WESLEY J. SMITH'S TAKE ON THE MOVIE "NOAH"

Wesley J. Smith

See Wesley J. Smith's take on the big budget film Noah. See his column for the National Review online at
http://www.nationalreview.com/human-exceptionalism/374445/noahs-war-humans-wesley-j-smith

WORSHIP THE HOLY NAME OF JESUS

Another week draws to a close. Once again I praise my God. He has been with me day and night. The aching of this life cannot drown out his voice that continually whispers to me "Be still and know that I am God."[1] 

The culture may say it will help me kill myself. It's another way of saying "We can't handle your pain so we won't handle your pain." My culture would rather dispose of people like me than find solutions to our anguish (and theirs'). 

When I'm told I have no friends, I know it is not true. I will worship the Holy name of Jesus. He is a friend like no other. 

Jesus loves me. Nothing the world does to me can separate me from His love. [2] That same love is available to all who call on His name and believe in Him. [3]

No matter what comes my way, at the end of each week I still have countless reasons to be thankful for the love of God. 

[See Matt Redman, 10,000 Reasons (Bless the Lord). Click on image below or http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DXDGE_lRI0E ]

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[1] Psalm 46.10
[2] Romans 8.35.
[3] John 20.31., Romans 10.13

GOD HATES DIVORCE, BUT HE LOVES THE DIVORCED

I watched a thirty-seven year marriage end. It’s a tragedy for

everyone involved. The husband’s infidelities came to light and his wife was overwhelmed by deep and justifiable feelings of betrayal and grief.  She was an emotional wreck: One moment she was shouting and stomping around her house, the next moment she was sad and weepy. The adult children of that marriage were heart-broken to see the dissolution of their original family. They rallied around their mother who was, after all, the first aggrieved party. In turn, the unfaithful husband and father responded to his sons and daughters with cold detachment.  This intensified the pain of his family

I suspect the feigned indifference was to mask his internal shame and gnawing guilt. He knew he betrayed the very people who loved him most by breaking the vows he made to his wife before Almighty God and the community.  He was supposed to love, protect and nurture his family ─ but in the end he broke their hearts and trust.  

There are no winners in divorce, only losers. Divorce even hurts the community, yet there is so much of it.

Let us not pussy-foot around modern sensibilities: God hates divorce and he told us this in no uncertain terms (Malachi 2.16).  He considers the attitude of indifference toward marriage vows and duties as tantamount to the treacherous actions of a traitor. 

Marriage was established by God as the union of a man and a woman. Marriage is a sacred institution and must not be torn down, altered or abandoned.

At the heart of divorce is sin. It may manifest itself as infidelity, jealously, discord, mutual recriminations, conflict, violence or domination, but it is all rooted in spiritual rebellion and rejection of God and His love.

Sadly, I must admit that divorce has marred and scarred my

extended family.  There has been so much of it.   I can honestly say that not one person has been better because of it. They all are poorer. I’m not talking about financial poorness ― although that often was an issue too ― I am talking about poverty of the heart, spirit and soul that is the worst of all human poverties.  Spiritual poverty is the ultimate result of sin.

Jesus taught that from the beginning of human history the original union of a man and a woman was willed by God and determined by God to be indissoluble. Thus Jesus said: “Therefore what God has joined, no human being must separate.” (Matthew 19.6)

Yet people do tear apart marriage and that is a sin.

The key to a successful marriage is to follow Christ, renounce self-interest, and place the interests of our spouse before ourselves. It is in faithfully following Christ that the original meaning of marriage can be discovered. 

If you are divorced, take heart. There is forgiveness available.  Christ paid the penalty for sin at Calvary.  Through contrition, confession and penance all people can be forgiven and are reconciled to Christ.  The forgiveness of sin and reconciliation with God is the greatest fruit of Christ’s cross. Bringing sinful humanity to reconciliation and peace with God is the greatest mandate of the Christ's Church. Whatever your place or situation in life, give it to God and humbly follow Jesus. He is our greatest partner.

Although I am not divorced, I do know sorrow, heart-ache and pain. Many of my posts have chronicled them. My consolation is following Christ. I have discovered that there can be peace even in the midst calamity. I don’t know how those seemingly contradictory states can co-exist simultaneously, but they can and do. It’s a glorious mystery available to Christians to enjoy in their happiest moments or darkest hours.

Like the old hymn tells us, God is our refuge, a mighty fortress in

time of need.  That fortress is a refuge designed for the rejected or deserted, the broken-hearted, and people who think they are unloved. In that refuge of God they will find unconditional love and acceptance even if it seems that their earthly world is falling apart.  

Yes, God hates divorce but He loves you more than you can imagine. Regardless of what has broken your heart, let go of your pain or grudges and give them to God. Forgive. -- Mark

[Click on image below or http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=indCvnD4Ji4 for Kevin LeVar "A Heart That Forgives"]

REGISTER FOR THE FIRST NATIONAL SYMPOSIUM ON EUTHANASIA AND ASSISTED SUICIDE, MAY 2-3 2014

   Registration Now Open!  

                9.8 Nursing CEUs Available for this Symposium

The Pro-life Healthcare Alliance and the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition are excited to announce The First National Symposium on Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide.  

Limited Seating-Make sure and reserve your spot!

 

              Friday and Saturday, May 2-3, 2014

                                          Minneapolis, Minnesota

Historically, governments, healthcare providers and societies in general respected, protected and valued life. Regrettably, we can no longer rely on this to be true. Therefore, we must educate ourselves in order to protect ourselves and our loved ones.

Come join us at the First National Symposium on Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide and hear from an exception line-up of  speakers from the US and Canada! 

To register. go here: https://www.imposeddeath.org/conferences/minnesota-coference/

TRUTH AND ART

J.S. Bach

My college training was in radio and television arts. I love the arts, particularly with Christian themes. I came across an excellent production of J.S. Bach's Mass in B minor (Capella Reial Catalunya, Le Concert des Nations conducted by Jordi Savall). The setting is the French Abbey Church of Saint-Savin Sur Gartempe. Superb location, the performers, camera work, contrasts in lighting, editing, and of course the music is exquisite. A link to the performance is at the end of this post. (It's 1:46 hours long.)

Why do I include so much music in my Christian blog? Music can express human emotions where words cannot. Words can capture the meaning of a thought; music captures the feeling of a thought. Together they can capture the essence of a thought or memory. Yet they are not a thought rather an approximation of a thought or a memory or a longing. 

That is the sweet heartache of the arts. We are reminded that beauty in its purest form so often lies just beyond reach. Our desire for it intensifies. It is inexpressible. Masters of music, literature and art have come closer to expressing beauty, even if they did not know it. Even if they were in a state of rebellion against God, inklings of the divine image within them can leak from behind the the artist's spiritual defiance. The Creature is not the Creator but still desires to be creative and create representations of creation. 

But even the finest masterpiece, written in a state of spiritual ecstasy, falls short of purest beauty because purest beauty is spiritual. John Keats once said, "Beauty is truth, truth beauty, '-- that is all Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know."[1] 

"What is truth?", Pilate asked as he looked into the face of truth.[2] Jesus Christ is the truth.[3] He told us that He is preparing a place for those who trust in Him and He is coming back for us. If it were not so, Christ would not have told us. He wants us in heaven with him.[4] Christ's followers will know true beauty of everything in Him. Until then, we will have to settle with lesser representations and inklings of the divine. The desire is unquenchable. 

At the root of humanity is a desire for heaven; we cannot express this desire because heaven is beyond our earthly experience. C.S. Lewis said, "Now, if we are made for heaven, the desire for our proper place will be already with us, but not yet attached to the true object."[5] We are made for heaven and I believe that's what often moves us create and be creative. -- Mark

[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_jvI7c7BKxc 
or click below.]

_____________________________________
[1]John Keats from "Ode on a Grecian Urn".
[2] John 18.38.
[3] John 1.14, 14.6, John 18.37.
[4] John 14.1-3.
[5] C.S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory.

PERFECT PEACE

"You will keep him in perfect peace, 

whose mind is stayed on You, 

because he trusts in You. 

(Isaiah 26.3, NKJV)

My previous blog post spoke about surrendering our lives to Jesus

Christ even when we find ourselves in horrible circumstances. This does not just apply to the broken-hearted or people with disabilities or incurable diseases: It is imperative that everyone give their lives to Christ with complete abandon. In Him is perfect joy, perfect peace. Tears of sorrow and tears of joy can simultaneously flow together. I know this from personal experience.

So often during times of terrible attacks of disease when multiple sclerosis ravaged my body, I would be awakened in the middle of night to discover a presence. It was Him. He would speak to my anguished soul: "Be not afraid, I AM with you." Perfect peace would descend on me cutting through the fear that occupied my heart.

"My soul yearns for you in the night;

In the morning my spirit longs for you."

(Isaiah 26.9.)

When daylight came the fading fragrance of the Comforter still lingered like perfume and I found myself desiring Christ's overwhelming and vivid presence to engulf me once again in perfect peace.

Give your life daily to Jesus Christ and rest in His perfect peace that transcends the storms of this life. 

[Click on the image below for Laura Story's song "Perfect Peace" or go here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fmFd0MvU7zo ]

THE BIG LIES OF OUR AGE VERSUS THE TRUTH FOUND IN JESUS CHRIST

My father's generation knew the Holocaust of the Nazis. The holocaust of abortion and soon euthanasia and  assisted suicide hangs over mine.

Josef Goebbels

Nazi propaganda Minister Josef Goebbel's guiding maxim was "If  you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will come to believe it."[1] The Lie was of Aryan superiority and their dominance threatened by the Jews. The mass genocide of 6 million Jews started with Germany's euthanasia program directed at mentally and physically disabled people. Killing their disabled and sick was a training ground for the final solution.[2]

A Big Lie of my generation was/is the need for abortion. It brought another holocaust of the deliberate, systematic killing of 55-million unborn children in America alone since 1973. Canada has state sanctioned abortion down to an art and no legal protection for prenatal life at any point of pregnancy. All abortions are paid by the public purse. Abortions are available for any reason or no reason and women can have as many as they want, no questions asked. Canadians are told abortion is a woman's right despite the fact that Canada's Charter of Rights and Freedoms declares the FIRST legal right of all Canadians is "the right to life." Canada does not recognize the unborn child as a legal person despite medical and biological evidence that human life begins when sperm penetrates egg: In other words, conception. The Big Lie of abortion advocates includes the prejudice that the unborn child is not a person.[3]

And now, the old goblin of euthanasia stirs and yawns, roused

again after more than seventy years from its horrible slumber of the sepulcher. The stench of its breath is that of an open grave! An infernal and pernicious thought was its inception: lebensunwertes leben.[4] Some lives should not exist. This wicked thought grows and feeds on the monstrous logic of darkness where the powerful can destroy the powerless for the unforgivable crime of getting in the way or being a burden on others or systems or governments. 

Merchants of death market their evil of assisted suicide by tapping into unresolved grief, delusions of autonomy or poorly managed pain. They offer assisted suicide to the defeated or deluded. Their modus operandi is lethal injection, poisoning, or death by starvation and dehydration.

Man without God will inevitably create hell on earth for the powerless.

Those who grieve and have broken bodies or broken spirits must not give in to the allure of giving up on life; they must not listen to an infernal gospel of death promoted by our new Dark Age. 

There is a Gospel of life under the lordship of Jesus Christ. He is the light of the world come to shine understanding into the darkest places of the human heart.[5]

We are called to rise above the lower parts of human nature in the world and focus on Jesus and the transcendent matters of the kingdom of God. We can rise above the most dire of earthly circumstances with Christ as our interior Guide and Master. The wickedness of man and the trials and afflictions we must endure are for a short time. They pale in comparison with the glory that shall be revealed in us through Christ Jesus.[6] We hand our anguish to Christ in faith which, though tested, will surely bring us through by the fire of suffering.  We will be brought into that radiant glory by Christ himself.[7]

The sufferings we endure now are working a far more exceeding weight of glory.[8]  Do not try to understand for it is a mystery that will only be fully revealed when we stand face to face with Christ.[9] 

If you suffer from degenerative disease (like me) understand that what we see and experience now is temporary. It is what is unseen that is permanent and eternal because it is based on God's divine love.

Suffering fellow Christian  -- do not let a Big Lie of this new Dark Age tempt you with suicide or euthanasia of a loved one. Do not become frantic. 

Remember that all things work to good for those who love God.[10] Calm your spirit in the fire of suffering. Even though it may not seem like it right now, be still and know that God is in control of your destiny.[11] I'm in the fire too. -- Mark

[Click below, Libera, "Be Still My Soul" or http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pwkPsKe-39Y ]

_______________________________-

[1] "Goebbels on "The Big Lie", Jewish Virtual Library Website https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Holocaust/goebbelslie.html

[2] Peter Padfield, HIMMLER: A FULL-SCALE BIOGRAPHY OF ONE OF HITLER'S MOST RUTHLESS EXECUTIONERS (New York, MFJ Books, 1990) pp. 261-262, 304, 397, 398.

[3] It should be remembered that in Canada, women were not recognized as legal persons until 1929. That meant my mother was 15 years old before she was recognized as a legal person.
[4] Lebensunsertes Leben - meaning "life unworthy of life or "beings unworthy of existence."
[5] 2Corinthians 4.6. cf. John 1.4 and John 8.12.
[6] Romans 8.18.
[7] 1Peter 1.5-7.
[8] 2 Corinthians 4.17-18.
[9] 1 Corinthians 13.12, 1 John 3.2.
[10] Roman 8.28.
[11] Psalm 46.10. in Protestant Bible and Psalms 46.11 in the Catholic Bible.