I bet you have all used them sometime in your life, maybe even every day.  Leo Gerstenzang, who was born in Poland on June 3, 1892, invented the cotton swab.  He sold them under the name "Baby Gays."  We know them as Q-tips, but did you know that the Q stands for "quality?"  And despite doctors' warnings, I bet most of you stick them in your ears.  But sticking a spiritual Q-tip in your figurative ears is a good idea.

            Jesus once made a statement that has always made me flinch.  After the parable of the sower, when listing all the various soils and what went wrong with each hearer, he added, as Luke records it, Be careful therefore, how you hear, 8:18.  In a society big on blaming everyone but ourselves for our problems, this is truly one of the biggest.  Unlike the early church, which seemed to thrive on helping each other overcome problems with confessions and exhortations, we seem to think that no one has the right to tell us anything that might even slightly indicate that we might need to change.  Or we “wear our feelings on our shirtsleeves,” as the old saying goes, so we can be offended at the least provocation.

              Jesus makes it plain in this passage that how I take what people say to me is entirely up to me.  It only makes sense when you think about it.  If I had no control over my reactions to what others say, then it would be to my advantage for people to say hurtful things to me, wouldn’t it?  In fact, getting my feelings hurt would be the ideal way to go.  Then I could be angry and strike back with no qualms at all. 

              I could ignore the rebukes others offered for my sins as long as I felt insulted, and could keep doing them, couldn’t I?  But Paul says in Rom 2:6 that God will render to every man according to his deeds, not according to how someone corrected me.

              I could ignore the one who tells me I am wrong about what I believe if I thought he had evil motives and bad intentions, couldn’t I?  But Paul also says of those who preached with bad intentions, What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed and therein I rejoice, Phil 1:19.

             I could hear false teaching and not have to worry about checking it out, right?  But Jesus said in Matt 15:14, they are blind guides and if the blind guide the blind, they both fall into a pit.

              So here is my obligation:  Listen to what others say, and evaluate it based upon truth, not upon how they say it, who they are, and whether or not I like them or their teaching.  Judgment Day will not dawn with three groups of people, including a group who “got their feelings hurt,” or “didn’t like the preacher,” or “were provoked,” and because of that did not do what they should have done.

              There will only be two groups:  the ones who did right and the ones who did not.  Let’s get out those Q-tips and clean out our ears.  Be careful how you hear.
 
He who corrects a scoffer gets to himself reviling, and he who reproves a wicked man gets himself a blot.  Reprove a scoffer and he will hate you; reprove a wise man and he will love you.  Give instruction to a wise man and he will be even wiser; teach a righteous man, and he will increase in learning, Prov 9:7-9
The way of a fool is right in his own eyes, but he who is wise listens to counsel. Prov 12:15
 
Dene Ward

Nathan has done the impossible—he has turned me into a baseball fan.  Admittedly I don’t watch but one team, the Rays, but that’s still a lot more than I ever watched before. 

            Now that I know more about the game, the statistics mean more too.  I recently ran across this one:  On June 2, 1922, Stuffy (John Phelan) McInnis, a first baseman for the Indians, ended an errorless streak of 1700 chances.  That means 1700 times in a row he caught every ball or tagged every player or threw every ball straight to get a man out.  The streak began in 1921 when he was still with the Red Sox, and ended 163 games later.  I have watched games this year alone where a Gold Glove winner had two or more errors in a single game.

            All Stuffy McInnis had to rely on was himself and his own unaided ability.  Why is it that we can’t run rings around this statistic?  Why can’t we go more than a single day without a sin?  “But I’m only human,” I keep hearing, and yes, I understand the concept of being too sure of oneself (1 Cor 10:12).  But it isn’t me I am counting on, is it?

            No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it. (1 Cor 10:13)  Tell me, don’t you think God is faithful?

            Who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.  (1 Pet 1:5)  For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds.  (2 Cor 10:4)  Do you doubt the power of God?

            Then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials… (2 Pe 2:9).  Do you think God doesn’t know what he is doing?

            Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, (Jude 24).  Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them.  (Heb 7:25)  Are you questioning God’s ability?

            Yes, those passages speak of things we have to do too, but if you think what you do is the main ingredient in overcoming sin, you are already thinking too highly of yourself.  When we try to overcome sin, it isn’t our own skill we are counting on, it’s the power of God.  He has promised he will help us and that nothing will happen that we cannot handle.  He has promised us everything we need, every weapon available, to fight the adversary, and he has promised that those weapons are more than sufficient to get us through any ordeal.  If we don’t make it, it’s because we forgot to rely on him and his help.  We may never go 1700 chances without a sin, but surely we can do better than we have in the past.

            Stuffy McInnis got his nickname because every time he made an amazing defensive play people said, “That’s the stuff!”  God has all the “stuff” we need.  Now let’s get out there and use it.
 
For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world--our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God? 1 John 5:4-5
 
Dene Ward

George Washington is credited with creating the order of the Purple Heart.  It was actually called the Badge of Merit and was made in the form of a purple heart.  Only enlisted men were eligible to receive it.  The award ended with the Revolution.

              But the idea never died.  Finally on May 28, 1932, the Purple Heart we are now familiar with was first awarded.  It has been awarded since to all who were "wounded, killed, or died after being wounded" in battle.

              I remember people, including soldiers who received it, belittling the Purple Heart.  "All I did was get shot.  What's so brave about that?"

              Here's what:  You were brave enough to put yourself in the line of fire.  You were brave enough to risk your life.

              What if we gave Purple Hearts in the Lord's kingdom?  Who should get them?

              The preacher who dares to preach the unvarnished Truth to the church that pays his salary.

              The teenage Christian who dares to say, "No," in the face of constant peer pressure.

              The secretary who refuses to lie for her boss and risks losing her job.

              The Christian who doesn't shrink back into a corner when a certain subject comes up.

              The brother or sister who risks losing the goodwill of one who needs correction—not to mention his reputation with the church who takes up for the sinner.

              The one who risks being kicked out of the family by obeying the gospel.

              I am sure you can come up with others, and I invite you to do so in the comment section below.  But here is something for you to consider.  Sooner or later, every disciple of the wounded Savior ought to have a few Purple Hearts of his own.  How many do you have?
 
If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. But let none of you suffer as a murderer or a thief or an evildoer or as a meddler. Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in that name. (1Pet 4:14-16)
 
Dene Ward

Part 1 of this entry was posted yesterday.

II. Music History
 
          There is no doubt historically that the first century church used only vocal music.
 
         “All the music employed in their early services was vocal,” Frank Landon Humphreys, Evolution of Church Music.

          “[Early church music was] purely vocal,” Dr Frederic Louis Ritter, Director, School of Music, Vassar.

          “While pagan melodies were always sung to instrumental accompaniment, the church chant was exclusively vocal.  Clement says, ‘Only one instrument do we use, the word of peace…’ Chrysostom: ‘Our tongues are the strings of the lyre, with a different tone, indeed, but with a more accordant piety.’  Ambrose expresses his scorn for those who would play the lyre and psaltery instead of singing hymns and psalms…Augustine adjures believers not to turn their hearts to theatrical instruments.  The[se] religious guides of the early Christians felt that there would be an incongruity, and even profanity, in the use of…instrumental sound in their…spiritual worship…the pure vocal utterance was the more proper expression of their faith.”  Edward Dickinson, Professor of Music History, Conservatory of Music, Oberlin, Music in the History of the Western Church.

          “[There was a time] when organs were very seldom found outside the Church of England.  The Methodists and Baptists rarely had them, and by the Presbyterians they were strongly opposed…even in the Church of England itself, organs did not obtain admission without much controversy,” Johh Spencer Curwin, Royal Academy of Music.

          From A History of Western Music by Donald Jay Grout:  Early Christian music was monophonic, meaning it had no harmony or counterpoint—everyone sang the same tune.

          Judaism had a huge influence on the singing in the early church.  Psalms were sung almost exclusively in the beginning, in several different ways.  Sometimes they sang in alternation between a soloist and the congregation.  This was called RESPONSORIAL PSALMODY.  Sometimes two parts of verses or alternate verses were sung by two groups.  This was called ANTIIPHONAL PSALMODY.  At still other times a SOLOIST sang a certain passage using melodic formulas which could be altered to suit the cadence of the text.  Because he was doing it ad lib, it was simply impossible for anyone else to sing with him.

          Early hymns were probably sung to folk tunes the people knew, and were eventually put into a book.  The oldest piece of church music found was a hymn of praise.  We have only the last few lines and it was so mutilated it could not be completely reconstructed.  It was found in Oxyrhynchos, Egypt and dated from the end of the third century (200’s).  It is known as the Oxyrhynchos fragment. 

          The emphasis of music in the early church was on ecstasy (Spirit-filled revelation) and individual liberty, 1 Cor 14:26.  It can be established absolutely that the early church sang without instrumental accompaniment.
A capella does not mean unaccompanied music.  A capella is Latin for “in the style of the church.”  Everyone simply understood that sacred music in the church was to be sung without accompaniment because it always had been.

          When instrumental music was first introduced in the Catholic Church, it was fought vehemently, and only fully accepted several hundred years later, around the 11th century.  Even in the nineteenth century, some conservative denominations avoided it, calling it “Romanist,” as in Roman Catholic.”

          The Greek Orthodox Church divided from the Roman Catholic Church in the 11th century.  (Today it consists of 13 branches, including the Russian Orthodox, Bulgarian Orthodox, Slavic Orthodox, etc.)  These native Greek speakers had two issues with the Romans, the use of the word baptizo and the word psallo.  They understood the original language and therefore rejected the introduction of sprinkling as baptism, and instrumental music in the singing of hymns.  They knew that the one word in the first century meant “immerse” and the other meant “sing” and nothing else.  To this day, the Orthodox church still sings a cappella.
         
 
A Personal Note
 
          Some of you might be surprised if I said, “Yes!  The early church had music.”  “They sang without music,” is a common error, and one of my pet peeves.  If you sing without music, you are a mighty poor singer!  Singing is music. 

          As someone who has been there, in college you study two types of music—instrumental or vocal.  Under the vocal division, you can sing with accompaniment or without—a capella.  So much for the piano being merely an incidental—it totally changes the type of music. 

          As a piano/vocal major, one of my music education professors reminded me not to be tempted to play the piano every time the children sang.  “They will never learn to carry a tune in a bucket,” she said, speaking of the crutch the piano would be to their ear development.  In fact, a capella choirs are considered the most elite because their singers must have a good ear to stay on pitch.  Any voice students I have had who were raised in the church singing a capella always had better aural capability than their friends in the denominations.  And I have always considered it a little presumptuous to think that a manmade instrument can improve on the one God made.
 
Dene Ward

The posts today and tomorrow will be a little different.  As a musician I am sometimes asked about our music practices in the church.  I hope these two posts will give you the information you need to answer similar questions.
 
 I.  Characteristics of Language
         
          The first thing we need to understand is that words in any language change over the years.  What may have one meaning now, meant something else entirely a couple hundred years ago.
          Take the word “silly.”  We know it means “absurd, foolish or stupid.”  Did you know that it originally meant “happy and blessed?”  How about “lewd?”  It now means “sexually unchaste;” originally it meant “a common person as opposed to clergy.”  “Idiot” now has the specific meaning of “someone whose mental age does not exceed three,” and a colloquial meaning of “a foolish or stupid person.”  Originally it meant “someone in private station as opposed to someone holding public office.”  So five hundred years ago, most of us could have been described as silly, lewd idiots and we would not have taken offense!
          Be careful of root words too.  Do you know what the root word for “nice” is?  The Latin nescius.  Nescius means “ignorant!”  Think about that the next time someone tells you how nice you look on Sunday morning.  None of these English words’ early definitions have much of anything to do with the way they are used nowadays, so when you look up the definition of a Greek or Hebrew word you must be careful to find the definition for the time period of the original writing.
          “In the age of Alexander the Great…the Greek language underwent [a huge] change…a literary prose language was formed which was founded on the Attic dialect, yet differed from it by adopting a common Greek element…admitting numerous provincialisms.  A popular spoken language arose in which the previously distinct dialects spoken by the various Greek tribes were blended, with a predominance of the Macedonic variety.”  Dr George Benedict Winer, Grammar of the Greek Testament.
          “The usage of the classic Greek authors varies so much according to the time, place, subject, etc.”  Alexander Buttman, Grammar of the New Testament Greek.
          “…Gradual changes in the vocabulary were going on steadily through the whole period which [led up to the first century].  That force of spoken language which is always weakening old words and bringing in new expressions to be toned down in their turn, was acting powerfully in Greek as it does now in English.”  James Moulton, An Introduction to the Study of New Testament Greek.
          “The historical investigation of the language of the New Testament…has shown [it] to be…a specimen of the colloquial form of late Greek, and of the popular colloquial language in particular.”  Dr Adolph Deissman, New Light on the New Testament.
          “By far the most important changes…are those which refer to new or modified meanings given to already existing and current Greek words, whether in the old Classic or in the new Postclassical Greek.  It is these changes which especially concern us in the study of the New Testament.” Charles Louis Loos, Professor Emeritus of Greek Language and Literature, Christian Quarterly Review.
          Accordingly, psallo went through the following changes in meanings as the years progressed:
 
          To pull out one’s hair
          To pull the string of a bow
          To twitch a carpenter’s line
          To play a musical instrument
          To sing (any type of song)
          To sing praises
 
Psalmos went through these changes:
 
          Music of a harp
          A song accompanied by a musical instrument
          A song, sacred or secular, accompanied or a capella
          A hymn of praise
 
          I found the following definitions for psallo and its derivative psalmos as they were used in the first century AD:
 
Robinson—in later usage, a song of praise to God.
Pickering—a psalm, an ode, a hymn
Groves—a psalm or hymn
Donnegan—by later writers, a hymn or ode
Parkhurst—to sing, to sing praises or songs to God
Dunbar—to sing, or celebrate with hymns
Greenfield—to sing, to sing in honor or praise of, to celebrate in song; a sacred song
Cantopolous—to sing or celebrate
Maltby—to praise
Hamilton—to sing; a song or hymn
Thayer—to sing; to celebrate the praises of God in song; a pious song
Sophocles (Greek playwright)—to chant or sing religious hymns
Green—in the New Testament to sing; in the New Testament, a sacred song
 
          By the first century it is obvious that the word psallo had left behind any meaning having to do with strings and simply meant “to sing.”  Psalmos had become far more specific than its origins and was used to refer only to sacred unaccompanied songs.

More on this subject tomorrow.

Dene Ward

On May 17, 1954 the Supreme Court ruled in the case of Brown vs. Board of Education that “the doctrine of separate but equal has no place in public education.”  Do you know who “Brown” was?  She was Linda Brown, a black third-grader who had to walk a mile to the all-black elementary school, right through a railroad switching yard, instead of a much shorter seven blocks to an all-white school where she was not allowed.

            Although that decision was a giant step in desegregating American schools, it did not change things immediately.  It was over 11 years later when I had my first black classmate, a seventh grader named Diana White.  She was well-spoken, well-dressed, friendly, smart, and pretty, and I liked her instantly.  At that point, nothing about the Supreme Court ruling had affected me personally at all.  I still walked across the street to school every morning.

            The next year we moved from that small town where grades seven through twelve were all housed in a small school labeled “high school” to the biggest city I had ever lived in, a melting pot of cultures and beliefs that made me feel like I had moved to another country altogether.  Schoolyard fights were common and the bathrooms billowed with cigarette and marijuana smoke. 

            I hated those first two years of what they called junior high, more than twice the number of students I had been with the year before in one-third the number of grades—8th and 9th.  I had discovered that the school year consisted of 120 days and that first year I kept a small notebook in my desk in which every afternoon I marked off a day, from day one to day 120, four vertical lines and a crossbar every week.

            That was also my first experience with busing, which was how that city handled the new laws, and it was not a kind experience.  Instead of riding safely with a parent to the school near my house, I was hauled off five miles in the opposite direction. 

            Most of the upholstery on that old bus was dried out and cracked from the Florida heat, some of the foam padding spilling out, or torn out by bored students, the walls and seatbacks scratched with rusting graffiti, the floors scuffed and covered with gum wads and other sticky things I really didn’t want to contemplate.  The windows stuck either up or down, depending upon who sat there last and how strong he was.  I suppose the engine was in reasonable shape.  It certainly spewed out enough fumes, which then wafted back around the bus and in through the windows.  But that acted as a sort of buffer for the odors of adolescent sweat and far too much Brut and Tabu.

            The first morning I stepped on that bus was like something out of a nightmare.  Even though the county had tacked up a list of rules for all to see, rules that included, “No more than two people per seat,” and, “No standing on the bus,” most of the seats were crammed with three people and the unlucky few who had no friends to save them a seat, stood in the middle.  (It was deemed better to break bus safety rules than to break the federal law that required the busing in the first place.)  I was near the end of the pickup route and I knew no one else on board, so I stood.

            What a ride that was.  I always carried several thick textbooks stacked on the slanted top of a loose-leaf notebook—no backpacks back then.  It was either hold onto the books or hold myself up as we swung around corners and bounced over railroad tracks.  Somehow I managed to grab the metal back of a seat with my right hand while using my left arm to hold my notebook and books tightly up against me so they wouldn’t slide into the floor on the nearly thirty minute ride across town, made so much longer by the frequent stops for railroad crossings and the multitude of traffic lights and school zones we passed through. 

            Before a week was out, though, I had made a friend, another quiet girl as much a fish out of water as I.  She got on the bus three stops before me, when there were still seats available, and she started saving one for me.  That one little thing made the days bearable—I had a place, I belonged.  It meant so much that on the mornings she was absent and I discovered it when I climbed aboard that reeking bus, I nearly cried.

            God understands our longing for a place.  He knows we want to belong, we want to matter to someone.  Into a world where the best you could hope for from capricious, petty, spiteful gods was to go unnoticed, the apostles came preaching about a God who actually cared.  Jesus came preaching about a God who knew you so intimately that he could number the hairs on your head, and who willingly provided you the necessities of life.  The disciples spread the word about a God who sacrificed himself to save, who helped bear burdens, and who offered rest and refreshing from a world sometimes too difficult to bear alone.

            God is saving you a seat on the bus.  Sometimes the bus hits a bump in the road, just as it did for Job.  Sometimes the driver takes a detour you never planned on, just as happened with Joseph.  Sometimes the route is long and the day hot and stifling as you sit among people who reek of the stench of this world, just as has happened to so many who have taken the ride before you.  But you are not alone.  The Lord got on that bus before you.  He will always be there saving you a seat, and after you count off that last day of “school,” he will give you a place where you can “belong” forever.
           
I am sending you to open their eyes, so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me. Acts 26:18
 
Dene Ward

On our last camping trip to Blackwater River State Park we had reserved an especially good site, along with its neighbor for Lucas, three months in advance.  We arrived and after three hours were nearly set up when the ranger arrived to tell us that the next day a controlled burn was scheduled right on our edge of the campground and we would have to move.  It was not a happy event.  Not only would we have to tear down and start again less than an hour before sunset, but none of the other sites were as private. 

              Privacy is not that important when you sleep in a trailer or RV, but in tents with paper-thin walls it makes a difference.  Our new sites were smack dab in the middle of the campground and so small and close together that I could hear Lucas snoring in his tent next site over.  In fact one night, he and Keith were snoring in rhythm, and the night after Lucas started a snore on the inhale and Keith finished it on the exhale, perfectly synchronized.  Yet when the controlled burn passed the campground we were glad we had moved.  Even with the wind blowing in the opposite direction, the ash would have fallen on our equipment and melted holes in it.

              This is one of the things you must be ready to deal with in a State Park.  The point of a state park is conservation.  There will be more rules than a commercial campground, rules that when broken actually make you a lawbreaker.  But state parks have the nicest facilities for the money that you will find, along with well-maintained hiking trails, nature walks, and all sorts of other free amenities.  We do our best to follow those rules because those parks are part of God's Creation, and we want them to last. 

              Florida has one of the best, and most awarded, state park systems in the country.  The idea was proposed during the Twenty-Sixth Regular Session of the State of Florida House of Representatives on May 2, 1935, and we are thrilled that it was later passed.  In our thirty years of camping, we have certainly made good use of the resulting parks.

              And on that particular trip we learned a lot about controlled burns.  There are two reasons for controlled burns.  When the underbrush is allowed to spread unchecked, all that extra fuel makes wildfires more destructive.  Also, in a pine forest, the controlled burns keep the hardwoods from taking over.  The day after the burn every small hardwood was smoking and burned to a crisp while the pines stood tall and strong, if a little charred on the bottom.

              As Christians we must experience times exactly like these controlled burns.  Perhaps the most difficult “burns” to understand are the problems among God’s people.  If the church is the body of Christ, why do people behave badly?  Why do divisions happen and heresies lead people astray?  The Proverb writer tells us that God will use the wicked, whether they want to be used or not, Prov 16:4.  Paul says in 1 Cor 11:19, For there must be factions among you in order that those who are genuine among you may be recognized. 

              The question is not will there be problems in the church?  The question is, when there are problems will we be able to “recognize” those who are not genuine believers?  I fear that too many of us look to the wrong things. 

              Do I believe one side because they are my friends, never even questioning their words, while automatically dismissing the other if among them is a brother I don’t like too much?  Does “family” make the decision for me?  Am I relying on how I “feel” about it, instead of what the Word actually says?  Does it matter more to me who can quote the Big-Name Preachers instead of the scriptures?  Is one side more popular than the other?  Will it give me more power if that side wins the fight?  When I rely on those types of things, I am the one who is showing myself to be a less than genuine believer.

              While these things are necessary, it doesn’t mean God likes them, any more than he liked the Assyrians who fulfilled their purpose in punishing his wayward people. 

              Ho Assyrian, the rod of my anger, the staff in whose hand is my indignation! I will send him against a profane nation, and against the people of my wrath will I give him a charge, to take the spoil, and to take the prey, and to tread them down like the mire of the streets. Howbeit he means not so, neither does his heart think so; but it is in his heart to destroy, and to cut off nations not a few... Wherefore it shall come to pass, that, when the Lord has performed his whole work upon mount Zion and on Jerusalem, I will punish the fruit of the stout heart of the king of Assyria, and the glory of his high looks, Isa 10:5-6,12. 

              Jesus presents a similar viewpoint when he says in Matt 18:7, Woe unto the world because of occasions of stumbling! For it must needs be that the occasions come; but woe to that man through whom the occasion comes!  These things have their place and their purpose, but God will punish the ones responsible. 

              Now the hard part:  The apostles did not tell the early church that it was understandable to become discouraged and leave because their idea of the blissful, perfect institution was often marred by sin.  They said to use that experience to double check where we stand, to make sure we are among the true believers, the tall pines that withstand the blaze instead of the scrub brush and interloping hardwoods who try to destroy Christ’s body.

              Those controlled burns in the pine forests happen every three years.  Who knows how often the church needs cleansing but God himself? For me to give up on the Lord and his body because someone causes trouble, because peace among God’s people sometimes seems hard to come by, means I am giving up on God, failing to trust that he knows best. You may get a little singed, but it is cleansing burn, far better than the eternal burn that awaits the factious.
 
Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravening wolves. By their fruits you shall know them. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree brings forth good fruit; but the corrupt tree brings forth evil fruit…Therefore by their fruits you shall know them, Matt 7:15-17, 20.
 
Dene Ward
             
 

The people who once bestowed commands, consulships, legions, and all else, now meddle no more and longs eagerly for just two things—bread and circuses.  Decimus Junius Juvenalis.

            That ancient Roman writer, known today as Juvenal, described how the Roman rulers kept the masses content, while gradually stealing away all their power.  What had once been a Republic had become an empire ruled by selfish, immoral, greedy men, more interested in retaining power and wealth than caring for the people under their rule.  And the people themselves deteriorated into a populace addicted to free distribution of food and violent gladiatorial contests.  They were so distracted by mindless self-gratification that they had become unable to think, unable to recognize any greater good beyond their own lusts.

            I can think of ways this might apply to America today, as I am sure you can, but it is nothing new.  Jesus dealt with the same mindset.  In John 6:26, he reproached the masses who followed him like this:  You seek me…because you ate of the loaves and were filled.  When he began to talk about the True Bread, they left. 

            The Pharisees came on more than one occasion, and to test him they asked him to show a sign from Heaven, Matt 16:1.  Herod on the night before he was crucified had long desired to see him, because he had heard about him, and was hoping to see some sign done by him, Luke 23:8.  They wanted a show, a “circus,” not a sign that would produce faith.  John tells us that for many of these people though he had done many signs before them, they still did not believe in him, 12:27.  Bread and circuses do not work in the spiritual world any more than they do in the physical.  It may bring more in, but how many stay when they find out what is really required of a disciple? 

            None of this is to say that we should not reach out to the world in as many ways as possible.  After all, Jesus did feed them, and he did do signs.  But sooner or later we must get past the superficial and reach the heart.  If my neighbor is in need, why not help him?  When I take a meal to the sick, perhaps he will be more willing to realize that his sick soul needs food too, and maybe he will come to me to feed it.  If I am part of an assembly that is open and friendly, that worships whole-heartedly and obviously instead of sitting like bumps on a log, perhaps he will sooner understand that the heart is not all that matters because he will more often visit and hear the word of God spoken clearly and forcefully.  But we must sooner or later do as Jesus did and force the choice upon them: 

            Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink.  Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him. As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever feeds on me, he also will live because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like the bread the fathers ate and died. Whoever feeds on this bread will live forever, John 6:54-58.

            And when they refuse to exist on nothing but Christ, then we must also do as he did—let them go and not bother chasing them down.  They have shown what they really wanted, and spirituality was not part of it.  God does not want people who are so distracted by mindless self-gratification that they become unable to think, unable to recognize any greater good beyond their own lusts.  He wants people who live on him and his word, even when it is uncomfortable and inconvenient, even if it costs more than they had ever imagined.  He wants a people for his own possession, who will give him the glory and honor he deserves.
 
After this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him. So Jesus said to the Twelve, will you also go away?  Simon Peter answered him, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God." John 6:66-69
 
Dene Ward

On February 23, 1942 a Japanese submarine surfaced off the coast of Southern California and fired 13 shells into the Bankline Refinery of Goleta.  This alarmed Americans, who had believed that World War II would not be fought on their home ground.  Blackouts were required in coastal cities, along with headlight shields on trains running the littoral rails.

            It also had a secondary effect.  The Forestry Service suddenly realized that, with all the able-bodied men away at war, fighting a forest fire, as was almost caused by the refinery’s proximity to Los Padres National Forest, would be next to impossible.  A campaign to stop preventable fires ultimately resulted in Smokey the Bear, a fictional mascot for the Forest Service. The first poster featuring this beloved symbol, drawn with ranger hat, belted blue jeans, and a shovel, reminding us that “Only You Can Prevent Forest Fires,” appeared on August 9, 1944, and he has been with us ever since.

            I wonder if we don’t need such a symbol to remind us of the spiritual fires we cause.  And the tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness. The tongue is set among our members, staining the whole body, setting on fire the entire course of life, and set on fire by hell, James 3:6.  I ran out of room writing down the sins caused by the tongue:  it breathes lie, it sows discord, it spreads slander, it teaches false doctrine, it tempts men to sin, it kindles strife, it destroys reputations, it splits churches—need I go on?

            So how do we prevent those fires?  By refusing to listen, by rebuking those who try to set them, by putting them out with a liberal dose of Truth.  I appeal to you, brothers, to watch out for those who cause divisions and create obstacles contrary to the doctrine that you have been taught; avoid them. For such persons do not serve our Lord Christ, but their own appetites, and by smooth talk and flattery they deceive the hearts of the naïve, Rom 16:17,18.

            Do you understand exactly how evil some of these sins are?  From the time of the Law of Moses, gossip has been associated with bearing false witness, a capital offense, Lev 19:16.  The Proverb writer tells us that God hates he who sows discord among brethren, Prov 6:19, something nearly impossible to do with anything other than words.  As for liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death, Rev 21:8.

            Paul also makes it plain in passages like Romans 1:32 that God considers us as guilty as the ones who do those things when we “consent with those who practice them.”  It isn’t enough not to slander, not to lie, not to sow discord or spread false teaching.  We are not only not to listen but to actively rebuke as well--have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather even reprove them, Eph 5:11.  God expects us to prevent the fires that would ruin his people’s souls and the unity of his body.

            Maybe it’s time we borrowed Smokey the Bear and posted him around our meetinghouses and next to the telephones and computers in our homes.  Only we can prevent the fires set by a malicious tongue, whether it is ours or not.
 
 For lack of wood the fire goes out; and where there is no whisperer, contention ceases. As coals are to hot embers, and wood to fire, so is a contentious man to kindle strife, Prov 26:20,21.
 
Dene Ward

I wonder what Punxatawny Phil saw this morning.  According to folklore, when this 120 year old groundhog leaves his burrow on Gobbler’s Knob each February 2nd, his shadow, or lack thereof, predicts the length of winter.  If he sees his shadow, there will be six more weeks of cold.  This has never made much sense to me.  The only way to see your shadow is on a sunny day.  It would make far more sense if the day was cloudy and gray and he did not see his shadow.  A cold gray day should mean more winter, not less.  Besides, how can Phil predict my weather over 1000 miles away?  My own local weatherman changes his five day forecast every twelve hours, and still misses it half the time.

            The idea of shadows is used a lot in the scriptures.  I was raised on the concept of “foreshadowing”—items under the Old Covenant used as types of things in the New, Heb 8:5; 10:1; 1 Cor 5:7,8, etc.  I think I had the notion that esoteric concept was the primary use of the word “shadow” in the Bible.

            Then I discovered Psalm 102:11, 144:4, and Eccl 8:13.  Our lives are depicted as shadows that decline and pass away.  Have you ever stood outside when a breeze was blowing those puffy cotton ball clouds across the sky?  One minute you are in the sun and the next in the shade—one minute you have a shadow and the next you don’t.  Life is just as ethereal in several ways.  One moment you are basking in the warmth of happiness and good times; the next your life is dark and gray with trials.  One minute you are here, and the next you are gone.  Remember not to lay up treasures for this world, but for the lasting one to come.

            The word is also used in terms of protection, hiding in the “shadow” of God.  David conveys thoughts like these in Psalm 17:8; 36:7; and 57:1.  Jeremiah uses the figure in Lam 4:20.  In a hot land with several desert areas, the protection of shade is important and that figure spoke volumes to these people.  Down here in Florida we have a healthy respect for shade which can make a ten to fifteen degree difference in the temperature.  We will walk the entire length of two parking lots in order to park a car in the miniscule shade of a thin-limbed sapling.  I wonder why so few are interested in the huge cooling shadow of a loving God.

            But then maybe I do understand.  When you step into the shadow of someone who is bigger than you, your own shadow disappears.  Our lives “are hid with Christ,” Col 3:3.  Maybe we just cannot stand the notion of giving up self.  We want to retain just a touch of independence.  “That’s just who I am,” becomes an excuse for our failure to overcome sin and become new creatures.  We fail to realize that we have merely swapped dwelling in the protective shadow of God for dwelling in the outer darkness of the Devil.

            Think today about shadows—about the interesting study of Old Testament items foreshadowing those in the New; about the fleeting nature of life, like a shadow dissolving when a cloud sails across the sun; about the great protection found in God’s shadow.  Think too about hiding yourself in the larger shadow of a Big Brother whose life we must emulate if we ever hope for that Father’s protection, and a life that is no longer as ephemeral as a shadow.
 
He that dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the LORD, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in Him will I trust, Psalm 91:1,2.  
 
Dene Ward