HATE AS A WAY OF DYING

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          There are over 900 stories and commentaries on this blog that began Nov 24, 2009. It is added to daily.

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It was an actual will written in 1935. It read, "Unto my two daughters, Frances Marie and Denise Victoria, by reason of their unfilial attitude toward a doting father, . . . I leave the sum of $1.00 to each and a father's curse. May their lives be fraught with misery, unhappiness, and poignant sorrow. May their deaths be soon and of a lingering malignant and torturous nature." "May their souls rest in hell and suffer the torments of the condemned for eternity."

       I have preached on and quoted from so often the 13th chapter of Corintians some have even called me Mr. 13th chapter of Corinthians.

       I only wish I had been able to adhere to the monumental teachings of this scripture.

       Nevertheless, inspired by it I have written the following.

       In a world of desktop publishing where the internet can repeat my anger over and over again, if I choose to have it rather than control it,  I do not make an Eden. 

       But I do make a hell.

       If I am bilingual  but do not have love I pepper the 21st century world with hate filled web sites and call such clanging obscenities inspired. 

       If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge , but am filled only with pride because of my accomplishments I am nothing.    

       Indeed, I may well become an audio or disc played over and over again.

       If I have faith that can move mountains but do not care whom I hurt by such moving, I am nothing.

       If I give all that I posses to the poor but do nothing but brag about such generosity, I belittle both the gift and the giver.

       Without love, there is such a terrible meanness in the soul.  Without love, I am not aware of a poverty of spirit.

       Hate and anger are always impatient, dedicated to the art of irritation, filled with envy, tight-lipped, rude, unkind, ready or battle.

        Looking for headlines.

       Hate keeps non-erasable mental and emotional records of every real and imagined wrong. Hate will not forget.  It wants to remember and get even.

       Hate delights in evil, courts evil, is energized by evil.

       It rejoice in lies.  It never protects, never trust.  It makes copies and mails them the old-fashioned way or multiplies animosity by e-mail.

       Hate forgets the last lines of the 13th chapter of Corinthians.  Sees weakness in faith, hope and love.  Sees love not as the greatest of the these, but the greatest enemy it has ever known.

       I remember years ago, when I was fresh out of seminary, hearing an older minister say as he rose at a Presbytery meeting, "I feel no zeal in this matter, but..." and then for the next 20 minutes showed  not only zeal but a great deal of corroding anger.

       It is a normal human trait for people involved in a disagreement to turn into jackasses kicking holes in the stable of life. 

       But when it happens, I have no doubt Christ on the cross bows his head and cries out, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do."

       No matter what the reason, unreasonable behavior is unacceptable.  Certainly in the sometimes less than hallowed halls of  denominational meetings.

       And certainly before the throne of grace.

      

             

+++++++++++++++++++++++

      Click on the URL below to WATCH NEIL IN HIS WORLD FAMOUS ONE MAN DRAMATIZATIONS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN, BEN FRANKLIN, CHARLES WESLEY AND MARTIN LUTHER

       http://www.speakerneil.com/

            To Order and Read Neil's 9th book THE SPIRITUAL ABRAHAM LINCOLN

       GO TO amazon.com

...and get a brand new book for $2 "from author" which is less than used book prices you will see!!!

QUOTES ABOUT THIS WONDERFUL INSPIRING INFORMATIVE book

STILL RECEIVING RAVE REVIEWS 8 YEARS AFTER IT'S PUBLICATION.

"Positive, powerful utterances...skillfully enhancing our understanding and appreciation of Lincoln while revealing the Divine source of his strength."

        Lt. Colonel C.A. Olsen (Ret.) Asbury College (Professor Ret.)

"The Spiritual Abraham Lincoln is an extremely well written book that investigates what might be termed the spiritual side of President Lincoln. It's both scholarly and very readable. I came away impressed at Mr. Wyrick's portrayal of the President and with an altered and enlarged vision of the man:'

        William Hoffman, Award winning fiction writer; author of Blood and Guile, and Wild Thorn

"Wyrick has authored a wonderful examination of the spirituality of one of American history's most devoutly religious leaders...a pleasant and readable book that has a rich depth of information."

       Maynard Pittendreigh Presbyterian minister

        "When it comes to invoking religion in support of any of their decisions, politicians need to sit at the feet of Abraham Lincoln. Reinhold Niebuhr once called him 'America's greatest theologian.' Why so great? Because he invariably distinguished between human works and the works of the Almighty. As Wyrick says, 'He wore the mantle of humility easily: because he was more impressed with what God was doing in the world than with what he, president of the United States in the midst of an awful crisis, was doing. That is why in his last major speech he distinguished between both human causes in the Civil War and the Almighty's 'own purposes.' Lincoln would have agreed that it is better to leave God-talk out of politics than to decorate human proposals with divinity. This is a book for our American time. Through his careful study of Lincoln's career, Wyrick compels us to remember that piety belongs in politics only when piety transcends politics."

       Dr. Donald W. Shriver

        Emeritus professor at Union Theological Seminary in New York. Author of An Ethic for Enemies: Forgiveness in Politics

        "v. Neil Wyrick's fine work allows the reader to appreciate Abraham Lincoln's Christian commitment and his prophetic role in American history. Should have a wide readership."

       James H. Smylie Professor of Church History (Ret.) Union Theological Seminary, Richmond, Virginia

       "Neil Wyrick's The Spiritual Abraham Lincoln should be read by anyone attempting to understand the man who was probably the most complex person to ever hold the office of president of the United States. Dr. Wyrick is intent on demonstrating that the spirituality so often expressed in Lincoln's writings and speeches was not merely lip service to a Deity, but rather expressions of a profound faith in a real God. It was this faith that provided the wisdom, compassion, insight and sometimes steel that Lincoln would need in full measure as he led the United States through the Civil War. Dr. Wyrick's clear and unpretentious style of presentation is very much in keeping with the character ofhis subject, and in so doing, Wyrick makes his point very well that Lincoln, his beliefs, and the faith that formed them, are as relevant to a troubled America in 2004 as they were in 1863."

       Daniel Allen Butler, author of "Unsinkable"; The Full Story of the RMS Titanic, The Lusitania and The Age o f Cunard

DREAMS

IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO SEND THIS BLOG TO A FRIEND GO TO THE BOTTOM OF THIS BLOG AND CLICK ON THE ENVELOPE.

          There are over 900 stories and commentaries on this blog that began Nov 24, 2009. It is added to daily.

          To Visit neil's other blog Wyrick's Writings click on the following

http://wyrickswritings.blogspot.com

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  "American history shall march along that skyline," announced Gutzon Borglum in 1924, believing his dream would come true in the Black Hills of South Dakota.

       In 1927 Borglum began sculpting the images of George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Thomas Jefferson, and Theodore Roosevelt on the rough graine granite face of 6,000-foot Mount Rushmore.

      Most of the sculpting was done by experienced miners under Borglum's direction.

      Working with jackhammers and dynamite, they removed some 400,000 tons of outer rock, cutting within three inches of what would be the final finished surface.

      When Borglum died in March 1941, his dream of the world's biggest sculpture was near completion. His son Lincoln finished the work that October, some 14 years after it was begun.

Dreams do sometimes come true, and if not,

       we are still the better for their having lived.

       Their beauty and their hope is not ever really lost e\'en if they never reach the sunlight of fulfillment.

       There is something about a dream that will not die, that is precious.      Like a haunting note of music it fills the silence of the night.   

       Like the ripple of a dying stream it meets the dawn of a new day.

        Like something eternal it has about it a glow of immortality.

      It could and perhaps must be said that dreams are timeless.

       That they are of intangible stuff, soft with their own peculiar flavor, hard with a resolution that gives them a temple of strength, kind because their joy speaks even in the midst of their tears.

       Dreams sometimes come in sleep, awakened by a mind that drowses.

       Dreams sometimes come in wakefulness, in an idle moment, when -the dreamer was not even aware of the dream. Dreams sometimes come because they are sought, as a kind of solace to reality.

       But however they come, do not curse a dream, or deny a dream, or forget a dream, for a dream is a part of personality, a dream is alive, a dream never really dies.

      

+++++++++++++++++++++++

      Click on the URL below to WATCH NEIL IN HIS WORLD FAMOUS ONE MAN DRAMATIZATIONS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN, BEN FRANKLIN, CHARLES WESLEY AND MARTIN LUTHER

       http://www.speakerneil.com/

            To Order and Read Neil's 9th book THE SPIRITUAL ABRAHAM LINCOLN

       GO TO amazon.com

...and get a brand new book for $2 "from author" which is less than used book prices you will see!!!

QUOTES ABOUT THIS WONDERFUL INSPIRING INFORMATIVE book

STILL RECEIVING RAVE REVIEWS 8 YEARS AFTER IT'S PUBLICATION.

"Positive, powerful utterances...skillfully enhancing our understanding and appreciation of Lincoln while revealing the Divine source of his strength."

        Lt. Colonel C.A. Olsen (Ret.) Asbury College (Professor Ret.)

"The Spiritual Abraham Lincoln is an extremely well written book that investigates what might be termed the spiritual side of President Lincoln. It's both scholarly and very readable. I came away impressed at Mr. Wyrick's portrayal of the President and with an altered and enlarged vision of the man:'

        William Hoffman, Award winning fiction writer; author of Blood and Guile, and Wild Thorn

"Wyrick has authored a wonderful examination of the spirituality of one of American history's most devoutly religious leaders...a pleasant and readable book that has a rich depth of information."

       Maynard Pittendreigh Presbyterian minister

        "When it comes to invoking religion in support of any of their decisions, politicians need to sit at the feet of Abraham Lincoln. Reinhold Niebuhr once called him 'America's greatest theologian.' Why so great? Because he invariably distinguished between human works and the works of the Almighty. As Wyrick says, 'He wore the mantle of humility easily: because he was more impressed with what God was doing in the world than with what he, president of the United States in the midst of an awful crisis, was doing. That is why in his last major speech he distinguished between both human causes in the Civil War and the Almighty's 'own purposes.' Lincoln would have agreed that it is better to leave God-talk out of politics than to decorate human proposals with divinity. This is a book for our American time. Through his careful study of Lincoln's career, Wyrick compels us to remember that piety belongs in politics only when piety transcends politics."

Dr. Donald W. Shriver

Emeritus professor at Union Theological Seminary in New York. Author of An Ethic for Enemies: Forgiveness in Politics

 

        "v. Neil Wyrick's fine work allows the reader to appreciate Abraham Lincoln's Christian commitment and his prophetic role in American history. Should have a wide readership."

       James H. Smylie Professor of Church History (Ret.) Union Theological Seminary, Richmond, Virginia

       "Neil Wyrick's The Spiritual Abraham Lincoln should be read by anyone attempting to understand the man who was probably the most complex person to ever hold the office of president of the United States. Dr. Wyrick is intent on demonstrating that the spirituality so often expressed in Lincoln's writings and speeches was not merely lip service to a Deity, but rather expressions of a profound faith in a real God. It was this faith that provided the wisdom, compassion, insight and sometimes steel that Lincoln would need in full measure as he led the United States through the Civil War. Dr. Wyrick's clear and unpretentious style of presentation is very much in keeping with the character ofhis subject, and in so doing, Wyrick makes his point very well that Lincoln, his beliefs, and the faith that formed them, are as relevant to a troubled America in 2004 as they were in 1863."

       Daniel Allen Butler, author of "Unsinkable"; The Full Story of the RMS Titanic, The Lusitania and The Age o f Cunard

DON'T THROW THE BABY AWAY WITH THE BATH WATER

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          There are over 900 stories and commentaries on this blog that began Nov 24, 2009. It is added to daily.

          To Visit neil's other blog Wyrick's Writings click on the following

http://wyrickswritings.blogspot.com

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A common ordinary barnyard egg before it becomes a delectable omelet or delightfully mixed with grits or perfectly fried piece of bacon, must have it's shell cracked.

      A luscious green watermelon consists of two parts, a green, un=eatable rind, and a red, juicy, tasty inner fruit.  If you throw out the fruit with the rind you would be considerable bereft of your right mind.

      Suppose you had a dirty baby and some clean water and an ample sized piece of soap.  What you would then do was meld these three elements and in a very short time have a clean baby.

      It would then be time to rid yourself of the dirty water.  You would not, however, rid yourself of the clean baby at the same time.  You would not throw out the baby with the bathwater.

      But this is what people do all the time with religion.  Because they find things they do not like they throw everything connected with it out the window.

      Someone stabs them with a scriptural interpretation contrary to their own and they go into a spiritual spasm and cry out, "It's all too confusing" and throw up their hands and quit.

      Or they know someone in their church who acts like a non Christian on a regular basis and they cry out, "If Christianity can't make he/she perfect like me, then I give up on. I'm going to stop wasting my time at church."  And they miss the point that we are all a work in progress, some having more progress to sustain than others...admittedly...but still all of us a work in progress.

      Or someone says that to be a true Christian you must read 5 chapters in your Bible and pray a minimum of 47 minutes of prayers a day or you are not a Christian.  And threatened by such an admonition they say, "I can't do that.  I won't do that."  And they don't do that...and they feel threatened...and they think "If that's what being a Christian is all about, maybe I'm in the wrong place."  And they throw the baby out with the bathwater.

      I am not about to tell you how many minutes per day you are supposed to pray...but I do suggest that it is habit good to seek after and well done if you practice it with some regularity.

      I am not about to tell you how many chapters of the Bible you should put beneath your mental belt in the process of foraging through a 24 hour day...but I do suggest that reading about God and God's works and God's ways will strengthen your soul.

      In short, keep the fundamentals while you are throwing out the foolish.  Behind you on the highways of yesterdays are the religious experiences of zillions and yours properly followed are then added to them. 

      And therein lies the strength of our faith...our God...our Saviour...our King.

      And therein lies the reason why no one should relegate their faith to the role of a second class citizen simple because there are some bad apples or bad ideas wandering around.

      And in the process of building your faith rather than battering it...think on the following.

      Woe to the individual who believes in nothing...for earning a spiritual ranking of zero is a tragedy of the first degree.

      Feed your faith often and it cannot help but often grow.

      I do have to know all there is to know about God.  I only have to be totally committed to what I do know and firmly believe.

       Definition of faith: Hebrews 11:1. "What is faith, unless it is to believe what you cannot see." (Augustine)
Faith is derived from the Word of God: Romans 10:17
Faith's demand: Hebrews 11:6
Faith's design: 2 Corinthians 5:7
The dualism of faith: Hebrews 4:2
Faith's duty: Romans 1:17--live by it.

 

+++++++++++++++++++++++

Click on the URL below to WATCH NEIL IN HIS WORLD FAMOUS ONE MAN DRAMATIZATIONS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN, BEN FRANKLIN, CHARLES WESLEY AND MARTIN LUTHER

       http://www.speakerneil.com/

  

                                    To Order and Read Neil's 9th book THE SPIRITUAL ABRAHAM LINCOLN

  

GO TO amazon.com

  

...and get a brand new book for $2 "from author" which is less than used book prices you will see!!!

  

QUOTES ABOUT THIS WONDERFUL INSPIRING INFORMATIVE book

STILL RECEIVING RAVE REVIEWS 8 YEARS AFTER IT'S PUBLICATION.

"Positive, powerful utterances...skillfully enhancing our understanding and appreciation of Lincoln while revealing the Divine source of his strength."

Lt. Colonel C.A. Olsen (Ret.) Asbury College (Professor Ret.)

"The Spiritual Abraham Lincoln is an extremely well written book that investigates what might be termed the spiritual side of President Lincoln. It's both scholarly and very readable. I came away impressed at Mr. Wyrick's portrayal of the President and with an altered and enlarged vision of the man:'

William Hoffman, Award winning fiction writer; author of Blood and Guile, and Wild Thorn

"Wyrick has authored a wonderful examination of the spirituality of one of American history's most devoutly religious leaders...a pleasant and readable book that has a rich depth of information."

 Maynard Pittendreigh Presbyterian minister

 

        "When it comes to invoking religion in support of any of their decisions, politicians need to sit at the feet of Abraham Lincoln. Reinhold Niebuhr once called him 'America's greatest theologian.' Why so great? Because he invariably distinguished between human works and the works of the Almighty. As Wyrick says, 'He wore the mantle of humility easily: because he was more impressed with what God was doing in the world than with what he, president of the United States in the midst of an awful crisis, was doing. That is why in his last major speech he distinguished between both human causes in the Civil War and the Almighty's 'own purposes.' Lincoln would have agreed that it is better to leave God-talk out of politics than to decorate human proposals with divinity. This is a book for our American time. Through his careful study of Lincoln's career, Wyrick compels us to remember that piety belongs in politics only when piety transcends politics."

Dr. Donald W. Shriver

Emeritus professor at Union Theological Seminary in New York. Author of An Ethic for Enemies: Forgiveness in Politics

        "v. Neil Wyrick's fine work allows the reader to appreciate Abraham Lincoln's Christian commitment and his prophetic role in American history. Should have a wide readership."

James H. Smylie Professor of Church History (Ret.) Union Theological Seminary, Richmond, Virginia

       "Neil Wyrick's The Spiritual Abraham Lincoln should be read by anyone attempting to understand the man who was probably the most complex person to ever hold the office of president of the United States. Dr. Wyrick is intent on demonstrating that the spirituality so often expressed in Lincoln's writings and speeches was not merely lip service to a Deity, but rather expressions of a profound faith in a real God. It was this faith that provided the wisdom, compassion, insight and sometimes steel that Lincoln would need in full measure as he led the United States through the Civil War. Dr. Wyrick's clear and unpretentious style of presentation is very much in keeping with the character ofhis subject, and in so doing, Wyrick makes his point very well that Lincoln, his beliefs, and the faith that formed them, are as relevant to a troubled America in 2004 as they were in 1863."

  

Daniel Allen Butler, author of "Unsinkable"; The Full Story of the RMS Titanic, The Lusitania and The Age o f Cunard

AN ADVENTURE CALLED PRAYER

IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO SEND THIS BLOG TO A FRIEND GO TO THE BOTTOM OF THIS BLOG AND CLICK ON THE ENVELOPE.

          There are over 900 stories and commentaries on this blog that began Nov 24, 2009. It is added to daily.

          To Visit neil's other blog Wyrick's Writings click on the following

                     http://wyrickswritings.blogspot.com

"""""""""""""""""""""

 PRAYER IS AN ADVENTURE

      It is a step into the unknown for better knowing.

It begins, tender and young, in the first brush with vocal thought-

two small chubby hands raised while one small Voice says,

 "Now I lay me down to sleep,"

 It ends one final day as these same hands,

grown old, feeble but with faith,

 grasp God's hand to say, . '1 am ready. I am ready,"

     Grown men sometimes cry when they pray, as deep wellsprings overflow their pride and make their foolish doubts waver in the wind.

     Prayer is a touch of God, and no heart can ignore this touch of destiny without loss,

Your most honest moments are when you pray; your true greatness is found in this time of humility,

     You never stand so tall as when you kneel. For to pray to God is to cease -trying to act like a god.,

     The mountain is more clear against the heavens and has more .meaning,

     The brook speaks a message of never-ending beauty.' Immortality pulses with the temporal heart in such a choice of doing.

     Prayer paints every scene

with a new joy and peace, and gives you the chance to find, to understand the best that is within YOU,

     It is not to say that prayer is a happiness pill to be taken; it is an experience to be found.

     With each added prayer one sees less and less "as through a glass darkly,"

     To have denied yourself the privilege of prayer is not to have lived; . . it is to have suffered from malnutrition of the soul; it is to have crippled the heart-strings so they are out of tune with your Maker.

     To have denied yourself the privilege of prayer is to have denied a rightful heritage, a gift of God not made from hands. but formed in heaven, a lifeline between the temporal and the eternal, a treasure incorruptible and with power to change lives.

     So then may every head be bowed and every heart be free and every soul be open to the refreshing, glad and miraculous experience

     of the adventure called Prayer.

+++++++++++++++++++++++

Click on the URL below to WATCH NEIL IN HIS WORLD FAMOUS ONE MAN DRAMATIZATIONS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN, BEN FRANKLIN, CHARLES WESLEY AND MARTIN LUTHER

       http://www.speakerneil.com/

                                    To Order and Read Neil's 9th book THE SPIRITUAL ABRAHAM LINCOLN

                                    GO TO amazon.com

...and get a brand new book for $2 "from author" which is less than used book prices you will see!!!

QUOTES ABOUT THIS WONDERFUL INSPIRING INFORMATIVE book

STILL RECEIVING RAVE REVIEWS 8 YEARS AFTER IT'S PUBLICATION.

"Positive, powerful utterances...skillfully enhancing our understanding and appreciation of Lincoln while revealing the Divine source of his strength."

Lt. Colonel C.A. Olsen (Ret.) Asbury College (Professor Ret.)

 "The Spiritual Abraham Lincoln is an extremely well written book that investigates what might be termed the spiritual side of President Lincoln. It's both scholarly and very readable. I came away impressed at Mr. Wyrick's portrayal of the President and with an altered and enlarged vision of the man:'

William Hoffman, Award winning fiction writer; author of Blood and Guile, and Wild Thorn

"Wyrick has authored a wonderful examination of the spirituality of one of American history's most devoutly religious leaders...a pleasant and readable book that has a rich depth of information."

   Maynard Pittendreigh Presbyterian minister

         "When it comes to invoking religion in support of any of their decisions, politicians need to sit at the feet of Abraham Lincoln. Reinhold Niebuhr once called him 'America's greatest theologian.' Why so great? Because he invariably distinguished between human works and the works of the Almighty. As Wyrick says, 'He wore the mantle of humility easily: because he was more impressed with what God was doing in the world than with what he, president of the United States in the midst of an awful crisis, was doing. That is why in his last major speech he distinguished between both human causes in the Civil War and the Almighty's 'own purposes.' Lincoln would have agreed that it is better to leave God-talk out of politics than to decorate human proposals with divinity. This is a book for our American time. Through his careful study of Lincoln's career, Wyrick compels us to remember that piety belongs in politics only when piety transcends politics."

Dr. Donald W. Shriver

Emeritus professor at Union Theological Seminary in New York. Author of An Ethic for Enemies: Forgiveness in Politics

        "v. Neil Wyrick's fine work allows the reader to appreciate Abraham Lincoln's Christian commitment and his prophetic role in American history. Should have a wide readership."

James H. Smylie Professor of Church History (Ret.) Union Theological Seminary, Richmond, Virginia

        "Neil Wyrick's The Spiritual Abraham Lincoln should be read by anyone attempting to understand the man who was probably the most complex person to ever hold the office of president of the United States. Dr. Wyrick is intent on demonstrating that the spirituality so often expressed in Lincoln's writings and speeches was not merely lip service to a Deity, but rather expressions of a profound faith in a real God. It was this faith that provided the wisdom, compassion, insight and sometimes steel that Lincoln would need in full measure as he led the United States through the Civil War. Dr. Wyrick's clear and unpretentious style of presentation is very much in keeping with the character ofhis subject, and in so doing, Wyrick makes his point very well that Lincoln, his beliefs, and the faith that formed them, are as relevant to a troubled America in 2004 as they were in 1863."

Daniel Allen Butler, author of "Unsinkable"; The Full Story of the RMS Titanic, The Lusitania and The Age o f Cunard