Life Matters - December 17, 2025

Dung can indeed be a smelly subject. It can also be a very fertile one when the right thing is done by plowing it into the earth. Cattlemen of the north country have also learned to appreciate its value as composting heaps give their cattle a warm place to repose at night, and off and on during the day when chewing their cuds, as the heat of the composting pile radiates through the bedding, keeping cattle comfortable outside, even in double-digit minus zero degrees Fahrenheit, as long as they have a windbreak as well. But even for composting piles it is eventually “back to the earth from whence it came.”

Back to the earth is where everything temporal eventually goes, as all, even the bodies we temporarily live in, are minerally compatible with the dust of the earth. As God told Adam and Eve, after they spiritually fell away from their close relationship with Him; “…for dust thou art, and to dust thou shalt return.” It is where everything material, being temporal, eventually goes. 

In Philippians 3:8 we understand by the context that this temporal, material, realm is what the apostle Paul refers to when he writes, “…I count all things but loss for the excellency of Christ Jesus my Lord: for Whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ.” The context here is self-righteousness, which always has to do with feeling ourselves good because of something we do better than those not so fortunately endowed, we may think, even as we compare, perhaps with a sense of disdain, us and them – him or her. No, the Apostle testifies, I count all but dung for the righteousness of God by faith. I no longer look to my own effort at righteousness for righteousness – it is dung for the dunghill. “But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ.” (v. 7) Paul was now living by faith in Jesus Christ, our Lord and only Savior. As all of us need to. It is an upbuilding, fruitful life. 

A temptation for Christians is to lose focus. Shifting from Who (upper case) is right, to who (lower case) is surely/hopefully right. A shift from the Rock being Christ weathering the storms to an attempt at being a rock unto ourselves. A rock (lower case) standing firm on what we believe, especially concerning the failures of others and the dangers they pose to our position, which position becomes an unsure and desperate focus, equally desperate to the degree we lose our focus on Christ. And thus become self-righteous. 

Divide and Conquer, wherever possible, is a known and effective military strategy and its effectiveness has not gone unnoticed by the enemy of our souls. It is subtle and deceptive in church life because separation for the sake of church purity is at times needed. From my finite perception it happens much more than needed. From God’s perspective? I can’t say for sure, but perhaps He allows some, at least, because He sees the hunger for Truth as good. I can, however, based upon God’s Word, say that it is never God’s will that His people bite and devour one another, for those who name the name of Christ to be divided and conquered by the devil’s tactics. “If ye bite and devour one another,” He says, “take heed that ye be not consumed one of another.”  (Galatians 5:15) 

The, accepted by scholars for accuracy, Jewish historian Josephus, in recording the 70 AD siege of Jerusalem by the Romans led by their Commander Titus, gives the gut-wrenching account of starvation within the city walls. One must conclude that the people of the city were brought to their knees by starvation more than they were by the strength and cunning of the enemy. While the city’s fighting men, of the fiercer sort, plundered for food, the women and children starved. Nor would those fiercer sort allow any defection to the Romans. The hungriest Jews were, in effect, prisoners within their own city walls. 

What makes the account of hunger and starvation gut-wrenching and ugly to the extreme is the fighting within the city walls where, at the outset of war, three factions of Jews struggled and fought each other whenever they had some reprieve from the Romans. Indeed, in one of those struggling fights, the main grain storage storehouse in the city caught fire, soon was out of control, and enough grain to feed everyone in the city for two whole years, went up in smoke. Divide and conquer cannot be more efficient than when a people do it to themselves. (Josephus pages 547-588) 

Sometimes “come ye out from among them and be ye separate, saith the Lord” is necessary and we certainly do not want to detract from, nor discourage, the search and struggle for Truth naturally innate to the human experience. But let us beware of the slippery slope of focusing on who (lower case) we are determined is right instead of what is right in the kingdom of our Savior Jesus. The slippery slope of focusing on who is right so readily crowds facts into the backseat while feelings take the wheel, drive the subject, while Divide and Conquer happens within the ranks, as in, Candice etc. ‘Conservatives’ tacitly smearing TPUSA, doing what the ‘Romans’ could not, is a gut-wrenching observation. 

I will close this missive with a corrective reminder from Philippians 4:8, “Finally my brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are of good report, if there be any virtue and if there be any praise, think on these things.” Hearsay is not necessarily Truth. 

Think factually. Do the research. Do homework with God. And then speak. From a pure heart of Love. Let Truth prevail. Leave the manure for composting piles, or plowed into the earth, where it fosters and fertilizes movement toward warmth and light. The time is now to shine light for the growth of tender plants. Love encourages growth.

Life Matters!