restoring our biblical and constitutional foundations

                

Christians Must Choose Whether They Will Serve God or the State

 David Alan Black

As the biblical and constitutional crisis in our nation deepens day by day, there is a desperate need for the church to return to the Bible and the Constitution as the foundational documents of our society. But to say that the church must now take sides unequivocally and consistently with the Scriptures and the Constitution is to overlook the fact that many Christians in America have already done so. These include men like Chuck Baldwin of Chuck Baldwin Live and Michael Peroutka of the Institute on the Constitution and women like Debbie Hopper of the National Coalition to Restore the Constitution and Devvy Kidd of the We the People Foundation.

As far as the present crisis is concerned, there is only one way forward, and that is for those who find themselves on the side of unconstitutional government or who are sitting on the fence to cross over to the other side to be united in faith and action with those who have taken a stand for the biblical and republican ideals upon which our nation was founded. Christians, if they are not doing so already, must quite simply make a choice to participate in the struggle to honor God, defend the family, and restore the Republic.

Moreover, the campaigns of people who are in this fight need to be supported and encouraged by the churches. The evil forces of secularism and humanism must be named. We know these evil forces are at work in America. Repentance from state-worship must also be named. It is repentance for our share of the guilt for a government that increasingly tramples on biblical and constitutional principles.  

Much of what we do in our churches has lost its relevance in society. Our services and ministries have been appropriated to serve the needs of the individual for comfort and security. Now these same activities must be reappropriated to serve the real needs of all Americans and to further constitutional government.

Above all, the church must not collaborate with tyranny. It cannot or should not do anything that appears to give legitimacy to unconstitutional policies. The church should not only pray for a change of policies, it should also mobilize its members in every section of the country to begin to think and work and plan for a government that is submissive to the Constitution.

As long as people look to the church for moral guidance, churches must make their stand absolutely clear and never tire of explaining and dialoging about it. They must help people to understand their rights and duties as citizens. There must be no wavering or misunderstanding about the moral duty of all Christians to oppose the murder of innocent lives. The church must appeal to the consciences of those who act thoughtlessly and irresponsibly.

I call upon all who bear the name Christian to accept responsibility for acting and living out their Christian faith in these circumstances. I pray that God will help all of us to translate the challenge of our times into action. I am convinced that the challenge to socialistic and unconstitutional policies being posed by patriots like Chuck Baldwin and Michael Peroutka comes from God and that it is addressed to all of us—Republican, Democrat, or Third Party. I therefore call upon my Christian brothers and sisters throughout America to wake up and to think and act biblically and constitutionally, with hope and confidence.

May God bless each of you.

February 27, 2004

David Alan Black is the editor of www.daveblackonline.com. His latest book, Why I Stopped Listening to Rush: Confessions of a Recovering Neocon, will be released this year.

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   restoring our biblical and constitutional foundations

                

The Disciple Whom Jesus Kept On Loving

 David Alan Black

Tommy: “I ain’t going.”

Teacher: “Don’t say ‘ain’t.’ Say, ‘I am not going, you are not going, he is not going.’”

Tommy: “Ain’t nobody going?”

Or maybe you heard the one about the man who went on trial for having pulled a woman down the street by her hair. When the judge asked the arresting officer, “Was she drugged?” the policeman answered, “Yes sir, a whole block!”

Both yarns rely on the fact that verbs in English are crazy, fraught with puzzling unpredictability. Some verbs form their past tense by adding –d, -ed, or –t, as in walk, walked; bend, bent. Others go back in time through an internal vowel change—begin, began; sing, sang. Another cluster adds –d or –t and undergoes an internal vowel change—lose, lost; bring, brought. And still others, more stubborn than the rest, refuse to change at all—set, set; put, put.

Greek verbs are no less confusing than their English counterparts. If you don’t agree, just ask a Greek student to form the past tense of the Greek verb for eat or bring without their breath quickening or their eyes glazing. The slopes of the mountainous terrain we call verbs are filled with the dead and the dying—people who have been conjugated, parsed, and inflected into oblivion.

As I have attempted to explain in my little book It’s Still Greek to Me, one of the wonderful things about verbs in Greek is that they not only have tense but also what grammarians call “aspect.” In other words, while Greek verbs can describe an event in terms of past, present, and future time (just as in English), they can also emphasize how an action is thought to have taken place. Thus, for example, Matthew describes the miracle of the Feeding of the Five Thousand as follows: Jesus took the bread, blessed the bread, broke the bread, and gave the bread to His disciples to distribute. Mark, on the other hand, writes that Jesus took the bread, blessed the bread, broke the bread, and kept on giving the bread—as if to emphasize the miracle taking place in the very hands of Jesus as He kept on passing out the bread and it never ran out!

This brings me to one of the most interesting and, I believe, instructive examples in the entire New Testament of this matter of verbal aspect, namely that little expression found five times in John’s Gospel: “The disciple whom Jesus loved.” This, of course, is held by most Johannine scholars to be a reference to the apostle John, the writer of the Fourth Gospel. It was his way of describing himself without saying, in so many words, “I am John.”

Now most translations of the New Testament I am familiar with seem to miss something quite important about this rather obscure expression. Just as in the previous example Mark used a past tense verb that emphasized continuous action (“Jesus kept on giving the bread”), so here John uses the very same tense to describe himself. The expression, literally rendered, might better be translated, “The disciple whom Jesus kept on loving.” The implication, one might say, is almost, “He kept on loving me despite myself.” And little wonder. We should not think of John as some kind of soft, sentimental, wishy-washy weakling. He was called a “son of thunder” (Hebrew for a person with a boisterous personality). He wanted to call down fire from heaven on the Samaritans. He sought the place of prominence at the right (or, if need be, at the left) hand of Jesus in the kingdom.

John the weakling? Hardly.

And now, writing many years later at the end of his long life (John outlived all the other apostles), he has one chance to describe himself to his audience. He could have done this in several different ways, each with its own emphasis. For example, I might introduce myself, depending on the occasion, as a surfer from Hawaii, a Greek professor, a Baptist preacher, a lousy tennis player, and so forth.

And John? Did he write “apostle of Jesus Christ,” or “first bishop of the church at Ephesus,” or “author of the Book of Revelation”? He could have, but he wrote none of these. Reflecting back on his somewhat impetuous relationship with the Lord and perhaps on his unworthiness even to be called a follower of Christ, he simply wrote, “The disciple whom Jesus kept on loving.” The description implies, not arrogance (as if John meant to say “the disciple whom Jesus loved more than the others”), but a profound sense of divine grace.

Is that not your identity and mine—we who know Jesus as our Savior and Lord, and who also know our own weaknesses and shortcomings? We are but disciples whom Jesus keeps on loving, and loving, and loving.

Loved with everlasting love,
Led by grace that love to know,
Spirit, breathing from above,
Thou hast taught me it is so!

O this full and perfect peace!
O this transport all divine!
In a love which cannot cease,
I am his and he is mine.

G. W. Robinson (1838-77)

July 6, 2003

David Alan Black is the editor of www.daveblackonline.com.

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Chapter 1

Beginning at the Beginning

Becky Lynn Black  

To begin at the beginning of my life, we have to go into eternity past. Ephesians 1 and Psalm 139 are two of the many passages that speak of the very specific ordering of creation by the Lord Himself. My place in His universe was set in distant eternity past, long before He took action on any of His plans, long before He spoke the world, the sun and moon and stars, the animals and birds and fish into existence. Even before He worked the creation of Adam and Eve, I was in His mind.

This fact is true of every single human being who has ever existed. It is true of me and it is true of you. By the grace of God He confirmed this truth in my innermost being at a very young age, and it has been an anchor to my identity. I did not just “happen”; I was not a natural consequence of human actions. I was not an “event” in the lives of my parents.

No, God specifically chose to create me, Becky Lynn Lapsley Black. His love made this choice, so that He would be able, through that love, to bring glory to Himself. The love that He showed in creating me has been a deep-seated reality to me my entire life.

As I write this, I think of the many quilts that I have made over the years. Each quilt started out as an idea that was shaped by my personality. Its colors, its size, its style….everything about each quilt was an expression of myself and my desire to serve others through the quilt. As I worked on each quilt, choosing the fabrics, cutting and sewing the top, day after day, carefully hand-stitching the quilting, I was being poured forth into that quilt. And when it was completed, I always signed, dated, and noted a Scripture passage in a corner of the back. I put my name to my creation. Those few who knew me well could identify a story in my life that went with the quilt.  Those who knew me a little could look at one of my quilts and be able to identify it as mine; it “looked” like me. Those who didn’t know me at all would admire the handiwork, but it wasn’t until they turned the quilt over and read my name that they could identify the creator of the quilt. 

And so it is with the creation of the “Becky Lynn Lapsley Black Quilt” by the Lord Jesus. From His mind and heart, according to His desires and for His purposes, I was planned and executed at the “perfect” place and time in History. King David had this same sense of his destiny. In Psalm 139 he is talking with God and puts it this way:

For you created my inmost being;
       you knit me together in my mother’s womb.

I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
       your works are wonderful,
       I know that full well.

My frame was not hidden from you
       when I was made in the secret place.
       When I was woven together in the depths of the earth,

 your eyes saw my unformed body.
       All the days ordained for me
       were written in your book
       before one of them came to be.

 How precious to me are your thoughts, O God!
       How vast is the sum of them!

As God planned and created my body and personality according to His love and purposes, so He also planned to call me to be His own child. On May 12, 1953, my body was born into the world, but my spirit was dead. The Scriptures teach that at birth, we are “dead in trespasses and sins.” We have the physical ability to communicate with our fellow man, but we have no ability to communicate with our God. The sin of Adam and Eve has robbed every person born of woman; their sin is inherited by every person, and their banishment from the Garden of fellowship with the Creator is also inherited.

Scripture teaches that it is in the heart of God to embrace every person into His family of righteousness. He is not willing that any should be banished from Him. His heart is one of love to each single human being. And he made a Way, sacrificing His own most-precious thing, His own dear Son, so that those He loved into existence could have a way to His table and home.

But how can dead people get up and walk the Way to the Father’s table? It is impossible, except that the Father touches them and awakens them, breathing spiritual life into them, and causing them to choose the Way He’s provided.

I do not pretend to understand the doctrine of pre-destination. There are many things about God and His Way that I do not understand. This gap in my understanding has never disturbed me, for I know that in the day that I understand everything about God and His ways, is the day that He ceases to be God. Yes, He made my mind to think, to evaluate, to consider and to judge, but the exercise of that ability must be done in humility. Part of using this gift correctly is the acceptance of the reality of limitations.

Some people are tempted to throw all the words of God away because they cannot understand some of the words.  Scientists and historians and other specialists accept their limitations. As we humans come to the study of God, why are we not willing to accept limitations? I have always been amazed at the pride of mankind in dealing with the Almighty One. It is subtle, but it is there: “If it doesn’t make sense to me, then I do not accept it.”

I have never personally struggled with the trustworthiness of the Scriptures, or the living God they present. The fact is that every person must live by faith.  As each one reaches adulthood, he must choose who will be trusted. The vast majority of mankind chooses their own judgment, or society’s norms. Most decide by default, most of the time not even realizing that they are making a decision. The default choice is untrustworthy. 

As the storms of life arise, the foundation upon which we stand, the truth basis that we have chosen, the belief system we have embraced becomes tested. It is just a matter of time before all false systems of truth (which are systems of lies straight from the Evil One) fail us. Sometimes that event happens early, leaving people who are disillusioned, distrustful, depressed, angry, cynical, with backs turned against God in rebellion. Sometimes that event issues a complete paradigm shift, with a radical shift from one belief system to another. This reaching from one leaking lifeboat to another might give a temporary sense of safety, but it is just a matter of time before the next trauma in life shows the second lifeboat is just as untrustworthy.

One of the things I do not understand about my Father is how He creates so many people, how He loves each one personally and completely, how He desires them to live with Him and He has made a Way for them to His table, yet He breathes His Spirit into only a select group, so that they can arise and walk the way to His table.

The Scriptures teach this about my Father. I do not understand it, but I accept it. And one day, when I am at His side without the residue of Sin bombarding my thinking, I will understand Him completely. (This is my understanding of 1 Cor. 13:12: “Now we see only an indistinct image in a mirror, but then we will be face to face. Now what I know is incomplete, but then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known,” ISV.)

I am content to know that one day I will understand. I am content to live a period of time with poor comprehension of Him and His ways. And actually, it is a blessing that I do not understand all things about Him. Because if I really knew all things about Him, I would have a complete grasp of how vast, how utterly beyond description, how disparate is the gulf between Him and me because of my sin. I would see the brutal ugliness of who I am naturally, and the stench of my sin would overcome me and completely immobilize me.

But in His grace, He has given me only a measure of understanding both of my sin and of His Way, so that I am not overwhelmed. That measure includes the fact that He chose me from eternity past not only to come into existence physically, but also to be made alive spiritually, purified by the Son, and made fit to sit with the Father at His table. Why did He choose to give me His life?  Out of the billions of people upon this earth, why me? I will never know, except that somehow He decided that through this simple person His glory could shine, and His purpose in creation would be satisfied.

Years ago when I was making a quilt, I would design it on paper, and then I would head to a huge warehouse of fabric. There I spent hours considering fabric. I would simply glance at the texture, weight, color, or design of most of the fabric; they were quickly discarded as not fitting the quilt in my mind. A few pieces I pulled from the stacks and considered more carefully, playing with them in my head. Still fewer pieces were gathered together, to see how they fit with each other. And in the end, out of the thousands upon thousands of folded bolts of fabric, I left the store with a handful of fabrics, confident that these carefully chosen ones would comply with the quilt that still existed only in my head and heart.

At my birth, I was one of thousands upon thousands born around the world. I was born with a healthy body and bubbly personality according to the plan of my Creator. But I, like all the other thousands of babies, was born spiritually dead. Although in my body the ability to develop speech, mobility, and mental acuity existed, there was no ability to develop spiritually. I was doomed from birth to be worse than handicapped; I was doomed to be a walking corpse. This was the price of being human, of being a descendent of Eve. And no amount of make up or fancy clothes or nice living or education could cover up that fact.

But God in His mercy, for reasons of His own, chose me to be His own. He breathed into my soul the breath of Life. The oxygen of Heaven infused into my being, awakening me to Reality, giving me strength to get up and be productive.

As with physical births, my spiritual birth took place after a time of gestation. My moment of spiritual birth came in early summer of 1958, just after my 6th birthday. The gestational period was marked by the love of my parents and grandparents, by many prayers to the Father on my behalf, by many teachers of the Lord, by a happy and safe home emotionally. I learned first the love of the Father for me, as demonstrated in my parents and as taught by many adult Christians around me.

The birthing pains began shortly after our return from church. We were on furlough from Ethiopia, living in our home in Dallas, Texas. We had returned from Sunday School and church at Grace Bible Church. We had driven the distance from North Dallas to the White Rock Lake area of Dallas and we gathered around our dinner table for Sunday dinner. At the time we had my parents Brad and Betty Lapsley and 4 children around the table. At ages 6, 4, and 2 it was a time of mild chaos. An infant sister 6 months of age added to the color of our lives. My parents had taken early furlough because of sickness from repeated bouts of hepatitis. But we were preparing to return to Ethiopia in time to enroll me in the mission boarding school.

“Daddy, when can I ask Jesus into my heart?” My question arose out of seeming nowhere.  Although, at least in my memory, there was no discussion of spiritual things taking place at the table, my mind was turning over the issue of my spiritual neediness. I was overwhelmed by my absolute inability to “be good.” I knew my heart. I knew my thoughts fell far short of God’s thoughts. Mine were self-centered. Me, myself, and I were my gods. Selfishness ruled my day.  That does not mean that I was always unruly, and it does not mean that I didn’t love others. But if I were in a situation where I needed to make a choice, invariably I chose my own desires over the needs and desires of others.

Even children know what lurks in their heart. They might not be able to define it in words, or explain it in theological debates, but they know. The Scriptures teach that God has written on our consciences that we fall short, and He has shown us His Presence through the natural creation around us. Looking up at the stars, we see His vast power and grandeur. Looking at a wildflower, we see His intimacy and gentleness. For this reason we are “without excuse.” Even a child can act upon the awareness within him of his own sinfulness and of his just separation from a holy God.  Even a child can follow the trail of creation to sit at the feet of the Creator in love and provision.

“Well, you can ask Him anytime,” Daddy replied. I took him literally, and began my prayer to my Creator at the table, in the midst of our family meal. “Wait. Let’s do this together!” he responded. What a special moment it was for my parents, watching God birth their first child into His family, as He had birthed her into theirs.

I was what was called a “honeymoon baby.” My mother had come from Miami, Florida to Dallas Bible Institute. She was a relatively new Christian, having been brought to the Father through a high-school youth group. She wanted to study the Scriptures. Her heart was so open to God, so child-like in simplicity. She was very beautiful. She was by nature a trusting person, and God supplied godly counselors who guided her spiritually. Her parents were nominal Christians. Her mother had been the organist of First Presbyterian Church in Miami for many years; she had wanted to be a nurse, but her father didn’t approve, so she had studied organ in college, during a time where women didn’t usually attend college. She was also very gifted in sewing, and made all the costumes for the Miami Ballet. She loved the out of doors, and raised roses, many of which won prizes at the Florida State Fair. She was very efficient; my mother often commented on Granny’s efficiency and productivity. She also has said many times that I am very much like Granny in personality and giftedness.

Granddaddy, mom’s father, was a banker by trade. He managed several banks over his lifetime.  Mom described how when she was a little girl, they would get in their family car, drive from their small town in Alabama to the large area bank, have a picnic, go to the bank, and withdraw all the cash Granddaddy needed to operate his bank for the week, and race straight home to get the money into the bank vault. It was the Depression that closed Granddaddy’s bank and moved the family to Miami.

Granddaddy loved fishing, and my only memory of him was going deep-sea fishing with him — just him and me on a medium-sized fishing boat off Miami. This trip was shortly after my spiritual birth, in the summer of 1958; he died a couple years later while we were in Ethiopia.  Spiritually, Granddaddy had no time for his Creator and Redeemer; he was self-sufficient. But on his deathbed, a friend of mom’s visited him, telling him again of his spiritual need and of God’s provision. As he lay dying, he realized he really wasn’t as self-sufficient as he thought, and he opened his heart to the Father. So Granddaddy and the thief on the Cross are sitting with my Father in our Home, both having been made right with Him at the last opportunity.

One day in chapel at Dallas Bible Institute, a missionary was speaking. God stirred the heart of my mother, and in her simple, trusting heart, she yielded to Him and His appointment to leave the comforts of America. She was willing to forego the American Dream, and to be His ambassador to people who have never heard anything beyond the incomplete message of the stars and the flowers around them. This decision was made at a time when the whole of America was flush with a sense of strength and optimism. Hitler’s war was over and the factories of America were buzzing with productivity. The god of Materialism was calling; echoing that call were the gods of Comfort and Security. This trinity that we call the American Dream put many in bondage, and a generation of Christians lost sight of their Father and His claim upon their lives.

I’ve heard Mom’s story over and over and over many times. “In those days, I lived with several other girls in a house, and I would go for walks in the neighborhood to have my prayer time with the Lord. Soon after this chapel, I was asking the Lord, ‘where should I go?’  The sun had set, but the moon was bright. And as I walked, the moon made a shadow in the shape of the continent of Africa on the sidewalk in front of me. I sensed a confirmation that this was His answer to my question. So my heart was turned to service in Africa as His ambassador. But I didn’t tell anyone; I just hid it in my heart.” 

As I have already said, Mom was very pretty and feminine. She was godly, sweet, and innocent.  She was a tender, beautiful flower ready to be picked. And many of the young men at DBI wanted her. Several proposals came to her, including one from Ty Hungerford/Hardin (who later became a movie star in westerns, sometimes performing alongside Ronald Reagan). But her counselors advised her, and although her heart was full of love and tenderness for everyone, none of the proposals were “right.” 

Then came my dad. What my mother was on the feminine side, my father was on the masculine side. He was charming, dashing, handsome, and smart. He was a student at Dallas Theological Seminary….and he was a prankster. He loved practical jokes. Mom had been warned about him, but somehow they ended up going to a rodeo together. On their third date, Dad asked Mom, “Will you go to Africa with me?”  His proposal of marriage was rooted in his calling to Africa as a missionary. She readily accepted.

Daddy came from a strong family that was well known in the Dallas area. His father was Col. J.B. Lapsley, affectionately known as “Big Father.” (Yes, he was big!) I look very much like Big Father, and we were very close. The Lapsleys came to America in the mid-1700s, settling in the southern reaches of the Shenandoah Valley, near Lexington, Virginia. In fact, a “run” (river) is named Lapsley Run, and you can still visit the old stone house built on Lapsley land in 1793.  From Virginia, they moved to Kentucky, where they were “dirt farmers” for 5 generations. Big Father’s father died suddenly, while working his field, leaving Big Father, at the age of 12 or 13, with the responsibility for his mother and handicapped sister.

The family moved to Dallas. Big Father graduated from Dallas High School, alongside “Big Brown Eyes,” as he lovingly referred to his future wife, my grandmother. He worked very hard in his adult years, having a career in the military as well as in banking. The young couple took all their savings and sent Big Father to officer’s training at the outbreak of World War I. In the military, he had many positions of serious responsibility, including the management of all Allied material and lands in Korea, and the burial of all US soldiers in Alamance. He refused promotion to General because he preferred to be on the ground level of action. In banking, he started as a janitor, and ended up serving as Vice-President, in charge of all the real estate loans of the First National Bank of Dallas. We joke because once he refused a loan to a man; this man’s revenge was to name a street “Lapsley Street” in the heart of a slum area of Dallas. In the 1970s the First National Bank building was the tallest building west of the Mississippi River; in high school I loved to go up to Big Father’s office and the observation tower on the 51st story, from where it seemed we could see all of Texas!

Daddy’s mother was a 4 foot-11 inch power house. We called her Grandmommee. She came from a strong stock of ancestors — 6 of them had been on the Mayflower (including Governor William Bradford) — judges, bankers, lawyers, owners of railroads, the strong upper crust of Southern society. They were good people who dealt justly with conditions of their time. We have several wills and letters of these people. Their humility, their wisdom, their generosity, and their graciousness amaze me. The times and conditions of our day are vastly different from theirs, but it is clear that the same God who has given grace to me was there giving grace to them.

Grandmommee’s father was a private in the Confederate Army; he served with the First Texas Heavy Artillery, guarding the coast of Texas. (We have a letter he wrote to his father, who had the largest salt works west of the Mississippi River, and who was the first of my family to move to Texas. We have the diary of their journey from now-West Virginia to Texas.) After the war everything was lost, of course. Grandmomee’s father entered medical college and became a prominent doctor in the Dallas-Ft. Worth area. He was the publisher of the first Texas medical journal; the journal was published on the bottom floor while the family lived in the upper floor.  I have a picture of their home, the women in the front wearing dresses to the ground.  Grandmommee was born in 1891; the picture was taken about 1895.

By age 12 Grandmommee was orphaned. Everyone was poor then. She and her sister were shuttled from home to home, but a large part of her upbringing was under the care of her maternal grandparents. Grandma Wilson had been born and raised in the pre-War years, in a home that was the epitome of Southern elegance. And she brought to Grandmommee the strength that comes from losing all except dignity, spiritual life, and self-control. At her birth, Grandmommee weighed only 2 1/2 pounds. “Forget the baby, let’s try to save the mother,” were the words of the doctor. (The mother was Fanny Wilson Brooks, a delicate woman who suffered with asthma; we have a picture of her taken on her wedding day in delicate Victorian dress, and many have commented that my face looks like hers.) Grandma Wilson took the tiny infant home and put her in the oven to keep her warm. Grandmommee ended up living 105 years and influencing thousands for the Gospel. When the Lord of Creation determines Life, there is no power that can override His determination. He is still the Lord of Life and Time.

Grandpa Wilson had come from the western-Missouri frontier; the cruelty of Lincoln’s army left deep scars in these counties. Frank and Jesse James had the farm neighboring Grandpa Wilson, and they were in the one-room school house together. He watched the transformation of their lives under the cruelty they suffered. In contrast to the James brothers, Grandpa allowed the Spirit of God to purge vengeance and bitterness from his soul. Apart from the grace of God in our lives, we would all have sought to repay evil for evil.

Grandpa Wilson studied for the ministry. He served in many capacities in the Confederate Army and was wounded several times. After the War, he settled in Texas as an itinerate preacher.  Grandmommee travelled with him, and while they rode in their buggy, he taught her of the Lord.  Grandpa Wilson was instrumental in starting Texas Wesleyan University in Ft. Worth, TX, and he had a great influence on the spiritual condition of the greater Dallas/Ft Worth area.

This is the physical heritage that God chose to give to me. My spiritual heritage is much more vast and significant. Although we have traced my physical ancestors to the early kings of Europe, we have been able to trace my spiritual ancestors to the two who walked with the Lord of Glory in the Garden. Much of this spiritual heritage is written for the public in the Scriptures and you can read it there. Hebrews 11 is a good summary.

In the other chapters of this little biographical book, I will attempt to record the work of the Father in my life since He brought about my spiritual birth into His family. Physical ancestors are temporal; time erases their footprints and influences. But spiritual ancestors are eternal.  While death parts physically, those in His Family are never parted. And it is with great anticipation that I will come to the Table and sit with those who have gone before me, my eternal spiritual ancestors.

Advertisement for missionaries with the Sudan Interior Mission, about 1952.

Grandmommee and Big Father, about 1976.

Our family when I was birthed into the Father’s family, 1958.

My baby shoe, 1954.

Our prayer card, when we went to Ethiopia the first time, early 1954.

A rare letter to me from Big Father, 1973. Notice the address “Dear Me.” We were very similar.

A quilt I made for my mother in 2008; the blocks were personalized to reflect her spiritual journey.

The childhood home of Grandma Wilson is still standing and occupied in Greensboro, AL.

Grandpa Wilson, Chaplain in the Confederate Army and itinerary Methodist minister after the War.

My paternal great-grandmother, Fannie Wilson Brooks, on her wedding day. Many have said that I have her face.

William Bradford Brooks, my paternal great-grandfather, Confederate soldier, medical doctor, and editor of the first Texas medical journal.

The home where Grandmommee grew up; the medical printing press was downstairs and the family quarters were upstairs; about 1895.

On my parents’ wedding day in Miami, FL, 1952: Granddaddy, Granny, Mom, Dad, Grandmommee, Big Father. (Iron Ross, Hilda Ross, Betty Ross, Brad Lapsley, Allie Noyes Lapsley, Col. J. B. Lapsley.)

August 26, 2013

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   restoring our biblical and constitutional foundations

                

Chapter 3: Bending His Way

Becky Lynn Black  

Imagine this little African girl landing in the New York airport. I had never seen an escalator before. I had never seen an electric door before. And so many cars! Where were the donkeys and goats on the roads? And everyone was so busy, going here and there. No one had time to sit and eat kolo. And the indoor plumbing…! I was so confused by the bathtub handles bringing out hot and cold water; how could I balance them to produce a tub with the right temperature?

After the Mission’s debriefing of my parents in New York, we flew to Dallas, Texas, and moved into the home of Grandmommee and Big Father. I remember feeling that the whole world was in great sadness. This was January, 1964, just 3 months after the assassination of President J. F. Kennedy on the streets of Dallas. The whole of America was in shock, and Dallasites were especially confused by the events transpiring on their streets.

My father was busy tending to his invalid wife, trying to get us moved to our home in the White Rock Lake area, trying to get us kids arranged in our schools, and trying to process his own feelings about leaving Ethiopia. We took a 1-year leave of absence from the Mission, hoping to buy time for healing in the hopes of returning to Ethiopia one day. Of course, my child’s mind didn’t understand “leave of absence.” All I knew was that despite the stress of things, I was so happy!  I had my family together again. I was with my parents, under their protection and nurture. The weight of caring for my siblings no longer rested upon my shoulders.

In the following months, I finished fifth grade at a public school down the street from our home.  To say that I was a spectacle is an understatement! Not every school had a student move from a lifetime in Africa. They laughed at me when I wore the same dress to school on consecutive days; never mind that in Ethiopia I wore the same dress all week long. They laughed when I heard the bell ring to change classrooms, and I exclaimed “Is it time to go home already?”  They teased me that I was really African, but I had put whitewash on, and it was coming off in spots (thereby producing the freckles with which God had so richly blessed me). 

But I quickly adapted. Adaptation is a gift God has given to children, and missionary kids have honed that gift to perfection. On the mission field, there was no time to process things. Emotions could not be indulged. There was work to be done for the Kingdom, and self-pity or self-indulgence cut into the Kingdom work; it sapped energy and emotions that were needed for more important things. In today’s world of self-indulgence, I suspect that we do not really understand the words of Jesus about putting our hand to the plow and not looking back, or about forsaking all others to follow Him, or about counting the cost of discipleship. These are foreign concepts in our American churches today. But I thank God that He taught me early the joy of crucifying self for a greater purpose.

Along with all the childish teasing of my classmates at Hexter Elementary School there was a genuine amazement and interest in my life. The school administration would cancel classes and arrange extended assembly times for me to tell everyone about life in Africa. So I told about the wild animals, about boarding school, about eating kolo in the huts, and about my parent’s work. For a time, it was fascinating to adults and children alike. But then Life moved on.

Our 1-year leave of absence from the Mission ended, and we were officially terminated as missionaries. I spent 2 years at Hexter. While there, I was a crossing guard, learned Texas history, and started my own bank account. It didn’t take long for me to realize that I was different from my peers. And I was happy to be different. My attitude about life, my expectations of relationships, and my general maturity level separated me from the average student. I was able to talk with adults. I was serious about the deeper issues of life. And underneath I was still grieving the loss of my Ethiopia.

Grades 8 and 9 were spent at Hill Junior High School. I continued to be in a class all my own, though I joined the Pep Squad. Although I attended the sports games, somehow they seemed so frivolous and full of vanity.

We are the Hill Highlanders, the Hill Highlanders, as our team marches on to victory! Give a cheer for the red and green, be loyal to our team, the Highlanders from Hill!

My high school years were at Bryan Adams High. My grades averaged a solid B+.  Two classes that served me well for many years were short-hand and typing. I continued to think differently than my friends at school; their lives revolved around boys, fashion and cliques. I couldn’t understand such shallow affection. I wanted my life to count for something important.

I was taking piano lessons weekly, learning classical music as well as hymn arrangements; by junior high I was the pianist for my Sunday School class at Grace Bible Church. This musical skill has enriched my life (and others) many times over in personal and corporate worship. We attended church regularly and were involved in all the activities, including Pioneer Girls and Vacation Bible School. A favorite memory was the whole extended family going out to Luby’s Cafeteria for Sunday dinner. This was Big Father’s treat, and many days it was an investment of hundreds of dollars; I remember his receipt going for yards! Almost every Sunday I got chicken fried steak with mashed potatoes and creamed gravy. Sometimes I splurged and got a fresh strawberry pie. After dinner, we all went to Grandmommee’s house for the afternoon. Since we lived a good distance from Big Father and Grandmommee, this was usually the only time we got to see them. On a rare occasion, I would go to their home for overnight. It was like entering a very special, warm palace, complete with air-conditioning and ice cream floats!

Key women in the church became mentors to me — Martha Mattay, Ruth Pryor and others.  The superintendent of our junior high Sunday School class opened each Sunday with a recitation of 1 John 1:9: “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” At the time I thought, There are other good verses in the Bible, why do we have to open with the same one EVERY Sunday!  Little did I know that the Lord would use the truth of that verse in my life decades later. My mother enrolled me as a worker in the church, helping in VBS, keeping the nursery, etc.; few of my peers were active in this way, but I enjoyed it.  

She also enrolled us kids in the Bible Memory Association program. From September through April we had weekly assigned verses to memorize. Prizes were sent to us periodically throughout the year, and those who completed the annual program qualified for BMA camp.  So part of our summer routine was spending a week at BMA camp in Louisiana.

Although the verse assignments left much to be desired (because they were individual verses instead of passages), I loved the rewards and the camp. The rewards I chose were commentaries or plaques with verses, and some of those I still have today. The week at camp was highly focused on spiritual issues.  We spent mornings discussing our verses with others who had also memorized those same verses. We had devotional meetings in the early morning beside the lake, and we had chapel programs in the evening. The afternoons were free for recreation of swimming, horseback riding, archery, etc.  How different today’s “Christian” camps seem to be — 95- recreation and 5- devotions. I cannot overstate the spiritual impact that BMA camps had on me. It was during these weeks that I began to understand the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer, and began to listen to His gentle, soft Voice guiding me. It was here that I learned some wonderful songs of worship and testimony.  “Like the woman at the well, I was seeking…for things that could not satisfy…and then I heard my Savior speaking…’Draw from the Well, that never shall run dry’…’Fill my cup, Lord; I lift it up, Lord. Come and quench this thirsting of my soul.  Bread of Heaven, feed me til I want no more. Fill my cup, fill it up and make me whole’.”  

God was working in my heart to bring me to full surrender to Him, and I found in Him a joy, a love, a companionship, a security and a comfort that was beyond anything offered by the world system.  How I praise Him for His goodness to me in drawing me to Himself in intimacy at such an early time in my life. The song “Living for Jesus” expressed my desire.

Living for Jesus, a life that is true,
Striving to please Him in all that I do;
Yielding allegiance, glad-hearted and free,
This is the pathway of blessing for me.

O Jesus, Lord and Savior, I give myself to Thee,
For Thou, in Thy atonement, didst give Thyself for me;
I own no other Master, my heart shall be Thy throne;
My life I give, henceforth to live, O Christ, for Thee alone.

Living for Jesus Who died in my place,
Bearing on Calv’ry my sin and disgrace;
Such love constrains me to answer His call,
Follow His leading and give Him my all.

Living for Jesus through earth’s little while,
My dearest treasure, the light of His smile;
Seeking the lost ones He died to redeem,
Bringing the weary to find rest in Him.

Another routine summer activity was the swimming lessons of the American Red Cross. Each summer my mother enrolled us kids in the ARC program. By my senior year in high school, I had completed all their swimming courses, Junior Life Saving and also Senior Life Saving. With this skill, I served as life guard during summers and vacations at Pine Cove Camp in Tyler, Texas. Not only was I a life guard, I was also the instructor for water skiing. Although I did not have the coordination myself to ski, I understood the sport theoretically, and was successful in teaching many campers to ski for the first time, to ski with a single ski, or to ski with the round disc. 

As I matured into a young lady, I grew tall and slender.

I was frequently asked “Are you a model?” or “Do you play basketball?” I did neither; I lacked the clear conscience for one and the physical stamina for the other. I always wanted to be 6 feet or 6 feet 1 inch; to me those were very special women. But I never made it; I can only claim 5 foot 11-1/2 inches barefoot. I have always delighted in being tall, and do not want to share even one centimeter that the Lord has given to me!

Another happy memory of these Dallas years was our family camping trips. We had a tent trailer, and we packed 8 people and 2 dogs into this trailer.

I was a 5th generation Texan and my daddy used our camping trips to teach us about Texas. So while my mother read Texas history in cartoon format to us at bedtime, my father took us from one end of Texas to the other on family vacations. In the process I became very “proud” to be a Texan! The history of Texas is unique in the United States.  Long before Virginia was settled at Jamestown, or Massachusetts was settled at Plymouth Rock, explorers were roaming the coasts and inner lands of Texas; they were looking for the Fountain of Youth and the Pot of Gold.  The names of Coronado and LaSalle, explorers of Texas in the 1500s, were etched in my mind. I felt the challenges facing Moses Austin and his son Stephen F. Austin, the organizers of the early settlers in the 1820s. And then came Texas’ struggle for independence from Mexico — Col. Fannin at Goliad, Davy Crocket, Daniel Boone, Jim Bowie and others at the Alamo, Sam Houston at San Jacinto.  These stories became very dear to my heart. Texas is the only state that was a completely independent nation (for 10 years) before joining the USA.  The Republic of Texas joined the United States of America by treaty arrangement. And when the USA failed to honor the treaty agreement, Texas decided to secede in 1861. She was the seventh state to secede from the USA (a mere 6 weeks after the secession of South Carolina). The Article of Secession lists 19 breaches of the treaty by the USA, nullifying the treaty. Several months after secession, Texas joined the Confederate States of America. My family was deeply involved in that (failed) war of independence. 

It was on these camping trips that my love of history evolved. The past fascinated me, and knowledge of the past helped me to make sense of the happenings of today. Years later, while in college, I helped my grandfather with our family genealogy. I have always considered it a special blessing from the Lord that we could trace our biological roots and recite stories unique to our ancestors. Like it or not, we are stepping on the heels of the Past and it is a wise person who listens to the encouragements and the warnings of those who have gone before. Somehow I have felt a personal connection with each of the persons in my past, especially those who were also family in the Lord.

During these years in Dallas my mother continued to suffer terribly with headaches. All the tests for brain cancer proved negative, and the doctors were at a loss to explain the cause of her illness. Many a day I came home from school to find my mother curled up in bed, curtains drawn, and I knew that it was up to me to prepare supper and guide the children in their homework. I was happy to do this for my mother. Somehow doing it now in Dallas, in our family home, was vastly different from “being mommy” to my sisters in boarding school. As the medical tests continued to come back negative, and as the years rolled by, my poor mother was attacked spiritually through other Christians and the Evil One. Lacking medical evidence, it was presumed that the cause of my mother’s handicap was her spiritual failure, and that somehow she was failing her husband and the Lord by not bucking up so we could return to Ethiopia. Of course, none of this was disclosed to me at the time. But I know that she passed through some very deep waters because of unanswered questions. How often the Evil One uses our ignorance to suit his purposes! How important it is for us to give the benefit of the doubt to others, and to cut off the accusations of the Evil One to our own mind! Only the Lord Himself holds all knowledge; only He knows what and why He is allowing; only He knows the beginning from the ending. And if our focus is to simply walk honestly and humbly before Him, then we can trust His Spirit to convict and to guide according to His purposes.

It was not until I was in college that my mother was healed. For 13 years she suffered with these horrific headaches. Early in that time frame, she went to a chiropractor, but the treatment left her in a terrible condition of wracking pain, and she “swore” she would never go to a chiropractor again! But the day came when she was lying in bed again, and she prayed, “Father, if You want me to try another chiropractor, then You must show me by doing 3 things. The chiropractor must be a woman, her office must be local, and she must have an opening for me this afternoon.” Then she got out the yellow pages and dialed. On the first call, all three of these conditions were met!  So she got dressed and drove herself to the office. It was this woman chiropractor who found the cause of Mom’s headaches. The diagnosis? A jammed top vertebrae. The top vertebrae was jammed at an angle into the base of her skull! Only then did we realize that all the rough roads in Ethiopia had finally damaged her vertebrae. The chiropractor gently worked with Mom, and in a very short time the headaches were relieved.

It is my opinion that making my mother an invalid was the only way the Lord could keep my family out of Ethiopia, so that I did not have to return to boarding school. By the time of her cure, all of the children were in Junior High, High School, or College, and the logistics of returning to Ethiopia were seemingly insurmountable. So we remained in Dallas.

There is a saying, “You can take the girl out of Africa, but you can’t take Africa out of the girl.”   As I approached my senior year in High School, we began to plan for my college education.  Considering possible fields of study, there was really only one choice for me: nursing. I knew I wanted to go back to Ethiopia, and I figured that the people needed nurses — so I was going to become a nurse! It never dawned on me to ask if I liked nursing, or if it fit my personality, or if I would be good at it. The need of the people was all that counted.

To be a missionary nurse, I not only needed a nursing education, but I also needed a Bible education. A minimum of 1 year’s Bible education was required by most mission boards. So we began to look for a school that would offer both Bible and nursing, preferably in the same setting for the full 5 years required. Biola College in La Mirada, California (near Los Angeles) was the only school offering a B.S. in Nursing with an integrated Bible education on the same campus for the entire course of study. So I enrolled in this college. (Interestingly, the nursing program was the outgrowth of the School of Missionary Medicine.) My plan was to complete my bachelor’s degree, then take a year of specialized training in midwifery and tropical diseases before applying to SIM for Ethiopia.

The day we flew from Dallas to Los Angeles I was struck with appendicitis. We didn’t know what it was, put a hot water bottle on it, and 4 days later I was rushed to the hospital deathly ill with peritonitis from a burst appendix. So my college days started with a bang!

The first 2 years were spent studying liberal arts and sciences; the last 3 years were spent studying various aspects of nursing practice.

Between these two segments I took the summer to go on Practical Missionary Training. This was a 2-month program in Central America designed to help college students become better informed about mission work. It was a great program, but when I entered a hospital in Guatemala, I immediately became nauseated, overcome by the smells and sites. “Oh, no!” I exclaimed to myself. “I’ve made a big mistake! How can I be a nurse if I get nauseated at the smells and sites of a hospital?” What followed was a great time on my knees before the Lord, asking Him to guide me. What a relief when my clinical courses started that Fall and I was just fine! (The only other time in 33 years of nursing that I became faint was when I was watching an amputation surgery. Otherwise, God blessed me with a strong stomach.)

Now comes the romantic part of this journal 🙂

As part of my preparation for the mission field, I figured that I needed a husband who was spiritual. What better place to find such a person than in the Bible Department? At that time, the Bible Department had the largest number of majors in the College, followed by the Nursing Department. So I kept my eyes open and began dating men in the Bible major.

Boy, was I in for a shock! As already written, my whole thinking and worldview was different from most of my peers, largely because of my upbringing in Ethiopia, but also because God matured me in Him so deeply in my high school years. And what I found in these Bible majors were men who were as spiritually shallow, vain, and frivolous as the rest of civilization!

In November, 1973, I’d had enough. I “met” with the Lord in my dorm room to discuss the situation. I readily admit that the communication was one-way; I don’t remember a thing He “said,” but I remember well what I said.  “Lord, I’d rather go to Ethiopia single than married to a man to whom I must be a spiritual mother! So, let’s just forget about a husband. That part of the plan is hereby deleted.”  After this “conversation” with the Lord, I was so happy and free. A big load had been lifted from me. Now the road to Ethiopia was wide open!

Little did I know that the Lord was about to introduce His choice for me — and it would be a Bible major! About 2 weeks later I was standing in line at the cafeteria. It was about 6 p.m., and I was due to be at work at 6:30.  (I worked at the college switchboard; it was the old-fashioned kind with all the cords and switches!) As I waited in line, I looked toward the door and saw a tall man helping his blind roommate through the door. “There’s your husband,” the Lord said to me, as clear as if He were standing beside me in person! I thought to myself, “Maybe I should remind Him of our discussion”; then I told myself,  “No, He knows.”

There was absolutely no doubt in my mind of His word to me, and there was no doubt of my accepting His decision. From the moment He spoke, I accepted His appointment. As Dave and Rubens came behind me in line, Dave offered me a chocolate-covered macadamia nut candy; he had just received a box from his mother in Hawaii. I thought to myself, “You don’t know this, but you are offering this to your future wife.” I ate the nut (Dave’s version is that I’ve been nuts over him ever since!), moved through the cafeteria line, and sat down at one of the tables. Dave and Rubens joined me, but our meal together was short, as I had to be at work soon.

It took Dave 2 years and 8 months to come to the conclusion that I was meant to be his wife.  During that time we “dated” off and on.

One of our favorite times together was the annual Christmas festivity called “Celebrate the Son.”  This was an assortment of events, including drama, chorale, and orchestra; we moved from building to building for each event, and finished the evening by singing the Hallelujah Chorus with the orchestra in the gymnasium. Other times were just sipping coffee in Bob’s Big Boy coffee shop. In fact, it was Dave who taught me to like coffee! We never went to a movie, except the surfing movies shown in Huntington Beach along the coast highway. Many people said, “When are you two going to get engaged?!” I wasn’t in any hurry. I knew he was taken; we were already engaged on the Lord’s books, and that was good enough for me. Besides, I needed to finish nursing school.

But my goal for finishing nursing school had now changed. Marriage trumped Missions, and Obedience trumped Overseas. As Dave and I talked, it became clear that Dave was not appointed to mission work; his heart was in education.  As a wife, it was my part to bend to him, not the other way around. Through the years, folk have asked me if I wasn’t being disobedient by forsaking Missions for Marriage. My answer is this: God never appointed me to Missions; I had appointed myself, because of my love for Ethiopia. It was what I wanted to do; it was a working out of an inner longing. Marriage, on the other hand, was a definite appointment by God. How could I equate His appointment to my longing? No, Marriage (in my case) definitely trumped Missions.

My love for Ethiopia, my interest in mission work, and my desire to use my gifts and abilities for people less advantaged remained in me. But I was no longer footloose and fancy free; I was bound to work alongside another, yoked together. My plans for my life had to be voluntarily submitted to the life work of the man to whom I had been appointed. 

I completed my bachelor’s degree, graduated on a Saturday in June, 1976, and drove off with my family. Where I came from, if a woman is not engaged to be married, she is to return to her home upon graduation. So returning to Dallas with my family was never questioned. As Dave says, when he watched me go away in that big van, something happened inside him. He was lost. He phoned our pastor’s wife, Doris Hakes, and 2 days later she sat across from him at lunch and said “Don’t you know you’re supposed to marry that girl!?”  With this clear guidance, he wasted no time! I had figured that he would come to Dallas in September and we would be married in December. Instead, he came to Dallas in July and we were married 6 weeks later. 

On September 11, 1976, the Lord established our marriage at Grace Bible Church in Dallas, Texas. It was the first afternoon wedding in that church. It was a relatively simple affair. My sisters served as my bridesmaids, arrayed in a rainbow of colors, and an assortment of men, including blind Rubens Marshall, served as Dave’s groomsmen. I sewed my wedding dress and my mother made the bridesmaids dresses. Dave and his groomsmen wore traditional Hawaii wedding dress of white shirt and white slacks. I carried a cascading bouquet and Dave had a maile vine lei draped over his shoulders. 

As part of our ceremony we placed pikake leis around our mothers. For myself, all of this wedding hoopla was for the benefit of my parents and others who had supported me over the years; I could not deny them the joy of my wedding day.

Today so many young couple have totally self-centered weddings; “This is MY day!” they proclaim to all. Such a sad way to start married life! As far as I was concerned, just say the magic words to make me his wife — everything else could be chucked away! The simple African girl was showing again 🙂

To this day, “Mrs. Black” is my favorite name.

September 6, 2013

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December 2010 Blog Archives

Friday, December 31

5:14 PM Rod Decker responds.

(No sweat about that non-blog remark, Rod. My idea was to send folk your way anyhow!)

4:45 PM Fellow Energion author Bob Cornwall offers aScripture reading for the New Year. Quite appropriate I think. Do take a minute to read it.

4:10 PM My good friend and colleague (and yes, snake handler) Alvin Reidreflects on 2010 and examines the life worth living. Good stuff. Really good stuff. I especially enjoyed #9.

See you next week pal.

4:02 PM Mike Knox (no relation to the one and only Alan Knox) reviewsOriginal Sin: A Cultural History.

3:52 PM Getting ready for a few dinner guests. B’s cooking 3 kinds of soups. Yes, I said three. Can’t wait to have a bit of all of them.

12:10 PM The answer to our fish quiz?Humuhumunukunukuapuaa. A famous Hawaiian song is based on it:

I want to go back to my little grass shack
In Kealakekua, Hawaii.
I want to be with all the kanes and wahines
That I used to know.

I can hear the guitars playing
On the beach at Hoonaunau.
I can hear the beach boys saying
Komo mai no kaua i ka hale welakahao.

It won’t be long till my ship will be sailing
Back to Kona.
A grand old place
That’s always fair to see.

I’m just a little Hawaiian and a lonely island boy
I want to go back to my fish and poi.

I want to go back to my little grass shack
In Kealakekua, Hawaii.
Where the humuhumunukunukuapuaa
Go swimming by.

Ain’t that sweet?

P.S. I’m available to perform it for you with my ukulele. Cheap. Just call my booking agent: Dewey Cheatem.

11:38 AM Want to practice your Hebrew? Gohere.

11:12 AM Fellow teacher, are you serving your students? Do you remember in John 21 how the risen Lord prepared breakfast for His disciples? I can’t imagine how wonderful that meal must have been. The disciples had deserted Jesus only a few days earlier, and yet here He is serving them. Our challenge as teachers is not to disseminate information. It is model to our students what it means to take the role of a servant seriously.

10:30 AM Isaac just had his second water color lesson. Here’s the original:

And here’s Isaac’s rendition of it:

Love it!

Anybody want to guess the name of this Hawaiian fish? (Answer to come.)

9:31 AM One of the biggest weaknesses in my life is ingratitude. Great character is known by its thankful spirit. Paul anticipated the need for gratitude when he wrote Phil. 4:6:

Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition,with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.

It is time for me to learn how to pray thankfully, with a quiet confidence in the care and provision of my Heavenly Father. As the new year approaches, God seems to be saying to me:

If you let trivial trials wear you down, you will feel exhausted when you face the lion. Stop your needless fretting. You can bring everything under my all-seeing eye. Whatever this new year may hold for you. you can be sure of one thing: I, your Father, will hear and answer your every request.

Paul says, “Let God know your needs in prayers and requests while giving thanks.” In 2011 may my whole life be one big “Thank You” to God, the living expression of my gratitude to my Heavenly Father for His inexhaustible goodness!

8:21 AM I see thediscussion at Eric’s site is broadening. I’m all for it. Perhaps there might be some benefit in something I wrote a few years ago. It’s calledThe Paper Perfect Church. May the discussion continue for the glory of God and the edification of the church!

7:57 AM As the year draws to  a close, I encourage you to read Michael Westmoreland-White’s excellent piece calledTaking the Passed Torch: Theologians Who Died 2000-10 As Challenge for Those Who Tarry. This is biblioblogging at its very best.

Update: For 2007 Michael notes the following death:

Vernard Eller (1927-07). American theologian, pacifist, Christian anarchist, and minister in the Church of the Brethren.  A major interpreter of Søren Kierkegaard, Karl Barth, the Blumhardts and Jacques Ellul, Eller had a folksy way of speaking and writing that led some to underestimate the seriousness of his theological writing.  He was a major critic of much feminist theology, especially the use of feminine imagery for God, which Eller believed led to a lapse into Canaanite fertility religion.  He was also a strong critic of materialism and nationalism in Christian churches, advocating for simplicity, reducing possessions, radical sharing of wealth, and critical of sacramental views of baptism and the Lord’s Supper (which he believed would rob them of their ethical content).

I call this to your attention for the simple reason that the writings of Eller are practically unknown today in evangelical circles. For what it’s worth, I have tried to popularize his thinking (and that of Jacques Ellul) in my bookChristian Archy.

7:45 AM Lance Ponder asksHow do you count it “all joy” when things are tough? I love his peroration:

Over time you can grow in faith to the point where trials aren’t distractions dividing you from the Lord, but rather they are the things that propelled you toward the Lord.

7:38 AM Now here’s an interestingfactlet: 46 percent of Germans are cremated when they die. This raises a question:

Wenn die Heilige Schrift für den Christen Richtschnur für Lehre und Leben ist, bleibt zu fragen, wie die Feuerbestattung aus biblischer Perspektive einzuordnen ist.

The answer?

Alles in allem bleibt bei mir folgender Eindruck:

– das AT u. NT geben keinen direkten Hinweis zur Kremation, insofern können Christen zu unterschiedlichen Auffassungen kommen

– der Trend hin zur Kremation kann vorsichtig als Symptom für den Verlust eines biblischen Anthropologie in unserer Gesellschaft gedeutet werden

– die Apostel, die Kirchenväter und nachfolgende Generationen haben wegen der tiefen Verbundenheit mit Christus und der Auferstehungshoffnung (vor allem hier die Auferstehung des Körpers!) die Kremation verurteilt. Warum nicht bei dieser Tradition bleiben?

Do you agree?

(I imagine our friend Rod Decker might have something to offer here.)

7:28 AM Snapped this two minutes ago:

The Psalmist wrote:

God’s glory is on tour in the skies, God-craft on exhibit across the horizon.
   Madame Day holds classes every morning,
      Professor Night lectures each evening.

 Their words aren’t heard,
      their voices aren’t recorded,
   But their silence fills the earth:
      unspoken truth is spoken everywhere.

God makes a huge dome
      for the sun—a superdome!
   The morning sun’s a new husband
      leaping from his honeymoon bed,
   The daybreaking sun an athlete
      racing to the tape.

7:16 AM If you’ve signed up for my Exegesis of Mark class in the spring, take a look atthis:

I was delighted to discover tonight that a new DVD edition of Max McLean’s one-man show, “Mark’s Gospel,” is now available. Iinterviewed Max about the production last year, when it was running as a live show in the Chicago Theater District. It is a word-for-word dramatic recitation of the entire Gospel of Mark.

I was even happier to discover that the whole performance is available for free online. Each video below represents a chapter of Mark’s Gospel. All said, it runs about an hour and a half in length. I think you’ll find hearing this interpretation—and hearing the whole book at once, rather than just piecemeal—to be an enriching, edifying experience.

I plan on watching each video myself. Care to join me?

6:58 AM In the latest issue of the Journal of Greco-Roman Christianity and Judaism there’s an excellent essay on stylistic features in the Greek New Testament. It’s calledThe Development of Style (Fifth Century BCE to Second Century BCE) and the Consequences for Understanding the Style of the New Testament (.pdf). The author makes a convincing argument that the rhetorical level of language is a significant level for receptors. I agree completely and, in fact, have made rhetorical analysis one of the ten steps in my approach to doing New Testament exegesis (Using New Testament Greek in Ministry). I’ve dabbled a bit in this field myself. If anyone is interested, I will be happy to send you a copy of my essay “Literary Artistry in the Epistle to the Hebrews” (which appeared in Filologia Neotestamentaria) absolutely free for the asking. Just email me and I’ll send it to you as a file attachment.

6:42 AM It is a fearful thing when the world enters the church. So argues Kevin Brown in his latest blog postA sign of the times. Kevin, writing about the issue of homosexuality, notes we live in the days of Lukewarm Laodicea where the church is rich and increased on the outside with goods and needing nothing. Eventually it will become the world-church of the Antichrist. Kevin writes:

We are living in a day and age that homosexuality WILL become totally accepted and even revered in the next 10-15 years. Why? Because it is “politically correct.”

I couldn’t agree more. If you will recall, the exact thing happened with the issue of divorce. When I was a child, divorce and remarriage were consistently denounced by the church. Rockefeller was a case in point. For a Christian to vote for Rockefeller (who had been divorced and remarried) was unthinkable. However, all of this changed in the 1970s and 1980s when evangelicals had to come to terms with the fact that so many of their own had divorced and remarried and because of their support for Ronald Reagan (who was also divorced and remarried). At that time I began to notice a subtle shift away from denunciations of divorce and remarriage to condemnations of abortion. The Religious Right simply ignored or explained away the biblical inunctions about divorce and remarriage, so much so that where I live (the rural South) divorce and remarriage are almost AOK among Baptists. Evangelicals seem to be conspicuously silent about the matter today. I’m not saying we turn a blind eye to the problem. I’m just agreeing with Kevin that we have become guilty of selective literalism when it comes to applying biblical truth to our own lifestyles.

Kevin is also correct about the solution. Do not look for a great mass revival in Lukewarm Laodicea. It has no ears for the One who knocks outside the door. The problem is one of lack of genuine conversion, and the solution must therefore be the Gospel. Again, Kevin says it well:

So, should we march on Washington with signs and bullhorns? I believe we should lead people to Christ. We are told to “go and make disciples of all nations” (Matthew 28:19-) Jesus said, we are to “teach them.” Friends, we’ve simply got to get back to giving people Jesus…not a petition to sign or a Senator to email or call. Yes, there may be a time and place for these things, but ultimately, I’m not called to do anything but to “go and make disciples.”

Sin is our problem, and when people are given less then the cure they are left in a worse state than ever.

6:17 AM A good word this morning from Thomas Hudgins abouttreasuring the Bible. I also note with delight that he has nowcompleted translating chapter 13 of my grammar into Spanish. Only 13 more to go!

Thursday, December 30

5:12 PM The irrepressible Michael Green is scheduled to speak on campus at the20/20 collegiate conference in February. Anybody interested in New Testament-style renewal will want to hear Michael’s message.

4:51 PM Becky’s making oven fried chicken for supper tonight. Ain’t nothin’ like her fried chicken. I may lose my self-control.

4:42 PM Guess what I get to do all over again on Monday? Teach Greek! I wonder if I’m an unusual teacher in that I never get tired of the classroom? I can’t begin a new Greek class without being reminded of my own dismal failure as a Greek student. I lasted all of 3 weeks at Biola. And today I’m teaching the language! (God has a huge sense of humor.) Students, as you begin your studies next week, my advice is simple: know yourself. Recognize your strengths, your weaknesses, your danger spots, the things in your personality that will keep you from succeeding in the course. Keep close to the Lord and ask Him to help you at your weakest points. Work hard to present yourself to God as a worker who doesn’t need to be ashamed. In Rom. 14:17-18 Paul says that “the kingdom of God does not mean food and drink but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. The one who thus serves Christ is acceptable to God and approved by people.” This should be the aim of every one of us, whether teachers or students. We are to do our utmost to win God’s approval and others’ acceptance. For my part, this means that I will do my very best to:

• make class interesting

• motivate you to work hard

• help you succeed

• make the assignments as fair as possible

• treat each of you as a unique individual

• answer your questions as clearly and courteously as possible

• be available outside of class

• answer your emails within 24 hours

• pray for you by name daily

• keep my beard trimmed (ha!)

Of course, this is easier said than done. But these are my goals. My promise to you is this: If you complete all of your assignments and do well in them, the payoff will be the ability to read your Greek New Testament with the use of a lexicon. Beyond that, I hope you will be better prepared to recognize (and avoid) exegetical fallacies. Above all, I trust the course will help you to become a more obedient follower of the Lord Jesus.

So…

Get ready to ruuuummmbbbbble!

4:20 PM William Gurnall was a Church of England minister who lived in the seventeenth century. In the introduction to his classic work on Eph. 6:10-17 he writes, in the elevated prose of his day:

Whet your courage at the throne of grace, from whence all your recruits of soul-strength come. Send faith oft up the hill of promise, to see and bring the certain news of Christ’s coming to you, yea, and assured victory with him.

“Send faith oft up the hill of promise.” We are all likely to need this word of encouragement today. I know I do. Gurnall’s words ring so true. Whatever trials we might have to endure this day, we can face the battles of life with blessed assurance. We can enter our battles with genuine optimism and with complete confidence that we will emerge victorious. Gurnall was expressing his unflinching faith in one decisive fact — that “in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us” (Rom. 8:37).

Amen.

3:50 PM Just back from UNC. Results tomorrow, Lord willing.

9:34 AM The latest addition to our home page is called Miracles. Off to get B’s CT-scan. 

8:48 AM Eric Carpenter’slatest essay deserves mention this morning. What he says in his closing paragraph is true, for indeed the gathering of the church in New Testament times was highly participatory. But you will notice that 1 Cor. 12 is followed by 1 Cor. 13. Let me say it plainly. I am suspicious of any renewal movement in the church that does not follow the law of love in all things. Follow Eric’s advice and I think there’s a strong likelihood that your pastor will accuse you of being exceedingly disrespectful and discourteous. And he’d be right. We could use a lot of plain, old-fashioned kindness in the church today. Alas, too many even of God’s most godly people impress us with prophecy and knowledge but never learn how to be kind. A truly great Christian is always respectful. There is nothing weak or effeminate about it. Anyone can be confrontational — and confrontational is just what I think Eric’s method is. “You don’t have to ask his permission to speak during the gathering, but it would be good to do so as a matter of Christian courtesy.” This looks like hubris to me, plain and simple.

My suggestion? Here it is, for what it’s worth. If you’d like to see more participation during or after the sermon time in your church, get to know your pastor. Pray for him regularly. Develop a close, personal friendship with him. Let him know how greatly you respect him, as you are commanded to do in 1 Thess. 5:12-13 (CEV):

My friends, we ask you to be thoughtful of your leaders who work hard and tell you how to live for the Lord. Show them great respect and love because of their work. Try to get along with each other.

Then, within the “safe zone” established by that relationship, you will, I believe, discover opportunity after opportunity to talk with him about church life. I enjoy such a strong and healthy relationship with my pastor at Bethel Hill that I feel free to ask him for the privilege of “saying a word” during the teaching time, and he is glad to grant me that privilege. And not only me. I’ve seen him gladly accommodate requests from moms and teens and just about anybody who has something the Lord has put on their heart. You see, the context is one of undeniable mutual love, and love makes all the difference.

Friends, if we rush into matters in a confrontational manner, we may soon regret what that does to our testimony. This makes for shallow and inadequate renewal because we have not touched the heart of the matter. It’s easy to say to our pastor, “I believe I have the right to speak up this morning during the sermon time, and I’d like to know on what biblical basis you think I’m wrong.” And, in some contexts, that may be the right thing to say. But — and this is just my opinion — unless it is spoken within the context of a healthy personal relationship, it will fail to accomplish its purpose.

A willingness to speak out on controversial issues is, I believe, a healthy thing. Eric does it all the time, and so do I. It is hardly the mark of a mature Christian to sink into an acceptance of things as things are when some of them could be changed. But it is just as wrong to engage in a “battle for the truth” under the false guise of greater spirituality. If we have fallen into this sin, may God cure us of our rashness and impatience and the error of youthful enthusiasm.

7:44 AM Quote of the day:

“Even within the church, there’s always ego,” Mr. Yi said. “It’s still human society.”

Yi is referring to a dispute between the Chinese and Latino congregations that meet in the same United Methodist church in Brooklyn. SeeBrooklyn Immigrant Congregations Clash. “Even within the church, there’s always ego.” Sad but oh so true.

 Wednesday, December 29

5:50 PM This email warmed my heart:

…thanks to b Greek comments I bought three of your books.

5:36 PM Bec’s in the kitchen right now cooking supper. I have no idea what it is except that it will include rice. Yes, rice. Korean rice in fact. Sticky, gooey rice. That will make our dog Sheba very happy. 

5:22 PM Today I gave Isaac his first water color lesson. Would you like to attend his inaugural art show?

Here’s the original photograph:

And here’s Isaac’s rendition of it:

I tell you, that Isaac has some God-given talent. Way to go, young man!

12:23 PM Great excitement is brewing over John Piper’s nextpastors conference in Minneapolis. And rightly so. The lineup of speakers is outstanding. Of course, the host pastor won’t be doing all of the speaking. In fact, I imagine he’ll be sitting there listening to other speakers, profiting from their teaching. And the attendees will enjoy a varied and multifaceted ministry.

Now I’ve got a question. Why shouldn’t the same pattern apply in our local churches? Why shouldn’t we be able to enjoy a varied and multifaceted teaching ministry? Think this is a crazy idea? Read Acts 15:35.

(I’ll give you a minute to look up this verse.)

Note it carefully. Paul was not the only teacher in the church at Antioch. The text clearly says, “Paul and Barnabas, together with many others, taught and preached the word of the Lord.” Did you get that? Paul and Barnabas weren’t the only teachers in Antioch. They didn’t monopolize the teaching ministry. My guess is that in most American churches this pattern is not followed, even though there may well be several gifted teachers in their midst. In fact, if your church has qualified leaders, then each of them is required to be able to teach the word of God (see 1 Tim. 3:2). Sure, in many Baptist churches these leaders are often called deacons, but if they are engaged in spiritual leadership then they are really elders.

So think about it. If the apostle Paul, who was one of the greatest Bible teachers the world has ever seen, was prepared to listen to others, why shouldn’t we?

12:06 PM This has been a day for intense writing. I’ve gotten several pages written, and Becky has just finished an essay for our home page. I hope to post it later today. It’s called “Miracles.” You’ll love it.

8:40 AM If you haven’t had the pleasure already, you’ll want to read Leeana Tankersley’sHating the war, loving my husband. And here’s a tip of the kepi to all of you military wives who crawl into the trenches daily along with your husbands.

Tuesday, December 28

8:37 PM The intrepid Andy Bowdendefends himself.

8:31 PM Okay, so maybe I should have an RSS feed. But have they designed one yet for someone who publishes a “My Space-Face Book-You Tube-Twitter-Blog-Journal-Diary”?

8:18 PM Just got an update from our son Nigussie in Alaba:

Today the Beshanos case apealed for the court case. We pressented  for investgeters witnesss  about the situaion. Tomorow it will continue. Tow brother are here with us for this situation.

No need to correct the grammar. You get the point. Nigussie also sent the following pictures. Tessema is recovering nicely from his head wounds.

On the other hand, our vehicle windows still need replacing.

Please pray for Nigussie as he handles this case on behalf of the church in Alaba. Please also keep in mind that the church in Ethiopia will survive, and perhaps even thrive, in the face of government-sanctioned opposition. Jesus didn’t have the benefit of state sanction when He established His church, yet within three decades of the resurrection Christianity had reached the ends of the earth. The state sanctioning of Christianity that began with Constantine was hardly a blessing to the church. So do not pray for state endorsement of Christianity in Ethiopia or anywhere else for that matter. True faith can flourish even when it is not protected by the government.

Oh, how I wish I were in Alaba to stand with my brothers and sisters!

5:14 PM B and I enjoyed our drive into South Boston today to get her blood work done. Saw lots of pretty snowmen along the way. Tonight I’m taking her out for her favorite meal: prime rib. Thankful the roads are drivable.

By the way, does the above qualify as a blog post? Aren’t you glad I don’t have an RSS feed!!!

9:42 AM The Huff Post treats us to thecutest animal photos of 2010.

If you are not an animal lover, shame on you. Thou shalt heed the words of Saint Basil, Bishop of Caesarea (ca. 375):

Oh, God, enlarge within us the sense of fellowship with all living things, our brothers the animals to whom Thou gavest the earth in common with us. We remember with shame that in the past we have exercised the high dominion of man with ruthless cruelty so that the voice of the earth, which should have gone up to Thee in song, has been a groan of travail.

Okay, that’s a bit over the top, but animals are special to me. God values all that He created, and we should too.

9:25 AM Is Harry Potter a good Christian? Danielle Tumminio thinks so. You can read it about ithere.

9:14 AM Like kudzu or Jason in Friday the Thirteenth, some traditions refuse to die, but surely one that merits an early grave is the notion that reciting the pledge of allegiance to the American flag is a litmus test of one’s faith in God. Thus argues Arthur Sido, and I think he’s right. Read his essayWhere should we direct our allegiance?

9:05 AM Yesterday Henry Neufeldcalled his readers’ attention to a new series of essays on intelligent design at the Science & the Sacred website. Henry opines:

I’ve rejected the design inference on the grounds of garbage-in garbage-out. You can’t determine how likely a chain of events is when you don’t know what events constitute the chain. The probability of unknown events is, well, unknown, or so it seems to me.

Is intelligent design nothing but an attempt to cloak creationism in the guise of science? Is it, as someone once said, “creationism in a cheap tuxedo”?

As someone who took geology from Henry Morris and Duane Gish at Biola many years ago, I look forward to reading this series.

8:25 AM According to the Joshua Project, the Unreached People Group of the Day are the Afar of Ethiopia:

Population:1,429,000Language:AfarReligion:IslamEvangelical:0.10-Status:Unreached (1.2 )  

As never before, we need God’s servants who are willing to risk their lives to preach the uncompromising gospel to the lost peoples of the world.

8:08 AM Caleb just walked into my office proudly sporting his new ukulele in its handsome carrying case. Then Isaac walks in holding his art set. Haven’t seen Micah yet but I’m sure that as soon as he finishes his morning chores he’ll be getting his Tinker Toys out. Looks like we chose winners as gifts (thanks to the advice of Liz!). 

7:56 AM It hardly seems possible. In just over a week the Rondeaus will be leaving frigid southern Virginia for the balmy climes of Upstate New York. Last night Becky and I gave the boys their “Aloha” gifts. (Aloha, of course, means both “goodbye” and “I love you” in Hawaiian.) There was a buy-in however. They had to figure out four clues before they could arrive at their treasure trove.

Eventually they found their way to Papa B and Mama B’s bedroom — and their gifts. Now Caleb will have his very own uke to take with him to his new home.

And Isaac, who loves to draw, has a nifty 80-piece art set.

Finally, Micah’s found yet another outlet for his urge to build.

We’ll miss these boys. What joy they’ve brought to our home!  

7:40 AM Feel led this morning to thank those who have encouraged us in our cancer journey. We accept this trial as a blessing from the Lord. It is for His glory and for our good. We simply pray that God would use it to conform us to the image of His Son.

Monday, December 27

3:50 PM Please join me in welcoming SEBTS gradJosh Honeycutt to the wonderful world of blogging.

3:44 PM Alan Knox hits it out of the ball park in his essay calledHelp Or Get Out of the Way. To be honest, given the control some pastors want to exercise among their flocks, I’d resign as an evangelical if I knew where to send the letter. I understand the impulse to channel efforts through the local church, but I’m not ready to concede absolute authority to local church leadership. One of my former doctoral students, Matthew McDill, wrote his dissertation on this very subject. He sought to rescue the pastorate from what he considered to be the abuse of privilege and status. (See hisThe Authority of Church Elders in the New Testament [.pdf]. Matthew, by the way, does not speak from the distance of an ivory tower; he serves as an elder at Highland Christian Fellowship in Boone, NC.)

As much as I love my local church, and as much as I respect the leaders at Bethel Hill, the Body of Christ is not limited to my local congregation or yours, and efforts to serve others apart from officially-sanctioned church “programs” ought to be lauded, not condemned, as Alan rightly notes.

11:45 AM Allan Bevere is feeling an awful lot like a resident alien. I can identify with him completely.

Living in the time between the times we experience the tension embodying kingdom citizenship in our present space that resists God’s kingdom come. We do not live with one foot in the God’s kingdom and the other in the kingdoms of the world. The Sermon on the Mount is meant to be lived in the here and now, but it cannot be fully obeyed unless we posture ourselves completely in the divine reign while confronting the current age with the Lordship of Jesus Christ, as we live as God’s kingdom citizens in the present time between first and second Advents.

ReadLiving in the Time Between the Times and be blessed.

11:36 AM Just reviewed my blogging goals for 2011. They are found in 1 Cor. 14:3. I pray that everything I write speaks edification, encouragement, and comfort into your life. Praise the Lord — what an opportunity the internet affords to do all three! Yes, we are called to conflict, but with our real enemy, not our fellow believers.

So … do you have a theme verse for your blog? If so, why not share it with the rest of us?

11:32 AM POX90 has nothing on shoveling snow in your driveway. Whew! What a workout!

9:16 AM Some good reasons tostudy Greek. 

8:59 AM Looks like the Bowden Blog has gone off the deep end. Instead of publishing profound thoughts about theology, Andy is stooping so low as to post You Tubes of his baby’s hiccups. Before you know it he’ll be showing us pictures of him walking his dogs.

What is happening to the blogosphere!!

8:51 AM Before you write your next term paper, you might want to glance at the Constructive Curmudgeon’sSome Woes Concerning the Writing of Papers.

8:28 AM Every seminary student needs to read Nate Claiborne’s latest blog post calledTheological Identity Crisis. Here’s a sampler:

Being a seminary student, at Dallas Theological Seminary no less, I have the opportunity to talk to great repositories of theological knowledge on a semi-daily basis (and sometimes even to professors too!). It has been said you can tell a man from Dallas Seminary, but you can’t tell him much. An implication of this is that many of us think we know much more than we actually do. Honestly, I think this follows the stereotypical college path. First year Th.M students know they don’t know much. Second year students think they know a lot. Third year students are starting to get impressed with how much they know. Fourth year students either come out of it and are bewildered by how little they actually know, or they think they are destined to be the next Luther. If no one will play the pope, then they’ll just have to appoint someone to have 95 theses nailed to their door.

“Play the pope.” I love it! It would be funny if it wasn’t so true. Students, let’s never forget who we are: fallen human beings. Wear your learning humbly.

7:57 AM Yesterday the Dallas Morning News profiledKen Starr, the head of Baylor University, and his attempt to make Baylor a world-class Christian university. What struck me more than anything in reading this story was Starr’s obvious leadership skills. Two components stood out: his inter-personal skills, and his commitment to encouraging others. The article states:

When asked what a typical day is like, he says: “Well, tonight I have to be at a dinner and then a lecture and then two basketball games. That’s the ‘encouragement’ part….”

I like that. Students and faculty need to know how much we care about them. That’s true on my campus and on yours. Simple tokens of courtesy go a long way. For example, when I have a student in my office and my phone rings, I never answer it. Why should I? The machine will take the message for me. I also leave my office door open at all times, except when I am in an important private meeting. Greeting students, even strangers, as you pass them on campus? Why not?

The teachers I remember from my seminary days were those with just such qualities as Starr seems to possess. I wish him and his vision well.

7:06 AM Quote of the day (Francis Chan, upon quitting his pastorate and leaving the U.S.):

I think there has been too much emphasis on me. I want to be used by God, but I think we have this desire to make heroes out of people rather than following God and the Holy Spirit.

7:02 AM Looking forward to welcoming Justin B., Josh C., John E., Chris E., John E., Kevin G., John G., Ben H., Chris H., Doug H., Minwoo J., Perry K., Andrew L., Moncy M., David M., Thomas R., Blair R., Chris R., Joel S., Mark S., Roch S., Scott Y., Joel G., Spencer G., Matthew M., Matthew J., Quinny S., Zach S., Bradley S., Savannah T., and Tim W. to my J-term Greek class on Jan. 3. The course syllabus is available at Moodle. Please email me if you have any questions. And if anybody wants to get a head start, you can read chapter 1 and begin memorizing the alphabet. That’s not as difficult as you might think.

Sunday, December 26

6:14 PM It was dusk, and I still could not get enough of the snowy beauty, so I took all three dogs for a long walk.

I was amused at the antics of Alpha, who stole some of the bread we had put out earlier for the birds.

Have you ever seen a cuter thief?

When we returned to the Hall, Becky thoughtfully had the porch lights on. It was beginning to feel a lot like Christmas.

Now we are ensconced again in a warm and happy house, the fire place blazing, Becky watching Wives and Daughters, and I reading an escape book. Looking forward to the return of the Rondeaus tomorrow from Roanoke. The house has been much too quiet of late.

4:34 PM Finally, a yearlyBible reading plan I like.

4:05 PM Double blessing: Becky’s homemade corn chowder, then a long nap. Love this time of the year.

12:41 PM Becky and I just took Sheba for a leisurely stroll. Yes, outdoors. Amazing beauty. Enjoy the pix!

11:06 AM A snowy day is a good time for reflection. So, with your permission….

It has finally dawned on me. Just as nature has entered the period we call “winter,” so B and I have passed the autumn of our lives and energy. We are glad to be doing so as a couple. How in the world would we ever be able to bear our trials alone? The older we get, the more pressing the question becomes: What shall we live for? On what shall we spend our flagging time and effort? In a nutshell: Why are we here?

We live in a society that is lukewarm, neither hot nor cold. Our “Christian” culture, like my household thermostat, is set on a comfortable 70. But if there is one thing Becky and I pray for it is this: God, deliver us from comfortable Christianity! A poor wretched world trembles from one catastrophe to another — from cholera outbreaks to deadly typhoons to ocean-wide tsunamis. Nations arrogantly unleash more bombs than balm on earth. What to do? “Test all things,” says Paul (1 Thess. 5:21). Ask ourselves, Have we truly come to terms yet with our godless society? Or have we agreed not to arouse its antagonisms? Have we become experts at coming up with alibis for not serving Jesus radically and scandalously?

It seems we have a built-in propensity to get by with shoddy stuff, using cheap substitutes of wood, hay, and straw. Our ambitious religious projects need no second-guessing and certainly no “testing.” How old-fashioned it sounds today when someone asks, “Why are we doing things the way we do them?” Could it be we have not yet moved from Calvary to Pentecost? When we become followers of Christ we are set on fire. Perhaps, if we are to test all things and hold fast to that which is good, we need to stop quenching the Spirit. The greatest enemy of Christianity is not extremism but apathy. Nothing under the sun can be as tedious as doing “ministry” without the Holy Spirit. Paul says, in effect, “you can do better.” We must do better.

We are forced, again, to rethink our priority systems. Christ demands nothing less than lordship over our whole lives, including the material blessings we enjoy as Americans. John Wesley once put it this way: “To lay up treasure on earth is as plainly forbidden by our Master as adultery and murder.” A great need exists today for believers who will “test all things” — their own ambitions, dreams, plans, and hopes. God is looking for men and women who will ask of Him, What do you want me to do? And how do you want me to to do it?

It is not easy to go from an easy-believism form of Christianity to a life of active service for Christ. I should know. For years I believed I had a conditional service contract with God. As long as I got my way (i.e., sufficient recognition as a scholar, a consistent income, good health, etc.) I was glad to be a “bondservant of Jesus Christ.” Only gradually — and grudgingly — did I learn to turn my back on all of my excuses for disobedience.

One problem with “testing all things” is that we have so many things to test. There is hardly a person alive in North America who cannot boast about their abundance of education, clothing, food, and housing. We forget that all of these blessings are temporary and conditional. If we do not “test” them — if we do not realize that the same Master who entrusts wealth to His servants will also demand an accounting and a profit from what He has given them — we will certainly fail to respond with obedience to His grace and mercy. It is precisely because our lives have become so contrary to this “test all things orientation” that we have become easy prey for Satan and his demons. Our wills are neither submitted nor surrendered. We cannot let go of family, friends, entertainment, and a thousand other things because we have never tested them against the value system of the kingdom of God.

Test it, says Paul. Test all of it. Authentic Christianity is not reserved for super heroes. It is for every believer, whatever your circumstances. Selfless, Spirit-filled living begins when, like Moses on the Mountain, we come face to face with the living God and see our “things” for what they really are.

I just glanced out the window again. There is something so incredible about watching it snow. It’s like I’m getting a fresh glimpse of this deeper beauty, this greater reality. Only God can take my motives and make them as white as the freshly-driven snow. And I know He’s entrusted me with the task of living out the winter of my life by adopting the world as my home, doing hilarious, dangerous things for others despite the inconvenience and discomfort.

Let it be, Oh God of Winter, let it be!

9:16 AM In case you’re a Bethel Hillian and are reading this blog, church services have been cancelled this morning. Stay safe. Be thankful and prayerful. Enjoy your time at home.

8:28 AM Just by way of an update, Becky will be having her CT-scan this Thursday. We should hear the outcome on Friday. There’s a part of me that’s afraid to hear the results, and another part that’s eager to know if and to what extent the Adriamycin has worked. As soon as I hear anything I’ll be sure to let you know.

8:22 AM I woke up this morning consumed with the thought of forgiveness. The need to extend it and receive it. It’s all because of a story I read last night in the book God’s Samurai, a story that I’m going to carry with me to the grave.

Shortly after the end of World War II, an American girl about 18 years of age came to a camp in the western U.S. where Japanese POWs were being held. She ministered to the prisoners with tireless energy and compassion. Her name was Margaret Covell. She spoke no Japanese, but the men knew enough English to communicate with her. She had both amazed and puzzled the prisoners. “Why are you so kind to us, your enemies?” they would ask.

“Because Japanese soldiers killed my parents,” she replied.

The prisoners stared at her in astonishment. What on earth could she possibly mean?

She then explained to them that her parents were missionaries in Japan before the war. At the outbreak of hostilities they fled to the Philippines where they thought they would be safe. Eventually the Japanese found the Covells and beheaded them as spies. Margaret, who had been living in the States, didn’t learn of her parents’ fate until after the war. At first she was filled with hatred for the Japanese. But as she began to think about her parents’ selfless service, she slowly became convinced that they had forgiven their executioners. Through Filipino sources she heard about their last moments. Blindfolded, with their hands bound behind their backs, they were forced to their knees. Just before being killed they prayed, “Father, forgive them for they know what they do.”

I know this story doesn’t make any sense. We feel we can reserve the right to withhold forgiveness from those who have hurt us. Jesus entertained no such thoughts. Neither did Stephen as he was being stoned to death. Neither did Mr. and Mrs. Covell.

Are you’re looking for the answer to the question of the ages — What can set me free from the shackles of hatred? If so, a teenage American girl has the answer. “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do” is a prayer to be spoken over and over again. There’s an entire world of joy waiting for us on the other side of forgiveness.

7:44 AM “Announced by all the trumpets of the sky, arrives the snow, and, driving o’er the fields, seems nowhere to alight: the whited air hides hills and woods, the river, and the heaven, and veils the farmhouse at the garden’s end. The sled and traveller stopped, the courier’s feet delayed, all friends shut out, the housemates sit around the radiant fireplace, enclosed in a tumultuous privacy of storm.”  — Ralph Waldo Emerson

7:31 AM The year 2011 is slowly approaching, and with it the demands of a fulltime teaching and writing career. Don’t get me wrong; I’m not complaining. Every time I think of my work I pinch myself. I get paid to do this? And then I remember: With great privilege comes great responsibility. And that means writing and more writing. The good news is that I’ve got a running start going into 2011. I’m about 9 (out of 10) laps into my revision of Paul, Apostle of Weakness. I’ve also decided to begin producing the third edition of The New Testament: Its Background and Message since the publishers requested an update and because it continues to be one of the most widely-used New Testament introduction textbooks out there (along with Robert Gundry’s). Plus, if you add in my book on kingdom living (Godworld: Enter at Your Own Risk) that makes 3 major writing projects I’ve set as goals for the new year, and this doesn’t include the two (or three) books I’ll be editing for our Areopagus series. Writing has become such a big part of my normal routine that I hardly notice it. I think it’s just an extension of the classroom. I remember being asked to write Learn to Read New Testament Greek. I didn’t have to get worked up about it at all; in fact, the book practically wrote itself. When you’ve been teaching a subject for decades, putting it down on paper (or into a computer) comes easily. Of course, kudos to my great publishers, who keep books in print and do great job of promotion.

What I am trying to say, I guess, is that I love what I do. Next year will mark my 35th year in the classroom. And so it goes. Year after year. Book after book. It all boils down to simple routine, really. Little by little, classes are taught and books are produced — all in addition to the time it takes to keep up this little corner of the blogosphere. Thankfully, it’s all a part of my “vocation,” which means I do my best, but in the final analysis it’s really God who gets the job done in and through a weak but (usually) yielded vessel.

The dignity of work. Life doesn’t get any simpler than that. Stay focused on what God has called and gifted you to do. Surrender your future to Him. Then watch Him work.

Saturday, December 25

8:27 AM Still needing to do some last minute Christmas shopping? I have the perfect gift idea: A copy of my Paul, Apostle of Weakness. At abargain discount price, too:

$999.98.

Order now!

8:06 AM Good Christmas meditationhere by one of my favorite authors.

7:35 AM Where to start to describe our family celebration last night? It was a time of sharing.

It was a time of praying.

It was a time of eating.

It was a time of celebrating our oneness in Christ.

It was a time of getting reconnected as families.

It was a time of giving to the hurting among us. (B and I will distribute these non-perishables to a needy family).

The evening was so incredibly enjoyable it defies description. I felt woefully out of place in my own kitchen as I watched the ladies take over and handle the work of serving and cleanup. I can’t even explain how fantastic the fellowship around the tables was as the food was served and the stories told and the prayers prayed and the discussions discussed. It was cool to hear all the testimonies and especially to join our hearts in prayer. Our prayer goals were simple.

• We prayed for the family who would receive our love gifts.

• We prayed for our brothers and sisters suffering for His Name.

• We prayed for our own church’s future.

• We prayed for special needy ones in our midst.

• We prayed for God’s kingdom to expand and our focus to be on His kingdom.

• And we prayed for our families and marriages.

It’s hard to think of a better forever family than our brothers and sisters at Bethel Hill. I shared my heart with them about the 3 billion people who have never heard the gospel. I shared how my heart breaks that the American church spends 96 percent of its offerings on its own programs and comforts. Of course, I myself am a huge part of all this ecclesiastical machinery. I want to do better in 2011. What a glorious relief the gospel brings from the American way of life! 

Friday, December 24

2:45 PM I journeyed to Ethiopia today. In my mind, of course. The place was much as I remembered it. Especially at Christmas time. This is their summer — dry, hot, dusty, malaria-ridden. We used to spend every Christmas in Ethiopia. In Ethiopia we’re known as Papa B and Mama B. Or sometimes as the church’s faranjis. We were more than pleased to be the only white-faced foreigners around. As the days go by here in the States I find myself realizing that I’m not the captain of my own fate. Never have been really. So instead of being in Ethiopia, here I am in Virginia, realizing that stronger and wiser hands than mine are guiding me. I realize that God doesn’t need me in Ethiopia. Or anywhere else for that matter. I’m okay with that. One thing I cling to is that I have never doubted the goodness of God through all of this. He is not only near me, He is the heart pounding in my chest. I’m so grateful to Him for giving me wonderful memories of a past season in my life. I know this sounds jumbled, because it is. But I wanted to be honest with you, as honest as I’ve been with God today. I miss being in a place where one is acutely aware of one’s whiteness. Where time does not exist. Where incredible pockets of natural beauty await you at every turn in the road. Where the needs are horrendous. Where the elders are beautiful and age is respected.

There is, I think, more work for me to do in Ethiopia. In the meantime, I mash the potatoes for supper while taking a long journey in my mind to a faraway place.

11:16 AM Christmas Eve shout out to Mary, Britanni, Katelyn, Bridget, Kimber, Nick, John, Rick, Wes, Karen, Victoria, Elizabeth, Bailey, Brittney, Taylor, Bonnie, William, Chris, Pam, Cindi, Abigail, Stevie, Kim, Leigh, Stephen, Lendon, Thomas, Marshall, Lavern, Sandy, Cecilie, Harry, and Woody.

We’re eager to see you tonight!

Thursday, December 23

8:18 PM On a completely unrelated note, do you remember that I told you I was in the process of revising my doctoral dissertation, Paul, Apostle of Weakness, for publication? Imagine my delight when today I got an email from a complete stranger who had heard nothing about the revision yet who was interested in getting a copy of the book to read for himself. I told him that, Lord willing (and that is a big Lord willing), the revision will be published in late 2011. So that’s the scoop.

Inquiring minds wanted to know….

7:45 PM Living at Bradford Hall has changed my perspective in so many ways. Growing up in Hawaii we did very little entertaining; we were much too poor for that. So there’s something wonderful about being able to open our home to guests and entertain them royally. I’m sitting here by myself tonight, as Becky and her good friend Rachael have gone out for dinner (ladies’ night out). Not that I’m lonely mind you; I’ve got my three dogs, plus Rachael’s puppy, to look after while the ladies are gone. Probably a good time, I thought to myself, to grab some pictures of the table preparations for tomorrow’s dinner. So here goes. This is what the breakfast room looks like:

And here’s our formal dining room:

Finally, this is what we call the Lee Room (named after the good general himself):

Beside each plate is a name card that features (1) a Bible verse and (2) a picture of the cross. Because that’s the message of Christmas, Becky told me.

That’s my wife! I love her!

2:52 PM My sympathies to the Questing Parson, who lost his wife last week.

2:40 PM The Andrew Fuller Center for Baptist Studies at Southern Seminary announces an upcoming conference calledBaptists and War. I might very well attend it. Below is the schedule as it currently stands. My colleagues’ papers are listed in red.

September 26–27, 2011

Monday, September 26

8:30am Plenary Session 1: Anthony Cross, (Regent’s Park College, Oxford University), “Anabaptists, Baptists, and Pacifism: An Overview”

10:00am Plenary Session 2: Larry Kreitzer (Regent’s Park College, Oxford University), “The ‘Valiant Old Lady’: The Story of the Eighth Whelp (1628–46) and her Baptist Chaplain John Pendarves”

11:30am Plenary Session 3: Keith Harper (SEBTS), “Baptists and the American Revolution”

1:00–3:00pm Banquet Lunch

3:00pm–4:30 pm Plenary Session 4: Paul Brewster (Pastor, SBC, & Junior Fellow of the Andrew Fuller Center), “Andrew Fuller and the War against Napoleon”

4:30–5:30 pm Parallel Sessions (six in total)

7:30pm–9:00pm Plenary Session 5 and panel discussion: George Rable (Univ. of Alabama), James Fuller (Univ. of Indianapolis), Tom Nettles (SBTS), and Greg Wills (SBTS, moderator), “Interpreting the American Civil War”

Tuesday, September 27

8:30am Plenary Session 6: Jamie Robertson (PhD student, McMaster University),“Baptists and the War of 1812”

10:00am SBTS Chapel

11:30 am Plenary Session 7: Gord Heath (McMaster Divinity College, McMaster University), “Canadian Baptists and the 19th century Wars of the British Empire”

2:00pm Plenary Session 8: Maurice Dowling (Irish Baptist College), “Russian Baptists and the Cold War”

3:30pm Plenary Session 9: Nathan Finn (SEBTS), “The Vietnam War and Baptist Witness”

2:30 PM I remember a couple of years ago when the Obamas began vacationing in Hawaii, where the president was born and attended high school. There’s only one thing to do in the islands, and that is to enjoy the ocean.

Here the prez shows off his body surfing form. I say, that man’s got style! Not that I’m jealous or anything. At any rate, I hope the First Family enjoys their vacation at Kailua Beach. It’s MY beach, but I’m glad to share it.

1:50 PM I was driving to Duke University Hospital in Durham this morning when I heard a report that the Cincinnati “Bungles” were enticing next year’s season ticket holders with the promise of a voucher for — can you guess it? — afree box of popcorn.

Plus, for a limited time only, if you purchase new season tickets, you will receive a voucher for a free box of popcorn to be redeemed at any home game this fall at Paul Brown Stadium.

If I were a Bengals fan (which I’m not) I would be offended. But are things any different in the church? We make a mockery of the gospel when we imply that becoming a Christian means health, wealth, prosperity, or blessing. The apostle Paul would have disagreed. Everywhere in his writings he seems to accept sacrifice and suffering as accepted and normal. Paul writes, “We are troubled on every side.” We’re taught to think the opposite. We live in a popcorn-promising culture. We believe that sacrifice and self-denial are only for special, unusual occasions. But Jesus is not the Santa Claus so many have made Him out to be.

He is the King of the universe who deserves our undivided allegiance. Our Christian bookshops are full of literature that denies this teaching, but it remains true.

8:43 AM In the first quiet moments of this new day my mind is drawn to Hebrews 2. Oh, how His voice speaks into my silence! The incarnation. Jesus becoming like us and sharing our human nature (Heb. 2:14). What a wonderful truth this is! Veiled in flesh the Godhead see. Hail the incarnate Deity! God has lavished His love upon us, with all of our sin and rebellion and pride. That is how God acted toward us, and now we are called upon to demonstrate the fact that we are His children by having the same attitude toward others, including our enemies.

The identification of all of life with regard for the welfare of others — this is the message of Christmas. If Christ is the “man for others” (Bonhoeffer), we are to be “men for others.” And this means all of us, not just professional church leaders. I do not wish to abolish the clergy. I wish to abolish the laity. All of us are to be to ministers. We are, as Heb. 2:11 reminds us, “brothers.” We no longer feel the need to address each other with honorific titles (Sehr geehrter Herr Professor Doktor Black!). “Brother” is quite sufficient. The burdens of life are now placed on as many shoulders as possible. The Christian and the social are effortlessly intertwined. Moreover, because the church is constitutionally one, all suffer when any part of the Body suffers.

I’ll admit it: I didn’t always believe this way or in this Jesus. Compassion is often hard to come by when one is building one’s reputation. Reading the Scriptures this morning I feel like a child on Christmas Eve. Like God has oh-so-much-more to reveal to me if only I would keep silent.

Hush, child. Listen!  

Wednesday, December 22

7:48 PM Nice, quiet evening at home. B’s in the kitchen carving up the turkey and otherwise having the time of her life. Talk about being in one’s element. Earlier she polished the silverware. Yes, we’re pulling out all the stops for Friday’s dinner, including our fine china. As for me, Caleb let me strum and sing a few old tunes on the uke — Aloha Oe, Hawaii Pono I, Little Brown Gal, Mele Kalikimaka, Little Grass Shack, and, of course Pearly Shells. Becky says I’m entering my second childhood. Right now I’m reading (and thoroughly enjoying) Dec. 1941, which is an hour-by-hour description of that fateful day in history.

1:18 PM Wow! Have you seen this list of forthcoming and recentcommentaries on the books of the Bible? Would you possibly agree that there just might be a glut of such tomes? (The same could probably be said about books on New Testament Greek, but I won’t go there lol!) Some are better than others, of course. For what it’s worth, I just love Harold Hoehner’sEphesians commentary. It terms of sheer size (960 pages; Best’s only has 674 pages), it is certainly comprehensive. But beyond size, the quality is unbeatable. Here is a man who dedicated most of his career to teaching the book of Ephesians at DTS. I like his “mature,” seasoned perspective. This is where so many commentaries fall short and hence why so few commentaries say anything really new. Even where Harold’s views aren’t novel, they are well thought-out. And of course, Harold provides his own translation from the Greek text — a must in all commentaries worth their salt.

As an aside, Harold was a friend of mine. Here we are in his Sunday School classroom at Grace Bible Church in Dallas, where my in-laws attend. He was a Swiss citizen and proud of it (we often spoke Swiss German with each other). When he passed away in 2009, I wrote these words in his memory:

Although he was only 18 years my senior, Harold taught me many lessons. Perhaps the greatest one is this: Rest is serious business. In our hurry-up generation, where everything has to be done yesterday, Harold showed me how to pace myself and to go no faster (or slower) than the One to whom I am co-yoked is traveling. There is a great truth here that is both relevant and practical. I believe that a new grace and glory would enter the church if all Christians ceased doing things by themselves and did them for and with God.

Harold enjoyed the respect of the entire academic community, and to him the community looked for guidance and inspiration. I have little doubt, however, that he would be content to be remembered, not as a great New Testament scholar, which he was most certainly was, but as a humble servant doing the bidding of his Lord, to whom he had so joyfully and willingly yoked himself.

This is how I would wish to be remembered. This is what I seek to model to my students.

12:24 PM  We snapped this picture while driving through South Boston, VA. Side by side we find ads for MacDonald’s and Halifax Regional Hospital’s cardiovascular services.

Quite an irony, wouldn’t you say?This article is a reminder that we Southern Baptists need to watch our weight during the holidays.

But how did Southern Baptists and their compatriots become so big in just one generation (CDC statistics indicate the rate of obesity in America doubled between 1970 and 2000 to 30 percent of the population)?

It’s no laughing matter. The authors add:

A T-shirt seen on a rotund man read, “If my body is the temple of God, I must be a mega church.” The initial chuckle gives way to a sigh as the truth of the declaration sinks in—the body of the believer is the temple of the Holy Spirit and we are to honor God with our bodies. Eating too much and leading a sedentary life can create a body riddled with illness and disease, hardly a laughing matter.

Good “food for thought” this week, since most of us will probably eat more than we planned to.

11:02 AM Bob Jones University now offers an accredited M.A. in Biblical Studies —online.

10:52 AM Eastern Mennonite University announces an opening in Church, Cultural, and Interfaith Studies.

10:37 AM A post at the Evangelical Textual Criticism website (the practical use of Greek accents) is a good reminder, I think, for professors to maintain high standards when it comes to student papers. Don’t hesitate to apply some loving pressure; nudge a bit. By and large, students who are careless about Greek accents will be careless about other matters as well. Effective communication is not only based on what we say but on how we say it. If you sense that a student is ignoring the details, it may a signal for a gentle reminder about those “little foxes that spoil the vines.” Elton Trueblood once said, “Holy shoddy is still shoddy,” and just because we do our work for the Lord Jesus (and not merely for a grade) is no excuse for sloppiness.

P.S. I’m surprised at how careless students can be with foreign language quotes as well. Yes, I do check for German umlauts and French accents!

10:19 AM Ya gotta love that Eric Carpenter! Is nothing sacrosanct to him (*smile*)? His latest post is calledWhat Would Happen if Seminaries Began Teaching Biblical Ecclesiology? What a great topic to explore! What can we say about this?

I might suggest that a good place to start would be our New Testament Introduction classes. Here we could contrast the position that existed under the Old Covenant with life under the New. For example, in the Old Testament, sacrifices were a vital part of worship, so much so that a special building was set aside for that purpose. Moreover, only certain people (called priests) could perform sacred duties on behalf of the rest of the people. Finally, specific animals had to be sacrificed. Under the New Covenant, however, a new set of conditons exists. The emphasis is no longer upon a building (the people form the church), the sacrifices are offered by all (every Christian is a fulltime priest), and the offerings are now spiritual in nature — praise and thanksgiving. (The book of Hebrews is explicit about all of this.) In addition to New Testament Introduction, what about church history classes? Could we not discuss New Testament ecclesiology when we are analyzing the Anabaptists of the sixteenth century — those men and women who refused to be shackled by ecclesiastical tradition and who sought to return to the simple practices of the New Testament? Even in our Greek classes these questions could be tackled as we exegeted such passages as Roman 12 or 1 Corinthians 12-14. (I do.)

The simple truth is that seminary can and ought to be a place of genuine discovery. Questions about church life, even though they might make us uncomfortable, can and must be asked.  At the same time, let’s realize that the main purpose of a seminary education is to acquire the tools necessary for self-study, realizing that all learning is ultimately self-learning. A SEBTS Ph.D. grad recently published his dissertation in which he argued against tithing as a New Testament requirement, and a current Ph.D. student is re-examining the question of why the church assembles. But having said that, it remains true that no amount of formal biblical education can ever bring us to a mature understanding of Scripture for the simple reason that education involves more than the intellect. God the Holy Spirit must do His work in our lives. The Good Shepherd alone can lead His sheep into truth. Are you off course? Allow God, through the Scriptures, to make you receptive to truths you may have previously rejected.

In the meantime, let’s not forget that as Christians we are wonderfully bound to each other in a fellowship that goes far beyond the mere sharing of convictions about ecclesiology. It is a supernatural and spiritual reality of Christ-like love and mutual burden-bearing. Only when we learn to experience that kind of love will the world stand up and take notice that we are truly followers of the Prince of Peace.

8:23 AM I want to laud all of the fulltime ministers of the Gospel who will be serving the Lord tirelessly this Christmas holiday. I’m referring to the women in our lives. I can’t overemphasize this point. Our wives are sterling examples of the true spirit of Christmas — giving, giving, then giving some more. I know this is true in our home, where Becky and Liz are working nonstop to make this home a wonderful avenue of blessing to others. Men, we dare not sell our wives short. Cleaning a room or vacuuming a floor or preparing a menu — all of these actions, done in the name of Christ, become Spirit-powered testimonies to the love and grace of Jesus. Becky’s a great example. I often follow far behind in her wake. Her interpersonal skills far surpass mine. She is a superb networker. Most of all, she is a genuine friend who just loves people in very tangible and authentic ways. There is nothing in this world more powerful than a Spirit-filled individual who targets his or her gifts to meet the needs of others. Look at the earliest Christians. They had no formal religious education. Why, they couldn’t even spell hermeneutics. They knew nothing about sermon preparation or homiletical outlines. They simply spoke about what they had seen Jesus do and had heard Him say. And they reached their neighbors for Christ relationally and relentlessly.

Christianity is a way of living. It’s what spills over when you bump into someone. It has nothing to do with status or gender. The goal is to become a genuine friend to others, to penetrate our neighborhoods with the simple, authentic love of Jesus. And we can do this whether or not we have a Christmas tree in our living room.

Don’t minimize the power of such deeds. Make a definite commitment to God that you will cultivate relationships this Christmas with a view toward evangelism. Pray for boldness and open doors. Above all, bathe each relationship in prayer. Christmas is not about us. It’s about getting people to the foot of the cross.

Amen?

7:44 AM Energion Publications announces the release ofGod’s Desire for the Nations: The Missionary Theology of John Piper.

The author, Phil Hopkins, holds a Ph.D. from SEBTS, where he did most of his research for this book. It’s a good reminder that evangelism is most productive when we root it in its theological foundation.

Tuesday, December 21

7:50 PM Quote of the day (source):

Jésus n’était pas en sécurité. Sa version du Royaume de Dieu n’était pas prudente. Pourquoi ma version de la vie chrétienne tourne-t-elle donc si souvent autour de ma sécurité et de mon confort?

Amen!

7:19 PM Over at the Baker Book House blog there’s a mighty finereview of Kent Yinger’s book called The New Perspective on Paul.

7:12 PM I think everyone enjoyed their supper tonight. But we sat there with somewhat mixed emotions as last evening our three puppies vanished. Hours of searching for them today availed nothing. I spent the afternoon placing “Lost Dog” notices (with pix) in all of our neighbors’ mailboxes.

In our home the dogs often lick our supper plates, especially after we’ve downed some of Papa B’s yummy-licious Chinese fare, so it was Isaac, I think, who suggested that we put a plate of leftovers on the front porch to entice the dogs, wherever their were, to return to the fold. And before you could say “The puppies are back!” the puppies were back! Right now I am surrounded by three dead tired Shelties who, if they could only talk, would I’m sure have some tall tales to tell about their adventures out there in the “world.” So thanks be to God for answering our prayers for their safe return, and may we never take for granted the little serendipities of life.

5:02 PM Time to cook Chinese food. Now where did I put my secret ingredient?

4:55 PM Rumor has it that all good things come in large packages. It’s only a rumor folks, and I can prove it. Bob Cornwall’sUltimate Allegiance (my copies arrived today!) is a small bundle with lots of practical wisdom.

You’ll be delighted to know this ain’t your run-of-the-mill “How To” book about prayer. Bob cuts deeper than that — which is one of the reasons Allan Bevere and I accepted his work in our series. One thing’s for sure: We don’t test God’s promises until we attempt something impossible for Him. And that’s where prayer comes in.

11:28 AM We are slowly getting the house ready for 36 guests this Friday night. I just finished my list of things to do for Becky. My mother used to always tell me that I had to finish my work before I could go out and surf, and life hasn’t changed much since then. It’s so much fun watching Becky clean and scrub and organize and plan and arrange seating etc. I want to share photos with you but I dare not intrude upon her bliss. Little by little the house will get into grand shape for our Christmas Eve celebration. I’ve put together a nice list of hymns to sing, and B has a menu you won’t believe. If this turns out to be a success, we will definitely do it again.

Now that my chores are finished, what to do? I ought to write but I feel too dry and flat for that this morning. I am a shorn Samson on a treadmill. Do you ever feel that way? I feel that, right now, I need to talk to men less and to God more. He is still able to make all grace abound, even when we may be feeling tired and listless.  

Speaking of grace, over at the Bethel Hill blog Becky tells awonderful story of forgiveness. Read it and be blessed.

Monday, December 20

6:36 PM This was a good day. UNC Hospital is an interesting place. I know it’s filled with Someone who is full of compassion for the suffering. That includes the chemo infusion center. His mercy is new every morning, even to those who aren’t even aware of His presence. The place was packed with Monday cancer patients, and we finally settled into a room shared with another woman, older than Becky, who clearly was struggling both physically and emotionally. In between it all the hospital psychologist eventually appeared to do what she could to help the patient. The curtain was drawn but Becky and I could hear the entire conversation without trying to eavesdrop. I remember studying psychology in college and thinking to myself, Is this all the world has to offer? It’s never enough, really. A bit of holiday cheer here, a pep talk there. It just didn’t seem fair. Here was a lady suffering extreme mental pain, and Becky and I were basking in the warmth of God’s sunlight. Eventually the patient was removed to another location, and our hopes of befriending her were dashed. Her poor husband. It is never easy to sit at a bedside and watch your loved one suffer in such a fashion. I’m having a hard time myself sorting all of this out in my own mind. Why should I enjoy the love and care of a Heavenly Father and someone else not? Other than pray, I don’t know what to do. God has impressed on my heart lately to interceded on behalf of others, even people I don’t know well. I do pray for this precious lady. Lord, you are her only hope.

Meanwhile, here’s what came in today’s mail, and I am certainly not complaining about it. If I hadn’t gone into Greek grammar, I’m sure I would have become a historian.

9:08 AM Off to UNC.

9:02 AM Today Alan Knox wrote:

Jesus is still “God with us,” and he continues to bring peace to his people.

Read his fine essay calledImmanuel: Peace. One day in Alaba the Muslims attacked a believer named Fetiye and her children with sticks and knives. She was fully pregnant at the time. God spared the yet-to-be-born infant, but Fetiye’s one-year old son perished as a result of the attack. Later, when a son was born to her and her husband, they named him Immanuel, “God is with us!” What suffering. What faith. What an expression of confidence and hope in the God of all peace. Alan is right. God does indeed continue to bring peace to His people.

Below: Becky and Fetiye, two forever-sisters in Christ, facing adversity with the peace and joy of their Savior.

7:41 AM Speaking about supporting one another, have you seen my friend Richard Erickson’s bookA Beginner’s Guide to New Testament Exegesis? This is absolutely the best book on Greek exegesis that I have ever seen — unless one is talking about my ownUsing New Testament Greek in Ministry (ha ha!).

I’ve read every page of it, and it is priceless. It outstrips the competition when it comes to quality of information and quantity of examples. It is the Summa Cum Laude of exegesis text books. If you’ve had at least a year of Greek, this book is for you!

7:30 AM Please join us in praying for brother Kassa who is still recovering in Alaba. We must always remember that as followers of Christ we stand side-by-side with the persecuted church wherever it exists in the world. We need to work together and support one another in the common task.

7:15 AM New openings:

• California Baptist University:Intercultural Studies.

• Belmont University:New Testament and Greek.

• North Greenville University:Christian Ministry.

• Houston Baptist University:Theology.

The HBU site addsthe following information:

Houston Baptist University seeks two full-time faculty to join the School of Theology in 2011 and two full-time in 2012 who have expertise in any of the following areas:

• Systematic Theology
• Historical Theology
• Biblical Theology
• Biblical Languages

The successful candidate will be able to teach select courses in the liberal arts core curriculum, upper-level courses in the Christianity major and minor, and courses in the Master of Arts in Theological Studies and Master of Biblical Languages program.

Happy job hunting!

Sunday, December 19

7:16 PM A good pastor friend of mine is currently writing a book about raising kids to be wholehearted and passionate Jesus-followers. Recently heblogged about some of his crazy ideas. Get ready to be stretched. He writes:

We don’t have a nursery at the church I help Elder.  Why?  Because we sincerely want our children to be with us.  We want the children to experience everything in the worship service that they just can’t get in a room watching a video eating Cheetos.  My children get to participate in seeing people lifting hands in praise to the Lord as they lift their voices in song.  They get to hear testimonies of those that have come to Christ.  They see people weeping under the conviction of the Holy Spirit at the altar.  They see Dads praying over their families. 

I could add more — so much more — about this dear brother, but I will just say this: I admire any man who is willing to challenge the status quo and search the Scriptures for himself, even risking alienation and misunderstanding by others. True discipleship is always costly. Period.

Is he is process? Yes. Has he arrived? No. Neither has any one of us. It’s three steps forward and two steps back. The real question is: Are we headed in the right direction?

6:52 PM Despite being a brand new daddy, Andy Bowden is not about to neglect his blogging responsibilities. One of his latest posts will really get you thinking. It’s calledCircular and addresses what Andy thinks is major circular reasoning in Carson, Moo, and Naselli’s introductory textbook.

Of course, I’ve never been guilty of reasoning from one premise and then ending up right back at the original premise!

5:30 PM Becky’s been sewing again, this time duvets for the boys, who got to pick out their own hues, buttons, even the color of the letters for their names. I was going to say that now the boys will have something to keep them warm up in frigid New York, but the duvets have come in handy right here in Virginia. Anyway, if you’re a seamstress, I think you’ll enjoy these pix.

5:03 PM I’m so excited to report that next month we’re having our initial planning meeting for the next trip to serve the underserved in Ethiopia. I am (and always have been) an incurable infracaninophile (lover of the underdog). And the thing is, it’s not just with issues like the synoptic problem and textual criticism that I root for the underdog. It’s the Christians in Ethiopia who are harassed by the civil authorities. It’s the people in Alaba who are left out of the food distribution program during a drought because they aren’t Muslims. It’s the evangelists in Gondar who are stoned by the Ethiopian Orthodox. Even in the States, I love to support underdog causes. I think it’s just part of life, this ache in my heart for the oppressed, the ignored, the suffering. It’s like I’m getting a glimpse of this thing we call the kingdom of God, this deeper beauty, knowing that even when a tiny sparrow falls our God attends its funeral. There’s something wonderful about these “little ones,” as Jesus called them. It defies my best efforts to describe what Aberesh or Ayelech or Tiblett (pictured below) mean to me. Waves of suffering humanity. Yet God has not forgotten them. Neither have I.

I love my life. I love my work. I love Ethiopia. I will never stop being grateful to God that He calls Becky and me to be the hands and heart of Someone who loves all people everywhere, and especially the underdog.

8:24 AM Don’t forget tomorrow night’s total eclipse of the moon.

8:10 AM A recent seminary gradreflects upon his time at the Master’s Seminary in Southern California. I appreciated this remark (as you can well imagine):

Throughout my time at the seminary, my mind was trained not only to love the Word, but to learn it and handle it with caution, precision, and fear.  Those hours spent arduously translating Greek and Hebrew texts were painful, yes, but the pain was small in comparison to the fruit of now being able to pick up a Greek and Hebrew Bible and read from the original languages during devotional times.  Oh the riches and treasures that I now can gather whenever I open up God’s holy Word – even if it be just for my own personal growth. 

That just about says it all!

7:49 AM Oh, this essay is good. It’s calledJust Call Me Lonnie, I Guess. It’s especially apropos to recent graduates!

7:38 AM Looking forward to studying the book of Acts again together this morning. Much of what we call “church” today originated, not in the New Testament, but in post-apostolic times.

• The Lord’s Supper has changed from a celebration to a ceremony.

• Worship has changed from participation to observation.

• Witness has changed from relationship to salesmanship.

• Leadership has changed from servanthood to professionalism.

• Mission has changed from being missionaries to supporting missionaries.

• Body life has changed from edification to entertainment.

• Buildings have changed from functional to sacred.

• Child care has changed from the hands of parents to the hands of strangers.

The book of Acts shows us that the need great of modern Christianity is to return to biblical faithfulness and the profound simplicity of the New Testament.

7:20 AM The latest issue of the Journal of Greco-Roman Christianity and Judaism contains an interesting piece entitledAncient Patterns of Reading: The Subdivision of the Acts of the Apostles in Codex Sinaiticus (.pdf). In it Greg Goswell reminds us how important it is for us to observe those “extra-linguistic” devices that scribes used to indicate unity and transition of thought in ancient documents. Paragraphization is only one of these devices. Likewise today, publishers have introduced into the text of Scripture various “readers’ helps” such as paragraphization, punctuation, indentation, capitalization, and paragraph titles. Sometimes the publishers get it right, and sometimes they miss the mark by miles. This is especially true of paragraph titles. Luke 15, for example, does not contain three parables but only one (see v. 3) told in three stories: the story of the faithful shepherd, the story of the diligent housewife, and the story of the loving father, while Jesus never “cleansed” the temple (He “cleared” it). As Goswell has shown, extra-linguistic devices can have a “marked effect” on the way we read texts, and it behooves us to be aware of that potentiality.

Saturday, December 18

8:13 PM A The Joshua Project’s Unreached People Group of the Day? The Bhuiya of India. Population: 1,865,000. Percentage of evangelical Christians: 0.0. All the resources of God are available for us to reach them. What is stopping us?

6:28 PM A final word for all of my SEBTS graduates, if I may. On Oahu there is a mountain we used to climb called Mount Tantalus. It is named after an ancient mythological figure. Because he had offended the gods, Tantalus was forced to stand up to his neck in water, which flowed past him furiously. At the same time, a bunch of fruit hung over his head, but the wind blew it beyond his grasp every time he reached for it. The promise was there — but the fulfillment kept eluding him.

Wherever you go, dear graduates, please remember that our job is not to try and grasp the “fruit” the world offers us, often under the guise of “Christian” advancement. Run the race of status escalation, and you’ll always lag behind. Instead, we are called to leave all of our personal ambitions behind and use our gifts and wealth to enrich the Body of Christ and promote a culture of discipleship that reaches out to the world around us with scandalous love.

If Jesus was willing to suspend His own rights and reach for the bottom of the ladder, how much more should we. Amen?

2:20 PM If I were in Hawaii right now…

I’d be doing this at the Banzai Pipeline. Christmas time always saw the best waves at the North Shore. Yes, I was a crazy surfer in my teens. And yes, I am hopelessly nostalgic today.

P.S. For pix of the just-concluded surfing contest at the Pipeline, gohere.

1:15 PM Whenever I read Eric Carpenter’sthought-provoking blog, I think of this statement I made in 2005:

The church stands at a crossroads. Either it will be radically theological and therefore radically obedient to God regardless of the puny ambitions of man, or it will be part of the “new” ideology that looks magnificent on the outside but on the inside is full of dead men’s bones.

My essay was entitled “Saying Goodbye to the Needs-Based Church.” You can read ithere.

12:56 PM Here are some suggestions you’ve sent me about observing the Lord’s Supper with one loaf and one cup.

When our local church gathers and celebrate the Lord’s Supper we use one loaf and one cup.  We usually have a lay person hold the cup while another lay person holds the bread and as the church comes forward a piece of the bread is given to them, then they proceed to dip the bread in the cup and partake that way.  It seems to work well for us.

The Baptist church I fellowship at uses the one cup and loaf through the individual coming up to the front and breaking a piece off and dipping it in the cup. 

Lately, we’ve been gathering around the Lord’s Table during our church meeting instead of after. When we do this, we meet around tables. We begin with the bread. Typically, someone bakes a loaf of bread. Someone breaks the loaf and places a piece on each table. The people at each table pass the broken piece around to each other and break off smaller pieces. Someone talks about the bread and the symbol of Christ’s body broken for us. This is a reminder that we are together only because of Jesus Christ, and it represents that beginning of our meal together with Jesus as our host. After we eat the bread together, we sing a few songs and pray. The person who will be leading our teaching/discussion time introduces the passage/topic for the day and usually gives a question for people to discuss while they are eating together. We fill our plates with food that people have brought (pot luck style), and return to our tables to talk and exhort one another. After most people have had time to eat, the teacher will go from table to table and ask what they discussed about the earlier question. A representative or two from each table will share what they talked about. Then, the teacher will begin his lesson and lead the church to discuss the passage/topic while we’re still seated around the tables. Afterwards, people will share prayer requests or praises, and we’ll pray for those. We’ll also discuss upcoming missions and service opportunities. Finally, we’ll pass a pitcher from table to table, and each person/family will pour some into a cup. While the pitcher is being passed, someone will remind the church that the cup represents Jesus’ blood that was spilled on our behalf. We pray and then continue fellowshipping together, sometimes for several more hours.

My thanks to all who have written. Any other ideas?

12:36 PM I’ve been asked by the publishers at B & H to consider writing an update to my introductory textbook:The New Testament: Its Background and Message.

I may have a sabbatical in the works, and if I do indeed decide to take one, I will probably make the revision of this book a top priority. So, can you tell me what you think are the most pressing issues in New Testament scholarship that I must include (or expand upon) in the revision? For sure, the NPP is one. Developments in New Testament Greek linguistics might be another. Are there any others that come to mind?

12:24 PM This is an interestingstatement about leadership:

People often ask me what I think is the secret to Grace Community Church’s phenomenal development over the past two decades. I always point out first of all that God sovereignly determines the membership of a church, and numbers alone are no gauge of spiritual success. In the midst of tremendous numerical growth, however, the spiritual vitality of our church has been remarkable. I’m convinced God’s blessing has been on us primarily because our people have shown a strong commitment to biblical leadership. By affirming and emulating the godly example of our elders, the church has opened the door to extraordinary blessings from the hand of God.

Do you agree?

11:33 AM Brian Small recentlylinked to the audio from the recently-held preaching workshop on the book of Hebrews held at Southwestern Seminary. I just finished listening to David Allen’s message entitled “Introduction and Structure of Hebrews.” It is always a delight to listen to David, who is a masterful and eloquent public speaker. Of course, in his talk he refers to me as someone who still holds to the “delusion” of Pauline authorship of Hebrews (tongue in cheek, I hope). Know what? I think it might be time for another conference on campus. Perhaps brother David would be willing to engage in a discussion about the topic. Would it shock you to hear that I actually agree with David Allen that Luke may have written Hebrews? But authorship is a far different question. Despite whatMike Bird and others say, Origen was not ambivalent about the matter of authorship. His oft-misquoted statement about God only knowing who wrote the epistle refers to the book’s writer, not the author. (See my examination of the evidencehere.) In addition, for David Allen to point out the linguistic and stylistic affinities between Hebrews and Luke proves nothing more than Lukan penmanship. At any rate, the topic might be one for a conference on Hebrews that deals with more than just authorship but incorporates such topics as the literary structure of Hebrews, the use of the LXX in Hebrews, the theology of Hebrews, etc. If you might be interested in such a conference, let me know at dblack@sebts.edu.

10:30 AM Jeremy Myers has published what is possibly the best review of David Platt’s Radical I have seen to date. It’s calledTrue Radicals. I’ll give you a little sample to draw you in:

Radical by David Platt never would have been published if he were not a pastor of a megachurch. Even considering that fact, publication is iffy. He says nothing new, and even what he says is not said in a new or creative way. It seems that it’s almost part of the job description for megachurch pastors to write a book like this. So why did it get published? David explains why in the first line of his book: he was the youngest megachurch pastor in history

What a way to start a book! Sure, David goes on to say that he was uneasy with such a claim and wasn’t even sure that it was true, but still…how do you write a book which is supposed to be about taking back your faith from the American Dream and start the book by stating that you are the youngest megachurch pastor in American history? Really?

But there is saving grace to this, and here it is: We need to hold our leaders’ feet to the fire. You see, I am skeptical, when all is said and done, whether anything will ever get done and not just said. And I am probably the chief of sinners in this regard. But we can — all of us — allow God to nudge us from where we are to where we ought to be. For David Platt, perhaps that will be begin with writing a book. For me? I have SO FAR still to go that it literally pains me. WritingThe Jesus Paradigm was taking a baby step. But I want to do better.

God help us all.

10:14 AM I’m jazzed! Becky and Liz are off to see the Nutcracker Ballet in Raleigh. Then they will dine together at some plush restaurant. These ladies deserve being spoiled.

Incidentally, Matt and Liz will be moving to Upstate New York in January. Matt has accepted an internship at a church near Speculator. He will also be starting his doctoral studies. I couldn’t be more excited for them, although we will miss the Rondeaus. Liz had been a daughter to us in so many ways. As for Matt, he is quite possibly the best chef (as distinct from a cook) whose culinary art it has been our privilege to enjoy for the past 6 months. Even his pancakes are the rave of the household. Then too, I can’t imagine how quiet the house will be without the pitter patter of children’s’ footsteps in the early morning darkness or the sounds of Caleb’s ukulele.  

With an empty house again it will be time to jump-start our retreat ministry. Becky has already scheduled overnight guests for January, and, pending her strength, there will be many more guests to come. We have always enjoyed opening our home to strangers and, indeed, hospitality was one of the main reasons we built Bradford Hall. (We have published our thoughts about hospitalityhere.)

In the meantime, have fun, ladies, and don’t miss us men folk too much.

9:52 AM Here’s a thought: Hardly anybody listens to a sermon with the expectation that they will hear anything they did not already know. Perhaps the solution to this problem is a good dose of biblical Hekastology (I made up that word!).

Please notice how Paul addresses himself deliberately to “every” believer. The Greek word for “every” is hekastos—hence “Hekastology.” This isn’t just an insignificant detail! Paul seeks to drive home the truth that every believer has a special service in the church. Every saint is to make his own contribution to the mission and unity of the church, each cooperating according to his ability. This truth is also evident in 1 Corinthians 14:26: “When you assemble, everyone (hekastos) has a psalm, teaching, revelation, tongue or interpretation. Let all things be done for edification.” Unfortunately, many Christians meet together on Sunday without ever “assembling” as the body of Christ in this manner! But Paul is clear: every believer has a ministry, and everyone is to participate and give to others what God has given him.

You can read morehere.

9:38 AM Please join me in welcomingMelody Bowden to the world. Melody’s father is my personal assistant at the seminary.

9:22 AM Thanks to everyone who prayed for Becky during her colonoscopy yesterday at UNC. All went well. The test showed some hardening of the colon due to all the radiation that B has had, but nothing too serious, and certainly nothing calling for surgery. How merciful is our God! Monday is her final chemo treatment. The Lord will show us the next step.

9:16 AM Seminary graduates are a unique lot. They not only have a new degree and/or title, but they begin to speak in a difficult-to-understand jargon. Allow me, then, to unpack for you what I am calling “The Seminary Graduate’s Lingo”:

• “The consensus of modern scholarship is…” ( = One of my seminary professors said…).

• “It has been the teaching of the church since the earliest centuries” ( = We follow this tradition, but it doesn’t make any sense to me).

• “I’ve done some serious study on this subject” ( = Now where are those class notes?).

• “I feel it’s my duty to attend the annual scholarly convention” ( = Maybe I’ll get some free books this time).

• “In the words of the apostle Paul…” ( = I can’t remember the book, chapter, or verse).

• “My professors were challenging” ( = My professors were horrible, but I forgive them).

• “I highly recommend my alma mater” ( = If I could scrape by, then so can you).

• “Yes, I studied Greek and Hebrew in seminary” ( = Sure glad that’s over with!).

• “I strongly disagree with N. T. Wright” ( = I once read a book review that said something about him).

Just kidding! Love you grads!

9:03 AM Yesterday was our mid-year graduation ceremony on campus. It is no exaggeration to say that graduating from seminary is a milestone. For me, my Talbot commencement in 1980 (M.Div. in New Testament) was a time of self-affirmation.

I was discovering that perhaps I had a unique contribution to make to the Body of Christ. It was becoming clear to me that every Christian is a fulltime minister. I was also beginning to discover that Christianity is a lifestyle and not merely a set of dogmas. In addition, seminary confirmed me in my calling as a teacher. Although I have frequently failed to live up to that calling, I have always sensed God’s hand in my work.

Yet I also discovered that seminary can give rise to an aberration that prevents our thinking about perspectives that might lead to unwanted insights. It was indeed startling to me to see how hard I fought against these unwanted insights. It was difficult for me to realize that I was guilty of academic group think and that I operated under a faulty set of suppositions about education. The goal of teaching is not to give our students an idea or a skill set. It is to give them a passion to become life-long obedient followers of the Lord Jesus. Amazingly, we have put such a high value on degrees that we are willing to entrust ourselves blindly to someone with an M.Div. or a Ph.D. who, a few weeks earlier, was struggling to pass his or her exams. It is no secret that people in America are more enamored with degrees and titles than with truth. The truth, after all, is always radical — it goes straight to the root of our lives in such a way that there are few who really seek it, including seminary graduates.

In a time when we all have become a part of the gigantic American educational rat race, my prayer is that our graduates will never forget that Christianity is a way of living that can speak truth into people in such a way that it makes them free to follow Christ wholeheartedly. A hearty “Congratulations!”, then, to all of our graduates. May you always serve the Lord with gladness.

Thursday, December 16

9:34 PM I need your help. Here’s the need. I’m compiling a list of ways that churches can observe the Lord’s Supper with one cup and one loaf of bread (see 1 Cor. 10:16-17). Any ideas? Have you ever done this? Please send your comments to me at dblack@sebts.edu. Thanks.

P.S. This is not an academic exercise (only). My home church is interested in pursuing this option.

8:45 PM Check out theB-Greek Year End Awards. You won’t be disappointed. My favorite:

GREEK VOWEL THAT IS PRONOUNCED IN THE MOST DIFFERENT WAYS: 

Eta (η) Six.

1.  a as in bad (Restored Attic.) 

2. ay as in bay (North American Erasmian.)

3. e as in pet (British Erasmian.)

4. ay as in bay in open syllables, but e as in pet in closed syllables (French and Romanian Erasmian.)

5. ee as in feet (Modern Greek.) 

6. n as in not (People who are still learning the alphabet.)

7:24 PM A heartfelt “Thank You!” (“Gamsahamnida!”) to Seung Ho Park and his wife for inviting me to dine with them on Tuesday night.

I do not hesitate to designate Korean cuisine the best food in the world because it satisfies both the palate and the need for a healthy, balanced diet. I had two servings of everything — more would have been too much and would have required repentance in sackcloth and ashes.

The most sublime dish is, of course, Kim Chi, for the which the Koreans are justifiably famous. The main dishes were chicken, pork, and beef, along with rice, noodle soup, and various raw vegetables. Topping it all off was a delicious cup of green tea imported from Seoul. The Koreans are inordinately proud of their food and the beneficial dietary side benefits that accompany it.

Thank you again, Seung Ho, for your gracious invitation!

6:45 PM Good news! Ward Powers’ The Progressive Publication of Matthew has been released by B & H Academic. You can read the website announcementhere. The book comes with the following endorsement:

The Progressive Publication of Matthew is a tour de force both in its scope and depth. No serious student of the synoptic Gospels can afford to ignore it.

I guess you could say that I agree with this assessment, since I was the one who wrote it! Powers’ work is both thorough and provocative. Breathtaking stuff, really. However you feel about Gospel origins, this is a very important book. Read it with an open mind and you will surely be rewarded for your efforts.

5:38 PM McMaster Divinity School student Andrew Rozalowsky lists10 Reasons to Learn Greek. And they are good ones too. By the way, Andrew maintains an interesting blog you will want to bookmark. It’s calledA Living Sacrifice. There you will find many helpful Greek links, including this post called Word-Study Resources. Here he links to three recent works by Benjamin Baxter, whose M.A. thesis is entitled, “In the Original Greek It Says…. A Study of Hebrew and Greek Lexical Analyses in Commentaries.” I printed all three off and eagerly look forward to digesting them.

6:32 PM I want you to meet three very dear colleagues of mine. Ned Mathews (center)and Julian Motley recently retired from our faculty. Together they have over 100 years of pastoral ministry under their belts.

Then there’s Mrs. Nanette Godwin who teaches organ performance at the seminary. Nanette (who is a former Miss North Carolina) earned her Ph.D. in musicology from UNC Greensboro. She also has a “Keyboard Ministry” that has taken her to such countries as India, Thailand, and Brazil, using music in evangelism. Yesterday she played a magnificent Christmas program in Binkley Chapel.

The quality of her performance invoked emotions in me I had not felt for a long time. There is no greater solace for the soul than music. Nanette did an absolutely fantastic job of drawing our hearts and minds toward heaven. Molto bravi! My favorite part was her rendition of Handel’s Hallelujah Chorus from the Messiah. I’m told that when the great composer had finished that piece, Handel’s assistant could not get his attention knocking on the door. When he entered he found Handel with the sheet music in his hand and tears streaming down his face. Handel told his assistant that he thought he saw the face of God when writing this. I believe it!

5:24 PM Have you heard of John Byron? He teaches New Testament at Ashland Theological Seminary. John has just reviewed Bob Cornwall’s latest book calledEphesians: A Participatory Guide. I love the book of Ephesians. In fact, I love it so much that I wrote my master’s thesis on it many years ago. It was entitled “The Address of the Ephesian Epistle.” But beyond questions of introduction, Ephesians is full of great theology. Nothing is taught more firmly or frequently in this letter than the unity of all believers in Christ. Of course, that is easier to talk about than to model!

5:17 PM Our LXX students read vociferously this semester. They also translated Greek and Hebrew for every class session. The final exam covered the book of Ruth – translation and parsing from any of its four chapters. However, in lieu of taking the exam we gave the students an option: memorize and recite, in both Greek and Hebrew, the text of Ruth 4:13-17. I call this the “His Word in My Heart” option. Several courageous pupils selected this alternative and accepted the challenge. (In case you’re wondering, they were given the option of using either classical or modern pronunciation.) Well, I thought you might enjoy hearing two of our students recite the passage, first in Hebrew, then in Greek.

Here’s Jody Haupt reciting the Hebrew:

 

And here’s Jacob Cerone reciting the Greek:

As an aside: The next time Bob Cole and I team-teach the LXX class we will probably make this a requirement for the course. What a practical “gift” we can give to our students! Another aside: You can listen to Ruth chapter 4 read in Hebrewhere. The genealogy at the conclusion is actually sung. Too beautiful!

5:12 PM Alan Knox has spent years wrestling with issues concerning the church, especially why it meets. I was therefore delighted to see him chiming in on the house church debate. Hisconclusions may surprise you. 

5:09 PM Newsflash! Christmas trees are biblical! Read all about ithere!

5:02 PM I love this quote:

Better to love God and die unknown than to love the world and be a hero; better to be content with poverty than to die a slave to wealth; better to have taken some risks and lost than to have done nothing and succeeded at it. – E. Lutzer

I found it at this delightful site. Jesus often pressed this point home. A disciple is not merely one who is recognized as someone who acquires truth, but who applies it diligently in his or her life. This is one reason Becky and I have stopped asking whether someone is a “Christian.” Instead we ask, “Is he or she an obedient follower of Jesus?” If the response is, “Yes, they always attend church,” we pretty well know where things stand.

4:49 PM As you might imagine, I’m not a huge fan of Huff Post. Still I strongly recommendedthis essay by Arianna Huffington. She comments:

But the government’s legitimate need for secrecy is very different from the government’s desire to get away with hiding the truth. Conflating the two is dangerously unhealthy for a democracy. And this is why it’s especially important to look at what WikiLeaks is actually doing, as distinct from what its critics claim it’s doing.

She also tips us to several excellent articles that pick their way through the controversy. If I may offer a prediction of my own, don’t look to government to expose liars or encourage whistle-blowers. As John Barlow tweeted, “We have reached a point in our history where lies are protected speech and the truth is criminal.”

Note in the margin: Republican Congressman Ron Paul’sdefense of WikiLeaks is worth noting.

Monday, December 13

8:24 PM And here’s another good book review, this time by Joe Greene. ReadThe Brilliance and Blindness of Ferguson’s (systematic) Theology of the Spirit.

8:10 PM Good history of Southeastern Seminaryhere.

7:40 PM This is a big month for Becky.

• This Friday: colonoscopy.

• Next Monday: final chemo treatment.

• December 30: CT-scan.

In January we will have a vitally important meeting with her oncologists at UNC. Pray that we do not grow weary in well-doing — and we are doing well. All praise to God.

7:23 PM Sheba must be half Chinese. She can’t wait to lick out the rice bowl.

5:13 PM We’re having Chinese stir fry for dinner again tonight. One guess as to who the cook is.

3:51 PM Jason Kees has just reviewed Gene Green’sJude & 2 Peter in the Baker Exegetical Commentary series. He concludes:

With outstanding scholarship and in-depth research, Gene Green has produced a commentary that is in a league of its own. This work provides the reader with a thorough, clear, and precise exegetical work on Jude and 2 Peter that not only meets the biblical scholar’s criteria, but will also equip the common layperson with information that is understandable. With careful exegesis, Green has provided a commentary that will benefit other for years to come.

3:43 PM Students, lookie here. My wife’s been baking all day.

Yep, goodies for the last day of class.

You are in for a real treat this week!

2:55 PM Got a minute for a somewhat odd question? What do you love doing? Watching Monday Night Football? Eating Pizza? Blogging? Celebrating Christmas? Look at what Paul wrote in Gal. 2:10:

All they [the Jerusalem leaders] asked was that we should continue to remember the poor, the very thing I have been eager to do.

Did you catch that? Paul was eager to help other people. He not only did it. He singled it out as the one activity in life he loved doing. To see how that worked itself out, read 2 Corinthians 8-9. Becky and I were talking about this just the other day. Where love is seen and felt, the message of the Gospel is heard. Paul made himself a servant to win as many people as possible. He loved, cared, gave, sacrificed, suffered, and eventually died to see the lost saved.

Is that your passion in life? Is it mine? I won’t kid you — there’s a price to be paid for being a redemptive person. Get involved in the lives of other people and there will be pain. Lots of it too. Serve others and there will be opposition as well. Some of it will come directly from the pit of hell itself. Satan never gives up easily. But the rewards make it worth all the effort.

Friends, when you read this blog, I hope you can detect what my passion in life is. My goal is to be as totally other-oriented as I possibly can be. If that means waking up in the middle of the night and weeping, so be it.

11:51 AM So what did the great John Wesley have to say about persecution? In his sermon “The Mastery of Iniquity” he wrote that

the grand blow … was struck in the fourth century by Constantine the Great, when he called himself a Christian, and poured in a flood of riches, honours, and power, upon the Christians; more especially upon the clergy …. Just so,when the fear of persecution was removed, and wealth and honour attended the Christian profession, the Christians did not gradually sink, but rushed headlong into all manner of vices….

This is one of the reasons, I believe, so many Christians find themselves defeated today. They forget that genuine Christianity is a warfare. We can never forget, even for a minute, that it is a life with terrible enemies, a path of conflict and confrontation. Plainly, Constantinian Christianity — “comfortable Christianity” if you will — overlooks this reality. It allows us to insist on our way rather than His way and think we are being “good Christians” by doing so. May God help us.

9:48 AM Spanish translation update: 8 chapters down, and only 18 to go. Thank you Thomas and Lesly!

9:30 AM 10 words for my graduates this week:

• Make love the rule.

• Never compromise basic Christian doctrine.

• Don’t divide over pet beliefs.

• Let God break your heart with the things that break His.

• With every activity, purchase, or relationship ask, Does this help to build the kingdom and fulfill the Great Commission?

• Make intercessory prayer a daily priority.

• Accept being a nobody for Jesus.

• Remember that all positions and titles are irrelevant.

• Escape the frenzied “earn and spend” syndrome that drives our culture.

• Do something in the great task of world evangelization.

8:26 AM Readthis story from Dallas, Texas, and you’ll see why I wrote my bookChristian Archy.

“It is high time we stood up for our beliefs about Christmas” just doesn’t cut it. The true battle line is drawn elsewhere. It is obvious to me that even religious people can be destroyed by unsanctified love for earthly things.

7:58 AM Good morning bloggers!

As you know, the church in Alaba, Ethiopia, is undergoing persecution. When I say persecution, I’m not exaggerating. Needless to say, I stop often to pray for the brethren there. My prayer life is not not all it should be, but I’m pretty good about interceding in emergencies. And this is an emergency. I keep thinking to myself, It can’t get any worse. But it can. How I wish I could be there to share the burden.

I am extremely reluctant to draw parallels between what is happening in Ethiopia and what occurred in Nazi Germany. But there is one parallel I think bears mentioning. In the 1930s, a German pastor named Martin Niemöller led the opposition against Hitler’s “German Christians.” He once wrote, “I hold myself responsible to the utmost of my ability for those who are persecuted on account of [their] confessional stand.” He encouraged German pastors to stick with the “pure gospel” and to oppose the blood-and-soil teaching of the “German Christians.” He preached fearlessly in the name of the “Jewish rabbi, Jesus Christ.”

Niemöller was arrested on July 1, 1937. His arrest aroused international outrage. As a result, he was given an extremely light sentence. Happily preparing to be reunited with his family, Niemöller was seized by the infamous Gestapo and taken to Sachsenhausen concentration camp as the “personal prisoner” of Adolph Hitler. To the outside world he became a symbol of “the other Germany.” During his stay in Sachsenhausen, Niemöller’s father once visited his prison cell and told him that Eskimos in Canada and the Bataks of Sumatra were praying for him. They had also sent him their greetings.

Nigussie, Tessema, Tilahun, and the rest of you in Alaba — I tell you, I assure you, you are being prayed for, maybe not by Eskimos or Bataks but certainly by thousands of North Americans who read this blog. You can draw on the bank of heaven even though you may be bankrupt and persecuted on earth. Great soldiers of the Lord Jesus are developed in battle, not in plush offices. This old world that hates you so much is your proving ground. If you find the going hard, remember that you can overcome because Jesus overcame. You can do all things through Him. Stand by the cross. Calvary is utter foolishness to this age, but Christ slain and risen again is the only true Good News this weary planet will ever know.

Never forget that we are interceding for you. We will not “mind our own business.” Your suffering is our business. It may take another world to settle accounts, but there is always justice with God. May God grant a spirit of repentance to fall upon your enemies. May they see in your faces nothing but the tender love of Christ. May your constant prayer be, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” When a cloud arises between you and the sun, do you fear that the sun will never appear again? No, you must never doubt the reality of God’s love and sovereignty. Continue to walk in the path of duty. And remember: You never walk alone.

Sunday, December 12

5:35 PM Arthur Sido redefines worship “service.”

5:30 PM Just woke up from a nap. This wet day required one.

2:22 PM Our teacher’s text this morning was Acts 20:17-38. Two verses jumped out at me immediately: “You yourselves know that I have worked with these hands of mine (can’t you see Paul raising his calloused hands at this point?) to provide everything that my companions and I have needed. I have shown you in all things that by working hard in this way we must help the weak….” I thank God that Paul was not moved by lame excuses. He worked and paid his own way in life rather than mooch off the charity of others, and thus he set an example for elders in the church of his day — and ours.

The other verse that struck me was Acts 20:24: “I do not count my life dear unto myself.” I love this verse. I think of it every time my mind wanders to the persecuted church. Right now — this very moment — our son Nigussie in Alaba, Ethiopia, is facing death for the cause of Jesus. He does not count his life dear unto himself. Note that Paul does not say, “I do not count my life dear.” Life is a precious possession. Thus Paul adds, “I do not count my life dear unto myself.” He is saying that life is a wonderful gift from God, and because it is His gift we must all give an account for the way we live it. We can either live for ourselves, selfishly, or we can live for God and others, selflessly. Nigussie has chosen the better way. Like a grain of wheat, he is ready to die for Christ. What a choice servant of the Lord! Is there any greater honor than to suffer for the sake of the Gospel!

2:07 PM Had a wonderful time at The Hill this morning and afterwards at the Chinese Restaurant in South Boston. This morning Becky announced during our church meeting that on December 24 we will be having a “family dinner” here at Bradford Hall for our spiritual brothers and sisters in Christ. We will eat, sing, and pray as the Body of Christ. Many have expressed interested in attending. The focus will be on what the Lord Jesus taught us in Mark 3:31-15, namely that our true brothers and sisters are those who obey the Word of God as obedient disciples. Can’t wait to hear the testimonies of the Lord’s faithfulness!

9:06 AM Mitchell Powell uses an exclamation point! And forvery good reason!

8:56 AM Calling all Koine Greek students and teachers!Miklal Software produces flashcards for Greek and Hebrew. Would you like to see my vocabulary (Learn to Read New Testament Greek) included in their lineup of products? If so, please send me an email at dblack@sebts.edu.

8:13 AM Missions quote of the day (John Stott):

We must be global Christians with a global vision because our God is a global God.

7:59 AM Did you know that the New Living Translation has an online Greekinterlinear? I didn’t until I readJeff’s post this morning. Bookmark it now.

7:35 AM LXX students! Please take a minute or two and read Roger Nicole’s excellent essay calledNew Testament Use of the Old Testament. Among other important conclusions is the following:

When the New Testament authors appealed to Scripture as the Word of God, it is not claimed that they viewed anything but the originalcommunication as vested in full with divine inerrancy. Yet their willingness to make use of the LXX, in spite of its occasional defects, teaches the important lesson that the basic message which God purposed to deliver can be conveyed even through a translation, and that appeal can be made to a version insofar as it agrees with the original. It would be precarious, however, to rest an argument on any part of the LXX quotations which appears not to be conformed to the Hebrew original nor to the point of the New Testament writers, for the mere fact that the quotation was adduced in this fashion was not meant as a divine sanction upon incidental departures from the autographs. In the quotations made from the LXX we have indeed God’s seal of approval upon the contents of the Old Testament passage, but the form of the citation is affected by the language and conditions of those to whom the New Testament was first addressed. Such use of the LXX was not a case of objectionable accommodation.

Nicole, who passed away yesterday, was a model scholar for my generation of students. He was one of the first evangelicals to seek (and earn) a doctorate from a prestigious “secular” university in addition to his doctorate from a conservative divinity school. He became a “critical” scholar without surrendering his faith in the plenary inspiration of Scripture. His was an evangelical voice calling us to remain true to the propositional Word of truth. Thanks be to God.

7:11 AM Good thoughts onAdvent from Allan Bevere. Don’t miss this classic one-liner:

It seems as if we have put most of our Easter eggs in the Christmas basket.

7:03 AM My friend Alvin Reid has written a great post about self-discipline. It’s called Indulging in Discipline. I love the title but hate the reality. For the truth is that I am probably the most un-disciplined, sloth-prone person in the universe. Alvin writes:

Can one really be a disciple without discipline? Ask yourself how much you value discipline. Then ask yourself how much you value Jesus. No, we do not earn salvation or God’s favor. But Paul did tell Timothy to discipline himself for the purpose of godliness. What greater way can I show my gratitude to my Savior than to serve Him with all the drive of my life?

Now if that isn’t convicting. A good reminder for a certain Hawaiian-born and bred beach bum I know.

Saturday, December 11

9:29 PM Matt, Liz, and the boys just returned from an overnight visit to Roanoke Rapids. They were sorely missed. So it’s back to normal (i.e., zany) living!

6:34 PM Check out the new Kailua Baptist Church website. The pastor there is a Southern grad, but that’s forgivable 🙂 If you’re ever vacationing in the Paradise of the Pacific, you might check out KBC.

6:08 PM Alittle known fact about Karl Barth and his son Markus emerges.

5:40 PM Just prayed for my beginning Greek students, who are doing their final take home exam this weekend. Can’t believe the semester ends this week. Looking forward to my J-term Greek class that starts January 3. Love this thing called teaching!

Speaking of Greek reminds me of my favorite ancient Greek joke: Eumenides the tailor is in his shop when the door opens and in walks a customer he vaguely recognizes, carrying a torn pair of trousers.

Eumenides asks: “Euripides?”

5:22 PM Quote of the day:

A great pastor understands brokenness. They understand that all sin is equal, while also understanding that not all sin has the same consequences. And because of this understanding, a great pastor is someone who knows their position in Christ and that Christ was comfortable in the presence of real sinners. And because Christ is comfortable in the presence of sinners they themselves likewise find themselves comfortable in the presence of sinners.

ReadGood pastoring starts with true listening.

3:35 PM Sinus headache = Storm’s coming. Who needs a barometer?

3:32 PM Hmmm. “Jesus is the exegesis of God.” John 1:18. Sounds like a bit of etymologizing to me.

3:25 PM Brian Fulthorp’s latest blog post (on the power of the biblical languages) is a good reminder why language courses are the most important classes you can take in seminary.

(Spoken like a true blue Greek prof, eh?)

3:16 PM My colleague Julian Motley sent along a link to his new bookHow Then Should We Think: In Pursuit of the Mind of Christ. The publishers write:

[The book] welcomes Christians and seekers of faith to immerse themselves in the Bible’s witness to the truth as it is in Jesus Christ. This pursuit will unveil inspiring and encouraging wisdom for all who want to discover and grow in the faith of Christ and experience the love of God in Him. Julian Morris Motley writes from experience—over six decades of ministry—offering seasoned guidance leading to faithful thinking and to life-changing interactions with the mind of Christ.

Julian and his wife Jane are precious co-laborers for the kingdom. I wish the book well.

10:28 AM Is Jesus the proper object of our prayers? This is an interesting question of theology. The debate continueshere andhere.

9:27 AM I know I wrote about Ethiopia yesterday, but, truth be told, there is so much going on there, both good and bad (“bad” from my limited human perspective) that I could blog about it nonstop. It seems like one thing after another since we returned last July. Strangely enough, knowing all the heartache I would experience, and even though the path has been anything but easy, I’d do it all over again. There is something so incredible about watching the flock in Ethiopia, pounced upon by savage wolves, doing dangerous things for Jesus, living life on the edge because that’s what their Master told them to do. It hit me today, after reading the latest update from our son Nigussie in Alaba (whose life is in danger even as I type), just how unnecessary it is to be intimated by people or circumstances. We don’t need to be on a roller coaster ride of emotions at each victory or defeat, because we know that God works all things together for good and because we know we are called according to His purpose. One of the most joyful things about being a Christian has got to be the relief it brings from the fears that come from persecution. Every true servant of Christ realizes, sooner or later, that obedience will be risky and unpleasant. If this sounds extreme to you, perhaps you should examine your heart to see if you’re really born again. If the driving force of your life is anything but true servanthood, with all of its attendant risks, then it is unacceptable to the Lord.

I don’t enjoy watching Christians being persecuted in a country that supposedly has freedom of religion. My heart sank when I heard that my dear brother Tessema suffered a head injury when he was stoned. It’s so hard to know how to best help them. And the thing is, it is not just the Christians in Alaba. It’s so many believers in so many lands. I get my heart all tangled up in their stories. Then I start thinking about their courage and faithfulness and the privilege I have to write words and put them on the internet for everyone (or maybe no one) to see. I can’t get used to it — this comfortable life in Virginia when all the while in my mind’s eye I see heart-wrenching poverty and injustice and malaria and typhoid and typhus and ugly stares and sometimes rocks and sticks, simply because you love someone named Jesus. But I’m coming to realize that this heart-brokenness is a very good thing. When it stops, it will be time to stop being a missionary.

8:01 AM The concert last night was fabulous. I love hearing music that is written for the sole purpose of glorifying our Lord. So much the better if it’s written and sung in Latin! Grace is such a powerful thing. I can’t imagine the agonizing emptiness Jesus must have felt when He left His home to come to this earth. He knew something of the ruggedness of life. He also knew its joys. Above all, He was a man on a mission, and He calls me to be the same.

A couple of pix:

1) Saw lots of old friends. Becky and I “attended” the post-concert meeting of the chorale and heard John Boozer’s pep talk. (They need more tenors.)

2) We talked with plenty of our former vocalist friends. Everyone put “mild” pressure on us to return to the fold, but they understood that for now that is just not possible.

3) John is an outstanding conductor and a great colleague and friend. Can’t wait for their Spring concert.

Friday, December 10

12:15 PM Remember Ayelech? I figure it’s time for an update. She’s arrived in Addis for her double mammography. We haven’t heard the results yet. We’re so used to timely health care here in America. Not so in Ethiopia. Not even in the capital. Not sure what else to tell you except to keep on praying for her. Because we’re in this thing together. You, me, Becky — we are the Body of Christ, and when one part suffers, we all suffer.

10:28 AM Missions quote of the day (Nate Saint):

And people who do not know the Lord ask why in the world we waste our lives as missionaries. They forget that they too are expending their lives…and  when the bubble has burst they will have nothing of eternal significance to show for the years they have wasted.

10:17 AM So grateful for Thomas and Lesly Hugdins, who are working diligently to translate my beginning grammar into Spanish. You can read about their husband-wife laborshere. This is a huge blessing and encouragement to me.

10:12 AM Don’t forget: Tonight the Northeast Piedmont Chorale is singing Vivaldi’s Gloria in the seminary chapel. The program begins at 7:00. Orchestral accompaniment and free admission.

10:00 AM Good frosty morning one and all. Just been perusing the biblioblogs. It’s mostly a waste of time. However, I do appreciate the openness of certain bloggers to the changing self-understanding occurring in churches today. They are not merely entering a historical debate. They are truly seeking to flesh out the Anabaptism of Zwingli’s erstwhile (and, I would say, more committed) followers. They seek to “speak the truth in love.” They aren’t afraid to tell it like it is, warts and all. They are also discovering the deep unity in the Body of Christ in ways that put to shame modern Christendom. The Presbyterian Robert Baillie once called this willingness to change “mutability.” Mutability seems sadly lacking today. Rare are those who say that the Holy Spirit must be followed, even if it seems foolish to the world — and to the church.

Eric Carpenter and Alan Knox have got to be two of the most engaging of these modern Anabaptists. Want to think with them about all this? If so, you can check out their latest posts here:

• A Few Important Conclusions.

• Why I’m glad not to be that kind of pastor.

Even if you are “that kind of a pastor” I hope you will take these words to heart.

Thursday, December 9

7:54 PM What a joy it was for Becky to bake cookies with the boys today. I thought you’d enjoy a few pix: 

6:33 PM Missions quote of the day (William Cameron Townsend): 

The greatest missionary is the Bible in the mother tongue. It needs no furlough and is never considered a foreigner.

6:22 PM So just what did I do today?

• Fixed the front gate with Matt

• Packed a trailer

• Repaired the lawn mower’s flat tire

• Did a trash run with Caleb

• Ordered new tires for Becky’s van

• Walked the fence line

The latter project was necessitated by the fact that this farm is inhabited by the world’s greatest escape artists, aka, Shelties. Not to fear, however. Yours truly coyly followed the little recalcitrants and discovered where they were crawling under the fence.

Then I plugged the openings with whatever materials lay at hand.

I started out this afternoon with only my 3 dogs but was eventually joined by Nate and Jess’s Shelties — making a grand total of 6 devious POWs.

Life on a farm….

5:53 PM Just back from spreading a little holiday to cheer to all of our neighbors. We sang “Joy to the World,” gave out a sack of goodies, then burst forth in a boisterous rendition of “We Wish You a Merry Christmas.”

The sack contained a brief letter containing these words, written by Becky:

John, who lived with Jesus, wrote a biography of Jesus’ life. 

In it, he wrote: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, so that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God didn’t send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that every person in the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.” 

And later in his life, John wrote a letter to those who obeyed Jesus as Lord of their lives.  In this letter, he wrote: “This is the message you have heard from the beginning: We should love one another. … If we love our Christian brothers and sisters, it proves that we have passed from death to life. But a person who has no love is still dead. Anyone who hates another brother or sisters is really a murderer at heart. And you know that murderers don’t have eternal life within them. We know what real love is because Jesus gave up his life for us. So we also ought to give up our lives for our brothers and sisters.”

Life is busy and Life is messy.  In all that we have been through this year, know that we often think of you and pray for you.  Our prayer is that you might know the God of Life, who loves you, who has made a way for you to Him, and who one day stand either beside you or against you on the Day of Judgment.  If there is anything that we can do to help you know Him, please call on us!

Here at Bradford Hall on the farm, we are continuing the work in Ethiopia, helping people who are much more poor than us in the USA. We are enjoying the Family at Bethel Hill Baptist Church, north of Roxboro.  We often shelter others in our home.  Dave is continuing with the website www.daveblackonline.com and Becky’s continuing with the website www.bethelhillbaptistchurch.com; we welcome you to visit us online! 

And we’re continuing the treatment for Becky Lynn’s cancer.  It has spread to her lungs.  Unless the Lord Himself steps in through a miracle, we expect her to go to Him sometime this year.  Her testimony? “I do not have long to live; my life is not precious in itself.  But I treasure faithfulness…I long to be a faithful servant of the Lord Jesus, so that whether I have 2 weeks, 2 months or 2 decades, my life is one of obedience to the heart of Jesus in serving others.  My Lord Jesus has made all things right between God and me.  I have no fear in dying, and what He has waiting for me in His Home is infinitely better than what I am enjoying here on earth, because He is there!  It is in Death that we really know what we believe, and I can say that the peace & even joy since my diagnosis has been something only a faithful God, who knows His people, can give!  I rejoice in Him, the God of my salvation!”

Rejoicing in the Savior, given to us from God’s heart of love….. Dave, Becky Lynn, Liz, Matthew, Caleb, Isaac & Micah at Bradford Hall on Rosewood Farm.

2:40 PM Gordon College announces an opening inNew Testament/Theology.

2:28 PM One word: BUSY.

Wednesday, December 8

7:26 PM Inthis video clip from Desiring God, Darren Patrick answers the question: How do you know if you’re called to ministry? Watch it, and then readthis essay by Jon Zens.

7:20 PM Wipf & Stock have done it again. They’ve just published Margaret Sim’sMarking Thought and Talk in New Testament Greek. If you’re into Koine Greek particles, this is the book for you. I just ordered a review copy for myself.

7:12 PM Openings:

• Bluffton University:Biblical Studies.

• University of Virginia:Religious Studies.

7:07 PM Tired of reading biblical genealogies? Try this one on for size:Who Begot Whom?

7:00 PM The death of Elizabeth Edwards has hit me harder than I expected. I watched the story as it developed throughout the past few months. I can’t imagine how difficult it was for her during her last days. How do you maintain hope and courage when your husband forsakes you for a younger woman (and bears a child with her) and then you are faced with a terminal illness? Recently I talked with a man who is undergoing a divorce. These situations are just another reminder that we live in a broken world. Life is messy. It would be nice to think that if we lead good lives, suffering will be minimized. But that doesn’t happen. So I offer my condolences and prayers to Mrs. Edward’s family during their time of grief. It’s such a strange paradox, this thing we call life. My recent biopsy was a stark reminder that sickness and death are my ultimate fate, unless Jesus returns soon. Which means that, one must NEVER stop living and loving, no matter how difficult life gets. For the apostle Paul, Christ in His suffering and death was the model of all ministry. It is because of Jesus that Paul saw himself as nothing but a slave. Paul “shares” the sufferings of Christ, and thus proves that he is a true apostle of Jesus Christ. With the passing of Elisabeth Edwards we get to see the power of death. But we also get to see the power of life, the soft warm reality of the one who said “I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, though they die, will live again.”

6:49 PM Evening, bloggers and bloggerettes! May I share a few pix with you?

1) Last night’s concert at the seminary was truly memorable. The Gettys performed music they had either composed or arranged themselves. Even traditional Christmas hymns sounded delightfully new  — with an Irish twist to boot. There was also a lot of audience participation. Joyful indeed.

2)  Becky along with Liz and the boys joined me. Of course, we had to have pizza before the concert.

3) We were also joined by a couple of dear friends. Rachael is one of our faculty secretaries, while Ronnie is a former Greek student (and 110 Award recipient).

4) This morning my doctoral student Michael Rudolph led our Ph.D. seminar. He presented two papers, the first entitled “The Interpretative Significance of Intersentential Conjunctions for New Testament Studies: Are the Insights of linguistics Relevant?”

5) His second paper was called “The Collision of Two Worlds?: Toward a Reconciliation of Ancient and Modern Understandings of GAR.”

I am blessed to have such capable students, and am always glad for the opportunity to hear them teaching. Mike did an outstanding job. Mike has just finished his mentorship with me and will take his comprehensive exams in January. After that — it’s on to the dissertation phase. Should be a great ride.

Tuesday, December 7

6:55 AM Today marks the anniversary of my generation’s September 11. The surprise Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941, will always be a date that will “live in infamy.” If you only read one story about today’s commemorations, please take a minute and readFrom Pearl Harbor to Calvary. It’s the story of Commander Mitsuo Fuchida, who led the attack that Sunday morning.

The airman ended up becoming a committed   follower of the Prince of Peace and a warm-hearted Christian missionary.

In an era of Osama bin Ladens, Fuchida’s story shows how the Gospel can indeed transform a life from the inside out. More than anything, it’s an awesome reminder of the power, grace, and sovereignty of God. Read it, then share it with a friend today.

6:43 AM New postDown to Earth Theology at DBO. It’s on a topic I’ve been passionate about for years. Hope you enjoy it.

In the meantime, please keep the suffering church in Ethiopia in your prayers.

6:34 AM On the lighter side:

A life-long single man, Parker allegedly came close to proposing to three different women. The first two chose not to marry him, and when the third seemingly was willing, Parker did not want to marry someone who would want to marry him. Is this true?

“There is a grain of truth in that, and a nice dash of hyperbole too,” Parker said, smiling.

ReadSouthern Story: James Parker III.

Monday, December 6

1:50 PM After a hiatus, Matt Evans isblogging again. Why not send him a note and let him know you’re glad forthe return of Broadcast Depth?

1:12 PM Brian Fulthorp sent along a link to an excellent source of news and information about the persecuted church worldwide. It’s calledCompass Direct. It’s a real eye-opener. Check it out daily, then pray!

8:54 AM The book of Hebrews contains many wonderful promises but none more precious than this one:

I will never, ever, ever, under any circumstance, leave you or forsake you (Heb. 13:5).

So the Greek text, which contains a very strong negative. It is a mighty promise and on its basis we can say, “The Lord is my helper, I will not be afraid. What can mere man do to me?” (v. 6). Therefore, we dare not heed the flesh’s call to fear and intimidation in the face of opposition. I will not allow fear to control me. I will be content in the presence of the Lord. I will let God deal with my enemies. I am at peace in Him, no matter what happens to me.

I write this because my aching heart is in Alaba, Ethiopia, this morning, “remembering those who are ill-treated” (Heb. 13:3). I will not forget the shock that came to me when I first visited Alaba. Injustice and oppression are completely detestable to me. However — and this is a point I wish to make crystal clear — the church’s job is not to issue proclamations about political problems. Our message is the Gospel, the Good News about the one who loves all people everywhere, not only the oppressed but their oppressors.

In chapter 12 of Hebrews the author says, “Let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken.” As violence increases, as indifference to law and order rises, as persecution of Christians abounds, more and more will we become aware that there is only one kingdom than cannot be shaken. The church passes through a fire that is designed to purify it so that we may learn to cry out with Job of old, “He knows the way that I take; when He has tried me, I will come forth as gold” (Job 23:10).

Pray with us for Alaba. Pray for the believers there, for their courageous leaders who risk life and limb to protect the flock, and for their enemies “who know not what they do.” And let all of us have eyes and ears and hearts that are open to the cries of the afflicted, whether they are in prison or otherwise oppressed or mistreated.

Below: Our son Nigussie (left) and one of the Alaba evangelists who was almost killed earlier this year. Behind them is the vehicle that was damaged in the most recent attack. May they, and us, continue to look beyond the visible and see the Invisible and trust in Him.

8:18 AM Missions quote of the day (William Booth, founder of the Salvation Army):

“Not called!” did you say? “Not heard the call,” I think you should say. Put your ear down to the Bible, and hear him bid you go and pull sinners out of the fire of sin. Put your ear down to the burdened, agonized heart of humanity, and listen to its pitiful wail for help. Go stand by the gates of hell, and hear the damned entreat you to go to their father’s house and bid their brothers and sisters, and servants and masters not to come there. And then look Christ in the face, whose mercy you have professed to obey, and tell him  whether you will join heart and soul and body and circumstances in the march to publish his mercy to the world.

Sunday, December 5

6:31 PM Brian Fulthorp hits it out of the ballpark with his latest essay:The Key to World Evangelization? He writes:

I believe the key to world evangelization is not necessarily through a specific people group but through a particular mode of living….

Complete and total sacrificial living is the key to world evangelization and nothing less.

I’ll only be when Christians are willing to give of themselves for the cause of the gospel and nothing else that there will be significant progress in world evangelization.  It will only be when Christians are willing to die to themselves, their own agendas, their own goals, even their own hopes and dreams, and leave behind security, money, convenience, even family to follow Christ wholeheartely.  Only when they would abandon everything for the gospel.  Only when we truely take up our crosses daily…

The challenge of world evangelization remains as great in the twenty-first century as it was in the first century. But it is time for action, not words, obedience not discussion. May God work in our midst, emptying and humbling us, and filling us with the Holy Spirit to accomplish this God-sized task!

4:18 PM After years of intense labor in China, Hudson Taylor finally baptized his first convert. “If one soul is worth worlds,” he wrote to his mother, “am I not abundantly repaid, and are not you too?”

How well I remember the first fruit of our work in Ethiopia. How the angels rejoiced, and so did we!

2:22 PM Here’s a question I’d like to ask. What does a person of faith look like? How do you recognize one?

My answer to this question goes something like this. A person of faith is one who repudiates manmade thinking and throws him or herself totally upon the teaching of the Scriptures. To enter into the new we must repudiate the old. But how do we recognize what is old? Through the Word of God. The Bible strips off the false. It exposes us to our false notions of God, the church, and the world. When we peer into the Word of God we see, to our horror, how false our “reality” is. The Bible itself teaches us that “the Word of God is alive and powerful.” It can be, and often is, utterly ruthless. It backs us into a corner and allows us no wriggle room. Moreover, if we decide to obey it, it exposes how deeply entrenched the flesh is in us. We realize we are helpless to crucify the flesh or to throw off our vain traditions.

I am always amazed when I see this kind of faith in action. A good example is the blog of a former SEBTS student named Eric Carpenter. Read his entries — like this one titledI Just Couldn’t Do It Anymore — and feel his pain. No, there’s no pouting or cajoling or complaining or grumbling. All you see is a man trying to walk by faith. Parenthetically, Eric’s Alexa Traffic Rank is a mere 2,437,710. Apparently bibliobloggers would much rather read about the latest fad in theology than about the knowledge of Christ. When Jesus came to this earth He said, in effect, I’m here to change everything. And the people said, Mug Him. I wonder how many times people have mugged Eric. But if I read Eric correctly, his attitude is one of humble acquiescence. The pain is worth the gain.

I tell you, I admire such simple faith. I wish I had it myself. St. Augustine once said, “God wants to give us something but He can’t. Our hands are full and there is no place to put anything.” I have discovered that sometimes the only way the Lord produces a sense of God-sufficiency in our lives it by stripping us of our smug self-sufficiency. And that process may be painful.

For those who want to be people of faith, it is my prayer that they will have an open heart to the voice of God. Sometimes that voice can speak to us through human messengers, especially men and women like Eric who have been broken by the Word of God, who have begin to rethink the wineskins that Jesus so often spoke about.

It is a tragic and shallow statement about the worth of our salvation when we trade it for a name on a church marquee.

1:47 PM Today at the Hill we prayed for the Body. The part that is hurting. Here and abroad. Becky shared the details.

Then we prayed.

Scripture says:

Others suffered mocking and beatings, and even chains and imprisonment. They were stoned (Heb. 11:36).

This is not fiction. It is not ancient history. This is today, and it is faith at work. Faith persists. Faith perseveres. Faith suffers. Faith longs to see God’s purposes fulfilled on earth. We are called to judge the present by the future. We are called to weigh the permanent against the temporary. Our Ethiopian brothers and sisters in Christ have done just that. They have overcome by the blood of the Lamb.

Praise be unto God.

8:50 AM Special time of prayer this morning for the persecuted church in Alaba. Things have deteriorated. Our vehicle’s windows have been smashed, and three of our evangelists have been injured. One has a serious head wound, the result of being stoned. Thankfully, God’s amazing grace multiplies in times of trouble. To think how minor my trials are compared to the sufferings of these saints!

8:44 AM Missions quote of the day (K. P. Yohannan):

A tiny group of believers who have the gospel keep mumbling it over and over to themselves. Meanwhile, millions who have never heard it once fall into the flames of eternal hell without ever hearing the salvation story.

8:20 AM Another seminary-related item: This Tuesday evening at 7:30 the Gettys will be in concert in Binckley Chapel.

The theme is “An Irish Christmas.” We’re planning on being there. For tickets contactSEBTS. I am an unabashed promoter of the music and ministry of Keith and Kristyn Getty.

8:12 AM A heads up: This Wednesday one of my doctoral students, Michael Rudolph, will be the guest speaker in our Ph.D. Linguistics Seminar. He will speak to the class about the work he is doing on intersentential conjunctions in Koine Greek. All interested are invited to attend. We meet in Patterson Hall at 7:30.

7:44 AM Good morning, world!

Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow.

7:32 AM Last night was a first. No, there was nothing unusually about Papa B’s Chinese stir fry.

The novelty was using chopsticks!

And the dessert? Eaten with forks of course.

7:21 AM So encouraged while reading Roger Steer’sbiography of Hudson Taylor.

Two quotes:

1) When applying to the mission board, Taylor “believed that he had stated his unorthodox views so freely that he would not be accepted. According to the clerk to the committee, the part which caused eyebrows to be raised the highest was where he said, ‘I do not believe the division of the Church into clergy and laity. I believe all Christians have a right to preach, baptize and administer the Lord’s Supper….’ The committee’s reaction is hardly surprising, for the majority of them were clergymen or ministers holding the opposite view” (p. 44).

2)  Steer writes, “He adamantly refused to accept the title ‘Reverend” which many wished to thrust upon him” (p. 64.)

Stay tuned for more gems from the life of this lay missionary to China. Steer’s book is giving me a lot to think and pray about. I highly recommend it to anybody who has a servant’s heart. 

Saturday, December 4

4:26 PM While the dogs romp in the snow…

… the boys enjoy some delicious hot chocolate their mom made for them.

Yes, winter has arrived in Southern Virginia.

Oh … I see the boys have just run outside with their heavy coats on to enjoy the snow. As for me, I think I’ll stay indoors and enjoy my biography of Hudson Taylor!

2:44 PM IVP, which published John Sailhamer’s latest book (see photo below — note the subtitle) requires the use of the serial comma.

I always use the serial comma in lists of persons, places, and things, and when I find an author who doesn’t I hate the ambiguity that often occurs.

Quite unfortunate – – and unnecessary — in my humble opinion. My advice? Stick with the final comma in a series.

11:44 AM So, is the projected 24 million dollar scale model of Noah’s Ark good stewardship of the Lord’s money? This question was posed recently byArthur Sido. What do you think?

11:34 AM Great news! Matt finally gets his Ph.D.*

*Post hole digger.

11:19 AM Old Testament students! Interested in the work of John Sailhamer on Old Testament theology? Then you will want to read Tracy McKenzie’s take on Sailhamer’s latest book, The Meaning of the Pentateuch. Gohere for the review.

11:12 AM I can’t figure out what was so special about last night. After supper at the IHOP in downtown Raleigh, Becky and I drove a few blocks to the Edenton Street United Methodist Church for their annual Messiah Sing-Along. Imagine yourself among 150 eager Messiah fans listening to pipe organ, soloists, and orchestra in a magnificent cathedral-like edifice.

We, the audience, sang all the choruses. As I stumbled through the bass part, the steady stream of trials in my life began to disappear from my consciousness. The church had become a hospital of sorts, and I was in triage. In the end, it wasn’t about the beautiful music or the magnificent church building or the talented soloists or even Handel. It was about Him.

King of kings, and Lord of lords!

And He shall reign forever and forever!

Hallelujah!

Friday, December 3

3:26 PM In many churches tithing is not simply a tradition; it is almost a superstition. What does the New Testament teach about tithing? If you have ever worried your brain with such questions, David Croteau’sYou Mean I Don’t Have to Tithe? is the book for you. I am currently re-reading it and can’t put it down. Kudos to David (and his doctoral supervisor at SEBTS, Andreas Köstenberger) as well as to the publisher, Wipf & Stock, for being willing to take an unpopular stand on a controversial subject. As David notes in the preface to his book, “When my mentor (Andreas Köstenberger) approved this topic for my dissertation, I was not looking forward to the opposition with which the concepts would be received.” He adds, soberly, “I pray that this work will be received by gentle hearts open to the attempt I have made to inductively analyze Scripture’s teaching on this complex, important, and very practical subject.”

I join you in that prayer, David.

3:14 PM The Areopagus series continues to expand. Today I finished editing H. van Dyke Parunak’s Except for Fornication: Jesus’ Teaching on Divorce and Remarriage. It is an elegant and serious piece of exegesis. From the preface:

Long ago, a wise Bible teacher counseled me and other young men who hoped to serve the church of God, “Be sure to figure out in advance what you believe about divorce and remarriage. Sooner or later, you will have to counsel people who are embroiled in this tragic situation. It’s far better that you figure out what you believe now, while you can be objective with the scriptures, than when you are deeply immersed in the emotional trauma of those you love.” My sense of the serious responsibility of teaching, and my need to stand before God and give an account, has led me to invest many hours in understanding the biblical position as accurately as I can.

I suspect that van Parunak’s work will delight some readers and offend others. But I don’t think it will be ignored.

8:50 AM Though a bit dated, Nijay Gupta’sdiscussion of verbal aspect is a must read. In essence, he both agrees and disagrees with Con Campbell, whose comment in response is a classic:

Thus, while VA [Verbal Aspect] may open a new ‘cans of worms’, they are better worms than the old ones! (if I can put it like that).

As I wrote yesterday, I see no reason to exchange my worms for Con’s — yet. I also think Nijay is correct about time (at least in the indicative mood):

For teaching purposes, trudging through this kind of linguistic tap-dance of avoiding temporal categories is daunting. Teach students to accept that the aorist often is past, but there are many exceptions and when past-time is not possible or logical, let’s look at ‘remoteness’ in some other way.

Incidentally, Nijay cites the example of Mark 1:11: eudokesa. I have a different take on why the aorist is used there (rather than the present). More on that later.

8:43 AM This essay by Michael Palmer on the distinction between acquisition and language learning should be read by all seminary students. His conclusion:

While it used to be thought that adults loose much of their acquisition ability and cannot gain language competence the way children do, this view has been discredited. Krashen argues that adults do not lose the ability to acquire languages the way that children do. In stead, adults add the ability to consciously try to learn language. Still, such learning can never be a substitute for acquiring the language if we really want to become truly competent in the language.

Currently I am trying to acquire a knowledge of Amharic (spoken widely in Ethiopia). Thus far I have only been able to “learn” bits and pieces of the language. It is an uphill battle for me and, I suppose, always will be until I immerses myself in the culture for more than my normal 1-2 months.

8:22 AM Openings:

• Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary:Theology and Old Testament.

• Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary: Pastoral Ministry/Preaching.

Thursday, December 2

7:25 PM Hebrews 13:3:

Continue to remember those in prison as if you were together with them in prison, and those who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering.

3:12 PM Quote of the day (source):

As an evangelical interested in the global expanse of the Gospel, I have to ask the question, in light of such competition, is God calling many American academicians to think missionally about their scholarship? In other words, why not go to a land where the competition isn’t as fierce and advance scholarship for the cause of Christ there? This, to me, seems like a biblical paradigm that can be applied to the flooded market of North American (and European) evangelical scholarship.

Recently-minted Ph.D. students, take note!

3:08 PM Growing up in Hawaii, the word “wiki” was used almost daily. It meant something like “hurry up” or “quickly.” When you really meant it you doubled up: “wiki-wiki.”

Amazing to think that a little Hawaiian word could become so famous (Wikipedia, WikiLeaks).

2:55 PM Michele Napier asksWhat Is “New” about the New Covenant? An excellent reminder of the power of the indwelling Spirit to change our lives from the inside out.

2:30 PM A former student of mine just sent me a wonderful email, which included this line:

I follow your blog faithfully and find it helpful, fun, encouraging, thought provoking, and, dare I say, at times humorously and entertainingly weird!!!! 

To prove his point, this zany question just went through my mind:

Would the new Journal of Paul and His Letters allow an article on Hebrews?

Yep, I AM weird!

2:03 PM Exegesis of Mark students! You can access Steven Runge’s excellent paper on the historical presenthere (.pdf). Please read this essay before we begin class next semester. The essay is also a good entrée into the latest debate about verbal aspect theory and the temporal (or non-temporal) nature of the Koine Greek verb system. For what it’s worth, I hold that, in the indicative mood, Greek grammaticalizes tense. Hence, as Runge also argues, Koine Greek is essentially a mixed tense/aspect system (see chapter 2 of myLearn to Read New Testament Greek). I also argue that, in the Greek New Testament, one tense is never used “for” another (see chapter 26). As we begin our study of the Gospel according to Mark in Greek, we’ll see that the present tense is not normally used in narratives, and that departures from the aorist tend to be exegetically significant. In Mark, the historical present stands out, adding prominence and perhaps vividness to the story line. So, we will expect the aorist, but recognize that a shift to either the imperfect tense or the present tense may be significant. Incidentally, the ancient scribes must have felt the same way, if textual evidence is any indication (for example, gohere).

1:42 PM Warning! Another SEBTS student has started blogging. Check outWhy start a blog? by Joe Greene.

1:22 AM Speaking in chapel today was Carrie McDonnall. Carrie and her husband David were serving the Lord Jesus in Mosul, Iraq when their car was ambushed and three missionaries were killed outright. Later her husband died from his wounds. Her websitestates:

The Lord’s work in Carrie’s life reminds us that His Sovereignty reaches into each of our lives, and it is His Love and Faithfulness that causes us to carry on in the work He has extended to those who are called children of God.

Amen to that!

May God bless all the Carrie McDonnalls of the world. And may their tribe increase. Jesus is worthy of any sacrifice we make for the Gospel.

For the podcast please go towww.sebts.edu.

10:58 AM Right now it’s 39 degrees. And they’re calling this a la Niña winter?

10:46 AM Got an email this morning from Alaba, where Becky and I have worked for many years. Persecution has broken out again. A church building has been destroyed and one of our evangelists has been beaten. “If one part suffers, every part suffers with it” (1 Cor. 12:26). Privileged to suffer with the brethren there.

10:38 AM Thomas Hugdins asks,Where have all the Juan Mateos books gone? The answer ishere. Another good reason to know how to read Spanish if you’re going into New Testament studies today. My favorite Mateos book is:

10:14 AM Meet a pastorwithout worries.

10:02 AM One of my Latin students sent alongthis link to the online version of Nunn’s excellent grammar of ecclesiastical Latin. We do not offer a course in Latin at SEBTS per se but self-study is a manageable way to master this vitally important language. I am also willing to design an independent study course for students who would like to get credit for their work.

9:26 AM This is going to be long.

Yesterday a colleague of mine sent me this link: Ethiopia Imprisons Christian Accused of Defacing Quran. It is a report about a believer in Ethiopia who had the courage to proclaim Yesus Getano — “Jesus is Lord!” His “crime” is that he refused to hide the light of the Gospel under a bushel.

I find myself overwhelmed by the significance of this event. We in America are so often wrong about our Christian suppositions. Joseph and Mary were sure that Jesus was traveling to Nazareth with them when He was back in Jerusalem in the temple. Mary thought Jesus was a gardener. Paul once knew Christ according to the flesh. How gullible we are.

Being willing to declare “Jesus is Lord!” and being willing even to die for Him runs so contrary to the world of “New Testament scholarship” in which I live and move and have my being. I am (and have always been)  a lover of books, of writing, of teaching, of scholarship. Wherever I am, I love to read and learn. I enjoy listening to the reports from ETS and SBL and discussing the latest controversies in the field of religious studies.

I am comfortable.

Scholarship validates my need to be affirmed in my calling. And then I read a news story like the one I linked to above and God taps me on the shoulder and drops me to my knees. A man properly loves himself only when he sees himself as God sees him — nothing but a lost sinner, bought with a great price, the personal property of the Lord whom he is called to follow and serve sacrificially. He is not called to debate the doctrine of justification. He is called to get right with God by confession and repentance. Then he is called to leave the 99 and search for the lost sheep of the world. He must be willing to risk all — even his reputation in the eyes of the world — to proclaim with life and lip, “Jesus is Lord!”

Jesus was accused of being out of His mind. So was Paul, the greatest New Testament scholar who ever lived. It is amazing to me how we so-called “New Testament experts” can study and teach the New Testament but somehow manage to keep it in one compartment of our lives while we carry on the daily affairs of life in another. As Christian scholars and bloggers it is not our calling to denounce organized iniquity. It is to be the kind of committed Christians who have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness but rather expose them by the contrast of our lives. We are so used to measuring everything by the yardstick of popularity that we make our dedication to scholarship the road to advancement and recognition. We have sought, like James and John, prominent places in the kingdom when Jesus is offering suffering instead of seats. I’ve said it before: If we really wanted to make an impact at ETS, we would have asked Schreiner and Thielman and Wright to serve for a day together in a soup kitchen in Atlanta’s inner city, sharing with lost souls the Gospel of this Jesus whom we evangelicals claim to understand so well intellectually.

I am suspicious of any form of Christianity that does not arouse bitter hostility from the world. My brother in Ethiopia is in prison today not because he broke any law (freedom of religion is guaranteed in the Ethiopian constitution) but because he was willing to follow in the steps of his Lord, who refused the applause of the world. Christ does not want our patronage. He must have submission.

Funny how the imprisonment of a Christian brother in Ethiopia makes me so grateful. Grateful to know that in some parts of the world “the cost of discipleship” is more than a book title. Grateful for the reminder that the Christian life is not a set of dogmas but a revolution. Being persecuted will not stop the Gospel. Even in prison, Jesus is Lord.

I’m with Jesus on this one. Let the dead bury their dead. Sell out or get out. This poor world of New Testament studies to which I belong talks haughtily, like Pilate, as though Jesus stood at its mercy. We avoid the battle of truth under the false guise that we are explorers of the truth — on a “quest” to discover the historical Jesus. But there is no doubt about who this Christ is. Yesus Getano. Jesus is Lord! In parts of Ethiopia, those are fighting words. Utter them and you may die.

The tragedy of our generation is that we are failing to get to the bottom of our troubles. Spreading Aspercream on cancer is idiotic. The professing church in America — and this includes the academic guild that I know and love — has become cluttered with hosts of superficial “believers” who have never settled the matter of obedience. They are disciples in name only, their hands on the plow, eagerly looking back.

Perhaps I will start praying for persecution to come to America. Many would fall away but at least it would separate the sheep from the goats.

Wednesday, December 1

9:20 PM May I share with you a couple of happy memory makers?

1) These cups arrived in today’s mail. They’re from Becky’s mom in Dallas. What a thoughtful gift. Mom, every time we use these cups we will remember you and your love. Amasagenalo.

2) Josiah, a Chinese student of mine, invited me to his beautiful Wake Forest home last night, where his wife fed me the meal of a lifetime. It was an unforgettable evening. Thank you very much for your wonderful hospitality.

I have a special place in my heart for our international students, having been one myself. I really miss the ethnic diversity of Southern California. I thank God for each and every international student the Lord sends our way, but pray, Lord, send us more!

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   restoring our biblical and constitutional foundations

                

Down to Earth Theology

 David Alan Black  

Reading the biblioblogs recently — about which there is so often nothing worthy to comment — reminded me of the distinction John Stott once made between an ivory tower and a balcony. An ivory tower, he said, was a place of escape in which one is removed from the harsh realities of life. A balcony, on the other hand, is not quite so distant as an ivory tower. From a balcony one can at least observe what is going on, even if one is not always personally involved.

One of the main dangers to which bibliobloggers are exposed is the tendency to distance oneself from the world, to forget that theology is not primarily a way of thinking but a way of living. “Blogging in isolation,” Stott might have called it. In his book Enigma of the Cross (p. 174), Alister McGrath says it more eloquently than I ever could:

Mission and theology are so clearly interrelated that they cannot be permitted to become divorced in the manner which western academic theologians have become accustomed. After all, in Jesus Christ God himself came down to earth, down to the level of us mortals, and it ought not to be beyond the capacities of theologians to do the same. Theology must come down to earth, to serve the church and its mission in the world — and if it will not come down to earth, it must be brought down to earth by so marginalising academic theology within the life of the church that it ceases to have relevance to that church, in order that a theological orientation towards the pastoral and missiological needs of the church may develop in its wake.

Contextual theology — this has become my passion for a good many years now, for sadly the church (and its academics, including teachers and bloggers like me) have too often overemphasized justification at the expense of sanctification, and redemption at the expense of creation. Such contextualized theology takes seriously the Great Commission of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. It has a missional emphasis and focus, even as it pursues deep questions of doctrine.

It is, then, no longer possible (if it ever was) to assume that theology can operate apart from service to the world. The more we understand the Scriptures, the more we understand our responsibility to submit our lives and our futures to its radical teachings. Once this is recognized, then global missions will truly be an apostolic focus of the church’s apostolic function. Instead of doing theology for theology’s sake, we will choose to bear witness to the Gospel in both word and deed, by both lip and life. We will, perhaps, also do less pontificating from our ivory towers high up in the blogosphere and descend to the balcony, and maybe even to the ground floor.

Should that, by the grace of God, ever happen, the nations would witness theology come down to earth, where it truly belongs.

December 7, 2010

David Alan Black is the editor of www.daveblackonline.com.

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   restoring our biblical and constitutional foundations

                

Back to the Bible!

 David Alan Black 

The key – the secret, if you will – to consistent Christian living is feeding upon and being saturated with the Word of God. “Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly,” says Paul (Col. 3:16). That “Word” has come to us in various forms. In the Gospels we have the spoken words of our Lord, carefully recorded for us by His followers. In other portions of the Bible we have what He caused to be written, under His guidance. It matters not. It is all His Word, and it is all to “dwell in us.”

I have never seen a Spirit-filled Christian who is not also filled with His Word. He treasures the Word of God more than the words of men. He would rather read the Bible than read Spurgeon or Calvin or Luther. He does not neglect the wisdom of men but places all of his weight upon the sacred Word of God. Demas had to choose between the world and Paul, and today we must choose between the love of the world and the love of the Word.

What many churches need today is a big farewell party at which they tell the world “Goodbye.” Our Lord spoke about the wise man who built upon the rock, and Paul declares that no other foundation can be laid than is laid in Christ Jesus. Either we hide in the Rock of Ages or we shall cry for rocks and mountains to hide us when the storms of life assail.

How easy it is for us to fall into the snare of placing men’s words above God’s Word. We who were predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son go about preferring the example of others to the Perfect Model. Our Lord was careful again and again to stress all-out devotion to Him. We are complete only in Him. The simpler our faith, the better. The very fact that we are so taken up with listening to what men say about the Word of God may mean that we are ever learning and never able to come to the truth.

Dear pastors and elders, isn’t it time to return to the Bible? Isn’t it time to toss all our manuals and study guides and expensive Sunday School materials written about the Bible and get back to the Bible itself? God expects us to use our limited financial resources responsibly. Use the surplus to give to missions, to the poor, or to the suffering.

This is the age of the study help. There are more of them than ever before. Meanwhile we neglect the only Source that can satisfy our thirst. Why must we prefer broken cisterns when we can drink, receive by faith, and believe (Mark 11:24)!

“Ho, everyone who is thirsty, come to the waters!” (Isa. 55:1). 

October 13, 2005

David Alan Black is the editor of www.daveblackonline.com.

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February 2005 Blog Archives

Monday, February 28

6:40 AM When I boot up my computer at home, this is what I see on my monitor. It was where I was raised. Anybody been to Kailua Beach on Oahu? 

6:39 AM The Dow Blog is now a big Machen fan. Welcome to the club, Darrell.

Trivia question: How do you correctly pronounce “Gresham”?  

6:35 AM HORSE TALK: Had a nice long talk yesterday with a gent on a neighboring farm who is as big a fan of horses as I am. In fact, this part of southern Virginia used to be HORSE country. We plan to trial ride together once the weather improves, and he will show me all the good paths through the woods behind our farm. Seems he likes to air his horse out as much as I do mine, so looks like we’ll make a good team. Can’t wait to get back into regular riding, especially since I will be “horseless in Ethiopia” this summer.

6:31 AM The Nascent Church: “When the church was very young, it had no buildings. Let us begin with that striking fact. That the church had no buildings is the most noticeable of the points of difference between the church of the early days and the church of today. In the minds of most people today, ‘church’ means first a building, probably something else second; but seldom does ‘the church’ stand for anything other than a building. Yet here is the fact with which we start: the early church possessed no buildings and carried on its work for a great many years without erecting any.” Ernest Loosley, When The Church Was Young.

6:29 AM I’ve been busy all weekend preparing an essay on the usage of the term “pastor” in the New Testament. I’ll publish my findings later today, Deo volente.

6:25 AM Special hello to Lewis, Ben, Van, and the 19 others I met at Hebron Church yesterday. You are to be congratulated for sticking together through thick and thin. What a  wonderful group of people you are. I can assure you that your Savior loves you very much and, by the way, so does this Bible teacher.

6:23 AM HAPPY BIRTHDAY!! to the chicks who hatched out yesterday at Maple Ridge (my son’s farm). Here’s what I wrote about your big brothers and sisters:

I can’t wait to greet Blackie and Brownie and Whitie and Chatter Box and Little Feather (who loves to fly up and roost on my arm) and all the rest of our grown-up hens and roosters. Entering the hen house I will loiter quietly near the mother hens, whose delicate eyes are glazed over with maternal bliss. I’m careful not to disturb their pacific and protective labor. The “peep peep” of several dozen chicks is the only sound to be heard—unless one gets too close to a sitting mama.

Yes, we enjoy our horses, our goats, our cows, but the chickens are probably our favorite animals to watch.

6:20 AM Just got an email from a man who heard about DBO through Doug Phillip’s ministry:

I first came across your website several months ago when you were mentioned by Doug Phillips on his website.  Since I trusted, respected, and admired Mr. Phillips so much, I figured that you must be a pretty good guy.  Not only are you a pretty good guy, I have found someone that more closely shares my beliefs than anyone I know.

There is so much that I want to say, but it would take too much time.  I’ll share more with you later.  I share your views on government, Southern heritage and the War for Southern Independence, family, and most importantly, on the state of the church and the need to go back to the New Testament model.  I am still learning about these matters and you are one of my primary teachers.

Thank you for who you are and what you stand for.  Take care, God bless, and I will write again soon.

My wife and I began this year by asking God to do wonderful things in people’s lives, and it’s great to see Him do more than we could ask or imagine. Soli Deo Gloria.

6:17 AM Who will succeed John Paul? What challenges will he face? Read Pope Hopefuls.

The next pope will have to address a host of complex issues that have grown more and more contentious during John Paul II’s reign. They include power distribution within Catholicism, the role of women and the laity in the church of the 21st century, the church’s stance on complex bioethical questions, and its role in the process of globalization. In many parts of the Catholic world, the answers being urged by the faithful depart significantly from those offered by the leadership. How the next pope responds to these challenges will have broad consequences for secular politics and contemporary culture wars, in which the Catholic Church–the world’s largest religious denomination, with one billion members–is still an important player.

6:15 AM The new Bible Belt.

Christian Voice is just one of several similar groups planning to adopt more high- profile tactics. Next month, the MediaMarch organisation plans to present Tony Blair with a 120,000 signature petition demanding tougher obscenity laws.

“There is righteous anger out there. The good people in this country have been completely ignored for too many years, and that is going to change by hook or by crook,” said MediaMarch founder Miranda Suit.

“We want to see the birth of a British Bible Belt to provide this country with the firm moral guidance it so clearly needs.”

6:13 AM Here’s an actual testimony that age-integration works, even in churches where everybody says it can’t. (Pastors, please read!)

My husband is a pastor and we started a church in Colorado in 2001. While we had never read anything on this subject, the Lord led him in a similar way. At 9:30 am someone (whoever got there first) opened the church and put on coffee. By the time we arrived with our 6 children, the folks were already fellowshipping over coffee and some goodies. We started worship service at 10:00 am, with everyone worshipping together, young and old-and nursing mothers right there in the assembly or in the next room within earshot, wherever THEY felt most comfortable. We sang A LOT! We had a loooong fellowship break (not just enough for a verse or 2 of “The Family of God.” He taught and the messages were rich and nourishing and were not short! Afterwards we had a fellowship lunch EVERY Sunday (something we were told would “not go over out here” when we first moved out to Colorado). After we finished eating, we all cleaned up, together. Usually there was no hurry because doing the dishes alongside another was almost as fun (maybe even more fun) as eating with them. There was so much more opportunity for the gifts of the body to be used than just the Pastor or the singers. We also regularly took the Lord’s Supper before the meal. Although this seems to most to be intriguing, the most compelling thing about it was that the people LOVED it, as did we. The bond of love and fellowship that church has is something I’ve never been a part of before. I must add that there was much discipling done in everyday life and Sundays were the icing on the cake. We loved Sundays! While we were very reverent, we were not formal, just one big happy Christian family!

Go here for more.

6:10 AM George Warnock wrote (“Feed My Sheep”):

The purpose of all ministry that proceeds from the exalted Christ is to so minister the Truth that the sheep of God’s pasture might come into direct, unhindered personal union with the Lord. Ministers of the New Covenant are not to be “mediators”—as Moses was, or as Jesus is. They are rather “servants” (Greek, “doulos” or “bond-slave”) Slaves have no right to call anything their own… not even the ministry that God gave them… It is simply a trust that has been given into their care. They make disciples for Christ, but they must have none of their own.

Let us hear that again:

We make disciples for Christ and have none of our own!

6:05 AM God is always looking for a few good men to rebuild His temple:

If ever the house of God needed a rebuilding upon its proper foundations, that time is today. Do we need to recount the ways in which the church is fallen down? Temporal preoccupations (buildings and money). Worldly power models (one-man leadership). Degenerate theology (cheap grace, lawlessness). Rampant subjectivism (if I feel it, it’s real). Worst perhaps is that the church today thinks it is rich and has need of nothing when it is in fact wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked. (Rev. 3:17)

Sunday, February 27

4:30 PM The latest essay on our home page is by Mrs. Cindy Rollins and is entitled The Costs of Bearing Children.

8:53 AM Need a bit of refreshing about Gondar, the city where Azanou’s village is nearest? Go here for an overview. Gondar was once the capital of Ethiopia. Below: Gondar’s famous castles sitting 7,500 feet above sea level.

Azanou lives in the Falasha village just outside of Gondar. According to the Lonely Planet guide book, “A visit to the ‘Falasha village,’ about 6km out of town, can’t be called worthwhile; there’s only a handful of Falashas left after the mass emigration to Israel.” Yet somehow Becky and I were strangely led to make a special visit there. Now we know why.

May I continue to urge my Internet family to pray for Azanou as he travels to Addis this Thursday?  

Saturday, February 26

7:16 PM From the weekend mailbag:

G’mornin. Welcome back. Although I guess your site has been back up for
a few days. But whenever I clicked on it, I continued to get your last
entry as the one from last Sat. This morning I did a “reload”
and—PRESTO!—-several new entries. I guess I should have done it days
ago….  I’m praying for Azanou. Also I think we should have a really strong, committed and concerted prayer crusade for Terry Shiavo. This is a crime and a sin. I think her “husband” should picture himself in her condition with his paramour in charge of allowing or withholding his nourishment. I’m putting her at the top of my prayer list. I hope many others will do the same.

To which I say: Amen. 

6:25 PM My good friend Lee Shelton of Ever Vigilant comments on two essays about our modern Constantinianism:

Dear Dave,

I had just finished reading Stephen W. Carson’s latest article, “The Constantine Trap,” before reading “Why I Publish DBO.”  I think you touched on something quite profound when you mentioned the Constantinian mindset that has gripped America.  If that doesn’t describe perfectly the current state of affairs, I don’t know what does.

Thanks for your hard work and for reminding us why sites like yours are important.

In Christ,

Lee Shelton

Thanks for writing, Lee. Here’s another essay that is remarkably parallel to Mr. Carson’s excellent piece.

6:12 PM Here’s to Rachel on launching her new blog. Welcome, and God bless!

6:10 PM My in-laws are taking my wife out to an Ethiopian restaurant in Dallas tonight. You bet I am jealous! If you’ve never tasted Injera and Wot you are really missing out. Hot and spicy. And then there’s the Ethiopian coffee. Well, have a great time yall. As for the bachelor pad, we’re having — what else — “Chinese” food.

6:05 PM Today my son and I had a great time going “junking,” and we brought home tons of stuff, including old broken-down chairs, doors, bed frames, and tables, which Nathan will restore and put to very good use in his house. We also stopped in Boydton and visited the old Randolph-Macon College site (ante-bellum) and marveled at the beautiful construction. Sadly, the buildings are now in disrepair and several floors have already collapsed. While driving through Southside Virginia we also meandered through two houses dating back to the 1790s — both in restorable condition. What a great day of goofing off and just “enjoying.”

10:20 AM DBO’s Weekend Assignment: I am completing an essay entitled “Pastor As Metaphor.” It’s based on an inductive Bible study of passages in which the Greek term for “shepherd/pastor” is used in the New Testament. See if you can detect a pattern in the following usages (this is a complete list):

• Matt. 9:36: But when He saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion for them, because they were weary and scattered, like sheep having no shepherd.

• Matt. 25:32: All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats.

• Matt. 26:31: Then Jesus said to them, “All of you will be made to stumble because of Me this night, for it is written:
         ‘I will strike the Shepherd,
         And the sheep of the flock will be scattered.’

• Mark 6:34: And Jesus, when He came out, saw a great multitude and was moved with compassion for them, because they were like sheep not having a shepherd. So He began to teach them many things.

• Mark 14:27: Then Jesus said to them, “All of you will be made to stumble because of Me this night, for it is written:
         ‘I will strike the Shepherd,
         And the sheep will be scattered.’

• Luke 2:8: Now there were in the same country shepherds living out in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night.

• Luke 2:15: So it was, when the angels had gone away from them into heaven, that the shepherds said to one another, “Let us now go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has come to pass, which the Lord has made known to us.”

• Luke 2:18: And all those who heard it marveled at those things which were told them by the shepherds.

• Luke 2:20: Then the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, as it was told them.

• John 10:2: But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep.

• John 10:11: “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep.

• John 10:12: But a hireling, he who is not the shepherd, one who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees; and the wolf catches the sheep and scatters them.

• John 10:14: I am the good shepherd; and I know My sheep, and am known by My own.

• John 10:16: And other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they will hear My voice; and there will be one flock and one shepherd.

• Eph. 4:11: And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers….

• Heb. 13:20: Now may the God of peace who brought up our Lord Jesus from the dead, that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant….

• 1 Pet. 2:25: For you were like sheep going astray, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.

All right, students. What conclusions can you draw from these texts? My thoughts on Monday!

10:18 AM What, then, is “ministry”? Some thoughts from Phil Lancaster:

One way for the church to escape the distortion of its identity and return to a more biblical definition of its life would be to redefine ministry. This word generally refers to some programmed response to a perceived need. Children need training, so the church has a Children’s Ministry. Music is part of worship, so the church has a Music Ministry. People need a ride to the meeting as an incentive to get them there, so the church has a Bus Ministry. And each ministry has a Minister or other ministry leader to head it up. But is this the only way ministry can occur?

Perhaps parents could be discipled with a view to training their own children, as Scripture says they should (Gen. 18:19; Eph. 6:4). Perhaps each man could come to the worship service prepared with a song to suggest for congregational singing (1 Cor. 14:26; Eph. 5:19). Perhaps the person who needs a ride to the church meeting could catch a ride with another family and then have dinner with them afterwards (Acts 2:46).

8:44 AM Aaah, the little joys of life. My puppy doggie just came walking up the long gravel driveway from my son’s farm to Bradford Hall, then traipsed up the front porch steps to be greeted by daddy. Time for a bit of romping, he says!

8:15 AM Update on Azanou: Things are getting exciting! Next Thursday he flies from Gondar to the capital of Addis Ababa for his eye assessment, which will determine his priority for a cornea transplant in his right eye (the left is useless). A doctor friend of ours will accompany him on the flight (Azanou’s first) and he will be met in Addis by a church leader who will care for him the entire time he is in the capital (about two weeks). A Lutheran College where I spoke last November will be providing room and board for them. The assessment will take place at the Melenik II Hospital under the supervision of a Christian ophthalmologist. If a decision is made to operate, Azanou will go back to his village to await his surgery. He will have to be ready to fly back to Addis at a moment’s notice.

So far we have received $679.92 in contributions from Carmon’s readers. Contributions have come from North Carolina, Michigan, Alabama, Oregon, Washington, California, Georgia, Virginia, Texas, and Tennessee! A heartfelt “thank you” to all. Thank you especially for your prayers that Azanou will respond to the precious love of the Lord Jesus and receive spiritual sight.

It is absolutely amazing for Becky and me to stand back and watch the Lord handle all the details, in many cases using people we’ve only met via the Internet.

If any children would like to write a letter to Azanou, I would be happy to forward it to him. Just send it to me at Bradford Hall, 2691 White House Road, Nelson, VA 24580.

7:44 AM I just learned that there is a Confessing Church Movement within the Presbyterian Church (USA). It is committed to “proclaiming the historic Christian confessions of the Reformed faith.” Currently it numbers some 1,310 churches. Here’s more information.

7:40 AM I will be the guest speaker at Hebron Christian Church in Nelson, Virginia this weekend at both 10:00 and 11:00 am.

7:30 AM The disease of Evanjellyfish Christianity.

7:14 AM I was reminded of this great verse over at Tulip Girl this morning:

Do not be rash with your mouth, And let not your heart utter anything hastily before God. For God is in heaven, and you on earth; Therefore let your words be few. Ecclesiastes 5:2

7:04 AM Pat Buchanan on our promise to democratize the world:

Giddy with excitement, the neocons are falling all over one another to hail the president. They are not conservatives at all. They are anti-conservatives, and their crusade for democracy will end as did Wilson’s, in disillusionment for the president and tragedy for this country. 

6:23 AM Here’s welcoming Matthew McDill and his family to the blogosphere. I like what I see! Matt is a wonderful husband and father and a pastor with an unquenchable passion for God.

6:17 AM John Stott:

Either we are unfaithful in order to be popular, or we are willing to be unpopular in our determination to be faithful. I very much doubt if it is possible to be faithful and popular at the same time. I fear we have to choose.

6:15 AM Please join me in praying for John Paul.

6:12 AM The latest addition to our home page is Ultimate Freedom. It is a beautiful story of the difference Jesus makes in the life of ordinary men and women. In the words of F. W. H. Meyers:

Is there not wrong too bitter for atoning?/ What are these desperate and hideous years?/ Hast Thou not heard Thy whole creation groaning,/Sighs of a bondsman and a woman’s tears?

Yes, He is there, and He has heard! 

6:10 AM Our website was down for five days and I received several emails from those who were undergoing, as they put it, severe withdrawal. I very much appreciate all who wrote, but folks, that’s nothing compared to what I’ve being experiencing. Yesterday I emailed my wife in Texas twice and spoke with her on the phone three times. Now that’s withdrawal!! You’d feel the same way if you were married to the most beautiful and wonderful Southern belle who ever trod earthly sod  —  a Proverbs 31 Woman in every possible way. And I’m not biased. If you knew Becky, you would have to agree!

6:06 AM I agree with what Kristen says about my favorite New Testament epistle, the Book of Hebrews. I believe there is no place where we can learn so much about, and have so much light cast upon, our Great Priest (I call Him the greatest “catholic” priest who ever lived), as we do in that great Cathedral of Christianity known as Hebrews. A priest who offered a better sacrifice in a better sanctuary and inaugurated a better covenant — what more could a lost sinner like myself want? He is my soul’s desire — my One and Only Savior and Lord!!

6:03 AM JP hits it squarely on the head:

The Death Clock

There is no better way to sugar coat this title. March 18, 2004 at 1:00pm. At this time, the feeding tubes are to be removed from Terry Shiavo. I am not sure I grasp this whole story. At the very least, on a moral standpoint, the husband gave up his right to be the provider of Terry when he decided to move on with his life with another women, he should have no say in the decision of whether or not Terry’s life is to continue. I know that adultery in the military is punishable under the UCMJ. Is there any accountability of this nature in civilian sector, can her parents use that as a case to be the sole care taker of Terry? Mr. Shiavo already broke his vows and his marriage commitment, God is aware of that. Is there any legality to this in the civilian courts? We as Christians need to continue to hold hands and come together as one booming voice in continuation of prayer and support for Terry . Pray for her soul, pray for Mr. Shiavo, pray for her parents and pray that another stay can be issued. That is the least we can do for her. I know that God has His arms wrapped around Terry. We all hope that Mr. Shiavo has a change of heart and allows her live. Why is he fighting so hard for this? Why does he not allow her parents to take care of her? What is he gaining out of this? I can think of many reasons, but I will not judge him. I do not know for sure….God does.

Friday, February 25

5:19 PM Our newest contributor essay: The Heart of Hearth and Home.

8:15 AM Here’s the latest addition to our home page: Why I Publish DBO.

7:40 AM Our friend JP over at EnterMyMind is considering a career change and is asking the most important question in life: “Lord, how can I glorify you in all I do?” I’m praying for you, brother. I’ve been where you are several times, and I can assure you that your Shepherd loves you and will faithfully guide you in the path you ought to go. God bless.

7:38 AM “Jesus Christ is the absolute monarch and sole legislator. A plurality of elders with equal authority and responsibility in each congregation and with no authority beyond their local congregation oversee the affairs of the local church under Jesus, the chief Shepherd (1 Peter 5:4). All children of God throughout the world are brothers and sisters in Christ — with no clergy or laity distinctions — but each congregation must be autonomous, working within the framework of the simple organization described in the New Testament.”

Read more.  

7:35 AM Check the Bush Scorecard.

7:32 AM Schism.

7:30 AM Yes, Jesus IS God!

᾿Εν ἀρχῇ ἦν ὁ λόγος, καὶ ὁ λόγος ἦν πρὸς τὸν θεόν, καὶ θεὸς ἦν ὁ λόγος. οὗτος ἦν ἐν ἀρχῇ πρὸς τὸν θεόν.

7:27 AM Die Zeit asks: “Aber wo genau verläuft die Grenze zwischen begründeter Furcht und hellem Wahn?” Good question.

7:25 AM Kudos to Mr. Michael Marlowe for a fantastic website dedicated to Bible Research. Greek students will find this page especially helpful. Below: Codex Vaticanus with a marginal note that reads: “Fool and knave, can’t you leave the old reading alone and not alter it!”

7:20 AM Meet the man who surfed while Pearl Harbor was being attacked.

7:18 AM Luther may have sounded the trumpet for the Reformation, but it was Calvin who orchestrated the score by which it became a part of Western civilization. We both lived in the same European city for a time (Basel). It was here that Calvin published his Institutes at the ripe old age of 26. Click here to read his marvelous commentaries.

7:15 AM Mr. Jim Day, editor of the St. Louis MetroVoice, will be publishing several DBO essays in his Resurrection Issue for April.

7:12 AM Prepping your spring garden? These thoughts are for you:

Agriculture is the most healthful, most useful, and most noble employment of man. George Washington

Let us never forget that the cultivation of the earth is the most important labor of man. When tillage begins, other arts follow. The farmers, therefore, are the founders of civilization. Daniel Webster

7:10 AM I just bought my Texan father-in-law this book. Hmmm, I wonder how quickly I can get him to loan it to me. (By the by, isn’t that Franklin Street photo of Lee awesome?)

7:05 AM Weblogs are the wave of the future. It’s amazing for me to realize just how much I’ve come to rely on them for inspiration and news, and how much I enjoy adding my 2 drachma to the conversation. Then to think how the Lord Jesus uses them to increase our awareness of needs and causes that deserve our support — it’s almost too much to fathom. Interesting blogs are starting up every day, but people will always have their favorites (I certainly have mine; you folks know who you are). Yet there’s still plenty of room for more (yes, Greg and Jeremy, I have you in mind).

7:00 AM A very special hello to the fine ladies at the following sites and a big “thank you” for linking to Carmon’s Party for Azanou. If there were others I’ve failed to mention, please forgive me. I appreciate you, too.

• NuttNHoney

• Homeschooling Revolution

• Semicolon

• Amy’s Humble Musings

• Two Talent Living

• Parenting With Purpose

• Chasing the Wind

• Quiet Life

• Desperate Vision

• Walking Circumspectly

• Lost and Blind

• My Three Pennies Worth

• Jellybeans and Chocolate

• Homeschooling with the Principle Approach

6:55 AM Here’s a novel idea (.pdf): Church for the churched. I like novel ideas.

6:49 AM Terri does not have to be starved to death. I have written Governor Jeb Bush of Florida on behalf of the helpless. If you haven’t done so yet, here’s his address:

jeb.bush@myflorida.com

Actually, before she starves, she will die of dehydration:

“What will probably kill Terri is dehydration because it’s much quicker than starvation,” Stevens said. “To starve to death takes eight to 12 weeks. You can die of dehydration in anywhere from three to five days to two weeks.”

Stevens said the amount of fluids in Terri’s system when her gastrostomy or “feeding tube” was removed and whether she receives any fluids by mouth will determine how long she lives.

Initial effects of the lack of hydration will include:

Extreme thirst;
Nausea and cramping;
Dry skin, becoming wrinkled as fluids are drawn from the skin to hydrate the organs.

6:45 AM So there are only 6 days to go until my wife returns from Dallas. Last night’s bachelor menu: Hamburger Mixed with Chicken Soup. Previous night: Pancakes. Tuesday night: Chinese Pork over Rice. Tonight’s supper menu: Haven’t thought that far ahead.

6:40 AM From the DBO Homepage: Evan Black on Terri Schiavo and marriage. Evan has a great blog: it’s interesting, it’s transparent, and it’s aesthetically appealing. It also exudes the love of Christ. What more could you ask for?

6:35 AM Carmon and Company raised over $1200 for Azanou during Buried Treasure’s 1000 Posts Party on Monday. A huge tip of the kepi to Frau Friedrich for her stamina (and her many interesting posts), to her readers for their generosity, and to the Lord Jesus for giving all of us the joy and privilege of sharing this cup of cold water in His name. Truly “it is more blessed to give than to receive.” Now let us pray for Azanou as he takes his first plane trip on March 3rd and has his pre-surgery assessment in Addis Ababa. We’ll keep you posted on his progress.

Again, THANK YOU, Carmon.

6:30 AM WE’RE BAAAAAACK!! (I think). I apologize to you, my ever-patient readers, for the goofy things you’ve been finding on my site these past few days (no, not my essays  —  I’m talking about seeing question marks where quotation marks used to be, etc.). I’m still having problems uploading to my web host’s new server, but I’ve been working feverishly on this problem and will not rest until everything is back to normal. Thanks to Jerry Lassetter for his outstanding help! The Lord has a good purpose in all of this, as He does in everything He allows. At any rate, thanks for your patience, and for your encouraging emails. You are quite simply the greatest web audience a blogger could ever ask for!

Sunday, February 20

8:55 AM Please bear with us as we have been having trouble with our server. Some of our pages are not appearing on our site, even though they have been uploaded. This may take a few days to correct. Thank you.

Saturday, February 19

3:46 PM It’s had more than 5,000 house churches spring up in less than two years. Guess where? Meanwhile, millions of American Christians have followed their Chinese brethren into house churches and unincorporated churches.

3:07 PM Truth from Nazi Germany:

The exclusion of the weak and insignificant, the seemingly useless people, from a Christian community may actually mean the exclusion of Christ; in the poor brother Christ is knocking at the door. We must therefore be very careful at this point.

Dietrich  Bonhoeffer, Life Together

2:58 PM Brother Greg (my Rocky Mount pal), this one’s for you.

CERTIFICATE
of

For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh,
not many mighty, not many noble, are called. But God has chosen the foolish things of
the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put
to shame the things which are mighty; and the base things of the world and the things which are despised
God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are, that no flesh should
glory in His presence. But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from
God—and righteousness and sanctification and redemption—that, as it is written,
“He who glories, let him glory in the Lord.” {1Cor1:26-31}

 
This is to certify that the bearer hereof ________________ has been chosen, from the bottom of their class. Not wise, mighty, nor noble, but “foolish” “weak” and “base”. Accordingly he/she is hereby qualified as God leads, to begin their ministry of confounding the wise and prudent. Moreover, having no excellence of his/her own, he/she is equipped with the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus their Lord. For whom they have suffered the loss of all things, that they may “win Christ”. For the Father has chosen to pour this treasure into such “earthen vessels,” that the excellency of the power may be of Him. (see 2 Corinthians 4:7) Furthermore, the bearer hereof, having no wisdom of his/her own, is the recipient of Christ as their only source of Wisdom. In their weakness He is strong. They have learned what it means to be crucified through weakness and yet alive by the power of God. (2 Corinthians 13:4) They glory in their weakness that the power of Christ may rest upon them.
                                                    Hue Mility

2:37 PM Update: My mother-in-law goes home today after her successful hip replacement surgery on Tuesday. They had her walking that afternoon. Thanks to all who prayed. Meanwhile, the Bachelor pad (Bradford Hall, VA) is hanging on by its fingernails in the absence of the reine de la maison. We’ve had more Chinese food (made with our secret ingredient, of course), and tonight the plat du jour will be Spaghetti. (I don’t why I’m in a French-speaking mood today.) Cheer up, boys, only 12 days to go!

2:35 PM The ground has finally dried out enough to permit a ride on my Thoroughbred. Alas, it was too wet to gallop, but Traveler needs to learn there are other gaits anyway. 

2:32 PM Use it or lose. The Constitution, that is. 

Are there enough patriots in this land who understand the Constitution’s timeless value and are willing to get involved in the struggle to assure that its limitations on government are restored to full force and effect? If so, the future looks bright. If not, America’s flickering lamp of liberty will one day blow out.

2:30 PM Go Uganda!

10:35 AM “Once you drink of this new wine you can never go back to the old. Would you choose a burger and fries at the drive-up window over turkey, potatoes, and dressing at a warm family feast?”

Read Beyond McChurch. (Sorry for the allusion to a fat [sic] food establishment, but it was unavoidable.)

10:29 AM Mrs. Carmon Friedrich of Buried Treasure Books (shown here with her husband Steven at the Saint Louis Uniting Church and Family Conference) will be blogathoning all day Monday. Let’s pray for stamina (for both of them). I already know the blogging will be superb.

Friday, February 18

1:45 PM Yesterday on this blog I linked an essay on Paul’s stake in the flesh, little knowing that today I would be decimated by a sinus headache (and forced, once again, to rely on Christ’s strength to manifest itself in my weakness). What I can do is to pray for Ethiopia, for Azanou, and for the deteriorating situation in Eritrea, a country just to the north of Ethiopia:

Eritrean authorities have arrested another 31 Eritrean Christians in towns north of the capital Asmara over the past 10 days, news agencies and persecution watchdog groups reported yesterday. The latest police sweeps brings the total to 187 arrests for “illegal” Christian activities in Eritrea since the beginning of January.

While in Ethiopia last November we heard rumors of a renewed war between these two nations. Still, we must leave everything in the hands of the Great Helmsman, who shall steer the ship aright.  

8:15 AM Spurgeon once said, “The very motto of a Christian should be, ‘I serve.'” When Caesar went on his wars, he marched with his soldiers, slept where they slept, thirsted if they thirsted, and he was always in the heart of the battle fighting beside them. I sit at the keyboard this morning to confess from my inmost being my gratitude to Carmon and her readers for joining Becky Lynn and me in sharing the love of the Lord Jesus with a boy in faraway Africa. Neither God nor man will care to lift up a person who lifts himself up, but both God and men unite to honor the sacrifice of humble service. May the Lord bless you, Carmon, and may God magnify His grace in the life of our precious Azanou. Most sincerely yours, Dave.

UPDATE: Thanks also to Kim for her post. I am beginning to feel that the Potter’s hand is working overtime in this matter. He deserves all the glory and praise for the loving response of His people. Again, Kim, my deepest thanks for the link — and for your awesome site.

7:59 AM The demographics of homeschooling:

• Home school parents have more formal education than parents in the general population; 88- continued their education beyond high school compared to 50- for the nation as a whole.
   
• The median income for home school families ($52,000) is significantly higher than that of all families with children ($36,000) in the United States.
   
• Almost all home school students (98-) are in married couple families. Most home school mothers (77-) do not participate in the labor force; almost all home school fathers (98-) do work.
   
• Home school students watch much less television than students nationwide; 65- of home school students watch one hour or less per day compared to 25- nationally.
   
• The median amount of money spent annually on educational materials is about $400 per home school student.
   
• The distribution of home school students by grade in grades 1-6 is consistent with that of all school children. Proportionally fewer home school students are enrolled at the high school level.

Read more.  

7:27 AM Have the apostle Paul’s remains been discovered?

Thursday, February 17

7:27 PM I have just fallen on my knees to kiss the Son and to cry out “Jesus Is Lord!” and to thank my Heavenly Father, the Father of lights, from whom all blessings flow, for His mercy and grace toward the Philadelphia 5. Amid temptations sore and strong and trials fierce and bitter, the Word of God has prevailed, and we again feel ourselves able to do battle and to bear reproach, because of the assurances of help that we find in our God, in our Bibles, and in the unconquerable strength of the Spirit of Jesus.

Lobe den Herrn, O meine Seele!!!

6:45 AM Grace is enough. I repeat: Enough!

Dear friend, whatever thorn you are bearing today—whether it be physical suffering or opposition to your ministry—Satan has desired  to use it as a source of great discouragement and as a hindrance to your work. Please remember that, just as the Lord Jesus graciously made provision to sustain Paul in the midst of his thorn, so God’s grace is available to you this very day. Christ’s message for you is this: “My grace is sufficient; My strength is independent of human ability; My might is displayed in human weakness; and My will is performed despite infirmities of the body or soul!”

6:36 AM “Here’s the attitude that brought victory to Curtis: Focus on what you have to do, do the best you can, and be satisfied with the results—whatever they are.” Or, as Jim Elliott said, “Wherever you are, be all there. Live to the hilt whatever you consider to be the will of God for your life.” Amen.

6:23 AM America is a fleeting actor on the stage of history. Walter Lippmann put it this way:

When Shakespeare was alive, there were no Americans; when Virgil was alive, there were no Englishmen; when Homer was alive, there were no Romans.

Let us, then,

focus on eternal things.

Wednesday, February 16

5:28 PM Thanks to all of you who expressed an interest in our Reformation Tour. It has had to be postponed until September, but the itinerary will be basically the same. I will post details as soon as we have finalized the dates and the cost. If you would like further information in the meantime, please call Reformation Tours and ask for Rowena.

Toll Free:1-800-303-5534

5:24 PM Dr. Stan Monteith has asked me to be his guest on his Radio Liberty radio program tomorrow night at 11:00 pm EST. The easiest way to listen is online by going to the Radio Liberty website. You can also listen to the program via shortwave at 5.835 or 7.535. Perhaps some of you will call into the program tomorrow night. I’d love chatting with you! 

5:14 PM David Wells on the bane of easy-believism.

Until a person has experienced the Spirit relayed consciousness that he is a totally depraved sinner, he can never exercise a saving faith in Christ. It is absolute folly to tell an unconvicted sinner to merely believe in Jesus and expect him to be saved. Before a person can be saved, he has to realize that he is lost. This conviction comes from the Holy Spirit. To sweeten the gospel for the sake of numbers by de-emphasizing the sinfulness of man is unscriptural and ungodly!

5:12 PM I am not one who believes that Reformed theology and personal evangelism are mutually incompatible. The charge that Calvinism is fatalism is absurd on its face, yet that position continues to be promulgated by people who should know better. This essay by Tom Ascol should be required reading for anyone wanting to objectively engage the debate.

5:10 PM I am currently trying to finish a major work that compares the Book of Hebrews with the Pauline epistles, verse by verse and word by word. I think that even a cursory reading of these letters will show that the style of Hebrews and that of the generally accepted Pauline letters is sui generis. I am considering publishing the work as a free e-book. Any thoughts?

5:05 PM The Murch family needs our help. Please pray for them and also consider sending them a check to help defray their medical bills. Thank you. Dave

7:46 AM I just had to link to this post by Evan Black on singleness and marriage. The following snippet will wet your appetite sufficiently, I hope, to read the whole thing:

If you desire to play Russian roulette with your heart, then by all means start dating. I certainly would not want to allow biblical truth to get in the way of your self-destruction. If you bring shame to my sister in Christ, however, her Daddy will get angry, and you don’t want to see Him when he’s angry. He will remind you Who you should be kissing.

7:25 AM Seven ducks just landed on the pond in front of Bradford Hall. Big daddy came in first, followed by his gaggle. They are now exploring the twists and turns along the edge, without any worries or cares. All creation praises His Holy Name. Why shouldn’t I?

7:22 AM I just heard from the Shepherds, whom I had the privilege of meeting at the Uniting Church and Family Conference in St. Louis. Their delightful website is:

http://www.shepherdsjourney.com/jaysblog/

7:10 AM A. W. Tozer at his best (thanks, Rachel, for the link):

What is generally overlooked is that Fundamentalism, as it spread throughout the various denominations and nondenominational groups, fell victim to its own virtues. The Word died in the hands of its friends. … An unofficial hierarchy decided what Christians were to believe. Not the Scriptures, but what the scribe thought the Scriptures meant became the Christian creed. Christian colleges, seminaries, Bible institutes, Bible conferences, popular Bible expositors all joined to promote the cult of textualism. The system of extreme dispensationalism which was devised, relieved the Christian of repentance, obedience and cross-carrying in any other than the most formal sense. Whole sections of the New Testament were taken from the church and disposed of after a rigid system of “dividing the Word of truth.”

6:50 AM My radio interview with Dr. Stan Monteith, originally scheduled for 11:00 pm EST last Monday, has been rescheduled for March 8.

6:20 AM That Carmon Friedrich — always asking for “scriptural support” and then more “scriptural support.” Ya got to love it!

6:18 AM If your syntax needs repairing, Thomas Howe can help. (Hearty congrats, brother Tom, on your new blog.)

6:15 AM “The Constitution Party, of which I am a member, supports phasing out the current Social Security program ‘while continuing to meet the obligations already incurred under the system.’  We also support the right of ‘individuals who have contributed to Social Security be allowed to withdraw those funds and transfer them into an IRA or similar investments under the control of the individual contributor.’  In other words, we support true ownership of your retirement funds, not some government-defined pseudo-ownership.”

Read more from John Leone and the Silverback Standard.

6:13 AM This was an encouraging post by Entdraughts. Yes, the Lord is still very much at work in weak but yielded vessels.

Graciously, the Lord has answered some of my feeble prayers. Our SBC premillenial, midtrib pastor recently preached partly on Romans 9. I about fell out of my seat. He has recently started quoting the commentaries of the late James Montgomery Boice. And even more significant, pay attention to what happened in the service yesterday. He preached on the deeds of the flesh, more specifically, sexual immorality and sensuality. It was a very hard hitting sermon where he mentioned the sins of pornography and immodesty several times. He stressed repentance as well. Then, we had communion. And, before we partook(?) of the bread, our pastor asked us to kneel on the floor in private confession of our sins. I don’t remember us ever doing this in the past 9 years I’ve been there. Plus, we don’t have kneelers! It was very powerful and reminded me that God is working in the midst of our congregation even if some would use a broad brush and call us a Southern Baptist, dispensational, seeker sensitive, contemporary-music-singing megachurch. At first glance, it may seem this way, but God is working. Let’s stay on our knees and keep praying for our churches and the whole body of Christ. He is faithful. Amen.

6:11 AM Long-time DBO reader Matthew Henry sent me these thoughts on the Lord’s Day:

Do We Worship On Sunday?

Now if the whole church gathers in the same place and everyone is speaking in tongues, when uneducated people or unbelievers come in, they will say that you are out of your mind, won’t they? But if everyone is prophesying, when an unbeliever or an uneducated person comes in he will be convicted by all and examined by all. The secrets in his heart will become known, and so he will bow down to the ground and worship God, declaring, “God is truly among you!” What, then, does this mean, brothers? When you gather, everyone has a psalm, teaching, revelation, tongue, or interpretation. Everything must be done for upbuilding (I Corinthians 14:23-26, ISV).

I Corinthians chapter 14 is a wonderful chapter; however, it is usually overlooked for church practice among many evangelicals because it deals with the forbidden topic of speaking in tongues. I’d like to look at these four verses out of chapter 14: 23 through 26.

“Now if the whole church gathers in the same place.” Was the church not gathering in the same place all the time? Why is this stipulation on speaking in tongues? An answer is not entirely relevant to my thoughts. However, let’s assume that the whole church was gathered in the same place and everyone was speaking in tongues.

When an uneducated (unchurched?) or unbeliever came in, Paul posses the question, wouldn’t they think you are out of your mind? The implied answer is yes. So, what should the whole church do when we gather together? Paul goes on. If everyone, wait a minute, did I read that right? If everyone? Shouldn’t that say “If the pastor or teaching elder”? No, Paul says if everyone is prophesying, when an uneducated or unbeliever comes in, that person will be convicted by all. Oh no, wait a minute, did Paul say by all? He should have said, by the pastor or teaching elder, right? No, he said by all.

Paul’s words are exciting. He says, the secrets of this person’s heart will become known and he will bow down to the ground and worship God, declaring “God is truly among you!” Wow, when was the last time an unbeliever came into our church services and bowed down to the ground and worship God, declaring “God is truly among us”?

Paul again explains himself in verse 26. He says, what does this mean, brothers? It means that when we gather together, everyone has a psalm, teaching, revelation, tongue or interpretation. Everything must be done for upbuilding (or edification as other versions translate it).

If we the church truly believed that our gatherings were for upbuilding and edification, then those who came into our services would worship God. Our goal as Christians meeting together is to be edification. If done, as Paul prescribes through the Holy Spirit, it will be a worship service. For those who do not know God.

Now, I struggle with the word “prophesying” in verse 24. Many dictionaries deal with all the different usages of the word, and here it probably refers to a prophetic gift or grace imparted by the Holy Spirit to the early Christians Acts 19:6; Acts 21:9; 1 Cor. 11:4-5; 13:9; 14:1, 14:3-5, 14:24, 14:31, 14:39). However, I believe Paul clarifies what should happen when the church gathers specifying a psalm, teaching, revelation, tongue or interpretation.

How does this work out in our gathering on Sunday? I see several principles made clear by Paul.

• All. Everyone is to be a part of what happens. Paul gives other rules for this in other places, i.e., women keep silence.

• Upbuilding. Everything done is for edification

• Worship. Everything done should cause the unbeliever to worship the God we serve.

Tuesday, February 15

8:51 PM Happy Birthday to Wheaton College, chartered on this day in 1860. I have the greatest respect for that generation of missionaries that Wheaton produced in the 50s and 60s, including my father-in-law and also Jim Elliott. The one went to East Africa and today is still serving the Ethiopians, the other gave his life for the Aucas of Ecuador. Both gave everything they had “For Christ and His Kingdom” (Wheaton’s motto), and I praise God for them.

8:34 PM On this, my first night as a bachelor, I cooked Chicken and Broccoli for supper, Chinese style (using my secret ingredient*). My poor son will have to put up with dad’s cooking while my wife is in Dallas with her mother. I’m listening to the strains of that master of Renaissance music, Gabrielli, as I try to get caught up on my emails and “house work.” My main goal in life right now is to try and keep the entire house (yes, ladies, kitchen included) as clean as it was when Becky left it yesterday, though it already seems like an uphill battle. It’s like those two ladies I once overheard in a grocery store. “I hate housework,” said one to the other. “You spend the whole day doing nothing but cleaning, and three months later you have to do it all over again.” Honey, I’ll try to do better than that.

* Soy sauce, of course. Put it on anything you cook and, voila, it automatically becomes Chinese cuisine!

8:30 PM Thanks to all of you who prayed for my mother-in-law. Her hip replacement surgery today was a great success, for which we praise the Lord.

6:24 AM This is a huge problem in rural Virginia, as it is in SoCal. No, not federal red tape. The welfare mentality.

6:22 AM I just learned that two more of my books have been translated, one into Russian (Using New Testament Greek in Ministry), the other into Brazilian Portuguese (Why Four Gospels?).

6:19 AM New Testament Greek students, see if you can decipher this sentence from yesterday’s BBC Greek edition. The modern Greek used in this sentence is not dissimilar to what you are learning. (Hint: The story has to do with the recent elections in Iraq.)

Για πρώτη φορά στην σύγχρονη ιστορία της χώρας, οι Σιίτες -που αποτελούν την πλειοψηφία του πληθυσμού – αναλαμβάνουν την εξουσία.

6:17 AM “When you come together … let all things be done for edification.” Worship is 24/7.

6:15 AM A little side trip over to Anita’s Blog reminded me that as soon as my wife gets back from Dallas it’s time to get our garden beds prepped for this summer’s veggies. We’ll do raised beds this year (water’s no problem with us due to our well, unlike Anita’s situation), but we may not have as many crops as she plants. We’ll also plant a huge field of corn and expand our hay fields. I still can’t believe the Lord gave us four (4!!) cuttings of hay last summer.

6:10 AM Paul Proctor on those dastardly “P” words.

6:08 AM Lessons from the apostle Paul:

He didn’t dull his sword by striking it on the walls of his Roman prison.

He didn’t challenge the paganism of his day by working out an “agreement” with Caesar.

He kept his message theologically distinctive to the very end, refusing to “tone it down” to the level of his contemporaries.

Instead of telling Timothy to play it safe, he stiffened his moral backbone and bade him endure hardship as a soldier, not negotiate as a diplomat.

Are you a Paul? Am I?

6:04 AM Have you ever wiped out? I mean, big time? Can you look back today and see what a blessing it turned out to be?

6:00 AM I just received this notice from the Biblical Archaeological Society:

In celebration of the 20th anniversary of Bible Review   Order the Bible Review: The Archive CD-ROM by March 15 for $79.95 and receive a discount of over 10- off the regular price of $89.95.

 

Order now at http://www.easycart.net/ecarts/bib-arch/8H50.html or by calling 1-800-221-4644. Mention code E5X2A when ordering.

I mention this for the following reason. For several years I wrote a bi-monthly column in Bible Review called “Greek for Bible Readers.” Those of you who are studying Greek on your own might find these columns helpful.  

Monday, February 14

11:40 AM Let’s not call it divorce….

10:27 AM Update on Azanou: We are in the final stages of getting him to Addis Ababa (the capital of Ethiopia) for an eye assessment in anticipation of his cornea transplant. (I say “we,” but my precious wife Becky has been doing all the work.) God has graciously provided a family with whom he can stay, and a former student of mine will be helping Azanou each and every step of the way. We have three (3!) born-again ophthalmologists working with us in Ethiopia, whom the Lord so clearly provided. After Azanou’s status is determined (they rate transplant priorities from A to D) he will return to his little village in Northern Ethiopia to await surgery. Can you imagine – here is a boy who is blind from birth and who has never been out of his village before let alone traveled on an airplane or been in a hospital! Last week we received a letter from him (it took six weeks to arrive) and my dear wife practically jumped through the ceiling! To see the Lord at work in this young man’s heart – it’s almost too much even to speak about! THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU for all your prayers – but don’t stop praying now!

8:10 AM The coming persecution.

7:59 AM What is it about bluegrass I like so much? Maybe it’s the washtub base my son plays. Maybe it’s the good country folk who put up with us. At any rate, I shore do look forward to a great time makin’ music next Sunday at the nursing home!

7:58 AM I thank God for this school and for this website.

7:57 AM The great Matthew Henry on family religion.

7:55 AM I have many dear cyber-friends whom I’ve never met but whom I esteem highly as comrades in arms. Darrell Dow is one of the choicest. He recently took time out of his busy day to share the following thoughts with me:

As to your reference to Deut. 22:5, I wrote about this (I think you may have even posted it) and said, “The law obviously made reference to clothes, but the meaning is far broader.  The intention is to maintain distinctions between the sexes.  As R. J. Rushdoony said in commenting on the text, it ‘forbids imposing a man’s duties and tools on a woman, and a woman’s on a man.  Its purpose is thus to maintain God’s fundamental order.’  That fundamental order is hierarchical and, for lack of a better word, patriarchal, and you shouldn’t allow braying theologians with more degrees than sense tell you otherwise.”  

As usual, Darrell beings me back to the fundamentals (although I sometimes wonder how much of my published work could be characterized as the braying of a theologian).  

7:50 AM Doug Newman, DBO contributor and editor of Fountain of Truth (one of my all-time favorite websites), writes:

Dave,

I enjoyed your comments on Stan Monteith’s show the other day.

Gluttons for punishment can tune in again this evening at 11:00 pm (EST). We’ll be talkin’ politics from a distinctly biblical perspective. I like how Doug puts it:

“SOLVE” and “PROBLEMS” ARE NOT IN THE CONSTITUTION.

7:48 AM Not to beat a dead horse…

Scripture clearly places the responsibility for child rearing on fathers: “And you, fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath, but bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord” (Ephesians 6:14). Many parents feel that they are “doing their job” by seeing their children off to youth group on Wednesday nights. Most do little or nothing more, and thus fall far short of what God demands of them as parents. Fathers are responsible for directly overseeing their children in spiritual matters a responsibility which cannot be delegated to a youth pastor. Today we speak well of parents who support church youth activities, but they ought to have much more than a supporting role.

As a former youth pastor, I can only say I wish I had learned this lesson earlier than I did. Much earlier. Men, it’s never too late to start. Let me repeat:

IT’S NEVER TOO LATE!

7:45 AM On Saturday I promised some big news. Well, I am now able to report that my wife and I are expecting again. A female Sheltie, that is. She was purchased from a breeder in Greensboro, NC, and we will take delivery in about three weeks. I imagine this will eventually make our male Sheltie a happy camper indeed.

7:43 AM If you live in eastern North Carolina, plan now to attend the Bentonville Reenactment on March 19-. Unlike most reenactments, this event will take place on the actual battlefield. You’ll find the Black family encamped with the 30th North Carolina Troops (led into battle by our intrepid bugler Nathan “Stonewall” Black).

7:30 AM Another Roman Catholic blog has hit the waves of cyberspace.

7:18 AM “When we read the Corinthian correspondence, we tend to think of Paul as writing to one congregation. Most likely several house churches were established in Corinth. Taking into account these different communities and their make up can help us to understand some of the background for the conflicts they experienced.” Read more about:

Corinthian House Church Communities

7:16 AM This morning my wife leaves for Dallas to be with her mom, who will undergo hip replacement surgery on Tuesday. Your prayers for a successful operation and a speedy rehabilitation would be appreciated. I would like to add this saying of Spurgeon: “Prayer is the master-weapon. We should be greatly wise if we used it more, and did so with a more specific purpose.” God bless all of you, and let me know how I can intercede on your behalf.

Saturday, February 12

6:16 PM If you read Coffee and a Muffin this morning, I hope you scrolled down far enough to see this discussion of modesty:

I didn’t start wearing dresses exclusively at that point, but I only wore what was marketed to women. Later on, I became convicted that I should go to dresses because so many women these days dress the way they do because of the influence feminism has had on our choices, it rejects God’s order of things. We are often slaves to what is sold in the stores. We must break away from letting our culture dictate what we wear and how we present ourselves. I feel a need to be set apart even more. Now I occasionally do wear pants. But I feel a bit of guilt about it because God has convicted me about not wearing pants. But honestly, I do not look down on any woman who does wear pants so long as they are not clingy and seductive. I’m referring to women within the church, not unbelievers. And the reason it bothers me if they are clingy and seductive should be obvious. We should have nothing to do with the deeds of darkness. The only one who we should be seductive around is our husbands, and then only when alone with them. I don’t want my husband turned on by a Christian sister who shows no discretion. It’s just wrong, wrong, wrong.

The verse that started it off?

Deuteronomy 22:5

“A woman shall not wear man’s clothing, nor shall a man put on a woman’s clothing; for whoever does these things is an abomination to the LORD your God.”

What thinkest thou?

5:59 PM Evangelism:

You see, evangelism doesn’t take place inside of the church. The church is the body of Christ, and people there are already evangelized. Evangelism takes place outside of the church. So, by that description, evangelism is going somewhere, not staying put. Evangelism is not painting the church, or building a new building. It is not singing chippy songs that everyone dances to, or a half comedian, half bible thumping preacher. And it is not the Christian world gathering together in loose associations on the internet.

Evangelism means going to them. Going to those who don’t know Jesus, going where they are, and you know this as well as I do; most of them are not in churches. In fact, in America, no matter how much we decorate our churches, no matter how lively and fun our “worship” is, it doesn’t draw people who don’t believe. Most of the newcomers to any church attend for the first time because they already know someone going to that church gathering. This is a fact, and it will never change.

2:52 PM Evanhead is turning out to be one of my favorite sites. He has already spawned a new blog that has this worthy goal:

My one request that encompasses all my requests is that God, through Jesus Christ, would draw me closer to him and that I may learn to continually seek Him.

A warm welcome to you, Grant, and best wishes.  

2:42 PM Mark Roberts has compiled a list of blogging pastors. One of them has a great series on the book of Philippians going.

2:03 PM Thanks, Charles.

God’s Yellow Pages – Let your fingers do the walking….

12:45 PM Saturday musings from Rosewood Farm:

Locust trees really do have huge thorns. Ouch!

Buying new chain saw blades saves lots of time when cutting down elm trees.

Elm is as difficult to spilt as is Sweet Gum.

Horses love Reliance 12 Pellets.

So do Boer goats and Jersey cows.

The local gas station refuses to let us pump our own gas.

It also has real windshield wiper fluid and not just water.

Country living is LIVING!

9:12 AM Tomorrow, on the Lord’s Day, wherever you may assemble, remember:

You are a member of Christ’s Body!

You are a king and priest unto God!

You are all brethren!

You have a spiritual gift to exercise!

Accentuate relationships!

Christianity is a great fraternity!

“Let love of the brethren continue….”

8:16 AM The “pastor” – where did he come from?

7:57 AM “War is war,” she says. “The only crime is starting a war in the first place. Once it gets started, no one pays any attention to rules and regulations – it’s a question of survival. That’s how war is.”

7:55 AM I like this blog.

7:53 AM I am currently writing a review of the reviews of my book Why I Stopped Listening to Rush. If you have a thought (kind or untoward) about the book you’d like me to consider, feel free to “let me have it.”

7:45 AM Calling all blogsters who do it in Polish, Korean, Japanese, Simplified Chinese, or Greek. You can turn your blog into a book!

7:40 AM If you are a youth pastor, please don’t read this. Again, stay away! Well, don’t say I didn’t warn you.

7:35 AM I plan to report on a BIG surprise tonight. The excitement is mounting. Hmm, what could it be? Our doggie Shiloh is all ears!

7:30 AM How about a good cup of coffee and a muffin this morning?

Friday, February 11

5:22 PM Speaking of Bible “translations”:

Oh Message, how do I loathe thee? Let me count the ways.

5:12 PM This just in:

Is that your ragged old tractor in the pic? I bet it’s leaking fluids all over Mother Earth! Does the EPA know about this???

I’m surrounded by farms and farmers. When I lived near Atlanta, I was surrounded by mostly airline workers. What a difference in outlook on life and attitude! The airline folks say “The world owes me!” The farmers take life one day at a time and thank the Lord when they have a good year. Or else look for a better year next year. I rarely hear any complaining about anything. They just accept what God gives them. Most of the farms around here are over a hundred years old and have been in families for several generations. Most unusual in this country anymore. I’ve been blessed by God to be allowed to live here. Very small town,
clean air, no crime, wonderful people. Often I go to have breakfast or lunch with a friend or two and when we finish, we sit and chat sometimes for a couple of  hours. Do they run us off or give us dirty looks? NO! They just keep on filling our coffee cups and smiling at us. Would that happen in Atlanta? HAH! In your dreams! Thank you Lord for Michigan!

All I can say is: Amen and Amen!

4:41 PM The struggle described in Romans 7 is, in my opinion, one all Christians face. Here’s an interesting take on this highly debated text (warning: be prepared to take an in-depth look at Paul’s Adam/Christ contrast in Romans 5-8):

Christian Grappe, “Qui me délivrera de ce corps de mort? L’Esprit de vie! Romains 7,24 et 8,2 comme éléments de typologie adamique,” , Biblica 83(2002) 472-492.

4:40 PM Greek students: Need fonts?

4:37 PM Care to join the blogosphere? (Why should we have all the fun?)

Learn to blog, blog to learn.

Blog stands for Web-log, an informal personal Website. Thousands of people blog every day. (Blog is both a noun and a verb.) I’ve blogged for 18 months, and I’m convinced that blogs are destined to become a powerful, dirt-cheap tool for e-learning and knowledge management.

A blog is defined as a Website with dated entries, usually by a single author, often accompanied by links to other blogs that the site’s editor visits on a regular basis. Think of a blog as one person’s public diary or suggestion list. Early blogs were started by Web enthusiasts who would post links to cool stuff that they found on the Internet. They added commentary. They began posting daily. They read one another’s blogs. A community culture took hold.

In 1999, blogging software arrived on the scene, enabling anyone to post content to a Website. Generally, blog software comes with a personal Website for those who don’t already have one. The software captures your words in dated entries, maintaining a chronological archive of prior entries. In the spirit of sharing inherent to Net culture, the software and the personal Websites are usually free. Currently, blogging is one of the fastest growing trends on the Web. Nearly half a million people have downloaded blogging software.

4:35 PM “God” or “a god” in John 1:1?

4:33 PM Here are some more Greek and Latin educational links. Η μελέτη των γλωσσών είναι διασκέδαση!

4:30 PM I recently posted on the sin of Gnosticism. Read about its seeping entry into Christianity – then and now.

4:27 PM Now here’s a question you ought to ponder: Is biblical betrothal transcultural?

How did Christ betroth Himself to His bride? Notice that it perfectly parallels the biblical betrothal model found in our relevant passages above. First, the Heavenly Father and Son together chose the bride (Eph. 1:4; Jn. 15:16). The Son was then sent to seek His bride (Lk. 19:10). During this time He was in continuous communication with and submission to His Father (Jn. 5:30). At the time of betrothal, Christ paid the greatest bride price in history, His own precious blood (1 Pet. 1:18-19). The bride (the church) has the choice to accept or reject the groom’s offer of marriage (Jn. 3:36). During betrothal the groom (Christ) is demonstrating His love for us through words, acts and gifts, and we grow to know and love Him more and more each day (Eph. 3:17-19). Christ’s love for His betrothed is a secure, permanent relationship, unlike dating around (Heb. 13:5; Rom. 8:37-39). During betrothal we cannot touch Him, but after He comes for us in marriage, we will (Jn. 14:2-3). After our processional to heaven, our marriage to Christ will be celebrated with a great wedding feast (Rev. 19:7-9).

4:25 PM No, Virginia, the book is not a dinosaur in today’s cybernetic world.

I am fascinated by an Internet that is resurrecting whole generations of old books that until just five years ago were doomed to dusty graves in musty old bookstores and private libraries. It’s not just the “classics” that are being revived, though, but the writings of godly, evangelical men and women whose voices have not been heard for a century or more. They are part of the “cloud of witnesses” of Hebrews 12 who encourage us, but who have been pushed to the back of the cloud. But we need their voices.

4:23 PM I have had the honor of teaching in several seminaries in South Korea and have been impressed by the emphasis on the five solas of the Reformation in many of the churches I preached in there. I rejoice that more and more Christian parents are considering homeschooling as a viable alternative to the state-run institutions in Korea. Let’s stay informed about the homeschooling movement in that country and pray for its health and growth.

11:09 AM At the turn of the last century, close to half of all Americans lived in rural areas. Over the last 100 years, the number of farmers has dropped so low that by 1993 the U.S. Census Bureau stopped counting the number of people living on farms. Well, I for one wouldn’t change our agrarian lifestyle for the world. Interview being ended, it’s time to go outdoors and get active. Talk at yall later!

11:04 AM Just had a delightful hour-long interview with Dr. Stan Monteith on Radio Liberty. The conversation and questions seemed to center on the need for a new Barmen Declaration in view of the sin of statism and the heresy of nationalism so prevalent in America today. Stan is a most delightful interviewer, and if you would like to hear our next conversation please check my speaking schedule.

7:35 AM This makes “Name it and claim it” look like child’s play.

7:33 AM I just added to my speaking schedule a three-part series on the church I will be presenting at the Raleigh Chinese Christian Church in Cary on April 3, 17, and 24.

7:23 AM In the ISV we made it a point to attempt to translate the Greek tenses as accurately as possible, even when we had to part company with the majority of English versions. An example is Hebrews 6:1, where the traditional “let us press on to maturity” is rendered “let us continue to be carried along to maturity” to reflect both the lexical idea behind the verb phero (“carry,” “bear”) and the author’s use of the passive voice and present tense. So it is always a delight for me to find pastor-teachers who dig deep enough into the text to check the Greek before preaching. Here’s a good example from a sermon on Hebrews 6 by Phil Newton of South Woods Baptist Church in Memphis.

7:20 AM Ray Rhodes says:

Don’t Dog Me About Dogma!

7:15 AM I like William Gouge’s use of the word “seminary” in the following quote:

The family is a seminary of the Church and Commonwealth. A family is a little Church and a little Commonwealth.

7:11 AM I love following the discussions about the Republican Party over at God, Family, Republic, and Scott Whiteman’s latest essay on the current brouhaha at the Georgia State House makes for some interesting reading, mainly because I am a one-issue voter.

7:05 AM I received a nice email yesterday from Mrs. Julie Austin of Austin’s Parenting with Purpose. Julie has a site that delights the eye, challenges the mind, and warms the heart. You’ll also find a touch of humor there. If you need an entrée into her insightful musings, I would start here:

Homeschooling to the Glory of God!

Thanks, Julie, for all you are doing to encourage and promote biblical parenting and homeschooling.

Thursday, February 10

6:05 AM Lest we forget, in this heady day of nationalism and the democratization of the universe:

We are living in the days of the Barmen Declaration.

The state does not have the right to define what it means to be a Christian.

The religious community precedes, and takes precedence over, the political community in its act of self-definition.

The identification of Christianity with American nationalism is a heresy and idolatry.

God is the Savior of individuals, but He is also the Sovereign Lord of the Universe.

Christians must permeate society with the truth of the Gospel and proclaim with the Barmen Declaration, as did Bonhoeffer, “We reject the false doctrine, as though there were areas of our life in which we would not belong to Jesus Christ, but to other lords – areas in which we would not need justification and sanctification through him.”

6:03 AM Here are some of our family’s hospitality strategies. What are some of yours?

• Inviting our neighbors to our home.

• Sharing food with others.

• Paying attention to people when they visit (i.e., stopping what we are doing and shutting off such distractions as the radio).

• Asking about a person’s preferences, allergies, etc. when a meal is involved.

• Greeting people warmly.

• Entertaining students.

• Regularly visiting shut-ins and the sick.

• Opening our farm to individuals and families for retreats.

• Providing privacy as best we can.

• Involving guests in regular family activities if they desire to participate.

6:00 AM Three responses to our thoughts on the Lord’s Day. 

The Lord’s Day. Excellent column. I remember when I was a child,
if we didn’t get what we needed by sundown on Saturday, we didn’t get it until Monday morning. Sunday was for worship and rest. I’m sure you will be accused of legalism for claiming a Christian “Sabbath.” But I believe the Lord meant for even Christians to have a day of rest and worship. “The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath.” Mark 2:27

The things the Lord allows you to put on your blog, always challenge me. I grew up in a family that did not celebrate Christmas. Reading your blog and the link to fossilized customs brought back much of this discussion. When does a “custom” get so separated from it’s origin that we as Christians aren’t breaking God’s commands by participating in the customs? For example, I’ve read that historically forks were designed after Satan’s forks and when they were first introduced in Italy, the preachers of the day preached against them. In fact, the story goes that a lady of a town in Italy was telling everyone she was having a party and was so excited that she was going to use forks. She died three days latter and the preachers in the town said it was because she used forks.
Now, would we think of not using forks because of their pagan origin? Would we stop celebrating birthdays because of their pagan origin? I have Christian friends that do not celebrate birthdays. Christmas and Easter bring up the same situations. I think Christmas is a little easier because it has once again fallen into so great a pagan idolatry. Taking Dominion of our culture, we could bring back some of the celebrations like Reformation Day and possibly St. Patrick’s day. Even Thanksgiving is probably a good one.

I just finishing reading your article on the Lord’s Day; I certainly felt some conviction, so I have repented of my plans to do my income taxes this Sunday. The federal government won’t mind holding on to my tax overpayment a little longer, even though the money has surely been spent already to finance “the force of human freedom.”

My thanks to all who have taken the time to write.  

Wednesday, February 9

7:23 PM It doesn’t matter how much people focus on getting our youth to pledge their purity as long as we refuse to deal with the more fundamental problems in our “evangelical” youth culture. I think Kristen at Walking Circumspectly would agree:

Most of the kids who signed pledges to wait until marriage to have sex…didn’t.

“True Love Waits, a program sponsored by the Southern Baptist Convention, is one of the most famous evangelical efforts to reduce premarital sexual activity among our youth. Since 1993, about 2.4 million young people have signed a pledge to wait until marriage to engage in sexual intercourse. Are these young evangelicals keeping their pledges? In March 2004, researchers from Columbia University and Yale University reported on their findings. For seven years they studied 12 thousand teenagers who took the pledge. Sadly, they found that 88 percent of these pledgers reported having sexual intercourse before marriage; just 12 percent kept their promise. The researchers also found that the rates for having sexually transmitted diseases ‘were almost identical for the teenagers who took pledges and those who did not.'”

I know how these “crusades,” or whatever you want to call them, go. They attract youth groups to arenas for a one-night conference. A few speakers, a ‘cool’ band, and then the pledge cards come out. Kids who either feel like they’ll be looked down upon if they don’t sign or who have been emotionally piqued sign the card (and, of course, the 12 percent who kept their word). All of them are now counted in the ministry’s numbers as a success. I am simply uncomfortable with that ‘crusade’ kind of ministry–I prefer one-on-one discipleship. I distrust glitz, crowds, and things that end quickly. I guess I have been burned.

I grieve for teenagers in this country, kids whose parents think they can raise them in the world and then drop them off at a convention for a night to learn not to have sex before marriage. I know I am totally oversimplifying, but there is a sense in which many youth groups as they exist today, and many parachurch ministries for teens–all of it is in some sense absurd, appealing to the flesh, or flitting down for the spiritual equivalent of a one-night stand. Kids need and deserve so much more.

I pray for more good soil for the sower. I pray against the schemes of the enemy to drown children (schools and media are such cesspools). I pray that people will see that what we need to do is FOLLOW JESUS and teach others to do the same.

6:30 PM Here’s a book with some rather startling information – not the least of which is the fact that it’s not the gimmicks we use to draw people to church that brings them in. It’s – are you ready? – the doctrine, the teaching, the teachers, and the body life. Sounds an awful lot like Acts 2, and well it should. I thank God for our modern J. Gresham Machens like Phil Newton and Thom Rainer.

6:23 PM According to Scripture, it doesn’t take a 40 day formula for those who truly desire to see revival. If we simply and faithfully preach the gospel, fervently pray, and submit ourselves humbly and obediently to the leading of the Spirit, then the power of God will be manifest in His own time, just as the apostles discovered as they gathered in the upper room at Pentecost. Despite the recent hype, we need to remember that revival isn’t purpose-driven, it’s Spirit-led.

Read more.

6:10 PM Several websites and writers have decried the anti-religious bigotry on the left, but the New Evangelicalism also misses the mark in so many ways it’s difficult to count them all. But this has got to be the most inane essay on evangelicalism ever written.

6:05 PM I just finished reading a few of my previous essays on church traditions, including Christmas. I quake at the evangelical church in America today for our inertia. Interestingly, a reader sent me these thoughts today:

… I have learned that Christmas is just the tip of the iceberg as far as the pagan and unbiblical infiltration into the assemblies of the believers.

The same reader also noted that he enjoyed my drawing of Henry Kissinger, which shows him scratching his nose – a sure sign (according to this reader) of lying.  I’d be interested in getting an expert’s opinion on that one.

6:03 PM Our chapels yesterday and today featured Dr. Al Mohler of Southern Seminary. The thread throughout was God’s grace and God’s glory in marriage. His messages were excellent and can be heard by going to our seminary website: www.sebts.edu.

6:01 PM Wednesday afternoon shout-out to Tyler for winning the (Greek) spelling bee today in Intermediate Greek class. Thanks to all who participated. And to everyone in the class: keep up the great work you are doing. Things will get a lot easier as the language becomes more and more intuitive. In Advanced Greek Grammar we worked through a section of the book of Esther in the Septuagint, and the sight reading went extremely well. The diction of a book like Esther is so similar to a New Testament writing like Mark that students can quickly see how the Greek New Testament and the Greek Old Testament are written in the same language – Hellenistic Greek. In the end, by studying the Greek of the New Testament we will be better able to understand the Old Testament as well as the church fathers who wrote in Greek (Origin, Clement of Alexandria, etc.). We have also been working on translating from English into Greek, and I want to thank all those who are memorizing (or reviewing) their vocabulary both ways – Greek to English and English to Greek. Remember, the key to being able to accurately interpret the New Testament is the ability to think to a degree in the language (not just slavishly translate the text word for word, although that’s a good start). I applaud your efforts, and look forward to digging even deeper as the semester progresses.

6:59 AM When the kings depart, democracies arise. O really?

6:57 AM “My teacher told me that was stupid, that was a waste of time. I said, ‘I could go out and be getting drunk like everybody else, or I could sit at home and not make a difference in anyone else’s life. Is that what I’m supposed to do?'”

Rachel was discovering that espousing strong religious convictions – even in a public school located in the Bible Belt – could make everyday life more complicated. She came to the difficult conclusion that while she cherished the history she had forged with the Broken Arrow schools, she longed to be in a school where her teachers would freely pray with her and where chapel services were the norm. For her that place was Victory Christian School.

Read the latest from Dr. Lyman.

6:55 AM Our little Baptist congregation in Basel, Switzerland was considered a sect by most Swiss. Ditto for France.

6:50 AM If it works for hamburgers…. (By the way, note the interview with Steve Atkerson, head of the New Testament Restoration Foundation and editor of Ekklesia.)

6:48 AM Woman has twins – months apart.

6:45 AM HELP, I’M CONFUSED: On Monday I ran across an interesting document. I wrote on my blog:

Believe it or not, David Black signed this document.

I received this letter in response:

David,
If I understood your blog correctly, you signed the esa letter to President Bush. Can I ask why?

Best regards,
David

My response was:

David, please read the actual signatures.

David wrote back:

Dave,

Mea culpa.  I didn’t look closely enough. It would have seemed so incredibly “out of character” for you to endorse socialism. In fact it would have ruined my day to find out that my favorite website (yours) was not what it seemed!

Dave, God bless you and your ministry.

Best regards,

David

I guess one can be too subtle.

6:42 AM It is a joy to see more and more families and homeschoolers studying Greek together. A letter I received this morning warmed my heart:

Dear Dr. Black,

Thank you very much for the tape and workbook for your Greek textbook.  It has been difficult learning Greek, but something all Christians should
strive to do to better hear God’s Word.  Thank you.

Eric E.

By the way, my wife (and I) have enjoyed your articles on your website.

6:40 AM Will an ailing Pope resign? Can he?

6:39 AM I call for the radical simplicity of church facilities, for there is nothing more conducive to family worship than meeting as families do in their living rooms.

6:36 AM It’s not the number of people under my influence that counts, but the quality of my influence.

6:32 AM The sum of the matter:

Serve God with all your might.

Have no other ambition than to be faithful.

“As to the Lord, not to men.”

Keep not back; make a full surrender daily.

Cry out for more of the Spirit’s influence.

Let your life run deep and pure.

You are nobody’s soldier except the Crucified’s.

“Jesus Only” is our only motto.

Not I, but Christ.

Tuesday, February 8

5:35 PM The web is a wonderful place….

Dave,

I just read your Scripture-Driven Church article, and wanted to say: “Amen!”

Without getting too detailed, the Lord led my family and I along with another couple in our church to the realization that the church we were “elders” in was institutionalized and professionalized to the extent that no matter what we said, we were stymied.  We asked “How did the church meet? What saith the scripture?” But we were met with “I don’t think we want to use the scripture to evaluate everything.”

For the last two months we have been meeting in our homes.  We’ve been throwing off the chains of the institutionalized/romish church.  We just concluded a study on the Lord’s Supper, and have put away the Dixie cups and crackers for a full meal, which includes bread and wine/juice, just like the feast the early church enjoyed!

Our fellowship is so wonderful, that when our friends told us Sunday they would be at the bedside of a dying relative in Texas, and would not be able to be with us this coming Sunday, we nearly wept!  That sweet time of fellowship in the Lord, with ardent study, is so precious to us.

Another wonderful work of God is happening. Since we began, the Lord has brought people to us. We have now had an evening meal with three families, and expect a fourth next week. Each one has expressed a desire to find a “true” church where God’s Word is honored, and people are in real, heart-level fellowship.  We don’t know whether they will join us, but we do know that the Lord will add to His church!

Praise God for the hearts of His elect turning to the Lord Jesus Christ as the only Head of His Church, and the Bridegroom of his beloved bride!

God bless you,

7:55 AM I had an interesting discussion this weekend with a Roman Catholic about sola scriptura. Read a debate on this issue here. A teaser:

At the beginning of the debate I laid out what I had to do.  I had to demonstrate that the Bible is a rule of faith, that it teaches it’s sufficient to function as the sole rule of faith, and that it in fact teaches that it does function in that way, and I did those three things.  So what was Mr. Madrid’s response?  Well, he’s gone off after every other topic there is to go after.   Canon issues, . . . and “Well how do you know that” type of situations.   And well wait a minute, let’s go back to what the Scripture said.  And the Scripture says, the Scriptures are sufficient for the man of God for doing the works of God. 

7:53 AM Check out these Bible study books in pdf. format.

7:51 AM Thought for the day:

Theology, not morality, is the first business on the church’s agenda of reform, and the church, not society, is the first target of divine criticism.

Michael Scott Horton, Beyond Culture Wars

7:45 AM I once heard it said that there are no boring preachers. If he’s boring, he’s not a preacher. I agree wholeheartedly with that statement. Spurgeon once said, “Dull preachers make good martyrs. They are so dry they burn well.” He added, “Christ Jesus was an attractive preacher; He sought above all means to set the pearl in a frame of gold, that it might attract the attention of the people…. It was no dull work to hear the King of preachers; He was too much in earnest to be dull, and too humane to be incomprehensible.” My wife likens a good sermon to preparing a well-conceived meal: a wise householder will labor to give each one of the family a well-balanced dinner served in an attractive way.

Let’s make the message attractive!

Let’s keep the message practical!

Give Christ the preeminence!

Aim at the heart!

Keep the hearer under fire at all times!

Monday, February 7

6:08 PM Before construction of our horse barn begins, I must spend some time at this website.

5:56 PM Believe it or not, David Black signed this document.

5:37 PM This topic is much on my heart these days:

Suffer the Little Children.

5:32 PM Today my terrific son began restoring a two-storey ante-bellum home about a mile from our farm. I can’t think of anything he’d rather be doing. He’s starting out by repairing and painting the tin roof. Yes, dad helped him, mostly by staying out of his way. We patched holes and drilled roofing screws and otherwise got everything prepared for painting. The next step is for my son to rewire and plumb the structure and finish the interior with new moldings, wainscoting, etc. This is where his abilities will really shine. I am so glad he has this wonderful talent, which he surely didn’t get from a dad who has a difficult time changing light bulbs.

9:12 AM Speaking of TV:

The TV is my shepherd, I shall not want anything else. It maketh me to lie down on the sofa. It leadeth me away from the Scripture. It destroys my soul. It leadeth me in the paths of sex and violence for the sponsor’s sake.

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will enjoy the evil, for blood and sex they excite me. It’s cable and remote they comfort me. It prepares a commercial before me in the presence of my children. It anoints my head with humanism, My coveting runneth over.

Surely laziness and ignorance shall follow my family all the days of our lives, and we shall dwell in the house watching TV forever.

8:59 AM You are spot on, Mr. Black!

One thing I have learned from the Super Bowl, however, is how valuable my time is. This year the Super Bowl values 30 seconds of my time at $2.4 million. That amount makes me pause and wonder how valuable my time is to God. By Super Bowl standards, my time is worth $4.8 million per minute, $288 million per hour, $6.912 billion per day, over $2.5 trillion per year. The time I spend with God is even more pricey, especially considering that the blood of Jesus, shed for my sins, is the only payment that makes my time with God possible.

8:40 AM What is a Reformed Baptist?

8:17 AM The apostle Paul once said, “Neither count I my life dear unto myself” (Acts 20:24).

Life is dear in God’s sight. But Paul counted not his life dear unto himself.

Life is God’s gift to us, and we must give account of the way we live it. When we count it as His and not ours, “we lose what we cannot keep to gain what we cannot lose.”

The man who uttered these words, Jim Elliot, was martyred in the jungles of Ecuador. People looked upon his mangled body, but his soul had gone home through gates of splendor. He counted not his life dear unto himself.

That is God’s way. That is the Christian way.

8:15 AM I agree with the Liberty Committee:

The Constitution of the United States is not a statement of principles or a mere expression of lofty ideals or political philosophy. It is black-letter law. Its provisions are fully operative, like any federal statute. Every action of the federal government must legally conform to constitutional rules. Every member of Congress swears to uphold the Constitution; meaning he or she swears to uphold the law.

Yet members of Congress rarely follow the Constitution. In fact, members of Congress routinely ignore or blatantly violate its strictures. As a result, most federal laws have no constitutional authority. In other words, most so-called federal laws are unconstitutional and, therefore, illegal. Respect for the constitutional rule of law must be restored.

7:50 AM PRAYER REQUEST: My wife and I are requesting prayer for a boy named Azanou whom we met in rural Ethiopia last November. He is blind in one eye and needs a cornea transplant in the other or he will go completely blind. We are arranging for him to have that surgery. Meanwhile, a doctor friend of ours who is also a believer will be contacting Azanou about the surgery and will also be sharing with him the love of Jesus. Please pray that young Azanou might receive spiritual sight by accepting the Gospel.

7:45 AM Please read this letter from Ray Moore of Frontline Ministries and then prayerfully consider writing to the German Embassy:

DEAR FRIENDS OF EXODUS MANDATE:

Seldom do we ask you to exert an  effort to contact governmental officials. This is a very important situation that has exercised the entire American home school community and also some home schoolers in other countries as well. We have had some contact with the leadership of the young home school community in Germany and they had requested prayers and support from us before this situation had come to emergency proportions. We ask you to read the reports below, pray for these families and take the appropriate actions requested.  First read 1 Peter 5: 8-10 and pray. Please take action this week if you intend to help. We would be grateful if you could circulate this memo to your network too. Thanks and Blessings.
             In His grip,
             E. Ray Moore, Jr.
             Chaplain (Lt.Col.) USAR ret
             http://www.Exodusmandate.org
             FRONTLINE MINISTRIES
             PO Box 12072
             Columbia, SC 29211
             Tele (803) 714-1744

HSLDA brought this horrendous situation to the attention of the homeschool public first. http://www.hslda.org/hs/international/Germany/200501100.asp.

Requested Action

In order to help these seven homeschool families in Germany, we urge you to call or write to the German Embassy immediately and give them the following message:  “The seven homeschool families in Paderborn County should not be forced to return their children to public school. A parent’s right to direct the education of his children is a fundamental right that should be protected. We request that you urge Heinz Kohler and the county school board to drop the pending fines against the families.” Your decision to contact the German embassy  may determine the success or failure of the German homeschool movement.

    Wolfgang Ischinger
    Ambassador
    German Embassy
    4645 Reservoir Road NW
    Washington, DC, 20007-1998
    tele (202) 298-4000

    The German embassy can be e-mailed from its website:
    http://www.globescope.biz/germany/reg/index.cfm

7:25 AM Copies of Bruce Shortt’s new book The Harsh Truth About Public Schools can be ordered at http://www.chalcedonstore.com/ . For bulk purchases, contact chorders@goldrush.com or call (209) 736-4365.

7:23 AM Monday morning shout-out to all our friends in Rocky Mount, Virginia, whose company we enjoyed over the weekend. The wedding was fantastic, and we thoroughly enjoyed worshipping in the “barn” on Sunday (including a fellowship meal and the Lord’s Supper). God is doing a good work among you both to will and to work His good pleasure, and we were privileged to be witnesses of His handiwork for a few days. Blessings on all of you.

Friday, February 4

6:27 AM Acts 2:41-42 contains, in germ form, a wonderful definition of the church. Do you see it? Belief, baptism, being added to other believers, the apostles’ doctrine, fellowship, the breaking of bread, prayers. We might say, then, that the church is a group of baptized believers who meet regularly for Bible study and fellowship, sharing in the Lord’s Supper and mutual prayers. I note that the Lord’s Supper was a prime manifestation of the church’s unity as believers shared together in that symbolic testimony to the basis of their faith – the life and death of Jesus Christ. How wonderful this banquet that foreshadowed the Marriage Supper of the Lamb!

Many of you already have a fellowship meal on Sunday. But is there not still something missing?

The meal is potluck, or as we like to say, “pot-providence.” Everyone brings something to share with everyone else. When the weather is nice, all the food is placed on a long folding table out in the carport. A smaller card table at one end of the long table contains drinks, cups, forks, napkins, etc. A chest full of ice sits on the floor beside the card table. Kids run wildly around having so much fun that they must be collared by parents and forced to eat something. After a prayer of thanksgiving is offered, people line up, talking and laughing, to serve their plates. In the middle of all the food sits a single loaf of bread next to a large plastic jug containing the fruit of the vine. Each believer partakes of the bread and juice while going through the serving line. The smaller kids are encouraged to occupy one of the few places at a table to eat. (They sure can be messy!) Chairs for adults (there are not enough for everyone) are clustered in circles, mainly occupied by the womenfolk, who eat while discussing home schooling, child training, sewing, an upcoming church social, the new church we hope to start, etc. Most of the men stand to eat, balancing their plates on top of their cups, grouped into small clusters and solving the world’s problems or pondering some hot topic of theology. The atmosphere is not unlike that of a wedding banquet. It is a great time of fellowship, encouragement, edification, friendship, caring, catching-up, getting to know, praying with, exhorting, and maturing. The reason for the event? In case you did not recognize it, this is the Lord’s Supper, New Testament style!

6:25 AM Charles Haddon Spurgeon on children:

Give us the first seven years of a child, with God’s grace, and we may defy the world, the flesh, and the devil to ruin that immortal soul. Those first years, while yet the clay is soft and plastic, go far to decide the form of the vessel. Do not say that your office, you who teach the young, is in the least degree inferior to ours, whose main business is with older folks, No, you have the first of them, and your impressions, as they come first, will endure last; oh, that they may be good, and only good!

6:23 AM Quote of the day (John MacArthur):

A woman has got to go back to that place of that beautiful submission she knew before the “fall,” and a man has got to go back to the place where his commitment is simply, in love, to take that woman as if she were one with him, and render to her every single thing that he would do for himself.

6:20 AM A lesson from a Titus 2 woman.

6:17 AM Friday morning shout-out to Jeremy and Sarah who will be wedded this Saturday in Rocky Mount, Virginia. This one’s for you, Jeremy.

Wednesday, February 2

6:17 AM QOTD (John Owen):

To suppose that whatever God requireth of us that we have power of ourselves to do, is to make the cross and grace of Jesus Christ of none effect.

6:15 AM Dr. Lyman has the skinny on the ol’ salt-and-light argument for g-school:

A hapless blogger, with a bent for theology, titles an entry “Death to Homeschooling.” Then he announces he is thinking of sending his precious little child to a g-school.

Writes Tony Jones: “But it seems to me that if we are truly committed to living a missional life, then we must enroll our kids in the public school. That is, we are committed to living lives fully invested in what I might call the ‘Jesus Ethic’ or the ‘Kingdom of God Ethic,’ and also fully invested in the society — in fact, you might say that we live according to the Kingdom of God for the sake of society.”

Mr. Fully-Invested-in-the-Society, allow me to quote the venerable Dr. Patricia Lines, homeschool reseacher. She has stated, “The hard evidence suggests that the vast majority of homeschooling families are more active in civic affairs than public school families.” And, many of these families also happen to be into the Jesus Ethic, Mr. For-the-Sake-of-Society.

IOW, the more government-dependent you are, the more government-dependent you will be.  

6:12 AM

As you read Time Magazine’s latest list, please keep in mind:

God takes no orders from us.

He is not the flunky of religious top brass.

A man loves himself properly only when he sees himself as God sees him, a lost sinner. There are broken cisterns aplenty, but only one fountain of living water.

Fifty-fifty Christians are a great asset to the devil.

God prefers a dedicated 300 patterned after Christ to Gideon’s 32,000.

Our Lord was always careful to stress the cost of discipleship.

There is only one Great I AM.

If we love the world the love of the Father is not in us.

Our Lord never offered bargains; He never marked His prices down.

The church is not an incubator for hatching saints; saints must first be born by the Spirit of God.

God is not only our Rewarder; He is our Reward.

Tuesday, February 1

6:23 AM Our forbears chose to preserve the scriptural ideal of liberty. We have fallen away from the ideal of the founding generation. But the movement back to limited constitutional government is accelerating in many quarters of the nation. The culture wars are intensifying between them and the ruling liberal elite. What can you do?

Build coalitions of commonsense conservatives.

Resist the liberal media.

Build alternative means of communication via the Internet.

Encourage trends toward political sanity that are already in place.

Be the patriots of today, every bit as much defenders of the Constitution as were your forefathers, and they refused to be defeated!

6:20 AM In his essay, “The Modern Threats to Religious Freedom: They Are Greater than One May Think,” William Anderson exposes the dangers awaiting America:

On the surface, it would seem that Christianity has never been stronger or more influential in this country. Not only are the president, attorney general, and other cabinet members and advisors open about their Christianity, but Christian books are on the best-seller lists and Christian popular music dominates the radio airwaves. However, for a long time, I have been intensely looking at the current scene and have concluded that (1) the political authorities have squarely targeted Christians and Christianity for harassment and are freely carrying out their agendas at the present time, (2) the historical legal protections in this country for Christianity have been eroded past the point of no return, (3) most Christians are clueless in understanding this situation, and (4) when Christians do happen to recognize dangers to practicing their faith, they tend to endorse legislative and political actions that in the long run will make things even worse for themselves and those Christians who will follow after them.

Here is one pastor who is quite aware of what is going on.  

6:19 AM The latest in Orwellian Doubletalk:

Pain-Capable Unborn Child

This is a shameful use of the language I love.  

6:17 AM N. T. Wright is still wrong.

6:15 AM Anything Ivan Eland writes is worth perusing, but this report on “The Way Out of Iraq” is indispensable reading.

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   restoring our biblical and constitutional foundations

                

Ethiopia Report (Part 2): Rural Ministry in the Burji District  

 Becky Lynn Black 

We loaded our car with supplies and a truck with our books (1000 Amharic Bibles, 300 English/Amharic diglot New Testaments, 350 Amharic Bible study books). After 12 hours and one flat tire, we arrived at dusk in the town of Soyama, a small town far to the south of Ethiopia. After a day of rest and orientation with the church leaders, we started our rural ministry.

The first leg was to the highlands, little villages nestled at the top of the Burji Mountain Range. A heavy-duty truck took us as far as the road could accommodate, then we hiked the rest of the way. Our party included about 10-15 people, including several church leaders, a cook, translators, and several porters. To our amazement, the porters carried in foam mattresses and bottled water for us.

The last missionaries were thrown out by the Marxist government of Ethiopia about 1975, and no missionaries have been back to Burji since then.  So our trip was of historic proportions to them. We spent 3 days hiking from village to village. At each church, the people greeted us with singing, dancing, flowers, decorated doorways, and traditional Ethiopian coffee. When we spent the night, they rigged up a privacy curtain in the corner of the church hall; everyone else slept out in the open with only leaves as their mattress, but we were in a “palace” with foam mattresses, sheets, and pillow, all hauled up on the backs or heads of carriers. In our entire trip, only 4 nights did we feel bedbugs and only one night did I feel rats on me, and we received almost no bites. And (can you believe it?) each church actually built a new out-house for us, all clean with a privacy curtain draped in the doorway, and the walls lined with giant leaves. We were truly treated like royalty.

We quickly established a pattern for our visits. Each visit included testing for eyeglasses, a flannelgraph lesson or two, recitations of memory verses by the children, drawing of portraits for those reciting, and formal presentations of the Bibles to the children who had successfully memorized all nine passages Scripture. The nine passages included Psalms 1 and 23, John 3:1-21 and 14:1-14, 1 Corinthians 13, Philippians 4:4-8, Ephesians 6:1-4, and 2 sections of James 1.

The verses were memorized well, and the entire congregation was absolutely silent during the recitations. If a child paused during a recitation for even a split second, other children quickly supplied the missing word. It was very gratifying to us to see how diligently the leaders and children had worked in this program. We brought 800 Bibles for the Burji District, and almost all of them were hand-delivered by us to the children. I wish you could have been there to witness the esteem and awe they showed over their Bibles – such joy and respect they evidenced! Many adults still do not have Bibles, so we told them that if they also learned these same passages, we would give them a Bible. We’re told that now about 3,000 people are memorizing.

 

Psalm 119: How precious is His Word!

The Shule village was the first church-school that my daddy established in the Burji District; it was a delight to work with Elias, the evangelist who as a child from Shule helped daddy in beginning this school. We also hiked to the first rural church in the highlands, established 50 years ago among pagan spirit-worshippers. Although the church is established, most people in this area still seek witch-doctors for their problems.

After a quick return to Soyama for refurbishing of supplies, we took successive trips in other directions to visit villages in entrenched Muslim areas. Islam entered the Burji tribe about 40 years ago. Some Burji people were moving to Kenya to help with the construction of roads in that country. Kenya is largely Muslim, and the Muslims refused to bury any non-Muslim Burji people who died while working in Kenya. So large groups of the Burji tribe in Ethiopia converted to Islam in order that their kinfolk would have a burial if they died in Kenya. The road-construction projects have ceased, but Islam is now deeply entrenched. Not only is it entrenched, it is aggressively resistant to the Christian witness (more about that in our next report).

In many of the villages we were able to show the Jesus Film. This was excellent experience in trouble-shooting and training the Ethiopians. One of my big concerns was my limited ability in technological things; our Lord foresaw this need and provided Fasil. “Fasiliye,” as I affectionately call him, is one of our Ethiopian sons, and he can do anything! What a blessing he was to me as he just took over all the challenges of running high-tech stuff in the midst of the African wilderness. At the village of Sego, we just could not get the film going (due to their generator cord), so a spontaneous worship service began, with Dave leading a children’s choir, making up music in their tribal tongue as they went along. Dave was learning tribal phrases, but he had to re-learn the phrases every few days. The language kept changing as we moved around!

We visited about 4 villages in the Burji valley, a very hot, dusty, “forsaken” stretch of land that is Muslim-dominated. The clinic in this region (which is the only medical service in the region) is serviced by one lone nurse. A medical team of 20 Americans is hoping to come in mid-February for two weeks to help out. Eye infections and malaria are the big diseases here, coupled with massive malnutrition and starvation.

A Muslim leader came to the church, having heard that we had eyeglasses. I tested him and gave him a pair, saying to him, “These glasses are given to you because of the love of Jesus. He knows you and He loves you. And every time you wear these glasses you will be reminded of His care for you.” Upon leaving, I’m told that someone overheard him remark, “I’ve never seen such love as in this place.” I don’t know what his name is, but if he comes to mind, please pray for his salvation. Those of you who have sent eyeglasses can know that your work was not in vain.

I had listed 9 specific prayer requests during this phase, each of which was answered perfectly. I have no words to describe the amazement that registered on the faces of these villagers as I told them that literally thousands of their brothers and sisters in America were praying for them. There is such comfort in prayer. We were told that our coming gave encouragement of monumental proportions. “It is amazing to us that you have joined in our life so eagerly. You’ve gone places even our own children don’t want to go! You have been eating and sleeping with us without hesitation. It is clear that you love us.” One lady told me, “When I’ve seen forengees (white-faced foreigners) before, I couldn’t touch them. But here you are, hugging me!” Only Christ and His love can bridge the huge gap in comfort and culture, and He did it in us largely because of your prayers. May He reward you according to your faithfulness, and bless you for your kindness to us in this regard.

Next Report: Bible Conference in Soyama

Ethiopia Report (Part 1)

January 26, 2006

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Chapter 7: Stateside Ministries

Becky Lynn Black  

I have always thought of ministry as anything of service to another. I praise God that I have never been handicapped by limiting this word to professional or official positions. The joy of my relationship to God has bounded forth in service of any kind to any person or even any animal or plant. To me, the whole of life has been ministry.

I praise God for giving me this perspective. I believe it is the biblical perspective of ministry. I do not serve a God that compartmentalizes ministry. There are no holy days and regular days; there are no holy songs and regular songs; there are no holy words and regular words; there are no holy relationships and regular relationships; there are no holy places and regular places.

All of life is holy because all of life is dedicated to the One who made life. I believe that this is the abundant life that Jesus promised to everyone who follows Him and it is a joy-filled life, even when it is difficult, even when it is stressful, even when it is strained.  It is full of joy because God is present in such a life and I praise Him that this is the life that I have known.

I learned early in life to serve others. My parents as young missionaries in Ethiopia were servers, and the whole feeling within the mission family was that of service. I remember clearly as a young child of 4-6-8 years of age having a sense that my life was not my own. There was a world bigger than me. There was a purpose higher than my comfort and issues. There was a program bigger than my desires. As a missionary child I learned early the joy of giving up or of abandoning my menu, my sleeping arrangements, my clothes, and my playtime for things that were more important.

What could be more important? The needs of other people and the realization of the kingdom of God within those people!

So, early in life, God impressed upon me that His great agenda for me was the needs of others and the role of God in the lives of others. When we returned from Ethiopia, my mother was essentially an invalid, crippled with smashed vertebrae. My first place of service was in helping her with my siblings. I say first, not as a rank of importance but as a rank of nearness. Such service was close at hand; such service could be rendered as I myself was going about the necessary functions of life. So, I tried my hardest to guide my siblings in the right way, in the way that honors God. I tried my best to facilitate the operations of the home.  I tried my best to fill her shoes. Aside from Christ, she was my model in servanthood, and a great model she was! Though she suffered severely from headaches, she did her best to nurture her children, to care for her husband, and to make our home a place of beauty and rest. I will forever be thankful to the Lord for my mother.

Teaching me the joy of service was a great gift she gave to me. When I was almost 11 we returned to Texas and my ministry took on a new aspect. When we lived in Ethiopia we had no formal church. Missionary families living on the compound met together for church service but there was no choir, Sunday school, AWANA, or children’s programs. Wednesday night was devoted to prayer only. We had no organ or piano, so our worship was very simple. We children were incorporated into the adult services.

But when we moved to Texas, our church life changed. We began attending Grace Bible Church in North Dallas, and for the first time in my life I was introduced to segregation within the church. Suddenly we had nursery, children’s services, choir, elders and deacons, youth director….all these divisions of activities. The unity of the body was somehow lost in all this fragmentation. To this day I enjoy being in small fellowships, without all these “modern,” “progressive” church structures.

The simplicity and beauty of the unity of Christ is a treasure. It is clear from Paul’s writings that there should be no divisions between us. To the extent that we are focused on the Gospel and living in the Spirit, we will enjoy the unity for which Christ prayed in John 17. So at age eleven I was introduced into this fragmentation, and though in my heart there was no fragmentation, in my function I had to fit in. Being the servant that she is, even in her sickness, my mother organized her daughters into places of service. The idea of unity of the body, and my mother’s guidance in service, found me helping at every opportunity in the children’s work, in Vacation Bible School, in special programs. It was just understood that, if a need existed, Becky Lynn Lapsley was going to be there helping, and I enjoyed helping. It was not drudgery to me. I enjoyed being with the family of God and I enjoyed pouring myself out for the needs of others, especially for the needs of the family of God. It truly gave me joy. As I traveled through the teen years, I joined Pioneer Girls and participated in the youth program, both of which invested in me. But I think I can say that my greatest joy was not when I was receiving but when I was giving. As a teen I used many of my gifts and abilities to help advance the message of God, the message that salvation is available to everyone who wants it, the message that God’s love is personal and He is faithful to those who walk with Him, the message that He is bigger than any trial.

God had gifted me with organizational skills and a visionary mind. He made me able to quickly size up a situation and to know if and what kind of intervention was needed. So I was often placed in leadership roles. I enjoyed teaching children, often using flannel graph.  I had several years of piano lessons and was quite advanced as a piano player, so at every opportunity I was the accompanist including Sunday school and choirs. I also had achieved Senior Lifeguard rank with the American Red Cross and used that skill as a life guard at the Christian camp of Pine Cove in Tyler, Texas. So God had gifted me naturally and by education to serve. Without that service the giftedness and education amounted to nothing! 

To this day I ask myself, “How can I help?” What has God put in my hand for this situation? Just as God met Moses in the desert, so he meets me daily. Moses had been appointed to lead the children of Israel out of Egypt. He has been appointed to go against the highest power on earth. He had been appointed to leave his few sheep and goats and to go to millions of Israelites. Instead of leading his small group of insignificant animals from watering hole to watering hole, God told him to lead the chosen people under his direction through the vast Saudi Arabian desert, to the Promised Land.

Apart from Jesus Christ I do not think any human being has been given a greater assignment. Is it any wonder that Moses doubted his ability to serve God in this way? Those doubts have come to all of us. It is the human nature to suddenly feel inadequate when faced with a great work that God has ordained. I remember Isaiah’s response to God when he saw the Lord high and lifted up. He said, “Woe is me! I am undone. I am a man of unclean lips and I dwell in the midst of a generation with unclean lips!” And then a messenger flew to him and touched his lips with a live coal. In that simple exercise he symbolically cleansed Isaiah. The mouth issues forth what is in the heart. From the mouth we see the insides of a man, and when it issues forth ugliness, we know that the entire man is ugly. But the message of God can cleanse us, our whole being, so that we are ready for service. After Isaiah was cleansed, God asked, “Who will go for us?” (meaning “us the trinity of God”). Having been cleansed, Isaiah readily volunteered. “Here am I, cleansed by your Spirit, empowered by your Spirit, send me Lord, send me!”

Hundreds of years before Isaiah, Moses had a similar encounter with God. He was overcome with his inability. He said “Woe is me, I am only a human and I am a criminal human. I am only fit to live with sheep and goats. How can You choose me for this great task?” Then God asked Moses a question that He has often asked me. He said to Moses, “What is in your hand?” What do you have control over Moses? Moses replied, “A stick. A simple stick.” But a stick in the hand of a shepherd is very powerful. It guides the sheep.  It protects the sheep.  It helps the sheep. Moses knew how to use a stick on the human plain as a shepherd. God said to him, “Throw down the stick.”

Then Moses did something that changed the whole situation. Moses obeyed. He didn’t discuss with God why he should throw down the stick; he didn’t debate with God that he had just cleaned the stick and didn’t want it to get dirty; he didn’t argue with God that he needed the stick for other things; he didn’t turn away from God in disgust that he had better things to do.

No, to Moses’ great credit, he simply obeyed. He threw down the stick. And in throwing down the stick he surrendered everything that was precious to him, because a shepherd without a stick is utterly worthless as a shepherd. There is no way he could perform his responsibilities without that stick. When Moses threw down the stick, he thereby surrendered his whole identity to God. And at that moment Moses saw the power of God in that stick. It was transformed into something living, breathing, and powerful. At that moment Moses saw what God could do if his identity was surrendered to God. God told him to pick up the stick, and Moses reached with courage to touch the power of God and for the rest of his days Moses was a new man.

Each one of us must throw down our stick, each one of us must surrender all that is precious to us – our money, our health, our time, our spouse, our children, our careers, our abilities, our bloodlines, our possessions. Everything must be surrendered if we are to know the power of God. After we have the power of God infuse those things, then we too are able to do tasks as great as Moses. I praise God that early in my life He taught me instant obedience in throwing down my stick and the courage to pick it up again, infused with God’s power.

My dear friend, perhaps you are wishing that your experience was like mine and like Moses and like Isaiah’s. I want to say to you that God is not willing that any should perish. Jesus came to make abundant life available to every person. He has no prejudice; His heart is as open to you as it is to me, and Moses and Isaiah. He has already said to you, “Throw down your stick.” He is waiting for your obedience. Will you, dear friend, throw down your stick and watch the power of God move through your abilities and your education and your money to accomplish something great for Him?

Getting back to my life story, one of the great blessings that my grandmother and mother gave to me was participation in Bible Memory Association (BMA). This was a Bible memory program that ran from September to April. Every week we memorized a chapter in a book along a special theme. Some books were the Message of John, or Fruits of the Spirit, or Praise and Worship. Each week we memorized about ten verses and recited them on Sunday afternoons to my grandmother. Every few weeks BMA sent us an award that we got to choose. Almost always I chose things that would help my spiritual growth. So I chose the commentary on Hebrews by F. F. Bruce, or plaques with Scripture that I could put in my room. I mention this only to say that God created a hunger in me to know Him, and by God’s grace the world’s system had little appeal to me. Those who completed all the memory verses in a book qualified to go to BMA camp. There were several camps around the country; the one we went to was in Ringgold, Louisiana. I loved this camp. I went year after year from age 12 to age 18. In the early years I was a camper; in the latter years I was a camper and also a youth assistant called “White Feet.”

The camp had a small lake. On one side were the boys’ cabins, on the other side were the girls’ cabins, and at the end (where the dam was) was the central area for activities. Our day always started with morning devotions by the lake. We sat on hard benches in the midst of God’s creation listening to devotionals. Then we went to breakfast. We ate family style. I remember a black lady singing “Were you there” at the first meal of any camp. What a blessing she was to me!  After singing her song she returned to the kitchen to cook our meals.

After breakfast we broke into small groups with other campers who had memorized the same book. We sat on covered picnic tables scattered around the property. We had an adult teacher, and we went through the book with lessons about the meaning of the verses. After our morning sessions of the picnic table Bible classes we had lunch, again family style, and in the afternoon we had free time. Free time was swimming, horseback riding, archery, canoeing, hiking, or sleeping.

The dress code of the camp was very different from today’s camps. Boys and girls swam at different times. Girls wore conservative clothes (none of the immodest showing of cleavage, belly, and buttock that is so prevalent in today’s “Christian” events.)  At BMA camp, consideration was given to the spiritual welfare of the opposite sex. After supper, we had a camp-wide service. A national speaker came for the week. This was where I first met Dr. Feinberg (a great national preacher and Jewish convert of the 1960s). After the evening service we returned to our cabins for time with our counselors.

I would like to share with you three of my special memories of BMA camp. As a youth assistant I attended camp to serve. I was assigned a cabin to assist a counselor with the campers. During the day when the campers had their Bible instruction and play time, I was assigned work. My work, of course, was done free of charge, and I remember the ladies in charge of my work, Mrs. Mame Fix in particular. One of my jobs was to iron shirts for all the men, the White Feet (youth assistants), and the workers. She gave me specific instructions on how she wanted these shirts ironed, and she taught me that when I finished ironing I should not button all the buttons but only close the top and the bottom buttons, because this held the shirt in place in the closet but did not create an unnecessary burden to remove. To this day I iron Dave’s shirts as Miss Mame taught me! I am sure that when my husband gets to heaven he will thank her.

Another important memory that I have of BMA camp is my first boyfriend. He was 21 and I was 16. He wanted to be a missionary in South America and he was attending Mid-South Bible College. His plan was to get his pilot’s license and serve as a missionary pilot. There is no doubt in my mind that Jon loved me with a godly, manly love. But I was too young to understand all the dynamics of a man/woman relationship. By the grace of God, He put Jon in Memphis and me in Dallas. So our relationship was mostly by mail.  I can honestly say that I had no emotional attachment to Jon, though Jon had an attachment to me. And he envisioned our marriage. However, when I went to California for nursing school our ways parted and he met his future bride and three years later I met my future husband. Jon and his bride made it to South America as they had planned, and God eventually took me to Ethiopia ministry as I had hoped.

The greatest gift God gave me through BMA camp was this: He taught me the role of the Holy Spirit and He allowed me to experience what it means to live by the Spirit. In case you are not familiar with this, let me explain what I mean. I am not talking about some wild, out-of-control movements of the body and tongue. The Scriptures say that the fruit (singular) of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, goodness, meekness, faith, gentleness, and self-control. And it states clearly that against such there is no law, meaning that the Spirit-filled life is the ultimate fulfillment of all religious law.

A Spirit-filled life is one in which the Holy Spirit (who indwells every believer from the moment of their salvation) takes the word of God to comfort, to convict, and to direct the believer in issues of everyday life. So the moment I tend toward anger, the Spirit steps in to my consciousness and stops me. The instant I meet a person He intends for me to serve, the Spirit steps into my consciousness and the Spirit creates in me the thought and desire to serve. The second that my thoughts wander from things that are holy and acceptable in His sight, the Spirit steps into my consciousness and reprimands me. It is a wonderful way to live with God. The word of God written from Genesis to Revelation comes alive in the hand of the Spirit as He applies it to the minute by minute issues of daily living. What a joyful way to live with God! It is a way that is free of worry. I no longer bear the responsibility of trying to figure out what God wants of me. I simply rely upon the Spirit to do His job and show me. I no longer struggle with guilt that was birthed in my own issues of self righteousness; instead I trust the sweet voice of the Spirit whose whole purpose is reconciliation (not punishment). I no longer beat myself up doing this good deed, and that good deed, and the other good deed, trying to figure out if I have done enough good deeds. Instead I allow the Holy Spirit to bear the responsibility of instructing me in which good deed God has before-ordained (Eph. 2:10).

I think living in the power of the Holy Spirit is similar to being a passenger in a car. When I get in the car with my husband and he takes the steering wheel, there is only one thing I have to decide. And that one thing is this: Will I get in the car and thereby surrender to his driving or, will I get out and try to find my own transportation? When I surrender to my husband I do not tell him how fast to drive, what route to take, what gear to use, what road obstacles to avoid. Instead, I sit in the passenger seat. If he goes 60 mph I go 60 mph, if he is in second shift, I am in second shift, if he is passing a car, I am passing a car. If he is pulling off the freeway, I am pulling off the freeway. There is only one decision I need to make and that is to get in the car and let him be the driver.

At any time I want to bail out as a passenger, my husband will plead with me about the purpose of our trip. He will reason with me according to logistics of travel. He would appeal to me on the basis of our relationship as husband and wife. But if I in my stubbornness decide to bail out, then, to prevent me from being hurt, my husband will slam on the breaks and pull to the side so that I can exit safely. And at that point a wall of great sorrow will fall between us. My husband is now greatly torn. Should he abandon me to my own stubborn will or should he continue to plead with me and reason with me to get back in to the car?

My dear brothers and sisters, it is the way of joy to be in the car with the Holy Spirit. It is the way of love. It is the way of power. It is the way of victory. It is the way of peace. And when we get out of the car, we are buffeted by the storms of life. We are victims of the abuse of others and we drown in our own sorrow and weaknesses. The Holy Spirit of God is a gift to each of us. He indwells each of us who has embraced Christ as our Savior, but He will not rule us as a dictator. Just as Christ did not force us to accept Him as Savior, the one and only Savior, so the Holy Spirit does not force us to accept Him as the Driver of our lives. In my life there have been times when I have not agreed with the route the Spirit has taken, I have had a gigantic pity party, I have not listened to His reasoning, I have not listened to his appeals to trust Him, and I have jumped out of the car. The inevitable storms that came when I removed myself from His protection wounded not only me but all those associated with me. I praise the Lord that the blood of Christ is stronger than my stupidity and my stubbornness, and by His grace I can still wear the robe of His righteousness.  I bear no guilt for those times when I was outside the car.

When I left for Biola College in 1971, my service (ministry) changed. Biola College was a Christian liberal arts college, and part of the curriculum was a mandatory Christian service assignment each semester. Like all students, I faithfully completed this service, but my real heart was in preparing for the mission field. In the summer of 1973 I was accepted for Practical Missionary Training (PMT) with the Central American Mission. This was an eight week program of introducing college students to various aspects of the mission field. There were 40 of us divided into two teams. In addition to generalized exposure, the activities of the teams were tailored to individual students. So our team was exposed to medical missions, radio missions, jungle missions, and Bible education mission, in addition to living and serving in another culture.

My team served in Mexico and Guatemala. Our first exposure to mission living dealt with food adjustment. For three days and nights we ate nothing but peanut butter sandwiches on the train traveling from the Texas border to Mexico City. For the next eight weeks we ate mostly refried beans and rice, breakfast, lunch, and supper. There was one exception to this: after jungle camp (where we spent a week eking out an existence in the raw jungle) we hiked out of the jungle to a meal of hamburgers and hot dogs. We thought for sure we had died and gone to heaven! I learned then that though food is made basically to serve the needs of the body, there is a definite emotional/psychological side to what is put on the table. I have often thought of the lesson learned from the jungle as I have prepared food for my own family and guests.

As I shared in chapter 3 (“Early Marriage”), I was gearing everything in my life to a lifetime in the rural areas of Ethiopia as missionary nurse. However, while I was in college King Haile Selassie was overthrown in a coup backed by the Soviet Communists. This marked a major change in mission work done in Ethiopia. Obviously, under communist dogma, anything of a religious nature and especially a Christian nature was expelled.  For 15 years the believers in Ethiopia saw their churches closed, their pastors imprisoned, and their schools confiscated. This was a time of great trouble, but it was also a time of great growth in the Ethiopian church. The missionaries were essentially all evicted from the country; only a skeletal staff remained in the country. Though we ourselves had been gone from the country since 1964, Dr. McClenny (my uncle) remained in the country with his wife to run the lepersarium in the town of Sheshamanee. The Communists put him under house arrest in order to retain his skills as a physician; however, they did not give him the supplies he needed to help people. After much stress the Ethiopian church got him out of Ethiopia. They traveled by night and slept in private homes by day. He escaped through Kenya and returned to the U.S. I know of other stories where missionaries were saved from Communist regime leaders who had no respect for the missionaries, their home countries, nor the God they served.

In the fall of 1973 God appointed my marriage to David Alan Black. At that minute I knew that pursuit of missionary life in Ethiopia was no longer my primary goal. People have asked me if this shift was in some way a failure, as if to say that mission life was a higher calling and more sanctified than life as a wife. My response to them is this: God never told me to be a missionary to Ethiopia; that was my personal desire. Ethiopia was my home, I loved the people, and I wanted to help them. But when God said to me, “There is your husband,” He was giving me a direct command. How could I forsake His command in favor of my feelings for my homeland? When I graduated in 1976 and took my marriage vows, though I loved Ethiopia and she was always in my heart, my ministry focus was now upon serving my husband as his God-appointed helper. As such, keeping my home neat, tending to nutritional needs, managing the household budget, working outside the home, tending to the children, the way in which I dressed, everything was an act of service to my husband under the appointment of God. I never saw my marriage as a negotiated arrangement. I certainly was equal in value to Dave, both of us standing on equal ground at the foot of the cross. But my function in service to the Lord was to facilitate the ministry God had appointed to my husband. As such, his need became my focus. Much of that need centered on my ability to provide income for our living expenses and also for his education. So, working outside the home was extension of my marriage commitment.

Another way in which I served my husband was in facilitating our home education of the boys. Another way was in bringing to his classes and his students that special touch that only a wife can bring. Throughout our 37 years I have often baked cookies and cakes to encourage his students on exam day. Every semester that Dave has taught, with rare exception, we have opened out home to students. These students could bring their roommate, spouse, parents, anyone they wanted. In California, we often had 100-150 students come for the day. I learned that my hostess capacity was 85; after 85 I needed help! In California we called it a Roots Potluck. We asked the students to bring food that was reflective of their ethnic background. What a joy it was to watch American black students in shorts and flip flops serving soul food next to Korean students in three piece suits serving artistic Korean specialties and scattered along the table were the everyday American things like pizza and fried chicken. Those days were a bit of heaven as I marveled at the diversity that makes up the church of God. When we moved to North Carolina, the scene changed dramatically. Gone was the ethnic diversity, the food was boring casserole, casserole, casserole. Praise God that in the last few years we now have Mexican food, African American food, and Korean food covering our tables.

In addition to these ministries to Dave’s students, I also began to serve as Mama and mentor to assorted students, and though I did not feel qualified I was happy to serve them, my husband, and the Lord in this way. Aside from my ministry to my husband, my service to my patients and my clients was very real to me. Each day when I went to work at the hospital I anticipated serving my patients, the doctors, my fellow nurses, and hospital staff as the hands and feet of Jesus. It is by His grace that many felt “safe” to discuss spiritual things with me in the wee hours of the night or in the privacy of a patient’s room. Often I was assigned the patients that were dying. With my financial clients I pledged before the Lord never in any way to allow financial incentives to drive my client recommendations. This was a covenant between me and God, because I was there as His servant to help these people in their financial distress. Another area of service was to my children; you can read more of this in Chapters 5 (“Children”) and Chapter 8 (“Lies, Lies, Lies”).

A final area of service and possibly the least significant was my role in our local churches. Over the years, I served as Sunday School programs director, deaconess, pianist and organist, Choir member, VBS teacher, AWANA worker, etc. It was in the Choir of Granada Heights Friends Church in La Mirada, California under Warren Ediger that I first learned to sing not only with my voice but also with my heart and mind. The issue of excellence in service, bringing the whole person into the service, was emphasized. And so I learned how to sing well with my body, how to meditate on the music with my mind, and how to attune my heart throb to the message. I thank God for the years I spent in that choir. At College Church in La Mirada, California, we had a fantastic Bible school teacher; he was extremely systematic in teaching the flock, Sunday morning, Sunday night, and Wednesday evening. It took him years to go through a book of the Bible but I can tell you it was very profitable. God put upon my heart to create a tape library of the sermons. I created a system of cataloging of checking out the tapes and a ministry of shut-ins that someone told me was the equivalent of doctoral work. Today that collection of tapes is still in the possession of the church now called First Baptist Church of La Mirada.

There have been three highlights to my service in these later years of my life. The first is the joy of mentoring so many young wonderful ladies and even men. I never in my wildest dreams expected God to give me such a joy and privilege. He has sent me young women, middle aged women, and even a few older women who are seeking the Lord and want to experience Him in their life. It is pure joy to share with them truths about Him that I have learned and watch them implement those same truths in their lives. I have no words to describe the joy this has brought to me. The second ministry in my later years has been the ministry of retreat. I have always had a heart of hospitality to have people in my home in order to “mother” them. I like to shelter them in life’s storms, I like to create for them a safe place where we can laugh together, cry together, and search through life issues together. In the 1970s Dr. Francis Schaefer and his wife Edith established a place of retreat in L’Abri. Edith Schaefer has written books about her role in that ministry. People came from all over the world to discuss the place of God and the Scriptures in their life situations. She sort of became my model for that hospitality ministry. She quietly attended to creating a nurturing environment, and then she allowed the Holy Spirit to do His work using whatever means He wanted. When we purchased our farm in Virginia in 2001, one of the primary purposes for the purchase was to create a place to retreat for those who needed it. Here we have 123 acres of woods and meadows, of creeks and wildlife, and of domesticate animals. In our home at Bradford Hall, we have two guest room suites, we have camping areas, and we have recently completed an 1810 Farmhouse called Maple Ridge. The whole farm belongs to our Lord Jesus, and we desire to serve Him through this ministry of hospitality and retreat.

September 30, 2013

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