Author: Ira Paine

Coffee Percs

by Ira Paine, Posted on

As we sat down, and the blessing was said, I took a sip of the hot, strong coffee before eating.”

                         –D.C. Adkisson (Winter of the Wolves)

Take a sip, and listen to this.  It was 1973, Annie and I were moving from Panama City, Florida to Colorado Springs.  I had a Ford Maverick and was pulling a trailer.  We were beat, worn out, and almost frazzled–and that’s the truth, Pard.  We started lookin’ for a place to spend the night an’ there was nothin’!  Found out there was all kinds of doin’s in Dallas and no rooms were available.  Finally, we find one room at a motel in Gainesville, Texas.  It was a suite.  We looked at each other, as we were as poor as church mice, but we were both tired and needed to sleep a few hours.  Oh, the cost–$26.00.  Pard, I don’t if’n it’s progress, but things have sure ‘nough changed.
       Go ahead, finish that cup an’ I’ll pour yuh another.  Pard, since I mentioned “progress,” can’t the people see that we’re progressin’ down the wrong road in this country?  There seems to be more and more evil than ever, an’ I tell yuh, it’s because we have forsaken God and His moral code.  Listen, with all the lawlessness that is aboundin’ I think goes to show yuh that the time of the Lord is drawin’ near.  Ol’ slewfoot will bring more evil and lawlessness until the time that the Man of Lawlessness is let loose on this world.  Pard, that’s gonna be a terrible day.
       That day will be like turnin’ the wolves from the pit loose on the world.  There’ll be terrible sufferin’ and sorrow.  Terror will strike deep.  Sorry, Pard, let me take a long swaller.  Whew, that burned all the way down to my gizzard.  I never thought of it before, but progress is bein’ made every day–progress toward our heavenly home.  The world is goin’ one direction, but those that belong to Christ are headin’ in another.  Yuh better be sure yuh have yur spiritual cinch tight for the day of His appearin’ is near.
      Vaya con Dios.

 

Echoes From the Campfire

by Ira Paine, Posted on
The evil keeps trying to hang on. And we need to fight it. It’s our responsibility.”
                    –Henry McLaughlin  (Journey to Riverbend)

       “Depart from me, you evildoers, for I will keep the commandments of my God!”
                    –Psalm 119:115 (NKJV)
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How to Live in a Pagan, Apostate, and Foolish World

Key Verse:  “We know that we are of God, and the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one.”  –1 John 5:19 (NKJV)

The evil that we saw this week shows us that there are evil forces at work in the world.  Not only was an evil deed done, but the critics began immediately after not even allowing for death to settle.  They began to spout more foolishness.  Jude says that “these men speak evil of whatever they do not know; and whatever they know naturally, like brute beasts, in these things they corrupt themselves.” (Jude 10, NKJV)
       The only thing that will help overcome this type of evil is Jesus Christ, and man does not want to hear that.  He wants to give “man’s solution” to the issue which will only foul it up more.  These foolish people criticize everything they do not understand.  Jude says they are worthless and irrelevant and not spiritually discerned.  They speak with evil following their own inclinations.  Matthew Henry says they have “depraved wills, and disordered appetites and affections.
       With the apostasy, the turning away from Christ and His moral principles, they only have fleshly instincts, animal passions.  They allow their emotions and passions to carry them without thinking from a spiritual view.  In fact, they have become deaf to God and thus corrupt themselves.  We walk through this journey of life with these type of individuals all around us, many with a voice and many in government positions.  They do not understand the ways of the Lord; they do not want to understand the ways of the Lord.
       Jude uses three illustrations from history to warn us about these individuals so that we will know them.  The first is that of Cain.  Cain–the first murderer.  The blood of his brother Abel cries out from the earth and is still crying.  Listen to God, obey God…  Cain represents those who murder, not physically, but they want to delude others and thuse are murderers of the soul.  “Do it my way,” they cry.  “Listen to me,” they holler.  They seek to kill the souls of men by their error.
       The second type is that of Balaam.  Balaam was some sort of “seer,” some sort of prophet and was sought after to curse the people of Israel.  He said he would do it for a reward, but he could not prophesy against the people of God.  Instead he told the enemy how they could defeat Israel, take away God’s blessing.  Intermarry, he told them.  Make them compromise.  If they accept and allow others to be with them eventually they will fall into sin.  They would no longer be a separate people.  Don’t be intolerant, be accepting–compromise.
       Korah was used as the third example.  Korah refused to accept right authority and began to seek things he had no right to have.  He brought a challenge to legitimate authority and was arrogant in his manner.  “In my opinion,” was his cry.  I have a right to decide on my own–who is Moses, really he was saying, who is God to tell me what to do.  Woe to those who dare to mock and challenge God.  Woe to the followers of Korah.
       Jude continues in his letter to warn us about such men.  Men who use the church to gratify their own desires and lusts.  Men who twist the words of God to fit their own ideas and agenda.  Jude warns us to avoid them.  They make great claims but without proper authority, without truth to back what they say and therefore are essentially useless.  Avoid them–know them by their fruit.  These people are reserved for darkness.  They seek to trip you up on your journey taking you away “from enjoying the very best which God has prepared for us.” (Paul Cedar)
       Oh, friend, do not be swayed by the words of men but hold firmly to the truth of God’s Word.  Follow His precepts and principles as you live daily in this evil world.  

 

Echoes From the Campfire

by Ira Paine, Posted on

Change is inevitable. It’s a part of life. Just like with the seasons. One summer is not like the one before it.”

                    –Brad Dennison  (Wandering Man)

       “My son, fear the Lord and the king; Do not associate with those given to change.”
                    –Proverbs 24:21 (NKJV)
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I want to consider, contemplate, even meditate if you will on the following Scriptures taken from Ecclesiastes, chapter 1.

          9 — That which has been is what will be, That which is done is what will be done.  And there is nothing new under the sun.
         10 — Is there anything of which it may be said, “See, this is new”?  It has already been in ancient times before us.
         11 — There is no remembrance of former things, Nor will there be any remembrance of things That are to come By those who will come after.  (NKJV)

I want to point out verse 10 from the NLT:  “What can you point to that is new?  How do you know it didn’t already exist long ago?”
       What a minute–aren’t there new inventions and technology all the time?  Before you continue along that line, don’t miss the bigger picture.  Life, suffering, sorrow, love, and death.  Man wants the answers, man wants something new.  Give me more, more, more.  He’ll buy the newest, most up-to-date gadget just to have something new.  However, in reality, the world provides nothing new.  Maybe that is why man often gets in the woe-is-me syndrome.  
       The knowledge has always been there, but man just has not accessed it yet.  Look at the idea of Da Vinci.  He thought of submarines, helicopters, cannons, and other things, but they could not be used because of the lack of the knowledge of what materials they took and the lack of the technological knowledge needed.  Oh, it was there, it was eventually found–but it was hidden.  Nothing new, just hidden.
       Man, since the time of Adam, wants to be his own god.  He wants to make his own decisions, determine his own fate, but in the end, just like everyone who has gone before him, he is laid in a box and covered with dirt.  He hasn’t become immortal in the sense that he desired.  He hasn’t truly become the master of his fate, because there he is–dead as a doornail, lying in the ground.  He has searched, he has strived, he has worked his fingers to the bone, but he never has found the answers, and he has never truly been satisfied with his achievements.  More, more, more, I need more.  Augustine said, “Thou hast made us for Thyself and our hearts are restless until they rest in Thee.”
       We think things are new.  Man has to find some kind of “new” activity and pursuits.  Faster, higher, stronger, something to “wow” the crowd.  But the desire hasn’t changed.  The stoic Roman emperor, Marcu Aurelius, wrote, “They that come after us will see nothing new, and they who went before us saw nothing more than we have seen.”  Listen, the face of nature changes, the handiwork of man changes, historical characters come and go from the scene, science even changes though we are told to trust it.  How can something be trusted that is always changing?
       Let me give you four things that abide:
               1)  features of human life:  labor, sorrow, care, death, struggle, love….
               2)  typical human characteristics:  false, cruel, ambitious, generous, devout….
               3)  spiritual element:  questions of life, purpose, eternity….
               4)  the truth of Jesus Christ.

               “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.”  –Hebrews 13:8 (NKJV)

As the words of the old song say, “Hold to God’s unchanging hand…”  Trust in the Lord and live by His Word–they are never changing.  They are secure, safe, and dependable.  They will hold you through the changing situations of life, through the storms, and help you answer those great questions of life.

 

Echoes From the Campfire

by Ira Paine, Posted on

Through all of this, some things lived on. The love of family, a desire to be free, the choice of belief, and the love of the land.”

                    –Bobby Cavazos  (The Cowboy From the Wild Horse Desert)
 
       “We love Him because He first loved us.”
                   –1 John 4:19 (NKJV)
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Several years back, Tom T. Hall wrote a song titled “I Love.”  It was very simple and one of the verses went like this,

               “I love honest open smiles,
                     Kisses from a child,
                Tomatoes on a vine,
                     And onions.”

He even threw in one phrase that he loved “coffee in a cup.”  How about that?  Simple things to love.  
       Through the years there have been multiple thousand poems and songs about love.  Perhaps you recall the sonnet by Elizabeth Barrett Browning.

               “How do I love thee?  Let me count the ways.
               I love thee to the depth and breadth and height
               My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight
               For the ends of being and ideal grace…”

Love, something we all wish we had.  Love, something that is truly mysterious.  Love, a term we throw around.  There’s first love, puppy love, romantic love, and steadfast love.  Love of people, places, and things.  Love of a friend, love of a family member, but love for an enemy; well, that’s just taking love too far.
       A woman says to her husband, “I love you,” which makes him smile and if he’s not dead, the heart to flutter.  Then the next day they are out shopping and she holds up a pair of shoes and utters, “I just love these shoes.”  Hmmm…  Is she comparing her husband to a pair of shoes?  I remember walking down a school hallway one day years ago when an individual walked by and said, “Love you, brother.”  I stopped to watch him continue walking and thought, “Love?  He doesn’t even know my name, how can he say he loves me?”  Now, I know that God can put in our hearts the love for others, and we should pray for that love, but sometimes there are folks out there that are hard to love.
       Back to Tom T. Hall’s song–what do I love?  I love Annie’s pie; I love coffee; I love a trout on the end of a line in a high mountain lake; I love watching the kids unwrap presents; I love the taste of a good, tender, juicy steak; I love the aroma of baking bread; I love the sound of the crack of a bat hitting a baseball; I love when a person succeeds, and I could go on.  But isn’t that all superficial love?
       Jesus loved us while we were yet sinners.  He gave His life for us undeserving as we were.  To answer Browning, nothing can “separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”  “Neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing…”  None of those things can separate us from the gracious love of God.
       When I think of love, I think of my wife and family, then I think of the chorus of that grand hymn,

               “O love of God, how rich and pure!
                     How measureless and strong!
                It shall forevermore endure–
                     The saints’ and angels’ song.”
                               –Frederick M. Lehman