Amidst the Chaos...

Edited by Myrna Moore

Happy mid-week!

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Swept Away

I recently started a chronological Bible reading program, where you read the Bible in the historical order of events. I've never tried this kind of approach before, so I thought I'd give it a go.

This week's reading plan has focused on the book of Job. It inspired me to write the following . . . poem? . . . song? . . . I'm not entirely sure how to categorize it. Whatever it is, I hope it will encourage you to look to the One Who has all the answers.

Swept Away

 Feels like I’m swimming upstream, I can’t catch my breath

Everything I was holding onto has been swept away

Why have You ignored my cries for help?

Why have I become a burden to You?

Why don’t You take my pain away?

Why do You answer my tears with silence? 

Where did I go wrong?

Don’t You see what’s happening to me?

Remember that my life is a breath

I’m swept away in the blink of an eye

For when a few years have come and gone

I’ll go to where I can’t return

Who will praise You then?

How long will You let them torment me

And tear me to pieces with heartless words?

Can’t You see what they’re doing to me?

Seems like I’m all alone in this battle

Why aren’t You here to protect me?

I can’t keep keeping on like this

It’s too much for me to take

My song has been silenced in the darkness of despair

I will question you, and you will answer Me

Where were you when I made the earth?

Have you commanded the morning since your birth?

Do you know the secret springs of the sea?

Have you walked in the deep places of the earth?

Have you seen the gates of Hell, or touched the windows of Heaven?

Tell me, if you know all this

Where is the way to the dwelling of light?

And where is the house of darkness?

Have you seen where the snow and hail are stored?

Can you send forth rain to nourish the earth?

Answer me, if you can

Do you give the horses their strength?

Is the wild ox your servant?

Do you provide the raven its prey to feed its young ones?

Have you caught Leviathan with a hook, or tamed Behemoth with a leash?

Will you contend with Yahweh, fault-finder?

Will you give an answer, you who argue with God?

I lay my hand on my mouth – how can I answer You? 

I know that You can do all things, and no will of Yours can be thwarted

I’ve spoken about what I don’t understand, things too wonderful for me to comprehend

Now I see You, and I repent in dust and ashes

I’m awe-struck, captivated, swept away by You

Blessed be Your Name!

"Blessed be the name of the LORD."

Job 1:21b

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The Rejection of Truth

As an American patriot and Christian, I feel the need to mention some grievances that have come to my attention in the recent months.

David Barton, historian and writer (and the Founder and President of WallBuilders), recently published a book entitled The Jefferson Lies: Exposing the Myths You've Always Believed About Thomas Jefferson  through Thomas Nelson Publishers, one of the most prominent Christian publishing companies. The book was repealed after the publisher "lost confidence" in The Jefferson Lies.

This is the official statement from the WallBuilders web site in response to Thomas Nelson Publisher's repeal of the book.

"The announcement that Thomas Nelson has pulled The Jefferson Lies because it has 'lost confidence' in the work has become national news. However, while Thomas Nelson may have “lost confidence” in the work, others have not and thus the book has already been picked up by a much larger national publisher and distributor. Even at the time Nelson dropped the work, they admitted that it was still selling very well.

"As is the case with all of our published items, we go above and beyond with original source documentation so that people can be thoroughly confident when they see the truth of history for themselves. We find it regrettable that Thomas Nelson never contacted us with even one specific area of concern before curtly notifying us they had dropped the work. Had they done so, we would have been happy to provide them with the thorough and extensive historical documentation for any question or issue they raised; they never asked. The Jefferson Lies has not been pulled from publication and it will continue to sell nationally."

 In this article, Barton addresses individual critics' concerns and statements about The Jefferson Lies. (I was planning on quoting parts of this article, but found very quickly that I would need to quote the entire article for accuracy, so it's much better if you just read the article for yourself.) He speaks very well for himself, so I would strongly encourage you to read it.

Why is Barton taking so many negative hits for trying to educate others - especially Americans - about the truth of our Founding Fathers using original documents and eyewitness accounts?

I cannot make a final judgment call on why Barton's critics are being so negative, but I can point to what the Scriptures say about human nature tends to treat truth.

God is a God of truth.

...a God of truth... {Deuteronomy 32:4}

...all his works are done in truth. {Psalm 33:4}

...his truth endureth to all generations. {Psalm 100:5}

...thy truth reacheth unto the clouds. {Psalm 108:4}

....thy law is the truth. {Psalm 119:142}

...all thy commandments are truth. {Psalm 119:151}

 Fallen, depraved man has a natural tendency to reject God's truth and replace it with man's lies, even men who have accepted Christ as their Savior (see Romans 1 and 2). Many times, this is because the truth isn't "convenient." Truth doesn't fit with our preconceived notions, and that makes us uncomfortable. So we skew truth/reality to fit with what makes us comfortable.

It can be very hard to stand up for the truth. It's so very tempting to cave under pressure. We don't like being uncomfortable. We don't like standing out, being "different." It makes me sad that Thomas Nelson, one of the most well-known Christian publishers, has caved under pressure.

Now, I am not saying Barton's latest book is on the same level as God's Word as a source for truth. It just makes me sad to see a dedicated believer being criticized for trying to debunk myths and lies that our education system has led our nation to believe about Thomas Jefferson and other Founding Fathers.

I am no historian (although I do love history...and books), but I have a hard time believing that Deists would frame an entire country's foundation on Biblical principles and standards. I have a hard time believing that Deists would implement prayer before each session of Congress and establish a position for a Congressional chaplain. I have a hard time believing that Deists would have financially supported efforts to evangelize the Native American Indian tribes. It disturbs me that Baron is taking so much flak for his desire to set the record straight about Jefferson in his latest book via original documents, eyewitness accounts, and official records (infringement of free speech aside).

Again, I'm not saying Barton - or any other man for that matter - is on par with God as a reliable source for truth. My point is, we tend to reject any truth that isn't "convenient" and/or doesn't fit with our ideas or perspective(s).

In the Gospel of John, Jesus said:

And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. {John 8:32}

Truth is a God-given source of freedom. America's Founding Fathers created the entire foundation of America on God's truth revealed through His Word.

But ... you can't live by the truth if you don't know the truth. That requires digging deep, using original sources in context - in our case, the Bible (in Barton's case, original writings, eyewitness accounts and official documents).

Seek to learn and know the truth by becoming a student of God's Word. Remember: you can't live by the truth if you don't know the truth.

"The great pillars of all government and of social life [are] virtue, morality, and religion. This is the armor, my friend, and this alone, that renders us invincible."

Patrick Henry

General in the American Revolution; Legislator; Ratifier of the U.S. Constitution; Governor of Virginia

"Suppose a nation in some distant region should take the Bible for their only law book and every member should regulate his conduct by the precepts there exhibited. . . . What a Eutopia [sic] – what a Paradise would this region be!"

John Adams

Signer of the Declaration of Independence; One of the Two Signers of the Bill of Rights; Second President of the United States 

"I do not believe that the Constitution was the offspring of inspiration, but I am as satisfied that it is as much the work of a Divine Providence as any of the miracles recorded in the Old and New Testament." 

Benjamin Rush

Signer of the Declaration of Independence; Surgeon General of the Continental Army; Ratifier of the U.S. Constitution; Treasurer of the U.S. Mint

"In the chain of human events, the birthday of the nation is indissolubly linked with the birthday of the Savior. The Declaration of Independence laid the cornerstone of human government upon the first precepts of Christianity."

John Quincy Adams 

Sixth President of the United States; Secretary of State; U.S. Senator; U.S. Representative 

"The great, vital, and conservative element in our system is the belief of our people in the pure doctrines and the divine truths of the Gospel of Jesus Christ." 

Congress, 1854

"[T]he only means of establishing and perpetuating our republican forms of government is the universal education of our youth in the principles of Christianity by means of the Bible."

 Benjamin Rush

Signer of the Declaration of Independence; Surgeon General of the Continental Army; Ratifier of the U.S. Constitution; Treasurer of the U.S. Mint

"Here is my Creed. I believe in one God, the Creator of the Universe. That He governs it by His Providence. That He ought to be worshipped. [sic]"

 Benjamin Franklin

Signer of the Declaration of Independence; Signer of the U.S. Constitution; Governor of Pennsylvania

"Had the people, during the Revolution, had a suspicion of any attempt to war against Christianity, that Revolution would have been strangled in its cradle... In this age, there can be no substitute for Christianity... That was the religion of the founders of the republic and they expected it to remain the religion of their descendants."

Congress, U. S. House Judiciary Committee, 1854

"[Governments] could not give the rights essential to happiness… We claim them from a higher source: from the King of kings, and Lord of all the earth."

John Dickinson

Signer of the Constitution; Governor of Pennsylvania; Governor of Delaware; General in the American Revolution

"Righteousness alone can exalt America as a nation. Whoever thou art, remember this; and in thy sphere practice virtue thyself, and encourage it in others."

Patrick Henry

General in the American Revolution; Legislator; Ratifier of the U.S. Constitution; Governor of Virginia

"It becomes a people publicly to acknowledge the over-ruling hand of Divine Providence and their dependence upon the Supreme Being as their Creator and Merciful Preserver . . . and with becoming humility and sincere repentance to supplicate the pardon that we may obtain forgiveness through the merits and mediation of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ."

Samuel Huntington

Signer of the Declaration of Independence; President of Congress; Governor of Connecticut 

"[P]ublic utility pleads most forcibly for the general distribution of the Holy Scriptures. Without the Bible, in vain do we increase penal laws and draw entrenchments around our institutions." 

James McHenry

Officer in the Revolutionary War; Signer and Ratifier of the U.S. Constitution; Secretary of War

"By renouncing the Bible, philosophers swing from their moorings upon all moral subjects… It is the only correct map of the human heart that ever has been published."

 Benjamin Rush

Signer of the Declaration of Independence; Surgeon General of the Continental Army; Ratifier of the U.S. Constitution; Treasurer of the U.S. Mint

"You do well to wish to learn our arts and ways of life, and above all, the religion of Jesus Christ. These will make you a greater and happier people than you are." 

George Washington

Member of the Continental Congress; Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army; President of the Constitutional Convention; First President of the United States

"This will be the best security for maintaining our liberties. A nation of well-informed men who have been taught to know and prize the rights which God has given them cannot be enslaved. It is in the religion of ignorance that tyranny begins."

Benjamin Franklin

Signer of the Declaration of Independence; Signer of the U.S. Constitution; Governor of Pennsylvania

"God who gave us life gave us liberty. And can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the people that these liberties are of the Gift of God? That they are not to be violated but with His wrath? Indeed, I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just; that His justice cannot sleep forever; That a revolution of the wheel of fortune, a change of situation, is among possible events; that it may become probable by Supernatural influence! The Almighty has no attribute which can take side with us in that event." Thomas Jefferson

Signer of the Declaration of Independence; Governor of Virginia; Secretary of State; Third President of the United States

"Resistance to tyranny becomes the Christian and social duty of each individual. ... Continue steadfast and, with a proper sense of your dependence on God, nobly defend those rights which heaven gave, and no man ought to take from us." 

John Hanckock

First Signer of the Declaration of Independence; President of Congress; General in the Revolutionary War; Governor of Massachusetts  

I recommend a general and public return of praise and thanksgiving to Him from whose goodness these blessings descend. The most effectual means of securing the continuance of our civil and religious liberties is always to remember with reverence and gratitude the source from which they flow. 

John Jay

President of Congress; Author of the Federalist Papers; Original Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court; Governor of New York

"[T]he greatest discoveries in science have been made by Christian philosophers and . . . there is the most knowledge in those countries where there is the most Christianity."

 Benjamin Rush

Signer of the Declaration of Independence; Surgeon General of the Continental Army; Ratifier of the U.S. Constitution; Treasurer of the U.S. Mint

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Does Suicide Send You to Hell?

It's a sobering question that lingers in many hearts and minds. Many have found it difficult to offer a clear, theologically sound answer.

Ravi Zacharias, founder of Ravi Zacharias International Ministries (RZIM), does an excellent job of answering this difficult question in this portion of a recorded Q&A session. His humility, transparency and love for the truth of God's Word shines through as he speaks.

As Ravi pointed out, suicide is a form of murder. Instead of taking someone else's life in your hands, you're taking your life in your hands. God makes it abundantly clear how He views any kind of murder.

 Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man. 

Genesis 9:6

What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's. 

I Corinthians 6:19-20

Man is made in the image of God. When man kills man - whether another man or himself - the image of God is marred. Staining the image of the holy God is not something He takes lightly, and neither should we. 

So, does suicide send you to hell?

The short answer is: No. Choosing to reject Christ is what sends a person to hell.

I said to the man who stood at the Gate of the Year,

"Give me a light that I may tread safely into the unknown."

And he replied, "Go out into the darkness, and put your hand into the hand of God.

That shall be to you better than light, and safer than a known way."

King George VI

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Idols and the Living God

Hear ye the word which the LORD speaketh unto you, O house of Israel: 

Thus saith the LORD, Learn not the way of the heathen, and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven; for the heathen are dismayed at them. 

For the customs of the people are vain: for one cutteth a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman, with the axe. 

They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it move not. 

They are upright as the palm tree, but speak not: they must needs be borne, because they cannot go. Be not afraid of them; for they cannot do evil, neither also is it in them to do good. 

 {Jeremiah 10:1-5}

One of the many reasons God commanded the Israelites to annihilate the pagan nations in the Promised Land of Canaan was to limit Israel's exposure to idol worship. Most (if not all) of these nations practiced some kind of idol worship. Rituals associated with this idol worship included showing respect and honor to statues - so-called "physical likenesses" of various man made deities and gods made out of wood, stone, bone, and precious metals - by exhibiting various body postures (such as bowing), burning incense, kissing or reverently touching various parts on the god's "likeness," providing offerings of fruit, animals, even humans (especially children). All of these things were done with the hope that the god would do something for them in return. Whether the god would grant your request varied from deity to deity. Some gods were thought to be temperamental and would (or would not) answer you based on how they felt on that particular day. Other gods based their answers on your moral uprightness, the quality of your sacrifice, your level of devotion to that particular deity/religion, etc. Sadly, many of these practices and beliefs are kept alive by various pagan cults and religions today. These practices, and the mindset(s) that result(s) from such practices, are just as deadly to people's spiritual lives today as they were all those years ago during the conquest of Canaan. 

As you probably know, Israel did not fully obey God's command to destroy all of the pagan nations living in Canaan, and they paid the price. A reading of the Old Testament reveals many, many times when the nation of Israel was captivated by and enslaved to idol worship due to the influence of those nations they allowed to  remain intact. Even Solomon, the wisest man who ever lived, was led astray into the sin of worshiping pagan gods and deities. They became distracted and enamored by the fleshly appeal such worship has, and they left their first love - the God who led them out of bondage in Egypt, kept them alive in the Wilderness, and provided them a Promised Land to call their own - to follow after false gods made by the hands and minds of men.

Forasmuch as there is none like unto thee, O LORD; thou art great, and thy name is great in might. 

Who would not fear thee, O King of nations? for to thee doth it appertain: forasmuch as among all the wise men of the nations, and in all their kingdoms, there is none like unto thee. 

But they are altogether brutish and foolish: the stock is a doctrine of vanities. 

Silver spread into plates is brought from Tarshish, and gold from Uphaz, the work of the workman, and of the hands of the founder: blue and purple is their clothing: they are all the work of cunning men. 

But the LORD is the true God, he is the living God, and an everlasting king: at his wrath the earth shall tremble, and the nations shall not be able to abide his indignation. 

{Jeremiah 10:7-10}

Aren't you glad we serve a God who isn't made on a workbench in a woodcarver's or metalworker's shop? You never have to worry that He might not be in a mood to hear and/or answer your prayers. He is always consistent - "Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever" (Hebrews 13:8). He loves you - yes, you! - and He has made a way for you to have a personal relationship with Him through the death of His Son, Jesus Christ, to pay the penalty for your sins. He has given you His precious words to read and study to help you get to know Him.

We serve the living God, my friends.

I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure: 

Isaiah 46:9-10

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Beneath the Cross

Beneath the cross of Jesus

I find a place to stand,

And wonder at such mercy

That calls me as I am;

For hands that should discard me

Hold wounds which tell me, "Come."

Beneath the cross of Jesus

My unworthy soul is won.

Beneath the cross of Jesus

His family is my own—

Once strangers chasing selfish dreams,

Now one through grace alone.

How could I now dishonor

The ones that You have loved?

Beneath the cross of Jesus

See the children called by God.

Beneath the cross of Jesus—

The path before the crown—

We follow in His footsteps

Where promised hope is found.

How great the joy before us

To be His perfect bride;

Beneath the cross of Jesus

We will gladly live our lives.

{Beneath the Cross by Thankyou Music}

Have a blessed Lord's Day!

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