December 2016

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Establish Thou the work of our hands...

Here's one of the prayers of Moses. We always read this prayer at funerals and burials. Also at the end when a brother or sister in Christ is near the end of the hard work of dying.

No man can establish the work of his own hands. Only God has that power. This is as true of work raising a family and pastoring a congregation as it is work on the railroad. (This is what your hands look like after a shift as car knocker at Chicago & North Western's Proviso Yards.)

Read and pray this prayer with your family and loved ones tonight.

Psalm 90

A Prayer of Moses the man of God.

Lord, thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations. Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God. Thou turnest man to destruction; and sayest, Return, ye children of men. For a thousand years in thy sight are but as yesterday when it is past, and as a watch in the night. Thou carriest them away as with a flood; they are as a sleep: in the morning they are like grass which groweth up. In the morning it flourisheth, and groweth up; in the evening it is cut down, and withereth.

For we are consumed by thine anger, and by thy wrath are we troubled. Thou hast set our iniquities before thee, our secret sins in the light of thy countenance. For all our days are passed away in thy wrath: we spend our years as a tale that is told. The days of our years are threescore years and ten; and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years, yet is their strength labour and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away. Who knoweth the power of thine anger? even according to thy fear, so is thy wrath.

So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom. Return, O LORD, how long? and let it repent thee concerning thy servants. O satisfy us early with thy mercy; that we may rejoice and be glad all our days. Make us glad according to the days wherein thou hast afflicted us, and the years wherein we have seen evil. Let thy work appear unto thy servants, and thy glory unto their children. And let the beauty of the LORD our God be upon us: and establish thou the work of our hands upon us; yea, the work of our hands establish thou it.

Come to Daddy...

Amanda Nunes beats the shit out of Ronda Rousey...

The story topped the Google news page this morning. Last night in Sin City, Ronda Rousey was kicked, bashed, and smashed into submission 48 seconds into her mixed martial arts match with Amanda Nunes. No one went to jail for abusing a woman. The cops didn't stop the abuse. A ref stopped it and awarded the perp the match. 

This is the state of the union of man and woman in these United States today. We're a majority Christian nation and we get our jollies watching what's pictured here. Think about it. Undoubtedly you were more offended by the headline of this post than the pic accompanying it, and that's the point.

It is impossible for these perverted women to make so much money doing what they do...

Six months building, with a little ice cream and Thanksgiving...

The past year's construction:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Democrats dearly love shame...

Chicago Tribune says the Democrats lowest clout since 1928 is due to "Democrats' destructive politics of righteousness."

Right. Sodomy and baby slaughter.

"Their rulers dearly love shame." (Hosea 4:18b)

"Gay icon" George Michael dies...

David Bowie, Prince, and today George Michael died. The news is Elton John just penned a tender tribute. After Michael began LivingOut, he told an interviewer:

I used to sleep with women quite a lot in the Wham! days but never felt it could develop into a relationship because I knew that, emotionally, I was a gay man. I didn’t want to commit to them but I was attracted to them. Then I became ashamed that I might be using them.

Note his confession (and yes, he's talking about his women): "I didn't really want to commit to them but I was attracted to them."

You remember the Apostle Paul's declaration, "It's better to marry than burn?" The "gay Christian" men of LivingOut.org don't self-disclose with the honesty of Michael. If they did, their pastor and elders would be kind to repeat the Apostle Paul's remedy and exhort them to marry. The essence of manhood is responsibility. Commitment is the swearing-in ceremony. Marriage is manhood's sacrament. You don't need to be married to be a man, but it sure does help. And if you burn, it is the remedy God Himself ordained.

A psalm for Christmas Eve...

Praise God for Christmas
Praise Him for the Incarnation
for Word made flesh.
I will not sing
of shepherds watching flocks
on frosty night
or angel choristers.
I will not sing
of stable bare in Bethlehem
or lowing oxen
wise men
trailing distant star
with gold and frankincense and myrrh.
Tonight I will sing
praise to the Father
who stood on heaven's threshold
and said farewell to His Son
as He stepped across the stars
to Bethlehem
and Jerusalem.
And I will sing
praise to the infinite eternal Son
who became most finite
a Baby
who would one day be executed
for my crimes.
Praise Him in the heavens.
Praise Him in the stable.
Praise Him in my heart.

- Joe Bayly

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Russ Moore and Donald Trump: a northern presbyterian view...

The Federalist very much wants Russ Moore to continue working inside the Beltway. They tell us Russ is an effective ally in their work lobbying D.C. on behalf of conservative policies. They say he shouldn't be penalized for being unflagging in his opposition to our President-elect, Donald Trump. In their view, "There is no more effective evangelical leader than Moore."

Here are a couple comments from a northern presbyterian who knows and has worked with Russ, Al Mohler, and their SBC's patriarch, Paige Patterson.

First, I commend Russ for not caving in his opposition to our President-elect (and I say this having myself voted against Hillary Clinton by voting for Donald Trump). Opposition from conservatives will be a healthy antidote to the relentless pressure Trump and Pence will face after taking office to... 

Noitamerc...

If you're wondering, the word is cremation spelled backwards. The title is me moving backwards, pulling the three posts on cremation off the site. It's Christmas and I don't want to keep hurting people's feelings. Maybe I'll repost later? Then again, maybe I'll just put it in a book.

Anyhow, I've found writing about cremation to be incendiary, 1 and who needs that this time of year? it's Christmas!

God rest ye merry gentlemen, let nothing you dismay;
Remember Christ our Savior was born on Christmas day;
To save us all from Satan's power when we had gone astray;
Oh tidings of comfort and joy, comfort and joy;
Oh tidings of comfort and joy!

A good Christmas gift for fathers...

Pastoral care is not a high priority in the church today and it's hard to give it from a distance. The Apostle Paul did it through his epistles and most of the New Testament is simply the permanent record of pastoral care by pastors who lived at a distance from those they loved and led, done by means of letter writing in a day when texts, FB, and Skype didn't exist.

Daddy Tried is my own letter providing pastoral care to fathers.1 New fathers who year by year are welcoming their newborn sons and daughters into the world; and also old ones who year by year are welcoming their grandsons and granddaughters into the world; both ages of fathers are the men I want to encourage to walk their fatherhood by faith with love.

Maybe your husband or the men of your church lack anyone caring for them, personally, as they raise their daughters and sons? Maybe no one exhorts, admonishes, or rebukes them with great patience? Maybe no one encourages them to not grow discouraged at the hard, hard work...

Death and peaceful succession of authority: Augustine...

Wonderful record of Augustine's comments upon his appointment of a successor:

Letter CCXIII. (September 26TH, a.d. 426.)

The record prepared by Augustine of the proceedings on the occasion of his designating Eraclius to succeed him in the episcopal chair.

In the Church of Peace in the district of Hippo Regius.

Bishop Augustine having taken his seat along with his fellow bishops Religianus and Martinianus, there being present Saturninus, Leporius, Barnabas, Fortunatianus, Rusticus, Lazarus, and Eraclius—presbyters—while the clergy and a large congregation of laymen stood by, Bishop Augustine said:

We all are mortal, and the day which shall be the last of life on earth is to every man at all times uncertain; but in infancy there is hope of entering on boyhood, and so our hope goes on, looking forward from boyhood to youth, from youth to manhood, and from manhood to old age: whether these hopes may be realized or not is uncertain, but there is in each case something which may be hoped for. But old age has no...

Christians whose mothers never had to worry about their self-esteem...

(NOTE FROM TB: I've removed this post and hope to repost on the same subject, but taking a different tack that holds out hope and faith.)

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