MRI Meditation

MRI Meditation

Over the last couple of weeks, I have become frequently reminded of my mortality. Let me briefly recount the ways:

·         Two Saturdays ago, I had the privilege, the honor, of conducting the memorial service for a preacher friend that I've known for 25 years. His name was David, and he pastored a church in Redondo Beach was a fine man.

·         Last Tuesday, I had the privilege of taking my wife to Vada’s birthday party, celebrating her 100th birthday with her daughter and son-in-law and the many friends at the facility she lives at. Several church members also went there and I very much enjoyed myself with her.

·         On Saturday last, my wife and I attended the birthday party of a fine Christian woman who was a member of the first church I served as pastor thirty-five years ago. She celebrated her 80th birthday.

So, I have been reminded and reminded and reminded of mortality and the advance of age.

Now a separate line of thought. Several months ago, I began noticing certain sensations on the soles of my feet. I made an appointment with a neurologist who checked me for diabetic neuropathy. He concluded that the sensations on the bottoms of my feet (which are not painful) were not diabetic neuropathy. Whew!

The neurologist wondered whether or not the sensations in my feet were a consequence of a long-ago back surgery that I had, when my L5 lumbar vertebrae was fused to my sacrum in January 1969. I was a 19-year-old kid who had a weightlifting accident several years earlier, was subsequently discharged from the United States Air Force Academy because of it when it was discovered I was no longer ejection seat qualified or even flight qualified. That diagnosis resulted in me taking a discharge.

I decided to get the extreme back pain taken care of once and for all by checking into St. Vincent's Hospital in Portland, Oregon for the fusion surgery. From then to now, it has been what 51 years and the neurologist wondered if perhaps there was a connection between the back surgery and the sensations now occurring in the bottoms of my feet in my 69th year since neuropathy was ruled out as a cause of the symptom.

So today I went to get an MRI. When the narrow bed that I was on was pushed into the MRI machine, I experienced the very close quarters for the first time in my life. “Ah,” I thought to myself. “This is why they asked me so many different times if I was claustrophobic.” Of course, some people are so claustrophobic they can't take the confinement of an MRI machine. Additionally, I had not before been aware of how loud the noises are when an MRI machine is operating.

While lying still (hard for an itcher and scratcher like me to do), it suddenly dawned on me that sometimes people are diagnosed with stage IV cancer as the result of an MRI scan, having had no pain or any other noticeable symptoms. Imagine. Inside an MRI machine for about 20 minutes pondering the possibility that the doctor might diagnose me with cancer. Is that what is causing the weird sensations in my feet, cancer destroying that part of my lower spine that no longer has sensations due to the surgery fifty-one years ago?

At the time, the surgeon informed me that two very long scars would remind me of the back surgery, but that the incisions were unnecessary for the fusion. Rather, it was the protocol in 1969 to kill nerves to alleviate pain following the surgery. Hence, the long incisions. It ran through my mind that addressing a potential pain issue then might leave me without symptoms of something far worse now. The mind does wander.

I won't know anything for two or three days. The neurologist has to get the MRI results, and I have to make an appointment to see him. But in those few minutes in the MRI machine, I was reflecting on how much closer I might be to eternity than I imagined myself to be at the age of 69 without cancer.

Understand, I don't know whether I have cancer or not. I don't know whether there's anything there. The doctor is just taking a shot in the dark about something going on in my lower back as a result of my surgery long ago that might now affect the soles of my feet.

But the entire experience was orchestrated by my gracious Father to cause me to think about eternity. It is always good to ponder eternity. And what thoughts ran through my mind as I pondered those things, I would like to share with you. I was overwhelmed with peace. I was overwhelmed with gratitude. I was overwhelmed with contentment. I was thankful to the Lord for the opportunity that He has given me to serve Him for many, many years.

For a long time, I have had the privilege of ministering to people I love and care about, and I want to reflect in this Musings of a Gospel Minister what kind of feelings run through the mind of an old preacher who ponders how close he is to eternity, by the grace of God, and the comfort of God, and the blessedness of the indwelling Spirit of God. It's not a bad feeling. It's a comfortable feeling. And it's a confident feeling knowing that to be absent from the body is to be present with my glorious Lord.

I surely hope that should some occasion come into your life shortly where you ponder your mortality as I did this afternoon, that God gives you the comfort of mind and soul that He gave to me.

Bless you, preacher.

Our job this late in life is to finish well.

By the grace of God, I hope you finish well.

My friend David finished well.

I want to finish well.

Pastors Treating Pastors As Adults

PASTORS TREATING PASTORS AS ADULTS

A colleague recently invited me to speak at a preacher’s meeting. Being invited to speak at such meetings is an infrequent occurrence for me. Perhaps these musings will provide you with an idea of why I am not frequently invited to speak to pastors more often, though I have served in my present field of service for thirty-five years.

At the beginning of my time in ministry, I went to a very large gathering of pastors in the upper midwestern part of the United States. It was there that I first noticed the reluctance of the host pastor to treat invited pastors as adults. We (and there were thousands of us) were treated like children, and quite intentionally deprived of the information adults might expect to receive to make pertinent decisions. This happened every time I attended that annual event. I did not appreciate being treated that way, but I guess that most of the others in attendance didn’t mind at all. I stopped attended and most of them continued to attend every year and put up with being treated like children.

I read. I read a great deal. And my selection of material to read is quite wide if discussions with others who read are any guide absent a scientific study. As a result of my reading, I have come to appreciate what was believed in the past and what was practiced in the past. My reading has cultivated my appreciation for Baptist history, Baptist doctrine, and Baptist practice in days gone by. My reading has also led me to cherish Baptist distinctives, with my thoughts while writing this article settling on the Baptist practice of Baptist preachers treating other Baptist preachers as peers, as equals, with respect, and appreciation of our high and holy calling. None of this Protestant denominational hierarchy nonsense for Baptists … in days gone by. Would that it was still so.

Appreciation for past Baptist practices makes me sensitive to those who, in my day, withhold respect and appreciation from others who are similarly called to the Gospel ministry. Therefore, it is with regret that I reflect on the practice of some Baptists (in name, at least) who have the notoriety and resources to cultivate large followings and host large gatherings that allow them to treat grown men, God-called preachers of the Gospel, as anything but peers.

Allow me to illustrate. Decades ago, I was planning a trip related to family matters that I realized would coincide with a large gathering of pastors in the western United States close to my planned destination. Reflecting on the situation at hand, it became apparent to me that I had time to attend a portion of the preachers meeting, but that I would be unable to attend a full day’s schedule. It was necessary for me to make an adult decision about the wisest use of my time.

I called the church where the meeting was scheduled to begin in a couple of days and found myself talking to someone who had access to the information I needed, who would be preaching, and when. I needed this information so I could make the best use of my time. However, when I asked for that information, the person I spoke to refused to inform me who was preaching when following explicit orders from the pastor.

I was stunned. I verified that the schedule had been arranged. I verified that there was no inherent confusion about who was speaking when and on what topic. Yet this information was denied me. When I asked the reason for withholding that information, I was told that it was “pastor’s policy.” Such information was not to be provided for any of the preachers attending the conference. Did the person I was speaking to know the schedule? The answer was yes. Yet the information was a closely guarded secret of such sensitivity that visiting pastors who could not attend an entire day were not allowed the information they might need to exercise wisdom they needed to redeem their time.

It has been more than two decades since that exchange took place, and I still have not yet figured out why certain men of prominence withhold such information — no one in the business world functions in that manner. My own life experience provided me with no insight into the logic employed to establish and maintain such a policy. I used to work on a National Security Agency deep black program, so I have been read in on the need for compartmentalization of classified information. But who preaches at 10:00 AM and who preaches at 11:00 AM is a closely held secret at a Baptist church conference? Really?

I am left to wonder. I have never treated preachers that way. I have never figured out why preachers would be treated that way. Are others as committed to treating Gospel ministers as if they were children like I experienced forty years ago? Is it an ego trip? Is it a demonstration of ecclesiastical superiority?

I am a Baptist pastor. I have read enough history and conducted enough research in preparing to write two of the books that I know how Baptists used to conduct their ministries.[1] I can tell you that there was a day when Baptists not only held to the conviction of local church autonomy and the trustworthiness of the Bible but something commonly referred to as soul liberty, as well.

When Baptist pastors embrace the concept of soul liberty, they stop this nonsense of treating other preachers as children who are incapable of making their own decisions and exercising wisdom concerning the best use of their time.

What think you, pastor? Am I being overly sensitive about this? Or is this symptomatic of a more serious matter, a slide toward some form of Protestant hierarchical conduct that reflects an abandoning of core Baptist convictions?

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[1] John S. Waldrip, The Church of Jesus Christ: 28 Truths Every Christian Ought To Learn, (Monrovia, CA: Classical Baptist Press, 2019), John S. Waldrip, The Blight Of Islam - Revised, (Monrovia, CA: Classical Baptist Press, 2018), John S. Waldrip, Suffer The Children (The tragic legacies of Finney & Bushnell), (Monrovia, CA: Classical Baptist Press, 2018)

Travesty Invitations

     There are two ways a Gospel minister can conduct an invitation for the sinner to trust Christ. He can either imbed his invitation into the body of his Gospel sermon (which is how Jonathan Edwards, John Wesley, George Whitefield, Asahel Nettleton, and Charles Spurgeon did it), or he can tack it on at the end (which is how Billy Graham and John R. Rice did it). This ministerial musing has nothing to do with where in the Gospel sermon the invitation to trust Christ is found.

     Feel free to preach the Gospel and invite sinners to trust Christ. Never hesitate to engage in that high and holy calling. As you do that, however, recognise that among those who actually preach the Gospel (and most don't) there are a great many whose invitations to trust Christ are diametrically opposed to the spirit of the Gospel they purport to preach.

     Who initiated God's interaction with Adam? God. Who initiated God's interaction with Noah? God. Who initated God's interaction with Abram? God. Who initiated God's interaction with Isaac? God. Who initiated God's interaction with Jacob/Israel? God.

     Whose idea was it to send God's Son to seek and to save sinners? God. Whose idea was it to bring the Church into existence to carry out the Great Commission of the Lord Jesus Christ? Would you like to answer that it was the Lord Jesus Christ? Great. Would you like to point out that the phrase "church of God" is found eight times in the New Testament, suggesting that it was God's idea? Also great. The point that I seek to make is that there is nothing about the church or the church's mission that would suggest any initiating activity with respect to the salvation of the lost is to be found in the thoughts or conduct of anyone who is lost.

     From Pentecost when the church was empowered onward the initiative is always found with the Spirit-empowered and Spirit-led Christians in the Biblical record. There is not a single instance in the New Testament of the initiative in a conversion transaction by an unsaved person. On the contrary, it is always God, the Spirit of God, the glorified Son of God, or the empowered child of God who initiates the conversion transaction.

     And how about the comments made by the Savior?  Did He not claim that He came to seek and to save that which was lost? Of course, He did.

     That being true, why are Gospel ministers and well-intentioned Christians so determined to reverse the dynamic the Bible so convincingly and unerringly pictures without fail? This is done when the sinner is told, taught, encouraged, exhorted, and otherwise misled to "invite Jesus into your life." What! From where comes this notion that the sinner is responsible to invite the Savior?

     Such an approach to evangelism suggests by action if not openly declaring by instruction that the Lord of glory is waiting for the sinner's word, the sinner's permission, the sinner's go-ahead before He dares to make a move. Such suggests the Savior is passive when the Bible shows Him to always and only be the instigator of the sinner's salvation.

     Just as I have no desire to engage anyone in an argument about when to invite sinner's to Christ, be it during or after a Gospel sermon, so also do I have no desire to engage in soteriological wranglings. I only seek to point out to men who are convinced the Gospel and its presentation are so clearly shown in Scripture that at no time should a sinner be led to conclude that he is the active party and the Savior is the passive party.

     Quite the other way around, John 1.12 shows the sinner to passively receive Christ. Matthew 11.28 shows the sinner to be responsive to Christ's command to come to Him. I leave it to you to search the New Testament for verification and validation of what I bring to your attention. It is a violation of New Testament pattern and protocol to teach a sinner, to suggest to a sinner, to encourage a sinner, and (if I may be so bold) to allow a sinner to invite Christ into his life.

     No, sir! To be saved you are to respond to Christ. You are not to initiate anything with Him. Those who are dead in trespasses and sins are incapable of initiating anything with Him. He left heaven's glory, was born of a virgin, died a substitutionary death on the cross, rose from the dead, ascended to glory, and saves to the uttermost those who come to God by Him ... doing so by responding, reacting, repenting, and believing in response to Him (and those who represent Him) via the Gospel.

     Only when this dynamic is appreciated and honored by the Gospel minister or the witnessing Christian is Jonah's declaration reflected: "Salvation is of the LORD." Am I suggesting that those who invite Jesus into their lives are not saved? No, I am not.

     I am suggesting that Gospel ministers and witnessing Christians conscientiously emulate and imitate as much as humanly possible the approach used to bring people to Christ found in the New Testament. It is better to urge the sinner to receive Christ, to believe in Christ, to believe on Christ, or to trust Christ than it is to suggest the sinner invite Jesus into his life. Why so? The Scriptural approach more implicitly acknowledges Christ as the initiatior and the instigator than does inviting Him into your life.

     The travesty invitation seems to invite Christ to do something He already purposed to do, came to do, and has declared He does. The proper invitation is an invitation to the sinner to respond to Christ, rather than the sinner inviting Christ to do something.

Women in the Church by Kostenberger & Schreiner

     I was saddened but not surprised to learn a number of men without whom I have been aquainted for decades decided to feature their wife, their daughter, or another female speaker during the Sunday morning worship time of their recent Mother's Day service. It requires an ignorance of Second Corinthians 5.14 to think that such a move by a Gospel minister evokes images of love for either women or anyone else. It requires an ignorance of First Timothy 2.9-15 to think such a move by a Gospel minister is permitted by God's Word and does not introduce confusion to the already confused world affected by third wave feminism.

     The slide into effeminacy has continued apace in the West for centuries, with so many women and more and more men thinking they are magnanimous for surrendering a position in the society, in the family unit, and in the church assigned to them by God. Confusion reigns, and since God is not the author of confusion it is clear that this trend is not of God.

     Do they not study God's Word and discover there God's plan for men, for women, for marriage, and for church and society? As well, do they not correlate the current trend with the prophesied slide into apostasy? Finally, have they no concern for the confusion introduced into the lives of children who increasingly make distastrous choices about sexual practices and so-called gender identity? Does no one read secular history to discover the implementation of a plan (Critical Theory) by a group of communists (the Frankfurt School) who moved to this country before World War Two with the goal of destroying our culture?

     The whole world is going mad, as we see more and more evidence of what happens when God turns people over to a reprobate mind. People who are sometimes brilliant nevertheless abandon any capacity to make more judgments about anything.

     Into this debate has been introduced the third edition of "Women In The Church" by Andreas J. Kostenberger and Thomas R. Schreiner. It is a masterpiece of scholarship, application, and courage in a culture gone south. It is a must read for anyone involved in the teaching and preaching of God's Word.

Women in the Church: An Interpretation and Application of 1 Timothy 2:9-15 by Andreas J. Köstenberger

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


An extremely well-prepared and marvelously thorough treatment of a timely issue in congregations everywhere. I have already held my copy up to the congregation I preach to and have endorsed the book with my highest praise. I like everything about this work.



View all my reviews

Finishing Well

I am generally a very happy man. God has given me a cheerful disposition, even though I am sometimes prone to deep reflection and introspection. So, it has been with sheer delight that I lead our Church into another annual missions conference in which all but the final of the scheduled speakers not only have forty plus years of Gospel ministry with reputations untarnished, but each of them is committed to finishing well.

Despite this I find myself in a somewhat gloomy state this afternoon as I sit back and begin the second volume of Stephen Kotkin’s biography of Josef Stalin, Stalin: Waiting For Hitler, 1929-1941. And what was it that plunged me into a funk while reading the biography if an evil man long dead? It was a section of Kotlin’s first chapter he labelled “The Victim.”

Everyone who is my age or older has some familiarity with Josef Stalin’s reputation. But I had not before known one aspect of his personality, the facility of casting himself always and in every case the victim. Kotkin writes in connection with Stalin’s most loyal colleague, Bukharin:

“Bukharin had grimly foreseen that Stalin would twist his words and label him a schismatic to extract political advantage, but Stalin’s cruelty was something his friend would puzzle over for a long time. And no matter how underhandedly the dictator undercut Bukharin, Stalin was the victim… Stalin wrote to Bukharin on April 16, 1929… ‘Will you at some point desist the attacks against me?’”

I am not saddened that Stalin’s mindset was so perverse that he used his victim mentality to justify his actions. I am saddened that my mind’s eye fell as I read upon a Gospel minister who is quite unlike the men preaching at our Church’s annual missions conference, who are finishing well, and who recognize that no child of God is anyone’s victim. On the contrary, we are the most blessed of God’s creatures. I am saddened by the thoughts of a man who is not finishing well, a man who sees himself as a victim, and who portrays anyone and everyone who disagrees with him about anything as a compromising traitor to the cause of Christ. As I read of Stalin I thought of this man, his victim mentality, and his willingness to twist the words and actions of those who are decidedly not his enemies for short-term political advantage.

I cannot be angry at such a man. I cannot seek revenge against such a man. I can only feel sad and get as far away from such an unapproachable figure as I possibly can. I must allow no one to hinder me from finishing well. I urge every Gospel preacher to contemplate what the apostle wrote in Second Timothy 4:

⁶     For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand.

⁷     I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith:

⁸     Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.

Let us finish well. Does someone disagree with you? Disagreement does not make an enemy. Does someone choose not to stand with you? Could it possibly be that he can no longer stand with you in good conscience while standing for the Lord? We are flawed and fallible men who must focus our attention on finishing well, so we do not undo in the end what we have spent our lives doing for the Lord.

So-Called Baptist Preachers

     There are drawbacks from reading Baptist history and observing the conduct of our forebears when there were giants in the land. One alarming development is the capricious attitude that is displayed these days with respect to membership and the authority of the congregation where one is a member. Is God no longer on the throne?
     It was not unusual before the Revolutionary War (on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean) for someone who was sought after to become the pastor of another congregation to seek the endorsement of his home Church and to remain in his home congregation if permission to depart and join another congregation was denied. Such was the attitude of God-called men back in the day. They did not think they had authority greater than the authority of the Church in which God placed them. Neither did they believe they had the wisdom to thwart the will of the congregation where they served.
     Such is certainly not the case in modern times, where pastors, missionaries, and evangelists change Church memberships and/or fields of service without regard to the will of the congregation where their membership was held. Frequently these days evangelists set up non-profits in order to operate quite independently from their Church, sometimes because they change membership so frequently.
     Do you think this approach to Church membership helps to explain why so many Church members take their responsibilities as members so lightly? Is this partly why charismatic congregations have no memberships at all? Yet we Baptists rarely, if ever, see real integrity when it comes to membership. Pastors do not usually honor the memberships of other congregations anymore when receiving new members. Remember when Church letters were sought and granted? Not anymore.
     We have slipped considerably from the days when Baptists acted like Baptists, when spiritual leaders believed Christ built His Church, and when undershepherds returned strays to their proper place.
     God help us preachers in 2019 to reflect Scriptural mandates better and to conduct ourselves more like the giants of days gone by.

Ronald Reagan's Letter To His Dying Atheist Father-In-Law

Note: This letter began making the rounds on the Internet in September 2018. I have no way of quickly verifying its authenticity, but enjoyed and was comforted by the content.

- The Musing Minister

Ronald Reagan’s lost private letter written while President to his dying atheist father-in-law was found and published in the Washington Post this week. There could be no better words penned to a dying doctor about discovering hope and salvation. A great inspiring read if you have 4 minutes.

Aug. 7 [1982]

“Dear Loyal,
     I hope you’ll forgive me for this, but I’ve been wanting to write you ever since we talked on the phone. I am aware of the strain you are under and believe with all my heart there is help for that.
First I want to tell you of a personal experience I’ve kept to myself for a long time. During my first year as Governor you’ll recall the situation I found in Calif. was almost as bad as the one in Wash. today. It seemed as if the problems were endless and insolvable.
     Then I found myself with an ulcer. In all those years at Warner Bros., no one had been able to give me an ulcer and I felt ashamed as if it were a sign of weakness on my part. John Sharpe had me on Malox and I lived with a constant pain that ranged from discomfort to extremely sharp attacks.
     This went on for months. I had a bottle of Maalox in my desk, my briefcase and of course at home. Then one morning I got up, went into the bathroom, reached for the bottle as always and some thing happened. I knew I didn’t need it. I had gone to bed with the usual pain the night before but I knew that morning I was healed. The Malox went back on the shelf.
     That morning when I arrived at the office Helene brought me my mail. The first letter I opened was from a lady — a stranger — in the Southern part of the state. She had written to tell me she was one of a group who met every day to pray for me. Believe it or not, the second letter was from a man, again a stranger, in the other end of the state telling me he was part of a group that met weekly to pray for me.
Within the hour a young fellow from the legal staff came into my office on some routine matter. On the way out he paused in the door and said: “Gov. I think maybe you’d like to know — some of us on the staff come in early every morning and get together to pray for you.”
     Coincidence? I don’t think so. A couple of weeks later Nancy and I went down to L.A. and had our annual checkup. John Sharpe, a little puzzled, told me I no longer had an ulcer but added there was no indication I’d ever had one. Word of honor — I never told him about that particular day in Sacramento.
There is a line in the bible — “Where ever two or more are gathered in my name there will I be also.”
Loyal I know of your feeling — your doubt but could I just impose on you a little longer? Some seven hundred years before the birth of Christ the ancient Jewish prophets predicted the coming of a Messiah. They said he would be born in a lowly place, would proclaim himself the Son of God and would be put to death for saying that.
     All in all there were a total of one hundred and twenty three specific prophesys about his life all of which came true. Crucifixion was unknown in those times, yet it was foretold that he would be nailed to a cross of wood. And one of the predictions was that he would be born of a Virgin.
     Now I know that is probably the hardest for you as a Dr. to accept. The only answer that can be given is — a miracle. But Loyal I don’t find that as great a miracle as the actual history of his life. Either he was who he said he was or he was the greatest faker & charlatan who ever lived. But would a liar & faker suffer the death he did when all he had to do to save himself was admit he’d been lying?
     The miracle is that a young man of 30 yrs. without credentials as a scholar or priest began preaching on street corners. He owned nothing but the clothes on his back & he didn’t travel beyond a circle less than one hundred miles across. He did this for only 3 years and then was executed as a common criminal.
     But for two thousand years he has ... had more impact on the world than all the teachers, scientists, emperors, generals and admirals who ever lived, all put together.
     The apostle John said, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that who so ever believed in him would not perish but have everlasting life.”
     We have been promised that all we have to do is ask God in Jesus name to help when we have done all we can — when we’ve come to the end of our strength and abilities and we’ll have that help. We only have to trust and have faith in his infinite goodness and mercy.
     Loyal, you and Edith have known a great love — more than many have been permitted to know. That love will not end with the end of this life. We’ve been promised this is only a part of life and that a greater life, a greater glory awaits us. It awaits you together one day and all that is required is that you believe and tell God you put yourself in his hands.

Love Ronnie”
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