Sam the Sham and The Pharaohs: "I'm In With) The Out Crowd"

Being popular is one of many human failings. We all want to be appreciated but some folks take it all too far. This sixties band decided to sing about people who didn't care how unfashionable folks were. Check it out here.

Faithful people have never been approved of by the world. As we read in 1 John 3:12 (Bible in Basic English), we're, "Not being of the Evil One like Cain, who put his brother to death. And why did he put him to death? Because his works were evil and his brother's works were good."

Because of this, we read in 1 Corinthians 1:26-28 (BBE) , "For you see God's design for you, my brothers, that he has not taken a great number of the wise after the flesh, not the strong, not the noble: But God made selection of the foolish things of this world so that he might put the wise to shame; and the feeble things that he might put to shame the strong; And the low things of the world, and the things without honour, did God make selection of, yes, even the things which are not, so that he might make as nothing the things which are:"

As a matter of fact, the world isn't our friend. Neither must we emulate its ways. As James 4:4 (BBE) points out, "O you who are false to God, do you not see that the friends of this world are not God's friends? Every man desiring to be a friend of this world makes himself a hater of God."

Jesus never kept it a secret that we would find nothing but animosity toward us from the world. John 15:18 (BBE) tells us, "If you are hated by the world, keep in mind that I was hated by the world before you."

Neither is the world worthy of Christ's martyrs and children. As Hebrews 11:38 (BBE) comments on faithful saints throughout history, they were, "Wandering in waste places and in mountains and in holes in the rocks; for whom the world was not good enough."

If Christ hasn't returned to reward us by Monday, I hope my post about giving the past the slip is up for all to read.

Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young: "Ohio"

This song documents the four fatalities at Kent State University on May 4th, 1970. Accounts differ regarding what cause the National Guard to fire into the crowd of protesters. Even so, it was a sad and shocking day for America.

Listen to the song here:

I'm glad Jesus made no secret that we followers would suffer persecution. As he warned his disciples in Matthew 10:17 and 18 (Bible in Basic English), "But be on the watch against men: for they will give you up to the Sanhedrins, and in their Synagogues they will give you blows; And you will come before rulers and kings because of me, for a witness to them and to the Gentiles."

Christ also warned that some deluded people will figure they're helping the Lord by persecuting followers of the Way. John 16:2 (BBE) reads, "They will put you out of the Synagogues: yes, the time is coming when whoever puts you to death will have the belief that he is doing God's pleasure."

This is nothing new. Right from the start, the haters of the righteous murdered the believers in God. We read in 1 John 3:12 (BBE) that we are, "Not being of the Evil One like Cain, who put his brother to death. And why did he put him to death? Because his works were evil and his brother's works were good. Do not be surprised, my brothers, if the world has no love for you."

Even Old Testament saints suffered. As Hebrews 11:37 and 38 (BBE) states, "They were stoned, they were cut up with knives, they were tested, they were put to death with the sword, they went about in sheepskins and in goatskins; being poor and in pain and cruelly attacked, Wandering in waste places and in mountains and in holes in the rocks; for whom the world was not good enough."

If Christ hasn't arrived by Thursday, I hope to post about the folly of trying to catch the wind.

John Fogerty: "Deja Vu (All Over Again)"

How true it is that the more things change, the more things stay the same. For example, people have been murdering and warring against each other for millennia but it still happens in our supposedly modern world.

John Fogerty sang about this feeling that we've heard it all before in this song. Check it out here:

It's no surprise that the very first family was dysfunctional. We read how it was summed up in 1 John 3:12 (Bible in Basic English) that we should be, "Not being of the Evil One like Cain, who put his brother to death. And why did he put him to death? Because his works were evil and his brother's works were good."

Even squabbles in the family of Christ aren't new. James 4:1-3 (BBE) warns us, "What is the cause of wars and fighting among you? is it not in your desires which are at war in your bodies? You are burning with desire, and have not your desire, so you put men to death; you are full of envy, and you are not able to get your desire, so you are fighting and making war; you have not your desire, because you do not make request for it. You make your request but you do not get it, because your request has been wrongly made, desiring the thing only so that you may make use of it for your pleasure."

We have new concepts in governance but the basic purpose is the same. Note what Paul wrote in Romans 13:1 and 2 (BBE). "Let everyone put himself under the authority of the higher powers, because there is no power which is not of God, and all powers are ordered by God. For which reason everyone who puts himself against the authority puts himself against the order of God: and those who are against it will get punishment for themselves."

Until Christ returns, bad things will continue to happen. As he said in Matthew 24:8 (BBE) about turmoil, "But all these things are the first of the troubles."

If our lord delays his coming past Saturday, I hope to post about cases of mistaken identity.

Saturday Song: The Steve Miller Band, "Journey from Eden"

This is one of Steve Miller's thoughtful songs. Along with "Fly Like An Eagle," it shows his concern for the less fortunate citizens of our planet.

Here Steve Miller's song here:

I believe that Adam and Eve had no inkling of what their disobedience would cost humanity. Genesis 3:24 (KJV) records, "So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life."

The first family on earth was also dysfunctional as a result of their fall from God's grace. We read of the first murder in the next chapter of Genesis. This chapter  also answers the reason Cain murdered Abel.

And from 1 John 3:12 (KJV) we learn, "Not as Cain, who was of that wicked one, and slew his brother. And wherefore slew he him? Because his own works were evil, and his brother's righteous."

But God was gracious to Cain, and by extension us, in that he didn't kill him on the spot. Genesis 4:12 (KJV) gives God's sentence on Cain. "When thou tillest the ground, it shall not henceforth yield unto thee her strength; a fugitive and a vagabond shalt thou be in the earth."

Fortunately for us as well, God sent Christ to die in our place. Romans 5:8 (KJV) explains, "But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us."

What a wonderful deed the Lord did for humanity. When we forsake our wicked ways, confess our sins, and yield our lives to Christ, we become his adopted children. The rift between God and humanity was bridged by Jesus, reuniting humanity with God once more.

On Monday, I'll tackle the subject of why we're like kites. It seems like a strange analogy but I'll explain why that is.