Randy Green's Blog - Posts Tagged "elections"
Tweedledee and Tweedledum – Part 1
Those who forsake the law praise the wicked, but those who keep the law strive with them [Proverbs 28:4].
I am writing this in the spring of 2012. This is an election year. Who will be President of the United States is at stake. Also at stake is who will control Congress. Of course there are also state and local elections, which will affect us considerably as well.
Who should I vote for? It is rather difficult to keep abreast of all the candidates running for office. Basing my decisions on party labels doesn’t exactly instill me with confidence in the results either! After years and decades of voting for the “lesser evil”, I am about petered out with choosing between Tweedledee and Tweedledum.
Thankfully, the Word of God affords us insight into this apparent Catch-22. The writer of Proverbs 28 leaves no wiggle room, when it comes to the eligibility of potential elected officials. He presents his analysis in the traditional manner of the Biblical Hebrew poetry. He employs parallelism, in this case antonymous parallelism.
Today we rhyme words at the end of lines as our expression of poetry. The Hebrews rhymed ideas between lines. They restated in line 2 the same concept(s) of line 1, only using different words to do so. This is known as synonymous parallelism. If the two lines present opposite concepts, it is antonymous parallelism.
Let’s diagram Proverbs 28:4 for purposes of illustrating this:
A. those who forsake the law
B. praise the wicked
A. those who keep the law
B. strive with them (i.e., with the wicked)
The two parallel lines each consist of “A” and “B”. They express opposite concepts, so the two “A’s” are opposites as also are the two “B’s”. The “A” lines identify two opposite sorts of fellows, while the two “B” lines expose their pattern of behavior. In this light let’s vet the two classifications of people in the text.
One category consists of people who reject the Bible. They want nothing to do with the Lord being their God. They can run their lives just fine without You, God, thank you very much. Of course when it comes to elections, they don’t want this stated in black and white like that. Egads! It would expose them for what they are and the godly folks wouldn’t vote for them!
The other category of people is comprised of those who embrace the Bible. They want the Lord to rule in their lives and in everyone else’s life too. The Lord’s rule over anyone’s life must be willingly given, so they don’t want to force anyone to be religious or to verbally praise the Lord. They realize this must come from the heart first and foremost, not from the mouth alone.
When it comes to elections, suchlike folks are desirous of seeing their country operate on godly principles. Extravagant spending beyond our means with increasing debt and interest payments beyond our ability to repay—this is one example of a principle denounced by the Lord in Scripture. Ergo, the righteous candidates will stick with the Bible and insist on balancing the budget…sooner rather than later!
Biblical morality must needs be promoted, so they desire a social climate in which fidelity in marriage is promulgated, abortion is eradicated, and homosexuality is no longer viewed as an acceptable alternate lifestyle. No persecution will be tolerated, but false teaching about these moral issues won’t be winked at either.
Here’s the thing. On the one hand there are those who want to determine right and wrong based on their own reasoning. Of course man’s reasoning is in a constant state of flux, so right and wrong today is not the same right and wrong of tomorrow or yesterday! Folks who view reality in such a fashion “praise the wicked”.
Oh, dear. We are out of time again. We must stop now to be alone with the Lord a space, before our eyes become too heavy and sleep overtakes us. We will continue this topic tomorrow.
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Deuteronomy: Volume 5 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B005PJ761C
https://sites.google.com/site/heavenl...
I am writing this in the spring of 2012. This is an election year. Who will be President of the United States is at stake. Also at stake is who will control Congress. Of course there are also state and local elections, which will affect us considerably as well.
Who should I vote for? It is rather difficult to keep abreast of all the candidates running for office. Basing my decisions on party labels doesn’t exactly instill me with confidence in the results either! After years and decades of voting for the “lesser evil”, I am about petered out with choosing between Tweedledee and Tweedledum.
Thankfully, the Word of God affords us insight into this apparent Catch-22. The writer of Proverbs 28 leaves no wiggle room, when it comes to the eligibility of potential elected officials. He presents his analysis in the traditional manner of the Biblical Hebrew poetry. He employs parallelism, in this case antonymous parallelism.
Today we rhyme words at the end of lines as our expression of poetry. The Hebrews rhymed ideas between lines. They restated in line 2 the same concept(s) of line 1, only using different words to do so. This is known as synonymous parallelism. If the two lines present opposite concepts, it is antonymous parallelism.
Let’s diagram Proverbs 28:4 for purposes of illustrating this:
A. those who forsake the law
B. praise the wicked
A. those who keep the law
B. strive with them (i.e., with the wicked)
The two parallel lines each consist of “A” and “B”. They express opposite concepts, so the two “A’s” are opposites as also are the two “B’s”. The “A” lines identify two opposite sorts of fellows, while the two “B” lines expose their pattern of behavior. In this light let’s vet the two classifications of people in the text.
One category consists of people who reject the Bible. They want nothing to do with the Lord being their God. They can run their lives just fine without You, God, thank you very much. Of course when it comes to elections, they don’t want this stated in black and white like that. Egads! It would expose them for what they are and the godly folks wouldn’t vote for them!
The other category of people is comprised of those who embrace the Bible. They want the Lord to rule in their lives and in everyone else’s life too. The Lord’s rule over anyone’s life must be willingly given, so they don’t want to force anyone to be religious or to verbally praise the Lord. They realize this must come from the heart first and foremost, not from the mouth alone.
When it comes to elections, suchlike folks are desirous of seeing their country operate on godly principles. Extravagant spending beyond our means with increasing debt and interest payments beyond our ability to repay—this is one example of a principle denounced by the Lord in Scripture. Ergo, the righteous candidates will stick with the Bible and insist on balancing the budget…sooner rather than later!
Biblical morality must needs be promoted, so they desire a social climate in which fidelity in marriage is promulgated, abortion is eradicated, and homosexuality is no longer viewed as an acceptable alternate lifestyle. No persecution will be tolerated, but false teaching about these moral issues won’t be winked at either.
Here’s the thing. On the one hand there are those who want to determine right and wrong based on their own reasoning. Of course man’s reasoning is in a constant state of flux, so right and wrong today is not the same right and wrong of tomorrow or yesterday! Folks who view reality in such a fashion “praise the wicked”.
Oh, dear. We are out of time again. We must stop now to be alone with the Lord a space, before our eyes become too heavy and sleep overtakes us. We will continue this topic tomorrow.
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Deuteronomy: Volume 5 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B005PJ761C
https://sites.google.com/site/heavenl...
Tweedledee and Tweedledum – Part 2
Those who forsake the law praise the wicked, but those who keep the law strive with them [Proverbs 28:4].
We ended our last study by noting how folks without a basis for absolute morality end up praising the wicked. Let’s continue at that point and ask, “Huh? Why would they do that?”
It’s like this. In the Bible the Lord defines who are “the wicked”. He doesn’t base wickedness on whether or not anyone drinks, smokes, or curses. Those are only a small sampling of the fruits of wickedness, not the source.
Determining who is wicked and who is not is a question of morality. If we have a relative understanding of morality, we believe it changes with the situation—which leaves us with no real morality at all. If we have an absolute understanding of morality, we need someone who is always absolute to legislate what true morality is.
Voilà! the Bible, God’s Word, fits the bill. God alone is always absolute. He alone can define absolute morality. This is where the Biblical distinction between the wicked and the righteous comes into play, dear friends.
God defines the “wicked person” as “those who forsake the law”, i.e., those who reject the Bible in order to live as they please. Suchlike folks are those who eat fruit from the kogae tree, rather than from the life tree. They determine right and wrong based upon how they feel about the matter, not upon any outside source.
Contrariwise, the Biblical definition of the righteous is “those who keep the law”, i.e., those who reject man’s dithery efforts to determine right and wrong in favor of the Lord’s express teachings in the Bible. Because the righteous reject man’s claims to determine morality, they clash with the wicked, who by definition insist on tossing out the Bible in favor of making their own decisions of what is moral and what is not.
So what has this to do with politicians and who to vote for come November? Well, if a candidate talks a good spiel, don’t be taken in! Listen for him to present his position vis-à-vis the Bible. Does he want to spend us into bankruptcy, under the guise that it is immoral not to feed and clothe everyone in this country (and outside of it too)?
Where in Scripture does the Lord call for government to do these things? Scripture calls for each individual to willingly help others, but only as he sees fit and to the extent he is able. Calling for government to forcibly take our money from us and give it to whomever the government feels deserves it—this is anti-Bible. It is the social gospel and it is socialism. Beware the antichrist lurking nearby!
Does the politician disguise himself in the garb of “women’s rights”, to justify the murder of innocent lives in the womb? The Bible condemns the practice of abortion as murder.
Does he favor unconditional divorce and want the government to pay for all the social injustices which derive from the destruction of the family? The Bible defines marriage as a lifetime contract, for better or for worse.
Does he espouse homosexuality under the smokescreen of alternate lifestyles and natural inclinations? The Bible denounces it as sin of the most debasing kind.
If we vote for proponents of anti-Bible morality and behaviors, we will continue to move ever deeper into the morass of antichrist living. We’ve already reached extreme social depths the way it is. This makes it excruciatingly difficult to reverse course. Only a Holy Spirit revival in the house of God will suffice. Nonetheless, with God all things are possible. So vote, but first listen carefully to what the candidates say…and don’t say.
And before we listen to politicians harangue us, let’s be sure we listen to the Lord in His Word so we know truth from error. See you at the polls in November.
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Deuteronomy: Volume 5 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B005PJ761C
https://sites.google.com/site/heavenl...
Categories: Church Age
We ended our last study by noting how folks without a basis for absolute morality end up praising the wicked. Let’s continue at that point and ask, “Huh? Why would they do that?”
It’s like this. In the Bible the Lord defines who are “the wicked”. He doesn’t base wickedness on whether or not anyone drinks, smokes, or curses. Those are only a small sampling of the fruits of wickedness, not the source.
Determining who is wicked and who is not is a question of morality. If we have a relative understanding of morality, we believe it changes with the situation—which leaves us with no real morality at all. If we have an absolute understanding of morality, we need someone who is always absolute to legislate what true morality is.
Voilà! the Bible, God’s Word, fits the bill. God alone is always absolute. He alone can define absolute morality. This is where the Biblical distinction between the wicked and the righteous comes into play, dear friends.
God defines the “wicked person” as “those who forsake the law”, i.e., those who reject the Bible in order to live as they please. Suchlike folks are those who eat fruit from the kogae tree, rather than from the life tree. They determine right and wrong based upon how they feel about the matter, not upon any outside source.
Contrariwise, the Biblical definition of the righteous is “those who keep the law”, i.e., those who reject man’s dithery efforts to determine right and wrong in favor of the Lord’s express teachings in the Bible. Because the righteous reject man’s claims to determine morality, they clash with the wicked, who by definition insist on tossing out the Bible in favor of making their own decisions of what is moral and what is not.
So what has this to do with politicians and who to vote for come November? Well, if a candidate talks a good spiel, don’t be taken in! Listen for him to present his position vis-à-vis the Bible. Does he want to spend us into bankruptcy, under the guise that it is immoral not to feed and clothe everyone in this country (and outside of it too)?
Where in Scripture does the Lord call for government to do these things? Scripture calls for each individual to willingly help others, but only as he sees fit and to the extent he is able. Calling for government to forcibly take our money from us and give it to whomever the government feels deserves it—this is anti-Bible. It is the social gospel and it is socialism. Beware the antichrist lurking nearby!
Does the politician disguise himself in the garb of “women’s rights”, to justify the murder of innocent lives in the womb? The Bible condemns the practice of abortion as murder.
Does he favor unconditional divorce and want the government to pay for all the social injustices which derive from the destruction of the family? The Bible defines marriage as a lifetime contract, for better or for worse.
Does he espouse homosexuality under the smokescreen of alternate lifestyles and natural inclinations? The Bible denounces it as sin of the most debasing kind.
If we vote for proponents of anti-Bible morality and behaviors, we will continue to move ever deeper into the morass of antichrist living. We’ve already reached extreme social depths the way it is. This makes it excruciatingly difficult to reverse course. Only a Holy Spirit revival in the house of God will suffice. Nonetheless, with God all things are possible. So vote, but first listen carefully to what the candidates say…and don’t say.
And before we listen to politicians harangue us, let’s be sure we listen to the Lord in His Word so we know truth from error. See you at the polls in November.
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Deuteronomy: Volume 5 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B005PJ761C
https://sites.google.com/site/heavenl...
Categories: Church Age
A Great Country or What? – Part 1
The wicked strut about on every side, when vileness is exalted among the sons of men [Psalm 12:8].
When I was a kid there were no computers. There were no cell phones. There was no internet, no DVDs, not even VCRs. Television and theater showed black & white shows. Color had yet to be invented for film, much less anything known as HD.
I identify my age in this fashion for a purpose. There is this thing which afflicts us mere mortals. It seems our memory is metamorphosed into revisionist history as we age. There develops in our thoughts this extreme contrast between “the good old days” and “now”, where “now” is better phrased “these crummy sinful times”.
Well, “the good old days” always view the grass as being greener on the other side of the fence. The “good old days” remember the great periods of revival we experienced in our church…even though such things never happened. Old timers like me tend to look at how wicked things are now, and our minds can’t recall it being so bad in the past. Ergo, “the good old days” must have existed.
Sometimes this is expressed as so,
There is too much violence on TV and movies today. Back in the day the shows were much simpler and peaceful. No wonder there is so much terrorism and school killings today. Just look at the TV shows and movies and video games.
We’ve all heard this expressed many times, so we know it is true. Perhaps we’ve flapped our own jaws on occasion to repeat this version of “the good old days”. We’ll call it “the good old days 2.0”.
Funny thing is, I used to watch black and white shows like “Gunsmoke” and “Have Gun, Will Travel”, yea, and even “Zorro”. I can recall only two basic differences between that violence and the violence featured on today’s shows. First, back in the day the violence was in black and white, while today it appears in full color HD. Not exactly much of a difference, if we assume that watching violence on the shows transfers to enacting violence in the schools and other places.
The other difference between then and now is a little more convincing, in explaining the violence between then and now. Back then the bad guys got shot by the good guys, and that was it. It appeared on the screen clear as day.
However, now the bad guys get shot, and all the blood and gore are portrayed in full color HD, with minute close-up shots for us to get our jollies off. Yea, even more, corpses in the coroner’s office are displayed naked with a cloth to cover the private parts, while the rest of the corpse is cut open and the insides shown to every Tom, Dick, and Harry who cares to watch the awful mess.
Ah, now that is a big difference. That proves why there is so much more violence today than back in the day. Right? You think? Well, return tomorrow, same time, same channel, and we will see how true this theory is. For now, let’s hie off to Jesus and enjoy a time of spiritual refreshment in His presence.
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Exodus: Volume 2 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/Randy-Green/e/B...
https://sites.google.com/site/heavenl...
When I was a kid there were no computers. There were no cell phones. There was no internet, no DVDs, not even VCRs. Television and theater showed black & white shows. Color had yet to be invented for film, much less anything known as HD.
I identify my age in this fashion for a purpose. There is this thing which afflicts us mere mortals. It seems our memory is metamorphosed into revisionist history as we age. There develops in our thoughts this extreme contrast between “the good old days” and “now”, where “now” is better phrased “these crummy sinful times”.
Well, “the good old days” always view the grass as being greener on the other side of the fence. The “good old days” remember the great periods of revival we experienced in our church…even though such things never happened. Old timers like me tend to look at how wicked things are now, and our minds can’t recall it being so bad in the past. Ergo, “the good old days” must have existed.
Sometimes this is expressed as so,
There is too much violence on TV and movies today. Back in the day the shows were much simpler and peaceful. No wonder there is so much terrorism and school killings today. Just look at the TV shows and movies and video games.
We’ve all heard this expressed many times, so we know it is true. Perhaps we’ve flapped our own jaws on occasion to repeat this version of “the good old days”. We’ll call it “the good old days 2.0”.
Funny thing is, I used to watch black and white shows like “Gunsmoke” and “Have Gun, Will Travel”, yea, and even “Zorro”. I can recall only two basic differences between that violence and the violence featured on today’s shows. First, back in the day the violence was in black and white, while today it appears in full color HD. Not exactly much of a difference, if we assume that watching violence on the shows transfers to enacting violence in the schools and other places.
The other difference between then and now is a little more convincing, in explaining the violence between then and now. Back then the bad guys got shot by the good guys, and that was it. It appeared on the screen clear as day.
However, now the bad guys get shot, and all the blood and gore are portrayed in full color HD, with minute close-up shots for us to get our jollies off. Yea, even more, corpses in the coroner’s office are displayed naked with a cloth to cover the private parts, while the rest of the corpse is cut open and the insides shown to every Tom, Dick, and Harry who cares to watch the awful mess.
Ah, now that is a big difference. That proves why there is so much more violence today than back in the day. Right? You think? Well, return tomorrow, same time, same channel, and we will see how true this theory is. For now, let’s hie off to Jesus and enjoy a time of spiritual refreshment in His presence.
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Exodus: Volume 2 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/Randy-Green/e/B...
https://sites.google.com/site/heavenl...
A Great Country or What? – Part 2
The wicked strut about on every side, when vileness is exalted among the sons of men [Psalm 12:8].
O! for the good old days once again! If only we had a time machine. Back to the future sure would be grand. Yada yada yada blah blah blah.
Such goes the grousing and grumbling of many an old codger, as they look about at today’s evil land and reminisce about a time which never existed. I’ve been known to take such a snooze on occasion myself. It’s the natural affliction of sinful man, dear friends.
Partial truth is not truth at all. It is a distortion of the truth, making it a lie. Yes, many things were better in “the good old days”. Yes, the violence on TV and in the movies and in video games wasn’t as graphic in detail as it is now. Nor were the sex scenes. The limits have been pushed further and further into hell, until not much is left to the imagination anymore.
Notwithstanding all this, ever since the garden when a sinister serpent paid a visit to the woman, sin has been in the world, been in each and every child of Adam the First, and violence has been the norm. Nature is at odds with man. Man is at odds with nature. We attempt to build nature-proof societies to protect ourselves, while the green-peace folks want to kill us to protect nature!
Ai yai yai! What to do? What to do? Is there not a leader among men who is sufficient for these things? Ah, that is the question we should be asking ourselves. A leader, if he is to be successful, needs to understand where all the violence originates. Is it from too much TV violence, and movie violence, and video game violence?
For the worldling the answer is a resounding, “Yes!” For the Christian the answer, unfortunately today, is also a resounding, “Yes!” The Word of God doesn’t agree. The issue isn’t whether to eliminate or tone down violence in the entertainment world, dear friends. The issue is determining the root of the violence, the cause of the violence which drives us to want to live it, and then determining what can be done to eliminate or moderate the cause.
This is the chore at hand which we face. Will we measure up to the challenge, or will we cringe and draw back in timorous trepidation? We must face up to the challenge in the strength of the Lord Jesus!
Let us not lose heart in running the race, but rather press on to the goal of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. And this we will do in our next study, by the grace of God. Let’s seek the face of the Lord now, that He may strength us for the task.
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Exodus: Volume 2 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/Randy-Green/e/B...
https://sites.google.com/site/heavenl...
O! for the good old days once again! If only we had a time machine. Back to the future sure would be grand. Yada yada yada blah blah blah.
Such goes the grousing and grumbling of many an old codger, as they look about at today’s evil land and reminisce about a time which never existed. I’ve been known to take such a snooze on occasion myself. It’s the natural affliction of sinful man, dear friends.
Partial truth is not truth at all. It is a distortion of the truth, making it a lie. Yes, many things were better in “the good old days”. Yes, the violence on TV and in the movies and in video games wasn’t as graphic in detail as it is now. Nor were the sex scenes. The limits have been pushed further and further into hell, until not much is left to the imagination anymore.
Notwithstanding all this, ever since the garden when a sinister serpent paid a visit to the woman, sin has been in the world, been in each and every child of Adam the First, and violence has been the norm. Nature is at odds with man. Man is at odds with nature. We attempt to build nature-proof societies to protect ourselves, while the green-peace folks want to kill us to protect nature!
Ai yai yai! What to do? What to do? Is there not a leader among men who is sufficient for these things? Ah, that is the question we should be asking ourselves. A leader, if he is to be successful, needs to understand where all the violence originates. Is it from too much TV violence, and movie violence, and video game violence?
For the worldling the answer is a resounding, “Yes!” For the Christian the answer, unfortunately today, is also a resounding, “Yes!” The Word of God doesn’t agree. The issue isn’t whether to eliminate or tone down violence in the entertainment world, dear friends. The issue is determining the root of the violence, the cause of the violence which drives us to want to live it, and then determining what can be done to eliminate or moderate the cause.
This is the chore at hand which we face. Will we measure up to the challenge, or will we cringe and draw back in timorous trepidation? We must face up to the challenge in the strength of the Lord Jesus!
Let us not lose heart in running the race, but rather press on to the goal of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. And this we will do in our next study, by the grace of God. Let’s seek the face of the Lord now, that He may strength us for the task.
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Exodus: Volume 2 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/Randy-Green/e/B...
https://sites.google.com/site/heavenl...
A Great Country or What? – Part 3
The wicked strut about on every side, when vileness is exalted among the sons of men [Psalm 12:8].
As I stated at the commencement of this study, back in “the good old days” when violence wasn’t so common, I used to watch “Gunsmoke” and “Have Gun, Will Travel”. Marshall Dillon and Paladin were not your run of the mill church folk from today’s antichrist society. They were not steeped in middle class affluence, insulated against the violence which rages on all sides.
Even back in “the good old days” society was steeped in violence from first light of dawn until the sinking of the sun in the western horizon. The blood and gore didn’t have to be pictorialized on the screen in vivid detail. The mind of sinful man back then was quite as adept at envisioning it in the mind’s eye with the aid of his own imagination, as is today’s sinful man.
And therein lies the Biblical estimation of the evils which pervade society, both yesterday and today. The public displays of violence and sex aren’t the problem. They are the fruit of the problem. We can pluck the fruit from the tree of society from first light of dawn to deep darkness of night. Nothing will change for long because more of the same fruit will continue to grow.
The tree which produces this fruit needs to be cut down. Its wood needs to serve as the fuel for a fierce fire, until nothing is left of the tree. Otherwise more violence-fruit and sex-fruit will grow on the tree continuously and in ever increasing measure.
So what tree is it which is producing this fruit. Is it called the “violence tree”? No, that’s not it. Maybe its known as the “sex tree”. You think? I got it! It is named “the tree of many hats”. Uh, that would be a no. The tree goes by the name “tree of the knowledge of good and evil”, aka the “kogae tree”.
What’s that you say? You never heard of it? Well, glory be, Rip Van Winkle! Have you been asleep for 20 years? You need to open your Bible to Genesis 2 and read about the “kogae tree”, my good man. The night is far gone. The day is close at hand. Now is no time to be caught napping.
Before sin ever entered the world, the Lord God planted a garden in the east for the man He created, and placed the man there to tend it for Him. He even gave the man a lovely wife to help him out. Because the man and woman were created in the image of God, they were moral creatures. They were capable of discerning right and wrong, just as the Lord God is.
Indeed they were. And we have much to say about those two characters too. Only it will have to wait until our next study. Now is the time for us to visit a while with Jesus.
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Exodus: Volume 2 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/Randy-Green/e/B...
https://sites.google.com/site/heavenl...
As I stated at the commencement of this study, back in “the good old days” when violence wasn’t so common, I used to watch “Gunsmoke” and “Have Gun, Will Travel”. Marshall Dillon and Paladin were not your run of the mill church folk from today’s antichrist society. They were not steeped in middle class affluence, insulated against the violence which rages on all sides.
Even back in “the good old days” society was steeped in violence from first light of dawn until the sinking of the sun in the western horizon. The blood and gore didn’t have to be pictorialized on the screen in vivid detail. The mind of sinful man back then was quite as adept at envisioning it in the mind’s eye with the aid of his own imagination, as is today’s sinful man.
And therein lies the Biblical estimation of the evils which pervade society, both yesterday and today. The public displays of violence and sex aren’t the problem. They are the fruit of the problem. We can pluck the fruit from the tree of society from first light of dawn to deep darkness of night. Nothing will change for long because more of the same fruit will continue to grow.
The tree which produces this fruit needs to be cut down. Its wood needs to serve as the fuel for a fierce fire, until nothing is left of the tree. Otherwise more violence-fruit and sex-fruit will grow on the tree continuously and in ever increasing measure.
So what tree is it which is producing this fruit. Is it called the “violence tree”? No, that’s not it. Maybe its known as the “sex tree”. You think? I got it! It is named “the tree of many hats”. Uh, that would be a no. The tree goes by the name “tree of the knowledge of good and evil”, aka the “kogae tree”.
What’s that you say? You never heard of it? Well, glory be, Rip Van Winkle! Have you been asleep for 20 years? You need to open your Bible to Genesis 2 and read about the “kogae tree”, my good man. The night is far gone. The day is close at hand. Now is no time to be caught napping.
Before sin ever entered the world, the Lord God planted a garden in the east for the man He created, and placed the man there to tend it for Him. He even gave the man a lovely wife to help him out. Because the man and woman were created in the image of God, they were moral creatures. They were capable of discerning right and wrong, just as the Lord God is.
Indeed they were. And we have much to say about those two characters too. Only it will have to wait until our next study. Now is the time for us to visit a while with Jesus.
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Exodus: Volume 2 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/Randy-Green/e/B...
https://sites.google.com/site/heavenl...
A Great Country or What? – Part 4
The wicked strut about on every side, when vileness is exalted among the sons of men [Psalm 12:8].
The Lord God created man and woman in His own image. This made them moral creatures. They were able to make distinctions between right and wrong, even as the Lord God does.
Trouble was, until this innate ability was exercised it couldn’t grow and become strong and vibrant. So the Lord, being the perfect Father that He is, provided for the man and woman to get the moral exercise they needed. He planted two trees in the midst of the garden, the tree of life (aka the “life tree”) and the “kogae tree”.
The Lord then gave the man definitive instructions about all the trees. Man was to eat fruit to sustain himself. The fruit from every tree in the entire garden was at his disposal, all, that is, except for the fruit of the “kogae tree”. The fruit from that tree the man was forbidden to eat. The day man disobeyed and ate of its fruit would be the day man died.
The test, you see, was very simple. Eat all the fruit your little old heart desires, Adam. And eat all varieties of fruit from every tree too. Only keep your cotton-pickin’ hands off the fruit of the “kogae tree”.
The test was obedience, you see. Adam should eat fruit from the “life tree” and live because He obeyed the Word of God. Adam should not eat fruit from the “kogae tree” and die because he disobeyed the Word of God. A simple moral choice ‘twas.
Adam the moral creature had to discern between right and wrong. Would he submit to His God, thereby demonstrating that he recognized His God as the source of all righteousness? Or would he doubt His God and insist on being the determiner of right and wrong himself?
We all know what happened, don’t we? We see what happened with Adam and Eve every day in ourselves and in our kids. We are Adam and Eve! We look at the “life tree” every day, feast our eyes on its scrumptious fruit, take in its luscious foliage, feel our mouths water from the tantalizing alurement it evokes in us…and then turn to the “kogae tree”, pick its fruit, and eat like there’s no tomorrow!
Violence pervades our society because we live in it. It’s not the fault of the president, or the pastor, or the boss, or the wife, or the family dog. It’s my fault. It’s your fault. It’s the fault of the sin which rules us because we won’t submit to the Word of God. We will be in control! God won’t tell us what to do!
So how’s that going for us? Is this a great country, or what? Where else can you go and watch folks create problem after problem, then sit back, scratch their heads and pick their noses, and complain about the problems? Welcome to America, land of the free and home of the brave…free to create problems and brave enough to blame everyone else for them!
We can vote for anyone we want for president, but the evil fruit will continue to grow, so long as we continue to fertilize the evil tree and water it daily. I have a great idea. What say we cease our daily visits to the “kogae tree” and train ourselves to go to the “life tree” instead?
That sounds like a plan. Let’s go there now.
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Exodus: Volume 2 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/Randy-Green/e/B...
https://sites.google.com/site/heavenl...
The Lord God created man and woman in His own image. This made them moral creatures. They were able to make distinctions between right and wrong, even as the Lord God does.
Trouble was, until this innate ability was exercised it couldn’t grow and become strong and vibrant. So the Lord, being the perfect Father that He is, provided for the man and woman to get the moral exercise they needed. He planted two trees in the midst of the garden, the tree of life (aka the “life tree”) and the “kogae tree”.
The Lord then gave the man definitive instructions about all the trees. Man was to eat fruit to sustain himself. The fruit from every tree in the entire garden was at his disposal, all, that is, except for the fruit of the “kogae tree”. The fruit from that tree the man was forbidden to eat. The day man disobeyed and ate of its fruit would be the day man died.
The test, you see, was very simple. Eat all the fruit your little old heart desires, Adam. And eat all varieties of fruit from every tree too. Only keep your cotton-pickin’ hands off the fruit of the “kogae tree”.
The test was obedience, you see. Adam should eat fruit from the “life tree” and live because He obeyed the Word of God. Adam should not eat fruit from the “kogae tree” and die because he disobeyed the Word of God. A simple moral choice ‘twas.
Adam the moral creature had to discern between right and wrong. Would he submit to His God, thereby demonstrating that he recognized His God as the source of all righteousness? Or would he doubt His God and insist on being the determiner of right and wrong himself?
We all know what happened, don’t we? We see what happened with Adam and Eve every day in ourselves and in our kids. We are Adam and Eve! We look at the “life tree” every day, feast our eyes on its scrumptious fruit, take in its luscious foliage, feel our mouths water from the tantalizing alurement it evokes in us…and then turn to the “kogae tree”, pick its fruit, and eat like there’s no tomorrow!
Violence pervades our society because we live in it. It’s not the fault of the president, or the pastor, or the boss, or the wife, or the family dog. It’s my fault. It’s your fault. It’s the fault of the sin which rules us because we won’t submit to the Word of God. We will be in control! God won’t tell us what to do!
So how’s that going for us? Is this a great country, or what? Where else can you go and watch folks create problem after problem, then sit back, scratch their heads and pick their noses, and complain about the problems? Welcome to America, land of the free and home of the brave…free to create problems and brave enough to blame everyone else for them!
We can vote for anyone we want for president, but the evil fruit will continue to grow, so long as we continue to fertilize the evil tree and water it daily. I have a great idea. What say we cease our daily visits to the “kogae tree” and train ourselves to go to the “life tree” instead?
That sounds like a plan. Let’s go there now.
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Exodus: Volume 2 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/Randy-Green/e/B...
https://sites.google.com/site/heavenl...
Tweedledum and Tweedledee – Part 1
Those who forsake the law praise the wicked, but those who keep the law strive with them [Proverbs 28:4].
I am writing this in the spring of 2012. This is an election year. Who will be President of the United States is at stake. Also at stake is who will control Congress. Of course there are also state and local elections, which will affect us considerably as well.
Who should I vote for? It is rather difficult to keep abreast of all the candidates running for office. Basing my decisions on party labels doesn’t exactly instill me with confidence in the results either! After years and decades of voting for the “lesser evil”, I am about petered out with choosing between Tweedledee and Tweedledum.
Thankfully, the Word of God affords us insight into this apparent Catch-22. The writer of Proverbs 28 leaves no wiggle room, when it comes to the eligibility of potential elected officials. He presents his analysis in the traditional manner of the Biblical Hebrew poetry. He employs parallelism, in this case antonymous parallelism.
Today we rhyme words at the end of lines as our expression of poetry. The Hebrews rhymed ideas between lines. They restated in line 2 the same concept(s) of line 1, only using different words to do so. This is known as synonymous parallelism. If the two lines present opposite concepts, it is antonymous parallelism.
Let’s diagram Proverbs 28:4 for purposes of illustrating this:
A. those who forsake the law
B. praise the wicked
A. those who keep the law
B. strive with them (i.e., with the wicked)
The two parallel lines each consist of “A” and “B”. They express opposite concepts, so the two “A’s” are opposites as also are the two “B’s”. The “A” lines identify two opposite sorts of fellows, while the two “B” lines expose their pattern of behavior. In this light let’s vet the two classifications of people in the text.
One category consists of people who reject the Bible. They want nothing to do with the Lord being their God. They can run their lives just fine without You, God, thank you very much. Of course when it comes to elections, they don’t want this stated in black and white like that. Egads! It would expose them for what they are and the godly folks wouldn’t vote for them!
The other category of people is comprised of those who embrace the Bible. They want the Lord to rule in their lives and in everyone else’s life too. The Lord’s rule over anyone’s life must be willingly given, so they don’t want to force anyone to be religious or to verbally praise the Lord. They realize this must come from the heart first and foremost, not from the mouth alone.
When it comes to elections, suchlike folks are desirous of seeing their country operate on godly principles. Extravagant spending beyond our means with increasing debt and interest payments beyond our ability to repay—this is one example of a principle denounced by the Lord in Scripture. Ergo, the righteous candidates will stick with the Bible and insist on balancing the budget…sooner rather than later!
Biblical morality must needs be promoted, so they desire a social climate in which fidelity in marriage is promulgated, abortion is eradicated, and homosexuality is no longer viewed as an acceptable alternate lifestyle. No persecution will be tolerated, but false teaching about these moral issues won’t be winked at either.
Here’s the thing. On the one hand there are those who want to determine right and wrong based on their own reasoning. Of course man’s reasoning is in a constant state of flux, so right and wrong today is not the same right and wrong of tomorrow or yesterday! Folks who view reality in such a fashion “praise the wicked”.
Oh, dear. We are out of time again. We must stop now to be alone with the Lord a space, before our eyes become too heavy and sleep overtakes us. We will continue this topic tomorrow.
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Deuteronomy: Volume 5 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/Randy-Green/e/B...
I am writing this in the spring of 2012. This is an election year. Who will be President of the United States is at stake. Also at stake is who will control Congress. Of course there are also state and local elections, which will affect us considerably as well.
Who should I vote for? It is rather difficult to keep abreast of all the candidates running for office. Basing my decisions on party labels doesn’t exactly instill me with confidence in the results either! After years and decades of voting for the “lesser evil”, I am about petered out with choosing between Tweedledee and Tweedledum.
Thankfully, the Word of God affords us insight into this apparent Catch-22. The writer of Proverbs 28 leaves no wiggle room, when it comes to the eligibility of potential elected officials. He presents his analysis in the traditional manner of the Biblical Hebrew poetry. He employs parallelism, in this case antonymous parallelism.
Today we rhyme words at the end of lines as our expression of poetry. The Hebrews rhymed ideas between lines. They restated in line 2 the same concept(s) of line 1, only using different words to do so. This is known as synonymous parallelism. If the two lines present opposite concepts, it is antonymous parallelism.
Let’s diagram Proverbs 28:4 for purposes of illustrating this:
A. those who forsake the law
B. praise the wicked
A. those who keep the law
B. strive with them (i.e., with the wicked)
The two parallel lines each consist of “A” and “B”. They express opposite concepts, so the two “A’s” are opposites as also are the two “B’s”. The “A” lines identify two opposite sorts of fellows, while the two “B” lines expose their pattern of behavior. In this light let’s vet the two classifications of people in the text.
One category consists of people who reject the Bible. They want nothing to do with the Lord being their God. They can run their lives just fine without You, God, thank you very much. Of course when it comes to elections, they don’t want this stated in black and white like that. Egads! It would expose them for what they are and the godly folks wouldn’t vote for them!
The other category of people is comprised of those who embrace the Bible. They want the Lord to rule in their lives and in everyone else’s life too. The Lord’s rule over anyone’s life must be willingly given, so they don’t want to force anyone to be religious or to verbally praise the Lord. They realize this must come from the heart first and foremost, not from the mouth alone.
When it comes to elections, suchlike folks are desirous of seeing their country operate on godly principles. Extravagant spending beyond our means with increasing debt and interest payments beyond our ability to repay—this is one example of a principle denounced by the Lord in Scripture. Ergo, the righteous candidates will stick with the Bible and insist on balancing the budget…sooner rather than later!
Biblical morality must needs be promoted, so they desire a social climate in which fidelity in marriage is promulgated, abortion is eradicated, and homosexuality is no longer viewed as an acceptable alternate lifestyle. No persecution will be tolerated, but false teaching about these moral issues won’t be winked at either.
Here’s the thing. On the one hand there are those who want to determine right and wrong based on their own reasoning. Of course man’s reasoning is in a constant state of flux, so right and wrong today is not the same right and wrong of tomorrow or yesterday! Folks who view reality in such a fashion “praise the wicked”.
Oh, dear. We are out of time again. We must stop now to be alone with the Lord a space, before our eyes become too heavy and sleep overtakes us. We will continue this topic tomorrow.
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Deuteronomy: Volume 5 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/Randy-Green/e/B...
Tweedledum and Tweedledee – Part 2
Those who forsake the law praise the wicked, but those who keep the law strive with them [Proverbs 28:4].
We ended our last study by noting how folks without a basis for absolute morality end up praising the wicked. Let’s continue at that point and ask, “Huh? Why would they do that?”
It’s like this. In the Bible the Lord defines who are “the wicked”. He doesn’t base wickedness on whether or not anyone drinks, smokes, or curses. Those are only a small sampling of the fruits of wickedness, not the source.
Determining who is wicked and who is not is a question of morality. If we have a relative understanding of morality, we believe it changes with the situation—which leaves us with no real morality at all. If we have an absolute understanding of morality, we need someone who is always absolute to legislate what true morality is.
Voilà! the Bible, God’s Word, fits the bill. God alone is always absolute. He alone can define absolute morality. This is where the Biblical distinction between the wicked and the righteous comes into play, dear friends.
God defines the “wicked person” as “those who forsake the law”, i.e., those who reject the Bible in order to live as they please. Suchlike folks are those who eat fruit from the kogae tree, rather than from the life tree. They determine right and wrong based upon how they feel about the matter, not upon any outside source.
Contrariwise, the Biblical definition of the righteous is “those who keep the law”, i.e., those who reject man’s dithery efforts to determine right and wrong in favor of the Lord’s express teachings in the Bible. Because the righteous reject man’s claims to determine morality, they clash with the wicked, who by definition insist on tossing out the Bible in favor of making their own decisions of what is moral and what is not.
So what has this to do with politicians and who to vote for come November? Well, if a candidate talks a good spiel, don’t be taken in! Listen for him to present his position vis-à-vis the Bible. Does he want to spend us into bankruptcy, under the guise that it is immoral not to feed and clothe everyone in this country (and outside of it too)?
Where in Scripture does the Lord call for government to do these things? Scripture calls for each individual to willingly help others, but only as he sees fit and to the extent he is able. Calling for government to forcibly take our money from us and give it to whomever the government feels deserves it—this is anti-Bible. It is the social gospel and it is socialism. Beware the antichrist lurking nearby!
Does the politician disguise himself in the garb of “women’s rights”, to justify the murder of innocent lives in the womb? The Bible condemns the practice of abortion as murder.
Does he favor unconditional divorce and want the government to pay for all the social injustices which derive from the destruction of the family? The Bible defines marriage as a lifetime contract, for better or for worse.
Does he espouse homosexuality under the smokescreen of alternate lifestyles and natural inclinations? The Bible denounces it as sin of the most debasing kind.
If we vote for proponents of anti-Bible morality and behaviors, we will continue to move ever deeper into the morass of antichrist living. We’ve already reached extreme social depths the way it is. This makes it excruciatingly difficult to reverse course. Only a Holy Spirit revival in the house of God will suffice. Nonetheless, with God all things are possible. So vote, but first listen carefully to what the candidates say…and don’t say.
And before we listen to politicians harangue us, let’s be sure we listen to the Lord in His Word so we know truth from error. See you at the polls in November.
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Deuteronomy: Volume 5 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/Randy-Green/e/B...
We ended our last study by noting how folks without a basis for absolute morality end up praising the wicked. Let’s continue at that point and ask, “Huh? Why would they do that?”
It’s like this. In the Bible the Lord defines who are “the wicked”. He doesn’t base wickedness on whether or not anyone drinks, smokes, or curses. Those are only a small sampling of the fruits of wickedness, not the source.
Determining who is wicked and who is not is a question of morality. If we have a relative understanding of morality, we believe it changes with the situation—which leaves us with no real morality at all. If we have an absolute understanding of morality, we need someone who is always absolute to legislate what true morality is.
Voilà! the Bible, God’s Word, fits the bill. God alone is always absolute. He alone can define absolute morality. This is where the Biblical distinction between the wicked and the righteous comes into play, dear friends.
God defines the “wicked person” as “those who forsake the law”, i.e., those who reject the Bible in order to live as they please. Suchlike folks are those who eat fruit from the kogae tree, rather than from the life tree. They determine right and wrong based upon how they feel about the matter, not upon any outside source.
Contrariwise, the Biblical definition of the righteous is “those who keep the law”, i.e., those who reject man’s dithery efforts to determine right and wrong in favor of the Lord’s express teachings in the Bible. Because the righteous reject man’s claims to determine morality, they clash with the wicked, who by definition insist on tossing out the Bible in favor of making their own decisions of what is moral and what is not.
So what has this to do with politicians and who to vote for come November? Well, if a candidate talks a good spiel, don’t be taken in! Listen for him to present his position vis-à-vis the Bible. Does he want to spend us into bankruptcy, under the guise that it is immoral not to feed and clothe everyone in this country (and outside of it too)?
Where in Scripture does the Lord call for government to do these things? Scripture calls for each individual to willingly help others, but only as he sees fit and to the extent he is able. Calling for government to forcibly take our money from us and give it to whomever the government feels deserves it—this is anti-Bible. It is the social gospel and it is socialism. Beware the antichrist lurking nearby!
Does the politician disguise himself in the garb of “women’s rights”, to justify the murder of innocent lives in the womb? The Bible condemns the practice of abortion as murder.
Does he favor unconditional divorce and want the government to pay for all the social injustices which derive from the destruction of the family? The Bible defines marriage as a lifetime contract, for better or for worse.
Does he espouse homosexuality under the smokescreen of alternate lifestyles and natural inclinations? The Bible denounces it as sin of the most debasing kind.
If we vote for proponents of anti-Bible morality and behaviors, we will continue to move ever deeper into the morass of antichrist living. We’ve already reached extreme social depths the way it is. This makes it excruciatingly difficult to reverse course. Only a Holy Spirit revival in the house of God will suffice. Nonetheless, with God all things are possible. So vote, but first listen carefully to what the candidates say…and don’t say.
And before we listen to politicians harangue us, let’s be sure we listen to the Lord in His Word so we know truth from error. See you at the polls in November.
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Deuteronomy: Volume 5 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/Randy-Green/e/B...
A Great Country or What? – Part 1
The wicked strut about on every side, when vileness is exalted among the sons of men [Psalm 12:8].
When I was a kid there were no computers. There were no cell phones. There was no internet, no DVDs, not even VCRs. Television and theater showed black & white shows. Color had yet to be invented for film, much less anything known as HD.
I identify my age in this fashion for a purpose. There is this thing which afflicts us mere mortals. It seems our memory is metamorphosed into revisionist history as we age. There develops in our thoughts this extreme contrast between “the good old days” and “now”, where “now” is better phrased “these crummy sinful times”.
Well, “the good old days” mentality always imagines the grass as being greener on the other side of the fence. The “good old days” mentality remembers the great periods of revival we experienced in our church…even though such things never happened. Old timers like me tend to look at how wicked things are now, and our minds can’t recall it being so bad in the past. Ergo, “the good old days” must have existed.
Sometimes this is expressed as so,
There is too much violence on TV and movies today. Back in the day the shows were much simpler and peaceful. No wonder there is so much terrorism and school killings today. Just look at the TV shows and movies and video games.
We’ve all heard this expressed many times, so we know it is true. Perhaps we’ve flapped our own jaws on occasion to repeat this version of “the good old days”. We’ll call it “the good old days 2.0”.
Funny thing is, I used to watch black and white shows like “Gunsmoke” and “Have Gun, Will Travel”, yea, and even “Zorro”. I can recall only two basic differences between that violence and the violence featured on today’s shows. First, back in the day the violence was in black and white, while today it appears in full color HD. Not exactly much of a difference, if we assume that watching violence on the shows transfers to enacting violence in the schools and other places.
The other difference between then and now is a little more convincing, as an explanation for explaining the violence between then and now. Back then the bad guys got shot by the good guys, and that was it. It appeared on the screen clear as day.
However, now the bad guys get shot, and all the blood and gore are portrayed in full color HD, with minute close-up shots for us to get our jollies off. Yea, even more, corpses in the coroner’s office are displayed naked with a cloth to cover the private parts, while the rest of the corpse is cut open and the insides shown to every Tom, Dick, and Harry who cares to watch the awful mess.
Ah, now that is a big difference. That proves why there is so much more violence today than back in the day. Right? You think? Well, return tomorrow, same time, same channel, and we will see how true this theory is. For now, let’s hie off to Jesus and enjoy a time of spiritual refreshment in His presence.
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Exodus: Volume 2 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/Randy-Green/e/B...
https://sites.google.com/site/heavenl...
When I was a kid there were no computers. There were no cell phones. There was no internet, no DVDs, not even VCRs. Television and theater showed black & white shows. Color had yet to be invented for film, much less anything known as HD.
I identify my age in this fashion for a purpose. There is this thing which afflicts us mere mortals. It seems our memory is metamorphosed into revisionist history as we age. There develops in our thoughts this extreme contrast between “the good old days” and “now”, where “now” is better phrased “these crummy sinful times”.
Well, “the good old days” mentality always imagines the grass as being greener on the other side of the fence. The “good old days” mentality remembers the great periods of revival we experienced in our church…even though such things never happened. Old timers like me tend to look at how wicked things are now, and our minds can’t recall it being so bad in the past. Ergo, “the good old days” must have existed.
Sometimes this is expressed as so,
There is too much violence on TV and movies today. Back in the day the shows were much simpler and peaceful. No wonder there is so much terrorism and school killings today. Just look at the TV shows and movies and video games.
We’ve all heard this expressed many times, so we know it is true. Perhaps we’ve flapped our own jaws on occasion to repeat this version of “the good old days”. We’ll call it “the good old days 2.0”.
Funny thing is, I used to watch black and white shows like “Gunsmoke” and “Have Gun, Will Travel”, yea, and even “Zorro”. I can recall only two basic differences between that violence and the violence featured on today’s shows. First, back in the day the violence was in black and white, while today it appears in full color HD. Not exactly much of a difference, if we assume that watching violence on the shows transfers to enacting violence in the schools and other places.
The other difference between then and now is a little more convincing, as an explanation for explaining the violence between then and now. Back then the bad guys got shot by the good guys, and that was it. It appeared on the screen clear as day.
However, now the bad guys get shot, and all the blood and gore are portrayed in full color HD, with minute close-up shots for us to get our jollies off. Yea, even more, corpses in the coroner’s office are displayed naked with a cloth to cover the private parts, while the rest of the corpse is cut open and the insides shown to every Tom, Dick, and Harry who cares to watch the awful mess.
Ah, now that is a big difference. That proves why there is so much more violence today than back in the day. Right? You think? Well, return tomorrow, same time, same channel, and we will see how true this theory is. For now, let’s hie off to Jesus and enjoy a time of spiritual refreshment in His presence.
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Exodus: Volume 2 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/Randy-Green/e/B...
https://sites.google.com/site/heavenl...
A Great Country or What? – Part 2
The wicked strut about on every side, when vileness is exalted among the sons of men [Psalm 12:8].
O! for the good old days once again! If only we had a time machine. Back to the future sure would be grand. Yada yada yada blah blah blah.
Such goes the grousing and grumbling of many an old codger, as he looks about at today’s evil land and reminisces about a time which never existed. I’ve been known to take such a snooze on occasion myself. It’s the natural affliction of sinful man, dear friends.
Partial truth is not truth at all. It is a distortion of the truth, making it a lie. Yes, many things were better in “the good old days”. Yes, the violence on TV and in the movies and in video games wasn’t as graphic in detail as it is now. Nor were the sex scenes. The limits have been pushed further and further into hell, until not much is left to the imagination anymore.
Notwithstanding all this, ever since the garden when a sinister serpent paid a visit to the woman, sin has been in the world, been in each and every child of Adam the First, and violence has been the norm. Nature is at odds with man. Man is at odds with nature. We attempt to build nature-proof societies to protect ourselves, while the green-peace folks want to kill us to protect nature!
Ai yai yai! What to do? What to do? Is there not a leader among men who is sufficient for these things? Ah, that is the question we should be asking ourselves. A leader, if he is to be successful, needs to understand where all the violence originates. Is it from too much TV violence, and movie violence, and video game violence?
For the worldling the answer is a resounding, “Yes!” For the Christian the answer, unfortunately today, is also a resounding, “Yes!” The Word of God doesn’t agree.
The issue isn’t whether to eliminate or tone down violence in the entertainment world, dear friends. The issue is determining the root of the violence, the cause of the violence which drives us to want to live it, and then determining what can be done to eliminate or moderate the cause. After all, if we pick all the fruit off the evil tree, the evil tree will only grow more evil fruit. Violence and pornography are the fruit. We need to cut down the blasted tree!
This is the chore at hand which we face. Will we measure up to the challenge, or will we cringe and draw back in timorous trepidation? We must face up to the challenge in the strength of the Lord Jesus!
Let us not lose heart in running the race, but rather press on to the goal of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. And this we will do in our next study, by the grace of God. Let’s seek the face of the Lord now, that He may strength us for the task.
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Exodus: Volume 2 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/Randy-Green/e/B...
https://sites.google.com/site/heavenl...
O! for the good old days once again! If only we had a time machine. Back to the future sure would be grand. Yada yada yada blah blah blah.
Such goes the grousing and grumbling of many an old codger, as he looks about at today’s evil land and reminisces about a time which never existed. I’ve been known to take such a snooze on occasion myself. It’s the natural affliction of sinful man, dear friends.
Partial truth is not truth at all. It is a distortion of the truth, making it a lie. Yes, many things were better in “the good old days”. Yes, the violence on TV and in the movies and in video games wasn’t as graphic in detail as it is now. Nor were the sex scenes. The limits have been pushed further and further into hell, until not much is left to the imagination anymore.
Notwithstanding all this, ever since the garden when a sinister serpent paid a visit to the woman, sin has been in the world, been in each and every child of Adam the First, and violence has been the norm. Nature is at odds with man. Man is at odds with nature. We attempt to build nature-proof societies to protect ourselves, while the green-peace folks want to kill us to protect nature!
Ai yai yai! What to do? What to do? Is there not a leader among men who is sufficient for these things? Ah, that is the question we should be asking ourselves. A leader, if he is to be successful, needs to understand where all the violence originates. Is it from too much TV violence, and movie violence, and video game violence?
For the worldling the answer is a resounding, “Yes!” For the Christian the answer, unfortunately today, is also a resounding, “Yes!” The Word of God doesn’t agree.
The issue isn’t whether to eliminate or tone down violence in the entertainment world, dear friends. The issue is determining the root of the violence, the cause of the violence which drives us to want to live it, and then determining what can be done to eliminate or moderate the cause. After all, if we pick all the fruit off the evil tree, the evil tree will only grow more evil fruit. Violence and pornography are the fruit. We need to cut down the blasted tree!
This is the chore at hand which we face. Will we measure up to the challenge, or will we cringe and draw back in timorous trepidation? We must face up to the challenge in the strength of the Lord Jesus!
Let us not lose heart in running the race, but rather press on to the goal of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. And this we will do in our next study, by the grace of God. Let’s seek the face of the Lord now, that He may strength us for the task.
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Exodus: Volume 2 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/Randy-Green/e/B...
https://sites.google.com/site/heavenl...
