How would you go about explaining the mess we are in as a country? When you look at the myriad of problems America faces, from economics to immorality, from materialism to cultural decay, from a major shift toward socialism and a centralized big government to mediocrity in education, activist judges and systematic secularism—who is responsible for all of these problems?
Is it the Democrats, Republicans, or the Independents who are responsible? Is it the liberals, the conservatives or the fundamentalists who are to blame?
If we are looking for someone to unload on, may I remind you President George Bush is not in office!
A lot of the blame for these failures has to be the Church. I am speaking not of denominations, but of all Christians who make up the church. God sent His Son to redeem individuals and place them in a local church, with His last commission to go and make disciples (Matt 28:19-20). Jesus knew that transformed people, believers, would change the society. Believers will reform, invigorate and overcome the slide and decay of sin that is a natural part of our world. Redeemed people always make a difference!
Perhaps the reason society is the way it is, in my opinion, goes back to the loss of vision of God’s people. Proverbs 29:18 says, “Where there is no revelation, the people cast off restraint; but blessed is he who keeps the law.” The New Living Bible renders this verse, “When people do not accept divine guidance, they run wild. But whoever obeys the law is joyful.”
How did we come to this point in history as God’s people? History tells us that starting in the 1920’s and 1930’s, a fundamentalism swept across America. They believed they should separate from the world—hence the terms, sacred and secular. Since people are the most important part of society, they should win people to Christ, but not get involved in art, media, law, politics, government or schools and education etc. So all these areas were left in the hands of non-believers.
Do you remember what Thomas Jefferson wrote when he warned, “If a nation expects to be ignorant and free in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be.”?
We are ignorant of our calling by God, our history, and even what the Bible teaches about how to live in a sin-cursed world.
If I had time, I would develop the secularization of our public schools. You can’t have an atheistic worldview and expect students to come out moral adults. Young people know more about what is politically correct than they know any of the Ten Commandments. Also, if I had time, I would write at length about the growing expanse of our government at the expense of our liberties. The man who gave us the great book, Orthodoxy, G. K. Chesterton, wrote, “Once abolish the God, and the government becomes the God.”
When our country was formed, the number one and number two books that helped people were The Bible and The New England Primer (1777). Parents, teachers, and pastors used the books to educate the children learning to read. What did they learn as they began their reading and education? “Pray to God. Call no ill names. Love God. Use no ill words. Fear God. Tell no lies. Serve God. Hate lies. Speak the truth. Take not God’s name in vain. Spend your time well. Do not swear. Love your school. Do not steal. Mind your book. Cheat not in your play. Strive to learn. Play not with bad boys. Be not a dunce.”
This was a lesson for children. Some people will say, “Who cares?” “What’s the big deal about God and morality?”” That is the right question, “Who cares?”
It would be easy as Christians to protest and say, “It is too late!” Let’s just leave and go to another place—avoid the pain. Some like John MacArthur say God has us under judgment. I don’t disagree.
But can we turn the tide of secularism inside our country and a threat of Islam from outside? I believe so with all my heart.
What is needed is radical discipleship to Jesus Christ and to His Church. Bible reading, prayer, witnessing, sacrifice are not just for Pastors and leaders. Each person who says Christ is their Savior is a part of the solution.
When we learn what discipleship is, and the worldview that is a part of it, the world will change because we have changed.
Recommendations:
1. Be part of a home Bible study. Use The Truth Project and commit to prayer, study, and obedience for 13 weeks.
2. Pray for fruit in your witness and evangelism of the lost. Ask God for 10 non-Christians and then pray for them, invite them to coffee or tea and share your testimony of God’s transformation in your life.
3. Remind yourself daily that both Christians and Patriots gave their life for what they believed was true freedom and liberty. Freedom is a precious endowment and requires careful stewardship.
4. Lastly, I recommend you choose one of these books to have your eyes opened and your heart pricked:
· Total Truth, by Nancy Pearcey
· Battle for Truth, by David Noebel
· The Bible—I’m not joking. You can read the Bible from Genesis to Revelation in three months, six months or a year. Check out “You Version” on the internet, iPhone app, or go to a Christian bookstore for many plans.
Dr. Adrian Rogers, a great Southern Baptist pastor and now with the Lord, used to say about how difficult and sad the world mess is, “When the night grows darkest, the stars shine the brightest.”
I am only one disciple, but I love Jesus and I’m out to change the world for Him! How about you? Take the four challenges above and we will, by God’s grace, change our world for the glory of God and all our benefit.
We believe in redemption! Let’s get busy!
Deals are made every day between two people, or organizations, or corporations. But a deal with the devil is something to stop and think about.
A few years back, Nancy asked me to take her to the movie, The Devil Wears Prada. This movie was about a high-powered fashion magazine editor, Miranda Priestly, played by Meryl Streep. Andrea Sacks, a recent college graduate who traveled to New York to work as a journalist is played by Anne Hathaway. However, Andrea gets a job as a co-assistant working with Miranda Priestly and gets the deal of her life—travel, money, power—all right in the center of the women’s fashion world.
The only problems she had were losing her boyfriend, betraying her co-worker, telling lies, sleeping with a co-worker, etc. She sold her life to the devil. She sacrificed her personal life for her career.
I remember another movie of the same genre. I did not see the movie, Bedazzled, released around 2001-2002. The story was about a naïve Elliot Richards (Brendan Fraser) who is granted seven wishes by the devil to share Allison (Elizabeth Hurley), the girl of his dreams, in exchange for his soul.
Somewhere in the 1940’s a hit movie was made called, The Devil and Daniel Webster (later re-released under the title, All That Money Can Buy). This RKO movie is about a poor, downtrodden former Jabez Stone, who in 1840 New Hampshire, sells his soul to “Mr. Scratch” in return for seven years of luck and prosperity. All he wants in money shows up because he took advantage of his neighbors. He is alienated from his wife, so “Mr. Scratch” sends Stone a beautiful house servant that entrances him. His son is also under her influence and acts out in rebellion.
With the clock running out, Mr. Stone begs for help from the attorney and orator and fellow New Hampshirite, Daniel Webster. Mr. Stone asks if there is some way to cancel the debt to the devil. Daniel Webster takes the case.
A trial is held and the jury is made up of popular Americans, now deceased, who were all classified as evil men—all men who were tricked by Satan just like Mr. Stone. Webster wins the trial by convincing the jury that they were tricked and says, “Don’t let the country go to the devil, free Stone.”
The jury agreed and as Daniel Webster leaves the courthouse, the devil whispers to him, “I promise you, your dream of being President of the U.S. will not happen because of what you did today.”
This very popular genre of literature and movies all started with the German legend of Faust and the figure of Mephistopheles back in the 15-16th century.
Even Charlie Daniels and his band wrote a ballad about this: “The Devil Went Down to Georgia”—a great country song.
The Bible tells us a lot about bad deals:
· Esau selling his birthright for a single meal (Gen 25:28-34; Heb 12:16-17)
· Sons of Jacob selling their brother Joseph into Egypt (Gen 37:27-28)
· King Saul bargaining with the witch of Endor (1 Sam 28:3-25)
· Herod bargaining with Salome (Mk 6:21-28) which ended with death of John the Baptist
· Judas bargaining with chief priests (Matt 26:14-16)—betrayal of Jesus
If you put a bottom line to this blog, it would be two-fold:
· Don’t bargain your life away. Invest it for God and people. 2 Cor 5:9, “Therefore we also have as our ambition, whether at home or absent, to be pleasing to Him.”
· No person on earth gets a second chance after death. Rom 6:16-17, “Do you not know that when you present yourselves to someone as slaves for obedience, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin resulting in death, or of obedience resulting in righteousness? But thanks be to God that though you were slaves of sin, you became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which you were committed.”
God Bless,
Woody
P.S. Don’t fall for “fool’s gold”! The devil always offers that which cannot satisfy, because he masquerades as an “angel of light”. (2 Cor 11:14)
Stay alert!!!
During the last presidential campaign I read widely and discovered that there is a lot of media bias. At first it annoyed me and later on it helped me to ask questions that clarified my understanding of mistakes, lies, lies by omission and how the speaker, journalist, was writing.
From childhood you’ve heard about “white lies”. You’ve read, no doubt, about compulsive lying. (By the way, a big battle is going on to see if compulsive lying will be added to the Bible of Psychology called the DSM III – Diagnostic and Statistical Manual. The term they want to use is Mythomania or Compulsive Lying Syndrome.”
Some of my favorite quotes have to do with language and lying. Here are a few of them:
1. “No man has a good enough memory to make a successful liar.”
—Abraham Lincoln.
2. “If you tell the truth you don’t have to remember anything.”
—Mark Twain.
3. “The least initial deviation from the truth is multiplied later a
thousandfold.”—Aristotle
4. “Men occasionally stumble over the truth, but most pick
themselves up and hurry off as if nothing had happened.”
—Winston Churchill
So what does the Bible say? Are there any examples of people lying and it turned out to be a good thing?
The first encounter of lying took place in the OT, Genesis 3:4-7, 22. Satan was tempting Eve to disbelieve and disobey God’s command to not eat from the tree in the center of the Garden of Eden. Satan was tempting Eve to disbelieve and disobey God’s command to not eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Satan told Eve, “Did God actually say, “You shall not eat of any tree in the garden?” He went on to tell a half-truth, “You will not surely die…your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God.”
Satan was half right. Their eyes were “opened,” and they did not immediately die. But the half-truth was still a lie. Jesus said, “Satan has no truth in him, “He is a liar and the father of lies” (John 8:44).
One example of a good outcome, even through a lie was stated, is the story of Rahab in Joshua 2:4-6. She hid the Israeli spies in Jericho from the King and soldiers of Jericho. She lied to save the lives of the Jewish soldiers. Rahab and her family were spared when Israel did conquer this city. In Hebrews 11 Rahab is mentioned in the hall of fame. By faith her life and family were saved.
The next example from the OT is very interesting. Abraham lied about Sarah being his wife in Gen 12:11-20; 20:1-12. Isaac did the same. He lied about Rebecca being his wife (Gen 26:7). In both cases God had to intervene to save Abraham and Isaac.
Exodus 20:16 and Deuteronomy 5:20 are not commands that forbid lying. The Scripture says, “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.” This statement is made in the context of justice and a legal system. Any false testimony would do great harm in a court of law. The justice of God requires everyone to tell the truth in a court of law. If a lie is told, the person can be found guilty of perjury and sentenced to jail and fined.
Proverbs 21:6 enjoins, “The acquisition of treasures by a lying tongue is a fleeting vapor, the pursuit of death.” Truth is the only way to advance in God’s kingdom.
I almost forgot lying by the Hebrew midwives who kept the Jewish boys alive after they were delivered, but lied to Pharaoh and his servants about this.
Several comments come from this question. Nowhere in the Bible are we to assume that lying is a good thing. In fact, Revelation 21:8 says that liars and the ungodly will be in the lake of fire forever.
Is lying ever justified? I believe so. In cases of war, danger of murder and criminal acts make me believe one can and should lie to save and preserve life. A person who is trying to deceive a would-be murderer or an enemy on a field of battle or even a home invader trying to steal, rape or murder, is justified in not telling the whole truth.
My favorite story of Corrie Ten Boom has to do with her lying to her German guards in prison camp during WWII. She told the guards there were lice in the barracks to keep the guards out, to allow them to study Scripture, and for personal security. It was only a half-lie—there were some lice in that barracks.
Lying is acceptable only to stop evil. In all other cases we must tell the truth.
We know that God is truth, and His Word is truth. He cannot lie. God does not favor lying and does not tolerate sin. God does not endorse “white lies”.
If I am to grow in Christlikeness, then I am commanded at all times to tell the truth!
Few people will ever be put in Rahab’s, or the Hebrew midwives’, or even Corrie Ten Boom’s position.
As a powerful encouragement, I would ask you to consider Dante’s epic poem, “Inferno” (Italian for Hell). He wrote about an imaginary trip where he went thru hell on his way to Paradise (Heaven). In hell, he found nine different layers or circles that went downward. He wrote about everything from lust to gluttony, greed, anger, heresy, violence, fraud, and treason. Treason was the bottom of hell. Next to last was lying. For Dante, writing in the 14th century, lying was totally unacceptable for a believer in Christ.
If we “change” because of God’s Word in our hearts, how do you see lying in our culture?
God Bless,
Woody
GOODY FROM WOODY
If I mention his name, what picture comes to your mind? Satan!!! If you are like a lot of people, you’re thinking of an image that is not Biblical. If you are thinking of a man in a red pair of P.J.’s with a tail and horns on his head and a three-pronged pitchfork (trident), you would be in error.
So where did we get this idea of Satan as a more or less cartoon character? During the middle ages the pastors and priests and church leaders who worked mostly with people who could not read or write decided to make fun of Satan through their teaching, preaching, and even their art. The leaders of the church knew Satan fell from his place in heaven as an archangel because he wanted to usurp God as the one who is worshipped (Satan’s pride). Hence to poke fun of or jest or demean Satan as a man in a red suit etc. was born. The only problem with this idea was that by the second generation and following, the image remained without an explanation.
The Bible tells us that Satan is an angel created by God, the most powerful of the angels (the three most powerful being Michael, Gabriel, and Satan—first called in the Scripture, Lucifer). Satan was, according to Scripture, created a perfect being. He is described as originally being wise and completely righteous (cf Ezek 28:12-18). He is described in the Bible as beautiful (cf Ezek 28:12-18, esp. “your heart was lifted up because of your beauty”).
Rebellion followed this disclosure by Satan and he and one third of the angels of heaven followed Satan and were expelled from God’s presence. They later showed up after God created the world and Adam and Eve. Satan did what he always does—he gave the temptation to disbelieve and disobey God, to Eve. He convinced Eve that she could “become like God” (Gen 3:3-5). Eve fell for the trap and enticed Adam to follow. Eve was deceived and Adam was willful in rebellion. The curse that God put on people, the earth, and the cosmos is now part of our everyday life.
So Woody, why write on Satan? The answer is easy to explain. In North America only 27% of adults actually believe Satan is real. Less than 40% of born-again adults believe that Satan is real. This means 60-73 % of adults do not believe Satan is real. (Barna Resources)
To their credit the people of the Middles Ages at least knew they had an enemy, even if they portrayed him in a red suit, horns, pitchfork and tail. They were attempting to learn how to defend themselves against the archenemy of our souls.
As a former military officer I can tell you, if I were fighting a foe and they did not believe that I was real, I would win that battle with no difficulty—every principle of warfare I could use to defeat a person. The principles of warfare adopted by our U.S. military in 1921 have not changed much over the years. They are:
1) Objective: What is the defined goal
2) Offensive action: Seize the initiative
3) Surprise: enough said
4) Economy of force: focused resources
5) Security: never tell your enemy what you are doing
6) Mobility: work for the enemy’s disadvantage
7) Cooperation: all for one, one for all
Every principle people use to fight wars, Satan uses on us. Think of how he uses each principle and you’ll be wise. How can you defeat this enemy of our souls? If you are a Christian and you don’t believe Satan is real, ask yourself, “How can I believe God or His Word, the Bible, and not believe what the Bible teaches?” In short, you don’t believe in your heart what God says. That would be a fatal flaw in your life. (Read 2 Thes 2:3-5.)
C.S. Lewis wrote the book, The Screw Tape Letters, in 1942. The book is about a senior demon “Screwtape” giving advice to his nephew, also a demon (junior demon) named Wormwood. Lewis, thru these characters, gave advice to be sure “The patient” was forever damned—separated from God for eternity.
Lewis wrote in the preface, “There are two equal and opposite errors into which our race can fall about the devils. One is to disbelieve in their existence (where most Americans are today). The other is to believe, and to feel an excessive and unhealthy interest in them. They (the demons) are equally pleased by both errors, and hail a materialist or a magician with the same delight.”
Two major helps for the believer are these instructions from the Word:
1) 1 Peter 5:8, “Be of sober spirit, be on the alert Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. “
May I remind you it is the old lion that roars, not the young ones. So when the old lion roars, he is trying to scare you to run from him and into the jaws of the young powerful lions. Be on the alert!!
2) James 4:7 says, “Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.”
Two applications:
§ The first part of the Scripture says to submit to God. That means your mind, your thoughts, your body, work, marriage and goals. Turn them all over to our Great God. Stay in the Word and pray!
§ Resist the devil. Avoid people, places and things that lead to temptation.
Lastly, Satan shows up daily to take the joy out of Christian’s lives. We must put on our military armor (Eph 6:10-19) and remember that Satan is a defeated foe. Jesus said in Luke 10:18-20, “And He said to them, "I was watching Satan fall from heaven like lightning. Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing will injure you. Nevertheless do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are recorded in heaven."
God Bless,
Woody
P.S. For extra credit, go back and reread Martin Luther’s hymn, A Mighty Fortress Is Our God”, especially if you feel weak, vulnerable, or harassed. The truth of this hymn will greatly encourage you.
GOODY FROM WOODY
Do you see the linkage of evil with evil leaders? I have been comparing Adolph Hitler, who died April 30, 1945, by a self-inflicted shot to his head with Osama bin Laden who died less than 24 hours and sixty years later, with a shot to the head by a Navy Seal during a power struggle.
When Hitler first came to office, he wrote in his journal, “This evening I have made a covenant with Satan.” (From archives printed in Hitler, the Scourge of Europe.) The “prince of darkness” really was in league with Hitler and others like the Ottoman Empire killing 1.1 million Armenians in 1915, the slaughter of Rwandan people by Tutsi in 1994, Pol Pot in Cambodia, Joseph Stalin in Russia, Idi Amin in Uganda—all could be added to the list of evil leaders in league with the prince of darkness.
Osama bin Laden, like Hitler, believed all problems had their origin in the Jewish people. They both called Jewish people evil. How ironic! Bin Laden called the West, especially the U.S. and Israel, evil!!
The Mastermind of 9/11, Bin Laden, died and all people should pause to thank God that he is no longer around to do more evil.
It is interesting to read the headlines for May 3, 2011: The New York Times stated, “Bin Laden killed by U.S. Forces in Pakistan, Obama says, declaring Justice has been done.”
As a Christian reading this headline, how should I think about this moral action? Here are my thoughts:
1. This evil leader is dead, and that is a great accomplishment, according to our understanding of a “just war theory.” (This theory is a great historic Christian understanding of how we reason and measure the justification of lethal acts of force in warfare.)
2. Osama bin Laden, like Hitler, created great tragedy for all the people he killed. Hitler killed six million people. Osama, left to his plans and desires, aspired to do the same or something similar. Thanks to the Navy Seals, that threat is gone. Al Qaeda, Osama’s organization, is still a huge threat. He organized this terrorist group in 60 different parts of the world.
3. God says in Ezekiel 33:11, “As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign LORD, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that they turn from their ways and live. Turn! Turn from your evil ways! Why will you die, people of Israel?” Having been a soldier in combat, my response to Osama’s death is I am thankful the evil leader is gone, but I’m not happy about it, sober and pensive but not celebrating.
4. The subject of war produces different thoughts for Christians. If we believe in a “just war theory” then we use force to eventually create a culture for peace. War is the absence of peace. That is never our goal. But in a fallen world where sin exists, it becomes necessary from time to time to protect people from destruction by evil leaders. If war is the absence of peace, then evil is the absence of good and God is the ultimate “Good.” God calls us to be peacemakers and follow His Son in order to do good. James 4:1-2 says, “What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask God.”
5. Lastly, a word about justice. Bin Laden did not receive justice. He experienced death. Justice comes from natural and divine law. It is placed in our hearts by God and that’s why we know right and wrong and ethics. Our founding U.S. documents reflected this thinking. Justice is based on law. That means when a person breaks the law, they are arrested, tried, convicted and sentenced. Even in a combat theater there is military justice that can be carried out based on law. (Uniform Code of Military Justice, The Constitution allowed congress to create this type of law in the military—Article 1, Section 8.) Bin Laden’s death robbed us of this opportunity. But where he is now he knows he will still stand trial in a higher court for his evil and God will have the final and last word.
According to the Bible, we are in a spiritual war more than a carnal war and here are Paul’s words to us: “For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh, for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses. We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ.”
2 Cor 10:3-5
God Bless,
Woody
GOODY FROM WOODY
A friend asked me recently, “Woody, what is the biggest threat, philosophically, to Christianity in our society?”
My answer was brief at the time of my conversation. So let me try to answer the question in a larger version.
Years ago I read from R. C. Sproul, that every culture has to have something that unites it, some kind of viewpoint that brings it together. He said if you study all the civilizations of history, you will see that each one had some dominant philosophical or religious idea that tied the people together. That unifying concept can be religious, or philosophical or even a mythology. But there has to be some idea that ties it together. Scholars, social scientists, missionaries, evangelists and pastors understand this. Ideas shape a culture, so they are of first importance.
As I look at our Western world and culture now, it is up for grabs. There is not one dominant philosophy or religion or theology that has a consensus. In the middle ages the Judeo-Christian faith dominated people’s understanding of the world. Now, as great numbers of people turn away from the Judeo-Christian understanding of man and the world, there have been all kinds of philosophical ideas fighting for dominance in our void-filled world. The battle is on! (David A. Noebel wrote a book on this problem: The Battle for Truth—I recommend it.)
Back to the main points. If there is one overreaching concept in our culture gaining momentum, it is secular humanism. Secularism means simply: This time, this world, is all there is. Humanism is simply the whole focus on man. God is totally out of the picture (practical atheism). There is no eternal dimension to secular humanism. They say this world is all there is, there is no heaven, no hell, no moral code (unless they make it up as they go along). Everything is here and now.
William S. Lind writing in the Marine Corps Gazette, December 1994, p 37, wrote, “In the United States of America, our traditional, Western, Judeo-Christian culture is collapsing. It is not collapsing because it failed. On the contrary it has given us the freest and most prosperous society in human history. Rather, it is collapsing because we are abandoning it. Starting in the mid-1960’s, we have thrown away the values, morals, and standards that define traditional Western culture. In part, this has been driven by cultural radicals, people who hate our Judeo-Christian culture. Dominant in the elite, especially in the universities, the media, and the entertainment industry, the cultural radicals have successfully pushed an agenda of moral relativism, militant secularism, and sexual and social liberation.”
Chuck Colson and Nancy Pearcey have part of the answer to this growing problem in their book, How Now Shall We Live? (p 329). They say, “Nowhere has the secular (humanist) worldview gained a firmer foothold than in our nation’s schools, and since the education of our children shapes that future, we must begin to take our redemptive message right into the classroom.”
St. Paul stated, “Where is the philosophy? Where is the scholar? Where is the debater of this age? Hasn’t God made the world’s wisdom foolish?” (1 Cor 1:20, Holman Christian Standard)
Read on your own how Paul appeals to those of us that are not brilliant or exceptional but says, “God was pleased to save those who believe through the foolishness of the message preached.” (1 Cor 1:21)
God Bless and Keep telling the Truth!!!
Woody
P.S. Parents of young people in High School: One great way to teach a Biblical Worldview to your kids is a two-week camp at Summit. (Go to: summitministries.org for more information.) Great environment and great preparation for life!
I’ve given a lot of thought lately to the subject of heaven. (A few weeks back I wrote on hell.) Heaven on your mind and in your heart changes and challenges a person. It has refocused me on that which is eternal. I’ve searched the scriptures about heaven and, oh my, my heart has been thrilled – like looking at your child just being born, or seeing your grandchild. It is beyond words, but let me try to put it on paper.
In the world of biblical counseling and discipleship we always deal with problems: lots of messes in life. Our joy and privilege is to point people to the Savior and the scriptures. We tell people to look for the Savior in the problem. When you find Him there, you’ll also find in Him the solution. They go together. To be with the Savior is to be in Heaven, both now and in eternity.
That was the premise of Augustine’s book The City of God, written 413 AD. Augustine compared the city of the world with the city of God. What great nuggets of truth taken right out of the Bible. Augustine’s challenge to his generation was to choose which city they would live in. Life in Christ—Heaven on earth and in eternity, or life in this world (and in the end, hell) are the only two choices that are given.
We all grow weary and tired with the physical, emotional, financial problems of this life. When I think of these things I am reminded of a story from 1952. A young woman, Florence Chadwick, stepped into the water of the Pacific Ocean off Catalina Island, determined to swim to the shore of mainland California. She’d already been the first woman to swim the English Channel both ways. The weather was foggy and chilly; she could hardly see the boats accompanying her. Still, she swam for fifteen hours. When she begged to be taken out of the water along the way, her mother, in a boat along side, told her she was close and that she could make it. Finally, physically and emotionally exhausted, she stopped swimming and was pulled out. It wasn’t until she was on the boat that she discovered that she was less than half a mile away. At a news conference the next day she said, “All I could see was the fog…I think if I could have seen the shore, I could have made it.”
“If I could have seen the shore I could have made it.” How do we do that if Heaven is our goal? The author of Hebrews tells us how. (Heb 12:1-2 NASB) “Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” Did you see that shore? “Fixing our eyes on Jesus.” The answer is so clear. We daily choose to read God’s word, pray all the time, fellowship with our loving God, enjoy intimate moments with our Savior, and worship—not just once a week at church, but daily as we journey through this city (the world) to the city of God (Heaven).
To use Brother Lawrence’s expression, “We practice the presence of Jesus in all that we do, all that we think, all that we attempt.”
I know the enemy loves to distract us from real joy and peace. It is a mental and spiritual battle. Don’t lose heart; I have seen the shore today. Have you?
God Bless,
Woody
P.S. John Owen, the Puritan Pastor, said “What you think about Heaven is a test of character; pursuing only the things of this world means we failed the test.”
John 14:2 "In My Father's house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you.”
John 13:36 “Simon Peter said to Him, ‘Lord, where are You going?’ Jesus answered, ‘Where I go, you cannot follow Me now; but you will follow later.’”
Hebrews 11:16 “But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God; for He has prepared a city for them.”
Hebrews 13:14 “For here we do not have a lasting city, but we are seeking the city which is to come.”
Rev. 21:1-3 “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth passed away, and there is no longer any sea. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, "Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them.”
Psalm 27:4 “One thing I have asked from the LORD, that I shall seek: That I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the LORD and to meditate in His temple.”
Rev. 22:4 “‘They will see His face’—the greatest blessing in the heavenly city.”
—Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology
Questions to Ponder:
· Is there a longing in your life for heaven (literally according to Rev. 21-22, a new heaven and a new earth)?
· What practical good would be produced in you if you spent more time thinking about Heaven?
Here we go again! Driving around our city of Indianapolis you’ll observe a number of billboards. They tell us:
“You don’t need God – to hope, to care, to love, to live.”
Nearly every major city in the USA has seen the godless messages. The messages are rooted in atheism, agnosticism, humanism, skepticism, and free thought organizations.
They tell us you can be “Good without God”, “Be good for goodness sakes” and “Don’t believe in God? You’re not alone.”
The Center for Inquiry is behind our billboards in Indy, D.C. and Houston. Ronald Lindsey, organization president said, “We are not trying to convert anyone by this campaign, if conversion implies persuading people there is no God. We are trying to prompt people to consider and converse about some of the myths surrounding the nonreligious, in particular the myth that life without God means a joyless, meaningless, selfish, self-centered life.” (A kind of friendly or gentle atheism.)
And just for the record, no doubt you missed the Humanist (atheistic) Conference April 7-11 in Cambridge, Massachusetts. So you didn’t hear Richard Dawkins, Steve Wozniak or Rebecca Goldstein—I know you are sorry you missed that opportunity!!!
So how do you respond to an atheist? The natural response would be to tell your friend, co-worker or whomever, “Let me tell you about the evidence for God, the origin of the universe, miracle of life, design, matter, energy, space and time and the supernatural.” You know whole libraries are full of these arguments for the existence of God.
Before you talk to an atheist why not prepare yourself to ask questions. (I got this idea from Jesus in Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.)
Tell the person to start the Q & A that you know they do not believe in God because they have examined some of the evidence available to them. The problem they have is their worldview! They believe the only thing that is true is the physical or material world.
So ask questions from the physical world. You might want to tell him that two people strongly convinced of their position of absoluteness can still have a civil conversation.
First question: 1. “How many needles or spines on all the porcupines in Asia? I believe we can safely assume you do not know the answer.” The second question is: 2. “What is the weight of all the sand on Marco Island, Florida? Probably you don’t know that answer either. It seems reasonable that there may be some things that you do not know.”
We can agree some people pretend they know everything. So now the field is level—no one knows 100% of all the knowledge that is available. The only one whom I believe is all knowing is God (omniscient), but you don’t believe that.
Thomas Edison, one of the great scientists of the past, said, “We do not know a millionth of one percent about anything”. Let’s pretend your friend the atheist knows one percent knowledge of all the knowledge in the universe. But that would still mean that 99% of the knowledge you still do not know. And in that 99% of knowledge you might find ample evidence to prove the existence of God. If you are not supercilious (haughty, contemptible) you would have to admit there could be evidence for God.
To look at this from another angle, let me make an absolute statement, such as, “There is no silver in Kentucky.” What is needed to prove this statement? I need absolute information that there is no silver in Kentucky—under any rock or mountain, stream or river. If we find one nugget under any tree my statement would be false. On the other hand, for one to say, “There is no silver in Kentucky,” I didn’t need all knowledge. I just need one nugget of silver that I find there.
To say “there is no God,” is to make an absolute statement. I need evidence to prove my statement. So my research will require me to study my world, my universe, before I can conclude “there is no God.”
Only a person who has absolute knowledge can make an absolute claim.
For those interested I would recommend places to read. Ray Comfort’s little book God Doesn’t Believe in Atheists (www.livingwaters.com) and the other is Cornelius Van Til’s paper Why I Believe in God (www.reformed.org/apologetics).
Lastly, when talking to any non-Christian please remember you are an evangelist, an ambassador for Christ. Love and charity and kindness really matter. And if you don’t know your Bible well enough to contradict the physical arguments let me recommend you read:
1. Bible ( not a paraphrase)—read and study!
2. Only One Way – Richard Phillips
3. Scaling the Secular City – JP Moreland
4. When Skeptics Ask – Norman Geisler and Ronald Brooks
5. I Don’t Have Enough Faith to Be An Atheist – Norman Geisler
6. Unshakable Foundation – Norman Geisler and Peter Bocchino (my favorite)
My absolutely last word for today: the word “fool” in the Bible does not mean some person that is not gifted intellectually. It has the meaning that they have used their intellect wrongly (which makes it a moral problem.) In the Bible the word “fool” primarily is the person who casts off the fear of God and thinks and acts as if he could safely disregard the eternal principles of God’s righteousness.
Psalms 14:1 “The fool says in his heart, ‘There is no God.’ They are corrupt, they do abominable deeds, there is none who does good.”
1 Peter 3:15 “But sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence.”
God—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—our Triune God Bless You,
Woody
Is hell disappearing? Back in 2008, Dr. Alan Segal, Professor at Barnard College said, “Absolutely!” In his book, Life After Death: A History of the Afterlife in Western Religion, the details speak for themselves.
In 2001, 71% of Americans said they believed in hell. In 2008, according to the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, that percent was down to 59%.
According to Charles Honey (in the Pew Report), “Americans are redefining the doctrine of hell before our eyes.”
In August of 2008, Pope John Paul II said in a weekly Papal address that heaven and hell were not really physical places, denying 2000 years of biblical and church teaching. (Matt 10:28; Luke 12:5; Mark 9:43-28)
What do you do with all the Bible’s teachings about hell being a place of unspeakable anguish, a place where the fire never goes out, or a place of punishment and torment?
Charles Honey in a Religious News Service article entitled, Belief in Hell Dips, But Some Say They’ve Already Been There, said, “Skepticism about hell is growing even in evangelical churches and seminaries, says one theologian here, a bastion of conservative evangelicalism.”
“In a pluralistic, post-modern world, students are having a more difficult time with (the idea of) people going to hell forever because they didn’t believe the right thing,” says Miles Wittmer, professor of systematic theology at Grand Rapids Theological Seminary.
“That’s the biggest question out there right now: Would God send someone to hell if they were someone as good as me, but didn’t believe what I believe?”
Do you see what is happening in evangelical circles? People are reasoning from their experience (I don’t think, believe, feel), rather than from the Bible. Their reason runs opposite of what the Bible teaches. They say, “how could a ‘good’ God send a person to hell forever?”
Our culture has moved and the shift has been significant. The culture is experience-oriented more than truth or Bible-oriented. It has adopted a natural, not supernatural view, even of God. It is a culture of non-judgmentalism and they hold a view of life that is self-focused and therapeutic, man-centered, not God-centered.
Professor Segal said, “They believe everyone has an equal chance, at this life and the next.” Thus, “hell is disappearing, absolutely.”
If you were to ask what happens to people when they die, here are several popular theories and representatives of those who believe them. The popular theories that deny hell are:
· Annihilation. They say you live and then you are destroyed. No hell for you. (John Stott and Edward Fudge)
· Reincarnation. This denies the existence of hell by confining individuals to earth during consecutive lifetimes in a process that ends in a nirvana or heavenly bliss. (Hindus, Buddhists and some Muslims)
· Purgatory. Advocated primarily by the Roman Catholic Church. They believe purgatory is where you go but it is not punitive or retributive, but rather for cleansing. No biblical support can be found for this. (Pope Benedict XVI)
· Universalism. Liberal teachers or preachers teach that there is a heaven and a hell, but God would not let anyone go to hell because of His love. (John Hicks and Pastor Rob Bell)
· Humanism. As a group they tend not to deal with any theological or eschatological question. They tend to believe that hell is inconsistent with what they perceive to believe about Christ. (Roy Wood Sellars)
· Life After death is unlikely. (Bertrand Russell)
· Post-modern Evangelism. Unbelievers get a second chance after death. (Clark Pinnock)
· Orthodoxy. What the Bible actually teaches. (Turtillian, Augustine, Thomas Aquinas, Luther, Calvin, Spurgeon, and some but not all pastors and teachers of today.
For millions of people who are identified as post-modern, “truth” is not an absolute, it is not even divine revelation as the Bible teaches—it is a matter of personal choice. “Truth is what I chose to believe,” they tell us. And they choose not to believe in hell.
Everyone wants the modern “God”—the “God of love.” But they want to neglect His other attributes like justice, righteousness, truthfulness and holiness. That leaves us picking and choosing God’s attributes. Or, to put it another way, we want God on our terms not His.
There are only two kinds of people in the end! There are those who say to God, “Thy will be done,” and those to whom God says, in the end, “Thy will be done.” All that are in hell chose it. (Norman Geisler, Unshakable Foundations).
God Bless,
Woody
Have you ever heard of the children’s poem about Chicken Little? The main character in this fable in the form of a cumulative tale is a chicken who believes the world is coming to an end. The phrase, “the sky is falling,” is repeated often in the story. This poem has passed onto our English language as a common idiom for a hysterical or mistaken belief that disaster is around the corner.
Just in case you’ve never read the story, Chicken Little has an acorn that drops on her head and she runs to tell her friends, Goosey Loosey, Ducky Lucky, and Turkey Lurkey, that the sky is falling! The panicked group runs off to tell the king what has happened. Before they get to the king, the cunning Foxy Loxy invites them into his den—but they never leave.
I believe the poet, whoever wrote it, wanted to make fun of those who speak or preach about the end of the world.
I believe Chicken Little was right!
When I survey church history, I am reminded of godly men and women who believed the second coming of Jesus was imminent. For example, John Wesley said, “The spirit in the heart of the true believer says with earnest desire, ‘Come Lord Jesus.’” D. L. Moody said, “I never preach a sermon without thinking that possibly the Lord might use that sermon to call out the last of the saints who should go to make up the full number of God’s elect and to bring about the Lord’s coming.”
Dr. G. Campbell Morgan (one of my favorite pastors) said, “I never began my work in the morning without thinking that perhaps He may interrupt my work and begin His own. I am not looking for death. I am looking for Him.”
Ruth Graham, wife of Billy Graham, offered many years before she died, that she expected the soon return of Jesus.
Of course, all of these saints were wrong.
But I believe, like Chicken Little, that the world will come to an end someday. The Bible teaches this.
When I was a young man in a small Southern Baptist Church, I heard frequent sermons on the end of the world—with a fiery judgment. The preachers painted a picture of intense fire, suffering, and judgment.
If you check your Bible, God sent a judgment similar to this in Noah’s day, but it was with water. 2 Peter 3:5-7 tells us that in the end times, because of the wickedness and sinfulness of people, the world will end with fire. “But they deliberately forget that long ago by God’s word the heavens came into being and the earth was formed out of water and by water. By these waters also the world of that time was deluged and destroyed. By the same word the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the Day of Judgment and destruction of the ungodly.”
God knows how to preserve us even when the earth and the cosmos are being destroyed. How can He destroy the earth and at the same time save and preserve us? That’s what 2 Peter 3:10-16 answers. “But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything done in it will be laid bare.”
“Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming. That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat. But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, where righteousness dwells.”
“So then, dear friends, since you are looking forward to this, make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with him. Bear in mind that our Lord’s patience means salvation, just as our dear brother Paul also wrote you with the wisdom that God gave him. He writes the same way in all his letters, speaking in them of these matters. His letters contain some things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the other Scriptures, to their own destruction.”
Several applications follow:
1. What type of people should we be if our world will soon disappear with fire and judgment?
2. What do we hold onto that is not permanent? What needs to be given over to God?
3. Should we lose our hold on earth if He will soon destroy it?
4. Perhaps today you will start to dedicate your time, life, and possessions to that which will not end! What does that mean to you?
God Bless,
Woody
P.S. Chicken Little was telling us that truth—but her timing was wrong.
