It used to be called Decoration Day. It dates back to the Civil War when “ladies of the South” would decorate the graves of their Confederate dead. It didn’t take an act of Congress to make these ladies act. They did so out of honor for those who gave the ultimate sacrifice. In 1868 Decoration Day was made an official holiday by order of General John Logan, General of the Grand Army of the Republic. It was a day set aside to actually visit the burial sites of fallen Civil War soldiers. After WWI it became a day to memorialize those who had died not only in the Civil War, but in any war.

The nature of the day fundamentally changed in 1971 when Congress passed an act recognizing the last Monday in May as Memorial Day - to ensure a long three day weekend for Federal workers. Since that time the memory of fallen soldiers has taken a back seat to a weekend at the lake, backyard barbeques, family gatherings, and yard work. What began as an impromtu outpouring of respect 160 years ago has, thanks to Congress, become the official kickoff of a summer of freedom - freedom to do whatever we please - a freedom we owe to those who gave the ultimate sacrifice. It’s safe to say that the vast majority of those enjoying this paid day off will go no where near a cemetary - unless they pass one on the way to the cabin.

On this Memorial Day I am thinking of two men. My own father served with honor in the Army Air Corps in WWII. He died at the age of 82 three and a half years ago, having lived a long life, a life sacrificed in service to his country and then in service to his family.

I’m also thinking of Captain Justin Peterson (USMC) who served with the 1st Tank Battalion, I Marine Expeditionary Force from Twentynine Palms, California. He died in Al Anbar Province, Iraq on October 1, 2006.

Between the hotdog and the deck chair, I hope you’ll take some time on this Memorial Day to think of a real person whose sacrifice has made it possible for you to enjoy a day off today.  There are thousands of men and women serving in Iraq and Afghanistan and in other places around the world whose voluntary service to their country makes your day off possible. The least we can do is remember.

Watch this commercial all the way to it’s surprise ending and then answer these questions:

1. What does it say about boys?
2. What does it say about childhood?
3. What does it say about love?
4. What does it say about sex?
5. What does it say about family?

HT: The Evangelical Outpost

The video below may be blasphemous, sacrilegious or both depending on your point of view. The irony is that while many who view this video will be outraged and offended, it captures precisely how a majority of those who consider ourselves followers of Christ really view His relationship to us. It captures our attitude toward Jesus plus perfectly illustrates today’s church’s complete capitulation to marketing.

Watch the video and tell me if you think Bono’s Christianity is the real thing.

HT: Mike Edwards

Last week on the radio I mentioned in passing that I believed the fruit that Eve was tempted with and ultimately ate, introducing sin into the human race, was a grape.  A kind listener emailed me after to ask how I knew it was a grape, or even an apple, since the Bible doesn’t clearly state that it was either.

Before getting into the scriptural support for the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge being a grape, let me first briefly deal with where the whole notion that the fruit was an apple originated.  It is highly likely that this view of the fruit comes from a medieval pun: the Latin for “evil” is malum and the Latin for “apple” is malus. Possibly medieval monks simply played a game with the words to make the fruit which conducted evil (malum) into the world an apple (malus).

As for Scriptural support that the fruit was a grape, let me first say that it really doesn’t matter what the fruit was.  However, the primary reason for NOT knowing the identity of the fruit is our lack of motivation to search the scriptures, compare the scriptures, and look for typology throughout the Scriptures which point to the answer to questions like these.

In order to ascertain what kind of fruit Eve ate it is necessary to first know what kind of tree it came from.  Ahhh, you say! Don’t you know, Paul, that grapes don’t grow on trees, therefore the grape can be eliminated as a possibility, because grapes grow on vines?  Ahh, but have you never read Ezekial 15 (KJV) where Scripture clearly suggests that there was at one time something known as a vine tree? Is it possible that just as God condemned the serpent to crawl (Genesis 3:14) he also cursed the vine to crawl?

God planted and caused to grow “all kinds of trees” in the Garden of Eden (Genesis 2:8,9).  If we want some insight as to exactly what kind of trees specifically may have been growing there, Judges 9 gives a comprehensive list (keep in mind what I said above about searching the Scriptures, comparing the Scriptures, and looking for typology throughout the Scriptures). Judges 9 lists four different trees: the olive tree, the fig tree, the vine tree, the thorn bush. We know there was a fig tree in the Garden of Eden, because it was fig leaves Adam and Eve used to cover themselves (Genesis 3:7). There was also thorn bushes in the Garden of Eden (Genesis 3:18).  That leaves only TWO TREES - the olive tree and the vine tree.

Is it possible that these are the two trees in the center of the Garden, one of which was forbidden to Adam and Eve?  Two trees were planted by God in the center of the Garden of Eden: the Tree of Life and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.  Here is where searching the Scriptures and looking for the typology is so important to answering our question about what kind of fruit Eve ate.

Is it possible that the Tree of Life is an olive tree?  Noah sends a dove from the ark and when it returns it has an olive leafin its mouth, a sign that the waters were abated from the earth - a sign of LIFE (Genesis 8:11). The lights on the lampstand in the tabernacle were fueled by olive oil (Exodus 27:20).  The entrance into the inner sanctuary of Solomon’s Temple (the place where God would figuratively dwell and also representing our eternal dwelling with Him in his presence) was made of olive wood, as were the two cherubim guarding the entrance (1 Kings 6:23, 31). When David was being taunted by his enemies he responded by likening his life to ”a green olive tree in the house of God,” thus signifying his life could never be destroyed (Psalm 52:8). When Jesus returns to set up His eternal kingdom, He returns first to the Mount of Olives (Zechariah 14:4). Jesus spent a great deal of time during His earthly ministry on the Mount of Olives (Matthew 21:1; 24:3; Mark 11:1; 13:3; Luke 19:29; 19:37; 21:37; 22:39; John 8:1). The Mount of Olives was the last place visited by Jesus and the disciples before his arrest and crucifixion (Matthew 26:30; Mark 14:26) and it was the first place to which the disciples went after the ascension of Christ (Acts 1:12). So by searching and comparing the Scriptures, it seems apparent that the olive tree represents LIFE, so is there any reason to believe that the Tree of Life in the midst of the Garden was a supernatural version of an Olive Tree?

Which leaves only one other tree in the midst of the Garden - the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil - which in all liklihood (and by process of elimination from the list above from Judges 9) is a vine tree (Ezekial 15 - KJV).  Is it possible that the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil was a vine tree bearing grapes? Grapes were a forbidden fruit in some places in the Scriptures!  Samson’s mother was forbidden to “eat anything that comes from the grapevine” (Judges 13:14). Isaiah 7:23 prophesies that God will judge Israel by turning the vines to briers and thorns - not unlike God’s judgment on Adam in Genesis 3:17,18.

But the real typology is between Adam introducing sin into the world by eating fruit, and Jesus symbolizing the taking away of sin by drinking the fruit of the vine. Read Romans 5:12-21 for the corollaries between Adam and Christ, as well as 1 Corinthians 15:22 and 45 - “For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.” Adam ate a fruit that brought original sin into the human race and God’s judgment on the human race; Christ drank a fruit that symbolized the end of sin and the taking of God’s wrath.  Was it the same fruit? To this day we still celebrate the sacrifice of Christ with the fruit of the vine - wine or grape juice.  Why?

One of the reasons is because the fruit that introduced sin into the world was a grape. And the redemption of that fruit comes in its use as a symbol of our redemption. Oh, and by the way - Jesus called himself the True Vine (John 15:1) as opposed to the vine from which Eve ate in hope of obtaining knowledge under false pretenses (Genesis 3) . The first vine in the Garden couldn’t give the knowledge of HIM (Jesus) whom to know aright is life eternal (John 17:3). In Jesus Christ is hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge (Colossians 2:2, 3).  God’s divine power has given unto us all things that pertain to life and godliness through the knowledge of HIM (2 Peter 1:3).  Jesus Christ is the True Vine, because He is the source of knowledge, as opposed to the false vine presented to Adam and Eve in the Garden.

Christians everywhere celebrate the overcoming of Adam’s disobedience by themselves obeying Jesus command to “this do you, as oft as you drink it, in remembrance of me” (1 Corinthians 11:25). What did Jesus command us to do? Drink the fruit of the vine until he drinks it new with us in His kingdom (Matthew 26:29)!

Adam and Eve ate a grape.

Paul’s interview from the Tuesday, May 15 edition of The Paul Edwards Program with Richard Land and Hugh Hewitt regarding the effort underway now by House Democrats to revive the so-called ‘fairness doctrine’ is featured on this week’s edition of Salem Radio Network’s nationally syndicated Townhall Weekend Journal hosted by Hugh Hewitt.

Hear it locally on AM 1500 WLQV at Noon on Saturday.  Stream it via www.townhall.com at http://www.townhall.com/talkradio/Show.aspx?RadioShowId=12.

Richard Land is the President of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission and the host of Richard Land Live. Hugh Hewitt is the Salem Radio Network nationally syndicated host of The Hugh Hewitt Show and the Editor of Townhall.com.

The Paul Edwards Program is heard weekdays from 4p – 6p ET on Life Changing Talk Radio AM 1500 WLQV. A proud service of Salem Communications.

Christianity Today: James Emery White quits as Gordon-Conwell president

When I first heard the news of the passing of Dr. Falwell, my first thought was, “How long will it be before his first detractors begin to misrepresent him?”  The answer came last night on Larry King Live. Approximately ten hours after he died, here’s how Mel White characterized Dr. Jerry Falwell on Larry King Live on Tuesday, May 15, 2007:

For the gay community, we remember him as a person who gave us voice. He mobilized us. He became the face of homophobia. And we have to thank him, because a lot of gay and lesbian and bisexual and transgendered people have marched, taken their own steps toward getting justice because of Jerry Falwell.

So I think he’ll be remembered by the gay community as the worst person in terms of misinformation about us, but as a great person for mobilizing us for — for justice.

White characterizes Dr. Falwell as homophobic and ‘the worst person’ merely because Dr. Falwell stood uncompromisingly on the truth of scripture on moral issues.  Webster’s defines a phobia as an exaggerated usually inexplicable and illogical fear of a particular object, class of objects, or situation .  What the Bible says about homosexuality, and what Dr. Falwell proclaimed from the Bible about homosexuality, is not an exaggerated inexplicable and illogical fear.  It is merely unpalatable truth in a culture which has abandoned any notion of absolute truth outside of one’s own personal desires.

Dr. Falwell preached hard truth to sinner’s like Mel White. But White’s own personal experience with Dr. Falwell betrays how he characterized Dr. Falwell on LKL. While he won’t admit it, it is very clear to those who knew Dr. Falwell that while he held firmly to principle, he was always loving and gracious in the advocacy of those principles.

Christophobia got its face last night. It’s the face of a spiritually tormented man. Mel White spoke words of hate directed at the late Dr. Jerry Falwell a mere ten hours after he was dead. Such hate can only come from a heart overcome by fear of the Lord Jesus Christ. Christophobia drives Mel White and it drives all those who hurl hate at the messengers of Christ. Jesus said, “If the world hates you, you know that it has hated me before it hated you” (John 15:18). Mel White confirms the truth of Jesus’ words.

Mel White represents himself as a “Reverend.”  He’s actually a homosexual activist whose claim to fame is that he was once hired by Jerry Falwell to “ghost write” two of Falwell’s books.  He disgraced himself tonight on Larry King Live when he characterized the late Dr. Falwell as “hateful” because of his position against homosexuality. Dr. Falwell devoted his life to firmly standing on the clear teaching of God’s word on homosexual sin.  Because he took that stand, the world and Mel White hate him. Not surprisingly, since Jesus said such hatred would be directed at those who stand on His word by those who do not know the One who sent Him: 

If the world hates you, you know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. (John 15:18-25

Mel White would be just another depressed homosexual male, looking for love in the next “committed relationship,” unknown to the world, if it were not for the 15 minutes of fame he gained by his ever so brief relationship to Dr. Falwell. Isn’t it ironic that the liberal Left in this country, represented by the likes of Mel White, can be in the very act of characterizing a good man as “hateful” - producing no evidence to support their characterization - and yet their own words are more hateful than anything Jerry Falwell ever uttered? ”The god of this world has blinded the minds of unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God” (2 Corinthians 4:4).

The real irony is that Dr. Falwell loved Mel White, and others just like him caught up in the desires of their own flesh. If Mel could only see into Heaven tonight, he’d no doubt see Jerry speaking face to face with Jesus about Mel’s soul, even while Mel is spewing his hate for Falwell on International television mere hours after the death of his nemesis. That’s the man of God Jerry Falwell was. That’s the people of God we should all aspire to be.

I’ll have more to say when the transcript of tonight’s program is posted tomorrow.

God bless the legacy of Dr. Jerry Falwell and his family.

I asked Jay about Bono, qualifying my admiration for Bono by noting that he is not as vocal about Jesus as I’d like him to be:

Behind the scenes, one on one with people, (Bono) is incredibly vocal about Jesus. There’s a story about one of the Gallagher brothers from Oasis talking about how he spent three hours discussing God with Bono, and he said it was just a very intense conversation. Well, a couple of days later, Bono FedExed him a book - What’s So Amazing About Grace by Philip Yancey. It’s just like to me that Philip Yancey’s book is like Bono’s “tract” if you will. Behind the scenes, spending time with him, the man loves Jesus. He’d be the first to tell you he’s not a good advertisement for God, but the dude loves Jesus. If you go to one of the concerts, it’s right there; if you’re looking for it, it’s right there, singing a song called “Yahweh,” a modern worship song, and that’s one of many songs.