²⁶ For if we go on sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, ^{27 but a certain terrifying expectation of judgment, and the fury of a fire which will consume the adversaries.}

³¹ It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

(Heb 10:26-27, 31 NAS)

How does one preach a sermon on sin from this text when there is serious, known but unconfessed sin in the membership?

You don't get specific with names or personalities or events, but you address the text faithfully and straightforward.

Then you come to Hebrews 11:7

By faith Noah, being warned by God about things not yet seen, in reverence prepared an ark for the salvation of his household, by which he condemned the world, and became an heir of the righteousness which is according to faith. (Heb 11:7 NAS)

²⁰ who once were disobedient, when the patience of God kept waiting in the days of Noah, during the construction of the ark, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through the water. ²¹ And corresponding to that, baptism now saves you-- not the removal of dirt from the flesh, but an appeal to God for a good conscience-- through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, (1Pe 3:20-21 NAS)

So, does baptism save one? Or is baptism the result of the appeal of a good conscience toward God, the new believers’ first obedience in faith in the resurrection of Jesus Christ?

Shmuel Goldin, Unlocking the Torah Text; An In-Depth Journey into the Weekly Parsha, Gefen Publishing House, Jerusalem, 2010, Hardcover, 284 pp.  ISBN: 978-965-229-450-0l $29.95

[rate: 4 of 5]

This book is the third volume of a growing Jewish commentary set by the author, Shmuel Goldin.   This volume was written with the partnership of the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations, and it carries the Imprimatur of the OU.  This Imprimatur gives it the weight of the commanding right of that Congregation as authoritative.

Disclaimers are an intrusion, but necessary part of any book review; and here is mine.  I come to this reading and review as a conservative Southern Baptist pastor, and not as an unobjective reader or Jewish observant.  I still found certain points in common between us.

I am glad to see several things in Rav Goldin’s writing. First, he wrote as a Rabbi in his congregation, both locally and within his Congregation; this makes it useful to me as a preacher. Second, he held a high view of Torah’s authority as having Divine authorship; he perceived Torah as truth with real events “that happened to real people,” and their stories “are not fables.”  This was a welcome discovery in his stated approach and a welcome observation in his writing.  Third, “No part of the text or is contents are off-limits to our search.”  Rav Goldin allowed the text to carry its own argument.  And, finally, he dealt with the straightforward explanation of the text, and also with the commentaries on the text.[1] Because of his approach to the text, there is a common conservatism that obviates the need to reprove the author for dealing falsely with the Word of God.

The book used a series of Hebraisms in its text without explanation: Vayikra, korbanot, Bereishit, Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yakkov, pshat, smicha, and others.  I was able to get a general meaning of these names and words from the context, others were revealed from dictionaries.  This indicated to me that although the book was written in English, it was written for an audience educated in Judaism, but not the Hebrew language.  The only Hebrew was in the chapter titles, the rest of the Yiddish and Hebrew words were transliterated into English.

Rav Goldin’s dealing with the difficulty of the text at even the sentence level was worthy of a scholar.  He addressed singulars and plurals, and redundancy of the wording in the text as he dealt with the meaning of the words and the context they formed.  The effect of the wording on the meaning of the text was thus demonstrated.

Each chapter had portions titled as Context, Questions, Approaches, and Points to Ponder.  Each chapter also had interesting titles that drew the reader into the text to interact with it, “The Anatomy of a Sentence,” “Only a Mistake?,” “The Leadership Quandary,” and so forth.  The author related a personal story in the “Points to Ponder” closing of the first chapter that was revealing of his view of and relationship to Christians.  In telling about a meeting with a group of Korean Christian pastors many years ago, he referred to them as Fundamentalist Christian pastors, implying that he is not a Fundamentalist Jew.  Rav Goldin acknowledged Judaism’s fundamental problem, but did not answer it: the loss of the sacrificial system with the destruction of the Temple in 70 AD.  Rav Goldin correctly stated the doctrinal position of the pastors as the atoning plenary substitutionary sacrifice of Jesus (though he did not use those words), but dismissed their answers to his problem by directing them to the educational and symbolic nature of the sacrificial system.  Still, he did acknowledge that the restoration of the Temple and the sacrificial system as central in many of the prayers of his Congregation(s).  He then wondered if the members of his synagogue would have been able to answer the pastor’s questions.

The author included twenty-nine pages of “Sources,” in which he explains who the authorities he cited were and their contribution to the work.  There was also a nine page index to the text which allows the reader to locate topics across the chapters.  There was not, however, a traditional scholarly bibliography, or end notes, or footnotes.  If there were one thing I could recommend to the author, it would be these scholarly tools.  Not as important, but a welcome addition, would be the addition of a readers ribbon so readers could easily mark where they left off reading.

I hope to secure the first two volumes written by Rabbi Shmuel Goldin for myself, they will be valuable additions to my personal pastoral library.

Amy Gopp, Christian Piatt, Brandon Gilvin, Editors  Split Ticket, Independent Faith in a Time of Partisan Politics, Chalice Press, 2010, 184 pp.

Split Ticket presents itself as a collection of short essays on political and social issues from a balanced point of view, an “Independent Faith in a Time of Partisan Politics.”  Considering the timeliness of the issues addressed in this book, I had high expectations for Split Ticket, and I was interested to see how the current political issues would be presented.  After reading the book, I now know that Split Ticket is not a book I will I keep in my own library nor will I donate it to any library.  From the title and artwork, to the blurbs on the back cover, the book indicates that the old political and religious categories were going to be dismissed. Instead of the old categories, ideas would be presented fairly and thoughtfully, in a healing way, uniting not dividing.  What I found instead was a road map for adopting ideas and practices from the extreme left viewpoint.  Every liberal position in politics and theology are adopted in this book, and conservative positions were ignored or mocked.  Indeed “fundamentalist” and “literalist” are used by the authors, and allowed by the editors, as terms of derision.

For instance, contributors Brian Dixon, “pastor of the only affirming Baptist church in San Francisco” (page 181), and Mary Sue Brookshire, United Church of Christ minister, wrote in the second chapter that they grew up in Southern Baptist (SBC) churches, and the writers implied by silence that their SBC churches, and the SBC at large, endorsed Dixon’s homosexuality.  Dixon stated that his seminary accepted and approved of his homosexuality, without naming the seminary, thus implying that it was a SBC seminary.  This attempts to co-opt the actual positions that individual churches, and the SBC at large, have taken on the issue of gay pastors.  This also ignores SBC ecclesiology.  The SBC does not set policy for individual churches; the individual SBC churches are autonomous and democratically govern themselves, as opposed to the ecclesiology of other denominations.

Amy Gopp, executive director of Week of Compassion, wrote in the third chapter, “It doesn’t matter what is true.  What matters is the meaning we make, the meaning we come to construct.  I don’t care if Jesus was raised from the dead. I don’t care!” (pg. 29).  This denies the first and most basic tenant of Christianity (1 Cor 15:3-4).  In the next paragraph she wrote, “Literalism or fundamentalism cannot take away the meaning we make of the biblical text, the stories that breathe life into our suffocating existence.”  (pg. 29).  Gopp thereby threw away objective and propositional truth, and applied a reader hermeneutic for Scripture.  Actually, that attitude explains a lot about Split Ticket, where truth is what the individual constructs for himself or herself, instead of truth having integral meaning.  In this construct, Scripture only means what the contributor wants it to mean, the meaning they have pre-decided.  With that hermeneutic, there is no such thing as “sin;” and “right” and “wrong” are decided individually, without meaning.  Truth is thereby reduced to the feelings of the individual and the circumstances of the political moment.  But this is not the only problem with this book.

In the fourth chapter, contributor David Ball, self-identified himself as “a Christian anarchist” (page 41).   Ball used Jeremiah 31:28 to justify anarchist positions and actions, but in clear contradiction of the plain teachings of Paul that God is the God of order: “But all things must be done properly and in an orderly manner,” (1 Corinthians 14:40 NAU).  His objections were political, not theological: objections to Western democracy couched in quasi-theological language.  Ball also misrepresented recent history, saying that the Quebec 2001 demonstrations against the NAFTA treaty were peaceful on the side of the demonstrators and violent on the side of the governments represented in the negotiations.  This is demonstrably wrong; the violence at all of the G8, G12, and G20 meetings, including the one at the Quebec meeting, began with anarchists destroying property and causing millions of dollars of property damage, resulting in violence on both sides and the arrest of many.  This violence was unjustifiable for a Christian, anarchist or not.

I say this because in the face of violent state sponsored and conducted persecution, Peter and Paul and the other New Testament writers enjoined Christians to be subject to the state. Indeed, in Mark 12:17 we read “And Jesus said to them, ‘Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's.’ And they were amazed at Him.”  This refutes anarchism! 

In the fifth chapter, contributor Kharma R. Ramos, D.Min., pastor of Metropolitan Community Church of Northern Virginia, took up a wide range of LGBT issues from a politically correct viewpoint, ignoring the revealed will of God concerning those behaviors.  Ramos failed to address the Scriptural positions on LGBT behaviors, and assumed their rightness without discussion.  In contrast, Jesus was compassionate toward the sinners he encountered, as in the Gospel of John: “And Jesus said, ‘Neither do I condemn you; go your way. From now on sin no more,’” (John 8:11).  Endorsement of Ramos’ LGBT answers rob them of real solutions though repentance and forgiveness.

The book continued in this vein for fourteen more chapters, too much to address in a book review.  Split Ticket was not split on any ticket, but uniformly on the far left in presenting every issue and question.  Split Ticket advocated each of the individual causes of liberalism that unify the left branch of American politics, even though some of their issues are self-contradictory.  The split in this short volume was entirely against societal norms, and for agendas that are destructive of families and 5,000 years of society and faith, Jewish, Muslim, and Christian.

Split Ticket denied the existence of discoverable objective truth, denied the existence of Truth, instead advocating for subjective truth that changes as societal norms change.  For the politically progressive, Split Ticket should be encouraging: it gives a religious cloak to far left positions.  For the politically and religiously conservative person, this book is a rehash of everything conservatism has stood against.  Although Jesus was concerned about social, economic, and religious justice, they are not the Gospel, but the righteous outcome for those who follow the Bible as received.

The book is visually packaged for high school and college students with callouts, pre-printed marginalia, study questions, and an edgy graphic design.  The re-occurring leit motif sets the tone for the work.  The editors used the question “WTF?” in every chapter, knowing how controversial and objectionably shocking that phrase is in common culture, reassigning it’s meaning to “Where’s the Faith?”  Shock for shock value alone seems to have motivated the use of “WTF,” and the book’s false objectivity is dressed for a population that is formulating their worldviews in a very impressionable time of life.

This was, to my knowledge, the first time I read a book from Chalice Press; I was not favorably impressed.  Chalice Press has their work cut out for them if they expect this reviewer to purchase their books or render favorable reviews in the future.

Timothy Mills

Pastor, Whitton Baptist Church

Tyronza, AR 72386

www.xanga.com/temsmail

Mid America Baptist Theological Seminary, 2000 Alum

Sep 22, 2010

Well, it's not officially summer because the summer solstice (June 21) has not occurred. BUT,

It was 97 degrees today, and tonight it will be a chilly 77 degrees.

96 degrees tomorrow, 97, 91, 91 and 95 degrees on the following days.  This would be pretty normal if only it were the end of September or mid -August, but it's not even the middle of June!  Someone explain global warming to me one more time?!?

I just hope that this does not become a legnthy weather pattern.

To FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski:

Keep your hands of my first amendment rights!

Leave the Internet alone, and leave the ISP comapnies alone!

Do not impose your standards of "fairness" on my Internet access:

1) Do not violate my freedom of religion by regulating what I material have access to on the Internet;

2) Do not voilate my freedom of speech by regulating what I can read or publish on the Internet;

3) Do not violate my freedom of the press by regulating what others can publish because "Without a free and vigorous press to keep government honest and guarantee the free flow of information, open societies cannot flourish;"

4) Do not violate my freedom of assembly by regulating how, where, or when I may gather with like minded individuals via the Internet; or refuse to assemble with those with whom I choose not to associate;

5) Do not violate the freedom I hereby exercise to petition the Government for redress of a grievance by imposing a "fairness doctrine" that would skew and spin the Five Freedoms into Five Slaveries. Do not violate my freedom of association by regulating who can reach out to me via the Internet; I am able to control that for my self.

The FCC is not my Nanny!  And I do not want the FCC to be my Jailer!

For those who are not familiar with our house, we have two room divider style candelabra in the corners of the living room.

So, I'm sitting in my recliner and I glance over at the television and I see something moving behind the TV on the candelabra, it was a snake; and from it's colors, I was very sure it was a coral snake.

Carol left the room, and I went to the shed and got a shovel.  When I came back, the 18" snake was still descending the candelabra going onto the TV stand.  As I approached, it realized that I had "made" him, and he (she?, it) went to the floor and coiled into the corner.

I moved things out from the corner, and poised the shovel above the snake where it could not see it.  All the while, it's tongue is darting in and out; it was smelling for danger or food.

As the snake moved along the base board, I struck, trying to sever it's head in one stroke; but the floor is concrete, and the snake was tough.  It took a minute for the snake to quit writhing, and I held the shovel hard on it until it was over.

When I had a chance to research the colors of the snake, I found out that it was a bull snake that mimics the coral snake, but imperfectly.  The coral snake has the poisonous triangular shaped head, and has "red on yellow, kills a fellow" colors that encircle the entire body.  This one had no triangular head, and it was "red on black, won't hurt jack" colors that did not continue under the belly.  I did not care then, or now; it was an unwelcome guest in my house!

I still don't know how it got in, but I got rid of it; now I am a little skittish but only for a while.

I want to call your attention to the Greek text of Matt 20:26-28.  I was teaching a Bible study class and somehow this passage came up.  I looked up the text in my UBS4 New Testament, expecting to find the word for “slave,” δοῦλος in the text for the word “servant.”  δοῦλος is there in verse 27 and the NASB translates it as slave.

What I was not expecting was the word διάκονος, deacon for our English “servant.”  It appears three times, once in v. 26, and twice in v 28.  The other word that surprised me in verse 26 was the word for “great,” μέγας, “megas.” The mega people of the church are the deacons.

Then in verse 28, speaking of Jesus as the Son of Man, “ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου” the Bible says that Jesus “did not come to be deaconed (διακονηθῆναι), but to deacon (διακονῆσαι)!”  These are not nouns for the office of deacon, but the verbs of action for service.  Now, the translations are good, and I am not criticizing them, but I was surprised (again) by the Greek language behind our English translations.

Then the second reason Jesus came was to “give his life as a ransom for many.”  Look at the word used for His “life:” ψυχὴν; this is where we get the English word psyche, elsewhere it is translated as “soul.”

The reasons the Son of Man came into our world God incarnate was (1) to serve, and (2) to give His life as the ransom for our lives, to pay the debt for the sins of our souls.

Thank you, Jesus.

This is a long post, so get a cup-a-joe and settle in.

I recently replied to a posting that questioned the ability of Christians to serve in the military and the entire concept of “Just War Theory.”  One person responded to my reply saying that there is no biblical teaching on Just War.  I took that as a challenge to write one.  I wrote this posting in a heated frame of mind, so I intentionally delayed posting it for almost two weeks, and re-read and edited it heavily for content.

Just as an aside, I encourage everyone to get the free software “InstaVerse.”  It comes free with the KJV, and other Bible versions for nominal prices.  With that software, you can put your cursor over a verse reference, and immediately see it in context; that allows you to verify citations in articles like this without ever leaving the article.

Biblical Just War Theory:

I grant that there is no systematic treatment of Just War Theory in the Bible.  But neither is there a Systematic Theology in the Bible, and so writers continue to make small fortunes writing books of Systematic Theology and Biblical Theology, Old Testament Theology and New Testament Theology.  Neither is there even a systematic Plan of Salvation laid out in the Bible, and the Roman Road verses are not consecutive or even chronological.  But that does not mean that a plan of salvation cannot be derived logically from the Scriptures, or that Scripture is not useful in leading someone to salvation.  Even the Sinner’s Prayer is not found in any form in the Bible, except “God, be merciful to me, the sinner” (Luke 18:13), but it remains a useful tool in evangelism.

There were other issues besides Just War Theory that never came up in the biblical doctrines, and most of those issues are modern conceptions such as ‘Should a Christian smoke (use tobacco)?’ and ‘Should a Christian use modern conveniences such as electricity?’

Then there are issues that are biblical, but still worthy to address: ‘Should Christians tithe, considering that we live under grace and not under Law?’  I think we should tithe, considering the examples in Acts and Paul’s Epistles where churches took up offerings (1 Cor 16:1-2).  I have had church members tell me that pastors should not be seminary educated (I disagree), and that pastors should not receive a salary from their churches (I disagree (2 Cor 11:8), though I myself am a bi-vocational pastor).  The Bible does not address those because they were not issues facing the church in those days.  We Baptists have made this worse for ourselves by prohibiting alcohol as ungodly by expanding on Proverbs 20:1, when Jesus turned water into wine, and the command is not to get drunk, not “do not drink,” (Eph 5:18).  Personally, I do not drink, but that is another topic for another day/ Xanga posting.

One issue that I wish our Founding Fathers had resolved in the American Constitution is slavery. In 19^th century America, both the North and the South cited biblical passages to justify their positions on slavery.  I have heard some teachers today claim that slavery was left alone because the American citizenry were not ready for that radical of a change in America.  I disagree, because England had abolished slavery before our Revolutionary War, and America would have been a better nation with a firmer foundation if our Founding Fathers had had the moral courage of William Wilberforce to do away with that ungodly institution.  Slavery as an institution, however, was not frontally attacked in the Bible, and it remained an evil institution for 1,800 (or so) years after Christ. Indeed there are places in the world today where slavery is still practiced; apparently that includes the USA with “white slavery.”

Those are some examples of Biblical Theology that we do not find directly addressed in Scripture, but which I am convinced have biblical solutions.  Just as the Bible does not attack tobacco use, or slavery, and does not address tithing in the NT, neither does it address the question of warfare.  Warfare is an issue we cannot escape, however, and so Christians must deal with it biblically.  We are left to apply biblical principles to the subject so that we address the issue in a way that pleases God.  Indeed, in the Saints Hall of Fame in Hebrews 11, men who were “mighty in war” were praised as Godly examples of the saints.

Just War:

Concerning our discussion more directly, one possible answer to “just war theory” is pacifism, but that path must be followed to its logical conclusions, even in the extreme.  But most pacifists I know still experience “road rage” and enforce warranties and guarantees, and refuse to be cheated at the cash register.  Pacifists refuse to be carjacked, or mugged in the streets, or even under a basketball hoop.  A true pacifist must never defend themselves, physically or legally.  The raped woman who is a pacifist must never prosecute her attacker, the murderer is never to be pursued, caught and tried, much less executed.  The sexual predator must not be persecuted by a pacifist by denying them access to places where children congregate.  Someone has said “If your enemy is made of flesh and blood, you are to love them, not to fight them.”  But this violates every principle of Justice, and it also violates the principles of the Law set out in the Old Testament.  The thief was commanded to make restitution, and rapists and murders were to be put to death, not as a deterrent, but as a matter of Justice.  Jesus did not come to do away with the Law, but to fulfill it (Matt 5:17).

Just this past week (March 2010) we read reports of at least 500, possibly more, Christians in Africa that were slaughtered by machete by Muslims.  And this is not new, just a couple of years ago it happened, with over 5,000 Christians killed in cold blood.  Is self defense by those Christians prohibited?  Would anyone refuse them the right to defend their lives? 

Pacifism never deterred Hitler; Stalin was allied with Hitler until he turned on the Russians.  Only at Potsdam did Stalin join the Allies; and then it was a deal made with the devil (so to speak).  Stalin would have exacted his revenge on Germany after WW II, but he was afraid of the American nuclear arsenal.

I grant and accept that the Bible nowhere directly sets out the rules of war or just war theory as such.  However, as Christians who are in the world but not of the world we must deal with the world in a Scriptural manner.  Although there is no “plan for just war” in the Bible, we do read in Deuteronomy 20 the principles given to Israel for warfare.  Israel warred against it’s enemies (jus ad bellum, verus potentia), but it was never a scorched earth policy, jus in bellum.  Some of the nations God commanded that none be left alive, not even the animals; this was because of the sin and idolatry of those nations, lest Israel learn their idolatry.

Part of a just war position is citizenship.  If you sleep under the umbrella of safety that I provided with my 24 years of military service, you're welcome.  Other men and women have sacrificed more than I, some with the blood and personal treasure, and sacred honor.  If you excoriate me for serving in the military and learning the art of war, providing you with safety and protection while you are exercising your First Amendment rights as a citizen, you are a hypocrite. 

Considering citizenship, there are at least two passages in Acts that bear directly on citizenship, citizenship which comes with benefits and obligations:

"But Paul said, "I am a Jew of Tarsus in Cilicia, a citizen of no insignificant city; and I beg you, allow me to speak to the people."" - (Acts 21:39)

"The commander answered, "I acquired this citizenship with a large sum of money." And Paul said, "But I was actually born a citizen."" - (Acts 22:28)

In chapters 21/22/23 of Acts Paul used his Roman citizenship for his personal defense and to exercise his rights.  In fact, in Acts 23 Paul defended himself from physical abuse and cited the Law of Moses as his defense.  In Acts 16 Paul used his citizenship to force the city fathers to come in person to remove him from their prison, they having beaten him unlawfully according to Roman law.  So Paul used both religious law and civil law to defend himself.

Furthermore, Jesus said "Then render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's; and to God the things that are God's." (Matt 22:21; Mark 12:14; Luke 20:25), thus we have obligations to both the state and to God.  We are citizens of two countries, one an earthly country and the other the Heavenly country.  Furthermore we read in Romans 13:7 "Render to all what is due them: tax to whom tax is due; custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honor to whom honor."  One of the customs of citizenship, especially American citizenship, is the Pledge of Allegiance.  Military service is no longer obligatory, but one of the legal requirements of male American citizens over the age of 18 is registry for the draft, for military service, if a war required that much manpower.  And, some families and even some states have customs of military service.

If Christians are pacifists, then they have no need of weapons and the Second Amendment to the Constitution is unscriptural, yet Jesus said this:

³⁶ "And He said to them, "But now, whoever has a money belt is to take it along, likewise also a bag, and whoever has no sword is to sell his coat and buy one. ³⁷ For I tell you that this which is written must be fulfilled in Me, 'AND HE WAS NUMBERED WITH TRANSGRESSORS'; for that which refers to Me has its fulfillment." ³⁸ They said, "Lord, look, here are two swords." And He said to them, "It is enough." – (Luke 22:36-38).  Having said that, I do not own a personal weapon.

One of the most famous Bible passages on peace is found in the entrance to the United Nations, and it reads: "And He will judge between many peoples And render decisions for mighty, distant nations. Then they will hammer their swords into plowshares And their spears into pruning hooks; Nation will not lift up sword against nation, And never again will they train for war." - (Micah 4:3)  But, before you jump up and down with glee, also read "⁹ Proclaim this among the nations: Prepare a war; rouse the mighty men! Let all the soldiers draw near, let them come up!"  ¹⁰ "Beat your plowshares into swords  And your pruning hooks into spears; Let the weak say, "I am a mighty man."" (Joel 3:9-10).  And again, "A time to love and a time to hate; A time for war and a time for peace." - (Ecc 3:8)

If you can logically accept the need for police and the courts, you only have to apply those same principles to the world stage to justify the need for a national defense.  We live in evil days, (Eph 5:16), and the governing authorities (Rom 13) have their authority (yes even governments we disagree with) from God.  Each governing authority (government) is sovereign within their borders, but when the God given sovereignty is abused by one against another, then the dispute must be settled at the national level; individuals in subjection to their Verus Potentia must obey the governing authority.

In building a doctrine of just war we must be careful to never assume “My country, right or wrong.”  That is itself wrong and very dangerous.  As blessed as America has been by God, that does not mean that God’s blessing continues unabated in all things.  Nations are just as capable of sinning and sins as individuals are.

Then the reality of evil, both natural and moral: we are not imagining the evil that pervades our planet.  But it will not always be so: "And the wolf will dwell with the lamb, And the leopard will lie down with the young goat, And the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; And a little boy will lead them." - (Isa 11:6) - (Isa 65:25)  Jesus taught the Disciples to pray “Deliver us from evil,” Matt 6:13.  An appeal to God for deliverance from evil is not submission to that evil.

Because we are to “hate evil,” and “resist the devil” we cannot simply make that out to be ‘spiritual warfare’ in prayer and fasting, or other spiritual disciplines.  Do you remember the movie “The Sound of Music”?  I think my favorite part of that movie was when the Nazis had chased the Von Trapp family out of the convent, and two nuns were talking to their Mother Superior and said “I have a confession to make,” “I too have a confession, Mother Superior.”  At that moment the engines of the Nazi cars were trying to start and making lots of noise “Rurr, rurr.”  Mother Superior said “What is this sin?”, and the nuns held up the caps and rotors from the Nazis engines.  Sometimes we must do more than pray, but put feet to our prayers, spiritual warfare in action.  If all we do for the people of Haiti and Chile is pray from them in their earthquake disasters, and we do not send doctors and nurses, rescue and recovery teams, and if we do not help their police, and courts, and government, if we do not send money, we have sinned seriously.

All of the admonitions to “turn the other cheek” (Matt 5:39) are given to individuals, and not to governments.  The classic NT text dealing with government is Romans 13:1-7, where we read: ¹ "Every person is to be in subjection to the governing authorities.  For there is no authority except from God, and those which exist are established by God." ² "Therefore whoever resists authority has opposed the ordinance of God; and they who have opposed will receive condemnation upon themselves." ^{3 “}For rulers are not a cause of fear for good behavior, but for evil. Do you want to have no fear of authority? Do what is good and you will have praise from the same;" ⁴ "for it is a minister of God to you for good. But if you do what is evil, be afraid; for it does not bear the sword for nothing; for it is a minister of God, an avenger who brings wrath on the one who practices evil." ⁵ "Therefore it is necessary to be in subjection, not only because of wrath, but also for conscience' sake." ⁶ "For because of this you also pay taxes, for rulers are servants of God, devoting themselves to this very thing." ⁷ "Render to all what is due them: tax to whom tax is due; custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honor to whom honor."

If there is to be warfare, and there will be (Matt 24:6; Mark 13:7), and if proper authorities (Verus Potentia) execute war, they must do so Jus ad Bellum, and Jus in Bellum, lest they exceed their Scriptural mandate to execute justice.

Thank you for your reading time, I know it is precious.

Inspired by Sonnetjoy's blog from yesterday; where you can also read this:

I remember you wanting to help me shovel the sidewalk.  So we put you into your purple snow suit and blue moon boots and gave you a red plastic toy shovel and you followed me out into the storm.  We shoveled until the walk was clear and I had shed two layers of warmth and your cheeks were rosé.  Two hours later, after your Mom had tucked you into bed and I read your bedtime stories (plural) and delivered the good night ritual, I went out again and again and shoveled the walk that was covered again and again, and the parking spaces too.

But that was not the first year we were there, not the year it snowed at least a little every day from Halloween to Easter, 240 inches worth; the sidewalks had walls five feet high that year.  The roof had ice that fell in thundering “WHOOMPs,” which shook the house and made us afraid to let you play in the snow because you might get under the eaves at the wrong moment.

That was the year my bride came to help clear the church parking lot of snow and ice, and Pastor told her to go inside and help the women prepare breakfast for the men.  That got her hackles up, and she began chopping the ice off his parking spot right outside his office window where he could not see her while he ran the snow-blower in the parking lot.  When he did see her, he said she could not possibly get that thick ice up, but she set her jaw and said “Just watch me.”

That Christmas I had my first reportable car accident in the snow.  We were going to the Christmas Eve services at Calvary Baptist off base.  Christmas Eve was also the night of parties in our housing area, and someone parked illegally on the wrong side of the street.  It was a white car in a high snow bank, and my windows were covered in snow (a no-no); and I backed into the car.  The owner did not want me to report the accident because he was not supposed to be driving; he had an Article 15 for DUI.

There are more stories, but limited time and space, and even more limited interest from your readers.

I can’t believe how blessed I have been this past month.  On Christmas, Cornsilk got me the book “The Arabian Nights” in the Barnes and Noble leather bound classics series.  This was one of the Barnes and Noble books I was watching with great interest.  All these books are leather bound, with ribbon place keepers, and gold gilt on the pages.

Since Christmas is now over, and no more gifts or reason for gifts are on the horizon, I went to a local Barnes and Noble store and found “Wellsprings of Faith,” “The Complete works of Lewis Carol,” and “The Assassination of Abraham Lincoln,” and I bought them all.  They list for $19.95 each, but with a B&N membership, they were $17.95 (plus tax).  “Wellsprings of Faith” is not listed on the B&N website anymore. L

The other books I wanted were listed on the B&N website, and so I got “H.G. Wells Seven Novels,” “The Ultimate Hitchhiker’s Guide, Five Complete Novels and One Story,” “The Divine Comedy,” “The Iliad and The Odyssey,” “The Complete Works of William Shakespeare,” “The Complete Tales and Poems of Edgar Allen Poe,” and “Jane Austin, Seven Novels.” 

The only one that I could have left on the shelf is “The Assassination of Abraham Lincoln,” because it is not the story of his assassination, but a collection of all the letters of condolences written by the various heads of state to the United States upon the occasion of his death.  The introduction says that Congress ordered copies for every member of Congress, every ambassador, every department head and others of that ilk.

I already had “The Complete Sherlock Holmes,” but I gave it away as a Christmas gift to a co-worker who mentioned that she liked Sherlock Holmes and that she wanted to read the book.  When I gave it to her, I intended to buy a replacement volume for myself from Barnes and Noble; but shock and dismay, the store was out of stock and suddenly so was the website!  All the books I had bought through the website were also out of stock! L

I looked at used book sites and I found “The Complete Sherlock Holmes” for sale!  $149.00!  What?!?  The seller had two copies of the book and had gotten greedy.

Today I re-visited the Barnes and Nobel website and the books that had been out of print were back in stock!  As I scrolled to the second page of “leather bound classics” I saw it! “The Complete Sherlock Holmes” was in stock, so I quickly ordered the book for $17.95 because I am a B&N member!  J

I am so excited!  I have been re-reading “The Chronicles of Narnia” in that leather bound series, and I love it!  I have also begun reading “The Arabian Nights;” don’t kid yourselves: those are NOT children’s stories.  I am also reading Thomas á Kempis “The Imitation of Christ;” and I am looking forward to “The Dark Night of the Soul” by St. John of the Cross in the same volume.  These books are indeed bound in bonded leather, and the covers are uniquely and beautifully decorated to the books theme.  I was surprised that Lewis Carol’s book includes logic problems and simple code ciphers. Years ago I had bought a hardbound copy of Charles Dickens’ “Christmas Carol and Other Christmas Stories,” but it was not leather bound and B&N does not carry that book any more.

All I need now is time to read them all!