The Gospel vs The World - 2 Timothy 4:3-4

For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables. - 2 Timothy 4:3-4

    As Reformed Christians, we find ourselves constantly at odds with everyone around us. Whether it be our insistence on the inerrancy and infallibility of the Bible or our strict adhesion to the “Five Solas,”we will find resistance everywhere we look. The Gospel we believe in is constantly under assault and far too often by people claiming to be Christians. Many who claim Christianity may feel our Reformed belief system is too restrictive, unforgiving, or exclusive to stand as a beacon of light to the outside world. “But even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them.” - 2 Corinthians 4:3-4.
    Friendships lost, families torn apart, relationships shattered; these are the fruits of disagreement. These are the children of conflict. And far too often unavoidable. In fact, the very hardest detail to accept is that Christ Himself even warned us of this heart-wrenching possibility. “He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me.” - Matthew 10:37-38. Christ’s position is clear so the choice we make as Christians must be as equally clear. We may choose Christ or we may choose the world. No amount of worldly logic or chicanery can be entertained if we are to hold fast to our beliefs. No “common sense” approach or basic worldly wisdom can undo the work of the Holy Spirit less it undoes our very souls! And if that means a family being torn apart then let God’s will be done rather than play advocate to sin and mock the very blood of Christ! “And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell.” Matthew 5:30. These words of Jesus Christ referencing our hand or eye hold just as true for anything or anyone who would cause us to sin by demanding we soften or alter the Gospel. “If anyone comes to you and does not bring this doctrine, do not receive him into your house nor greet him; for he who greets him shares in his evil deeds.” - 2 John:10-11.
    There are even “Christians” who staunchly preach and defend the faith until it involves a cavalier family member or friend. Then they will boldly rail against anyone who would dare rebuke the one in error rather than take the side of “Primum Christo et Christi solus.” They will almost casually dismiss the error of faulty faith in this case. They step back from boldly preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Hell-fire, like the truth, is seldom popular with those who are more concerned about the approval of men than the salvation of souls.
    We live in a world that insists upon tolerance at any cost. Of course, that tolerance is expected only from church worshiping Reformed Christians and no one else! It is we who are labeled bigots, racists, homophobes, and Islamaphobes. We are cursed at as inflexible, narrow-minded, and intolerant. This is the way of the world, the flesh, and the devil. We must accept it; understand it, and refuse to be shamed or silenced by it. “And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.” - Romans 12:2.
    If we want to be true Christians we must understand from the start that we cannot love both the world and Christ! It is spiritually impossible. And once we realize that fact we must also come to terms with the reality that some who are close to us may not care to love Christ at all. Their love of the world is the thing that most matters to them. In many cases, it is the only thing that matters to them! It is thus so because they have never heard the effectual call of the Holy Spirit. Sure, they have heard the Gospel preached but they have only heard with their ears and never with their hearts. Oh, certainly they might have heard the call and shown up for a Sunday or two but then the world came calling them to the game or to the picnic and their fire for God turned as cold as ash because they were forced to make a choice. And choose, they did. “Now he who received seed among the thorns is he who hears the word, and the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and he becomes unfruitful.” - Matthew 13:22.
    No one has ever said that choosing Christ would be easy. In fact, Jesus Himself told us that to do so we would have to sacrifice to follow Him. “Then He said to them all, ‘If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.’” - Luke 9:23. Christ said that our commitment to Him must be total and without hesitation. “And another also said, ‘Lord, I will follow You, but let me first go and bid them farewell who are at my house.’ But Jesus said to him, ‘No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.’” - Luke 9:61-62. This is the cost of discipleship and if we are not willing to pay the cost, no matter what that cost is, we cannot be His disciples.
    These are just some of the hard sayings of Jesus but they are indeed His words. And which of us denies Jesus to save or retrieve human relationships denies his or her own faith in Christ. “Therefore whoever confesses Me before men, him I will also confess before My Father who is in heaven. But whoever denies Me before men, him I will also deny before My Father who is in heaven.” - Matthew 10:32-33. Let us pray boldly for the deliverance of those who are dear to us and never make excuse or exception for sin.

Prayers For The Dead? What? - Psalm 115:17

  
They are dead, they will not live; they are shades, they will not arise; to that end you have visited them with destruction and wiped out all remembrance of them. -  Isaiah 26:14

    There are so many analogies regarding praying for the dead and each one represents a missed or lost opportunity. From shutting the barn door after the horses have run out, to the old adage, “Too little, too late.” Praying for the dead should be added to those arcane idioms. The futility of such prayers cannot be emphasized enough. There are three considerations one should make before blundering into a prayer for the recent dead.
1)         Did we pray for them when they were alive? I don’t mean while they were struggling with mortality on their death beds. I mean during their lives! While they, like we, were touting their autonomy, independence, and their personal power, did we ever ask God to bless them in their ignorance and bring light to their clouded eyes? Do we even pray for ourselves?
“. . . praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints.” - Ephesians 6:18.
2)         If we did pray for them in life or in death, who exactly were we praying to? “Which god” were we praying to? Was it a god of our own imaginings, a god of our own design? Maybe a composite god drawn from some mixture of Native American / Eastern Religion / Mythical Storybook gods, some convoluted Unitarian goulash. Exactly which god are we talking about?  Because there are a lot of vain imaginings parading around in people’s minds, calling itself “god.” And if that’s the god we are all praying to, our prayers are falling on deaf ears!  There is but one true God. “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. You shall have no other gods before me.” - Exodus 20:2-3.
3)        The spiritual condition a man or woman dies in determines their eternity now and forever. After physical death it is too late for prayers. No matter what denomination you claim for yourself: no prayers for the dead will be heard! “But in accordance with your hardness and your impenitent heart you are treasuring up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, who ‘will render to each one according to his deeds.’” - Romans 2:5-6.
    There are three alternatives to the above considerations:
1)         If we want to affect the people we care about in this life, we must pray for them NOW, while they are alive! Why in heaven’s name would we wait until they die? Think about it. It’s not rocket science! People who are dead have no need for prayers. This is why it is so important to pray here and now, for others as well as for ourselves. How often and how much should we pray? “pray without ceasing” - 1 Thessalonians 5:17.
2)         I get hoarse repeating this truth, “There is but one holy God, the God of the Bible!” If we’re praying to anyone else, our water bucket has a hole in it. And at the end of a long day’s journey back and forth to the well, we’re still going to die of thirst! “but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.”- John 4:14.
3)         After one passes from this earthly shroud, they are gone. The corporeal body that housed envy, lust, hatred, and every other kind of sin is now and forever gone as we knew it. As I stated before, their spiritual state at the time of their death determines their final place in eternity. Those who died, having never come to Christ, are beyond the benefit of prayer. Prayer cannot help them; nothing can help them! “I told you that you would die in your sins, for unless you believe that I am he you will die in your sins.” - John 8:24. 
    On the other hand, those who died with faith in Christ Jesus as their Lord and Savior have no need for prayers; they are already in Paradise. “Then he said to Jesus, ‘Lord, remember me when You come into Your kingdom.’ And Jesus said to him, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise.’” - Luke 23:42-43.
    Yes, there have been more than a few deathbed confessions of faith but our hearts should weep for the man, woman, or child who doesn’t know enough about Jesus Christ to seek repentance! This is why praying for the dead is fruitless and praying for the living is of the utmost importance. Let us all remember the prayer of the tax collector: “God, be merciful to me a sinner!” - Luke 18:13.
    Muslims pray for their dead; Christians shouldn’t! Prayer is reserved for the living, not the dead. We must pray now, both for our loved ones and ourselves. We must pray now! “For He says: ‘In an acceptable time I have heard you, and in the day of salvation I have helped you.’ Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.” - 2 Corinthians 6:2. For those of you who only think about God at someone’s funeral, I urge you to stop it immediately and start to think about God in both your and your loved ones lives daily! Our glorious and loving Father in heaven hears only the prayers of and for the living.

A World Reunited, God’s Way - Deuteronomy 30:1-3

  
“Now it shall come to pass, when all these things come upon you, the blessing and the curse which I have set before you, and you call them to mind among all the nations where the Lord your God drives you, and you return to the Lord your God and obey His voice, according to all that I command you today, you and your children, with all your heart and with all your soul, that the Lord your God will bring you back from captivity, and have compassion on you, and gather you again from all the nations where the Lord your God has scattered you.”
- Deuteronomy 30:1-3


    Perhaps the greatest revelation of the true desegregation of mankind in the Old Testament, these verses from Deuteronomy 30 clearly state God’s eventual intention of drawing men and women from all nations back together into a true brotherhood. The over-riding condition referred to here is that we all return to God, the one true God,  and obey Him, obey His every law. 6,000 years of recorded human history show us that such a feat is humanly impossible. That while we may do good works and righteous things, we still fail to be ultimately righteous in our hearts and minds. “As it is written: ‘There is none righteous, no, not one; there is none who understands; there is none who seeks after God.  They have all turned aside; they have together become unprofitable; there is none who does good, no, not one.’” - Romans 3:10-12.
    Genesis 11 spells out the reason for God’s decision to scatter us abroad over the face of all the earth. The story of the Tower of Babel is timeless and points us to the erroneous idea that mankind could ever work toward justice and equality when failing to operate under the auspice of God’s will. History has since shown us incapable of working together for very long specifically because of cultural, ethnic, racial, and national differences . . . just as God intended it to be in Genesis 11! Because we decided to worship the creature (“ourselves,” see Genesis 11:4)  rather than the Creator we have been bridled with the curse. “Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves, who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.” - Romans 1:24-25. And while our title verse clearly marks the way for a return to the blessing God had in store for us, the reprobation of mankind still rules us even to our very way of thinking.
    Men have tried in vain to develop world organizations which would by law bring us together, i.e., the League of Nations, the United Nations. Such enterprises have always failed due to the fallacious origin or central weakness of the endeavor - the autonomy of man; the notion that as men, we are capable of accomplishing anything we choose to accomplish - a patently execrable foundation. “Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.” - Galatians 5:19-21.
    The blessing contained in Deuteronomy 30:1-3 is not based on anything outside of the parameters set by God Himself. We must if we ever hope to see a communion of mankind exist in peace, adhere to the words of verse 2 - “return to the Lord (our) God and obey His voice!” There simply is no other way. It was God who separated us; it is only God who can reunite us. Not since Genesis 3 has man found his place with God, nor have we obeyed His voice.
    We have set our teeth on edge against one another just as God decreed. Even our blood types are at variance. Despite the notion that “O negative” is the only universal blood type, the truth is that there is only one blood that is common to all men. There is only one blood type that mends the rift between man and man and God and man. There is only one blood type that obeys His voice. And that is the blood of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. It is only through His blood shed for us that He has atoned for our sins. It is through the blood of Christ that we are justified in the eyes of our holy God. It is only through this blood that mankind can ever find the commonality that makes us all brothers and sisters. It is only through His blood that bigotry and hatred will fall to the wayside. It is only through the blood of Christ that mankind is reunited, God’s way, not man’s!
    God, as it has been stated in Scripture is no respecter of persons. “Then Peter opened his mouth and said: “In truth I perceive that God shows no partiality.’” - Acts 10:34. God doesn’t see skin color or ethnicity or national boundaries. With God, there are no natural boundaries either. With God, there are only His chosen and the reprobate. Those chosen by God weep in contrition, kneeling beneath the cross while those left in their sin stand at a distance, point their crooked fingers and blaspheme the Lamb of God. This is the only separation of mankind that God sees! Those He has chosen for salvation and those He has left to die in their sin. And no international court or charter will ever force the two together.   
    Let us pray that God’s light shines brilliantly and brightly upon those who have chosen Christ over the world and love over bigotry and hatred. Truly, when we return to the Lord our God and obey His voice He will gather us again from the captivity of our racism and prejudice where we have been scattered. “Now I plead with you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.” - 1 Corinthians 1:10. This is the will of God for his people.

A Blessing Regardless - Psalm 106:37-38

They even sacrificed their sons and their daughters to demons, and shed innocent blood, the blood of their sons and daughters, whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan; and the land was polluted with blood. - Psalm 106:37-38

    I hear it all the time: why don’t you get off your high horse and stop condemning the Pro-Choice position on abortion? They tell me it’s “the law of the land.” My first thought is always, “You mean the way the law of the land said that liquor was legal, then it wasn’t, then it was . . . again?” The Pro-Choice opinion is now and always has been rife with misinterpreted law: law passed solely with political expediency in mind. “In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes.” - Judges 21:25.  How appropriate that this particular verse comes to us via the Book of Judges and that it clearly states that there was no King(God) in Israel = No God in America!
    The heinousness of abortion cannot be emphasized enough. It is why the procedure is forbidden to be discussed in “polite company.” Seriously, unless you are in the company of like-minded individuals you will be shut down immediately if you try to talk about what happens to an infant during an abortion. “That’s disgusting!” Some will say, while others in their ignorance will recoil and argue that a “human fetus” is not a person. Yet God sees it otherwise - “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; before you were born I sanctified you; I ordained you a prophet to the nations.” - Jeremiah 1:5.
    Biological science? Is that your preferred method of rational? You mean a form of science that its own proponents readily admit is constantly in flux? Yet somehow the “accepted science” never evolves radically enough to reverse the current and erroneous ideas about when viable life begins. That can only be explained politically because science supports the truth that once an ovum is fertilized by a sperm cell, short of a disease, accident or deliberate murder, life begins!
    So the question remains: why do I continually harp upon the mistaken idea that abortion is a woman’s “right” to murder her own child? To the unbeliever it won’t matter. But for the fence-sitting people who claim to believe in God I hope to drive such a wedge of thoughtful distress into your hearts that you must finally, firmly,  and unequivocally come to the conclusion that abortion, for whatever else it may be, is just wrong, both morally and ethically! “And they have built the high places of Tophet, which is in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire, which I did not command, nor did it come into My heart. ‘Therefore behold, the days are coming,’ says the Lord, ‘when it will no more be called Tophet, or the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter; for they will bury in Tophet until there is no room.’" - Jeremiah 7:31-32. 
    As for you unbelievers? Your advocacy for abortion isn’t your biggest problem; your biggest problem is your unbelief! “He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.” - John 3:18.
    A child must be seen both before birth and afterward as a blessing from God, regardless of the circumstances of conception. “Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb is a reward.” - Psalm 127:3. Abortion takes a life anyway you look at it unless you simply close your eyes and choose to ignore it.
    Why do I and why should every man and woman who dare call themselves, “Christian,” oppose abortion? “But Jesus said, ‘Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of heaven.’” - Matthew 19:14. Dare any of us deny Christ?

Biblical Revisionist Fools - Proverbs 26:4-5

   
Do not answer a fool according to his folly, lest you also be like him. Answer a fool according to his folly, lest he be wise in his own eyes. - Proverbs 24:4-5

    One of the great proverbs of the Old Testament seems contradictory at times. Are we to answer a fool according to his folly or are we not? On the surface it wouldn’t seem that we can have it both ways. I for one am of the school that agrees with the first statement: don’t answer the fool; however, there is great wisdom in the second statement.
     There was a recent article in the NY Times, submitting that the Book of Leviticus and the Bible in its entirety is a “human book.” The entire article, written by alleged  
“Biblical scholar,” Idan Dershowitz, suggests that the Book of Leviticus as we know it was written not by Moses but by several authors over a number of years and that, you probably want to sit down for this one: the “original” intent of Leviticus 18:22 was not a prohibition against sex between two men but a permission slip if you will that allowed this grisly and abhorrent practice. He suggests that this: “You shall not lie with a male as with a woman. It is an abomination.” - Leviticus 18:22 was the replacement for an original redacted version which actually allowed for such disgusting behavior. The sheer gravitas of such Biblical revisionism matches the glowering revisionism of the Holocaust which suggests no such genocidal madness took place! “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables.” - 2 Timothy 4:3-4.
    In addition to this sacrilegious garbage parading as Biblical scholarship Dershowitz and his father, Nachum, were among a group of scholars who were trying to apply “artificial intelligence (A.I.) “to reveal hidden patterns of authorship and editing of Biblical texts,” according to an article by Dr. Albert Mohler, of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. Mohler further went on to say, and correctly, “Dershowitz’s entire article is imagination disguised as scholarship.”
    And let’s not stop there. For the sake of argument: if Dershowitz and his ilk are even remotely correct in their assumptions. If as they suggest, the Bible has been edited, redacted, re-written, mistranslated, misinterpreted, and misunderstood over the eons of time, then what book of Holy Scripture can we point to with any degree of certainty and state emphatically, “This word is true?” If we can’t believe the Scriptural account of Creation then how can we argue that any of the Bible is true and accurate? If we can’t believe one book of the Bible what would make us think we could believe any other? And this is the goal and the aim of the Bible Revisionists; to cast doubt that Scripture is indeed the very word of God. How else can one redefine morality if he or she can’t say, “That’s not what it means?”
    Clearly, the very act of trying to reinterpret Biblical truth according to some trendy A.I or any revisionist’s criteria goes against two of the most profound warnings in the Bible: Deuteronomy 4:2 and Revelation 22:18, both of which forbid the adding to or subtracting of the original texts and revelations.
    My original position was to simply ignore the comments and suggestions of anyone who perverts the accepted intent of Scripture as written by its authors on the grounds that merely acknowledging such tripe is enough to lend credibility to their inane rambling. But after reading Dr. Mohler’s article rejecting Dershowitz’s argument I came to conclude that Mohler’s was an articulate and surgical strike at the heart of such utter nonsense and well represented the point of Proverbs 26:5.
    Perhaps the greatest lesson we can come away with from this counter-argument by Dr. Mohler is to be found in 2 Timothy 2:23-25 - “But refuse foolish and ignorant speculations, knowing that they produce quarrels. The Lord’s bond-servant must not be quarrelsome, but be kind to all, able to teach, patient when wronged, with gentleness correcting those who are in opposition, if perhaps God may grant them repentance leading to the knowledge of the truth . . . .”
    May we always find a way to stalwartly yet gently correct those who have turned aside from the truth that lives and reigns in Jesus Christ.