Are You Serious!

Well, first of all I would like to apologize for quoting Nancy Pelosi in my title, but I think you will share my sentiments when you read this. There was a story on www.politico.com yesterday and I had to talk about it. Apparently, Tucker Carlson who used to be on the government network (For those of you not aware that is MSNBC!) and is now on Fox News from time to time has opened up that hole in his head today about Michael Vick. Here is what spewed out of his mouth:

“I’m Christian. I’ve made mistakes. I believe fervently in second chances. Michael Vick killed dogs in a heartless and cruel way. I think, firstly, he should have been executed for that. The idea the president of the United States would be getting behind someone who murdered dogs is beyond the pale.”

I could waste your time here with a lot of name calling, but that is not what this blog is about. I bet you think I can’t make a connection to spiritual or earthly wisdom do you? Yes I Can! I’m sorry about that, now I am quoting Barack Obama, it’s been a rough day! Anyway, let’s get back to reality here. Before I talk about the issue I have to discuss the relevance of the Bible to this discussion. In the Book of Genesis the Lord gave Adam dominion over the animals and even the task naming all of them. We are also taught that the Lord made mankind as a little lower than the angels. I say that to remind everyone of the God ordained pecking order in this world. This seems simple for some of us, but the simplicity of that order of things is predicated on the submission to the authority of scripture in every area of our lives. For those that have read my previous entry, the source of wisdom and understanding about these things is directly from an infinite God. What I mean is that the origination of spiritual wisdom is not what you read (although that is important), but what you trust in regards to who God is. You are probably wondering what any of this has to do with Tucker Carlson saying that Michael Vick ‘should have been executed’. I’m glad you asked! If the above mentioned truths are not things that are just a part of everyone’s logic and reasoning then you can arrive at conclusions about executing people who kill animals and think that is a perfectly legitimate point of view to have. That is not to say that Tucker Carlson has a lack of intellectual depth or that he has no understanding of spiritual things, because I don’t know the man. On the other side of the coin I am not saying that since wisdom is dispensed on high from our Lord that the pursuit of intellectual knowledge is not worth your time. What I am saying is that when a society erases from their social mores basic truths about heaven and hell, man and woman, and mankind and animals just to name a few you open the door to ideas that do not make logical sense. Moreover, you close the door spiritually in your mind for the Lord to dispense wisdom through the humble reading of His Word. The result of that is that we have a hard time stomaching capital punishment for killing soul bearing human beings in this country and Mr. Carlson wants to advocate it for the death of animals that have no souls. My comment about the lack of a soul in your beloved dog might infuriate some people, but this is something that I am not going to argue about. It is just the truth and that is all I am going to say about that. There are certain opinions that people have that you can just disregard because they are totally indefensible and ridiculous. (As a side note, an indication that our society has lost their way intellectually is the loss of the ability to disregard foolish points of view as nonsense and ignore them!)
The individual issue of Tucker Carlson’s comment is not as important as what this statement indicates about where we are intellectually and morally. The deeper issue is how can someone, who probably is a very intelligent person have such an irrational point of view. Secondly, I saw something else that coupled with previous experiences with people troubles me. The first issue has been alluded to in the previous paragraph, but bears a closer look. The equality of man with just about everything is always the tool of the enemy. Our adversary (Satan literally means adversary) either tells us that we are no better then animals or as great as our Lord, essentially like our politicians he tells whatever lies are necessary to deceive you. These truths are at work in evolutionary theory, the environmental movement and the animal rights movement. All three of these movements deny the sovereignty of the Lord for their lives and the caretaking provisions in the Bible in regards to man’s relationship to the earth and its inhabitants that are not human. The animal rights movement is not predicated on animal cruelty, because almost no one likes animals to be mistreated. It is based on the belief of equality of man and animal. The environmental movement is spiritually driven as well. Marveling about what the Lord has created while not worshipping the God that created it is blasphemy and a religion unto itself, not a desire to save the planet, because of a noble duty. (This one is also about power and money as well.) You can make an argument that the animal rights line of thought is similar to the evolutionary theory of creation because of the same reasoning as to the equality of man and beast. The point of all of this is that Mr. Carlson’s comment may seem insane to some and it is, but there are a lot of you who might be reading this that have some similar viewpoints because the bedrock of scripture is not the center of your world. My overall point is that someone’s lack of understanding of timeless biblical truths can cause your mind to not dismiss things that you should dismiss as illogical and irrelevant. That can manifest itself in other issues besides the animal rights movement. I know I sound a little pompous and judgmental, and I will not apologize for it. Freedom of speech gives anyone the right to say whatever you want, however that does not mean people have to or should listen to it! My second point, is more my opinion than anything else, in which you are free to disagree if you like. I have had discussions about politics and the Bible with a lot of people. It’s something I love to do wherever I am. I remember a recent conversation with someone I was working with temporarily at a seasonal job. We seemed to agree about a lot of what was wrong with America and then the topic of labor unions came up. I am against them in just about every form because I think they are bad for the economy. My co-worker disagreed, not based upon any convictions that he had on the issue, but because he wanted the comfort of money for the rest of his life. He thought a company that fired someone after years of service and did not provide their retirement for life was almost immoral. His real point is that freedom was great in theory, but when it came down to dollars and cents he would much rather have the security of money no matter what the consequences to the economy where. I responded by saying that freedom means more to me than security. He did not agree and our conversation stalled. Back to the story about what Mr. Carlson said about Mike Vick. Tucker is apparently pretty conservative. However in regards to the issue that prompted this writing he seems to have liberal leanings. Just like the scenario that played out with my co-worker some people only believe in freedom until true freedom effects their comfort and then they desire security and their government to act so that their security is taken care. Normally those so called freedom lovers are willing to have my freedom taken away to insure their comfort. Freedom isn’t free and you must choose between freedom and security, truth and principles must be more important than passions and emotions. What is right is more important than how you feel. I’m not sure why Mr. Carlson’s comments prompted this little outburst. Maybe I just wanted to say it. I’m not really sure Tucker Carlson’s comments have any ties to my last point. I think I was looking for an excuse to throw that little opinion out there. Anyway, maybe I’m just tired of people believing in things until it’s time for sacrifice on their part. I think most people are socialists and don’t even know it. Everyone I meet one on one will admit that they don’t want the government to control their lives or punish people unjustly based on passions and prejudices, but when freedom comes to YOUR door and YOU have to choose between that freedom and your opinions, which do you choose? Is your desire to live free from tyranny really in your DNA? Or does it fade when you realize that keeping that freedom means you must give up your comfort. And even your opinions that are based on your experiences and not truth.

Why Wisdom's Call?

Hello to everyone who is reading these words and thank you for taking the time to look at this blog. This entry is an introduction to this blog and why I believe the Lord has led me to begin this journey. As the title indicates, I would like to share with you why I have named this blog as I have. First of all, it is not because I have attained infinite wisdom or have arrived in any way spiritually when it comes to wisdom. Moreover, I am not an expert on world affairs, I am not a theologian and I am not looking to people to listen to me. What the cry of my heart is to share what the Lord has taught and shown to me over the years and I am inviting all who choose to read this to participate with me. So why name this Wisdom’s Call? There are a lot of reasons, I will write about this later and probably often, but I will give you a few that spurred my heart on more then others. First, I have seen at least from my encounters with people in the world, a lack of spiritual and even earthly wisdom and moreover lack of desire to have wisdom become a goal, one attains to achieve. I must admit that for a lot of years I did not fix my gaze on things that were wise. Probably because I did not understand what wisdom was and did not see that it was even practical in my world. In short I was foolish and short sighted in my thinking about the world and about the Lord in heaven. The Bible tells us that “the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction”. Proverbs 1:7. This verse leads me into the second core reason for why I have undertaken the task of diving into this subject. I realized that I did not know what the ‘fear of the Lord’ was. Most people look at that verse and think that it was referring to revering the Lord for His greatness. I used to think that was all there was to it as well, however I was proven wrong in my analysis. Fear is also the kind that you get when you are afraid for your life! Therefore if one is to accept the truth that the heart of humanity is desperately wicked then the proper response to that is not just reverence but also bone chilling fear in the sight of a Holy God. That response will lead one to rejoice and praise the Lord Jesus Christ for the salvation from your sin and comfort from that fear, what a blessing that is! That realization in my life produced a desire to truly know this infinite God that I both feared and revered at the same time. Once men allow the Lord to empty themselves of themselves and more specifically their sin, there is room for things from the Lord that are eternal (the promises of God and wisdom). So I challenge you to accept the truth of the depravity of your human condition (reading the Book of Romans is a good start as well as Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5 the Ten Commandments). I know the acceptance of what you are is hard for us in our modern day ‘feel good now’ world, but it is essential for salvation and the desire for the things of eternity that our Lord offers such as wisdom. Maybe you do not want all of that ‘fear God stuff’. Maybe you’re thinking that I do not want to hear about how I am going to hell. Well I have good news and bad news the good news is that there will be plenty of things in this blog that you can read that will not be directly related to salvation from sin and hell. The bad news, (which is actually the good news if you choose to accept it) is that my prayer for everything that I type will lead to repentance of sins and a regenerate contrite heart that will lead to life available through Jesus Christ’s sacrifice for you on Calvary. The last reason is a desire to have a place to be able to honestly and thoroughly discuss all of the issues of the day and what the Bible has to say about them. As I read the Bible, historical writings like “The Federalist Papers,” “Democracy in America”, “Common Sense” and pastoral writings from Spurgeon and the home spun wisdom of Billy Graham and John Wooden. I am left heart broken as I survey the intellectual landscape of our modern day and wonder where is the next generation of visionaries? Where are the men that will sacrifice everything earthly for the eternal? Where is their courage, perseverance, diligence, brokenness and surrender to Jesus Christ? Are we left with 30 minute worship sessions intended to get you emotionally lathered up? Are we left with a 20 minute sermon meant to make you feel good and give you a gospel of cheap grace and no repentance? Are we relegated to news that is nothing more then sound bites? Are we doomed to be a mile wide and an inch deep spiritually and intellectually? Will we be deceived enough to desire feel good experiences from the world and just passive factual information about the Lord and truth? Anyone who has at least one functioning brain cell knows that answer to these questions is a tragic yes. Not on this blog, we will probe this subject to its bottom and find more and more of our Lord and less and less of ourselves.

I would like to end this post with something that I hope to continue with throughout these entries. First and foremost I want to end with a scripture verse, and what the Lord has shown me through it, but more importantly to hopefully encourage all of you to invest time and exhaustively search out the wisdom of the Bible and find out for yourself if it is truth. Lastly, I love reading about history and how the words that men of the past used gives you an indication of the depth of thought that was prevalent years ago. It seems that more men of yesteryear wanted to attain the goal of being wise and intellectually astute. Therefore there will probably be something from the past incorporated into this as much as possible. Lastly, I hope no one who reads this is a grammar teacher, and if you are, I know that these are all run-on sentences. Cut me some slack here. I was a “C” student in college! Without any further delay here is today’s scripture (Drum roll please!).
Ephesians 1:15-17 Therefore I also, after I heard of our faith in the Lord Jesus and you love for all the saints, do not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers: that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him.”

Wow! I think I could write forever on that verse alone, but to save your eyes from bleeding I will just say how it relates to wisdom and why it is important to me. Paul first states that he had heard of their faith and love for the saints. This is important because it goes back to what I wrote previously about wisdom being a result of someone who understands the depravity of their own heart and responds with a heart that is contrite and repentant. How do we know that the church in Ephesus was repentant? Due to, their faith and love for their brothers. Repentance and obedience are proof that you have accepted Christ’s love and your heart is regenerated. This really struck me as I was decided to do this. If I am to write these things I am only qualified to do so if I love my brothers in a Godly way which means I am called to lay down my life for them if necessary. Understanding this truth brought me to a place that I felt disqualified to write about the things of the Lord. I guess that’s a good thing. The significance of this subject matter is to be taken very seriously by me, because I know the Lord does as well. Well, I guess that is the end of my disclaimer statement, let’s return to the book of Ephesians. Paul then seeing their true faith prayed for the spirit of wisdom. That led me to one truth and one thought. The truth we can gleam is that spiritual wisdom about the Lord is from the Lord and cannot be attained by man on their own no matter how much they study His laws. The thought I had was more of a question. How many people pray for wisdom instead of earthly blessings of cars, money, jobs and houses? To look a little deeper we can ask another question. Why would Paul choose to pray for wisdom for such a young group of believers? After all I am sure there were financial and physical needs that were important as well. You guys can ponder that on your own time.

I think I will end with my word for the day. Posterity, which is a word used by our founding fathers and it means descendants children or succeeding generations. The reason I chose this word is because it was used by guys like Alexander Hamilton, James Madison and John Adams to name a few. The other reason is that it indicates that all of their actions were measured by how it would effect people’s lives long term. I would go a step further and say that they knew that their actions had some eternal ramifications. They were not men who made decisions based upon the cares of the day, but rather on what is eternally significant. That’s why they were great. I’ll talk to you later, God bless!