Chitty Chitty Bang Bang

A day after my wife died, I went to the store to get some food. I was stunned with grief. I had watched her dying from cancer, and I needed to recover and think of something else.

The store had a display of DVD's. One of "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" caught my attention. I had heard of it as a whimsical fantasy, and this is just what I needed for escape from my sorrow.

Dick Van Dyke, a hopelessly impractical inventor and visionary, comes to meet Sally Ann Howes, daughter of a wealthy candy factory owner. Such escape, and nothing to do with my problems. I watched it several times in weeks to come.

When Miss Howes sings the song, "The Sad and Lonely Man", you realize there is a deeper story being shown. The inventor is a loving man and deeply sincere. But he is misunderstood by all, except his children, who return his love. When this man and woman unite in love, he is no longer alone, and no longer to be misunderstood.

It was the story of my wife and myself. I was the misunderstood man. She was firmly rooted in reality. I pursued impractical dreams. She tolerated my often outrageous ideas. Half my life I spent married to her, until death took her away.

The schemes are gone. Like my Janie, I will soon die. Neither of feared death. As Christians, we looked forward to going to be with the Lord when we received the news of our soon demise--leaving earth, going to heaven.

Oh, the message of this movie, starting out as a comedy, and ending with mutual love and understanding.

See Lovely Lonely Man(from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang).

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Note: This is the final post written by The Last Robin. For an explanation and a tribute, see "...He Being Dead Yet Speaketh".

An Absolute Dictator, Open to Suggestions

This is how Danny Thomas defined the role of a father. Though it was meant semi-humorously, I appreciated the insight. There is, of course, a balance here between being dictatorial, and suggesting and bargaining. A parent may cajole a child to try a new food with gentle persuasion. But when this child wanders into a heavily trafficked street the parent's warning must be obeyed instantly and without equivocation.

Is this true of our relationship with God? Can we, should we, try to bargain with Him? In my early studies I was surprised at those who did just that. I knew a lady who was childless. She prayed to God, "You have a son. Can't I have one also?" Soon she was pregnant with twin boys. Whether this came about through divine intervention I do not know, but we have Bible examples of just such pleas.

In Genesis, Abraham asks God about sparing Sodom if fifty righteous men are found in it. The fifty is replaced by forty, thirty, twenty and so on, in a most peculiar bargaining session (Genesis 18:24-32).

In Numbers 27:1-7 we have an example of women asking for inheritance rights from God through Moses as mediator. What follows is a modification of the law in their favor. And the LORD spake unto Moses saying, The daughters of Zelophehad speak right: thou shalt surely give them a possession of an inheritance among their fathers brethren; (Numbers 27:6-7). It pays to ask.

In Ezekiel 4:12 God tells him to prepare food using human dung for baking. Ezekiel objects and God allows him to use animal dung.

There are other examples. Hannah begging for Samuel, for example. But the word is plain upon this point. Ask of God. He is open to your requests.

Want to Start a Fight?

Purely a rhetorical question, of course. The Bible speaks against "brawlers", so I am warning against any such evil practices.

But, purely on hypothetical grounds, let's just say that a person would wish to start a fight. It would be a scientific experiment under carefully controlled circumstances, and all profits attendant to such activity would be donated to charity.

This statement was insisted upon by my legal department.

There are a couple of methods which are guaranteed to start fights. In these cases, not physical ones; but as in the academic world, career-ending brawls occur.

The first one is well established through experiment. If anyone associated with the medical profession would question the efficacy of vaccines, they would be slain, their bodies cut into pieces and thrown into a municipal land fill.

Now I realize that this would never take place. Never. This is a theoretical question only. The reason it would not occur is that no one would question vaccines. I don't know why I even brought this up.

Yet there are daring souls who read highly controversial books and articles that do question vaccines. One is even a Harvard grad who should qualify as one of the elite.

Maybe he is just deranged? In this once-free land anyone who questions orthodoxy must be deranged. Martin Luther (you know, the "soul sleeper") started a terrible train of events when he questioned Authority.

Such awful events could be avoided if we would all just shut up. My motto is, "the experts know, and are never wrong." Say this at least 100 times a day. "There are no legitimate disagreements in medicine or religion."

I once read of a trouble-making rebel who caused a lot of trouble because he ignored this simple formula. His name was Ignaz Semmelweiss. I really don't want to mention such a rebel and the problems he caused. In fact, I wash my hands of the whole affair!

Personification of the Planets

And they called Barnabus, Jupiter, and Paul, Mercurius, because he was the chief speaker. Acts 14:12

And after three months we departed in a ship of Alexandria, which had wintered in the isle, whose sign was Castor and Pollux. Acts 28:11

Jupiter, Mercurious, and the sign of Gemini--why are they even mentioned in the Bible? Perhaps to show us how deeply the planets were imbedded in the lives of the contemporaries of Paul? And there are more such references, such as Stephen's telling, in Acts chapter seven, of the true worship of Israel while forty years in the wilderness.

In the worship of materialistic science as the end all of knowledge, we have neglected many deep events that have shaped civilization. This was revealed to me as I read my first book by Velikovsky way back in the fifties. His psychological interpretation of historical events was a revelation. For he believed that myths originated in actual physical events that were put into forms more endurable to the traumatized minds of the ancients.

He put forth ideas on the nature of planets that were laughed at until he was vindicated by space probes years later. He was a multi-disciplinary genius who proved that the book of Exodus relates true events. He used parallel Egyptian texts from the Ipuwer papyrus in Leiden.

Why all my ado over mythology?

First, I believe Christians should know about everything. Knowledge is a wonderful tool for witnessing. If we establish credibility in fields other than the Bible, when we do speak of God's Word, unbelievers are far more liable to listen to us.

Second, knowledge of pagan truths strengthens our own beliefs. So many Christians will not touch much of truth because they feel it is "worldly". But Christians should never fear any knowledge. We are the only ones who can put it into proper perspective.

See the following.

• Ipuwer Papyrus, from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
• Symbols of an Alien Sky - Official Movie

When Scientists Become Foolish Children

Who am I to make such a broad indictment? Certainly scientists are making wonderful discoveries as they gather more data and specialize in their individual fields.

Let me give you my reason for saying this. While they become "more expert", they are leaving out God. Have I conducted a poll of scientists world wide? Of course not. But name a scientist who is known as a Christian. Once they all were.

A great change in the field of Geology came when catastrophists became uniformatarians. Now every kid knows the earth is billions of years old and the evolutionary rise of man from inert matter took millions of years. Imagine trying to get an advanced degree in the earth sciences while proclaiming that mankind was created by God about 6,000 years ago.

I know there are scientist who are believers, but name one. Dr. Henry Morris was one and published extensively, but he did so after he saw the light.

When I took a course (one little course) in geology, my professor told us that the men in this field can no longer communicate with one another. They have become way too specialized for that.

Let me say, that regardless of their learning or their faith, most are slaves to their employers. In the early years of science, scientists were independent of such constraints and were educated in universities where the Christian faith was promoted or at least tolerated.

In crude terms, most scientist are non-believers or believers who are "job scared" into silence. Anyone can look into the history of science and see the change. We have gone from Baron Cuvier to Darwin.

Do I lament this? Not at all. Let the world go its wayward way. I care the same about the world as it cares about me.

Christians who believe the experts, who know more and more about less and less (and this includes "leaders" of churches), are themselves fulfilling Bible prophecy in their cowardice and unbelief.

Am I anti-science? No, I love it.

But the world view of science in general leads nowhere. It describes a course that it is seeing unfold, yet are unable to comprehend or alter. The Bible's truth will prevail. It is unfolding now, and so blatantly that the doomed world has begun using the term "apocalyptic". Such an unscientific term!

Wedding Cakes

Many people may be kept away from reading prophecy by the style of its writing. A theme is laid out, sometimes in one sentence. We may then expect a nice linear sequence of events from beginning to end. While this is true of a novel or a detective story, it is not the way prophecy is often written.

Isaiah is a good illustration. Like a wedding cake it has many layers. And like the Detective Columbo, the author keeps saying, "One more thing." A point is made, then repeated again in different ways. If we are patient, we keep learning new themes.

I have been listening to the book of Isaiah in the New Living Version. It really is so clear that way. When the author speaks of a poor harvest, instead of using old English terms, this version speaks of acres of land and gallons of wine.

My mother was invited to attend the symphony a number of times. But she described classical music as repetitious--the same theme over and over. Truly it is the layer cake of music. But its richness comes from subtle variations.

Prophecy, nowhere more than in Isaiah, keeps adding new themes and leaps from the 700's B.C. to the millennium in what can be the most confusing fashion. Local prophecies can suddenly be world wide ideas in a flash. But it is so rich that being patient can be infinitely rewarding. From ladies' fashions to the wrath and mercy of God, it is all there.

If you have yet to, please read or listen to Isaiah, and in a modern translation or paraphrase. Be ready to take notes. It is like going to Bible college while yet in your home.

A very excellent way to look at its multitude of themes is to pass over things that you do not understand at the moment, and keep moving. Though an Old Testament book, it will help you understand the book of Revelation.

Layers of cake and icing--the book of Isaiah--how sweet they are.

Are We There Yet Daddy?

Then Abraham approached him and said: "Will you sweep away the righteous with the wicked? Genesis 18:23, NIV

Some Christians are wondering when the last events leading to the rapture will take place. I am. My best friend is. Surely the world is ripe for harvest.

So why does Jesus not come and take us away? A student of the Last Day can say, "Because the Apostasy of the church is not complete, and the Man of Sin has not been revealed."

But then we may ask, "Why are these things not yet fulfilled?"

One of the greatest problems of being human is the difference in the perception of time we have, compared to that of God. "How long, oh Lord?" asks the prophet. Though it is not yet time for destruction, the time for judgement is drawing near. So, Lord, why do you delay?

The story of Sodom may help us here. The schedule of Acts 15, may also tell the story. Here, we are told that God is presently calling out a people for his name. Since the days of the church in Antioch, they are called Christians. Many people, but one body, called the Bride. We may accurately say that the Bride is not yet complete.

Many then will say, "We need more missionaries to go to the far reaches of the earth to find the remaining members of the Bride."

Now, this idea leaves out the idea of the unreached in the country where we live. This neglects people in our own households who do not believe. Strange, is it not, that the unsaved are often thought to be in some remote region of Borneo. The farther away the mission field the "holier" it becomes.

But there are unreached people quite nearby. The last person to complete the Bride may be in your neighborhood, or even your own household. As if everyone in (my case) the USA was not as lost as the most remote person.

I was. My mother and sister were. Yet they were long time church attendees. My mother in law was caught up in a legalistic cult that taught salvation by keeping the law of Moses. Who reached out to her?

Am I blaming the churches? Yes indeed I am! Their presentation of the Gospel, of Christ Himself, is so horribly warped that many of the elect must be reached by other means than by corporate churches. It could be a radio broadcast, by a book (as in my case), or a Gospel pamphlet.

It could be by talking with an unsaved friend. I had the privilege of reaching my best friend at the time in this way. In his kitchen.

As cynical as I am, let me say that many, many people shun the corporate church and its self serving blather. Churches can really be repulsive, repulsive, repulsive. The lost lose their identity and become part of a program. Phony friendliness just doesn't make it. Many feel they are not "good enough" to associate with such wonderful, perfect people. They may even smoke and drink!

Personally, I feel churches are competitive branch offices seeking funding for wonderful business enterprises.

So why the title? The Bride has not been completed. She is not ready to be taken to heaven. Only God knows how many are yet to be called out.

But even a lowly clod such as I am knows that we must be better at witnessing. And one of the greatest obstacles to this is the business model of the church. We dress up, we expand our huge churches, and we overlook individuals. The Bible, personally applied, reaches people. I know. I have done it.

Are we there yet Abba?

Let us not put obstacles in peoples' way.