excerpt--The Butcher, The Baker, and The Coffee Makers

The late Thursday afternoon traffic in the city of Lexington, KY was in its usual state of chaotic motionlessness. One lane of the inner loop of New Circle Road was at a crawl, and the other lane was doing little better, because of all of the automobiles trying to get into the slower lane to reach a desired exit ramp, or trying to merge into the faster lane. Somehow, the result of all of this mess was only a couple of fender-benders and no serious injuries.

The exit ramp for Tates Creek Road was backed up to New Circle itself, which wasn't helped by a traffic light programmed to keep cars from turning onto Tates Creek for just a few seconds less than a geological age. Several drivers sat through two full cycles before they were finally able to make their turn.

After that, things got a bit easier for most of the drivers. On this day, Tates Creek had no back-ups, so the only delays were at the traffic signals.

At Brown Road, several cars turned right into a suburban maze. One of those cars was a dark brown sedan, of a foreign make known for reliability, a car no longer new though far from being an antique. This car wended through the suburban maze at a slow pace, turned right at one stop sign then left at the next, and finally stopped at the curb in front of a narrow two-story house.

The driver stepped out of the car, and immediately had to wipe the fog from his glasses. It was an early September day, but felt as if August was not yet ready to give up its fiery hold on the weather, even this late in the day. He cleaned his glasses, then turned to the house's driveway. At the open garage door, a man was setting up a grill, and he waved at the man who had just arrived. "Hey, Bob, glad you could make it."

"Hello, Nick. Wouldn't want to miss it. Here in about an hour or so, all will be right with the world."

The man at the grilled laughed. "You do take your football seriously, don't you."

"Especially now, with the season getting ready to start. I missed a lot of the past few seasons, being overseas and all, so I'm anxious to enjoy some games."

"Well, I'm getting this thing ready for the meat. We should have quite enough for everyone."

"Who all's coming?"

"Carrie and I invited some people we met at the church we've been going to, Steve and Amy Fairfax. Nice folks, a lot like us, married a bit over a year, trying to make some headway at work, stuff like that. I think you'll like them."

"No doubt."

The door at the back of the garage opened, and Nick's wife Carrie came out. "Hello, Bob."

"Carrie, hello."

Nick said, "I was just telling Bob about Steve and Amy."

"Oh, good, you haven't yet met them, have you?"

"No."

"I do hope you'll get along with them. In fact, Amy's sister Naomi is coming with them this evening. I've met her a few times, she's a sweetie. I think you'll like her, Bob."

"Oh. Maybe."

"Don't be like that, Bob. I'm not trying to set you up or anything, but if something should work out between you and her..."

It was a bit of an irritant to Bob, that his friends seemed to want to press him into dating. "We'll get along, but I'm not promising anything else."

"I know, I know. Well, I'll call Amy, and see if they're going to arrive soon. If so, you can start grilling, Nick."

"I am armed and ready, some might even say dangerous"

Carrie shook her head in mock exasperation. "I swear, Bob, put Nick in a kitchen, and he's completely lost, but put a grill in front of him, and he thinks he's all that."

"Only because I am." Nick replied with a mischievous tone.

"Anyway, I need to get back inside, and find my phone, wherever it was I last left it." Carrie walked back through the garage and into the house.

"I'm sorry about the whole thing with trying to set you up." Nick said.

"No big deal."

"You've only been back a few months, and the break-up with Darla was..."

"I'm not going to say I'm over it. We both know better than that."

"You cared for her, Bob. Heck, how long did you two date? I know it was while you were in high school with her."

"A few years." Actually, Bob had known of Darla while they were both in high school, but she had been a couple of grades behind him. He had not felt anything special towards her until the summer he'd returned home after his first year of college. He had taken her out for a couple of dates that summer, and they kept in contact over the next school year. It was after that year, with college seeming to be more and more useless to him, that Bob had enlisted into the Army. He had proposed to Darla a few days before going to boot camp. He had been in the military for five years, including over two years in Afghanistan, and Darla had gone to college. Their plans had been to marry after she graduated.

"Still, to break up with you while you were off like that..."

"Let's leave it be." The nerves over what had happened between him and the woman he'd loved were still raw, and it was difficult to talk about, especially since his own reactions were not the types of bitter diatribes many people seemed to expect. Of course, there were ill feelings and bitterness in him over it, and he struggled with them. But he didn't want those feelings to overwhelm him.

"If it helps, Naomi is about as pretty a young lady as you could hope to meet. Only the best for you, man. Well, the best after Carrie, you know."

"Of course."

The door opened again, and Carrie returned, this time carrying a tray of steaks, burgers, and brats. "They're on their way, maybe about ten more minutes, if traffic stays good."

Nick visibly livened up."Good, good. By the way, Bob, thanks for all of this food."

"Being a butcher does have its advantages." Bob worked at a place called MacCutcheon's Meat Market, and got the employee's discount.

"You're not kidding. Ah, I love the smell of barbequing meats in the evenings. Thanks, hon."

Carrie had also brought some cold cans of soda, and the friends stood and talked while the food was cooking. A few minutes later, another car pulled up in front of the house, and the rest of the party arrived.

"Hey." The man, who had to be Steve, was a lot like Nick--a bit over six feet tall, looked like he obviously spent some time in the gym, dressed in a formally casual way, professionally short hair and a smile that showed glowing, perfect teeth. The woman walking with him had to be Amy, and she was tall, tan, blonde, and dressed in some kind of short sun dress.

Now being in on what was going on, Bob couldn't help having a bit of interest in the young lady whom his friends had decided to target him with. She walked a little behind the couple, but smiled brightly at Carrie when they greeted each other.

Bob had to agree with Nick, she was quite pretty. A few years younger than her sister, maybe college age, and a couple of inches shorter. She wore her blonde hair long and tied back in a simple pony tail. "Steve, this is our friend Bob. I think we've mentioned him a few times." Nick said, pointing to Bob with the spatula.

"Yeah. Hey, I'm Steve Fairfax."

"Bob. Bob Smith."

Nick spoke up. "Bob's the one who brought the burgers and brats, so you'd best be nice to him."

"Oh, really! Yeah, I'll play nice, sure. This stuff looks good, where did you get it."

"I work at Mac's Meat Shop, one of the butchers there."

"Oh, wow, a butcher, that's cool!"

Some part of Bob's mind whispered the word "Twit", but he said nothing.

Steve kept going. "Honey, this is their friend Bob. Bob, my wife Amy, and her sister, Naomi. She's going to the university here, what year are you in?"

"Junior." The girl said with a bright voice. "Hi, you're Bob, right?"

"Yes."

"Happy to meet you." Bob was annoyed with himself for not being able to think of any better way to describe the girl than "bright", but it was simply an accurate description. Her blue eyes were bright and alert, her smile was bright with a hint of mischief to it, her personality was bright and sunny.

He had to admit, he was struck.

"What are you studying?" He asked, noticing that the other two couples were leaving the two of them alone.

"Social work. I want to be able to help people, you know."

"Ah."

"Yeah. The school year just started, so things aren't very stressful yet. If I remember, Nick said you were in the Army?"

"Yes. Spent some time overseas, in Afghanistan."

"Did you do any...fighting?"

"Some, yes. I missed the initial conflict, but did have some encounters with insurgents and other kinds of rowdies."

"So you've shot people."

"Yes." He could see her face get a troubled expression, and immediately got the impression things weren't going to go very well between them. There was no blame in him, she was simply one who didn't like to think of things like violence and killing, and his own blasé manner about his actions bothered her a little.

But Bob wasn't going to pretend to feeling badly about what he had done. Some years before, he had developed a certain mindset, based around his theological views. He knew that he was a fallen, sinful person, and that he had very real reasons to feel guilty. But he also knew that there were people who tried to create guilty feelings in others based on bad reasons, while also trying to tone down the guilt of really sinful and wicked acts.

Bob's view was that anyone who wanted to make him feel guilty had numerous ways of doing it, but that he was not going to feel guilt for things that were not wrong. Bob had shot and killed men who had been trying to kill him and his fellow soldiers. He saw no reason to feel guilty about having done those things.

"How was your summer break?" He asked, thinking it may be a more comfortable topic for the girl. She jumped at it, and for a while they talked about more normal things. Then Nick announced that the food was ready, and they all went into the house to get plates and drinks.

Pre-game programs were on the wide-screen television in the living room, and they made their way to the couch and chairs to eat and wait for the game to begin. After a bit, Steve looked over at Naomi. "Hey, have you asked Bob yet to the single's ministry meetings?"

The girl, who had been seated next to Bob on the couch, blushed a little. "No."

"You should. That's where Amy and I met, back about the time the church's size really exploded, two or three years ago. We went when the single's ministry was still new, and, well, yes, we met, and started seeing each other, and, well, the rest is history, as they say."

"Really?" Bob said.

"Yeah, you should go. Naomi will probably be there, it's a good place to go and meet people, and they have some good teachings, too. Well, I guess so, I haven't been there for a while. We've been going to the newlywed's meetings, along with the small groups we're both a part of. The single's ministry still meets Saturday evenings, right?" He asked the last of Naomi.

"Yes, at seven." She said.

"Check it out. Do you have a church, Bob?"

"I think I've found a good one, yes."

"That's fine. But take a look over at Lanover Christian, if you get the chance. We've really been growing! If nothing else, come listen to the praise band on Sunday. Man, they rock the house! And Pastor Mike is always finding great ways to make sermons interesting. He did a good series a few weeks ago, talking about spiritual lessons in movies from the past year. We even had an indoor fireworks show for the Sunday before the Fourth of July."

"Really?" Bob wasn't sure what to make of that. "Maybe I will."

 "Hey, I think they're coming to the kick-off." Nick said, and the rest of the evening was mostly devoted to enjoying the game.

book review-- Burning Ones by Jerame Nelson

A steaming pile of pseudo-theology

The author of this book should be credited with at least this much, that he states his premise for this book right at the first, “I believe that God is raising up the Burning Ones in this hour.” (p. 15). He also calls these Burning One dread champions, for what it's worth, which isn't much, since he never tells us where the Bible tells us God is raising up these Burning Ones. No, he only tries to hammer his ideas into scriptural passages that don't teach those ideas.

Of course, to become one of these “Burning Ones”, you have to work for it, you have to earn it. “One of the marks of the dread champions will be that they will be a generation who will embrace the fire of God, not run from it. They will be those who are willing to pay the price necessary to become carriers of His glory.” (p. 71). Yep, it's all up to you. Too bad for him, though, that the Bible refutes this notion, in Galatians 3, “O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified. 2 Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith? 3 Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh? 4 Did you suffer so many things in vain—if indeed it was in vain? 5 Does he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you do so by works of the law, or by hearing with faith— 6 just as Abraham “believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”?” This passage puts paid to any notion that we can do any works to receive the Spirit or receive any miracle.

One of his main tactics is to use biblical passages as metaphors for his Burning Ones. He does it, for example, to some biblical descriptions of David's mighty men, claiming these descriptions are somehow applicable to his Burning Ones, when there is nothing in the Bible that supports such a view or teaching. He tries it with Deuteronomy 11, claiming that the things mentioned there are metaphors for his Burning Ones, which has no biblical support, either.

Another main tactic of his is to constantly refer to these bizarre dreams and visions he claims to have gotten from God. If anything, these things are more important for his book's teachings then anything he tries to shoehorn into the Bible. In fact, it wouldn't be unfair to say that his faith is much more in these unscriptural visions then in the scripture itself.

Of special audacity, and not in the good sense, is the last chapter. It's simply hilarious when someone peddling strange fire like he is tries to warn others of strange fire. At one point in this chapter, he wants to try to warn people of those who are “toking the ghost”, and while I can agree with his warning to some degree, he does this just after bragging about a time he was “hammered in the Spirit” (p. 206) and trying to get people to come to God by comparing God to a marijuana hit. There's an old saying about pots and kettles that seems very applicable here.

A third tactic, one pretty closely related to the second, is his constant referring to miracles he claimed happened during his ministry. My response to these claims is a complex but important one, and it follows here...

“I remember preaching in Lakeland, Florida, during the time when a revival burned through GodTV to the world known as the Florida Outpouring.” (p. 195). The Lakeland Revival was the event that spun around the person of Todd “Kicking Grandma in the Face with my Bike Boots” Bentley. One of the big elements of this “revival” was claims of healings. World Magazine did an article called Heal or Heel?, telling about when they looked into some of the claims of healings from Bentley, and got a short list of people healed. But when World investigated further, they learned that these people weren't really healed at all, that Bentley was lying.

This World Magazine article is especially relevant to the claims in this book of people being healed of cancer, because the article mentions claims by Bentley of people who were healed of cancer, but who later died of that same cancer.

Here's the truth—faith healers lie. It's been shown that Benny Hinn's healings are fake. Tricks like the fake leg-lengthening “healing” have been well-documented. The entire thing has been exposed as a falsehood, a scam to whip up enthusiasm, create followers who have tossed discernment aside, and of course make the minister filthy rich. And worse then that, people die when they think they've been told they are healed when they really aren't, something shown in the World Magazine article, but not just there. Foreign Policy Magazine did an article called Angels and Demons, which tells about how in Africa people with AIDS are dying because Pentecostal faith healers are telling them they are healed, so these people stop taking their anti-retroviral drugs.

Some people might think the title of this review is crass and too much, but it's not. This book is exactly what the title says it is. It is filled with false teachings, it is filled with twistings of biblical passages. The only place this book should be found is in a trash bin.

well, it's about time! (satire)

DC Talk Issues Formal Apology For ‘Nu Thang’

Yes, I was fine back in the day. Not the best of days. Not the days of the best of music. Remember, Christian CCM from the 90's, this is how fans of New Kids on the Block felt, too.

a bit of music--HUVA Network: Cobalt

Erased: An Intriguing Time-Travel Preventing Murders Mystery

This review appeared at Speculative Faith, with a few changes.

I usually don't consider time travel stories among my favorites, though there are some exceptions. My favorite Discworld story is “Night Watch”, where Sam Vimes goes back to a time when Ankh-Morpork was a boiling pot of revolution. My reasons for abandoning “Doctor Who” are mostly that the series has abandoned me by pushing their social crusade—in a real sense, “Torchwood” is the reason I no longer like “Doctor Who”.

All of that to say, while I didn't start watching “Erased” because it had a time travel element in it, that element didn't drive me off, and in the context of this story it worked very well.

Summary

Satoru Fujinuma is a man in his late 20s struggling to break into the world of manga artists. Occasionally, he'll experience what he calls “revivals”, where his life will rewind itself for a few seconds or a few minutes. He's aware when this happens, and uses this time to try to prevent something bad from happening, such as in the first episode when he prevents a runaway truck from hitting a boy crossing the street. When he comes home one night to find that his mother has been murdered, he experiences a very drastic “revival”, one that sends him back to a few days before his 11^th birthday. This was the winter one of his classmates, a girl named Kayo Hinazuki, went missing, and her body wasn't found until after the snows melted. His return to the past is also just before she goes missing, and thinking there may be a connection between his mother's murder and the death of his classmate and other children in the area at that same time, he tries to prevent Kayo from getting killed.

The time travel element of the “revivals” is intriguing. Satoru still possesses the mind and memories of his 29 year old self, but he's in his 10 year old body. This does cause some amusing situations, and some problems, too. For example, his older self has forgotten where he and his friends had their “secret hideout”.

But it also allows him to see things that his younger self had missed. When he notices a bruise on Kayo's leg, and then reads a composition she wrote about wanting to be alone on an island, he realizes that even before she was killed, bad things were happening to her. So his attempts to save her life also end up being attempts to get her out of an abusive home.

Btw it's the name of Kayo's composition, “Boku Dake ga Inai Machi”, that is the Japanese title of the anime and the manga it's based off of. The translations I've seen of this title go something like this, “The Town Where I Am Missing”.

Finding New Mistakes to Make

I'll try to avoid too much that might be spoiler material, but what comes next might fit that category for some people, so be warned.

Satoru's first attempt to change the past failed, and he got booted back to the present into the middle of the same predicament he had left. He does discovers that he had been able to make a few small changes, but nothing significant. Then, when he gets another chance, he is able to keep some things from happening, but makes other mistakes that are costly to him.

I'd guess I'm not the only person who's ever wanted to jump back in time a few minutes or a few hours and redo something. I've thought it would be helpful, though, really, I'd likely just be trading one set of mistakes for another. I'd probably spend most of my redos exploring new and creative ways to really and monumentally mess things up.

Mother and Child

One thing that's evident early in that story is that the relationship between Satoru and his mother is strained. The reasons seem to range from his own lack of success to some things that happened during the kidnapping spree when he was a child.

One of the things I liked during the series was seeing his view of his mother change. Returning to the past after seeing her dead reminds him of many of the good things they'd had that he'd forgotten about. It's good to see them on good terms. And I'll not spoil the last part of the story, except that it shows her love for her son in a particularly strong way.

On the other hand, there is another mother-child relationship that is very much worse. Some of the series' most disturbing scenes involve what Kayo's mother does to her, and how she tries to cover it up. The contrast between the two mothers is most clearly shown when Satoru's mother allows Kayo into their home while Satoru is trying to hide her, particularly the breakfast scene. I'll just mention it here, but let you watch it for yourself, if you wish.

God of Second Chances?

I remember something from when I was a kid. It was Sunday mornings, and sometimes there would be these church services on television. On one of them, there was a man who often sang a song with lyrics which were something like “Our God is the God of a second chance”.

That's not the last time I've heard such an idea. It seems to be fairly popular. But is it true?

Because the truth is, the revivals of “Erased” are fictions. We don't get replays or rewinds, we don't get to go back to the last saved moment, the past will always be the past and never again be the present. The things we did wrong yesterday will always be done and be wrong.

Although I can understand the point trying to be made, I'm not sure it's a point that's true. The truth is, there are no second chances. God doesn't give us chances to redo what we did wrong yesterday, or even five minutes ago.

God isn't the God of second chances. It's more accurate to say that Christ is our only chance. As Christ said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father, but by me”.

King David could not undo his adultery and murder, he could only confess his sins to God and ask for mercy. “ Have mercy on my, O God, according to your loving kindness. According to your great compassion, blot out my transgressions...Against you, you only, have I sinned, and done what is evil in your sight...Wash me thoroughly from my iniquites, and cleanse me from my sins.”

God doesn't give us rewinds, but he has redeemed those who are His.

Conclusion

“Erased” is a very engaging series. The time travel element is done intelligently, and the story is told in a way that does well in increasing the tension and the stakes. There are some disturbing scenes where ugliness is shown, but also ones where kindness is well displayed, too. I can give it a strong recommendation.

a bit of music: Albert King and Stevie Ray Vaughan

Put simply, this is simply some great blues.

Loren Cunningham twists Psalm 2

The part transcribed here begins at 4:36

Now we become through Jesus, according to Romans chapter 2 verse 29, as well as Romans 9, Romans 11, and other portions of scripture, we become through Christ sons of Abraham, which means we take on the Abraham covenant. What I'm saying through all of this, you actually can rule this world if you will through Jesus Christ, because we become through Jesus Christ sons of God, joint heirs with Jesus Christ, to rule and reign with Christ. In Psalms chapter 2 verse 8, God says to us, “Ask of me, and I will surely give the nations as thine inheritance, and the very ends of the earth as thy possession”. But Jesus showed us how. In Matthew chapter 5, verse 5, “the meek shall inherit the earth”. So it's not through the ways the world would do it, the ways Satan would do it, but it's through Jesus Christ in the ways he would do it. How did he do it? “The meek shall inherit the earth”. He became a servant to all, and in the process he gained it all.

Ok, so, let's look at Psalm 2

Why do the nations rageand the peoples plot in vain?
2 The kings of the earth set themselves,and the rulers take counsel together,against the LORD and against his Anointed, saying,
3 “Let us burst their bonds apartand cast away their cords from us.”
4 He who sits in the heavens laughs;the Lord holds them in derision.
5 Then he will speak to them in his wrath,and terrify them in his fury, saying,
6 “As for me, I have set my Kingon Zion, my holy hill.”
7 I will tell of the decree:The LORD said to me, “You are my Son;today I have begotten you.
8 Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage,and the ends of the earth your possession.
9 You shall break them with a rod of ironand dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel.”
10 Now therefore, O kings, be wise;be warned, O rulers of the earth.
11 Serve the LORD with fear,and rejoice with trembling.
12 Kiss the Son,lest he be angry, and you perish in the way,for his wrath is quickly kindled.Blessed are all who take refuge in him.

If that context isn't enough to show that Cunningham is trying to pull a fast one, let's go further. This Psalm is referenced in Hebrews 1

Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, 2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. 3 He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, 4 having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs. 5 For to which of the angels did God ever say, “You are my Son, today I have begotten you”?

And the part that's referenced in Hebrews is in the same part of the Psalm that Cunningham references, but where Hebrews clearly shows that this psalm is referring to Christ, Cunningham tries to somehow make it refer to us.

But let's go on, Revelation 19 mentions who will rule with a rod of iron.

11 Then I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse! The one sitting on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war. 12 His eyes are like a flame of fire, and on his head are many diadems, and he has a name written that no one knows but himself. 13 He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which he is called is The Word of God. 14 And the armies of heaven, arrayed in fine linen, white and pure, were following him on white horses. 15 From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron. He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty. 16 On his robe and on his thigh he has a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords.

There's also a reference in Revelation 12.

Now, there is one reference in Revelation 2, what Jesus says to the church at Thyatira, which does say that those who overcome will have authority over the nations, and will rule them with a rod of iron. But there is something in Revelation 20 that this seems to refer to.

4 Then I saw thrones, and seated on them were those to whom the authority to judge was committed. Also I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus and for the word of God, and those who had not worshiped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. 5 The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended. This is the first resurrection. 6 Blessed and holy is the one who shares in the first resurrection! Over such the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ, and they will reign with him for a thousand years.

Another place to consider is II Timothy 2

11 The saying is trustworthy, for: If we have died with him, we will also live with him; 

12 if we endure, we will also reign with him; if we deny him, he also will deny us;  

13 if we are faithless, he remains faithful— for he cannot deny himself.

There is the promise in the Bible that the saints will have authority on earth, but that time will come when Christ returns. It isn't the church's job to try to take over the world, to try to somehow make the world christianized to such a degree that Christ will return.

It's pretty clear, Psalm 2:8 is not God talking to us, but to His Son, to Christ. Cunningham again proves he has no business teaching like this.