The Pain of the Profound

“David must have been plagued by a very fearful devil. He could not have had such profound insights if he had not experienced great assaults.” Martin Luther

We have many in my midst today struggling with the sovereignty of God through the mis-steps of man. A lot of my dear friends are saddened by a perceived sea of error, sin, cover-up, and bungling.

How do we respond to these times of disappointment without it seeming so weak and trite to quip “God’s will, man”?

We know the scripture of Romans 8:28 and Joseph saying “You meant it for evil, but God meant it for good.” But that doesn’t help me right now.

So let me do some more examples from Church history. Can God be glorified through the splinters of theological and doctrinal disputes?

Is He glorified on a missed field goal or a botched fly ball?

Is the gospel going forth as stories unfold of slander or suicide?

When we say God is in control and victorious- you need to understand that there is nothing trivial about that answer.

We don’t get hurt so much today. We live with pain, but I want to suggest that it is less than the saints of old. Just over a hundred years ago, it was not uncommon to lose children. Old gravesites show us a world of lost infants, and toddlers, and sweet school children.

People did not have access to Tylenol or Advil. And there were not “Docs in a Box” on every corner.

Families did not have acu-weather red icons of tornados rushing to their city and almost no way of calling for help in an emergency.

I guarantee you that I am making someone mad right now when I propose that we don’t hurt as much anymore.

“You are a fool- I know pain” You say, and I know you are right. But even a diagnosis of cancer is done in the light of prognosis and MRI’s and understanding. It is not the mystery of the day of darkness – and that helps.

AND it hurts. We win more than we lose. We get our way. We have food and clothes. We have enough peace for leisure and recreation. We have holidays and celebrations. We have so much good that we lose our need for God.
As I study history, especially church history, I am amazed at God’s good sovereignty. He allows the pain and screw-ups for reasons. Some of the times, the mystery remains- but in most cases time reveals the whys.

We want the “why” NOW!

For example, Why did the Ottoman Turks advance and threaten Europe during the 16th century? How could God allow such to advance?

Some would say that it is judgment of sin. And they would be right.
Others say rain falling on just and unjust. And they would be right.
The muslims would say 'Allah's will". And they would be wrong.

I say it was also to the glory of God and the advancement of the gospel and the growth of the church.

How? One way is that Charles V was prevented from wiping out the Lutherans because of his distraction of the Turks and his desire to keep a unified populace in a time of tension.

God allowed secular and sacred events to provide the right climate for growth and sustaining of The Reformation!

Please, don’t run from God during times of trial or trouble. Don’t distance Him in distress. Instead press in to Him. Have the confidence that He can and will work things out!

Romans 4:20 "No distrust made him (Abraham) waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, 21 fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised. 22 That is why his faith was “counted to him as righteousness.” 23 But the words “it was counted to him” were not written for his sake alone, 24 but for ours also. It will be counted to us who believe in him who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord, 25 who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification."

Does this answer all questions about our part? Do we stay “frozen chosen”? My answer is absolutely not. Step out in courage and go- but please, don’t wring your hands in defeat and keep a loser’s look and lean.

“You are worrying yourself sick because you cannot know how or where it will all
end. But were you able to understand it all, then I would have nothing to do with this
cause!” Martin Luther to Melancthon

“Human life without knowledge of history is nothing other than a perpetual childhood, nay, a permanent obscurity and darkness.” Philip Melanchthon

KEEP ROLLING AND TRUSTING- IT’S TIME TO SHINE!

Courage Under Fire

Matthew 9: “10 And as Jesus reclined at table in the house, behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and were reclining with Jesus and his disciples. 11 And when the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” 12 But when he heard it, he said, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. 13 Go and learn what this means, ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.’ For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.” “What a coward every man is! and how surely he will find it out if he will just let other people alone and sit down and examine himself. The human race is a race of cowards; and I am not only marching in that procession but carrying a banner." - Mark Twain, Mark Twain in Eruption I pride myself on being a keen observer of human nature. It has never been hard for me to accept the idea of the radical deprivation of humankind. I see these things deep within me and lash out when I see it displayed in others. The one that frustrates me the most at this time is a general and wide spread infection of cowardice. Not only has our culture become a cess pool of cowards, we have also begun to turn on anyone who even thinks of standing out as bold. The current cowardice starts out as anonymity. I am so tired of listening to talk radio and hearing names like ‘Bob from Boston” or “Bamaboy”. Why should I consider any unsigned e-mail? In the passage above, we have the classic illustration of our common practice of complaint without confrontation. The Pharisees do not go to the Master; they go to the disciples. Sadly, we do the same thing. We air our complaints in safety. We test them as trial balloons and observe what winds will buy them. Sometimes it is an effort to see how risky our stance is and what cost the comments will be. Even worse, we pass much of the information along third hand. Gossip is so pervasive that we have turned it from sin into an art form. Jesus doesn’t play this way. He overhears and confronts. He is a man to man- eyeball-to-eyeball kind of guy. He is strong, and loving. He answers without slander. I wonder what would happen if we committed to this type of practice today? Think of how many pastorates would be built up instead of torn down? How many churches would begin to flow with grace and not criticism? What kind of harmony could be discovered? How much less ammunition would the power of darkness have? I challenge every man reading this today to pray for courage. Find your child or spouse and have that awkward conversation. Look up the offended brother and accept the consequences. Refuse to participate in negative criticism without approaching the source. Ask your fellow critic to pray more and opine less. Try to see the path your opponent walks in and consider his ways. Take the initiative to have a spiritual conversation with a neighbor. Walk up and hug your dad. People want to know where the great men are today? My answer is… they are tucked away in comfort blankets of cowardice. It is time to step out in the light- your nation and church needs you!

A Real Spring "Break"

It's now Wednesday of Spring Break and I am recovering from a bad break on Monday. My wife and 2 of my girls decided for a quick stop at a State Park for a 10-15 minute hike on a beautiful spring Tennessee afternoon.

About 10 minutes up the trail I could hear my car alarm going off and feared the worst. I hustled back and found my drivers side window smashed and to my dismay discovered that I was a victim of theft.

A very kind man had heard the alarm and chased away two men who sped off in a car. He called the police for me and a park ranger arrived very shortly after his call.

The criminals got just enough to make it a difficult loss for us. They got my wallet (drivers liscense, bank card, credit cards, business contacts, and 150.00 cash)- my wife's purse (wallet, cards, cash). And a broken front window.

I am thankful to have insurance, but it will still be a loss. Depending on how we file it, we will lose. Auto coverage will be a loss of 100.00 deductable, and homeowners (for stolen items) is a 500.00 deductible.

Then there is the loss of time. It has been a headache cancelling credit cards, re-ordering driver's liscenses, having to monitor accounts.

And the loss of innocence. My 8 year old especially was hurt. She slept with us that night. These thugs have all of my personal information and your mind wanders as to what they will do with it.

These types of random crime seem to be growing. A lot of it is tied directly to the scourge of rampant drug addiction that is slowly sucking the life out of our country.

I must admit that I am having a hard time thinking of anything but destruction for these hoods. I prayed all day that the Lord would make their life miserable.

Does anyone want to argue that man is not corrupt?

So I agree with the bumpersticker- "Losing faith in humanity: One human being at a time"

So I pick up the pieces and move forward and pray that things could be different. This world needs the Lord.

My Dilemma of Absolutes

If I say there are no absolutes then I am admitting an absolute.

But I cannot absolutely be certain or uncertain. If I absolutely say that there is no god, I hold myself as unlimited in experience and knowledge of the whole universe.

If I absolutely say that I cannot be absolutely sure that one cannot know if God is there, then I hold myself up as an expert of all of the evidence for the existence of god.

I have a big problem: I have no absolute knowledge within myself. Yet I cannot make any statement that wipes away the existence of absolutes.

Who can set me free from this dilemma?

God, who exists, has revealed Himself in space and time and history. He is my absolute! My trust in Him gives me the ability to proclaim absoluteness without all the exhaustive evidence.

Whew! That was a relief. Now, I just need to find out what has He said.

Calvinists Have Cold, Smelly Warts

The study of theology is fascinating. I have been a Christian for 27 years and still have a passion for the truth of God’s Holy Word. Some might think it weird that this football coach gets excited with stories from church history and that I can get lost in the debates of famous councils.
In saying all of this though, I must confess that God is not bound at all by doctrine and Theology. He seems to thwart our best attempts to define Him. He is not to be studied, He reveals Himself at His choosing (Deut 29:29).
At the same time, however, there is sound and unsound doctrine. Theology can be labeled “good”, “better”, “best”, and “bad”. And never forget that heresy is always at the door to rob the church of the power and freedom of Christ’s gospel.
In my study of God’s word, I am more confident that the system of doctrine that best suits the message and mystery of the Bible has technical terms like Calvinistic, reformed, covenantal, monergistic, and Christocentric.
Yet, it must be said with great frustration that those with the correct technical leanings can still completely miss the mark. Calvinists can be combative and arrogant, using their seemingly superior sensitivity to hammer the weak with unmerciful floggings. It is like whipping a child with a large, raw, cold T-bone steak.
Laurence Vance presents this dark side of doctrine with the following indictment:
“Nothing will deaden a church a church or put a young man out of the ministry any more than an adherence to Calvinism. Nothing will foster pride and indifference as will an affection for Calvinism. Nothing will destroy holiness and spirituality as an attachment to Calvinism….The doctrines of Calvinism will deaden and kill anything: prayer, faith, zeal, holiness” (quoted in Philip Graham Ryken, What is a True Calvinist?, 2003 P&R Publishing).
I read a lot of reformed websites on the internet. Calvinists do a great job of telling us what is wrong with every Christian view out there. They do a great job of pointing out problems, yet I never get a feeling that some of them really like anything.
As I read over some of my past blogs, I too sound arrogant and combative at times. Sometimes it is just the jagged edges of truth, but at other times it is my smugness and stone casting.
Does this discount the value of the doctrine? Absolutely not! But let me openly confess and constrain myself to the following assertions.

My need and desire to glorify God is always brightened by my desire to love others.

I glorify God the most when my desire for Him flows out to a service to others.
I am not the Holy Spirit and I should lift up and protect weaker brothers.

Confrontation should always be lubricated with the lotion of love.

I should desire to win souls more than win arguments.

I don’t have to defend God, I need to faithfully share truth. He can take care of Himself.

Even if others preach Christ out of pretense, I can rejoice that He is being proclaimed.

Father, forgive me for showing my warts so often. Please allow me to love your Word more than good books. Help me to realize that many of the men I seek to follow were fully pursuing Christ. Please always help me remember that Scripture is my filter and my doctrine must give way to Biblical authority. Forgive me when I have done it the other way around. May people see my love more than my theology. May my life be a fragrance of love to my Savior rather than the rot of ideas without service or action.

Just How Bad Am I Doc?

Total Depravity is not well understood. Do we really know our propensity for evil? If it were not for God’s common grace, do we really know how bad it could be?

‘The natural man does not accept the things of the spirit of God” (I Cor. 2:14)
“so death spread to all men because all sinned” (Rom 5:12)
“the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so.” (Rom 8:7)
“men walk in the futility of their mind, being darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God.” (Eph. 4:17-18)

Everything we touch is tainted by sin. Even our good deeds are soiled by our agendas, motives, and pride.

Our commitment to autonomy is ultimately our undoing. Do I really believe this?

We are so bad, that we are even inconsistent in our badness. We arrive at truth because we are corrupted at being bad.

Everyday we ignore the Lordship of God- We distort His nature- we misuse His name- We refuse to worship or show gratitude for Him- We pollute His Sabbath- We corrupt His temple- We usurp His authority- We harm His children- We steal His goods- We testify falsehood- and refuse to trust His provision…. Surely… not me?!

We even dare criticize Him for His wrath.

In my futility, I judge Him by my yardstick of carnal ignorance.
I sit back and watch countless people smear the name of His son.
I have kicked Him off the throne of my heart- I am asserting my own kingship.

Romans 1:18 “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.”

How bad is it? I’m afraid it is terminal. If I stay committed to my own independence, I am storing up a crap load of wrath.

Be afraid…be very afraid. An eternally atomic bullet is hurling toward my pride. I sit and laugh and party and sing and fart around. The momentum of this single sin caliber weapon will splatter me to splinters. My stained fingers and tongue wags at the shooter. I act as if it will never hit me. Surely it is going at another.

As I heartily justify my pitiful excuses, I don’t even pause to notice a love soaked brow stepping in the path of my destruction. I am a slime ball piece of filth. Lord, please don’t even dare look my way.

The Smartest Man in the World

He is the smartest man in the world. He has multiple languages and complete understanding of world-view and philosophy. He has an uncanny ability to remember and connect. People are amazed by his brilliance as it easily flows over economic theory and chemical applications. Math and Literature seem almost undivided.

But, alas…still a problem. His intelligence has hidden a most evident fact. It is no small thing that looms over his head as an unseen noose.

You see - the smartest man in the world does not understand…that he is limited.

Though he commands a wide range of topics and logic, his perspective limits him.
Things he once knew…have changed.
As creatively and laboriously he works, he cannot expand beyond himself.

But THE LORD is uncontained. God is unbound.

As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are God’s ways higher than your ways and God’s thoughts higher than your thoughts (Is 55:9)

Compared to God, the smartest man in the world’s thoughts “are a mere breath” (Ps 94:11)

Man is DEPENDENT on the revelation of God.

Our best knowledge is merely a mystery (Deut 29:29).

However- the existence of God is not in the realm of the mysterious:

A simple man knows good because he is made in the image of God.
A child knows love because of the imprint of the creator.
All men evaluate and discriminate as a reflection of the Creator.
Logic is logical in the creation of the God of order.
Reason is reasonable because the nature of God is to reason.
Science is systematic because God is a God of design.

The smartest man suppresses his limitations and limps incautiously to eternity.
The simple man sees his limits and reverently casts himself on the Great Unlimited One.

In the full light of this truth…who is the real fool?

The Covenant Student and the Skeptic

An Adaptation of “Why I Believe in God” by Cornelius Van Til PH.D.

Hey! We have been around each other a lot lately and I have loved getting to know you. I’ve been waiting for the right moment to have this conversation with you. I hope you will allow me some time to share some things with you today.
I am taking a lot for granted. I am assuming that you want to discuss these things. We both should agree that they are important. I’m assuming with your intelligence you have from time to time asked yourself some questions about the foundation and direction of your life. Maybe you have gone as far to question about death and whether there is an afterlife. Deep down you may ask, how do I know that there is no God?
I hope I am not being too intrusive and you can stop me at any point, but I really desire to discuss with you our differences. I want to hear what you believe and deeply desire to share with you why I am confident of my belief in God.
To start with, I want us to talk about our past. We both have studied the psychological debate of nature and nurture. We both live in a world that seeks to make all truth relative and discount faith as completely separate from any reason. My desire to share this with you is social taboo because I am supposed to keep all of this quiet.

One of your first arguments against my faith will be that I was brought up to believe these things, while you were not.

My answer is that I don’t deny this at all, I was taught to follow God early in my life. But my childhood was not a cocoon. I have heard all the reasons why not to believe and I have observed a lot of people who live differently than me. In spite of issues within and without myself, I am more convinced of the truth of God’s existence than ever before and I am more in love with the Christian gospel than ever before.
You see, without God, nothing in this world makes any sense. Because of God, the whole of history and civilization makes complete and perfect sense. I am so convinced of this that I dare propose that if God is not in back of everything, you cannot find meaning in anything. I can’t argue for God without taking my belief in Him for granted.
Here’s the kicker- I contend that you can’t argue against Him unless you take him for granted also. You see, when I listen to you argue about God I realize that He has given you the very air to breathe the very words, that comes from the very thoughts that come form the very intelligence that He has given you.
After I listen to your arguments, they make no assault on my position of faith, because I believe you argue from the darkness while I stand in the light. You believe the opposite is true.
So, in love, I want to continue my story and then we can proceed.

I come from a family of faith. It doesn’t discount truth to be in it at a young age. Our family wasn’t a bunch of holy rollers, but it was a family impacted by the Christian worldview.

I see you are ready to jump out of your skin to counter me- go ahead.

Why the Christian God? Well I believe in Him and you do not. Let me argue from what I know than from what you can’t know.

Why do you not see Him? Well surely you don’t expect me to bring Him in the room so you can see Him? If I were able to do that, He wouldn’t be the God of Christianity.

What I want to offer to you are reasons to believe. People want proof, but all that exists is evidence. That is true for any worldview. I serve a reasonable God- He invented reason, and organization, and orderliness.

Why are you so agitated? Calm down, I am being a friend. We can stop at any point a get a cup of coffee and talk football.

You ask me why you are agitated? Well, you know what this conversation means. If you change your belief about God, you will have to see yourself in a whole different way- and that may bother you.

Hang with me a little longer- I want to continue my story.

When I was little, our family believed. We said prayers at meals and went to worship services on a regular basis. If I told my mom I was afraid of monsters she would give the answer that you would expect – “ There are no monsters and I shouldn’t be afraid anyway” “Why mom?” “ Your body and soul belongs to your Savior who died for you on the cross and rose again that no one should be afraid.”
That’s the way we talked from time to time at our house. It was the atmosphere of our home. We still watched TV and talked about everyday stuff and even fought! But there were Bibles and Christian music and occasional family devotions.
As I went to Sunday school and Bible camps, I began to grow accustomed to the grand old stories of Abraham and Moses and Paul. All of these things began to condition me. I cannot help but believing. The love of Christ rained on me in soft showers of gentle moments that seemed very insignificant at the time.
Let’s stop there and parallel what you have told me about your life. Your family did not believe in God. Your parents worked hard to keep your upbringing free from the trappings of religion. They spoke to you of hard work and freethinking. They worked hard to cultivate an open mind. Where I was conditioned to believe in God you were left free. But were you free? I dare say that you were conditioned to not believe. You think that religion was poured down my throat and I counter that anti-religion was poured down yours. And that becomes the first truly awkward moment of our conversation. Can you agree with me at this point?
My story goes on. My parents sent me to a Christian school and my conditioning continued. I was daily instructed by a formula – it said that I had been conceived in sin, like all men. But I was now a child of the covenant of grace- redeemed by Christ- and part of my parent’s responsibility was to bring me up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. Part of that training was to constantly teach and remind me of what God’s Word taught about the world.
This environment prepared me for the day of my conversion- where I personally committed my trust in Christ’s death as the only means of salvation. According to God’s word, at that moment I was justified and adopted into God’s family. I now began a road of being set apart for God’s work and His glory. I wish I had been completely faithful to this and understood it with the depth I know now. I have done a lot of harm in the name of Christ. I still have sin in me.

You tell me that your schooling was much different. You went to a “neutral” school. Your school outlawed religious expression and remained secular. God was never mentioned in your study of nature or history. Even allusions to the Bible in literature were kind of skipped over as teachers became very fearful of what might happen if they were accused of “bias”.

I hope you are smart enough now to realize that the classroom was not neutral. To secularize the classroom becomes a worldview itself. An unbiased, neutral classroom is just a thin disguise of a negative attitude toward God. Can you agree that the person not for God is actually against him?

I see that you don’t agree with me. Let me put it this way. God is plainly seen everywhere. This is His world, He made it. He made the majestic mountains and encoded our DNA. We are living by His decree and are we are living on His property. You don’t see them, but His ownership signs are everywhere. His stamp is on every song, picture, and poem - He is the expression of life and love and beauty.
If you stay “neutral” to Him- is it not the supreme insult? Atheists will say, ‘God has not given me enough evidence, so how can He blame me?” But our counter is that the evidence is as plain as the engineering of their pinky. If they cannot see, it is because they are blinded by sin. See, the Bible says that we are dead in trespasses and sin. That deadness is also blindness. I am telling you that unless God opens your eyes, you will see me only as a “goody- goody” and will resent my proposition of truth as arrogance and intolerance.
My Christian schooling continued. Can you see the difference in my conditioning? All my teachers pledged to teach their subjects from the Christian worldview. It wasn’t just Bible class. Even Algebra was presented under the authority of God’s Word! We were taught that to leave God out of the picture would prevent us from understanding the framework of truth.
We studied non-Christian teachings and philosophy. I have a keen understanding of Darwinism and existentialism. We read Plato, Kant, Emerson, Freud, and Marx. I was taught the best logical reasons to not believe in God. I heard all these things, but was also given sound refutations of these arguments and philosophies.
My Bible classes became exhilarating. I was exposed to systematic theology and read from great minds like C.S. Lewis. Martin Luther, and Blaise Pascal. I had great teachers explain Biblical history and geography. I learned how to defend the reliability of the Bible and argue my faith through apologetics. I was taught about evangelism and missions. I also heard countless testimonies about the life changing effect of the gospel. I became equipped in sound doctrine and Church history.
I am finished with my background. You know the God to which I am testifying for. This God was behind my parents, my teachers, my youth leaders, and many of my friends. It was He who conditioned all that conditioned me. He is the God of Christianity. He is the All-Conditioner.

Believe it or not- He also conditioned everything that conditioned you.

I love that laugh of yours. I hear it as one of incredulity.

What do I mean by this you say? He is real and outside of us. He is objective truth. He is the God who controls all things. In Him all things exist and are held together. The counsel of His will controls all reason. We do not condition him - he conditions us. My belief in Him does not make Him anymore real and your disbelief in Him does not make Him less real.
Think about this. I have heard of all of the best arguments against His existence. All of these theories of life and philosophy have been propounded for centuries of discourse and dialect.
I can tell by your gestures, that you cannot understand how anyone acquainted with the facts and arguments can believe in a God who created the world. Well, I am one of many who hold to the faith in full view of what science and philosophy is telling us.

If you give me time, I will be happy to show you where science ends and where faith begins. But again, let me warn you- that all men are biased and all live by faith. The scientist pulls a little sleight of hand and wants you to believe that he lives by fact.

The bottom line is this. When someone rejects God- that person offends Him. God’s displeasure rests on the rejecters. Do you worry about this at all? You and God are not on speaking terms. You feel like you have very good reasons that He does not exist. Now, if He does exist, you are in trouble. Your anti-God glasses are not an excuse for refusing to acknowledge or thank Him. Even the good things in your life heap up wrath because you never thanked Him for any of it- you took all the credit. You have tasted all His goodness without offering even a dime of reverence.

I am about to offend you without apology. I am telling you that God has made His existence and presence plain to you. I can give you all the sound arguments- but you will counter them all. I say creation- you say evolution. I say providence- you say accident. I say prophecy- you say human agenda. I say miracle- you say human ignorance. You ignore him because you want to.

So what am I to do?
I want to win you to Christ. But in every technique of trying to win you I cannot offend my Savior.
I apologize that the Christian church has let you down in this way. The American church in particular is a poor and impotent expression of the true gospel of Christ. We have marketed a messiah to consumers instead of boldly sharing the truth.
But again, in spite of my shortcomings, in spite of the churches failings throughout history, - the sacred canopy of salvation in Christ alone, by grace alone, through faith alone, understood by scripture alone, to God alone be the glory still stands in victory and momentum.
What am I to do? …….. I just did it.
I am to share my story and my faith. It should be plain to you by now the sort of Savior I believe in. It is God, the All-Conditioner. It is God who created all things, including you. It is He who by His providence conditioned me, making me believe in Him, and by His grace makes me want you to believe in Him. It is by His love that I can say that I love you. It is by His word that I want to serve you. It is by His truth that I will not compromise for you.
So our debate is really over. From now on, you need to take it up with Him. Down in your heart, you know I am speaking the truth. I am praying right now that God will open the eyes of your heart. But that is up to His pleasure. I do not have to save you. I cannot save you.
I have peace- do you have peace?
I am not afraid of death? Are you?
I have joy, true Biblical joy? Don’t you want to find that?
I have a purpose? Can you define yours?
I base my belief in a God inspired authority called the Bible? What is your source of truth?

Trust Christ now, please! Each moment you reject Him, the more hardened you get to Him. Your callousness will one day seal an unimaginable doom. God is a gentleman. He will give you your desire- a life without Him.

Just know that at some point the decision will be permanent. The gates of hell are locked from the inside.

I will be your friend. I hope you appreciate that I shared all of this with you because I believe I owe it to you. If I held it back, it would say one of two things. Either I really did not love you or I really did not believe this to be true.

The Hard Glorious Frustrating Beautiful Road of Christian Sanctification

Call me a joker, call me a fool
Right at this moment I'm totally cool
Clear as a crystal, sharp as a knife
I feel like I'm in the prime of my life
Sometimes it feels like I'm going too fast
I don't know how long this feeling will last
Maybe it's only tonight

CHORUS
Darling I don't know why I go to extremes
Too high or too low there ain't no in-betweens
And if I stand or I fall
It's all or nothing at all
Darling I don't know why I go to extremes

“I Go to Extremes” Billy Joel


Questions: What is your life about? If you are a believer in Christ, why are you still on the planet? Why didn’t God just catapult you straight to the heavens upon conversion?

Part of the answer is that we are in an amazing and miraculous period referred to as ‘sanctification” that is- we are being molded and set apart as a vessel of service to the glory of God.

There are many Biblical passages we can look at to investigate the process by which we are putting off (actually putting to death) the Old man of sin and putting on the righteousness of Christ.

There are two passages I want to use as a foundation for information to share with you what Christ is doing in my life and an outline of what we all can do to “walk in the light as He is in the light”.

The first passage is an introductory reminder in Psalms 119:1-10
1 Blessed are those whose way is blameless,
who walk in the law of the Lord!
2 Blessed are those who keep his testimonies,
who seek him with their whole heart,
3 who also do no wrong,
but walk in his ways!
4 You have commanded your precepts
to be kept diligently.
5 Oh that my ways may be steadfast
in keeping your statutes!
6 Then I shall not be put to shame,
having my eyes fixed on all your commandments.
7 I will praise you with an upright heart,
when I learn your righteous rules.
8 I will keep your statutes;
do not utterly forsake me!
9 How can a young man keep his way pure?
By guarding it according to your word.
10 With my whole heart I seek you;
let me not wander from your commandments! Blessed are those whose way is blameless,
who walk in the law of the Lord!

We live in a “How to America”- How to win a million dollars, How to install surround sound. In our quest for How to we often miss the instruction book- We cannot neglect the Bible- Christian books, magazines, programs, music are all great- but don’t allow them to substitute the pure refined milk of God’s word.- The Holy Spirit will only be enabled to produce gospel fruit in your life with the tools available to Him by scripture- Holy Revelation. God’s word is fine tuned to steer us down the road of sanctification.
Michael Horton wrote a recent article called “The American Religion” I wanted to read a small section of that as food for thought.

Just imagine a first-century Christian hearing an average "testimony" in a modern church. Here's someone who has lost his job and has been imprisoned for believing that Jesus Christ is the only Savior and King. He may also be fed to lions or turned into a lamp for Nero's garden. And this first-century believer is sitting in one of our meetings listening to a well-meaning brother or sister saying something along these lines: "Since Jesus came into my heart, it's been one blessing after another. I got a new job and I've claimed prosperity and healing in all areas of my life. It fixed my marriage and made me feel good about myself for the first time in my life. So what do you have to lose? Try God! Give Jesus a chance! He'll turn your scars into stars and your sorrows into stepping stones." How do you think your first-century Christian friend would react to such a display of uniquely American religious pragmatism?

We do not find a single instance of conversion in the New Testament based on the usefulness of Christianity vs. other religions. Instead, the issue is always objective truth. Either Jesus did or did not rise from the dead. Either he was God incarnate saving sinners by his life and death, or he was a deluded imposter. So what if it "works" for you! Mormonism has worked for millions, as have other cults, sects and non-Christian religions. False religion is very good for people in this life, but the end thereof is death…this… falls short of St. Paul's assertion that "If Christ is not risen, our faith is in vain....If we have only been able to trust Christ in this life, we are of all men the most to be pitied" (1 Cor.15:18). The Apostle, for one, saw the validation for Christianity in the truth of the resurrection as a historical fact, not in the utility of Christianity for living a jollier and fuller life.


An example of the Bible’s ability to steer us in the walk of sanctification is found in Ephesians 2:8-10
8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

What a great passage- we often leave off vs. 10 But it is a great balancing verse.

The Spiritual walk with Christ is a beautifully balanced and properly paced journey that needs to be enjoyed as much as endured.

We have an impossible time living this kind of life.

Why? Well we are sinners - the reformed idea of “total depravity”. It is a concept that is losing credence in our post everything world.
Total depravity does not mean that we are as bad as we can possible be. It means we are born in sin, it is in our very DNA, and we are comfortable with sin and are immersed in our own sin and the sin of others. Any good that man is a gift of the common grace of God and the remnant of God’s image on his life. Everything we touch is tainted by sin. Do you believe this?
We are subtly tempted to not believe this. The conventional wisdom of our day is that man is good. President Clinton was described as a good man who did a bad thing. Is this true?

C.S. Lewis described our sin as having two distinct personalities- our animal self and our diabolical self. Sometimes we join a church and clean up our animal self- we have 2 beers instead of 20. But our diabolical self so twists our thinking, motives, and imaginations that we begin to believe that we are good and pleasing to God and he is lucky to have us.

Now back to this passage:
We are not saved by our works. When we speak of sanctification, we are not putting a plan together to make God happy with us. The Great Solas of the Reformation still ring true today- Christ Alone- Grace alone- Faith alone. We never say “I am covered by Christ and I an active in men’s group”. Christ + nothing is where justification and adoption are found.

Without the redeeming blood of Jesus, we are still in our sins- dabbling with life and losing our very existence. Building up a day of wrath for not acknowledging the precious blood spilled for us and our blaspheming of God’s Holy Spirit.

Now this passage is like a beautiful highway- an expressway with day to day road signs and top down exhilarating travel.

The problem is that there are two huge ditches on either side of this road. And we often steer in them. On the right side of this road is legalism- our diabolical self comes in and says- Oh you are cleaning up so well- and you start feeling really good about yourself – and you start looking around at others- and in your desire to help them you package your rules and rituals and begin to try and help others. Before long, we find ourselves as self righteous Pharisees- looking down at sinners and trying to be everyone’s Holy Spirit.

I know the Pharisee well- I play him a lot. Our culture helps me play him very well. We have become the biggest opinionated and judgmental civilization in the history of man. We have talking heads on TV espousing one view after another and call it entertainment. I love it! I am an O’Reily junkie. The problem is that I began to love my arguments over loving people.

The worst part of my Pharisee legalistic self is my gossip and criticism of others. I am not loving- I am condemning. We point out the 10% bad and refuse to see the 90% good.

So I finally get out of the legalistic path and drink grace and liberty. Ahh! Christian freedom. It is glorious! Christ’s death frees us from the ceremonial and civil law. There is a better law- the moral law, written on my heart- the Sermon on the Mount puts it into my motives and mind- it is a beautiful thing!

But just beyond Christian liberty is license. It is a ditch as derailing as legalism. Paul wrote in Romans “How can we who died to sin, still live in it?” In this state, everything goes- all truth is relative, I do what I think and I feel- there is no suspicion of my motives or actions. I do what is right in my own eyes and put it under the blood.

I walk into a situation, run to sin, eviscerate my conscience and say “I am forgiven”. Before long, I am powerless, hardened, and my God is my comfort. The irony of the ditch of license is that we love people even less than the Pharisee. I don’t care about their eternal destination. I am afraid of confrontation. If I stand for truth, it will indict me. So I walk around and tell people all is fine when I know we are growing colder and darker by the second. Loving someone means saying no - and that includes to myself.


Out of that ditch I find this beautiful path- a balanced and tense walk with my Savior as He directs me by His Spirit and through His word in a new life- in this life I learn to love and lean on Christ- I become an admirer of people- I seek my way less and edify others more- I pour myself into relationships, especially my wife and children. I laugh- I cry- I get weary- I long for heaven- God picks me up at the right time- I fall in ditches- He cleans me off and starts me straight again- 1 step forward- 2 steps back- 3 steps- 5 back and when I lose hope- He allows the dust to settle and I look back and God’s kingdom has been built- in spite of me. To His praise and glory!

I wanted to list a few things that help me avoid these ditches:
Devotion to the Word and Prayer
Unflinching commitment to consistent worship
Education
Private fasting- hobby/TV/delicacies
Prudent feasting
Small group accountability
Loving my wife well
Pushing work down my priority list
Crying out for God’s spirit- I am powerless to do it- I need to abide in the vine of Christ.

A final note: Be patient- God’s sanctification takes TIME. It is measured in decades, not in days.

Well as we close- we do all of this to live the greatest of all the Solas- To God alone be the Glory- may we be great beacons of light to the glorious life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ-

Modern Reformation Recommended

I want to recommend "The White Horse Inn" and Modern Reformation Magazine- great stuff!

Example below:

Who Are the Reformers?

© 2007, Modern Reformation Magazine, "A Time For Truth" (January / February 2007 Issue, Vol. 16.1). All Rights Reserved. Subscription Rate: $29 Per Year or call 1-800-890-7556.

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Martin Luther (1483-1546)
Luther is credited as the founder of the German Reformation. Luther's study of the writings of the Apostle Paul and Augustine of Hippo led him to the belief that men and women could only be justified by the grace of God, through faith rather than through good works or religious observances. Luther's writings include On Christian Liberty (1519), To the Christian Nobility (1520), The Babylonian Captivity of the Church (1520), and On the Bondage of the Will (1525). In his Small Catechism (1529), Luther commented briefly in question and answer form on the Ten Commandments, the Apostles' Creed, the Lord's Prayer, baptism, and the Lord's Supper. The Small Catechism explains the theology of the Lutheran Reformation in simple yet colorful language.

Philip Melanchthon (1497-1560), Lutheran
Melanchthon shared a lifelong friendship with Luther. Having arrived at Wittenberg with a strong humanist background, he was won to the Reformation by Luther, and became the reformer's leading associate. It was Melanchthon who urged Luther to translate the Bible into the German of his day for the common people. In Wittenberg, Luther had little time to systematize the various doctrines of evangelical theology, so in 1521 Melanchthon took on this task, writing the first systematic summary titled Loci Communes. Based on several already completed writings and on the negotiations of Augsburg, Melanchthon also wrote the first great confession of the Reformation, the Augsburg Confession (1530). Lutheran pastors to this day are ordained with this confession.

John Calvin (1509-1564), Reformed
Calvin was the French reformer best known for his work in Geneva and his seminal work, The Institutes of the Christian Religion (1536). Calvin's teachings shaped the beliefs of most Reformed churches. Calvin had a great commitment to the absolute sovereignty and holiness of God. Because of this, he is often associated with the doctrines of predestination and election, but it should be noted that he differed very little with the other magisterial reformers regarding these difficult doctrines. The five points of Calvinism are a reflection of the thinking of the great reformer, but were actually a product of the Synod of Dort, which issued its judgments in response to five specific objections that arose after Calvin's time.

In 1541, Calvin began to reform the institutional church in Geneva. He established four categories of offices: Doctors held an office of theological scholarship and teaching for the edification of the people and the training of other ministers; Pastors were to preach, to administer the sacraments, and to exercise pastoral discipline, teaching and admonishing the people; Deacons oversaw institutional charity, including hospitals and physical welfare; and Elders were twelve laymen whose task was to oversee the spiritual well-being of the church.

Heinrich Bullinger (1504-1575), Reformed
After the death of Ulrich Zwingli in 1531, Bullinger became pastor of the principal church in Zürich and a leader of the Reformed party in Switzerland. He played an important part in compiling the First Helvetic Confession (1536), a creed based largely on Zwingli's theological views as distinct from Lutheran doctrine. In 1549, the Consensus Tigurinus, drawn up by Bullinger and Calvin, marked the departure of Swiss theology from Zwinglian toward a more Calvinist theory. His later views were embodied in the Second Helvetic Confession (1566), which was accepted in Switzerland, France, Scotland, and Hungary and became one of the most generally accepted confessions of the Reformed churches.

Thomas Cranmer (1489-1556), Anglican
In 1533, Cranmer was chosen to be Archbishop of Canterbury. With Thomas Cromwell, he supported the translation of the Bible into English. In 1545, he wrote a litany that is still used in the church. Under the reign of Edward VI, Cranmer was allowed to make the doctrinal changes he thought necessary to the church. He is credited with writing and compiling the first two Books of Common Prayer (1549, 1552), assisted by the Strasbourg Reformed leader Martin Bucer, and the Thirty-Nine Articles, which established the basic structure of Anglican liturgy for centuries.

Hugh Latimer (c. 1485-1555), Anglican
Hugh Latimer was Bishop of Worcester in the time of King Henry, but resigned in protest against the King's refusal to allow the Protestant reforms that Latimer desired. When Mary came to the throne, he was arrested, tried for heresy, and burned together with his friend Nicholas Ridley. His last words at the stake are well known: "Be of good cheer, Master Ridley, and play the man, for we shall this day light such a candle in England as I trust by God's grace shall never be put out." In October 1555, he was burned at the stake. The deaths of Hugh Latimer, Nicolas Ridley, and later Thomas Cranmer are now known as the Oxford Martyrs.

John Knox (c. 1513-1572), Reformed
John Knox was a Scottish teacher who embraced the principles of the continental Reformation. As chaplain to Edward VI he was involved in the revision of the Anglican Book of Common Prayer. After a period in exile following the accession of Mary he returned to Scotland, where he pioneered changes along Reformation principles. He was primarily responsible for the First Book of Discipline and the Book of Common Order, which were adopted by the newly formed Church of Scotland.

The American Church in Crisis- The Rise of the Pharisees

You can’t escape the large number of verses in the New Testament that deal with strained or broken relationships. The gospel was born out of a struggle. Indeed a war with the price of blood was waged for the redemption of man. 

The problem of sin nevertheless still impacted the apostles and early converts to the new faith. The controversies came in as the church began to struggle with outside opposition, often resulting in persecution and death. 

The church began to struggle with false teachers and the new age of Christian liberty and conscience. Jews and Gentile were new converts to a new law of love and a path to God purchased by God incarnate. The opposition was also supernatural and strategic. 

 The Christian walk is a joyful celebration but also a “boots on the ground”, all out assault. It is an internal peace of the presence and power of God along with a fantastic display of battle wounds and setbacks. The key to any victory in any competition is harmony. A unified team is hard to defeat. The Bible makes it clear that our head is Christ. He is the cornerstone of our foundation, and we should strive to be unified in Him. We are to forgive, bear with, go the extra mile with. How are we doing? Any Google search will reveal that the American church is rife with tremendous infighting and splits. From worship wars to translation debates, the American expression of the evangelical church is imploding. 

 What is the problem? While it may seem trite and shallow to suggest a straying from Biblical truth and sound doctrine, I believe it is just that. The inspired writes of the New Testament urge us to pursue peace and purity while accepting and watching out for the weaker brother. 

 In a Nov 5, 2006 broadcast of the White Horse Inn, Michael Horton and a panel of pastors do a splendid job of presenting perspective from Romans chapter 14 in our current culture. The discussion centers around a common problem within the church. What is the relationship of Christian liberty in the gospel age to God’s moral law and the binding of conscience? Paul and Peter themselves went through a similar controversy regarding the early cross-pollinization of Jews and Gentiles. 

 The Pastor roundtable gives us great insight into many problems today and the news is sobering. We are more like Pharisees than children of the living God. Our culture is teaching us to opine and judge. Our news programs are centered around argumentation and debate. We are quick to judge, quick to speak, and very slow to listen. We think with our eyes and reason with our lips. 

 There are some great ideas in this broadcast. 

1-We violate the Christian idea of humility the very minute that we are worried more about our neighbor than ourselves. 

2- We are in the wake of modern universal principles where wisdom and prudence has been replaced by policy and procedure. 

3- Christian liberty is an appendix to the doctrine of justification. We can believe in justification but be in bondage ( the judgment of works) if we violate liberty. 

4- In view of the mercy of God, we should live lives that are distinctly different. God’s moral laws are the same, but now our motivation is different. The law of the gospel is love. 

 The bottom line- to the degree that I use my spirituality to judge and condemn sheds a lot of light on my possibility of being a Pharisee. The more oppressive my ways the more in error I am likely to be. I pray that we somehow find a spirit of unity. It is vital to potential victory in this current culture. I have been told that the way porcupines sleep together is that they have the ability to pull in their quills. Isn’t it time to put off dissension and put on love? Please pull in your quills and forgive. Our society is teaching us to use wounds as a weapon. There is a lot of power in pain in American culture. Is this what scripture encourages? 

 Hebrews 13:13 Therefore let us go to him outside the camp and bear the reproach he (Jesus) endured. 14 For here we have no lasting city, but we seek the city that is to come. 15 Through him then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name. 16 Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God 

 Romans 15:5 May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, 6 that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

 “The lessons my mama taught me were to always treat people right. It don't cost nuthin' to be nice. 

It don't cost 'nuthin' to do the right thing most of the time, and it costs a lot to lose your good name by breakin' your word to someone.” Paul “Bear” Bryant 

 Stephen Grellet, French/American religious leader (1773-1855) said, "I expect to pass through the world but once. Any good therefore that I can do, or any kindness I can show to any creature, le t me do it now. Let me not defer it, for I shall not pass this way again." 

 Until the Lord comes or closes the curtain on our society, let’s keep up the work of grace and peace!

Deconstruction Cut and Paste

Sorry I don't have all the info to give credit

Jacques Derrida (July 15, 1930 – October 8, 2004) was an Algerian-born French philosopher, known as the founder of deconstruction. His voluminous work had a profound impact upon continental philosophy and literary theory.

In contemporary philosophy and social sciences, the term deconstruction denotes a process by which the texts and languages of (particularly) Western philosophy appear to shift and complicate in meaning when read in light of the assumptions they suggest about and absences they reveal within themselves. Jacques Derrida coined the term in the 1960s, and found that he could talk more readily about what deconstruction was not than about what it was, most especially in reply to questions posed by others about it.
Subjects relevant to deconstruction include the philosophy of meaning in Western thought, and the ways that meaning is constructed by Western writers, texts, and readers and understood by readers. Though Derrida himself denied deconstruction was a method or school of philosophy, or indeed anything outside of reading the text itself, the term has been used by others to describe Derrida's particular methods of textual criticism, which involved discovering, recognizing, and understanding the underlying—and unspoken and implicit—assumptions, ideas, and frameworks that form the basis for thought and belief, for example, in complicating the ordinary division made between nature and culture.

Derrida lays many of his presuppositions out in a hard but very important essay called Structure, Sign and Play in the Discourse of the Human Sciences. You can tell what it is going to be like from the title! The argument goes as follows:

1. Western thought and language have always had a fixed centre in absolute truth. This places limits on what it is possible to think or believe. It provides a foundation for being (ie what we are), and for knowing (ie how we think). Absolute truth provides certainties.
2. However Derrida’s underlying assumption is that there is no God in the equation to guarantee such absolutes, and hence ideas about certainty are now ruptured. He concludes that any idea of a fixed centre was only a structure of power imposed on us by our past or by institutions of society, and does not in reality exist at all.
3. Hence for Derrida there is no ultimate reality, no God outside the system to which everyone and everything relates. Instead the only relationships that we can know are within the system of the world which Derrida calls discourses. For him ultimate reality is only a series of these discourses.
4. Because there is no fixed centre, there should no longer be any limits on what it is possible to think or believe. We should literally be able to think anything. We can be playful and flexible about the way we think, when we realize that “truth” and “falsehood” are simply wrong distinctions to make. Indeed they are just a destructive and harmful manifestation of that power structure.
5. Therefore we must stop considering everything in life, culture and thought in relation to absolute truth. To not do so is, for Derrida, oppressive and immoral.
6. Derrida says that history is traditionally thought to be determined by Being. In other words God guarantees history There was a beginning and there is an end to which we are working. Most human optimism for Derrida springs from this fact. The whole of science for example is based on the fact that true things are there to be discovered and worked towards.
7. However this idea of history is what stops people thinking radical new thoughts because the assumptions we pick up from history are oppressive. But the fact that people can and do think radical new thoughts is seen to deny this oppressive version of history, and, of course, any absolute Being behind history.
8. Derrida’s ideal of play or flexibility therefore completely denies the possibility of absolutes or of God.
Emergent writers criticize our emphasis on the verbal and written as a product of Enlightenment modernism. Yet postmodern approaches to language are clearly more dangerous. Deconstructionism, its predominant literary theory, seeks to sever the link between words and the things they signify, so that defining words is seen as an exercise in power rather than submission to reality. While no Emergent writers would endorse this theory in full, their usage often reflects its influence. Gross oversimplifications, subtle redefinitions of common terms, and elegant vagaries are maddeningly common. For example, they regularly dismiss their critics for “labeling” or “in-grouping and out-grouping,” but are somehow unaware of their own dependence on caricatures of other Christians for nearly every argument. Captive to the preeminent postmodern virtue of tolerance, stark value judgments are concealed behind seemingly charitable phrases like “I’m just not interested in … or I don’t have time for a Christianity like that…”. Unwary readers are often simultaneously inspired and confused, sensing that something is off but unable to put their finger on it. The problem is a low view of language, and a low view of language leads to a low view of our speaking God.

Running God’s Glory out of the Temple: Why these are Dangerous Times for Our Churches and Our Nation

We are in critical and perilous times as a nation. The influence of post modern thinking has caused an erosion of Judeo-Christian values. The light of Christ is dimming to a flicker of an ember as we are swallowed up in consumerism and values based on feelings and selfish desires. The Bible based churches in our land are facing a full frontal assault of the enemy and largely responding with impotence and fatigue.

This same battle is happening in our midst. We are engaged in a struggle for the future and direction of the visible representative of the body of Christ.

Many Bible believing and teaching Pastors are under satanic attack. This tension and discussion is not unique to Pastors who boldly teach the whole counsel of God. Jonathan Edwards was dismissed from his church and found great resistance throughout the course of his ministry. John McArthur was himself under great criticism and almost lost his church as he preached from God’s word.

Why the problem may be us and not our Pastors.

In II Timothy 3, Paul tells us a lot about what is happening in our culture today.

"1 But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. 2 For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3 heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, 4 treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, 5 having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people. 6 For among them are those who creep into households and capture weak women, burdened with sins and led astray by various passions, 7 always learning and never able to arrive at a knowledge of the truth. 8 Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so these men also oppose the truth, men corrupted in mind and disqualified regarding the faith. 9 But they will not get very far, for their folly will be plain to all, as was that of those two men.
10 You, however, have followed my teaching, my conduct, my aim in life, my faith, my patience, my love, my steadfastness, 11 my persecutions and sufferings that happened to me at Antioch, at Iconium, and at Lystra”which persecutions I endured; yet from them all the Lord rescued me. 12 Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, 13 while evil people and impostors will go on from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. 14 But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it 15 and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. 16 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work."

Many pastors and people who have positions of spiritual authority will continue to struggle as these characteristics become more prevalent in our land and in our congregation.

Reasons for these persistent problems:

#1 Our culture resists authority when it goes against them. “Every decision is from the Lord” (Prov. 16:33.) It is common now to resist the God ordained authority in society. Romans 13 tells us to accept this chain of command and be submissive. Our culture is uncomfortable in doing so.

#2 Our culture wants ear tickling feel good sermons. The largest congregations in our nation today contain more fluff than stuff. Expository preaching is on the decline and entertainment based presentations are on the rise.

#3 Personal holiness is out of style.

#4 Leisure and consumerism dominates our idle time.


The consequences:

The book of Ezekiel is arguably the saddest book in all of Scripture. It documents the decline of God’s presence and His glory leaving the temple.

I truly believe that we are witnessing this same movement in our land today. We are driving God out in the midst of our rebellion and our land is becoming desolate in its wake.

EZ 2:1 And he said to me, Son of man, stand on your feet, and I will speak with you. 2 And as he spoke to me, the Spirit entered into me and set me on my feet, and I heard him speaking to me. 3 And he said to me, Son of man, I send you to the people of Israel, to nations of rebels, who have rebelled against me. They and their fathers have transgressed against me to this very day. 4 The descendants also are impudent and stubborn: I send you to them, and you shall say to them, Thus says the Lord God. 5 And whether they hear or refuse to hear (for they are a rebellious house) they will know that a prophet has been among them.

EZ 11: 12 and you shall know that I am the Lord. For you have not walked in my statutes, nor obeyed my rules, but have acted according to the rules of the nations that are around you.

EZ 12:1 The word of the Lord came to me: 2 Son of man, you dwell in the midst of a rebellious house, who have eyes to see, but see not, who have ears to hear, but hear not, for they are a rebellious house

EZ 13:22 Because you have disheartened the righteous falsely, although I have not grieved him, and you have encouraged the wicked, that he should not turn from his evil way to save his life,

2 And the word of the Lord came to me: 3 Son of man, these men have taken their idols into their hearts, and set the stumbling block of their iniquity before their faces. Should I indeed let myself be consulted by them? 4 Therefore speak to them and say to them, Thus says the Lord God: Any one of the house of Israel who takes his idols into his heart and sets the stumbling block of his iniquity before his face, and yet comes to the prophet, I the Lord will answer him as he comes with the multitude of his idols, 5 that I may lay hold of the hearts of the house of Israel, who are all estranged from me through their idols. 6 Therefore say to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord God: Repent and turn away from your idols, and turn away your faces from all your abominations. 7 For any one of the house of Israel, or of the strangers who sojourn in Israel, who separates himself from me, taking his idols into his heart and putting the stumbling block of his iniquity before his face, and yet comes to a prophet to consult me through him, I the Lord will answer him myself. 8 And I will set my face against that man.

There is still hope:

I have grown tremendously in Christ since coming to my church and learning under the leadership of my pastor. My knowledge of the Bible has deepened, my love for Christ has grown more passionate, and my ministry has been fruitful. We have seen changed lives and restored marriages in our small group. My wife and children have grown. Our Sunday school class has been amazing. We love memorizing the scripture together!

The gospel has never been hindered and our mission is one of hope and excitement. Our church has been involved in faithful laboring for Christ in Nashville and around the world.

My church has a tremendous ministry in our academy with a promising future and momentum.

We are on the threshold of seeing great fruit for the cause of Christ in a strategic city in our nation and world!

People are in need of the hope of the gospel. The Holy Spirit can use even our missteps and weaknesses for His good and glory.

I call on us to pray for the peace of the church and ask for prayers, petitions, and fasting on behalf of all pastors and churches. May we weather this attack of the enemy and move on to more glorious and fruitful days ahead.

Ez 11:17 "Therefore say, Thus says the Lord God: I will gather you from the peoples and assemble you out of the countries where you have been scattered, and I will give you the land of Israel. 18 And when they come there, they will remove from it all its detestable things and all its abominations. 19 And I will give them one heart, and a new spirit I will put within them. I will remove the heart of stone from their flesh and give them a heart of flesh, 20 that they may walk in my statutes and keep my rules and obey them. And they shall be my people, and I will be their God."

A Warning to Warriors

Been reading an excellent book by Max Hastings called Warriors. I am becoming more and more convinced that our culture is less and less comfortable with strong leaders who fight by conviction and principle. Enjoy some of his quotes:


"Warriors are unfashionable people in democratic societies during
periods of peace ... [But] in times of war, fighting men are suddenly
cherished and become celebrities

“In civil life, people with a penchant for fighting are deemed at best
an embarrassment, at worst a menace.”

Every army, in order to prevail on the battlefield, needs a certain
number of people capable of courage, initiative or leadership beyond the
norm.”

A greek or roman soldier was required to engage in hours of close
quarter combat with edged weapons capable of hacking through flesh.

Part of the nobility of the warriors calling stems from in part from his
acceptance of the risk of losing his own life while taking those of others

In every society on earth, the most durable convention, from ancient
times until very recently, has held physical courage to be the highest
human attribute. For thousands of years, in nations dominated by the
warrior ethic, this quality was valued more highly than intellectual
achievement or moral worth.

Many acts of heroism have been committed in the active hope of
advancement or glory.

Eager warriors are generally disliked and mistrusted by those of a more
commonplace disposition.

Many celebrated warriors are detested by their contemporaries.

All armies need a handful of soldiers who possess an extravagant warrior
spirit to fight alongside a majority of other soldiers who threaten the
success of such army by their eagerness to preserve their own lives.

Successful warriors are often vain and uncultured- but their nations in
hours of need have had cause to be profoundly grateful for their
virtues, even if they have sometimes been injured by their excesses. For
all their social limitations and professional follies, the warrior is
willing to risk everything on the field of battle, and sometimes to lose
it, for purposes sometimes selfish or mistaken, but often noble."

If you are a man's man and have grown up fighting for what you get- look out- this culture will not accept you with great comfort.

I Am the Most Dangerous Man in the World?

In the Nov 13, 2006 edition of Newsweek Magazine, renowned atheist, Sam Harris unleashes his heartfelt beliefs about people of faith…. we pose a “tremendous danger.”
The basic points of Harris’ arguments include (1) science has forever debunked faith, (2) Christians’ belief in the end of the world give them “no incentive to build a sustainable civilization,” (3) religion elevates morality over human and animal suffering, and (5) because of fanatical belief, religion is the most dangerous institution in the world.
While I may be wasting time and ink writing a rebuttal to Mr. Harris, I can’t resist using my newly declared notorious state to ease the fear of all the atheists and agnostics within my reach.
I do want to make it clear that to treat all faiths as equal is the most improper presupposition of our post-modern carnage. All religions are not the same. They have different systems and practices. I do believe that jihadist Islam poses a violent danger to our world today. All religions have the possibility of perpetrating great oppression and harm. One has to look no farther than the Crusades to see the destruction that misguided human beings can cause in the name of religious belief.
But even in the case of the Crusades, there are fundamental differences in belief.
The Crusades demonstrate followers of Islam doing what their faith requires them to do and followers of Christ ignoring what their Savior requires them to do. The Crusades represent Islam at its best and Christianity at its worst.
To lump all religions together for the purpose of generalizing criticism of faith makes as much sense as criticizing all people of non-faith by the adherents of the North American Man Boy Love Society (NAMBLA).
I am a teacher and coach at a Christian School in the United States of America. I love my wife and three children. We read the Bible, pray, worship in a local congregation. We live about as simple a life as one can live in the 21st century. We give to missions and desire to tell others what the Lord has done for us. May I use this simple and dangerous position to counter a few of Mr. Harris’ assertions?
One, science has not eliminated Christian belief or doctrine. It is proper to say that the relationship between Christianity and Science is not without controversy. There has often been strenuous debate between the Church and scientists, who often held the same beliefs. As a believer in Christ and the Bible in 2006, I can say that we live in advantageous times because of the light of science and the truth of Scripture. Both are helpful when they are properly placed according to their use. Science is limited concerning many matters of life and faith.
Today, there is a scientific jihad as non-faith scientists try to use reason to trump faith. They use superiority of educational pedigree to intimidate the public.
The average person today does not understand, for example, that traditional Darwinian evolution is no longer acceptable as an explanation for the origin of life as we know it. When scientists say, ‘Evolution is a fact” they are not honestly representing the actual assertion of that quote.
There is ample scientific data that supports ‘microevolution’ and many natural history museums have altars to that truth. Microevolution is the accepted and provable truth that certain species have changed through slight, successive adaptations based on the ability to survive the environmental challenges to their survival.
The problem with this scientific mantra is that it is the end of the statement of fact and the beginning of the propagation of the myth. In the study of evolution, there is no observable data to support ‘macroevolution” or the ability for these adaptations to change into new species. M.I.T. physicist Geoffrey Schroeder correctly points out his analysis of the impressive display and tribute to evolution that is found in the Natural History Museum in London. “It is all impressive. Impressive, until you are able to walk out and reflect upon that which they are able to document. Daisies remained daisies, moths remained moths, and cichlid fish remained cichlid fish. (The Science of God pg. 31).
When non-faith adherents attack intelligent design and other theories about the origin of the species as “faith” and their acceptance of evolution as “science” they are pulling a slight of hand. All debates about the origin of life are debates of faith and not observable by true science.
As a Christian, I see little controversy about what science has discovered and what the Bible teaches. I believe in the existence of God and the creation of life. I believe God has given science as a wonderful gift to uncover His grand design. Science does not discredit the Bible at all. If anything, it helps the Bible make more sense. My better understanding of the natural does not negate my belief in the supernatural. When science stays within its proper boundaries, it strengthens our wonder about the majesty of the Designer!
The second incorrect assumption asserted by Harris is that Christians have no vested interest in preserving civilization. I will admit that we often stumble in our mandates from the Creator, but Mr. Harris does not understand Biblical teaching on our responsibilities to our bodies, our nations, and our planet. God has instructed His followers to be good stewards of all with which they have been entrusted. C.S. Lewis correctly pointed out “If you read history you will find that Christians who did most for this present world were those who thought most of the next.” (Mere Christianity 134) A recent book suggests that current data demonstrates that Christians give more and do more than their non-faith counter parts. How many “Atheist Homes for the Poor or Orphans” exist in the world today? To assert that Christians have no vested interest in this present age because of the hope of Jesus’ return makes as much sense as a student wanting to destroy his undergraduate resume because of an eagerness to succeed in graduate school.
Christians are re-discovering our need to serve the poor and help the weak. History shows the church to often be slow in addressing human misery, but Christians are found in every hard circumstance loving. serving, and persevering. People of non-faith, if true to their world-view, should turn to destroy the weak as an act of nature’s law of survival of the fittest.
Harris’ weakest argument is his assertion that Christian’s obsession with right or wrong leads to unnecessary human or animal suffering. It is also the atheist’s weakest position. If there is no God, what is justice? What is love? Why is goodness even a pursuit? Why be unselfish? Why have any values at all?
The belief in right and wrong is what holds the world together. Even though we debate what is right and wrong, our belief in right and wrong is universal and necessary. The fact that values sometimes rule over human comfort is actually a comfort in and of itself. Values restrain our harmful human impulses. Restraint produces order.
As a Christian, I do value life as a gift from God and this belief requires me to hold life as sacred. I do believe God has clearly communicated his desires for love, service, truth telling, and unselfishness. The more we hold to these values, the better life is. Test tube ethics will always default to heartless pragmatism. In a world without values, the atheist’s utopia would be the horrible display of death and oppression that would make Joseph Stalin look like a saint.
Is the Christian Church “dangerous?” Christianity has done more to promote love and humility than any other movement in history. If you remove Christian work and influence, how many hospitals, homeless shelters, orphanages, educational institutions, good laws, powerful leaders, and beautiful artists would never have had the positive influence and redemptive power that the world has enjoyed?
The bottom line is that our greatest danger is that we ever lose the life and faith of Jesus in our society. The cultural landscape grows darker and colder as we stab at the Creator and deny His right for our adoration. The time for repentance is now.

New Year and New Posts

I haven't posted in a while. Our school changed the internet filter and I am blocked from school. I hope to transfer some of my writing by e-mail to home and post from here. Look for some new info to be posted shortly.

God bless!

Hope for a Blessed Christmas

Here is a wish for a Merry Christmas. Without wanting to be too personal, this has been a tough week.

I have no doubt that the Lord is in control, but I do need His gracious help.

Bless everyone and Merry Christmas.

Polls and Perseverence

I normally stay away from politics, but with elections on the forefront I decided to write a few words. I get so tired of election year leadership. Where are our leaders?

Are there leaders who believe in something and stay the course, even if it costs them votes? If candidate "A" said, "I stand for this" and candidate "B" said, "I stand for this"- then we could really choose.

What do I want? I want as small a government as possible. It needs to protect and provide excellent service. I do not want a welfare state of entitlements and confusing tax programs. I want a secure border and a system to eliminate illegal aliens with a comprehensive program, including punishing companies who hire them.

I want to aggressively pursue terrorists. Keep the fight to them over there or we will soon be fighting here.

I want a unified country. I want to support our leaders, but they need to stand.

I go on record here to say that I will stand with our President. I do not think that every move has been correct, but faced with the aftermath of 911, I believe he is doing the best we know how.

Anyone else under the scrutiny and criticism that he has endured would have already retreated.

I believe that most democrats are soft on terror and until that changes, I will still vote republican. I am not a republican, I am a Christian, but the GOP is the least of two evils for me.

Who is strong enough to stand up and be counted?

Character and Unity- Keys to Victory

Our football team is doing well this year. A big part of that is our team character-perseverence, work ethic,compassion- and team unity-following the coaches,pulling for each other,forgiving differences.

What can we learn from that?

On the 5th anniversary of 911- we are far from being a winning team.

We have to improve our national character- we are more perverse and materialistic and selfish than ever before. When pornography is a multi-billion dollar industry- dependency at an all time high-illiteracy-poverty-racism- corporate greed- rampant consumerism- we have a hard time having a national resolve.

We have to get behind our leaders and show unity. I do not believe that our President has done everything right, but I am for him and I support him. 911 changed the way we do business and this man has labored to try and win this crucial war. All of this whining and complaining from the far left only weakens our strength.

It is OK to ask legitimate questions- but the viciousness is appalling.

Lord, are you raising up the Jihadists for our sins? May You protect Your remnant. I pray You will come soon! Forgive me for all of my depravity. Thank-you Jesus for covering Me!

How Clear Do You Want It?

John 8:"21 So he said to them again, I am going away, and you will seek me, and you will die in your sin. Where I am going, you cannot come. 22 So the Jews said, Will he kill himself, since he says, Where I am going, you cannot come? 23 He said to them, You are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world. 24 I told you that you would die in your sins, for unless you believe that I am he you will die in your sins. 25 So they said to him, Who are you? Jesus said to them, Just what I have been telling you from the beginning. 26 I have much to say about you and much to judge, but he who sent me is true, and I declare to the world what I have heard from him. 27 They did not understand that he had been speaking to them about the Father. 28 So Jesus said to them, When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am he, and that I do nothing on my own authority, but speak just as the Father taught me. 29 And he who sent me is with me. He has not left me alone, for I always do the things that are pleasing to him. 30 As he was saying these things, many believed in him."

"You are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world. 24 I told you that you would die in your sins, for unless you believe that I am he you will die in your sins."

Pretty straight forward statement by Jesus.

We are sinful- deserving of death. If we stand before God without an advocate, without a ransomer, without an atoner..what hope do we have?

My only hope for salvation is Jesus. I am banking it all on Him.

What are you trusting in? Please don't say your self or your own intellect that has explained it all away.

It is a very dangerous game you are playing.