A HELPFUL SUMMARY OF BIBLE TRANSLATIONS

 The King James Version, also known as the Authorized Version of 1611, is the one that some of us grew up with and memorized from extensively. But the KJV we used actually dates from the 1750's and is the "Oxford Edition".  It was generally accurate for its day but has four weaknesses: it was a "one church" translation (Anglican/Episcopal); it was translated from late manuscripts;  some portions are difficult to comprehend even for well read people; and, finally, every verse is printed as a separate paragraph, further hindering comprehension. Since it was THE English Bible for three and a half centuries every generation should become, at least, familiar with it.

The American Standard Version of 1901 was updated in 1971 by the Lockman Foundation and published as The New American Standard Bible. Its literalness is both its strength and its weakness. It is trustworthy but its literalness makes for very poor English sentences. The other problem is, like the KJV, every verse is made a separate paragraph.

The Revised Standard Version (1952, updated 1988) was not trusted by Evangelicals because all but two of the translators were theologically liberal. Most of it was, with some lamentable exceptions, accurate.

The New International Version (1978, 1984 and 2011) was the largest and most thorough effort of English Bible translation ever done. The 105 translators followed the method used by missionary translators called "dynamic equivalence"; word for word except when "thought for thought" will actually be more accurate. Changes in 1984 and 2011 have weakened trust and acceptance of the NIV. Those changes should have been kept in the footnotes. I have used and recommended the original NIV of 1978 since the day it came and will continue to do so as long as I live.  Since the original of 1978 has been out of print since 1984 anyone who wants one can easily find a copy on Ebay.

The English Standard Version was the product of those who wanted something in between the New American Standard Bible and the NIV.  What it actually is, to understand it, is an Evangelical revision of the Revised Standard Version. My judgment is that it is no improvement over the NIV and, in a few places, carries forward some of the highly questionable translations of the RSV. 

Paraphrases: The first and most eloquent of 20th century paraphrases of Scripture was the Phillips, New Testament in Modern English (1958). The Living Bible (1971) by Ken Taylor was one of the best selling books of the 20th century. It has been updated into the New Living Translation. There are numerous others. The one good thing that can be said about all of them is they attract people to the reading of Scripture for themselves.

Finally, there is no such thing as a perfect translation and those who dogmatically insist that there is "only one right translation" need to keep that opinion to themselves. I have stated above which one I recommend and why but even I sometimes quote the KJV or my own translation of a particular verse.

Conclusion: the NIV of 1978 has in its favor 1) the large number of translators; 2) their method and the cross checking of each other's work; 3) the multidenominational makeup of the 105 translators; 4) the review of the final work for good English style.

WAS THE "LAST" SUPPER THE PASSOVER MEAL?

    I want to summarize for you the reasons why that meal was, in fact, the Passover.  I put the word "last" in quotation marks because it is inaccurate.  For forty days after His Resurrection Jesus taught and ate meals with the disciples.  I want to acknowledge the highly respected New Testament scholar D.A. Carson as my primary source for the following.

   The "Synoptic" Gospels (Matthew, Mark and Luke) clearly speak of that meal as the Passover.  Several statements in the Gospel of John seem to indicate that it was "before" the Passover meal.  John as been misunderstood and misinterpreted.  Here is why.

   "Before the Passover Feast" (Jn. 13:1) refers to the act of washing the disciples feet.  The KJV "supper being ended" was a mistranslation.  The meal had "been served" but not yet eaten ("during supper").  

   The words in Jn. 18:28 :to eat the Passover" refer to the entire Feast of the Passover including the days of Unleavened Bread.  

   Considerable evidence exists to indicate that the words "day of Preparation" in Jn. 19:14 were a technical term for the Friday of Passover week.  The Sabbath (Saturday) of Passover week was a "special" and "high" Sabbath.  Thus the NIV has "the day of Preparation of Passover Week".

   There remains, therefore, little if any reason to see any real discrepancy between the Synoptics and the Gospel of John.  Jesus ate the Passover meal with his disciples. 

   The reader is referred to the fuller discussion of this in the Expositor's Bible Commentary, Vol. 8, pages 528-532.  D.A. Carson was commissioned to write the commentary on Matthew (600 pages!) for this excellent series.  He dealt with all the major problems relating to the four Gospels, including this one on the "Last" Supper.  I disagree strongly with Carson on his interpretation of passages relating to the Tribulation and the Second Coming but in

this matter of the "Last" Supper being the Passover meal and in nearly all other matters I have the highest regard for his scholarship. 

BEEF CATTLE AND GOD'S PROVISION

 

   Memory takes us back a half century.  We were living on a farm that belonged to a Christian businessman and his wife.  When he told me to obtain some feeder cattle to raise I inquired of my neighbor, a veteran farmer filled with wisdom, as to whom I should contact.  He referred me to a man who hauled cattle and could be relied upon to get me good stock.  I do not recall the number of young feeder steers he brought but it was, I believe, at least eight.  They were Herefords like those in the photo you see above.  It was late in the summer so we kept them on pasture until winter.

   During the winter I kept them on clean straw with clean water always in front of them.  I kept good quality hay in front of them with a daily ration composed of the following ground up together:  three fourths parts of ear corn (cobs and all), one fourth part oats, all combined with molasses and beef mineral supplement.  This is very different from today's beef rations which tend to put more fat on the beef.  Almost no one has ear corn today since corn is shelled as it is harvested and the cobs go back on the ground with the corn stalks.  But this ration was once recommended at the Ohio State College of Agriculture in the 1950's.  I found that it produced more meat and not excessive fat on the cattle.  At the time it was ridiculed at "taking forever to fatten the cattle".

   I also provided an area outside the barn where the cattle could walk around and not be in mud.  In the spring the cattle reached a weight of around 1100 - 1250 pounds.  The owner of the farm then said an amazing thing:  "Get the cattle processed and give a half of beef to every teacher at Mansfield Christian School".  We were not nearly so large a faculty then as that school has now.  I contacted Nevin Border of Plymouth to process the beef.  In those days he and two helpers came to the farm to slaughter cattle and then took the carcasses to his market to process.  He did three at a time.

   The first time he came to do three he asked me if the people getting the beef would be paying me directly or were they to pay when they picked up the beef at his market.  I said, "Nevin, this beef is all being given to people".  How I wish I had a photo of the look on his face.  When he was finally able to speak he said,  "Well, you tell them they are sure getting nice beef".  Whether or nor the beef would have graded prime or top choice I do not know but to this day my wife Susan will tell you we have never had better beef and very rarely had any as good.

   I should add that it only cost each teacher at MCS about $35 to have their half processed.  Inflation has changed that considerably.  This was just one of many time times that this businessman and his wife helped people in very generous ways.  They are both gone now but I sometimes pray a blessing for their children and grandchildren as I remember these things.

   I enjoy relating all this because there are both spiritual and practical agricultural things to be learned.  As I mentioned earlier, modern feed rations often put excessive fat on cattle or have other drawbacks.  The cobs of the ear corn added good roughage to the feed and the slower growth made for an overall better product in the end.  Much as been made in recent years about Angus (black) cattle being better than Herefords.  Grocery stores advertise "Angus Beef Only".  But I can assure that I have never had Angus beef that came close to the quality and flavor of those Herefords.  But, more important is the example of generosity in all this.  We do not have to be wealthy enough to give away several cattle.  We can share a beef roast at a meal in our home with someone who needs encouragement and bless them in Jesus' Name.

FIGHTING CANCER: A CHRISTIAN VIEW

   For a long time I have been intrigued by the statement, "___________ is fighting cancer".  What is meant by that, of course, is that ___________ is undergoing treatments.  They are not, themselves, "fighting" the malignancy; the medical professionals are fighting it with various therapies:  chemical, radiation, surgery, etc.   The person being treated, if they are fighting at all, is probably fighting a mental and psychological battle.  "Do I continue enduring this or do I just give up?"

   My wife Susan fought that battle in 1989 while undergoing the chemotherapy protocols of that time.  She endured for six months and the protocols called for two more rounds of treatment, but she said "enough".  Her oncologist agreed.  The cancer she was "fighting" was follicular lymphoma.  Over the next twenty

years it reappeared at least four times and was treated with oral chemotherapy, radiation and finally with what is now the cutting edge of cancer therapy, monoclonal antibodies.  If it does not appear on her scheduled C-scan this December she will have gone ten years without a relapse.  

   Any number of our friends have not had the same happy results that she has had.  This leads us, as Christians, to the question of why seemingly so few are delivered from cancer in answer to earnest prayer on their behalf by other believers.  That miracles do occur has been well documented.   So, is God "arbitrary".  Or, are there other answers?  Or, will we never have all the answers in this life?

   The purpose of this blog is to redefine, or at least expand the definition of, what it means to "fight cancer". Actual, meaningful fighting of cancer, and all other diseases, begins as soon as one is old enough to make decisions about what they will eat.  The research is massive and the conclusions are undeniable.  The weapons in this war are, or should be, well known by now:  green or other brightly colored vegetables and fresh fruits; adequate intake of vitamins C and D and trace elements such as boron; minimizing the intake of red and fatty meats;  minimizing the intake of refined sugars; adequate amounts of fiber; more intake of fish, especially salmon;  and adequate intake of water.

   This does not exhaust the list of physical weapons but it constitutes a pretty good arsenal.  We turn now to the spiritual weapons against disease.  In the image you see above is a quote from Isaiah chapter 58.  Please look at the entire chapter, especially verse 8 and the words "your healing will quickly appear".  A life spent helping to relieve the suffering of others, this passage says, brings blessings from God upon one's own health.  There is no formula to guarantee perfect health in this life but a war against disease waged with both the physical and spiritual weapons we have briefly mentioned here would, I am convinced, result in much more health than we are seeing at present.

   "What if I follow all the advice in this blog and still, someday, get a diagnosis of terminal cancer", you ask.  I answer that you can look to God, and to the people standing ready to pray for you, with a clear conscience that you have done all that is humanly possible.  Your future, and mine, is then in the Hands of Him Who "spared not His own Son but gave Him up for us all" and from Whose Love "nothing can separate us".

THE PRESIDENT'S GREATEST SPEECH -- NEVER GIVEN

 The White House,  Washington D.C., December 2020

   "My fellow Americans:  I come to you for what may be my last address as your President.  I, like millions of you, believe that there is probable cause to believe that the votes in this recent election have not been counted accurately.  I could press on challenging the results.  However, I can see no good for our beloved country coming from my doing so. I accept the advice of members of my cabinet that there is, at this time, insufficient evidence to press ahead with challenges.   I have, therefore, reached one of the most difficult decisions of my lifetime.  I will henceforth cease all challenges to the results of this election.

   We have been unable to convince the courts of this land, including the highest court, to overturn the vote count in any state.  Out of respect for the Judiciary as a separate and coequal branch of government, I will honor their decisions and cease all challenges to the electoral count.  

   Word has come to me that many of you are planning to come here to the capitol in January to show your support for me.  While this would be greatly encouraging to me personally I can see no good coming from it for our country.  I can only see the possibility of the event being somehow misused by those who wish us ill.  I therefore plead with you to not go ahead with this gathering.  Please, I beg of you, remain at your homes and your jobs.

   We believe that the historical record will show that with your support we have been able to do more good for this country than any single term in history.  While there is much more to do to secure our freedoms, to strengthen our economy, to secure our borders and to stop foreign threats to our security we have done all we can do in one term.  We have done this even with unparalleled hostility against us from the day we were elected.  Unreasoning hatred for me has motivated our opposition to do harm to our country in pursuit of fanatical efforts to destroy me.  This leads me to express a sincere regret.

   In my zeal to defend your liberties I am afraid I may have at times stooped to the level of our opposition.  If I had it to do over I would not have used social media to engage in verbal battles with those who were unworthy of a reply.  I now urge all of you who have supported me to stay on the high ground in the days ahead.  Do not under any circumstances stoop to the level of those who may have won this election unfairly.  Let us all work toward winning the House and Senate in 2022 by reasoned and civil argument and fair and honest electoral campaigns.

   To show that the cause I have been fighting for is not my personal advancement but rather the cause of our freedoms, I now solemnly pledge to you that I will never again run for any elected office.  I will support those like Vice President Pence and others who are worthy of your trust. I will now devote myself to a smooth transition to the new administration.  I intend to spend these last days of my administration in a way that will make you proud of your trust in me.  The torch I have carried for you these four years will now be picked up and carried by others.  Give them your support and prayers for their success and safety.

   It is customary to close a Presidential address with the words 'God Bless America'.  He has, in fact, blessed us all far more than we deserve.  For this we are profoundly and eternally grateful."

Donald J. Trump

 

TIME TRAVEL TO THE LATE 1950's TO PEYTON PLACE

It began as a novel in 1956 that stayed on the New York Times best seller list for five years.  It was made into a major motion picture in 1957.  In high school in those long ago days one student would whisper to another "read it" or "see the movie".  Since it dealt with incest and implied without actually showing a couple swimming naked,  parents were wishing that the kids would do neither.  I saw it a year later but since it wasn't a war or cowboy movie I remembered little of it.  Nearly twenty years later I watched it on TV and thought to myself "that wasn't as wild and raunchy as they led us to believe back in high school".  Had I been desensitized?  Then about another twenty years went by and I watched it on TV again.  My reaction that time was "that came close to being a Christian movie".
     How could something considered very explicit in the 1950's be considered by a critical thinker today (as I believe I am) as being very close to a Christian treatment of the themes of incest, murder, adultery, illegitimacy, a couple swimming nude, etc.  

   The name "Peyton Place" may have been fictional but it seems the author, Grace Metalius, combined three towns in New Hampshire to create the Peyton Place setting.   A sequel, Return to Peyton Place, was filmed in 1959 and it became a TV soap opera series from 1964 to 1969.  The title kept reappearing on TV in soap opera settings or made for TV films.  One does not hear it much any more.  It may even seem quaint.  The themes of the book and the movie have been portrayed in the years since 1957 in ways that leave nothing - I mean nothing - to the imagination.
     When I listed the themes of the book and the movie I omitted  two major ones:  gossip and hypocrisy.   Near the end, after attending church,  one of the characters makes a powerful statement against these two evils that would, as I implied earlier, do justice to any Christian movie.  This movie did not even come close to being "explicit" in the way that movies became a few years later.  The fact that the book and movie were "hush, hush" among polite people in those days is a most powerful witness to the reality of a Christian consensus then.  A survey just several years ago revealed that several hundred young adults overwhelmingly considered "not recycling" and "using too much water and electricity" as much worse sins than viewing pornography and watching explicit movies.  The degrading of ourselves, each other and our bodies is now "no big deal".
     Don't believe those who dismiss all this by saying that the 1950's were "puritanical".  C.S. Lewis warned us about the reckless and ignorant use of that adjective.
     "Don't be under any illusion -- neither the impure, the idolater or the adulterer; neither the effeminate, the pervert or the thief; neither the swindler, the drunkard, the foul-mouthed or the rapacious shall have any share in the kingdom of God.  And such men, remember, were some of you!  But you have cleansed yourselves from all that; you have been made whole in spirit; you have been justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and in the very Spirit of our God."   (I Cor. 6:9-11 from The New Testament in Modern English by J.B. Phillips [1958]; italics his)  How amazing is it that this very accurate reading of this passage of Scripture was going to press at the very time that Peyton Place appeared?
     At the heart of the Peyton Place story was the fact that what people condemn in public they may be doing in private.   Since God sees all of our private world maybe He looked at the behind-the-scenes America of 1957 in much the same way we see the public life of people today.  Sin has always been here whether it was Sodom, Babylon, Rome or the United States.  The one very large difference between 1957 and today is the rejection of all absolutes by which to judge anything right or wrong.
     In the same year that the movie appeared the newly formed South Central school district in Huron County, Ohio was torn by dissension.  A teacher sent a letter to the local newspaper.  I have a copy of that paper and one line from that teacher's letter reveals a lot about the  prevailing Christian consensus in the U.S. in those days.  Speaking of the angry dissension in the school district about creating one new high school she said, "we are not acting like Christians".  What would be the reaction if a public school teacher said that in a letter to a newspaper today.

"FINAL JEOPARDY: AND THE CATEGORY IS . . . ."

     And the category is . . . God!   Your first clue is:  a nine letter word beginning with 'a', meaning anything that God is in His essential nature.   What is attribute?   Correct!  And that is your next category:  'The Attributes of God'.  Your first clue:  The attribute of God that is most difficult to define.  Correct!  Next clue:  the attribute of God that the mighty angelic hosts of heaven cry out three times.  Correct again! 
     Next clue:  the attribute of God that means His absolute 'otherness' from all His Creation.  Correct!  You are on a roll!  Next clue:  the attribute of God that means His absolute perfection in all other attributes of love, mercy, faithfulness, righteousness, and justice.  Correct again!
     Next clue:  The attribute of God that angels cover their faces to cry out in awe filled worship and that caused Isaiah to cry out "Woe to me!  I am ruined!  For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty."  And you are correct again!
     Your next clue:  the attribute of God that he graciously imparts in some measure to each believer in His Son:  ". . . we have been made _____ through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all (Hebrews 10:10)."    Correct again!
     Next clue:  the attribute of God that you are most likely to hear spoken or see on social media in such expressions as: '_____ crap';  '_____ s - - t';  '_____ hell';  '_____ smoke';  '_____ moly' and similar expression of contempt for the awesome, eternal majesty of the Living God; expressions that clearly show that "since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, He gave them over in a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done; (that) they have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity; (that) they are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice; (that) they are gossips, slanderers, God haters insolent, arrogant and boastful; (that) they invent ways of doing evil; (that) they disobey their parents; (that) they are senseless, faithless, heartless, ruthless; and (that) they know God's righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue too do these very things but also approve of those who practice them."   (Romans 1:28-32) 
     Your response is correct again and your soul is no longer in eternal jeopardy.  You realized that all the correct responses were one and the same -- HOLY!
     "Then I heard the angel in charge of the waters say:  'You are just in these judgments, you who are and who were, THE HOLY ONE, because you have so judged; for they have shed the blood of your saints and prophets, and you have given them blood to drink as they deserve.'  And I heard the altar respond:  'Yes, Lord God Almighty, true and just are your judgments'."
     Footnote:  A theologically liberal Protestant denomination wanted to use the beautiful contemporary hymn "In Christ Alone" in their new song book.  They asked those who wrote this song if they could change the words "saved from the wrath of God" and substitute other 'less offensive' words.  To their everlasting credit they refused to grant permission to this liberal denomination to show disdain for the holiness of God.  "Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the son will not see life, for God's wrath remains on Him."  (John 3:36)
     "Holy, holy, holy; Lord God Almighty.  Early in the morning my song shall rise to thee."       

THE WONDERS OF THE APPLE

   Whatever fruit was involved in the temptation of the first man and woman it was almost certainly not an apple; not in the Middle East that early in human history.  I read once that there was a possibility it was an apricot.  The prohibition against eating from one tree was not arbitrary on God's part.  There were undoubtedly other instructions we are not told about.  Israel was commanded to not eat the fruit of trees they would plant in the Promised Land for three years.  See Leviticus 19:23ff. There are evidently practical horticultural reasons for this.  Obeying God has both temporal and eternal rewards.
   Let us now describe some things I have learned from a lifetime of experience that should be delightfully practical for you.  First, the best apple cider is made when several varieties of apples are combined in the pressing.  True cider apples are nearly impossible to find today.  The cider available today is normally made from the culls of dessert apples and not true cider apples like Golden Russets. To add insult to injury the law now requires most cider to be pasteurized further destroying its flavor.  I saw this coming years ago when I watched dirty apples being unloaded at the cider mill.
    Beginning in 1978 we planted a variety of apple trees with the goal of having the best cider.  We had a good start because there were two mature Golden Delicious trees on the property when we bought it the previous year.  They were the old strain of that apple and they made excellent cider by themselves.  When other varieties were added the best only got better.  We had many loyal customers.  We sold the orchard more than three years ago.  If you have your own apples or can pick them somewhere you can schedule a pressing at Mowry's cider mill in Loudonville.
   We learned after many years experience to immerse our apples in bleach water before taking them to the mill.   Add at least a cup of bleach to a large tub of water and set each bushel of apples in it the day before you go to the mill.  This will make your cider, for all practical purposes, as safe as pasteurized and it will keep fresh much, much longer.  To clean milk jugs to be used for cider you have to stuff your dish cloth inside the jug with some hot, soapy water and swish it around vigorously and rinse it thoroughly.  When dry put the cap, after washing it, on tightly.  You cannot simple rinse milk jugs; they will not be clean enough unless you do what we described.  If there is any doubt about the cleanliness of jugs you should rinse them with bleach water.
   Pour a little cider out of the jugs you want to freeze to allow for expansion.  Frozen cider will keep fresh for a long time.
    The very best apple sauce is made as follows:  NEVER peel the apples.  You are throwing away the good pectin in the skin and the vitamins near the skin.  Quarter the apples and cut out the core and any blemishes.  Put a little water - not too little and not too much - into a large pan and bring the quartered apples to a boil.  When they become very soft and mushy, put them through a funnel shaped colander (sometimes spelled 'cullender').  You can probably find one on the internet.  The sauce will pass through the small holes in the colander and the skins will remain inside to be disposed of.  Unless the apples you use are very tart you will not need to add sugar.  If you do, use fructose available at bulk food stores.  With the pectin from the skins, your sauce will have a much nicer texture and flavor.  Add a little cinnamon to taste.  You have just made the very best apple sauce.
    To make the best apple butter begin by making the sauce (see above) the day before.  If you want a good sized batch of apple butter make five gallons of sauce, but any amount will work if done to the following proportions.  Begin  by cleaning the inside of the copper kettle you are using.  Do NOT clean with anything that will leave a toxic residue.  We always cleaned the inside of the copper kettle with a mixture of strong cider vinegar and salt and rinsed thoroughly.  If you made five gallons of sauce put TEN GALLONS of cider in the kettle and boil it down ONE HALF so that about five gallons of concentrated cider remains.  Slowly add the five gallons of sauce.  Stir continually with an apple butter stirrer as it cooks down to the consistency of apple butter.  If you feel you need sweetener use fructose and a little cinnamon.  Can it in sterile jars while piping hot.  Eat it on homemade bread.  Enjoy the good gifts of God.
  

  

I JOHN 1:9; IS IT FOR BELIEVERS OR IS IT TELLING HOW TO BE SAVED?

   "What do you think of Joseph Prince' view of I John 1:9?"  A friend sent me a text with this question.  Before I even went on the internet to see what J.P. was teaching I was certain I already knew.  I first read it a 1970 book by Peter Gilquest, "Love Is Now".  The concern of P.G. then and of J.P. now is that some believers do not realize their standing in Christ is already one of complete forgiveness and that they see forgiveness as a partial thing.  The most radical form of this is that if a believer dies with any unconfessed sin they will be lost.  I shared that concern in 1970, so I spoke favorable of Gilquest' view of I John 1:9, that it was saying, essentially, how to be saved.  I got some very angry criticism for this.

   But, I sill wondered how the verse applied to believers.  The common view is that the verse is written to believers and talking about sanctification and not about justification.   This view is that when a believers sins they lose "fellowship" with God and that the forgiveness spoken of in this verse is a restoration of that fellowship.  It is true that sin in a believer will "grieve" and "quench" the Holy Spirit and that until that sin is freely admitted a believer cannot be "filled with the Holy Spirit".  Some go so far as to say that the believer becomes "lost" and must "get saved" again.

    All of this moved me to do a deeper study of I John and the context of this passage.  John was warning against an early form of what would become known in the second century as Gnosticism.  This early form of it, among other things, denied the reality sin.  So, John warned, in the most severe terms in chapter 1 of this letter, that no one can be in right standing with God without freely acknowledging their sin.  In that respect, those who say that verse nine applies to unbelievers have a valid point.  But they limit the message of the verse too much.

    The key word of I John is "know" (or "known", etc.).  How can we know for sure who is a child of God and who is not?  John gives a number of tests but which we can know, and one of the very first tests is whether someone freely admits their sin.  When this is understood, we move beyond this debate about whether verse 9 is for a believer or an unbeliever.  IT IS FOR EVERYONE!

   The next thing about this letter from John that we need to know is the way in which he uses the present tense of the verbs in the Koine Greek in which he originally wrote.  This is something that we cannot always see in our English translations.  The present tense indicates a practice or a way of life.
John uses this with a number of things.  In chapter three he says that a true child of God does not "continue to sin" as a practice or a way of life.  That passage in chapter three has been greatly misunderstood because of ignorance about the present tense verbs in I John.  In chapter one he has already said that the mark of a true child of God is that they freely admit their sins.  Chapter four adds the thought that continuing to sin, with no change, is a test that shows who is, in fact, NOT a child of God.

   So, what have we learned about I John 1:9?   Here is how the verse could be paraphrased:  "If, as a practice and a way of life, we freely admit our sins, then we can be assured that we stand forgiven.  We have this assurance because God is faithful and just.  He cannot forgive one who, as a way of life, denies their sin.  If, as a way of life and a practice, we freely admit our sin, we have assurance that we are cleansed and purified before God through the finished work of Christ on the cross."

   To return to the original question about the teaching of Joseph Prince now or of Peter Gilquest in 1970;  in both instances these men create a false dichotomy of trying to limit this verse to either believers or unbelievers.  It speaks to all people.  To the unbeliever it says, "there is full and free forgiveness in Christ, but only if you are willing to freely admit your sin."  To the believer it says, "rest assured that if, as a practice and a way of life, you are freely admitting your sins when the Holy Spirit makes you aware of them, then this is a mark that you are a true child of God".

APPROACHING EIGHTY

   In less than three years I am scheduled to have an eightieth birthday.  Someone who is ninety-nine looks at me as quite young.  Most people see me as . . . well, you know.  Ten years ago I was working on the exterior of a log house and a guy in his twenties, who was also working at that location, was asked by his dad, "who is staining the log siding on that house?"  He answered, "some old guy".  I was sixty-seven at the time.  It turns out his dad was a friend of mine and when he found out who his son was talking about he got a big laugh and couldn't wait to tell me.  In nearly every respect I am better physically than I was at that time.  In some ways you could truthfully say that I have gotten "younger".

   I never intend to "retire".  When I left Mansfield Christian after many years there I "moved on to something else".  Nine years ago I was invited to be a part time member of a church staff as primarily a Bible teacher.  From time to time I do some interior decorating (painting) not just because I "must" work but because I enjoy it.  My business card and billing form says, "Bringing the fine touch to fine homes since 1957".  I know of no one else who has been doing it that long, and I have no intention of stopping.

   With the start of Genesis Academy at Ashland in 2015 I was invited to resume teaching Bible at the high school level.  I look forward to beginning the fifth year with 28 students scheduled (so far) for my Wednesday and Friday classes.  Genesis Academy is gradually transitioning from a home school co-op to a high school structure.  So, God is pleased to have me ministering His word to people from ages 13 to . . . you name it.  I am teaching the Word to groups large and small in Mansfield at least three times a week in addition to Sunday mornings and Wednesday evenings at Ashland. 

   Is there a history of longevity in my family?  My parents lived to ages 91 and 92 and with some better choices could easily have lived longer.  But, my grandparents were all gone by age 71.  Without modern medical care I would have been gone by now.  Likewise would Susan.  The two important biblical words "but God" are what really matters here.  One can have the best diet and best medical care and still not live "long".  Our choices in life DO MATTER.  "But God" still has the final word.

   Another question, which many are afraid to ask, "can someone my age connect with younger people?"  I cannot speak for others but people my age have been "connecting" with younger people for centuries and I intend to keep doing it.   A person may "get old" but one does not have to "think old".  Younger people who have any sense at all know that someone like me has seen a lot happen and can give them a perspective on life that can prove priceless.  I have heard in my lifetime just about every form of "Christian music" you can name and some you cannot name.  I was playing piano and organ in church services when I was fourteen.  I can bring a perspective to the thirty year old music controversy in churches that many do not have.  I am both open minded as well as a realist.  I do NOT believe that older music and older ways are NECESSARILY better.  But as a realist I see that music, morals and about anything else you can name, has been on a downward trajectory for several decades, both in the world and in the church.

   Part of the perspective I can give younger people is that I have lived in, literally, two worlds.  I came of age in an America where all things Christian were respected and a part of all of life.  Public school teachers led in prayer and read Scripture.  Public high schools had prayer and recognition of God as part of every graduation and on other occasions.   I grew up in a world where all girls wore skirts or dresses to school every day and no one thought of doing anything differently.  Christian morality was assumed by nearly everyone.  I can explain these things to younger people growing up in a world where things that were once unthinkable are now accepted norms.  I can help people grasp what it means to be in a world that is upside down.  Whether or not younger people want to benefit from my nearly eight decades of life experience is up to them.  They will give account to God for their choice in this matter and I will give account to God for my faithfulness in being willing to help them.  The ball is in their court.

   I am writing this on the 56th anniversary of Martin Luther King's "I Have A Dream" speech.  I watched things that King spoke of go from the very bad of the 1950's to the much better of the 1970's and now going back to the much worse.  I, of all people, understand that the "good old days" were a mix of some very great good and some very dark evil.  I am uniquely situated to see that the present time is indeed very dark but that some very bright shafts of light from believers in Christ are piercing the darkness.  I intend to help them burn brighter, so that however far away or near the Coming of Christ again may be, the children and grandchildren of these whom I am trying to help will say,  "Wow, you lived at a time when God was really moving!"

   

   
    

McDonalds as a Religion???

   The McDonald brothers opened their drive in restaurant in San Bernardino , California in 1940 complete with car hops.  The more they promoted their barbecue the more their customers asked for hamburgers.  So, they closed their doors, remodeled, fired the 20 car hops and reopened with the format that we associate with McDonalds today.  They struggled for awhile but things eventually took off and they opened at other locations.  By 1954 a milk shake machine salesman named Ray Kroc was so impressed with their success that he secured from the brothers the rights to franchise their name and business nationwide.  Ray opened the first "Golden Arches" in Illinois in 1955.  By 1961 he was rich enough to buy out the McDonald brothers' interest in the business and it was all his.

   The first one that I ever recall eating at was on the north edge of Ft. Wayne, Indiana on U.S. 30.  It was on our way to and from college at Winona Lake, Indiana.  There were no tables or chairs, just a small area to walk in and order at a window and then go back to your car.  The burgers were, as I recall, 15 cents.  We had no idea at that time that this would become the largest restaurant chain in the world!  The next step in this journey for us was a magazine article in the late 70's or possibly the early 80's.

  The magazine was "Natural History" (an unlikely place to find an article about McDonalds).  The title of the article was something like "McDonalds As A Religion".  Before you dismiss this as preposterous consider the following.  In the days before "fast food" places like McDonalds, Burger King (started about the same time as McDonalds), and Wendys (1969), selecting a place to eat, especially when you were traveling, could be a very risky "roll of the dice".  Would you get a good meal or would you get ptomaine poisoning?  Was the kitchen clean or . . . ? 

   On the other hand, when you were traveling and you wanted to attend church on a Sunday morning, you would go to a church of the denomination to which you belonged.  If you were, for example, Lutheran you would go to a Lutheran Church knowing there would be no surprises.  You knew exactly what the liturgy (order and form of service) would be.  Thus, the Golden Arches, when they appeared on the landscape, told you "no surprises here; you know exactly what you will be getting and what it will cost".  Anyone coming of age on this side of the advent of McDonalds cannot appreciate what it was like for the first time to have a restaurant chain available just about anywhere you traveled that would be as predictable and free of unpleasant surprises as the liturgy in your church denomination.
 
   Fast forward to the present and the continued growth of McDonalds as a food service giant is still largely due to being predictable and free of unpleasant surprises.  There is perhaps another way in which McDonalds resembles a religion.  People crave what is often called "fellowship".  On any given morning what do you see at many McDonalds?   You see a "gathering of geezers" having fellowship!  Retired men, and often women also, gather at McDonalds for "fellowship".  And just as good churches "feed" you healthy spiritual food the menu at McD's is decidedly more healthy than just the "burger, shakes and fries" offered in the early days. 

   The Golden Arches are like a church in some other ways also.  Most churches gladly welcome a large group of traveling visitors to drop in on a Sunday service.  So, if you are traveling with a bus full of young people you don't have to think twice.  Stop at McDonalds and you know you will, with rare exceptions, be welcome.  One other observation:  it seems to me that more and more McDonalds restaurants have ceased to be "fast food" places.  Now it's "take a number and wait for your food".  That may or may not make McD's like a church but it is not necessarily bad.  I have been part of men's Bible studies that met in a back corner of the dining room of McD's.  If we are anything less than supremely grateful to God for the abundant, affordable food and clean restrooms available to us at this moment of history then we are . . . well you know.

   

  


 

   

  

BIBLE TRANSLATIONS: A BRIEF HISTORY AND SUMMARY

   The Father of English Bible translation was William Tyndale. He was executed in 1536 for the "crime" of putting the Bible into the language of ordinary people.  Ninety per cent of his words were retained in the KJV of 1611 and 75% were retained in the RSV of 1952.  Following his work came the Geneva Bible, the one that the Puritans brought to America with them.  The Authorized ("King James") Version of 1611 only slowly replaced the Geneva Bible.  The King James Version holds a place of great importance in the history of English speaking people.  I memorized extensive portions of it and still quote it often.   But, the claims of some people that it is "more accurate" or based on a "better Greek text" are utterly false and misleading.

   I sympathize with those who want to use the KJV because of familiarity with it or appreciation for its history.  But, I strongly recommend that they use the best edition of the KJV that was ever printed.  That was the New Scofield Reference Bible of 1967.  It was essentially the KJV but with two very great improvements.  Archaic (no longer used) words like "kine" (cattle) were updated.  Second, the most egregious mistranslations were corrected.  "Vile bodies" in Philippians 3:21 was corrected to "lowly bodies".   The 1967 Scofield is no longer in print but copies are easily obtained on EBay.

   I have no respect at all for the New King James Version.  It is one of the most unnecessary versions ever done.  If you substantially change the KJV you no longer have the KJV and it dishonest to call it the "New" KJV.  It is simply a modern speech version based on the LEAST accurate texts that we have.  If you like the KJV by all means use the Scofield Reference Bible of 1967.  Also, its footnotes are a huge improvement over the original Scofield of 1909.  The notes on Genesis chapter 1 are excellent.
   

  The first alternative to the KJV for Americans was the American Standard Version of 1901.  It was replaced in 1971 by the New American Standard Bible.  That version is accurate and trustworthy but it has two main faults: 1) following the Hebrew and Greek word order makes for clumsy English sentences; and 2) making every verse a separate paragraph was a huge mistake.  It affects the way the reader understands the text.  This was also a main fault of nearly all editions of the KJV.  The NASB would be 100% improved if its text were put into normal paragraphs.
  

  The Revised Standard Version came out in 1952 but it was not accepted by most conservative, evangelical Christians.  That is discussed further down in this blog.

   The New International Version of 1978 involved more qualified scholars than any version in the history of the English language (105 as compared to 30-40 on all the others).  It involved multiple cross checking and final reviews more than any other version. The translators followed the method of translation that missionaries had been using with other languages for many years. It was well on its way to becoming the standard Bible of English speaking people . . . until . . . the committee that controls the text began to "tinker" with it.  First in 1984 and again in 2011 they changed the text.  The 1984 edition is OK but unnecessary and the 2011 edition got into "gender inclusive" language.  I use the original 1978 and WILL CONTINUE TO DO SO AS LONG AS I LIVE.  All changes in the NIV should have been totally in the footnotes and the text should have been left alone!

    The same mistake is being made with the English Standard Version.  It is reported that they are going to tinker with the text.  The ESV, to understand it, is nothing but a revision of the Revised Standard Version of 1952.  The RSV, while generally accurate, was never accepted by many evangelicals because of obvious liberal bias in several passages.  The ESV is probably the best translation currently IN PRINT  but it is no improvement at all over the original NIV of 1978.  If someone needs a Bible I urge them to go to EBay and get a like new 1978 NIV.

   I will not discuss other translations currently available, not because they do not have value, but because nearly all of them are "gender inclusive" translations to suit the feminist agenda by eliminating, as much as possible, the words "man" and "men" and male pronouns.  I do not speak against them, I just do not recommend them.  If someone wants to read a paraphrase of the New Testament there is none more refreshing than the Phillips New Testament in Modern English  (1958).   .


  

WOUNDED: NOVEMBER 1st, 1918. In memory of my father-in-law, D.H. Weigle

   At around 9 am French time on November 1st, 1918, a German infantryman pressed the trigger on his MG-08 Maxim machine gun and let fly a hail of 8 m/m bullets.  Moments earlier the Germans either let loose a deadly poisoned gas attack or Dorr's unit believed they were about to.  In any event,  Pvt. D.H. Weigle of the 4th Brigade, 2nd Marine Division rose up just slightly in an attempt to fit his gas mask over his face.  One of those 8 m/m bullets was bearing down upon him.
   Dorr had been born September 2, 1896, the ninth of twelve children of Charles and Mary Weigle.  Their home was near the village of Elizabeth, West Virginia.  In 1970 he showed my wife (his daughter Susan) and I the family home, the church and school built by his carpenter father and the cemetery where his parents were interred.  His formal education ended after the eighth grade and he went to work mainly in farming jobs.  When the U.S. entered the "Great War" in April 1917 Dorr was employed by the Coraopolis, Pa. Police Dept. and was deferred from military conscription.  But there was such an intense pressure on young men to not be "slackers" or "shirkers" that he followed his older brother and enlisted in the Marine Corps.  Paris Island had just been opened and Dorr remembered being one of those assigned to pave the new streets there with crushed oyster shells.
   He demonstrated a high level of marksmanship with the 03 Springfield rifle and was told that his scores on the rifle range would mean that he could remain there and be a rifle instructor.  But he so hated the heat and the sand fleas that he deliberately pulled one or two shots out of the bulls eye on qualification day so that he would not be assigned to stay there.  He later considered that one of the biggest mistakes of his life because it would nearly cost him his life.  He recalled that upon arriving in France it was march, march, march just about everywhere he went.  He received his food in the chow line one day and sat down on a pile of brush to eat.  Noticing that no one else was sitting near him he looked down into the brush and beheld the remains of a dead German.
   On the fateful morning of November 1st Dorr, as a member of Co. E, 5th Marine Regiment, 4th Brigade was in that part of the Argonne Offensive intended to drive the Germans from the town of Landreville.  The machine gun burst of fire that was to hit him must have been fired in an upward trajectory to rain down on the Marines.  The bullet that struck him entered at a downward trajectory and lodged near a pelvic bone.  The surgeons, fearful that he might be paralyzed, left the bullet where it was.  But they did not tell him this fact.  It would be nearly 20 years before he would learn that it was still in him.  After the war he married the lovely, dark eyed Orpha Shankland of Wayne Co. Ohio.  Soon after their marriage he turned down an offer from the Veterans Bureau to pay for four years of college if he would teach vocational agriculture.  He had no desire to return to school.  Another decision that he would someday regret.  He opted instead to learn automobile mechanics and for six years worked at the Canton (Ohio) Motor Car Co. where he serviced the first Chrysler to come to Canton.
   In the years following the birth of their first child, a son in 1921, Dorr and Orpha endured the anguish of three baby girls either being still born or dying soon after birth.  In 1928 Dorr joined the Canton Police Department.  In the early 1930's he used the veterans bonus to buy a 100 acre farm near Greenwich, Ohio.  He and Orpha would rent out the farm for ten years before moving there.  From 1936 until 1942 they welcomed into their lives two sons and a daughter, Susan.  In 1943 Dorr took early retirement from the police department and the family moved from Canton to the farm they already owned. Dorr now realized his life long dream of operating his own farm.  At that time the oldest son, now 22, was serving his country in World War II.
   The most critical moment of Dorr's life, since nearly being killed in 1918, was to happen at the very middle of the 20th century.  Dorr was a man of honesty and integrity but he could exhibit a terrible temper and cursed as a second language.  His two youngest sons often fought so angrily their mother feared they would not live to adulthood.  A friend invited the two Weigle brothers to church and they soon committed their lives to Christ as Savior and Lord. Their lives changed radically.  Early one Sunday morning Dorr said to Orpha, "Get ready.  We are going to church.  I want to see what happened to those two boys."  She nearly fainted!  In the weeks that followed Orpha recommitted her life to Christ and Dorr, the proud, ramrod straight Marine, became a committed follower of Jesus Christ at age 54.  As a young boy I witnessed his baptism and subsequent struggle to overcome the lifelong habit of cursing.  One of his sons and his daughter would spend much of their lives in Christian School and Christian camp ministries.  His daughter is still very involved in ministry to all age groups at her church.
    Dorr was always an avid hunter and an excellent marksman.  It was my joy as his only son-in-law to supply him with several accurate rifles.   From age 76 onward he was legendary among local farmers for the number of groundhogs he took out of their fields.  He hunted until well into his 90's and kept me busy loading ammunition for him.  Eventually, the years took their toll.  At age ninety he had to have a pace maker.  I conducted Dorr's funeral service in April 1996.  He was just five months short of his 100th birthday.  The honor guard at the cemetery were young enough to be his grandchildren or great grandchildren.  Orpha had preceded him in death by nine years.  The 8 m/m German machine gun bullet was still in him!

A COMPANY'S WITNESS FOR CHRIST

   This November 11th will mark 100 years since the end of the "War To End All Wars", as President Woodrow Wilson called what we now know as World War I.  That title would be laughable if it was not so unrealistically tragic.  In the months that followed, the U.S. government disposed of tons of surplus gun powder (properly called "propellant") by dumping it in the ocean.  It could have been sold to ammunition companies or to the many citizens who were even then learning to load/reload their own ammunition for hunting and target shooting.  But saving taxpayer money was not a consideration.  Following World War II the story would be different.

   Of the more than sixteen million Americans who served in the armed forces in that terrible conflict, one of them, Brewster "Bruce" E. Hodgdon was not about to let his government dump perfectly good propellants into the ocean.  After being discharged from the Navy he wrote letters to government officials up to and including President Truman.  His efforts would pay great dividends, not just to him but to countless Americans.  In 1947 he purchased 50,000 pounds of surplus IMR 4895 rifle powder and the Hodgdon Powder Company was born.  Seventy one years later the many thousands of us who load our own ammunition are indeed grateful.  But let's leave this story for a moment to give you a little historical background.

   Since before the American Revolution the largest manufacturer of gun powder was the Dupont family and later the Dupont Corporation.  This was true when Bruce Hodgdon was just starting out.  By the twentieth century Dupont had transitioned from making black gunpowder to making modern smokeless powders.  By the end of World War II they had developed some excellent rifle powders with names like IMR 4831 and IMR 4895;  The number indicated how rapidly or slowly the propellant burned.  Propellants do not explode when they are ignited by the primer in the cartridge, instead they burn rapidly producing gases which propel the bullet.  Changing times brought changes to Dupont.  Their slogan of the 1950's  "Better thing for better living through chemistry" has been changed to "Better things for better living" because in this irrational age "chemistry" is a dirty word.  But for purposes of this blog the significant change was when Dupont sold off their historic powder manufacturing business entirely to Hodgdon.  Today Hodgdon sells the IMR powders.

 
   So today Hodgdon is THE name in propellants.  Many thousand of Americans, including me, find great satisfaction in loading their own ammunition for hunting and target shooting and Hodgdon can supply whatever we need.  There are other brands; Hodgdon does not have a monopoly by any means.  But nearly every powder I use, except for one or two, is made by Hodgdon.

   If you came to this Blog from Facebook you are wondering about the Mission Statement of the Hodgdon Company.  Here it is in its entirety:  "Hodgdon Powder Company operates following Biblical principles to honor God.  Our Mission is to provide quality products and services in a manner which enhances the lives of our employees, families, customers and our communities.  In doing so, we will deal with integrity and honesty, reflecting that  people are more important than dollars and our purpose is to bring credit to our Lord Jesus Christ."

   Even if you do not buy Hodgdon products you might want to send a message to them thanking them for their Mission Statement.  If you would like to read a longer history of Hodgdon see the current issue of American Rifleman the official journal of the National Rifle Association. That article tells how Hodgdon propellants are used in non-firearm applications as well.  It may be available online.  Also, if you have questions about loading/reloading ammunition send me a message on FB.  If a member of your family wants to learn how this is done I would love to show them.

   One final word to any reader who may have strong feelings against firearms and ammunition:  the misuse of any product by a few does not make that product inherently evil.  To believe otherwise is to to hold a modern version of the ancient Gnostic heresy.  Thank you for your thoughtful consideration.

THE REST OF THE SURVIVOR STORY

   Carol Weigle, Chester's wife, answered the phone at Trail To Life Camp on the afternoon of July 21, 1970.  It was Mike Mecurio calling from Canada.  Crying as he spoke he broke the tragic news to Carol that Don, Chuck and Tim were missing and presumed to have drowned.  It was senior girls week at TTLC and Chet and I were away from camp for awhile that afternoon.  We arrived back shortly before the evening meal was to begin.  I vividly recall Carol walking with Chet down toward the lake to break the news to him alone.  She then came and told me that Chet needed to see me.  After he broke the dreaded news to me I got Susan and we went to my parents' home to tell them.  They were not there and I had no idea where they were.  In the meantime I called their pastor and wife, Ron and Donna Lou Merrill.  They were ready to leave on their vacation but instead came immediately to my parents' home.  I made other phone calls and soon there were many people gathered and waiting in the living room.
   When my parents finally came home from visiting someone in Mansfield they were puzzled by the number of cars in their driveway.  I met them at the back door and they sat down on the porch swing.  My exact words were:  "We know that we will all be together again someday but Donnie is now with Jesus."  I have often wished that I would have had someone else tell them because it seemed to me like I had just driven a dagger into their souls.  But later Mom told Susan that she was glad that I was the one who told them.  Everyone there gathered around them and Ron Merrill led in prayer.  One by one more and more people began to arrive; my aunts, uncles, cousins and friends.  Before the evening was over I had to go to the home of Dr. C.O. Butner at Shiloh and get something for my parents to take to help then through the emotional trauma.
    I called a pastor friend in Lexington to break the news to Don's wife Twila.  I have since regretted putting that burden upon that pastor but I thought that someone should do it in person rather than just a phone call.  Since Twila was spending that week with her sister and brother-in-law Bob and Alice Witzky, I should have probably called the Witzky home and asked Bob or Alice to tell her.  Somehow Twila got the impression that Don was missing but that there was a possibility he was alive.
   The next morning Harold Laird, a long time friend of my parents, and Paul Enzor, dad's cousin, arrived.  They knew nothing about what had happened.  They had come to begin the work of taking out my parents' old coal burning furnace and installing a new gas furnace.  I met them in the driveway and told them what had happened and as they were about to leave and postpone the work my mom called out to me to have them go ahead and start work. In the sad days that followed, this project was actually a helpful distraction from all the heaviness.  I was often busy going to get parts and materials for them -- when I was not going to the funeral home to make arrangements.
   Shortly after Harold and Paul arrived Jim and Eva Mae Brundage arrived bringing Twila.  We began to get phone calls from news outlets and the Moody Bible Institute station in Cleveland, WCRF, picked it up on the wire services.  Their announcer Bob Devine dedicated the song "He Giveth More Grace" to Twila that morning.  That afternoon the phone rang again and the news came to us that the bodies had been found.  When I got off the phone and told what the call was about Twila fainted.  It was later that we found out that she holding onto the possibility that Don was alive.  I immediately went to see Atlee Meyers the owner of the funeral home in Greenwich.  He looked up the name of the funeral home in Canada that was closest to where the tragedy was unfolding.  It was Goulet Funeral Home.  I did not tell my family then but I soon learned that Canadian law required that an autopsy be performed on my brother's body.  Mr. Goulet brought the three bodies from Canada to the funeral home in Greenwich.
   On Friday afternoon I took our family:  Twila, Mom, Dad, Susan and myself to the funeral home to view Don's body.  Twila decided to have a closed casket and I agreed.  I feel this was another mistake on my part.  I should have urged her to allow Don's many friends to see his earthly form one more time.  I regret that greatly.  That evening there was a very large memorial service at the camp.  We borrowed many chairs from a local church to seat the great number who came.  Robert Collitt, who had been our pastor when Don and I were boys, was there from Maryland.  My brother had met and become friends with the Chief of the Mansfield Fire Department Leonard Boebel.  That evening Chief Boebel put fire station No. 7 out of service for awhile so that he, fireman Dean Scott, and another fireman could come to the service.
   The funeral the next day filled Bethel Baptist Church at Savannah (their old building) to capacity.  Chet Weigle and others from the camp went the next two days to the funerals of Tim and Chuck in western Ohio and Chicago.  About two weeks after the funeral Twila told Susan she was not feeling well.  Susan said, "I already have an appointment with Dr. Butner.  Why don't you come with me and have him check you out also."  That was the day we all learned that that Twila was expecting a baby.  Susan and I had been invited to move onto a farm that a Christian couple had purchased.  We asked Twila to come and live with us there.  So it was on the cold, snowy evening of February 23, 1971 that Susan and I took Twila to Mansfield Hospital where she gave birth to Aaron Eugene Enzor.
   Doctors had told Susan and I that it did not look like we would ever have children.  But on June 21, 1971, after being in labor for thirty-one hours (!) Susan gave birth to Miles Daniel Enzor.   During the previous winter, before Aaron was born, a carpet sales rep. came to the door one day.  We were getting a small room ready as a nursery for Twila and she had called to have it measured for some carpet.  When the carpet rep. rang the door bell both Susan and Twila went to the door and both were obviously pregnant.  The sales rep asked, "who's the lady of the house?"  They answered together, "I am".  He said, "where is the superman?"  My brother Don would have loved that.

YOUR GOD IS TOO SMALL

  This title is borrowed from a 1950's book by J.B. Phillips.  He was a friend of C.S. Lewis and the translator of the first of the popular paraphrases of the New Testament, "The New Testament In Modern English" (1958).  It is largely forgotten now but its literary qualities and forceful rendering of many passages have made it a favorite of mine ever since I bought my first copy as a senior in high school.  I used this title because it sounded much better that the dry, technical heading of "Some Thoughts On The Meaning Of Predestination And Election".   I'm sure these thoughts are not entirely original with me but I did not get them from any book, sermon, etc.  They have come from years of reflection on the Scriptures.
   This little essay should not be construed as a critique of 'Reformed' theology or any other system of interpreting Scripture, even though some may take it that way.  It is not that I believe certain doctrines about predestination and election are completely wrong, it is just that their advocates have not always been careful to clarify some things.  To 'cut to the chase' as they say, I will say right up front that it seems to me that the terms "chose", "elect", etc, are used in Scripture as anthropomorphic words.  'Anthropomorphic' is a word formed from two Greek words:  'anthropos' (man/human) and morphos (the form, essence or nature of someone or something).  Most people are familiar with the anthropomorphic images in many cartoons when animals are portrayed as humans.           Anthropomorphic terms in Scripture compare God to people so that we can better grasp things.  Scripture speaks of the 'hand' of God, the 'eyes' of the Lord, etc.  Just before the flood of Noah's time the Scripture says that God was "grieved" that he had made man.  The King James Version renders it "repented" that He had made man.  Now, of course, nothing takes God surprise.  He knows eternally all things.  (We need to let that sink in for a moment.)  When anthropomorphic terms are used of God they are intended to help us at lest partially grasp things that are ultimately beyond total comprehension.
   So it is with the words 'elect', and 'choose'.  If we are not very careful how we define and explain these terms we make God out to be finite/limited.  God is the Creator of space and time.  That is what happened at Genesis 1:1.  He is not bound by time or space.  There is no time at which those who are called God's 'chosen ones' or 'elect' were not chosen.  To give the impression that there was a point of time in the past when God said "I now choose _____ to be saved and I do not choose _____ to be saved is to put God into time and thus make Him finite/limited.  Hence, the title "Your God Is Too Small".   We can only grasp words like 'choose' and 'elect' in the way that we as humans use them.  At a certain point in time we decide and act.  We are finite/limited.  Before that time we had not made the choice or elected.   
   But now comes the most important part of all.  The words 'chose' and 'elect' must be defined in a way that fits how they are used of Jesus,  He is "the living Stone -- rejected by men but chosen by God and precious to him" and he is the "chosen and precious cornerstone".  (I Peter 2:4-6 NIV)  If the words 'chosen' or 'elect' are used of Christ the way that some people have defined them (as applied to believers) then Christ was chosen from among a larger group of beings to be the Savior of the world.  This is, of course, exactly what some cults say about Christ.  He is the highest of the angelic beings chosen by God to be the Savior.  Now do you see why we cannot define 'chosen' and 'elect', when used of believers, as "God chose certain ones to be save and did not choose others".  If you apply this definition to Christ you have denied his absolute uniqueness.  Not to mention that you have also denied several explicit Scripture that declare God to be unwilling that any perish and that he would have all men to be saved.  (I Tim. 2:4 and II Peter 3:9)
   Now, we need a definition of 'chosen' and 'elect' that:  1) does not make God finite/limited; and 2) fits the words when they are used of Christ.  We have that definition in Jesus' great High Priestly Prayer in John 17.  Jesus said, "Father . . . you loved me before the Creation of the world"  (vs. 24)  That, my friends, is the biblical definition of what it means to be 'elect' and 'chosen' of God.  It means:  that the believer, like Jesus the unique Son of God, is eternally loved by God the Father.  To go beyond this definition and portray God as 'choosing' in the way that humans choose, is to portray God as crudely arbitrary and to portray Christ as just one of a larger group of similar beings.
    So now when you read these words in Scripture, or hear them used in a sermon, just think to yourself:  "John 17:24"; I am eternally loved by the Father, just as Jesus, the unique Son, is eternally loved.  It is supremely good to give God all the credit for our salvation but to do it in the way that some people have defined 'chosen' and 'elect' is, as we have seen, to portray God the Father and Christ the Son very poorly, even ugly.  Stick with John 17:24 and ignore the theologians.
  
     

A SECOND VOCATION

   It was the first week of June 1957 and school was out.  My dad had a cousin who had acquired a fair amount of skill in both interior and exterior painting.   I do not recall if my dad's cousin Keith asked me directly or if my dad said something like, "Keith wants you to work with him painting a house on the west end of Greenwich".  I also do not recall if I started at $1.75 an hour or if I got $2 right away.  Dad bought a brush at Sears for me; half nylon and half China bristle, 3 1/2 inches wide. 
   As best as I can recall I started immediately after school was out.  Recently Susan and I stopped to look as that house where my very important second vocation began.  Like many older homes it is now covered with vinyl siding.  On that June morning it was bare, weathered wood siding that had probably not been painted since early in the 20th century.  Even though lead base paint was already on the way out, the paint already on houses was mostly white lead base and it would "chalk", that is, slowly erode off the siding.  The paint on this house was totally gone.  Modern acrylic base paints do not chalk; they either stay on indefinitely or peal off if there is a moisture problem on the inside.
     The paint we were using that day may not have been lead base since I recall reading labels later that summer which said the pigment in the paint was titanium dioxide.  The move away from lead base paints had begun even before it was understood how dangerous lead was to human health.  In the years before World War II painters would often buy a barrel of white lead powder, a barrel of linseed oil, and some turpentine.  They would then mix their own paints.  Red barn paint was made by adding iron oxide to the mix.  The use of white lead base paints established a tradition of white houses.  I can recall no house in those days that was any color other than white.  Linseed oil and turpentine were used to thin paint.  By the 1950's the paints used on the interior walls of houses was mostly water and latex base. 
   Keith showed me how to thin the paint just a little so it would spread more easily but not be too thin; it had to "track in the bucket".  I was acquiring a painter's vocabulary.  He poured some into a bucket for me and I went to work.  In a couple moments he walked up behind me and said, "Russell, you can't paint with a dry brush".  In less than three minutes he showed me how to "load and unload a brush" and to apply the paint evenly with a final stroke to take out all brush marks.  I was on my way.  In more than 60 years since then there is no other basic, practical skill that I ever learned so quickly and used so often.  Since the siding on that house was bare we applied both a primer and a finish coat. 
   By July my dad had a week's vacation coming from his job at Westinghouse in Mansfield.  He would spend that vacation working.  A friend, who also worked at Westinghouse, owned a large, three story house on Center Street in Ashland and wanted it painted.  That house is now part of the Center Street Historic District.  Dad and I began work there on a Saturday and at the end of the day he said, "this job is too much for just the two of us".  He called his friend Kenneth "Doug" Ross in New London.  Doug had become a believer in Christ just a few years earlier and had started a Youth For Christ work in New London.  His wife was a teacher and Doug was working as a painter to support his ministry in Youth For Christ.  On Monday morning dad and I were back at the Center Street house ready to begin work when Doug Ross and his two sons pulled in with their trailer load of ladders to work with us. 
   My freshman year in high school may have been a year that, in the words of the Prophet Joel, "the locusts had eaten" but when the Rosses pulled in that July morning in 1957 God was beginning to (again, in the words of the Prophet Joel) restore to me the year that the locusts had eaten.  My friendship with the Rosses would prove decisive for this life and for eternity.  After the Center Street house was finished I spent the rest of the summer painting with them in the New London area, even staying at their home and being made to feel like part of the family.  The oldest son Don had been out of the Marine Corps for a year and had spent that year at Moody Bible Institute in Chicago.  The other son Neil was ready to begin his senior year at Moody.  They were fun to work with.  They joked a lot.  They were not like some hyper-serious, legalistic Christians I had been around.  By the end of August here I was, a 15 year old boy, earning $2 an hour.  When adjusted for inflation there are few 15 year olds today earning that much.  More importantly, I had now been impacted by the friendship of three godly men. 
   The summer of 1958 saw the country in a recession and there were not too many people asking to have their house painted.  I did a little painting with my dad's cousin again, but spent a lot of the summer working on farms for 75 cents an hour.  At the beginning of that summer the pastor of our church resigned to take a full time position with Youth For Christ International.  Who was called to be the new pastor?  My new friend, six years older than I, Neil Ross.  In August he asked me to be in his wedding at Newport News, Virginia.  I gladly accepted.  When Neil and his wife Jane began their ministry at our church in September I often spent Sunday afternoons at their home playing LP records on their new stereo.  That fall I began dating a girl I had known since the first grade.  God was now putting everything together to bring my life to where He was calling me.
   What would I do next?  I talked with Neil about how he had spent his junior and senior years of high school at what was then called Toccoa Falls Institute.  Now called Toccoa Falls College it was then a Bible College, an academy (high school), and an elementary school all on one campus.  I knew that Toccoa was were I should go to finish high school.  When I told my mom she said, "Russell, we do not have the money to send you there".  I explained that I still had some money in the bank from painting and that in the summer ahead it looked like I would be painting again.  Neil's parents, who were now on the staff of TFI,  came back to Ohio for the summer.  Neil's father had lined up several houses to paint.  I had all the work I needed and was now earning $2.25 per hour.  After my senior year at Toccoa was over I painted with the Rosses again before going to Moody Bible Institute.
    In the spring of 1963  Susan and I, not yet married, were both attending Grace College in Winona Lake, Indiana.  I was sharing an upstairs apartment with two other guys and the family who owned the house mentioned that they wanted some painting done.  I worked for my rent the last couple months of the school year.  While I was painting one day a man across the street came over and was watching me.  "I have a friend who would probably want to talk to you" he said.  A day or so later a van pulled up and a man in white painter's clothes walked over to me and said, "I'm Bud Vandermark".  He looked at my work and said that he would like to hire me full time.  I explained that I would be returning to Ohio for the summer, that Susan and I would be married in August, and that we would be returning to Winona Lake by the middle of August.  He said, "when you get back here contact me".   Just as God had used painting to bring the Rosses into my life He was now bringing into my life a man whose painting skills were equaled by few if any in the entire United States.  I do not believe that Lester "Bud" Vandermark of Warsaw, Indiana ever had an equal in his skills in both interior and exterior work.  What I learned working with him the first year of our marriage was more valuable than any trade school education.  By observing Bud work I saw the extensive preparation work that was done before you even wet a brush; preparation work like you would do before painting a classic car.  I saw how to "cut in" straight lines.  No masking tape used - ever!  Neat!  Neat!   Neat!
   In the years since, as a Christian School teacher, I do not see how our family could have survived economically without this second vocation that God gave to me.  When I worked with Bud we worked in some of the finest homes in the Warsaw/Winona Lake area.  Since then I have had the joy of also working in some of the finest homes of doctors and other professionals.  Most recently we did a suite of offices for one of Mansfield's premier dentists.
   Paints are no longer called "paints".  PPG, the giant of the paint industry, now calls them "architectural finishes"!  Susan goes with me to most jobs today.  She moves drop cloths and spots "holidays".  I may not have been born with either a Bible or paint brush in my hand but the chances are good that I will die with one or the other in my hand!                                                                                         While doing interior painting with Bud one day the owner of the house was talking with me and I explained to him that as a Christian heading for some type of ministry I wanted to be like the Apostle Paul who said, "You yourselves know that these hands of mine have supplied my own needs and the needs of my companions." (Acts 20:34)  ". . . we worked might and day, laboring and toiling so that we would not be a burden to any of you.  We did this . . . in order to make ourselves a model for you to follow".  (II Thess. 3:8&9)   That's what my second vocation is all about.
   
  
  
   

A BRIEF HISTORY OF TRAIL TO LIFE CAMP

   In July 1957 Chester Weigle married Carol Morrow.  Their love and marriage is the beginning of Trail To Life Camp.  Chester ("Chet") grew up on a farm south of Greenwich, Ohio and Carol had grown up just north of Greenwich.  Her parents had leased their land to a local businessman who put in a sand and gravel operation.  Carol's dad, Herb Morrow, got to work for this business on his own property.  The sand and gravel business ceased operation not long after Chet and Carol were married and left behind a beautiful 12 acre lake where the sand and gravel had been extracted.   Chet had just completed 3 years at Ohio State majoring in vocational agriculture.  By the spring of 1957 he had come to a crisis of decision and was persuaded by his pastor's wife (Flo Collit) to train for ministry at Grace College and Seminary in Winona Lake, Indiana.  Flo and her husband Robert had been ministering at an independent church in Greenwich for 8 years and had discipled several young people.  By the fall of 1957 several of those young people, including Chet and Carol, were heading off to various Christian colleges.
   While at Grace College Chet and Carol and 2 other couples got the vision for a camp on Carol's parents' property at the north end of the 12 acre lake.   I first heard of this plan in the summer of 1958 when I was at Chet's parents' house in Greenwich.  They had just sold their farm and moved into town.  Chet and Carol were home for a few days from Indiana and Chet was sitting at a drawing board sketching the plans and the layout for the camp he envisioned.  The heart of that vision was to reach for Christ kids who could not afford to go to camp in the summer.  That was my introduction to what would become Trail To Life Camp.  The next summer (1959) Chet and Carol came home from college long enough to install two swimming pools near New London to raise money to begin the camp the following summer.   When camp first opened for two weeks in August 1960 there was a kitchen/dining hall that was adequate but not impressive.   The six cabins were made of slab wood with black plastic roofs.  The camp had been advertised by Chet taking a stagecoach pulled by horses to the local schools in the spring.  There was a week of junior camp followed by a week of senior camp.  The first three years of camp had a western/cowboy and Indian theme.  The camp operated entirely by donations and campers were only charged one dollar for insurance.  A Christian man from Elyria "just happened" to come by the camp in those early days.  This resulted in a large number of young people coming from that area in the years ahead.
   I began helping in the summer of 1961 when the number of campers required us to add 6 Indian style teepees to the six cabins.  That year was also the beginning of the Canadian canoe trip for the 10 or so top campers of senior week. In the fall of 1961 Mansfield Christian School opened.  Chet had by then graduated from Grace College and studied 2 years at Grace Seminary.  He agreed to become the first principal of the new Christian school in Mansfield.  This would involve many people, younger and older, from the Mansfield area in the camp in the years ahead.  There was no camp in the summer of 1963.  When camp reopened in 1964 the western theme had been replaced by the military theme which continued until the camp closed in the mid 1980's.  Beginning in '64 the camp was "boys only" for a few years until there were 4 weeks of camp - junior and senior boys; and junior and senior girls.  In 1966 we built better cabins and in 1967 we built the lodge/auditorium.  In the 70's a new and much better kitchen/dining hall and more modern restrooms were built.
   In the spring of 1970 I had a growing concern about the safety of the campers as they canoed and swam on the lake at camp.  It turned out that my concern was probably the Holy Spirit trying to tell me that danger was definitely ahead.  But it did not happen at camp, it happened on the Canadian trip that year.  The entire story is told in Duane Miller's book "Survivor".  This was the greatest tragedy in the 25 year history of the camp.
   Many of you who read this know that my wife Susan is Chet's sister.  We were heavily involved in the camp ministry until our first child was born in 1971.  After that our involvement was very limited.  After the tragedy of 1970 the Canadian trip was replaced with a Pennsylvania mountain trip for a few years.  The top girl campers had been given the Pennsylvania trip all along and that continued until the camp closed.  Eventually, the Canadian trip was resumed for the boys.  Now, everyone on that trip wore life jackets when in a canoe!   Since I had little involvement with the camp from '71 until it closed in the mid 80's I will pass over that era with few details.  Why did the camp close?  By the 80's Christian young people in college had to work all summer to afford college so many of them no longer had time to volunteer to help at the camp as many of us had done in the early days.  Also, even though a small charge was by then made for each camper, finances and inflation were a growing problem.
   Chet was hoping that Mansfield Christian School would take over the camp and operate it as an extension of the school's ministry.  When this did not happen, and no other group or individuals stepped forward to take over the camp as a ministry, the end had come.   In the middle of the school year of '86-'87 Chet resigned from Mansfield Christian School to care for his aging parents.  His mother died in May and in July he and Carol moved to South Carolina to be near Chet's 2 brothers and their families.  Chet's dad, my father-in-law, spent winters in South Carolina with Chet and Carol and lived with Susan and I each summer for six years, until he was unable to travel.  The camp property was sold to a lady who has since allowed it to grow up to weeds and trees.
   Many lives were changed for eternity at that place (and on the outbound trips) and the sacrifices made by Chet and Carol and many others are still bearing fruit for the glory of God.
  

HEALING; FROM A TO Z

   He seemed nervous and slightly agitated.  Then I realized this young Amish father was probably afraid that his church leaders would find out that I, an "English" person, had prayed for his child who was facing surgery.  The "A" in our title stands for Amish.  Many of them believe it is wrong to pray for healing.  The word fatalistic comes close to describing them.  They believe it is a sin to presume upon God.  When Susan and I gave God the credit for a successful morning deer hunting an Amish bishop pointed his finger in my face and said: "don't you be presumptuous!"  When I saw him again seven years later his attitude toward me had softened considerably.  Seven years after that he asked me to pray for safe travel for him and his wife!"  But, nevertheless, the Amish aversion to praying for healing represents one extreme.

   Standing on the opposite extreme is the teaching that quotes "by His wounds I have been healed" and maintains that failure to receive healing is none other that failure to believe and claim this truth.  The "Z" in our title would then stand for zealous.  In some instances these folks may be correct.  There are probably more times than we can count that God stands willing to do for the believer much more than the believer is willing to believe!  It is the attempt to make a universal application of this that is impossible to square with the whole testimony of Scripture. 

   It is at this point that you, the reader, probably think that that I am going to say that the truth lies in the middle of these two extremes.  But I am very reluctant to come across that way.  That could easily sound very arrogant on my part.  The total Scriptural witness on the matter of healing is difficult to place in rigid categories.  There might conceivably be times when it would be wrong to ask for healing.  So the Amish attitude might not always be wrong even if it normally is.  And there are certainly some times when failure to believe God prevents a miracle of healing from taking place.  So the zealous are not always wrong.  We could stop right here and say that we have just seem how utterly dependent we are upon the Holy Spirit to know which Scripture applies to our situation.

   Many thousands of Christians pray for healing with the words "If it be Your Will".  But certainly sometimes that could easily be a pious cover for unbelief or not actually seeking the will of God on how to pray.  Just about any position on healing that a Christian may take can be supported by quoting some passage of Scripture isolated from other passages that bear on the issue.  I started out on this journey by witnessing a group of elders anoint and pray for a young woman who was going blind.  Within a short time she was reading without glasses.  I was only 17 years of age at that time and had never witnessed anything like this.  I had grown up among those who sometime prayed for the sick but with little expectation of anything happening.  Some would build their entire beliefs about healing on one experience like I witnessed.  Others would simply dismiss it as rare and remain unconvinced.  Eventually I drifted into what is known in theology as a cessationist position which is all too common.  This is the belief that miracles and miraculous gifts of the Holy Spirit were only for the Apostles and have ceased to exist.  I came to repent of that attitude, but only very, very slowly.

   When our three children were still very small Susan developed a condition for which she was referred to an orthopedic surgeon who happened to be a Christian.  While we were in his office he called in another surgeon who was also a Christian.  After thoroughly examining Susan they said, "We have done this surgery successfully on a number of persons but we believe that God wants to heal you."  They joined hands with Susan and I and prayed for us.  Within weeks Susan was completely healed of that problem.  In retrospect I cannot understand why my attitude toward healing did not soften and change right then.  But in some inexplicable hardness of the human heart I continued in a generally cessationist mentality for several years. 

   Where do I stand now?  I take seriously the passage in James 5 about anointing and prayer for the sick.  I do not explain it away as many cessationists do.  But I have come to see that the most important factor in that passage is "confess your sins one to another that you may be healed".  I believe that there is an ebb and flow to miracles in history and in locations.  I believe that the most persecuted and impoverished believers are the ones most likely to see miracles, but certainly not the only ones.  I do not believe that the absence of a healing miracle is necessarily a sign of unbelief.  The great Apostle Paul, in his last letter, said "Trophimus have I left at Miletus sick".  He did not agonize over why Trophimus was still sick, he just mentioned it as a fact of life without assigning some great doctrinal significance to it.  I believe that you should be very suspicious of people who urge you to quit receiving a certain medical treatment and "trust God for your healing".  Unless you clearly discern the Holy Spirit telling you to break off a certain medical treatment then you should follow the words of Jesus, "Those who are sick need a physician".  (I have intentionally avoided giving Scripture references in the belief that those who want to seriously pursue this matter will look them up.)

   I believe in praying about sickness in myself and others with thanksgiving.  I thank God that this illness or injury did not take Him by surprise; that He knew it before the world was created; that he permitted it for purposes that will ultimately work for my or your good.  I thank Him that He will give wisdom on what to do about this condition; that I and you do not have to walk in darkness but can have the light of life each step of the way.  I thank Him when I live through a day without any illness or injury.  I pray for people He brings to my mind with a prayer that may go something like this:  "Father, if there is one cancer cell beginning in that person's body please destroy it.  If there is a congenital condition unknown to them, please heal it.  If they are about to be injured, please prevent it."  These are a few examples of how I talk to our Father.

   Some of you reading this know that Susan was diagnosed with malignant lymphoma in December 1988.  Was she miraculously delivered?  Or, was she treated successfully with appropriate therapy?  The answers are "yes" and "yes".  Many, many people have not survived what she had.  She had four reoccurrences of this condition.  It has been five years the last occurrence.  God has taught us much over the last 28 years.  We see clearly how fragile life is.  We are well aware that what James called the "powerful and effective prayers of righteous persons" ascended to heaven on our behalf.  We are more aware than ever that there is no hard and fast doctrine about healing that can replace our total dependence upon the Holy Spirit to show us each step to take and which Scripture most applies to our situation.  (Please feel free to send me a message through social media about this topic or of a need to pray for you.)