Levi Deatrick

This title is an intentional pun, but what I’m writing isn’t funny.  I understand that I’m going to upset some of you with what I’m writing and I’ve calculated that risk, but what I’m saying needs to be said.  Hopefully, this will actually be a wake up call to some of you.

This election cycle (with the help of infinite facebook posts) has revealed or emphasized several things: the general quality of the citizens of the United States, the corrupt quality of politicians and parties, but the most grievous to me is the revelation of the quality of nominal Christianity.

I know the things below are stereotypes and do not describe all of you (in some cases, I admit I’ve been guilty of some of these things); none of this is directed to any one individual.  Here is what I’ve learned about many Christians in the last year – these are some of the elephants in the room:

Elephant #1 You are more devoted to your country than to Christ and His church.

Elephant #2 You are more loyal to the U.S. Constitution and Declaration of Independence than to the Sacred Scriptures.

Elephant #3 You spend more energy on facebook trying to convert me into being a follower of Donald Trump than you do reaching into your community and witnessing of the resurrected Christ to those who don’t know Him.

Elephant #4 You believe it is a Biblical obligation to vote and that it would be wrong to abstain from voting.  Somehow, you’ve come to the conclusion that if I don’t vote for Donald Trump, I’m culpable for the condition of our nation and have no right to complain about its direction.  (This whole vein of thinking is maddeningly illogical.)

Elephant #5 You use the threat of Hillary Clinton to manipulate others by fear-mongering.  Even though “God hath not given us the spirit of fear, but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.”

Elephant #6 You are more concerned with the earthly future of the U.S. Supreme Court than your personal future at the Judgment Seat of Christ.

Elephant #7 You are more concerned with the rights that come with your citizenship than with the responsibilities that are integral to your Christianity.

Elephant #8 You believe that freedom from religious persecution is a right endowed by the Creator.  It’s not.  The opposite is true.  The Apostle Paul clearly stated (as he was in prison awaiting his execution at the hands of the Roman government) that “all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.”

Elephant #9 You’ve forgotten that genuine Christianity is revealed by fire.  Real Christianity actually thrives when it is persecuted.  Read the book of Acts and see how the early church actually multiplied while rejoicing in trials which were far more grievous than what American Christians are resisting.

Elephant #10 You believe the United States is a Christian nation.  It’s not.  Admittedly, it was founded by men who generally held to a so-called Judeo-Christian ethic and by individuals who desired a place where they could worship God according to their preference.  The United States can only fit into the Scriptural category of a Gentile nation, even if we are friends and supporters of Israel.  Biblically speaking, there will be no “Christian nation” until the return of Christ.

Elephant #11 You have turned into the kind of people from which your ancestors fled in Europe.  You would like to require everyone in the United States to live by your “Christian values,” even though those people may not actually be genuine Christians.

Elephant #12 You are more concerned with creating an earthly utopia than by living by grace where God has placed you.  You act like the only way that you can have the joy of the Lord is if Hillary Clinton is kept from being president.  Think of Christians in the Middle-East, Africa, Asia, Russia, etc., who are thriving in their individual spiritual lives apart from any kind of religious freedom.

Elephant #13 Prayer and a trust in the Sovereignty of God are only an add-on to your political activism.  They are lip-service.  You think the voting booth is more important than the prayer closet.

Elephant #14 In the eyes of the world, you have re-created the picture of a Christian as being a moralistic, capitalistic, social warrior rather than a compassionate, praying, humble, imitator of Christ.

A few closing thoughts: 1) I know these things are generalizations and do not reflect every Christian.  2) This is not a repudiation of the United States, my citizenship, or those who have sacrificed on behalf of this country – I deeply love the United States, but I’m greatly grieved by the lack of a Biblical perspective of many Christians.  3) It doesn’t matter to me for whom you vote, or if you vote.  My concern is that Christians live with a Biblical perspective.  4) My prayer is that these words will serve as a warning to Christians to let themselves be calibrated to God’s design.  5) Thankfully, November 8th, or anything else that happens in the next 4 years, can not usurp my joy in a Sovereign God.

Filed under: Uncategorized | 6 Comments »

I don’t know how many times in the last several months of this political cycle I’ve read or heard a phrase similar to this one, “think about the future of your children!”  Both sides of the political aisle believe that the election of their opponent will mean the end of the United States that they love so deeply.  They are desperate to either save, or at least maintain their ideal of what America should be.  I think there are two motivations for the above stated imperative: 1) they are trying to coerce me (and others like me) to vote for their preferred candidate; 2) they really are concerned about the future of their offspring.  It’s probably some of both.

The first motivation is manipulative and has been frustratingly active in our political system for the last 240 years.  It is a logical fallacy called emotional pleading; it is an appeal to someone’s emotions and fears and often causes people to make decisions based entirely upon feelings.  If you know me very well at all, you know I refuse to be manipulated.  You also know that I have very little respect for that kind of debate, it is an adult form of bullying.  My decisions are based entirely on the Bible and a reasoned application of it’s truths to all of life.

The second motivation is an understandable concern of parents and grandparents.  However, I think many people have grabbed the wrong end of the issue, or perhaps emphasized the wrong end too much.  That is that many people seem to be more concerned with saving the ideal of the American Dream for their children than they are in actually preparing their children to survive in the world in which they find themselves.  My responsibility is not to change the United States so that it offers an ideal life for my children; my charge is to equip my children to live strong in any country or context.  I recently read an article in which a pastor’s wife presumed that the instruction in 1st Timothy 2:2 to pray for governmental leaders “that we may lead a quiet and peacable life” indicated that we should also “act” to help foster that kind of environment.  Her understanding of peace seems to be the absence of conflict.  Paul’s desire was not that the early church change the political environment of Nero’s Rome so that it would be friendly to the gospel.  If that was the point, the prayer and the activism of the early church was a colossal failure.  Instead, believers were to pray, so that they could maintain a quiet and peacable heart, even when the political world around them began to feed Christians to the lions, literally!  (Cross reference Philippians 4:6-7 in the context of that epistle at which time Paul was a prisoner of the Roman government.)  Peter indicated that the happy response of believers to suffering would cause others to actually ask them of the reason for their hope, despite their suffering at the hands of human government (1st Peter 3:14-16).  History has proven that the genuine gospel prospers more in persecution than in peace.  Sometimes I think many Christians are more devoted to the American Dream than to authentic discipleship.

I’m not advocating an apathetic demeanor towards human government.  I’ve voted in every election in which I’ve been eligible, and I will this year.  I am advocating that Christians maintain a correct perspective.

So, whether you are going to vote for Mrs. Clinton, Mr. Trump, or someone else, let me encourage you to devote more of your energies to equipping your family to live in this world.  If your hope is to fix this world so that your children don’t have to face things that you find distasteful, you will be disappointed, no matter who is elected.  If your energy is devoted to preparing your children for whatever comes, November’s elections will be far less frightful to you.  Our goal is not to prepare the world for our children but to prepare our children for the world.  Believe me, I think about the future of my children all of the time!  I think about the kinds of things that they are going to have to face.  But rather than basing my hopes on the election of a president by a nation of people that does not largely share my values, I’m determined to do every thing in my power to build them into strong adults who are able to navigate their society without fear, but in power, love, and a sound mind.

Filed under: Uncategorized | 1 Comment »

I’m getting ready to write a review on a little book called “Can God Bless America?” However, as a prelude to the review, I’ll share a paragraph from the book that has been in my meditations for the last 24 hours and I think NEEDS to arrest the attention of many Christians in light of our current American sociopolitical climate. Read the following very carefully.

“Unfortunately, the church today is at war with the culture, and many Christians think that by opposing moral decline through protest and politics, they are doing all they can do to redeem society. They have begun to view their unbelieving neighbors as the enemy rather than the mission field. As the rift widens between the Religious Right and the rest of society, the gospel message is being lost in the din of conflict. The tender love of sinners has been replaced by bitter rivalry for influence. Thus the only truth that can ultimately draw people to sincere repentance is too often being set aside in favor of political rhetoric and partisan squabbling.”  ~ John MacArthur

Christian, you might need to be re-calibrated . . .

Filed under: Uncategorized | 1 Comment »

I think that many men have difficulty controlling their temper.  This past Friday evening, in a Q & A time, my dad shared some thoughts with the men of the church that I pastor.  The lessons that he related to them were things that had been instrumental in him learning to control his own temper.

Dad shared 3 principles that had helped him (obviously I can’t remember everything he said verbatim, so I’m explaining what I remember him saying).  I’ll categorize them as theological, spiritual, and practical.

#1 Theological.  Change your thinking about God.  Remember that God is sovereign and that He is the One Who controls circumstances.  Mom used to say that “interruptions are divine appointments.”  Sadly, many of us get angry at situations that are beyond our control instead of recognizing that God ordains them for His purpose.

Do you remember the trials of Job?  God permitted Satan to test the faith of Job in a way that most of us will never have to endure.  Job’s classic response demonstrated a theological understanding that eludes many people, that was “the LORD gave and the LORD hath taken away, blessed be the name of the LORD.”

When we learn to trust that the all knowing God has our best interest in mind, it will have a tremendous impact on our responses to seemingly frustrating conditions.

Does your angry response indicate that you don’t believe that God is in control of circumstances?  Perhaps you are acting as if you don’t think God knows what He is doing?

#2 Spiritual. Gaze on Christ.  Jesus Christ was the perfect example of self-control.  The Apostle Paul taught in 2nd Corinthians 3:18 that as believers gaze on the Lord, they are changed into the same image.  The more that we study Christ, the more we become like Him.  It may seem trite, but the reality is that Christians need to be in the Word daily, not academically, but for the sake of their soul.  The Bible is the written revelation of God manifesting the person of Christ.  You can not learn of Christ outside of a regular diet of the Bible.

Paul warned the Philippian believers against selfishness in Philippians 2:3-4, then immediately encouraged them to follow the example of Christ’s humility.  “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus.”  The emphasis and intent of Philippians 2:5-11 is not primarily to teach Christology (though it certainly does that), but to use Christ as the model of behavior for believers.

Studying Christ, with a yielded heart, will cause you to look like Him.  You will be a reflection of Christ – and His responses were always controlled and right.

#3 Practical.  Adjust things that are in your control.  Dad made me laugh when he explained this final thought.  He said, “I traded cars.  I’m getting too old to be getting down in to my LeSabre.  So, rather than hitting my head every time I got in the car, I traded cars!”  (He now has a crossover with more headroom.)

Obviously, I’m not indicating that you should take radical steps just to avoid irritation (Dad needed to get a new car anyways), but there are simple things you could probably do to avoid irritation.  Leave for work earlier so that slow traffic doesn’t irritate you.  I often choose to put my contacts in on rainy days because water drops on my glasses irritate me.  Many frustrations could be avoided if we simply made better choices.

Solomon did write that “a prudent man foreseeth the evil and hideth himself, but the simple pass on and are punished.”  If you know that something is going to make you angry, avoid it!

Finally, on a personal level, my dad’s spiritual growth was very important in my life; his growth was observable and gave me a realistic picture of sanctification.  As a teenager, I knew that my dad struggled with his temper. However, at the age of 17, I saw a situation take place that I fully expected would cause my dad to get very angry.  Instead his response was measured and (spirit) controlled.  That particular moment in time is burned in my mind and the memory always encourages me because it is a marker of my dad’s own journey in becoming more like Christ.  This past Friday night was the first time I heard him enumerate the actual steps that helped him through mankind’s ubiquitous problem – anger.  I hope and pray that these thoughts will be as much of a help and blessing to you as they were to me and the men of our church!

Filed under: Uncategorized | 2 Comments »

I have dual citizenship. I’m a natural born citizen of the United States of America. Jesus Christ has brought me into the family of God and therefore I’m a citizen of heaven. I have a temporal interest in this country, but an eternal interest in heaven. I’m not a dichotomy, but like the apostle Paul, I’ll use my citizenship lawfully as long as it does not conflict with my life spiritually.

As a Christian Citizen of the United States:
As an earthly citizen of the United States, I want to express a concern with one of the individuals running for the presidency of the United States. People have embraced Donald Trump because he has assured them that he will protect them from ISIS, Muslims, and immigrants; he has gained popularity by capitalizing on fear. I recognize that radical terrorism has no place in any society and I agree that some measured safeguards need to be in place. But what happens when the government decides that your religion is a threat to society? Did anyone notice how quickly Mr. Trump turned on the Pope for questioning his Christianity? Does anyone remember Mr. Trump expressing doubt at the orthodoxy of Seventh Day Adventism? Apparently, Mr. Trump’s diagnosis of Mitt Romney’s loss in 2012 was that Christians were put off by his “alien [Mormon] faith.” What if the convictions of your religion or denomination are contrary to his idea of the American Dream? What if Jerry Falwell Jr. had condemned Mr. Trump for his casinos, his strip-clubs, and his adultery instead of endorsing him for president? When is Mr. Trump going to associate all Baptists with the radical (and very un-Christ-like) church in Westboro, Kansas and start pressing for action against any kind of Baptist?

Personally, I do not trust Mr. Trump to honor the First Amendment to the constitution, whether it relates to the freedom of speech, the press, or of religion. Do you remember his bullying demands against Fox News and the resulting boycott? (Not that I’m a fan of Fox News.) If president, would he just remove a reporter from the press room at the White House if they don’t “treat him fairly?” Does he get to decide when a particular denomination is unorthodox, alien, dangerous, or “down the middle of the road”? He just threatened to reveal sensitive business secrets of the Ricketts family, owners of the Chicago Cubs, because they are apparently funding negative advertisements against him. How can anyone show more contempt for the electoral process than that? Mr. Trump has very precarious tyrannical tendencies.

Sadly, I’m baffled at the national support that Mr. Trump is getting. As I was taking my children to school this morning, I told them that “the election of Mr. Trump would be a revelation of the condition of the electorate.” The reality of our electoral system is that we get who the majority wants. People can vote for whomever they want, but I’m disappointed that so many Americans seem to want this man. Sure, our system of government is very slow (by design!) and most of the time it is maddeningly partisan, but do we want to swing to tyranny?

As an Eternal Citizen of Heaven:
I love the United States and have had forefathers fight and sacrifice for the freedoms that I now enjoy. If we had another Pearl Harbor type attack, I would fight on behalf of this country. However, I’m not as concerned with politics as I used to be. I realize that any influence I have over the direction of America is not in the ballot box or the election of someone who holds my ideals. Furthermore, I’ve been commanded to pray for my governmental leaders and submit to them since human government is ordained by God. (The apostle Paul instructed Timothy to pray for “kings and for all that are in authority” and he told the Christians living in Rome “Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God.” Both the commands to Timothy and to the Roman Christians were given during the reign of Emperor Nero.) I also live with great peace that no matter what happens on this earth, God is the ultimate Sovereign and the Bible reveals to me my eternal future. Paul wrote, “For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.” Frankly, I’m not worried because I trust in the living God Who transcends all nations and ages. I fully expect that hatred of and persecution against Christianity will increase – the Bible predicts it. The Apostle Peter wrote to Jewish believers, “think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you: but rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ’s sufferings.” Paul, while awaiting his martyrdom at the hands of the Roman government, wrote to Timothy, “For God hath not given us the spirit of fear, but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner: but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God.”

Whatever happens, I and my family will live with it and prosper spiritually in that environment. The free exercise of religion is only the guarantee of man-made documents, the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States. Freedom from religious persecution is not guaranteed by the God-breathed book, the Bible. If I am able to enjoy the free exercise of my religion on an earthly level, I will. If it is taken from me, I’ll rejoice in Christ! No one can take that from me!

Concluding thoughts:
1. I’m hopeful that the citizens of this country will have their eyes opened to the danger of a man with tyrannical tendencies.

2. I’m hopeful, that by adhering to the constitution, the other two branches of government which are the balance to executive power, can restrict a potential despot.

3. No matter who is elected, I’ll pray for him or her just like I do Barack Obama and did for George Bush – and just like First Century Christians did for Nero.

4. Eternally, I’m a citizen of heaven and this life is temporary.

5. God is in control, He is not wringing His hands, and His eternal plan will triumph.

Addendum: Please do not misinterpret this post as advocating any particular party or candidate. I’m not justifying the failures or defending the policies of any of the other candidates. I’m simply expressing that I believe Mr. Trump is the most dangerous threat to the free exercise of religion.

Filed under: Uncategorized | 3 Comments »

Dear Family and Friends,                                                          12/17/15

Here is another chapter in our family history. Eventually, these annual Christmas letters will form an anthology that I hope our children will treasure as they bring up their own families. I’m sure that after our children have left home, Carol and I will pull these up and ponder with grateful hearts the gifts that God entrusted to us. Even now, this exercise stimulates thanksgiving.

January: We made the bedroom swap: the boys got the biggest downstairs room, the girls took the boy’s old room, and Carol and I remodeled and moved into the girl’s former room (where we will eventually finish a master suite with a bathroom upstairs). Carol turned 39 and Kara turned 7, both on the 10th. Gilead Job was born on the 19th.

February: Joel turned 15 on the 9th. Dad and Mom visited us on their way back from Camp Joy/Chicago (to see Gilead).

March: Most of the boys got quite sick with some kind of a virus, missing several days of school: John’s turned into pneumonia and he missed 2 full weeks of school. Joel’s turned into an ear infection that ruptured his ear drum on a Sunday morning. We had a surprise visit from Tom and Mary Thacker: relatives of Carol’s family and friends from my childhood (we didn’t find out the connection until several years after our marriage). I attended the AIBCI Men’s Retreat in Chicago.

April: Joel got his permit and started driving. JV high school baseball started. We went to Missouri for the kids spring break, hitting a deer on the way over there. Carol’s Mom and I put a verse mural in the entrance of the church foyer (Ephesians 3:21). My brother and sister-in-law (Michael and Nora) visited us and our church; Carol and Nora attended the AIBCI Ladies’ Retreat in Champaign.

May: We received a “new to us” piano from a friend of Carol’s Mom in Rockford (my digital Yamaha was my graduation present 21 years ago). Laura turned 14 on the 6th. Carol and I celebrated 16 years of marriage on the 8th. John and Josiah both got glasses for the first time. School baseball finished and Park District baseball began (I coached 8-10 year olds again). Laura finished 8th grade and was one of the students selected to give an address at their graduation exercises. We had 100’ of new sidewalk and a new concrete entrance laid at the church.

June: School finished for the summer. We put in two gardens, one on each side of the house: lots of tomatoes, zucchini, green beans, butternut squash, and – my favorite – Brussels Sprouts! Carol and Laura planted flowers around the house and the front sidewalk for the first time. Laura replaced her glasses with contacts. John and Josiah spent a week with Grandpa and Grandma Bumgardner in Belvidere. Gardner turned 5 on the 15th. Our friend from college, John Glenn and his family, came for a visit (we hadn’t seen them for at least 10 years – so glad to reconnect with them). We started putting down nearly 100 tons of gravel on the church parking lot. Not only did we cover the existing lot, but expanded it by 100’ – the need for expanded parking is a good problem to have at a church! John and Josiah were part of the Paxton All Star baseball team and had a tournament in a neighboring town.

July: Baseball finished. We went to Missouri for a family vacation and for the kids to attend VBS where Grandpa Deatrick pastors. Our church had a Patriotic service with both instrumental and vocal music. John turned 10 on the 7th. We celebrated 10 years as pastor and family at Grace Baptist Church. We attended the 40th anniversary of Lifegate Baptist Church in St. Louis; my Dad started this church and St. Louis is the place I was born and lived as a child. We finished remodeling the girls room while Joel and Laura were at Grandpa and Grandma Bumgardner’s house. I turned 39 on the 23rd.

August: The kids started back to school. Our friends and former church family, Dave and Denise Cook, visited from Florida. We made one of our quarterly trips to Chicago and also visited Carol’s parents; Grant stayed with them for several days. Someone shot the front of our van during a morning church service (we hope it was just random vandalism); our van was in the shop for two weeks while the radiator, transmission cooler, a/c compressor, and grill were replaced.

September: We picked 332 pounds of apples from the Deatrick Orchard and put up 84 quarts of apples sauce. We had new 6” gutters installed at church. Grant turned 12 on the 10th. Laura started taking piano lessons from a new teacher (all previous lessons have been from Carol).

October: We finished Gilead’s little room which will become a walk-in closet when he moves to the downstairs bunk room in a few months. We had Todd Sivnksty and his family at Grace Baptist Church for a week of special meetings. I started cataloguing my library online at LibraryThing.com, still a long way to go, but I hope to have it all organized in the next few months. Josiah turned 9 on the 30th. Carol, her Mom and aunt, and a few ladies from our church attended a Taste of Home cooking school in Champaign.

November: For Thanksgiving, I helped load several thousand U of I students on several dozen charter buses for the company for which I used to drive. We went to Missouri for Thanksgiving and while there we cut wood with Grandpa and went small game hunting (first time for the kids), we also visited my aunt’s family and grandma. Kara won the Paxton Park District Princess contest and rode in the Christmas parade.

December: I participated in the doctrinal ordination council of my youngest brother, Michael. We had an encouraging reunion with our missionaries to Cambodia, Ron and Tina Fruin. We will be spending Christmas with our entire family: 7 households with 26 grandkids will make for lots of food and fun!

Joel: Joel had some “firsts” this year: he began driving, he started pitching for the school JV baseball team, and he started playing the organ at church. He is right at 6’4” now and with weight lifting in P.E., he will likely outweigh me soon. We are enjoying him as a young man and are blessed with a very good relationship with him. He is trustworthy and competent at about anything that he attempts. He is a natural learner, reads almost incessantly, and has an amazing memory for facts, which helps on the scholastic bowl team. He is a good “big brother” and is relatively patient with his younger siblings. His emotional release is found pounding out something on the piano, currently, Rondo Alla Turca.

Laura: Laura has adjusted well to high school. She can’t stand being unprepared for anything and is often up at 4:30 a.m. studying for a quiz or test (or late at night – when I went to bed last night, she and Joel were quizzing each other over Spanish vocab for finals today). She has begun playing one of the pianos for church services and diligently practices 8-10 hours a week – she loves her lessons and new teacher. Laura daily helps Kara with her hair and, like Joel, is quite patient with her younger siblings. Her skills with Gilead gives me and Carol confidence to leave him with her for a while if we have errands to run (or a date). She has a natural ability in décor and color and has helped in both the house and the church building.

Grant: Grant is now in Junior High and loves it! He, like Laura, takes his assignments very seriously. When he learns of a project, he wants to begin it as soon as he gets home, often as though it is an emergency or due the next day. He enjoys telling us the happenings of the day and frequently jumps into the middle of a story without any context – I have to remind him that I haven’t been with him all day and can’t follow the story without some background. Grant is in his second year with the trumpet; he is trying to help Josiah learn on his old trumpet even before Josiah starts band in school. Of Joel, Laura, and Grant – there is currently only one B in their grades at school, the rest are A’s – I won’t say who owns the B, it doesn’t matter much – they all take school seriously. Grant has been my constant helper on the weekly trip to the nursing home.

John: John is in his last year of middle school. He also is doing very well academically, though he doesn’t seem to give school too much attention. John started playing the trombone in band this year; his energy and gusto was evident from the first time he blew into it. John is still our most active child, nearly every day when he gets home from school he wants to go play some kind of ball outside. He is in Carol’s Sunday School class and she has said that he listens intently and participates freely with her. He has expressed a desire to play the piano and so we may be adding more noise to what sometimes seems like a cacophony with two pianos, a trumpet and a trombone – but gladly!

Josiah: Josiah moved to a new school and is maturing silently. He is an early riser; he gets frustrated with himself when he doesn’t do something to his own standard. He has become quite competent in many things, but especially in his reading. I love to hear his phonics in the Kings English – sometimes his older siblings will correct him as he reads, but I just enjoy listening as he fearlessly tackles words from 1st Chronicles (or another place) in our daily Bible readings. I thoroughly enjoyed coaching him in baseball this year. He was one of the smaller and younger kids on the team, but he plays with his brain, not just his body. I think he’s learned to do that as he competes with three older brothers.

Kara: Kara is our little sweetheart. Her smile warms any and every heart, and it glows the more now that it is missing a few teeth. Her eyes seem to be better this year, or at least they haven’t seemed to inhibit her life. She is “Miss Observant.” I think she has memorized all of the year books from all three schools for the last three years. She seems to know everyone in town by name or face – and their relatives. Often as we are driving through town, she’ll say something like, “there is . . . her brother goes to . . . and her mom teaches . . . her dad works at . . .” She keeps us up to date! She will be able to quit using her booster seat in the van in just a couple of weeks!

Gardner: Gardner is now a full time student (not just the 3 hour a day preschooler), Carol and I miss having him as our companion for half of the day. He is an athlete like the others, just young. He got a two-wheeler with training wheels for his birthday; it took a few weeks, but he was soon riding around the yard without the training wheels. He has a mischievous streak in him, but I wouldn’t consider it malicious, most of the time anyways. He loves to play Uno with Kara and A Ticket to Ride with the other boys. He will soon join the ranks of readers and will discover a whole new world(s).

Gilead: The name Gilead comes from the ancient location which was “the place of the healing balm” in the Bible. His middle name, Job, comes from the Biblical character who maintained integrity despite intense suffering. We have not gone through severe trials, but he has certainly been a balm to our souls. Though not quite a year old, there is a determination in his spirit which kindles our curiosity, “who and what will he be?”

Oscar: Oscar continues to provide an object of love for the kids. They love him unconditionally, and the feeling is reciprocal. He lives primarily on Milk Bones and then whatever else he can get someone to give him. He had a little too much beef brisket the other night and snatched a hot dog right out of Josiah’s hand this evening as he was getting another one from the kitchen. He does get a little irritated when the boys play with toy guns in the house and he always barks at the mailman, just to let him know that he is inside, and that he knows the mailman is outside. He is a special reminder of my grandparents and the role that he played in bringing comfort to them in their later years.

Carol: We have known each other nearly half of our lives; we met in college when we were 20 and we’ll both be 40 this coming year. I’m listening to her laugh in the kitchen now as she bakes cookies and talks to Laura. Though our home is far from perfect, Carol provides a demeanor which I’m convinced our children will want to emulate in their own homes. She decided to challenge herself to grow more this past year, so she has learned some new piano pieces from different musicians, she has learned some new techniques in cooking, and she has read more. I’m often surprised when she tells me the books that she has read recently . . . but I shouldn’t be.

Levi: I’ve written more this year and have studied various topics which I haven’t had the time to explore previously (not that I actually have more time now). My weaknesses have been manifested to me this year in very unpleasant ways, but the result has been a stark realization of my need for God’s grace given through His Word.

All in all, we rejoice in His goodness to us!

Love the Deatricks

Filed under: Uncategorized | Comments Off on The Deatrick year, 2015 in review!

My personal library was started by my Grandma Deatrick when I was an early teenager.  I can’t say that I was thrilled to get a Strong’s Concordance for my 14th birthday or Willmington’s Guide To The Bible when I turned 15 or Vines Expository Dictionary of Biblical Words when I turned 16  (I was only thinking about driving then).  Now, because of the personal sentimental value, I wouldn’t think of letting those books go.  Since then and over the last 25 years or so, my personal library has blossomed to over 2500 books.  It is mostly theological, ministerial, and Christian in nature, with a solid percentage of history and biography making up the balance.

One of my frustrations has been the organization of my books; years ago I attempted a database where I entered everything manually, it would have been an interminable project.  I recently googled “how to organize a theological library” and found the website LibraryThing.  I did some research and comparison on this site and have wondered why I have not heard of it before.  I have started using it and have realized the great potential that it has for helping to organize my library.  I can’t enumerate all of the things that it will do on this post, but imagine a network which after you quickly and simply entered a book into your library, you could immediately access all other books by that author, find out which of your friends have that book in their library, read the reviews that anyone else has written for that book, immediately view the bibliographical material without ever taking the book off the shelf, etc. – this is only scratching the surface of LibraryThing.

There are so many options and tabs on the site that it is a bit bulky to navigate at first, but it is more like a toolbox than a Gerber multi-tool, so sometimes you have to do a little digging through the toolbox.  However, all you have to do is enter the ISBN and the book is immediately entered with all information into your online library.  If you have an iphone and the LibraryThing app, all you have to do is scan the barcode and it enters the book into your library (I’ve only entered 374 at this point, but it is as easy as taking a picture).  Please take my word for it, if you have a personal library, are building a personal library, or simply have a few books and love books, you need this tool.

LibraryThing has just under 2 million users and is about 10 years old.  You can enter 200 books into your personal library for free and then it is either $10 per year or $25 for a lifetime membership (not to use it, but to add any more books to your library).  However, for this month, since they have just released the app for iphone, if you download the app and start your account through it, you will receive a free lifetime membership – can’t beat that!

I’m not being paid to endorse LibraryThing, but I do have an ulterior motive.  LibraryThing functions as a social network for book lovers.  Many of you have books that I have thought of purchasing or for which I would like an honest opinion or even review.  If you simply rate the book by clicking how many stars you would give it or even write a review for it, it would be a tremendous benefit to other people of like mind or interest.

If you do sign up for LibraryThing, I would love for you to leave your user name as a comment below and then I can “friend” you and we can begin to explore each others libraries (if you prefer it to be private, let me know and I will have it myself but will not publish it as a comment).

One final note – if any of you ever publish a book and don’t put the ISBN barcode on the back cover, I will probably not purchase your book (just kidding, but it makes life so much simpler to be able to scan the barcode than to have to enter the number by hand).

Filed under: Uncategorized | 2 Comments »

Several years ago as we were rewriting our church bylaws, we re-examined many areas of practice in the local church, our goal being to do everything as close as possible to the Biblical pattern.  One of the things that has been dealt with in a fairly consistent manner is church discipline, usually according to Matthew 18:15-17.  (Just look at most church bylaws.)

I’m not going to write everything that we have in our church documents regarding discipline, however, I do want to assert that the hope and prayer of church discipline is recovery and discipleship for the sinning believer.  I confess that I have not always practiced it in a completely Biblical manner.

The purpose of this post is to bring attention to an area of discipline that is not only overlooked, but would also – if correctly practiced in churches – make the process of discipline far more workable and therefore effective.

To illustrate the problem, here are some questions: Should open adultery by a church member be dealt with according to Matthew 18:15-17?  How is it even workable?  Should a church even come to step 3 where members actually have the potential of voting to retain an unrepentant adulterer?

As I prayed through this conundrum while studying all of the different N.T. passages on church discipline, I realized that there are different categories of offenses and they are dealt with differently in the various passages of Scripture.  Hopefully, the following delineations will help some of you, my fellow pastors, to more effectively deal with offenses in the local church that you pastor.

1.  Personal offenses and unknown sin.

This is the kind of offense that Matthew 18:15-17 addresses.  A long time ago, I unwittingly breached a legal contract with some dear friends in Christ.  They came to me privately and explained my offense to me.  I had not realized what I had done, and my heart was deeply grieved that I had caused them such pain.  We quickly made things right and to this day I have a very high degree of respect for them.  The passages of Scripture that address this kind of scenario are Matthew 18:15-35, Luke 17:3-5, and Galatians 6:1.

2.  Open Sin.

The apostle Paul rebuked the church in Corinth for their handling of open immorality in their midst (1st Corinthians 5), they were even boasting of their tolerance.  I find it interesting that Paul did not mention any kind of “due process.”  He told them that, even though he wasn’t in Corinth, he knew that this person should not be allowed to stay in the church.  It wasn’t even a voting matter in the mind of Paul.  Unfortunately, there were people in Corinth who were proud that this man was a part of their church.  Sadly, the application of many churches “due process” would make it possible – though unlikely – that such a person could be retained in membership.

The follow-up in 2nd Corinthians 2 indicates that the man must have repented of his sin and therefore the church should forgive him and receive him.  This is a very important part of church discipline.  Unfortunately, discipline is often handled so poorly that even if the offender does repent, he no longer wants any part of the church that disciplined him.

The passages of Scripture that deal with open sin are 1st Corinthians 5, 2nd Corinthians 2:6-11, and 2nd Thessalonians 3:6-15.

C.  Doctrinal division or heresy.

Interestingly, doctrinal division or heresy is the offense which is dealt with most severely in the N.T. church; this reflects the demeanor of Christ in the gospels (notice the way He dealt with adulteresses in contrast to the religious hypocrites).  Other than Romans 16:17 and 2nd John 9-11 (which give no specifics on the process), there is a preponderance of Scripture in the pastoral epistles addressed to pastors on dealing with heresy and division.  Dealing with doctrinal division and heresy is primarily the responsibility of the church leadership.  Even the letters to the churches in Pergamos and Thyatira were addressed to the messengers of those churches (Revelation 2).  There, the pastor was to preach this message regarding false teachers to these churches.

The passages of Scripture that deal with doctrinal division or heresy are Acts 20:28-31, Romans 16:17, 1st Timothy 1:18-20; 4:16; 6:1-5; 2nd Timothy 2:23-26; Titus 1:9-16; 3:9-11; 2nd John 1:9-11.

Conclusion.

I haven’t detailed exactly what the process is that we follow in each of these circumstances, though it is clearly outlined in our church documents.  However, I’m convinced that recognizing the distinctions between the different kinds of offenses will make the application of discipline far more workable and effective in the N.T. church.  It is quite liberating to remove a wrongly applied paradigm and consequently, an unwieldy one, from your church practice.

Filed under: Uncategorized | Comments Off on Some thoughts on church discipline

Today is National Dog Day.  It may not actually be that important to any one who doesn’t have a dog, or perhaps even to some people who do have a dog.  Until a couple of years ago, such a holiday would not have meant much to me.  In fact, I probably would have thought it was silly.

I think much differently now.

I first met Oscar at Thanksgiving in 2007.  I was at my grandparents’ house and I saw my youngest brother swinging him around with a knotted rope in my grandparents’ living room.  I wasn’t really a fan of Oscar because he looked like a Chihuahua to me and in my opinion was just a little “yipper dog.”   I was a bit surprised that Oscar was in the house because Grandpa and Grandma (to my knowledge) had never had a dog in the house.  My grandparents had always had lots of animals on the farm, but as their health declined and they were inside more and more, they got little Oscar for company.

Oscar as a puppy

The next time I remember seeing him, was Thanksgiving of 2013.  Grandpa had passed away several years earlier and Oscar had stayed on as Grandma’s companion.  He had aged in those years and had begun having seizures.

We had Thanksgiving lunch at my aunt’s house.  I was getting ready to leave, but thought I would take all of my kids up to grandma’s house so that they could see where I used to spend so much time as a kid (Grandma was still at my aunt’s house).  When I opened the front door, Oscar ran out into the driveway.  I didn’t know if he would run off, so went to catch him.  One of my older kids caught him, picked him up and carried him into the house.  Once in the house, he squirmed out of their arms and fell pretty hard to the floor.  He started having a seizure and I immediately sent my kids back to the van.  I got down on the floor and held Oscar tightly between my knees.  His dark eyes just stared into mine, moistened with the tears that often accompany his seizures.  In just a few moments, I bonded with him.

As we headed back to Illinois, I had a lot of time to think on the drive.  My mind regarding pets had changed quickly in those short minutes that I was holding Oscar.  My thoughts became more substantive as I passed the miles on the way home.  I was a bit confused because I could tell that my opinions were changing.  My resistance to emotional attachments to pets was weakening.

If you know me, I filter everything through the Bible, so I started thinking of “pets” in the Bible.  (I understand the context and the interpretation of the Bible story I’m getting ready to cite; I’m not misapplying it, I’m simply explaining something that dawned on me from the passage).  The “pet” that came to mind was in the story that Nathan the prophet told to David about the man who had many sheep, yet stole the singular pet sheep of his neighbor in order to feed his guest.  David was so angry at the injustice that he wanted to execute the man who stole the lamb.  It dawned on me that David didn’t think like I did.  I would have thought, “make him repay sheep for sheep, it’s just an animal.”  David understood (and so did Nathan the prophet) the affection that rests between an animal and a person; he considered the violation worthy of death.  With that thought circulating, I realized what Oscar meant to my Grandma.  I then realized that Oscar had become very valuable to me.

I talked to my mom on the phone and told her that if for some reason Oscar outlived Grandma, that I would be glad to have him if it was okay with everyone else.  I didn’t know that it would be so soon, but Grandma only lived another couple of months; my mom and her siblings decided it was okay for me to have Oscar.

I knew how much Oscar meant to Grandma, but it wasn’t until Grandma had passed away and my aunt posted a picture of Oscar staring at Grandma’s empty bed that I realized how much Grandma meant to Oscar.

Oscar staring at Grandma’s empty bed

My family has had Oscar for about a year and a half.  I can only imagine the change in his life going from living alone with grandma to a house with 7 (now 8) children in it.  But he has adapted very well.  His favorite part of the day is clearly 3:30 pm when all of the kids come in the house from school.  He can hardly contain his excitement as he runs around everyone’s feet greeting them as they come in the house.  Of course he still has seizures, but with medicine, they are not too frequent and not too severe.  He LOVES milk bones and table food (he only eats regular dog food when he thinks he can’t get anything else).  He sleeps on the lower bunk bed with Joel; he sits on the couch between the kids during our Bible time; he comes to the dining room when we’re eating; he always meets us at the back door when we come home; he barks at the post man (even the other day while having a seizure); he’s protective of baby Gilead when I get down on the floor to play with him; I could say much more. . . Basically, he’s added a new dimension of love to our home.

He fulfilled his purpose as a companion for my grandparents.  Now his purpose is to bring love and affection to our family and he is doing a very good job.  Oscar is almost 10 years old; I dread the day when his little heart will stop beating, when it does it will break the hearts of a lot of people in this family.

Happy National Dog Day Oscar!  You are a gift from God, created to bring joy and comfort first to my Grandparents, now to me and my family!

Me and Oscar

Filed under: Uncategorized | Comments Off on Thoughts on pets . . .

A couple of weeks ago, after our mid-week service, we had a stranger walk in the back door of the church while we were standing around visiting.  I stepped outside to talk to him and he began telling me that he was a traveling minister who went to various churches to help “teach them the truth.”  He then indicated that most churches helped him financially in some way or another.

My interest was piqued and so I began to engage him in a theological discussion (not that I was tempted to have him “teach” our church the truth).  To make a long story short, he rejected much of the N.T. as being spurious.  The only parts of the N.T. that he accepted were the gospels, Acts, Romans, 1st and 2nd Corinthians, and the Revelation.  I challenged him and he told me that it was clear from grammar and word usage that the other so-called Pauline epistles were not written by the same author.  He quoted higher criticism and then told me that I took everything by tradition just like most every other person who calls themselves a Christian.  Our conversation didn’t get very far because anytime I would quote a verse of Scripture to him, he would dismiss it as being fraudulent.  I came to the conclusion that he was more like Hymenaeus and Philetus who “overthrow the faith of some” based on false teaching (2nd Timothy 2:18).

The conversation was at least 45 minutes long and he wanted to debate further, but I declined as it was unprofitable and without edification, and by this time my family was in the van ready to go home.  Over the last couple of weeks, I’ve thought of several things that relate to the conversation.

Every person is a person of faith.  This man claimed to be a Christian, though I doubt it.  The reality is that he trusts critics and skeptics.  I know that he did not know Greek well enough (if at all) to be able to tell from the grammar and language if Colossians was counterfeit.  So, he had chosen to believe those who question the Bible, I choose to believe the Bible.  Either way, we both are people of faith; I trust God, he trusts men.

The same truth is evident in things such as creation/evolution and Theism/atheism.  A creationist believes that God created the world as recorded in Genesis 1-2.  An evolutionist believes that the origins of geology, biology, and cosmology are explained by scientists.  However, as much as men want to claim that evolution is a scientific fact, it was not observed and can’t be reproduced – so it is still a theory.  I choose to believe God, evolutionists believe men.

I believe that God is revealed through the Bible.  Atheists believe that there is verifiable proof that God does not exist.  Agnostics believe that there is not enough evidence to declare that God does exist or does not exist.  The reality is that all three positions require faith.  I believe God.  The Atheist believes his human logic and experience (though fallible and limited).  The Agnostic believes there is not sufficient evidence to draw a conclusion.

We are all people of faith because of the next point:

Man’s knowledge is finite.  The Agnostic is at least right in this, only his conclusion leads him to distrust while mine leads me to greater trust.  My knowledge is finite and so I choose to believe the Bible.

There is no way that any man can know, academically or experientially, all that there is to know in or beyond his lifetime.  I was not at the origin of the universe and so I have to take someone else’s word for it.  When there is something that I cannot know, I will take the Word of God over the word of men.  I know this is faith, but taking the word of men is also faith.  I believe that God is a greater foundation for faith than fallible and finite men.

I have absolute trust in God and an absolute distrust of men.  I admit that I have faith.  But honesty demands that every man admits that he has to have faith in something because it is absolutely impossible for every man to infinitely know everything.  So, I take God’s Word for everything.

What a man chooses to believe determines how he lives.  Those who choose to believe that there is no God or choose to believe in evolution, live in accordance with what they have chosen to believe (or chosen not to believe).  Evolution presents the possibility of the origin of the universe apart from God and so there is no need to be concerned with a God.  Life without God makes the mind of man the measure of knowledge and so the supreme authority.  Life without God means that there is no eternity and so one lives only for today.

Since I believe in God and the Bible as being His revelation to mankind, it affects the way I live.  I believe what the Bible says about life on this earth and about eternity.  Consequently, those beliefs dictate my actions.  Whatever the Bible says about humanity, about government, about society, about eternity, about science, about morals, about history, or any subject – is my authority and I live accordingly.

Conclusion.  The man that I talked to a couple of weeks ago rejected much of the N.T. because he chose to take the word of men.  He was living with the impossible hope that he could discern everything logically and academically.  Therefore, he had no certainty.

I know it’s faith, but I take God at His Word on every subject because I know that I – and all men – are finite and fallible, so for me faith in God and His Word is the only valid option.  That faith guides my whole life.

Filed under: Uncategorized | Comments Off on So who do you trust?