Any resolve I might make that has to wait for January first, cannot be a sincere resolution. If it is something I should do, then I should start doing it the moment it comes to mind. Resolutions made December 31st must be the real thing.
If it is losing weight that I decide I must do (and really I should do that) then I should wake up this morning and say, "Today is the first day of the rest of my life. I have to stop sweets and extra helpings NOW." Then tomorrow morning, after I have pigged out the night before, I have to say the same thing. The starting line is now for anything seriously in need of change.
It is a daily resolve we undertake to kill a little more sin and learn to walk with Jesus a little better. That just can't wait for a calendar marker like the first of the year, or month or whatever.
Now after scorning the idea of making New Year's Resolutions, I must admit to resolving to attempt a through the bible read. The printed chart begins with January 1, and my contemporaries announced it just at this time of the year, so I jumped at the challenge.
I remember as a brand new Christian, resolving to leave the liberal church of which I was already a member. I was saved watching Billy Graham several weeks (months?) prior. But when the pastor preached about George Washington on Washington's birthday, I wanted to hear the word of God. It had become the right time for me to make the resolution, "By the grace of God, this is the last sermon I will hear in this church." And it was.
I also have made a resolution to write more blogs this year. No, it wasn't a New Year's resolution, but I thought I would share that with you.
Friday, January 3, 2014
Sunday, December 29, 2013
Did Jesus fail to bring peace on earth?
The angel announcement was "and on earth peace, good will toward men". At least that is the King James translation. Modern translations get it right, "peace among men with whom He is pleased." But even this needs a little explanation.
So many of our Christmas Carols were written when musicians had only the King James version to guide them, and so we are overwhelmed with the wrong message this time each year. It seems as though the birth of the Messiah was supposed to begin a universal reign of peace. In fact that is true, but not the way most people suppose. The Jewish conservative commentator, Dennis Prager, claims that is the biggest reason why he cannot consider Jesus to be the Messiah. After his birth there has not been an advent of world peace.
The word translated "good will" in the KJV is used elsewhere in the New Testament, and it always seems to refer to God's sovereign good pleasure. He is called the one who works all things after the counsel of his will (Ephesians 1:11).
For example, the word occurs in Matthew 11:26, "Yes, Father, for such was your gracious will." (ESV) In context Jesus is referring to God's hiding certain ideas from some people and revealing them to others. This was according to the sovereign good pleasure of God. In Luke 12:32 Jesus says to His disciples, "Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom."
Galatians 1:15 is another instance of the use of this word. Here too it is all of God's good pleasure, and not of Paul's choosing that he was called to be an apostle. Again it refers to the sovereign, unconditioned determination of God.
You see what the angels were saying (singing?) to the shepherds that night was that God was giving peace to many people, namely all those who were beneficiaries of His sovereign good pleasure. Why this is not grasped by many is simply the fact that this pleasure is a subset of election. And those who assume that God's grace must be egalitarian despise the doctrine of election. Never mind that it is clearly taught in the Bible, it's not politically correct to favor one over another, and therefore it must mean something else.
I wonder what kind of a problem these same people may have with the fact that it is God who allows one soul to be born to an atheist family in the Czech Republic, and another soul to be born to a wholesome Christian family in the United States. While it may be true that your birth family does not determine your salvation, no one can doubt that there is enormous spiritual advantage for the one over against the other. This is only one obvious form of election. Continue to check the context of Matthew 11 and you will see that Jesus is thanking His Father for election. "I thank you, Father, for hiding these things from the wise and prudent." Ponder that a moment. God has hidden insight from cocky know-it-alls. "And for revealing them to babes." That is, for revealing these same things to those who are beginners in the Christian life. That's simply election at work.
In God's sovereign disposition he has given this earth shattering news of Messiah's birth to lowly pungent savored shepherds. They will derive the peace of God that lasts forever from this announcement. Glory to God in the highest! Indeed we must do that still. That is our purpose when we gather for public worship. To God alone be the glory. And peace--His peace--rests upon all those who put their faith in the Son He gave to be our Savior. It's not universal world peace. But that will come when Jesus returns. Be patient.
So many of our Christmas Carols were written when musicians had only the King James version to guide them, and so we are overwhelmed with the wrong message this time each year. It seems as though the birth of the Messiah was supposed to begin a universal reign of peace. In fact that is true, but not the way most people suppose. The Jewish conservative commentator, Dennis Prager, claims that is the biggest reason why he cannot consider Jesus to be the Messiah. After his birth there has not been an advent of world peace.
The word translated "good will" in the KJV is used elsewhere in the New Testament, and it always seems to refer to God's sovereign good pleasure. He is called the one who works all things after the counsel of his will (Ephesians 1:11).
For example, the word occurs in Matthew 11:26, "Yes, Father, for such was your gracious will." (ESV) In context Jesus is referring to God's hiding certain ideas from some people and revealing them to others. This was according to the sovereign good pleasure of God. In Luke 12:32 Jesus says to His disciples, "Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom."
Galatians 1:15 is another instance of the use of this word. Here too it is all of God's good pleasure, and not of Paul's choosing that he was called to be an apostle. Again it refers to the sovereign, unconditioned determination of God.
You see what the angels were saying (singing?) to the shepherds that night was that God was giving peace to many people, namely all those who were beneficiaries of His sovereign good pleasure. Why this is not grasped by many is simply the fact that this pleasure is a subset of election. And those who assume that God's grace must be egalitarian despise the doctrine of election. Never mind that it is clearly taught in the Bible, it's not politically correct to favor one over another, and therefore it must mean something else.
I wonder what kind of a problem these same people may have with the fact that it is God who allows one soul to be born to an atheist family in the Czech Republic, and another soul to be born to a wholesome Christian family in the United States. While it may be true that your birth family does not determine your salvation, no one can doubt that there is enormous spiritual advantage for the one over against the other. This is only one obvious form of election. Continue to check the context of Matthew 11 and you will see that Jesus is thanking His Father for election. "I thank you, Father, for hiding these things from the wise and prudent." Ponder that a moment. God has hidden insight from cocky know-it-alls. "And for revealing them to babes." That is, for revealing these same things to those who are beginners in the Christian life. That's simply election at work.
In God's sovereign disposition he has given this earth shattering news of Messiah's birth to lowly pungent savored shepherds. They will derive the peace of God that lasts forever from this announcement. Glory to God in the highest! Indeed we must do that still. That is our purpose when we gather for public worship. To God alone be the glory. And peace--His peace--rests upon all those who put their faith in the Son He gave to be our Savior. It's not universal world peace. But that will come when Jesus returns. Be patient.
Thursday, December 5, 2013
"Authentic" Lord's Supper?
A few years ago I posted this. Since it still gets a lot of hits, and because I think the story is rather fun, I post it again below.
It must have been in the late 70s while I was yet ministering in Modesto. Dan Morse was trying to plant an OPC work in the city of Sacramento, and for some reason I was available to supply for him when he was out of town. I think I had a minister in our congregation in Modesto by the name of Bill Fredericks. He probably supplied the pulpit in Modesto so I could minister to the new chapel in Sacramento.
Anyway, Pastor Morse had his congregation trained to expect the Lord's Supper every week. He sought to give more people ownership of the worship service by having them rotate the responsibility of bringing a bottle of wine for the Lord's Supper. They even used a common cup and tore the bread by hand. It was very interesting and quaint as an attempt at feeling like the original disciples. The cup was an ornate chalice which I was taught to rotate slightly after each communicant took a sip. As I rotated the brim of the cup I would wipe it with a clean napkin which I carried along the aisle for the purpose. Of course when you study the matter you would realize that it doesn't take that many communicants to cover the circumference of the chalice and begin to repeat using the same surface someone before had touched with his lips. But we used wine, so the theory is that the alcohol would kill the germs. If you are tempted to feel creepy in spite of these safeguards, then you must fall back on your trust in the ability of a sovereign God to protect you from whatever bacilli were remaining on the brim of that cup. Actually the service went rather smoothly, and I thought it was a more intimate communion when it was done like this.
The second time I filled in for Pastor Morse we were a trifle nervous because the lady who was scheduled to bring the wine had not yet appeared, and it was less than 10 minutes before the service was to begin. Bur relief broke out when she came in the door and handed me a bottle shaped brown bag. I took it to the chalice, pulled out the wine, and stopped motionless for a brief moment. She had brought apricot wine! Here we were eating torn pieces of bread and drinking from a common cup because it seemed so authentic--but then the whole mood was ruined because we were not using "the fruit of the vine". Of course the only thing to do (at that hour) was to pour the apricot wine into the chalice and proceed with the service as though nothing was amiss. I'm sure the service was only ruined for me. I've been told of hippies who used coke and french fries. Man looks on the outward appearance, but God looks on the heart, and I know this lady meant no disrespect by substituting apricot wine for the more bloody fruit.
It must have been in the late 70s while I was yet ministering in Modesto. Dan Morse was trying to plant an OPC work in the city of Sacramento, and for some reason I was available to supply for him when he was out of town. I think I had a minister in our congregation in Modesto by the name of Bill Fredericks. He probably supplied the pulpit in Modesto so I could minister to the new chapel in Sacramento.
Anyway, Pastor Morse had his congregation trained to expect the Lord's Supper every week. He sought to give more people ownership of the worship service by having them rotate the responsibility of bringing a bottle of wine for the Lord's Supper. They even used a common cup and tore the bread by hand. It was very interesting and quaint as an attempt at feeling like the original disciples. The cup was an ornate chalice which I was taught to rotate slightly after each communicant took a sip. As I rotated the brim of the cup I would wipe it with a clean napkin which I carried along the aisle for the purpose. Of course when you study the matter you would realize that it doesn't take that many communicants to cover the circumference of the chalice and begin to repeat using the same surface someone before had touched with his lips. But we used wine, so the theory is that the alcohol would kill the germs. If you are tempted to feel creepy in spite of these safeguards, then you must fall back on your trust in the ability of a sovereign God to protect you from whatever bacilli were remaining on the brim of that cup. Actually the service went rather smoothly, and I thought it was a more intimate communion when it was done like this.
The second time I filled in for Pastor Morse we were a trifle nervous because the lady who was scheduled to bring the wine had not yet appeared, and it was less than 10 minutes before the service was to begin. Bur relief broke out when she came in the door and handed me a bottle shaped brown bag. I took it to the chalice, pulled out the wine, and stopped motionless for a brief moment. She had brought apricot wine! Here we were eating torn pieces of bread and drinking from a common cup because it seemed so authentic--but then the whole mood was ruined because we were not using "the fruit of the vine". Of course the only thing to do (at that hour) was to pour the apricot wine into the chalice and proceed with the service as though nothing was amiss. I'm sure the service was only ruined for me. I've been told of hippies who used coke and french fries. Man looks on the outward appearance, but God looks on the heart, and I know this lady meant no disrespect by substituting apricot wine for the more bloody fruit.
Monday, November 18, 2013
A normative text
The other day I saw a letter to the editor of the local paper, railing against "biblical" marriage. She asked what that is supposed to mean. Does it mean polygamy, since David was given multiple wives? Does it mean levirate marriage when a man is required to marry his brother's widow?
It occurred to me once again this proves a little knowledge is a dangerous thing. In fact it was hard not to believe this was a case of being willingly ignorant. It turned out to be a tirade against those opposed to same sex "marriage" on biblical grounds. This spitting polemic was intended to make it sound as though the bible is very arbitrary and contradictory, and couldn't be trusted.
I was reminded of a marital question raised by the Sadducees of Jesus' day. In fact it was about levirate marriage. The scenario proposed that a woman was widowed by no less than seven brothers before she finally died. The Sadducees didn't believe in the resurrection, so the question "Who's wife will she be?" was intended to ridicule the doctrine of the resurrection.
Jesus' answer to the Sadducees was so profound and relevant for the author of this letter to the editor as well as many other sneering questioners. He said, "You are mistaken, not understanding the Scriptures nor the power of God." (Matthew 22:29) Wow! I feel the brunt of that answer. So often my problem with a bible concept is exactly that. I don't know the bible well enough, and I am selling short the power of God.
It is true that David had more than one wife. It's recorded because it is the truth, not because it is a guideline for pleasing God. The text about David is simply sober history. It happened this way, and so God tells it this way. That does not mean that God approved of what David did, nor does it give us leave to follow his example. Even though David was guilty of murder as well as adultery, when he repented, he was the man after God's own heart. And a man with multiple wives cannot throw some away after he repents. He must keep his responsibilities toward each of them.
The bigger question is "Is this a normative text?" That is to say, is this supposed to be an example for all believers to adopt as a rule for their behavior? Any who deal with ancient documents must learn to ask himself, "What did the author intend by these words?" Nine times out of ten the task is not that daunting. Even modern documents, like the morning newspaper, require some interpretation. And if you really want to know the author's intent, it is not that difficult to figure out.
Armed with a genuine interest in the bible's teaching about marriage, you will discover Jesus' words, "Have you not read that He who created them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, 'For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh'? So they are no longer two, but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let no man separate." These words are not simply reciting history. Any amateur interpreter gets the point that this is intended to be a guiding principle, an authoritative definition of marriage. This text is normative. It is designed to give us guidance for our lives.
It occurred to me once again this proves a little knowledge is a dangerous thing. In fact it was hard not to believe this was a case of being willingly ignorant. It turned out to be a tirade against those opposed to same sex "marriage" on biblical grounds. This spitting polemic was intended to make it sound as though the bible is very arbitrary and contradictory, and couldn't be trusted.
I was reminded of a marital question raised by the Sadducees of Jesus' day. In fact it was about levirate marriage. The scenario proposed that a woman was widowed by no less than seven brothers before she finally died. The Sadducees didn't believe in the resurrection, so the question "Who's wife will she be?" was intended to ridicule the doctrine of the resurrection.
Jesus' answer to the Sadducees was so profound and relevant for the author of this letter to the editor as well as many other sneering questioners. He said, "You are mistaken, not understanding the Scriptures nor the power of God." (Matthew 22:29) Wow! I feel the brunt of that answer. So often my problem with a bible concept is exactly that. I don't know the bible well enough, and I am selling short the power of God.
It is true that David had more than one wife. It's recorded because it is the truth, not because it is a guideline for pleasing God. The text about David is simply sober history. It happened this way, and so God tells it this way. That does not mean that God approved of what David did, nor does it give us leave to follow his example. Even though David was guilty of murder as well as adultery, when he repented, he was the man after God's own heart. And a man with multiple wives cannot throw some away after he repents. He must keep his responsibilities toward each of them.
The bigger question is "Is this a normative text?" That is to say, is this supposed to be an example for all believers to adopt as a rule for their behavior? Any who deal with ancient documents must learn to ask himself, "What did the author intend by these words?" Nine times out of ten the task is not that daunting. Even modern documents, like the morning newspaper, require some interpretation. And if you really want to know the author's intent, it is not that difficult to figure out.
Armed with a genuine interest in the bible's teaching about marriage, you will discover Jesus' words, "Have you not read that He who created them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, 'For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh'? So they are no longer two, but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let no man separate." These words are not simply reciting history. Any amateur interpreter gets the point that this is intended to be a guiding principle, an authoritative definition of marriage. This text is normative. It is designed to give us guidance for our lives.
Monday, October 21, 2013
A Big Nothing
Nobody is ever 79 years old. It's nearly the big 80, but it isn't 80.
When a kid is 9 years old, he will want everyone to know he is almost 10. Kids that age are always "going on" to the next number. "I'm going on 13." the kid says. But he may be 9 years old and just can't wait to be a teen ager. Any kid on that side may say he's going on 13, and so he is. Some just have a bigger run at it than others. But I'm not in a hurry to tell everyone I'm going on 80. Wouldn't that raise eyebrows? "Hey, friends, I'm turning 80." Or how about this, "I've just started my 8th decade." Baloney! I'm not turning anything. I'm not going on anything. A lot may happen in a year, and like my father in law used to imply, it's getting to the point that buying green bananas is being very optimistic.
When a pretty young lady is 29, she is very sensitive about her age. She wants you to realize she is still in her 20s and has not passed that dreaded marker of 30. She may spend a little money erasing wrinkle lines that no one else can see. Her "laugh lines" display far to much hilarity in her career, so she supposes. Consequently she is bold to correct anyone who is misled about that and assert that she is 29. In fact she seems to make that point so many times that one gets the feeling she has been saying this for several years.
Jack Benny was 39 forever. I think he was still 39 when he died at ninety something. It makes for good natured joking. But there is no joke nor is there anything good natured about insisting that everyone knows I am 79. It's a big nothing I say.
For some there comes the mood to brag about longevity. An old geezer may well be proud that he still enjoys his stogies and bourbon at the ripe old age of 109. Everybody expected him to die from lung cancer or cirrhosis of the liver before now. So he is sort of having the last laugh by blowing smoke and announcing his age. I'll drink to that.
But that doesn't happen at 79. Nothing happens at 79. That's not retirement age. Everyone in the world is giving senior discounts long before you ever reach that non-descript marker of 79. Newspaper editorials, or letters to the editor, may suggest that I should surrender my driver's license. Now and again a tragic auto accident involves a septuagenarian, and someone will howl for my license. Someone hit the accelerator instead of the brake. It could happen to anyone, but when you're my age, it becomes a class action persecution. This seventy something year old just plowed through a crowd at a Farmer's Market, therefore all licenses should be revoked at age seventy, or seventy nine.
The age of 70 sounds like a true mile marker. Seventy five is 3/4 of a century. But 79 is a big nothing. When kids talk about growing up they sometimes imagine an ideal age. Was there a time when you wished you were 18? Or maybe 21 or 25? Well, when was the last time you wished you were 79?
So I say my seventy ninth birthday is a big nothing. I didn't ask for it, and if you plan a surprise party for me, I will find a way to shock some sense into you. Us old geezers have learned a few things in all these years, and I might try one of them. A seventy nine year old streaker is not a pretty sight. In the first place, he is definitely not a streaker. His miserably misshapen body gains no attractiveness by losing its clothes. And he may more accurately be called a hobbler or a shuffler rather than a streaker.
Okay, the streaker thing is a little too radical for my taste too. But don't try the surprise party. You'll be sorry.
I know that I am glad to be alive. I know that my kind Heavenly Father has my life ordered out for me. My genetic father died in his early 50s of a massive heart attack. Now, ever since my heart attack, I waken each morning thanking God for another day. I do not specifically thank Him for being 79, but I thank Him for His loving providence that allows me one more day to live with my best friend and companion. All this and heaven too. That can't be beat.
Okay, this post sounds like I'm bitter, and I really am not. I still say, however, that a 79th birthday is a big nothing.
Monday, October 14, 2013
La La Land
I live on the left coast, in what some people call "La La Land", in other words, Los Angeles, California. There is a lot of pretense here. It was a natural nest for movie productions and fantasy theme parks to emerge. Walking the streets of Hollywood has always been a hoot. Maybe more dangerous today, but still one is able to find someone in a clown suit and a red bulbous nose.
It's a nasty place with sordid lowlife hardly hidden beneath the surface of society. The San Fernando Valley section is known for a plethora of porn studios.
Did you know that there is no such city as "Hollywood"? It's just a zone number of Los Angeles. And yet it has an honorary mayor. Tourists come by the drove to walk the pavement and see names and hand prints from stars past and present. But there's just nothing exciting about it if we were to call it the "Los Angeles walk of fame."
Did you know that the San Diego freeway does not go to San Diego? The San Diego freeway is numbered 405, but it ceases to exist just a few miles south of Los Angeles where it dumps traffic onto the Golden State freeway, US 5. Then about 90 miles south of that you will find San Diego. And yet you can find countless signs around town identifying the 405 as the "San Diego" freeway. If truth is a little relative, oh well, this is the left coast.
There is a baseball team down in Anaheim, CA, who are called the "Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim." I kid you not. It's not that the owners love our city, but baseball is a huge business, and Los Angeles represents a lucrative market for fans left over from the Dodgers. Oh yeah, the Dodgers were swiped from Brooklyn many years ago, but now they have been in LA longer than they were in Brooklyn, so it almost seems legitimate.
The sports joke around town is the fact that LA has no NFL team and hasn't had one since the Raiders picked our pockets several years ago.
For all it's foibles and fantasy, Los Angeles is still my city. I was born in the Angeles Hospital in downtown Los Angeles. Here is where I grew up, partly in south central LA and the other part in Eagle Rock (another zone number in Los Angeles). This is the place my wife said she would never again live (that was before the Lord called me to serve our church in Carson where we lived for more than 20 years. Oh, by the way, Carson is not a zone of LA. It has its own city council and mayor. But three of the past mayors went to jail.
Ah, yes, this is home. Now we live in another city in the megalopolis of LA, and likely we will only move when chauffeured in a hearse. My story is just a microcosm of each one of us living in a fallen world, waiting for the Savior to take us home to glory. I pray, dear God, though I am in the world, please don't let me be part of the world.
It's a nasty place with sordid lowlife hardly hidden beneath the surface of society. The San Fernando Valley section is known for a plethora of porn studios.
Did you know that there is no such city as "Hollywood"? It's just a zone number of Los Angeles. And yet it has an honorary mayor. Tourists come by the drove to walk the pavement and see names and hand prints from stars past and present. But there's just nothing exciting about it if we were to call it the "Los Angeles walk of fame."
Did you know that the San Diego freeway does not go to San Diego? The San Diego freeway is numbered 405, but it ceases to exist just a few miles south of Los Angeles where it dumps traffic onto the Golden State freeway, US 5. Then about 90 miles south of that you will find San Diego. And yet you can find countless signs around town identifying the 405 as the "San Diego" freeway. If truth is a little relative, oh well, this is the left coast.
There is a baseball team down in Anaheim, CA, who are called the "Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim." I kid you not. It's not that the owners love our city, but baseball is a huge business, and Los Angeles represents a lucrative market for fans left over from the Dodgers. Oh yeah, the Dodgers were swiped from Brooklyn many years ago, but now they have been in LA longer than they were in Brooklyn, so it almost seems legitimate.
The sports joke around town is the fact that LA has no NFL team and hasn't had one since the Raiders picked our pockets several years ago.
For all it's foibles and fantasy, Los Angeles is still my city. I was born in the Angeles Hospital in downtown Los Angeles. Here is where I grew up, partly in south central LA and the other part in Eagle Rock (another zone number in Los Angeles). This is the place my wife said she would never again live (that was before the Lord called me to serve our church in Carson where we lived for more than 20 years. Oh, by the way, Carson is not a zone of LA. It has its own city council and mayor. But three of the past mayors went to jail.
Ah, yes, this is home. Now we live in another city in the megalopolis of LA, and likely we will only move when chauffeured in a hearse. My story is just a microcosm of each one of us living in a fallen world, waiting for the Savior to take us home to glory. I pray, dear God, though I am in the world, please don't let me be part of the world.
Sunday, October 6, 2013
God has a sense of humor
Do you have a spooky experience that made you think twice about the possibility of haunting?
This experience took place in the late 60s, and is absolutely true.
Barbara and I had gone to bed and each of us was reading. Not often in our lives have we read to each other, but this night we did. I read her the story from the Saturday Evening Post about a haunted house. Some Hollywood sound man claimed his house was haunted. His wife was some pretentious second rate actress, and they lived in a wealthy neighborhood.
After they were in bed, they could clearly hear the scooting of chair legs and the jingle of silverware emanating from their dining room. Whenever he would creep down stairs to see what was happening, no one was there. After this happened several times, he rigged a tape recorder and strategically placed a mike near the dining room at the foot of the stairs. Sure enough one night they heard the sound of a party, complete with silverware, glass clinking and several people lowly murmuring. He cocked his pistol, crept quietly down the stairs and turned on the light, only to find the room still and quiet as he had in the past.
He couldn't wait to check his tape, and sure enough there were the party sounds. He even heard the stairs squeak under his feet, the click of the light switch, and his nervous clearing of the throat. It was a complete mystery. He checked for the possibility of neighbor dinner parties with the intrusion of sound into their dining room. There was no known explanation.
When they had occasion to go to Europe for a few weeks, this man asked a detective friend of his to stop by the house a time or two to see that everything was okay. When he returned from Europe he was told this strange story by his friend.
"I was finished with my errand one night, so I stopped by your place. As I approached your address I saw your house with every light in the joint fully ablaze. I pulled into the driveway and ran into the house, but just when I reached your front door, every light in the house suddenly went off. I checked thoroughly and there was no one there."
The next day when he greeted his next door neighbor he was asked, "Hey, who was that guy you left in charge of your house while you were gone?" He answered, "My detective friend stopped by a couple of times." "Naw," the neighbor corrected, "this guy seemed to be living there. I saw him out by the pool. He was rather heavy, balding and he sported a big black mustache."
Later when his wife was entertaining guests, someone asked, "Aren't you going to introduce me to your house guest?" But she corrected, "We have no one else in the house." Her guest insisted, "But I saw him in the kitchen doorway just now. He was a large man, balding and he had a black mustache."
There was some other creepy stuff in the article. It ended with the home burning to the ground.
Barbara and I talked about it for a while before going to sleep. Is there a possibility of poltergeists? If there were such things, they would have to be angels or demons. We know that departed souls go immediately to be with Christ (if they are believers). Perhaps demon spirits enjoy distracting the attention of people who ought to be thinking of the things of God. Curious, but we are safely in the hands of our Heavenly Father.
Then about 3 in the morning, our hall light suddenly came on. You'd better believe we were rather spooked by this. It had never happened before (nor has it happened since). We don't give in to ghost explanations, so I examined the light switch. We had the type of switch that slowly moved to engage or disengage the connection, and the switch was not fully thrown when we went to bed. So when the temperature and humidity changed during the night, the switch made contact. Problem solved.
But why was it that particular night that this happened? The only night in all our married life that I read a ghost story to my wife was also the only night in our entire lives that a light switch mysteriously came on in the middle of the night. Since we believe in a God of providence, this was not an accident. I concluded that God indeed has a sense of humor.
This experience took place in the late 60s, and is absolutely true.
Barbara and I had gone to bed and each of us was reading. Not often in our lives have we read to each other, but this night we did. I read her the story from the Saturday Evening Post about a haunted house. Some Hollywood sound man claimed his house was haunted. His wife was some pretentious second rate actress, and they lived in a wealthy neighborhood.
After they were in bed, they could clearly hear the scooting of chair legs and the jingle of silverware emanating from their dining room. Whenever he would creep down stairs to see what was happening, no one was there. After this happened several times, he rigged a tape recorder and strategically placed a mike near the dining room at the foot of the stairs. Sure enough one night they heard the sound of a party, complete with silverware, glass clinking and several people lowly murmuring. He cocked his pistol, crept quietly down the stairs and turned on the light, only to find the room still and quiet as he had in the past.
He couldn't wait to check his tape, and sure enough there were the party sounds. He even heard the stairs squeak under his feet, the click of the light switch, and his nervous clearing of the throat. It was a complete mystery. He checked for the possibility of neighbor dinner parties with the intrusion of sound into their dining room. There was no known explanation.
When they had occasion to go to Europe for a few weeks, this man asked a detective friend of his to stop by the house a time or two to see that everything was okay. When he returned from Europe he was told this strange story by his friend.
"I was finished with my errand one night, so I stopped by your place. As I approached your address I saw your house with every light in the joint fully ablaze. I pulled into the driveway and ran into the house, but just when I reached your front door, every light in the house suddenly went off. I checked thoroughly and there was no one there."
The next day when he greeted his next door neighbor he was asked, "Hey, who was that guy you left in charge of your house while you were gone?" He answered, "My detective friend stopped by a couple of times." "Naw," the neighbor corrected, "this guy seemed to be living there. I saw him out by the pool. He was rather heavy, balding and he sported a big black mustache."
Later when his wife was entertaining guests, someone asked, "Aren't you going to introduce me to your house guest?" But she corrected, "We have no one else in the house." Her guest insisted, "But I saw him in the kitchen doorway just now. He was a large man, balding and he had a black mustache."
There was some other creepy stuff in the article. It ended with the home burning to the ground.
Barbara and I talked about it for a while before going to sleep. Is there a possibility of poltergeists? If there were such things, they would have to be angels or demons. We know that departed souls go immediately to be with Christ (if they are believers). Perhaps demon spirits enjoy distracting the attention of people who ought to be thinking of the things of God. Curious, but we are safely in the hands of our Heavenly Father.
Then about 3 in the morning, our hall light suddenly came on. You'd better believe we were rather spooked by this. It had never happened before (nor has it happened since). We don't give in to ghost explanations, so I examined the light switch. We had the type of switch that slowly moved to engage or disengage the connection, and the switch was not fully thrown when we went to bed. So when the temperature and humidity changed during the night, the switch made contact. Problem solved.
But why was it that particular night that this happened? The only night in all our married life that I read a ghost story to my wife was also the only night in our entire lives that a light switch mysteriously came on in the middle of the night. Since we believe in a God of providence, this was not an accident. I concluded that God indeed has a sense of humor.
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