It's Day By Day

NOTE: This might seem like a scatter-brained, spaghetti-headed piece of perfect nonsense, but I worked out the details of it with the old tried and true “smoke and mirrors.” I classified it under “Politics” because one can’t miss the whacko overtones so well defined in today’s America. See if you can follow it and stay clear of the mental ward all at once.

______________________________________________________________________________________

A grizzled shadow stretched itself over my office floor. Silhouetted against outside light, its threatening form convinced me that the zoo had certainly lost a dangerous inmate. And then, to my horror, it stepped inside! Two glaring eyes, almost lost in facial brush, peered at me. I darted into a darkened corner. We eyed one another silently. Gradually it became clear that whatever it was, it was human. A beerbelly under a skin-tight undershirt struck a profile similar to an ape forced to stand erect. His trousers bagged until it seemed certain that an entire family had vacated them. Emblazoned across his chest appeared the word:

Shocked and still reeling, I ventured from my dark corner and asked, “Wh … what can I d-do for you, mister… mister… ?

“Just call me Otto, maaaan.”

His speech articulate, the voice was as one who had doused his vocal cords with thousands of gallons of alcohol; clouded and barely audible.

“Uh-huh, okay, ah…Otto, is there a problem? Your child is one of our bus riders?”

“Jimmy Johnson’s my kid”, he said. (Ah yes, Jimmy. Not a violent kid; just infused with the spirit of a orangutan.) “Whatever your mode of therapy is for resolving juvenile rowdyism, it is quite effective, maaan. It has transformed my boy. Why, he thinks the bus ride home is better than home itself. I must say that you are an excellent pupil transportation manager. Our School district is fortunate to have you on its staff. But that’s not the purpose of my visit. Actually, my colleagues would laugh me to scorn if they knew my reason for consulting you, but, well, your successful method of counsel might assist me in resolving a personal physical problem.”

(Hah! My “method” was simply an exercise in practicality. All I did was wipe snotty noses, clean up vomit, root like a neurotic for the team, snatch heads bald, and astutely place my foot on deserving seats. The kids loved it. Besides, I was backed by an old fashioned school principal who brandished a three-foot paddle with holes bored in it. His graduates knew the exact size of their playground and where the gate was. I was Otto’s senior by a number of years, but I couldn’t recall Otto ever attending our school.)

“Okay,” I said, stunned, “this is most unusual, but I’ll help if I can. What is the problem?”

He glanced around the room furtively. “I lost track of which hand is which and up and down.”

If allowed, a grin would have crowded my jaws. “I see, Otto. Ah … lessee…you, ah, where … I mean … what do you do? For a living, I mean?”

Again, the glance around. “I’m a psychology professor over at the university.”

Hilarity whistled past my ribcage and burst out as a fit of coughing. (Surprise should not have taken me–this was the mid-seventies.)

” You should see a doctor, maaan!”

“I’m okay. You lost track of what?”

“Up and down and which hand is which.”

Momentary silence. “Uh-huh. Up and down and left and right.”

“Right, maaan, left, right, up, down.”

“Left, right, up, down.” (Isn’t that a psychiatrist’s trick or something? Parroting your client is supposed to keep him spilling his guts.)

“Why are you repeating me, maaan?”

“Ah, never mind, Otto. Why do you think you can’t tell up from down and one hand from the other?”

He shuffled further into my office, (Converted utility room) and stood before my full-length mirror. (It allowed student offenders to watch themselves lie).

Slowly lifting his right arm, he waved to me in the mirror. “Which arm did I raise, maaan?”

I chuckled. “Your right, Otto; so what?”

He stepped forward with his back against the mirror and waved again, but this time with his left.

“See, maaan? First time I waved, it was my right, but you can plainly see that from the plane of the mirror both arms were on the same side of my body.”

More silence. I scratched my head. Suddenly I wasn’t sure which hand I did it with.

He scuffled with two chairs. By the time I switched hands and scratched again, he was prostrate across the chairs facing the mirror, left arm down, right up.

“Now which hand is waving?”

“Your hand or the one in the mirror?”

“In the mirror.”

“Uhhh…right”, I said hesitantly.

“Okay,” he said, “but if I move over there with my back against the plane of the mirror, my…

“Uh, left would be waving. Look, I realize it’s a little confusing, Otto, but…”

“A little confusing! Man, here I am with my right up and my left down, but you just said that from a different perspective my left was up and my right down all at the same time. Don’t you see that down is up one way, up is down the other and left and right are easily switched? The question is which one is correct?”

Stunned silence.

Surely there was a simple explanation for this cockeyed scramble of reversals. Let’s see: If I had my…

Suddenly he was standing on his head in the chair, his trousers bagged in reverse!

“Now, maaan. My undershirt–is it right side up or upside down?”

“Ah… the one on you, or…”

“Either!”

“Upside down!” (Confidence mounted. It was upside down either way).

He flipped to his feet, caught the tail of his undershirt with both hands and, in one swoop, peeled it off and held it before me inside out, upside down.

“Which is it now, maaan? Right side up ? Upside down?”

“Hah! Upside down, of course!”

“Wrong! I changed the state of it when I turned it inside out. You’re thinking of it in its former state. If I turned it to what you call right side up I must either switch the left to right or the back to the front. The only way I can maintain its new state of inside out is to keep the left left, the right right, the front front, the back back, the tail up, the neck down. What’s more, I’m sure you’ll agree that simply because an undershirt is inside out shouldn’t mean you can’t wear it. But in its new state of inside out, the only way I can wear it right side up, which you say is not, is if I walk around upside down.”

“Wh …! Uh, well, I…yeah but…”

“But look in the mirror, maaan. There it changes state again. The left is right, right left. Even though it’s inside out I can turn it neck-up so right is right, left left. But notice: the only way I can wear it inside out and walk on my feet is if I got into the mirror with it where I’ve turned the neck up so my right arm will go into the right sleeve.”

“Well, yeah, but it’s jus…

“So you see, maaan, my left is left on me and my right right, but the mirror says my right is my left, my left right. If my right is up, in the mirror my left is up, right down. Inside out my undershirt reverses right side up and upside down, thereby switching right and left to left and right. I should be able to walk normally with my undershirt on inside out, but the only way is in the mirror where upside down has been switched to right side up.”

Agonizing silence.

Even more silence.

“Any comments, maaan?”

“Iyahhhhh…”

“I can tell, maaan, your method of counsel isn’t working for me.”

Otto left, his sandals slapping his heels down the walkway.

A sudden fear came over me.  Loose in society, this man might multiply and confuse an entire generation! He might collapse everything from law and order, to churches, families, nations, even a whole world! I rushed to the door and raised my arm to hail him back–and that confounded mirror caught me in the act. Now, which arm…no, I must do this with the other … but, no, I’m right handed … no no, in the mirror…

I visited Fourth street last week where the protesters, gurus, chowder-heads, whiz-bangs, dope addicts and draft dodgers used to gather back in the seventies to encourage one another. Suddenly a slick-faced, baldheaded fellow in a white robe stopped me and said he was Otto. He finally found contentment, he said, in a personal mixture of eastern mysticism, transcendental meditation, voodoo,  environmentalism, aquarianism, and something to do with hoot owls, dinosaurs, bird beaks, yak’s feet, platypus’s, Egyptian mummies, and many other such figments.

We talked a bit, and when we parted I glanced back. Ceremoniously standing on his head, his robe had fallen into a little pile surrounding it, exposing his beerbelly and two gangly legs rod-straight through his loin cloth. If he was wearing his undershirt, I thought, it would read:

I grinned. Hah! All along down was down, left was left, up was up, and right was right. And I’ll bet nobody ever noticed that when I wore my undershirt inside out it was actually upside down………I think..

DA

Everyone enjoys hearing words that warm the heart and stretches the lips.  Who does not disdain boring speeches or an oratory that offends?  Anyone with the gift of oral communication knows good words and fair speeches can open pocketbooks and gets backslaps of praise.  No matter who skillfully employs their talent toward taking advantage of humanity’s bent toward rosy words and fair speeches, whether politician, teacher, preacher, or parent, is not into communicating truth, but is rather serving their own appetites.  Such an appetite feeds on a hunger for power, prestige, a receiving of praise, money, and security.  A politician seeks power, the greedy seeks money and security, a teacher looks for prestige behind his degrees, a parent wants to fit in socially, and a preacher may thirst for them all behind a show of false humility.

It would surely benefit every artisan employing good words and fair speeches to visit with the apostle Paul in his letter to the Romans (Romans 16:17-19).  Written by one of the most informed and brilliant minds of his time, he nevertheless said to the Corinthian church, “And I, brethren,… came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God.  For I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified.  And I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling.  And my speech and my preaching were not with enticing words of man’s wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit of Power: that your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God” (1 Corinthians 2:1-5).

The reverse reality, however, is that evil intent’s pleasant words and brilliant speeches can be divisive and treacherous, even as false humility drips honey from its words.  The only telling sign of such intent will be their content of doctrine–or perhaps their lack of it.  What are they not saying?  What are politicians, teachers, parents, books, news media, and preachers not telling us?  Does your senator say abortion traumatizes a mother?  Does your professor tell you evolution is only a theory and the creationists are winning the debates about it?  Does your parents tell you your peers are just as ignorant as you are about the issues of life?  Does your preacher frequently tell you plainly that Hell is a real place of eternal torment were God sends people who sin against his only begotten son?  Is your spiritual leader on backslapping terms with false doctrinaires and never tells you such falsehood can lead your soul to Hell?  Does he claim to be a minister of the Gospel but only tells you half of it? Such half truths become a door ajar, a window cracked, a covert passage where an enemy can slip in with a surprise.

Bearers of enchanting words and captivating oratory is not new.  Paul had to contend with them wherever he traveled and in every church he founded or visited.  In the very passage where he mentioned words and speeches, he admonished the Roman church to “Mark those who cause divisions and offenses contrary” to true doctrine (Romans 16:17).  They were to “avoid” them.  Far from unifying God’s true children, these “positive preachers,” these “I’m okay, you’re okay” charmers, these non-offensive, not to worry, sweet talkers were actually church splitters and truth killers on the hunt for self-aggrandizement; leeches, if you will, sucking the lifeblood from the innocents.  Paul and the other apostles showed little mercy for these predators, and straightly excommunicated them from their churches.

Verse 19 of Romans 16 reveals a stunning statement by Paul.  He says to these Roman believers, “I would have you wise unto that which is good, and simple concerning evil.”  This brilliant man of God is telling these innocents that they should dwell on the truth of spiritual matters and be “simple,” that is, “pure” in their encounter with evil, so that “We henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive” (Ephesians 4:14). In brief, they should use their time to know of the goodness in God’s salvation, and keep in mind the simple fact that evil will damn one’s soul!  That, in a nutshell, is the Gospel.  Preachers who dwell only on the roses in their ministry, are misleading their hearers away from the acute fact that God is a God of pure justice and never tolerates willful sin, and that Hell awaits those who ignore it.  Judgment day will probably hold a shocking irony: some who were saved under such a ministry may be shocked to learn that the preacher who led them to God’s saving grace might miss heaven himself, because he preached a “feel good” substitute for his own comfort.  I heard a Godly pastor say, “Folks, in this church every service is a battleground between the forces of good and evil, where every soul hangs in the balance.”  That church found no place for feel-good sermons nor ear tickling speeches.  It was a place where sinners found it very hard to sit still; they usually either ran for the altar or the door.  Come to think of it, that description fits the early New Testament church perfectly!

The Gospel of Christ is so unutterably sample, so sweet and satisfying to the soul, that the beauty of it can be overlooked in our search for what we’re missing deep within ourselves.  Billy Graham described it best, “Evangelism is one beggar telling another beggar where he can find bread.”  You see, a system of theology has its place, but the lost at large have a deep hunger for simple peace and contentment of soul and body, not a tangled maze of theological analysis.  They are like sheep looking for a shepherd to lead them to luscious green pastures.  The simple seek the simplicity even a child can understand.  Jesus said, “Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me, for of such is the kingdom of Heaven” (Matthew 19:14).  Just so, every pastor has a flock gathered round him innocently believing his good words and fair speeches.  They are trusting that he is telling them the whole truth, leaving nothing out, withholding no solemn warnings.  As the saying goes, they are “putty in his hands,” and God will hold such pastors fully accountable in judgment. Ministers should be reminded of the horrible end of the Jim Jones cult. He led them to a mass suicide of more than 900 followers!  Ministers had best preach the simple truth of the Gospel, all of it, leaving nothing out, service after service, and all for the right reason, in a spirit of humility, but with and by the power of God’s Holy Spirit.

Paul told the Galatian churches, which had grown cold and drifted from his original message, “But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed” (Galatians 1:8 ).  Admonitions to preach the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth do not come any stronger than that razored thrust from the Holy Spirit’s sword in Paul’s hand.  One need only to read Paul’s epistles to see the whole of what he had preached to these Galatians.  It is all there!  In brief, he preached Christ’s life, crucifixion, death, burial, resurrection, ascension, the sending back the Comforter on the day of Pentecost, the Pentecostal order of the church, bodily healing, miracles, deliverance from demons, the return of Christ, the final judgment, purity of living, and the horror of Hell.  He left nothing out!

That, friends, is the whole Gospel truth.  Therefore, any preacher or teacher who claims to be a minister of the Gospel but fails to preach it all virtually every time he steps behind a pulpit or Bible class is indeed guilty of “Good words and fair speeches,” and is in grave danger of Paul’s “accursed.” No, the genuine ministry of the Gospel is not for sissies, the fearful, or the cautious.  It can get one burned at the stake or decapitated.  It can get one thrown out of a church, reduced to poverty, or deprive one of friends and even family.  Ask Jeremiah.

But there is yet more here than we want to think: we just finished quoting Galatians 1:8 above, but look at verse nine.  Paul is not kidding in verse eight about the “accursed” part, for he says the same thing again.  He fully intended that any “other” gospel than his is “accursed.”  We tend to think “erroneous gospel” is meant, and it is included, but to preach only a part of Paul’s Gospel is indeed “another gospel” because it is theft of the whole truth!  To preach Christ but not his resurrection is “another gospel.”  Preaching only the grace of Christ but ignoring the wrath of God’s Hell-fire judgment for those who reject him, is only half the truth, better described as a “feel-good” gospel.  To focus on going to heaven while ignoring the vital peculiarity of living a holy life above sin is to lead innocent Christians to Satan’ s slaughterhouse.  God said flatly, “Be ye holy for I am holy” (1 Peter 1:16).  Pushing the idea of Gospel evangelism while stealing the  infilling of the Comforter of Acts 2 is like sending innocent children into battle alone.  Such peanut gospels Paul pronounced “accursed,” and pulpiteers would do well to remember that.  Hell’s fires will be hottest for those who for selfish reasons won’t enter themselves, but who stand in the way of those who would enter, but can’t because of wolves in sheep’s clothing standing squarely in the way to the whole truth of the Gospel (Acts 20:27-30).

DA

This article is bound to make a lot of saints and sinners bristle like porcupines! It is really politically incorrect across the board. Like so many Scriptural truths, liberals love to warp this one and use it as a bat to bloody conservative Christians. The following quotes are constantly on the lips of Christ’s enemies, as well as loose Christians trying to justify their indulgent lifestyles. It is favored by youth, but it is also common to hear it from pulpits.

“I’m not trying to be judgmental, but…”
“Hey! Who are you to judge?”
“It isn’t my place to judge others!”
“Just who does he think he is, judging others?”
“Look at him. He’s one of those Christians who looks down his nose at others.”
“She’s one of those goody‑goody two-shoes in her self­-righteous robes.”

A lot of Christians, who are prone to embracing anyone and anything from any organization having a shingle outside claiming Christian leanings are apt to say, “well, they are all part of the body of Christ; I’m supposed to love and embrace them, not judge them. That’s God’s business, not mine.”

We love to cite Jesus’ famous words, “Judge not that ye be not judged. For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again” (Matt. 7:1,2). And so we abuse those words as an excuse to be on backslapping terms with error. Such practice is far better known as compromise. As Rodney King said, “Can’t we just all get along?”

Friends, we need a vigorous shaking back to reality! The human act of judging is actually a vital function of the free will God saw fit to install in all of us. That’s right, He created as to be judgmental! Our free wills, for instance, have the power to simply quit eating, but good judgment tells us to stop such lunacy before we starve to death. The raw nature in us forces the making of judgment calls about everything around us, and we do it all our lives. That’s one thing we have no choice about – every choice is a judgment call simply because the base nature of choice is evaluation which by definition means judgment, and we are stuck with doing it constantly to survive.

That truth is so simple to demonstrate it borders on the absurd: try being in a room where someone suddenly whips out a stick of dynamite and lights the fuse. Quite suddenly judgment will flood the room! Nary a soul will find themselves saying, “now let’s not be judgmental about this.” How stupid is that! No! Nobody is going to run over and embrace this nut and look pitiful and say, “now, let’s all be patient with him and give him time to think carefully about what he’s doing.” Not a chance! Jesus said, “judge righteous judgment” ( John 7:24), and here’s a case where it had better be a fanatical righteous! I have a hunch human sanity would flood that room. And when everyone but the bomber had fled the scene and the whole house blows to smithereens, there’s hardly a question that everyone will be glad they exercised good judgment and nearly got trampled getting out of there!

Friends, Christian sanity dictates that we had better learn the fine art of being judgmental, because that is exactly what Judgment Day is all about! That’s where accounts will be settled as to whether or not we were obedient to Jesus’ command of, “judge righteous judgment.” We all know this by sheer instinct because every time we say such things as, “I misjudged him,” or “I made an error in judgment” we are admitting that without the error we would have “judged righteous judgment.”

The church has foolishly misconstrued Matt. 7:1,2 to say that Christians are not supposed to judge the behavior of others. It’s a typical case of ripping a passage out of its context to justify keeping our mouths shut at evil. Instead, what this passage teaches God’s people is to live a holy life before our holy God. Simply put, if you’re living like the Devil yourself, then stop running around accusing others of it. Verse 3 of Matt. 7 says exactly that. If our lives are laced with sinful behavior while we point a crooked finger of accusation at somebody else, then Jesus starkly characterizes us: He calls us hypocrites! (v.5). That’s the pure essence of verses one and two. The inferred truth here is that we should live holy lives before God so that no grounds of accusation exists. It should be said of God’s people in fair judicial proceedings that no fault is found in us. Paul could say, “Be ye followers of me as I also am of Christ” (I Cor 11:1), not that he was perfect, but that he willfully lived a life above reproach. In that capacity Paul ‑‑ and we ‑‑ are in a position qualifying us to exercise “righteous judgment.”

Passages in the New Testament where God’s people exercised judgment of others are so numerous it is monotony to dwell on them! Paul judged Peter’s behavior, (Gal. 2:11); he also judged Mark’s (Acts 15:38); Paul and Barnabas judged each other in a dispute (Acts 15:39); Paul judged the behavior of the Corinthians (I Cor 5). Peter came down on false doctrine; so did James; Peter, Paul, James, and John. In fact, every New Testament writer exercised judgmentalism upon each other, against erroneous doctrine, against troublemakers, against churches, and a lot more. It came natural with them in order to achieve righteous outcomes. Sometimes they were right, sometimes they were wrong, but judge they did because it was necessary.

In first Corinthians 5 and 6 Paul deals with a troublemaker in the Corinthian church. He called upon the church to exercise righteous judgment against this troublemaker,  to cast him out from among them, if you please! But what if they had assumed the role of some of today’s Christians? Hear the empty-headed excuse, “Oh, but who am I to judge? It’s not my place to judge him!” The result would have been a lowdown rascal, right there rubbing shoulders with them, who was sleeping with “His father’s wife!”

Paul says in chapter 6 verse 2 that the “Saints shall judge the world,” and so, his logic goes, “Are you unworthy to judge the smallest matters?” Friends, Paul blatantly taught that upright Christians are actually to be judgmental against bad behavior. That is our job! This old business of letting evil alone to do it’s thing among us is bad ‑really bad! And until God’s people rise up out of our own unholy behavior and call sin, sin and take firm action against it, sin will be the leaven that finally permeates the whole batter, turning the church into a social club instead of a righteous billyclub with which God’s purpose can be achieved. That billyclub is the uncontaminated, uncompromising, all powerful, Devil driving, life changing, pristine Word of the living God!

Now let’s put all of this into perspective. A lot has been said by saint and sinner about a “holier than thou” attitude. In fact, God had to chide Israel for that very thing, as shown in Isaiah 65:2‑5. James warned the church about arrogance and favoritism, as seen in James 2:2‑4. Proverbs names “a proud look” as the list‑topper of what God hates (Proverbs 6:17). Paul wrote the Corinthians, “They measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves among themselves, are not wise” (11 Cor. 10:12). The context of all of these is the subject of judging others. The thing we seem bent on missing, however, is the plethora of passages assigning judgment to the saints. We cited a few of them earlier.

Jesus said, “The meek shall inherit the earth” (Matthew 5: 5). He also said, “be of good cheer; I have overcome the world” (John 16: 33). In view of such statements, He didn’t mince words about what he expected of his church in the world he had overcome: “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you  alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen” (Matt. 28: 199 20).  But we should take special note of verse 18: “… all power is given unto Me in Heaven and in earth.” There it is: The saints are commissioned to take the planet for Christ.

Are we so blind that we cannot see that the mission commanded of the church is to Christianize the whole planet? The begging question then is this: if the church should obey and accomplish that task, who would then be in authority on the earth? That is, who would be occupying seats of judgment? The saints, of course, under the headship of Christ!

But let’s be clear: the meek shall inherit the earth. The haughty and proud will not “judge righteous judgment” now or later. Jesus went out of his way to demonstrate humility. God’s very Son even washed dirty feet! He said we should sit at the lowest seat and allow the host to seat us where he would have us sit, according to his estimation of our importance. (Luke 14: 8‑11). And there was the story of the lowly widow’s two mites. Jesus said this humble servant cast in more than all the others (Luke 21: 2, 3). Yes, the meek shall wind up in charge under Christ’s headship.

So these are the rules if we would judge, but never let it be said that Christians should not be judgmental in matters of right and wrong. But we had better judge our own hearts to see if we have any beams in our own eyes that need casting out first. The question is therefore not should we judge others; rather, it is who among us is worthy to do it? Are you? Look at your own life, and then cast the first stone. You can be a judge of others if you meet the qualifications. Trouble is, if God’s people fail to live above reproach themselves, then who is going to collar the sin and error that paralyzes God’s intentions? If you do qualify but you hold your tongue from judging righteous judgment, then you are yourself a partner and propagator of the sins that run like septic in the streets! God’s judgment will not go well with you.
DA