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Not So Blithe In Blytheville
BY
Andy Bustanoby
(C) June 18, 2005

BLYTHEVILLE, Ark. (UPI)

The newspaper article headlined, "When Christians Fall Out . . .
Beware! Preacher Stomped; Women Pull Hair." According to the
article, schism at the New Providence Baptist Church had become so
bad, the preacher resigned. Following his resignation sermon, he
was interrupted by the head deacon, Charles Buck, who wanted to make
an announcement. When the pastor wouldn't recognize him, a fight
broke out. According to the paper:

Women started arguing and "got into a little hair-pulling combat
in the
vestibule . . . that sparked a fight between some men," Buck
said.

The preacher, the Rev. Edward R. Black, said he was hit by a man
"with such force that they tell me my glasses flew from the
foyer two
rows into the church."

Then two women attacked him, one swatting him in the eye with a
crutch. The preacher said, "I was lying on the floor, and three
of them
were stomping me with their feet."

The whole matter wound up in court.

This was over thirty-five years ago. I had just started preaching
through the book of 1 Corinthians when I read this in the newspaper.
I was preparing to preach on 1:10-17. There, Paul addresses the
problem of division in the church. I called the sermon, "How To
Wreck A Church."

I made a joke of it, like, This could never happen to us. I told
the congregation that the trouble started when the town was named.
They meant to call it Blitheville--"light hearted in disposition,
cheerful." But there was a hostile faction on the Town Naming
Committee that prevailed. Though they got the spelling wrong, they
did get the secondary meaning right, which suited them to the man:
"carefree, heedless: a blithe disregard for someone's feelings."

For some reason, everyone didn't laugh.

The irony of the story is that it would take me a few years to
understand why everyone didn't laugh. Though I had been called to
the church with a very large vote of the congregation, the small
faction that voted against me precipitated an insurgency, which over
four years was so damaging to the spirit of the church, that I
eventually resigned--in the middle of an ugly congregational
meeting.

I don't know how Christianity is doing in Blytheville today, but
according to Google, Corinth isn't doing too well. Ninety-eight
percent of the Greek people aren't following Paul, Apollos, Cephas
or Christ. They are followers of the Christian Orthodox Church of
Greece.

# # #

6-18-2005

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References

1. http://www.withChrist.org/AndyB/abustanoby.htm
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Rainy Days and Mondays

If you're an old music lover--old, and a music lover, or a lover of
old music--you'll recogize the name Karen Carpenter and the song,
Rainy Days and Mondays (always get me down). Probably the best
female vocalist of the 60's and 70's, she died in 1983 at age
thirty-two from heart failure, a complication from anorexia nervosa.

I was listening to her CD today. There's a line in Rainy Days that
goes, "I always run to the one who loves me." The thought came to
mind, But suppose there's nobody there to run to on those rainy
days?

Her solution is in her hit, I Just Fall In Love Again. But I can
tell you that after twenty-five years as a marriage and family
therapist more people are hurt in these kinds of falls than any
other.

Is this where you are? One fall too many? Have you considered that
perhaps you need to get acquainted with a loving Father before you
find a loving mate--a Father who knows something about love? I'm
not saying that God is a substitute for a flesh-and-blood mate. But
I am saying that your problems with rainy days and Mondays may have
something to do with your relationship with the Father, first and
foremost.

Perhaps you've been running your life too long by yourself. How
about letting this loving Father into your life to give you some
direction? Jesus Christ came to show the way. He said, "I am The
Way, The Truth and The Life. No man comes to the Father except by
Me" (John 14:6).

Perhaps He has the cure for rainy days and Mondays.

# # #

6-25-2005

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I'm not much of a chess player, but I know enough about the game to
recognize a tough opponent, understand his moves and find
intellectual and emotional excitement in the end game. Fewer pieces
are left on the board, you know your opponent's tactics and the
tension builds.

I realized today that getting older is a lot like this. Going on
seventy-five, I know a lot about my opponent--the world, the flesh
and the devil--the evil trinity. With the end game is in sight, I'm
really excited! God's "coaching" has brought an intensity and
excitement to my life that matches my youth, when I was born-again
at the age of seventeen.

How's the end game going for you? Not too well? Is the end game
more a muddled mess with the prospect of finishing with a loss and
spirits low?

It's not too late. In a chess game, it may be unlikely, with a
tough opponent, that you could pull off a checkmate. But it can be
pulled off in the end game of life.

I've known my "Coach" for almost fifty-eight years. I was
introduced to Him when someone told me, "God so loved the world that
He gave His only begotten son, that whosoever believes in Him should
not perish, but have everlasting life" (John 3:16).

Are you running out of moves? Listen to the Coach. Give the evil
trinity an end game checkmate.

# # #

7-2-2005

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The Murmuring Monk

I was preparing a sermon titled, "Knowing God's Will and Doing It."
It was based on Philippians 2:12-16. When I read, "Do all things
without murmurings and disputings," I thought about the story of the
murmuring monk.

A man who admired a certain monastic order believed it was God's will
for him to become a monk. This particular order required a vow of
silence, which the man gladly gave. The vow meant that he could speak
only two words a year, and then, only at his yearly audience with the
abbot, the head of the monastery.

After his first year at the monastery, the monk appeared before the
abbot, and when the abbot nodded at the monk, a signal to speak, the
monk said, "Bed, hard." The abbot nodded again, ending the interview.

The second year, the monk appeared before the abbot, and when permitted
to speak, he said, "Cell, cold." The abbot nodded, and the monk left.

The third year, the monk appeared before the abbot, and when permitted
to speak, he said, "Food, terrible." The abbot nodded and the monk
left.

The fourth year, the monk appeared before the abbot, and when permitted
to speak, he said, "I quit." The abbot replied, "Brother, I'm not
surprised. All you have done for the past four years is complain."

The abbot was quite right. Though eight words of complaint in four
years is a lot better than the rest of us can do, the abbot made his
point. Whether we are part of a monastery or a church, if we all know
God's will and experience His energizing us to do it, we should be able
to do all things without murmurings and disputings.

At the next church business meeting, remember the murmuring monk.

# # #

7-9-2005

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"You're Nobody 'Till Somebody Loves You"

Yeah, I've been listening to some of that old music again. I mean,
really old. How about Dean Martin singing this 1950's favorite?

As with so many of the old love songs, the music's good, but the
lyrics are sad. The song brings back memories. It was very popular
when I was a marriage and family therapist. Many of my single
clients could identify with, "You're nobody until somebody loves
you/ You're nobody until somebody cares."

But sadder still were the clients who told me stories of growing up
with parents who loved them conditionally. No, the parents didn't
say it in so many words, but the verbal and nonverbal message was,
I'll love you if . . . , but love never came. It was manipulative.
It kept the child hoping that love would come if he or she tried
hard enough to please.

What was sadder, still, was the married client who told the same
story, and then appended it with, "And I had to marry the same kind
of person. I'm still loved conditionally, with conditions I can
never meet."

Perhaps you know the feeling. That's the bad news. But the good
news is a love that has been given sacrificially and
unconditionally.

The Apostle Paul said, "You see, at just the right time, when we
were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely
will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone
might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for
us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us" (Rom
5: 6-8 - NIV).

We were powerless to please a loving Father by keeping the Ten
Commandments and the rest of the law. This is why Jesus' Sermon On
the Mount taught that if you're attempting to reach heaven by
keeping the law, you must be perfect (Mt. 5:48).

God sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to show us an unconditional,
sacrificial love--the sacrificial lamb of God sent to take away our
sins. All the Father asks is that we accept this gift of love--come
to the Father through Jesus who calls Himself the door to the
sheepfold.

Perhaps if you embrace this unconditional love it will blot out the
memories of that conditional love you've been haunted with--parents,
who, perhaps are still living, but still not loving. Maybe there's
a husband or wife who is doing the same.

You may ask how do you qualify for this Father's unconditional
love. If you're still a sinner, you qualify.

# # #

7-16-2005

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B-Flat Please

In my 5/21/05 blog I wrote about my desire to be a professional
pianist. The Lord had other plans. But I have fond memories of
playing the piano in a dance band.

Whenever we were going to play a gig, it was my responsibility to
give the band a B-Flat on the piano to get their instruments tuned
up. Of course, if we were an orchestra with strings, we would tune
up to A (that being an open string).

Beautiful music requires a band that's in tune. But why did we tune
to the B-Flat on the piano? It's the way brass and woodwind
instruments are made. They are B-Flat instruments. This means that
when they match the piano's B-Flat, they are in tune. Each
instrument can, and must, make adjustments until it is in tune with
the piano. There is no debate as to what it means to be in tune
with each other. There is a fundamental point of agreement.
B-Flat!

I thought of this while listening to the news today. I finally got
tired of hearing the cacaphony of reporters and talking heads with
their "fair and balanced debate" over the president's speech on the
war against terrorism. I don't know if it's just because I'm
getting old, but the sound seems to be getting more and more out of
tune.

American culture has the idea that truth is relative. If that is
so, there's no such thing as being in tune with each other on the
basis of fact. It's almost as though the greater the dissonance,
the greater the evidence that we're making beautiful music!

Ah, but I have not given up hope. Paul, writing to the
Thessalonians about the second coming of Christ, prays for Jesus
Christ to encourage them.

The day* is coming when The Maestro will finally stop this noise.
When He is done with His foes at Armageddon, He will put this
dissonant world in tune. I see Him step onstage, call for silence,
and say, "Piano, B-Flat please."

*2 Thessalonians 2:1-17

# # #

7-23-2005

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Stop Trying To Be Spiritual
(1 Corinthians 3:1-4)

When you read in the bulletin this morning that I'm going to preach
on "Stop Trying To Be Spiritual," you may wonder what's going on.
Pastor Hamrick preached a sermon two weeks ago called, "What It
Means To Be Spiritual." Now I come along and announce that I'm
going to tell you to stop trying to be spiritual!

Then again, some of you may have felt a great sense of relief. If
you're like most Christians in the world today, you've found out
that trying to be a spiritual doesn't seem to work too well. I
remember as a young Christian being terribly discouraged trying to
be spiritual.

This was the problem the Corinthians were having. They were trying
to be spiritual, but it didn't seem to do any good.

Now don't jump to conclusions. The Pastor and I are on the same
page. I'm not going to try to persuade you to give up on
Christianity. I want to show you what your problem may be.

Trying To Be Spiritual Is Bound To Fail

As we look at 1Corinthians 3:1-4, I want you to see, first of all,
that trying to be spiritual is bound to fail.

Paul opens Chapter 3, with this rebuke:

Brothers, I could not address you [about the factional problem]
as spiritual [people] but
as worldly--mere infants in Christ (1 Cor. 3:1).

He is telling them that trying to be spiritual is bound to fail.
You may ask where I get that from verse 1. Look at the word
"worldly."

Unfortunately, the word "worldly" is a poor translation. The Greek
word literally means, "fleshly." Fleshly doesn't mean "outrageously
immoral." In fact, a very prim an proper church member can be
fleshly. Fleshly means running your life by your own effort. It
stands in contrast with "spiritual" where God is running your life
by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Fleshly behavior is usually the result of spiritual immaturity.
Many Christians think that spirituality is achieved by trying to
obey the Ten Commandments. And if they fail, they assume they are
not trying hard enough. They don't realize that's not how you
become spiritual. And they don't know how to be spiritual because
they're spiritually immature.

This was Paul's dilemma with the Corinthians. How do you solve
spiritual problems like factionalism, jealousy and quarreling with
people who don't know what it means to be spiritual?

Think about it. Many pastors today face this problem today.

Perhaps I can illustrate it this way. Let's say we have a problem
of spiritual immaturity here.

I go around to each member and ask these questions.

I ask, Are you a born-again Christian? Have you put your faith in
Jesus Christ as the way, the truth and the life--the way of
salvation? If you truly are a believer, you'll say, Yes.

Then I ask you, Will you tell me, as a Christian, how a person is
supposed to live a spiritual life? If you're the average Christian
you will probably tell me, Try hard to obey the Ten Commandments.

Now you'd probably be irritated with me if I were to tell you that
your last answer is a big problem. It shows all the signs of
spiritual immaturity to say that you live a spiritual life by trying
hard to obey the Ten Commandments. That's not the way to the
spiritual life.

This is the problem that Paul had with the Corinthians. He is
saying, I can't speak to you as spiritual people because you have
the wrong idea of what it means to be spiritual. You are
fleshly--you think that the spiritual life is achieved by your
trying. At this point in our interview, I probably wouldn't sound
very friendly telling you that.

And if that's how I came across, you would probably say, with some
irritation, Well how do you think you're supposed to live a
spiritual life?

The word "spiritual" gives us a clue that it has something to do
with a work of the Holy Spirit and not a work of our own. Let me
explain the difference between running my own life and letting God
do it. The Bible tells us,

Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man,
with
his deeds; and have put on the new man, which is renewed in
knowledge after the image of him that created him (Col. 3:9-10).

What's this putting off the old man and putting on the new man?
Paul is describing specifically what happened when we were saved.
The old man, the old nature we received from Adam, was crucified
with Christ. He's not dead, but put out of business. The old man
was put off when we were saved. The new man, our born-again spirit,
was put on when we were saved.

Now follow me closely. This is an accomplished fact. Nothing more
needs to be done except believe it!

When the Bible tells us, then, that we are to put off the old man
and put on the new man, it's not saying, Try to be spiritual. It's
telling us that just as Christ did everything necessary to save us,
He has done everything necessary to give us a holy, spiritual life.
Now believe it! It is by faith we appropriate our salvation. It is
by faith we are released from the power of the old man and receive
the power of the new man! We put off and put on by faith in what
Christ has already done.

The Bible uses the expression, "obedience by faith," which means,
"obedience that comes by faith."

Yes, we are to be obedient. But how we are obedient is crucial. It
is not I, but Christ.

No doubt, you're acquainted with the name Frank Sinatra, the
vocalist. In 1968 he recorded a song that is still popular today.
It's called, "I Did It May Way."

The first stanza of the song goes this way:

And now, the end is here
And so I face the final curtain
My Friend, I'll say it clear
I'll state my case, of which I'm certain
I've lived a life that's full
I've traveled each and ev'ry highway
And more, much more than this, I did it my way.

Frank Sinatra died May 15, 1998. Bill Clinton, president at the
time, eulogized Frank in the news and said this: "Frank will be
missed profoundly by millions around the world. But his music and
movies will ensure that 'Ol' Blue Eyes' is never forgotten. Today,
I think every American would have to smile and say he really did do
it his way."

The Bible lets us know that the way of salvation is not by doing it
our way. Christ is the door to the sheepfold.

But let's say that Frank was saved before his death. And let's say
he really wanted to obey God and be a spiritual Christian. Yes,
he'd have to give up "my way." It would have to be obedience to
God's way.

But that's only half the problem. Frank also would have to give up,
"I Did It."

You see, there are two parts to being spiritual. One part is
obedience to God's way. The other part is how we are obedient. Do
we say with Frank, "I did it . . ."? Or do we say, "Christ has done
it through the obedience that comes by my faith, not by my trying"?

The Corinthians didn't understand this. They were fleshly--they ran
their lives by their own power. They did it their way.

Paul speaks of their immaturity further in verse 2:

I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for it.
Indeed, you are still not
ready (1 Cor. 3:2).

Milk and meat have to do with the level of instruction, not
different doctrines. There are not some doctrines that are milk and
others that are meat. They are all milk or meat depending on how
deep we go. The doctrine of salvation is often regarded as milk,
but it is a very profound doctrine, and there is much meat in it.

When Paul initially was in Corinth teaching the church, he was there
for a year-and-a-half. He had difficulty taking them deep enough to
understand how to be spiritual. Now, perhaps two to five years have
passed since these people were saved, and word comes back to Paul
that they are in the same spiritual condition as when they were
first saved. They still didn't know that we live the spiritual life
by faith in what Christ has already done instead trying hard to do
it by ourselves. "I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not
ready for it. Indeed, you are still not ready."

You may ask, Where does Paul get off saying this? He's judging
these people.

This is not the kind of judging Christ condemns. Paul is a fruit
inspector.

But you will say, That's still judging. Yes, it's the kind of
judging that the church should have done. Paul looks at them and
inspects the fruit of their lives. Paul sees their quarreling and
jealousy as something that they should have judged--which brings me
to my second point.

Trying To Be Spiritual Leads To Sinful Behavior

Not only is trying hard to be spiritual bound to fail, trying hard
to be spiritual leads to sinful behavior.

Yes, you heard me right. Trying hard to be spiritual leads to
sinful behavior.

You'll say, Well, I'm not going to try to be spiritual any more. I
hope so. Hear me out.

Look at verse 3.

"You are still worldly [fleshly, running your own lives]. For
since there is jealousy
and quarreling among you, are you not worldly [fleshly]? Are
you not acting like
mere [fleshly] men? For when one says, "I follow Paul," and
another, "I follow
Apollos, are you not mere [fleshly] men (1 Cor. 3:3-4)?

Their factional behavior betrays their spiritual condition. You've
heard the old saying: If it walks like a duck and quacks like a
duck, it must be a duck. If it walks like a fleshly man and quacks
like a fleshly man, it must be a fleshly man who runs his own life.

I know that it sounds paradoxical, but trying to be spiritual
actually leads to sinful behavior. How can that be? How can trying
to be spiritual lead to sinful behavior?

In Romans 7, the Apostle Paul recalls that when he was a baby
Christian he had the same problem. He knew he was saved by faith,
but he didn't know that Christ had already delivered him from his
sin nature and given him a new nature. So he tried to keep the
law. When he tried, the law showed him that he couldn't do it.What
was happening? He says, Sin took advantage of the situation. Sin
used the law to show me that I couldn't be spiritual by trying. It
showed me that I was still under the power of sin (Rom. 7:8).

This was the Corinthian problem. They couldn't be spiritual by
trying. Sin took advantage of their attempts at keeping the law by
goading them into the sinful behavior of quarreling and jealousy.
It showed them that they still didn't know how to deal with the
power of sin in their lives.

If you've ever been in a church that had a problem with factions--I
am of Paul; I am of Apollos--you will understand jealousy and
quarreling. In his sermon two weeks ago, the Pastor gave us a good
picture of Paul and Apollos.

Apollos was eloquent and learned. And I think that the Corinthians
were awed by his style and manner. This may be why Paul says in 1
Corinthians 2:1, "When I came to you, brothers, I did not come with
eloquence or superior wisdom . . . ." He wasn't putting down
Apollos. I think that Paul in his humility would say, Apollos
certainly outshines me in eloquence and wisdom.

Men like Apollos, whether they are good-looking or not, often have a
powerful personalities that people find beautiful. Look at your TV
preachers. All of them have powerful personalities that draw
people.

Paul wasn't this kind of person. What is more, he probably had an
eye disease that disfigured his face. In fact, Paul may have been
downright ugly. The one thing Paul had going for him was his
apostleship--he was uniquely chosen by God to write much of the New
Testament. Though Apollos was well-versed in the Old Testament,
Paul, as an apostle, was getting new revelation from God.

Now when you put Paul up against Apollos, you get a hint of what the
quarreling and jealousy was about--not between them, but between the
Corinthian factions. In fact, Paul had a lot of confidence in
Apollos and sent him to Corinth to minister in his absence. But I
can image that the quarreling between the Corinthian factions was
over which one was smarter. The Paul faction would point to his
apostleship. The Apollos faction would point to his knowledge of
the Old Testament. The Apollos faction would also point to his
eloquence and tremendous personality. The Paul faction was probably
jealous that Apollos did have that over Paul--but they wouldn't
admit it!

Spiritual people wouldn't do this! They wouldn't make these
comparisons. They would be glad that God was so rich in his gifts
to the Corinthian church that they had two wonderful men: Paul and
Apollos. And in verse twenty-two, Cephas, the Apostle Peter, is
also mentioned. Praise God; the Corinthian church had three
wonderful teachers.

But the Corinthians were worldly--fleshly. Holy Spirit was not
influencing their judgments. Their judgments were based on the
fleshly question, Who's the best!

A church that is a unified body of Christ, together in the power of
the Holy Spirit, is glad for all of the members of the body. As
Paul says later in his letter to the Corinthians, comparing the
human body to the body of Christ, One member of the body doesn't say
to the other, I have no need of you.

Many years ago I knew of a situation that was very much like the
Paul and Apollos situation. A seminary professor, whom I believe to
be one of the outstanding preachers in this country, was invited to
candidate for a church. The church did not give him a positive vote
and turned him down. It certainly couldn't have been because of his
preaching. He is outstanding. The only thing I can imagine is that
he is a rather homely fellow.

As providence would have it, he recommended one of his students to
the pulpit committee. The church voted to have student fill the
vacancy. The only thing I can conclude is that the vote was based
on appearances and not on the quality of preaching.

Conclusion

Spiritual immaturity is still a scourge in the church today. We
need to deal with problems like factionalism, where quarreling and
jealousy are a spiritual problem. But we first need to know what
"spiritual" is in order to deal with our spiritual problems.
Spiritual immaturity stands in the way.

I invite you today to stop trying to be spiritual. Let Frank
Sinatra's philosophy die with him. It's not, "I Did It My Way."
It's not even, I did it. Being spiritual is through obedience that
comes by faith.

# # #

7-30-2005

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References

I Got An E-Mail From Blind Bartimaeus

I got an e-mail from blind Bartimaeus. Well, let me back up and
explain. He is blind, and I got an e-mail, but he isn't the
two-thousand-year-old beggar from Jericho mentioned in Mark 10:46.
But his website is called Bartimaeus Alliance of the Blind,
[1]http://thegems.shellworld.net

Bartimaeus, that is, Grant (his real name) originally wrote me in
February 2005 after coming across this blog in withChrist.org. I
was amazed that a blind man used a computer and was so conversant by
e-mail! But this was just the start of finding out how amazing this
man is. Not only is he now his own web curator, he also has
produced on the web nine of Lewis Sperry Chafer's writings. He also
ministers to the blind and sighted readers of his website. But he
is even more amazing when you hear his story.

He was blinded in a tragic accident at age seven and at age fifteen
suddenly lost both of his parents in an automobile accident. Though
he had made a profession of faith in Christ at age six, he wrestled
with doubts about his relationship with the Lord for many years. At
age twenty-nine, he heard a Sunday school lesson on 1 Corinthians
15:1-5 and saw clearly, with the eyes of his mind, that Christ died
for his sins. He recently told me in an e-mail, "It was then the
Spirit enlightened me, and I thought, 'I don't know what day I first
believed that gospel message, but I know what I believed and believe
it now.'" Grant is now sixty-five, married, with two daughters and
one grandchild.

I've mused over this story for some time. Here is a man blinded at
age seven and losing both parents at age fifteen. He had every
reason to shake his fist in God's face and ask, What do you think
you're doing?

How do we explain this? The God of miracles is still making the
blind to see. Yes, Grant is still physically blind, but perhaps he
sees something, my friend, that you are blind to. The Apostle Paul,
again, writing to the Corinthians, said,

But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: in
whom the god of this world hath blinded
the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the
glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image
of God, should shine unto them (2 Cor. 4:3-4).

That gospel (the "good news") that Grant saw with the eyes of his
mind is the simple message that Christ died for our sins, was
buried, rose from the dead, and seen by upwards of five-hundred
people at the same time.

God can take away that blindness of your mind if you will pin your
faith on Jesus Christ. I would love to get an e-mail from another
"blind Bartimaeus" who now can see.

# # #

8-6-2005

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References

1. http://thegems.shellworld.net/
2. http://www.withChrist.org/AndyB/abustanoby.htm
3. mailto:fgasb@rivnet.net
4. http://www.withChrist.org/copyright.htm
5. mailto:?body=Here's%20an%20article%20I%20think%20you'll%20find%20interesting.%20%20http://withChrist.org/AndyB/862005.htm

Is God Trying To Get Your Attention?

In the old days when mules were used for plowing, a farmer, who gave
up farming, didn't know what to do with his unemployed mule. He had
grown very attached to the beast. Finally, he decided to put it out
to pasture.

The farmer's neighbor, who need a mule, noticed the idle mule in the
pasture and asked if he could buy it. The owner said, "I've had
this mule for many years and am quite attached to it. I'll sell it
to you if you promise to take very good care of it. I don't want
you mistreating it." The neighbor agreed.

Several days later the new owner went back to the previous owner
complaining that the mule was stubborn and would do no work. So the
previous owner went to see what was going on.

"Let me see what you're doing," the former owner asked. So the new
owner got behind the mule and plow, shook the reins, and yelled, "Ye
Ha!" to get the mule to start plowing.

Nothing! The mule just stood there. Several times the farmer
yelled, "Ye Ha," but still nothing.

The former owner said, "You're doing everything right, except for
one thing." He got behind the plow, took the reins in one hand, and
with several feet of slack rein in the other hand, he smacked the
mule twice on the rear end, and yelled, "Ye Ha!" The mule
obediently began plowing.

The new owner was amazed. When he found his tongue, he said, "Wait
a minute. You told me to take very good care of this mule and not
mistreat it, and here you go and smack it with the reins."

"That's right," the former owner said. "But if you're going to get
him to do what he's supposed to do, you have to get his attention
first."

I thought of this story when I was reading Hebrews 12 on
chastening. "My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord,
nor faint when thou art rebuked of him: for whom the Lord loveth he
chasteneth . . ." (Heb. 12:5b-6). In Scripture, instruction and
chastening are inseparable.

The Hebrew word musar is used twenty-four times in the Book of
Proverbs where instruction and chastisment are almost synonymous.
It is a truism of education that if we are to be instructed, the
instructor must first have our attention!

Perhaps that sharp pain you're feeling on your gluteus maximus is a
message from The Instructor that He wants your attention.

# # #

8-13-2005

[1]Andy Bustanoby Home Page

[2]Email Me

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References

Watch Out; They're Back!

The full-page color ad in a popular magazine sounded familiar, but I
couldn't place it because no religious group identified itself. It
offered a free booklet called Revelation: The Mystery Unveiled!

It didn't take much work on Google to track them down. Of course it
sounded familiar--a Herbert W. Armstrong's Worldwide Church of God
redux.

Armstrong, who died in 1986, opened the way for Roderick Meredith to
fill the vacuum he left. Meredith, whose doctrines follow the
teachings of Armstrong, is now the leader of the Living Church of
God, a cult with a crazy mixture of theology taken from the
Jehovah's Witnesses, the Mormons, Adventism, and Church of God 7th
Day.

An informative website on this dangerous cult can be found at
[1]http://www.exitsupportnetwork.com/artcls/meredith.htm * In
addition to information on the cult, the site has published letters
about the Living Church of God shooting spree that occurred during
Sabbath services in Brookfield, Wisconsin on March 12, 2005. The
website also offers two other informative articles: "Identifying
Marks of an Exploitive, Abusive Group" and "Lifton's Eight Criteria
of Mind Control," which includes how it is used by Armstrong's
disciples.

New believers are in danger of being snared by this cult by what
appears to be a belief in Christ as the way of salvation. In their
booklet, Is This the ONLY Day of SALVATION?, Scripture is widely
quoted pointing to Christ as the way of salvation. And yet,
grace-faith salvation is, in reality, denied by Meredith who teaches
that you must keep certain Old Testament laws and rituals in order
to obey God and to be born again. And that, according to Meredith,
doesn't occur until the resurrection!

The exhortation by the Apostle Peter is timely in view of this. He
says, "Therefore, dear friends, since you already know this, be on
your guard so that you may not be carried away by the error of
lawless men and fall from your secure position. But grow in the
grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be
glory both now and forever! Amen" (2 Pet. 3:17-18).

In other words, watch out; they're back!

* This website is offered for information only and does not
represent a blanket endorsement of it.

# # #

8-20-2005

[2]Andy Bustanoby Home Page

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References

1. http://www.exitsupportnetwork.com/artcls/meredith.htm
2. http://www.withChrist.org/AndyB/abustanoby.htm
3. mailto:fgasb@rivnet.net
4. http://www.withChrist.org/copyright.htm
5. mailto:?body=Here's%20an%20article%20I%20think%20you'll%20find%20interesting.%20%20http://withChrist.org/AndyB/8202005.htm

Does Your Dog Bite?

One of the amusing scenes from Peter Seller's classic Pink Panther
series of films is where he goes into a small hotel to get a room.
Sellers, playing the part of the bumbling Inspector Clouseau, steps
up to a desk where a room clerk is standing, and a dog is lying at
his feet beside him.

Clouseau, asking for a room in his heavy French accent, says, "Do
you have a 'urhoom'?" The clerk says, "A what?" Clouseau says
with annoyed emphasis, "A urhoom!"

The clerk says, "Do you mean, a room?" Clouseau answers with great
annoyance, "That's what I said, you idiot--a urhoom!"

The clerk replied that he did, and while Clouseau waited for the
clerk to register him, he noticed the dog lying on the floor beside
him. Clouseau asked the clerk, "Does your dog bite?" The clerk
said, "No, he doesn't."

Clouseau bent over to pet the dog, which suddenly snapped at his
hand and growled. Clouseau, quickly stepped back and said
indignantly, "I thought your dog didn't bite!" The clerk, without
looking up, said, "That's not my dog."

Of course the hilarity of the scene was heightened by the fact that
the clerk knew full well what Clouseau was asking but was ready to
tell a "deceptive truth" to get even for being called an idiot.

I wonder how many times we do this kind of thing. We won't tell a
lie, but the truth we tell may not be a lie but really is a
deception. We may do it to get even with someone, or we may do it
to get ourselves out of a difficult situation. But in either case,
it's a deception.

Perhaps we would be less glib about this practice if we would
remember that we learned it from the father of lies, the Devil
himself (John 8:44). Remember the story of the Fall? The Devil
told Eve that if she ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and
evil, she would not die, but she would be like God, knowing good and
evil (Gen. 3:4-5).

This was a masterful deception. It was true that she wouldn't
physically drop dead the moment she ate. And when she ate she would
also know good and evil. But this was, no doubt, the worst
deception the human race ever experienced.

The next time you consider deception rather than an outright lie,
give it some thought. And, by the way, if I ever ask you if your
dog bites, let's make sure we both know what dog I'm talking about.

# # #

8-27-2005

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References

The Wars You Can't Win

No, this isn't about our current war on terrorism. It's about
guerrilla warfare in the church.

After thirteen years in the pastorate, I left in 1973. I was a
"pastoral dropout." Though I don't have any statistics on the
present situation in the pastorate, my search through Google reveals
that a great deal of attention is being given to the subject.

The reason for my leaving the pastorate is a long story. But you
can read it in the Christianity Today publication, Leadership
(Winter 1993, Volume XIV, Number 1). The entire issue is on church
conflict. Or you can get a copy of my article by sending me an
e-mail (see address at end of blog).

Though there are many reasons for pastors leaving, the lament that
breaks my heart, one that I hear again and again, is that of Elijah
whom The Apostle Paul quotes:

"Lord, they have killed your prophets and torn down your altars;
I am the only one left, and they are trying to kill me" (Rom.
11:3).

That may sound a bit melodramatic, but not to those who have been
there or are there now. For those who are there now, I share with
you the major points of my conclusion, "Signs of a No-Win War."

**Is there a history of factionalism? Sometimes new pastors are not
aware of past problems in the church. Even though I knew of some
when I accepted the pastorate of this church, I was naive.

**Are your peace initiatives having no effect? Not only did my
efforts at making peace have no effect, the guerrillas kept sniping
at me and my family after we left.

**Are the leaders willing to pay the price to win the war? What
kind of elders and deacons do you have? Are they spiritually minded
people with some combat experience? There will be casualties.

**Is there enough popular support to win the war? While I had over
eighty-percent of the congregation behind me, other factors made me
realize that this would be an unnecessarily bloody war.

**Is the opposition willing to negotiate, or do they demand
unconditional surrender? They demanded unconditional surrender.

**Are you unable to protect your own family? This was probably the
hardest part. My wife and four sons were being wounded too.

**Do you know why you're fighting? Is there any element in your
personality that drives you to win? I'm not talking about being led
of God. I'm talking about a fleshly need to win.

If you are a pastor facing what may look like a no-win situation,
I'd be happy to correspond with you. We may not know what God is
doing, but He does. I end my article in Leadership with these
words:

Though this episode of my life was painful, if I could write a
finale, it would read as Job's: "The Lord blessed the latter
part of [his] life more than the first."

# # #

9-3-2005

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[2]Email Me

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References

And Then There Were Eleven

Though seminarians are not taught that success in the pastorate is
measured by the size of their church, everything that they see while
in seminary and after graduation says just the opposite. Pastors
invited to speak at the seminary are from megachurches. Television
preachers usually are pastors with megachurches. But this fixation
on the megachurch may be a source of discouragement to the majority
of the nation's pastors.

A study done at Duke University reveals that two-thirds of all
pastors preach to congregations of one-hundred or less. And only
twenty-five percent of churchgoers attend such churches. This means
that two-thirds of the pastors in this country minister to
twenty-five percent of the church-going public.

The significance of these statistics to me is this. If numbers
mean success, two-thirds of the pastorate is not successful! I
don't accept that conclusion, but I'm sure that many pastors feel
that way.

I often think of the ministry of Jesus. He came to die for our sins
and to establish a church that would proclaim His gospel. In three
years of ministry, He poured most of His time, attention, teaching
and life into just twelve men, yet one betrayed Him. Though the
failure was in Judas, not Jesus, that's more than eight percent of
this small band.

Considering numbers, this wasn't very promising. Though three
thousand were added to the church on the Day of Pentecost, we don't
read of megachurches in the New Testament. We read of individuals
and the discipling of individuals. Even the most extensive list of
believers recorded in Scripture at the end of Paul's letter to the
Romans reveals that there were not so many believers in Rome that
they got lost in the crowd. Two letters were written to just one
man--Timothy, Paul's son in the faith. Titus, whom Paul also calls
a son in the faith, gets a letter and a place in the New Testament.
Though two believers and a house-church are greeted in the letter to
Philemon, the burden of the letter is to this slave master about his
slave.

What I'm getting at is this. Christianity has not made an impact on
the world through the building of megachurches. It's impact on the
world comes through the building of individual believers.

For you pastors who minister to the few, my prayers are that God may
give you the kind of faithful eleven that Jesus discipled. Therein
lies the future of the church.

# # #

9-10-2005

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[2]Email Me

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References

Is Falling In Love Enough?

I'm not an expert on safety issues, but I will hazard a guess that
more people are hurt in falls than in any other kind of injury. And
the type of fall that I have seen produce the most injuries is
falling in love! I offer this as a result of my observations over
twenty-five years as a marriage and family therapist.

When I ask, Is falling in love enough, I'm asking if it's enough to
keep a marriage going? According to the duet Nat King Cole and his
daughter sing, "If I fall in love, it will be forever." Don't kid
yourself. It won't be. Unless there is more to your relationship
than falling in love, it won't last long.

Psychologist Everett Shostrom, years ago, made an extensive study of
male/female love, and as a result of his findings, he developed an
excellent test called The Caring Relationship Inventory. He
examines five types of love essential to a lasting marriage and
developed a questionaire and evaluation scales to see what kind and
how much of these loves exist in any given marriage. The loves he
examines are eros, agape, friendship, empathy and self-love.

Eros

I mention eros first because this is the primary emotion that
precipitates falling in love. It isn't just the sexy look of the
significant other. An attractive personality plays a large part.
But we fantasize things about that personality that may not be true
at all, or, we might not see that the traits we admire are really
excessive and maladaptive when you really get to know this person.
A strong, competent man may turn out to be so controlling he
smothers you. A modest, demure woman may assure a man that she
would never try to control him, but she may actually be
maladaptively self-effacing, always punishing herself for real or
imagined failures. Wounding herself, she may not be a fully
functional mate.

These two types are often attracted to each other. But after
marriage, they are shocked by extreme behavior. Someone put it well
when he said, Love is blind, but marriage is an eye-opener.

Agape

Agape love is essential to the marriage if it is to survive. While
eros survives on finding your mate attractive, agape love does not
require it. Agape chooses to love. It does not require the other
person to be attractive.

This is the love wherewith God loved us. God so loved (agape) the
world that He sent His only begotten son to die for us. While we
were yet sinners, Christ died for us! This is the love the
Corinthians were told would help them deal with the problem of
division in the church (1 Cor. 13).

The need for agape is essential to marriage. All marriages suffer
in some degree to a loss of eros, and there is a degree of falling
out of love. In our relationship with God we love Him because He
first loved us (1 Jn. 4:19). I have found that when a husband or
wife shows agape love, the mate is very likely to love in return.

It is for this reason that the current practice of couples living
together to see if it works, or to see if they are really in love,
is foolish. It is foolish because it lacks the committment to each
other that is found in agape, the choice, the decision to love and
make it work.

Friendship

Friendship in marriage is essential because it occupies us about
something besides each other. But at the same time, it promotes a
togetherness. Eros is a face to face relationship; friendship is a
shoulder to shoulder relationship.

I often think of this as my wife, Fay and I, sit side by side in our
recliner chairs, looking out of the picture windows at the beautiful
bay in front of us. As we enjoy the scenery together, we talk about
what is currently going on in our lives and reminisce about the
events of almost fifty-five years of marriage. We remember how
together we invested our lives in getting an education, our time in
the pastorate, in establishing a business, in raising four wonderful
sons and now are enjoying the benefits of ten grandchildren and four
great-grandchildren.

And we also recognize the differentness in our personalities that
made essentially different contributions to our marriage and the
rearing of our children. We see the wisdom of God in creating male
and female and counterparts (Gen. 2:20). And that differentness is
respected because we see it as a God-ordained differentness.

Friendship is about something besides each other. Friendship is a
respect of differentness where each brings something essentially
different to the relationship.

Empathy

Empathy is the ability to enter into what other people are feeling
and feel it with them. It's extremely important for husbands to
understand this.

Men tend to be creatures of the head; women tend to be creatures of
the heart. Because of this, men tend to be problem solvers. They
are ready to take out the calculator and explore solutions. Women,
on the other hand, touched by feelings, need to talk about the
problem. Talking to someone who is empathetic enables her to get in
touch with her feelings in ways that she can't do just by thinking
about the problem. Talking with an empathetic person often brings
to light feelings that she didn't realize she had. She is able to
understand her feelings better. And often, because she understands
her feelings better, she is less troubled by the problem. Many
times I have found that women will conclude that there is not a
problem that needs solving.

This phenomenon is not a liability to the marriage but a definite
asset. Women are able to explore dimensions of a problem in ways
that man does not naturally do--the feeling or
human dimensions of the problem. As counterparts, they bring
together the best in problem solving--the objective and the
subjective.

Self-love

It may seem strange to speak of self-love in a husband/wife
relationship. Aren't we supposed to love others instead of
ourselves?

The answer is this. We can't begin to love others unless we are
fully functional persons ourselves. We must understand that unless
we have a healthy view of our own wants, wishes and needs, we're not
going to have a healthy view of the wants, wishes and needs of our
mate.

The Bible speaks of self-love when it speaks of the creation of male
and female (Gen. 2:24) and the husband/wife relationship being a
picture of Christ and the church (Eph. 5:22-33). They are one
flesh; the husband loves his wife as his own body. A healthy
self-love promotes a healthy understanding of the needs of our mate.

Conclusion

The absence of any of these five loves, eros, agape, friendship,
empathy and self-love, can create a dangerous void in a marriage and
may hasten the process of falling out of love. Competent counseling
can go a long way to developing these qualities in a relationship.

Is falling in love enough? No, it isn't!

# # #

9-17-2005

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References

Where Is My Mate; Where Is My Nest?

I live on a tributary of the Chesapeake Bay. Practically every day
I take a cruise on my boat. One of the things I love to do is watch
the osprey and listen to music on my boat CD.

Osprey frequent our area, and this is the season for raising and
fledging their little ones to migrate when the fall comes. The
osprey love to build their nests on high channel markers that are
secure from predators.

For the past few weeks I've noticed a female on a channel marker
without a nest, and when I pass her, she fusses at me, and then
flies away. I've been wondering where her mate is. They should
have their nest by now, and she should be sitting on her eggs. This
just contributed to the emotions I was feeling as I cruised.

We had a tragic accident in our town. A woman lost her husband, a
police officer, on their sixth anniversary. I was thinking about
her, feeling very teary. When the osprey shouted at me, I wept. I
felt she was screaming, Where's my mate; where's my nest? And then
to top it off, my CD started to play, Everybody Needs Somebody
Sometime.

This week, I am going to talk to this new widow. What can I say?
Several times before, in this blog, I have confessed my inability to
explain what God is doing.

All I know is this. Either God is God of all or He is not God at
all. My only comfort is that which came to Job. We may not know
what He's doing, but God knows what He's doing.

# # #

9-24-2005

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References

"Hi, Dad!"

He was a good looking, well-built young man. He greeted me with
a smile and said, "Hi, Dad!"
"Do I know you?" I asked.
"I'm your third son!"
"You're not my third son. My third son is Peter."
"No," he replied. "I'm your third son. Peter is your fourth
son. Jonathan is your fifth son. Stephen and David are your first
and second sons."

Then I snapped out of my fantasy. I wasn't in heaven as I
imagined. I was drifting in my boat on calm water thinking of
eternity, thinking of my family--four sons, ten grandchildren and
four great-grandchildren. But, yes, a fifth son came into sight in
my fantasy. Having sired four sons, I can imagine this fifth child
is also a son. Let me explain.

When I was in seminary over forty-five years ago, my wife became
pregnant for the third time. We had two wonderful sons already,
Steve and Dave, and looked forward to the birth of a third child.
The doctor had told us that Fay's pregnancy was going normally and
that the child was developing properly.
Early one morning Fay developed abdominal cramps, went to the
bathroom, and in few minutes urgently called me.
"Come here! I've had a miscarriage. I need your help."
When I went into the bathroom she said, "I need you to pull the
umbilical cord loose."
Dumbfounded, and in a daze I did as I was instructed--pulled the
cord loose, and the dead fetus fell into the toilet.
We called the doctor who came by to see her and look at the
fetus. When he came he asked, "Where is the fetus?"
"In the bathroom," I replied.
We went to the bathroom, and he asked again, "Where is the
fetus?"
"It's in the toilet."
The doctor looked at me as if to say, "Well, get it."
I was still in a daze, but got a wash basin, reached into the
bloody water, and retrieved the fetus.
It looked like a small human child. I couldn't guess the age,
and the doctor never told us. In fact, he told us very little and
left. Yes, left us with the fetus.
I don't remember much after that except that I asked a seminary
buddy to help me bury the fetus. I needed someone with me for
emotional strength. This was not a fetus. It was our expected
third child.

This is what my fantasy was all about. I was in heaven with my
family--not four sons, but with five sons. I have thought of this
before-- that I really have five children, probably all sons. But
this is the first time in my world of fantasy that I saw him and met
him.

You see, I'm one of those people who believes that human life starts
at conception. David the psalmist said, "Behold, I was shapen in
iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me . . ." (Ps. 51: 5
KJV). Only of a human being can it be said that he was conceived as
a sinner. And only by the grace of God can such a sinner find a
home in heaven.

Yes, he's gone ahead of the rest of the family. But a reunion is
coming. It won't be too long before his mother and I will see him.
This time I'll be able to answer him. My first words will be, "Hi,
son. Give us a hug."

# # #

10-1-2005

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References

"FW: FW: Stop The Fiction"

The forwarded fiction keeps coming, in spite of my blog on 6-4-05, "I
Got Some Leaven In My E-Mail." This time it was about the price of
gasoline and what we should do about it. The exact letter was
debunked over a year ago by Snopes.com (Urban Legends).

The thing that bothers me is that my mailing list is made up mostly
of Christians, and Christians are circulating fiction and "urban
legends" to each other without checking them out. Do you know that
non-Christians are doing the same thing with the subject of
"religion," and often, Christianity in particular? I just checked
"religion" in Snopes.com and found twenty-five false statements
being circulated under "religion."

When we do this, we give credence to the unbeliever's assertion that
we Christians are easily hoaxed--the biggest ones being our belief
in the Bible and Christianity. This is my "FW: FW:" to you to stop
the fiction. Check it out first with TruthOrFiction.com or
Snopes.com. Don't give the impression that Christians don't check
out the truth.

# # #

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BARTIMAEUS ALLIANCE OF THE BLIND, INC. BABINC

Not So Blithe In BlythevilleBY Andy Bustanoby (C) June 18, 2005

BARTIMAEUS ALLIANCE OF THE BLIND, INC.
BABINC

Not So Blithe In Blytheville
BY
Andy Bustanoby
(C) June 18, 2005