On the recent deaths of two Jewish clergymen

Harold Kushner, member of the Rabbinical Assembly of Conservative Judaism and congregational rabbi of Temple Israel of Natick in Natick, Massachusetts for 24 years, died on April 28, 2023, 25 days after his 88th birthday. Rabbi Kushner wrote 16 books, and was best known for When Bad Things Happen to Good People (1981), in which he argued that a benevolent but finite God offers solace to those who suffer, but isn't powerful enough to prevent suffering. The book was very popular, appealing to people with "itching ears" (II Timothy 4:3).

On April 19, 2023, Albert Runge, born into a Jewish family in Brooklyn, New York, died in Abbotsford, British Columbia at the age of 94. He placed his trust in Jesus Christ as his saviour and lord at the age of 14, and spent his career as a pastor with the Christian & Missionary Alliance in the United States and Canada, including almost a decade (1981-1991) at Beulah Alliance Church in Edmonton.

In a sermon at Beulah in 1983, Pastor Runge referred to Rabbi Kushner's most famous book, saying, "Doesn't that Jew know his scriptures? I feel sorry for that rabbi, worshipping such a weak god." Pastor Runge worshipped the true omnipotent God of the Bible and took his God seriously and kept the faith, but never took himself seriously. Pastor Runge told his story in his autobiography A Brooklyn New Meets Jesus (2001).

140 years ago: U.S. President James A. Garfield dies after being shot by a pseudo-Christian utopian socialist

On September 19, 1881, James A. Garfield, 20th President of the United States of America, died at the age of 49. He had been shot in the back on July 2 at a train station in Washington. His wound was probably survivable, and it's been speculated that his death resulted not so much from the wound as from infection caused by poking and prodding by his doctors with unwashed hands using unsterilized instruments in an effort to find the bullet.

Mr. Garfield had taken office on March 4 and had made civil service reform a priority of his presidency. The assassin, Charles Guiteau, was an unsuccessful lawyer from Chicago who has been largely passed over in the history books as simply a deranged office-seeker. However, the history books have overlooked, as Paul Harvey would say, "The rest of the story."

Charles Guiteau, the fourth of six children, was born on September 8, 1841 in Freeport, Illinois and moved with his family to Ulao, Wisconsin in 1850, moving back to Freeport with his father after his mother died in 1855. He failed the entrance examinations for the University of Michigan, and abandoned remedial studies.

Mr. Guiteau's father Luther was closely affiliated with the Oneida Community in Oneida, New York. The United States of the mid-19th century contained a number of utopian sects, and the Oneida Community, founded by John Humphrey Noyes in 1848, was one of them. Mr. Noyes was influenced by the preaching of Charles G. Finney, the "Father of American revivalism," and underwent a religious conversion at the age of 20 in 1831; he claimed to be a Christian, but eventually embraced the unbiblical doctrine that believers can attain sinless perfection in this life. He studied at Dartmouth College, Andover Theological Seminary, and Yale Theological College, and while at Yale, came to the conclusion that the second coming of Christ had occurred in A.D. 70 and that "mankind was now living in a new age."

Mr. Noyes was a Perfectionist--he believed that it was possible for man to be free from sin in this lifetime--and on February 20, 1834, he declared himself perfect and free from sin. Mr. Noyes' declaration provoked outrage from Yale Theological College, and he was expelled and stripped of his recently-earned license to preach. Mr. Noyes returned home to Putney, Vermont, where he continued to preach his Perfectionist doctrines. In 1847 he was arrested for adultery, and he and some followers fled to Oneida, where he established a community in 1848, raising canned fruits and vegetables, and achieving success in various industries, including the silverware trade. The Oneida Community, which practiced communalism, complex marriage, male sexual continence, and mutual criticism, grew to over 300 members by 1878, and had branches in other locales.

Charles Guiteau joined the Oneida Community in June 1860 at the age of 18, and expressed perfect confidence in Mr. Noyes and his teachings. Despite the community's practice of group marriage, Mr. Guiteau was generally rejected by women during his five years there. He left twice, returning once and then leaving for good, filing several lawsuits against Mr. Noyes, demanding payment for work he had done on behalf of the community. Mr. Guiteau studied law, but failed in a brief career as a lawyer and at several other jobs. He met and married librarian Annie Bunn in 1869, but was abusive to her. Mr. Guiteau eventually reinvented himself as a theologian, although his writing on the subject was largely plagiarized from Mr. Noyes. He was increasingly convinced that his actions--which included defrauding clients--were divinely inspired, but by 1875 Luther Guiteau was convinced that his son was possessed by Satan.

Charles Guiteau turned his interest to politics, originally supporting former President U.S. Grant for the 1880 U.S. Republican Party presidential nomination, and then supporting Mr. Garfield after the latter won the nomination. Mr. Guiteau believed his support had been crucial to Mr. Garfield's electoral victory, and made repeated personal requests--always rebuffed--for a consulship in Paris. By July 2, 1881, Mr. Guiteau was convinced that God wanted Mr. Garfield "removed."

In contrast to today, justice was swift in 1881. On October 14, Mr. Guiteau was charged with murder. His trial began on November 17; a plea of temporary insanity was unsuccessful, and he was convicted on January 25, 1882 and sentenced to death. On June 1, he composed a lengthy poem claiming that God had commanded him to kill President Garfield in order to prevent Secretary James G. Blaine’s "scheming" to war with Chile and Peru. Mr. Guiteau also accused Chester Arthur, who had succeeded Mr. Garfield as President, of the "basest ingratitude" for not pardoning him when he knew that the death of Mr. Garfield had saved the United States.

Mr. Guiteau was hanged in Washington, D.C. on June 30, 1882 at the age of 40. While on the scaffold, he recited a poem he had composed titled I am Going to the Lordy.

70 years ago: The death of Buzz Beurling

On May 20, 1948, George Frederick "Buzz" Beurling was killed in a plane crash at the age of 26. A native of Verdun, Quebec, Flight Lieutenant George Frederick Beurling dropped out of high school in order to fly planes, but was rejected by the Royal Canadian Air Force at the outset of World War II. He joined the U.K. Royal Air Force in September 1940, and became the greatest Canadian ace of World War II, recording 31 (or 31 1/3) kills, 27 over Malta during a two-week period in 1942, earning him the Distinguished Flying Cross, Distinguished Service Order, Distinguished Flying Medal, and Bar.

Buzz Beurling grew up in a Christian home where God's word was believed. A love for the Jewish people and a belief that Jews were God's chosen people was taught. Accordingly, Flt. Lt. Beurling turned down an offer to join the Egyptian Air Force during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, and joined the Israeli Air Force instead. At the conclusion of a test flight of a Noorduyn Norseman transport aircraft which was to be delivered to Israel, he and co-pilot Leonard Cohen were killed when the plane crashed while landing at Aeroporto dell'Urbe in Rome. Flt. Lt. Beurling's remains were eventually flown to Israel and buried in a military cemetery in Haifa.

The legacy of the Beurling family's love for the Jewish people continues today, as Buzz's niece Janice Beurling is a longtime leader in communications with Chosen People Ministries (Canada).

300 years ago: The birth of David Brainerd

On April 20, 1718, missionary David Brainerd was born in Haddam, Connecticut. Mr. Brainerd had a conversion experience at the age of 21, two months before he entered Yale University. His religious enthusiasm led to his expulsion from Yale, and after a brief time as a pastor, he embarked on missionary work among Native Americans in New York and New Jersey. From 1743-1746, Rev. Brainerd experienced success in working with the Delaware Indians in New Jersey, despite a chronic battle with an illness believe to be tuberculosis. He spent his last months as a guest of the famous revivalist Jonathan Edwards, and died of consumption on October 9, 1747 at the age of 29. Rev. Brainerd's influence was probably greater after his death than it was during his life, as Rev. Edwards' biography An Account of the Life of the Late Reverend Mr. David Brainerd (1749) influenced future missionaries such as William Carey, Jim Elliot, and Adoniram Judson.

I must admit that I knew almost nothing about David Brainerd until I looked up the Infogalactic and Wikipedia entries on him. What little I had read about Rev. Brainerd depicted someone who was so saintly that I found it impossible to identify with him as a real person. It seems that Jonathan Edwards doctored up his biography--taken from Rev. Brainerd's diary--to remove the parts where Rev. Brainerd expressed his despair, and to make it express Rev. Edwards' doctrine.

The David Brainerd of Jonathan Edwards' biography may have inspired some people to become missionaries, but I can't help but wonder how many others were discouraged from becoming missionaries because they couldn't hope to ever achieve the level of godliness of Rev. Brainerd as depicted by Rev. Edwards. I was pleasantly surprised to discover that the real David Brainerd was a flesh-and-blood human being who had a less than reverent attitude toward certain figures of authority in academia, and who suffered from loneliness and depression exacerbated by poor health that made his life miserable. I much prefer the real David Brainerd to the authorized version.

It's interesting to note the negative attitude toward religious "enthusiasm" at Yale University in the early 1740s. By the last quarter of the 18th century, the anti-Christian attitudes on the major college campuses in the United States hardened to the point of violence, making for interesting history.

It's also interesting to note that there was a law in Connecticut in the 18th century regarding the licensing of pastors. Strict separation of church and state didn't exist in colonial America. The First Amendment to the United States Constitution, which begins with "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof," refers exactly to that. The United States Congress couldn't make a law establishing a religion, but individual states had such laws, and those continued after the Constitution took effect.

10 years ago: The death of Johnny Hart

Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints. Psalms 116:15

On April 7, 2007, Johnny Hart went to be with his Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ at the age of 76. Mr. Hart created the comic strip B.C. in 1958 and co-created--with Brant Parker--the comic strip The Wizard of Id in 1964, both of which were enjoyed by this blogger.

Mr. Hart developed strong Christian convictions from the mid-1980s on, and increasingly wove Christian themes into his work. Some newspapers, which had no problem publishing comic strips with overtly political content, found Mr. Hart's expression of his Christian views in B.C. to be unacceptable, so in the name of tolerance and liberalism, they practiced censorship, and refused to print some of the B.C. strips. Mr. Hart, however, refused to cower before the god of political correctness.

Mr. Hart was still active when he had a fatal stroke at his drawing table. Fortunately, his work survives him.

10 years ago: The death of Betty Friedan, and a suspicious coincidence

On February 4, 2006, Betty Friedan died in New York City on her 85th birthday. Mrs. Friedan, born Betty Goldstein, was the author of The Feminine Mystique (1963); co-founded in 1966 and served as the first president of the National Orgnization for Women (NOW); and was responsible more than anyone else for creating the modern feminist movement and its associated evils. She provided ample evidence for Rush Limbaugh's statement that the feminist movement was created to give unattractive women easier access to the mainstream of society.

Mrs. Friedan's death came the day after news of the death in New York City of actor Al Lewis at the reported age of 82. Mr. Lewis, born Albert or Alexander Meister, was best known for playing Grandpa Munster in the television comedy series The Munsters (1964-1966). Mr. Lewis was also known for his support of liberal causes.

Is it just a coincidence that Betty Friedan and Grandpa Munster died in the same city on the same weekend? I find it very suspicious. ;)

75 years ago: The death of Kyösti Kallio

On December 19, 1940, Kyösti Kallio died at the age of 67. Mr. Kallio, a devout Christian and leader of the Agrarian League, served as Prime Minister of Finland four times: 1922-1924, 1925-1926, 1929-1930, 1936-1937. In 1937 he took office as President of Finland, the country's head of state.

Mr. Kallio was in office during the Winter War against the U.S.S.R. in 1939-1940. When the invading Soviets won the war in March 1940 and imposed peace terms on Finland, President Kallio was obliged to sign a document authorizing four Finnish government officials to travel to Moscow and sign the Moscow Peace Treaty--as unjust a peace that has ever been forced upon a defeated people--on behalf of Finland. As he signed the odious document, Mr. Kallio said (presumably in Finnish), "Let my hand wither, that has been forced to sign this piece of paper."

The Lord granted Mr. Kallio's request; on August 28, 1940, he suffered a stroke that paralyzed his right arm. Mr. Kallio's health continued to decline, and on November 27, he left his notice of resignation, intending to retire to his farm at Nivala. A few hours after Risto Ryti officially succeeded Mr. Kallio as President, a band was playing the patriotic Finnish march Porilaisten marssi (March of the Men of Pori) while an honour guard saluted Mr. Kallio at Helsinki Central Railway Station as he prepared to depart for his retirement, but he collapsed and died in the arms of his adjutant, Marshal Carl Mannerheim, and went to be with his Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

Elisabeth Elliot goes to be with the Lord

Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints. Psalms 116:15

Elisabeth Elliot Gren, whose example of a godly life and biblically-based writings were an inspiration to many, including this blogger, has went to be with the Lord on June 15, 2015 at the age of 88. She died after a long period of dementia, and the difficulties that resulted from that are now over. She can rejoice that she's now in the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ, and can become reacquainted with Jim Elliot and Addison Leitch, her first two husbands, who predeceased her by several decades.

I was privileged to hear Elisabeth Elliot speak in person at the Campus Crusade for Christ KC '83 Christmas Conference in Kansas City, Missouri on December 30, 1983. Pre-release copies of her book Passion and Purity were available there, and she spoke on the subject of that book. The title of her address was The Path of Endurance, and you can hear it here. Elisabeth Elliot's advice is worth following because she lived what she was talking about. I've read a few of her books, and the ones I particularly recommend are Passion and Purity (1984) and The Mark of a Man (1981). They can be be ordered from her site, if you can't find them elsewhere.

30 years ago: The death of Karen Ann Quinlan

On June 11, 1985, Karen Ann Quinlan died of pneumonia at the age of 31. Miss Quinlan went into an irreversible coma and entered a persistent vegetative state shortly after consuming a combination of alcohol and Valium on April 15, 1975. She was taken to Newton Memorial Hospital in Morris Township, New Jersey, where she was fed through a tube and was aided in breathing by a ventilator, which were thought to be the only things keeping her alive.

Miss Quinlan's parents, who were devout Roman Catholics, wanted Karen returned to her "natural state," and petitioned to have the ventilator removed, objecting to what they saw as her life being prolonged by "extraordinary means." They thus petitioned the New Jersey Superior Court to have the ventilator removed; Newton Memorial Hospital joined the Quinlans in the action, fearing a charge of homicide if the ventilator were removed without legal justification. The Quinlans' petition was denied in November 1975, but an appeal was upheld in 1976 by the New Jersey Supreme Court. The case of Karen Ann Quinlan was widely, and incorrectly, believed to be a "right-to-die" case. In fact, Miss Quinlan met none of the criteria for death; she wasn't dead, and wasn't dying. Her parents didn't want her to die, but opposed the use of "extraordinary means" to keep her alive.

The ventilator was removed, and much to everyone's surprise, Miss Quinlan continued breathing on her own, and was fed through a tube until her death. The legal uncertainties surrounding the situation of Karen Ann Quinlan have been credited with spurring the creation of formal ethics committees in hospitals, nursing homes, and hospices.

Karen Quinlan quickly became forgotten by the public and media after the court battle was over, and her death received slight coverage, in contrast to the court case surrounding her condition, which was a major news item in 1975. You have to be of a certain age to remember the case of Karen Ann Quinlan, and those who weren't paying close attention may be surprised to find that her death occurred in 1985, not in 1975 or 1976.

Ian Paisley goes to be with the Lord

Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints. Psalms 116:15

Rev. Ian Paisley, Northern Ireland's most prominent Protestant pastor and political figure, died on Friday, September 12, 2014 at the age of 88. Mr. Paisley was a man much mischaracterized by international media, an example of which is the obituary by Robert D. McFadden in The New York Times, September 13, 2014. A less biased obituary is that of the Associated Press, September 13, 2014.

For those who are interested in what Mr. Paisley himself had to say, I recommend his own site, the European Institute of Protestant Studies. Several decades of his sermons can be downloaded from Sermon Audio. Advanced Book Exchange lists a number of Mr. Paisley's publications for sale.

See also my post on Mr. Paisley's address to the European Parliament on October 11, 1988.

On a trivial note, well-known actor Liam Neeson stated in an interview (go here for video) that Mr. Paisley helped to inspire him to become an actor. Mr. Neeson has said that he would like to play Mr. Paisley in a biographical film if the right script comes along.

25 years ago: The death of J. Vernon McGee

On December 1, 1988, Dr. J. Vernon McGee died at the age of 84. Dr. McGee pastored a number of Presbyterian churches before serving as the pastor of the non-denominational Church of the Open Door in Los Angeles from 1949-1970.

Dr. McGee is probably best known for his Thru the Bible radio ministry, a series of broadcasts covering the entire Bible over a five-year period. His messages are still being broadcast today, which shows that if your messages are entirely taken from the Bible, you'll never be out of date, or need to keep up to date.

25 years ago: The death of Pete Maravich

On January 5, 1988, Pete Maravich went to be with the Lord Jesus Christ at the age of 40. Pistol Pete's 44.2 average points per game at Louisiana State University (1967-70) is an NCAA record that still stands. Mr. Maravich played in the National Basketball Association with the Atlanta Hawks, New Orleans Jazz, and Boston Celtics from 1970-1980, retiring because of a leg injury. He was a five-time NBA all-star in his 10-year career.

Mr. Maravich came to know Jesus Christ as his Lord and Saviour at the age of 35, and died in the arms of Dr. James Dobson while on a visit to the headquarters of Focus on the Family. His death was caused by a heart defect so rare (a missing left coronary artery) that it was said that only 2 of every 500 doctors would ever see it during the course of their careers. At the age of 25 Pistol Pete made the eerily prophetic comment that he didn't want to play 10 years in the NBA and die of a heart attack at the age of 40. Fortunately, when that event did happen, he entered into the presence of the Lord. Pistol Pete is still able to witness for his Lord after his death: a recording of his testimony helped lead Mickey Mantle to saving faith in Jesus Christ just days before the baseball legend's death in 1995.

Two Armstrongs

In what may be an example in microcosm of the decline of western society, two white American males with the surname Armstrong have been in the news over the last few days. The one born in 1971 pretends to be a hero; the one born in 1930 actually was a hero.

20 years ago: The death of John Cage

On August 12, 1992, American composer John Cage died at the age of 79, just a few weeks short of 80. Mr. Cage was known for “compositions” such as 4’33” (four minutes, thirty-three seconds) (1952) that illustrated his belief in the existence of an impersonal universe and blind chance, rather than an infinite and personal God. American musicologist and critic Sigmund Spaeth, in his book The Art of Enjoying Music (1949), defined music as “the organization of sound toward beauty,” thereby implying that there is such a thing as beauty that we can appreciate. Mr. Cage’s “compositions” wouldn’t qualify as music according to Mr. Spaeth’s definition.

Francis Schaeffer, in his book The God Who is There (1968), devoted several pages to Mr. Cage as an example of modern mysticism:

If God exists and we are made in His image we can have real meaning, and we can have real knowledge through what He has communicated to us. If this is taken away we are left only with man and his finite self-expression. At his point all one has is the expression of the individual man. But Cage quite logically sees that this will not do, and so he carries man’s dilemma further, smashes self-expression and leaves chance speaking. This is the basis of his music…

…Back in the Chinese culture long ago the Chinese had worked out a system of tossing coins or yarrow sticks by means of which the spirits would speak. The complicated method which they developed made sure that the person doing the tossing could not allow his own personality to intervene. Self-expression was eliminated so that the spirits could speak.

Cage picks up this same system and uses it. He too seeks to get rid of any individual expression in his music. But there is a very great difference. As far as Cage is concerned there is nobody there to speak. There is only an impersonal universe speaking through blind chance.

Cage began to compose his music through the tossing of coins. It is said that for some of his pieces lasting only twenty minutes he has tossed the coin thousands of times. This is pure chance, but apparently not pure enough; he wanted still more chance. So he devised a mechanical conductor. It was a machine working on cams, the motion of which cannot be determined ahead of time, and the musicians just followed this. Or as an alternative to this, sometimes he employed two conductors who could not see each other, both conducting simultaneously; anything, in fact, to produce pure chance. But in Cage’s universe nothing comes through in the music except noise and confusion or total silence. All this is below the line of anthropology. Above the line there is nothing personal, only the philosophic other, or the impersonal everything.

There is a story that once, after the musicians had played Cage’s total chance music, as he was bowing to acknowledge the applause, there was a noise behind him. He thought it sounded like steam escaping from somewhere, but then to his dismay realised it was the musicians behind him who were hissing. Often his works have been booed. However, when the audience boos at him they are, if they are modern men, in reality booing the logical conclusion of their own position as it strikes their ears in music.

Cage himself, however, even though he continues to compose such chance music, is another example of a man who cannot live with his own conclusions. He says that the truth about the universe is a totally chance situation. You must live with it and listen to it; cry if you must, swear if you must, but listen and go on listening.

(pp. 71-73)
Mr. Schaeffer then quotes from a profile of Mr. Cage by Calvin Tomkins in the November 28, 1964 issue of The New Yorker where it states that Mr. Cage had become so interested in the mushrooms growing near his home that he had become one of the best mycologists in the United States. Mr. Cage admitted that when it came to identifying mushrooms, he couldn’t approach them according to his ideas of chance, because it would kill him. Mr. Schaeffer comments:

In other words, here is a man who is trying to teach the world what the universe intrinsically is and what the real philosophy of life is, and yet he cannot even apply it to picking mushrooms. If he were to go out into the woods and begin picking mushrooms by chance, within a couple of days there would be no Cage!

We have said before that the ideas of modern man are destroying what man is himself. But not only that, their views cut right across what the existence of the form and structure of the external universe would indicate as well. As we see in the dilemma of Cage and his mushrooms, they cannot live on the basis of a consistent application of their views in regard to the universe, any more than they can in regard to man.

However, while Cage is forced into a hopeless dichotomy with his mushrooms, with his music he has continued to live consistently with is position, even though his music is nothing more than noise or silence. He has resisted the pressure to dress up impersonal Being in connotation words or sounds. Most modern men have not had this much courage.

(p. 74)

20 years ago: The death of Sam Kinison

On April 10, 1992, Sam Kinison, 38, a former Pentecostal preacher who had become a popular standup comic, was killed in a highway accident in California when hit by a drunk driver. Mr. Kinison, who was twice-divorced, had married his third wife just five days earlier, and was driving with cocaine and other substances in his system.

Mr. Kinison, like his father, became a Pentecostal preacher, but, unlike Moses, chose to reject the things of eternity in order to "enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season." (Hebrews 11:25b). Mr. Kinison abandoned preaching and became a comedian of the foul-mouthed, politally-incorrect variety that was in vogue in the late 1980s and early 1990s. I never heard or saw his act, since I did not then, and do not now, care for that kind of comedy. In addition to his appetites for alcohol and drugs, Mr. Kinison fathered a child out of wedlock by the wife of his best friend and opening act, Carl La Bove--which wasn't revealed until years after the La Boves got divorced. Mr. La Bove got sick of paying child support for years, and DNA tests overwhelmingly indicated that Mr. Kinison was the child's father.

Sam Kinison is remembered by his family--with an official website--and is, I suspect, forgotten by, or unknown to, just about everybody else, with the possible exception of students doing research into late-20th century popular culture and its more vulgar aspects. I wouldn't want to trade places with him.

20 years ago: The death of Theresa Ann Campo Pearson

For whoso findeth me findeth life, and shall obtain favour of the Lord.
But he that sinneth against me wrongeth his own soul: all they that hate me love death. Proverbs 8:35-36

There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death. Proverbs 14:12 (also Proverbs 16:25)

Righteousness exalteth a nation: but sin is a reproach to any people. Proverbs 14:34

Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools,...
...And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient; Romans 1:22,28

Surely some future historian, surveying our times, will note sardonically that it took no more than three decades to transform a war crime into an act of compassion, thereby enabling the victors in the war against Nazism to mount their own humane holocaust, which in its range and in the number of its victims, may soon far surpass the Nazi one. It is significant that, whereas the Nazi holocaust has received lavish TV and film coverage, the humane one goes rolling along largely unnoticed by the media. Malcolm Muggeridge, Sanctity of Life, Chatelaine, December 1979, p. 138

On March 30, 1992, Theresa Ann Campo Pearson died at the age of nine days. She had been born in Fort Lauderdale, Florida without a complete brain or skull. Although her parents knew of her condition while she was a fetus, they had decided that she should be born so that her organs could be donated to other babies. The parents sought to have Theresa declared brain-dead, but on March 26, Florida Circuit Court Judge Estella Moriarty ruled that the baby had a functioning brain stem and could not be declared brain-dead. Two other courts also rejected the parents’ appeals. By the time Theresa died, her organs had deteriorated too much to still be viable for transplant.

It's not for me to pronounce judgement on Theresa's parents, but the thought of parents allowing their baby to be born just for the purpose of donating her organs--as opposed of allowing her to be born to experience what brief life she may have--nauseates me. As a way of illustrating how long or short life can be, March 30, 2012 marks the 10th anniversary of the death of Elizabeth the Queen Mother at the age of 101.

10 years ago: The death of Carl McIntire

On March 19, 2002, Carl McIntire went to be with the Lord at the age of 95. Dr. McIntire, one of the foremost contenders for the Christian faith in the 20th century, was the pastor of the Bible Presbyterian Church in Collingswood, New Jersey from 1933-1999. He was a protege of J. Gresham Machen and one of the founders of the American Council of Christian Churches and the International Council of Christian Churches.

I first heard of Dr. McIntire when I came across his 20th Century Reformation Hour radio program in 1979, soon found his book Outside the Gate (1967) and began subscribing to his newspaper, the Christian Beacon. I had the privilege of meeting him on his last two visits to Edmonton in 1980 and 1981. Although his radio program was no longer carried here, I kept my subscription to the Christian Beacon, which was a gold mine of useful information. A lengthy post isn't necessary, so I'll just say that readers who are interested in the life and work of Carl McIntire should see the site Remembering the Ministry of the Reverend Dr. Carl McIntire.

120 years ago: The death of C.H. Spurgeon

On January 31, 1892, the “Prince of Preachers,” Charles Haddon Spurgeon, pastor of Metropolitan Tabernacle in London since 1861, went to be with the Lord at the age of 57. Unlike Mr. Spurgeon, I’m not a Calvinist, but I respect him as a brother in Christ, and I appreciate his devotional writings. My favourite quote from Mr. Spurgeon is: "Discernment is not simply a matter of telling the difference between what is right and wrong; rather it is the difference between right and almost right.”

For more about and by C.H. Spurgeon, see the sites Charles Spurgeon Quotes and The Spurgeon Archive. I particularly recommend the section from the latter site on the Down-Grade controversy, which not only remains relevant, but more so with each day. I knew that Mr. Spurgeon had decided to leave the Baptist Union in 1887 because of its increasing tolerance of heretics, but I was surprised to discover that he had a brother named James who had become associate pastor at Metropolitan Tabernacle in 1868 and who chose to remain within the Baptist Union.

75 years ago: The death of J. Gresham Machen

On January 1, 1937, J. Gresham Machen, one of the great scholarly contenders for the Christian faith in the 1920s and 1930s, went to be with the Lord Jesus Christ at the relatively young age of 55. Dr. Machen was Professor of New Testament at Princeton Seminary from 1914-1929. It was during this period that modernism--the basis of which is the idea that the Bible was mainly of human, rather than divine, origin--became increasingly influential. In 1929 Dr. Machen left Princeton Seminary and founded Westminster Theological Seminary. As modernism increasingly influenced missionary activities of the Northern Presbyterian Church, Dr. Machen founded, in 1933, the Independent Board for Presbyterian Foreign Missions, which he and fellow Bible-believers had a right to do under the rules in place. The NPC leadership, now controlled by modernists, suspended Dr. Machen and seven colleagues--including Carl McIntire--and defrocked Dr. Machen. Francis Schaeffer, in his last book, The Great Evangelical Disaster (1984), commented (pp. 34-35):

Then in the mid 1930s, there occurred an event which I would say marks the turning-point of the century concerning the breakdown of our culture. By 1936 the liberals were so in control of the Northern Presbyterian Church that they were able to defrock Dr. J. Gresham Machen...Machen's defrocking and the resulting division of the Northern Presbyterian Church was front-page news in the secular news media in much of the country...this was rightfully page-one news, for it marked the culmination of the drift of the Protestant churches from 1900-1936. It was this drift which laid the base for the cultural, social, moral, legal, and governmental changes from that time to the present. Without this drift in the denominations, I am convinced that the changes in our society in the last fifty years would have produced very different results from what we have now. When the Reformation churches shifted, the Reformation consensus was under cut. A good case could be made that the news about Machen was the most significant U.S. news in the first half of the twentieth century. It was the culmination of a long trend toward liberalism within the Presbyterian Church and represented the same trend in most other denominations. Even if we were only interested in sociology, this change in the churches and the resulting shift of our culture to a post-Christian consensus is important to understand if we are to grasp what is happening in the United States today. It is interesting to note that there was a span of approximately eighty years from the time when the higher critical methods originated and became widely accepted in Germany to the disintegration of German culture and the rise of totalitarianism under Hitler.

Dr. Machen became the principal figure in the founding of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church in 1936. His trial and defrocking had taken a toll on his health, and Mr. Machen took ill and died while visiting Bismarck, North Dakota to fulfill speaking engagements. A number of Dr. Machen's works are still available, including On the Deity of Christ; Christianity and Culture (1912, 1913); The Origin of Paul's Religion (1921); Christianity and Liberalism (1923); What is Faith? (1925); and The Virgin Birth of Christ (1930).

While I disagree with Dr. Machen's Calvinism, I respect him as one of the 20th century's greatest defenders of fundamental Christian doctrine. Those who think that religious liberals are nice people with good intentions should look at the way they treated J. Gresham Machen, whose death so soon after his defrocking does not reflect positively on his inquisitors. It should be kept in mind that not only did Dr. Machen's tormentors differ with him theologically, but they were nowhere near his level in terms of scholarship.

40 years ago: The death of Bruce Gardner

Richard Cory

Whenever Richard Cory went down town,
We people on the pavement looked at him:
He was a gentleman from sole to crown,
Clean-favoured and imperially slim.

And he was always quietly arrayed,
And he was always human when he talked;
But still he fluttered pulses when he said,
"Good Morning!" and he glittered when he walked.

And he was rich, yes, richer than a king,
And admirably schooled in every grace:
In fine -- we thought that he was everything
To make us wish that we were in his place.

So on we worked and waited for the light,
And went without the meat and cursed the bread,
And Richard Cory, one calm summer night,
Went home and put a bullet in his head.

--Edwin Arlington Robinson, 1897

Not a lot of names come to mind if one thinks of lefthanded Jewish baseball pitchers. There was Sandy Koufax, who ended up in the Hall of Fame; there was Ken Holtzman, who didn’t end up in the Hall of Fame, but who had a very good career; and there was Bruce Gardner, who ended up in the hall of “what might have been.”

Born October 30, 1938, Bruce Gardner was a star pitcher at Fairfax High School in Los Angeles who followed advice to turn down a reported offer of $50,000 to sign with the Chicago White Sox immediately after high school in favour of attending the University of Southern California. He played in the Western Canada Baseball League during the summers of 1958 (Edmonton) and 1959 (Regina), and set a record at USC by compiling a won-lost record of 50-5 for his career. The Los Angeles Dodgers signed Mr. Gardner for $12,000 in 1960 and assigned him to the Montreal Royals of the AAA International League for the last few weeks of the season. In 1961 Mr. Gardner was sent down to the Reno Silver Sox of the Class A California League, where he won 20 and lost just 4 for what may have been the best minor league team of the 1960s. He was drafted into the U.S. Army shortly after, and injured his pitching arm when he fell off a truck. His baseball career never recovered, and he struggled for several more years in the minor leagues.

Despite being talented and apparently successful in many areas (his musical friends included Herb Alpert and Phil Spector), Mr. Gardner remained haunted by not having signed with the White Sox after high school and losing out on his chance to pitch in the major leagues. He coached the Dorsey High junior varsity team to their league championship in 1971, and then, on the night of June 7, hopped the fence of his old playing field at USC and shot himself in the head near the pitcher's mound. His USC diploma was in his right hand, and his All-America plaque was nearby. Mr. Gardner left a note reading:

I saw life going downhill every day and it shaped my attitude toward everything and everybody. Everything and every feeling that I visualized with my earned and rightful start in baseball was the focal point of continuous failure. No pride of accomplishment, no money, no home, no sense of fulfillment, no attraction. A bitter past, blocking any accomplishment of a future except age. I brought it to a halt tonight at 32.

Dave Breese, who’s now with the Lord, once commented about those who envy those who are apparently more favoured than they, adding that so much in life is only apparent. The last years of Bruce Gardner are an example of that—a handsome, multi-talented man who, although he missed out on a major league pitching career, appeared to be successful in everything else he tried in life, and appeared to have so much yet to live for. Many, if not most people, have experienced great disappointments, but most are able to carry on. As far as I know, Mr. Gardner didn’t know Jesus Christ, and was unfortunately unable to overcome his greatest disappointment. The Lord doesn’t promise anyone exemption from tough times, but He does promise that He will be with believers in and through tough times. It’s tragic that Bruce Gardner lacked that saving faith; if he had put his trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, he might be with us yet.