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Saturday, March 24

11:07am I’m trying out a new program to update my blog. I hope it works since Microsoft has decided to discontinue Frontpage…five years ago 🙁

Saturday, March 24

8:08 AM Still hearing the “click of death,” this morning a friend of mine and I are planning on replacing our desk top’s internal hard drive. I have no idea if Front Page will transfer or not — and, as everyone knows, my blog is a dinosaur that still uses that now defunct program. So … if you don’t hear from me in a few days, or weeks, or months, you’ll know why.

8:00 AM Bruce Ashford (an esteemed colleague of mine — he asked me to say that) has published a helpful post called Seven Reflections on the Danger of Seminary. I double dare you to read all seven. And yes, Bruce, I have been and still am THAT GUY. Argh!

Friday, March 23

7:32 PM So Nigusse is about to hear Scott Hafemann give his plenary address at ETS, Becky is having dinner, and moi? I’ve been sitting on the front porch contemplating the Lord’s great goodness to me and mine. A nice serendipity is watching the duck family that has adopted our pond. Here’s the drake.

   restoring our biblical and constitutional foundations

New Years Greetings from DBO

 David Alan Black  

The days slip away as rapidly as oats from a feeding trough.

It’s been a good year. This is not a phrase to be written, still less spoken, with any complacency or pride, but it is accurate nonetheless. In addition to shuffling back and forth every week to teach, I was transmuted to several countries for brief bursts of intense ministry. Web-wise the jig is hardly up (hits at DBO for 2007 number well over 7 million, and page views show a solid 5 million).

Here at Rosewood all goes well. The farm work continues to give me great pleasure, though I remain acutely aware that I am not an agriculturalist. It would obviously be a miracle if I should actually be able to learn farm skills and perfect them, but as we all know the miraculous is not always the best for humankind. If I may paraphrase a well-known verse: Some are born farmers, but some make themselves farmers for the sake of the kingdom. However, I have a roof over my head and some acreage to continue the grand experiment, and for these blessings I am grateful.

On the political scene, it strikes me that the New Year affords our republic a unique opportunity. Who is to say whether the intensity of nationalistic idolatry can be mitigated in 2008? Let’s hope to goodness that people will do some hard soul-searching. The difficulty seems the inattention given to the fontes, the basic principles of our nation, either that or a genuine incapacity to think altogether. That was why, when I began publishing DBO back in the Middle Ages, I tried to contribute something to the debate over the war and went out of my way to engage geo-political issues. Since then Ron Paul has pointed out some rather tough problems. But I think they can be satisfactorily resolved. The solution, however, will involve nothing less than a return to the founding documents of America, which are scarcely known or read anymore by statists, who are too busy listening to the establishment media.

As for my essays about religion, I keep reminding myself (and anyone else who will listen) that anything I say or write is absolutely worthless – in fact, less than worthless, a positive impediment – if people pay more attention to it than to the Scriptures. Enjoying to a unique degree the privilege of my own acquaintance, I am always a bit apprehensive when I hear of people who seem attached to my writings. If I may again be permitted to paraphrase the Scriptures, this time Paul’s epistle to the Romans: “Brothers and sisters, my heart’s desire and prayer to God on behalf of Christians is that they would take the Bible at face value. I can assure you that they are devoted to God, but they are misguided. They don’t know God’s way of doing things, so they set up their own way to do it” (Rom. 10:1-3). I suppose I have convinced myself that I have discovered a few biblical answers to some really important questions in my head, but I would prefer to know the answers in my heart and especially in my life, where it matters. It is always thrilling for me to watch people as they discover the truth about what the Bible says about this or that facet of life. I watch them shout for joy from the housetops or weep in gratitude. They are learning not to place stock in the words of men. God knows we have enough of those already. I fear, sometimes, that DBO has only added to the cacophony.

I long, when I have reached a saturation point with my own literary ambitions, to undertake a simple paraphrase of the New Testament, one that is obviously true to the original Greek but in readable English as well. I would do this with reference to nothing outside the text itself. How I long to resurrect the mots crochets, the inclusios, the morphemic repetitions – to clarify old insights and intuitions that I have long held about the sacred text – anything to get believers to read their Bibles again!

Christians have got to understand that the promise of 1 John 2:27 applies to them and not just to John’s original readers, and that the Holy Spirit is the only true guide into truth. I am humbled to see how the readership of DBO has matured, but I frankly realize that all this is merely a passing fad – a good illustration, if you will, of what the brilliant Bard wrote in Measure for Measure:

Man, proud man, Drest in a little brief authority – Most ignorant of what he is most assured, His glossy essence – like an angry ape, Plays such fantastic tricks before high heaven As make the angels weep.

To be absolutely honest, ladies and gentlemen, if we go on as we are going on now in the church, it is absolutely certain that we shall face a catastrophe – a new Dark Age in which reliance on a handful of “experts” and “Bible scholars” will replace personal Bible study and the Holy Spirit. When I was younger I cared supremely for knowledge for its own sake, for the theologoumena of this professor or the insights of that academic. But for many years now I have felt a deep dissatisfaction with all these things, have felt, indeed, that even the greatest scholars were aware of their own finitude and susceptibility to error when compared to the glorious Scriptures. Recently I have begun to appreciate the true value of the biblical sciences, including Greek philology, and to see that they are no more than tools, means to an end, lesser lights pointing to the Light. I shudder to think how many times people may have looked to me as that Light, or how many times I may have shunted people out to the wrong track.

Je m’excuse d’un bavardage si long, but my intent is not to discourage my dear readers but rather to thank them for paying more attention to the Conductor than to the caboose man. That means a great deal to this editor. I do hope all of you flourish in 2008, and that the appalling gloom and stuffiness of an election year will not prevent you from reaching your destination. I pray above all that this hideous business in the Middle East may end soon.

I, for one, look forward to another year of cheerful blogging. After all, anyone can draw devils; painting angels is quite another thing.

******************************************************

FYI, the best-read essays on DBO in 2007 included:

A Lesson in Teamwork

What Christianity Offers Us

My Horses, My Teachers

Should Christians Tithe?

The Purpose of a Seminary

Is Yet Another War Justified?

15 Stupid Things Ron Paul Would Never Do

Blessed Is the Internet (Sort Of)

Ron Paul and Republican Politics

Admitting Our Mistakes

Who Is Head of Your Church?

Praying for the Lost

Cessasionist or Continualist?

A Great Commission Marriage

What I Have Learned from the Anabaptists (Conclusion)

December 31, 2007

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

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The New South and the Frogs of Egypt

Mike Scruggs  

On June 15, 1882, the Reverend Robert L. Dabney delivered a discourse at the Annual Commencement of Hampden Sidney College in Virginia, entitled, “The New South.”  Dabney was a Presbyterian theologian, seminary teacher, pastor, and author of numerous and diverse works on theology, philosophy, ethics, history, and political economy. 

Although frequently quoted by scholars, historians, and theologians, he is unfortunately little known today by the general public. He was, however, among the most prominent men of his era. His service in the Confederate Army as a Chaplain and for a time as Stonewall Jackson’s Chief of Staff was by no means the limit of his great accomplishments. He was a scholar and social commentator of enormous breadth and penetrating insight.

Much of Dabney’s writing is as relevant today as it was in the late 19th century. While he is long dead, he yet speaks with near prophetic clarity on issues facing the nation and especially the South today. His words are particularly relevant to the present discussion of the heritage and future of the South. In our own time as in his, Southern Heritage is being constantly battered by politically correct propaganda. Today as never before, there are powerful organizations and ambitious power seekers who butter their political and economic bread by purveying historical ignorance and misinformation as a form of public righteousness. Politicians, educators, businessmen, churchmen, and whole states are cowered and blackmailed into accepting outrageous distortions of history. We suffer a time of too little knowledge and too little courage. Our own generations would do well to heed Dabney’s passionate and fiery exhortation on that day in 1882, a few paragraphs of which are here quoted:

“It behooves the New South, in dismissing the animosities of the past, to see to it that they retain all that was true in its principles or ennobling in its example. There are those pretending to belong to this company who exclaim: ‘Let us bury the dead past.  Its issues are all antiquated, and of no more practical significance.  Let us forget the passions of the past.  We are in a new world.  Its new questions alone concern us.’  I rejoin:  Be sure that the former issues are dead before you really bury them! There are issues that cannot die without the death of the people, of their honor, their civilization and their greatness. Take care that you do not bury too much, while burying the dead past:  that you do not bury the inspiring memories of great patriots, whose actions, whether successful or not, are the eternal glory of your race and section; the influence of their virtues, the guiding precedents of their histories. Will you bury the names and memories of a Jackson and Lee, and their noble army of martyrs? Will you bury true history whose years are those of the God of Truth?”

“There is one point on which you insist too little, which is vital to the young citizens of the South. This is, that he shall not allow the dominant party to teach him a perverted history of the past contests. This is a mistake of which you are in imminent peril. With all the astute activity of their race, our conquerors strain every nerve to pre-occupy the ears of all America with the false version of affairs which suits the purposes of their usurpation. With a gigantic sweep of mendacity, this literature aims to falsify or misrepresent everything; the very facts of history, the principles of the former Constitution as admitted in the days of freedom by all statesmen of all parties; the very essential names of rights and virtues and vices. The whole sway of their commercial and political ascendancy is exerted to fill the South with this false literature. Its sheets come up, like the frogs of Egypt, into our houses, our bed chambers, our very kneading troughs. Now, against this deluge of perversions I solemnly warn young men of the South, not for our sakes, but for their own. Even if the memory of the defeated had no rights; if historical truth had no prerogatives; if it were the same to you that the sires whose blood fills your veins, and whose names you bear, be written down as traitors by the pen of slanderous history, still it is essential to your own future that you shall learn the history of the past truly.”

Today as equaled only in the days of Reconstruction, there are those who would bury truth and honor to gain peace and prosperity. The perversion of history that Dabney warned of in 1882 prevails as never before in our media, our educational institutions, the halls of government, in the giant business corporations with their vast economic power, and even in many of our churches. It is time we resurrected Dabney’s words and with them the courage to insist that our children and future generations learn history free of outrageous distortion and propaganda, that they learn the history of the past fully and truly.

January 24, 2004

Mike Scruggs lives in Birmingham, Alabama. He may be reached for comment here.

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Neocons Versus States’ Rights

 David Alan Black 

Many Americans who consider themselves conservatives are actually anti-constitutional neoconservatives. Here’s what I mean.

Neocons not only enjoy attacking the left, they fear paleoconservatives and, in particular, all things Southern. Like their arch-hero Lincoln, they believe in an American Empire and in unquestioned allegiance to the imperial presidency. The empire they envision cannot tolerate any thought of States’ Rights or regional cultural identity, that is to say anything that might question the legitimacy of a central government that tends to snub its collective nose at traditional cultural values. “Civis Americanus Sum” (and you will become one, too, even if I have to use a bayonet on you) is the proud boast of these neo-imperialists.

Referring to the neocons’ hang-up over regionalism (especially their love-hate relationship with Southerners), Jimmy Cantrell recently noted, “Neocons love the fact that Southerners are naturally opposed to leftist economic claims. They also love the ‘patriotism’ of Southerners as it expresses itself in military service (ditto for English Imperial Conservatives regarding the Scots and Welsh and Irish Protestants). But neocons are fierce to whip Southerners away from recognizing that their Southern cultural affinities and needs are rarely served, and often warred against, by the Imperial USA (ditto for English Imperial Conservatives regarding Scotland, Wales, and even Protestant Northern Ireland, which is nothing but a creation of empire for empire).” 

A fair warning, if you ask me.

Neocons embrace multiculturalism and therefore tend to support affirmative action (i.e., racial discrimination) and mass immigration—witness Bush’s “compassionate” policy toward illegal immigration from Mexico. Paleocons, on the other hand, argue that it is impossible to have a Republic (as originally envisioned by our Founders) and also have an Empire at the same time. They are outspoken in their opposition to an Iraqi invasion because they do not believe you can export democracy at gunpoint. They have this radical notion that the U.S. can hold the torch of liberty high without becoming involved in every military skirmish.

Paleocons believe that in order to restore the Republic, Lincoln must be dethroned (witness the myriad essays published on LewRockwell.com by Tom DiLorenzo, author of The Real Lincoln). They tend to think little of big government with all of its attendant horrors, including an abysmal government “education” system. They feel that the only hope for a rebirth of freedom in America is to get the federal government completely out of every area where it has made such a mess: health care, education, law enforcement, foreign aid, corporate welfare, farm subsidies, etc. Like Congressman Ron Paul of Texas, they want smaller government, an end to the welfare state, and an end to government intrusions into their lives and businesses. They are insulted by a government that says to the country: “You are too immature to care for yourselves, so we in Washington will take care of you.” And think for you, too, if need be.

The paleocon movement has a whiff of revolution about it. Paleocons believe that politicians of both parties have sold out the American people. They want to replace America’s arrogant ruling class with citizen legislators. In support of their views, they tend to quote Americans like George Washington, Patrick Henry, and Stonewall Jackson. In short, paleocons don’t care much for the bloated, deified federal government. This doesn’t make them anarchists. They believe in legitimate authority. What they don’t like is having their lives consumed by the state.

Paleocons are quick to point out that all of the great twentieth-century multinational empires have fallen apart (see the excellent essay by Ron Holland). They also note that the Constitution of the United States obligates the federal government to protect the states from foreign invasion, and that our government has failed miserably in this constitutional duty. They ask: If we can send our military halfway around the world to defend the borders of Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, why can’t we defend the borders of Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas?

For paleocons, the neocon movement is the legacy of an anti-democratic revolution the American people endure only because their elected leaders lack the courage to follow the Constitution, whose defense and implementation should be the first order of business of a democratic republic. Paleocons realize that men and women will die for freedom, not for some New World Order created for the greedy global mandarins who endlessly lust after power. Only by a return to States’ Rights and responsible local government can America be restored to her former greatness.

And saying otherwise will never make it so.

March 3, 2003

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

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Nehemiah’s Prayer, and Ours

 David Alan Black

One of the most fundamental teachings of Scripture is that God is not one among many gods; He is the only true God and is to be worshipped as such. Since He alone has made all things, and since He alone sustains all things, worship is due Him and Him alone.

The Bible teaches that Jesus Christ is Himself God. John 1:1 asserts that the Word (Jesus Christ) was in the beginning with (i.e., face to face with) God and indeed was God. In John 20:28 Thomas answers and says to Jesus, “My Lord and my God!” Romans 9:5 exclaims Jesus to be “God over all, blessed forever!” The author of Hebrews likewise proclaims the deity of Christ (Heb. 1:8): “To the Son He says, ‘Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever.’” According to the apostle Paul, believers look for the “blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ” (Tit. 2:13).

The sin of the Israelites was that they behaved proudly – that is, they behaved toward God in the same way the people of Egypt had acted toward them. They hardened their necks and failed to heed His commandments (Neh. 9:16). Likewise, we the citizens of United States have turned our backs on the Lord Jesus Christ. No longer do we proclaim “No King But King Jesus!” as did our forebears. Compromise and apathy characterize the tragic estate into which we have fallen.

Despite their wretched behavior, God was still faithful to the Israelites. He could have abandoned them with complete righteousness but instead chose not to. He allowed Nehemiah to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the walls. Despite their lethargy and cold-hearted indifference toward God, the Israelites were granted a godly leader in Nehemiah who would motivate them to act on God’s promises.

The Book of Nehemiah teaches us that God restores His people time after time after time. He sends prophets and leaders to teach, guide, and, if necessary, rebuke His people. Not only did Nehemiah motivate the people to rebuild the walls, he exhorted them to adhere to God’s law.

Like Nehemiah of old, I weep and mourn over our nation. Surely, I pray, the God of heaven will not forsake us any more than He would forsake His covenant people of old! Misuse and abuse of our God-given liberties should give us cause enough to be ashamed. The whole nation is breaking under this load of pride and guilt. To us Jesus says, “Come to Me, and I will give you rest. Humble yourselves before Me and find true peace.”

This morning in my devotions, when I read Nehemiah’s prayer of contrition and intercession (1:5-11), I was challenged to repeat his words on behalf of the nation I love so dearly. No meek man will disdain such a lowly, helpless prayer. Perhaps you, too, will join me in offering this petition to our God that He might intervene in our affairs before it is too late. If we pray with the same humility and heart of true penitence that Nehemiah displayed, perhaps God will be pleased to smile upon our nation once again and grant us His mercy.

Let thine ear now be attentive, and thine eyes open, that thou mayest hear the prayer of thy servant, which I pray before thee now, day and night, for the children of Israel thy servants, and confess the sins of the children of Israel, which we have sinned against thee: both I and my father’s house have sinned.

O Lord, I beseech thee, let now thine ear be attentive to the prayer of thy servant, and to the prayer of thy servants, who desire to fear thy name: and prosper, I pray thee, thy servant this day, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man.

August 31, 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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Needs for the Galana Clinic

 Becky Lynn Black  

Becky put together this list of medical equipment needed for the Galana Clinic in rural Ethiopia. If possible, we need this equipment by Oct. 5, 2008 for shipment to Ethiopia on Oct. 7, 2008. If you have any questions, please contact Becky at 434-374-0492, or write us atdblack@sebts.edu. Thank you. Dave

• Blood pressure apparatus, adult & child, manual or digital
• Thermometers, digital; prefer centigrade
• Fetal doplar, with gel & rechargeable batteries
• Assorted procedure equipments…hemostats, scissors, retractors, forceps, suture sets, needle holders, etc.
• Microscope, lighted
• Sterile drapes & gowns, PPE equipment
• IV Control Pump that uses plain tubing (no cassette)
• Splints, various sizes, assorted (finger, limb, neck, abduction)
• Adult & infant scales (for weights), manual preferred, kilogram if possible
• Otoscope & Laryngescope, with rechargeable batteries
• Eye/vision chart; Reflex hammer
• Pulse Oximeter
• Urine test strips, pregnancy test strips
• Reference books (English OK, with lots of pictures)
• Vaginal speculum; D&C set of metal instruments
• Ambu bags, adult & child, with one-way value protection
• Simple bed with manual crank..only need the frame, can take apart & reassemble there
• Privacy screen, collapsible
• Vacuum/suction machine, free-standing (like old Gomco), with re-usable containers
• Manual Vacuum Aspirations set (for incomplete abortion cases)
• EKG machine; Ultrasound machine; Simple X-ray machine; Defibrillator
• Any lab equipment for basic lab (CBC, chemistries, cultures)

September 19, 2008

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Needs for Our Ethiopia Trip (Nov. 2008)

Becky Lynn Black  

Thank you for helping us to minister to these dear people for the sake of the Gospel. Please have to us before Oct 31st if at all possible. Thank you! Dave & BeckyLynn Black; 434-374-0492;dblack@sebts.edu;www.daveblackonline.com. Feel free to contact us if you have any questions.

For evangelists:

1.     Food for 4-day Bible Conference in Burji, for 60 rural leaders & evangelists: $1800

2.     Love gift salary supplements: $100/evangelist family (this will buy 1 sack of grain)

3.     Protein bars: 86-cent Zone bars at Wal-Mart are excellent

4.     Bible story cloths (tells Creation-to-Ascension in pictures on a cloth, 45 cloths): $485

5.     Food for 1-week Training session of our 10 under-cover evangelists in Gondar: $900

For clinic:

6.     Small gifts for the Chaplain’s Box, which he will use when he visits patients in their homes (bars of soap, ladies scarfs, Bible picture books, small notebooks, any size socks, children’s T-shirts, men’s dress shirts, ladies’ dresses/blouses/skirts, sweaters, Vaseline, alcohol hand gel, wash clothes, teething biscuits, hair things, needle/thread kits, etc…small, practical things)

7.     Medical supplies (naproxyn, ibuprofen, aspirin, tylenol, alcohol hand cleanser, Jergen’s Ultra-healing hand lotion, bandaids, antibiotic ointment, multivitamins, anbesol, Immodium AD, antihistamines/decongestants, eye moisturizers, ear wax removal drops,  children & infants’ Tylenol, 2-4” strips of cotton fabric for dressings with large safety pins, Citracal with Mg & Vit D, Midol, powdered electrolyte drinks/Gateraide/pedialyte, Zantac 150mg, heavy plastic/vinyl sheeting, flat bed sheets with pillow case, KY lubricant gel, hydrocortisone cream, benedryl gel, tape measurer, various splints, towels & wash clothes)

8.     For Chaplain teaching aid: poster boards, colored markers, picture Bible story books, small fold-up table for children, simple Bible story coloring pictures or dot-to-dot, flannelgraph set ($100)

For rural people & churches:

9.     Food sacks for widow & orphans: $1500…we will buy the food in the capital

10. Seeds for farmers: $700…we are taking the seed with us

11. Wash basins & soap: $1500…we will buy these at the large market in the capital

12. Food for Christians (Muslim communities are withholding food aid to Christians): $3,000

13. Eyeglasses (non-prescription, strengths 1.00, 1.25, 1.50 & 1.75 only at this time)

14. Funds for loudspeaker & solar power at 3 churches: $1,000/church

September 26, 2008

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Needed: A New Haystack Generation

 David Alan Black 

Have you heard of the “Haystack Prayer Meeting”? It took place on August 2, 1806, when five young Christians were forced to gather outdoors in Williamstown. Massachusetts, so as not to be interrupted by their fellow students at Williams College. A thunderstorm forced them to find shelter under a haystack, where they began praying about the needs of missions in Asia. One of them suddenly cried out, “We can do it if we will! We ourselves can go!” Eventually that haystack ignited a firestorm that would sweep across North America. The slogan took hold: “The Evangelization of the World in This Generation.”

It wasn’t too long ago when I had my own “haystack” moment. It was through a personal study of the Gospels that God grabbed my attention. These accounts of the words and deeds of Jesus started a missionary awakening in my heart. “God helping me,” I prayed, “I purpose to put the Gospel first in my life, before petty doctrines and personal agendas. Lord, if you tarry, I’ll serve you anywhere in the world.”

When Dwight L. Moody preached a revival at Cambridge University one year, his lack of formal education was glaringly obvious. He used expressions that were grammatical blunders, such as “he don’t.” One listener made a list of every error the preacher made and came up to him and said, “Mr. Moody, I jotted down every grammatical error you made tonight and I think this will help you in the future. Here they are.” Moody looked at him and said, “I know that I don’t know much grammar. But I’m using all the grammar I know for the glory of God. Are you using all the grammar you know for the glory of God?”

That’s a lesson we all need to learn. I can be a scholar and write books and give lectures in famous places, but if I’m not willing to go anywhere and do anything for the Savior, who loved me and gave Himself for me, I am nothing but a spiritual hypocrite.

Blessing comes only to those who are willing to obey. And obedience is impossible until the Holy Spirit makes us sensitive to the needs all around us. Jim Elliott was called to the Auca Indians of Ecuador because he saw the undeniable need. Years ago I was called to serve in Africa, Asia, and the Middle East. Why? By a very obvious need. It is exactly the kind of work God has prepared and equipped me to do. He has a worldwide purpose in Christ for every nation on earth. And He has given every Christian the privilege of being strategically involved in His purpose.

Are you a world Christian? Have you had your “haystack” movement?

May I encourage you to say with Isaiah, “Here am I Lord, send me.”

September 23, 2012

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

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Needed: Saints With Edges On Them!

 David Alan Black 

As I said in an earlier column, it’s easier to produce Pharisees than Christians. In other words, it’s easier to get people to do things Christians do than to get them to think Christianly about what they do.

The political and cultural mess we are in today is partly about theology, as the president recently reminded us when he referred to Christians and Muslims praying to the same God. In all probability, the president didn’t intend to make a theological pronouncement with his remarks. Yet that’s precisely what he did. The contrast between what Bush said about Islam (and apparently believes to be true) and what former Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore said about acknowledging the one true God is gigantic, for each statement reveals fundamental beliefs about God and man.  

Christianity, it seems to me, has lost its cutting edge, its theological acumen. Someone once described modern Christianity as “a fleshly and fat religious neutrality.” He was referring to the subtle and secular influences in our society that can dull even the sharpest Christian testimony. The result, all too often, is a culture of compromise.

One man from whom we can all draw encouragement is the apostle Paul. Paul 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.

The question is not, Are we axes? The question is: How do we respond to the grindstone? It all depends on how we hold the axe. Many Christians will be dulled until they are no longer able to cut anything for God. Others will be made all the sharper. I don’t know about you, but I prefer saints with an edge on them to saints whose axes couldn’t cut a pound of butter if their life depended on it.

I sometimes wonder: Are we Christians salting the world, or is the world stealing our savor so that we are good for nothing except to be cast out and trodden under the feet of men?

December 1, 2003

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

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