Merry Christmas!

Climate or power?

I couldn't avoid stumbling upon lots of articles, videos, notes, PMs, and other interesting stuff concerning the ClimateGate uproar. Not in the official media channels, of course, but everywhere else. A fair amount of thoughts is due here, and impossible to put on paper/blog. There is, however, one prevailing aspect to all of the media hype, that is impossible to disregard and to shovel under the carpet. After reading the today's propaganda piece in a Swedish newspaper, the source here, I am finally beginning to see a clear pattern of the way the Earth population has been brainwashed and depraved of knowledge in the last 50 years or so. I belong to the generation that got proper education of facts and relationships between cause and effect. We were lied to concerning politics (a former communist country), but our schools delivered what they were supposed to deliver. We know our facts, we remember our biology, geography, physics, chemistry. We still wake up in the middle of the night reciting formulas :).
I am a part of another school system now. This one has nothing in common with impartial knowledge, but everything in common with relativism and politicizing in the name of some "higher cause", whatever that means at a given moment. My students are taught to "quest for information", the best way they can, without first be given the foundation to stand on. Their so called "research" is extremely shallow and shaky, and is not to be questioned as to its relevance, but only to the effort that was put into it. They are rewarded for the amount of work, but not for the quality of it. They are taught to question everything - which is good - but they do it with their feet firmly set in the thin air. We now produce a generation of ignorants who will swallow every 'truth' given to them by the official media, because even though they have been taught to question everything, they do not bother to, having experienced the ineffectiveness of this process and seeing that any result is fine, as long as the amount of work put into it is sufficient.
In the mentioned Swedish article the author comes with the most laughable thesis yet: that the man-made climate change is so great, that the scientist have to rewrite the maps to adjust them to the present state of reality. Moreover, as main examples of the changes in climate the author speaks of the Aral Lake and the Tchad Lake. Poorly educated audience will swallow anything, it seems. Poorly educated audience have no idea about history of the Aral Lake and the reasons why it shrinked to null.
One wonders: is there some underlying agenda as to why we have this poorly educated audience? In case you wonder, I think this agenda is obvious: it is very much easier to manipulate a crowd who knows little or nothing.

Well, I refuse to be manipulated, I refuse to be politically correct, I refuse to give in to some humanistic idiocy of environmental religion. My only allegiance is to Christ and His Kingdom.

Until He comes, I will be just watching closely the madness of bewildered humanity in its search for meaning... And pointing anyone whom I meet to the only hope there is - to His Word.

Taking a break

The duties of work and family, and the survival mode because of these, make me take a break in this blogging activity. I simply cannot find time to think, write, edit, and evaluate.

I will come back, as soon as I find my rythm and put my life in order.

God Bless...

Interesting

NAMPA, ID - A Christian missionary support agency says a piece of mission history is part of this week's space shuttle mission.

Mission Aviation Fellowship says Discovery astronaut Patrick Forrester received NASA permission to take part of the battery box from martyred missionary Nate Saint's plane into space with him. Saint and four other missionaries were slain by an isolated tribe in the jungles of Ecuador in 1956.

If only I could...

The Certificate Program The Certificate program of Ligonier Academy of Biblical and Theological Studies is a non-degree distance education curriculum designed for laypeople, ministers, and educators who desire a structured way to study biblical and theological subjects at their own pace, at their own level of interest, and in their own home. Ligonier Academy offers three levels of study in the Certificate program: Introductory, Intermediate, and Advanced. Introductory Level The Introductory Level certificates are designed for those who are looking to cover the basics. These certificates assume no prior study of the subject matter. The topics of study available at the introductory level are: Biblical Studies Theology Philosophy Apologetics Church History (Available soon) The tuition for the Introductory certificates is $175. For more information on the topics of study available at this level, the cost of the program, and the course requirements, click on the link below. Introductory Level Certificates Intermediate Level The Intermediate Level certificates are designed for those who have mastered the basics and would like to study a topic more thoroughly. These certificates assume minimal prior study. These programs will include instruction and tutelage from Dr. Keith Mathison, Dr. R.C. Sproul, Jr., and Dr. Fowler White. The topics of study available at the intermediate level are: Biblical Studies Systematic Theology Church History Philosophy Apologetics The tuition for the Intermediate certificates is $350. For more information on the topics of study available at this level, the cost of the program, and the course requirements, click on the link below. Intermediate Level Certificates Advanced Level The Advanced Level certificates are designed for those who desire an in-depth study of a particular subject. These certificates assume prior study and a willingness to do a large amount of reading over the course of two to three years.These programs will include instruction and tutelage from Dr. Keith Mathison, Dr. R.C. Sproul, Jr., and Dr. Fowler White. The topics of study available at the advanced level are: Biblical Studies Systematic Theology Church History Philosophy Apologetics Ethics Historical Theology Theology of the Westminster Confession Christian Studies The tuition for the Advanced certificates is $500. For more information on the topics of study available at this level, the cost of the program, and the course requirements, click on the link below. Advanced Level Certificates We encourage potential students to examine the course requirements carefully in order to determine which certificate is best suited to his or her interests.

Christian Dating- LaneCh & Susan Yenser

I love them both, two very dear friends of mine.

Tears of the Saints

Today's Devotionals

Morning:

Thou shalt make a plate [of] pure gold, and grave upon it,
[like] the engravings of a signet, HOLINESS TO THE LORD.

Holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord.--God [is]
a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship [him] in spirit
and in truth.--But we are all as an unclean [thing], and all our
righteousnesses [are] as filthy rags.--I will be sanctified in
them that come nigh me, and before all the people I will be
glorified.

This [is] the law of the house; Upon the top of the mountain
the whole limit thereof round about [shall be] most holy.--
Holiness becometh thine house, O LORD, for ever.

For their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be
sanctified through the truth.--Seeing . . . that we have a great
high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of
God, let us . . . come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we
may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.

Ex 28:36 Heb 12:14 Joh 4:24 Isa 64:6 Le 10:3 Eze 43:12
Ps 93:5 Joh 17:19 Heb 4:14,16


Evening:

My cup runneth over.

O taste and see that the LORD [is] good: blessed [is] the man
[that] trusteth in him. O fear the LORD, ye his saints: for
[there is] no want to them that fear him. The young lions do
lack, and suffer hunger: but they that seek the LORD shall not
want any good [thing].--His compassions fail not. [They are] new
every morning: great [is] thy faithfulness.

The LORD [is] the portion of mine inheritance and of my cup:
thou maintainest my lot. The lines are fallen unto me in
pleasant [places]; yea, I have a goodly heritage.--Whether . . .
the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to
come; all are yours.--Blessed [be] the God and Father of our
Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual
blessings in heavenly [places] in Christ.

I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, [therewith] to be
content.--Godliness with contentment is great gain.--My God
shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by
Christ Jesus.

Ps 23:5 34:8-10 La 3:22,23 Ps 16:5,6 1Co 3:22 Eph 1:3 Php 4:11
1Ti 6:6 Php 4:19

Today's Devotionals

Morning:

I know their sorrows.

A man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief.--Touched with
the feeling of our infirmities.

Himself took our infirmities, and bare [our] sicknesses.--
Jesus, . . . being wearied with [his] journey, sat thus on the
well.

When Jesus . . . saw her weeping, and the Jews also weeping
which came with her, he groaned in the spirit, and was troubled.
. . . Jesus wept.--For in that he himself hath suffered being
tempted, he is able to succour them that are tempted.

He hath looked down from the height of his sanctuary; from
heaven did the LORD behold the earth; to hear the groaning of
the prisoner; to loose those that are appointed to death.--He
knoweth the way that I take: [when] he hath tried me, I shall
come forth as gold.--When my spirit was overwhelmed within me,
then thou knewest my path.

He that toucheth you toucheth the apple of his eye.--In all
their affliction he was afflicted, and the angel of his presence
saved them: in his love and in his pity he redeemed them; and he
bare them, and carried them all the days of old.

Ex 3:7 Isa 53:3 Heb 4:15 Mt 8:17 Joh 4:6 11:33,35 Heb 2:18
Ps 102:19,20 Job 23:10 Ps 142.3 Zec 2:8 Isa 63:9


Evening:

I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day.

The soul of the sluggard desireth, and [hath] nothing: but
the soul of the diligent shall be made fat.--He that watereth
shall be watered also himself.

My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish
his work. Say not ye, There are yet four months, and [then]
cometh harvest? behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and
look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest. And
he that reapeth receiveth wages, and gathereth fruit unto life
eternal: that both he that soweth and he that reapeth may
rejoice together.--The kingdom of heaven is like unto a man
[that is] an householder, which went out early in the morning to
hire labourers into his vineyard. And when he had agreed with
the labourers for a penny a day, he sent them into his vineyard.

Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season.--Occupy
till I come.

I laboured more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the
grace of God which was with me.

Joh 9:4 Pr 13:4 Pr 11:25 Joh 4:34-36 Mt 20:1,2 2Ti 4:2
Lu 19:13 1Co 15:10

Today's Devotionals

Morning:

I know their sorrows.

A man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief.--Touched with
the feeling of our infirmities.

Himself took our infirmities, and bare [our] sicknesses.--
Jesus, . . . being wearied with [his] journey, sat thus on the
well.

When Jesus . . . saw her weeping, and the Jews also weeping
which came with her, he groaned in the spirit, and was troubled.
. . . Jesus wept.--For in that he himself hath suffered being
tempted, he is able to succour them that are tempted.

He hath looked down from the height of his sanctuary; from
heaven did the LORD behold the earth; to hear the groaning of
the prisoner; to loose those that are appointed to death.--He
knoweth the way that I take: [when] he hath tried me, I shall
come forth as gold.--When my spirit was overwhelmed within me,
then thou knewest my path.

He that toucheth you toucheth the apple of his eye.--In all
their affliction he was afflicted, and the angel of his presence
saved them: in his love and in his pity he redeemed them; and he
bare them, and carried them all the days of old.

Ex 3:7 Isa 53:3 Heb 4:15 Mt 8:17 Joh 4:6 11:33,35 Heb 2:18
Ps 102:19,20 Job 23:10 Ps 142.3 Zec 2:8 Isa 63:9


Evening:

I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day.

The soul of the sluggard desireth, and [hath] nothing: but
the soul of the diligent shall be made fat.--He that watereth
shall be watered also himself.

My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish
his work. Say not ye, There are yet four months, and [then]
cometh harvest? behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and
look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest. And
he that reapeth receiveth wages, and gathereth fruit unto life
eternal: that both he that soweth and he that reapeth may
rejoice together.--The kingdom of heaven is like unto a man
[that is] an householder, which went out early in the morning to
hire labourers into his vineyard. And when he had agreed with
the labourers for a penny a day, he sent them into his vineyard.

Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season.--Occupy
till I come.

I laboured more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the
grace of God which was with me.

Joh 9:4 Pr 13:4 Pr 11:25 Joh 4:34-36 Mt 20:1,2 2Ti 4:2
Lu 19:13 1Co 15:10

Heb 10:19-25

Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.

(Heb 10:19-25)

Today's Devotionals

Morning:

None of us liveth to himself, and no man dieth to himself.

Whether we live, we live unto the Lord; and whether we die,
we die unto the Lord: whether we live therefore, or die, we are
the Lord's.--Let no man seek his own, but every man another's
[wealth].--Ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in
your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.

Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether [it be] by
life, or by death. For to me to live [is] Christ, and to die
[is] gain. But if I live in the flesh, this [is] the fruit of my
labour: yet what I shall choose I wot not. For I am in a strait
betwixt two, having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ;
which is far better.

I through the law am dead to the law, that I might live unto
God. I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I,
but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the
flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and
gave himself for me.

Ro 14:7,8 1Co 10:24 6:20 Php 1:20-23 Ga 2:19,20


Evening:

God gave Solomon . . . largeness of heart,
even as the sand that [is] on the sea shore.

Behold, a greater than Solomon [is] here.--The Prince of
Peace.

Scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure
for a good man some would even dare to die. But God commendeth
his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ
died for us.--Who, being in the form of God, thought it not
robbery to be equal with God: but made himself of no reputation,
and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the
likeness of men: and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled
himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the
cross.--The love of Christ . . . passeth knowledge.

Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God.--In whom are
hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.--The unsearchable
riches of Christ.--Of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is
made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and
redemption.

1Ki 4:29 Mt 12:42 Isa 9:6 Ro 5:7,8 Php 2:6-8 Eph 3:19
1Co 1:24 Col 2:3 Eph 3:8 1Co 1:30

Do you remember?

After watching this movie, I believe my Bible even more, if that is possible. Men are evil by nature, and Christ is the only SALVATION.

Today's Devotionals

Morning:

God [is] not a man, that he should lie;
neither the son of man, that he should repent.

The Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither
shadow of turning.--Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day,
and for ever.

His truth [shall be thy] shield and buckler.

God, willing more abundantly to shew unto the heirs of
promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed [it] by an
oath: that by two immutable things, in which [it was] impossible
for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have
fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us.

The faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them
that love him and keep his commandments to a thousand
generations.--All the paths of the LORD [are] mercy and truth
unto such as keep his covenant and his testimonies.--Happy [is
he] that [hath] the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope [is]
in the LORD his God: which made heaven, and earth, the sea, and
all that therein [is]: which keepeth truth for ever.

Nu 23:19 Jas 1:17 Heb 13:8 Ps 91:4 Heb 6:17,18 De 7:9
Ps 25:10 146:5,6


Evening:

[If] thou faint in the day of adversity,
thy strength [is] small.

He giveth power to the faint; and to [them that have] no
might he increaseth strength.--My grace is sufficient for thee:
for my strength is made perfect in weakness.--He shall call upon
me, and I will answer him: I [will be] with him in trouble; I
will deliver him, and honour him.--The eternal God [is thy]
refuge, and underneath [are] the everlasting arms: and he shall
thrust out the enemy from before thee.

I looked [for some] to take pity, but [there was] none; and
for comforters, but I found none.

Every high priest taken from among men is ordained for men in
things [pertaining] to God, . . . who can have compassion on the
ignorant, and on them that are out of the way; . . . so also
Christ . . . though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by
the things which he suffered; and being made perfect, he became
the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him.--
Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows.

Pr 24:10 Isa 40:29 2Co 12:9 Ps 91:15 De 33:27 Ps 69:20
Heb 5:1,2,5,8,9 Isa 53:4

Today's Devotionals

Morning:

As he which hath called you is holy,
so be ye holy in all manner of conversation.

Ye know how we exhorted . . . and charged every one of you,
. . . that ye would walk worthy of God, who hath called you unto
his kingdom and glory.--Ye should shew forth the praises of him
who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light.

Ye were sometimes darkness, but now [are ye] light in the
Lord: walk as children of light: (for the fruit of the Spirit
[is] in all goodness and righteousness and truth;) proving what
is acceptable unto the Lord. And have no fellowship with the
unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove [them].--Being
filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus
Christ, unto the glory and praise of God.

Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your
good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.--Whether
therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the
glory of God.

1Pe 1:15 1Th 2:11,12 1Pe 2:9 Eph 5:8-11 Php 1:11 Mt 5:16
1Co 10:31


Evening:

Ask me of things to come concerning my sons,
and concerning the work of my hands command ye me.

A new heart . . . will I give you, and a new spirit will I
put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your
flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. And I will put my
spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes. . . .
Thus saith the Lord GOD; I will yet [for] this be enquired of by
the house of Israel, to do [it] for them.

If two of you shall agree on earth as touching any thing that
they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is
in heaven. For where two or three are gathered together in my
name, there am I in the midst of them.

Have faith in God. For verily I say unto you, That whosoever
shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast
into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall
believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he
shall have whatsoever he saith.

Isa 45:11 Eze 36:26,27,37 Mt 18:19,20 Mr 11:22,23

Today's Devotionals

Morning:

What God [is there] in heaven or in earth, that can do
according to thy works, and according to thy might?

Who in the heaven can be compared unto the LORD? [who] among
the sons of the mighty can be likened unto the LORD? . . . O
LORD God of hosts, who [is] a strong LORD like unto thee? or to
thy faithfulness round about thee?--Among the gods [there is]
none like unto thee, O Lord; neither [are there any works] like
unto thy works.--For thy word's sake, and according to thine own
heart, hast thou done all these great things, to make thy
servant know [them]. Wherefore thou art great, O LORD God: for
[there is] none like thee, neither [is there any] God beside
thee, according to all that we have heard with our ears.

Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into
the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them
that love him. But God hath revealed [them] unto us by his
Spirit.--The secret [things belong] unto the LORD our God: but
those [things which are] revealed [belong] unto us and to our
children.

De 3:24 Ps 89:6,8 86:8 2Sa 7:21,22 1Co 2:9,10 De 29:29


Evening:

He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.

Let not the wise [man] glory in his wisdom, neither let the
mighty [man] glory in his might, let not the rich [man] glory in
his riches: but let him that glorieth glory in this, that he
understandeth and knoweth me, that I [am] the LORD.

I count all things [but] loss for the excellency of the
knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the
loss of all things, and do count them [but] dung, that I may win
Christ.--I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the
power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth.--I have
. . . whereof I may glory through Jesus Christ in those things
which pertain to God.

Whom have I in heaven [but thee]? and [there is] none upon
earth [that] I desire beside thee.--My heart rejoiceth in the
LORD. . . . I rejoice in thy salvation.

Not unto us, O LORD, not unto us, but unto thy name give
glory, for thy mercy, [and] for thy truth's sake.

1Co 1:31 Jer 9:23,24 Php 3:8 Ro 1:16 15:17 Ps 73:25 1Sa 2:1
Ps 115:1

Today's Devotionals

Morning:

Pray one for another, that ye may be healed.

Abraham answered and said, Behold now, I have taken upon me
to speak unto the Lord, which [am but] dust and ashes:
peradventure there shall lack five of the fifty righteous: wilt
thou destroy all the city for [lack of] five? And he said, If I
find there forty and five, I will not destroy [it].

Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.--Pray
for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you.

I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which
thou hast given me; for they are thine.--Neither pray I for
these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through
their word.--Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfil the
law of Christ.

The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth
much. Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he
prayed earnestly that it might not rain: and it rained not on
the earth by the space of three years and six months.

Jas 5:16 Ge 18:27,28 Lu 23:34 Mt 5:44 Joh 17:9,20 Ga 6:2
Jas 5:16,17


Evening:

[As for] man, his days [are] as grass: as a flower of the
field, so he flourisheth. For the wind passeth over it,
and it is gone; and the place thereof shall know it no more.

So teach [us] to number our days, that we may apply [our]
hearts unto wisdom.--What shall it profit a man, if he shall
gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?

Surely the people [is] grass. The grass withereth, the flower
fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand for ever.--The world
passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will
of God abideth for ever.
2 Corinthians 6:2

Behold, now [is] the accepted time; behold, now [is] the day
of salvation.--Use this world, as not abusing [it]: for the
fashion of this world passeth away.--Let us consider one another
to provoke unto love and to good works: not forsaking the
assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some [is];
but exhorting [one another]: and so much the more, as ye see the
day approaching.

Ps 103:15,16 90:12 Mr 8:36 Isa 40:7,8 1Jo 2:17 2Co 6:2
1Co 7:31 Heb 10:24,25

Today's Devotionals

Morning:

The God of peace . . . make you perfect
in every good work to do his will.

Be perfect, be of good comfort, be of one mind, live in
peace; and the God of love and peace shall be with you.

By grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of
yourselves: [it is] the gift of God: not of works, lest any man
should boast.--Every good gift and every perfect gift is from
above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is
no variableness, neither shadow of turning.

Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it
is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of [his] good
pleasure.--Be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that
ye may prove what [is] that good, and acceptable, and perfect,
will of God.--Being filled with the fruits of righteousness,
which are by Jesus Christ, unto the glory and praise of God.--

Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as
of ourselves; but our sufficiency [is] of God.

Heb 13:20,21 2Co 13:11 Eph 2:8,9 Jas 1:17 Php 2:12,13
Ro 12:2 Php 1:11 2Co 3:5


Evening:

I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness,
and speak comfortably unto her.

Come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord,
and touch not the unclean [thing]; and I will receive you, and
will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and
daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.--Having therefore these
promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all
filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the
fear of God.

Jesus, . . . that he might sanctify the people with his own
blood, suffered without the gate. Let us go forth therefore unto
him without the camp, bearing his reproach.

Mark 6:31

[Jesus] said, . . . Come ye yourselves apart into a desert
place, and rest a while.--The LORD [is] my shepherd; I shall not
want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me
beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in
the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.

Ho 2:14 2Co 6:17,18 2Co 7:1 Heb 13:12,13 Mr 6:31 Ps 23:1-3

Today's Devotionals

Morning:

The God of peace . . . make you perfect
in every good work to do his will.

Be perfect, be of good comfort, be of one mind, live in
peace; and the God of love and peace shall be with you.

By grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of
yourselves: [it is] the gift of God: not of works, lest any man
should boast.--Every good gift and every perfect gift is from
above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is
no variableness, neither shadow of turning.

Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it
is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of [his] good
pleasure.--Be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that
ye may prove what [is] that good, and acceptable, and perfect,
will of God.--Being filled with the fruits of righteousness,
which are by Jesus Christ, unto the glory and praise of God.--

Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as
of ourselves; but our sufficiency [is] of God.

Heb 13:20,21 2Co 13:11 Eph 2:8,9 Jas 1:17 Php 2:12,13
Ro 12:2 Php 1:11 2Co 3:5


Evening:

I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness,
and speak comfortably unto her.

Come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord,
and touch not the unclean [thing]; and I will receive you, and
will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and
daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.--Having therefore these
promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all
filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the
fear of God.

Jesus, . . . that he might sanctify the people with his own
blood, suffered without the gate. Let us go forth therefore unto
him without the camp, bearing his reproach.

Mark 6:31

[Jesus] said, . . . Come ye yourselves apart into a desert
place, and rest a while.--The LORD [is] my shepherd; I shall not
want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me
beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in
the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.

Ho 2:14 2Co 6:17,18 2Co 7:1 Heb 13:12,13 Mr 6:31 Ps 23:1-3

Today's Devotionals

Morning:

The joy of the LORD is your strength.

Sing, O heavens; and be joyful, O earth; and break forth into
singing, O mountains: for the LORD hath comforted his people,
and will have mercy upon his afflicted.--Behold, God [is] my
salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid: for the LORD JEHOVAH
[is] my strength and [my] song; he also is become my salvation.
--The LORD [is] my strength and my shield; my heart trusted in
him, and I am helped: therefore my heart greatly rejoiceth; and
with my song will I praise him.--My soul shall be joyful in my
God; for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, he
hath covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom
decketh [himself] with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth
[herself] with her jewels.

I have therefore whereof I may glory through Jesus Christ in
those things which pertain to God.--We . . . joy in God through
our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the
atonement.--I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of
my salvation.

Ne 8:10 Isa 49:13 Isa 12:2 Ps 28:7 Isa 61:10 Ro 15:17 5:11
Hab 3:18


Evening:

He hath made with me an everlasting covenant,
ordered in all [things], and sure.

I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able
to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day.

Blessed [be] the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who
hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly
[places] in Christ: according as he hath chosen us in him before
the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without
blame before him in love: having predestinated us unto the
adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to
the good pleasure of his will.

We know that all things work together for good to them that
love God, to them who are the called according to [his] purpose.
For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate [to be]
conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the
firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom he did
predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he
also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.

2Sa 23:5 2Ti 1:12 Eph 1:3-5 Ro 8:28-30

Today's Devotionals

Morning:

He hath prepared for them a city.

If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and
receive you unto myself; that where I am, [there] ye may be
also.--An inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that
fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you.--Here have we no
continuing city, but we seek one to come.

This same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven,
shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.
--Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord.
Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the
earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early
and latter rain. Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts: for
the coming of the Lord draweth nigh.--Yet a little while, and he
that shall come will come, and will not tarry.

We which are alive [and] remain shall be caught up together
with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so
shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another
with these words.

Heb 11:16 Joh 14:3 1Pe 1:4 Heb 13:14 Ac 1:11 Jas 5:7,8
Heb 10:37 1Th 4:17,18


Evening:


Base things of the world . . . hath God chosen.

Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor
adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with
mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers,
nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God. And such
were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but
ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the
Spirit of our God.

You [hath he quickened], who were dead in trespasses and
sins; wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of
this world; . . . among whom also we all had our conversation in
times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of
the flesh and of the mind.

According to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of
regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; which he shed on
us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour.

My thoughts [are] not your thoughts, neither [are] your ways
my ways, saith the LORD.

1Co 1:28 6:9-11 Eph 2:1-3 Tit 3:5,6 Isa 55:8

Today's Devotionals

Morning:

For the Lord will not cast off for ever:
but though he cause grief, yet will he have compassion.

Fear thou not, . . . saith the LORD: for I [am] with thee;
. . . I will not make a full end of thee, but correct thee in
measure.--For a small moment have I forsaken thee; but with
great mercies will I gather thee. In a little wrath I hid my
face from thee for a moment; but with everlasting kindness will
I have mercy on thee, saith the LORD thy Redeemer. . . . For the
mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed; but my
kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant
of my peace be removed, saith the LORD that hath mercy on thee.
O thou afflicted, tossed with tempest, [and] not comforted,
behold, I will lay thy stones with fair colours, and lay thy
foundations with sapphires.

I will bear the indignation of the LORD, because I have
sinned against him, until he plead my cause, and execute
judgment for me: he will bring me forth to the light, [and] I
shall behold his righteousness.

Lam 3:31,32 Jer 46:28 Isa 54:7,8,10,11 Mi 7:9


Evening:

God hath chosen the weak things of the world
to confound the things which are mighty.

When the children of Israel cried unto the LORD, the LORD
raised them up a deliverer, Ehud, . . . a man lefthanded. . . .
After him was Shamgar . . . . which slew of the Philistines six
hundred men with an ox goad: and he also delivered Israel.

The LORD looked upon [Gideon], and said, Go in this thy
might: . . . have not I sent thee? And he said unto him, Oh my
Lord, wherewith shall I save Israel? behold, my family [is] poor
in Manasseh, and I [am] the least in my father's house.

And the LORD said unto Gideon, The people that [are] with
thee [are] too many for me, . . . lest Israel vaunt themselves
against me, saying, Mine own hand hath saved me.

Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the LORD
of hosts.--My brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power
of his might.

1Co 1:27 Jud 3:15,31 6:14,15 7:2 Zec 4:6 Eph 6:10

What does inerrancy mean? Is it essential to Christian belief?

How much do you know God?

The Narcissism Epidemic

Sunday, August 02, 2009

Is Narcissism on the rise? And if so, has it affected American Christianity? On this edition of the White Horse Inn, Michael Horton talks with Jean Twenge, author of Generation Me, and co-author of The Narcissism Epidemic: Living in the Age of Entitlement.

Free w/ Registration

David Livingstone, The Pathfinder of Africa

A young Scotsman had come to hear an address by a celebrated missionary. Following his conversion several years earlier, the young man had begun to grapple with the question, "What shall I do with my life?" The Great Commission had come to have a singular hold upon his mind. Its majestic syllables had for him a contemporaneous significance:

"All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world." (Matt. 28:18-20).

"All authority is given unto me." The same power is available!

"Go and evangelize all nations." The same program is operative!

"Lo, I am with you." The same Presence is assured!

The young Scotsman had completed his medical education, involving two years of study in Glasgow, and was ready for some high call to which he could give his utmost. His eyes were fastened upon the speaker, Robert Moffatt, with his flowing white beard and his vehement concern for Africa's perishing millions. The depths of his soul rose up to meet the challenge of the missionary, especially that contained in one sentence of twenty words. Those twenty words are historic, used of God to write an amazing history. The twenty words used by Robert Moffatt that epochal day were these:

"I have sometimes seen, in the morning sun, the smoke of a thousand villages where no missionary has ever been."

The picture embodied in these stupendous words captivated his entire being and fired his soul with a passion which only death could quench. He would go to Africa! He would be a forerunner for Christ in the Dark Continent! He would search out the thousand villages, and other thousands, where no missionary had ever been.

This young doctor was David Livingstone, born in Blantyre, Scotland, March 19, 1813. He became the Pathfinder of Africa, whose eventful career is the story of many long, exciting, winding trails.

Continue reading: http://www.wholesomewords.org/missions/giants/biolivingstone.html

And if you want to find out more: http://www.wholesomewords.org/missions/ilivingstone.html

How not to / How to present the Gospel

Chesterton, Heretics, 10

On Sandals and Simplicity

The great misfortune of the modern English is not at all that they are more boastful than other people (they are not);it is that they are boastful about those particular things which nobody can boast of without losing them. A Frenchman can be proud of being bold and logical, and still remain bold and logical.A German can be proud of being reflective and orderly, and still remain reflective and orderly. But an Englishman cannot be proud of being simple and direct, and still remain simple and direct.In the matter of these strange virtues, to know them is to kill them.A man may be conscious of being heroic or conscious of being divine,but he cannot (in spite of all the Anglo-Saxon poets) be conscious of being unconscious.

Now, I do not think that it can be honestly denied that some portion of this impossibility attaches to a class very different in their own opinion, at least, to the school of Anglo-Saxonism. I mean that school of the simple life, commonly associated with Tolstoy.If a perpetual talk about one's own robustness leads to being less robust, it is even more true that a perpetual talking about one's own simplicity leads to being less simple.One great complaint, I think, must stand against the modern upholders of the simple life--the simple life in all its varied forms,from vegetarianism to the honourable consistency of the Doukhobors. This complaint against them stands, that they would make us simple in the unimportant things, but complex in the important things.They would make us simple in the things that do not matter--that is, in diet, in costume, in etiquette, in economic system.But they would make us complex in the things that do matter--in philosophy,in loyalty, in spiritual acceptance, and spiritual rejection.It does not so very much matter whether a man eats a grilled tomato or a plain tomato; it does very much matter whether he eats a plain tomato with a grilled mind. The only kind of simplicity worth preserving is the simplicity of the heart, the simplicity which accepts and enjoys.There may be a reasonable doubt as to what system preserves this;there can surely be no doubt that a system of simplicity destroys it.There is more simplicity in the man who eats caviar on impulse than in the man who eats grape-nuts on principle.The chief error of these people is to be found in the very phrase to which they are most attached--"plain living and high thinking."These people do not stand in need of, will not be improved by,plain living and high thinking. They stand in need of the contrary.They would be improved by high living and plain thinking.A little high living (I say, having a full sense of responsibility,a little high living) would teach them the force and meaning of the human festivities, of the banquet that has gone on from the beginning of the world. It would teach them the historic fact that the artificial is, if anything, older than the natural.It would teach them that the loving-cup is as old as any hunger.It would teach them that ritualism is older than any religion.And a little plain thinking would teach them how harsh and fancifulare the mass of their own ethics, how very civilized and very complicated must be the brain of the Tolstoyan who really believes it to be evil to love one's country and wicked to strike a blow.

A man approaches, wearing sandals and simple raiment, a raw tomato held firmly in his right hand, and says, "The affections of family and country alike are hindrances to the fuller development of human love;" but the plain thinker will only answer him,with a wonder not untinged with admiration, "What a great deal of trouble you must have taken in order to feel like that."High living will reject the tomato. Plain thinking will equally decisively reject the idea of the invariable sinfulness of war.High living will convince us that nothing is more materialistic than to despise a pleasure as purely material. And plain thinkingwill convince us that nothing is more materialistic than to reserve our horror chiefly for material wounds.

The only simplicity that matters is the simplicity of the heart.If that be gone, it can be brought back by no turnips or cellular clothing;but only by tears and terror and the fires that are not quenched.If that remain, it matters very little if a few Early Victorianarmchairs remain along with it. Let us put a complex entree intoa simple old gentleman; let us not put a simple entree into a complexold gentleman. So long as human society will leave my spiritualinside alone, I will allow it, with a comparative submission, to workits wild will with my physical interior. I will submit to cigars.I will meekly embrace a bottle of Burgundy. I will humble myselfto a hansom cab. If only by this means I may preserve to myselfthe virginity of the spirit, which enjoys with astonishment and fear.I do not say that these are the only methods of preserving it.I incline to the belief that there are others. But I will havenothing to do with simplicity which lacks the fear, the astonishment,and the joy alike. I will have nothing to do with the devilishvision of a child who is too simple to like toys.

The child is, indeed, in these, and many other matters, the best guide.And in nothing is the child so righteously childlike, in nothingdoes he exhibit more accurately the sounder order of simplicity,than in the fact that he sees everything with a simple pleasure,even the complex things. The false type of naturalness harpsalways on the distinction between the natural and the artificial.The higher kind of naturalness ignores that distinction.To the child the tree and the lamp-post are as natural and asartificial as each other; or rather, neither of them are naturalbut both supernatural. For both are splendid and unexplained.The flower with which God crowns the one, and the flame with whichSam the lamplighter crowns the other, are equally of the goldof fairy-tales. In the middle of the wildest fields the most rusticchild is, ten to one, playing at steam-engines. And the only spiritualor philosophical objection to steam-engines is not that men payfor them or work at them, or make them very ugly, or even that menare killed by them; but merely that men do not play at them.The evil is that the childish poetry of clockwork does not remain.The wrong is not that engines are too much admired, but that theyare not admired enough. The sin is not that engines are mechanical,but that men are mechanical.

In this matter, then, as in all the other matters treated in this book,our main conclusion is that it is a fundamental point of view,a philosophy or religion which is needed, and not any change in habitor social routine. The things we need most for immediate practicalpurposes are all abstractions. We need a right view of the human lot,a right view of the human society; and if we were living eagerlyand angrily in the enthusiasm of those things, we should,ipso facto, be living simply in the genuine and spiritual sense.Desire and danger make every one simple. And to those who talk to uswith interfering eloquence about Jaeger and the pores of the skin,and about Plasmon and the coats of the stomach, at them shall onlybe hurled the words that are hurled at fops and gluttons, "Take nothought what ye shall eat or what ye shall drink, or wherewithal yeshall be clothed. For after all these things do the Gentiles seek.But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness,and all these things shall be added unto you." Those amazingwords are not only extraordinarily good, practical politics;they are also superlatively good hygiene. The one supreme wayof making all those processes go right, the processes of health,and strength, and grace, and beauty, the one and only way of makingcertain of their accuracy, is to think about something else.If a man is bent on climbing into the seventh heaven, he may bequite easy about the pores of his skin. If he harnesses his waggonto a star, the process will have a most satisfactory effect uponthe coats of his stomach. For the thing called "taking thought,"the thing for which the best modern word is "rationalizing,"is in its nature, inapplicable to all plain and urgent things.Men take thought and ponder rationalistically, touching remote things--things that only theoretically matter, such as the transit of Venus.But only at their peril can men rationalize about so practicala matter as health.

Chesterton, Heretics, 9

The Moods of Mr. George Moore

Mr. George Moore began his literary career by writing his personal confessions; nor is there any harm in this if he had not continued them for the remainder of his life. He is a man of genuinely forcible mind and of great command over a kind of rhetorical and fugitive conviction which excites and pleases.He is in a perpetual state of temporary honesty. He has admired all the most admirable modern eccentrics until they could stand it no longer. Everything he writes, it is to be fully admitted,has a genuine mental power. His account of his reason for leaving the Roman Catholic Church is possibly the most admirable tribute to that communion which has been written of late years.For the fact of the matter is, that the weakness which has rendered barren the many brilliancies of Mr. Moore is actually that weakness which the Roman Catholic Church is at its best in combating.Mr. Moore hates Catholicism because it breaks up the house of looking-glasses in which he lives. Mr. Moore does not dislike so much being asked to believe in the spiritual existence of miracles or sacraments, but he does fundamentally dislike being asked to believe in the actual existence of other people.Like his master Pater and all the aesthetes, his real quarrel with life is that it is not a dream that can be moulded by the dreamer.It is not the dogma of the reality of the other world that troubles him,but the dogma of the reality of this world.

The truth is that the tradition of Christianity (which is still the only coherent ethic of Europe) rests on two or three paradoxes or mysteries which can easily be impugned in argument and as easily justified in life.One of them, for instance, is the paradox of hope or faith--that the more hopeless is the situation the more hopeful must be the man.Stevenson understood this, and consequently Mr. Moore cannot understand Stevenson. Another is the paradox of charity or chivalry that the weaker a thing is the more it should be respected,that the more indefensible a thing is the more it should appeal to us for a certain kind of defence. Thackeray understood this,and therefore Mr. Moore does not understand Thackeray. Now, one of these very practical and working mysteries in the Christian tradition,and one which the Roman Catholic Church, as I say, has done her best work in singling out, is the conception of the sinfulness of pride.Pride is a weakness in the character; it dries up laughter,it dries up wonder, it dries up chivalry and energy.The Christian tradition understands this; therefore Mr. Moore does not understand the Christian tradition.

For the truth is much stranger even than it appears in the formal doctrine of the sin of pride. It is not only true that humility is a much wiser and more vigorous thing than pride.It is also true that vanity is a much wiser and more vigorous thing than pride. Vanity is social--it is almost a kind of comradeship;pride is solitary and uncivilized. Vanity is active;it desires the applause of infinite multitudes; pride is passive,desiring only the applause of one person, which it already has.Vanity is humorous, and can enjoy the joke even of itself;pride is dull, and cannot even smile. And the whole of this difference is the difference between Stevenson and Mr. George Moore,who, as he informs us, has "brushed Stevenson aside." I do not know where he has been brushed to, but wherever it is I fancy he is having a good time, because he had the wisdom to be vain, and not proud.Stevenson had a windy vanity; Mr. Moore has a dusty egoism.Hence Stevenson could amuse himself as well as us with his vanity;while the richest effects of Mr. Moore's absurdity are hidden from his eyes.

If we compare this solemn folly with the happy folly with which Stevenson belauds his own books and berates his own critics,we shall not find it difficult to guess why it is that Stevenson at least found a final philosophy of some sort to live by,while Mr. Moore is always walking the world looking for a new one.Stevenson had found that the secret of life lies in laughter and humility.Self is the gorgon. Vanity sees it in the mirror of other men and lives. Pride studies it for itself and is turned to stone.

It is necessary to dwell on this defect in Mr. Moore, because itis really the weakness of work which is not without its strength. Mr. Moore's egoism is not merely a moral weakness, it is a very constant and influential aesthetic weakness as well.We should really be much more interested in Mr. Moore if he werenot quite so interested in himself. We feel as if we were being shown through a gallery of really fine pictures, into each of which,by some useless and discordant convention, the artist had represented the same figure in the same attitude. "The Grand Canal with a distant view of Mr. Moore," "Effect of Mr. Moore through a Scotch Mist,""Mr. Moore by Firelight," "Ruins of Mr. Moore by Moonlight,"and so on, seems to be the endless series. He would no doubt reply that in such a book as this he intended to reveal himself.But the answer is that in such a book as this he does not succeed.One of the thousand objections to the sin of pride lies precisely in this, that self-consciousness of necessity destroys self-revelation. A man who thinks a great deal about himself will try to be many-sided, attempt a theatrical excellence at all points, will try to be an encyclopaedia of culture, and his own real personality will be lost in that false universalism.Thinking about himself will lead to trying to be the universe;trying to be the universe will lead to ceasing to be anything.If, on the other hand, a man is sensible enough to think only about the universe; he will think about it in his own individual way.He will keep virgin the secret of God; he will see the grass as no other man can see it, and look at a sun that no man has ever known.This fact is very practically brought out in Mr. Moore's "Confessions."In reading them we do not feel the presence of a clean-cut personality like that of Thackeray and Matthew Arnold.We only read a number of quite clever and largely conflicting opinions which might be uttered by any clever person, but which we are calledupon to admire specifically, because they are uttered by Mr. Moore.He is the only thread that connects Catholicism and Protestantism,realism and mysticism--he or rather his name. He is profoundly absorbed even in views he no longer holds, and he expects us to be.And he intrudes the capital "I" even where it need not be intruded--even where it weakens the force of a plain statement.Where another man would say, "It is a fine day," Mr. Moore says,"Seen through my temperament, the day appeared fine."Where another man would say "Milton has obviously a fine style,"Mr. Moore would say, "As a stylist Milton had always impressed me."The Nemesis of this self-centred spirit is that of being totally ineffectual. Mr. Moore has started many interesting crusades,but he has abandoned them before his disciples could begin.Even when he is on the side of the truth he is as fickle as the children of falsehood. Even when he has found reality he cannot find rest.One Irish quality he has which no Irishman was ever without--pugnacity;and that is certainly a great virtue, especially in the present age.But he has not the tenacity of conviction which goes with the fighting spirit in a man like Bernard Shaw. His weakness of introspection and selfishness in all their glory cannot prevent him fighting;but they will always prevent him winning.

Chesterton, Heretics, 8

The Mildness of the Yellow Press

There is a great deal of protest made from one quarter or anothernowadays against the influence of that new journalism which isassociated with the names of Sir Alfred Harmsworth and Mr. Pearson.But almost everybody who attacks it attacks on the ground that itis very sensational, very violent and vulgar and startling.I am speaking in no affected contrariety, but in the simplicityof a genuine personal impression, when I say that this journalismoffends as being not sensational or violent enough. The real viceis not that it is startling, but that it is quite insupportably tame.The whole object is to keep carefully along a certain level of theexpected and the commonplace; it may be low, but it must take carealso to be flat. Never by any chance in it is there any of that realplebeian pungency which can be heard from the ordinary cabman inthe ordinary street. We have heard of a certain standard of decorumwhich demands that things should be funny without being vulgar,but the standard of this decorum demands that if things are vulgarthey shall be vulgar without being funny. This journalism doesnot merely fail to exaggerate life--it positively underrates it;and it has to do so because it is intended for the faint and languidrecreation of men whom the fierceness of modern life has fatigued.This press is not the yellow press at all; it is the drab press.Sir Alfred Harmsworth must not address to the tired clerkany observation more witty than the tired clerk might be ableto address to Sir Alfred Harmsworth. It must not expose anybody(anybody who is powerful, that is), it must not offend anybody,it must not even please anybody, too much. A general vague ideathat in spite of all this, our yellow press is sensational,arises from such external accidents as large type or lurid headlines.It is quite true that these editors print everything they possiblycan in large capital letters. But they do this, not because itis startling, but because it is soothing. To people wholly wearyor partly drunk in a dimly lighted train, it is a simplification anda comfort to have things presented in this vast and obvious manner.The editors use this gigantic alphabet in dealing with their readers,for exactly the same reason that parents and governesses usea similar gigantic alphabet in teaching children to spell.The nursery authorities do not use an A as big as a horseshoein order to make the child jump; on the contrary, they use it to putthe child at his ease, to make things smoother and more evident.Of the same character is the dim and quiet dame school whichSir Alfred Harmsworth and Mr. Pearson keep. All their sentimentsare spelling-book sentiments--that is to say, they are sentimentswith which the pupil is already respectfully familiar.All their wildest posters are leaves torn from a copy-book.

Of real sensational journalism, as it exists in France,in Ireland, and in America, we have no trace in this country.When a journalist in Ireland wishes to create a thrill,he creates a thrill worth talking about. He denounces a leadingIrish member for corruption, or he charges the whole police systemwith a wicked and definite conspiracy. When a French journalistdesires a frisson there is a frisson; he discovers, let us say,that the President of the Republic has murdered three wives.Our yellow journalists invent quite as unscrupulously as this;their moral condition is, as regards careful veracity, about the same.But it is their mental calibre which happens to be suchthat they can only invent calm and even reassuring things.The fictitious version of the massacre of the envoys of Pekinwas mendacious, but it was not interesting, except to those whohad private reasons for terror or sorrow. It was not connectedwith any bold and suggestive view of the Chinese situation.It revealed only a vague idea that nothing could be impressiveexcept a great deal of blood. Real sensationalism, of which Ihappen to be very fond, may be either moral or immoral.But even when it is most immoral, it requires moral courage.For it is one of the most dangerous things on earth genuinelyto surprise anybody. If you make any sentient creature jump,you render it by no means improbable that it will jump on you.But the leaders of this movement have no moral courage or immoral courage;their whole method consists in saying, with large and elaborate emphasis,the things which everybody else says casually, and without rememberingwhat they have said. When they brace themselves up to attack anything,they never reach the point of attacking anything which is largeand real, and would resound with the shock. They do not attackthe army as men do in France, or the judges as men do in Ireland,or the democracy itself as men did in England a hundred years ago.They attack something like the War Office--something, that is,which everybody attacks and nobody bothers to defend,something which is an old joke in fourth-rate comic papers.just as a man shows he has a weak voice by straining itto shout, so they show the hopelessly unsensational natureof their minds when they really try to be sensational.With the whole world full of big and dubious institutions,with the whole wickedness of civilization staring them in the face,their idea of being bold and bright is to attack the War Office.They might as well start a campaign against the weather, or forma secret society in order to make jokes about mothers-in-law. Nor is itonly from the point of view of particular amateurs of the sensationalsuch as myself, that it is permissible to say, in the words ofCowper's Alexander Selkirk, that "their tameness is shocking to me."The whole modern world is pining for a genuinely sensational journalism.This has been discovered by that very able and honest journalist,Mr. Blatchford, who started his campaign against Christianity,warned on all sides, I believe, that it would ruin his paper, but whocontinued from an honourable sense of intellectual responsibility.He discovered, however, that while he had undoubtedly shockedhis readers, he had also greatly advanced his newspaper.It was bought--first, by all the people who agreed with him and wantedto read it; and secondly, by all the people who disagreed with him,and wanted to write him letters. Those letters were voluminous (I helped,I am glad to say, to swell their volume), and they were generallyinserted with a generous fulness. Thus was accidentally discovered(like the steam-engine) the great journalistic maxim--that if aneditor can only make people angry enough, they will write halfhis newspaper for him for nothing.

Some hold that such papers as these are scarcely the properobjects of so serious a consideration; but that can scarcelybe maintained from a political or ethical point of view.In this problem of the mildness and tameness of the Harmsworth mindthere is mirrored the outlines of a much larger problem which isakin to it.

The Harmsworthian journalist begins with a worship of successand violence, and ends in sheer timidity and mediocrity.But he is not alone in this, nor does he come by this fate merelybecause he happens personally to be stupid. Every man, however brave,who begins by worshipping violence, must end in mere timidity.Every man, however wise, who begins by worshipping success, must endin mere mediocrity. This strange and paradoxical fate is involved,not in the individual, but in the philosophy, in the point of view.It is not the folly of the man which brings about thisnecessary fall; it is his wisdom. The worship of success isthe only one out of all possible worships of which this is true,that its followers are foredoomed to become slaves and cowards.A man may be a hero for the sake of Mrs. Gallup's ciphers or forthe sake of human sacrifice, but not for the sake of success.For obviously a man may choose to fail because he lovesMrs. Gallup or human sacrifice; but he cannot choose to failbecause he loves success. When the test of triumph is men's testof everything, they never endure long enough to triumph at all.As long as matters are really hopeful, hope is a mere flatteryor platitude; it is only when everything is hopeless that hopebegins to be a strength at all. Like all the Christian virtues,it is as unreasonable as it is indispensable.

It was through this fatal paradox in the nature of things that all thesemodern adventurers come at last to a sort of tedium and acquiescence.They desired strength; and to them to desire strength was toadmire strength; to admire strength was simply to admire the statu quo.They thought that he who wished to be strong ought to respect the strong.They did not realize the obvious verity that he who wishes to bestrong must despise the strong. They sought to be everything,to have the whole force of the cosmos behind them, to have an energythat would drive the stars. But they did not realize the twogreat facts--first, that in the attempt to be everything the firstand most difficult step is to be something; second, that the momenta man is something, he is essentially defying everything.The lower animals, say the men of science, fought their way upwith a blind selfishness. If this be so, the only real moral of itis that our unselfishness, if it is to triumph, must be equally blind.The mammoth did not put his head on one side and wonder whethermammoths were a little out of date. Mammoths were at leastas much up to date as that individual mammoth could make them.The great elk did not say, "Cloven hoofs are very much worn now."He polished his own weapons for his own use. But in the reasoninganimal there has arisen a more horrible danger, that he may failthrough perceiving his own failure. When modern sociologists talkof the necessity of accommodating one's self to the trend of the time,they forget that the trend of the time at its best consists entirelyof people who will not accommodate themselves to anything.At its worst it consists of many millions of frightened creaturesall accommodating themselves to a trend that is not there.And that is becoming more and more the situation of modern England.Every man speaks of public opinion, and means by public opinion,public opinion minus his opinion. Every man makes hiscontribution negative under the erroneous impression thatthe next man's contribution is positive. Every man surrendershis fancy to a general tone which is itself a surrender.And over all the heartless and fatuous unity spreads this newand wearisome and platitudinous press, incapable of invention,incapable of audacity, capable only of a servility all the morecontemptible because it is not even a servility to the strong.But all who begin with force and conquest will end in this.

The chief characteristic of the "New journalism" is simply that itis bad journalism. It is beyond all comparison the most shapeless,careless, and colourless work done in our day.

I read yesterday a sentence which should be written in letters of goldand adamant; it is the very motto of the new philosophy of Empire.I found it (as the reader has already eagerly guessed) in Pearson'sMagazine, while I was communing (soul to soul) with Mr. C. Arthur Pearson,whose first and suppressed name I am afraid is Chilperic.It occurred in an article on the American Presidential Election.This is the sentence, and every one should read it carefully,and roll it on the tongue, till all the honey be tasted.

"A little sound common sense often goes further with an audience of American working-men than much high-flown argument. A speaker who, as he brought forward his points, hammered nails into a board, won hundreds of votes for his side at the last Presidential Election."

I do not wish to soil this perfect thing with comment;the words of Mercury are harsh after the songs of Apollo.But just think for a moment of the mind, the strange inscrutable mind,of the man who wrote that, of the editor who approved it,of the people who are probably impressed by it, of the incredibleAmerican working-man, of whom, for all I know, it may be true.Think what their notion of "common sense" must be! It is delightfulto realize that you and I are now able to win thousands of votesshould we ever be engaged in a Presidential Election, by doing somethingof this kind. For I suppose the nails and the board are not essentialto the exhibition of "common sense;" there may be variations.We may read--

"A little common sense impresses American working-men more than high-flown argument. A speaker who, as he made his points, pulled buttons off his waistcoat, won thousands of votes for his side." Or, "Sound common sense tells better in America than high-flown argument. Thus Senator Budge, who threw his false teeth in the air every time he made an epigram, won the solid approval of American working-men." Or again, "The sound common sense of a gentleman from Earlswood, who stuck straws in his hair during the progress of his speech, assured the victory of Mr. Roosevelt."

There are many other elements in this article on which I shouldlove to linger. But the matter which I wish to point out is thatin that sentence is perfectly revealed the whole truth of whatour Chamberlainites, hustlers, bustlers, Empire-builders, and strong,silent men, really mean by "commonsense." They mean knocking,with deafening noise and dramatic effect, meaningless bitsof iron into a useless bit of wood. A man goes on to an Americanplatform and behaves like a mountebank fool with a board anda hammer; well, I do not blame him; I might even admire him.He may be a dashing and quite decent strategist. He may be a fineromantic actor, like Burke flinging the dagger on the floor.He may even (for all I know) be a sublime mystic, profoundly impressedwith the ancient meaning of the divine trade of the Carpenter,and offering to the people a parable in the form of a ceremony.All I wish to indicate is the abyss of mental confusion inwhich such wild ritualism can be called "sound common sense."And it is in that abyss of mental confusion, and in that alone,that the new Imperialism lives and moves and has its being.The whole glory and greatness of Mr. Chamberlain consists in this:that if a man hits the right nail on the head nobody cares where he hitsit to or what it does. They care about the noise of the hammer, not aboutthe silent drip of the nail. Before and throughout the African war,Mr. Chamberlain was always knocking in nails, with ringing decisiveness.But when we ask, "But what have these nails held together?Where is your carpentry? Where are your contented Outlanders?Where is your free South Africa? Where is your British prestige?What have your nails done?" then what answer is there?We must go back (with an affectionate sigh) to our Pearsonfor the answer to the question of what the nails have done:"The speaker who hammered nails into a board won thousands of votes."

Now the whole of this passage is admirably characteristic of the newjournalism which Mr. Pearson represents, the new journalism which hasjust purchased the Standard. To take one instance out of hundreds,the incomparable man with the board and nails is described in the Pearson'sarticle as calling out (as he smote the symbolic nail), "Lie number one.Nailed to the Mast! Nailed to the Mast!" In the whole office therewas apparently no compositor or office-boy to point out that wespeak of lies being nailed to the counter, and not to the mast.Nobody in the office knew that Pearson's Magazine was fallinginto a stale Irish bull, which must be as old as St. Patrick.This is the real and essential tragedy of the sale of the Standard.It is not merely that journalism is victorious over literature.It is that bad journalism is victorious over good journalism.

It is not that one article which we consider costly and beautiful is beingousted by another kind of article which we consider common or unclean.It is that of the same article a worse quality is preferred to a better.If you like popular journalism (as I do), you will know that Pearson'sMagazine is poor and weak popular journalism. You will know itas certainly as you know bad butter. You will know as certainlythat it is poor popular journalism as you know that the Strand,in the great days of Sherlock Holmes, was good popular journalism.Mr. Pearson has been a monument of this enormous banality.About everything he says and does there is something infinitelyweak-minded. He clamours for home trades and employs foreignones to print his paper. When this glaring fact is pointed out,he does not say that the thing was an oversight, like a sane man.He cuts it off with scissors, like a child of three. His very cunningis infantile. And like a child of three, he does not cut it quite off.In all human records I doubt if there is such an example of a profoundsimplicity in deception. This is the sort of intelligence which nowsits in the seat of the sane and honourable old Tory journalism.If it were really the triumph of the tropical exuberance of theYankee press, it would be vulgar, but still tropical. But it is not.We are delivered over to the bramble, and from the meanest ofthe shrubs comes the fire upon the cedars of Lebanon.

The only question now is how much longer the fiction will endurethat journalists of this order represent public opinion.It may be doubted whether any honest and serious Tariff Reformerwould for a moment maintain that there was any majorityfor Tariff Reform in the country comparable to the ludicrouspreponderance which money has given it among the great dailies.The only inference is that for purposes of real public opinionthe press is now a mere plutocratic oligarchy. Doubtless thepublic buys the wares of these men, for one reason or another.But there is no more reason to suppose that the public admirestheir politics than that the public admires the delicate philosophyof Mr. Crosse or the darker and sterner creed of Mr. Blackwell.If these men are merely tradesmen, there is nothing to say exceptthat there are plenty like them in the Battersea Park Road,and many much better. But if they make any sort of attemptto be politicians, we can only point out to them that they are notas yet even good journalists.

Chesterton, Heretics, 7

Omar and the Sacred Vine

A new morality has burst upon us with some violence in connectionwith the problem of strong drink; and enthusiasts in the matterrange from the man who is violently thrown out at 12.30, to the ladywho smashes American bars with an axe. In these discussions itis almost always felt that one very wise and moderate position isto say that wine or such stuff should only be drunk as a medicine.With this I should venture to disagree with a peculiar ferocity.The one genuinely dangerous and immoral way of drinking wine is to drinkit as a medicine. And for this reason, If a man drinks wine in orderto obtain pleasure, he is trying to obtain something exceptional,something he does not expect every hour of the day, something which,unless he is a little insane, he will not try to get every hourof the day. But if a man drinks wine in order to obtain health,he is trying to get something natural; something, that is,that he ought not to be without; something that he may find itdifficult to reconcile himself to being without. The man may notbe seduced who has seen the ecstasy of being ecstatic; it is moredazzling to catch a glimpse of the ecstasy of being ordinary.If there were a magic ointment, and we took it to a strong man,and said, "This will enable you to jump off the Monument,"doubtless he would jump off the Monument, but he would not jumpoff the Monument all day long to the delight of the City.But if we took it to a blind man, saying, "This will enable you to see,"he would be under a heavier temptation. It would be hard for himnot to rub it on his eyes whenever he heard the hoof of a noblehorse or the birds singing at daybreak. It is easy to deny one'sself festivity; it is difficult to deny one's self normality.Hence comes the fact which every doctor knows, that it is oftenperilous to give alcohol to the sick even when they need it.I need hardly say that I do not mean that I think the givingof alcohol to the sick for stimulus is necessarily unjustifiable.But I do mean that giving it to the healthy for fun is the properuse of it, and a great deal more consistent with health.

The sound rule in the matter would appear to be like many othersound rules--a paradox. Drink because you are happy, but never becauseyou are miserable. Never drink when you are wretched without it,or you will be like the grey-faced gin-drinker in the slum;but drink when you would be happy without it, and you will be likethe laughing peasant of Italy. Never drink because you need it,for this is rational drinking, and the way to death and hell.But drink because you do not need it, for this is irrational drinking,and the ancient health of the world.

For more than thirty years the shadow and glory of a greatEastern figure has lain upon our English literature.Fitzgerald's translation of Omar Khayyam concentrated into animmortal poignancy all the dark and drifting hedonism of our time.Of the literary splendour of that work it would be merely banal to speak;in few other of the books of men has there been anything so combiningthe gay pugnacity of an epigram with the vague sadness of a song.But of its philosophical, ethical, and religious influence which hasbeen almost as great as its brilliancy, I should like to say a word,and that word, I confess, one of uncompromising hostility.There are a great many things which might be said againstthe spirit of the Rubaiyat, and against its prodigious influence.But one matter of indictment towers ominously above the rest--a genuine disgrace to it, a genuine calamity to us. This is the terribleblow that this great poem has struck against sociability and the joyof life. Some one called Omar "the sad, glad old Persian."Sad he is; glad he is not, in any sense of the word whatever.He has been a worse foe to gladness than the Puritans.

A pensive and graceful Oriental lies under the rose-treewith his wine-pot and his scroll of poems. It may seem strangethat any one's thoughts should, at the moment of regarding him,fly back to the dark bedside where the doctor doles out brandy.It may seem stranger still that they should go backto the grey wastrel shaking with gin in Houndsditch.But a great philosophical unity links the three in an evil bond.Omar Khayyam's wine-bibbing is bad, not because it is wine-bibbing.It is bad, and very bad, because it is medical wine-bibbing. Itis the drinking of a man who drinks because he is not happy.His is the wine that shuts out the universe, not the wine that reveals it.It is not poetical drinking, which is joyous and instinctive;it is rational drinking, which is as prosaic as an investment,as unsavoury as a dose of camomile. Whole heavens above it,from the point of view of sentiment, though not of style,rises the splendour of some old English drinking-song--

"Then pass the bowl, my comrades all, And let the zider vlow."
For this song was caught up by happy men to express the worthof truly worthy things, of brotherhood and garrulity, and the briefand kindly leisure of the poor. Of course, the great part ofthe more stolid reproaches directed against the Omarite moralityare as false and babyish as such reproaches usually are. One critic,whose work I have read, had the incredible foolishness to call Omaran atheist and a materialist. It is almost impossible for an Orientalto be either; the East understands metaphysics too well for that.Of course, the real objection which a philosophical Christianwould bring against the religion of Omar, is not that he givesno place to God, it is that he gives too much place to God.His is that terrible theism which can imagine nothing else but deity,and which denies altogether the outlines of human personalityand human will.

"The ball no question makes of Ayes or Noes, But Here or There as strikes the Player goes; And He that tossed you down into the field, He knows about it all--he knows--he knows."
A Christian thinker such as Augustine or Dante would object to thisbecause it ignores free-will, which is the valour and dignity of the soul.The quarrel of the highest Christianity with this scepticism isnot in the least that the scepticism denies the existence of God;it is that it denies the existence of man.

In this cult of the pessimistic pleasure-seeker the Rubaiyatstands first in our time; but it does not stand alone.Many of the most brilliant intellects of our time have urgedus to the same self-conscious snatching at a rare delight.Walter Pater said that we were all under sentence of death,and the only course was to enjoy exquisite moments simplyfor those moments' sake. The same lesson was taught by thevery powerful and very desolate philosophy of Oscar Wilde.It is the carpe diem religion; but the carpe diem religion isnot the religion of happy people, but of very unhappy people.Great joy does, not gather the rosebuds while it may;its eyes are fixed on the immortal rose which Dante saw.Great joy has in it the sense of immortality; the very splendourof youth is the sense that it has all space to stretch its legs in.In all great comic literature, in "Tristram Shandy"or "Pickwick", there is this sense of space and incorruptibility;we feel the characters are deathless people in an endless tale.

It is true enough, of course, that a pungent happiness comes chieflyin certain passing moments; but it is not true that we should thinkof them as passing, or enjoy them simply "for those moments' sake."To do this is to rationalize the happiness, and therefore to destroy it.Happiness is a mystery like religion, and should never be rationalized.Suppose a man experiences a really splendid moment of pleasure.I do not mean something connected with a bit of enamel, I meansomething with a violent happiness in it--an almost painful happiness.A man may have, for instance, a moment of ecstasy in first love,or a moment of victory in battle. The lover enjoys the moment,but precisely not for the moment's sake. He enjoys it for thewoman's sake, or his own sake. The warrior enjoys the moment, but notfor the sake of the moment; he enjoys it for the sake of the flag.The cause which the flag stands for may be foolish and fleeting;the love may be calf-love, and last a week. But the patriot thinksof the flag as eternal; the lover thinks of his love as somethingthat cannot end. These moments are filled with eternity;these moments are joyful because they do not seem momentary.Once look at them as moments after Pater's manner, and they becomeas cold as Pater and his style. Man cannot love mortal things.He can only love immortal things for an instant.

Pater's mistake is revealed in his most famous phrase.He asks us to burn with a hard, gem-like flame. Flames are neverhard and never gem-like--they cannot be handled or arranged.So human emotions are never hard and never gem-like; they arealways dangerous, like flames, to touch or even to examine.There is only one way in which our passions can become hardand gem-like, and that is by becoming as cold as gems.No blow then has ever been struck at the natural loves and laughterof men so sterilizing as this carpe diem of the aesthetes.For any kind of pleasure a totally different spirit is required;a certain shyness, a certain indeterminate hope, a certainboyish expectation. Purity and simplicity are essential to passions--yes even to evil passions. Even vice demands a sort of virginity.

Omar's (or Fitzgerald's) effect upon the other world we may let go,his hand upon this world has been heavy and paralyzing.The Puritans, as I have said, are far jollier than he.The new ascetics who follow Thoreau or Tolstoy are much livelier company;for, though the surrender of strong drink and such luxuries maystrike us as an idle negation, it may leave a man with innumerablenatural pleasures, and, above all, with man's natural power of happiness.Thoreau could enjoy the sunrise without a cup of coffee. If Tolstoycannot admire marriage, at least he is healthy enough to admire mud.Nature can be enjoyed without even the most natural luxuries.A good bush needs no wine. But neither nature nor wine nor anythingelse can be enjoyed if we have the wrong attitude towards happiness,and Omar (or Fitzgerald) did have the wrong attitude towards happiness.He and those he has influenced do not see that if we are to be truly gay,we must believe that there is some eternal gaiety in the nature of things.We cannot enjoy thoroughly even a pas-de-quatre at a subscription danceunless we believe that the stars are dancing to the same tune. No one canbe really hilarious but the serious man. "Wine," says the Scripture,"maketh glad the heart of man," but only of the man who has a heart.The thing called high spirits is possible only to the spiritual.Ultimately a man cannot rejoice in anything except the nature of things.Ultimately a man can enjoy nothing except religion. Once in the world'shistory men did believe that the stars were dancing to the tuneof their temples, and they danced as men have never danced since.With this old pagan eudaemonism the sage of the Rubaiyat hasquite as little to do as he has with any Christian variety.He is no more a Bacchanal than he is a saint. Dionysus and his churchwas grounded on a serious joie-de-vivre like that of Walt Whitman.Dionysus made wine, not a medicine, but a sacrament.Jesus Christ also made wine, not a medicine, but a sacrament.But Omar makes it, not a sacrament, but a medicine. He feastsbecause life is not joyful; he revels because he is not glad."Drink," he says, "for you know not whence you come nor why.Drink, for you know not when you go nor where. Drink, because thestars are cruel and the world as idle as a humming-top. Drink,because there is nothing worth trusting, nothing worth fighting for.Drink, because all things are lapsed in a base equality and anevil peace." So he stands offering us the cup in his hand.And at the high altar of Christianity stands another figure, in whosehand also is the cup of the vine. "Drink" he says "for the wholeworld is as red as this wine, with the crimson of the love and wrathof God. Drink, for the trumpets are blowing for battle and thisis the stirrup-cup. Drink, for this my blood of the new testamentthat is shed for you. Drink, for I know of whence you come and why.Drink, for I know of when you go and where."