Sunday, December 28, 2008

Requiescant In Pace



Dominic Joseph Diaz

January 3,1995-November 30,2008



Yet again was I stunned by the lamentable intelligence of the departure of a beautiful child of a family with whom I've befriended.Dominic was indeed a lad of boundless energy and potential,in both academia and athleticism, who was loved and admired far beyond his own awareness.The heights to which his acumen would have propelled him is a question that will remain forever unreplied to.

It is at times like these,those of exquisite pain and loss in which oft we labor to make sense,that we are reminded of the mortal importance of clinging ever fervently to the Cross of Christ.!!!


Dominic has been spared the tumultuous ebb and flow of sojourn on this sphere.A foreordained place on the shores of the new Canaan,at the Feet of the Lamb,be his portion.A gallant young champion now crowned with a halo of everlasting life whose examples of resilience and punctilious compunction in life's endeavors were,by the grace of God alone, bequests to those whose lives he touched.


Cease, cease, dear friends & don't complain
Your loss is my eternal gain
And when our sufferings here are o'er
May we all meet to part no more.
http://www.dancingenergy.ca/~stitcher/images/Completed/CelticCross.jpg



This Protestant Laird will miss you,Dominic

Sunday, September 28, 2008

A very dear young friend....Asleep in Jesus


Stephen Lewis Kness II

Sunrise January 8,1988-Sunset September 13,2008



To God for mercy he did cry,
Oh! Christ prepare me for to die;
We trust he's reached that peaceful shore,
Where death and suffering are no more.


A complete,rather than primary,reliance upon providentialism has been the hallmark of the Reformed faith since the days of Calvin and Knox.It is occasions such as this which subject the mettle of this core Presbyterian tenet to its severest test,by far.............

Several days ago,I telephoned some very fear friends of mine and was stunned by the sad intelligence of the death of their son.I along with the virtual whole of our congregation feel the horrific sense of loss.

Stephen Lewis Kness II was a loveable young man who was uniquely gifted in many things.A talented musician,he participated in a variety of competitions throughout the valley and earned a lofty reputation for skill and precision.Yet,amidst the approbation by which his acumen was met,he never lost the peculiar humility that typifies a heart where the love of God through Christ abode;a fact underscored by his commitment to the Westminster Youth and Nehemiah initiatives,among others.

At times,we all are called upon to assume a struggle which upon its face appears all but insurmountable.This young man endeavored laying his iniquities at the Cross of Christ and a valiant struggle for wholeness and had presumed it better he fought the fight devoid of any mortal vessels who loved him so.........

The latter portions of this resolve would prove the lament of many; as those of us he left behind would never have dreamt the armistice for which he yearned and for which we all prayed and hoped would take the form of his summons to the bivouac of eternal peace at such a young age.

May Almighty God in His mercy vouchsafe that the elect resolve to cling ever more fervently to His Will and to answer the call to arms with an intrepidity that rivals this young champion who lies stilled until the rapture is nigh...and yet,unvanquished!!

Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

Matthew 11:28-30

http://www.coptic.net/pictures/Tableau.GoodShepherd.gif

He is now safe in the bosom of the Promised Redeemer!!!!!!!!!!!!


Wednesday, September 3, 2008

The Semiseptennial of the passing of England's Lord Protector,Oliver Cromwell

http://www.albatrus.org/english/potpourri/images/Oliver%20Cromwell.jpg
  • We study the glory of God, and the honour and liberty of parliament, for which we unanimously fight, without seeking our own interests... I profess I could never satisfy myself on the justness of this war, but from the authority of the parliament to maintain itself in its rights; and in this cause I hope to prove myself an honest man and single-hearted.
    • Statement to Colonel Valentine Walton, 5 or 6 September 1644

Three hundred and fifty years ago,at about four o'clock on a Friday afternoon,Protestant England bid farewell to its Lord Protector.Referred to as the "late usurper" by the Presbyterians of his age,he was reputed both as a champion or bulwark of Protestantism as well as a ruthless regicidal depot used as the Devil's instrument to-at minimum- tacitly endorse pluralism in our tradition of faith.

Distantly akin to the House of Tudor, he was born on the 25th of April in 1599.His first comparatively obscure forty years on this Earth reflected the typical yeoman lifestyle and station of East Anglia mid gentry.How decadently ironic that this foreordained vessel to challenge the legitimacy of the English Crown,like no other of common birth,would himself be of distant progeny to the House of Stuart!!!

He endeavored to study at Sidney Sussex College; an institution that was established in 1596 with decidedly Puritan roots.

http://www.panoramio.com/photos/original/6256089.jpg
some good and godlie moniment for the mainteynance of good learninge

Although he did not finish his studies here,having left the institution in June 1617,immediately upon the death of his father,his exposures while at school,coupled with those he enjoyed by way of his father-in-law and the Puritan members of the London gentry galvanized his resolve toward the particular style of Independent Puritanism for which he was so noted. In 1970,Cromwell's head was interred beneath the chapel,by the way.

The factors in the struggle between Parliament and the English Crown are as numerous as they are complex.Time forbids a lengthy exploration into each variable,yet this article will take an unflinching look at the more significant ones.

Like his father,James VI, Charles was committed to uniting England and Scotland;a most unsettling notion for many! Not especially noted either for his powers of oration or diplomatic skill,his rather maladroit style did much to exacerbate tensions and subject the nation to much undue strife and grief;much of which was in the vein of an expiation of the demons wrought by goals unfulfilled by his father's tenure!

To heighten matters,his pretty wife...
The image “http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d5/Henriettamaria1640schoolvandyck.jpg” cannot be displayed, because it contains errors.

..Henrietta Maria,happened also to be Catholic.England was a time bomb!

In addition,King Charles I was dedicated to steering England away from Calvinism.He pitted the Calvinists in Parliament against the savvy ecclesiastical acumen of William Laud,the Archbishop of Canterbury..
The image “http://satucket.com/lectionary/laud1.jpg” cannot be displayed, because it contains errors....whose High Church predilections would lead to his ultimately having met the headsman's axe on the 10th of January 1645.

.........the climate of Mother England was in a most desultory state!Indeed,one that Oliver Cromwell was foreordained to remedy.........or perhaps poised to exploit!

In 1647 Parliament was quite polarized over the issue of kingship.February of that year saw Cromwell sidelined with illness;only to find both houses of Parliament pushing for a settlement that would restore Charles I and draft a Presbyterian model.

http://www.apuritansmind.com/images/MiscImages/WestminsterAssemblyPortrait.jpgThe Westminster Assembly was summoned by Parliament(initially in 1643). To this end,the term Presbyterian came into widespread and popular use.It was completed by the Westminster Assembly in 1647 and adopted by the General Assembly in Scotland the following year!These expedients have formed the backbone of Presbyterian/Reformed worship traditions in the English speaking world,subordinate only to the Word of God!


In 1648,a Second Civil War began.Suffice it to note the inextricable link in all unrest pandemic in this period of English history;with mere breathing spells between.The Scots invaded England aiding Charles whose aim was to reclaim power by way of force.In the end,Cromwell,firm in the belief that he was a chosen instrument for the manifestation of God's will,was triumphant.

It was around this time that the powers and styles of oration in Cromwell began to shift rather dramatically!His delivery became,decidedly,even more Bible-based.In the Eight chapter of the Book of Isaiah,verse 14,we read:

14And he shall be for a sanctuary; but for a stone of stumbling and for a rock of offence to both the houses of Israel, for a gin and for a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

For the Cromwellian faction,this was a "rallying cry".The Parliament's haphazard negotiations which tacitly endorsed "Divine Right",coupled with the humiliating defeat of the Royalists was interpreted by many that it was time to purge England...period!

Charles was brought to trial for high treason...............


http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/96/King_Charles_I_by_Antoon_van_Dyck.jpg "I would know by what power I am called hither ... I would know by what authority, I mean lawful; there are many unlawful authorities in the world; thieves and robbers by the high-ways ... Remember, I am your King, your lawful King, and what sins you bring upon your heads, and the judgement of God upon this land. Think well upon it, I say, think well upon it, before you go further from one sin to a greater ... I have a trust committed to me by God, by old and lawful descent, I will not betray it, to answer a new unlawful authority; therefore resolve me that, and you shall hear more of me.

I do stand more for the liberty of my people, than any here that come to be my pretended judges ... I do not come here as submitting to the Court. I will stand as much for the privilege of the House of Commons, rightly understood, as any man here whatsoever: I see no House of Lords here, that may constitute a Parliament ... Let me see a legal authority warranted by the Word of God, the Scriptures, or warranted by the constitutions of the Kingdom, and I will answer."


The image “http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/STUharrisonT.JPG” cannot be displayed, because it contains errors. This was Major General Thomas Harrison, a distant cousin of this Protestant Laird and the seventeenth of the fifty-nine to sign the death warrant of King Charles I.Ultimately,he would object strenuously to the Protectorate of Oliver Cromwell;being imprisoned four times in its duration.Unyielding to the end in his belief that Christ Himself would reign in England in 1666(as espoused by his leadership over the Fifth Monarchists),he opposed the Restoration of the English crown,as well.He was hanged,drawn and quartered at Charing Cross on the 13th of October,1660.

"...God hath covered my head many times in the day of Battle. By God I have leaped over a wall, by God I have runned through a Troop, and by my God I will go through this death..."



He entered no plea,as to have done so would validate the legitimacy of the ad hoc tribunal which comprised his trial-a legitimacy he genuinely believed they did not have!

http://imagecache2.allposters.com/images/BRGPOD/105889.jpg
Nevertheless,he met his end on Tuesday January 30,1649.His head was severed with a quick,clean stroke!It is said there were those who dipped their handkerchiefs in the blood of the martyred king (a conjectural pretext for his martyrdom's cult following).Yet,this is largely thought an apocryphal mechanism promulgated by avid Royalists.


England,at that point,became a Commonwealth.

http://www.yeomenoftheguard.com/commonwealth12.jpg


In truth,about the only thing that rivaled the complexity of the inherent parochialisms that led to the English Civil War of the 1640's was the station in which Presbyterians in the kingdom found themselves.Cromwell quite sternly objected to Scottish Presbyterianism;as he regarded the hierarchical structure too rigid and authoritarian,among other things.Although sentiments against Cromwell were never as strong in Scotland as they were in Ireland,they are quite worthy of note!

http://www.maybole.org/Community/citizens/pastandpresent/williamcunninghan9thearlofglencairn.jpg

This is the ninth Earl of Glencairn,William Cunningham;who had been an ardent supporter of Charles I.He led an effort during Cromwell's Protectorate known as "Glencairn's Rebellion".Although hardly the tactical equivalent to Joan of Arc at Orleans in 1429,his efforts were regarded as part of a curative the Scots needed to guard against the systematic suppression of their rights!


The image “http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b5/RichardBaxter.jpg” cannot be displayed, because it contains errors.
The English Presbyterian Richard Baxter said of Cromwell:

"He thought secrecy a virtue, and dissimulation no vice, and simulation, that is in plain English, a lie, or perfideousness to be a tolerable fault in case of necessity".

Actually,Presbyterianism was not Baxter's only religious tie.While thought of as Calvinistic in the moderate sense,he rejected the doctrine of Particular Atonement.This Protestant Laird is inclined to infer Baxter's core position in the quinquarticular controversy to be less predicated upon Biblical and catechetical warrant than consensus and partisan expediency!

On the other hand,there were Presbyterians(as well as Baptists and Congregationalists) without whose support Cromwell could not have achieved what he achieved and Cromwell himself is classified as a Calvinist whose influence hinged to a large measure upon dwindling Presbyterian influence in the English Parliament.Rather difficult to discern who was rallying and waging war for whom and/or in whose name,isn't it?

Is it easy to see why mother England was in such a politically desultory state?

Was Oliver Cromwell a foreordained champion or a regicidal demagogue? The arguments to support/refute are virtually limitless and,among certain realms of the Reformed historical intelligencia, are waged no less fiercely today than when he lived.May this Protestant Laird share his perspective?

It has been three hundred-fifty years since Oliver Cromwell's roll was called.While it is not our place to speculate whether or not the Kirk triumphant was his portion when his flesh failed him,we err against the Church of Jesus Christ to not weigh his bequest to Protestantism and to Mother England!

As an American,this Laird defers to the platform of individual liberty for which Cromwell stood;as this is one of the few nations on this planet where The Protestant Laird's Yard may be maintained without fear of legal sanction.Yet,as the magistrate beareth not the sword for naught(as per Romans 13:4) and as one of some Plantagenet ancestry,the notion of Divine Right of Kings should not be ruled out capriciously,either.It may be safely wagered that Cromwell was,to appreciable measure, no less ruled by inherent parochialisms than were the bourgeois Presbyterians in the English Parliament from whose disenfranchisement he benefitted.This,coupled with Charles' pandering of Archbishop Laud and the Calvinists against each other proved quite the lethal mix for England and the greatest challenge to the monarchy since the Magna Carta!!!

Let we who are alive today be ever mindful of what went awry in that time.Let's not delude ourselves into thinking that such tumult cannot happen.Take a look at how marginalized our faith has become and how secularization,political correctness and Scriptural revisionism,fueled in part by textual criticism,have reduced the gravity of the Father's Word and Covenant.

It can be stated that,in the spiritual civil war presently waged in this quarter of the earth,the situation is no less riotous!














Thursday, August 14, 2008

Spirit of the Cherokee

The image “http://www.guthriestudios.com/images/Cherokee_nation.jpg” cannot be displayed, because it contains errors.
Cherokee Legend


Do you know the legend of the Cherokee Indian youth's rite of Passage?

His father takes him into the forest, blindfolds him and leaves him alone.
He is required to sit on a stump the whole night and not remove the
blindfold until the rays of the morning sun shine through it. He cannot cry
out for help to anyone. Once he survives the night, he is a MAN. He cannot
tell the other boys of this experience, because each lad must come into
manhood on his own.


The boy is naturally terrified.
He can hear all kinds of noises.
Wild beasts must surely be all around him.
http://www.alaska-in-pictures.com/data/media/2/terrifying-grizzly-bear_4229.jpg The image “http://www.roundpenmagic.com/cougar4a.jpg” cannot be displayed, because it contains errors.
.............................................Maybe even some human might do him harm.

The wind blew the grass and earth, and shook his stump, but he sat
stoically, never removing the blindfold. It would be the only way he could
become a man! Finally , after a horrific night the sun appeared and he
removed his blindfold. It was then that he discovered his father sitting on
the stump next to him. He had been at watch the entire night, protecting
his son from harm.

http://www.geocities.com/rapturetheory2000/jesus4.jpg

We, too, are never alone. Even when we don't know it, God is watching over
us, sitting on the stump beside us. When trouble comes, all we have to do
is reach out to Him.

If you liked this story, pass it on.
If not, you took off your blindfold before dawn.


Moral of the story:

Just because you can't see God,

Doesn't mean He is not there.

'For we walk by faith, not by sight.'


The image “http://digital.library.okstate.edu/Chronicles/v018/images/v018p229photo.jpg” cannot be displayed, because it contains errors.

The Reverend Stephen Foreman (1807-1881) ,born of a Cherokee Indian mother and a Scottish father,was a vessel foreordained to advance the Kingdom of Christ among his people.He studied at Union Theological Seminary,Princeton and was licensed to preach by the Union Presbytery of Tennessee in October of 1833.His work predestined included translating the Books of Isaiah,Psalms and the New Testament into the Cherokee language.Noted for preaching with a certain fluent animation in the Cherokee tongue,he also proved an instrument,to the Glory of God,in the establishment of the first Presbyterian Church at Tahlequah.


Soli Deo Gloria



Saturday, August 9, 2008

Bernard Jeffrey McCullough (October 5, 1957 – August 9, 2008)

http://www.circumstitions.com/Images/Famous/berniemac.jpg

Bernie Mac is gone...

It is with a profound sadness that this Protestant Laird announces the passing of a true comedic genius.Often incorrigibly raunchy,yet tempered with a legitimate,galvanized reality,the comedian known as Bernie Mac slipped the bonds of this mortal life this morning in Chicago and now is with the Savior.


While the overwhelming majority of his humor was hardly fodder for an episode of the Coral Ridge Hour,he espoused a gritty relevance that,while side-splittingly funny,was never exploitive!That is more that anyone can say for those with dark agendas cloaked in pious garb!

As his career matured,he endeavored to embody the virtues of the devoted family man......


The image “http://crazyabouttv.com/Images/berniemacshow.jpg” cannot be displayed, because it contains errors. .......he starred in the Bernie Mac Show,which aired in 2001 and ran for five seasons and garnered a plethora of awards for excellence.In TV Guide's list of the 50 Greatest TV Dads of All Time,he ranked 47th.An impressive benchmark for a series whose run was not an especially protracted one!

Bernie Mac waged a valiant struggle against sarcoidosis for several years.Amidst the onslaught of this most debilitating malady,he pressed on in a tireless quest. He would later be ranked 72nd on Comedy Central's list of the 100 Greatest Stand Up Comedians of All Time.

In 2007,he announced on The Late Show with David Letterman that he no longer would do the stand up routines for which he was noted.Endeavoring to focus more on film production and to take more time to spend with his family,he thus reflected the fruits of a genuine epiphany that comes from only one source.



http://img112.imageshack.us/img112/3254/zzz8ic.jpg

This Protestant Laird's prayers are with his wife,Rhonda,their daughter,Je'Niece and granddaughter Jasmine; as well as the tens of millions of fans of this comic giant,both in and outside the United States.

You always kept it real,Bernie......We thank you for that and may the angels lead you into Paradise!!!!

Tuesday, August 5, 2008

A Deacon's "perspectives" - Earl Apel of Mount Auburn Presbyterian Church Cincinnati, Ohio ...


In spite of the richness, clarity and judiciary culture and tone of our tradition of faith in Christ, or perhaps because of these, we have in our Presbyterian churches a myriad of profane cliques who have mastered the art of feigning cognitive dissonance when given portions of our beliefs are not in proportion to their whims. Their profanity becomes validated when the penchant for the scripturally cogent is not pursued with extreme prejudice. In Ephesians, are we not enjoined to put on the whole armor of God? Is the Sword of the Spirit not the Word of God? Are we not charged to substantiate church doctrine with Scripture, i.e. a fortiori?

In this vein none, save the mind of a typical New Age heretic like the one pictured above,Earl Apel, would look at G-6.0106b and deduce the following:
"G-6.0106b does not address homosexuals or so-called homosexual practice at all. In fact, it notes there are standards (more than one) and notes that among those standards is one that would obviously apply to heterosexuals (men and women) since marriage does not apply to homosexuals in the PCUSA. So if there is more than one standard, it makes perfect sense that there are also standards for homosexuals not stated here that include loving, committed relationships that, in fact, can be blessed in the PCUSA and so are not sin. And there are numerous other standards not explicitly stated by G-6.0106b."
Our tradition of faith is so vast and its history so multi-factorial that it's impossible for every catechetical vignette therein to explicitly condemn what was referred to a century ago as "that unspeakable act". If we are to follow Earl Apel's logic (God forbid), we can focus only on this and say that, because G-6 makes no mention whatsoever of the Lord's Supper, perhaps we should ban communion!

The image “http://www.tmethvin.com/methvin/photo/methven-token2.jpg” cannot be displayed, because it contains errors.

This Laird supposes such a move would reduce communion tokens,like this one from Perthshire, Scotland,to the equivalent of....what......contraband??!!


This is just a clever attempt, one employed ad infinitum by the apostate factions I would add, to side-step the moral gravity of Leviticus 20:13.Another grave consequence of this is that the construct of the family, with all concomitant values and obligations, preliminary and incumbent, have been compromised-perhaps irreparably!

http://i186.photobucket.com/albums/x302/sobchak_walter/Archie_Bunker-1.jpg It's got a lot of us beside ourselves,Arch!

The elect are reminded in the Second Helvetic Confession, reaffirmed by the Protestants in Scotland in 1566, Chapter 17,Section 5.140 that "...while the pious snore, the wicked gain ground and do harm to the Church." The elect, in the wholesale sense, seem to have all but completely lost sight of the gravity of THIS catechetical dictum. As a result, perhaps even reflective of a Divine expiation for the laxity of the righteous, thistles like this are allowed to bloom in the garden of God's Kirk where the TULIP once abode.


Yet...for whatever it's worth........

http://www.hibblenradio.com/WKRP.jpg
It does nothing to tarnish the image of the City of Cincinnati in this Laird's mind.


...........all large cities have some form of pollution or another,after all............ :-)

Two juggernauts that have forgotten how to prioritize!



















General Motors and the PCUSA-two entities that have had a definite material impact on the life of this Protestant Laird,to say the absolute least!

The former had,once upon a time,annual profits that exceeded the Gross National Products of the four Scandinavian nations combined and at one point,rivaled Italy's GNP.

Translation:The CEO of GM quite literally wielded world influence that was exponentially greater that MOST heads of state!



A Japanese company ( Toyota ) and an American company (GM) decided to have a canoe race on the Missouri River . Both teams practiced long and hard to reach their peak performance before the race . On the big day, the Japanese won by a mile . The Americans, very discouraged and depressed, decided to investigate the reason for the crushing defeat . A management team made up of senior management was formed to investigate and recommend appropriate action . Their conclusion was the Japanese had 8 people rowing and 1 person steering, while the American team had 8 people steering and 1 person rowing .


Feeling a deeper study was in order, American management hired a
consulting company and paid them a large amount of money for a second opinion . They advised, of course, that too many people were steering the boat, while not enough people were rowing . Not sure of how to utilize that information, but wanting to prevent another loss to the Japanese, the rowing team's management structure was totally reorganized to 4 steering supervisors, 3 area steering superintendents, and 1 assistant superintendent steering manager . They also implemented a new performance system that would give the 1 person rowing the boat greater incentive to work harder . It was called the 'Rowing Team Quality First Program,' with meetings, dinners, and free pens for the rower . There was discussion of getting new paddles, canoes, and other equipment, extra vacation days for practices and bonuses . The next year the Japanese won by two miles .


Humiliated, the America n management laid off the rower for poor
performance, halted development of a new canoe, sold the paddles, and canceled all capital investments for new equipment . The money saved was distributed to the Senior Executives as bonuses and the next year's racing team was out-sourced to India . Sadly, The End . Here's something else to think about: GM has spent the last thirty years moving all its factories out of the US , claiming they can't make money paying American wages . TOYOTA has spent the last thirty years building more than a dozen plants inside the US . The last quarter's results: TOYOTA makes 4 billion in profits while GM racked up 9 billion in losses . GM folks are still scratching their heads . IF THIS WEREN'T TRUE, IT MIGHT BE FUNNY
This is also a parable of the ineffective "renewal" efforts in the PCUSA. If real Christians were not suffering, it, too, might be funny.

Blessed are the saints who have been equipped with the sound doctrines of TULIP!


The Old Gray Dog
James E. Tuckett

Thanks,Rev.Jim. After this analogy,there's nothing that could come from this Protestant Laird,or anyone else,that wouldn't prove anti-climactic!!!!!