Consistency, thou art a jewel

 "Consistency, thou art a jewel!" The precise origin of this pithy saying is not certain, but believed to have originated sometime around the fourteenth century. I am often amazed at the absolute inconsistency of those who seek to be politically correct, disallowing for others what they demand for themselves. I have often experienced the "barbs" of inconsistency from my readers, especially when writing on controversial subjects such as abortion, homosexuality, politics and / or politicians. Admittedly, those are "touchy" subjects, and to be honest, I am glad I get at least some kind of response – it shows that someone out there is reading my articles. Many times said response is not an orderly, well reasoned presentation of an opposing view, but a diatribe of hateful comments that essentially say, "How dare you oppose my view?! What gives you the right to judge?!" It seems to me that when you "judge" me for "judging" something to be wrong, you have, in essence, done precisely what you condemn in me. Why is it that Christians are not allowed to express their convictions, but liberals, unbelievers, and immoralists are allowed to parade their positions before the public without so much as a whimper of an objection? The last time I checked the 5^th Amendment to the Constitution allowed freedom of speech and the press. Even more important, however, is that God's word tells me to "preach the truth in love" – something I endeavor to do each week in this article. I welcome your comments – but let us be consistent in how we treat each other. Sound fair?

by Tom Wacaster

 

Old movies

 

Old movie lovers" get together at the house of one of our brethren to watch a movie. And usually the movie is one of the old classics, the nature of which Hollywood doesn't produce anymore. You know, the kind of movie where the good prevails over the evil, the dialogue doesn't require profanity in order to get the plot of the film across, nor is nudity thought to be necessary. Movies made back when morals were still being shown and taught.

Of course, one simply cannot watch a movie without eating something along with it, can one? What started out as "snacks and popcorn" has evolved into full-blown meals now, but don't get me wrong - I'm not complaining. By telling you about our "movie nights," I'm just, as we say, "setting the scene" for my editorial thoughts offered for you to consider today.

In order to express my thoughts, I'm going to provide you, in its entirety, with some "movie" thoughts written by a brother in Virginia with whom I share editorial lessons. Rather than try and adapt his thoughts to mine, I'm just going to give his editorial to you as I received it and then tie in my lesson thoughts. Without further ado, here is what Bro. Barry Bryson of Manassas, Virginia wrote.

                                                WHY "SHENANDOAH" IS HARD

I find it increasingly difficult to watch Jimmy Stewart in the classic film "Shenandoah." It has always been one of those films, like "The Hunt For Red October" or "Snow White and the Three Stooges" which, if it is on television, I'll sit and watch it until it is done. But no more. I just can't.

"Shenandoah," if you haven't seen it (and if you haven't, how are you allowed to live in the Commonwealth of Virginia), is about a family farming in the Shenandoah Valley during the Civil War, which has stayed out of the war. But the war crashes in, and by the time we get to the final acene, widowed patriarch, Jimmy Stewart, has lost one son to a bullet, one son and daughter-in-law to marauders, and another son to a POW camp. It's a great film - not without comic relief - a film tailor-made for Stewart, but there are two scenes, both at the end of the movie that I find unbearable.

With two sons dead and one unaccounted for, Stewart goes to the family graveyard to talk to his departed wife, Martha. He tries to tell her about the war, but all he can say is, "It's just like any war: the undertakers are winning it, the old men talk about the need of it, the politicians talk about the glory of it, but the young men fighting it....they just want to go home."

The film, released in 1965, at the beginning of the escalation of America's involvement in Vietnam, is about as close to an anti-war statement as we get from Stewart, who retired as a Brigadier General in the USAF Reserves. Whatever your feelings about our involvement in Vietnam, that statement continues to resonate with anyone who ever prayed about a service man in the field.

The second scene is the final one. Stewart's youngest son, mistaken for a CSA infantryman and taken prisoner, finally makes his way home. This young man, known only as "the boy" in the film, is special to Stewart because his mother died giving birth to him. "The Boy" arrives, battered and on crutches, during worship service. While the congregation sings, father and son are reunited. How many fathers and sons were not reunited in the 1960's (or the 1860's)? Stewart and his stepson, Ronald, were not.

Stewart's stepson Ronald was killed in 1969 by Viet Cong machine-gun fire in Quang Tri Province, with four other Marines. Stewart said publicly that neither he, nor his wife, had any bitterness about the death of their son. "There's our son," Stewart said, "He wanted to be a Marine. He was a good Marine....I don't see it as a tragedy....he conducted himself honorably on the field of battle. You can't consider that as a tragedy....but losing a boy like that, you never get over it."

Of course, Jimmy Stewart didn't know he was going to lose his son when he made "Shenandoah" in 1965 (although as a bomber pilot in the Second World War, he knew plenty about war), but we know it now. I find that I am not up to that kind of omniscience. All I think about is Jimmy Stewart's son getting machine-gunned in Vietnam when I watch that scene.

We have this sort of omniscience because of 20/20 hindsight, and because part of what we are talking about is fictional. God's omniscience is real. He knows exactly how it all will end. And, He cares. (Read Ezek. 18:23-24, or Hosea 11:1-9 if you doubt that God agonizes over the lost). How hard must it be to care and to know? We may experience something of this when we care and suspect. Perhaps someone we love is pursuing a path that will not end well, we see it all happening and are powerless to stop it - perhaps then we know some small fraction of what God feels.

"But God is not powerless," you protest. "He is omnipotent. He can do anything." God cannot violate our free will (again see Ezekiel, chapter 18). Either we serve Him freely, or we do not serve Him at all. Most of us will not serve God and He knows this. (Matt. 7:13-14) And yet, knowing what He knows, He sent Jesus anyway (John 3:16), making provision for billions who will reject that provision.

Let us neither reject, nor forget it.

God wants His children home (Isa. 43:5-7). It's that simple. God wants that Jimmy Stewart ending. This is the reason Jesus died on the cross. Shouldn't we desperately want the same?

                                                                        ***********

I thought that to be a great lesson by Bro. Bryson and a neat way to tie in a scriptural lesson by using things that all of us are familiar with - movies, families and war. When we think about the cited scripture, John 3:16, it makes us aware of the fact that God loves each and everyone of his creation in the same manner as parents love their children. In closing this lesson, I'd like you to consider the difference between God, as a parent, and us.....

We don't know the future. We can only pray for our children's physical and spiritual welfare. God knows the future, what's going to happen, and still He provides a way for everyone to be saved - His Son, Jesus Christ. All the while knowing that most will not take advantage of that provision and will perish eternally.

Ron Covey

spring of 1981

In the spring of 1981, a young man was flown into the desolate north country
of Alaska to photograph the natural beauty and mysteries of the tundra. He
took along photo equipment, 500 rolls of film, several firearms, and 1400
pounds of provisions. As the months passed, the entries in his diary, which
at first detailed his wonder and fascination with the wildlife around him,
turned into a pathetic record of a nightmare.

In August he wrote, 'I think I should have used more foresight about
arranging my departure. I'll soon find out."" He waited and waited, but no
one came to his rescue.

In November he died in a nameless valley, by a nameless lake, 225 miles
northeast of Fairbanks. An investigation revealed that he had carefully
mapped out his venture, but had made no provision to be flown out of the
area. *

ALL of us need to make specific plans for OUR departure from this life.
If we don't, we can be left in a predicament worse than that young man!

"Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that
leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is
the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who
find it." - Matt 7:13-14

The Way to eternal life is through Jesus Christ, the Son of God: "I am the
way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me"
(John 14:6). Because of His great love for us, Jesus died on the cross for
our sins so that we might live with Him for an eternity (1 Thessalonians
5:10).

We accept the gift of eternal life - (Romans 6:23) by: placing our faith and
trust in Jesus (Acts 16:30-31), turning from our sins in repentance (Acts
17:30-31), confessing Jesus before men (Romans 10:9-10), and being baptized
(immersed) into Christ so that our sins can be washed away (Acts 2:38;
22:16).

THEN... we are to "live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age,
looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and
Savior Jesus Christ" (Titus 2:13-14).

Long ago, Moses bemoaned the sinful idolatry of the people of Israel and
where it would lead them, saying:

"Oh, that they were wise, that they understood this, That they would
consider their latter end!" - Deuteronomy 32:29

Have YOU considered your latter end? Have YOU planned your departure?

Trusting and obeying Christ is the only Way to be prepared...

Won't YOU?

David A. Sargent

The Carter Family

The scene is familiar in movies: A person is in a dangerous situation
and there is only one way out - and that door is closing.  The hero
seems to always slip through the closing doorway just in time.

Sometimes the door closes before we realize we should have gone
through it.  I was in such a situation recently - one I've been in on
other occasions.  While helping with a funeral I heard a relative of
the departed speaking about their accomplishments, travels and
relationships.  As I listened I thought, "I wish I had known that; I
would have talked with them more about it."  But now that door has
closed and there is no longer an opportunity.

Each time I have that experience I vow to spend more time with people.
I've learned through the years that each person has a story to tell.
If you ask the right questions and are patient enough to listen,
you'll almost always be fascinated with people you thought were merely
common.  I've found it to be especially so with the elderly.  The
world of their past was a far different world than I've known.  I need
to know what they've seen, endured and learned.

"Closing doors" also refers to sentiments and feelings that are often
unspoken.  Couples neglect to say "I love you" on a daily basis, and
later regret not saying it.  "If only I could go back and say what I
felt!"  But we can't go back.  Time machines are still a fantasy.  We
can only live in the present.

A.P. Carter is somewhat of a legend in the area I call home.  In 1927
he formed a band he called The Carter Family, one of the earliest
groups to be recorded in the genre known as Country Music.  He wrote
these lyrics for a song: "Wonderful things of folks are said, when
they have passed away; roses adorn their narrow bed, over the sleeping
face.  Give me the roses while I live, trying to cheer me on; useless
are flowers that you give, after the soul is gone."  Give me the roses
while I live!

God's word instructs us on this idea of taking time to build up one
another with our time and our words.  Paul, for example, wrote: "Let
no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for
necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers"
(Ephesians 4:29).  Using our words to impart grace - that's the point
Paul is striving to make.  Any of us can do it if we take time to do
so.

Paul was often imprisoned for his work on behalf of Christ.  The
ability to interact with others was greatly curtailed.  But listen to
Paul's description of one who sought him out: "The Lord grant mercy to
the household of Onesiphorus, for he often refreshed me, and was not
ashamed of my chain; but when he arrived in Rome, he sought me out
very zealously and found me" (2 Timothy 1:16,17).  Here was one who
took time to go to the isolated apostle.  Paul was "refreshed" simply
because one man took time to come be with him.

You and I know people who are imprisoned in other ways.  Some are
being held by the infirmities of age and cannot circulate as they once
did.  Others are cut off by cold relationships, rarely hearing words
of appreciation or encouragement.  We have the power to refresh their
spirits, just as Onesiphorus did for Paul.  But the door is closing,
even as I write.

Hurry! - before the door is closed and all opportunities are lost.

Timothy D. Hall

At dawn Jesus was standing on the beach, but the disciples couldn't see who he was

Wow! The Fourth of July was a great holiday! So many people got together and
celebrated our "Independence day" in so many different ways. Melody and I
went to a pancake breakfast (fund raiser for the local football team) and
got to mix a little with the community. That night we went out and enjoyed
the Tehachapi fireworks display. But now what? There are no other major
holidays until September and many folks feel let down, like there is nothing
to look forward to now.

We can identify with that problem can't we? It seems to be human nature to
need something to look forward to in life. When we are young we can't wait
until that next birthday so we will be old enough to do something new. Then
we look forward to finishing school and then attending a university.
Somewhere in the midst of that comes finding that person who will be our
life mate, then finding a job and a house, then looking forward to children
and the list just goes on and on.

In thinking about this problem I thought about the early disciples. They had
been with Jesus for three years and were sure he was the Messiah. They
really didn't understand the nature of the Messiah and were looking forward
to the time he was going to kick out the Romans and make Israel a great
nation again. That didn't happen and their hopes were crushed as he died
upon the cross. They faced a huge let down in their lives. They gave up the
teaching and preaching and went back to their old jobs of being fishermen, a
tax collector and a doctor. They had counted so much on what they though the
Messiah would do and it didn't happen so they went back to fishing.

However, notice their reaction in John 21 to Christ's return: "(4) At dawn
Jesus was standing on the beach, but the disciples couldn't see who he was.
(5) He called out, "Fellows, have you caught any fish?" "No," they
replied. (6) Then he said, "Throw out your net on the right hand side of
the boat, and you'll get some!" So they did, and they couldn't haul in the
net because there were so many fish in it. (7) Then the disciple Jesus
loved said to Peter, "It's the Lord!" When Simon Peter heard that it was the
Lord, he put on his tunic (for he had stripped for work), jumped into the
water, and headed to shore." (NLT)

Having something to look forward to makes all of the difference in the world
doesn't it! What are you looking forward to in life, what is your motivation
for keeping on trying and not giving up? How do you combat "the let down"
times in your life? Let me encourage you not to give up hope, but look
forward to that time when we will all be with Jesus forever! Remember what
Peter wrote in 1 Peter 1:3: "All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ. It is by his great mercy that we have been born again, because God
raised Jesus Christ from the dead. Now we live with great expectation." And
I'll end with the words of the apostle Paul from 2 Thessalonians 2:16-17;
"Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and
by his grace gave us eternal comfort and a wonderful hope, comfort you and
strengthen you in every good thing you do and say."

Russ Lawson