The Word of God

Yesterday I wrote about being the right kind of habitation. One critical element was "the word of Christ" (Col 3:16) What does the word of God say about "the word of God"?

First and foremost, Scripture says of itself that it is not Man's doing ... no matter what its opponents claim.

All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. (2 Tim 3:16-17)

Those who oppose this position will try to tell you, "The Bible doesn't claim that" while looking at the text in black and white. Peter assures us that "no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit" (2 Peter 1:20-21) (where "prophecy" refers to anything God has to say to Man). Doubt it, toss it, argue against it ... it's still there. Scripture is God's word. It doesn't merely contain God's word. So Jesus prays, "Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth" (Joh 17:17). God's word is truth. And related to Jesus's "Sanctify them in the truth," Paul commands husbands to sanctify their wives with "the washing of the water of the word (Eph 5:26). God's word washes ... sanctifies. Paul told Timothy that every gift of God is sanctified through His word (1 Tim 4:4-5). In fact, Peter says we are born again through God's word (1 Peter 1:23). Paul told the Ephesian believers to take up "the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God" (Eph 6:17). The author of Hebrews said, "The word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart" (Heb 4:12).

Back, then, to "Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you." As we get a clearer picture of God's perspective on God's word, it gets to be pretty big. Enormous. It's our weapon for spiritual warfare, our means of salvation, our best practice for being set apart for God ("sanctification"). It is truth, and is God-breathed, not man-made. The preference of so many self-identified Christians (real or not) to push aside God's word when it's inconvenient is not only dangerous. It could be fatal. I would heartily recommend we each "Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you."

A Place to Live

The Bible uses the word "dwell" more often than you or I do, I suspect. For instance, in the ESV there are 290 times it's used. The NAS has 154 times. I think I've used the word ... well ... I can't remember. What is "dwell"? The Greek word is to inhabit a house. The Hebrew refers to a lodging. Okay ... pretty simple, then. A place to live. What does the Bible have to say about ... where to live?

Obviously we're not talking about a geographical place. No. We read, for instance, "Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God" (Col 3:16). We ought to make ourselves a place for the "word of Christ" to live. (Interesting that this text suggests we do it in our conversations with each other and especially with music.) In Philippians, Paul lists all sorts of "positives" -- true, right, lovely, worthy of praise, etc. ... followed with the instruction, "dwell on these things" (Php 4:8). Live there, with your mind washed in God's "good." In Job, you'll find, "If iniquity is in your hand, put it far away, and do not let wickedness dwell in your tents" (Job 11:14). Evil should not find a place to live in you. James says, "Or do you think that the Scripture speaks to no purpose: 'He jealously desires the Spirit which He has made to dwell in us'?" (James 4:5). The Spirit should find in us a suitable place to live. All these, and more.

Paste it together and you find an interesting composite built on the concept of what kind of habitation you will be. Spirit-filled, free of evil, saturated in Scripture, positive ... we ought to be people living in this. We ought to be habitable places for all that God intends for us. It kind of changes the sense of the phrase, "Get your house in order."

News Weakly - 9/13/2025

A Blow for Tolerance
In a show of a love of American freedom of speech, someone shot and killed Charlie Kirk, a conservative political activist, at an event at Utah Valley University. His wife and children were present at the shooting. Doesn't really seem like a testimonial to Leftist tolerance.

More on Kirk
In the follow up, they've apparently caught the shooter. Some outlets are suggesting he had engraved transgender and antifascist messages on his ammunition. Do you think the left and the media that pushed this "Trump is an existential threat to democracy" line will take responsibility for the hate they've begotten?

Coup Coup
Former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro was convicted of attempting a coup to stay in office when he lost the vote in 2022. Wait ... I think I've heard this somewhere else ... except ... no coup was staged ... just accusations. Bolsonaro's charges included attempting to end democracy ... like the Left has said of Trump. Weird the parallels ... except ... the American version turned out to be a lie from the left.

Modern Warfare
Israel attacked Hamas leaders in Qatar this week. Of course, the largely anti-Semite world is outraged, and it is a matter of concern to the rest of the world as well, but it highlights a sea change in warfare in the 21st century. Sure, there are still uniformed troops and assembled armies, but it seems as if most of today's combatants wear civilian clothes, hide in towns, and use civilians as shields.

Your Best Source for Fake News
Asking the same question I just did, the Bee did a story about the Dems condemning the violence they incited. That's not even fake news. Related, another story covers a poll that says conservatives won't give up their guns, leaving those shooting at them wondering why. In international news, Poland says they shot down Russian drones in its airspace (actual story), which Trump suggests may have been "a mistake" (actual story). Trump calmed the world by assuring them nothing bad has ever happened after a dictator invades Poland. Right?

Must be true; I read it on the internet.

Foxholes and Christians

I'm sorry for the delay. I had a major internet outage. Since yesterday was September 11, I'm posting this reprise from 2006.
________

(I wrote this in the days following Sep. 11, 2001. I wrote it for myself. Not too many others have seen it. But on this, the 5th anniversary, I thought I'd share it with others. It's longer than my normal post. I think it's worth it.)

The events of September 11 and following have been shocking, frightening, unnerving, devastating. They have stirred emotions and responses that one wouldn’t have found a week before the aircraft hit those buildings and killed thousands of Americans. In the aftermath, an interesting series of events has unfolded. A resounding “God bless America!” has been shouted around the country that has resoundingly evicted God from America. The masses have flocked to prayer services. Leadership has called on God for support. The President has declared that God is on our side. The old saying, “There are no atheists in foxholes”, has been demonstrated once again. My question, however, isn’t about these frightened people who are turning to God in time of trouble. My question is about Christians. In this new surge of spirituality, what is the Church offering? What are the Christians doing in the foxholes?

The public responses have been embarrassing at best. One Christian leader has stated that America got what it deserved. This is a running theme in many churches. We are a decadent country, and God is judging America. Others are backpedaling. “God didn’t have anything to do with this,” they assure us. “God is a gentleman.” Some religious leaders are on a similar bandwagon. “This isn’t God’s fault – it’s the fault of Man’s Free Will.” Private responses have been similar. Christians have responded with everything from “Kill ‘em all and let God sort it out” to “God loves everyone and would never allow this to occur.” So, with this gaping national wound bleeding from our televisions and a mad rush for support and answers to the best place to find support and answers – the Church – all we have to offer is either an angry God who smites His enemies or an uninvolved God who was just as appalled as we were and wishes He could have done something about it.

What ever happened to the God of the Bible? This God seems to be a different sort of God than the one of which we’re hearing from Christians. This is what God says about Himself in the words of Scripture:

Do you not know? Have you not heard? Has it not been declared to you from the beginning? Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth? It is He who sits above the vault of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers, who stretches out the heavens like a curtain and spreads them out like a tent to dwell in. He it is who reduces rulers to nothing, who makes the judges of the earth meaningless. Scarcely have they been planted, scarcely have they been sown, scarcely has their stock taken root in the earth, but He merely blows on them, and they wither, and the storm carries them away like stubble. "To whom then will you liken Me that I should be his equal?" says the Holy One (Isa. 40:21-25).

Have you not heard? Long ago I did it, from ancient times I planned it. Now I have brought it to pass, that you should turn fortified cities into ruinous heaps. Therefore their inhabitants were short of strength, they were dismayed and put to shame; they were as the vegetation of the field and as the green herb, as grass on the housetops is scorched before it is grown up (Isa. 37:26-27).

I am the LORD, and there is no other, the One forming light and creating darkness, causing well-being and creating calamity; I am the LORD who does all these (Isa. 45:6-7).

These are words from Isaiah, but they are God speaking about Himself. He says that from His viewpoint human beings are “like grasshoppers”. He says that He “reduces rulers to nothing”. He says that He destroys their crops. He says that He plans to destroy their fortified cities, and He brings it to pass. In Isaiah 45, God Himself declares that He creates calamity. This is the image God is presenting concerning Himself.

Does God cause bad things? It is important, in answering the question, that we understand that God does not cause sin. Very clearly, “God cannot be tempted by evil, and He Himself does not tempt anyone.” (James 1:13) But don’t be deceived into believing that God does not cause unpleasant events. He says He creates calamity. And even in the sin of Man, God is not out of control. He doesn’t cause evil, but He surely ordains it. Our clearest proof is our most blessed event, the death of Christ. No sin was more heinous than Judas Iscariot’s betrayal of Christ. Of this event, Jesus said, “For indeed, the Son of Man is going as it has been determined; but woe to that man by whom He is betrayed!" (Luke 22:22) In other words, God planned for Judas to do what Judas would do. It was foreordained. Judas still bore the responsibility of his choice (“Woe to that man by whom He is betrayed!"), but his sin did not mean a deviation from God’s plan.

Do not be deceived. God is sovereign. He plans the events that bring us happiness. He plans the events that bring us sorrow. It is all in His hand, and it is good.

Solomon writes on the same topic in Ecclesiastes.

Consider the work of God, for who is able to straighten what He has bent? In the day of prosperity be happy, but in the day of adversity consider -- God has made the one as well as the other so that man may not discover anything that will be after him (Eccl. 7:13-14).

Solomon claims that God has made both the day of prosperity and the day of adversity. He claims that God does it for a reason.

Interestingly, throughout Scripture we see people who understand this and accept it. Job says, “The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away. Blessed be the Name of the Lord” (Job 1:21). We would look puzzled at Job. “The Lord took away? And you say He is to be blessed?” But God’s perspective on Job’s comment is “Through all this Job did not sin” (Job 1:22). We see the same concept from Sarah in Genesis. She tells her husband, “The Lord has made me barren” (Gen. 16:2). Clearly Sarah is not happy about it, but there are two features present that we lack today. First is the absolute certainty that God is in charge. It wasn’t “a fluke of nature” or “a string of bad luck”. The Lord did it. The second is that, while she may not have liked the condition, she accepted it and worked with it rather than complaining. She worked in the wrong direction, but to her it was not “unfair” of God to do what He had done. To her, God had the perfect right to do what He would do, and He did.

This God is a different God from what is being offered to many within the Church today. This God is a God who is intimately involved in everyday existence. This God doesn’t retreat from saying “I am the One creating calamity.” Instead we read that God “works all things after the counsel of His will” (Eph. 1:11). David rejoiced in the knowledge that God had ordained all his days (Psa. 139:16).

Consider Daniel’s viewpoint of his God:

The Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand, along with some of the vessels of the house of God; and he brought them to the land of Shinar, to the house of his god, and he brought the vessels into the treasury of his god (Dan. 1:2).

This is a key example of God at work. Today’s Christian would say “God does not do bad things; these things are caused by Man’s sinful Free Will.” The events described in Daniel are as bad as they come. Judah was overrun and sent into captivity. The Temple was overrun and its holy vessels were put to profane use in a pagan temple. It doesn’t get any worse. But Daniel starts with the very clear statement as to who was in charge in all of this. “The Lord gave” them over. It wasn’t pleasant, and it wasn’t pretty, but this same Daniel who believed that God had actually given His people into captivity and His holy vessels into pagan use still stood firm in his faith, as evidenced by the rest of the book of Daniel. In Daniel’s view, God Himself brought all this to pass, and in Daniel’s view God was allowed to do so – it was “fair”.

Consider Jeremiah’s viewpoint of his God:

He has filled me with bitterness, He has made me drunk with wormwood. And He has broken my teeth with gravel; He has made me cower in the dust. And my soul has been rejected from peace; I have forgotten happiness. So I say, "My strength has perished, and so has my hope from the LORD."

Remember my affliction and my wandering, the wormwood and bitterness. Surely my soul remembers and is bowed down within me. This I recall to my mind, therefore I have hope. The Lord's lovingkindnesses indeed never cease, for His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is Thy faithfulness. "The LORD is my portion," says my soul, "Therefore I have hope in Him." The LORD is good to those who wait for Him, to the person who seeks Him. It is good that he waits silently for the salvation of the LORD. It is good for a man that he should bear the yoke in his youth (Lam. 3:15-27).

Here we have Jeremiah standing in the ruins of his homeland. There is no doubt that Jeremiah is unhappy. Faith in God’s sovereignty does not necessarily mean bliss. He says he has no peace. He says that he has even lost hope. Then something occurs to him that renews his hope. What is that? “The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases. His mercies never come to an end. They are new every morning. Great is Thy faithfulness.” We know these words. They’re in our songs. But Jeremiah lived them. He understood that nothing around him brought comfort; nothing around him gave reason for hope that circumstances would improve. His single source of hope was in the simple, sure confidence that God was God. While we clamor for joy or peace or blessing, Jeremiah said, “I’ve lost all that . . . but God is good enough.” Paul says the same thing. “I count all things as loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ.” (Phil. 3:8) Knowing God is enough.

Consider Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego’s viewpoint of their God:

Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego answered and said to the king, "O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to give you an answer concerning this matter. If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the furnace of blazing fire; and He will deliver us out of your hand, O king. But even if He does not, let it be known to you, O king, that we are not going to serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up" (Dan. 3:16-18).

These three men stood on the brink of disaster. They were about to suffer a horrible death. So hot was the fire they were to face that it killed those who threw them into it. They spoke confidently, as we would have our heroes do. “Our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the furnace of blazing fire.” “You tell them, guys,” we cheer. “God can deliver you. Trust in Him.” We’re behind them. But they aren’t lost in a false sense of “God only wants us to be comfortable”. They recognize that this may not be His plan. “Even if He does not . . . we are not going to serve your gods.” Here we would typically draw the line. If God, in our estimation, is going to be fair to these guys, He must reward their faithfulness to Him by saving them. To do otherwise would not be right. Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego disagree. To them, God decides who lives and who dies, and God is just in doing so. His saving them from the fire is not the expected result of their faith. To them, this is right. Their God is the One who decides. Their God is right in what He decides.

This is not the vengeful God being portrayed on one end, the “hands off” God in the middle, or the “He loves us too much” God being offered on the other end. This is the God who is intimately involved in the everyday existence of human beings. This is the sovereign, omnipotent, omniscient God who brings both affliction and comfort, justice and mercy. This God answers our cries of “That’s not fair!” with the simple retort, “Who are you, O man, who answers back to God?” (Rom. 9:20) This God grants us suffering (Phil. 1:29). This is the God who leads us through the valley of the shadow of death. There may be painful and frightening things in this valley, but “I will fear no evil, for Thou art with me.” This is the sovereign Lord who “comforts us in all our afflictions” (2 Cor. 1:4) and provides a peace that passes understanding (Phil. 4:7) by never leaving or forsaking us (Heb. 13:5). We don’t have confidence in God because He makes us comfortable. We have confidence in God because He is God, because He is sovereign, and because He will always do what is best.

We have attempted to “fill in the blanks” where God is concerned, and we have failed badly. When some in Jesus’ day tried to do that, Jesus responded accordingly:

Now on the same occasion there were some present who reported to Him about the Galileans, whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. And He answered and said to them, "Do you suppose that these Galileans were greater sinners than all other Galileans, because they suffered this fate? I tell you, no, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. Or do you suppose that those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them, were worse culprits than all the men who live in Jerusalem? I tell you, no, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish" (Luke 13:1-5).

Jesus’ disciples made the same mistake with the man born blind.

His disciples asked Him, saying, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he should be born blind?" Jesus answered, "It was neither that this man sinned, nor his parents; but it was in order that the works of God might be displayed in him” (John 9:2 3).

In both cases, people grossly misjudged the circumstances. As Job’s “friends” who gathered to inform him that his suffering was the result of his sin, these assumed that bad things do not happen to good people. The premise is “If something bad happens to you, it’s because you did something wrong.” Jesus disagrees. “Do you suppose that these Galileans were greater sinners than all other Galileans, because they suffered this fate?” Jesus makes two clear points. First, not all unhappy events are punishment from God. Second, we all deserve unhappy events. We have tricked ourselves into believing that we deserve pleasant circumstances, and God is unfair or angry if we don’t get them. What we have missed is that we deserve Hell, and any pleasant event in life is an act of sheer grace on God’s part.

In fact, Jesus holds that unpleasant events can actually be God’s plan, “in order that the works of God might be displayed.” From the perspective of our Lord Jesus, our dire circumstances are God’s opportunity to shine, to display His power, to show His strength. God told Paul, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness" (2 Cor. 12:9). We view our pain and suffering as things to escape. God views them as opportunities for Him to declare His glory.

Did God judge America? Perhaps. Or did He merely withdraw His hand of protection? Could be. But it is folly to try to explain God’s intent in the events of September 11 without a specific word from God. It is foolish to assume, for instance, that they are God’s judgments and chastening for specific sins. Instead, we need to recognize that every bad thing that happens is part of God’s curse upon humanity for our rebellion against Him in our father Adam. We dwell in a cursed world. So we should not jump to the conclusion that all bad things that happen are God’s acts of retribution for specific sinful actions. Jesus’ teaching in Luke 13:1-5 makes this clear. Every evil that befalls us beckons us to return to God Himself. We need to flee the anemic God offered by our therapeutic culture who loves everybody without discrimination. We need to flee the irate God of the other view that capriciously smites His enemies with wild abandon. The God we need is the God of Daniel, who sovereignly ordains calamity for good purposes. The God we need is the God of Jeremiah who removes tranquility while remaining faithful. The God we need is the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who may not meet our expectations of what we might like, but is certainly to be trusted to perform what is best. We need to see, with Joseph, that “you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good” (Gen. 50:20). This God is not a powerless god who cannot intervene, nor is He a “gentleman” who does not intervene. He is not subject to Man’s Free Will nor given to fits of temper. He is the LORD God Almighty (Rev. 4:8), the King of kings and Lord of lords (Rev. 17:14), the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end (Rev. 22:13). He is God of all, over all, through all, and in all (Eph. 4:5), for Whom and through Whom are all things (Heb. 2:10).

It is only in that sovereign, good, faithful God that we can find a peace that passes understanding in times of harsh crisis, and it is only that God that we can offer to the hurting world around us. Any other God is not God at all, but a caricature of the True God – an idol carved by human hands.

How Do You Live?

Former Christian musician, Keith Green ("former" in the sense of "He's gone to be with the Lord," not "former Christian"), asked, "How Can They Live Without Jesus?" I think it's a reasonable question. "How can they live without God's love?" I, for one, wouldn't make it. In a world gone crazy, the majority are happy with irrational excuses and surface pleasures, but if I didn't have a God who loved me and a Savior who saved me and a Lord who was over all and through all, this just wouldn't be tolerable. As Paul described the Gentiles in his letter to the Ephesians, I would be "separate from Christ, excluded from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world" (Eph 2:12). How do they do that?

In one verse, Green offers some possibilities.

Maybe they don't understand it
Or maybe they just haven't heard
Or maybe we're not doin' all we can
Living up to His Holy Word.

That one bothers me. We're often fed this notion that we're to blame. We're not doing enough. We're not taking the message out enough. We're not living it right. If only we did that, God could save more. It's a lie, you know. God isn't stuck up there, begging for help. He saves whom He will save without fail. It is true that we don't say it or live it sufficiently. We are horrible at the Great Commission. Some are good at "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation" (Mark 16:15), but that's not the Great Commission. The Great Commission is "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age" (Matt 28:19-20). "Preach the gospel" is only the start of the Great Commission. Making disciples ... teaching them to obey all ... that's another thing entirely. We do fall short and ought to ... you know ... obey better, but ... the lack of faith in Christ is not due to our shortcomings (Eph 2:1-3; 2 Cor 4:4).

So ... how do I live with Jesus? I make a practice of being filled with the Spirit (Eph 5:18) because I can't even get close to perfection on my own, and confessing sin (1 John 1:8-10) because ... I still sin. I ultimately rely on the only One who is able to perfect in me the good work He began (Php 1:6) as He conforms me daily into the image of His Son (Rom 8:28-30). Like Paul, I say, "Not that I have already obtained it or have already become perfect, but I press on so that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus" (Php 3:12), all the while counting on the God who works all things after the counsel of His will (Eph 1:11).

The Unexpected Standard

I started thinking about a little phrase in Scripture. In Romans, Paul writes, "Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life" (Rom 6:4). How many places does that (or something like it) occur? We're commanded to accept one another "as Christ also accepted us" (Rom 15:7). We're to "walk in love, just as Christ also loved you" (Eph 5:2). Husbands are to love their wives "as Christ" loved the church (Eph 5:23, 25). Jesus said, we are to love one another "even as I have loved you" (John 13:34). Paul told the Ephesians, "Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you" (Eph 4:32). There's a trend.

The phrase "do this as that" is a comparison phrase. That is, "do this" has a particular meaning, but "as that" adds the standard, the method. Don't "do this" any way you want ... do it "that" way. Over and over we are commanded to do things that are simple on the face of it. Accept one another, walk in love, love one another, forgive each other ... but those aren't "however you want." They are to a standard. They aren't "to the best of your ability." They are "as Christ." The method, the standard, we're supposed to meet is ... "as Christ."

That's a tall order. "As Christ." Like Jesus's instruction, "You are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect" (Matt 5:48). Another "as." Another impossible standard. Another reason we need to keep our eyes on Christ and rely on God's working within us .. the One who "is able to keep you from stumbling, and to make you stand in the presence of His glory blameless with great joy" (Jude 1:24).

Paul's Prayer

At the end of Paul's letter to Ephesus, he asks them to pray for him. Mind you, he's writing from Rome ... from imprisonment. So you can be sure he wants their prayers. What is it that Paul really wants from God?

With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints, and pray on my behalf, that utterance may be given to me in the opening of my mouth, to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains; that in proclaiming it I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak. (Eph 6:18-20)

Well ... that was unexpected. Did you notice? Paul doesn't ask for release. He doesn't ask for comfort or justice. He doesn't ask for anything at all ... for himself. He asks ... to be allowed to "speak boldly." He asks, as prisoner of the Lord (Eph 4:1), to be enabled and empowered to serve the Lord ... in chains. He saw himself as an ambassador, and that was more important than freedom.

We're not normally like that. We're normally requesting lots of pleasant outcomes. And I'm not suggesting that's a bad prayer. When Paul had his "thorn in the flesh" (2 Cor 12:7-8), he "implored the Lord three times that it might leave." Prayers for relief are normal, expected, even called for (Php 4:6). But my question ... for me ... is will I demand the answers I seek, or seek to please Him first? Will my highest desire be what I want from Him, or "not my will, but yours"? Will I say with Paul, "I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ's sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong" (2 Cor 12:10).

Hope

The "Weeping Prophet," Jeremiah, wrote Lamentations ... because he was lamenting. He was devastated about the destruction of Jerusalem. In the midst of it, Jeremiah writes about hope ... or, rather, the lack of it. That's right. Jeremiah says, "My soul has been rejected from peace; I have forgotten happiness. So I say, 'My strength has perished, And so has my hope from YHWH" (Lam 3:17-18). This prophet, this chosen mouthpiece of God, says his hope from YHWH has perished.

Biblical "hope" isn't your garden variety "hope." In English, "hope" is defined as "to cherish a desire with anticipation : to want something to happen or be true." That sounds right. But biblical hope has a different ... tint to it. The word in this text is "expectation." It is more than "to want something." It's expecting something. That is, it's not so much a question of "if," but "when." In the famous love chapter in 1 Corinthians, Paul writes, "But now faith, hope, love, abide these three; but the greatest of these is love" (1 Cor 13:13). That Greek word is "to anticipate" Again, not "if," but "when." Biblical "hope" is a certainty not yet become real.

Back, then, to Jeremiah. His "expectation" from the Lord has perished. But ... then ... he says, "Surely my soul remembers and is bowed down within me. This I recall to my mind, therefore I have hope" (Lam 3:20-21). What does Jeremiah recall that renews his hope ... his expectation of something good? "YHWH's lovingkindnesses indeed never cease, for His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness" (Lam 3:22-23) He says, "YHWH is my portion. Therefore I have hope in Him" (Lam 3:24). Not "things are gonna get better." Not "I'm sure He'll do what I want." No. "In this situation without hope, this despair, I find Him to be enough." What about you? His circumstances looked as bleak as they could be. He did not find hope there. He found it ... in God alone. He found God's reliable lovingkindness to be sufficient. He found that, simply having the Lord, he was satisfied. Do you? Are we satisfied with just Jesus? Or do we need more? Do we hope in just Him, or are we expecting ... something better?

Oh, No ... Not Again

Most of us are ... doing okay, right? I mean, nothing ... overwhelming. You know ... "I'm okay; you're okay." The basic "goodness of man." We're not ... that bad. Even Christians, who know better, don't really think they're that bad. Maybe not as good as, say, Jesus, but certainly better than others ... at least morally. I'm pretty sure if we're thinking that way we're badly mistaken.

I remember the first time I read Paul's 7th chapter in the epistle to Rome. You know ... Paul the Apostle. He talks about the difference of "spiritual" and "flesh" (Rom 7:14) and the problem that every single believer has ... "sin which dwells in me" (Rom 7:17). Wait ... Paul? Sin dwells in him? He explains. "For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not" (Rom 7:18). Paul ... we ... I have nothing good in the flesh. He goes on to say, "For the good that I want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want" (Rom 7:19). That ... is every one of us. Paul gets so frustrated with this constant battle inside him with sin that he cries, "Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death?" (Rom 7:24).

Have you ever been there? It should be every believer's constant problem. We never arrive. We never obtain sinless perfection. We never are perfectly loving God or our neighbors. We are constantly fighting sin. Hebrews says, "Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us" (Heb 12:1). Sin ... entangles us. So we look to our only solution ... Christ (Heb 12:2; Rom 7:25) If you're not conscious of your constant sin problem, you're complacent, not competent. If you are aware of it, I encourage you as I encourage myself ... run the race (Heb 12:1-2). We didn't get saved on our own. We won't endure on our own. He will do it. So ... we are to run with endurance ... repeatedly placing one foot in front of the other ... "fixing our eyes on Jesus."

News Weakly - 9/6/2025

Times Have Changed
Once again, "Emperor Trump" is being opposed by the justice system (puny emperor). A federal judge ruled his deployment of National Guard troops in Los Angeles was a violation of federal law. The argument was that it was "unprecedented" and potentially unconstitutional. It wasn't unprecedented. In 1965 President Johnson deployed troops in Alabama without the consent of the governor. He wasn't taken to court. So, clearly, this is an anti-Trump thing, not a legal issue.

No Kings
The "No Kings" crowd got another slap in the face when a federal judge voided Trump's freeze of $2.2 billion in funding for Harvard. This silly Judicial Branch keeps forgetting that Trump is an emperor and keeps bringing about ... checks and balances ... you know, like the system is supposed to work.

Unclear on the Concept
A thousand employees at the Department of Health and Human Services have demanded that their boss resign. Like that would happen in a corporation or any other business? They're angry because Secretary Kennedy is violating the Constitution. Now that's a new one. Where does "do medicine our way" come up in the Constitution?

Keep Playing the Trump Card
Some time ago, Trump asked to have the Epstein files released and was denied. Representative Massie is petitioning the same. Trump referred to the issue as a hoax. (I suspect "the issue" that is "a hoax" is not the Epstein crimes, but the constant efforts to drag the president into it.) I am not a "Trump guy," but this whole thing stinks. The Democrats and their Justice Departments have had this stuff for decades. They never trotted it out to torpedo Trump. The Justice Department (Republican and Democrat-led) never dragged Trump into it. Trump asked for the release of ... documentation of his guilt? Look, I know he's not a sexually moral guy, but when did we become the nation that believes in "guilty as soon as we feel like he is" without examining ... you know ... facts or evidence? It's painful and embarrassing to watch. (I also think the apparent run on "anti-Trump" news is a clear indicator of TDS -- Trump Derangement Syndrome -- as the Left media ramps up to destroy their most hated man and not for "justice.")

Unloving
Nine-year-old Renesmay Eutsey was found dead after being reported missing. They're charging her adoptive mother. Her adoptive mother ... someone who chose to adopt her. Also another adult woman. In Paul's second letter to Timothy, he warns that people will become evil in the last days (2 Tim 3:1-9). In that list of ways, he included "unloving" (2 Tim 3:3). The word is specifically "without natural affection" ... lacking familial affection. When a mother who adopts a child kills the child, it simply points to Paul's "last days" ... and breaks my heart.

Your Best Source for Fake News
I just had to snicker. The Bee has a story about Trump inviting doubting Democrats to touch the hole in his ear, linking the Bee's satirical claim that Trump claimed to have "done more for Christianity than Jesus," the current ongoing furor that the assassination attempt was a hoax, and, of course, Jesus and Thomas after the Resurrection. Perhaps sacrilegious, but ... I get it. On a completely different tangent, a celebrity mom is delighted to announce that her unborn baby is transexual ... after having three abortions. (Because, as we all know, "unborn" and "baby" is a non sequitur.) (Oh ... wait ... so is that "trans before birth" idea.) Finally, with the news that Greta Thunberg is going to Gaza (actual story), Hamas terrorists are distancing themselves from her. (She claims she's not an anti-Semite, but applauded a soccer team that urged the destruction of Israel. It's okay, Greta. We believe you. (wink).)

Must be true; I read it on the internet.

Current Events

This is just ... too easy.

But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come. For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power; Avoid such men as these. For among them are those who enter into households and captivate weak women weighed down with sins, led on by various impulses, always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so these men also oppose the truth, men of depraved mind, rejected in regard to the faith. (2 Tim 3:1-8)

Without a lot of comment ... it feels as if Paul wrote ... about our day. "Come, Lord Jesus" (Rev 22:20).

Love, Love, Love

We Christians love the topic of God's love. One of our favorite verses is "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life" (John 3:16). God ... loved the world. Scripture repeats this theme, like "We have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us. God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him" (1 John 4:16) and the remarkable, "But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ" (Eph 2:4-5). Just two of many. It's too bad, then, when the world steals this love from us and gives us a pitiful substitute.

As evidenced by the disheartening number of "Jesus is my boyfriend" songs (including Lana Del Rey's Jesus is My Boyfriend), too many of Christians have bought the notion that God's love for us is affectionate, even romantic in nature. It's not. And ... we know it. How? It recently occurred to me a "proof." At a wedding, the traditional vows promise "to love and to cherish, till death do us part." Now, think about that. Think about that with the "love is an emotion" template. We're promising to "have an intense feeling of deep affection" ... till death. No one can promise to feel anything, let alone "till death." No! Absolutely not! Because love isn't an intense feeling. It is a choice.

Recently in Scripture I've noted multiple places that offer a telling perspective on exactly what biblical love is. Of course, there is familial love and brotherly love and love for pizza, but I'm talking about this "till death" love ... the vowed unconditional love ... the love that God has. This perspective is actually repeated. Jesus told His disciples to love one another not just "as you love yourself," but "as I have loved you" (John 15:12). How is that? He died. Paul told husbands to love their wives "just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her" (Eph 5:25). He told the Ephesian Christians, "Walk in love, just as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma" (Eph 5:2). And Paul told the Philippians to have the mind of Christ that included emptying Himself (Php 2:5-8). Biblical love, then, isn't a feeling. It is an emptying of self in order to obtain the best for the loved one. Like Christ dying for us. Oh, that we would learn to walk in that love ... for Christ, for each other, for our spouses. It's a choice, you know. Don't buy the "feeling" version. Feelings occur, but biblical love is a choice you can make.

Worthy

In Revelation there is a scene in heaven involving "myriads of myriads, and thousands of thousands." They said in a loud voice, "Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing" (Rev 5:12). Now, "worthy" isn't a complex word. In fact, it practically defines itself. It refers to something ... of worth. The original Old English word for "worship" meant "the condition of being worthy." Originally, "worship" meant "to acknowledge someone's worth."

It makes sense. God is of ultimate worth. I mean ... there is no one and nothing of higher worth. He is all in all, over all. From Him, through Him, and to Him are all things (Rom 11:36). "To Him be the glory forever." So ... worship -- the recognition of His worth-ship -- is rational ... even mandatory. So ... how did "worship" come to be defined as "singing"? The original Hebrew term was literally to "bow down." "Come, let us worship and bow down" (Psa 95:6) simply says "bow down" twice for emphasis. That is, Old Testament "worship" began with "on my face before God." And music was often employed, as the existence of the Psalms shows. But worship wasn't defined as "music." Rather, music had to be defined as worship when it drew attention to ... God's worth-ship. And we are commanded to speak to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs (Eph 5:19; Col 3:16), so songs as worship aren't wrong ... they just don't define worship.

My point here isn't music. My point here is worship as a function of "worthy." Jesus said, "Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also" (Matt 6:21). That which we treasure will be the place that we love to be. Therefore, if God is our ultimate treasure, there is nowhere else our hearts would want to be. That would obviously not be limited to Sunday mornings (or whatever tradition you're used to). It would be all the time. It would not be limited to singing. It would be in any and every form that glorifies God. It would not be a simple, emotional response. It would be a life llved "on our faces," so to speak, constantly aware of His magnificence and our need for Him. Our failure to worship like that isn't a symptom of a bad definition. It's a symptom of our inadequate love for Him ... our inadequate treasuring of the God who made us.

Armed and Ready

Paul has that whole, famous, "Whole Armor of God" passage in Ephesians. It's interesting to look at. Like, the point of the armor is that we're not facing flesh and blood (Eph 6:11-12). We're not facing gun problems or bad politicians or crime or the Christian-hating world. We're facing demonic powers. Much bigger. Much worse. Much beyond our capacity. So we're to "be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might" (Eph 6:10) and not our own. It's interesting that the armor isn't for charging the enemy. It is intended so that "you will be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm" (Eph 6:13). Stand firm? What happened to "onward Christian soldiers"? No ... stand.

The armor itself is notable (Eph 6:14-17). Most of it comes from Old Testament references. All of it is essential ("whole armor of God" -- verses 11 and 13). I imagine Paul sitting there, writing from the Roman prison where he's chained to two Roman soldiers. "How can I tell them about this idea? Oh, I know. These two guys are perfectly outfitted." Maybe. But each piece has its specific purpose. A belt to hold you together (truth). A breastplate to protect your vital parts (righteousness). Shoes so you can run on uneven ground (the preparation of the gospel). The shield to defend against launched weapons (faith). A helmet to protect your mind (salvation). And, of course, the sword ... our only offensive weapon (the word of God). So truth holds you together, righteousness protects your "vitals," preparing to give the gospel helps you run, faith shields you, and your mind is protected ... by salvation.

It was interesting to me specifically on that "shield of faith." In Genesis, God comes to Abram and says, "Do not fear, Abram, I am a shield to you; Your reward shall be very great." (Gen 15:1) That's interesting. Perfect, in fact. If our "shield" is God Himself, He is perfect for defending against Satan's attacks (Eph 6:16). It would seem, then, that our perfect shield is our shield ... as long as we trust Him. Faith holds the shield in front of us. If we trust Him fully, He fully protects us (1 John 5:18). That's good to know. We need this armor. All of it. We need the word of God. All of it. But we suffer from delusions of adequacy and think, "I've got this." We don't. Put on the armor.

Standing

In Ephesians, Paul opens with this glorious,

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ. (Eph 1:3)

Really remarkable. "Has blessed us." Not "will bless us." He already has. And "every spiritual blessing." Not holding back. He lists some of those spiritual blessings in the following verses (Eph 1:4-14). But there's an interesting repetition.

Paul says He has blessed us "in Christ." That is, the blessings we have are found in Christ. Only those in Christ receive those blessings. But Paul hits this theme hard. In the examples that follow, Paul says "in Him" or "in Christ" or "in the Beloved" seven times. That's real repetition. Why? Because our blessings which we already have are a product of our standing in Christ. The fundamental message of the book seems to be our standing in Christ. That is, Christ is definitely the focus, and our position in Him is essential.

This becomes really important in the "application" portion of the letter. He spends the first three chapters telling us our position in Christ. Then he says, "Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called" (Eph 4:1). He calls for a lot in this walk, but it only becomes possible if we begin "in Christ." It only makes sense if we are positionally and permanently in Him. And we are. So, for instance, we can "stand firm against the schemes of the devil" (Eph 6:11) because we are "in Him." It's the only place we can stand. It's important, then, that we remind ourselves that it's not us. It's not our strength. But ... in Christ, we can stand in our struggle against the dark forces (Eph 6:12).

Be Still

You know the psalm. "Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!" (Psa 46:10). Simple, straightforward. Very significant, especially in our world today. "Be still." The word is probably best translated "cease." That's fine. Same thing. Cease striving. Stop wrestling with your problems, your life. Be still. Frankly we all like to think that's possible.

The difficulty for us is the "how." "Yes, thanks, I'd like to be still ... to cease striving. But ... how?" The answer is right there. "Know that I am God." It's simple ... yet incredibly profound ... and not very easy for humans. He says that if we know God -- who He is, what He's like, His capabilities and character -- we can ... stop striving. Be still. God "works all things according to the counsel of His will" (Eph 1:11). All things. Every time. Never fails. That's a comfort. He gives good gifts (James 1:17), supplies every need (Php 4:19), always works all things for good (Rom 8:28), withholds nothing good (Rom 8:32), and on and on and on. Tell me again why I'm struggling?

I suppose part of the problem is the "why," too. Why should we trust Him? Why does He do it? Well ... good news! It's not because we're so good. He does it so that "I will be exalted among the nations." He does it for His glory. And if there's anything He cares most about, it's His glory (Isa 42:8). Count on it. We can rest ... cease ... be still. How? By knowing God. Why? Because He always does what's best ... for His glory. And that should be great for us. Know God and be still. We think we know Him, but ... do we? Or is it that we just don't trust?

News Weakly - 8/30/2025

Breaking the Mold
Two kids were killed and 18 injured when a transgender shooter opened fire in a Catholic school mass. Tragic. When AI was asked a theoretical question whether it would choose to save 1 million men or one transgender, the AI "wisely" chose the transgender because we all know transgender people are better people than ... men. Except ... it's not true. Apparently there are bad people everywhere.

Orange Man Bad
The headline reads, "Trump ends security protection for former Vice President Harris," the scum. What it doesn't say is that Biden had quietly extended protection beyond the usual period. It's typically 6 months (ending in July), but Biden extended it to next January. Trump merely set it back to ... normal. Oh, the humanity!!

Like Normal
The Texas House passed a bill that would require male bathrooms be used by males and female bathrooms be used by females. Like ... normal people would do. Why does the media refer to it as "restrictions on transgender people" and not, say, women who want to use men's restrooms? Oh ... because those have always been in place. Like normal. So "transgender" isn't ... normal.

What's That Now?
A federal appeals court has declared Trump's tariffs to be illegal use of emergency power. See? Not an emperor. The system is working ... sort of. "Sort of" because they decided to leave them in place for now. What? So much for a "justice" system.

Your Best Source for Fake News
Trump got a few zings from the Bee. In one story he's promising to defeat socialism by nationalizing as many private companies as possible (a la Intel). In the other, Trump has unveiled his giant cannon for faster and more entertaining deportations. That's just funny right there. I did like Trump's plan to dumb down the Chinese by inviting them to attend American universities. Seems reasonable. So, just to "balance the books" as it were, I'll add one more on how Democrats are calling for common-sense prayer control in light of the school shooting in Minneapolis.You know ... the logic of the left.

Must be true; I read it on the internet.

Biblical Pottery

Scripture has two passages about God as a potter. (More than two, but two I'm highlighting.) In Isaiah we read, "Woe to the one who quarrels with his Maker—An earthenware vessel among the vessels of earth! Will the clay say to the potter, 'What are you doing?' Or the thing you are making say, 'He has no hands'?" (Isa 45:9). "Woe" is a significant term in biblical terms. It refers not to "sad," but to judgment. That makes this text ominous. What category of people are under judgment? The clay that decries the potter's work. "What are you doing?" Understand we're not talking about a question for information. We're talking about a judgment on God's work. "You don't know what you're doing!" Or "He has no hands!" Those people, in this text, are under judgment.

There is a similar text in Romans.

You will say to me then, "Why does He still find fault? For who resists His will?" On the contrary, who are you, O man, who answers back to God? The thing molded will not say to the molder, "Why did you make me like this," will it? Or does not the potter have a right over the clay, to make from the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for common use? What if God, although willing to demonstrate His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction? (Rom 9:19-22)

Paul is answering objections here to the notion that God chooses whom He will save. He chose Jacob over Esau (Rom 9:10-13). "That's not fair!" (Rom 9:14) Paul answers with "So then it does not depend on the man who wills or the man who runs, but on God who has mercy" (Rom 9:15-18). Then this objection. "If God chooses, how can He hold us responsible?" Without a logical argument explaining it, Paul answers, "Are you really going to answer back to God?" And he uses this pottery metaphor. God has the right to make what He wants. The first difficulty is the apparent claim that He makes some for honorable use and others for common use. God ... makes them ... for that use. Is that okay with you? He explains the two uses in the text. Common use: vessels of wrath prepared for destruction (Rom 9:22). Honorable use: vessels of mercy "which He prepared beforehand for glory" (Rom 9:23). Does God have that right? Paul assumes it outright. "Who are you, O man, who answers back to God?"

My point here isn't the doctrine of election. My point here is the notion of being clay in God's hands. My point is whether or not we will challenge God -- "What are you doing?", or "Why did you make me like this?" -- or will we allow the potter His right to do what He wants with what is clearly His? Will you let Him act as He will, or will you challenge His choice? The latter is ... dangerous. It causes ... woe.

Imitators

Ephesians 5 begins with a somewhat startling command.

Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. (Eph 5:1)

"Wait ... what? Be ... imitators of God?" That's the command. What does it mean?

The verse begins, "Therefore." What for? Well, chapter 4 ends with, "Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you" (Eph 4:32). We are to forgive as God in Christ has forgiven us. That's what the "therefore" is there for. That word, "forgive," is interesting. It's not the word Jesus used when He taught His disciples to pray. Remember? "And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors" (Mat 6:12). That "forgive" is aphiēmi. It means "to send away," as in "send away their transgressions." But in Ephesians 4, Paul uses charizomai -- "grace." Isn't that interesting? So we're supposed to "give grace to each other just as God in Christ also has given grace to us." Be imitators of God.

Paul, of course, clarifies further. "And walk in love, just as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma" (Eph 5:2). That's an "and." "In addition." So, we are to be imitators of God by giving grace generously and by loving as Christ loved. How? "Gave ... self ... up." Wow! We are to imitate God by giving self up for others. Paul told the Philippians, "With humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves" (Php 2:3). Yeah ... like that. It's not natural and it's not easy, but ... it's commanded. Will we ... be imitators of God? I wouldn't recommend the alternative.

Why Ask Why?

Luke includes two exclusive accounts at the beginning of his Gospel. One is the birth of John the Baptist foretold (Luke 1:5-25) and the other is the birth of Jesus foretold (Luke 1:26-38). Both involve a highly doubtful prophecy given to an individual by the angel,Gabriel (Luke 1:11, 26). The first was announced to the priest, Zechariah, while he performed duties in the temple. He was told his wife would bear a son, John (Luke 1:13). The second was announced to Mary betrothed to Joseph (Luke 1:27) that she would bear a son, Jesus (Luke 1:31). Both ... were puzzled. Both asked a similar question. Zechariah asked, "How shall I know this?" (Luke 1:18) and Mary asked, "How will this be?" (Luke 1:34). One was struck dumb (Luke 1:20) and the other was given assurances (Luke 1:35-37). What was the difference? Clearly, Zechariah, was questioning God's reliability while Mary was questioning God's method. Two very different outcomes.

I recently saw a discussion on a controversial theological concept with the question, "If this is true, is God just?" You see, that's a questionable question ... but we ask it ... or ones like it ... all the time. The problem is the premise. Zechariah challenged God. "If it doesn't make sense to me, how can I trust it?" Mary simply asked for information, where she concludes, "Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word" (Luke 1:38). "Whatever You say, Lord." We dare to put God to the test ... the test of our personal judgment. "How can God do that to someone?" "If it doesn't meet my idea of just, it's not just." "God, You say the gospel is for everyone, but I don't see it." Over and over, we challenge God, requiring Him to meet our requirements. We ask "Why?" for all the wrong reasons.

Zechariah would offer a word of warning. Go ahead and ask for information, for clarification, for data ... but ... don't challenge God. He doesn't have to meet your standards of verification. You, on the other hand, had better submit to His. We tend to think He's a human, just like us, in many ways (Psa 50:21). But He doesn't answer to us. He's too wise to be mistaken and too good to be unkind. He's perfectly Sovereign and always does what's best. We can ask, but we shouldn't question. Do you see the difference?

Double Predestination?

We all know that "predestination" is an invention of John Calvin and only Calvinists buy into it. Well ... most of us. And, of course, we'd be wrong. It's not a Calvinist invention. It's not even a Pauline invention. God practiced it when He saved Noah and when He called Abraham. Throughout the Old Testament God kept choosing people, not because of their deeds, but because of His mercy. Jesus expressed it clearly in the New Testament. "You did not choose Me but I chose you, and appointed you that you would go and bear fruit, and that your fruit would remain, so that whatever you ask of the Father in My name He may give to you" (John 15:16). That's only one example. It's in multiple places in the Gospels. The disciples affirmed it after He ascended. They agreed with God that He had anointed Jesus and appointed the Jews "to do whatever Your hand and Your purpose predestined to occur" (Acts 4:27-28). So Paul just ran with it. He referred often to believers as "chosen" or "elect." He assured the Ephesians that they were chosen and predestined (Eph 1:4-5). He said, "So then it does not depend on the man who wills or the man who runs, but on God who has mercy" (Rom 9:16). It's not Calvin. It's God.

There is a corollary that is disturbing. Paul told the Ephesians they were "chosen before the foundation of the world." John warned, "If anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire" (Rev 20:19) and that book was "written from the foundation of the world" (Rev 13:8). God has chosen. He has chosen in advance. He has chosen not on the basis of our choice or actions. But this suggests ... requires? ... the opposite, doesn't it? Doesn't it imply that ... others are not chosen? Well, no, not imply ... it is true. But doesn't that mean that, one way or another, others are predestined ... to damnation? The biblical answer is ... yes. Jude wrote, "For certain persons have crept in unnoticed, those who were long beforehand marked out for this condemnation, ungodly persons who turn the grace of our God into licentiousness and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ" (Jude 1:4). Ouch. Doing a language dance, many have assured us that's not what it means ... but the language is unavoidable. "Long beforehand." Before time. The King James Version says "before of old." No matter where you put "before of old," it precedes the people about whom this is written. So they were "marked out" before they existed for ... condemnation. When their names were not written in the book of life before time ... the outcome was predetermined.

Now, this does not require action on the part of God. It doesn't require that God actively blocks people from the kingdom. In order for anyone to be saved, they must, in Jesus's words, "be born again" (John 3:3-15). They must be "born of God" (1 John 5:1). That requires action on God's part. That requires divine intervention. If God does not intervene ... the outcome is certain, but not because He didn't intervene. It's because of their sin (Rom 3:23; 6:23). So God doesn't cause anyone to go to hell. That is their own choosing. But it is as certain as His choice of you (1 Thess 1:4).

The Jabberwocky

by Lewis Carroll
(from Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There, 1872)

`Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.

"Beware the Jabberwock, my son!
The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!
Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun
The frumious Bandersnatch!"

He took his vorpal sword in hand:
Long time the manxome foe he sought --
So rested he by the Tumtum tree,
And stood awhile in thought.

And, as in uffish thought he stood,
The Jabberwock, with eyes of flame,
Came whiffling through the tulgey wood,
And burbled as it came!

One, two! One, two! And through and through
The vorpal blade went snicker-snack!
He left it dead, and with its head
He went galumphing back.

"And, has thou slain the Jabberwock?
Come to my arms, my beamish boy!
O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!'
He chortled in his joy.

`Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.


I really enjoy this poem, but I can't tell you why. It's amazing to me that you get a sense of fear, of suspense, of joy ... all from a nonsense poem. None of it makes real sense, but you get the sense of it. Now, that's talent. Thanks, Mr. Carroll.

The Perfect When

Paul wrote, "When the fullness of time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons" (Gal 4:4-5). That phrase, "the fullness of time," is interesting, isn't it? What is it? Simply put, it's "the perfect when."

Think about it. We're not too keen on "the perfect when." "What do we want?" we cry, followed by, "When do we want it? Now!" Even so with God. "Lord, answer my prayer ... the way I want ... now." We never say that, but it's there because 1) if He answers it in a different way we consider it an "unanswered prayer" and 2) we complain when it's not ... "timely."

I want to be satisfied with my God's timing. I want to be content with His methods. I want to ... "prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect" (Rom 12:2). Some call it blind faith. I think I have enough life-evidence to have good reason to trust Him. I want to declare with Job, "YHWH gave and YHWH has taken away. Blessed be the name of YHWH" (Job 1:21).

News Weakly - 8/23/2025

Standing Up
The American Academy of Pediatrics has broken with the CDC on their recommendation for COVID-19 for children ages 6 months to 2 years. They're urging the need to get them vaccinated. Mind you, children under the age of 11 had the absolute lowest infection rates and deaths, but our wise and benevolent Big Pharma ... I'm sorry ... American Pediatricians urge you vaccinate your impressively safe little ones with a vaccine that doesn't prevent the disease it's supposed to vaccinate against because ... well ... "we say so."

Saying No
I read the story of the federal judge who ruled against Alina Habba, a Trump appointee, serving as U.S. attorney for New Jersey. I didn't find the rationale. It's disturbing. I'd think a conscientious judge would offer more than "I think she's operating without lawful authority." It couldn't be just an anti-Trump ruling, could it? We'll see as the legal dispute rolls on.

Going About It All Wrong
I watched on the news as federal officers began patrolling in Washington D.C. One protester had a sign urging them to get the criminal element out of D.C. with a reference to the Epstein Files ... because much of America has already convicted Trump without evidence. Like good Americans should. "Guilty without being proven." So now the DOJ has released more Epstein files ... which continue to exonerate Trump ... you know ... on that accusation. But, don't worry. Our futile-minded generation can't be bothered with evidence.

In the Spirit of Free Enterprise
I don't get this. Trump apparently has negotiated a deal with INTEL for a 10% stake in the company. Now, why the federal government would want this in a free enterprise system or why taxpayers would have to pay for this eludes me. And you guys think I like Trump.

Your Best Source for Fake News
The Bee got a bit too real this time. They did a story on a guy who said he didn't have room in his budget for tithing because they're currently spending $30K a year on travel baseball. Hey ... that's meddling! Then, in a move that's sure to anger a lot of people, God has agreed to let Trump into heaven if he repents of his sin and trusts in Christ alone for salvation. God should expect the wrath of the "cancel culture." Finally, Chuck Schumer is confident that he has never felt in danger walking in D.C. ... with his 10 bodyguards.

Must be true; I read it on the internet.

Live Here

You've probably seen this verse.

Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things. The things you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you. (Php 4:8-9)

It's not exotic, complicated, "sketchy." There are no controversial words or strange varieties of concepts. It's really hard to find something with which to argue, "Sure, it says that, but it doesn't really mean that." It's just ... straightforward. "Dwell on these things."

So ... why don't we? Why do we dwell on the false, the dishonorable, the wrong? Oh, we do it to defend against them, but ... that's not what it says. Don't dwell there. Could it be that dwelling on these things prevents us from falling victim to their opposites? Paul says if we do this, "the God of peace will be with you." That seems like a real benefit. And still we seem to lean more toward dwelling on the negatives. "What's wrong?" rather than "What's right?" Would we find it easier to love others if we dwelled on those things? Would we be better at following God if we got our eyes off the world's evils? Why is it so difficult to dwell on the good rather than the bad?