At its worst, especially in "When the Deal Goes Down" (track 4), Nashville Modern Time Out of Line, comes off like a Willie Nelson "b" side. Near its best Dylan's latest album 'conjurs up long dead songs from their crumbling tombs.' "Rollin' and Tumblin'" (track 3) channels the sound of Blonde on Blonde's "Most Likely You Go Your Way and I'll Go Mine" and is almost certainly this set's catchiest tune with a vintage Dylan scheme built on repeating lines followed by one liners rather than on a chorus/stanza structure: "Well the warm weather's comin' and the buds are on the vine/ the warm weather's comin' the buds are on the vine" followed by "ain't nothing more depressing than trying to satisfy this woman of mine." So, yes, Dylan the heartbroken misogynist comes out in nearly full force here. From the same song: some young lazy slut has charmed away my brains. And, "this woman so crazy, I swear I ain't gonna touch another one for years." As is usually the case, however the act can't last: Well I rolled and I tumbled and I cried the whole night long ... Let's forgive each other darlin', let's go down to the greenwood glen/Let's put our heads together now, let's put old things to an end."
Also here is the Dylan of the Christian phase. From "the writing on the wall" near the outset of track one ("Thunder on the Mountain" - rockabilly at its finest possible) to the penultimate lines, "Excuse me, ma'am, I beg your pardon/There's no one here, the gardener is gone," of track 10 ("Ain't Walkin'), Modern Times oozes theological themes and Biblical references from every pore. The eery sound of Ain't Talkin' (just walkin') feels like an extended rumination from beyond the grave, or "the mystic garden," and that even more than any of the offerings with a similar ambiance on 1997's Time Out of Mind. Ain't Walkin', and thus the album, ends with Dylan's "Heart burnin', still yearnin'/In the last outback at the world's end." Of course, it wouldn't be Dylan if there weren't some downright loopy lines. A ryhming scheme in Thunder on the Mountain "... said my religious vows/Sucked the milk out of a thousand cows" recalls some of the other rare couplets from Dylan's past that don't quite work ("little red wagon, little red bike/I ain't no monkey, but I know what I like" from Blood on the Tracks' "Buckets of Rain").
The best this album has to give in the way of political protest is in its offering of a different kind of cowboy. Self-assurred, yes. But also deeply reflective, jilted, often dwelling in the lonesome valley of the shadow of night. The most explict attempt to live in a political world withers on the vine. Verse one of "Workingman's Blues #2" (track 6) fires up with extraordinary promise
There's an evenin' haze settlin' over town
Starlight by the edge of the creek
The buyin' power of the proletariat's gone down
Money's gettin' shallow and weak
but begins to sputter before the first go at a chorus that manages to carry the listener through the following verses as they cough, spin their wheels, and finally collapse in the platitudinous final lines of the final verse: Some people never worked a day in their life/Don't know what work even means.
"Spirit on the Water" (track 2) and "Beyond the Horizon" (track 7) could become the most ground breaking musically. They have a neo-1940's, one might say even a slow, big band rhythm. Spirit on the Water is a love song, but leagues and leagues below the standard set by "Make You Feel My Love" on Time Out of Mind. In fact, I only somewhat unfairly jotted down CCMesque lyrics in my notes the first time through the album. The ever ambigous "You" rears its ugly head as Dylan croons such lines as "I wanna be with you in paradise." To be more charitable it must be added that that line is followed up with "And it seems so unfair/I can't go to paradise no more/I killed a man back there." Beyond the Horizon, however, sneaks up on you. It wasn't until the third or fourth listen that I realized what a wondeful piece this is. It is indeed "touched with desire"; if you want a love song, here it is:
My wretched heart is pounding
I felt an angel's kiss
My memories are drowning
In mortal bliss
Beyond the horizon, the night winds blow
The theme of a melody from many moons ago
The bells of St. Mary, how sweetly they chime
Beyond the horizon I found you just in time
One reason this song took a bit of listening to in order to truly discover is that its sound contrasts so starkly with those that its sandwiched between - Workingman's Blues and the trio of tracks that complete the album with a pensive flourish. Besides Ain't Talkin', that trio includes "Nettie Moore" (track 8) and "The Levee's Gonna Break" (track 9). "If it keep on raining the levee gonna break" is twice repeated in every chorus before a line such as "Everybody saying this is a day only the Lord could make," "some people don't know which road to take," or "some people got barely enough skin to cover their bones"; but also "without you there's no meaning in anything I do" and "I tried to get you to love me, but I won't repeat that mistake." In other words, this is only obliquely and in part a song about New Orleans. It is also a break-up song, a break up song with spiritual themes making their appearances here and there.
I must admit that a large part of me hoped beyond hope that the five years that have transpired since 2001's Love and Theft might have gone some way toward reviving the Dylan of the sixties. I knew that the album wouldn't disappoint, but that it wouldn't be nearly as political as those of us who love Dylan, but especially the Dylan of The Times They Are A-Changin', could possibly hope. This song is nothing if not emblematic of such ambivalence. So Dylan sings a song that can't help but be inspired by Katrina and its aftermath, and it's a right good song. A kind of muted buoyancy pervades. But isn't there anything, anything at all that could reinstigate that flamethrowing pillar of fire of the turbulent sixties?
But so it goes. And that leaves us with Nettie Moore (track 5 "Someday Baby" is relatively humdrum for a Dylan song). By far and away my initial favorite. The song is governed by a soft, but constant beat on a solitary drum. More Indian than Cowboy. And most definitely reminiscent of Oh Mercy's "Man in the Long Black Coat." Together with Ain't Talkin' the very picture of the kind of driving but piecemeal poetry that could only be written by the aged travelling bluesman who also happens to be the greatest English speaking poet of the twentieth century. So he has to fight with T.S. Elliot in the captain's tower for that honor. A whale of a fight, indeed, but one that Dylan's endless range of styles, tricks, and weapons wins in my mind. "Lost John sittin' on a railroad track/Something's out of whack," begins the song. "Blues this mornin' fallin' down like hail." And the chorus
Oh, I miss you, Nettie Moore
And my happiness is o'r
Winter's gone, the river's on the rise
I loved you then, and ever shall
But there's no one left here to tell
The world has gone black before my eyes
It has its levity too: They say whisky'll kill you but I don't think it will. If anyone would know, surely its Dylan. He keeps on riding. Keeps on producing. Keeps on carrying his heavy burden. And, of course, continues to tour--which is where you have to go to find him at his very best these days, he's been talking about how much he hates the way album's sound on CD's. To this musical ignoramous the album sounds haunting, glorious, track after track of music that will sustain a thinking man for a long, long time. But for the man now nearing seventy who gave birth to Modern Times if not modern music, "the sun is strong, I'm standing in the light/I wish to God that it were night."
Saturday, September 23, 2006
Dylan's Modern Times
Thursday, September 21, 2006
blinded by the steady lights
Many unconnected thoughts churns in my mind tonight regarding: Antigone, Natural Law, The Acts of the Apostles, M. Atwood's Alias Grace, the conjugation of the German verb Sein, Dylan's Modern Times, and a conversation I was honoured to have today with a talmudist on Paul's Epistle to the Romans.
I no longer try and place such disparate discussions into one unifying paradigm. I learn everyday and yet sometimes feel further from the truth.
I miss the orderly cosmos of my time as a fundamentalist or even of the time I spend caught up in Calvin Colleges reformed vision of the world.
But, I can't force the world back into any mould. Or to quote the sagacious Bob:
In the still of the night, in the world's ancient light
Where wisdom grows up in strife
My bewildering brain, toils in vain
Through the darkness on the pathways of life
Each invisible prayer is like a cloud in the air
Tomorrow keeps turning around
However, I am thankful that I don't inhabit quite the same dark cosmos as Dylan. He seems to turn to the more enigmatic ending of Mark where it is unclear whether Jesus is just gone or has been resurrected:
As I walked out in the mystic garden
On a hot summer day, a hot summer lawn
Excuse me, ma'am, I beg your pardon
There's no one here, the gardener is gone
I believe as Peter proclaimed at Pentecost that God did not abandon Christ's body to Hades but vindicated him. However, that does mean the world makes sense. In fact, by making the cross the pre-eminent moment in divine history it seems to put an end run around human quests for a rational, natural law. Foolishness to the Greeks...
Indeed, it is to the constancy of the God that keeps Israel even if unfaithful, and who did not abandon Christ, the God who we can address in the familiar du bist... that I turn to now to make sense of life that indeed seems at times like a dark pathway.
Indeed it is not unbelief I fear. I believe. And yet, I fear that I lack the kind of certainty necessary for faithfulness: the bold, living, ethical trust in God.
I have one of those questioning faiths so praised in intellectual circles (fides quarens intellectum)
But has this somehow alienated me from the kind of assurance that can stand up like Antigone or like Peter and John and proclaim "it is better to obey God than men."
I am standing in the night wishing to exchange places with Dylan who sings:
Today I'll stand in faith and raise
The voice of praise
The sun is strong, I'm standing in the light
I wish to God that it were night
Indeed, I can relate to this feeling of doubt that surrounds even my greatest assurances. Or, perhaps this hope that end will find me faithful.
I wish deeply to no longer be blinded by light, but to see.
Jodie
I no longer try and place such disparate discussions into one unifying paradigm. I learn everyday and yet sometimes feel further from the truth.
I miss the orderly cosmos of my time as a fundamentalist or even of the time I spend caught up in Calvin Colleges reformed vision of the world.
But, I can't force the world back into any mould. Or to quote the sagacious Bob:
In the still of the night, in the world's ancient light
Where wisdom grows up in strife
My bewildering brain, toils in vain
Through the darkness on the pathways of life
Each invisible prayer is like a cloud in the air
Tomorrow keeps turning around
However, I am thankful that I don't inhabit quite the same dark cosmos as Dylan. He seems to turn to the more enigmatic ending of Mark where it is unclear whether Jesus is just gone or has been resurrected:
As I walked out in the mystic garden
On a hot summer day, a hot summer lawn
Excuse me, ma'am, I beg your pardon
There's no one here, the gardener is gone
I believe as Peter proclaimed at Pentecost that God did not abandon Christ's body to Hades but vindicated him. However, that does mean the world makes sense. In fact, by making the cross the pre-eminent moment in divine history it seems to put an end run around human quests for a rational, natural law. Foolishness to the Greeks...
Indeed, it is to the constancy of the God that keeps Israel even if unfaithful, and who did not abandon Christ, the God who we can address in the familiar du bist... that I turn to now to make sense of life that indeed seems at times like a dark pathway.
Indeed it is not unbelief I fear. I believe. And yet, I fear that I lack the kind of certainty necessary for faithfulness: the bold, living, ethical trust in God.
I have one of those questioning faiths so praised in intellectual circles (fides quarens intellectum)
But has this somehow alienated me from the kind of assurance that can stand up like Antigone or like Peter and John and proclaim "it is better to obey God than men."
I am standing in the night wishing to exchange places with Dylan who sings:
Today I'll stand in faith and raise
The voice of praise
The sun is strong, I'm standing in the light
I wish to God that it were night
Indeed, I can relate to this feeling of doubt that surrounds even my greatest assurances. Or, perhaps this hope that end will find me faithful.
I wish deeply to no longer be blinded by light, but to see.
Jodie
Tuesday, September 12, 2006
A Year All DUNN
The first post was September 22nd of last years so WNR has been up and running for almost a year. So far this venue has not been quite what I've expected--ie. a forum to discuss community. Instead it has become a Jodie authored blog. I am very happpy to see some recent contributions by Doug, Angie, and Heather. I would have pulled the plug on this blog a long time ago if I hadn't cherished some hope that it would still someday become a place to think community and communally together.
Thursday, September 07, 2006
Challenging Sermon, Masonry, & a Provacative Commentary by Ben Stein
While the Nations Rage
I think I'm posting. I hope I'm posting. Dear Jode might think I've forgotten about this post this so I better be posting. Here are a few things I've sent out via email that perhaps would be read (by Jo, of course ;) if posted on the blog.
Today for devotions, I knew I needed some encouragement. What I got was not only encouragement but a challenge...the kind of challenge that I daily need reminding of, and that I need to have accountability for. Just as I am praying for the Lord to change my heart and grant me greater faith to choose Him above that which frightens, depresses, and otherwise temps me to turn "e-orish," may He also bless and challenge your hearts with this awesome sermon from the Word (another by Jon Courson).mms://65.117.84.168/topical/T347.wmaIf that doesn't work, try the following steps:1) Go to http://www.joncourson.com
---
Background:
A friend of mine recently joined the Masons, and I was rather freeked out. I'd been interested in finding out more about this secret society, of which I had great misgivings, even before learning of his decision to join. Below is a lot of info. that I amassed. It is important that we as Christians know the truth about what so many men join simply b/c they claim that it is a place for "brotherhood." Lord, make our church the truth place of brotherhood and sisterhood, where our allegience is to Christ as head and one another as brothers and sisters.
Here's some of the info. that I've amassed thus far. I've read all of the links below and found them very informative and helpful. As I discover something, it seems to bring up new questions which leads me deeper in my quest for understanding. Hope you find this info. as helpful as I have.
In Christ alone,
ang
Info. on Masons:
Extensive Commentaries on Masonry by Christians:
http://www.withoneaccord.org/store/SecretSins.html
http://www.ephesians5-11.org/
http://www.iclnet.org/pub/resources/text/cri/cri-nwsl/crn0004a.txt
Ex-Masons for Jesus (Some great testimonies):
http://www.emfj.org/
Sermons about (amid a list of other sermons: see Stuart Crane's teaching on the Masonic Order 1 and 2):
http://server.firefighters.org/catalog/1998/00132.mp3
http://www.religion-cults.com/Secret/Freemasonry/freemas2.html
Description and personal opinion of theWorld Religionsand 101 Cults and SectsDenominations, Traditions, BranchesThe Occult, Freemasonry, New Age... FBOs, Mind Sciences, Ku Klux Klan...
J. DomÃnguez, M.D.
Main Objections to Masonry:
1) You swear in the name of a "god" but you are not able to profess ultimate allegence to Jesus Christ
2) Blood Oaths--although supposodly allegorical, they are still oaths that are taken very seriously
3) EXTREME Secrecy
4) Extensive power wrought in alligning self to people believing in all sort of "gods," including many extremely involved in the occult at the higher ranks of masonry: agendas found in their magazines
5) Occultic rituals and symbols--including a reinactment of a fellow--Hairam Abiff) who they "put to death" and ressurect--a mockery of Jesus Christ (Teaching salvation on the basis of imitating Hiram Abiff constitutes rejection of Jesus Christ); use mystical writings of Kaballah; Baal symbols; Egyptian emblem of male fertility; pentagram; etc.
6) Much more...
Exerpt from Ex-Masons for Jesus:
In these days, the words of Paul, Jude and other apostles who warned believers to stand firm, reverberate loudly. The church is under attach from without, from within, and sometimes even from the pulpit. Many congregations have been infiltrated and compromised. The most cohesive group of infiltrators the church has ever seen are the Freemasons. They work behind the scenes to subvert the Gospel, and in fact, meet in secret to teach salvation on the basis of another savior. We know this to be the fact, because we were members of the organization. We were Freemasons.
Masons are sworn to secrecy, not once, but three times, before they participate in the ritual in which Hiram Abiff willingly dies, is buried and then raised from the grave. At the conclusion of the ritual, those in lodge are told to imitate Hiram Abiff so that they can get into heaven. When the fact that all of the men who participate in the ritual do not claim to be Christians is considered, this is seen not only to be a mockery of the death, the burial and the resurrection of our Lord and Savior, but a clear statement that faith in Jesus Christ is not required to get into heaven. We are deeply grieved that we have participated in this falsehood and were taken captive by such heresy. God, in His mercy saw fit to lead us out of Freemasonry and following our repentance, He has cleansed us from unrighteousness. (1 John 1:8-9) He has released us from the ungodly oaths we took in the lodge. (Lev. 5) We are not the only ones to leave the lodge; others men continue to renounce Freemasonry. Some of them are bold enough to speak truth about the lodge, while others are so spiritually wounded from the experience that they remain dysfunctional for some time. A few former Masons continue to defend the lodge, due to fear and spiritual bondage.
Many of those who are currently involved in the heresy of Freemasonry claim to be Christians. A significant number became Freemasons before they became church members. Some of those men have infiltrated the church and by claiming that Freemasonry is not a religion, have taken many captive by a hollow and deceptive philosophy which depends on the teachings of a corrupt world system, rather than on faith in Jesus Christ.
Since Freemasonry teaches salvation on the basis of imitating Hiram Abiff, rather than faith in Jesus Christ, it seems absurd that a pastor would condone Freemasonry, let alone defend it, or actually embrace it. Yet that is what has happened in these last days in more congregations than we can count. Apostasy is widespread today.
---
The following was written by Ben Stein and recited by him on CBS Sunday Morning CommentaryHerewith at this happy time of year, a few confessions from my beating heart: I have no freaking clue who Nick and Jessica are. I see them on the cover of Peopleand Us constantly when I am buying my dog biscuits and kitty litter. I often askthe checkers at the grocery stores. They never know who Nick and Jessica are either.Who are they? Will it change my life if I know who they are and why they have brokenup? Why are they so important?I don't know who Lindsay Lohan is either, and I do not care at all about TomCruise's wife.Am I going to be called before a Senate committee and asked if I am a subversive?Maybe, but I just have no clue who Nick and Jessica are.If this is what it means to be no longer young. It's not so bad.Next confession:I am a Jew, and every single one of my ancestors was Jewish. And it does not botherme even a little bit when people call those beautiful lit up, bejeweled trees Christmastrees. I don't feel threatened. I don' t feel discriminated against. That'swhat they are: Christmas trees.It doesn't bother me a bit when people say, "Merry Christmas" to me.I don't think they are slighting me or getting ready to put me in a ghetto. In fact, I kind of like it. It shows that we are all brothers and sisters celebratingthis happy time of year. It doesn't bother me at all that there is a manger scene on display at a key intersection near my beach house in Malibu. If people want a creche, it's just as fine with me as is the Menorah a few hundred yardsaway.I don't like getting pushed around for being a Jew, and I don't think Christianslike getting pushed around for being Christians. I think people who believe in Godare sick and tired of getting pushed around, period. I have no idea where the conceptcame from that America is an explicitly atheist country. I can't find it in the Constitution, and I don't like it being shoved down my throat.Or maybe I ca n put it another way: where did the idea come from that we should worship Nick and Jessica and we aren't allowed to worship God as we understandHim?I guess that's a sign that I'm getting old, too.But there are a lot of us who are wondering where Nick and Jessica came from andwhere the America we knew went to.In light of the many jokes we send to one another for a laugh, this is a little different: This is not intended to be a joke; it's not funny, it's intendedto get you thinking.Billy Graham's daughter was interviewed on the Early Show and Jane Clayson askedher "How could God let something like this Happen?" (regarding Katrina)Anne Graham gave an extremely profound and insightful response. She said, "Ibelieve God is deeply saddened by this, just as we are, but for years we've been telling God to get out of our schools, to get out of our government and to get out of our lives.And b eing the gentleman He is, I believe He has calmly backed out. How can we expectGod to give us His blessing and His protection if we demand He leave us alone?"In light of recent events...terrorists attack, school shootings, etc. I think itstarted when Madeleine Murray O'Hare (she was murdered, her body found recently)complained she didn't want prayer in our schools, and we said OK.Then someone said you better not read the Bible in school. The Bible says thou shaltnot kill, thou shalt not steal, and love your neighbor as yourself. And we said OK.Then Dr. Benjamin Spock said we shouldn't spank our children when they misbehavebecause their little personalities would be warped and we might damage their self-esteem(Dr. Spock's son committed suicide). We said an expert should know what he'stalking about and we said OK.Now we're asking ourselves why our children have no conscience, why they don'tknow right from wron g, and why it doesn't bother them to kill strangers, theirclassmates, and themselves.Probably, if we think about it long and hard enough, we can figure it out. I thinkit has a great deal to do with "WE REAP WHAT WE SOW."Funny how simple it is for people to trash God and then wonder why the world'sgoing to hell.Funny how we believe what the newspapers say, but question what the Bible says.Funny how you can send 'jokes' through e-mail and they spread like wildfirebut when you start sending messages regarding the Lord, people think twice aboutsharing.Funny how lewd, crude, vulgar and obscene articles pass freely through cyberspace,but public discussion of God is suppressed in the school and workplace.Are you laughing?Funny how when you forward this message, you will not send it to many on your addresslist because you're not sure what they believe, or what they will think of youfor sending it.Funny how we can be more worried about what other people think of us than what Godthinks of us.Pass it on if you think it has merit. If not then just discard it... no one willknow you did. But, if you discard this thought process, don't sit back and complainabout what bad shape the world is in.Gratitude Is A Memory Of The Heart--French Proverb
Lots to chew on. Maybe next time I'll actually comment on life as I know it--lots going on at my work with emancipated foster youth. Keep us in your prayers. We NEED God's wisdom.
Much love,
angie
I think I'm posting. I hope I'm posting. Dear Jode might think I've forgotten about this post this so I better be posting. Here are a few things I've sent out via email that perhaps would be read (by Jo, of course ;) if posted on the blog.
Today for devotions, I knew I needed some encouragement. What I got was not only encouragement but a challenge...the kind of challenge that I daily need reminding of, and that I need to have accountability for. Just as I am praying for the Lord to change my heart and grant me greater faith to choose Him above that which frightens, depresses, and otherwise temps me to turn "e-orish," may He also bless and challenge your hearts with this awesome sermon from the Word (another by Jon Courson).mms://65.117.84.168/topical/T347.wmaIf that doesn't work, try the following steps:1) Go to http://www.joncourson.com
---
Background:
A friend of mine recently joined the Masons, and I was rather freeked out. I'd been interested in finding out more about this secret society, of which I had great misgivings, even before learning of his decision to join. Below is a lot of info. that I amassed. It is important that we as Christians know the truth about what so many men join simply b/c they claim that it is a place for "brotherhood." Lord, make our church the truth place of brotherhood and sisterhood, where our allegience is to Christ as head and one another as brothers and sisters.
Here's some of the info. that I've amassed thus far. I've read all of the links below and found them very informative and helpful. As I discover something, it seems to bring up new questions which leads me deeper in my quest for understanding. Hope you find this info. as helpful as I have.
In Christ alone,
ang
Info. on Masons:
Extensive Commentaries on Masonry by Christians:
http://www.withoneaccord.org/store/SecretSins.html
http://www.ephesians5-11.org/
http://www.iclnet.org/pub/resources/text/cri/cri-nwsl/crn0004a.txt
Ex-Masons for Jesus (Some great testimonies):
http://www.emfj.org/
Sermons about (amid a list of other sermons: see Stuart Crane's teaching on the Masonic Order 1 and 2):
http://server.firefighters.org/catalog/1998/00132.mp3
http://www.religion-cults.com/Secret/Freemasonry/freemas2.html
Description and personal opinion of theWorld Religionsand 101 Cults and SectsDenominations, Traditions, BranchesThe Occult, Freemasonry, New Age... FBOs, Mind Sciences, Ku Klux Klan...
J. DomÃnguez, M.D.
Main Objections to Masonry:
1) You swear in the name of a "god" but you are not able to profess ultimate allegence to Jesus Christ
2) Blood Oaths--although supposodly allegorical, they are still oaths that are taken very seriously
3) EXTREME Secrecy
4) Extensive power wrought in alligning self to people believing in all sort of "gods," including many extremely involved in the occult at the higher ranks of masonry: agendas found in their magazines
5) Occultic rituals and symbols--including a reinactment of a fellow--Hairam Abiff) who they "put to death" and ressurect--a mockery of Jesus Christ (Teaching salvation on the basis of imitating Hiram Abiff constitutes rejection of Jesus Christ); use mystical writings of Kaballah; Baal symbols; Egyptian emblem of male fertility; pentagram; etc.
6) Much more...
Exerpt from Ex-Masons for Jesus:
In these days, the words of Paul, Jude and other apostles who warned believers to stand firm, reverberate loudly. The church is under attach from without, from within, and sometimes even from the pulpit. Many congregations have been infiltrated and compromised. The most cohesive group of infiltrators the church has ever seen are the Freemasons. They work behind the scenes to subvert the Gospel, and in fact, meet in secret to teach salvation on the basis of another savior. We know this to be the fact, because we were members of the organization. We were Freemasons.
Masons are sworn to secrecy, not once, but three times, before they participate in the ritual in which Hiram Abiff willingly dies, is buried and then raised from the grave. At the conclusion of the ritual, those in lodge are told to imitate Hiram Abiff so that they can get into heaven. When the fact that all of the men who participate in the ritual do not claim to be Christians is considered, this is seen not only to be a mockery of the death, the burial and the resurrection of our Lord and Savior, but a clear statement that faith in Jesus Christ is not required to get into heaven. We are deeply grieved that we have participated in this falsehood and were taken captive by such heresy. God, in His mercy saw fit to lead us out of Freemasonry and following our repentance, He has cleansed us from unrighteousness. (1 John 1:8-9) He has released us from the ungodly oaths we took in the lodge. (Lev. 5) We are not the only ones to leave the lodge; others men continue to renounce Freemasonry. Some of them are bold enough to speak truth about the lodge, while others are so spiritually wounded from the experience that they remain dysfunctional for some time. A few former Masons continue to defend the lodge, due to fear and spiritual bondage.
Many of those who are currently involved in the heresy of Freemasonry claim to be Christians. A significant number became Freemasons before they became church members. Some of those men have infiltrated the church and by claiming that Freemasonry is not a religion, have taken many captive by a hollow and deceptive philosophy which depends on the teachings of a corrupt world system, rather than on faith in Jesus Christ.
Since Freemasonry teaches salvation on the basis of imitating Hiram Abiff, rather than faith in Jesus Christ, it seems absurd that a pastor would condone Freemasonry, let alone defend it, or actually embrace it. Yet that is what has happened in these last days in more congregations than we can count. Apostasy is widespread today.
---
The following was written by Ben Stein and recited by him on CBS Sunday Morning CommentaryHerewith at this happy time of year, a few confessions from my beating heart: I have no freaking clue who Nick and Jessica are. I see them on the cover of Peopleand Us constantly when I am buying my dog biscuits and kitty litter. I often askthe checkers at the grocery stores. They never know who Nick and Jessica are either.Who are they? Will it change my life if I know who they are and why they have brokenup? Why are they so important?I don't know who Lindsay Lohan is either, and I do not care at all about TomCruise's wife.Am I going to be called before a Senate committee and asked if I am a subversive?Maybe, but I just have no clue who Nick and Jessica are.If this is what it means to be no longer young. It's not so bad.Next confession:I am a Jew, and every single one of my ancestors was Jewish. And it does not botherme even a little bit when people call those beautiful lit up, bejeweled trees Christmastrees. I don't feel threatened. I don' t feel discriminated against. That'swhat they are: Christmas trees.It doesn't bother me a bit when people say, "Merry Christmas" to me.I don't think they are slighting me or getting ready to put me in a ghetto. In fact, I kind of like it. It shows that we are all brothers and sisters celebratingthis happy time of year. It doesn't bother me at all that there is a manger scene on display at a key intersection near my beach house in Malibu. If people want a creche, it's just as fine with me as is the Menorah a few hundred yardsaway.I don't like getting pushed around for being a Jew, and I don't think Christianslike getting pushed around for being Christians. I think people who believe in Godare sick and tired of getting pushed around, period. I have no idea where the conceptcame from that America is an explicitly atheist country. I can't find it in the Constitution, and I don't like it being shoved down my throat.Or maybe I ca n put it another way: where did the idea come from that we should worship Nick and Jessica and we aren't allowed to worship God as we understandHim?I guess that's a sign that I'm getting old, too.But there are a lot of us who are wondering where Nick and Jessica came from andwhere the America we knew went to.In light of the many jokes we send to one another for a laugh, this is a little different: This is not intended to be a joke; it's not funny, it's intendedto get you thinking.Billy Graham's daughter was interviewed on the Early Show and Jane Clayson askedher "How could God let something like this Happen?" (regarding Katrina)Anne Graham gave an extremely profound and insightful response. She said, "Ibelieve God is deeply saddened by this, just as we are, but for years we've been telling God to get out of our schools, to get out of our government and to get out of our lives.And b eing the gentleman He is, I believe He has calmly backed out. How can we expectGod to give us His blessing and His protection if we demand He leave us alone?"In light of recent events...terrorists attack, school shootings, etc. I think itstarted when Madeleine Murray O'Hare (she was murdered, her body found recently)complained she didn't want prayer in our schools, and we said OK.Then someone said you better not read the Bible in school. The Bible says thou shaltnot kill, thou shalt not steal, and love your neighbor as yourself. And we said OK.Then Dr. Benjamin Spock said we shouldn't spank our children when they misbehavebecause their little personalities would be warped and we might damage their self-esteem(Dr. Spock's son committed suicide). We said an expert should know what he'stalking about and we said OK.Now we're asking ourselves why our children have no conscience, why they don'tknow right from wron g, and why it doesn't bother them to kill strangers, theirclassmates, and themselves.Probably, if we think about it long and hard enough, we can figure it out. I thinkit has a great deal to do with "WE REAP WHAT WE SOW."Funny how simple it is for people to trash God and then wonder why the world'sgoing to hell.Funny how we believe what the newspapers say, but question what the Bible says.Funny how you can send 'jokes' through e-mail and they spread like wildfirebut when you start sending messages regarding the Lord, people think twice aboutsharing.Funny how lewd, crude, vulgar and obscene articles pass freely through cyberspace,but public discussion of God is suppressed in the school and workplace.Are you laughing?Funny how when you forward this message, you will not send it to many on your addresslist because you're not sure what they believe, or what they will think of youfor sending it.Funny how we can be more worried about what other people think of us than what Godthinks of us.Pass it on if you think it has merit. If not then just discard it... no one willknow you did. But, if you discard this thought process, don't sit back and complainabout what bad shape the world is in.Gratitude Is A Memory Of The Heart--French Proverb
Lots to chew on. Maybe next time I'll actually comment on life as I know it--lots going on at my work with emancipated foster youth. Keep us in your prayers. We NEED God's wisdom.
Much love,
angie
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