through Ft. Worth. Here, the trip takes just over two hours.
Bad news is, I'm taking a graduate class over the next few weeks. Since it's a 3-weekend class, I can't afford to miss a session. And if you have ever paid graduate tuition these days, you know that one can hardly afford to fail. The call will probably come during class time.
Being "normal"--try and define that---WASPs, both of my daughters-in-law are doing things the time-honored traditional way. One plans to use a midwife at home and deliver her baby underwater in a kiddie pool in the living room. The other, a black belt, continued to compete in tournaments until a couple of weeks ago. Said she did pretty good. Claimed she didn't spar. It wouldn't have been fair, two against one.
I just stay out of their way. All I want is for healthy and happy grandchildren. You make sure for the healthy, and I'll do my part for the happy. Just don't scare me like you did with the last one. Fifty-two hours of labor in a midwife's home was a bit much. You can't do that to an old man.
In the meantime, the clock can't decide whether to blow me across the house or ruin the rods and cones in my eyes from staring at it. In the Bible, KJV, it says something about "Redeeming the time, because the days are evil," Eph. 5:16 I think, and "sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof," Matt. 6:34. In either case, the clock is evil. I didn't get my full weekend off, and my bedtime rapidly approaches. More work to do. More kids to annoy. So little time.

Some People Make it Harder Than it Needs to Be

“It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks.” –Acts 9:5 KJV.
I had to ask my high school bible class teacher what this phrase means. It has something to do with ox-goads and ornery oxen, which kick back at the drover when he commands them to “gee” and “haw.” My friends from earlier generations informed me of some of the nuances of working with mules and oxen. “Gee” means for the animal to turn right, “haw” means to turn left. In England, the terms are reversed. Go figure.
Paul was being chided for being an unruly ox. His call from God involved a blinding light and time to think about the things he had done. For Paul it worked. Afterward, he would be fond of saying, “Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners-of whom I am the worst.” --1 Tim 1:15 NIV.
I thought about the unruly ox while on a ride-along with a police officer the other night. The officer had picked me up at about 11:00 p.m. and intended to take me back home around 1:00 in the morning. About that time, a car sped by us at a high rate of speed. As Chuck floored the police cruiser, I asked if I could holler “Yee-Haw,” while we flew over a railroad track. We stopped the speeder, who turned out to be a difficult individual. He wasn’t quite drunk, but clearly out of his mind. Chuck said it was perfectly legal to operate a motor vehicle while one is out of one’s mind (doesn’t that make you feel safer?) so he couldn’t arrest the driver on that basis. However, the individual began to argue with the police officer and berate him.
“Turn around and put your hands behind your back,” the officer barked. On went the cuffs, and downtown we went, after waiting for a wrecker to come and impound the car. The staff at the jail processed the individual, fitting him with an orange jump suit and plastic slippers. He would be held in a safe room until he either was charged with a crime and bonded out or someone came to take him home, after paying the appropriate fines. All because he copped an attitude with the police. A respectful demeanor, cooperating and saying, “Yes, officer,” would have saved us all a great deal of trouble.
The 13th chapter of Romans addresses this. Paul instructs Christians to be respectful toward the police and all authority. Those in authority are servants of God to execute wrath on the wrong-doer (vs 4). “Pay to all what is due them—taxes to whom taxes are due, revenue to whom revenue is due, respect to whom respect is due, honor to whom honor is due,” commands the apostle.
Respect authority. Let others be defiant, but you’ll save yourself a world of trouble if you are respectful and obedient citizens.

Doves and Snakes

What kind of world are we raising our children in? School shootings are everywhere again, only now it has moved from high school to the university. I fear turning on the TV news for fear of confronting yet another story of innocent children being victimized. I’ve already grown jaded, I fear, by countless incidents of violence in Iraq by murderous “insurgents.”
There seems to be no end of violence in the land. No one is safe. Not even the cloistered Amish, a people known for their suspicion of outsiders, were safe from the senseless violence. There is no end of finger-pointing in searching for the causes of this wickedness. The entertainment industry takes a hit for their calloused disregard for decency and propriety in producing violent and salacious films, TV programming and video games. The Supreme Court and ACLU should hang their heads in shame for foolishly removing society’s moral compass embodied in prayer and the Ten Commandments. A deteriorating family structure often produces individuals lacking in moral guidance, who are capable of great harm to society.
At the moment, I’m numb. I don’t know whom to blame for this. But I think one of the victims in Colorado gave us a clue in turning things around. As she faced her tormentor, 16-year-old Emily Keyes text-messaged her dad, “I love U guys.” When you sum up your life in facing mortal danger, you find what is important. People trapped on the upper floors of the World Trade Center left messages of love on their answering machines at home for their loved ones to hear.
It is obvious that there isn’t enough love in the world, but plenty of anger and hate. To guard against it, we’ll beef up security and suspicion everyone. Some will pull their children out of school to the safety of home. It won’t work; evil will find a way. If the pious, cloistered Amish can’t insulate themselves from drug abuse and violence, no one can.
I fear that what we’re seeing is copycat crime, some deranged individuals seeking their 15 minutes of fame. The world has always been a dangerous place; nature teaches us that. In sending his disciples into a violent world, Jesus advised them to go in groups of two, because there is strength in numbers, (Luke 10:1). “Be as shrewd as snakes,” he warned, “And as harmless as doves,” (Matthew 10:16).
Be as harmless as doves. Demonstrate love to a world that needs it. Shine godliness in good works. But be as shrewd as snakes—be careful of people. The parable of the drag-net, (Matthew 13:47-50) teaches that there are good and bad fish in the sea. Judgment Day will come when evil will be exposed and destroyed. Until then, shine goodness and watch yourself. “Discipline yourselves, keep alert. Like a roaring lion your adversary the devil prowls around, looking for someone to devour.” –I Peter 5:8, NRSV.

Evil Will Find a Way

Athens is a cosmopolitan city of over five million people. About a million and a half of its inhabitants are foreigners. I met one at a café while we were there. He was a French tour guide, who spoke perfect English. Once he established my nationality, the Frenchman immediately criticized American gun laws. The Virginia Tech shootings were all over CNN, and the European bureau constantly criticized our Second Amendment and gun-happy culture. Indeed, when “Jean” (not his real name) and his wife heard I was from Texas, they made quick-draw motions with their hands to demonstrate to me that they understood all about Texas.
I politely informed them that none of the policemen I knew, one of whom was my son-in-law, had ever had to shoot anyone in the line of duty. They were not convinced, even when I pointed out how shootings sometimes happen in countries with the strictest of gun laws, such as Scotland, when a gunman killed several small children in a day care center in 1997.
Not willing to give ground to a Frenchman, I shared how I had been in Oklahoma City when Timothy McVeigh set off his truck bomb, and how I had interviewed many of the victims when they arrived at the hospital. “Evil will find a way,” I insisted. This madman killed 32 people with a handgun. These other madmen mixed harmless fertilizer and diesel fuel into a bomb which killed 168 people, including 19 small children.
No one likes to think of children being hurt or killed. It’s no easier when they are late adolescents, looking forward to bright futures. I’m shocked and horrified at the tragedy. “It’s a travesty against humanity,” insisted the Frenchman. I agree. Unfortunately, evil flourishes in our modern world. And, it will find a way to wreak death and destruction upon the innocent.
In retrospect, it has always been this way, although the scale of destruction seems to increase with the years. Jesus was likewise questioned about events that occurred in his day: “Now there were some present at that time who told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices. Jesus answered, "Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way? I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish. Or those eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them-do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem? I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish." --Luke 13:1-5.
We will pass laws and establish procedures to try and keep our kids safer while they are in school or university. But history says we won’t be able to thwart evil forever. It will find a way. Because that is the nature of life, Christ warns us to repent, and always keep ourselves in a state of watchful readiness, because we just never know. That’s life. And death, as it seems.

Does the Bible Contradict Itself?

Ah, those postmodernists. They never let up. It seems James Dee, a retired professor of classics from the University of Texas has pontificated from his writer’s desk about the Bible again. He says it’s obviously not inspired by God, that it’s obvious Moses didn’t write the first five books, and it is obvious Matthew contradicts John.
Let me comment just briefly on the good professor’s objections. First, the books of Moses never make the claim that Moses wrote every word in them. In fact, scripture indicates that Moses did not write all the material in the Pentateuch. Numbers 12:3 reads, “Now the man Moses was very humble, more so than anyone else on the face of the earth.” It is doubtful that Moses would have written these words about himself. Far more likely it is that Joshua or some other scribe, inspired by the Spirit, penned these comments.
Secondly, Dee says Matthew contradicts John. Think about this: why are there four gospel accounts? It seemed like one would have sufficed. Maybe it’s because Matthew, Mark, Luke and John each wrote in a different time to a different audience and wanted to help their audience comprehend the story from their own cultural backgrounds. Make sense, perhaps? That’s why Matthew, the very Jewish scribe, leads his genealogy back to Abraham, while Luke, the Gentile, leads his back to Adam. Matthew speaks of the “Kingdom of heaven,” while Mark in parallel readings mentions the “kingdom of God.” Jewish people tried not to even say the name “God” in order to avoid using the Lord’s name in vain, while to Gentiles, “Heaven” was the abode of the gods. Hence, Mark identifies the kingdom of the one true God, rather than “heaven” where his Greek audience would have been confused with the idea of many gods living there.
Understanding this, it is possible that John, to suit his audience arranges materials in a way that is not always chronological. He places the cleansing of the temple at the start of Jesus’ ministry, instead of at the end, as do Matthew, Mark and Luke, in order to make the resurrection of Lazarus the catalyst of our Lord’s crucifixion, rather than the interruption of the livestock market and money-changing trade. It’s just an idea. It makes good sense. And, John did indicate at the end of his book that Jesus did and said so many things that a vast library couldn’t have recorded them all –John 21:25.
A neat fact about the Bible is that, although written by an estimated forty different authors over a period of perhaps 1500 years, it maintains a remarkable unity throughout. There is just one God. He has a law, and He makes demands on us in righteousness. Righteousness and goodness are clearly defined, and individuals, families and societies are much better when they try to keep His standards.And, He has saved the world through faith in His only Son, Jesus Christ.
Your secularism provides absolutely no hope for the future, Prof. Dee. The Bible, on the other hand reminds us that the miracle of life and the vast universe indicate to us there is certainly another existence beyond this one, an existence in which life is fair. And you do understand fairness, Dee, because I’m always hearing people cry, “That’s not fair!” God agrees. He defines what is fair. And in His heaven, things will be fair.
You can trust the Bible. Greater men than James Dee have tried to discredit it. They’ve all failed. Trust in the Lord and His promises.

We're on Trial Again!

Ps 139:21
Do I not hate those who hate you, O LORD,
and abhor those who rise up against you?

As our society grows more secular, it disdains and discards traditional faith and marriage. Faith is irrelevant, the professors say. The old ideas of the man being the head of the household invite derision in the public sphere. If you can access the Internet, you will be dismayed at the ongoing trial of Mary Winkler, accused of murdering her husband Matthew, a brotherhood preacher in Selmer, Tennessee. The couple obviously had conflicts over the things that affect every young couple: money and child-rearing. In addition, most ministers’ wives feel like they live in a goldfish bowl. The stress can mount up.
The slaying victim, Matthew, has been placed on trial by the defense attorney. That is to be expected. The attorney has a client to protect. However, not content with that, counsel for the defense has likewise brought the Lord’s church up on charges. In questioning Matthew’s father, Dan Winkler, (one of five generations of preachers) the attorney has gone so far as to attack the Biblical teachings about the husband being the head of the wife. Clearly, from his playbook, this teaching is “patriarchal,” it is abusive and wrong. Preachers of the church of Christ and its members who practice and teach this are all wife-abusers, according to the learned counsel. Here is a transcript of the proceedings from The Christian Chronicle:

“In the Church of Christ, who is the head of the household?" Farese asked Dan Winkler, father of Matthew Winkler and minister of the Huntingdon, Tenn., church."The Bible says the husband is," Dan Winkler replied."But is he the boss of the household?" Farese asked moments later. When Dan Winkler replied with scriptural references to husbands cherishing their wives and setting direction for the household, Farese asked then: "Do you have women preachers in the Church of Christ?"

You can access more information on this case through the website www.ChristianChronicle.org.
Last year’s negative publicity and broad characterizations of the Lord’s church by uninformed media personalities was bad enough. I’m not looking forward to the rest of this trial. Truly, these are troublesome times. What does a Christian do when confronted by a hostile postmodern culture? Peter gives this advice:
“But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander.” 1 Peter 3:15-17 NIV.
Paul adds the following: “In everything set them an example by doing what is good. In your teaching show integrity, seriousness and soundness of speech that cannot be condemned, so that those who oppose you may be ashamed because they have nothing bad to say about us.” Titus 2:7-8.
In a hostile culture such as ours, they’re going to hate you because you follow Christ rather than the ways of this age. So don’t give in. Don’t hide. Stand up for the truth, and be ready to give a gentle and respectful answer to the skeptics. Just remember three words in dealing with postmodernists: prove them wrong about your faith.

Conventional Wisdom Has Limits

Newsweek magazine has a feature in which conventional wisdom is applied to various events and people in the news. “Conventional wisdom” has grown to be the benchmark of approval for all things, be it morals, ethics or natural science. The shortcoming of conventional wisdom is that it is tied to public opinion, which often changes hourly.
Paul said “But with me it is a small thing that I should be judged by you or any human court. I do not even judge myself.” –I Corinthians 4:3. He refused to give conventional wisdom the final say. Public opinion is important, but he assigned it to the status of a lower court on his standard of judgment. Thinking people follow Paul’s lead.
Conventional wisdom has its collective mind made up and settled; often on the right side of things, often on the wrong. The emotionally charged debate over abortion has been settled, as far as conventional wisdom goes. Popular opinion declares the practice to be a woman’s right, and will allow no further debate on the subject.
Scripture disagrees, in passages such as Jeremiah 1:5, where God speaks of calling the prophet while he was still in the womb. A thoughtful study of Psalm 139:16 leads one to think of the wonder of DNA, and of the great potential of each unborn child. It would seem to leave the door open for a reasonable debate on the subject. Is it right to take a life when it becomes inconvenient? The wisdom of the ages invites all to “Come now and let us reason together.” –Isaiah 1:18.
Conventional wisdom pronounces enthusiastic approval with the practice of homosexuality. Gays are to be free from discrimination. Of course, given the intrinsic worth of every human soul, each individual deserves to be treated with positive regard and respect—See John 3:16. However, divine judgment remains unchanged. The Old Testament condemns homosexuality as an abomination. (Leviticus 18:22). Two instances of holy history describe the consequences of this lifestyle run amok. In both Sodom in Genesis 19 and Gibeah of Judges 19, homosexual men act violently toward innocent victims, and the result is the destruction of the cities and surrounding areas. Violence is always a consequence whenever lust has free reign.
The New Testament pronounces judgment against lifestyles of unrestrained lust, including homosexuality and fornication in I Corinthians 6:9-10 and Romans 1:26-27. Paul rejects the final authority of conventional wisdom in I Corinthians 4:4. “It is the Lord who judges.” Paul’s appeal was echoed at the Nuremburg war trials in 1946 by Special Prosecutor Robert Jackson, who reminded the genocidal Nazis that they were all subject to an authority higher than that of Hitler.
The end results of conventional wisdom find it lacking as a reliable benchmark. Judges 21:25 describes a season of chaos and violence, when a tribe in Israel was nearly wiped out because of its arrogant and abominable lifestyle. The writer reveals the cause: “All the people did what was right in their own eyes.” May God save us from conventional wisdom. Rather, we should do as Jesus said, “Do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment.” –John 7:24.