New Chat, "He Never Fails!"

Genesis 37-50

Difficult times come on all of us, but they don't have to drive us to despair. There is a goal. There is a plan. There is a design.

And this designer never fails!

Listen to "He Never Fails!" on Pod-o-matic (you can also download for your convenience, and even post comments)

New Hymn, "Delivered by Lord Jesus Christ"

The hymn for today is an exhortation to flee out of the night of despair and darkness that is sin and into the light of Christ.

Play the score on MuseScore 

Get the PDF from Google Drive 

An Exhortation out of Night

Marching into darkness by our own design,

We close our eyes to every fateful sign;

Turning unto passion rather than the Light,

We stab ourselves with every demon’s knife;

Thinking ourselves égalité and the Light,

We stumble ever onward through our night!

Mercy from the Father is our only prayer,

That He would turn our eyes to our despair,

Invading our darkness with His holy Light,

That we should turn and flee out of our night,

Coming upon the gracious Love of our life!

Oh, Father, hear this prayer to shed the night!

There upon the mountain, at the passion tree,

Comes our deliv’rance from the Trinity;

If we will but throw ourselves under His care,

He will deliver us from our despair

By Heaven’s mercy over our fumes of night

To be delivered by Lord Jesus Christ!

Look upon His passion there on Calvary!

See how He shed His blood for you and me!

Giving up a pure life in divinity,

He chose to come and die for you and me!

No greater love is ever known in this life

Than that delivered by Lord Jesus Christ!

©2015 William F. Maddock

“but He was pierced through for our rebellions,

beat to pieces for our perversions;


the rebuke for our peace was upon Him,

and by His wounds we are made whole”

Isaiah 53:5

New Hymn, "Grace of Heaven"

The hymn for today is a statement of grace, that even the faith, through which grace comes, is the gift of God. 

Play the score on MuseScore

Get the PDF from Google Drive

Ah!!! Breakfast!

New Hymn, "Jesus, Precious Savior"

The hymn for today comes as a result of divine intervention, questioning, and guidance, and is a plea that He would lead me purely, and surely, into the Light of Heaven.

Play the score on MuseScore

Get the PDF from Google Drive

New Hymn, "Land of Israel"

The hymn for today is a call to Israel to come and know her King.

Play the score on MuseScore

Get the PDF from Google Drive

New Hymn, "Savior of Jerusalem"

The hymn for today illuminates a prophecy of the Savior.

Play the score on MuseScore

Get the PDF from Google Drive

New Hymn, "Salvation's Face!"

The hymn for today is a testimony to the salvation that is in Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior.

Play the score on MuseScore

Get the PDF from Google Drive

New Hymn, "Day of Love!"

The hymn for today is a call to anticipate, rather than dissipate, Love.

Play the score on MuseScore

Get the PDF from Google Drive

Shekinah Tower

Yesterday while on a walk with some friends, I came upon an Episcopal cathedral. The name is only the name of the artwork, not the tower.

New Chat, "A Matter of Trust"

A Matter of Trust

A Matter of Trust

Like many other people, I have spent much time in abject pain brought on by those who claimed to love me. Usually what I have discovered is that their view of “love” is more like “make me be like them.” The problem there, of course, is that I am not them. I am me. Another version of this is “make me be acceptable to society.” This, of course, becomes a problem when that society is not acceptable to God.

The society that is acceptable to God is the society that accepts what God accepts, condemns what God condemns, loves what God loves, despises what God despises, walks where God walks, avoids what God says to avoid, and forgives as God forgives.

So, what society is that? Well, I’m not sure that I can point you to a particular society on this planet earth as an example of what society it is, but I can tell you what society it is not. It is not the “go-to-church-ianity” of the United States of America. It is not the “go-with-the-flow-ianity” of the western world at large. It is not the Chamberlain-esque “peace-in-our-time-ianity” of the cowards at the political helm. It is not the “do-as-we-say-or-else-ianity” of the ones who think they hold the financial puppet strings firmly in their own grasp. It is not the “my-way-or-the-highway-ianity” of those who have not the heart to see beyond their own selfish noses. It is not the “blind-your-eyes-to-pain-ianity” of those going through life without a soul. These are from Hell.

Christianity is not some easy, Bobby McFerrin spawned dreamland of “I’m OK, you’re OK, just leave me alone to sin as profligately as I want to, nicey-nicey, don’t ever speak Truth to anybody” perversion of reality. Such a thing is not Christianity.

Christianity is hard. It is facing the reality of what you are as God sees it, then repenting in an effort to be more and more like He really is. This is not easy. No one can see themselves that way without fail. We are all perverted sheep who have abandoned the ways of God to follow our own course, to live our own lives, and to wantonly pursue whatever it is that our perverse little hearts crave after. We are forever self-justifying whatever we want to pursue. The reasoning goes like this: “God will understand because He knows that I’m too weak to resist this. God must approve since He doesn’t stop me. Since God never approves sin, this cannot possibly be sin.”

Can you see the insidious nature of this reasoning? Not once have you actually asked God! Very likely, you also have never asked anyone else. This is what we call accountability, and—especially for someone like me, who has suffered as I have—it is far from easy. Accountability involves real trust on a level that one such as I can hardly imagine. Too much pain, too much betrayal; the smoke of many burned bridges to this day haunts the very nostrils of my spirit. Many, many times I have trusted, been betrayed, and the guilty party has refused to even acknowledge the existence of an offense, much less come back to me to display repentance for what they did. Bridges burned. Smoke arising. Too many times. Too many times.¹

And yet, what is at the very core of Christianity if not trust? Do you see the difficulty? If you cannot trust those you can see and know, how, then, do you propose to trust God, whom you have never once laid open eyes upon, whom you can never fully know, and who is not at all like you?²

I love to see miracles because they show me the power of God, and every rare so often, I get to see one attached to my own life. There is a friend of mine who has been going through a very hard time regarding their faith, and has given me permission to tell the story of that struggle. I have anonymized and condensed it somewhat, but, largely, the words are their own:

I know that God must work through trials because I am too stupid and stubborn to learn any other way.³ Haven’t I heard my whole life about how awful and destructive sin is?

John Owen made the quote, “Be killing sin, or sin will be killing you.” It’s so very true. I’ve heard it often, but never taken it to heart like now.

I was writing to another friend of mine, trying to explain that I have been having a rough time spiritually since the beginning of the year. I started thinking about that. See, if I think hard about it (which I hadn’t up to that point) I can remember when I began to disconnect from fellowship and feel distant in prayer. It was the week I went on a missions trip. I wasn’t really in it because I was not serving God at that time.

If I think about it even more—I can remember the very hour. On the trip there I was reading a book that talks about being spotless before God. Part of becoming spotless was getting rid of past sins committed. It suggested writing them all down, offenses against God and other people, and one by one taking care of them, confessing them to God and the people they were committed against (my emphasis). Effectively, “killing” sin.⁴ There was one past sin that stood out to me, a wrong I had done a relative of mine. And I refused to deal with it. I had been trying to forget it for some time. My relative didn’t know about it. I told myself that no one had to know. I wouldn’t do it again. It always made me feel kind of sick when I thought about it.

Can you believe that a few months later I would be doubting the very existence of God?

It wasn’t worth it. None of it was worth it. While I had forgotten about that moment completely, I wasn’t the same.

I have confessed this sin to my relative since then, though only in a letter. We haven’t sat down and talked about it yet. I still feel wrong. I feel like there must be more. I’m praying that the Lord will show me my sin so I can kill it and be more and more useful to Him.

Though I do not feel very much at fellowship with God, I have surges of encouragement and hope that keep me going. And right in time for my next trip! I plan on bringing that book with me again and actually finishing it instead of setting it aside uncomfortably.

I am very blessed to have a friend who urges me to do the hard and difficult things. It is refreshing and convicting. Somehow you can tell me to do painful things while still reminding me that you love me. That’s wonderful. It really is.⁵

I realized last night that though I had told my relative, I hadn’t actually asked God for forgiveness for that sin, and it was like a burden was lifting. “I’m sorry. Please forgive me.” A confession once and for all that I was wrong. One reason it took me so long to deal with that sin is because I tried to believe that it wasn’t a sin. But having said it all, I was wrong. I was in sin, it was sinful, and I need forgiveness. It’s such a relief. I will be looking for opportunity to talk with my relative again, but I feel so much better. I feel restored. I feel whole. And I want to grow more.

And if they keep to that course, they will. As I wrote earlier, Christianity is not easy. You have to trust. You have to take the risk of laying your heart open, bare, and unguarded—with someone. That is so hard, for someone like me, and I ask your prayers that I will grow more in this respect. I do have something of an accountability partner, and they do love me and care very deeply about me, but they are at a distance, over the Internet, and I have not had to face them eye to eye.

Just this morning, in fact, I sent them something that was a real struggle for me to send: the most recent volume of my personal journal, so that they may more fully know my struggles, how to pray, and, if need be, how to confront.

It still stuns me that someone that I care so deeply for and hold so dearly, also loves me—and trusts me so much so that they would allow me to share their story as I have done here—publicly—in a newsletter available worldwide. I find that to be such a testimony, such an encouragement, and such a lesson for me. At the beginning of the year (God had earlier, in the spirit, asked me if I would accept or reject His gift), I had, quite nervously, placed that gift back on the altar, begging with all my spirit that what I thought the gift was would be returned to my hands. I do not yet know the answer to that, but I know this: it is all a matter of trust.

1Very largely, the perpetrators, here, have been from The Covenant Presbyterian Church in west St. Louis County, and, as yet not a single one—not one—has ever shown me an effort at repentance, the leadership also playing a role in the grievous sins wantonly committed against me.

21 John 4:20

3NOTE: while they might be a bit stubborn (and just who am I to judge?) they are far, far from stupid. Trust me on this.

4Matthew 5:21-24

5This ends one letter, followed by a portion of another, follow-up letter.

Lead us, Lord 

June 2015 St. Louis Amigan, Printable PDF  

New Hymn, "Lead us, Lord"

The hymn for today is a prayer for guidance, and union, and grace, and strength, and purity, and provision, and divine fellowship.

Play the score on MuseScore

Get the PDF from Google Drive

New Hymn, "I Am Free!"

The hymn for today is a shout of joy at the baptism of the Saint.

Play the score on MuseScore

Get the PDF from Google Drive

New Hymn, "In Creation’s Every State"

The hymn for today speaks of diving (or discerning) the Creator’s hand.

Play the score on MuseScore

Get the PDF from Google Drive

New Hymn, "The Birth of Light"

The hymn for today speaks the truth of salvation.

Play the score on MuseScore

Get the PDF from Google Drive

New Hymn, "The Savior's Ways"

The hymn for today is a praise for the Savior's ways.

Play the score on MuseScore

Get the PDF from Google Drive

New Hymn, "Lord Savior Jesus Christ"

The hymn for today is a prayer for the repentant sinner.

Play the score on MuseScore

Get the PDF from Google Drive

A Need for Prayer

My friend, Ellie, needs prayer. I am not free to tell what it is about, but Ellie needs prayer.

New Hymn, "Heavenland!"

The hymn for today is a seeking after divine Light in the face of injustice and disrespect and slander and the various weapons of Satan's sling.

Play the score on MuseScore

Get the PDF from Google Drive

New Hymn, "Oh, Savior Mine!"

The hymn for today uses a hymn tune that sounds familiar to me. I have asked others in this ministry if they recognized it, but they did not, so it might be one of my own, now given a new arrangement. In any case, it is a proper prayer of repentance, for one's own land.

Play the score on MuseScore

Get the PDF from Google Drive

Reposted: The May 2014 Issue of the St. Louis Amigan, “Experience”

Last year at this time, I published an article in the May 2014 issue of the St. Louis Amigan, titled “Experience”. That article seems to have been making something of an impact. With that in mind, it is reprinted here:

Back in March, on the 23^rd of the month, I woke up all a-ponder, with many things running through my mind.

There was the issue of repentance, for I had been, in my dreams, living out the restored presence of one whom I have greatly missed, but who is not mine to desire. Though nothing untoward happened in my little fantasy, there was the desire for it. There was, therefore, the issue of repentance.

There were various things involving my walk and its association to the life of the Patriarch Joseph, including the return of past offenders and how he went about discerning the conditions of their hearts. They had wanted him dead, and sought to guarantee their wishes by giving him over to a situation that no one had any business surviving. How did he handle it, and was his methodology the righteous path to take?

There was also the completion of an entire year of writing at least one hymn per day that was on my mind, for, according to the best knowledge of my memory, that day marked the anniversary, and, therefore, 366 consecutive days of writing at least one hymn per day (for the anniversary marks the beginning of another year, not the conclusion of the previous). The anniversary hymn is included in this issue.

Of more importance, though, is a question in my mind. It is brought out in Hebrews 5:8, where, speaking of Christ it says, “although being a son, learned from His sufferings, obedience.”

One of the essential and indisputable tenets of the Christian faith is that Christ is God in flesh; also that God is omniscient, knowing all things. How, then, does the omniscient learn?

Many would see that question as a trap. They would think that they have you in a spot that you can’t get out of without violating your Christian faith. Every trap, though, has a door, and knowing that trap will help you to learn how to open the door and step out of the trap unscathed.

Scientific research has presented us with evidence that could prove useful in answering our question. Those who do not want there to be a God have been struggling for the better part of a century against this evidence, in fact, because of its usefulness in our endeavor.

When people sense that they are in danger of losing a debate they have a tendency to reduce to insult and intimidation. They do that because they see it as the only way that they can silence what they do not want to hear. These days, unfortunately, they also do not want anyone else to hear, and their only method of accomplishing their goal is to shout down and silence what they hate. What is it that Jesus said? “The disciple is not better than his master.” ¹ “If they hate you, know that they have first hated Me.” ² It is not because of evidence that they deny God, because the evidence actually proves God, and not their philosophical rejection of Him. It is evidence from scientific research that supports the logic that proves our case.

Back in the middle of the 20^th Century evidence was gathered that supported the Big Bang theory. Ever since, all of the evidence of Cosmology has very stubbornly continued to support the Big Bang. In fact, way back the 1960’s, before he fell ill, Dr. Steven Hawking solved the Field equations of Einstein’s Theory of Relativity, indicating that the universe began in what has been called both “the singularity” and “a zero-volume space”. Dr. Steven C. Meyer then asks his students, “How much stuff can you fit in a zero volume space?” The answer, of course, is “Nothing.” According to science’s own research, then, “nothing” is the amount of physical stuff that began the universe.

Where there is no physical stuff, there is also no way of measuring it, because you cannot measure what does not exist. There were no dimensions and no passage of time, because there was nothing for them to measure, and where there is nothing to measure there is no measurement.

So, there was no space and there was no time. The absence of these is important to understand the answer to our question: “How does God learn?”

Since there was nothing physical to cause it, that cause had to be non-physical. Christians more often refer to such a cause as spiritual. There is nothing physical about the spiritual. Some people think that that disqualifies it as a cause of the physical, but don’t panic. There is also nothing physical about your mind, but it controls your body, which is physical.

If you can do it without even thinking about it, so can God.

The universe was created, so time and space also were created. The creator of something is not bound by what it creates, but what is created is bound by its creator. That means that the creator of the universe is not bound by the universe, the creator of time is not bound by time, and the creator of space is not bound by space.

Those are bound by their creator. As to time and space, that could be stated as meaning that time and space are contained within their creator. Since they are contained within their creator that means that at any point of them, their creator is present.

Another way of saying that is that as regards time, its cause is eternal, and as to space, its cause is omnipresent.

No sane person would ever seriously argue that the workings of the universe cannot be figured out, since that quest has been getting successfully pursued ever since earthly civilization began. They might say that it is a testimony to the ingenuity of man, but it is also a testimony to the rationality of the universe. The rationality of the universe is another way of saying that it is orderly as opposed to random; it follows rules, rules that can be discerned, and rules do not arise on their own. They have a creator, or ruler, and rulers such as these have a mind; they are intelligent.

Since the universe has time, space and order, that means that its cause is eternal, omnipresent, and intelligent. Intelligent means that it is aware. Since it is aware at all times and in all places, that means that it is all-knowing. Christians usually refer to that as omniscient. So, the cause of the universe is eternal, omnipresent, and omniscient. I don’t know about you, but to me, that sounds an awful lot like God.

The people who claim that science proves there is no God do not know science. We just used science—and used it accurately—to prove that God must exist. In fact, the evidence gathered by science requires God to exist in order for that evidence to make any sense at all. Those who argue otherwise are not arguing from scientific evidence, but from a pre-existing investment in a philosophy that denies the existence of God. The only people who invest in a philosophy are people who want to invest in it, and the only motive for wanting to invest in it is that it tells you what you want to hear. Those who argue that science proves there is no God do not want there to be a God.

Now that we’ve addressed that question, we are free to address the question we’re here for: How does the omniscient learn?

Answering this requires that the reader engage a concept of time that might seem a little strange at first; a concept, in fact, that involves pondering that which exists outside of the bounds of time.

Addressing the Scripture in question, in fact, how does God obey (for that is what He is said to have learned, obedience)? That is an interesting concept in itself, but I don’t think we have room to address it thoroughly in this issue. Suffice it to say that it is a trinitarian issue of trust and submission and love, αγαπη Love. You sacrifice yourself for the sake of another. That is how God obeys.

Since God is unbounded by time (one might say “unaffected by time”), what He does is not restricted by, not bound by, and not illuminated by the flow of time that we perceive. If He does something at time coordinate x it also happens at all points a—z. It is sort of like the aorist tense to a whole nother dimension.

If you can wrap your mind around that, then I posit you this: Most people learn by experience. In the case of God, you might say that He has experienced/is experiencing/shall experience it, all at once. There is no easy conversion between our concept of time and His.

So, since learning, from our perspective, involves coming to new knowledge, was there ever a time when God lacked knowledge? There is a reason for the previous two paragraphs. Pay attention to them and ponder them. From our perspective, the answer to that must needs be “No.” Our perspective, however, is not God’s.

Most people, as I said, learn from experience. Sure, it is possible to learn from books, so to speak, but book-learning has never been thought of as being as valuable as experiential learning. In fact, the whole line of argument surrounding our Scripture passage has been to assure us that our God has been there; that He has walked that path before us; that He knows it because He has lived it/does live it/shall live it. That is the whole point of that Scripture passage. “For we have not a high priest unsympathetic with our weaknesses, but tested and assayed in all the same ways.” ³ As it has been said, there is no greater teacher than experience.

1Matthew 10:24; Luke 6:40; John 13:16, 15:20

2Matthew 10:22; John 15:18

3Hebrews 4:15

New Hymn, "Praises to the Savior"

The hymn for today uses an old hymn tune of mine, that I had a major, pitched battle with to get on one page (my apologies for the very narrow margins). It is a solemn hymn of praise. I decided to use the old tune because, quite simply, I could not get it out of my head.

Play the score on MuseScore

Get the PDF from Google Drive

Note, please, that there is an error in the PDF that has been corrected locally but is not yet online. I will see to that when events permit.

New Hymn, "Be Not Afraid"

The hymn for today speaks of victory in Christ, through God Our Shield.

Play the score on MuseScore

Get the PDF from Google Drive

New Hymn, "On Wings of Eagles"

The hymn for today speaks of victory in Christ (though I don’t feel all that victorious at the moment).

Play the score on MuseScore

Get the PDF from Google Drive

New Hymn, "Upon the Tree"

The hymn for today is a song of praise.

Play the score on MuseScore

Get the PDF from Google Drive

New Hymn, "Sing"

The hymn for today is a song of praise.

Play the score on MuseScore

Get the PDF from Google Drive

New Hymn, "Joyful Praise!"

The hymn for today is a victorious shout of joy.

Play the score on MuseScore

Get the PDF from Google Drive

Notes on a Dream

Last night I had what might be a most important dream (or not). You can hear about it here.

New Chat, "Walk With Him"

This Chat is a message of encouragement for those who struggle in their walk with Christ. Comments can be left here or there.

New Hymn, "Whole!"

The hymn for today is a crying out for spiritual healing.

Play the score on MuseScore

Get the PDF from Google Drive

New Hymn, "Salvation Song"

The hymn for today is a simple guide to prayer.

Play the score on MuseScore

Get the PDF from Google Drive

New Video Message, “Jesus—In The Hard Times”

I initially wrote this message as an entry in my daily journal. It was after having done that that I recognized its value.

“Jesus—In The Hard Times” is a very brief message of encouragement for those who belong to Christ and are suffering hard times.

Some viewers might question my choice of words, in saying that I am the other one, perhaps thinking that I seek to equate myself with Christ. That, of course, could not be further from the truth. As “the other one”, I am simply saying that I am a fellow struggling sinner, saved by grace. One might say, “one blind beggar showing another blind beggar where to find food.”

Let me ask you something. Is it really wise to even think accusingly toward the One who is leading you through these hard times?

Christ has never failed you.

And He has never failed me.

And those are the facts of the matter for all of us.

Amen! And praise God!

New Hymn, "Cling to the Lord"

The hymn for today is a guide to the heavy laden.

Play the score on MuseScore

Get the PDF from Google Drive

New Hymn, "Praise to the King of Creation!"

The hymn for today is a doxological praise.

Play the score on MuseScore

Get the PDF from Google Drive

New Hymn, "Think of Me, My Savior!"

The hymn for today tells the basic story of salvation.

Play the score on MuseScore

Get the PDF from Google Drive

New Hymn, "Cast the Night Away!"

The hymn for today is a hymn of praise for our sacrifice in Jesus Christ, the propitiation for our sins!

Play the score on MuseScore

Get the PDF from Google Drive

New Hymn, "Thus Unto Me!"

The hymn for today is a hymn of praise for our sacrifice in Jesus Christ, the propitiation for our sins!

Play the score on MuseScore

Get the PDF from Google Drive

We Must Obey God

A conversation with Mike Humphrys.

We Must Obey God

New Hymn, "Our Sacrifice"

The hymn for today is a hymn of praise for our sacrifice in Jesus Christ, the propitiation for our sins!

Play the score on MuseScore 

Get the PDF from Google Drive 

Frustrations in Audio

Just a quick little update regarding the podcasts.

I will not repeat here, what is already written in the description at the following link:

Listen to what happened

New Hymn, "For Jesus Christ!"

The hymn for today is a call to follow Jesus!

Play the score on MuseScore

Get the PDF from Google Drive

Who Done It

A favorite question of mystery stories the world over is “Who done it?” Who is the responsible party? Who caused this to come about?

In real life it is much the same. In whatever situation, people the world over want to know the culprit, or the cause. When the situation involves signs of intelligence, they want to know “who” did it.

It is a natural question, because part of our nature is to ascribe credit where credit is due, and blame where blame is due. Where there is a murder, or a robbery or a rape, etc. the public wants to know who did it so that the culprit can be apprehended, put away, and removed from being a danger to others. Where there is some seemingly miraculous achievement they want to know who accomplished it so that they can be acknowledged and admired.

It is natural for us to want to know what is going on, because in knowing what is going on we have a better chance of figuring things out, and if we can figure things out we can have some measure of control over our own part of the situation in which we find ourselves. We can react more appropriately if we know what is going on.

Yet “science”, for the last century or so, has been committing an unnatural act because in spite of the abundant evidence for the involvement of an involved intelligence burgeoning all around us, “science”, it would seem, does not want to know “who done it.”

Note, please, that, in that paragraph, I enclose the word “science” in quotes, and I do so because it is not genuine science that I am talking about. What I am talking about is a failed philosophy whose adherents actively ignore, and indeed, shout down the real evidence of real science, because their motivation is not to know the truth, but is to support their failed philosophy. They are very strident, ardent and emotional in their war against the truth, and the more the evidence piles up in favor of their self-sworn enemy, the more emotional they get in their reactions to it. I say self-sworn because they themselves are doing the swearing and not their enemy. Their enemy simply recounts the evidence, and it is that recounting that drives them absolutely wild.

It is much like the current controversy, in the United States, over the legitimacy of what is euphemistically called homosexual “marriage”, with homosexual activists around the nation fervently pursuing Christians in order to force them to participate in what those Christians see as celebrating sin.

All the while the homosexual activists try to portray themselves as victims of persecution at the hands of Christians, it is not the Christians who are actively seeking out and pursuing homosexuals in order to reject their rights. No. It is homosexuals pursuing the Christians in order to remove their basic human rights.

Here we have a classic case of wolves in sheep’s clothing trying to pass themselves off as the victims when, in fact they are the perpetrators of the persecutions that are being suffered today in the United States of America.

It is much like those who favor infanticide on demand, crying crocodile tears over the poor, unprotected women while claiming that the baby is part of the woman’s body, therefore subtly claiming that the real victim doesn’t even exist.

What is the common thread, here? The common thread is a sort of “Straw men are us” fest whose arguments are so weak and so delusional and so laughable that they are only worthy of scornful pity.

In all of these groups, the perpetrators ignore, suppress, and deny the evidence that is actual and at hand because they don’t want to know the truth. They don’t want to know “who done it.”

It truly is a pity to see someone despairing away their life because of the utter lack of hope in which their own world view has trapped them. They fail to see the escape because they refuse to admit that they need it.

It all goes straight back to the rhetorical question quoted in every masthead of this newsletter: “When a person has—whether they knew it or not—already rejected the Truth, by what means do they discern a lie?”

They are so prideful and so self-absorbed that they cannot even conceive of needing to escape calamity. But calamity exists, my friend, and it is a thing that needs escaping.

Many of them go through life with all their educational degrees marleying around behind them, as though an inked piece of paper can confer the wisdom to see and the motivation to move.

Upon reading this, there are those who will want to ask, “But don’t you believe the Bible, and isn’t that what amounts to a whole lot of inked paper?” And to that question I can respond, “No. I don’t believe the Bible. I believe the One who wrote the Bible, and that it is He who can provide the wisdom to see and the motivation to move.

The people of whom I write are a pitiful bunch. All the while they are claiming and publicly proclaiming to be all that, they sit and languish in a trap of their own design, and, having so blinded themselves to the trap, they cannot conceive that there is a door that leads to a life of light and truth and mercy and grace and peace in the eternally loving and forgiving arms of the One whose very existence they, to this very day, still seek to deny and reject and defame and insult and slander and decry and to ridicule as a lie.

And do you know the most pitiful part of all?

The door stands open.

And it’s not that the door is simply unlocked, and cracked open a bit, or even that it’s off its hinges. No. In fact, the door isn’t even there, having been cast away in the wee, early hours of that brightest of Sunday mornings 2,000 years ago on a small hill in a tiny land at the eastern end of a small sea where the greatest event in all of history occurred.

It was there that the Designer and Creator of all things that have begun to be bowed down in order that His creation should murderously put Him to death. Is it not written, “It is for this purpose that I have come” ¹? And why did He say He had come? To witness to the Truth.

But there was something even more momentous there. Indeed, it was a very thinly clothed warning, and claim, of what was shortly to come, “No one takes My life from Me; I lay it down of my own accord. I have the power to lay it aside, and I have the power to take it up again!” ²

And there you have it, ferried on the pinions of the King: the death and resurrection of the Savior of the world; the death, so that sin should be paid for, the resurrection, so that all mankind should know.

The door stands open.

Cast away with the stone

That brighting ancient day,

Heaven’s gates are open

Unto us today.

Jesus Christ has suffered

And has opened up the Way!

Thus we enter heaven:

By His grace on us each day.

Sin no longer conquers;

All our chains are gone away.

Jesus Christ has suffered

And has opened up the Way!

They shall never find it, who think they do not need it, nor shall they ever discover the truth about “Who done it!”

PDF of this article 

The hymn printed with this Article 

1John 18:37

2John 10:17-18