"The Fourth of July is next week, and a number of us are going to set off fireworks — and, if the past is to be trusted, we will set off some really good ones. But what are we celebrating? One of the things my grandchildren have been put up to during the fireworks are cries like, 'Down with the House of Hanover!' But what was wrong with George III and his house? Was our War for Independence just an arbitrary rebellion? Or was it principled and scriptural? We tend to believe that the early American resistance to Parliament’s rebellion against the constitution of Great Britain was pragmatic and not principled. We tend to think this way because we have drifted into postmodern relativism and we don’t understand such principles. We don’t speak that language anymore, and in our ignorance we assume that no one ever spoke that language.
'Now these be the last words of David. David the son of Jesse said, and the man who was raised up on high, the anointed of the God of Jacob, and the sweet psalmist of Israel, said, The Spirit of the LORD spake by me, and his word was in my tongue. The God of Israel said, the Rock of Israel spake to me, He that ruleth over men must be just, ruling in the fear of God' (2 Sam. 23:1-3).
These are the words of God, spoken under inspiration. The man who rules over men must be just, and he must do what he does in the fear of God. If he does not fear God, he is actually aspiring to be God. To resist such hubris (by the appointed scriptural means only) is simply avoiding idolatry.
Some men rule. This is necessary. We as Christians are not hostile to the idea of rule (Rom. 13); indeed, we have to embrace it, and love it. The Scripture says that we are to honor the king, and this would include George III. But he was not resisted by our fathers because he was a king, but, considering our text, because he was not. A man resisting a tyrant is not the same kind of person as a scofflaw chafing under legitimate authority. The fact that we no longer grasp this important distinction is a central part of our indictment. The more we say, 'But I just don’t see the difference between George Washington and Robespierre,' the more we prove ourselves worthy of being ruled the way we are.
So those who rule must be just, as the Bible defines and establishes that term. The king does not define justice, but he is called upon to embody it. Those who rule must fear God, that their rule be tempered. When God establishes a man over his brothers (Rom. 13), to the extent he is lifted up, to that same extent, his duties proportionately increase. He is responsible to God, and serves, as St. Paul argues, as God’s deacon of justice.
This leads us to something that our fathers understood, but which we have forgotten. Submission to lawful authority (even when you differ with that authority) is a Christian virtue. And at the same time, resistance to tyrants is submission to God.
Our fathers understood this distinction between lawful resistance and unlawful rebellion. We do not, and we therefore cannot praise and defend our founding fathers, without condemning ourselves. We cannot defend ourselves without condemning them." -- Douglas Wilson, King David on the Fourth of July
Saturday, July 4, 2020
day no. 15,230: esprit de corps
Esprit de corps is a feeling of pride, fellowship, and common loyalty shared by the members of a particular group. It is the capacity of a group's members to maintain belief in an institution or goal, particularly in the face of opposition or hardship.
Revelation 13:10
If anyone is to be taken captive, to captivity he goes; if anyone is to be slain with the sword, with the sword must he be slain. Here is a call for the endurance and faith of the saints.
Revelation 14:12
Here is a call for the endurance of the saints, those who keep the commandments of God and their faith in Jesus.
Hebrews 6:12
Imitate those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.
2 Thessalonians 1:3-7
We ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers, as is right, because your faith is growing abundantly, and the love of every one of you for one another is increasing. Therefore we ourselves boast about you in the churches of God for your steadfastness and faith in all your persecutions and in the afflictions that you are enduring. This is evidence of the righteous judgment of God, that you may be considered worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you are also suffering— since indeed God considers it just to repay with affliction those who afflict you, and to grant relief to you who are afflicted as well as to us, when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels
Revelation 13:10
If anyone is to be taken captive, to captivity he goes; if anyone is to be slain with the sword, with the sword must he be slain. Here is a call for the endurance and faith of the saints.
Revelation 14:12
Here is a call for the endurance of the saints, those who keep the commandments of God and their faith in Jesus.
Hebrews 6:12
Imitate those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.
2 Thessalonians 1:3-7
We ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers, as is right, because your faith is growing abundantly, and the love of every one of you for one another is increasing. Therefore we ourselves boast about you in the churches of God for your steadfastness and faith in all your persecutions and in the afflictions that you are enduring. This is evidence of the righteous judgment of God, that you may be considered worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you are also suffering— since indeed God considers it just to repay with affliction those who afflict you, and to grant relief to you who are afflicted as well as to us, when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels
Friday, July 3, 2020
day no. 15,229: decades in duo
Galatians 6:7-9
Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.
What you sow in your 20s, you reap in your 40s.
What you reap in your 40s, you live off of in your 60s.
What you live off of in your 60s, you finish off in your 80s.
What you finish off in your 80s, you spend in eternity.
Everything is going somewhere and eventually... it's going to get there.
Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.
What you sow in your 20s, you reap in your 40s.
What you reap in your 40s, you live off of in your 60s.
What you live off of in your 60s, you finish off in your 80s.
What you finish off in your 80s, you spend in eternity.
Everything is going somewhere and eventually... it's going to get there.
Thursday, July 2, 2020
day no. 15,228 continued... education has no neutral
Doug Wilson's Cluster Muster had a link to THIS article by Jake Litwin. Here are a few highlights,
“Above all, the foremost reading for everybody, both in the universities and in the schools, should be Holy Scripture…I would advise no one to send his child where the Holy Scriptures are not supreme.” – Martin Luther
Christians, it is time to pull down the public schools by pulling your children from the public schools (HERE, 2 Cor. 10:3-5)
“If you send your kids to Caesar for their education, don’t be surprised when they come back as Romans" - Voddie Baucham
Education is not neutral. Religion is inescapable -- a matter of which, not if.
Deuteronomy 6:1-4
Now this is the commandment—the statutes and the rules—that the Lord your God commanded me to teach you, that you may do them in the land to which you are going over, to possess it, that you may fear the Lord your God, you and your son and your son's son, by keeping all his statutes and his commandments, which I command you, all the days of your life, and that your days may be long. Hear therefore, O Israel, and be careful to do them, that it may go well with you, and that you may multiply greatly, as the Lord, the God of your fathers, has promised you, in a land flowing with milk and honey
God has commanded His people to teach their children His ways. In other words, His children are to teach His children. And one of the things they are to teach them to do is to teach their own children someday.
"Whoever controls the schools rules the world." - Jake Litwin a la Gary DeMar
The future will be populated by the ideas that permeate our children. Whatever they believe will be what shapes the world. That will either be in concert with God's aims or against them.
“Above all, the foremost reading for everybody, both in the universities and in the schools, should be Holy Scripture…I would advise no one to send his child where the Holy Scriptures are not supreme.” – Martin Luther
Christians, it is time to pull down the public schools by pulling your children from the public schools (HERE, 2 Cor. 10:3-5)
“If you send your kids to Caesar for their education, don’t be surprised when they come back as Romans" - Voddie Baucham
Education is not neutral. Religion is inescapable -- a matter of which, not if.
Deuteronomy 6:1-4
Now this is the commandment—the statutes and the rules—that the Lord your God commanded me to teach you, that you may do them in the land to which you are going over, to possess it, that you may fear the Lord your God, you and your son and your son's son, by keeping all his statutes and his commandments, which I command you, all the days of your life, and that your days may be long. Hear therefore, O Israel, and be careful to do them, that it may go well with you, and that you may multiply greatly, as the Lord, the God of your fathers, has promised you, in a land flowing with milk and honey
God has commanded His people to teach their children His ways. In other words, His children are to teach His children. And one of the things they are to teach them to do is to teach their own children someday.
"Whoever controls the schools rules the world." - Jake Litwin a la Gary DeMar
The future will be populated by the ideas that permeate our children. Whatever they believe will be what shapes the world. That will either be in concert with God's aims or against them.
day no. 15,228: who could be for problems and against love?
The word "problem" is problematic for many. It conjures negative sentiment. Conversely, the word "love" is lovely for most. It conjures positive sentiment. But "problem" and "love" are neither inherently positive nor negative.
Proverbs 14:4
Where no oxen are, the crib is clean:
but much increase is by the strength of the ox.
The problem of a harvest being larger than one expected is a real problem (you need bigger barns, better transportation, different strategies for dispersion, etc...) but it is a welcomed problem. That is a problem resulting from a positive and one you would choose again and again. Increase is a good problem to have. While it is true that more oxen equal more crap, it is also true that more oxen equal more crops.
1 Timothy 6:10
For the love of money is the root of all evil
The love of money is negative and one of the most predatory passions one can inflame. This love has a negative connotation to it. To love money is worse than liking it. To be in love with accumulation is to be addicted to destruction. This kind of love leads lambs to the slaughter humming a little ditty as they walk on a sandy beach.
Problems are not inherently negative
Love is not inherently positive
"Bad" problem is not necessarily a double negative, it describes what kind of problem it is.
"True" love is not necessarily a double positive, it describes what kind of love were dealing with.
Problems can be good.
Love can be bad.
It all depends on the direct objects. The love of money, self, evil, etc... are all negative. The problems of plenty and growth are often positive.
Proverbs 14:4
Where no oxen are, the crib is clean:
but much increase is by the strength of the ox.
The problem of a harvest being larger than one expected is a real problem (you need bigger barns, better transportation, different strategies for dispersion, etc...) but it is a welcomed problem. That is a problem resulting from a positive and one you would choose again and again. Increase is a good problem to have. While it is true that more oxen equal more crap, it is also true that more oxen equal more crops.
1 Timothy 6:10
For the love of money is the root of all evil
The love of money is negative and one of the most predatory passions one can inflame. This love has a negative connotation to it. To love money is worse than liking it. To be in love with accumulation is to be addicted to destruction. This kind of love leads lambs to the slaughter humming a little ditty as they walk on a sandy beach.
Problems are not inherently negative
Love is not inherently positive
"Bad" problem is not necessarily a double negative, it describes what kind of problem it is.
"True" love is not necessarily a double positive, it describes what kind of love were dealing with.
Problems can be good.
Love can be bad.
It all depends on the direct objects. The love of money, self, evil, etc... are all negative. The problems of plenty and growth are often positive.
Wednesday, July 1, 2020
day no. 15,277 continued... alphabetical areas of interest
be interested... stay interesting.
Alacrity (Parable in Mt 21 of two sons, neither with alacrity)
Andy Griffith (been watching through show together with family in evenings)
Army Ants on a Log (Saturday Dadurday lunchtime fun!)
API 28 (have exam next week, praying to pass with little sass)
Atomic Habits (food for thought on what makes ya move and how to move what you do)
Black and Tan (recently re-read, great insights, paradigm challenging/shifting)
Black Lives Matter (mulling over the madness that is weaponized guilt-mongering)
Black Rifle Coffee (Josh Miller got us some, good stuff!)
Buckingham's (began having on Saturday nights)
Callista (she is officially a three-nager, though she's been one for a while now, Lord love her)
Chalkboard Drawing (put monthly ideas on calendar)
Church and Community (what does that look like during social distancing/isolation?)
Clair De Lune (listening; referenced by N.D. Wilson as one of his grandpa Jim's favorites)
Coffee and Cash (still going strong on Saturday mornings! current fav "I'm Leaving Now!")
Courageous (received movie for Father's Day, now part of our tradition)
COVID-19 (the flu with better PR)
C.S. Lewis (growing in appreciation for him through reading and rereading his writings)
Danger (lots of rhetoric being produced to make us feel unsafe, in danger lately)
Down with the House of Hanover! (Fourth of July liturgical addition)
Economy (waiting to see if it can recover and which business won't make it)
Education (developing more proactive desire to see Christians pull kids from public ed)
Eldering (added Matt and Scott to team with Stan and myself, excited to grow as team)
Election (thinking ahead and wondering what that will look like this Fall)
Fatherhood (been thinking a lot about God, my Father)
FDR's D-Day Prayer (heard for first time this year, good stuff)
Federal Husband (finally getting around to reading, enjoying the ride, liking the challenge)
For Today (enjoying their church militant, postmillennial metalcore optimism)
George Floyd (wondering about that trial/decision and what that will look like)
Goldfinger (been fun getting reacquainted with them thru their quarantine videos)
Hezekiah (thinking a lot lately about his weak end and lack of vision/concern for his progeny)
Ice Cream (Friday night standard after Pizza, reading DT 6:1-9)
Intermittent Fasting (18 months of 20:4 fasting with a 5-9 feeding window)
Ireland (missionary friends hinting we should consider move)
It's Friday! (sing along with "If You Want Blood" every Friday night with Pizza!)
July! (introducing singing July, July! by Decemberists and July by Ryan Seiler on the Fourth)
Kingdom Come (praying for it to come, not go; sooner than later, world without end, amen!)
Legacy (been thinking a lot about doing as much as possible to propel kids ahead)
Lord of the Rings (read Hobbit and began Fellowship for the first time respectively)
Man of the House (excited to read Wiley's book and mull over productive property)
Manhood (realizing more and more that I feel like a boy among men)
Masks (praying these don't become a mandatory thing)
Medieval (wanting to learn more about being more medieval instead of modern)
Men of Issachar (praying God provides us with enough to sway the day)
Marxism (watching 20 somethings have a collective temper tantrum in pushing for this)
Milk and Honey (the promised land is a place with perfect udders and combs)
N.D. Wilson (read first non-fiction (Notes from Tilt O Whirl) and LOVED it!!!)
New Saint Andrews (loving their new commercials/ad campaign)
Normal (remembering what normal used to look like and wondering if we'll see it again)
Of Monsters and Men (enjoying getting acquainted with their catalog)
Panic (it's been odd adjusting to a world where panic reigns and rules)
Pilgrim's Regress (listening to Lewis' masterpiece a second time on audiobook)
Pull up bar (since working from home, doing lots more pull ups
Qualified (working on Gal 6:1, being motivated when qualified, qualified when motivated)
Qualified pt. 2 (contemplating fits of rage and quarrelsome as areas of sin I need to kill)
Reading (on pace to read 300 books in 2020, my new goal)
Right Flight (will blue states be abandoned for redder pastures? hope so!)
S.A.T.U.R.D.A.Y. Night! (sing along with Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting)
Six Feet (how has this become a thing? besides impractical, it's illogical)
Spurgeon (reading Lectures reaffirms respect for vocational pastor and desire not to be one)
Teaching Schedule (looking to reduce load as lay elder this Fall)
That Hideous Strength (Lewis was on point with this one, excited to read again soon)
Two service (preparing to preach my first two service Sunday on the 5th of July)
UFC (been watching some best of videos lately: KOs, Connor McGregor, etc...)
Utah (church planting friends hinting we should consider move)
Vacation (getting excited to spend a week in South Dakota later this summer)
Vaccination (wondering if COVID once developed and Flu will become mandatory?)
Washington, D.C. (wondering if that vacation will still happen)
Weapon (Shelter Agent encouraging me to consider handgun)
Working Remotely (loving it since mid-March, won't go back unless I'm required)
Xenophilia (wondering if the faithful we be required to be strangers in strange land, exiles)
Yes! (working on being like God in the garden before the Fall, limit "No's," increase "Yes's")
Zoom (now a household name and way to "meeting" with people)
Alacrity (Parable in Mt 21 of two sons, neither with alacrity)
Andy Griffith (been watching through show together with family in evenings)
Army Ants on a Log (Saturday Dadurday lunchtime fun!)
API 28 (have exam next week, praying to pass with little sass)
Atomic Habits (food for thought on what makes ya move and how to move what you do)
Black and Tan (recently re-read, great insights, paradigm challenging/shifting)
Black Lives Matter (mulling over the madness that is weaponized guilt-mongering)
Black Rifle Coffee (Josh Miller got us some, good stuff!)
Buckingham's (began having on Saturday nights)
Callista (she is officially a three-nager, though she's been one for a while now, Lord love her)
Chalkboard Drawing (put monthly ideas on calendar)
Church and Community (what does that look like during social distancing/isolation?)
Clair De Lune (listening; referenced by N.D. Wilson as one of his grandpa Jim's favorites)
Coffee and Cash (still going strong on Saturday mornings! current fav "I'm Leaving Now!")
Courageous (received movie for Father's Day, now part of our tradition)
COVID-19 (the flu with better PR)
C.S. Lewis (growing in appreciation for him through reading and rereading his writings)
Danger (lots of rhetoric being produced to make us feel unsafe, in danger lately)
Down with the House of Hanover! (Fourth of July liturgical addition)
Economy (waiting to see if it can recover and which business won't make it)
Education (developing more proactive desire to see Christians pull kids from public ed)
Eldering (added Matt and Scott to team with Stan and myself, excited to grow as team)
Election (thinking ahead and wondering what that will look like this Fall)
Fatherhood (been thinking a lot about God, my Father)
FDR's D-Day Prayer (heard for first time this year, good stuff)
Federal Husband (finally getting around to reading, enjoying the ride, liking the challenge)
For Today (enjoying their church militant, postmillennial metalcore optimism)
George Floyd (wondering about that trial/decision and what that will look like)
Goldfinger (been fun getting reacquainted with them thru their quarantine videos)
Hezekiah (thinking a lot lately about his weak end and lack of vision/concern for his progeny)
Ice Cream (Friday night standard after Pizza, reading DT 6:1-9)
Intermittent Fasting (18 months of 20:4 fasting with a 5-9 feeding window)
Ireland (missionary friends hinting we should consider move)
It's Friday! (sing along with "If You Want Blood" every Friday night with Pizza!)
July! (introducing singing July, July! by Decemberists and July by Ryan Seiler on the Fourth)
Kingdom Come (praying for it to come, not go; sooner than later, world without end, amen!)
Legacy (been thinking a lot about doing as much as possible to propel kids ahead)
Lord of the Rings (read Hobbit and began Fellowship for the first time respectively)
Man of the House (excited to read Wiley's book and mull over productive property)
Manhood (realizing more and more that I feel like a boy among men)
Masks (praying these don't become a mandatory thing)
Medieval (wanting to learn more about being more medieval instead of modern)
Men of Issachar (praying God provides us with enough to sway the day)
Marxism (watching 20 somethings have a collective temper tantrum in pushing for this)
Milk and Honey (the promised land is a place with perfect udders and combs)
N.D. Wilson (read first non-fiction (Notes from Tilt O Whirl) and LOVED it!!!)
New Saint Andrews (loving their new commercials/ad campaign)
Normal (remembering what normal used to look like and wondering if we'll see it again)
Of Monsters and Men (enjoying getting acquainted with their catalog)
Panic (it's been odd adjusting to a world where panic reigns and rules)
Pilgrim's Regress (listening to Lewis' masterpiece a second time on audiobook)
Pull up bar (since working from home, doing lots more pull ups
Qualified (working on Gal 6:1, being motivated when qualified, qualified when motivated)
Qualified pt. 2 (contemplating fits of rage and quarrelsome as areas of sin I need to kill)
Reading (on pace to read 300 books in 2020, my new goal)
Right Flight (will blue states be abandoned for redder pastures? hope so!)
S.A.T.U.R.D.A.Y. Night! (sing along with Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting)
Six Feet (how has this become a thing? besides impractical, it's illogical)
Spurgeon (reading Lectures reaffirms respect for vocational pastor and desire not to be one)
Teaching Schedule (looking to reduce load as lay elder this Fall)
That Hideous Strength (Lewis was on point with this one, excited to read again soon)
Two service (preparing to preach my first two service Sunday on the 5th of July)
UFC (been watching some best of videos lately: KOs, Connor McGregor, etc...)
Utah (church planting friends hinting we should consider move)
Vacation (getting excited to spend a week in South Dakota later this summer)
Vaccination (wondering if COVID once developed and Flu will become mandatory?)
Washington, D.C. (wondering if that vacation will still happen)
Weapon (Shelter Agent encouraging me to consider handgun)
Working Remotely (loving it since mid-March, won't go back unless I'm required)
Xenophilia (wondering if the faithful we be required to be strangers in strange land, exiles)
Yes! (working on being like God in the garden before the Fall, limit "No's," increase "Yes's")
Zoom (now a household name and way to "meeting" with people)
day no. 15,227: attemptation
2 Peter 2:19
They promise them freedom, but they themselves are slaves of corruption. For whatever overcomes a person, to that he is enslaved.
Giving in to sin does not set one free from righteousness. It also does not open up freedom to sin. It often leads to more sin, but not as a result of increasing freedom, but of increasing enslavement.
"Yielding to a temptation is like yielding to a blackmailer: you pay to be free, and find yourself the more enslaved." - G.K. Chesterton
You can be freed from temporary temptation by giving in to it or by enduring it to the end. If you choose to free yourself from temptation by giving in to its demands, you find yourself free for a moment only to find yourself more bound to it and mastered by it in the end. In short, temptation resisted to the end is powerless and temptation indulged in the moment ends in powerlessness.
"Exaggerate the weariness by making him think it will soon be over; for men usually feel that a strain could have been endured no longer at the very moment when it is ending, or when they think it is ending. In this, as in the problem of cowardice, the thing to avoid is the total commitment. Whatever he says, let his inner resolution be not to bear whatever comes to him, but to bear it “for a reasonable period” — and let the reasonable period be shorter than the trial is likely to last. It need not be much shorter; in attacks on patience, chastity, and fortitude, the fun is to make the man yield just when (had he but known it) relief was almost in sight." - C.S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters
We often give in to sin moments before the temptation would have died down. We resist the temptation and tension to a particular point and then give in to it. But the climax and resolution of a story is always closest to its final page. When we give in before the climax, we make temptation the main character of our story - the bad guy wins and becomes the dominate note.
"Temptation yielded to is lust deified" - Oswald Chambers
We worship what we gladly give ourselves to.
If you yield to temptation, you will find yourself bending the knee to lust. The moment you make, "I must have it this moment," a permissible notion, it will become the only notion by which everything else is determined. Lust demands wholehearted devotion and it is a cruel Taskmaster.
They promise them freedom, but they themselves are slaves of corruption. For whatever overcomes a person, to that he is enslaved.
Giving in to sin does not set one free from righteousness. It also does not open up freedom to sin. It often leads to more sin, but not as a result of increasing freedom, but of increasing enslavement.
"Yielding to a temptation is like yielding to a blackmailer: you pay to be free, and find yourself the more enslaved." - G.K. Chesterton
You can be freed from temporary temptation by giving in to it or by enduring it to the end. If you choose to free yourself from temptation by giving in to its demands, you find yourself free for a moment only to find yourself more bound to it and mastered by it in the end. In short, temptation resisted to the end is powerless and temptation indulged in the moment ends in powerlessness.
"Exaggerate the weariness by making him think it will soon be over; for men usually feel that a strain could have been endured no longer at the very moment when it is ending, or when they think it is ending. In this, as in the problem of cowardice, the thing to avoid is the total commitment. Whatever he says, let his inner resolution be not to bear whatever comes to him, but to bear it “for a reasonable period” — and let the reasonable period be shorter than the trial is likely to last. It need not be much shorter; in attacks on patience, chastity, and fortitude, the fun is to make the man yield just when (had he but known it) relief was almost in sight." - C.S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters
We often give in to sin moments before the temptation would have died down. We resist the temptation and tension to a particular point and then give in to it. But the climax and resolution of a story is always closest to its final page. When we give in before the climax, we make temptation the main character of our story - the bad guy wins and becomes the dominate note.
"Temptation yielded to is lust deified" - Oswald Chambers
We worship what we gladly give ourselves to.
If you yield to temptation, you will find yourself bending the knee to lust. The moment you make, "I must have it this moment," a permissible notion, it will become the only notion by which everything else is determined. Lust demands wholehearted devotion and it is a cruel Taskmaster.
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