FreeTruth

One of the temptations we face when thugs take over government or the workplace or the neighborhood or the home is to run. We're tempted to try to escape, find a safer place, go into hiding, get away from the danger zone. I'm not sure this is the best way.

I wouldn't say that there is never a time to escape (after all I do remember an Acts 9:23-25 scene in which Paul escapes Damascus in a basket lowered over a wall, a scene that makes me smile as I play back the grainy footage of that night-time escape in my mind; a bit of a humbling moment for a mighty apostle, wouldn't you say?). Friends, if there is imminent danger to body or soul, escape is a very real option, and in some cases duty.

But something tells me that often God's preference for us in hard times, when the heat of persecution or cultural meltdown increases is not that we run but that we root.

You'll remember that Psalm 37:1-40 is God's counsel to us when thugs rule and evildoers turn up the heat. And among the many commands given us is that of Psalm 37:3--"dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness."

The Hebrew word translated "dwell" means to settle down, reside, stay. This is a call to stay put; to dwell in the land; to root rather than to run.

The additional admonition to "befriend faithfulness" is our translator's attempt to capture an uncertain Hebrew phrase. Check other translations and, instead of "befriend faithfulness," you'll find "feed on faithfulness" or "enjoy safe pasture" or "cultivate faithfulness."

One thing all the translation attempts have in common is a picture of steady, staying grace. Psalm 37:3 is either a call to settle down and be faithful, or to settle down and feed on God's faithfulness, or to stay and graze in the pasture of God's grace. One thing it is not is a call to run.

I'm reminded of God's words to His exiled people in Jeremiah 29:4-7. Folks, while in our own Babylonian captivity under thugs and thieves in high places, perhaps the best thing we can do is "build houses (or rent apartments) and live in them; plant gardens and eat their produce" and then build godly families as Jeremiah commands.

In other words perhaps the best thing we can do is take root and bear fruit. Perhaps the best thing we can do is to go about the business of everyday living, quite indifferent to the turmoil around, just minding our own business (as Paul puts it in 1 Thessalonians 4:10-12), taking care of our own affairs, working hard, tending our families, living quiet lives of consistent godliness, and whatever happens, simply keeping on keeping on.

Hard times are not times to run and hide; they're times to stay and shine (Matthew 5:10-16). What the world needs today is not more Christians moving away from the hot spots, retreating into safety to build communes, but Christians dwelling in the cultural war zones and staying put come what may.

Today's world and church need willing Christian stayers: men and women who'd rather be faithful than safe; who'd choose deep roots in a war zone over a cozy bunker in the country; who stick it out in church and society even when the times get hard indeed.

Labels: Culture War, Faithfulness, Persecution, politics, Social Action

In our series, Thieves, Thugs, and Christian Faith (which is based on Psalm 37:1-40), we're trying to frame a biblical response to cultural and political evil. You'll have to read back to see what we've covered so far. Today we'll consider how to take meaningful action.

Real, radical Christian social action is this: "Trust in the Lord, and do good...The righteous is generous and gives...Turn away from evil and do good" (Psalm 37:3, 21, 27).

Do good. Be generous and give.

Consider the simple yet radical action to which God calls us when we face thugs and thieves in high (or low) places. He does not call us primarily (if at all) to arms or to political action or to boycotts or to media blitzes. He calls us to do good.

Doing good is biblical parlance for living a generous, kind, compassionate, giving, hands-dirty-with-serving and hearts-connected-with-compassion lives. It's the very opposite of raging and fuming. It's the near opposite of passive news-watching and collective whining via Christian airwaves.

It's getting out there into the real world of human need and doing something through witness, love, kindness, hospitality, service, and compassion for the poor, the outcast, the alone, the alien, and yes, even the thug.

It's not faulting the illegal alien, it's finding him and loving him. It's not condemning the gays, it's befriending them and gracing them. It's not blasting and scorning the politicians, it's praying for them, and pleading for God's mercy upon them--because we actually and truly love them.

Read--and practice--the words of Jesus in Luke 6:27-35. Love your enemies. Do good to those who hate you. Bless and pray for them. Turn your cheek. Give. Lend, expecting nothing in return. Be merciful. That is radical Christian social action. Everything else is bluster. Worse it is quite possibly simply fear, self-righteousness, and/or bigotry.

The best way to change really bad people is to love them. Remember Romans 12:14-21. Make sure to stop and read that Romans text really slowly and thoughtfully, or you'll blow a chance to be transformed.

Simple series of questions (some with answers):

1. What is the best way to overcome evil? Do good.
2. What is the best way to handle the illegal alien problem? Love the alien more than you love a healthy economy or the nation's future well-being and lead the alien to Jesus.
3. Are you more concerned about the homosexual's agenda or the homosexual's soul?
4. If Obama is really an evil enemy of all that is good, then what are specific good things we may do for him to overcome his evil?
5. Are you against higher taxes simply because you want to keep more money in your pocket, or because you truly believe that you can give it away in a more effective, others-helping way than government can? You shouldn't want lower taxes so you can have a higher standard of living; you should want lower taxes so you can invest in heaven through greater giving.
6. Do you speak out and take action more vigorously for the plight of the unborn or the cause of missions and evangelism than you do for the state of the economy or the defence of American style democracy? What have you given more time, attention, and tears to in the past six months?
7. Which worries you more and prompts you to more prayer, generosity, and action: the fact that we have thugs in high places, or the fact that there are neighbors next door who've never really heard the gospel or met a sane Christian with a bold witness, and that there are 10-15 thousand people groups around the world who have never even heard of Jesus Christ because American Christians refuse to give and go in such a way as to finish the task of local and global missions?

With all due respect and deep affection for all the dear saints who are doing much good every day to affect others for Christ, may I say this bluntly about the majority in churches today: maybe American Christians should whine a whole lot less and simply do good a whole lot more.

Labels: charity, Culture War, Giving, Love, Social Action

So in Psalm 37:4 we are told to "delight in God and He will give us the desires of our heart." As mentioned yesterday this is a way of saying that when evildoers seemingly have the upper hand (which is the case in Psalm 37 and today), believers must gaze at God with affection and delight rather than at their surrounding circumstances or the powers that be.

In so doing their fear, fretting, and fuming will dissipate, and their desires (for more of God and grace and joy) will increase. The spiritual formula is really quite simple, even if not always easy to apply. Here it is: In hard times, delight in God. When times grow dark gaze at the Light. When times are tough, turn to the bright, pleasing, satisfying Wonder, whose name is God.

When you do, fear will be expelled and desires satisfied.

One reason why so many Christians today are all hot and bothered to the point of spiritual distraction is because they are spending far more time gazing at problems than at the God above those problems. Time doesn't permit me to expound at length about how to remedy this, but can I suggest a simple piece of advice (which I know you're all smart enough to figure out how to apply)?

For every ten minutes you spend watching the news, evaluating economic and political theory, critiquing politicians, reading the lastest alarms from conservative watchdog groups, or keeping current on the latest scandal in Washington or on Main Street, spend an hour delighting in God.

I'm not exaggerating or kidding. Ten minutes watching the news should be preceded or followed by an hour in the Word of God or prayer or fellowship with believers or reading a book extolling the attributes or gospel or grace or glory or sovereignty of God.

Delight in God and he will give you the desires of your heart. Wallow in the gutter of political thuggery and theory or cultural decay and you will only get mad and afraid.

I heard yesterday (in a conversation) about a local civic leader apparently taken down in an FBI investigation. Guess what: in a total of five minutes of conversation and follow up reading I knew all I needed to know about it. If I spend any more time on it, I lose joy, fuel anger, get weak, start sinning.

I can get all the news I really need daily in a very few minutes of headline reading. More than that and I'm headed for the gutter. Instead I choose to spend my time beholding the One whose glory fills the earth and whose hand rules the nations.

Delighting in God, I get more of God and all the joy he gives, even when the world is upside down with corruption.

Today's thought.

Labels: christian life, Culture War, Faith, Joy in Trials, Persecution, Social Action, Trust

Psalm 37:1-40 is as good a soul-antibiotic as you'll find anywhere to remedy the disease of discontented rage infecting Christians in our topsy-turvy world today.

The first call of the Psalm is for us to trust; to trust God and commit our way to him. But why trust God? What do we know about God that is worthy of such trust when jobs are lost, careers screech to a halt, freedoms are curtailed, politicians remake our country, evildoers conspire in back rooms, and cultural morals sink lower (and stink more) than a cess pool?

I count no less than a dozen promises from God and about God that David passes on to us to undergird our trust in him. Let me point out a few:

1. God will break, crush, wither up, laugh at, obliterate, cut off, and in all other ways destroy the wicked (Psalm 37:2, 9, 10, 13, 17, 20, 34, 36, 38). God doesn't put up with wicked nonsense for long. There will be a day--in this world and in the next--when they will meet their end.
2. God will act (Psalm 37:5). I love that. Aslan is on the move. God moves, acts, works, does, rules, all to enact his plans. God is not silent and he's never still.
3. God will make justice blaze like the noonday sun (Psalm 37:6). Are we really being wronged? It'll be made right. Are our rights really being violated? God will not let that stand. Is injustice really happening? We need not fuss, fume, and fight for our rights. God will never let it go unresolved.
4. God is multi-generationally committed (Psalm 37:18, 25, 26). God loves us and our children. While evildoers will come and go, our children will remain forever, the blessed of the Lord. Friends: don't worry too much about your children's future in this mixed up nearly bankrupt world. They'll be fine. God has promised to see to it himself.
5. God is a spiritual hedonist (Psalm 37:4). Delight yourself in God (we hope to discuss how to do that tomorrow) and he'll give you your desires (i.e.-your delights and cravings). Think about that and you'll realize that it means that if you delight yourself in God, making him you highest desire and joy, you'll get more of God. God knows how to make his children happy, filling them with pleasure. It's by giving us himself during the raging afflictions of life.

Friends: don't curse the day or bemoan the times. Today's crises fuel the furnace out of which the pure gold of knowing God and delighting in God emerge. God loves to please us, so he's promised to give us our deepest desire: to know and be known by him. The Bible and experience tell us that trials, tribulations, thieves, and thugs do not diminish the believer's joy; they accentuate and increase it.

So let us embrace these troubled times as a gift from God through which he is going to give us more of himself! Do not fret over evildoers, for what man means for evil, God means for very great, very enjoyable, very satisfying good.

Labels: Culture War, Faith, Joy in Trials, Persecution, politics, Trust

Having seen that we are not to fret or fuss when evildoers have the rule over us, we need to learn from David what we are to do. Psalm 37:1-40 is laced with positive imperatives well worth our reflection.

Let's start where David does: "trust in the Lord...trust in him, and he will act" (Psalm 37:3, 5). This is connected in Psalm 37:5 with another command to "commit your way to the Lord." The Lord calls us in difficult times under dangerous people to make sure that our primary response is one of trust; trust in God.

The Hebrew words speak of entrusting ourselves to God. One word means literally: to roll onto. We are to roll our way onto God. That's another way of saying what Peter says: "[be] casting all your cares upon him for he cares for you" (1 Peter 5:7). 1 Peter was written for believers in days of thugs and thieves as well. His counsel then matches Ddavid's counsel hundreds of years before. Cast or roll your cares onto God.

Friends, I do not mean to be cliched. What we need in these troubling days is not bogus religious platitudes. What we need is real Godward faith; a conviction that every ruler, every thug, every thief, every trial is nothing more than a puff of air momentarily exhaled by a soveriegn all-wise, all-good heavenly Father who has nothing but the good of his people and the glory of his name in mind. Each will vanish as quickly as it appears, once its divine purpose is complete.

What we should feel, speak, and live in these hard days is simple, solid trust. What people should see and hear above all the shrill cries of Fox News on the right and NBC on the left, is our steady, calm, peace-filled voices, saying: "Our God is in the heavens doing whatever pleases him" (Psalm 115:2-11) and "Though he slay us, yet will we hope in him" (Job 13:15).

Every word we speak, every attitude we express, every response we exhibit should communicate that "though this world will devils filled should threaten to undo us, we will not fear for God hath willed his truth to triumph through us." I am in God's hands, not man's. And there I am truly and eternally safe--even if persecutors come, arrest, and kill.

So Christian: rise up against the tide of rage and fear. Stand in God and in an unshakable trust in his good and sovereign hand. And make sure that it shows. The world desperately needs to see that someone on this crazy planet has the inside scoop on Who's really in control.

Labels: Culture War, Faith, politics, Social Action, Trust

Sorry for the few days away, but it could not be helped.

In my current series I'm trying to answer the political/social crises of our times with a biblical perspective. Psalm 37:1-40 is a timely and powerful response, not only to the thugs and thieves that govern us, but also to the less than stellar, that is to say: the largely ungodly response that many Christians are displaying toward these powers that be.

Given that we've had a few days pause, let me review to get us all up to speed. Friends: this is a moment for us to shine, not to whine; a moment to radiate hope and grace, not to communicate despair and rage; a moment to so live in the midst of confusion and chaos that people actually ask us for the reason for the hope that is in us (1 Peter 3:13-16), not see in us the same frustration and fury that they see in everyone else!

So (by way of review) I've asked the question: "How is your present ('Christian') response to all these evildoers different from that of others in the world who share you basic political or economic point of view, but who are not Christians?"

I have also wondered if our response reflects a sound, solid, sure conviction that while presidents and kings come and go, "in the end there will be only one King standing?"

You see: a right relationship with, and view of, God should enable us to stop fretting (remember: the psalmist exhorts us not to fret three times). So Christian: "Cool down. Chill. Don't get emotional heart-burn over the thugs and thieves of human society. Whatever right responses there may be--like speaking out against evil, voting evil out of office when able, not conforming to the evil, rescuing victims from the evil, and praying for the evildoers--one thing we are not to do, is go into a slow burn. Don't become a boiling cauldron of worry, anger and rage (Psalm 37:8). Just don't go there."

The psalmist would have us be content, not envying the wicked or desiring more than we have (Psalm 37:1, 16). So what if politicians take away our present standard of living? So what if they limit our freedoms? So what if they don't listen to our voice? So what if they seem to get away with political thuggery? So what if my taxes go through the roof? So what--and yes, I mean it--if the USA we have known is forever a thing of the past?

Christians and the Church have flourished in conditions far worse than any on our horizon. We should prepare to do the same without grousing or complaining. The testimony of the gospel and the glory of Christ is at stake. We should be far more concerned about handling the abuse of our rights with grace than we are about the fact that our rights are being abused.

I'm not advocating that these evils don't matter at all, or that they shouldn't grieve us (for all evil should grieve us). But I am saying that whatever a right response to them might be, it does not include fret, rage, and discontentment. We should not fret over evildoers or allow ourselves the crippling and dishonorable "freedom" to rage against others or sink into unhappy discontentment because society just might be taking a really bad turn for the worse.

Based on David's inspired words I'd ask: "Do you have a little? Do you have today's bread, a couple of outfits to wear, something simple to get around in, a roof over your head, a glass of water, enough health to get by? Then you are better off than the D.C's power-grabbers and all the kings and presidents on earth. Make sure to enjoy what God has given you more than you worry about what government is taking away. Don't panic and fret over the media and cultural elite's seeming stranglehold on our culture. In the end they will perish while you endure."

I think that an accurate read of American history reveals that she has endured thugs and thieves at least as bad, and I think, far worse than what we have today (read about the political, business, slavery and segregated world of the 1,800's through 1960). I'm telling you: those were evil, evil days; days of unspeakable injustices at the hands of slave owners, business tycoons, and political power-brokers.

Yet those evildoers have come and gone--and the Church and people of God remain and are going strong! Brothers and sisters: in the end there will only be One King, One Power, One Dominion standing--and we'll be part of His kingdom.

So Psalm 37 has helped us to see what we are not to do in reponse to culture's thugs and thieves. From here on for the next several days we'll look at what we are to do. I hope you'll stay tuned.

Labels: Culture War, Faith, politics, Social Action

When the world seems run by scoundrels, and when it seems like their skulduggery works so that they prosper, it can be tempting to wish we were in their shoes. This is one of the tempations that David challenges us to avoid in Psalm 37:1-40. "Be not envious of evildoers" (Psalm 37:1)!

One reason it's folly to envy those in power and who seem to be getting their way at the expense of others is that their flower is fast fading (Psalm 37:2). For the righteous to wish for what the wicked has--their power, their wealth, their influence, their victoires, their control of the White House, their manipulation of the system--would be as foolish as if the sun would envy a hundred watt bulb! The sun is more brilliant, and the sun's radiance more enduring. The 100 watter will flicker and die.

In short, the powerful and prosperous above us will "wither like the green herb" beneath a blazing sun (Psalm 37:2), while "the heritage of the blameless will remain forever" (Psalm 37:18).

For this reason, "Better is the little that the righteous has than the abundance of many wicked" (Psalm 37:16). Do you have a little? Do you have today's bread, a couple of outfits to wear, something simple to get around in, a roof over your head, a glass of water, enough health to get by?

Then you are better off than the D.C's power-grabbers and all the kings and presidents on earth. Enjoy what God has given you more than you worry about what government is taking away from you. Don't panic and fret over the media and cultural elite's seeming stranglehold on our culture. In the end they will perish while you endure.

Do you have a little with a righteous standing before God in Christ? You have more than all the wicked kings of earth combined! Do you have today's bread along with an increasingly transformed and righteous life by the sanctifying mercy of the Holy Spirit? Then you are the rich one. You are the truly powerful one. You are the one toppling the dominions and powers within by the grace of God.

I plead with my friends to give far more time and attention to enjoying, reading about, delighting in, and being satisfied with all they have in Jesus than they do reading about, fretting over, fighting for, and arguing about what the government is taking away, or how government might be better run.

I'm not saying that we shouldn't speak up or be concerned. I'm just saying that if you're fretting and fuming on a regular basis about all that's wrong with the world and the powers that be, you're letting them take away far more than your freedom or taxes. You're letting them take away your joy and contentment.

Whatever government can take away, they cannot touch a heart contented in God. Friends, whatever you do, don't envy the wicked or pine for the good old days. Live in the present moment of God's goodness and righteousness--and whatever happens you will be able to remain unfazed and unflappably joyful in your soul.

Labels: Contentment, Culture War, Faith, politics

So what do we do when it seems that thugs and thieves have the upper hand with no one to stop them? How do we respond when the wicked flourish, and the righteous don't?

Once again I call us back to Psalm 37:1-40. There are more than 20 imperatives in this Psalm, with 3-5 more implied commands for us to keep in mind. Three of them tell us what not to do when the wicked prosper; the rest tell us what to do. Let's look today at one of the "thou shalt nots", thrice repeated in the Psalm:

"Fret not yourself because of evildoers...
"Fret not yourself over the one who prospers in his way...
"Fret not yourself; it tends only to evil" (Psalm 37:1, 7, 8).

Sounds a little emphatic doesn't it?!

The Hebrew word repeated in each of these verses actually means: to burn, to kindle, to get all heated up. The translation "fret" is actually a little weak. It speaks of emotion more heated than mere fret or a tad of worry. David is telling us not to get all "hot and bothered" when the wicked seem to have the upper hand.

Cool down. Chill. Don't get emotional heart-burn over the thugs and thieves of human society. Whatever right responses there may be--like speaking out against evil, voting evil out of office when able, not conforming to the evil, rescuing victims from the evil, and praying for the evil-doers--one thing we are not to do, is go into a slow burn. Don't become a boiling cauldron of worry, anger and rage (Psalm 37:8). Just don't go there.

In Psalm 37:8 David gives a compelling reason why we must not travel that road --"Fret not yourself; it tends only to evil." When we allow the prosperity and success of the wicked to get to us, we begin to share their wickedness. Sustained fret and anger, even when we think it's justfied, begins to eat at the soul, and sin is not far behind. Fretful anger leads only to evil.

Soon, instead of loving, doing good to, and praying for our enemies, as Jesus tells us to, we will be:

-cursing the wicked
-plotting against them ourselves
-justifying lying and shenanigans of our own to try to dethrone them
-indulging unsubstantiated rumors about them
-believing the very worst about them
-hating and despising our enemies

So what do we do? One way to turn down the heat a bit is to consider the following question: "When all is said and done, what is the very worst that man can do to me?" Jesus tells us in Matthew 10:28 not to "fear those who can kill the body, but cannot kill the soul."

The very worst that man can do to me is kill me. But when man kills, God makes alive. What man puts in the ground God raises up. If the wicked persecute the righteous they only add to the reward of the righteous (Matthew 5:10, 11). If they kill the righteous, they only hasten the day of the saints' going home to glory.

Man's worst is God's best. That ought to help cool our passions.

Labels: Culture War, Faith, Hope, politics, Social Action

Yes, the circumstances of the righteous in Psalm 37:1-40 still exist today. Wrongdoers have power and they use it for agendas dripping with evil. Driven by a lust for self, power, money, sex (yes it can be proven that sex of an immoral nature is the real motive behind various contemporary social, political, and even scientific views of our times), and a raging enmity against God (Psalm 37:20), they scheme against God and godliness everyday of their lives.

And often they prosper in their scheming ways (Psalm 37:7). I don't know about you, but it's hard to avoid the impression that political thugs and thieves are sitting in the same dark secret rooms where they've hatched their evil plots, now lighting up a victory cigar while smirking about how they've pulled another fast one on the peons below.

Evil men tend to be smug. In the preceding Psalm we see that the wicked has "no fear of God...[and]flatters himself...that his iniquity cannot be found out...[and] plots trouble while on his bed" (Psalm 36:1-4). This smug scorn of God, God's Law, and God's people continues prevalent today at every level of human society, right up into the halls of the White House, and across the world.

The world lives in open mockery of God, Truth, and Righteousness.

But God always has the last laugh. Indeed, "the Lord laughs at the wicked" (Psalm 37:13). When the kings of the earth "set themselves...and take counsel together against the Lord...saying, 'Let us break their bonds apart and cast away their cords from us,'" (Psalm 2:1-3) this is what happens: "He that sits in the heavens laughs; the Lord holds them in derision" (Psalm 2:4).

The Lord sits enthroned in heaven in open mockery of the thuggery of man. When man defies God's kingdom and seeks to establish one of his own, God simply laughs. He laughs a derisive, scornful, mocking, sovereign last laugh in return.

God laughs at them the way they laugh at us. The only difference is: God is holy and righteous in doing so, while they are simply fools.

And doomed fools at that. A major emphasis of Psalm 37 is the ultimate end of the unrepentant wicked (see Psalm 37:2, 9, 10, 15, 17, 20, 28, 35, 36, 38). They will be cut off and broken. They will perish, fade like grass in a blazing sun, vanish like smoke, simply "be no more".

So what does this mean? It means that when the wicked laughs at God, it leaves God unfazed and unchanged. But when God laughs at the wicked, it leaves the wicked in ruin and rubble.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, please know this: the unrepentant wicked will not long endure. If they insist on laughing at God He will soon have the last laugh. Their machinations and scheming prosperity simply will not last. In the end God wins.

In the shadow of this truth let us keep two things in mind:

1. First, let us pray for the wicked that they would repent before the laugh of God destroys them. So long as they have breath, there is opportunity for them to repent and come to Christ. Pray that God--in His just wrath--will remember mercy. Let us strive that when we think of the wicked fool who laughs at God we will be moved to compassion. For in man's folly is his ruin, unless he humbles himself before heaven's throne.
2. Second, if the wicked refuse to repent, let us simply never lose sight of this fact: our God is in the heavens deriding the arrogance of man. His sovereign plan is advancing toward the Day when the whole universe will hear the righteous, booming, blasting, consuming last laugh of God.

In the end there will be only one King standing.

Labels: Culture War, politics, Sovereignty of God, Trust

Recently in the space of minutes I read first, numerous comments by Christians regarding our present political/cultural/social situation, and then second, Psalm 37:1-40. The contrast was so sharp, so diametrically opposite, so glaringly revealing that I knew as a pastor and brother in Jesus, I would need to call attention to it. I do so not to criticize sincerely concerned people, but to call to a better and more soul and God-pleasing way.

Daily comments from Christians about our cultural situation and political leaders express such anxiety, such anger, such fear, such hostility, such despair, such rage, such angst that I am much concerned that we as Christians are missing a grand opportunity to shine forth something very different to a watching world.

We are missing an opportunity to shine forth Psalm 37.

Over the next week or two I think it could transform us to meditate together step by step through this Psalm for the deepening joy and shining testimony of our lives.

I'd begin by calling attention to what this psalm makes obvious: there have always been thugs and thieves in high places. David uses multiple words to describe those of his day:

-Evildoers (Psalm 37:1, 9)
-Wrongdoers (Psalm 37:1)
-The wicked (Psalm 37:12, 14, 16, 17, 20, 21, 32, 35, 38, 40)
-Enemies of the Lord (Psalm 37:20)
-Ruthless (Psalm 37:35)
-Transgressors (Psalm 37:38)
-Duplicitous thieves (Psalm 37:21a)

The psalmist calls his times "evil times" (Psalm 37:19) in which sufferings were many, and plotting and dangerous people (Psalm 37:7, 12, 14, 15) gnashed their teeth against the righteous, conniving and scheming to destroy. These were people who gathered in dark, secret, smoke-filled rooms to formulate evil devices and strike deals to foist their evil agendas on common ordinary run of the mill decent people, no matter what the cost in human life or suffering those agendas might entail.

Let me be clear right up front: I agree with my many Christian friends who believe that there are such thugs and thieves in high places today. The degree of political muggings and evil shenanigans currently going on is appalling. Evildoers are in high places (and by and large such evil-doing is bi-partisan, spilling over into Tea Partiers, libertarians and the whole lot of them). Everybody's got an agenda. Few have a truly godly one.

So what do we do? David's inspired counsel to the oppressed victims of thugs and thieves differs sharply from the common response of American Christians. We'll examine that response in coming days.

But first let me ask a question to help you examine your own response: "How is your present ('Christian') response to all these evildoers different from that of others in the world who share you basic political or economic point of view, but who are not Christians?"

Is your response different in any clear and obvious way from Rush Limbaugh (the blustering rant), Glenn Beck (the mad Mormon), Bill O-Reilly (the verbal 'Catholic' bully), Sean Hannity (the smirking wiseacre), or any of the other conservative, anti-Obama, anti-establishment, government-bashing voices that don't seem to have a God-centered breath in their lungs, or Christ-satisfied, Heaven-trusting bone in their body?

Would an observer be able to tell the difference between you and them? Think about it.

As you do this, you may choose to read Psalm 37 repeatedly. Such reading in faith will be like an oxygen machine. It'll fill your lungs with faith and joy, yes even when thugs and thieves seem to prevail.

Labels: Culture War, Faith, politics, Social Action, Trust

Regarding the Manhattan Declaration (MD) I feel the need to post some thoughts for your consideration. Having read a number of articles pro and con on the merits of signing the MD, I have thus far decided against doing so. If you will indulge, let me give you several reasons why I would like to sign this document, and then a few reasons why I cannot in good conscience do so.

Please be ready for a more lengthy post today as I will not be able to post again on this matter in the near future. So if it takes a few days to digest this, feel free. You may want to read it in two sittings, first taking in the reasons why I'd like to sign; then reading the reasons why I don't believe I can.

Reasons why I'd like to sign the MD:
1. I am strongly pro-life, pro-family, and pro-freedom. Any chance one gets to support these values is worth seizing and supporting if at all possible. As one who has been involved in pro-life efforts for decades (ranging from preaching to letters to newspaper editors to active long-term support of a pregnancy center, to doing ethics talks at a local hospital to spending time in jail for the unborn, I would applaud every voice that joins in in the fight for life. I'd honor every God-glorifying action that defends the helpless and/or strengthens family and freedom.
2. As a matter of biblical principle, I stand against big government and the assault on freedom that MD opposes. It would be a delight to sign on to this publicly declared commitment to obey God rather than government. I'd love in this way to let the world know where I stand at this historical crossroads; one at which I am very convinced that persecution for faithful faith is soon to come.
3. I am a peace and unity lover. If there could be a way to declare my unity with all believers in the true gospel of God's pure grace, and at the same time express solidarity in common cause against the encroaching darkness, I would leap at the chance with a thrilled heart.
4. I respect many of those who have signed the MD and would be honored to have my name next to theirs. For reasons that some have expressed, but I cannot accept, many good solidly evangelical people have signed this document and I would love to join them.
5. I have no pleasure in being misunderstood as narrow-minded and marginalized as a provincial evangelical hick (as I know I am by some). There's no joy in being labeled, scolded, and derided as "doctrinally narrow" or "unloving" or "bigoted" or "Luther wannabes" as I and others like me have been. When one's heart is for love and peace in the Church, one's heart breaks when it is accused of obstructing the very unity it seeks.

For these reasons and more, I'd love to sign on to MD, but for reasons of conscience I cannot do so. Among these reasons are the following (if you're just joining the conversation please read my heart from my previous post and comments before reading the following):
1. I believe the MD blurs and fuzzies the gospel. By calling social issues (however important they may be) "the gospel" MD confuses Christian ethics with what is the actual good news of our faith. The gospel is not the "sanctity of life" or the preservation of the family or defence of freedom. The gospel is that Christ died for sinners, and rose from the dead so that all who believe in His finished work alone for their salvation may be forgiven of all sin. The gospel is that sinners are justified by grace alone through faith alone because of Christ alone.

MD also blurs the gospel when it implies that those who preach another gospel are "Christians" and "brothers". MD states:

We, as Orthodox, Catholic, and Evangelical Christians, have gathered, beginning in New York on September 28, 2009, to make the following declaration, which we sign as individuals, not on behalf of our organizations, but speaking to and from our communities. We act together in obedience to the one true God, the triune God of holiness and love, who has laid total claim on our lives and by that claim calls us with believers in all ages and all nations...

We are Christians who have joined together across historic lines of ecclesial differences to affirm our right—and, more importantly, to embrace our obligation—to speak and act in defense of these truths. We pledge to each other, and to our fellow believers...

Paul would have called those who preach another gospel by very different names than "Christian" and "brother" (see Galatians 1:6-9 and Philippians 3:2). Every indicator is that the people Paul opposed so fiercely were right on nearly every doctrine except justification. He says nothing about them being anti-trinitarian or opposing the deity of Christ or denying any other cardinal doctrine of the Christian faith. Their only error was that they mixed grace with works/merit. That error was enough to elicit from him shocking epithets. He did not consider them brothers. Another way of putting this is: I have hard time seeing Paul signing this document if he were present today.
2. As a shepherd of sheep, my daily task is to lead my flock into the green pastures of the gospel. My sheep have a hard time keeping the gospel clear in their own minds. It's amazing how stubborn the tendency to fall back into legalism is. We are prone to measure ourselves before God by how we perform today. I love my sheep so much that I do not want to send any mixed signals about the gospel. The gospel must stay pure and central and all-important or else the road to legalistic bondage will once again be traveled by the ones I love.
3. I believe that the gospel is under full-scale attack on numerous fronts, so I cannot be unguarded in the fight. From the New Perspective on Paul to an increasingly popular rejection of the doctrine of imputation to the Roman Catholic system of merit to cheap grace theology I see the enemy assaulting the gospel from all sides. This is not a day for blurriness and neglect for the sake of lesser matters; it's a day for bold, unadulterated gospel proclamation.
4. I cannot sign the MD simply as a matter of personal integrity. Whatever may be the definitions some signers may be giving to the terms "Christians" and "brothers", I know that the history of key signers and spokesmen shows an understanding of those terms that I cannot accept. Thus to sign a document as a statement of unity when I know that at best, I mean something different than other signers, and in actuality I may mean and think the opposite, would be to compromise my integrity. I'd have to sign with my fingers crossed behind my back, which as you can guess I'm not able to do.

Well enough of this for now. Such conversations are never pleasant though sometimes needed. Whatever our conclusions may we be sure to always speak with respect and love for all men, even for those with whom our differences are matters of life and death.

Labels: Abortion, Culture War, Gospel, Social Action

I came into the office today, admittedly with a heavy heart. I knew I'd have to address an issue that the recent Manhattan Declaration has forced to the surface again. I'm heavy-hearted because no matter how carefully and humbly I may try to respond to this I grieve that some will be offended. I also grieve because every time similar conversations occur, I am reminded of how subtle and covert the Enemy's assaults are, and how hard it is to make sure that we recognize them and are not deceived by them.

Likewise I am very much aware of my own fallibility and limited perspective (it's possible that I am seeing an Enemy assault that is not really there at all!). Aware of my inability to see all things clearly, I feel a high-level hesitancy in declaring my views, lest I in ignorance miss something of significant import in the conversation.

With that said I need to respond to this development for the good of the flock entrusted to my care. I admire the views and the courage of all those who have signed on to this declaration. I am in whole-hearted agreement with their views on the moral issues they raise, and think that I have lived and pastored in such a way as to prove that claim. I have long preached and lived and counseled and insisted on the values that this declaration proclaims and seeks to defend, and have done so at some personal cost and sacrifice--in full expectation that more suffering is soon to come.

I recognize that we are on a cultural trajectory that in my judgment, is leading inexorably to an ever-darkening culture of death and also to an inevitable persecution of the church. I do not believe we can ignore this or be silent about it. The Church must be salt and light in the world of our day. We must say all that God would say to this generation--for we are His voice in our times. And we must be willing to back up our words with lives marked by blameless character, fearless witness, and tireless love.

Martin Luther's famous words are apropos for this moment:

If I profess with the loudest voice and clearest exposition every portion of the truth of God except precisely that little point which the world and the devil are at that moment attacking, I am not confessing Christ, however boldly I may be professing Christ. Where the battle rages, there the loyalty of the soldier is proved, and to be steady on all the battlefield besides is mere flight and disgrace if he flinches at that point.

But oddly as it may seem to many, it is this very commitment to confess Christ at the "point which the world and the devil are at the moment attacking" that keeps me from being ready to sign the Manhattan Declaration. Friends, I will agree that all the concerns addressed by the framers of this declaration are points of Satanic attack in our times. But what I really do believe is that there is another point of Satanic attack even more critical for the cause of the gospel and glory of Christ that this very same declaration (perhaps unwittingly) may actually assist.

I believe there are aspects of this document that undermine the very heart of the gospel, that One Thing that matters most, and for this reason I cannot in good conscience sign on. I'll have to explain further in a later post since this one is long enough already.

But for your consideration let me ask some questions, questions that I would ask that you think long and carefully about before you actually try to answer them in a comment: "If the Bible calls people Christians when they trust in Christ alone for their salvation, in no way trusting in their own merit for that salvation...and if those who preach another gospel other than a gospel of God's free justifying grace by faith alone through Christ alone receive apostolic anathemas (which is what Paul's letter to the Galatians is all about, see Galatians 1:6-9) do we not need to be very careful in how we describe those who so distort the gospel? Can we really, under any circumstances call one a "Christian" or a "brother" whom Paul would anathematize? And does not the Manhattan Declaration do that very thing?

My concern with the Manhattan Declaration is not in what it says on paper so much as what it assumes about those who signed it. I really do believe that those underlying assumptions undermine the integrity and essence of the gospel (because they suggest that people that proclaim another gospel are nonetheless brothers in the faith). And I am convinced that in the long run this kind of blurring and fuzzying of the gospel will do more harm to the cause of all that is good, than all other cultural threats to morality ever will.

I know that this is controversial, but for reasons I'll expand tomorrow (and until I am presented with reasons I've not yet considered) I seem bound by faithfulness to the gospel to take my stand here. I truly am open to sound reasons to convince me otherwise, but thus far, I have not been convinced by any I've seen.

Labels: Abortion, Culture War, Ecumenism, Social Action

Two "religious news" items came up on my monitor last Friday while I was at work. One, an electronic newsletter from the IRD (Institute on Religion and Democracy), and the other, a press release announcing the "Manhattan Declaration" sent to me by my friend in Chicago who edits Touchstone, and Salvo, two excellent Christian periodicals.

In the IRD newsletter, I learned that certain Methodists, Presbyterians and Episcopalians are lobbying hard for the passage of the trillion dollar health care plan now moving to the U.S. Senate. Boards from these mainline Protestant denominations were angered by the recent U.S. House vote that prohibited government health insurance funded abortions (a pro-life victory won largely by the efforts of U.S. Catholic Bishops).

The other news I received Friday was of the issuing of the "Manhattan Declaration: A call of Christian Conscience." It is an eloquent plea from Orthodox, Catholic, and Evangelical believers to uphold the sanctity of life, the institution of marriage, and religious liberty. It also includes an emphatic refusal to compromise the proclamation of the gospel.

Old alliances no longer serve. Our Reformed and Evangelical views on these issues seem to align us more closely with the Orthodox and Catholic than with mainline protestant churches, many of which have joined ranks with "liberal elites."

I cannot remember the last time I described myself as a "Protestant." As a child I found the label handy in distinguishing myself from Roman Catholics, but I don't use it these days.

What do you think? Is it safe to publicly align ourselves with others who call themselves believers in order to stand together on the important moral issues of our day? Can we, while holding theological differences, still unite on other issues?

Over 22,000 have signed this declaration since Friday. What say ye... do we sign on, or no. And if not, why not?

Labels: Culture War, Guest Post, politics, Witness

May I revisit the "culture wars" discussion today?

One of the 3 books on my son's summer reading list for American Lit. is The Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger. Controversy had surrounded this book for decades. It is less so now, but this is one parent who is still concerned, and I share it with you because I'd like you to be troubled along with me for a moment--especially if you have children in public school.

In this book the Lord's name is used profanely about 300 times, there are multiple uses of the "F" word, along with references to casual sexuality and drunkenness. The 16-year-old main character (Salinger himself, really) has become the icon for teen-age rebellion and defiance.

When I asked for an alternate reading to The Catcher in the Rye I received this reply:

Hello Mr. Cardillo:

I understand your concern with the profanity. We have had extensive articulation regarding what each grade level needs to be exposed to regarding literature.

After much discussion with all of the high school teachers, as well as the Curriculum Supervisor, we decided The Catcher in the Rye was an essential element to the study of American Literature. If you would like, I could research an edited version for Matthew to use during the study of this novel.

What makes this "an essential element" to the study of American Lit? I guess if a couple of liberal magazines like Time and The New Yorker rave about your book and publicize it for you, and a curious public in the early 1950's begins to buy it, and it winds up on the New York Times best seller list--well, you are a great American novelist... and high school students are doomed to read your second rate work for at least the next 50 years.

I have thought about taking this book into a Board of Education meeting. I could read a few choice selections. I'm quite certain the board members would be squirming in their seats at the end of my 3 minute time allotment. But it's OK to ask our children to read it quietly in the privacy of our homes.

I don't think the educators are saying: "Here kids, read and understand--it's good to rebel; we encourage you to be defiant; it's OK to use profanity; it's fun to experiment with casual sex." And yet the reading itself is an affront to the innocence of youth, and that is worrisome. When I was in high school a parental permission slip was required to read this very same book... apparently it's not needed now, and it seems they may actually be unwilling to excuse our son from reading it!

One wonders what truly great pieces of America Lit are being left off the reading list to make room for The Catcher in the Rye. The book still sells 250,000 copies a year! Who, I wonder is doing all this buying and keeping the book alive? Well, Pineland's Regional High School is doing its part to keep the circulation up.

In his last sermon, Steve Cassarino referred to Satan as "a master strategist and corrupter of the human race..." Satan's strategies are flourishing in the public school, but then, as someone reminded me when I last whined about this, what was I expecting!

Labels: Culture War, Guest Post, Home Schooling

It seems the theory of "Common Descent" is in serious trouble. The journal New Scientist has released an article titled "Why Darwin was wrong about the tree of life." The article candidly discusses the tremendous obstacle faced by evolutionary biologists who try to use DNA to construct trees showing hypothetical evolutionary relationships. According to the article, "the problem was that different genes told contradictory evolutionary stories."

"For a long time the holy grail was to build a tree of life," says Eric Bapteste, an evolutionary biologist at the Pierre and Marie Curie University in Paris, France. A few years ago it looked as though the grail was within reach. But today the project lies in tatters, torn to pieces by an onslaught of negative evidence. Many biologists now argue that the tree concept is obsolete and needs to be discarded. "We have no evidence at all that the tree of life is a reality," says Bapteste. That bombshell has even persuaded some that our fundamental view of biology needs to change.

I suppose it's no wonder that the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) steadfastly opposes any critical analysis of the evidence for evolution. The deeper the research goes, the more difficult it becomes to prop up the theory of common descent; and evolution doesn't work without common descent. In addition, the molecular trees (based on DNA) and the morphological trees (based on anatomical traits) do not resemble each other as they should. The alternative explanation, and the one that seems increasingly to fit the DNA evidence, is common design. But, Mother Nature forbid it! We cannot let this tidbit leak out to the school children!

And so, when this debate comes into public view, scientists "put on a united front and hold to the bluff that there are no weaknesses in their position." (Salvo Magazine, Summer 2009).

Recently the Texas Board of Education adopted science standards that require students to "analyze and evaluate" core evolutionary claims, including "common ancestry." The National Academy of Sciences would be horrified at the prospect, but still, imagine... an new generation of students who are permitted to analyze evidence once again. There is still hope for science education in the good old USA! Way to go Texas...

(Full Story in Salvo Magazine, Summer 2009 Issue)

Labels: Apologetics, Culture War, Guest Post, Intelligent Design

During the final week of school the librarian at my daughter's elementary school figured she'd offer the 4th grade classes a treat and give them a scary story. She chose a movie about the Jersey Devil. That night, our sweet 10 year old Susanna cried herself to sleep.

In the opening scene of the movie (before Susie asked to be dismissed to another section of the library), Mother Leeds is in the process of birthing her 13th child, which she had promised to the Devil. In the grip of despair and intense pain, as she is pushing this unfortunate creature from her womb, she curses the little devil. "Curse you! CURSE YOU!" she screams at the baby. The librarian also informed the 4th grade students that, as legend has it, the Jersey Devil once entered a home somewhere in south Jersey, and murdered an infant in her bed.

I called the school speaking first to the principal, and then to the librarian. When I questioned her judgment, she informed me, among other things, that she did not believe in censorship. Could she have given a more stupid reply? She works with elementary school kids! She then took my concerned phone call as an opportunity to lecture a backward parent. I was the only parent out of 800 (she informed me) to raise an objection to the film. When the principal had asked to see the movie (for I had previously spoken to him) she readily informed him that unfortunately she could not give him the movie since a parent had come to her asking to borrow it in order to show it to her children at home.

So, you see... I am the one with the problem. And, something is wrong with our Susanna for being so disturbed at the sight of a woman cursing her child during delivery. My wife and I have tried to portray pregnancy and childbirth as a beautiful thing... a gift from God. After this conversation with the librarian it seems we should take Susie to a psychiatrist to find out why she would cry herself to sleep after viewing the birth of the Jersey Devil.

The librarian did tell me that she had intended to shelve the movie until after the principal could review it. But, lo, on the following day there was an outcry from the 3rd graders... "YOU SHOWED IT TO THE OTHERS... WE WANT TO SEE IT." Of course, she would not deprive them of a good scary tale, and so the 3rd graders also watched it. And, I suppose, since this woman does not believe in censorship, the Chuckie series, or something X-rated will be next? Especially if the kids scream loudly enough for it?

It's not a good thing when jaded adults forget that there is an innocency about childhood that ought to be protected and left in tact for as long as possible. Public schools have their share of jaded individuals, and the devil delights in using them to do harm to these little ones. Some of these educators might do themselves a favor by trading in their teaching certificates for a millstone to wear around their neck...

Labels: Culture War, Guest Post, Home Schooling

Last month there were a number of posts under the label "culture war." Some recent news has me thinking about this topic again. Brothers and sisters, it isn't good news, and it does not seem like the "war" is going our way. Consider these 3 items:

1. The Times of London recently reported on the views of one, Jonathon Porritt, who chairs the British government's "Commission on Sustainable Growth." He's been called the U.K.'s "Green Guru." Here is what he said:

"I think we will work our way to a position that says that having more than two children is irresponsible. Curbing population growth through contraception and abortion must be at the heart of policies to fight global warming. I am unapologetic about asking people to connect up their own responsibility for their total environmental footprint and how they decide to procreate..."

"How they decide to procreate"? Last I knew, there was still only one way to do this... but perhaps I miss his meaning. Folks, this is the U.K., and culturally much "closer to home" than China which has had a strict birth control policy in place for years.

To lend credibility to the "Green Guru's" ideas, the article goes on to point out that "every baby born in Britain will, in his or her lifetime, burn carbon roughly equivalent to 2 1/2 acres of old-growth oak woodland." Horrible to imagine wasting over 2 acres of woodland just so a little baby could come into the world, live, thrive, and yes, eventually pro-create more carbon footprint villains!

2. Yesterday, President Obama offered the commencement address to the graduating class at Notre Dame. America's foremost Catholic University invites one of America's foremost abortion supporters. This is the man who opposed the ban on partial birth abortion, and promised that one of his first acts as President would be to pass the Freedom of Choice Act? And for this he is honored with a speaking invitation, and an honorary degree from a Catholic University. Folks, this is insane-- They even gave him a standing ovation! It doesn't make any sense. The old categories are getting blown apart!

3. A friend of mine, one of the bloggers here in "FreeTruth", Ok, the original blogger... Ok, Tim Shorey... This friend and pastor sends in a well-written letter to the editors of the Asbury Park Press. The letter addresses what used to be a hot political topic, abortion. Tim sends in a thoughtful, well-written letter discussing the cultural "conscience plunge" since Roe v. Wade, and asks the public "is anyone awake?" Well, the editors turn it down. Friends, this is an opinion letter for the Opinion page of the public newspaper. If you want to gripe about the School Superintendent's compensation package they are happy to share your gripe (over money) with the public... but please, don't bring up life and death issues, or anything of eternal importance.

Brothers and sisters, these 3 stories are recent reminders that the culture war is not going "our way." Of course, the battle isn't over, and we know that the King, when he returns, will be victorious.

Even now there are signs of life, signs of a future for our Faith, and a reason to hope...

Yesterday, after the preaching of the Word (Psalm 78), an invitation was given. My 15 year old son felt a pounding in his chest, and obediently went forward for prayer, and, well, for "more of God." Not an easy thing to do. Praise God, the Spirit of God is active, he can still make the heart of a young man pound. The "generations to come" are getting it. And this is victory...

Labels: Abortion, Culture War, Guest Post

Just a follow up to my recent post with this same basic title. Since the Miss California brouhaha began some weeks ago, I'm afraid that my concerns about moral incongruities in the Christian community have been provided more (frankly unwanted) support.

This young lady has had more embarassing details emerge about her moral inconsistencies, but that is the lesser of my concerns (while this woman's moral issues are a serious matter between her and God, I feel in my bones no sense of self-righteous indignation or condemnation toward this woman. After all, I realize that any of us can become a mass and mess of spiritual inconsistencies).

What is more to my point is the ongoing confusing outrage over the abuse this woman has received from the liberal/gay world, with no corresponding outrage over the immorality of brazen immodesty and the mental and spiritual adultery it causes. My concern is mostly with the way that the Church has defined "bad sins" in terms of what others are doing (to paraphrase Jerry Bridges) rather than in terms of what God calls bad.

Somehow we have decided that homosexual marriage is really bad, while all the other ways that marriage has been wrongly defined and violated are not quite so bad. Christians scream out against gay marriage but then violate and dishonor marriage in a hundred other ways themselves. Ask yourself: Am I as opposed to other forms of unbiblical marriage as I am to gay marriage?

Let me state my thoughts in this way. As one commenter on this blog put it, rightly tweaking/improving a phrase I had used in my post, we're straining out camels while swallowing camels. Let us beware how we fight against one false view of marriage (gay marriage) while we tolerate with hardly a whisper of outrage other false views of, and attitudes toward marriage that have done far more damage to the sacred institution than gay marriage ever will do.

What is marriage? As I read various conservative family focused statements defining marriage here's the kind of phrasing I find: "Marriage is a social unit bringing together male and female." Or, marriage is "a union of one man and one woman".

Folks: that is not an adequate understanding of marriage. Marriage is not just a union of one man and one woman; it is a covenanted relationship between the same man and the same woman for life. The failure to define marriage in this fully biblical way has contributed far more to the breakdown of this sacred instituion than gay marriage has ever done or ever will do.

When the same man and the same woman do not covenant to stay emotionally, mentally, and physically faithful in impassioned, affectionate, spiritually invigorated and kingdom-committed union with each other so long as both shall live, marriage has been redefined and desecrated. The damage done by infidelity to this God-ordained marriage ideal by straight people far surpasses any damage ever done by gays.

Yet I have been around long enough to know that Christians consistently fail to live by this ideal, and seem to accept without much sorrow or criticism those who do the same, and yet rise up in indignation when they perceive that "the gays want to destroy marriage."

Think of it this way: Are we as concerned when people who have been unbiblically divorced and remarried (a social evil far more common and destructive to marriage than gay unions will ever be) receive special legal privileges (like tax breaks because they're married) as we are when gays want to be married so they can receive those same privileges and breaks? I think not.

Is my question valid? And is my assessment accurate? What am I missing?

O that we could see our glaring inconsistencies as well as the world does! May all who are married or ever hope to be, settle for nothing less than doing their part to pursue a passionate, faithful, mentally and physically pure, life-long covenanted union. Then we will at least be consistent as we have to oppose gay marriage (which we do).

One hundred Christian couples passionately committed to Christian marriage as biblically defined will do far more for the cause of marriage in our society than one thousand Christian couples who protest gay unions while simultaneously falling far short of that ideal.

At least that's my take on it for now. I'm open to input.

Labels: christian life, Culture War, Family, Homosexuality, Marriage, Modesty, Purity

When my son brought home his 7th grade Life Sciences text book, I was astounded by the following excerpt:

"Could life have arisen from non-living things on early Earth, even though it does not occur on Earth today? The answer is yes."

Since there is absolutely no scientific evidence to support this assertion, I must conclude that the authors of this text-book make this statement "by faith." Faith in a presuppositional framework called "Scientific Naturalism" which insists that there is a materialistic, mechanistic cause for every observable phenomenon. This is philosophical position (materialism), not a scientific conclusion.

Is there any evidence that life began from nothing? "The answer is no!" The scientific evidence we have to date clearly shows that life cannot arise from non-living matter. The Miller-Urey experiments from the 1950's which seemed to hint that it might just be possible are now considered irrelevant by the scientific community. No one can say with any certainty what the atmosphere of early earth was like, or what the "primordial soup" consisted of... unless, of course, they are speaking by faith. Clearly, this text book statement is a "leap of faith."

What the authors, and science educators are really saying is this: "Hey kids, we have no proof that life can arise on its own (in fact, we have proof that it can't), but that doesn't matter! We believe that it simply must have come about on its own, because, you see, unlike the great scientific minds of past centuries, we cannot leave any room for the possibility of a Creator, or any kind of intelligence behind this marvellous world we live in."

This is one parent who is completely annoyed with this kind of double-standard in public education. Will someone please remind these educators that faith is strictly forbidden in the public school classroom!

Labels: Apologetics, Culture War, Guest Post, Intelligent Design

By now most of us know of the firestorm generated by the Miss USA contestant's "stand" against gay marriage. As I reflect on the fall-out from her apparently faith-based comments daring to say that she was not in favor of gay marriage I'm struck by the moral incongruities and hypocrisies of folks on both sides of this moral debate.

Of course those of us who side with this young woman on the gay marriage issue are quick to notice the hypocrisy of the left as we once again witness the glaring intolerance of those who proclaim tolerance so vociferously. Once again we are confronted with brazen inconsistency among those who want to be accepted by all, but who are willing to accept none who are different from them. The left-leaning voices of our society (at least the ones among them who make the most noise) are--in my judgment--so transparently inconsistent and dishonest at this point, that it is hard to credit them with any integrity or take them at all seriously in these moral discussions. But let's face it: that's old news.

But what I think those of us on this side of this particular debate need to be more aware of is the moral hypocrisy and incongruities of all those who are praising this woman's moral courage, and are tempted to place her on a pedestal of virtue. Something is very wrong here.

I do not know this young lady, nor do I know anything of the validity of her faith claims, nor do I hold myself up as a model of virtue. I am very much aware of my own weaknesses and temptations and sins. But has anyone noticed what is wrong with the picture of recent days? Think back to the news reports you've seen. As the voices have discussed the whole episode what video have we seen in full view of millions? It's been a video of this woman parading her body, with almost nothing on, for countless eyes to see.

For the sake of a prize and fame she has essentially prostituted her body (for any time one uses her/his body in any kind of sexually active or provocative way for personal gain, a form of prostitution has occurred). Millions have seen her body in such a way that only a husband should see. The most charitable judgment we can make about this is that this young woman is astonishingly naive about what she has been a part of. More realistically she is one more example of a cultural set if sins that has permeated the church: lust, unblushing immodesty, mental and physical adultery, pervasive immorality.

Folks, when we can feel moral indignation over one sexual sin while looking at video clips leading us into a different sexual sin, and not even think about the moral incongruities, it's not a good sign. When a young woman in the name of faith can say that something is morally wrong while at the very same time she is doing something which--unless she's utterly naive--she knows is going to cause many who watch to at least be tempted to sexual sin, is almost shockingly hypocritical.

Something's very much amiss friends. We strain at gnats and swallow camels. We attempt to take out specks from others' eyes while planks protrude from ours. This kind of hypocritical moral outrage is just the kind of phoniness that Jesus decries in Matthew 7:1-5 and is also just the kind of "witness" that makes the world crazy with justifiable outrage against us.

Folks: homosexuality is sin. But so is physical and mental adultery; so is pornography; so is immodesty, so is showing parts of the body for others to see, that should only be seen and enjoyed by one's spouse; so is the obscenity of pageants and programs that are little more than peep shows.

The way of purity in Christ charts a different course than all this. What is most troubling to me is the sense that many who profess Christ are not morally aware enough either to know they are walking a far different path, or to care if they do know. God have mercy.

Labels: christian life, Culture War, Modesty, Purity

Another Bible turn of phrase that captures my mind's eye and wins my heart is found in 2 Kings 19:30--

And the surviving remnant of the house of Judah shall again take root downward and bear fruit upward.

Here is a promise of the restoration of the people of Israel, a promise of both depth and fruit. This image of strong, deep, and fruitful living in God and by His zealous grace (2 Kings 19:31) is rich, and it rewards some reflection.

It's been said somewhere that Christianity in America is about 3,000 miles wide and a half-an-inch deep. This may account for why we have so little effect on our culture and neighbors: we seem about as shallow as everyone else! What we need is depth; roots going deep into the things of God, the wonders of grace, the glories of our Savior and Lord.

We need to be people who have tasted and seen the good things of God; people who have beheld the Glory and been transformed by it (2 Corinthians 3:17, 18); people who have thought beyond the cliches and lived in the shadow of the Almighty. If we do not go deep with God, we'll really not go very far for or with God. Fruit upward and outward will be proportionate to roots downward.

There is no easy method for taking root downward. It involves study, prayer, meditation, a renunciation of the world, a love of theology (more precisely, a love of the God revealed through Bible theology), an embrace of suffering as a means of grace and a cathartic for the soul, a welcoming of true probing fellowship with other beievers to help us see the real issues and needs of our inner being, and a faithful attendance to real preaching of God's Word. All this and more sends the roots of grace deeper into Christ and in the end causes us to bear much fruit of holiness, joy, worship and love within.

Take some time today to stay put on some truth about God or grace long enough to have it sink a little deeper into your spirit. Don't be a perpetual spiritual taste-tester who never really swallows and digests. Get hold of some truth and then hang on to it until it gets hold of you.

Go deep with God.

Labels: christian life, Culture War, Spiritual disciplines

"So David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and with a stone" (1 Samuel 17:50.

One of the joys of consistent Bible intake is that you notice increasingly the little turns of phrase that God intends to capture our imagination. Here's one of them: "David prevailed...with a sling and a stone."

That's no inconsequential detail; in one sense it's the point of the whole story. How did little David defeat giant Goliath? With a sling and a stone. That is to say: "David didn't prevail over Goliath at all; God did." The attention is drawn to the means David used in order to make it clear that something/Someone other than David and the means was the real cause of David's victory.

Of course David knew this and made sure that everyone did too when he says in 1 Samuel 17:45-47--

Then David said to the Philistine, “You come to me with a sword and with a spear and with a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. This day the Lord will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you down and cut off your head. And I will give the dead bodies of the host of the Philistines this day to the birds of the air and to the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel, and that all this assembly may know that the Lord saves not with sword and spear. For the battle is the Lord's, and he will give you into our hand.

God loves to use slings and stones and borrowed swords because bigger weapons just might tempt us to credit the means rather than the Maker.

So what are your Goliaths? Sin, abortion, secularism, an unsaved loved one, discouragement, an ugly or evil habit, the culture war? You can be sure of two things: God will give the victory, and God will get the glory. And most likely He will acheive the latter by using some small effort, some inconsequential word, some lesser gift, some quiet insignificant act, some otherwise un-noteworthy person to achieve the former.

Let us never despair if it seems that the enemy has all the big guns on his side. For we've got a God whose really good with a sling and an arrow, and He loves to use it.

Labels: Culture War, Family, Mission, Witness

The following is a letter to the editor that I'll be sending to local and area newspapers. I'd be interested in any suggestions and thoughts.

How Far Have We Fallen?
Now that my town of Toms River holds a dubious place among those hosting an abortion clinic (American Women’s Services, Rt. 37), I find myself reflecting on how the abortion debate has shifted over time. Perusing the AWS website I see that it is “dedicated to reproductive freedom and quality women’s healthcare”, by providing procedures that are “safe, quick, and highly effective”, for the “emptying [of] the uterus”.

This is familiar euphemistic jargon that the abortion industry has used for years. But hidden behind it all is a shift of huge proportions. There was a day when the debate raged over the humanness of the unborn: was it really a human being or merely a “blob of tissue”? There was a day when even abortion-minded folks couldn’t stomach the idea of killing an unborn human, so they argued that the fetus was not really a human at all.

Today the argument over the humanness of the unborn is largely over (except, I suppose, among the few who haven’t seen a high-def sonogram recently, or who don’t know much about the DNA of the unborn). But if that argument is ended why hasn’t abortion ended with it?

This is where real horror should set in. The reason why abortion advocates remain impassioned in their cause despite the evidence of the unborn’s human status is that a conscience plunge has taken place in the wake of the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision. How far have we fallen? Consider this: in 1973 many pro-choice folks insisted that the fetus was a “blob of tissue” because it was abhorrent to them to think about killing an unborn human. Today many of those same folks will admit the fetus is human and kill it anyway. Consequently, Americans now regularly kill what they know to be human beings, and pretend it doesn’t matter.

Neighbor: this is what happens when humans trample their consciences in pursuit of personal or political agendas. Their consciences harden. Soon the unthinkable becomes acceptable, and the horrific seems a matter of no consequence. Where else might this all lead?

We are on a downward trajectory that should scare us to death. Is anyone out there awake?

Pastor Tim Shorey
Trinity Fellowship Church,
Toms River, N.J.

Labels: Abortion, Culture War

In 2 Kings 17:15, 33 we read:

They went after false idols and became false, and they followed the nations that were around them ...So they feared the Lord but also served their own gods, after the manner of the nations from among whom they had been carried away.

As I read this in my devotional time this morning I was struck with a spirit of repentance and grief. I cannot escape the fact that I have fallen into some of the same sin as ancient Israel: in many ways I have followed the sins of the nations around me rather than being faithful to my God and confronting my culture by leading my neighbors away from their sins.

I know that I posted a series of cultural sins that we're in danger of committing back on March 28th, but this morning the reality of these came to me with greater clarity and precision. The question came to me like this: "Tim, what are the specific ways that you have taken on the thinking and values of the nations rather than the heart of God and ways of truth?"

Here are ten answers God gave to me (these are not at all polished, but are a raw expression of what the Lord said to me by His Spirit):

1. I've subtlely accepted the relativism and a live-and-let-live mindset of the nations as is evident by my lack of urgency in speaking to people of their sins and of their need for the gospel. The fact that I do not leave my house in the morning with one agenda: to speak to as many people as possible of Jesus Christ and of their desperate need for Him, reveals that I've bought into the world's lie that it doesn't need Him.

2. I've subtlely lived a pluralistic/relativistic mindset whenever I've hesitated to say point blank: "Jesus is the only way."

3. I've given in to the world's love of popularity and the idol that image is everything when I've held back in speaking of "Jesus' by name and of people's sins and of God's holiness with clarity and conviction, because I did not want to offend or lose a friend.

4. I've caved in to political correctness when I've been bold in the pulpit but fearful in the marketplace; when I've preached holiness and the exclusive claims of Christ to the choir, but not to the lost.

5. I've embraced worldly materialism when I've neglected needs of the church and kingdom, and have treated luxuries and extras like they were needs and even rights.

6. I've trusted in the city of man and in man's help when I've treated religious liberty as a right to be fought for when in fact Christians throughout time and around the world have not had one bit of it themselves.

7. I've embraced the worldly hedonism of the nations when I've lingered on the advertisement or enticing picture or ice cream buffet or pillow or juicy gossip too long.

8. I've followed the nations distorted values when I've treated the arts and entertainment and pop culture and even high culture as if they were worth a level of attention even beginning to approach the attention I give to personal holiness and specific, bold, sin and cross-saturated gospel witness. When I in all honesty have given more thought to enjoying or even recovering the arts than to the plight of and an active pursuit of the lost never dying souls that I meet everyday, I'm flat out worldly.

9. I've followed the nations when I treat government and politics as if they have answers for human need, and can ever be trusted to "do the right thing". When I devote more concern and care to how to fix the economy or vote for the right candidate than I do to how to reach my neighbor and rescue him from a dreadful eternity, I have--just like the world--valued this life more than the next.

10. I've followed my nation's values when I treat luxuries like multiple health care options, college education, religious liberty, a relaxing night out, snacks between meals, second helpings of food, a new shirt, and another pair of shoes as needs and rights rather than as the flat out excess they most often are.

Folks, I'm not nuancing anything here, I realize. And I realize that a thousand "buts" and qualifications come to mind for each of these points. But I am making a primary point: we are at great risk of repeating Israel's sin, and in truth, we already have. We have followed the nations rather than our God.

Let us repent and mean it. Let us confess our idolatries and turn from them. Let us renounce all that we hold dear and go hard after God as never before.

This is what God expects, and if the Old Testament record shows us anything, it is that God isn't kidding.

Labels: Culture War, Humility, Repentance, Sin, Worldliness

How do we find a voice in a generation in which all the megaphones seem to be held by those who oppose what is good? This is one of the perplexing questions we face in our times, and for which we need to discover answers. To get our thinking moving, can I suggest a few possibilities which able Christians need to consider:

1. Link up with community ministries like the Open Door here in Toms River, which gives voice to life for women and their families who are in pregnancies unplanned and perhaps undesired. This faithful pro-life voice needs our support and prayer. Their annual Walk for Life is coming up soon. Plan to walk or throw your support behind those who do!

2. Simply speak up. Talk to friends and family and neighbors and co-workers about the issues of life and the sacredness of what it means for humans to be made in the image of God. Don't let people mute your voice with flippant words about this being a private issue. It's no more private than any conversation they might have about the morality of murder. But I warn you: to speak intelligently you may need to study up by reading good books on the topic. And when you do speak avoid being shrill and harsh. Speak boldly, but with love.

3. Write letters to editors. We need able voices contributing to the discourse out there, and usually, well-written letters to editors can get published. Send them along to all local and area newspapers, and see what happens in the will of God.

This is a starter list. I'd love for you to throw in some more suggestions to help us all find a megaphone. What do you suggest?

Labels: Abortion, Culture War

I was in church this morning worshiping with the people of God and here's what I noticed:

- People of every age and therefore generational culture, worshiping together with joy, most of them enjoying varying generational styles
- People of white American, Italian, African-American, Moroccan, Hebrew, European, and Asian decent and culture (and probably more that I'm overlooking) all joining hearts to worship
- People rescued from seriously drug-addicted, alcohol-devastated, violent, criminally guilty, abortion-scarred, abused, divorced, self-righteous, poverty-stricken, well-to-do, educated, and illiterate personal and cultural backgrounds, all loving Christ and living new lives in Him.
- People who like jazz and country and classical and rock and roll and who knows how many other varying music cultures, all singing with one voice
- People, some who are single, some who are married, some who are divorced, some who have children and no spouse, and some with a spouse but no children, and some who have been bereaved of spouse and/or children--all living in a different personal "culture," but all coming together as the family of God with one Father in heaven and Savior-husband for their souls.

In all these case I saw people whose culture and whose lives were being redeemed by Christ, restored by grace, recovered by the power of God. Here were living evidences that some culture wars are being won.

This reminds me that in the end the only real work that redeems people and cultures is the work of the gospel. Cultures do not change by changed laws or political forces at work. Cultures change only as people change, and people change only as they come into contact with the gospel which is the power of God unto salvation.

So whatever else we do let us never forget to proclaim in our times the message of the One who died for our sins and rose from the dead, because in the end nothing so changes people as the gospel of God's saving and changing grace.

Labels: Church, Culture War

The war with culture must be engaged not just with words or counter-attack or defense. It must be engaged with love. Christians must connect profoundly to a lost and desperate world with radical love.

I’ve shared a few words from others as I’ve been away this week. Let me add one more citation to stir your hearts to go deeper into the heart and love and imitation of Christ for the sake of our world.

Having written a marvelous chapter entitled “God Incarnate” in his book, Knowing God, J.I. Packer concludes his wondrous teaching on the sacrifice of Christ in becoming one of us with this amazing challenge for us:

We see now what it meant for the Son of God to empty Himself and become poor. It meant a laying aside of glory; a voluntary restraint of power; an acceptance of hardship, isolation, ill-treatment, malice, and misunderstanding; finally, a death that involved such agony--spiritual, even more than physical--that His mind nearly broke under the prospect of it (see Luke 12:50, and the Gethsemane story). It meant love to the uttermost for unlovely men, who "through his poverty, might become rich." The Christmas message is that there is hope for a ruined humanity--hope of pardon, hope of peace with God, hope of glory--because at the Father's will Jesus Christ became poor, and was born in a stable so that thirty years later He might hang on a cross. It is the most wonderful message that the world has ever heard, or will hear.

We talk glibly of the "Christmas spirit," rarely meaning more by this than sentimental jollity on a family basis. But what we have said makes it clear that the phrase should in fact carry a tremendous weight of meaning. It ought to mean the reproducing in human lives of the temper of Him who for our sakes became poor at the first Christmas. And the Christmas spirit itself ought to be the mark of every Christian all the year round. It is our shame and disgrace today that so many Christians--I will be more specific: so many of the soundest and most orthodox Christians--go through this world in the spirit of the priest and the Levite in our Lord's parable, seeing human needs all around them, but (after a pious wish, and perhaps a prayer, that God might meet them) averting their eyes, and passing by on the other side. That is not the Christmas Spirit. Nor is it the spirit of those Christians--alas, they are many--whose ambition in life seems limited to building a nice middle-class Christian home, and making nice middle-class Christian ways, and who leave the sub-middle-class sections of the community, Christians and non-Christian to get on by themselves. The Christmas spirit does not shine out in the Christian snob. For the Christian spirit is the spirit of those who, like their Master, live their whole lives on the principle of making themselves poor--spending, and being spent--to enrich their fellowmen, giving time, trouble care and concern, to do good to others--and not just their own friends--in whatever way there seems need.

There are not as many who show this spirit as there should be. If God in mercy revives us, one of the things He will do will be to work more of this spirit in our hearts and lives. If we desire spiritual quickening for ourselves individually, one step we should take is to seek to cultivate this spirit. "For you know the grace of our Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich" (2 Corinthians 8:9).

O Lord, may they know we are Christians by our love.

Labels: Culture War, Love, Mission

I would like to connect to a previous entry posted by Tim entitled Fighting the Culture Within (March 28), as part of an ongoing blog focus on the war against God and Biblical truth surging within our culture. In this entry Tim helpfully described a number of ways that the sinful spirit of the age can find expression in our hearts and flow out through our lives. These sinful characteristics are all forms of the larger problem that the Bible refers to as worldliness, and worldliness is a serious problem pressing in on the followers of Jesus Christ, perhaps in unprecedented ways in our day.

Deeply concerned about this issue, C.J. Mahaney, in Worldliness: Resisting the Seduction of a Fallen World, writes as follows:

Charles Spurgeon, writing 150 years ago, nevertheless speaks poignantly to the problem in the church today: "I believe," he asserted, "that one reason why the church of God at this present moment has so little influence over the world is because the world has so much influence over the church." The greater our difference from the world, the more true our testimony for Christ--and the more potent our witness against sin. But sadly, today, there’s not much difference. The lines have blurred. The lack of clarity between the church and the world has undercut our testimony for Christ and undermined our witness against sin. In Spurgeon’s words once again: "Worldliness is growing over the church; she is mossed with it."

Are the lines between Christian and worldly conduct blurry in your mind--and more importantly, in your life? To put it another way, is your lifestyle obviously different from that of the non-Christian?

Imagine I take a blind test in which my task is to identify the genuine follower of Jesus Christ. My choices are an unregenerate individual and you. I’m given two reports detailing conversations, Internet activity, manner of dress, iPod playlists, television habits, hobbies, leisure time, financial transactions, thoughts, passions, and dreams.

The question is: Would I be able to tell you apart? Would I discern a difference between you and your unconverted neighbor, coworker, classmate, or friend? Have the lines between Christian and worldly conduct in your life become so indistinguishable that there really is no difference at all?

If the difference is hard to detect, you may be in danger of drifting down the deserter’s path with Demas (see 2 Tim. 4:10). In front of the deserter’s path is a warning sign. It’s 1 John 2:15: "Do not love the world or anything in the world.”

As followers of the Lord Jesus Christ we are called to be salt and light in relationship to the fallen world around us. We should be a true counter culture community living out the reality of our relationship with the Savior, speaking the truth in love as we bear witness to Christ to a culture in rebellion against the infinite-personal God who is really there, and who has spoken to us in the Bible. However, like the Israelites, who were called by God to be a holy nation, but were so often not able to faithfully bear witness to the surrounding culture because they were so much like it, so likewise, today’s church is succumbing to the same malady: worldliness.

As I reflect on this a probing question comes to mind, a question posed by the Savior: “Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do what I tell you?” (Luke 6:46).

Why indeed.

Labels: Culture War, Guest Post, Witness

In Tim’s absence he was kind and gracious to ask me to contribute to his blog, and so in connection with recent entries dealing with the culture war and the encroaching darkness squeezing in all around us, I thought I would share some thoughts in this regard from one of my theological and spiritual mentors in the faith, the late Francis Schaeffer. Speaking concerning the rebellion of our culture against the infinite-personal God of the Bible, he had this to say about how we should view this and what our response should be:

Finally, we must not forget that the world is on fire. We are not only losing the church, but our entire culture as well. We live in the post-Christian world which is under the judgment of God. I believe today that we must speak as Jeremiah did. Some people think that just because the United States of America is the United States of America, because Britain is Britain, they will not come under the judgment of God. This is not so. I believe that we of Northern Europe since the Reformation have had such light as few others have ever possessed. We have stamped upon that light in our culture. Our cinemas, our novels, our art museums, our schools, scream out as they stamp upon that light. And worst of all, modern theology screams out as it stamps upon that light. Do you think God will not judge our countries simply because they are our countries? Do you think that the holy God will not judge?

In a day like ours, when the world is on fire, let us be careful to keep things in proper order. We must have the courage to draw the line between those who have compromised the full authority of the Scriptures, either by theological infiltration or cultural infiltration, and those who have not. But we must at the same time practice an observable oneness among all who have bowed to the living God and thus to the verbal propositional communication of God’s Word, the Scriptures. Learning from the mistakes of the past, let us raise a testimony that may still turn both the churches and society around--for the salvation of souls, the building of God’s people, and at least the slowing down of the slide toward a totally humanistic society and an authoritarian suppressive state.

We cannot think that all this is unrelated to us. It will all come crashing down unless you and I and each one of us who loves the Lord and his church are willing to act… to stand up in loving confrontation, but confrontation--looking to the living Christ moment by moment for strength--in loving confrontation with all that is wrong and destructive in the church, our culture, and the state.

What do you think?

Labels: Culture War, Guest Post

Years ago I read the following true narrative from Charles Colson’s Loving God. It marked me for life. In posting it for you today, I’m hoping that maybe it will mark you, too.

“In the fourth century there lived an Asiatic monk who had spent most of his life in a remote community of prayer, raising vegetables for the cloister kitchen. When he was not tending his garden spot, he was fulfilling his vocation of study and prayer.

Then one day this monk named Telemachus felt that the Lord wanted him to go to Rome, the busiest, wealthiest, biggest city in the world. Telemachus had no idea why he should go there, and he was terrified at the thought. But as he prayed, God’s directive became clear. He was sure God wanted him to go to Rome.

He arrived there during the holiday festival. The city was bustling with excitement over the recent Roman victory over the Goths. In the midst of this jubilant commotion, the monk looked for clues as to why God had brought him there, for he had no other guidance, not even a superior in a religious order to contact.

'Perhaps,' he thought, 'it is not sheer coincidence that I have arrived at this festival time. Perhaps God has some special role for me to play.'

So Telemachus let the crowds guide him, and the stream of humanity soon led him into the Coliseum where the gladiator contests were to be staged. He could hear the cries of the animals in their cages beneath the floor of the great arena and the clamor of the contestants preparing to do battle.

The gladiators marched into the arena, saluted the emperor, and shouted, 'We who are about to die salute thee.' Telemachus shuddered. He had never heard of gladiator games before, but had a premonition of awful violence.

The crowd had come to cheer men who, for no reason other than amusement, would murder each other. Human lives were taken for the purpose of entertainment. As the monk realized what was going to happen, he realized he could not sit still and watch such savagery. Neither could he leave and forget it. He jumped to the top of the perimeter wall and cried, 'In the name of Christ, forbear!' [That means, "STOP"]

The fighting began, of course. No one paid the slightest heed to the puny voice. So Telemachus pattered down the stone steps and leapt onto the sandy floor of the arena. He made a comic figure--a scrawny man in a monk’s habit dashing back and forth between muscular, armed athletes. One gladiator sent him sprawling with a blow from his shield, directing him back to his seat. It was a rough gesture, though almost a kind one. The crowd roared.

But Telemachus refused to stop. He rushed into the way of those trying to fight, shouting again, 'In the name of Christ, forbear!' The crowd began to laugh and cheer him on, perhaps thinking that he was part of the entertainment.

Then his movement blocked the vision of one of the contestants; so that the gladiator only saw a blow coming just in time. His interruption angered the crowd. They began to cry for his blood. 'Run him through,' they screamed.

The gladiator he had blocked, raised his sword and with a flash of steel struck Telemachus, slashing down across his chest and into his stomach. The little monk gasped once more, 'In the name of Christ, forbear,' and collapsed onto the sand.

Then a strange thing occurred. As the two gladiators and the crowd focused on the still form on the suddenly crimson sand, the arena grew deathly quiet. In the silence, someone in the top tier got up and walked out. Another followed. All over the arena, spectators began to leave, until the huge stadium was emptied.

There were other forces at work, of course, but that one, innocent figure lying in the pool of blood crystallized the opposition, and that was the last gladiator contest in the Roman Coliseum. Never again did men kill each other for the crowds’ entertainment in the Roman arena.”

I wonder: what are we willing to sacrifice to stop the bloodshed today?

Labels: Culture War, Mission