Some Favorites

The Thanksgiving Season always gets me thinking about good hymns. 1. Nun danket alle Gott Mit Herzen, Mund und Händen, Der große Dinge tut An uns und allen Enden, Der uns von Mutterleib Und Kindesbeinen an Unzählig viel zu gut Bis hier her hat getan.  2. Der ewig reiche Gott Woll uns bei unsrem Leben Ein immer fröhlich Herz Und edlen Frieden geben, Und uns in seiner Gnad, Erhalten fort und fort Und uns aus aller Not Erlösen hier und dort.

3. Lob, Ehr und Preis sei Gott, Dem Vater und dem Sohne Und dem, der beiden gleich Im höchsten Himmelsthrone, Dem einig höchsten Gott, Als er anfänglich war Und ist und bleiben wird Jetzt und immerdar. 1. Now thank we all our God With heart and hands and voices, Who wondrous things hath done, In whom his world rejoices; Who from our mother's arms Hath blessed us on our way With countless gifts of love, And still is ours today. 2. O may this bounteous God Through all our life be near us, With ever-joyful hearts And blessed peace to cheer us, And keep us in his grace, And guide us when perplexed, And free us from all ills In this world and the next. 3. All praise and thanks to God The Father now be given, The Son, and him who reigns With them in highest heaven, The one eternal God, Whom earth and heaven adore; For thus it was, is now, And shall be evermore. M. Rinkart, 1586-1649 - trans. C. Winkworth, 1827-1878 Here’s a good one for the Thanksgiving season. Martin Rinkart was a Lutheran pastor from Saxony.  During the  Thirty Years’ War, his village suffered the depredations of both  the Imperial and  Swedish armies—and this in the days when armies  lived by pillaging.  Worse, the plague visited the town, and carried  off more than half the population,  including Rinkart’s wife and several of his numerous children.  Prior to these disasters, Rinkart had a   reputation for helping the poor and sick in  his community. Johann Sebastian Bach played around with the original tune—as he did with so many other tunes used by the Lutheran churches in the  German lands (there was no Germany then; only a welter of statelets called the Holy Roman Empire). Catherine Winkworth was a 19th century English translator of the older German hymnody. This hymn has always left a deep impression on me, due to the fact that even when I live a blessed life, I tend to be a complainer.  Yet then I think of poor Brother Rinkart having a rough life during an exceptionally rough  time in history, yet somehow he managed to make beautiful music unto the Lord. Here’s another Thanksgiving favorite that might have been sung by the  Plymouth colonists themselves.  It’s the 100th Psalm in metrical version.  The Puritans, after all, and most Reformed churches,originally  limited their hymnody to metrical versions of the Psalms and other Scriptural material  (such as the Lord's Prayer, Song of Zachariah, and Magnificat). Some of  you may know the tune as a Doxology. 1. All people that on earth do dwell, Sing to the Lord with cheerful voice; Him serve with mirth, his praise forth tell, Come ye before him, and rejoice. 2. The Lord, ye know, is God indeed, Without our aid he did us make; We are his folk, he doth us feed, And for his sheep he doth us take. 3. O enter then his gates with praise, Approach with joy his courts unto; Praise, laud, and bless his name always, For it is seemly so to do. 4. For why? the Lord our God is good: His mercy is for ever sure; His truth at all times firmly stood, And shall from age to age endure.

The Boy Scout Scandal

[Disclaimer: Uncle Cephas has never been a boy scout, nor has he had any connection to the Boy Scouts of America]

So, it now appears that a court in Oregon ordered files unsealed, and, lo and behold, the Boy Scouts of America stands revealed as having dropped a lot of scoutmasters for molesting kids. The pundits are self-righteously gloating over how the wholesome image of the BSA is now tarnished beyond repair.  And, of course, in the background is smirking about how the BSA have long been unwilling to let wonderful, caring homosexual men take charge of scout troops.  What typical bourgeois hypocrisy!

However, to Uncle Cephas, this list of abusers who were disallowed from serving as scoutmasters makes the BSA's unwillingness to accept known and open homosexuals all the more understandable.  Sure, they aren't perfect at keeping a danger to their clients out, but the BSA seems aware of possible dangers to their charges, and are making an honest attempt at keeping possible predators away from the vulnerable young.

As a teacher, Uncle Cephas is well aware of the sexual temptations that might be presented to someone with authority over children and youth, and knows of colleagues who've fallen afoul of laws against pederasty.  Further, Uncle Cephas approves of such disciplinary action, if only because he is a Christian who believes that the place for sex is monogamous, heterosexual marriage. 

But, let's now call for a bit of honesty about pedophelia scandals.

Are we willing to call it a problem, rather than a chance for self-styled "progressives" to hurl charges of hypocrisy at traditionalist institutions that they don't like?

Will our loud advocates of the LGBT lifestyles please explain something:  are you truly sincere in your protestations that you also oppose pedophilia?  For decades, you have been telling us that the exploration of various forms of sexuality is a beautiful thing; indeed the most fundamental element of your identity.  Can you long resist presenting pedophilia as a legitimate means of initiating the young?

The DiploMad 2.0: Joe "Sardonicus" Biden

The DiploMad 2.0: Joe "Sardonicus" Biden

America's Most Brilliant President

So, the local media in my deep indigo part of the USA are saying that Romney won Debate Number One.

I'm not surprised.  I recall the debates between McCain and Obama in 2008, during which the media anointed the O as "brilliant".  But the portion I saw had McCain trotting out facts, figures, and arguments, while Obama merely said "hope...change...hope...change..." like some kind of wind-up toy.  it was then and there that I decided that this President is a media-generated image, possibly even a hologram, but definitely not the "most brilliant president ever" that he's been touted to be.

Given the subservience of the MSM, and its unwillingness to probe during in age in which it seems that the ONLY secret American can keep is its "most brilliant president's" academic record, I foresee another four years of the O (Groooooaaaaaan!).  I foresee the economy gaining, but only because Rejep Erdogan's neo-Ottomanist ambitions and our misadministration's (hat tip to Diplomad 2.0) unwise support of the Syrian rebels will probably suck us into a general Sunni v. Shi'ah conflagration in the Middle East--and hence we'll get a strong wartime economy growing while the government again goes deeper into debt.

However, we do have a great God who is most wise and gracious.  But I fear that it won't be this generation seeing how in all things God works for the good of those who love Him.

Worth Reading

Here's a retired foreign policy pro assessing the administration's recent spokesperson on Libyan and other blow-ups:

http://thediplomad.blogspot.com/2012/09/how-long-before-rice-goes-under-bus.html#comment-form

Our Government Responds

Having just watched the evening news re the blowup in the Middle East, I've decided I need to vent. This administration's responses to petty provocations to the Muslim world first by a backwoods preacher and now by some disgruntled Coptic immigrants (in the film _Innocence of Muslims_) leave me deeply disturbed.

It took this administration until Thursday before it mentioned Americans' First Amendment right to express themselves, no matter how crudely. Why wasn't this tack taken in the Terry Jones kerfuffle? Why did this administration choose to blow such an obscure person into such prominence over the burning of a Qur'an? For Pete's sake, are they suggesting that we Christians now have the right to be "understood" if we burn down a few TV and movie studios over the nightly insults we get from the entertainment industry? I dare hope not!

Hillary Clinton should've clearly told the Muslim world that the same First Amendment that protects an Imam's right to call the Jews "relatives of apes and pigs" (it's there in Sura 2:65 or thereabouts and repeated again in Sura 7)--surely offensive to many of us, Jewish or not--Bill Maher's right to say downright nasty things about his Catholic upbringing (and I am not a RC), also protects Terry Jones' right to burn a Qur'an (which, BTW, is an act of which I do not approve) and a bunch of Copts' right to let out their true feelings about the majority religion of their Old Country when they're safe here in the USA. Mrs Clinton also ought to tell the Islamic world--where Christian girls are often kidnapped and raped in Egypt; Christian and Hindu girls meet the same treatment in Pakistan; where the 5% of the Bangladeshi population that is non-Muslim female experiences 98% of the rapes (and not from their own men)--that if it wants the respect of the rest of us, it really needs to clean up its own act vis-a-vis its religious minorities.

The prominence which both the administration and the MSM give to the justly obscure propagators of these supposed "insults" to Islam further suggests that, for supposed reasons of "the greater good" that our media and political elite would really like the First Amendment to go away. The tinny quality of Mrs. Clinton's Thursday remarks versus the strident tones attacking the film _Innocence of Muslims_ immediately after the assassination of Ambassador Stevens (may God grant his family comfort in this time of mourning) makes me sweat that perhaps we will see a large assault on the First Amendment at home.

 

Now, I will admit that I believe that the timing of the attacks is how Qaida and its affiliates are telling the world that they are still there.  Hence, I accept that these attacks are a warning that terrorism's war on us is not going to wind down--much as we would like to wind down our end of the matter.  I would also hate to see the American public respond to Islamic provocations in the manner chosen by the Islamic street.  But the response to this kind of trouble is not to suddenly become so solicitous of Muslim sensitivities that we become their Dhimmi.

Our elite has shown itself adept at dropping the ball on a possible teaching moment. Let's hope it isn't the harbinger of something truly sinister on the home front.

Take Care in Praying

Not only should we be careful about what we pray for--lest we get it--but also about how we pray for it. 

Recently, people have been spreading a poster urging us to pray for President Obama, with the citation Psalm 109:8 under it.

While I would like to see Mr. Obama removed from office in November, I am just a bit queasy about using Psalm 109:8 as the text.

Psalm 109:8b--"Let another man take his place"--conflated with Psalm 69:25 is a text that Simon Peter specifically applied to Judas Iscariot:

And in those days Peter stood up in the midst of the disciples, and said...Men and brethren, this scripture must needs have been fulfilled, which the Holy Ghost by the mouth of David spake before concerning Judas, which was to guide them that took Jesus. For he was numbered with us, and had obtained part of this ministry. Now this man purchased a field with the reward of iniquity; and falling down headlong, he burst asunder in the midst, and all his bowels gushed out, And it was known to all the dwellers at Jerusalem; insomuch as that field is called in their proper tongue Aceldama, that is to say, The field of blood. For it is written in the book of Psalms,
Let his habitation be desolate, and let no man dwell therein: and his bishopric let another take.
Wherefore of these men which have companies with us all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, Beginning from the baptism of John, unto that same day that he was taken up from us, must one be ordained to be a witness with us of his resurrection. And they appointed two, Joseph called Barsabas, who was surnamed Justus, and Matthias...And they gave forth their lots: and the lot fell upon Matthias; and he was numbered with the eleven apostles. (Acts 1:15-26).

While I count myself with those who would really like to see Obama's days in office lessened and someone else in the Oval Office, I'm yet another one who might feel just a little bit queasy about applying Psalm 109:8 to Obama. Since the whole of Psalm 109:8 (not the portion of the verse which Peter conflated with another) says "Let his days be few and another take his place", some might take it as a call for--God forbid--assassination or something other than our usual, Constitutional means of removing a President. Further, Psalm 109 is an imprecatory Psalm full of curses against those who speak against the Lord's Anointed (David, and his much greater descendant Jesus) with a lying tongue. It's pretty strong stuff, and while I accept that there are those who deserve all the curses it lists, I'd like to think that Mr. Obama is not quite in that category. This may be why there are a lot of folks who feel queasy about such a slogan.
Further, I also accept the charge Paul lays on us in I Timothy 2:1-2 to pray for all men, especially those in authority ("that we may lead quiet and peaceable lives"). My prayer is always for their receiving wisdom to govern properly and that they may enjoy the grace of repentance unto life (what the old Scots Presbyterian divines called conversion).

And, since I mentioned the old Scots divines, I say a hearty "Amen" to their acceptance of Augustine's Just War Theory and even their teaching that rebellion against lawless governments is acceptable. However, peace accompanied with justice and liberty is always better.

This being said, I'm guessing that the folks at People's Cube and elsewhere pushing "Pray for Obama, Ps. 109:8", mean it in the sense that they want him beaten this November and out come January 20.  If so, I'm fine with it.  But, for the reasons given above, I wonder if there might not be a better verse somewhere else.