The Day of Reckoning – A Performer Faces the Music - Purity 1189
Purity 1189 11/03/2023 Purity 1189 Podcast
Purity 1189 on YouTube:
Good morning,
Today’s photo of the dawn of morning rising on the
horizon over a city street scene comes to us from yours truly as I was foolish
or daring enough to capture this sunrise sky during my morning commute
yesterday on Watervliet Avenue Extension in Albany NY. Traffic was light and I was going relatively
slow down this road, but don’t try this at home kids.
Well, it’s Friday, and speaking of roads and
kids. I deviated from my normal Thursday
tradition of sharing a pathway photo to encourage y’all to get on or stay on
the path of Christian discipleship because I was distracted by a developing
situation with one of my kids.
Parents, you know how it is right? Everything is going fine until you find out
the truth, that it’s not – that your beloved children have been keeping secrets,
are doing something wrong, or have been
doing what they are not supposed to do, or failing to do what they should have
done – things that any responsible adult would do. But they are kids, and whether they are wee
little ones or twenty-somethings that we are trying to launch into independence,
they are still kids and they lack the wisdom and experience that we have
learned through our many years of trials and errors.
And not for nothing, according to some of my
learning from Deeper Walk International’s School of Prayer Ministry, 75 to 80 %
of ADULTS are operating at what is considered to be the “infant-level” and “child-levels”
of maturity, so it shouldn’t be surprising that our “kids” can act like
children and hide the truth of what they do from us to avoid being in “trouble”.
And while kids can be surprisingly good
at concealing the truth from us, because they are limited in their resources to
solve problems, the consequences of their actions or inaction can blow up and
expose the truth.
Yesterday, I
asked my “adult” son for the rent only to learn that he is virtually penniless
and a really adult-sized pickle with his finances. Is this a surprise? Yes, and Absolutely
not. You see my son, Brennan, is a
graduate of 2020 – the class of covid and that little pandemic sort of sabotaged
whatever plan that would have developed from Brennan’s future in “normal times”.
In 2020, Brennan was going to be the star of the
spring musical – by being cast as Seymour in the Little Shop of Horrors. Brennan was a talented performer and not the
greatest student in terms of ambition and doing his homework. While he would do amazing work preparing for
his theatrical and musical performances and is fairly intelligent, he would
disregard his schoolwork and he put his plans for college on the back burner
during his senior year, figuring he would rely on some of the supportive
faculty at school to help him get to “some college” to do “something”,
presumably to do with the performing arts.
But then Covid happened, the play was canceled and so
was Brennan’s motivation to do, basically anything. He failed to graduate on
time and had to go to summer school- because he didn’t like or want to do
homework!. So his preference of not
doing his homework resulted in failure and summer school – and doing gym class
in his room – online to graduate.
And as for college, “Suddenly Seymour” didn’t have
the contact with those supportive faculty to lean on and because of the
restrictions in the fall of 2020 – Brennan decided to take a “gap” -semester –
year – or I don’t remember any more.
Because although Brennan did eventually go to community college and
actually got back on stage in productions at HVCC, he was involved with some
very dramatic and troubled friends who were into drugs and perversion. He got
involved with a relationship with a female who mental health issues and gender
confusion and surprise, surprise it went toxic – and thanked the Lord and
supported Brennan taking another “break” from school.
However, since then – its been a while – he has
isolated and sat in his room – refusing to pursue work to support himself.
In an attempt to make my adult children responsible,
I charge them rent. If they are not in school, they pay. It's not an
unreasonable amount, but to make them somewhat responsible, I make them
pay.
So Brennan has been living off of his college money
and even though we have had numerous – continuous – conversations about how he
needs to get a job – he didn’t do it.
And yesterday, the day of reckoning came.
Brennan finally admitted that he was basically out
of cash and the admission sent me into a tizzy as I tried to contain my anger
and simultaneously advise him to do what he simply must do – get a job. So, that’s all right. You need to get a job.
So there. Problem solved.
Come on parents, you know better than that! There is always more to the story. When we
finally find out what our kids have been hiding from us, there is always more than
what we “sort of knew”. I knew he wasn’t
working so although I was not happy with this admission, I can’t say I was
surprised. I just thought he would have
wised up before he got near the end of his cash. Surely that’s what a “responsible adult would
do” – BUT I KNOW HE IS NOT THAT! He is not a responsible adult! Why would I
think he was?
Anyway, now that the cat was out of the bag on his
money being gone, we got MORE TRUTH. To
make matters worse, Brennan’s car just failed inspection and in order to pass an
expensive repair is required! These
days, if you fail to get your car inspected in a timely fashion, the DMV will
pull your registration. So we couldn’t
just ignore – like a kid -.
So “Brennan’s problem” of having to get a job to
support himself – has also become “my problem” because I love my son and I have
the means to bail him out to help him from making matters worse. So Brennan has applied for jobs, will be
calling to follow up on his applications to try to get hired immediately, and
will be getting his car repaired and inspected today. And I will be paying the bill and making Brennan
accountable for his rent and the cost of the repair after he starts getting
paid.
It was a mini-disaster that disrupted my morning and
caused me to mail in the blog yesterday – Thank you Lauren Roskilly – from Mindful
of Christ (https://mindfulofchrist.net/)
because I shared your encouraging words from Wednesday – to share on my blog
Thursday - but by Thursday evening
Brennan and I had a talk and worked out the game plan to solve this issue and
set him on the road to finally do what he should have done months if not a year
or more ago.
In conversation, Brennan also admitted to loaning
someone who is known for their irresponsibility $2,500 – in the last year. They are actually scheduled to come into
money relatively soon and I encouraged Brennan to be proactive in collecting
that debt because he needs it, and this person probably won’t have the ability
to pay him back for long. Whether or not
Brennan gets his money back remains to be seen but I am hoping that he will
learn not to loan people money in the future. He’s in no position to do so and
if he had considered the inevitability of his future state he would have
possibly avoided the possibility of not being paid back.
Oh and there’s more. Brennan’s car insurance is due
next month. That’s always a big bill –
so there’s that – but we are hopeful that he will be working and or he will get
this “loan” money back to help him pay Geico.
That’s yet to be seen too.
But as bad as all that may be, at least now Brennan’s
secrets are out in the open and he can start to fix things by “doing what is
right”.
You’ll love this too.
Apparently, Brennan isn’t completely stupid, and he
actually applied for a job back in September at Cracker Barrel in East
Greenbush. He applied online and
according to Brennan – he put his “preferred method of contact” as “email only”. Well, the management at Cracker Barrel
apparently honored his “preference” and sent him an email that told him to “Call
us.” But Brennan is a somewhat of a walking
contradiction – although he can perform on stage for multitudes, he is somewhat
socially awkward and he “didn’t want to make a phone call” - So he didn’t! He could have possibly been hired and working
since September – but because they wanted him to “call them”, He sabotaged
himself and didn’t follow up!
Unbelievable, right?
Well if you have a millennial child you might know just how believable
that is. Anyway, Brennan is at a point now where he has to “get over his
preference” and ask for help and accept the help if someone is gracious enough
to give it.
So, if you have a secret – come out of the dark –
tell your family and your friends what you are going through – stop hiding or
running from your problems and throw yourself under the bus by just telling the
truth and start working toward fixing things.
The Lord has blessed us with abilities and relationships that can help
us, but if we don’t use them or “prefer”
not to – we will suffer.
So keep walking and talking with God- with Him by your side you can overcome just about anything – and even if you can’t He will comfort and guide you to accept and endure what you can’t fix.
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For
those who want more evidence for Christianity than my simple encouragements provide,
I offer apologist, Frank Turek’s website, https://crossexamined.org/ .
Today’s
Bible verse comes to us from “The Quick Scripture Reference for Counseling” By
John G. Kruis.
(
While Bible verses on various topics of Counseling can be found with a quick Google
search, we encourage you to purchase this resource to support the late author’s
work. (https://www.amazon.com/Quick-Scripture-Reference-Counseling-Kruis-ebook/dp/B00CIUJZT2?ref_=ast_author_dp )
This
morning’s meditation verses come from the section on Children.
Psalm 127:3-5 (NIV2011)
3 Children are a heritage
from the LORD, offspring a reward
from him.
4 Like arrows in the hands of
a warrior are children born in one’s youth.
5 Blessed is the man whose
quiver is full of them. They will not be put to shame when they contend with
their opponents in court.
Today’s
verses fall under the first point of our counseling reference guide resource’s
section on Children.
1. Children belong first to God and are his gift to us.
Today’s verses are a reminder of what a blessing our kids can be! This is too funny Lord! I don’t set these things up – but God does. This section of scripture comes to us on the heels of this disaster with my son, you can't make this stuff up!
But seriously kids are a blessing. They teach us how to love someone sacrificially and selflessly. Kids teach us to be patient, compassionate, and kind.
So teach your children well and thank God for them because as we teach them we can learn more about ourselves and more about what a good Father we have in God.
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As always, I invite all to go to mt4christ.org where I
always share insights from prominent Christian theologians and counselors to
assist my brothers and sisters in Christ with their walk.
Today we are sharing from A. W. Pink’s – The Arthur
Pink Anthology - a collection of A.W.
Pink’s tracts brought together in one book and dispersed here on the blog for
your encouragement.
As always, I share this information for educational
purposes and encourage you all to purchase A.W. Pink’s books for your own
private study and to support his work. This resource is available online
for free as a PDF at many sites, but printed copies of collections of A.W.
Pink’s books are available for purchase wherever Christian books are sold.
The Arthur Pink Anthology – 2
Another Gospel – Part
2 of 5
In contradistinction
to the Gospel of Christ, the gospel of Satan teaches salvation by works. It
inculcates justification before God on the ground of human merits. Its
sacramental phrase is “Be good and do good;” but it fails to recognize that in
the flesh there dwelleth no good thing. It announces salvation by character,
which reverses the order of God’s Word—character by, as the fruit of,
salvation. Its various ramifications and organizations are manifold.
Temperance, Reform Movements, “Christian Socialist Leagues,” Ethical Culture
Societies, “Peace Congresses” are all employed (perhaps unconsciously) in
proclaiming this gospel of Satan—salvation by works. The pledge card is
substituted for Christ; social purity for individual regeneration, and politics
and philosophy, for doctrine and godliness. The cultivation of the old man is
considered more practical than the creation of a new man in Christ Jesus;
whilst universal peace is looked for apart from the interposition and return of
the Prince of Peace.
The apostles of Satan
are not saloon-keepers and white-slave traffickers, but are for the most part
ordained ministers. Thousands of those who occupy our modern pulpits are no
longer engaged in presenting the fundamentals of the Christian Faith, but have
turned aside from the Truth and have given heed unto fables. Instead of
magnifying the enormity of sin and setting forth its eternal consequences, they
minimize it by declaring that sin is merely ignorance or the absence of good.
Instead of warning their hearers to “flee from the wrath to come” they make God
a liar by declaring that He is too loving and merciful to send any of His own
creatures to eternal torment. Instead of declaring that “without shedding of
blood is no remission,” they merely hold up Christ as the great Exemplar and
exhort their hearers to “follow in His steps.” Of them it must be said, “For
they being ignorant of God’s righteousness and going about to establish their
own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God”
(Rom. 10:3). Their message may sound very plausible and their aim appear very
praiseworthy, yet we read of them—“for such are false apostles, deceitful
workers, transforming themselves (imitating) into the apostles of Christ. And
no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. Therefore,
it is no great thing [not to be wondered at] if his ministers also be
transformed as the ministers of righteousness, whose end shall be according to
their works” (2 Cor. 11:13–15).
In addition to the
fact that today hundreds of churches are without a leader who faithfully
declares the whole counsel of God and presents His way of salvation, we also
have to face the additional fact that the majority of people in these churches
are very unlikely to learn the Truth themselves. The family altar, where a
portion of God’s Word was wont to be read daily is now, even in the homes of
nominal Christians, largely a thing of the past. The Bible is not expounded in
the pulpit and it is not read in the pew. The demands of this rushing age are
so numerous, that multitudes have little time and still less inclination to
make preparation for the meeting with God. Hence the majority who are too
indolent to search for themselves, are left at the mercy of those whom they pay
to search for them; many of whom betray their trust by studying and expounding
economic and social problems rather than the Oracles of God.
In Proverbs 14:12 we
read, “There is a way which seemeth right unto a man; but the end thereof are
the ways of death.” This “way” which ends in “death” is the Devil’s
Delusion—the gospel of Satan—a way of salvation by human attainment. It is a
way which “seemeth right,” that is to say, it is presented in such a plausible
way that it appeals to the natural man: it is set forth in such a subtle and
attractive manner, that it commends itself to the intelligence of its hearers.
By virtue of the fact that it appropriates to itself religious terminology,
sometimes appeals to the Bible for its support (whenever this suits its
purpose), holds up before men lofty ideals, and is proclaimed by those who have
graduated from our theological institutions, countless multitudes are decoyed
and deceived by it.[1]
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tomorrow------------------------
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My wife, TammyLyn, also offers Christian encouragement via her Ask Seek Knock blog (https://tammylynask.blogspot.com/ ), her Facebook Group: Ask, Seek, Knock (https://www.facebook.com/groups/529047851449098 ) and her podcast Ask, Seek, and Knock on Podbean (https://feed.podbean.com/tammalyn78/feed.xml)
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publication are those of the author, M.T. Clark, only, and do not purport to
reflect the opinions or views of any of the photographers, artists, ministries,
or other authors of the other works that may be included in this publication,
and do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of any entities the
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Encouragement for the Path of Christian Discipleship
[1]
Arthur Walkington Pink, The Arthur Pink
Anthology (Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software, 2005).
