This was a scuffling week; but I am back on the path, and hope what I did get done helps you as well....
The Better Part, Day# 76:
Luk 22:31 "Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you, that he might sift you like wheat,
Luk 22:32 but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned again, strengthen your brothers."
David Jeremiah made the point that Jesus gave Peter the one thing he needed to overcome this sifting right after- He gave Him a command to pray with Him at Gethsemane. A tool he was "too tired" to use.
And as I listened, I was a bit disturbed in spirit, and asked God how to overcome it. God knew He'd already given me a tool I hadn't been using lately: my BLEST HOW FAVA acronym that walks me through the lessons to be learned from Peter's mistakes.
We need to remember when we feel like we're "on the ropes", Jesus has likely given us the tools to get back up.
(NOTE: That certainly applied this week!)
The Better Part, Day#77:
"Using the tools, part 2"! So it was a day last week, When I asked in prayer for someone to show kindness to, that I heard a news story on the way home. I don't remember if the subject of the report was a criminal or a politician (easily confusing), and I was restraining myself from wishing them ill when I felt Jesus saying, "Here's your chance- pray for them."
Knowing that this was a tool in the box He gave me took till today. Exhausted with about an hour to go in the day, I asked for refreshing. "You have the tools", was the response. Praying for those I might not normally think to pray for- not to mention a few that I would have anyway- did the job! Second wind accomplished, mood improved, day done!
The Better part, day #78:
This weekend, our pastor pointed out several ways that the story of healing the leper in Mark 'flipped' Jesus's entire ministry. I know how my own faith had to 'flip' after 30 years to grow. This morning I got an idea of why. Michael Youseff was having some fun with the Cain and Abel story- ideas like perhaps Cain brought grain because he founded PETA, etc.- and it struck me. Just like the way of this world, Cain had a problem killing animals- but no such problem killing a human... no wonder that to grow in faith, we need to 'flip' our world.
The Better Part, day#79:
This one sin, according to a recent survey by a group involved in recovery from it, has 40 million regular participants in the USA.
This one sin brings in more money than ABC, CBS, and NBC combined.
47% of American homes deal with it.
It is involved in 56% of divorces.
87% of women have done it. 68% of Christian men do it regularly.
Only 7% of Churches have programs to deal with it- maybe because 50% of pastors admit to having the problem.
Which sin is it? Doesn't matter. If you aren't in these statistics, you're still a sinner. Tony Evans says it's not an obedience problem, it's a love problem. We fail to obey because we don't put the work into loving Jesus.
Experts tell us you have to work at real love. Should love for Jesus be different?
The Better part, Day #80:
1Th 5:24 He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it.
I just had the most amazing look at God's blessings as I typed up my blog's Bible Study for Wednesday. I have mentioned several times the concept of "using the tools Jesus gave you", and in using one of them, I saw a passage open up in the most marvelous way! God constantly awes me with the way He hides the best wisdom in His word; Now, it's time to pray for the application!
Today's regular Time Machine post will not be seen this week. I don't have COVID, but something laid me out Wednesday, and Thursday typing night is not going to be a go. Tune in next week for what will then be last week's show!
The Song of Solomon is not a favorite to teach on; its intimacy between a man and a woman is what Chuck Swindoll means when he says the Word of God is " sometimes, downright raw." But one thing I have always known is, you can take this both as a work of beautiful poetry, a guide on love and marriage, and an allegory about Christ and His Church. But that doesn't make it easier to teach. Praying for insight on this this week, I heard David Jeremiah ask the question to his audience, "How do YOU read your Bible?" One thing that struck my mind is to read it like a letter from God, and the implications on this last chapter of SOS became quickly apparent to me.
Every letter written properly contains three parts: a beginning, an introduction, and a summary conclusion. And having been poring over this chapter, I saw it had all three.
Introduction
Son 8:1 Oh that you were like a brother to me who nursed at my mother's breasts! If I found you outside, I would kiss you, and none would despise me. Son 8:2 I would lead you and bring you into the house of my mother-- she who used to teach me. I would give you spiced wine to drink, the juice of my pomegranate. Son 8:3 His left hand is under my head, and his right hand embraces me! Son 8:4 I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem, that you not stir up or awaken love until it pleases.
The introduction- if we go the allegory route- starts with the absolute devotion of Church to Christ, not in any base sexual way, but as a family, brother-sister level. A Level that brings Christ into the home, into every intimate part of life- yet with the admonition of propriety, remembering to Fear God.
The Body
Now here I have to step fully into allegory, and remember that of those who say they believe in God, there are two camps that criticize the True Church. The first come up in the passage that my Bible describes as 'the Kinsman':
Son 8:5 Who is that coming up from the wilderness, leaning on her beloved? Under the apple tree I awakened you. There your mother was in labor with you; there she who bore you was in labor.
This would be the "I knew you when" crowd- those who haven't the wisdom to see the difference between one who is a Christian in truth and people who say they are, and commit all manner of atrocities in 'the name of the Lord'. The Shulamite- the Church- faithfully re-explains her desire for Christ; and then the second group comes in- "her brothers":
Son 8:8 We have a little sister, and she has no breasts. What shall we do for our sister on the day when she is spoken for? Son 8:9 If she is a wall, we will build on her a battlement of silver, but if she is a door, we will enclose her with boards of cedar.
These 'believers' do not believe the True Church has the proper wisdom or guidance. Bereft of the "Church fathers" and the interpretations they hand down, they are deemed children who know nothing, and need to be shut behind battlements and walls and not left to seek Christ for themselves. But she has an answer for these false brothers, as well:
Son 8:10 I am a wall, and my breasts are my towers. And he is satisfied with me!
Conclusion
Here at last we have interaction between the Shulamite/the True Church and her Beloved/Christ:
Son 8:12 (Her) My vineyard, my very own, is before me; you, O Solomon, may have the thousand, and the keepers of the fruit two hundred.
Son 8:13 (Him) O you who dwell in the gardens, with companions listening for your voice; let me hear it.
Son 8:14 (Her) Make haste, my beloved, and be like a gazelle or a young stag on the mountains of spices.
The Church submits her all to Christ; He calls out to her, and she cries out for His return!
So today apparently Blogger is celebrating "Put the pictures up in reverse order" day, but it was too nice a walk to worry about such things.
So here we are later on at the Swamp, where the flock is being quite noisy.
Here at Scrappy's Landing, you can see the river is way down...
That was moments after we arrived at the Duck Pond...
...where I would have already told you, "The last time we were here, the fox must have bagged a couple of geese. Thankfully, he came back the next night and finished the meal."
Here we are arriving at the Duck Pond. This is kinda like Time Machine, isn't it?
Winner, first ground hog false alarm picture.
And now, the next six pictures, which I assume will be backwards, as well.
Well, surprise surprise, this is the right order.
Meanwhile, back at the Swamp, let sleeping ducks lie.
Toldja the river was down...
Down enough I had to walk through this to let Misty get her drink.
Here come the last four, God only knows which way they'll be...
Well, there's the clam shell we found, so that's in the right order...
About to barge through a field of geese and killdeers...
Jas 5:17 Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain on the earth.
When you tear apart the phrase, "Pray fervently", you see how some versions (the literal versions) translated this, "He prayed with prayer". What does that mean? Well, if you contrast with Matt 23:14-
Mat 23:14 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye devour widows' houses, and for a pretence make long prayer: therefore ye shall receive the greater damnation.
-you can see there's a difference between a fervent prayer and a LONG prayer. The phrase in Matthew means just what it says- a prayer with length. In James, it means "wishing forward to God".You pray fervently to God with just enough words to make your wish known- but remembering it is also submitting that wish to the idea that "Thy will be done".
The Better Part, Day# 71:
Me, griping about something, to God: "This thing is a pertinent question..."
God: "Not if My promises are trustworthy."
Me: "You're right again!"
The Better Part, Day #72:
So today, David Jeremiah asked, "Do you read the Bible like, 'Well, let's see what God wants me to know today, and how to get what I want'?" I thought to myself that no, I don't do that... but then I asked, "How DO I read it?" God reminded me I should read it like a letter, from Himself to me- with an introduction, a main body, and a conclusion. As you will see next week, this was the key to understanding what I am to do with a very difficult Wednesday Bible Study post. Try practicing this method- I know I'm going to!
The Better Part, Day #73:
Me, obviously inspired by Satan: I don't feel like all that prayer today, I need a day off...
God: Oh? A day without My refreshing, without my Strength for the day, without My provision...
Me: This has certainly been my week for stupid comments, hasn't it...
The Better Part. day #74:
A quote from Don Wilton, Billy Graham's personal pastor, in an interview with Decision Magazine:
"He always made me feel like I was the important person, that I had the answer, that I was the one who understood what the Bible was saying, that I was the one who needed to be consulted. And the Only way I came to understand this was that I was watching someone who reflected the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus humbled himself to the point that He became the servant...Mr Graham would be most unhappy with me for saying that because he did not see himself that way."
The Better Part, Day #75:
2Ki 23:24 Moreover, Josiah put away the mediums and the necromancers and the household gods and the idols and all the abominations that were seen in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem, that he might establish the words of the law that were written in the book that Hilkiah the priest found in the house of the LORD.
2Ki 23:25 Before him there was no king like him, who turned to the LORD with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his might, according to all the Law of Moses, nor did any like him arise after him.
2Ki 23:26 Still the LORD did not turn from the burning of his great wrath, by which his anger was kindled against Judah, because of all the provocations with which Manasseh had provoked him.
We all pray for revival, whether it be in our family group or a nation or a world. And we should live our lives and pray our prayers based on the idea that revival can spring up even in a day as evil as that of Josiah, if the Word is sought and obey. But comes a day when the faith of that one man, or that precious few, is not enough. On one side, I had been hearing a lot of people talking that they felt a day of revival was coming- until 2020, and now it shifts to judgment. In between, we have the truth of the matter- pray for that revival, hope in that revival- but recognize that it won't be enough unless the hearts of ALL the people change, and that this evil people who have self-righteously declared themselves 'post-Christian' may have made it too late for themselves.
Today is March 12, 1964 here in the ol' Tardis, and how's about THIS story...
The U.S. House of Representatives voted against raising their salaries by 45 percent (from $22,500 to $32,500 annually), declining, 184–222, to approve a bill that would have raised the salaries of 1.7 million other U.S. government employees. While the original intention was to have the measure made subject to a voice vote, where it would not be clear which individual Congress members wanted to give themselves pay raises, about one half of those present supported a motion to put the matter to a roll call vote. For the record, Democrats supported the measure 149 to 86, while the Republican vote was only 35 for and 136 against.
Just to be fair, I thought I would see how that stacks up today. In fact, the last time Congress VOTED themselves a raise was in 1991; since then, they have an automatic adjustment factor. To their credit, they have voted the auto-increase DOWN more often than not, the last raise, of 2.8%, came in 2009- before I started this blog! In fact, had they taken every adjustment allowed since they kicked in in '92, they would be making $44,600 more than they are- more than they made altogether in'64! Of course, they're also making 7.7 times more now than they were back then... Although by not taking the adjustment in 12 years, adjusted for inflation, Member salaries decreased approximately 17% from 2009 until 2020.
And as we are in 1964, you know this will be a Beatle-centric post, with 7 Beatles songs on the top 150, and 5 more about them.
Man, here we go again!
So I'm going to try and break this up with a three way contest this week- along with a live 6D, 2 new M10 debuts, and the mounting tension of, does American Pie redone become the first 5-week #1 in M10 history! All this and Skeeter Davis, too!
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First, the debut at # 10, and this is a familiar, if not seen in a while, face on the M10! With her third trip into the ten, here's Dami Im...
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Hi, Skeeter, welcome back!
Yes, it certainly seems like I'm the designated Beatle Lady!
Yep, we're about two weeks back of where we met last year, but you still snagged a win and once again, your reward...
EP: If you choose to accept it...
Thank you, Mission Commander... anyway, your reward, Skeeter, is to preside over this week's games, which- at 3 of 'em- is down from last week as promised, if only by one.
EP: Game one should be pin the tail on the...
Thank you! Ladies and Gentlemen, Elvis Presley! Now first thing's first. 7 actual songs from 59 stations- one of them not even a Beatles song!
SD: So first thing is, who is the song that is not a Beatle but IS a finalist! You get to choose from...
Fun Fun Fun by the Beach Boys, at #6 on Cashbox this week...
Navy Blue by Diane Renay, the #7...
It Hurts Me by Elvis at #69...
EP: SIXTY-NINE??? I'm getting tooken again!
Suspicion by Terry Stafford at 32- in fact, he's the big mover at a 27 spot climb from 59...
EP: Yeah well, he may kinda sound like me, but he's not better looking...
SD: I don't know, Elvis... he's not that bad looking, either...
What do ya think, ladies? If you wanna vote, just leave it in the comments and I'll bug Elvis with the winner next week! Anyway, you have one more of these prospective finalists, Skeeter?
Yes, your last choice is Dawn by the Four Seasons at #3.
Okay, so five chances to pick the seventh finalist- who also has a shot at being the Panel winner!
EP: Yeah, a very slim shot...
Would you kindly go play in the traffic? So what about the second game?
SD: Well, Chris, that game goes like this: As Chris wrote down the votes, he also wrote down which non-Beatle song was the highest on each of these charts. Your second game is, take those songs we named before:
Fun Fun Fun
Navy Blue
It Hurts Me
Suspicion
and Dawn
And guess which one was the best non-Beatle song on the MOST charts! Keep in mind, this does NOT necessarily have to be the same as the first winner, because that is based only on #1 votes, and this is any vote that was the highest non-Beatle on the list. Got it? Great! Now the third game is, of course the Panel itself! Choose from your game one favorite, plus these Beatles songs:
I Want To Hold Your Hand at #1...
I Saw Her Standing There, the flip of that song...
Please Please Me at #4...
She Loves You at #2...
All My Loving, which hasn't charted yet...
and Twist And Shout, which debuts at #64!
And just in case it helps, here's where all the Panelists and non-Panelists got to on the years top 100:
Bobby Goldsboro, See The Funny Little Clown (one 4th place vote), #90...
Navy Blue, 86...
Twist And Shout, #55...
Please Please Me, #37...
Suspicion, #30...
Dawn, #30...
Al Hirt with Java at #16 (and one time at #4)...
The Dave Clark Five and Glad All Over at #9 (with a #3 and a #9...)
Louis Armstrong's Hello Dolly! at #3 (with 1 #2)...
She Loves You at #2...
And I Want To Hold Your Hand, the year's biggest!
Okay folks, you got your work cut out for you again this week! In the meantime, here's that second debut at #9- another familiar voice on the M10. With some help from a young man named Keite Young, here's Leon Bridges...
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So who exactly are Hugo and Luigi? Let me take you the long way. In the mid to late 1970's they owned H&L records- a label that never placed a single higher than #69 on the pop charts. However, they had once upon a time ran Avco records, and the dude that had that #69 had a number one on Avco- Van McCoy and The Hustle. Luigi Creatore and Hugo Peretti had long been in the record business- at one point, they were creative directors and helped found Roulette records- getting out before its ties to the Genovese mafia family came out. Before that, yet, they were producers for acts other than Hugo and Luigi, including working on the Tokens' The Lion Sleeps Tonight, the Isleys and Shout, and Little Peggy March's I Will Follow Him. I believe Elvis can add something here...
EP: Well, I could, but I'm out playing in traffic...
Have it your way... Hugo and Luigi...
Okay, okay. They were co-writers on Can't help Falling In Love, too!
And, they were a large part of Sam Cooke's success, including producing the song Good News, which is our 6D victim at #9 without a Panel second...
Skeeter, you wanna give us those game 1 and 2 winners before we roll on?
SK: You bet! The one song that got on the Panel that wasn't a Beatles hit was- Terry Stafford, Suspicion!
EP: Of course it was...
SD: Oh, jealous, your song had 2 number two votes, that's not bad...
EP: Bet that means I didn't win game 2 either...
SD: I'm afraid so, sweetie. You see, Navy Blue had 3...
EP: Well, at least I was cl...
SD: and Suspicion had five...
EP: UH-oh...
SD: and Fun Fun Fun had six! But the winner with 23 times they were the next best...
...the Four Seasons!
EP: Those guys get on my nerves about as bad as the Beatles! Why I wish I...
Frankie Valli: Hey, shut it, cry baby!
Hey, Frankie, nice to see you! As a dude with no small success on the M10, why don't you go ahead and do the Overseas, If You Please- if Skeeter don't mind...
SD: No sir, go right ahead!
EP: Gettin' crowded in here... guess I'll go see what's up in the commissary...
FV: All right, Paisans, here's what was riding the radio this week:
New Zealand and Australia both had I Saw Her Standing There at the top...
Canada had I Want To Hold Your Hand...
Now, England had already been through stage one of Beatlemania, and had moved on. Their number one was a song also on the American charts, but by a different artist. There, it was Cillia Black singing Anyone Who Had A Heart at #1, while here Dionne Warwick was at #55.
Hey, thanks a lot, Frankie! Skeeter, how about the M10?
Well, okay, but I don't know most of these...
Neither do most of the readers, unless they play the videos!
All right, so at #8 is Crack The Sky with Blowing Up Detroit- is this like a Motown thing?
Not really...
Number seven is the Fratellis with Action Replay, up 2 spots...
Six and moving up 4 are Pale Waves and You Don't Own Me... not a Leslie Gore cover, is it?
No...
Didn't figure it would be, somehow... number five and holding is Royal Blood and Typhoons...
Weezer drops 2 to #4 with Grapes Of Wrath...
The Explorer's Club is up 3 to #3 with Don't Waste Her Time...
Tommy James and the Shondells up to #2 with Hold On To Him....
Which means number one, for a record breaking 5th week, is...
Home Free with Don McLean and American Pie!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Thanks, Skeeter! Hey cry baby, you want the Panel?
No. I do not.
Suit yourself. Last chance to shine before the Beatles take over...
Gimme that! So here's the thing. Voting for Stafford got ya exactly 5%. Not looking so good now, huh!
Same for Saw Her Standin' There, Please Please Me, an' All My Loving. Twist an' Shout did even worse, with 1.6%.
So the real battle was Hold Yer Hand or She Loves You. One got 47.7%, the other'n got 30.5%. An' the winner...
She Loves Ya! So be here next week for them guys once again... and probably watch them win again!
This is a chapter we studied at least once before, in my look at the mistakes made by David. And even then, I believe I noted the discrepancies between the telling here and the retelling in 1 Chronicles 24. I have always said that you know the Bible is true because a God who made the universe can keep his Word the way He wants it over time. But there are seven spots of contradiction here that seem to put that in doubt. Or do they? Now you can study them contradiction against contradiction, and try to find a common truth the hard way. But as I set myself to do that, I was moved to say, look at these contradictions versus the seven things that stay the same. And here we get a perspective on what's important to man vs what's important to God.
First, a thumbnail of the events:
Because of some way that Israel had angered God, David gets the idea to take a census- something only done previously when God requested it. Joab tries to fight him on it, but has to submit. As soon as it was done, David knew he messed up, and repented. So God, through the seer Gad, gave him three choices of punishment. David nebulously asked to be put at the mercy of God and not man. God took that as the choosing of a plague to strike Israel. As the plague- symbolized as the Angel of the Lord striking the nation- reached to Jerusalem, David realized his second mistake and pleaded for mercy. But God had already put things on pause, and had David buy the threshing floor on the top of Mount Moriah to build an altar on. That would go on to be the spot David pickled for Solomon to build the Temple.
The contradictions:
1- Did God incite David (Samuel), or did Satan (Chronicles)? 'Who's to blame' is the question man asks. But God already showed us in the Book of Job that He can use Satan's wrath to reach His ultimate goal,
2- Joab went through all the land (S) versus he skipped Levi and Benjamin (C). This isn't even a contradiction- Levi did not have land of its own, and Benjamin was part of Judah. This is a semantic difference, important to man but not to God.
3- The numbers don't match- was it 1.3 million (S) or 1.57 million (C)? The number was, at the time, important to David- but not to God. God doesn't rule by statistics.
4- Is his name Araunah (S) or Ornan (C)? Considering it was a foreign name (He was, after all, a Jebusite) and there was at the least 300 years between the writings, this is more or less an "is his name Bill or William" question.
5- Did David see the Angel in Jerusalem, or "Standing between Heaven and Earth" approaching it- and were the elders with him or not? If you remember Paul's conversion, what was seen by Paul was only perceived as a bright light to those who were with him. In either event, this is picking nits.
6- Did Araunah see just David (S), or did Ornan see the Angel as well (C)? A/O is important to this story for one reason, and this ain't it.
7- The biggie to men: Did David pay 50 sheckels of silver (S) or 600 of gold (C)? I want you to keep this in mind: There is only one time an amount of money was important in the Biblical narrative- the 30 pieces of silver that Judas received for his betrayal, because it was the amount paid for a slave in Exodus, and prophesied by Zechariah.
Now, the things important to God, which stayed the same:
1- Joab even tried to convince David against it, but David had closed his mind to everything but his sin at this point. I feel this closed-ness when I sin, too.
2- David repented as soon as the deed was done- he recognized as soon as the deed was finished it was wrong- because that's when Satan lets you go and starts accusing you.
3- God gave David the choices of punishment. And those choices were, basically, YOU will suffer, SOME will suffer, or ALL will suffer. Whatever his motivations, David chose the "some" option. To men, misery loves company.
4- Here is the one census number important to God- 70,000 died from David's sin and David's choice. This is called the consequence of the choice, children.
5- Before David even fell on his face to beg God to relent, God had already called a halt to the deaths- though not to the danger. It was all under God's control- right down to David's actions.
6- But yet, David repented of his choice- his second error in the mess, perhaps- and pled with God to spare the people. At last, he had been brought to a point of thinking of others instead of himself.
7- God commanded the altar be built, which was the finish of the three things God intended to accomplish. And those three were:
- to punish Israel for angering Him;
-to bring David out of selfishness to truly care about those he led;
- and establish the Temple where He wanted it- on the top of Mount Moriah, current home of the threshing floor of A/O the Jebusite.
So see, when you read a passage from what GOD thinks is important, and not by what man does, it all makes sense. Did God let this passage get messed up because of this lesson? Who can truly say? What we can say, though, it is in there because God willed it.
A lone man looking for means of expression in a tsunami of information. Seeking truth justice and the American way in the perspective of a Nixon conservative. And the Commissioner of the free world's smallest and best fantasy football league.
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