Carl Wells Books

If I were cast for a part in John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress, it would probably be as the character known as Little-Faith. My hope in the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit of the Bible can be small. It all sometimes seems too good to be true.

I did not come to faith easily. I was in my mid-20s before one could reasonably guess that I might be any kind of Christian believer. It took me a while even to believe that God existed.

Recently I thought of those early days of struggling-towards-faith. I suppose I was going through a bit of discouragement, one of those times when it still seems “too good to be true.” I remembered that one of the things that gave me a bit of encouragement when I was younger (in my 20s) was that, even though I might not be sure that God and good existed, it sure did seem like evil existed. One specific example was how the communists treated people in the Soviet Union and elsewhere. If evil existed, my reasoning went–and it certainly seemed to exist–then perhaps good (and perhaps also God) also existed. I would read how the communists had murdered someone trying to escape into the West, and I knew evil existed.

I think the reasoning–it may not arise even to reasoning; it may just be a kind of instinct–continues to hold good. It struck me recently, in my discouragement, that there is still a lot of evil going on. A difference today is that I have no need at all to look at any communist countries abroad, to be conscious of great evil.

All I have to do is look at some of the things going on in my own United States.

No God and no ultimate good? Fine. At least I can see that evil exists.

There is still plenty of evil. I may not be able to have deep faith that God exists, but I can smell the stench of evil when it wafts its way into our life.

Here are a few examples, listed very briefly.

It is evil when the central state creates money out of thin air, and thus reduces the value of the money ordinary people have earned by working for a living, thus stealing from the productive.

It is evil when rapists are permitted to go on raping. When the Bible (hey! something about God doing things differently!) tells us that rapists are to be executed (Deuteronomy 22:25-27). Thus we refuse to protect the innocent.

It is evil when we murder unborn children.

It is evil when parents refuse to provide for and protect their children, both physically and emotionally.

It is evil when men are permitted to participate in women’s sports.

It is evil when we mess with–via drugs or operations–the bodies of children who have been encouraged to believe that they are “transgender.” These poor children are supposedly not the gender with which they were born; at least that is what adults are telling them. A nation which does this is too wicked to stay in existence.

It is evil when our elite encourages black people to believe that the problems of black people are the result of white racism–thus making it much more difficult for black people to face life honestly. These lying white scumbags (aided by lying black race hustler scumbags) have the blood of thousands of black and white people on their hands.

It is evil when newspapers refuse to give the race of malefactors, because the race of the malefactors does not fit what The Narrative is (or should be).

It is evil when one country engages in preemptive war on another country–as for example the U.S. on Iraq, or on Libya.

Those are just a few examples of evil that is being perpetrated around us every day. It is happening in the United States.

The Bible makes one statement which is somewhat surprising. “The LORD has made everything for its own purpose,/Even the wicked for the day of evil.” (Proverbs 16:4)

I don’t know that I understand this completely. But think of this in terms of today’s blog post. The wickedness that is going on around us really is wicked. This can perhaps at least drive us in the general direction of looking for God. My faith in the God of the Bible may be small, but when I see such despicable evils as the ones listed above, it makes me want to fight that evil. It makes me hope that something exactly opposite to that evil might exist, and hope that I can stand with the good rather than with the evil.

So thank you, “New York Times,” Democratic Party, Republican warmongers, whiny baby-killing shrews of both sexes, and race hustlers. It may be difficult for me sometimes to believe in the Christian faith, but you guys give me hope that ultimate good might exist, because you guys are so in love with what is ultimate evil.

My hatred of you keeps me warm, and hopeful.

Is this a great country or what!?

Anne Bronte–poor little Anne Bronte. Charlotte wrote the famous Jane Eyre and three other novels of interest. Emily wrote Wuthering Heights, a book of great fame. Well, Anne at least tried. She wrote poetry, Agnes Grey, and The Tenant of Wildfell Hall.

The Tenant of Wildfell Hall was so bad that her own sister Charlotte, after Anne’s death, did her best to suppress the novel. When your own sister thinks you shouldn’t have written the book, maybe it’s time to give up and find another career.

Alas, it was too late for Anne to find another career. After the 1848 publication of The Tenant of Wildfell Hall she was on the fast track to the grave, apparently due to pulmonary tuberculosis, and died at age 29 1/3 (b. Jan 17, 1820–d. May 28, 1849).

The minor problem with all this is that The Tenant of Wildfell Hall is a brilliant novel. Charlotte, a gifted novelist who really did feel sisterly affection for Anne, simply was wrong in her evaluation of Tenant.

Over the long haul, Charlotte’s foolish opinion has been vetoed by history. Anne’s book has gained the fame and respect it deserved from the start. Suck on that, Charlotte.

The Tenant of Wildfell Hall is not only a book of great literary interest, it may also be one of the handful of books which every Christian contemplating marriage should make time to read. (Or any non-Christian contemplating marriage, also!) The warning is practical, and necessary: when it comes to your potential marriage partner, what you see is what you get. He or she ain’t gonna change after marriage. You can’t reform him (her).

If, before marriage, someone is lukewarm (or worse) in his interest in Christian ideas and ideals, tying the knot is not going to change his thinking about all that.

The Tenant of Wildfell Hall shows us a young woman, Helen, who is beautiful, young (18), artistically gifted (as a painter), intelligent, a person of strong personality, and a committed Christian with high principles.

She begins to fall for Arthur Huntingdon. He is well to do, good looking, clever, and definitely interested in her.

Her aunt tries over and over again to warn her. “‘Is he a man of principle?'” she asks (p. 165), for one example. Even Helen has to admit that he is not–but it is only from want of thought, she says. Her example would be salutary in his life.

You can see where this is heading. Helen falls to self-deception. She marries Arthur Huntingdon.

A child follows, self-indulgent behavior from Arthur, misery for Helen, and eventually Arthur acting completely outside the bounds of reasonable behavior. (Your guess is correct: he becomes an adulterer, completely destroying any chance that the marriage can be salvaged.) His drinking begins to get the better of him, as well, undermining his health.

All this unfolds in a very natural fashion. Helen’s journal tells us of her feelings. The awakening is definitely gradual. The writing is very subtle. Helen goes through stages of awakening. When she begins to see Arthur’s shallowness, at first she is glad she didn’t know before their marriage. Why? Because had she known, she would not have married him. Now, married, it is her duty to love him and guide him to better ways. So she’s glad she didn’t know earlier. Oh Helen, you have a lot to learn. A lot is what she does learn.

Anne Bronte was publishing this book at just about the time that Fyodor Dostoyevsky was getting started with his own writing career. The timing is such that it is almost certain that neither writer knew about or read the writings of the other.

What is to me astonishing is that some passages of The Tenant of Wildfell Hall read as if they could have been written by the Russian master. These two writers were cousins under the skin. The “gentle, retiring inexperienced writer” (as described by Charlotte) Anne writes some parts of this novel as if she were channeling Dostoyevsky. (It was all too much for Charlotte. But it is not too much for the rest of us.)

Here we have a scene in which Arthur Huntingdon is intoxicated, and among some of his intoxicated friends. Helen and other wives are on the scene as well, watching all this unfold. Or worse, being thrown from her husband (Mrs. Hattersley).

“The next object of assault was Arthur, who sat opposite, and had no doubt richly enjoyed the whole scene.

“‘Now, Huntingdon,’ exclaimed his irascible friend, ‘I WILL NOT have you sitting there and laughing like an idiot!’

“‘Oh, Hattersley!’ cried he, wiping his swimming eyes–‘you’ll be the death of me.’

“‘Yes I will, but not as you suppose: I’ll have the heart out of your body, man, if you irritate me with any more of that imbecile laughter!–What! are you at it yet?–There! see if that’ll settle you!’ cried Hattersley, snatching up a footstool and hurling it at the head of his host; but he missed his aim, and the latter still sat collapsed and quaking with feeble laughter, with the tears running down his face; a deplorable spectacle indeed.

“Hattersley tried cursing and swearing, but it would not do; he then took a number of books from the table beside him and threw them, one by one, at the object of his wrath, but Arthur only laughed the more; and, finally, Hattersley rushed upon him in a frenzy, and, seizing him by the shoulders, gave him a violent shaking, under which he laughed and shrieked alarmingly.” (pp. 290-291)

Anne Bronte hoped to live longer than she did. The following passage is from Wikipedia. The ellipsis is Wikipedia’s. It is from a letter by Anne to her friend Ellen Nussey. Anne knew her own death was likely in the near future. She wrote,

“I have no horror of death: if I thought it inevitable I think I could quietly resign myself to the prospect . . . But I wish it would please God to spare me not only for Papa’s and Charlotte’s sake but because I long to do some good in the world before I leave it. I have many schemes in my head for future practice–humble and limited indeed–but still I should not like them all to come to nothing, and myself to have lived to so little purpose. But God’s will be done.”

Her wish was not answered, in terms of longer life. God took her before she reached the age of 30. But Anne did not live to “so little purpose.” She left us an excellent first novel, Agnes Grey, moving and accessible poetry, and one of the great novels of English literature, The Tenant of Wildfell Hall. The latter is a book which everyone contemplating marriage should read. Self-deception is the most common deception of all. Don’t fall to it when you pick a marriage partner. Learn from Anne and Helen.

She also left us a Christian example.

Anne died as she lived: bravely. As the end approached, Charlotte was in understandable distress at what was coming soon.

‘Anne whispered to her to “take courage.”‘

How typical. Anne is the one on the threshold of eternity, but she encourages Charlotte to take courage. One doesn’t know whether to laugh or to cry. Probably both are appropriate.

Anne Bronte, rest in peace.

When it comes to college football, I am the quintessential “casual fan.” I don’t usually watch any games on television. I read about the games in the newspaper (and enjoy doing so), and have a sincere interest in which teams are doing well. (I was very glad that Georgia won the national championship last year–a newcomer among the top teams was a refreshing change.)

Until my Saturday work situation changed a few years ago, I attended a small college football game once a year for about five years in a row–enjoying those outings very much, especially since I went to the games with a friend. I used to watch games on television, but have stopped doing that in recent years.

All this is by way of preface. I don’t have a lot of emotion tied up with college football, but I am glad the games are played, and bear the sport no ill will. Please take what I say with an industrial-sized grain of salt. I am just a casual fan.

But still I manage to have opinions, and since I picked college football for my topic today, I had better express those opinions here or the blog post would have to end now. That would be way too short.

You will not be shocked to hear that sports have sort of become an idol for many Americans. As our interest in the Christian religion has died out, something has to replace that interest. Sports are one replacement for God. I say this as one who has been a sports fan my entire life, and fully expect to be a sports fan until I croak. I love sports. But when we make too much of sports, we are getting off track. Sports, like many things good in themselves, are a fine servant but a poor master.

College football can become too important to us. It has become so for many people.

Part of our problem is that university public education even exists. Stop taking taxpayer money to finance public universities, and eventually the tail would stop wagging the dog–or at least not wag the dog as much as it currently does. End university public education, and good things will happen gradually. (Of course the same is true of high school public education. End it. Good things will happen.)

It would really help if we all would begin to admit to ourselves that college is a pretty rotten place for most young people. It is expensive, and is a hotbed for left-wing propaganda. I continue to be amazed at how readily Christian parents send their children to college. But, on the bright side, they can attend football games when they’re at Anti-Christ State U.

There are lots of football bowl games these days. As late as 1997, there were 20 football bowl games at the end of a season. So 40 of the best teams were rewarded for their good-to-great season, by playing in a bowl game.

Currently, however, there are about 40 bowl games in a season. That means 80 teams are in bowls. Being in a bowl no longer necessarily means you had a good-to-great season. Now mediocre can be good enough. Teams are “bowl eligible” when they win six games–six out of 12. A .500 record is good enough. In some cases, teams with less than a .500 record go to a bowl! A 5-7 record becomes good enough!

I want to tread carefully here. I don’t want to be appointed the Bowl Czar, telling college football how many bowls they can have. If college football wants to have 40 bowls, or 60 bowls, I am willing to simply look on in befuddlement, without any desire to tell them what they must do. I am a fan of the free market. These things sort themselves out, in a free market. If there is a market for 60 (or 80) bowl games, so be it. My point, as a casual fan, is that for me 40 bowls seems to devalue what it means to go to a bowl. I would prefer there were closer to 20 or 25 bowls. But that is the opinion of a dilettante looking on from a distance. I really don’t want to tell other people how many bowls there must be.

One of the items on my bucket list is to attend a college football bowl game. I have never come close to doing so, but I still want to get there. If/when I make it, I hope it will not be a game between two 6-6 teams, or between a 6-6 team and a 5-7 team. But if it is a bowl with two teams with lackluster records, I will still be happy to be there. I will have finally made it.

Division I college football teams play a lot of games. A typical team plays 12 regular season games. A bowl game, when it happens, ups the number to 13. A handful of teams play even more games. For example, the division champions of many conferences meet each other for a conference championship game. That is a 13th game. Then both will go on to a bowl game, which is a 14th game. Two teams play 15 games in a season–the two that meet for the national championship.

I can remember when a Division I football team played 10 regular season games. If a team made a bowl, that was an 11th game.

For my personal taste–again, I really, really don’t want to be any kind of football czar–10 regular season games was enough. An 11th game if you make a bowl, maybe a 12th game for the two teams meeting for the national championship; that’s enough for me.

I wonder–what would the players prefer? Ten regular season games, or 12? If they played only 10 regular season games, maybe that would keep their bodies fresher, would reduce the chance of injury, and would give them more off days in the season (or a season a week or two shorter). But maybe they like playing 12 games, with a chance for 13 to 15. I wish someone would ask them.

I think some small colleges still play only a 10-game schedule–unless they make the small college playoffs. Ten games seems like enough to me–but again, that is simply the musings of a casual fan.

I do remember that the most memorable football season in Indiana University history, 1967, featured 10 regular season games and one bowl game (in the new year) for a total of 11 games. It didn’t feel like we were being cheated by playing only 10 regular season games. I. U. lost the bowl game, and finished 9-2. Even casual fans remember that season with fondness.

There are two things that I really like about the current college football set-up. First, permitting players to enter a “transfer portal” which permits them to leave their current team and join another without having to sit out a season, is a step in the right direction. It gives players a degree of control of their lives, which should have been there before but wasn’t. Why should a player be stuck on one team, when he feels he might be able to flourish better at a different school?

But my favorite thing about the current college football scene, is the recent development of rules that permit players to make money selling their name, image, and likeness. Often abbreviated as NIL. Under these rules, players are able to earn money while still in college.

How much money? Well, it varies from individual to individual, of course. I read where three famous college football players were likely to earn these amounts: $390,000.00, $440,000.00, and $700,000.00. Now that is serious money! Others, less popular and famous, will earn much less. A figure of 5K to 30K for these players was bruited about in the article I read. Still, even $5,000.00 is significant money for most of us.

Again, let’s trust the free market. If a player can earn $700,000.00 or more, good for him. If he can earn $116.42, good for him. If $116.42 seems like a really small amount to you, fine, I agree. Then you won’t mind sending me a check for that amount. I promise I won’t sneer at it.

The point it, why shouldn’t players be able to benefit from their skill and fame? College football coaches earn millions of dollars, their assistant coaches earn serious bucks, the university makes money off the football program. The players are finally–belatedly, but better late than never–getting a cut of the loot. That is fair. Most college athletes, even in the most popular sports, will probably earn very little from NIL income, but even a small amount of money will be helpful. A total income of $1,040.00 for a year, adds up to $20.00 a week. That is a nice weekly bonus for any college student; it will help him buy a pizza or attend a movie.

And when I say him, him definitely includes her. Among the top twenty-one college athletes, all sports, with NIL earning potential, are eight women! You go, girl!

I enjoy college football, and hope it continues. End public education, cut the regular season to 10 games, reduce the number of bowl games, and I will enjoy it even more. But ignore me completely, and I will still enjoy the sport. Casually.

If we want to help the U.S. reform, what institutions do we need to capture?

Grade school education? High school education? College education? Congress? State government? Local government? The presidency? Hollywood movies? Television? Radio? The military? The judiciary? Newspapers? Fiction writing?

I think there are three “organizations” which we need to capture, if we hope to see reform in the U.S.

The only possible route to reform is three-pronged: individual reform, family reform, church reform.

And we don’t need to “capture” any of these, as if we were going to force people to act in the way we want them to act.

No, we begin to see our sin, and that we need salvation through Jesus Christ. We seek that salvation, and obey Him. When we do that, we automatically have a small but potentially significant influence for good in the world.

Let’s think about this using one person as an example. Let’s talk about Paul, the man who wrote many of the books in the New Testament, and who is admired as one of the men who helped spread the Christian faith throughout the world.

Paul started out as an enemy of God and of God’s Christ. But when he was alerted to his sinfulness, he repented, and became willing to be used by God. He trusted in Jesus Christ and began to obey Him.

Suddenly, one individual–just one–began to be empowered to do good in the world.

Then we move to the family level. Paul brought his family along with him, and with his wife and children he was able to . . . oops, wait a minute. Paul did not have a wife and children. This is instructive to us. One can serve God without having a wife and children. Paul did it, and he did it supremely well.

Still, there is a sense in which the unmarried, childless Paul had a family. In 1 Timothy 1:2, Paul calls Timothy his “true child in the faith.” Because of his great influence on the thinking and behavior of Timothy, Paul thought of Timothy as his son. The younger Timothy would carry on with his life using the Christian ideas and conduct he had learned from his father in the faith, Paul.

We need to keep in mind that an unmarried person can have spiritual children. That should encourage those of us who are unmarried.

However, many people have families–spouses and children–and God uses that fact to help build His kingdom. A strong Christian family offers a lot of potential for good. We see that on the rare occasions that we see a really strong Christian family. A family is more than just a collection of individuals. As they reform themselves, they help the world toward reform. As the children develop a strong faith, then move on to have their own families, the number of thinking, obedient Christians begins to grow.

The third level of reform is the church. First there was an individual. Then he brought his family along. Now, he has influence on the direction of the church. The more faithful the individual and the family, the more likelihood that the church will grow in obedience and wisdom.

When the church begins to be strong, all the institutions of our nation are influenced toward good.

Paul poured his life into making the church strong. He had great success in this endeavor, although during his various setbacks he may have wondered if things were going as well as they could and should.

So when we look back, with the benefit of hindsight, at the life of Paul, we see how Christian civilization is built and increased. 1/Get well and soundly converted. 2/Help your family get well and soundly converted. 3/Strengthen your church.

This is actually very simple. But simple does not mean it will be easy.

One person, one family, one church can only do so much.

Paul, we believe from extra-biblical sources, ended up martyred. A lot of other early Christians ended up martyred. Lots of Christians in our day end up martyred.

The simple way is also a hard way. So we need to keep reminding ourselves: there is no other way.

We can’t “capture” Congress. (Lacking Christian principles, no congress will ever do the right and honorable thing.) We can’t “capture” the presidency, or movies, or television, or anything.

But we can stand for the truth, and refuse to compromise. We don’t need to turn our children over to the tender mercies of public education. We can learn what the Bible teaches, and obey it. If we as individuals, as families, as churches, do our small part, it will end up having an effect for good in the world. It worked for Paul. But Paul did not live and die a comfortable life.

Paul had only sixty or eighty years of life. Then he died. We too are going to die after just a few years. But we, collectively, as a Christian people have as many years as God wants us to have. Killing Paul did not end time. Here we are two thousand years later, and there are a lot of Christians around. Probably a lot more than Paul might have expected, as he breathed his last painful breaths.

What can we do?

A great deal. We can educate our children at our own expense, we can learn what the Bible teaches and then obey it, we can work diligently at our job, we can tithe to a faithful church, we can involve ourselves in the lives of non-family members (as Paul did in the life of Timothy), we can run for office and speak the truth, we can crack jokes and laugh, we can refuse to back down when faced with evil.

“I won’t back down, no I won’t back down. You can stand me up at the gates of hell, and I won’t back down.” Thanks, Tom Petty. We can learn from Tom’s song.

Why should we back down? We have the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. We have to prepare to be hated, of course. People hate God the Father and they hate Jesus Christ. If we are standing with God, we are likely to be hated as well. It would be well for us to gird up our loins and prepare for that hatred.

With God on our side, with us obeying Him, reform is possible. It won’t necessarily happen easily. But there is no other way to get to a world changed for the better. Reform starts with the individual, moves on to families, and blossoms further in the life of the church. When we are strong as individuals, as families, as churches, our world will move toward better ways of behaving.

Meanwhile, it seems to me to be absolutely crucial to remember that life is always a very good and enjoyable thing. Life is not destroyed because some people want to do evil. We can laugh and enjoy life. We are on the winning side–God’s side. Because some people want to kill unborn children, want to destroy property, want to live at the expense of working people, does not destroy the goodness of life.

I love the attitude of Nikolaj Velimirovic. He was a Serbian Orthodox priest. He was speaking in England in 1917, explaining how the church was the main reason Europe had lapsed into the suicidal world war. The church, he said, ought to give secular Europe the example of “humility, goodness, sacrifice–saintliness.” Then the concluding paragraph of his short book asked and answered which church should be leading the way in this example.

“But which of the Churches ought to give this example for the salvation of Europe and of the world? Yours, if you like. Why not just your Anglican Church? But whichever undertakes to lead the way will be the most glorious Church. For she will lead the whole Church and through the Church Europe and through Europe the whole world to holiness and victory, to God and His Kingdom.” (The Agony of the Church, Nikolaj Velimirovic, 1917, final page of the text)

Why not your church? Why not you as an individual? Why not your family? Why not your church?

He’s right. As Bishop Ryle–a faithful Anglican pastor, by the way–would say, “The way to do a thing is to do it.”

We can do our small part. One person, one family, one church, have more influence than we usually understand.

Paul can be our example, in all three. As an individual he repented, he trusted Christ, he obeyed Him. He had no “natural” family, but he interacted so completely with Timothy as to consider him as his true child in the faith. Then, thirdly, he strengthened the church.

All simple. But not easy.

Still, easy is overrated.

“The way to do a thing is to do it.”