Overcoming the Dunghills

Election having once pitched upon a man, it will find him out and call him home, wherever he be. It called Zaccheus out of accursed Jericho; Abraham out of idolatrous Ur of the Chaldees; Nicodemus and Paul, from the College of the Pharisees, Christ’s sworn enemies; Dionysius and Damaris, out of superstitious Athens. In whatsoever dunghills God’s elect are hid, election will find them out and bring them home.

John Arrowsmith (1602-1659)

1000th Blog Post!

Gospel-driven Disciples celebrates 1000 Posts!

Who would have thunk it?

Certainly not me!

I began this blog on a cold and snowy February morning in a Motel Six room in Bend, Oregon. It was Thursday, February 19th, 2009.

I followed a link from a blog I had read, discovered Blogger, and wrote three short blogs that morning entitled:

• Good News - Bad News
• Sensational Statements
• Where Would I Be (Without You) 

My first post was a short attempt at simply sharing a gospel presentation.

I couldn't think of anything for a second post so I posted a quote from the Council of Orange, Canon 6

Two posts looked kind of lonely on that plain and uninspiring blogger page, so I posted a song I had written.

Since then I have been tagged, participated in blog fests, Monday Facts, written songs and poems, posted my opinion, written essays, articles, devotions, lessons, and even some gobbledygook. I have striven very hard to produce a first class, informative, and beneficial blog for your good and God's glory. I have also strove very hard to be true to my five reasons for this blog:

• To exalt the glorious character of our Lord Jesus Christ

• To expand a passion for the supremacy of God in all things

• To expound the Scriptures in order to have an accurate understanding of the Word of God

• To edify or build up my readers in the faith once for all time delivered to the saints

• To expose my readers to a variety of spiritually beneficial topics, books, articles, thoughts, and people

If I ever loose sight of those five purposes or fail to consistently live up to them, I will put this blog to bed and be done with it. For it will no longer be of any eternal use or benefit.

So, I say two things to you today on the occasion of this 1,000 post:

First, Thank you so very much for reading this blog. Thank you to those who have chosen to follow and to make comments. I love you all so much and cannot tell you how grateful I am.

Second, “…if you find anything here that serves to your furtherance and joy of the faith, impute that to the mercy of God bestowed on you and me. Yours to serve you with what little I have.”

Praise Be to the Living God!

Top Ten Television "Truths?" - Truth #9

 

"There are over six billion people in the world...

...but sometimes all you need is one."

From a narration in

One Tree Hill

Season Three, Episode 2

__________________________________

Disclaimer:  I have never seen this series, nor is this an endorsement of it. I am simply intrigued at times with the profundity, power, or playfulness of humanistic philosophy. 

The First Hacker

Many of you over the last three years have followed a wonderful blog called the Old Geezer’s Blog. This blog was run by our good friend Ron from southern California. Ron has amused, amazed, agitated, and astonished us with his wholesome, winsome, and wiley posts about facts, figures, and fun. We looked forward to his blog each day and many followed Ron religiously. There is no doubt that his blog was one of the fastest growing and most popular blogs available.

Having come to know Ron my appreciation and love for him grew. He and I would communicate regularly through our emails. His spirit was sweet and his personality gregarious. Ron has a distinct purpose for his blog. Yes, behind the humor, hominess, and hospitality, Ron desired to magnify the majestic character of our glorious God and secondly, to be the greatest blessing to you as God was to him. Ron loves God, loves His dear Son, and loves you, his reader. What happened?

First, Ron did not die, nor is he sick or incapacitated. For those of you who thought he might need to be “committed,” he is alive and well. Second, Ron did not quit blogging because he no longer wanted to be a blessing to you. What happened?

Ron informed me by email, as he did many of you, that a hacker has “hacked” into his beloved blog and wreaked havoc. So much so that Ron decided to shut down The Old Geezer blog. Unable to deal with and fully fix the damage done by this unscrupulous hacker, Ron turned off the lights and Don Meredith from somewhere over the rainbow sang, “Turn out the lights, The Party is Over.”

I was reminded by Eddie Eddings of the Calvinistic Cartoon fame of the first hacker that ever hacked into a “system.” That hacker of course was Satan. Although we don’t have much detail to go on, we can put together enough of the puzzle to see this evil “hacker” and his dastardly deed.

Genesis 1 tells us that for unknown reason God stepped out of eternity and chose to create the heavens and the earth. God spoke and new things came into existence. For example God said let light be, or thanks to William Tyndale, let there be light and there was light. The inspired account tells us that each day God spoke something new into existence such as light, the sun, and the moon, vegetation, plants, trees,  fish, birds, and animals. Interesting enough, God didn’t speak man into existence, He reached down into the red clay dirt and “formed” man from the dust and then breathed into him life. The unique thing we read in this account is that God saw all that he had created was good and He declared all that he created as good. It was all good and perfect without flaw or fracture.

We don’t need to be rocket scientists to see wicked, evil, unrighteous, or not so good permeating this earth. Men do evil things. God calls it sin. How did that happen? Why did it happen? Well, let me assure you the first question is far easier to answer than the second. As a matter of fact the second might never be answered this side of eternity.

As far as the first question, how did this happen? It was the work of a hacker. The first hacker to ever hack into anything as a matter of fact.

Genesis 1:1 tells us clearly and definitively that God created the heavens and the earth. There are no apologies, no explanations, no proof offered, just a bold declarative statement that God created the heavens and the earth.  Even though the sun and the moon were not created until day four, on day one God made day and night.

Job 38:7 says, “…when the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy.” This tells us that when God spoke the heavens and earth into existence, or as Job says “…when I laid the foundation of the earth…” angels were present and sang and cheered God when the earth, though void and dark came into existence. This means that God created the angels at the first moment of creation as the created the heavens and the earth. He spoke the heavens into existence, created the angels causing them to observe the rest of creation and as they watched God create with such glory, power, beauty, and so god-like the angels sang and cheered.

Among those angels who were created on day one was a beautiful and glorious angel named Lucifer. God chose to create the angels, Adam, and Eve with the ability to choose good or its opposite, evil. Lucifer, seeing the power God exhibited in the creative act, the glory given him by the singing and cheering angels decided to choose the opposite of good and usurp the place of God. In choosing the opposite of good, evil became known to Lucifer and then to one third of the angels who chose the opposite of good and to follow after Lucifer. Lucifer became the opposite of God, he became by his own choosing evil and unrighteous.

Lucifer now hated God and all the good that God had created. Lucifer saw God create in His own image his crowning glory of creation, man. Lucifer, as the epitome of evil determined to destroy or corrupt the good that God had created. Lucifer decided to hack into the creation of God.

Hence, the first hacker. Lucifer hacked his way into the psyche of the serpent. He infiltrated and invaded this beautiful creature and rerouted its circuitry. He caused the serpent to speak to Eve and to corrupt God’s words to her and Adam. Having been hacked into, Eve chose the opposite of good and ate the forbidden fruit. Having been fully hacked into and under the control of evil she gave the fruit to her husband who willingly ate of the forbidden fruit. God’s creation had been corrupted. God’s creation had been hacked. Evil was now a part of creation. Why God allowed this to happen is almost beyond us. All we can say is that God’s glorious character is yet made known even through the evil that came into existence as the first hacker did his dirty work.

Ron may or may not be able to overcome the damage that has been done to his wonderful blog. Ron may or may not come back on line as The Old Geezer, but rest assured that when God chooses to He will overcome Lucifer, the great hacker and repair all that this wicked and evil angel has done. 

Ode To Uriah

I  read II Samuel 11 Sunday morning during my devotion. A former professor of mine always referred to this as the "black chapter" of David's life. It is amazing to me that God would inspire the bible writer to include all the ugly warts of God's children including this ugly event in David's life. Had man written the bible apart from any influence of God, we probably would have left out the warts. As I meditated on this chapter this poem came to mind.

Ode to Uriah

Gregg Metcalf

February 5^th, 2012

Uriah was a valiant man

who served David well

He fought like a wild man

And many an enemy fell

Uriah was a married man

He had a beautiful wife

One day David saw her

and forever changed her life

David sent for this woman

Who bathed on the roof top

Her beauty was spell binding

David never thought to stop

He laid down with this woman

who did not belong to him

While her husband fought bravely

David commited this great sin 

The woman went back to her home

She returned to what was her life

Soon she knew she was pregnant

Although she was Uriah’s wife

So she sent word to David

That a baby was near

David thought long and hard

And soon David had an idea

He sent for Uriah that day

Come home Uriah for a bit of rest

Go home Uriah go see your wife

 Uriah returned at David’s behest

Uriah was a remarkable man

He didn’t go home he didn’t yield

He stayed with the soldiers 

He slept with them in the field

David by now was a little upset

He ate with Uriah and gave him wine

Now his great sin would be covered

Surely Uriah would go home this time

When the sun went down that night

Uriah didn’t go home  like the plan

He laid on the couch of David his lord

Uriah was a remarkable man

So David plotted to take his life

Uriah must die to cover David’s sin

No one must know what David had done

He knew how to get rid of him

He told Joab his general  in charge

Place Uriah where the battle was hot

Let the enemy advance to the place

Where they could get a clear shot

So Joab did as His King did command

Uriah was placed in the thick of the fight

The men were ordered to retreat

The enemy overpowered him with might

Joab sent word back to David the King

Uriah the Hittite is among all the dead

David told the general that it was ok

Overthrow the city and do not dread

Bathsheba heard her husband had died

She mourned him for a little spell

David sent for her to come and live with him

OH Uriah you served David well

This Is Salvation!

Here is a clear and definitive statement of salvation - this is how God receives all the glory as the author and finisher of our faith, which leaves you and me absolutely no room to boast:

Thy grace has given me faith in the cross by which thou has reconciled thyself to me and me to thee, drawing me by thy great love, reckoning me as innocent in Christ though guilty myself.

-Valley of Vision,  ed. Arthur Bennett, p. 171

Anthropomorphism

This word is not found in the bible. It comes from two Greek words, ανθρωπος (anth’-ro-pos) and μορφη (mor-fay’). These two words when put together they mean a figure of speech that describes God as having human form with such things as feet, hands, mouth, and heart. It can also include such things as human attributes or emotions.

These anthropomorphisms help us to understand God in a broader sense by using such things in order to relate to the world in which we live and know. For example, when Scripture says “…so that all the peoples of the earth may know that the hand of the LORD is mighty, that you may fear the LORD God forever.” (Joshua 4:24, ESV)

We know God is a non-corporeal spirit being with no form or shape. We as human beings know that the “hand of a man” represents strength. When Joshua, under the influence of the Holy Spirit, assures Israel that God is strong or powerful, powerful enough to give them cause to fear their God by using the anthropomorphic expression “the hand of the Lord.”