day no. 16,840: do right, fear no man

Ecclesiastes 12:13

Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.

If you fear God and do what He says, you need not fear any man whatever he might say.

Matthew 10:28

Fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.

Fear the commands of God, not the propaganda of people.

Romans 8:31-34

What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth. Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us.

The man who does what God says has no reason to fear God or man. If you can stand before the throne of God you need not cower before the stages of men. If God does not condemn you, you are not condemned even if men convict you in their courts.

Deuteronomy 1:17

Ye shall not be afraid of the face of man; for the judgment is God’s.

If you have God's favor, you can face down anyone.

Proverbs 29:25

The fear of man bringeth a snare:

but whoso putteth his trust in the LORD shall be safe.

There is no safety in the asylum of men.

Acts 24:16

Herein do I exercise myself, to have always a conscience void to offence toward God, and toward men.

A clean conscience need not cower. It can stand in the presence of God and stand up to the presence of godless men.

"Do right. Fear no man." — The Last Knife Fighter

day no. 16,839: gnostic sauce

John 1:14

And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us.

It is hard to celebrate that reality with gnostic sauce.

Give up that ghost and celebrate this Christmas the way Jesus did, with material blessing in abundance.

day no 16,838: envy as evangelism

Acts 28:28-29

Be it known therefore unto you, that the salvation of God is sent unto the Gentiles, and that they will hear it. And when he had said these words, the Jews departed, and had great reasoning among themselves.

While listening to Johnny Cash read the New Kings James Version of the New Testament to me today (9/26/23), I heard him read the verse above. This reminded me of something Douglas Wilson mentioned on his Blog and Mablog earlier this week in a post titled, The Case of Owen and the Memorials:

"The place of the Jews in our theology is to be filed under eschatology and prophetic fulfillment. We do not share the quirk that some Christians have in their soteriology, by which they say that everyone must come to Christ except for Jews. No, no one gets a bye. God calls all men everywhere to repentance. Everyone is summoned to faith in the Messiah, the Jews especially. Jews are sinful, and wicked, and fallen, and broken, just like everybody.

God’s plan for converting them is for them to see Gentile nations under the blessings of Christ’s lordship, thus leading them to long for the same. I am invested in this because it is the Puritan postmillennial approach to world evangelization. God’s plan for evangelizing the Jews, and then the world, is not only not antisemitism, it is the photo-negative of antisemitism. If antisemitism is Christians envying Jews, the pursuit of Deuteronomic blessing for Gentiles results in Jews envying Christians. This was Paul’s strategy, and he knew that it would work on his people. He laid it out plainly—'if by any means I may provoke to jealousy those who are my flesh and save some of them.'"

The passage from Acts 28 above provides additional evidence in favor of Doug's assertion that Paul's evangelistic strategy, as far as it concerned the Jews who refused to believe the initial presentation of the Gospel to them, was to motivate them to reconsider through their envy of the blessings of the gentiles that did believe Paul's initial presentation of the Gospel to them. 

And when he had said these words, the Jews departed, and had great reasoning among themselves (Acts 28:29).

It appears his intentions sparked quite the conversation behind closed doors. Paul knew his target and utilized well the principles of war (objective and maneuver).

day no. 16,837: King Moses

Deuteronomy 33:4-5

Moses commanded us a law,

even the inheritance of the congregation of Jacob.

And he was king in Jeshurun,

when the heads of the people

and the tribes of Israel were gathered together.

Moses was the King of Israel. When they assembled, he was their head. When God was addressed, he was their mediator. He represented them before Pharaoh and He represented them before God. Moses was the first King of Israel. He gave and upheld the law of the land. He submitted himself to God. He was in authority because he was under authority. He was the giver of the law and subject to it. He led his people into battle and provided his people with land and legislation. He looked after their condition and considered often their future. He did not reign for his benefit, but for theirs. He was not above the law, but under it. He was kept from the promised land because he broke the recorded law. He ruled well because he submitted well.

In other words, as the author of Beowulf, "That was one good king." (Seamus Heaney translation)

day no. 16,836: covenantal perpetuity

Deuteronomy 29:13-15

That he may establish thee to day for a people unto himself, and that he may be unto thee a God, as he hath said unto thee, and as he hath sworn unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. Neither with you only do I make this covenant and this oath; But with him that standeth here with us this day before the Lord our God, and also with him that is not here with us this day.

Covenant heads are given the privilege and responsibility of making decisions for their immediate families and their posterity. In this way, God can make a covenant with a man's great grandchildren without them being present for the ceremonial vows. A descendant can keep covenant or break it, but he cannot escape it.  Our ancestors are inescapable. We cannot help but keep up with them in perpetuity or break up with them by discontinuity.

In such a way, we can be in covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob of old and with our great grandchildren of the future through our shared commitments to God in Christ. 

Matthew 22:32

I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? God is not the God of the dead, but of the living.

day no. 16,835: you will rely on someone's babies

Proverbs 14:28 (NLT)

A growing population is a king's glory;

a dwindling nation is his doom.

Fruitfulness is a sign of health. A thriving nation booms with babies while a decaying nation aborts its future through contraception, fornication, homosexuality, and infanticide.

"I do not wish to see this country a country of selfish prosperity where those who enjoy the material prosperity think only of the selfish gratification of their own desires, and are content to import from abroad not only their art, not only their literature, but even their babies." — Theodore Roosevelt, 1911

If you count your life so precious as to consider potential descendants a drain on your current resources, you will be forced to import other people's descendants. If you cannot be bothered with having babies, you will be forced to rely on the babies of others.

"If the average family contained but two children the nation as a whole would decrease in population so rapidly that in two or three generations it would very deservedly be on the point of extinction, so that the people who had acted on this base and selfish doctrine would be giving place to others with braver and more robust ideals. Nor would such a result be in any way regrettable; for a race that practised such doctrine—that is, a race that practised race suicide—would thereby conclusively show that it was unfit to exist, and that it had better give place to people who had not forgotten the primary laws of their being." — Theodore Roosevelt

God called man to be fruitful and multiply. If a couple have two children, they have merely replaced themselves. They have not furthered the mission or filled the earth. And since some couples, desiring many children, sometimes are not able to conceive any, the average number of children between the family with two children and the family with none is halved. The first family's two children are not enough to replace the four adults who will die. If that goes on long enough with enough families, you may go looking for that culture, but you won't find it.

Mathew 21:18-20

Now in the morning as he returned into the city, he hungered. And when he saw a fig tree in the way, he came to it, and found nothing thereon, but leaves only, and said unto it, Let no fruit grow on thee henceforward for ever. And presently the fig tree withered away. And when the disciples saw it, they marvelled, saying, How soon is the fig tree withered away!

A tree that refuses to produce figs will be struck down. It won’t make more fig trees because it won’t make fig fruit. And if enough fig trees agree to boycott fruit bearing, figs will cease to exist.

A society that does not want more of itself will get what it wants. If it will not die to itself and fall to the ground as seed, it will be the last crop, and in the end, it dies anyways. And worse of all, it will have deserved it.

“New England of the future will belong, and ought to belong, to the descendants of the immigrants of yesterday and today, because the descendants of the Puritans have lacked the courage to live.” — Theodore Roosevelt, 1914

No good and healthy home is averse to having people over, but no home can stay good and healthy if it is constantly being broken into. Immigration should be more akin to welcoming someone into your home than to a home intrusion. No good nation can remain good if its goods are constantly ransacked by roaming mobs, but neither can a nation be called good that does not open its doors to some in need. A good home is a good place for a foster child, but a good home cannot remain good if any orphan is free to set up camp in their foyer.

Immigration should be an addition to an existing nation's brilliance, not a necessity for its continued existence. A healthy home is hospitable and exports its grace to those it invites in, but it cannot remain a healthy home if it depends upon the guests to provide the main course. A guest may bring dessert, but should not be expected to bring the pot roast.

day no. 16,834: misattributaries and indignantaries

Proverbs 14:30

A sound heart is the life of the flesh:

but envy the rottenness of the bones.

Envy may come in many forms, but it dissolves any form it takes.

"Nominalism is the tribute that the lukewarm pays to hot and cold." — Douglas Wilson

The lukewarm envies the conviction of the hot by signing up for the sweat without showing up in the heat of battle.

“Hypocrisy is a tribute that vice pays to virtue.” — Francois Duc De La Rochefoucauld

The hypocrite envies the reputation of the virtuous by acting respectable while indulging in disrespectful acts.

"Jealousy is the tribute mediocrity pays to genius" — Fulton J. Sheen

The jealous envy the genius by despising the disparity in their gift sets.

The lukewarm knows enough to act hot. The hypocrite knows enough to act virtuous. The jealous knows enough to wish for more. In other words, the lukewarm, the hypocrite, and the jealous all know two things: (1) they are not what they pretend to be, and (2) they ought to pretend to be it rather than wear what they are proudly.

"No man who says 'I’m as good as you' believes it. He would not say it if he did. The St. Bernard never says it to the toy dog, nor the scholar to the dunce, nor the employable to the bum, nor the pretty woman to the plain. The claim to equality, outside the strictly political field, is made only by those who feel themselves to be in some way inferior. What it expresses is precisely the itching, smarting, writhing awareness of an inferiority which the patient refuses to accept. And therefore resents. Yes, and therefore resents every kind of superiority in others; denigrates it; wishes its annihilation." — C.S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters

day no. 16,833: priestly pre-game

Deuteronomy 20:1-4

When thou goest out to battle against thine enemies, and seest horses, and chariots, and a people more than thou, be not afraid of them: for the Lord thy God is with thee, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. And it shall be, when ye are come nigh unto the battle, that the priest shall approach and speak unto the people, And shall say unto them, "Hear, O Israel, ye approach this day unto battle against your enemies: let not your hearts faint, fear not, and do not tremble, neither be ye terrified because of them; For the Lord your God is he that goeth with you, to fight for you against your enemies, to save you."

Priests should give the pre-game speeches.

Too many see spiritual warfare as something priests may engage with and physical battles as something beyond their jurisdiction. While it is true that spiritual warfare is different than physical combat, it is not true to say that physical combat has no spiritual component.

When you are about to put your life on the line, you need more than rah rah, you need confirmation of the quest and reassurance of the destination. When battle is near, you need your soul settled and your fingers strengthened.

Psalm 144

Blessed be the Lord my strength

which teacheth my hands to war,

and my fingers to fight.

day no. 16,832: anywhere you find your feet will someday be under His

Deuteronomy 11:24

Every place whereon the soles of your feet shall tread shall be yours: from the wilderness and Lebanon, from the river, the river Euphrates, even unto the uttermost sea shall your coast be.

Wherever you go, there you are; and wherever you are, it is yours if you are a Christian. The earth is the Lord’s and the fulness thereof, the world and those who dwell therein. The meek shall inherit His earth and the land promises of Abraham and Israel have been expanded to include the entire earth. The contention is no longer merely over a particular parcel of middle eastern property, but for the dirt of the entire earth. All land is holy land for there is no land that is not the Lord’s.

Psalms 24:1

The earth is the LORD'S, and the fulness thereof;

the world, and they that dwell therein.

There is nothing that does not belong to God. There is no corner into which His claim does not push. There is no person over which His image is not impressed. When we give unto God that which is His, we must give every inch of ourselves.

"There is not a square inch in the whole of creation over which Christ, who is Sovereign over all, does not cry: 'Mine!'" — Abraham Kuyper

There is no nation immune to the reign of Christ. There is no plot of land outside the grip of His hand. There is nothing about which He does not emphatically declare, "Mine!"

Matthew 28:18-20

And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, "All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen."

All power every where has been given to Jesus. There is no part of any place nor piece of any person that does not belong to Him.

Matthew 5:5

Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.

Everywhere the Christian goes is Christ's and everything that is Christ's is ours in Him.

1 Corinthians 3:21-23

Therefore let no man glory in men. For all things are your's; Whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come; all are your's; And ye are Christ's; and Christ is God's.

You cannot find a place to set your feet that won't be someday under His.

1 Corinthians 15:24-27

Then cometh the end, when He shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when He shall have put down all rule and all authority and power. For He must reign, till He hath put all enemies under His feet. The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death. For He hath put all things under His feet.

All things are ours.

Ephesians 6:1-3

Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right. Honour thy father and mother; which is the first commandment with promise; That it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth.

Paul here applies God's promises to the children of Israel to the gentile children of Ephesus and he extends its scope from Canaan to the whole earth. All people and every where will one day be Christian.

day no. 16,831: i sought the Law and the Law won

Deuteronomy 11:1

Therefore thou shalt love the Lord thy God, and keep his charge, and his statutes, and his judgments, and his commandments, alway.

Loving God is keeping His commandments. You cannot divorce your love of God from your obedience to His statutes.

1 John 5:3

For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous.

Some say, "Theonomic," like that's a bad thing, but God's Law is not grievous to Christians. Those who throw shade at the Law of the Lord shine a spotlight on their own darkness.

John 3:19

And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.

day no. 16,830: both day to day and eternal life

Deuteronomy 4:39-40

Know therefore this day, and consider it in thine heart, that the Lord he is God in heaven above, and upon the earth beneath: there is none else. Thou shalt keep therefore his statutes, and his commandments, which I command thee this day, that it may go well with thee, and with thy children after thee, and that thou mayest prolong thy days upon the earth, which the Lord thy God giveth thee, for ever.

The Lord is God in Heaven above, and upon the earth beneath. There is no conflict between the visible and the invisible. Both are united in their submission to Him. There is no tension between the material and the immaterial. Both bow to God. There is no one else. There is not God the Father in His invisible heavens and then someone else as god of the visible earth. 

Since there is only one God and He rules over absolutely everything, we should keep His statutes and His commandments. He knows what is where we are and where He is. He understands all aspects of day to day life and eternal life. There is no place where He is not relevant. There is no detail outside of His control or notice. 

If we do what He says, it will go well for us, and for our children after us. Our kids will grow up watching their parents do the word that they hear. They will be blessed in seeing faith lived out and this will fuel their conquest of the future. The future is Christian.

day no. 16,829: deviled eggs

Genesis 3:15

And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.

Today (9/15/23) , while working on a poetic verse commentary on Revelation 12, I came up with the term, "deviled eggs," to refer to the serpent's seed and its opposition to the seed of the woman.

day no. 16,828: Moses vs. Hezekiah (Biblical Deathmatch)

Numbers 27:12-17

And the Lord said unto Moses, "Get thee up into this mount Abarim, and see the land which I have given unto the children of Israel. And when thou hast seen it, thou also shalt be gathered unto thy people, as Aaron thy brother was gathered. For ye rebelled against my commandment in the desert of Zin, in the strife of the congregation, to sanctify me at the water before their eyes: that is the water of Meribah in Kadesh in the wilderness of Zin." And Moses spake unto the Lord, saying, "Let the Lord, the God of the spirits of all flesh, set a man over the congregation, Which may go out before them, and which may go in before them, and which may lead them out, and which may bring them in; that the congregation of the Lord be not as sheep which have no shepherd."

Moses' primary concern in being removed from power was the people over whom he had been given responsibility. His first request was for God to take care of those he had given his life to take care of. He did not plead for an exception to be made for his sin. He did not plead for his reputation or despair of the relinquishing of his power and authority. He looked to the people who would outlive him and begged God to provide someone to guide them in his absence.

Consider this in light of Hezekiah's response to a changing of the guard.

2 Kings 20:16-19

And Isaiah said unto Hezekiah, "Hear the word of the Lord. Behold, the days come, that all that is in thine house, and that which thy fathers have laid up in store unto this day, shall be carried into Babylon: nothing shall be left, saith the Lord. And of thy sons that shall issue from thee, which thou shalt beget, shall they take away; and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon." Then said Hezekiah unto Isaiah, "Good is the word of the Lord which thou hast spoken." And he said, "Is it not good, if peace and truth be in my days?"

Hezekiah's first response to future calamity inside his house was relief that it was future calamity and not present destruction. His sins would be visited upon someone else and for that he counted himself blessed. 

Proverbs 13:22

A good man leaveth an inheritance to his children's children.

The difference between a good man and a bad one is the difference between legacy-minded maneuvers and self-interested manipulation. Moses was a good, humble man who genuinely looked not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others, considering them better than himself. Hezekiah was a selfish man who looked only to his own interests and considered the suffering of others better than him suffering himself.

day no. 16,827: the two who wanted to take the land

Numbers 26: 64-65

But among these there was not a man of them whom Moses and Aaron the priest numbered, when they numbered the children of Israel in the wilderness of Sinai. For the Lord had said of them, "They shall surely die in the wilderness." And there was not left a man of them, save Caleb the son of Jephunneh, and Joshua the son of Nun.

No one numbered in the initial census was numbered in this final one, save Caleb and Joshua. Those who grumble in the wilderness die in the desert. The only ones who entered their Father’s land of milk and honey were those who entered the wilderness drinking their mother’s milk.

Not a single sourpuss survived. A diet of grumblecakes makes one wax fat… and kick.

Matthew 5:5

Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.

The faithful spies survived. The two who wanted to take the land for King and kingdom lived to see it taken. They inherited milk and honey and everything else along with it.

Matthew 6:33

But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.

Seek Christ and His kingdom comes.

day no. 16,826: strange fire and flesh

Numbers 26:61

And Nadab and Abihu died, when they offered strange fire before the Lord.

"Fire is fire," said Nadab and Abihu. "No, it's not," saith the Lord.

Leviticus 10:1

And Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, took either of them his censer, and put fire therein, and put incense thereon, and offered strange fire before the LORD, which he commanded them not.

Nadab and Abihu cannot claim that they didn't know their fire was strange. God had commanded what kind of fire was required and what kind was forbidden. God snuffed out any excuse by stating things clearly up front.

1 John 4:8

God is love.

"Love is love," the culture says. "No, it's not," saith the Lord.

Love is not God. God is love. He is not defined, or redefined, by our our definition of love. Love is defined by Him.

Jude 1:7

Even as Sodom and Gomorrha, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.

"Flesh is flesh," the people said. "No, it's not," saith the Lord and reinforced His insistence with fire that fell and burned forever.

There is a fire that purifies, a love that glorifies, and a flesh that is sanctified, but these are all defined by God, and their definitions are not hidden. He has stated clearly the terms of the covenant. There is such a thing as strange fire and strange flesh. Not all fires refine and not all flesh is in line.

day no. 16,825: tongue lashed and pistol whipped

While listening to Douglas Wilson's Plodcast #296: The Smell of Resentments, he mentioned James' use of the word, "deadly," while continuing his study of sin, i.e.. Hamartiology. He briefly compared the tongue to a gun which prompted me to connect the dots between John Lovell's Universal Firearm Safety Rules and Biblical advise on holstering and firing off with your tongue.

James 3:8

The tongue can no man tame; it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison.

A tongue is full of bullets. It has an endless supply of ammo  being manufactured inside the wretchedness of the human heart. Like a gun, it can be used for good and to protect those that you love, but like a gun it can misfire and hurt the ones you love if you are not governed by God and His grace. Here is where the Universal Firearm Safety Rules scan well with God's Word for speech.

The Universal Safety Rules

(1) Treat Every Gun like it's loaded--even simulation guns or training guns with blanks.

(2) Keep your finger off the trigger until your sights are aligned and you're ready to shoot.

(3) Never point a gun at anything you don't intend to destroy.

(4) Know what's beyond your target, what's behind it, in front of it, to the left and right of it. And remember, bullets can go through walls and other structures.

Treat every tongue like it's loaded. Keep your comments holstered until you've thought through what you're going to say and to whom you're going to aim them. Keep your tongue concealed until you're ready to use it. Never aim a harsh comment, even in jest, at someone you are not willingly to risk losing relationship. Do not destroy anything by accident. Know what is behind your target and who else might be struck by your words. 

Tongues are like guns. They are dangerous and deadly. The goal is not to be mute anymore than it is to be unarmed. The goal is to be dangerous in the right direction and to kill only that which God has commanded. The Gospel preached will either inspire men to want to kill you or it will inspire them to die to themselves and repent. Words are dangerous and the tongue can kill men.. and that is a good thing! Praise God for it killed me and raised me to life.

day no. 16,824: live not by their liturgy

Numbers 13:30-32

And Caleb stilled the people before Moses, and said, Let us go up at once, and possess it; for we are well able to overcome it. But the men that went up with him said, We be not able to go up against the people; for they are stronger than we. And they brought up an evil report of the land which they had searched unto the children of Israel, saying, The land, through which we have gone to search it, is a land that eateth up the inhabitants thereof; and all the people that we saw in it are men of a great stature.

Caleb is what contemporaries would call a "Christian Nationalist" because he had the audacity to take God at His Word and the arrogance to apply it in real time to real estate.

As difficult as the Canaanites were going to be to tackle, the doom scrollers back in his camp at home base were just as prickly and resistant to God's rule. 

The people had placed their faith in unbelief. They were sure they would be defeated. They believed in the indomitable nature of their enemies and the insufficiency of their Commander's intent. 

Today, we look out over a landscape of advertisements communicating the indomitable nature of the ruling elite and the great stature of their scientific and political achievements. They broadcast their permanence and the futility of your resistance. But they do not have the final word. Their lies need not be our liturgy. They might be giants... or they might just imagine themselves mighty men. They can think themselves to be larger than life, but that just means they need to be knocked down a few pegs and we, as God-fearing men, ought to be happy to oblige.

"One of the paradoxes of politics is that only the man who is brave enough to challenge dragons can discover that they are only lizards." — G.K. Chesterton

Numbers 14:9-10

Only rebel not ye against the Lord, neither fear ye the people of the land; for they are bread for us: their defence is departed from them, and the Lord is with us: fear them not. But all the congregation bade stone them with stones

The bad guys are our bread. The enemies of Christ have no gates that can hold. If God is with us, how could they stand against us? 

Yet, there are still those in the congregation who fear the wrath of the super men instead of the wrath of the Savior of men. They insist that the giants of the land are too big to take on even when faith points out that they are too big to miss. The benefit of aiming at the broad sides of barns is your ability to hit them rather easily.

Faith overcomes. It conquers the land. It faces down giants and lives to sing about it. Unbelief retreats every time. It flees at the rumor of trouble, but the righteous are as bold as lions in standing against real trouble.

1 John 5:4

For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.

Faith is indomitable. It is a weapon against which the enemy has no shield. No gates can stand against the battering ram of belief. Wicked walls will fall and sinful men along with them. Hear the encouragement of Jesus, the greater Joshua, and obey the greater commission and take the land for King and country for when He said, "Disciples the nations!" He was echoing this sentiment, "Let us go up at once, and possess it; for we are well able to overcome it" for He punctuated His prescription with a promise and said, "Lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen."

Numbers 21:1-3

And when king Arad the Canaanite, which dwelt in the south, heard tell that Israel came by the way of the spies; then he fought against Israel, and took some of them prisoners. And Israel vowed a vow unto the Lord, and said, "If thou wilt indeed deliver this people into my hand, then I will utterly destroy their cities." And the Lord hearkened to the voice of Israel, and delivered up the Canaanites; and they utterly destroyed them and their cities: and he called the name of the place Hormah. 

Christendom is constantly attacked, but how often have we asked to have the nations as our inheritance in response to these aggressions? The request cannot be a compromised secuarlism. God will not grant a truce between the seed of the serpent and the Seed of Eve. If we beg for compromise, our prayers will fall on deaf ears. But if we are so bold as to ask to see compromise utterly destroyed and the evil purged from our presence, we just might hear God's voice of approval and hand of blessing on our initiative as He gives us the land of our inheritance.

Numbers 13:6

Of the tribe of Judah, Caleb the son of Jephunneh.

May Christ increase the sons of Jephunneh. God give us men who believe Christ's command to take the nations on His behalf that we may see Him with us, always, even to the end when every enemy has been allocated its place under His blessed feet.

1 Corinthians 15:25, Romans 16:20

For He must reign, till He hath put all enemies under His feet. And the God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen.

day no. 16,823: my father's God

Exodus 15:2-3

The Lord is my strength and song, and he is become my salvation: he is my God, and I will prepare him an habitation; my father's God, and I will exalt him. The Lord is a man of war: the Lord is his name.

The God of my fathers is the Father God. He loves His children and their children. It is often said that, "God has no grandchildren," in order to emphasize that regeneration is not a genetic characteristic one can inherit, like blue eyes, blonde hair, or blood type. And in so much as that point is made, fair enough. That said, it must also be noted that God is not disinterested in the salvation of His children's children. He looks to bless thousands of generations of faithful fathers by blessing their children and their children's children. In that sense, God is also not merely like a grandfather, since a papa looks primarily to the child of his child, but God looks to the children of His children nine hundred ninety-nine times over. If God is not like a grandpa, it is because He is better than an earthly patriarch. He has more in mind than grandbabies.

3 John 4

I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth.

The only thing I want more than seeing my kids confess Christ is to watch them marry well and teach their kids to do the same. And the only thing I want more than seeing my grandkids confess Christ is overhearing them teaching their kids to teach their kids to teach their kids to confess Christ.

My father’s God is strong

He is my strength, my song

He’s my salvation

— My Soul Among Lions,

The Song of Moses (Ex 15)

May generations of Van Voorsts confess in chorus, "My father's God is strong," because He is.

day no. 16,822: salt in you, peace with one another

Mark 9:49-50

For everyone will be seasoned with fire, and every sacrifice will be seasoned with salt. Salt is good, but if the salt loses its flavor, how will you season it? Have salt in yourselves, and have peace with one another.

Jesus likes spice. He keeps His people well-seasoned. He infuses fire into every disciple and flavors His friends with saltiness. He marinates His people in heat in order to draw out the sweet. 

Those who are salt shakers sow seeds of peace when things get distasteful. If you have salt in yourself, you will have peace with others, but those who are bland on the inside will have belligerence with others.

Fire and salt both change the nature of that to which they are applied. They purify and preserve a person and their relationships. When you have heat, you regulate the temperature of the room. When you have salt, you improve everyone's tastes. 

day no. 16,821: headship and safe harbor

Leviticus 16:17

And there shall be no man in the tabernacle of the congregation when he goeth in to make an atonement in the holy place, until he come out, and have made an atonement for himself, and for his household, and for all the congregation of Israel.

Before Aaron could intercede on behalf of Israel, he had to intercede on behalf of his family, and before he could intercede on behalf of his family, he needed someone or something to intercede on behalf of himself. 

Aaron first had to atone for his own sin before he was qualified to atone for anyone else's. He then had to atone for the sins of his own family before he could make atonement for the sins of someone else's.

Federal headship is representative government and it is the way God has made the world. Aaron is by nature and grace responsible for his owns sins before God and for the sins of his family. Because he sat in the office of high priest, he also then became responsible for the sins of every family in Israel. He carried the weight of their sins on his shoulders and close to his heart as he approached their God and King on their behalf. He alone was given the right and responsibility to do so. If anyone else went in, they would die. If Aaron did not go in, they would die.

Hebrews 7:27, 9:7, 10:11-12

Who needeth not daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifice, first for his own sins, and then for the people's: for this he did once, when he offered up himself... But into the second went the high priest alone once every year, not without blood, which he offered for himself, and for the errors of the people... And every priest standeth daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins: But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God.

Because of federal headship and representative government being established and recognized by God Almighty above, we are set free and saved from our sins down here below. Because He stood in our place for our sins, we can stand in His presence with confidence in Christ. We have atonement with our Father in heaven because our sins have been dealt with once for all by God's Son, our Savior, Jesus Christ.

day no. 16,820: taxis versus chaos

Exodus 13:18

So God led the people around byway of the wilderness of the Red Sea. And the children of Israel went up in orderly ranks out of the land of Egypt

Israel marched out of Egypt. They did not slink away. They did not sprint. They did not saunter. They did not stumble. They did not scatter.

They marched. 

Colossians 2:4-5

Now this I say lest anyone should deceive you with persuasive words. For though I am absent in the flesh, yet I am with you in spirit, rejoicing to see your good order and the steadfastness of your faith in Christ.

"Good order" is a translation of the Greek word taxis. It is a military term referring to marching and assembling in an orderly fashion. It is lethal because it is lined up. It is potent because it is plumb

God is glorified by good order. He rejoices in seeing His people assemble. His church is a marching band of jolly warriors that subdue as they sing their respective parts in holy harmony..

1 Corinthians 14:33

God is a God not of disorder but of peace.

Worship is warfare. God’s people march into the promised land and face the adversities of the gates of hell with military precision and prevail because order and peace make short work of chaos. Chaos does not stand a chance because chaos cannot stand. It falls because it prides itself on its fallenness.

Taxis will inherit the earth while chaos will be condemned. Those who inherit the world will be those whose strength is under control and they shall receive the kingdom of Christ and all things. The proud are those whose weakness corrodes the container in which its chaos brews.

day no. 16,819: recreative acts

Exodus 12:1-2

The LORD said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, “This month shall be for you the beginning of months. It shall be the first month of the year for you."

The Exodus of Israel was a recreative act. It remade the world. Time itself was reorganized as a result. The history of the world was now going to be set to Exodus Standard Time with the Passover being the new linchpin of all history. Anything before was now measured by how long it occurred prior to the Exodus and how it advanced the narrative to that point. Everything that came after was now referred to by how long afterwards it took place and how it was influenced by it. The world was now B.E. and A.E. (before Exodus and After Egypt).

The import of the Passover required a new calendar. Time bent and bowed to the gravity of this event so that history pointed ahead to it and the future referenced back to it. The Exodus constituted a new orientation and consummation of all time, establishing a new arche and reference point. In modern parlance, the Passover was "A Great Reset."

This event then set precedence and established the example of God in defining His world by punctuated points of divine interference. Only a new world could justify a new calendar and the Exodus redefined the world. This recreation was its new reference point.

That is until Christ entered the chat.

The Resurrection is the ultimate reset. It not only began a new month or year, but a new creation all together, so much so, that the Lord’s Day is now the Sabbath. To put it in perspective, Easter morning is so potent it eclipsed the Exodus. It surpassed it in glory and fulfilled it in substance of which it was only a shadow. And that is saying something considering how earth shattering and time altering the Exodus was. The resurrection of Christ does not diminish the import of the Exodus; the import of the Exodus highlights the reach of the Resurrection. A new world and new times require a new reference point.

Easter is the end of the world.

The Resurrection supersedes the Passover as the event upon which all times before are by  it consumed and all times going ahead are defined by it. It is the standard by which everything is measured and the reference point from which all progress is established. Easter brought the former things to an end and in its Resurrection established the end to which all things now advance.

Isaiah 9:7

Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this.

When Christ came out of the grave, He pulled a new world through with Him. B.C. and A.D. are the final statement on all time and history. Every event before and since is in reference to the Resurrection and the entire future is being determined by it.

Habakkuk 2:14

For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea.

day no. 16,818: the Word and the wards; the Bible and the brood

Genesis 49:28

All these are the twelve tribes of Israel, and this is what their father said to them when he blessed them. He blessed them, every one with the blessing appropriate to him.

It is a father's duty to know his children. It is his privilege to give them their names, to declare who they are, and to call them out to become more of what God made them to be. This will require discernment in seeing what is appropriate to each child. Every son or daughter is different while having the same father. Come what may they have that in common even when they have something else in conflict. 

Fathers have been given the privilege of telling their children who they are. They get to make declarations. That is what gives birth to father hunger. That is why we so often see the common theme of clamoring for paternal approval. That is also why it is less frequently given. Too many fathers forsake their office or abuse it. They either withhold praise for the sake of power or they withdraw themselves for the sake of indifference. Too many dads declare something by saying nothing. Their physical absence or the absence of their words speaks volumes into the hearts of their children. Their silence is always loud. Their absence is always present.

Ephesians 4:29

Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment, so that it will give grace to those who hear.

So, a father must cater the character development correction and discipline to the chemistry of the child involved, but he must also adjust it to the specific situation. There are blessings appropriate for some that would be curses to others and vice versa due to proportion or station. A cute girl is a blessing to a man prepared for marriage and a snare to one not ready, for example. There is also advice appropriate to one occasion that would be inappropriate to another. All that to say, a father must know his children and their situation in order to give blessed advice. It is his job to know them and their circumstances.

A good word poorly applied can be a kick in the gut instead of a kick in the butt. The right word applied well can draw out the best in another while one wrongly applied can discourage or dampen the right spirit. Words should be said according to the need. They should match the situation. If the words are being drawn from a principle, they should be seasoned to the situation, not merely poured out in the abstract.

Proverbs 27:23

Know well the condition of your flocks,

And pay attention to your herds.

A father must know his children and he must know their condition. He discerns this by paying attention to them and relying on God's Word. His time in the Bible gives him principles to be applied to all sorts of men in all sorts of scenarios. His time with his children gives him practical insights in which verses apply to which of his children in which of their situations.

Quantity time produces quality time.

Lots of time in the Word gives you a treasury of wisdom from which to draw.

Lots of time with your kids gives you a treasury of insight into their person.

Spend a lot of time in the Bible and a lot of time with your kids and you will have plenty of quality times with both. There will be good conversations filled with good words that fully match the kid and their condition.

Don't be caught off guard not knowing the Word or your wards. If they come to you for wisdom, have a pantry well-supplied from which to nourish them. Don't be wanting to advise them without counsel to give them. Don't wait to know them until you need to know them. Do not wait for them to wander off before you take an interest in keeping them close by.

Know the Word.

Know your wards.

Malachi 4:5-6

Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord: And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.

When and where dads are back, we're on track.

When you see fathers returning to the fray, you see sons less tempted to stray. Civilizations are built by men with families to feed taking that responsibility to heart and providing discipline and instruction, teaching, and nourishment to their children in the form of good, God-informed advice that fits the kid and the current condition. 

1 Chronicles 12:32

And of the children of Issachar, which were men that had understanding of the times, to know what Israel ought to do; the heads of them were two hundred; and all their brethren were at their commandment.

Dads needs eyes in their heads and on their kids. They need to know what's going on and what to do about it. They need to have their head on a swivel and their hearts anchored in the sword of the Word. In order to command well, a father must know the eternal Word and the current state of the world. He must study his Bible and his brood.

day no. 16,817: the best that we can do

2 Samuel 10:12

Be of good courage, and let us be courageous for our people, and for the cities of our God, and may the LORD do what seems good to him.

The best that we can do is the best that we can do. It may not be much, but it's the best we can do. We can offer less. We can give less. But we ought to give more. We owe our people and our God our very best. Our best may not be that good, but our God is; and He will do with it as He sees best.

Ephesians 2:10

We are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.

The best that you can do has been planned out for you. By doing it, you are doing your very best.

We all have good works ordained for us in which we ought to walk and when we do, we must walk in them to the best of our ability. We must avoid detours and off ramps and we must not loiter or linger along the right road on which we are called to go. We must make our best effort to stay on track and keep up the pace in the particular race which we have been created for and called to run.

Acts 17:26

(He) hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation.

We have the problems we have. We can wish for someone else's problems, but we are where we are and we were made to be who we are by the grace of God and the goodness of His pleasure. Let us be where we are and strive in the lane we were placed.

Esther 4:14

Who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this?

The kingdom of Christ is coming on. We were born for such a time as this. We can look back and admire our ancestors and their faith in the moments in which they were placed, but we must do the same here and now. We must bless our descendants by being faithful in their past. We must look to the lay of our land and play the ball where it lies in our lifetime so that it might be further down field when its further down stream.

Romans 15:1

We then that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak, and not to please ourselves.

If you are strong, then prove it by putting up with more than those who are too weak to put up with anything. If you can't carry your own load, you are someone else's problem, not their savior. If you can't leverage your advantage to someone else's advantage, you are a problem. Those who please only themselves are not, obviously enough, a pleasure for anyone else to be around. So don't imagine yourself mature while acting childish. Do not be too strong to bear the weakness of others. If you can't, you are one of the weak ones being put up with by others you likely imagine to be beneath you. In a sense, you are right. They are beneath you. They are shouldering your weakness and keeping you afloat.

1 Corinthians 16:13

Watch ye, stand fast in the faith, quit you like men, be strong.

Acquit yourself like a man. Man your post. Do your work. Be strong in holding your position and in the execution of your office. Stand fast. Keep your head on a swivel. Look for good works to do and bad works to block.

Nahum 2:1

He that dasheth in pieces is come up before thy face: keep the munition, watch the way, make thy loins strong, fortify thy power mightily.

You were born for this battle. Man up. Stay sharp. Lock 'n load. Rock 'n roll.

day no. 16,816: the promised land and the baptized babies

1 Corinthians 10:1-6

Moreover, brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant, how that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea; And were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea; And did all eat the same spiritual meat; And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ. But with many of them God was not well pleased: for they were overthrown in the wilderness. Now these things were our examples.

All of Israel was baptized in the Exodus from Egypt and all communed on elements of heavenly bread and drink in their wanderings in the wilderness, but all did not keep their respective covenants with Christ.

Joshua 5:6

For the children of Israel walked forty years in the wilderness, till all the people that were men of war, which came out of Egypt, were consumed, because they obeyed not the voice of the Lord: unto whom the Lord sware that he would not shew them the land, which the Lord sware unto their fathers that he would give us, a land that floweth with milk and honey.

All the grumblers died in the desert and these were all of those twenty years old and upward, fit for war, but fighting the hand that fed them instead of the enemies that opposed them.

Numbers 14:29

Your carcases shall fall in this wilderness; and all that were numbered of you, according to your whole number, from twenty years old and upward, which have murmured against me,

In the end, the only ones who entered the land of milk and honey were those who entered the exodus drinking their mother's milk, those who were baptized as children, save Joshua and Caleb, who held their own though they grew up in the midst of rampant apostasy.

day no. 16,815: those who chase the wind catch hell

Ecclesiastes 6:9

Better is the sight of the eyes than the wandering of desire. This also is vanity and grasping for the wind

Those who chase the wind catch hell.

You cannot outrun the spirit of the age. You will wear yourself out and end up empty handed. The zeitgeist can haunt you, but it cannot be hunted down. It is unreality. It is the fever dream of fanatical unbelief. In the effort to overthrow the reality of God, reality itself is rejected. It is better to hold on to a little bit of horse sense than to graduate with honors from Sodom State University.

Ecclesiastes 1:14

I have seen all the works which have been done under the sun, and behold, all is vanity and striving after wind.

Any and every thing done under the sun without reference to that which is beyond its brightness is simply a lesson in futility. The pursuit of wind is an empty promise. Clutching at sand castles cannot keep them. The harder you hold, the more they slip through your fingers. The wish fulfillment of unbelieving man is an empty hand and a head full of nonsense.

day no. 16,814: Rocco is NINE!

Happy 9th Birthday, Rockestsauce!

You are one year older and just as Rocco as you have always been.

You have always been you and as you grow older, you are only becoming more you.

Here are some things that you like that I like about you:

You like being a boy... especially boy jokes. If burps or toots are involved, you're probably involved... or on your way to join in.

You like wrestling and you are really strong.

You like shooting air soft guns and are learning to enjoy being shot by them.

You like following Finneas around, but you also have been making your own friends at church.

You like coffee and often ask me to make you some after church.

You like falling asleep on the couch during Story Club and I like that I get to carry you down to your bed.

You like playing air guitar with Finneas and Lolo when you get together to be the air band version of Sevendust.

You like wearing face paint.

You like tommy guns.

You like being thrown up in the air (a task that is getting increasingly more difficult the bigger you get)

You are easy to love and everyone loves you.

Happy birthday, Rocco.

Love,

Dad

day no. 16,813: current events are conceived by origin stories and eschatologies

"We deny that there can be any true Christian impact on culture if there is not absolute faith in what God teaches in His Word about human origins. This is because the progress for which we labor is a species of sanctification, not a form of evolution." — New Saints Andrews College, Thirty Theses on Culture Building

Current events are shaped by competing origin stories and eschatologies. They are conceived by what is believed about where we came from and where we should be going.

Sanctification presupposes both the Edenic perfection and the Fall into sin as well as justification and ultimate glorification of those in Christ. Where you think we came from and where you think we should go will determine what you try to promote and what you seek to penalize.

If you imagine we are the product of millions of years of chance happening and headed toward a future utopia built by human merit, it will come out your fingertips here and now. It will season the words that cross your lips and color the cares that cross your mind.

"We affirm that genuine cultural engagement is a long term inter-generational endeavor, and requires those who participate in it to do it with an intelligent grasp of eschatology. Cultural endeavors that are not supported by an eschatological vision either will be drudgery, trying to eke out a living, or will be characterized by an attempt to get excitement from somewhere, which will usually be the kind of excitement that comes from the latest and hot new thing." — New Saints Andrews College, Thirty Theses on Culture Building

If you are not anchored in an ultimate telos, you will be subject to the whims of contemporary froth and bubble. Eschatology keeps a man from fads and keeps his head down in his labors with a legacy to fuel him rather than the fanfare of his contemporaries.

"We deny that an optimistic eschatological expectation requires us to adopt false optimism of the kind promulgated by the left wing of postmillennialism, whether of the social gospel sort of a century ago or the social justice nostrums that are being peddled now. Neither should we fall into the trap of an over-realized eschatology. We believe that our labors in the Lord are not in vain (1 Cor. 15:58), but at the same time we understand ourselves to be playing the long game. It may well be that future generations will consider us to have been part of the early church. The yeast expands slowly. The mustard seed grows into a plant slowly." — New Saints Andrews College, Thirty Theses on Culture Building

We don't work hard because failure is impossible, but because good work is hard. We labor with the promises of the Lord in our hearts and the perseverance of His saints as our example. We endure difficulty for the sake of the joy set before us. That joy is guaranteed. The path there is sometimes a steep ascent and other times a dramatic plunge, but it always advances up that mountain of God.

"We seek to educate future cultural leaders, which means we are equipping them for that role, which is not the same thing as determining the will of God for their lives. If an individual graduate is led by the Spirit of God to labor in an obscure corner, the last day will reveal the cups of cold water that he gave to others in the name of Christ, and we do not in any way consider that a failure of our mission. It is, rather, a striking success. At the same time, if after graduating scores of cultural leaders, no culture actually gets led or shaped in biblical directions, we might want to consider changing our mission statement." — New Saints Andrews College, Thirty Theses on Culture Building

Christendom comes through homes where men and women married in the Lord raise their children in the Lord. That home will be productive and will export its goods to the its neighborhoods, cities, etc... Culture will be shaped and nations will be taught the commands of Christ. If Christ is Lord between your ears, that will come out your mouth and through your fingertips. If Christ is Lord of your home, it will exit your doors and pour out your windows. Where Christ is Lord, He is Lord of all and anywhere He is held in high esteem, He goes with those, wherever they may go.

Matthew 28:18-20

And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, "All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen."

We do not merely go, we therefore go. We go because all authority in heaven and earth belong to Christ. He is our God and we are His people. We go knowing His kingdom will come and His will will be done. We go knowing He goes with us. We go knowing He is where we are going. We go because He sent us. The beginning and the end is always Jesus. World without end. Amen.

day no. 16,812: specializing in generality

"We are not trying to shape culture by producing an array of specialists but rather generalists who understand the importance of all specialties in a way that specialists frequently do not. A good life is what generalists are called to specialize in." — New Saints Andrews College, Thirty Theses on Culture Building

Specialties are good and necessary, but the temptation for specialists is to elevate their specialty above all others or to discredit other specialties simply for not being the same as their own. Generalities are good and necessary, but the temptation for generalists is to denigrate any specialty as being unnecessary. A good generalist appreciates all specialties. A good specialist appreciates the goodness of other specialties in general without surrendering their special commitment to a specific one.

A good life is the specialty of a good generalist.

Proverbs 22:29

Seest thou a man diligent in his business?

He shall stand before kings;

he shall not stand before mean men.

Diligence in one's business will catch the attention of business experts. Whatever your craft or competency, a good king will recognize your specialty, because he recognizes excellence in general. Game recognizes game.

day no. 16,811: quicksand and longstands

"We affirm that the living God is the God of all the livng and that all who hate wisdom do so because they are in love with death (Prov. 8:38). All attempts at culture building apart from the God of Scripture are attempts that will spiral downward into a culture of death. This city of death has many back alleys, and the whole thing is a slum, filled with promiscuity, easy divorce, abandoned children, pornography, lesbianism, sodomy, and the carnage of abortion. The culture of life we represent stands against this anti-culture, this culture of death, at every point. We deny that any of our graduates can compromise in any way with this sexual revolution and in any way represent our vision. There is no compromise here." — New Saints Andrews College, Thirty Theses on Culture Building

Defy the Death Cult at EVERY point.

Christendom must stand against the deathmongers wherever they assemble. But it cannot stand on quicksand. Christ is the only rock into which one can dig his heels deep enough to endure the surge. Wobbly knees won't due on the day of onslaught. Faith in the Way, the Truth, and the Life is the only way to stay in the foxhole while being fired upon.

Psalm 106:30a-31

Then stood up Phinehas... and that was counted unto him for righteousness unto all generations for evermore.

Stand up.

While everyone else is down with the darkness, resist it. Like Phinehas, stand up while others are laying down and be counted among the righteous and remembered reverently by them.

Ephesians 6:10-13

Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.

Waylay the wiles of the wicked.

Wrestle against the wreckage of the wretched. 

Defy the death cult.

Stand.