Calvin's Daily Devotional

Daily Devotional

December 24

Thine Is My Heart: Devotional Readings from the Writings of John Calvin

by John Calvin (compiled by John H. Kromminga)
Reproduced from the OPC Website

Bible Text:
And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth. —John 1:14

Devotional:
"And the Word was made flesh." The word flesh expresses the meaning of the Evangelist more forcibly than if he had said that he was made man. He intended to show to what a mean and despicable condition the Son of God, on our account, descended from the height of his heavenly glory.

When Scripture speaks of man contemptuously, it calls him flesh. Now, though there be ever so wide a distance between the spiritual glory of the Word of God and the abominable filth of our flesh, yet the Son of God stooped so low as to take upon himself that flesh, subject to so many miseries.

The Way the Kingdom Rolls

Remarkably Honest Speech

The Duck Dynasty is a very popular cable reality show in the US, starring an intergenerational family of "good ol' boys".  Recently the patriarch of the clan, Phil Robertson had the temerity to express his opinions on homosexuality.  It just so happens his opinions are grounded in the teaching of Scripture. 

GQ Magazine did a profile piece on Phil and his family.  Here is a snippet, to give flavour:

It’s easy to see the appeal. The Robertsons are immensely likable. They’re funny. They look cool. They’re “smarter than they look,” says sportswriter Mark Schlabach, who co-writes the family’s books. And they are remarkably honest both with one another and with the viewing audience: Phil’s old hell-raising, Si’s traumatic stint in Vietnam, the intervention that the family staged for Jep when he was boozing and doing drugs in college (Phil placed him under house arrest for three months)—all of it is out in the open. The more they reveal, the more people feel connected to them.

And then, of course, there is their faith, which plays no small role here. During the family’s initial negotiations about the show with A&E, Jase told me, “the three no-compromises were faith, betrayal of family members, and duck season.” That refusal to betray their faith or one another has been a staple of every media article about the Robertson family. It’s their elevator pitch, and it has made them into ideal Christian icons: beloved for staking out a bit of holy ground within the mostly secular, often downright sinful, pop culture of America.

During that interview, Phil happened to express in passing his views on homosexuality and sin.  Read on:

Douglas Wilson's Letter From Moscow

A Huge White Snarl Flapping Behind You

Posted on Wednesday, December 18, 2013  

By Douglas Wilson 

Blog and Mablog

This is not so much another “I told you so” but rather another “I tried to tell you so.”

The other day I related how, in my debate with Andrew Sullivan, I tried to show that after same-sex mirage had a foothold in our society, the next folks in line, using all the same arguments, would be the polygamists. And here we are, unlike other functions of modern government, way ahead of schedule.

But I also argued something else, even more “out there.” I said that, given the premises we are all being harangued into adopting, there would be no saying no to bi-sexual marriages. In that chain of letters LGBTQ, why are the B’s left out of this grand expansion of marriage rights? Must be the haters.

The response to this argument has usually been something like, “He clearly doesn’t know what a bisexual is. What a maroon.” Ah, but I do know, and I also know that if somebody wants marital expression for that sexual identity, this requires, at a minimum two other people, one of each sex. And because the extra spouses involved don’t have an obligation to have their third squeeze be the shared third somebody, the whole thing spirals into chaos. What begins as a menage a trois turns into a plain old menagerie.

And so the other day something happened in North Dakota, a little something that vindicates me entirely.

Calvin's Daily Devotional

Daily Devotional

December 23

Thine Is My Heart: Devotional Readings from the Writings of John Calvin

by John Calvin (compiled by John H. Kromminga)
Reproduced from the OPC Website

Bible Text:
Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine. —II Timothy 4:2

Devotional:
First of all, we are not to take up the Word of God for mere recreation, or listen to him merely when we have leisure. This is far from yielding to him that obedience which he desires. Everyone of us must strive to profit. And as God protests that morning and evening his arms are stretched out, not only to receive us, but also to call us afar off, and seeks nothing but to have us under his wings and to govern us, and peaceably to enjoy us; so on our part we must take pains to run to him when he calls us, and cut off all hindrances which might turn us aside.

The Case of the Dumb Council

The Watchdog is Barking This Time

Every so often the communitarian, soft-headed socialist mob that work for our daily news papers and electronic news media show that they "get it".  Economic reality--real world understanding--does not just bite, but sometimes the media shows that it understands what that reality is and how markets actually work.  To fight against market forces (which are the fruit of human nature in the final analysis) is to wage an unwinnable war.  It is to war against human nature.  It can only be won if human beings stop being human. 

Celia Wade-Brown is a greenist mayor of Wellington, the city of a million bureaucrats.  Wellington voters like Celia because she mirrors back to them their prejudices against economic markets and fundamental human nature.  Celia has talked the city council into putting up the minimum wage for all council workers to $18.50 an hour.  Why that amount?  Well, it seems like a nice number.  Celia, of course, has not a clue about the implications, ramifications, and downstream effects of this stupid council decision.  But when even the editorial writers in The Dominion show that they get it, the blame and shame upon the council increases by a large factor.

Douglas Wilson's Letter From Moscow

Some of That Magic Constitution Dust

Posted on Tuesday, December 17, 2013  

By Douglas Wilson

Blog and Mablog


A number of months ago, I debated Andrew Sullivan on the subject of same sex marriage, and one of the points I sought to make was a point that he just couldn’t get his head around.

To review, the point was this: a society that doesn’t know what marriage is in situation x cannot suddenly and miraculously come up with an understanding of what marriage is for situation y. Once same-sex mirage is established, or even semi-established, you can count on it, said I — polygamists will start lining up, and they will ask for a judge to sprinkle some of that magic constitution dust on their lusts too.

At the time, Sullivan was most indignant with my idea that the trajectory of marriage law in this country was going to blow right past the arbitrary and capricious restriction of two people per marriage. And since that federal judge in Utah struck down their anti-polygamy law as placing an undue burden on the horniness of the men of Utah, as if they didn’t have enough troubles, I have been waiting by the phone for Andrew Sullivan to call. Given his behavior in the debate, I must assume that this is because he is busy rallying all his same-sex homies, mobilizing them to fight for traditional marriage. You know, the kind with two and only two persons in it. The kind of marriage that we haters insist on.

The judge didn’t legalize legal polygamy quite yet, but he did strike down the illegalization of informal polygamy, and that huge moving sidewalk taking us all into the marital madhouse has lurched into motion again — not that it ever really stopped. But now that it is obviously moving again, that means we can turn our corporate attention once more to the pressing duty of accusing people of hate crimes whenever somebody asks “is this sidewalk moving?”

Gives us something to do.

Calvin's Daily Devotional

Daily Devotional

December 21

Thine Is My Heart: Devotional Readings from the Writings of John Calvin

by John Calvin (compiled by John H. Kromminga)
Reproduced from the OPC Website

Bible Text:
Therefore did my heart rejoice, and my tongue was glad; moreover also my flesh shall rest in hope: —Acts 2:26

Devotional:
Joy of the soul, gladness of the tongue, and quietness of the whole body, result from sure hope and confidence. For unless men are quite past feeling they must be anxious and sorrowful, and, consequently, miserable and tormented, as long as they feel themselves destitute of the help of God.

But that sure trust which we repose in God not only delivers us from anxiety, but also replenishes our hearts with wonderful joy and gladness. This is the joy which Christ promised to his disciples should be full in them and which he testified could not be taken away from them. —Commentaries

---

John Calvin was the premier theologian of the Reformation, but also a pious and godly Christian pastor who endeavored throughout his life to point men and women to Christ. We are grateful to Reformation Heritage Books for permission to use John Calvin's Thine Is My Heart as our daily devotional for 2013 on the OPC Web site. You can currently obtain a printed copy of that book from Reformation Heritage Books.

Only Fools and Horses

Derision and Fury

The ancient Greeks, via Homer, believed that one ought not to excel too much in anything, lest one attract the jealous, vindictive attention of the gods.  Accordingly, heroes such as Odysseus lived a perilous existence.  The Living God is not thus.  He created man to be great, and good.  Psalm 8 declares:

O Lord, our Lord
How majestic is your name in all the earth! . . .
When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers,
The moon and the stars, which you have set in place,
What is man that you are mindful of him
And the son of man that you care for him.
Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings
And crowned him with glory and honour.
You have given him dominion over the works of your hands;
You have put all things under his feet.

The truly great man, who is also good as the Bible defines it, and who does great deeds attracts the love, commendation, approval, and approbation of the Lord.  But the man who sets himself up as if he were God, or as if he were God's Messiah, risks attracting His despite and vengeance in this world, and eternal damnation in the world to come.  And a people complicit in such brazen rebellion and idolatry risk sharing in his fate.  King Herod provides an apt example:

Letter from the US (About Sharia Law in London)

Islamists Threaten British Shop Owners with 40 Lashes for Selling Alcohol

By Mary Chastain  

14 Dec 2013

Breitbart News

Whitechapel is on the outskirts of London, but it is an area where Muslims enforce Sharia law without any interference from British officials. On Saturday, they took it a step further and told shop owners in the area they will face 40 lashes if they continue to sell alcohol.

The protesters, including Anjem Choudary, the former leader of the Al-Muhajiroun group which was banned under terrorism laws, delivered warning letters to Muslim-owned businesses. “The shops are run by Muslims and they know they are selling alcohol and they know the sale and consumption of alcohol is completely prohibited,” he said. “We cannot live among the non-Muslims and see this evil take place.”

Mizanur Rahman, organiser of the protest, said it had urged business owners to stop selling alcohol in breach of Muslim laws. Mr Rahman said: “We want Sharia law to be enforced in Britain,” before adding that many of the Muslim owners had been “embarrassed and ashamed” when confronted about their alcohol sales, but had argued that it was an economic necessity.

In 2011, The Daily Mail did an exposé on these "Muslim patrols" and how the English government has not done anything to stop. Women are targeted if they do not wear a headscarf.

Calvin's Daily Devotional

Daily Devotional

December 20

Thine Is My Heart: Devotional Readings from the Writings of John Calvin

by John Calvin (compiled by John H. Kromminga)
Reproduced from the OPC Website

Bible Text:
And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who hath enabled me, for that he counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry; Who was before a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious: but I obtained mercy, because I did it ignorantly in unbelief. —I Timothy 1:12, 13

Devotional:
Hereby both great and small are reminded of their duty. If we would exalt the grace of God, as is fitting, we have to confess what we are, and what would become of us if God did not help us. This is hard to do, seeing men seek nothing so much as to make themselves seem like something. Although they confess that they believe completely in God, yet they gladly obscure this knowledge, and will never come to a plain, free, and simple confession unless they are constrained to it.

This is especially the case when it concerns revealing our shame, and rebuking ourselves, that our sins may be manifest, and so humbling ourselves that we are utterly condemned unless the Lord of his infinite mercy draws us out of condemnation.

Besetting Sins

If I Cannot Have It, Nobody Can

Envy is a besetting sin of our age.  It is also the sin few people talk about, which may just be a clue as to how pervasive and enslaving it has become.  Envy is covetousness on steroids--its most egregious expression. 

Kevin Williamson describes envy thus:

Of the seven deadly sins, envy may not be the wickedest, but it is the most embarrassing. To be possessed by envy is to admit a humiliating personal inadequacy: We do not envy others those attainments that we think we too might achieve, but those we despair of ever possessing. Wrath, greed, pride, lust — all assume a certain self-possession. Sloth and gluttony are practically standard issue in times of plenty such as these. Wrath and pride are the sins of great (but not good) men. Envy is the affliction of the insignificant. It is the small man’s sin.

But when does covetousness elide into envy, its most extreme manifestation?

Letter From Australia (About the United States)

World-class Fakery on Show

TIM BLAIR
The Daily Telegraph
December 16, 2013 12:00AM

 A RIDICULOUS and under-qualified faker took to the stage last week during Nelson Mandela's memorial service. And next to Barack Obama was some guy who hasn't quite mastered sign language. 
 
Thamsanqa Jantjie's erratic performance has drawn international ridicule, but all he really did was turn the failed president's words into a disappointing jumble of incomprehensible nonsense. As is now apparent, Obama is quite capable of achieving this by himself.

Many Australians were puzzled by American resistance to Obama's universal healthcare plan, back when it was first proposed in 2008. They couldn't understand why the US would not embrace an Australian-style system of health coverage.  One reason is that the system in the US was proposed by Obama and his hopeless administration. If you thought Labor's attempts in Australia to install home insulation and run grocery price websites were lame, they have nothing on Obama's bid to reshape the massive US health sector.

Calvin's Daily Devotional

Daily Devotional

December 19

Thine Is My Heart: Devotional Readings from the Writings of John Calvin

by John Calvin (compiled by John H. Kromminga)
Reproduced from the OPC Website

Bible Text:
Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. —Colossians 3:16

Devotional:
Now let us fall down before the face of our good God, with confession of our faults, praying him to pluck us out of the vain confidence of our fleshly mind, and that we may serve him in such sort that we may be wholly given to him. And seeing it has pleased him to be so gracious to us as to give us his Word for our rule, let us be content to be ordered by it and to be instructed there more and more, and let it be always our goal to be fully built up in him; and in the meantime we may make him offerings and sacrifices both of our souls and bodies.

And let us be consecrated and dedicated to him in such a way that he may dwell in us as in his true temples and that he may reign there, and that his image may shine there; to the end that we may at length be partakers of his immortal glory which he has prepared for us. And let us pray that he may be thus gracious, not unto us only, but to all people and nations of the world. —Sermons

---

John Calvin was the premier theologian of the Reformation, but also a pious and godly Christian pastor who endeavored throughout his life to point men and women to Christ. We are grateful to Reformation Heritage Books for permission to use John Calvin's Thine Is My Heart as our daily devotional for 2013 on the OPC Web site. You can currently obtain a printed copy of that book from Reformation Heritage Books.

Misleading Unhelpful Poverty Propaganda

Charity is Mandatory

The chattering classes were all agog and aghast for a couple of days earlier this month over child poverty in New Zealand.  Such a problem is worthy of attention and concern.  Unfortunately the protagonists are once again proving to be dishonest traders and so have devalued their cause in a silly attempt to shock and (in marketing speak) achieve cut through to the common mind.  They have grossly exaggerated child poverty in New Zealand. 

A few years ago, the cause d'jour was violence against women (by men).  We were painted as a terribly violent society, since research "showed" that one in four women had suffered abuse.  But common sense is a tenacious beast.  Folk (both men and women) started to think, "Well, I know lots of women--and I am very sure that one in four of them have not suffered abuse at the hands of men.  Where did that figure come from?  Well, in a specious, dishonest attempt to gain attention and traction, the cause-protagonists decided to define abuse so broadly that abuse itself became an inflated, devalued concept.  The end result: people dismissed it and stopped listening.  Those who continued to quote the mantra ("one in four women in this country has suffered abuse") were increasingly seen as coming from the lunatic fringe. 

Now similar folly is being perpetrated by the child abuse industry.  Sadly, the cause is worthy; the issues are genuine.  The propagandists, however, are dishonest brokers.

Letter From Europe (About Hate Crimes)

EU: The Lunacek-Report, and homosexual/feminist hate crimes

Posted on  December 13, 2013 

By J.C. von Krempach, J.D.

After the defeat of the Estrela Report, the time has come to turn our attention to the next attempt of radical and extremist groups in the European Parliament to embellish their agenda, and provide it with the appearance of legitimation, by the use of human rights vocabulary.

This new attempt comes in the guise of another “initiative report” (i.e. a motion for a resolution on matters falling outside the European Parliament’s competences and will therefore not be legally binding), this time authored by Ulrike Lunacek, an openly lesbian politician from Austria, who also is the co-chair of the European Parliament’s gay and lesbian caucus. No wonder, therefore, that the draft takes a rather peculiar approach towards human rights, which strongly reminds of similar attempts of manipulating human rights through absurd re-interpretations, such as the so-called “Yogyakarta Principles”.

The political strategy underlying this approach, which can be described as the systematic “queering” of human rights, is a dialectic masterpiece.

Calvin's Daily Devotional

Daily Devotional

December 18

Thine Is My Heart: Devotional Readings from the Writings of John Calvin

by John Calvin (compiled by John H. Kromminga)
Reproduced from the OPC Website

Bible Text:
He shall not fail nor be discouraged, till he have set judgment in the earth: and the isles shall wait for his law. —Isaiah 42:4

Devotional:
"He shall not faint, nor be discouraged." I remember that there were in a populous city two preachers, one of whom boldly and loudly reproved vices, while the other endeavored to gain the favor of the people by flatteries. This fawning preacher, who was expounding the Prophet Jeremiah, lighted on a passage full of the mildest consolation, and having found, as he imagined, a fit opportunity, began to declaim against those harsh and severe reprovers who are accustomed to terrify men by thunderbolts of words.

But on the following day, when the Prophet changed his subject and sharply rebuked wicked men with his peculiar vehemence of style, the wretched flatterer was constrained to encounter bitter scorn by retracting the words which were fresh in the recollection of all his hearers. Thus the temporary favor which he had gained speedily vanished, when he revealed his own disposition and made himself abhorred by the good and the bad. —Commentaries

---

John Calvin was the premier theologian of the Reformation, but also a pious and godly Christian pastor who endeavored throughout his life to point men and women to Christ. We are grateful to Reformation Heritage Books for permission to use John Calvin's Thine Is My Heart as our daily devotional for 2013 on the OPC Web site. You can currently obtain a printed copy of that book from Reformation Heritage Books.

Rapid Collapse

Gone By Lunchtime

It is coming rapidly.  Opponents of the legal recognition of homosexual "marriage" have argued that it has opened the door to any form of cohabitation being recognised and protected by the state.  Proponents of homosexual "marriage" to date have scoffed.  That has never been their intention (they protest) and anyone suggesting that state sanctioned polygamy will follow in the train of homosexual marriage is either an ignorant emotive alarmist, or deceitful and misleading in their argumentation. 

Believe me, says the homosexual, we want only this--that the state recognise the genuineness of our "love" and want that to be recognised and protected by allowing us to enter into marriage.  We reject and oppose this privilege and honour being given to anyone else, they say.  Maybe.  Let's grant for the sake of argument that the Louisa Walls of this world are genuine honest brokers when they argue this way.  But the principles upon which they have built their case apply equally to any form of willing cohabitation.  Thus, a federal judge in the United States has recently ruled that of course the arguments for homosexual "marriage" must apply equally to other forms of human co-habitation.

This from Ken Klukowski:

Douglas Wilson's Letter From Moscow

A Purpose Driven Book Review

Posted on Thursday, December 12, 2013  

By Douglas Wilson 

Blog and Mablog

I won’t go into it now, but as a result of a series of odd events, I decided that at some point I needed to read a book by Rick Warren. I had picked up a copy of his Purpose Driven Life at a used bookstore, and despite the fact that California evangelical megachurch land is not my home territory, I decided to venture in.

And, I have to say, I was really surprised at how good it was. This thing has had monster sales in the evangelical world — and here my bigotries come out to play, like a box full of three-week-old puppies let loose in the garage — and as everyone knows, monster book sales in the evangelical world mean that the object that is selling briskly must be a eighteen-wheeled shipment of shinola.

Well, not this book.

Calvin's Daily Devotional

Daily Devotional

December 17

Thine Is My Heart: Devotional Readings from the Writings of John Calvin

Bhttp://www.opc.org/devotional.htmly John Calvin (compiled by John H. Kromminga)
Reproduced from the OPC Website

Bible Text:
That the saying of Jesus might he fulfilled, which he spake, signifying what death he should die. —John 18:32

Devotional:
"That the word of Jesus might be fulfilled." The Evangelist adds that it was necessary that this should be done, in order that the prediction which Christ had uttered might be fulfilled, "The Son of Man shall be delivered into the hands of the Gentiles" (Matt. 20:19).

And indeed if we wish to read with advantage the history of Christ's death, the chief point is to consider the eternal purpose of God. The Son of God is placed before the tribunal of a mortal man. If we suppose that this is done by the caprice of men, and do not raise our eyes to God, our faith must necessarily be confounded and put to shame.

It's Not Fair

Economic Ignorance and Moral Turpitude

In his book, Fairness and Freedom, David Fischer makes some observations which represent a touchstone for truth and error in economics.  Fischer has written a historical comparison of New Zealand and the United States.  The latter nation has focused over time upon political and social freedom (from government rules, regulations, and controls) whilst New Zealand has been shaped by notions of fairness (which implies egalitarian distribution at least of opportunity, if not actual goods). 

We will endeavour to critique Fischer's book in a future post, but for the moment consider this partly insightful, yet misguided quotation:

Letter From Europe (About a Defeat of Radicals)

European Parliament dismisses Estrela-Report: A Resounding Defeat for the Abortion and Homosexual Lobbies

Posted on | December 10, 2013 

By J.C. von Krempach, J.D. 

Turtle Bay and Beyond

10 December is World Human Rights Day. It is a beautiful coincident that on this day the European Parliament has rejected the so-called Estrela-Report.  One might say that today’s vote was not important, given that the controversial draft, if adopted, would not have had any legal effect anyway, given that the issues it dealt with clearly fell outside the EU’s competence. But that would mean to grossly misunderstand and underestimate the importance of what has happened today, even if it is only a symbolic victory.

Prior to the vote that took place this morning two groups of MEPs had tabled two different alternative motions. The first, which went into much detail to rebut the absurd and preposterous claims about “human rights” in Mrs. Estrela’s draft report, was rejected, but a second one, which briefly and clearly states that the EU has no competence to impose on its Member States any of the measures called for by Mrs. Estrela, was adopted by 334 against 327 votes, with 35 abstentions. This meant that it was not anymore necessary to vote on Mrs. Estrela’s controversial draft, as it had been implicitly rejected through the adoption of the alternative motion. . . .

And the official press release by the EPP (European People’s Party) group drily states the following:

Calvin's Daily Devotional

Daily Devotional

December 16

Thine Is My Heart: Devotional Readings from the Writings of John Calvin

by John Calvin (compiled by John H. Kromminga)
Reproduced from the OPC Website

Bible Text:
And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord of hosts, that I will cut off the names of the idols out of the land, and they shall no more be remembered: and also I will cause the prophets and the unclean spirit to pass out of the land. —Zechariah 13:2

Devotional:
We may deduce that the Word of God not only shows the way to us, but also uncovers the delusions of Satan; for hardly one in a hundred follows what is right, unless he is reminded of what he ought to avoid. It is then not enough to declare that there is but one true God, and that we ought to put our trust in Christ, unless another thing be added, that is, that we warn men of those intrigues by which Satan has from the beginning deceived miserable mortals.

Sunset Industries

Commercial Reality

Back in the day, New Zealand used to make cars.  We kid you not.  In fact, when Milton Friedman visited New Zealand around 40 years ago he was aghast that we had an automobile manufacturing industry.  It existed and was nurtured by government subsidies and grants--all in the name of creating employment.  Of course NZ Autos Incorporated has long since gone the way of the dodo.  Now punters import swanky second-hand (near new) cars from Japan at a fraction of the price.

The thing about government subsidies to start and maintain industries is that they are proof positive from the outset that the industry in question is not economic from the get-go.  In order to continue, it will need perpetual injections of government money.  Before you can say "Mitsubishi", pouring more money down the crankcase becomes a political necessity because, well, all those jobs are at stake.

We have seen a modern version of the same parable recently with the NZ film industry--stimulated by government interventions over the last twenty years.

Letter From America (About Ignorant, Desperate Politicians)

Spare Us

Forbidding cell phones and other electronic devices on aircraft has been a major irritant to air travellers.  Now commercial aviation is on the cusp of removing those restrictions.  Ah.  Not so fast.  Some overreaching, nannying ignorant politicians in the United States are opposing the nullification of the no-cell phone regulations, originally put in place for reasons of safety. 

Since technology has now moved on to where cell phone use does not pose any risk to commercial aircraft, on what grounds might the cancellation of such regulations be opposed?  We are glad you asked.  Something momentous to be sure.  This from The Hill:

Calvin's Daily Devotional

Daily Devotional

December 14

Thine Is My Heart: Devotional Readings from the Writings of John Calvin

by John Calvin (compiled by John H. Kromminga)
Republished from the OPC Website

Bible Text:
... they shall see the glory of the Lord, and the excellency of our God. —Isaiah 35:2b

Devotional:
"They shall see the glory of Jehovah." Till men learn to know God, they are barren and destitute of everything good; and consequently the beginning of our fertility is to be quickened by the presence of God, which cannot be without the inward perception of faith.

The Prophet undoubtedly intended to raise our minds higher, that we may contemplate the abundance and copiousness of heavenly benefits; for men might be satisfied with bread and wine and other things of the same kind, and yet not acknowledge God to be the Author of them, or cease to be wretched; and indeed men are often blinded and rendered more fierce by enjoying abundance.

But when God makes himself visible to us, by causing us to behold his glory and beauty, we not only possess his blessings, but have the true enjoyment of them for salvation. —Commentaries

---

John Calvin was the premier theologian of the Reformation, but also a pious and godly Christian pastor who endeavored throughout his life to point men and women to Christ. We are grateful to Reformation Heritage Books for permission to use John Calvin's Thine Is My Heart as our daily devotional for 2013 on the OPC Web site. You can currently obtain a printed copy of that book from Reformation Heritage Books.

Keeping Business Honest

Rotten Eggs

It is a truism that in the heart of every merchant lurks a craven monopolist.  Given the merest chance monopolist conspiracies will arise in the throat like nauseous bile to hobble competitors and corrupt the market.  We believe strongly that civil courts must be open, accessible, and vigilant to break up such conspiracies--whether upon the unsuspecting customer, or competitors, or upon regulators.  The civil courts need to be vigilant to prosecute with alacrity all forms of fraud, deception, theft, and false weights and measures.  The civil courts must be accessible to plaintiffs and inexpensive. 

Unfortunately, due to the ceaseless flood towards centralised government, none of this is the case.  Civil courts have long since languished into a very weak and expensive and anaemic relation of justice, whilst central government rules and regulations flood websites and exhaust printing presses.  Which suits the monopolists just fine.  They have sufficient funds, industry associates, and cabals of fellow merchants to massage and morph regulations to suit their own interests.  The consumer consequently becomes a well gnawed carcass.

The egg industry in New Zealand is certainly oligopolistic in structure if not virtually monopolistic. 

Douglas Wilson's Letter From Moscow

In a Pig’s Eye

Posted on Thursday, December 5, 2013  

By Douglas Wilson 

Blog and Mablog

The president’s Twitter account recently sent out this small dribbly contribution to the oceans of illiteracy that already exist out there. What’s another half pint?

Here’s how to improve our economy and create hundreds of thousands of jobs: #RaiseTheWage. http://OFA.BO/tXMYUq  pic.twitter.com/UDTcTSaqZJ

So here’s the comeback, and I must say that it is hard to type and snort at the same time.

So why don’t we just raise the minimum wage to a hundred dollars an hour and make everybody well off? Or, while we are in this compassion groove, why don’t we make it a hundred dollars a minute and make everybody fabulously wealthy? To reply that employers don’t have that kind of money to spare is to betray a churlish spirit, and is frankly unworthy of you. Why should we allow a detail like “not having the money” stand between us and the right thing to do?

But be a man. Run the thought experiment anyway.

Calvin's Daily Devotional

Daily Devotional

December 13

Thine Is My Heart: Devotional Readings from the Writings of John Calvin

by John Calvin (compiled by John H. Kromminga)
Reproduced from the OPC Website

Bible Text:
And the inhabitants of one city shall go to another, saying, Let us go speedily to pray before the Lord and to seek the Lord of hosts: I will go also. Yea, many people and strong nations shall come to seek the Lord of hosts in Jerusalem, and to pray before the Lord. —Zechariah 8:21, 22

Devotional:
Faith then only produces its legitimate fruit when zeal is kindled, so that everyone strives to increase the kingdom of God, and to gather the straying, that the Church may be filled. For when anyone consults his own private benefit and has no care for others, he first betrays most clearly his own inhumanity, and where there is no love the Spirit of God does not rule. Besides, true godliness brings with it a concern for the glory of God.

It is no wonder then that the Prophet, when describing true and real conversion, says that each would be solicitous about his brethren, so as to stimulate one another, and also that the hearts of all would be so kindled with zeal for God that they would hasten together to celebrate his glory.

We must observe that the Prophet in speaking of God's worship sets prayer in the first rank, for prayer to God is the chief part, the main thing, in religion. It is indeed immediately added, "and to seek Jehovah." He explains the particular by the general; and in the next verse he inverts the order, beginning with the general.

However the meaning continues the same, for God seeks nothing else but that we should be teachable and obedient,

Ante-Diluvians All

Blast From the Past

John Minto is a serial, professional protester.  We have often wondered whether there is any consistent ideology at work when John shows up to protest his current cause d'jour.  He has had no real job, no career, nor profession.  He would probably describe himself as a "voluntary worker", since he apparently has lived off the tax payer's dime for much of his life--either directly or indirectly. 

But when the causes you espouse are BIG and really, really important all that counts for nothing.  The cause justifies the narcissistic indolence.  But we would be amiss to think that Minto has no ideology at all.  Some would mistakenly think him to be a committed anti-racist, having been at the forefront of protests against apartheid.  In other words, they see Minto as a human rights ideologue, committed to fundamental human civil rights, regardless of ethnicity or colour.  Maybe.  But Minto has not been well known for positive affirmation. 

One would have thought that, after protesting and campaigning against apartheid in South Africa, there would have been a note of triumphalistic celebration in his later career.  Not so.  It appears that he was deeply disappointed in Mandela and the subsequent course of non-racist South Africa.

Letter from the UK (About Chicken)

Water Worth Its Weight In Gold

The article below documents a rip-off practice in the UK.  We do not doubt that pretty much the same occurs in New Zealand.  When you next buy that oh-so-cheap chicken in the supermarket and find it to be superbly moist upon roasting, reflect on the origin of the moisture.  The same goes for most bacon.  Try frying it in the pan, and you have to evaporate the copious volumes of water coming out of the meat first, before you can brown and crisp the meat.  A sure sign that water has been injected into the meat. And think about that juicy chicken from the fast food restaurant--the juice is most likely just heated water.