day no. 15,201: anything you can do, I can boo better

"Feminists have come full circle and are now the shrinking violets that their great-grandmothers despised." - Douglas Wilson, Same-Sex Mirage: Phantasmagoria at the Altar & Some Biblical Responses

There was a time when the feminized winds chimed, "We can do anything! Just watch us!" Nowadays its asthmatic gasps chirp about trigger warnings and micro-aggressions. It looks for excuses to melt before the heat of its granite counter tops. 

Yesterday's feminists receive a tip of the free corporate logo cap from today's snowflakes who applaud them in the principle, but the content of yesteryear’s effeminatti would certainly offend the senses of today’s. In fact, it would probably register more like toxic masculinity for those occupying safe-space modernity.

The feminists began by attempting to mimic their male counterparts, but now they attempt to mimic despair at any whiff of disagreement. Feminists used to bully by brawn and now they bully by blame. What a tangled web we weave when first we practice instead of conceive.

day no. 15,200: the tail of two mortars

2 Corinthians 10:3-6
For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ, being ready to punish every disobedience, when your obedience is complete.

Words are mortars. They are weapons. They are destructive. They are meant to bring down the high-minded.

Words are mortar. They are building materials. They are constructive. They are meant to build up the lowly.

By our words, we wage war. We speak the words of God and the world is etiolated and the church is animated.

day no. 15,199: conviction is combustible

“The secret of preaching is not mastering certain techniques but being mastered by certain convictions” - John Stott, The Challenge of Preaching, p. 12

Conviction is combustible. It preaches better than charisma. Charisma may assist a preacher boldly proclaim his convictions, but without convictions, he isn't preaching, at best, he's entertaining. 

In order to preach, a man must know what he believes and why he believes it. He must, like Ezra, study the word, do what it says and then, and only then, urge others to do the same.

Conviction inspires and sets fire to words in a way that technique can only accentuate. Techniques are not accelerants. You cannot pour technique onto a pile of wood and expect any light or heat to spontaneously combust.  Techniques cannot create a fire. They can only steer or aim an existing fire.

Conviction is the spark. It will set things on fire, which is why so many preachers avoid it and why so many churches end up flame retardant.

If you don't know what you're talking about, it doesn't matter how good you are at talking about it. A good speaker is a good man speaking well. Speaking well, if not from a deep well of conviction, is not an asset, but a liability. It lulls and dulls convictions rather than awakening and sharpening them. Since it does not come from a place of passionate belief, it dispenses only dispassionate amusement resulting in disposable applause.

day no. 15,198: flipping the script and flipping off heaven

1 Corinthians 15:10
His grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain.

"The way we continually talk about our own inability is an insult to the Creator. The deploring of our own incompetence is a slander against God for having overlooked us. Get into the habit of examining in the sight of God the things that sound humble before men, and you will be amazed at how staggeringly impertinent they are. 'Oh, I shouldn’t like to say I am sanctified; I’m not a saint.' Say that before God; and it means – 'No, Lord, it is impossible for You to save and sanctify me; there are chances I have not had; so many imperfections in my brain and body; no, Lord, it isn’t possible.' That may sound wonderfully humble before men, but before God it is an attitude of defiance.

Again, the things that sound humble before God may sound the opposite before men. To say – 'Thank God, I know I am saved and sanctified,' is in the sight of God the acme of humility, it means you have so completely abandoned yourself to God that you know He is true. Never bother your head as to whether what you say sounds humble before men or not, but always be humble before God, and let Him be all in all." -- Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest

We have turned humility and pride on their heads. What we call, "humble," God calls, "proud," and what we call, "proud," God calls, "humble."

Isaiah 5:20-21
Woe to those who call evil good
    and good evil,
who put darkness for light
    and light for darkness,
who put bitter for sweet
    and sweet for bitter!
Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes,
    and shrewd in their own sight!

We have accrued woe for ourselves. In flipping the script, we have flipped off heaven.

day no. 15,197: abandoned cartography and compasses

"The great need of the hour is for Christians in North America to get a map in their heads, a map that has an X on it." - Douglas Wilson, Same-Sex Mirage: Phantasmagoria at the Altar & Some Biblical Responses

"'That’s the worst of girls,' said Edmund to Peter and the Dwarf. 'They never carry a map in their heads'” - C.S. Lewis, Prince Caspian

America has lost its way. Literally. It has been feminized to the point of being lost in the woods. It keeps seeing the same tree, but thinking it's seeing new growth. It has lost its spatial ability and doesn't know where or how to find them. It has abandoned the cartography in its head and thrown away its compass. It has suppressed its knowledge and rejected any outside assistance insisting rather that its inner light can guide it home. But if the light be darkness, how great is the darkness. America is lost and removing ancient landmarks in a confused attempt to find the road again.

"The Lord Jesus rules all of history. This means that our folly is His righteous judgment on us and not our successful revolt against Him." - Douglas Wilson, Same-Sex Mirage: Phantasmagoria at the Altar & Some Biblical Responses

Progress must always be measured by a standard. Progressing toward what? Progressing out of what? How far are we from where we were? How close are we to where we want to go? In other words, wandering is merely evidence of lostness. If you don't know where you're going, you can't congratulate your progress. You don't fix an error in calculation by plowing ahead. You must go back to where the error took place and chart a new course from that fixd point. If we merely march on, we are not brave adventurers, we are rebellious adulterers. We can only spin our advance downhill as "progress" so long before we hit rock bottom.

We don't slip up. We slip down. And slipping isn't upward mobility.

day no. 15,196: punting away the final opportunity to draw blood

Ecclesiastes 3:1
For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven

There is a time to punt and a time to go for it on fourth. Conventional wisdom, however, rarely sees the season for the latter. It simply assumes the season of safely punting away your final opportunity to draw blood. 

Refuse the temptation to punt.  Punting confuses the game of scoring points for one of playing field position. It turns a mean into an end. It places the focus on making it harder for the enemy to score rather than making it easier for you to score.

Field position is a tactic, not a goal.
The goal is to win the game. 

You cannot win if you don't score points. Playing for field position is weaksauce. It attemps to win by inflicting a thousand cuts, which is an understandable option if all you have is a tiny dagger. After all, you play the hand you've been dealt. But it's one thing to fight with what you have and quite another to prefer a dagger to a broad sword.

day no. 15,195: we cannot afford to be amateurs when it comes to pronouns

pro·noun /ˈprōˌnoun/ - noun - a word that can function by itself as a noun phrase and that refers either to the participants in the discourse (e.g., I, you ) or to someone or something mentioned elsewhere in the discourse (e.g., she, it, this ).

John 1:1
In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God

All words belong to the Word, including pronouns.
In other words, all pronouns are His pronouns.

Acts 17:26
God made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place

God picked your pronouns for you. You are obligated to live in submission to the pronouns that have been chosen for you. Your pronouns did not merely materialize out a post-modern cauldron of moving goo. They came from somewhere. They refer back to something. 

Pronouns are completely contingent on their source. You do not have a pronoun without a previous mention in the discourse. This conversation was initiated by God, the Word, who injected Himself into the dead silence.

"The use of pronouns today is a deadly serious thing. It is not a matter of manners, or avoiding a faux pas. It is not a matter of showing courtesy to non-Christians. This is not about courtesy; rather, it is about coercion. It is not social graces; it is social engineering. We are having to stave off orc-talk." - Douglas Wilson, more HERE

We cannot afford to be amateurs when it comes to pronouns. We cannot participate in the realm of rhetoric without first understanding the grammar and logic of the conversation. And the Good News is that God has graciously provided us a grammar and a logic. He has assigned the lines and defined the terms. He is a God of order and has shared with us how it is all meant to fit together.