Flight Paths

“What do you think about the role of women in the church?”

 The subject is a minefield.  No one seems to be able to keep their own prejudices and sore spots out of it.  Women are quick to point out the failings of men as if that undoes the dictates of God.  Men are quick to pontificate about the worst of women, even straying into women in the work force and the evils of abortion as if that had anything to do with the issue.  Not a few pat themselves on the back about how well they treat women and why would any woman want anything more than their wonderful selves?  (Am I not better to thee than seven sons? Elkanah asked Hannah.)  Everyone wants to add the “what ifs” and invent artificial boundaries that the scriptures never speak of.  And we think the Pharisees were ridiculous with their traditions. 

 But I am asked—often.  So here is, not what I think, but what it seems obvious that the Bible says.

 Do women have a leadership role as Christians?  Yes.  “Children obey your parents” Eph 6:1, obviously includes mothers who, last I checked, were all women. 

The older women are to “train the younger,” Titus 2:4.  When I teach my Bible classes, I have control of the students.  I am the one who directs the discussion and sets its boundaries in time and content.  I am the one responsible for correction if error is spoken. Sounds like leadership to me.

Women are to “rule the household” 1 Tim 5:14.  A lot of men completely miss that one.  It means she has a domain and he has no business micromanaging her in it unless she is doing a poor job of stewarding his provision for the family.

  On the other hand, whenever the church is talked about as an assembled group, things are much different.  Women are specifically told to “learn quietly with all submissiveness” 1 Tim 2:11.  As to the command in 1 Cor 14 that women are to “be silent,” we need to recognize the context and pull out every other time that two word phrase is used in that same context before we make blanket statements about women not opening their mouths until the “amen” has been said.  But that does not undo 1 Timothy 2 in any way.

 I could go on about Paul’s statement that a woman is not “to teach nor have dominion over a man.”  I could talk about parsing the sentence.  I could just bypass that and go to the obvious point that the preposition “over” has to go with both “teach” and “have dominion” or else the Bible contradicts itself.  Priscilla obviously helped teach Apollos and if all teaching is forbidden to women then that includes teaching children and women (which we have already seen is commanded) and singing (“teaching and admonishing yourselves in songs…”—the Greek word is the same in both passages) and you know what?  Everyone would have to completely ignore all godly women because their examples teach even if they never open their mouths.  But don’t you see?  There is something much more basic going on when we take issue with the scriptures.

 Whenever I hear women trying to sidestep 1 Tim 2:11, when I hear them rationalizing about their talents and how God wouldn’t want them wasted, when I hear them talking about Paul as if he were not an inspired apostle, when I hear them listing the failings of the men in their group (as if they had none) and dreaming up everything they can possibly think of that might make an exception, I think of Psalm 119:97:  Oh how I love your law, it is my meditation all the day.  When I try to weasel my way out of God’s commands, when I try to avoid them in any way possible, what does that say about how I feel about them?  Doesn’t much sound like "loving His law" to me.

 God is my Lord, not the other way around.  He has told us exactly how He wants things to be done.  I have no business telling Him that my way is better or that He ought to accept my way because I did it with a good heart.  I have no business railing against Him about why He gave me a certain talent if He won’t let me use it the way I want to use it.  I remember a few men in the Old Testament who learned that lesson the hard way.  Ladies, God will treat you equally.  Isn’t that what you want?  Or is it?

 If I love the law of God, if He is my Lord, I will not try to worm my way out of His commands, no matter how many men or Pharisaical Christians abuse them.  THAT is my answer to the question.

I am your servant; give me understanding, that I may know your testimonies! It is time for the LORD to act, for your law has been broken. Therefore I love your commandments above gold, above fine gold. Therefore I consider all your precepts to be right; I hate every false way.  Ps 119:125-128

Dene Ward

“A wall of fire about me, I’ve nothing now to fear.”

 If I were surrounded by fire, I would probably be scared to death.  Obviously this figure is meant in an entirely different way.

 And I will be to her a wall of fire all around, declares the LORD, and I will be the glory in her midst, Zech 2:5.

 Zechariah was a minor prophet who prophesied shortly after Haggai.  In fact, you can think of him as writing the sequel to that prophet’s book, Homer Hailey once said.  The Jews have returned from Babylon and are in the midst of rebuilding the Temple.  Zechariah’s job was not only to encourage them to finish the task, but to look ahead to the glorious coming of the promised kingdom.  But here they were, a small remnant (42,360, Neh 7:66, out of an estimated million in Babylon), with no armies, no weapons, and not even a wall around their old city. 

 In the vision Zechariah sees a young man trying to measure the city, as if it were a finite place.  In verse 4 God says Run, say to that young man, ‘Jerusalem shall be inhabited as villages without walls, because of the multitude of people and livestock in it.

 “My kingdom is not of this world,” Jesus told Pilate.  It would not be a physical, measurable location at all.  The Jerusalem God had in mind was one too big for walls.  It is open to multitudes of peoples.  And the only wall it needs is the protection of God Himself.

 The Hebrew writer calls the church “the heavenly Jerusalem.”  We are in that city and we do not need stone walls or mighty weapons of war.  We have “a wall of fire about” us in the person of the Almighty God.  That fire represents not just the protection, but also the glory of our Savior.  Even as we approach what could be a new era of persecution in our country, if we have faith in those promises, what have we to fear?

 Of all the old hymns we sing, I can’t think of another with as many scriptural references as The Lily of the Valley, over forty if you count them all.  Wouldn’t it be a shame to assign this one to the trash pile just because it doesn’t have modern rhythms or harmonies?  And isn’t it shameful to us if we can’t understand what these lyrics mean?  Jesus should be to us and to our descendants in ages to come “the fairest of ten thousand” to our souls, and God “a wall of fire about” us.

What is it then? I will pray with the spirit, and I will pray with the understanding also: I will sing with the spirit, and I will sing with the understanding also, 1 Cor 14:15.

Dene Ward

He’s the Lily of the Valley, the Bright and Morningstar,

He’s the fairest of ten thousand to my soul.

 Three phrases, three passages, two in the same book.  This will take some explanation.

 The old view says that the Song of Solomon was an allegory of Christ and the church.  Fewer people accept that any longer, and though it may have sparked the original lyrics, I am not certain they were meant in precisely that way.  For one thing, the analogy doesn’t hold up.

 I am a rose of Sharon, a lily of the valley, Song of Solomon 2:1.

 My beloved is white and ruddy, The chiefest among ten thousand, Song of Solomon 5:10.

 In the first passage, the shepherdess is talking about herself.  In the second, the shepherdess is speaking about her beloved, the shepherd (or Solomon if you prefer that interpretation of the book).  Those passages are about two different people in the narrative, so how could the poet be following the old interpretation of Christ and the church in the hymn if the analogy does not hold up? 

 Here is the point we are so bad about seeing sometimes:  they are figures of speech.  The lyricist has borrowed various phrases out of the Bible to depict how wonderful Christ is to the believer.  Did you catch the Rose of Sharon reference too?  These are poetic metaphors.  Making literal arguments from figures of speech is something we ridicule our religious neighbors for doing.  Why do we?  Jesus is like a beautiful flower.  He is so fair (as in “Fairest Lord Jesus” too, by the way) we could say he is the fairest among ten thousand. 

 Does that mean number 10,001 is fairer than he is?  Of course not, not any more than the other phrase means he has a stem and petals.  None of these is meant to be taken literally whether you believe in the allegorical version of the Song of Solomon or not.  As it happens, I don’t.  I believe it is in there to show us how to order our romantic marital love.  If that isn’t what it’s about, then God left something awfully important out of the Bible and I don’t believe that for a minute.  He tells us too many times that it contains everything we could possibly need in any circumstance.  And if Paul can talk about the church being the “bride of Christ” why can’t I use these terms for my spiritual “husband?”

 Then we have the “Bright and Morningstar.”  What is that all about?  Balaam prophesied, “There shall come forth a star out of Jacob,” Num 24:17.  Peter tells us, “And we have the prophetic word more fully confirmed, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts,” 2 Pet 1:19.  The Morningstar, or daystar, was a bright star that appeared just before dawn at certain times of the year, Venus I read in one place, which at other times of the year is the Evening Star.  Jesus is our Morningstar. He appeared before the coming of his kingdom, the “day” Joel speaks of in Joel 2.  He will appear again on the “day” he takes us to our promised rest.  When we accept him in our hearts by our obedience, he “appears” to us individually (and figuratively) on that “day” as we enter his spiritual body.  Take your pick of interpretations and “days.”  Any of them satisfy the metaphor.

 That leaves us with just one more wonderful phrase to cover next time, a promise that should encourage us all.  But for now, dwell on these a little while.  Is Christ that important to you?  Is he that beautiful to you?  Would these figures of speech rise from your lips?  Or are we a little too ignorant of the Word and a lot too embarrassed to say such syrupy words about a Savior who gave up everything for us?

Dene Ward

I have found a friend in Jesus, He’s everything to me,
He’s the fairest of ten thousand to my soul;
The Lily of the Valley, in Him alone I see
All I need to cleanse and make me fully whole.
In sorrow He’s my comfort, in trouble He’s my stay;
He tells me every care on Him to roll.

• 
  
• Refrain:
  He’s the Lily of the Valley, the Bright and Morning Star,
  He’s the fairest of ten thousand to my soul.

He all my grief has taken, and all my sorrows borne;
In temptation He’s my strong and mighty tow’r;
I have all for Him forsaken, and all my idols torn
From my heart and now He keeps me by His pow’r.
Though all the world forsake me, and Satan tempt me sore,
Through Jesus I shall safely reach the goal.

(Refrain)

He’ll never, never leave me, nor yet forsake me here,
While I live by faith and do His blessed will;
A wall of fire about me, I’ve nothing now to fear,
With His manna He my hungry soul shall fill.
Then sweeping up to glory to see His blessed face,
Where rivers of delight shall ever roll.

(Refrain)

 I bet you have sung that song all your life.  It’s one of those old ones that so many sneer at nowadays.  Yet this song does something very few of the new ones can. It contains a different scriptural reference in nearly every line.  Take a minute and look at the song.  Can you find them?  Here is the shame on us—in the days when this song was written, everyone who claimed to be a Christian, even some we would not classify as “New Testament Christians,” could find them all—they knew their scriptures that well--while we sit here at best thinking, “That sounds vaguely familiar.”

 Obviously I don’t have space to go over them all.  Let me do the obvious ones quickly, and then we will spend two more sessions on the rest.

 “I have found a friend in Jesus,” Matt 11:19.

 “All I need to cleanse and make me fully whole,” 1 John 1:7; Acts 9:34.

 “In sorrow he’s my comfort, in trouble he’s my stay;” you will find this sentiment all over the psalms and the prophets, too many to list.

 “He tells me every care on him to roll,” 1 Pet 5:7.

 “He all my griefs has taken and all my sorrows borne,” Isa 53:4.

 “He’s my strong and mighty tower,” Psa 61:3.

 “I have all for him forsaken and all my idols torn from my heart,” Ezek 36:25; Hos 14:3,4.

 “He keeps me by his power,” 1 Pet 1:5.

 “Through Jesus I shall safely reach the goal,” Phil 3:14.

 “He will never never leave me, nor yet forsake me here,” Heb 13:5.

 “While I live by faith” Hab 2:4; Rom 1:17; Gal 3:11; Heb 10:38.

 “Do his blessed will” Matt 7:21.

 “With his manna he my hungry soul shall fill,” nearly two dozen verses from Exodus 16 to John 6 along with Matt 5:6.

 “To see his blessed face,” Rev 22:4.

 Did you catch all those?  I defy you to find more than a few songs written after 1960 that have that many scriptural references in them, unless they repeat one Biblical phrase over and over, or are lifted whole cloth out of the scriptures.  It’s time we learned what those old songs were about before we go throwing them out just because we think them “old” and “archaic” and “boring.”  Maybe they wouldn’t be so difficult to understand if we knew God’s Word like we ought to. 

 And these phrases were just the easy ones, the ones you can probably figure out for yourself with no help.  In the next two days, the two remaining posts on this hymn will begin to get a little more difficult.  While you wait for those, though, spend a little time with the scriptures listed above and ask yourself, “Could I even begin to do the job this poet did?” 

Dene Ward

Today's post is by guest writer Joanne Beckley.

We have all sung the song, "Que sera, sera" which translates "Whatever will be, will be" without really thinking about the consequences of what it means. True, the future is not ours to see, but is it only in the hands of “fate”? The phrase is a Spanish expression that conveys the idea of accepting the future and not worrying about what may happen. It is often used to express a sense of resignation or acceptance of events beyond one's control no matter our own choices.

Believing in fate suggests that events in life are predetermined and beyond a person's control and therefore there is no accountability. Often fate is attributed to a supernatural power or higher force. It implies a sense of inevitability, where specific outcomes are already destined to occur. Believing in fate provides a framework for understanding seemingly random or difficult events.

Fatalism is a major premise of Islam and widely held in Hinduism, too; in fact, it is a fatalistic view of life that helps keep India’s caste system in place. Greek mythology told of the Moirai, or the Fates, three goddesses pictured as weavers of men’s lives. Their decisions could not be canceled or annulled, even by other gods. But is fatalism a biblical concept?

What does the Bible say about fate?

God refuses to surrender people to their fate, namely death and eternal destruction. He changes fate into destiny for all who believe in Christ. Therefore, God's plan, his election, is paramount. Fatalism is not biblical.

God’s Word teaches that Man was created with the ability to make moral choices and that he is responsible for those choices. The Fall of Man was not a predetermined event in which Adam and Eve were hapless victims of a Puppet-Master God. Adam and his wife had the ability to choose obedience (with its attendant blessing) or disobedience (with its consequent curse). They knew what the result of their decision would be, and they were held accountable for their destiny (Genesis 3).

This theme of being held accountable for our choices continues throughout Scripture. “He who sows wickedness reaps trouble” (Proverbs 22:8a). “All hard work brings a profit, / but mere talk leads only to poverty” (Proverbs 14:23). “Do you want to be free from fear of the one in authority? Then do what is right and he will commend you” (Romans 13:3).

We sin because we choose to. “Each person was judged according to what he had done” (Revelation 20:13). We can’t blame Fate or God. James 1:13-14 says, “When tempted, no one should say, ‘God is tempting me.’ For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is enticed.”

Scripture also teaches that we choose to have faith. The oft-repeated command in Scripture to believe implies that we do have a choice in the matter. “Be not faithless, but believing” (John 20:27; see also Acts 16:31; 19:4). What have we chosen?

Lest we get the wrong idea, we are not the sovereign masters of our lives. Only God is sovereign. His sovereign control is called “providence.” He has chosen to give us a free will, and He has created a moral universe in which the law of cause-and-effect is a reality. But God is God alone, and there are no “accidents” in the universe.

Fighting against the plan of God is pointless. “There is no wisdom, no insight, no plan / that can succeed against the LORD” (Proverbs 21:30). This is why the Tower of Babel was never completed (Genesis 11:1-9), why Daniel’s detractors were thrown to the lions (Daniel 6:24), why Jonah spent time inside a fish (Jonah 1:17), and why I get in trouble when I sin.

Everything that happens in the world is made to work out according to God’s purpose. Evil exists, but it is not allowed to thwart God’s providence. God uses even sinful men for His purposes. “The king’s heart is in the hand of the LORD; / he directs it like a watercourse wherever he pleases” (Proverbs 21:1). God worked in the hearts of the Egyptians (Exodus 12:36) and King Artaxerxes (Ezra 7:27) to bring about His purpose. Even when Man’s intent is purely evil, God can still bring about His will, as in the case of those who crucified Jesus (Acts 2:23; 4:27-28).

In summary, the Bible teaches that God is in charge and He has offered the hope of living with Him in heaven. At the same time, He has given us choice, the freedom to obey or disobey Him, and there are some things that God does only in answer to prayer (James 4:2). Those who are obedient to Christ as Savior have accepted God’s plan (John 14:6). From then on, it’s a step-by-step following of God’s best for us, praying for His will to be done (Matthew 6:10), and avoiding the sidetrack of sin (Psalm 32:1-11; 119:59; Hebrews 12:1-2). That is what God wants of us, obedient faith in Jesus Christ looking to live with Him–our destiny.

All of us need to be aware of what the world is trying to teach us concerning fate. We are NOT in the hands of fate, and we should not make reference to it in a light way.

SONG: I KNOW WHO HOLDS TOMORROW

by Ira Stamphill 1950

I know who holds tomorrow,

I just live from day to day.

I don’t borrow from its sunshine,

For its skies may turn to gray.

I don’t worry over the future,

for I know what Jesus said;

And today I’ll work beside Him

For He knows what is ahead.

I don’t know about tomorrow;

It may bring me poverty.

But the one who feeds the sparrow

Is the one who stands by me,

And the path that be my portion

May be through the flame or flood,

But His presence goes before me

And I’m covered with His blood.

Today's posts is by guest writer Lucas Ward.

Luke 21:1-4  "Jesus looked up and saw the rich putting their gifts into the offering box, and he saw a poor widow put in two small copper coins.  And he said, 'Truly, I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all of them.  For they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on.'"

  The custom of having a box at the entrance to the temple in which any who wished could donate money for the upkeep of the building dates back to the reign of King Jehoash.  (2 Kings 12:9)  As happens, and similar to what Jesus taught against in Matthew 6, some made a show of their donations.  Jesus is watching the rich drop large sums into the box, and perhaps He is even formulating another rebuke against acts of worship for show, when this widow comes up and drops in two small coins.  Several weeks ago, when teaching this in class, I calculated what these two "mites" were worth in modern American money based on buying power.  (If a denarius is one day's pay for a laborer, and minimum wage is $13/hr, then figuring for an eight hour work day a denarius is approximately $100.  Before anyone scoffs, think of your weekly grocery bill, and monthly rent and tell me that a day's pay back then was significantly less than $100 in America today.)  I read somewhere that these mites (leptas) were 1/64 a denarius.  Do the math and two mites is about $3.25 in today's money.  It's hard to buy a candybar at the gas station for that price! 

 Perhaps the widow was a bit ashamed, watching the rich drop in large sums, while she had so little to offer. Jesus, instead, extols her to His apostles for giving all she had.  From what is written, it makes me wonder if she didn't skip eating that day so she could give something to God.  Her gift was small, compared to the gifts of others.  Her gift was immense when compared to her ability. 

 So, the lesson is don't get discouraged because you can't do everything that others do.  Do what you can do for the Lord, however small that may seem.  Nathan, my brother, is a preacher, a Bible professor, an author of biblical books, a publisher of even more biblical books, and a husband and father.  I look at my accomplishments for the Lord and feel inadequate by comparison.  However, none of us are judged by comparing to others.  How did Jesus judge the widow's gift?  By comparison to what she could offer.  She gave all she had.  The rich gave of their excess.  Jesus judged her more worthy. 

 Do what YOU can for the Lord.  Do ALL that you can for the Lord.  This is not an excuse for laziness.  Don't be discouraged that you can't keep up with others, but don't whine about how you "did all I could" while you spend 35 hours watching TV each week either. Examine yourself (2 Cor. 13:5) and ask if there is any more you can give to the Lord.  If yes, do so.  If no, then don't worry about those who have been blessed to be able to give more.  Jesus won't compare you to them, so don't you either.  Work for the Lord; the Rest is coming.

Heb. 4:9,11  "So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God . . . Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience."

Lucas Ward

Keith noticed it first, a dove that sat quiet and almost still on the ground beneath one of the hanging bird feeders.  While other doves and a bevy of cardinals hopped around him pecking at the ground, then flying up and down from the feeder, he barely moved a foot in two hours, and always one small, hesitant hop at a time.  By late evening most of the other birds were gone, finished with their free supper and off to find a good roosting place for the night, but he still sat there.

 By then I was a little worried.  I grabbed the binoculars for a closer look.  He had puffed himself up twice his size as birds will do in the winter to keep warm.  But it was still early September and the humid evening air hovered in the upper 80s.  Suddenly his head popped up, stretching out his neck just a bit, and then immediately back into the folds of feathers around his shoulders.  As I continued to watch I noticed it every five minutes or so.  It almost looked like he had hiccups, but somehow I did not think that was the problem.  Something worse was happening.

 Near dusk he suddenly flew straight up to the feeder itself.  Instead of perching on the outer rung designed for a bird to curl its feet around and be able to lean forward to eat from the small trough that ran around the bottom of the feeder, he flew into the trough itself, hunched down, and leaned against the clear plastic wall of the feeder.  Then he became completely still—no more twitching or bouncing.  I watched until it was too dark to see any longer. 

 The next morning I went out with my pail of birdseed to refill all the feeders around the house.  There beneath the feeder lay the now much smaller body of the dove.  Sometime in the night he had died and fallen off the feeder.  We carefully disposed of the small body for the sake of the other birds and our Chloe just in case it had carried a contagious illness.  It was a sad moment.  I couldn’t help but think, “You weren’t alone, little guy.  We watched you and we cared.”

 We weren’t the only ones watching.  Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father,Matt 10:29.  God notices when every little bird falls to the ground.  And never forget the lesson Jesus draws from that:  But even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows,Matt 10:30-31.

 Dying alone has become a metaphor for a purposeless existence. “We’re born alone, we live alone, we die alone,” (Orson Welles).

  It’s used to depict life and death as a beginning and end that you cannot effect one way or the other.  “Don’t expect anyone to stick around.  You were born alone and you will die alone,” (Anonymous).

 It’s used as a desperate pitiful plea for someone to care:  “I just don’t want to die alone, that’s all.  That’s not too much to ask for, is it?  It would be nice to have someone care for me, for who I am, not about my wallet,” (Richard Pryor).

 It’s used to show the meaninglessness of life:  “At the end, we all die alone,” (Anonymous).

 Is it any wonder that skeptics and atheists commit suicide?  None of these things is true for a Christian. 

 For the LORD loves justice; he will not forsake his saints. They are preserved forever…Ps 37:28.

 Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you,Heb 13:5.

 Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go,Josh 1:9.

 Sometimes we can quote passages like these until we are blue in the face, but when the hour of trial comes, any sort of trial, and no one stands with us, we allow the physical eye to fool us into believing we are alone.  We need to learn to see with spiritual eyes like our Lord did:  Behold, the hour is coming, indeed it has come, when you will be scattered, each to his own home, and will leave me alone. Yet I am not alone, for the Father is with me,John 16:32.  We are the only ones who can take that promise away—when we don’t believe it.  With God a believer is never alone no matter how much vacant space surrounds him.

 If God promised to watch for every fallen bird, He will watch for me.  Even if someday I breathe my last breath in an otherwise empty room, I can know that Someone cares enough to be nearby, watching and waiting to take me home.

Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints, Ps 116:15.

And I will gather you to your fathers…2 Chron 34:28.

Dene Ward

 I am not a tennis fan.  I can figure out most of the rules by watching a couple of games, but to tell the truth, I only do that if I am home sick and have nothing else to watch on television and don't feel like straining my eyes to read.  But I do remember the Battle of the Sexes.

 At least I remember the second one.  I had no idea that a first one ever happened.  Probably because it did not end the way the media wanted it to, not to mention all the women in the sports world.  The first one took place on May 13, 1973, at the San Vicente Country Club in Ramona, California.  Bobby Riggs, a 55 year old tennis champion from the 30s and 40s played Margaret Court, an Australian women's champion who had won 89 of her previous 92 games—before taking time off to have a baby.  Their style of play was different and reportedly Riggs had the court surface redone so it played "slower," and that undid Court's usual style of serve and volley, giving him time to get to a shot and put power behind it.  He wound up beating her 6-2,6-1.

 Immediately, he asked Billie Jean King for a similar match-up, one she had previously turned down.  Maybe Court's defeat changed her mind, or maybe it was something else, but she agreed to the match-up.  That game took place at the Houston Astrodome on September 20, that same year, and she beat him 6-4,6-3,6-3.  That is the battle I heard about, not the first one.  Frankly, it wasn't King I was rooting for but Riggs I was rooting against—he was such a loud blowhard that he deserved to lose in my mind.

 Of course those are not the only times we hear about competition between the sexes.  Maybe it's the abuse women have suffered for centuries, even millennia, from overbearing men in every culture who treat them like personal slaves that causes women to constantly rebel and need to show how good they are.  But it has reached the point that it is no longer the aim for women to be treated fairly and equally.  Feminists want to make sure people know that women are simply better than men. 

 This is not the way God wants it.  Man and woman were designed to be two halves of the same being.  And Jehovah God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and he slept; and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof: and the rib, which Jehovah God had taken from the man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man. And the man said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.  Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one fleshGen2:21-24.  The Word of God variously describes God in terms of a loving father and a loving mother, and uses the same word to describe the divine Beings—One—as he does to describe the two marriage partners.  Just as God demands unity in His church, He also demands it in a marriage.  Marriage is designed to complete the image of God in which we are all created.

 If anything will help you determine whom you marry, perhaps this will.  How can you be "one" with someone who does not have the same commitments, the same purpose in life, and the same determination to serve God if you are not both children of that God?  Are there instances of Christians being married to unbelievers in the New Testament?  Of course there are, but I would guess that most of those were cases of an already married couple where only one was converted and the other not.  The questions Paul answers seem to indicate that, especially in I Corinthians 7.  "Now that I am a Christian and he is not, should I leave him?" 

 This morning please consider this one thing.  Are you and your spouse truly one or is there a battle of the sexes going on in your home?  I hear too many listing faults, complaining to anyone and everyone about pet peeves, and shaking their heads in annoyance over every little thing.  Ask yourself, what do my friends hear me saying about my spouse?  Are they surprised I ever married such a no-good boor?  Because, instead of the astonishing oneness God intended, that may well be the impression you are leaving.

Live joyfully with the wife whom thou love all the days of your life of vanity, which he has given you under the sun, all your days of vanity: for that is your portion in life, and in your labor wherein you labor under the sun  Eccl9:9.

Dene Ward

We swapped computers in 2015.  The new one was supposed to be so much better for someone like me, someone whose vision is becoming more and more limited.  Why, it has no wires!  You could pick it up and carry it around with you and no, it was not a laptop.  It was one of those new “all-in-ones.”  Part laptop, part tablet, but with a screen the size of a large desktop.  You didn’t even need a mouse and keyboard.  Rrrrright.  In my viewpoint it will take them a few more years to make this no-mouse-no-keyboard thing work smoothly enough that you don’t find yourself wanting to throw the whole thing through the window at least once a day.

 But it would have been a much easier transition if it hadn’t been a Lenovo.  Does that ring a few bells with the techie crowd?  In 2014, Lenovo began building a third party adware program called "Superfish" into its consumer PCs.  If you have read anything about it, you already know where this is going.  There was so much adware embedded in this thing we couldn’t even read a line of text without pop-ups flooding the screen.  If the cursor ran across a magic word, another would instantly appear.  And the thing kept track of every website you visited, producing even more ads.  Sometimes they popped up so quickly that when you were trying to click on something on the legitimate page, you wound up clicking on an ad instead.  We couldn’t even load our desired programs for all the pop-ups.  But this wasn't the worst of the problem.  This adware made it much easier for hackers to break through HTTPS entirely, and such an attack occurred shortly after the program became public.

 As far as I know, we were never hacked, but this stuff was so deeply embedded that it took at least three trips to Geek Squad to get it out.  And after every scrub, we had to spend time loading the programs we wanted yet again.  The first four months we were actually able to use the computer about 4 weeks. 

 Satan embeds his adware into our culture the same way.  When you can’t even watch a hamburger commercial without “soft” porn invading your living room, when the teasers for the shows you avoid include language your mama would have washed your mouth out with soap for using, and when we are constantly told that we aren’t hip, cool, smart, happy, or the most interesting people in the world without beer, hard liquor, cigarettes, or dancing the night away in skimpy clothes on a rooftop somewhere exciting where whatever you do stays, then you need to watch out for your souls more than ever before.

 The world will laugh at you if you mention Satan.  He isn’t real, we are told.  Only the ignorant believe in a mythological character like that.  If you are a Christian, you must believe in Satan.  If you don’t accept that part of the Bible, why would you accept any other part?

Growing up I thought the only New Testament verses that mentioned Satan were the ones around Jesus’ temptation and the good old roaring lion in Peter.  Imagine my surprise when I looked it up.  I counted 19 outside the gospels, less one for the Peter passage we all know, for a total of 18 others.  Then there were the ones who called him something else like “the god of this age,” and “the Devil.”  And many of them talk about his “adware.”  Check a few of these out.

 2 Cor 2:11 mentions the “devices” of the devil.  Eph 6:11 speaks of his “schemes.”  2 Cor 4:4 tells us he “blinds the minds.”  2 Cor 11:14 tells us he “disguises” himself.  All I have to do is look around and see those devices and schemes every day, not just on television but in the speech and behavior of people who have already been taken in.  Have you ever seen the original “Invasion of the Body Snatchers?”  Some days I feel exactly like Kevin McCarthy, looking over my shoulder to see where the pods are, and wondering which of my neighbors have been replaced.

 One of Satan’s devices are his ministers.  The New Testament warns again and again of false teachers, false messiahs, false prophets, and false apostles. They fashion themselves as “ministers of righteousness” (2 Cor 11:15).  Not only do they appear to be doing good, they even look good.  False teachers on the whole are good-looking and charismatic.  A lot of what they say sounds good and is, in fact, good.  But 90% of rat poison is good too.  It only takes the 10% to kill the rats.  When you keep finding the good in a man you know is teaching error, maybe Satan’s adware has taken hold of your heart already.

 Our culture has become embedded with evil masquerading as good.  We had to have our computer “scrubbed to the bones” to get rid of the adware.  Maybe it’s time we all used a spiritual scrub brush on ourselves before we are taken in too.

But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction. And many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of truth will be blasphemed. And in their greed they will exploit you with false words. Their condemnation from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep. 2Pet 2:1-3.

Dene Ward

Every afternoon following our midday meal, we walk our property, counting new blooms on the roses, smelling the jasmine, and looking beneath those large scratchy leaves for new squash blossoms.  Usually I end up with a handful of wildflowers, blooms so tiny I cannot see them until Keith hands me one I can pull up close.

 Do you know what I see?  Blooms of all colors--red, pink, blue, white, yellow, orange, purple in all shades and combinations—and shapes—bells, tubes, bowls, cups, stars with five or six points, some flared, some rayed, some as complex as orchids.  And did you know that even the stems are different?  Some are wiry, some are leafless, some are hairy, some sprawl and others stand up straight, and some are square!  Some of these flowers are exquisite, but most of us don’t know that.  We’ve never taken the time to bend over and really look.

 A long time ago a woman who has since become a close friend, told me that looking across the pews at Keith had made her think he was stern and unapproachable, and so she had decided to make it a point to get to know him.  It wasn’t really Keith’s fault.  He has large, piercing blue eyes that look like they’re boring into you, a strong Roman nose, and a voice that, because he is profoundly deaf, is always in projection mode.  Even when he isn’t, he often sounds disapproving, and is always loud, which is often translated “angry.”  A lot of people just go with that first impression.  This woman did not, and she proclaimed that year of getting to know him “delightful.” I wonder how many others have missed out on that delight, how many have formed an opinion, and kept it despite what others might have said.

 How many do we overlook?  The elderly because we think them dull and uninteresting?  The teenagers because we’ve branded them all shallow and naïve?  The disabled because we think they have nothing to offer?  The scholarly and intellectual because we think those dry old men can’t possibly know how to have any fun?  The ones who seem so well put-together that we think they wouldn’t possibly want anything to do with “someone like me?”  None of these judgments is fair.   

Jesus told the Jews, “Judge not according to appearance, but judge righteous judgment,” John 7:24.  Maybe I should take the time (sacrifice) to bend over (be humble) and examine (make some effort) a few wildflowers out there, instead of passing over them (negligence) as if they weren’t worth my trouble (arrogance).  When I think of it that way, I finally understand why judging by appearance is NOT righteous.

But the LORD said to Samuel, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the LORD sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart.”  1Sam 16:7 

Dene Ward