Modern Misconceptions about The Bible

Choose your own adventure

PREFACE: It took me four months to finish writing this, waiting for quiet time and help from the Holy Spirit to figure out how to explain some things I barely comprehend.

Last Saturday, on July 13th, I watched live on the Internet the attempted assassination of Donald Trump at his rally in Pennsylvania. I actually recall watching an attempt on his life back during his first run for office, but at the time that was not covered extensively and apparently was not as close of a call. Although the sound of gunfire and secret service agents rushing the stage certainly shocked me, it reminded me that I had a feeling something like this might happen – I guess I just thought since it hadn’t happened yet it wasn’t going to. Nonetheless it brought into stark contrast how fleeting life is, and reminded me how quickly things can change on an almost global scale (COVID anybody?) My thoughts selfishly turned to myself and my own struggles against the world and the flesh, and renewed my determination to continue being the best father and husband I can manage to be. My tears, love and prayers go out to Corey Comperatore who died that day defending his family, his country, and probably providing the blood sacrifice that was required by God, he might as well have taken the bullet directly for President Trump – certainly the agents who were supposed to do that job were unable to discharge their duties that day.

The next morning at breakfast I spoke to my sons about what had happened, asked if they had heard about the attempt on the former president’s life. I was honestly a bit surprised at how quickly things became emotional and honestly a bit angry – it was like this really struck a nerve with all of us. We prayed for President Trump and his family, and for our country. I tried to explain to my sons how our own individual choices change the world we live in. Life is like one of those choose-your-own-adventure book that were popular when I was growing up.

Space and Beyond by R.A. Montgomery a Choose Your Own Adventure book

And the mystery of life is that while the world goes on outside you, mostly unaffected by anything you personally say or do, at the same time you are choosing the world where you are going to live in your future. Somehow like the subatomic particle who can’t know its position and velocity at the same time, or like Plank foam popping in and out of existence below the threshold of perceivability, of measurability, our lives and our God given decision making power can and do have real impact on our lives, and ripple outward to affect our families, communities, nation and world. The story of the butterfly wing flapping causing a hurricane on the other side of the world comes to mind, but that is a worldly story, one that links an insignificant event to a world event through chaos theory. But if there is a grain of truth in that worldly aphorism, imagine what impact a moral or immoral decision can have on the world in which we live, on people who live geographically far away or close at home.

Here’s another scientific or philosophical theory that may help to visualize the importance of a life full of decisions: in multiverse theory, every possible universe that could ever have existed or ever will exist, does in fact exist. So not only is the universe infinitely large in the three-dimensional sense of length, width, and height, and also infinitely long in terms of eternity stretching out behind and before us, but also there are an infinite number of infinities that result from the combinatorically compounded possibilities resulting from random chance or human or divine decision making. There are actually multiple levels of infinity in mathematics (indicated with the Hebrew letter Aleph and a numeric subscript, e.g. ℵ₀ for the simplest level of infinity, like the number of whole numbers that exist). Certainly the number of possible universes that exist would approach ℵ_∞ the infinite combination of an infinite number of possibilities.

“Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations. Symbolizing the elements that create truth and beauty.” – Spock from Star Trek, aka IDIC

You may say, “But certainly my personal decisions are inconsequential to the course of society, or of the world? I’m just not that important!” I recall my brother when we were younger likening the course of the nation to a giant bowling ball rolling downhill, most of us just can’t do that much individually to change its course. Perhaps a few anointed historical figures were placed in a position in time and space to actually influence the course of human events, but certainly that is reserved for an elite few. Those lucky travelers. But what if your seemingly banal personal decisions can change entire world? You can’t deny that deep inside you feel like you are the star of your own show, ala The Truman Show, and that everyone else even close family are somehow NPC’s only there as actors on some cosmic stage. The funny thing is, everyone feels that way more or less. This is the natural state of man. So when you make a decision, instantaneously at that moment every other person alive changes too – from a person who lives in a world where you decided one way, to a person who lives in a world where you decided another way. You may object, “What about everyone else’s choices? Don’t they matter?” Now recall in the multiverse, there exists another universe in which you made a different decision, and there is another version of that other person who lives in that universe too. And therefore there must be other versions of yourself that exist in universes where other people made other decisions. I know this is difficult to wrap your head around, which is why I wasn’t able to complete this blog post in a single sitting and had to pray for wisdom and guidance to bring it to conclusion. But remember, there aren’t just an infinite number of alternate universes, there are infinite universes combined in an infinite number of different combinations. So there is enough room for each and every one of us to simultaneously exist as the star of our own show as well as being bit-players in everyone else’s personal universes. All at the same time. We have free will, they have free will, and obviously God’s will is done all at the same time.

So back to the assassination attempt, it is not out of the question to consider that had I made different choices in the leadup to that momentous nexus of events, that I could have found myself living in the universe where the result was different. We all imagine what would have happened if some historical event had played out differently, what if Archduke Ferdinand had survived his assassination attempt? What if there had been an accidental launch of a nuclear missile during the Cold War? Why do we find these ridiculous, hypothetical situations so endlessly fascinating? Why do so many people imagine they will be reincarnated and have another chance to live life and make different decisions? I think we all know in our hearts that the decisions we make are impactful beyond what we can even rationalize or imagine. It’s not that the bowling ball of existence is impossible to change direction, it’s that your decisions can cause you to steer yourself into an existence where the ball is and has been rolling in a different direction. After a lifetime of decisions, you find yourself living in a custom designed world that reflects your own beliefs and attitude.

Okay, okay. If you’ve been reading me long enough no doubt you are wondering what this has to do with deciding to make Jesus your Lord and Saviour and putting your life in His hands. Well, now that you know how truly complicated our multiverse is, and how important every decision you make is, whether conscious or subconscious, and that it effects not only you and those around you but potentially the direction in which society and the world are going, and that lastly you will not get a second chance because there are no do-overs in life…

And just as it is appointed and destined for all men to die once and after this comes certain judgment, so Christ, having been offered once and once for all to bear as a burden the sins of many, will appear a second time when he returns to earth, not to deal with sin, but to bring salvation to those who are eagerly and confidently waiting for Him.

Hebrews 9vv27-28 AMP

No matter how smart you are, no matter how good you try to be, you are destined to fail because we just can’t see enough of the truth from our timebound, limited perspective. We can’t even hold in our heads all the possibilities in a simple game of chess on an 8 by 8 checkered board, let alone all the life long ramifications of what we say and do on a daily basis interacting with others.

Compared to God, everyone is dumb and stupid. The only way you can do good is if you get lucky once in a while. As a highly intelligent friend of mine used to say (probably about me), “Even a blind squirrel finds a nut once in a while.” But if you put your faith in Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit will begin to guide you, and the God of the multiverse who knows every hair on your head and every desperately wicked desire of your heart will forgive you, write your name in the Lamb’s book of Life, and make a place for you in Heaven.

But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.

1 Corinthians 2v9

ADDENDUM: I want to throw in here that multiverse theory is why I don’t believe time travel is possible (other than travelling at 1 second per second into the future). If somehow you were able to willfully cross the barrier that separates one time from another, you would simultaneously puncture the membrane between universes and as a result end up not only in another time but an alternate version of that time and universe. As much as I disliked the TV show, the premise of Sliders with John Rhys-Davies and company pretty much got the idea right – except their chances of ever returning to their “home” dimension was essentially null. Quantum Leap didn’t incorporate multiverse theory, but the aspect of moving between times and being unable to return home does also express the essential problem.

Lastly, multiverse theory is more of a thought experiment than a scientific theory because, just like String Theory, it can never be proven or disproven. It takes a leap of faith.

Modern Temptations

Dead flies cause the ointment of the apothecary to send forth a stinking savour: so doth a little folly him that is in reputation for wisdom and honour.
Ecclesiastes 10v1 KJV

When I was in my twenties, I dreamed of writing a book about computers which I titled “Computers Simplified”. It is almost difficult to explain what life was like before smart phones and the Internet, you had to go to the theatre to watch a movie and the only streaming was from the FM radio in your car. We used to buy vinyl albums and listen to them over and over again, pouring over the liner notes and trying to understand the lyrics. Home computers were brand new, and I got my first, a Commodore VIC-20, at K-Mart for about $200 (which was more money then than it is now after 40 years of inflation, but still not as much as an Apple II which then cost over $1000 dollars). The Macintosh, iPod, and iPhone didn’t exist yet, but Steve Jobs was still alive and in charge. My parents’ generation struggled with setting the clocks on their brand new VCRs, which could have been VHS or Betamax format since those were the competing tape technologies, and it was probably manufactured in Japan, not China (there is a difference, even though they use the same writing).

In this Neolithic environment, I wanted to write a book that showed computers were easy to use, had great potential to improve human productivity, and that just like any tool created by humans they were not inherently good or evil (I had also considered titling my introductory computing book “The Tool” but that seemed too pretentious). I found my draft in the back of my filing cabinet and read it over the other day, and it is honestly hard to believe how incredibly naïve I was. There were some truthful statements, even some correct predictions about the future use of technology, but ultimately I did not understand where technology was going to take the human race. The first computers were made by nerds for nerds, and mostly men. As Douglas Adams famously said, “I think a nerd is a person who uses the telephone to talk to other people about telephones. And a computer nerd therefore is somebody who uses a computer in order to use a computer.” But as the computer morphed into the cell phone and communications became widespread, digital and wireless, a whole new generation grew up with tech that was simple and intuitive to use, could instantly connect you with anyone on the planet (in the developed world of course), and the number of people who understood how it all worked internally became smaller and smaller. At this point, perhaps no human can understand the complete technology stack from soup to nuts (from silicon to software).

Now we get to the hard to write about stuff. What does this all have to do with temptation? Well, when I was growing up the first pornography I ever saw was an 8mm film reel that my brother found in some deceased relatives belongings. Black and white little frames that we held up to the light to try and see – we had no projector. I don’t even know if there was sound or not. This was the era of Playboy and Penthouse magazine, and it was considered quite scandalous for a lady to appear in such a publication. But clearly I loved porn. I won’t make any excuses although a great number of them pop into my mind unbidden. At some point in high school one of my friends offered me a joint and in my adventurous, unequipped state, I embarked upon a lifelong battle with addiction. Later alcohol and cigarettes were added into the mix and I began questing for the ultimate sensory experience. I don’t want to get X rated on my blog, and I’m certainly not proud of any of this. I will leave the rest up to adult imaginations to fill in the slow (and sometimes fast) slide down into depravity. But God was with me through it all, I can recall numerous occasions where I should have died or wound up in jail, but somehow the Lord kept working on me, never giving up on me, and the Holy Spirit kept convicting me and I would return somewhat to the straight and narrow path before falling off the wagon again and again and again… To the outside observer, I appeared more or less successful, though never completely so. I suppose you might have called me a “functional” addict.

Now fast forward to the future, after hitting rock bottom and waking up one Sunday morning hungover and unable to sleep, I turned on the TV (because I was a television kid, no doubt, that was what we had growing up and I still watch more than I should). Charles Stanley appeared on my screen and for once I didn’t immediately change channels. I watched his patient, caring sermon and began to think about my step-father who had tried to get me to attend church with him and introduced me to Christ. At the end of the sermon, I prayed the Sinner’s Prayer and invited the Lord Jesus into my life to please help me stop wrecking myself. A virtual save, I suppose; the Lord works in mysterious ways! The journey hasn’t been easy, hasn’t always been fun, but as time goes by I have felt a new emotion enter my lexicon – joy. It’s a funny kind of happiness that sometimes makes me cry.

Now fast forward again, after 10 years doing my best to let the old man die and the new man live as bondservant to Jesus, and I look around and see: the Internet provides virtually unlimited amounts of free pornography – I can even find the old movies I used to watch on VHS once upon a time. I have used parental controls to block as much as possible, especially for my kids, but you know a cell phone connected to 4G/5G is an open firehose of smut. And as my kids are now becoming adults (still living at home because of post-COVID nightmare society and a pre-apocalyptic social fabric) they have discovered VPN technology, which is marketed as “privacy protection” but is really a way to circumvent any and all types of parental control. I suppose in Iran or North Korea they may use VPN’s to defeat censorship and access the Bible, but here in the good old US of A we like baseball, hot dogs, apple pie, and porn. “Hawk Tua!” So although I can’t assert that my temptation is worse than someone who lived 100 years ago, I can certainly say it is materially different.

Now, smoking and drinking have been legal for many years (since prohibition I suppose), so that’s nothing new. But right now I could easily go to a special dispensary and purchase high quality THC products (don’t even have to actually smoke the stinky stuff any more if I don’t want to ). Nothing but cash and an ID is required (slightly more difficult than voting). There is little to no social approbation about drug use, if anything society seems to pity and feel sorry for drug addicts – and blame society for their problems. When I was growing up they were referred to as “druggies” or “dopers” and drug use was seen as a moral failing. To this day I believe Jesus runs the only successful 12-step program.

Why am I writing this? Honestly I am not sure myself, maybe it is helpful to me to confess the ongoing modern temptation that I face. All I can say is, sometimes I think the world would be a better place if we all threw our cell phones into the garbage and tore down the brain frying radiation towers that are popping up all over the place. What happened to the computers I used to love so much? That I went to college to study and teach about? Where are all the positive, life-enhancing effects of technology we all expected? Is the microwave and the internal combustion engine really the high points? Even so, Jesus please come soon because the love of many is growing cold.

And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many. And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.
Matthew 24vv11-13 KJV

Conversing with the Holy Trinity

Does God really speak to you? Why yes, yes He does!

I feel like this is a sensitive subject among a lot of Christians, and certainly a source of a lot of confusion in the world. Many pastors will go out of their way to say something like, “Of course, I don’t actually hear God’s voice out loud speaking to me.” or “The Holy Spirit speaks to me in my own voice inside my head.” On the other hand, it seems there are people who may abuse the miracle of an indwelling of the Holy Spirit by manipulating others with “The Lord gave me a word for you…” or pretending to be prophets or sorcerers.

But there was a certain man, called Simon, which beforetime in the same city used sorcery, and bewitched the people of Samaria, giving out that himself was some great one: To whom they all gave heed, from the least to the greatest, saying, This man is the great power of God. And to him they had regard, because that of long time he had bewitched them with sorceries. But when they believed Philip preaching the things concerning the kingdom of God, and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women. Then Simon himself believed also: and when he was baptized, he continued with Philip, and wondered, beholding the miracles and signs which were done. Now when the apostles which were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent unto them Peter and John: Who, when they were come down, prayed for them, that they might receive the Holy Ghost: (For as yet he was fallen upon none of them: only they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.) Then laid they their hands on them, and they received the Holy Ghost. And when Simon saw that through laying on of the apostles’ hands the Holy Ghost was given, he offered them money, Saying, Give me also this power, that on whomsoever I lay hands, he may receive the Holy Ghost. But Peter said unto him, Thy money perish with thee, because thou hast thought that the gift of God may be purchased with money.
Acts 8:9-20 KJV

Perhaps a good analogy is that your brain is like a radio receiver that can be tuned in to different channels. And for the vast majority of people they do not literally “hear” sounds inside their own heads as if they were emanating from some internal eardrums or virtual speakers, instead it is more like hearing yourself reading text aloud. Although psychologists have been trying to untangle this web of perception and thought, and philosophers doubt the connection between our inner and outer realities, let us not become lost in a mire of contemplation but rather keep the simple model I have proposed above. For the vast majority of human beings their brain acts like a receiver that can be tuned into various thought channels which are either literally read or conceived as text or symbols, and/or heard aloud in their own voice or a neutral internal dialogue. Now I will reveal a mystery to you: one of those channels in your head is the Holy Spirit speaking to you. He speaks to everybody all the time, remember God is not finite nor is He bound by time or space. Many people recognize this voice and call it their “conscience” which is a funny pun if you think about consciousness vis a vis conscientiousness.

When I am driving my car I usually listen to Family Radio because, while not perfect, it is by far the best option on the radio dial. And an odd phenomenon occurs on a regular basis, a car will pull up beside me and my reception will begin to be interfered with, even overcome by what’s being played in the other car. It’s usually a strong station of popular music whose transmitter is presumably stronger than what I am listening to. So I am momentarily bombarded with Rap or Rock & Roll or perhaps some news talk, it’s like having a peaceful prayer interrupted by clamorous construction noises from outside. And I believe this analogy also works for the receiver inside your brain, when you come around people who are receiving a strong ungodly signal they can and will vex your peace. I am a classroom teacher and I can tell you unequivocally that in a roomful of students every single one is tuned into a different spiritual frequency, and it is difficult and stressful to not only survive in that environment but to actually pull everyone together and try to study something academic is well nigh impossible. But since the first time I stepped foot in front of a classroom I have always felt a guiding spirit coaching me and protecting me. I used to think of it as my father’s or ancestors’ spirits coming upon me, before I gave my life to Jesus, but looking back I realize now that it was Him who was helping me to help my students.

So at this point in my life, does God speak to me? The answer is a resounding YES. Most days we are in a conversation back and forth. I pray and ask for guidance and protection. He tells me what to do and say. I thank him for saving my bacon repeatedly, over and over again, so many times I’ve lost count. He sends me on another journey. The hardest thing is to keep your faith alive while undergoing trials and suffering in life, because as a flawed, sinful human I certainly cannot do a perfect job of following the Holy Spirit’s guidance, and the Lord knows I made a ton of mistakes and regrettable sins for many years before He pulled me in closer. But looking back on my younger years, I realize that Jesus was looking out for me – even when I wanted nothing to do with him. He knew I belonged to Him and that nothing could ever snatch me from his hand, so he loved me even before I knew Him. I say all this to make it clear that even though God is transmitting to believer and denier alike, that doesn’t make life simple or explainable or happy all the time. And the thought of a glorious heaven with rewards we can’t even begin to imagine can seem all too far off and distant when faced with the challenges of a single day – which is all we are ever faced with, stuck in the mire of the present and constantly reaching out and up for help, mercy and guidance.

Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.
Matthew 6:34 KJV

On the other hand, many people actively reject and avoid listening to anyone and anything that tells them what to think or what they should do, especially the Holy Spirit. They will indulge in sin as frequently and for as long as possible to keep a righteous and holy God as far away from them as possible. They may use drugs and alcohol to numb themselves and interfere with their natural receptive ability. Eventually, if this persists long enough with little to no repentance or guilt, the Lord will give them what they ask for.

For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature: And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet. And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient; Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers, Backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, Without understanding, covenantbreakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful: Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them.
Romans 1:26-32 KJV

Click this link for a nice discussion of “What does it mean to have a seared conscience?“

If you want to discern which channel you should be listening to, remember that you have access to a book that is filled with the thoughts of God, replete with language that was spoken by the Holy Spirit to the prophets of old, and contains the biography of the Lord Jesus Christ who IS the incarnate Word of God.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men.
John 1:1-4 KJV

The world is a loud and confusing place, filled with deception, and Satan is like a roaring lion, wandering about to find those he may consume.

Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you. Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: Whom resist stedfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world.
1 Peter 5:7-9 KJV

So I have to fill my life with as much truth and goodness, peace, patience, kindness as I possibly can to help prevent my stiff-necked human sinful self from backsliding into irrational justifications for satisfying the natural man. The more Bible I get inside my head, the Bread and Water of Life, the better I am able to tune into and receive the Lord’s signal, and passages from the Bible will literally pop into my head fully formed and ready to help me or those around me by pointing unequivocally towards The Truth, The Way and The Life. We are to be as Bereans, checking the scriptures to find out if what we are told matches with what God says.

And the brethren immediately sent away Paul and Silas by night unto Berea: who coming thither went into the synagogue of the Jews.These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.Therefore many of them believed; also of honourable women which were Greeks, and of men, not a few.
Acts 17:10-12 KJV

Last, but certainly not least, enjoy your faith, your family and your freedoms this Memorial Day. God bless the U.S.A!

One Page Gospel

Have you ever wondered if there is life on other planets? How far it is to the nearest habitable star system? Perhaps you’ve looked up at the milky way at night and felt the unimaginable vastness of the visible universe. What am I here for? You think modern science must have the answer to these questions. But unfortunately, science doesn’t tell why – it can only tell you how. Certainly engineering contains the secrets I am looking for? It doesn’t even try, it can tell you how a plane was built but it can’t tell you why you were built. What about the great philosophers who lived before me, Aristotle and Plato, Hagel and Kant, can they explain what I am here for? They’ve spent thousands of years arguing about whether or not reality is real, and honestly, the jury is still out for them. Surely there must be a book somewhere in all the libraries of the world that contains the words that answer the questions we carry in our hearts. Let’s perform a little thought experiment, a nod to our logical ancestors, what are the possible answers to Why? It could be that there is no reason why, and you live in a cold and mechanical happenstance universe. Nothing really matters, anyone can see, nothing really matters, to me. If such is the case, I propose you might as well kill yourself immediately to end your suffering and provide your own answer for To Be, or Not To Be. Some will use “there is no reason” as an excuse to hurt other people and instrumentalize everything and everyone else in the world for their own pleasure. But isn’t that really a different reason Why? They conclude that the world was created for their pleasure alone. Selfish at best and outright Satanic at worst, “Do what thou wilt.” So if a reasonable, caring person with a modicum of common sense would reject “no reason” or “I am God” as reasons for existence, what other options remain to be explored? If I’m not God, then who is? What is the essential character of God, how would he make himself known to his creation? Let’s go back to the idea of a book containing answers, did God put a book on earth for his human creations to find that would lead them to the impossibly difficult yet necessary answers they seek? Have you ever heard of such a book? What does it say? It says that God so loved the world that he sent his only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, to go into the world and die as was required in order to open the way for imperfect human sinners to escape from the conviction of death through unavoidable sin. It says that you won’t understand everything because His ways are higher than your ways, and his thoughts are higher than your thoughts. It says that the beginning of wisdom is fear of the LORD. It says that Jesus is the way, the truth, the light that shows our path forward. It says that Jesus loves you. Followers of Jesus have debated for centuries about predestination, does God know who will choose to follow Him and who will reject Him? What is the point of trying to convince people that God is Good and worthy of submission if they have already been destined for the lake of fire in eternity? Certainly the response of most people in this lost world is not encouraging for those trying to reach confused souls. People are condescending, respond with anger, refuse to hear or accept the truth. But the great contradiction is that God made you in His image, and that includes free will. So ultimately each of us have to decide for ourselves where our eternal destination lies. Will you be in love with yourself, or in a loving relationship with Jesus Christ? This answer will determine your ultimate fate.

Confidence vs Righteousness

One of the common accusations I hear about Christians is that they are “Self Righteous”, always think they are right, or that they can determine right from wrong. Perhaps this is a symptom of cultural Christianity, legalism, or willful ignorance of the truth, but regardless it is the opposite of the truth. The first thing a person has to realize before coming to Christ is how broken and inadequate they are, how completely incompetent and utterly powerless they are in this world to judge anything correctly or come to any kind of correct decision, let alone pass judgement on other people. As even Paul, the most prolific contributor to the New Testament, clearly and repeatedly stated:

This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief.
1 Timothy 1:15 King James Version

Jesus himself went to great lengths to discourage a judgmental attitude:

Judge not, that ye be not judged.For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?
Matthew 7:1-3 King James Version

However, if you continue reading Matthew, you will find Jesus explaining that you can’t help your brother until you get yourself straightened out. So here’s the rub, if you continually hold the Holy Spirit in your heart and listen carefully to his discernments, love the Word of God and feed your mind with him regularly, and pray to Jesus for intercession on your behalf in Heaven, eventually Christ will conform you more closely to his image. At that point you may be able to make correct judgments, but you will not become arrogant because you know nothing good, nothing of value, ever came from yourself outside of the help you have received, undeserved, from the God of the Bible. You don’t have SELF confidence, you aren’t SELF righteous, and you won’t act arrogant or condescending. Instead, you will have FAITH in the Lord Jesus Christ, confidence in the Holy Spirit’s pleadings within your heart, and you will know that God in heaven is RIGHTEOUS.

What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?
Romans 8:31 King James Version

I saw an advertisement the other day for a movie about David, “Learn how he prepared to face the enemies of God!” It showed a picture of David practicing with his sling in preparation of battle. This is how the world sees things, it’s all about the person and his character and preparation for battle, his bravery and perseverance, perhaps even his luck. But what did David really have? FAITH. It wasn’t his skill with a sling or blind luck that brought him success, it was his unyielding faith in God and perhaps a measure of innocence that led him onto that battlefield with Goliath. How clear does God have to make it? The Bible even recounts how Saul tried to get him to put on armor and take up a sword:

And Saul armed David with his armour, and he put an helmet of brass upon his head; also he armed him with a coat of mail.And David girded his sword upon his armour, and he assayed to go; for he had not proved it. And David said unto Saul, I cannot go with these; for I have not proved them. And David put them off him.And he took his staff in his hand, and chose him five smooth stones out of the brook, and put them in a shepherd’s bag which he had, even in a scrip; and his sling was in his hand: and he drew near to the Philistine.And the Philistine came on and drew near unto David; and the man that bare the shield went before him.And when the Philistine looked about, and saw David, he disdained him: for he was but a youth, and ruddy, and of a fair countenance.And the Philistine said unto David, Am I a dog, that thou comest to me with staves? And the Philistine cursed David by his gods.
1 Samuel 17:38-43 King James Version

*David and Goliath*, a color lithograph by Osmar Schindler (c. 1888)

David knew the Lord had been with him when he slew both a lion and a bear to protect his flock, and he knew He would be with him when he faced Goliath. It’s not about self-confidence, it’s about faith in the Lord. It’s not about self-righteousness, it’s about the righteousness of God. Here’s another way to look at it, you can have complete and total faith in yourself, and that’s worth something, no doubt. But if you have faith as small as a mustard seed in the creator of the universe, that’s worth infinitely more.

Be a slave to the Good Master

A hard lesson that I have learned, and have tried to emphasize to my sons, is not to think of having “fun” as being separate from listening to the Holy Spirit. It is so tempting to want to set Jesus aside, leave the Bible in the bookshelf, and focus on having a good time, being entertained, having sensuous desires fulfilled, etc. Taken to extreme you can indulge in drink or drugs to help blot out any inopportune thoughts of right and wrong, morality or conscience from sneaking into your mind and ruining a good time. But after more than fifty years on planet earth, I have come to realize that the Lord truly knows better what is good for me.

There is a way that seems right to a man,
But its end is the way of death.
Proverbs 14:12 KJV

In our post-modern world, we tend to think of slavery as an absolutely bad thing – inherently evil. But doesn’t the nature of slavery have something to do with the character and judgment of the master? To give it a modern spin, doesn’t the experience of having a job depend a lot upon the character and judgment of your employer? If you have a mean spirited, exploitative boss who nitpicks your work and plays favorites with employees then your work will probably be less satisfying and enjoyable than it could be. On the other hand, you could have an extremely challenging job and yet gather a great deal of satisfaction from a few kind words of appreciation from your supervisor. Likewise, the life of a slave would largely be determined by their master. It is clear that slavery and indentured servitude in the past had a varied history and tradition that is largely lost today, perhaps we have eliminated slavery so far from the Overton Window that the only remaining forms are the most repulsive and hidden. Nonetheless, I don’t want to get lost in an historical sidetrack of what is essentially a metaphor for having an intimate relationship with Jesus Christ. The more I think and act like a slave of the Holy Spirit and dutifully heed His gentle urgings in my soul, the happier and more fulfilled my life is. When I instead insist upon doing the things that I think will make me happy, they inevitably do not satisfy or lead to anything of lasting value. It is worth noting that God could have made us all literally slaves or robots being forced to do His will every second of our lives, but instead he made us in His image and gave us the gift of free will so we can choose who to listen to.

Listening to Jesus isn’t just the right thing to do morally, it is always the best choice because he knows what is truly valuable and what true happiness is better than we do!

Be a slave to the Good Master, humbly and voluntarily.

https://www.google.com/search?q=Better+Than+I+(from+Joseph%3A+King+of+Dreams)

Continuous Miracles or mere coincidences?

Mr Bond, they have a saying in Chicago: ‘Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. The third time it’s enemy action’.
Ian Fleming, Goldfinger

The ontology of miracles is a difficult subject to grasp, even for a person who has experienced them first hand. There are far more miracles taking place than any human being could appreciate or understand.

For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.
Isaiah 55:8-9 KJV

Nonetheless, here we go…

Biblical Miracles
Sensory Miracles
Memory Miracles
Wisdom Miracles
Guidance Miracles
Vicarious Miracles
Scientific Miracles
Engineering Miracles
Natural Miracles
The Existential Miracle
The Miracle of Freedom

Biblical Miracles are the miracles performed by Jesus in the New Testament, healing blindness, paralysis, casting out demons, resurrecting Lazarus, and perhaps greatest of all forgiveness of sins. While clearly the most wonderful and amazing category of miracle, sometimes we are blinded by their brilliance and limit the Lord to only these past instances.

Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.
John 20:29 KJV

Sensory or Perception Miracles are very subtle and easy to miss. Have you every felt your eye drawn towards an important detail that might have escaped your notice? The Lord can help you by either making you notice something good, or causing you to overlook something that would affect you negatively. For example, you’re driving your car and are distracted by the phone or passenger or your emotional state or obsessive thinking… and out of the corner of your eye you notice a car swerving towards you. You focus your attention and avoid a collision that could have been catastrophic or even fatal. Was it your skill that saved you? Luck? Or did God intervene on your behalf making sure you saw exactly what you needed to see? Or more precisely, notice what you needed to notice in your field of vision.

Memory Miracles can take two different forms, either remembering something important at exactly the right time for it to be helpful to you. Some people are gifted by the Lord with incredible memories that allow them to remember stories, scripts, musical arrangements, mathematical formulas, or how to build things properly. We tend to dismiss all these examples as the result of hard work or natural talent (although natural talent has even become politically incorrect because no one can be better at anything than other people because that isn’t “equitable”). But there is an undeniable supernatural quality to memory, and if you are honest with yourself you don’t understand why you remember some things and forget others. There is a space there for the Lord to work, to intervene on your behalf. The other form of Memory Miracle is forgetting things that would cause you harm or prevent you from growing spiritually. Perhaps akin to forgiveness, when we hold on to bad memories and replay them over and over in our minds obsessively they can damage our psyche and keep our spirit in a disturbed state. When the Lord steps in and blocks those memories out of your consciousness, allowing you to move on in forgiveness and grace, the only possible word for it is Miracle.

Wisdom Miracles harken back to Solomon, legendary even to this day, who prayed for wisdom above all other wishes.

And the speech pleased the Lord, that Solomon had asked this thing. And God said unto him, Because thou hast asked this thing, and hast not asked for thyself long life; neither hast asked riches for thyself, nor hast asked the life of thine enemies; but hast asked for thyself understanding to discern judgment; Behold, I have done according to thy words: lo, I have given thee a wise and an understanding heart; so that there was none like thee before thee, neither after thee shall any arise like unto thee.
1 Kings 3:10-12 KJV

The same is available to all who pray earnestly:

If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.
James 1:5 KJV

So take into account Sensory Miracles and Memory Miracles, and it isn’t a great leap forward to reach Wisdom Miracles – the Holy Spirit simply causes correct understanding and right interpretation to flow into the mind of the believer highlighting the correct aspect to be focused on and the context for it and the feeling that flows from the right understanding. Simply, Wisdom. It can include intellectual understanding, but is not limited to cold logical analysis or recitation of facts but rises to a higher level of reflection that knows what to think, and what to think about that thought, and how to feel about the infinitely complex tower of thought revealed in an instant before receding away from our limited, finite human brain.

And again, we tend to dismiss these miracles as pedestrian examples of human effort and the unlimited potential of humanism. But if you study the beauty and simplicity of calculus or Newtonian physics, and you are honest with yourself, you realize the only way such secrets have been exposed is through divine revelation – not hard work, dumb luck and happenstance discovery.

Guidance Miracles are simply being nudged by the Holy Spirit to go this way, not that way. Or to avoid those people and be drawn to these people. It can be as simple as “wait a few minutes”, or as complicated as “talk to this person, but don’t say how you really feel”. Unlike Wisdom Miracles, understanding is not required or provided – instead faith is required.

And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you.
Matthew 17:20 KJV

The more frequently you obey God, the more frequently you will receive guidance. Sometimes, after the fact, you will find out why, but much of the time we will never find out why here on earth. This may be because we simply cannot understand the way God does, seeing the beginning and the end at the same time and knowing how one small decision fits into the infinite multitude of possibilities stretching across time and space. Sometimes, following the Lord will lead to obvious benefits or avoid harms, but sometimes it will put us in difficult or stressful situations or even get us hurt or killed. None of us are able to follow perfectly the example of Jesus Christ who went to the cross willingly on our behalf to save us from eternal damnation.

As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one:
Romans 3:10 KJV

But Christians do step in front of bullets, stand in front of bullies, and go to work every day in a dark, lost world shining the light of truth and witness wherever they go. But they know also that it isn’t anything special about them, but rather that Jesus Christ acts through them despite their failings and weaknesses.

For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.
Ephesians 2:8-9 KJV

Vicarious Miracles occur when God acts through other people like doctors, strangers, family members. Granted it is difficult to identify such miracles, and even harder to prove them, but nonetheless I steadfastly believe that such miracles are exceedingly common. As a follower of Jesus Christ, I have found throughout my life that I have been guided to a certain place and time to help a specific person. Again, I’m not talking about Biblical knock-your-socks off miracles, but if your heart and mind are open you will begin to see that at least some of the things that happen in your life are not random occurrences, or the result of your own will power, intelligence or inherent goodness.

Scientific Miracles are technologies and processes that we once again are happy to attribute to human beings and our cleverness or luck. Whether it be microwave ovens, chemotherapy, MRIs or space travel, why do we see such things as proof that God does not exist? If you look deep enough into the matter, even with years of intense study of engineering and scientific theory, ultimately you will find that human beings don’t actually understand exactly how or why things work the way they do. They may have mathematical formulas and scientific models that allow them to reliably reproduce phenomenon and construct technological artifacts, but deep down inside at a molecular or subatomic level we reach a point of explanation that sounds something like this: “it works this way after repeated experimentation”. Medicines are very similar, if you read the insert of any medication from the pharmacy, you will eventually find buried in the fine print a statement that says it works “through an unknown mechanism”. As we become more an more comfortable living in a constructed environment, driving cars we don’t understand how they work and can’t fix, cooking with appliances that would be dangerous for most of us to even open, receiving electric power over a grid built by other people years ago that we don’t appreciate, etc. etc. It becomes easy for us to simply overlook the miracles of science as mechanistic, deterministic result of human endeavor and to far overestimate other human beings true understanding of how things work and WHY.

Engineering Miracles are very similar to the scientific miracles described above. Let me just expand to a larger scale with a less theoretical and more practical bent. Artifacts of modern life we can interact with on a daily basis: internal combustion engines, bridges, sky scrapers, jet airplanes. Each represents a miraculous demonstration of God’s power and engineers are people just like you and I.

Let’s continue one step further from miracles that are casually contributed to man, to miracles that are instead repurposed to make a man feel small and insignificant. Natural Miracles can include a range of observables from rainbows to beaches, canyons to the milky way, even the creatures inside God’s creation such as a rainbow trout can be amazing and awesome when viewed with the eyes of a child. But we humans manage to simultaneously look at such displays of God’s ultimate power and intelligence and think firstly that we can deconstruct them, understand them, in a purely mechanistic even robotic manner, while at the same time feeling the weight of our own insignificance in the vast web of the cosmic ecosystem – because we don’t recognize that the creator of the universe made us purposefully in his own image. If you are nothing more than an ant, nee an amoeba, living within the infinite clockwork of a mechanistic universe, why wouldn’t you logically and immediately commit suicide upon such terrifying horrific realization?

This leads us directly to the Existential Miracle, a frequently trivialized and dismissed “thank the Lord for the air we breathe” miracle. It’s sort of like, of course this is true, but where do you go next with it? But consider the great lengths mankind has gone to explain away this most fundamental fact: from inventing the “Big Bang”, to accidentally detecting cosmic background radiation, to the casino-like randomly disappearing and reappearing subatomic foam that we can’t even detect or measure below the size of Planck’s constant. These matters are swept aside as either philosophical questions that don’t concern ordinary people, or assumed to have been adequately explained by scientific theories. We can even wrap all the way back to Sensory Miracles because they also have been tackled by philosopher’s and scientists (psychologists) who confidently explain that not only can we not trust our own eyes, but that we can’t even understand the relationship between the real world and the cognitive model our brain constructs inside our heads. So best to just leave such existential questions to nihilistic scientists and arrogant philosophers lest we go insane trying to find the truth.

The Miracle of Freedom God gives different types of freedom and the word can be interpreted variously. Those who deny God’s existence are most concerned with free will – they rejoice in the gift of being made in God’s image and being blessed with the free will to make their own decisions and choose their own path in life. However, at the same time they probably blame God for everything wrong with the world – sin and death, selfishness and lack of compassion. You must be able to contemplate paradoxes since the world is full of them and God isn’t limited by them – it can be true that God exists and is in control of everything, and also that he chose to give you free will since he made you in his image. It can be true that the world is full of evil, and also that God is good and made a way for you to be reconciled with him despite your sinful nature.

Another type of freedom is similar but worldly, Moses led the Jewish slaves out of Egypt to the promised land, and slaves were set free as a result of the Civil War in the United States. Unfortunately, slavery still exists because sin still exists in this world and only Jesus can free the world from sin.

This is the final and perhaps truest form of freedom, freedom from sin and temptation. If you freely give up your self will and allow the Holy Spirit to guide your life, you will find yourself released from the shackles of sin – no longer carrying a ball and chain around your ankles wherever you go. No longer obsessing about your next cigarette, your next drink, your next smoke, your next hit, or your next sexual partner.

I want to point out a final paradox; every miracle can be attributed to God or to man or “nature”. You can feel that the good things you do are the result of your own inherent goodness (probably leading you to be arrogant) or you can realize that God gave you the ability to distinguish right from wrong and only by becoming a better listener and follower can you do better (leading you to be humble and grateful). When you marvel at God’s creation, you can either feel special and lucky that the Lord created this entire universe just for humans to exist (and be thankful for it) or you can view yourself as just one tiny cog in the grand machine of happenstance millennial cosmology making you feel like nothing you do matters and humans are worthless compared to the expanse of the multiverse. Do you want to be free from guilt, or free from sin?

You may ask, what if I don’t believe in God? How can the Holy Spirit help me if I haven’t accepted Jesus Christ as my personal Lord and Saviour? The Lord knows who will ultimately accept his invitation of faith, but nonetheless he speaks to all persons. Some will hear the call and heed it, some will reject it. The paradox is that the decision is up to you, so you can be confident that God will honor your decision as to where you wish to go when you die.

Lastly, let’s take a look at some definitions of the word from the Internet and see where they might go wrong.

from Oxford Languages (Google search snippet)

Here is the top result from a Google search for miracle, notice the emphasis on “natural or scientific laws” and the deemphasis “considered to be” and the rather ambiguous “divine agency”. The example sentence is arguably about Jesus but nowhere is He mentioned in this definition. How about “miracle: a work of God”.

Here the anonymous author from Wikipedia tosses in the word “supernatural” which once again is like calling white the “unblack” color. We’re not going to say it’s something only God could do, instead we invent a made up category of events which aren’t easily dismissed or explained by human scientific understanding or attributable to cold, indifferent natural phenomenon like evolution or Schrödinger’s cat. Furthermore, not only are we not going to mention God, we are going to list a bunch of other things which clearly are more likely to be an explanation for a miracle such as magician, the redundant “miracle worker” (one who works miracles, no doubt), or saints or religious leaders – but definitely NOT Jesus, no way, not Him!

Note the emphasis on “believed”, although this definition from M-W actually is the best we’ve seen so far. It actually includes the words “power of God”, although now less emphasis on the lack of other explanations – miracles are merely unusual or wonderful events. In the second definition we can see the explicit Engineering Miracles which might have something to do with my inclusion of that category in my miracular ontology above. Praise Jesus, we finally end up with a mention of “the healing miracles described in the Gospels”, but once again why “described in”, why not “the healing miracles performed by Jesus in the Gospels”? The Christian Science definition at the end is just weird, “divinely natural” and “experienced humanly”? That is one oxymoron followed by one redundancy. And I’ve heard of fulfillment of prophecy, or fulfillment of The Bible, but what exactly is “spiritual law”? I’m not interested in any religion that doesn’t have Jesus Christ as its Chief Priest and that doesn’t speak in plain terms.

For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all the churches of the saints.”
1 Corinthians 14:33 KJV

Zombies, Witches and A.I.

I never understood American culture’s obsession with Zombies for the last ten years or so. We don’t pay for cable TV so I never saw The Walking Dead until it recently began airing on free TV, but I do remember watching James Bond movies featuring voodoo and zombies way back in 1973. Nonetheless, it took the Holy Spirit to open my eyes to the truth, as usual.

And immediately something like scales^[a] fell from his eyes. And he saw-again^[b], and having arisen, was baptized.
Acts 9:18 DLNT
a. That is, scales of a fish. Or, ‘flakes’ of skin.
b. Or, received sight.

What is the essential characteristic of a zombie? The fact that they were once alive, died and perhaps were buried, and then lived again – or were resurrected. The Sadducees from The Bible didn’t believe in resurrection, and of course entire religions are based around the concept of reincarnation but that is certainly not the same. Likewise, what is one of the core tenets of Christianity? That Jesus Christ died on the cross for our sins, was buried in the garden tomb, and on the third day rose from the dead. Yet how many people “love” zombies versus how many love Jesus? Another example how the world system overwrites, obscures and deceives the gospel truth.

Another popular topic for movies and books is the Salem Witch Trials, and witches and witchcraft in general. Once again it serves the devil’s purposes by:

making Christians look like intolerant, hateful bigots who have no problem burning people on stakes
highlighting one small moment in history and sensationalizing it above and beyond its importance
leaving out any context or difficult to ascertain motivations and understandings of historical people

I find it interesting that an average American probably knows more about Salem than they do about Jerusalem. Between witch trials, the inquisition and the crusades this is the popular “history” of Christianity.

Lastly, a newly arisen trend is the foreshadowing of “A.I.” – the artificial intelligence that will save the world from climate change or man’s inhumanity to man, or at least drive our cars for us so we can spend our time safely staring at our cell phones. This is truly not a new concept, Isaac Asimov wrote about intelligent (even telepathic!) robots in 1941 and Golems are in the bible. Yet sit quietly and consider for a moment the essential characteristic of a robot or artificial intelligence and you will come to the only possible conclusion, that if we can create such an intelligence ourselves then there is no need for God. That is why materialistic man has pursued this dream as long as alchemy has sought to turn lead into gold, and perhaps it is the ultimate version of idol worship.

When You See Daniel’s Abomination, Flee.
For There Will Be a Great Affliction

Therefore when you see the abomination of desolation— the thing having been spoken through Daniel the prophet— standing in the holy place (let the one reading understand),
Matthew 24:15 DLNT

The infinite and eternal character of The Bible

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.
John 1:1-5 KJV

I never cease to be amazed at the infinity hidden inside The Bible. You could read it for an hour every single day of your life and never exhaust it, never run out of inspiration, wisdom, warning and prophecy. It’s not like any other book you can think of, even a series of regular books with more pages and words like an epic science fiction or fantasy tale – these may be interesting and engrossing and in fact easy to engage with, but ultimately contain very little of lasting value or wisdom. You may enjoy reading them or watching the movie that was inspired by them, but afterwards there will no doubt be little effect upon your real life. But a few words from The Bible can pierce through your heart, drop the scales from your eyes, and change not only your life but your eternal destination.

Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.
Matthew 24:35 KJV

However, this is only one aspect of the infinitude to be found within The Word. Books written by men may be very popular and may even contain glimpses of truth or clever turns of phrases, but ultimately they fade into the distant memory of time. The only thing of value is the new, the novel, the exciting and unexpected new plot twist or philosophical turnbuckle to chew upon mentally. Even classic works like Euclid’s Elements or Plato’s Dialogues are most often referred to as historical documents and rarely read or studied by anyone outside the rarified air of academia – and even then only by a select few who claim expertise in the relevant realm of discourse. Consider that parts of The Bible are some of the oldest written documents known to modern man, and yet this very day you can open your Bible and find something relevant to your life in 2021 – something that may even touch your heart, enlighten your spirit, and affect your very soul. That is an eternal character that only God can provide, but we who were created in his image can at least appreciate.

He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still. And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward with me, to give every man according as his work shall be. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last.
Revelation 22:11-13 KJV

revel, revile, reveal, revelation

revel

verb

gerund or present participle: revelling

enjoy oneself in a lively and noisy way, especially with drinking and dancing.
“they spent the evening reveling with their guests”

Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.
Galatians 5:19-21, KJV

revile

verb

noun: reviler

criticize in an abusive or angrily insulting manner.
“he was now reviled by the party that he had helped to lead”

Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.
1 Corinthians 6:9-11, KJV

reveal

verb

make (previously unknown or secret information) known to others.
“Brenda was forced to reveal Robbie’s whereabouts”

In that hour Jesus rejoiced in spirit, and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes: even so, Father; for so it seemed good in thy sight. All things are delivered to me of my Father: and no man knoweth who the Son is, but the Father; and who the Father is, but the Son, and he to whom the Son will reveal him.
Luke 10:21-22, KJV

revelation

noun

a surprising and previously unknown fact, especially one that is made known in a dramatic way.
“revelations about his personal life”
the divine or supernatural disclosure to humans of something relating to human existence or the world.
“an attempt to reconcile Darwinian theories with biblical revelation”

Wherefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus, and love unto all the saints, cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers; that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him: the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, and what the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power, which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set at his own right hand in heaven, far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come: and hath put all under his feet, and gave him the head over all to the church, which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all.
Ephesians 1:15-23, KJV

Above are just a few interesting notes about the English language that I’ve learned from my time with the King James bible. As our culture changes, our language changes, obscuring the past and the truth. It seems we keep adding more words to our dictionaries and to our sentences, all the while saying less and less which is true, helpful or useful. I had no idea what a “reviler” was and how that was different from a “reveller”, or why I probably don’t want to be either one!

Another example is the word “hardly”. Which I generally thought of as “barely”, as in the popular quip “Are you hard at work, or hardly working?” But in the King James Bible you will find it used in a few other contexts that reveal other aspects of the word, and a fuller comprehension of its meanings.

But Abram said unto Sarai, Behold, thy maid is in thine hand; do to her as it pleaseth thee. And when Sarai dealt hardly with her, she fled from her face.
Genesis 16:6, KJV

Here the meaning is “dealt with in a hard manner”, not that Sarai refused to deal with her fully.

And it came to pass, when Pharaoh would hardly let us go, that the Lord slew all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both the firstborn of man, and the firstborn of beast: therefore I sacrifice to the Lord all that openeth the matrix, being males; but all the firstborn of my children I redeem.
Exodus 13:15, KJV

Again, this does not mean that Pharaoh let them go “just barely”, rather it means he hardened his heart against the Israelites and refused to let them go until catastrophe befell the Egyptians. And even after letting them go, he changed his mind and went after them with chariots to try and destroy them.

And, behold, a man of the company cried out, saying, Master, I beseech thee, look upon my son: for he is mine only child. And, lo, a spirit taketh him, and he suddenly crieth out; and it teareth him that he foameth again, and bruising him hardly departeth from him.
Luke 9:38-39, KJV

Here the man is indicating that the evil spirit possessing his son bruised him in very hard manner before leaving him.

And when Jesus saw that he was very sorrowful, he said, How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God!
Luke 18:24, KJV

This last passage is the one that really got me thinking that I didn’t understand the full meaning of this word. Clearly, Jesus is indicating that it will be very difficult, or very hard, for anyone who possesses great riches to enter into the kingdom of God. It makes good sense because the root of the word is “hard” (not “bare”) so hardly means with hardness or hard to achieve. This still fits with the original definition as well if you can wrap your head around it: “Are you hard at work, or finding it very hard to get to work?”

When You See Daniel’s Abomination, Flee.For There Will Be a Great Affliction

When You See Daniel’s Abomination, Flee.
For There Will Be a Great Affliction