The Ungodly? All of us!

THE UNGODLY? ALL OF US!

 

So much of the church loves to excoriate certain sinners and to condemn certain sins with an effervescence they do not seem to have for their own sins. The gay community receives more than their share of righteous indignation. And the sin of homosexuality is openly used to make heterosexual sins seem normal and somehow within the realm of acceptable sins, doctrinally speaking. You see, heterosexual sins come redemptive ready while homosexual sins must be completely eradicated and forsaken before God can even deal with you.

But if we see things without a specific sin bias, then what I take away is the spectacular fallen nature of man. Jeffrey Dahmer would go to a gay men’s bar and seduce some unsuspecting gay man to come back to his apartment. Dahmer would drug that man, strangle him to death, and spend the night with the corpse and do things to it. In the morning he would dismember it including slicing of his genitals and beheading it and after consuming some of those “delicacies” he would save them inside his refrigerator for later use.

Can it get any worse? And yet here is the part which juxtaposes the unvarnished fallen nature of man against the glory of Christ’s redemption. That same man, Jeffrey Dahmer, came to faith in Jesus Christ and was gloriously saved. Repulsive, disgusting, abhorrent, abominable, foul, and even creepy. And yet Jesus loved Him and drew that man to Himself and by faith made Him His own child.

Many people would say such a monster did not deserve God’s salvation and love. Yes, I would say the same thing. The monster known as Rick Frueh did not deserve it either.

Rom.5: ⁷ For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die.

⁸ But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

Hitler? Really?

HITLER? REALLY?

Sometimes I get very encouraged when I see the spiritual growth of members of the body of Christ, and sometimes I get fatigued when I see how we can take one step forward and four steps back. Just when I think I am on the same page as someone, they pull a hateful rabbit out of the hat. It is amazing that on facebook you can see someone post quotes from Spurgeon, and wonderful Bible verses, and inspiring spiritual stories, and even narratives of faithful missionaries, and then they post something so hateful and carnal as to make me wonder what universe is it in which I live. And often it does not make me angry, but often it makes me somewhat discouraged.

People request to be my FB friend and I assume they have read a post of mine or a comment and they identify with what I have said. I click and “poof!” they are my FB friend. I begin to see their posts and comments. They post pictures of cute kitties and cuddly bears and beautiful landscapes. And they “like” my posts and seem to have a common spiritual life. They do not like Joel Osteen’s or Rob Bell’s ministry and they reject the prosperity preachers. All seems well with the world. And then this appears on their FB wall.



 

 

 

This kind of insane hatred and volatile rhetoric toward sinners only reveals how strong this national deception is and how far the culture has invaded the church. The woman, Melissa Harris-Perry is undoubtedly a “liberal” and maybe unsaved. But her point was a more community approach to our children. But as believers we know we are responsible to God and not to man. And even when the kingdom of darkness suggests a path that is contrary to the path of Jesus, we should not be reactive. We should expect such suggestions and realize that many of us used to think the same way.

But so many professing believers allow themselves to get distracted and leave the gospel commission in favor of confronting fire with fire. And instead of bearing His reproach and being humble, we fight fire with fire including the tired Hitler comparisons. It is astonishing just how vicious believers can be when lost sinners act and speak like lost sinners. Hitler? Really? And many of these believers listen to Limbaugh and Beck and Hannity and get all worked up about things that cannot be changed except through the power of the gospel.

If Vladimir Putin suggested something unbiblical should the church squawk about it? Should we be listening to the words of Hugh Hefner and get all riled up? It is so easy to shoot fish in barrel. And if calling out liberals and their suggestions is what God has called us to then we have our work cut out for us. And to be sure the kingdom of darkness will provide an endless supply of fodder for our canons. Here is a list of people who taught things contrary to the Word of God:

Judas, Plato, Socrates, Herod, Caesar, Thomas Jefferson, Nietzsche, Einstein, Lenin, Himmler, Robespierre, Hitler, Freud, Stalin, Mussolini, Mick Jagger, Ozzie Ozbourne, Barbara Steisand, and on and on the list goes. Take your pick and use anyone you wish to compare with them. Take a lost person’s words, write them for all to see, openly suggest they are like Hitler, and then go into your prayer closet and ask God for their souls.  Be aware though that you will be speaking to yourself.

I have even seen the gold medal of hyperbole and pictorial assignation. I have seen Sasha and Malia’s dad pictured with devil’s horns and a pitchfork. Yes, this long, strange journey called Christianity continues to be strange. But for many the Christian part has long since been discarded. BTW, when you chose which unsaved person you want to juxtapose on your unbeliever du jour remember Hitler has been vastly overdone.

Does God Hate Sinners?

DOES GOD HATE SINNERS?

or

THE FRED PHELPS SCHOOL OF THEOLOGY

Rom.5: ⁶ For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.

⁷ For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die.
⁸ But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

Now the Calvinist leaning believer would suggest that this love for sinners is only extended toward sinners that are among the chosen or the elect. And this constricted view of God’s love also necessitates the doctrine called limited atonement. It suggests that when Christ died upon the cross He only died for the elect, which we understand is a miniscule portion of humanity. But Peter gives us a clear view of false teachers who are unregenerate and whose eternal punishment awaits them.

II Pet.2: But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction.

² And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of.
³ And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you: whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not.

Now the teaching is very clear here unless you do linguistic gymnastics designed to force a square doctrinal peg into a round Scriptural hole. These false teachers were bought by Christ at the cross but they denied His purchase. Yes, you must also understand the Scriptural teaching that God has given men a free will.

Heb.10: ²⁹ Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace?

This Scripture again states that the blood of the covenant had sanctified them and yet they eventually counted it an unholy thing. That is crystal clear. But it even goes a step further. Another Calvinist concept is called irresistible grace which teaches that once God send His redemptive grace toward one of His chosen sinners that it cannot be resisted. That sinner must be saved irrespective of his own will. And yet this verse states that this sinner has done despite to the Spirit of grace. The Greek word for “despite” implies an insult or to behave insolently toward the Spirit of grace.

How can that be? If God does not send the Spirit of grace toward all sinners, then how can an unconverted dead man insult the Spirit of grace? Of course it clearly reveals a human will albeit still a gift from God. But let us take a look at another teaching in which Jesus expresses His love for a sinner who refused Him. This is the story of the rich young ruler.

Mk.10: ²⁰ And he answered and said unto him, Master, all these have I observed from my youth.

²¹ Then Jesus beholding him loved him, and said unto him, One thing thou lackest: go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, take up the cross, and follow me.
²² And he was sad at that saying, and went away grieved: for he had great possessions.

This man rejected Christ in favor of his wealth and yet Jesus still loved him. This once again shows that God’s love is not just for a very small group called the elect. God loves the world and I do mean “world” as it is universally understood. This theology that suggests God who is love only loves his friends flies in the face of His admonition to us to love our enemies. So God commands us to imitate Him, and He commands us to love our enemies, and yet He does not? And not only does He not love His enemies, but He hates them? And much of this theology comes from a restricted view of the atonement and a carefully selected portion of Scripture culled out from the Old Testament.

But not only does this erroneous theology lead people into error and even self righteousness, but it presents a platform wherein believers can hate unbelievers and feel they are just projecting what God feels. In fact while they speak viciuos words against unconverted sinners they believe they are the voice of a hateful God. God’s wrath is God’s justice upon sin and those who stand without His redemption. But the word “hate” is many times a “Hebrewism” which is used to overstate something to make a point. If your eyes lust after a woman are we to pluck it out? Again, a linguistic vehicle which uses exaggeration in order to amplify a principle.

The suggestion that God hates sinners is an error that is usually tied to the doctrine of limited atonement. Those that embrace such a philosophy cannot bring themselves to understand that God loves without condition and even those who reject Him forever can still be loved by God even while suffering eternal justice. There have been earthly fathers or mothers who have discovered that their son has committed an heinous crime, and even though they will always love their son they go to the police and turn him in. Yes, they were part of bring justice to their son but they still loved him.

Jn.3:16 - ¹⁶ For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

Notice the word “world” is separate from the word “whosoever”. If I was going to clearly show that God only loved the “whosoever” part then the verse should read, “For God so loved whosoever believeth in Him so that they should not perish but have everlasting life. The clear teaching is that God so loved the world so that whosoever, or anyone who believed would have everlasting life. It is most disingenuous to dissect the word “world” and redefine it in order to fit into your theology.

II Pet.3: ⁹ The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.

Again, one must repackage the word “all” to mean “ a few” because the common understanding of the word “all” does not fit in your theology. And if God desires all sinners to be saved, and if Jesus died for the sins of the world, then God loves all sinners. Yes, I do mean all. God’s Being is love and all fall under the canopy of that unsearchable love. But not all will love Christ. And therein lies the eternal distinction.

Matt.23: ³⁷ O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!

And here we have Jesus expressing His desire that the Jews would receive Him and believe in Him even as children. He loved them and earnestly desired to see them saved, but in His own words it was they who would not. How can God say He desires to see a people saved and yet He would not draw them to Himself, in fact He would not even die for them and provide redemption for them? It is an absurd suggestion. When I told a leading reformed teacher that no one could read the Bibnle initially on an isolated island and believe the Bible teaches that God hates sinners he told me verbatim “That is why we need teachers”. Indeed.

To suggest that God hates the vast and overwhelming portion of the human race is to make God a respecter of persons and more hate than love. It just is not true. It never has been true, and the very foundation of the gospel is the love of God spilled out for whosoever will believe. And the gospel mission to go into the uttermost parts of the world and preach the gospel to every creature is not some perfunctory game which has no passion or urgency since all who God has chosen will be saved regardless. God is sovereign and in His glorious sovereignty He has created a being with His own image imprinted upon his soul and with a subset within His sovereignty called a free will.

Men can hate God but God is still love. And His love is without conditions and lives eternally. Yes, that kind of love is beyond us. Just visit the cross and you will see eternal love. That sacrifice was more than just a neat transaction for a comparable handful of souls. It was more than a foregone conclusion without any vulnerability. This death, this cross, was the ultimate expression of love offered to God’s own enemies in full view of those alive then, and in full view to all through many narratives, and with a vulnerable love which openly calls for all who are heavy laden to “Come”. But what kind of love is only expressed to those who will be empowered against their will to show a requited response to that love? It is like when I used to play soldiers and I manipulated the soldiers on both sides of the pretend war.

No one deserves God’s redemption, and without an offer of redemption there is no love. The highest and most clear expression of God’s love is at the cross. What kind of God could die for everyone but instead dies for a very, very few and justifies His constrictive offer by submitting His sovereign credentials (like it or lump it) and then spends two thousand years orchestrating a divine game of solitaire which reflects nothing but what God has done for Himself. And in the end God lines up a small group of sinners, forces redemption upon them, and like marionettes He sticks His irresistible hand inside the opening in their backs and makes their mouths say “I love you.” And that brings Him glory?

No, the glory will be that any of God’s creation surrendered to Him by faith and by His power alone we were saved. During that first Passover night in Egypt, the people of God were to eat that lamb. Of course God saw the blood inside the house as they prepared the meal. Yes He saw the blood as the Passover Lamb was slaughtered. But only the blood that was placed on the doorposts was redemptive. And it wasn’t God who took the lamb’s blood and painted it on those doorposts. No, it was those Jewish sinners.

 

THE HORROR OF GOD'S LOVE.

Holy Humor?

HOLY HUMOR?

 

 

There are internet sites which photoshop pictures of all sorts. This picture is one of them. It depicts President Obama kissing Prime Minister Cameron. We should expect this kind of demeaning humor which emanates from a heart of hatred. Those who photoshop President Obama would never do the same to President Bush and vice versa. This kind of self serving carnality should be beneath a follower of Jesus Christ regardless of how he feels about the spiritual status and the policies of President Obama.

A picture like this also exposes a hatred for gay people by mocking and deriding them. It has become a fashionable sport these days among evangelicals who burn the Bible in favor of conservative politics.

Please remove “Honor the King” and all of I Cor. 13 from your Bible if you believe this kind of humor is holy and acceptable before God. I love to laugh and I believe a sense of humor is a good thing. However I can see right through this kind of hatred which attempts to camouflage itself under the guise of humor. If we as believers ever hope to share the gospel with sinners we cannot mock them.

 

Let us say a family moved in next door to you. They seemed religious however you believed they were not born again. They seemed very nice. They were a family of four with a husband and wife and two well behaved daughters. Yes, they had unbiblical views about morality and the path to eternal life. Now let us suppose you began praying for them and asked God to use you and your family to lead them to a saving knowledge of Christ.

What would you expect God to say to you? How would God lead you in light of Holy Scripture. Would you be led to verbally and publicly assault your neighbors? Would you spread demeaning jokes about them to saved and unsaved alike? Would you call them names like antichrist or demons? Would you gather up a group of friends and attempt to have the entire neighborhood pressure them out of the neighborhood? Would you draw pictures of the husband with devil’s horns protruding from his head? Is that how you believe God might lead you?

And if you actually did all those things I suggested, could you really go to church and worship God? Could you be an intercessor for that family on one hand and be a caustic hater on the other? Could you really suggest you loved that family with the love of Christ? And given the nature of your speech and actions, could you really contend that you believe Jesus died for that family? And are you suggesting that you were much better than are they before you were saved? So you are judging people by the description of their sins rather than the weight of their sin before a Holy God, whose weight equaled your own?

 

I hope the things I suggested seemed ludicrous to you and completely unchristlike. But let us pretend that same family was named Barak, Michelle, Malia, and Sasha. “Oh, that would be different because he is the president not just some ordinary neighbor.” Oh? So you are a respecter of persons and you feel you have carte blanche to act unbecoming if the lost person is important? Do you know why you feel that way? It is because politics has seeped into your Christian life and you have become blind to the teachings of Jesus. And your speech and behavior is not done in a closet and completely out of the sight of others. You know why? Because when you speak and feel like you do you receive a sense of affirmation both from your religious and political clique, as well as a sense of self affirmation.

There is a term for that kind of affirmation.

It is called self righteousness, or more succinctly…sin.

The Homophobic Gospel

THE HOMOPHOBIC GOSPEL

Rom.3: - ²³ For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;

Since the fall of Adam sin has always existed and been practiced upon the earth. There are ebbs and flows as it pertains to certain kinds of sin, but sin itself continues its long and effervescent legacy. From the killings of the Inquisition, to the death and destruction left by Alexander the Great, to the humanistic Greek philosophers, to the Holocaust of Hitler’s Germany, and now with millions upon millions of abortions every year around the world, sin leaves its mark without embarrassment. The world is literally teeming with sin in all its forms and ways.

Since Jesus spoke in the first chapter of Acts about a worldwide gospel mission, and since the Day of Pentecost fulfilled His prophetic words of a coming power from on high, the church has been commissioned to spread the good news and to live lives which substantiate our gospel witness. We are called to be active and to “GO!” rather than be reactive according to the present dictates of the fallen culture. There is a vital and unmistakable difference between those two scenarios. In fact, one negates the gospel and expends much energy attempting to clean the outside of the cultural cup while the other spreads the gospel of redemption which is the only remedy for that same culture.

We live in an informationally drenched culture which disseminates all kinds of reports and information on a moment by moment basis and through a variety of media sources. Most of it, even though it is true, is clouded and shaded by the source through words and pictures and many levels of hyperbole. What we receive through the secular media has been processed through the perspectives of the men and women who manage that particular news source. So the focus and the tenor by which it is presented is slanted toward the opinion of the source. And it is no secret that our minds are easily affected by those kinds of commercialized news reports. And when they add the insights of “experts” millions are deeply affected in the way the news source has designed it.

And, sadly, the church has fallen prey to the wiles of the ever expanding informational age and the technology which places a variety of media receptacles in every room in our homes, in our automobiles, and in the palm of our hands. In effect we are walking antennas whose ears and eyes and minds are wide open waiting for the next piece of opinionated news or even blatant gossip. And when our ears and eyes and minds receive such things, it eventually makes its way into our hearts. Yes, we have been subtly manipulated by the fallen culture. And when the weight of that manipulation and deception is multiplied by the great numbers of professing believers being deceived, the church collectively falls into that same deception.

And instead of faithful shepherds warning the flock about this present evil age, these ministers are complicit and deceived as well. And instead of passionately speaking words of deliverance derived from God’s Word, these ministers use their oratorical prowess to fortify and even build upon the deception that has captured their flocks. Yes, they are blind guides who are not content with their own personal blindness. They must speak lies to their listeners and harden their hearts even further. It is an astonishing thing to behold for us who have been rescued from such deception by God’s grace, so we can only imagine how God Himself views this unfolding horror.

And with all the media outlets I have referenced, it offers many opportunities to publicize the heresies and the spiritual blindness entrenched within the evangelical community. Which brings me to the point of my post. Let me provide a link from which I will speak about what I now refer to as the homophobic gospel. As you read it please remember that the man doing the interviewing is a vicious individual who has called President Obama a real life demon. And the man being interviewed is the President of the largest protestant denomination in the world, the Southern Baptist Convention.  

HERE is that interview.

Ok, when I read that interview I was immediately reminded of the saying “Stupid is as stupid does”. Can it get any more bizarre and ridiculous? Let me rant for a minute before I come down from the ledge and deal with a serious principle. It is astounding to me that this man represents a leader in the evangelical community. And if you google the interviewer named Rick Wiles you will see some unbelievable quotes that are even crazy in a secular setting to say nothing of a setting which supposedly follows Jesus. And Pastor Fred Luter suggested that the world needs more men like Wiles. And when Wiles suggests that the nuclear threat coming from North Korea could be God punishing America for its stand on gay marriage, Pastor Luter admitted he was not real proficient in prophecy but that could well be a possibility. (Ok, at this point my breathing has become more pronounced.)

But there is an underlying principle that openly ignores our gospel commission and makes the church a reactionary moral institution rather than a place of redemption and humility. How and where did the church buy into their own moral superiority and ignore the many sins from which we were forgiven including the ones we commit today? And how can we present our orthodox doctrine which states that unconverted sinners cannot even know Biblical truth and are dead in their sins, and then we turn around and become obsessed with their sins? Homosexual behavior is a sin, but given how scarce the New Testament deals with that specific sin, how is it we have made it the pinnacle of all sins?

And men who look at women every day with lust in their hearts can climb a self righteous pedestal and speak volatile words about men who have same sex attractions including the unsaved? And now God is so mad about it He might use nuclear weapons from a godless culture? What kind of madness is this? This is not some unsaved Baptist conversing with an unsaved Catholic over a beer in a bar. This is the so called leader of a Christian denomination speaking insanity! It wasn’t too long ago that preachers like Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson said that AIDs was God’s punishment for homosexuals. I guess God is still experimenting with a disease for adulterers and pedophiles.

Hurricanes, tornados, earthquakes, economic collapse, unexpected deaths, and the events of 9/11 have all been assigned divine design centering upon same sex attractions.

But being obsessed with homosexual behavior does provide camouflage for the rampant sins within the church. I mean divorce has become an Olympic sport among believers. Greed and avarice are considered Biblical. Prayerlessness is pervasive. And how the kingdom of darkness operates is an obsession which replaces a passionate sharing of the gospel. And now the gay thing has become a replacement for the gospel.

Mary Griffith was a devout Christian in a conservative Presbyterian church in the 1970s and into the early 1980s. One of her sons. Bobby, had a secret. He felt same sex attractions since he was a child, and since he heard how people like him were going to hell, and since he heard many derisive remarks about gay people from his family and friends, he struggled to keep his feelings to himself. He had even heard his grandmother suggest they line up all the gays and shoot them. He even dated girls. But after confiding to his sister about his issue, his secret soon became know to his family. His mother especially tried counseling and prayer and strong admonitions to have him “cured”, but to no avail.

All the while Bobby was tortured inside because of his feelings. He desperately desired to be free and the condemnation he suffered from others was unbearable. He became seriously depressed and lived daily with a self loathing that most people never dream could even be possible. One day Bobby could no longer endure himself. He walked to a highway overpass and jumped in front of an eighteen wheel tractor trailer and was killed immediately. There are many believers who strongly and ignorantly suggest that all same sex attractions are a matter of choice. In Bobby Griffith’s case that was some choice. Suicide is prevalent among gay people with a self loathing being a common component.  

But this kind of personal tragedy elicits very little sympathy or compassion from the evangelical community. It seems very clear that our heterosexual credentials mean more to us than the souls of men. Moralism, which is a form of self righteousness, has overtaken the church. Content and satisfied with our doctrine and our ecclesiastical activities and our high tech Sunday services, the church literally has become insulated from the ministry of the Holy Spirit and the message of the cross. And in an amazing display of self serving motives, the gay community has been singled out as sinners above all the rest. And to be perfectly honest it isn’t the souls of gay people which motivates the church; it’s the political perspective and the affect they might have on the already fallen culture.

And now not only does the gay community have to dodge the sling and arrows of the evangelical church, but now they better duck from the incoming North Korea nukes! I believe it’s time once again to search for Jesus. Of course He now seems to be calling the righteous and treating the unrighteous as political fodder. Correction: That is the Jesus of the church and not the Jesus as revealed by Scripture and the Holy Spirit.

Avoid this homophobic gospel and embrace the true gospel which call all sinners equally to repent and believe.

A Monstrous Idol - Capitalism

A MONSTROUS IDOL

CAPITALISM

I Cor.10: ¹⁴ Wherefore, my dearly beloved, flee from idolatry.

Idolatry is a sin. We often see it in the strict sense of bowing before a sculpture or a golden calf. We seldom see idolatry as it is practiced within our own culture since we do not physically bow before anything. However there are many idols among us as well as in the church regardless of how we do or do not bow before them physically. No one can worship God while he worships idols. This is a sad tale of spiritual adultery and a people who turned away from Christ in order to cling to false idols.

Some treat their homes and cars as idols. Some embrace sports teams or pets as idols. Some see their ethnicity or even their gender as idols. All of us are tempted to embrace idols in some form. But there is an idol which has not just crept into the church. It has been welcomed and celebrated. This idol has compromised almost every area of spiritual life. It has made people have divided loyalties. It has made people hate. It has made people embrace violence. It has made people self righteous. It has created sectarianism. And in many ways it has changed the nature of Christ and the nature of the gospel. The depth and seriousness of this spiritual compromise cannot be overstated.

I have watched and listened as preachers and Sunday School teachers and mature believers have fallen under the spell of this idol and have allowed it both change their views as well as change their tone. I do not know what else to do but to continue to expose this idolatry for the spiritual adultery that it is. It is commonly called nationalism and it is expressed as a love and allegiance for a certain nation. In this case it is of course America. Although I see some believers coming out of this major deception I continue to be most saddened by its continuing affect upon many more.

But I would like to peel off all the layers of this deception and expose it for what it is. The reason people love America and are willing to defend it even with war is because of the lifestyle it now provides. In essence, it is the prosperity in America which elicits affection and loyalty and even love. Yes, money itself is basically at the root of patriotism. If this were a very poor nation which offered little in the way of success it would be a somewhat different story. It was in the midst of this prosperity that the prosperity movement within the church was birthed. And most of the evangelical churches in America considers wealth to be a blessing from God without exception.

Even the moral issues take a back seat to money. It isn’t President Obama’s pro-choice stand which elicits the most fire from the church. It isn’t his stance on gay marriage either. He is called a socialist and portrayed as deconstructing the American way of life which is code for taking our property and money. People are against illegal aliens because they believe they are a strain on the American budget. The term “liberal” is a pejorative that indicates higher taxes and social programs. Everything either directly or indirectly revolves around money. “How can gay marriage revolve around money”, you ask? Watch:

 

 

And there it is unvarnished and naked for all to see. While the church contends that gay marriage is unbiblical on moral grounds many have ulterior motives. Can you actually believe such a thing? Matthew Hagee is the son of prosperity preacher John Hagee. Money and capitalism is a god to these kinds of hucksters and even gay marriage means a hit on our pocketbooks. What kind of twisted mind sees things like this economically? I will tell you. It is a mind consumed with the love of money. They see capitalism as a divine gift and a pathway to divine prosperity.

Of course I do not suggest any earthly economic structure as divine. But capitalism is basically an economic and political system which touts personal aggrandizement through industriousness and clever investment. It is seen as a ladder to personal and accumulated wealth.

So nationalism in America is completely tethered to the issue of wealth and the accumulation of such wealth. On earth there is little wrong with such a system, however how can we reconcile that with God’s Word? The New Testament is replete with warnings about seeking wealth and storing up such wealth. But it is astounding how clear Scriptural teaching has been sacrificed upon the altar of the cultural norm. When it comes to money, the lusts of men’s hearts have become the driving exegetical force. Personal wealth is the peg hole into which the cylinder of Scripture must fit.

Money is little more than the tangible revelation of extreme narcissism which is the antithesis of the Christian faith and practice. When a culture has been built, processed, and made successful upon the making and keeping of money then it can have an enormous affect on people’s thought patterns and perspectives. Anyone who seems to inhibit our path to financial gain is met with disdain and acrimony. And those who seem to be supported by our hard fought financial gain without showing an acceptable level of industriousness are often hated. Money is a pie from which everyone draws and about which many fight. I am owed my slice of that pie and I must build upon that first slice until I own my own pie.

And when a culture encourages behavior both openly and subtly to that end, then the integrity of the Christian faith is in jeopardy. There can be only two paths for our faith when we live in and among a culture such as this. Either we humbly but forcefully fight to remain separated from the philosophies of that culture, or we slowly but surely acquiesce to those philosophies. And if the church embraces those philosophies, then there is no battle at all. And eventually the church construct, the church practices, the church buildings, and even the church theology become a reflection of the culture rather than of Scripture.

And even dismissing the carnal ramblings of such men as Hagee, the western church has become a powerless organization which spends obscene amounts of money on staff and buildings and self serving activities. Sunday after Sunday millions upon millions of evangelical church members pour into debt ridden buildings for a few hours and then return to their innocuous and unremarkable lives which appear very similar to those who stayed home on Sunday. And because the church has become a willing part of the culture, words of hate, words of complaint, words of greed, words of pride, and all kinds of words in support of vain philosophies are common within the community of faith.

And woven within the entire fabric is money and a hedonistic lifestyle. The deception has become so deep and so profound that even capitalism is embraced as coming down from heaven. Any criticism of capitalism is viewed as an attack on America and vice versa. But we as believing followers of Jesus should never embrace anything except the words which proceed from God’s mouth. And if we take just the Sermon on the Mount alone as a divine template, well we must admit we have strayed far from home. That is unless we chose to defend our opinions over God’s Word. And if that is what you desire than you need not go further than the Sunday morning service.