Mt Pleasant Sunday

This morning we drove up to Mt Pleasant in time for church. I recorded Dad with my MXL USB.008. Somehow it acts differently on Windows 7 than it did with XP. It shouldn't on the same laptop, but somehow I couldn't keep it from clipping even with the gain switched to -20db. That I forgot my shock mount probably didn't help, but the audio is clean enough (Lisa is still coughing from her recent bout with cold or flu).

After church we went to "the farm" for a dinner of smoked turkey, hash brown casserole, home baked bread with butter and Gabby's crabapple jelly.

Pat, Jo, Lee, and Barbie joined us for an afternoon of food and fellowship. Nine people crowded around Dad's table for pre-Thanksgiving feast.

I didn't record dinner, but here is Dad's sermon . . .

Joy and Justice

Survival instinct

by John D Ramsey


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According to The Wall Street Journal, the US stock market has lost seven trillion dollars in value since its peak. To put that in perspective, the US public debt is somewhere around six trillion dollars according to the US Treasury. What was first described as a “mortgage crisis” became a “liquidity crisis” and is now a “global economic crisis.”

Nevertheless, it is not all bad news. I paid $1.649 per gallon of gasoline the other day. I filled the tank even though I suspected the price would drop before I needed to fill again. It did drop – three times. I filled again Friday for $1.499 per gallon. I do not remember whom I told, but I predicted that crude oil would drop to $60 per barrel. I based my estimate upon the valuation of the dollar remaining stable. Since the dollar is increasing in value, the cost of oil seems to be decreasing even below my prediction. I am not a genius; I just know that the value of oil has not changed; only the supply relative to demand has decreased in recent years. I do not know how long gasoline will be this inexpensive, but I am relieved when I spend $27 instead of $72 on a tank full.

Since the election, politicians’ panic related to the “global economic crisis” appears to be waning even as the market bounces along the floor. Thursday, the Democrat congressional leadership reneged on a promise to bailout Detroit after the CEO’s of the “big three” automakers flew in corporate jets to Washington to beg for their government handout. Apparently, beggars need to observe appropriate decorum. Groveling is still groveling whether the object of interest is twenty-five cents or twenty-five billion dollars.

Likewise, Paulson, so benevolent to bailout his Wall Street cronies, is now suddenly a tightwad. Cash is suddenly king as economists and politicians realize that we cannot beg, borrow, and bail our way back to boomtown.

Speaking of cash, Steve Ballmer must be dancing another jig celebrating Jerry Yang who gave Microsoft freely what Ballmer was willing to pay billions to buy—namely Yahoo’s demise. Why buy a company when they will dry up all by themselves?

Southwest Airlines is attempting to extend its reach to LaGuardia. Southwest recorded its first quarterly loss ever – ironically because of dropping fuel prices and their fuel hedging strategies. Nevertheless, Southwest Airlines remains a healthy company compared to other airlines. Some companies with cash are quietly thriving even as their heavily leveraged competitors spin towards bankruptcy.

If strong companies are surviving or thriving even in the midst of the current economic turmoil, then whatever the root cause, the landscape appears more natural rather than catastrophic. Nevertheless, the victims of their own excesses are screaming, “Crisis!”

This week, Rick Wagoner, CEO of General Motors, appealed to the nation saying,

Nearly a half-century ago President Kennedy declared that his generation of Americans was living in extraordinary times and facing extraordinary challenges. Our times are no less challenging.


The Wall Street Journal, “Why GM Deserves Support”, November 19, 2008

I am not certain why Wagoner would invoke the name of Kennedy in the pages of The Wall Street Journal. Assuming the Journal’s readership is history-savvy enough to remember Kennedy, they probably know about Truman, and Roosevelt, too. Perhaps they even recall Lincoln.

Were the 60’s more extraordinary than both world wars and the Great Depression? Were the 1960’s more extraordinary than the 1860’s. Even if the challenges our country faces today are equivalent to the challenges of the 1960’s, Wagoner, betrays his own argument when he says today’s challenges are extraordinary. Perhaps today’s challenges are ordinary, but beyond Wagoner’s capacity to manage. Perhaps GM’s challenges are beyond any man’s capacity to manage. Firms confronted with this reality ordinarily seek bankruptcy protection, as GM’s board is considering.

While people scream “helter skelter” and lurch to and fro to the alarms of network news, we should pause to look with an objective eye. The truth transcends any “global economic crisis.”

Thousands of years ago, King Solomon wrote,

The sun rises and the sun sets,
and hurries back to where it rises.

The wind blows to the south
and turns to the north;
round and round it goes,
ever returning on its course.

All streams flow into the sea,
yet the sea is never full.

To the place the streams come from,
there they return again.

All things are wearisome,
more than one can say.

The eye never has enough of seeing,
nor the ear its fill of hearing.

What has been will be again,
what has been done will be done again;
there is nothing new under the sun.

Is there anything of which one can say,
“Look! This is something new”?
It was here already, long ago;
it was here before our time.

There is no remembrance of men of old,
and even those who are yet to come
will not be remembered
by those who follow.

Ecclesiastes 1:5-11 (NIV)

Solomon wrote from his own historical perspective, but we would be wise to take notice of his words. Throughout history, there have been trying times. However, current challenges pale in comparison to the World Wars, the Great Depression, or the Civil War, for instance. These events are relatively recent history.

Moreover, the way of all men remains the same – at the end of our life, we die. Yes, that statement is tautological, but claiming that current challenges are extraordinary is myopic. Billions have lived, and billions have died. Some have lived long lives luxuriously, and some have lived short lives in poverty. Some have died peacefully; others have died violent or excruciating deaths. Some have journeyed from poverty to riches; others have retraced the path from riches to poverty. Whatever our challenges, our circumstances are only extraordinary relative to our own experience.

Still as challenges confront us, we should also pause to evaluate our priorities. While the world panics, we consider, how should we live in these times of difficulty?

Recently, Retired Marine Col. John Ripley passed away. In 1972, Ripley and 600 South Vietnamese soldiers under his command were ordered to “hold and die” in the face of an overwhelming force. Ripley survived despite orders and later said, “When you know you're not going to make it, a wonderful thing happens: You stop being cluttered by the feeling that you're going to save your butt.”

That is the point: “You’re not going to make it.” There is nothing extraordinary or even morose about this fact. Whether the world economy is boom or bust, our lives produce no long-term benefits. The writer of Hebrews states, and no one yet has successfully refuted, “It is appointed for men to die once.” Because we know the certainty of our own mortality, we should set aside our survival instinct and focus upon the breaths we have remaining.

I cannot save my life. Rather, I must spend my life on something. I can squander it, or I can invest it. Either way I cannot keep it. What are my options? Jesus said,

If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.

For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it.

What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?

For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father's glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what he has done.


Matthew 16:24-27 (NIV)

Investing my life is to lose my life for Jesus’ sake. Squandering it is to do anything else. Financial investors use hedging strategies to mitigate risk. Likewise, many Christians use faith as a hedging strategy while they pursue saving their mortal life. Yet faith in Jesus Christ is not a hedging strategy, it is total commitment. We should approach our faith in Christ with abandonment, not as an insurance policy or plan B. We cannot save our lives; consequently, we should choose to lose our lives for the sake of Jesus Christ. The Gospel does not make us better citizens of this world; it makes us sons of God and citizens of a greater country.

Daniel Henninger, deputy editor of The Wall Street Journal’s editorial page, believes that the decline of religion in American society has caused, in part, the current global economic crisis. He writes,

Northerners and atheists who vilify Southern evangelicals are throwing out nurturers of useful virtue with the bathwater of obnoxious political opinions.

The point for a healthy society of commerce and politics is not that religion saves, but that it keeps most of the players inside the chalk lines. We are erasing the chalk lines.


The Wall Street Journal, “Mad Max and the Meltdown”, November 20, 2008

Of course, Henninger’s perspective is strictly business and his editorial bemoans the lack of conscience within the culture. While Henninger’s appreciation of Judeo-Christian ethics is magnanimous, Jesus did not command his disciples to live their lives “inside the chalk lines,” nor do followers of Christ exhibit obnoxious political opinions – at least not if they are obeying John 18:36, 1 Peter 2:13-17, Romans 13:1-6, and Titus 3:1-2.

Because we are followers of Jesus Christ, he calls us to be different from the world, and different in ways that Daniel Henninger may not realize. Jesus told his disciples to deny self, take up crosses, and follow him. Taking up a cross has become a euphemism for enduring anything difficult, but that was not Jesus’ intent. While Jesus spoke figuratively, his meaning was not far from the literal. Taking up a cross means to become obedient unto death! The Apostle Paul says,

. . . don't you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.

Romans 6:3-4 (NIV)

I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

Galatians 2:20 (NIV)

We have died with Christ, our new life exists in him. This changes our perspective on the world: its glories and its troubles. The Apostle John writes,

Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For everything in the world — the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does — comes not from the Father but from the world. The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever.


1 John 2:15-17 (NIV)

The media tells us we live in troubling or even extraordinary times. History and Scripture present a different story. History tells us that every generation faces its own challenges. Whether men struggle for glory or survival, they arrive at the same place – the grave.

Scripture enlightens history explaining that mankind lives under the curse of sin. Because Adam rebelled against God, his descendants are born into hopelessness. The end of man is death because the wages of sin is death. Between birth and death, men experience the same choices as those who came before them. Some men behave according to their innate knowledge of a God who will judge unrighteousness. However, before God’s righteous judgment no man will stand. The cycle of grief begins with birth and ends in judgment. The world will see troubling times; the world will recognize trouble because it has also seen peaceful and prosperous times. Neither is extraordinary; they are just divergent paths to the same end.

What has been will be again,
what has been done will be done again;
there is nothing new under the sun.

Yet in the midst of human frailty, God offers man one extraordinary opportunity: “Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved.” Acts 16:31 (NIV)

Accepting Christ means that we die to ourselves, to our sin, and to the world system. Earthly interests pale in comparison to possessing new life in Jesus Christ. The eternal exceeds the temporal.

When we as believers in Jesus Christ see our world in turmoil, for what do we hope? Do we hope for the day when God will alleviate the trouble so that our lives can continue in comfort? Do we love the world so much that we want to fix or have God fix what we think is broken? Do we just want to survive in peace?

Or do we hope for the day of Jesus’ appearing?

For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father's glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what he has done.

Have we denied ourselves, taken up our crosses, and followed him? Are we obedient unto death? Or have we squandered our lives?

Called, chosen, and faithful

by John D Ramsey


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During Tuesday morning Bible study earlier this week, I said something about the sovereignty of God. A friend asked me, “How do you explain free will?” Apparently, asking me that question is akin to throwing red meat to a hungry dog. I responded energetically, even to the point of surprising myself.

I believe that men experience free will. However, I am not convinced that men possess free will. Rather I believe that our choices are consistent with our nature.

For instance, one day this week I met a friend for lunch. Before arranging the meeting, I scoped out the nearby restaurants. A Korean restaurant sat right around the corner from my friend’s office. I remembered steaming-hot rice bowls from Shilla, a Korean restaurant in St. Paul, Minnesota. I would recommend Shilla to anyone. However, I know nothing about this local restaurant. I wish I were adventurous enough to try new restaurants, but my nature is more conservative. I will follow a friend’s recommendation, but I will not gamble on the unknown. Even though I wanted to try the Korean restaurant, I knew that I would instead recommend José Pepper’s.

More information might have persuaded me otherwise, but José Pepper’s was a safe choice. It is not the best Mexican restaurant in Kansas City, but it is familiar. Ultimately, my purpose was to spend a little time with a friend, and as much as I would like to be adventuresome – it is not in my nature.

Did I experience free will? Yes, of course, I did. I chose to recommend José Pepper’s although I was aware of many alternatives. Did I act consistent to my nature? Absolutely. Not only did I recommend José Pepper’s to my friend, after thoroughly reading the menu, I ordered the shredded beef chimichanga. I recall now that I have ordered the shredded beef chimichanga in two previous visits to José Pepper’s. Lisa explains my behavior this way: after studying the menu, I choose the item that I feel gives me “the most beef for the buck.” My decision making process is not rote, rather my nature constrains my free will. I freely choose that which I am predisposed to choose. My predictability does not preclude my experiencing free will.

Man, by his own free will, does not seek God. Paul wrote to the Romans, saying,

As it is written:
“There is no one righteous, not even one;
there is no one who understands,
no one who seeks God.
All have turned away,
they have together become worthless;
there is no one who does good,
not even one.”

Romans 3:10 (NIV)

Paul goes on to explain to the Romans, that God has said, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” Romans 9:15 (NIV) Paul concludes, “Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden.” Romans 9:18 (NIV)

Election is a difficult topic to understand; however, man’s nature has been in rebellion against God since Adam sinned in the garden. Our free will, such as it is, chooses consistently with our nature so that we are unable to seek God. For anyone to be saved, God must act. The Apostle John writes, “This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.” 1 John 4:10 (NIV) Paul says, “God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:8 (NIV)

For me to come to faith in Jesus Christ, God had to overpower my nature. In other words, God changed the complexion of my free will; otherwise, I could never be saved. According to Ephesians 2, the faith by which I am saved, does not originate with me, it is a gift from God.

Upon realizing that man’s salvation depends entirely upon God, some Christians exhibit a fatalistic attitude. They think that because God’s will cannot be altered, evangelism is unnecessary. They suppose that God will do what God will do regardless of what they do or do not do; consequently, they need to do nothing. This argument is a logical death spiral wherein they experience free will while acting according to their disobedient nature.

Is such behavior and attitudes truly disobedient to God? Yes, Paul was not trying to cultivate this attitude when he wrote the book of Romans. In fact, Paul gave up trying to explain the complexity of election and instead cried out,

Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God!
How unsearchable his judgments,
and his paths beyond tracing out!
“Who has known the mind of the Lord?
Or who has been his counselor?”
“Who has ever given to God,
that God should repay him?”
For from him and through him and to him are all things.
To him be the glory forever! Amen.

Romans 11:33-36 (NIV)

Paul essentially says we cannot understand the mind of God; nevertheless, we must respond to him one way or another. In Romans 12, Paul implores us, in light of God’s sovereignty, to offer our lives as a living sacrifice to God. God’s glory should compel us to spiritual fervor rather than lull us into apathy.

Yet, if salvation must originate with God, if he must call before we can answer, then we ask, who receives this call from God? Jesus concludes the parable of the wedding feast in Matthew 22, saying, “Many are called, but few are chosen.” In the parable, the king sends his servants to invite guests to the wedding of his son. Some people ignore the invitation; others murder the king’s messengers. The king ultimately opens the feast to anyone. Yet, when a guest arrives without appropriate attire, that is, not clothed in righteousness, “the king told the attendants, ‘Tie him hand and foot, and throw him outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ For many are invited, but few are chosen.” Matthew 22:13, 14 (NIV)

Who then are the many who are called of whom Jesus spoke? When Paul preached to the Athenians at the Areopagus, saying,

Therefore since we are God's offspring, we should not think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone — an image made by man's design and skill. In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent.

Acts 17:29, 30 (NIV)

Who are the many who are called? God “commands all people everywhere to repent.” Let there be no doubt, if you are reading this, God is calling you. To Titus, Paul writes, “The grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men.” Titus 2:11 (NIV) There is no one from whom God’s call to repentance is withheld.

Many are called! Who then are the chosen?

For man to respond to God’s call, that is, for man to be included among the chosen, God must first overcome man’s nature. How does God overcome man’s nature to reprogram man’s free will so he can respond in faith? Paul writes, “Faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ?” Romans 10:17 (NIV)

God has done many amazing things to alter the direction of my free will!

• The Creator became the man, Jesus. From that moment forward, he forever exists in a dual nature being both God and man.
  John 1:1-14, Hebrews 1:1-3
• Jesus suffered the penalty of my sin in his body upon the cross.
  Romans 5:8, 2 Corinthians 5:21, 1 Peter 2:24
• In heaven, Jesus offered his blood as an atoning sacrifice.
  Hebrews 9:11-14, 1 John 4:10
• God proved Jesus' victory over sin and death by raising him from the dead.
  Acts 2:23-24, Acts 17:31, 1 Corinthians 15:12-58
• Jesus promises eternal life to all who believe in him.
  John 3:36, Romans 5:21, 1 John 2:25

Knowing that God has accomplished all this for me alters the nature of my free will. Whereas I once was incapable of choosing God, now because of what God has done, I am instead compelled to repent and to trust Jesus Christ for my salvation. When I could not pursue God, God in his mercy pursued me. When I lacked righteousness, he supplied his own righteousness to me as a free gift. I clothe myself with his righteousness, not because it occurs to me to do so, but because his grace compels me.

Salvation comes to me, not because of what I do, but because of what God has done. Because no part of my salvation comes from within me, but rather all flows from God’s grace, I cannot describe it as my choosing God, rather because my salvation originates with God, I confess that he has somehow chosen me. God overpowered my predilection, and saved me. I wonder at the mystery, that I would be among the few whom he has chosen.

In the course of my salvation, do I experience free will? Yes, I do. However, the seed of faith sown in my heart by the message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, transforms my nature, liberating me from my rebellion against God. Knowing what Jesus Christ has done for me, I cannot imagine choosing otherwise than repentance before God. Yet salvation is more than a momentary experience. When God transforms our nature, then we should begin to reflect his nature. Paul tells us,

Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:

Who, being in very nature God,
did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,
but made himself nothing,
taking the very nature of a servant,
being made in human likeness.

And being found in appearance as a man,
he humbled himself
and became obedient to death—
even death on a cross!

Therefore God exalted him to the highest place
and gave him the name that is above every name,
that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.

Philippians 2:5-11 (NIV)

God will eventually overcome the stubborn will of all men. Everyone will eventually acknowledge Jesus Christ, but not all will be saved. Many are called, but few are chosen. At the end of the age, when Jesus Christ returns to earth in glory, the rulers of the world will gather to war against him. John says, “They will make war against the Lamb, but the Lamb will overcome them because he is Lord of lords and King of kings – and with him will be his called, chosen, and faithful followers.” Revelation 17:14 (NIV)

If God calls me and chooses me, then he calls me not only to believe, he chooses me to be faithful. Just as he compelled me against my original nature to trust him, so his grace compels me to remain faithful. I died with Christ to my old nature, so my new life encapsulates Christ: His righteousness becomes my righteousness, his life becomes my life; his humility becomes my humility; his faithfulness becomes my faithfulness. Likewise, his ultimate victory becomes the victory of his called, chosen, and faithful.

Throughout all this, I experience free will; nevertheless, I marvel that God accomplishes it all for his pleasure and for his glory. I cannot begin to understand God's purposes; however, I am eternally grateful that God intervened in my life altering my nature and granting me faith unto repentance and salvation.

Cyrus' anointing

by John D Ramsey


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The election is over and American sentiment ranges between elation and deflation. Neither presidential candidate appealed to me, frankly. Neither man exhibited a right-versus-wrong morality, but rather both men promised a make-it-right perversion of justice.

The recent financial crisis proved that neither major presidential candidate had the mettle of a statesman. When Secretary Paulson asked Congress to preserve the wealth and status of his Wall-Street cronies at the forever-expense of the American taxpayer, both presidential candidates raced to become the first to capitulate. Governmental amelioration of bad choices appears to set some things right; however, without the conviction of true right versus wrong, government only perverts justice. A bailout only spawns additionally moral hazards and perverse incentives. Now everybody wants a bailout, but who will ultimately pay?

Anna Schwartz co-wrote with Milton Friedman, A Monetary History of the United States, 1867-1960 and The Great Contraction, 1929-1933. In her nineties, Ms. Schwartz has been an economics expert for a relatively long time. Brian M. Carney interviewed Anna Schwartz for the Wall Street Journal,

. . . "firms that made wrong decisions should fail," she says bluntly. "You shouldn't rescue them. And once that's established as a principle, I think the market recognizes that it makes sense. Everything works much better when wrong decisions are punished and good decisions make you rich."

I agree with Anna Schwartz, but herein resides the difficulty with experts. Someone wishing to refute my position need only bludgeon me with his bigger, badder, expert. While we may never agree, we can part ways feeling either superior or moralistic.

What is lost in our culture, and to what Anna Schwartz alludes, is a fundamental sense of right versus wrong. We have substituted expedience and nuance for truth, and we are a weaker people for it. We have sacrificed our integrity upon the altar of political and social idolatry.

The beauty of principle—the conviction of right versus wrong—is that you do not have to be an expert to understand it.

The other day, Claire came home from 4-H with four dollars that was awarded her for public speaking. She ran into the room excited to show me her envelope, but then she scampered off quickly. I called after her, “Claire! Did you pay taxes on your four dollars?” I asked.

“No,” she replied.

I asked Gabby, “How much tax should Claire pay on her four dollars?”

Gabby answered without even looking up, “Ten thousand dollars.”

Claire yelped, ran upstairs, and hid her money.

This illustration was playful and teasing, yet illuminating. Gabby had no claim to Claire’s money; yet, if she must impose an arbitrary and unjust tax, why stop with the whole amount? Children understand that changing the rules mid-game is unfair. When they do it, they do it not to be fair but to gain advantage. Likewise, modern politicians seek to change the rules upon whim. The electorate ignores right versus wrong, and rather chooses a desired outcome without regard to truth or justice.

Right versus wrong is no longer principle; it is a notion. Unsophisticated right-versus-wrong, has become a target of derision. What is right has been replaced by whatever gratifies me, and whatever gratifies me I can justify by whatever tortured ethical contortions I can conjure. Yet the culture mistakes this sophistication for wisdom. A rejection of right-versus-wrong is not merely a competing ideology. Rejecting right versus wrong is a rejection of God.

The Apostle Paul commented upon the perversion of the culture of the first century, saying,

Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things.

Romans 1:21-23 (KJV)

We might demur at the thought of our sophisticated society groveling before graven images, yet we do, if only metaphorically. The late Michael Crichton, as published in the Wall Street Journal, remarks,

Nobody believes weather predictions twelve hours ahead. Now we’re asked to believe a prediction that goes out 100 years into the future? And make financial investments based on that prediction? Has everybody lost their [sic] minds?

Yes, Michael, nearly everyone has lost his mind. Such is an unfortunate, albeit necessary, consequence of rejecting God. Our culture has replaced the knowledge of God with the ruminations of lunatics who in turn make merchandise of the masses.

Just because the world’s so-call scientists or even economists agree among themselves to believe something, it does not follow that it must be true. For instance, sacrificing taxpayers on the altar of the Wall Street technocracy did not alleviate the financial crisis. Investors are still wondering, where is the bottom? And, now, what are the rules?

Eventually, the economy will recover, and the architects of the crime, like witchdoctors, will take credit for staving off a worse disaster. Meanwhile, the powerful investment bankers are grateful for your sacrifice. Likewise, selling global warming might make the world a cool place to live, but only for those who manage to grab a spot near the top of the Ponzi. Global warming doctrine and financial bailouts redistribute wealth and consolidate political power, but they accomplish little real benefit.

When we as believers in Jesus Christ realize that all the sophisticated ideologies fluttering about in the culture are merely godless religions and not truth or science, then we are better equipped to respond to them. By respond, I do not mean that we entrench for 2010 or 2012. I mean that we should obey the truth we have held all along.

For instance, our responsibility to governmental authority has not changed. Nor would it be different had the election turned out otherwise. Peter tells us,

Submit yourselves for the Lord's sake to every authority instituted among men: whether to the king, as the supreme authority, or to governors, who are sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to commend those who do right. For it is God's will that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish men. Live as free men, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as servants of God. Show proper respect to everyone: Love the brotherhood of believers, fear God, honor the king.

1 Peter 2:13-17 (NIV)

Peter does not tell his flock, to agree with the king, but he does insist that they honor him with integrity worthy of the Lord.

Saul, the first king of Israel, rejected the Lord, and the Lord rejected Saul from being king. Yet, even in the midst of his rebellion, Scripture refers to Saul as “the LORD’s anointed.” It refers to him as such more often than it refers to any other king of Israel as “the LORD’s anointed.” Saul’s wickedness did not nullify God’s choice. Nor did it thwart God’s purpose.

The term, “the LORD’s anointed” was normally reserved for the leaders and kings of Israel. However, Isaiah speaks for the Lord to Cyrus, king of Persia, saying,

“This is what the LORD says to his anointed,
to Cyrus, whose right hand I take hold of
to subdue nations before him
and to strip kings of their armor,
to open doors before him
so that gates will not be shut:
I will go before you
and will level the mountains;
I will break down gates of bronze
and cut through bars of iron.

I will give you the treasures of darkness,
riches stored in secret places,
so that you may know that I am the LORD,
the God of Israel, who summons you by name.

For the sake of Jacob my servant,
of Israel my chosen,
I summon you by name
and bestow on you a title of honor,
though you do not acknowledge me.

I am the LORD, and there is no other;
apart from me there is no God.

I will strengthen you,
though you have not acknowledged me,
so that from the rising of the sun
to the place of its setting
men may know there is none besides me.

I am the LORD, and there is no other.

I form the light and create darkness,
I bring prosperity and create disaster;
I, the LORD, do all these things.

“You heavens above, rain down righteousness;
let the clouds shower it down.

Let the earth open wide,
let salvation spring up,
let righteousness grow with it;
I, the LORD, have created it.

Isaiah 45:1-8 (NIV)

God raises up world leaders to make his glory known and to accomplish the salvation of his chosen. He uses men whether or not they acknowledge him as God. Isaiah goes on to warn those who despise God’s choices. He says, “Woe to him who quarrels with his Maker, to him who is but a potsherd among the potsherds on the ground. Does the clay say to the potter, ‘What are you making?’?” Isaiah 45:9 (NIV)

Consequently, we accept the outcome of any election as the expressed will of God. We realize also that God seeks to accomplish something much different from our personal comfort and financial prosperity. God seeks to make himself known and to bring about the salvation of his chosen ones. God’s salvation does not come by the consensus of men. Rather it comes by God’s own power and by his judgment.

Regardless of whether we are invigorated or vexed by the outcome of the recent election, we must align our hearts with the purposes of our Maker. The insanity and injustice of modern culture is not our battle to fight. Even as the electoral fever breaks into the wet chills of political reality, we should not entangle ourselves in a lost battle for the culture.

Rather we should equip ourselves as effective evangelists in the battle for the lost within the culture. Cultural morass is merely a symptom of the disease. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is the power of God unto salvation to everyone who believes. This is our message regardless of what God is doing among the nations.

Brown darkness

by John D Ramsey


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Dad came down Sunday afternoon. It was a short visit. He drove home Monday morning. He might have stayed longer, but later this week he has another little trip planned. I think Dad’s objective was not a prolonged visit, but rather simply a break in his routine as he becomes accustomed to living alone.

Sunday night Lisa and I slept in the guest bedroom so that Dad would not have to navigate stairs. I like the guest bedroom in our house, and sleeping there is not the slightest inconvenience. The guest room is almost a secret room. At least I forget that we have it. I seldom have an occasion to go upstairs in the house, and when I do, it is to change a light bulb in one of the girls’ rooms or something similar. The guest room is behind a closed door that I do not open: out of sight – out of mind.

Occasionally, Lisa swaps furniture from the guest room into other rooms in the house. I see the piece and I wonder, where has that been? Likewise, when I do enter the guest room and see a familiar piece of furniture, I think, when did this move here? Whenever I enter the guest room, it is always both new and familiar to me.

Last year, Lisa painted the guest room a rich chocolate brown with cream trim. At night with the lights out, it is very dark — not unlike the master bedroom. Last night, I commented to Lisa about how dark the room was. She asked if it was too dark and I said, “No, it’s just different. This is brown darkness.” Lisa laughed. I told her that our room had a blue darkness, but that the guest room had a brown darkness. She laughed again; then she asked if brown darkness was bad. I told her that I did not know, but that it was definitely different. She laughed once more.


She reminded me that when Daniel was a teenager he insisted that he slept best in a purple room. We said, “Purple darkness,” in unison and chuckled. I am certain that Lisa was laughing at me, too. For years, when we lived in Minnesota, I insisted that I slept best with my head pointing north.

I lay awake for a while looking at where the walls should have been but all I saw was a deep brown darkness. I silently wondered to myself how much of my perception was imagined and how much was real.

I slept just fine in the brown darkness of the guest room. In the morning, Lisa awakened me from a far away land where all the geography and architecture dwarfed the inhabitants. My dream was as a movie set built to a disproportionate scale and softly lit to obscure perception. It seemed simultaneously familiar and mysterious.

Since Mom passed, life is concurrently familiar and mysterious. Mom has been gone for a month, and life is disrupted in almost imperceptible ways – like the difference between a brown and blue darkness, or sleeping east to west rather than north to south, or familiar scenery apparently out of proportion. Many routines remain the same, yet I am feeling disoriented.

Perhaps I should cry just one more time, but I pause after the first tear wondering whether the time for appropriate crying has already passed.

Cara called tonight, and I walked outside to get better reception. While we talked, I stared at the sky without my glasses. I see what I think is the Pleiades, but I am not sure; the sky is hazy and my eyes are naked. Is that Betelgeuse? Maybe so, but where is Orion? Suddenly nothing in the sky looks familiar, I turn to the west, but even Vega seems misplaced. It cannot be Vega; it is another star – nameless to me. On another night, this sky would look familiar, but tonight my expectations are misaligned with the heavens.

I realize that I have been seeking to understand what God is not yet inclined to explain. My expectations are misaligned with my Father’s plan for me. Without my expectations, no mystery would bewilder me. I need to set aside my expectations, understanding that what bewilders me today, I will someday fully understand.

For now we see through a glass, darkly;
but then face to face:
now I know in part;
but then shall I know even as also I am known.

1 Corinthians 13:12 (KJV)

Why would I value my understanding over faithfulness?

He hath made every thing beautiful in his time:
also he hath set the world in their heart,
so that no man can find out the work
that God maketh from the beginning to the end.

Ecclesiastes 3:11 (KJV)

Only faith can bridge the distance between what I can barely see today and what I will someday see clearly. I pray for understanding but more so for faith, knowing that faith fosters hope and hope expresses itself in love.

And now abideth faith, hope, love, these three;
but the greatest of these is love.

1 Corinthians 13:13

Trusting God to fulfill his word, what have I to question?

Tonight in the darkness, I am seeing a glimmer of light. I resolve to cling less to that which I understand so as to embrace that which is new and mysterious. Without harboring my expectations, I move closer to the purpose for which I am called.

Kingdom of priests

Sermon delivered on 10/16/2008 at Mt. Pleasant Baptist Church.

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The law of the spirit

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by John D Ramsey

Do you not know, brothers — for I am speaking to men who know the law — that the law has authority over a man only as long as he lives?

Romans 7:1 (NIV)

A couple weeks ago, on the first day of Sukkot, or Feast of Booths, Lisa and the girls built a sukkah in the back yard to surprise me. During the Kingdom in Context Bible study that morning, I had mentioned that I planned to sit outside with the little girls and read the Scripture pertaining to the Feast of Booths. Mark asked me if I planned to build a booth, and I explained that while I had no problem with people building a booth, teaching the girls the Scripture pertaining to the feast was my priority.


When I arrived home from work, Lisa had a fire burning in the fire bowl on the patio, and she had oil lamps lit in the yard. We ate our dinner in the booth, and read the Scriptures to the girls. Gabby exclaimed two things, “I did not know about this holiday!” and “I think this is my favorite holiday!” It was a lovely evening, and more so to me, knowing that my girls had labored to make it special.


Regardless of our apparent observance of an Old Testament feast, I feel compelled to clarify. We did not celebrate Sukkot in order to obey the Old Testament Law. Rather, the evening was an illustration of God’s amazing love toward us that he would send his Son to tabernacle among men. The girls now have a visual memory of the Feast of Booths, and I am glad to have had the opportunity to instruct them. However, our observation of the holiday did not observe the Law.


Had our intention been to keep the Law, then we infringed on these points:

• According to Deuteronomy 16:16, the Feast of Booths had to be observed at the place that God chose. According to 2 Chronicles 6:6, God’s chosen place is Jerusalem. Observing the feast in Raymore, MO, is a violation of the Old Testament Law.
  
• The branches that Lisa used to build the sukkah, were from leafy trees only (and the leaves had fallen off). The Law required, palm trees and willows, as well.
  
• The duration of the feast is seven days during which time, the observant are to live in booths. We sat in the booth for about an hour.
  
• The first day of the feast is a holy convocation during which only necessary work is permitted. However, the next day, I went to work, as is my routine.
  
• The Feast of Booths requires 182 animal sacrifices over seven days in addition to regular daily sacrifices according to Numbers 29. That is the Law.
  

By my calculations, no one obeyed the Law concerning the Feast of Booths this year.

I have no qualms about commemorating an Old Testament feast as an educational and inspirational tool; however, I wince when I hear people claiming to be “Law-abiding Christians.” I wonder, what part of the Law do they suppose that they are obeying? Do they think that they can safely ignore some laws? If so, how do they decide which ones? Deuteronomy 26:27 says, “Cursed is the man who does not uphold the words of this law by carrying them out.” Paul explains the impossibility of keeping the Law, saying, “Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law.” Galatians 3:10 (NIV) James, the brother of Jesus said, “For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it.” James 2:10 (NIV)

Whether I sit in a sukkah for a minute, a week, or never is irrelevant regarding righteousness. Paul tells the Galatians, “If righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!” Galatians 2:21 (NIV) Jesus condemned everyone who attempts to gain righteousness by the Law by saying,

For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.

Matthew 5:20 (NIV)

Observing the Law gains me nothing unless I can be perfect and it is way too late for that. James points us to another way, saying,

Speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom, because judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment!

James 2:12-13 (NIV)

James promises that people who want to judge others by the Law will themselves be judged by the Law! The better way is the law that gives freedom. What is the law that gives freedom? Paul tells us,

Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death.

For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering.

And so he condemned sin in sinful man, in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit.

Romans 8:1-4 (NIV)

How is it that we are free from the requirements of the Old Testament Law? Paul explains,

So, my brothers, you also died to the law through the body of Christ, that you might belong to another, to him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit to God.

Romans 7:4 (NIV)

To the Colossians Paul writes,

For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.

Colossians 3:3, 4 (NIV)

Because we die with Christ when we trust him by faith, the Law no longer has power over us. We are clothed with Christ’s righteousness regarding the Law. His righteousness is attributed to us, and there is nothing we can do to earn it. Trying to keep the Old Testament Law actually disparages the mercy of the cross. Yet the law of the Spirit teaches us that, “Mercy triumphs over judgment!” Christ’s righteousness attributed to me exceeds the righteousness of the Pharisees and teachers of the law making me worthy of the kingdom. Because I died with Christ, the Law no longer rules over me.

Whether I observe a day, or ignore it, does not matter regarding righteousness. The Law of the Spirit gives us freedom to express our faith through culture, but it does not require or favor any specific cultural expression. The law of the Spirit sets us free to serve God and serve each other in love, but it does not obligate us to external observances. Observing the Law never saved anyone, anyway, not even Abraham who lived before the Law was given. “Abram believed the LORD, and he credited it to him as righteousness.” Genesis 16:6 (NIV) Righteousness before God has never come by works, but only by faith; Hebrews 11 makes this undoubtedly clear.

Paul expressed his faith culturally, but not consistently with one culture, he writes,

Though I am free and belong to no man, I make myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible. To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), so as to win those under the law. To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from God's law but am under Christ's law), so as to win those not having the law. To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some. I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings.

1 Corinthians 9:19-23 (NIV)

Cultural expressions of faith are tools for evangelism, but legalism is not. Legalism, whether it comes in the form of quasi-Judaism or cultic manipulation, is contrary to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Legalism cannot produce righteousness, but it does create a barrier between the law observer and the Savior. Paul said it best when he described himself as being blameless according to the righteousness that comes from the Law, but he would rather have Christ. He wrote,

But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ,

And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith: That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death; If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead.

Philippians 3:7-10 (KJV)

Knowing Christ, being conformed to his character, suffering for his sake, dying with him, and obtaining righteousness by faith alone does not appeal to the flesh; yet these the Law of the Spirit works to produce within us.

“I am making all things new”

by John D Ramsey


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The home-school meeting happened without me. My sister called as we were readying to leave the house and told me that Mom had a heart attack.

Early in the morning, Mom sent Lisa a sentimental poem that she found while rummaging through Granny’s things. A few days ago, Mom had laughed about keeping all of Granny’s stuff; she told me that if Granny had not used it in the past two years, she probably never would.

I talked with Mom about midmorning yesterday, she told he that she found my latest post to be encouraging. When I talked with her, she was reading the last few chapters of Revelation. She took her encouragement, not from my feeble words, but rather from the truthful promises of Scripture.

Later, after Lisa had posted the poem that Mom had sent her, I tried to call Mom to let her know. There was no answer. Dad said that Mom went suddenly; though paramedics resuscitated her body, I believe that Mom was already at home in a greater country.

When Mom’s heart gave out, she was not only prepared to meet her Savior, she was earnestly meditating on Jesus’ words with a sentimental homesickness that his faithful share.

And He who sits on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” And He said, “Write, for these words are faithful and true.”

Then He said to me, “It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give to the one who thirsts from the spring of the water of life without cost.

“He who overcomes will inherit these things, and I will be his God and he will be My son.”

Revelation 21:5-7 (NIV)

Servile fearfulness

by John D Ramsey


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On my way to the office each morning, I drive passed a luxurious subdivision named Patrician Woods. It amuses me that people who can afford to live anywhere would choose to live in a neighborhood with such a pretentious name, unless, of course, they just don’t get it.

Do we not live in a country founded upon the ideal that “all men are created equal”? Of course, we all succumb to pride and presume at times to think that we are better than someone else is. Nevertheless, only a few have the brazenness to live in a neighborhood whose name derogates the Declaration of Independence.

Perhaps these residents do not arrogate themselves deliberately. Perhaps, their vocabulary enlightened, they would blush at the blatant assertion of their aristocracy. Moreover, I am confident that many residents of Patrician Woods feel that with their wealth comes greater social responsibility than merely keeping their trees trimmed and their dogs groomed. For this, I commend them, but I still smirk at the name of their subdivision.

Tomorrow, I will corral a couple dozen fifth through eighth graders while their moms (and a few dads) conduct a home-school association meeting. I decided sometime ago to use Shakespeare as the fulcrum of our activities. I hope to make Shakespeare accessible to them. My first inclination was to re-enact et tu Brute, but I then I visualized the horror on the moms’ faces upon seeing their sweet children parading around in blood-drenched togas. I might as well have chosen Lord of the Flies as my literary topic. I am staying with Julius Caesar, but we will act out only Act I, Scene 1.

I have a long vocabulary list, and ten discussion questions. I printed the scene on cardstock with the character’s name, a sequence number, the preceding line in small type, and the character’s line in big print. With four speaking parts, we will rotate kids in and out until everyone has a chance to be a tribune or a citizen. We will discuss that both Rome and sixteenth century England divided into social hierarchies. If I have time, I will ask them whether the United States has social hierarchy. Then I will ask them whether that is good or bad. Ultimately, I would like them to imagine living in a culture where an aristocracy receives preferential treatment from the government.

Of course, these kids are too young to understand the implications of the much-trumpeted moral hazard the Senate voted tonight to enact. How would they feel to know that their government considers some people more important than others? How would they feel if they realized that their financial future is now constrained to pay for the egregious excesses of Wall Street coupled with incompetent regulation from Washington? How angry would they be that liquidity for the powerful would not come at the cost of bankruptcy liquidation? How would they feel if they realized that Congress intends to abrogate existing law to accommodate their patrons while appropriating the finances of their constituents to get it done? I know how I feel. I feel far away from home.

In my home country “there is no Greek or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and in all.” Colossians 3:11 (NIV) In my home country, its citizens are children “of God through faith in Christ Jesus, for all . . . who were baptized into Christ have clothed [themselves] with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, [all are] one in Christ Jesus [and are] Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise.” Galatians 3:26-29 (NIV) In my home country, “[We] are all are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God” 1 Peter 2:9 (NIV)

When I witness injustice, I long for the peace of my home country. The Apostle, John, wrote about his vision of my home country, saying,

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”

He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” Then he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.”

He said to me: “It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To him who is thirsty I will give to drink without cost from the spring of the water of life. He who overcomes will inherit all this, and I will be his God and he will be my son.

Revelation 21:1-7 (NIV)

Once Washington completes its bailout of Wall Street, it will be business as usual, i.e., the same old tired grind where the rich exploit the poor and the poor envy the rich. Politicians will continue to pervert justice at the whim of the powerful. Yet gone will be the illusion of America, the land of the free. Rather the newly emboldened Federal Government, like King James I and Julius Caesar before him, will “keep us all in servile fearfulness.”

So be it. I am a citizen of a greater country.

Red apples to pick

by John D Ramsey

It began with a tease, as many things do in this house. I passed Claire in the hallway on my way to the garage. “I want a ten-page report ready before I get home,” I snapped.

Claire looked bewildered and asked, “On what?”

“Your day,” I answered. As I was getting into the Explorer to drive to work, I relented, “You must have exactly one word on each page.”

Claire smiled.

Lisa had joined us by then and suggested that Claire write a haiku. I was thinking haiku already, but I did not dare require it. Since Lisa thought of it, too, I suggested that if Claire completed her haiku using exactly ten words, I would bring her a special prize. Claire accepted the challenge.

At work, while I was rebooting my laptop because of critical updates, I started thinking about haiku. Was it fair of me to ask Claire to write a ten word, seventeen-syllable poem on a whim? Did my requirement impose upon Lisa’s lesson plan for the day? Plans for the weekend flashed through my mind, and while I was still rebooting I text-messaged Lisa,

Morning promises
little girls, sunshine, breezes,
red apples to pick.

I figured that if I could do it during a reboot, it was not too much to ask of Claire. Later I realized that technically I had failed my own assignment because I was writing about tomorrow and I had asked Claire to write about today. On the other hand, one day is as good as another.

I am looking forward to divesting the apple trees of their fruit before the squirrels do. Lisa coaxed some apple boxes from the grocery store complete with packing material. The nicest apples we will box and put in a cool spot in the basement. The rest of them might become applesauce or apple butter – anything other than squirrel food.

On my way home from work, I was talking to Lisa on the phone. She asked me if I had gotten an email from Claire. I had not checked before leaving work, so she read Claire’s haiku to me.

Book report was good
Math and reading every day
Enthusiastic

That was good enough for me. Claire's reward in only eight words:

Yesterday's Sunshine^®,

a bittersweet memory,

crisp Hydrox^® cookies.

We will eat apples tomorrow.