Roots by the River

Since it is a good thing to be judged to be tolerant and since tolerance requires sympathy and indulgence and may be endorsement of something with which one differs; it seems to be wise to stay ignorant of the possibilities. One does not want to put a strain on one’s love and wisdom.

“Tolerance: sympathy or indulgence for beliefs or practices differing from or conflicting with one’s own.” This is a good definition for a good word. However, like many words, definitions change with the usage in the culture. Here is a sliding definition of tolerance: “an endorsement with enthusiasm for beliefs and practices differing from or conflicting with one’s own.” Anything short of this endorsement faces the accusation of intolerance.

“Prejudice: an adverse opinion or leaning formed without just grounds or before sufficient knowledge.” It looks as if “tolerance” is a good word and “prejudice” is a bad word. Some of “tolerance” is an advance positive judgment without information whereas “prejudice” is an advance negative judgment without information. The practice of both words may be based upon ignorance. Let us be adequately informed so that our judgments, pro or con, are neither prejudicial to the good nor tolerant of evil.

In the summer of 1958 I was, with Jerry Hawthorne, teaching for a week at Cedar Campus in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. One evening our little family was invited to Keith and Glady Hunt’s home where we heard Keith read aloud the first chapter of The Last Battle. Douglas had just turned five, Evan would be four, and Heather turned two at the camp. Well that turned me on to Narnia. That November we opened the OCF Bookstore in Annapolis, Maryland. We had immediate access to Narnia. This is a plug for the Chronicles of Narnia. They are children’s books. I am 78; I am not too old for Narnia. This is also a plug for “What I learned in Narnia” by our oldest son, Douglas. This is a series of CD’s on the following subjects: Authority, Confessing Sin, Nobility, Spiritual Disciplines, Love of Story, Complete Grace, Love for Aslan, and Love for God. This is great personal teaching about the above subjects and also great teaching about all kinds of people, their character, their reactions, and G...

All of us have basic needs; food, clothing, and drink. We are not to be anxious about meeting these basic needs. “So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” Matthew 6:31-34 There are two reasons given. 1. This is what unbelievers do. Do you want to be like the unbelievers? 2. God knows you have need of these things. If we seek first the Kingdom and His righteousness, God will provide the basics. This is not the subject. The subject is advertising. Advertisers do not advertise basics. They do not need to advertise basics . People will buy basics even if they are not advertised. What is advertised? Luxu...

“As Jesus started on his way, a man ran up to him and fell on his knees before him. "Good teacher," he asked, "what must I do to inherit eternal life?" "Why do you call me good?" Jesus answered. "No one is good—except God alone. You know the commandments: 'Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give false testimony, do not defraud, honor your father and mother.'" "Teacher," he declared, "all these I have kept since I was a boy." Jesus looked at him and loved him. "One thing you lack," he said. "Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me." At this the man's face fell. He went away sad, because he had great wealth. Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, "How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God!" The disciples were amazed at his words. But Jesus said again, "Children, how h...

“You shall not covet your neighbor's house. You shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or his manservant or maidservant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.” Exodus 20:17 The success of free enterprise and capitalism is largely based upon coveting. Coveting is one of the things that precede purchasing, borrowing, stealing, and cheating. Coveting is not the only thing that precedes purchasing; it is just one of the things. God is not opposed to Free Enterprise or Capitalism, but He is opposed to coveting. Although the quotation is the tenth commandment it is very close to the First and Second Commandments. “You shall have no other gods before me. "You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation o...

Israel today is a far cry from the Israel of the Kings; David and Solomon or even Jehoshaphat, Hezekiah, or Josiah. It is also a far cry from the Israel of the idolatrous kings. Israel is a secular state made up of people from all over the world who are at least ¼ Jewish by birth. Some of the Israelites are religious, different kinds of Judaism. Some of the citizens are Christians with a Jewish ancestry. Much of Israel is atheist with a common bond of Zionism the Jewish state. To my knowledge no Muslims are citizens of Israel. The greatest supporters of Israel among the Gentiles are Evangelical Christians because of their understanding of a future Israel from the Bible. The other supporters of Israel are those who are opposed to Islamic terrorists. Some of those who are anti-Israel are from a long history of anti-semetic culture. Although Israel plays up to their Evangelical supporters they in turn are not supporters of active believing Christians in Israel. A far greater concern is th...

Recently, I read of a new Christian who had decided to forgive a brother in the church who had offended him. This should have been refreshing news to me, when there are so many brothers in so many churches who do not forgive those from whom they have taken offense. I do not know his situation but I do know of many similar situations. Forgiveness has been decided on but in the heart forgiveness does not occur. The forgiver has difficulty forgiving even though he wanted to and chooses to. Why not? Here is one of the reasons. When he was offended by the brother it was easy for him to see the brother’s sin. It never occurred to him that taking offense was as great a sin as giving offense. Maybe even a greater sin. Giving offense may have happened in ignorance with no malice at all. Taking offense is always sin and needs to be confessed and repented of to restore this person to the joy of the Lord. After his joy is restored he then can forgive his brother from the heart. For more on this su...

Back in the early thirties, when I was a little boy, my father told me a story of a lynch mob in Omaha who stormed the Douglas County Jail. They intended to hang a black man who was incarcerated in the jail. The sheriff stood in the way and told the mob that they would have to hang him before they could hang the black man. The mob agreed and proceeded to hang the sheriff and the inmate. An open touring car came driving through the mob. The occupants cut the ropes of both men. They fell into the car. The car drove off. My father had one moral to the story. It was, “Do not join a crowd. Most people in the crowd are there because they are spectators. They think that they are not part of the mob; they are only onlookers. However, they are the ones who give authority to the leaders of the mob.” I have seen on TV and heard of many kinds of mobs. There is a hysteria that is created that affects everyone. Here are a few: 1. Spectators in English soccer matches 2. Riots that burned down Newark,...

“The Lord saw how great man’s wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time . . . Now the earth was corrupt in God’s sight and was full of violence. God saw how corrupt the earth had become, for all the people on earth had corrupted their ways.” Genesis 6:5, 11, 12 (NIV) This was the state of man before the flood. “Then he said, ‘May the Lord not be angry, but let me speak just once more. What if only ten can be found there?’ He answered, ‘For the sake of ten, I will not destroy it.’” Genesis 18:32 (NIV) Sodom and Gomorrah would have been spared for ten righteous people. “Go up and down the streets of Jerusalem, look around and consider, search through her squares. If you can find but one person who deals honestly and seeks the truth, I will forgive this city. Although they say, ‘As surely as the Lord lives,’ still they are swearing falsely.” Jeremiah 5:1-2 (NIV) If there had been one righteous person, Je...

“When one of those at the table with him heard this, he said to Jesus, ‘Blessed is the man who will eat at the feast in the kingdom of God.’ Jesus replied: ‘A certain man was preparing a great banquet and invited many guests. At the time of the banquet he sent his servant to tell those who had been invited, ‘Come, for everything is now ready.’ But they all alike began to make excuses. The first said, ‘I have just bought a field, and I must go and see it. Please excuse me.’ Another said, ‘I have just bought five yoke of oxen, and I’m on my way to try them out. Please excuse me.’ Still another said, ‘I just got married, so I can’t come.’ The servant came back and reported this to his master. Then the owner of the house became angry and ordered his servant ‘Go out quickly into the streets and alleys of the town and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame.’ ‘Sir,’ the servant said, ‘what you ordered has been done, but there is still room.’ Then the master told his ser...

Here are the two key texts on baptism in the New Testament. Because they are primary texts I will refer to them several times throughout the study. “I baptize you with water for repentance. But after me will come one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not fit to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.” Matthew 3:11 “For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.” Acts 1:5 There are clearly, two distinctions between who is baptizing and in what element is the baptism. They are John and Jesus or man and God and water and the Holy Spirit. For man to baptize with water there needed to be evidence that repentance had taken place. John said it. “But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to where he was baptizing, he said to them: "You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? Produce fruit in keeping with repentance.” Matthew 3:7, 8 Peter said it. “Then Peter said, ...

Do we love our enemy after he harms us, before he harms us, or when he is harming us? Those are our only three choices. All of them are correct answers. That which is common is that we love our enemy. “It ain’t natural!” True, but it is spiritual. “I cannot do it!” True again, but God can. “I haven’t gotten to loving my neighbor yet.” “I haven’t gotten to loving my brother, how do you expect me to love my enemies?” Jesus commanded us to love our enemies. “But I tell you who hear me: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. If someone strikes you on one cheek, turn to him the other also. If someone takes your cloak, do not stop him from taking your tunic. Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back. Do to others as you would have them do to you. "If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even 'sinners' love those who love them. And if you...

I would like to start by looking at two sentences in the Bible that are not very well known. They were written about 1,500 years apart. If a person sins and does what is forbidden in any of the LORD’s commands, even though he does not know it, he is guilty and will be held responsible. (Leviticus 5:17) My conscience is clear, but that does not make me innocent. It is the Lord who judges me. (1 Corinthians 4:4) Not knowing about a sin does not keep a person from being guilty, and having a clean conscience does not make the person innocent. There is a reason for this. My knowledge and my conscience does not necessarily reflect the absolute value system of God. To bring my conscience and absolute “right and wrong” together, there are a few basic truths to follow: 1. I must be a Christian. At the time of my conversion my conscience is made clean and senistive to God's moral law. 2. I must know the Scriptures well. The scriptures give absolute (Exodus 20) and relative (Romans 14, I Cor...

“Big words” normally mean lots of letters and a surplus of syllables. I will use “big” in its frequency of use and its influence on society. I will use wide in its breadth of definition, that is not precise English. There are many wonderful words in the languages of the world. Some of these words have precise definitions like the word “kind.” Because of this preciseness, the word is not a “wide” word. There are other words that are “big,” “wide” and are NOT wonderful. “Sin” is one of those words. However, there is a word whose definition is “big,” “wide,” and it I is still wonderful. The word is GRACE. Before we start to tell you about this word, let us look at the definitions of the word “definition.” The dictionary defines “definition” as: Definition #1: A statement of the meaning of a word or word group or a sign or symbol. Definition #2: The meaning of a word from the context of a paragraph or a story or a lecture. There are many such examples from the books of L.M. Montg...

“Then David said to Nathan, ‘I have sinned against the Lord.’ Nathan replied, ‘The Lord has taken away your sin. You are not going to die. But because by doing this you have made the enemies of the Lord show utter contempt, the son born to you will die.” (II Samuel 12:13-14 NIV) The complete story is in II Samuel chapters 11 and 12. David’s sins were awful. He violated the clear commands of God “You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife,” “You shall not murder,” “You shall not commit adultery.” David, in order to hide his adultery, had Uriah called home from the front in order to attribute Bathsheba’s pregnancy to him. David was concocting a lie that did not work. David sent him to his home and sent him a gift. Uriah did not go home. The next day David gave a dinner for Uriah and made Uriah drunk. He did not go home. So David had him killed and then took his wife. David did not confess. He was still hiding his sins (or thought he was.) He was then confronted by Nathan the pro...

The two greatest positive uses of the tongue are recorded in the tenth chapter of Romans. The first is confessing Jesus Christ and calling upon him. It is our part in our salvation. “But what does it say? “The word is near you; it is in your mouth an din your heart,” that is, the word of faith we are proclaiming: That if you confess with your mouth , “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.” Romans 10:8-10 Our salvation has to do with our heart and mouth. The latter expresses the former. “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” The second positive use of the tongue is preaching Jesus Christ. “How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in?” “And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard?” “And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?” “And...

“And God said…” Six wonderful days in the history of the world started out with “And God said…” In this case saying was creating. We see this also in Psalm 33:6, 9: By the word of the LORD were the heavens made, their starry host by the breath of his mouth…For he spoke , and it came to be; he commanded, and it stood firm. This is too wonderful! It is poetry sublime. Does God have a mouth as we have mouths? Does He have breath as we have breath? When He spoke there was nothing with ears to hear. Yet light came into being when He spoke. Billions upon billions of stars were formed by the “breath of his mouth.” When the Lord Jesus “ rebuked the wind and the raging waters; the storm subsided and all was calm” (Luke 8:24). The wind and the waves did not have ears, yet they heard and obeyed. Then Jesus came to them and said , “All authority in Heaven and on earth has been given to me . Therefore go…” (Matthew 28:18, 19) If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear. (Mark 4:23)

The following is an excerpt from The Hammer. I “wrote” this last night; I’m putting it on paper now. I wasn’t sleeping; at least, I don’t think I was. I had been asleep and wasn’t awake enough to open my eyes or to wonder what time it was. I’m sure it wasn’t a dream because there were no pictures, still or moving. Dreams, however real at the time, give themselves away as dreams because of the erratic aberrations from reality that does not stand up in the daylight. There were none of those. I was thinking in words of a place. The thinking did not seem to have a starting place as if I had been awake for a while and then decided to think. The place is a room, the North Room, in a farmhouse in Nebraska. It has always been a place of awe for me, and I do not think I am easily awed. There are places that have been constructed to cause awe or worship or the sense of the numinous. St. Paul’s Cathedral causes awe in me for God in an indirect way. I am first awed at the brilliance of Christopher...