I spoke last week on a cruise and returned with a doozie of a cold that I’m now in the process of fighting. I have read that the older you get, the less you are subject to colds. Why? Because since there are a hundred or so different types, by the time you reach my age, you’ve had most and built up antibodies to them. In other words, you only get ones you haven’t had before.

Well, so much for the science—or pseudo science, as it may be—I haven’t bothered to look up the facts behind what I read, since they are of no practical value to me except after catching a cold. It’s true, however, that I had many more colds when younger than now. In fact THIS IS THE FIRST IN YEARS.

But unlike colds, the amount of sin in your life doesn’t cease with age. I wish it were like colds in that respect. It’s true that you do build up a sort of antibody to particular sins by replacing habits of sin with habits of righteousness (an expression borrowed from J.I. Packer, to whose writings I owe much). The problem is, the older you get, the more reflective you get, and so, the more you begin to recognize within yourself sins that previously, you may have never even considered such. While you may grow in spirituality, as a part of that growth you also grow in spiritual discernment, which enables you to look down nooks and crannies that you may have missed before.

So, while age has its spiritual advantages (some day I may write about them), many of which you’ll never recognize until you approach 90 or so, you can be sure that you will have to go on overcoming sin in your life. So—the lesson? Learn how to do so early! (see Winning the War Within)

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Then, there’s the elder who, by his words and actions, has driven off the last three pastors.

It seems that he’s just as actively at it in his old age as he was when he was young. Age hasn’t mellowed him; it has just provided the time to dream up new and more effective ways of doing what he does best.

Now, you come as pastor to the church. Rapidly, you discover the fact that the last two men remained as ministers of the church for only two years; the one before them leaving after two months. The word is out that elder so-and-so “drove them off.” You have a problem on your hands. Because you won’t encourage gossip, you seek no more information. Rather, you have decided to deal with any problems that may be forth-coming if and when they happen.

It isn’t long before elder S&S provides you with your first opportunity. It really isn’t important to go into the matter in any depth. The details of the issue are not important to the present discussion. What we want to focus on is the dynamics of the interchange that brought them to a head—and what occurred thereafter.

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The way in which some act in churches and in Para-Church Christian organizations is puzzling. Perhaps, I should say disappointing. What I’m referring to is the dominant individual who insists on getting his way, no matter what. He will come up with an idea that he believes everyone else should adopt, and will find ways and means of putting it through—even though a minority suspect that the plan isn’t biblical, and would like to take time to study it from an exegetical perspective. They rarely speak up. If one does, he is trounced with a bevy of reasons for moving ahead, without delay.

Does the proponent listen? Seldom. The idea of assuring Scriptural fidelity is brushed aside in one manner or another. “Trust me—I have studied this out and, in addition, Drs. Jones, Smith and Green are all for it.” Who can disagree with these three “greats” of the Evangelical world?

How does he get his way? He lays it out—full-blown—before the group and tells them this is what they must do. There may be a few individuals who are neither for nor against it, but would like to hear more information before they endorse it. They may or may not express this desire. But it doesn’t matter; the one proposing the plan—whether it be the construction of a building, the adoption of some ambitious program, or the backing of a scheme for furthering one of his pet projects—he will get his way. How? By virtually bludgeoning the rest into agreement.

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Those were the words that greeted me when I looked at the weather report today. There’s hardly a less unlikable report possible.

Those are also the words that might readily be applied to the attitude of those who resist the things of God. How must He consider such an attitude on their part?

It doesn’t take much to make us miserable; it takes God a lot—He is slow to anger. But even though this is true, eventually, His anger does fall upon those who resist him and His truth. But it will hardly be a freezing up on His part. One of the words for such anger means “extremely hot.” Another from a different angle, has a background of snorting out one’s wrath. Whatever the  background of any given Word for His fury, the colder people become toward God and His Word, the hotter His anger waxes toward them. And, someday, His patience will come to an end and that wrath will fall.

Are your attitudes toward Him frigid? Or warm?

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Most people who ask the question—whether in distress or out of simple puzzlement—don’t really want an answer. They turn their attention to something else as you open your mouth to answer.

WHAT THEY ARE DOING INSTEAD OF REALLY ASKING A LEGITIMATE QUESTION IN SEARCH OF AN ANSWER IS COMPLAINING. AND THAT’S NOT GOOD!

Have you ever stopped such a person in the middle of his next comment or question to say, “Did you really want to know the answer to your question?” Try it sometime. It’s not impolite—just startling to him. People have gotten so used to others with no answers that they don’t expect them.

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Consider these words of God concerning the people of that city:

Who can I speak to and give such a warning that they will listen? . . . they cannot pay attention.
See the Word of the Lord has become contemptible to them—they can find no pleasure in it.
                                                      Jeremiah 6: 10 (HCSB)

When a nation gets to that point—when God says there is no one to whom to appeal; when no one will listen to Him; when no one takes pleasure in the Word, then—you know that disaster is just around the corner, as it was in the case of Jerusalem!

Less and less people in our country are listening to God’s words in the Bible; His law is spurned, His Word is despised, and His is truth rejected. So, He has become a cipher in their lives. The warning more and more becomes appropriate to us as a nation. How close we are to disaster no one knows. But that is a question that fewer and fewer contemplate, or are willing to consider. More and more, like the Jews long ago, we trust in our “horses and chariots;” we are willing to believe we are invulnerable.

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“What do you do when you don’t know what to do?”

Are you serious, or are you presenting me with a conundrum?

“No. I’m dead serious. I have a decision to make as to whether or not to do something. I’d like to do it but I don’t know whether its something that the Lord would approve of.””

Ah. I see.

“And it’s been bugging me for days. I can’t tell you what it is, either. I have to keep the matter quiet until I decide. Without any data, do you think you can help?”

Possibly. Let’s consider the matter abstractly—strictly from the side of the principle involved.

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That was the conclusion of the Beach Boys at the end of their voyage on the Sloop John B, and my conclusion as well after a long anticipated family cruise. Halfway through our Disney cruise my son, Paul, and I both came down with the flu! Paul’s case was so bad they had to pump IV fluids into him. We both were confined to our stateroom, by order of the captain, lest we infected other passengers. I will spare you the gruesome details and simply report that it has been many years since the last time I was this sick.

Happily, we are back on dry land and Paul and I are both recovered. Tomorrow Jay leaves for his cruise during which he will celebrate his 81st birthday (January 30). If you would like to send birthday greetings we have set up a temporary mailbox for you to do so at  Jay@nouthetic.org. Please pray for Jay and Betty Jane as they travel and Jay as he teaches.

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That’s one of the chief problems encountered in counseling. Did I say in counseling? In life in general!

But if you find that there are many who are irresponsible in ordinary life, imagine how many irresponsible counselees there must be! Multiply the number by . . . . , and you’ll probably have it.

People are irresponsible and, by their actions, train their children to be irresponsible too. It can soon become a family trait. They make irresponsible purchases and wonder why they are in debt up to their armpits. They are irresponsible at work and wonder why they get fired. They are irresponsible with things they own, and wonder why they deteriorate so soon. Irresponsibility is rife among the populace for sure!

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Tonight, in my counseling training class at Redeemer A.R.P. Church, Moore, SC, I happened to mention something, at which a student remarked that he was afraid would “cause contention.” It had to do with dealing with liberalism, I probably should mention, and not to do with contention within the true body of Christ.

I responded, “Yes! Doubtless it will.”

He seemed a bit dubious at that response. So I went on to explain that whenever you have contact with unbelief, there is likely to be contention. And I pointed out that in every New Testament book, except Philemon, you find conflict of one sort or another. You see, it’s very difficult to present the truth without stepping on someone’s toes–especially liberal toes, when they have a habit of sticking their feet out trying to trip up genuine Christians by their attacks on the Word of God.

Who was ever in greater conflict than the Lord Jesus, unless it was Paul, the apostle? No, if you are confronting error and attempting to help others to be freed from it, sooner or later, you will run into conflict. We should never go looking for contention, but we shouldn’t be amazed when it comes as the result of faithulness to the Lord Who came “not to send peace upon the earth, but sword.”

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“What is it with preachers anyway? They never seem to get enough! Week after week, there they are up there in front of us prodding us to get with it in doing this, believing that, having a new attitude about . . . If you can exhort a person about anything, they’ll find a way to do it. They’re never satisfied. What a change it would be if some day they would just get up and compliment us!”

Is it right for preachers to always be urging people on to greater heights? Would it be wise for them to take a rest now and then from doing so?

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There were good reasons why Israel’s conquest of the Holy Land took so long. Providentially speaking, the unbelief of the people and their many failures largely contributed to the fact. But behind these historical factors, God reveals that He was using them to bring about a benevolent purpose. And, in our day of political correctness, environmental extremism and animal “rights” assertions it is well for Christians to be aware of God’s words. Here is what He said,

I will not drive them [the peoples living in Canaan] out before you in a single year. That the land may not become desolate, and the beasts of the field become too numerous for you.
                            Exodus 23:29; see also Deuteronomy 7:22

Recently, there was an account of the eleven-year-old child of a family camping in Utah that was dragged out of their tent and eaten by a bear. The bear, we are told, actually tore open the side of the tent in order to get to him. In a TV interview in which this incident was discussed, a naturalist attempted to make a case that this was the fault of human beings that must bear [no pun intended] the ultimate responsibility for what occurred. He contended—with some plausibility—that by bringing food into wilderness areas campers have conditioned bears to search for food where people are. That may, I say, be true. But the intimation in his remarks was that people should leave the bears to their own territory and not invade their space. In other words—get out and stay out.

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This Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland minister sought to meet a trend in his day that was sapping the life of the church. It was the burgeoning tide of Preparationism (adopted from the Roman Catholic doctrine of congruism).

Preparationism teaches, in effect, that in order to become regenerate a person has to put himself in the way of it. He is to read Scripture, put away all known sins, go to church regularly, and so forth. Then, in time, if he becomes “sensible” (aware and concerned about his sins), it would be allowable to present the Gospel to him.

People were put off for months–even years–before some self-righteous prig would deem them ready for the Gospel. I first ran into this at a conference years ago, when one of the other speakers told me after a message (and these are his exact words), “You’re preaching the Gospel too soon.” I was bowled over by such a comment, and so I investigated this entire movement.

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In making  a decision it is always wise to check out what the Bible says about the matter,  Often, you will find a direct, specific command: “You shall not commit adultery.”  There will be no doubt in your mind as to what God’s will is in the matter.

There are, however many decisions about which there is no biblical command.  If you read that you are not to commit adultery and you happen to be involved in that very sin when you read the command, and are convicted, you may (should) want to stop immediately.  Now comes another decision—how should you break off the sinful relationship?

About this latter decision there is no specific command. Should you go personally to the other party and tell her/him your decision? Send an email?  A letter? Perhaps phone? Possibly go together with your pastor to break the news?  How will you make this decision?

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Praying for people is something every Christian wants to do—especially when praying for those who are seriously ill or in a very difficult situation. But there are some problem connected with the matter.

Think: how often have you been asked by someone, “Pray for me,” or “Pray for Joe/Mary?”

“Rather often, I suspect.”

Well, what did you say?

“Certainly,” and then it slipped your mind. Later when you remembered, you thought, felt bad, and prayed—belatedly.

“How can one avoid such failure?”

Well, you could say, “I’ll try to remember,” which will not go over too well with some, I suspect.

Or you could say, “Certainly. Let’s pray right now.” Then either do so on the spot, or retreat to a more secluded place and pray. The same works well on the phone, where the request is asked for: “Sure. Let’s pray about it right now.”

Of course, you will remember to pray again for those who are in serious trouble or illness, but even if you forget now and then, you will have done so, and kept your promise.

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