I received a comment recently which I think deserves an honest response.  While I’m using this particular comment, it’s not to single this reader out. I get this comment (or one much like it) on a daily basis.  I’d like to use this opportunity to respond.

I hope this comes across as intended: In love toward those who hold this view, but in vicious contention for the truth involved.

Below is the tweet in question, and one of several responses I received:

 

Thank you for taking the time to read and respond to my quote. I don’t want to single you out, but as I get this type of response occasionally, I’d like to respond to it and give others something to consider as they draft similar responses.

I’d like to start by praising God that you “love Jesus will all your heart”.. but to jump the gun here a bit.. I’d have to ask, which Jesus?

The Jesus who is one of many ways, and who is the same as the Mormon Jesus of Joel Osteen?

The modalist Jesus (not part of the trinity) of TD Jakes?

The Jesus of Paula White who promises “financial abundance” as a promise of the Atonement?

 

“God uses us all to bring glory to Him”

 

Amen! Some will be used to His glory in showing His grace, and others used as a means to show His perfect attribute of wrath.  It is, however, our role to point out false teachers within the body of Christ. I see absolutely no scriptural guidance to allow them to continue, unchecked, simply because “God uses them”.  Paul, in his first letter to the church in Corinth said this very thing.. that there must be heretics:

 

“in order that those who are genuine among you may be recognized.” (1 Corinthians 11:19, ESV)

 

“I, personally, have been blessed and touched by some of the things several of these men have said.”

 

At the risk of sounding corny, “Even a broken clock is right twice a day.”  While there are certainly very generic “christian-ish” or “Jesus” tweets that I would agree with from these false teachers, you don’t have to dig very deep or let them speak very long before you realize that they are in fact teaching blatant heresy.

 

“This breaks my heart.”

 

If you’re talking about believers being misled by heretical teaching, then yes, this breaks my heart as well.

 

“Make sure your heart, Marc5Solas, is full of HIM and not yourself, so He can use you.”

 

But He uses everyone, right? You said so in your first sentence. In all sincerity, I don’t trust my heart. It is wicked above all things. And I pray, daily, that my “stupid-self” wouldn’t in any way hinder my efforts to spread His gospel.

 

“What you have just said makes me turn away from anything you say. I will no longer “like” your page. I love Jesus with all my heart and am deeply hurt by your judgemental and negative comments.”

 

I wish I could say that I didn’t see this coming, but it happens every..single..time.

The very people who accuse me of being judgmental will end their posts being judgmental.  Aren’t you, by saying that I’m judgmental and negative (and saying that you will turn away from anything I say) being, well…. judgmental and negative?

Am I being judgmental? Yes. I am judging their teaching against the faith “delivered once and for all” to the saints.  Do you not agree that we are to, as scripture dictates,examine teachings in light of scripture? And in doing so, are we not to warn brothers and sisters of false teachers? If so, by the very command of scripture we are to not only judge, but warn our brothers and sisters about these teachings!

If you think this small tweet was negative, I’d submit the following from Paul as he identified false teachers by name:

“I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed.” – Galatians 1:6-11

Paul is saying that anyone teaching a different gospel should be accursed! (Pretty judgmental and negative, isn’t it?)

In Paul’s second letter to the church in Corinth, he called these false teachers false apostles and deceitful workmen.

In 2 John, we are told that if anyone brings another gospel we are not to receive them in our houses or give them any greeting. (Well, that’s certainly not very nice.)

How about this from 1 Timothy:

“If anyone teaches a different doctrine and does not agree with the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ and the teaching that accords with godliness, he is puffed up with conceit and understands nothing. He has an unhealthy craving for controversy and for quarrels about words, which produce envy, dissension, slander, evil suspicions, and constant friction among people who are depraved in mind and deprived of the truth, imagining that godliness is a means of gain.”

 

or this from John 8?

 

“You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and has nothing to do with the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.”

 

or this from Matthew 23?

 

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel across sea and land to make a single proselyte, and when he becomes a proselyte, you make him twice as much a child of hell as yourselves.”

 

We have false teachers being called: Stupid, Children of Hell, Sons of the Devil, conceited, understanding nothing, deceitful workmen, accursed, whitewashed tombs, dogs returning to their own vomit, and in what would be completely unacceptable to our post-modern sensibilities, Paul says of the Judaizers in Galatia:

“I wish those who unsettle you would emasculate themselves!” – Galatians 5:12

 

And I’m judgmental, negative, and unworthy to be listened to because I said these three false teachers were not to be listened to?

 

I’d ask you to take a long, hard look at these men, their teachings, and ask yourself what scripture would have us do with them.  Play nice, or call them out as the false teachers they are in order to save brothers and sisters from false teaching, and to contend for the faith delivered to the saints.

 

If you want specifics on why these 3 (specifically) are false teachers, I recommend doing a deep study of their teaching. I won’t point you to biased articles, I’ll ask you to find them speaking, in their own words.  I’ll give a short summary next to each false teacher for those who don’t have the time or inclination to read the full articles:

 

Joel Osteen: (Positive Confession, Word of Faith, Prosperity Gospel)

 

Paula White: (Positive Confession, Word of Faith, Prosperity Gospel)

 

TD Jakes: (Denies the trinity, Word of Faith, Prosperity Gospel)

 

So, to circle back to my initial tweet to pastors:

 

If you’re people are posting quotes from these false teachers on their facebook walls, then someone is dropping the ball in:

Teaching: Teaching sound doctrine in order to show the contrast to heresy.

Discipleship: Nobody knows *everything* and discipleship is a lifelong process.  It is entirely possible that many in the church came from backgrounds where this type of false teaching wasn’t examined. It takes intentional work to disciple believers in proper teaching.

Discipline:  If your church is teaching orthodox theology, and discipleship is helping young/new believers grow in sound doctrine, people who continue to teach this false doctrine should be corrected and rebuked by their leadership.

 

So, I ask you in closing, sister… have you judged my teaching or have you judged my heart?  Is your issue with me simply that I said someone was wrong?  In that case, I would ask you on what logical basis would you call me wrong and judge what I wrote?

My issues with them aren’t personal, I simply call them out *by name* as Paul did to at least 8 false teachers, to warn others of their false teaching.

Sounds like a double standard.  And frankly, I’m OK with that.  I encourage anyone to read what I write on this blog, twitter, or facebook and examine it in light of scripture. I’m certainly not above question, and I’m open to correction.

I hope you’ll continue to read and respond to what I write.  I mean that sincerely.

 

Marc

 

As Daddy to three beautiful daughters, I worry. Now that 2 of them are teenagers, one of whom is driving, I worry a LOT.  I’d probably worry less if they looked like me, but unfortunately for me (and very fortunately for them) all three got my wife’s good looks.

While the role of Father has always been that of protector, these days we don’t get much call to bar the door and ride out on horseback to meet the coming threat. No, we perform the mundane heroism of “waiting” and “picking up”.  Knowing when an event ends and when and where I need to be waiting in my truck to pick them up is a big part of what I do now.  And I’m glad to do it.  And all goes well as long as…

1. I tell them where to find me.

2. They come to where I’ve told them I’ll be.

3. They get in my truck.

 

That’s pretty simple, right?  This is a text exchange I think most of us can relate to:

Me: “Be there in 10min”

Girls: K 🙂

Me: “I’ll be in the parking lot to your right when you walk out.”

Girls: k

And it works. I mean, how could you mess that up? But what if, Lord forbid, they decided to “meet me” somewhere else? Somewhere I never said I’d be? What if they decided to look for me in the alley behind the restaurant? What if they somehow got into the wrong car and rode with someone else? What if the intentionally got into another vehicle because they were promised something, like candy?

What if they got into a creepy white van?

If the thought is chilling, good. I want the weight of this subject to rest heavily on you. What we’re talking about here is no less serious, or dangerous.

As we look around, we see many in the church lined up to climb into an endless stream of creepy white vans, to their peril.

See, God is, well GOD; Completely beyond our comprehension. Yet, he has revealed Himself to us and agreed to meet us. But we can only meet Him where He’s told us He would be found, and on His terms.

Where has God told us that He would meet us?  What are some of the creepy white vans we have chosen to climb into instead?

God has graciously condescended to be found among men. (Notice that He CON-descended and DE-scended.. we never, ever, ever A-scend.)  and He’s told us he could be found…

In the Word:

God has revealed Himself to us in His word. We are saved by grace through faith in Christ.  And the means by which we come to be changed by the Holy Spirit is through the spoken words of the Gospel:

John 6:63 It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all. The words that I have spoken
to you are spirit and life.
John 15:3-5 Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. Abide in me,
and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can
you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I
in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.
John 17:17 Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.

Acts 10:44 While Peter was still saying these things, the Holy Spirit fell on all who heard the
word.

Romans 1:16-17 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to
everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of
God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.”

Romans 10:17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.

1 Corinthians 1:21 For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through
wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe.

Galatians 3:2 Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by
hearing with faith?

Galatians 3:5 Does he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you do so by
works of the law, or by hearing with faith–

Ephesians 1:13 “In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your
salvation; in who also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise.”

James 1:18 Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind
of firstfruits of his creatures.

1 Peter 1:23-25 …since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable,
through the living and abiding word of God; for “All flesh is like grass and all its glory like the
flower of grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls, but the word of the Lord remains
forever.” And this word is the good news that was preached to you.

He meets us in the Waters of Baptism, and the Bread and Wine of Communion:

Baptism is water included in God’s command and combined with God’s Word; or as St. Paul says in Holy Scripture, “The washing of water with the word.” Through Baptism, we are made partakers of Christ’s death and resurrection. Since Baptism is connected to the Word and promise of God, it is truly a life-giving water, rich in grace—a washing of the new birth in the Holy Spirit.

Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. 2 This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.” 3 Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” 4 Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?”5 Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. – John 3:1-8

3 For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another. 4 But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, 5 he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit – Titus 3:3-5

36 Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.”

37 Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?” 38 And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyonewhom the Lord our God calls to himself.” 40 And with many other words he bore witness and continued to exhort them, saying, “Save yourselves from this crooked generation.” 41 So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls. – Acts 2:37-41

In Holy Communion God offers believers His body and blood under forms of bread and wine for Christians to eat and drink (1 Corinthians 10:16-17)

 

And at the table of Communion, where we receive His Body and Blood:

26 Now as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, “Take, eat; this is my body.” 27 And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, saying, “Drink of it, all of you, 28 for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. 29 I tell you I will not drink again of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.” – Matthew 26:26-29

54 Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. 55 For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. 56 Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him. 57 As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever feeds on me, he also will live because of me. 58 This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like the bread the fathers ate, and died. Whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.” – John 6:54-58

23 For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, 24 and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body which is for[e] you. Do this in remembrance of me.” 25 In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” 26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes. – 1 Corinthians 11:23-26

So God has told us, clearly, where He would meet us; The Word, The Waters of Baptism, and The Communion table.  As long as we meet Him there, in the Christ-instituted, objective, means of grace we’ll find Him. Let that sink in.. God has CON-descended to be found by us. He’s told us where he’ll be, not through an oracle on the top of a remote mountain, not in a remote temple, but with us in the common means of word and water, bread and wine… and He’s there. We will FIND Him. What grace!

There’s nothing “magic” or “mystical” about these things. Words. Water. Bread. Wine. Nothing in and of themselves that makes them special, except… that God has promised to meet us there. The same dark parking lot which would terrify my daughters when they walk out of a restaurante becomes a place of safety when I flash my lights to let them know that I’m there. I’m where I told them they would find me.

Now, my girls are about as obedient as a Dad could ever hope for.  Sure, they’re still battling their sinful nature just like the rest of us, but what if in complete disobedience they decided to reach their destination by riding with a stranger? What about someone who offered them candy in the old “creepy white van”? How crazy would one have to be to make that decision? To trade the safety of their Father for the danger of a stranger, simply on the offer of something “more”.

Yet we see it every day. Rather than the simple means of grace, rather than meeting their Father in the assigned location, people chase something “better” by climbing into the creepy white van of…

Mysticism:

Mysticism is the belief that you can find God inside yourself through “feeling” or “emotion”.  And that God has agreed to meet you “immediately”. (By immediate, I mean without a mediator; A direct, internal connection with God without the mediation of Christ or the means of grace.) God has not agreed to meet you as you jump around and work yourself into a frenzy. Sorry. I’ve done it, and frankly it’s fun, but God never agreed to meet you in your emotion.  You can put yourself into an emotional state and be open to subconscious suggestion, but those “voices” you hear? Are they wrong? Even once? Then guess what, it might be a lot of things, but the Holy Spirit it is most certainly not.

And we climb into this van because rather than listening to our Father, we’ve listened to someone (or in this case, something) trying to lure us away… our heart.

“God laid this on my heart.”  “I feel in my heart that….”

Your heart?  You mean this heart?

The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it? – Jeremiah 17:9

For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery

He that trusts in his own heart is a fool – Proverbs 28:26

And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. – Genesis 6:5

That heart? That’s where you’re looking for God to speak? For His voice?

God has revealed himself to us objectively, in things that are real, that we can see, hear, touch, and taste.  They are unchanging and concrete, regardless of your changing heart or emotions.

Are we to respond to His grace in worship? YES! I’ve wept over the beauty of the Gospel and the grace shown to me, but when I attempt to work into this state and THEN hear from God, i’ve gotten it completely backward!

God objectively works from outside of us to change us inside. We can’t start by closing our eyes, making a constipated face, and feeling our way to God. When we do, we’re attempting to climb toward God on the ladder of mysticism.

Word, Water, Bread and Wine? Yes.

Rolling around on the ground or sitting quietly in a chair and waiting to hear voices? No. That’s straight-up mysticism.

 

Nature: 

Yes, God has in general revelation shown His wonders in the beauty of His creation.  The problem is, the gospel isn’t there. What you see is, even in it’s beauty, fallen… and it’s all law. You may “feel at one” with God on the lake or hiking in the mountains, but nowhere there will you discover Christ crucified for your sins. For the gospel you need the Word.

For the sake of brevity, I’ll stop here. I’ll spend the next couple of weeks working through how we attempt to climb various ladders to A-scend to God.  For now, let’s focus on not climbing into those two creepy white vans. The promises are empty lies.. there is no “candy”, just very real danger.  If it’s worse to lose your soul than your life, the white van of mysticism is worse than any creepy white van the movies have ever shown us.

 

Don’t talk to strangers!

 

Marc

 

 

Leadership. I like it. I’m interested in it. At the risk of sounding like Paul in his letter to the Philippians, let me throw this out there;

I’m a C-level executive. I work with a Lakewood Church sized budget. I have the formal education and training. I speak at executive conferences. I do the seminars. I read the books. I mentor promising junior executives. I’m certainly not opposed to leadership.

But that’s because my charter is clear, and it’s defined by the stakeholders of my company. It’s measurable, and it’s pragmatic.  It has a cash-value bottom line. I’m asked to create strategic and “vision” documents to chart the course for my organization.

So… why is there such a fascination with leadership in the church? Why would your pastor be reading the same books and following the same leadership blogs that I am?

There is a drought of leadership in the church, but it’s not due to the lack of leadership training at the pastoral level.

The problem is that we’ve forgotten our charter.

Sure, for the sake of mission we get the “to do” right:

Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching themto observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:19-20, ESV)

 

So, with the “do” (imperative) in hand, we default to doing what our heart desires… taking the reins, rolling up our sleeves and doing it ourselves.

So, we look for the tools of the trade around us: leadership, marketing, demographics, techniques, etc.  And these tools work for their intended purposes. They work well in my chosen career. They can certainly mobilize, organize and energize a group of people to unite behind a cause.  Unfortunately, that cause could be anything from building a new city library, to creating a terrorist organization. There is nothing inherently Christian about these tools.

But what if we look at the “why” (imperative) of the great commission?

And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations,baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:18-20, ESV)

We find no “bottom line” pragmatism here. No call to “hit our numbers” for the quarter. Our charter is clear: All authority has been given to Jesus (the why) so we are sent to make disciples, baptize, and teach.

And we’ve even been given the “how” (means) of how we will fulfill this call: Jesus will be with us. And so He is, in the preached word of His gospel. In the body and blood of communion. And in the water of baptism.

So, we have an epidemic of leadership in the church. Not because we value leadership, but because we have a current obsession with being leaders.

The leadership position has been filled: All authority is given to Christ.

The mission has been made clear: Make disciples, baptize, and teach the scriptures.

The means has been made clear: Christ with us in word and sacrament.

So to jump on the latest leadership fad, to replace the activities of discipleship, baptism, and teaching of scripture with anything else, and to use the tools of western business is to replace the authority of Christ, the Great Commission, and the Means of Grace.

You may be successful by the metrics of business, but the “performance” review may go really, really poorly for you when you are called to give an account for your performance.

I’m NOT saying that we don’t have church leadership. We not only need, but are directed by scripture to have church leadership to whom we are to model as they model Christ. Please don’t see this as a screed against “leaders”. I’m simply trying to challenge the notion that “leadership” in a wester business model (with it’s method, measure, and metric) is for the church.

So, do you believe that all authority has been given to Jesus?

Do you believe He is mighty to save His people and send you to disciple, baptize, and teach scripture?

Do you believe He will do so with the simple means of grace?

Do your actions show this, or do you really.. deep down.. believe that you need to employ the better technique, the better plan, the better program to really get it done?

I can certainly tell you how I would handle a subordinate who took over my office, replaced my gameplan with their own, and did so under their own power.  How much more accountable are we to Jesus and His Great Commission?

Just a thought.

Marc

 

 

 

 

 

There seems to be a never-ending parade of folks hearing from God. I would say “these days” but it has been happening from the beginning of time.  There are those who sit at the bus stop  claiming to talk to Jesus (or BE Jesus). Those guys are mentally unstable, right? What about the guy in the suit standing behind a lectern who tells you that God told him something? Crazy? Prophetic?

Let’s look at a few, actual, historical examples. The pattern is obvious and changes little over the course of history. Some of this might surprise you. If you thought a guy in a suit is more credible, what about 3 of the largest religious affiliations on the planet? Are there lessons to be learned here? Let’s take a look:

1. In 610 AD, nearly 6 centuries after the death of Christ, a 40-year-old prophet from the Arabian Peninsula began receiving messages from God from the angel Gabriel.  He was believed (and his followers continue to believe today) to have been the restorer of the original monotheistic faith; that of Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, and Jesus.

The problem? The information supposedly imparted in this direct revelation, when speaking of the errors of Christianity, is inaccurate in regard to what Christianity actually teaches. When these writings speak to matters of historically objective Christianity, they don’t contain what is written in the Old and New Testaments, rather what was understood about these writings in the Arabian peninsula during this period in history.  If you want to quickly identify a man-made historical document, you can validate (or disprove it) in light of information which would have been available to a *man* at the time, and contrast that with what was actually true yet little known, but would be known to an omniscient *God* at that point.  How does this play out?

In the content above, we have descriptions of christianity which are not only inaccurate, but in direct conflict with the christian faith.  Without going into the errors of the infancy gospels or the divinity of Christ, here’s an example that should be obvious to anyone: In condemning the teaching of the trinity, the Koran identifies the trinity as God (the father), Jesus, and Mary.

So, either God somehow changed (or forgot) the persons of the trinity, or the author of this content had a historically limited view of the christian faith.

The result? Islam, the second largest religion on the planet and it’s revelation from God, The Koran.

 

How about on the American shores?

In 1835, a 30-year-old New York man, who had previously received direct revelation, multiple times from God himself and angels, began translation work on what would later be known as “The Book of Abraham”.  This translation was from ancient Egyptian Papyri which had been found, sent to America, and purchased by the young man.  Even more surprisingly, this young man was enabled to not only translate the ancient text, but to codify the alphabet and grammar from this single document.  Quite impressive!

The problem?  While egyptian hieroglyphy was unknown in the mid 1800’s, it was later developed substantially and experts were able to go back and view both the papyri and the supposed translation.  In 1912, these documents were sent to 8 scholars who all identified the papyri to be an ordinary funerary document.  Their feedback on the young man’s supposed translation:

Egyptologist Dr. James H. Breasted of the University of Chicago noted:

“… these three facsimiles of Egyptian documents in the ‘Pearl of Great Price’ depict the most common objects in the Mortuary religion of Egypt. (his) interpretations of them as part of a unique revelation through Abraham, therefore, very clearly demonstrates that he was totally unacquainted with the significance of these documents and absolutely ignorant of the simplest facts of Egyptian writing and civilization.”

Dr. W.M. Flinders Petrie of London University wrote:

“It may be safely said that there is not one single word that is true in these explanations”

Dr. A.H. Sayce, Oxford professor of Egyptology,

“It is difficult to deal seriously with (his) impudent fraud…. (he) has turned the goddess [Isis in Facsimile No. 3] into a king and Osiris into Abraham.”

 

The problem? The author is Joseph Smith, founder of the 3rd largest religious denomination in the United States, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (LDS), better known as “Mormons”.

 

And finally, one that may surprise you as it hits within “mainstream” Christianity:

 

In October of 1900, a 27 year old Kansas man named Charles Fox Parham formed a Bible College in Topeka, Kansas.  The only textbook was the Bible and the only teacher was the Holy Spirit, with Parham acting as the spirit’s “mouthpiece”.

In December 1900, Parham sent his students (who had been at the Bible College less than 3 months) to diligently search the scriptures for the Biblical evidence for his theory of the “baptism in the Holy Spirit”.  The students returned with the view that “baptism in the Holy Sprit” was evidenced by speaking in unknown tongues.

With this view, Parham called a “watch night” prayer service on December 31, 1900 to pray fervently through the night.  According to Parham, after midnight on January 1, 1901, a student named Agnes Ozman asked that hands be laid upon her in prayer.

“I had scarcely repeated three dozen sentences when a glory fell upon her, a halo seemed to surround her head and face, and she began speaking in the Chinese language, and was unable to speak English for three days. When she tried to write in English to tell us of her experience she wrote the Chinese, copies of which we still have in newspapers printed at that time.” – Charles Fox Parham

I’m sure you can guess where this is going.  Fortunately (or unfortunately, depending on your view) we DO still have copies of what Agnes wrote during those three days:

 

The problem is predictable and follows the pattern. While Chinese was obscure on the Kansas plains in 1901, it is not obscure today.  What you see above is most certainly not chinese.  I personally submitted this paper, with no background story, to a colleague who holds a PhD in Chinese from The University of Texas at Austin as well as several Chinese chinese co-workers. Their responses were uniform:

“This is gibberish.”

 “This isn’t Chinese.”  

“This is actually quite funny. Someone said this was Chinese?”

The problem?

The woman, Agnes Ozman was a student of Charles Fox Parham and her experience is now known as the Topeka Revival which began the modern Pentecostal-Holiness movement. Parham’s ministry moved several times to areas which continue to this day to be hotbeds of the pentecostal movement, notably southwest Missouri and Houston, Texas and in 1914, Parham’s “Apostolic Faith Movement” merged with several other pentecostal groups to form The General Councils of the Assemblies of God, the largest pentecostal denomination in the world.

Parham’s view of this “baptism in the Holy Spirit” was its necessity for assurance of the salvation of the believer and that ONLY those exhibiting this baptism would be raptured at Christ’s second coming ,whose total number would be 144,000. (A view later rejected by the Assemblies of God.)  The problems here are obvious and many as there are significantly more than 144,000 people speaking in tongues. There are more than 280 million pentecostals globally. 1 in 4 professing Christians identify themselves as pentecostal.

Of interest is the fact that Parham believed these utterances to be literal, known, human languages which would eliminate the need for missionaries to receive language training prior to their placement on the mission field. Parham labeled this as “xenoglossae”, or “foreign languages”.

The most notable and documented cases of this belief was of A.G. Garr.

The following is from Dr. Gary McGee (Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Church History and Pentecostal Studies at the Assemblies of God Theological Seminary):

“God is solving the missionary problem,” trumpeted the Apostolic Faith newspaper,published by the Azusa Street mission in Los Angeles, California. Indeed, “the Lord has givenlanguages to the unlearned, Greek, Latin, Hebrew, French, German, Italian, Chinese, Japanese, Zulu and languages of Africa, Hindu and Bengali and dialects of India, Chippewa and other languages ofthe Indians, Esquimaux, the deaf mute language and . . . the Holy Ghost speaks all the languages of the world through His children.”

The best-known attempt to demonstrate this proficiency came when Alfred G. (“A. G.”) Garr, pastor of the Metropolitan Holiness Church in the city, and his wife Lillian, left for the east coast in July 1906 to board ship for India, the first missionaries to leave Azusa for the “regions beyond.”

Unlike their Protestant missionary counterparts who often struggled to learn the necessary languages for mission work, the Garrs insisted they had already received the ones they needed directly from the Holy Spirit before they even left the shores of America. They could now avoid the time-consuming delay of formal language study—usually requiring several years—and begin preaching once they arrived. 

Though a missionary to India visiting Los Angeles had challenged Alfred’s ability to speak Bengali, he went still confidant that he could not only speak the language, but Chinese as well. Lillian claimed Tibetan and Chinese.

Early in the Calcutta revival, A. G. Garr not only had to face his inability to speak Bengali, but also had to re-examin the actual meaning of speaking in tongues. 

The young student, Agens Ozman later spoke of her experience, which began the modern Pentecostal-Holiness movement (which birthed the Assemblies of God, Church of God, Church of God in Christ, and the United Pentecostal Church) and summed up the problem with the errors we see in the following article published in 1909:

“Some time ago I tried but failed to have an article printed which I wrote calling attention to what I am sure God showed me was error. The article maintained that tongues was not the only evidence of the Spirit’s Baptism. When that article was refused I was much tempted by Satan, but God again graciously showed me He had revealed it to me, and satisfied my heart in praying that He might reveal this truth to others who would spread it abroad. For awhile after the baptism I got into spiritual darkness, because I did as I see so many others are doing these days, rested and reveled in tongues and other demonstrations instead of resting alone in God.” 

And here we see the common thread in all “direct revelation” from God. At best, it leads to unorthodox theology and a misfocus on the “new” message over the gospel of repentance and faith in Christ for the forgiveness of sin, such as…

“The biggest thing for us in our exegesis of Scripture is that we believe in baptism in the Holy Spirit.” – Greg Mundis, executive director of Assemblies of God World Missions

…and at worst leads to outright rejection of Christ’s atoning work (Islam and Mormonism).

I challenge you to look at the message of any ministry which received such “direct revelation” from God, do they point to Christ’s atoning work on the cross for the forgiveness of sin? Do they confront the unbelievers with their sin and plead for their repentance, salvation, and rest in Christ?

I believe that you’ll find, as the Mother of the Pentecostal movement herself found and repented of later in life that they do not.  “New Revelation” will always, always, replace the gospel.. and it will replace it with faith in yourself; your “feelings” and your works. If these revelations are truly “from God” then they would, be definition, be on par with commands of scripture. In other words, they would be law and to disobey them would be sin. These “new revelations” may be as seemingly obvious as someone claiming that a 900 foot Jesus appeared  and commanded them to build a medical center which would be a success (and which actually closed 8 years later) like Oral Roberts.

Others, like the current “Vision Casting” phenomenon are a bit more subtle.  Either way, looking for direct/extra-biblical revelation is a recipe for disaster.  Either way, we’re obscuring the gospel taught by the apostles, and putting people under new “law” outside of scripture.. all because of a “vision” or something “in our spirit” or “laid on our heart”.

God speaks to you. He speaks to you every time you open scripture and begin to read of the faith once and all delivered to the saints.

Don’t be deceived by your subjective emotion. The heart is wicked above all things and certainly not the place to look for “nudges”.  Open the word, the very “breath of God”.

Marc

 

 

 

If you’ve never heard the term “Bike Rodeo”, let me explain this little joy to you; Every year, our local Police Department partners with local schools to sponsor an event in which young children are encouraged to bring their bikes to school for a safety inspection and to practice riding through an obstacle course.  It really is a lot of fun.  This year, my 2nd grade daughter was ready for her first Bike Rodeo. We spent time installing all of the necessary safety equipment; Horn, Bell, Headlights, and Taillights (Where was all this stuff when we were kids?!?).

Next up, practicing and riding through our little neighborhood. Picture a giggling 8 year old proudly shouting, “Daddy, watch!”, “Daddy look!” as she peddled down each cul de sac.  Showing off her safety training, she would stop at each stop sign and in exaggerated fashion look both directions for traffic.  And then, peddle off again as I walked a few yards behind.

“Car!” I’d shout, and she would stop peddling and pull to the curb as a car would slowly pass and wave.

All was well until I saw it… and it all seemed to happen in slow motion… a large black SUV backing out of an elevated driveway, unable to see my little girl.

Baby, stop.. car.

She kept peddling.

Baby, stop!

She kept peddling.

STOP!!!!!!!!!

She turned quickly, lost her balance and toppled over, unhurt, but frightened at my tone.

Baby, whey didn’t you stop?!? You saw the car, you heard me yelling for you to stop!

“Daddy, I saw the car. I was ringing my bell so they would stop!”

It hit me like a ton of bricks. She was trying, as hard as she could, doing the “right thing” and ringing her little bell to stop the suburban that would have crushed her as she rang it.

But her peril wasn’t subjective. It wasn’t dependent on her effort or use of what she thought to be the right tool. Her little barbie bicycle bell was, simply worthless to stop the impending threat.

I want you to hold onto that image as we look at a threat even greater to people even more helpless.

There is an event coming which, to paraphrase John Piper is 10,000 times 10,000 times more certain and heavy than the threat of a truck backing out of a driveway. It’s arrival is certain, and its impact will be felt by every man, woman, and child who has ever lived.

We will all be judged by the perfect, holy standard of God.

I want to challenge you, individually, to know that this event is a certainty. It’s coming. And the only salvation is repentance and faith in Christ’s sacrifice for your sin. There is no other salvation.  You can ring your little bell, you can use any other name, faith, or excuse.

The church is full of hypocrites.

Ring. Ring.

I believe that all roads lead to the same truth.

Ring. Ring.

There is no God. I am my own truth.

Ring… Ring… Ring.

And for those of us in Christ, I want to present this challenge to you in a different manner. I hear the bell ringing in the modern church going on every day. There is one thing, and one thing alone which will stop those who do not know Christ from peddling into the path of their destruction, ringing their bells as they go;

The gospel.

The good news that God has reconciled sinners to himself by grace through faith in Christ’s sacrifice on the cross.

But we don’t believe that, really. Sure, we’ll throw that up on a webpage somewhere under the “Word of God” section on our “What We Believe” tab under the “About Us” page.  But do we really believe that? Or do we ring our bells? Our bells of pragmatism, our bells of technique, or bells of attraction, our bells of relevancy, and our bells of “mission”.

I think the American church is still orthodox enough to believe and confess that WE are saved by grace through faith in Christ and not works, but our actions seem to indicate that we believe “THEY” are saved by our works and not the power of the Gospel (well, not without our help, anyway.)

So, the church rings its bells, to ourselves and to “them”.

To ourselves:

Be still and listen to what God is speaking to your heart.  (Mysticism)

Ring. Ring.

Give your best to God and He’ll give His best to you! (Moralism)

Ring. Ring.

God loves everyone and would never judge people for being who he made them to be. (Rationalism)

Ring. Ring. Ring.

And to “THEM”?

Put on a show they will want to see to attract “them”

Ring. Ring.

Build relationships with “them” and win them to our community.

Ring. Ring.

Build missional models, employ leadership techniques,  and leverage demographic research to cast vision to “reach them” for Christ.

Ring. Ring.

Give them messages which will create “life change” through being better parents, and better spouses. Tell them how to live their best life now! Tell them that God has an incredible purpose for them, to “release the champion within them” if they’ll just be “audacious” enough to “go for it”!

Ring…Ring…Ring.

Our actions speak louder than our words. We simply do not believe that God will use the simple, foolish, offensive message of the gospel to change hearts of stone to hearts of flesh and save sinners from God’s just wrath.

God has promised in his word to use the simple means of grace; Word, Water, Bread and Wine to save and feed his sheep.

Preach the word. Shout it out until they stop and topple. Or they will keep ringing their bells, and we along with them, as they are crushed.

“They” don’t reject Christ because we lack the model, the technique, or the “hook”.  Scripture clearly tells us that “they” reject Christ because they are at enmity with God.  So you can build the model, master the technique, and design the ultimate “hook”.. and join with them in ringing a new bell headed for the same truck.

Ring. Ring. Ring.

 

Marc

 

One of the real joys of the “Top 10” article going viral is that it’s given me a chance to hear from young believers who are hungry for the gospel of repentance and faith in Christ for the forgiveness of sins (Or, as Paul wrote in Galatians, the ONLY gospel.) rather than any of the replacement/false gospels so prevalent in the church today; who long to hear (and have difficulty finding) about Christ crucified for sinners.

This week, I’d like to post a poem written and sent to me by an American college student at a large, public university.

As a short bio, the following:

“Scared of Hell. Walked the aisle. Said a prayer. Baptized. Felt some feelings.

Only recently learned how Law & Gospel are appropriately separated.

& have learned about the external Word and sacraments.

I am currently studying at the University of Arkansas. I’m 21.”

 

Dear Church,  My Plea

We don’t want modernity.

We don’t want your empty promises.

We don’t want your self-help sermons.

We don’t want to find security inside of ourselves.

Stop telling me that Christ needs my commitment.

Stop telling me that I’m good.

Stop giving me new law to keep.

Stop idolizing youth.

Stop dumbing down the message.

Stop sugar-coating truth.

Stop feeding me donuts.

I need His body and blood.

Point me not to a prayer.

Point me to His Word.

Teach me His promises.

Teach me His Law.

Tell me I can’t keep it.

Tell me He fulfilled it.

I am a sinner. Just like you.

You tell me what to do.

& leave out what’s been done.

Care not about my entertainment.

Care about His message rightly proclaimed.

You give me a purity ring.

I need armor.

I need this message of reconciliation.

I need Christ crucified for sinners.

This news is good.

This Word brings life.

Rebuke this moralism.

Rebuke this mysticism.

If moralism is the message,

I don’t need Jesus.

If mysticism is the message,

I’ll get high on something else.

I’m done with this pretending.

I need solid food.

If my best life is now, I’m going to hell.

I don’t care about Friday.

I don’t care about feelings.

I’m a sinner like you.

I need Christ.

He brings life.

This fake smile’s getting old.

My Sunday clothes are wearing thin.

My heart is growing numb.

I’m broken by sin.

I need conviction from the Law.

& healing from the Lord.

My strivings are futile.

The Law leaves me condemned.

Please talk about sin.

Let your message be bloody.

Place the cross in the center.

For Christ, He alone is worthy.

Next up on the “sacred cow” series, an article I’ve been wanting to write for quite some time but haven’t been able to work on; Tithing.   I think this may well be my most controversial article and figure it will generate a lot of negative feedback because it will place me squarely between tithe preachers and their revenue stream, and Christians who are  tithing to “be blessed” and “avoid curses” by “robbing God”.  If there are two areas you tread dangerously, it’s a persons money or their attempts at works-righteousness! But I simply have to write this one because the amount of abuse I’ve seen here is absolutely disgusting.

That being said, here we go.  A couple of ground rules before you start if you would be so kind:

1. Read the entire article. Look at scripture in its entirety, and in context. Try to put tradition aside as you look at what scripture actually teaches. Not “principles”, but what scripture actually says.

2. Understand that I am not. NOT. NOT! (clear enough?) saying that you shouldn’t give to support the local church.  If you’re looking for a justification for not giving, it won’t be here.

First of all, let’s define the term “Tithe”.  Yes, it’s clearly in the Bible, no doubt about it.  But what does the term tithe mean? Is the way the term is used today in agreement or opposition to what scripture teaches?

Tithing, as we will discuss here is the current, modern teaching of

“The first 10% of your income, given to the local church.”  

There are other subtleties that we will discuss including “firstfruits”, etc. But “The first 10% of your income to the local church” is a summary which I think fairly represents the position, and to which nearly all tithe-teachers would agree.

I will contrast that with the Biblical teaching of the tithe, utilizing the most used verses by tithe-teachers and show how tithing, as described above, is unbiblical.

As a quick look at history, would any of the following surprise you?

1. Jesus never tithed.  (He was a carpenter)

2. Peter never tithed.  (He was a fisherman)

3. Paul never tithed.  (He was a tentmaker)

4. Gentiles did not tithe.

5. There is no record of “tithing” as currently taught in the first 8 centuries of the church. Not from scripture, nor from early church fathers such as Irenaeus, Tertullian, Justin Martyr, et al.

6. Tithing was virtually unknown in America until the 1870’s and rarely even mentioned in seminaries.

Feel free to attempt to disprove any of those! For something that is claimed to “bring a curse” or “rob God” there certainly seems to be a glaring absence of this teaching from both scripture and church history!

So, let’s work through Who, What, When, Where, and Why of tithing, in scripture:

WHAT? 

What was the tithe?

There are 16 verses which cover the content of the tithe.  In summary, the tithe was:

Always and only food from farms and herds of only Israelites who only lived inside the holy land (the boundary of Israel) and only from the increase of those crops and livestock as the Lord caused growth. 

It was alway, and only crops and livestock. Period. There is no record of money being tithed, ever, in scripture.  While some may argue that money wasn’t available and this was a barter-based agrarian economy, I submit the following:

Money is mentioned 32 times in Genesis alone.

Money is mentioned 44 times before tithing appears in Leviticus 27.

The term money appears 62 times, and the unit of measure (shekel) appears 32 times in the first 5 books of the Bible.

The financial system was advanced enough to even contain laws on fines, dues, taxes, and banking laws prohibiting high interest.. all before tithing appears in Leviticus 27.

So, then what was the tithe?

30 “Every tithe of the land, whether of the seed of the land or of the fruit of the trees, is the Lord’s; it is holy to the Lord. 31 If a man wishes to redeem some of his tithe, he shall add a fifth to it. 32 And every tithe of herds and flocks, every tenth animal of all that pass under the herdsman’s staff, shall be holy to the Lord. 33 One shall not differentiate between good or bad, neither shall he make a substitute for it; and if he does substitute for it, then both it and the substitute shall be holy; it shall not be redeemed.”

34 These are the commandments that the Lord commanded Moses for the people of Israel on Mount Sinai. (Leviticus 27:30-34, ESV)

As we see above, it is only seed of the land, fruit of the trees, herds, and flocks. Not money. We also see that it is NOT the “first” or the “best” as some teach, it is explicitly described in scripture as the 10th animal which passes under the staff and could be either “good” or “bad”.  While we’ll cover it in more detail later, notice to whom this command is given in verse 34. (The people of Israel.)

In total, there were actually FOUR tithes, none of which match the modern definition of tithing:

1. The Levitical Tithe (crops and livestock as shown above)

2. The Festival/Feast Tithe: Once a year a tithe of food in Jerusalem to be eaten in the streets by all peple.

3. The Poor/3rd Year Tithe: Kept aside in their homes and given to the poor on every 3rd year.

4. The King’s Tithe (1 Samuel 8)

So not only do modern tithe teachers not follow the actual system of tithes laid out in the Old Covenant, which would total 23 1/3%, the “tithe” they do teach is nowhere found in ANY of the four actual tithes of scripture.

Who?

Who tithed? To whom did they tithe?

The tithe was required of those who raised crops and livestock. It was required of those under the Mosaic Law. It was required only of those within the geographic bounds of Israel.

To whom was it paid?  This is extremely important for you to understand:

The tithes were paid from the people to their local Levitical cities. NOT to the Temple storehouse.  The system worked like this:

The Levites were tasked with temple service and political service to the King. Since there were far too many Levites to serve at the Temple at the same time, they were divided into 24 groups (called “courses”).  On a 48 week lunar calendar, each group would serve at the Temple in Jerusalem two weeks (twice) per year. The remaining Levites (who were not currently “on duty” at the Temple) remained in their particular Levitical city. (There were originally 48 of these scattered throughout Israel/Judah).

So let’s think about this. Does it make sense that the entire tithe, the 10% of all foods and livestock from the people would be delivered to the Temple in Jerusalem?  Or would it make more sense that people would take these to the local Levitical city for the Levites who lived there 46 out of 48 week of the year?

Of course not.  What actually happened was that the people would bring the tithe (again, crops and livestock) to the local Levitical city.  Then, 1/10 of THAT 1/10 would be taken to the storehouse at the Temple in Jerusalem.  (Nehemiah 10)

Why?

Why did the people tithe? 

The people tithed because it was commanded in scripture (Leviticus 27).  This was part of the Mosaic Covenant that the people had entered into with God at Mt. Sinai:

 ⁵ Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine;⁶ and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. These are the words that you shall speak to the people of Israel.”⁷ So Moses came and called the elders of the people and set before them all these words that the Lord had commanded him. ⁸ All the people answered together and said, “All that theLord has spoken we will do.” – Exodus 19:5-8

Notice that this blessing is conditional! IF they will obey God’s voice and keep the covenant. But we notice, in great detail, in Leviticus (the chapter immediately preceding the chapter introducing the tithe) what would happen if they DIDN’T keep the covenant!

Well, sure enough, as you would expect, man botched it and didn’t live up perfectly to the law. And as it pertains to the discussion of tithing, they really blew it there. (A good example is Nehemiah 13: 4-10)

In light of that, let’s look take a long, hard look at the tithe teachers favorite prooftext.. you know it.. Malachi 3:

Will man rob God? Yet you are robbing me. But you say, ‘How have we robbed you?’ In your tithes and contributions. 9 You are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing me, the whole nation of you. 10 Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. And thereby put me to the test, says the Lord of hosts, if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there is no more need. 11 I will rebuke the devourer for you, so that it will not destroy the fruits of your soil, and your vine in the field shall not fail to bear, says the Lord of hosts.

(Malachi 3:8-11)

 

Let’s take a long, hard look at this passage.

1. Who is “you”. Since “you” is the pronoun for those robbing God, we’d better get this right. It’s serious. “Robbing God and being cursed” serious.

Malachi is a very short, 4 chapter book.  Take the time to read it for yourself!

In Chapter 1, God begins to address the people of Israel, but notice something: In verse 6 the audience changes to the priests!

⁶ “A son honors his father, and a servant his master. If then I am a father, where is my honor? And if I am a master, where is my fear? says the Lord of hosts to you, O priests, who despise my name. But you say, ‘How have we despised your name?’

The priests had taken that which had been given to them as a tithe, and had vowed to give God the best of that 1/10 (as they were required to and had vowed in the Levitical covenant!), but they had lied and given God the damaged animals (Malachi 1:8 and 1:13)

Now, read carefully: Not only is it clear from context that “the people” are not being discussed in Malachi (it’s the priests), but the text specifically states that the people weren’t being chastised for not bringing the tithe!  Chapter 1 makes it clear that they DID bring their tithe! The problem is that the priests then kept the best for themselves and offered the damaged animals. Look closely, remembering that “you” is the PRIESTS.

¹³ But you say, ‘What a weariness this is,’ and you snort at it, says the Lord of hosts. You bring what has been taken by violence or is lame or sick, and this you bring as your offering! Shall I accept that from your hand? says theLord. ¹⁴ Cursed be the cheat who has a male in his flock, and vows it, and yet sacrifices to the Lord what is blemished.

So, he (Priest) has a male in his flock, vows it (Levitical Covenant) and yet sacrifies to the Lord what is blemished (fail).

We continue with Chapter 2:

“And now, O priests, this command is for you. ² If you will not listen, if you will not take it to heart to give honor to my name, says the Lord of hosts, then I will send the curse upon you and I will curse your blessings. Indeed, I have already cursed them, because you do not lay it to heart. (Malachi 2:1-2)

Again, who is “you”? The priests!  And the curse on? The Priests! Because? They violated the Levitical Covenant! We see this with absolute clarity as we continue with the rest of the passage, below:

 ³ Behold, I will rebuke your offspring,^[a] and spread dung on your faces, thedung of your offerings, and you shall be taken away with it.^[b] 4 So shall you know that I have sent this command to you, that my covenant with Levi may stand, says the Lord of hosts.⁵ My covenant with him was one of life and peace, and I gave them to him. It was a covenant of fear, and he feared me. He stood in awe of my name. ⁶ True instruction^[c] was in his mouth, and no wrong was found on his lips. He walked with me in peace and uprightness, and he turned many from iniquity. ⁷ For the lips of a priest should guard knowledge, and people^[d] should seek instruction from his mouth, for he is the messenger of the Lord of hosts. ⁸ But you have turned aside from the way. You have caused many to stumble by your instruction. You have corrupted the covenant of Levi, says the Lord of hosts, ⁹ and so I make you despised and abased before all the people, inasmuch as you do not keep my ways butshow partiality in your instruction.”

Who is being cursed? They Priests! Why? They violated the Levitical Covenant. This simply can NOT be applied to “the people”. Firstly, because the passage is both explicitly and contextually speaking of the priests. Secondly, the “people” would NOT have been under the Levitical Covenant!

 As we continue in Chapter 3, there is a small change. For one verse, the people of Judah are mentioned in the their person “they” (not “you”) but the text returns immediately back to the “you” fo the priests.  Now, notice the final line of chapter 2: “Where is the God of justice?”

God answers in Chapter 3:

⁸ Will man rob God? Yet you are robbing me. But you say, ‘How have we robbed you?’ In your tithes and contributions. ⁹ You are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing me, the whole nation of you. ¹⁰ Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house.

So, as we have shown with absolute certainty, “you” refers to the priests and NOT to the people. To further prove the point, the robbery is caused by not bringing a full tithe into the storehouse. Who brought tithe into the storehouse? The Priests!

So, at the risk of being absurdly redundant, I want to drive a stake through the heart of this erroneous teaching:

“You” is the Priests, NOT the people and could not be otherwise for the following reason:

1. Grammar: From 1:6 on, “you” is alway the priests.

2. Context: Only the Priests would be guilty under the Levitical Covenant

3. Context: Only the Priests would bring anything to the storehouse in the Temple.

So even if you somehow believe that tithing was an eternal principle (it’s not) and that all men in the old testament/covenant were required to tithe (they weren’t) and that somehow the tithe was on income (it never, ever was) you still absolutely can NOT make Malachi about people robbing God by not paying a tithe to the local church.

The abuse I’ve seen here would be laughable if it weren’t so tragic. I’ve actually read a letter written by a “Pastor” who compared a wife not tithing (due to her husband’s refusal to support the ministry) to being an accomplice in a bank robbery. Anyone who would make such an absurd statement has disqualified themselves from ministry as one who cannot rightly handle the word of God.  At the risk of sounding harsh, if you cannot read a 4 chapter book and determine context through a simple pronoun like “you”, you have no business teaching, much less condemning anyone with your doctrine.  (End of rant)

Now, let’s work through to the New Testament understanding now that the definition of the tithe is:

Always and only food from farms and herds of only Israelites who only lived inside the holy land (the boundary of Israel) and only from the increase of those crops and livestock as the Lord caused growth. 

There is not a single passage in all of the New Testament which requires the church to tithe. None. Not one. Ever. I’m not even arguing about “what” the tithe is (money or crops and livestock), it’s simply NOT there. Ever.

Jesus didn’t tithe.

Peter didn’t tithe.

Paul didn’t tithe.

If this was something so serious as to cause curses for robbing God, don’t you think it might have been mentioned? Just once? Maybe? How about the first church council in scripture, where Jews and Gentiles were working through the differences in their views of law and grace. It would have to come up, right? I mean, who would want the new gentiles to be robbing God and coming under a curse? (As you might guess, it’s not brought up. Ever.)

Does it strike you odd that tithe-teachers don’t teach tithing from any New Testament text or command, but resort to an obscure letter chastising priests for breaking their Levitical vows to point out the requirement to tithe?

Let’s think through grace vs. law.  Are you required to keep any of the rest of the Levitical law? Of course not!

There is one passage, perhaps which could cause some confusion (or be twisted badly to teach tithing), Matthew 23:23

²³ “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness. These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others. ²⁴ You blind guides, straining out a gnat and swallowing a camel!

So the scribes and Pharisees were hypocrites and were tithing on “garden herbs” (mint, dill,and cumin).  And are then blasted by Jesus for ignoring weightier matters of the law like justice, mercy, and faithfulness.

1. Who was Jesus talking to and in what context? The 23rd chapter of Matthew is an entire chapter of Jesus completely teeing off on the scribes and Pharisees. Read it in its entirety! To begin with, Jesus has a crowd, turns to them and completely blasts the scribes and Pharisees to the crowd:

Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples, ² “The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses’ seat, ³ so do and observe whatever they tell you, but not the works they do. For they preach, but do not practice.

2. Why would Jesus say that they should follow the law?  Again, who was he talking to? Israel. When? In the Old Covenant. Jesus lived under the law. Israel lived under the law. This, however, changed (and remains changed) under the New Covenant.  Look closely at Jesus teaching to those who would have been under the law during his earthly ministry. He heals men and then sends them to take care of their obligation at the temple. Jesus lived blamelessly under the law!  Contrast that with how he spoke to those (Gentiles) who were not under the law.  So, it shouldn’t surprise us at all that Jesus said these scribes and Pharisees should keep the law.

3. What did they tithe? Again, crops. From inside Israel. Under the Old Covenant.

To somehow use this text to teach that Gentiles, or those under the New Covenant should tithe cash? To say that it’s a stretch would be kind.

As I close, I want to give you the sedes doctrinae, the scripture which speaks most clearly to this subject for the New Testament church and believers.  It’s not an obscure book chastising Levitical priests for breaking their Levitical Covenant. It’s not a chapter where Jesus points out the hypocrisy of the scribes and Pharisees, it’s a crystal clear passage on how the believer in Christ should give:

 ⁷ Each one must give as he has decided in his heart,not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. ⁸ And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work.

2 Corinthians 9:7-8

We give in grace because we have been greatly given through grace.  Not under compulsion or threat of curse under the law. Thanks be to God that we are no longer under the curse of the law because Christ was cursed by being crucified for our atonement.  For some, that may mean more than 10%. For others, that may mean little or nothing. Some of the very people abused by tithe-teachers are those who should be RECEIVING our giving. The poor, the widow, and the orphan.

To wrap it up, the teaching of the moder tithe-teacher as “The first 10% of your income to the local church” fails, biblically, at every…..single…… point.

The tithe was never the first 10%.

The tithe was never money.

The tithe was given to the Levites in their Levitical cities.

I will caution you, however, that this error is plaguing the church in our day.  Many churches require anyone in leadership to tithe. Some even require tithing for membership. Regardless of the validity of this claim, you may well be removed from your place in the church if you do not support this erroneous teaching.  Be prepared. Many churches (and I have seen this with my own eyes) track tithing by members and will directly confront (and threaten removal from leadership) should you fail to pay.

My question? Why would you want to belong, let alone support and serve a ministry which so recklessly abuses God’s people by so obviously twisting His word? After what you’ve just seen in God’s word, in context, you should seriously question anytime you hear someone attempt to use Malachi 3 as a “tithing” text for the church. At best, they’re either careless or inept at handling God’s word, and at worst they are attempting to twist God’s word to get into your wallet. (Neither option is very flattering)

I do believe that there are many tithe-teachers who have been misled in this tradition. I hesitate to question anyone’s motives or heart. I will simply say that to saddle God’s people with requirements of the law, and laying a burden upon the poor will certainly kindle God’s anger.

So, dear brothers and sisters in Christ. Give…Freely…In grace.  Don’t lose another minutes rest over paying a tithe. And don’t for another moment expect God’s extra blessing by your obedience to this misapplication of the law.  If you think God is going to love you more or make your tires last longer, or give you rewards “pressed down, shaken together and running over” because you give 10% of your paycheck to your local church, think again. God isn’t running a Ponzi scheme, but your church might be.

Give as you have decided to give in your heart. Give as your able in light of the grace you have received, and rest in the gospel of grace.

Marc

 

Note: Dr. Russell Earl Kelly has done some great work here and his work in this area has been extremely valuable.  His book: Kelly, Russell. Should the Church Teach Tithing, A Theologian’s Conclusions about a Taboo Doctrine. ISBN 0595159788.

I did something recently that was useful, stereotypically middle-aged, and surprisingly emotional; I went back and read through what I have written on social media over the last couple of years; Facebook, Twitter, and Blogs.  And my conclusion? I suck.

No, seriously. Try as I might, I’ve used the tool of social media to sin against God and against my neighbor.  I’ve taken shots at thinly veiled “opponents”, I’ve questioned motives, and I’ve used it to feed my ever-hungry ego.  And I’m guessing you have too.

No, not everything I do on social media is so blatantly (and intentionally) negative. In fact, most of it is meant positively. I use this blog and social media as a platform to proclaim the gospel. I use social media as a way to keep in touch and share pictures with friends and family around the world.  But scripture teaches me that as a fallen man, even my “good” works are to be repented of as they are so obviously (as we’ll see below) tainted with sin.

With that, I’d like to take a few minutes this week to talk about how understanding the “Three Uses of the Law” allows us to use social media in a powerful, powerful way.

In short, there are three uses of the law: As a Curb, as a Mirror, and as a Guide.

Let me explain with the following, excellent, summary from Pastor Mark Schroeder:

CURB: The Law is a curb. Like a curb, it helps to keep us from going off the road and hurting ourselves and each others. The Law has penalties. The Reformers called this use of the Law the political or civil use. The Law’s civil use civilizes us because we need to be! As James Madison wrote, there has to be government because men are not angels. It curtails externally because we would murder, thieve, and whore against each other at random and that is the world envisioned in the novel, Lord of the Flies. There is a limit and it is the No of the Law: see Matthew 5: 21-37. “Just ask yourself the question: which came first, the first limit on speed or the first accident? It is the accident which is judged to be bad. And then speed limits are established in the effort to limit the evil of accidents.” (Pr. Lou Smith)

MIRROR: The Law is a mirror. “The Law is but a mirror bright to bring the inbred sin to light that lurks within our nature” (hymn #297, LBW, ‘Salvation Unto Us Has Come’) Oscar Wilde’s novel, The Picture of Dorian Grayis about a very handsome man who has a portrait painted of himself. He puts it into the attic and years later, still handsome, looks at and realizes his death and sin. This is what the Law does internally. “…through the law comes knowledge of sin.” (Romans 3:20) “…if it had not been for the law, I should not have known sin. I should not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, “You shall not covet.” (Romans 7: 7) The Reformers called this the spiritual use of the Law: to show us our sin and that sin is death and the dead can not save themselves.

GUIDE: The Word of Law is a guide. “Thy word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path” Psalm 119: 105. We are called to preach and teach the law (see St. Matthew 5: 19), so that the Gospel and good works be plain: they come from faith in Jesus Christ alone. The 10 Commandments show us if our good works are truly pleasing to the Lord. An old saying: “No one became good by act of Parliament”. We only live in love, and not fear of punishment, because of the only One Who fulfilled the Law. When we do so fear of what we’ve done, turn not to your self, but turn to the Lord: repent!

So, the law is for ALL men as a curb in that it keeps us from complete anarchy in society.

It’s for ALL men to see their sin in light of the perfection required by the law.

It’s for BELIEVERS as we look to the perfection of the law as a guide to living (though we will continue to fall far, far short each day.)

The mirror part is tough. I can think of few things more painful than taking a serious look at yourself in the mirror.. especially the mirror of God’s perfection in the law. But just as we need to see flaws in the mirror to make a change, we need the mirror of the law to drive us to the one who saves. This may be a tough article to read (Lord knows it was tough to write!) and you can write it off as Marc being all of the things below, but scripture makes it pretty clear that all of us fail here. Maybe in varying degrees when compared to each other (we all have “those” fb friends)… but all fail completely in light of the perfection required in the law.. that we love God with all our hearts and love our neighbor as ourself.

Social media has been an excellent mirror for me lately, and I’ll walk through several types of posts.. see if any of them hit home for you as well.

 

1. I’m awesome.

I go to awesome places (and people pay me to go there, because I’m so awesome), I buy awesome things (and deserve them because I’m awesome). I have awesome kids (because I’m an awesome Dad).  And I have a beautiful wife (because beautiful women love awesome guys). I sometimes meet famous people (because awesome people go to the same awesome places.)

Yet.. that’s when I’m on a “high”. That’s when things are going well. What about the day to day pedestrian life most of us live?

2. I’m sarcastic.

I sarcastically rail against people who don’t agree with me on politics, faith, parenting, or even “really” important things like having the audacity to cheer for the sports teams where they grew up instead of where I grew up.

3. I’m needy and prideful.

I do it rarely, but sometimes I post flattering pictures of myself. (My humble midwest upbringing usually demands I make a goofy face, or have other people in the picture, but I do it.) I post pictures of me doing cool stuff with my kids (often taking these pictures instead of actually enjoying the time with them) to show what an awesome Dad I am.

So, the mirror of the law shows me my sin.. through social media.

I don’t love God with all my heart; I often love my pride or comfort more. And I certainly don’t love you as I love myself, and find my human nature recoils in envy when I see you post something that I wish I had, or wish I could do.

Do you do these? Out of pride? Out of envy? Out of bitterness?

Ladies, do you post “selfies” with sultry faces? Why? Is that really the attention you want? Who are you looking to for validation? What’s your goal here? And Married sisters? Seriously?

 

Are you incessantly railing on political issues? Why? Are you actually engaging in dialog to make a difference, or just throwing rocks at straw men?

Are you posting sentimental “Jesus” stuff on your wall about how the bad guys are out to get christians? Why? Are you actually reading your bible and proclaiming the gospel of repentance and faith in Christ for the forgiveness of sins?

(This is a pet peeve of mine. Is the “Jesus” stuff you’re posting actually scripture or just sappy, sentimental snippets. Do these match the tone of the political stuff you’re posting?)

In the end, it comes back (as it always does) to the sin of pride.

I want feedback from people to feed my pride.

I want to proclaim my political beliefs and project my fears about the bad-guy-of-the-day into the world because of pride.

I want to rail against and question the motives of those who disagree with me because of pride.

This post might be a bit too raw. Maybe i’m hanging it out there too far. Maybe we just don’t talk, out loud, about these things. Maybe it’s just me……

But maybe it’s not. Maybe this will hit home and lift the mirror of the law to brothers and sisters in Christ to see our need to seek our worth and validation only in the cross of Christ and to flee there for forgiveness.

 

Marc

 

 

I’m not much of a TV watcher, really.  That’s not an indictment on what’s on TV; not that I’m smug in saying that I don’t like what’s on TV, more that I just get easily bored as I seem to have less and less in common with much of what is popular these days.   (I’m even falling into the old-guy mode of calling “celebrities” by the wrong names and confusing one with the other.) That being said, I was flipping through the channels and after watching the History Channel actually airing a show about HISTORY, I landed on one of my guilty pleasures.. the informercials.

I’m fascinated in a train-wreck sort of way by these things! They’re just so obnoxiously, garishly WONDERFUL!  Too loud, too tacky, and such obvious, scripted knockoffs of one another…And then I started to think.. about how the two shows and their deliveries were complete, polar opposites. And, as always, this led me to think about the gospel, and the church..and how this fits.  And it does… perfectly.

See, the guy on the History channel was passionate, but he was stating facts. Real, historical events. Facts. He didn’t feel any great need (and frankly, I would have been skeptical) if he had been over-the-top in trying to “sell” me on the history of the events he was describing. They happened, and he was simply telling me why it happened, what it meant, and why I should care.  He was trying to TELL me something.

On the other hand, the infomercial guy was also stating facts, but he was over-the-top in his embellishment because, well, he was trying to convince me and SELL me something.

And then it hit me.. this is the state of the church today.

There are two types of men standing behind the pulpit (or sitting on a stool behind the plexiglass stand) these days.  Sell or Tell?

One view is that the role of the Pastor is to proclaim the real, historic, news of the gospel. That Jesus Christ, very God of very God, begotten not made, the second person of the trinity.. in order to save men from sin, was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary.. lived a sinless life, died an atoning death, was buried, rose again on the third day, ascended into heaven, sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty making intercession for us, and will come again to judge the living and the dead.

The men who proclaim that truth and who believe that preaching the very written words of God are both sufficient and *effective* as promised by God to be used to turn men to faith in Christ… these men sound an awful lot like the guy on the History Channel.  Since God has ordained that the means He would use to awaken His people to faith is the simple, spoken words of scripture, their faith is in that promise, and faith in the proclamation of scripture.  The call here is for people to BELIEVE… so they TELL!

On the other hand, there are those who believe the role of the Pastor is “life change”, who   “cast vision”, in an attempt to “live missionally” as they have a “coversation” about faith in “community”.  Since the goal here is to create a vision, convince people of its worth, and call them to join it (with both funding and effort) this isn’t a simple proclamation. This isn’t telling people what happened, it’s SELLING.  And like any sales organization, you need a vision and a spokesman. In this case it’s not simply enough to state the facts so that people believe, you need to convince and call people to action! It’s not just something to believe in faith, but something to DO… so you SELL!

I know it’s going to be very easy to mischaracterize this as “cold/dead knowledge” vs. “passion and excitement”.  Or “intellectual ascent” vs. “living faith”.  Nothing could be further from the truth. The truth is, BOTH the Historian and the Informercial guy were extremely passionate.  The difference is in what they based their faith in; the reality of the event, or the skill in the speaker to sell a vision.

As a test, I’d like you to find videos of several well known Pastors. Ask yourself if this isn’t true….

The more “SELLISH” (Sham-wow, “infomercialish”) the speaker is, the less he is actually speaking about the birth, life, death, burial and resurrection of Christ and the more likely he is to be selling you something. (A vision, a program, a “new” way to solve your problems/get what you want, a “secret of the bible”, a push for cash, or a call for free labor.) Is he preaching about Jesus, or about himself, his church and his programs?

The more “TELLISH” (History Channel Guy) the speaker is, the more likely he is to be actually proclaiming the gospel of faith in Christ for the forgiveness of sin.

So, does the speaker sound more like the infomercial guys or the History Channel guy?  Does he sound more like the TV News Anchor, or the commercials following him?

And can I make one last challenge for your consideration?

What does God, in scripture, define as the role of the Pastor.

Feeding the sheep by preaching the word.*

“[Jesus] answered, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.” (Matthew 4:4)
“But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.

I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.” (2 Timothy 3:14–4:4)

In other words, feeding the sheep. The sheep. The sheep. The SHEEP! (Get it? Not the goats. There is absolutely no biblical grounds for saying that the church “isn’t for us, it’s for the lost.”  That’s not Jesus. That comes from guys who are trying to sell you stuff.

And what are they to feed the sheep?

The word of God.

So next time you listen to a sermon, receive a flyer/marketing card, watch a commercial or see a billboard, ask yourself.  What are they selling and who are they telling you about? How hard to you have to look past the marketing of people, programs, and products to find Jesus?

SELL or TELL?

Marc

 

* Chris Rosebrough at http://www.fightingforthefaith.com/ has done great work in this area.

 

Sometimes life is like the movies. Sometimes, in the midst of a culture where the “bad guy” is just someone who disagrees with our political view, or who cheers for an “evil” sports team (Like Manchester United) we actually see real “bad guys”.

Since my last article, we’ve all been introduced to a few new bad guys:  Dr. Kermit Gosnell, whose barbarism is straight out of a horror movie, and the cowards who set off two bombs amidst crowds of civilians at the Boston Marathon.

 

And, as I laid my head down last night, I did something that I do every night.  I prayed for every single “bad guy” that I heard about that day. I’ve done this for a few years and the media is diligent in ensuring that I hear about what seems to be an endless stream of evil.

I prayed for Kermit Gosnell.

I prayed for the those responsible for the Boston Marathon bombs.

I recently received hate mail over this issue asking “How could you?”.  So, here’s my response.

I pray for them because I love them.

(More accurately, I’m trying hard to love them because Jesus has told me to. I’d be dishonest if I didn’t admit that I fight hard not to *hate* them.  But, man, I’m trying!)

Love Your Enemies

43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, andsends rain on the just and on the unjust. (Matthew 5:43-45, ESV)

But Marc, you don’t get it. These guys are EVIL! How can you love them? How are you OK with their horrific acts?  Come to think of it, why would Jesus want me to love or pray for  people like this? Does loving them mean that we are OK with them? Forgiving them?

Let me make it crystal clear: I’m absolutely NOT OK with what they did. As I pray for the “bad guys” I pray for their victims.  I also pray for those who are responsible for bringing them to justice, from the Law Enforcement Officers and Investigators to the Prosecutors and Judges.  And, if necessary, our brave men and women serving in the military.  I pray that the full weight of the government be brought down on the very people for whom I’m praying.

“Love your enemies”

That sentence creates complete confusion and conflict in my human mind. Love… Enemies. The two are at complete odds. Love my neighbor Jesus? Yeah, I get that. Love an Enemy? That doesn’t work for me. They are my enemy because they’ve done something horrible or hurt me directly.  No, that won’t do. I can’t make it jive.  It forces me to work with one of the terms. Maybe the problem is with the “love” part, maybe it doesn’t mean real love, just forgiveness… or tolerance. But that doesn’t work based on how we see Jesus own example of sacrificial love and our call to love others as ourselves. Maybe the problem is enemy? Maybe I’m supposed to be OK with what they’ve done to become my enemy, or just explain it away. No.. that doesn’t work either.  How does this work?!?

Isn’t that contradictory? How can I love (or try to) and pray for them while praying that they are punished?

Because scripture has helped me understand 4 things:

1. Who GOD is.

2. Who WE are.

3. Who I am.

4. Who THEY are.

Who God is:

In a word, sovereign. There wasn’t a single act or thought by either Gosnell or the bombers that escaped God’s eye.  So while we know that God didn’t stop it, we also know that justice will, ultimately, be done.  In God’s sovereignty, He has called Gosnell, the bomber, you and I to repent and believe on Christ for the forgiveness of sin, under which we are all guilty.  In His sovereignty, God has also called us in faith to love our enemies.  So, by faith I understand that I’m called simply to love my enemies and have faith that God’s justice is sure.

Who WE are:

My human nature wants to divide the world into good guys and bad guys. I follow the rules. I don’t kill people. I’m a good guy, right?  Bad guys? Kermit Gosnell for sure. And the bombers? Absolutely.  The problem is that scripture makes it clear that I don’t get to compare others to myself and find myself not guilty. I’m forced to compare myself to the perfect holiness of God. I fail. I’m Guilty. So the “we” includes everybody. Me, you, Kermit Gosnell. All guilty, before the highest court, of the greatest crime.

Who I am:

Forgiven. Though I’m guilty, and have done absolutely nothing which would deserve it, God, for Christ’s sake, has forgiven me.  Being saved by grace through faith in Christ, I am now freed to see myself as a sinner forgiven by grace of sinning against a perfect, Holy God. As such, I am reasonably called to love and forgive others… no matter how “undeserving” they might be.  I love the undeserving because I was loved by one much greater than I, being even more undeserving.

Who am I? I am God’s own, purchased by the blood of Christ. Yet, I live in this fallen world where I’m confronted with true evil. With “bad guys”. How do I call for their judgement without becoming self-righteous, while still keeping in view the grace that was extended to me and which I pray that is extended to these bad guys?  How do I pray for them to be punished, to the fullest extent of the law and still live out my call to love them? By understanding….

Who THEY are:

Since we are all fallen in sin and unworthy of God’s saving grace, we can’t define “us” as the good guys and “them” as the bad guys. So, who are “they”?

They are those who God has charged with enforcing His justice in this fallen world.

Stick with me here, because it’s going to be a shift in thought for many of you.

There are, in effect, Two Kingdoms. For ease of understanding we’ll call them Heavenly and Earthly.  The first thing to understand is that ALL men are part of the earthly kingdom, but God has called, bought, and set apart His people (Christians throughout the world) to a Heavenly kingdom.

The challenge?  Even though we are citizens of this Heavenly Kingdom, we live here, temporarily, in the Earthly Kingdom.  Where God once fed men directly from heaven via Manna,  he now feeds us through farmers and ranchers, butchers and bakers.  More to the point, where God once directly consumed men though fire and brimstone, God now uses earthly rulers and governments.  This is why the church doesn’t still stone people (that’s the role of the Earthly Kingdom) , and why we don’t open our pulpits as political platforms. (preaching is the role of the Heavenly Kingdom)

Get it?

If we err on one side, we end up turning our back on the state of the world with a shrug since “We’re just passing through.”  This would be an error as we are called to love and serve our neighbor.  If we err in this way, we see the heinous acts of Gosnell and the bombers as not impacting us much since we’re just passing though.  Think of this as the priest and the Levite walking past the man on the road to Jerusalem in the Parable of the Good Samaritan.

If we err on the opposite direction, we feel the need to theocratically run our nation, or we see America as a “Christian Nation” of covenant like that of ancient Israel. We see the USA as “God’s side”.  The problem with that view is that the heavenly kingdom crosses geographic lines. While I seek to be a good citizen and work for the good of my nation (and yes, VOTE), I realize that I have a greater eternal connection to my Christian brother in an “enemy” country than to many in my own country. If we confuse the two kingdoms, when confronted with evil, we see it as our job, personally, to rage against Gosnell and the bombers.  Think of this as someone murdering a Dr. working at an abortion clinic.

Understanding that my primary role is that of a citizen of the Heavenly Kingdom frees me to my primary calling: To proclaim the gospel of repentance and faith in Christ for the forgiveness of sins to all men everywhere.

By understanding that God has put institutions and men in place to administer His justice here on earth frees me to allow them to work.

Both.

So, can a Christian both pray for and love Gosnell and the bombers and seek their justice?  I’ll raise the  stakes… I submit that a Christian could both pray for Gosnell and the bombers, and literally execute them if he were the prison employee tasked to do so.

In essence, fulfilling their duties in the Heavenly Kingdom by loving and praying for their neighbor or enemy, and fulfilling their duty (if tasked) on the Earthly Kingdom by doing their job as a Police Officer, Detective, Prosecutor, Judge, Juror, Prison Warden, or Executioner.

But, as someone completely outside of the justice system, my role is not to investigate, prosecute, imprison, punish, or execute them in word or deed. In fact, my role as defined in scripture above is to love them.  I’ll pray for them, their victims, and for those who God has put into power to carry out their vocations.

Both.

Loving Kermit Gosnell and the Boston Bombers is offensive. It’s over the top. It’s Gospel.

Marc