Emergent Monday: Tolerating the Tolerant

Tolerance is the battle cry of the Left lately, according to them we must be tolerant of all that they deem worthy of tolerance. Failure to do so would brand you with the title of "Intolerant", which for some reason they consider to be a synonym of hatred. 

The Christian Left (most notably the Red Letter Christians) use a cafeteria style study of the bible, picking and choosing the verses they feel to be the only ones worth following for a variety of reasons; they were uttered by Christ, they contain the word "love", they are gluten free... but in the end they chose the passages that fit their narrative rather than God's. 

For the Christian Left this works perfectly, because by picking and choosing verses and preaching a myopic view of the word of God you crush the Berean spirit in your congregation. It also allows you redefine words and concepts, bending them to your own agenda. A congregation that will let you wreck havoc on the English language like this will follow you straight into the pit, checkbooks in hand. Look at the master, the Rev. Dr. Chuck Currie, the Slayer Of Strawmen. In a response to "Keep preaching tolerance, Chuck" he replied "I will," then quoted Matthew 22:37-40 and finished with 

No one will hear that message from you, I'm sad to say. They will from me. And I do pray that God softens your heart. Living off hate isn't really living. It's hell.

Unfortunately for the followers of the Rev. Dr. Chuck Currie, he used a bait and switch routine that retailers would pay him huge dollars to bring their establishments so they could clear their shelves of substandard merchandise. The Rev. Dr. Chuck Currie did a marvelous job of pretending he didn't know what the antonym of "tolerance" (disagree) and made up his own antonym: Hatred. Hatred is not an antonym of tolerance byt that didn't stop the Rev. Dr. Currie from hammering his commentator over the head with his made up definition, then he prayed that God softens her heart. 

Random Bits

"I walk through this sinful world as a 

pilgrim in a foreign country" - CH Spurgeon

I hope you all had a grand day of giving thanks and praise and enjoying God's bountiful blessings. We were doubly blessed to have a houseful of our children, their friends, and our friends. In the end we had a total of 16 guests all gathered to give thanks to the Lord and enjoy each others fellowship. We were able to wrestle Birdzilla into the roaster and sealed his fate with stuffing and cranberries, and generate enough leftovers to keep the mad sandwich artists in each of us busy for a week.

Any homeowner knows that during the holidays everyone seems to congregate in the kitchen, doubly so when the only football game on is a real stinkeroo. We recently had a chance to remodel our kitchen so my bride decided to make it huge, in fact when all was said and done it encompassed the original kitchen and the entire family room. We were able to comfortably fit everyone in the kitchen including the grandbaby, all her accouterments, and three dogs who gladly volunteered to keep the floor cleared of anything that spilled and could possibly create a slipping hazard. Cooking that big meal used to be a chore, but with many hands it turned into a grand cooking party with everyone (excluding the grandbaby and two of the three dogs) participating in the preparations

Thanksgiving is a deeply theological act, so what about atheists?

Sad, but Praise The Lord - this child has a future

A Christian couple in Norway has had their children taken away by the state and placed in foster card for "Christian radicalism and indoctrination"

Pastor steps down because of "too much God talk" - Rob Bell is involved. Go figure.

Several suspects in the case of murdered of Indiana pastor’s wife Amanda Blackburn have been arrested

The liberal Left loves to celebrate perversion and sin, personally I thought I'd never see a national magazine celebrate incest. Unfortunately Cosmo missed the point of the story, this isn't about incest, it's about the results of bad parenting. Brothers and sisters, it's only going to get worse.

Celestial Seasonings Tea is as dead to me as Starbucks. Maybe more so, for multiple reasons.

Christian video games? Not sure if this is compromise, conforming, or evangelism

Hate filled atheist Bill Maher demands that the press question Christians on the possibility of the world coming to an end. Maher and his liberal ilk are constantly telling us that the world is going to end and they constantly set dates for the world coming to an end (usually in a decade) if we don't stop doing something they don't like: burning coal, driving cars, cutting rainforest trees... yet they castigate Christians for the same thing. Is it ironic that Maher doesn't see the irony in his arrogance?

Atheists claim that the war on Christmas is an exaggeration, a hoax, and an attempt to gain attention by Christians. Then they go to war on Christmas.

The more science tries to disprove the bible, the more they prove the bible to be true.

Iraqi Christians face deportation in the US while Obama offers asylum to thousands of Muslims

Religion of Peace Update - Two Christians in Yemen, both converts from Islam, have been ambushed and killed because of their faith

Give thanks to the LORD, for He is good

Give thanks to the LORD, for He is good; For His lovingkindness is everlasting. (Psalm 118:1)

“It is always well to trace our mercies to him who bestows them, and if we cannot give him anything else, let us at any rate give him our thanks. We must not stop short at the second agent, but rise at once to the first cause, and render all our praises unto the Lord himself. Have we been of a forgetful or murmuring spirit?

Let us hear the lively language of the text, and allow it to speak to our hearts: ‘Cease your complainings, cease from all self-glorification, and give thanks unto the Lord.’ ‘For he is good.’ This is reason enough for giving him thanks; goodness is his essence and nature, and therefore he is always to be praised whether we are receiving anything from him or not. Those who only praise God because he does them good should rise to a higher note and give thanks to him because he is good. 

In the truest sense he alone is good, ‘There is none good but one, that is God’; therefore in all gratitude the Lord should have the royal portion. If others seem to be good, he is good. If others are good in a measure, he is good beyond measure. When others behave badly to us, it should only stir us up the more heartily to give thanks unto the Lord, because he is good; and when we ourselves are conscious that we are far from being good, we should only the more reverently bless him that ‘he is good.’ 

We must never tolerate an instant’s unbelief as to the goodness of the Lord; whatever else may be questionable, this is absolutely certain, that Jehovah is good; his dispensations may vary, but his nature is always the same, and always good. It is not only that he was good, and will be good, but he is good; let his providence be what it may. Therefore let us even at this present moment, though the skies be dark with clouds, yet give thanks unto his name.”

– Charles Spurgeon (1834-1892)
taken from: The Treasury of David, Vol. 5, pg. 320.

We give thanks to You, O God

We give thanks to You, O God, we give thanks, For Your name is near; Men declare Your wondrous works. (Psalm 75:1)

Although the time and date of the first American thanksgiving observance may be uncertain, there is no question but that this treasured custom derives from our Judeo-Christian heritage. "Unto Thee, O God, do we give thanks," the Psalmist sang, praising God not only for the "wondrous works" of His creation, but for loving guidance and deliverance from dangers.

A band of settlers arriving in Maine in 1607 held a service of thanks for their safe journey, and twelve years later settlers in Virginia set aside a day of thanksgiving for their survival. In 1621 Governor William Bradford created the most famous of all such observances at Plymouth Colony when a bounteous harvest prompted him to proclaim a special day "to render thanksgiving to the Almighty God for all His blessings." The Spaniards in California and the Dutch in New Amsterdam also held services to give public thanks to God.

In 1777, during our War of Independence , the Continental Congress set aside a day for thanksgiving and praise for our victory at the battle of Saratoga. It was the first time all the colonies took part in such an event on the same day. The following year, upon news that France was coming to our aid, George Washington at Valley Forge prescribed a special day of thanksgiving. Later, as our first President, he responded to a Congressional petition by declaring Thursday, November 26, 1789, the first Thanksgiving Day of the United States of America.

Although there were many state and national thanksgiving days proclaimed in the ensuing years, it was the tireless crusade of one woman, Sarah Josepha Hale, that finally led to the establishment of this beautiful feast as an annual nationwide observance. Her editorials so touched the heart of Abraham Lincoln that in 1863—even in the midst of the Civil War—he enjoined his countrymen to be mindful of their many blessings, cautioning them not to forget "the source from which they come," that they are "the gracious gifts of the Most High God . . ." Who ought to be thanked "with one heart and one voice by the whole American People."

It is in that spirit that I now invite all Americans to take part again in this beautiful tradition with its roots deep in our history and deeper still in our hearts. We manifest our gratitude to God for the many blessings he has showered upon our land and upon its people.

In this season of Thanksgiving we are grateful for our abundant harvests and the productivity of our industries; for the discoveries of our laboratories; for the researches of our scientists and scholars; for the achievements of our artists, musicians, writers, clergy, teachers, physicians, businessmen, engineers, public servants, farmers, mechanics, artisans, and workers of every sort whose honest toil of mind and body in a free land rewards them and their families and enriches our entire Nation.

Let us thank God for our families, friends, and neighbors, and for the joy of this very festival we celebrate in His name. Let every house of worship in the land and every home and every heart be filled with the spirit of gratitude and praise and love on this Thanksgiving Day.

Now, Therefore, I, Ronald Reagan, President of the United States of America, in the spirit and tradition of the Pilgrims, the Continental Congress, and past Presidents, do hereby proclaim Thursday, November 28, 1985, as a day of national Thanksgiving. I call upon every citizen of this great Nation to gather together in homes and places of worship and offer prayers of praise and gratitude for the many blessings Almighty God has bestowed upon our beloved country.

In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this fifteenth day of November, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and eighty-five, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and tenth.

The First Thanksgiving Proclamation

Whereas it is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favor; and

Whereas both Houses of Congress have, by their joint committee, requested me "to recommend to the people of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer, to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many and signal favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness:"

Now, therefore, I do recommend and assign Thursday, the 26th day of November next, to be devoted by the people of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being who is the beneficent author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be; that we may then all unite in rendering unto Him our sincere and humble thanks for His kind care and protection of the people of this country previous to their becoming a nation; for the signal and manifold mercies and the favorable interpositions of His providence in the course and conclusion of the late war; for the great degree of tranquillity, union, and plenty which we have since enjoyed; for the peaceable and rational manner in which we have been enabled to establish constitutions of government for our safety and happiness, and particularly the national one now lately instituted; for the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed, and the means we have of acquiring and diffusing useful knowledge; and, in general, for all the great and various favors which He has been pleased to confer upon us.

And also that we may then unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations, and beseech Him to pardon our national and other trangressions; to enable us all, whether in public or private stations, to perform our several and relative duties properly and punctually; to render our National Government a blessing to all the people by constantly being a Government of wise, just, and constitutional laws, discreetly and faithfully executed and obeyed; to protect and guide all sovereigns and nations (especially such as have shown kindness to us), and to bless them with good governments, peace, and concord; to promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue, and the increase of science among them and us; and, generally, to grant unto all mankind such a degree of temporal prosperity as He alone knows to be best.

Given under my hand, at the city of New York, the 3d day of October, A. D. 1789.