They Are Coming For Our Children

Newspaper article

Genderless Baby


 
The above link is not pleasant to read for a Christian. I tend to think that more Christians ignore the pervasive, perversion of morality all around us today rather than take the time to have a clear defense if confronted by those who support the "gay" agenda. I have been listening this month to the link (found at the right of the page) of Alpha and Omega Ministries. James White has been dealing with this subject and speaking to Dr. Michael Brown who just wrote, A Queer Thing Happened to America. There is no question that these people and those that support them are making an all out effort to silence any biblical voice that suggests that such sins are wrong, immoral, dangerous to society and are sins at all. I believe a case can be made that this is where real persecution of Christians will come from in America before too long.
 
One "Gay" activist made it very clear that tolerating homosexuals is just another form of bigotry. If you don't support and celebrate such alternative lifestyles then you are just another intolerant bigot. School systems and businesses that don't follow this agenda are the subject of intense pressure. If you listen to these podcasts from James White you will see that things in America are very serious. They want exclusive rights to educate our children and we had better be prepared to draw the line here if at no other place.
 
In the above links we read of a couple who have decided not to tell anyone, even the grandparents, what gender their third child is. They don't want society to impose their views of what gender he or she is supposed to be, but instead they want their children to decide for themselves who and what they should be. If you read far enough you will find out that traditional views of gender roles are "stereotypes" which, of course, immediately puts a negative connotation on things.
 
There are a lot of things wrong with this from a biblical as well as a natural and sociological point of view but I want to mention one that should be familiar to Christians. We have to be able to see through all the twisted logic and see this for what it is. The fact of the matter is that God has already identified who this child is. All any of us have to do is to look between our legs and immediately we know who we are. God has given us roles and duties to carry out that are gender specific and he has not left it up to us to decide to be something we are not.
 
This is rebellion against God's authority which means that anyone who does this or sympathizes with it cannot be a follower of God and instead are obviously given over to an evolutionary, naturalistic view of life. They must see our gender as merely an accident of nature because only this view can allow someone to think it is ok to ignore what "nature" gave them.
 
Another reason we know this is sinful and godless is because it is the exact same sin that led to the fall of Adam and Eve. God had given them roles to carry out as created humans which basically was to put God first in everything and they decided that they would choose their own destiny. God's response was to plunge the world into the curse of sin and its effects. The first chapter of Romans tells us that the natural man suppresses the knowledge of God and the authority of God. And when people continue to do this and will not submit to the Lord he makes it very clear that pervasive homosexuality will be part of his judgment. And so the Bible explains where we are as a society and it did so two thousand years ago.
 
I don't write this to just bash such people and I am not trying to stir up anger and ill will towards them. This is the "Gay" activist's tactic and there is too much at stake for this. These people, like all of us, need the gospel and we should make it a point to do so if we have the opportunity. Secondly we need to make sure that our children understand at the appropriate ages what the Bible says about gender and sex and openly explain from a biblical standpoint why perversions are wrong and dangerous to individuals and society. Thirdly we need to understand their tactics and the failure of their arguments so we can speak intelligently with them and not just resort to name calling.
 
We cannot ignore this because it is unpleasant to think about. This world is openly trying to brainwash our children into thinking that there is nothing wrong with their behavior and making them think that to criticize them or even disagree with them is bigotry. We have to be aware of their tactics. The podcasts of the first half of May from James White will be beneficial and necessary even though unpleasant.

God’s Wrath Toward Sinners

I suppose it has always been easier for Christians and especially preachers to concentrate on the love, mercy and grace of God than to think about the fact that God also hates and has holy wrath toward both the sinner and his sin. Pretty soon we begin to come up with formulas to separate God into compartments to take some of the edge off his holy wrath. We have all heard the saying, "God hates sin but loves the sinner". At first glance that seems to take the edge off of things but it is just an unfortunate, rather misleading statement. There is an element of truth in it but it is far from accurately conveying God's attitude toward sinners.

In the first place you can't separate sin from the sinner. Sin is in its essence an act of rebellion. All sin is shaking your fist before God with the idea that you will do what you want to do. To say that God hates your hatred of him but loves you anyway just doesn't paint the full picture. Whether we like it or not the Bible says, Psa 5:5-6 "The boastful shall not stand before your eyes; you hate all evildoers. You destroy those who speak lies; the LORD abhors the bloodthirsty and deceitful man." This isn't to say that the Lord doesn't love and hate at the same time but our problem is that we don't have a problem being loved but we just don't like being hated, especially by God. The reason God hates sin is because a just God must be against people not worshipping him alone and he is right and just to do so.

Perhaps one reason some think they can separate themselves from their sin is because we sometimes make sin a substance in us, not a deliberate act or thought we do and have. We say whiskey or cigarettes are sinful; this is a sin or that is a sin as if sin is separate from our wills. But sin isn't found in a bottle and it is far more than just an act we perform. When we make sin merely something separate from ourselves it is easy to stand with God against it and begin to think pretty highly of ourselves. But there is no sin unless our sinful wills are involved.

But there is another problem we have today that is even worse than distorting God's wrath and that is to deny it altogether. There are plenty today that are telling us that God doesn't hate anyone; he is just a God of love and the only sin we have is that we won't accept his love for us (read Robert Schuller, Rob Bell, etc.) Those that only believe that God is gracious and merciful but deny that he is one who hates sin and will judge sinners take away the basis for grace.

One only is gracious and merciful to those who are deserving of judgment; those that have offended the law and stand condemned. Without the guilt of sin and the judgment of a holy God there is absolutely no need of grace and mercy. In fact, if we are all just innocent victims of God's providence then he actually owes us grace.

To think that God has no right to judge rebels turns everything the Bible teaches upside down. Take away the wrath of God towards sinners and the cross of Christ makes no sense. Why should God's Son suffer the wrath of the Father if none of us were in any danger of facing his wrath and needed to have it averted somehow? Take away God's wrath toward sinners and you take away any need of proclaiming the gospel. The gospel is good news because it reveals a way to escape God's wrath. If there is no wrath there is no need for escape. The grace and mercy of God is that he provided a way to be saved from his just wrath. To deny Hell removes any need for grace. And if the Bible teaches anything it is that without grace none of us have any hope. Therefore all of us come into this world under God's just wrath.

The Mark of God and the Mark of the Beast

I was reading the other day in Rev. 22:4, "They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads." It occurred to me that the great majority of people know about the mark of the beast but most probably didn't realize that Revelation has more to say about the mark of God on the saints than it does about the mark of the beast which is only mentioned once.

This is sad for a couple of reasons. First of all without knowing about the mark God puts on his elect one doesn't understand what the mark of the beast means. And this has led to sensationalizing the meaning to be an actual mark implanted or tattooed on the forehead and hand by some political leader during the "Great Tribulation". Books and movies have been written and made over this usually focusing on the Devil and the Antichrist while saying little about what God is doing in this world. The reason is that people are not interested in knowing God but they are terribly interested in anything that has to do with Satan and the Antichrist and the End Times. It makes for a good story but poor theology.

The second reason this is sad is because by ignoring God's mark you really miss the whole point of both marks. Beginning in chapter 7 when God gets ready to do his work during this present age which will include many judgments on the world ending with the final judgment of sinners, the first thing he does is to put a mark or seal on his people to assure us that no matter what happens we will be brought safely through this life and end up in glory. That is why in chapter 22 when the eternal state begins we see this same group standing before the throne reigning forever. It reminds me of Romans 8:29-30, "For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified." Notice that all who are predestined are glorified, none are lost.

While this is apparent as you read all the times it is referred to in Revelation, it is made easier to see by looking back at Ezekiel 9:4 where John draws for his illustration. There God is about to judge Jerusalem for her idolatry but tells an angel to put a mark on everyone who has kept themselves from idolatry and kill everyone else. This gives us great calmness and assurance in this present age that "the Lord knows them that are his" and that "All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out."

We are being given one of the great privileges of the election of God; "He that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ." We have been sealed with the Holy Spirit and no matter how bad it gets in this world we have the power, purpose and promise of God that he won't lose one of us.

But as we read through Revelation we notice something else about these two very different marks; something that Ezekiel also showed. They also represent two very different lifestyles. Those with the mark of God are those who have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. This makes sense because the indwelling Holy Spirit is the seal. He makes us new creations. Those with the mark of the beast are those that do whatever it takes to get along in this world and that is the very identification of this mark. It isn't a tattoo or an implanted chip in your brain, it is the unregenerate heart. One mark identifies a heart that worships the Lord and the other identifies one whose god is himself.

So which mark do you find more interesting?

One Dumb Move

 

I was writing my last sermon in 1 Kings.  It is the last chapter in the book in which Kings Ahab and Jehoshaphat are hanging out as kings sometimes do and Ahab asks Jehoshaphat to help him in war against the king of Syria.  The problem is that Jehoshaphat was a follower of the Lord and Ahab was anything but and so Jehoshaphat shouldn't have been "hanging" with him to start with.  But at least he asks King Ahab to dig up a true prophet to see what the Lord says.  They had listened to 400 "yes men" tell them God was going to give them victory and Jehoshaphat wisely didn't trust them to tell the truth.

 

What follows is a fascinating account of how Micaiah is faithful to relate accurately what God had told him and the persecution that followed him by those who didn't want to hear what God has to say.  We even have a look at the very throne room of God and one way he accomplishes his will among the affairs of men.  I get to the end of my sermon, click save and go about my business and a little later it dawns on me I probably missed the most obvious and fascinating detail of the whole account in vs. 29, "So the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat the king of Judah went up to Ramothgilead."

 
Jehoshaphat is the one who got this whole thing started by wanting to know the Lord's will. He gets it in one of the most unique "church services" he has ever been in and then he walks out the door and completely ignores it! I can understand Ahab doing this, although even Ahab tries to hedge his bets by disguising himself, but why on earth does Jehoshaphat go into battle when he knows better?

 
It would seem there were times when he didn't take God's Word any more seriously than Ahab did. As a pastor I have seen this happen quite often. The Bible gives us insight into all areas of life. It explains why we have the problems we do, how to overcome them, the pitfalls of not obeying the Lord; it explains why following God is always better and on and on we could go. It is a bright light to shine on our way and all we have to do is follow it. Yet it is not unusual to say amen to all the pastor says, get up, walk out and never consider again what you just heard. At least this seems to happen when you watch people fall into the same traps time and time again.

 
To be fair, all pastors and this one in particular do the same thing. But it is particularly sad to see someone come to you for help and you do your best to tell them what the Lord says and they decide that they will continue to search for other advice and eventually are overtaken in their sin. I can feel for Micaiah. As you read through the account it is obvious that he has become somewhat jaded to how Ahab treats the Word of the Lord but he is still faithful to relate it to him whether he wants to hear it or not.

 
Two applications: First, Let's be careful to take God's Word seriously and not go through the religious show of church and Bible reading only to go out and take our cues from the spirit of this age. This is what the lost do and when we do it, it is especially reprehensible to the Lord. I didn't expect other people's children to listen carefully to me and obey but I certainly did my own children and it is unnatural for a child to scorn their parents counsel and fellowship. To have the privilege to hear from God and ignore it has to be the dumbest move possible.

 

Secondly, pray for your pastor that he will proclaim the truth as he sees it and that the truth he sees is from the Lord. Every preacher can be tempted to water things down for one reason or another but if we do that, the people suffer.

 

The God of Hills and Valleys

Ben-hadad had made a huge mistake.  After being soundly defeated by the Lord when he attacked Israel, he listens to some bad advice.  He is told by his counselors that no doubt Israel's gods were the gods of the hills but not the valleys and so they surely would be able to defeat Israel if they met them on the plains.  Of course, God took exception to that,  1 Kings 20:28, "Thus says the LORD, 'Because the Syrians have said, "The LORD is a god of the hills but he is not a god of the valleys," therefore I will give all this great multitude into your hand, and you shall know that I am the LORD.'" 

It was bad theology.  Those who think theology is a term used by lifeless theologians and it doesn't have anything to do with serving the Lord show they have much to learn.  Theology matters because if you don't know what God says about himself, you don't know God.  Theology is the truths God conveys in his Word.  Without a thorough knowledge of theology one cannot know how life works.  These poor saps had no idea who the only true and living God was and so their only recourse was to make bad decisions that would not only cause them to be unsuccessful in life but unsuccessful in death as well.

It is particularly distressing when God's people make the same mistakes about theology as the lost do.  Oh, we know that God is the only God and that he is Lord over all the earth, hills and valley, country and city and so on, but it is one thing to know truth, it is another to live in light of it.

We have all sorts of ways of regulating the Lord so that he can be Lord here but not there.  Some have past experiences that have left some rather severe emotional scars and this becomes an excuse to opt out of being a strong, victorious Christian in the present.  They use the excuse that this event in my life has caused too many problems so that I am unable to be a good wife or husband or parent or stable church member; all the while giving lip service to the truth that God was and is in control of everything that has happened to them.

The problem here is that they are selling the Holy Spirit short.  They say, "He is fully capable of making that brother a strong testimony for the Lord or He can give that sister a joyful, emotionally consistent personality but I just have too many problems to overcome. God cannot change me but just a bit.  He gave me the faith to believe enough to be saved but he can't really make me a new creation so that I can live as I couldn't live before.  He is the God of this, but not that!  I know that my brothers and sisters in the Lord have solid, loving homes and are able to suffer trials and remain strong in the Lord, but not me; I have an excuse.  I am off the hook when it comes to being conformed to the image of Christ.  There are times when I don't have to by joyful and times when I can be a bitter, complaining, depressed, narcissistic basket case and everyone should just understand, including God.  There is just so much the Lord can expect of me."  Maybe it isn't always quite that extreme but living in daily depression while acting like everything is fine can't be a pleasant way to live.  How do these words differ in essence to the counselors of Ben-hadad?

In the end it sells God short and sets our self up as the one who decides what life should look like.  It sees self at the center of life and not service to the glory of God.  Is your God the same sovereign in the deep valley as he is while on the mountain top?  If so there should be a consistency in his people in every circumstance of life.

The Sky is Falling

There are good, theologically sound men who have studied recent history and proven that the world is changing exponentially. That is that while society has always changed and developed from the beginning, it's change is occurring more and more quickly.  In other words, life and technology didn't look too much different in 1800 as it did two thousand years before.  But two hundred years later in many places in the world the change is almost unbelievable, especially considering the relatively short time it took for technology to develop.  The point that some make then is that such change especially when taking into account the moral decay that is going along with it means that this world's civilization can't last more than about 50 years or so before it implodes on itself.

Now while this line of reasoning might have some merit and perhaps the Lord will be coming back in our children's lifetime; it is also true that our generation isn't the first to think like this.  And as history has proven, for Christians to think too much like this will lead to date setting and eventual embarrassment.  But there is something about the fact that the world is in many ways a evil place and things are getting worse and worse that I think is interesting to ponder.

A preacher I know sends out a paper he writes periodically that is consumed with all the bad things that are going on.  Whether it is the latest conspiracy theory in our government, some chemical in our food, some godless judge who is about to rule on something that will ruin our country; he is consumed with how bad things are getting.  For instance he tells us that our government has the technology to create earthquakes and stop hurricanes and so seemed to infer that we could have been behind the recent Japanese tsunami and could have prevented Hurricane Katrina.  And he made it quite clear that we can expect a massive cloud of radiation to drop on our country soon.  He seems to think that if we don't do something soon the American Way will vanish as if life can't go on if this happens.

Now don't get me wrong.  If someone can point out dangers in our society or the food I eat then they should.  But I am not quite sure how to take a Christian and especially a preacher who is consumed with the evils of society more than the preaching of the gospel.  In the aforementioned paper the attitude is we have to stop this company or that politician or life as we know it will be gone forever.  I guess my question is so what!  If we can make things better in some way, fine but if after our attempts, our milk is still pasteurized and our government still lies to us and there are still harmful cell phone signals invading our brains, then we have to convey the message, not that the sky is falling and life as we know it is gone but that this world is passing away anyway and so now is the day of salvation.

I don't want to be a person, let alone a Christian that just sees all the bad that is going on.  What seems to happen a lot of the time is that such people become consumed with all the bad news in the world and not consumed with rejoicing in the Lord always.  Is one really living in the joy of the Lord when they can't sleep at night because they might live too near power lines or their taxes might go up next year?

Yes, this world is a bad place in a lot of ways; yes, our government is corrupt in a lot of ways; yes, our tax money is wasted to the point of being criminal; yes, our food could be healthier; yes, the American justice system has become an embarrassment and on and on we could go.  But the Bible told us that things would wax worse and worse.  It doesn't mean we shouldn't try to stop it if we can but it should mostly motivate us to carry out the Great Commission.  And the last I read it, it said to preach the gospel and make disciples; it didn't say to be consumed with all the evil and unfairness in the world and go around and make everyone fret over it.

We sometimes act like we are surprised that sinners sin.  While I don't like the fact that sometimes this affects my family and me, I don't want to lose focus that this is why we have been left in the world; not to lead crusades against evil and even to complain about all the bad things out there but to spread the light of the gospel to a world in darkness.  Mostly I want to be a person that people like to be around because I am happy and contented in Christ, because I have hope for tomorrow and because I can be happy and pleasant in this world despite the realities that sin brings.  Not by ignoring them but because I know that God has them all under control.  Even if "Big Brother" takes all my "rights", my hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness.

If the LORD is God, follow him, But If Baal, Follow Him

I was listening to James White's podcast the other day.  He is a Christian apologist that I enjoy listening to on a regular basis.  An agnostic whom he knew called him wanting to discuss some points of debate since both of these men formally debate on a regular basis.  I appreciated James' approach with him.  The agnostic made the comment that he found discussing religion and debate interesting.  James told him that that was the problem and why he would not discuss the finer points of debate with him because he only saw religion as interesting.  To James the subjects of God and His Word were matters of eternal consequence and not something we talk about because it interests us at the moment.  He said (and I paraphrase) the agnostic doesn't need to worry about discussing religion, he needs to realize that he has to face God someday; he needs to repent and trust in Christ.  No man has the right to treat God as merely a matter of passing interest.

You might wonder what this has to do with 1 Kings 18 and the words of Elijah to the people of Israel that fateful day on Mt. Carmel.  I thought of this passage while I was listening to the exchange between these two men on the podcast.  I think this is more or less the meaning of Elijah when he exhorted the people to "quit limping between two different opinions".  If all religions have equal validity or if religion's main purpose is just to give us some sort of world view to help us get along in the world and be better people, then who cares what you believe.  But Elijah is saying that you can't treat other subjects on the same level as God.  He is saying you have two choose one or the other but be careful what you choose because there will be consequences.

If God is who he says he is then Paul drew the right conclusion in 1 Cor. 15.  He said that if Christ is not risen then Christians are the most pathetic people on earth because our sins have not been forgiven and so we have no more hope than anyone else.  Then he makes a glorious statement in 1Co 15:20  "But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep."  But he doesn't just make this statement for us to consider; he goes on to show that if this is true nothing else matters!  "1Co 15:23  But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ. 1Co 15:24  Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power. 1Co 15:25  For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet."  Christ is coming back to judge all men.

This is graphically illustrated for us that day on Mt. Carmel.  After the Lord displayed that he was the only God he allows Elijah to obey the covenant laws to slay the false prophets.  In fact this was a gracious warning judgment that God created us to glorify him and there are no other opinions that will be tolerated.  Whenever man looks at this world as just something to satisfy his curiosity, he has set himself up as judge and this is the Lord's prerogative. 

What we believe matters and it matters a lot.  You might think you can treat Him, his Word and his church nonchalantly but let Elijah speaks clearly from Mt. Carmel.  If God is who he says he is then forget everything else, this becomes the focus of our lives.