day no. 17,010: the light of the world

“Strictly speaking, there will never be a post-Christian era, because there will never be an era post-Christ.“ — Toby Sumpter

We live in a world where a man has risen from the dead and ascended to the right hand of the Father.  We cannot undo that. We cannot rewind the movie. There is no such thing as a post-Christian anything because Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever and He, being both Lord and Savior, does not change (Heb. 13:8, Mal 3:6). 

“The sun has risen. Christ has come. He is the king. The light covers the world. A return to heathen midnight is an impossibility. Those who walk in darkness now are doing so in a world suffused with light. This is hard to do — you have to remain blind, or hide in root cellars. There are ways to stay out of the sunlight, but they are difficult to accomplish. Not only so, but as the day passes, they will get increasingly difficult.” — Douglas Wilson, God Rest Ye Merry

As everything becomes more like itself, the light grows brighter and the darkness gets darker. This requires a great deal of creativity and increasingly so as the light floods the world. What it amounts to is finding the deepest, darkest corners and crevices of existence to retreat to in order to avoid the warm glow of encroaching godliness.

“Men have spoken too soon in claiming that the world has now entered a post-Christian era and we have been fools to believe them.” — Iain Murray, The Puritan Hope

Those cowering in the corners have tried to convince Christianity that their mere presence, even if it is diminishing, spells certain doom for the kingdom of God and too many Christians have taken their threats seriously. They have allowed themselves to be bullied by the scum circling the drain. But anyone with eyes in their head knows it is just a matter of time. The swirl will sink down until it is no more.

In the meantime, the greater the diameter of light, the greater the circumference of darkness. The touch points are increasing to be sure, but their surface area is retreating in the process. The corners of the box are congregating with the worst this world has to offer, but they have painted themselves into those corners. The only way out is to come into the light and confess their sins or to hunker down and be dispelled by the light of the world shining upon where they used to haunt.

John 1:4-5 (ESV)

In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

The darkness is making its last stand. It will either be consumed by Christ or it will fall at His feet in repentance, but either way, that kind of thing will not stand in the kingdom of God.

day no. 17,009: the twins turn ONE

Happy Birthdays, Knox and Eulalei!!!

It is hard to wrap my head around the fact that it has been a full year since you were born. It is still hard to wrap my head around the fact that there are two of you. What a blessing you both are! We knew we were expecting our ninth child, but we did not expect a tenth. We knew what to expect for labor and delivery, but did not expect to do it all twice in the same day. God is kind and has good things in store for us. You both are living proof of that. He gives more than we can ask for and lavishes grace upon grace. That is you two: grace upon grace.

Knox, you are the butteriest boy. You were the firstborn. You came out soft and quiet and you've stayed the same ever since. You are the happy donut. You were the first to sit up, but will be the second to crawl. You like to do Tarzan and ET phone home, but you also like to just sit and watch people. You eat right handed and use your hand like a paw to shovel scraps into your mouth. You like shaking your head back n forth. You have the sweetest smile and big dimples on your cheeks. You don't talk a ton, but when you do, you have a sweet little voice. You are a sweet boy and I love you so much. You are so fun to cuddle. You don't fight it and you are so soft and warm and fuzzy.

Eulalie, you are the beaniest babe. You were the surprise sister. You came second and have held your legs in a state of constant shock ever since. You may have the silver medal in birth order, but you have the gold medal for leg flexing. You are always moving and usually smiling. You were the second to sit up, but the first to crawl around. You like to boot scoot and boogie around. You like it when people say, "winner, winner, chicken, dinner" and bob your head when the dinner music drops. You eat left-handed and get most of your dinner down your shirt or in your highchair. When you grin, whch is often, it is from ear to ear. You like to milk the cow as your way of saying "Hi" or "Bye." You don't like to cuddle as much as you like to stand. You are so much fun and I love you so much.

You are both well-loved and well-liked. Your siblings are always fighting over who gets to hold you. You will never know a time where you were not VERY loved from every angle. We have had you surrounded since day one. I am excited to watch you both grow up and into the people God has made you to be. 

Happy Birthday bubs and beans, 

Love,

Dad 

day no. 17,008: exclusive content

John 14:6
Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."

By the grace of God, there is a way, a truth, and a life; but there is only one of each and it is only in Christ.

Unbelief cries out, “Only one? How restrictive!"

Belief cries out, “Even one? How gracious!"

day no. 17,007: do not fear Hell... defy it

“We do not fear Hell; we defy it.” — Douglas Wilson, Inescapable Fear

Hell hath no fury. There is no fire the shield of faith cannot quench.

Matthew 10:28

And 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.

We must fear the disapproval of God more than we fear the disapproval of men. The world and its ways are growing dim. Don't sweat their heat or shiver at their shade.

Matthew 16:18

I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

The gates of Hell cannot stand against the advance of the kingdom. Its hinges will buckle and burst before the bride of Christ as she walks down the aisle of eternity.

1 John 3:8

For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.

Do not fear the death cult, defy it. Do not dwell on Hell, destroy it.

Mark 3:27

But no one can enter a strong man's house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man. Then indeed he may plunder his house.

Jesus has bound the strong man. The one who had broken in and entered has been apprehended and pinned to the ground beneath Jesus' feet. Satan's sinful claws have been cuffed.

Hebrews 2:14-15

Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death He might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery.

So, go out and spread the news. The black parade has been shut down. Let those in darkness know that it is safe in Christ to come into the light.

"The culture of life we represent stands against this anti-culture, this culture of death, at every point... There is no compromise here." — New Saints Andrews College, Thirty Theses on Culture Building

You can dim the lights or turn them off, but you cannot turn the dark on. Wherever light is, dark isn't. The sun is rising as the Son has risen. 

"Do not, I beseech you, be troubled about the increase of forces already in dissolution. You have mistaken the hour of the night; it is already morning." — Hilaire Belloc

So, don't worry about the dissipating darkness coming back. 

“The sun has risen. Christ has come. He is the king. The light covers the world. A return to heathen midnight is an impossibility. Those who walk in darkness now are doing so in a world suffused with light. This is hard to do — you have to remain blind, or hide in root cellars. There are ways to stay out of the sunlight, but they are difficult to accomplish. Not only so, but as the day passes, they will get increasingly difficult.” — Douglas Wilson, God Rest Ye Merry

Midnight is over and the morning is forever.

day no. 17,006: a dog's ass some days

“Even the sun shines on a dog’s ass some days.” — unknown

God does not treat us as our sins deserve, but sends His sun to shed light on our darkest parts and give warmth to our coldest crevices.

Matthew 5:45

He maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.

The sun shines down on the downcast and the clouds send showers upon the outcast. 

Ecclesiastes 9:4

A living dog is better than a dead lion.

Better to be a dog's behind with the Son on your side than the king of jungle lying lifeless in the forest.

day no. 17,005: the six day work week

Exodus 20:9

Six days you shall labor, and do all your work.

If you are working for the weekend, you are trying to have two Lord’s Days; which is to say, you do not want one Lord.

You cannot gain more free time by taking two days off, but you can lose your freedom that way.  He who is not content with one day off will find one day in the courts of the Lord too many, and one thousand days elsewhere too few.

"God planned for normal fatigue when He put the lights out on earth every night. He also set one day aside out of every seven for additional rest." -- Jim Wilson, Weapon and Tactics: A Handbook on Personal Evangelism

Work is good and we need to sleep each day to recover from the last and to prepare for the next. We have one day in seven on which to focus our efforts on worshiping our God with our people. We then work from rest.

While the world works five days to rest for two, the Christians rests one day in order to work for six.

day no. 17,004: sons of serpents

“The serpent, in the person of Christ, was impaled on the tree. The wrath of God against all of our vindictive and irrational hatreds was poured over His head and shoulders, and He took all of it to Himself, and then died. He who knew no sin became sin on our behalf. And why? So that we might become the righteousness of God in Him (2 Cor. 5:21). The moment He died, His arms were free and so He gathered up all the sin that had been poured over them, took it to His chest, and sank into the grave. And when He rose, three days later, all the sin was gone.” — Douglas Wilson, Anxiety Storms and the Empathy Wars

God turned the Son into a snake so that He could turn the snakes into sons. 

2 Corinthians 5:21
For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.

The sons of serpents are saved because the Son of God was stuck to a tree.

John 3:15

And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up.

The Son of Man was lifted up like a snake on a cross outside the city just like Moses lifted up a snake on a stick in the wilderness.

Numbers 21:8-9

And the Lord said unto Moses, Make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole: and it shall come to pass, that every one that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live. And Moses made a serpent of brass, and put it upon a pole, and it came to pass, that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived.

Those with snake venom coursing through their veins could only be saved by staring at the serpent on the stick. They had to stare their sin in the face. By casting their eyes upon the pierced serpent its venom was counteracted. The only antidote was on that pole. Look anywhere else and the venom would stop your heart. The only anti-venom was doing what God had said.

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.

By God's grace, the Seed of Eve and the seed of the serpent were set against one another. The Seed of Eve would be bit, but only as a result of stomping on the serpent's skull. The Son of God would break fangs and take names.

2 Kings 18:4

He removed the high places, and brake the images, and cut down the groves, and brake in pieces the brasen serpent that Moses had made: for unto those days the children of Israel did burn incense to it: and he called it Nehushtan.

We do not worship the Cross, we worship the man who hung there. We do not cherish the tree, but the blood that was spilled there. Hezekiah had to destroy the snake of Moses because the people turned their backs on the substance and began to stare at the shadow. 

Isaiah 45:22

Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth:

for I am God, and there is none else.