"BYE" LINES

  Iona’s intended blessing, in reverse order:

“WERE THE WHOLE REALM/OF NATURE MINE

THAT WERE AN OFFERING/MUCH TOO SMALL

LOVE SO AMAZING, SO DIVINE/DEMANDS MY SOUL, MY LIFE, MY ALL

 

SEE FROM HIS HEAD/HIS HANDS, HIS FEET

SORROW  AND LOVE/FLOW MINGLED DOWN

DID E’ERE SUCH LOVE/AND SORROW MEET

OR THORNS COMPOSE/SO RICH A CROWN?

 

FORBID IT LORD/THAT I SHOULD BOAST

SAVE IN THE DEATH/OF CHRIST MY LORD

ALL THE VAIN THINGS/THAT CHARM ME MOST

I SACRIFICE THEM/TO HIS BLOOD

 

WHEN I SURVEY/THE WONDROUS CROSS

ON  WHICH THE PRINCE/OF GLORY DIED

MY RICHEST GAIN/I COUNT BUT LOSS

AND POUR CONTEMPT/ON ALL MY PRIDE

 

(Riches I heed not/nor man’s empty praise

Be Thou my inheritance/now and always)

"BILL E. SUNDAY SPECIAL

First Samuel One

“Heard of God”   yet subject to Eli.

We live of course in a strange, unnatural, violent and profane world; one full of “leaders” like Eli’s sons, Hophni and Phineas.  In such a world, it is hard to make Godly requests, like Hannah’s, without advanced travail and many tears.  After the events of Judges, it would be easy to give up, and think that Israel, the whole nation, was doomed to failure, throttling itself in its own cradle, as Hercules was said to have strangled a large snake in his bower of infancy.  The Lord’s gift of strength, like all His good gifts, is more often misused than used in any form of holiness and obedience.

 

“So now I give him to the Lord. For his whole life he will be given over to the Lord.”

 

It is interesting to note in the commentary that before God gave Israel its first king, He prepared the nation in one striking way: He instituted the office of the prophet first; and the kings and the priests, who had been and would be corrupt most of the time, would have some pre-provided “informants for God,”  who, like Elisha who would be informed by God of what the Syrian king was saying in his bedroom; hence would be God’s voice and charge to all kings;  And Samuel would know, like Jesus would see  Nathanael by the fig tree, what Saul was not only doing, but thinking.  He could see, by God’s Spirit, into the heart of the king and act like Nathan would act towards David a few years later:  “ ‘Thou art the man.’”—with the heart of darkness.

It says in the NT that those who follow Christ and believe His Words have become temples and priests and kings.  But not all are prophets, as Paul wisely pointed out.  In fact, for 400 years before Christ, there were no significant prophets recorded.  The Temple itself had been overrun by Greeks and Romans, and what remained, except for a few men like Simeon and a few women like Anna, was largely functioning without prophets and without the Holy Spirit, since the time of Malachi. (Herod was given John the Baptist as a prophet, and  the outcome presaged Jesus’.) The last prophet, Zechariah, was murdered by the descendants of “Hophni and Phineas” on the very steps of Herod’s (Herod’s Indeed!) Temple.

Many in our day have been “nominated” for the office of prophet:  Alexander  Solzhenitsyn,  Charles Colson, David Wilkerson, and many other great pastors or even Christian philosophers and intellectuals and scientists.  Yet if one would ask them if they were prophets, they would all deny it.  Yet Paul declared that some have that gift.  Is that, um, “for today?”

Then again:  is there any substitute now, for The Holy Spirit?  Do we need a priest to mediate our relationship to Christ? (No, but a mentor and good Biblically based teaching are good, mostly) Are we cast back, like Hannah and Anna, on our knees, needing to hear from the Lord as the Lord intended by sending Christ, and then the Comforter.  And how many tears have we shed along our ways?—not so many as Hannah, I am sure!

It is all too human to want an intermediary; and God has for 4000 plus years, accommodated our profound core weaknesses, and our desires for the directorship of a human dictatorship.  But those millennia are drawing to a rapid close, and God wants us to start to “know Him as we are known,” for soon “all will know Him, from the least to the greatest,” and God is pouring “His Spirit out on all flesh.”

 If so, do we not, also by The Spirit, have to be our own prophets? To rebuke, annoy, and deny the worldishness and  the would- be dictators of our flesh within us, our “wicked kings a-many?”

 

I don’t know. I’m just asking.  Maybe the answer is obvious. But I do know that we are responsible to The Spirit, not just to the Letter of the Law.

Much less to anything I might say here, or elsewhere.

He was, John the Baptist, “a voice of one calling in the wilderness, make straight the path for the Lord.” (Isaiah, the real prophet of Christ.)  Are we called—genuinely called—to do the same?

 

THE POLLY TICKLE HEART OF WALT KELLY, INK

Satan Swiles

GOD-- ‘SWORD

GOD—SWARD

GOD’S –WARD

GOD—WARD

ET ALL

 

LIGHT—AND THAT MORE ABUNDANTLY, MORE THAN ABUNDANTLY.

FLOOD—LIGHTS

TSUNAMI OF LIGHT? (no; flood-lite)

 

GLOBAL  FLOOD? (no, more than a “mabul.”)

 

When one looks out, or magnifies even the vicinity of lightless Pluto, what does one see?  A vast and numberless crowd of lights and more behind and between them.  The more we magnify and see, the more light we see, no matter in which direction we look. A planet or a moon may shade us—but cannot shield us more than Ayer’s rock in a weary Australia.

 It can be said that we do not “see” darkness. We have rods and cones for light-detection; but no darkness-receptors. “The Light Shines in the darkness, and no one can put it out.”

I am not looking at laser-light, or the intense and misplaced lights which, like cloudbursts in the desert, wreak destruction.  Yet the Direct Light of God, if not veiled, would have destroyed even Moses in the desert. And even more so, his rebellious cohorts, who could not even stand the Sounds of GOD or the Clouds that surrounded Him, for their protection, at Sinai. This, too, is a mystery. Faith needed!

No, I am speaking of the Light that gives Life, to the smallest leaf or euglena, down to the deepest roots of the largest tree...and the LIGHT of a different quantum level entirely, that put such energy-balls where they could bless us. We are to blame if we get too much, or gather too much like manna, or keep others out of the Light they need. Jesus is the Rock, not us. When we need shade He provides it in the best way--that we cannot see. (See above)

 

But when Jesus went into the desert, even in his most humble state, He “outshone the sun,” and “Lucifer” (the reflected light  of a lunatic spirit) all at the same time; while still merely a man of flesh and blood like all of us, whose existence is a delicate suspension of the dangers of extinction that surround us, “day and night.” (Yet what or who can un-make the soul?)

We are still continually enjoined by  the “loon-in-the-moon,”  to be enamored and moonstruck by his pitiful by-products; tempting us with the lowest form of sub-animal pride in an existence which, sans God, is an utter absurdity. And yes, I do mean  most forms of politics; the lowest forms, and the most destructive though tiny human mabul, of all endeavor; and the very thing that Jesus opposed during His Entire Ministry—then, and now.

I wish I could find the spoof of Pogo, by Mad Magazine in its earliest manifestation, in which a tadpole in a jar keeps telling Pogo, “Now don’ go ‘round messin’ with politics, Gopo.”  (“Gopo” being the spoof name for Pogo.)  The Mad strip ends with the swamp folk fleein’ a mushroom cloud. “I tole you and I tole you…don’ go….

No apologies to those whose heart and soul and spirit are taken up with the sad  and sad and frustrated nexus of political religion, and religious politics.  Man is always  unjust, unfair, and selfish:  and cannot be tempted by the cries of their fellow-men who suffer under them, and see killing fields all around  them. The Light will go elsewhere—“all these things” are sheer lunacy, ink…

 

 

HOTEL CALIFORNIA TARGET HEART BEAT

Exercise Room?  Room for exercise?  Which muscle group needs it the most?

“Bodily exercise profits a little…”

The story is told of the family doctor who was attending a dying patient; and took the opportunity to give his message one more time about diet and exercise.

“Zombie Chemotherapy”

 

When one gets to a certain point, the preachments of McMedicine no longer have relevance, and seem darkly ironic. And if what we see is what we get, we despair.

Nevertheless, we walk not by sight but by faith.

Let me invent here two more phrases that will illustrate our default position in this regard:

Micro Exercise;

And Nano Prayer.

 

“Small Businesses” indeed!

Why is our exercise regimen dictated by Big Business?  And if our exercise of faith is so pitiful, what of our spiritual diet?  Is it not thin gruel indeed, compared to what God is serving?

And then there is the Joy.  Man was made for joy; and we know it when we see it; so obviously the potential is there, just as much as a uterus suggests the power to gestate a child (or two; or three; etc)

It is not overly difficult to see what we are made for; all we need is one or two examples to get our attention; but is it not also true that a dying culture and a degenerating genome would put us, uh, “off-function,” as well as off-message?  And what can you say of a society that defies its own DNA; as mutated as it may be?  If we can’t even follow our physical program, how can we hope to cope with or follow anything higher or more organized than that?

 

Paraphrasing Jesus:  “If you do not believe Me about physical things, how then will you believe anything right spiritually?”

I feel particularly acutely today that I am still way too full of myself to be anything but spirit-flabby.

If Christ does not have a progressively complete controlling ownership inside, then “in me dwelleth no good thing;” something I realized 30 plus years ago; yet when Christ comes will he find me in the Faith Exercise Room of this grimy “Hotel California”? Will I not lift a finger, as Jesus said of the lawyers and teachers and rulers of His days on earth, to help anyone else to Real Health; compared to which what medicine per se has to offer may be of no more ultimate value than the Health Points earned on a video game?

Every moment of every passing day, I have a choice.  It is time to start making time to listen to God more than I talk to Him; and talk to Him thoroughly before I approach my neighbor.  Who else would know better what my neighbor actually needs?  (Hint: my neighbor, like unto me, probably has less of an idea than most as to what s/he actually needs—“felt needs” may be an entryway; but never stop there; esp. in prayer.  May the Holy Spirit guide us—that’s why He came, and why He is still here.

 

WNL

“Real scientists don’t believe in God; and certainly don’t believe that any such “Person” created us.”

(Dogma Bag of the Current Crop)

Consider this, then, from a real genetic pioneer with numerous patents and published papers, from Cornell Univ.

“Imagine entering the intergalactic starship SS Phenome. You go past doors labeled, “Warp Speed Engine Room,” and “Holodeck.”  Then you see a door marked, “Office of the Senior Architect and Chief Engineer.” You open the door and you see an office that is a complete wreck.  Papers are strewn everywhere, there is the smell of rotting food, and computer screens are broken.  Standing on a desk are 2 chimpanzees fighting over a banana. Would you be so naïve as to believe that you were actually looking at the Senior Architect and Chief Engineer of the SS Phenome?  “

“Would you actually think that this ship could have been created and maintained  through this office in its degenerated and chaotic condition?  Yet this is the ruling paradigm regarding the genome’s very nature!  --which describes the idiotic master—genius slave relationship of the genome and the phenome…”

“We should be able to discover many levels of unity of form and function within the genome. I predict that this will be seen more and more in the coming years, as we unravel the many elaborate and multi-dimensional patterns within the genome.” 

Dr. J.C. Sanford’s book was first published in 2005.  He hadn’t long to see this prediction confirmed by the most secular of scientists in the follow-up to the Human Genome Project, called ENCODE, or Encyclopedia of DNA Elements. Scientific American asked him, after the publication of 30 papers all at once, “Should we be retiring the phrase, ‘Junk DNA ‘now?”  Dr. Birney replied, “Yes I really think this phrase does need to be totally expunged from the lexicon. It was a slight throwaway phrase to describe (our ignorance) in the 70’s.  …it’s not a very useful way to describe what’s going on. “At least one and usually multiple sequences have been found in 80% of the genome, and it is extrapolated that this will be 100% before this decade is over.

On the negative side, Dr. Sanford also notes that the biological DNA clock of the entire human species is winding down.  The same forces that cause cancer in the individual—mutated rogue DNA—is accumulating in the human genome at the rate of 60 per generation—some harmful, some lethal, some seemingly neutral (see above) but any of the exceedingly rare, potentially useful mutations are not selected due to dozens of inhibitory factors, and no new information is ever added to the genome.  The vast amount of genetic drift and noise;  limits not only our species’ longevity but that of all other species, probably accounting for the majority of extinctions. We do not have to posit an asteroid to take care of the dino “problem”—the species just plain wore out.  And the more complex the system

; such as sexual reproduction—“nothing works unless everything works”—as we saw of the later and larger saurians—“the more there is to go wrong,” as my Dad used to say about the electric windows on his Thunderbird.

Then there is the other “secular” discovery of DNA in T-rex fossil bones.  This has been studied extensively because of the implications for Darwinian theory.  But there is no question now as to the origin of the DNA and other cellular and molecular components that have been preserved. Besides all that, the research team on New Zealand’s extinct Moas has shown that the half-life of DNA is 521 years!

 

“At this rate, DNA molecules in bone break down after only 10,000 years into tiny chemical segments too short for modern technology to sequence.  And this result assumes preservation factor that optimize biochemical longevity.” 

Hmmmm…150 million years give or take a million?  Keeping in mind that this is all secular research without even a hint of “intelligent design,” much less the clear implications of Scripture.  

Isn’t it strange, Hobbes; that man will concoct the most far-fetched theories to avoid an occasional bleak truth? I suppose that scientists of Darwin’s time, ignorant of the most fundamental elements of molecular biology, could be excused if Dr. D led them around by the nose for a century or so.  It reminds me of that wonderful acronym, “WNL”  which doctors use so liberally in their documentation.  What it is supposed to mean is, “Within Normal Limits.”  A colleague of mine in residency told me it really means:

 

  “WE NEVER LOOKED.”

 

 

 

 

wn

Harvard's Yard Sale

A number of Harvard students have been suspended or expelled due to cheating on a final exam.

So, tell me again why I should , say, "In Academia We Trust"?  As in Hitchcock's "Rope" , Professor X attends the party with the dead man's chest being the center of attention, but cannot understand why his Leopold/Loeb students took him literally!

Or to quote Mr. Natcherl again, "Um Tut Sut; Sure, Why Not..."

"Midst the Crash of Loud Lyres" --Aristophanes, pun intended.

BITTER VS BETTER

WHO LOVES YA, BABY?

WHO DO YOU LOVE? (Or did he mean, HooDoo Love!?) (“Dr.” John, circa 1968)

“WHO DO YOU SAY THAT I AM?”

“The Alien Corn.”

John Patrick made the comment that during WWII, most Britons knew what this Bible verse, from the book of Ruth, meant.  Today you could not find one Brit in 1000 who would have any idea of either the origin or meaning of this quote.  And Biblical illiteracy in the USA is far deeper, worse, and wider than that. 

None the less, the book of Ruth is important to know, thoroughly. For it was written in the latter days of the period of the Judges, a very chaotic time during which, “every man did what was right in his own eyes.”  (or at least they did until their enemies took advantage of their unbelief and oppressed and conquered them; then they would, with saddest regularity, call out to God to deliver them. Or at least deliver some food—alien corn if you will…)

The entire picture of Ruth is one that repeats itself over and over in times of chaos, such as we are currently experiencing—WWII would be another of those times, of course, making Ruth a perfect reference point, a sane alien who loves her mother-in-law unconditionally, benefits or no benefits. It is also a vivid picture of “Marah”, the bitter Naomi, who has lost everything—she thinks—and like modern conservatives, is so focused on her loss of privileges that she can’t see the blessings a few inches from her face, being wet with the intermingling tears shared by her and Ruth.

As I have long averred, God is a Person Who is interested in, and loves, persons not only in the Bible but here and now; and that our “greatest gain I count but loss.”  (When I Survey the Wondrous Cross—read those words and try not to shed a tear…) The Greatest Provision for Ultimate and Most Intimate Fellowship Forever is, like Boaz, the “kinsman redeemer,” just around the corner; and fully available to “whosoever will.”

But like both Ruth and Naomi, we have to let go of the alien corn on which we fed in the “far country” of the Prodigal Son.  There is a monkey trap used by some tribes which consists of putting grain into a small hole in a tree, a hole just large enough to allow a monkey hand to enter; but not to exit if the monkey has a fistful of kernels.  In many cases the monkey is so greedy that it will not let go, and his/her captors arrive in the morning to “harvest” the monkey; without even losing so much as a grain of rice. And it starts all over again with the next monkey.

(Will this be welcome news to those who still think we are glorified chimps; I mean, chumps?)

Rapid entropic decay takes away entire civilizations that depend on an accumulation of conquests, wealth, and privilege.  There seems to be no movement in our country that would tend to move us, as a whole, from our handfuls of rotting grain, to “my greatest gain.”  If there is, it will have to take place on the level of individuals letting go, willingly (Ruth)or unwillingly (Naomi), of that bondage to animal comforts of creatures who insist they were never created, but “got this all on my own.”

NOT I

“The Child is to cause the falling and the rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be spoken against, so that the hearts of many will be revealed.”  -Simeon, in the Temple, Lk 2:34

“ ‘I’m as good as you!’ “—the exclamation of us all, as revealed by C.S. Lewis in his book, The Abolition of Man.

 

If the Sanhedrin could have called out to Simeon in reply, it might have gone like this, albeit in more erudite terms:

“What you need this kid for? Looka all you got, here! You gotta nice Temple! Herod, he be good to us! Nice Romans, too. What more you need?  Good roads, aqueducts, low crime rate, and great specimens of human race, namely us, to give you friendly advice and plenty rules so you don’t got to think of anything. We tell what to do, huh?  Alla time, any time.  So no worries, with us on your side. Besides, we such great guys, who else you need?  You gotta problem with that?”

Messiah, Shmessiah! That be big fairy tale.  Everything you need, you got, right here. Besides, this all there be! You needa good lawyer?  We got lots, and reasonable prices too!  You wanna do good, fine, just follow directions onna box…”

Jesus is more and more seen as the Biggest Insult to Homo Sapiente ever.  “I think my good deeds outweigh my bad ones,” and then we refuse to admit that anything could be good or bad, right or wrong, true or false.  (But we do seem to sense that our nay-bores are “lying” about us!!!)

However, it turns out that the “res humana” needs help more than any other being on the planet; that he alone is prone to massive self-deception; which sets up self-annihilation;  he even wishes for it! (“Thanatos “)

 Think of it! Most people do not care about heaven and won’t even think about hell; we can’t see how anyone would be held that responsible for “every careless word.”  So as O’Connor said, we breathe nihilism and the majority aim at and religiously hope for complete self-annihilation, or at best “Nirvana” ie Nonbeing; in order to escape God and His Purity, Wisdom, and His Provision for entering at His Sheepgate.

But Messiah has come-so when He returns for His Harvest from the seeds he planted 2000 years ago, will he find a crop?  Or just crumbs?  And yes, all of human history proves that, left to ourselves, we will ruin or pervert everything good gift that we receive;  and attack the very ground that holds us up.  So this is "good enough?"

I don’t know about thee; but I would not ever claim to be, “As good as you,” much less as good as Jesus.  I don’t even technically know enough to ever support that claim. I don’t know you the way God knows you, nor does anyone else. And since we are too subjective to know right from wrong or even know  when we are really being wronged, it will never ever be up to us to uproot the weeds from the wheat. God knows what He wants; He wants His Son; and for us to be more like Him than anyone else.

The hearts of us all ARE being revealed. RUR?

`TWAS A DARK AND RAINY NIGHT.

And so it is.  So after a wonderful nap and dinner with wife and dog, maybe I can catch up with my scattered thoughtz.

Here’s a new word: miscellanophobia.  I invite the reader to contribute.  Several possible meanings:

Fear of your junk drawer.

Fear of  seemingly random “to do “ lists.

It could also be a fear of apparent disorder, other’s people’s inscrutable and puzzling thought patterns, and perhaps a suspicion of  our whole culture which seems to be increasingly patchworked together even as it is ripping apart at the “seems!”  It reminds me of the wife of Odysseus, among other legends, who held off her suitors by promising to choose a new husband (hers missing and widely presumed dead) when she finished a garment—maybe a wedding dress. These must have been very dimwitted suitors since it took them years to catch on.  Or maybe they were too busy partying and dropping in on her house to do so.  At any rate, things did not turn out well for the suitors; and if we don’t learn a lesson from them, we , may end up  at the point of Odysseus’ (and son Telemachus’) arrows.

 

One could certainly claim that Americans have been too busy “amusing ourselves to death,” to hear the sound of ripping yarns!  I get frequent reminders of this when I go to the free clinic, where people’s profligate medical spending habits just don’t stop. So I pray that they will either change  their attitudes and expectations according to the new realities, or go find someone else to give in to their exorbitant demands. 

The state of Illinois has not helped by supporting a Cadillac Medicaid program that once paid even for Viagra (but only one per weekend). Now our beloved state has received one of the few downgrades given by Standard and Poor’s to represent a very risky environment for investments and businesses, because of a state that promised much, spent much, and did not plan for the future at all, much less a less prosperous one.

 

But though this is a dark and stormy night, it does accomplish God’s purposes in weaning us away from God substitutes which are never enough, doomed by entropy, and unable to provide any solace. Or even any happiness, not even that of a well-fed dog, who at least gets some joy in licking plates or gathering crumbs.

Dogs only worry if they are at the bottom of a pack. Or the beta dog.

I PRAY GOD’S ABSOLUTE AND PERMANENT BEST for anyone who may come across the above. The call is clearly to trust Jesus wholly, i.e. more and more, As the Real and HyperReal Person that He is and said He was. “The same yesterday, today, and forever.”  Or as my friend Dr. Bill Lane once said, “Everyone will disappoint you, except Jesus.

From one imperfect person to the others,

Goodnight Rain and thanks that the creek is rising again;)

 

THE INN GROUP? OR THE STABLE SINGERS?

Whereas:  Mark and Allison are flying to Burma today;

Whereas: They shall not be seen in this country x 1 year;

Whereas: …except on Skype…and

Whereas: They will be serving Jesus Christ every day…

There Fore  be it resolved:

That I, he who writes this, shall henceforth and beyond:

Fully cast in my lot with not only with Mark and Allison

But with Him Whom they are serving and will serve.

Also I am resolved that, when Christ returns

He will find at least some faith on the earth.

 

I have also fully realized that evil will pursue. God’s work is never without opposition owing to the rebel choices of men and angels.  It does not matter if one stays home and tries to live a quiet life—one cannot, and still follow Christ.  God will not allow it, nor will His miserable opponents.

The irony of course is that those who follow idols will live to see them destroyed before their very eyes—if only at the last moment.  That the silver and gold in which we invest will be left to others, who are statistically likely to abuse them even worse than we did.  Shoah shows that.  But if only in this life we have hope—we are “to be pitied more than all men.”  It means we invest everything in an account with negative returns. 

 

“Peace on earth to men Upon Whom His Favor Rests:”  We have a say in that, apparently.  Those who turned Mary and Joseph away all had opportunity to bring them into their own rooms and before their own private hearths, for warmth and protection.  Even the inn who accepted them, kept them out.  The son of God was born with the animals, already rejected of men.

Do we want to be “The Inn Group?”  Those too privileged, too much seeking personal honor, cleanliness, privacy, and the peace that comes from having one’s own home undisturbed by aliens?

The Heavenly Host wanted Him back—as soon as possible.  If He does not have a home in the domicile of our hearts, what use to build “ceiled houses” (Habbakuk) here? If we refuse Him, we also refuse His Holy Spirit, the worst fate we could ever choose. 

Mark and Allison are in the OUT BOX.  Let those of us who pray, pray for them without ceasing.

 

"Shine" -- "make 'em wish that they were not/on the out side lookin' bored..."

T'Shoah

Agnes S., Holocaust survivor, begins her talk today:

“I was very very lucky.”

And ends with:

“Don’t hate.”

 

To which I can only add, “Don’t be paranoid.” 

 While it is true that your own neighbors may turn you in under the right circumstances: under equally or more daunting circumstances, they may hide you as well.  And you may not owe your existence to luck, but to someone’s good will.  In fact, we already owe our lives to someone’s good will; from once upon a time

 to the present. 

 Whose good will?  That “will” vary, on one level; but on the other plane, it is just this:

“…from Everlasting to Everlasting.” 

Lest we forget.

WHY BOTHER? WHY SUCH A POTHER, POOH?

“Why do we bother, Fawlty?”  -the Major

“ I didn’t know you did…”  --Basil Fawlty/ John Cleese; originally a Cheese….under his baited breath…

 

“Questions no one asked me so I asked them myself.” –Walker Percy

No one has had the cheek to ask me why I blog.  “It’s an interesting question”—Satan, after vaporizing the minion who durst ask the question.(George Harrison’s “Time Bandits”)

I don’t think the answer is at all difficult. I enjoy writing.  That’s about it.

Is this “an attempt to communicate”?  Or is it just super-secular Jacques Monod averring that, “The brain secretes thoughts,” like any other gland of the body?  (If ‘twere, it would be a great excuse)

 

How about, “Because I care.”?  Well, that has to be partially true—it’s pretty hard, even with 2 large mugs of coffee, to write about that which is of no interest to me personally; even if it is a passionate subject for others; c.f. Vogue and Vanity Fair magazines…or worse  yet, The Economist. (It is a pretty consistent thing with me that when faced with the subject of finance/s , my eyes glaze over.)

I am not boasting here, these are just facts that apply to me—and I don’t claim any great capacity for self-knowledge either.  Hints that the Word of God and other people give me are the only things that keep me from being as isolated as Screwtape in his den with his nice “smoking jacket” on.

But is it wise to give in to mere compulsion? Expiating it with the idea that this is a forge for my identity and a way to work out my sins and troubles and obscure motives, etc.?

The Word of God, to which I claim to hew; has a completely different view from mine, as usual; it is impossible for a mere man to maintain, much less conform to, the divine perspective.

I may quote more from this later; these quotes are  from a devotion by Henry Morris, entitled, “Loquacity.”

“He that hath knowledge spareth his words; and a man of understanding is of an excellent spirit.”

-PV 17:27

“In the multitude of words there wanteth not sin; but he that refraineth his lips is wise.”-PV 10:19

“Study to be quiet and avoid foolish talking.”  -Paul

“…be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath,” for he says, “the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity, set on fire of hell.”—James

“…let not thine heart be hasty to utter any thing before God: for God is in heaven and thou upon the earth: therefore let thy words be few.” –Solomon

Of course it must be said that the advice Solomon gave, he only honored in the breach; and what he wrote to his sons, ie Proverbs, he did not follow, which led to a permanent division of Israel between the descendants of David and the 10 –out of 12- Northern tribes—because of careless reactionary words from Rehoboam, who learned more from his Dad by example, unfortunately, than from his many words.

It must be said, though, that much of the advice that we give, esp. the unsolicited type, is unconsciously given because of “too much information,” and perhaps not wanting our children to repeat our mistakes. But more of it is highly likely to be instantly adulterated yet unadulterated pride; uncontaminated by Christ.

All well and good, but it doesn’t work that way, which is why in the raising of our children I always deferred to the peaceable wisdom of my wife; and I thank God that even today my children are not usually interested in what I write.  And  I can also give thanks that eventually my journals—way too wordy but more meant for God and myself than for anyone else—will all bite the dust; just as will all my blogs be purged; if my multitude of words  don’t hang me first. God remembers… so I should pause, and shudder.

The question is always before me—should I continue, when one can be assured that the thoughts of our minds when exposed, will cause more of: “We all offend in many ways.”  Is a passion for record-keeping in place, outside of the medical record, or is it what Paul said in our marriage vows:  “Love keeps no record of wrongs.”  ---???

Not one of us is able to match up to our own standards, much less anyone’s else’s expectations, and surely God’s standards are continually ignored and forgotten because we can never keep up. Hypocrisy is therefore a universal sin, not peculiar to any “belief system”—a poor expression, surely: akin to the fashion magazine etiology of the neologism,  “lifestyle;” which trivializes the meaning of life to the level of a choice between chocolate or strawberry.

But if we are not content to let God manage the world, what then do we who “believe,” believe?

“To have lived is not enough…they have to talk about it.”—Waiting for Godot.

(Beckett gave up painting; but not writing! Yet the standard and the truth about us remains.)

 

 

 

 

 

Thurber Unchained

"It is no secret...

...what God can do/ what He’s done for others/He’ll do for you.”

Did it over occur to any of us that:

IF YOU TURN THE OTHER CHEEK, YOU HAVE TO LOOK IN A DIFFERENT DIRECTION?

 

Now, while that’s sinking in, I have learned a great deal in the last few days.

There is no secret thing that will not be “published from the housetops.” --according to the only person Who would know. 

Next, it has been my suspicion for some time that, after 3000 page views and not much to show for it, that this blog needs to go into a different direction entirely.

Not to make it “popular,” God forbid; but to be less prideful and more conforming to Him Whom I claim is to be of Supreme Importance—because that’s the reality.

It was Jesus’ command, not suggestion, that a follower of His must not only turn the other cheek—no, there’s so much more

It has occurred to me in the middle of the night that in none of my previous  posts have I actually prayed for my readers, nor for anyone else.

“My house shall be called a House of Prayer.”

Note that while the politics of His time were even worse than ours, and  horrible cruciform injustices the rule rather than the exception, Jesus never favored one force over another.  Even when He said He came mainly for His people the Jews, He was easily intreated by a Gentile woman—several, in fact. He told the woman at the well that it was only important to worship “in Spirit and in Truth,” not whether they should go to Jerusalem or Samaria… and the “Good Samaritan” still is known in many disguises today.

So when it is pointed out that this blog has become too political,  those readers are probably right. But when I am I told I should not pray, I have only One to pray to, and it is up to the listener to decide, “Is it right to obey God, or man?”  So that’s that. (If anything it should be additional incentive to “civil disobedience,” a principle honored more in the breach of it than otherwise. )(What’s good for MLK is not for me--???)

 

Well, there I go again—this is not easy!  To us, who are so used to staking everything on our “group opinions.”  God, help me to:

“When life gives you opposition, make opposition-aid!”

When Jesus says to do good to those who oppose Him and His Father, He does not mean the lesser good of material “goods” unless the person is desperately needy and poor and has not enough of this world’s materials for life.  But for those who are well off, He means to give not things, but prayer. The Indisputably Greater Good, which is the trigger to the type of Love He means.

I think it safe to say that all of us who might read this already have too much of this world’s treasures-and most of us are sensible enough to know that we need to divest ourselves of much of it, even unto, “Sell what you  have and give it to the poor, and you will have treasure in Heaven.  Then come and follow Me.”

How unreasonable and shocking! To give away “My Precious” as Gollum called it!  Yet “he is no fool who gives away what he cannot hope to keep,” anyway.

“What I say to you, I say to all: Watch!”   “Could you not watch with Me for one hour?” 

So let me end, and start with this: I have a note on my dashboard which I use for those who do me wrong --as I think at the time, anyway--on the highway, or more often for those who just irritate me; or both (see  recent blog on man in the headlights and my near-death experience) It says:

I PRAY GOD’S ABSOLUTE BEST FOR YOU.

So let that be my prayer for all my readers, past, present, and maybe!  And God grant me grace to follow Jesus more and more, and my own inclinations and negative feelings and critical spirits less and less, preferably not at all.

 

My thanks to those who have given me a wake up call about my  getting off the plane of Jesus and onto   the shaky ground of my own turtle-soapbox. I don’t think turning my tiny temple of the Holy Ghost into a “house of prayer” will be attractive to many, who find prayer either repulsive or annoying, but it extends the blog effect, I might say, well beyond the blogosphere.  Only what is received in Heaven—and most of it will still be in secret I hope and as Jesus also directs us into our prayer closet—is going to be of any importance in the long run.  After all, if the Holy Spirit does not change hearts, they will not be changed no matter what I say or do—because it was always between them-and-THEM, anyway.

 

Thurber Esque Esq.

Thanking / tanking with / Mr Thurber

 

There is no cartoonist I enjoy going back to quite so much as Thurber, maybe because his cartoons are not many, and the few that there are, can be relatively inscrutable, such as the one in which the boyfriend asks the girl, “What do you want to be inscrutable for, Marsha?”

 In that cartoon,all the very badly drawn furniture is outlined or filled in with black. But the truth is, women have very good reasons to try to be inscrutable; and to remain so.  And to have men remain as prosaic as possible, as we see in his other cartoons: “Yoo hoo it’s me and the Ape Man!”  These are all in The Thurber Carnival, and once appeared in TNY I think.  I would love to see all his cartoons in one book.  (Dennis?)

There is a new book of Flannery O’Connor’s linoleum-cut acidic-based cartoons for her high school and college papers.  When we visited Millidgeville one had to have special permission to view these, and we were the exception to see them even though we were not doing research. Had a nice day!

 

Thurber’s  captions come to me in odd moments, precisely as Thurber intended, for that is largely how his comic stories go—oddly.  There doesn’t seem to be  much room for this kind of gentle humor in today’s politicized world. Oddly enough.

It is also true that Mr. Thurber does not demonstrate that he gives God two thoughts in a row. Yet unlike many today, there isn’t really much of a touch of hostility towards God either.  This is a kind of Grace, I think, which used to come  very “normally” to people who, “enjoy a good laugh as much as anyone.”  Thurber was not merciless or judge-mental, as more and more of us are in USA today.  In that sense, he was a lot like Walt Kelly, who could be pretty cynical, critical, and even prophetic; but was not as harsh as is the rule today—from a more civilized day, one could say. So even his enemies had some human qualities that did not make them entirely detestable—unlike, say, “GI Joe.”

But to what do we owe such gentleness, and why is it so long gone?*

I would like to explore one possibility, triggered by the cartoon that came to mind today; in which a young woman is praying to God on her knees at bedtime-  a stock cartoon situation.  But she says, “….And Keep Me a Normal, Healthy, American Girl”  (capitalized with no period, as if it were the title of a book, I just noticed that.  Which helps us to understand that this is ironic, without the sledge hammer of insult-humor; which I would insist is not humor at all. Period!)

I wonder if Thurber knew how many layers of irony this simple-on the surface-gentle mockery of many of us, contains.  Example: What if the “prayer”—which like most of our prayers were not a petition but a demand—and went like so:

“…And Keep Me a Normal Healthy German Girl”

(And I know something about a German girl, and about being German too.)

That would be even  more startling in the 1950’s, when this cartoon hit the refined audience of NYC, “after za war.”

I think that this, while it may be a commentary on our spiritual life and our constant demands on life and/or God, is really more of a cultural commentary as such.  But perhaps Thurber did not think beyond that: to him, God appears to be irrelevant, a shadow figure at best, which people, himself included,  used on occasion when it suits them.  Even if only for comic relief; with God as the dimwitted sidekick.

Another irony is that most people are not like this girl: they don’t pray until they reach their particular foxhole, and they want to be particularly rescued. The funny-odd thing about this spoof is that it is a horrible example of what I would call, “Preventive Prayer.”  Except that this does not say, “Forgive me Father for I know not what I do”—a point of fact about all of us if there is any true fact on earth.  Her prayer is really saying is what folks generally say when one brings up God; “I’m good, thanks.”  In stark contrast to Jesus’ Socrates- style reply, “Why do you call Me good?”

The heart of the matter  is the girl’s de facto demand,

“Don’t change me.”

Give me my culture, or give me death.

 

Is’t  not so: that most of us are de facto materialists; and that what we are hoping for is not salvation or heaven but complete annihilation? A complete end to all our seemingly, and possibly  really,endless responsibilities seems very tempting from here!

I don’t know Thurber’s End—maybe he died laughing.    (remember the Python sketch on the Funniest Joke in the World?)     There are certainly those whose wish is to, “Leave ‘em laughin’ as you go."  That would make them a Normal Healthy American GI Joe, is’t no so?  But some cultures, perhaps because they are/were all about political theatre and entertainment values, are no laughing matter; and for all their strength and worldly successes, have become a veritable torrent of unmerciful acts.  

What is the heritage of Egypt? Rome? 20^th century Germany?  And of 21^st Century USA Today?

That we were “normal?” 


*answer later--how about yours?

 

 

 

FREE SAMSONITE LUGGAGE, WHILE SUPPLIES LAST!

Judges 14:

 

“ ‘Coax your husband into explaining the riddle for us, or we will burn you and your father’s house to death.’”  (This is McFriendship with McWorld—“‘the hearts of many will be exposed—what is said now in secret will be shouted from the housetops.’”)

“ ‘ You hate me! You don’t really love me.’”

She may have been right, of course. Samson wasn’t known for his loving nature or a giving, grateful heart. But he was nonetheless used of God. And even his parents didn’t understand, though they had had 2 close encounters, not with a run of the mill angel but THE Angel;  Who also told them that they wouldn’t ‘get’ His Name, seeing as it is, “beyond understanding.”  So it would be an understatement to allege that none of the players on the Samsonite Stage had half a clue as to what was going on—

After God spoke, they still didn’t understand why their son appeared to be “one wild and crazy guy,” breaking his Nazrite vows with utter abandonment  of God’s Spoken Plan for his life—which I am sure Samson’s parents talked to him about—a LOT.  Samson is only one example—FO’C’s novels are full of failed and runaway prophets, such as Hazel Motes. 

Yet “God gives more Grace.”  He will use anyone and everyone at His discretion and times and places—not at random you may be sure.  As is said elsewhere—and the Scripture cannot be broken—He opposes the proud; using them “as is,” just as He used Judas, Caiphas, and Pilate; but then breaking them as surely as He broke Babylon; and  broke down the very Temples He had (semi-reluctantly?) authorized and specified to the nth cubit.

What can I say then? “If you are silent even the rocks will cry out,” “for such a time as this.” – Mordecai.   Esther had to basically go forth as one Jew against the Persian Empire—not playing by their pagan hunger game rules and hence laying her life down for her friends.  “If I perish, I perish.”  God will use great beauty as much as great strength to rescue his wayward ones, tho most of the time He doesn’t—Jesus was nothing to look at, not a body builder—but there are many prophets who perished, for every one that obeyed –reluctantly and with protest and good reasons—but after all, obeyed without their questions all being answered but proceeding  by faith, “for it is by grace you are saved by faith, not by works,” and beause of this, they were able to act God’s will in relative safety—“but not all” (See Hebrews 11)

“You would have no power over Me if it were not given to you by My Father.”

Just so. The  ultimate and apparent horrible miscarriage of Justice was entirely carried out by God’s Spirit, and Screwtape  was brought down to his lowest ever by “winning.”  So it is with  the world—they are never satisfied—“but even the little they think they have will be taken from them.”  It is incumbent on us and our choices/wills, which can be as inviolate as we want, to have what we think we want now; such as the approbation of men.

God’s call is the opposite: to resist the blandishments, the free luggage and the complimentary toaster oven and the Puce Stamps (Pogo’s), to join this ever –growing group.  And be subject to their vast displeasure.  Oh. Well. With my soul.

 

IS IT POSSIBLE THAT:

 

The divisions we have now are the same ones we have always had? Only that the broom of civility has been merely sweeping things under the rug so long,

That the carpet has exploded?

 

IS IT POSSIBLE THAT;

As one writer said, that we are just a weary old brontosaurus ready to topple over, no longer having the energy to deal with its slide into the jaws of the carrion-seekers? 

 

COULD IT EVEN BE THAT:

WE WILL GET TO THE POINT THAT WE HAVE RESPONDED NEGATIVELY TO SO MANY PERCEIVED SLIGHTS, THAT THERE IS NOTHING POSITIVE LEFT TO US; FOR US; OR OF US?

 

CALLING PEOPLE NAMES

“WHY DO YOU ASK MY NAME? IT IS BEYOND UNDERSTANDING.”

“The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body.  It corrupts the whole person, sets the whole course of his life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell.”

“With our tongue we praise our LORD and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in His Likeness….my brothers, such things should not be so…no man can tame the tongue.”

The Jewish tradition of saying only G__D is lampooned in “The Holy Grail”, and of course we think it is funny because to try to do so is either unmanageable—how do you do “damage control?”—or else precludes discussing G__D at all; which most 21^st Century ethnic Jews are only too happy to do; and to follow their Gentile cousins in their paths of profanity.

“God Knows,” our tongues are all defiled enough.  Even if we don’t say it out loud, Jesus states that anyone who calls his brother a fool, even if only in his heart is “in danger of hellfire” (see above—from James.)

If I don’t confess to this, call me a liar. In fact, how can we help but lie, seeing as we are anything but disinterested parties, and know so very little?

“God Knew” that for any Name we are given in any tongue, whether that of God or a of a man, we are destined to mangle it, to idol-ize it (the ultimate mangle that makes no one clean), or to use it to curse God and man all in one breath.

(It amazes me when a person is perfectly willing to curse men with God’s names—using a God in whom they claim not to believe—and are offended by  far more trivial fare themselves. This suggests that the motive is to try to deliberately insult not only the Person but all persons who love and revere that Person. Of course most people are actually taught to say such things as a child and use it reflexively. But if we are post Christians and tolerant to a fault, why does this Name still have such power?  It seems Christ is “not dead yet!”)

When one claims to know everything that is pertinent; or even knowing the heart and soul of any given human individual, it is in the same category as  declaring we are humble,  and we really are confessing our ignorance/arrogance  for all to see. Christians are often accused of this—but actually a genuine Christ-follower has a profound respect for mystery and confesses to being unable to truly understand, much less gainsay, God.  God is just too big for the individual—much less any committee or posse - to understand.

 Nor do I  claim to  de-personalize  harmful ideas  very well. This blog is a Danger Mouse area wherein trivia may reign and anger may rule,  mixed up and confused with persons for whom Christ died, so that careless words be spread abroad; in this my critics are quite correct: “Danger Danger, Will Schuler!!!”

Yet as I have said many times, and as remains my ultimate goal, it is one thing to oppose the IDEAS of men; quite another to wish destruction or defilement on PERSONS, SOULS, AND SPIRITS; the like of which is condemned throughout the Bible.  It is thus that enemies of Israel could, on an individual basis, serve God even more than the then-current crop of ethnic tribal Hebrews.  Ruth was from Moab; Rahab a Canaanite prostitute; yet both women are highly honored and are in the genealogy of Christ. Of course that means nothing to McWorld, an ersatz entity with no soul, but to which the Screwtapeworms attach themselves every moment.

I feel sorry for us when we struggle over  greasy and stale “McNuggets” which we so quickly purchase from McWorld at infinitely inflated prices (Have ye ever found a pearl in a McMeal?) which have potential only to malnourish the eater.

It is said, or rather promised, that “Flo” and “Bill” will soon be no more. “That’s my name don’t wear it out.”( And may I add that many of my shoes will outlive me! Especially  my wedding shoes!)  There is however a “new name written down in Glory,” which no man knows, any more than  any man can know his time, much less know when He will return.  I do not confess, nor did Paul or John, to have a clear idea of what that means; only that it is all a part of the Promise that we do have a freely given opportunity to be changed, “Under New Management;” even if our name is Ray Kroc!