Bum Steer 3

 Bum Steer by martin

Wednesday Bible Study: Lying to myself part V

 

This is a story that turns on a question or two.  I knew the three stories I wanted to look at, I even realized the differences in them, how they fit the "Lust of eyes/lust of flesh/pride of life" mold I established earlier.  What I didn't know was God's angle.  I asked this morning, and the answer was- as it always should be in these posts- "How does it apply to you?"

Then I knew where we were going.

The first chronologically of the three was Laban lying to Jacob.  The 5 cent version:  Jacob meets Rachel, falls in love.  Promises Laban, her brother and head of the family now, to work for him for 7 years in return for her.  Seven years are up, wedding ceremony occurs, Jacob wakes up the next morning and finds he's consummated the wedding with older sister Leah.

Gen 29:25  And in the morning, behold, it was Leah! And Jacob said to Laban, “What is this you have done to me? Did I not serve with you for Rachel? Why then have you deceived me?” 

Gen 29:26  Laban said, “It is not so done in our country, to give the younger before the firstborn. 

Gen 29:27  Complete the week of this one, and we will give you the other also in return for serving me another seven years.” 

"It is not done so in our country."  Laban told the lie because he wanted to stay in step with what society "dictates".  This is the very same lie that churches throughout the South used to justify slavery;  churches today use it to justify LGBTQ.  Maybe you and I have done it on our taxes, saying, "Everybody does it."  Does it apply to me?  In places.  This can be a real subtle, nickel-and-dimey thing, and a slight stretching of the definition can have you accusing your every motive.  For me, this is a "Keep one eye open" deal- and I have worked hard on the stereotyping that can lead to it.

Second, and last chronologically, the lie of Potipher's Wife:  Again, the 5 cent version.  Joseph was sold in Egypt to Potipher, who swiftly promoted him based on his talent and integrity.  Potipher's bored and indulged wife decided to use him for some Afternoon Delight, but Joseph resisted, even leaving his garment behind as he fled her.  But, her story:

Gen 39:13  And it came to pass, when she saw that he had left his garment in her hand, and was fled forth, 

Gen 39:14  That she called unto the men of her house, and spake unto them, saying, See, he hath brought in an Hebrew unto us to mock us; he came in unto me to lie with me, and I cried with a loud voice: 

Gen 39:15  And it came to pass, when he heard that I lifted up my voice and cried, that he left his garment with me, and fled, and got him out. 

Gen 39:16  Then she laid up his garment by her until his master came home, 

Gen 39:17  and she told him the same story, saying, “The Hebrew servant, whom you have brought among us, came in to me to laugh at me. 

Gen 39:18  But as soon as I lifted up my voice and cried, he left his garment beside me and fled out of the house.” 

Her lie was malicious, revengeful, and self-preservation- motivated.  The sort of lie I used to tell (mainly to myself) when I messed up at a previous job.  That kind of thing eats away your soul until you repent of it, stop thinking of yourself as "royalty", and just admit when you screw up.  My conscience is fine tuned against this lie; though I get tempted, I can usually give it to God and get away from it.

Ah, but the middle story- how Joseph GOT to Egypt.  You know this one: Favored son, brothers are jealous, talk themselves out of killing him in order to derive a profit- but then lie to dear old dad about it:

Gen 37:31  And they took Joseph's coat, and killed a kid of the goats, and dipped the coat in the blood; 

Gen 37:32  And they sent the coat of many colours, and they brought it to their father; and said, This have we found: know now whether it be thy son's coat or no. 

Gen 37:33  And he knew it, and said, It is my son's coat; an evil beast hath devoured him; Joseph is without doubt rent in pieces. 

Key words that I never noticed before a recent sermon: "And they SENT...  whether this be thy son's coat or no..."  These cowards didn't even have the courage to tell the lies themselves; they stayed with the sheep and let hired men tell the lie for them!   Here's the one I condemn myself for over and over:

- Starts with listening to pride: Puffing myself up so that I can abide those greater than myself;

- Committing the lie and after acting as if nothing happened;

- "I don't need to confess, God already knows"= "Just sent the coat to Dad, he'll make the guess";

- Grieving my Father in Heaven, the consequences echoing on for a long time while I pretend not to notice.

Since last time, where I kind of gave Rebekah and Jacob an out for their lie, I have been hit by several messages not so forgiving of the pair.  And here is the truth of that: that first lie led to the lying back and forth between Laban and Jacob, even as the brothers were children and grew up around it; and learning how to lie, they end up with those rolling consequences: three brothers disinherited for their lies, a city full of people destroyed, the rape of the father's wife, years as a prisoner for the sold brother, a father's heart broken for his son not once but twice*, and ultimately, the Liars' Club bowing at the feet of a 'foreign Lord', begging a mercy they didn't deserve.

*I starred this because it brings up an important point.  Every time we sin, we lie, we ALSO break the Father's heart twice.  Jacob had his heart broken first for the apparent death of Joseph, and again for the potential death of Benjamin in going to Egypt.  Our Father has His heart broken twice as well, once for our sin against Him, and the second for the Son He sent to die for those sins.

I confess this is my biggest lie- the lie I don't tell.  This is where I need to go in this series.  This broken family became the nation from which Our Savior sprang.  God will make good things from me, as well, that is the sure hope.  That said, I have one more lesson on lies to look at next time- and it is the most foreboding of all.

Bum Steer and Misty

 You asked for it...

Musical announcement from Bum Steer

 

Wednesday Bible Study: Lying to myself, part 4

 

I was listening to Tony Evans tell the story of Rahab the other night, discussing the lie she told the city leaders of Jericho.  "Sometimes," he said, "Your only choices are two sins; you have to pick the one that gives the most glory to God."  I'm not sure how many times in our day to day lives this occurs;  In the Bible, it seems to happen a lot.  Rahab's lie (that the Hebrew spies had already left, when she was hiding them) I feel fits in the category that Peter defined so well:

Act 4:18  So they called them and charged them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. 

Act 4:19  But Peter and John answered them, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge, 

Act 4:20  for we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard.” 

But what is on my heart is to look at two cases where it was very clearly a choice between God's Sovereign will or the truth.  I want to note at the outset that this is a pretty tricky line.  Muslims get past it by declaring it no sin to lie to an unbeliever.  This is NOT what I am suggesting; But God has a plan, and some people had (or have, in nations allowing persecution) to lie to keep it moving in the right direction.

One side of this coin, which I will call, "goes to character", is the story of Jacob's lie to Isaac.  For those unfamiliar, this lie was caused because God's will for her sons was told clearly to Rebekah:

Gen 25:22  The children struggled together within her, and she said, “If it is thus, why is this happening to me?” So she went to inquire of the LORD. 

Gen 25:23  And the LORD said to her, “Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples from within you shall be divided; the one shall be stronger than the other, the older shall serve the younger.” 

Esau was the older twin, Jacob the younger.  Now, when the conflict arose here, I am positive Rebekah would have told Isaac what God had said.  But Isaac wasn't one to learn from past mistakes; he had already repeated his father Abraham's "she's my sister" mistake, and nearly caused a war between himself and his neighbors because of it.  This may be an unpopular take, but I just don't think Isaac had the relationship with God that Abraham had, or Jacob would have.  In a future day, Jacob obedient to the will of God, would break tradition about the blessing:

Gen 48:17  When Joseph saw that his father laid his right hand on the head of Ephraim, it displeased him, and he took his father's hand to move it from Ephraim's head to Manasseh's head. 

Gen 48:18  And Joseph said to his father, “Not this way, my father; since this one is the firstborn, put your right hand on his head.” 

Gen 48:19  But his father refused and said, “I know, my son, I know. He also shall become a people, and he also shall be great. Nevertheless, his younger brother shall be greater than he, and his offspring shall become a multitude of nations.” 

Okay, so do I know Rebekah told Isaac what the Lord had said?  Not for a fact, but why would she not?  The only way the blessing could shift was if she told him, or if he was attuned to God like the dying Jacob had been with Joseph's boys, or- if they lied.  The first is a may-or-may-not; the second was an obviously not; and so they went with the third choice:

Gen 27:21  Then Isaac said to Jacob, “Please come near, that I may feel you, my son, to know whether you are really my son Esau or not.” 

Gen 27:22  So Jacob went near to Isaac his father, who felt him and said, “The voice is Jacob's voice, but the hands are the hands of Esau.” 

Gen 27:23  And he did not recognize him, because his hands were hairy like his brother Esau's hands. So he blessed him. 

I think it pertinent that when both men gave their blessings, they were blind; but Jacob had not been blind morally, and did God's will; Isaac, at best not sensitive to the Lord, was blind all the way around.  Thus the choice became: Give Isaac the truth, and thwart the revealed will of God; or lie and fulfill it.  Mark this well: the lie would not have been necessary had Isaac been as obedient to God in the end as Abraham was.

The other side of the "goes to character" coin goes to Michal, the daughter of Saul and David's first wife.  Instead of the lied-to, she was the liar.  Cue the scene:  Saul had been rejected as king by God, David anointed.  Still, David in the will of God was not going to overthrow Saul, who was also an anointed king.  But when it was clear Saul was jealous enough to murder David, David had to go on the run.  And here's where Michal comes in:

1Sa 19:11  Saul sent messengers to David's house to watch him, that he might kill him in the morning. But Michal, David's wife, told him, “If you do not escape with your life tonight, tomorrow you will be killed.” 

1Sa 19:12  So Michal let David down through the window, and he fled away and escaped. 

But while she was entranced by the "David charisma" which made her father so jealous, her character was me-first; thus, when Saul learned he had escaped, instead of just saying, "he must have slipped away", she complicated the "Rahab lie" with a further embellishment:

1Sa 19:17  Saul said to Michal, “Why have you deceived me thus and let my enemy go, so that he has escaped?” And Michal answered Saul, “He said to me, ‘Let me go. Why should I kill you?’” 

I'm sure you all know what CYA means, and Michal did it to perfection.  So let's analyze...

- Rahab lies, totally in the will of God.  Her reward/consequences:  She became part of the lineage of Jesus Christ.

-Jacob lies; it protects the will of God, though his heart isn't right yet.  His reward/consequences: he was lied to by Laban, lied to by his sons.  But still is blessed by creating the nation of Israel.

-Michal lies; nowhere near in God's will, but saves God's plan by covering herself.  Reward/consequences: She gets passed off to wimpy Phaltiel (1 Samuel 25:44), taken back (2 Samuel 3:15-16), and dies bitter and childless (2 Samuel 6:20-23).

Conclusion:  Like I said, this is a very fine line, and only if it is done totally in the will of God will it have no consequences (and that isn't promised!).  Pray that God's will never puts you in that situation; and if it should, for the wisdom to know what to do.

Martin World News

 

I'm hoping to put a decent Martin World News together here.  The American sources- with one exception, for the closer- were fruitless, so let's give it a whirl...

Moscow Times- That's the way you do it

I've got to say this is one of the more clever scams I have heard of.  In a Moscow suburb lies Patriot Park, a WWII memorial military museum.  Now, so I can avoid having to type out these tongue twisters... 

Vyacheslav Akhmedov, the former director of Patriot Park, and Vladimir Shesterov, a former senior Defense Ministry official, were arrested last year on fraud charges linked to the park’s operations. Former Deputy Defense Minister Pavel Popov was arrested weeks later on similar charges.

Now that we have the characters, the scam.  Popov wanted a palace for himself on the national dime.  So he selected one of the luxury villas at Patriot Park, "a fully furnished two-story home and garage, a guest house and a bath house", and had it built on a property off-park that he owned- and billed it as if it was being built for and at Patriot Park!  His two little buddies arranged it for him; for their troubles, their new homes for the next 5 and 6 years, respectively, will be prison.  Plus a free change in careers.  Popov is still awaiting his fate, though one would expect he will also be trading his "palace" in for whatever the modern Russian prison cell comes with.

BBC World- our week for odd sports

A few weeks back, I described the misadventures of my son and I that included watching a professional pillow-fighting match.  Then Saturday, I saw a clip of the German push-your-shopping-cart-into-the-cart-corral championships.  Today, I have discovered "Le Mow"...

A lawn mower race in Wisbourough Green, West Sussex, in which 3-driver teams run the circuit from 7PM to 7 AM, most laps made wins.  I wonder if Tim Taylor and Bob Vila know about this...

DW (Germany)- Barbie's sordid past

This falls under the category of "History you didn't know".  Ruth Handler, co-founder of Mattel, was in Lucerne, Switzerland, in 1956 when she met the popular Lillie doll.  She took the idea home, named it after her daughter Barbara, and the most successful child's toy of all time, more or less, was born.

But, Lillie wasn't a "child's toy".

Needing to fill some space in the first issue of Germany's Bild tabloid newspaper in 1952, comic artist Reinhard Beuthien came up with Lilli, a sensual character designed to attract male readers.

Lilli's titillating comic strip adventures were like scenes from an erotic film. In one scene she talks about a long-distance truck driver who "helped out" when her car broke down, leaving her dress covered in oily handprints.

Another time she teases a policeman on a beach where two-piece swimsuits are banned, asking him: "Which part should I take off?"

The "strip" became so popular that Lillie was turned into a plastic "party favor" for men's gatherings, etc.  In turn, the doll sold 150,000 in the next ten years.

Whether secretary or sex worker, one thing is certain: Lilli was not intended as a children's toy. With her scantily clad curves, high blonde ponytail and high heels, Lilli's aesthetic was more akin to that of a pinup girl.

Makes you wonder what Ken was doing before he met Barbie...

Mirror UK- blame it on the Old Spice ads...

A lesbian couple in Preston, UK, had a nasty breakup reminiscent of the ads where the guy whines about his girl using his body spray- only a lot nastier.  Partner #2 was upset over partner #1 using her hair conditioner.  In revenge, #2 dumped out half the conditioner and added Veet hair removal cream, actually bragging about it on social media.  #2 will be serving a year in jail, held off for 18 months because she is currently working in a COVID unit.  I'll bet that makes the COVID patients thrilled.  "OMG, was I given chemo by mistake??"  250 hours of that work will be unpaid, the next  £1,500 will go to #1 for compensation, and also #2 gets 20 hours of "Rehabilitation", which I assume is the UK version of 'anger management' or 'sensitivity training'.

Finally, from our local news about a week ago...

WANE-15- Out on a limb...

Meet Michael Baker, of Cromwell Indiana.  Michael had apparently a beef with a neighbor.  He tried to settle it by a)threatening him with an axe, b) stealing his truck, c) ramming it into another vehicle, then running off into the woods.

That's where the wheels on Michaels little crime spree came off.

Around 11 p.m., ISP troopers followed tracks into the woods and traced them to the stolen truck, but Baker was nowhere to be found. After about half an hour of troopers and a K9 searching for Baker, they heard yells for help deeper in the woods.

Investigators called out to Baker but didn’t hear back, and it wasn’t until just after 12:15 a.m. that Baker was found — 20 feet up in a tree, according to the release.

As described by ISP, Baker had tied his T-shirt around his neck, securing it to the tree so he wouldn’t fall. Officers talked him into coming down, but he got stuck in some branches about 10 feet from the ground.

At what point do you become so scared of being up the tree do you come up with the idea of attaching your neck to a limb in case you fall?  At any rate, he eventually did fall from the tree and was apprehended.

Pics

 Well we only got up one pic-walk this weekend, Friday morning.... Saturday and Sunday were hot and humid- even Misty was good with a short trip to the bark park Saturday (of course, she knew she had a ride to the vets later), and Sunday we made a miserable, muggy, half-hearted attempt that, while the rabbits were all over, nothing else was.

So, here's Friday:

Skies were glorious

New to the neighborhood

That gardening at "formerly Sable's house" has been done

Bunny #1 runs off

Kitty hunting down the way

Hawk in the tree

River was flat clam

Black squirrels were the only thing moving by then