restoring our biblical and constitutional foundations

Government Plays the National Security Card—Again

 David Alan Black

The dominant factor behind the current political situation in America is the logic of the totalitarian state. Day by day our leading politicians proclaim this doctrine. It is capturing the realm of law: jurists are being taught that the people’s necessities are the only source of legal right—“Recht ist was dem Volke dient”— “Right is what serves the people” (as it was phrased in 1930s Germany). The federal government is currently focused on displacing the Constitution. The movement for local self-government has given way to the federalization of life, including local police forces under the USA Patriot Act. This has been done, thanks largely to the fiery zeal of one John Ashcroft, a professing Christian. In truth, a more uncompromising defiance vis-à-vis the Bill of Rights could scarcely be imagined.

All these decisions are, in a sense, religious. On the left is the definitely non-Christian force that exalts the god of secularism and it alone; but, allied with this in practice though not in principle, is the so-called conservative right comprised of those who either equate the totalitarian and the evangelical creeds or who seek to prove them to be compatible with each other. Some of them would even connect the spirit of unquestioning national allegiance to the bearing of the cross of Christ. In reality, their desire is to preserve only a modicum of the evangelical tradition and to overthrow its classical confessional expressions.

For example, in a recent column entitled “Thank You, Tony Blair,” Cal Thomas wrote, “Why does it take an outsider to remind us of the real issues? It isn’t about the next election. It is about the survival of the United States and our way of life, because what we now face is far more dangerous and lethal than communism ever was. The theological dictators of the world who think they do their angry god a favor by killing “infidels” are serious. Too many think the terrorists don’t really mean it and can be placated by tossing them Israel, hoping they won’t demand more. They will settle for nothing less than our head on a platter.”

Cal Thomas identifies himself as a Bible-believing Christian, and he is one of the most widely read conservative columnists in America. I admire Cal Thomas, but his view on “theological dictators” is nothing but secular twaddle, as Christopher Manion noted in Lew Rockwell’s Blog:

… not only does he [Thomas] damn the Husseins to hell (a decision most Christians are very willing to leave to God’s own justice, thank you), he also judges the hearts of any and all Moslems who will not accept U.S. government military overlords. They are false, and only interested in power themselves, that’s all. No room for liberty, personal conviction, or even “Moslem protestantism” there.

At least Thomas is less than deft at hiding his gnostic conversion. He lets the cat out of the bag, forever rejecting the possibility of reconciliation in Iraq short of a total secularization of their culture – American style. This is not Christian, it is idolatry – the worshipping the false god of the American state, and the demonization, then the damning, of all those who refuse to bend the knee.

It is against this menacing multitude that the modern-day Black Robe Brigade has taken its stand. To be sure, the outlook is complex and most disquieting. To measure the forces that give ground for any optimism is certainly beyond my power. But it is at least clear that the totalitarian dogma is confronted with the certainty of resolute resistance from a growing body of conviction represented in numerous websites and institutions.

Still, do American Christians realize the urgency of the matter and the need for new measures to be taken? The influence of present-day education on the young, without the help of the church, has proven disastrous. More importantly, the new conservatism is not really open to brooking any other point of view on the state, and therefore the real danger is of a church that puts a religious complexion on the national party and says “Ditto,” in religious language, to the heresy of statism.

I am reminded of a curious story that is told about pastor Niemöller and von Ribbentrop. Von Ribbentrop was in Niemöller’s parish in Dahlem. He was not much of a churchman, but his children had been christened by Niemöller. In 1933 he wanted his youngest girl christened and asked Niemöller over to tea with himself and his wife. They discussed matters in a friendly way until von Ribbentrop proudly said that “in that chair” (pointing to a nearby chair) Hitler sat when it was decided that he should become Chancellor. Niemöller braced himself and assumed an attitude of reserve. Then Frau von Ribbentrop said something about the German Christians. They both noticed that Niemöller’s reserve became all the stronger and that there was now an atmosphere of hostility. They didn’t understand it. They made proposals for the baptism of their child, subject to a convenient date. Niemöller left, and they tried several times, a day or two later, to fix a date on the telephone but could never get hold of Niemöller personally. Niemöller did not make any appointment for the baptism so the baptism lapsed. This deeply affected von Ribbentrop’s feelings toward Niemöller. He obviously looked upon Niemöller as an opponent of National Socialism and Hitler.

In the Third Reich, the national security card was played by Hitler with great finesse. He said repeatedly that the fundamental thing was to save the nation. If there was no nation there would be no church. Hence there had to be some ultimate direction of church affairs that was acceptable to Hitler himself. And it wasn’t long before the church bowed to the pressure.

It is becoming clearer and clearer that the policy of Washington is based on a similar commitment to “national security.” I am anxiously watching the situation and am prepared to offer any encouragement I can to those who are striving to preserve orthodox Christian beliefs and to protect our constitutional freedoms. It would be difficulty to exaggerate the seriousness of the challenges facing the church today. Prophesies are always dangerous, but it is plain that among a number of Christian leaders and lay people there is a profound feeling that what is at stake is not only the church as an organization but its faith and mission, and because of this they are preparing to join themselves together to do whatever may be necessary.

July 26, 2003

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

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Got Any Splanchna?

 David Alan Black 

Within the kaleidoscope of my youthful memories is the image of a handicapped pastor. His stroke had left him limping and speaking with a slur. In the place of what was once freshness and vigor was weakness and care. I cannot remember a single sermon of his but I shall never forget the love and compassion he showed a young man groping his way through middle school.

Chrysostom once said that heat makes all things expand and that the warmth of love will always expand a man’s heart. A similar thought may have been in Paul’s mind when he wrote to the Philippians. “I long for all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus,” he told them (Phil. 1:8). Our English translations have masked the underlying Greek in an unfortunate way. The word that is rendered “affection” is the Greek noun splanchna. In ancient Greek splanchna generally referred to the upper viscera – the heart, liver, and lungs. The seat of a person’s emotions was supposed to lie in these organs, much as today we say that we love someone with our “heart.” Paul is here making a great and wonderful claim. There is nothing shallow or insincere about his affection for the Philippians. His love comes from his inward parts, from the deepest level of his emotions. Nor is there anything self-actuated about Paul’s affection. The love that he embraces for others is actually the love of Jesus Himself who lives within him. 

It was Paul’s proud claim that he loved the Philippians with the genuine compassion of Christ. Elsewhere the Bible says that God has poured out His love into our hearts by His Spirit. The source of Paul’s affection lay in his compete yieldedness to that Spirit and in his exaltation of the person of Christ. I wonder how much – or how little – we emulate Paul in this regard. Speaking personally, this is the most important lesson I’ve had to learn in life – to put the cares and needs of others above my own. No one can read the New Testament without realizing that what binds Christians together is love. As someone has put it, the perfect tense of “to live” is “to love.” The danger that threatened the Philippian church, and the danger that threatens many of our churches today, is to forget this fact.

We must not mistake genuine love for the empty compliments and plaudits that are callously tossed about in human relationships. Thackeray, towards the end of his life, prayed that he “might never write a word inconsistent with the love of God, or the love of man, that he might never propagate his own prejudices or pander to those of others, that he might always speak the truth with his pen, and that he might never be actuated by the love of greed.” I have met several people who have had this Christ-like love. They come in all ages and from all sorts of backgrounds. No two look alike. But you know them when you see them. They are never impatient or tart with you. Their lives are characterized by acts of devotion, service, and sacrifice. They make you think of Jesus. Somehow you feel that you have understood a little more of what it was like to be in the presence of Christ when He was on earth.

“I deeply love you,” Paul informed the Philippians, and he meant it. He strove to bring every thought, deed, and emotion captive to Christ. To love the Lord Jesus Christ is to have and keep His commandments (John 14:21). And His greatest commandment is that we love one another as He loved us. How lightly we regard those commandments today and act as though they were purely optional. Not so with Paul.

It is sadly possible to have a loyalty to the Body of Christ from which the flaming love for the selfsame Body has gone out. It is still loyalty but it is loyalty to a principle rather than to people. A marriage may go through the motions of faithfulness, but the affection has long since departed. A similar sad state can exist in our union with our fellow believers.

If we say we love God and do not love our brethren, we are liars. If that is the case, we are still in need of learning one of life’s greatest lessons. And if you are a pastor/elder, before you teach your people (Eph. 4:11) you must seek to love them. Let your motto be Eph. 4:1-3:

I, therefore, a prisoner in the Lord, encourage you to live in a way that is worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, along with patience, bearing with one another in love and doing your very best to maintain the unity of the Spirit by means of the bond of peace.

May 25, 2006

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

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The Gospel of Hospitality

 David Alan Black 

In our various spheres of life we ought to know why we are here. I have lived out the Book of Ecclesiastes long enough to realize that the pursuits of life “under the sun” – the acquisition of material wealth, physical pleasures, and intellectual accomplishments – are nothing but “vanity, vanity.”

My pilgrimage has led me to place a higher premium on heaven’s priorities than on ephemeral, earthly attainments. Malcolm Muggeridge spoke truthfully when he said:

I may, I suppose, regard myself or pass for being a relatively successful man. People occasionally stare at me in the streets – that’s fame. I can fairly easily earn enough to qualify for admission to the higher slopes of the Internal Revenue – that’s success. Furnished with money and a little fame even the elderly, if they care to, may partake of trendy diversions – that’s pleasure. It might happen once in a while that something I said or wrote was sufficiently heeded for me to persuade myself that it represented a serious impact on our time – that’s fulfillment. Yet I say to you – and I beg you to believe me – multiply these tiny triumphs by a million, add them all together, and they are nothing – less than nothing, a positive impediment – measured against one draught of that living water Christ offers to the spiritually thirsty, irrespective of who are what they are.

Whatever should remain of my earthly existence, I have decided to invest it in heavenly realities. In The Great Good Place, Ray Oldenburg notes three elements that are needed for a healthy society: family, work, and a “third place.” For me, that third place involves (though it is not limited to) the path of hospitality. Romans 12:13 says believers are to “contribute to the needs of the saints” and “pursue hospitality.” Paul’s language implies a habit or pattern of life, not an occasional activity. It also emphasizes the effort and cost of showing hospitality – we are to “pursue” it. The idea is that costly hospitality is something to be practiced at all times, not just during holidays or when it is convenient. Our homes should exist not just to meet our own needs; they should be constantly ready for hospitality – an eagerness to welcome people who don’t ordinarily live there. Peter says we are to “practice hospitality ungrudgingly to one another” (1 Pet. 4:9), while Job puts it this way: “I have [willingly, graciously] opened my doors to the wayfarer” (Job 31:32).

Perhaps we could call this The Gospel of Hospitality – “Gospel” in that it is based on the cross of Christ. This Gospel of Hospitality invites people to come with their hopes and failures and questions to a place where they will be unconditionally accepted and, over time, brought to an understanding of their failings and God’s forgiveness. It is a place of refuge for the weary traveler. It welcomes the stranger, the neighbor, the pilgrim. Our only motivation is the fact that, being ourselves recipients of God’s hospitality that made us members of His household, we now have the joy of becoming conduits of His hospitality to others.

It is natural for us, in our busy schedules, to neglect hospitality. That’s why Hebrews 13:1-2 says we should “let brotherly love continue,” being careful not to neglect “to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.” God is pleased when we open our homes and hearts to others in this way.

My wife and I have pursued several hospitality strategies, such as:

• 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.

Like Francis and Edith Schaeffer, my wife and I have discovered the simple act of receiving guests to be an increasingly important part of our life together. We even designed the physical architecture of our new home to enable hospitality. Our concept of “retreat” has no programs or scheduled activities. We simply desire to provide an atmosphere that will simulate spiritual growth. We delight in welcoming people into our home, and I have no doubt that we have “entertained angels unawares.”

There are far too many inhospitable homes in our communities. Stand in many a pulpit today and call for a return to biblical hospitality and people will resent it because it may require a change of priorities. Elders and deacons are required to show hospitality, but there is no double standard with God. What is good for elders and deacons is good for all Christians.

In a day when stopping for hitchhikers is risky and befriending foreigners unheard of, God says: “Don’t forget to entertain strangers.” And these “strangers” are often closer than we think – children with special needs, abused women, grieving widows or widowers, foreign workers, international students, pregnant teenagers, elderly neighbors. Jesus doesn’t expect us to do everything. But even if we can’t end homelessness we can take in one stranger. Even if we can’t heal the sick we can visit them. Even if we can’t empty the prisons we can visit a prisoner.

May I encourage you to make room in your life for The Gospel of Hospitality? Hospitality is not easy. It goes against the grain of our contemporary values. It involves hard work, planning, and efficiency. And it can be inconvenient. But it will not occur in our lives until we make it a deliberate priority. Like any other quality, we must develop a generous spirit.

Are we salting the neighborhood, or is the neighborhood stealing our savor so that we are good for nothing but to be cast out and trodden under the feet of men?

January 11, 2005

David Alan Black is the editor of www.daveblackonline.com. He is the author of Why I Stopped Listening to Rush and numerous other books.

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The Gospel Is Not a Sales Pitch

 David Alan Black  

On my recent trip to the Middle East I was once asked, “Which religion are you?” I answered, “I don’t have a religion.” The inquirer was shocked. His is a very religious nation. “Why don’t you have a religion?” he asked me. “Oh, it’s because of my relationship with Jesus Christ.”

This is what I’ve begun doing wherever I go in the world. Whenever anyone sincerely asks, I gently and respectfully answer with this truth. The principle here is that Christians should be more than believers. We should be followers. Our privilege is to say with Paul, “For to me to live is Christ.” For the New Testament Christians, Christianity was not a sales pitch. They had no carefully worked-out gimmick that would manipulate an on-the-spot decision to “get somebody saved.” For them, witnessing was a spontaneous enthusiasm for the most important Person who ever lived.

The first century Christians were followers of Jesus. They were in love with Him. They were filled with His Spirit. Because they were close to Him, His fruit was evident in their lives. Peter tells us that as we bear fruit by doing good to others, it will attract their attention and they will want to know why we’re living the way we are (1 Pet. 3:14-15). It is then that we can speak up and tell them — “always with the utmost courtesy” (The Message). When this happens, God has placed the opportunity in our laps to share the Good News of the Gospel gently and respectfully.

This message will be the gist of my breakout session at the upcoming9 Marks conference on our campus in September. Christianity is not theology. It’s a Person. Our sound theology is important, vitally important, but it doesn’t save us. Jesus Christ saves. The goal of our instruction is love. Oswald Chambers said, “This abandon to the love of Christ is the one thing that bears fruit in the life, and it will always leave the impression of the holiness and the power of God, never of our personal holiness” (Our Utmost, Feb. 4). Our fruit, not out theological acumen, is the evidence of our journey to the heart of God.

I urge us all, this very day, to be kingdom subjects. Live generously and graciously toward others, just as God lives toward us. Let our enemies bring out the best in us, not the worst. For it is our vibrant love for one another that is a living testimony to the world that we are Christ’s disciples.

August 18, 2010

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

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GOP, 2012: The Infinite Tent Republicans

Kent D. Berdahl

With the campaign season coming into the home stretch, Republican presidential nominee Jeb Bush of Florida today welcomed the endorsement of the GOP’s latest activist group, the Log Playpen Republicans (LPR).  When asked if he thought his acceptance of the pro-pedastry group’s support would cost him the support of conservatives in the party, Bush responded, “We welcome the support of all Americans, regardless of their chosen lifestyle.”

At a press conference at the group’s Washington D. C. headquarters, The Log Playpen Republican’s Chairman Terry Sodomer (sporting a button reading “Proud Pachyderm Pedophile”), stated, “Just because we like to rape and molest little kids, er…umm… I mean… that is, have consensual, mutually and psychologically beneficial intimate inter-generational relationships with pre-adults, doesn’t mean that we’re bad people or that we can’t be good Republicans. Or Democrats, for that matter;  as if there’s a difference. All we’re asking for is a little tolerance and equality. Besides, every one knows that it’s in the Constitution. Or at least it should be.”

Also today, taking issue with a reporter’s insinuation that the Republican and Democratic parties were becoming virtually indistinguishable in terms of social and economic policy, incumbent President Clinton stated “While it’s true that the Republicans have become significantly more progressive since my husband, Bill, was president, they still have a ways to go to catch up to us. For example, our campaign is flying out to San Francisco tomorrow to help launch the new ‘Cannibals for Hillary’ group.  I mean, do the Republicans have anyone from the Human Protein Recycling Movement supporting them? Of course they don’t.  Also, the word ‘Republican’ has ten letters, whereas the word ‘Democrat’ has only eight.  Alphabetically and numerically speaking, that’s a huge difference between the two parties. Really, it is.”

President of the National Association of Evangelicals, Rev. Alfonse Gellyspine said, “Oh, you know us Evangelicals. We’ll probably just vote for whomever the Republicans tell us to vote. Heaven forbid that we should ever apply some Biblical, critical thinking to the situation. It’s just so much easier not to have to think about it at all. Anyway, I’m too busy working on my new seeker-sensitive sermon entitled ‘Just Because You’re a Crazed, Murderous, Anti-Christ, Moslem Fanatic Doesn’t Mean You Can’t Serve on Our Board of Deacons’. Our congregation likes to think of itself as inclusive and open to diverse theological perspectives.  Say, who are the Yankees playing this afternoon?”

RNC head and retired Pennsylvania Senator Arlan Spector (who spearheaded the successful drive to remove all pro-life language from the GOP’s platform in 2010, after gaining both re-election and influence within the party as a result of strong campaign support from then President G. W. Bush in 2004) was dismissive of the threat posed by the potential defection of conservatives from the ranks of the GOP.  “Who else are they going to vote for? Those right-wing religious fanatics in the Constitution Party? Give me a break!” 

There is little love lost between the Republicans and Constitution Party (CP), since many mainstream Republicans blame their 2008 defeat to President Hillary Clinton on the nascent upstart conservative party’s garnering of a mere 3.5- of the popular vote.

This time around, however, many analysts and pollsters are predicting that the CP’s presidential nominee Michael Peroutka may pose more than just a token threat:  a recent Zogby poll showed a full 23.7- of likely voters supporting Peroutka.  If Green Party candidate Dennis Kucinich continues to hold on to his current level of 18–  (presumably, with most of those votes being siphoned from President Clinton’s base) Peroutka will be well within striking distance of  a  25-27- winning plurality.

Additionally, it appears that the CP is gaining from large numbers of blue-collar union workers defecting from the Democrats as a result of that party’s support of NAFTA and President Clinton’s “Border Diversity”  executive order (which essentially abolished the Immigration and Naturalization Service, as well as the nation’s borders) allowing literally  unlimited numbers of immigrants into the U.S. 

Dissatisfaction with the two major parties has been growing for the last decade as voters have become disillusioned with both groups, holding them responsible for the present $64 trillion budget deficit, hyperinflation, immigration problems and massive social and moral breakdown.  

June 28, 2004

Kent Berdahl is a graduate of the University of  Minnesota (B. A. Political Science with concentration on fascist and Marxist movements of Eastern Europe). He also studied at the University of Budapest, Hungary and Trinity Bible College. He is presently V. P. of Sales for BigBandwidth and enjoys history, flying, and collecting and shooting large caliber weapons. He is a life-long bachelor, but is willing to entertain offers from heiresses with sufficiently large trust funds and/or arsenals. He may be reached for comment at kberdahl@big-bandwidth.com.

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Good vs. Evil

 Greg Settles

Mr. Settles sent me a copy of a letter he wrote to Bill O’Reilly concerning his October 12, 2003 discussion of evil. I reproduce it here with Mr. Settles’ permission.

Dear Bill,

Interesting discussion about evil last night. I would like to make a few comments; even if none of them are pithy enough to be read on the air, I would be glad just knowing you read them.

1. It was disappointing that the theological dimension of evil was not discussed. God is the source of all good, and evil basically is a theological term for that which is displeasing to God. Our only infallible and inerrant source of knowledge about good and evil is Scripture.

2. We learn that all men are sinners, and even the man whom God has regenerated (given a new nature—caused to be born-again—has united to Christ) still has indwelling sin this side of heaven; he can and does sin most grievously.

3. All men are created in the image of God, and even though that image was marred by the entrance of sin into the world, it still remains. Even the most evil men still bear that image, and no unregenerate person this side of hell is utterly evil (Hitler refrained from killing his mother). 

4. Sinful man has a propensity to see evil in others more readily than in himself. The definition of evil is frequently gerrymandered in such a way that only one’s enemy is evil.

5. This propensity to see the speck in your brother’s eye while ignoring the log in your own is especially noticeable on a national level. For example,

• Pearl Harbor is rightfully considered evil, but Hiroshima is not.

• September 11 is rightfully considered evil, but Iraqi civilians’ deaths due to “liberation” are “collateral damage.”

• Coventry was barbarism, but Dresden was fighting for civilization.

• Your enemies commit terrorism, your friends engage in freedom fighting or defense.

Just look at the reaction two years ago when anyone even hinted that perhaps God used the rod of terrorism to strike America for her sins. Billy Graham at the National Cathedral said that God understands if we are angry at Him. The question few want to consider is “Does God have a right to be angry at us?” After all, to take one example of national sin, what the hijackers did on September 11 was indeed evil, but they are choirboys compared to America’s abortion culture.

Here’s a test: think of two numbers, 3000 dead from September 11, 40 million dead from abortion. Which do you see as the greater evil? Our country harbors the abortionists, it protects them. If 3000 dead justify a regime change in Afghanistan, do not 40 million dead cry out for God to make a regime change in America? Evildoers reside in every country, because evil resides in every heart.

6. The church needs to repent for her wickedness. The nation needs to repent for its wickedness. However, we have defined “good vs. evil” in such a way that the lines are drawn along national borders or political parties. Ultimately, though—and this point will be very offensive—the lines are truly drawn between the Seed of the woman (Christ and those united to Him) and the seed of the serpent (those outside of Christ). And therefore, for example, Osama bin Laden, Paul Wolfowitz, Yasser Arafat, Ariel Sharon, William Kristol, Saddam Hussein, Richard Perle, Charles Krauthammer are on the same side in the struggle between good and evil: even though they manifest their rebellion in vastly different ways in vastly different degrees, all still refuse to bend the knee before the Lordship of Christ, and are therefore enemies of God (though God in His grace may in the future regenerate any or all of the above). Those whom God has drawn into the kingdom of His Son by His sheer mercy and undeserved favor—whether they be American Christians, Iraqi Christians, Palestinian Christians, Israeli Christians, French Christians, or whoever—are on the side of the good.

Thank you for reading this letter.

Sincerely,

Greg Settles      

October 24, 2003

Greg Settles lives in Nolensville, Tennessee, on the outskirts of Nashville. He attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and has worked as a computer programmer. He is currently trying to return to his first love of mathematics. He has been married for 21 years to his wife Helen and attends Good Shepherd Presbyterian Church, a PCA church in the Nashville presbytery. He may be reached for comment here.

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Goldwater’s Heirs?

Darrell Dow

Few writers who claim the “conservative” label have acquired so prominent a position in the establishment as George Will. Hence, Will’s musings are of consequence and consideration.

In his latest column, Will says a couple of strange things. First, he wrote that political conventions are “intensely interesting.” That’s a knee-slapper, but not unexpected coming from a bow-tie wearing journalist. Seriously, is watching McCain, Miller, Edwards, and the rest rant, rave, and prevaricate really interesting?

Secondly, Will says that the Republican convention saw a rebirth of Goldwaterism. Since, I had better things to do then watch the convention (there were heaps of dog dung I had to scoop in the back yard), I was interested in this mysterious trend that Will had spotted.

What evidence was proffered by Will to prove his assertion that the spirit of Goldwater had been resurrected in New York? Why the rapturous reception given to Rudy Giuliani and Arnold Schwarzenegger.

OK, so Will thinks Schwarzenegger and Giuliani are Goldwaterites? When they endorse repealing the Civil Rights Act of 1964, call for the repeal of Social Security, support selling the Tennessee Valley Authority, and condemn racial preferences, I might agree. Until such time, I will continue to consider them liberals.

In truth, what Will is doing is defining Goldwaterism to mean libertinism. What he seems to find disturbing about the right is its opposition to the homosexualist and pro-abort attack on American life. Will writes that “the dominance of the cultural conservatives gave force to the Democrats’ and the media’s caricatures of the Republican Party as a brackish lagoon of intolerance, a caricature that, like all caricatures, contained a trace of truth.”

My, my. So it turns out the social right is a “lagoon of intolerance” to be rescued by paragons of virtue like Ahhhnold and Rudy. What Will is counseling is that the Republicans, who have in no substantive way countered the radical homosexuals and done nothing to turn the tide against abortion, should do even less.

When will conservative Christians wake up to the fact that they have no political home?

September 5, 2004

Darrell Dow writes from Jeffersonville, Indiana where he works as a statistician.  A misanthropic Paleoconservative, Darrell is the husband of Kathy, and the father of Joshua and Andrew.  To see pictures of the boys and get a small glimpse into the Dow house, visit the family website.  Darrell also maintains a website and a new blog.  Darrell can be contacted here.

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Going for the Deeper Joy

Becky Lynn Black  

For some reason, it has hit me harder this time around (with the news) than before. And this morning the reason for this finally dawned on me. I am not willing to sacrifice the joy I get in helping people!

Perhaps this is the “mother” coming out in me, but I really, really like to help people. God has given me a heart of generosity and sensitivity. I love to nurture others, to ease their suffering, to bring them joy. Maybe it comes as a monetary gift, or a meal, or childcare, or just bringing folk to the farm for some old-fashioned romping, or giving a listening ear, or seeing how to solve a practical problem. Each situation calls for a different response, but the joy is the same. They get relief, and I get joy.

Some call it the gift of helps….my mother has this gift. There seemingly is no problem she cannot solve, and she has an attitude of “safety” where people feel free to come to her with their hurting situations.

Some call it a “mother’s heart”…that nurturing skill, where everyone around feels like a little chick feels under a mother’s wing….soft, secure, protected, supported.

When God is taking us towards that last leg of the Journey, He is appointing us to lay down all the things that have brought us joy in this life….family, friendships, nature, hobbies, work, ministries….and sometimes this sacrifice brings us tears.

It’s not that we are afraid of dying….it’s not that we are not appreciative of seeing His face in Heaven…it’s not that we belittle the reality of eternal bliss. It’s just that we don’t want to let go the joy that has been our portion in aspects of life here on earth.

And for me, that joy is bound up in serving others, in the Ethiopia ministry, and in walking on the farm.

So, how to handle this sadness?  Let me suggest some things.

1.  As in Life, so in Death….there is no surrender too small or too great for the Savior! And it’s a no-brainer about whether or not to surrender. Romans 12:1 says “because of His mercies,” because of what He has already done for me, how can I possibly do anything else except totally surrender?

I love to garden. Every year I plant a vegetable garden. Every year I harvest  and enjoy fresh, organic vegetables on my table. Every year I can or freeze vegetables to enjoy in the winter. And many, many years God has put us in Ethiopia during strategic times in the garden. One year we returned from 6 weeks in Africa, and I came home to weeds that were knee high, strangling all my vegetable plants. I groaned, looking at that mess….and God said to me in His quiet gentle voice, “Are you willing to sacrifice even your garden for My appointment?” I stood silent before Him, ashamed that I had even questioned or complained about it.

So now we come to a new situation, yet it is the same scenario. I stand before the Garden of Serving; it is about to be taken away from me.  Am I willing to sacrifice it for the Lord’s appointment in Death?

Is He the Lord?

2.Underneath the joy of serving is the pain of watching others suffering. And as I come to the surrender of my role in relieving that suffering, there is a nagging pain in my heart at the thought that they will suffer without my service. Somehow I’ve got underneath an impression that my role in other’s lives is an absolute necessity! How foolish!

My Lord is able to meet their need just fine without me. It is sin to harbor the idea that without me no problems can be solved! God has used me greatly in the past….to give babies to motherless women, to literally save lives, to ease financial burdens, to sooth spirits of anxiety and confusion, to give supplies where none existed, to open up doors of opportunity. 

Can He not continue to do this through someone else?

He is the Lord. He is the master of the universe. He raises up and He lays down. He orchestrates all that concerns His people. And my passing from this earth will not reduce His ability one wit!!!

Do I trust His character to remain the same after I go to Him?

3.I must examine the source of my joy. In all honesty, often it is the Doing that yields the joy.  Jesus said “It is more blessed to give than to receive.”  He was right! But such is deficient. There is a greater joy than Doing….and that is the joy of Him. The deeper joy must come from a deeper Source….it must come from the One who appointed the doing.  To look past the Doing to the Savior, and to receive Joy from His face is a far more pure and eternal joy!

And that Face will go with me through Death. The Doing will be left behind, but the Face will continue.

So the deeper joy can continue through Death…and it is a joy without sadness. During these weeks or months before when the Doing must stop, I will focus my eyes upon that Face, and draw the deeper joy from Him.

February 14, 2012

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The God of What-Ifs

Becky Lynn Black  

His voice starts very small. It is reasonable. It is based on reality. It is logical. “What if this happens….?”   

A few minutes later, he continues. “What if that happens…?”

Gradually his voice becomes high-pitched, almost yelling, panic-stricken, anxious! “And what if THIS…?”  “And what if THAT…?”

As his voice gains momentum, the response of my spirit turns to panic. Fear grips me. And before long, my heart is racing, I can’t sleep, little beads of perspiration pop up, thoughts are running wild and undisciplined.

What’s going on? 

The god of What-Ifs is demanding allegiance. He wants control. He wants my service. He wants to rule my heart, my goals, my focus.

Has he ever come to you with “What If…”? He especially delights to take circumstances of uncertainty and turn them into times of rabid fear. Perhaps your area of uncertainty centers on finances, or on a relationship, or on health issues, or on job security, or on international events. The Evil One cares not about the area of uncertainty; his game is the same. I don’t know a single person that he has neglected. 

He knows that fear is a strong emotion. Although the Living God gave this emotion to us for our positive use, the Evil One wants to use it for our destruction. He starts with genuine real concerns and possibilities, then he removes the Living God from the picture, and then he throws his “what if…” scenarios. 

One scenario after the other. No time to get our mental equilibrium. No time to remember the whole of reality, including the presence of the Living God and His utter faithfulness.

With surgery, chemo, and radiation now an imminent reality, and having never walked this way before, the Evil One has been trying to get this game started with me. It’s a sort of dart game. He throws out an idea, a “what if,” and before I can process the idea, along comes another “what if.” In fast succession they come.   What if the robotic knife isn’t calibrated correctly? What if a thunderstorm passes through and the electricity fails during surgery? What if the blade cuts the ureter, or bladder, or bowel? What if the prednisone I’ve taken for rheumatoid arthritis all these years keeps me from healing? What if I hemorrhage? What if I get an infection? What if the doctor is on drugs, or has had a fight with his/her spouse the night before and is in a foul mood, so he/she doesn’t care about doing a good job? What if I’m in bed in pain, and no one comes when I call? What if the radiation burns a hole in good tissue?  

What if….  What if…..  What if…..

You know what I mean. 

As the thoughts go round and round in my head, my whole body tenses. Fear becomes dominant. God has gone. Suddenly I’m so vulnerable!

The apostle Paul wrote to the early believers: Take control of your thoughts! Guard your mind! Capture those thoughts that run against God’s character!

Close to the end of his letter to believers in the city of Philippi, he wrote: “Don’t be anxious. Connect with God about your concerns, and don’t forget thankfulness in your connection. Only He can give you a peace that is bigger than circumstances. Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, honest, just, pure, lovely, of good report, virtuous and praise-worthy…think on these things!”

Now I ask you….is it pure to think that the doctors might take out their frustrations on me during surgery? Is it of good report to think that the nurses might not answer my call when I’m in pain? Is it lovely to think that there might be infection, or hemorrhage, or surgical error?

None of the “what ifs…” of the Evil One meet the qualifications for this list by Paul.

You see, this list is wrapped up in the Person of the Lord Jesus. Only He is completely true, totally honest, absolutely just, wholly pure, lovely through and through, of absolute good report, wholly virtuous and without spot, utterly praiseworthy! And when my mind is set upon His Person…who He is…His character…then there is no room for these “what if” darts of the Evil One. His darts bounce off of the Person of the Lord Jesus like the little plastic darts of a child’s game set. He can throw with all his might, but they barely touch me!

The way of the Lord Jesus is exactly opposite from the paralyzing fear of the Evil One. The Scriptures (which are Truth) say, “God has not given us the spirit of fear, but of love, of power and of a strong mind.”  We have been given the spirit of love… perfect love…His love. It is His birthday gift to each of His children. And His perfect love casts out fear; they cannot co-exist! In place of fear, His love puts a sense of security, of trust, of sweet resting-ness, because we are assured of His presence.

And He has given us a spirit of power. The ultimate Power on earth is our own Father. There is no greater power. And by our right as sons/daughters of His, we have access to His power. We do not need to feel like we are vulnerable. We do not have to be victims. We have authority and strength over the god of What Ifs.

And He has given to us the spirit of a strong mind. You see, the center of the spiritual battlefield is not in the emotions, or the body, or the relationships. It is in the mind. It is in our thought-life. As we allow our thoughts to go, so we will go in our decisions and responses. Because I belong to the Lord Jesus, I have the enviable power to control my thinking.

Now, hear me out. This is not what society calls “the power of positive thinking.” (That is a dead-end street.  No person can pull themselves up by their own thinking bootstraps.)  No, this is the power of correct thinking….the power to shape all thoughts under the authority of the Lord Jesus…the power to govern myself according to who He is!

During times of uncertainty, the god of What-Ifs is calling for our allegiance. He wants to put us in slavery to him. He wants to overpower us by fear. He wants to enslave us to the “what ifs….”  He knows that we cannot glorify our Lord in that condition.

For myself, by the grace of God, I choose to act upon my relationship to the Lord Jesus, my Savior and my Lord. I choose to bring my thought life into submission to His authority. As a practical matter, the thought battleground rages more when my lips are silent. One thing I have learned is this: thoughts are reinforced if they are vocalized. (Isn’t it funny that the A. A. knows this better than we Christians!) Like King David when he struggled with the god of What-Ifs, I often say things like “My Lord Jesus cannot forsake me. I am in the ‘pasture’ of the Lord Jesus, and He cares for me as His own sheep. I will lay down, AND I will sleep, because He keeps me safe….” Many times these truths are vocalized through songs and hymns. What I am doing is simply verbalizing in a personal way the Truth of Scripture. Without my reading and studying Scripture, how can I know what to think? And when I vocalize Scripture, personalizing it for me and my situation, then my thoughts are easier to anchor in Truth. (A side effect of this is that those around us get to hear Truth also, and it helps them keep the god of What Ifs away from them also.)

Even in my thoughts, He is to reign wholly and completely….as Truth, as Honesty, as Justice, as Purity, as Love, as worthy (Good Report), as Virtue, and as Praise.

If we will discipline our thinking to His command, then we have His peace, and we can testify with King David, “You will keep in perfect peace, the man whose mind is fixed on You.”

So, away with the god of What Ifs!

(Recommended readings: Philippians 4:6-8, Proverbs 14:26; Isaiah 26:3; 2 Timothy 1:6-12; Matthew 6:19-34; Romans 5:1-6; Psalm 56:3-13; Psalm 4:3-8.)

August 20, 2009

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The God of Hope

 David Alan Black

In Romans 15:13, the apostle Paul wrote: “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.” Commenting on these words, Martin Luther said:

He that depends on the true God has laid all tangible things aside and lives by naked hope. To call God “the God of hope” is therefore the same as to call him the God of hopers. He certainly is not the God but the enemy of people who despair easily and are unable to trust anyone. In short, he is the “god of hope” because he is the Giver of hope, and, even more, because only hope worships him….

I once heard it said that if you have no hope, life is impossible. If you have unbounded hope, you better see a psychiatrist. If you insist on hoping against hope, then persist with all your might.

Our struggle, my friend, is impossible without the power of the Holy Spirit. Only God can liberate the church and equip it for its task in the world. But He requires discipleship – not everyday discipleship, not “normal” discipleship, but radical discipleship. It was this type of discipleship to which Dietrich Bonhoeffer called the church in Germany.

In the space of just a few short years editing my website, I have become convinced that our situation in America is so hopeless that only God can do something about it. I know I speak for my colleagues in the battle that we feel totally inadequate for the task. The quest for renewal is nothing less than a timely reminder that our resources ultimately lie beyond ourselves.

But the message of the kingdom is a message of hope. This does not mean that our struggles for the kingdom of Christ are only “wishful thinking” on our part. The messianic times have already broken through (Luke 4:18-19), and in this we rejoice with joy unspeakable. Yet we must be clear that neither our political efforts nor our social activism will usher in utopia. Things may get much worse before they get any better. As Bonhoeffer put it in his Ethics:

Christ is coming, of his own will, by his own strength, and out of his love; he has the power and the desire to overcome all obstacles, even the greatest; he is the preparer of his own way; it is this, and really only this, that makes us preparers of his way.

The issue, then, is not a choice between hope and despair. In order for the church to be the church it has to rediscover the power of Christ. By the cross and resurrection of Jesus Christ, the church reaches beyond itself to the future and thus keeps hope alive.

For years I have kept the words of A. E. Whitham near me to remind me of the desperate need of people for hope:

If you knew that there was one greater than yourself, who knows you better than you can know yourself, and loves you better than you can love yourself, who can make you all you ought to be, steadier than your squally nature, able to save you from squandering your glorious life, who searched you beyond the standards of earth…one who gathered into himself all great and good things and causes, blending in his beauty all the enduring color of life, who could turn your dreams into visions, and make real the things you hoped were true; and if that one had ever done one unmistakable thing to prove, even at the price of blood – his own blood – that you would come to him, and, having failed, to come again,

Would you not fall at his feet with the treasure of your years, your powers, service, and love? And is there not one such, and does he not call you…?

September 23, 2004

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

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