Bob's Blog

John MacArthur is the head pastor of the large and influential Grace Community Church in Southern California. On Friday, July 24th, he posted a statement on his blog announcing GCC's intention to resume meeting for worship despite California's imposition of tighter lockdown rules announced by chief petty tyrant Gavin Newsom. He gives theological and biblical reasons why this is permitted...

The state is not the be-all and end-all of human existence. There are rights (and responsibilities) that exist prior to the formation of any state. If you truly understand and believe this, there is no way you can ever be a socialist. Not consistently, anyway. Once you start yammering, like Bernie Sanders, about health care being a "human right" or housing being a "human right", you're just announcing that you have no idea what human rights are.

I'm not sure what they're going to do if Newsom (or the local constabulary) decide that they need to be taught a lesson. Presumably they've got legal help lined up and ready to go.

So what we have here is a protest movement. We already have one that's been going on for a couple of months, but this one is new.

But unlike the BLM/Antifa protests, here are some of the things the GCC elders and congregation are not doing:

a. Stomping around
b. Yelling
c. Throwing stuff
d. Breaking windows
e. Defacing public buildings with graffiti
f. Vandalizing and looting private businesses
f. Pulling down statues
g. Turning urban neighborhoods into filthy, crime-ridden shitholes.
h. Assaulting and even murdering police officers
i. Leaving behind giant piles of trash for somebody else to clean up.

Pastor MacArthur's blog post is uncompromising, yet respectful. So I would say that GCC has the moral high ground here. What they don't have, unfortunately, is any elected officials who have their back. Unlike BLM/Antifa, who have their BFFs Ted Wheeler, Jenny Durkan, Andrew Cuomo, and Gavin Newsom running interference for them. The GCC elders and their congregation are out there by themselves. May God protect them.

Another aspect of the GCC protest (can we call it that?) is that it has a definite demand that can be met, i.e. leave us alone and let us worship, as is our natural life. This is not true of the rioters and looters who simply want to riot and loot and throw stuff. I'm guessing most of them are rootless millennials, with no families or children and therefore no stake in the future, who really don't have anything better to do with their empty lives.

What it boils down to is that the Democrats have refused to accept the legitimacy of the 2016 presidential election and this is just them turning the knob up to 11. So their response, interestingly enough, is to set blue cities on fire.

By the way, has any elected Democrat office-holder of national prominence publicly condemned the rioting and looting? I haven't heard any.

But I digress:

After publishing the original statement, Pastor MacArthur added an explanation of why he came out with it now:

"But we are now more than twenty weeks into the unrelieved restrictions. It is apparent that those original projections of death were wrong and the virus is nowhere near as dangerous as originally feared. Still, roughly forty percent of the year has passed with our church essentially unable to gather in a normal way...Major public events that were planned for 2021 are already being canceled, signaling that officials are preparing to keep restrictions in place into next year and beyond. That forces churches to choose between the clear command of our Lord and the government officials. Therefore, following the authority of our Lord Jesus Christ, we gladly choose to obey Him."

Shorter GCC: Gavin Newsome is asshoe and we're no longer going to put up with him jerking us around.

Well, perhaps Pastor MacArthur's didn't say exactly that, but, I'd say my, shall we say, dynamic interpretation caught the spirit of it.

Anyway, read the whole thing. I think it's quite good. MacArthur is a well-known, respected pastor and I hope other churches will be inspired by his example.

I, like you, love the beautiful Christmas season with all its sentimental appeal. And I wish you all of this in abundance. But as we know, the first Christmas was anything but sentimental and featured great hardships: Urgent travel to Bethlehem in the ninth month of pregnancy, no room at the inn, the subsequent flight to Egypt and the murder of the Holy Innocents. It is almost as though Satan, knowing that God was up to something good, tried to smoke out, prevent and pursue and destroy this great work of God.

...Sorry to get in the way of the tinsel and chestnuts roasting on an open fire. But there is a Satan, and he and his followers are to blame for most of the casualties you see in your family, in our culture and back through history.

... For the danger is that we have become too nice for our own good and that we fail to recognize the battle to which we are summoned and which was engaged that first Christmas. Jesus the King of the Universe entered the territory of the “prince of this world” and began to take back territory from him.

...And while the more paradoxical victory of the Cross cannot be forgotten, neither can the daring raid of Christmas night where the Lord advances against the foes, takes back territory, and inflicts on him the most serious blows. In the wailing of an infant can be heard a great war cry: “The long night of sin is over, the Light begins to shine, Arise O sleeper and Christ will give you light.”

And only in Christ can the angel’s song of “peace on earth” ever be truly found. Join him now in his great campaign of taking back territory from the terrible foe. An infant cries out; somewhere, a great Red Dragon is in terror, for he knows his time short.

The symphony only happens, the symphony only makes music, when you are brave enough to simply turn your back to the critics and your face toward the place where the music’s made.

This writer says so.

We are told that there are approximately 2 billion Christians all over the world. Many hundreds of millions of them are celebrating Christmas with great joy, hope, and devotion—most of them openly, but some in secret and in fear for their lives.

They are joined by hundreds of millions more people – nominal Christians and non-Christians—who enjoy the parties, candies, family traditions, special foods, gifts, music, decorations, days-off—all the emoluments, meeds, and premiums, all the glow, if you will, of the Christmas season. They bask in the pleasures of the holiday but remain indifferent to or uninterested in the fact that God is at the center of the thing.

Nowhere—nowhere—in the Bible are Christians commanded to observe Christ’s birthday.

They are simply given the facts concerning his birth: the manner of it, its place in man’s history, and its implications for man’s destiny. The event is recorded in only two places, the gospels of Matthew and Luke. It is described in a spare and straightforward narrative using remarkably chaste language: Angels without exaggeration; a heavenly host without hyperbole. And although we are given its historical context—the Augustan census taken between 6 and 4 B.C. for purposes of military service and taxation—we are not given the exact date or even time of year of the birth.

It is almost as if God said to man, “Make of this event what you will.”

And the result has been a spontaneous celebration, heartfelt and lasting; an expression of joy—a peculiarly infectious joy—that has echoed down through the centuries. History has judged the event astounding and the implications profound—God’s entry into human history for the purpose of delivering his most loved creation from the consequences of their own behavior. This birthday, fixed by tradition at the close of the year, has literally brought joy to the world, changed the way man keeps track of time, and inspired some of the greatest and most beautiful music, art, and literature of all time.

American Digest linked to this post at The American Magazine.

"....But it came to pass for a while in divers places that the truth did set man free, although the men of darkness were offended and they tried to put out the light. The voice said, Haste ye. Walk while you have the light, lest darkness come upon you, for he that walketh in darkness knoweth not whither he goeth.

"Along the road to Damascus the light shone brightly. But afterward Paul of Tarsus, too, was sore afraid. He feared that other Caesars, other prophets, might one day persuade men that man was nothing save a servant unto them, that men might yield up their birthright from God for pottage and walk no more in freedom.

"Then might it come to pass that darkness would settle again over the lands and there would be a burning of books and men would think only of what they should eat and what they should wear, and would give heed only to new Caesars and to false prophets. Then might it come to pass that men would not look upward to see even a winter's star in the East, and once more, there would be no light at all in the darkness.

"And so Paul, the apostle of the Son of Man, spoke to his brethren, the Galatians, the words he would have us remember afterward in each of the years of his Lord:

"Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage."

Review & Outlook: In Hoc Anno Domini - WSJ.com -- This editorial was written in 1949 by the late Vermont Royster and has been published annually since.

I found it at American Digest

What famous person said,

‘Take care to guard against all greed, for though one may be rich, one’s life does not consist of possessions.’” (Luke 12:15)

Then why do we celebrate His birth by making sure our loved ones have more possessions?

Though she rarely posts on Sunday, Ann Voskamp is out with her Advent video number three. Her first video was about Hope, which the presence of Christ brings. Number two was Peace, and the third, this week, is the Joy candle.

Ache is not the last word for those who believe God. Jesus is. Because of God's gift of Jesus, grace is now our oxygen.

Ann describes joy as an unstoppable reality for the Jesus follower.

When our lives are "large with Christ," our lives will birth joy.

Being a Jesus follower means more than just believing. The opposite of joy isn't unhappiness. The opposite of joy is unbelief!

Very real sacrifices turn into very real joy. Gospel = joy news. Eucharisteo = grace. We give thanks, and get joy. Joy is possible wherever you are, because Jesus is wherever you are.

The enemy of our soul is a prosecutor. He gets you to say that God and others are not doing enough, and you, yourself are not enough.

What stops joy? Ann says it is expectation. She asks, why deprive ourselves of joy's oxygen?

Joy is a flame that glimmers only in the palm of the open and humble hand. Flames need oxygen to light.

Hebrews: "For the joy that was set before Him, He went to the cross."

Do you see why I go to Ann's blog every single day?

Ann Voskamp wants us to have an upside-down Christmas this year. To encounter Jesus in a fresh way. Advent: coming...waiting. We are the people living after Christ's resurrection: the hallelujah people, always anticipating the coming of Christ again.

Week one: the Hope candle. We reach out to that one tree; the tree on which He hung, and we hold onto Him. But who knew that the limbs of the tree, that love, were reaching for us!

He doesn't write answers for us in the stars; He writes answers for us in His scars. What ultimately comforts us is not knowing His plan, but knowing His presence. Look for His presence this week in small ways, in tender shoots.

Thanks, Ann.

David Warren, devout Catholic and Canadian, has

ten specific practical suggestions, on how to advance the Kingdom of Christ in this world.

The first is, absolutely refuse to give obeisance to the various idols which the “politically correct” specially define, and then demand that we worship, such as “equality,” “fairness,” “human rights,” and the other specious abstractions to which they attribute a gnostic and mystical power. And symmetrically, refuse to worship in the temples of the gods of money and power and coolness.

Second, make conscious, reverent references to God — even to God as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit — an audible part of our lives in the world, and love God in our hearts. Conversely, carefully avoid speaking of any divine thing in a cute or irreverent way.

Third, unfailingly attend the Mass, each Sunday, and daily where we can; and let the Mass do its work upon our souls. (Non-Catholics should likewise be punctilious in their own religious observances.) Let the enemy see our churches filled. Observe and participate in all other sacraments, which includes, for Catholic Christians, the crucial one of making a good Confession, frequently. In any event, prayerfully ask God’s forgiveness when we fail.

Fourth, defend our families, by keeping as aloof as possible from the bureaucracies of Nanny State. Do not neglect the needs of our parents in their time of sickness and old age; do not fail to instil in our children, by our own upright and sincere behaviour, the respect they owe to us as their parents.

Fifth, do not participate in any way in what a recent pope so eloquently described as “the culture of death.” Do everything in our power to streetproof ourselves and our children against its demands, and do not hesitate to spell out the basic facts of life, behind all life issues. Be sure our children understand them, and that they grasp the sanctity of all human life.

Sixth, reject sexual liberation in all its insidious forms. Do not even think about fornication and adultery. Truly respect and accommodate the opposite sex.

Seventh, be consistently honest and honourable in all business and social transactions, with everyone, regardless of race colour or creed, even when it must be at some cost to ourselves. Do not play with temptations to corruption. Yet, assiduously avoid being “holier than thou.”

Eighth, be truthful in speech, fair and even charitable in speaking of other people, and look constantly for whatever good we can find in them. Be encouraging rather than discouraging by habit, and most important, do not spread personal gossip and lies, even against our worst enemies, and even when we think they deserve it.

Ninth, be content with what we have in our family and religious life, make ourselves happy with the homes we have to return to, and do not look covetously upon the Joneses. Accept with humility our station in life; have ambitions, but make them unselfish.

Tenth, be content with our fate more generally, and trust in God to deliver His justice in the fullness of Eternity: “Thy will be done.” Take only what comes our way, including all knocks, and use what we have been given, including all talents and skills, generously to God’s glory. Indeed, give, according to our means, a little wildly. See and sympathize with need. And rejoice, always, in the life we are given, and in the knowledge that what we leave upon the face of time can only be our example.

Remember when the first pope, Peter, denied that he was with Christ? Today Rush Limbaugh was reading an interpretation of recent remarks by Pope Francis, in which it is alleged that Francis was critical of "unfettered capitalism." That is not the same as denying Christ, but it is enough to get the attention of Rush Limbaugh, the world's greatest defender of capitalism. Later in the show Rush said that he was getting a lot of emails from listeners, saying that the Pope was being misquoted. Rush is going to look further into the matter and return to the subject at a later date.

Back to the issue of denying Christ. When you hear someone curse and say, "Jesus Christ," what do you do? Do you speak up and let the speaker know that you are with Christ? I cringe, but I don't usually confront the person.

What about when you hear someone say the word "nigger?" I heard someone do that recently. I find the term despicable. I was so shocked, but I didn't confront the person. The person was Jewish, and I had asked him what he thought of the deal with Iran. To my shock, he expressed hatred for Obama, and used the "n" word to refer to him. If Obama loses the Jews, he is losing his second most solid voting block, next to blacks.

Another friend of mine used the "n" word about a month ago. I did confront him and tell him my daughter is black, and that I was deeply offended by the term. He seemed shocked to be confronted. He is someone I had always thought of as having a good heart. He used the term as he was telling a joke. It is not a joke. It is shockingly stupid and insensitive.