Brutally Honest

Glad Tidings

Posted by guest blogger Nicks.

I occasionally get the opportunity to fill the pulpit for a local church, and this week was one of those opportunities.  Outside my family, it is certainly the thing that gives me the most joy.  It is not so certain that it carries the same level of enjoyment for those in the congregation.  I must agree with Martin Lloyd-Jones comment, "I can say quite honestly that I would not cross the road to listen to myself preaching".

Fair warning being given, here is a short summary of this morning’s sermon…..

Glad Tidings…

For thus says the LORD,
    “Sing aloud with gladness for Jacob,
    And shout among the chief of the nations;
    Proclaim, give praise and say,
    ‘O LORD, save Your people,
    The remnant of Israel.’
“Behold, I am bringing them from the north country,
    And I will gather them from the remote parts of the earth,
    Among them the blind and the lame,
    The woman with child and she who is in labor with child, together;
    A great company, they will return here.
“With weeping they will come,
    And by supplication I will lead them;
    I will make them walk by streams of waters,
    On a straight path in which they will not stumble;
    For I am a father to Israel,
    And Ephraim is My firstborn.”   Jeremiah 31:7-9 (NASB)

In context it speaks to the restoring of the northern ten tribes.  A promise of a return of their joy.  It is glad tidings.  In these three verses we see God’s desire restore them, and to hear His peoples voices in worship, prayer, and repentance.

God uses active verbs in the instructions for worship – Sing, shout, proclaim, praise.  To a people born in exile, suffering for the sins of their grandparents, God says He is returning the joy of worship.  Even in dire circumstance. Even under gentile domination.  Even far from the land of promise.

Right now, right where you are, can you sing aloud with gladness? Can you shout, proclaim, and give praise to God?  Are our circumstances so much worse than theirs?  Does God love us less?  Is He less faithful to us?

Adding to the glory of worship He encourages them to pray – “say, ‘O LORD, save Your people, The remnant of Israel.’”   Pray for the restoration of relationships, pray for a revival in the hearts and minds and circumstance of His people.  No small request.  Not your “save my kitten” kind of prayer. This is big stuff.  This is history changing and history making.  This is eternal in scope and reach.

God says, pray, because I am already at work. Notice the tense in verse 8.  “I am bringing” God is already at work.  He is already restoring and healing, even though they just cannot yet see it.   He is gathering those who are helpless on their own. The lame, the blind, the woman in labor.  Those who cannot find their own way and do not have the strength in themselves to make the journey. 

That is me.  I am lame and blind and weak, unable to restore my own spirit.  Unable to find joy in worship in my own strength.  Perhaps it is you too.  If so, verse 9 gives the key to reclaiming that joy.

“with weeping they will come” –  They would return weeping tears of repentance and praying for the Lord's favor. A broken and contrite heart.  Recognition of, and repentance for my sin.  That is the key.  That is the thing that unlocks the straight path near the streams of water. 

As the people give themselves to prayer and repentance, the Lord will lead them to the refreshing streams of water.  He would lead them back tenderly, as a father deals with his firstborn son, and would make the trip refreshing, pleasant, and safe.  What parent does not want the best for their child.  What Husband or wife does not want the best for their spouse?  God says "I am a father to Israel."

A Father. The term is hardly ever used of God in the OT, yet Jesus encourages us to use it in prayer.  To recognize that we are the adopted family of God. We are His children, and as such the recipients of the full measure of His love and caring for us.  

Have we understood our circumstances in light of that?  Have we looked around and seen the hand of God at work?  Have we repented, rejoiced and been refreshed by God’s spirit?

Snakes, Marines, Drums and Flags

Posted by guest blogger NickS

Learning the link between this flag and my Marine Corps has really endeared it to me.  Especially in such a time as this.

I wonder if the Obama girls would like a shirt with this symbol on it?

 

The origins of the Gadsden flag, U.S. Navy, & U.S. Marine Corps
by  Chris Whitten

By 1775, the snake symbol wasn't just being printed in newspapers. It was appearing all over the colonies: on uniform buttons, on paper money, and of course, on banners and flags.

The snake symbol morphed quite a bit during its rapid, widespread adoption. It wasn't cut up into pieces anymore. And it was usually shown as an American timber rattlesnake, not a generic serpent.

We don't know for certain where, when, or by whom the familiar coiled rattlesnake was first used with the warning "Don't Tread on Me."

We do know when it first entered the history books.

In the fall of 1775, the British were occupying Boston and the young Continental Army was holed up in Cambridge, woefully short on arms and ammunition. At the Battle of Bunker Hill, Washington's troops had been so low on gunpowder that they were ordered "not to fire until you see the whites of their eyes."

In October, a merchant ship called The Black Prince returned to Philadelphia from a voyage to England. On board were private letters to the Second Continental Congress that informed them that the British government was sending two ships to America loaded with arms and gunpowder for the British troops.

Congress decided that General Washington needed those arms more than the British. A plan was hatched to capture the cargo ships. They authorized the creation of a Continental Navy, starting with four ships. The frigate that carried the information from England, the Black Prince, was one of the four. It was purchased, converted to a man-of-war, and renamed the Alfred.

To accompany the Navy on their first mission, Congress also authorized the mustering of five companies of Marines. The Alfred and its sailors and marines went on to achieve some of the most notable victories of the American Revolution. But that's not the story we're interested in here.

What's particularly interesting for us is that some of the Marines that enlisted that month in Philadelphia were carrying drums painted yellow, emblazoned with a fierce rattlesnake, coiled and ready to strike, with thirteen rattles, and sporting the motto "Don't Tread on Me."
 
In December 1775, "An American Guesser" anonymously wrote to the Pennsylvania Journal:

"I observed on one of the drums belonging to the marines now raising, there was painted a Rattle-Snake, with this modest motto under it, 'Don't tread on me.' As I know it is the custom to have some device on the arms of every country, I supposed this may have been intended for the arms of America."

This anonymous writer, having "nothing to do with public affairs" and "in order to divert an idle hour," speculated on why a snake might be chosen as a symbol for America.

First, it occurred to him that "the Rattle-Snake is found in no other quarter of the world besides America."

The rattlesnake also has sharp eyes, and "may therefore be esteemed an emblem of vigilance." Furthermore,

"She never begins an attack, nor, when once engaged, ever surrenders: She is therefore an emblem of magnanimity and true courage. ... she never wounds 'till she has generously given notice, even to her enemy, and cautioned him against the danger of treading on her."

Finally,

"I confess I was wholly at a loss what to make of the rattles, 'till I went back and counted them and found them just thirteen, exactly the number of the Colonies united in America; and I recollected too that this was the only part of the Snake which increased in numbers. ...

"'Tis curious and amazing to observe how distinct and independent of each other the rattles of this animal are, and yet how firmly they are united together, so as never to be separated but by breaking them to pieces. One of those rattles singly, is incapable of producing sound, but the ringing of thirteen together, is sufficient to alarm the boldest man living."

Many scholars now agree that this "American Guesser" was Benjamin Franklin.

Read more interesting information about the Christopher Gadsden and the Culpeper Flag here.

 

500 Years Old And Still Relevant

Posted by guest blogger NickS.

July 10th is the 500th birth day of liberty's champion, John Calvin.

Marvin Olasky wrote in World,

"Calvin was a fallen sinner, as all of us are, but was he especially mean-spirited? He taught that God created the world out of love and loved the world so much that Christ came down from the glorious kingdom of heaven and plunged into this world's muck. Calvin saw God as a generous giver and His mercy as an abundant resource. Jehovah's Witnesses would later insist that heaven has room for only 144,000, but Calvin understood that God's grace is infinite."

You may think you know about him, but take a minute and read Olasky's piece, linked above.  And while you’re in a reformation mood, check this out...

Withering and the Word: John Calvin at 500
By Kevin DeYoung

"Whatever lasting impact John Calvin has had on the church of Jesus Christ, and on the whole world for that matter, is owing to his commitment to understanding and explaining the word of God. From sermons to lectures to letters to tracts to treatises to confessions to catechisms to books, his adult life was consumed with one thing: the word of God–the word as a summons to obedience, the word as a blueprint for reform, the word as the foundation for all truth."

Consumed with and by the eternal Word of God.  The real source of real change.

"Calvin’s confidence was in the Word of God, and that’s why his theology and vision of the world continues to capture the minds and hearts of people in the 21st century. That’s why five hundred years later we remember his birth. That’s why Calvin the preacher and expositor has millions more spiritual children than Erasmus the scholar and hermeneutical skeptic. Strive for relevance in your day, and you’ll may make a difference for a few years.  Anchor yourself in what is eternal and you may influence the world for another five centuries."

 

Do yourself a favor and read the whole thing.

..NickS

Planned Parenthood - the gift that kills.

Posted by guest blogger NickS

Planned Parenthood has reached a new low.

Planned Parenthood-Indiana is giving the "gift of death" to the unborn this holiday season.

The organization has announced that gift certificates in $25 increments can be purchased for exams, insurance copays and medication at its 35 clinics in Indiana. The certificates can also be used to pay for abortions, adding to the 5,000 it says it performs each year in Indiana. This means that girls and women will be given another means and economic incentive to choose death rather than to choose life.

Planned Parenthood is trying to cast the certificates as benevolent, the usual tactic used to mask their heinous agenda. The vouchers are merely intended to assist the uninsured or those who are delaying their health care due to its costs, said Betty Cockrum, CEO and president of Planned Parenthood-Indiana. She said the vouchers provide potentially lifesaving care and can help prevent abortion. "Birth control is the best way to avoid unintended pregnancy. Avoiding unintended pregnancy is the best way to reduce abortion," she said. Chrystal Struben-Hall, vice president of Planned Parenthood-Indiana, also tried to cast the certificates in a benign light: "People are making really tough decisions about putting gas in their car and food on their table, so we know that many women especially put health care at the bottom of their list to do."

...

The gift certificates rile pro-life supporters, as they should. Indiana Family Institute President Curt Smith told WISH-TV in Indianapolis that there is a better way to help women: "I think the way to help family planning is to give the money where there's no agenda. So if somebody wants to help a woman at a time of crisis, they can support the life centers throughout Indiana."

Shame on Planned Parenthood for granting death certificates. The organization fails to grasp the meaning of life, let alone the spirit of the holiday season.

Remember that many Christians somehow rationalized voting for the most pro-abortion (not pro-choice mind you) candidate in history. Planned Parenthood, or more correctly Planned Infanticide, now has a friend in the most powerful seat at the table.

"Spare me the bi-partisan, reaching out talk"

Posted by guest blogger NickS.

Randall Hoven has been published in The American Thinker, The New York Post and the Alton  Telegraph.  His pieces have been cited, discussed and praised by Rush Limbaugh, David Limbaugh, Mark Steyn, The American Spectator and Donald Rumsfeld.   Randall retired from the Boeing Company in 2008 as a Technical Fellow, where he had worked since 1982.  In 2005 he won the Boeing Special Invention Award.  For the last few years he has been an adjunct professor in the Engineering School of Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville.

Prior to joining McDonnell Douglas he worked at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory from 1979 to 1982.  He was also an enlistee in the U.S. Navy from 1972 to 1975, serving on the USS Wichita including a brief stint in Vietnam combat waters.

He writes this in the American Thinker.

OK, the GOP convention ended and I was pumped to vote Republican.  Sort of.  Many themes of the convention were actually pretty irritating.

One theme was actually a non-theme, and its name was George W. Bush, the great unmentionable at the convention.  I have said before that President Bush has a completely defendable record .  But OK, his approval rating is low so we want to distance ourselves from him for political reasons.  Then why didn't the convention speakers go after the Democrat-run Congress, whose approval rating makes Bush's look like Sarah Palin's?  Who is it we're talking about who has not been putting country first?  Because President Bush is the poster-boy of putting country first.

But the really irritating theme to me was the idea that we need to work together with Democrats more.  As if that has been the problem.  Let us review the last eight years and see how often we did work with the Democrats and how that worked out for us.

He then discusses Prescription coverage under Medicare, No Child Left Behind, Campaign Finance Reform AmeriCorps, International Aid, Ethanol, Iraq War and finishes with ...

In 2003, Dick Gephardt (D-MO), Minority Leader of the House and presidential candidate at the time, said this: "This is a Republican bill.  Therefore it's a bad bill."

Why do Republicans keep thinking their problem is not cooperating enough with Democrats?  Name one thing Democrats have been willing to support in the last 40 years that did not increase the size, scope and intrusiveness of the federal government.

I will mirror Gephardt's admonition.  If Democrats support it, it can't be good.  Just as Groucho Marx would not be a member of a club that would have him as a member, Republicans should not support legislation that has significant Democratic support.

There's a joke where the husband wants a dog and his wife wants a cat, so they compromise and get a cat.  With Democrats, every "compromise" is a cat.  A bloated budget, bureaucratic, cat.

Read it all here.

Bush treatment has been a disgrace

Posted by guest blogger NickS.

Jeffrey Scott Shapiro is an investigative reporter and lawyer who previously interned with John F. Kerry's legal team during the presidential election in 2004.

What must our enemies be thinking?

According to recent Gallup polls, the president's average approval rating is below 30% -- down from his 90% approval in the wake of 9/11. Mr. Bush has endured relentless attacks from the left while facing abandonment from the right.

This is the price Mr. Bush is paying for trying to work with both Democrats and Republicans. During his 2004 victory speech, the president reached out to voters who supported his opponent, John Kerry, and said, "Today, I want to speak to every person who voted for my opponent. To make this nation stronger and better, I will need your support, and I will work to earn it. I will do all I can do to deserve your trust."

Those bipartisan efforts have been met with crushing resistance from both political parties.

We will not have to worry about any bi-partisan resistance now....

The treatment President Bush has received from this country is nothing less than a disgrace. The attacks launched against him have been cruel and slanderous, proving to the world what little character and resolve we have. The president is not to blame for all these problems. He never lost faith in America or her people, and has tried his hardest to continue leading our nation during a very difficult time.

Our failure to stand by the one person who continued to stand by us has not gone unnoticed by our enemies. It has shown to the world how disloyal we can be when our president needed loyalty -- a shameful display of arrogance and weakness that will haunt this nation long after Mr. Bush has left the White House.

It's worth your time to read it all.

Bring out your dead, bring out your dead…..

Posted by guest blogger NickS.

Chrysler, Ford and GM are whining about needing a loan of about 50 BILLION DOLLARS.

What they really need are customers.  If we lend them some money, they will build cars.  What problem does that solve?

    According to the US Bureau of Transit Statistics for 2006 there are 250,851,833 registered passenger vehicles in the US. Out of these roughly 251 million vehicles,

    135,399,945 - classified as cars,
    99,124,775 - "Other 2 axle, 4 tire vehicles" (SUV & pick-ups)
    6,649,337 - vehicles w/ 2 axles & 6 tires
    2,169,670 - "Truck, combination"
    6,686,147 - motorcycles.

    In the year 2001, the National Automobile Dealers Association conducted a study revealing the average age of vehicles in operation in the US

    38.3% were older than ten years,(96,133,000 units)
    22.3% were between seven and ten years old,
    25.8% were between three and six years old,
    13.5% were less than two years old.        (Data from here)

Using these numbers as a starting point….

Lets take $30 billion (of the 50) and buy back cars from private owners that are over 10 years old at a rate of $5,000 per car.  That would allow us to remove about 6 million old cars from the system.  Some of the remaining 20 billion would be used to recycle, and crush those jalopies.

Purchase would be by application.  Once the deadline for application passed we would buy cars starting with the oldest first until the 30 billion was gone.

The $5,000 would be a gift certificate to one of the big three US automakers, and Harley Davidson.  We gotta show them some love too.

Its as good as cash on the purchase of a NEW vehicle.
Its transferable
You could sell it for some amount of the face value
You could give it to your kids

Ultimately it would create customers.  Which leads to production.  Which leads to jobs.

Wadda you think?  They are gonna print more money anyway, why not let us spend it.  In the mean time we remove some high emission vehicles from the mix.

Just an Observation....

Posted by guest blogger NickS

I thought you said preaching was outdated?

Posted by guest blogger NickS.

From Irish Calvinist

We are now in the home stretch of the presidential conventions. With the exception of the Olympics, these last several months have seemed like a constant barrage of speeches. The candidates and their respective teams believe that speeches are one of the best mediums for communicating their ideas to the American people.

I thought we were cutting edge?

Does this not sound a bit old fashioned to the sophisticated evangelical pastor? After all, we are told by many ‘experts’ today that talking to people in large chunks of time is not effective. Furthermore, it is often said to be arrogant and archaic to stand up behind a podium and have people sit down while you talk.

But what do you see at the National Conventions? A speaker, a podium, a crowd seated, an appeal to action, and even propositional statements! What’s more, we have panels of talking heads dissecting everything about the speeches with the tenacity of a hyper-calvinist in a Methodist church.

It seems to me that the people who are spending millions of dollars to get their candidates message out actually believe that this venue is appropriate. They have apparently not gotten the evangelical memo outlining the social dynamic of our culture and their inability to listen.  Political experts must have dismissed all of the questioning and imagination that goes on in the contemporary church about the role of the preacher and the delivery of the message, specifically with regard to the audience’s ability to hear and listen. 

In many churches the sermon has been replaced with the talk
The pulpit has been replaced by props, (a stool and the bottle of Snapple).

Yet when the kingdom of man is on the line, and the contestants will spare no expense to win votes how do they rally the congregation?

With speeches.  With one guy standing and delivering the message.

There is obviously no “one size fits all” worship format.  I love Snapple, and hardly ever stand behind the pulpit when I preach.  So what can we learn from political conventions? (We’ve already got the glitz and showmanship) 

That in our day and time, preaching can produce,

- enthusiastic, committed participants who will talk about it for weeks and are committed to the dissemination of the message

- an audience who then go out and acts on with a common goal and common purpose, regardless of the differences between them.

Imagine what would happen if we allowed the eternal word of God to permeate that preaching.  When the message is grace through faith, and peace with God.

NickS

The Subject of Subjectivity

Posted by guest blogger NickS.

The Bible is God’s book, it is a revelation of God, and our thinking must always start with God. Much of the trouble in the Church today is due to the fact that we are so subjective, so interested in ourselves, so egocentric. That is the peculiar error of this present century. Having forgotten God, and having become so interested in ourselves, we become miserable and wretched, and spend our time in ’shallows and in miseries.’

The message of the Bible from beginning to end is designed to bring us back to God, to humble us before God, and to enable us to see our true relationship to Him. And that is the great theme of this Epistle [Ephesians]…We must not start by examining ourselves and our needs microscopically; we must start with God, and forget ourselves. In this Epistle we are taken as it were by the hand by the Apostle and are told that we are going to be given a view of the glory and the majesty of God.

From God’s Ultimate Purpose by Martyn-Lloyd Jones

I ask myself…..

What occupied my thoughts yesterday?

Me or Him?

Did I meditate on the Word, or mediate the call of the world with the call of the Word?

Will today’s deepest thoughts start with “I”?