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On May 19, 2015 By In Books

The Banishing Of Fear Through Poetry: When Knowledge Increases Comfort

Guest post by Jerry Stout

Note: Jerry Stout successfuly defended his thesis before the board and teachers at Trinitas Christian School in Pensacola, Fl. This is his paper.

The greatest stories give the reader a sense of the natural and real. The natural and the real are the bedrock on which a strange and foreign sub-creation is resting. J.R.R. Tolkien did not want to force the realities of his own world into the stories of the Middle Earth so that he could convert the reader to his personal view. Verlyn Flieger says in her book Splintered Light, “In showing us his fantasy world Tolkien has enabled us to recover our own, to know it and ourselves as we were and are so that we may get some glimpse, however dim, of what we yet may be,” (65).  The point of a sub-creation is to praise the creator of the primary world through imitation of the primary world. Tolkien uses his own primary world to create a secondary world of depth. One of the ways this depth is worked into his legendarium[1] is with the poetry in the Fellowship of the Ring. The poem of Beren and Luthien is a break in the flow of ordinary narrative. It is an escape of the primary story of the fellowship into the secondary story of Beren. The characters of the primary story are given a look into another in order to gain an understanding of what their own world can give them if they continue on their path. The forethought put into this double myth shows Tolkien’s genius in the art of sub-creation. The insertion of Beren and Luthien does not explicitly foretell how the Lord of the Rings ends, however the power of the Beren and Luthien story gives hope to the characters, and this hope is also transferred to the reader outside the story. Hope is the driving force of the Fellowship. Even though the poem does not come up again in the story, its song lingers in the memories and feeds the hope of the characters. Likewise, it points the reader toward the hope of a eucatastrophe[2] that is not evident within the story.  Three characters in particular are affected by the poem, and each of these characters also represents three types of reader. I will explain the relationship between characters and readers, and show how the story of Beren and Luthien instills hope in both.

Tolkien created an entirely new world when he brought Middle Earth into being. He not only created the characters and a narrative; but he created detailed and complex languages, beliefs, and histories that are all unique to Middle Earth. Given this creative impulse, one must delve into what Tolkien thought of the nature of a myth or as he names it, fairy-story. Tolkien believed in a complex world that could be unpacked by the reader. But he did not want it to be a simple or easy task to do so. And so he put his story, The Lord of the Rings, within a vast network of history and myths inside the greater myth. In the same way that the New Testament is not able to be fully understood without the backstory of the Old Testament and becomes a book of morals taught by a moral man who gives his life for what he believes, so the Lord of the Rings becomes a simple story of a group of disparate races coming together as one to destroy the evil lord Sauron. It is the nuances that give the story its true depth. It is captured in the life and breath of the world in which the story takes place. Tolkien did not write his books to provide an escape from the world for he modeled his work on the world he saw. To run into his story in order to retreat from what was his inspiration is counterintuitive. You would not look at a painting of a flower in order to forget about flowers, nor would you listen to a song about heartbreak to forget about your own heartbreak. The inspirations, beliefs, and customs that went into the making of Middle Earth necessarily become evident, which is why it is beneficial to understand what kind of man Tolkien was. In the book The Author of the Century, Shippey emphasizes that Tolkien was adamant that his works were not works of allegory. When an allegory is written, the goal of the author is to use imagery to portray a point. The Fairy-Story on the other hand is using the truth found in creation and remolding it, the fairy-story contains the truths that are in creation. If they resembled the world that Tolkien knew it was his action as a sub-creator working under the rules and examples that the creator of the cosmos left him.

The greatest of the tales within Tolkien’s Silmarillion, a history of Middle Earth as told by elves, is the tale of Beren and Luthien. This epic is a combination of history and narrative. This tale is recounted as a narrative so that those reading it could learn the history through a detailed account. It is telling a story of a great man who commits great deeds of courage for the love of his life, but it is also providing a pattern for the later story between Aragorn and Arwen. Chronologically the first time that Beren and Luthien appear is in a lay[3]; however, Tolkien later wrote a shorter account of the narrative published in the Silmarillion.

The story begins with an account of a man, Beren, entering the woods of Doriath where he sees the elf Luthien singing, whom he calls Tinuviel; which means nightingale. He immediately falls in love with her and swears to do anything to win her hand. Her father, Thingol, promises Beren Luthien’s hand in marriage if Beren can return to Thingol with a Silmaril from the iron helm of Morgoth in the pits of Angband. Thinking that it is an impossible task, Thingol is confident that he will not have to give up his daughter. Undaunted, Beren swears that he will not return without the Silmaril in hand. Beren leaves the forest of Doriath and seeks help from the elven king of Nargothrond, Finrod Felagund. On the way to Angband, they are captured and brought before the greatest servant of Morgoth, Sauron. Despite torturing them repeatedly in an attempt to discover what they are doing, but Sauron is not able to get anything from them. They are eventually rescued by Luthien and the greatest of hounds, Huan. They are not able to save Felagund; however, so they continue on to Angband, just the three of them. When in Angband they reach the stronghold of Morgoth dressed as his servants, but are discovered and brought before the throne of Morgoth. Luthien casts a sleeping spell over Morgoth and Beren digs out a Silmaril from the crown on Morgoth’s head. They then flee from the stronghold but at the gates of Angband they are confronted with the wolf Carcharoth, a servant of Morgoth. Huan attacks the beast but he is overpowered and mortally wounded. Carcharoth then bites off the hand of Beren that holds the Silmaril, but the greatness and purity of the Silmaril is too much for the filth and darkness of the beast and the pain drives him mad. Beren and Luthien then return to Thingol and Beren shows him the stump of his arm, the hand of which still holds the Silmaril in the belly of Carcharoth.  Thingol takes pity on Beren and gives him Luthien’s hand in marriage. Beren then hunts Carcharoth to retrieve the Silmaril and is killed by Carcharoth. Luthien too, having taken on the mortality of her husband, dies. In death, they plead with Mandros and return to life for a short while then they again pass away in peace.

The story of Beren and Luthien appears at a time in The Lord of the Rings where the road ahead looks nearly too dark to continue. However there is this moment in the trilogy where Aragorn starts to tell a portion of the story of Beren and Luthien to the Fellowship. Everyone present hears the tale differently based on their knowledge of the tale, but the idea and message of the lay is such that no matter what level of knowledge that each person has, the result is the same: the characters are given hope in the face of this looming catastrophe. This sudden glimpse of hope also transfers to the audience reading the book. However, the level of understanding that the characters have directly corresponds to the potency of the hope that is given.

Three arguments show that the story of Beren and Luthien gives hope to the characters within the story with different levels of potency. There are three different characters that are affected; and these three characters represent three different readers. The first character is Frodo whose small level of knowledge with the poem corresponds to the novice reader who has no knowledge of the background of The Lord of the Rings. The second is Sam who has a basic knowledge of the story. Sam corresponds to the more knowledgeable reader who knows the back story of Beren and Luthien. The last character is Aragorn who has grown up with the story of Beren and Luthien as part of his own history. He corresponds to the scholar of Tolkien who has read and studied Tolkien’s works.

“Three Rings for the Elven-kings under the sky, seven for the Dwarf-lords in their halls of stone, nine for Mortal Men doomed to die, one for the Dark Lord on his dark throne in the land of Mordor where the Shadows lie. One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them, one ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them in the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie.” These are the opening lines of The Lord of the Rings. This short piece of foreboding poetry is what sets the mood of the whole story. To the reader who has immersed himself in the reading of Tolkien’s legendarium the poem introduces gravity and darkness into the novel. It brings to mind the history of the Dark Lord who befriended the races of Middle Earth and then betrayed them all. This passage also brings a great urgency to the quest. There has been an injustice in the world that needs to be fixed. There does not need to be a great description of the deeds of the Dark Lord in order to set the stage for the book. Tolkien is able to do the same thing with the little bit of poetry. But this is not the only time Tolkien uses the art of poetry to make a point within the narrative. The Lay of Beren and Luthien that is told in brief by Aragorn when he and the hobbits are on Weathertop is another such instance. This too is grave but the effect is not the same as the other poem. By reciting the story of Beren and Luthien, Aragorn intended to bring the hobbits comfort in a time of darkness and uncertainty. Cheer works with different levels of potency upon those within the story. For Aragorn the story has the greatest impact. Because he lived for so long among the elves, he knows the significance of the poem to the elves and so it has similar significance to him as well. In addition to this, he also relates to the story on a personal level. Aragorn sees the relationship between Beren and Luthien played out in his own relationship with Arwen. He is a mortal man who has fallen in love with an immortal elf and she in return has loved him back. Because of this personal note to the story, the hope provided by the story is more personal as well; the hope extends not only to the quest but also to his relationship with Arwen. The similarities between the two stories go further than the relationship between Beren and Aragorn. When Aragorn seeks the hand of Arwen, her father’s answer was that he could only marry Arwen once he became the king of Gondor and of Anor. The reunion of the two kingdoms is the bride price given to Aragorn just like the returning of the Silmaril was the bride price given to Beren. The ending of Beren’s quest gives Aragorn hope for his own.

So how does the reader who is familiar with the legendarium of Tolkien react to the telling of Beren and Luthien’s story in a way similar to Aragon? In his essay On Fairy-Stories, Tolkien describes the reaction to reading a fairy-story as that of pleasure. As he says, “Far more important is the Consolation of the happy ending. Almost I would venture to assert that all complete fairy-stories must have them,” (153). If the end of the Fairy-story is a happy ending then when the reader sees this story of Beren and Luthien, which he knows well, he will recall the happy ending in their story and parallel that happy ending with the possible happy ending of Aragorn. The knowledge that the reader has enables him to appreciate both Aragorn’s story and the eucatastrophy of his own story. He knows that the story of Beren and Luthien will be carried out in a much greater victory.

The moments of greatest peace and contentment come after an event that causes terror within the company of the Fellowship. When the hobbits reach Rivendell, it is after they are attacked upon Weathertop. When the Fellowship seeks sanctuary in Lothorien, it is after the battle in the Mines of Moria. The Lay of Beren and Luthien is one of the moments of peace for the hobbits. Aragorn tells them of his ancestors after they have fled the town of Bree where the black riders almost caught them. In this example, unlike the others, it is not the place they are in that gives them peace; however it is the act of singing that gives them the comfort. Sam knew enough from his time with Bilbo, who like Aragorn was well learned in the histories of the elves, that this comfort was clearly known to Sam for he was the one who requested a story: “Then tell us some other tale of the old days,’ begged Sam, ‘a tale about the Elves before the fading time. I would dearly like to hear more about elves; the dark seems to press so close,’” (Fellowship of the Ring 187). So what is the response to the dark pressing in close? It is to tell, or in this case, sing a song of a time when the dark did not overcome, though it drew close, even unto death. It is not that the darkness has been banished. It is more that the light provided by the song overcomes and becomes more real than the darkness. This is the greatest quality that Tolkien attributes to the eucatastrophe,

 

It is a mark of a good fairy-story, of the higher of more complete kind, that however wild its events, however fantastic or terrible the adventures, it can give to child or man that hears it, when the ‘turn’ comes, a catch of the breath, a beat and lift of the heart, near to (or indeed accompanied by) tears, as keen as that given by any form of art, and having a peculiar quality (On Fairy Stories,144-5).

Here Tolkien’s views on the consolation of fairy-stories come into play with the reader who, like Sam, only has a diminished understanding of Beren and Luthien. Sam has experience with the fairy-stories of his own world and would be able to see the pattern of danger or death and the redemption that is the happy ending. So too the reader understands at least on a subconscious level. Knowing this pattern and hearing this story will combine together to bring hope to the reader just as it has done for Sam.

The final character I will talk of is Frodo, the character who knows the least about the history of the elves. He is the least knowledgeable and so the least affected by the lay. He is the only character who is described as feeling chilled after the story was told. While the story was being told Frodo was not affected by fear. Tolkien writes, “All seemed quiet and still, but Frodo felt a cold dread creeping over his heart, now that Strider was no longer speaking,” (Fellowship of the Ring 190). For Frodo the power of the Lay extended only so far as the words being spoken. But while the story was being told, he was being transported out of the darkness into the light of fairy. The poetry used by Tolkien is described this way by Carle Phelpstead: “Verse is similarly used to extend the emotional range of the narrative in The Lord of the Rings,” (32). Frodo has this emotional extension that is felt by all who hear Aragorn’s words. He joins with the all who have heard the tale of Tinuviel and draws strength from the pure light given to him by Aragorn and by extension the elves, just as the men around Éomer share not only Éomer’s grief and love for their fallen king, but the courage that Éomer pours into them through his verse. “Éomer turns to measured and archaic alliterative verse to mark the passing of Theoden King while rousing his men to continued valor: ‘Mourn not overmuch! Mighty was the fallen, meet was his ending. When his mound is raised, women then shall weep. War now calls us!’ Yet he himself wept as he spoke,” (32). Poetry drives out grief and replaces it with valor.

“It is the mark of a good Fairy-Story, of the Higher or more complete kind, that however wild its events, however fantastic or terrible that adventures, it can give to child or man that hears it, when the ’turn’ comes, a catch of the breathe, a beat and lifting of the heart,” (On Fairy-Stories 154-5). The novice Lord of the Rings reader, when he hears the “turn” that is the story of Beren and Luthien can, like Frodo, feel the power and light of the song and be transported out of darkness into hope, even hope that defies articulation.

Some may question how much credit I give to the Lay of Beren and Luthien. How much can one short instance affect a story that continues many events and pages without referencing it again? It does seem that it holds a small part of the narrative and as it is quickly overshadowed by the attack of the black riders, the effects seem to fall away from the hobbits. “Then the shapes advanced. Terror overcame Pippin and Merry, and they threw themselves flat on the ground. Sam shrank to Frodo’s side. Frodo was hardly less terrified than his companions; he was quaking as if he was bitter cold,” (The Fellowship of the Ring 191). However, it is crucial for the story. In the timeline of the Fellowship, the lay appears right after a moment of terror. The four hobbits and Strider have fled Bree where they were almost killed, and have made camp for the night. They know that they are not safe, and rather than shivering scared in silence, Sam asks for a story to quell the darkness. The poem is what banishes the darkness for the moment. Without this momentary burst of light in the midst of the terror, they may not have been able to make it to through their next encounter with terror.

The Hobbits feel the terror growing closer and huddle together. They see three dark shapes coming over the crest of the hills. The black riders charge the hobbits and terror fills their hearts. The effects of the poetry are not as forgotten as it seems on the surface. Frodo breaks through the terror he feels and calls on the strength and light of the elves. “At that moment Frodo threw himself forward on the ground, and he heard himself crying aloud: O Elbereth! Gilthoniel![4] At the same time he struck at the feet of his enemy,” (191). As if by instinct, Frodo recalls the elves that he and Sam had seen walking through the forest of the shire and singing to Elbereth; and he finds the strength and valor to attack the black riders. If the song in the shire can give him the strength to drive out the paralyzing darkness, then the Lay of Beren and Luthien can give the Hobbits strength in future times of darkness.

Throughout the journey of the ring, the moments of rest and safety are times when music makes an appearance. For example, when the hobbits reach Rivendell they are surrounded by the elves music and it revives them from their journey. When Merry and Pippin are almost killed by Old man Willow they are saved by the singing of Tom Bombadil. Each of these are necessary to keep the spirts of the company from falling deep into despair. When Frodo and Sam are in Shelob’s lair and Sam has nearly given up he remembers an Elvish poem he heard from back in the shire: “’Galadriel!’ he said faintly, and then he heard voices far off but clear: the crying of the Elves as they walked under the stars in the beloved shadows of the shire and the music of the Elves as it came through his sleep in the Hall of Fire in the house of Elrond… As if his indomitable spirit had set its potency in motion, the glass blazed suddenly like a white torch in his hand,” (The Two Towers 713). Others would say that the novice reader would not be affected at all by the Lay. But I would say that their reaction would be much like Frodo’s own after Strider finishes speaking danger, and dread creeps back over the heart. As familiarity with the Legendarium grows the length and strength of comfort produced by the lay also grows.

The thing that Sam hopes for as he drifts into unconsciousness is to have his story told alongside that of Beren one-hand. The hope that he receives from a poem like Beren and Luthien is how he wishes to be remembered. In Sam’s eyes, it is the greatest example of heroism that can be achieved. The immorality that is achieved within a song is the afterlife; the hope of a people, Hobbits, who have no sense of an afterlife. The relief that he feels as he recalls his adventures gives him peace. This peace is also going to be felt by the people who will hear the tale of the Frodo of the Nine Fingers. It will give them comfort to accept death when it seems inevitable. Just as a song created the world of Middle Earth it is song that ushers in the new age of peace and freedom for the races of the earth. Poetry time and time again brings the eucatastrophe of Tolkien before the reader. The hope that Sam sees in “The tale of Frodo of the nine fingers” is a floodgate out of which pours the hope and possibility of a time where the darkness has been banished from the land. The poetry that carries the characters of the secondary world into the future also carries the readers of the primary world into the hope of future eucatastrophes.

 

Works Cited

Flieger, Verlyn. Splintered Light. Kent: The Kent State University Press, 2002. Print.

Phelpstead, Carl. “”With chunks of poetry in between”: The Lord of the Rings and Saga Poetics.” Phelpstead, Carl. Tolkien Studies. Vol. Volume 5. Morgantown: West Virginia University Press, 2008. 23-38. PDF File.

Shippey, Tom. J. R. R. Tolkien Author of the Century. New York City: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2000. Print.

Tolkien, J.R.R. “On Fairy-Stories”. The Monsters and the Critics. London: Collins Publishers, 2006. 109-161.

—. The Fellowship of the Ring. New York: Hought Mifflin Harcourt, 1994. 398. Print.

—. “The Return of the King. New York: Hougthon Mifflin Harcourt, 1994. 731-1008. print.

—. The Two Towers. New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 1994. 403-725. Print.

 


[1] Legendarium is the word that in his letters Tolkien uses to describe his entire works. (See letters 131,153, 154 163)

[2] Eucatastrophe is Tolkien’s own term, which he defines in his essay “On Fairy-Stories” as, “the good catastrophe, the sudden joyous “turn”. . .a sudden and miraculous grace: never to be counted on to recur” (153).

[3] The Story of Beren and Luthien as it appears in the Lays of Ballerina.

[4] Elbereth Gilthoniel was a Valië, one of the Aratar, the wife of Manwë and Queen of the Valar. Elves love and revere her most of all the Valar, and they call upon her in the hours of deepest darkness.

 

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On April 28, 2015 By In Theology

This Is My Body Broken For You

Guest post by Michael Hansen

One of my deepest concerns with the way many churches now operate is in their exclusion of the Lord’s Supper from their services of worship. The reason this concerns me is because the Lord’s Supper is a place where the church is forced to look itself in the mirror. When Christ welcomes the congregation to the table of fellowship, we are confronted with the reality that he is far more welcoming and hospitable than we are.

Look around the congregation.

How many people can you count that you would invite to your table? There are great sinners in the congregation. There are people you don’t like. But all of these people are welcomed to the Lord’s table at the Lord’s invitation.

Jesus once told his disciples that he will draw all men to himself when he is lifted up (John 12:32). What happened to Jesus when he was lifted up? He was broken. What happens to the bread when the minister lifts it up before the congregation? It is broken. The Lord’s Supper is much more than an act of remembrance for individual Christians. The Lord’s Supper is a participatory event where all men find themselves drawn to Christ’s broken body.

When Jesus’ body was broken, the walls of separation between Jew and gentile, male and female, slave and free, black and white were broken as well (Gal. 3:28). This happens in the Lord’s Supper.

Look around the congregation.

How many people look just like you? Are they all white (let’s hope not)? Are they all black (let’s hope not)? Are they all republicans or democrats (let’s hope they’re libertarians)? No, there are people from all walks of life, all races, all socioeconomic classes and ideologies, being drawn to the broken body of Christ.

The church is a body of many members. Further, God’s word serves as a two-edged sword cutting to the hearts of his people (Heb. 4:12), who have become living sacrifices (Rom. 12:1). Throughout the service, God’s word has cut His church into pieces just as the Levitical sacrifices were cut into pieces. But the service does not end here. The church must learn that we are only broken by God’s Word because the Word of God was broken for us: “This is my body broken for you.” Moreover, as the body of many members (the church) partakes of the broken body of Christ, we are made whole again by our participation in the one loaf (1 Cor. 10:17).

Perhaps the reason there is so much strife in the church nowadays is because we are not communing with one another as we ought. Our ultimate allegiances need to be formed not by who we would invite to our tables, but by whom Jesus, weekly, invites to his.

(Originally published on Torrey Gazette)

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Turning America into a Battlefield: A Blueprint for Locking Down the Nation

On April 28, 2015 By In Politics

Turning America into a Battlefield: A Blueprint for Locking Down the Nation

Battlefield America: The War on the American People

Guest Post By John W. Whitehead

Americans now find themselves struggling to retain some semblance of freedom in the face of police and law enforcement agencies that look and act like the military and have just as little regard for the Fourth Amendment, laws such as the NDAA that allow the military to arrest and indefinitely detain American citizens, and military drills that acclimate the American people to the sight of armored tanks in the streets, military encampments in cities, and combat aircraft patrolling overhead.

Making matters worse, now we find out that the military plans to use southwestern states as staging grounds for guerilla warfare drills in which highly-trained military troops equipped with all manner of weapons turn American towns and cities in quasi-battlefields. Why? As they tell us, it’s so that special operations forces can get “realistic military training” in “hostile” territory.

They’ve even got a name for the exercise: Jade Helm 15.

Whether or not Americans have anything to fear from Jade Helm 15, a covert, multi-agency, multi-state, eight-week military training exercise set to take place this summer from July 15 through Sept. 15, remains to be seen.

Insisting that there’s nothing to be alarmed about, the Washington Post took great pains to point out that these military exercises on American soil are nothing new. Yet if Americans are uneasy about this summer’s planned Jade Helm 15 military exercises, they have every right to be.

After all, haven’t we been urged time and time again to just “trust” the government to respect our rights and abide by the rule of law only to find that, in fact, our rights were being plundered and the Constitution disregarded at every turn?

Let’s assume, for the moment, that Jade Helm 15 is not a thinly veiled military plot to take over the country lifted straight out of director John Frankenheimer’s 1964 political thriller Seven Days in May, as some fear, but is merely a “routine” exercise for troops, albeit a blatantly intimidating flexing of the military’s muscles.

The problem arises when you start to add Jade Helm onto the list of other troubling developments that have taken place over the past 30 years or more: the expansion of the military industrial complex and its influence in Washington DC, the rampant surveillance, the militarized police, the loss of our freedoms, the privatized prisons, the military drills on domestic soil, the fusion centers and the simultaneous fusing of every branch of law enforcement (federal, state and local), the stockpiling of ammunition by various government agencies, the active shooter drills that are indistinguishable from actual crises, etc.

Turning America into a Battlefield: A Blueprint for Locking Down the Nation

Turning America into a Battlefield: A Blueprint for Locking Down the Nation by John W. Whitehead

Suddenly, the overall picture seems that much more sinister. Clearly, as I point out in my new book Battlefield America: The War on the American People, there’s a larger agenda at work here.

Seven years ago, the U.S. Army War College issued a report calling on the military to be prepared should they need to put down civil unrest within the country. Yet at what point will all of the government’s carefully drawn plans for dealing with civil unrest, “homegrown” terrorism and targeting pre-crime become a unified blueprint for locking down the nation?

For instance, what’s the rationale behind turning government agencies into military outposts? There has been a notable buildup in recent years of SWAT teams within non-security-related federal agencies such as Department of Agriculture, the Railroad Retirement Board, the Tennessee Valley Authority, the Office of Personnel Management, the Consumer Product Safety Commission, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Education Department.

What’s with all of the government agencies stockpiling hollow point bullets? For example, why does the Department of Agriculture need .40 caliber semiautomatic submachine guns and 320,000 rounds of hollow point bullets?

Why does the Postal Service need “assorted small arms ammunition”? Why did the DHS purchase “1.6 billion rounds of hollow-point ammunition, along with 7,000 fully-automatic 5.56x45mm NATO ‘personal defense weapons’ plus a huge stash of 30-round high-capacity magazines”? That’s in addition to the FBI’s request for 100 million hollow-point rounds. The Department of Education, IRS, the Social Security Administration, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which oversees the National Weather Service, are also among the federal agencies which have taken to purchasing ammunition and weaponry in bulk.

Why is the federal government distributing obscene amounts of military equipment, weapons and ammunition to police departments around the country? And why is DHS acquiring more than 2,500 Mine-Resistant Armored Protection (MRAP) vehicles, only to pass them around to local police departments across the country?

Why is the military partnering with local police to conduct training drills around the country? And what exactly are they training for? The Army and DHS has been carrying out drills and maneuvers involving Black Hawk helicopters in Texas, Florida, and other locations throughout the U.S., ostensibly in order to provide local police with “realistic” urban training.

Why is FEMA stockpiling massive quantities of emergency supplies? And why does the TSA need $21,000 worth of potassium chlorate, a chemical compound often used in explosives?

Why is the Pentagon continuing to purchase mass amounts of ammunition while at the same time preparing to destroy more than $1 billion worth of bullets and missiles that are still viable?

Given the similarities between the government’s Live Active Shooter Drill training exercises, which can and do fool law enforcement officials and bystanders into thinking it’s a real crisis, how much of what is being passed off as real is, in fact, being staged by DHS for the “benefit” of training law enforcement, leaving us none the wiser?

Why is the DHS giving away millions of dollars’ worth of federal security grants to states that federal intelligence agencies ruled have “no specific foreign or domestic terrorism threat”?

Why is the government, without warrant or search order, amassing names and information on Americans considered to be threats to the nation, and what criteria is the government using for this database? It’s been suggested that this Main Core database could be used by military officials to locate and round up Americans seen as threats to national security, a program to be carried about by the Army and FEMA.

Taken individually, these questions are alarming enough. But when viewed collectively, they leave one wondering what exactly the U.S. government is preparing for and whether American citizens shouldn’t be preparing, as well, for that eventuality when our so-called “government of the people, by the people, for the people” is no longer answerable to “we the people.”

John W. Whitehead is an attorney and author who has written, debated and practiced widely in the area of constitutional law and human rights. Whitehead’s concern for the persecuted and oppressed led him, in 1982, to establish The Rutherford Institute, a nonprofit civil liberties and human rights organization whose international headquarters are located in Charlottesville, Virginia. He served as an officer in the United States Army from 1969 to 1971.

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On April 15, 2015 By In Family and Children

Honor God with Your Body

Guest Post Lindsey Tollefson

I am making a new rule in our house! We are actually kind of skimpy on the house rules.  I try very hard to keep things simple: love God, love others, and be joyful.  It’s not complicated to avoid discipline here.  But I have found myself repeating this new rule over and over again: honor God with your body.  I suppose it falls right under the rule to love God, but when I phrase it this way it keeps our correction short and easy and obvious.

No spitting at your sister!
Why did God give you a tongue?
Answer: To taste delicious food.

Honor God with your tongue. Honor God with your body.

No hitting your sister!
Why did God give you hands?
Answer: To help others.
Honor God with your hands.  Honor God with your body

No stomping your feet!
Why did God give you feet?
Answer: To walk and run and dance
Honor God with your feet

No yelling!
Why did God give you a voice?
Answer: To sing and praise Him
Honor God with your voice.

It’s really all the same rule.  Isn’t that the way rules should be?  We are just using them to maintain a certain standard, the standard of serving Christ.  I want my children to think of their bodies as gifts, as temples of the Holy Spirit, that they have been given responsibility for, to use to honor God.  At their age, honoring God with their body means things like no spitting, no yelling, no fits, no hitting, no pulling hair, no sitting on each other.  I want them to make the connection (and it is an easy one) that their bodies are given to them for a purpose and it is very possible and very easy to misuse our bodies.

Of course the best way for them to learn this is for them to see me using my body to honor God, using my hands to serve instead of take, my energy to give instead of for my own hobbies, my voice to encourage and sing and tell stories instead of criticize, my imagination to create things for them instead of worrying about them.

Why did God give me a body?  What does He want me to do with it? Why a brain and an imagination and a back and a stomach and teeth and a tongue and feet and hands and hips and why are my arms so strangely long?  It doesn’t take much work to think of all the ways I can honor God with those things, instead of thinking of those things as ways to serve myself or of trying to preserve my body like a porcelain doll.  God gave it to me to use and to use up until it is gone.  This new rule is just as much for me as it is for the children.  We are all learning to honor God with our bodies.

Originally published at Theopolis

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On April 14, 2015 By In Books

S. D. Phelps: Travel Writing to the Glory of God

Guest Post by Mark Nenadov

Introduction

The donkey cowered under a considerable load. I wouldn’t have blamed the donkey—a donkey “scarcely larger than a good-sized sheep” and living in Egypt in 1860 doesn’t get much practice at the art of carrying six feet and nearly two-hundred pounds of Connecticut Baptist.

To make things worse, the rider enjoyed Egyptian cuisine and “rather increased [his] sizeable proportions” on “flesh-pots, to say nothing of leeks and onions.” He took it with good humour, observing how silly he looked. He felt “as though it might be proper for him to carry the donkey part of the time.”

The rider mentioned above is essentially unknown today. He was a Connecticut Baptist pastor named Sylvanus Dryden Phelps (1816-1895), not to be confused current day Phelps family of ill repute. Phelps was a very busy man, the longest-serving pastor of First Baptist Church in New Haven, Connecticut—a congregation which became the largest evangelical church in Connecticut towards the end of his ministry. He served as president of the Connecticut Baptist State Convention. He had a wife and several children. He was also a very active poet and hymn-writer.

The Trip and a Book

When Phelps’ congregation gave him leave to travel Europe and the Middle East, they provided him with a “liberal purse.” Their only stipulation was that he made a monthly report of his journey—which he did with vigour!

Thus First Baptist of New Haven indirectly contributed to somewhat of a niche product: Baptist travel writing. The resulting book, Holy Land with glimpses of Europe and Egypt: A year’s tour is a severely under-acknowledged gem. It weighs in at over 400 pages, though Phelps humorously bragged about its brevity.

From his writing, it is obvious that Phelps was a careful observer. His notes are rich in religious, philosophical, geographical, historical, political, apologetic, cultural, architectural, and literary observations. Phelps could be considered to be an early theological tourist–visiting many English dissenter burial grounds and documenting his encounter with Charles Spurgeon. He also wrote a poem about John Bunyan upon visiting his grave.

Phelps did not stop at documenting his trip. In true ministerial form, he also spent much of his vacation preaching sermons. In addition to his travel writing, we have an archive of sermons from fascinating places, such as along the Nile and in Jerusalem.  He found many Christian companions, and at one point in Egypt he was in the company of ministers and deacons of Baptist, Presbyterian, and Dutch Reformed affiliation.

Sadness

When we think of travel writing, we shouldn’t think exclusively of good times laced with happy-go-lucky observations. Travelling through Europe and the Middle East was, and still is, hard work. Even Evelyn Waugh’s travel writings–which come many years after our subject’s era, show some of the same pressures and angst of travelling.

What is more, Phelps’ lost his mother and his youngest child–a four year old son–while gone from home. He doesn’t elaborate on these events extensively. However, being the loving husband and father that he appears to be, it is certain that Phelps had a difficult time being away from his family during such times of deep grief and loss.

Travel brings out the best and worst of us and a good travel writer needs must strike a delicate balance if he is to be read and appreciated. Phelps’ excelled in this area. He tells it like it is and is not afraid to complain quite forcefully and share some profound cynicism. However, it is equally laced with a light-hearted spirit that is full of faith thankfulness and emptied of pretension. That is a large part of what makes him all the more compelling to read.

Humour

Though Phelps is usually serious, understated humour squeezes through the edges at times. Perhaps at times there is a bit of G. K. Chesterton or Mark Twain in Phelps’ narratives. I’ve already mentioned the donkey incident. One of my favourites is an account of climbing up the pyramids, endowed with a low-key proto-Chestertonianism:

 “It is…dangerous to climb over the higher steps, for if one should lose his footing…he would likely roll to the bottom with every limb and bone broken…all [the other tourists] were assisted by the Arabs except myself. Two of these half-naked and impudent fellows seize their victim by the hand…and drag him or her up, begging, flattering and threatening for bucksheesh, though they have already been paid. I determined to go up without their help. I had scarcely begun the ascent when two of them darted before me and bade me stop. I undertook to go around them, and they still hedged my way. I then pushed them aside with my Alpine baton, and went on, but they kept close to my side. I repeatedly assured them that I should not allow them to help me, but they persisted in following me two-thirds of the way to the top…They said my head would swim, my feet would slip, and my strength would fail; and they used some words both in Arabic and broken English by no means complimentary; but all in vain.”

The Blessing of Travel

At one point, Phelps shared the following perspective on travelling

“Travel brings pleasures and benefits, and a kind of education, that can be acquired in no other way. Opportunities are constantly afforded for observing the grand and beautiful works, both of nature and art, as well as for studying the character and habits of different peoples. No day need pass without something of good or profit seen, learned, or experienced. Even the annoyances that one meets constantly the discomforts and perplexities of journeying where passports, custom-houses, and various hungry officials detain and tax you… make you grateful for the land of your birth, and lead you to prize more highly its people, its government, its religion, and all its good institutions.”

He took delight in “Sabbaths abroad,” the “true Rest Days to Christian travelers” and “full of pleasant memories.” When used appropriately as a means of glorifying God and enjoying Him forever, our travel can become a means of grace in some sense. It both enables us to continue our other works with vigour and, as a cessation from our other works, becomes a thing of goodness in and of itself.

Conclusion

There are many fascinating aspects of Phelps’ life and legacy. I hope to expose some more details about Phelps in the future and am currently writing a biographical paper on him. I hope my feeble efforts can inspire some to follow in his footsteps and write about their travels to the glory of God! Phelps’ has a lot to teach us–hopefully we will be inspired by to “take up the pen.” At the very least, his inquisitive spirit and observant eye ought to be contagious!

Though largely obscure, Phelps’ writing may very well be in your church’s hymnal. If your church uses the Trinity Hymnal, an OPC hymnal published by Great Commission Publications, take a look at hymn #538. If you have the Christian Life Hymnal, it is #487.

When Phelps died, an obituary in a Brown University publication said the following:

“While uncommonly successful in ministerial work, a painstaking, zealous and eloquent preacher…an able organizer of …establishing many new churches while incessantly strengthening his own, Dr. Phelps found time for extensive travel and reading, which resulted in choice culture and made him one of the most agreeable of men.”

For more publications and updates on Mr. Nenadov, see Goodreads, Blog, Twitter, Linkedin, Website

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On March 27, 2015 By In Scribblings

Three Special Kindle Offers from KC!

Here are three kindle projects that I have been involved.

The first is the “Trinitarian Father.” I wrote this short work to encourage young and more experienced fathers in their calling to raise sons to be kings in this world. Download for $1.99

The second is “Christian Pipe-Smoking.” Here, Joffre Swait and I offer a brief apologetic of beauty for the art of pipe-smoking. This is the most downloaded project I have been involved with so far. Download for $1.99

The third is a work Kuyperian Press published entitled “You and Your Household: A Case for Infant Baptism.” Dr. Gregg Strawbridge offers a clear case for why infants of Christian parents should be baptized. Download for $3.99

They are heavily discounted only today. Download now on kindle!

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On March 24, 2015 By In Scribblings

Gregg Strawbridge vs. James White Debate on Baptism

Strawbridge’s new kindle booklet rom Kuyperian Press provides a perfect summary of the historical and biblical view on baptism.  You can now download the booklet on kindle for $4.99. The audio from last night’s debate should be available soon.

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On March 18, 2015 By In Books, Politics

New Publication from Kuyperian Press!

Infant Baptism - You and Your Household_smfront

Kuyperian Press is proud to announce the forthcoming publication of Dr. Gregg Strawbridge’s booklet on infant baptism. The Kindle edition will be available in the next coming days in preparation for his debate with Dr. James R. White on the topic on the 23rd of March.

 

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On March 10, 2015 By In Theology

Rahab’s Red Cord

Scholars have long debated the significance of the red cord that Rahab hung in her window to identify her house during the impending conquest of Jericho (Joshua 2:18). This is such a well-known detail that it provides an interesting test case for assessing the validity of different interpretive expectations. Put simply, how much should we read into the tiny details of the biblical text? Is the redness of Rahab’s cord significant in any way? Or is it one of those details about which preachers wax lyrical while the Holy Spirit shakes his (metaphorical, analogical) head in disbelief.

At one end of the interpretive spectrum, some have denied that this detail has any significance at all. It was merely a convenient way of identifying the where this lady of the night happened to live, they insist. Nothing more to it than that, they say – the redness of the rag, its location in the window, and so on, are all just irrelevant details. And it certainly has nothing to do with the blood of Christ. That’s just fanciful eisegesis.

Well, we can perhaps sympathise with the too-hasty leap from “red cord” to “red blood cells”, but perhaps a little more consideration is in order before we dismiss the thought out of hand. After all, can’t we think of any other occasion in the Bible when something red was placed over the entrance (or exit, Joshua 2:15) of a house immediately before the LORD passed through in judgment in order to ensure the safe deliverance of both the owner of the house and the rest of his (or her) household? When that judgment was occasioned by the LORD leading his people miraculously through a body of water? How many parallels to the exodus from Egypt do we need to see? (There are plenty, if you’re interested.) C’mon, willya? Hermeneutical minimalism gets an F-grade here. There are no “irrelevant details” in the Bible.

But granted that the shoulder-shrugging “it means nothing” is out of bounds, what does it mean? Early Christian interpreters recognised the obvious parallel with the blood of the Passover lamb daubed on the doorframes of the Israelite houses in Exodus 12. It was for this reason – and not simply because if the cord’s redness – that they drew a connection to the (red) blood of Christ, “our Passover lamb” (1 Cor 5:7). But perhaps there’s even more to it than this.

The most obvious contemporary association might be termed the “red light district” reading. On this view, the redness of the cord has an obvious (and ironic, given Rahab’s apparent repentance) connection with the lady’s (former) profession. But this is no mere fanciful contemporary re-appropriation dictated by the protocols of 21st-century Soho; the sexual overtones of “redness” were as obvious to Bronze Age Canaanite culture as they are to us. Indeed, the connections were obvious to Solomon: “your lips are like a scarlet thread,” he declared (Song of Solomon 4:3).

But there are more subtle resonances still. As Daniel Hawk points out in his outstanding book Every Promise Fulfilled (Westminster / John Knox, 1991), “the scarlet cord (tiqwat hashshani, v. 21) is actually a pun in code. The cord (tiqwat) is a sign of Rahab’s waiting or hope (tiqwat). And it is scarlet (shani) because it is a signal to the two (shney) men who have made the oath” (p. 70).

It turns out that the details matter after all.

Guest post by Rev Dr Steve Jeffery, Minister at Emmanuel Evangelical Church, London, England (Blog, Facebook, Twitter)

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On March 3, 2015 By In Family and Children

Moralizing our Children?

Guest post by Pastor Mark Jones

As I think about Ephesians 6:1-3, a number of questions come to mind concerning the way I treat my children (ages: 4, 4, 7, 9).

 This post does not in fact aim to raise a challenge to Baptists, but rather to get Reformed Presbyterians to think through the implications of how we should read the Scriptures. There are the dangers of “hyper-covenantalism” and “hyper-conversionism” that nobody holds to in their own thinking, but we all know these people exist. How about the ubiquitous “middle-ground” for us as Presbyterians? What is it? I don’t know. But this post is an attempt to wrestle with the fact that we might, perhaps unwittingly, be guilty of moralism with regards to our children and the obedience we demand from them.
Does this command to children have any sort of indicative present, whether in the verse itself (“in the Lord”) or in the rest of the book (chs. 1-5)? If there is no indicative (i.e., what God has savingly done for these children), is this then a “bare command”?
When we read this verse to our children, do the principles regarding “good works” apply to them? Such as the principles found in WCF 16.3,
Their ability to do good works is not at all of themselves, but wholly from the Spirit of Christ. And that they may be enabled thereunto, besides the graces they have already received, there is required an actual influence of the same Holy Spirit to work in them to will and to do of his good pleasure…
Did Paul expect the children to obey their parents in the power of the Spirit or from their own natural strength? What type of obedience would he – and more importantly, God – have been pleased with? Mere outward conformity to a command or true obedience from the heart? I expect he had the latter in view when he wrote Ephesians 6:1, which has certain theological implications for how we apply the text.
If our children disobey us, and we then rebuke them, do we then call them to evangelical repentance (assuming they have the Spirit to do such) or to legal repentance (assuming they do not have the Spirit but must still “be sorry”)? (FYI, I call the Sikh players on my U10 soccer team to “legal” repentance when they harshly foul each other).
If our children repent, can we assure them that God has indeed forgiven them? Or, if they repent, should we simply be thankful they are sorry for being disobedient, but refrain from telling them their sins are forgiven when they ask God for forgiveness? I am curious what parents tell their young children when they repent and ask God for forgiveness. Personally, I assure them, as I do with anyone in the church, that God forgives the penitent.
My worry is this: if there is absolutely no indicative present in the command in Ephesians 6:1, am I guilty of moralism concerning my children when I tell them to obey me?
Or, as a father, can I command my children to obey me “in the Lord” because they are covenantally in the Lord, and thus part of the unity of the body (Eph. 4:1-16)? Can I appeal to God’s gracious acts towards them (chs. 1-5, e.g., Eph. 5:1-2) as the basis for why they must obey me? That is to say, they must be holy (Eph. 6:1-2) because they are holy (1 Cor. 7:14). The indicative leads to the imperative, not vice versa.
Assuming this latter model is correct, I am able to do three things:
1. Press home to my children the need for daily repentance (against a form of unhealthy presumption).
2. Press home to my children the grace of God, who willingly accepts those who repent and also rewards children for their obedience (Eph. 6:2-3).
3. Treat my children as Christians because that is how Paul treated the children in Ephesus, knowing of course that this judgment of charity is not infallible but answers to the promises of the covenant.
This way of raising our children also helps us to make sense of Colossians 3:20 where Paul writes: “Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord.”
Surely our children are able to please the Lord because they obey from a heart of faith (Rom. 14:23) with the power of the Spirit at work in them, just as husbands love their wives according to the same inward principles (Col. 3:19). Colossians 3:20 could be a sort of: God is pleased even when Muslim children obey their parents. But contextually – at least in Paul’s corpus – Paul has already said children are to obey “in the Lord” (Eph. 6:1), which means that a specific/particular type of “pleasing” is in view, namely: the pleasure God receives from the obedience of his people.
Ephesians 6:1 and Colossians 3:20 are thus consistent with the language of WCF 16:6,
Yet notwithstanding, the persons of believers being accepted through Christ, their good works also are accepted in him, not as though they were in this life wholly unblameable and unreprovable in God’s sight; but that he, looking upon them in his Son, is pleased to accept and reward that which is sincere, although accompanied with many weaknesses and imperfections.
In sum, I do not think the indicative-imperative model goes out of the window when it comes to our children. It was there in the Decalogue, and it has only been heightened in the New Covenant (Jn. 13:34). Paul addresses children as those who are “in the Lord” and, as such, expects them to obey based on the realities of being “in the Lord” (this is called “proper reception”).
For me as a Reformed pastor, the issue over whether our children are covenant children or not has major practical implications regarding the manner in which they are expected to obey their parents and how the relate to others.
Guest post by Mark Jones
Here’s a practical example: Having twin boys, aged 4, can I appeal to an indicative in order to drive home the imperative? If Matthew sins against Thomas, can I appeal to Thomas to forgive penitent Matthew, as Christ has forgiven him (Eph. 4:32)? Or should Thomas only forgive Matthew because it is the right thing to do? Does Eph. 4:32 have any real connection to Eph. 6:1? I think so.
If this is true, then Ephesians 3:19 is something my children are able to know and enjoy, which (contextually) is a type of love for God’s people and God’s people alone.
Far from ruling out the need for daily repentance, this view actually provides us with the proper grounds for which we constantly plead with our children, both at home and from the pulpit, that they, like us, must improve upon their baptism (WLC 167). They must never, ever presume upon the Lord’s grace which has been offered to them (Heb. 3:15).

This post was originally published at Ref21 and is used with permission here.

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