A Boomer in the Pew

Ezekiel's Temple River

"River of Healing", by Colin J. Campbell.

Ezekiel 47:1-12 Then he brought me back to the door of the temple, and behold, water was issuing from below the threshold of the temple toward the east (for the temple faced east). The water was flowing down from below the south end of the threshold of the temple, south of the altar. 2 Then he brought me out by way of the north gate and led me around on the outside to the outer gate that faces toward the east; and behold, the water was trickling out on the south side.

3 Going on eastward with a measuring line in his hand, the man measured a thousand cubits, and then led me through the water, and it was ankle-deep. 4 Again he measured a thousand, and led me through the water, and it was knee-deep. Again he measured a thousand, and led me through the water, and it was waist-deep. 5 Again he measured a thousand, and it was a river that I could not pass through, for the water had risen. It was deep enough to swim in, a river that could not be passed through. 6 And he said to me, “Son of man, have you seen this?” Then he led me back to the bank of the river. 7 As I went back, I saw on the bank of the river very many trees on the one side and on the other. 8 And he said to me, “This water flows toward the eastern region and goes down into the Arabah, and enters the sea; when the water flows into the sea, the water will become fresh. 9 And wherever the river goes, every living creature that swarms will live, and there will be very many fish. For this water goes there, that the waters of the sea may become fresh; so everything will live where the river goes. 10 Fishermen will stand beside the sea. From Engedi to Eneglaim it will be a place for the spreading of nets. Its fish will be of very many kinds, like the fish of the Great Sea. 11 But its swamps and marshes will not become fresh; they are to be left for salt. 12 And on the banks, on both sides of the river, there will grow all kinds of trees for food. Their leaves will not wither, nor their fruit fail, but they will bear fresh fruit every month, because the water for them flows from the sanctuary. Their fruit will be for food, and their leaves for healing.”

There is so much to meditate on here, I simply don't know where to begin.  Perhaps I won't even try.

Rivers are life.  From creation, civilizations have congregated around rivers.  Yet here, here is a river that flows from the throne of God. 

This river gives life to His creation, it gives life to the elect, it is deep enough to swim in, and it waits for us in heaven, with the tree of life at its shores.

"Son of man, have you seen this?"

Dear reader, do you see it? 

Oh my soul, drink deep of this river, dive deep into this cool, refreshing bath, and never leave its shores.

Tonight we visit Arizona Opera's "Così fan tutte"

I have a big date with my bride of 24 years tonight!

We are going to see Arizona Opera's production of Mozart's "Cosi' fan tutte".

Coming from our small Midwestern town of Lansing, Michigan, we didn't have a local opera to visit.

Furthermore, as one who possesses a degree in vocal performance, I am...shall we say...most geeked.

Technically, Cosi' fan tutte is opera buffe.  That is, comical opera which is drawn from everyday life.

The Italian title roughly translates, "women are like that", and involves a comical spoof where a test is given, through the temptations of two handsome military men, to see if the "true love" of our two damsels, might be swayed away from their lovers.

Although this certainly appears to be the most cruel of experiments, it will be interesting to see how Arizona Opera stages this ruse, and more importantly how Mozart, through the voices of our singers, chose to entertain our ears with this subject, and yet be whimsical, and entertaining.

I wonder...what do Arizonan's wear to the opera? 

Tomorrow, I will post a few reflections on the performance.  Until then, here is a video preview of our forthcoming opera:

Dr. Wayne Grudem: Confronting John MacArthur and Cal Thomas on "Do Evangelism, Not Politics" (Post #3)

This post is part of a series of posts taken from Dr. Wayne Grudem's Sunday school class at Scottsdale Bible Church.  In this class, Dr. Grudem is taking us through his forthcoming book:  Politics:  According to the Bible. I have created a category link here, which will allow you to scroll through all of the upcoming posts.

This post covers point #4 in Dr. Grudem's "Five Wrong Views" with regard to Christians and politics.

There exists a view, in the evangelical world, that Christians ought not involve themselves in political efforts, and focus on the witness of the gospel.

According to this view, if we would simply promote the gospel, and allow the gospel to change the hearts of America, then we wouldn't need to worry about conflicts with Christian morals.

Proponents of this view evidently include Dr. John MacArthur, and Cal Thomas.

In this class, Dr. Grudem puts forth seven arguments against this wrong view.  In a brief synopsis of several of his points, we find:

• God leaves Christians on earth both to do evangelism and to do good for others.
• God established both the church and the government to restrain evil.
• Countless examples exist where Christians have positively influenced governments for the good.

What do you think?  Would slavery have been abolished without the influence of Christians in Britain and America?

Download Grudem Christians and Politics Notes

Audio from the class:

Lament for the Unborn

Abba,  we cry for the slaughtered unborn.

Our nation, giving no regard to your sovereignty, takes upon itself god-like rule to daily discard those who are created by you, and in your image. 

Dare we think that each of these slain unborn are creations of ourselves, to be discarded for convenience sake?

Our nation, now seemingly immune to the horror, pleased to make these passings subject to the rights of women's bodies, apparently now desires to make these atrocities a standard medical procedure blessed by our land, and paid for by the taxes of all.

Oh Abba, They have neither knowledge nor understanding,
they walk about in darkness;
all the foundations of the earth are shaken . (Psalm 82:5)

Oh Savior and King, Give justice to the weak and the fatherless;
maintain the right of the afflicted and the destitute.
 4 Rescue the weak and the needy;
deliver them from the hand of the wicked . (Psalm 82:3-4)

Oh Yahweh, arise, move in the hearts of men and women.  Stir their voices high.  Raise leaders in the land who will protect these most innocent among us.  Let us not continue to remove these children as unwanted dross.  And worse yet, let us not further these ways by a national health care system that would seek to finance such brutality.

Arise, O God, judge the earth;
for you shall inherit all the nations! (Psalm 82:8)

Dokimazo (dok-im-ad'-zo) my friend...dokimazo!

Our nation, and the 300 million people that make up its parts, has perhaps just bounced off the bottom of this monstrous mess.

What has God taught you during this great malaise?

I believe, with every cell in my body, that God brought this recession upon us.

Here is my best post describing why I have come to this conclusion.

Ok...so now what?

Dokimazo (dok-im-ad'-zo) my friend...dokimazo!  Dokimazo (Greek):  to prove, test, verify, examine for approval, evaluate, discern.

Romans 12:2b - "... that by testing(dokimazo) you may discern what is the will of God..."

Is it not time to stand up, dust ourselves off, and start moving forward to seek the will of God?  Should we not arm ourselves with our new understandings, and step out into the light and begin to find our new path?

I know a great many people who have suffered greatly from this economic downturn.  The pain still lingers.  I will certainly look back on these years with wonder at the things that I have learned from the school of suffering.

But now is the time for dokimazo!

Have courage!  Step out! Go forth!  Dream dreams!

Sure we will find failure as we seek our path.  Not every test tube produces the cure to polio.  It takes a great amount of failure to find success.  But even in those "failures" are wondrous new friends, experiences, stories, and wonder.

Therefore, strap the word of God on your back and get trekking. Perhaps I will meet you on the trail, as we are out there trekking as well.

Dokimazo my friend.  And if we meet, at the end of a day, I will have a nice Pinot Noir to share with you, and we can share the stories of our quest.

Special Needs Ministry at Scottsdale Bible Church

Here is one of the reasons I love my church community.  This wonderful video was created by Dustin Daniels, owner of Sozo Video.  If you would like to create a beautiful video like this, give him a call.

Note: if you can't see the video, click the title link. It will be worth your while!

Rehoboam foolishly attributes his wisdom to the size of his "manhood"

As I travel through the whole of my ESV Study Bible, I am continually surprised with its frankness, its willingness to expose our nature's depravity, and even confront it in its own language.

Solomon is now dead, with the end of his life spent foolishly worshiping the idols of his countless foreign wives.

Solomon's son, Rehoboam, is now king, and the people of Israel are asking him to lighten their work load.

His response is "listen Israel, my sexual organ is larger than my father's thigh, therefore, I am going to make your work load even greater".  (1 Kings 12:10-11)

Isn't is interesting that the wisest man to ever live, has spawned a son with such misplaced arrogance.

Further, if we turn back a few pages, we remember that God told Solomon that his punishment, for worshiping idols, would be brought upon his son.

Even further, as Israel, shocked with Rehoboam's foolishness, decides to leave Rehoboam and split the nation of Israel, God tells Rehoboam to let them go as this was his (God's) doing.

So now we have God's elect nation of Israel split in two pieces:  Israel, lead by Jeroboam, and now worshiping golden calves again, and Judah, promised by God to preserve as his sacred lineage, lead by the spoiled rotten miscreant Rehoboam.

It will be most interesting to see where this leads.  Stay tuned.

What are we to learn from Solomon's turning away from the Lord?

I read this text this morning with great sadness. 

Here we have the world's wisest, and wealthiest man. All of this provided as a blessing from God. Yet...amazingly...he worshiped other gods at the end of his life.

1 Kings 11:1-8 - Now King Solomon loved many foreign women, along with the daughter of Pharaoh: Moabite, Ammonite, Edomite, Sidonian, and Hittite women, 2 from the nations concerning which the Lord had said to the people of Israel, “You shall not enter into marriage with them, neither shall they with you, for surely they will turn away your heart after their gods.” Solomon clung to these in love. 3 He had 700 wives, princesses, and 300 concubines. And his wives turned away his heart. 4 For when Solomon was old his wives turned away his heart after other gods, and his heart was not wholly true to the Lord his God, as was the heart of David his father. 5 For Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and after Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites. 6 So Solomon did what was evil in the sight of the Lord and did not wholly follow the Lord, as David his father had done. 7 Then Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the abomination of Moab, and for Molech the abomination of the Ammonites, on the mountain east of Jerusalem. 8 And so he did for all his foreign wives, who made offerings and sacrificed to their gods.

If you click on the links above, you will find that these gods represented sexuality, and in the case of Molech, child sacrifice.

Solomon knew better.  Yet, as his old age approached, he was evidently seduced by these 700 idolatrous wives.

Once again, we see a great rise, and a great fall.  Solomon's children are going to pay the price.

Over, and over, and over, throughout the whole of the Bible, we find the trouble that riches can bring.  In this case, Solomon, like his father David, clearly enjoyed sexuality, and with his wealth, and position build a stable of 1,000 women.

Most interestingly, it was perhaps Solomon who proclaimed:

Two things I ask of you;
deny them not to me before I die:
 8 Remove far from me falsehood and lying;
give me neither poverty nor riches;
feed me with the food that is needful for me,
 9 lest I be full and deny you
and say, “Who is the Lord?”
or lest I be poor and steal
and profane the name of my God. (Proverbs 30:7-9)

What are we to learn?  Daily walk with God.  Daily fight the flesh.  Ask God to keep us on a very, very short leash.

What are your thoughts of Solomon's story?

Thinking about creation's personification in the Bible

Have you ever given any thought to the Bible's consistent personification of Creation? 

Romans 8:19-23 - For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. 20 For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. 22 For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. 23 And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.

One evening, while running around our community, I caught this Saguaro praying.  See it?

I am aware that the Bible uses personification as a communication tool.  But I love to imagine what things might be. 

What if this is not a personification, and creation is literally unwillingly silent, and groaning for the day of the Lord?

Might I be talking to this Saguaro one day?  Will the stones literally cry out praise to God?

I just asking!  :)

Tell Congress to Keep Abortion Out of Health Care

In less than two minutes you can send an e-mail to your two senators, and congressperson, asking them to vote against tax payer funded abortions in any new health care plan.

Here is the link. 

Please take two minutes to do this, and use the "share this" button below to pass it on to your friends, family, and coworkers.