A Boomer in the Pew

A night of uncontrollable weeping for the prophet Samuel?

"Israel demands a king before Samuel", 1728 engraving, by J. Winter

ESV Study Bible Devotions

1 Samuel 8:1-8 - When Samuel became old, he made his sons judges over Israel. 2 The name of his firstborn son was Joel, and the name of his second, Abijah; they were judges in Beersheba. 3 Yet his sons did not walk in his ways but turned aside after gain. They took bribes and perverted justice.

4 Then all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah 5 and said to him, “Behold, you are old and your sons do not walk in your ways. Now appoint for us a king to judge us like all the nations.” 6 But the thing displeased Samuel when they said, “Give us a king to judge us.” And Samuel prayed to the Lord. 7 And the Lord said to Samuel, “Obey the voice of the people in all that they say to you, for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me from being king over them. 8 According to all the deeds that they have done, from the day I brought them up out of Egypt even to this day, forsaking me and serving other gods, so they are also doing to you.

I was deeply grieved as I read this narrative.  Surely, Samuel's heart, this day, was ripped into pieces, as these three betrayals came into view:

• Samuel's sons had betrayed their father's ways, and sought their own evil way.
• Israel rejects Samuel, and demand a king.
• Amazingly, Israel further, in demanding a king, rejects God! 

Consider that evening, as Samuel lay on his bed.  Unquestionably, Satan dispatched a special force of demons to torment Samuel as he replayed the day's events over in his mind.

"Almighty LORD", perhaps he prayed, "my sons...your people!  How am I to withstand this dishonor of your holy Name?  I understand your pain, as I wretch in agony over my sons.  How is it that you can bear the weight of this abandonment?  How do you face a new day, watching your loved ones perhaps march into possible destruction?  How, O LORD, does your heart not explode in torment?  How can you condone a king?  Might my sons replace me as their father?"

I don't know Samuel's heart, but I suspect it was broken that day.  Furthermore, I am greatly confident that God, desiring that we know His heart, puts this here in our view.

I can't begin to understand the heart of God.  Further still, who can begin to fathom all that occurred in God's heart, on the fateful day in Genesis 3, when Adam & Eve took the apple.  To make matters infinitely worse, for 6,000 years, God's creation, those made in his image, the apple of his eye, continue to spit in his face.

Abba,

My heart breaks as I consider these things.  As I look around me, in this great nation America, that certainly you brought forth, look how they too cry for anything but you.  Forgive us LORD.  Bring healing to our land, break our proud hearts, and please I pray, blow your spirit across this land that we might see a mighty rushing wind.  Touch your people once again.

Phantom Sightings Fiesta featuring Low & Slow: The Art of The Lowrider at the Phoenix Art Museum

Phoenix Art Museum - looking for something fun to do in Phoenix tomorrow? 

Check this out:

August 22, 2009, Noon to Midnight
Throughout Museum Grounds

In conjunction with Phantom Sightings: Art After The Chicano Movement, this very unique event will feature the works of Lowrider artists from the Southwest. It also includes a special dedication of the Official Lowrider Hall Of Fame pictorial and some of the hottest Lowrider cars and bikes to hit the show floor.

From noon to 4pm, activities will be focused inside where families can explore galleries filled with Latino and Chicano inspired art or maybe roll up their sleeves and try their hand at a printmaking workshop. Masks and music are provided by Zarco Guerrero.

As evening approaches almost 100 Lowrider cars and bikes will be on display throughout the Museum grounds. The fiesta style atmosphere will be family-friendly featuring live music from five Latino bands and DJs including Caribe and Herencia de Sinaloa. Inside there's late access to the galleries to see Locals Only and Phantom Sightings. Outside in the garden check out the work of artists including a group from spraygraphic.com. And of course, remember to grab a plate of food from our friends at Mi Patio.

Admission FREE for the car show. Other activities available at General Admission rates.

Brought to you by Phoenix Art Museum, Phoenix New Times, La Campesina, Prensa Hispana, Honest Ade Tea, Ear Candy, Lowrider Magazine.

Maybe we will see you there!

Learning a right view of the Holiness of God

"The Plague at Ashdod", 1630, by Nicolas Poussin

Story of the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord, from Samuel's times. 

The ark of the covenant of the LORD is back in view, in the book of 1st Samuel.  In the narrative, the Philistines have captured the ark, and brought it back to Ashdod.  Knowing that the ark has great power, they set the ark next to their idol Dagon.

When I read this, I thought to myself, oh no, what will they do to the ark, as if God had no ability to fend for himself.

Well, as you can see in the painting above, God destroyed the idol of Dagon by severing its head and arms, and tormenting the Philistines with great fear, and tumors.

The Philistines, having learned their lesson for not respecting the ark, return it to Israel, and then 70 Israelites wind up dead as well, for not properly respecting the ark of the covenant.

I'm afraid that post-modern Christianity takes the sacrifice of our Mediator (Jesus Christ), who sits at the right hand of God, and subsequently lessens the holy fear that is due God, because of the new covenant we now have with God.

Yet, if we have a proper view of Scripture, and then read what God has provided for our instruction, it is clear that we are to tremble with a proper holy fear before his throne.

Over, and over, the saints of old were wetting their paints at the mere sight of an angel.  Further, we find death commonplace when God's holiness is not revered.

We should find ourselves greatly thankful that the true Christian now finds himself clothed in the righteousness of Christ, thereby presenting us with the opportunity to enter the Holy of Holies.

Nonetheless, we must fight with all our might, and seek the guidance of the Holy Spirit, to maintain the proper respect that is due almighty God.  It is true that he is our Father, but he is also infinitely Holy God, and he is not pleased when his name is not respected with glory.

Our complacency, in this regard, is to our great shame.

Taste the salt in David's tears as he proclaims: I love you, oh Lord, my strength

"David Delivered out of Many Waters", c 1805, by William Blake. (Tate Museum)

ESV Study Bible Devotions

Have you ever been pressed to the point to where you are absolutely helpless?  Have your circumstances perhaps made you realize your position in light of eternity?

The end goal of man is to bring glory to God.  We must always keep that before us.  God desires, jealously desires, that we, as his creation, love him, adore him, enter into a Father relationship with him, and spend eternity with him in the place that Christ, the great artist, is preparing for us.

Sometimes, for the more impertinent, or perhaps to drive this fact into our very cells, God allows us to befall certain, and near death, or so it would seem.

David, in Psalm 18, was clearly at such a place.  In this Psalm, we find his most passionate testimony about how God had saved him out of many waters.

This Psalm really hit a nerve with me today, as I can begin to smell my deliverance in the wind.  I am not yet singing this Psalm, but I can hear its refrain in the distance.  Oh...how I long to sing this song.

You ever feel that way?  Do you understand David's most passionate song to God?

Psalm 18:1-3 - I love you, O Lord, my strength.
 2 The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer,
my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge,
my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.
 3 I call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised,
and I am saved from my enemies.

Take some time today to slowly read through this Psalm.  See David, as in William Blake's painting above, completely trapped, bound, and utterly helpless in the many waters around him.  And then...oh then...taste the salt in his tears as he is saved by the angels above.  Understand the joy, the relief, the complete abandonment of his soul as he shares his testimony, and of his love for God.

Oh my soul, even in my sleep, proclaim the love we have for Abba.  Tell Him how we too long for our day of deliverance, and will then, on that day, proclaim his faithfulness, his majesty, his beauty, and his glory!

Stop the Abortion Mandate

I don't know where this health care debate is going to wind up.  Regardless, I don't want to see government sponsored abortions neatly tucked into what ever new plan we are presented with.

I have been around Washington enough to know that massive numbers of voices talk louder than money.  Certainly money talks in Washington, but at the end of the day, your legislator knows that he/she is going to stand before you at the polls.

Therefore, if you have a voice to share for the unborn, this is a time where you must. 

Please go to this site, and follow their prescribed plan to communicate your wishes to your elected representatives:  StoptheAbortionMandate.com.

Dr. John Gerstner: Apologetics never has, and never will save a single soul

In this video, Dr. John Gerstner shares with us that apologetics never has, and never will save a single soul.

Furthermore, he argues, apologetics actually makes the pagan heart more hard!

So why offer apologetics?

Because, as Peter told us, we must be prepared to give a reason for the hope that lies within us.

Furthermore, faith comes through hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.

The apologist can stir the soul, as it were, and God, in his Sovereign will might be pleased to extend the hand of saving faith.  Not the faith of the fideist, who merely has placed his faith in faith.  But the saving faith that comes from placing your faith in the person of Jesus Christ.

He concludes that although apologetics never saved anyone, no one, he claims, has ever been saved without apologetics.  If you don't have a reason for the faith that lies in you, then you do not have a true faith.

Give Dr. Gerstner's 27 minute video a listen.

Heritage Mass Choir, Afro-American Style Gospel in Korea

I just received an e-mail, from one of my former Michigan mortgage clients, with a link to the Heritage Mass Choir (Afro-American Style Gospel in Korea).  Thanks Sandy!

I hope you enjoy these two videos:

Why has God created this great Recession?

"The Israelites defeated by the Philistines", 1728 engraving, by Gerard Hoet.

ESV Study Bible Devotions

1 Samuel 4:1a-4a - Now Israel went out to battle against the Philistines. They encamped at Ebenezer, and the Philistines encamped at Aphek. 2 The Philistines drew up in line against Israel, and when the battle spread, Israel was defeated by the Philistines, who killed about four thousand men on the field of battle. 3 And when the troops came to the camp, the elders of Israel said, “Why has the Lord defeated us today before the Philistines?

One of the things that continues to strike me is the view of God's sovereignty that exists throughout the whole of the Bible.

Here we see Israel defeated, and they don't ask themselves why they were defeated, rather, they ask, why has the Lord defeated us?

A post-modern Christian, if their house were to burn down, would not say, "why has God burned down my house?"

Is the post-modern Christian more a deist?  If the house burns down, was it simply fate?  Certainly we would investigate the cause.  If faulty wiring were the cause of the fire, do we simply leave it at that?  The wires are to blame?

Gone too, from the post-modern Christians mind is the idea of God's discipline. 

Yet, if you read the whole of God's testimony, God's sovereignty, and God's discipline are in full display throughout.

Have we not become like Thomas Jefferson, and simply removed the parts we don't like?  Or worse yet, have we simply not read the text?

Here are a few of my past articles on God's Sovereignty:

• Calvin's Institutes - Wrestling with God's Sovereignty
• Dr. Steve Lawson - God's Sovereignty over America
• Joseph:  "You meant evil against me, but God meant it for Good"

So, with this understanding, might we ask ourselves, why has God created this great recession?

Boomer in the Pew Summer Subscription Drive

My blog seems to have stabilized into the 8,000 - 10,000 page views/month range.  For this I am very grateful to my readers.

We just hit 10,000 page views again last month.

Thank you!  I hope that I am bringing value to your life.

We have been sitting in this range, for about six months now, and I would like to see if I could call upon you to refer my blog to your friends.

If you enjoy this blog, may I ask you a favor?

Please do one, or more, of the following:

• write a blog post, on your blog, describing why you enjoy our blog.
• use the "share this" button, at the bottom of this post, to e-mail your friends a copy of my blog, and recommend that they subscribe.
• if you are reading this in an RSS reader, please forward a post to friends, and recommend that they subscribe.
• if you are reading this post by e-mail, please send a copy of this post to your e-mail list, and recommend that they subscribe.
• If you are reading this post in Facebook, please "share" this post with your friends, and recommend that they subscribe to my blog.
• If you are reading this post from Twitter, please re-Tweet your friends, and ask them to consider a subscription to my blog.
• Please print out this post, print 1,000 copies, and staple them to all the telephone poles in your town.  (Just kidding...please don't do that!)

I learned many, many years ago that they best referral, the best source for new friends/subscribers, is from the referrals of my trusted readers.

Would you mind taking a few minutes, right now, and referring me to your circle of influence?

Thank you!

Dave Porter - Boomer in the Pew

How did we get our Bible and has it changed?

In my recent trip to Michigan, I had many wonderful opportunity to discuss matters of theology with my friends. 

One friend had recently watched a History Channel show claiming that 3rd century derelicts had changed the Bible, and what we currently have is not a reliable reproduction of the words of Christ, and the apostles.

Well, first of all, these tired claims have been made for centuries.  But, lets listen to Dr. Mark Harmon, Associate Professor of New Testament Studies, at Grace Theological Seminary, and see what he has to say:

"Assaults on the Bible are nothing new, but there seems to be a new twist over the past decade.Two objections against the Bible have become more prominent. The first charge is that the various books in our Bible were chosen hundreds of years after they were written, and the choice was made by shady church leaders with ulterior motives. The second charge is that we cannot trust our Bibles because what we have is not really what the authors actually wrote."

Here is a link to a recent twelve page report that he gave at a recent apologetics conference in Indianapolis.

If you look at the facts, no book of antiquity comes even close to the authenticity of the Bible.  We have 24,000 manuscripts of the Bible.  Plus, all of these manuscripts are dated within a century of the original.

The next closest book of antiquity, in authenticity, is Homer's Iliad.  We have only 2,400 of these manuscripts, and there is a 500+ year gap from the originals.  Yet, no one questions the authenticity of Homer.  

When all the facts are placed on the table, one quickly realizes that this sacred text is a reliable document.  Besides, if you believe in God, do you think he would allow man to come between us, and his Holy Word?