One Way to Encourage Your High School Freshman

Here is what Jim Elliot wrote to his sister Jane as she was preparing to enter High School:

“Begin each day with private reading of the Word and prayer.  Bunyan has well said, ‘Sin will keep you from this Book, or this Book will keep you from sin.’  From the very first, as you begin high school, give out gospel tracts to those you meet.  Make a bold start – it’s easier that way, rather than trying to begin halfway through.  Memorize Scripture on the street car. Buy up the time! It’s costly because it’s so fleeting. These are terse remarks, and trite, but I wish someone had said them to me about Labour Day, 1941.  ‘Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the Word of Truth.”

- Quoted from Elisabeth Elliot, Shadow of the Almighty, 38-39.

Some Short Reflections on What it has Been Like to Preach the Revelation - So Far

One of the unexpected effects of preaching the Revelation of Jesus is a growing sense of weariness with the world. I mean this in the best sense possible. My heart is becoming increasingly tired with the lies and deception of this age.

This is not because of some far-off fantasy of a fantastical future, rather a growing awareness of the massive pressure to compromise. Worse, the very thing I am weary of is what entices me the most.

The repeated warnings to stand firm against this invisible onslaught hit hard. How committed to Christ am I in reality? I can imagine myself being Luther-esque in some Diet of Worms, but how will I restrain my passions in my diet of stuff? Or at least my desire for stuff.

This is where I have grown to love the process of “preaching books” (as my Romanian brethren put it). The more one moves ahead in the Revelation, the more its central messages gain momentum in the life. If I had only taken one or two sections of the whole I would in no way have seen all the intricate connections and developments of thought.

Thinking of preaching the Revelation yourself? By all means do so! But be prepared to be broken and re-made with new affections and values.

The 7 Beatitudes of The Revelation

            Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear, and who keep what is written in it, for the time is near.

(Revelation 1:3 ESV)

            And I heard a voice from heaven saying, “Write this: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.” “Blessed indeed,” says the Spirit, “that they may rest from their labors, for their deeds follow them!”

(Revelation 14:13 ESV)

            (“Behold, I am coming like a thief! Blessed is the one who stays awake, keeping his garments on, that he may not go about naked and be seen exposed!”)

(Revelation 16:15 ESV)

            And the angel said to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.” And he said to me, “These are the true words of God.”

(Revelation 19:9 ESV)

            Blessed and holy is the one who shares in the first resurrection! Over such the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ, and they will reign with him for a thousand years.

(Revelation 20:6 ESV)

            “And behold, I am coming soon. Blessed is the one who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book.”

(Revelation 22:7 ESV)

            Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the tree of life and that they may enter the city by the gates.

(Revelation 22:14 ESV)

Double Standards in Ontario Concerning Abortion

The National Post has an excellent opinion piece noting the hypocritical actions of the Crown in persecuting those who voice an opinion against abortion.  The legal issues in the case against Linda Gibbons are complicated, but not more so than many other cases. Somehow, our government seems to have lots of time and resources to keep pounding away at this.

Parade naked in Toronto. Shout at a woman wearing fur. Acceptable.

Stand quietly with information about abortion within 60 feet of an abortion clinic. A crime.

Even the New York Times Agrees with part of my exegetical method

A Picture of Language - NYTimes.com:

Great to see MSM picking up and advocating for what I do every week in Greek or Hebrew! I feel so validated! :-)

"A century and a half later, diagramming sentences is even more out of date than writing lessons on a piece of slate. When the book I wrote about it was published in 2006, a couple of hundred people sent me e-mails. One writer accused me of succumbing to Stockholm syndrome because I wrote so benignly about the nun who brainwashed me into thinking diagramming was fun. Another asked me for a date. Two objected to my political attitudes, as they deduced them between the lines. A dozen or so either faulted some of the diagrams or challenged me with a particularly tricky sentence."

The second article is here: http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/06/18/taming-sentences/

Great stuff!!


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Abandoned, Aborted, or Left for Dead: These Are the Vanishing Girls of Pakistan - The Atlantic

International - Habiba Nosheen & Hilke Schellmann - Abandoned, Aborted, or Left for Dead: These Are the Vanishing Girls of Pakistan - The Atlantic:

"The doctors clean the baby, wrap her in a blanket, and take her to the nursery, where families usually gather to see their child for the first time. An hour later, a large group comes here to celebrate the birth of a boy. A few cribs away, the newborn girl lays crying. The doctor explains that no one has yet come to see her because the family is still in mourning."The mother is upset, it's the second daughter, they expected a son," Ain-ul-Ghazala says, "The mother was crying, it was quite upsetting."
Her reaction is hardly unusual here, "It's still a bad thing to have girls," Zafar explains.
Still, she says she's not too worried about the family's reaction. She's used to it. In a few days, she predicts, the family will come to terms with the birth of their daughter and learn to love her.
But families who walk out of clinics like Race View don't always come to terms with the birth of their daughter. Bilquis Edhi, a 64-year-old woman we spoke to who runs an orphanage in Karachi, has seen proof of that first hand.
Along with her husband, Abdul Sattar Edhi, Bilquis runs their orphanage in the bustling Saddar Town neighborhood, and a quick glance at the shelter makes clear that it's mostly girls who get left here.
"Since the beginning, more girls come here than boys," she says. "I think people don't like to give boys away."
These girls are often the lucky ones.
At the entrance of the orphanage is a silver-framed crib, where parents can leave unwanted children, no questions asked. Above it, an Urdu poster reads, "Don't kill the baby, leave the baby alive in the cradle."
Edhi says she sometimes finds dead baby girls in the crib in front of the shelter. She suspects that families worry that, if they leave their daughter alive, someone will come looking for them to ask why they abandoned the child, or even ask them to take her back.
She pulls out a photo of a baby girl that had been left in the crib recently. "Look, they have burned her to death," she says. The photo shows a newborn, its umbilical cord still attached, whose tiny body is fully blackened."

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New Video about The Elisha Foundation

Study Sins

The last time I went to the surgeon to have my dislocating shoulders examined, he called over a gaggle of interns to take turns sticking their finger into the strange, genetically-transferred gap at the top of my arm. This was a teaching hospital, don’t you know.  I didn’t mind as long as it helped these interns learn to spot the problem in somebody else.

To properly train a doctor, you have to show him the disease, not just the cure. That is why I think it is helpful to pay careful attention to what the Bible identifies as a sin. This avoids false-diagnoses. Our culture may think cutting a tree down is a sin, but that is only the case if you trespassed onto your neighbour’s property first. Studying sin also helps us to identify actions that we are tempted to accept as mere foibles or personality traits. Aunt Gernie is sinning when she gossips, not just “doing what old Aunt Gernie has always done.”

So, take time to study the sins of the Bible.  A great place to begin is the Prison Epistles like Colossians or Ephesians. Paul takes the time to tell those saints specific actions that are sins.

Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. On account of these the wrath of God is coming. In these you too once walked, when you were living in them. But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices
(Colossians 3:5-9 ESV)

Do you know what each of these sins is? Can you define them and explain them to yourself? They are important enough that you will be held accountable for them.

So, take some time and study sins. It will help to focus your life and your relationships.

Connected (Letty: Part Four)

Last week we buried my mother-in-law. It was a surprisingly happy day as we rejoiced in the current bliss of her soul and the end of her earthly sufferings.

One of the happiest times occurred when the family gathered and we shared some of our memories of mom.  As we did my son Will tried to get his out, but living with Williams Syndrome and zero emotional apprehension meant he only got about four words in before erupting in a doleful wail that, “Grandma died…” That was just fine.

What he wanted to talk about was his relationship with Grandma. Will was born the year Alzheimer’s invaded. In fact, some of our first clues about mom’s suffering surrounded her confusion at his birth and condition. And in that way, the two of them lived with their disabilities together.

2007 - Grandma and Grandpa and the kids

A year or so ago, when mom was rarely interacting with anyone, we showed up for a visit. Will did what he always did – marched straight over to Grandma’s hospital bed, took her hand, exploded in a massive smile and gently started to sing-song, “Hi, Grandma!” Like so many times before, she locked on. And to all of our surprise, mom smiled right back and started playing a little game with Will using her good hand like a slow motion pair of pliers. Will loved it. And he did it right back to her. It lasted a few minutes and then mom drifted off again.

Did I mention Will loved it?

He seemed to have this thing with mom where he was going to connect with her no matter what. He was not easily dissuaded and most of the time he met his goal. It was sweet. In those little exchanges, the real mom still came out. She loved children and in the only way she could, she still managed to love Will.

Serving (Letty: Part 3)

The Lord graciously took my dear mother-in-law, Letty Hueni, to Himself on April 23rd after a long battle with Alzheimer’s and the effects of several strokes. Bed-ridden for her last five years, she was wonderfully cared for by Dad and the surrounding family. She never left home. I thought I would post some thoughts about mom over the next few days…

You didn’t have to be around Mom for long to notice that she had a servant’s heart.

We lived in a small cottage not far from Lake Ontario as newlyweds. It was rather idyllic, but to afford this acre lot surrounded by millionaire neighbours, I had negotiated with my landlord to care for the lawn. “Lawn” may be an overstatement. “Forest” may be more accurate.

I am trying to recall now how many bags it was… 15, 25, 40? I think it was close to 40. Mom and Dad had come up to visit us in our new digs and while I was off trying to sell Russian cars in Canada’s wealthiest neighbourhood, they were raking.

For two days they raked and raked and gathered up somewhere around 40 bags of leaves. It took me a while to drive them all to the end of the lane for pick up.

I was amazed to think they would do that. It was a huge service to us as we got settled into our life together. And that would become a signature of my in-laws. Mom seemed to love to serve. She would even sneak off and do our laundry sometimes when we were down to visit!

And she was consistent. If you were sitting down, you were offered food and drink. If you were working at something, you were offered help. And obviously, it wasn’t just us. I watched Mom serve church members, neighbours, family and even strangers.

What floors me now is that I cannot remember a single time she expressed the slightest level of annoyance at having to serve. Rather, it seemed like it was her joy. In some very deep places the Gospel of Jesus Christ had taken root and borne good fruit in her life.