—

The Feel-Good Story of 2022

Two years ago, I rhetorically asked whether the movement for gun control was dead.

But, given how states have been expanding civil liberties for gun owners, perhaps I should have asked about the vitality of the movement for gun rights.

For instance, check out this map of states that no longer require a permit for concealed carry.

The map is taken from a report in the Washington Post by Kim Bellware.

Here are some excerpts from this feel-good story.

On Monday, Ohio became the 23rd state to enact a law eliminating permits as a requirement for concealed carry. The Buckeye State closely followed Alabama, where Gov. Kay Ivey signed a similar law on March 10. The back-to-back wins for gun-rights advocates who want to see fewer restrictions on the Second Amendment signal how partisan divides and relentless activism at the state level are significantly reshaping the landscape around gun possession. …Seventeen of the 23 states that allow permitless carry passed their laws in the past seven years. By contrast, concealed carry wasn’t even legal in every state until 2013, when Illinois lifted its longtime ban decades after most other states. …experts expect more laws easing gun restrictions to pass. Already, bills to allow permitless carry are active in Indiana and Florida.

Proponents of permitless carry make very sensible arguments.

…the grass-roots Buckeye Firearms Association. Executive Director Dean Rieck…argued that licensing laws end up stopping only law-abiding citizens from fully exercising their Second Amendment rights, since lawbreakers won’t submit to restrictions whether they exist or not. …Jake Pelletier, who owns Raven Firearms Training in New Hampshire with his wife, Crystal, offered a comparison…in states that make training a hard-and-fast requirement of concealed carry: “I’ve heard it put that it’s like saying you can exercise your right to free speech as long as you take a communications course.’”

By contrast, the reporter apparently couldn’t find anybody with a compelling argument from the pro-gun control side.

Why do I say that? Because this is the only “evidence” from the left cited in the story.

Researchers have sparred for years over the question of whether easing gun restrictions lessens crime or fuels it. A 2021 analysis by The Washington Post’s Fact Checker found states with looser concealed-carry laws had a higher homicide rate on average during a recent five-year period than the eight states with stricter permit laws.

This type of analysis is nonsensical.

Honest experts don’t simply look at murder rates in two different groups of states. After all, it is quite possible that certain states decided to approve permitless carry because citizens were worried about high murder rates.

Social scientists with integrity would use a different approach.

For instance, they might look at states that made changes (either pro-gun control or pro-gun rights) and then compare murder rates in the years before and after (while also considering whether other factors might play a role).

Though I give the reporter credit. She cited the research, but at least she also acknowledges that it does not prove anything.

…the role looser laws played in higher crime rates — if any — was unclear.

Let’s close by reverting to the main issue for today, which is celebrating the fact that 2nd Amendment freedoms are expanding in the United States.

This is, in part, a victory for common sense.

But I also think that more of our friends on the left are waking up on this issue.

• In 2012, I shared some important observations from Jeffrey Goldberg, a left-leaning writer for The Atlantic. In his column, he basically admitted his side was wrong about gun control.
• Then, in 2013, I wrote about a column by Justin Cronin in the New York Times. He self-identified as a liberal, but explained how real-world events have led him to become a supporter of private gun ownership.
• In 2015, I shared a column by Jamelle Bouie in Slate, who addressed the left’s fixation on trying to ban so-called assault weapons and explains that such policies are meaningless.
• More recently, in 2017, Leah Libresco wrote in the Washington Post that advocates of gun control are driven by emotion rather empirical research and evidence.
• In 2019, Alex Kingsbury acknowledged the futility of gun control in a column for the New York Times.
• Most recently, Danielle King wrote last year for the Washington Post that it makes sense for blacks to become gun owners.

P.S. For those who want to enjoy gun control-themed humor, click here.

Gun Control Humor

It was back in May when I last shared some satire about gun control, so let’s update the collection.

We’ll start with this very important public service announcement about the horrible consequences of drinking and smoking during pregnancy.

Next, we know that Texans have a gun-loving reputation, both nationally and internationally.

Now they’re taking the right to keep and bear arms to the next level.

Our third item is very clever, though won’t be well received by self-described feminists.

I sometimes joke that I’m a lesbian trapped in a man’s body.

Here’s the gun control version of changing one’s identity.

As usual, I’ve saved the best for last.

If I was still doing coronavirus-themed humor, this item would have been very appropriate.

But it also is perfect for mocking gun control.

For what it’s worth, this is both amusing and true.

If you want less crime, make sure there are plenty of law-abiding people with guns.

Gun Control Humor

There are some very serious moral, practical, and constitutionalarguments against gun control.

But I’m a big believer in also using satire to make the case for the 2nd Amendment.

And that’s the purpose of today’s column, which starts with this reminder – as Ron Swanson told us – that bad guys don’t care about laws.

Our second item involves a woman who obviously never studied logic or history.

Makes me wonder if she’s also the woman holding the Trump sign in this column?

Our third item also pokes fun at the logic (or lack thereof) of our leftist friends.

Next, the clever folks at Babylon Bee explain various home-defense strategies for a gun-free world.

Guns are on their way out. And thank goodness! We can’t wait to return to the utopian paradise we lost when guns were invented…Still, once in a great while, you might need to defend yourself against a ne’er-do-well. When those ruffians come kicking your door down, you need to be ready. Here are seven great ways to defend your home against an armed burglar when your guns have all been confiscated.

Here are a few of those options.

Option #3 surely is the best, just as demonstrated in this video.

Yet never forget that there are people who think gun-free zonesare a real answer.

Our next item is for guys, especially libertarian guys.

Reminds me of Barbie for Men.

As usual, I’ve saved the best for last. This meme is a helpful reminder that the Bill of Rights wasn’t limited to the technology of 1787.

By the way, this is an encore appearance for the man and woman in the above meme.

P.S. The full collection of gun control satire is available here.

Communism Humor

I mostly mock socialism, but its authoritarian cousin also is a good target for satire.

So here are some additions to our collection of communism humor.

I’m among the small minority of people who have never watched Game of Thrones, so I don’t know the backstory on these characters, but this meme has a very appropriate message about the nuclear-level naivete needed to believe Marx’s nonsense.

Though maybe the first frame should say “Readers of Teen Vogue.”

Next, we have a contribution from Babylon Bee.

It’s bad news that we’re suffering from a coronavirus that has killed several million people globally, but there’s another virus that has butchered 100 million people.

This next image reminds me of the joke about communism and electricity.

Per my tradition, here’s my favorite item from today’s collection.

I’m always very impressed by the people who are clever enough to create these Venn diagrams, and this one is better than most.

Though I’m tempted to ask who is worse, the soulless Marxist who rambles and can’t be reasoned with, or the people who rationalize, glorify, and justify Marxism?

—-

November 24, 2020

Office of Barack and Michelle Obama
P.O. Box 91000
Washington, DC 20066

Dear President Obama,

I wrote you over 700 letters while you were President and I mailed them to the White House and also published them on my blog http://www.thedailyhatch.org .I received several letters back from your staff and I wanted to thank you for those letters. 

I have been reading your autobiography A PROMISED LAND and I have been enjoying it. 

Let me make a few comments on it, and here is the first quote of yours I want to comment on: Looking back, it’s embarrassing to recognize the degree to which my intellectual curiosity those first two years of college paralleled the interests of various women I was attempting to get to know: Marx and Marcuse so I had something to say to the long-legged socialist who lived in my dorm,”

I noticed you mentioned Herbert Marcuse, and I have read of his influence in Francis Schaeffer’s book How should we then live?:

At Berkeley the Free Speech Movement arose simultaneously with the hippie world of drugs. … but rather a call for the freedom to express any political views on Sproul Plaza. … followed the teaching of Herbert Marcuse (1898-). Marcuse was a German professor of philosophy related to the neo-Marxist.

Bettina Aptheker and Herbert Marcuse  pictured below:

Moral Support: “One Dimensional Man” author Herbert Marcuse accompanies Bettina Aptheker, center, and Angela Davis’ mother, Sallye Davis, to Angela Davis’ 1972 trial in San Jose. Associated Press

_

______________Francis Schaeffer is a hero of mine and I have posted many times in the past using his material. This post below is a result of his material..Communism catches the attention of the young at heart but it has always brought repression wherever it is tried. TrueCommunism has never been tried is something I was told just a few months ago by a well meaning young person who was impressed with the ideas of Karl Marx. I responded that there are only 5 communist countries in the world today and they lack political, economic and religious freedom.WHY DOES COMMUNISM FAIL?Communism has always failed because of its materialist base.  Francis Schaeffer does a great job of showing that in this clip below. Also Schaeffer shows that there were lots of similar things about the basis for both the French and Russia revolutions and he exposes the materialist and humanist basis of both revolutions.

Schaeffer compares communism with French Revolution and Napoleon.

1. Lenin took charge in Russia much as Napoleon took charge in France – when people get desperate enough, they’ll take a dictator.

Other examples: Hitler, Julius Caesar. It could happen again.

2. Communism is very repressive, stifling political and artistic freedom. Even allies have to be coerced. (Poland).

Communists say repression is temporary until utopia can be reached – yet there is no evidence of progress in that direction. Dictatorship appears to be permanent.

3. No ultimate basis for morality (right and wrong) – materialist base of communism is just as humanistic as French. Only have “arbitrary absolutes” no final basis for right and wrong.

How is Christianity different from both French Revolution and Communism?

Contrast N.T. Christianity – very positive government reform and great strides against injustice. (especially under Wesleyan revival).

Bible gives absolutes – standards of right and wrong. It shows the problems and why they exist (man’s fall and rebellion against God).

WHY DOES THE IDEA OF COMMUNISM CATCH THE ATTENTION OF SO MANY IDEALISTIC YOUNG PEOPLE? The reason is very simple. 

In HOW SHOULD WE THEN LIVE? The Rise and Decline of Western Thought and Culture, the late Francis A. Schaeffer wrote:

Materialism, the philosophic base for Marxist-Leninism, gives no basis for the dignity or rights of man.  Where Marxist-Leninism is not in power it attracts and converts by talking much of dignity and rights, but its materialistic base gives no basis for the dignity or rights of man.  Yet is attracts by its constant talk of idealism.

To understand this phenomenon we must understand that Marx reached over to that for which Christianity does give a base–the dignity of man–and took the words as words of his own.  The only understanding of idealistic sounding Marxist-Leninism is that it is (in this sense) a Christian heresy.  Not having the Christian base, until it comes to power it uses the words for which Christianity does give a base.  But wherever Marxist-Leninism has had power, it has at no place in history shown where it has not brought forth oppression.  As soon as they have had the power, the desire of the majority has become a concept without meaning.

Let me share with you the story of Paul Robeson and it demonstrates that he had to lie about how cruel communism was and the killing of his friend Itzik Feffer.

Paul Leroy Robeson (/ˈroʊbsən/ROHB-sən;^[2][3] April 9, 1898 – January 23, 1976) was an American bass baritone concert artist and stage and film actor who became famous both for his cultural accomplishments and for his political activism  

Robeson traveled to Moscow in June, and tried to find Itzik Feffer. He let Soviet authorities know that he wanted to see him.^[207] Reluctant to lose Robeson as a propagandist for the Soviet Union,^[208] the Soviets brought Feffer from prison to him. Feffer told him that Mikhoels had been murdered, and he would be summarily executed.^[209] To protect the Soviet Union’s reputation,^[210] and to keep the right wing of the United States from gaining the moral high ground, Robeson denied that any persecution existed in the Soviet Union,^[211] and kept the meeting secret for the rest of his life, except from his son.^[210]

Itzik Feffer (10 September 1900 – 12 August 1952), also Fefer (Yiddish איציק פֿעפֿער, Russian Ицик Фефер, Исаàк Соломòнович Фèфер) was a SovietYiddish poet executed on the Night of the Murdered Poets during Joseph Stalin‘s purges. 
The American concert singer and actor Paul Robeson met Feffer on 8 July 1943, in New York during a Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee event chaired by Albert Einstein, one of the largest pro-Soviet rallies ever held in the United States. After the rally, Paul Robeson and his wife Eslanda Robeson, befriended Feffer and Mikhoels.  

Itzik Feffer (left), Albert Einstein and Solomon Mikhoels in the United States in 1943.
https://spectator.org/espn-paul-robeson-stalinist-monday-night-football/

DANIEL J. FLYNN tells a few details in this sad story: 
Why Did ESPN Showcase a Stalinist on Monday NightFootball?Stalin Peace Prize laureate Paul Robeson lauded on America’s No. 1 sports network.
 In 1949, Robeson again traveled to the Soviet Union, where he had sent his namesake to school during the 1930s. Robeson had met poet Itzik Feffer and actor Solomon Mikhoels at a Polo Grounds rally of 50,000 people — the largest pro-Soviet event in the history of the United States — that welcomed their Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee in 1943. But by 1949 Stalin wished to kill Jews rather than use them for propaganda purposes. He murdered Mikhoels and later Feffer — but not before Robeson could visit his old friend the poet one last time.  

David Horowitz describes this meeting in Radical Son:

In America, the question “What happened to Itzik Feffer?” entered the currency of political debate. There was talk in intellectual circles that Jews were being killed in a new Soviet purge and that Feffer was one of them. It was to quell such rumors that Robeson asked to see his old friend, but he was told by Soviet officials that he would have to wait. Eventually, he was informed that the poet was vacationing in the Crimea and would see him as soon as he returned. The reality was that Feffer had already been in prison for three years, and his Soviet captors did not want to bring him to Robeson immediately because he had become emaciated from lack of food. While Robeson waited in Moscow, Stalin’s police brought Feffer out of prison, put him the care of doctors, and began fattening him up for the interview. When he looked sufficiently healthy, he was brought to Moscow. The two men met in a room that was under secret surveillance. Feffer knew he could not speak freely. When Robeson asked how he was, he drew his finger nervously across his throat and motioned with his eyes and lips to his American comrade. “They’re going to kill us,” he said. “When you return to America you must speak out and save us.”

Instead, Robeson, who later confessed what happened to his son, spoke out in praise of his friends’ murderer.

“Yes, through his deep humanity, by his wise understanding, he leaves us a rich and monumental heritage,” Robeson recalled of Stalin. “Most importantly — he has charted the direction of our present and future struggles. He has pointed the way to peace — to friendly co-existence — to the exchange of mutual scientific and cultural contributions — to the end of war and destruction. How consistently, how patiently, he labored for peace and ever increasing abundance, with what deep kindliness and wisdom. He leaves tens of millions all over the earth bowed in heart-aching grief.”

Sincerely,

Everette Hatcher III, 13900 Cottontail Lane, Alexander, AR 72002, ph 501-920-5733 everettehatcher@gmail.com

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—-

—

—

Proverbs 20New Living Translation

20 Wine produces mockers; alcohol leads to brawls.
    Those led astray by drink cannot be wise.

² The king’s fury is like a lion’s roar;
    to rouse his anger is to risk your life.

³ Avoiding a fight is a mark of honor;
    only fools insist on quarreling.

⁴ Those too lazy to plow in the right season
    will have no food at the harvest.

⁵ Though good advice lies deep within the heart,
    a person with understanding will draw it out.

⁶ Many will say they are loyal friends,
    but who can find one who is truly reliable?

⁷ The godly walk with integrity;
    blessed are their children who follow them.

⁸ When a king sits in judgment, he weighs all the evidence,
    distinguishing the bad from the good.

⁹ Who can say, “I have cleansed my heart;
    I am pure and free from sin”?

¹⁰ False weights and unequal measures^[a]—
    the Lord detests double standards of every kind.

¹¹ Even children are known by the way they act,
    whether their conduct is pure, and whether it is right.

¹² Ears to hear and eyes to see—
    both are gifts from the Lord.

¹³ If you love sleep, you will end in poverty.
    Keep your eyes open, and there will be plenty to eat!

¹⁴ The buyer haggles over the price, saying, “It’s worthless,”
    then brags about getting a bargain!

¹⁵ Wise words are more valuable
    than much gold and many rubies.

¹⁶ Get security from someone who guarantees a stranger’s debt.
    Get a deposit if he does it for foreigners.^[b]

¹⁷ Stolen bread tastes sweet,
    but it turns to gravel in the mouth.

¹⁸ Plans succeed through good counsel;
    don’t go to war without wise advice.

¹⁹ A gossip goes around telling secrets,
    so don’t hang around with chatterers.

²⁰ If you insult your father or mother,
    your light will be snuffed out in total darkness.

²¹ An inheritance obtained too early in life
    is not a blessing in the end.

²² Don’t say, “I will get even for this wrong.”
    Wait for the Lord to handle the matter.

²³ The Lord detests double standards;
    he is not pleased by dishonest scales.

²⁴ The Lord directs our steps,
    so why try to understand everything along the way?

²⁵ Don’t trap yourself by making a rash promise to God
    and only later counting the cost.

²⁶ A wise king scatters the wicked like wheat,
    then runs his threshing wheel over them.

²⁷ The Lord’s light penetrates the human spirit,^[c]
    exposing every hidden motive.

²⁸ Unfailing love and faithfulness protect the king;
    his throne is made secure through love.

²⁹ The glory of the young is their strength;
    the gray hair of experience is the splendor of the old.

³⁰ Physical punishment cleanses away evil;^[d]
    such discipline purifies the heart.

Raising Kids That Count

Proverbs (Program 2331DVD, Airing on 2/13 & 2/20)

1. INTRODUCTION
   1. Our chief desire for our children is not that they be wealthy or famous, but that they love the Lord Jesus Christ and count for His cause.
      1. Psalm 112:2
   2. We find in the book of Proverbs seven gifts that we can give to our children.
2. GIVE THEM AN EXAMPLE
   1. Proverbs 1:7-9
   2. Proverbs 20:7
   3. We need to give our children a godly example.
      1. Do not pretend perfection.
      2. Be real; be genuine.
   4. There are character traits which we must demonstrate to our children:
      1. Contentment
      2. Courage
      3. Courtesy
      4. Discernment
      5. Fairness
      6. Friendliness
      7. Generosity
      8. Gentleness
      9. Helpfulness
      10. Honesty
      11. Humility
      12. Kindness
      13. Obedience
      14. Orderliness
      15. Patience
      16. Persistence
      17. Self-control
      18. Tact
      19. Thankfulness
      20. Tidiness
      21. Wisdom
3. GIVE THEM UNCONDITIONAL LOVE
   1. Proverbs 4:1-4
   2. Luke 15:20
   3. True love is not giving someone what they want; it is giving them what they need.
   4. There must be unconditional acceptance of the child regardless of his or her behavior.
4. GIVE THEM CONSTANT ENCOURAGEMENT
   1. Proverbs 3:21-26
   2. There is a difference between praise and encouragement:
      1. Praise says that I am proud of you for what you do.
      2. Encouragement says that I am proud of you for who you are.
5. GIVE THEM WISE INSTRUCTION
   1. Proverbs 2:1-7
   2. We need to teach our children the Word of God.
   3. Let the instruction be joined with training.
      1. Proverbs 22:6
6. GIVE THEM REASONABLE RESTRICTIONS
   1. Proverbs 6:20-23
7. GIVE THEM A LISTENING EAR
   1. Proverbs 18:13-15
   2. We need to be willing to listen when they want to talk.
8. GIVE THEM A HAPPY ENVIRONMENT
   1. Proverbs 15:13-17
   2. Let your home be filled with laughter and love.
      1. Ephesians 5:4
      2. Genesis 21:6
9. CONCLUSION
   1. God ideally wants everyone to have three homes:
      1. A family home
      2. A church home
      3. A heavenly home
   2. Jesus is the greatest home builder.

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July 16, 2013 – 1:28 am

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John MacArthur on Proverbs (Part 10) Summing up Proverbs study

May 30, 2013 – 1:06 am

Over and over in Proverbs you hear the words “fear the Lord.” In fact, some of he references are Proverbs 1:7, 29; 2:5; 8:13; 9:10;14:26,27; 15:16 and many more. Below is a sermon by John MacArthur from the Book of Luke on 3 reasons we should fear the Lord. (I have posted John MacArthur’s amazing […]By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Adrian Rogers, Current Events | Edit | Comments (0)

John MacArthur on Proverbs (Part 9) “Love your neighbor”

May 28, 2013 – 1:23 am

Over and over in Proverbs you hear the words “fear the Lord.” In fact, some of he references are Proverbs 1:7, 29; 2:5; 8:13; 9:10;14:26,27; 15:16 and many more. Below is a sermon by John MacArthur from the Book of Luke on 3 reasons we should fear the Lord. (I have posted John MacArthur’s amazing […]By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Adrian Rogers, Current Events | Edit | Comments (0)

John MacArthur on Proverbs (Part 8) “Manage your money”

May 23, 2013 – 1:35 am

Over and over in Proverbs you hear the words “fear the Lord.” In fact, some of he references are Proverbs 1:7, 29; 2:5; 8:13; 9:10;14:26,27; 15:16 and many more. Below is a sermon by John MacArthur from the Book of Luke on 3 reasons we should fear the Lord. (I have posted John MacArthur’s amazing […]By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Adrian Rogers, Current Events | Edit | Comments (0)

John MacArthur on Proverbs (Part 7) “Pursue your work”

May 21, 2013 – 1:05 am

Over and over in Proverbs you hear the words “fear the Lord.” In fact, some of he references are Proverbs 1:7, 29; 2:5; 8:13; 9:10;14:26,27; 15:16 and many more. Below is a sermon by John MacArthur from the Book of Luke on 3 reasons we should fear the Lord. (I have posted John MacArthur’s amazing […]By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Adrian Rogers, Current Events | Edit | Comments (0)

John MacArthur on Proverbs (Part 6) “Enjoy your wife and watch your words”

May 16, 2013 – 1:23 am

Over and over in Proverbs you hear the words “fear the Lord.” In fact, some of he references are Proverbs 1:7, 29; 2:5; 8:13; 9:10;14:26,27; 15:16 and many more. Below is a sermon by John MacArthur from the Book of Luke on 3 reasons we should fear the Lord. (I have posted John MacArthur’s amazing […]By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Adrian Rogers, Current Events | Tagged Gene Bartow, John Wooden | Edit | Comments (0)

John MacArthur on Proverbs (Part 5) “Control your body”

May 14, 2013 – 1:44 am

Over and over in Proverbs you hear the words “fear the Lord.” In fact, some of he references are Proverbs 1:7, 29; 2:5; 8:13; 9:10;14:26,27; 15:16 and many more. Below is a sermon by John MacArthur from the Book of Luke on 3 reasons we should fear the Lord. (I have posted John MacArthur’s amazing […]By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Adrian Rogers, Current Events | Edit | Comments (0)

John MacArthur on Proverbs (Part 4) “Bad company corrupts…”

May 9, 2013 – 1:10 am

Over and over in Proverbs you hear the words “fear the Lord.” In fact, some of he references are Proverbs 1:7, 29; 2:5; 8:13; 9:10;14:26,27; 15:16 and many more. Below is a sermon by John MacArthur from the Book of Luke on 3 reasons we should fear the Lord. (I have posted John MacArthur’s amazing […]By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Adrian Rogers, Current Events | Edit | Comments (0)

John MacArthur on Proverbs (Part 3) “Guard your mind and obey your parents!!”

May 7, 2013 – 1:43 am

Over and over in Proverbs you hear the words “fear the Lord.” In fact, some of he references are Proverbs 1:7, 29; 2:5; 8:13; 9:10;14:26,27; 15:16 and many more. Below is a sermon by John MacArthur from the Book of Luke on 3 reasons we should fear the Lord. It is tough to guard your […]By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Adrian Rogers, Current Events | Edit | Comments (0)

John MacArthur on Proverbs (Part 2) What does it mean to fear the Lord?

May 2, 2013 – 1:13 am

Over and over in Proverbs you hear the words “fear the Lord.” In fact, some of he references are Proverbs 1:7, 29; 2:5; 8:13; 9:10;14:26,27; 15:16 and many more. Below is a sermon by John MacArthur from the Book of Luke on 3 reasons we should fear the Lord. What does it mean to fear […]By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Current Events, Uncategorized | Edit | Comments (0)

The Wisdom of Solomon and the Book of Ecclesiastes

July 8, 2013 – 12:01 am

Ecclesiastes 6-8 | Solomon Turns Over a New Leaf Published on Oct 2, 2012 Calvary Chapel Spring Valley | Sunday Evening | September 30, 2012 | Pastor Derek Neider _____________________ I have written on the Book of Ecclesiastes and the subject of the meaning of our lives on several occasions on this blog. In this series on Ecclesiastes I […]By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Current Events | Edit | Comments (0)

Why is Solomon so depressed in Ecclesiastes? by Brent Cunningham

July 3, 2013 – 7:00 am

Ecclesiastes 1 Published on Sep 4, 2012 Calvary Chapel Spring Valley | Sunday Evening | September 2, 2012 | Pastor Derek Neider _____________________ I have written on the Book of Ecclesiastes and the subject of the meaning of our lives on several occasions on this blog. In this series on Ecclesiastes I hope to show how […]By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Current Events | Edit | Comments (0)

Robert Leroe on Ecclesiastes (Mentions Thomas Aquinas, Princess Diana, Mother Teresa, King Solomon, King Rehoboam, Eugene Peterson, Chuck Swindoll, and John Newton.)

June 19, 2013 – 1:30 am

Ecclesiastes 1 Published on Sep 4, 2012 Calvary Chapel Spring Valley | Sunday Evening | September 2, 2012 | Pastor Derek Neider _____________________ I have written on the Book of Ecclesiastes and the subject of the meaning of our lives on several occasions on this blog. In this series on Ecclesiastes I hope to show how […]By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Current Events | Edit | Comments (0)

Solomon was the author of Ecclesiastes

June 11, 2013 – 1:55 am

Ecclesiastes 8-10 | Still Searching After All These Years Published on Oct 9, 2012 Calvary Chapel Spring Valley | Sunday Evening | October 7, 2012 | Pastor Derek Neider _______________________ Ecclesiastes 11-12 | Solomon Finds His Way Published on Oct 30, 2012 Calvary Chapel Spring Valley | Sunday Evening | October 28, 2012 | Pastor Derek Neider […]By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Current Events | Edit | Comments (0)

Ecclesiastes: Solomon with Life in the Fast Lane

June 3, 2013 – 1:19 am

Ecclesiastes 6-8 | Solomon Turns Over a New Leaf Published on Oct 2, 2012 Calvary Chapel Spring Valley | Sunday Evening | September 30, 2012 | Pastor Derek Neider _____________________ I have written on the Book of Ecclesiastes and the subject of the meaning of our lives on several occasions on this blog. In this series […]By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Current Events | Edit | Comments (0)

Ecclesiastes a scathing and self-deprecating attack on hedonism and secular humanism by Solomon

May 31, 2013 – 1:17 am

Ecclesiastes 4-6 | Solomon’s Dissatisfaction Published on Sep 24, 2012 Calvary Chapel Spring Valley | Sunday Evening | September 23, 2012 | Pastor Derek Neider ___________________ I have written on the Book of Ecclesiastes and the subject of the meaning of our lives on several occasions on this blog. In this series on Ecclesiastes I hope […]By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Current Events | Edit | Comments (0)

Solomon was right in his cynicism–unless……unless there is a God who created us and cares about us

May 22, 2013 – 1:34 am

Ecclesiastes 8-10 | Still Searching After All These Years Published on Oct 9, 2012 Calvary Chapel Spring Valley | Sunday Evening | October 7, 2012 | Pastor Derek Neider _______________________ Ecclesiastes 11-12 | Solomon Finds His Way Published on Oct 30, 2012 Calvary Chapel Spring Valley | Sunday Evening | October 28, 2012 | Pastor Derek Neider […]By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Current Events | Edit | Comments (0)

The Humanist takes on Solomon and the Book of Ecclesiastes

May 20, 2013 – 1:13 pm

Ecclesiastes 8-10 | Still Searching After All These Years Published on Oct 9, 2012 Calvary Chapel Spring Valley | Sunday Evening | October 7, 2012 | Pastor Derek Neider _______________________ Ecclesiastes 11-12 | Solomon Finds His Way Published on Oct 30, 2012 Calvary Chapel Spring Valley | Sunday Evening | October 28, 2012 | Pastor Derek Neider […]By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Current Events | Edit | Comments (0)

Tom Brady , Coldplay, Kansas, Solomon and the search for satisfaction (part 3)

December 23, 2011 – 11:12 am

Tom Brady “More than this…” Uploaded by EdenWorshipCenter on Jan 22, 2008 EWC sermon illustration showing a clip from the 2005 Tom Brady 60 minutes interview. _______________________ Tom Brady ESPN Interview Tom Brady has famous wife earned over 76 million dollars last year. However, has Brady found lasting satifaction in his life? It does not […]By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Current Events | Edit | Comments (0)

Adrian Rogers on gambling

July 18, 2013 – 12:44 am

Adrian Rogers: How to Be a Child of a Happy Mother Published on Nov 13, 2012 Series: Fortifying Your Family (To read along turn on the annotations.) Adrian Rogers looks at the 5th commandment and the relationship of motherhood in the commandment to honor your father and mother, because the faith that doesn’t begin at home, […]By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Adrian Rogers, Current Events | Edit | Comments (0)

Book of Ecclesiastes

July 17, 2013 – 1:40 am

Ecclesiastes 1 Published on Sep 4, 2012 Calvary Chapel Spring Valley | Sunday Evening | September 2, 2012 | Pastor Derek Neider _____________________ I have written on the Book of Ecclesiastes and the subject of the meaning of our lives on several occasions on this blog. In this series on Ecclesiastes I hope to show how secular humanist man […]By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Current Events | Edit | Comments (0)

Adrian Rogers: Are fathers necessary?

July 16, 2013 – 12:43 am

Adrian Rogers – How to Cultivate a Marriage Another great article from Adrian Rogers. Are fathers necessary? “Artificial insemination is the ideal method of producing a pregnancy, and a lesbian partner should have the same parenting rights accorded historically to biological fathers.” Quoted from the United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women, summer of 1995. […]By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Adrian Rogers, Current Events | Edit | Comments (0)

Tom Brady, Coldplay, Kansas, Solomon and the search for satisfaction (part 2)

December 22, 2011 – 11:56 am

Tom Brady “More than this…” Uploaded by EdenWorshipCenter on Jan 22, 2008 EWC sermon illustration showing a clip from the 2005 Tom Brady 60 minutes interview. To Download this video copy the URL to http://www.vixy.net ________________ Obviously from the video clip above, Tom Brady has realized that even though he has won many Super Bowls […]

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What Happened When Jackson Went Easy on This Sex Offender

Fred Lucas  / @FredLucasWH / March 18, 2022

Saying “the conviction alone is devastating,” Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson sentenced a man to under five years in 2016 after he sought sexual gratification with a 9-year-old girl. Pictured: Jackson, President Biden’s Supreme Court nominee, at the U.S. Capitol in between meetings with senators Wednesday. (Photo: Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call Inc./Getty Images)

In text messages, Neil Stewart talked explicitly about his interest in sex involving minors while setting up what he thought was a meeting at the National Zoo with a man and his 9-year-old daughter, according to a prosecutor’s memo.

“What a bday gift that would be,” Stewart said, referring to the meeting happening on his 31st birthday in October 2015, if the 9-year-old girl “would like to play.” 

In February 2017, U.S. District Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson sentenced Stewart to 57 months in prison, or just under five years, after his conviction for possessing and distributing child pornography. 

That punishment, far less than the 97 to 121 months prescribed by federal sentencing guidelines, is likely to come up Monday during Jackson’s Senate confirmation hearing on her appointment to the Supreme Court. 

In another text, Stewart “provided advice” on how to begin convincing a child to have sexual intercourse, which then could be captured on video. 

“The trick,” he wrote, “is starting with really small toys and gradually moving up until something is the same size. And vibration.” 

Prosecutors quoted obscene and graphic language in Stewart’s texts for Jackson’s consideration in sentencing that can’t be repeated in a family publication.  

In her presentence mitigation report on the case, Jackson wrote that “the conviction alone is devastating to Mr. Stewart,” later adding that his “risk of recidivism is exceedingly low.”

But on Jan. 5, 2020, the St. Mary’s County Sheriff’s Office in Maryland arrested Stewart, then 35, on four counts of possessing a controlled dangerous substance other than marijuana, as well as drug paraphernalia. 

Stewart’s case is one of seven sex offender cases highlighted by Senate Judiciary Committee member Josh Hawley, R-Mo., in the days leading up to the confirmation hearing for Jackson, 51, President Joe Biden’s nominee to the Supreme Court.  

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Since June, Jackson, the mother of two daughters, has been a judge on the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals. From 2013 to 2021, she was a judge on the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

Stewart referred explicitly and crudely to sexual activity in his text exchanges about child porn and meeting “willing” children in late 2015. In one text, he said he liked children ages “5-11,” according to the court document from federal prosecutors. 

Anticipating meeting the 9-year-old at the National Zoo on his birthday, he wrote: “That’s so hot, god I hope this is real.”

It wasn’t real. 

Stewart didn’t know he actually was communicating with an undercover D.C. police detective. 

The detective delayed the meeting past Stewart’s birthday. During that time, Stewart unknowingly relayed to the detective that he had large amounts of child porn on his computer, asserting he had “many flash drives” and “can bring it all” to the meeting.

The FBI was able to track Stewart’s email addresses and gained a search warrant, with which investigators found more than 600 images and videos of child pornography on various electronic devices.

In December 2015, the FBI arrested Stewart. He pleaded guilty in June 2016. Jackson was assigned the case May 31. Sentencing was set for October. 

On Oct. 6, 2016, U.S. Attorney Channing D. Phillips asked Jackson for the “bottom of the sentencing guidelines,” meaning closer to 97 months than 121 months, plus 10 years of supervised release. That same day, federal public defender A.J. Kramer asked for 48 months. 

Neither side got what it wanted, but Jackson veered closer to the public defender’s request. The decision seemed consistent with a Harvard Law Review article Jackson wrote in 1996 and her comments as a member of the U.S. Sentencing Commission, when she suggested that laws are unfair to sex offenders. 

Jackson sentenced Stewart to 57 months on Feb. 21, 2017, with credit for time served. This would be followed by 120 months, or 10 years, of supervised release. 

Jackson’s 28-page presentence mitigation report waxed admiringly about Stewart’s art career. 

“Mr. Stewart’s personal story of artistic achievement in the areas of the visual arts to include sculptures, sketching and painting has been inspirational and aspirational, especially to all those he has mentored, who, like him, began life’s journey under different circumstances,” Jackson wrote, adding:

Mr. Stewart has completed and sold over 200 commissioned art pieces. He hopes that his acknowledgment of wrongdoing, his full acceptance of responsibility, and his attempted assistance and full cooperation with federal authorities will allow him to begin the process of correcting his errors. …

Mr. Stewart has not assaulted or harmed any other person, before, during or after the offense conduct.

This sentiment seemed consistent with something Jackson wrote while serving as vice chairwoman of the U.S. Sentencing Commission. The judge said then that in the past, she “mistakingly assumed that child pornography offenders are pedophiles” and she wanted “to understand this category of nonpedophiles who obtain child pornography.”

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Jackson’s Harvard Law Review article, in which she argued against public sex offender registries, is titled “Prevention Versus Punishment: Toward a Principled Distinction in the Restraint on Released Sex Offenders.” 

In it, Jackson contended: “Community notification subjects ex-convicts to stigmatization and ostracism, and puts them at the mercy of a public that is outraged by sex crimes.”

Ken McIntyre contributed to this report. 

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Hef beat world ranked player Tim Holland (backgammon)

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Oswald Jacoby with Hef

_____________March 26, 2017Hugh HefnerPlayboy Mansion16236 Charing Cross RoadLos Angeles, CA 90024

Dear Hugh,

Today at church our Fellowship Bible Church teaching pastor Mark Henry spoke on Abraham and his passage was Genesis Chapter 12. A couple of things from today’s service reminded me of you. In your magazine you have constantly talked about true love, but do you really know what true love is? IS LOVE FOUND IN THE NUMBER OF SEXUAL CONQUESTS?

In 1984 Adrian Rogers said in sermon, “Playboy’s Payday,” these words:

(The text for this sermon was the whole chapter of Proverbs 5)

I’m telling you the Word of God here today.  You’re going to blow it, and when you come to the end of it, you’re going to miss the best of life.  Do you know what Hugh Hefner said on another occasion? He was reminiscing. Here is this guy who has all of these girls around  him, all of this booze, all of these casinos and presumably can have any   sensual pleasure he wants. He said, You know, in the next ten years I would rather meet a girl and fall in love and have her fall in love with me than to make another one hundred million dollars.   BUT I FEAR THE MAN DOESN’T KNOW WHAT LOVE IS? I FEEL HE’S MISSED IT.   What he’s saying is, I’ve got it all, but I don’t have satisfaction!  There’s something that’s worth more than a hundred million dollars to me, and I don’t have it!

Marilyn Monroe, the sex goddess who took her own life, said, “I hate sex.”  Everybody says, “Oh, look at the pleasure that she’s having.”  In Sweden, Sweden’s a liberated country, they have open pornography, open prostitution, free love in Sweden.  It’s all accepted. That’s supposed to be the liberated country in the Western world.  The Swedes! Do you know what nation has the highest divorce rate of any nation?  Sweden. .  “God is not mocked.”  I’m telling you there is a disappointment in sin.  The cup of sin is sweet, but the dregs are bitter indeed.

They did an in-depth study at Stanford University. These are not a bunch of preachers, and their conclusion of the in-depth study was this:  that the more promiscuous people were before marriage, the less chance for happiness after marriage.   The try-it-before-you-marry-it idea may sound cute, but it’s not in the Word of God, dear friend.  This idea of living together to see if you’re compatible, the more promiscuous people were before marriage, the less chance of opportunity for satisfaction after marriage. Young people, many of them right now are on the beaches of Fort Lauderdale, many of them have gone down there attempting to make it with some girl, to make it with some boy, to jump in bed with somebody. They think that’s the way.   And our young people are being told that so much that they think there’s absolutely nothing wrong with it!

Q&A: Hugh Hefner

What is your guiltiest pleasure? 
My life, probably!If there was one word to describe your life the word PLEASURE is probably that word. As you know I have written you every week since October of 2015 in the hope that you will be willing to reflect back on your life of pleasure UNDER THE SUN like King Solomon did and see what proper reflections your life has rendered. Francis Schaeffer has rightly noted concerning you that your goal  with the “playboy mentality is just to smash the puritanical ethnic.” In fact, in your own personal life you definitely have gone the opposite direction of Puritanism.I have made the comparison throughout this series of letters between you and King Solomon (the author of the BOOK of ECCLESIASTES).  I have noticed that many preachers who have delivered sermons on Ecclesiastes have also mentioned you as a modern day example of King Solomon especially because you both tried to find sexual satisfaction through the volume of women you could slept with in a lifetime.

Ecclesiastes 2:8-10 The Message (MSG)

I piled up silver and gold,
        loot from kings and kingdoms.
I gathered a chorus of singers to entertain me with song,
    and—most exquisite of all pleasures—
    voluptuous maidens for my bed.

^9-10 Oh, how I prospered! I left all my predecessors in Jerusalem far behind, left them behind in the dust. What’s more, I kept a clear head through it all. Everything I wanted I took—I never said no to myself. I gave in to every impulse, held back nothing. I sucked the marrow of pleasure out of every task—my reward to myself for a hard day’s work!

1 Kings 11:1-3 English Standard Version (ESV)

11 Now King Solomon loved many foreign women, along with the daughter of Pharaoh: Moabite, Ammonite, Edomite, Sidonian, and Hittite women, ² from the nations concerning which the Lord had said to the people of Israel, “You shall not enter into marriage with them, neither shall they with you, for surely they will turn away your heart after their gods.” Solomon clung to these in love.³ He had 700 wives, who were princesses, and 300 concubines. And his wives turned away his heart.

Francis Schaeffer observed concerning Solomon, “You can not know woman by knowing 1000 women.”

Don’t you see that Solomon was right  when he observed life UNDER THE SUN without God in the picture and he then concluded  in Ecclesiastes 2:11:

Then I considered all that my hands had done and the toil I had expended in doing it, and behold, all was vanity and a striving after wind, and there was nothing to be gained UNDER THE SUN. 

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WHAT DOES TRUE LOVE INVOLVE? CHRIST GAVE US THE PERFECT EXAMPLE OF WHAT TRUE LOVE INVOLVES.I read this comment in the book MR PLAYBOY by Steven Watts concerning your love of BACKGAMMON:

The game (of Backgammon) became a consuming passion for Hefner…Friends marveled that on more than on occasion, he would sit at the Backgammon table for 2 or 3 days straight without food or drink except for a steady supply of Pepsi….Backgammon even trumped sex on one occasion in the Hefner universe. One time a beautiful blond playmate spent several hours…waiting for some romantic attention from the publisher but he stayed in the library in a marathon Backgammon contest. She finally gave up around 5 am, gave him a goodnight kiss and left to go to bed. Hef looked up briefly to quip, GREATER LOVE HATH NO BACKGAMMON PLAYER and went back to rolling the dice. 

The ironic thing was that you were quoting a verse in the Bible that gives us the perfect example of what true love is.

John 15:13 King James Bible
Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.

I STARTED THIS LETTER OFF TODAY BY ASSERTING THAT A COUPLE OF THINGS FROM TODAY’S SERVICE REMINDED ME OF YOU. The FIRST concerns the meaning of true love as defined by the life of Christ and the SECOND concerns God’s demand on Abraham to follow God and be willing to leave his comforts in life behind.

At the beginning of our worship time we sang a  wonderful song that you can listen to on You Tube. The words from the song are below and they really expand on what the meaning of John 15:13 is.

“O Praise The Name (Anástasis)”I cast my mind to Calvary
Where Jesus bled and died for me.
I see His wounds,His hands, His feet.
My Savior on that cursed treeHis body bound and drenched in tears
They laid Him down in Joseph’s tomb.
The entrance sealed by heavy stone
Messiah still and all aloneAnd then on the third at break of dawn,
The Son of heaven rose again.
O trampled death where is your sting?
The angels roar for Christ the KingHe shall return in robes of white,
The blazing Son shall pierce the night.
And I will rise among the saints,
My gaze transfixed on Jesus’ faceO praise the name of the Lord our God
O praise His name forever more
For endless days we will sing Your praise
Oh Lord, oh Lord our God
___In other words, true love is about sacrifice and not about the number of sexual conquests one may have.Mark Henry read Genesis 12:1-9 and he said that just like Abraham who totally surrendered  to God and was willing to leave all our comforts behind, we too must be willing to do that.That reminded me again of a comment I read  in the book MR PLAYBOY by Steven Watts:(In 1982) Jerry Falwell spoke out calling for Hefner’s religious conversion. “Wouldn’t it be wonderful if Hugh Hefner got saved and shut down Playboy Enterprises and became a spokesman for Jesus Christ? He could be another Saul.”

HUGH, grace is always available to anyone who asks. Your mother’s name was Grace and if she was here right now she would be thrilled if you took the time to see what the Bible says about salvation and forgiveness. It can be summed up in FOUR SPIRITUAL LAWS.

The Four Spiritual Laws

by Matt Slick

They are:

1. God loves you:
   1. “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life,” (John 3:16).
2. Man is sinful and separated from God.
   1. “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” (Rom. 3:23). “For the wages of sin is death,” (Rom. 6:23). “But your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God,” (Isaiah 59:2).
3. Jesus Christ is God’s only provision for man’s sin.
   1. “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but through Me,” (John 14:6). “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us,” (Rom. 5:8).
4. We must individually receive Jesus as Savior and Lord.
   1. “But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name,” (John 1:12). “If you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved,” (Rom. 10:9). “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God,” (Eph. 2:8).

The answer to find meaning in life is found in putting your faith and trust in Jesus Christ. The Bible is true from cover to cover and can be trusted.

Thanks for your time.

Sincerely,

Everette Hatcher, everettehatcher@gmail.com, http://www.thedailyhatch.org, cell ph 501-920-5733, Box 23416, LittleRock, AR 72221

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Featured artist is Aki Sasamoto

Aki Sasamoto was born in 1980 in Kanagawa, Japan and now lives and works in New York. An installation and performance artist, Sasamoto works in various media, finding material inspiration in response to the conditions of her site or surroundings.

Often collaborating with other artists, scholars, and even mathematicians, Sasamoto performs within her installations, which can take place in galleries, theaters, or outside of traditional art venues. The artist builds these installations from everyday found objects, and her performances actively engage viewers, occasionally transforming them into participants. Sasamoto’s ongoing thematic fascinations with food, health, hygiene, and orderliness are reflected in her formally precise and richly narrative practice. She often places herself within self-imposed physical limitations: she crawled inside industrial dryers for her 2016 series of performances at the Sculpture Center, entitled Delicate Cycle. Sasamoto is also a cofounder of Culture Push, a nonprofit that brings people from different communities together to foster new modes of thinking and creating.

Links:
Artist’s website

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Francis Schaeffer has rightly noted concerning Hugh Hefner that Hefner’s goal  with the “playboy mentality is just to smash the puritanical ethnic.” I have made the comparison throughout this series of blog posts between Hefner and King Solomon (the author of the BOOK of ECCLESIASTES).  I have noticed that many preachers who have delivered sermons on Ecclesiastes have also mentioned Hefner as a modern day example of King Solomon especially because they both tried to find sexual satisfaction through the volume of women you could slept with in a lifetime.

Ecclesiastes 2:8-10 The Message (MSG)

I piled up silver and gold,
        loot from kings and kingdoms.
I gathered a chorus of singers to entertain me with song,
    and—most exquisite of all pleasures—
    voluptuous maidens for my bed.

^9-10 Oh, how I prospered! I left all my predecessors in Jerusalem far behind, left them behind in the dust. What’s more, I kept a clear head through it all. Everything I wanted I took—I never said no to myself. I gave in to every impulse, held back nothing. I sucked the marrow of pleasure out of every task—my reward to myself for a hard day’s work!

1 Kings 11:1-3 English Standard Version (ESV)

11 Now King Solomon loved many foreign women, along with the daughter of Pharaoh: Moabite, Ammonite, Edomite, Sidonian, and Hittite women, ² from the nations concerning which the Lord had said to the people of Israel, “You shall not enter into marriage with them, neither shall they with you, for surely they will turn away your heart after their gods.” Solomon clung to these in love.³ He had 700 wives, who were princesses, and 300 concubines. And his wives turned away his heart.

Francis Schaeffer observed concerning Solomon, “You can not know woman by knowing 1000 women.”

Related posts:

Ecclesiastes 2 — The Quest For Meaning and the failed examples of Howard Hughes and Hugh Hefner

June 27, 2013 – 12:49 am

Ecclesiastes 2-3 Published on Sep 19, 2012 Calvary Chapel Spring Valley | Sunday Evening | September 16, 2012 | Derek Neider _____________________________ I have written on the Book of Ecclesiastes and the subject of the meaning of our lives on several occasions on this blog. In this series on Ecclesiastes I hope to show how secular […] By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Current Events | Edit | Comments (0)

FRANCIS SCHAEFFER ANALYZES ART AND CULTURE PART 162 A look at the BEATLES Breaking down the song ALL WE NEED IS LOVE Part C (Featured artist is Grace Slick)

May 4, 2017 – 1:40 am

 Is Love All You Need? Jesus v. Lennon Posted on January 19, 2011 by Jovan Payes 0 On June 25, 1967, the Beatles participated in the first worldwide TV special called “Our World”. During this special, the Beatles introduced “All You Need is Love”; one of their most famous and recognizable songs. In it, John Lennon […] By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Francis Schaeffer | Edit | Comments (0)

FRANCIS SCHAEFFER ANALYZES ART AND CULTURE Part 158 THE BEATLES (breaking down the song WHY DON’T WE DO IT IN THE ROAD?) Photographer Bob Gomel featured today!

April 6, 2017 – 12:25 am

___________________ Something happened to the Beatles in their journey through the 1960’s and although they started off wanting only to hold their girlfriend’s hand it later evolved into wanting to smash all previous sexual standards. The Beatles: Why Don’t We Do It in the Road? _______ Beatle Ringo Starr, and his girlfriend, later his wife, […] By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Current Events | Edit | Comments (0)

FRANCIS SCHAEFFER ANALYZES ART AND CULTURE PART 142 Marvin Minsky Part G (Featured artist is Red Grooms)

December 15, 2016 – 7:18 am

__________ Marvin Minsky __ I was sorry recently  to learn of the passing of one of the great scholars of our generation. I have written about Marvin Minsky several times before in this series and today I again look at a letter I wrote to him in the last couple of years. It is my […] By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Adrian Rogers, Francis Schaeffer | Edit | Comments (0)

FRANCIS SCHAEFFER ANALYZES ART AND CULTURE Part 118 THE BEATLES (Why was Tony Curtis on cover of SGT PEP?) (Feature on artist Jeffrey Gibson )

June 30, 2016 – 5:35 am

Why was Tony Curtis on the cover of SGT PEPPERS? I have no idea but if I had to hazard a guess I would say that probably it was because he was in the smash hit SOME LIKE IT HOT.  Above from the  movie SOME LIKE IT HOT __ __ Jojo was a man who […] By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Current Events | Edit | Comments (0)

FRANCIS SCHAEFFER ANALYZES ART AND CULTURE Part 101 BEATLES,(MANY CHRISTIANS ATTACKED THE BEATLES WHILE FRANCIS SCHAEFFER STUDIED THEIR MUSIC! Part B) Artist featured today is Cartoonist Gahan Wilson

March 3, 2016 – 12:21 am

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“When people refuse God’s answer, they are living against the revelation of the universe and against the revelation of themselves.  They are denying the revelation of God in who they themselves are.  I am not saying that non-Christians do not live in the light of real existence.  I am saying that they do not have any answer for living in it.  I am not saying that they do not have moral motions, but they have no basis for them.  I am not saying that the person with a non-Christian system (even a radical system like Buddhism or Hinduism or the modern Western thinking of chance) does not know that the object exists – the problem is that they have no system to explain the subject-object correlation.  As a matter of fact, this is their damnation, this is their tension, that they have to live in the light of their existence, the light of reality – the total reality in all these areas – and they do live there, and yet they have no sufficient explanation for any of these areas.  So, the wiser they are, the more honest they are, the more they feel that tension and that is their present damnation.”

Woody Allen mentioned at 16 min mark

The Question of Apologetics by Francis Schaeffer

SOUNDWORD LABRI CONFERENCE VIDEO – The Question of Apologetics – Francis A. Schaeffer

Published on Nov 30, 2013

Francis Schaeffer workshop on “The Question of Apologetics”
L’Abri Conference, Atlanta, June, 1983
Recorded by Soundword Associates for L’Abri Fellowship

Read more about this series here:http://francisschaefferstudies.blogsp…

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Featured artist is David Bowie

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Paintings By David Bowie

34K views

1 month ago by Very Private Art

Just like many others around the globe, I was saddened by the departure of a great artist of our age – David Bowie. I have to admit, though, my sadness is somehow selfish. I knew that it wouldn’t be long until my turn facing the end of this life, just like my favourite artist who sang me these songs that I grew up listening to.

However, there are some artists behind the mask of sadness, are simply prompted to promote their freshly-made paintings and prints, to profit from shocked fans who want to pay tribute to their hero. On that very same day!

So, instead of sharing arts made on the death of David Bowie, here I would like to share some of his very own artwork. Let’s pay real tribute to him by celebrating his creativity! David Bowie paintings show a knowledgeable approach to art, influenced by Frank Auerbach, David Bomberg, Francis Bacon and Francis Picabia.

More info: veryprivategallery.com

Self-Portrait

Child In Berlin – 1977

Self-Portrait

Berlin Landscape With JO – 1978

(Portrait of Iggy Pop)

Sketch

Self-Portrait – 1978

Inspired by the cover for the album cover of Heroes (Victoria and Albert Museum)

DHead series

Bowie continuously painted these DHeads during his career, but it only went public around 1994.

DHeads II

Ancestor

South Africa series An exploration of Bowie’s thoughts on the “white ancestor” story, gleaned from his trip to South Africa. The artist wrote: “In 1995 Iman and I took our first trip to South Africa. One of the prevailing stories handed down is that when the first tribes saw the white man they presumed they were being visited by their ancestors, as in their mythology the ancestors appear as a ghost-like white form.”

Ancestor II

Dry Heads Capetown – 1995

Evol For The Missing – 1996

I Am A World Champion – 1977

Portrait Of JO – 1976

Squeeze 2000 – 1996

Turkish Father And Son – 1978

P

Sketch

Self-Portrait

Sketch

Sketch

The Man Behind It All

This article was submitted through our awesome submission form

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Related posts:

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Proverbs 16New Living Translation

16 We can make our own plans,
    but the Lord gives the right answer.

² People may be pure in their own eyes,
    but the Lord examines their motives.

³ Commit your actions to the Lord,
    and your plans will succeed.

⁴ The Lord has made everything for his own purposes,
    even the wicked for a day of disaster.

⁵ The Lord detests the proud;
    they will surely be punished.

⁶ Unfailing love and faithfulness make atonement for sin.
    By fearing the Lord, people avoid evil.

⁷ When people’s lives please the Lord,
    even their enemies are at peace with them.

⁸ Better to have little, with godliness,
    than to be rich and dishonest.

⁹ We can make our plans,
    but the Lord determines our steps.

¹⁰ The king speaks with divine wisdom;
    he must never judge unfairly.

¹¹ The Lord demands accurate scales and balances;
    he sets the standards for fairness.

¹² A king detests wrongdoing,
    for his rule is built on justice.

¹³ The king is pleased with words from righteous lips;
    he loves those who speak honestly.

¹⁴ The anger of the king is a deadly threat;
    the wise will try to appease it.

¹⁵ When the king smiles, there is life;
    his favor refreshes like a spring rain.

¹⁶ How much better to get wisdom than gold,
    and good judgment than silver!

¹⁷ The path of the virtuous leads away from evil;
    whoever follows that path is safe.

¹⁸ Pride goes before destruction,
    and haughtiness before a fall.

¹⁹ Better to live humbly with the poor
    than to share plunder with the proud.

²⁰ Those who listen to instruction will prosper;
    those who trust the Lord will be joyful.

²¹ The wise are known for their understanding,
    and pleasant words are persuasive.

²² Discretion is a life-giving fountain to those who possess it,
    but discipline is wasted on fools.

²³ From a wise mind comes wise speech;
    the words of the wise are persuasive.

²⁴ Kind words are like honey—
    sweet to the soul and healthy for the body.

²⁵ There is a path before each person that seems right,
    but it ends in death.

²⁶ It is good for workers to have an appetite;
    an empty stomach drives them on.

²⁷ Scoundrels create trouble;
    their words are a destructive blaze.

²⁸ A troublemaker plants seeds of strife;
    gossip separates the best of friends.

²⁹ Violent people mislead their companions,
    leading them down a harmful path.

³⁰ With narrowed eyes, people plot evil;
    with a smirk, they plan their mischief.

³¹ Gray hair is a crown of glory;
    it is gained by living a godly life.

³² Better to be patient than powerful;
    better to have self-control than to conquer a city.

³³ We may throw the dice,^[a]
    but the Lord determines how they fall.

John macarthur – Walking in Wisdom, Part 1 proverbs 1:7, 20; Proverbs 10:21; 12:15, Proverbs 16:22 Proverbs 22:15;

We come to Ephesians 5 verses 15 through 17, three very short verses, however in the first service we only got through verse 15. You know, it’s always hard for me to preach my whole sermon when I get all filled up at some conference and lots of things come out. And you know, believe it or not, people, I think I’m a better preacher than you know. And the reason I say that is because I’ve never really yet preached to you the sermon I planned. The ones I plan are good. The ones you get are mediocre, but that’s because I never finish. See? I have great midpoints and tremendous conclusions that I never get to. All I have is long introductions, because the conclusion I don’t get to becomes the introduction for next week’s message.

Let’s look at verses 15 to 17, Ephesians 5:15-17. “See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil. Wherefore, be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is.” Now beloved, there’s no question in my mind but that we live in a world full of fools. It is a fool’s world. In fact, every one born into this world comes in with a terminal state of congenital foolishness, otherwise known as the sin nature. That’s how it is. Man is born a fool. Proverbs 22:15 says, “Foolishness is bound up in the heart of a child.” Man is born in a state of foolishness. Now, you say, “What do you mean by that?” When we think of a fool we think of someone who does irresponsible acts or who speaks irresponsible words, but the Bible defines a fool as one who exists apart from God. A fool is one who exists apart from God. A wise man is one who lives in accord with God’s divine principles. That’s biblical definition for those two concepts. Man, then, is born separated from God. He is born a fool. He is born in a situation where God’s wisdom is absent.

Now let me tell you how that kind of works out. There are characteristics of foolishness and if you’ll look with me at Psalms and Proverbs for a moment I’ll try to show you some that may sum up. Much of the book of Proverbs deals with the fool. In fact, you’d need to do a very detailed study of all 31 chapters to have a comprehensive view, but let me see if I can just extract a few thoughts and also at least one from Psalms and try to paint for you a portrait of a fool. First of all Psalm 14:1 gives us a basic definition for a fool. Psalm 14:1 says, “The fool hath said in his heart there is no God.” All right? Now that’s the beginning of it all, and it isn’t necessarily that this is only intellectual. This is what I would call practical atheism. Even though the fool may know in his mind intellectually there is a God, he lives as if there is not and that’s why the next verse or the next line of the same verse says, “They are corrupt. They have done abominable works.” In other words, this kind of atheism results in corruption. It is a practical atheism.

So the first thing that is characteristic of a fool is that he lives a life which by its function denies God. It is an anti-God way of living and that is the way it is with people. They come into the world and they live anti-God life. They cannot know the things of God. In fact, to a fool, 1 Corinthians 2:14 says the things of God are – what? – foolishness. “The natural man understandeth not the things of God, they are foolishness to him.” You see to a fool foolishness is wisdom and wisdom is foolishness. And so the first characteristic of a fool is that he practically denies God. In other words, God has no binding force on him. The law of God does not bind the conscience of a fool. He is pragmatically atheistic. He lives apart from God.

The second thing: No man can live without a god. It isn’t a question of do you worship; it is only a question of whom do you worship? Everybody bows somewhere. And so if there is no true God, man will inevitably substitute a false god, which in all cases will tend to be a god of his own creation. That is Proverbs 12:15, the second characteristic of a fool because he denies the true God he inevitably becomes his own god. Proverbs 12:15, says, “The way of a fool is right in his own eyes.” And so he then becomes the one who determines truth and error. He then becomes the one who articulates for his own way of living right and wrong.

Now as a result of this, as a result of denying God, as a result of setting himself up as God, he will inevitably mock sin. He will mock sin. In 14:9 of Proverbs, “Fools make a mock of sin.” Fools make a mock of sin. He makes his own rules; and he wants to justify his own behavior; and he wants to make sure he’s going to be all right in the end, so he eliminates sin with its consequences. A fool then begins by practically living as if there were no God substituting himself as God and suggesting his own style of life, and then denying that there is such a thing as sin because he cannot tolerate guilt.

Now, inevitably a fool goes one step further. Not only does he deny God in himself, become his own God in himself, mocks sin in himself, but he has a dramatic effect on other people, because when he talks he always talks about his own opinions. chapter 15:2, “The tongue of the wise uses knowledge aright, but the mouth of fools pours out foolishness.” I mean, let’s face it, you got a bitter fountain you’re going to get bitter water. Right? You got a rotten tree you’re going to get rotten fruit. And when a fool opens his mouth you’re not going to get wisdom, you’re going to get foolishness. And so this is talking not so much about his own attitude internally, but his effect, and so there is a propagation of foolishness. He denies God; he becomes his own God; he mocks sin, and he speaks on his own authority. He generates his own opinions, and that we see all around us. The world is full of the opinion of fools. Fools who have denied God in their living, who have become their own gods and who mock sin as to its reality and its consequences.

And then in chapter 16 verse 22 of Proverbs it says that he is busy instructing others in the same foolishness. At the end of verse 22, “The instruction of fools is folly.” The instruction of fools is folly. Here you have the picture of the unregenerate man as he is described as a fool. He is a fool because he denies God practically. He is a fool because he becomes his own god, the ultimate sin; he has broken the commandment of God. He is a fool because he mocks sin. He is a fool because he lives life based on his opinion, and he is a fool in the greater sense, because he contaminates the rest of society with the same foolishness which damns his own soul. He leaves it as a legacy to his own children. He leaves it as a legacy to his friends. He leaves it as a legacy to the classes of people that he teaches. He leaves it as a legacy to all those who fall under of the influence of his folly.

Now summing this up I think there is a good word in Proverbs chapter 1 and this just sums it up very simply. Verse 7, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but” – here it is – “fools despise wisdom.” Let me stop right there. That is the heart of the matter. You see, wisdom in Proverbs means living by divine standards. That’s what it means, and it implies accepting divine truth. Wisdom implies that you accept divine truth and you live by it. It is living by divine standards. But a fool hates that. He rejects that. He despises that.

You say, well what happens to a fool? What happens to one who denies God, substitutes himself, mocks sin, spins out his own opinions and contaminates others, who ultimately and in summary fashion rejects divine wisdom, does not live by divine standards? What happens to him? Look down at verse 20, Proverbs 1. “Wisdom cries outside, she utters her voice in the streets, she cries in the chief place of concourse in the openings of the gates. In the city she uttereth her words saying, ‘How long, ye simple ones, will you love simplicity and scoffers delight in their scoffing, and fools hate knowledge? Turn you at my reproof. Behold I will pour out my Spirit unto you, I will make known my words unto you.’” In other words here is a great invitation. Here is God – as it were, here is Christ in the New Testament – in the streets of the city of Jerusalem crying out of wisdom, crying out of an invitation to the fools and the simpletons and the scoffers. But verse 24 says, “But because I have called and you refused, I have stretched out my hand and no man regarded. But ye have set at naught all my counsel.” In other words, you have made it zero, you have rendered it useless. “And you would have none of my reproof, then I will laugh at your calamity. I will mock when your fear comes. When your fear cometh as desolation and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind, when distress and anguish come upon you. Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer. They shall seek me early, but they shall not find me, because they hated knowledge and did not choose the fear of the Lord. They would have none of my counsel. They despised all my reproof. Therefore, shall they eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices. For the turning away of the simple shall slay them, and the prosperity of fools shall destroy them.” That is the end of it all. That is to die a fool.

Solomon said it in Proverbs 10:21, “Fools die for lack of wisdom.” We hear and could hear more at grave after grave after grave, funeral after funeral after funeral, the words of David over dead Abner, “Died he as a fool dies,” because men die as fools. They live; they die as fools – congenital, terminal foolishness. You say, well what can be done about it? Well as we saw in Proverbs 1, wisdom cries out for people to turn. There is available wisdom. Solomon or the preacher of Ecclesiastes in chapter 9:1 says the wise are in the hand of God. And to all generations and to every generation God reaches out His hand and offers to take men out of a kingdom of fools into a kingdom of the wise. Salvation is the only thing that can change this.

Now listen to me, in 2 Timothy 3:15, the Apostle Paul was reminding Timothy of his heritage. This is what he said, “And that from a child thou hast known the Holy Scriptures” – watch this – “which are able to make thee wise unto salvation.” Now there’s the key. Wisdom is found in the knowledge of scriptural truth, which brings salvation. You see? It is the saving act that brings wisdom. The only thing that can cause an individual to cease being a fool and become wise is salvation – salvation. When you became a Christian you became wise. When you became a Christian you stopped being a fool and you became one of God’s wise children.

Now remember this, wisdom is not just head knowledge. Wisdom is not in the Greek sense. The Greeks thought of wisdom as sophistries, sophos, just spinning off theories that had no relation to life, that had no practical implication. Wise people were people who could spin off theories. They were intellectuals, philosophers. But that’s Greek. The Hebrew mind never conceived of wisdom in theory. It only conceived of wisdom in behavior. And when you become a Christian, it’s not just a change in theory – though it is that. It is a change in what you know, but more it is a change in how you live. Do you see? You did not know God. You denied God. You put yourself up as God. You mocked sin. You spewed out your own opinion and you corrupted society.

You become a Christian, immediately you do know God. You take yourself off the throne and worship only Him. You confess sin; you don’t mock it. When you speak you speak the oracles of God, as Peter says. And when you instruct others it is the divine truth that you speak. Big difference. You live a wise life. And all the Apostle Paul is saying in our text is this, look, if you used to be a fool, but you’ve been made wise in Christ, then for Christ’s sake walk as wise. You see? It’s the same message, people, we’ve been getting all through Ephesians. If this is who you are, then this is how you live. Do you see? He’s been saying it all along. When you became a Christian you came out of foolishness into wisdom. It’s another element of the worthy walk.

Look at Ephesians – again at verse 1 of chapter 4, and I’ll remind you of what we’ve been saying every week to get our context straight. In the first three chapters of Ephesians, Paul gives our position. He describes us. This is who you are. And then in verse 14 to 21 of chapter 3, it’s kind of a turn on. You put in the ignition and get going. In other words, this is who you are, now start your motor. And then starting in chapter 4 you begin to move, and when you move you walk, verse 1, worthy. This is the walk. Your ignition is in 14 to 21; you’re started, and now you’re moving in chapter 4. And he says, here’s how to walk. It’s a worthy walk. And then he gives the ingredients of the worthy walk. Verses 1 to 3 it’s a walk in all lowliness; it’s a humble walk. Verses 4 through 16, it is a unity walk. We are to build unity. Verse 13 nails that down. From chapter 4:17-32, it’s a different walk. We’re not to walk as the Gentiles. From chapter 5 verses 1 through 7, it is a love walk. Chapter 5:8-14, it is a light walk, not darkness but light. And now 15 to 17 of chapter 5, a wise walk.

And what he’s saying in all these is you’re different. The world cannot walk humbly. It’s a mad fight for everybody’s rights. They don’t know the meaning of humility. The world cannot walk in unity. It celebrates its differences; it exalts its disparities. It makes an entire structure based on difference, divergence, differing opinions. And the world can’t love, because it doesn’t have the life of God; and God is love, and apart from Him there’s no real love. And the world can’t know light because it is in itself a system of self-damning darkness. And beloved, I would add that the world can’t know wisdom because the wisdom of God is hidden from the mind of man.

Paul said it, “They’re ever learning, but never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.” It’s incredible. I was sharing with a convention two weeks ago and I told them that if all of man’s knowledge equaled one inch, if all that we know of man’s knowledge from the beginning of recorded history to 1845, that entire sweep of history from the beginning of man’s recorded history to 1845 equaled one inch, what we’ve learned from 1845 to 1945 would be three inches and what we’ve learned from 1945 to 1975 would be the height of the Washington Monument. We know a lot, but we don’t know God’s wisdom. Not our society, because the wisdom of God is unattainable to a fool.

But we as Christians, you see, we can be humble. We can walk in unity. We can walk different. We can walk in love. We can walk in light, and we can walk in wisdom. And the whole point Paul is making is you are these things so live it out. You see? He’s calling for a peculiar people. He’s calling for us to be different, and we have been crushed and shoved into the whole milieu of the world, so we can hardly call ourselves distinct in this generation unless we get back to some of these basics.

I am literally appalled at what goes on in the church. I had a pastor tell me the other day they surveyed – this is an evangelical church not far from here – the pastor surveyed the people in their church and over 75 percent of all the young married people – rather the premarital people that came for counseling, people that want to get married, over 75 percent of them admitted in a survey that they were living together before they were married. You see we have fallen prey to the whole ugly system, and Paul’s letter comes ringing down the corridors of 1978 and it ought to be a rebuke to a church that has found itself married to the world. That’s what he’s trying to say, you’re different. You are different. You are no fools. You are wise. Now walk as wise.

Now a believer who walks in wisdom knows three things and that’s the three-point outline that we’re going to study today and next time.He knows three things: He knows his life’s principles; he knows his limited privileges; and he knows his Lord’s purposes. To put it another way, he knows what the rules are for his life. He knows what God has laid out. Secondly, he knows he has a limited time to fulfill it. And thirdly, he knows specifically what God wants him to do. It’s a very simple statement, but it’s one of the most profound in the entire book of Ephesians. He knows his life’s principles, his limited privileges, and his Lord’s purposes. These are the characteristics of a wise walking Christian.

Let’s look just at the first one in verse 15. “See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise.” Not asophos but sophos, two opposites. The wise person knows the principles that God has given for living. All right? The wise person – that’s what he’s saying. You know these things, so walk by them. Now let me show you something. The first two words here are, “See then,” and that takes us backwards. That’s just like, “Therefore.” And you go back to verse 14 and you read this invitation: “Awake thou that sleepest and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light.” Now that’s an invitation to get saved. Remember I told you last time that at the end of his message Paul gave an invitation in that little section there and that’s it. And now he’s saying look if you are those who have come alive from the dead, if you are those who have come awake from sleep, if you are those who are now in the light, not the darkness, then walk wisely. In other words, it’s based on what salvation did for you. Because you are saved you are to walk in wisdom.

Now I want you to hang on to that. That’s a very important truth. He says, because you are saved, you are to walk in wisdom. And somebody immediately might say, “Well now wait a minute. Just being saved, you know, you’re so new and you don’t know very much how can you walk in wisdom?” How could you say, “Now that you are saved walk circumspectly, not as fools, knowing the will of God?” Say man, don’t you kind of grow into that? Aren’t the wise people, the white hairs? You know, the old saints, the people that have been saved a long time? I mean you can’t get real wise right off the bat. Oh, I think you’ve missed the point if you think that. He’s saying here, “Since you are awake, alive, and in the light you can walk wisely.” You say, John, do you mean that you get enough wisdom when you’re saved to be able to be responsible for your whole life? That’s right. I believe that. I believe that the moment you’re saved, there’s a deposit of wisdom in you that renders you absolutely responsible for your behavior.

Let me show you why I say that. Look at 1 Corinthians chapter 1 and verse 30, 1 Corinthians 1:30. You know there are some people who say, “Well what we need to do is get them saved and then later on they can recognize their sin and repent and get straightened out.” There are people who believe that. No, I don’t think so. I think what we’ll see here will show you why we can’t take that view. 1 Corinthians 1:30 says this, “But of Him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption.” Now watch this – when you receive Jesus Christ, He was made unto you wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, redemption. All four of those things simultaneously became yours.

By the way isn’t it interesting that wisdom, righteousness, and sanctification precede – what? – redemption. It isn’t that you’re redeemed and later on you get wise and later on you get righteous and later on you get sanctified. You, at that moment of salvation, are wise, righteous, set apart, because you’re redeemed. You see the order is tremendous there. Beloved, I believe with all my heart that the moment you’re saved the wisdom of God takes up residence in you and you become accountable. Listen to this one, Colossians 2:3. Don’t look it up, just listen. “Christ in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.” Did you get that? Where are all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge? In Christ, and you are in Christ. Consequently, Colossians 2:10 says, “You are complete in Him.” The moment you come to Christ, wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, redemption, comes. It’s a whole gift within salvation.

You cannot have a salvation without wisdom. You cannot have a salvation without righteousness. You cannot have a salvation without sanctification. And that’s my complaint today with this kind of easy believism, cheap grace, quickie salvation. Everybody get born again, and there’s no real consideration of the reality of it. We just say if we can just get them to believe in Jesus and do some little deal then they’re okay and later on we’ll talk about righteousness and sanctification and wisdom. No! They are synonymous. Christ has made unto us those things. And I really believe that at the point of salvation you receive Him in whom are hidden the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

Let me show you another verse that says the same thing, and these are only samples, but Titus 2:11 is another good one. Titus 2:11, says this: “For the grace of God that bringeth salvation has appeared to all men.” Now we’re talking about salvation here in this text, being saved, and we’re talking about God’s grace as applied in salvation and how it touches all those people who are redeemed. The ‘all’ here would be somewhat qualified. Now this grace that brings salvation, verse 12 says, “Teaches us” – now isn’t this amazing. Just the very saving grace teaches us some things. What? “Denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, godly in this present age.” Listen people, salvation alone teaches you that much. You can’t say, well I’m saved, but I just don’t know what it means. No, if you’re saved, the salvation itself teaches you to deny ungodliness, worldly lusts, live soberly, righteously, godly in this present age. That much you get when you’re saved.

Now what I’m saying is this, that if you’re redeemed, beloved, you possess wisdom. You don’t have to wait until you’ve been saved ten years, five years, forty years. You don’t have to – it’s yours. But it’s like that blessed dissatisfaction of the beatitude that we studied last Sunday night. It’s like that hungering and thirsting after righteousness. You’ll be filled, but within it there’s a blessed dissatisfaction because no matter how much of God’s wisdom you have, there’s always the hunger for – what –? for more. And so the Bible promises that that’s possible too. The Bible tells us we have all we need and yet there’s more if we desire it. We can reach out to more, further and further. Ephesians chapter 1, we remember that the apostle Paul said – when we first started out this letter – that when God came into our lives, we were redeemed through his blood. We received the forgiveness of sins, verse 7, “According to the riches of His grace, and He abounded toward us in all wisdom.” Right at the moment of salvation God abounded to us in all wisdom. No Christian is irresponsible for what he does. You’re responsible. It was there granted to you.

In fact, in 1 John 2:20, it says when you were saved, you received an anointing from God and you know all things. It says in verse 27, that we receive an anointing from God who teaches us all things, and we don’t need to have human teachers telling us human philosophy, because the very Holy Spirit of God teaches us to abide in Him all things. Listen, we have wisdom, people. And it is on that basis, you see, that we possess wisdom in salvation by Christ. We are no more fools; we are wise. And on that basis Paul says, “Walk as wise.” Live it out. That’s the point.

Now I’m not saying we shouldn’t get more wisdom. We should. We should. We should grow in grace. We should grow in the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. We should be more and more conformed to the Lord Jesus Christ. We should allow the Spirit of God to transform us into His image. There should be an increasing wisdom. There should be an increasing godliness, but the principles are the same, the principles we know. The Spirit of God works in our consciences. Even though you may not know all the things in the Bible, God’s Spirit resident in you from the moment of salvation will convict and convince of righteousness and sin.

You say, John, what if I want more wisdom? And I hope you do. I hope you do. I hope you never – even though you’re filled with God’s wisdom from the moment of salvation, there’s a sense in which you want more. You want to reach out for more. It’s available to you. Why listen, the fear of the Lord is only the beginning of – what? – of wisdom. It’s only the beginning. There’s so much more. You say, how do I get more? James 1:5, “If any man lack wisdom, let him” – what’s the next word? – “ask.” Let him ask. God will give it and He withholds none. You can have it. It’s available. Ask. And the Apostle Paul said that, he’d warned every man and teach every man that he may present every man perfect in all wisdom. Another good way to get it, not just ask, sit under somebody who’s got it. Right? Study the Bible yourself. Study to show yourself approved under God. Gain wisdom from study. There’s more, but you have enough to be responsible. And so Paul says, “Don’t claim ignorance.” He who is wisdom is in you, therefore walk circumspectly.

Can I talk about that for a minute? Walk means daily conduct, daily pattern, daily life. This was always the Jewish concept – behavior, not theory. Look at the word circumspectly. Powerful word. Let me tell you what it means. It means accurately – now get this or you’ll miss the next ten minutes – accurately, carefully, and exactly. That’s what it means. To circumspect is to look carefully from side-to-side, to be very alert to what is going on. You need to walk very alert. You’re literally walking through a minefield in the world, and you can’t just go traipsing through it like you were lollygagging in a meadow full of daisies. You are walking a walk in a system in the world that demands that you walk circumspectly, carefully, exactly, and accurately, and that’s precisely what our Lord Jesus meant in Matthew 7:13 when He said narrow is the gate and narrow is the way. It is compressed; it is narrow; and you must watch where you go.

I’ll never forget when I was a kid up at Forest Home, I was walking across the river – the creek – on a log and you really needed to walk carefully and watch where you were going to miss little pieces of branches that were sticking out of this old log. Somebody called to me and I had on my bathing suit and I didn’t watch where I was walking and I hit my toe on a piece of a branch sticking out and I fell into a bush of nettles. That is nothing compared to what it is for a Christian to walk without searching exactly and carefully where he steps. The wise Christian is a careful individual. He follows with great care, meticulously charting his course – watch – according to life principles designed by God. He does not fall off into the nettles of the system. He does not stub his toe on the obstacle that Satan puts in his path. The NIV translates this, “Be very careful how you live.” You have the wisdom. You are alive. You are arisen. You are in the light. You have God’s wisdom resident; now live that way. Similarly Paul says to the Philippians, “Let your conduct be as becometh the gospel of Christ.” Your walk should match your position. You should be able to add to your position – as Peter says, “You should add virtue and to virtue wisdom.” Walk in wisdom.

Beloved, we are far too wise and far too accountable to walk like fools. But when a Christian sins, when a Christian falls into the garbage of the world that Paul has talked about in the past two or three sections of Ephesians, he plays the fool. You see? The fool, needlessly. There’s no excuse for that. And Titus talks about it in chapter 3 verse 3, and I want you to listen to this. This is tremendous. “For we ourselves also were once foolish.” And that’s true. Once we were and our foolishness manifested itself, he says, in “disobedience, deceived, serving various lusts and pleasures.” Now that’s the way a fool lives. He disobeys God. He is deceived about the truth. He serves his lusts. He’s guided by his own desires and his pleasures. He lives for pleasure. He lives in evil, it says, and in envy and he is hateful, and he hates one another. That’s the way we used to be as fools, “But after the kindness and love of God our Savior toward man appeared” – there was a change – “not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us.” And that was the change. “He saved us by the washing of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Spirit. And He shed on us abundantly, this through Jesus Christ. He justified us freely by His grace.” And then he says this – since we’ve had this dramatic change – we once were foolish and then this happened – listen to this – “This is a faithful saying, and these things I will that you affirm constantly” – every day – “that they who have believed in God might be” – watch – “careful to maintain good works.” You see the point? The transformation demands that we with care live our lives.

In fact in the very next verse he says you better avoid the foolish – you better avoid the foolish. There’s no excuse for a Christian to lower himself to the level of the fool. Listen you are Solomon on the throne. You are the wisest of the wise. Why would you play the court jester? Even hypocritical Saul, when Saul was faced with being caught in his own sin, cowered with his own guilt, and he cried out to David, “I have played the fool,” 1 Samuel 26:21. And David himself, in 2 Samuel 24, got to thinking he was pretty great, got to thinking the world ought to know how great he was, so he decided he’d number all the people and count up everybody and really make a big impression. So he numbered everybody and he got his heart all puffed up. And then God poured a conviction on his heart like hot oil and it just burned, and 2 Samuel 24 says that, “His heart smote him after he’d numbered the people. And David said to the Lord, ‘I have sinned greatly in what I have done. And now I beseech Thee, O Lord, take away the iniquity of Thy servant, for I have done very foolishly.’” He played the fool.

Moses looked out to a people, a belligerent people, the people Israel, who so many times had failed God, and he says in Deuteronomy 32 in his song, “O foolish people and unwise.” You know something? Christians play the fool. You know how you can play the fool? First way: Two apostles on the road to Emmaus. Jesus appears beside them, and they’re moaning and groaning because their Lord is dead. And He says to them, “Oh fools. Why slow of heart to believe all that was written.” First way to be a fool is not believe. Just don’t believe this book. Just don’t take God at His word. You’re a fool. You’re playing a fool. And even Christians say, “Well I now the Bible says that, but I don’t know if it will work.” You can play the fool by not believing, so I say you can play the fool by disbelief.

Secondly, you can play the fool by disobedience. Galatians chapter 3, Paul says to the Galatians, verse 1, “O foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you that you should not obey the truth?” Who messed you up? You started out so well, and then you got into this works stuff. See? So you can play the fool by disbelief and by disobedience. And you can play the fool by desire for the wrong things. In 1 Timothy chapter 6 it says that if you desire money, you will fall into many foolish and hurtful lusts. You desire the wrong things, you play the fool. And further you can play the fool, James says, chapter 3 versus 13 to 17, by doing the wrong things. So it’s a matter of disbelief, disobedience, desire, and doing the wrong things. He says, “Who is a wise man and endued with knowledge? Let him show out of a good life his works with meekness and wisdom.” A fool disbelieves, disobeys, desires the wrong thing, does the wrong thing.

And you know it’s a sad thing you see so many Christians that way. This is incredible. There are Christians who do not really take God at His word. They don’t believe this book. They say that they do. They probably sign on the dotted line, but it has no implication in their life. They don’t take God at His word. There are Christians who disobey, and all Christians sometimes disobey. There are Christians who desire the things of the world. There are Christians whose life works do not manifest wisdom, and Paul is saying this makes no sense. Why should Christians live as blind, ignorant, foolish people when we have wisdom? Jesus said it – our Lord said it in John 7:17, “If any man wills to do His will, he shall know of the doctrine.” If you really want to do God’s will, you’ll never be in doubt. People say, “Well I’m such a new Christian.” If you really want to know God’s will, you’ll never be in doubt.

I love how Paul put it at the end of the book of Romans, chapter 16 and verse 19, he said, “I would have you wise unto that which is good and foolish concerning evil.” If you got to be a fool at all be a fool about evil, will you? Don’t study that. Don’t get to the place where you’re an expert on that. And so Paul is calling us to walk in wisdom.

Let me draw us together by saying this. It amazes me how devoted we are in our human society, in our world, to the stuff that we think is important. I look at Communists, you know, who live in rigid conformity to certain things. And boy if they really believe that ideology, man they’ll sell their souls and they’ll get just get so narrow and they’ll walk circum-, and they won’t fowl up and they won’t goof up. Boy, they’ll tow the mark. And I look at people in cults and sects and -isms and -shisms and all that other garbage that’s going on, and boy I’ll tell you I see the Moonies and the Mormons and the Jehovah Witnesses, and man they’ve got rigidity that’s incredible. And they walk so circumspectly according to the principles dictated to them and they conform and if they tell them that they can’t get married or they can’t be with their wife, they separate them – some of these cults do – and they make them live in abstinence from physical relationships. And they give them weird diets, and they go on fasts, and they do all this stuff. And man they conform to that stuff.

And then I see the religionists – I’ll never forget when I was a little kid seeing a guy lying on a bed of nails thinking that he was attaining something in a religious way because he was on a bed of nails. And you’ve seen the people run through the coals, and you say to yourself, “Man this is tremendous self-discipline.” And in our society today we’ve got people who are incredible about dieting and running and fasting. It’s amazing the self-discipline. I look back at my life, a life full of athletics where I disciplined by body in ways that were just amazing. I look at it now and I can’t believe I was that dumb. I withheld from myself all kinds of – it’s incredible. We’ve got so much discipline for stuff. I know people that can’t bother to read the Bible every day, but man they’ll run three miles. I know people who can’t discipline themselves to feed on the Word of God, but boy they can make themselves a diet that’ll take two hours to prepare every meal. Of course, we’re all bound at the shrine of the body.

There’s a lovely young lady in our church – I was running one time out at the university, now and then I run. Not all the time. But anyway Matt was playing football out there one day and practicing with this team he’s on, and so I was running around the track and I ran into her and she began to talk to me. She told me she ran 15 miles a day, and she said she was a nationally ranked distance runner and we had a nice conversation. I was fascinated by this, and so she was telling me how Christ has just come into her life and changed her life here at Grace Church. And Dr. Sam Brittan has such an impact on her life at the university there, and she was really thrilled about Jesus Christ. Just all new to her, really exciting. And she was devoted to running and discipline, boy, and she was going to run in the nationals and all this.

After I preached this morning at the first service, the same girl came up to me and she could hardly walk, and she has lost all the ability. She has some disease that they can’t even trace and she can barely walk. And she said, “Do you have a minute I can talk to you?” I said, “Sure.” She said, “Do you remember who I am.” And I kind of looked and I knew I remembered, but I couldn’t remember the name. She told me and I as kind of surprised because she looked different. She said, “You know,” she said, “This morning God spoke to me.” She said, “I had all that discipline for running, and when the running came to an end, I didn’t know what to do with the discipline.” She said, “After the message this morning, I know what to do with the discipline, and that is to discipline my life to live according to His principles.” She got the message. That’s the priority of life. The wise Christian, see, knows what pleases God, watches for Satan’s traps, resists the devil, defeats temptation, is selective about behavior, and so he doesn’t walk as a fool – asophos – but as wise. That’s living by God’s principles. And you know something? You’d better get at it, my friend, because the next verse says you have limited privileges. That’s for next time. Let’s pray.

Father, we know that the pressure is on us to live according to Your standards now because we must redeem the time, for the days are evil. Father, help us to walk that narrow path circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, applying that wisdom, which is granted to us in Christ. Father, I pray for any who might be here who do not know Christ, so today they might step out of the foolishness of the world and sin into the wisdom of God by taking the gift of salvation. I pray, too, for Christians who have been playing the fool like Saul and David, Israel, and those on the Emmaus Road and like the Galatians and the rich. I pray, Lord, that all of us would be aware that You want us to walk as wise for Your glory, for one, and for our blessing, for two. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

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May 20, 2013 – 1:13 pm

Ecclesiastes 8-10 | Still Searching After All These Years Published on Oct 9, 2012 Calvary Chapel Spring Valley | Sunday Evening | October 7, 2012 | Pastor Derek Neider _______________________ Ecclesiastes 11-12 | Solomon Finds His Way Published on Oct 30, 2012 Calvary Chapel Spring Valley | Sunday Evening | October 28, 2012 | Pastor Derek Neider […]By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Current Events | Edit | Comments (0)

Tom Brady , Coldplay, Kansas, Solomon and the search for satisfaction (part 3)

December 23, 2011 – 11:12 am

Tom Brady “More than this…” Uploaded by EdenWorshipCenter on Jan 22, 2008 EWC sermon illustration showing a clip from the 2005 Tom Brady 60 minutes interview. _______________________ Tom Brady ESPN Interview Tom Brady has famous wife earned over 76 million dollars last year. However, has Brady found lasting satifaction in his life? It does not […]By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Current Events | Edit | Comments (0)

Adrian Rogers on gambling

July 18, 2013 – 12:44 am

Adrian Rogers: How to Be a Child of a Happy Mother Published on Nov 13, 2012 Series: Fortifying Your Family (To read along turn on the annotations.) Adrian Rogers looks at the 5th commandment and the relationship of motherhood in the commandment to honor your father and mother, because the faith that doesn’t begin at home, […]By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Adrian Rogers, Current Events | Edit | Comments (0)

Book of Ecclesiastes

July 17, 2013 – 1:40 am

Ecclesiastes 1 Published on Sep 4, 2012 Calvary Chapel Spring Valley | Sunday Evening | September 2, 2012 | Pastor Derek Neider _____________________ I have written on the Book of Ecclesiastes and the subject of the meaning of our lives on several occasions on this blog. In this series on Ecclesiastes I hope to show how secular humanist man […]By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Current Events | Edit | Comments (0)

Adrian Rogers: Are fathers necessary?

July 16, 2013 – 12:43 am

Adrian Rogers – How to Cultivate a Marriage Another great article from Adrian Rogers. Are fathers necessary? “Artificial insemination is the ideal method of producing a pregnancy, and a lesbian partner should have the same parenting rights accorded historically to biological fathers.” Quoted from the United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women, summer of 1995. […]By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Adrian Rogers, Current Events | Edit | Comments (0)

Tom Brady, Coldplay, Kansas, Solomon and the search for satisfaction (part 2)

December 22, 2011 – 11:56 am

Tom Brady “More than this…” Uploaded by EdenWorshipCenter on Jan 22, 2008 EWC sermon illustration showing a clip from the 2005 Tom Brady 60 minutes interview. To Download this video copy the URL to http://www.vixy.net ________________ Obviously from the video clip above, Tom Brady has realized that even though he has won many Super Bowls […]

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