Hang 'Em High

I really enjoy the Old Testament. When I first began reading the Bible through every year, the Old Testament seemed daunting, like a huge desert to travel through before I got to the green pastures of the New Testament. But the trip didn't seem that bad. In fact, the Old Testament is ripe with valuable material for the christian to absorb.

Most folks are familiar with the story of Esther. I was really struck this year with the irony of Haman. Esther chs 2-7 record the detailed account of the story, but I'll give the brief phone-guy version. Haman is promoted above all the other princes in the kingdom of Persia. Full of pride in his elevated state, he struts about while everyone bows before him; everyone but the Jew Mordecai. Even though the king commanded everyone do so, Mordecai would bow before no man, and this really ate Haman up. What follows is a classic case of over reaching. Haman, a man of Amalekite ancestry (read 1 Samuel 15 for one of many accounts of the people of Amalek), decides not to destroy just Mordecai, but to use the occasion to convince the king to destroy the entire race of the Hebrews living within the kingdom.

Haman successfully convinces the king to decree that the Jews be eradicated from the land, but didn't know that the kings new queen is in fact a Jew (it was a secret, no one in the kings house knew). Esther, the queen and our heroine, discovers Haman's plot against her people and risks her life to approach the king uninvited (women didn't have the rights we are accustomed to) to tell the king...."please come to my banquet, and bring Haman with you." Well, attending a banquet with just the queen and king really stokes the already inflated ego of Haman and he leaves the banquet with an invitation to come back the following evening. His pride turned to rage when once again Mordecai refused to bow to him as he strode past. Haman could wait no longer, he ordered a gallows built to seventy five feet high in order to hang Mordecai and be rid of him for good; he only needed to let the king in on his plans.

The king had a dilemma, Mordecai had foiled a plot to assassinate the king and had never been duly honored. He wasn't sure how to reward Mordecai but who should show up at just the right time to help but Haman. Believing the king intended to honor him, Haman told the king that such a one should be arrayed in the splendor of the king and lead about on a magnificent steed by the kings most noble prince, who would shout, "This is what you get if the king really likes you." Things begin to turn sour for Haman at this point as the king loves Haman's suggestion and informs Haman that he'll be leading Mordecai about in the manner in which he just suggested. Ouch! But it gets much worse for Haman.

Haman's friends and counselors told him at this point that he was doomed and they were right. At the second banquet with the king and queen, Esther reveals to the king a plot to destroy her and her people and fingers Haman as the source. I can imagine that Haman must have turned white as a sheet. The king left the room furious, obviously stunned by the turn of events. When he returns, Haman is touching the queen in some way, probably grasping on to her to beg for mercy, but no matter what the reason, you don't touch the kings harem no matter who you are. Haman has sealed his fate. The gallows constructed by Haman for Mordecai would be used to execute Haman.

All throughout scripture, indeed through history, we see God's provision for his people. God has sent punishment in the form of invaders and conquerors, but has always preserved a remnant. The Jewish race with us today is just further evidence of a God that keeps his promises. God has also promised his care to those of us "grafted in" by the gift of grace, Jew and gentile (Jn 10:27-29; Lk 12:22-34). Of course, there is another great lesson here; Pride comes before a fall. Or a hanging.

Juxtaposing the Gospel

Is the gospel relevant in our country today? Is it relevant outside our boarders, say in India? I suppose that depends on your understanding of what the gospel is. The following two videos are both gospel presentations but, I believe, are from two very different G/gods.

No Bible Study Without a Permit

I haven't been on the blogosphere for a while, but I decided to break in for a moment when I read the following article. Many of us have watched our freedoms as US citizens slowly erode over the years and lately, they seem to be in flames as they disappear over the horizon. Furthermore, there is a not so veiled assault on biblical Christianity. When a nation rejects the authority of the scriptures and the God who authored them, they have no foundation on which to stand and anything goes. Whoever thought we would be seriously debating the definition of marriage? Instances of open hostility towards Christianity are becoming more commonplace. Are you ready?


Couple Ordered to Stop Holding Bible Study at Home Without Permit
Thursday, May 28, 2009
Fox News Website

Pastor David Jones and his wife Mary have been told that they cannot invite friends to their San Diego, Calif. home for a Bible study — unless they are willing to pay tens of thousands of dollars to San Diego County.

"On Good Friday we had an employee from San Diego County come to our house, and inform us that the Bible study that we were having was a religious assembly, and in violation of the code in the county." David Jones told FOX News.

"We told them this is not really a religious assembly — this is just a Bible study with friends. We have a meal, we pray, that was all," Jones said.

A few days later, the couple received a written warning that cited "unlawful use of land," ordering them to either "stop religious assembly or apply for a major use permit," the couple's attorney Dean Broyles told San Diego news station 10News.

But the major use permit could cost the Jones' thousands of dollars just to have a few friends over.

For David and Mary Jones, it's about more than a question of money.

"The government may not prohibit the free exercise of religion," Broyles told FOX News. "I believe that our Founding Fathers would roll over in their grave if they saw that here in the year 2009, a pastor and his wife are being told that they cannot hold a simple Bible study in their own home."

"The implications are great because it’s not only us that’s involved," Mary Jones said. "There are thousands and thousands of Bible studies that are held all across the country. What we’re interested in is setting a precedent here — before it goes any further — and that we have it settled for the future."

The couple is planning to dispute the county's order this week.

If San Diego County refuses to allow the pastor and his wife to continue gathering without acquiring a permit, they will consider a lawsuit in federal court.

"A Phone Company Willing to Kill"

I remember being offered $50 to switch long distance carriers years ago. Here is a phone company willing to do what it takes to get your buisiness.