Project 5782 | Day 21

Stand in Truth

Scripture Portion

Galatians 1.6-10

⁶ I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— ⁷ not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. ⁸ But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. ⁹ As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed. ¹⁰ For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ.

The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®) Copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. All rights reserved.

Quote from Reading

“The antiracist movement has many of the hallmarks of a cult, including staying close enough to the Bible to avoid immediate detection and hiding the fact that it has a new theology and a new glossary of terms that diverse ever-so-slightly from Christian orthodoxy. At least at first. In classic cult fashion, they borrow from the familiar and accepted, then infuse it with new meaning. This allows the cult to appeal to the faithful within the dominant, orthodox religions from which it draws its converts.

“This new cult has created a new lexicon that has served as scaffolding to support what has become an entire body of divinity. In the same manner, this new body of divinity comes complete with its own cosmology (CT/CRT/I); original sin (racism); law (antiracisim); gospel (racial reconciliation); martyrs (Saints Trayvon, Mike, George, Breonna, etc.); priests (oppressed minorities); means of atonement (reparations); new birth (wokeness); liturgy (lament); canon (CSJ social science); theologians (DiAngelo, Kendi, Brown, Crenshaw, MacIntosh, etc.); and catechism (‘say their names’).”

Baucham, Voddie, Fault Lines: The Social Justice Movement and Evangelicalism’s Looming Catastrophe, Salem Books: Washington D.C., 2021, pg.67

Provocative Language

“For who, in Heaven’s name, would describe as natural or normal the man from whom these failings were wholly absent? ‘Natural,’ if you like, in a quite different sense; archnatural, unfallen. We have seen only one such Man. And He was not at all like the psychologist’s picture of the integrated, balanced, adjusted, happily married, employed, popular citizen. You can’t really be very well ‘adjusted’ to your world if it says you ‘have a devil’ and ends by nailing you up naked to a sake of wood.”

Lewis, C.S., The Four Loves: An Exploration of the Nature of Love, Mariner Books: New York, 2012 edition, pg. 54

Project 5782 | Day 20

Teaching Well

Scripture Portion

Deuteronomy 6.4-9

⁴ Hear, Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. ⁵ And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your being and with all your might. ⁶ And these words that I charge you today shall be upon your heart. ⁷ And you shall rehearse them to your sons and speak of them when you sit in your house and when you go on the way and when you lie down and when you rise. ⁸ And you shall bind them as a sign on your hand and they shall be as circlets between your eyes. ⁹ And you shall write them on the doorposts of your house and in your gates.

Alter, Robert. The Hebrew Bible: A Translation with Commentary. Volume 1: The Five Books of Moses, Torah. N.p.: W. W. Norton & Company: New York, 2019, pgs. 641-642

Quote from Reading

“Our older children (Jasmine and Trey) were eleven and fourteen, respectively. I was right in the midst of the storm. This was a gut check for me. Was I on the path to being a sixty-seven-year-old pastor whose grown children looked on as I resigned from a high-demand ministry position citing my desire to ‘spend more time with my family’? Would my children be filled with resentment and regret as they wondered why I didn’t think about that when it mattered? I certainly hoped not.
“But hoping wasn’t going to make it so. I had to see myself first and foremost as Bridget’s husband, and as her partner in raising, training, and launching arrows into the next generation. And then I had to simply let the rest of the pieces fall into place.”  

Baucham, Voddie, Family Shepherds: Calling and Equipping Men to Lead Their Homes, Crossway: Wheaton, 2011, pg. 94

Provocative Language

“She was living for her family. She always sat up to ‘welcome’ you home if you were out late at night; two or three in the morning, it made no odds; you would always find that frail, pale, weary face awaiting you, like a silent accusation. Which meant of course that you couldn’t with any decency go out very often.”

Lewis, C.S., The Four Loves: An Exploration of the Nature of Love, Mariner Books: New York, 2012 edition, pg. 49

Project 5782 | Day 17

Affection Beautiful

Scripture Portion

Romans 12.9-11

⁹ Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good. ¹⁰ Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor. ¹¹ Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord.

The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®) Copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. All rights reserved.

Quote from Reading

“If you asked any of these insufferable people – they are not all parents of course – why they behaved that way at home, they would reply, ‘Oh, hang it all, one comes home to relax. A chap can’t be always on his best behaviour. Of course we don’t want Company Manners at home. We’re a happy family. We can say anything to one another here. No one minds. We all understand.’
“Once again it is so nearly true yet so fatally wrong. Affection is an affair of old clothes, and ease, of the unguarded moment, of liberties which would be ill-bred if we took them with strangers. But old clothes are one thing; to wear the same shirt till it stank would be another. There are proper clothes for a garden party; but the clothes for home must be proper too, in their own different way. Similarly there is a distinction between public and domestic courtesy. The root principal of both is the same: ‘that no one give any kind of preference to himself.’ But the more public the occasion, the more our obedience to this principal has been ‘taped’ or formalised. There are ‘rules’ of good manners. The more intimate the occasion, the less the formalisation; but not therefore the less need of courtesy. On the contrary, Affection at its best practises a courtesy which is incomparably more subtle, sensitive, and deep than the public kind.”

Lewis, C.S., The Four Loves: An Exploration of the Nature of Love, Mariner Books: New York, 2012 edition, pg. 42-43

Provocative Language

from “Papa”

He was, is, and always will be
My first love
A gift so precious
Sent from above
He helped to make
The person you see
He’s a precious, integral
Part of me…

Bhathal, Ritu, Poetic RITUals, 2016, pg. 24

Thoughts: I hope my children can write this about me one day!

Project 5782 | Day 14

Uncovering the Chill

Scripture Portion

Genesis 9.20-23

²⁰ Noah began to be a man of the soil, and he planted a vineyard. ²¹ He drank of the wine and became drunk and lay uncovered in his tent. ²² And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father and told his two brothers outside. ²³ Then Shem and Japheth took a garment, laid it on both their shoulders, and walked backward and covered the nakedness of their father. Their faces were turned backward, and they did not see their father’s nakedness.

Leviticus 18.7-8

⁷ You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father, which is the nakedness of your mother; she is your mother, you shall not uncover her nakedness. ⁸ You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father’s wife; it is your father’s nakedness.

Leviticus 20.11

¹¹ If a man lies with his father’s wife, he has uncovered his father’s nakedness; both of them shall surely be put to death; their blood is upon them.

The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®) Copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. All rights reserved.

Quote from Reading

“Symptomatic of this, perhaps, is the odiousness of nearly all those treacly tunes and saccharine poems in which popular art expresses Affection. They are odious because of their falsity. They represent as a ready-made recipe for bliss (and even for goodness) what is in fact only an opportunity. There is no hint that we shall have to do anything: only let Affection pour over us like a warm shower-bath and all, it is implied, will be well.”

Lewis, C.S., The Four Loves: An Exploration of the Nature of Love, Mariner Books: New York, 2012 edition, pg. 39

Provocative Language

“October”

O hushed October morning mild,
Thy leaves have ripened to the fall;
To-morrow’s wind, if it be wild,
Should waste them all.
The crows above the forest call;
To-morrow they may form and go.
O hushed October morning mild,
Begin the hours of this day slow,
Make the day seem to us less brief.
Hearts not averse to being beguiled,
Beguile us in the way you know;
Release one leaf at break of day;
At noon release another leaf;
One from our trees, one far away;
Retard the sun with gentle mist;
Enchant the land with amethyst.
Slow, slow!
For the grapes’ sake, if they were all,
Whose leaves already are burnt with frost,
Whose clustered fruit must else be lost –
For the grapes’ sake along the wall.

Frost, Robert. Poetry Collection: Robert Frost. Ed. Parini, Jay, Illus. Paraskevas, Michael, N.p.: MoonDance Press. Print. pg. 26

Project 5782 | Day 9

Beautiful Affection of the Father

Scripture Portion

Deuteronomy 32.1-4; 9-14

¹ Give ear, O heavens, and I will speak,
   and let the earth hear the words of my mouth.
² May my teaching drop as the rain,
   my speech distill as the dew,
like gentle rain upon the tender grass,
   and like showers upon the herb.
³ For I will proclaim the name of the Lord;
   ascribe greatness to our God!
⁴ “The Rock, his work is perfect,
   for all his ways are justice.
A God of faithfulness and without iniquity,
   just and upright is he.

⁹ But the Lord’s portion is his people,
   Jacob his allotted heritage.
¹⁰ “He found him in a desert land,
   and in the howling waste of the wilderness;
he encircled him, he cared for him,
   he kept him as the apple of his eye.
¹¹ Like an eagle that stirs up its nest,
   that flutters over its young,
spreading out its wings, catching them,
   bearing them on its pinions,
¹² the Lord alone guided him,
   no foreign god was with him.
¹³ He made him ride on the high places of the land,
   and he ate the produce of the field,
and he suckled him with honey out of the rock,
   and oil out of the flinty rock.
¹⁴ Curds from the herd, and milk from the flock,
   with fat of lambs,
rams of Bashan and goats,
   with the very finest of the wheat—
   and you drank foaming wine made from the blood of the grape.

Quote from Reading

“But I must at once correct myself. I am talking of Affection as it is when it exists apart from the other loves. It often does so exist; often not. As gin is not only a drink in itself but also a base for many mixed drinks, so Affection, besides being a love itself, can enter into the other loves and colour them all through and become the very medium in which from day to day they operate. They would not perhaps wear very well without it. To make a friend is not the same as to become affectionate. But when your friend has become an old friend, all those things about him which had originally nothing to do with the friendship become familiar and dear with familiarity. As for erotic love, I can imagine nothing more disagreeable than to experience it from more than a very short time without this homespun clothing of affection. That would be a most uneasy condition, either too angelic or too animal or each by turn; never quite great enough or little enough for man. There is indeed a peculiar charm, both in friendship and in Eros, about those moments when Appreciative love lies, as it were, curled up asleep, and the mere ease and ordinariness of the relationship (free as solitude, yet neither is alone) wraps us round. No need to talk. No need to make love. No needs at all except perhaps to stir the fire.” Lewis, C.S., The Four Loves: An Exploration of the Nature of Love, Mariner Books: New York, 2012 edition, pgs. 34-35

Provocative Language

“They latching on the back of a tow truck for free rides,
Monty, I was calling Jehovah from knee high,
I was gone and you was sticking your nose up and we see why,
Just because the leaves are fallen don’t mean the tree died,

“When you talk it’s like the truth go missing,
Got me steady speaking now, but you don’t listen,
Y’all don’t talk about the Crucifixion,
Yet you out here wondering why your crew so fiction,”
     – from “More Than I Can Bear”, song by J. Monty

Currently Reading | 28 September 2021

Hello everyone.

I hope this post finds you well! I wanted to take a moment just to share what I’m currently reading. I know many of my posts have been showing quotes from these books anyway, but I thought I would put them all in one place.

Feel free to drop some comments!

Have you read any of these titles?

What are you currently reading?

https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0021/5210/3983/products/DSC_9736.jpg?v=1582562348

ESV Bible – just started a Chronological plan, so reading through Genesis and Job.

This last book has been really fun and I am enjoying it. I simply single this one out as a shout out to Ritu, who has been a great encouragement to this blog and to many others. Ritu, good job on this work. I still have to get the novel, but I am working toward that. Thanks for your work and for all your support. Blessings! P.S., I see where you got the name for your blog! Check her out here.

Project 5782 | Day 3

Rejoice, Cautious Love & Liberty

Scripture Portion

This jumped out at me this year during the Feast of Trumpets. A momentous time when God restored His Word among His people (just look at how the people responded!) after bringing them back from exile took place on this holy day.

Nehemiah 8.1-3; 8-12
And all the people gathered as one man into the square before the Water Gate. And they told Ezra the scribe to bring the Book of the Law of Moses that the Lord had commanded Israel. ² So Ezra the priest brought the Law before the assembly, both men and women and all who could understand what they heard, on the first day of the seventh month. ³ And he read from it facing the square before the Water Gate from early morning until midday, in the presence of the men and the women and those who could understand. And the ears of all the people were attentive to the Book of the Law.

⁸ They read from the book, from the Law of God, clearly, and they gave the sense, so that the people understood the reading. ⁹ And Nehemiah, who was the governor, and Ezra the priest and scribe, and the Levites who taught the people said to all the people, “This day is holy to the Lord your God; do not mourn or weep.” For all the people wept as they heard the words of the Law. ¹⁰ Then he said to them, “Go your way. Eat the fat and drink sweet wine and send portions to anyone who has nothing ready, for this day is holy to our Lord. And do not be grieved, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.” ¹¹ So the Levites calmed all the people, saying, “Be quiet, for this day is holy; do not be grieved.” ¹² And all the people went their way to eat and drink and to send portions and to make great rejoicing, because they had understood the words that were declared to them. (ESV)

Quote from Reading

“We may give our human loves the unconditional allegiance which we own only to God. Then they become gods: then they become demons. Then they will destroy us, and also destroy themselves. For natural loves that are allowed to become gods do not remain loves. They are still called so, but can become in fact complicated forms of hatred.” – Lewis, C.S., The Four Loves: An Exploration of the Nature of Love, Mariner Books: New York, 2012 edition, pg. 8

Provocative Language

“Birds lost their freedom
We human lost our voice
Soulless reality holds us in captivity
Our spirit yearns for liberation
Liberty is never free
She stands on the foundation of blood, sweat and tears”
from Ms. Cassa – “Restriction”, 2021

https://flickerofthoughts.com/2021/09/17/restriction/

Project 5782 | Day 2

Amateurs, Arise?

Scripture Portion

Micah 7.18-20

¹⁸ Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity
and passing over transgression
for the remnant of his inheritance?
He does not retain his anger forever,
because he delights in steadfast love.
¹⁹ He will again have compassion on us;
he will tread our iniquities underfoot.
You will cast all our sins
into the depths of the sea.
²⁰ You will show faithfulness to Jacob
and steadfast love to Abraham,
as you have sworn to our fathers
from the days of old.
(English Standard Version)


Thoughts:
It’s interesting how many people conclude that the God of the Old Testament was a radically different God than who we see revealed in Jesus Christ. No, He is not. He does not change and is always the same. He is always abounding in steadfast love and forgiveness!

Quote from Reading

“Sowell may be best known for his writings on racial controversies, but race isn’t a topic he initially set out to explore. ‘I never thought that just because I’m black, that made me an authority on race matters,’ he said. ‘I figured there were people who specialize in this stuff and they must know what they’re talking about. Then I started reading what they were saying, and so much of it was rubbish. I thought, “Good heavens, it’s time for us amateurs to get into this thing.”’” – Riley, Jason L., Maverick: A Biography of Thomas Sowell, Basic Books: New York, 2021, pgs. 9-10


Thoughts: I think this may be coming back again to the church as well. It is good to have well trained teachers and leaders, but too many of them these days are misleading us! It may be time for the “amateurs” to gain a strong voice again…but with great caution! Be careful what you teach (see James)! Also, if we are going to write, let us do so as informed and Thomas Sowell!

Provocative Language

I found this thought-provoking one-liner on page Following a Star.

“It is quite useless knocking at the door of heaven for earthly comfort; it’s not the sort of comfort they supply there.” – C.S. Lewis, Letters of C.S. Lewis (Dec. 3, 1959)

https://followingastar.wordpress.com/2021/09/12/on-heaven-and-earthly-comfort-with-cs-lewis/