That our daughters may be as pillars, Sculptured in palace style;

My parents decided to wait until they had 8 sons before having a daughter. I was 17 years old when my sister was born and never had an opportunity to live in a house with little girls until God was pleased to send a couple daughters to my wife and I. I’d like to share a few of my thoughts on raising daughters, knowing that they are wildly unpopular by today’s standards and sadly, even resisted in many of today’s churches.

It is our desire to raise our daughters according to what God has revealed through His Word. I reject the notion of beauty that is described by the pictures of the sundry magazines you will find by the checkout counter and would consider that true beauty is realized only when men and women accept and embrace the biblical pattern of life that God has ordered for them. Thus is is the deire of my wife and I to raise our daughters so that they will be virtuous women who fear God and whose works will praise them in the gate.

1 Timothy 5:14 Therefore I desire that the younger widows marry, bear children, manage the house, give no opportunity to the adversary to speak reproachfully.”
Titus 2:5 To be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed.
1 Peter 3:4-5 rather let it (the adorning of the woman) be the hidden person of the heart, with the incorruptible beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is very precious in the sight of God. For in this manner, in former times, the holy women who trusted in God also adorned themselves, being submissive to their own husbands,

I share just a few of the many Scriptures that deal with what God has intended for the woman. From these verses, and other similar ones that support them, it is obvious that God generally desires that daughters grow up to become wives and mothers. It is our desire that our daughters grow up and desire to marry, to be obedient to their husbands, to bear children if God would be pleases to grant them, and to be keepers at home.

As we labor as parents to this end, we will train our daughter in just such a fashion. Already our oldest daughter spends much time with my wife, and at age 6, is already a great help around the house. We educate her in the same manner as we do the boys, and she helps me in my projects as well, but all the while we are teaching her that God has designed specific roles for both man and woman.

It is also our desire to see our daughters grow up to greatly value the instructions of conduct that are outlined in the Scriptures. We wish for our daughters to be virtuous, chaste, and lovely. These are ideals that are mocked by the world and we can rest assured that world will war against us as we strive to maintain godly habits..

One of my favorite passages pertaining to chastity is found in the Song of Songs:

THE SHULAMITE’S BROTHERS We have a little sister, And she has no breasts. What shall we do for our sister In the day when she is spoken for? If she is a wall, We will build upon her A battlement of silver; And if she is a door, We will enclose her With boards of cedar.

Here Solomon speaks of a question that his brother in laws would ask when their sister is young. They recognize that there is a duty for the family to consider in the upbringing of their daughters. He uses two metaphors to describe these duties as they prepare their daughters for the day in which they will be spoken for, the fortified walls designed to protect the city and the door that will be closed until the day in which God joins her to a man and grants only that man at that day the key to let himself in.

Our families must see to it that we rear our daughters within the confines of this great wall of protection. Her father and brothers must man the battlements of the wall, armed with bows and buckets of boiling oil, to keep within the bounds of the metaphor, to see to it that their daughters are not defiled. These daughters must be taught that only the marriage bed is honorable and that they are designed to be chaste, moral, and upright of character.

Sadly, as we observe the ladies of the land, we rarely observe fortified cities and closed doors. The walls are in ruins and the doors have been burned. Godless individuals walk in and out of the ruined and wasted cities, committing all manners of sexual sins, delighting in their wickedness rather than ruing the destruction and misery that has fallen upon them.

Even those within the church, rather than weeping over this destruction as did Nehemiah when he heard of the destroyed walls at Jerusalem, are often found gazing upon the ruins with somewhat of a wistful glance, even daring to approach it if they can. Through their entertainments, Christians often find great pleasure in these ruined cities, for while perhaps they may claim that they view adultery and fornication as sinful and have not committed specific acts themselves, they allow all manner of such acts to be displayed via their television sets and through the lyrics of their music. Rather than viewing such sins as an abomination, we find ourselves desiring to be entertained by them.

Often our styles of clothing reveal our desires to reject the biblical ideal of modesty and chastity. We may have erected a wall of sorts and perhaps there is a door, but we have chosen to discard the lock and to leave it ajar. I have observed many a Christian women wearing clothes that are so tight and immodest that one wonders what it is that they are wishing to display.

Solomon reveals, however, that this desire to protect and defend the honor of our daughters is a thing of beauty. We are not speaking here of an image of sons and fathers with missing teeth armed with shotguns while their daughters are locked in the cage. We are speaking of a glorious picture of very true beauty as we accept in delight in the law of the Lord. These battlements upon the wall are made of silver and the doors are carefully crafted with cedar. This work is a beautiful work that honors both God and man. We are seeking to protect our daughters for that day in which God is pleased to make them one with their husband.

THE SHULAMITE I am a wall, And my breasts like towers; Then I became in his eyes As one who found peace.

There is a day coming if the Lord will in which we will give our daughters to another. I pray that we will be faithful parents and that God will bless our efforts and that we will be able with great pride deliver to our new son a daughter who will become in his eyes as one who found peace, a virtuous woman, a loving and obedient wife, and a godly mother, who will bless her mother and I with grandchildren when we are old. Please pray for us as we embark upon so difficult a task.

Unto thee, God, do we give thank!

As we are about to enjoy the American holiday referred to as Thanksgiving, I thought it might good to reflect a bit upon the history of the holiday, as well as consider what biblical duties the saints have regarding being thankful.

Many of the traditions of our modern holiday result from the evolving of a holiday over time than it mimics the thanksgiving feast that William Bradford called for in 1621. The original “day” of thanksgiving was a three day feast that the Puritan pilgrims established for the purpose of thanking God for a good harvest. There are only a few remaining eyewitness snippets detailing this feast, the most notable coming from Edward Winslow:

"Our harvest being gotten in, our governor sent four men on fowling, that so we might after a special manner rejoice together after we had gathered the fruit of our labors. They four in one day killed as much fowl as, with a little help beside, served the company almost a week. At which time, among other recreations, we exercised our arms, many of the Indians coming amongst us, and among the rest their greatest king Massasoit, with some ninety men, whom for three days we entertained and feasted, and they went out and killed five deer, which they brought to the plantation and bestowed upon our governor, and upon the captain, and others. And although it be not always so plentiful as it was at this time with us, yet by the goodness of God, we are so far from want that we often wish you partakers of our plenty. “

Edward Winslow was an English Puritan who refused to conform to the state church of England. They determined that their need to worship God as the Scriptures commanded was so great that they purposed to settle in the New World. The majority of the people didn’t survive the first year. Even Winslow lost his wife on the trip and remarried one of the widows. What is so moving about this feast of thanksgiving is that these Christians were thankful in the face of great adversity and hardship. Their thankfulness was not based upon a mere observance of a holiday, but rather upon a genuine thankfulness with the knowledge that God had poured out His blessings upon them. God had first tried them through the fires of great affliction, but they remained faithful and obedient and they had learned to be thankful for the most basic of divine blessings. In a letter to a friend, Winslow described their bounty:

“Our bay is full of lobsters all the summer and affordeth variety of other fish; in September we can take a hogshead of eels in a night, with small labor, and can dig them out of their beds all the winter. We have mussels ... at our doors. Oysters we have none near, but we can have them brought by the Indians when we will; all the spring-time the earth sendeth forth naturally very good sallet herbs. Here are grapes, white and red, and very sweet and strong also. Strawberries, gooseberries, raspas, etc. Plums of tree sorts, with black and red, being almost as good as a damson; abundance of roses, white, red, and damask; single, but very sweet indeed… These things I thought good to let you understand, being the truth of things as near as I could experimentally take knowledge of, and that you might on our behalf give God thanks who hath dealt so favorably with us.”

We are command throughout the Scriptures to be thankful. Thankfulness should be a recurring theme in the lives of the saints. Even the pagan can gather around a turkey, the family, and the football game and profess to be thankful for one day. There are a few things that we need to keep before us to enable us to understand that we must always give thanks.

First we need to recognize that apart from God’s grace we would be nothing but a despicable wretch dead in our trespasses and sin. We would be alienated from God, a people without hope and purpose, receiving only the wrath of God that is poured out upon the unrighteous. Then we need to realize that everything that we have, we have only because God has been pleased to give it to us. We need to recognize that we have been richly blessed of God. Thus we rejoice in the wife of our youth and we consider our children to be great blessings from God. We recognize that our gifts and abilities have been given to us from above. We recognize that God has formed and fashioned us and even as he holds all things together by His solemn decree, that all things work together for good to them that love God.

Finally, we need to realize that our life is but a vapor and that the things that we have been given have no guarantee of tomorrow. It is only as we trust in God and lean upon His faithful Word that we can truly free ourselves from anxiety and worry. We recognize that we will one day die. We know that our children may not wake on the morrow. Our homes can be destroyed through fire and pestilence. We know that grass withers and that the flower fades, but that our God and His Word will endure forever. We know that God will preserve His people and we grasp all of God’s precious promises with eyes of faith.

Why are the saints of God thankful? Because God has richly given us all things. We serve a God who is able to do exceedingly abundantly beyond what we can even ask or think! Give thanks, for “He is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy.” Christ has shed His blood for His church and we can enjoy the sweet fellowship of the saints. “They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of thy house; and thou shalt make them drink of the river of thy pleasures.”

“Unto thee, O God, do we give thanks, unto thee do we give thanks: for that thy name is near thy wondrous works declare.”

Contentment?

One of the greatest difficulties that I think that I have struggled with in my Christian life is determining whether I am seeking first the kingdom of God or laying up treasures that moth and rust corrupt.

Sadly, our society has been entrained to work feverishly and to borrow a lot of money so that we have the appearance of great wealth. No longer are we content with a chicken in the pot, but rather we strive to have the new house in the new section of town with two nice, new vehicles in the garage next to the boat and the golf clubs.
Out country certainly has the appearance of being very rich, but the majority of the people that I know, while having a lot of possessions, are far in debt and working as much as they can to get by.

I am not opposed to money or things per se. Solomon told us that it is good for a man to enjoy the fruit of his labor. It is good for a man to rejoice in the wife of his youth, to consider his children as his heritage, to eat his bread and drink his wine with joy, and to even enjoy his sweet sleep after his day of labor. We are commanded to work - and even have been given six days to do so. We are to work with our hands so that we have something to give. In other words, we work so as to not increase our style of living, but rather our style of giving. We are reminded that we brought nothing into the world, and that we will take nothing out. Therefore, we should be content with such things that God has given. "Seek first the kingdom of God!" Are there any who are truly so doing?

The above photo is a picture of a home we are in the process of building. I enjoy my labor very much and truly enjoy seeing these projects evolve from a hole in the ground to a lovely home for some family. Sometimes I wonder as I am working on them how the people are going to pay for them. It is so expensive these days to build even a modest home. Today's house plans are typically quite large with at least a three stall garage, three bedrooms, a huge living room, and a couple of bathrooms. They have all of the modern conveniences that we can hope for. In a nearby town, there is a small log home that is on display that is about the size of a modern day living room. One hundred years ago, a family raised seven children in this 200 square feet. There was a fireplace, a loft, and a couple of shelves. I imagine even today we could a home like this for but a few thousand dollars.

In order to live in ourwell- stocked, montrous homes, we become for the most part the slaves of a bank. We forego having children and send our wives to work so that we can afford to maintain our lavish existence. The family of eight in the log home had a small farm. I imagine they worked from sundown to sun up to scratch out a meager existence. There was no debt and not many provisions, but mom was in the house making soup on the fire, dad was out behind the horses turning up the sod, and the kids were in the barn cleaning up the pen. The family was home and working together - the parents could speak of things of the Lord in the morning when they arose, over lunch, and in the evening as they walked through their fields.

I know that the house above, as nice as it will be, will one day return to the ground. Consider this old homestead below. Once there was a family who with great joy and excitement labored to build a house, a barn, and a shed. Money and effort was spent on their dream of having a farm of their own. As I have driven by this place hundreds of times, I have often wondered who they were, what they did, and what became of them. The house is now gone - all that remains is a few limestone rocks that composed its foundation. The shed and the barn are slowly groaning under the weight of age. Bit by bit the elements worry the old structures and I know that soon even they will collapse to the earth.

This is the ultimate end of all that glitters in this world. Yet sadly I see believers working unto great weariness to maintain our supply of possessions. The debts are huge and there is little that we have available to give to the poor and needy. Our time is consumed with fulfilling the obligations of our taskmasters (our debts) and sadly, we have not time to enjoy the wife of our youth and the children that God has given. We are to busy to help our neighbors. We are to busy to enjoy a breakfast or make a visit with our pastor. We have no time to be hospitable. We convince ourselves, however, that we have all and abound. Our life is but a vapor and we have such a short time to accomplish good for the sake of God's kingdom. What kind of stewards are we of the time that God has given?

Some thoughts by a carpenter

I am told that my family settled in southern Wisconsin well over a century ago. My forefathers traditionally were farmers and carpenters. One thing that I am now grateful for is that my dad, who owns a small construction company, insisted when I was but yet a lad that I needed to learn how to work and to learn his trade. It did not require much of a stint at college to reveal to me that I truly did love working as a carpenter.

I am presently working on a dining room table for my wife. I will soon share some pictures and some construction details for those who might be interested to see how one would go about building a table. For now, I would like to share some thoughts on woodworking and the trades in general.

While I have to say that I employ and even enjoy many of the “fruits” of an industrial era, I am dismayed by what seems to be a continuing decline of skilled artisans employing their hands and tools in an effort to produce a quality craft from which they can derive their income and contribute to the local community and economy.

Our postmodern society has become obsessed with a fast-paced, self-seeking, disposable culture that emphasizes immediate and momentary gratification. We no longer enjoy working or waiting, thus we are content to amuse ourselves by the cheap and trite offerings that a fast-paced industry is pleased to cast our way. We gorge ourselves with rotten, greasy food from the local fast food shack because we have no time or patience to sit down to a quality meal made with care. We have no desire to wait three months for a craftsman to build us a quality piece of furniture. We opt rather to throw some money for some cheap stuff made out of glue, sawdust, and plastic paper with an imprinted woodgrain. We know it won’t last, but it was cheap and we didn’t have to wait for it. It does not dawn on us that while the generations of the past were able to pass down quality goods that we collect now as antiques, there will be nothing left for us to give to our children. The particle board bookshelf would have sagged its way to the landfill by then.

When I build things for my family, I prefer to build pieces in the arts and craft style. The arts and craft movement, while employing a rather diverse spectrum of style, was unified in its abhorrence to Europe’s shift from a rural and agrarian culture to an urban and industrial one. William Morris, while born in the industrial privileged class, embraced the writings of John Ruskin (who viewed the results of industrialization as disastrous by way of destroying individual craftsmanship and local economy) and was instrumental in forging the styles of crafting that we now call Arts and Crafts.

The furniture of the Arts and Crafts movement is rather diverse, but could be described briefly as a form that emphasizes simple, solid, straight lines while employing the time-tested traditional joinery methods as well as the need of a skilled artisan to create it. Therefore, each piece usually displays exposed joinery. The movement desired to maintain the tradition of skilled craftsmen using hand tools rather than turning the artison into a factory worker that fed skilled machines!

For materials, many chose to use locally available domestic timbers such as oak and ash. Quartersawn oak was popular, particularly in America. Many pieces utilized other mediums such as custom made glass, leather, and fabrics. Hardware was often hand forged.

While I may not be able to bring back the cobbler, the blacksmith and the tailor, I hope that in some small way I can at least use the hands that God has given me to work and to exercise dominion over God’s creation. The earth is the Lord’s and all the fullness thereof, yet God has been pleased to enable us to do such things as till the land and to build things! I hope that if God is willing to allow me to live long enough, that I shall be able to pass along my meager abilities and knowledge to my own sons, and that perhaps someday a great grandchild can share with a friend, “My great grandfather built that!”

bob

What is truth?

Perhaps you will recall when Christ told Pilate: "You say rightly that I am a king. For this cause I was born, and for this cause I have come into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice." that Pilate goes on to ask the question that has confounded the philosophers throughout the ages: " "What is truth?"

We can answer the question in a couple of different ways. We can confess the fact that as Christians, we believe that all truth flows from God for He alone is true. We know that His truth shall endure for all generations. His Word and Law are truth.

We also believe that the gospel is exclusive. Jesus cries in John 14:6 "I am the way, THE truth, and the life. No man come to Father, but by me." We recall the sermon in Acts 4: "that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, by Him this man stands here before you whole. "This is the ‘stone which was rejected by you builders, which has become the chief cornerstone.’ "Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved."

We know from Romans 1 that the lost man will always exchange what truth he is given for a lie. Except the Spirit of God quicken his wicked heart, he will choose to worship the creature rather than Creator. The fool will say in heart, "There is no God."

It is this exchange of truth for lie that we see in startling fashion among the pagans. In this country it would appear that we cannot simply know what the truth is. Even if we do know what the truth is, we dare not treat our knowledge as truth and must supress it, rather than to share it, for to do so is to needlessly and shamelessly violate the rights of our countrymen.

It is now difficult to even interpret our laws and it is only with great deliberation that the Supreme Courts labors to figure out what the Constitution means. Even our words, such as "marriage" carry much baggage that is difficult to discern what is intended by the word as judges strive to interpret what parties can lawfully marry.

We are commanded to honor and fear the powers that be. We pray for our leaders, beseeching God to turn their hearts toward him and to write His laws in their hearts. While wee groan in anguish as we see our leaders striving with all diligence to remove any element of truth from the public's eye that they can, we rejoice that the "heart of the king is in the hand of God, like rivers of water, he turns it wherever he wills."

Our President professes to be a Christian. His actions betray his words, for rather than portraying a man who fears God and believe that His Word is true, he instead chooses to speak lies and further obscure the truth. The photo above show a picture of Bush signing the registry at a Shinto shine. He goes on to bow before the sign, clapping his hands to awake the spirits, as the ritual goes. This all happens while the Japanese delegate remains outside, for it just wouldn't do for him to mix religion with politics. Bush goes on to comment that the Shinto religion is very much like the Christian religion. Let's not mention that 60 years ago Japanese and Korean Christians were killed for refusing to bow before these shrines.

This defiance of the gospel is nothing knew. Just last year President Bush opened the doors of the White House to the Hindu Diwali festival, during which Carl Rove lights the 'dipak' as part of the ceremony. Dr. Piyush C. Agrawal, the president of the Association of Indians in America exuberantly declares: "President Bush deserves our sincere ´gratitude´ for creating history by opening the door of The White House for a Hindu ceremony.."

The presidents affection for Islam is well known. He has often remarked that both Islam and Christianity are identical faiths that worship the same God. Once again he opens the doors to the White house to honor the Muslim holiday of Ramadan. His intent is clear: "I want to thank you all for coming to celebrate an honored tradition of the Muslim faith, and wish you a, 'Ramadan Mubarak'" He then pauses, like a good Muslim cleric, to offer a benediction: "As we celebrate this special Iftaar, we renew the ties of friendship that bind all those who trace their faith back to God's call on Abraham. We recognize the many hopeful works we have achieved together. We look forward to learning more from each other in the years ahead.
I'm so grateful that you joined us today. I wish you a blessed Ramadan, and may God bless you all" Earlier in the speech, with exuberance he declare that for the first time, a copy of the Koran has been placed in the Presidential library.

There is much more that can be shared, but istis apparent that we have a president who is an idolator and seeks to destroy the gospel by expressing his polytheistic views. The truth of the matter is that "You shall have no other gods before me." It is a shame to see our President violate the truth of God's law and to use our public buildings as forums to celebrate false religions.

It drives me crazye to observe that inspite of these idolatrous lies that many people within the evangelical Christian community view this man as their champion to hold up the truth of God's Word. Millions of Christians cast their votes for this man, believing confidently that this man of faith would defend the Word of God that they hold so dear and establish principles of righteousness.

We must be wiser than this. We must render to our President all that is due - " ...honor to whom honor, fear to whom fear...", It is easy to scorn and ridicule, but I believe that our efforts would be better spent in praying for the salvation of his soul. God will cast down the wicked in their futile imaginations, we can be sure of that. We may be disturbed by the movement in this country to steer away from the principles of God's Word, but rest assured that God's Word will endure forever. Do not lose heart and recognize that it is our duty as churchmen to thunder the truth of God's Word everywhere. Yes, our faith is exclusive and we believe that truth is represented only through the God of The Bible. We preach His precepts and we delight in His law. Let the wicked rage and imagine their vanities while we proclaim the truth: "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life - no man comes to the Father, but by me."