Tandem Vincitur

This was sent by my friend, John Beal. Not certain the author.

At the end of the poem, I have attached one of my favorite verses. May this bless you as it blessed me.

God moves in a mysterious way

   His wonders to perform:

He plants His footsteps upon the sea,

   And rides upon the storm.

 (more...)




				

Titus chapter one:

The key verse is in the greeting: “. . . the knowledge of the truth that leads to godliness.” [v1] In other words, sound doctrine leads us to proper obedience. Paul warned later in verse twelve, “Cretans are always liars, evil brutes, lazy gluttons.” So, it appears Paul’s purpose in writing to Titus was to encourage him to encourage the Christians to be different from the norm, to rise above evil and sloth and to follow Christ.

Sidenote: Some friends are missionaries on the island and they tell me not much has changed. The people still are much the same as Paul described.

v2 - Paul claims that God gave the hope of eternal life even before He created us; “promised before the beginning of time.”
(more…)

A few days ago, I received an email that was forwarded with a message from a pastor. I do not remember his name, so we will call him Pastor Salvation Only. His message was he never gets involved in political issues because his mission is the gospel of Jesus Christ. According to him, the people sent a message loud and clear in this 2008 election, they are looking for Jesus Christ. He gave two examples, one was we have abused credit and now the people voted for Obama in repentance for their financial excesses. The other example I do not remember. He then went on to rebuff pastors that get off the track of preaching salvation through Jesus Christ and that now, because the people are truly looking for Jesus Christ, that is our only mission.

Pastor Salvation Only is very wrong. In fact, he is part of the problem. The Bible tells us clearly that man is not looking for God, as Pastor Salvation Only claims (Isa 64:7, Rom 3:11). While there are several admonitions to seek after God, the Bible tells us man may tip his hat to God while seeking his own way (Isa 58, Jer 7). Pastor Salvation Only is wrong, in that this election was not a declaration that man is looking for Jesus Christ, or looking for repentance. This election was a declaration that man is looking for a messiah, a rock star, a leader who will make them feel good about themselves, a leader who will bring change, without requiring them to change their lifestyles - or repentance.
(more…)

Yesterday, a friend stopped by the shop to visit. He has four sons and a daughter, all are high school age and above. These are smart kids; they work hard, they study hard and they make good friends. They were home schooled, for the most part.

He told me a story about his eldest son, who is in college and has befriended a Muslim. One day, his son and the friend  were visiting the multicultural center at the Muslim’s request. Of course, everyone in the center, working or visiting, is black. His son was the only white face to be seen.

While traveling on the elevator, the son and the Muslim were debating the presidential campaign and the son conceded McCain was the lesser of two evils. At that point, the elevator stopped and six burly black guys came aboard.

As the door closed, the Muslim asked the son, “So, you really think Obama is evil?”
(more…)

Yesterday’s post reviewed the appointment of Sarah Palin as John McCain’s VP choice and running mate. She is a true leader - and we excerpted from her acceptance speech what she said about leadership and how most politicians nowadays are not willing to take risks.

Today, I was mulling through some old documents, looking for an article, or some thoughts to post. I ran across a letter I wrote to the editor of the Seattle Times. It is from 1998 and is in reference to the state legislature sitting on their hands on Partial Birth Abortion.

A man’s principle goes beyond words, it goes to the core of what he is willing to fight for. It is disquieting to the Republican grassroots to watch their “leaders” melt into a sea of facilitation and administration. We have a majority party that is unwilling to lead. Is it surprising to see an ever-increasing exodus from the Party by principled people? No, it is not. And to the extent the Republican “leadership” is more concerned with self-esteem than leading, the exodus will increase exponentially.

(more…)

This is a revised reprint from Tandem Vincitur, June 1995

In his book, Gods, Graves and Scholars: The Story of Archaeology, C.W. Ceram describes the ancient Egyptian cult of animal worship. He reported the people maintained cemeteries for their pets, whom they considered to be deities. One ancient city even had a cemetery for pet crocodiles.

What I found most interesting was his account of the Apis bull. This bull had a white triangle marking on his forehead, and this distinguished it as sacred. People worshipped the bull and it was tended and pampered by the priests. Upon death, the bull was given a lavish funeral, complete with embalming. Then, another bull with the same markings would take his place. The Apis bull was said to be the servant of the god Ptah, whom the Egyptians honored as the creator of the world.
(more…)

This is a reprint from Tandem Vincitur, November 1995

The Barbasol style signs along the country road announced another fortieth birthday. A few days later, I came across a similar display at the other end of the county. “This appears to be getting rather popular,” I thought as I began to mull over in my mind this fascination with the 40th birthday.

Suddenly it dawned on me: This generation that celebrates being over the hill, is the same one that refused to trust anyone over thirty years old. Now we are grown. We are forty-something. But the “Baby Boomers” are still a generation of rebels. Think about it, excepting John Carlson, there are relatively few Harley owners under the age of fifty. Our fifty and sixty year old men are wearing pony tails and our young men are wearing earrings. (more…)

This is a reprint from Tandem Vincitur, April 1995:

“We’ve found that pigs find even mild sorts of human behavior offensive.”

I happened upon that quote while reading the February edition of the World Press Review. This is good ammunition for the animal rights people. Now pigs can determine where people should live and what they should do.

If you substituted the word “pigs” with “government bureaucrats,” this quote explains their regulatory mindset - they think they must control every level of human activity. We live in a world that is increasingly calling for ‘tolerance in diversity.’ Yet, we find these proponents of toleration to be the promoters of hyper-regulation. They are intolerant of opposing viewpoints, especially if it elicits from deeply held convictions, or God forbid, religion.

One can hardly pick up the paper to read of some reporter’s account of outrage or intolerance on the part of another individual or group. Where do we get this notion that we all have to agree and those who disagree are intolerant? Humanist philosophy believes that the heart of man is basically good, therefore, we should love what is basically good in all men. That is, if we look for the good in people, if we would listen to each other, we would live in accord.

The Bible debunks this notion on two counts. (more…)

Christians need to be keen that they are neither seduced, nor intimidated, by the world. There is a time to be sensitive - and most of the time, it is not the time. The sinners want free reign, government salvation and they want freedom of speech and thought to be snuffed out - in the name of tolerance and public safety, of course. I do not think Charles Sykes is a Christian, but he has a discernment lacking in most Christians.

Quote of the year - Read and Learn:

“The arguments in favor of sensitivity have moral weight and they deserve to be taken seriously. but I think the nature and tragedy of this sort of therapeutic politics, victim politics, is that it takes these legitimate concerns and it distorts them for self indulgent ends. Because the real canker is the insistence that its is not enough to behave correctly; one must be attuned to the feelings of others and adapt oneself to the kaleidoscopic shades of grievance, injuries and ego that make up subjective sensibilities of the victim. So the relationship between individuals and groups is not mediated by neutral respect or by principles of justice, but must now be cast solely in therapeutic terms. By that I mean the only thing that matters is the avoidance of hurt, injury and offense. You need to sacrifice for the self-esteem of others.

“Now, superficially, this resembles Christian charity. But I think that as a series of mandatory attitudes it’s something else altogether. And it really comes down to our understanding of naked egotism. Naked egotism is the imposing of one’s likes and dislikes and subtle prejudices and whiny annoyances of the self on others. It’s my saying, because I want something, you must want it as well. If I am hypersensitive about something, my feelings should govern your behavior.”

- Charles Sykes, Ideology of Sensitivity