A Nearly-Hostile Takeover

Saturday on our way back from the beach we had an impromptu field trip to Moore's Creek battlefield. This 1776 clash between loyalist and patriot factions near Wilmington resulted in about 30 loyalists (and only one patriot) killed. More significantly, it prevented about 1500 loyalist volunteers from reaching Wilmington, where they were to join with Clinton and Cornwallis on their way to Charleston. The embarrassing failure of the British fleet to reduce Fort Moultrie convinced them to leave the south for later, concentrating their early efforts on the northern colonies.

The battlefield is well-maintained and accessible, and the progress of the engagement is easy to follow with the trails and markers. The visitor's center is small but thorough, and the new video presentation is good too (and available for sale in the bookstore).

What did fall short is the presentation by the park rangers. I don't know if it was the particular ranger leading our group, or if it is the official script prepared for this site, but we could only stay with him for the first 200 yards of the tour. The presentation seemed determined to prove that it was just simple fairness that Parliament imposed taxation on the colonies without representation, that the American colonists were simply sulky and petty to complain about their rights, and patriots like Samuel Adams were motivated by nothing but merchantile interests. (Yes, they brought Adams right into the swamps of Pender County, NC; go figure. It's a wonder global warming wasn't involved.)


My wife, bless her, pointed out that the actions of Parliament were a violation of the Magna Charta, and this was the fundamental law governing the relations between the sovereign and his subjects -- abrogated by the Crown's representatives. The ranger replied with a smile that the distance was so great and communication so slow that it simpy wasn't practical for the colonists to expect representation in Parliament.

"If they can get taxes over there, they can get a representative," my wife responded, with a ripple of approval from the rest of the group. As they walked on, my wife said to me, "He needs to read more original sources, not just the official text."


After two stops like this we decided it was time to take charge of our own experience, so we let the group walk on and my wife and I finished the presentation for our children. While we didn't have family at Moore's Creek per se -- though I guess the loyalist Colonel MacLeod may have been a relative -- we have read pretty extensively about the colonial and Revolutionary periods, and we do have our own patriot ancestors like Beat Rebsamen, the Swiss immigrant who was pardoned for his involvement with the S. C. Regulator movement, but then supplied the Colonials when the war came about; or Matthew and Christopher Singleton, who signed a Mecklenburg-type declaration in Camden District, S.C., only six weeks after Lexington and Concord; or the Wrights, Solomon and Uriah, father and son, who served in the Virginia militia -- Uriah, present for duty at the conclusion at Yorktown.


Thank you, we do know something about the causes of this war, and they run much deeper than an overreaction to a "reasonable" tax. And either Moore's Creek was a well-planned action on the part of citizen soldiery that shaped the subsequent events in the early war for our independence -- we have to remember this was ten months into the open hostilities --, or it was just a sad local tragedy that left thirty-one colonists dead for trivial political reasons.

I suppose since we're apologizing for history in other areas, we might as well send our humble regrets to the Queen and redesign our coinage to look like Canada's. Sorry, your majesty -- our bad.

It made me think about the ongoing fight of Doug Phillips and Vision Forum against creeping revisionism at places like Plymouth and Jamestown. Who writes these scripts for the National Park Service?

UPDATE 1: I had a very enlightening visit with the chief ranger at Cowpens National Battlefield the following week and posed that question to her. The answer is the ranger writes the script. This is by design; the Park Service provides certain basic historical facts which need to be covered, but the "interpretive rangers" (as opposed to "law enforcement" rangers) are free to put their own knowledge and experience into their presentations. This can be both boon and bane, as you might expect -- and as we have experienced.

UPDATE 2: The ranger I spoke with, incidentally, very graciously pointed out that Plymouth is not a NPS site, and she also had noticed the interesting change in interpretative emphasis to a modern Native American viewpoint. Jamestown is more complex, as there are three different entities in the same basic location, only one of which is Park Service.

UPDATE 3: Well, maybe we had kinfolk there after all. My mother ran into the past president of the Clan McLeod Society and through him I have been corresponding with a McLeod genealogist. It appears now that our McLeods may have been in the colonies, and in North Carolina, no less, at that time -- previously we believed the first in America arrived in 1792. Too early to say whether we had Loyalists among the McLeods, though I already know the German side of the family fought for the Tories at Ramseur's Mill.

Beach Books

I'm reading Democracy in America, by Alexis de Tocqueville. Really good stuff, actually; he observed, for instance, that while America (c. 1830) did not follow schools of philosophy like the fashionable thinkers of Europe did, at the same time they had arrived at a common frame of thinking. De Tocqueville said that there was nowhere that Decartes was less studied but more followed, as a practical matter.

A Question for Friday

I posted this over the Locker Room and got some interesting responses:

Have you ever completely worn out a book, either by re-reading, frequent reference, or simply by carrying it around constantly?

One thing is immediately plain -- the most earthshakingly signficant books are not the most frequently read, with the possible exception of the Bible. Most of them, I think, take a serious commitment in thought and time to read through the first time, while many of us bibliophiles read largely for recreation. For examples, here are the responses from --

The president of the leading conservative policy institute in North Carolina: Dune

A veteran media manager: The Heart of Rock and Soul: The 1001 Greatest Singles Ever Made

A rising seminary student: Profiles in Audacity

The former chair of county council: Interviews with the Vampire

Me? I admit that the most abused volumes in our library are Swiss Family Robinson, All Creatures Great and Small, and Mennonite Country-Style Recipes & Kitchen Secrets.

Readers are welcome to add their own admissions in the comments!

"Africa"

Now shall my inward joys arise
And burst forth to a song!
A mighty love inspires my heart,
And pleasure tunes my tongue

God on His thirsty Zion hill
Some mercy-drops hath sown;
A solemn oath hath bound His love
To shower salvation down

Why do we then indulge our fears,
Suspicions, and complaints?
Is He a God? And does His grace
Grow weary of His saints?

Can a kind woman e'er forget
The infant of her womb?
Among a thousand tender thoughts
Her suckling hath no room?

Yet saith the Lord, "Should nature change,
And mothers, monsters prove,
Zion still dwells upon the Heart
Of everlasting love

"Deep on the palms of both My hands
I have engraved her name;
My hand shall raise her ruin'd walls
And build her broken frame."

-- "Africa", in The New England Psalm Singer by William Billings

=====

[According to Wikipedia, the tune "Africa" is by William Billings, but the lyrics are by Isaac Watts; I've always heard it referred to by Billings' hymn tune. The spelling and punctuation here are my own, from many, many playings of The King's Clerkes' album A Land of Pure Delight.

A very different rendition is this group of Sacred Harp singers belting it out at a Minnesota convention. The first stanza is the sol-fa vocalization -- standard practice for shaped-note sings --, so the understandable lyrics start on the first repeat. Listening to this spirited a capella version, I can very easily picture the church meetings of my ancestors, Rev. Henry Young in South Carolina and Rev. Isaac Miles in North Carolina, in the early 1800's.]

I Thought It Was Scandanavian

Matthew came in the kitchen asking for a definition of the word "svelte". It raised the question where the word comes from -- Svedish?

Actually, it comes from Latin, by way of Italian and then French. The original word is exvellere, meaning "to pull out of". And in the transition to Italian, somewhere the /ek/ was left off /eks-vel-ler-e/ ... leaving, in effect, 'svellere, which became first svelto and then svelte.

So who took the "ek" out of "x" ?

A Very Different Church Service

Our church recently finished a detailed study of the book of Matthew (a year and a half long) and we've starting a new study of Nehemiah. This week, instead of an introductory sermon, we simply read the whole book aloud, thirteen chapters.

This has precedent, incidentally -- in the book of Nehemiah itself:

So Ezra the priest brought the Law before the assembly of men and women and all who could hear with understanding on the first day of the seventh month. Then he read from it in the open square that was in front of the Water Gate from morning until midday, before the men and women and those who could understand; and the ears of all the people were attentive to the Book of the Law.

(Nehemiah 8:2-3)

There are a lot of interesting things in this chapter, including not only precedent for extended public reading of Scripture, but also open air preaching, very long services on occasion, the inclusion of all ages in the common worship and teaching, the use of a shared platform and multiple teachers in a service, and exposition in addition to the reading. There are also examples of standing for the reading of Scripture, spontaneous verbal congregational response, emotional response to repentence and conviction, worship with lifted hands, worship with bowed heads, and teaching from the Law. And there's also the example of civil rulers not only participating in the service but promoting the significance of the day.

For what it's worth, there's also exhortations to celebrate holidays, to eat fat, to enjoy sweet drinks, and to share celebratory meals with those who couldn't prepare.

And what should be our response to a sermon on the Law?

For all the people wept, when they heard the words of the Law. Then he said to them, “Go your way, eat the fat, drink the sweet, and send portions to those for whom nothing is prepared; for this day is holy to our Lord. Do not sorrow, for the joy of the LORD is your strength.”

So the Levites quieted all the people, saying, “Be still, for the day is holy; do not be grieved.” And all the people went their way to eat and drink, to send portions and rejoice greatly, because they understood the words that were declared to them.

(Nehemiah 8:9-12)

Outdoing Themselves, Unfortunately

I was returning from a quick business trip to Charlotte and needed supper on the road. Being somewhat in the wilds of south-central North Carolina the choices were a bit limited but I remembered the deli counter at Wal-Mart had prepared food that at least offered variety from the hamburger chains.

Sure enough, there were several possiblities on display, including one I tentatively matched with the menu board as "boneless buffalo wing bites" or something of that sort.


I asked the young woman behind the counter what "that" item was.


"Chicken chunks," she replied.


Really... She confirmed it when I repeated it back to her.


The price was okay and I've paid twice as much for worse food on many occasions, especially on business trips. "Chicken chunks" it is, I suppose, technically correct, like a butcher shop that advertises "pieces of dead animals", but it's not astute marketing.


Wal-Mart tops itself again, courtesy another untrained or inattentive employee. A shame, really; the "chunks" weren't bad.

Notes from the Carnival

Tami Fox is moderating the Carnival of Homeschooling this week and two on my blog roll are highlighted. Leading off is this tribute:

I have been captivated by a new blog, Number One Son Report, this summer. It is an account of a high school, homeschool student who is living and working in Asia this summer. This entry is one of the first entries on the blog, but I encourage you to read the rest of it as you have time. It has been fascinating for me to read Number One Son Report.

Later in the COH is this item:

Mamahadeen tells us, "Lots of folks have asked us how we have dared to allow our boys to grab some of the wonderful, but scary opportunities they've taken advantage of. It's because that's what we've aimed at from the beginning! This post describes some of the practical ways we've prepared our sons to stand like men earlier than our culture thinks possible," in her post, "Teaching Boys to be Men."

UPDATE 19:43 - Visits are way up at Number One Son today, and The Common Room has linked over there too. Mamahadeen got a boost as well. Observation: People actually do read and click through ...

Journalist In Chief

A journalist, after all, is technically one who records in a journal. We use it to refer to a reporter, a media type, but in fact, a committed diarist is also maintaining a journal. QED.

After years as a political commentator, though -- and I highly recommend Reagan In His Own Hand to sample this phase of his development -- the fortieth president was qualified as both, an astute observer and analyst of the political forces and persons around him, and here, one who kept a fascinating personal diary of his eight years as president.

I got to review The Reagan Diaries for the August issue of Carolina Journal, and I have to say this is one of the hardest I've had to write. The man was so quotable and entertaining I had real difficulties confining myself to a thousand words.

One comment I didn't work into the article was when Sam Donaldson asked him if he didn't share some responsibility for the recession of 1981-1982; the president said,

"Yes, I do. I was once a Democrat."

Another matter that comes up regularly enough is whether Reagan was really as religious as the Right likes to imagine; after all, they point out, he didn't attend church that much while he was president -- a true statement borne out by his diary. What skeptics don't acknowledge is the tremendous disruption caused by a visit from the president; the Reagans decided, reluctantly, that it was too much commotion for them to inflict on the congregation. On the occasions that they do get to worship, Reagan mentions how much he misses it and his desire to be there more often.

Never mind that he found himself in the emergency room, 69 years old with an assassin's bullet in his lung, praying for the gunman. There is an enlightening entry as Reagan considers his father-in-law's rapidly declining health:

Nancy is very depressed about her father's health and understandably so. I want so much to speak to him about faith. He's always been an Agnostic -- now I think he knows fear for probably the 1st time in his life. I believe this is a moment when he should turn to God and I want so much to help him do that. (May 19, 1982, p. 85)

That just isn't the comment of a lukewarm or half-hearted believer.

There is a wealth of interesting first-person material in this volume and I can only scratch the surface in my review. You can read it in the print edition of Carolina Journal here .

Tunes by William Billings

So I don't lose them, here is a collection of MIDI sequences of tunes by William Billings. These have a very Renaissance sound to them, more than the electric-piano tone I usually find in MIDI files.


There are several articles and comments about Billings himself at the top of the page, but persevere, the MIDI links are about half way down.


Here is Is Any Afflicted? in MIDI. The Choral Public Domain Library has the pdf version for singing parts but I don't have time to look them up for a link this evening.


You can also hear a few of his works sung by His Majestie's Clerkes (now Belle Voce) at The Art of the States website.

Delightful

There is a land of pure delight,
Where saints immortal reign;
Infinite day excludes the night,
And pleasures banish pain.

There everlasting spring abides,
And never with'ring flowers;
Death, like a narrow sea, divides
This heav'nly land from ours.

Sweet fields beyond the swelling flood
Stand dressed in living green;
So to the Jews old Canaan stood,
While Jordan rolled between.

But tim'rous mortals start and shrink
To cross this narrow sea;
And linger, shivering, on the brink,
And fear to launch away.

O could we make our doubts remove,
Those gloomy doubts that rise,
And see the Canaan that we love
With unbeclouded eyes;

Could we but climb where Moses stood,
And view the landscape o'er,
Not Jordan's stream, nor death's cold flood,
Should fright us from the shore.

==========

This is the title track of a favorite album of mine, A Land of Pure Delight. Unlike Moses, though, we have an expectation of more than just viewing.

Here's a link to the Billings tune "Jordan" on the album (Paul Hillier and His Majestie's Clerkes)

Busy This Week

Looking at the last post I see it's been a week already. It's been a busy one; our brightest new prospective customer has been in Atlanta for back-to-back trade shows the past two weeks and sending very encouraging reports from our samples he is showing. The latest was a scramble today to put together a novelty-sort of hanging tag to display one product on the retailer's shelves -- due to technical and timing difficulties, I had to run the tags 45 miles away, to the other side of Raleigh, to catch a late drop off for Monday delivery. But that was just last night and today ....

I've also been catching up on a few of the other accounts that had to coast a few days while we handled last minute issues with the new customer. There may be an interesting follow up to the school bus story as well.

Not to miss the family holiday on Thursday, either -- wife Melanie and I took the afternoon off to celebrate our 21st anniversary with a visit to Raven Rock park, a hike down to the Cape Fear River, then dinner at a favorite local Chinese restaurants. (Too bad we haven't found a good Shanghai dumpling nearby; the closest I've met is actually in Wadesboro, of all places)

In the meantime, I finished Dorothy Hughes' biography of Erle Stanley Gardner, The Case of the Real Perry Mason. This was a re-read, but more interesting now that I'm writing more, considering a book project, and eagerly following my brother Davis' purchase of a publishing company (only thirteen days to closing now ...) Gardner was a prodigiously productive writer, turning out a full novel in four days or less, routinely, but at the cost of nearly anything resembling a family life. This is plainly and unblinkingly described in the book so there's a balance to the "wow".

Possibly more later including a movie review but I'm finishing preparation for a sermon tomorrow.

Sunday morning

Awake, my soul, in joyful lays,
And sing thy great Redeemer's praise:
He justly claims a song from me,
His lovingkindness is so free.
Lovingkindness, lovingkindness,
His lovingkindness is so free.

He saw me ruined in the fall,
Yet loved me not withstanding all,
And saved me from my lost estate,
His lovingkindness is so great.
Lovingkindness, lovingkindness,
His lovingkindness is so great.

Through mighty hosts of cruel foes,
Where earth and hell my way oppose,
He safely leads my soul along,
His lovingkindness is so strong.
Lovingkindness, lovingkindness,
His lovingkindness is so strong.

So when I pass death's gloomy vale,
And life and mortal pow'rs shall fail,
O may my last expiring breath
His lovingkindness sing in death.
Lovingkindness, lovingkindness,
His lovingkindness sing in death.

Then shall I mount, and soar away
To the bright world of endless day;
There shall I sing, with sweet surprise,
His lovingkindness in the skies,
Lovingkindness, lovingkindness,
His lovingkindness in the skies.

-- The Trinity Hymnal, no. 138

Inundated, sure, but not this way

Our celebration of Independence Day ended with an unplanned swim in Lake Wateree, as our family's aged dock gave way at the end of the fireworks. Thankful toward God, no one was seriously hurt, though plenty alarmed.

Wife Melanie has a fuller account on her blog Mamahadeen.

Nothing New

That which has been is what will be,
That which is done is what will be done,
And there is nothing new under the sun.

Is there anything of which it may be said, “See, this is new”?
It has already been in ancient times before us.

There is no remembrance of former things,
Nor will there be any remembrance of things that are to come
By those who will come after.

Ecclesiastes 1:9-11


It strikes me that ignorance of history is not a uniquely American problem, nor is it modern. It is, however, a failure on the part of both the older generation as well as the younger.

Sunday Evening Late

Come, my soul, thou must be waking;
Now is breaking o'er the earth another day:
Come to him who made this splendor;
See thou render all thy feeble pow'rs can pay.

Thou, too, hail the light returning;
Ready burning be the incense of thy pow'rs;
For the night is safely ended,
God hath tended with his care thy helpless hours.

Pray that he may prosper ever
Each endeavor, when thine aim is good and true;
But that he may ever thwart thee,
And convert thee, when thou evil wouldst pursue.

Think that he thy ways beholdeth;
He unfoldeth ev'ry fault that lurks within;
Ev'ry stain of shame glossed over
Can discover, and discern each deed of sin.

Only God's free gifts abuse not,
Light refuse not, but his Spirit's voice obey;
Thou with him shalt dwell, beholding
Light enfolding all things in unclouded day.

-- The Trinity Hymnal, no. 334

Music to Fix Washers By

I'm on the floor repairing the washing machine and find my mood is captured pretty well by Karl Orff.

The MIDI sequence has a certain metallic percussion that reminds me of sheet metal.

UPDATE: Problem found -- change music to Handel.

UPDATE: Wow. The "large object filter" in front of the drain pump (three stores to find the tool) had a mass like a racquetball in it, something like an owl pellet with unknown objects inside. Further examination yielded a wire nut (my fault), an unidentified part of an Ertl toy, a 4-inch LEGO, and at the center of it all, a worn-out Scotchbrite pad ... all richly coated with blue-gray lint.

Well, that helped. No wonder it wouldn't drain.

But this one is "Number One Son"

"Charlie Chan" is a homeschooling parent we know whose "Number One Son" is working in Asia this summer. The blog is called "Number One Son Report" and I've added a link on the right.

Psalms and politics

Yesterday Rush Limbaugh made a connection between the demand for immigrant workers, 20 million of whom are here illegally, and the dearth of people created by our liberalization of abortion law in 1972 -- 23.8 million who would have been 18 years or older this year, according to statistics for 1973-1989 from the Alan Guttmacher Institute (

Psalm 94 speaks to this situation, and I'd be worried if I were part of the movement to keep abortion "safe and legal".

LORD, how long will the wicked,
How long will the wicked triumph? ...

They slay the widow and the stranger,
And murder the fatherless.

[My question - what percentage of abortions are performed on unwed mothers?]

Yet they say, “The LORD does not see,
Nor does the God of Jacob understand.” ...

Shall the throne of iniquity, which devises evil by law,
Have fellowship with You?
They gather together against the life of the righteous,
And condemn innocent blood. ...

The LORD our God shall cut them off.

(Psalm 94:3, 6, 20-21, 23)

Will candidates who think politics transcend morality please take note? Will voters?

I doubt he'll ever rank "Favorite Son"

Words fail me.

Our enemies wire Afghan children to be human bombs, but the man who wants to lead us in 2008 has a domestic problem: Ann Coulter uses "hurtful" language about him.

But for the grace of God, I'd start using some too.

A Vibration on the Web

You never know who will respond when your work goes online.

Recently I received two emails from a couple in Israel, responding to one of my articles in Carolina Journal. They were excited to read about a descendent of the Nigerian Ibo tribe, and said they were African Jews who were trying to connect up with distant cousins.

Okay, it wasn't about my scintillating writing or razor-keen analysis. They probably had their Google Alerts set for references to "Ibo", and ran across the pdf version of the story a few months after it was published. But it's still amazing to think that strangers in Israel read my article and found something worth follow-up. You truly never know what to expect.

The Mandarin Candidate

Election officials in districts with a high Chinese population are debating how to render candidates' names into Mandarin and Cantonese characters. The problem is that while Arab and Israeli names can be transliterated directly, to "spell" a Western name in Chinese requires someone to pick characters for words that sound like the Western syllables.

This page is an example of how it works. Barack Obama's name ends with the Mandarin word for "horse" -- ma. Easy, see?

But the characters retain their own meaning, too, which can result in the Asian equivalent of punning names in English -- like the rancher Bob Warr and the family counselor Marion Haste (HT: Car Talk).

According to this story, Mitt Romney may be known as "Sticky Rice", while Fred! becomes "Virtue Soup".

I like that. Thompson could have been like the local candidate whose name was rendered "Imbecile". Make mine "Virtue Soup", please.

Busing of a Different Sort

Coming in the July issue of Carolina Journal:

Were these were used improperly ?

UPDATE: The story breaks July 3 in the online edition.

Principle Over Pragmatism

I wonder how many people have died because someone else made a "pragmatic" decision. In this case, at least three people lived because someone chose principle instead.

Sunday marked a momentous Father's Day for Ryan Morrison of Minnesota and Bryan Masche of Arizona. Both men recently had become fathers — to six babies each.

Their wives conceived using fertility drugs that increase the risk of multiple births, and both delivered sextuplets prematurely last week. All six Masche children are alive. Three of the Morrison children have died.

The couples have more in common than their sextuplets. Both rejected medical advice that they selectively reduce — abort — at least three fetuses to improve the health prospects of the others. As Morrison explained on www.morrison6.com, "We understand that the risk is high, but we also understand that these little ones are much more than six fetuses. Each one of them is a miracle given to us by God. He knows each one of them by name, and we will trust Him absolutely for their lives and health."

The other father shared this viewpoint:

When asked by Newsweek why they kept their sextuplets, Masche said, "We'd been trying for three years, and my wife had had two miscarriages. And how do you choose which heartbeat you want to stop? … God doesn't make mistakes. … He creates all life for a particular reason."

HT: NRO

Midnight, Sunday Morning

Christ Jesus lay in death's strong bands, for our offenses given;
But now at God's right hand he stands and brings us life from heaven;
Therefore let us joyful be
And sing to God right thankfully
Loud songs of hallelujah.
Hallelujah!

It was a strange and dreadful strife when life and death contended;
The victory remained with life, the reign of death was ended;
Holy Scripture plainly saith
That death is swallowed up by death,
His sting is lost for ever.
Hallelujah!

Here the true Paschal Lamb we see, Whom God so freely gave us;
He died on the accursed tree—So strong his love!—to save us.
See, his blood doth mark our door;
Faith points to it, death passes o'er,
And Satan cannot harm us.
Hallelujah!

So let us keep the festival whereto the Lord invites us;
Christ is himself the Joy of all, the Sun that warms and lights us.
By his grace he doth impart
Eternal sunshine to the heart;
The night of sin is ended.
Hallelujah!

Then let us feast this joyful day on Christ, the Bread of heaven;
The Word of grace hath purged away the old and evil leaven.
Christ alone our souls will feed,
He is our meat and drink indeed;
Faith lives upon no other.
Hallelujah!

-- The Trinity Hymnal, no. 207

New Links

The evolution of the sidebar continues. Recently I've added links for the day's reading from Spurgeon's Morning and Evening, as well as my friend Scott Brown's pastoral blog, Scott Brown Online. Both are worth careful consideration!

Poetry That Doesn't Rhyme

I remember reading that, unlike most publishers, Bennett Cerf at Random House made a practice of reviewing every unsolicited manuscript that came "over the transom". Asked if they weren't uniformly worthless, he admitted that most of them were not publishable, "but one of them was Cry, The Beloved Country."

Eldest son John Calvin has been reading world literature in school and so we picked up Alan Paton's novel about apartheid-era South Africa. I started and finished it in just a couple of days while on a working vacation to our family's lake house. The language is lyrical and poetic, like Pearl Buck's The Good Earth, but unlike the latter, this was actually God-honoring, with much nobility in the two main characters, a poor black Anglican priest and a wealthy white landowner, brought together by a shared family tragedy.

Although there are many sad situations in this book, Paton gives an expectation and hope for the future of Africa and the protagonists he portrays, and his beautiful language and characterizations make this truly literature. Good art, good message, and a surprisingly enjoyable reading experience.

Advice From the Man Who Lived It

William Manchester -- The Last Lion: Winston Spencer Churchill, Alone, 1932-1940.


This is the second book of a three-volume biography of Churchill. I picked up the only part that was available at a library book sale some time ago, and this was my second reading of it.


Everyone knows about Churchill's terse speech on the value of perserverence -- "Never give in. Never, never, never, never give in." I wasn't fully aware of how much he had lived it, and not in the obvious sense of long hours in the years of World War II -- Churchill spent more than a decade as a political pariah, abandoned by his party for his stand against independence for India, then finding himself completely out of step with the Conservatives' ruling factions of Stanley Baldwin and then Neville Chamberlain.


It was chilling to read how Chamberlain and his group kept themselves willfully blind about the intentions, and then the actions, of Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini. These British leaders, and some on our side as well, seemed willing to believe that life dominated by Fascism was preferable to one ruled by Communists, and that Hitler was preferable to Stalin in the long run. Pacifism was rampant, even though nearly twenty years had passed since the Armistace ended the Great War. As I read, the names Pelosi, Reid, Edwards, and Kennedy kept coming to mind; in fact, Ted Kennedy's father Joseph Kennedy, as U.S. ambassador to Britain at that time, was firmly convinced that England was a lost cause and Germany was the nation to deal with.


Churchill, through it all, gave speech after speech warning of the German militarism building up right in front of them, pouring out a river of editorials and opinion pieces for newspapers and magazines, and writing numerous volumes of history all the while. His private network of intelligence was more sensitive and accurate than even the government's, and he maintained what amounted to a private war room to stay abreast of the crumbling European situation.


It was only at the eleventh hour that Chamberlain was forced out of office, after the policies he promoted allowed the Nazis to take over first the Rhineland, then Sudetenland, Austria, Czechoslovakia, Poland, and at last the Low Countries. Churchill then went from pariah to messiah for the Conservatives, because he alone of the Tories was unhindered by the ruined hulk of appeasement -- only because Churchill had never given in, even when only five or six members of Parliament would stand with him. "Nevah!" indeed.

The Message for Conservatives

My first contribution for the Civitas Foundation's magazine Conservative Citizen appears in the Summer 2007 issue, available online here. I've exerpted it on my other blog, Five Points.

The basic message for conservatives still smarting over the 2006 elections?

Get over it and get to work.

Presidential Courage

I just sent in my review of Michael Beschloss's new book Presidential Courage: Brave Leaders and How They Changed America 1789-1989.

This is scheduled for the July issue of Carolina Journal, which should be online about July 7th.

Edwards Not Responsible for Morality?

Sojourners sponsored a discussion of Democratic candidates' religious views on CNN last week. There are some very interesting comments made, as seen in the transcription in the New York Times.

Our own John Edwards was evasive as could be, and still managed to say more than he wanted to. For example, in this exchange he basically says that, as president, he is not responsible to follow the dictates of his conscience:


CNN's SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: "If you think something is morally wrong, though, you morally disagree with it, as president of the United States, don't you have a duty to go with your moral belief?"


JOHN EDWARDS: "No, I think that, first of all, my faith, my belief in Christ plays an enormous role in the way I view the world. But I think I also understand the distinction between my job as president of the United States, my responsibility to be respectful of and to embrace all faith beliefs in this country because we have many faith beliefs in America. And for that matter we have many faith beliefs in the world. And I think one of the problems that we've gotten into is some identification of the president of the United States with a particular faith belief as opposed to showing great respect for all faith beliefs."


Edwards changed the subject so quick it's a wonder he doesn't need a neck brace this week. Respect for other faiths does not mean denying the responsibility toward your own, even if you're president.

How about this comment that I summarize as


"Jesus: The poor you will always have with you. John Edwards: No, I can fix that."

JOHN EDWARDS: [E]verything I can do, everything in my power that I'm able to do, I will do to drive the issue of poverty in this presidential campaign so that everyone is required to talk about it. Because I think it is the great moral issue of our time. I've committed, actually, to an agenda of eliminating poverty over the next 30 years.


In context, Jesus was pointing out there were opportunities to do good in different ways at different times, and there was a fleeting opportunity to show honor to the Son of God. The unelaborated principle, I believe, is that poverty is a relative measure, and by implication, unless everyone is at the same level of affluence, there are going to be some with more and some with less. You only have to look at poverty in places like Panama, for example, to realize that the North American poor are better off than Central American poor; that doesn't make their situation good in either place, but it serves to illustrate the hubris of Edwards' assertion that he can make poverty go away, as if he could abolish "down" and leave only "up" as the permanent state of man.

Frankly, the only way Edwards can accomplish what he proposes is to institute the strictest of socialisms. No doubt he would echo communist apologists of an earlier era who said, "Of course it's not working -- it isn't worldwide yet."

Compare Edwards' statements with those from Barack Obama, which express his intention and sentiment for assisting the poor, but without the arrogance of the man from the UNC poverty center. The same solutions underlie Obama's plan, but there's no claim for Utopia rising.

Edwards is not doing himself favors with this line. But since when is that news?

The Call of the Entrepreneur

This new film from The Acton Institute is getting excellent reviews within conservative circles. I haven't seen the full thing yet but the trailer is outstanding. The Jesse Helms Center recently aired an advance copy to students at the North Carolinians for Home Education conference in Winston-Salem (my son's reaction here) and will be sponsoring theatre showings in several North Carolina cities in the coming months.

Can't wait.

Deeper and Louder

The family is reading in Spurgeon's Morning and Evening for our devotions, and often we're twelve hours ahead of ourselves, reading the same passage our son and elder brother is for the day. This evening we were reading the section for tomorrow morning, June 9, and it just felt like balm tonight:

Some Christians are sadly prone to look on the dark side of everything, and to dwell more upon what they have gone through that upon what God has done for them. Ask for their impression of the Christian life, and they will describe their continual conflicts, their deep afflictions, their sad adversities, and the sinfulness of their hearts, yet with scarcely any allusion to the mercy and help which God has vouchsafed them. But a Christian whose soul is in a healthy state, will come forward joyously, and say, "I will speak, not about myself, but to the honour of my God. He hath brought me up out of an horrible pit, and out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings; and He hath put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God. The Lord hath done great things for me, whereof I am glad." ...

It is true that we endure trials, but it is just as true that we are delivered out of them ... The deeper our troubles, the louder our thanks to God, who has led us through all, and preserved us until now.

-- Charles Spurgeon, Morning and Evening, June 9: "The Lord hath done great things for us, where of we are glad", Psalm 126:3 (Cf Psalm 40:2-3).

Incidentally, I noticed the counter on the site at Calvin College says that just this particular online version of the book has been accessed more than 6.5 million times in the past two years.

Not Wowed by Hugh's Woo

I'll grant he may be a man with sincere religious faith, but I'm not wild about Mitt Romney. It may come as a revelation to Hugh Hewitt, too, but I don't think many of Hugh's fellow evangelicals appreciate being called "bigots" who are "not only un-American, but un-Christian" for missing this bandwagon, either. Frankly, I'm surprised and disappointed that Hewitt seems to think his readers can be bullied and insulted into an informed opinion that way. Is that how the electorate should be wooed, Hugh?

My review of Hewitt's book A Mormon in the White House? appeared in the May issue of Carolina Journal. I summarized it over here.

Guilty Errands

The N.C. General Assembly is considering a bill that would make it a punishable offense if you leave your 13-year-old in the car to watch a sleeping baby while you go inside to pick up a prescription.

Well, not explicitly, but read the bill and see if that's not one result. Links and a longer comment are on my political blog, Five Points.

Spiritual Question of the Day

Is it still fasting if you drink coffee?

Flaps Down

We heard from our traveler about 9:30 this morning that he was safely on the ground and in the company of his uncle. He said a 45-minute delay on the first flight made a challenging change in Detroit, with only sixty minutes between flights, but the short layover at Tokyo's Narita airport (an hour and fifteen minutes) apparently went without a hitch.

I was thinking of the flaps on the aircraft, but I suppose this also refers to our young eagle alighting, as well. Godspeed to him.

Pigskin and Paper

When Theodore Roosevelt left office, he planned a lengthy African safari to get out of the way of his successor's fledgling administration. His sister Corinne records in her book My Brother Theodore Roosevelt that as TR prepared to leave the White House, she offered to buy him "a real present". His request was a specially-bound collection of books because, as he said,

"Of course, I must take a good many books; I couldn't go anywhere, not even into the jungles of Africa without a good many books. But also, of course, they are not very likely to last in ordinary bindings, and so I want to have them all bound in pigskin ..." (p. 251)

Hence the legendary "pigskin library" now in the collections of Harvard University. Roosevelt wrote back from Africa that it had been "the utmost possible comfort and pleasure" to him. "Fond though I am of hunting and of wilderness life, I could not thoroughly enjoy either if I were not able, from time to time, to turn to my books." (p. 256)

So when Roosevelt headed for the wilds, what books did he want close at hand? Corinne gave the list -- starting with the Bible and the Apocrypha (why, being Dutch Reformed, TR specifically included the latter, I can't say). From there TR's tastes ranged to Homer's Odyssey, Spenser's Faerie Queene, Bret Harte and Mark Twain and Edgar Allen Poe, Macaulay and Shakespeare, Die Niebelungenlied, Sir Walter Scott, and The Federalist Papers. They included books on naval history, collections of poetry, Pilgrim's Progress and a biography of Frederick the Great.

The fifty or sixty titles are not a complete "Great Books" collection by any means -- they were just what TR wanted to take on his hunting trip.

My son John will be in Asia for three months, and like TR, he is a voracious reader. The long journey is intimidating enough, but a recently-returned friend advised that he found nearly zero reading material in English while he was there. That was my own observation from our visit in 2005; the only English-language bookstore I visited was heavy on economic treatises and teach-yourself-English guides.

Lacking a burro to carry John's luggage, we traded permanance for portability. I suggested some titles from our collection of paperbacks, but the final selection was my son's -- and we discovered the morning of departure that he had decided to fill out the rest of his weight limit with books.

So what's in John's "pigskin library"? A list as eclectic as TR's:

The Bible, both in English and Mandarin; a new Langerscheidt's English-Mandarin dictionary; Larry Burkett's Business by the Book; mysteries by Dorothy Sayers and Josephine Tey; and though they don't add any weight, he had downloaded e-text versions of Matthew Henry's Commentary, several books by J.C. Ryle, a number of G.A. Henty's historical novels, and for devotional reading, Spurgeon's Morning and Evening.

He also has my copy of Robert Axtell's book on cross-cultural etiquette called Do's and Taboos, with the Asian portions marked; a book by the Puritan Thomas Brooks which he and I planned to read together (he got the unmarked copy, though); Allan Drury's Senate novel Advise and Consent; an economics book by Nobel Laureate Milton Friedman; and John Murray's Principles of Conduct.

Maybe that will hold him.

John has a busy summer planned, and he may not have time to read more than his morning devotions and an occasional scan of the International Herald Tribune or something similar. Still, since he's had his last trip to the library until Labor Day, he had to make some provision. True bibliophiles will understand.

=====

Corinne Roosevelt Robinson's My Brother Theodore Roosevelt (New York: C. Scribner's Sons, 1921) can be read online or downloaded in pdf from Google Books. So can a multitude of other titles; I have to remember to look there first for the out-of-print volumes.

The Great Circle

Son John is on his way to China (should be arriving any minute now after a thirty-hour journey). His route as drawn by the Great Circle Mapper shows what we miss looking at the familiar Mercator Projection world map -- if you distort the scale on the axes, the shortest distance between two points (here, between Detroit and Tokyo) is not a straight line at all. You can try it with a globe and a piece of string if you don't get it.

I'm not offended

UNC-TV host D. G. Martin has an interesting book review in the Southern Pines Pilot today.

Forget about your "race" as the main thing that sets you apart from other Southerners. Down here we are all "creoles" of one sort of another. It is your ethnic background even more than your race that distinguishes you from others.

In the past we have usually defined Southern people in terms of black and white, but a new volume of The New Encyclopedia of Southern Culture shows that race has been overemphasized and ethnicity underemphasized as keys to understanding who we Southerners are.

He sketches out how this academic volume builds the case that twenty generations of cultural exchange - "creolization" - have created a regional identity that transcends skin color. It's an intriguing and potentially unifying idea, if it's valid -- or we work to make it so.

His one criticism is for the editors' desire to reform the traditional term "Scotch-Irish" to reflect the more correct identifier "Scots". Scots Irish? "Let's put that petty criticism aside," he says.

I for one appreciate the nuances of language, to the point that I pronounce "Celtic" with the properly hardened Gaelic "c" (i.e. /keltic/) ... but I will freely admit to continuing the traditional pronunciation of Boston's pro basketball team, the "/seltics/".

Agreed that "Scotch" refers to whiskey and "Scots" to people, but really, as one of their descendents, I'm not bothered by the label "Scotch-Irish". It flows pretty well.

HT: Carolina Journal

Upcoming Events

There is no record that the Swiss reformer John Calvin ever visited China.

His namesake did it in 2005, and he's going back this Sunday.

Workshop info on having large families

Here are a few resources to go along with our workshop "Yes, We Know What Causes That",

North Carolinians for Home Education Annual Conference
Session 11 -- Saturday, May 24, 2007


Theodore Roosevelt on a tour of the Midwest:

"Three cheers for Mr. and Mrs. Bower and their really satisfactory American family of twelve children!"

Books to Help You Make the Decision or Explain It To Others

A Full Quiver: Family Planning and the Lordship of Christ by Rick and Jan Hess
Be Fruitful and Multiply: What the Bible Says About Having Children by Nancy Campbell
The Bible and Birth Control by Charles Provan
The Way Home: Beyond Feminism and Back to Reality by Mary Pride

Email Groups to Encourage You

Quiver-Full! is an email discussion group for those committed to or interested in the Lord planning their family.

MOMYS Mothers of Many Young Siblings is for mothers who have ever had four or more children eight years and younger at the same time -- others can subscribe as "read only MOMYS". This one is a great encouragement and you know the advice comes from people who really know.

Biblical Resources - "To the Law and to the testimony!" (NKJV unless noted)

Man and woman were created to be fruitful

Genesis 1:27-28 - The Mandate from Creation, before the Fall
So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; ...

Genesis 9:1, 7 - Repeated to Noah after the Flood
So God blessed Noah and his sons, and said to them: “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth ... And as for you, be fruitful and multiply; Bring forth abundantly in the earth And multiply in it.”

Genesis 35:10-11 - Repeated at the establishment of God's covenant people
And God said to him, “Your name is Jacob; your name shall not be called Jacob anymore, but Israel shall be your name.” So He called his name Israel. Also God said to him: “I am God Almighty. Be fruitful and multiply; a nation and a company of nations shall proceed from you, and kings shall come from your body.

Children are a primary purpose of marriage

Malachi 2:14-15
Yet she is your companion and your wife by covenant. But did He not make them one, having a remnant of the Spirit? And why one? He seeks godly offspring.

Children are a blessing and a gift from God
Psalm 127:3-5
Behold, children are a heritage from the LORD, the fruit of the womb is a reward. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior, So are the children of one’s youth. Happy is the man who has his quiver full of them; They shall not be ashamed, But shall speak with their enemies in the gate.

God's people should expect to have children from Him

Psalm 128:1-4
Blessed is every one who fears the LORD, Who walks in His ways. When you eat the labor of your hands, you shall be happy, and it shall be well with you. Your wife shall be like a fruitful vine in the very heart of your house, your children like olive plants all around your table. Behold, thus shall the man be blessed who fears the LORD.

Leviticus 26:9 - God's promise to His people
"For I will look on you favorably and make you fruitful, multiply you and confirm My covenant with you."

1 Chronicles 25:5 - Seventeen children given as a special blessing
All these were the sons of Heman the king's seer to exalt him according to the words of God, for God gave fourteen sons and three daughters to Heman. (NASB)

God provides for His children

Psalm 37:25
I have been young, and now am old; yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his descendants begging bread.

Raising a family is meant for hard times, too

Exodus 1:7-9 - Israel as a refugee nation in a time of famine
But the children of Israel were fruitful and increased abundantly, multiplied and grew exceedingly mighty; and the land was filled with them. Now there arose a new king over Egypt, ... And he said to his people, “Look, the people of the children of Israel are more and mightier than we ... "

Jeremiah 29:5-7 - God's word to His people carried off to Babylonian exile
"Build houses and dwell in them; plant gardens and eat their fruit. Take wives and beget sons and daughters; and take wives for your sons and give your daughters to husbands, so that they may bear sons and daughters—that you may be increased there, and not diminished. And seek the peace of the city where I have caused you to be carried away captive, and pray to the LORD for it; for in its peace you will have peace."

A House NOT Divided: Promoting Unity in the Homeschool Family Notes & Resources

A House NOT Divided: Promoting Unity in the Homeschool Family
Notes from Hal and Melanie Young's presentation
North Carolinians for Home Education Conference

I. Introduction

II. Family Vision/Mission

Practical Ways to Impart a Sense of Unity in the Family

III. A Family That Desires Unity Tears Down Obstacles

A. Our evil habits destroy our regard and love for one another.
1. Don't allow pesting or bullying
2. Don't tolerate name calling
3. Punish provocation as well as reaction
4. Stop sarcasm and smartmouthing
5. Make competition healthy
6. Encourage peacemaking
7. Encourage shared emotions Romans 12:15-16

B. How can we change?
1. Recognize that bickering and discord is sin Proverbs 6:16-19
2. Deal with it as seriously as we do other sin

IV. A Family That Desires Unity Builds Memories

A. Form family traditions
1. Holiday means "holy day"
2. Feasting is approved by Scripture
3. Form traditions around other holidays
4. Let anticipation build
5. Be unique and don't be afraid to be alone

B. Share interests and accomplishments
1. Develop family hobbies and shared interests
2. Share adversity
3. Seek out a challenge

C. Be sure your children know you value them
1. Children pick up your attitude toward them.
2. Children will also pick up your attitude toward more babies. Psalm 127:3
3. Your parenting is impacted if you believe your children are a gift from the Lord

V. A Family That Desires Unity Reminds Themselves of It Everyday in Little Ways

A. They identify with their family
1. Matching clothes or dress code
2. Fellowship as families
3. Have a healthy sense of pride in your family
4. Have special family code language and code words

B. They guard each other's hearts and feelings
1. Criticism stops at the threshold
2. This starts with the parents
3. He's my brother...
4. Wash your dirty laundry privately

C. They spend time together
1. Quantity trumps quality
2. Bring a child on errands
3. Take the family on business
4. Read or play together as a family
5. Remind yourself of why you are doing this Deuteronomy 32:46-47

VI. Conclusion
A. Summary
B. Glorify God in your family
C. Oswald Chambers quote:

"Our family life in Perth was a very united one; each evening, after the home-lessons were done, was given up to games of various kinds. We found our enjoyment and entertainment in our home; no outside amusements could possibly compare with the fun and happiness to be found there. We never had any desire to be out playing or walking with chums... "I feel traits in my character which I knew not of before, and it causes me to bow in deeper gratitude for that home training which I have now left, for the training and disciplines of life. Oh! What a mighty influence home life has on us! Indeed, we do not know how deep a debt we owe to our mothers and fathers and their training."

D. Theodore Kuyler quote (see more of this fantastic quote in another blog entry here)

"Everything that attracts our children to their homes is very apt to be, in the end, an attraction towards heaven. "

Resource: Doorposts Brother-offended Checklist

Q&A Time

Melanie answers individual questions from audience members

following her session on early homeschooling Thursday

A Meeting in the Concourse

Keynote Speaker Chris Klicka of Home School Legal Defense Association

chats with my wife Melanie between sessions.

In Conference

My wife and I will be blogging and speaking at the 23rd annual North Carolinians for Home Education Conference in Winston-Salem the next few days. The "NCHE ConferBlog" is located here.

Where Do You Begin?

WRAL is reporting that the suspect in an armed robbery in Duplin County was shot and killed following a 130-mph chase through four counties, ending when he emerged from his disabled vehicle with a weapon at the intersection of I-40 and the Beltline in Raleigh.

There will be enough said in the next few days about the chase and its conclusion, but I was struck by the sequence of events at its beginning:

1. Stage daring gun-in-the-face daylight gas station hold-up
2. Walk outside and fill up gas tank
3. Flee

God takes no delight in the death of the wicked so I'm not rejoicing in this guy's end. However, it boggles the mind that the bandit would casually top off the petrol while the clerk he just threatened calls the constabulary. It reminds me of one of Dorothy Sayers' novels, Unnatural Death, where Lord Peter asks his Scotland Yard friend Charles Parker just where we'd be if criminals were not so stupid in the end.

Or could this have been a suicide by law enforcement?

A Mark of Distinction

My children and I attended a "Friday Favorites" concert of the North Carolina Symphony last week, and I read in the program notes that the tuba player, David G. Lewis, occupies the Governor and Mrs. James G. Martin Jr., Chair with the orchestra.

Well, you learn something new every day. I had never heard that our most recent Republican governor is an accomplished tuba player.

That ought to be high on anybody's resume.

For what it's worth, here's another politician who played tuba -- Trent Lott.

You Run Your Business, I'll Run Mine

Recent events:

• Major Big Box Office Supply Place: I needed manila envelopes for a business mailing. The box of 100 standard, house brand 9x13 envelopes was priced thirty cents less than the box of 50. That's right -- we'll pay you thirty cents to carry out the second box. If I get a thousand, can I have them free?

• Major Big Box Pharmacy: I was buying an over the counter medicine on Wednesday, and the clerk asked if I'd like the M&M's at three for a dollar. Okay, I said, and bought a bag full for my host's kids. (He's got seven and Mom needs some too) Next day, I pass by the same store on my trip home and thought I'd get some to provision the lonely miles ahead. The clerk rang them up at $1.60. I told her they were three for a dollar (as she had just sold to an elderly lady ahead of me). She told me that was with tax. No, I said, three for a dollar plus tax is about one dollar and seven cents. She gamely cancelled the transaction and rang them up again. They're still coming up $1.60, she told me. Never mind ...

So back to my own business now ...

Before Thomas Jefferson

Before the Declaration of Independence, there was the Mecklenburg Declaration, signed May 20, 1775. Historian David McCollough, author of John Adams and 1776, was in Charlotte today commemorating the event, and unlike some historians -- and Jefferson himself -- believes the document is authentic.

Not quite that early, but very close to home, is the following brief statement that was signed on June 4, 1775, only fifteen days on the heels of the "Mec Dec":

The actual commencement of hostilities by the Britsh troops in the bloody scenes April, 19 last, was Boston, the increase of arbitrary impoisitions from a wicked and despotic ministry – and the dread of instigated insurrection in the colonies are causes sufficient to drive an oppressed people to the use of arms.

We, therefore the subscribers, inhabitants of South Carolina holding ourselves bound by the most sacred of all obligations, the duty of good citizens toward an injured country and thoroughly convinced under our present distressed circumstances we shall be justified before God and man in resisting force by force, do unite ourselves under every tie of religion and of honor and associate as a band at her defense against every foe; hereby solumnly engaging that wherever our continental or provincial counsils shall decree it necessary, we go forth and be ready to sacrifice our lives and fortunes to secure her freedom and safety. This obligation is to continue in full force till reconciliation shall take place between Great Britain and America, upon constitutional priniples, an event which we most ardently desire and we will hold all those persons inimical to the liberty of the colonies who shall refuse to subscribe to this association. [1]

Not quite as distinct as the Mecklenburg document, and holding out a hope of reconciliation which the Mecklenburg signers didn't, but drawing a line on principle nevertheless.

We may have a family connection to the Mecklenburg Declaration -- several of the signatories were named Alexander, and there are Alexanders in the Smith side of the family though all the relationships haven't been sorted out yet.

However, the declaration from South Carolina was signed by several direct and collateral ancestors on the Young side --

• Four named Singleton, including Matthew, John, Joseph, and Robert Singleton (my 6g-grandfather);
• Josiah and Caleb Gayle (likely brothers of Robert Singleton's wife Sarah Gayle); and
• Thomas and Richard Bradford (thought to be my 6g- and 7g-grandfathers; Thomas Bradford's son Richard married Robert Singleton's daughter Elizabeth).
• There were also Wrights and Rodgers in the list though I'm not sure about them.

So if Charlotte has its May 20th Society, perhaps the Youngs can celebrate June 4th.

=====

[1] McCrady's South Carolina, vol.,II, p. 792; quoted in Hugh Charles Haynsworth, Haynsworth-Furman and allied families: (including ancestry and descendents of Sarah Morse Haynsworth) (Sumter, SC: Osteen Publishing Co.., 1942), 39-40.

Romney Heads South of the Border

Anyone who drives along I-95 should realize I mean south of the line between the two Carolinas, not all the way to Mexico (where his father was born, incidentally). The thought of a presidential candidate visiting Pedro Land near Dillon, SC, is amusing, anyway.

While I was in South Carolina on a business trip, the Republican presidential hopefuls met in Columbia, SC, for a "debate" sponsored by Fox News. As it happened, I did not have time to stop and observe, but one thing was apparent -- Romney's campaign is already planting yard signs along the Interstate exits.

I have to wonder if this was simply in connection with his appearance at the debate, or if this presages another outreach to evangelicals, coming to this very conservative state from his recent visit to Regent University (formerly CBN University, founded by Pat Robertson, and home of the law school formerly hosted by Oral Roberts University in Oklahoma). Certainly this is the group Romney will have to convince if he's going to gain an edge over Giuliani and McCain -- or the undeclared Fred Thompson, for that matter.

What's next? A visit to Bob Jones University? Seems like McCain did that last time and got castigated for his pains. Maybe Romney should head to BJU's more mainstream neighbor, Furman, if that's his strategy -- but then, he couldn't get much more conservative than BJU, and he's got a lot of ground to make up already.

First Posted on Five Points

Dr. Falwell's Graduation

As I was driving to visit an out-of-state customer this morning, I heard the news that Rev. Jerry Falwell had been found unconscious in his office and taken to the hospital "critically ill". An hour later, I heard that he had in fact died.

At the moment CNN is running its series of reports and retrospectives on Dr. Falwell's career. We were just treated to Larry King interviewing Tammy Faye Baker Messner -- what a remarkable pair to reflect on Falwell. Oh, now we get Robert Schuler from the Crystal Cathedral. At least Franklin Graham will be coming up later.

I have to say Jesse Jackson was surprisingly positive, acknowledging the wide differences between their political views, but saying they enjoyed an "odd couple" friendship and shared some public events in the fight against poverty. Ditto Al Sharpton, who said that "You couldn't dislike him if you got to know him."

Jimmy Carter's contribution, however, lives up to his continuing downward spiral; CNN is replaying a sound bite where Carter said of Falwell, "I say, in a Christian way, that he can go to hell," which speaks volumes of Carter. Of course, Carter libeled the deceased Rev. Adrian Rodgers in print last year (Our Endangered Values), sending his family a belated apology after the book was on the shelves, so what should we expect. Christopher Hitchens has just called him "a toad", "a horrible little person", and "an evil old man" who "teaches lies to children", but then, Hitchens seems determined to construct himself as the most outrageously bitter atheist in the media.

They're in the minority. Most of the comment so far has been more positive than simple nihil nisi bonum mortuis would require. There will be a tremendous amount said about Falwell the next few days so all I can contribute is a few anecdotal observations. I feel like I need to, though. My wife graduated from Liberty University; I took graduate courses from there by extension, so every time I think about completing the M.A., I think about Falwell's institution. His ministry has cast a long but benevolent shadow in our family.

I know a lot of my fellow believers really didn't care for Dr. Falwell, the Calvinists maybe because he was an icon of Baptist fundamentalism. Certainly I was upset last year at the seminary president Ergun Caner's outrageous remarks saying Calvinists are as bad as Muslims in his book; nothing like a brother calling you an infidel. For that matter, I know some fundamentalists didn't like him, either, because he was more open to teachers and pastors outside the fundamentalist camp. For one example, the hard-line fundamentalist paper Sword of the Lord took sharp exception to Falwell's acceptance of Dr. Ed Dobson, an open Calvinist, on the faculty at Liberty University in the 1980's.

Overall, I would call Falwell a moderate among fundamentalists, firm in his beliefs but open in his fellowship, and his late-career move into the Southern Baptist Convention aligned him with men like Charles Stanley rather than the harder-edged fundamentalists like Curtis Hutson.

I know many people in both the Christian and the secular worlds hated his constant fundraising efforts. I didn't care for his style of fundraising either, but what he did with it is remarkable. Falwell grew a church from 35 members to well over 20,000, twice the size of my home town. The college he founded in Lynchburg grew to over 24,000 students in thirty years, larger than the major state college I graduated from. Other projects beyond the Moral Majority included homes for unwed mothers and recovering alcoholics and countless other ministries, missions, and service groups. Al Sharpton said Falwell had an incredible gift for organization and he gave him great credit for that, even though Sharpton says he didn't agree with much of what he organized.

My wife knew him and his family from her time as a student at Liberty University, and she said their home and cars were not lavish and Falwell's salary was consistent for a college president. And he was known for his personal generosity. A student called in to Sean Hannity this afternoon and shared how Falwell had written her a personal check for $1200 to complete the funding for a mission project she had organized to Central America. My wife said that was Dr. Falwell's way, and many of her fellow students told similar stories. His fundraising was never about personal enrichment, it was always for the ministry.

Compare this with several other prominent "televangelists" who come to mind from the 1980's and 1990's -- most of whom imploded their ministries with scandals, infidelity, or criminal convictions. While Dr. Falwell occasionally made provocative statements, some of which he later moderated, I never heard of a scandal concerning him or any of his family members. While running his "multi-million-dollar religious empire" as CNN put it, he always maintained reliable counsel and board members that kept the ministries on an even ethical keel -- something sorely lacking among others.

I only spoke with Dr. Falwell personally one time. I ran into him at the Republican National Convention in 2004, introduced myself as one of his distance students from the university, and chatted for a minute while we headed to the seats. My one encounter was consistent with what students on campus are saying this evening -- Falwell was not an inaccessible icon, but a "regular guy" with a talent for reaching out to anyone.

In all the debates and confrontations I saw Dr. Falwell engage on television, I never saw him lose his temper or lash out at an opponent. Even CNN can't quite get over the geniality of the man, as much as they'd like to, and the short news clips and interview segments they are airing show this clearly. And in all the discussion about Falwell's impact on American politics -- others will document just how huge it has been -- even the carefully edited footage can't keep out the man's heart to share the Gospel and to challenge America to live in accordance with Scripture.

I have to say, with Dr. James Dobson, that the church has lost a general. And in a way, though I hardly knew him, I feel like I've lost a friend, too. It seemed like Dr. Falwell was always somewhere in the background of our lives, and I do appreciate many of the things he accomplished or made available to the country and to us individually.

Rest in peace, Brother, and rejoice in your new Home.

Online Interlinear Greek NT

In the New King James version, Ephesians 2:1 reads, "And you He made alive, who were dead in trepasses and sins ...", the italics indicating a translator's insertion. I though that was a pretty significant phrase to insert, so

I went online to see what the other versions' readings were:

NKJV: And you He made alive who were dead in trespasses and sins
KJV: And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins;
NASB: And you were dead in your trespasses and sins
NIV: As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins

So off to the Greek:
Stephanus 1550 :
και υμας οντας νεκρους τοις παραπτωμασιν και ταις αμαρτιαις
Westcott-Hort 1881:
και υμας οντας νεκρους τοις παραπτωμασιν και ταις αμαρτιαις υμων

Not that I can read much of it. However, this site, Scripture4All.org encourages readers to "overcome the language barrier and get in touch with the Original". They offer, along with a Hebrew counterpart, an online interlinear Greek New Testament that includes the koine text, transliteration, grammatical notes, direct translation, and suggested reading, along with the KJV rendering for comparison. (Interestingly enough, the KJV is based on the Textus Receptus, while this interlinear uses the Westcott-Hort text; on this verse it doesn't make much difference, it seems.) Here's a screen shot of a later verse if you can read it:

Their rendering for Ephesians 2:1 is something like "And ye being dead in the offenses and sins of ye".

Regardless of the translation, one thing's for certain -- apart from God's redemption and forgiveness, we're all dead.

The Baptism of John Calvin

Our eldest son, John Calvin Young, testifies to his faith in Christ before being baptized on April 29, 2007. The ceremony took place at Seth Allen's pond near Smithfield, N.C. It was the first baptismal service for our church, the first among our children, and the first administered by myself.

Judaic Resource

I commented a few days ago on the usefulness of John Gill's commentary for understanding matters of Jewish custom and belief. I just found another resource which I've used in the library but is now online -- the 1906 edition of the 12-volume Jewish Encyclopedia.

Obviously there are places where the encyclopedia treats New Testament history as legend, for example the accounts of the births of John the Baptist and of Jesus, but there is a wealth of other information which is purely historical or relevant to the Old Testament. At the moment I'm preparing to preach on the trials of Jesus in Matthew 26:57-68, so information on the workings of the Sanhedrin and the two high priests Annas and Joseph Caiaphas is helpful.

Sounds like Baghdad

Headline this morning: Bush tours flattened town

They did? Wow.

The newspaper style books do that kind of thing. They meant "[President] Bush tours [the tornado-] flattened town" but it comes across like some sort of Administration-sponsored vandalism

"Is Christianity Good for the World?"

Christianity Today is hosting an exchange between atheist Christopher Hitchens (God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisoned Everything) and Reformed pastor and commentator Doug Wilson (Credenda/Agenda) on the question.

I consider Wilson 50% profound, 25% wrong but respectable, and 25% infuriating, but he is always trenchant. For example:

In your concluding paragraph you make a great deal out of your individualism and your right to be left alone with the "most intimate details of [your] life and mind." Given your atheism, what account are you able to give that would require us to respect the individual? How does this individualism of yours flow from the premises of atheism? Why should anyone in the outside world respect the details of your thought life any more than they respect the internal churnings of any other given chemical reaction? That's all our thoughts are, isn't that right? Or, if there is a distinction, could you show how the premises of your atheism might produce such a distinction?

This looks promising. Calvinism is not a squishy theology, and Wilson has about as hard an edge as any five-pointer I've read. Hitchens may have found a worthwhile opponent this time.

HT: Dr. Michael Sanera in The Locker Room

Everything is Under Control

The sermon yesterday at church was on the arrest of Jesus in Matthew 26:47-56 (parallels in Mark, Luke, and John).

One of the major points that Dave brought out was that throughout the event, Jesus remained in charge, a fact very clear in John's account how a simple word from Him literally flattened the entire force brought to take Him into custody. He was not overwhelmed nor surprised by their numbers, but consented to the entire undertaking that the Scriptures might be fulfilled, even clearing the way for His disciples' escape.

On that last matter, it is a continual amazement to me how many layers of God's Providence are unfolded in Scripture -- how He that ordains ends also ordains the means, and while God is sovereign in all things, yet His creatures bear responsibility for their own choices and actions, even as they fulfill prophecy of centuries before.

Gotta Draw the Line Somewhere

The Church of Norway (I would assume "lutheran" with a small L) recently held a one-day conference with Muslim imams, billed as "Shoulder to Shoulder". The meeting ended on a disappointing note -- the priests v. imams soccer game was cancelled when the Muslims objected to playing soccer with women priests, and the priests decided "it would send the wrong signal" to agree to a man-to-man match.

Well, good for them. If it took the issue of ordination of women, something even Christians argue about, to force a stand of no compromise with members of a faith group that denies the divinity and resurrection of Jesus, I wonder what agreements the Church did offer that day.

As far as the end game, I'd ask the question, "Which religious leaders were holding to the historic tenets of their faith?"

My guess, to put it in soccer terms, would be Imams 1, Priests 0.

Speaking at Lighthouse

This evening I was privileged to speak at the monthly meeting of Lighthouse Christian Homeschool Association, in Wake Forest. I've had the opportunity to meet with them and their leaders several times and they are one of my favorite groups in the Triangle. Thanks to all fifty of you for having me over!

I promised the group I'd post the link to the two articles I mentioned, so here they are:

"North Carolina's Wall of Educational Separation"
The Freeman: Ideas on Liberty (Foundation for Economic Education), July 2005

"Homeschooling in North Carolina"
Family North Carolina (N.C. Family Policy Council), October/November 2006

And some other links of interest:

North Carolinians for Home Education

• Statewide homeschool news blog
• 2007 Conference Page
• 2007 Conference Speakers
• Volunteer for Conference! Collect valuable benefits!