dual personalities

Tag: angels

December 20, 2023

This and that, here and there

by chuckofish

There were even bigger trucks and excavators by our house yesterday.

They are making good progress and hopefully will be movin’ on down the road by Christmas.

Today we toast Charles Ellsworth Grapewin (December 20, 1869 – February 2, 1956)–American supporting actor, best known for portraying Uncle Henry in The Wizard of Oz (1939). Charley also played Grandpa Joad in The Grapes of Wrath (1940), Jeeter Lester in Tobacco Road (1941) and my personal favorite, Gramp Maple in The Petrified Forest (1936) with Leslie Howard.

Born in Xenia, Ohio, he ran away from home to be a circus acrobat which led to work as an aerialist and trapeze artist in a traveling circus before turning to acting. He traveled all over the world with the P.T. Barnum circus. Grapewin also appeared in the original 1903 Broadway production of The Wizard of Oz, 36 years before he was featured in the famous MGM film version. From the stage he moved to silent movies at the turn of the 20th century.

He was great–always recognizable, but true to his character.

The Bible, as you know, is full of angels. They are God’s servants. They are not pretty androgynous beings with blond hair, but mighty warriors who will protect you when needed. Here is a helpful primer about angels and how Christians should view them.

I am winding up my Bible-reading plan for 2023 with the book of Revelation. Wonderful. I was just reading about the grapes of wrath. Again I say, make the Bible part of your daily routine. John Piper agrees.

And here’s a shot of Bob Dylan for your Wednesday:

You can laugh at salvation, you can play Olympic games
You think that when you rest at last you’ll go back from where you came
But you’ve picked up quite a story and you’ve changed since the womb
What happened to the real you, you’ve been captured but by whom?

He’s the property of Jesus
Resent him to the bone
You got something better
You’ve got a heart of stone

“Property of Jesus”, Bob Dylan
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January 13, 2022

Humble and contrite

by chuckofish

I recently watched The Adventures of Mark Twain (1944) starring Frederic March as Missouri’s favorite son. It gives a sanitized look at the great man’s life but it is really pretty good. It inspired me anyway to take down “Life on the Mississippi” from its place on the shelf and I have been reading it.

Not surprisingly, it is very good and extremely readable. Have you read any Twain lately?

I have also been following the Gospel Coalitions’s daily “Read the Bible” plan and so far so good (12 days in!). I am currently reading a chapter a day of Genesis, Matthew, Nehemiah and Acts. (I am taking notes, because my memory is so bad!) Breaking it up this way is a good idea, since you don’t get bogged down in the Old Testament and you also see how everything in the OT points to the fulfilling of its prophesy, the coming of our savior, Christ Jesus. As Don Carson says, “When you read, remember that God himself has declared, ‘This is the one I esteem: he who is humble and contrite in spirit, and trembles at my word’” (Isa. 66:2).

It is easy to see why 19th century American writers were so good–they were immersed in the Bible, steeped in its vocabulary and vivid visualizations. So many of today’s writers write as if they grew up watching made-for-tv movies and not reading much. This does not make for good literature.

I found this article about C. S. Lewis and Billy Graham on the subject of Angels to be interesting. And here’s what Calvin thought about Angels. “Calvin’s view about angels is indeed not spectacular in the sense that it offers new and unexpected insights into the world of angels or presents an impressive and new, reformed angelology. But on the other hand it can be called spectacular in the sense that for Calvin, angels play a greater role in the life of the believer than could be drawn from the spirituality of the average Reformed believer.”

This is an interesting article. “Put simply, cancel culture is a culture of bullying. What starts with a difference of ideas ends with a willful public destruction of other human beings. Those who claimed to be the ones bullied have now become the bullies themselves, all because of a shift of power…Power is the critical concept, here. Cancel culture is based on the assumption that power—not truth—is the only way to drive cultural change.”

I am leaving tomorrow to visit daughter #2, baby Katie and DN in far-off Maryland, so wish me luck and traveling mercies. I’ll be flying…

…no choo-choo trains for me this time! I can’t wait to see everyone and check out their new house!

Love that red jumper made by her great-grandmother!

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