day no. 16,810: prisoners of the moment and the architects of tomorrow

"We affirm that Scripture knows nothing of faithful culture that is detached from generations. But generations entail men, and women, and marriage, and sex, and children, and grandchildren. A sine qua non of all biblical culture making is therefore fruitful lovemaking. A transformative generation is going to be, by the grace of God, disciplined, married, moral, heterosexual, and highly-sexed."  — New Saints Andrews College, Thirty Theses on Culture Building

Reformation begins with regeneration and procreation. New birth of both kinds characterize rebirth. Before there can be a new culture, there has to be new people. These people need to be made and discipled. 

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."

Culture shaping will include new students and consistent teaching, the same Gospel of grace taught in the authority of Christ to new children and new converts. As we make babies, we make disciples. As we preach the Good News, God calls more to enter into covenant. 

Attempting to create a culture without an emphasis on creating a new generation is to admit an interest in fads rather than a commitment to Christendom. No prisoner of the moment has ever made anything that held the next moment captive. Kowtowing to the Spirit of the Age is a tired attempt at keeping the vibe alive. The clubbing catches up with up with you, the sun comes up, and the hangover sets in. There is nothing fruitful in frolicking with strangers at 2 am, but there is something eternal in singing your kids to sleep before heading to bed with the wife with whom you made them. 

Trends cannot compete with traditions. Nothing is lamer than yesterday’s coolness and nothing is stronger than eternal covenant. The architects of tomorrow live for a good legacy; the prisoners of the moment live for a good time.

day no. 16,809: salvation is a soundtrack

"There is a season for all the things that men do (Ecc. 3:1-8), and there is appropriate music for all of it." — New Saints Andrews College, Thirty Theses on Culture Building

God has given us several soundtracks to back the various good works He has prepared for us ahead of time to do. There is a time to war and music to match that occasion. There is a day for dancing and music to mark out your steps. There is a morning for mourning and music in keeping with weeping. To all of the good works God has given us to do, He has provided the sounds that best match the mood. There is a time to waltz and a time to march, a time to shout and a time to selah, a time to raise your hands and a time to bow your head, a time to lift your eyes and a time to close them, a time to crash the cymbal and a time to hold the note. Salvation is a soundtrack. The Psalms are the score.

Ecclesiastes 3:1-8

To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven: A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted; A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;  A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away; A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.

The Psalms are the soundtrack of a full, Christian story. They provide the music for late nights, early mornings, heavy hearts, anxious thoughts, feasting, dancing, wedding, fighting, calming one down, or riling one up. The Psalms sing the score for whatever the day may hold and those who acquaint themselves with them will have theme music for whatever good work God puts before them at any given moment.

day no. 16,808: word, grace and glory; truth, goodness, and beauty

"We affirm that objective standards exist, grounded in the nature of the infinite God, and that these standards are doctrinal, ethical, and aesthetic. We (are) firmly convinced of the objective reality of the true, the good, and the beautiful." — New Saints Andrews College, Thirty Theses on Culture Building

Truth, goodness, and beauty are objective realities measured against the respective standards of doctrine, ethics, and aesthetics: doctrine, the standard of truth; ethics, the standard of goodness; and aesthetics, the standard of beauty.

The Word of God is the standard of doctrine and truth.

The Grace of God is the standard of ethics and goodness.

The Glory of God is the standard of aesthetics and beauty.

Mark 10:9

What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.

Just as we can say, "husband." or, "wife," as a distinction, but not without reference to the marriage that makes them one; we can say, "truth," and, "grace," but not without reference to the one God who singularly embodies and defines them.

John 1:14, 16-18

The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth. Of His fulness have all we received, and grace for grace. For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. No man hath seen God at any time, the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.

The Word, Grace, and Glory of God are just as inseparable as truth, goodness, and beauty. The Word of God is grace to us and His glory is revealed in His Word. The truth is beautiful and goodness is true. We can speak of these as separate components for the sake of discussion, but we cannot separate what God has joined together.

day no. 16,807: hindsight is always twenty-twenty

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.

Hindsight is always 2020.

You cannot understand where we are now without understanding the monkeyshines that were 2020 and you cannot understand 2020 unless you understand what led to said shenanigans. From COVID deaths to presidential ballots, one must given an account of the counting that does not include two plus two equaling five.

"The great march of mental destruction will go on. Everything will be denied. Everything will become a creed... Fires will be kindled to testify that two and two make four. Swords will be drawn to prove that leaves are green in summer." — G.K. Chesterton, Heretics

2020 brought a lot into focus, the least of which not being the fog of fury that despises the light.

John 3:19-20

And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.

Darkness cannot hide the darkness.  It can try to conceal itself, but the light will reveal it

Luke 12:2-3

For there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; neither hid, that shall not be known. Therefore whatsoever ye have spoken in darkness shall be heard in the light; and that which ye have spoken in the ear in closets shall be proclaimed upon the housetops.

day no. 16,806: a tale of two ity's

Pride flings frail palaces at the sky,

As a man flings up sand,

But the firm feet of humility

Take hold of heavy land.

Pride juggles with her toppling towers,

They strike the sun and cease,

But the firm feet of humility

They grip the ground like trees.

-- G.K. Chesterton, The Ballad of the White Horse

Matthew 5:5

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

Ecclesiastes 1:14

I have seen all the works that are done under the sun;

and indeed, all is vanity and grasping for the wind.

The meek shall inherit the earth and the proud will inherit the wind.

It is a tale of two ity's: vanity begets nothing; humility receives everything.

Proverbs 2:21-22

For the upright shall dwell in the land,

and the perfect shall remain in it.

But the wicked shall be cut off from the earth,

and the transgressors shall be rooted out of it.

The proud will pound sand while the humble inherit the land.

day no. 16,805: the wheel deal

"We are not to simply bandage the wounds of victims beneath the wheels of injustice, we are to drive a spoke into the wheel itself." — Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Christians are not called merely to tend to the victims of Socialism, but to rend the apparatus of the tyrants that drive it. We must not merely plug holes they've created, but poke holes in their plugging along. The Church is called to minister to the weak and wounded and to muster itself against the strong and abusive. Atheistic secular humanism is an orc in need of an Aragorn. It is an enemy of all that is good. Its victims should be cared for, but its vehicles must be disabled. To refuse to do so is to increase the number of its victims and to guarantee that the needs exceed the ability to meet them.

...

*I recently (8/2/23 @ 1:45pm)  listened to this episode of the Theology Pugcast on Fighting Back: Protestant Resistance Theory in preparation for our monthly Men's Beer n Books meeting this Friday where we will be discussing the final chapters of Glenn Sunshine's Slaying Leviathan. The quote above was referenced in the course of their conversation and it was the first time I had heard it

day no. 16,804: marriage and motherhood

“The dual ordinance—the institution of marriage, and birth from a mother—is therefore the foundation on which antirevolutionary politics stands first.” — Abraham Kuyper

Revolution disregards God's rules. Reformation seeks to conform our current situation to God's standards. Marriage and childbirth are the cornerstones of society. God gave the order to rule and subdue the earth and the means of being fruitful and multiplying to accomplish it.

"The triangle of truisms, of father, mother and child, cannot be destroyed; it can only destroy those civilizations which disregard it." — G.K. Chesterton

Anyone trying to remake the world in their own imagination must clash with the existence of marriage and childbearing. It defies tyranny. It generates allegiances stronger than any tax. It creates eternal souls and internal loyalties beyond the scope of the State.

"The founding of a family is the personal adventure of a free man... The act of founding the family, I repeat, was an individual adventure outside the frontiers of the State" — G.K. Chesterton, Eugenics and Other Evils

In the beginning, God established marriage and introduced it as a covenant reality.

Genesis 2:23-25

And Adam said, “This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.” Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh. And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.

In marriage, a man and woman can be naked before each other and in the presence of God without shame in any direction.

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.

Sin did not do away with marriage and childbearing, but it did change it. An adversarial vibe would now accompany all births. Childbearing was now a battleground.

Genesis 3:16

Unto the woman he said, “I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.”

Mothering was made more painful and marriage was made more difficult. The two cornerstones of dominion were compromised by the introduction of sin.

Genesis 3:20

Adam called his wife's name Eve; because she was the mother of all living.

But the Gospel promised a snake Crusher and belief in that Gospel would save marriages and motherhood. It redeemed the sins and saved the sinners. It held Adam to Eve and her children his covenant with God.

1 Corinthians 11:8-11

For the man is not of the woman: but the woman of the man. Neither was the man created for the woman; but the woman for the man. For this cause ought the woman to have power on her head because of the angels. Nevertheless neither is the man without the woman, neither the woman without the man, in the Lord.

While woman was made for man, all men now come from women. Where women are honored and cared for children are born and brought up in their father's house by his wife.

"Nothing can ever overcome that one enormous sex (female) superiority that even the male child is born closer to his mother than to his father." — G. K. Chesterton

All men are made by their mothers. All of his first conceptions center around her. He is conceived in her womb, nursed at her breast, and raised on her hip. But she is loved and cared for in her husband's house. 

"What is called matriarchy is simply moral anarchy, in which the mother alone remains fixed because all the fathers are fugitive and irresponsible." — G. K. Chesterton

God made men to rule. They are dominant. When they are absent or abdicating, their absence rules. That empty chair at the dinner table looms largest. A man's abdication confronts the family head on. Matriarchy is not the rule of women, but the rule of bad men. In other words, matriarchy is merely pathological patriarchy. Feminism is effeminacy.

The family is God's plan A. It is marriage and motherhood in one. Family is a sine qua non. Anyone who opposes it, opposes God and the advancement of His Kingdom.

day no. 16,803: forty-six

"The first fact about the celebration of a birthday is that it is a way of affirming defiantly, and even flamboyantly, that it is a good thing to be alive." — G. K. Chesterton

Today, by the grace of God, I turned forty-six years old. That's three hundred twenty-two in dog years, but even more in Todd years. I feel like I've been blessed to pack all kinds of life into these years. I have lived more years than times I've been around the sun. God has given me a rich, full life and it is more than forty-six trips through the calendar can account.

Psalm 46 was reportedly one of Luther's favorites. In it, we find these words.

"There is a river, the streams whereof shall make glad the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacles of the most High. God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved: God shall help her, and that right early."

I have found that stream and can confirm that it fills to overflowing. The years come pouring out of me as I try to drink them all in. If this is the case at forty-six, what will the deluge be by ninety? I long to see that day and seek to hold on to as much as I can as I continue to receive more than I deserve.

I am reminded of Lewis, as I often am.

‘Are you not thirsty?’ said the Lion.

‘I’m dying of thirst,’ said Jill

‘Then drink,’ said the Lion.

‘May I—could I—would you mind going away while I do?’ said Jill.

The Lion answered this only by a look and a very low growl. And as Jill gazed at its motionless bulk, she realized that she might as well have asked the whole mountain to move aside for her convenience. The delicious rippling noise of the stream was driving her nearly frantic.

‘Will you promise not to—do anything to me, if I do come?’ said Jill.

‘I make no promise,’ said the Lion.

‘Do you eat girls?’ she said.

‘I have swallowed up girls and boys, women and men, kings and emperors, cities and realms,’ said the Lion. It didn’t say this as if it were boasting, nor as if it were sorry, nor as if it were angry. It just said it.

‘I daren’t come and drink,’ said Jill.

‘Then you will die of thirst,’ said the Lion.

‘Oh dear!’ said Jill, coming another step nearer. ‘I suppose I must go and look for another stream then.’

‘There is no other stream,’ said the Lion.”

— C.S. Lewis, The Silver Chair

day no. 16,802: our mother mirth

"I remember nothing about it except a philological fact. My mother said nothing about the dragon, but pointed out that one could not say 'a green great dragon', but had to say 'a great green dragon'. I wondered why, and still do. The fact that I remember this is possibly significant, as I do not think I ever tried to write a story again for many years, and was taken up with language." — J. R. R. Tolkien

Mothers pass along matters of great importance without even trying. An off hand comment made by Tolkien's mother led to his interest in language... and dragons. As a result, The Lord of the Rings eventually was born. In all the quiet moments and regular rigmarole of days under their care, our mothers put into motion more than they can imagine.

On this day my mother and the mother of my wife were both born. It was not the same year, but it was the same day of the year. As of a result of this day, two women were born. One gave birth to me and the other gave birth to my wife. Because they were born, we were born and because we were born and brought together by God, others were born. Much of who I am was shaped by comments from my mom and much of who my wife is was formed by her mother's mentions of various topics. Because of their nurture, my wife now has the opportunity to speak into my children's lives. 

Praise God for birthdays, mothers, and their myriad offhand comments.

day no. 16,801: gloriest

Proverbs 20:29

The glory of young men is their strength:

And the beauty of old men is the grey head.

Young men are strong, but don't know what they're doing.

Older men know what they would do if they still had their strength.

When these get together, it is glorious in that their respective glories are glorified.

It is gloriest.

By covenant, God binds these together through fathers and sons, elders and congregants, leaders and citizens

When these glories are divorced, they lead to devastation.

Mark 10:9

What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.

Legacity is the compound force of complementary glories getting after it for King and covenant.

*legacity = legacy + tenacity

day no. 16,800: simago dei

Genesis 1:26-28

And God said, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth." So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. And God blessed them, and God said unto them, "Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth."

Man is made in the image of God (imago Dei). 

He now, however, imagines himself to be a god of his own design and makes machines in what he imagines to be his own image (simago dei).

Artificial Intelligence is a simago dei. It is the imagined excellent of man created to bear witness to his glory.

But man is radically corrupt and his best achievements are not without some sin or error somewhere. A.I. then bears witness to the folly of Babel. It is our best foot forward and yet so insignificant that Christ would have to stoop just to see it underneath His footstool.

day no. 16,799: nothing is impossible

Genesis 1:1-2

In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.

Nothing is impossible with God.

He can do anything.

In the beginning there was God and nothing else.

Once He made something, however, it became impossible for nothing to ever exist again.

Nothing is now an impossibility.

Nothing can no longer exist.

Gnosticism was never possible.

Before God made anything, He was perfectly content. So, during the only period of time where it was even possible to prefer the spiritual to the material, the spiritual God was perfectly happy without it, but not, as evidenced by creation, committed in principle to preferring its absence. In fact, its creation dispels the idea of the material being the problem. For God looked upon the material world He had made and said, "Very good!"

Everything is now becoming something and sooner or later it's going to get there. But it can never go back to being nothing. It must conform to Christ or be condemned by Him, but there is no way to avoid Him.

In the beginning, God put an end to the nothing.

Genesis 1:1-3

In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.

That which was without form and void was powerless against the form and substance of Christ. Once God initiated the material world, a spiritual snobbery became possible, but not capable of eradicating the material.

Luke 1:37

For with God nothing shall be impossible.

God could undo everything, but it would then be a "used to be," not a "never was."

day no. 16,798: the establishment of the overthrow

Proverbs 29:4

The king by justice establisheth the land;

But he that exacteth gifts overthroweth it.

Any king who gains power by requiring praise will lose the land he seeks to lead. You cannot grow gravitas on ghost trees. You cannot exact a real gift. A true gift must be given freely, but plunder can be taken violently. You cannot force real praise to take place. To call plunder praise is merely an additional theft. It is not merely robbing the people, but stealing from them their right to call it plunder. State worship cannot stand on false faith anymore than Christendom can, so it seeks to call taxes "gifts" the same way some seek to call attenders "converts."

Luke 22:25

The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them; and they that exercise authority upon them are called benefactors.

Bad kings always seek as much power and praise as possible. They seek to be seen as benevolent, but use violence to obtain it. They put pressure on their people to call them peaceful. They force their people to confess the effortlessness of their devotion. They fiercely enforce their tenderness through mandatory sensitivity training. They contend that the land can only be established if they overthrow it.

The Administrative State is, therefore, the establishment of the overthrow. That is to say both that their modus operandi is overthrow and that they are the Chief Executive Overthrowers.

day no. 16,797: kind, quality, and quantity

Matthew 7:17-20

Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.

Trees are evaluated according to their kind, quality, and quantity. An apple tree brings forth apples and an orange tree brings forth oranges. A good apple tree brings forth good apples and a bad orange tree brings forth bad oranges. A productive apple tree brings forth many good apples and an unproductive orange tree brings forth few good oranges.

Matthew 13:8

But other fell into good ground, and brought forth fruit, some an hundredfold, some sixtyfold, some thirtyfold.

The best seeds and trees bring forth high quantities of high quality fruit in keeping with their kind. A good yield of good fruit is the goal. 

Matthew 21:19

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.

The worst trees bring forth bad fruit or are barren altogether. They betray their kind by either begetting nothing of the sort or by wasting all their efforts trying to produce something that they can't.

day no. 16,796: glibertarianism

1 Samuel 8:5-7; 9-18

"Make us a king to judge us like all the nations." But the thing displeased Samuel, when they said, Give us a king to judge us. And Samuel prayed unto the Lord. And the Lord said unto Samuel, "Hearken unto the voice of the people in all that they say unto thee: for they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me, that I should not reign over them. Now therefore hearken unto their voice: howbeit yet protest solemnly unto them, and shew them the manner of the king that shall reign over them."

And Samuel told all the words of the Lord unto the people that asked of him a king. And he said, "This will be the manner of the king that shall reign over you: He will take your sons, and appoint them for himself, for his chariots, and to be his horsemen; and some shall run before his chariots. And he will appoint him captains over thousands, and captains over fifties; and will set them to ear his ground, and to reap his harvest, and to make his instruments of war, and instruments of his chariots. And he will take your daughters to be confectionaries, and to be cooks, and to be bakers. And he will take your fields, and your vineyards, and your oliveyards, even the best of them, and give them to his servants. And he will take the tenth of your seed, and of your vineyards, and give to his officers, and to his servants. And he will take your menservants, and your maidservants, and your goodliest young men, and your asses, and put them to his work. He will take the tenth of your sheep: and ye shall be his servants.  And ye shall cry out in that day because of your king which ye shall have chosen you; and the Lord will not hear you in that day."

Nevertheless the people refused to obey the voice of Samuel; and they said, "Nay; but we will have a king over us; That we also may be like all the nations; and that our king may judge us, and go out before us, and fight our battles."

Libertarianism asserts that "all individuals have the right to exercise sole dominion over their own lives, and have the right to live in whatever manner they choose, so long as they do not forcibly interfere with the equal right of others to live in whatever manner they choose." — Libertarian Party Platform

This, however, is insanity. When people are left to their own devices, they pick princes and popes to reign over them. Libertarianism assumes that free people will take measures to secure their freedom, but more often than not, they look for opportunities to sell their responsibilities off. The lie of libertarianism is that men will choose freedom over slavery.

Numbers 14:1-4

And all the congregation lifted up their voice, and cried; and the people wept that night. And all the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron: and the whole congregation said unto them, Would God that we had died in the land of Egypt! or would God we had died in this wilderness! And wherefore hath the Lord brought us unto this land, to fall by the sword, that our wives and our children should be a prey? were it not better for us to return into Egypt? And they said one to another, Let us make a captain, and let us return into Egypt.

People pick access to onions over the freedom to farm their own. People choose State-sponsored tombstones over God-inscribed laws. People would rather be slaves of the State than servants of God.

Galatians 5:1

Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage. 

God commands to our weakness and for the benefit of others. We have to be commanded to stay free because of our temptation to retreat to slavery. We have to be set free in the first place because we enslaved ourselves to sin. We have to be commanded to stay free because outside of Christ, we look for other yokes. Living in Christian liberty is a command of God to His people. This cannot be accomplished outside of Christ or without His Spirit's help. When Christians live in liberty, it benefits our neighbors. It paves the way for limited civil government which blesses everyone.

"We deny that secularism is in any way capable of providing the liberty and structure that it promises. The only way forward is through a return to mere Christendom." — New Saints Andrews College, Thirty Theses on Culture Building

Libertarians would have us believe that the desire for freedom is deeply embedded in each human heart, but the desire for bondage is hardwired into our wills. We prefer slavery to responsibility. People delegate their freedom to the führer. Society sends the Son to be crucified by Caesar. There is no spark of liberty in the hearts of men. There is only the desire to do what one thinks best and that is informed or influenced entirely by sin outside of Christ.

Furthermore, the man or system people pick to lead the parade is a man who, like them, has desires of his own and Samuel painstakingly laid out the kinds of things kings often have in mind. Libertarianism means that men are allowed to live according to their respective proclivities, but as we've already seen, most men choose chains; and those who don't choose crowns because they have no lack of ideas about what they think best for other people.

People want kings and kings want job security.

Libertarianism is, when all's said and done, quite glib; it is glibertarianism.

day no. 16,795: craft incompetency

Proverbs 22:29

Seest thou a man diligent in his business?

he shall stand before kings;

he shall not stand before mean men.

If you want to be good at something, you have to be willing to be bad at it. A certain amount of discontent is required to achieve greater results and a certain degree of humility is required in order to be worse than you wish in order to become better than you are.

Craft competency is not accomplished by the faint of heart. Overnight success is not without sleepless nights and setbacks. No one can rise like a rocket. Everyone must summit like a mountain climber submitting to the valleys that accompany the upward path to peaking. One can summit only if he submits to going down a slope or two, In order to increase one must decrease; in order to ascend, one must be willing to descend. The last shall be first and the hungry will be satisfied.

John 3:30

He must increase, but I must decrease.

Matthew 20:16

So the last shall be first, and the first last.

Matthew 5:6

Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.

day no. 16,794: too confident to stray; too humble to strut

Nehemiah 6:10-14

Now when I went into the house of Shemaiah the son of Delaiah, son of Mehetabel, who was confined to his home, he said, “Let us meet together in the house of God, within the temple. Let us close the doors of the temple, for they are coming to kill you. They are coming to kill you by night.” But I said, “Should such a man as I run away? And what man such as I could go into the temple and live? I will not go in.” And I understood and saw that God had not sent him, but he had pronounced the prophecy against me because Tobiah and Sanballat had hired him. For this purpose he was hired, that I should be afraid and act in this way and sin, and so they could give me a bad name in order to taunt me. Remember Tobiah and Sanballat, O my God, according to these things that they did, and also the prophetess Noadiah and the rest of the prophets who wanted to make me afraid.

Nehemiah acknowledged that he was too important to run away from this important work. Too many people depended on him being dependable. He could not withdraw or turn tail. He was the head and if the head becomes a tail, the whole project is elbows and asses. But Nehemiah also acknowledged he was too unimportant to strut around. Too many men, being the head of a project, assume their gravitas carries over into other arenas. Nehemiah was too humble to enter where only God's anointed were permitted. He did not presume to be an authority there simply because he was an authority somewhere else. His legitimacy in the one sphere did not convey to any in the other.

Nehemiah 6:11

But I said, “Should such a man as I run away? And what man such as I could go into the temple and live? I will not go in.”

Be both indispensable and humble. Do not abandon your duties or assume special status simply for doing them.

Luke 17:10

So you also, when you have done all that you were commanded, say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done what was our duty.’”

May God give us more men like Nehemiah. Men confident in Christ to do the work He has called them to do: committed to carrying out their assigned responsibilities to the very end as well as confident in Christ that they do not imagine themselves to be on par with Him. May we see the rise of good and godly men who take their work seriously by sticking to it and who take Christ's work seriously by depending entirely on it without imagining that they add anything to it.

When you know who you are, you know what you have to do and what you must leave to Someone else to do. You can only do what you can do, but you must do what only you can do.

day no. 16,793: the law of rise and fall

“The lesson taught at this point by human experience is simply this, that the man who will get up will be helped up; and the man who will not get up will be allowed to stay down. This rule may appear somewhat harsh, but in its general application and operation it is wise, just and beneficent. I know of no other rule which can be substituted for it without bringing social chaos.” — Frederick Douglass, Self-Made Man

There is no way to mandate fair treatment without allowing for fair consequences. You cannot substitute the law of sowing and reaping without inviting chaos. In other words, the rule of sowing and reaping is inescapable and attempting to sow its absence does not protect you from reaping its presence. The law of falling and rising is indomitable and those who refuse to acknowledge it will experience the fall without the rising.

Proverbs 24:16

The righteous falls seven times and rises again, but the wicked stumble in times of calamity.

It is not as though the righteous never fall, but that they never cease to rise again. The power of resurrection is present and they cannot stay down. Death cannot hold them. Sin cannot bind them. They may sin, but they repent. They may die, but they will rise.

Micah 7:8

Rejoice not over me, O my enemy; when I fall, I shall rise; when I sit in darkness, the LORD will be a light to me.

The children of light can find themselves in the valley of the shadow, but they are never without sight. When the world is dark, they still walk by faith.

day no. 16,792: a classic case of Christian Nationalism from the book of Acts

Acts 13:6-10

Afterward they preached from town to town across the entire island until finally they reached Paphos, where they met a Jewish sorcerer, a false prophet named Bar–Jesus. He had attached himself to the governor, Sergius Paulus, a man of considerable insight and understanding. The governor invited Barnabas and Saul to visit him, for he wanted to hear the word of God. But Elymas, the sorcerer (as his name means in Greek), interfered and urged the governor to pay no attention to what Saul and Barnabas said. He was trying to turn the governor away from the Christian faith. Then Saul, also known as Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked the sorcerer in the eye and said, "You son of the Devil, full of every sort of trickery and villainy, enemy of all that is good, will you never stop perverting the true ways of the Lord?"

Sounds like a classic case for Christian nationalism.

The governor called upon Paul in order to hear the Christian faith articulated. The existing religious influencers of the kingdom took exception to this and tried to interfere. Paul responded by saying these efforts were fueled by hellfire and opposed the good will of God.

Governors hearing the Good News is part of God's plan. Discipling the nations includes those nation’s representatives. God desires all kinds of men to come to the knowledge of the Lord, governors included, and hearing without believing and doing is clarified by Christ as an unacceptable response to His claims.

Colossians 3:23-25

Whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men; Knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance: for ye serve the Lord Christ. But he that doeth wrong shall receive for the wrong which he hath done: and there is no respect of persons.

Putting it all together, God desires governors to hear and believe His Word so that they might do it, not just in between their ears and at home, but with their hands and in their office at work. He is to be a godly employee and if he works for the state, he should serve the State and its people as though he were serving Christ, and this obligation is not amended or decreased by him being employed in the highest seat his State has to offer.

day no. 16,791: do not empathize with evil

"Haud ignara mali miseris succurrere disco." — R.L. Dabney, On Dangerous Reading

(Not at all ignorant of evil, I learn to support the wretched.)

Those who begin by empathizing with villainy end up playing the part themselves.

Jeremiah 10:2

Thus saith the LORD, Learn not the way of the heathen.

One of the dangers of being entertained by evil is that you begin to empathize with evildoers.

"I am well aware that men are usually more influenced to evil by one bad example than they are towards good by ten good arguments." — R.L. Dabney, On Dangerous Reading

Due to our depraved nature, we are more easily attracted to shortcuts than we are to straight and narrows.

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

We are somewhat attracted to those who have persevered on the straight and narrow, but then we honor them by trying to find a shortcut to their kind of honor without their kind of sacrifice.

1 Corinthians 15:33

Be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good manners.

You cannot regularly engage in communication with the corrupt without being conscripted into their misconduct.

Leviticus 18:3

After the doings of the land of Egypt, wherein ye dwelt, shall ye not do: and after the doings of the land of Canaan, whither I bring you, shall ye not do: neither shall ye walk in their ordinances.

Wisdom is not learning the ins and outs of evil, but studying the rights and wrongs of holiness. You can gain experiential knowledge of evil by doing it, but you lose spiritual knowledge by doing so. You cannot advance your insight into purity by spoiling it.

Leviticus 20:23

Ye shall not walk in the manners of the nation, which I cast out before you: for they committed all these things, and therefore I abhorred them.

One does not have to dabble in devilry to be saved from it. The devil's schemes do not require us to obtain participation trophies in order to understand them. Sin is to be studied from the outside like a caged animal not from the inside by mimicking the mayhem.

Deuteronomy 12:30

Take heed to thyself that thou be not snared by following them, after that they be destroyed from before thee; and that thou inquire not after their gods, saying, "How did these nations serve their gods? even so will I do likewise."

You shall not go after other gods. You don't need first-hand experience of falling off a cliff to know not to do it. You may never know what it's "really" like to fall like that, but you will be free to know many other things because you didn’t. 

Ephesians 5:6-12

Let no man deceive you with vain words: for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience. Be not ye therefore partakers with them. For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light: (for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth;) proving what is acceptable unto the Lord. And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them. For it is a shame even to speak of those things which are done of them in secret. 

In his short article, Dabney goes as far to argue that, "Novel-reading is the murder of time." Dangerous reading (and to our purposes: watching, listening, etc...) is not, in his estimation, merely a waste of time, it is a slayer of days. Being entertained by evil is foolish for the sake of playing with poison, but it is also foolish for it steals time that could have been used in noodling on nourishment.

Ephesians 5:15-17

See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil. Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is.

Watch how you walk and watch out for those who prescribe perversion as a mandatory path to broad-mindedness as though a hole needed to be bigger in order to be holier.

day no. 16,790: known by their fruitiness

Matthew 12:33

Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or make the tree bad and its fruit bad, for the tree is known by its fruit.

Affirmative action is contrary to Christ. It demands fruitless trees be called by their bark instead of their bushels. It reverses Christ's command and requires test scores to take a back seat to color swatches.

Matthew 3:10

Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.

Affirmative action contends that fruitfulness should not determine the merit of a tree. It argues that the axe should seek out certain colors instead of certain characteristics.

Jude 1:12

These are hidden reefs at your love feasts, as they feast with you without fear, shepherds feeding themselves; waterless clouds, swept along by winds; fruitless trees in late autumn, twice dead, uprooted.

Affirmative Action calls colored leaves Springtime. It is appalled by the lack of inclusion Spring has shown for tans, reds, and browns and seeks to call everything Spring since Autumn leaves are oppressed by a system that won't allow them to appear in April.

Uprooted trees are detached from reality. They are not grounded in God’s world anymore than they are in His Word. They are dead twice over; both for refusing to reproduce and for taking measures to cut themselves off from fruit bearing. An uprooted tree has received the fruit it has sought and reaped the seed it has refused to sow, but Affirmative Action insists on calling their fruitlessness an alternative fruit bearing style.

Hebrews 6:7-8

For land that has drunk the rain that often falls on it, and produces a crop useful to those for whose sake it is cultivated, receives a blessing from God. But if it bears thorns and thistles, it is worthless and near to being cursed, and its end is to be burned.

Affirmative action is gay. It affirms futility and promotes sterility. It is a tree know by its fruitiness. It insists that nut trees and peach trees are the same or that crab apples and cherries should attract the same suitors. Affirmative Action calls the farmer a "thorn-phobe" and chides him for using his thistle whistle to point out unproductive plots.

“I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.” — some racist

We live in a land that considers the sentiment above to be the product of systemic white supremacy. That standard is now akin to a racist assault on sacred secularism. Affirmative Action insists that institutions should be compelled by the force of law to ignore character in favor of caricatures.

Ephesians 2:14-18

For Christ himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility. And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near. For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father.

Nothing but the blood of Jesus balances the racial relational budgets. Any attempt to tax it into compliance will only produce an inheritance of racial vainglory and malice.

"I cannot possibly conceive fraternity legally enforced, without liberty being legally destroyed, and justice legally trampled under foot. Legal plunder has two roots: one of them, as we have already seen, is in human greed; the other is in misconceived philanthropy." — Frederic Bastiat, The Law

day no. 16,789: haunted hypotheticals

Nehemiah 6:6

It is reported among the heathen, and Gashmu saith it, that thou and the Jews think to rebel: for which cause thou buildest the wall, that thou mayest be their king, according to these words.

Who is Gashmu? It doesn't matter. That's the point. He is a hypothetical offended person and who he is matters less than how he might feel. Gashmu is the hypothetical alcoholic who might be made to stumble by the presence of real wine at the Lord's Table. Gashmu is the hypothetical survivor of child abuse who might be made uncomfortable if you teach a class on Biblical discipline for instruction that includes spanking. Gashmu is the hypothetical placeholder for any offended party who might object to what you are currently proposing.

Gashmu's subjective, invented feelings are invoked to trump your Biblically sourced facts. Your specific behavior is supposed to be modified at this very moment because his potential reaction to it at any given moment might be negative. Invoking Gashmu is meant to revoke the available options of the actor. Gashmu haunts all the hypotheticals and elbows out certain possibilities. It is untenable to imagine him having to endure certain things and so those things are presupposed to be off the table so that they never end up at his. Appealing to Gashmu is a way of getting handles on those with whom you differ. His name can help steer conversations. He keeps the gates better than most men by haunting them without respite.

Appealing to "Gashmu" is akin to what Dr. Ransom calls Sensitivity Shamming, "a millennial fallacy that uses a hypothetical hostile audience's sensitivities to curtail further discussion of a position or argument." -— Douglas and N.D. Wilson, The Amazing Dr. Ransom's Bestiary of Adorable Fallacies

day no. 16,788: recreation

I recently listened to "Ode to Sea Monsters and Such" by Gregg Strawbridge on Canon+ and learned some new concepts.

First, I learned that Psalm 104 is structurally based on the Genesis 1 creation account. It follows the same pattern of light (vs. 1-4), air/sea (vs. 5-13), land (vs. 14-18), constellations (vs. 19-23), birds/fish (vs. 24-30), land animals and man (vs. 31-35).

Secondly, I learned that the creation account itself follows a pattern:

Day 1 - light            

Day 2 - air/sea       

Day 3 - land            

Day 4 - light dwellers

Day 5 - air/sea dwellers

Day 6 - land dwellers

As you can see:

Day 1 pairs with Day 4

Day 2 pairs with Day 5

Day 3 pairs with Day 6

In this way, Days 4-6 are a repeat of Days 1-3, where the creatures that inhabit the respective realms are created in the same order as their respective kingdoms were during the first three days of creation. The kingdom of the heavens, the kingdoms of the air and the sea, and the kingdom of land are made by God and then filled in the same order with creatures to rule them: sun, moon, and stars rule the heavens; birds rule the air; sea monsters rule the waters; beasts rule the land; and man rules them all. The man's throne is on dry land and foreshadows in Messianic type the Son of Man who becoming flesh would rule the world from the land on which He walked (when He wasn't walking on water). Everything is defined by its relation to His feet. The world is Christ's footstool and all authority in heaven and on earth are His. All things are under His toes.

Additionally, there is a chiastic component to the bookends of Day 0 being God and nothing else and Day 7 being God and everything else. In the beginning there was only God and in the end there is God and everything else.

Day 0 - nothing but God

Day 7 - everything and God

There is a distinction between God and His creation. He is not a created thing and not part of the created world. Prior to creation, it was just Him. After creation, it was uncreated Him and crated everything else. He is not a zero sum entity. He is not less because creation came from Him. He is not God minus what He gave to make everything else. He is uncreated. Creation is not divine in se. It is divinely created, but it remains distinct in its creatureliness just as God remains distinct in His divinity. Man alone is the image of God and that because God took special care to impose that distinction upon him alone. The dirt is not made in the image of God, but the man made from the dirt is. That dirt made by God's Word and animated by His Spirit.

On Day 0, there was only the immaterial. God is spirit (Jn. 4:24). On Day 7, there is still the immaterial, but now there is a material world distinct and apart from it.  The material world was created by God upon completion He rested from His creative endeavor. All creation is completed by the end of Day 6. Since then, all creativity has been a matter or manipulating existing material, not the creation of new material.

day no. 16,787: scatterbrained

Matthew 12:30

He that is not with me is against me; and he that gathereth not with me scattereth abroad.

Christ defines men as gatherers or scatterers. They either gladly give themselves over to the coalescing of all things in Christ or they cynically strive to establish a rebel base of independent operations. The resistance make take the form of unity as in the tower of Babel project, but don't let the unity fool you, it was a plan hatched by the scatter-brains.

Also, the gatherers may disperse as in the events of Acts chapter 8, but this fanning out is in keeping with the code of the coalescent. So, you cannot simply review the game film and determine who was gathering and who was scattering based on something coming together or breaking out.

The same team has to huddle up and break out and both are part of their plan to march down the field. The question becomes what their end zone is, not whether they happen to be huddled up or spreading out. When they cry, "Blood on three!" it's important to know whose blood they have in mind.

Nahum 2:1

The scatterer has come up against you. Man the ramparts; watch the road; dress for battle; collect all your strength.

The scatterer knows his business. He is never unaware of the enmity between him and the Gatherer. Because the gatherers prefer peace, they can sometimes settle for a cozy couture which looks like quiet, but is actually the prelude to the crapstorm cometh.

So, peacemakers, man your stations. Keep your head on a swivel. Put on the full armor of Your God. Play the man. Lock and load. Let's rock and roll and put an end to the scat attack.

day no. 16,786: refined culture

"It is often said by the critics of Christian origins that certain ritual feasts, processions or dances are really of pagan origin. They might as well say that our legs are of pagan origin. Nobody ever disputed that humanity was human before it was Christian; and no Church manufactured the legs with which men walked or danced, either in a pilgrimage or a ballet. What can really be maintained, so as to carry not a little conviction, is this: that where such a Church has existed it has preserved not only the processions but the dances; not only the cathedral but the carnival. One of the chief claims of Christian civilisation is to have preserved things of pagan origin. In short, in the old religious countries men continue to dance; while in the new scientific cities they are often content to drudge." — G.K.Chesterton, The Superstition of Divorce

Christendom is the culmination of culture refined by fire. It is not simply baptizing heathenism in order to call disorder "order" or to call pagan "Christian," it is immersing it in scalding water so that it really is washed by the waters, not merely a wetter version of its former funky self. In Christ, all things are coming together. To Him all things will bow. The fire of Christ will not undo our humanity, it will save it. Christ did not become flesh to do away with it, but to redeem it. The Lord did not come to the earth in order to do away with all the dirt. The Kingdom is earthier than the pietists may prefer and more fun than the profligates can imagine. Christendom is not lame versions of cultural landmarks. It is not merely inserting the sign of the cross into the Macarena or adding a crucifix to the back pocket of our blue jeans. It is cultivating and curating the best of everything and enjoying it forever because it is enjoyed second to Christ.

Haggai 2:6-9

For thus says the LORD of hosts: "Yet once more, in a little while, I will shake the heavens and the earth and the sea and the dry land. And I will shake all nations, so that the treasures of all nations shall come in, and I will fill this house with glory," says the LORD of hosts."The silver is mine, and the gold is mine," declares the LORD of hosts. "The latter glory of this house shall be greater than the former," says the LORD of hosts. "And in this place I will give peace," declares the LORD of hosts.

All the treasures of the nations are really treasures. The problem isn't that they treasure them. It is that they treasure them above the Treasurer. They aren't wrong to adore them. They are wrong to ascribe to them more than they can merit. All of their treasures will come to the King. No Word of God goes forth as void, but comes back to Him in full. All the lesser glories will be revealed in the light of His glory and will be delighted in by those who in similar fashion have been made perfectly glorious by Christ.

Therefore your end is on you,

Is on you and your kings,

Not for a fire in Ely fen,

Not that your gods are nine or ten,

But because it is only Christian men

Guard even heathen things.

For our God hath blessed creation,

Calling it good. I know

What spirit with whom you blindly band

Hath blessed destruction with his hand;

Yet by God's death the stars shall stand

And the small apples grow.

— G.K. Chesterton,

The Ballad of the White Horse

day no. 16,785: what might not have been

“Crusoe is a man on a small rock with a few comforts just snatched from the sea: the best thing in the book is simply the list of things saved from the wreck. The greatest of poems is an inventory. Every kitchen tool becomes ideal because Crusoe might have dropped it in the sea. It is a good exercise, in empty or ugly hours of the day, to look at anything, the coal-scuttle or the book-case, and think how happy one could be to have brought it out of the sinking ship on to the solitary island. But it is a better exercise still to remember how all things have had this hair-breadth escape: everything has been saved from a wreck. Every man has had one horrible adventure: as a hidden untimely birth he had not been, as infants that never see the light. Men spoke much in my boyhood of restricted or ruined men of genius: and it was common to say that many a man was a Great Might-Have-Been. To me it is a more solid and startling fact that any man in the street is a Great Might-Not-Have-Been.” — G.K. Chesterton, Orthodoxy

While some men may sink to the level of “might have been,” every man rises to the level of “might not have been.”

day no. 16,784: the mess of blessing is the best problem to have

Proverbs 14:4

Where no oxen are, the crib is clean:

but much increase is by the strength of the ox.

Plowing with oxen makes for larger harvests. The livestock barns are messier, but the harvest barns are bursting.

The mess of blessing is the best problem to have.

Everything has problems. The clean crib is an empty crib. The occupied crib comes with dirty diapers. While problems are inescapable, some problems are better than others. In other words, everything costs something, but somethings cost too much. Barrenness is too much to pay for cleanliness. Sterility is not worth paying for peace and quiet. Self-imposed infertility is too much to give up to gain self-actualization. Emptiness is too high a price to pay for hygiene. A man without teeth has no cavities, but he also can't eat steak. A house without children has less milk on the floor, but it also has less birthday cakes on the table. A life without work has less pulled muscles, but if also has more weeds in the garden.

Everything costs something. Some things are worth it.

Everything has problems. Some problems are better than others.

The Bible tells us which problems to have. It commands us to pursue certain problems. It isn't enough to merely accept the fact of problems, it is the willingness to pursue MORE of the right kind of problems.

Mo' talents, mo' problems, but the servants who multiply their problems by multiplying their talents end up receiving rewards and commendation for their faith and faithfulness while the ones who attempt to reduce or eliminate their problems by burying the problems they have end up receiving a tongue-lashing from their Benefactor. They have their small problems taken away and inherit a Hell of a lot bigger problems for all their trouble.

day no. 16,783: pharaoh feared a family (FLF edition)

Fight Laugh Feast Magazine

Issue 4.2: American Marriage Sodomized

Written/Edited: May 8/June 27, 2023

Published: Summer 2023

…

Pharaoh Feared a Family

By: Todd H. Van Voorst

A NATION OF GENERATIONS

“‘Behold, the people of the children of Israel are more and mightier than we: Come on, let us deal wisely with them; lest they multiply, and it come to pass, that, when there falleth out any war, they join also unto our enemies, and fight against us.’” – Exodus 1:9b-10

One family can make a difference. Before Israel was the bane of a nation, it was just Abraham and his one, true son. That one grew to two after he had twins and one of those two then turned into twelve. That dozen became seventy and several centuries later, scads became scores putting points on the board. One household had become a harbinger… Pharaoh feared a family.

NATIONS ARE BUILT ONE FAMILY AT A TIME

“Thy fathers went down into Egypt with threescore and ten persons; and now the Lord thy God hath made thee as the stars of heaven for multitude.” – Deuteronomy 10:22

As one family began flooding his phonebook, Pharaoh began to ask, “What can be done about all these Bar-Jacobs?” Imagine the White House losing sleep over your surname or worrying about the number of your nephews. Imagine legislation being drafted to address the growing problem of your people growing. That was the scene in Egypt. The king was anxious about one man’s family reunion and their prospective role in an upcoming election.

COVENANTAL CONTINUITY

"The people gathered themselves together as one man.” – Nehemiah 8:1

Concentration of force, however, is not a given. A lot of descendants does not necessarily a lot of panic produceth. A man can have a gaggle of grandkids without getting name-dropped in his governor’s group chats. That kind of racket only comes with a consensus of the census – many generations, under God, and indivisible. Covenantal continuity is concentration of force.

Covenantal continuity is more than merely keeping the customs of your father’s God, it is loving the God of your father’s customs. Tyrants take notice of that kind of buy-in because, as Chesterton once observed, the first rule of fight club is “you cannot love a thing without wanting to fight for it.”

COVENANTAL SUCCESSION

“Remember the Lord, which is great and terrible, and fight for your brethren, your sons, and your daughters, your wives, and your houses.” – Nehemiah 4:14

A man must fight for his God before he fights for anything else (cf. Matt 6:33). When he does so, however, one of the first things God commands him to do is fight for his wife and children. In fact, the man who fails to do so is said to have no love for God. (1 Tim. 5:8)

A father is charged with bringing up his children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord and one of the first instructions a son should receive is his duty to one day teach his own children (Deut 6:7, Eph. 6:4). In this way, God commands a man to preach to his great grandchildren by teaching his children to teach their children to teach their children.

RAISING GODLY SEED

“Train up a child in the way he should go: And when he is old, he will not depart from it.” – Proverbs 22:6

Raising godly seed is not sitting the battle out; it is the battlefield. A father training his children is not forsaking the frontlines; he’s refusing to abandon them. He is in the trenches, not on the sidelines. He begins by fighting for his children, transitions to fighting alongside them, and ends by fighting through them for generations.

"Men who raise families that remain in fidelity to tradition will end up with descendants ruling the world.” – E.H. Looney (cf. Psalm 112:1-2)

Pharaoh feared a family because their last name and their first priorities were inseparable. A family tree with firm roots is formidable. While a house divided cannot stand, a house united can. It withstands outside forces. Israel was a threat because Israel was one.

ONENESS AS A WEAPON

“The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven, which a woman took, and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened.” – Matthew 13:33

When leaven refuses to get lumpy, it will always leave an impression. To remain leaven, however, it must differentiate itself from the rest of the lump, and that does not happen by accident. Yeast mode is not a factory default. Oneness comes on purpose by purpose.

“All good things come to a point, swords for instance.” – G.K. Chesterton

Oneness is a weapon. Covenantal continuity can curb the ferocities of Pharaoh’s cities, but cognitive dissonance cannot do that; it cannot change anything except its mind. Disparate notions do not build nations. A common worldview, widely and intentionally held, however, can change the world.

COVENANTAL CUSSEDNESS

“Thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor with their gods.” – Exodus 23:32

Israel did not conform to the customs of Cairo. They kept their vows and their kids by remembering the Lord and their responsibilities. They did not walk like an Egyptian despite all the signage and songs that suggested it. They kept their covenants by avoiding other ones. It was this angularity that bent Egypt out of shape. If Israel had simply settled into Egyptian molds, Pharaoh would not have batted a mascaraed eye; but their covenantal cussedness required a response.

NUPTIAL NATIONALISM 

“A little one shall become a thousand, and a small one a strong nation: I the LORD will hasten it in his time.” – Isaiah 60:22

One marriage can make a world of difference; in fact, it can make a world. The histories of nations can be altered at one altar and the geopolitical landscape of an entire continent can be compelled to curtsy before the covenant children of one faithful family. Ceremonies can be the seeds of civilizations. Nuptials can build nations.

Kingdoms are built around common tables: families sitting down for dinner and congregations communing around the Lord’s Table. As these work their way through the rest of the lump, family trees become forests, local churches become city centers, and communities become kingdoms.

THE END OF THE WORLD

“This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church.” – Ephesians 5:32

One marriage can make a difference. Church history is the bride of Christ walking down the aisle. That one marriage is moving the world, and our marriages should march in step.

"So fight the good fight. Go home, build a house, and if you do it in the right way, you will give the world a glimpse of things to come. There is nothing more terrifying to the principalities than this. Because in the end, the principalities will bow and confess the Lordship of Christ, and if your house is ordered well, it is a reminder of that glorious day.” – C.R. Wiley

MAKE PHARAOH FEAR AGAIN

“Be ye mindful always of His covenant; the word which He commanded to a thousand generations.” – 1 Chronicles 16:15

Imagine if those who bore your last name were someday such a large constituency of common belief and committed practice that they could move magistrates to madness. Imagine your descendants dancing in time to the glory of God and the good of their neighbors. A family like that could do serious damage to the darkness. That family tree would be a battering ram against the gates of hell.

Pharaoh once feared a family. Let’s make Pharaoh fear again.