Is James Taylor’s “secret of life” true?

Posted on November 21, 2015 by ivanjamestruman

Published in 1977, Taylor called this an irreverent spiritual song. He didn’t want to come across with absolute certainty, so he titled the song, Secret O’ Life instead of Secret of Life. But still, his first verse claims:

“The secret of life is enjoying the passage of time.” And if that is true, then:
“But since we’re on our way down, we might as well enjoy the ride. Isn’t it a lovely ride? Sliding down, gliding down, try not to try too hard, it’s just a lovely ride.”

His second verse is even more philosophical:

“Now the thing about time is that time isn’t really real.
It’s just your point of view, how does it feel for you?
Einstein said he could never understand it all.
Planets spinning through space, the smile upon your face, welcome to the human race.”

I’ve spent my guitar playing years learning to play like Taylor. And I enjoy much of his care-free spirited songs. But this song has push-back, maybe even defensiveness about it, that attempts to silence another voice that quietly whispers: “the secret to life is much bigger than your personal enjoyment of it.” I mean, why even make the assertion that this is the secret to life unless there is an irresistible urge to know what life is really all about?

The human race, as Taylor puts it, is a species that has always sought to know how and why we are here, who are we, and what is our place among the spinning planets in space. Here’s some questions: when you are enjoying a sunset over the ocean, a flower garden, a beautiful rendition of a classic, or the mountains and landscapes of the earth, what explains your capacity for enjoyment of things that you did not make? And, why do you often feel the most joy when the event or the environment has nothing to do with you – like watching a glorious sunrise? And finally, why do we still feel unsatisfied, cheated, and even down right angry, when the “end of the ride” comes?

The secret to Life is knowing the giver of Life. To know him who not only explains my existence, but my desire for enjoyment also. We were made to enjoy this life so that we may have some hint that the one who made this life must be unbelievably enjoyable! Our capacity for joy is not a secret – but the purpose of it is. But no longer. It was revealed when Jesus came, was crucified, rose again, ascended, and is coming back for those who have longed to know him who made us to enjoy the giver more than his gifts. Contrary to Mr. Taylor, time is real. You are real. Your desire to live forever, enjoying life is real.

I am enjoying time with family. But I will not come to the end of this enjoyment and glibly muse, “. . . well that was a good ride.” No one does that because no one feels that way about life – not really. We want more – we didn’t want the ride to end – we want . . . . . .

See . . .!

“We can be Americans Best if we are not Americans First”

Posted on November 18, 2015 by ivanjamestruman

This evening in our new class, “Apologetics and the Gospel,” we hear from Russell Moore share his heart from his new book, “Onward”. Below is his opening words on the inside cover jacket:

“We can be Americans best if we are not Americans First. The days ahead will be different than ever before. We may be seen as strange in American culture. We will be forced to articulate things we once could assume. That is nothing to wring our hands over. That is no call to retreat or to surrender, and it’s also no call to keep doing it the way we’ve been doing it, except at a louder volume. If so, onward Christian Strangers. Our message will be seen as increasingly freakish to American culture. Let’s embrace the freakishness, knowing that such freakishness is the power of God unto salvation. Let’s march onward with the confidence of those who know that the gospel didn’t emerge in Mayberry, and doesn’t need a Bible Belt to sustain it.”

I wish every true lover of Christ would read this book because the Church needs to apply “seek first the kingdom of God” in a way that she never has had to, at least here in America. The apostle Peter says,

“But even if you should suffer for righteousness’ sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear of them, nor be troubled, but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense (apologia) to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect . . .” 1 Peter 3:14-15

With the escalating fear of Muslims taking over this country(like the Romans took over Israel), the increasing intolerance of biblical Christianity with its position on marriage and the exclusivity of Jesus as the only way of salvation, and the implosion of a moral center for sustaining a democratic government, true followers of Christ must learn to love/seek/trust in the kingdom of God first, if we are to be the best earthly citizens for our earthly country. America needs more than ever to see that there is an everlasting kingdom and country to die and live for, and a King whose government does not harm its citizens. But if the true church in America acts, talks, and lives its life as if there is no other kingdom besides America, not only will we lose what’s left of our earthly country, but we will lose our ability to be salt and light for those who live in darkness.

I heartily recommend this timely and eye-opening read by Russell Moore!

“France: A Fabric Torn” by John Piper

Posted on November 14, 2015 by ivanjamestruman

In France the fabric of family and nation is torn, and ten thousand human fibers are frayed with anger, and wet with grief. Millions more are woven in among the stricken strands, and taste the bitter salt of tears. And from the unsafe distance of four thousand miles, we feel the human fibers pulling on our hearts.

The cry of “Allahu Akbar” (Arabic for “Allah is great”) punctuates the screaming gap between the gunfire and the detonation. Farewell, dismembered terrorist. This is my wish — farewell — but not what I believe. Your Allah is not great. Nor is he God. For God himself has said, No one who spurns the Son knows God (1 John 2:23). Not only that, but this: No one who loves to murder will have a martyr’s hope (1 John 3:15). O, how deceived you are, to think that you can pave your way to paradise with blood from “infidels.”

     O LORD, God of vengeance, 
        O God of vengeance, shine forth! 
     Rise up, O judge of the earth;
        repay to the proud what they deserve! 
     O LORD, how long shall the wicked, 
        how long shall the wicked exult? (Psalm 94:1–3)

Marc Coupris, a survivor of Le Bataclan (the theatre), said, “It was carnage. . . . They shot from the balcony. I saw my final hour unfurl before me, I thought this was the end. I thought I am finished, I am finished.” But you were not finished, Marc. We are thankful. Would that all could say the same. For many, life was over. They were finished.

O, let us wake up from the stupor of thinking we know when we will be finished. We do not know. God has told us how to speak of our tomorrows. “You ought to say, ‘If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that’” (James 4:15). If you are reading this, you’ve been given another day. Perhaps only one. Think on this.

To all of France, the hands of Jesus are extended. The risen Savior stretches out his bloody hands and says, “Come to me, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28). “Let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who desires take the water of life without price” (Revelation 22:17).

Vengeance will come. It need not come from private individuals. “Leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, ‘Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord’” (Romans 12:19). There is a time for everything under heaven. Now is a time for France — and all of us — to hear the words of Jesus, “Do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who lived in Jerusalem [or Paris]? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish” (Luke 13:4–5).

And if we do? Sins forgiven. God reconciled. Hell shut. Heaven opened. Spirit given. Love abounding. “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel” (Mark 1:15).

Paris, Memory Loss, Starbucks, and “the counsel of His Will”

Posted on November 14, 2015 by ivanjamestruman

It’s Saturday morning, Nov. 14, 2015. We’re in Springfield, IL. with Cheryl’s parents, attending a memory loss seminar for those with dementia and Alzheimer’s Disease. Cheryl is with her parents and I’m sitting at Starbucks over-hearing several conversations about the horror in Paris. One middle-aged man near me says to his friend, “senseless – someone needs to do something to stop this.” Earlier this morning at the Memory Loss seminar during registration, I observe the alone-ness on many faces as husband, or wife, or daughter, or son, or close friend, attempts to learn more on how to deal with this elongated good-bye to the person that you love dearly; like sand that slowly slips downward in an hour-glass, your life-long friend moves from one kind of existence into another – right in front of you – and they’re never the same again, and you too. Back at Starbucks, there are three young teenage girls who are absorbed in their mutual class work for class next week – “Anatomy and Physiology”. As I sip on my Clover pressed Hawaii Kau, I finish up preparing for our Apologetics & The Gospel class for next Wednesday evening, as we work through “Onward” by Russel Moore. Put it all together:

For my church family, we need, I need, to know that God is working everything according to the counsel of his will so that his grace toward us in Christ will be enjoyed forever. I never do this, but I want to send the sermon outline to you so that you may pray for your church, Jesus’ Universal Church, yourself, your worship of Christ as we meet tomorrow. Let us pray for the few believers in France, that they will show the refuge of Christ in dangerous times to their friends and neighbors. We do not minimize horror. But we neither despair. Prepare for worship!

“He Works Everything According to the Counsel of His Will.”

Acts 20:27 & Ephesians 1

To the Ephesian Elders:

Acts 20:27 “. . . for I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel of God.”

“Counsel” = aim, goal, plan

To the entire Ephesian church:

Ephesians 1:3-14

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth. In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.”

Q. What is the goal of all that God the Father has done in his Son?

A. It is to bring sinners to enjoy the beauty of God’s grace.

>Everything is Penultimate

>The Enjoyment of God is Ultimate

Why Do I Love the Whole Counsel of His Will?

God will not leave the ultimate success of the enjoyment of his grace to the will, counsel, or determination of man.

Every reason for joy and every reason for sorrow in this life will be united in Christ.

My salvation in Christ serves a greater purpose than being saved from an eternal hell.

All my questions will be resolved in Christ, someday.

God’s predestination of my salvation in Christ does not encourage lawlessness, but hope for holiness.

The Whole Counsel of His Will shapes my worldview and satisfies my heart like nothing else can.

The Trinitarian God is fully committed to making me eternally happy in Him.

Do we really end up at the same place, on the other side of the stone?

Posted on October 29, 2015 by ivanjamestruman

Do we really end up at the same place, on the other side of the stone?

This is my question to an illustration that was recently shared with me, that attempts to explain the mystery of Divine Sovereignty and Human Choice. The illustration goes like this: in the stream of choices that we make each day, God is in control. But sometimes, you come to a stone in the stream that separates the water. At this point, God let’s you choose which direction to take, to the right or to the left is up to you, it’s your choice – you choose to go to the right. But though it is your choice, you end up at the same place on the other side of the choice, around the stone, meeting the same stream of water that swished around on the left.

I can appreciate any attempt to meditate on the mystery of God’s Sovereign control and the real choices that God calls us to make each day that are really ours. But this illustration has problems. Here is an illustration that the scriptures provide:

“The king’s heart is a stream of water in the hand of the LORD; he turns it wherever he will” – Proverbs 21:1

Clearly, the point is that if the king’s heart (the seat of his affections and desires that guide his choices) is guided wherever the Lord chooses, then so it is with those who have even less authority over their lives than a king. Here is another illustration on this same matter:

“You will say to me then, “Why does he still find fault? For who can resist his will?” But who are you, O man, to answer back to God? Will what is molded say to its molder, “Why have you made me like this?” Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use? What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory—even us whom he has called, not from the Jews only but also from the Gentiles?” – Romans 9:14-24

The Lord God is like a potter who makes a bowl on his wheel for any purpose that he chooses. Although the Pharaoh, in all his self-proclaimed deity thinks that his choices are self-determining, autonomous, and free from any constraint upon his desires, this illustration shows the opposite. Therefore, with regard to the aforementioned illustration, I have a few comments, and a few more remarks to cause us to trust and worship a Sovereign God.

If our illustrations do not complement the ones in scripture, then we’re probably already off course.
Illustrations are meant to reveal that which is difficult to understand – Jesus used them all the time. But illustrations are not meant to sanitize nor make simple the mystery and paradoxes of who God is (e.g. Trinity) and how he governs his creation.
The illustration of the stone in the middle of the stream assumes that our choices are sometimes completely ours, and sometimes completely not, but either way, we end up at the same place. This is simply not true. Just ask Joni Eareckson Tada, if the seemingly small and insignificant choice she made in the summer of 1967 ended up in the same place as if she had not. Joni was 17 years old and loved swimming. Playing with friends, she dove into a lake, not realizing how shallow it was, and broke her neck, and since then has been paralyzed from her neck down. Her life truly is remarkable – you can read it here – http://joniearecksontadastory.com/jonis-story-page-1/. Joni has written and spoken extensively on the complete and Sovereign Will of God that was in control of that fateful choice. Her life is a testament that no choice, no matter how small, is outside of God’s control.

The truth is, no choice we make ever really brings us to the other side of the stone in the middle of the stream. Each choice we make changes the course of each day. Think of the mind-boggling significance of a single choice to get into your car and go to the grocery store, now. Not 30 minutes from now, not 3 minutes from now, not 3 seconds from now. Right Now – can make all the difference in the world from returning home with a loaf of bread or ending up in a car wreck, or to not even return home at all. Everyone who has ever driven for any length of time has had a fraction-of-a-second near catastrophe.

Besides, if you took the right side of the stone in the middle of the stream and there was a crocodile waiting for its next meal, on the right side, I can assure you that had you taken the left side, things would be different on the other side of the stone. No stream of life works in such a static, inconsequential way as the illustration above suggests.

Finally, I am happily content with the mystery that all my choices are still under God’s Sovereign control. I take great comfort in the fact that if I make a choice to go right, God is still completely in control as if I had taken the left. He will never leave me nor forsake me. I can’t imagine going anywhere, doing anything, making any decision without the knowledge that “this too” is his plan for my life. Not even my rebellious choices are outside of his will – I am culpable, yet God is Sovereign (Acts 2:22-23). I take courage in all that I do because I know that he governs everything in the universe according to his over-all plan (Job).

God’s Sovereignty frees me from a paralyzing fear of the unknown. I do not live in fear that my most mundane and routine choices could capsize my life, unintended by God. Nor do I live with a false sense of freedom that since I can make choices, at least for a paddle stroke or two, that this makes my life significant. In the new heavens and new earth, where the Son will set us free indeed, not one choice, ambition, motivation, thought, expression, or movement of heart and mind will be outside of God’s Sovereign Will. And yet, we will be free indeed (John 8:36). So then, what is real human freedom? It is not the ability to make a choice free from God’s Control, but rather, a choice that is free from wanting anything else but Jesus Christ.

My Dad Reads Romans 8:28-39

Posted on October 26, 2015 by ivanjamestruman

A few weeks ago, I asked mom to record dad reading this section of Paul’s letter to the believers in Rome. Watch and listen, then I’ll tell you why I wanted this as a keepsake.

There is a reason why the sufferings of this present life could separate you from God’s love: you would quit loving the one who causes the suffering. How then can Paul be so persuaded that not even God-imposed sufferings will destroy the relationship that we have in Christ? When I see the sufferings of what my mom and dad are going through, what then, explains their year-after-year, trial-after-trial, pursuit of the Lord? The answer to this question is why I will forever cherish what God the Father has done through his Son, Jesus Christ. Let’s break this down:

vs. 28 It is to the “called/those who love God” who are promised that the sufferings you go through have an ultimate purpose to make you like Christ. Nothing is by chance.

vs. 29 Those who are called are also the foreknown. This is equivalent to being “chosen, set apart, and loved in advance” (Gen. 4:1; Jer. 1:5; Acts 2:23; 1 Peter 1:20). Foreknown does not mean foresight of the future. It means chosen to be loved in the future – something is being done to you, not merely seen about you. The aim is to make all those who were called in the past like Christ, so that Jesus will rank the highest, become “firstborn” – among all those that he becomes united to.

vs. 30 All those that were predestined (notice past tense and a done deal) to become like Christ, is the same group of sinners that were called. This calling is not an external call that results in nothing. It is the kind of call that always produces justification/salvation. It’s the kind of call that raises you from being dead in sin (John 6:37, 44; 10:16; 1 Cor. 1:2; 2 Cor. 4:6). It’s the kind of call that overpowers all resistance to Jesus Christ. Why? Because all the called are justified, that is, saved. This is why Paul is silent on mentioning faith. Not that faith is absent (it logically falls between calling and justification), but that faith can’t be what was foreseen (even if foreknown means that; which it doesn’t). Why not? Because there was no faith to see apart from the calling that always produces justification. If God saw anything in the future it was his own calling, raising you, bringing life into you so that you would have the faith that always produces justification. And, all those who are declared righteous are glorified (a done deal in the past that guarantees the future result).

vs. 31-39 What shall we say to “these things”?

God the Father has always been for, not against my mom and dad.
If God the Father gave his Son to my mom and dad, then everything else is chump-change from there on out.
No accusation will ever be successfully sustained against the elect, God’s chosen. God’s courtroom is sealed: It is God who justifies and no one can revoke his action.
No one can look at my mom and dad’s sins, and say, “you should be condemned.” Why not, because Jesus was condemned in their place.
Jesus is now interceding, that is, he is now in the position with the authority, to make sure that what was forged in eternity past will come to fruition. Jesus will not lose a single soul for which he suffered and died for (John 17:9, 12).
The end result: nothing will ever separate the elect from the love of God which is manifestly displayed and guaranteed in Christ Jesus. And just in case someone might think that there is at least “something” that could unravel these promises, Paul interjects “nor anything else in creation” – to put a lid on it.

This is why the reading of this portion of Scripture will forever hang like a precious locket around my neck. Jesus paid it all for all that the Father gave to him (John 10:14-16, 25-30; 17:2, 6, 9, 11, 12, 24).

A ram caught in a thicket for all kinds of people

Posted on September 30, 2015 by ivanjamestruman

Artwork on one of our walls in our home expresses that the ram caught in the thicket is a picture of Jesus. Like the ram, that will take Isaac’s place upon the altar, Jesus will offer himself as our substitute and be sacrificed in our place (Gen. 22). The ram will die. Isaac will live. The Lord has provided, but not just for Isaac, but as John described,

“And when he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each holding a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. And they sang a new song, saying, “Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation, and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on the earth.”

(Revelation 5:8-10 ESV)

Jesus died not just for Jews, his own kinsmen, but for people from every ethnicity upon the earth – hence, the various crosses that have historical roots in world history with regard to their artistry. Not that Jesus died over and over, but that his one-time-death in real space and matter is the most significant event that the world must reckon with.

For today:

Believe that Christ died for your sins according the scriptures.
Believe that what Christ did is bigger than your troubles. After watching one atrocity after another during the Nazi holocaust, Corrie Ten Boom told her sister Betsy, “This place is the pit of hell!” Betsy replied, “There is no pit so deep that God’s love is not deeper.”
Take courage today that the ethnic strife upon the earth will one day be settled around Christ’s return. Even now, there are Muslims around the world turning to Christ and paying a high cost from their own kinsmen.
If Jesus was able to tie a 2,200 year old true story of a ram caught in a thicket to his own work on the cross, then he is able to keep your life-story from becoming futile. Just as all stories that preceded Christ pointed to him and found their fulfillment in Christ, so also all stories that flow from Calvary into the future, including yours, will one day further illuminate the grace and glory of the cross.
Finally, if you love Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, then there is no more wrath left in the Father to punish you. Christ has “propitiated” – absorbed and exhausted the wrath of God upon the cross. God the Father will never punish the same sins twice. Either Christ has appeased his Father’s holy justice for you, or you will in hell. Either Jesus’ death on the cross is good news for you, or it will be bad news for you one day. Today – while it is today, believe upon the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved.

Fall Apple-Cider Pressing

Posted on September 24, 2015 by ivanjamestruman

That’s about 500 lbs of Gala, McIntosh, and Golden Delicious!

At the apple press house – it’s like a country store on an old farm.

Rinsed and up they go.

Into the hopper above, chopped up, dropped into a cheese-cloth, layered out . . .

This particular press is an original 1883. But what powers it?

A 1952 Farmall Tractor outback with a very long belt.

Time to pprrreeeeesssss the pulp.

End product: 37 gallons of freshly squeezed apple cider – let the Fall begin.

The Devil is a Vampire in Reverse

Posted on September 22, 2015 by ivanjamestruman

The Cross of Christ is still the most polarizing event in history. The assassination of President JFK, the death of Elvis, Miss Monroe, – you name the death of a public figure and compare it to Christ, you will be back-pedaling until chain falls off. There is no death so loved and yet so hated/scoffed/mocked/met with indifference by so many diverse people all over the world for such a long period of world history that it necessarily begs the question: What kind of death is this?

And he spread his nerves-on-fire hands, nailed to a cross of wood and said, “This kind.” It’s rare. It’s vicious. It’s the most gotcha kind-of-love that the world has ever seen or ever will. Literally, “the Satan” thought he had won. The dragon, the beast that was filled with wild jealous rage stupidly sank his fangs into Christ – like a Vampire from hell, the devil bit – and thought that he had taken the very life of the Son of God. But as Peter Kreeft wrote,

“Life conquered Death not by power but by love. The Little Lamb defeated the Great Beast by using His secret weapon: His blood, His love. He let the Beast drink His blood, like a reverse Dracula” – (The Philosophy of Jesus, 23).

The devil is a vampire in reverse because when he went after Christ, he lost. Christ’s blood-shedding would not end Jesus, but Satan. All vampires gain strength, longevity, and power by drinking the blood of their victims. But Jesus was no victim. And he was no patsy-meal for the devil, either. What Satan thought would be his victory it was the exact opposite. It was his eternal undoing. And that means all those who are in Christ will not, cannot be finally and ultimately defeated. All the little bites that we Christians endure from here to eternity are just that – empty, poison-less bites that have no power, other than to further the future humiliation of Satan and all those aligned with him. Christ has won – and he did it by letting the devil bite him. No one could have ever written such fiction. For nearly two thousand years now the world is still fascinated with Jesus. He could not have been invented as a fairly-tale and caused a tsunami of followers to also lay down their lives, and again, expose the wicked of the earth as demons in reverse – defeated by their own hate. It must be true. Jesus is real. Jesus won by dying.

A Friday Funny!

Posted on September 18, 2015 by ivanjamestruman

I was traveling from IL to WV by myself a few weeks ago, and as the evening driving was becoming long, and after I had eaten all of my raw veggies, fruit, seeds and nuts for the journey, I wanted something hot and filling. Cheryl helps me live a very healthy lifestyle, but . . . she wasn’t with me to help! “Here’s my chance,” I thought to myself. “I can eat something that she would never allow. A Wendy’s cheeseburger and fries.” It was over a year since I had something from a fast food restaurant, and that was because someone gave me a $10 gift card to Micky Dees. With a slight tinge of guilt, I ordered the tasty poison. The young man rang the order up. He looked at me – almost apologetically, and sheepishly said, “Sir, I’m sorry . . . that will be $6.66.” “You’re kidding me!?!?,” I objected as if standing before the Judge of all the Earth. “The one time that I order some nasty delicious food I get busted with a 666 curse.”

He laughed about the order total, knowing the meaning of the math. I told him that I ought to get the food for free. He replied, “That will be $6.66 please.”

Moral: I should have ordered pizza. Have a great day!

the sound board

~absorb grace~vibrate grace~

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