Wednesday, November 23, 2005

DANIEL REFUSES THE KING'S
DAINTY FOOD

?And Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not pollute himself with the king's delicate food, nor with the wine which he drank; and he requested of the prince of the eunuchs that he might not have to pollute himself.?

(Daniel 1:8)

QUOTATIONS FOR THE DAY

?Called to the temple of impure delight
He that abstains, and he alone, does right.
If a wish wander that way, call it home;
He cannot long be safe whose wishes roam.?

(William Cowper)

?Temperate in every place--abroad, at home,
Thence will applause, and hence will profit come;
And health from either--he in time prepares
For sickness, age, and their attendant cares.?

(George Crabbe)

?O madness to think use of strongest wines
And strongest drinks our chief support of health,
When God with these forbidden made choice to rear
His mighty champion, strong above compare,
Whose drink was only from the liquid brook.?

(John Milton)

COURAGE UNDER FIRE

The following insightful piece was written by Michael L. Stultz, Esq. a member of the Board of Directors of the Christian Education League.

Historical note: The Battle of Thermopylae referred to in Mr. Stultz?s piece was perhaps the most important battle in history. At a narrow mountain pass in eastern Greece, four thousand valiant Spartans held off a quarter of a million men sent by the Persian tyrant Xerxes to kill or enslave the Greeks. Through the heroic and self-sacrificing efforts of the Spartan army, the Western traditions of democracy, freedom, and self-rule were preserved, to be handed down to later generations.??

I am currently reading a work of historical fiction set in ancient Sparta that retells the story of the Spartan-led defense at Thermopylae against the second Persian invasion of Greece.? Told through the eyes of a Spartan squire who was the sole survivor, much of the story occurs in the days, weeks, months, and years before the climactic clash at the pass known to the Greeks as the Thermopylae, the Hot Gates.? In providing the background story that brings to life the characters and events that lead the reader through the ranks of time to those final days when a numbered few, heroically brave Greek soldiers dared to defy the will of King Xerxes and his masses, the reader is introduced to the terror, fear and slaughter of combat.?

Present throughout the narrative is the issue of the fear of death.? How do men conquer their fear of death, willing their mind and their body to fight, when not always in defense of hearth and home?? Why do men check their fear in the face of certain slaughter when surrender is so much easier?? Isn?t life better than death, peace than war?? One incident in the book used by the author to explore these concepts is a discussion that occurs between a Spartan officer and his platoon on the eve of battle.? The officer, Dienekes, asks: ?How does one conquer fear of death, the most primordial of terrors, which resides in our very blood, as in all life, beasts as well as men???

In reviewing this question in my own mind, and the answer retold in the pages of history, I am reminded of the recent struggle by the promoters of the homosexual movement to first establish then maintain the legal protections in the name of ?civil rights? for those who practice what is an abomination of the natural order created by God.? The question many Christians are asking is: ?Where do we go from here??? It seems to me that implied within the thinking of many Christians in asking this question is the idea that the spiritual fortunes of Maine in particular and the grand Republic generally rise and fall on the success or failure of Christian-led efforts in the political arena to oppose all legislation that would extend legal protections to those practices and lifestyles expressly or impliedly condemned in the Bible, homosexuality being preeminent at the moment.

I am troubled by this thought process, among other reasons, because laws do not create virtue.? Laws do not make a people righteous.? Only the Gospel of Jesus Christ can accomplish such a profound and permanent alteration for good against the baser nature of men.? Lest anyone misunderstand, it is my position that laws that promote truth and punish evil are necessary to the perpetuation of a well-ordered society.? But we must deal with the heart and the mind, because the laws that we pass enforce and reflect them both.?

Corrupt thinking and polluted hearts will not uphold legal admonitions and prohibitions laid down by prior generations of men and women whose breasts beat within for the preservation of God?s truth for all posterity.? Just the opposite -? corruption and pollution breed more of the same.? If citizens want, or sufficient numbers of them want laws that condone wickedness, it is because sin has darkened their hearts and minds.?

Romans 1 sets this inevitably before us.? If we want to change society for the better, to fulfill the creation mandate, we need to attack the way people think.? This involves, in various forms and arguments, unabashedly preaching the Gospel.? In whatever ministry God has placed us, we must, like the Sirens of Greek mythology, call out in the name of truth.?

This is where the issue of fear and death shadows over us.? The temptation is great, now that the voters of Maine have upheld this hideous evil in the name of equal protection, to despair, or to walk away, comfortably ensconced in our Christian enclaves.? Particularly in view of the threat of criminal or civil sanctions for ?hate-crimes? committed where Christians speak out in the name of Biblical truth.? But it is at this moment that we must find our courage, conquer our fear of reprisal, confront the imprecations and accusations that we know will be uttered against us, and face the enemy that looms large.? If our liberty is threatened then lost, it should not be because we said or did nothing.? Surely, if we remain silent, darkness will overtake the land.? And if we resist and fail, we at least have the comfort of knowing that we obediently fought for the sake of righteousness.? As the Proverbs instruct us, ?Prepare the horse for battle, but victory is in the hands of the Lord.??

We are commissioned to bring to the world the message of truth and of hope eternal.? The world desperately needs the salvation that Jesus Christ purchased with His blood.? The world also needs reminding that man was made to serve the Creator.? We also are responsible for living out the creation mandate, meaning, that Christians are responsible for bringing our faith into every sphere of human activity, not confine it to Bible study and Sabbath worship.? It is not a question of politics. Rather, it is one of obligation.? We are obliged to submit every aspect of our lives to the Gospel.? This necessarily means we should seek to influence the world for good.

We must keep before us the knowledge that the Gospel and the entirety of the Biblical message is truth eternal.? No amount of thoughtful parley, however sincere on the part of those who disagree with the plain, orthodox and historic position of Christendom regarding homosexuality, and no man-made law to the contrary, can unmake God?s law on the subject.? No amount of self-consecrating piety on the part of the world can make holy what is unholy.? Politics may be the arena in which some engage in a battle of ideas, but it is not the means to the end.? Likewise, defeating homosexuality is not the final goal because sexual sin is only a symptom of a larger problem: rebellion against God.? It is against this that we must stand, at every opportunity, with the fruits of the spirit being evident to all.? In the face of this most recent reversal, our mandate remains the same: to bring every thought and every deed captive to the throne of Christ.?

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD
CONSIDERS PAINTING OIL TANKS
WITH ?EVOLVED GRAFITTI ART?

The Portland Press Herald has found another possible opportunity for ?graffiti art? in the form of the tank farm in Southern Portland owned by Sprague Energy Corporation. In August, the paper praised a group of graffiti artists who were treated to an outing on Cow Island in Casco Bay, and given two hundred cans of spray paint. After completing their ?works of art,? they returned to Portland to display their ?paintings? in a trendy art gallery. The individual who organized the trip to Cow Island was said to be interested in an alternative arts park at the site of Harbor View Park in Portland.

The Center for Creativity in Portland is sponsoring the contest which will be open to all styles of art, but the Portland Press Herald seems to be lobbying for the art of one artist,Tim Clorius, who calls his work ?Evolved graffiti art.? Only two artists were featured in the story, Clorius and another, who said she is recommending Clorius for the job.

At the same time, graffiti remains a very serious threat to a state which is heavily dependent on tourism. In nearby New Hampshire, the statue of Hannah Dustin in Boscawen was heavily defaced with graffiti by teenagers earlier this month. Speculation was that the graffiti was done by urban gangs, but this was subsequently proven to be false.

Although our civic leaders continue to ignore the fact, the potential losses that graffiti poses to the economy of Maine are incalculable. If Maine begins to look like the rest of urban America, we can reasonably expect tourism, an industry which is already stagnant, to fall off sharply. Having graffiti masquerade as art is merely opening the door to a social disaster.

TWAS THE NIGHT OF THANKSGIVING

TWAS THE NIGHT OF THANKSGIVING
I TRIED COUNTIN? BACKWARDS
I TIRED COUNTIN? SHEEP

THE LEFTOVERS BECKONED -
THE DARK MEAT AND WHITE
BUT I FOUGHT THE TEMPTATION
WITH ALL OF MY MIGHT

TOSSING AND TURNING WITH ANTICIPATION
THE THOUGHT OF A SNACK BECAME INFATUATION.

SO, I RACED TO THE KITCHEN,
FLUNG OPEN THE DOOR
AND GAZED AT THE FRIDGE,
FULL OF GOODIES GALORE.

I GOBBLED UP TURKEY
AND BUTTERED POTATOES,
PICKLES AND CARROTS,
BEANS AND TOMATOES.

I FELT MYSELF SWELLING
SO PLUMP AND SO ROUND,
'TIL ALL OF A SUDDEN,
I ROSE OFF THE GROUND.

I CRASHED THROUGH THE CEILING,
FLOATING INTO THE SKY
WITH A MOUTHFUL OF PUDDING
AND A HANDFUL OF PIE.

BUT, I MANAGED TO YELL
AS I SOARED PAST THE TREES....
HAPPY EATING TO ALL -
PASS THE CRANBERRIES, PLEASE.

MAY YOUR STUFFING BE TASTY,
MAY YOUR TURKEY BE PLUMP.
MAY YOUR POTATOES 'N GRAVY
HAVE NARY A LUMP,

MAY YOUR YAMS BE DELICIOUS,
MAY YOUR PIES TAKE THE PRIZE,
MAY YOUR THANKSGIVING
DINNER STAY OFF OF YOUR THIGHS.