Tear Down the High Places...

Where does the Light come from?

2009-10-03T22:19:00.002-05:00

I was just watching episode number 9 of Defying Gravity, a show that was running on ABC until a couple of weeks ago. Click here to learn more information about the show. Now, why am I interested in this show? Because there seems to be some theological questions being asked that are interesting, at least to me. Without spoiling that much of the storyline of the show, I'll tell you this; The "beta" object, as it represented on the show, is as much like God as you can get without actually calling it God. It can heal on whim, and can also cause arteries to develop plaque. It can induce visions. It can manipulate gravity, reality and DNA. And, it would seem, it can reveal itself to whomever it wants, while hiding itself from others.

Pretty amazing.

But the reason I mention this is because the last scene in Episode 9 features two of the astronauts looking at the beta object. As it turns out, all the astronauts, save one, can see it, has had visions, and can hear the music that seems to serve as it's method of communicating. The one astronaut who can't see it can only see the light that is coming from it.

This made me think. When we "see" the light, which is Christ, we also see God by eyes of faith. The unbeliever sees the light, but can't see God at all. In fact, the unbeliever wont even entertain attributing God as the source of the light, literally because they CAN'T see it. They'll find anything as an explanation of why the light is there, even suggest that the light is us. But since they can't see the object of faith, they will always attribute the light to something other than that which it comes from, thus shunning the light itself. After all, what good is light if you can't actually nail down it's source?

This should give pause to any unbeliever. The light of Christ is upon you, but because you can't see the source of the light with natural eyes, you reject the light. Those who can see the light and know it's source have had the source revealed to them by the source itself. You who cannot see the source, conversely, cannot know the source because the source has not revealed itself to you. All you can see is the light, and you attribute that light to everything but the source of the light itself.

How sad.

When do we make an idol a "real" idol?

2009-09-03T23:19:00.006-05:00

I was just preparing to do this blog post when I decided to find some clip art to illustrate the point that I'm going to attempt to make concerning idolatry. I did a Google search, and then clicked on "images" (how ironic), and found myself presented with a number of pictures, many of which pertain to American Idol.

Now, I find that funny, because it's my sincere doubt that anyone who follows the program actually trusts their favorite "idol" to rescue them from times of need and distress. They do, however, trust in their favorite idol to give them pleasure. And herein begins the point I want to try to make.

Anytime we trust in something other than God, we make that something into an idol. Boy, it's not like no one else on the planet or in history has ever said that, right? But the simple statement "anytime we trust in something other than God, we make that something into an idol" cannot convey the true power of the sin behind it. So we have no other choice but to either attempt to unpack the statement, or to try and restate it in a way that actually can convey the sin behind that statement.

Now I could spend some time unpacking this statement, or some time trying to restate it, but instead I think what I'll do is look at what it's not saying. I don't think it's that bad a thing that you "trust" that your car will start and be able to go in gear in the morning to get you to work. I don't think it's even about spending a Saturday afternoon cleaning said car, getting into every nook and cranny and removing every speck of dirt; shooing off the birds as they attempt to drop avian fecal matter on the fresh wax; I don't think that watching your television, or waiting in anticipation for your favorite TV show, or even setting up the DVR to record it; I don't think ANYTHING like that is a problem of idolatry.

Oh, but brother Matthew... OK, hold your horses, don't get yer undies in a bunch... These things can get in the way of your relationship with God. To which I say, sure, the world has a tendency to do that, doesn't it? It get's in the way. Just like wondering what you're going to make for dinner gets in the way, or having to sit down and pay the bills gets in the way.

No, we can drop all pretense and false dichotomies now! Here are the things we Idolize: The volunteer work we did at the local food bank. The cleanup work we did around the neighborhood. Or how we show up in Church to worship God. And how many times we pray in a day, or even an hour. Or how much we read our Bible. Or how many trips we made to the latest revivals. Or how many youth gatherings we helped to plan. Or how many years we were in the choir. Or how many praise bands we helped to form, or how many songs our bands could play. When we trust in our works before God in the grand scheme of things, we make our very works in the supreme idol that, with time, will eventually get us out of trouble. Or worse, we see our works as divine currency with which we buy or sell blessings from God in the very temple that God put forth on the Cross!

And worst of all? Some of us worship mans reason and knowledge. There in lies apostasy. Elevating such things above God will do nothing more than bring wrath and destruction on us for it is the very fallen reason of man that makes us believe such ignorance. This is why when I hear the words "we need to" feel a cringe ready to happen because I know that the next lines will be something other than "trust God who gives us all good things". (And before the word of faithers rejoice, see to it that you understand that the word "trust" and the phrase "speaking to the situation" are as diametrically opposed to each other as apple pie and arsenic.)

I was reading in Luther's Larger Catechism:

"And just because of such hardened heads who imagine because God connives and allows them to rest in security, that He either is entirely ignorant or cares nothing about such matters, He must deal a smashing blow and punish them, so that He cannot forget it unto children's children; so that every one may take note and see that this is no joke to Him. For they are those whom He means when He says: Who hate Me (Exodus 20:5), i.e., those who persist in their defiance and pride; whatever is preached or said to them, they will not listen; when they are reproved, in order that they may learn to know themselves and amend before the punishment begins, they become mad and foolish so as to fairly merit wrath, as now we see daily in bishops and princes."

Do we not see it daily now?

Lazy and overwrought pastors

2009-07-17T07:10:00.000-05:00

I was just watching a "Sermon Jam" of a sermon by Paul Washer. In this message, Pastor Washer asks the question, "How do you know that you believe"... Paul Washer is another of those preachers who are law light, but he fancies himself a Neo fire and brimstone preacher. He often admonishes his congregation to look inside themselves, examine themselves, which is good as far that will take a Christian. But he goes too far in asking the question, "How do you know that you believe?"

Now, why do I say that? Because Paul Washer hasn't thought his argument through. All of his arguments start with the idea that a sinful child of Adam can hear the law and obey it. He thinks that the law is user friendly, and mixes the Law and the Gospel in his sermons. He tells his parishoners, for instance, that they should be reading God's word and applying it to themselves while he doesn't realize that his congregation isn't really qualified to do that.

What do I mean, "the congregation isn't qualified to do that?" The Bible tells us that we are like sheep. We wander far afield. We do things that sheep do and act like sheep do. Left to our own devices we'll follow the herd to our deaths. Sheep are incapable of taking care of themselves. In fact, it would have been an insult to call someone a sheep in Jesus' day. Similarly, a congregation is just as incapable of doing for themselves. Where Sheep cannot take care of themselves physically, fallen sinners are incapable of taking care of themselves spiritually. They need a shepherd. One who will do for them what they themselves cannot do. The congregation does not have what it takes to properly apply God's Law to themselves. Left to their own devices, they will dumb down the law, especially if their example is a preacher who dumbs down the Law himself. Their fallen sinful hearts will tell them they are keeping the Law when in fact they are breaking the Law. They need a Pastor who will preach the Law of God in all it's severity and properly apply to his congregation.

But what Paul Washer and Pastors like him do is rely on their congregations to do what he should be doing for them. At Willow Creek, Bill Heibels does exactly the same thing. When a poll of his congregation told him that his people are saying they are not being fed, Bill Heibels concluded that he needed to teach them to become "self feeders". Paul Washer and pastors like him do this all the time. His commandment to his congregation is to read the word of God themselves and apply it to themselves. These types of Pastors, who think they are the new fire and brimstone preachers, have fallen for the idea that as long as the Holy Spirit is there to witness to his congregation, everything will be fine. But, everything is imperically not fine. The Law is regularly dumbed down by congregations and believers to the pointed that many of them believe they are keeping the Law.

Pastors like Paul Washer are fond of telling people they need to be careful if they say they know they are saved because they believe it in their hearts. Paul Washer is right when he points out from Jeremiah that "the heart is exceedingly wicked above all things and who can know it?" (Jer 17:9) But the heart doesn't just decieve us into false hope Paul. It also decieves us concerning the Law. When we tell people to merely open God's word and apply it to themselves, we encourage a problem called heterodoxy, which basically means to be at variance from the accepted positions of orthodoxy, namely what the Bible teaches clearly. Anytime a pastor becomes lazy and relies on his congregation to do what he should have done himself, he encourages his parishoners to come to conclusions for themselves, which leads them often times to conclusions that at variance to what is accepted orthodoxy.

A Pastor, as charged by St. Paul to Timothy in 2 Timothy, Chapter 4, should "Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction. For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry." But Pastors like Paul Washer are anything but careful. They confuse Law and Gospel and most startlingly, the only time they will pull authority on a person is if someone disagrees with them... Like I'm doing right now. In fact, many will come at me and say, "You're not saved. You teach that all you have to do is believe. You teach false hope".

But similarly, I rarely hear from Paul Washer and his types a clear preaching of the Gospel, namely Christ and him Crucified for sinners. All I ever hear them preach is "The believer and him obeying". Do any of you think that God will put up with that in the end? Do you think that the Father is happy when we usurp the Glory of His son? We will not be saved by crying over our sins, we will not be saved by examining ourselves, we will not be saved by reading the Bible, we will not be saved by spending time in fervent prayer, for there is no other name under heaven by which we will be saved. And that name is Jesus Christ.

Our Sinful nature resonates with the law. But the Gospel is not something that we resonate with. Only after having the law rightly preached to us and properly applied to us will the Gospel make sense to us, and it is the solemn duty of a pastor to do exactly that. The answer to the problem of sinners do wrong things is not to preach a lighter for of the law for them to keep, but rather to give them the only thing that will work faith in them and therefore save them, and that it preach the Gospel. Anything else is pure laziness.

Law and Gospel: The special Brillian light

2009-06-17T21:41:00.003-05:00

C.F.W. Walther wrote a series of Lectures on Law and Gospel, but not to be overlooked are the essays that are recorded in the CPH editions called Essays for the Church, Volume 2. On page 64 we find Theses on the Distinction of Law and Gospel, given by Franz Pieper* at the Iowa District Convention in 1880. What we find listed there is a great presentation of nine ways in which law and gospel are confused.

The first and certainly the most obvious and most flagrant way of intermingling Law and Gospel is to make Christ a new Moses or lawgiver and thus turn the Gospel into a doctrine of works, meanwhile condemning and cursing those who teach the Gospel as a message of God's free grace in Christ.

Second, God's Word is not correctly divided when one does not preach the Law in its total severity nor the Gospel in its full sweetness, but instead minges Gospel elements with the Law and Law elements with the Gospel.

Third, God's Word is not correctly divided when one preaches first the Gospel and then the Law; first sanctification and then justification; first faith and then repentance; first good works and then grace.

Fourth, God's Word is not correctly divided when, instead of directing sinners who are struck and terrified by the Law to Word and Sacrament, one tells them to work their way into the state of grace by prayer and striving--that is, to keep on praying and striving until they feel that God has pardoned them.

Fifth, God's word is not correctly divided when one preaches concerning faith either as if the mere acceptance of faith justifies before God and saves in spite of mortal sins, or as if faith justifies and saves because of the love and renewal that it works.

Sixth, God's Word is not correctly divided if one wants to comfort with the Gospel only those who through the Law have come to repentance not out of fear of God's anger and punishment, but out of love for God.

Seventh, God's Word is not correctly divided if one teaches in such a way as if repentance, besides faith, is a joint cause for the forgiveness of sins.

Eighth, God's Word is not correctly divided when one makes a false distinction between awakening and conversion, and not being able to believe is mistaken for not being permitted to believe.

Ninth, God's Word is not correctly divided when one tries to move the unregenerate by the demands or threats or promises of the Law to put away sins and do good works and thus make them pious, and tries to drive the regenerate to the good by commanding them legalistically instead of admonishing them evangelically.

Obviously in the first statement we can see strains of Rome, whose theologians have often revered to Jesus as "the most perfect lawgiver" while at the same time condemning in the council of Trent those who would preach this Gospel. And we can easily see many of today's teachers such as Joel Osteen, who commit what is recorded in the second statement. But these other theses seem to be more subtle. I'm going to make a study of the Evangelical horizon to see how the preaching and teaching stacks up. We're already planning a program on Law and Gospel in the scriptures themselves. I've been doing a study on how the New Testament writers often make Law and Gospel distinctions themselves, and it's been quite and eye opener.

*Walther had apparently given a presentation on these 13 Theses two years earlier at a Southeastern Pastor's Conference.

Show Digest, Episode 89

2009-05-24T20:43:00.002-05:00

Hello everyone,

This afternoon episode 89 of Radical Grace Radio went out over the airwaves. First out of the gate was listener emails. We get some really good ones, and some with some good questions. One was about our Calvinism show where Pastor Gary Held used an analogy where salvation is like a valve that we turn off and God turns on... The listeners may not like the answer to that one, but we gave an honest answer.

But on the back half of the show Pastor Greg LeSieur told us about his experiences at at ELCA Seminary in Gettysburg, and this is one where everyone needs to hear what goes on in these schools.

http://media.libsyn.com/media/lutherandifference/Episode_89.mp3

Conflict of interest: How the LCMS is killing itself.

2008-05-22T00:18:00.002-05:00

As a former Evangelical, I have been witness to may different types of "Christian" worship over the years. Some of it has merit, while others have some particularly devastating consequences on the souls of those who participate. For instance, there are some aspects of Pentecostal worship that can stir the mind, usually manifest in their tendency to emphasize the Imago Dei, by way of expressing that we are children of God called to worship Him and to express that worship in daily service to others. But keep in mind, I'm expressing to you now this aspect of Pentecostal worship using language more common to the theologians of our past than to the theologians of our day. Yes, how I'm expressing it would confuse most Pentecostals, but once you unpack the language for them they typically understand it. A Pentecostal would say "I'm a child of God and I can do what God does in my neighborhood because it gives Glory to God and Jesus! Amen!"

The reason I bring this up is thus: The LCMS is inadvertently killing itself. It's death by conflict of interest. Now what do I mean by that? It's simple. Although a Pentecostal can be made to understand the concepts behind the Imago Dei and to understand the implications behind it, I wouldn't expect them to adopt that more precise way of expressing it just because I told them to. No, that would be ridiculous. I would expect them to try to understand it in the same way I'd expect them to understand one of the Ecumenical Creeds, but I wouldn't expect them... Well, I might as well say it. I wouldn't expect them to just become Lutheran.

It doesn't seem at this point like I'm unpacking this very well, but hear me out. There was a time when the Lutheran Heritage was closely tied to German Heritage. The congregations were German, they spoke German, the liturgy was in German... But as time has gone by, the German Heritage has been falling away and to some extent the Lutheran Heritage goes with it. Fair enough. This is what happens with the passing of generations and time. But to a growing number of former outsiders, the "Lutheran Heritage" has quite an appeal for a number or reasons.

Let's look at one of the primary reasons why the idea of "Lutheran Heritage" would appeal to someone becoming Lutheran. First and foremost, the appeal comes from the fact that it's fundamentally different from everything else. Evangelicals who are fed up with what is going on in their own churches look outside and recognize something authentic, and they cling to it because they get a sense of having moorings in a ecclesial culture that is all too often infatuated with itself.

But after that, there's another reason. Beyond authenticity, there is quickly recognized a maturity of the Faith. A maturity that wishes to understand all aspects of the faith, however intimidating much of it may be at first glance. This reason soon reaches beyond mere liturgical matters, and soon begins to expose the raw doctrine of what it means to be a Lutheran. Scratch the liturgical surface of Lutheranism and you have what the Formula of Concord calls, "that special brilliant light" beginning to ooze out like the life blood of Christ himself.

Law and Gospel. Not much is said these days about this. We hear a lot about Peace, unity, compassion, speaking truths with love... But not much about God's law or God's Gospel. The practices of the historic Lutheran Church reflect a proper distinction between Law and Gospel. Our pastoral edge often is grounded in this distinction. In fact, there would absolutely be no Lutheranism whatsoever if there were no right division of God's word.

The minute someone begins to tell us, as a synod, that there is something else that is more important than dividing Law and Gospel, the Synod is in conflict of interest with itself. Without God's word rightly divided, we have no heritage to speak of, for God's word confused by the acts of sinful men can be dangerous. The practices of the Lutheran Church, when cut loose from Law and Gospel, are nothing but a confused mess of laws to keep. If they are just laws to keep, then they can be set aside under the same premise that all laws are ultimately disobeyed. The Historic Liturgy can be set aside in favor of Rock concert style worship, or theatre worship, or pseudo Buddhist/Islam/Judaism stylings... All of which amounts to a slow death of Lutheran Heritage, and perhaps even Christian heritage. A death, I might add, that is totally unnecessary.

So why talk about Pentecostalism and aspects of the worship practices of those who call themselves by that moniker? To highlight the fact that there are only aspects of their worship that is beneficial. Scratch the surface of Pentecostalism and you don't have Law and Gospel rightly divided. For the most part, there is nothing but confusion of Law and Gospel evidenced in their worship practices. The same emphasis on the Imago Dei also winds up resulting in an emphasis on the person and work of the children of God over the person and work of Jesus Christ. That's a very dangerous place to be.

The LCMS is in that same position even now. There is a conflict of interest. Law and Gospel is not rightly divided. The latest communiques from many of our leaders, be they congregational pastors, district presidents, or synodical leaders, betray a steadfast forgetfulness of what it means to be who we are. As a layperson, I don't expect those who don't use the language of our Lutheran heritage to adopt such language, but I do expect them at least understand it. Understand what it means to divide Law and Gospel. Understand that the Cross has, as it does Christ's own blood, the Law of God and the Gospel of God splattered upon it. Understand that the Law of God condemns and instructs but does not have the power to create a Church. Understand that the Gospel of God Forgives and instructs and has all power to create faith, to create hope, to create believers and to build a Church on that foundation alone.

It is a conflict of interest to hold anything above the Gospel. May it never be with us that the Gospel be forgotten.

Crushed by God's blessing

2008-05-15T20:47:00.004-05:00

This evening I'm sitting here, listening to an old episode of Issue's etc. It's a Sunday night episode, and Dr. Rod Rosenbladt is the guest. The topic is "Justification". It's one that I called into, mainly at first because it was Rod on the show. It was before I was on the Radio myself.

It was a devastating night. The reason it was devastating is because I was on the phone, listening to Rod say something to this effect: "There is something about the work of Christ in us that is so gentle and so loving, like the scripture says, 'A bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out, till he leads justice to victory.' " By the time it was my turn, I was an emotional wreck. But it was good, because once again, the blessings of God had crushed me.

That sounds weird, but it's true. For this Christian, God's overwhelming blessings and goodness toward him daily are part of what causes repentance. God blesses me with lots of good things, and sometimes I'm floored because... How could he give these things to me? I'm such a broken reed, I don't deserve his good blessings at all. I deserve eternal condemnation. I sit in front of a radio microphone, and I'm crushed. Lots of people would kill to get in that position, to talk on the radio, to be in the driver seat. But for me, each blessing is another crushing blow. And when the Gospel hits my ears again, and I hear "A bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out, till he leads justice to victory", I realize the depth of His riches and goodness.

Without the doctrine of Justification, one can't have a true relationship with Jesus. You don't understand his goodness towards you till he crushes you with his blessing. You don't know his mercy till he lifts you up from that sorrow and weeping, and gives you new life. And it's not even about temporal tears most times, but rather a sense of awe and wonder. Tears can be involved indeed, but the word remains the same.

This smoldering wick is forever thankful.

Evangelicalism at a Crossroads.

2008-05-13T19:53:00.002-05:00

I used to be an Evangelical. What that means is, I subscribed to all the doctrines that Modern Evangelicals believe. Whether is was the doctrine of "make a sincere decision for Christ" doctrine, or the "age of accountability" doctrine, or "believer's baptism" doctrine, I was staunch in not only believing them, but in proclaiming them.

But with all of my certainty over these teachings, there was something about all of this that made me worry. After all, as much sense as everything made, all the doctrines seemed to line up very well, I didn't seem to have any peace. I remember back during my days as a moderator at Christianity.com, that with all the people who would sign up daily to the forum and start posting, the majority of them were almost looking for a fight, and many of them actually were looking for a fight.

Now being what I called a "thinking evangelical", I liked taking on the ones who were spoiling for a fight. I remember one individual who billed himself as a "Messianic Jew", who called himself SolaScriptura. He was all about proclaiming to everyone that they needed to start being Jews as soon as possible because that is what pleases God. Of course, when you tried to pin him down for proof that being a Jew, keeping all the commandments and Holy Days and Festivals actually is pleasing to God, he had none. Not pragmatic proof, anecdotal or biblical proof. We eventually wound up banning him from the forums altogether for teaching false doctrines.

But the thing that got me about all of that was, no matter how many times you banned them, they would sign up again and come back for more. The fighting still goes on at the Forums at Christianity.com. There's a thread there that is a debate between so called "Arminians" and "Calvinists" that is currently on 29379 replies with no end in sight! Nothing solved, no doctrines ironed out.

But, after a while of having to deal with this kind of thing, I was challenged by someone to listen to "the White Horse Inn". I accepted the challenge, and that led me to Issues etc, which led me to the confessions and the LCMS. That's the nuts and bolts of it, but the reality was that I was tired of the bickering, tired of always having to defend something that I knew wasn't robust and fully fleshed out... That being Evangelicalism.

Don't get me wrong, there are some wonder Evangelicals out there who know there stuff pretty well. In such cases you can tell talk about the finer points of doctrine; The Lord's supper, Holy Baptism, Monergism, the Holiness of God... But for the most part, Evangelicals are either one of two types: They are as close to perfectly happy as they can get with where they are spiritually, or they are growing tired of what's going on. The ones who are growing tired of Evangelicalism are the ones I identify with the most.

They are like me. I started down the Wittenberg Trail because I was tired of all the shallowness, lightness and frivolity that was going on around me. I was tired of feeling beat down. I was tired of seeing people being destroyed by weird doctrines, talk of annointings, extra blessings from God... I was tired of being told how to manipulate God, even though they wouldn't put it in such stark terms as that. I was tired of hearing someone say, "if you do A, B, and C, you will begin to see the hand of God move in your life"...

I'd imagine that there are people out there just like me. I've talked to them a lot in the last couple of years. People like that are at a crossroads. What will they do? Will they find a robust faith? Will they find people to challenge them to dig deeper into God's word than they ever have before? Will they find someone who will enthusiastically proclaim Christ and him crucified, for them!

Oh Heavenly Father. Let me be your sounding board. Let me be the watchman at the Crossroad to point the true way. In the name of your son Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit. One God forever and ever. Amen.

Issues etc. with the Numbers Game

2008-03-30T14:21:00.005-05:00

Recently, a letter was posted on the official LCMS website purporting to explain why Issues etc. was canceled. The reasons, in my opinion, are rather spurious, and as someone is more familiar than most what Internet download numbers mean, I have to address something important concerning the reason by David L. Strand, Executive Director Board for Communication Services on the recent canceling of Issues etc.

Some may also be under a misapprehension about the size of the “Issues” audience. In 2005, station management decided it could no longer justify paying for expensive ratings reports in light of the predictably low and static nature of KFUOAM’s audience numbers. At the time, a blending of the spring 2004 and spring 2005 “books” showed an average listening audience during the “Issues” Monday-Friday timeslot of 1,650. There is no indication these numbers have grown appreciably since.

First of all, Mr. Strand, if you aren't keeping track of the numbers because it's not justifiable in your mind to keep track of the numbers, you shouldn't be saying anything about numbers in the first place. If you don't know what the numbers are, don't talk about what the numbers are.

As for the audio streaming of “Issues, Etc.” via the Internet, the numbers are similarly low. During the last full month (February 2008) for which we have reports, the average number of live, streaming listeners during the “Issues” Monday-Friday timeslot was 64.

That's actually pretty high numbers considering people absolutely have to arrive at the KFUOam.org website to access the feed. What should have been happening is the station streaming audio should have been MADE accessible in as many places as possible. Plus, someone should have been looking other popular ways in which streaming media is distributed on the Internet. http://www.stickam.com/ is a place where many radio stations and shows are broadcasting their content, live as it happens.

Also, are you saying that the people who were calling the show, some regularly, and some not so regularly, were not pretty amazing numbers? Shawn Hannity doesn't get as many callers as Issues etc. did, but he's doing rather well for himself.

Now, I want to address an issue that David Strand didn't even address. Radical Grace Radio lives and breaths by downloads per month. We can find out what are ratings are for on the air if we want to, but I personally have decided not to worry about that until after we've been on the air for at least a year. Pastor Gary and myself frequently check our downloads daily, and lately for a show so new and still relatively unknown, we're posting impressive numbers, especially since it's mostly been word of mouth that drives our numbers. I recently came upon numbers by a friend at Wittenberg trail that shows that Issues etc. was having around 300,000 downloads per month, and that figure was very steady. If we at Radical Grace Radio had one quarter of that right now, we'd be considered a huge success in the secular world. Your average secular radio station doesn't do anywhere near that size of downloads for any given show nor for the most part combined downloads for the entire station!

Again, I have to ask... What's happening here people?

What happening people?

2008-03-21T16:39:00.003-05:00

This has to be the cheap shot of all time. Let me say something here folks, this isn't about a talk show or the hosts thereof. It's about a Church Body, the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod, wanting to throw away it's Lutheran heritage along with the trappings of old world German Culture. In doing so, they are turning from Grace and leaving the word behind.

What am I talking about? Unless I'm sorely mistaken, this is the current model for Lutheran Church.

http://www.watersedgefrisco.com/

Take a look at the sermon videos, all the band instruments dwarfing the alter, no space set aside for the work of God, a "youth pastor" styled pastor who's yelling and screaming and giving good advice. He tries to placard Christ and him crucified up before the people, but he winds up driving the verbs the wrong way. It's subtle, but it's there.

Pastor Todd Wilken has taught me too well. Where other world religions are growing by remaining authentic, we're throw any chance at authenticity we have out the window. While Islam and it's Imams still say that Allah is not the Christian God, we are comprimising the Triune God's identity to attract people. While other religions are not concerned about numbers, we are counting the heads and the beans.

What's happening people?

Issues etc... RIP

2008-03-19T23:11:00.006-05:00

Apparently, somebody high up in our Synod has decided to pull the plug on the most successful outreach and news program that ever was produced by our Church body. Issues etc, was cancelled Tuesday, March 19th. Rev. Todd Wilken, who was serving his call to be the show's host, and Jeff Schwarz the producer of the show, were fired. The buzzword that's being bandied about is "terminated". This happened during Passion Week.

This blogger, who has been busy with a radio show of his own, is appalled that a pastor could be ripped from his call so easily. I'm equally appalled that a program, that aired for 14 hours a week and was the premier catechisis for many of us new Lutheran Converts, was taken down when it was so successful and was such a money maker for the station it ran on, KFUO in St. Louis. Nearly everyone you talk to who has become a Lutheran in the past five years will mention the profound impact that Issues etc. had on their walk of faith, and now that it's gone, there's a huge void left behind. Who will pick up the mantle?

There's been talk on Wittenber Trail of continuing the show via the internet. I'm all for that, but I'm all for us lay people and pastors taking a greater role in the future of our Synod. We can, as has been proven in so many internet venues today like Youtube, Stickam, and others, as well as numerous podcasting services, make a huge difference in the world today. Since our message is the message of the Gospel, it's not beyond God's ability to bless this world with a huge outpouring of materila with a polished and professional look, while all the time proclaiming our Risen Savior and standing by our confessional heritage.

What we need is resolve. I've learned that God is interested in doing what he wants to do, and not to argue with him when he wants us to do what he wants. He's already, literally, thrown a radio show at us. He's throwing more. It's going to happen whether we want it to or not. We're just caught up in the drama of God's work.

Peace to you all. Let's show these emergent/evangelicals types how we do things down town!

Blogger just shut down my Pastor's Blog...

2008-03-04T18:11:00.000-05:00

The new blog I opened for my pastor and co-host, Pastor Gary Held, was shut down by blogger supposedly due to "terms of service violations". I'm concerned that someone out there is flagging our blogs in an attempt to shut down Radical Grace's web presence. If this happens, everyone needs to have this feed saved. Radical Grace Feedburner Feed

I'm posting this on all the blogs. Link this feed.

It's official... John Hagee is a heritic.

2007-11-06T00:18:00.000-05:00

Personally, I don't know much about John Hagee. I've heard a few of his sermons via KFUO on Issue's etc. but other than that, all I knew about the man was he is a staunch defender of Modern Israel. Apparently, he's gone off the deep end.

His new book, In Defense of Israel, should be an interesting read.

Atheists Pwned by Upstart Theologian, part 2

2007-10-05T15:23:00.000-05:00

Here is Doug Powell, once again, refuting the Rational Response Squad's (RRS) silly arguments. Doug is far from an "upstart", indeed, he's a published theologian and appologist. He just put up another video continuing and explaining his argument for a transcendental God.

I'm especially fond of his renaming the Rational Response Squad, the Irrational Response Squad, or more ironically(?), the IRS!

Thought I'd just hide that one out of sight. Go and visit Doug Powell's website Here. He's a musician who's toured with Tod Rundgren.

Either way, for those who don't know what the RRS is, it's led by a young man named Brian Sapient, who believes that anyone who believes in God is delusional. In fact, he and his cohorts would like to have belief in God classed as a mental illness in the next Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM). The fact that groups like the RRS exist is exactly why we need good appologists today. We might not be able to convert people with standard appologetics, but at least we can stand in the left hand kingdom when people try to make an end run around the law and class us as delusional.

Rock on Doug, Rock on.

ELCA permits homosexuals to be pastors

2007-08-11T18:50:00.000-05:00

This is in response to a certain ELCA Lutheran's justification for "inclusiveness".

"Check out their hearts: the hearts of a loving, committed gay couple look just like the hearts of a loving, committed heterosexual couple.
Something tells me that THAT is where God looks first."

That is true. God looks on the heart. But what does He see there? Even in the hearts of a "loving couple", He sees idolotry, bigotry, sexual immorality, deceit, malice, adultery, stealing, vanity, covetousness... People idolize their churches because those churches make it ok for them to sin, practice bigotry against those they do not agree with, hop from bed to bed on Saturday night before coming to church on Sunday, then lie about all of it with malice aforethought to make others look bad... They take illegal drugs, lying, cheating and stealing to get them, steal intellectual property and refuse to pay for any of it, covet their best friend's wives and plot how to get in their pants. They say they are 'good', but their hearts are open graves before God, wicked and deceitful above everything else. All this they practice, and more, all the while slowly abrogating God's law with doctrines of men, screaming at God while shaking their collective fists, "but this is my nature, why can't I sin as much as I want?"

The reason you can't sin is not because you'd better not sin, but because God has buried you in Christ in baptism, and raised you to newness of life. Praise God that this sinful flesh I inhabit will die one day, and along with it all that is impure. Those who would choose to sin, using as their excuse "this is who I am", are missing the point. I sin, but I hate my sin. It's in my nature to kill, steal, blaspheme, commit adultery, lie, cheat, desire evil, and worship false gods... It's who I am, but I shouldn't be allowed to do those things, anymore than anyone else should be allowed to sin.

I'm an LCMS Lutheran. I will not tolerate someone telling me that their sin is OK while mine is not. It's wrong for people to do that. Practice what you will, but when you turn around and make me into the outcast because you want to practice your sin, then you have put a heavy burden on us. Pretty soon you'll be picketting outside our churches, calling us bigots, tearing down our alters... All the while using as your excuse, "it's in my nature to sin, why can't I sin as much as I want?"

God's gospel is not "it's in your nature to sin, so I'll look the other way because you're not perfect". God's gospel is, "I am both just and the justifier of the wicked, and have not spared even my own son in order to forgive". Our response to that should not be to sin more, but to love God because he has reconciled us to himself through the death and blood of Jesus Christ. When sin requires that much blood and suffering to reconcile us before God, I as a child of God have every right to hate that sin.

Nulla Salus Extra Christus!!

2007-07-14T14:40:00.000-05:00

Of late, Pope Benedict XVI has made a couple of interesting decrees. The one on the Latin mass is interesting in and of itself, but the latest decree is one affirming St. Cyprian's Dictum "Nulla Salus Extra Ecclesiam" (No Salvation outside the church). Actually it's not so much a decree as it is a restatement of what has already been said and understood as official Roman Doctrine.

Having said that, what is most interesting about this is how The Pope makes a move concerning both Easter Orthodox Churches and Protestant Churches. In Reaffirming his document, "Dominus Iesus" and over and against what the 5th Lateran Council said (and Cyprian), he calls the Eastern Orthodox Churches "defective", a point that has never been made as far as I can find. He then lumps every other church body into one box, calling them "ecclesial communities". In that particular box he lumps all reformational churches as well. He has stated in the past that Protestant Theology is "gravely Deficient", and called Protestant churches "not true churches", and reaffirms these notions firmly.

What I'd like to do is show to both my Lutheran Brethren and any modern evangelical what it is that Rome still holds to. From the Council of Trent...

CHAPTER IX
AGAINST THE VAIN CONFIDENCE OF HERETICS

But though it is necessary to believe that sins neither are remitted nor ever have been remitted except gratuitously by divine mercy for Christ's sake, yet it must not be said that sins are forgiven or have been forgiven to anyone who boasts of his confidence and certainty of the remission of his sins,[47] resting on that alone, though among heretics and schismatics this vain and ungodly confidence may be and in our troubled times indeed is found and preached with untiring fury against the Catholic Church. Moreover, it must not be maintained, that they who are truly justified must needs, without any doubt whatever, convince themselves that they are justified, and that no one is absolved from sins and justified except he that believes with certainty that he is absolved and justified,[48] and that absolution and justification are effected by this faith alone, as if he who does not believe this, doubts the promises of God and the efficacy of the death and resurrection of Christ. For as no pious person ought to doubt the mercy of God, the merit of Christ and the virtue and efficacy of the sacraments, so each one, when he considers himself and his own weakness and indisposition, may have fear and apprehension concerning his own grace, since no one can know with the certainty of faith, which cannot be subject to error, that he has obtained the grace of God.

Stunning... Absolutely stunning. The heretics are us, my friends. Because we believe, teach and confess that Salvation is by Sola Gratia, Sola Fide, Solus Christus, Soli Deo Gloria, and reserve no credit for ourselves whatsoever, Rome considers us anathema. In this, Rome's Tridentine Catholic teaching tells us that no one should ever say nor believe that they are saved. This is a weird type of Pietism that robs the believer of any kind of comfort in this life. Even more so...

CHAPTER XI
THE OBSERVANCE OF THE COMMANDMENTS AND THE NECESSITY AND
POSSIBILITY THEREOF

But no one, however much justified, should consider himself exempt from the observance of the commandments; no one should use that rash statement, once forbidden by the Fathers under anathema, that the observance of the commandments of God is impossible for one that is justified. For God does not command impossibilities, but by commanding admonishes thee to do what thou canst and to pray for what thou canst not, and aids thee that thou mayest be able.

Rome would have us be, at the very least, Semi-Pelagians. Note that Pelagius' teachings began because he believed that God would not nor could not command of anyone something that is impossible. "For God does not command impossibilities" Rome says. Pelagius said that same thing.

Grace alone? Rome will affirm this one, though grudgingly. Their doctrines of prevenient grace teach that it's God's grace alone that saves. But look...

Canon 11. If anyone says that men are justified either by the sole imputation of the justice of Christ or by the sole remission of sins, to the exclusion of the grace and the charity which is poured forth in their hearts by the Holy Ghost,[116] and remains in them, or also that the grace by which we are justified is only the good will of God, let him be anathema.

Rome teaches that grace is something more than God's good will. It's understood that grace is a substance that is literally poured into us. Note also that those of us that understand that the righteousness of Christ is imputed to us, and that sole imputation alone is all that is needed for justification, are condemned.

Let's witness Rome now condemn the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Canon 12. If anyone says that justifying faith is nothing else than confidence in divine mercy,[117] which remits sins for Christ's sake, or that it is this confidence alone that justifies us, let him be anathema.

I deliberately refrained from bringing scripture in until now because I was interested in making people think about what they believe as opposed to what Rome teaches. But right now, I'm going to let St. Paul talk to this particular Canon...

Eph 2:8-9 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast.

Gal 2:16-17 know that a man is not justified by observing the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by observing the law, because by observing the law no one will be justified. If, while we seek to be justified in Christ, it becomes evident that we ourselves are sinners, does that mean that Christ promotes sin? Absolutely not!

Ro 3:28 For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from observing the law.

Indeed, Jesus tells us this...

Lk 18:10-14 "Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’
"But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’ I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted."

Again, Because we believe, teach and confess that Salvation is by Sola Gratia (Grace alone), Sola Fide (Faith Alone), Solus Christus (for Christ's sake Alone), Soli Deo Gloria (For the Glory of God alone), and reserve no credit for ourselves whatsoever, Rome considers us anathema.

Nulla Salus Extra Christum.

The Lutheran Church makes a Christian Difference

2007-07-12T16:04:00.000-05:00

After a month long break from High Places, I'm back and announcing the blogsite is completed for our Church's Podcast, The Lutheran Difference. Four People enter, only one leaves... No, I'm only kidding. The show is a discussion of Lutheran Theology in light of today's modern evangelicalism.

It's been a blast working on this. I'll be posting here again as well as at the show's blog. When you go to the site, you'll find you can listen right from the site, download the show as an mp3, subscribe to the show in RSS and iTunes, as well as find out about future programs and find programs you missed in the archives.

Surf on over to listen to the show. I have a meeting later today with the participants to plan for more programs and such.

iSlam: The feelgood religion of the new mellinium...

2007-06-04T18:23:00.000-05:00

This is the ultimate in natural religion.

What do I mean by this? It has all the natural human tendencies for religion simplified to the point of elegance. Here's how it works. First of all, since "Allah" is unknowable and far away, he is a very safe distance from his followers. Second of all, iSlam gives you all the rules you need to follow to keep "Allah" happy, which keeps him unknowable and at a safe distance. Third, if something goes wrong in your life, it's because you didn't follow the rules or someone nearby you didn't follow the rules. If it's not you breaking the rules, all you need to do is find out who around you did and deal with them.

By the way, there are rules on how to deal with people near you who are sinning and messing up your life. And if it's not anyone near you, it must some evil "great Satan" that is messing up your life. And by the way, there are rules for dealing with that as well.

OK, there's a possibility I'm setting up a huge strawman here, but what I'm doing is applying the average american's tendencies to make everything either thereputic or about status. Think about modern Evangelicalism's view of God. It's been called by people way more intelligent that I "Moralistic theraputic deism", God is a commodity, present to make you happy, make you prosperous, and make you moral. When things are not going well, you go to God who is very far away in any other case and ask for help. Once you do that, the next step is to locate the source of your problem and eliminate it. If it's sin in your life, you deal with it, and there are rules you need to follow to deal with that sin. If it turns out there isn't anything wrong with you, it must be someone around you or the world in general, so you need to lash out against either that someone or the world. That means getting interested in politics, running for office, joining the "moral majority", fighting the latest "moral outrage" that will make God angry... Wow, this sounds an awful lot like Islam.

That's why I'm calling it iSlam. Now, Steve Jobs is probably going to sick his lawyers on me, but I don't care. He should have thought of this! iSlam! It's the new "Moralistic Theraputic Deism", with a god who gives you the sharia law and makes it easy to keep him happy! Who tells you how to deal with those who make him mad!

Unlike the Holy Triune God who cannot be appeased by anything we do. Who has judged the world and in his love has poured out his wrath on his Son, Jesus Christ to appease that wrath against us. The Holy Triune God who is so just and so holy that he didn't spare even his own Son in order to forgive us. The Triune God who, before the foundations of world, set his will for his people and placed them in his Son's hands who lose none of them. Who, by His mercy and grace, through faith only He can give, for the sake of the innocent and bitter sufferings of His Son, Jesus Christ, has reconciled the world to Himself.

To Him be the Glory, forever and ever. Amen.

Podcasts and how-to drills...

2007-05-22T11:03:00.000-05:00

This past Saturday we taped our first ever podcast. We used the pastor's laptop, a 4-channel mixer from radio shack, four microphones plus a backup, four table microphone stands, and of course windscreens for the mikes to keep from popping the p's. It went well, although pastor felt that we wandered around too much... We had some good stuff come up in the conversation, and there's a lot there to edit and make good use of.

We used Audicity to record the show. I didn't used to think too much of audacity as an editor, and indeed I still don't. But audacity has a few tricks up it's sleeve. Apparently, while we were taping the show, there was some interference that caused a low level buzzing noise in the recording. My heart sank when I auditioned the recording later at home. But audacity has a noise filter program that allows you to identify the noise and remove it from the audio tracks. I was able to rescue the recording!

Now, the other end of the spectrum is another program called MixCraft. This program is a fully functional recording studio with an interface not unlike photoshop. I'm using it right now to edit the audio and create music tracks for the breaks. It's been interesting, but it's also a great learning experience.

God is busy with us and this new technology. For less than 200 dollars, any church can begin using this in outreach and evangelism. I'll post the results as we go. Maybe I'll look into the idea of writing a book on this subject.

This week, on the Whitehorse Inn

2007-05-22T10:56:00.000-05:00

This week, the boys at the inn take on the question that Jesus asks us all: Who Do You Say That I Am? Of special note is Rod Rosenbladt talking about how the Jesus of protestant liberalism would never have been crucified. To protestant liberals, Jesus was just going around telling people to do right and be good rather than pointing out people's sins and proclaiming he was God... The would have given him the keys to the city!

Click here to listen to the show!

Mother's day...

2007-05-14T06:24:00.000-05:00

My mother and I didn't get along very well. I really don't want to get very deep into why, since she is dead. She's been gone since August of 1995, in fact. There is a lot that I could say about her, but most of the time it's very difficult to think of anything positive... There were some good times here and there but most of the time there was trouble.

Either way, the reason I'm doing this post is because of the guilt I carry concerning my relationship with her. Yesterday my church, like many others around the world, was doing a service based around mother's day. Had I remembered what day it was I might not have gone to church. There was a children's message about mother's day, and the sermon consisted of one of our member pastor's asking people to stand up and give stories about their mothers... I would have liked to give one, but I couldn't remember anything that would have been good. I felt terrible, and remorse was all I could muster. I know full well that no one had anything else in mind other than good intentions, as does God in all his ways. How could anyone know? In fact, I wouldn't want to burden them with my problems in light of what they are called to do.

The problem is simple... I can sort of forgive my mom for everything, and there was a sort of reconciliation before she died between me and her. Our relationship wasn't one where I or she refused to speak to one another, but rather one of walking on egg shells... Where basically a lot of unsaid anymosity was laid aside in favor of polite talk and a smile... Now, that she's gone, every mother's day that comes around is only a reminder of how I can't ask her to forgive me for all the trouble I caused her. So, yesterday at church was especially rough, because the reason we are called to church is to hear the proclamation of forgiveness of sins... And I listened intently for a word of encouragement for me, but there wasn't one... Everyone else I guess got along with their mom's just fine all their lives and aren't in a place where they need to hear something good about it.

I'm guessing I need to make time to ask the Pastor to hear my confession. It's been 12 years and this isn't going away. I'm feeling desparate... I just wish I could tell her I'm sorry!!!

I miss you mom!!!

A Concert from Afar...

2007-05-08T06:32:00.000-05:00

This is a video shot in the Philipines of a Piano Concerto Competition. The winner in the under twelve catagory was eight year old Hannah F. Hua playing Mozart's Concerto number 1 in F major. The orchestra needed some tuning, but little Hannah is amazing.

What strikes me is two things. One is how incredibly far behind we are here in the US in terms of education. How so? Apparently most of the world still believes there's merit in teaching kids classical music, and studies show that studying music makes for better grades...

But the second thing that strikes me is the Philipines is a high ranked destination for men from the US to go and have sex with underage kids. How did our culture get into this mess?

The Lutheran Church makes a Christian Difference

2007-05-07T19:56:00.000-05:00

I've been struggling. As a result, I stopped posting to this blog for the last seven days (among other things). What am I struggling with?

One is an old man/new man struggle inside me concerning people hearing the Gospel. I've been working on two projects for our church, the most pressing of which is the radio program. This has involved both technical issues and programming issues. The program will, at first, be a podcast, which will be recorded in house using cheap but good equipment, which includes a mixing board, four headset microphones, a laptop, mixing software, and storage. There's still a couple of interface issues, both unforeseeable, but they can be worked out. In the programming area, I've worked up a schedule of topics, and have been trying to think up radical ways to "drop bombs" on the listener so as to get them thinking.

Not the easiest thing to do. I'm just a layman. But the struggle isn't there, but rather inside me. On the one hand I want the whole city (and by extension, the whole world) to hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We all want that. But on the other hand, there's a lot of people out there that are downright mean-spirited... I find myself realizing that by going this route I'm opening myself up to all sorts of harassment and trouble. I myself have reveled in my anonymity all these years. If you had told me a year ago I'd be working on a radio program, let alone a Christian radio program, I'd have told you "you're nuts".

So, what to do? Do I press on with this and take whatever may come? I know that there really isn't much choice but to go forward, but... This isn't easy at all. It's funny, because I can hear Luther's words at Worms: "Here I stand. I can do no other. God help me".

Maybe this is the same issue as the old "someone puts a gun to your head and says 'deny Christ or die', what do you do?" question. Do I say, "you're going to have to kill me", or do I deny him?

Issues etc.

2007-05-01T07:27:00.000-05:00

This past Sunday evening, John Warwick Montgomery, author of How Do We Know There Is A God? (Minneapolis: Bethany Fellowship, 1973), and Where is History Going? (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1969), joined Host Todd Wilken on issues etc for a discussion on "the new atheists". The number one and two arguments that today's atheists make are, respectively, that the "God of the bible is (insert ad hominem attack here)", and it would seem the age old accusation of antinomianism. The argument goes "God likes to forgive, I like to sin... let's go kill some infidels". Both arguments are nonsense, of course, but "field marshal" Montgomery makes short work of both of these and other arguments used by today's atheist.

I find it to be very important to answer the claims made by Dawkins and Harris. Click here to listen to the program.

The Reformation, by Diarmaid MacCulloch

2007-05-01T06:54:00.000-05:00

I have to highly recommend this book. Not only is it authoritative, highly detailed, and a good read, it's also a great reference book. The chapter on Luther is very good, although not exhaustive.

Moments of revelation in this book include how the black plague had a lot to do with the innovation of the "sacrifice of the mass", and the number of churches all around Europe with many alters where the Eucharist was performed several times a day as many times as possible to appease God. Also, the author gives us quite a vivid picture of the politics of the times, including Jacques Lefèvre d'Etaples, who published commentaries on Paul's epistles in 1512, using language that described human works as "irrelevant" in God's salvation of humanity, as well as profiles for Cardinal Gesparo Contarini and others who joined Luther's reformation.

More importantly, the book traces the aftershocks of the reformation all the way to the 1700s. This book takes a bit of time to read (708 pages), but it's worth every page.

This week on the Whitehorse Inn, April 29th.

2007-05-01T06:27:00.000-05:00

This week, Discussion at the inn concerns Christ's view of Scripture. I just love Rod's take on John 2:22: "After he was raised from the dead, his disciples recalled what he had said. Then they believed the Scripture and the words that Jesus had spoken." Now, it's not that they didn't believe the scriptures before Jesus was raised from the dead, but after he was raised, THEY REALLY BELIEVED! Also, for those who say Jesus didn't say he was God in any other gospel but John's, Jesus puts his own words on par with scripture by saying "heaven and earth may pass away, but my word will never pass away". No wonder they wanted him dead.

Click here to listen to the show.

Things the culture does to us... Could be offensive to some.

2007-04-19T19:07:00.000-05:00

Warning! I'm about to put this peekaboo hack to good use with a blog post about some garbage I got to see for free with this new service called "joost". It was offensive stuff, so I'm warning everyone who might read this not to read it in case they might be offended. There's no pictures or anything like that, but I'm going to describe some things in detail as a warning to people not to use Joost.

I recently recieved an invitation to try out this new service from a company named "Joost". It's a Peer to Peer (P2P) client you install on your computer, and video content is delivered to you to be watched when you want to, how you want to.

Now, at first glance, this seems like what a lot of people are looking for in a video on demand service. You can choose the channels you want to watch and delete the ones you don't want to watch. And other than the software itself is still in beta testing and is glitchy, it seemed to work fine.

But the problem I had was not with the software so much (although it tries to set itself up as a server and Zone Alarm blocks that activity), but rather with the content. After installing the software, I watched some rather terrible clips that were basically garbage. As I moved through each video, I began to notice that a number of them were racy videos, and I finally got mad and turned it off when...

A video came on where a scantily clad female was basically giving this guy a lapdance. When I tried to bring up the "Heads Up Display" (or HUD) so I could click past this video, the software ignored me at first. Then when it did come up and I clicked the "skip forward" button, it took quite a few seconds for the video to stop and move on to the next video. Then, when the next video was a "jackass" rip off from japan featuring a guy with a bottle rocket up his ass, I got mad. I shut the thing down and uninstalled it.

I went to Joost's support forum to register my displeasure about the content they offered and the manner in which it was displayed, that I was given little control over what was happening and got an eyefull I didn't want. But one poster to the thread I started said, quote: "

"Um dude, i am sure there are more channels, then the HOT & WET channel, what were u expecting, if you don't wanna watch it, change the channel, or remove the channel altogether, no body is forcing you to watch it.. if you don't like it, don't watch it, but don't use a strip clip which u chose to watch as an excuse"

I told this guy I wasn't trying to view any particular channel, and this was just what was coming up. I don't remember now the order of the clips, but I said in the post that the strip clip was pretty much the first clip that came up, and without my bidding. I didn't ask to watch the clip, and indeed I stopped it as soon as I could.

This is the attitude people give you when you say you don't want to view this kind of garbage. They tell us if we don't want to watch, then don't, but they don't provide any alternatives other than some guy lighting a firecracker in his ass!

Yup, I'm ranting. I'm sure some people I know will see this and say, "Matt, you're messing up your sanctification", but I'm still mad about this. I was invited by Joost to try out their service, and this is what I got.

Don't use Joost, folks.

Dude, you're getting an error... Part 2

2007-04-14T14:28:00.000-05:00

One of the things that's going on right now in modern evangelicalism is it's tendency to try and blend into the culture while maintaining the label "Christian". Put "Christian" in front of anything, just like Apple Computers puts the ubiquitous "i" in front of anything, and you have something that is odd and at odds with what it means to be Christian.

Oh, doesn't all this seem so helpful? I mean, take what is the culture's, slap a Christian label on it and you get... This. You Can't make this stuff up, folks. On the one hand, I can understand what they are trying to do with stuff like this. They want to be able to have their own culture that is free of various corruptions, foul language, smutty ads, borderline unethical ideas, but this is just more false piety in action.

This magazine is sponsored by the likes of Covenant Eyes, a service that monitors your net activity and reports it to your "accountability partner". Alright, first of all, if you're a Christian and you have a computer, the entire secular world is going to assume you've looked at online porn. It's kind of like virginity. You can claim to be a virgin, but who's going to believe you?

"I've never looked at internet porn" a Christian might say, but the secular world can always choose to disbelieve him. If the Christian says, "I have an internet filter installed on my computer", the secular world can say, "see, you have to have a filter to keep your eyes off of porn", or, "well, you can always disable that and look at porn anyway", and it will never end. And, on top of all that, all the avoidance of internet porn in the world will not help you in the least... In fact, it might make you want to look at internet porn even more!

Real solution to this problem? Call God's heavenly IT techs so they can install Jesus! (Oy vey es schmer, did I just type that?)

The magazine itself has an article entitled... I kid you all not... Ephesians 6:10-18 and your computer. Offering us 6-9 biblical tips to securing your computer? Luther had a name for this stuff. He called people like this "schwarmers", busy bees, enthusiasts... people driven by emotions and impulse. It must sound good to the natural man to talk about the full armor of God for your computer. It's an impulsive need to take the culture and make it our own.

It's just silly. Can't even reach the level of heresy because it's just too silly.

Dude, you're getting an error...

2007-04-11T17:42:00.000-05:00

First in a series of silly errors running around in modern Christianity. First up?

21 Days to a Complaint-Free Life: No complaint bracelets.

The website exclaims (with a picture of Oprah Winfrey) "The complaint bracelet has changed the lives of millions of people by helping them to break their addiction of complaining. Over 1 Million people across the world are wearing these complaint-free bracelets and they have been featured on OPRAH, The Today Show and in People magazine. To get your free no-complaint bracelet and to learn more about them please enter your email address below to continue."

Click here to watch video from MSNBC.com.

Rev. Will Bowen of Christ Church Unity came up with the idea for this while taking a shower. The bracelet come with a pledge to not complain for 21 days. Everyone who has tried this little evangelical wonder has failed repeatedly in each attempt. If you fail, you have to change the bracelet to the other wrist.

Why is this my first "dude, your getting an error" story? Several things come to mind. One, this is an evangelical pastor trying to teach people that they can actually pull this off without telling people that this in no way will improve their standing before God. Second, if you don't catch yourself complaining, you obviously will have falsly claimed to have made it 21 days. Another thing is, if Jesus were to take this challenge he would fail.

Yup. You read me right. When Jesus cast out the money changers from the temple he said two things. He said, "Is it not written: ‘My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations’?" That's a complaint, and then he said, "But you have made it ‘a den of robbers.’" That's another. Jesus fails the test. But yet, Jesus was without sin. But if Jesus is complaining, isn't that a sin? No, it isn't folk. In fact, if you pray about something that isn't right in your life and you pray to God to fix it for you, that's complaining.

This is such a silly attempt at false piety it's ridiculous.

Peekaboo hack for blogger...

2007-04-09T16:27:00.000-05:00

I just implemented an awesome hack on my blogsite. Don't worry, it has nothing to do with trying to hack people's computers. What it does is allows me to make huge posts, but have after a paragraph or two a "read more" link that opens up the rest of the post. Click read more... to read more!

I found the hack on this website name Hackosphere. It turns out, as long as you make sure you locate the exact places to put the new code and copy and paste, you wont break your template. I've wanted this functionality for a while but bloogle didn't add it to the recent beta upgrade. Now, anyone can have it.

Keep in mind, this particular hack only works for the new blogger. There are hacks for the old blogger. I'm putting a permanant link in my sidebar.

Johnny Hart, dead at 76.

2007-04-08T20:59:00.000-05:00

I just read on the associated press that Johnny Hart, creator of B.C., died of a stroke on Saturday at age 76. He was at work at his drawing table and apparently suffered a stroke. He died doing what God called him to do.

At the right I put up a copy of one of his easter sunday comics from a few years back. His simple way of putting things was always refreshing. I know I will miss his wit and humor, and his family will be in my prayers.

Rest in Christ Johnny. Till we meet on God's golden shore.

This week on the Whitehorse Inn

2007-04-08T16:03:00.000-05:00

Is What We Know of Jesus Wrong?

This week, Mike Horton interviews Ben Witherington, author of What Have They Done with Jesus: Beyond Strange Theories & Bad History - Why We Can Trust the Bible. Recent books by Dan Brown (Da Vinci Code), Bart Ehrman (Misquoting Jesus), John Shelby Spong (The Sins of Scripture), as well as the entire issue of the "Jesus Tomb" supposedly have many Christians questioning the particulars of the faith, but the truth is always stranger and more difficult to accept than conspiracy theories and modern day myths.

Click here to listen to this special Easter Program that affirms Jesus is Risen! He is risen indeed!

All Chrisians wind up Lutheran in the end

2007-04-07T19:36:00.000-05:00

In Luther's day, in the Augustinian monestary, when one of the monks was on his death bed, it wasn't uncommon for them to be thinking in terms of what they had done in life and whether they had done enough good works to make the cut in God's eyes. This is when someone would hold a cross or crucifix before the dying man, and then they would finally remember where their salvation lies. In the end, every Christian has only the cross of Christ to look to. Even Roman Catholic Christians, who when their head hits the pillow at night are thanking God that He sent His son to die for their sins.

Today's evangelicals live by an odd paradox. They have such a shallow view of sin and grace that it's a wonder they cling to any faith whatsoever. I'm not trying to cut them down in any way. I believe they are as sincere about their faith as any Christian throughout the ages could be. The paradox is that the things that they believe strengthens their faith actually destroys faith. And that can actually be a good thing!

What am I saying? Consider this for a moment. We are about to embark on the season of Easter, wherein the celebration of Christus Vicktor will be our song and praise. Our faith comes by hearing what God has done for the sake of Christ on our behalf, and our faith is strengthened by hearing it repeated and eating it and drinking it. The wonderous word made flesh in our ears and on our lips. That's something that is unique in Lutheranism, this reveling in the work of our savior for his sake.

Today's evangelical goes down a different path. They will say prayers that sound not too different from what we would, and worship in a way that, at first glance, roughly resembles Christian worship. But as soon as this easter day is over, they will turn to the law again for advice on how to live a virtuous Christian life and recieve blessings in return.

We Lutherans teach of three uses of the law. The use, being a curb, is there to reign in unrightousness in the world and applies everyone, believer and non believer alike. The second use applies to only Christians, and is the mirror that reveals to us our sins and drives us to dispair of our situation. The third use is the advisory use, that tells us what a Christian life should look like, and this third use is what modern evangelicals are predominately concerned with. They take third use and take it such and extreme that it becomes a heavy burden, which then becomes second use that reveals to them how much they fall short of God's demands. The law of God is always the law of God, no matter what use we may make of it. We might try to use the law to get a blessing or even to try to prove how worthy we are, but the Holy Spirit will use it however HE sees fit. The person who tries to live by the law will die by the law, and that death will come because of second use of the law, or the law driving us to Christ.

In Galatians, 3:24, St. Paul makes a reference to a cultural practice in the greek word, paidagogos. That word refers to a person who was hired by the father of a son to follow the son around and whack him with a stick any time he stepped out of line. Each time the kid did something his father deemed against the rules, the paidagogos whacked him. Pretty mean, eh? So also the law whacks us, till eventually we turn to Christ for relief.

So third use, advisory use, of the law turns easily to second use, driving the one who strives to be justified under the law of his own strength to flee to Christ. The faith we may have in the works done in the flesh is destroyed by the accusation of the law, and faith in Christ is built up by the repentence and turning away from the socalled "virtues of the flesh". Just as the monks in Luther's time were driven by the law's accusations to believe that they hadn't lived up to the standards of God, so also do the sincere evangelicals find they are accused by their own attempts to follow the advise of the law. And just as the Monks in Luther's time were reminded by the Cross of Christ where their only hope lies, so also is the sincere evangelical reminded by the Cross of the hope, no, the only hope, which is Christ alone.

It's good that their faith in their works is destroyed. It's good that their faith in Christ is renewed. In the end, every Christian winds up a Lutheran.

This is a test... Podcast link.

2007-04-06T11:52:00.000-05:00

It's taken a bit of trial and error to find a host for my churches podcasts that's reliable, but I think I've found one. Switchpod actually offers 200 megs of hosting for free with real urls for each file.

Click here to listen to the podcast and tell me if it worked and what the quality was like.

This file is a larger higher quality version of the above file.

Good Friday: A litany on Christ's Passion.

2007-04-06T10:40:00.000-05:00

O crucified Jesus, Son of the Father, concieved by the Holy Spirit, Born of the Virgin Mary, eternal Word of God,

we worship you.

O crucified Jesus, holy temple of God, dwelling place of the Most High, gate of heaven, burning flame of love,

we worship you.

O crucified Jesus, ruler of every heart, in you are all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, in you dwells all the fullness of the Godhead,

we worship you.

Jesus, lamb of God,

have mercy on us,

Jesus, bearer of our sins,

have mercy on us,

Jesus, redeemer of the world,

grant us peace.

Almight God, look with mercy on your family for whom our Lord Jesus Christ was willing to be betrayed and to be given over to the hands of sinners and to suffer death on the cross; who now lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, ever one God, now and forever.
Amen.

Grace Before the Cross: Lazarus

2007-04-06T06:20:00.000-05:00

Lazarus(John 11:1-44)

There’s so much going through my mind right now. What is death? What is Life? Who can know how to answer these questions? O Jesus, you should know. You called me out from the grave. Now, we’ll have to prepare a grave for you.

Who am I? I am Lazarus of… Bethany. Yes, I’m the same Lazarus, the onethat that man up on that cross raised from the dead. Why is he up there if he can raisepeople from the dead? That’s a good question. The reason he’s up there… Is because of me. About two weeks ago when I was still back in Bethany, I started to feel sick. It wasn’t like an ordinary sickness, like the kind that makes you feel run down but isn’t so bad that you can’t keep working and doing your normal daily routine. No, this was different. When this illness struck, I couldn’t even get out of bed. My sisters, Martha and Mary, hadn’t seen me like this since I was child and were afraid that I wouldn’t survive, so they sent word to Jesus of Nazareth – That man up there on that cross – because many people had witnessed him do great miracles. They thought surely if he came he could heal my sickness. And I believed he could too.

But Jesus was delayed. I’m not sure why, but it’s probably because there weren’tmany placed left where he could travel in the open. In fact, a good number of the people in and around Bethany in Judea wanted him dead, and had tried to stone him! What I remember most about lying in the bed waiting for Jesus to come and my fever was growing and I slipped in and out of consciousness, was wondering if he would get here in time. We were friends. I knew that he cared about me and although at the time I didn’t know how much he cared, I thought that surely he wouldn’t just let me die. I remember hearing some people cry, my sisters most likely, and some other people from the village. I remember a breath where it felt as though a huge weight were laid upon my chest. Each breath came harder and harder, and my eyes were so heavy I couldn’t keep them open.

What happened next I can only tell you from what I was told. I died. My family and people from the village cried for me. My sisters prepared my body in the customary way, and laid my body in the family tomb. I’d seen that tomb I don’t know how many times. When you walk past a tomb like that and you can smell the dusty odor, you should be reminded that it’s a tomb in use. It’s the family tomb. But when you’re young you don’t think about how one day you’ll be lying in it.

I know, that’s a good point. I’m standing here alive right now, but I’m telling you I was dead. You should think it’s crazy, it’s only natural. They tell me, though, that when Jesus came to Bethany and they led him to the tomb, he didn’t say anything like what you would expect a great healer to say, or even like someone who knew he was about to raise me from the dead. No, rather… Jesus wept. All the tears from Mary and Martha and the other people had moved him deeply. You would think that he would have winked at them and said, “if you think my other miracles were great, just wait till you see this”, but instead he cried bitterly. It’s as if… He hated death. It’s as if he hated that death was causing such sorrow and pain.

But yet there he is, and he’s dying.

I was in the tomb for four days. We’re taught by the rabbis and the teachers that it takes that long for someone’s spirit to leave after death. I remember, though, as I lay in my bed dying thinking “Jesus will come”. He will. He wont abandon me. I closed my eyes and it felt like I couldn’t breath. I felt the weight of death.

But the next moment, it seemed, I heard a voice shouting, “Lazarus, come out!” My eyes, which had been heavy just before snapped open wide, and what I saw was not the ceiling of the house I had been laying in, but rather stone! And what else, but I realized I was seeing the rocks through a veil that was rapped around my head! I breathed in, and it was as though I had never taken a breath in my life! Fresh air came into my chest and the heaviness was gone. I raised my head and I could see light, and in that light I could see a silhouette of a man, and in an instant I recognized both the man and the voice that had called out my name. It was Jesus! He had come for me! I struggled to roll over and I realized it wasn’t just my head that was wrapped in strips of cloth, but my whole body was wrapped. I caught a whiff of dust, and I realized where I was. I finally rolled over and as my feet touched the ground the strips of cloth hampered me as I tried to stand. The strips gave way somewhat and I began to move towards the light and the voice I had heard. I walked toward that man! Once I came out into the light, I heard Jesus say, “take off the grave clothes and let him go”. I was led aside and sat down on a stone and some people began working quickly but carefully to get the strips of cloth off of me. They started with my head, and they pulled the veil fully off my eyes and I saw Mary with Jesus standing close by. They were both smiling at me. I was alive!

We invited Jesus to come back again soon, and six days before Passover he came. He should never have come, but we were so glad to see him and we were laughing and crying. Mary went to get the gift we had got for him. We had put our money together and bought Jesus a jar of pure nard. We knew that Jesus didn’t have any family that cared about him and we were trying to say to our dear friend that should he pass on, we would provide care for him – Not that we wanted him to die anytime soon. We wanted him to live a long and full life.Jesus understood our intentions and you could tell he was overwhelmed. Mary used some the nard to anoint Jesus’ feet. We did this out of love for him, but O how naïve could we be? Judas was there as well. He turned on Jesus and complained that the nard should have been sold to buy food for the poor, but Jesus flat out rebuked him. He said, “the Poor you will always have with you, but you will not always have me”.

Then a large crowd of people found out where he was and we were telling them all about what Jesus had done, and many of those same people believed in him. Many of those same people were there when he rode into Jerusalem! And many of those same people also put him up there on that cross. They were crying out, “crucify him!” It’s like they are all dead too, but in a different way. It’s like they are all dead inside.

I was just like that once, too.

Because of all of that, Jesus is up there on that cross. The same man who less than two weeks before was smiling and laughing with us… The same man who called me out from the grave. He’s naked up there. They’ve nailed his hands and his feet. There’s blood everywhere. They stuck a crown of thorns on his head. He’s bleeding from that too. He’s sunburned. I can see he can’t breath. It must be like a heavy weight on him. It’s getting dark too, almost like night and it’s the middle of the day! What can that mean!

Oh Dear God! Speak to him like he spoke to me so that he can rise from the dead too!

Theology: The Art of Making Distinctions

2007-03-27T04:23:00.000-05:00

Pastor Tom Baker has a daily radio show at KFUO called Law and Gospel. He has many sayings he loves to use, but perhaps the most insightful (inciteful?) statement he makes is "theology is the art of making distinctions". In a post just three spots down from this one, I wrote a piece about The Rev. R. Albert Mohler Jr. and his statements about genetic reasons for homosexuality and curing it if such a thing were possible. That's fine. He can make his distinctions if he wants to, although there are a lot of people who disagree with the distinctions he makes.

But that's not what this post is about. I have some great teachers, not the least of which is the Holy Spirit, but both Pastor Tom and Pastor Gary (of Risen Savior Lutheran Church and School in Palm Bay) have been challenging me to make fine distinctions. I tell them, "hey, I'm an artist. Asking me to make fine distinctions in theology is a bit like asking Botticelli to paint one thousand songbirds on a one inch canvas". I'm game for trying, always, and ready to be corrected if necessary, but I do like to try.

Another blogger asked me in the comments to the Mohler post the following:

I would like, however, to explore this statement regarding "not for the sake of Christ's work alone." When you say "work" do you mean the work of Redemption, or are you referring to the work that God does in the sinner? If the latter, then I agree with your statement. Faith can never be in what God accomplishes in us. But if the former, I would like you to elaborate more. In once sense is our faith not also in the finished work of Redemption? That is a fine edge indeed, and I am not sure where you are going with it (if that is indeed what you meant). Perhaps that could be the subject of a new blog entry.

I promised him I would, so let me get out my tiny little one-hair brush and get to painting those songbirds.

The Bread King?

Crazy sounding statements like "salvation is by Grace alone, through Faith alone, for the sake of Christ alone, Not for the sake of Christ's work alone" jar people, and I'll admit that part of the reason I make them is to make people stop and do a double take. This one in particular is becoming a favorite of mine because it helps people (lutherans especially) understand how weird the statement "faith alone" must sound to Roman Catholics. The word "alone" makes Christians crazy, and sometimes the hearer is thrown into a fitted battle between his old man and his new man.

Let's consider Jesus' actions in John Chapter 6 when the people wanted to make him king by force. "Jesus, knowing that they intended to come and make him king by force, withdrew again to a mountain by himself." (John 6:15) It's interesting that Jesus would do that. Why wouldn't he want to be king? That was part of his mission on earth, wasn't it? Was it because he didn't want to be king? Was it because the people had missed the point of his miracle?

The problem with talking about Law and Gospel is twofold in this current culture (there's actually more, but we'll stick with two for time being). Because it's pretty much unique to Lutherans, the evangelical on the street has no idea what you're talking about beyond maybe a old testiment/new testiment dichotomy. But even once you've dispelled that view, usualy what comes up next is "works vs. faith", which isn't necessarily true all the time either. The discussion I had (and am sure to have again in the future) ended up in a question, "When you say "work" do you mean the work of Redemption, or are you referring to the work that God does in the sinner?"

Answer? Both.

THE way, THE truth and THE life.

Ok, I've only painted half the birds, so let me continue. In John 6 starting with verse 25, the people have followed Jesus to Capernaum and he told them, "I tell you the truth, you are looking for me, not because you saw miraculous signs but because you ate the loaves and had your fill." I can hear them saying to themselves even, "well, duh!" So he says, "work for food that endures to eternal life". They immediately ask, "what must we do to do the works God requires". Then Jesus says, "the work of God is this: to believe in the one He has sent".

Then what do they do? Demand a miracle from him so they can believe. They are right back where they started, wanting more miraculous signs. "Feed us more bread and fish" they might say. "Raise a man from the dead" they might say. They might even say, "die on a cross and then be raised from the dead yourself so that we can believe in you." In fact, if Jesus wanted to have maximum marketing effect to draw more people into his church on earth then he should have opened up in Jerusalem playing three performances per night at the temple. "Come one, come all and see the Amazing Jesus of Nazareth and his performing 12. Be amazed at the spectacle of people raised from the dead! Watch as the deaf hear, hear as the blind see, jump as the lame walk." In fact, it could have been the beginning of the election campaign of all time. "Cast your vote for Jesus for King of Israel. Free bread and fish and wine in large jars provided at no charge." The Herods wouldn't have stood a chance.

Does all that sound right? After all, the people with Jesus bring up the point that their forfathers ate manna in the wilderness and that was a miraculous sign. God gives signs and commands the people to remember the things that he's done, repeatedly saying to them, "I AM the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt", and one could add the rider, "with no help from you people, thankyou very much". What Sign indeed? What sign will wicked people accept?

No, Jesus dropped a bombshell on them. "The bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world." When they demand that he give them this bread he says... "I AM the bread of life." Why they didn't try to kill him right then and there is a mystery. They grumbled about it. They wanted a sign, but all Jesus seemed to want to talk about was himself. In fact he get's more and more explicit as time goes by, talking about flesh and blood in a way that's strangely intimate. No signs, no wonders, just eating flesh and drinking blood. True food and true drink. In fact, Jesus puts himself on the scene in the wilderness as the giver of life, as does St. Paul, when he wrote in 1 Corinthians, "They all ate the same spiritual food and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ."

But before the conversation was over with, all of the disciples left save the twelve. I mean, Jesus can give you just about anything and everything you could want, right? Bread for the feast, and turn water into wine. Outcast? Jesus can fix that. Dying? Jesus can fix that too. Lame? Deformed? Blind? Deaf? He can fix all of that, and more! He can even die and rise again! Amazing! Where do I sign up? I believe! I believe in Jesus.

Thing is, there are a lot of people who believe in Jesus who aren't saved at all. And I don't mean the backslidden Christian, the carnal Christian, or any of that. No, they believe everything the bible says. They believe the miracles happened. They believe Jesus died and rose again from the dead. They believe it all. What they don't believe is the promise. Jesus kept coupling the promise of eternal life with a kind of intimacy with himself that is both strange and yet familiar, even to my own ears even today. "I will raise them up in the last day"... "Eat my flesh and drink my blood"... "The words I speak to you are spirit and they are life"...

"...and I will raise you up in the last day". Luther said that, in the Lord's supper, the most important words in the institution is "for you". Because if you don't believe that all of this is "for you", you have nothing. How many times did Jesus say that? "...and I will raise you up in the last day". Four times. Remember also, what St. Thomas had to say about this, silly though it was. "Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe it (he rose from the dead)." Jesus pretty much "nails" Thomas after that. "Because you have seen me you believe. Blessed are those who have not seen and believe". In fact, if you stop and think about it, this stuff about Jesus being the way, the truth, and the life is preposterous. This whole thing is too loopy to believe. In fact, even if Abraham Zapruder (famous for his film of JFK's assasination) had been on the scene with his camera filming the Jesus' death and resurrection... People still wouldn't believe. CNN, Fox News, ABC, CBS, and MSNBC could have been camped around the place of the skull broadcasting the event to the world with commentary and interviews with the Caiphus and the others, even Pontius Pilot could have been soundbyte of the week: "What I have written, I have written."

Thankfully, Salvation is by grace alone (God has created a way to be overtly overgenerous to sinners), through faith alone (the tool that God provides to grasp and hold onto the promise), for Christ's sake alone (grounded in the person and work of Christ himself), for the glory of God alone (He alone has done this, at great cost). What we have in Christ is not just a miraculous sign of resurrection, but a living Christ who serves himself up to us in a way that's as startling as it is intrusive in our faithless world. It's not just Christ's work that saves, but his presence, "the word of eternal life", as Peter put it. The word that is spoken that is spirit and life. The Word made flesh.

So it's sort of a trick saying. "...For the sake of Christ alone, but not for the sake of Christ's work alone". That very fine edge, especially during this time of lent, is a fine thought indeed.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I would like to thank each person who's responded to this blog. One thing I'm certain of, God wont let me run to far astray, mainly because of the great people He's put nearby me to act as shepherds in his stead. This was by far one of the hardest and scariest posts I've done so far. Hard, in that I'm being made to reach out hard for things I don't fully understand yet, and scary in that I don't want to lead people or myself out into weird places.

When to be outraged...

2007-03-24T08:09:00.000-05:00

Female Judge in Frankfurt Germany says Koran Verse allows Husband to beat Wife.

In an absolutely bizzarr ruling, a divorce Judge in Frankfurt German quoted a Koran Verse that is often interpretted to mean a man can beat his wife if she is "unchaste".

The woman wanted a "quickie" divorce from her husband because he hit her and threatened to kill her. The judge ruled that being "castigated" by a husband was not sufficient grounds for a divorce.

It's seems to me that the judge missed the point. What we have here is a man threatening to kill his wife... That's murder folks. The west needs to wake up and rethink this stupid notion that Islam is a religion of peace. Case in point...

There's more youtube video of this nature than anyone can realize. If Sharia law were to come to the United States, and actually be tolerated, then this would be what we would get in so called "sermons"... Practical advice on how to beat your wife.

Heavenly Father, have mercy on us all. Amen.

Under His Wings...

2007-03-15T07:01:00.000-05:00

Psalm 91

He will cover you with his feathers,
and under his wings you will find refuge;
his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart.
You will not fear the terror of night,
nor the arrow that flies by day,
nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness,
nor the plague that destroys at midday. (4-6)

This Psalm is often seen as a messianic Psalm, for two reasons. One is because it seems to point to someone other than your average Israelite (including David), and the other because it includes a passage that Satan used to tempt Jesus. Satan had taken Jesus to the top of the temple, and said to him, "If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down. For it is written: " ‘He will command his angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’"

Of course, Jesus replied back with better from Deuteronomy 6:16. It's known today that a sign the Israelites were expecting of the messiah was that he would be able to jump off the top of the temple and angels would come to rescue him. They probably took this also from Psalm 91, but Jesus refused to do this, even though it would have shown the whole world he was truly the messiah. In this case, he proves himself to be God's own son by obeying his Father, saying, "it is written; you shall not put the LORD, your God, to the test".

But what else might Jesus have been up to? Many of today's teachers say that Jesus was proving himself in wilderness, and indeed it's obvious that he was. But what's even more remarkable is that in that same Psalm that Satan used to tempt Jesus, it says, "For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways". (Ps 91:11) This line, I think, is important because later on, on Maundy thursday night, Jesus said as the temple guards were preparing to arrest him...

"Put your sword back in its place," Jesus said to him (one of his companions), "for all who draw the sword will die by the sword. Do you think I cannot call on my Father, and he will at once put at my disposal more than twelve legions of angels? But how then would the Scriptures be fulfilled that say it must happen in this way?" (Mt 26:52-54)

Here, we have Jesus saying he could call out for help, but refuses so that the scripture would be fulfilled. He could call, but he didn't. Isn't it remarkable that only a short while before a ministering angel was there in the garden with him? (Luke 22:43) Jesus, while being tempted by Satan, turned down the help of angels, even if it were to show all the world he is the Messiah. Here, Jesus turned down the help of angels... to show the world he truly is the messiah!

Jesus said, many times, that he came to fulfill the law and the prophets. (Mat 3:15, 4:14, 5:17, 8:17, 12:17, 21:4, Jn 12:38, 13:18, 15:25). He also said, he came to be a ransom for many. (Mat 20:28, 1Ti 2:5-6, Heb 9:15). His entire life, from start to finish, was about fulfilling the righteous demands of God, even to the cross itself and death on Golgotha for all. Each time he turns down the gifts that God would give his only son, whether it's food in the wilderness, or angels to rescue him, or riches or the world, or life itself... he turns it all down, suffering instead in our place, taking our sins, our trials, our torments, our hunger... Just as the prophet said, "Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows" (Is 53:4) And because of this, we can now have the promises of God in the Psalm:

"Because he loves me," says the LORD, "I will rescue him;
I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name.

He will call upon me, and I will answer him;

I will be with him in trouble,

I will deliver him and honor him.
With long life will I satisfy him

and show him my salvation." Ps 91:14-16

Just as it says, "For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways". Guard our hearts and minds in the true faith unto life everlasting. This, for our lenten season, we see your glory and sacrifice, and recieve the promises ever in your name, Amen.

Sin as act or sin as condition.

2007-03-14T16:49:00.000-05:00

The Rev. R. Albert Mohler Jr., president of Souther Baptist Theological Seminary, has created a furor by publishing and article entitled, "Is Your Baby Gay? What If You Could Know? What If You Could Do Something About It?" Click here to read his article.

The furor comes over his admission that there could be a genetic cause for homosexuality and if so, could there be something done about it. Gays, of course, are up in arms over this because they still mix a strange worldview wherein they want free will but at the same time want to uphold that free will by saying they don't have free will (hence the genetic arguments).

But that's not the issue I'm going to pick on. In a news article written by David Crary for the Associated Press, he reports that "Proof of a biological basis would challenge the belief of many conservative Christians that homosexuality - which they view as sinful - is a matter of choice that can be overcome through prayer and counseling."

I'm glad he says "conservative Christians", but actual conservative Christians aren't interested in a list of sins, but rather the sinful condition. Historic Christianity says that all human beings (save for one) exist in a fallen state wherein it is in their nature to sin. Martin Luther, in his work Bondage of the Will, expounds on the biblical concept of sin and mankind's fallen state, reiterating the Christian doctrine that "all have sinned and fallen short of the Glory of God". The reason we are all sinners is because our wills are in bondage to sin, and the only solution to that problem is a savior, Christ the Lord.

I'm not certain about the assertion that we should look into a medical treatment for homosexuality. It's my belief that the cure would turn out to be curse. I would be curious as to whether anyone would be interested in a cure for, say, hateful thoughts, or gossip, or depraved indifference to fellow human beings. But that's a discussion for another time. People do need to understand that just because another person's sin seems greater than yours does not make you less in bondage to sin than another. Both Albert Mohler Jr. and the gays that assail him need to understand this.

Lord Grant your command, In Jesus name. May it be so.

This week on the Whitehorse Inn March 11th...

2007-03-11T18:53:00.000-05:00

This week the boys at the Inn are joined by Mark Driscoll, pastor of Mars Hill Church in Seattle, to discuss how to do outreach without it being "sellout" reach. In fact, Driscoll's point is that people in America have been so oversold on religion that they are done with it. Moreover, most of the time the niche marketing tactics used by today's church is seen to be, for the most part, insulting to people's intelligence.

I tend to agree there. I know from personal experience that it's very difficult to go to a church where you are talked down to by people who don't know enough about a given subject to fill a gnat's naval. And it's even worse when you are being talked down to on a subject (like say, the Bible) and the person talking down to you should know more than you and they don't. It's a bit like going to the dentist and finding that he or she talks to you like you know nothing as they are about to drill on your teeth without giving you novacaine first.

Click here to listen to the show.

Nothing to do with anything...

2007-03-10T08:21:00.000-05:00

But I thought this was pretty neat. I wish I'd had something like this when I was a kid. He's playing a video game called "dance dance revolution", which is played on a special control pad that you dance on.

Daddy says to his son, "That's amazing", and the kid calls out to mom to come and look. It is amazing.

Faith Connected to Something Real...

2007-03-09T07:30:00.000-05:00

What is the point of Faith? The reason I ask the question is because there seems to be some growing confusion as to what faith is. Christians understand (at least Lutheran Christians do) that their faith is based on extra gnose, or knowledge that is outside of us. That knowledge comes from God in His word and is demonstrated in real human history by His acts and His intrusion into the world in the person of Jesus Christ. This Christ lived a life of perfect obedience to God's will, suffered on a real wooden cross, shed real RH typable blood, and died a real, true death. He was raised from the dead, really and truly, in the flesh, was touched by real people, ate real fish in front of his disciples, and breathed real breath on them. It's all true.

But even more so than all that of that, our faith is based on promises that are connected to the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. "Whosever believes in him shall not perish, but have everlasting life". This is just as true as anything else about Jesus, whether people believe it or not.

Faith is nothing more than the utensil -- the empty hand -- that grasps and hangs onto these truths. But lately, there seems to be a push to redirect people's attention away from that which faith grasps and believes, and turn their attention to faith itself. After the recent "documentary" about the lost Jesus tomb, there was a discussion panel moderated by Ted Koppel. It would seem that there was a concensus, led by the Roman Catholic (priest?) that it wouldn't matter how much proof there was that Jesus didn't rise from the dead. No matter what, they would still believe.

No matter what, eh? On a recent broadcast on a Christian radio station, the host of the show gave the following fake scenario as a news report: Archeologists have found a second chamber near the "lost tomb" of Jesus that contains a cross, and on that cross is a sign written three languages that says "JESUS OF NAZARETH - KING OF THE JEWS". The letters on the sign are written in Aramaic, Greek and Latin. DNA testing shows that the blood on the cross matches the DNA samples of the bones in the ossuary that bears the inscription, "Jesus, son of Joseph".

Ok, what I'm hearing is that, faced with such a scenario, people would continue to believe no matter what. I'll grant that this amount of evidence that Jesus didn't rise from the dead isn't incontrovertable, but it's pretty good. But what I'm hearing that's even more disturbing is that quite a few teachers and pastors are, in essence, telling people to look at the fact that they believe that Jesus rose from the dead as proof that it's all true and the report is not.

That's exactly the trap that Satan has set for us. He absolutely loves it when God's people examine their faith in times like this. I mean, after all, do I really have faith? In the face of such strong evidence that Jesus never got out of the tomb, never was resurrected... is my faith strong enough to withstand that? Or should I turn away from myself and my faith and look to God and his promises?

Any time we tell someone to examine their faith, we could well be doing the work of Satan. Satan's biggest single trap is he wants us to doubt. He wants us to say goofy things like "I'll believe, no matter what" rather than simply looking to the Cross of Christ for comfort. In fact, if people want to do something in times like this as a bible study, just start with chapter one of Job. God's message for Job, whose faith was assailed on all fronts, is exactly the message we need to hear. If anyone points you to your faith as proof, or tells you that you have strong faith or weak faith in the face of Satan's barbs and schemes, just think about Job when he said "I know that you can do all things; no plan of yours can be thwarted. "

Along with the truth of Jesus Christ, his life, his death, his resurrection, and his promise to "raise you up in the last day", is the truth that God's plans cannot be thwarted. It's impossible for people to refute the Jesus of God's plan. They can try, but they cannot succeed. So let them keep digging in the sand. They wont find peace there.

The Pearl of Christian Comfort

2007-03-05T21:26:00.000-05:00

The Pearl of Christian Comfort was written in the sixteenth century by a Dutch reformed pastor named Petrus Dathenus. The book consists of a series of letters written between himself and an aristocratic lady who was afraid for her soul.

This is a short, sweet, masterful presentation of Law and Gospel. The book itself only costs 9.50 from Amazon.com, and I highly recommend it. Dathenus rightly places the law in it's accusitory position and shows us how our sin is so great that we have no hope of ever living up to that standard and allows us along with the woman to whom he is writing to look to Jesus as our Lord and Savior. He shows how the Law is fulfilled In Jesus Christ to it's fullest.

What's particularly nice is how he responds to at first to a question concerning the famous passage from Deuteronomy, "Cursed is the man who does not uphold the words of this law by carrying them out." When she states that she knows she hasn't kept the law and questions why God would require us to do something we cannot do perfectly, his startling answer is, "it's because you do not rightly know Jesus Christ".

An amazing read for anyone trying to understand Law and Gospel as a distinction, especially how it pertains to the reformation.

Tonight on Issues Etc...

2007-03-04T08:20:00.000-05:00

Tonight on Issues Ect. Tod Wilken talks to Dr. Craig Evans of Acadia Divinity College in Nova Scotia, Canada about the new Documentary called "the Jesus Tomb". This program begins live on KFUO.org at 10 PM EST and is live for two hours. You can call the show with questions, just talk to Jeff and tell him Matt sent you.

"The Jesus Tomb" is a film made by film maker Schimca Jacobovici with hollywood director James Cameron (Titanic, Terminator). The claim that is made is that a tomb found in Jerusalem contained the remains of not only Jesus, but Mary Magdalene, another Mary, and a son named Judah. The claim is based on "statistical analysis" that shows that the odds are 1 in 600 that these names would be found in the same tomb and supposedly means that this is the actual tomb of Jesus of Nazareth.

Click here to begin listening live. If you don't have Windows Media Player, you can find a link to the program to the right of this column under links to KFUO.

This week on the Whitehorse Inn March 4th...

2007-03-04T08:03:00.000-05:00

This week on the Whitehorse, Mike Horton, Kim Riddlebarger, Rod Rosenbladt and Ken Jones take discuss "Finding truth in a world of Spin".

Justice? How do we spin a word like that in today's culture? Sin? Grace? Do Christians understand what these words really mean with regards to God's word? Holiness? Does that have anything to do with man, or does it have everything to do with God? Rod Rosenbladt says that today's evangelical church is a "comfortable materialism". He believes that the materialism of our culture makes us blind to being frightened by death and a judgement by a just and holy God.

Click here to listen to the show.

Number 2 on google!

2007-03-04T07:19:00.000-05:00

Don't know how that happened, but it's pretty cool. Tear Down the High Places comes in second on a google search. It used to not be listed at all!

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&safe=off&q=tear+down+the+high+places

Now all I need to do is figure out how to bump off this "branches in the vine" site. ;)

Lenten readings

2007-03-03T09:14:00.000-05:00

This year for wednesday night services, we are having a series of "dramatic readings" that read like a testimony from each person from scripture that Jesus touched in a special way. Ash Wednesday featured Pastor Gary doing "the Leper", which reads as though he's there near the cross as Jesus is hanging there. It was outstanding, since Pastor Gary seems to have had considerable training in oration.

I've been asked to do one of these readings. I've been tasked with doing Lazarus on Maundy Thursday. Gary gave me the text from the reading booklet, and he also gave me one of the ones that he already completed a rewrite for. Each "reading" is not too bad on it's own, but He said that he felt they needed some work. He's letting me rewrite it.

It's pretty cool, actually. It means that I'm going to be reading during the time when the sermon is normally given. What's nice is, each reading is very much like a sermon and contains law and gospel. I'm about to record what I've written to an MP3 to send to the Pastor for his approval.

I'm excited.

New graphics for a new perspective

2007-03-03T09:05:00.000-05:00

I just finished doing a custom graphic package for "High Places". I wanted my own look that I haven't seen on a website before, one that glows and seems to be lit from behind.

The new perspective comes just as I find been accepted into a lutheran blog webring, "Blogging Lutherns". It's interesting seeing some people like myself perhaps just as interested in a new reformation as I am.

More on "the Jesus tomb"

2007-03-02T09:59:00.000-05:00

On KFUO this week, Tod Wilken talked to Dr. Paul Maier (Western Michigan University) about the so called "Jesus tomb" revelation in a documentary by Simcha Jacobovici and James Cameron (the Terminator). I'm amazed at what Cameron had to say about this. He says he's really not trying to derail Christianity, but rather provide for the first time real, tangible evidence that Jesus really existed.

What's he thinking? Very few people think that Jesus was a mere fairytale. Almost every modern scholar will tell you that Jesus was at least a real historical person. It's the resurrection that bothers people. If Jesus was not raised from the dead, then there is no Christianity.

Listen to Dr. Maier talk about these revelations.

Listen to Dr. Ben Witherington of Asbury Theological Seminary talk about "the Tomb".

Odds are 1 in 600...

2007-02-27T09:22:00.000-05:00

If you were being prosecuted in a court of law for murder, would you want to be convicted on a statistical probability? Lets say, for example that the prosecution says, "The murderer was in the same city as the victim, was wearing bluejeans, a black dresscoat, and had white hair. The defendant was was in the same city as the victim, was wearing bluejeans, a black dresscoat, and had white hair. The odds are only 1 in 600 that anyone that night would fit that description, so the defendant must be the murderer".

First of all, the prosecutor would be laughed out of the courtroom. Second of all, better evidence is needed to convict someone of murder. Statistical probabilities are not going to go very far in a court of law.

Enter James Cameron. (right) He and filmmaker Simcha Jacobovici have put together a documentary on a tomb that was discovered 26 years ago in Jerusalem. In the tomb was found some caskets, or ossuaries, that have inscribed on them the names of Jesus son of Joseph, Mary, and another Mary called "Mariamene", supposedly Mary Magdalene. The filmakers had some experts in statistics run the chances that these names would be found together and the results were 1 in 600. James Cameron and Simcha Jacobovici say that this is conclusive and proves that Jesus died and was buried rather than raised from the dead.

Now, first of all, I want to address the name "Mariamene a mara". They say that this is Mary Magdalene. Nice try guys. First of all, "Magdalene" is not Her last name, but rather refers to where she is from. Mary of Magdala (Magdala near Tiberias, on the west shore of Galilee), like Jesus of Nazareth, or Joseph of Aremathia. The Filmmakers haven't even addressed what Mariamene a mara even means. Do a search of Google, look at any Greek dictionary... it can't be found.

Second of all, these names were extremely popular hebrew names. Joseph of course is famous in the old testiment as Joseph son of Jacob, who went down into Egypt and was made second by Pharoah. Mary, is famous from the name Mariam, sister of Moses. Jesus, or Yeshua, is famous because of Joshua, who led the Israelites into the promised land. Add to that the fact that after the time of Jesus, these names would have become even more popular because of their connection with the gospel accounts, and you could have lots of Josephs, Jesuses and Marys running around being related to each other, not to mention buried in a tomb together.

Third, the tomb was found inside Jerusalem's walls. Jesus was recorded as being born in Bethlahem, and lived in Nazareth. Mary, his mother, lived in that area as well. Same story with Joseph. Why would they be buried in Jerusalem rather than on their own family ground? And what about Mary of Magdela? Why would she be buried there as well? Why would Jesus' ossuary say "Jesus son of Joseph" while Mary Magdelene's says "Mary of Magdela"? Why wouldn't Jesus' say "Jesus of Nazareth"?

Fourth of all, the purpose of an ossuary was to make it easy to move the remains of the deceased. It was always Jewish custom to move the remains of relatives should they need to be moved, and it wasn't necessary that the remains be kept together because the hebrew people kept copious records of geneologies. So it's not entirely clear that any of the ossuaries that were found in the tomb were even related to each other.

Silly people. A 1 in 600 chance isn't good enough. It wouldn't stand up in a court of law, and it shouldn't stand up in the court of public opinion either.

Part 6, Prosperity gospel

2007-02-27T09:06:00.000-05:00

Syncreti-city

Reverend Hugh Beck, Lutheran campus pastor at Texas A. & M. University, writes in his book, What Should I Believe:

Some people understand the Bible to be basically a code book which, if properly deciphered, gives one access to the very mind of God. Some people understand theBible to be basically a sort of catechism with answers for any and every question that may come to our attention. Some people understand the Bible to be basically a presentation of certain beliefs and doctrines that are to be dug out of various parts of the Bible without regard to the setting in which they appear, are to be pieced together into a whole, and then must be believed in just that way.22

A classic case of this kind of eisegesis can be found in Kenneth Copeland’s the Laws of Prosperity. After conflating the two covenants into one, he lays down his system for prosperity. He writes, “In Deuteronomy 28, we see the blessings that come from obeying the Word of God. For instances, verses 11-12 state, “And the Lord shall make thee plenteous in goods, in the fruit of thy body, and in the fruit of thy cattle, and in the fruit of thy ground, in the land which the Lord swore unto thy fathers to give thee. The Lord shall open unto thee his good treasure.” You see, God blessed Abraham and his descendants with prosperity because He swore it in the covenant. Praise God!23” We can see clearly here that Brother Copeland has confused the Abrahamic covenant with the Mosaic Covenant, which St. Paul clearly distinguished in his letters as separate and even conflicted covenants!

Brother Copeland continues, “God did not curse Adam; He built a garden for him and provided everything he could possibly ever need or want. Satan is the one who brought in the curse. When Adam united with Satan, everything in the earth was cursed.24” Here we begin to see an air of dualism, with God and Satan being equals. In the paragraph before Brother Copeland states, “Then beginning with verse 15, we find an outline of the curse of the law. “But it shall come to pass, if thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to observe to do all his commandments and his statues…that all these curses shall come upon thee, and overtake thee.” This curse spells complete and total poverty in every area of life. Poverty is not a blessing from God. To believe that it is, that it carries with it some sort of humility, is to believe that God is the author of the curse, and He is not! God is the author of the blessing.”25 Brother Copeland’s version of God appears to not be sovereign, and incapable of punishment on His own. At this point the author of this paper would have to ask brother Copeland, “Who brought on the plagues of Egypt?”

Then the LORD said to Moses, “Get up early in the morning, confront Pharaoh and say to him, ‘This is what the LORD, the God of the Hebrews, says: Let my people go, so that they may worship me, or this time I will send the full force of my plagues against you and against your officials and your people, so you may know that there is no one like me in all the earth. For by now I could have stretched out my hand and struck you and your people with a plague that would have wiped you off the earth. But I have raised you up for this very purpose, that I might show you my power and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth. (Exodus 9:13-16 NIV)

Just one clear example from Scripture that God is the one who brings both blessings and curses. The author to the Hebrews wrote in chapter 10, verses 30 and 31, “For we know him who said, “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” and again, “The Lord will judge his people.” It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.” He was quoting several passages of Old Testament scripture:

It is mine to avenge; I will repay. In due time their foot will slip; their day of disaster is near and their doom rushes upon them. (Deuteronomy 32:35)

The LORD will judge his people and have compassion on his servants when he sees their strength is gone and no one is left, slave or free. He will say: “Now where are their gods, the rock they took refuge in, the gods who ate the fat of their sacrifices and drank the wine of their drink offerings? Let them rise up to help you!(Deuteronomy 32: 36-38)

Brother Copeland’s confusion of the two covenants is, the author of this paper believes, a fundamental confusion of Law and Gospel. St. Paul makes a clear distinction between the two covenants in Galatians, Chapter 3, verses 16 through 18:

The promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. The Scripture does not say “and to seeds,” meaning many people, but “and to your seed,” meaning one person, who is Christ. What I mean is this: The law, introduced 430 years later, does not set aside the covenant previously established by God and thus do away with the promise. For if the inheritance depends on the law, then it no longer depends on a promise; but God in his grace gave it to Abraham through a promise. (Galatians 3:16-18 NIV)

But, Brother Copeland states clearly in his book:

Let’s stop and consider for a moment that when God made His Covenant with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, He promised to take care of them and their descendants. They were free men! Consequently, every Jewish slave who bore the lash under Egyptian rule was a free man! There was only one problem… they didn’t know it! Therefore, God called Moses and gave him the ability and authority to write down the covenant God had made with Abraham. This way, the people would know what had been done and what had been agreed to. Moses went forth in the name of the covenant, performed miracles by the power of God in the face of Pharaoh, and led God’s people out of bondage. They could have gone free 400 years before, but they didn’t know their covenant!26

Moses wrote down the covenant made with Abraham? Does brother Copeland mean to suggest that Moses wrote down the Law? Or the covenant? Abraham’s covenant is based on promises made by God, and in that covenant only one command is given, and that’s circumcision. In the quote above, brother Copeland seems to suggest that there were certain agreements made and Moses wrote them down before Mt. Sinai, indeed, before the people even left Egypt!

Let’s look at the covenant that was made with Abraham, known then as Abram. Chapter 15 of Genesis.

As the sun was setting, Abram fell into a deep sleep, and a thick and dreadful darkness came over him. Then the LORD said to him, “Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own, and they will be enslaved and mistreated four hundred years. But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves, and afterward they will come out with great possessions. You, however, will go to your fathers in peace and be buried at a good old age. In the fourth generation your descendants will come back here, for the sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure.” (NIV Genesis 15:12-16)

Now, here we have God stating quite plainly that the people would most definitely be enslaved for four hundred years. In fact, God’s reasoning for them staying in Egypt for four hundred years was “for the sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure”. God’s judgment on the people of land of Canaan would later be carried out by Israel led by Joshua as they conquered the territory, just as God had promised. Brother Copeland seems to think that the people of Israel could leave anytime, had they known they were free.

Look also at what God himself did to seal this promise. In Verses eight through eleven, when Abram asked God how he would know he would take possession of the land, God tells him to get a “heifer, a goat and a ram, each three years old, along with a dove and a young pigeon”, that Abram then slaughters, cuts in half (minus the dove and the pigeon), and arranges the pieces opposite each other. This kind of arrangement was later talked about by God through the prophet Jeremiah, Chapter thirty-four verse 17, “The men who have violated my covenant and have not fulfilled the terms of the covenant they made before me, I will treat like the calf they cut in two and then walked between its pieces.” This ceremony was a solemn ceremony whereby an agreement was made between two parties, and then the covenant was sealed in blood when the two parties walked between the pieces signifying that if one or the other party breaks the covenant, they would become like the dead animal. God takes his covenants seriously.

So when Abram has set up the animals in this same covenantal fashion, he falls into a deep sleep. Then after God makes his promises to Abram, God passes between the pieces of the animals alone.

When the sun had set and darkness had fallen, a smoking firepot with a blazing torch appeared and passed between the pieces. On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram… (NIV Genesis 15:17-18)

Abram was asleep. He didn’t walk between the pieces with God, but rather God walked between the pieces alone. The promise that God made, He covenanted in blood to uphold Himself, by Himself regardless of whether the people believed it or not. In fact, God meant all along to uphold this covenant through blood (Jesus’ blood) and His own death. Interesting, since in Christ, God Himself did actually die. What this means is that the covenant that God made with Abram was fulfilled in Jesus death and resurrection. The promise was broken by the people, but God upheld the promise in the death of Jesus and his resurrection. This is why the writer to the Hebrews can say that this covenant is based on better promises. (Hebrews 8:6)

St. Paul says that these two covenants are distinct from one another. In fact he says that, “The law, introduced 430 years later, does not set aside the covenant previously established by God and thus do away with the promise”. How could the law be introduced 430 years later if it had already been introduced 430 years earlier? The answer is that the law wasn’t given until Moses.

St. Paul says that these two covenants are distinct from one another. In fact he says that, “The law, introduced 430 years later, does not set aside the covenant previously established by God and thus do away with the promise”. How could the law be introduced 430 years later if it had already been introduced 430 years earlier? The answer is that the law wasn’t given until Moses.

Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned— for before the law was given, sin was in the world. But sin is not taken into account when there is no law. (Romans 5:12-13 NIV)

This verse is being taken out of context, but the point is to show that St. Paul, at least, believed that the covenant laws as they were given at Mt. Sinai were not given till that time, rather than believing that they were given to Abraham 430 years earlier.

So thus far we can see some characteristics of pagan beliefs creeping into the prosperity gospel.

Pelagianism
Confusion of Law and Gospel
Dualism, pitting God against Satan as equals
Positive thought theology imported from Christian Science
Faith defined as “a force”, or force at least defined as a characteristic of faith
Man is seen a having a god like will

There is a disconnect between historic Christianity and the word of faith prosperity gospel. They teach a mitigated gospel not too different from Roman Catholic teachings.

In fact, one could make the argument that the prosperity gospel isn’t even remotely Christian other than in name.

22 What Should I Believe, Hubert Beck, Published by Concordia Publishing House, ISBN 0-570-03800-6 page 61
23 The Laws of Prosperity, 1974 Kenneth Copeland, page 41
24 The Laws of Prosperity, 1974 Kenneth Copeland, page 41
25 The Laws of Prosperity, 1974 Kenneth Copeland, page 41
26 The Laws of Prosperity, 1974 Kenneth Copeland, page 43

This week on the Whitehorse Inn

2007-02-27T07:33:00.000-05:00

The Question of Tolerance

This week at the Inn, Mike Horton, Kim Riddlebarger, Rod Rosenbladt, and Ken Jones discuss tolerance and intolerance and today's postmodern culture's tendency to be intolerant to so called "intolerant religions".

I would add to the conversation that this issue amounts to namecalling. People today get on Christians for saying that Jesus is the only way (and free at that), and express intolerance towards us even as they call us intolerant without noticing what they are doing. Click here to listen to the show.

People making weird truth claims...

2007-02-24T11:15:00.000-05:00

Semper Reformanda ~ Always reforming.

I'm so tired of people making inconsistant statements. Take this post on a Blog I found on a "lutheran" Webring.

http://recoveringlutherans.blogspot.com/2007/02/thursday-thirteen-1.html

First of all, this person is so badly catechised, it's not even funny. The blogger makes this claim:

2. Judging others.
We're all guilty of doing this from time to time because it is human nature, but I really hate it when I hear Christians judging other people, especially when they go so far as to speculate that another person is not a "true" or "real" Christian or question where the person in question will be spending eternity. We are commanded to "judge not, let you also be judged."

Then turns around in the next point and judges other Christians.

3. Displaying an attitude of superiority as compared to other religions.
Too often Christians act as though they have "a lock" on the truth and everyone else
is so ignorant that they don't deserve to be treated as equals. Our truth is just that: Our truth as we understand and believe it. I am a firm believer in John 3:16. But I also believe that, as Jesus commanded, I should strive to maintain an attitude of humility at all times, even when it comes to the fact that I have discovered what I believe to be the truth.

And in that particular point, states that they believe Christians don't have a "lock" on the truth, then turns around says:

5. Denying the inherent truth of the Gospels.
At first glance, this might seem like a contradiction of above items. But it is not.I have actually heard Christians say shocking things like, "Well, I don't believe in hell" or "I don't think there really is a devil." In my opinion, if you are going to adopt the label of "Christian," you must embrace the core concepts of the belief system without reservation.The most basic tenet of Christianity is set forth in John 3:16: "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." He also said that no one will come to the Father except through Him. Therefore, as we understand the truth, the possibility of eternal damnation for those who reject those basic tenets is real. Christians are called upon to proclaim the Gospels boldly, not shrink from their message because it is unpopular or unpalatable to some.

The blogger had already stated in an earlier point that:

1. Attempting to convert co-workers.
There is a time and place for everything and it is most inappropriate to proselytize in the workplace. Sure, if you happen to know that one of your colleagues is a Christian, it is acceptable to mention your shared beliefs at lunchtime, during breaks, etc. so long as the conversation takes place in appropriate locations and does not interfere with other folks' rights.

So let's see... Rules for Christian living include:

Proclaim the Gospels boldly
Do not shrink from the message because it is unpopular or unpalatable to some.
Don't bother your coworkers with the message because it would be unpopular or unpalatable to some
Don't say the gospel is true because we don't have a lock on the truth
Don't say the gospel is untrue
Don't interfere with other people's rights
Don't deny the inherent truth of the gospel, just deny it by denying Genesis is true history so that Jesus, "the second Adam", is a fulfillment of an allegory rather than a fulfillment of God's will for the history of redemption.

Yup, that's consistant alright. Sorry, I'm a polemic. Get used to it.

Blasphemy Challenge: Atheists Pwned by upstart theologian!

2007-02-20T10:42:00.000-05:00

I don't know if anyone reading this knows it, but on youtube.com, there's a thing going on called "the blashphemy challenge". Atheists are asked to submit videos in which they "blaspheme" the Holy Spirit. I've watched a number of these and they all get it wrong. They think that all they have to do is deny the Holy Spirit, Deny God and deny the Jesus is God. It's funny though, because in order to actually blaspheme the Holy Spirit they would have to attribute the work of the Holy Spirit to the devil, which means they'd have to admit there is a God, which means they aren't really atheists in the first place.

But I digress.

This video, from a Christian, makes the best case against Atheism I've heard on Youtube yet. He's good, although I think he went to quickly past some complex ideas (in Mathematics we'd say, "he didn't show all his work").

Today on the Whitehorse Inn...

2007-02-18T07:23:00.000-05:00

Today on the Whitehorse Inn, Mike Horton and the usual cast of Characters discuss Postmodernism and the Emergent Church. I find this subject fascinating. I'm starting to see that Brian McClaren and his contemporaries are in actuality reacting to the previous generation's "church" by creating a form that is formless. The whole thing kind of reminds me of what happens with each generation's music. The want their music to be so radical that it disturbs their parents while it affirms the new generation's sense of self.

If that's true, then the emergent church is basically a selfish endeavor designed to make it's practitioners feel good about themselves. Listen carefully when Shane Rosenthal asks Brian McClaren "what is orthodoxy and how can a Christian know what is in bounds and what is out of bounds". McClaren basically says that a community needs to be built first, around principals and ethics, then doctrine can be discussed.

Brian, if you ever read this, keep in mind that our forfathers first and foremost had a message to shout out, and around that message a community was built. Think of it this way: no one would have wanted to see the movie "Star Wars" if no one had first talked about it. Fans talked about it, discussed it, learned it, and around that a fan community was built. For Pete's sake people, even the secular world knows this. Why doesn't the church?

Click here to listen to the show.

Sunday, bloody Sunday

2007-02-16T20:29:00.000-05:00

This is got to be one of the funniest, yet thought provoking web produced video I've seen in a long time.

It's post modern to the hilt, but it get's it's point across in good fashion. George W. Bush rockin' out with his own version of U2's "Sunday, bloody Sunday".

KFUO Worldwide

2007-02-15T08:13:00.000-05:00

Yesterday on KFUO worldwide:

On Issues, Etc. Todd Wilken interviews Brigitte Gabriel, Author of "Because They Hate". She is a survivor of Islamic Terrorism and tells us that "Islamic religious authorities and terrorist leaders repeatedly state that they will destroy the United States. Unless we take them at their word, and defend ourselves, they will succeed"...

Click here to listen to the show.

Part 5, Prosperity gospel

2007-02-15T07:11:00.000-05:00

A tale of two sons

Let us move on to an extensive dissertation by brother Copeland concerning the parable of Jesus, the Prodigal Son. In this passage brother Copeland attempts to draw a distinction concerning the brother of the prodigal son being someone who has a problem with “littleness of thinking”. But first, we need to give brother Copeland his due for stating the gospel clearly… Only to take away the good news at the last second.

We have seen from the Word that God has established His covenant in the earth, but what about the new covenant? The Word says it is a covenant of righteousness based on better promises. As we have read in Deuteronomy, God called Israel stiff-necked and unrighteous. According to the new covenant, we have been made the righteousness of God in Jesus Christ. God does not see us a stiff-necked people. (He sees us many times as an untaught people because we do not know the covenant, but we are not stiff-necked and unrighteous.) He sees us through the blood of the Lamb: spotless, blameless, beyond reproach. Israel was the servant of God; we are the sons of God (see Galatians 4:7). We need to realize our rights as His children and citizens of the kingdom of God.20

Although there are many points that could be picked on here, let’s stick with brother Copeland’s use of the gospel in this case. Are we to assume that even after Jesus paid the full price for sin, we still are somehow missing out on the benefits of salvation? He continues:

To illustrate, let’s look at the parable of the prodigal son from Luke 15. For many years we have read this story without realizing its full significance, and it has a very important application in the area of prosperity which has been entirely overlooked. As we have read about the prodigal son coming home, we’ve stopped there. Our minds have been on him, but what about the other son? The prodigal son took his inheritance and squandered it. When he returned home, his father killed the fatted calf and threw a big party welcoming him with open arms. Then the other son came in, saw what had happened and got mad at his father. He said, “I have stayed with you, and you have never even given me a little goat. Yet when he goes off and wastes his money, you celebrate by killing a calf for him!” Then his father said, “But, son, everything I have belongs to you.” In other words, he was saying, “You could have had a fatted calf anytime you wanted it. It belongs to you. I’m pleased that your brother has come home, but you could have had it for the asking!” You see, the other son would have settled for a goat when the calf was his all the time! The inheritance belonged to both sons; only one took advantage of it. The older son did without because of the littleness of his thinking. Most Christians are cheating themselves out of their full inheritance in Jesus Christ because of the littleness of their thinking. By not knowing their covenant, they do not know their rights as children of Almighty God!21

Note first of all that brother Copeland resorts to a frequent tactic used by “word of faith” teachers, in that rather than quote scripture verbatim as we have seen him do previously, he paraphrases the text. He also pulls the passage out of context, which leaves him with a good place from which to prove his point: The second son is a “little thinker”. That means that, since there are many Christians not prospering in their newness in Christ, they all must be suffering from the same bad thinking. Note that we have located an important connection between “word of faith” teachings and those of Phineas Parkhurst Quimby, who helped found Christian Science.

The context of the parable of the prodigal son in Luke 15 Is found at the beginning of the chapter:

Now the tax collectors and “sinners” were all gathering around to hear him. But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.” (Luke 15:1-2 NIV)

Each of the Parables in this chapter has attacks aimed directly at the Pharisees:

I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent. (Luke 15:7 NIV)

In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.” (Luke 15:10 NIV)

The final dig comes at the end of the parable, when Jesus points up the attitude of the Pharisees toward not only the people Jesus was associating with, but Jesus himself.

“But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate. For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So they began to celebrate.
“Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on. ‘Your brother has come,’ he replied, ‘and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.’
“The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him. But he answered his father, ‘Look! All these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!’
“ ‘My son,’ the father said, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ ” (Luke 15: 22-32 NIV)

The Pharisees couldn’t have missed these attacks. Indeed, this kind of language was exactly what led to Jesus being crucified. Jesus has here drawn a comparison between the brother of the prodigal son and national Israel. The brother in the parable couldn’t be angry that he doesn’t have anything, because at the beginning of the parable Jesus plainly states that the father divided his property between his two sons. No, the brother is angry because of his father, who “never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!”

His father never gave him even a young goat. Even after he had worked so hard for his father. And worse yet, his father gave his wayward, sinning brother a feast upon his return. The father never gave the brother anything. Brother Copeland has missed the point of this parable, and worse, seems to be more interested in using the scripture to make his point concerning health, wealth and prosperity than striving to arrive at the truth of scripture.
___________________________________
20 The Laws of Prosperity, 1974 Kenneth Copeland, page 39
21 The Laws of Prosperity, 1974 Kenneth Copeland, page 40

"What's your beef with 'prosperity gospel' anyway?"

2007-02-14T06:32:00.000-05:00

Yeah, I have a beef with the prosperity gospel (and by extension, those who teach it) . Many people have asked me about it, so here it is.

I used to attend a church where this was the default mode of the church. Basically, Sin and Grace was a small refrain, Jesus and his work on the cross for us was a background tune, and the sacraments were nonexistent. Ok, one could say I'm being picky, but the fact is that when Jesus is a side note and the normal work of the church is set aside, many abuses are made possible. Though unintentional, there can be no doubt of this.

Case in Point: One woman at the church had a nerve pinched so severely in her shoulder that she was in constant pain, running down her arm into her hand. Her arm was becoming deformed. The women at the church laid hands on her and prayed over her, and the woman was given a number of things she needed to do to "receive her healing". Nothing worked. The conclusion that the women at the church came to was that this poor woman did not have enough faith. The woman left the church and she was declared "unteachable".

When I saw this woman, later after I heard what happened, I had to make it clear to her what was going on. In all the suffering and being told her faith wasn't strong enough or she didn't have enough faith, she never gave up on her faith in Christ. She had gotten her miracle alright. Nothing could separate her from the love of God.

For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Ro 8:38-39 NIV)

Another case was of one evening the pastor was "anointing" people so that they would "baptized in the holy spirit" and be able to "speak in tongues". Later, when the ones who didn't get their anointing were taken into a back room I could wailing and anguish from another woman who, it turned out, didn't get her anointing. Although I'm not 100 percent sure, I can guess that she was questioning whether she was a Christian or not. After all, the "spirit" had rejected her and she didn't get her anointing so she could speak in tongues.

Notice I'm not mentioning anything that happened to me personally. I wont go into those details, since my own experience might be tainted. But the actions and experience of others speaks volumes to me.

Yeah, I have a beef with the "prosperity gospel". Like Paul said, "But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let him be eternally condemned! As we have already said, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let him be eternally condemned!" (Gal 1:8-9 NIV)

No Christ, no Gospel. No Gospel, no Salvation. No Salvation, no Prosperity. No Christ... No hope.

Book Recomendations

2007-02-14T05:37:00.000-05:00

The Gospel According to Dan Brown
by Jeff Dunn (Author), Craig Bubeck (Author)

There have been a lot of books written debunking "The Da Vinci Code", but this book takes a different path. Rather than going over the historical and factual errors, the authors analyze the world view presented to us in the story itself. One's worldview has a drastic effect on one's ability to interpret reality, and that is definately true of Dan Brown. The authors also dissect each of Dan Brown's novels to show how he creates a case for his world view and how he packages his "gospel" in a whodunit mystery that leads the reader on to discover the hidden "truth".

Absolutely fascinating reading. One little known fact that is revealed about Dan Brown is his abortive attempt to have a music career. If you do a search on the internet you can find some of his material.

Part 4, Prosperity gospel

2007-02-13T08:09:00.000-05:00

The Pelagian Code

The teachers of the prosperity gospel teach a wide variety of different ideas, but no teacher has had the same influence as Kenneth Copeland. His books have sold millions of copies, and through his TV appearances on the Trinity Broadcast Network he has reached and influenced millions of people along with dozens of other televangelists. Let us look at an excerpt from his book, the Laws of Prosperity9.

When God made man, He gave him a will that has power. It is actually a godlike will because man has the right to choose his own eternal destiny. Only a god has that kind of choice! Man was made in God’s image and given the will to make up his own mind. You can go to hell if you want to and God will protect your right…you don’t have to, but you can. On the other hand, you can choose Jesus Christ and the Word of God. In Deuteronomy 30:19, God said, “I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live.” What a privilege! The choice is yours!

As you can see, we have a minor (?) conflict here with historic Christianity. In the Canons of the Council of Orange, Against the Pelagian heresy, we find written:

If anyone maintains that God awaits our will to be cleansed from sin, but does not confess that even our will to be cleansed comes to us through the infusion and working of the Holy Spirit, he resists the Holy Spirit himself who says through Solomon, “The will is prepared by the Lord” (Prov. 8:35, LXX), and the salutary word of the Apostle, “For God is at work in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure” (Phil. 2:13). (Canon 4)

This is another defining trait of the prosperity gospel. Pelagianism has been a bane of the church throughout her long history, and continues to crop up at will throughout the body of Christ. The majority of the prosperity teachers have taught “decisional theology10”. But historically speaking this is not what the church has taught, but rather has fought valiantly against this error. It’s too bad the Kenneth Copeland didn’t finish reading in Deuteronomy, because he would have read this:

And the LORD said to Moses: “You are going to rest with your fathers, and these people will soon prostitute themselves to the foreign gods of the land they are entering. They will forsake me and break the covenant I made with them. (Deuteronomy 31:16, NIV)

It would appear that God already knew what the people would do.

This common Eisegesis11 of scripture, either by isolating passages from their context or wholesale misinterpretation of the words in plain English, is an overriding trait of “word of faith” and prosperity gospel teachers. Many examples of this kind of interpretation can be found throughout Christendom, of which our reformation fathers fought long and hard to correct, but no other tradition has practiced eisegesis more fervently than the “word of faith” tradition.

Covenant Confusion

One trait held in common between “word of faith” teachers and the standard Arminian12 theology is embodied in the general confusion of the Mosaic Covenant13 and the Abrahamic14 Covenant. Since it is also influenced by premilliennialism15 and dispensationalism, decisional theology is the norm. The Mosaic Covenant is seen as a fulfillment of the Abrahamic Covenant, Rather than the Mosaic Covenant being fulfilled by the person and work of Jesus Christ in his life, death and resurrection.

In classic Lutheran Theology, the distinction between Law and Gospel was called “a special guiding light that serves till the end of time that God’s word may be rightly divided”16. The law is everything that God commands; the Gospel is everything that God promises. In this view, it is seen that the Christ fulfills the Mosaic Covenant and extends the Abrahamic Covenant to all who believe in Him.

The conflation of the two covenants can be seen clearly in brother Copeland’s book, the Laws of Prosperity, where he makes his case for these spiritual laws that he claims governs prosperity and who can receive prosperity:

Abraham…Moses…David…Solomon…why did God bless these men? Why have so few men found the blessings of God in finance? We need to renew our minds to God’s reason for financial blessings. In the book of Deuteronomy, we see the predominant rule to remember in living a prosperous life: “And thou say in thine heart, My power and the might of mine hand hath gotten me this wealth. But thou shalt remember the Lord thy God: for it is he that giveth thee the power to get wealth, that he may establish his covenant which he swore unto thy fathers, as it is this day” (Deuteronomy 8:17-18).

The predominant rule: God gives the power to get wealth.

Why? To establish His covenant.17

We can already see how brother Copeland is stretching the two covenants to fit each other. First, he takes a statement from God and turns it into law. It’s true that “the power to get wealth” comes from God, but brother Copeland is about to turn this away from being a work of God into a work of men.

Deuteronomy 29:9 says, “Keep therefore the words of this covenant, and do them, that ye may prosper in all that ye do.” According to this, we should be prosperous in everything we do, but we must keep the words of the covenant.18

This is the beginning, from which brother Copeland quickly drives his readers off into the weeds and back under the law. As my Pastor, Gary Held, pointed out, “There is “wealth”, and then there is wealth. True riches are found in Christ, but only through trusting the Gospel. Material wealth can be accumulated by anyone, including (especially?) unbelievers. Arab oil Sheiks have no faith (in Christ) and have lots of material property”. I would add to that the example of Bill Gates. As far as I can find, he is not a Christian in any sense of the word, but is one of the most wealthy and most influential men in history. Brother Copeland believes that by obeying the law of the mosaic covenant one can become wealthy.

According to the author to the Hebrews, Jesus said:

Therefore, when Christ came into the world, he said: “Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but a body you prepared for me; with burnt offerings and sin offerings you were not pleased. Then I said, ‘Here I am—it is written about me in the scroll—I have come to do your will, O God.’ ”

First he said, “Sacrifices and offerings, burnt offerings and sin offerings you did not desire, nor were you pleased with them” (although the law required them to be made). Then he said, “Here I am, I have come to do your will.” He sets aside the first to establish the second. And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. (Hebrews 10:5-10
NIV)

Jesus fulfills the Mosaic covenant by His own body by doing the will of God. It’s difficult to see how Jesus’ atonement fits into the “word of faith” system, but from what this author can gather, it appears that Jesus simply isn’t necessary. Jesus’ finished work on the cross seems to be a side note to the prosperity gospel. Perhaps it’s the attraction of a "system", much like Romanism, where the Gospel of Jesus Christ is the beginning and the work that we do is ultimate means to the end?

St. Paul’s letter to the Galatians, whom Paul was livid at their turning away from the gospel of Jesus Christ, wrote:

The Scripture foresaw that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, and announced the gospel in advance to Abraham: “All nations will be blessed through you.” So those who have faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.

All who rely on observing the law are under a curse, for it is written: “Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law.” Clearly no one is justified before God by the law, because, “The righteous will live by faith.” The law is not based on faith; on the contrary, “The man who does these things will live by them.” Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.” He redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit. (Galatians 3:8-14)

St. Paul’s admonishments here concerning living under the law are clear. Living under the law brings back the curse of the law while living and walking by faith in Jesus Christ brings salvation. Even more startling is that, in that same section of his book, brother Copeland makes this claim:

You see, when you put the Word of God first in your life and it becomes your final authority, prosperity is the result. It is inevitable because the Word of God covers every situation in life. THE WORD IS FINAL AUTHORITY.19

Covers? Brother Copeland doesn’t explain what he means by “covers”. It would have been nice for him to explain how God’s word “covers every situation” but rather our brother in Christ is here trying to establish an absolute from God’s word that simply doesn’t hold. He makes a law statement by saying “put the word of God first and prosperity will result”. However, we read from St. Paul in his letter to the Romans:

Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us. (Romans 5:1-5 NIV)

Perhaps St. Paul is referring to the suffering that can come with great wealth? The author can’t tell from reading Kenneth Copeland’s book, but it certainly seems to be what brother Copeland is implying. One thing is for sure: In the “word of faith” system, if an individual doesn’t receive his blessing after having put God’s word first, the reasoning will always be that the individual either didn’t have enough faith, or didn’t keep God’s word first.
______________________________________
9 page 11, the Laws of Prosperity, Kenneth Copeland.
10 decision theology proposes that the very act of deciding to commit one’s life to Jesus is what saves an individual.
11 Eisegesis, plural eis·ege·ses, the interpretation of a text (as of the Bible) by reading into it one's own ideas – compare exegesis. Merriam-Webster dictionary.
12 Arminian, Ar·min·i·an, of or relating to Arminius or his doctrines opposing the absolute predestination of strict Calvinism and maintaining the possibility of salvation for all. Merriam-Webster dictionary
13 Covenant made with national Israel at Mt. Sinai in Exodus
14 Covenant made with Abraham in Genesis 15
15 premilliennialism , pre·mil·len·ni·al·ism, the view that Christ's return will usher in a future millennium of Messianic rule mentioned in Revelation
16 Mueller, p. 533; Triglot Concordia, Formula of Concord p. 801, LCMS PDF document, Triglot Concordia, Formula of Concord, http://www.lcms.org/graphics/assets/media/LCMS/TrigBOC.pdf, p. 342, “We believe, teach, and confess that the distinction between the Law and the Gospel is to be maintained in the Church with great diligence as an especially brilliant light, by which, according to the admonition of St. Paul, the Word of God is rightly divided.”
17 The Laws of Prosperity, 1974 Kenneth Copeland, page 35
18 The Laws of Prosperity, 1974 Kenneth Copeland, page 36
19 The Laws of Prosperity, 1974 Kenneth Copeland, page 38

Cooky conspiracy theories...

2007-02-12T05:32:00.000-05:00

Want to see how far some people will go in constructing an idol? The Craftsmanship of this particular idol is astounding.

http://www.hoax-buster.org/

The guy gives a ton of "facts" that support his claim the bible is a hoax. Maybe he should read Lightfoot's How we Got the Bible (Amazon: How we Got the Bible). At least Lightfoot actually sites his sources, which the author at "hoax-buster" refuses to do because scholars are "indoctrinated"... He claims the Christian religion started in Egypt...

This is exactly why I have this blog. Once the torrent of strange ideas and socalled "facts" weigh in together, whether it's the da vinci code or stuff like this "hoax-buster", all that stands in the rubble of the postmodern revisionism is Christ and him Crucified.

This Guy believes that Jesus is a fraud. Who do you say he is?

This week on the Whitehorse Inn Feb. 12th

2007-02-12T04:20:00.000-05:00

This week, the boys at the Inn Discuss Postmodernism and it's effect on our culture.

http://www.oneplace.com/ministries/the_white_horse_inn/

Mike Horton notes that postmodernism is a "condition", we need to recognize that fact before we talk about the theories and definitions of what postmodernism is. I find that to be an interesting way to look this because until now the way the culture has tried to define postmodernism has been to refer to "relativism" and truth as being relative even when something can be proved true. An awesome discussion.

Part 3, Prosperity gospel

2007-02-12T03:52:00.000-05:00

Faith as trust v. Faith as a force

One of the primary problems in the world we live in today is a problem of definition. One person has a definition of any given concept and another may have a completely different definition. In context with today’s prosperity gospel, we have a major problem of definition in the Christian concept of faith.

A classic definition of Faith can be found in the Heidelberg Catechism (cir. 1563)

It is not only a certain knowledge by which I accept as true all that God has revealed to us in His Word, but also a firm confidence which the Holy Spirit creates in me through the gospel, that, not only to others but to me also God has given the forgiveness of sins, everlasting righteousness and salvation, out of sheer grace solely for the sake of Christ’s saving work. (Question 23)

Over and against this definition of faith, which is an historic definition, we have today’s “word of faith” teachers proposing a radically different view. Kenneth Copeland, in his book, the Laws of Prosperity7, writes:

“Faith is a spiritual force, a spiritual energy, a spiritual power. It is this force of faith which makes the laws of the spirit world function. When the force of faith is put to work, these laws of the spirit function according to the way God says they will.”

This is the second basis for today’s prosperity gospel. To remind the reader, E. W. Kenyon wrote:

‘When you know that "By His stripes you are healed" and you know it as you know that two and two are four, the adversary will have no power over you. When you know the Power and Authority of the Name of Jesus and that you have a legal right to use it, and the adversary lays siege to you, you will not be filled with fear. You will simply laugh at him and say, "Satan, did you know you were whipped? Leave my body." He will leave.’

When we couple these two teachings together, we begin to see how today’s modern prosperity gospel is constructed. Now granted, they are defining, to some extent, what they see as an attribute of faith, a force that creates reality. The only trouble with this belief is that it’s not found in scripture. In historic Christianity it’s understood that God’s word created the heaven and the earth, and that Jesus is the one by whom all things were made. But in “word of faith” and prosperity gospel teachings it is put forth that it is literally words that create reality.

“Star wars” Theology

This idea of the “force of faith” is reinforced in the pop culture of our day, as well as in what may be the most influential cultural event of our day. George Lucas, in his fifth installment of his movie epic, Star Wars, wrote a scene concerning the mystical energy called “the force”. The scene is in The Empire Strikes Back, and involves one of the lead characters trying to levitate an X-wing fighter. He fails, and his master gives this little dissertation on what “the force” is:

Luke Skywalker: I can’t… It’s too big…

Yoda: Size matters not. Look at me! Judge me by my size do you? And well you should not! For my ally is the force and a powerful ally it is. Life creates it. Makes it grow. Its energy surrounds us and binds us. Luminous beings are we, not this crude matter. You must feel the force around you. Here, between you, me, the tree, the rock, everywhere. Yes, even between the land and the ship.

Luke Skywalker: You ask the impossible.

Yoda then levitates the ship himself, and Luke Skywalker exclaims.

Luke Skywalker: I don’t believe it!

Yoda: That is why you fail.

Are we not surprised to find that Yoda’s pep talk sounds resoundingly like the confession of our churches today? Change “the force” to “the Holy Spirit” and read it again. The culture in the Americas is ingrained with this kind of thinking. If you just believe, you will succeed. This is just but one example of how popular culture has picked up on teachings such as those of Norman Vincent Peale, and made them their own.

The quote above also shows how a Gnostic8 worldview is the norm in our culture. “Luminous beings are we, not this crude matter”. The Christian worldview is best summed up in the 3rd article of the Apostle’s Creed.

I believe in the Holy Spirit,the holy catholic Church,the communion of saints,the forgiveness of sins,the resurrection of the body,and the life everlasting.

The “resurrection of the body” was the default view in the ancient church. In today’s culture this would be interpreted as grotesque, as witnessed by a large number of movies and books devoted to the subject of ‘resurrection’. Definitions are key. In the horror genre we find the norm for bodily resurrection to be portrayed and embodied as zombies (as in George Romero’s Night of the Living Dead films), vampires, (any given Dracula movie or book, or Anne Rice’s Vampire Chronicles) and other evil monsters, (ie, Frankenstein). In this genre, the flesh is portrayed as bad, and particularly in Anne Rice’s tomes, the spirit is seen as good.

Anne Rice’s novel, Interview with a Vampire, presents to us a classic Gnostic view of spirit and flesh, embodied in the protagonist Louis. He spends a large amount of time riddled with guilt over his ‘bodily’ desires, ie, his need for human blood, even to the point of trying to obstain from human blood and lives on the blood of rats. His flesh is presented as his biggest problem, and his spirit is presented as being good in his desire to do the right thing and not kill humans to feed his desires.

Although, to a certain extent, the good/bad dichotomy is a generalization of true Gnosticism, one must keep in mind that the average North American does not know the actual tenants of true Gnosticism, but only knows what his or her hearts tell them and where it leads them. It’s not difficult to see the Gnostic worldview in popular culture once one knows what to look for. The author of this paper believes that if his readers look closely, they will realize gnosticism is not only the default view of the culture, but is many times also the default view of the church.
____________________________
7 The Laws of Prosperity, 1974 Kenneth Copeland, ISBN 0-88114-952-7. page 20 PDF document available at http://www.kcm.org/studycenter/finances/index.php
8 Gnosticism, a view that holds that all things material are inherently evil and all things spiritual are inherently divine.

Everyone needs to check out Pastor Tom Baker's show, Law and Gospel...

2007-02-08T11:13:00.000-05:00

He does two hours live on KFUO worldwide from 2pm to 4pm daily (EST).

http://www.kfuo.org/LG.htm

Also, I'm working on the next part of my properity gospel series. I came out of a church that wholeheartedly believes that stuff, which is why I think it seemed good to the Holy Spirit for me to write this paper.

This week on the Whitehorse Inn

2007-02-07T08:50:00.000-05:00

This week on The Whitehorse Inn, Mike Horton, Kim Riddlebarger, Rod Rosenbladt and Ken Jones talk about narcissism in the culture and the church. It almost seems as though there's a new "gospel" category to add to the list of "social gospel" and "prosperity gospel": The Narcissistic Gospel. Literally, the Gospel According to Me is the name of the game these days in all church bodies, from the lowliest non-denominational church to the mainliners to the Roman communion.

Listen to this week's broadcast at One Place and while your there sign up for the podcasts.

Part 2, Prosperity gospel

2006-10-01T19:27:00.000-05:00

They taught what?

One tendency in the church at large from generation to generation is to claim that the previous generation or tradition is somehow inadequate or even apostate. It’s a sinful activity, but can easily be seen in today’s charismatic groups, sighting what they believe as anti-spiritual or anti supernatural teachings and tendencies in previous traditions handed down throughout the centuries.

E.W. Kenyon wrote in his essay, Do you believe in Miracles?, that “Christianity began in miracles; it is propagated by miracles. Every New Birth is a miracle; every answer to prayer is a miracle; every victory over temptation is a miracle. When Reason takes the place of the miraculous, Christianity loses its virility, fascination, and fruitfulness.” To which, the author of this paper wholeheartedly agrees. But Kenyon goes on to write, “On the other hand, we have those who are contending for an original, miraculous, element in Christianity, but declaring that miracles ceased with the death of the apostles; that Christianity does not need the miraculous today to convince men of the Deity of Jesus.”

This claim against a strawman version of the church, a church that denies any supernatural element in the body of Christ that Kenyon writes about may have been an argument of his day, and indeed there is a sort of extremism at work in the body of Christ as whole even in our own times. But Martin Luther, the sixteenth century reformer of the Christian church writes in his small catechism explanation of the third commandment:

We should fear and love God, and so we should not use his name to curse, swear, practice magic, lie or deceive, but in every time of need call upon him, pray to him, praise him and give him thanks.

“Call upon him, pray to him, praise him and give him thanks”. Martin Luther is saying here that God is our ultimate provider, even if we don’t recognize our provision as being from God in the first place. In his explanation of the Lord’s Prayer, he writes:

What is meant by daily bread? Everything required to satisfy our bodily needs, such as food and clothing, house and home, fields and flocks, money and property; a pious spouse and good children, trustworthy servants, godly and faithful rulers, good government; seasonable weather, peace and health, order and honor; true friends, faithful neighbors, and the like.

Are Kenyon’s charges against historic Christian beliefs founded in reality? The problem with the claim that miracles are still needed in the church today is that those who press for a more “miraculous” church fail to recognize the single most important miracle God has performed. Faith is a miracle. Faith in times of trouble is a miracle. Faith in times of want is a miracle. As the apostle Peter wrote in his first epistle:

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade—kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. (1 Peter 1:3-7 NIV)

“Your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire”. Placed in it’s context, this passage shows that God see’s our faith as having greater worth than even gold. Signs and wonders are not necessary when true God given faith is present. What more could a believer want? Unfortunately, believers still caught in a sinful condition often desire more than just faith from a God who reveals himself to be merciful to the highest. In fact, more often than not, sinful people want to set themselves up as God.

Early Baby Boomer Culture

Once the ideology of “positive thinking” made it’s way into the culture, it wasn’t long before it merged with protestant liberalism5. Timothy Leary, in a speech given at Berkley, September 1966, said, “Like every great religion of the past we seek to find the divinity within and to express this revelation in a life of glorification and the worship of God. These ancient goals we define in the metaphor of the present—turn on, tune in, drop out." Unfortunately, again, we have someone who is not in touch with historic Christianity and proffessing to speak for it. St. Paul, in his letter to the Galatians spoke quite plainly:

May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. (Galatians 6:14, NIV)

Historic Christianity is not concerned with “the divinity within”, as Timothy Leary suggested. Our faith is “objective”, rooted in the finished work of Christ on our behalf. Subjectivity, on the other hand, is a prime property of protestant liberalism. Fredrick Schleiermacher (1768-1834), the father of protestant liberalism, taught:

“As regards Christian theology, it is not its business to formulate and establish a system of objective truth, but simply to present in a clear and connected form a given body of Christian faith as the contents of the Christian consciousness. Dogmatic theology is a connected and accurate account of the doctrine held at a particular time in a given section of the Christian church. But such doctrines as constitute no integral part of the Christian consciousness — e.g. the doctrine of the Trinity — must be excluded from the theological system of the evangelical theologian.”6

Schleiermacher, of course, is not the first individual to make such statements. However, this view began to proliferate throughout Christendom, even as his views on psychology and philosophy made inroads into the culture at large. Systematic Theologian Paul Tillich (1886-1965), Student of Hermeneutics and psychologist Wilhelm Dilthey (1833-1911), Lutheran theologian Richard Rothe (1799-1867), and Southern Baptist E.Y. Mullins (1860-1928), to name a few were all highly influenced by Schleiermacher. Perhaps it’s easy to see how the collective works of these men and other theologians would have affected people such as E. W. Kenyon and Norman Vincent Peale.

As time wore on, and baby boomers grew up to take over the pulpits of the Americas, and “Boomer” theology began to take hold. Televangelists became the rule of the day, but in true historical fashion, most of these televangelists reacted against a perception of historic Christianity that is patently unfounded. Among evangelicals in the United States, the formula “no creed but Christ” became popular as the body of churches moved away from confessional Christianity to a more liberalistic form. The boomers early experiences with eastern cultures and religions made inroads as well, and a new experiential kind of Christianity sprang into being. Speaking in tongues became popular outside of Pentecostal traditions, setting the scene for today’s more prolific prosperity gospel.
~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~
5 see also Fredrick Schleiermacher, protestant liberalism turned most of Christianity away from Jesus’ work for our salvation to a religion of the inner man. See also Pietism.
6 See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friedrich_Schleiermacher , section on religious system, paragraph 5.

Prosperity Gospel in Popular Christianity

2006-09-24T20:34:00.000-05:00

Beginning today, I am publishing a paper that I did on the prosperity gospel. I'll divide it out by sections, with bibliography included as time goes by. I hope many people confused by this gospel will find it helpful.

Prosperity Gospel in Popular Christianity: Syncretism in the 20th and the 21st Century Part 1

Introduction

Since the inception of Christ’s church, it’s members have been contending “for the Faith which was once for all delivered to the saints”. The apostles, particularly St. Paul, spent what would seem by today’s standards an exorbitant amount of time and energy defending that Faith, both against outside forces and enemies from within. Those first crucial years formed the basis of the Christian religion, spread out across a large area of the Mediterranean and Roman empire reaching, as God had planned it, both Jews and Gentiles everywhere.

One of the primary battles seen in those days came in the form of pagan ideas seeping into the church at large. This process, known as syncretism, began a fight that continues to this day. The apostle John spent time in his letters combating pagan beliefs, addressing such odd behavior and thoughts as the belief that the body was evil and useless and could be abused at will to the belief that Jesus was nothing more than a spirit with no body. St. Peter in his second letter addressed false teachers who were extremely shameless in their activities, even “carousing in broad daylight” (2 Peter 2:13), and said they “have left the straight way and wandered off to follow the way of Balaam” (2 Peter 2:15). St. Jude wrote concerning antinomianism, as did St. Paul in Romans 6 and elsewhere. St. Paul, in particular, fought against legalism and the works righteousness idealism that plagued his own Jewish brothers, the Pharisees.

This battle for the Faith continued with the next generation of the church, with Iraneaus, Polycarp, and Justin Martyr to name a few. When Arianism, or the belief that Jesus was not God in the flesh, reared its head in the third century the first ecumenical council, the Council of Nicea, was called to combat and restore the Faith to its original form once again. The Church fought valiantly against Pelagius (and later the semi-pelagians), stating firmly in the Canons of the Council of Orange:

“If anyone denies that it is the whole man, that is, both body and soul, that was “changed for the worse” through the offense of Adam’s sin, but believes that the freedom of the soul remains unimpaired and that only the body is subject to corruption, he is deceived by the error of Pelagius and contradicts the scripture which says, “The soul that sins shall die” (Ezek. 18:20); and, “Do you not know that if you yield yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are the slaves of the one whom you obey?” (Rom. 6:16); and, “For whatever overcomes a man, to that he is enslaved” (2 Pet. 2:19).” (Canon 1)

The reformation happened exactly for the same reasons. When the Gospel of Jesus Christ had itself been obscured in works righteousness in medieval times, God called Martin Luther, Erasmus, Philip Melenkthon, John Calvin and their contemporaries to step up to restore the Faith once more. This battle for the Faith continued with the coming enlightenment and the era of rationalism, through the time of Frederick Schleiermacher and the dawning of protestant liberalism. Each generation, it would seem, has been called to defend the Faith against those who would pervert it towards their own ends or, more insidiously, because they simply don’t know better.

Today, among many of the citizens and the thousands of denominations that proliferate in the Americas, prosperity reigns. The United States is noted as one of the wealthiest countries in the world, with such abundance and opportunity that millions flock across her borders every year seeking “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness”. In a culture where entertainment is king, “pimped out” rides are a new national pastime and morality is redefined on the slightest whim, the church at large still struggles to maintain the “Faith once for all delivered to the saints”. In the following pages the author will attempt to address today’s largest problem that the church has to face: The Prosperity Gospel. One should find it confounding that in a country as wealthy as ours, middle class and upper class church goers would want more “prosperity” than they already have.

An idio-syncretic history

First of all, the author wants to reiterate what the Gospel is, Biblically. It is the Good news, the proclamation that God in His mercy has sent His son to pay the penalty for the sin of the world, and has fulfilled the promise to redeem his people and give them eternal life. This is best summed up in the scripture that every Christian knows: “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” This is the culmination of thousands of years of “redemptive” history, following from the covenant with Abraham, continued with Isaac, Jacob, Moses, and David to the coming of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. This is the prosperity that can never die, where people can “glorify God and enjoy him forever” 1

But today, over and against what has been handed down to us once for all, is a radically different understanding of the Gospel. Along with the good news of Jesus Christ is the idea that God wants all His children to be healthy and wealthy; to not be deprived or to suffer in any way. This “gospel” can sometimes be stated as “name it and claim it”, meaning if one has faith that something can be had, one need only name it in prayer and it becomes the property of the one who prayed. To find out where this radical shift began, we shall look at some of recent history, consult the confessions of the reformation churches to compare with what is taught today, and consult those who teach this “prosperity gospel” in the hopes of gleaning insight into how we got to where we are.

The author of this paper would like to draw attention to two individuals from the early twentieth century to begin delving into the origins of today’s prosperity gospel: Essek William Kenyon and Norman Vincent Peale. The former of the two, also known as E.W. Kenyon (1867-1948), was an evangelist and early radio personality who was known as “the faith builder” among his many followers. It is accepted today that he was the unintentional founder of the prosperity movement, known also as the “word of faith” movement. Influenced by the day’s philosophies, he proposed in his book, Jesus the Healer:

‘When you know that "By His stripes you are healed" and you know it as you know that two and two are four, the adversary will have no power over you.

When you know the Power and Authority of the Name of Jesus and that you have a legal right to use it, and the adversary lays siege to you, you will not be filled with fear. You will simply laugh at him and say, "Satan, did you know you were whipped? Leave my body." He will leave.’

This is the standard by which today’s prosperity movement proponents obtain their theology. They take Isaiah 53:5 and 1 Peter 2:24, conflate them to mean that Salvation and physical healing are one and the same, and state it as an overriding truth. Kenyon also wrote in his essay, Do you believe in Miracles?:

Then we have a third group who claim miracles are still being performed; that the sick are healed, that prayers are answered, and that God is a Living reality in the daily life of the believer.
We cannot ignore the amazing growth of Christian Science, Unity, New Thought, and Spiritism.

Kenyon had allowed the teachings of Christian Science to infiltrate his radio broadcasts and his writings. Christian science grew out of New Thought ideals, whose practitioners taught “positive affirmation” leading to health and prosperity. Phineas Parkhurst Quimby (1802-1866), who believed he had discovered the method by which Jesus healed, taught “Disease is due to false reasoning in regard to sensations, which man unwittingly develops by impressing wrong thoughts and mental pictures upon the subconscious spiritual matter.”2.

Norman Vincent Peale (1898-1993), published his book, the Power of Positive Thinking, in 1952 and it has sold nearly 20 million copies since and been translated into over 41 languages. His radio program, the Art of Living, was broadcast by NBC and was on the air for 54 years. At any given time one can type into any Internet search engine “Norman Vincent Peale” and get an endless stream of quotes on positive thinking. He wrote in his introduction to Positive Imaging:

"There is a powerful and mysterious force in human nature... a kind of mental engineering ... a powerful new-old idea.... The concept is a form of mental activity called imaging .... It consists of vividly picturing, in your conscious mind, a desired goal or objective, and holding that image until it sinks into your unconscious mind, where it releases great untapped energies ....When the imaging concept is applied steadily and systematically, it solves problems, strengthens personalities, improves health, and greatly enhances the chances for success in any kind of endeavor. The ideas of imaging has been around for a long time and it has been implicit in all the speaking and writing I have done in the past.

From here we can trace the proliferation of the “word of faith” theology, through E. W Kenyon to Kenneth Hagin, founder proper of the “word of faith” movement to Kenneth Copeland, popular teacher of our day and whose book The Laws of Prosperity we will consult to discover exactly what is found in their belief system.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

1 Westminster Shorter Catechism, Question 1
2 The Quimby Manuscripts, edited by Horatio W. Dresser (New Hyde Park, NY: University Books, 1969 [orig. 1921]), 32-35

New beginnings... What does it mean to "tear down the high places"...

2006-08-15T12:34:00.000-05:00

2Kings 18:1-4

In the third year of Hoshea son of Elah king of Israel, Hezekiah son of Ahaz king of Judah began to reign. He was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem twenty-nine years. His motherÂs name was Abijah daughter of Zechariah. He did what was right in the eyes of the LORD, just as his father David had done. He removed the high places, smashed the sacred stones and cut down the Asherah poles. He broke into pieces the bronze snake Moses had made, for up to that time the Israelites had been burning incense to it. (It was called Nehushtan. )

It's been eight months since I posted on my blog. I sort of abandoned it after the first of the year because a lot had happened in a very short time. Strangely enough, it was eight months of "tearing down" some of my own high places, although there are many still left.

I named my blog "Tear Down the High Places" for two reasons. One was because I had learned a lot about how "Christianity" in the United States was letting people down. It's not just the easy to spot things like "higher criticism" or protestant liberalism as "High Place" or places set up for people to worship false gods, but in the very way that people are interpreting God's word.

The second (or maybe the first instead) was the fact that I realized how much I had let these things color my own way of looking at God and His son, Jesus Christ. It's a startling revelation to realize that not only is the church that you attend preaching about a different Christ and a different father... Butt also to realize that you not only approved of it for years and years, but believed it as well. It was subtle, but it was there. Like when a pastor reads from an approved version of the bible, then says we need to look at another version of the bible to understand it... A version that was never heard of until that moment. Or when a pastor starts preaching on "millions of years" and winds up denying God's words when he said that his creation was "very good". There was good stuff in there, but there was enough leaven to mess up the whole thing.

But more than anything else, I realized that we weren't hearing the gospel. God speaks to ways to us. He speaks in commands, and he speaks in promises. My church speaksa lott about promises, but turns those promises into commands. Those new commands become "principles" that will make you successful or wealthy or healthy... Rightt up until adversity strikes and all of a sudden those "principles" no longer work.

It's my hope that I can use this blog now to make the distinctions that must be made. The first distinction will be on faith, which is the single most misunderstood word in Christianity today.

Be back soon. The peace of God that surpasses all human understanding guard our minds and hearts in Christ Jesus.

Amen

Happy new year!!!

2006-01-03T18:20:00.000-05:00

Peace to all from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

I had such a terribly crazy and busy Christmas. On the one hand, I'm glad that it's over, but on the other hand I'm sorry to see the season go.

I just put up a photo album and angelfire for my wallpapers. Take a look.

http://www.angelfire.com/planet/mattumanu/christ_focused_cross_centered/

Interesting situation...

2005-11-19T18:01:00.000-05:00

At work, I have a number of employees that are under my charge daily. Today, the "boyfriend" of one girl who works for us came into the store and started up an arguement with her. Now, me personally, I don't really care what is going on at home for the two of them, other than they be kind to each other (which they aren't) and happy (which they aren't). But what amazes me about this guy is he's abusive, he's abused the woman in the past, he's violent, he's all sorts of things... And he drags her to Church every week.

That blows my mind. I had to stand toe to toe with him today, and tell him he had to leave and never come back. I was angry with him, oh yes. Angry not only because he does what he does, but also because he professes to witness for Christ. After it was over and he'd left, I had to force myself to ask God that he lead me into forgivness of this man's offenses against me and Christ and to pray for him that he see the light. But after that, I felt much better. There's no amount of theology that can explain it when God delivers like this, giving a peace that surpasses all human understanding...

I still Pray that this guy come to know that peace.

The nightly vespers...

2005-11-15T20:58:00.000-05:00

Heavenly Father, who brought us out of slavery to sin and into the Light of your Son, Jesus Christ, Grant us the strength and wisdom to recover the truths that many of us have left behind that we may fully understand the pure message and good news of Salvation that comes only from You in the name of your precious Son Jesus Christ, who together with you and the Holy Spirit, reign in glory forever and ever. Amen.

The nightly vespers, or evening prayers, is an old practice that used to be commonplace amongst Christians. God deserves our prayers, and I'm finding that it's just as proper to study how to pray as it is to just pray. There are many parts to the vespers, but I want to look at just one right now.

Take the prayer above. I just composed it using an old formula, the collect, which begins with an invocation, a petition, and a doxology. First we invoke name of God, which could be any of the various names that are used in the bible. I like the hebrew name El-Shaddai, not just because it's the title of a great song performed by Amy Grant, but because it means "LORD God Almighty". Part of the invocation is to state something that God has done not just for us, but for all people. God has stated of himself in Scripture statements like, "I am the LORD, your God, who brought you our of egypt", so we invoke his name in the same way. A petition is exactly that, a petition.

In a doxology, we have a statement of honor and praise, like the doxology at the end of the Lord's prayer: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever and ever.

Now, I'm like most folks. I've had enormous difficulty with the act of praying over the years, because I believed that a prayer needed to come from the heart. The problem always came the with endless stream of uhs and justs and stops and starts... not very heartfelt at the end of the prayer. But using a simple structure like this has made quite a difference for my prayers. I want to offer up more than uhs and justs to God in my prayers, and it's been a real blessing to study these old forms.

I also found a great website that can help with daily morning and evening prayers.

http://www.missionstclare.com/english/index.html

Bible studies and Christian friends

2005-11-13T14:09:00.000-05:00

I conduct a bible study every monday evening with a group of mostly old people. In this particular study, the topic is "how to handle offenses". I've found that this is a fairly common thing among Christians, because we all seem to have a hangup about being offended and needed to forgive.

But what amazes me is the fact that there seems to be a disconnect here with what I'm bringing to them. Scripture testifies that the promise of Christ includes actually is the starting point for handling everything that comes along in life, including being offended. Christ's death and blood brings both forgiveness of sins and cleansing from sins, by us receiving his word through study and prayer. The problem seems to be that I thought that this was how all Christians look at it. They seem to be believing the forgiveness part, but not the cleansing part.

Since I'm reformation, technically a confessing evangelical, each session of study I lead I remind the people of how God's law is good for instruction in righteousness, but God's law by itself gives no power whatsoever to keep the law. In the case of offenses, there's plenty in God's law telling how we are to handle being offended. But by itself, the law can do nothing for us.

I find that the disconnect comes when I show them the power itself through God's word. The Power of course isn't an "it", or "itself", but rather Jesus himself, given by God in his mercy as a propitiation for our sins, raised for our justification to work our sanctification by that same work on the cross. This is the gospel, and "the gospel (good news) is the power unto salvation for all who believe". That means that Jesus is our power, Jesus is our justification, and he is our sanctification. He's our everything. But when I tell of this, they seem to easily understand the forgiveness part, but the cleansing part they don't understand. "Yes", I tell them, "you must be taught how to handle offenses, but unless Jesus is the center and the reason you are handling them correctly in the first place, then its pretty much a useless endeavor on your part to even try". They always tell me after the session that I'm doing a wonderful job, but then tell my assistant afterwards that they don't understand.

They requested doing this whole thing because they perceive that they aren't being forgiving enough... In other words, they believe they aren't holy enough yet. They want to "do" better for God, or "gut it out for God", as on pastor I know likes to say, but they aren't trusting in the promises of God at all. They get the forgiveness part, but when it comes time to allow the Holy Spirit to convict us of transgressions and lead us to Christ, where we find the actual power to forgive offenses, they spend time saying, "well, I have to pray more", or "I have to calm down and take a breath" or "I will go now and anoint my office with oil and plead the blood over my job situation"... They talk about everything else but what Jesus has already done on our behalf.

They aren't receiving the second half of the promise. I don't know exactly what to do about it, other than say what I've already said in this post. I sometimes have moments where I want to act like Isaiah, and basically rain down fire on them, but I resist this temptation by God's grace. My only hope is in Jesus in this, that the Holy Spirit will work faith in them for this.

Are we the ones going and bringing God along?

2005-10-30T20:49:00.000-05:00

I just heard a little homely about a man seeing his neighbor's children in the back seat of the minivan. The minivan was loaded with pillows, suitcases and such, so the man thought they must be going on a trip. He asked the children where they were going, but he didn't get an answer. He asked them, "where will you be staying?", and they didn't have an answer for that either. He asked them, "where will you eat?", but they didn't have an answer for that either.

Frustrated, he finally asked them, "who are you going with?"

The answered, "with mommy and daddy".

Now, this is interesting. I was thinking earlier about a scripture where Jesus says, "suffer the little children to come unto me, and do not hinder them. For the kingdom of Heaven is made for such as these". Little children just believe thier mommy and daddy will take care of them, no matter what happens in life.

Are we going and bringing God with us? Or are we going where God is going, trusting that he knows what he's doing and will take care of us?

A case from now... A case from then...

2005-10-24T17:24:00.000-05:00

This is one of the reasons I constantly exhort the doctrine of the fall of man and original sin. First, look at the link below, and watch the video if you can.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9778227/

Now, this is a real story, about real people and a seemingly impossible situation. A child that simply isn't growing up. It's not just the video and this story, because it can be looked up in more sources than just the internet.

However, this next link shows just how incredibly fallen human beings can be.

http://www.goldenempires.com/dc/blosxom.pl/Social/blue.brookegreenberg.html

They are saying that this is all a hoax. Can you believe this?

Now, this is how it should be reasoned out. Even if, out of billions of children born since the beginning of creation, no child was ever born that didn't grow, but stayed the same size year after year, no matter how crazy or far fetched it seems, you still have to note it as something that actually happened in history. To do anything else it to be a proponent of falsehood. I was think to myself as I read about this and watched the video that, after any given amount of time, after Little Brooke has passed on and all that's left are stories and maybe a medical file, people will read about it and say, "Nah, it never happened. It's impossible".

But the mere occurance has to at least be noted. Even if it only happens once.

The same is true For Jesus. Without going into faith in Jesus as the risen savior, just the fact that a Rabbi two thousand years ago died by crucifiction at the hands of the Romans and was raised from the dead has to be made note of. One can't just say, "Nah, it never happened". Even if, out of the billions of people who have died since the beginning of creation, every last one of the stayed dead, if even one person is raised from the dead, it still has to be noted as something that happened in real history.

Just like Little Brooke has to be taken seriously, so also does Jesus. Just because Brooke's story seems far fetched doesn't mean it's not true. And just because Jesus' story seems far fetched, doesn't mean his story isn't true.

Pass this on to any friends you have who say they don't believe in Jesus death and resurrection. This is the same kind of "reasoning" that cracks tough nuts like Adrian Flew and C.S. Lewis. The Holy Spirit always wins the argument.

Tearing down my OWN high places

2005-10-08T19:54:00.000-05:00

I'm tired.

Not tired tired, but rather spiritually tired. Not worn out, mind you, just tired. I've been neglecting my blog and my work I used to do on Christianity.com. I have been spending a lot of time on stuff away from the internet, which I should be counting as a good thing, and it is...

The reason I'm spiritually tired is because I'm having to put a lot of what I've learned in the last two years into my life. Not like personal application, but rather in teaching and discussing. I teach a class on monday nights, based on a ciriculuum called "the Bait of Satan", and it's been a chore keeping it from devolving into a "5 points to X" lesson program, because this ciriculuum is a lot like the Purpose driven life. There's very little content in it that's not already a retread of other lesson programs, and it comes across as "do this or you'll be in trouble" kind of preaching/teaching.

One thing I'm wondering here is, maybe, if I have "high place" involved here that I don't know about. The latest lesson, number 6, in a round about way asks the student to accept "gut instincts" as revelation from God. I'm not sure this is a biblical practice, and I know I'm going to have to address it during the class. I'm wondering though, if maybe I'm wrong about this, but the more I look at God's word the more I think this needs to be rebuked.

For one thing, it's protestant liberalism. Fredrick Schlaiarmacher, a Christian theologian/philosopher in the mid 19th century, began proposing that religious experience is rooted in the "internal", or in the heart. Along with this comes the idea of "personal revelation" being derived from sort of gut instincts, and saying that the Holy Spirit revealed this (whatever it may be) to us personally. This idea of "heart religion" or "internal" religion has spread through much of Christianity today, even into the Roman Catholic Church!

So when I see someone saying, "the Holy Spirit revealed to me", I have to question: What did he reveal? How does this stand up to God's Word? Did you search the scriptures and test the spirits to make sure that this revelation was true? Too often the answers are, "something pertaining to me (Job/family/finances)", "I don't know", and "no". So then Peter's statement about, "there is not personal interpretation of Scritpure" comes to mind... Well you get the picture.

But I'm growing weary of the fight, I think. I find myself correcting and exhorting a lot lately, asking people "what does scripture say", and "is this something that Jesus would agree with?" But most of the people around me here in florida are more interested in what the scriptures say to them personally, rather than what the scriptures actually say.

I'm tired. I pray that God will revive me.

Humor, laughter, squirming and the Word of God...

2005-09-17T19:02:00.000-05:00

I know of many people who, when under stress or worrying, will crack a joke. Soldiers in combat zones crack jokes to relieve the tension in the war zone, we do it at work all the time... It seems like everyone, everywhere is cracking jokes. I'm assuming that this either means that people are just having a good time, or, then are under so much stress that they are cracking jokes a mile a minute.

A sense of humor is important. But shouldn't there be a time and place for cracking Jokes? Like at work, for instance, there's this old man who comes into the store every day, and says the same stupid thing: "it's about time you did something". The first couple of times, this was funny, but after about 1000 times, it's starting to really get on my nerves. But since this guy is a customer, we just let it go.

Jesus has a sense of Humor. Take this little episode...

Lk 9:54 When the disciples James and John saw this, they asked, "Lord, do you want us to call fire down from heaven to destroy them ?"
Lk 9:55 But Jesus turned and rebuked them...

I highlighted the names, James and John, because they are mentioned in Mark with the nick name, "son's of thunder", or Boanerges.

Mk 3:17 James son of Zebedee and his brother John (to them he gave the name Boanerges, which means Sons of Thunder)

Now, why would he give them a name like that? I can't help but laugh at that.

On the TV sitcom, M*A*S*H*, the doctors often cracked jokes to help deal with the the attrocities they witnessed on a daily basis. The stress and agitation, the bickering amongst themselves, they practical jokes played... all were to help deaden the pain of living in a war zone. That's a natural tendency of people, to cover up pain with a joke. They did it, "just to survive".

But, there is one thing lately that's been bothering me. People making jokes in church. Pastors telling the latest joke they recieved off the internet in thier sermons, members replacing the "offensive" commercials in the superbowl for a "football night at church" with videos of people falling and getting hurt, and the whole group just roaring and howling with laughter. And it's not that I'm offended by that, but rather... what are they covering up with thier jokes? Are they using them to help get through stressful moments during the service? When certain passages hit thier mark and the people are feeling particularly convicted, are they cracking jokes "just to survive"? Are they maybe covering up a guilty conscience? Are they trying to direct thier attention away from the conviction that comes when God's word is read to the congregation? Are they just having a good time?

Ok, now to pick up where I was going with this...

2005-09-14T20:17:00.000-05:00

I belong to a church here in Florida, a non denominational church. It's a nice church, filled with nice people who are sincere in thier faith. But I've learned that non denominational churches are magnets for everyone who has ever been disgruntled at thier old church. The number of people at my church run the gamot from pentacostals to methodists to baptist to church of Christ... And worse yet, they bring all thier excess baggage from those denominations with them.

As a result, the pastor feels like he has to make his sermons sort of "fit" the congregation where they are at. There are also a lot of former Roman Catholics, and anymore I think I know why. Sola fide isn't something that is preached in my church.

Sola fide is the latin phrase for "faith alone". In the bible, faith is referred to as something that is not a virtue, or optimistic attitude, but rather as the sole instrument of salvation. Tonight, our pastor talked about "getting yourself and your mind to where you really believe God at his word". I shrugged. Even before I started studying reformation theology I understood faith to be something else besides this.

The way I see it, faith doesn't equal optimism. Optimism, by definition, is "a doctrine that this world is the best possible world" or "an inclination to put the most favorable construction upon actions and events or to anticipate the best possible outcome". (merriam-webster dictionary). But that is not faith, not even in the same dictionary. Faith is defined as "firm belief in something for which there is no proof" or "complete trust" and "something that is believed especially with strong conviction". "Complete trust" doesn't seem to be the same as "anticipat(ing) the best possible outcome".

So my pastor is telling people to "get yourself and your mind to where you really believe God at his word". Now, I'm inclined to think that this is what we do when we watch tv or go to the movies. In watching a movie, like maybe "Star wars" or "The Brothers Grimm", we "suspend disbelief" and get into the story and imagery as if they were real. We react with emotion, crying in the right places and laughing... Some people take this too far into the whole "geekdom" realm, where they dress up as the characters in a movie, like "Star wars" or the venerable "Rocky Horror Picture show". They are also "getting themselves and thier minds to where they really believe", even if for just a little while, before reality crashes down around thier ears, after they take off the Darth Vader masks and realize that the real world is "real" again.

I know of quite a few people that this is how church is for them. The have thier "WWJD" bracelets, thier "Jesus freak" t-shirts and such... and they dress up in a sort of christian geekdom, suspending disbelief as they "praise and worship", only to have a total collapse as they come down later on after the service. Reality comes crashing down around thier ears, and the real world is "real" again.

The reformers framed thier definition of faith this way: From the Heidelburg Catechism...

Q. What is true faith?

A. It is not only a certain knowledge whereby I accept as true all that God has revealed to us in His Word.[1] At the same time it is a firm confidence[2] that not only to others, but also to me,[3] God has granted forgiveness of sins, everlasting righteousness, and salvation,[4] out of mere grace, only for the sake of Christ's merits.[5] This faith the Holy Spirit works in my heart by the gospel.[6]
[1] Joh_17:3; Joh_17:17; Heb_11:1-3; Jam_2:19. [2] Rom_4:18-21; Rom_5:1; Rom_10:10; Heb_4:16. [3] Gal_2:20. [4] Rom_1:17; Heb_10:10. [5] Rom_1:1-26; Gal_2:16; Eph_2:8-10. [6] Act_16:14; Rom_1:16; Rom_10:17; 1Co_1:21.

Not only a certain knowledge whereby I accept as true all that God has revealed in His word...

Jas 2:19 You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder.

But at the same time a firm confidence...

Heb 11:1 Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.

Ro 4:19 Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead—since he was about a hundred years old—and that Sarah’s womb was also dead.
Ro 4:20 Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God,
Ro 4:21 being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised.

Ro 10:10 For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.

Eph 3:12 In him and through faith in him we may approach God with freedom and confidence.

Heb 4:16 Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.

Jas 1:6 But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind.

What I get from this definition of faith is something altogether different that an "optimistic attitude". This is something that we cannot manufacture, as we do when we "suspend" disbelief.

EPH 2:8 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God...

I believe that we cannot "make" ourselves believe at all. Only God can do that. And that "faith" not of yourselves, it is the gift of God.

How many times do we pray, "God, please bring (insert name of unsaved family or friends) to a saving faith in Christ", or "Please reveal yourself to this person that they might believe in Jesus"? All the time. We know that only God can work faith in someone, but we constantly dilute our knowledge of this with strange definitions of faith that sabotage our daily lives.

God, please keep me from trying to manufacture my own faith and make open to the gift of faith that you give me. Amen

Losing a loved one...

2005-09-09T19:16:00.000-05:00

This past Sunday night, my oldest brother passed away. He had a heart attack several months ago, one that was so bad the doctor's said his heart was only 17 percent functional. But by the power of God he survived and stymied the doctors.

This all sounds kind of standard stuff that you would expect from a story like this one. A last minute miracle, a family in crisis... I know at least I've heard it a few hundred times. But I want to look at what really happened for a minute. I've turned it over in my mind for quite a while now, so I want to share some of what I've gleaned.

First of all, my brother didn't remember any of what happened to him. Some of my friends from church had become adept at pointing out that "God did this to show your brother his power", but the only people who saw that power was the family. They saw him defy the odds, even improving in certain areas where the doctors and nurses said he should be dying. They saw his arm, which had grown infected, actually getting better while he was supposedly dying. They saw him respond to them calling out his name when he should have been totally unresponsive...

The family saw all of that, but my brother remembered none of it.

He was also, at least in many of the family's estimates, not a christian. So the first thing they did when he was conscious again was to tell him about the big "miracle" that he had experienced; the miracle that he couldn't remember. They were at a loss as to how to convert him, it would seem, until my little brother and some members of his church went to his room at the nursing home where he was staying came and preached the gospel to him.

See, it wasn't the "miracle" that got my brother saved. He couldn't remember that. It was hearing about Jesus and hearing about what Jesus' blood had purchased for him that my older brother came to know Jesus as his Lord and Savior. It was hearing "the good news" that did it. the "miracle" didn't do it at all, for all the miracle did was prolong his life long enough to recieve the true "miracle" that is salvation.

Jesus told some followers about this in the Gospel according to John.

"Truly, truly, I say to you, you seek Me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled. "Do not work for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you, for on Him the Father, God, has set His seal." (John 6:26-27, NASB)

Jesus saw the "miracle" of the loaves and fishes as "food that perishes". The people, after Jesus fed them with this "miracle", wanted to sieze him and make him king. But Jesus went away from them and only later exclaimed the difference between the bread that they ate that was the "miracle" and the bread that comes from heaven. Jesus meant that the true miracle lies in Him alone.

"Does this cause you to stumble? What then if you see the Son of Man ascending to where He was before? It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing; the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life." (John 6:61-63, NASB)

The miracle that saved my brother wasn't being spared death in this life that one time, but rather the miracle of the gospel. Our faith doesn't depend on seeing miracles, but rather on Jesus alone.

I miss my brother. But I'm glad that he came to know Jesus as his Lord and Savior. That's the greatest miracle of all.

A visit to the Lutheran Church (Missouri Synod)

2005-07-27T06:51:00.000-05:00

~~ Christ is in thee, and thou in Him; knit together inseparably. Neither canst thou be damned, except Christ be damned with thee: neither can Christ be saved, except thou be saved with Him~~ William Tyndale

Recently, because of much of the studying of scripture and history I've been doing, I visited a Lutheran Church, specifically a Missouri Synod church. For those who don't know the difference, there is the mainline Lutheran World Federation, but there are several smaller "synods" that are autonomous from the Mainline churches.

I did a bit of research, looking for a church whose practice was as close to what it would have been like back in the reformation times. They have a liturgy, an old testament reading, a gospel reading, an epistle reading, a sermon, a reading of the Nicene creed, the Lord's Prayer, and the Lord's supper... Every sunday!

Without getting into detail about the church itself, I thought I'd describe the way thier service goes. The first thing I noticed that's different is once the service starts, they don't stop for any reason. Kids get up and run around? The pastor continues the service. Lighting problems? They go on anyway. The second thing I noticed is in the liturgy, they have a heavy definition of sin. Just read this...

Forgive my sins.
Forgive me the sins of my present and the sins of
my past,The sins of my soul and the sins of my body; the sins I have done to
please myself and the sins which I have done to please other.
Forgive me my careless and idle sins;
forgive me my serious and deliberate sins.
Forgive me those which I know and those sins
which I know not, the sins which I have so labored to hide from others that I
have hid them from my own memory.
Forgive them all, O Lord, and of Your great mercy
let me be absolved.
By the power of Your Holy Name, deliver me from
the bonds of all that by my frailty I have committed, for the sake of Christ
Jesus, our Lord. Amen

This is way different than what I hear in my own church. Sins that we have blotted from our memory? Desparate to hide them?

The old testament reading was from 1 Kings 3:5-12. The epistle reading was from Romans 8:28-30...

And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those
who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. For those whom
He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so
that He would be the firstborn among many brethren; and these whom He
predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and
these whom He justified, He also glorified.

What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against
us?

With this and Matthew 13:44-52, the sermon was on God's larger purpose. The message was clean and pure, no testimonies by the pastor about what movies he's seen or books he'd read. No lecturing or disecting the text into strongs definitions. Just a pure word given as comfort to those struggling as Job struggled with the why's and wherefore's of God's redemptive purposes.

Then came "the long prayers". This consisted of the pastor praying for the various requests... With something added that I really came to like. In between each prayer for each person's need, the pastor would say "Lord, in your mercy", and the congregation would reply, "hear our prayer". This ensured that at least I was paying attention, and I'm sure that's one of the reasons for this.

After the offering was collected, came the service of Holy communion. Now, what immediately stood out here was that the pastor spoke God's word over the service...

Luke the Evangelist wrote of our risen Savior
that when he was at the table with the disciple from Emmaus, he took bread and
blessed it, broke it and gave it to them. Then thier eyes were opened and
they recognized him, that they may share in the feast he had
prepared...

On the night when HE was betrayed, our Lord took
bread, gave thanks, broke it, and gave it to his disciples, saying, "Take, eat;
this is my Body, which is broken for you. Do this in rememberance of
me." In the same way he also took the cup after supper, and when he had
given thanks he gave it to them saying, "drink of it, all of you; this cup is
the new testament in my Blood, which is poured out for the forgiveness of
sins. Do this, as often as you drink it, in rememberance of me."
Therefore, remembering his death, believing in his rising from the grave,
affirming his presence no, in this place, we obey his command and wait the gift
of himself...

The Lord's prayer is recited, and the distribution begins. First helpers, ushers and the like go up and take the supper, then they in turn help distribute to the rest of the congregation. As each row recieves the bread and wine, the pastor tells them, "recieve the body of Christ" and "recieve the blood of Christ, poured out for the remission of sins"... Then he says this: "
The body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ strengthen and preserve you in
body and soul unto life everlasting. Depart in peace.."

The last person to take the supper is the pastor, who steps down and is given the supper by the first elder to recieve... signifying, I believe, that the pastor needs the supper as much as everyone else.

But what's interesting here after the supper was "the benediction"... the declaration that our sins are forgiven.

The peace of God, which passes all understanding, Keep
our hearts and minds in the knowledge and love of God and of His Son Jesus
Christ, our Lord; And the blessing of God almighty, the Father, the Son,
and the Holy Spirit, be among you and remain with you alway.

That last word isn't a typo. It's saying that your path shall continue on the narrow way, rather than "all ways".

I like this type of service. It's very focused, is WAY shorter than at my church, which tops out on sunday mornings at 2 plus hours. After the service, they always adjourn to the fellowship hall for coffee and cakes (or fresh veggies!), and everyone has a great time.

And I had a great time. Some people might call this "quaint". But it was refreshing.

Objective Truth or Subjective truth?

2005-07-25T23:43:00.000-05:00

~~ Superstition, idolatry, and hypocrisy have ample wages, but truth goes a-begging ~~ Martin Luther

Objective Truth or Subjective Truth?

One subject, or category, that seems to be missing today is Objective Truth. Lately, I’ve been embroiled in issues at work and at church, concerning what’s true and what isn’t. Rather than get into politics at work, I’ll start with church.

It came to the Pastor’s attention that people had many questions concerning the issue of “generational curses”. My Pastor’s good, but being a first generation pastor with little or no background in church history… He isn’t even familiar with the Brahman hymnal… He sometimes struggles with some things that are basic. One place he struggles with is “Law and Gospel”. There’s been a movement in our church towards “deliverance”, meaning people are looking for deliverance from demonic entanglements and other perceived spiritual threats. Now I, like most of you, believe in demons and the devil, but most Christians with some background know that demonic possession is impossible in an individual who is indwelt with the Holy Spirit. Light, afterall, cannot have a place with darkness, right.

But many of these folks, in their desire to receive the blessings of God but frustrated that they haven’t received the blessings they think they should be getting, have bought into the notion that it’s the powers and principalities that be that are preventing them from receiving their blessings. They point to a “generational curse” of poverty or what have you, and go around from one deliverance gathering to another looking to have that spirit removed.

My Pastor wisely took a stand against that. But in doing so, he had to take a path that took him directly into the area of the difference between the Law of God and the Gospel of Jesus Christ. He had to talk about the original curse in the Garden of Eden, and talk about the two trees (tree of life, tree of the knowledge of good and evil) in terms of law and gospel. In his first sermon, he got flustered in the end because he didn’t know how to say “the law is what brings a curse, and the gospel delivers us from that curse”.

It’s a simple truth… One that seems to be hard for the congregation to grasp. By the next sermon, after a little bit of talking with him by some of us more mature Christians, he came back with the truth in a clarity that’s rare for any pastor, let alone our pastor. (Needless to say, I’m very proud of him). He explained how the “curse” of the law came to us through our first father, then our own fathers sin through the generations, since each generation “to the third and fourth generation” continues to sin and passes the curse on to the next generation… The cycle goes on forever unless something breaks the cycle. Then he explained how the gospel… How Jesus’ death and blood dispels that curse forever! Like it says in the Decalogue, “but showing mercy to the hundredth that loves me and keeps my commandments”. No need for deliverance, just a dire need of Jesus’ person and work. Then… The moment of profound clarity.

He said, “Now that you are in Christ, who is your father?” The congregation stammered here and there, “God”. Then the Pastor said, “So, if your father is our Heavenly Father, God himself, then what CURSE can befall you? What curse does God pass on, since in him there is no sin?”

Now, many in the congregation immediately saw that this is true. Of course, Jesus’ sacrifice does away with the curse of the law, and of course the generational curse is the curse of the law. But, there are still many in the church who are hanging onto the “generational curse” theory, saying that the pastor got it wrong.

So, what is true? Who is getting it right? The pastor? The people who disagree with him?

The reformers believed that scripture was the sole authority that norms our lives, and they believed that scripture is in plain language and means what it says. If God makes a promise to us, and since he is not a man that he would like, it follows that God’s promises are bankable and true. But many in the congregation are taking the plain language of scripture and twisting it to say what Paul said would happen… “They will heap up teachers who will say what their itching ears want to hear. They will stop listening to the truth and be turned aside to fables”.

It’s no accident that the New Testament was written in common street Greek rather than classical Greek. After all, Jesus was born in a feed trough. Is common language really this hard to understand?
Is truth only ever subjective? Or is God’s word Objective?

2005-07-24T19:01:00.000-05:00

"Be of good comfort, Master Ridley, and play the man. We shall this day light such a candle by God's grace in England as I trust shall never be put out!"~~
Hugh Latimer to his friend and colleague, Nicholas Ridley, on the occasion of their martyrdom at Oxford on 16 October 1555, at the hands of Mary, Queen of England…

The Protestant Reformation, unlike the times we live in today, was a time of great upheaval for Christians. While we get up each day, eat, do our chores and go to work, the reformers were discussing the prepositional truths of Christianity, often at the risk of their own lives. The Gospel had been let out of the Medieval Church’s closet like a cat out of a bag, and this Holy Word would not return void.

Today, the church is no longer threatened in the manner that it was threatened in those days. Today our perception is based on what our culture is doing, and when the culture encroaches upon our sense of moral outrage, we say we are being “persecuted”. But the truth is, we are only outraged when it is convenient, and the “truth” that we say we have is only as concrete as our meal plans for the day or our vacation plans. God’s word has been reduced to one great big, long proverb; a timeless plan for our lives rather than a specific history of the work of God in his creation, and the revelation of his Son, Jesus Christ. We are jealous of the culture that offends us precisely because we want the culture to like us, much like the ancient Israelites wanted their pagan gentile neighbors to like them. We, like them, hate being a pecular people.

As a result, we tone down the rhetoric of Christianity, hiding the message of truth in psychobabble and fluff, hoping that our neighbors will make that decision to see things our way… When the truth is what they really need to hear. The gospel isn’t about therapeutic claims like the other world religions and mystic new age sciences make; Rather the gospel is God’s declaration that his one and only Son has completed the task of redemption himself in our behalf. To offer one’s life for a message that the world absolutely and definitively hates is utter foolishness.

But a few have stood in the wilderness of error in the history of Christianity and have done exactly that. They were more than “culturally” persecuted. They were tortured and burned at the stake, beheaded, hung… And today’s Christian is afraid of offending thier neighbors.

We absolutely MUST reclaim the truths of the reformation. To do so is to reclaim the apostolic proclamation of the gospel. Only by standing on the shoulders of those who came before us, studied before us, prayed before us… and many times died before us... Only then can we make a difference in this world. May God’s spirit open our eyes and ears again to the truth.