Sunday, June 30, 2013

COOL STUFF FROM LIBRARY BOOKS #27: Ed Gorman on GABBY HAYES, "The Olivier Of Sidekicks!"


Albie's note: While going through the large print westerns at my local Public Library I came across a great essay called "ON ROY ROGERS" written by mystery and western novelist Ed Gorman.  The whole essay is a hoot, but I especially loved these words that follow-- surely the greatest tribute that will ever be written for the "King of Sidekicks" George "Gabby" Hayes  (May 7, 1885 – February 9, 1969)  Just that astounding phrase "Olivier of Sidekicks" alone had me literally laughing out loud!

So now... Enjoy the whole passage:


Then there was Gabby.

Even when I was five and six and seven I knew instinctively that Gabby Hayes was the Olivier of sidekicks and that all the Fuzzy St. Johns and Pat Buttrams were only clumsy imitators. The reason for Gabby's superiority was simple.  He didn't do comedy.  He did Mark Twain-- the ultimate misanthrope.  Gabby had two modes-- pissing and moaning.  Sometimes he pissed and moaned in the same sentence! Usually that involved "females" and what a shoddy imitation of real human beings they were...
Roy and Dale and Gabby are good enough for any universe I ever inhabit.


From The Best Western Stories Of Ed Gorman, Thorndyke, Maine, G. K. Hall and Co. 1995



Gabby and wife, early 1950s

PEACE



Saturday, June 29, 2013

GOTTA APPRECIATE HONESTY!

 
So help me, I would give this guy ANY change I had on me! 
 
Want chapter and verse on that?  How about PROVERBS 31: 4-7?
 
4 It is not for kings, O Lemuel, it is not for kings to drink wine; nor for princes strong drink:
5 Lest they drink, and forget the law, and pervert the judgment of any of the afflicted.
6 Give strong drink unto him that is ready to perish, and wine unto those that be of heavy hearts.
7 Let him drink, and forget his poverty, and remember his misery no more.

Interesting, eh?
Truly, God's thoughts and ours are not always the same!

PEACE
 

"ISRAEL And THE CHURCH"-- Good selection from the late W. A. CRISWELL

"What Is The Relationship Between Israel And The Church?"
  By W. A. Criswell
1909-2002



In Galatians 6:16, Paul writes: "And as many as walk according to this rule, peace be on them, and mercy, and upon the Israel of God." What does Paul mean by "the Israel of God"? Who are the people whom Paul refers to as "the Israel of God"? In the Epistle to the Romans, Paul writes: "I say then, Hath God cast away His people? God forbid. For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. God hath not cast away His people for which He foreknew…" (11:1-2). Who are "His people"?
    Again, in Romans 10:1, Paul writes: "Brethren, my heart’s desire and prayer…for Israel is, that they might be saved." Who are Paul’s "brethren"? Then in Romans 9:1-4, Paul writes: "I say the truth in Christ, I lie not, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost, That I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart. For I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh: Who are Israelites…."
    Who are these people whom Paul refers to by name of "Israelites"? To me the answer is simple, rudimentary, and a primary identification. However, my answer places me in an almost inconsequential minority in the theological world, since the large majority of Christians persist in identifying Israel with the New Testament Church. All of the prophecies and all of the promises of God made to the children of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, say these Christians [i.e., the majority of Christendom], were not made to God’s ancient people but to the Church.
    Can this identification of God’s ancient people with the Church be correct? Is there now no Israel in the mind of God, no continuing of Israel in the Bible? Are the Old Testament prophecies and promises pertinent only to the Church? Does Israel, God’s ancient people, as such, no longer exist in the mind and purpose of God?
    At this point, let me say that the correct identification of Israel is a key to the true interpretation of the whole Bible. If Israel means God’s ancient people, the Bible becomes as clear as truth itself. If Israel means the New Testament Church, the teaching of much of the Bible becomes obscure.

What about the Seed of Abraham?
    That the Bible clearly teaches Israel to mean the seed of Abraham and that this is the only meaning of the term Israel is my sincere conviction. As I read the Bible, I always had the perfect satisfaction in my heart as to its teaching, except for one passage – Galatians 6:16 – wherein Paul writes: "And as many as walk according to this rule, peace be on them, and mercy, and upon the Israel of God." This phrase, "the Israel of God," troubled me. It troubled me for a long time. The question which kept pressing itself upon me was, "Is this an instance where the word Israel refers to the Church?"
    As I studied and pondered over the matter, praying and asking God for an answer, the rule of biblical interpretation came to my mind; namely, the guide to sound biblical interpretation is always to be found in the context.
    God does not speak to us in isolated texts – in words pulled out of context and considered by themselves. Reviewing in my mind the setting of Galatians 6:16, I remembered that the subject of Paul’s letter to the churches in Galatia was the Judaizing controversy. When Paul began preaching the message of the Son of God, he was violently opposed by the Judaizers – those who believed and taught that no man could be saved by faith alone, without works.
    These false teachers said that man must superimpose upon his faith in Christ all the Mosaic institutions and the Mosaic Law. Remembering this, I came to the very definite conclusion that in the Galatian letter Paul is speaking of those Jewish converts who had accepted the Gospel by faith apart from works. In contradistinction to the Judaizers, Paul called the Jews who had accepted the Lord Jesus Christ "the Israel of God." Hebrew Christians of Paul’s day and the Hebrew Christians of today are, therefore, "the Israel of God"; that is, Israelites who have found in Christ – by faith alone – pardon for sin, life everlasting, and the fulfillment of all the messianic prophecies. They are the Jews who have found a Savior in Jesus Christ.

Paul’s Great Musterion
    I cannot imagine it possible that the New Testament Church and this present Age of Grace were hidden from the eyes of the Old Testament prophets and seers. But the fact is, they never saw it. This is why Paul in the Ephesian letter (3:3) calls the Church a musterion (mystery), a secret hidden in the heart of God, not revealed until God made it known through the Apostle. And what was this musterion of Paul’s? That some time between the first and second comings of Jesus Christ, there would be this present Age of Grace, an age of the Holy Spirit, in which the Gospel would be preached and God would call out and make of Jew and Gentile one body, a new thing, to be called "the Church."
    The Old Testament prophets saw the coming of Christ as the suffering servant, the Messiah, by whose stripes we are healed. Again, they saw Him as the coming pantokrator (king and ruler) of the whole creation. But they never saw the valley in between the first and second comings. This is the valley in which we now live, the Age of Grace, the age of the Holy Spirit, in which the musterion (mystery) was revealed through the Apostle Paul, to make of one body Jew and Gentile – a new thing – the Church of Jesus Christ.

Has God Cast Away His People?

    In the Roman epistle, Paul asks: "…Hath God cast away His people?" (11:1). We Gentile Christians of today are in the Church; we are members of the Body of our Lord. We are living in the Age of Grace in which the Gospel of the Son of God is being preached. But what about the Israelites of today and Paul’s question, "…Hath God cast away His people?"

Is this question not as pertinent today as when Paul raised it? What of those Israelites who belong to the household of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob? Is God done with them? Has God found Himself through with them? And what about the prophecies and promises that cover the pages of the Old Testament concerning God’s ancient people? Are these prophecies and promises to fall to the ground? Does God forget? He made these promises long ago. Are they old and worn out, is God weary of them, and will He forget them? Has God indeed cast away His people? Paul replies,
"God forbid!"
    How could God make a promise and not keep it? Paul argues this point: "For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery [musterion]…that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles be come in. And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Zion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob: For this is My covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins. As concerning the Gospel, they are enemies for your sakes: but as touching the election, they are beloved for the fathers’ sakes. For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance [i.e. change]" (Rom. 11:25-29).
    Or as Numbers 23:19 says: "God is not a man, that He should lie; neither the son of man, that He should repent [i.e. change]: hath He said, and shall He not do it? Or hath He spoken, and shall He not make it good?"


Has God Forgotten His Promises?
    Every syllable of our Bible shall be fulfilled in God’s time and in God’s way, and every promise God has made He will faithfully keep. This is our message concerning Israel in the remembrance of God. Has God forgotten? Has He cast Israel away? Are they no longer in the mind and purpose of the Almighty? Are there no future events in history that shall include Israel, God’s elect and chosen people? Let us look in the Scriptures.
    The story of the Book of Exodus begins in a remembrance of God: "And it came to pass in process of time, that the king of Egypt died…" (2:23a). This king was that cruel monarch under whose surveillance Moses fled when he killed the Egyptian taskmaster (2:12,15). "…and the children of Israel sighed by reason of the bondage, and they cried, and their cry came up unto God by reason of the bondage. And God heard their groaning, and God remembered His covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. And God looked upon the children of Israel, and God had respect unto them" (vv. 23b-25).
    God appeared unto Moses and appointed him to stand before Pharaoh, and said to Moses: "…I am the Lord: I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob…[and] established My covenant with them to give them [this land], the land of their pilgrimage [where] they were strangers…I have also heard [their groanings]…" (Ex. 6:2-5). "I am sending thee to deliver My people Israel, for I will bring into remembrance My covenant with them" (paraphrase of vv. 6-8).
    God kept His word and delivered His people Israel from Egyptian bondage. Then came the wilderness journey and idolatry, the worship of the golden calf; and the Lord said to Moses: "Stand aside and let My fury turn against these people, and out thy loins will I raise up a nation that will do My will" (paraphrase of Exodus 32:10). And Moses stood before the Lord and besought the Lord for the people: "Remember Abraham, Isaac, and [Jacob], Thy servants, to whom Thou swarest by Thine own self, and saidst unto them, I will multiply your seed as the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have spoken of will I give unto your seed, and they shall inherit it for ever" (Ex. 32:13).
    And the Lord remembered His covenant. In the 26th chapter of Leviticus, Moses assures the people by power and in the Spirit of God that in the day that they transgress and are scattered among the nations, God will not forget them. "Then will I remember My covenant with Jacob, and also My covenant with Isaac, and also My covenant with Abraham will I remember; and I will remember the land. …And yet for all that, when they be in the land of their enemies, I will not cast them away, neither will I abhor them, to destroy them utterly, and to break My covenant with them: for I am the Lord their God" (vv. 42,44).
    Paul asks in Romans 11:1: "Hath God cast away His people?" How could God cast away His people and be God? How could He forget what He said to Moses: "…I will not cast them away, neither will I abhor them, to destroy them utterly,…But I will for their sakes remember the covenant of their ancestors,…I am the Lord (Lev. 26:44b-45).

    Then David in Psalm 105 sings of God’s covenant: "He hath remembered His covenant for ever, the word which He commanded to a thousand generations. Which covenant He made with Abraham, and His oath unto Isaac; And confirmed the same unto Jacob for a law, and to Israel for an everlasting covenant: Saying, Unto thee will I give the land of Canaan, the lot of your inheritance" (vv. 8-11).
    Truly, God is not a man that He should lie, that He should repent (change) or forget, or that He should make a promise and fail to fulfill it. God has a purpose and a gracious one for His People Israel. Should not this fact fill our hearts with joy?
    …Truly God has not forgotten or cast away His people. Although the present day sees them [Israel] in rejection and unbelief, the day is coming when we shall see them in mourning, in repentance, in contrition – which will be followed by joyful acceptance of the Messiah whom they in their ignorance had once delivered to be crucified. (See Zechariah 14:3-21.)

This excerpt taken from the sermon pamphlet Israel in Remembrance of God, by W. A. Criswell. Booklet from Pasche Institute of Jewish Studies, 4010 Gaston Ave., Dallas TX 75246.

Cool photo: Sunset in Israel
PEACE
 

Saturday, June 22, 2013

COOL SIGN: "This Is A Book Shop"


[I confess I love this photo of a sign that hangs at the Albion Bookstore in Oxford, England. It was new to me but it's apparently made extensive "viral rounds" on the internet already and some folks find it heavy-handed and pedantic... but yeah, I still really like it.  As much as I like and use the 'net, I will always stand in awe of that mind-boggling, great and simple blessing frrom God, The Paper Volume.  In case the above photo ever becomes a "dead link," I thought I should maybe copy out what the sign says, so that is why the words are written out here also. -- Albie]


THIS IS A BOOK SHOP

CROSSROADS OF CIVILIZATION
REFUGE OF ALL THE ARTS
AGAINST THE RAVAGES OF TIME
ARMOURY OF FEARLESS TRUTH
AGAINST WHISPERING RUMOUR
INCESSANT TRUMPET OF TRADE
FROM THIS PLACE WORDS MAY FLY ABROAD
NOT TO PERISH AS DIGITAL WAVES
BUT FIXED IN TIME
NOT CORRUPTED BY THE HURRYING HAND
BUT VERIFIED IN PROOF

FRIEND, YOU STAND ON SACRED GROUND

THIS IS A BOOK SHOP




"The cloke that I left at Troas with Carpus, when thou comest, bring with thee, and the books, but especially the parchments."
-- Apostle Paul, II Tim. 2:13

"When I get a little money I buy books; and if any is left I buy food and clothes."
-- Erasmus Of Rotterdam

PEACE

Sunday, June 16, 2013

COOL STUFF FROM LIBRARY BOOKS #26: "Thoughts Written in Mary Slessor's Bible"

Some Thoughts Written in
Mary Slessor's Bible


Albie's Note: When Mary Slessor [1848-1915] arrived in the Calabar River region of what is now Nigeria, West Africa, in 1876, it was designated the most cannibal infested area extant on this earth.  When she died there, in 1915, it was considered the most Christian region in all of the continent.  She may not have accomplished this by herself, but all historians agree it would not have been accomplished without her!  Here, from an old biography of the little Scottish Missionary, Nurse, and Statesperson [called "Ma" by her constituents, patients, and converts alike] are some amazing and totally convicting "Words to live by" found written in her personal copy of the King James Bible at the time of her death. 

When I first read these amazing sayings I just had to blog them!





God is never behind time.

If you play with temptation do not expect God will deliver you.

A gracious woman has gracious friendships.

No gift or genius or position can keep us safe or free from sin.

We must see and know Christ before we can teach.

Good is good, but it is not enough; it must be God.

The secret of all failure is disobedience.

Sin is loss for time and eternity.

The smallest things are as absolutely necessary as the great things.

An arm of flesh never brings power.

Half the world's sorrow comes from the unwisdom of parents.

Obedience brings health.

Blessed the man and woman who is able to serve cheerfully in the second rank — a big test.

Slavery never pays; the slave is spoiled as a man, and the master not less so.

It were worth while to die, if thereby a soul could be born again.

From Mary Slessor of Calabar: Pioneer Missionary by W.P. Livingstone. 8th ed. New York: George H. Doran Co., [1916]



"In Christ," Mary Slessor once said, "we become new creatures. His life becomes ours. Take that word 'life' and turn it over and over and press it and try to measure it, and see what it will yield. Eternal life is a magnificent idea which comprises everything the heart can yearn after. Do not your hearts yearn for this life, this blessed and eternal life, which the Son of God so freely offers?"

"From death in this world unto life in the next," says Jesus.

"If we be dead with Christ, we shall also live with Him," says Paul.

"Eternal life comprises everything the heart can yearn after," says Mary Slessor.

From Blazing the Missionary Trail by Eugene Myers Harrison.
Chicago, Ill.: Scripture Press Book Division, ©1949.

 
PEACE

Tuesday, June 4, 2013

"Hindrances To Prayer" -- good article by OSWALD J. SMITH

HINDRANCES TO PRAYER

  
Oswald J. Smith
[1889-1986]
  

    There are three hindrances to the prayer life, three enemies with which we have to cope. Of course, if you merely fall down at your bedside in the morning and mumble off a few words of prayer, and then get up and hurry to work, you will not know what I mean. I am talking about real prayer, intercessory prayer, prayer that achieves its objective. I say there are three hindrances.

Interruptions
    Have you ever had the telephone ring when you have been at prayer? Or has the baby cried? Have friends called upon you? Have you been interrupted in one way or another? Satan knows exactly when to send the interruptions. If he can interrupt you when you are at prayer he will have wrecked the efficiency of your prayer ministry.
    Now how did I get rid of interruptions? I discovered that I had to have a time for prayer and a place for prayer. When I am at home I make my study the place for prayer, and I make the first hour of the morning directly after breakfast the time for prayer. Everyone knows when I am at prayer – therefore interruptions are avoided.
    When I am crossing the ocean, I find the most secluded part of the deck I can find, and that becomes my place for prayer. When I am at a summer conference, I go out into the woods, and there, under the trees, I find a place for prayer.
    May I say that your place for prayer will become so sacred that you will think of it as holy ground. I have stained the walls of my study with the breath of my prayers. I always go back to the same place when I pray, and there God meets me.
    You, too, will have to have a place of prayer and a time for prayer. Only then can you avoid interruptions.
Drowsiness
    Have you ever become drowsy when you have been at prayer? You know what I mean. You kneel down and place your head on your arms, close your eyes and attempt to pray. Before very long you become drowsy, and at times you fall asleep. Thus drowsiness hinders your prayer life. Your body is tired and weary. You have become exhausted and you just cannot keep awake.
    When I am praying alone I never kneel. I never stand or sit. What do I do, then? I always walk when I pray. I clear the furniture from the center of the room and then I pace back and forth as I talk to God.
    I have walked hundreds of miles down through the years as I have prayed. I started doing it at the very beginning of my Christian life and I received so much blessing from it that I have continued it ever since.
    Some ministers have to play golf for exercise. I have never had time for such exercise. There has been too much to do. I find that the very best exercise that one can take is that of walking. Hence, as I walk and pray, I get all the exercise I need.
    If I were to fall asleep for a single moment I would crash to the floor and would be wide awake instantly. But that has never happened. As I walk back and forth I am always wide awake. I am on the alert. I am able to pray intelligently, and I never fall asleep. You, too, can overcome drowsiness if you will walk.
Wandering Thoughts
    You know what I mean. Just when you are concentrating on prayer, you find yourself thinking, planning, arranging about the future. Thus Satan fills your mind with wandering thoughts, and instead of praying – you are thinking. Well now, how are you going to get rid of wandering thoughts?
    As I walk back and forth, I put my petitions into words, and by praying out loud I avoid wandering thoughts. You see, I have to concentrate upon what I am saying to God just as I concentrate when I am preaching. If you will pray out loud, you will also find that there will be no wandering thoughts.
    When you kneel to pray, and pray quietly to yourself and to God, the time seems long. Perhaps when you open your eyes you will discover that you have only been praying for five or ten minutes. That has been my experience.
    But, when you walk and pray out loud, you will discover that the time will go by so fast that you will be amazed. You will open your eyes and look at the clock, and you will discover that you have been praying for half an hour, three quarters of an hour, or perhaps an entire hour.
    These, then, are the three hindrances to prayer – interruptions, drowsiness, wandering thoughts. Have you overcome them and are you a prayer warrior for God? If not, you can be – if you will follow these suggestions. Will you do it?




    "Lord, teach us to pray" (Luke 11:1).