Brewster and I got in a little bit of time on the road today. Neither of us moves very fast anymore but it was nonetheless a nice afternoon for a cool stroll in the hills. He’s been a faithful hiking buddy for a long time now.
A Snapshot from My Study: In a book I read recently, the author wrote the following:
“The nation that turns from God will always turn to other gods. Even if it never utters their names or erects their idols, even if it turns to atheism or a form of secularism, it will always be led to the worship and serving of other gods. The dynamic can be seen in Communism, Nazism, Fascism, and any other ism that seeks to drive out God. Other things will take on the aura and authority of godhood and seek to reign in His place.”
This is precisely the Bible’s teaching concerning false worship or what Scripture calls idolatry.
Paul’s reasoning in Romans 1 is clear as crystal:
For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things. (Romans 1:21-23, ESV)
The Exchange: It is interesting, is it not, that the opening quote focuses on how man will worship. We will give ourselves to reverence. We revere someone or something(s). The question, however, remains: Are we revering the truth or the lie? Will we believe God as revealed in His Word or will we believe the lie of Satan in his many guises, whether they be serpents, bulls, Hollyweird, self, etc? If and when we worship anyone or anything but the truth, i.e., the Lord God, we exchange the truth for a lie.
God’s Diagnosis: God does not hide His diagnosis of man’s root problem. We chose folly; we chose to believe the father of lies, Satan. And we thereby demonstrated our folly. Claiming to be wise, we became fools. How? Through the exchange.
Pilate as an Everyman (a Fool): You remember the scene of Jesus before Pontius Pilate, don’t you? It’s where Pilate played the fool, the postmodern, relativistic, secular man of the hour. He played the ultimate fool:
So Pilate entered his headquarters again and called Jesus and said to him, “Are you the King of the Jews?” Jesus answered, “Do you say this of your own accord, or did others say it to you about me?” Pilate answered, “Am I a Jew? Your own nation and the chief priests have delivered you over to me. What have you done?” Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But my kingdom is not from the world.” Then Pilate said to him, “So you are a king?” Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world—to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.” Pilate said to him, “What is truth?”
After he had said this, he went back outside to the Jews and told them, “I find no guilt in him. But you have a custom that I should release one man for you at the Passover. So do you want me to release to you the King of the Jews?” They cried out again, “Not this man, but Barabbas!” Now Barabbas was a robber. (John 18:33-40, ESV)
Postscript: Notice any patterns? Here is a sampling:
Card tricks for the child: I once knew a man who was good at card tricks. He shuffled a deck of playing cards dexterously. When a child my favorite trick for him to do was for him to guess the one card I had picked from the deck and then returned to the deck of cards. Not only could he pick the card I had chosen, but he could apparently knock it through the table and it would appear on the floor below. He’d retrieve the card and then ask me with a smile, “Is this your card?” and of course, it would be the card I had chosen.
“How did you do it?” I would ask.
“Easy,” he said. “Magic.”
An example from ministry: When I was a young pastor at a rural church, one time my wife and I did a puppet show for the children. It was “old school,” as some folks might say today. We had hand puppet characters with defined personalities and we presented a storyline, a narrative with a message from Scripture, in hopes of gripping and educating the children. We presented the gospel message of man’s sin, God’s righteous judgment, Christ’s atoning work, and redemption for believers. Simple and to the point.
I am a much older man now and have learned a fair share about ministry, about human nature, about good and evil, about angels and demons, about Judas Iscariot who revealed who he truly was, and about puppeteers and marionettes. Those characters my wife and I had on our hands were being controlled by us, and we brought a certain narrative to the hearers in our little church. We presented the gospel message of Christianity.
And the world system is a show, too. And there is certainly no lack of puppets. Why? Because there is no paucity of puppeteers. I would go so far as to say there is at root one throughly evil puppeteer pulling strings that cause many of the marionettes to move, to talk, to smile, to shake hands, to slap each other on the back, to smile again, and then to disappear behind the curtain again until . . . wait for it . . . the next act. He wants to be like the Most High. He loves not the truth but only himself. But he knows, and we should remember, that even Satan is a creature: he is not the Most High God. And he hates that reality.
Hamlet as a connection: I am a voracious reader and this week I read again possibly the greatest of plays. Marcellus spoke unvarnished truth in his line, “Something is rotten in the state of Denmark” (1.4.90). And I love Horatio’s response to Marcellus: “Heaven will direct it” (1.4.91).
There is, in my view, a warfare being played out. There are marionettes and puppeteers. There are invisible hands playing out a narrative. And those puppeteers have souls–some souls of light and some souls of darkness. And if you observe carefully, you can see behind the curtain. And you might be surprised to see that puppeteering can actually be a way to entertain the gullible into slavery, into treachery, into places where there is gnashing of teeth.
I cling to Horatio’s belief that “Heaven will direct it.” Why? Because unless God redeems this puppet show, what you may find behind the curtain are not angels of light, but the damned angel of light who camouflages himself as an angel of light and sulfuric minions dancing masses unto damnation.
Nothing to see here, right? Just a little branch, not far from the river, proximate to a state line, under the oaks and locusts and sycamores and pines.
Accurate, as far as it goes.
But I have put in a lot of hours trekking along this stretch of real estate and have grown to love it.
The scents of honeysuckle in spring are richness beyond words.
Going to miss you. Till we meet again.
I was sitting outside working on a paper and reading some as part of preparation for tomorrow. Suddenly a visitor appeared. Just passing through, she seemed to say.
The fish were not taking my lures this evening, so I left the waters and headed back towards my place. As I crossed the bridge, something caught my gaze. Psalm 19:1.
I was getting a few miles in recently on some strolls where I am this week in the late morning hours when the sky appeared endlessly blue and the smells of honeysuckle wafted through the branch nearby and over the field.
The oak by the bridge had an opening that the animals were putting to use.
A sycamore farther down the slope caught my eye. Sycamores remind me of boyhood when I climbed them and heard the sound of their bark crunch crisply under my tennis shoes and how instantly their leaves took flame and disappeared in orange tongues in autumn.
And the feathered beauties captured in photographs by my friend Jim captivated still.
Recently I was reading a book of a genre less familiar to me than classics of literature, theology, or biographies of Cervantes and the Bard. In the volume was a Thurber gem: “All people should strive to learn before they die, what they are running from, and to, and why.” From, to, and why.
Welcome to wisdom—-Thurber-style.
Walter Mitty’s author wrote verities–truths defining, shaping, suspending trajectories of lives perhaps only too-late examined.
Over the last two days I was able to do several of my favorite things. If you are familiar with jazz, I’m listening to John Coltrane’s My Favorite Things playing as a way to further sharpen the beauty of favorite things.
First, I was able to go home and be with my wife and son. After being gone so much with my current position, there really is no place like home and hearth with those you love, in my estimation.
Second, my wife and I had a complete blast with our Sunday school class Saturday evening. Scores of us ate, shared, laughed, swapped stories, deepened friendships, formed new ones, and simply loved on one another. Christian fellowship is a biblical fruit & blessing given by God Himself.
Third, my wife, our son, and I took in a great movie, Nefarious, which is about spiritual warfare and what spiritual blindness is, what moral depravity is, and what monergistic regeneration is via the gospel. The film has no nudity, no profanity, and no car explosions. What it does do is address spiritual warfare head-on. I highly recommend the film and the book upon which it is based, A Nefarious Plot, by Steve Deace.
Fourth, I was able to wet a hook this evening under the gloaming in a pond I frequent. Didn’t catch enough fish that I don’t need to purchase groceries this week, but it really could not have been a better few moments of time at the water with the slight breeze, the sun over the pines, and the smells of a spring evening.
I never seem to tire of the small things which aren’t . . . well, small.
MIND & MATTERS 