A WOMAN'S PLACE

Red Deer Life, October 23^rd, 2011. Proverbs 31 maps out the boundaries of a woman’s place. That place extends beyond the confines of the home. But sometimes, because of events like the one in our news clip, we are tempted to say ‘get back in the kitchen’ to some woman or other. This female corrections officer (a politically correct term for prison guard) had been safer there; let’s admit it. Though things turned out okay for her, it was not through any strength of her own, but because the convict restrained his. Because man is stronger than woman, he could have pulverized her.

Because of ‘bleeding heart’ policies like day passes for murderers (no handcuffs please!) and ‘equal rights’ across the board, citizens are put at risk of being murdered by a rampaging escapee! Do you think this woman had any regrets for overstepping her place in society, which move put whole communities to a deadly hazard? She is conditioned to feel no remorse at all. Oh, I can hear how some sissy-men would come to her defense: ‘Even the biggest, strongest, most capable male officer might have been taken hostage.’ Yeah, maybe. But this female corrections officer, certainly. That’s the point. The reason for ‘draconian’ restrictions on who should be selected to maintain the peace is to restrict incidents of the kind recorded here. Restrictive rules are made to reduce certainties to maybes. That’s how you protect the public. Everyone knows that a strong fifteen-year old farm boy can take down any woman in the world. The genders are not equal. Pretending they are and then making laws tailor-made for what we wish were true can only end in real tragedies that could otherwise be averted. Women have no business trying to protect us against criminals of the stronger sex. When push comes to shove, as it often comes down to in the law enforcement sector, women can’t handle the showdown. They’re not made according to male specifications. We are fools to believe they can do a job for which they are not endowed to perform.

To have women for corrections officers should seem as ridiculous as, and is more dangerous than, pitting women against men in the NFL. Woman was made from man, just as the Bible says; this is why she is weaker; and her role is to be under her source’s guidance and protection. Let’s, for woman’s own good, begin to lean toward policies that treasure and shield our weaker vessel who is so prone to accept deceptive opinions to her own hurt. “The woman is of the man” (1 Corinthians 11.12) and “Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression” (1 Timothy 2.14.)

A TOKEN OF JUDGMENT

March 22^nd, 2009. Only one time in the whole Bible do flies appear as something other than a token of judgment. In that place, they are the nuisance that causes the ointment to stink (Ecclesiastes 10.1.)

Flies, and their maggot offspring, sometimes referred to as worms, are, next to the serpent, the lowest of the low in God’s animal kingdom. Kill as many as you please. There will be plenty left to feed on your rotting carcass yet! It is said of king Herod, that because he was content to be praised as a god, “he was eaten of worms, and gave up the ghost” (Acts 12.23.) What a way to die! What horror movie scene could equal this death for its revolting effect upon an audience? What worse fate than to die by a disease of worms through the curse of God? But worms await us all. And they will have their way. Each vital body is a future morgue for maggots in waiting. This is so because the curse of God for sin has determined it. Worms are creatures of God sent forth to prosecute the dirty work of judgment. There is no preventative that will stop the divine resolution.

To avoid worms and corruption, some rely on cryonics, others on cremation. “If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there” (Psalm 139.8.) What does this teach? It means that there is no escape from God. What he has decreed will come to pass. If the worm misses your body because you freeze it or burn it, no matter, God has an undying worm for the body raised hereafter: “where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched” (Mark 9.44.) The nature of this worm is not so easily ascertained. But can we agree that it is a sign of negative things to come? You did not know that your body, no matter what becomes of it on earth, will be raised to exist in another world? The Bible is of Eastern origin, but not so Eastern as to deny you a body in hell (Matthew 10.28.) In that same verse we are exhorted to fear God on account of this truth. God causes the common worm to consume on earth. He will cause the immortal worm to gnaw in hell. What do you think? We are powerless to become something more significant than food for puny worms. Is it reasonable to presume that we will have the self-power to keep greater worms away on the other side? If you are so certain to be self-determining in the next world, would you not prove some of that power to keep the worms at bay in this world?

May the Lord take some truth to your heart before your day of decay begins. The only Man who ever exercised inherent power to prevent decay is Jesus Christ: “neither his flesh did see corruption” (Acts 2.31.) Jesus died for the sins of man; but being without sin, and being God, he overcame. Come under his protection by faith, and all creatures of nuisance and judgment will one day be banished from your body, soul, and sight for ever. “Believe,” with the eunuch, “that Jesus Christ is the Son of God” (Acts 8.37.) 

PRO-LIFE POSITION ILLUSTRATED

Red Deer Life, February 13^th, 2011. The reason why pro-choice feminists try to banish pro-life illustrations is because a picture is worth a thousand words. A picture like this one is a one thousand word proof that the object that a pregnant woman carries in her womb is a person. Is fetal surgery being performed here on life or on non-life? on a person or a thing? The hand is connected to a person who lives. That’s why surgery is being performed. The fetus has the worth of life. 

What justification can anyone proffer for one fetus getting operated on to improve its life, while the next fetus is crushed prior to its birthday? Is choice, all by itself, a virtue? even the queen of virtues? If it is, then we may choose to do whatever we please. We may defend life and foster it; or we may attack life in order to end it. One choice is as honorable as the other, then. And this rule, when logically extended, puts all life in jeopardy. In order to protect all life, we must be clear on what life is and when life begins, and then value life by legislating death to anyone who dares to end it. Life, especially defenseless, rudimentary life, is so precious that the evil, arbitrary choice to end it ought to be made an illegal act that is punishable by death. A choice for ending pre-born life should be threatened by the legal sentence of death. We should lobby for no less than that.

When an abortion is committed (I use the word ‘committed’ because abortion should be treated as a crime), limbs, torso, head, and heart are broken, torn, and mangled; life is ended; and a soul is returned to God as if he were at fault for generating it. There will be hell to pay, literally, for babies who are ripped from their sanctuary and thrown away. When the womb is gutted, murder is committed. There may be no punishment for the crime right now. But God will require his own pound of flesh hereafter: ‘life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.’ Law exists, whether man regards it or not. The law of God regards life so much as to require life for life. God will not wield his law by halves on judgment day.

Be sure and get your sins forgiven, for each one of us is guilty of disregarding life at some time, whether in thought, word, or deed. Sin must be judged, and it will be. It must be lasting bliss or endless woe for each one of us. There is no in between in eternity. We must go to heaven or hell based on our faith in Jesus Christ or not. Do you have confidence in him to forgive you your sins? In the end, the aborted life regretted most could be your own. Be on the forgiven side. “Whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins” (Acts 10. 43.)

A WHORE'S FOREHEAD

From one of the Sun newspapers, Spring, 2011. By pasting in news of this feminist event, I am walking the blog as close to the sewer’s edge as I have ever dared. What the police officer said is not ‘insulting to everyone.’ I second his opinion. Only I would use the word ‘harlot’ or even ‘whore’ instead. Whatever word the Bible uses, we may use as well. That is the safest standard.

Women who dress like harlots have no right to expect respectful treatment. Dressing like sin is an invitation to be treated sinfully. The picture beside this clip (not pasted in here) is of a woman holding a placard over her head, the words and symbol upon which point her out particularly by the four letter word! What says the Bible in reply? “Thou hadst a whore’s forehead, thou refusedst to be ashamed” (Jeremiah 3.3.) The verse speaks of Judah’s idolatries. Their spiritual sins are here identified with their literal adulteries. Sexual promiscuity springs from spiritual godlessness, which is the root of rotten fruit.

I’m not saying that lewdly attired women should be victimized. But should they expect, much less demand, to be respected? To dress lewdly while demanding respect is to send a contradictory message. To demand marriage from the man you already sleep with is another contradiction. It is difficult work to obtain honor after acting dishonorably. A woman may get a man to marry her after she has slept with him. But that man would respect her more in marriage if she had been chaste before marriage.

God is against any woman with a whore’s forehead. These harlots of today are less wise than harlots of olden days, for ours make financial demands only after they sleep around. But notice how good God is toward harlots and sinners at large. “Therefore the showers have been withholden, and there hath been no latter rain” (Jeremiah 3.3.) If this means that only the latter rain is withheld, then sinners have cause to thank God for sustenance arising from early rain not being denied as well. He cares and provides, even for balky sinners. He is creation’s longsuffering provider. If the ‘showers’ mean the early rain, then both rains are denied, and the full drought is on. This proves God’s mercy also, for the drought is meant to drive sinners to him for succor. By either interpretation, sinners are beholden to God. It won’t hurt to take both interpretations together. Both his goodness and his justice are meant to drive sinners to repentance to obtain mercy from their Creator.

You who call yourself a harlot, reason with me for a moment. Will behaving like a harlot secure you the respectful husband you are dying of thirst to be united to? This behavior may leave you stranded in the drought of singleness, or with a bum for a husband. Lewd dressing and loose behaving is a whore’s forehead. This stiff-necked stubbornness spells your unhappiness and misery. If you come to Jesus, his Father will be your Father. Then, being rescued from sin, you can apply prayer and wisdom to the lesser problem of finding a husband. You might even get a good one that way. “To him [Jesus Christ] give all the prophets witness, that through his name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission [pardon] of sins” (Acts 10.43.)

THE COUNSEL OF THE WICKED

Red Deer Advocate, November 20^th, 2010. The counsel of the world is usually wicked counsel. One could not stumble upon more wicked counsel than what is given here by the smiling Harlan Cohen. This columnist is counseling the anxious sinner to, in the words of the Bible, ‘hold the truth in unrighteousness’ (Romans 1.18.) In other words, he is telling him to suppress the truth that is rising up inside him and convicting him of sin. It is for the suppression of God’s truth manifesting inside that the ‘wrath of God is revealed’ (Romans 1.18, 19.)

This columnist is far from caring or even knowing what the Bible says, undoubtedly. What is his authoritative basis for the counsel he gives? In a follow-up (on December 4^th) to the article pasted in here, he states what it is: “I think he’s sick because being gay in today’s world means facing discrimination, bullying, and hate.” This diagnosis is based on nothing but what he thinks; it is based on his mean opinion. On the basis of that, he counsels the tormented inquirer to be proud and to smile!

On the basis of God’s word (no opinion but God’s) the counsel would be to allow truth to rise up and suppress your sin, which is the holy counsel’s answer to the counsel of the wicked. And this counsel should be taken for the following reason: “knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things [sins like fornication] are worthy of death” (Romans 1.32.) According to God, they are worthy of death, death of body and soul: judgment from God upon the whole man, both here and hereafter.

The next piece of decent advice to the man convicted of his homosexual experimentation is this: “Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord” (Acts 3.19.)

“Lo, their good is not in their hand: the counsel of the wicked is far from me” (Job 21.16.) This is a fitting word concerning newspaper columnists of Harlan Cohen’s stripe. The prosperity and minute of fame that they enjoy is not in their hand; it is never secure. Prosperity made from wicked counsel is about as secure as chaff in a windstorm! “God distributeth sorrows in his anger” (Job 21.17.) The wise thing is to put wicked counsel far from you, and to secure prosperity in heaven by receiving the counsel of God.

THE GRUESOME OUTCOME OF INIQUITY

Red Deer Advocate, May 24^th, 2008. This prostitute, as is probably the case with most, did not enter into her line of ‘work’ without a history of abuse driving her to it. But in Canada, more than in anywhere else in the whole world, there was opportunity for her to break free from her degrading, dangerous lifestyle. No matter what her unfortunate past, and no matter why she came to this gruesome end before another chance for better, the sad truth is that the outcome here written, both in the clip and in the Bible verse, is irreversible. “There are the workers of iniquity fallen: they are cast down, and shall not be able to rise” (Psalm 36.12.) This is a fact to take note of, not for gloating, as if her end cannot become our own, but for self-shaming, because we all deserve the end that she came to.

Most of us look down on prostitution as a sin too low for us to stoop to. But practically none of us can claim to have had no dealing with the ‘loan outfits,’ ‘pawnshops,’ or ‘taverns’ that the vice of prostitution is a sister to. And every one of us is crawling in the flesh with the sins that draw people to these miry places. Who has never been lazy? That sin will march you, instead of to work, to a pawnshop with your belongings. Who has never taken advantage of the weak? That sin agrees with owning one or shopping in one. Who has never been lusty? A lusty mind is a tavern of its own.

Oh, we could never live so fast and low as to be found eaten by maggots! Think again, for our lives are short and brutish enough! The worms will get us in the grave if not before. And this is not all. There is that worm that dieth not: “where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched” (Mark 9.44.) This speaks of the everlasting gnawing of hell for every sinner who decides to hang on to his sin instead of letting it hang on Christ, the Saviour of Sinners. You know, the Scriptures do say that the harlots were famous for entering the kingdom of God in Jesus’ day. “Verily I say unto you, that the publicans and the harlots go into the kingdom of God before you. For John came unto you in the way of righteousness, and ye believed him not; but the publicans and the harlots believed him: and ye, when ye had seen it, repented not afterward, that ye might believe him” (Matthew 21.31, 32.) I cannot speak so optimistically about the harlot in this newspaper article. That she repented before being cast down is doubtful. Only God knows for sure.

However, many respectable, moral persons will find themselves shut out of heaven while some, at least, of the prostitutes they looked down upon will be waved on in. It depends on trusting Christ or not with the sins you leave behind. From your limited perspective, eternity hinges on that one thing. This is what you must be concerned with. Jesus Christ was sent to be the propitiation, or satisfaction, to God for sins (1 John 4.10.) But where no repentance is, no satisfaction applies. This is why warnings about hell abound in the Scriptures.

LIFE IS UNPREDICTABLE

Red Deer Life, March 16^th, 2008. Who has not been accused of being ‘so predictable’? The label fits us all because we are creatures of routine. The created order is routine. The rooster will crow in the morning. The bear will hibernate come autumn. That much said, the rooster might fall off his roost and break his neck. The bear might get shot before he makes it to his den. Creatures live in a routine fashion. But interruptions occur. Therefore the observation of Solomon: “I returned, and saw under the sun, that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favour to men of skill; but time and chance happeneth to them all. For man also knoweth not his time: as the fishes that are taken in the snare; so are the sons of men snared in an evil time, when it falleth suddenly upon them” (Ecclesiastes 9.11, 12.)

Not only are we ignorant of what will take place tomorrow (James 4.14), but there is no guarantee that we’ll make it past one more half-hour. You may be finishing your shift just like on any other routine day and be entirely ignorant of the fact that you won’t even make it home to prepare for another! “The night cometh, when no man can work” (John 9.4) carries with it a very personal, spiritual application! Our life may be routine. But death might suddenly show that our life is entirely unpredictable. Death, though it may render routine life unpredictable, is itself routine. Death happens to someone, somewhere, every day.

By whatever kind of event that compels it, death, even the death of each one of us, is foreknown and determined by God. If no sparrow falls to the ground without God overseeing the event (Matthew 10.29), then how much more is this the case where humans are concerned? “Unto God the LORD belong the issues from death” (Psalm 68.20.) This doesn’t mean you are safe. Don’t get that into your head! Death is punishment for sin. “The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law” (1 Corinthians 15.56.) The meaning is that sin ensures your death because of your transgression of God’s law. We all die; but there is victory waiting on the other side only for those who trust Jesus Christ, the Son of God who obeyed that law and who suffered the penalty for man’s breaking it too. Do you trust him to save you from a death that is greater than the first? the never-dying death, which is torment in literal hell? May you get Jesus for your Saviour before your routine life is spoiled by a danger none of us can know is coming! 

PRO-LIFE POSITION IMPROVED

Red Deer Advocate, March 3^rd, 2011. Science continues to show, with increasing persuasion, that the Pro-Life position is correct. As far as science can penetrate into the mystery of what Pro-Choice proponents believe to be just a fetus, life will be found. A choice for abortion will always come down to a choice for ending life.

The Pro-Life position is that life begins at conception. This position cannot be improved upon. But the facts of this life, when brought to light by applied science, improve the position’s image. Years ago we might have wondered whether a heart is even formed so soon after conception. Now we know that not only is a heart formed just days after conception has taken place, its beat can be detected then too. Scientific advances will improve the Pro-Life position to the minds of many.

But we cannot stand on science alone to prove the Pro-Life position. Our application of science will always be limited. If life were shown in the womb just ten seconds after conception, some would hold out for five. If shown at five, they would hold out for less. Those who resist the strongest evidence are often the legislators who wield the power to either defend life, or let life be extinguished by status quo policies. The power of God’s word is the force we need.

Christians can stand with confidence on the biblical base to prove what we believe is true and right. “Thus saith the LORD that made thee, and formed thee from the womb” (Isaiah 44.2.) You were a ‘thee’ in the womb, a person. Science, because it points to what the Bible professes, backs up that profession and lends credibility to it. But the power is with God’s word.

We must not leave the Bible out of the abortion debate. The Holy Spirit is likely to enforce the word of God, more than anything else, to minds and hearts. With his regenerating act comes the conviction and fortitude this position needs. Common grace (through which scientific facts are bestowed) will sometimes persuade someone to a godly position; but grace in the heart will do it for sure. Without an act of special grace upon the heart and mind, legislators, in the present permissive milieu, even if they believe that abortion is murder, will not, probably, have the conviction and courage to defend pre-born life. Our present (2013) Canadian Prime Minister (Conservative leader Stephen Harper), for example, is Pro-Life but believes that it’s okay to dismiss the debate so long as silence and passivity ensure political success. Legislators must be preached to and prayed for, whatever their political stripe. Not only are pre-born lives on the line, but the souls of these legislators. Our position must be preached from the Bible; and the gospel from the Bible must be preached as well. 

THE FOOLISHNESS OF FASHION

(Red Deer Advocate, April 6^th, 2010.) Some fashion trends are good. Some are bad. Some are debatable. To put a modern application to a New Testament line, “We never saw it on this fashion” (Mark 2.12.)

From what the article says, these lads might be from New York City. It may be that they live in the projects in a broken home. How they came to be so foolish as to wear their pants down is unknown. What might have prevented their fashion faux pas is correction at an early age. “Foolishness is bound in the heart of a child; the rod of correction shall drive it far from them” (Proverbs 22.15.) No matter how deficient their upbringing has been, whether by lack of father or want of mother or both, who will believe that the lads know no better? Just watch your five year old kid put his pants on next time. He knows enough to pull them fully on. So we can conclude, if we suppose that the lads are as smart as five year olds are, that their failure to pull their pants up is not due to ignorance.

Notice the comment by Markus. He says that he pulls his pants up to show respect to elders. He knows that this behavior is offensive, then. The brothers are in a parking lot. Are there no elders around? The truth is, the foolish lads wear their pants like that to throw attitude around, just like the rappers do. They walk after the fashion of their idols.

Nothing is more a mark of spiritual and moral darkness than the foolish things the prince of darkness makes his subjects do. He makes these lads think they’re tough even while they walk around like babies needing a diaper change! That’s Cunning with a capital C! That’s Deception with a capital D! The devil knows how to fashion a fool!

The Lord knows how to turn a fool from his folly. Listen close, all ye baggy-pant brothers. Realize that these foolish things you do are the effects of being under the spell and sway of evil influence. Realize that your baggy-pant trend is proof that your sense of right and wrong is being obliterated by the devil-spirit that you serve. Realize that Jesus Christ died naked on a cross so that foolish sinners would not have to bear their own shame. “Shame shall be the promotion of fools” (Proverbs 3.35.) This end you do not want. Don’t you know that fools are hell-bound? Who knows, given a later birth-date, and different circumstances and upbringing, maybe I’d be wearing baggy pants below my belt-line too. “Sirs, why do ye these things? We also are men of like passions with you, and preach unto you that ye should turn from these vanities unto the living God, which made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all things that are therein” (Acts 14.15.)

LOOKING THE PART

(Red Deer Advocate, April 9^th, 2011.) This is not a picture from the Sears catalogue of some kid with his new street-clothes on all ready for school. No, this is part of a bona fide newspaper article. The caption below that picture says that this is ‘Nova Scotia rapper Classified,’ who ‘classifies himself as a working man trying to balance his work, his art, and life.’ But Classified does not look like a working man; he does not look like a man at all.

Jesus warns not to judge by appearance (John 7.24.) I’m not guilty of that here, for the title of Classified’s album (which I don’t want to dirty my page with) agrees with my judgment of him being a poor role model. I’m not judging merely by appearance. Solomon warns to not strive with a man except there be a cause (Proverbs 3.30.) I’m not guilty of that, for there is a cause. The cause is to discourage, even by putting someone to shame, the rapper image and attitude, which makes for poor role modeling.

I wouldn’t be hard on someone just for looking young. I was a late blooming pup myself—very late. But when you’re 33, shouldn’t you at least be trying to look manly? (Yes, Classified is 33 years of age in that picture!) If I had been told, when I was a kid, that in the near future it would be natural for men to adopt a childish, fourteen-year old look, I would have found this very hard to believe. It’s hard to believe even now when the truth is right before my eyes! When I was a kid, you looked forward to looking like a man. Even the hippie-men had a kind of manliness to them back then, at least compared to these people we call rappers. Men, maybe even hippie-men, would have shunned a kid-man like Classified. These days it would be hard to get enough men together for a kid-man to be shunned by! A little shunning might do these kid-men some good. It might make them smarten up. As late as 1989, kid-men were not popular in the Canadian infantry. I hope it’s like that still, though I hear that the standards have drifted since then. I remember a newby soldier break-dancing in the barrack hall some time during that year. The more senior privates frowned on that, and he deserted. I have no doubt that he deserted, in part, because of that just intolerance. We need more of this type of treatment today. It’s what compels men to ‘man-up.’

I don’t mean to pick on Classified as if he’s the poster-boy for kid-men rappers. He just happened to be the one featured in the paper. If he chances to read this article, that will hurt. But better to be told something than not, if what is told is true and could do you some good.

When a boy comes of age, he should be told to strive at becoming a man. He should be told to try and look the part. And the new man should take this advice, if not for his own good, then for good of the kids who will imitate him. What message does Classified’s look send but that you don’t have to grow up and become a serious adult? In the article it says that one of Classified’s songs ‘demonstrates maturity’ and that he has two kids. If the song is anything like the album title, will it make his kids want to become men? There’s a verse that speaks very naturally against immaturity in men, if we take the words, not in the spiritual sense intended, but at face value. “When I became a man, I put away childish things” (1 Corinthians 13.11.) On the natural plane, this can speak to anyone, saved or unsaved. It is good basic advice for all men to take, for themselves and for the kids who look up to them and who might want to follow in their steps.