I'm making engine noises as I type. I can't help it.

My wife kept saying we needed a pickup so we could stop hauling stuff in her minivan. I call it her minivan because no real man owns a minivan. At the same time, my sixteen-year-old son was determined that he needed a truck himself. He went online looking for deals. While I was discouraging him from blowing his hard-earned money on a vehicle he did not, in fact, actually need, I let him show me what he found. Then, when he found a nice '68 F100 with a good-running 302 (my favorite engine), I swooped down like a vulture and snapped it up myself.

Here it is:

It's in good working condition as is, but it's begging for some major modifications and paint. The details are top-secret, of course, but when I'm done, that guy from Amazing Grace and Old Codgers is invited to bring the Chevy of his choice for a late-night drag race.

Incidently, my son found a sweet old ride of his own, a '70 Galaxie with a 351, so everyone's happy.

I reioyced, when they sayd to me, We wil go into the house of the Lord. Psalme 122:1 (Geneva Bible)

The Benefits Divine
by Augustus Toplady (1740–1778)

ow vast the benefits divine,
Which we in Christ possess,
Saved from the guilt of sin we are,
And called to holiness.

But not for works which we have done,
Or shall hereafter do,
Hath God decreed of sinful worms
Salvation to bestow.

The glory, Lord, from first to last,
Is due to Thee alone;
Aught to ourselves we dare not take,
Or rob Thee of Thy crown.

Our glorious Surety undertook
To satisfy for man,
And grace was given us in Him,
Before the world began.

This is Thy will, that in Thy love
We ever should abide,
And lo, we earth and hell defy,
To make Thy counsel void.

Not one of all the chosen race,
But shall to heaven attain;
Partake on earth the purposed grace,
and then with Jesus reign.

Of Father, Son, and Spirit, we
Extol the three-fold care,
Whose love, whose merit, and whose pow’r
Unite to lift us there.

—from Worthy Is the Lamb (Soli Deo Gloria, 2004).

salme 76 (Geneva Bible)
To him that excelleth. A song or Psalme.

1 Rejoice in God, all ye inhabitants of the earth.
2 Sing forth the glory of his name: make his praise glorious.
3 Say vnto God, Howe terrible art thou in thy workes! through the greatnesse of thy power shall thine enemies be in subiection vnto thee.
4 All the worlde shall worship thee, and sing vnto thee, euen sing of thy Name. Selah.
5 Come and beholde the workes of God: he is terrible in his doing towarde the sonnes of men.
6 He hath turned the Sea into drie land: they passe through the riuer on foote: there did we reioyce in him.
7 He ruleth the worlde with his power: his eyes beholde the nations: the rebellious shall not exalt them selues. Selah.
8 Prayse our God, ye people, and make the voyce of his prayse to be heard.
9 Which holdeth our soules in life, and suffereth not our feete to slippe.
10 For thou, O God, hast proued vs, thou hast tryed vs as siluer is tryed.
11 Thou hast brought vs into the snare, and layed a strait chaine vpon our loynes.
12 Thou hast caused men to ryde ouer our heads: we went into fire and into water, but thou broughtest vs out into a welthie place.
13 I will go into thine House with burnt offrings, and will pay thee my vowes,
14 Which my lippes haue promised, and my mouth hath spoken in mine affliction.
15 I will offer vnto thee the burnt offerings of fat rammes with incense: I will prepare bullocks and goates. Selah.
16 Come and hearken, all ye that feare God, and I will tell you what he hath done to my soule.
17 I called vnto him with my mouth, and he was exalted with my tongue.
18 If I regard wickednesse in mine heart, the Lord will not heare me.
19 But God hath heard me, and considered the voyce of my prayer.
20 Praysed be God, which hath not put backe my prayer, nor his mercie from me.

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Grace be with you, and Peace from God our Father, and from the Lorde Jesus Christ.

From my Scripture reading yesterday:

Oh, that you would hold your tongue, that it might be imputed to you for wisdom! —Job 13:5

Scripture always speaks to me. Sometimes it gets personal.

Well, it's Friday afternoon, and I haven't posted anything since Sunday. I really don't have anything of substance today, either, but came across a video that reminded me of this satirical piece I posted a while back. In case you didn't get this picture and caption (don't worry about it--I'm used to it), this video might clear it up a little. Anyway, I thought it was funny.

I reioyced, when they sayd to me, We wil go into the house of the Lord. Psalme 122:1 (Geneva Bible)

THE AWAKENED SINNER

O my forgetful soul,

wake from thy wandering dreams
turn from chasing vanities,
look inward, forward, upward,
view thyself,
reflect upon thyself,
who and what thou art, why here,
what thou must soon be,
Thou art a creature of God,
formed and furnished by him,
lodged in a body like a shepherd in his tent;
Dost thou not desire to know God’s ways?

O God,

Thou injured, neglected, provoked benefactor
when I think upon thy greatness and thy goodness
I am ashamed at my insensibility,
I blush to lift up my face,
for I have foolishly erred.
Shall I go on neglecting thee,
when every one of thy rational creatures
should love thee,
and take every care to please thee?
I confess that thou hast not been in all my thoughts,
that the knowledge of thyself as the end of
my being has been strangely overlooked,
that I have never seriously considered
my heart-need.
But although my mind is perplexed and divided,
my nature perverse,
yet my secret dispositions still desire thee.
Let me not delay to come to thee;
Break the fatal enchantment that binds
my evil affections,
and bring me to a happy mind that rests in thee,
for though hast made me and canst not forget me.
Let they Spirit teach me the vital lessons of Christ,
for I am slow to learn;
And hear thou my broken cries.

—from The Valley of Vision, Arthur Bennett, editor (Banner of Truth Trust, 2002).

salme 83 (Geneva Bible)
A song, or Psalme committed to Asaph.

1 Keep not thou silence, O God: bee not still, and cease not, O God.
2 For lo, thine enemies make a tumult: and they that hate thee, haue lifted vp the head.
3 They haue taken craftie counsell against thy people, and haue consulted against thy secret ones.
4 They haue said, Come and let vs cut them off from being a nation: and let the name of Israel be no more in remembrance.
5 For they haue consulted together in heart, and haue made a league against thee:
6 The tabernacles of Edom, and the Ishmaelites, Moab and the Agarims:
7 Gebal and Ammon, and Amalech, the Philistims with the inhabitants of Tyrus:
8 Asshur also is ioyned with them: they haue bene an arme to the children of Lot. Selah.
9 Doe thou to them as vnto the Midianites: as to Sisera and as to Iabin at the riuer of Kishon.
10 They perished at En-dor, and were dung for the earth.
11 Make them, euen their princes like Oreb and like Zeeb: yea, all their princes like Zebah and like Zalmuna.
12 Which haue said, Let vs take for our possession the habitations of God.
13 O my God, make them like vnto a wheele, and as the stubble before the winde.
14 As the fire burneth the forest, and as the flame setteth the mountaines on fire:
15 So persecute them with thy tempest, and make them afraide with thy storme.
16 Fill their faces with shame, that they may seeke thy Name, O Lord.
17 Let them be confounded and troubled for euer: yea, let them be put to shame and perish,
18 That they may knowe that thou, which art called Iehouah, art alone, euen the most High ouer all the earth.

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Grace be with you, and Peace from God our Father, and from the Lorde Jesus Christ.

Update: new, improved explanation.

I'm no computer tech nerd. My web skills are really quite basic, gained largely through trial & error and by clicking "view page source" on web pages with interesting features. But I'm a fiddler and a tinkerer, so I can seldom just leave a newly-discovered function alone without customizing it. That's not always a good thing. I've messed up a lot of perfectly good code by trying just one more modification. Sometimes though, I have a genuine "Eureka!" moment when I figure out something really good. Today, I want to share one of those "Eureka!" moments. The techies out there will be mostly unimpressed, but perhaps some of you will find this useful.

I don't like sending readers to sites with questionable content. For that reason, I prefer to embed YouTube videos rather than link to YouTube. However, embedded videos are one of the things that can cause your page to load slowly. Also, they clutter up the appearance of the page. I therefore wanted to make the video open alone in a popup window.

First, I scavenged the code frome a page containing a popup image. In this case, it was from my own site. (Movable Type allows you to choose "popup" or "embedded" when uploading a file, and writes the code for you, so yes, I had done it before without knowing how.) Then I trimmed out the attributes I didn't need, such as scrollbars and the like. I then simply replaced the file URL with the YouTube video URL. This will not be the URL found in the address bar or to the right of the video on the YouTube page. It will be the URL found in the "embed" code directly below that, highlighted in red in this image. YouTube will not let you copy just the URL out of the "embed" code, so you will have to copy & paste the entire "embed" code and then copy the URL into your popup code. Just right-click on the "embed" code and click "copy." Then paste it into your blog post or any document. It will look like this:

<object width="425" height="350"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/yBsGFAXw6d4"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/yBsGFAXw6d4" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="350"></embed></object>

The URL is the part in red type, and is the only part you will keep. Delete the rest. The code you need, with the URL copied from the code above, looks like this:

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/yBsGFAXw6d4" onclick="window.open('http://www.youtube.com/v/yBsGFAXw6d4','popup', 'width=425, height=350'); return false">Where I learned My Computer Skills</a>

. . . and here's how it works:

Where I learned My Computer Skills

Now, here's another trick to give you further control over your content, this one thanks to the Desiring God blog. YouTube videos are automatically followed by a menu of related videos that you may or may not want appearing on your site. You can eliminate them by simply adding &rel=0 to the URL, like this:

http://www.youtube.com/v/yBsGFAXw6d4&rel=0

Finally, you can adjust the size of the video display by changing the width & height attributes, or go to full screen by simply omitting them. However, most YouTube videos are not of high enough resolution to display at full screen.

As I said, techies will be generally unimpressed with this, but my little brain thinks this is very cool. I hope someone finds it useful.

I haven’t been very productive lately, and I don’t mean just on this blog. Sometimes I just get tired, lose all spark of imagination, and just muddle along. I’m in one of those moods now. Sometimes I don’t even feel like reading, which I normally love. At times like this it’s time to set aside works that are heavily theological and pick up something lighter. (I’m also thankful that Summer is here and Algebra is on the shelf!) This might be a good time for a novel.

However, today I found myself reflecting on my recent reading of Iain Murray’s Revival & Revivalism: The Making and Marring of American Evangelicalism, 1750–1858, which I enjoyed more than anything I have read in some time. While reading, I became interested in some of the major players in that time in American history, most notably, Asahel Nettleton. Naturally, I looked to the footnotes for Murray’s sources and found The Life and Labours of Asahel Nettleton by Bennet Tyler and Andrew Bonar. Off to Banner of Truth! There it was, but I was greatly disappointed to see it in paperback only. After a short search of my usual sources, I procured a nice older Banner of Truth hardcover with a little of that old book smell that is part of their charm.

That is what I turned to today, and I was not disappointed. There is something relaxing and refreshing about reading histories such as these—stories, but true stories of the great men of or past, and the way in which God worked his will in and through them. While these stories are filled with rich theology of the nature and work of God, in this form, more illustrated than declared, it does not lay heavily on a weary brain.

The book contains an account of Nettleton’s conversion, as it was published in the Connecticut Evangelical Magazine. Nettleton was apparently raised in a religious home, but it appears doubtful that his parents were genuine believers. That atmosphere gave rise to a moralistic, self-righteous view of salvation. He wrote, “From my earliest age I endeavored to lead a moral life, being often taught that God would punish sinners; but I did not believe that I should suffer for the few offences of which I had been guilty.” when he was eighteen years old, he heard sermons on two separate occasions which caused him to “think of the need of a change of heart” and that he might have “quenched the Spirit, which occasioned me the most alarming fears, that should for ever be left to eat the fruit of my own ways.” Nettleton continues,

Supposing I was alone in the thoughts of eternity, I separated myself from all company, and determined to seek an interest in Christ. I concluded something must be done to appease God’s anger. I read, and prayed, and strove in this selfish way, the more anxious I was; and hope was given. Soon I began to murmur and repine, and accused God of the greatest injustice in requiring me to return to him; and while I was striving with all my might, as I supposed, he appeared not to regard me. I considered God obligated to love m, because I had done so much for Him; and finding no relief, I wished that He might not be, and began really to doubt the truths of His Holy Word, and to disbelieve His existence; for if there was a God, I perfectly hated Him. I searched the Scriptures daily, hoping to find inconsistencies in them, to condemn the Bible, because it was against me; and while I was diligently pursuing my purpose, everything I read, and every sermon I heard, condemned me. Christian conversation gave me the most painful sensations.

Nettleton was apparently not receiving a very seeker-sensitive message. In an age in which the most popular “preachers” in the largest “churches” assiduously avoid any speech that might cause sinners to feel “condemned” or experience “painful sensations,” there is much we can learn from Nettleton’s testimony; for it was that that condemnation and pain that drove him to the conviction that there was something in himself that he needed to be saved from, and nothing in himself that could accomplish that salvation.

I tried to repent, but I could not feel the least sorrow for my innumerable sins. By endeavoring to repent, I saw my heart still remained impenitent. Although I knew I hated everything serious, yet I determined to habituate myself to the duties which God required, and see if I could not, by that means, be made to love Him; and I continued in this state some months. The fear of having committed the unpardonable sin, now began to rise in my mind, and I could find no rest day nor night. When my weary limbs demanded sleep, the fear of awaking in a miserable eternity prevented the closing of my eyes; and nothing gave me ease. No voice of mirth, of sound whatever, was heard, but what reminded me of the awful day when God shall bring every word into judgment. All self-righteousness failed me; and, having no confidence in God, I was left in deep despondency.    After awhile, a surprising tremor seized all my limbs, and death appeared to have taken hold upon me. Eternity—the word Eternity—sounded louder than any voice I ever heard; and every moment of time seemed more valuable than all the wealth of the world. Not long after this, an unusual calmness pervaded my soul, which I thought little of at first, except that I was freed from my awful convictions; and this sometimes grieved me, fearing I had lost all conviction. Soon after, hearing the feelings of a Christian described, I took courage, and thought I knew, by experience, what they were. The character of God, and the doctrines of the Bible, which I could not meditate upon before without hatred, especially those of election and free grace, now appear delightful, and the only means by which, through grace, dead sinners can be made the living sons of God. My heart feels its sinfulness. To confess my sins to God, gives me that peace which before I knew nothing of. To sorrow for it, affords that joy which my tongue cannot express. Were I sensible that, at death, my hope would perish, yet it seemeth to me now, that I could not willing quit the service of God, nor the company of Christians. But my unfaithfulness often makes me fear my sincerity; and should I at last be raised to glory, all the praise will be to God for the exhibition of His sovereign grace.

Nettleton’s testimony resembles my own in many ways. I am so thankful that I was raised, just barely, before “self-esteem” became the new gospel. I am grateful that no one tried to convince me of my own self-worth. As I have stated previously in my testimony, I was raised with some rather mixed-up theology. However, the doctrine of sin, and my own sinfulness and need for a Savior, was taught quite clearly and correctly. While my inherited theology did not quite lead me to a settled assurance of salvation, I did give me the necessary starting point—conviction of sin—so that I can echo these words of Asahel Nettleton: “To confess my sins to God, gives me that peace which before I knew nothing of. To sorrow for it, affords that joy which my tongue cannot express.” Thank God for the knowledge of sin! Truly, when I am at last “raised to glory, all the praise will be to God for the exhibition of His sovereign grace.” It is all of him. I deserve no credit at all.

I reioyced, when they sayd to me, We wil go into the house of the Lord. Psalme 122:1 (Geneva Bible)

HYMN 11, L. M.
The humble enlightened, and carnal reason humbled.
Luke x. 21,22.
by Isaac Watts (1674-1748)

here was an hour when Christ rejoiced,
And spoke his joy in words of praise:
"Father, I thank thee, mighty God,
Lord of the earth, and heav'ns, and seas.

"I thank thy sovereign power and love
That crowns my doctrine with success,
And makes the babes in knowledge learn
The heights, and breadths, and lengths of grace.

"But all this glory lies concealed
From men of prudence and of wit;
The prince of darkness blinds their eyes,
And their own pride resists the light.

"Father, 'tis thus, because thy will
Chose and ordained it should be so;
'Tis thy delight t' abase the proud,
And lay the haughty scorner low.

"There's none can know the Father right
But those who learn it from the Son;
Nor can the Son be well received
But where the Father makes him known."

Then let our souls adore our God,
Who deals his graces as he please;
Nor gives to mortals an account
Or of his actions or decrees.

—The Psalms & Hymns of Isaac Watts. Hymns and Spiritual Songs. Book I: Collected from the Holy Scriptures (Soli Deo Gloria, 1997).

salme 90 (Geneva Bible)
A prayer of Moses, the man of God.

1 Lord, thou hast bene our habitation from generation to generation.
2 Before the mountaines were made, and before thou hadst formed the earth, and the world, euen from euerlasting to euerlasting thou art our God.
3 Thou turnest man to destruction: againe thou sayest, Returne, ye sonnes of Adam.
4 For a thousande yeeres in thy sight are as yesterday when it is past, and as a watch in the night.
5 Thou hast ouerflowed them: they are as a sleepe: in the morning he groweth like the grasse:
6 In the morning it florisheth and groweth, but in the euening it is cut downe and withereth.
7 For we are consumed by thine anger, and by thy wrath are we troubled.
8 Thou hast set our iniquities before thee, and our secret sinnes in the light of thy countenance.
9 For all our dayes are past in thine anger: we haue spent our yeeres as a thought.
10 The time of our life is threescore yeeres and ten, and if they be of strength, fourescore yeeres: yet their strength is but labour and sorowe: for it is cut off quickly, and we flee away.
11 Who knoweth the power of thy wrath? for according to thy feare is thine anger.
12 Teach vs so to nomber our dayes, that we may apply our heartes vnto wisdome.
13 Returne (O Lord, howe long?) and be pacified toward thy seruants.
14 Fill vs with thy mercie in the morning: so shall we reioyce and be glad all our dayes.
15 Comfort vs according to the dayes that thou hast afflicted vs, and according to the yeeres that we haue seene euill.
16 Let thy worke bee seene towarde thy seruants, and thy glory vpon their children.
17 And let the beautie of the Lord our God be vpon vs, and direct thou the worke of our hands vpon vs, euen direct the worke of our handes.

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Grace be with you, and Peace from God our Father, and from the Lorde Jesus Christ.

. . . 90% of all CCM.

Garbage lyrics aside, it's because they can't, or won't, sing. This guy can, and he's not even getting paid.

Update: But he is now.

Thus Satan leads poor creatures down into the depths of sin by winding stairs, that let them not see the bottom whither they are going. He first presents an object that occasions some thoughts; these set of fire the affections, and they fume up into the brain, and cloud the understanding, which being thus disabled, Satan now dares a little more declare himself, and boldly solicit the creature to that it would even now have defied. Many who at this day lie in open profaneness, never thought that should have rolled so far from their profession; but Satan beguiled them, poor souls, with their modest beginnings. O Christians, give not place to Satan, no, not an inch, in his first motions. He that is a beggar and a modest one without doors, will command the house if let in. Yield at first, and thou givest away thy strength to resist him in the rest; when the hem is worn the whole garment will ravel out, if it be not mended by timely repentance.

—William Gurnall, The Christian in Complete Armour(Edinburgh, Banner of Truth Trust, 2002), 77.

I've been feeling a little under par lately (I know, under par is actually good. I didn't coin the expression.), so I haven't been very productive. I haven't been wasting my time entirely, though. One of the things I've been doing while doing nothing is listening to The History and Theology of Calvinism by Dr. Curt Daniel, available free of charge as mp3 or pdf files. The book appears to be out of print.

The theological system called "Calvinism" is widely misunderstood. I would venture to say that the vast majority of those who oppose it really know little about it. I would even say that there are many who call themselves Calvinists who have simply inherited it or accepted it because someone they respect believes it. Don't be one of those people!

There are many common misconceptions about Calvinism, and two in particular that have annoyed me. First, I don't know how often I've heard or read words like these: Calvinism began when John Calvin wrote his "Five Points of Calvinism," which he arranged in the acrostic "TULIP." I've even read that in books by Calvinists! That, of course is incorrect. For those who don't know, the "Five Points" were written after Calvin's death by the Synod of Dordt. Not only were they not arranged to spell "TULIP," they were not systematized in that order. Second, I'd love to have a nickel for every time I've been told that "John Calvin burned Servetus at the stake." These are only a couple of historical issues Dr. Daniel covers.

The History and Theology of Calvinism is an excellent presentation of both the history and the theology of this system, and I highly recommend it. Whatever you believe, don't believe it ignorantly!

. . . but I'm blogspotting this guy because he says I should, and because he apparently considers Chevy aficionados to be "misguided." He obviously has the gift of discernment. Also, because it's the weekend and I've got nothing else anyway. So go visit Chez Kneel. He's presently recycling posts on Leviticus, which is more interesting than you might expect.

I reioyced, when they sayd to me, We wil go into the house of the Lord. Psalme 122:1 (Geneva Bible)

Jesus
by Benjamin Keach (1640–1704)

ook upon Me, and see My love descending;
’Tis from eternity, and has no ending.
Canst thou have more, O soul? Thou hast My heart,
Whatever is Mine, to thee I will impart.

Thy scarlet sins are washed quite away,
Nor one of them unto thy charge I’ll lay.
Pull up thy drooping heart, be of good cheer,
Thy sins, though never so great, forgiven are.

I able am to save to the uttermost
All those who do put in Me all their trust.
These who do come to Me, I in no wise
Will cast them out; therefore lift up thine eyes;

Behold My hands and feet, and do not doubt,
For I have washed and cleansed thy soul throughout;
Thy debts I’ve paid, and quitted the old score,
Thy former faults I’ll never remember more.

Cheer up thy heart, I tell thee, thou art Mine,
My blood was shed to save that life of thine.
With endless love thy soul I’ll satisfy,
And in My bosom shalt thou ever lie.

In My unfolded arms I now thee take,
And do engage; I’ll never thee forsake,
In sickness I’ll be with thee until the end,
And death at last, I’ll cause to be thy friend.

Making its final passage unto thee,
Only an entrance to felicity;
When with great glory thou shalt crowned be,
Seated forever on the throne with Me.

The world, death, not the devil shall remove
My heart from thee; for those I truly love,
I love to the end; come, soul, and be
Blessed in My arms to all eternity.

—from Worthy Is the Lamb (Soli Deo Gloria, 2004).

salme 97
(Geneva Bible)

1 The Lord reigneth: let the earth reioyce: let the multitude of the yles be glad.
2 Cloudes and darkenes are round about him: righteousnesse and iudgement are the foundation of his throne.
3 There shall goe a fire before him, and burne vp his enemies round about.
4 His lightnings gaue light vnto the worlde: the earth sawe it and was afraide.
5 The mountaines melted like waxe at the presence of the Lord, at the presence of the Lord of the whole earth.
6 The heauens declare his righteousnes, and all the people see his glory.
7 Confounded be all they that serue grauen images, and that glory in idoles: worship him all ye gods.
8 Zion heard of it, and was glad: and the daughters of Iudah reioyced, because of thy iudgements, O Lord.
9 For thou, Lord, art most High aboue all the earth: thou art much exalted aboue all gods.
10 Ye that loue the Lord, hate euill: he preserueth the soules of his Saints: hee will deliuer them from the hand of the wicked.
11 Light is sowen for the righteous, and ioy for the vpright in heart.
12 Reioyce ye righteous in the Lord, and giue thankes for his holy remembrance.

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Steve Weaver
Phillip M. Way
Jason Robertson
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David Legge
David Strain
R.C. Sproul

Grace be with you, and Peace from God our Father, and from the Lorde Jesus Christ.