For those interested, I have a new cover. I like this older Rachel much better. It is a period photo I Photoshopped slightly to make her just a bit less plain looking, mainly her eyes and mouth.
A Study of Hebrews 6:4-8
This will be the first post in a new category: Bible. If you have read The Last Day of Forever or An Eternity of Four Years, you will know there is a strong spiritual thread laced through both books. Ethan struggles with his faith and often fails because he is human like you and me.
In a previous post I spoke about “The Hebrew,” Judah P. Benjamin, and now I will address the Epistle to the Hebrews in the Bible. (They are kind of alike, right?)
One of the more controversial passages in the Bible is found in Hebrews chapter 6, and some of the finest expositors I have heard interpret it incorrectly.
Hebrews 6:4-8 For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit, 5 and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, 6 if they fall away, to renew them again to repentance, since they crucify again for themselves the Son of God, and put Him to an open shame. 7 For the earth which drinks in the rain that often comes upon it, and bears herbs useful for those by whom it is cultivated, receives blessing from God; 8 but if it bears thorns and briers, it is rejected and near to being cursed, whose end is to be burned. (NKJV)
Some claim that this passage is teaching that a believer can lose his salvation and point to words like impossible, once tasted, fall away, renew, repentance, and burned, and say “See, you can lose your salvation!” There is one problem with that interpretation: This passage has absolutely zero to do with salvation or losing it! Hebrews is apologetic in character; it is a defense of the faith.
The author is unknown, but the epistle is full of Paulineisms so some believe Paul wrote it. More likely it was someone who spent a lot of time with Paul, like Barnabas or another of Paul’s disciples. It was written before the siege of Jerusalem (AD68) and fall of Jerusalem and the destruction of the Temple (AD70). We believe that because the epistle makes mention of the animal sacrifices and Temple worship as if they were still being practiced.
The epistle was clearly written to Jewish believers in Jesus Christ as Messiah who are likely part of a larger Jewish community. For them at the time of writing, it has been perhaps 40 years since the Cross, and they were under tremendous pressure from non-believing family members and others in the local Jewish community, who are trying to convince them they have made a mistake. They must have been thinking Jesus just may not have been the Messiah after all. He promised to come back, but He hasn’t yet. Maybe it is time to return to our old system of worship, the Law.
What would that mean for them?
- The law was a Conditional Covenant – “Carrot and stick” system to manage Israel and through which God could relate to His people.
- It was designed to point out the impossibility to achieve righteousness through human effort. No universal indwelling of believers by the Holy Spirit, thus no guidance, enablement like we enjoy today. Keeping the Law was done through human effort alone.
- It was designed to point to the need for a mediator (Christ – the Lamb pictured in the Levitical offerings.)
- It was a system whereby, through the Levitical sacrifices, they could be declared “judicially blameless” from sin under the terms of the covenant and find forgiveness for one year, then the process had to be repeated.
- They looked forward to the coming of Messiah and His Kingdom
Context review… A quick review of the 13 chapters of Hebrews demonstrates four things very clearly
- It was written to Jews and the message has a strong Jewish context that would have resonated with Jews, but not so much with Gentile believers.
- These Jews were under some kind of pressure to abandon their faith in Jesus as Messiah and return to their old ways of worship under the Law, thus all this Old Covenant New Covenant contrasting.
- The problem for them is they have not advanced spiritually and are still babes in Christ and are thus easily swayed because …
- Their faith is weak. Faith and the consequences of the lack of faith are the core themes of Hebrews.
Chapter 6 begins with the writer saying they need to move on and not go back. “Dead works” = a system of worship that is now dead – the Law. The only option for them is to move forward because “back” is no longer there to go back to. And what happens when they try to go back? – Verse 4 “It is impossible … if they fall away, to renew them again to repentance…”
“Fall away” in the Greek means to abandon a former relationship or association. “Restore” should be translated “renew” (see 2 Corinthians 4:16; Colossians 3:9-10). The Greek means “to make new,” “to produce something new,” “to bring into use,” “to dedicate.” “To” is the Greek eis, which can have a spiritual application in the sense of connecting a separate divine reality with a cosmic reality.
“Repentance” actually means “a change of mind (or one’s way of life) for the better” and is not used here in the context of salvation or from sin but refers to spiritual maturity. Returning to the Levitical sacrificial system is returning to ritual and rejecting reality (the Cross). The Old Covenant has been replaced by the New Covenant (Romans 6:14-15).
Summarized: It is impossible … for those who have fallen away (abandoned a former relationship or association – faith in Christ as Messiah) to renew them again (for them to grow spiritually) to repentance (to have the divine imparted to them – maturity, Christ-likeness).
More simply: it is impossible for those who turn back to the Law and its system of sacrifices with its looking forward to the coming of the Messiah, to find spiritual growth and gratification there again. You can’t go back, because “back” isn’t there anymore!
The writer spells out the consequences of attempting this with an agricultural metaphor (verses 7 and 8), which is saying God brings blessings (rain on the field) upon those who are His, and the field (you) can bear fruit or briars. If the latter you can expect chastisement (burning the field) to get rid of the “briars” so you can become productive. This does not refer to the fires of hell.
Hebrews is simply an apologetic defense of the faith and a warning to those Jews who would abandon their faith in Jesus as Messiah and would attempt to return to an old and now obsolete system of worship where they will no longer find judicial blamelessness through the sacrifices. That is no longer available because of the Cross. Nor will they find the possibility for spiritual growth. And if you do go into this apostasy, you will be an unproductive child of God, and you can expect chastisement to bring you back to the truth and fruit production.
The Message for us today
- There is no going back for believers.
- There is no standing still for believers.
- There is only spiritual advancement as an option.
- Anything else will bring chastisement because God will burn your field of briars for fruit production.
- God didn’t save us to just become His trophies on a shelf. He saved us for service and to be productive for Him and His Plan.
You can’t go back, because “back” isn’t there anymore.
Filed under Bible
He be deid!
By all rights, my friend Buck should have been dead in 1969 when he was involved in a bad accident on his motorcycle. He was working in Morgan City and commuting to NOLA on his days off, spending those with friends Al Bartlett and Sam Hopkins, who were living the bohemian lifestyle in the French Quarter.
It was winter and cold, and Buck’s sole means of transportation was a Harley Sportster. He bundled up in his shepherd’s coat, the kind made out of sheep’s skin with the rough leather on the outside and the wool side facing inward. For added insulation he lined the inside his coat with newspaper, which makes excellent insulation, by the way. Thus bundled up, he headed for NOLA.
As he topped the overpass over I-10 where Airline Highway becomes Tulane Avenue on the New Orleans side, he saw the South Carrollton Avenue light was green for him and laid on the gas to be sure he made the light.
But, someone ran the light, and Buck t-boned them. The Harley came to a complete stop, but Buck didn’t. He flipped over the car, landed on his back, and slid down Tulane Avenue thusly, his fists still firmly grasping the Harley’s handgrips, which he had pulled off when he “disconnected” from the bike. He came to a stop abreast of an elderly black man who had been making his way towards Carrollton on the sidewalk along Tulane.
And Buck lay there motionless.
The old man hobbled over to Buck and bent over him for a closer look. Satisfied with his examination, he looked up towards the gathering crowd near the motorcycle and car crash scene and yelled, “He be deid!”
Buck opened his eyes and said, “No he’s not.”
And he wasn’t. Surprisingly unscathed, he had only a few scratches and a ruined coat, which, with the newspapers, had contributed to his lack of significant injuries. He got up, called his dad, who showed up with his pickup, into which they loaded the mangled bike, and went home.
Filed under Friends, Growing Up, Kenner
Today, I lost my best friend …
Michael (Buck) Roy and I have been friends for nearly 60 years now. During that time, we were like the closest of brothers. In fact, he lived with my family for a spell when we were teenagers. He went to be with the Lord this morning around 9am.
In a way, I am glad he’s gone, because he suffered with Lewy Body Dementia. He was aware he was quite literally losing his mind, and as expected, it scared him, and not many things scared Buck. It would scare me, too. I know he would not want to live in his own private hell of non-existence, dealing with the frightful hallucinations he was having as a result of the LBD.
He’s at peace now.
It is hard to put into words one’s feelings for another after being so close for so long. We shared so many adventures together, some of which I have written about here and here and here. (And I will write more as they come to mind.) We spent many a night around a campfire, discussing things that made no sense to us and things that did, solving the world’s problems and maybe helping aggravate a few. Our minds worked so much alike, it was scary. I suppose that is what drew us to each other.
Buck, which is what all of us who knew him from childhood called him, was one of the most outgoing people I ever knew. He could strike up a conversation with anyone about anything, even if he knew nothing of the subject. It was very hard to not like Buck. It was very hard not to smile when around him for any but the briefest periods. We did smile a lot, and we did laugh a lot, and we even wept on each other’s shoulders when we were hurting inside.
We knew the other would be there when we needed help, have each other’s back in a fight, even down to burying the body if it ever came to that.
Buck is gone now, but will never be forgotten. The best part of his passing is I know I will see him again in eternity. You see, when he was a teenager, Buck accepted Christ as his Savior. He went forward at a Billy Graham Crusade in New Orleans. Our separation will, therefore, be only temporary. And once again we can sit around a campfire, this time in Heaven, and swap tales.
In the meantime, I am going to really miss him.
Filed under Family History, Growing Up, Kenner
Backing up! Beep—Beep—Beep!
At my birthday party last night, we got to swapping some old stories. Some I will be sharing and some—well, maybe not. Here is one I was reminded of by a birthday gift. (That “desk accessory” on the left. I seem to have something of a reputation relating to toilets?)
With the onset of age comes what seems like a smaller bladder and, with that, perhaps a few trips to the bathroom at night.
Now, this is a challenge: You don’t want to wake up any more than absolutely necessary, otherwise going back to sleep gets iffy.
So, I make the trip in the dark and turn on no lights, guided only by moonlight or streetlight coming through the windows, lest I wake up more than necessary while getting the “job” done. Since there is not significant light for aiming purposes, and standing also tends to require more wakefulness—(getting my drift here?)—I sit. (OK, like a girl. Happy now?)
On this occasion, I’m sitting in the dark with my elbows on my knees, my head resting in my hands, and maybe even dozing a little during the eliminating process, trying desperately to maintain just enough wakefulness to avoid falling off the toilet but not wake up any more than absolutely necessary when …
I get the feeling I’m not alone.
I open my eyes and, in the weak light coming through the window, what fills my vision but Janis’ buttocks! She has the skirt of her nightgown hiked up and is backing up to the toilet—the one I’m occupying!
So, I calmly say, “Only one of us can fit on this thing, and I was here first.”
That was followed by a loud screech and a quick withdrawal of said buttocks.
Now, I’m wide awake from laughing.
Backing up! Beep—Beep—Beep!
Filed under Family History
The Brains of the Confederacy
In both of my books, The Last Day of Forever and, especially, An Eternity of Four Years, a gentleman by the name of Judah P. Benjamin plays a part. Judah P. Benjamin remains something of an enigma because he destroyed his private papers at the end of the Civil War, and in spite of leading a very public life as a successful attorney, planter, politician, and statesman, some aspects of his personal history remain cloaked in a mystery and speculation.
He was a most unusual man for his times and by all accounts very intelligent, a skilled debater with a gift for oratory and a ready smile.
It is said the ladies of Richmond adored him, but he had his detractors as well as those who admired him for his considerable intellect and outgoing personality. Jefferson Davis considered him one of his closest confidants with the writings of Davis’s wife, Varina, offering a small peek into his personal life.
Judah Phillip Benjamin was variously know as “the Jew,” “the Hebrew,” or “Davis’ pet Jew,” referring to his small stature (barely over five feet tall). Later historians sometimes refer to him as the “brains of the Confederacy.” During the war, the North derisively called him “the South’s evil genius.”
He was born to a family of Sephardic Jews in St Croix in 1811. When he was still a child, his family eventually settled in Charleston, SC, a southern city known for its religious tolerance. He attended Yale at the tender age of 14 but was expelled because of unspecified “ungentlemanly conduct.”
Benjamin then headed for New Orleans, where according to Bernard W. Korn in his volume on that city’s Jews, he arrived “with no visible assets other than the wit, charm, omnivorous mind and boundless energy with which he would find his place in the sun.” He remained a bachelor for several years, and at least one historian suggests he was a homosexual, but there exists no evidence beyond speculation to support this.
He clerked in a law firm and studied the law. Since fluent French was required to practice law in Louisiana, he needed to learn that language. To earn money, he tutored French Creoles in English and taught Natalie Bauché de St. Martin in exchange for her teaching him French.
In 1832 at the age of 21, he was admitted to the bar, and a year later, he married Natalie with the wedding in St Louis Cathedral. The couple moved into a four-story townhouse on Bourbon Street that is today a strip joint called “Temptations.” It seems the marriage did not work out for reasons unknown. Historians suggest Natalie was such a problem child her family was glad to be shed of her, and later, rumors of infidelity were associated with her. They had one child, a daughter, Ninette.
Benjamin became a successful lawyer in New Orleans and bought a plantation downriver from the city, Belle Chasse*, and built a fine home for his wife and daughter. Natalie, evidently, was unimpressed and decamped with her daughter for Paris where they remained for the rest of her life. Meanwhile, Benjamin experimented with different strains of sugar cane and became something of an expert on that crop.
The Louisiana Legislature elected Benjamin to the U.S. Senate where he became famous for his eloquent and fiery oratory. (Senators were appointed by the Legislature then.) Benjamin was the first Jew to serve as a U. S. Senator. He was twice offered to be nominated to the U.S. Supreme Court and declined both times. He would likely have been approved and would have been the first Jew on the U.S. Supreme Court.
With Louisiana’s secession in 1861, Benjamin became one of Jeff Davis’ closest advisors even though Benjamin had once challenged him to a duel. Davis first appointed him as Attorney General and then Secretary of War, but the Confederate Army existed mainly as untrained volunteers with supplies for waging war very scarce. With the Confederate retreat from Cape Hatteras, Benjamin was accused of failing to reinforce the garrison. He took the blame and resigned, but he did so to hide the fact that the Confederacy simply did not have the forces to send, and that weakness needed to be hidden from the enemy.
Davis then appointed Benjamin to Secretary of State where he was also in charge of the Confederate Secret Service and Confederate spies up north. It was in that capacity that my character, Ethan, has dealings with him in An Eternity of Four Years.
Very early in the war, he was one of the first to argue for recruiting the slaves into the Confederate Army, offering them freedom if they served. Near the end, when the situation was desperate for the South, he brought it up again in a speech and was renounced for it. He also suggested freeing the slaves to get France and/or England to enter the conflict on the side of the South, or at least recognize the South as a sovereign nation, opening the door to much needed war material from Europe. Again his ideas were rejected.
The war ended with the Confederate government on the run. Davis was captured, but Benjamin was not, only because he separated from the group the day before and made his way to England. There he became a successful barrister and was created a “Palatine silk” as the Queen’s Council.
With his health deteriorating and suffering from diabetes, he was injured in a fall in 1880. Judah P. Benjamin died of a heart attack in Paris in 1882 and was buried there in Père Lachaise Cemetery under the name of “Philippe Benjamin.”
In 1938 the Paris chapter of the Daughters of the Confederacy erected a plaque over his grave.
JUDAH PHILIP BENJAMIN
BORN ST. THOMAS WEST INDIES AUGUST 6,1811
DIED IN PARIS MAY 6,1884
UNITED STATES SENATOR FROM LOUISIANA
ATTORNEY GENERAL, SECRETARY OF WAR AND
SECRETARY OF STATE OF THE CONFEDERATE STATES
OF AMERICA, QUEENS COUNSEL, LONDON
Whatever your opinion of Judah P. Benjamin might be, one must agree he was a most amazing person and largely an unknown but significant figure in American history.
*Note: This link will take you to an image of Belle Chasse Plantation. It has long since been torn down. You can adjust the size of the image with the sliding bar at the top.
The LSU Tiger Mascot Must GO!
If you have been following the craziness that has come out of that killing in South Carolina, you know there have been serious (seriously?) calls to erase history and anything associated with the South and the American Civil War, or as I prefer, The War of Northern Aggression. The mayor of New Orleans, instead of focusing on the problems of New Orleans, and they are legion, sees a need to focus on symbols, a fairly normal ploy for his party.
I linked to a blog post by Sally Asher here that sarcastically points out where this craziness can go, and don’t think it won’t go there, because some of what she jokes about is actually being suggested. But if this line is pursued, it has a disturbing possibility: that is we must choose a new LSU mascot! You see, there is a problem with the “Tiger” moniker—it is racist! At least under the new political-correctness-we-must-not-offend-anyone rules.
How so?
Obviously, you have not read my second book, An Eternity of Four Years, and you need to do that post-haste. If you had, you would know that Ethan joins the Confederate Army with a battalion of volunteers from Louisiana called Wheat’s Battalion, named after Chatham Roberdeau Wheat, its commander. One company in Wheat’s Battalion was called — wait for it — the Tiger Rifles!
“Big deal!” you say. But wait. There is more.
Sometime around the Battle of First Manassas when Wheat’s Battalion of rogues from Louisiana, though grossly outnumbered, distinguished themselves by holding off a Northern flanking movement until a defense could be pulled together, thus helping save the Army of Northern Virginia from almost certain defeat, Wheat’s Battalion became known as Wheat’s Tigers. (Try reading that one in one breath!)
There is still more…
Eventually, all Louisiana volunteers in the ANV became known as the Louisiana Tigers.
And guess where LSU got its mascot? Whoops!
Obviously, political correctness demands that be changed, lest it offend someone! How about the Pussy Cats? Nah, some people don’t like cats. The Puppy Dogs? Nah, some people don’t like dogs. (There is no accounting for taste.)
I know! The “Nothings!” The only thing that won’t offend someone is nothing.
There—problem solved. The LSU Nothings. Has a nice ring to it, don’t ya think?
God help us!
(My younger son, an LSU grad, is probably angry with me now for letting this cat, a tiger as it were, out of the bag.)
Filed under Current Events
Let’s Rename New Orleans!
I have been thinking of doing another post on the slippery-slope we are on as a result of the actions of that demented kid in South Carolina, but now I don’t have to. Someone else did it for me.
So, I give you a post on Sally Asher’s Blog titled Let’s Rename New Orleans. She has done a marvelous job of showing how utterly insane some of us have become and where that insanity will ultimately lead to, because once you start down this road, it has no end!
I have a suggestion for you, Mitch: Instead of focusing on symbols, how about focusing on the real problems in New Orleans. Resigning would be a good first step.
God help us!
Filed under Current Events
Barefootin’ – Manard, Joey and Me
I took out the garbage last night, and being too lazy to look for my shoes, I dragged that can out to the curb barefoot.
And my feet hurt!
The driveway is well worn, and the aggregate tends to be a bit more exposed than in recently laid concrete. I felt like I was walking on rocks!
And you are thinking, What is your point?
I don’t really have one, other than my feet never used to hurt like that. I guess that comes with age? I remember when I was a kid, we never wore shoes in the summer, except when we had to “dress up” to go somewhere. Otherwise, once school let out, our shoes went into the closet and didn’t come out again until school started, assuming they still fit.
Our feet may have been a bit tender after nine months being encased in leather, but they soon toughened. Within a couple of weeks or so, we could run across Sixth Street, which was “paved” with gravel or clamshells, without feeling any pain. Naturally, being shoeless, we did incur a few cuts and bruises along with a few rusty nail punctures, but my dad always had the tetanus shot handy.
Those days are gone. Now I am old and a tenderfoot for life. I doubt I could stand the pain long enough to build up the calluses again.
Actually, that event reminded me of this picture hanging in my office. It is of me on the left, Manard Lagasse in the center and Joey Giammalva on the right. It was taken in 1953. We were best buddies then. I was 9 years old. Manard and Joey were 7 years old.
Note the “summer uniform,” which was limited to shorts and maybe a tee or hat but no shoes. (Side note: Joey had flat feet, and on wet concrete, he could make realistic-sounding flatulence noises with them.)
Joey’s mom took the pic, and Joey carried it in his wallet for years before he made enlargements for Manard and me.
Both Manard and Joey are deceased now. Good times together! Good memories! Good friends sorely missed! Whenever I see Bubba, Manard’s son who I think looks just like him, I want to grab him and hug him, pretending for just a few moments that “Man” is still with us.
Filed under Family History, Growing Up, Kenner
The Paperback Version of An Eternity of Four Years is now available!
Finally! It is done! I have been teasing you long enough.
The exciting conclusion to the two-part epic of the Legend of Rachel and Ethan, An Eternity of Four Years, is finally finished and published. Both the Kindle digital version and the paperback version are available at Amazon.
An Eternity of Four Years picks up the story four days after The Last Day of Forever ends and carries the reader through the turbulent years of the Civil War with Ethan searching for Rachel to mend what was broken between them.
If you haven’t read part 1 yet, The Last Day of Forever, you need to read it first. Either book can stand alone, but reading both in order fills in a lot of back story and detail you will find both interesting and helpful to your reading experience.
Get ’em while they are hot! And don’t forget to go back and post a review. It will help the books get visibility and credibility.
Catahoula Chronicles 