Early Winter

Winter Snow
by Antonio

Night has conquered, days are shortening.
Leaves have fallen, frost is whitening.

Then lightly falling on the forest,
Softly floating o’er the fields,
Fiercely masking mountains steep
Slowly freezing mighty lakes.

Out of the gray and cloud-filled heavens
From the powerful Lord afar
Pure clean whiteness glaring bright
Blinding men with a glorious sight.

Swirling and whirling while floating and coating,
Dancing round then drifting down.
Quickly covering every dwelling,
A blanket white laid on the realm.

Each flake lovely by itself,
Skillfully harmonizing to create
The earth so strikingly radiant
The earth so dazzlingly brilliant.

Soaring intricacies, marvelous complexities,
Glinting and gleaming, frosting and freezing.
Swiftly snowing o'er the world,
Dancing to a song unsung.

Hate and Love

There are those among us who hate instead of love. There are those who hold on to grudges, and who make themselves to be better than others. The temptation is to hate these people. And yet, while it is just to hate what they do, it is not right to hate them. We are not any better than they, for all have sinned and fallen short. God calls us to love our enemies, bless those who curse us, and to do good to those who hate us. The only way to overcome hate is through love.

Thoughts on John Calvin’s “Institutes of the Christian Religion”

“Of His wonderful wisdom, both heaven and earth contain innumerable proofs; not only those more abstruse things, which are the subjects of astronomy, medicine, and the whole science of physics, but those things which force themselves on the view of the most illiterate of mankind, so that they cannot open their eyes without being constrained to witness them…….In disquisitions concerning the motions of the stars, in fixing their situations, measuring their distances, and distinguishing their peculiar properties, there is need of skill, exactness, and industry; and the providence of God being more clearly revealed by these discoveries, the mind ought to rise to a sublimer elevation for the contemplation of His glory.”

“Thus it belongs to a man of preeminent ingenuity to examine, with the critical exactness of Galen, the connection, the symmetry, the beauty, and the use of the various parts of the human body. But the composition of the human body is universally acknowledged to be so ingenious, as to render its Maker the object of deserved admiration.”

“The manifold agility of the soul, which enables it to take a survey of heaven and earth; to join the past and the present; to retain the memory of things heard long ago; to conceive of whatever it chooses by the help of imagination; its ingenuity also in the invention of such admirable arts,--are certain proofs of the divinity in man.”

It is important to keep in mind that Calvin published his Institutes in 1559. Today, in our scientific world, we know so much more about the heavens, the earth, and the human body than men in Calvin’s day did. And yet, even then, Calvin was able to say with the psalmist; “The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork.” How much more evidence for God is there today? And yet, men still refuse to believe.

Dear God,

Thank you for children. Thank you for knowledge, even though sometimes those children don’t care about it. Thank you for questions and also for their answers. Thank you for the future.

Thank you for unanswered prayers, so that I may trust You with my life.

Thank you for Fall; for apples, for red and yellow and orange, for crisp weather, for hazy light.

Thank you for family, and friends who are family. Thank you for wise friends who always say the right thing.

Thank you for happiness and small joys. Thank you for the beautiful little things. Thank you for laughing. Thank you for tears. Thank you for love.

Amen.

'Tis Not That I Did Choose Thee

'Tis not that I did choose Thee,
For, Lord, that could not be;
This heart would still refuse Thee,
Hadst Thou not chosen me.

Thou from the sin that stained me
Hast cleansed and set me free;
Of old Thou hast ordained me,
That I should live to Thee.

'Twas sovereign mercy called me
And taught my opening mind;
The world had else enthralled me,
To heavenly glories blind.

My heart owns none before Thee,
For Thy rich grace I thirst;
This knowing, if I love Thee,
Thou must have loved me first.


--385 in the Psalter Hymnal

HUMOR FOR LEXOPHILES (Lover of words)

I wondered why the baseball was getting bigger. Then it hit me.

Police were called to a day care where a three-year-old was resisting a rest.

To write with a broken pencil is pointless.

The short fortune teller who escaped from prison was a small medium at large.

A thief who stole a calendar got twelve months.

When the smog lifts in Los Angeles , U.C.L.A.

The dead batteries were given out free of charge.

If you take a laptop computer for a run you could jog your memory.

A bicycle can't stand alone; it is two tired.

A will is a dead giveaway.

With her marriage she got a new name and a dress.

Show me a piano falling down a mine shaft and I'll show you A-flat miner.

A grenade fell onto a kitchen floor in France , resulting in linoleum blownapart.

He broke into song because he couldn't find the key.

He had a photographic memory which was never developed.

When she saw her first strands of gray hair, she thought she'd dye.

Acupuncture: a jab well done.

More on Predestination and Election from Me

“Ye men of Israel, hear these words; Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know: Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain: Whom God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death: because it was not possible that he should be holden of it.” Acts 2:22-24

“According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.” Ephesians 1:4-6

“And Moses called unto all Israel, and said unto them, Ye have seen all that the LORD did before your eyes in the land of Egypt unto Pharaoh, and unto all his servants, and unto all his land; the great temptations which thine eyes have seen, the signs, and those great miracles: yet the LORD hath not given you an heart to perceive, and eyes to see, and ears to hear, unto this day.” Deuteronomy 29:2-4

“No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day.” John 6:44

“Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee: as thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him.” John 17:1-2

“And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved.” Acts 2:47

“Paul, called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God…” 1 Corinthians 1:1

“But we are bound to give thanks always to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth: whereunto he called you by our gospel, to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.” 2 Thessalonians 2:13-14

“Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of first fruits of his creatures.” James 1:18



In this post, I am not going to specifically answer questions, because they have hopefully already been answered. However, I am still going to write more on predestination. I hope what has already been written has answered your questions and that this post will make sense in light of the answers given to your questions.

If man is actually able to choose God, then he’s obviously not totally depraved, as the Bible says. As Martin Luther said, "It is not in your power to turn to God. If you think that it is in your power to turn to God you have missed the whole Reformation and don't understand total depravity. It is not in your power to turn to God. You are a sinner, you're dead, you're eaten up with corruption. Every free choice of yours is evil and not good. So how can we turn to Him who is light, righteousness, holy and good?" Also consider Romans 3:10-11, “There is none righteous, no, not one: there is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God.” How can one who is “dead in their trespasses and sins” choose God? Therefore, the doctrine of human ultimate free will rejects that man is totally depraved. When Adam and Eve ate the fruit of the garden, they died spiritually. If they were only sick, they could choose salvation or not, but God said that they would “surely die”. Without God choosing us, we would all be damned.

Comments are welcome (as always). I wish I could write more, but a lot has already been written here on this subject.