Author: William Douthwaite

Posted in Through the Bible Devotions

Why were there so many false prophets?

Posted on by William Douthwaite

Some “through the bible” thoughts from Jeremiah 14.

The Lord said to me: “The prophets are prophesying lies in my name. I did not send them, nor did I command them or speak to them. They are prophesying to you a lying vision, worthless divination, and the deceit of their own minds” (Jeremiah 14:14).

Why were there so many lying prophets at the time of Jeremiah?

On the one hand, you have the prophet Jeremiah warning the congregation of enemy invasion, starvation, and illness (sword, famine, and pestilence).

On the other hand you’ve got “prophets” who say just the opposite, that is, “There will be peace and prosperity.” Their message is nothing but worthless lies, stuff they made up on their own. They will suffer the fate they deny, death by sword and famine.

Throughout history, Satan, always opposes God. The adversary will use what ever means he can, from demons to counter the angels, lies to challenge God’s truths, and false prophets who contradict the messengers of God. Martin Luther said, “Where God builds a church, the devil builds a chapel.” Satan always imitates God for the purpose of leading a person (or a nation) astray.

In 1 Kings 9, Saul is worried about consulting with a man of God because he has nothing to bring him. Fortunately, his servant has a quarter of a shekel they can give to the prophet Samuel. One could make a living acting the part of a prophet, even if you hadn’t been called by God.

How hard is it to tell people what they want to hear? Most people preferred to hear that everything was going to be okay, rather than a real prophet’s threatening call to repentance. False prophets abounded while those who actually called by God were few and far between.

Jesus told his disciples to be on guard against false prophets. They would abound and continue to proclaim lies in the life of the New Testament church.

That is a troubling truth. We sheep better know well the genuine voice of our shepherd.

Posted in Through the Bible Devotions

Jeremiah’s nasty underwear sermon

Posted on by William Douthwaite

Some “through the bible” thoughts from Jeremiah 13.

Jeremiah preached with cool object lessons. In Jeremiah 13 God tells him to get a pair of your tighty-whities (a loincloth in Old Testament times), bury them under a rock in a river for a while, and then retrieve them when they were wet, dirty, moldy, rotten, stained, and smelly.

The outline of Jeremiah sermon goes like this: “You won’t listen to God’s word, you do whatever you please, and you worship idols. You are as useful as this nasty pair of my underwear!” (Jeremiah 13:10). (Hold up the boxer briefs for effect.)

It’s a vivid, concrete, offensive, clear, and memorable image. Worthy of a handshake and, “Nice message, Jerry!” How many of us picture ourselves in that way?

You prefer the “God loves me and has a wonderful plan for my life” message, don’t you? I know I do. Who wouldn’t? (Can’t I at least be a nice clean pair of underwear?)

Jeremiah was faithful, but he wasn’t a popular prophet. He cut to the chase, no matter how insulting, gloomy, and insensitive the truth was.

Posted in productivity, Through the Bible Devotions

What have you been doing?

Posted on by William Douthwaite

Some “through the bible” thoughts from Jeremiah 9.

Thus says the Lord: “Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the Lord.” (Jeremiah 9:23,24)

Have you ever met someone who boasted, “I know and understand God”? Yeah, me neither.

Instead I hear, “I don’t understand why God would do that.” Or, “I don’t know why God would allow that to happen.”

When someone asks, “So what have you been doing lately?” I never respond, “I’ve been getting to know God.” Instead I mention what I’ve been reading, the workouts I’ve been doing, all the things I’ve been writing about, places I’ve gone and things I’ve done, plus all the cooking and baking I’ve done.

Does that qualify as boasting? I don’t like to think so. After all, you asked. But I certainly don’t want to answer, “Not much.” I still fall prey to the notion that I must be productive. So I have to make sure you know that I’ve been doing something, something worthwhile, something that justifies my taking up space on the planet.

After I’ve shared my recent activity, it feels so good to hear, “Wow, sounds like you’ve been busy!” I love to hear that. It makes my day.

In Jeremiah 9, invading armies and widespread destruction are on the way because God’s people didn’t get it. They lived their lives as if they didn’t know God at all. Everything they learned, earned, and accomplished would mean little when Jerusalem was a heap of ruins and the cities of Judah were desolate and uninhabited (9:11).

I suppose there’s a lesson to be learned here. There always is. What if I asked, “So what have you been doing lately, God?” I’ll bet I’d be amazed at his response. Maybe I would exclaim, “Wow, sounds like you’ve been busy!”

Posted in Life

The TV shows I grew up with

Posted on by William Douthwaite
Daily writing prompt
What TV shows did you watch as a kid?
View all responses

This is such an involved prompt! The more I think about it, the more I remember. A few internet searches spark even more memories.

I’m a boomer who grew up in suburban Philadelphia with four television channels. Channel three was NBC, six was ABC, and ten was
CBS. PBS was channel 12, reserved for Sesame Street, Zoom, and Electric Company.

I’ll start with Saturday morning cartoons. We never missed Bugs Bunny. We loved the Flintstones, Wacky Races, Rocky and Bullwink, Johnny Quest, Scooby Doo, and the Jetsons.

Weekday shows before school included Captain Kangaroo (featuring the dancing gear and Mr. Green Jeans), Gene London, Chief Halftown (indian chiefs were still popular back then), and Sally Star (everyone’s favorite cowgirl). All their shows featured Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies.

We also loved Popeye, Top Cat, Hong Kong Fooey, Morocco Mole, Go Go Gophers, and Yogi Bear.

Military shows were popular. We watched Rat Patrol (World War II in northern Africa), Combat, Hogan’s Heroes, McHale’s Navy, Gomer Pyle, and F Troop. My friends and I played plenty of military scenarios, pulling wagons while friends fired 50 caliber guns.

We loved western shows like the Rifleman and Bonaza. When I was five or six, I got a rifle just like the one Chuck Connors, the Rifleman.

I never missed cartoon sitcoms like Tennesee Tuxedok, Quickdraw McGraw, Magilla Gorilla. Go Go Gophers, the Archies, and Josie and the Pussycats.

We also watched real sitcoms like Green Acres, Petticoat Junction, Bewitched, My Three Sons, the Beverly Hillbillies, I Dream of Jeannie, My Favorite Martian, Leave it to Beaver, the Dick Van Dyke Showk Ozzie and Harriet, the Partridge Family, the Brady Bunch, and Mayberry RFD.

Comedy/Variety shows I remember include the Lucy show, the Red Skelton show, the Ed Sullivan Show, the Donna Reed Show, the Carol Burnett Show, and the Jackie Gleason Show.

I also remember adventure shows like Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, Sea Hunt, and Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom.

All of the above was in black and white. My dad didn’t get a color TV until after I went to college in 1972. We didn’t have a UHF antenna, so I didn’t watch the original Star Trek til later in life.

If you play a few seconds of any of the above theme songs, I can identify the show. These shows hooked us into don’t miss weekly viewing. We never missed the next episode of our favorite shows.

Posted in Life

So close, yet so far

Posted on by William Douthwaite

(I don’t really have to write much about this picture, do I?)

We stopped at a small coffee shop after a nice sunrise beach walk. Black for me, vanilla latte for her, two whipped cream pup cups, and a chocolate. chip. muffin.

I’ll be honest. I staged this picture. Willow, our Great Dane, is not a jumper. But she can counter surf with the best of them, flicking her lengthy tongue at a butter dish, salad fork, bowl of pasta, bits of gristle from a steak, or some crumbs from my homemade sourdough bread.

I was not cruel. I gave her a few crumbs. But I put the chocolate muffin just out of reach for this visual effect.

Great illustration, right?

So much of what we want seems so close, but it’s just out of reach. If we just had more money, experience, influence, talent, friends, or whatever, we would have what we want. We would be happy. We woulds be satisfied.

It’s always just out of reach, isn’t it?

That muffin would be gone in a moment. Most of the things we pursue only last a moment. We get it, and then we want something else. We’re never satisfied.

It looks so close, but what we want is so far away.

Posted in lessons, Life

A classic: the cookie scam

Posted on by William Douthwaite

Our cottage bakery got an email asking about a cookie order for a corporate event. Other bakers with similar businesses had described these larger-than-usual orders as the real moneymakers.

Our excitement turned to disbelief once we read his request: “25 dozen of a 4-pack of cookies of different flavors with the company logo printed on it.” I did the math and wondered, “Three hundred four-packs?” That’s 1,200 cookies!

Our three-and-a-half inch printed iced cookies start at $4.00 each. He going to spend $4,800 on cookies? That’s too much. Let’s offer 2-1/2 inch cookies at $2.50 each. It would still be a $3,000 order, but maybe that’s what he wants.

That offer was too much for the event budget. He countered, “How about twenty dozen cookies?”

We replied, “We can do 240 three-inch cookies for $3.00 each, a total of $720.”

He was happy with that order. So were we. That’s still a lot of cookies! Could we deliver to the conference venue in a neighboring town? We said we could.

I emailed him the invoice so we could start on the order. He replied, “Can I pay by e-check?” Of course. Our invoice takes you to a payment site with credit card and ACH options.

But his idea of an e-check was totally different than ours. He wanted to write out a check, take a picture of it, and email the picture to us so we could deposit it using our bank’s mobile deposit option.

Red alert! Defcon 5! Danger, Will Robinson! Are you kidding? There’s no way I’m doing that. A picture of a check does work like the real thing, as long as the bank clears it. There’s the catch. It takes up to a week for that kind of deposit to clear.

I learned that this is a set-up for fraud. Someone sends you a check for more than the agreed upon amount. All you have to do is send them a check for the overpayment. But when their check doesn’t clear, they disappear with whatever money you sent them.

I told him I could only take payment through our payment portal. He said he couldn’t do that, but looked forward to working with us in the future. When I looked him up on the corporate website, guess what? No such guy.

This all happened a few months ago. When I looked back at his emails, the first subject line “Cookies Enquiries” should have clued me in from the start. His request for different “flavours” should have tipped me off, too.

Apparently scams and fraud are business as usual for small businesses. Don’t ever let your guard down.

Posted in Through the Bible Devotions

Just get up

Posted on by William Douthwaite
Photo by Matias Ilizarbe on Unsplash

When men fall, do they not rise again?
    If one turns away, does he not return?
Why then has this people turned away
    in perpetual backsliding?
They hold fast to deceit;
    they refuse to return. (Jeremiah 8:4,5)

I’m old enough to remember LifeAlert’s 1987 television commercial that featured a woman on the floor, crying out, “I’ve fallen and I can’t get up!” The LifeAlert system would make sure help was on the way.

Typically, when you fall down, you get up. Babies learning to walk fall back on diaper-padded bottoms and get back up as they find their balance and learn to walk. A pile of football players get up after blocks, runs, catches, and tackles, huddling up to get the next play. My grandkids run around the yard (and house), fall a lot, laugh and get up over and over and over.

But Jeremiah preaches to people who fall and don’t get up. They fall into idolatry and sin, but never repent, never return to God, never get back on the right track. It’s not that they can’t. They won’t. They refuse.

That’s Jeremiah’s congregation. They won’t listen. They refuse to change. They are impossible to teach.

The thing is, God wants to help you get back up. He knows you’re going to disobey, fail, blow it, and make a huge mess of things. But he’s all about forgiveness and restoration. He’ll do whatever it takes to get you back on your feet, even if you come away with a few bruises and lot of hard lessons learned.

So when you fall (fail), will you take his hand, or thumb your nose at God? When Peter walked on the water with Jesus, he suddenly began sinking. Jesus took his hand and pulled him up.

That’s the kind of God he is.

Are you going to pass that up? Are you going to refuse his help when you are out of answers? Are you going to dig in your heels when you know what you should do?

Yes, you will. Yes, I do. I am so thankful for his steadfast love and daily morning mercies!

Posted in Through the Bible Devotions

Lessons from the ocean

Posted on by William Douthwaite
Photo by Sean on Unsplash

Some “through the bible” devotional thoughts from Jeremiah 5.

I placed the sand as the boundary for the sea,
    a perpetual barrier that it cannot pass;
though the waves toss, they cannot prevail;
    though they roar, they cannot pass over it.
But this people has a stubborn and rebellious heart;
    they have turned aside and gone away. (Jeremiah 5:22,23)

The ocean is an imposing body of water. It is powerful. A single wave can knock you over. Riptides pull you helplessly away from the shore. Offshore storms create waves that rip apart piers and wash away resort beaches. The seas toss huge ships around as if they were nothing. Pressure at the bottom of the ocean crushes the sturdiest submarines.

But the ocean obeys its creator. They can only go as far as he permits.

People? They are stubborn. They are rebellious. They disregard the barriers of God’s law. They dismiss the guardrails of God’s statutes. They ignore his warnings. They go where they want. They do what they want.

Okay, let’s be honest here. Let’s correct the pronouns. I am stubborn. I am rebellious. I disregard the barriers. I dismiss the guardrails. I ignore the warnings. I go where I want and do what I want.

Let’s get it right. I’m a piece of work. I’m a mess. I’m greedy, selfish, judgmental, prideful, insensitive, and cruel. I’m the enigma Jeremiah describes. I’m the one part of God’s creation who doesn’t honor and obey the creator.

That’s a tough confession to make, isn’t it? It’s honest though, isn’t it? It’s truthful. It’s real. It’s puzzling. It makes Jeremiah’s words come to life. Yeah, he’s talking about me.

Once I get that right, the bible starts to make sense. I need help. I need God’s help. And I have a God who helps. With love, mercy, and grace he gets my attention, draws me in, and shows me how much he still loves me.

Posted in Through the Bible Devotions

Broken cisterns rather than a fountain?

Posted on by William Douthwaite
Photo by Muneer ahmed ok on Unsplash

Be appalled, O heavens, at this;
    be shocked, be utterly desolate,
declares the Lord,
for my people have committed two evils:
they have forsaken me,
    the fountain of living waters,
and hewed out cisterns for themselves,
    broken cisterns that can hold no water. (Jeremiah 2:12,13)

I love Jeremiah’s imagery here. He condemns a couple of habits that many of us can relate to. We don’t think God can fulfill our needs, so we pursue other things, people, and experiences we believe will satisfy us.

Those pursuits are just futile. They are sinful, unfaithful, and idolatrous. They reveal distrust, unbelief, and outright disobedience.

Convicted? Yeah, me too.

What are my cisterns? Approval. “Likes” for anything I write. Feeling “fit” compared to so many overweights who can barely walk into a store. A little money in the bank. 20+ likes for any blog post.

Why am I not satisfied with what God provides? Great question. I have no profound answers.