Animals Are People Too

Let me start this by saying I'm venturing into waters probably best left unstirred. I hesitate to write this even as the words and the need to put them to 'paper' tugs at me. 

This morning I came across an article that I did not read. The article was about New York City requiring people transporting dogs on the subway to put their pets in a bag and it showed a man with a pit bull riding in a bag slung across his shoulder. I did not read the article but for some reason I did look at the comments. 

It was no surprise that 99% of the comments were an outcry of how wrong it was to have to put your dog in a bag to take it with you because 'dogs are people too'. About another 9% of the comments were aimed at the 'my dog would never fit in a bag' and 'we should do this with Fido' thought process. About a half a percent of them were people trying to draw someone else's attention to the comment. That left about a half of one percent of the comments to try to be the voice of reason, speaking of animals not belonging in public places, people being allergic to animals, people being afraid of them, and generally just not wanting to be exposed to someone else's ill behaved dog because that person wants the freedom to take their pet, 'because dogs are people too', everywhere they go. 

I firmly fall into the 'leave your mutt at home' catagory. I cannot stand the site of a dog in the grocery store, unless it's wearing a service vest and meets the behavior requirements of a service dog (and yes, I well know what those are because I trained one). I also can't stand to see a dog wearing a vest with a patch on it proclaiming the dog to be an emotional support animal, contrary to popular belief, emotional support animals are not service dogs and do not get the same protection by law as service animals do. Therapy dogs are not, by law, given the same protection either but I don't mind seeing them in the grocery store or other public place. Therapy dogs have gone through intense training and they are generally well behaved and not just a pet being passed off as something they are not. 

To be perfectly honest I am not a pet person. I don't mind, for the most part, having them about. We have a cat, and chickens, and... but our pets are just that, pets. They bring joy in seeing them in the yard. They are fun to pet or watch. They are not family members. When we had to flee our home from a natural disaster heading right toward it, we left the animals at home in our rush to save us. Did we think of the animals? Yes. Did we put ourselves at risk to try to save them? No. They are animals and they need to fall into the proper category. We saved ourselves and those in our care and we did not spare the time to save the animals.

Now, that said, our home was fine and the animals are all still here, well fed and cared for. 

But we kept them in their proper perspective. We put them behind people in their importance. If given the chance I would save the animals over the houseplants and before the furniture, simply because they are alive and by getting them as pets we did take on certain responsibilities to them. They are part of the Lord's creation and they have been entrusted to us so we should be good stewards of them. But I will not endanger myself or my loved ones to save them. I would not run back into a burning building for an animal and I would not give up precious seconds in what could be a life and death situation to grab the animals. 

That obviously is not the case for many of the people commenting on that article. 'Pets are people too' seems to be the overall consensus among the majority. And it's a consensus agreed on by a good majority of America. 

I remember when dogs were dogs, when pets were just that...pets. They weren't called babies or children. They weren't referred to as family members. They were pets. Now, 'pets are people too', dogs are 'my children', 'my babies', even 'my grandbabies'. 

I have to ask...

WHAT is wrong with people's minds? 

How can anyone see an animal on par with a person? How can you look at a human baby, ever, at any time in your life, and see a dog as 'my baby'. How can you think of an animal as your child? Does not the very nature of parenthood remove all thought of seeing an animal as your child? 

And yet, the majority of the people commenting on that article fell into that category. Where are their minds? Where is their common sense?

I will return to those questions in just a minute. Let me first say, I don't much care if people in NYC take dogs on the subway. I don't mind if people in...pick a place...carry their dogs around in backpacks, and eat at the dinner table with them. I've never been to NYC and don't have any plans to go there, and honestly, if I ever do go there, navigating a city of that size will be a much bigger issue for me than where dogs are. And dog bites probably fall lower on the scale of worry than the crime rate would. 

I can also say that if I ever did live in NYC, I'd probably want a dog. A BIG one. The biggest dog I could find. And it would be my constant companion. Because...well, because crime is real and dogs do deter crime, to a point anyway. 

But back to the above questions, where are their minds? Where is there common sense? 

Gone.

It flew the coop about a few thousand sins ago. Some of these same people said they'd rather go to San Francisco than to go to NYC where they'd have to restrain their dog. And why do they prefer SF? Because in SF dogs are allowed everywhere. In SF you can get a companion certificate for your dog and legally take it everywhere. 

I did not double check the validity of that. I am going only on the comments on that article. I have no reason to believe them but to be honest, I do. I suspect those statements were made in total truth. 

As I read that I found myself thinking of Romans 1:

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. 

19 For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. 

20For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. 

21 For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. 

22 Claiming to be wise, they became fools, 

23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things. 

24 Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, 

25 because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator,who is blessed forever! Amen. 

26 For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; 

27 and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error. 

28And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. 

29 They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, 

30 slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, 

31 foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. 

32 Though they know God's decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.

Nowhere in those comments did I see anything about Scripture. Nowhere in them did anyone mention the proper order of things...God first, man second, the world and it's creatures third. Nowhere in there did anyone say 'you're claiming wisdom but are fools'. Nowhere in there did anyone point out the futility in their thoughts and reasoning or the fact that they have, as shown by their statements, elevated animals, the creation, into gods that they are worshipping, putting them above God and even above their fellow human's. 

The few people that tried using common sense, pointing out that some people are allergic, that others are afraid, etc, were shot down instantly. Told to stay home, stay off the subway, take a cab, get a car, etc, if they did not want to travel with dogs. 

Really?

Where is the sense in any of that. We are going to deny people the right to transportation made for people simply because someone wants to travel with their animal? These animals are granted the 'right' to travel when we would suppress the same right for people for no other reason than 'pets are people too'. 

As I read those comments, when I came across the ones speaking of the freedoms given to animals in San Francisco, I couldn't help making the leap from SF is the homosexual capital of America to it's the dog friendly capital of America. And I thought, 'God gave them up'. 

Whether it's homosexuality or animal idolatry, God gave them up. He turned them loose to wallow in their own sins. They rejected Him and he threw his hands up and turned them over. 

Logically, I know that's not really how it happened. The majority of them are probably reprobates, vessels of wrath destined for destruction (Romans 9) and yet, God gave them up. 

Before the foundation of the world God made a choice. Somehow, in his all knowing, all powerful, all controlling, all...God...way, he looked at all of eternity, at all the people that would ever live, and he played eeny meeny miney mo. He chose this one and not that one. He granted salvation to some and destruction to others. 

And somehow in all that choosing, many poor souls were denied the pardon granted to others through God's mercy. 

Only the Lord knows the eternal condition of the animal idolaters and the homosexuals, as well as every other soul through all of eternity. I'm not about to speculate on the condition of any of their souls so far as their eternity is concerned. But I will say that as a whole, the people promoting 'pets are people too' are lost, given over to their own debased minds, just as much as those lost in homosexuality, murder, or whatever other sin consumes them, are. 

Our souls are a funny thing and I don't begin to fully understand them. What I do know is that our souls long for the Lord and for those that don't have the Lord, there is an empty spot within their souls that cry out, that beg, for the Lord but are never filled with His presence so they attempt to fill that void with whatever is at hand. No matter what they fill that void with, be it good or evil, it all becomes sin because it is an idol in their life. 

And for some, animals are that idol. It seems that animals are becoming a bigger and bigger idol these days. So many people have lost their objectivity where animals are concerned. Instead of seeing an...animal...they look at their fur covered critters and see babies. They see their roles as keeper, or caretaker, good stewards, as that of a parent. They see natural animal tendencies to be total adoration and unconditional love. They see loyalty as complete acceptance of them without 'judgement' as one of those comments said. 

In other words they are somehow fulfilled through their animals. Not because their dog guards their home or keeps their chickens safe from predators...no, in fact their dog must be protected from the evils of predators...but because that furry face somehow looks like the essence of...life. Of importance. Of everything that matters in the world. 

I have had a family member leave my home in a hurry because I refused let their dog stay in my house. I've had friends talk to me of their 'fur babies'. I've seen dog pee in the floor at the grocery store. Why? Because people have lost their objectivity. Their minds have crossed over. They no longer live in the world of sane, rational thought where animals are concerned. 

People plan vacations around their pets. They give up things they would like to do to keep their pet happy. I have no doubt that there are many families where kids and spouses take second, or lower, place to their dogs. 

I've met people that say their dogs sleep in bed with them, between a husband and a wife. I kind of had to wonder if that sleeping spot didn't actually signify the role that dog played in that marriage...coming between husband and wife. 

The Lord uses all for His purposes and He makes things work according to His plans. This idolization of animals is not news to Him. It's not going against His plans. It's all a part of it. Romans 9 talks of our Lord suffering vessels of destruction for His glory. I admit my human mind both understands and struggles with this concept. I easily understand that the Lord suffers to put up with, so to speak, some people. So do I. But at the same time the Lord placed them in their life, assigned them to that life, and somehow works things like animal idolatry into their lives then Romans 1 tells us that "He gave them over" because "For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened."

Somewhere in all that is the Lord's plan and animal idolatry works into it. Still, our Lord basically throws His hands up at a certain point and turns people over to their sins. He leaves them to the lusts of their hearts and lets them worship the creature rather than the Creator. 

I have no doubt, reading some of those comments, that many of those people literally do worship animals. They may not put them on a pedestal but they sure do hold them to high standards. They think of animals and their imagined 'rights' more than they do their neighbors. They get outraged at the very idea of supressing an animal while caring nothing for the fears or medical problems of other people. 

One comment on that article even went so far as to accuse people of breed discrimination and breed profiling. Really? Is there even such a thing? Aren't people allowed to favor one type of animal over another for nothing more than their personal preferences? And when did discrimination in regards to animals even become a thought? 

My husband has a friend that wrote something on social media the other day. I sure wish I had a copy of it because what he wrote so clearly summed up the animal problem in America today. And America does have an animal problem. They try to convince us that we have an over population of dogs and cats, maybe we do, and that too many pets are abused and neglected but those aren't the real problems with animals. The real problem is with the idolizing of them. They are animals. Here for a purpose that meets the needs of Earth's human inhabitants. They are for service to us, even if that service includes companionship, but they should NEVER be placed before people. 

But the very real problem is so much larger. Because people do worship these creatures, giving them the status that should be reserved for people, they get outraged at the very idea of an animal, particularly a dog, being slighted in any way, while overlooking the murder of unborn babies, the mistreatment of children and the elderly, even of people lacking basic necessities. 

There is a television commercial that portrays dog after dog, each one looking more pathetic than the next. These dogs are dirty, most of them skinny, some are in the rain or snow, all have big eyes. The video footage of these dogs is set to music designed to tug at the emotions of anyone with the least compassion for animals. To put it bluntly it's a scam designed to part the animal lover from their money. And I'm sure it works. 

People probably call that organization offering up bank account and credit card info, offering to give so much money every month so they can help save dogs while the child down the street goes to bed hungry every night and lives in a home with little or no heat. They donate their money to a 'good cause' that saves those 'poor babies' while women in their town kill unborn babies because they feel ill equipped to provide for one. They foot the bill for surgery on a dog when a child in their town goes without glasses or other medical needs because they have no health insurance. 

Most of these people, if questioned, would say there are organizations to help those kids, organizations to pay bills for those families, government programs to provide food assistance and medical insurance for kids. They are right. There are organizations and programs in effect for low income families. Some of them pay bills, others provide groceries, some cover medical costs but many of those kids fall through the cracks of those programs. Their families make too much to qualify for government assistance or they get assistance but it's not enough to put food on the table all month long. Many medical necessities are no longer covered under government medical programs and doctors can be hard to find for kids (or adults) with government provided medical coverage. Or the child may have aged out of the program, reaching legal adulthood and losing their coverage, but having no other insurance to step in so they go without much needed medical care because there is no money to cover it while millions of dollars is given to 'save' dogs.

Do they not see a problem with this mentality?

I have seen television shows where they rescue dogs, or other animals, and do costly surgeries on them, giving them months of medical care because the dog 'needed' it to live. What of the people that need medical care? What of the ones that need food? What of the unborn babies that never even reach the point of medical care because they are murdered in the womb? 

I know all of this and so much more are in the Lord's control. I know there's no sense in wondering why it all happens because the answer is that it happens because the Lord willed it to be so.

But in His willing it to happen we have multitudes of people loving the creature in the form of animal idolatry. They get offended at the least suggestion that their beloved dog cannot go where people go and now, it appears we have animal profiling and breed discrimination. 

And one needs look no further than the apparent freedom of dogs in San Francisco to see that the Lord has 'given them over' to their sins, to worship the creation rather than the creator, and to wallow in their sins. 

Because 'animals are people too.'

Pink

Not all that long ago my husband introduced me to a small snippet from one of A.W. Pink's books. It was a book on sanctification and I must admit that what started as something I struggled to read became a book I bought because I wanted to read more of it and I much prefer a written book to an electronic one.

As I write this I am still waiting for my new book to arrive in my mailbox. I guess I should say that I am anxiously awaiting the arrival of my new book. The good and bad of buying online today is that we get tracking on almost everything we order so we know right when it should arrive, and we know when it doesn't arrive on time and a new arrival date is given. I am in that place today. My new book did not arrive when it was supposed to and I am now waiting to see if it will arrive at its new arrival time.

I discovered a long forgotten pamplet written by Charles Spurgeon in with some other papers today. Since I'm awaiting the arrival of the book I would like to be reading I figured I would read this little pamplet. It's titled Turn or Burn and I made it only a small way into it before setting it aside to write this.

Let me just go ahead and let out a big sigh here. I used to be able to read whole books. Big, thick ones even. Now I rarely make it very far into anything I try to read. The Lord uses something to pull me from it, either to write about it or to tend to daily life. I told my husband just the other day that the Lord does not seem to want me reading these days.

This little pamplet talks of how preachers used to preach on the wrath of God. Spurgeon put it this way, "Two hundred years ago the predominant strain of the pulpit was one of terror:...it thundered forth the dreadful wrath of God...you heard most terrible sermons, full to the brim with warnings of judgment to come." I've seen the saying, 'we need preachers that preach hell is hot', many times. I've even had a relative tell me we need more preachers that preach on hell.

I would be the first person to tell you this world could use more preaching on hell and less teaching of 'Jesus loves you'. Let's have more preaching on God hates you and less on 'come as you are'. I'd be inclined to listen to sermons on those topics whereas I avoid the sermons on 'Jesus loves you'. But as I told my relative, if God wanted us to have sermons on hell, He would have preachers preach on that subject.

Just today I was asked, in a discussion on dinosaurs, how plants could go extinct. Well, the Lord has no more purpose for them here on earth so He lets them die out. Yes, that was the very answer I gave. I'm sure there's some long scientific explanation but I don't need that. All I need to know is the world was created by God and that He does what He wants to with it. Spurgeon went on to say, "the doctrine of future punishment is rejected and laughed at." And, " Ye tell us we speak lies, when we warn you of judgment to come, but in that day when your mischief shall fall on yourselves, and when destruction shall overwhelm you, will you say we were liars then?"

I have seen the meme on social media, showing a skeleton in lava/fire with the caption, 'we tried to warn you'. It's a sad truth that must be faced by every regenerate person. My husband and I talked the other night of how much easier it is when you believe that all it takes to save someone from hell is to convince them to believe in Jesus and say a prayer. How much easier is the reality of hell to bear when you know you need only to somehow convince your loved ones, and strangers, of Jesus and get them to profess even the most basic of belief.

I think of those that I have told, 'believe in Jesus or go to hell', using that line on them because it is the most simplest form of the gospel and it gets the point across in a hurry. It also happens to be the way the gospel was given to my husband and after hearing him tell of how it worked on him, taking twenty som odd years, I figure it might just be the best way to plant seeds. Plus, the people I say that too already know of Christ so why give long speeches on something they aren't truly interested in at the moment when a quick, 'believe in Christ or go to hell' will suffice.

I will admit, again, that I rarely read much of other people's writings. I prefer to read only from Scripture because...well, because ...because...Scripture is Scripture and other people's writings often have iffy content no matter who the author is. I have also discovered that there are many reformed believers that hold to certain beliefs that I just don't share. I can't endorse someone that begs for money for their 'ministry' no matter how reformed their beliefs are. I have problems with reformed preachers that promote tithing, thereby lining their own pockets, and complain about anything that might endanger their tax exempt status.

Despite all those thoughts and feelings I have somehow taken an interest in the writings of Pink lately. I honestly did not want to be interested in what he wrote. I don't want to read the writings of men no matter how edifying they are. Not really. I don't mind an article here and there or a snippet of something from time to time but I don't really want to read books about Scripture written by fallible men when I can go straight to the source. Yet here I am, anxiously awaiting not one but two books written by Pink, one of which has six different books in it and reading Spurgeon in the process.

And while I wait for my books to arrive, I am reading, or trying to read, this little pamplet. I have also done quite a bit of research on Pink because I wanted to make sure he is someone I don't mind his writings influencing my thinking. In that research I read two different things on him, a biography, and a Puritan forum where they discussed him and his life.

Let me start with the forum. I didn't realize when I started reading it that most Puritans are opposed to Pink. In this forum they talked against him because he moved off away from people. They complained that that was against the great commission among other things. In the biography it said he and his wife had moved from place to place, going from 'church' to 'church' teaching, preaching, and trying to be hired on. He eventually settled down in one place only to have it be in the midst of bombings as war went on around him. He moved his wife to a remote area, a place where mostly reformed people, unwelcoming reformed people, lived.

I don't know anything of his life beyond that and I don't know how accurate that biography was. It was on a site I trust so it likely was pretty accurate and I'm willing to take it at it's word. I told my husband I can understand why Pink would move off like he did. He had tried, time and again, to gain a preaching position but the 'churches' were opposed to his 'Calvinist' views. Honestly, he put way more effort into it than I would have. And when bombings came near to my home, I would move too. Remote life looks real good when war comes knocking on your front door. Or any day for that matter.

But as I sit here reading this pamplet, I came across something else. Spurgeon wrote, "I  have often trembled at the thought that, here I am standing before you, and constantly engaged in the work of ministry, and what if, when I die, I should be found unfaithful to your souls".

That is Spurgeon, not Pink, but having read what little of Pink's writings that I have read, I can almost see him saying pretty much the same thing. A man can't write so much about the Lord, about His soveriegnity, about election and sanctification, without feeling deeply for the subjects he is writing about.

I write of Scripture and of life. Generally I write of how my life is because of the Lord and Scripture. I do it to share my thoughts with my husband, who, by the way, is my greatest cheerleader in my writings, and because I often work out my own thoughts as I write them.

I used to write 'Christian' romance. I was pretty deep into the writing world at one point, on the verge of publication, and I learned a lot about writing while dabbling in that world. One thing I learned is that there are two kinds of writers, some are what they call 'fly by the seat of your pants' writers, meaning they just make it up as they go along, and some are planners, meaning they must plan out what they will write before they write their first word. I am a fly by the seat of your pants writer. Planning does not work for me. I must put my fingers to the keys and let my mind work through them. I never really know what I will write before I write it, I just write what is on my heart and mind.

Even still, I am deeply involved in most of what I write about. It is the thoughts of my mind and the feelings of my heart that come out through the keys of my computer with the tapping of my fingers.

Pink had to have felt deeply for the subjects he wrote on. I read somewhere that most of his books did not start out as books. They began as writings for his publication and were pulled together to make books on certain subjects after his death.

If he did not set out to write a book on, say, sanctification, how many times did he write on that subject to have so much material on it that it was turned into a book? How deeply did he feel that subject matter?

And why did he feel the need to get it into the hands of others?

He could have simply done his own studies, even devoted his life to studying Scripture, without sharing any of it. But he didn't. Why not? Something must have weighed heavily on his heart for him to strive so hard to share his writings. It was Spurgeon that I quoted earlier but I can easily imagine Pink may have said something very similar. Not because I am trying to put words into his mouth but because a man does not write so fervently as Pink did without feeling deeply the subject matter.

Somewhere in my reading on Pink I read that he worked something like 15 hours a day writing out sermons, articles and such. He stopped only to sleep, eat, work a bit in the garden and eventually his wife convinced him to take up stamp collecting to give him a hobby. In other words he dedicated his life to his writings.

In this pamplet I am trying to read it says, "So far as I know God's truth I will endeavour to speak it..." Again, that was Spurgeon and I'm sort of running the two together here, not because I have them confused in my mind, but because they both seemed to have a deep hurt for the salvation of others and because they are of the same faith and it seems to me, of similar thought processes. Spurgeon writes more like a preacher than Pink does. Meaning the one sermon I have read of Spurgeons read like I was reading, well, a sermon. He sounds like a preacher. Pink does not. I can almost identify with the way Pink writes. It has a feel like he is working out his thoughts as he wrote. And what deep and weighty thoughts they were no matter how he got them onto paper.

But, in that quote of Spurgeon's, it sounds to me like he not only studied Scripture and wrote out lessons, sermons and such, but he strived to share what he learned from Scripture. He somehow felt responsible for those he was leading and did not want to fail in his task.

I don't know if Pink felt the same way or not. I don't know what prompted him, other than the Lord, which was really the only Thing prompting him, to do what he did. But he did write so well and he left a legacy for believers that would come behind him.  Apparently he had a photographic memory and could quote hundreds and thousands of verses. He also, apparently lived in a time when the reformed faith was little known and all but nonexistant, although I have no doubt that there were plenty of regenerate believers scattered throughout the world, they just might have been hard to find.

And so here was this man, traveling throughout at least three different countries. Preaching. Teaching. And when that failed he eventually resorted to putting out his own little magazine with his writings in it. I personally wouldn't say he failed to follow the great commission. He appears to have given the gospel many times over.

I am not defending him, nor am I promoting him. I know little about him beyond having read some of his shorter writings in the past and what I have recently learned. What I am doing is thinking hard on how a person might easily reach the place in life that Pink did. He tried, time and again, to find a preachers postition. He was rejected by Armenien 'churches' and kicked out of calvinist ones. I can't see that he had many options, except going it alone. He moved to a safe place due to war, where he was apparently surrounded by reformed believers but they did not welcome him into their midst.

I actually see a bit of the Lord's hand at work in his life here. Pink grew up 'christian' then in his young adult years he got into the occult. He was brilliant and was close to leading them when he was converted overnight. He gave the gospel to his occult group and moved on from there. He tried to go to seminary school only to discover he either did not share their beliefs or that they were teaching watered down bits of Scripture and he was far beyond them already. He moved on. Going from 'church' to 'church', country to country. Seeking a place to teach but rarely finding one for any length of time. Through an act of war the Lord moved him to a remote area, getting him away from 'churches' and preaching postitions and leaving him with unfriendly reformed people and his long distance followers.

He lived and died a fairly quiet life, known by few until after his death. Yet...can't you see the Lord's hand at work in his life?

It seems to me that he tried his hardest to share what he knew but the Lord kept that sharing restrained, rarely letting him into 'free will' circles and even keeping him out of the 'calvinist' or 'reformed' circles. He was able to understand and grasp great depths of Scripture. His photographic memory allowing him to make connections all across Scripture at once. He could site verse after verse to back up what he was saying.

He was so intent on sharing all these Truths that he did not give up. He kept on keeping on, as the old saying goes. He struggled. He plugged away at it. He searched and searched for a following to teach and when that failed in the 'church' circles, he wrote articles for his own publication, sending them out to an average of 500 people per month.

In the midst of all that he suffered a nervous breakdown. Why? Because of his great understanding of Scripture? Because he longed to save those that he could not get through to? Because...???  I don't know why. I can only speculate. But I do know that this pamplet  written by Spurgeon says, , "I have often trembled at the thought that...I should be found unfaithful to your souls." Pink did not say that but the zeal with which Pink wrote almost makes me wonder if he did not feel the same way. He wrote so much, 12, 14, 16 hours a day, day in and day out, for so many years of his life, striving before that to find a place where he could give the gospel to others, that I imagine he probably felt similar to Spurgeon.

He shared with great zeal because he felt with great zeal.

He wrote from seclusion because the world rejected him and what he was trying to teach them. And still he felt some, possibly a huge, responsibility for their souls.

What a great and mighty incentive to keep going.

I was once in a grocery store that had a little eating area at the front of it. As I sat there with my family, enjoying a picnic of sorts, I noticed a man at the table just across the aisle from us. This man had a Bible in front of him and stacks of index cards. My attention now firmly drawn to this man, I watched him. He diligently wrote down verse after verse. Seeming to write each verse on a different index card. Eventually this man looked up and told my mother, who was walking past his table, "He is coming." I don't remember what all he said to her but I recall him speaking of how Jesus is coming. By that point it was apparent that he was mentally handicapped. But he had a grasp on the most important thing in this world...Jesus.

I will not speculate on that man's salvation or what kind of faith he held. All I know is on that day he believed in Jesus and he was working as hard as he possibly could to preserve the Lord's word...or whatever he was doing with those index cards filled with Scripture.

I picture Pink doing much the same thing. Bent over his table as that man was. Writing with fervor whatever the Lord put on his heart to write. I picture him doing his best to tell whoever will listen, even if it was an unseen audience, that 'Jesus is coming' although maybe that wasn't the message he gave.

I can all but hear him, all but see him in my mind. I can nearly feel his desperation. I can also understand why he was kicked out of 'churches' and why most people did not want to listen to him. He had a grasp of Scripture that, if the biography I read is correct, put him leagues above most everyone else of his time. He was preaching Truth when most were nibbling on little tidbits of feel good Scripture. There was no internet, barely any television. He probably wasn't put on the radio. It's a wonder he had 500 followers. And yet...

The Lord gave him 500 followers. Enough to let him know he was making a difference. Enough to keep him studying and writing. Enough to ensure he wrote massive amounts of work so that they would someday be preserved for people that came after him.

I do not generally read the writings of men, at least not more than an article here or there, but I am looking forward to receiving my new books by Pink. Hopefully the Lord will allow me to read them all the way through but if not I am sure what I do read of them will be edifying.

Separated nations

Just a few of my thoughts on what the Lord Jesus (God) has said about the separation of unregenerate people....

Signs of the End of the Age
3 As he sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?” 4 And Jesus answered them, “See that no one leads you astray. 5 For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and they will lead many astray. 6 And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not alarmed, for this must take place, but the end is not yet. 7 For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places. 8 All these are but the beginning of the birth pains.

I ask you to read the above passage from Matthew 24, the disciples are asking the Lord what will be the signs of His return, look at verse 7 closely. The Lord talks of nations and kingdoms rising against one another... not a group of multicultural ethnic groups living on earth happily ever after as some liberal theologians and "false" preachers and teachers would have you believe. Instead it says (teaches us) that evil people (all people are evil) of different nations (races) are separated from one another, fighting against one another, until Christ returns. Let me add here, I believe God (Jesus) is sovereign, not man (you)... So no matter what you may propose about different races living together in harmony... it is not the Lord's will, and He will not allow man to over throw His decrees.

Let's look at God's word in the first book of scripture... Genesis 11: 1-9
The Tower of Babel
11 Now the whole earth had one language and the same words. 2 And as people migrated from the east, they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there. 3 And they said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks, and burn them thoroughly.” And they had brick for stone, and bitumen for mortar. 4 Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be dispersed over the face of the whole earth.” 5 And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of man had built. 6 And the Lord said, “Behold, they are one people, and they have all one language, and this is only the beginning of what they will do. And nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them. 7 Come, let us go down and there confuse their language, so that they may not understand one another's speech.” 8 So the Lord dispersed them from there over the face of all the earth, and they left off building the city. 9 Therefore its name was called Babel, because there the Lord confused[a] the language of all the earth. And from there the Lord dispersed them over the face of all the earth.

Here in this chapter God(Father, Son, Holy Spirit) separates the inhabitants of the world. We cannot assume what scripture does not tell us, but we do know from scripture that Adam sinned and all those born of woman are imputed with this dark God separating force. The Lord, in verse 5, gives a glimpse of what the fallen heart is capable of if not governed by a sovereign Creator. Later in scripture we learn that God has an elect people that he will save out of every nation. with that being said, lets go to Revelations chapter 7

A Great Multitude from Every Nation
9 After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, 10 and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” 11 And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, 12 saying, “Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen.”

Look again at verse 9 & 10 God(Father,Son, Holy Spirit) has gathered His people from every nation(different cultures)... that He has established since the tower of babel. From the first book to the last God keeps evil unregenerate people (that is everybody) separated for His purposes!

So what do I think about illegal immigration.... I am reformed in my theology. Therefore I believe the Lord has separated people for a reason. Had he wanted us to be one race of people sharing one land, He never would have confused the races at Babel. That's not to say that any one race is better than another or that there is one group of people that belong to God more than another one does. It's to say that if the Lord had wanted the whole of the human race to be a mixed lot, living as one race or as many races and ethnicity's in one land, He would have made us that way. He would have put us all in one land, whether of the same race and ethnicity or not, and had us live as one people for all of time.

Because I believe the Lord controls everything that happens on Earth, and everywhere, I believe the Lord is allowing this mixing of people in our country, and in many others throughout the world. I believe that for whatever purpose He has in place, He is allowing other nationalities to enter into countries that were once predominately one nationality. We have seen time and again, despite the blatant denial of so many, that this melting pot of ethnicity's does not work. Not only can we see it in our own country today- all we have to do is look at the discord between various groups of people, at the way those from other country's separate themselves and hold to their old ways, and at history which shows us that overall no two ethnic groups can truly mix for very long.

Scripture shows us that one ethnic group is used, time and again, to overthrow another land. I won't give specific verses because it's seen all throughout the Old Testament but it is there for our reading and understanding of how humans are used, time and again, not to create one people but to destroy each other.

We can also see it in our own countries history. There was a time, long ago, when this country belonged to the Indians, people we now call Native Americans. The Lord allowed white people to trickle into the country and look what happened. The white people did not assimilate and become like the new land they now called home. No, they came in, kept their old ways, mingled with the Natives, and eventually rose up, when their numbers were great enough, and overthrew the Native Americans.

Not only did they want to rule but they suppressed the people that had once ruled this country. Does that look like it worked out for America to be a melting pot of ethnicity's? Did the white settlers accept the ways of their new home and native peoples and settle in to become one of them?

Next came the slaves. Despite what many people say, and our secular history textbooks teach, there were good and bad slave owners. There were slaves that were thrilled to be freed and slaves that did not want to be free. There were slaves that fought for the south of their own willingness just as there were some that did everything they could to escape. But what do we see as the result of that?

Slaves, meaning what was called black people and is now called, African Americans, were once a minority people, suppressed and controlled. They were, by the Lord's hand, delivered from slavery and allowed to live free in a country controlled by white people. How did that work out? Over the course of history did they assimilate to the way of life and become one nation, accepting the ways of the country? Some did. And before anyone thinks I'm racist, I am not. The Lord made all people for His purposes. There are regenerate Christians in all ethnicity's and evil fills the hearts of all people, no matter their race or ethnicity. But...we can see in America today that for the most part the African Americans have not tried to mix and mingle and become as one race with white people. They kept their ways and they, for the most part, stayed separate.

It's that way no matter the ethnicity of the people or the country they live in. It can clearly be seen in American prisons today, the races are very much separated within those walls. Gone is the pretense of we are all one people.

Romans 9 teaches us that there are two separate groups of people but they are not separated because of their race or ethnicity, they are separated because of their evil hearts and the grace and mercy of God. Because I am reformed in my theology, I believe that God has an elect people, people that He chose before the foundation of the world (Ephesians 1:4, 11) to be His, not because of anything they did, not because they are good, not because they are any better than any other people, but because God chose to have mercy on them.

For he says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” Romans 9:15 esv

And why does he have mercy on some and not on others? Only because it pleased Him to do so. He chose some people and not others, throughout all of time, long before the earth was made, simply because He wanted to.

All people are evil but some are granted a pardon from the evil sinfulness of their hearts. They are saved by God and separated, not by race, but by the condition of their converted heart, to be His people and they come from all nations and tongues.

History shows us that nations (ethnic groups) are used to destroy nations. We see it in Scripture and we see it in the course of the history of any country. And we can see it being worked out in the world today.

So many people would have us to believe that we can open our borders and allow anyone into our country that wishes to come. They tell us we can all live together peacefully, in harmony, that those in other countries seeking to come to our country only want the freedoms we experience but if we look at how that is all working out, we see it's not quite what wishful thinking would have it to be.

People from other countries aren't, for the most part, there may be a few, coming here to become one of us. They don't leave their cultures and lifestyles at the border and become 'American'. No, they bring their ways with them and they try to change our ways. The best we can hope for is that they will obey our laws and learn our language...and that they will be content to live among us and not take over. But hopeful thinking doesn't usually work out. Once any group of people grow in numbers enough...they start wanting things changed to better accommodate them. It can be seen in any group setting, even families. Homes with no children are not child friendly. The more kids in a house, the more child oriented it becomes. Glass dishes give way to plastic. Knicknacks give way to toys. English language gives way to other languages, already we must choose a number on a phone call to have the message given to us in English. Instruction manuals come with so many different languages that sometimes it's hard to find the page(s) in English.

Assimilation does not work. We've seen it time and again and we are seeing it now within the borders of our very own country.

Has America drank from the cup of sin to the point that our time is up? Is the Lord allowing, even controlling, the infiltration of other ethnicity's into America for the purpose of overthrowing the predominately white control of this country to give it into the hands of another nation? Only time will tell.

Expanding my lens

We, as fallen, earthly, people, view the world through our earth bound understanding. There is nothing we encounter that is not subject to being viewed through a lens that cannot be removed. Scripture writes of things that we cannot comprehend and yet we try to do so anyway. 

My husband recently introduced me to a writing by A.W. Pink that is, quite honestly, astounding in it's scope. I found his way of writing to be challenging to read. That added to a difficult, deep, subject was even more challenging. There are some things I can easily read and follow online and others that I simply need more time with. I can read and understand Scripture when reading it online but I do not want to study it that way. For me I need time and the physical connection to the Scriptures to be able to absorb them more fully. So if I'm looking to read a verse or two quickly, to clarify my thoughts, I use Scripture through the internet but if I want to read Scripture for enjoyment or for study I get an actual Bible and I sit with it snugly in my hands. 

I have always loved books and readily admit that this whole books online thing stumps me. I understand why one might prefer a single digital device to bookshelves filled with books for the sake of less stuff in your home but I cannot manage to read anything digitally for any great length of time. Then again, the Lord doesn't really let me read books anymore either. I still enjoy them in theory. Like the feel of them in my hands. Like the smell of them. They still feel like old friends. A welcome home after a long time away. But...the Lord does not let me actually read them. I can start one but for some reason He yanks me out of it before I get to finish it. I am, at this very moment, debating on buying a physical copy of the writing by Pink that my husband so recently introduced me to. I would love to read all of it and yet my own mind reminds me that I do not actually like to read man's written words on Scripture. I prefer to go straight to Scripture and skip the writings of men. Still...I would like to read more of what Pink wrote on sanctification and I cannot stick with it to read it online. So I'm debating buying a copy in book form. 

I see that book, though, through the same lens I see all others. I realize its a reformed view of Scripture and have enjoyed shorter works written by Pink in the past. But my own mind, the lens through which I view things, reminds me that the Lord has not let me actually read an entire book since I don't know when. And I love to read. I enjoy books. It's not because I am against either books or the reading of them. 

I WANT to read them but the Lord, for reasons I don't understand, does not let me read them unless it is Scripture. And so I am wondering at the wisdom of ordering a book that I would like to read but highly doubt I will actually manage to do so. 

But that is just one thing, one tiny little thing through which I view something. And it is filtered through the lens of my experience in this earthly life. I used to literally devour books. I loved them. They brought me great joy and filled many of my hours. Granted those hours were filled with useless drivel. The books were not Scripture based and were not profitable for anything beyond entertainment and the passing of time. 

I no longer read those kinds of books but the Lord is not letting me read others yet either. We will see if a book form of Pinks work makes it into my hands. Whether or not it does, I am sure I will write more on this topic because I find my mind lingering greatly on it. I simply cannot seem to move past it for some reason. 

Somewhere in the small bit of Pinks work on sanctification I read something about the lens through which we view things. He said something to the effect of, we must first learn to associate words with physical things before we can associate them with more abstract ideas. 

That made me think of a baby, just learning words. What is the first word they learn? No. Mama. Daddy. Different babies pick up different words first. They must somehow learn to associate this sound to that thing. Imagine how difficult it must be to learn that no means I cannot do this, I can't have that, don't go over there, don't touch that, I don't want that, and so much more. I can't even imagine having to learn to associate a single word with all that no stands for and yet babies have to do so. They often get into trouble when 'no' does not gain the desired result their caretaker is aiming for. And they may not even understand what 'no' meant. Yet they learn. 

They also learn 'mama'. Often 'mama' means you, as in their mama, but it also means anyone they want as well as 'drink', 'hungry', 'sleepy', etc. Mama quickly becomes the single word that represents almost everything they want. They see the world through the lens of 'mama' and they apply that lens to everything, whether or not it is the right application.

A baby cannot rightly apply 'mama' or 'no' or 'daddy' for some time. How many times is Daddy called 'mama' or Uncle Joe called 'daddy'? It's just the way of things with babies as they learn to rightly apply words and navigate in this world. 

We all must learn Scripture in the same way. We must apply what we know to what we don't know. I can well remember when I would have had no idea what sanctification meant. When I first met my husband he called me a nominal Christian. I didn't even know what that meant. A couple years ago my husband was talking about the post I wrote titled 'Spiritual Prisoners' (which, by the way, I think might just be his favorite of anything I've written) and I asked him if I was still a nominal Christian. He was shocked, asked me why I asked him that, and seemed to not recall having ever called me one. He did however say I was no longer a nominal Christian. Whether or not I am one now, there was a time when I had no idea what certain terms meant. I am certain there are many things I still do not know. 

Sanctification, I understand, but for some reason the Lord seems to be leading me into a deeper understanding. Why? I do not know.

And so, as a baby learns to understand that 'no' means so many different things, not just 'don't touch', I will learn a deeper understanding of sanctification. Or so it appears. 

I will use the lens through which I understand Scripture to go deeper into a subject I've never felt the need to dig deep into before. I may only scratch the surface, I may wind up in dark waters. We shall see. Time will tell. My interest in this subject has come at the Lord's hand and I will see it through to whatever point He wants me to. 

As a baby must first learn that 'Daddy' means their daddy before they can comprehend 'where's daddy' or know to wonder 'where daddy at', I will take my less than deep understanding of Sanctification and widen and deepen it until my lens has expanded a bit. 

There is a way that seems right to man...

I have lived many years in what is known as the Bible belt of America. I often find myself wondering just what that really means. Oh, I understand the term but I also understand the beliefs that drive many of the so-called 'Christians' in the Bible belt. 

I've set in many 'Church' buildings, been to Sunday suppers (usually lunches), attended Bible studies, vacation Bible schools...  I've even been enrolled in a Christian school in my childhood. I've seen a lot of what goes on in these Church buildings whether they are in the Bible belt or not. 

I've also seen what goes on in some of the upstanding members homes when they take off their 'church' clothes and stop playing religion. Some of them live what they show on Sundays. Most do not. For many, going to church is much like going to the movies. It's their entertainment for the week or worse, their penance. They drag themselves out of bed on Sunday, some with smiles, others with grumbling, climb into their best clothes, spruce their children up and pick up the Bible they may not have touched since last Sunday. Then they drive, walk/ride, to the worship building of their choice where they mingle with friends and others, visit, gossip, and sit through a service that is often filled with stories of everyday life scattered with a few seeds of Scripture and kept entertaining with songs and jokes mixed throughout the entire one hour session. By the end of that session most are ready to escape like a racehorse out of a starting gate. They may be happy to stand around visiting but they hit the end of the sermon with exuberance and a huge sigh of relief. 

Finally.

They served their time and now they are free. 

I know. I've been there. I've watched them. I've talked with them. I was one of them. I can, much to my chagrin now, recall sitting through services with a cell phone in my hand playing solitaire on the phone while the service took place. I recall, also, passing services with a coloring book and crayons, toys, and such to keep me occupied. The difference? I was a child with the crayons and toys, an adult with the cell phone. And I wasn't the only one doing it. I could look around the room and see many others with their cell phones in hand. 

Today it might be assumed that they are reading Bible apps but that wasn't the case in the days when I did it. Back then flip phones were as fancy as phones got and Bibles still came in paper form.

Now, all that said. I have no problems with an adult sitting through a 'church' service tuned into a video game on their cell phone rather than the sermon being given. They are probably better served to ignore whatever nonsense the preacher is feeding them. I do see the rudeness in it and I would not do it today but I have enough Scripture straight from the source to be able to discern the nonsense, or at least most of it, coming from the preacher.

Here lately I have been given the chance to observe some of the 'church' goers in action. Neighbors getting dressed up and heading out on a Sunday morning. Parking lots packed to the brim as I made use of the time to run to the grocery store while the crowds were thinned out a bit. I've observed people that are Sunday 'Christians' only. People that put on a show for me, trying to be what they think I want them to be (when all I want them to be is themselves with a filter on their vocabulary while I am around). I have also observed people that are much, much deeper into religion. 

I crossed paths with a woman I assume was Islamic. Her style of clothing said she wore her religion as a form of outward works. I have seen pictures of a family that is Jewish, their male family members wearing a symbol of their faith. 

It's kind of amazing to see the differing ways people go about living out whatever faith they have. I have one relative that so far as I know does not believe in anything, another that believes aliens played a role in the history of earth and people. Other relatives that believe Christianity means 'Church' although they work that out in differing ways. 

And here I sit. Every Sunday morning. While the crowds file into their 'Christian' entertainment and I sit at home with my family. 

My husband and I spoke of that recently. I told him our neighbors probably believe us to be heathens because on Sunday mornings as they drive off to 'Church' in their best clothes, we can be seen in our yard or taking walks down the road, wearing comfortable clothes that are usually less than our best and often include pajama pants and tshirts. 

Oh, what must the neighbors think of us?

While they head out to 'God's house', to 'go see Jesus' and to learn Bible stories we are wallowing at home refusing every invitation they give us to go to 'church' with them.

It's not that I would never go to a 'church' service. I do. Occasionally. Once in a while. Sometimes. Okay, rarely. But I do go. I would go if the right reason came along. There are places I would not step foot inside of, places where sin is blatantly lived out and flaunted for all to see. Places like that would take a mighty powerful reason to get me through the doors. Something like discovering my child was inside is about the only reason I would enter such a place. My mother's heart would do anything for my children, including walking into a house of sin that made my heart hurt, seared my conscious, and made me want to close my eyes and ears to all that is around me. 

It's sad to say but that's almost what it would take to get me into a 'church' too. Promoted as houses of God and 'holy ground' they are little more than religious playgrounds where emotions are fed and people are herded into a mindset of lies and half truths centered around Christ. 

There is a blog that I have read bits of, here and there, that has had an ongoing discussion about a very popular preacher and evangelist the last few months. I had little interest in this man before his death and even less interest in him now that he is gone. To put it plain and simple this man lived out his life, giving a gospel that was twisted to millions of people. I had no desire to listen to him even when I was not regenerate, even when I still played 'church' and I have no desire to listen to him or debate the good or bad of his teachings now. 

But this ongoing debate about a man that is long gone is, and has been, taking place on a reformed site among people I would consider to be reformed. There is much scorn for this man because he supposedly led people to hell. 

Really?

How?

Can men in their fallable state truly lead anyone to hell? Can a satanist lead a Christian into satanic beliefs by sharing their religion? Can Islam influence a born again Christian into the Islamic faith? Can... well, you get the idea.

How then, could this man, this fallible, human, misguided man, lead anyone to hell? Do the Scriptures not teach that 'all that the Father gives me will come to me and NO ONE will snatch them out of my hand"? 

I would never, ever, promote this evangelist or his teachings but he did teach Christ. The Christ he taught was a bit off from the Christ of Scripture but it was close enough to say this man gave the Gospel to millions of people. He planted seeds. Sure, they might have been what we would call seconds or culls. They may have been misshapped, deformed, even half missing, seeds but they were seeds and the Lord could, and I am certain did, use those seeds to draw His people.

I am a perfect example of being drawn out of 'Churchianity' and into Biblical Christianity. I grew up in 'church' to the point that I thought our 'church' was the only way to go. I was taught that Baptists were right and all other denominations were wrong. I cannot even remember a time when I understood, as a child, that not being a 'christian' was an option, despite the fact that my grandpa denounced there was a God until the final months of his life. As I understood it, if a person went to 'church' they were a 'christian'. Simple. Easy. Done.

Except...

No.

Not done.

Done was the finished work of Christ on the cross. Done was when my Lord and Savior said 'it is finished" and died to take my place-

MY place

in a punishment for sins I have knowingly and unknowingly committed since the moment I was conceived. 

There is much of being a Christian that I do not know. Much I don't understand. Much I will never understand. 

Just recently I read something about Scripture that made me literally stop in my tracks and ponder what I was reading. It was about wisdom and knowledge. There is much to be said about both of those within Scripture so I'm not going to give a specific verse. Honestly, I can't give a specific verse for the one I was seeing referred to because I don't remember what it was. What I do remember is the reference that wisdom is Scripture, it's the understanding of Scripture and the learning of our world in relation to Scripture, whereas knowledge is worldly learning. Wisdom leads to life, knowledge to death.

I have no doubts that I have read on that before. I already knew that. It wasn't some new revelation but on that day it hit me as a new revelation. 

There has been much talk of Scripture and the Christian life at my house lately. A couple of months ago I was asked why anyone needs to believe in anything, meaning God or a supposed equivalent. That question has been the topic of numerous discussion between my husband and myself. I also have been writing letters with a dear friend whose beliefs differ from ours in many ways. That, those letters, questions and discussions being sent back and forth between this friend and myself, and our differing beliefs have brought on many discussions with my husband also.

I won't go into what all has been discussed because, quite honestly, I could not if I wanted to. There has been too many discussions for me to be able to recount them. But all these discussions, talks on why someone needs to believe in anything, whether or not I believe the world is flat (I do not), on how a Christian should act or behave...

And in the midst of all of that I stumble across things like wisdom=Scripture, knowledge=world=death. And then there are the discussions that lead around to things like how I was drawn to simpler, less worldly views of Christianity as a kid, how I was drawn to 'church' even when I was young, even when my family did not go. How I used to marvel at my friend who was made to read a chapter of her Bible every day, and two (or was it five) on Sundays and why I wasn't made to do that. I wanted to be made to read my Bible, so much so that I tried to make myself read my Bible every day like my friend had to do but my ten year old mind just could not stick with a daily reading of a King James Bible, the only version I had access to or new existed. My husband has stories of his own about being drawn to Christ in a childhood that had little of Christ and almost no 'church' influence. 

At six years old he was given the simplest of Gospels. 

Believe in Christ or go to hell.

There it was, stated to him, plain as day and in a simple form guarenteed to terrify any child that has even the vaguest understanding of hell. I must admit I have given that same simplified Gospel to several people since hearing my husband's tale of the effect it had on him. Why bother getting any more detailed than that. Here it is. Simple. Easy. Basic.

And yet...

In the midst of all this Bible study, discussion, pondering, etc. I have found myself in the midst of some kind of ongoing, ever widening, ever learning, Scripture study that is leading me nowhere and everywhere at once.

I remember the days when Bible study looked something like I want to see what the Bible has to say on...whatever topic. Or when it encompassed me and my Bible sitting somewhere comfy while I read straight through or skipped around reading whatever caught my fancy. More often than not here lately the Lord has been giving me huge Scripture studies through life application on subjects that are not easily put into a single category. My friend asked me in a letter what I thought of a couple of men known as 'church fathers'. To which I had to reply that I knew nothing as I prefer to study Scripture and not men. Not long after that my husband introduced me to a reformed writing on Sanctification (You can find some of it in my last post) and I had to admit it was a subject I knew very little of.

And so I have come to expect that the Lord will lead me on a wild goose chase of Scripture study to show me so much more than I could ever learn in bite sized pieces. Life isn't viewed through short Bible studies but in applying all of Scripture to this earthly life we lead. That's not a new revelation either, just a reminder to myself. 

I recall a recent phone call with my out of state sister that had us both appreciating our husbands and their willingness to work and support our families. And I recall a letter from a friend that left me feeling like a failure in my job as a wife and mother when she spoke of loving to clean and having her home spotless when her husband comes home. As I read that letter I looked around my home, at the toys on the floor, the food on the bar, the sand in the corners that never goes away no matter how much I clean, and I felt like a failure. How could my friend keep a spotless house with five kids when I battle toys and sand and all manner of things on a daily basis. Could I battle a bit harder? Yes? Will I? Maybe on some days but not as a general rule. I knew that at almost the same moment I felt like a failure. I reminded myself of my husband who does not have to worry about tracking messes through our home (most of the time anyway) in the course of his working out of our home. Of the children that need not worry about strewing toys through the house or leaving their blanket where it lay. I reminded myself of the grandkids and nieces and nephews that have and do visit and how they tracked sand through my home, dripped swimming pool water on my floors, carried in bugs and lizards from outside, played in flour while they 'cooked' and coated my kitchen in white, smeared playdough through my home, left candy wrappers and half eaten suckers in my bedrooms, and...begged to come back.

I took another look at my messy house that isn't so bad afterall. Yes, there are toys on the floor and sand in the corners. The bread bag is on the bar along with  a doll dress and a few work tools. There's a half finished dollhouse on my kitchen table and my kitchen chairs are doing double duty as a baby gate but...it's comforting and it's home. And more important no one need fear making a mess. 

Yet, I also see my sometimes messy home and know I could do better. I could scrub my floor instead of walking with my husband. I could deep clean the living room instead of holding babies or building dollhouses. I could throw out the baby swing that takes up space in my small living room for the main reason that it makes a great indoor swing for older kids, every toddler and preschooler that visit love to use it. I could...but I probably won't because home is home and comfort beats spotless any day of the week. We do live here. I don't want a showplace, which is a good thing because my house would never pass as one, all I want is a home where love abides and Christ reigns. Where understanding and freedom are granted to the unregenerate and ideally, where we can all live in peace and love. 

I don't think that's so much to ask and so after feeling like a failure, I reevaluated my thoughts and decided I fail daily, as a wife, as a mother, as a human, but more importantly as a Christian, and that that will not change no matter how hard I try. 

My home could be compared to my Christian faith, I suppose. My friend says her home is spotless because she values that in her home. My home may or may not be messy at any given moment and more often than not if the kitchen is clean there is a mess in the living room. It's like my life as a fallen woman in the Lord's creation. If I manage to get one thing right, I'm sure to be failing in another area. 

I do not struggle with certain sins but fail daily to put the Lord first in every moment of my life. This morning I awoke thinking about how tired I was and how I longed to go back to sleep. I did not think of my Lord or what a blessing this day is. I thought of sleep and the grit behind my eyelids. I wanted to whine for more sleep. 

And it's in all those failures and my less than spotless home that makes me see just how human I am and how much I fail. I did not understand half of what I read in that sanctification article my husband shared with me. Not the first time I read it. It's written in older English, in a style of writing that throws me off when I first start reading it. I felt like a failure there too. My husband read it, enjoyed it, and shared it with me so that I might be edified by it. And I struggled to understand half of what I was reading. To give myself credit, I was juggling kids as I was reading it and the second reading I did not struggle with understanding it, but still...I struggled and failed where I felt like I should have understood with ease. 

And that struggling reminded me of all the other areas, in life and in Scripture, where I fail or feel like I fail. Our earthly lives are filled with failure. Scripture gives guidelines to the regenerate and the reprobate alike. Some of us naturally live within those guidelines, more or less, some of us can't seem to get within them no matter how much we try. And others fall somewhere in the middle.

Last night I was reminded of a verse that I haven't seen in a while. 

There is a way that seems right to a man but its end is the way to death.
Proverbs 14:12 esv

As I read that verse I was reminded of the Sunday 'christians', of the various religious groups, families, and individuals, that strive to live out their beliefs, no matter what they are, in an outwardly way. Some would say they do it out of obedience, some out of a belief that their actions affect their eternal destination, some out of...whatever reasoning they have. 

And as I think on that verse and the Sunday 'christians', the Mormans, the...name your religious group here...I am reminded of the saying 'cleanliness is next to godliness'. In a sense, I suppose it is but in reality it isn't the earthly form of cleanliness that gets us next to godliness. It's the inner regeneration and sanctification that accomplishes that and no outward works, be it a clean home, a salvation prayer, a way of living...nothing...will accomplish that except the grace and mercy of the Lord and that is something we can never work ourselves into.

I spoke with my sister just a little while ago and as she so aptly put it only God can give us salvation and take away our sins. In her very own words, "we all deserve hell". 

How true that is.

There are those who are clean in their own eyes
    but are not washed of their filth. Proverbs 30:12 esv

How many people, if questioned would admit that they deserve hell? And how many people would say they are good inside if asked? How very hard is it for the human mind and heart to see their own sins, to see the evilness of themselves? And how many people try, in one way or another, to measure up through something they do? 

If any man ascribes anything of salvation, even the very least thing, to the free will of man, he knows nothing of grace, and he has not learned Jesus Christ rightly. C.H. Spurgeon

After reading those two verses in Proverbs I found myself thinking on how many people believe their way to be the right way. Most people would say their belief is the right one. I firmly believe in my beliefs. How many others would say the same thing? And how many of those say they are right because they 'chose' this or that or because they 'did' such and such? 

The Jehovah Witnesses believe their way is right. Yet they follow a Bible that has been altered by men to say what that man believed. The Mormons believe their way is right. The Amish believe their way is right. The Islam believers believe their way is right. Satanists believe their way is right. Pagans...Athiests...Agnostics... you name it, if a person truly believes in something, they believe their way to be the 'right' way.

And yet Scripture says...there is a way that seems right to a man but leads to death.