Peace In Our Times?

 

Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it.
–George Santayana

How can one not draw comparisons to the “Land for Peace” policy of appeasement pursued by British prime minister Neville Chamberlain in 1938 and the “Land for Peace” policy of appeasement pursued by the world leaders today in the Middle East.

Reading from the infamous Munich Pact, Chamberlain stated:

We are resolved that the method of consultation shall be the method adopted to deal with any other questions that may concern our two countries, and we are determined to continue our efforts to remove possible sources of difference, and thus to contribute to assure the peace of Europe.

(looking up at the assembled crowd) My good friends, for the second time in our history, a British Prime Minister has returned from Germany bringing peace with honour. I believe it is peace for our time… Go home and get a nice quiet sleep.

“We want peace. We demand an end to terror, incitement and hatred. We are willing to make a painful compromise, rife with risks, in order to realize these aspirations.”–Address by Prime Minister of Israel, Ehud Olmert at the International Meeting in Annapolis November 27, 2007 (Translated from Hebrew) [Source: Jerusalem Post]

The Station

Many years ago I cut the following article from an Ann Landers column. It was an article she had printed many times before, and was reprinting it again at the request of a reader. I’ve always found this article to be a blessing. Enjoy.

The Station

by Robert J. Hastings

Tucked away in our subconscious minds is an idyllic vision. We see ourselves on a long, long trip that almost spans the continent. We’re traveling by passenger train, and out the windows we drink in the passing scene of cars on nearby highways, of children waving at a crossing, of cattle grazing on a distant hillside, of smoke pouring from a power plant, of row upon row of corn and wheat, of flatlands and valleys, of mountains and rolling hills, of biting winter and blazing summer and cavorting spring and docile fall.

But uppermost in our minds is the final destination. On a certain day at a certain hour we will pull into the station. There will be bands playing, and flags waving. And once we get there so many wonderful dreams will come true. So many wishes will be fulfilled and so many pieces of our lives finally will be neatly fitted together like a completed jigsaw puzzle. How restlessly we pace the aisles, damning the minutes for loitering … waiting, waiting, waiting, for the station.

However, sooner or later we must realize there is no one station, no one place to arrive at once and for all. The true joy of life is the trip. The station is only a dream. It constantly outdistances us.

“When we reach the station, that will be it !” we cry. Translated it means, “When I’m 18, that will be it ! When I buy a new 450 SL Mercedes Benz, that will be it ! When I put the last kid through college, that will be it ! When I have paid off the mortgage, that will be it ! When I win a promotion, that will be it ! When I reach the age of retirement, that will be it ! I shall live happily ever after !”

Unfortunately, once we get it, then it disappears. The station somehow hides itself at the end of an endless track.

“Relish the moment” is a good motto, especially when coupled with Psalm 118:24: “This is the day which the Lord hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.” It isn’t the burdens of today that drive men mad. Rather, it is regret over yesterday or fear of tomorrow. Regret and fear are twin thieves who would rob us of today.

So, stop pacing the aisles and counting the miles. Instead, climb more mountains, eat more ice cream, go barefoot oftener, swim more rivers, watch more sunsets, laugh more and cry less. Life must be lived as we go along. The station will come soon enough.

A Biblical Model of Ministry

 

I came across the following thoughts on ministry by John MacArthur. There is a lot of wisdom here for American pastors who see themselves as entrepreneurial wizards building their churches to greater and greater heights, all in the name of “winning the world” for Christ. Read and heed:

Consider Jesus’ ministry. Do you realize that Jesus never left the region of Israel? He basically traveled back and forth from Galilee to Jerusalem. That’s it. Now, do you think He had a sense of winning the world? You better believe He did…but He never left where He was. You say, “How could He reach the world if He never left where He was?” Because He knew how to do it. David McKenna said, “Self-styled Messiahs are megalomaniacs. Their sense of mission has no limitations short of conquering the world and conquering it now. At the slightest signal that their efforts are being frustrated, they usually respond with rage and madness.” You see, Jesus used an economy of effort. He knew how to do what He wanted to do, but He did it within certain limitations. Jesus limited His ministry. Why? Because the issue isn’t how broad one’s ministry is, it’s how deep it is. God says, “You take care of the depth, and I’ll take care of the breadth.” Let’s look at the limits that Jesus put on His ministry:

a. The Limitation of God’s Will
The first limitation that Jesus put on His ministry was that He would only do what the Father showed Him to do. So, the number one limit on any ministry is God’s will. Unfortunately, there are many people involved in all kinds of ministries that God doesn’t have a thing to do with. Instead of spending their time doing what God wants them to do and what God gifted them to do, they’re running around doing what they want to do. Usually it’s nothing more than megalomania–an ego problem that gets out of hand. In John 5:30 Jesus said, “I can of Mine own self do nothing….I seek not Mine own will, but the will of the Father who hath sent Me.”

So, the first limitation He put on His ministry was the limitation of God’s will. The second limitation was…

b. The Limitation of Time
Throughout the Gospel of John, Jesus said, “Mine hour is not yet come” (e.g., 2:4; 7:30; 8:20). He had a sense of timing. Certain things were to be done at certain times–the Father’s time. So, unless something was the Father’s will and the Father’s time, Jesus didn’t do it. That put certain limitations on His ministry, didn’t it? I’ll tell you one thing, though, when it was the right time, and Jesus was able to say, “…Father, the hour is come…” (Jn. 17:1), it was exciting, wasn’t it?
The third limitation that Jesus put on His ministry was…

c. The Limitation of a Certain Group of People
The objective of Jesus’ ministry when He first came into the world was to reach “the lost sheep of the house of Israel” (Mt. 10:6). You say, “Why would He limit Himself like that?” Because He wanted to tighten the circle of His ministry. And not only was His ministry to the Jews, it was to a certain kind of Jew. In Matthew 9:13 Jesus says, “…for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.” He didn’t come to minister to hypocritical, religious ones; He wanted Jews who recognized their sin. So, the scope of His ministry was narrowed even further.

Another thing that limited Jesus’ ministry was…

d. The Limitation of a Certain Subject
Throughout Jesus’ ministry, people tried to pressure Him into making political statements. When people asked Him what He thought about Caesar, what did He say? Well, very judiciously He avoided any political involvement and said, “…Render, therefore, unto Caesar the things which are Caesar’s; and unto God, the things that are God’s” (Mt. 22:21). You see, He refused to be forced into political involvement because that was not His purpose. I know He had strong feelings about it, but He avoided it because He had limits on His ministry.

Jesus also limited His ministry through…

e. The Limitation of a Small Number of Disciples
Jesus limited the number of people that He discipled. In Mark 5, after He healed a maniac, the man “implored Him that he might be with Him” (v. 18b). Look at Jesus’ response: “…Jesus permitted him not, but saith unto him, Go home to thy friends, and tell them what great things the Lord hath done for thee…” (v. 19a). You say, “Why didn’t He take him?” Well, a megalomaniac would have. Megalomaniacs drag around lots of disciples to prove themselves. But Jesus knew exactly how many He could disciple effectively, and that’s all He wanted.

The limitations on Jesus’ ministry were astounding, yet He affected the world.

Men who affect the world put limits on their ministry that allow them to do it with depth. Paul went back to the same people three times, and Jesus worked with the same twelve people three years. But ultimately, it affected the world. Learn this, people: The scope that you’re going to have in your ministry must not be related to how fast or far you travel, it must be related to how deep you plow. You concentrate on the depth, and God will take care of the breadth.

Here in Colossians 1:24-25, we’ve seen four aspects of Paul’s ministry. The source is God; the spirit is joy; the suffering is on behalf of Christ for the sake of the church; and the scope is the whole Word to the specific world that God has called you to, and then by His Spirit, to extend it to the world beyond. Now, those are only four of the features of the ministry. We’re going to look at four more in our next lesson. However, if God’s people were committed only to those four, quite a revolution would take place in the church, wouldn’t it?

You can read the complete message here.

The Day of Reckoning Approaches

Patrick Buchanan continues to hammer home the economic crisis we face. His latest article, “Subprime Nation” concludes:

This self-indulgent generation has borrowed itself into unpayable debt. Now the folks from whom we borrowed to buy all that oil and all those cars, electronics and clothes are coming to buy the country we inherited. We are prodigal sons, and the day of reckoning approaches.

Meanwhile, the president is coming to the rescue:

Bush calls for $145 billion stimulus package: President sees tax rebates as a way to give economy a ’shot in the arm’

AP Story

WASHINGTON – President Bush, acknowledging the risk of recession, embraced about $145 billion worth of tax relief Friday to give the economy a “shot in the arm. “

“There is a risk of a downturn,” the president said in his remarks at the White House.

Technorati Tags: FinancialStorm

Farewell to My One-ton Brick

December/January is always a time to review our goals and objectives, compare them to our life mission, and refocus on what matters most. At the same time, it is an opportunity to look at our toolbox to see if the productivity tools we use are still the best.

Well, after a careful review of my productivity toolbox, I made the decision this year to do away with my faithful FranklinCovey paper planner. Not that I hate paper, but when I started to compare the overall bulk of my binder with the other pieces in my briefcase, I quickly realized that my beloved binder took up more room and weighed more than the rest of my tools.

In the end, here’s what caused me to shelf my binder:

1. Weight. My binder with all of the various components weighed more than my laptop.
2. Size. My binder with its two-inch rings takes up as much room in my bag as two laptops.
3. Effectiveness. This is the big one. In the last two years I have centralized all of my productivity management in Outlook. I use Outlook 2007 in combination with FranklinCovey’s Plan Plus for Outlook (v. 5). PPO, combined with my Windows Mobile enabled phone (Verizon VX6700), has proven to be an excellent system for me. When I looked at my planner pages from 2007, I could see that the bulk of my daily, weekly, and monthly planning was done in PPO and printed for my binder. As much as I hated to admit it, I simply wasn’t using my FC paper system anymore.

So, with much regret, I took my beloved binder and placed it on the shelf. (Why all the affection for a binder? It has been my faithful companion for 15 years. I started with Franklin Quest back in the early early 1990s. I briefly tried the Seven Habits planner when Covey released The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, but quickly transitioned back to Franklin Quest. Ultimately, of course, the two merged and I had the best of both.)

Technorati Tags: Productivity

AP 2007 Top Iowa News Stories

The AP has released its Top Iowa News Stories for 2007. Here’s the list:

1. Maytag Plant Closes
2. The Iowa Caucuses
3. Ethanol Boom
4. CIETC Scandal
5. Chet Culver as Iowa’s 40th governor
6. The continued loss of life in Iraq and Afghanistan. As 2007 ends, 13 Iowans have died.
7. A Polk County judge’s decision in August to strike down the state’s ban on gay marriage. The judge quickly stayed his ruling while it’s under appeal to the Iowa Supreme Court, but not before two men from Ames were hastily married.
8. The selection of Sally Mason as the 20th president of the University of Iowa.
9. The conviction and sentencing of Shawn Bentler to five life terms for the October 2006 killing of his parents and three sisters at the family’s home near Bonaparte.
10. Gas prices and Iowans shelling out big bucks at the pumps. The cost has topped $3 at times during the year.

Not mentioned on the list are some of the national stories that had implications for Iowa including the crash of the housing bubble and the subprime mortgage collapse. Drive though many neighborhoods and you will see houses for sale for months.

On the positive side, 2007 was a very good year for Iowa farmers. The weather helped create a good crop, and grain prices continue to go higher and higher. This was clearly a boom year for Iowa farmers. If you are a farmer who happens to own the land you farm, land prices increased by 22 percent in 2007.

Say No to a Divided Jerusalem

I join the ranks of sensible leaders who understand that we can divide and carve up the land of Israel until there is nothing left and we will never accomplish peace in the Middle East.

Former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu  understands the foolishness of the conference in Annapolis: “The Palestinians are not lifting a finger to stop terror or recognize Israel as a Jewish state,” he said. “I see this summit as a continuation of one-sided concessions.”

If you agree that it is foolishness on the part of the American and Israeli governments to consider dividing Israel and Jerusalem, head on over to “One Jerusalem” and sign their petition.

United Jerusalem Petition

1. I support a unified Jerusalem under Israeli sovereignty, to ensure free and open access for all people to the holy sites of the three major religions � Christianity, Islam and Judaism.
2. I support a unified Jerusalem under Israeli sovereignty, as an expression of the unique relationship between the Jewish People and its eternal capital.
3. I support a unified Jerusalem under Israeli sovereignty, so as never to return to the dark period of 1947-67, when Arab control over an artificially divided Jerusalem meant religious persecution, desecration of holy sites, and wanton destruction.
4. I support a unified Jerusalem under Israeli sovereignty, according to the current municipal boundaries, set in the wake of Israel�s defensive 1967 Six Day War.
5. I support a unified Jerusalem under Israeli sovereignty, where Jews may enjoy the right to pray on the Temple Mount, the holiest site in the Jewish world.

Logos (Libronix) Needs to Move Into the 21st Century

OK, maybe that’s a harsh statement to make for a great company like Logos? I am a long-time Logos user (I moved from QuickVerse to Logos when Logos was in version 2.0). Moreover, I am a big fan of Logos, and believe it is an indispensable tool for a pastor to have in his toolbox. I have one major request, however; when will Logos create a method that allows me to read MY books on a portable reader? With the introduction of two very capable e-readers (the Sony Reader and Amazon’s Kindle), the brilliant people at Logos should be able to come up with a way of protecting their DRM while allowing me to read MY books on some other device besides my computer. After all, I have purchased thousands of books from Logos over the last ten years and have invested heavily in learning their software. Doesn’t it make sense that I should be able to put a copy of one of MY books on a portable reader like the Sony Reader and enjoy the benefits of my extensive library away from my computer?

To be honest, with the spotlight on e-books the last couple of weeks after Amazon’s big introduction of Kindle, it has to put pressure on companies like Logos who are pioneers in the e-book industry, but have yet to come up with a method of porting e-books to a dedicated e-book reader.

This isn’t the first time I’ve stepped onto this soap box. I’ve submitted “suggestions” to Logos via their web site and e-mail; I’ve brought the topic up at the Camp Logos training seminar I attended. In fact, as I look at my decision to invest in e-books years ago, I would list this as my number one criticism. When I get into discussions with other pastors about technology and Bible software specifically, I list all of the many advantages to a program like Logos and e-books, but the one disadvantage is in the simple pleasure of reading a book. Logos is great for research; it leaves a lot to be desired when you want to snuggle up on a cold winter’s night next to the fire with a good book. Somehow juggling your cup of coffee and your laptop in front of the fire just doesn’t cut it.

So, maybe someone at Logos will read this post and sense in me a kindred spirit. Maybe there is someone at Logos who has a great affection for books and would love to have access to their library on a portable reader. Maybe…

What is "Essential" Doctrine?

Given my history with and around Independent Baptist (IB), this article posed an interesting question. As any IB Survivor knows, "essential" doctrine is anything your pastor says is essential. How many IB churches have "KJV Only" written into their church doctrinal statements? (Answer: too many.) How many IB churches insist that "doctrinal purity" demands they separate from other Christian brothers and sisters who hold to a strict biblical theology yet do not support many of the lifestyle standards (i.e. legalism) demanded by IB churches? (Answer: too many.)

Writer Paul Lamey offers some insight into what is considered "essential" doctrine. Lamey quotes Mark Dever’s simple test:

A Fourfold Test for Doctrine

1. How clear is it in Scripture?
2. How clear do others think it is in Scripture? (Especially those that you respect as teachers of God’s word).
3. How near is it to the Gospel? (Or how near are its implications to the gospel itself?).
4. What would the affects be doctrinally and practically if we allowed disagreement in this area?

To read the expanded article, click here.

del.icio.us Tags: Theology

Ten Reasons Why the Republicans are Toast in ‘08

In a recent post, Dan Burrell states, "a couple of years ago, when I was still a Pastor, I took a large step back from political activism and I’m more convinced today that doing so was a wise decision than I’ve ever been. That doesn’t mean I’m not still interested or don’t have opinions. It does mean that with a limited number of days in one’s life, I don’t think spending a significant portion of them on politics is a wise choice considering the needs of this life and the things that will still matter in 1,000 years."

I couldn’t agree more. Far too many Christians place their hope for a restored American in a political candidate…usually a Republican candidate.

If you are interested in Dan’s top ten list and why he believes Hillary Rodham-Clinton will be our next president, here’s the post.

del.icio.us Tags: Hillary , Republicans , Dan Burrell , Politics