I wasn’t sure what to write about today because during this next week we will have two different days either one of which would be a good topic: Halloween and Election Day.
Will Rogers once said that “we come pretty near to having two holidays of equal importance in the same week – Halloween and Election Day. And of the two, the Election provides us with the most fun. On Halloween they put pumpkins on their heads, and on Election Day they don’t have to.”
I settled on Halloween on the theory, to quote Rogers once again, that if God wanted us to vote, he would have given us candidates. (Disclaimer: I do vote and encourage you to inform yourself of the issues and do the same).
Not to gore anyone’s ox, but it’s hard for me a as Christian to see any redeeming value in a day that celebrates death, hobgoblins, witches, the occult, and demons. The day itself has its origins in the pagan Celtic festival of Sam-Hain, or “Summer’s End”.
They believed that on this particular day, the border between our world and the “other world” becomes thin, allowing spirits to pass through. They wore costumes and masks used to ward off evil spirits and hollowed out large turnips and carved them with faces.
Even human sacrifice sometimes had a part of these days.
Today Halloween is still a high day of the occult, including witchcraft, druidism, and paganism.
The Western Church adopted November 1st (All Hallows Day or All Saints Day) as a Holy Day during the Middle Ages during the days of Charlemagne. Hence the name “All Hallows Eve", or "Halloween" for the evening before. The practice of the medieval church had been to adopt traditions and days of the pagan world, in a sense “baptizing” them with a Christian façade in an attempt to use them as an evangelization tool.
But one must ask if the focus of the day has really changed much from its original pre-Christian meaning. A veneer of Christian theology hardly merits mention in most quarters where it is celebrated. The emphasis instead is on either a lighthearted treatment of the dark side of the spirit world or, in the world of the occult, an out and out celebration of Satan himself. Scripture tells us not even to attempt to worship God through such means. (Deuteronomy 12:29-32)
C.S. Lewis, in his introduction to the Screwtape Letters, said, “There are two equal and opposite errors into which our race can fall about the devils. One is to disbelieve in their existence. The other is to believe, and to feel an excessive and unhealthy interest in them. They themselves are equally pleased by both errors and hail a materialist or a magician with the same delight.”
I would submit that Halloween encourages both.
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Saturday, October 23, 2010
Monday, October 11, 2010
Whose Side Is God On?
“Are you for us or our adversaries?” (Joshua 5:13)
During the Civil War someone asked Abraham Lincoln if he thought God was on the Union’s side. Lincoln is said to have answered, “Sir, my concern is not whether God is on our side; my greatest concern is to be on God's side.”
As in times of warfare, the temptation during a political campaign is to claim the mantle of God’s endorsement. “God is on our side.” “How would Jesus vote?” “We’re doing the Lord’s work.”
We would do well to remember what happened when the Angel of the Lord stepped into the time and space around Joshua. They were about to conquer Jericho, and as Joshua was apparently reconnoitering the vicinity, he came across a mighty being standing before him, sword drawn as if ready for battle. “Are you for us or our adversaries?” Joshua queried.
The answer? “Neither!”
Face it. It was a great answer. To claim the imprimatur of the Almighty on our endeavors smacks of presumption. It may be so that one candidate is superior to another, and it may be true that living godly values places us on God’s side, but rather than claiming the mantle of Providential favor, it would be better to submit our endeavors to God’s service and will.
In Lincoln’s Second Inaugural, sometimes called the greatest sermon ever delivered on American soil, the theme surfaces again, this time as a reminder that God’s purposes are sometimes beyond our understanding and that victory after such an awful conflict should be viewed with humility, not the arrogance of the conquering self-righteous.
“Neither party expected for the war, the magnitude, or the duration, which it has already attained. ... . Both read the same Bible, and pray to the same God; and each invokes His aid against the other. ... The prayers of both could not be answered; that of neither has been answered fully. The Almighty has His own purposes. ... With malice toward none; with charity for all; with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation’s wounds; ... to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and a lasting peace, among ourselves, and with all nations.”
During the Civil War someone asked Abraham Lincoln if he thought God was on the Union’s side. Lincoln is said to have answered, “Sir, my concern is not whether God is on our side; my greatest concern is to be on God's side.”
As in times of warfare, the temptation during a political campaign is to claim the mantle of God’s endorsement. “God is on our side.” “How would Jesus vote?” “We’re doing the Lord’s work.”
We would do well to remember what happened when the Angel of the Lord stepped into the time and space around Joshua. They were about to conquer Jericho, and as Joshua was apparently reconnoitering the vicinity, he came across a mighty being standing before him, sword drawn as if ready for battle. “Are you for us or our adversaries?” Joshua queried.
The answer? “Neither!”
Face it. It was a great answer. To claim the imprimatur of the Almighty on our endeavors smacks of presumption. It may be so that one candidate is superior to another, and it may be true that living godly values places us on God’s side, but rather than claiming the mantle of Providential favor, it would be better to submit our endeavors to God’s service and will.
In Lincoln’s Second Inaugural, sometimes called the greatest sermon ever delivered on American soil, the theme surfaces again, this time as a reminder that God’s purposes are sometimes beyond our understanding and that victory after such an awful conflict should be viewed with humility, not the arrogance of the conquering self-righteous.
“Neither party expected for the war, the magnitude, or the duration, which it has already attained. ... . Both read the same Bible, and pray to the same God; and each invokes His aid against the other. ... The prayers of both could not be answered; that of neither has been answered fully. The Almighty has His own purposes. ... With malice toward none; with charity for all; with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation’s wounds; ... to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and a lasting peace, among ourselves, and with all nations.”
Eisenhower's First Rule
The best place I know to find hidden treasures is in used bookstores. Today I found a gem hidden in a stack of pulp. It’s a 1969 book by Dwight Eisenhower entitled Pictures I’ve Kept, a sort of personal picture album of his life plus his autobiographical reflections.
In the very first pages, Ike tells of a time just a few months before his 5th birthday.
“I noticed a pair of barnyard geese,” he wrote. “The male resented my intrusion from our first meeting. Each time thereafter he would push along toward me aggressively and with hideous hissing noises so threatening my security that five-year-old courage could not stand the strain.
“Uncle Luther decided that something had to be done. He took a worn out broom and cut off the straw. With the weapon all set, he took me out into the yard. More frightened at the moment of his possible scolding than I was of aggression, I took what was meant to be a firm, but was really a trembling, stand the next time the fowl came close. Then I let out a yell and rushed toward him, swinging the club as fast as I could. He turned and I gave him a satisfying smack right in the fanny.
“From thence on, once he found out I had a stick, he would continue his belligerent noises whenever he saw me but he did not again come near me. I never made the mistake of being caught without my weapon. This all turned out to be a rather good lesson because I quickly learned never to negotiate with an adversary except from a position of strength.”
Funny how a five-year-old from Abilene, Kansas can learn on the farm what many Ivy Leaguers never seem to get.
In the very first pages, Ike tells of a time just a few months before his 5th birthday.
“I noticed a pair of barnyard geese,” he wrote. “The male resented my intrusion from our first meeting. Each time thereafter he would push along toward me aggressively and with hideous hissing noises so threatening my security that five-year-old courage could not stand the strain.
“Uncle Luther decided that something had to be done. He took a worn out broom and cut off the straw. With the weapon all set, he took me out into the yard. More frightened at the moment of his possible scolding than I was of aggression, I took what was meant to be a firm, but was really a trembling, stand the next time the fowl came close. Then I let out a yell and rushed toward him, swinging the club as fast as I could. He turned and I gave him a satisfying smack right in the fanny.
“From thence on, once he found out I had a stick, he would continue his belligerent noises whenever he saw me but he did not again come near me. I never made the mistake of being caught without my weapon. This all turned out to be a rather good lesson because I quickly learned never to negotiate with an adversary except from a position of strength.”
Funny how a five-year-old from Abilene, Kansas can learn on the farm what many Ivy Leaguers never seem to get.
Sunday, October 3, 2010
Charlton Heston Parts the Red Sea
Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. This is what the ancients were commended for. (Hebrews 11:1-2)
At the premier screening of the 1956 film The Ten Commandments Cecil B DeMille made an unusual onstage appearance.
“Ladies and gentlemen,” he said, “young and old, this may seem an unusual procedure, speaking to you before the picture begins. ... The theme of this picture is whether men ought to be ruled by God’s law or whether they will be ruled by the whims of a dictator like Rameses. Are men the property of the state, or are they free souls under God? The same battle continues throughout the world today.” (Quoted in America’s Prophet: Moses and the American Story, by Bruce Feiler, pp. 227 – 228)
Some consider Charlton Heston, a.k.a. Moses, parting the Red Sea as the movie’s most memorable scene, especially given the comparatively limited special effects technology of the day. The Exodus record of that event tells us a lot about the people of Israel during those days and about whether they were ready to be the free souls under God that DeMille mentioned.
As they approached the Red Sea, they looked to their rear and saw Pharaoh’s army in hot pursuit. They looked in front of them and saw the sea. “They were terrified, and cried out to the Lord.”(Exodus 14:10).
Those people were not much different than we are. They saw an impossible situation, one that could cost them their lives, and their reaction was panic and a crying out to a higher power for help. And they also did something else we might do. They turned on their leadership:
It’s hard to condemn the Israelites for this. Maybe we too in similar circumstances would trade our liberty for a few meals and a roof over our heads. Servitude was all they had ever known, and they did not understand the demands of maintaining freedom. But then a scene follows where Charlton Heston (I mean, Moses) raises his staff, the sea parts, and the people walk through the seabed dry shod.
Quite a miracle, but there is a similar story that occurs some 40 years later. Under Joshua, Israel was to enter the Promised Land, but in order to do so, they first had to cross the Jordan River, and that event reveals how that generation, the wilderness-hardened children and grandchildren of the Exodus generation, conducted themselves.
The Jordan would have been at flood stage in the spring of the year, not an easy time for the passage.
This is a miracle similar to the Red Sea event, but with a big difference, one that illustrates the difference between the mentality required for freedom and the mentality of a slave. The Exodus generation entered the Red Sea only after the waters had parted, and only after they had panicked based on what they saw around them. Joshua’s generation entered the waters before they had parted based on faith and based on the hopes that the Promised Land would offer.
And here we see an illustration of the choices that DeMille mentioned back in 1956. Will we be ruled by tyrants because we take counsel of our fears and refuse to acknowledge God as our provider and hope, or will we look to God as our ruler, unafraid of the future and unafraid of the risks that freedom demands?
For a seldom-seen documentary on the movie by Demille self, view the link below. At about the 8:50-minute mark is a more complete version of his remarks at the premier.
At the premier screening of the 1956 film The Ten Commandments Cecil B DeMille made an unusual onstage appearance.
“Ladies and gentlemen,” he said, “young and old, this may seem an unusual procedure, speaking to you before the picture begins. ... The theme of this picture is whether men ought to be ruled by God’s law or whether they will be ruled by the whims of a dictator like Rameses. Are men the property of the state, or are they free souls under God? The same battle continues throughout the world today.” (Quoted in America’s Prophet: Moses and the American Story, by Bruce Feiler, pp. 227 – 228)
Some consider Charlton Heston, a.k.a. Moses, parting the Red Sea as the movie’s most memorable scene, especially given the comparatively limited special effects technology of the day. The Exodus record of that event tells us a lot about the people of Israel during those days and about whether they were ready to be the free souls under God that DeMille mentioned.
As they approached the Red Sea, they looked to their rear and saw Pharaoh’s army in hot pursuit. They looked in front of them and saw the sea. “They were terrified, and cried out to the Lord.”(Exodus 14:10).
Those people were not much different than we are. They saw an impossible situation, one that could cost them their lives, and their reaction was panic and a crying out to a higher power for help. And they also did something else we might do. They turned on their leadership:
They said to Moses, "Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you brought us to the desert to die? What have you done to us by bringing us out of Egypt? Didn't we say to you in Egypt, 'Leave us alone; let us serve the Egyptians'? It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the desert!" (Verse 11)
It’s hard to condemn the Israelites for this. Maybe we too in similar circumstances would trade our liberty for a few meals and a roof over our heads. Servitude was all they had ever known, and they did not understand the demands of maintaining freedom. But then a scene follows where Charlton Heston (I mean, Moses) raises his staff, the sea parts, and the people walk through the seabed dry shod.
Quite a miracle, but there is a similar story that occurs some 40 years later. Under Joshua, Israel was to enter the Promised Land, but in order to do so, they first had to cross the Jordan River, and that event reveals how that generation, the wilderness-hardened children and grandchildren of the Exodus generation, conducted themselves.
The Jordan would have been at flood stage in the spring of the year, not an easy time for the passage.
Yet as soon as the priests who carried the ark reached the Jordan and their feet touched the water's edge, the water from upstream stopped flowing. It piled up in a heap a great distance away ... . So the people crossed over opposite Jericho. (Joshua 3:15-16)
This is a miracle similar to the Red Sea event, but with a big difference, one that illustrates the difference between the mentality required for freedom and the mentality of a slave. The Exodus generation entered the Red Sea only after the waters had parted, and only after they had panicked based on what they saw around them. Joshua’s generation entered the waters before they had parted based on faith and based on the hopes that the Promised Land would offer.
And here we see an illustration of the choices that DeMille mentioned back in 1956. Will we be ruled by tyrants because we take counsel of our fears and refuse to acknowledge God as our provider and hope, or will we look to God as our ruler, unafraid of the future and unafraid of the risks that freedom demands?
For a seldom-seen documentary on the movie by Demille self, view the link below. At about the 8:50-minute mark is a more complete version of his remarks at the premier.
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