YOU and GOD

What Not To And What To Glory In

We live in a success-oriented world. Bigger is better, and biggest is best. Whether in the business world, the sports arena, the science lab, or the archeological dig site, it’s being the first—the most, the best—that motivates many to not rest until the gold chain hangs around their neck. This is not altogether bad. We ought to desire to give every task our best effort. But, only one can be at the very top, and having done our very best, we ought to be able to thank God for allowing us to serve, to compete, to participate in whatever endeavor we engage in.

There is a danger, though, in being the best, in being better than most, or in merely thinking we are the best or better than most. The danger is that, human nature being what it is, one can easily be tempted to succumb to pride, boasting, arrogance, and glorying in self-accomplishments. Politicians are almost across-the-board boasters; it seems to be a matter of political survival. They are not alone in this American pastime. Most who read this will never have attended a “pastors fellowship” meeting, but those of you who have might acknowledge that there was perhaps some pride in the air when Dr. So and So asked his fellow pastors how many folk were in attendance at last Sunday’s service. Pride surfaces even in such spiritual atmospheres.

Paul plainly warned that “he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.” (2 Cor.10:7) If a servant of Christ has anything to glory in, it is only that God’s grace, goodness, and sufficiency are always abundant—along with His mercies, which are new every morning.

We dare not glory in the works of men. Humans have accomplished unimaginable plateaus of success in science, agricultural, technology, and medicine, to mention just a few areas. But, John the Apostle puts it all in perspective when he reminds us that “the world passeth away, and the lust thereof, but he that doeth the will of God abideth forever.” (I John 2:15-17)

Nor should anyone glory in the words of men. Words can move and mold the world at times. Great orators can be tools for the cause of evil (Hitler) or for the cause of good (Churchill). Peter warns against “great swelling words of vanity.” (2 Pet.2:18) One wag quipped that oratory is the “ability to make deep sounds from the chest sound like great thoughts from the mind.”

Neither should the wisdom of the world mesmerize us. Educators, philosophers, lawyers, and even clergy can wow with worldly wisdom. But Paul admonishes that God hath made foolish the wisdom of this world, so that no flesh should glory in His presence. (I Cor. 1:19,20,29)

Then again, the wealth of this world is nothing more than vanity. Solomon, the king that had amassed an incalculable amount of this world’s riches, said that when it was all said and done, nothing amounted to anything more that vanity, nothingness! Jeremiah summarizes what we should not glory in when he said, “Thus saith 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.” (Jer. 9:23)

Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, learned this lesson the hard way. He had built ancient Babylon, a city incomparable in beauty and grandeur, and boasted: “Is not this great Babylon, that I have built…by the might of my power, and for the honor of my majesty?” (Daniel 4:30) But God brought the great king to the lowest level possible. For seven years, Nebuchadnezzar groveled in the forest like a beast of the field. When God mercifully restored the pathetic sovereign to his right mind, Nebuchadnezzar said: “Now I Nebuchadnezzar praise and extol and honor the King of heaven, all whose works are truth, and his ways judgment: and those that walk in pride He is able to abase.” (Daniel 4:37)

So, we must not glory in that which is temporal, worldly, man-made, and earthbound. But the Word of God specifies some things that we ought to glory in:

(1) David said, “Glory ye in His holy name.” (Ps.105:3) It is the name which is above every name; the name at which every knee shall bow, (Phil.2:10) and the only name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. (Acts 4:12) Give glory to His name!

(2) We should glory in the fact that we can know our Creator God. Jeremiah continues his word after warning us of that in which we should not glory: “But let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the Lord which exercise lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness, in the earth: for these things I delight in, saith the Lord.” (Jer. 9:24)

(3) We also ought to glory in the purging process that comes our way when God is maturing us. We will have tribulations and trials in this world. Paul said, “Not only so, but we glory in tribulations also; knowing that tribulation worketh patience; and patience experience; and experience hope: and hope maketh not ashamed.” (Romans 5:3-5) Paul, who wrote that we can glory in tribulation, enumerated what trials he had suffered when writing to the church at Corinth. (2 Cor. 12:9ff.) He had suffered every kind of physical and mental deprivation and hardship—yet Paul acknowledged that the process ultimately produces patience, experience, and hope. We therefore can and should “glory” in tribulations.

(4) Finally, we can, and we must, glory in the cross! Paul was adamant in declaring, “But God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (Gal.6:14) It was on the cross—cruel instrument of shame and suffering—that Christ bore the curse of, paying the penalty for, our sins. He satisfied the wrath of His holy Father, becoming the propitiation for our sins, so that we can—and should, above all other things—glory in the cross. Jesus died for the sins of the world. He did so upon an old rugged cross. His death was substitutionary for every sinner. His death was atoning and sufficient. Calvary covers it all. Let us never cease glorying in the cross!

“For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us who are saved it is the power of God.” (I Cor. 1:18)

Do It With All Thy Might

Well, Labor Day has come and gone, but considering God’s plan and purpose for us regarding labor is always appropriate. Work was imbedded into the purposes of God for mankind from day one. His first words to Adam and Eve included a mandate to work: “Be fruitful and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it.” (Gen. 1:28) Further, in the expanded account of creation, recorded in Genesis 2, we read that “the Lord planted a garden eastward in Eden, and there he put the man whom he had formed…And the Lord God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and keep it.” (Gen. 2:8,15)

Work by the “sweat of thy face” was part of the curse placed upon mankind because of Adam’s disobedience to God. (Gen. 3:17-19) So, work is righteous, for it is the will of God for those of us who are His created beings. Through work, we shall eat bread, but God announces that “in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life.” It is righteous, for it is God’s will; and it is honorable, for it is the designed destiny of man, and it yields life-sustaining nutrients vital to our physical well-being.

Fast forward from the Garden to 2023, or even to 50 A.D. When Paul wrote his epistles, there were those, even then, who looked upon work with disdain. Paul quoted a Cretian poet when writing to Titus of the challenges he would face as a pastor on that island, where men were commonly known as “slow bellies.” That graphic term describes men who were indolent, slothful hogs. They enjoyed filling their bellies with food, but they refused to work for their fare. The Apostle acknowledged, when writing to the church at Thessalonica, that there were people there who were known as “working not at all.” (2 Thess. 3:10-12) Of these people Paul flatly stated that if they were not willing to work, they should not be afforded the privilege of eating.

There have always been men and women who refuse to live by wise King Solomon’s counsel, as written in Ecclesiastes 9:10, which was and is: “Whatsoever thy had findeth to do, do it with all thy might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave whither thou goest.” (Prov. 9:10)

The wise king affirms that labor is good—labor done with a good attitude and a right spirit. Some years back, U.S. News and World Report reported that employees, on average, spent 34% of their paid time not working. This aversion to diligent labor is expressed in the following poem: “I wish I was a rock, sitting on a hill; doing nothing all day long, just a sittin’ still. I wouldn’t eat, I wouldn’t sleep, I wouldn’t ever wash, I’d just sit still a thousand years and rest myself by gosh!”

Well, the world has changed a good bit! In the days of Thomas Jefferson, someone in Philadelphia said that the work week should be 60 hours, or six 10-hour days, rather than the 72-hour work week they were accustomed to. Even the thought of trimming the standard work week down 12 hours caused quite a stir, as the longer work week had been common since the days of the Revolutionary War.

John Wesley, the 18^th-century English preacher who founded the first Methodist church in the U.S. in 1784, knew nothing of a 72-hour work week. It is said that he preached three sermons a day for 54 years, traveling by horseback and carriage more than 200,000 miles. All the while, he authored a four-volume commentary on the whole Bible; a dictionary of the English language; a five-volume work on natural philosophy; a four-volume work on church history; histories of England and Rome; grammars on the Hebrew, Latin, Greek, French, and English languages; three works on medicine; six volumes of church music; and seven volumes of sermons and papers. He also edited a library of 50 volumes, known as the Christian Library—all of this while devoting himself to his pastoral ministry. Rising at 4 a.m., he would work solidly until 10 p.m. At age 83, he was chagrined that he could write no more than 15 hours a day without hurting his eyes. At age 86, he had to cut back from preaching three times a day to preaching just twice. In his 86^th year, he preached in almost every town in England and Wales, often riding 30 to 50 miles a day! (Selected)

Harlow Curtis, who led General Motors in those golden years of 1953-58, was selected as Man of the Year in 1955 by Time. Here is how he spoke of a good work ethic: “Do it the hard way! Think ahead of your job, then nothing in the world can stop you. Do it better than it need be done; next time, doing it well will be child’s play. Let no one stand between you and the difficult task; let nothing deny you this rich chance to gain strength by adversity, confidence by mastery, success by deserving. Do it better than anyone else can do it. I know that sounds old-fashioned. It is, but it has built the world.”

Jesus said, “I must work the works of Him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work.” (John 9:4) Those who name His name as our Lord ought to cultivate His attitude toward work. We must work the works of our Heavenly Father with the urgency that He had, because the time will come when we can work no more. We dare not be “slow bellies.” We must not allow others to work for our food when we are able-bodied and can work ourselves. We should work with a thankful attitude for work to do, and for the privilege of “keeping” our plot in the garden of His world. “Work for the night is coming, work through the morning hours; work while the dew is sparkling, work ‘mid springing flowers. Work when the day grows brighter, work in the glowing sun; work for the night is coming, when man’s work is done.” (Anna Coghill, Lowell Mason)

“Neither did we eat any man’s bread for nought; but wrought with labor and travail night and day, that we might not be chargeable to any of you.” (2 Thess. 3:8)

How God Leads His Children Today

“For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.” (Rom. 8:14) That verse affirms that every believer in this age can be assured that God leads them by His Holy Spirit. This is not to say that Christians are espousing what some call “extra-biblical revelation.” Not in the least. Rightly understood, everything about God’s leading is based upon what is in the Word of God, the Bible.

Before the present Church age began, God led His people in various and sundry ways. In the wilderness, the pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night directed the Children of Israel to start or to stop, to go or to stay. (Numbers 9:15-23) Before that, it was sometimes an appearance of the “angel of the Lord,” or a vision or dream in the night, or the voice of God—as when God gave His first recorded direction to the newly created couple, whose address was simply The Garden of Eden: “And God blessed them, and God said unto them, be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth.” (Gen. 1:28) During the era of prophets, God spoke to and led His people through directives uttered by Him via the prophets to His people. Then, upon the birth of the Church that Jesus founded, the Holy Spirit of God came to and indwelt each believer. He is the indwelling person of the Godhead, leading each of His people in this church age, and He will continue to do so until the Church is raptured out of this world just before the seven years of tribulation begin.

So, in this church age, let it be clearly stated: God leads believers by His Holy Spirit through, as we will see, His Word.

A young lady is seriously interested in the young man she’s been dating. He has told her that he loves her and wants to marry her. She wants the will of God for her life, her marriage, and future home. How can she decide whether this man is the right match for her life?

A high-school student is confronted with the reality of “life after high school.” What should he do. Go to college? If so, where? What should his major be?

A businessman is faced with a decision about a possibly lucrative business opportunity. What should he do? Should he sign the contract or not?

A factory worker notices on the work bulletin board that three new job openings have been posted. Two of them would mean better pay, though both would necessitate a transfer out of the department he has worked in for years. Should he bid for the jobs or stay where he is?

People seek answers to questions like these every day. Major and mundane decisions face us daily. The answer to each of the above scenarios would require that one determine the will of God. If believers are indwelt by God’s Holy Spirit today, how does He factor in helping us find God’s will as we seek answers to how, when, and where the pieces of life’s puzzle fit together?

1) The Holy Spirit leads through the Word of God. In ages past, God spoke to and led His children in a variety of ways. (Hebs. 1:1,2) Today, He leads through His Word, Jesus, the living and written Word of God, as revealed by the lamp and light of the written Word, illumined and interpreted for us by the Holy Spirit of God. (Ps. 119:105) This means that God will never lead you to do anything contrary to His Word. (Isa.8:20)
2) God can and does arrange circumstances in our lives. He does this, no doubt, more often than we recognize, but every child of God can look back and testify that if he or she had not been delayed a few minutes, they would probably have met head-on with a disaster. This is just one simple illustration; the almost daily happenings give evidence that causes us to most assuredly affirm with Paul the Apostle that “all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose.” (Romans 8:28) These things are engineered by the guidance of God through the work of the Holy Spirit. (See Acts 16:6,7)
3) God directs by His Spirit through common sense. When the early Church hit a brick wall concerning whether converted Gentiles were required to keep certain aspects of the Law, such as circumcision, parties for and against the idea met in Jerusalem for a full and free discussion, hearing testimonies from Peter, Paul and others. Here is what the conclusion of the whole matter boiled down to, as stated by Pastor James: “For it seemed good to the Holy Ghost, and to us, to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things.” (Acts 15:28) Note that the Holy Ghost was leading these searching saints to the conclusion; but they also drew upon their own common sense, i.e., “it seemed good to us.”
4) He leads when believers are acting in faith, for whatsoever is not of faith is sin. (Rom. 14:23) And He, the Holy Spirit, leads when we have renounced sin, for sin grieves the Spirit. (Eph. 4:30) When we are dead to self, we are in a place that God’s Spirit can and will lead us. (Gal.5:16ff.)
5) He leads and empowers in crises in our work and witness for Christ: “For the Holy Ghost shall teach you in the same hour what ye ought to say.” (Luke 12:11,12)
6) He leads us through the counsel of other servants of God. Paul was entreated by many believers not to go to Jerusalem; a prophet of God, through the Spirit, warned him not to go, but he went anyway and found much trouble there. (Acts 21:4) God, though, did graciously appear to Paul, assuring him that He would still be with him—and that good could and would come, even though Paul had not previously followed good counsel. (Acts 23:11)

The Holy Spirit indwells, illumines, guides, teaches, empowers, and comforts each individual member of the Body of Christ. He will never leave you. He has all the power and knowledge you will ever need for any situation this side of heaven. Stay in tune with Him. Draw moment by moment upon Him for His power and direction—for the BIG questions as well as the everyday ones.

“But ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me….” (Acts 1:8)

Jesus Wept

He was dead at the age of 11, our precious grandson, David Nye. How could that be? He was so active, so much a vital part of this family consisting of Mom, Dad and four sons (but two weeks away from adding a beautiful daughter, and another two years away from the birth of a second equally beautiful daughter). It was sudden. It was shocking. David’s brothers had been suffering with the flu that cold, late February 2007, and he had all the symptoms. Doctors and nurses assured David’s mother that he no doubt had the flu, also, and it was not necessary to bring him in for an examination. But on that fateful, final night of his so-short life, David became disoriented. His Dad, with the eldest son, Anthony, a 14-year-old teenager at that time, whisked David up and headed for the closest emergency room.

Anthony would later testify that David died in his arms on the way to the hospital on the southside of Indianapolis. From there, he was rushed to Riley Hospital for Children, where doctors determined that David had succumbed to a ruptured appendix. My last and heart-rending picture of David in the hospital was with his mother in the hospital bed with him, the two of them as close as close could be. As I write this, I do so with tear-filled eyes. I had begged God on the way to the hospital to please let me take whatever sickness David had, and if need be let me die rather than him. Racing through my mind were a thousand questions, as I asked myself whether God was dealing with me through David.

Sixty years earlier, my mom and dad had experienced the same hopeless feelings. Their 11-year-old son, my brother Teddy, had gone swimming one August afternoon with his cousin on the farm where he and a sister had spent the night with their aunt and her family. Teddy said he could swim, though he probably never had the opportunity to learn how to. On that fateful day in a creek that ran through the farm, just outside of Douds, Iowa, Teddy got into a hole that, with swift currents pulling at him, he could not get out of. His 8-year-old sister watched in horror from the creek bank, and the trauma of it all impacted her life from then until she met Jesus just a couple of years ago. So, our family had already tragically lost an 11- year-old boy, just as he was about to bloom into full-blown youth.

How do you handle such awful tragedies that come so shockingly and so suddenly? My parents had professed Christ as Savior but were attending a liberal, mainline denominational church, where they had not grown in their faith. After this loss, they moved to Ottumwa, Iowa, and began to seek God, trying one church after another. One Sunday afternoon, a neighbor knocked on their door and invited them to attend church with them. They did so that evening, and they heard a faithful pastor preach a Bible message. It required only one visit for them to know that this was “the end of their search for a Bible Church.” I trusted Christ soon thereafter, at the age of five, and grew up under the sound of good Bible teaching, as did our entire family. My folks spoke sparingly of that dark day when their son lost his life; but they were never in doubt, the rest of their days, that God was not taken by surprise when Teddy was called to heaven, and they testified that God used that sorrowful separation to bring our family to Himself.

Every family handles these sudden, shocking losses differently. It is safe to say, though, that families grounded in truth and faith have the spiritual resources to grieve and mourn their loss, which is absolutely necessary, without losing their spiritual equilibrium. It is without doubt a soul-trying test. The grieving does not last a couple of days or weeks or months. But, daylight will come even as joy does come after a night of weeping. The process must not be denied, and the prolongation of it differs with each person. The promises of God become more precious and one’s knowledge of, and relationship to, the eternal God—whose everlasting arms are never absent—deepens to a depth that one has never known before. Friends are loved for their caring concern, their gracious words, and their loving deeds. But at the end of the day, it is the Word of God—His absolute promises and pledges, that He will never leave you nor forsake you and that “all things work together for good to them that are the called according to His purposes,” (Rom.8:28)—that will give you the strength to go to bed with the resolve to get up the next morning and do whatever is your responsibility to do.

So, yes, we sorrow, but not as those who have no hope. (I Thess. 4:13 ) We look and long for the day of His coming back, as He said He would: “I go to prepare a place for you; and if I go to prepare a place for you, I will come again to receive you unto myself that where I am there ye may be also.” (John. 14: 3) That’s good enough, dear God! And we cling to, and cherish, the promise that we 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.” (I Thess. 4:17)

“Wherefore, comfort one another with these words.” (I Thess. 4:18 )

I believe that everyone who reads this post has lost a child, a parent, a sibling, a spouse, a life-long friend through death. You each have dealt with death differently. Some may have at first slipped into denial; into doubting (God’s goodness); disbelief; into depression; or into simply an extended paralysis of the soul and spirit. But your confidence in the Word of God alone; your clutching by faith to the hope of heaven; and the ultimate healing of your wounded spirit have buoyed you and brought you through to where you face today and tomorrow with a once-shaken but now steadfast confidence in His goodness, grace, and greatness.

He stood with you and by you in the darkest night. You remembered Mary and Martha, who wondered why Jesus had not answered their desperate call to come before their dearest brother died. And then those two words landed right in the middle of your despairing heart, “Jesus wept.” And He wept with you, too, time and again. And the darkness gave way to dawn, and your soul found its resting place in the heart of Jesus, Lord and Savior.

“O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” (I Cor. 15:55-57)

The Building of a Christian Home, Part 3

Author and physician Alan Beck said, “The family is a storehouse in which the world’s finest treasures are kept. Yet the purest gold you’ll find there is golden laughter. The most precious silver is in the hair of Mom and Dad. The family’s only real diamond is on Mother’s left hand, yet it can sparkle like children’s eyes at Christmas or shine half as bright as the candles on a birthday cake.”

Thomas Jefferson noted that “the happiness of the domestic fireplace is the first boon of heaven.”

Edgar Guest is known for his quip: “It takes a heap ‘o living’ to make a house a home.”

In our previous posts on the building of a home, I noted that Christ and His wisdom–the wisdom needed for right resolves—is the foundation necessary for building a home that will not be swept away by the storms of life. We also saw that, as wise King Solomon posited, we need understanding to cultivate right relationships. (Provs. 24:3,4)

Today, I want to discuss the third vital ingredient in establishing a home that will last—its furnishings, which require knowledge and produce pleasant riches. Solomon put it this way: “In the house of the righteous is much treasure.” (Provs.24:34)

We will need wisdom for right resolves; understanding for right relationships; and knowledge for the right stewardship of life’s most precious treasures, our children. In Psalms, sons are presented as plants grown up in their youth; daughters are polished cornerstones, the ingredients in our homes that will add beauty, grace and adornment. (Ps.144:11,12)

So, consider the rearing of our children.

We will need knowledge for administering discipline that is both biblical and loving. Solomon instructed us that if we will train up a child in the way that he should go, when he is old he will not depart from it. (Provs.22:6). Discipline of children is both biblical and practical. It is a principle underscored in the New Testament when, in Hebrews 12:11, we read that chastening yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness. Again, Solomon said that we should “chasten thy son while there is hope and let not thy soul spare for his crying.” (Provs. 19:18) Other points that are germane from the wise king’s pen can be pondered by reading Provs.13:24; 29:15,17; 23:13,14; and 21:11.

How are you doing in this critical area of discipline? Here are some questions that might help: (1) Do you have to tell your child more than once to do something? (2) Does your child fail to answer immediately and respectfully when you or some other authority figure, address him or her? (3) Has your child gotten the impression that he or she can sometimes get away with disobedience? (4) Do you seldom or ever hear your child say, “I’m sorry”? (5) Do you sometimes allow your child to withdraw in silence when she fails to get her way? (I can provide you with a complete list of about 20 questions but for space in this post I have only listed a few: reply and ask for self-test questions and I will be glad to share the remaining with you).

A great pastor of yesteryear, T. Dewitt Talmadge wisely said, “The reason we don’t succeed with our children in reclaiming all of them from worldliness is because we begin too late. Parents wait until their children lie before they teach them the value of truth. They wait until they swear before they teach them the value of righteous conversation. They wait until their children are all wrapped up in this world before they tell them of a better world. Too late with your prayers. Too late with your discipline. Too late with your benediction. You put all your care upon your children between 12 and 18. Why do you not put the chief care between 4 and 9? It is too late to repair a vessel when it has got out of the dry dock.”

Discipline is a priority and it is also productive. God will honor the parent who honors God and He will honor the child who is taught to honor his parents. The late evangelist Phil Shuler once said, “My brother Jack did not obey his parents, did not honor his parents and at 45 he was dead.” Radio evangelist and author Oliver B. Greene, who died in his 50’s’ also testified that he did not honor his parents. Discipline is productive in many ways. It should, therefore, be a practice. Practiced righteously, discipline is motivated by obedience, bathed in love, administered in reason and accompanied by affirmation. It should be not only righteous but regular, consistent.

One-time newspaper columnist, Ann Landers, once asked 10,000 of her readers whether–if they could do it over–they would have children. She said that 70% of those who responded said they would choose not to have children.

One exasperated mother wrote: “Anger is not really what I feel. It’s alienation. Turn off. I feel in kind of a sad, resigned way, that the past 20 years were a total waste. My husband and I have nothing to show for it. It’s not that we’re sitting around crying. We have jobs, travel, live full lives, but the child raising part of our lives was a waste because the kids are nothing. Just nothing.”

One can only hope that the aforementioned parental remonstrance is the exception! It should be–and will be, if biblical principles concerning the rearing and training of our children are followed.

No parent would boast of having done a perfect job. Even Solomon– who gave good, God -inspired counsel–failed in many respects, but that does not lessen our responsibility, nor does it minimize in a loving parent’s heart the desire to get it right knowing that we only have one opportunity at it.

I close this solemn discussion with something a bit amusing (at least I thought it was): “A young preacher, still single and in college, became known for his sermon, ‘The Ten Commandments for Rearing Children.’ After college he was married. Two years later he and his wife were blessed with their first child. He vigorously preached the sermon until the little bundle of joy was 2 years old. Then he changed the title to ‘Ten Rules for Rearing Children.’ When the child went to grammar school, he changed the title again to ‘Ten Suggestions for Rearing Children.’ When the youngster went to Junior High school, the title became ‘Ten Helpful Hints for Rearing Children.’ At last count, since his child entered high school, he has not preached his famous sermon!” Selah!

“Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right. And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.” (Eph.6:1,4)

On a Personal Note

I want to devote this post to my friends and family who not only read the “You and God” blog regularly but also pray for Ellen and myself.

It was 19 months ago that, having gone to a couple of doctors because of a sore hip that would not stop hurting, I was diagnosed with multiple myeloma, a disease of the white blood cells. If left unattended, the damaged cells attack the bones and eventually overwhelm the body’s ability to fight back. Though there is no known cause or cure, there are treatments that will sometimes put the disease into remission. I have not yet reached that state, but the chemo that I take—three weeks on and one week off every month—is so far holding the myeloma “at bay.” My excellent cancer doctors are very positive, and my wife is the best “caretaker” in the world. My stamina is quite a bit abated, physically, but my spirit is strong. I am able to do some writing, to preach some when called upon, and to do periods of daily of light work inside or out (weather permitting).

My “2^nd opinion” cancer specialist at Indiana University said I’d probably die of something other than myeloma. At the age of (almost) 81, that could be a good guess, although my heart tests good and all systems are apparently in working order. The strong chemo produces side effects that are mostly annoying, and I am not having any significant pain to speak of. At my last (Aug. 15) visit to my primary cancer doctor, he said with a smile, having reviewed a complete battery of blood tests, “Everything looks stable.” I take that to mean nothing is getting worse as far as the progression of this disease in my body is concerned, and that is cause for rejoicing and thanksgiving to our great God!

All of the above is to say: I am surely blessed. I have been retired from the senior pastorate for four years and, until I was diagnosed with this ailment, have been very healthy all my life. My passion in ministry for half a century was shepherding the flock of God’s people that He entrusted to my care, and promoting world missions through the local church. I was able to travel much, visiting missionaries, and have enjoyed visiting many mission fields. Ellen and I are celebrating 58 years of marriage, and we are deeply grateful for our daughters and son who are plugged into our lives and demonstrate their loving concern for us in many ways.

To those of you who pray for us, I want to say, “Thank you!” That seems so inadequate, but I hope you will know it comes from the depths of our hearts. I am awed at hearing often the words, “You are on our daily prayer list,” sometimes from people that we do not even know that well. The family of God is incomparable, and to be a part of that great Body of blood-bought believers is a blessing unspeakable. Again, thank you all very much!

Writing the bi-weekly “You and God” post is most gratifying to me, too. It keeps my mind working and gives me an outlet for sharing what is on my heart, and some of what I have been able to glean from studying God’s Word. It is very rewarding for me, and I love to hear from those of you who are able to take the time to reply with a comment or even a disagreement. I welcome the discussion and feel that one should always be open to learning, so keep the responses coming, please! If you have a particular subject you’d like for me to address, please let me know. I try to limit each post to two pages, double-spaced, so cannot usually explore topics in depth. But at least our “pure minds” can be stirred up to give some thought to issues that matter!

I will keep this post brief, as I just wanted to give you an update primarily on my health, since I know many of you pray for us and there are quite a few who live at a distance and are not in communication with us in person regularly. But feel free to call at any time! Our schedule is pretty flexible, though we do manage to stay busy. Of late, I have been preaching for a pastor friend who is rehabbing from a bad fall he suffered a month or so ago. At age 88, his recovery is going slowly. It is a privilege for me to be able to “pinch-hit” for him while he is at home recovering. We enjoy attending and serving in our local church, too, and are thankful for opportunities to sub for Pastor Stevens when called upon. For locals, the next opportunity will be, Lord willing, tomorrow night at prayer meeting in Grace Place!

Best wishes to all. We pray for you, too, and are humbled and deeply grateful to God for His family with whom we can worship and serve our Lord as we wait for His coming from Heaven.

“Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.” (I Cor. 15:58)

Ungodly

That is the word that Jude, in his 25-verse epistle, uses repeatedly to describe men who, in the early church, had “crept in unawares” and were “turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ.” (Jude3)

These deniers and deceivers are commonly called apostates. A dictionary definition is “a person who renounces a religious or political belief or principle.” In the New Testament, they are also called “false prophets,” (2 Peter 2:1), “grievous wolves,” (Acts 20:29), and “ravening wolves,” (Matt 7:15). Jude has a blistering list of adjectives that describe these people, who have run “greedily after the error of Balaam.” (Jude 11) He calls them “spots in your feasts,” “clouds without water,” “trees whose fruit withereth,” “raging waves of the sea,” “wandering stars,” “murmurers, complainers, walking after their own lusts, and their mouth speaketh great swelling words, having men’s persons in admiration because of advantage.” (Jude 11-16)

They have been ever-present as a nemesis to God, His Son, His Church, the truth, and truth bearers of all ages. Jesus, Paul, John, and Peter all raise the severest of warnings against these ungodly worms, whose sole intent is to deceive, deny, and damn ignorant and unsuspecting adherents to their “hard speeches.”

One writer said of apostates: “One is reminded by way of contrast with the Lord, whom these men deny. He is the rock of our salvation, they are hidden rocks, threatening shipwreck to our faith. He comes with clouds to refresh His people forever; these are clouds which do not even bring temporary blessing. He is the tree of life; they are trees dead. He leads beside the still waters; these are like the restless troubled sea. He is the bright and morning star heralding the coming day; they are wandering stars presaging a night of eternal darkness.” (Unknown)

They are false teachers who, Peter says, bring in damnable heresies, “even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction.” (2 Pet.2:1) It should be unequivocally stated that these people were never saved. They pervert the grace of God through their pernicious ways and “through covetousness they shall with feigned words make merchandise of you.” (2 Pet. 2:2,3). When Peter says that they denied “the Lord that bought them,” he is in no wise saying that they were at one time saved (having been “bought”), that they have denied the faith, and that in so doing have lost their salvation. The Lord that bought them is the same One of whom Paul said He was “the savior of all men, specially of those that believe,” (I Tim.4:10) and of whom John the apostle wrote when he affirmed that Jesus Christ “is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.” (I John 2:2) Christ died for all men, and in that sense is the savior of all men; his death is “sufficient” for the salvation of all, but “efficient” only for those who believe. These ungodly men will go to hell having rejected their only hope, the savior of all men, Jesus Christ.

Pastor and Bible teacher John MacArthur describes these persons aptly: “Apostates have received light, but not life. Apostates have known and accepted the written word but never met the Living Word. . . . They know intellectually that all of this is true, but they have never made it their own. It is a deliberate rejection after the truth is known.” (John MacArthur, sermon on Jude 3-4, “The Description of Apostates”) Jude likens them to the angels that kept not their first estate, or to the men of Sodom and Gomorrah who went after strange flesh and “are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.” (Jude 6,7)

In a DVD promo for livingthequestions.com, a project that claims to “re-educate thinking Christians,” one proponent of an anti-conservative evangelicalism said: “I think the atonement is the worst heresy ever perpetrated against Christianity.” On the video, liberal theologian Marcus Borg is quoted as saying: “We live in a time of transition in the church. . . . [It is moving away from an] older, conventional understanding, which is usually semi-literalistic and quite doctrinal and after-life oriented.” That vision, Borg goes on to say “has become unpersuasive.”

Os Guinness and John Yates, whose church recently left the American Episcopal Church (AEC), say that the AEC no longer holds to the historic, orthodox Christian faith. “Some leaders expressly deny the central articles of the faith—saying that traditional theism is ‘dead,’ the incarnation is ‘nonsense,’ the resurrection of Jesus is ‘fiction,’ the understanding of the cross is ‘a barbarous idea,’ the Bible is ‘pure propaganda’ and so on. Others simply say the creed as poetry or with their fingers crossed.” (Washington Post, 1/8/07)

This raw apostasy is not new, and it is not going away. One Episcopal Bishop was quoted as saying, “In the fall of 1988, I worshipped God in a Buddhist temple. As the smell of incense filled the air, I knelt before three images of Buddha, feeling that the smoke could carry my prayers heavenward. It was, for me, a holy moment, for I was certain that I was kneeling on holy ground. . . . I will not make any further attempt to convert the Buddhist, the Jew, the Hindu, or the Muslim. I am content to learn from them and to walk with them, side by side, toward God who lives, I believe, beyond the images that bind and blind us.” (Quoted from a message by David Reagan in “Voice in Wilderness,” August 2001)

In an article about the “Jesus Project”—an effort by a group of academics professing objectivity and neutrality to determine the historicity of Jesus—Christianity Today referred to the work of Robert Price, who claimed he used to be born again. (12/17/08) In a book he wrote, entitled Jesus is Dead, Price said: “(1) Not only is there no good reason to think that Jesus ever rose from the dead, (2) there is no good reason to think that he ever lived or died at all.”

In light of the above statements by modern-day apostates, one can appreciate more fully the tenor of the alarms sounded by the half-brother of Jesus, Jude, in his brief epistle! No wonder he closed his strongest-possible warning with these poignant words:

“But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost, Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.” (Jude 20,21)

He Shall Return

One day in the middle of March, 1942, General Douglas MacArthur, having made a gallant stand on the Philippine Islands in the name of the Allied offensive, strode to a microphone and almost casually told a group of anxious reporters: “The President of the United States ordered me to break through the Japanese lines and proceed from Corregidor to Australia for the purpose of organizing the American offensive against Japan. I came through, and I shall return.”

Those historic words, “I shall return,” became the watchword of the Filipino people for the duration of the Japanese occupancy of their homeland. As MacArthur, in his memoirs, said regarding his promised return: “It lit a flame that became a symbol which focused the nation’s indomitable will and at whose shrine it finally attained victory, and, once again, founded freedom. It was scraped in the sands of the beaches—it was daubed on the walls of the barrios, it was stamped on the mail, it was whispered in the cloisters of the church—it became the battle cry of the great underground swell that no Japanese bayonet could still!”

“I shall return!” Those same words, spoken by the Captain of the greatest army ever enlisted, spoken initially to a band of 11 saintly soldiers gathered around a table in an upper room, became the battle cry of the Soldiers of the Cross, the Army of the Redeemed in Christ. “I shall return.” The Captain said it: “Let not your hearts be troubled; ye believe in God, believe also in me: in My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so I would have told you; I go to prepare a place for you, and if I go to prepare a place for you, I will come again.” (John 14:1-3)

The promised return of Jesus Christ is the believer’s motive for faithful, victorious Christian living today—and has been since the Church was founded. Paul urged the Thessalonica church to “wait for God’s Son from heaven, Whom God raised from the dead.” (2 Thess. 1:10) He pleaded with the Corinthian church that they “come behind in no gift, waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (I Cor.1:7) Note with me the sequence of His coming again, the surety of it, the signs of it, and the significance to it, as outlined in the scriptures:

The Sequence. First, in what is called the Rapture, He will come in the air to catch away His bride, the Church. The dead in Christ shall rise first, then those who are alive shall be caught up together with the rising “dead” to meet the Lord in the air, ever to be with Him. (I Thess. 4:13-18) Second, in the Return proper at the end of seven years of tribulation following the Rapture, Jesus will come back—this time to the earth, with His Church, to establish His millennial kingdom, reigning from Jerusalem for 1,000 years. (Rev. 19; Matt. 24)

The Surety. It is as certain as are the promises of God. The proof of it is in the power demonstrated in the resurrection of God’s Son by His Father. To this proof He adds His pledge: “If we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with Him.” (I Thess.4:14; cf. Matt.24) His return is sealed by His promise: “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.” (Acts. 1:11) Peter affirmed that “the Lord is not slack concerning His promise…But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night.” (2 Pet. 3:9,10)

The Signs. John the Apostle said, “These are the last times.” (I John 2:18) Paul characterized the last days as “perilous times,” during which men would be “lovers of their own selves,” and 17 more degrading trademarks of the general population, worldwide, that would point toward an imminent second coming of Christ (2 Tim.3:1-5). One might note that these signs have been characteristic of mankind since John said, plainly, that “these are the last times,” and they will prevail until Jesus comes again to establish His rule and reign of righteousness.

More specific signs, though, were given to the Apostles by Jesus, as recorded in Matthew 24. The first eight verses of that “Olivet Discourse” outlined some general signs, including the prevalence of false Christs, wars and rumors of wars, nations rising up against nations, famines, pestilences, persecution, and earthquakes. These were the “beginning of sorrows,” and they preceded the trip-hammer series of seals, trumpets, and vial judgments of the Tribulation, through which God will pour out His wrath upon the earth. The Tribulation will last seven years, and during this time the “man of sin,” (the Antichrist, 2 Thess. 2) will make his ugly appearance, accompanied by the beast and false prophet, comprising an unholy trinity. (Rev. 13) The last half of this seven-year holocaust will be a time of “Great Tribulation,” the likes of which the world will have never witnessed. Multiply the horrendous devastation of whole neighborhoods in the wild-wind generated fires that destroyed homes and lives recently in Maui, HI, to a worldwide scope and you will get a mental image of the magnitude of this total purging of the earth, its surface, and its population.

The Significance. First, to the unbeliever, the Tribulation of seven years preceding His return will be a time of cataclysmic physical judgments of God unleashed upon a rebellious mankind; there will, however, be millions saved during this time, as the gospel is preached by 144,000 Jewish evangelists (Rev.7), and by messengers via multimedia airwaves beaming the gospel message in tongues of all peoples of every nation and tribe; (Rev.14:6,7) The Second Coming of Christ to earth will conclude this period. Second, to the believer, the second coming will mean that we who have been declared “kings and priests” will “reign on earth” with Christ for 1,000 years, after which time shall be no more and we shall eternally inhabit heaven with God, Christ, the Holy Spirit, the saints of all ages, and the holy angels. (Rev.5:10; 20:6)

“But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up. Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness, looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens, being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat?” (2 Pet. 3:l0-12)

“But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only. Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come.” (Matt .24:36,42)

Building A Christian Home, Part 2

In Proverbs 24, Solomon identifies the key ingredients in the building of a home that will stand the tests of trials and time: “Through wisdom is an house builded, and by understanding it is established: And by knowledge shall the chambers be filled with all precious and pleasant riches.” Part one of this three-part series considered the role of wisdom in building a Christian home. In this post, we focus on understanding.

Half of the marriages in the United States will end by divorce, indicating that there must be a dire need in homes today for what Solomon called understanding. Whereas wisdom is a must for making right resolves, understanding is vital for establishing healthy relationships.

It is doubtless true that happiness in marriage is a matter of not only finding the right person but being the right person. And, being the right person starts with committing one’s life to Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, trusting Him with all of one’s heart, and leaning not unto our own understanding. (Prov. 3:5,6) A person rightly related to Jesus Christ, by grace through faith, has the basis for being rightly related to others, and this is crucial in marriage relationships. Jesus is the foundation of a life that will be safe and solid in the stormy seas that will sway all: He is the rock and the foundation of which Paul spoke: “For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.” (I Cor.3:11) After the foundation comes the frame of a house (home), and the frame has to do with relationships—being rightly related to God, through Christ, and to one another in Christ.

In having a right relationship to Jesus Christ, we must know, first, that He is our Savior; second, we must joyfully, daily surrender and happily yield to Him as servant for life. It is a service of love. We love Him, and serve Him, because He first loved us. (I John 4:19)

Having inventoried our relationship to Jesus, we ought also to examine how we relate, in our home (marriage), to our spouse.

Men, are you functioning under His guidance as the spiritual leader of your household? Are you leading in worship? Are you providing for the material needs, as God enables you to? Do you cherish your wife and children, and are they often reminded of that fact? Do you dwell with your wife according to knowledge (I Pet.3:1ff.)? Does she know that you are investing in her life, with the goal of assisting her to realize fulfillment in her world? Do you daily experience heart to heart, mind to mind, communication with her?

Wives, is your husband confident that, in you, he has a companion, a completer, a counsellor?

Do you acknowledge that “the woman was made for the man,” and that you and you alone can fulfill his basic needs for fellowship, for faith-building, and for fulfillment as a husband, father, and person?

Moms and Dads, do you have a healthy attitude toward your children? Are they, in your estimation, an heritage of the Lord? Would you agree with President Lincoln, who said that “A child is a person who is going to carry on what you started. He is going to sit where you are sitting, and when you are gone, attend to the things you think are important. You may adopt all the policies you please, but how they will be carried out depends on him. He will assume control of your states and nation. He’s going to move in and take over your churches and schools and corporations. All your books are going to be judged, praised or condemned by him. The fate of humanity is in his hands. Train him well!”

Finally, a home that will stand the rigors of life must be a home in which there is a relationship to the Body, the Bride of Christ—that is, to His Church. Most every New Testament reference to the church is to a local church, an assembly of “called out” believers in a locality that meets regularly for worship, for honoring the Lord by reading and studying His Word, for keeping the ordinances He has commanded, advancing the cause of world missions by getting the gospel to all peoples everywhere, and for regular fellowship in local church assemblies with those of like faith and practice. There is no substitute for what the local church can provide and produce in the lives of its regenerate members. To be out of fellowship with His church is to be out of fellowship with Him; to be disconnected to a local assembling of His Body, the Church, is to be disconnected from Him who is the Head of the Church that He is building.

A healthy home, where members are rightly related to God and to each other, will be a home where attendance to, and participation in, a Bible-believing local church is a not only a priority but a profitable and pleasurable part of life.

A visitor was being guided around a leper colony in India when, at noon, the bell rang for the midday meal. People flocked to the dining hall from every direction. Peals of laughter filled the air as two young men, one riding on the other’s back, were pretending to be a horse with a rider. As the visitor watched, he observed that the man who carried his friend was blind, and the man who was riding on his back was lame. The one who could not see used his feet, and the one who could not walk used his eyes. Together, they helped each other in getting to where the food was served. So, too, we live, love, and labor together with others in His amazing body, the Church, each ministering the gift with which He has equipped us to fulfill the needs of the body in its complete, edified, state. It is a must for a healthy church, and it is a must for a happy, healthy home that followers of the Lord Jesus Christ be rightly related to a local church.

God help us to build a home upon the foundation which is Christ, with a frame fitly joined together. Each to Christ: husband to wife, and wife to husband; parents to children, and children to parents; and all to other believers in His Body, the Church.

“Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ.” (Eph.4:13)

Remember….

Memory is a wonderful blessing; yet, sometimes it is a curse, but the loss of it is also tragic. I am the age at which the medical profession asks, once a year or so, if you will come in for a “wellness” test. Part of that exam is reading a short story, at the conclusion of which the administrator (nurse) asks a few questions about details in the story. It is a test to see if you still have command of your short-term memory. I had one of these wellness tests a few years ago and passed; this year, however, the nurse mentioned the test, which I was ready to take. But she never did administer it, and I did not ask her to. Maybe it was because I brought delicious yeast rolls and donuts from Indy’s favorite bakery when I checked into the office as I arrived!

In the Bible there are lots of admonitions to remember. The very first admonition or command to remember something is Ex. 20:8: “Remember the sabbath day to keep it holy.” Is this 4^th of the 10 commandments still binding today? Well, is the 7^th still binding: “Thou shalt not kill”? Or the 8^th: “Thou shalt not commit adultery”? Or the 1^st: “Thou shalt have no other gods before me”? “Remember the Sabbath Day is a universal principle. One day in seven is supposed to be set aside for rest and worship. The Lord set the example in the first week of the world when, after creating the heavens and the earth and every living thing in the heavens, and on land and in the seas, including humans, He rested. He set the pattern long before one day in seven was encoded into the law. The early church transferred the day of worship and rest from the seventh day to the first day of the week, in celebration of Christ’s resurrection from the dead on the first day. So, it is still a principle that believers worldwide, since the Day of Pentecost to the present, have honored; and we keep it, not in a legalistic fashion, but in the spirit of liberty, honoring the Lord of the Sabbath (rest) who kept the law, fulfilled the law, and set us free from the bondage of the law.

Other commands:

2. “Remember now thy creator in the days of thy youth, while the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh, when thou shalt say, ‘I have no pleasure in them.’” (Eccl. 12:1) The last chapter of this book of wisdom, Ecclesiastes, closes with the reason why each person ought to remember their creator in the days of their youth: “Fear God and keep His commandments: for this is the whole duty of man. For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing….” (Eccl. 12:13, 14)

3. “Remember them which have the rule over you, who have spoken unto you the Word of God; whose faith follow, considering the end of their conversation.” (Hebs. 13:7) Paul says in I Tim. 5:17 that elders who rule well ought to be counted worthy of double honor, “especially those who labor in the word and doctrine.” The word rule can mean command, in a military sense. But a Greek lexicon gives as its first meaning “lead.” A pastor, an under-shepherd, leads the flock over which the Lord has made him overseer. It is a leadership of love. There are myriad ways to honor one’s pastor, and a well-fed flock ought to earnestly strive to do so.

4. Paul exhorts all in Gal. 2:10 that “we should remember the poor; the same which I also was forward to do.” So very many admonitions from the wise king’s pen in Proverbs about how we should think of and treat the poor! (Provs. 14:31; also, Ps. 41:1)

5. Again, in Hebrews 13, the Holy Spirit moves the writer to tell us to “remember them that are in bonds, as bound with them, and them which suffer, as being yourselves also in the body.” (v.3) In my lifetime, I have witnessed the release of Pastor Georgi Vins from a Soviet concentration camp. He was exiled to the U.S. shortly before Ronald Reagan became president. Scores of other prisoners were released in the ‘90’s as a result of the prayers and focused attention of God’s people worldwide. The window was only opened briefly, but we have seen what “remembering them that are in bonds” can do. Many Christians across the world are suffering in detention centers for their faith. We dare not live as though this horrendous persecution does not exist today.

6. We must also take time to meditate upon so great salvation that we enjoy because of the grace of God: There is no better way to do this than to review what God has done for us: “Wherefore, remember, that ye being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called Uncircumcision by that which is called Circumcision in the flesh made by hands….” Eph. 2:11-13

7. Or, how about this memory jogger by Paul as he bade farewell to the elders of Ephesus: “I have shewed you all things, how that so labouring ye ought to support the weak, and to REMEMBER the words of the Lord Jesus, how He said: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’” (Acts 20:35). Try it and you’ll see what He meant.

8. Jesus, in one of his sermons as recorded only in Luke’s gospel, said: “Remember Lot’s wife.” This is a warning to the people of God, of all time, to keep moving ahead toward that city whose builder and maker is God, not looking back to the condemned world—which John warns that we are not to be having a love affair with. (Luke 17:32; I John 2:15-17)

9. The Holy Spirit moved Isaiah to quote almighty God, who said: “Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none else; I am God and there is none like me.” (Isa.46:9) It is increasingly difficult to remember the former things of old: days when preachers preached without Power Points, congregations sang using hymnbooks, and people were called to respond during an invitation by hitting the “sawdust” trail and kneeling at an old-fashioned altar.

10. We began in the first book of the Bible; let us conclude from the last book of the Word of God. To the church in Ephesus and to all churches of all time: “Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent.” (Rev. 2:5)

Rudyard Kipling’s Recessional in 1897 for Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee (i.e., 60^th anniversary):

“God of our fathers, known of old; Lord of our far-flung battle line;
Beneath whose awful hand we hold, Dominion over palm and pine;
Lord God of hosts, be with us yet; Lest we forget; Lest we forget!”