Monday Morning Music Ministry

For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us (Romans 8:18).

I take comfort from that promise, but I never have read it without thinking in my spirit that there is also a warning; it is consistent with Scripture to think that the “sufferings of this present time” are not the worst that we may face. We might not be close to End Times. Whether believers shall be spared the Tribulation or not, it is very possible that things in this world will get very, very, worse. Much worse.

I have been contemplating matters of sin, lying, false witness, deception, and disappointment lately. Happy thoughts, eh? Very personal to me. There is a book soon to be published about a situation much in the news in recent years. The victim in the story’s center is an unassuming Christian who stood up for his beliefs, was crushed in the mills of Political Correctness, and found his legal case in the highest courts of the land.

I reached out to him when the news first hit the fan. I proposed telling his story in a book, or ghost-writing, and he expressed interest in me. Over a couple years I flew cross-country more than once to see him and interview him; I prepared outlines and proposals; I talked to my publisher and agent (who also visited him); friends graciously hosted a dinner at which we all surveyed plans to collaborate; and countless friends, mutual friends, and church groups kept this project in prayer.

“Long story short,” as people say, he started to fade. He was on media tours and distracted, he told me. I finally said and wrote, “Jack, if you don’t want to do a book, or you want someone else to help you, I will stop bothering you.” “No, Rick,” he told me more than once. “I want to do a book, and I want you to write it.” I trust the word of a Christian brother.

Well, a book is due to be released; his book, not written by him. Nor me. And by my own publisher, of all people. In my archives are there are no notes of thanks or apologies, and I suppose I’ll wait on my own for the paperback or movie versions.

Whether I am hurt materially is immaterial to this essay. Spiritually I was wounded, I will confess… but it is what set me to thinking about this topic, these related activities of people, mentioned above. And what is the Big H?

My friend Donald Phelps, one of our generation’s greatest cultural critics and essayists, and in the great tradition of James Huneker and Whittaker Chambers, wrote a piece years ago about the “H” – hypocrisy – for an alternative magazine. He clinically but compassionately dissected the unique nature of hypocrisy, and I wish I could share it all here. In my own flailing-fish manner I would propose that lying is something we speak, but hypocrisy is something we do. They surely are not synonyms, by intention nor effect.

In a secular sense, hypocrisy probably keeps the wheels of society oiled, yet we know that “great” and “small” sins are alike to God. And yet…

Hypocrisy is a sin unlike any other sin, Donald wrote; first, because it is almost always a connective tissue, an integument, for other sins – notably envy, greed, and cowardice…. Hypocrisy represents an almost perfect symmetry of emotion and judgment, neither quite prevailing; this also sets it apart from other delinquencies… cruelty as well.

Donald visited hypocrites of drama and literature (Moliere even wrote a play called Tartuffe, the Hypocrite); of history’s many examples; and Biblical accounts, for instance the Pharisees and followers who condemned Jesus while twisting Scripture to the priority of their prejudices; and religious people who accept only a percentage (and we may think, even a great percentage) of God’s word – hypocritically. “Pick and choose” morality.

These thoughts might have value beyond my venting; and I pray they do as you read. However it all points to a major crisis in our society and our government these very days. And in the corporate church – organized religion.

I think of Joe Biden. We frequently hear evocations of “Joey, the choir boy”; Joey at the altar as a boy; and press photos of Joe crossing himself and attending mass.

Yet the public-show Catholic Biden, in one his very first acts after inauguration, approved taxpayer funding of abortion programs in the US and overseas. He reversed a Trump administration decision to ban taxpayer-funded research using the bodies of aborted children… which has long been condemned by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

In testimony from Planned Parenthood, its Dr Forrest Smith admitted that there is “no question” babies are being aborted alive so that their organs can be harvested. An associate, Perrin Larton, admitted under oath seeing aborted children with hearts still beating. She said that “once every couple of months” a baby would fall out intact during an abortion, and would then be dissected.

Pope Benedict XVI declared that a Catholic politician who would vote for abortion after being instructed and warned against it “must” be denied Communion, and if that politician still attempts to receive the Holy Eucharist, the priest must refuse him. Pope Francis confirmed this policy, declaring that Catholic politicians who support abortion should not receive Communion. As Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio, he wrote in in the “Aparecida Document”:

[W]e should… be conscious that people cannot receive Holy Communion and at the same time act or speak against the commandments, in particular when abortion, euthanasia, and other serious crimes against life and family are facilitated. This responsibility applies particularly to legislators, governors, and health professionals.

So we have the “Public Photo-Op” Joe Biden crossing himself and partaking of the sacraments, presiding over the killing of babies, and forcing us to participate through taxes. And we have the Catholic Church with its volumes of teachings on the sanctity of life, and rules for communicants, on the other side.

Question: Who is the bigger hypocrite?

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Sinners seek forgiveness; wayward evangelists and politicians sin and repent; yet the very public choice of ongoing hypocrisy unfolds on the nightly news.

Click: The Darkest Hour Is Just Before Dawn

5-10-21

I have been reading, and re-reading, classic novels and old books lately. I don’t really live in the past, although these days I find myself wishing I could.

But as I get older I realize how much I have missed of life, and in life. Rather than regret this, I make up for that lost time – reading, as I say, the classics. And I discover music of the Renaissance, Baroque, Rococo, and Classical periods of music; and even have been enjoying music of the early Romantic period that I previously disdained. How odd that music of the 1840s can be “new.”

I know that not everyone will have the same tastes that I do, but my point is that we have a vast heritage that most of us never explore and appreciate, much less know. There is an old Italian saying that we cannot move forward without looking back. Truth in irony. “What’s past is prologue.” The greatest application of this view is that it is difficult to know the Savior, and gain Heaven, without a grounding in ancient scripture.

Well. A few of the old books I lately have read have surprised me in startling ways. Two were by Oscar Wilde. In a Christian essay, yes, I will mention them.

First, a true story about him. Near the end of his life, after surviving two brutal years in prison (for morals offenses) he encountered a friend on the sidewalk. The friend knew of Oscar’s impoverished state and the shabby room he rented. He asked how Oscar was doing, and the reply was, “Either that wallpaper goes, or I do.”
Ever ready with an epigram, Wilde suggested that he was near death, and knew it; and the comment was a stereotypical remark of a fastidious homosexual. It was his flouting of Victorian sensibilities in the 1890s, and affairs with famous men, and libel suits, and public scandals, that resulted in his two-year sentence at hard labor.

Some day, here, I shall write more, but pertinent to my topic are the two books he wrote while in prison. The Ballad of Reading Gaol (that is, the Jail near Reading Town) and De Profundis (“From the Depths”) are extremely moving short works. They are introspective confessions, not of his acts, but of larger matters of the soul and God’s loving justice – not what one might expect. He dwells upon the Savior, and understands Scripture, and speaks with clarity through the moral fog and fetid world to which he presumed he justly was consigned.

In his philosophical anguish we finds his lines that Some do the deed with many tears, And some without a sigh: For each man kills the thing he loves, Yet each man does not die.

There are some people yet today who debate whether Oscar Wilde’s last days and last writings were searching for Christ and forgiveness. Yet his earlier fairy tales clearly were Christian allegories; and indeed on his deathbed he had a friend summon clergy that he be baptized, and made confession.

Not the impression history has of Oscar Wilde. Similarly, I have just finished reading three very thick, and fascinating, volumes, the complete letters of Vincent van Gogh. How he produced such an abundance of paintings in his short life, much less the massive amount of letters, is astonishing. History tries to tell us that he was a tortured, odd man, hermit-like and obsessive.

The van Gogh of his letters has constant money troubles, but chats with his brother, encourages other artists, comments on illustrators and cartoonists (!) in England and America, dwells on artistic scenes and painter’s tools… and he talks about God. In his youth he considered becoming a minister; he visited a rescue mission in London; and he was a Christian. Doubters today search for evidence of his occasional doubts, sigh, but once again, history paints a distorted picture.

My theme here is that there was a time not so long ago when Western Civilization – and I mean the arts; not only “common people” – believed in God, belonged to the church, accepted Christ. Of other recent “reads,” probably more than half of Hans Christian Andersen’s many tales have Christian themes. Robinson Crusoe as a character constantly dwells on Christ’s mercy and the ways of God. Mozart’s letters, to his father, and to his wife, frequently referred to God in the most natural way.

And so forth. Not Sunday-School lessons, not religious tracts, but much of popular literature and the arts, and “common” life, revolved around God and the Bible and Jesus Christ. Once upon a time.

Is it like that that today? Remotely? Speaking of “remote,” just take TV, for example. Condense the plots or jokes, the “situations” of situation-comedies, the premises of dramas and… realize how far we have fallen.

We can use another barometer. The man serving as president promised to appoint a cabinet that represents America, but has more transsexuals than professing Christians. An avowed Catholic, on his first day in office he directed that taxpayer funds be used to promote the killing of babies in foreign countries.

And this week’s “National Day of Prayer” proclamation did not mention God once.

We may expect God to respond accordingly.

Even the contemporary culture’s perfunctory “God bless,” uttered as if to say, “Have a nice day,” and unfortunately common with Christians, was not tossed into the proclamation when read to cameras.

In the West, we once devoted ourselves, even in the arts, to seeking, knowing, and explaining God. Today we seem to work hard at avoiding, ignoring, defying, insulting, and denying God. We have crossed the line of even pretending to be Christians any more.

God, You are real. God help us. Forgive us. Help Thou our unbelief.

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Click: Help Thou My Unbelief

I Believe, Help Thou My Unbelief

2-15-21

Of the many things that change before our eyes these days – or while our eyes are turned away –words are being picked from our pockets the fastest. Words and phrases of our language are not being eliminated as much as re-defined.

I risk whiplash, trying to be careful about new meanings, or giving offense when none was meant. Political correctness, mostly. “Gay,” of course, is one kidnapped word. A hundred years ago “holocaust” was not branded by a single event. “Oriental,” “black” and it antecedents, “blind,” “crippled,” “lady,” and “fat” can invite rebukes from half the he, she, and its on the landscape.

Aside from mirroring the culture of self-righteousness and without delving into the branch of linguistics called semantics, we see what’s happening. The hijacking of meanings and the psychological superiority sought by using exclusive, “approved” definitions are the new Rules for Radicals.

For instance, triangulated within mantras, goals, and ironclad standards is the word “Unity.” We hear it these days almost as much as “welcoming,” “inclusive,” and “accepting” (for another discussion – or “conversation,” grrr). Such new meanings demand fealty, at the cost of ostracism from the society of “caring” “folks.”

“Unity” is a typical member of the Newspeak dictionary that sounds warm and fuzzy, but is either imprecise or harmful in its effects. Why? How?

You will hear it in the news, or mumbled by a masked politician, which would be several times an hour. In practice it means “you must agree with me.” Delivered thus, it does not mean “understanding”; it means more than “agreeing”; it translates to “joining,” but not voluntarily. The PC Police virtually will judge you, and drag you to the approved belief-system court.

“Unity,” the mantra of the current crop of politicians, really mean “uniformity.”
“Unity” suggests, but does not mean, compromise. Today’s politicians employ coercion, shame, and intimidation to populate their tribe, to make sure people march to their drums and drumbeats. In… unity.

“Uniformity” suggests, and DOES mean, subscribing to prescribed beliefs and attitudes. It means sharing the prejudices of the Group. “Prejudice”? Yes, today’s cultural elites are as prejudiced as any dominant class in our history.

A growing number of Christians and conservatives, and others, can attest to the fact that – like walls closing in – we are being discriminated against… censored… marginalized… ridiculed… ostracized… “un-friended”… “jailed”… fired… made unwelcome… losing jobs… dropped from applicants’ pools and promotion lists… “Canceled”… in the name of being “woke,” at the altar of “Unity.”

We are in danger as a culture, and as independent people within our spiritual and philosophical heritage, to suffer yet worse at the hands of the new totalitarians. It has happened before, uncountable times in world history, and multiple times, in the West, in the last century. This is all a taste of the Tribulation.

“Unity” is a false god. You can comb the Bible and find many pleas for unity – but never the type of unity that means uniformity, as I have noted. Christians can be together, even closely knit, without having to be the same.

We all have spiritual gifts, but the Bible actually makes a long list of our many, many differences.

God wants us to be “imitators of Christ,” not clones of each other… or some secular leader.

“The Church’s one foundation is Jesus Christ the Lord,” but martyrs allowed different peoples to find the one Savior in ways that blessed them according to their needs.

In the same way Thomas Jefferson remarked that the Tree of Liberty was best watered by the blood of patriots every generation. That necessity would be obviated if uniform views (masquerading as “Unity”) were imposed on every generation.

Do you agree with me about the subtle difference between unity and uniformity… and how dangerous it is to be seduced by the “new” meaning of Unity? You must agree!!! Um… no. Even in true unity, we should have differences among ourselves, arriving by different paths.

St Paul wrote to the young church at Philippi that he prayed they would be “one in spirit, and of one mind”… having the same love. But he urged them to be “like-minded” – NOT same-minded.

Such distinctions are why we must be wary of prattling about “Unity.”

Further, calls to “compromise” – in the name of Unity, of course – inherently can be just as poisonous. In today’s world, in a diverse society, in an ideologically “blended” culture, in (sadly) a secular environment… It is difficult to avoid compromise.

But we must do what we can, where we are, with what we have. Reason enough to stay in prayer, to read Scripture, to seek guidance – to avoid compromise. Compromising with evil is… allying oneself with evil. Compromising with error… hastens disaster. Compromising with enemies of our faith and our nation… is surrender, even bit by bit by bit. God forbid!

Seek true Unity, not as the world packages it.

Seek God’s checklist, not the world’s. “Did you feed Me? Did you clothe Me? Did you visit Me in prison?” Uniformity is letting the government do these things… or obeying the government’s Compassion Commands.

But joining others where you are, how you can, with what you have… for the same goals, is true unity.

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Click: Getting Used To the Family of God

2-8-21

Grace is an essential component of life, of a well-ordered, just, and joyful life. It is not only a promise or goal. Its alternative is a life of bitterness, defeat, unhappiness, unforgiveness.

Grace is being forgiven, as we forgive those who… you know, that thing, to paraphrase Joseph Biden. No less Biblical are the commands and admonitions to correct and assist brothers and sisters, especially those who lead people astray.

We should not be judges, a saying goes, but we are authorized to be fruit inspectors – that is, recognize when the results of actions are being manifested. And not.

It is by grace we are saved. Not by works, that anyone should boast about their own power to save themselves. Our faith (another paraphrase that I pray is Biblical) is God’s fruit-inspection of our hearts, redemption that He follows with salvation.

Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man sows, that shall he also reap. – Galatians 6:7

Friends: We need to remind ourselves, especially in these perilous days, to remain humble; to avoid self-righteousness; to discern good intentions; to love and forgive.

… to love God and the Truth. To discern between error and evil. To forgive our enemies. But to stand against God’s enemies.

We avoid self-delusion and being judgmental by that standard: God’s Word vs our wills. This was St Paul’s meaning – his warning – about God being mocked. Mocking God? Should God care about such a thing? Yes. God is a jealous God, often displayed and often disclosed in those exact in the Bible. He is Holy, and has provided a means of forgiveness and redemption. But mocking God is, rather, intentional rebellion.

Some have a form of godliness, but deny the power thereof: from such people turn away. – II Timothy 3:5

These matters have consequences. When a man who was inaugurated as president of the United States makes a show of being a good Catholic, who the press follows to his masses, and calls him religiously observant – and who yet abolishes the prohibitions against encouraging abortions; who orders the funding foreign agencies and governments so to practice abortions; whom acts to allow states to proceed with late-term abortions… these things demand more than people of faith to cluck among themselves about apparent contradictions. Or hypocrisy. Or murder. Or mocking God.

For the government to allow these things is offensive enough. To compel people of conscience to support such things by taxpayer dollars is a grievous sin. Planted seeds bear fruit… and the government is forcing us to plant seeds we despise; we shall be judged too for the consequences.

We might “oppose” these sins, but we are being forced to commit them. Unless we resist and set our hearts aright, and redeem the culture. One issue at a time. God does not ask success, but He does require obedience.

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. – 1 John 1:9

Are these personal challenges? Very. Must we confront our friends and neighbors? Yes. Are these political battles? Sometimes. But God equips us in all cases. We must choose sides! We can sometimes deceive ourselves, but we cannot deceive God. He will not be mocked.

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In 1634 Gregorio Allegri was inspired by Psalm 51 to write Miserere mei, Deus – “Have mercy on me, O God.” As we gird ourselves to do battle for the Lord, we cannot do anything at all without first seeking His grace and mercy. The prayer of Miserere:

Have mercy on me, O God, according to Thy great mercy.

According unto the multitude of Thy tender mercies remove my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquities, and cleanse me from my sin.

I knowingly confess my transgressions: and my sin is ever before me. Against Thee only have I sinned, and done evil before Thee: that they may be justified in Thy sayings, and might they overcome when I am judged. …

Create in me a clean heart, O God: and renew a righteous spirit within me. Do not cast me away from Thy presence: and take not Thy Holy Spirit from me. Restore unto me the joy of Your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit. I will teach those who are unjust Thy ways: and sinners shall be converted unto Thee. …

Sacrifices of God are broken spirits: dejected and contrite hearts, O God, Thou wilt not despise.

Let us humbly – but boldly; not a contradiction – remind ourselves to fight not for ourselves only but our family, our nation, our heritage… and for Him. Let not our God be mocked.

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Music Vid: “Miserere Mei, Deus” (For readers with hand-held devices, click or copy and paste: )
https://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=H3v9unphfi0

Click: Miserere Mei, Deus