Hell Is Your Choice!

The Apostle Paul quickly learned that the questions about Christ's return would not go away in Thessalonica despite what he wrote and what I quoted in my previous blog. This busy metropolitan city with its intersecting roads to the rest of the Roman world had many intersecting ideas and thoughts rushing back and forth. And among those were some troubling thoughts about the return of Christ. Besides all that the church there was being persecuted. So Paul begins his response to all this troubling news like this:

Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy, To the church of the Thessalonians in God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 

We ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers, as is right, because your faith is growing abundantly, and the love of every one of you for one another is increasing. Therefore we ourselves boast about you in the churches of God for your steadfastness and faith in all your persecutions and in the afflictions that you are enduring. This is evidence of the righteous judgment of God, that you may be considered worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you are also suffering-- since indeed God considers it just to repay with affliction those who afflict you, and to grant relief to you who are afflicted as well as to us, when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might, when he comes on that day to be glorified in his saints, and to be marveled at among all who have believed, because our testimony to you was believed. 

To this end we always pray for you, that our God may make you worthy of his calling and may fulfill every resolve for good and every work of faith by his power, so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ. - 2Th 1:1-12 ESV

As you can see, Paul did indeed have the return of Christ and the terrible Day of the Lord in mind. Destruction in the form of flaming fire is on the way. God will visit His vengeance on those who do not know Him nor obey—in the sense of pay attention to—the Gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will be dealt with. They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction! That's a strange phrase, because we usually think of destruction as something that happens and the person is gone, dead, destroyed.
But Paul says they will suffer and keep on suffering God's δίκη (dē'-kā), God's justice. The sentence will be carried out. That sentence, he writes, will be destruction, but not extinction. Everything that Christ's enemies trust in, everything they dream about, all peace and security, all their riches and power—everything will be wiped out and they themselves will be separated forever from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might. They will eternally know nothing but despair, guilt, fear, anxiety and loneliness. As Paul wrote in his first letter,

. . . sudden destruction will come upon them as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and they will not escape. - 1Th 5:3 ESV

But forever? Why? How can it be? That is a most difficult concept to take hold of. Men usually couch it in terms of the Lord Jesus being too vindictive. Won't his anger ever be satisfied? Will he forever demand punishment, justice—destruction!? But that's the exact opposite of what the Scriptures reveal. How dare you or I make such a mockery of our Lord's mercy and love? How dare we forget that Jesus became our High Priest and made Himself the one final sacrifice for the sins of all men (Hebrews 7:27; 9:11-14, 27-28)? How dare we not hear His loud cry for all humanity upon the cross, 

"Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?" that is, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" - Mat 27:46 ESV

He stands before the world of men of all ages with his scarred hands held out. He longs to give forgiveness, but so many are like Jerusalem. He looks down upon them with tears in His eyes.

 O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing! - Luk 13:34 ESV

But like ancient Pharaoh and Jerusalem's Sanhedrin their hearts are hard, their eyes are darkened and they are not willing! Hell is their choice. The Lord cannot and will not deprive them of the freedom to choose their own destruction.

So it stands for each one of us. Make your choice! If you want hell, then that is what you will receive.

Who Dares Do Greater Works Than Jesus?

Many times I've seen a young pastor, newly ordained, on fire for the Lord and ready to do great things. But then he is called to serve a small, insignificant parish with worship attendance of 50 or 60 and members with no greater zeal than to pay their pastor's meager salary and keep up maintenance on their little church building. After a few years of frustration this young pastor is tired of praying for something to happen and filled with doubt about his calling into the public ministry. With apathetic eyes he gazes upon these words from the Gospel of John and shrugs his shoulders in disbelief:

"Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father. Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it. - Jhn 14:12-14 ESV

Where are the greater works? Where are the miracles, the huge crowds pushing to follow Christ, the healing of crippled and wasted bodies, even the raising up of the dead? Perhaps the whole enterprise of the great kingdom of God is a sham after all! Or perhaps he doesn't have true faith and God's power is withheld from him and Jesus is seeking out someone else with deeper convictions.

So our young pastor loses his kingdom zeal and begins to plod along like a slug, plagued by doubtful resolution. He is not one of the chosen great ones. No glory is to be his and all he can do is to accept his fate as best he can and wait for the end of his weary life-long journey.

Did Jesus thus present to his disciples with a most discouraging word and are the days of greater works at an end? Where is God's kingdom of glory and majesty? What does our Lord mean to say to this young pastor and to any one of us?

Begin by asking what the works of Jesus were? Listen to Jesus himself answer your question. His disciples had been sent to buy lunch in a Samaritan village. When they returned they urged Jesus to eat, but he said to them, "I have food to eat that you do not know about." So they wondered if someone had already brought him something to eat. To this he replied,

"My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work. Do you not say, 'There are yet four months, then comes the harvest'? Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see that the fields are white for harvest. Already the one who reaps is receiving wages and gathering fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together. For here the saying holds true, 'One sows and another reaps.' I sent you to reap that for which you did not labor. Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor." - John 4:34-38 ESV

The harvest awaiting Jesus and his disciples stood before them. The Samaritan woman Jesus had met there at the well had been married to five men and the man she was currently with was not her husband. Her life had been filled with failures, disappointments, disobedience and despair. And yet Jesus reached out to her. With insight and concern he led her to believe in him as the promised Messiah. And with this new faith burning in her heart she raced into the village to bring others out to see him.

Many Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman's testimony, "He told me all that I ever did." So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them, and he stayed there two days. And many more believed because of his word. They said to the woman, "It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is indeed the Savior of the world." - Jhn 4:39-42 ESV

Jesus' food was to do his Father's will and to accomplish that work. The work of the Messiah, the Christ, was to offer his life as a ransom for sinners like this woman and all the sinners of the world. He has completed that work. On the cross he cried, "It is finished!" (John 19:30) The verb translated as finished is the same as to accomplish (Greek teleioō) above.

The only work any of us may do now is to believe in Jesus, trust in his work of salvation upon the cross and humbly submit to his call and leading. This is what Jesus urged when the Jews chased after him after he fed them by the thousands. They wanted to make him their bread king. Jesus answered them,

"Truly, truly, I say to you, you are seeking me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. For on him God the Father has set his seal." 

Then they said to him, "What must we do, to be doing the works of God?" 

Jesus answered them, "This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent." - Jhn 6:26-29 ESV

Much, much more needs to be said about this greater works issue. We all want earthly goods, glory and greatness. It is part of our sinful nature. But I must urge my fictional young pastor to rethink his Call from Jesus and submit to our Lord's guiding. Open your eyes, young man. There before you in your miserable little parish is a person struggling with the same sin as the Samaritan woman. Lead her to her Messiah. Teach her to trust in his love for her—even her. Love her as does Jesus and see what harvest he will accomplish. That is your greater work! You can ask for no greater work than to bring a soul to Jesus.

More on this another time. 

Bend Your Knees To The Great Singularity, King Of All

We're talking about the so-called Singularity, an event that will supposedly occur sometime during the next 25 years. Check my previous post for details. In that post I suggest that we Christians have not even begun to address this new challenge to our faith. What approach shall we take? One approach I shall not undertake is to attempt to refute whether it will or will not occur. I am not a scientist and have only enough experience with computers to make my way around the internet in a minimal manner. My expertise lies in theology. For that reason I propose that we see all this talk about the Singularity for what it is: an attempt to create another god and to redefine human nature.

When our Lord Jesus began his public ministry after his baptism he was confronted by the devil after fasting 40 days and nights. He was hungry. In that condition the devil tempted him to turn stones into bread and tempt his Father to rescue him upon leaping from the pinnacle of the temple, some 700 feet above the Kidron valley. When he resisted these temptations with quotations from the Holy Scriptures, the devil finally offered him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory.

And he said to him, "All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me." Then Jesus said to him, "Be gone, Satan! For it is written, "'You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.'" - Mat 4:9-10 ESV

This is what Satan is again doing with the promises of the Singularity. With this power all the world will fall before your feet. Imagine the glory, the wonder and the unimaginable splendor of having such power. With your endless knowledge you will be able to control everything and everyone in the entire world. No car will be able to move without your permission. No grid will be able to deliver power to a city without your approval. No airport will be open unless you allow it. Food and drink will be under your control. You will even control when the wind blows and where the rain falls. Politicians and rulers will beg for your good will. You will be the master and ruler of all the kingdoms of the world.

And you will be immortal. Your mind, your consciousness will be in an endless computer network. You will decide how and where to use your power, a power that will continue to grow exponentially. Nothing and no one will be able to harm you, because you will  endlessly repair any and all damage to yourself. You may choose to walk about in a body. Or you may prefer to act, think and exist without a body, in cyberspace, traveling anywhere at the speed of light, with constant access to all knowledge and power.

Never before has such wonder and glory been available. But very soon it will be under the control of you and other singularitarians. Great Singularity will provide it. All you need do is fall on your knees and worship him. Turn away from the nonsensical and outmoded thinking about some other god above, beyond and outside this universe, some supposed creator of all things. Acknowledge the rational truth. The universe is all there is. We are all products of a chance happening untold billions of years ago when somehow, in some yet to be discovered way, the vast process of evolution began. How that happened we will one day learn as our intelligence grows. Meanwhile know that over these billions of years the process has moved on until in this moment it is moving forward exponentially toward the great Singularity! And you can be a part of that wonder.  The power released in that moment will be yours if you but embrace it.

Forget all the empty blather about some God speaking forth a universe with His Word, saying, "Let there be . . . etc." Forget those childish stories about a chosen group of Hebrews conquering a promised land. Forget the crazy stuff about an anointed king who was to rescue and redeem the world from his Father's judgment. And laugh your heart out at the tales of a little boy child born of a virgin, a child who was God with us, Emmanuel. It all sounds quaint and folksy, but it didn't happen. This nonsense and all that other stuff about religion and faith is for immature minds.

Come, join me. Worship our true god and live forever!

My White Stone Name

We were on our way home from Colorado this past Monday evening and stayed overnight in Amarillo, TX. As is my necessary custom, I was walking our little dog 'Wee-Z' before retiring. Suddenly I saw what looked like a quarter on the ground, sparkling and inviting. I bent down to pick up the coin only to discover that it was a token for a car wash and had "of no cash value" written on it. I kept it nevertheless. It is hidden in the pocket of my parka, now hanging in my closet because we're back in Texas where the weather is in the sixties. But I shall wear the coat again when required.

This reminds me of a Bible verse. Revelation 2:17 reads:

Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who is victorious, I will give some of the hidden manna. I will also give that person a white stone with a new name written on it, known only to the one who receives it.

My unused token brings to mind that white stone with a new name written on it. I received such a new name when I was baptized into Christ, now over 77 years ago. And yet the Word says this name is known only to the one who receives it.

Romeo says to Juliet in Act II, Scene II of Shakespeare's well-known play:

"What's in a name? That which we call a rose would by any other name smell as sweet."

What indeed. There was a long time when I struggled with the name I received both on the day I was born and later when I was baptized. For many years I thought I remembered my mother saying I was named after my father and both of my grandfathers, Henry and Stephen. I later looked anew at my birth and baptism certificates to discover that Grandpa Stephen's name was not recorded. Did my mother forget? I know not. All I know is that in my childhood I proudly announced that I had three given or baptismal names instead of the usual two.

There have been so many explanations for this mysterious Bible verse. Among the best I've discovered to date is A New Name Written Down in Glory by Sam Storms. Sam concludes,

To sum up, there is an identity you have in God, reflected in your new name, that transcends whatever shame or regret or disappointment is wrapped up in who you are now. There is a very private and personal place of intimacy with him that brings hope and freedom and joy that none can touch or taint or steal away. Paul said it best when he declared that “your life is hidden with Christ in God” (Colossians 3:3b). Peter echoed much the same thing in saying that we have “an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven” for us (1 Peter 1:4).

I tend to think that I shall forever have my baptismal name 'Alvin Henry', because it was spoken upon me on the day Jesus forever claimed me as His own and took me with into His death and resurrection (Romans 6:1-14). What only I know in the depths of my heart is that Jesus has claimed me as His very own brother, a member of His family. I can now confidently pray to His Father and mine, saying 'Abba' or Papa and know with certainty that my Papa hears my prayers and answers them (Luke 11:1-11).

By the way, 'Wee-Z' is not just a name I happened to give to our little Pekapoo. His full and hidden name is Zacchaeus (Luke 19:1-10). But like Zacchaeus, he's a wee little 'man' of only ten pounds. So we named him Wee-Z. I trust that he too will be restored to be with us in eternity. At least that is my prayer.

The Glory of Heaven Awaits

The strains of the Bethlehem angels' songs about Glory are fading as we enter this new year. It was fine to join their songs for a time, but now back to work, back to business, back to the details of making those new year's resolutions happen. Its time to seek our own glory.


Did you ever realize the Bible teaches that we will have various degrees of glory in heaven? Look at a couple verses:


In discussing the resurrection from the dead Paul writes, "There are also heavenly bodies and there are earthly bodies; but the splendor of the heavenly bodies is one kind, and the splendor of the earthly bodies is another.The sun has one kind of splendor, the moon another and the stars another; and star differs from star in splendor.


"So will it be with the resurrection of the dead. The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable; it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body" (1 Corinthians 15:40-44).


"At that time Michael, the great prince who protects your people, will arise. There will be a time of distress such as has not happened from the beginning of nations until then. But at that time your people—everyone whose name is found written in the book—will be delivered. Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake: some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt.  Those who are wise will shine like the brightness of the heavens, and those who lead many to righteousness, like the stars for ever and ever" (Daniel 12:1-3).


There are a number of others, such as Matthew 19:28 and Matthew 25:21. The point is we who put our faith in the risen Lord Jesus shall share in His glory, but we will differ from one another in glory. Some will have reflected splendor like the moon. Some will be shining stars. Its all in His hands.

The real glory of it all is that you and I will be quite happy to be who and what we are and will be free from envy and jealousy. Oh what slaves those feelings are. How often do we not struggle with the resentment, longing for someone's possessions, qualities or good luck, as we say. Have you not caught yourself thinking, "Look here, I deserve a promotion more than she does?" Or "How come he gets to drive a new truck and I have to put up with this clunker for another year?" The list is endless.

It appears that even in heaven some will be smarter, wiser, more talented, stronger, in charge of more stuff, etc. than me—and than you. The real difference between then and this new year here on earth, is that we won't care at all. We will no longer be trapped, driven, bound and ground down by envy and jealousy. We will be content, happy and filled with joy in knowing we are His. We will be fulfilled, filled full. I may be a thimble and you may be a great, shining, silver goblet. Ah what a joy it will be for us thimbles to be filled with His love. And what happiness it will be to know that you and all the other goblets are also filled.

I pray that you will be filled with peace, joy and hope even here and now, in this new year.

Wake Up—The Light Is Already Shining.

Things were quiet in my daughter's household as I arose this morning. As the old poem goes, "Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse." I was the first one to stir and step out into the kitchen to make the coffee. I cannot begin the day without a good cup of coffee. However, to do that I had to find the light switch, something that is not easy to do in a somewhat unfamiliar kitchen. But finally I managed and now I set here with my first steaming cup, ready to begin the day.

That night the shepherds were in the field keeping watch over their flock was also a dark one. I imagine that sheep watching must count among the world's most boring jobs. Then suddenly came this bright light. Luke calls it "the glory of the LORD," shining all around them. The darkness was quite unexpectedly illuminated—and they were afraid (Luke 2:9).

The Bible uses familiar occurrences, like the darkness of night and the light of day, to speak about spiritual matters. When God's people were struggling with depression and despair, feeling forsaken in the foreign land of Babylon, forced to work as slaves, they referred to their condition as "walking in darkness" (Isaiah 9:2). Nothing was going right. The future was bleak and they had little hope of ever returning to their homeland. They couldn't see any daylight.

In their history it had been that way hundreds of years before, way back in the days of Moses, when they had been slaves in Egypt. Then suddenly, quite unexpectedly, God graciously intervened and forced Pharaoh to set them free. Out in the desert, gathered before Mount Sinai, the Glory of the Lord came down—and they were afraid (Exodus 19:17-20; Exodus 20:18). And no wonder. The whole mountain shook with thunder, lightning, the sound of a great trumpet, fire and smoke. Who wants to sit at the foot of a mountain that appears to become a huge volcano, spewing out lava, fire and death?

When the Glory of the Lord appeared to the shepherds of Bethlehem it was not like that. There was not thunder, lightning and earthquakes. Instead a wondrous choir of angels began to sing about peace, hope and a Savior. The long-awaited Messiah had come and they would find Him in a manger, wrapped in swaddling clothes.

There's still plenty of darkness, despair and death in the world of the 21st century. But as we celebrate yet another Christmas, we are reminded again that our Light has come, come in the person of a Child.

A Merry Christmas to all!

A Glimpse of Glory

Christmas approaches. In the United States we have a little controversy going on about how it should be celebrated and by whom. I'm receiving emails urging me to urge my friends to pray for our country, because it is in grave danger of becoming thoroughly and completely secular. Well, for the moment I choose not to worry about such things and prefer rather to focus upon what happened on that night that Jesus was born—whenever that was. And with that focus I shall meditate upon what that means to you and me.

Here are the words from St. Luke 2:9—


"An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified."


I'm quite amazed by what it means that this angel, this messenger from the Lord God, appeared to the shepherds. Where did he come from? And how did he get there? After he (she, it—they have no sexuality) delivered his message, he and the others disappeared. Luke writes that they left them and went into heaven (Luke 2:15).


Don't ask me what that fully means, please. I can make some guesses as C.S. Lewis does in his writings and as do many others. Lewis speaks in the same way as modern sci-fi writers do about multi-dimensions and other universes. He calls them countries and implies that when we "get to heaven" we will discover the real Houston or the real Chicago or the real United States or the heavenly Jerusalem or wherever you are from. What we experience now is but a shadow of what is to come (check out Hebrews 8:1-5 and Hebrews 12:22-29). The angels live in that reality. We are yet in the valley of the shadow (Psalm 23).


The Apostle Paul points to our sharing in that same reality when he writes,


"But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body" (Philippians 3:20-21).


In that glorious day when our Savior returns we will share in that final, definitive, complete and most real glory known now by the angels. The shepherds had a glimpse of it—for a moment. 

A Funeral At Christmas Time

I write this Blog from Minnesota. Usually I'm in Texas, but a couple days ago I flew to the Twin Cities to attend the funeral of one of my favorite cousins, the son of my mother's twin sister. Melvyn finally was called to join the angels before God's throne last week Saturday. We will celebrate his entering Glory tomorrow.

It seems strange to attend a funeral at Christmas time. This is supposed to be the time of the year when we attend concerts, children's Christmas programs, parties with friends and family, and, of course, special Christmas worship services. Funerals somehow do not fit into this scenario. That is until you read the Scriptures upon which this season is based.

I refer to what is recorded in the Gospel of Matthew 2:1-18. This is the story of the visit by the Magi or Wisemen who came to find the Child in Bethlehem nearly two years later. They started with King Herod in Jerusalem, as you may remember. Herod asked them to report back when they had found the Child, pretending that he too wanted to see and worship the Babe of Bethlehem. When the Magi did not return he realized that he had been tricked. So Herod, being the kind of greedy, self-centered man he was, ordered his soldiers to murder any child in Bethlehem two years old and younger.

Many were the funerals in that little town after that. Matthew writes that this was long before predicted by the prophet Jeremiah (Jer.31:15) when he wrote, "A voice was heard in Ramah, weeping and loud lamentation, Rachel weeping for her children; she refused to be comforted, because they are no more."

So in the midst of all the merriment and gift giving I am reminded of this sad event and of the reality of death and suffering even by children in this sin-sick world of ours. I am reminded of why Jesus was born--to bear our griefs and die. And I am reminded of why we can join the angel hosts to sing praises of glory and alleluia, for without the coming of the Child we are without hope.

Sleep then, dear cousin. Sleep in peace. And soon the bright day of God's new creation will break upon us all.

Lord, Come Down

If you're anything like me—and I believe you are—you get awfully tired of reading about the problems, suffering, war and death in our world. Today's news is but another part of the same litany: four policemen shot dead and we still don't know who did it; scientists lied and manipulated data about climate change; Iran still threatens to build nuclear weapons. 


And so it goes, on and on, like it always has. Think about the past century. How many non-combatants were killed? Piero Scaruffi estimates 160 million died in wars and genocide during the past 100 years! Mao Ze-Dong led in the slaughter of as many as 78 million in China and Tibet. Josef Stalin purged and starved 23 million in Russia and the Ukraine. Hitler's Nazis killed an estimated 12 million. 5 million Japanese civilians died during the reign of Hideki Tojo. I cannot go further. The numbers overwhelm me and I've not spoken of the tens of millions whose lives were shattered, but did not die. 


So I am tempted to pray the prayer of Isaiah 64:1-3 and ask the Lord God to come down in majesty and power. Lord, make the mountains tremble and quake at your presence. Be like fire that burns the underbrush of forests and makes water to boil. Let everyone on earth know that you are here and they had better shape up. Do what you once did when ancient Israel gathered before Mount Sinai and trembled at your power and majesty (Exodus 19:16-20). Then people will repent and turn away from their rebellion and sin. Then they will fall down before you and worship you. 


But not so, says the Lord. Fear, terror, suffering, death and damnation do not produce repentance and faith. Such things lead only to further hatred, idolatry, despair, revenge and rebellion. Did not ancient Israel see my majesty and glory only to turn away from me again and again in unbelief? Did all of Nazi Germany and Tojo's Japan turn away from their false gods after the defeat of World War II?

How then should the Lord come? We know the answer. We celebrate it throughout this season. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth (John 1:14).


His glory is that he came to bear our pain, our suffering and our death. Because of his coming we have hope for the future, both in this life and in that to come. 

Stupid But Still Loved

"Now the trouble about trying to make yourself stupider than you really are is that you very often succeed." - From The Magician's Nephew by C.S. Lewis

One of the newsletters to which I subscribe recently listed some of the stupid things public figures have been caught saying. Curious, I thought there must be a website listing that kind of stuff. There is, no there are thousands. Samples:

"The people in the Navy look on motherhood as being compatible with being a woman."
-Rear Admiral James R. Hogg

"Those who survived the San Francisco earthquake said, 'Thank God, I'm still alive.' But, of course, those who died, their lives will never be the same again."
-- Sen. Barbara Boxer, (D, Calif.)

"You can't just let nature run wild."
-- Wally Hickel, former governor of Alaska

And of course there are whole sites with President Bushisms, like:

"Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we." —Washington, D.C., Aug. 5, 2004

The same for former VP Al Gore: "When my sister and I were growing up," Mr. Gore told a small audience made up mostly of women, "there was never any doubt in our minds that men and women were equal, if not more so." (Source: NY Times, 08/12/00)

And so it goes.

Then I listened to a Lutheran Hour sermon podcast about this misquote from the Bible: "The love of money is the root of all evil." That got me thinking about how many sayings supposedly in the Bible there are. Here's a short list:

*Pride goes before a fall.
*Cleanliness is next to godliness.
*Adam and Eve ate from an apple.
*All things work out for the best
*God helps them who help themselves.
*Do unto others before they do it unto you.
*Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise.

It gets worse when people start using the Bible to try be funny. Samples:

Q. Who was the greatest financier in the Bible?
A. Noah. He was floating his stock while everyone else was in liquidation.

Q. Who was the greatest female financier in the Bible?
A. Pharaoh's daughter. She went down to the bank of the Nile and drew out a little prophet.

Q. What kind of man was Boaz before he got married?
A. Ruth-less.

Q. Who was the greatest comedian in the Bible?
A. Samson. He brought the house down.

Q. Where is the first baseball game in the Bible?
A. In the big inning, Eve stole first, Adam stole second. Cain struck out Abel, and the Prodigal Son came home. The Giants and the Angels were rained out.

Q. What is one of the first things that Adam and Eve did after they were kicked out?
A. They really raised Cain.

Q. The ark was built in 3 stories, and the top story had a window to let light in, but how did they get light to the bottom 2 stories?
A. They used floodlights.

If you're still reading, please forgive me. I'm only trying to make a point. We all do stupid things, say stupid things, sometimes misquote the Bible and talk out of turn. What does that make us? Human.

Here's what the Bible says about stupid humans:

"Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge, but he who hates correction is stupid." Proverbs 12:1

"So I turned my mind to understand, to investigate and to search out wisdom and the scheme of things and to understand the stupidity of wickedness and the madness of folly." Ecclesiastes 7:25

"Even as he walks along the road, the fool lacks sense and shows everyone how stupid he is." Ecclesiastes 10:3

"Don't have anything to do with foolish and stupid arguments, because you know they produce quarrels." 2 Timothy 2:23

The wonder of Christmas is that our eternal, all-knowing, perfect God chose to become human with us. We join shepherds to worship the Child, Jesus, the God-Man. Here's another real quote from the Bible:

"The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth," John 1:14.

C.S. Lewis on Heaven and Hell

It seems I'm always doing something else and going somewhere that keeps me from writing to this Blog. Right now Sylvia and I have returned to our vacation home in Pagosa Springs, CO. where we are spending a few weeks enjoying the beauty of fall leaves and cool mountain air.

After we arrived and settled in I started looking around at a few of the books I've had stored here for years. I came across a little volume I hadn't read for a long, long time: The Great Divorce by C.S. Lewis.

The Wikipedia article about the book summarizes the plot in this way: "In The Great Divorce, the narrator suddenly, and inexplicably, finds himself in a grim and joyless City (the "grey town", a depiction of Hell). He eventually finds a bus for those who desire an excursion to some other place (and which eventually turns out to be the foothills of Heaven). He enters the bus and converses with his fellow passengers as they travel. When the bus reaches its destination, the "people" on the bus — including the narrator — gradually realize that they are ghosts. Although the country is the most beautiful they have ever seen, every feature of the landscape (including streams of water and blades of grass) is unbearably solid compared to themselves: it causes them immense pain to walk on the grass, and even a single leaf is far too heavy for any of them to lift."

As the narrator (apparently Lewis) wanders about in those heavenly foothills he meets a man by the name of George Macdonald (pp.64 ff). Macdonald, he acknowledges, taught him a great deal through his writings. He shares how his reading of Macdonald's book Phantasies started him on the path to becoming a Christian. Now in these heavenly foothills Macdonald continues to act as his Teacher. A lengthy discussion between the two follows. What interested me in this reading is the way Macdonald describes heaven and hell.

Permit a quote about these two places. He calls their present location "the Valley of the Shadow of Life" for those saved. The sad streets of the town from whence the narrator and the other ghosts came would be "the Valley of the Shadow of Death." This leads to a comment about eternity by the Scotsman Macdonald:

"...ye can get some likeness of it if ye say that both good and evil, when they are full grown, become retrospective. Not only this valley but all this earthly past will have been Heaven to those who are saved. Not only the twilight in that town, but all their life on earth too, will then be seen by the damned to have been Hell. That is what mortals misunderstand. They say of some temporal suffering, 'No future bliss can make up for it,' not knowing that Heaven, once attained, will work backwards and turn even that agony into a glory. And of some sinful pleasure they say, 'Let me but have this and I'll take the consequences: little dreaming how damnation will spread back and back into their past and contaminate the pleasure of the sin.

"Both processes begin even before death. The good man's past begins to change so that his forgiven sins and remembered sorrows take on the quality of Heaven: the bad man's past already conforms to his badness and is filled only with dreariness. And that is why, at the end of all things, when the sun rises here and the twilight turns to blackness down there, the Blessed will say, 'We have never lived anywhere except in Heaven,' and the Lost, 'We were always in Hell.' And both will speak truly."

As noted above, everything about the foothills of heaven is so real, so solid that it causes the ghosts pain. That's how the words I quote above struck me. This is so real that it causes pain, but as painful as it is, it is wondrous to hear. Ever since reading this I've been walking around, sometimes with my little dog Wee-Z, admiring and enjoying the mountains, the horses in the neighbor's fence, the sounds of the birds flitting from bush to tree, as well as my dear wife's cooking. And all the while I've been saying to myself, "This is heaven or at least it is the valley that leads to it. And one day, one day very soon I'll have a wondrous, never-ending opportunity to journey onward into the eternity of Deep Heaven itself."