The Only Hope

I Cor.15:33-34 - Be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good manners.
34 Awake to righteousness, and sin not; for some have not the knowledge of God: I speak this to your shame.
I read the wonderful, Christ exalting sermons by Spurgeon and Moody and Wesley and Edwards and many of the preachers of years gone by. And rarely do they address the political mood of their generation, and rarer still do they castigate lost sinners regardless of who they may be. Their themes seem two fold. They offer Christ to the lost and the saved, and they speak correction to the church.
And the Apostle Paul says, in effect, “Shame on you!” Why? Because those sinners out there, the ones that get so much criticism and scorn from the church, are lost. They do not know Christ, and Paul admonishes us believers to walk in holiness so that the world can see Christ through us. For when we sin without regard to our testimony, we place another stumbling block in front of a lost and dying world. We have a mission that comes from our Elder Brother through the power of His cross and His glorious resurrection!
Oh how the Spirit is grieved when He listens to all the vitriol leveled against all kinds of sinners. Politicians, gays, liberals, Muslims, protesters, and even some offensive language used against the President. It is most unfortunate, and it diminishes the glory of the gospel. Jesus opened up His arms and drew you and I into His mighty redemption, and while we were yet sinners He died for us. How easy would it have been for the Sinless One to illuminate our sins and speak against us since He alone would be justified in doing so.
But even after Christ gave His life for us, He refused to retreat from dealing with us. On the contrary, He sent the Comforter in order to reveal Himself and draw us to Him. And when He saves a lost soul He doesn’t take them out of the world, but He sends them into the uttermost parts of this sin laden world with the message of His glorious gospel. And today Christ is still seeking and searching for His bride with an unfettered invitation to “whosoever will”.
Jesus! what a Friend for sinners!
Jesus! Lover of my soul;
Friends may fail me, foes assail me,
He, my Savior, makes me whole.

Hallelujah! what a Savior!
Hallelujah! what a Friend!
Saving, helping, keeping, loving,
He is with me to the end.

The church has forgotten how Jesus sought and bought us. Christ did not sit upon some moral throne from which He could pick us apart. Would that have been an attraction for lost sinners? And even though human slavery was not of God, the Spirit directs slaves who have come to know Christ to behave in such a way that people will see Christ.

Ti.2:9-11 - Teach slaves to be subject to their masters in everything, to try to please them, not to talk back to them,
10 and not to steal from them, but to show that they can be fully trusted, so that in every way they will make the teaching about God our Savior attractive.
11 For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people.
He doesn’t exhort them to petition for their earthly freedom, but in an astounding exhortation he tells them to make the teachings of Christ attractive. Or as the King James says, “adorn the doctrine of God our Savior in all things“. The bellicose venom that often spews from western believers who have been deceived by the culture is offensive to the teachings of the Lord Jesus.
Are you a friend to sinners? Would you give your very life for the vilest of sinners and the most militant transgressors? Would you suffer the loss of your so called “earthly rights” in order to pluck some from the second death? The Christian life should be radical when compared to how others live, but in a stunning display of compromise we have redefined what it means to be a follower of Jesus Christ. Instead of a boldness wrapped in humility and meekness, we now exhibit caustic rhetoric and incendiary verbiage toward lost sinners while placing Christ on some doctrinal back burner.
And just where is this grace we speak so glibly about? Have we been granted this grace so that we might use it as a platform for moral artillery aimed at those from whose loins we sprung? Or is this grace something that should permeate every area of our lives, and in fact continually imprison our hearts?

II Tim.2:1- Thou therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.
I Pet.4:9-11 - Use hospitality one to another without grudging.
10 As every man hath received the gift, even so minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.
11 If any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God; if any man minister, let him do it as of the ability which God giveth: that God in all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom be praise and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.
Allow me to combine these two passages and say, “Be strong in the manifold grace of God which is in Christ Jesus.” We seem to stand on grace doctrinally but present law to others. What are we ashamed of? The Lord Jesus Himself is what sinners need, and when the cross is preached, explained, and presented in all its glory and love, the Spirit can open a lost sinner’s heart. But when we are reduced to screaming and writing about all kinds of earthly issues in response to the screaming and writing of the unregenerate, we have devalued the gospel and are reduced to nothing more than players in the ongoing game of moral badminton. And where is Christ in all of this?

Col.1:13-18 - Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son:
14 In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins:
15 Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature:
16 For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him:
17 And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.
18 And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence.
We have left Christ and gone fishing in pools of the flesh using carnal weapons to battle carnal people. We love His cross but refuse our own. He is a friend to sinners but we are their condemners. We go on television to discuss issues and then think ourselves persecuted when we are attacked. But the only authentic persecution comes through Christ. There are unbelievers who are pro-life; there are unbelievers who are pro traditional marriage; there are unbelievers who align themselves with all sorts of issues embraced by believers. But unbelievers will not, can not, preach Christ.
And therein lies our greatest need - a rebirth and a new awakening to the Person and preaching and living of the Lord Jesus Christ. Without that we are just a religious group who allows Christ some scattered cameo appearances while we arm ourselves to win earthly battles. It may seem awfully outdated and archaic, and it may seem utterly simplistic and unsophisticated, and it may make us look like fools, but Christ, His death, and His resurrection, is not just a great hope for mankind.

He is the only hope they have.

Nietzsche Preaches

Friedrich Nietzsche was a forerunner to the secular movements of atheistic existentialism and secular postmodernism. But he did make an observation which might make a good sermon.

“I might believe in the Redeemer if his followers looked more redeemed.”

Ouch.

The Death Penalty

I believe the Scriptures teach that the government has the right to execute justice including the death penalty. However, I am against the death penalty here because it is heavily weighted in favor of the more wealthy, and there is much partiality in the judicial system. Florida, where I live, has executed its share of people. On Wednesday they executed another man who from all reports was guilty of a triple murder.
But as I read the news account, I noticed something quite astonishing. The man whose wife and two daughters were murdered while on vacation, traveled all the way down from Ohio to sit and watch the man be executed. He took a front row seat and watched a man die.
Wow. I cannot imagine where such energy comes from in order to travel a thousand miles just to witness a 15 minute execution. It changes nothing. I would hope that as a believer I would travel one thousand miles in order to share Jesus Christ with a man who murdered my family rather than take in such a ghastly event regardless of the man’s guilt.
A word to us all: Think redemption. Always.

A Different Kind of Humanism
or
The Many Faces of a False Gospel

The gospel is good news, which by the way, must be ranked as the understatement of all time. The undisputed fact that God Himself died for our sins and rose from the dead is colossal in its implications and immeasurable in its glory. It is the very message that Christ commanded us to bring to the uttermost parts of the world and share with every sinner. That commission must never be diluted or compromised.
But, sadly, that gospel has been maligned and even attacked by all sorts of movements and theologies. Some are blatant while others are much more subtle. Let me first address the more obvious ones.
There are men like Marcus Borg, John Crossan, and the blasphemous archives over at the Jesus Seminar that do not mince words. They deny the gospel, and interpret it as some kind of metaphorical fairy tale invented by ignorant and superstitious men. It is almost an understatement to insist these men are liberals, because just by their bold apostasy they deserve a much more descriptive moniker. It’s almost as if they got together and said, “This church needs a better class of apostates and we’re going to give it to them!” So they have earned the gold medal of apostasy.
But there are those who can be called “liberals’ who dissect the Scriptures with the scalpel of their own fallen intellect and remold truth in a more kinder and gentler way. Their gospel comes as a Rodney King-esque quality that pleads with the world to just get along. Some even acquiesce to the validity of Christ’s death and even some tacitly embrace the resurrection, but they claim the meaning was to present an example of selflessness and to illuminate the vicious acts of mankind. These people are cousins to the apostates I outlined previously. They certainly have a seat at the apostasy buffet.
And I would be remiss if I did mention the legions of evangelical church members who never witness to anyone and whose embrace of the gospel is more of a religious cultural ascent rather than a life changing truth to which they are constant servants. The comfortable throngs of evangelical believers present a conundrum to the lost world in that their gospel is so unremarkable in the midst of a fallen culture. And of course there are the legalist of all stripes who add some kind of human works or religious ceremony to the gospel and thereby nullify its power and saving grace.
And there are a host of orthodox gospel believers who spend countless hours and much energy defending the literal interpretation of the gospel. No one could claim they have even a hint of liberalism or even a doctrinal malaise, because they are bold and relentless of their pursuit and ferreting out of every hint of Biblical compromise or gospel dilution. They have original language skills and they use them to reveal all sorts of doctrinal mischief from all over the ecclesiastical world. Yes, they present an impeccable fort of doctrinal orthodoxy and usually present a well researched treatise on the current gospel departures of today. However, in their sincere effort to defend God’s truth they many times fail to share such gospel truth through their lips and their lives.
Defending the doctrinal integrity of the gospel is altogether different than sharing that gospel with lost sinners around the world. There is a place for doctrinal defense, but it must never replace the going forth of the message itself, and it surely cannot be seen as proof of a Christlike life. And the enormous challenge of boldly defending God’s truth while simultaneously cultivating an observable humility is mostly ignored.
But among all these there is another, more clandestine, mischaracterization of the gospel and one that has increasingly found refuge among evangelicals. I call it the moral gospel and it is every bit as insidious and deadly as denying the gospel itself. It is championed by people who profess faith in Christ but whose spiritual commission includes all sorts of moral, political, and even economic banners that obscure the gospel and present a quasi-gospel that is void of the redemption that we are called to trumpet.

This post links to an example.

As you can see, moral issues like homosexuality often present a platform upon which believers can exhibit their orthodox plumage and receive the obligatory “Amens” from the ecclesiastical community in which they live and breathe. I suspect the word "lavender" is a subtle slight. The lady whose name appears on the post, Marsha West, told me that believers who speak out against homosexuality, regardless of their own obvious cultural compromises, are “brave”.
I object. You want brave? Read the Foxes Book of Martyrs. You want brave? Read this! You want brave? Read this! We are brave when we post an article that aggressively outlines the sin of homosexuality without a shred of the gospel or redemption? That is not brave, that is self righteous. And it is secular articles like that one that do despite to the gospel and completely ignores the redemptive nature of God as well as the purpose of the Incarnation.
Can you imagine what such people would have done to the woman at the well? They would have written an article decrying the breakdown of the marriage covenant and the moral decay as illustrated through such a woman. And when Goliath defied the armies of Israel with a sword, they would have carried the sword offered unto them and fought “fire with fire” while acknowledging the doctrinal purity of the five stones. We are not called to collectively pounce upon the dirtiness of the outside of the cup. We are called to preach the gospel to sinners of all persuasions.
This culture war has crept into evangelical circles and the enemy has convinced us to place the gospel upon the shelf of orthodox theology and take up arms against moral decay. But the only panacea for moral decay is the gospel! And this moral crusade is nothing more than a departure from the gospel and does nothing but serve to energize the flesh, restate the obvious, and make us feel “brave”. How pitiful.
You want brave? Go preach the gospel in Pakistan. You want brave? Go minister the gospel to the millions of AIDs sufferers in Africa. You want brave? Go to a gay pride parade and with tears in your eyes love them and share Christ with them in abject humility. And give them a cold drink if the weather is hot!
Moral crusades are another form of humanism. This culture can only change when men’s hearts are redeemed. So go ahead and wear your badges of courage and bravery while you write and speak out against the sin of homosexuality from air conditioned pedestals and without the pathos of a sincere concern for men’s souls. And only when we have a deep and personal understanding concerning the grace wherein we now stand can we reach the darkened souls among whom we were once found.
Brothers and sisters, this is no insignificant squabble among believers. This issue cuts to the very core of what it means to be a servant of Christ and His gospel. The ship has long since swerved off course. Let us pray that God will strip us all of our self serving moralistic religion and go without the camp, bearing His cross, and kissing the souls of spiritual lepers who stand in need of God’s good news.

Biblical Relativism

I am a relative of Jesus Christ.

The Lord Shall Fight for You

Just how loud does something have to get before we can hear God’s voice in the matter? When Scripture gives many indications concerning a matter, but it does not address that matter directly, then at what point do events flush out the will of God? The Apostle Paul desired to see the brethren at Rome, but circumstances dictated other plans.

Rom.1:13 - Now I would not have you ignorant, brethren, that oftentimes I purposed to come unto you, (but was let hitherto,)

Everyday there are more rumors of eminent attacks in the Middle East. The world is teetering on the edge of economic collapse. Governments are being toppled in Arab nations, and Europe dangles over financial doom. And while all this transpires, America prepares for a coming election.

Much of the evangelical community has placed their trust and hope within the Republican Party as they listen to carnal men and women spew their radio and television tirades. And even though these broadcasters accumulate great wealth just because they talk, many believers continue to listen and even agree. And after groups like the Moral Majority and the Concerned Women of America and the like have passed off the scene, believers still hold out hope that God will turn the country we know as America via some shining knight in political armor.

The decades have passed and many believers are still believing in some political wave of spiritual repentance. And behold, the year of 2011 arrives. Of course the current president, although a seemingly nice family man, is blind to spiritual and moral issues. So once again the community of political believers must turn to the Republican Party. And in a colossal case of irony, God allows for a cast of characters that defies description and flies in the face of everything we know about God’s will.

There are Mormons, adulterers, bigots, womanizers, and an array of candidates who seem to have all the answers without Jesus Christ. Of course there are the tepid and perfunctory professions of faith, but the collection of men and women do not represent the Lord Jesus Christ. And still do believers imagine that American politics will be God’s tool to reach a nation? In this year of all years how can our ears not be scorched with the sound of divine correction concerning the vacuous nature of politics?

The sad fact is that if there was a solid, Bible believing follower of Jesus Christ in next year’s race millions of believers would still believe in a political solution for the spiritual condition of this or any nation. But it is a mirage, a thief that steals the power from Christ’s church and leads believers astray. And if we cannot hear the voice of God through His Scriptural revelations, how can we not hear the deafening sound that emanates from this election’s folly? Which God do you believe will approve of the millions, perhaps billions, of dollars that will be spent attempting to manipulate voters and lift up the accomplishments and false promises of man? To say it is unseemly is to praise it!

But I believe that this election in particular will witness millions of believers whose ears will burst open and incline to the voice of the Spirit. This election just may be a road to some kind of authentic spiritual awakening. This election is so caustic, so carnal, so tragic, and so utterly filled with the elevation of man, that I pray we will all get a fresh revelation of the King of All Kings!

Do not just watch and listen to the continuing folly of wealthy men and women who seek more power and who present this nation as some kind of divine talisman. But watch and listen to that voice, that holy and sacred voice, that calls unto His own. This year listen for the Shepherd as He beckons us all. The time grows short and the darkness grows deeper. Let the world run to and fro attempting to find some answer. Our command is, “Peace, be still.” But who will fight for us, and who will protect us? Will not the Egyptians overtake us all?

Ex.14:13-14 - And Moses said unto the people, Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the LORD, which he will shew to you to day: for the Egyptians whom ye have seen to day, ye shall see them again no more for ever.
14 The LORD shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace.

Breathing Forth Immortality

For this end did the Lord suffer the ointment to be poured upon His head, that His Church might breathe forth immortality.

Saint Ignatius of Antioch (AD 30-107)

Penn State University and Sin

For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God

Everyone is aware that something terrible happened at Penn State University. Many children were sexually and emotionally abused, and some with authority did not act with the appropriate speed and power to avoid the continuing abuse. I have read what the secular media has had to say, and I have read what preachers and the Christian community has had to say. Both have expressed outrage, and in the natural, that is surely the appropriate response. There is little in the natural that is worse than abusing children.

But we in the kingdom of God are called to view things in the Spirit as well as the natural. We cannot be satisfied with changing policies and tweaking the system on how to report abuse of any kind. We must look deeper, and in that investigatory look we also must find redemption - uncomfortable redemption - eternal redemption. We have a tendency to find some subtle self righteousness when someone else’s sin is much more repugnant than our own - in the natural.

But take a step backward as we put the entire question of sin in perspective. The first sin that damned the entire human race was not child abuse or murder, but one bite of one piece of fruit in direct disobedience to God’s command. Wow! Adam makes what seems to be a minor mistake and we all die?! That means if you and I were to stand in for Adam today, you and I would doom the entire race the moment we drove our car over the speed limit one minute after we left our house! To us it seems insignificant when compared to the grievous sins of others, but that is because we do not understand the nature of sin from God’s perspective.

There are no words that can adequately portray the viciousness of sin. It is profoundly vile and it is an open expression of rebellion to the Creator. The natural man measures sin by its quantity and its comparative quality. In other words, man has established a sin pecking order which illuminates some sins and excuses others. That is where mankind finds comfort in his own sin - by condemning the sin of others while tacitly admitting our own sin without the attached gravity. So the pedophile’s sin is grave while our sin is, well, understandable. And that is where the world leaves it.

But those of us who know Christ and have an appreciation for His sufferings must also step forward and admit with humility and repentance our own sin. When the sin nature is allowed to fester so that acts are committed upon children it is detestable to be sure, however we must not use that as a salve to our own conscience about the repercussions of our owns sin and the price it took to redeem our souls. In fact, without the shed blood of Jesus Christ, we would stand just as condemned as the child abuser at Penn State. Sin has no favorites.

And let us go a little further and eviscerate our thoughts and expressions of self righteousness. All of us were born in sin, all sin. Our sin nature has at its disposal every sin that others may commit. And given the right circumstance or the right opportunities or even the right physiological imbalances, we too have the capacity to commit sins we now condemn. That is not to say we should not condemn sin, we should. But we should condemn and repent of our sin not just condemn sin at arms length and feel comfortable with the little or big foxes that may roam free in our own neck of the woods. One whiff of self righteousness is as diabolical in the spirit realm as any other sin.

And then there is the issue of redemption in Christ. Let us be painfully honest. The thought of redemption for a man such as this accused Penn State pedophile is unsettling. Come on, we all feel some sort of recoil at that thought. I did. Because my outrage continued to grow as I heard more and more of the facts I could not entertain redemption for this man, at least not on a heartfelt level. Of course my theologically trained mind acknowledged that possibility, but I could not muster any compassion for him spiritually.

That is because I had for the moment forgotten the gravity of my own sin and the incredible price that Christ had to pay for my own redemption. And that is in effect self righteousness. I became caught up with the sensationalism of such a sin at Penn State, including the moral outrage from the lost community, that I forgot who I was and who I now am and how I became who I now am. Oh my dear brothers and sisters, how easily we compartmentalize the precious sufferings of our Savior King as we climb aboard the outrage train and pick up the moral stones that are common to the saved and the lost.

Rebuking sin is not the point. The Scriptures clearly identify and rebuke sin. But Paul claims to be the greatest sinner of all, and of course we know he was not. But he exhibit’s the kind of attitude that should inhabit all of us. And when we measure a sinner’s unworthiness by the definition of his specific sins, then we in effect place different values on the worthiness of sinners for Christ’s salvation. And when the crowd screams with unqualified condemnation without even a hint of a possible redemption, we must have a different voice.

In the midst of moral outrage, the church must give voice to the gospel. And yes, we must expect to be roundly criticized by those who see our gospel as condoning sin. And yes, when we offer the good news to bad men the religious community will vent their confusion by condemning us. I find it embarrassingly easy to condemn others, and I must labor in the Spirit to find redemption in my heart for the souls of men whose sins have been explored and revisited and revealed as horrific. But by God’s grace, I have been able to find compassion in the face of horror.

In the end, God will sort it all out. All we know is Christ and Him crucified. If Christ did not die for the vilest of sinners, then for whom did He die? If not for all, then for whom? Please remember the words of that blind saint Fanny Crosby: The vilest offender who truly believes, that moment from Jesus a pardon receives. Oh praise His matchless Name! Oh halleluiah to the Lamb! Oh bless the Redeemer of the whole world!

To God Be the Glory

To God be the glory, great things He hath done;
So loved He the world that He gave us His Son,
Who yielded His life, an atonement for sin,
And opened the lifegate, that all may go in.

Praise the Lord, praise the Lord,
Let the earth hear His voice!
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord,
Let the people rejoice!
O come to the Father, through Jesus the Son,
And give Him the glory, great things He hath done!

O perfect redemption, the purchase of blood,
To every believer, the promise of God;
The vilest offender who truly believes,
That moment from Jesus a pardon receives.

Praise the Lord, praise the Lord,
Let the earth hear His voice!
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord,
Let the people rejoice!
O come to the Father, through Jesus the Son,
And give Him the glory, great things He hath done!

Great things He hath taught us, great things He hath done,
And great our rejoicing through Jesus the Son;
But purer, and higher, and greater will be
Our wonder, our transport1, when Jesus we see!

Praise the Lord, praise the Lord,
Let the earth hear His voice!
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord,
Let the people rejoice!
O come to the Father, through Jesus the Son,
And give Him the glory, great things He hath done!

God's Love Revealed Through Us

II Tim.1:7 - For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.

So often we have heard these words and many times the application centers around our earthly lives. People have told us to be bold in business opportunities, or in investments, or in politics, or even in war. But it seems the emphasis is always on rejecting the spirit of fear and embracing the spirit of power, but little emphasis is placed upon the spirit of love. And this love does not come from this world, but it comes from above.

Let us be very honest and transparent. It is most difficult to love as Christ loves, especially toward those people who reject Christ. It is a profound paradox that God can love sinners and sentence them to eternal judgment as well. That is in the realm of mystery but it is true nonetheless. The kind of theology that teaches that God hates the non-elect makes room for hardened hearts and self righteousness.

Rom.5:8 - But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

God loves the sinner. All sinners. The unambiguous teaching of Scripture has always been that God loves everyone and has given His life for everyone as well. That is the divine love which we are called to emulate. Leave it to carnal men to create a false theology that suggests God hates those to whom He has not offered redemption, and climbing upon that foundation of hate it becomes almost God-like to hate sinners as well. But that is not Christ.

Just a cursory reading of the 13th chapter of I Corinthians presents a colossal challenge concerning the manifestations of love. This is no “Valentine’s day” kind of love, or even some saccharine mush that is much more like a freshman crush than an eternal sacrifice. This kind of love has no equal. But again, we are called, yea commanded, to love others as Christ loved us and gave Himself for us. Can there be any higher challenge?

And just telling them the truth falls embarrassingly short of loving them as Christ does. Who would have thought that some in the doctrinal Bourgeoisie would suggest that spouting doctrinal truth would suffice as love? In an astounding act of creative self righteousness, some believers have used truth to circumvent the colossal challenges of being and living like Christ. Telling people the truth is indeed a necessary component of divine love, but there are many deeply sacrificial and self denying aspects of divine love that are disobliging to our flesh and present demanding paths of discipleship not usually traversed by the common believer‘s journey. These paths all have one thing in common: a destination called Golgotha.

And it is at the place of crucifixion that we find the treasure trove of God’s love. And although its depths have never been plumbed, we are called to go beyond gazing, beyond the doctrinal realities, and beyond just pointing to its redemption. We are called to die. And birthed in that death is the resurrected life of Jesus Christ. What words can wrap around such a mystery, and yet that is our command.

God’s love is Jim Elliot refusing to fire upon the Indians who are running to kill him. God’s love is a 20 year old woman contracting leprosy and continuing to minister to those who God loves. God’s love is young American women wearing burqas so they can reach the Taliban women. And perhaps this is God’s love revealed in human vessels:

Two young Moravians heard of an island in the West Indies where an atheist British owner had 2000 to 3000 slaves. And the owner had said, "No preacher, no clergyman, will ever stay on this island. If he’s shipwrecked we’ll keep him in a separate house until he has to leave; but he’s never going to talk to any of us about God. I’m through with all that nonsense." Three thousand salves from the jungles of Africa brought to an island in the Atlantic and there to live and die without hearing of Christ.Two young Moravians heard about it. They sold themselves to the British planter and used the money they received from their sale, for he paid no more than he would for any slave, to pay their passage out to his island for he wouldn’t even transport them. As the ship left it’s pier in the river at Hamburg and was going out into the North Sea, carried with the tide, the Moravians had come from Herrenhut to see these two lads off, in their early twenties. Never to return again, for this wasn’t a four year term; they sold themselves into life-time slavery. Simply that as slaves, they could be a s Christians where these others were. The families were there weeping, for they knew they would never see them again. And they wondered why they were going and questioned the wisdom of it. As the gap widened and the housings had been cast off and were being curled up there on the pier, and the young boys saw the widening gap, one lad with his arm liked through the arm of his fellow, raised his hand and shouted across the gap the last words that were heard from them, they were these: "MAY THE LAMB THAT WAS SLAIN, RECEIVE THE REWARD OF HIS SUFFERING!" This became the call of Moravian missions. And this is the only reason for being, That the Lamb that was slain, may receive the reward of His suffering.

Democracy in Action

From the news desk:

In Mississippi, abortion rights advocates scored a somewhat surprising victory as voters defeated Initiative 26, a proposed amendment to the state’s constitution that would have defined the word “person” to include every human being “from the moment of fertilization, cloning, or the functional equivalent thereof.”

You wanted democracy? You think God approves of democracy as His preferred governmental structure? How delusional to think that fallen man ruling himself is the divine prescription for the furtherance of God's kingdom. Such folly! This is not a war to outlaw sin; this is the eternal battle for the souls of men and ultimately the glory of God Almighty!

Does it surprise us that the world does not consider a fertilized egg as a person? Do they consider a growing baby within a mother's womb a person? And when they send a war drone into some obscure village, do they consider the boys and girls of that village as persons or as collateral? Even Pat Robertson claimed that if a person is comatose he or she is no longer a person and can be discarded like yesterday's garbage.

But the overarching question is not who is a person, but who is a soul for whom Christ died. Oh brothers and sisters, keep looking unto Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our faith. We do not march to any ballot box, and our hopes do not rise and fall with the ebbs and flows of the political stream. How dare we mock Christ by suggesting this fallen world can be saved through moral legislation leveraged by voter registration and political clout. That besmirches the crimson sacrifice of our Dear Lord and does despite to the kingdom of God.

And the hoopla in Mississippi will not be the last. But we cannot afford to become distracted by all the earthly activity and the constant drone of news and information. We must derive all our news from above, and realize that the days are evil and His entrance draws nigh. And instead of moral outrage leveled at people like those in Mississippi, we must be moved with compassion. The darkness grows evey deeper and the eternal judgment that awaits them approaches with clandestine speed. Christ is their only hope, and we are His servants.

I hope and pray that all of us will continue to move away from the mirage of the temporal and move toward the Risen Christ!

Choose You This Day

I heard a preacher say this yesterday:

“If I take my money and give it to the poor that is charity. If the government takes my money and gives it to the poor that is socialism.”

The devil du jour is now socialism? Why? Because men’s hearts are evil and where their treasure is, that is where their hearts are. Let us be frank with one another. None of us - NONE OF US - gives to the needs of others as we could and surely not as we should. Of course the preacher that made that statement is of the prosperity variety, however his attitude is reflective of much of the western evangelical mindset.

It is disgraceful how much time the church spends teaching about money and how to get it, keep it, and teaching us that God wants to rain prosperity upon us. And instead of looking into the mirror of God’s Word and see how attached we are to our money, we castigate the government as a clever diversion to our own sins. That is like saying, “At least we are not like Hugh Hefner!”

Democracy has robbed the church of believing in God’s sovereignty. We no longer accept things with joy and contentment. Anything that is unpleasant must be met with political force and the church now believes it can change things by the democratic process while giving lip service to prayer. The gospel is an aside and a perfunctory appendage to our outward behavior.

We no longer believe in Christ’s own words.

Matt.6:24-34 - No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.
25 Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?
26 Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?
27 Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature?
28 And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin:
29 And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.
30 Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?
31 Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed?
32 (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.
33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.
34 Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.

We are commanded not to worry. Do we?

I Cor.10:10-11 - Neither murmur ye, as some of them also murmured, and were destroyed of the destroyer.
11 Now all these things happened unto them for examples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.

Phil.2:13-15 - For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.
14 Do all things without murmurings and disputings:
15 That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world;

We are commanded not to murmur or complain. Do we?

I Thess.5:17 - Pray without ceasing.

We are commanded to pray without ceasing. Do we?

I Tim.6:7-8 - For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out.
8 And having food and raiment let us be therewith content.

We are commanded to be content with food and clothing. Are we?

Matt.6:19 - Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal:

We are commanded not to store up money. Do we?

We as believers should be suspicious of all earthly systems, from capitalism to socialism to communism, since they were spawned from the fallen hearts of men. It is time for us to realize they have no part in us nor we in them. The kingdom of God operates apart from any worldly systems, and capitalism is just as poisonous to us as is socialism. On some level we must live outwardly within the system to which we now live, but we are in it but not of it.

And the distinction between God’s kingdom and the kingdoms of this world has eroded so significantly until the church has openly embraced what the world offers. Our allegiances have been compromised, our finances have become idols, our success is measured by earthly standards, and we seem willing to die for earthly freedom but not willing to live in Christ’s freedom with any pronounced difference or conspicuous brilliance. It’s time to reject terms like socialism, capitalism, nationalism, democracy, and all the rest of the man made terms designed to exalt man. We cannot serve two masters, so we must choose just one.

I choose the Lord Jesus Christ.

A Cult

Websters defines a cult as a:

great devotion to a person, idea, object, movement, or work

In that context, the world itself is one colossal cult.

Behold This Glorious Testimony

In 2007 both my sons were students at the same Bible school. In June, before the coming school year, the school requested a home that could accommodate one student for two months during the summer. This young man was going to be a freshman and needed to come down to Florida early. We volunteered our home.

He was a delightful kid, but after a few days it was evident he did not know Christ. My oldest son led him to Christ in our backyard. Now this young man has an incredible ability to jump on the basketball court, even though he is only 6 feet tall. He goes to high schools and performs his great dunking ability, and then he shares Christ. Here is David Thacker on YouTube.

But David has a cousin who was saved years before he came to Christ. This cousin became a missionary and was called to India. She is 20 years old and has only been in India for 6 months. Several weeks ago she and some missionary friends were riding along the road and came upon a man in the road with leprosy who was dying. Brittney was warned by the more experienced missionaries not to go near the man, but she was so moved with compassion she exited the car and went and held the man.

She told him about Jesus and how much Jesus loved him. She shared the gospel with him, and even though the man was too weak to adequately communicate back, she prayed he could receive Christ by faith. The man’s feet were a great source of pain, and before she left Brittney kissed his feet. The man died soon after.

Several weeks had passed, and Brittney saw some lesions appearing on her face. She went to the doctor’s and discovered she had contracted leprosy. It is a lethal kind. Now her parents are very distraught and demanded she come home quickly. But Brittney refused and now remains in India still sharing Christ with the lost while leaving her life in God's hands.

In this “Joel Osteen-esque” climate of false Christianity, there are still those whose light shines into the heavens with brilliance.

Dan.12:3- And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever.

After my son and I wept, I felt compelled to share with you a testimony of God’s amazing grace. Be not weary in well doing because God has His servants that have not bowed the knee to Baal. And just like this precious 20 year old young woman, God has His witness. They are not superstars, and they are not prosperous, and they are not invited to speak at conferences, but I say this before the Lord Jesus Christ - it is these servants that will wear the brightest crowns in heaven, and who will receive the honor of laying them at the feet of Him Who alone is worthy!

Chosen and Elect

Col.3:12-13 - Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering;
13 Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye.

I Pet.1:1-3 - Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the strangers scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia,
2 Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace unto you, and peace, be multiplied.
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,

Eph.1:3-5 - Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ:
4 According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:
5 Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will,

II Thess.2:13-14 - But we are bound to give thanks alway to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth:
14Whereunto he called you by our gospel, to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.

I Pet.2:3-5 - If so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious.
4 To whom coming, as unto a living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God, and precious,
5 Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.

Let us lay aside all the doctrinal debates concerning election and meditate upon the truth that God Himself has elected and chosen us in Him. That is a wonder that surpasses knowledge, and clothed in the glory of that knowledge, does not your heart rise to worship your Redeemer? We have been elected; we have been chosen. And although this is a great honor to us, ultimately it redounds to the glory of God. The only way God could get glory from a sinner is to redeem that sinner and place him within His own loins.

Before the foundations of the world were laid, God saw us in Him, chosen and elect. And the strength of that election was His love, and the core revelation of that love was the cross. It is summarily impossible to fully understand the eternal glories which shall be shared with us, but God has given to us glimpses so that our hearts may be weaned from the temporal fancies of this present world.

Oh, but how often do we clear our minds of Martha’s kitchen and sit at His feet and gaze upon Him through the eyes of faith? To think, God allows, and even desires, a sinner to worship Him. What is man that Thou art mindful of him? What hope! What glory! What majesty! What can compare with one clouded glimpse of the Risen Christ, and all the while knowing that one day, one glorious day, we will see Him as He is!

He has been so neglected, and we, His chosen, have lusted after this present world. But He knew all this and yet still granted us His eternal election. What kind of love is this? What kind of commitment never forsakes or leaves? Surely this is not found upon this earth; surely this can only come from the very heart of Almighty God, powerful beyond all measure and yet loving beyond all depth. He sees how we soil ourselves with the filthiness of this world, and yet He continues to cleanse us over and over and over.

I would never have chosen me. Never. But yet my Lord and Savior chose me and suffered to purchase me as well. How can this thing be? From this earthly side of eternity it seems like so much Grimm’s fairy tales, but when the Spirit opens up my heart and allows me to catch a reality glimpse of my future inheritance and my prepared place in His presence, well I am undone. And if we ever lose sight of these profound spiritual realities then we have lost Christ.

Chosen and elect. Here we stand, completely by faith through His matchless grace. Of course the angels are confounded as should we be as well. How often the church has behaved as if we deserve to be who we are, and that heaven will be a reward for the depth of our spiritual service. We run to and fro spewing moral outrage and castigating the lost and refusing to reflect the grace wherein we stand. Jesus said “If I be lifted up” and yet we lift up everything but Jesus.

Take a deep breath and take a step back. Think on Him, meditate upon Him, and reacquaint yourself with who you are and how you became who you are. You did not pull yourself up by your bootstraps. You did not figure it all out and make a responsible decision based upon your intellectual assessment. You did not pursue Christ with everything in you and then found Him among your spiritual journeys. Christ sought you; Christ found you; Christ desired you. And even when you oft refused Him, he continued His relentless pursuit of you.

Oh my dear friends, to say we are lucky is to blaspheme that Holy Name. We have been chosen and elected, which in the language of eternity have only diluted earthly definitions. Upon your first glimpse of the Risen Christ, will you not be filled with the knowledge of His grace? Will being chosen not elicit praise and worship from your very being that renders earthly worship as a fraud? And when you stand as a glorified son of God in the likeness of your King, will there be anything that distracts you from the vision and reality of Him?

And even on this very day we know that future has been reserved for us in heaven. Not because we have pursued it, and not because we desired it, and surely not because we deserved it. But it is all because we have been elected and chosen in Him before the first atom came into being. And when all the present atoms are gone forever, the grace of God that bestowed upon us these great blessings will be as strong as it ever was. Rejoice with brokenness and worship! You and I have been chosen to spend all eternity with Him. Selah…

Unvarnished Hypocrisy

Do you want some further proof of the hypocrisy of ecclesiastical stuructures and the manure of American politics. Read this post which illustrates the gospel compromise of the Southern Baptist Convention.

Ya gotta love the instututional church.

The Mormon Religion

In 1979, The Mormon religion claimed that blacks were now allowed to be priests before God. They claimed that they received this new information by revelation from God.

Dumb, dumb, dumb, dumb, dumb.

(That just scratches the surface.)

Supporting Apostates

Every ministry that gives to these apostate Christian television stations is partakers of their evil deeds. So when you see ministries on television about which you agree, remember, their money goes to support apostate doctrines. That goes way above the word “compromise”.

Kingdom Giving

Mk.12:41-43 - And Jesus sat over against the treasury, and beheld how the people cast money into the treasury: and many that were rich cast in much.
42 And there came a certain poor widow, and she threw in two mites, which make a farthing.
43 And he called unto him his disciples, and saith unto them, Verily I say unto you, That this poor widow hath cast more in, than all they which have cast into the treasury:

I have seen the disgraceful antics of these “Christian” network’s telethons. They hire charlatans to come in and tell people that if they give a “seed” then God will be their genie. They are liars and are using people for their own monetary gain.

But I also saw a secular report that said Bill Gates committed approximately 30 billion dollars to help the poor in Africa. That is commendable, but the reporter remarked that Gates was the greatest giver she knew.

I beg to differ. Here was a widow who gave all that she had with no promise of financial blessings to herself and with no fanfare. God’s economy and financial system is not of this world.

The Institutional Church:

Is it Time to Leave?

Matt.16:15-18 - He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am?
16 And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.
17 And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.
18 And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

The word church represents the true body of believers who have been redeemed by Christ’s blood and who identify themselves as disciples of Jesus Christ. They also are encouraged, some might say commanded, to meet together regularly. And for two thousand years most believers have done so.

But over the years the local gatherings of believers have become more and more organized and business-like. It was Constantine who initially took the reins and help veer the church toward buildings, organization, and larger places of meeting. And with each small step toward organization and especially in the areas of finances and staff, the church began to morph into an ecclesiastical business. In fact, the average senior pastor spends most of his time in overseeing staff, meeting with people inside and out of the church, speaking on the telephone, having a say in the financial direction of the church, and generally relegating Bible study to message study and prayer to an embarrassingly constricted religious observance.

Most churches today do not have an official, church wide prayer meeting, and if they do, it is usually placed conveniently before choir practice or the Sunday morning gathering or some obscure time and place which guarantees a corporal’s guard in attendance. And if it is designed to last one hour it is considered a massive sacrifice of time. Prayer has long since been abandoned on any authentic, Scriptural level, and our lip service to its power can easily be defined as lying.

But while prayer was declining in practice and teaching, the use of money for buildings, staff, activities, and general upkeep has been skyrocketing. The normal church budget allocates at least 50% for salary packages, and much of the rest remains in house for other things. And that is if the church has no mortgage payment. But many churches pay incredible amounts weekly and monthly to the secular bank down the street just so they can meet a few hours a week in a nice building. Again, we can thank Constantine for initiating that concept.

But the bottom line is that most local assemblies are constructed and operate as a business and have little resemblance to the early gatherings of believers. Of course transportation and the general effects of the Industrial Revolution are undeniable, but it seems as though we have surrendered wholesale to their dictates. And the core spiritual disciplines of the Christian faith have been marginalized and even ignored. Even the Lord’s Supper has been rescheduled for monthly or quarterly observances, and the observance itself is streamlined in order to fit into the overall Sunday morning itinerary. It actually is a disgrace to the name of our Lord.

When something is practiced over and over again, and when something is embraced as a tradition, then it is very difficult to reassess it, to say nothing of deconstructing it. And this is where we are in the average western church construct. Most professing believers search for a church based upon what it offers them and their children and not the leading of the Spirit to where they can grow as servants. And money that is wasted, or lavished, upon the patrons of the local establishment is obscene. While millions starve and billions are headed to a Christless eternity we fare sumptuously at our own smorgasbord.

But without a sovereign move of God the local church is not going to change. And if that is true, then what are we supposed to do? Are we to be facilitators and enablers? Are we only going to criticize and find fault, even if what we say is true? Or is the Spirit speaking to us about something radical and out of the ecclesiastical box? The situation is desperate, but it seems as though we are not.

It is time to reevaluate our status with everything on the table. Perhaps God is calling those who will listen to come out from that religious system and into a spiritual gathering that is based upon the New Testament and that exalts the Lord Jesus. It is a very sad spectacle to see the millions of professing believers caught in a system that accentuates things like finances, politics, buildings, activities, and a laundry list of other things designed to keep westerners with short attention spans interested for the moment. But the spiritual practices that take time and passion and sacrifice that are designed to pursue the redoubtable knowledge of the Lord Jesus, well those have long since passed off the scene.

Even Bible study has become utilitarian. The Scriptures are now used to aid our earthly lives and provide for us a road map for success, instead of so illuminating the August Son of God so as to draw us to Him and allow the Spirit to make us like Him. And the more unpleasant teachings in the New Testament get scant reference and some preachers are even attempting to remove such teachings including suggesting there is only heaven after this life and all will wind up there. You can see where this whole thing is headed and on some level has arrived.

So again, we must pray and fast with utter seriousness about what the Lord will have us to do. It is difficult to imagine a different structure when you have only known one. And if some choose a different route than this redundant religious practice, they will meet opposition from family and friends. And they will have to sacrifice the fellowship they have enjoyed at a certain church, which by many standards is one of the strongest reasons people stay. And the safety of the flawed known is usually preferable to the danger of the unknown. There are many built in barricades against any sort of significant change.

And those who will step out of the boat must humbly admit to having many more questions than answers. It is much easier to see the glaring faults in the current western ecclesiastical structure than it is to acknowledge our own spiritual deficiencies and not allow those to become part and parcel of any different direction. The challenge is monumental, and the sacrifice will be great.

Lk.14:27-33 - And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple. 28 For which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first, and counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it?
29 Lest haply, after he hath laid the foundation, and is not able to finish it, all that behold it begin to mock him,
30 Saying, This man began to build, and was not able to finish.
31 Or what king, going to make war against another king, sitteth not down first, and consulteth whether he be able with ten thousand to meet him that cometh against him with twenty thousand?
32 Or else, while the other is yet a great way off, he sendeth an ambassage, and desireth conditions of peace.
33 So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple.

But there remains the other alternative. We can remain as we are and remain where we are, physically and spiritually. We can continue to trudge along with spiritual crumbs and only long for something more reflective of the claims made by our faith. In order for us to embrace that path we need only to stay as we are and avoid the inconvenience that comes with change. But perhaps we owe our Savior much more than that. In fact, we owe Him our entire lives. That, my friends, is a great debt indeed, but one which should be paid willingly and joyfully and with eternal expectations.

One day we will all give an account.

Where is Our Light?

I am not sure what occupy Wall Street is exactly, but I assume they are against greed and avarice. And I admire their zeal since some of them have left jobs and sacrificed greatly to actually live outdoors. Their motive is good but their plan is misguided. Greed and avarice will always be a part of the fallen nature of man, and there are many unpleasant aspects of that same nature that the “occupiers” exhibit as well.

But when we see such sacrifice and boldness coming from within the group called fallen, are we as believers convicted of our lackluster and mundane existence? Are we even concerned that movements like occupy Wall Street and the Tea Party have made more public controversy than the church has? I am beginning to believe our need for a revival is vastly understated.