Book Reviews, Etc

God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. — Genesis 1:3

This is the reason that the bible says God cannot lie: when he speaks, what he spoke becomes true. He defines truth by his words. It is impossible for something the Lord puts into voice to not come into existence.

So let me tell you some of what God says:

You are altogether beautiful, my darling; there is no flaw in you. –Song 4:7

You are strong. The word of God lives in you. You have overcome the evil one. — 1 John 2:14

You are precious. You are honored and I love you. –Isaiah 43:4

Never forget it. Never forget that God defines truth. God makes truth. When a word comes out from God, reality bends and reshapes until that word is a settled fact.

We can believe some depressing things about ourselves. But God doesn’t.

It’s hard to know what to hope for in the Syria situation. Like most of America, I’m not convinced military intervention there is a good idea. But on the other hand, I feel like the nation I love will be humiliated if we do nothing. Our President has been out there promising the world that we’re going to take action. If that threat comes to zero, what will our enemies in the world think? Will they then believe it’s OK to attack America however they want?

Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence. — 1 Timothy 2:1-2

Lord, please help President Obama, and Harry Reid, and John Boehner, and all the members of Congress. Please strengthen them to bear the burden of this decision. Please make it clear to all of them how much you love them.

Lord, I pray that the knowledge of your love will give our leaders a hunger to know you, and that when they go seeking more knowledge of you that you will in return draw near to them. Please make it easy for them to know your will about Syria Lord. Please make your will so clear that no one has any doubt what you want.

Please take care of America, and do good things for us Lord.

Tonight I took my antelope blind down. I need it to take into the mountains, in hopes it will help me catch an elk or deer. But it was sad to take it down. I never so much as saw an antelope while sitting in it. But I enjoyed many a fine morning watching the sunrise, drinking ice cold water, and talking to God.

The march of a dawn line across a wheat field is beautiful. You think you’ve seen how golden it is, and then suddenly the full light of the sun touches it, and a new richness of color is revealed.

The time before sunrise, when there’s enough light to see the nose in front of your face but not much farther, is beautiful too. I spend it straining my eyeballs, trying to stare harder and harder out the window of the blind, wondering if there might be a white and tan head out there.

Even the sound of a distant highway is beautiful. Manmade though it is, on a dark predawn morning the sound of cars hurrying by becomes a part of the voice of God.

The creation is beautiful beyond description, and sitting out in it for hours at a time is a great blessing.

Have a good fall, Antelope. Hopefully I’ll see you next year!

Archery season for deer and elk opens in Montana this weekend. It’s pushing out everything else in my head, making it hard to think about subjects that don’t have antlers.

A day or two ago I went scouting after work. Far up into the mountains, with the wind howling around my friend’s pickup as we drove back down the narrow forest service road, I found myself contemplating the elemental joy of hunting.

We saw a big cow elk when we got out of the truck and went up the trail. The wind was carrying our scent right towards her, and she startled when she caught wind of us. That’s what allowed us to see her. We were so near the trailhead we weren’t expecting it.

We spent a few moments crouching behind cover, calling and trying to get her back. I caught a second glimpse of her as she hung around for a while before bolting completely.

It was a beautiful moment, but as we drove back, one thought kept coming back: It wasn’t the same as if I’d had a bow in my hand.

Seeing wildlife in its natural habitat is thrilling, but the knowledge that life or death hangs in the balance is more thrilling still. It’s far more thrilling.

The very same experience, if I had had an arrow nocked, would have been sublime. Even if I never got the shot, even knowing it was a boring old cow and not a fantastic trophy bull, it would still have been sublime.

Hunting takes a person to the edge of life or death. The hunter’s purpose, his whole focus, is on ending the life of that animal. The animal is trained by a lifetime, programmed by the instincts of generations, to exploit any tiny error the hunter makes to stay alive.

I love to hike. I love to see wildlife. But the difference between catching a fleeting glimpse of an elk four days before it’s legal to arrow her, and catching a glimpse of the tiniest little whitey doe when I’m free to pull the trigger, is like the difference between the frozen reaches of space and the molten core of the planet.

I think almost everyone in Western culture knows verses like Matthew 5:39.

But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also.

Less well known, but equally relevant, are verses like Matthew 26:52

“Put your sword back in its place,” Jesus said to him, “for all who draw the sword will die by the sword.”

From verses like that, modern American culture has created a picture of Jesus in which he abhors violence of any kind. But what are we to make of these other verses?

Now the Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. And He found in the temple those who sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the money changers doing business. When He had made a whip of cords, He drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and the oxen, and poured out the changers’ money and overturned the tables..  –John 2:13-15 (NKJV)

 

“Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to turn ‘a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law—a man’s enemies will be the members of his own household.’”–Matthew 10:34-36

 

Then Jesus asked them, “When I sent you without purse, bag or sandals, did you lack anything?”

“Nothing,” they answered.

He said to them, “But now if you have a purse, take it, and also a bag; and if you don’t have a sword, sell your cloak and buy one. It is written: ‘And he was numbered with the transgressors’; and I tell you that this must be fulfilled in me. Yes, what is written about me is reaching its fulfillment.”

The disciples said, “See, Lord, here are two swords.”

“That’s enough!” he replied. — Luke 22:35-38

None of those is a passage from the old Testament, so “Oh, it was different before the New Testament” won’t work here. Each one is a scriptural example of Jesus either advocating violence, carrying out violence, or advocating possession of the tools of violence.

I don’t know all the answers, but I know this: It’s way better to invest time in getting to know him than to just assume we know him.

In case you’ve never heard of them, the Westboro Baptist Church are the folks who are infamous for picketing the funerals of soldiers with signs that say things like “God hates fags.”

It’s become very fashionable on Facebook and such to take “brave” stands against them.

Um… that’s not brave. They’re midguided idiots with no power. Everyone who’s decent in any way despises their conduct. Protesting and standing against the Westboro Baptist Church is as safe, cozy, and majoritarian as it gets.

It’s easy to hate them.

Who is bringing them the gospel?

Many folks on the left of American politics might be surprised to learn that I — a passionate conservative Christian — believe I have more reason to hate the Westboro Baptist Church than they do. After all, every day, with every protest, with every hateful sign, they profane the name of my best friend and King.

I know Jesus. He’s a friend of mine. He does not hate any human being. He would never use a word like “fags.”  And every time the Westboro Baptist Church says otherwise, they are spreading a painful lie about someone I love.

The conduct of the Westboro Baptist Church is best described as sin. They are, quite literally, taking the name of the Lord in vain.

The bible provides guidance about how to deal with someone who calls himself “Christian” and yet not only sins but refuses to change that behavior:

“If your brother or sister sins, go and point out their fault, just between the two of you. If they listen to you, you have won them over. But if they will not listen, take one or two others along, so that ‘every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.’ If they still refuse to listen, tell it to the church; and if they refuse to listen even to the church, treat them as you would a pagan or a tax collector. –Matthew 18:15-17

So what should we do with the Westboro Baptist Church? We should treat them as those who don’t yet believe, or as tax collectors, one of the most hated groups in biblical times.

But what did Jesus say to the most famous tax collector in the bible?

As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector’s booth. “Follow me,” he told him, and Matthew got up and followed him. –Matthew 9:9

That, my friends, is the story of Matthew, the author of the first gospel.

If we are to follow the Matthew 18 guidance about how to deal with unrepentant sinners who call themselves Christians, it’s about time someone starts loving them, inviting them in, and telling them the truth about Jesus. No one needs to hear it more.

http://bible.com/111/HEB13.1.NIV

Keep on loving one another as brothers and sisters. Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it. Continue to remember those in prison as if you were together with them in prison, and those who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering.
Bible.com/app

I love how he says “continue” here. If anyone thinks that God views humans only as a collection of sins, here is an example where be believes the best of us.

This page is currently inactive. It used to be the home of my blog about Jesus, but that’s now located at www.takingjesusseriously.com.  This page also used to be the home of my write-in campaign for Clerk of the Montana Supreme Court. That campaign is over. All those who helped me, working together, earned 4,400 votes, which is pretty amazing for not even being on the ballot. Thanks to all of you!

Not much is being done with this page at the moment. Why not click on over to www.takingjesusseriously.com?  You might find that God is way more than everything you’ve ever been led to expect.