Gadfly's Muse

A Bridge To Nowhere ....

(Board Bridge, 2008, JAVanDevender)

Has a nation changed its gods,which are not gods?  But My people have changed their Glory for what does not profit. Jer. 2:11

“Wicca is the fastest-growing religion in America, set to be the third largest religion by 2012,” .....While “Harry Potter” and other media like “Charmed,” “Buffy,” “Sabrina,” and “The Craft” have skyrocketed witchcraft into the public eye,... among the biggest draws to the Wiccan culture is how community-oriented it is. ....“Many involved in Wicca come from lonely backgrounds or difficult relationships and find new friends in the Wiccan community who embrace them (sometimes better than Christians do),”....“As our culture becomes more and more isolated and busy (and as real relationships are replaced by texting, IM, etc.), young people are starving for real relationships and true community, as well as for a powerful experience of faith." ....“People want a supernatural experience. ..."

(QUOTES TAKEN FROM HERE)

The growth of Wicca is not the fundamental problem.  The primary issue is man's inherent desire for a spirituality that is essentially divorced from obedience. 

As Jeremiah noted in the passage quoted above, people have been more than willing to trade worship of the one true God for the worship of that which is no god at all, for centuries.  What is the appeal?  It comes at various levels but all of it is rooted in a fundamental self-centeredness.  Idols are simple to understand.  They make certain demands, all of which are within the external ability of human beings to meet.  Some of these demands may be extraordinarily stringent - like sacrificing a human life to the god of a volcano - but they are within the ordinary external capacity of human beings to meet.  Once that external requirement is met, the god of the idol simply lets us alone.  He or she or it is satisfied and now we can get on with our life as we want. 

Thus idolatry is human centered, not god centered.  Man is in control.

Now, if, as is the case with Wicca, the idol worship promises and includes a fairly extensive "spiritual" benefit... if there are plenty of "wooo-wooo" minutes, spine tingling warm and fuzzies, and stuff, then so much the better.  As was the case in the Roman empire with the onslaught of the Mystery Religions, the appeal becomes widespread and pervasive.  People flock to these religions even though, as the title expresses, they are bridges to nowhere.  There is no "god" on the other side... the religious experience, the spirituality, is sterile because, like the sexual act, it is nothing more than an experience when divorced from truth.

This is far different and inferior to the God of Christianity, to Jesus Christ.  The reality is that man is not in control in the relation with the Deity.  When we have done all that we can we are still unfruitful servants.  Far from being satisfied with some paltry religious observance, the God who created the heavens and the earth demands our whole being - lock, stock and barrel.  This is a scary thought, but that is what one encounters when he is on a bridge to somewhere.  Wicca, like other false "spiritual" religions, focuses our eyes on the journey, on the crossing of the bridge.  It poses no threat because there is no-One on the other side to whom we must give account.  It's appeal lies in this basic deception. 

This is not to make light of the dreadfully accurate criticisms of the Christian community contained in the quote above.  Christians, of all the worlds peoples, ought to be the ones who are demonstrating true community, vibrant spiritual experience and a celebration of truth.  There ought not be any real appeal to such falsehoods as Wicca when the manifest light of Jesus Christ is present.  But our lamps have not been on the lamp stand, they have been hidden under a basket and so people line up to take the various bridges to nowhere that are so appealingly advertised.

We need to learn again what it means to love God and love our neighbor.  We need to point people toward the bridge to somewhere - the cross of Jesus of Nazareth and the risen Christ who is Lord.  We need to show that this God is not satisfied with paltry external offerings, He accepts nothing less than the willing sacrifice of our entire life - heart, mind and body - which is our reasonable service.  And then, we need to demonstrate, in no uncertain terms, that in taking up our cross and following Him, that we gain our life, that we discover true joy and that the peace which transcends all understanding permeates all that we do. 

That is the truth of what is possible.  We have a bridge to somewhere... that means we have something to offer to those on the other one.

The Pen of the Wayfarer

A sister with an eye for photography and a heart for Christ..  it's worth taking a look: http://pen-of-the-wayfarer.blogspot.com/

It's a Scary Thing: Security Vs. Freedom - Reflections on Wall Street & Other Stuff

(Dave's Eagle, 2008, Dave Johanson)

I've commented on Jacque Ellul's The Subversion of Christianity before (see August 29, 2008).  Ellul is always provocative even when infuriating.  I suppose that is why I like reading him so much.

His comments on how the human yearning for security serves to undermine the Gospel and to strip Christians of the freedom their Savior purchased at terrible cost, is well worth reading.  Christians ARE too easily influenced by cultural values and are always looking over their shoulder at the land of Egypt where they had  "fish which (to eat)freely, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic" (Numbers 11:1-5).  They forget the iron bonds of slavery that went along with that security.  Christians have been set free to trust God.  Trusting God is scary business because freedom is scary.  It means being totally at risk for our own decisions.  It means living without a safety net before a God who is a consuming fire.  However, it also means being completely free of the constraints of men, serving God first and men second, but apart from ANY subjection to preconceived notions of how that must be done.

A Christian abides by the law in freedom from the law.  Until that radical notion is at least partially grasped and embraced, a life built on grace, bounded by grace, rooted in grace and bearing fruit in grace is not really possible.  Radical freedom is a scary thing...

The desire to trade freedom for security is the basic impetus moving in the current crisis on wall street.  Pseudo-smart people with more money than wisdom aspired to a perpetual-motion machine of unending prosperity.  They believed that with their computer controlled manipulation they could have security and prosperity apart from the law of pride (it goes before a fall... that one).  Now the demand is for a safety net, for the sacrifice of freedom so that comfort may endure.  Woe to you... hypocrites.

The book of Judges eloquently proclaims the cyclical nature of human events. It preaches that an intervening and ruling God will take steps to chasten those who ignore His word and claims.  The United States has never been a "Christian Nation" in the formal sense of the term but the bed rock culture that grounded it in liberty was.  The notions of freedom that lead to this grand experiment encompassed and enfolded the accompanying notions of responsibility, where each man stood naked before God and totally responsible for what he did, said or thought.  "Getting your just deserts" is an inevitable corollary to the freedom to pursue happiness, or so we once thought. 

What our economy is on the verge of receiving is a sound "whacking" by a chastening God who will not reward greed.  We need to relearn that lesson and it is not in the long term best interests of Christians  or anyone else in this country to try to buy our way out of that chastening.  I imagine it will only prolong the inevitable and ultimately make it worse.

Slide Show Meditation on Eccl. 3:1-8, 11

Click HERE for a slide show put on by the Canadian Bible Society.  It is worth watching.  Pachelbel's Canon plus good pic's.

(DewyDiamondNecklace, 2008, JAVanDevender, Click for larger image)

Ecclesiastes 3:1-11  To everything there is a season, A time for every purpose under heaven:  2 A time to be born, And a time to die; A time to plant, And a time to pluck what is planted;  3 A time to kill, And a time to heal; A time to break down, And a time to build up;  4 A time to weep, And a time to laugh; A time to mourn, And a time to dance;  5 A time to cast away stones, And a time to gather stones; A time to embrace, And a time to refrain from embracing;  6 A time to gain, And a time to lose; A time to keep, And a time to throw away;  7 A time to tear, And a time to sew; A time to keep silence, And a time to speak;  8 A time to love, And a time to hate; A time of war, And a time of peace.  9 What profit has the worker from that in which he labors?  10 I have seen the God-given task with which the sons of men are to be occupied.  11 He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also He has put eternity in their hearts, except that no one can find out the work that God does from beginning to end.

Every thing God does is beautiful in its time.  Even the tears of mourning can be an exquisitely beautiful thing - it means someone was loved.  Similarly, with only a little play on words, the morning dews and damps provide their own beauty, perhaps one that is unique to the early hours.  Glistening arrays line the leaves and petals, clinging to their host before the rising sun's warmth or the yet to be born wind, hasten them to their own destiny.

I suppose we are something like that.  Our lives adorn the passage of history and God makes them good in their time.  We become glistening diamonds, fragile and temporary in history, reflecting the light of the Son and showing it forth in our walk before Him.  Sinners that we are, fallen that we remain, stumbling in and out of trouble, showing that we are creatures of grace so that none can boast, yet, when all is said and done - through His hands, we are beautiful... in our time.

Blessed be the name of our incomparable God and Lord, Jesus Christ and our astonishing Father, the God of all Creation.

A Golden Rod Morning

(GoldenRodMorning, 2008, JAVanDevender, CLICK FOR LARGER IMAGE)

Psalm 65:8  You make the outgoings of the morning and evening rejoice.

From everlasting to everlasting, Thou art God.  From the lips of the Psalmist to the sleep be-grogged  eyes of a motorist, the rising sun frames the world in beauty and immediately draws the soul beyond the immediate to the astonishing doxology of Creation.  Even the pesky Golden Rod becomes delightful.  The atheist on seeing, feels his spirit move but knows not where.  The Christian knows where and gives praise.  The evenings and the mornings rejoice in splendor, bathing the sky in radiant hues and caressing the earth with the softest touch of light.  The human mind knows it is good to be alive at such times.  The cares and worries seem to drift a bit into the background as the moment lingers and we are refreshed.

Teach us to number our days, O Lord.... that with the morning we may rejoice also.

You Lookin' at ME???? - Christian Pugnacity In a "Let's All Get Along Age"

(YouLookinAtMe?, JAVanDevender, 2008 -CLICK FOR LARGER IMAGE -  right after this pic, these two squared off for real and bashed each other through the fence - if you're determined to fight, a fence will not prevent it)

Matthew 10:34   " Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace but a sword. 

Christians have been embroiled in controversy, battling for the gospel, from the day it was first uttered.  Jesus made no bones about it.  His word and His person were (and are) the focus of division, not unity, in the world.  Christians are called upon to be reconciled to God and to each other, but we are not called upon to be reconciled to the world because that is not possible.  How can light have fellowship with darkness?  Therefore, in every age, even those which called themselves "Christian" and which had governments and leaders who pratted of their baptism, the Gospel was still alien, distinct, revolutionary and a stumbling block.  When Ahab saw Elijah and called him a "troubler of Israel", he was speaking for every ruler and government, in every age, to the true Church in every age.  The Gospel stands against the wisdom of men and will always be critical of the short-comings of each passing epoch.

Today it is fashionable to profess "tolerance" as the abiding rule of all social interaction.  It is very much politically incorrect to offer judgmental criticisms of particular morals standards, other religions, philosophies or other such things.  It is expected that every person has the right to be as foolish as they want without any specific relational consequences to be attached.  Here again the Gospel stands counter to the prevailing ethos.

Christians are prophets, not of new truths but of old ones.  As prophets they are to be divisive, calling upon the world to turn from its sin, its idolatry, its foolishness, its dependence on vain imaginings.  The gospel makes no provision for those who love Christ to be islands unto themselves, peaceful on their own little beach, nodding in the warm sunlight as the sleepy noise of the surf carries them into deep slumber.  No where does Christ give any credence to such a notion.  Rather, he said that if the world persecutes him then certainly his followers can expect no less.  Persecution does not come upon those who are silent... but on those who are vocal.  The witness to Christ must be clear, gracious, inviting, focused and firm.  It must call a spade a spade even as it seeks not to give undue offense to any who hear it.  We are not to be spiteful or otherwise malicious, but if the truth offends, that does not mean we are to seek to make it more palatable by watering it down.

Pugnacity is an historic dimension to Christian apologetics.  It is possible that pugnacity and grace may kiss.  In today's world we must seek to make that happen.

A Frail Grasp on the Big Picture - Economics, Politics & Reporting

Back ground for this post HERE

I don't often commend much in our modern culture, especially when it comes to gifts of discernment, but I listened to this old Eagle's song on my way to the office this morning and it seemed to hit a certain nail right on the head.

(picture at right - Ship Of Fools, Hieronymus Bosch , Louvre - Paris)

Well, ain't it a shame
(a)bout our short little memories
We Never seem to learn
The lessons of history
We keep makin' the same mistakes
Over and over and over and over again
And then we wonder why
We're in the shape we're in

Good ol' boys down at the bar
Peanuts and politics
They think they know it all
They don't know much of nothing
Even if one of them was to read the newspaper
Cover-to-cover
That ain't what's going on
Journalism's dead and gone.

(A Frail Grasp on the Big Picture - The Eagles)

Yesterday the stock market tanked a bit, Lehman Bros. did not get 'bailed out' by the Feds,  Merrill Lynch was put up for grabs,  and the politicians all weighed in on how, if they are elected, it will all get better.

Talk about a frail grasp on the big picture!

The "big picture" of American economics is that it is currently running on accumulated capital (pun intended).  The years of foreign deficits in spending, the move to "service" based job formation, the farming out of production, and the extraordinary expectations of the American people about the standard of living to which they are "entitled", has generated one of the biggest soap bubbles of prosperity imaginable.  In this country we have sold our intellectual property rights for a mess of pottage.  We have intentionally transferred massive amounts of American know-how to people who are now more industrious and ambitious than we.  They in turn are progressing beyond what we have given them and we are not keeping up.  Manufacturing expertise, that set the standard for the world and made us the arsenal of democracy, is no longer available.  GM cannot build a vehicle to compete with countries which just a few years ago, barely had paved roads.

The problem with our economy is primarily moral and spiritual.  Until, as a people, we put away our foolish day dreams and lower our individual expectations, live within our means, promote jobs that pay a living wage competitive with foreign production, stomp on the hegemony of international conglomerates, and kill the graft in our political system, this ship of fools will remain our home.

The Eagles got it right. They think they know it all, (but) they don't know much of nothing. It's a frail grasp on the big picture.

Sanity Check

[BstBfly, 2008, JAVanDevender, click for larger image]
In the midst of a presidential campaign, hurricanes left and right, people dying by the trainloads in the streets of our city, and the usual stupidity, sometimes we just need a sanity check.

Butterflies are still beautiful...  there's hope.

(From Joel 2) 21 Fear not, O land; Be glad and rejoice, For the LORD has done marvelous things!  22 Do not be afraid, you beasts of the field; For the open pastures are springing up, And the tree bears its fruit; The fig tree and the vine yield their strength.  23 Be glad then, you children of Zion, And rejoice in the LORD your God; For He has given you the former rain faithfully, And He will cause the rain to come down for you -- The former rain, And the latter rain in the first month. ....   27 Then you shall know that I am in the midst of Israel: I am the LORD your God And there is no other. My people shall never be put to shame.

Reflections on 9/11 - God Is Our Only Security

(Photo taken from HERE)

(Meditation Prompted by THIS ONE)

"No man is an island, entire of itself; every
man is a piece of the continent, a part of the
main. If a clod be washed away by the sea,
Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory
were, as well as if a manor of thy friend's or
of thine own were: any man's death diminishes
me, because I am involved in mankind, and
therefore never send to know for whom the bells
tolls; it tolls for thee."

"Another man may be sick too, and sick to death, and this affliction may lie in his bowels as gold in a mine and be of no use to him; but this bell that tells me of his affliction digs out and applies that gold to me, if by this consideration of another's dangers I take mine own into contemplation and so secure myself by making my recourse to my God, who is our only security"

John Donne
Selections from Devotions upon Emergent Occasions, no. 17, (Meditation) 1624 (published)

Perhaps no event in the history of our country, not the attack on the Alamo, the firing on Ft. Sumter, the sinking of the "Maine" or the "Lusitania", the attack on Pearl Harbor, the Tonkin Gulf incident or the other multiple such items, has had such a fundamental impact on the way Americans perceive themselves as the attack on the World Trade Center seven years ago.

From a guy who's been there... done that... and this is what he thinks!

This will probably appear "corny" to most middle thirties and below folks. However, the fact that it appears that way demonstrates how far we are from being motivated by abstractions, by a sense of value, etc. Perhaps it could be a bit more sophisticated, but I think this young man is sincere and when you get right down to it... maybe the problem is not with the video... it's with the framework in which it will most often be received.

Disclaimer: Commercial for the John McCain campaign for president... features a "friend of a friend's kid" - a man whom I have met.