by Rev. R.J. Rushdoony
California Farmer 240:7 (Apr. 6, 1974), p. 35.
“Problems, problems,” a man remarked recently. “How I would like to be rid of them.” At times, all of us have echoed this feeling. We struggle along, year after year, hoping that our problems will soon be over, but they do not disappear. They merely change.
The problems can be in our family, our neighborhood, our church, our country, or in ourselves. The problems can be a drouth drying up our crops, or a flood, a killing frost, or a burning, scorching sun. “The good old days” sound good only because we have forgotten what the problems of those times were. Childhood, youth, middle age, and old age all have their problems, as does every era of history.
Problems are a part of life in a fallen world, and they are a necessary part of it, necessary to our testing and to our growth. Be sure of this: when you solve one problem, you create a new situation which has problems of its own. Problems are in part a product of sin and in part a condition of growth.
Before the Fall, no doubt Adam had decisions to make in Eden, as he farmed that paradise, and problems connected with developing and tending it. There was yet no curse, and hence no perversity to the situation, but there were problems to be resolved.
We need to accept problems and testing as a condition of life. Even in Eden, apart from the problems of farming, Adam and Eve were every day put to the test. The tree of the knowledge of good and evil could be bypassed or not. God presented them always with the problem of faith and obedience.
Solve one problem, and you will have another. This is life, and to be sick of problems is to be sick of life. Because this is God’s world, every problem has its answer, and with every answer we graduate to another problem, until we finally pass on into God’s eternal Kingdom and our reward.
Problems are thus not only aspects of a fallen world, as well as aspects of a growing world, but they are also opportunities sent from God, to test us, to enable us to grow, and to further us in the fulfillment of our calling.
Sunday, April 29, 2007
Prayer
by Rev. R.J. Rushdoony
California Farmer 240:2 (Jan. 19, 1974), p. 27.
On his last voyage to America, Columbus fell seriously ill at a time of great danger and possible mutiny. Greatly exhausted, and down with a high fever, he was not only weak in body but in spirit also.
In his Journal, he wrote of himself, “Thou criest for help, with doubt in thy heart. Ask thyself who has afflicted thee so grievously and so often: God or the world? The privileges and covenants which God giveth are not taken back by Him. Nor does He say to them that have served Him that He meant it otherwise, or that it should be taken in another sense; nor does He inflict torments to show His power. Whatever He promises He fulfils with increase; for such are His ways.”
Columbus, a greater man by far than most men realize, was right. His troubles came from men, not from God, and one of those men was Columbus himself. Some of his most serious problems were a product of his own errors. Columbus realized this in part and wrote, “Turn thyself to Him, and acknowledge thy sins. His mercy is infinite.”
At first, in his sin and illness, Columbus had asked God to change. As he prayed, he came to realize that instead it was he who must change, not God, and men who must be transformed, not God’s purposes and ways.
Perhaps Columbus’ problem is ours also. We are distressed at the way things are, and at God’s government of the universe. We may not be altogether honest about it, but in much of our praying, we are asking God to change so that we can remain as we are, to have our way in our hopes and plans.
It too seldom occurs to us that it is not God who needs an overhauling and remaking but we ourselves. The point of too much of our praying is that we want things and God to change to please us, not we ourselves changed to please God.
David prayed, in the crisis of his life, “Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me” (Ps. 51:10). Will it take a similar horror and grief to make us pray the same way, and mean it?
We need changing continually, but just as continuously we want God to change, not us. But remember, when you pray, that you are required to please God by believing in Him and by an active obedience to Him. Moreover, we should always remember that God’s greatest gift to us is not in things but in His grace as manifested in Jesus Christ.
Among other things, prayer emphatically means coming to God to be changed by Him, and to know wherein we need changing. Confession is a part of prayer for this reason. It reminds us that we need God’s transforming grace and power.
What are you praying about?
California Farmer 240:2 (Jan. 19, 1974), p. 27.
On his last voyage to America, Columbus fell seriously ill at a time of great danger and possible mutiny. Greatly exhausted, and down with a high fever, he was not only weak in body but in spirit also.
In his Journal, he wrote of himself, “Thou criest for help, with doubt in thy heart. Ask thyself who has afflicted thee so grievously and so often: God or the world? The privileges and covenants which God giveth are not taken back by Him. Nor does He say to them that have served Him that He meant it otherwise, or that it should be taken in another sense; nor does He inflict torments to show His power. Whatever He promises He fulfils with increase; for such are His ways.”
Columbus, a greater man by far than most men realize, was right. His troubles came from men, not from God, and one of those men was Columbus himself. Some of his most serious problems were a product of his own errors. Columbus realized this in part and wrote, “Turn thyself to Him, and acknowledge thy sins. His mercy is infinite.”
At first, in his sin and illness, Columbus had asked God to change. As he prayed, he came to realize that instead it was he who must change, not God, and men who must be transformed, not God’s purposes and ways.
Perhaps Columbus’ problem is ours also. We are distressed at the way things are, and at God’s government of the universe. We may not be altogether honest about it, but in much of our praying, we are asking God to change so that we can remain as we are, to have our way in our hopes and plans.
It too seldom occurs to us that it is not God who needs an overhauling and remaking but we ourselves. The point of too much of our praying is that we want things and God to change to please us, not we ourselves changed to please God.
David prayed, in the crisis of his life, “Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me” (Ps. 51:10). Will it take a similar horror and grief to make us pray the same way, and mean it?
We need changing continually, but just as continuously we want God to change, not us. But remember, when you pray, that you are required to please God by believing in Him and by an active obedience to Him. Moreover, we should always remember that God’s greatest gift to us is not in things but in His grace as manifested in Jesus Christ.
Among other things, prayer emphatically means coming to God to be changed by Him, and to know wherein we need changing. Confession is a part of prayer for this reason. It reminds us that we need God’s transforming grace and power.
What are you praying about?
Friday, April 27, 2007
America's Christian History
The article below is by by Dr. George Grant.
God grant that He will raise up leaders like the Reverend Robert Hunt again.
_____________________________________________________________________________
On April 26, 1607, the ships Godspeed, Susan Constant, and Discovery first landed on the Cape Henry shores (now known as Virginia Beach). The expedition of English colonists, including Captain John Smith, was determined to establish the first permanent English settlement in America. During their first three days in the New World however, the settlers struggled mightily with sickness and were attacked by the Native Americans living in the area. There was talk of simply returning to England.
On April 29, Reverend Robert Hunt decided that their mistake was in not covenanting, praying over, and dedicating the land and their future journey to God first. He convinced the weary colonists to join him ashore where a cross was planted. Hunt then solemnly declared, "We do hereby dedicate this Land, and ourselves, to reach the People within these shores with the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and to raise up Godly generations after us, and with these generations take the Kingdom of God to all the earth. May this Covenant of Dedication remain to all generations, as long as this earth remains, and may this Land, along with England, be Evangelist to the World. May all who see this Cross, remember what we have done here, and may those who come here to inhabit join us in this Covenant and in this most noble work that the Holy Scriptures may be fulfilled."
He then read from Psalm 22, "All the ends of the world shall remember and turn to The Lord, and all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before Thee. For the Kingdom is The Lord’s and He is the Governor among the nations."
He concluded, praying, "Almighty and Merciful God, let us never stray from the Commission to which Thou has Called us—to bring the inhabitants of this Land to the knowledge of Thy Kingdom. Help us to be bearers of Thy Truth to those who so sorely need to receive it. Hasten the day, Oh God, when the knowledge of Thy Son shall cover the earth as the waters cover the sea. And even if we should fall short in Thy Calling, Thou shalt stir up our children after us and bestow upon them this blessed Land. Let us add our mite to the Treasury of Heaven. Use us, Oh God, weak instruments as we are, for the building up of Thy Kingdom which shall be gathered form all corners of the earth. Let it be said that God has made His ways known upon earth and His saving help among all nations. In the Name of our Holy Savior, Amen."
God grant that He will raise up leaders like the Reverend Robert Hunt again.
_____________________________________________________________________________
On April 26, 1607, the ships Godspeed, Susan Constant, and Discovery first landed on the Cape Henry shores (now known as Virginia Beach). The expedition of English colonists, including Captain John Smith, was determined to establish the first permanent English settlement in America. During their first three days in the New World however, the settlers struggled mightily with sickness and were attacked by the Native Americans living in the area. There was talk of simply returning to England.
On April 29, Reverend Robert Hunt decided that their mistake was in not covenanting, praying over, and dedicating the land and their future journey to God first. He convinced the weary colonists to join him ashore where a cross was planted. Hunt then solemnly declared, "We do hereby dedicate this Land, and ourselves, to reach the People within these shores with the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and to raise up Godly generations after us, and with these generations take the Kingdom of God to all the earth. May this Covenant of Dedication remain to all generations, as long as this earth remains, and may this Land, along with England, be Evangelist to the World. May all who see this Cross, remember what we have done here, and may those who come here to inhabit join us in this Covenant and in this most noble work that the Holy Scriptures may be fulfilled."
He then read from Psalm 22, "All the ends of the world shall remember and turn to The Lord, and all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before Thee. For the Kingdom is The Lord’s and He is the Governor among the nations."
He concluded, praying, "Almighty and Merciful God, let us never stray from the Commission to which Thou has Called us—to bring the inhabitants of this Land to the knowledge of Thy Kingdom. Help us to be bearers of Thy Truth to those who so sorely need to receive it. Hasten the day, Oh God, when the knowledge of Thy Son shall cover the earth as the waters cover the sea. And even if we should fall short in Thy Calling, Thou shalt stir up our children after us and bestow upon them this blessed Land. Let us add our mite to the Treasury of Heaven. Use us, Oh God, weak instruments as we are, for the building up of Thy Kingdom which shall be gathered form all corners of the earth. Let it be said that God has made His ways known upon earth and His saving help among all nations. In the Name of our Holy Savior, Amen."
Thursday, April 26, 2007
The Simple Things
"All the great things are simple, and many can be expressed in a single word: freedom, justice, honor, duty, mercy, hope." -- Winston Churchill
Wednesday, April 18, 2007
God Our Peace
R.J. Rushdoony
California Farmer 267:5 (Oct. 3, 1987), p. 40.
The Puritans were a remarkable people who accomplished far more than most men ever have because they knew what they believed and were totally dedicated. They numbered perhaps four percent of the English people when they took over the country; other men lacked their determination. One Puritan pastor, Richard Rogers of Wethersfield in Essex, was told by “a gentleman,” “Mr. Rogers, I like you and your company very well, only you are too precise.” Rogers replied, “Oh sir, I serve a precise God.” For this reason, God’s every Word had to be heeded and obeyed. Christopher Love stated it this way: “If you break God’s law, God will break your peace.”
Church members now number into the millions, but they lack the old-time power. They are too often content with pious gush, not an active faith with obedience. They do not want a precise God to command them, but they want God to be precise with His blessings: God is there to serve them, not to require anything of them.
Joshua’s warning to Israel is seldom heard today. He said to a people of casual faith: “Ye cannot serve the LORD: for he is an holy God; he is a jealous God; he will not forgive your transgressions nor your sins. If ye forsake the LORD, and serve strange gods, then he will turn and do you hurt, and consume you, after that he hath done you good” (Josh. 24:19–20).
Have you given God reason to break your peace?
California Farmer 267:5 (Oct. 3, 1987), p. 40.
The Puritans were a remarkable people who accomplished far more than most men ever have because they knew what they believed and were totally dedicated. They numbered perhaps four percent of the English people when they took over the country; other men lacked their determination. One Puritan pastor, Richard Rogers of Wethersfield in Essex, was told by “a gentleman,” “Mr. Rogers, I like you and your company very well, only you are too precise.” Rogers replied, “Oh sir, I serve a precise God.” For this reason, God’s every Word had to be heeded and obeyed. Christopher Love stated it this way: “If you break God’s law, God will break your peace.”
Church members now number into the millions, but they lack the old-time power. They are too often content with pious gush, not an active faith with obedience. They do not want a precise God to command them, but they want God to be precise with His blessings: God is there to serve them, not to require anything of them.
Joshua’s warning to Israel is seldom heard today. He said to a people of casual faith: “Ye cannot serve the LORD: for he is an holy God; he is a jealous God; he will not forgive your transgressions nor your sins. If ye forsake the LORD, and serve strange gods, then he will turn and do you hurt, and consume you, after that he hath done you good” (Josh. 24:19–20).
Have you given God reason to break your peace?
God and the Future
Rev. R.J. Rushdoony
California Farmer 241:1 (July 13, 1974), p. 43.
A few years ago, a prominent professor stated, “The future had not yet happened and therefore cannot produce any effect in the present.” Many people agree. The future, they hold, is open to all kinds of possibilities, and to all kinds of lifestyles, and there is nothing to bind man in any fashion.
As Christians, we cannot agree with this at all. The future, like the past and present, is totally governed by God. According to Acts 15:18, “Known unto God are all his works from the beginning of the world.” God, God’s law, and God’s judgment govern and determine the future, and nothing happens apart from the providence of God.
In fact, the ground of Christian confidence is that God, made known to us as our Lord and Savior in Jesus Christ, absolutely governs and determines all things, and that the future comes from His hands. It is not the communists, ungodly men anywhere, or man in any form who determine the future but only God Almighty.
This was the confidence of the Psalmist in Psalm 46. The world of his day was an extremely violent one, violent in earthquakes and disasters as well as in the warrings of men and nations. The confidence of the Psalmist in the face of all these frightening developments was in the grace of God and the certainty of His government: “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea.”
To believe in God means to believe that He, not man, is the ultimate Lord and ruler over all things. It means to trust Him for our salvation, and for our todays and tomorrows. It means that we love God as our Lord and Savior, and that we look to Him for our deliverance. It means too that we fear God rather than man and the state, and that we conform ourselves to God, not man, because God alone is Lord and Savior.
Thus, if we profess to believe in God, we will show it as we look to the future in terms of God, not man. All too many who claim to be Christians see the future as supposedly dominated by antichrist, and their faith is thereby manifested. God never for a moment surrenders the government of the universe to anything or anyone, and we had better believe it: He requires us to. He alone is God, and beside Him “there is none else” (Isa. 45:22).
California Farmer 241:1 (July 13, 1974), p. 43.
A few years ago, a prominent professor stated, “The future had not yet happened and therefore cannot produce any effect in the present.” Many people agree. The future, they hold, is open to all kinds of possibilities, and to all kinds of lifestyles, and there is nothing to bind man in any fashion.
As Christians, we cannot agree with this at all. The future, like the past and present, is totally governed by God. According to Acts 15:18, “Known unto God are all his works from the beginning of the world.” God, God’s law, and God’s judgment govern and determine the future, and nothing happens apart from the providence of God.
In fact, the ground of Christian confidence is that God, made known to us as our Lord and Savior in Jesus Christ, absolutely governs and determines all things, and that the future comes from His hands. It is not the communists, ungodly men anywhere, or man in any form who determine the future but only God Almighty.
This was the confidence of the Psalmist in Psalm 46. The world of his day was an extremely violent one, violent in earthquakes and disasters as well as in the warrings of men and nations. The confidence of the Psalmist in the face of all these frightening developments was in the grace of God and the certainty of His government: “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea.”
To believe in God means to believe that He, not man, is the ultimate Lord and ruler over all things. It means to trust Him for our salvation, and for our todays and tomorrows. It means that we love God as our Lord and Savior, and that we look to Him for our deliverance. It means too that we fear God rather than man and the state, and that we conform ourselves to God, not man, because God alone is Lord and Savior.
Thus, if we profess to believe in God, we will show it as we look to the future in terms of God, not man. All too many who claim to be Christians see the future as supposedly dominated by antichrist, and their faith is thereby manifested. God never for a moment surrenders the government of the universe to anything or anyone, and we had better believe it: He requires us to. He alone is God, and beside Him “there is none else” (Isa. 45:22).
Fight the Good Fight
Theodore Roosevelt wrote:
“It is not the critic that counts;
nor the man who points out how the strong man stumbled;
nor where the doer of deeds could have done better.
The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena;
whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood;
who strives valiantly;
who errs and comes short again and again;
who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions
and spends himself in a worthy cause;
who at best knows the triumphant of achievement;
who at worst, if he fails, at least fails while doing greatly,
so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls
who know neither victory nor defeat!”
“It is not the critic that counts;
nor the man who points out how the strong man stumbled;
nor where the doer of deeds could have done better.
The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena;
whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood;
who strives valiantly;
who errs and comes short again and again;
who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions
and spends himself in a worthy cause;
who at best knows the triumphant of achievement;
who at worst, if he fails, at least fails while doing greatly,
so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls
who know neither victory nor defeat!”
Friday, April 13, 2007
20 Lessons on Leadership by Michael Hyatt
Michael Hyatt is a Christian, experienced businessman and CEO of Thomas Nelson Publications. His love of God, knowledge of the Scripture and wisdom from life's experiences make his observations worth reading.
Here are twenty random things I have learned from my bosses. Most of the best lessons came from the worst bosses.
1. Everyone on the team matters. No one deserves to be treated poorly.
2. Bosses create an emotional climate with their attitudes and behaviors.
3. The higher up you are, the more people “read into” everything you say and do. Stuff gets amplified as it moves downstream.
4. A word of encouragement can literally make someone’s week. Conversely, a harsh word can ruin it.
5. Hire the right people then trust them to do their job.
6. Don’t ever intentionally embarrass people in front of their boss, their peers, or their direct reports.
7. Don’t attack people personally. Instead, focus on their performance.
8. Get both sides of the story before you take action.
9. Tell the truth, then you don’t have to remember what you said.
10. Give people room to fail and don’t rub their noses in it when they do.
11. Be quick to forgive and give the benefit of the doubt.
12. Measure twice, cut once.
13. Don’t ever ask your people to do something you are unwilling to do yourself.
14. Respect other people’s time, especially those under you.
15. Don’t believe all the nice things people say about you.
16. Follow-through on your commitments, even when it is inconvenient or expensive.
17. Don’t be ambitious to get promoted. Instead, focus on doing a great job.
18. Be responsive to everyone at every level.You never know who may be your next boss.
19. Keep confidences. Make no exceptions.
20. Do not complain about your boss to anyone. If you have to complain, then have the integrity to quit.
Here are twenty random things I have learned from my bosses. Most of the best lessons came from the worst bosses.
1. Everyone on the team matters. No one deserves to be treated poorly.
2. Bosses create an emotional climate with their attitudes and behaviors.
3. The higher up you are, the more people “read into” everything you say and do. Stuff gets amplified as it moves downstream.
4. A word of encouragement can literally make someone’s week. Conversely, a harsh word can ruin it.
5. Hire the right people then trust them to do their job.
6. Don’t ever intentionally embarrass people in front of their boss, their peers, or their direct reports.
7. Don’t attack people personally. Instead, focus on their performance.
8. Get both sides of the story before you take action.
9. Tell the truth, then you don’t have to remember what you said.
10. Give people room to fail and don’t rub their noses in it when they do.
11. Be quick to forgive and give the benefit of the doubt.
12. Measure twice, cut once.
13. Don’t ever ask your people to do something you are unwilling to do yourself.
14. Respect other people’s time, especially those under you.
15. Don’t believe all the nice things people say about you.
16. Follow-through on your commitments, even when it is inconvenient or expensive.
17. Don’t be ambitious to get promoted. Instead, focus on doing a great job.
18. Be responsive to everyone at every level.You never know who may be your next boss.
19. Keep confidences. Make no exceptions.
20. Do not complain about your boss to anyone. If you have to complain, then have the integrity to quit.
Friday, April 06, 2007
EASTER MEDITATIONS
“Let the pulpit resound with the doctrine and sentiments of religious liberty. Let us hear of the dignity of man’s nature, and the noble rank he holds among the works of God... Let it be known that... liberties are not the grants of princes and parliaments.” —John Adams
“It is the right as well as the duty of all men in society, publicly and at stated seasons, to worship the Supreme Being, the great Creator and Preserver of the universe. And no subject shall be hurt, molested, or restrained in his person, liberty, or estate, for worshipping God in the manner and season most agreeable to the dictates of his own conscience...” —The Massachusetts Bill of Rights
“The Son of God suffered unto the death, not that men might not suffer, but that their sufferings might be like His.” —George MacDonald
“It costs God nothing, so far as we know, to create nice things: but to convert rebellious wills cost him crucifixion... You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse... You can shut him up for fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon; or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God.” —C.S. Lewis
“It is the right as well as the duty of all men in society, publicly and at stated seasons, to worship the Supreme Being, the great Creator and Preserver of the universe. And no subject shall be hurt, molested, or restrained in his person, liberty, or estate, for worshipping God in the manner and season most agreeable to the dictates of his own conscience...” —The Massachusetts Bill of Rights
“The Son of God suffered unto the death, not that men might not suffer, but that their sufferings might be like His.” —George MacDonald
“It costs God nothing, so far as we know, to create nice things: but to convert rebellious wills cost him crucifixion... You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse... You can shut him up for fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon; or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God.” —C.S. Lewis
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