Me on bed pan duty at NYC's Bellevue ER!

(note: I was planning on writing about my "relationship" with Trump before he ever became president but I will save that for tomorrow--this post just popped in my head)

On today's Drudge Report they showed today's front cover of the Daily Star tabloid newspaper in London. The top headline: "Trump Faces Final Curtain."

With musical notes instead of quote marks, a second headline in much bigger black type read: "And now the end is near." In the graphic, Trump is holding a microphone as if he's crooning (like Frank Sinatra), singing in a cartoon bubble, "I did it MAGA way . . ."

This reminded me of when I lived in NYC and there was a homeless-looking eccentric guy who I witnessed on two separate occasions at the top of the stairs for the Lexington and E. 51st subway stop. He had a homemade placard that read in bold black, "THE END IS AT NEAR," and he was preaching into a microphone.

It gave me a big chuckle in my head (why I never forgot it) because I knew what he was going for. People used to say, "The end is AT hand," and he was obviously "incorrectly" mixing that with the common saying, "The end is near."

*****

This time in NYC (Oct. 20-23) I didn't see any stranger-than-normal homeless people or, in what would be a REAL long shot I'm guessing, a true "offbeat" guy on his own trying to give out the gospel and warn people of going to hell.

Now, here's where this gets "out-there", as in I still remember it as if it was yesterday.

A year-and-a-half or so after I quit my job in Manhattan (2003), I went through a HORRIFIC and weeks-LONG spell of anxiety where I didn't know what was wrong with me and I thought maybe I had a life-and-death physical problem.

I had no health insurance at the time, but I had heard that if you were a tax-paying citizen of Manhattan without insurance you could go to Bellevue Hospital's emergency room and they would treat you free as long as it was your first visit.

As an aside, I still have the red hard-plastic wallet card they made for me that night with Bellevue's name and my name stamped into it by a machine.

When I was admitted to ER, they gave me a white gown to put on to lay on a designated rolling bed.

I was there for 30 minutes or more, feeling waves of relief knowing I was finally getting "checked out," and suddenly they wheeled in an overweight woman on a bed and placed her right next to me (with no curtain).

I could immediately tell she was homeless and, among other things, she had grossly over-sized black-and-purple ankles and basically stumps for feet!!

The ER people gave her some kind of something and, before leaving, told her it could likely make her bowels move within the next half-hour or so. They placed a standard stainless-steel bed pan next to her.

Unbelievably no one was anywhere within earshot when the bowels gave her the "green light" and, even though she called out "Nurse" more than a few times over the course of at least five minutes, no one came. 

She could not lift herself to save her life. We were communicating at this point about her situation and, knowing the increasing urgency she was under, I jumped off of my bed and started desperately looking for stuff in some cabinets behind us.

"Go-time" arrived quickly, though, and I just remember lifting her up with my bare hands to slide the bedpan underneath her. I remember using a bunch of paper towels I did find in the cabinets to sort of clean her up!

After it was over and I returned to my bed, with no ER people coming around whatsoever, we started to "get to know each other"--she was very appreciative of my helping her.

When I told her I was a Christian, etc., she told me she and her husband liked to give out the gospel in midtown, especially near the Port Authority Bus Terminal. I asked her if her husband preached from the Bible and she said he did.

For months after this Bellevue experience (thankfully they took X-rays of my internal organs and found nothing wrong with me) I looked all the time in midtown at the homeless people sitting on sidewalks and under construction scaffolding, etc., to see if she and her husband could be among them.

Then one day, lo and behold, she was with her husband sitting on the sidewalk underneath a construction awning not far at all from Port Authority (I lived at 48th and 10th).

I said hello to her but she didn't recognize me. I reminded her about Bellevue but I don't think she remembered even though she said she did. She introduced me to her husband.

Neither one of them had any sign or anything around them to indicate they were trying to give out the gospel or "spread the Word." I tried to engage them in conversation but it was short-lived. I gave them a $20 bill and walked away, never seeing them again.

'Out of fellowship'? Lie from pit of hell

(will have new article tonight for certain--I'm determined to keep going with NYC notes, etc.)

The ever-famous Christian song from 1887 by Anthony J. Showalter and Albright Hoffman (used in movies like True Grit, etc.) starts:

What a fellowship, what a joy divine
Leaning on the everlasting arms
What a blessedness, what a peace is mine
Leaning on the everlasting arms
Leaning, leaning
Safe and secure from all alarms

"There’s an old lie of the religious system that says, while you can never break your relationship with God, you can break your fellowship with Him, and that’s just a lie right out of the pit of hell from people who don’t even know the definition of the words in their own language," says Richard Jordan.

“The word fellowship means partnership. Fellows in a ship. It’s when the same thing happens to everybody. You know what happened on the Titanic? It sank. You know where that left everybody? In the water. They all got wet. Now, some of them survived, but a whole bunch of them didn’t and the point I’m making is they were all in the same boat.

“Fellowship means a 'bunch of fellows in the same ship.' It means we share in a common lot together; a partnership. Communion is another word. Literally, to be in fellowship with God is to share things with God that belong to Him. If you don’t share God’s life, you know what’s going to happen to you? You don’t have life anymore.

“That business in Christian circles about being ‘in fellowship, out of fellowship, back in fellowship and then back out of fellowship,’ is a misnomer that, I was going to start to say snuck into the Christian life, but it didn’t sneak in; it just walked in with jack boots; a big noisy entrance!

“What it has to do with is an absolute complete misunderstanding of what ‘fellowship’ is in I John. It’s all this incorrect business about keeping a ‘short-accounts system,’ where you confess your sins to keep your fellowship with God going.

“Anybody who tells you, ‘You don’t have to worry about breaking your relationship, but just confess to keep it open,’ is somebody who never read the Book of I John!

"If you’re going to quote I John 1:9, don’t forget to quote I John 2:12, will you, because He says in that verse, ‘Little children, your sins are forgiven.’ There’s a verse written to Believers. I John 1:9 is not written to Believers; it’s written to identify who Believers are.

"I  John 1:9 says, [9] If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

“What was it that John the Baptist called them to do? It was the ‘baptism of repentance for the remission of sins.’ They went to John confessing their sins—did exactly what Leviticus 26 and other passages said they were to do—in order to be restored back out of the corrupt, apostate religious system they had been taken by.

*****

“The great definition of 'eternal life' is in I John 1:3, but that’s also what He’s talking about with having a fellowship that is with the Father and with the Son; it has to do with possession of that life. John 17:3 says, [3] And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.

“When He says in the next verse, [4] I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do,’ what work is that that He’s finished?

“It’s two more chapters before He hangs on the Cross and says, ‘It’s finished,’ so it can’t be that work; the work of redemption. It’s something else that He had to do. Do you ever wonder why Jesus ministered on the earth for 3 1/2 years? What was He doing?

“How did He know at the end of 3 1/2 years that it was time to quit and go to Calvary and die; that the hour had come for that to be accomplished? He was doing something during His earthly ministry, and He says the night before He dies, ‘I’ve finished it; the work that you gave me to do, I’ve finished.’

“What’s Christ talking about here in the passage? John 17: 6: [6] I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world: thine they were, and thou gavest them me; and they have kept thy word.

“He says in verse 8, [8] For I have given unto them the words which thou gavest me; and they have received them, and have known surely that I came out from thee, and they have believed that thou didst send me.

“You know what He’s talking about? He’s talking about the training, the work, the giving of the message to the apostles, and through them to the ‘little flock.’ That work is completed. Now, He’s completed His work as the son of David and now He, as the son of Abraham, can go to Calvary.

“In all of that you come to verse 12: [12] While I was with them in the world, I kept them in thy name: those that thou gavest me I have kept, and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition; that the scripture might be fulfilled.

“That’s one verse that will help you to understand who the Lord’s talking about; He’s talking about the apostles because one of them was lost. He’s talking about the ‘little flock’ in Israel.

“Verse 13-17: [13] And now come I to thee; and these things I speak in the world, that they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves.
[14] I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
[15] I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil.
[16] They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
[17] Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.

“Now, that’s the issue there. When He says, ‘I’m writing these things that your joy might be full,’ this is what He’s talking about: ‘So you might be a part of those the Father has given me; you might be part of the true fellowship with the Father and me.’ ”

*****

"The only time in the Four Gospels we’re told Jesus Christ rejoiced is in Luke 10:21: [21] 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.

“It’s fascinating what He rejoiced in. There’s the ‘wise and prudent’ in Israel, but then there are some people who are like ‘babes,’ who have just simple faith; ‘childlike faith,’ as Matthew calls it.

“Christ says, ‘Be a part of that group of people who rejoice in the real deal. You’ve got a real reason to rejoice, not just in the things you’re able to accomplish, but in the fact that you’re really a part of something.’

“I John 1:3-4 says, [3] That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ.
[4] And these things write we unto you, that your joy may be full.

“The purpose of the Book of I John is that the people he’s writing to would be able to have fellowship with the ‘little flock.’ Literally, the ‘we’ and the ‘us’ in the passage is the 12 Apostles.

“They’re the ones who declared and did the things in verses 1 and 2: [1] That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life;
[2] (For the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and shew unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us;)

*****

“God forms that ‘little flock’ through the ministry of those apostles and in the ages to come the 144,000 will be the catalyst comparable to the 12 back in the Book of Acts. The issue is coming to the place where you have fellowship with the Father and with His Son; that you’re a part of the real genuine fellowship in Israel: ‘And these things we write.’

“That expression ‘that your joy may be full’ is very important because it really identifies the purpose of the book and the group of people Christ’s talking to. In Luke 10 is a fascinating passage where the Lord sends out His disciples and they come back to Him.

“Specifically, Luke 10:16-20 says, [16] He that heareth you heareth me; and he that despiseth you despiseth me; and he that despiseth me despiseth him that sent me.
[17] And the seventy returned again with joy, saying, Lord, even the devils are subject unto us through thy name.
[18] And he said unto them, I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven.
[19] Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you.
[20] Notwithstanding in this rejoice not, that the spirits are subject unto you; but rather rejoice, because your names are written in heaven.

“In other words, they are a part of His program to dislodge the Adversary from his plan of conquest over God’s kingdom and authority and from Satan’s policy of evil to place himself in God’s position. They’re a part of that restoration and reclamation program to take away from the usurper that which he has and they’re invested with this authority.

“At this point, the kingdom of God has come in the person of Jesus Christ and His Spirit working through them, and that’s why there’s this tremendous conflict between the kingdom of darkness and the kingdom of light at that time. They have that power and they’re rejoicing in all that.

*****

“When Jesus says in John 15:11, ‘These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full,’ that’s a comment He’s making to the 12 Apostles.

"There are only 11 of them at the time (Judas has exited already), but this is in the Upper Room the night before He dies and He’s there with that inner group of people--the ‘little flock’ at its core--emphasizing, ‘I’m telling you these things so that your joy might be full.’

“He continues to talk to them in John 16:23-24: [23] And in that day ye shall ask me nothing. Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it you.
[24] Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name: ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full.

“Come to John 17 in the Lord’s prayer. Again, the Lord’s Prayer is not the 'Our Father' prayer of Matthew 6. It’s not the 'Disciples Prayer.' It’s the prayer that the Lord Jesus Christ prays the night before He dies as recorded in John 16. Here’s the REAL Lord’s Prayer.

“John 17:13 says, [13] And now come I to thee; and these things I speak in the world, that they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves.’ When He says ‘now come I to thee,’ that’s Christ coming to the Father. The ‘they’ there is going to be the 12 Apostles, in particular, and who they minister to, in general. Go back to verse 1: [1] These words spake Jesus, and lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee:

“Seven times in this passage Christ identifies some people the Father has given to Him. We looked at Isaiah 8 where Isaiah prophetically quotes the Messiah as saying, ‘[18] Behold, I and the children whom the LORD hath given me are for signs and for wonders in Israel from the LORD of hosts, which dwelleth in mount Zion.’

*****

“You can go back into the Old Testament and see this issue about the true fellowship with the Father and with the Son, how it was established, how it was corrupted and how it’s going to be restored. As you do that, you need to get these things kind of rolling around in your mind.

“That expression of Isaiah’s about ‘the children whom the Lord hath given me’; in John 13 He says to the apostles there, ‘Little children,’ identifying them. They’re the children, in the sense that they’re the leaders of this ‘little flock.’ The verse says, ‘Fear not, little flock, it’s your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.’

“As John 17:3 says, [3] And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.

“That’s what Christ says in I John 1.  Our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son. They share something in common with the Father and with the Son; they share an identity together, they share LIFE together."

"The burning passion that sin ignites is never to be satisfied, but Jesus Christ takes all of that--my guilt, my failure--so that I might be made the righteousness of God. That's the great exchange.

"I get His righteousness, His acceptance before God and I'm in the Beloved. I be loved and I be loved because He made me so, and on my worst day or on my best day, when I'm not lovable in myself, or when I thought I was and 'let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall,' I have a real acceptance," explains Richard Jordan.

"To be guilty is one thing, but not to settle the issue . . . Psychology can't do that. They pull it out, you know, and wear it as a medal around your chest: 'I confess my sin.' It doesn't resolve guilt; it's still there, but Jesus paid it all. He took care of it and gave me His righteousness.

"You get a sense of being trapped by your sins; enslaved by them, hemmed in. But in Ephesians 1:7 he says, [7] In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace.

"That word 'redemption' means to pay the price and set it free. It's really freedom. You're liberated from the control of sin. It means you don't have to sin anymore. You don't have to have that irritable spirit, that nasty disposition, that lustful eye, you know, envious, jealous. You don't have to do that; you're free in Christ from all of those entanglements. Christ died to set you free. He died to MAKE your free.

"There's a great song Down South we used to sing: 'He set me free, He set me free, He broke the bonds of prison for me.' But somebody pointed out to me one time that the Bible doesn't say that. It says He MADE me free. He made me a free person. He didn't just take me and set me free; He completely transformed me into someone who's free.

Romans 6: [17] But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you. [18] Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness.

"That's what redemption is. Look, be strong in THESE things! Don't try to go out and be strong in, 'I gave money to the church, I passed out tracts.' Don't try to be strong in what you do because it always comes up short--'cut off my legs and call me Shorty.'

"What He did always answers it. He says in verse 7 we have 'forgiveness according to the riches of his grace.' Say what you will, sin haunts us. We need peace. The anger, the hurt that comes from sin. The hurt that comes from hurting others and be hurt by it.

"To know what it is to be forgiven allows you to forgive. You'll never be able to forgive until you understand how it is to be forgiven. The entanglements of sin. He says, 'I give you freedom.' The word 'forgive' means to send it away. But where do you send it? The only place you can send it where it's dealt with completely is the Cross.

"You send it into the vacuum of your memory but you know what happens? It belches back up at inconvenient times and it haunts you and you wind up hearing its footsteps. He says, 'I can show you a way to peace,' because that's what we want.

"You don't have to be angry anymore, at war with the world, or your neighbor, or your family, or yourself. He paid the penalty. The war's over and we have peace with God and when you have peace with God you can have peace with everyone else through our Lord Jesus Christ."

Red Esau, red dragon, red heifer

(note: I am really struggling these past several days to write. I keep looking at my notes from NYC and I don't know what to do with any of them now. I keep writing and then deleting. So, I will just have to hope for a better day tomorrow all around--it's raining and colder here, as well as darker, and I'm fighting melancholy once again.)

The two colors you hear repeated over and over in the news these days: red and blue. Headline this morning: "Polls Show Blue Tsunami." Headline this evening: "Which States Will Stay Red?"

"Red is the first color that humans mastered, fabricated, reproduced, and broke down into different shades. It is also one of the earliest colors used by artists during the prehistoric period," says an article on the website Color Psychology.

"Throughout the Middle Ages, red had a religious significance. It was the color of the blood of Christ and the fires of hell. In the Renaissance period, red colors were supposed to draw the viewer’s attention to the most influential figures in a painting.

"In the 19th century, red became the color of a new political and social movement such as socialism. So it was also when the color red was used to create specific emotions in art and not just for imitating nature.

"Red is known to have both physiological and psychological impacts on people, thus producing positive and negative effects on us . . . 

"Compared to the rest of the colors, red provokes the most potent emotions, both healthy and unhealthy. It makes people feel dominant and powerful by boosting their self-esteem. In addition, red is a bold color, which makes one stand out from the crowd and influences the way others see them . . .

 

"For example, fast, luxurious cars are most often painted in red; famous people are usually given the red-carpet treatment, and women who wear red are considered more attractive." 

*****

“In Genesis 21, Abraham and Sarah have two boys—Isaac and Ishmael. With his wife Rebekah, Isaac has the twins, Esau and Jacob. The reason God talks about being the ‘God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob,’ is because He’s the God of Isaac, not Ishmael, and Jacob, not Esau. There’s a selecting by God going on there.

“After Sarah died Abraham took a wife named Keturah and they had six kids. He winds up with a total of 16 kids, but the seed’s going to be through Jacob.

“Genesis 25 says that when Rebekah was pregnant with Isaac’s sons, 'the children struggled together within her; and she said, If it be so, why am I thus? And she went to inquire of the LORD.

[23] And the LORD said unto her, Two nations are in thy womb, and two manner of people shall be separated from thy bowels; and the one people shall be stronger than the other people; and the elder shall serve the younger.
[24] And when her days to be delivered were fulfilled, behold, there were twins in her womb.
[25] And the first came out red, all over like an hairy garment; and they called his name Esau.

“Notice Esau is red. You know anyone else in the Bible who’s red? Revelation 12 talks about the great red dragon. You see the red heifer in Numbers 19. Same kind of association.

“Esau, in scripture, is going to be a type of the flesh, but he’s also going to be a type of the rebel that, instead of loving God’s plan and purpose for the nation Israel (God’s plan for Abraham and his descendants), hates it.

“People refer to Jacob as having stolen the birthright from Esau, but the truth is he bought it (with the pot of beans Esau traded it for). Obviously Jacob saw the value in being Abraham and Isaac’s heir. Jacob, for all his conniving, understood something about spiritual heritage that was being passed on from Abraham to his dad, Isaac, and would be passed on to Isaac’s heir. Esau, on the other hand, had no interest in it.

“Esau’s descendants are the Edomites and they populate the land on the eastern side of the Dead Sea, the land of Seir. It’s fascinating that there’s two dozen different passages about the Edomites as the thorns in Israel’s flesh.

“God says in Ezekiel 25, ‘And I will lay my vengeance upon Edom by the hand of my people Israel: and they shall do in Edom according to mine anger and according to my fury; and they shall know my vengeance . . .Because the Philistines have dealt by revenge, and have taken vengeance with a despiteful heart, to destroy it for the old hatred.’

“Notice the phrase ‘old hatred.’ When Christ comes back He’s going to destroy these nations because of an ancient, perpetual hatred they have against Israel. Esau hated Jacob and he taught his descendants to hate Jacob and Jacob’s descendants.

“Obadiah verses 8-10, says, ‘Shall I not in that day, saith the LORD, even destroy the wise men out of Edom, and understanding out of the mount of Esau?

[9] And thy mighty men, O Teman, shall be dismayed, to the end that every one of the mount of Esau may be cut off by slaughter.
[10] For thy violence against thy brother Jacob shame shall cover thee, and thou shalt be cut off for ever.’

“The Book of Malachi begins with, [1] The burden of the word of the LORD to Israel by Malachi.

[2] I have loved you, saith the LORD. Yet ye say, Wherein hast thou loved us? Was not Esau Jacob's brother? saith the LORD: yet I loved Jacob,
[3] And I hated Esau, and laid his mountains and his heritage waste for the dragons of the wilderness.
[4] Whereas Edom saith, We are impoverished, but we will return and build the desolate places; thus saith the LORD of hosts, They shall build, but I will throw down; and they shall call them, The border of wickedness, and, The people against whom the LORD hath indignation for ever.

“Malachi’s not talking about Jacob the man. He’s talking about Jacob the nation. Two nations are going to come of them. It’s brother fighting against brother in their descendants.

*****

“As Ezekiel 35:5 says, [5] Because thou hast had a perpetual hatred, and hast shed the blood of the children of Israel by the force of the sword in the time of their calamity, in the time that their iniquity had an end.’

“That’s a passage about the fifth course of judgment. When Israel is carried off into captivity, the Edomites are there, watching it, going, ‘Hee-hee, get ’em! They deserve it! Hit ’em again for us!’ They don’t just say, ‘Hey, glad you’re going’; they go in and plunder and rob them.

“Even the ones Nebuchadnezzar didn’t get, the Edomites tattle, ‘Here, now they’re hiding over here.’ So full and complete was their hatred of Israel that they wouldn’t let any of them try and escape.

“Psalm 137 says, [7] Remember, O LORD, the children of Edom in the day of Jerusalem; who said, Rase it, rase it, even to the foundation thereof.

[8] O daughter of Babylon, who art to be destroyed; happy shall he be, that rewardeth thee as thou hast served us.
[9] Happy shall he be, that taketh and dasheth thy little ones against the stones.

“People read that and get aghast, thinking, ‘How could these Jews say they were going to be happy when the Babylonians’ kids are punished and destroyed?!’

“Well, what the Israelites are saying is, ‘Him that curseth thee, I will curse.’ What the Babylonians are getting back is what they GAVE Israel, that’s all. They would come in and slaughter the whole family, babies and all.

“Remember Obadiah verse 15 says, ‘For the day of the LORD is near upon all the heathen: as thou hast done, it shall be done unto thee: thy reward shall return upon thine own head.’

“That is a statement of God’s foreign policy in connection with His client nation, the nation Israel. Israel is His nation in the earth, and His statement to all the other nations is, ‘You curse them, I’ll curse you in kind. What you do to them, I’ll do to you.’

“Psalm 137 is about curse-for-curse and that’s really what the Book of Obadiah is all about. There’s some sequences in it that are very helpful in ordering some of the events in the tribulation, but the functional issue of the book is, ‘He’s going to give them back what they gave to Israel.’

“Obadiah verse 3 says, ‘The pride of thine heart hath deceived thee, thou that dwellest in the clefts of the rock, whose habitation is high; that saith in his heart, Who shall bring me down to the ground?’

“In other words, ‘You’ve exalted yourself and for that exalted position, I’m going to bring you down.’

“Notice how He does it in verse 7: ‘All the men of thy confederacy have brought thee even to the border: the men that were at peace with thee have deceived thee, and prevailed against thee; they that eat thy bread have laid a wound under thee: there is none understanding in him.’

“The Edomites get into a confederacy with other nations who use the Edomites’ pride to deceive them into being a vehicle to accomplish somebody else’s purpose. In other words, they’re overturned by treachery. Well, what did they do to Israel?

“They indulged in treachery against Jacob, so they’re going to be overturned by treachery of their friends. Obadiah verse 13 says, ‘Thou shouldest not have entered into the gate of my people in the day of their calamity; yea, thou shouldest not have looked on their affliction in the day of their calamity, nor have laid hands on their substance in the day of their calamity;’

"So if you go back to verses 5-6: [5] If thieves came to thee, if robbers by night, (how art thou cut off!) would they not have stolen till they had enough? if the grapegatherers came to thee, would they not leave some grapes?

[6] How are the things of Esau searched out! how are his hidden things sought up!

“If you read down through the first 16 verses in Obadiah, what you see is the kind of tit-for-tat back and forth. And then you come down to verse 17: ‘But upon mount Zion shall be deliverance, and there shall be holiness; and the house of Jacob shall possess their possessions.’

“Now, that’s a famous phrase you hear from preachers about how Believers need to ‘possess their possessions.’ It’s sort of like the verse, ‘Salvation is of the Lord.’ I’ve hardly met a preacher who knows where that verse is. By the way, it’s in the very next book, Jonah.

“What are their possessions? Well, it’s the land. God takes it and gives it to Jacob. God has a specific solution to the Arab-Israeli conflict and that’s the kingdom. But inside that He has some very specific things to be done in order to resolve all of those territorial disputes in such a way that brings about a resolution to it all.”

What the Christian life is--all in the appropriation

(new article tomorrow for certain and in meantime here's another one with very high readership:)

Paul writes in Ephesians 1: [13] In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,

[14] Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.

You know what an "earnest" is? When you buy a house, you give a down payment and you get the contract that says it's "earnest money." You're going to buy a $100,000 house and you put $10,000 down. It's earnest money and when it comes time for you to complete the sale that 10 was part of the 100, so the earnest is part of the whole, explains Richard Jordan.

God the Holy Spirit believes in what the Father's doing so much He was willing to give Himself as the earnest. He didn't just say, "I think it's right," He committed Himself to it, so much so that He comes to be the seal, the guarantor or our redemption. 

In the godhead, the life of the godhead is that everybody lives for the benefit of the other. Everybody lives with a confident expectation of what the wisdom and the plan is, and they all live in faith and in Word in the work of the Son. They all work together and that's God's life.

That's why Paul says in Ephesians 3: [12] In whom we have boldness and access with confidence by the faith of him.

It's "in whom" and it's "the faith of Him." For you and me it all focuses on the Word, the Son. The one who is the bridge for you and me. The one by whom we have access through the Spirit unto the Father. The Lord Jesus Christ is the mediator. He's the one who brings all of that life to you and me.

In Romans 8 there's a strangely wonderful verse. Paul says in verse 38: [38] For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,

[39] Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Where is the love of God? It's in a person. It's in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, and when you got saved, God put you in Christ and you participate in His divine life, His relationships. In all of the relationships Jesus Christ has with the Father and the Spirit, you share. "Christ in you, the hope of glory."

Galatians 2: [20] I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.

You see that? He's our life. He's the one who gives us the fullness and the access with confidence. Don't spend your life trying to become something God's already made you.

Spend your life living in the reality of WHO He's made you and walk by faith in the details of your life-- in every detail of your life because every decision you make, and every choice you face, and every obstacle you have to overcome, every blessing you can enjoy, in all of those He is our life and we carry Him into life as we walk by faith in the reality of who He's made us. That's what the Christian life is.

It's not tithing, religious ordinances, on and on. We're not trying to get something from God. That's why people do those things. We're just simply being who we are and we get to be that because of our faith in Him.

*****

When we’re talking about the "blessedness of the man, unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works," we’re talking about the love, the joy, the peace, the longsuffering.

We’re talking about appropriating into your experience the reality of what God has given you in your position in Christ. You have an identity in Christ. God has taken your sin and set you free. He’s taken the guilt and sent it to Calvary.

He said, "I’ll remember it no more. I’ll not connect it back with your identity again. I’ll do it permanently and forever. You never have to come and ask me to accept you. I already have. You never have to ask to please forgive me my sins. I already have. I’ve made you complete. I’ve blessed you with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places. Now all I want you to do is take what I’ve already given you and bring it into the experience of your life on a daily basis."

Colossians 2:10 says, "And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power."  But then look at chapter 4:12: [12] Epaphras, who is one of you, a servant of Christ, saluteth you, always labouring fervently for you in prayers, that ye may stand perfect and complete in all the will of God.’

Wait a minute—I thought they were complete?! Why is Epaphras praying and laboring that they would BE complete?

Paul says in Ephesians 1, "You’re accepted in the beloved." In II Corinthians 5:9, he says, "Wherefore we labour, that, whether present or absent, we may be accepted of him."

You say, "Wait a minute—I thought I was accepted!" That’s the difference between your standing and your state; your position in Christ and your practice in time; your identity in Him and then that identity living in your experience now.

If you’re complete in Him, there’s nothing to make your more complete. All you need to do is appropriate the completeness you already have—bring it into your experience. Have the practical, experiential possession of what already belongs to you.

That is to experience the joy of, "I am forgiven." Whew! That’s a wonderful thing. Let that inform your mind so that your emotions know how to relate to reality.

Now, there’s two things you have to have to appropriate anything. One, you got to know about it. You got to see what you already have in Christ. The key to the Christian life is knowing your identity, and you can never know your identity if you don’t study the Bible rightly divided. Dispensational Bible study is the most practical thing you’ll ever have in your life because it gives you the ability to know who you really are.

The other component is you not only have to know it, you have to be aware of your need of it. That’s because you’ll never reach out and appropriate into your experience something unless you know that you really need it.

'O Cross that liftest up my head'

I had to watch the Ohio State-USC game in its disappointing entirety tonight (they lost 18-30). I work every single Saturday from 9-5 so I hardly ever get to see a college football game on TV that I actually really want to watch.

When I turned the game on at 7:30 my mom was still sitting on the front stoop with her bags of M&Ms, Snickers and Reese's cups for any Halloweeners.

As she's done many times before on or around Halloween, she retold the story of how my dad once took us kids trick-or-treating in his Cadillac, dropping us off and picking us up on different residential blocks in my hometown of Akron. I was only five at the time and my mom never fails to mention that the whole thing was very embarrassing to my grandmother. My mom always says something like, "He just could never do things the way normal people did."

I hate to announce another postponement but, alas, I'm still working on new piece that sort of ties together my thoughts/observations about my recent 3-night visit to NYC, where I lived from 1999-2007. In meantime, here's a post from 2023 with very high readership numbers: 

A classic hymn from 1882, O Love That Wilt Not Let Me Go, was written by George Matheson in only 5 minutes! 

Scottish-born Matheson (1842-1906) was the eldest and brightest of eight children. He graduated from Glasgow University (where he studied Classics, Logic and Philosophy) with first-class honors at the age of 19!

The tragedy for him was that even as he was completing his studies he was rapidly going blind from an incurable condition. To make his trial tougher, his marriage engagement to a fellow student he'd fallen in love with was nullified by her after she learned of his impending blindness. 

"Her blunt answer came to him with the force of a dagger to his heart, 'I do not want to be the wife of a blind man,' she said – and with that they parted," says an online profile from a Baptist church in Derbyshire, U.K.

"Years later the memory of that rebuff came flooding back on the evening of his sister’s wedding (who was his caretaker but would not be going forward due to her marriage) and he recalls the pain of that night as he tells how it was on that occasion that he penned his most famous hymn:

“ 'My hymn was composed in the manse of Innellan on the evening of the 6th of June, 1882, when I was 40 years of age. I was alone in the manse at that time. It was the night of my sister’s marriage, and the rest of the family were staying overnight in Glasgow. Something happened to me, which was known only to myself, and which caused me the most severe mental suffering.

'The hymn was the fruit of that suffering. It was the quickest bit of work I ever did in my life. I had the impression of having it dictated to me by some inward voice rather than of working it out myself. I am quite sure that the whole work was completed in five minutes, and equally sure that it never received at my hands any retouching or correction.

'I have no natural gift of rhythm. All the other verses I have ever written are manufactured articles; this came like a dayspring from on high.'

"It was through the deep trials of illness and desertion that George Matheson had come to place all his trust and hope in the love of God in Jesus Christ as his Saviour. From then on, despite his blindness, he had resolved to study Theology and Christian History and to enter the Christian ministry.

Matheson went on to preach and "wrote a number of books on spiritual matters which proved popular with contemporary Christians. His ministry and writings came to the attention of Queen Victoria and when in Scotland she invited him to preach at Balmoral. She also had one of his sermons, on the Book of Job, published.

"In 1886 he moved to Edinburgh, where he became minister of St. Bernard’s Parish Church for 13 years. It was here that his chief work as a preacher was done.

"George never did marry but he continued to prove the truth of his hymn, that there was a love that would never let him go – the love of Christ for the sinner."

The hymn lyrics:

1.  O Love that wilt not let me go,

I rest my weary soul in thee;

I give thee back the life I owe,

That in thine ocean depths its flow

May richer, fuller be.

    2.  O light that foll'west all my way,

I yield my flick'ring torch to thee;

My heart restores its borrowed ray,

That in thy sunshine's blaze its day

May brighter, fairer be.

    3.  O Joy that seekest me through pain,

I cannot close my heart to thee;

I trace the rainbow through the rain,

And feel the promise is not vain,

That morn shall tearless be.

    4.  O Cross that liftest up my head,

I dare not ask to fly from thee;

I lay in dust life's glory dead,

And from the ground there blossoms red

Life that shall endless be.

Lauren Hutton has nothing on me (my new hobo look)

I've now got a big gap where my front tooth was taken out but I could not be more relieved after 8 days of dealing with the tooth in its increasingly dilapidated state.

The dental assistant I first encountered this morning started out by saying, "All right, let's see what's going on," but then, as soon as I opened my mouth for her, she said, "Okay, then."

My veneer was seriously drooped down from the prolonged usage of it after the tooth broke eating the bagel. The dentist spent maybe 20 seconds tops as he took out the rotted tooth and then plucked the roots! So much for getting the rest of the day off due to pain and discomfort!

I did find out my other front tooth (inside a 16-year-old veneer) must also be removed due to decay. They wanted to do both today and start the process for me either getting a partial, a bridge or implants, but I told them I wanted to wait until the first of the year when my Delta Dental insurance is re-upped. I already spent this year's allotment on a root canal and crown as well as a teeth-cleaning.

I'm now trying to imagine how it's going to go with me talking and smiling in front of customers at my job with no front tooth! I actually look like I'm wearing one of those cheap fake wax-made denture-like gag tricks that make a person look like a hobo or backwoods hillbilly. I mean, it's a big gap!  

There was no laughing gas with this extraction (the last one was a molar and had lots of stuff involved) but, thanks to reliving the last tooth-pulling through yesterday's repost of my 2022 entry, I did think about my cycling days and the music I listened to.

Somehow, I never got the idea of playing music while cycling until I was at least a junior at Ohio State! I suddenly realized that if I put my Sony Walkman cassette player into a cycling storage bag that sat between my two handlebars I could comfortably draw up an extra-long headphone set to my ears as I sat on the bike. What a concept!

I remember I didn't invest in many cassettes for some reason (I probably didn't want to spend the money and I know I rarely went into a record store before I moved to Chicago and then got addicted to going to second-hand record stores) and so I relied on a handful of all-male artists (I never had any females for some reason!) that I listened to over and over and over and over.

Here's a list as I remember it and don't ask me what albums they were, but I can tell you they were all popular at one time:

Christopher Cross, Dan Fogelberg, Steve Winwood, Jackson Browne, Kenny Loggins, Paul Simon, Bruce Hornsby & The Range and Cat Stevens.

A song that I loved as a love song was Fogelberg's "Longer."

Here are the lyrics and promise to get back at NYC notes, etc. tomorrow:

Longer than there've been fishes in the ocean
Higher than any bird ever flew
Longer than there've been stars up in the heavens
I've been in love with you

Stronger than any mountain cathedral
Truer than any tree ever grew
Deeper than any forest primeval
I am in love with you

I'll bring fire in the winters
You'll send showers in the springs
We'll fly through the falls and summers
With love on our wings

Through the years, as the fire starts to mellow
Burning lines in the book of our lives
Though the binding cracks and the pages start to yellow
I'll be in love with you
I'll be in love with you

Longer than there've been fishes in the ocean
Higher than any bird ever flew
Longer than there've been stars up in the heavens
I've been in love with you
I am in love with you

Forever memento of NYC trip

I get my front tooth pulled early in the morning. It's been some week (as in eight days now!) of dealing with it getting looser and looser to the point now where it feels like it's hanging on by a thread but I can't tell because of the veneer that's still stuck to it.

I have been able to get a laugh from more than a few co-workers, customers, etc., as I tell them about the big authentic poppy seed NY bagel toasted with a thick smathering of scallion cream cheese that is to blame.

I won't even go into why it's taken so long for dental attention but, of course, it has to do with work.

Here is post from last time I had a tooth pulled in January of 2022 and promise to get back on track tomorrow. The tooth has become an all-consuming thing as I went to work as usual today.

It is said Fanny Crosby wrote some of her best-known hymns simply as gifts or letters to friends, and some were even written as sort of a diary entry to herself.

"Songs like Safe in the Arms of Jesus connected with others who were grieving because she was able to put words to the personal pain she and her husband experienced after their baby died, while offering the hope of looking heavenward," explains an essay online. "Because of Fanny's prolific ability to write poetry and verse, she was introduced to and privileged to work with several very influential composers. Each noted her uncanny ability to hear a melody and quickly match deep and thoughtful lyrics to their tunes." 

For her 1875 hymn, Savior, More Than Life to Me, the tune was composed by William Howard Doane, who sent the melody to Crosby, requesting that she provide some words on the theme of "every day and hour." Her lyrics:

1. Savior, more than life to me,
   I am clinging, clinging, close to Thee;
   Let Thy precious blood applied,
   Keep me ever, ever near Thy side.
   • Refrain:
     Every day, every hour,
     Let me feel Thy cleansing pow’r;
     May Thy tender love to me
     Bind me closer, closer, Lord to Thee.
2. Through this changing world below,
   Lead me gently, gently as I go;
   Trusting Thee, I cannot stray,
   I can never, never lose my way.
3. Let me love Thee more and more,
   Till this fleeting, fleeting life is o’er;
   Till my soul is lost in love,
   In a brighter, brighter world above.
4. *****
5. When I went in for oral surgery, I remember being down. It was a super-cold week and I had been in excruciating pain from a tooth infection, taking over-the-counter painkillers nonstop, which made me constipated.
6. Anyway, just before the hygienist started administering laughing gas, she asked me what kind of music I would like to hear piped into the room. I had never been asked this by a dentist of any kind so it took me a second. My first answer was classic rock but I quickly changed it to soft rock.
7. The music was a nice distraction, but none of it was really meaningful until the very last song that was played before the dentist finished working on my mouth.
8. It was a tune, one I hadn't heard in a very long time, that I once played over and over and over again as part of an album I had on cassette. I played the cassette on my Walkman when I would go cross-country cycling, something I was very into during my late teens and through my early 20s. It was Christopher Cross' Sailing.
9. I tell you, it was just what the doctor ordered. In my somewhat altered state I was completely transported back in time, just as if I was pedaling my favorite Raleigh 15-speed up (and cruising down) one of the huge rural hills I used to do all the time in the Endless Mountains of northern Pennsylvania and southern New York State (my first job out of college was as a bureau chief for the Elmira Star-Gazette, recognized as the first Gannett newspaper.)
10. Here are the lyrics:
11. Well, it's not far down to paradise

At least it's not for me
And if the wind is right you can sail away
And find tranquility
Oh, the canvas can do miracles
Just you wait and see, believe me

It's not far to never never land
No reason to pretend
And if the wind is right you can find the joy
Of innocence again
Oh, the canvas can do miracles
Just you wait and see, believe me

Sailing
Takes me away to where I've always heard it could be
Just a dream and the wind to carry me
Soon I will be free

Fantasy
It gets the best of me
When I'm sailing

All caught up in the reverie
Every word is a symphony
Won't you believe me?

Sailing
Takes me away to where I've always heard it could be
Just a dream and the wind to carry me
And soon I will be free

Well, it's not far back to sanity
At least it's not for me
And if the wind is right you can sail away
And find serenity
Oh, the canvas can do miracles
Just you wait and see, really, believe me

Sailing
Takes me away to where I've always heard it could be
Just a dream and the wind to carry me
And soon I will be free