Esther 5

In the Book of Proverbs it says to cut your own throat before sitting down at a king's table. That would have been good advice for Haman to follow. He thought he was being honored by eating with the king and queen.

Instead, it turned out he was being set up.

Review: THE PRACTICE OF THE PRESENCE OF GOD by Brother Lawrence

I went through a mystical phase a while back and reread this, only to find that I was already doing what it taught. The premise of the book is that we should always act as if God was with us, since he is anyway.

The first time I read this several years ago, it was mainly to say I had, and it seemed impossible. When I read it again, it was to grow closer to God, and it seemed like the most natural thing in the world. If it's approached in the right spirit, I recommend it.

Esther 4

Though Mordecai offered Esther a theological reason for helping the Jews -- it may have been her entire reason for being, after all -- he also appealed to her sense of self-preservation.

The Jews would be saved even if she didn't help, but she would still die.

Review: THE ANTE-NICENE FATHERS VOL. 1 ed. by A. Cleveland Coxe

The Ante-Nicene Fathers was a set first published in the 1800s. It consists of all of the available Christian writings from before 325AD, in an English translation. ("Ante" means "before" and "Nicene" refers to the Council of Nicea in 325AD.)

This is the version produced by the Christian Classics Ethereal Library, and includes not only the early Christian writings, but also the introductions and over 3200 notes. Unfortunately, many of the notes are in other languages, or extremely obscure. They generally add little. The various introductions, although well-written, are also hardly necessary.

What was remarkable about this volume was how easy it was to read. Victorian translations of much older works tend to be intentionally archaic, but that's not the case here. It's obviously old, but not so that it's hard to understand.

Some of the writers here were personally taught by the apostles, and the rest were only a generation or two removed from them. It's important to know what the Christian faith is like under its many hundreds of years of interpretation, and for that reason I recommend it.

Esther 3

The Jews didn't even see it coming.

Haman shows what one smart, crazy person can do. There were Jews throughout the empire, and Haman had every intention of killing them all. Why? Because one Jew had insulted him.

We have been united as follows concerning the ban

The second article in the Schleitheim Confesion is about the ban, which is just the culmination of the church discipline described in Matthew 18.

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II. We have been united as follows concerning the ban. The ban shall be employed with all those who have given themselves over to the Lord, to walk after [Him] His commandments; those who have been baptized into the one body of Christ, and let themselves be called brothers or sisters, and still somehow slip and fall into error and sin, being inadvertently overtaken. The same [shall] be warned twice privately and the third time be publicly admonished before the entire congregation according to the command of Christ (Matthew 18). But this shall be done according to the ordering of the Spirit of God before the breaking of bread, so that we may all in one spirit and in one love break and eat from one bread and drink from one cup.

Esther 2

Much has been made of the fact that the Book of Esther contains no reference at all to God. Remember that these are the Jews who didn't go back to the Promised Land, though many discern the Hand of God behind everything.

Especially in these early chapters, though, it seems to show what people can do apart from God.

Review: FOUND: GOD'S WILL by John F. MacArthur, Jr.

MacArthur is someone from whom I always learn something, but he unfortunately also likes to chase rabbits. This book is only about 60 pages long, though, which doesn't leave much room for rabbit- chasing.

Christians are always trying to figure out God's will, even though it's staring them in the face. MacArthur's contention is that God has never hidden his will; in fact, it would make no sense to do so. It has always been right there in black and white in the Bible.

I recommend this book to anyone who thinks he needs some esoteric means of discovering "God's perfect will for your life". It's very short, but it's an important wake- up call.

Esther 1

If you should happen to be King of Persia, don't try to show off your queen.

If you find yourself Queen of Persia, don't refuse the king. He's just going to replace you. It may not be right, but the Bible doesn't always approve of what it records. It just records it.

Regrets

There are a lot of things I regret. Things I did that I shouldn't have, and I should have done but didn't. The list is pretty long. 

What they all come down to is that I wish I had acted better. That would have required a complete change, though, and the only thing that I know of that can cause that kind of about-face is faith in Christ.

And that's really what I regret. I shouldn't have wasted so much time before becoming a Christian.

Review: WILL THE REAL HERETICS PLEASE STAND UP by David Bercot

This short book had more to do with my salvation than anything else. Even the Bible.

Let me rephrase that. This book led me back to the Bible, and answered a lot of questions I had about it, and helped me learn to read it. Whatever I am today is due largely to a friend giving me this one and recommending it to me.

I really can't recommend it highly enough. I know it won't affect everyone the same way, but for me it changed everything.

Review: COMPLETE POEMS by Emily Dickinson

Here's the official poet of adolescent angst.

I read a good bit of Dickinson's work when I was an angsty teenager, mostly because it was short. At the time, all I knew about were the odd little quatrains for which she's best known. It wasn't until I read this book that I realized that she wasn't as crazy as I'd thought and had written longer work, though none would be considered "long" by any means.

Though she's most famous for weird little rhymes with unorthodox punctuation, some of her poems,especially about nature are quite beautiful. I recommend this book.

Notice concerning baptism

This week I'm going to start going through the Schleitheim Confesion, an Anabaptist statement of faith that dates from 1527 and is still used today. It has seven articles, and begins with baptism, which is appropriate since that was the major issue between them and everyone else.

Note that there is some hard language for certain people, but keep in mind that at the time pretty much everyone else was torturing and killing them. That's not an excuse, but it is a reason.

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I. Notice concerning baptism. Baptism shall be given to all those who have been taught repentance and the amendment of life and [who] believe truly that their sins are taken away through Christ, and to all those who desire to walk in the resurrection of Jesus Christ and be buried with Him in death, so that they might rise with Him; to all those who with such an understanding themselves desire and request it from us; hereby is excluded all infant baptism, the greatest and first abomination of the pope. For this you have the reasons and the testimony of the writings and the practice of the apostles. We wish simply yet resolutely and with assurance to hold to the same.

Nehemiah 13

Nehemiah was zealous for God's law, and was shocked when the other Jews weren't.

I'm sure they never meant to disobey. I doubt they ever set out to rebel against God. But a little compromise made it a little easier to compromise the next time, and so forth, until Nehemiah had to step in and straighten them out. That couldn't have been pleasant, for them or for him.

Esther will start on Monday. 

Nehemiah 12

There was a priest named "Amok". There's no great truth to that, no deep theological meaning to uncover. I just thought it was funny. It's probably not funny in any other language -- in Hebrew it probably means "mighty eagle" or something -- and it may leave you completely cold, but I think it's hilarious.

The Bible's a big book, and sometimes you just find something funny in it.

Review: EVERYONE'S A THEOLOGIAN by RC Sproul, Jr.

In  some ways, this book is similar to Ayn Rand's Philosophy: Who Needs It? In her title essay, Rand asserted that everyone did, because everyone already had one. In the same way, Sproul says we're all theologians. We all have ideas about God, and at its core that's all all a theology is: a set of ideas about God.

Of course, Rand's beliefs were miles from Sproul's, and both of them are very different from me. That said, they both were right about one thing: what we think matters. I recommend this book.

Nehemiah 11

The rebuilt kingdom of Judah was not a democracy.

The governor was appointed. Everything had to come through some far-off emperor. So far as we know,, people just did what they were told, when they were told, where they were told. And yet there were representatives from every town in Judah right there in Jerusalem.

What I want to do

Should I wake up one day completely healed, I'll know I'm either dead or the subject of the biggest miracle I've ever seen. Assuming I'm still alive, there are a few things I want to do.

Play with my daughters As it stands, I can't even hug them. I also want to do something with my wife,but that's none of your business.

Drive a car It may seem strange, but that's one of the things I miss the most. My favorite vehicles I ever owned was a 1994 Jeep Cherokee Sport that looked like a white box, had power nothing, and was so light it bounced. I wouldn't mind another one.

Get to Newfoundland As quickly as possible.

Read a book I read a lot of Kindle books, and I'm very thankful for the technology, but it would be nice to hold an actual dead-tree book in my hands and read it.

Preach I still don't like speaking publicly about most things, but I love to preach. My wife and daughters know that all too well.

Learn several instruments I have a penny whistle and a ukulele, so I guess I'd better start there. What I really want to play are bass, banjo, and pocket sax.

Start a house church Nothing against Tony, who is not only the greatest pastor I've ever known but also one of my best friends. There are just some things we wouldn't agree on 

Travel I want to meet the people I've known only through Facebook, especially Bobby, Derek, and the Three Johns (Comito, Sanford, and Blum). I also want to visit with as many of my FL friends and people I went to school with as I can track down.

Some shameless self-promotion

The Bible Exchange (www.bibleexchange.com) has been kind enough to give me some room to rant. If nothing else, check out the site; it's an honor to be there.

Nehemiah 10

The Jews not only swore to avoid the specific sins that had gotten them to such a state,but they promised not to neglect the temple.

They felt they had to make this promise largely because they had negotiated the temple. The entire message of the prophet Haggai was about people who built their own houses instead of of God's.