How’s Your Zeal

There’s a telling vignette in 2 Kings that should cause many of us to pause and reflect:

“Open the east window,” he said, and he opened it. “Shoot!” Elisha said, and he shot. “The Lord’s arrow of victory, the arrow of victory over Aram!” Elisha declared. “You will completely destroy the Arameans at Aphek.”

Then he said, “Take the arrows,” and the king took them. Elisha told him, “Strike the ground.” He struck it three times and stopped. The man of God was angry with him and said, “You should have struck the ground five or six times; then you would have defeated Aram and completely destroyed it. But now you will defeat it only three times.”  (2 Ki 13:17-19)

How easy it is to lose our enthusiasm for the hard work that God blesses us with. When have we served enough or loved enough or prayed enough?

Copeland$ Trouble$

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Kenneth Copeland was captured on a congregant’s cell phone camera as he opened an actual Bible today, only to discover that it did not say anything about God blessing you with untold riches and a private plane. He quickly recovered, reportedly wiping his brow with a silk handkerchief and saying “God has told me that each of is to give $1,000 today! He said that I am to devote these gifts, glory, to the new Kenneth Copeland Bible Translation center, praise, where I’m going to, glory, glory, where we will produce a new, CORRECT translation.” Copeland’s head swiveled back and forth for a bit while he received a new word and, after taking a couple of deep breaths, he excitedly reported “It’s gonna be called the NRIDT … the New Rollin’ In Dough Translation!”

“And, for a gift to the ministry of just $29.95 you can get your own, gilt-edged, printed-with-actual-ink copy. For a gift of $100 or more to the ministry, Gloria and I promise to continue to prey on you…I mean, pray for you as well.”

Stop the Madness. This morning, as millions fire up their browsers, people are going to see the latest headlines about the Church. Not that a worldwide outreach has ended poverty or cared for every AIDS patient in Africa and America but instead, that Copeland ministries is under investigation for financial impropriety. Yet another ‘minister’ brings shame and question on the true gospel with little concern for the consequences. I’d be more impressed with the so-called prosperity gospel if the Copelands and their other buddies gave everything away and then had it all given back by God. That shouldn’t be risky at all, should it?

For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry. (2 Ti 4:3-5)

The Glib Calvinist Needs to be Reformed

As I prepared to educate myself in the areas in which Calvinist believers are victimized as portrayed by Craig Brown in The Five Dilemmas of Calvinism, I thumbed through the chapters to get a feel for what was coming in the little book. The casually vituperative author appears unsophisticated with regard to the important distinctions between Calvinist and Arminian theology as suggested by the first passage my eyes landed upon;

We will look at each of the five points of Calvinism, which are summarized by the acronym TULIP, and the Arminian response. (Arminians also have a flower, the daisy, because their doctrinal system says, in effect, “He loves me, He loves me not.”)

Perhaps I should just go ahead and offer this up on eBay for a quarter right now…

Friday is for Rawk! Guest Contributor

Christians and (Christian) Music by Ken Hicks of newgenevaopc.org

 

Before we start I want to make some points so that people don’t immediately get their dander up. If you keep these points in mind as you read this it should help you understand where I am coming from.

 

The main thing to remember when considering my stance is that Paul tells us that “…everything that does not come from faith is sin” Rom 14:23. So in this article the mention of sin will be in this context not in an accusatory “You are in sin” sort of matter. Also remember that though we are “justified” sinners we are sinners none the less and we still possess the propensity for sin that we inherited from Adam and the fall. Everything we do has the stain of sin on it and it is only Christ in us that pleases God. As we live out our daily lives we fall short in many respects without even actively engaging in things that we know to be sin. Our thoughts wander, we are complacent, we are judgmental, we don’t make the most of our opportunities to share the Gospel, etc. Everything we do is a sort of “yes and no” in regards to sin. Glory to God that it is Christ’s righteousness imputed to us that makes us right with God and that He is gracious and merciful towards our shortcomings.

 

Having said that, let’s talk about Christians and music or more specifically modern western Christians and music. Do I think Christians that listen to secular music are in sin? Well, “yes and no”. Yes in that we still maintain the flesh and so all we do is tainted by sin. No in that all things are permissible (but not necessarily profitable 1Cor 10”23). Are you a youth that has parents that don’t want you to listen to secular music but you do anyway? Then you are in sin and need to repent and honor your parents. Are you a new Christian that still clings to the world and the music you listen to keeps reminding you/drawing you back to your old ways? Then you should probably give it up for awhile. Are you a mature Christian that can listen without being sucked in by the World’s agenda to corrupt? Then go ahead. Go ahead as long as you are not causing a weaker brother to stumble. But to those that would adamantly oppose secular music I would ask them if we should stop reading secular books or enjoying secular art too? In reality it comes down to one’s convictions and for others to judge is not their place.

 

But now let’s get into some meat and talk about some biblical concepts. Mainly “types and shadows”. Types and shadows are a concept that everything that goes on in the earthly, temporal realm is a type or shadow of things in the heavenly realm. The classic four year old’s question “Why is the sky blue?” can be met one of two ways (three if you count abdicating and shrugging your shoulders). The first could be the scientific explanation that the visible spectrum of light from the sun passing through the various elements within our atmosphere cause the sky to appear blue. But if one believes that it is our God that has created all the elements, set up all the laws of physics, created the human eye to perceive the above mentioned interactions in the way it does then the first answer hasn’t really explained WHY. God could have very easily set things up so that the sky appeared green. The why is the “type and shadow”. Ex 24:10 …and saw the God of Israel. Under his feet was something like a pavement made of sapphire, clear as the sky itself. Anthropomorphically speaking, we consider the heavens as being above us. Our blue sky is a “type and shadow” of the sapphire “floor” that separates God and the heavens above from the earth below. The concept can also be seen in the notion of the City of God as opposed to the City of Man. Is it a coincidence that the areas that are fulfilling God’s mandate to subdue the earth, i.e. farms and rural areas, are relatively free of the corruption and crime that goes on in the cities of men with their towers being built to reach the heavens (that God knocks down every once in awhile but that’s another topic of discussion)? This type and shadow concept plays out in the fall too. Lucifer was cast down because he desired the praise and glory that was due God alone. He desired to be like God and he enticed Adam and Eve with the same thing. “You can become like God.” So how does this relate to (modern) Christians and (Christian) music? Well I see the same thing going on in Christian bands. A type and shadow of the fall and the impulses that have resulted from it. Praise and adoration heaped upon the members of the band. Does the atmosphere of a concert differ that much from the descriptions we have of what is going on in the heavenly realm other than the object of that praise and glory? We are wired to worship/praise and the fall distorts/distracts so that we spend our time heaping our praise and adoration on “idols” and our “idols” seek it out.

 

Now I’m not saying that if you are in a band you are in sin (so to speak) I just see the fall playing out in our lives daily. Our sin nature drives us to seek to become like God. To make a name for oneself (you should look into the concept of name theology). Remember how consumed with making a name for himself and being remembered by history Brad Pitt’s character in Troy was? We as Christians should desire to claim the name of Christ but the flesh wants to make a name for itself apart from God. Having one’s name means you belongs to them and the autonomous flesh will have none of that but it does want the praise and adoration due to God. So now we’re back to the “yes and no”. I think, as modern Christians, we spend most of our time worrying about our wants and desires and give little thought to what is really going on around us. “But God has called me to be in this band.” Did He really? How? I think, as with most things, we just do things because we want to. We usually only scratch the surface in seeking God’s will in things. Personally I think that all the reasons given for the existence of modern Christian music are excuses. God doesn’t need us to be relevant to get His Gospel proclaimed. He needs us to be lights to a fallen world. To do that we need to set ourselves apart from the world not copy it and act like it. So in the above sense yes you are in sin because you have been complacent (at least and rebellious at worst) in examining your motives for listening to the music you do or the reason you are in a band. No in that all things are permissible. You want to listen to Slayer? Have at it. You want to be a band? More power to you. I would just encourage you to engage in more self-examination. Holding your wants, desires, motives, etc. up to the light of God’s Word and let it illuminate the reality of what is going on. If your convictions allow for you to listen to whatever, to tear it up on stage, to drink (but not unto drunkenness) who am I to judge?

 

Challenging God’s Sovereignty

God is sovereign, period. Challenges to the contrary are often interesting and fiery, like an argued third strike in a close contest. Voices will be raised, faces brought into close proximity and colorful words and phrases will pepper the debate but, in the end, the conclusion is the same. God is sovereign, the plate is vigorously swept and it’s ‘batter up!’ 

God is the supreme, superior being accountable and subordinate to no other. If any of these were not true, He would not be God. It is primary among His attributes as we consider the nature of God. “He is before all things and in Him all things hold together.” (Col 1:17) In the course of theological discourse, particularly with respect to election, Calvinists aver that Arminian theology strips God of his sovereignty and the Arminians in turn, accuse Calvinists of viewing sovereignty as God’s exclusive attribute, dismissing other aspects of His character. Neither extreme is true, of course, but it is the various forms of this argument that comprise one of the major components of the superheated rhetoric that serves as theological discussion in the world of the Theobloggers.

God’s sovereignty means that he is completely free to act in any way He wishes in accord with His own nature. He can create, order, and ordain anything in any fashion that he wants to. At the same time, he cannot do what is not possible (according to the way he has ordered the universe) such as making a circle a square nor will he act in any way contrary to His character. We can agree with the plain reading of the following section  of the Westminster Confession of Faith which states:

God, from all eternity, did, by the most wise and holy counsel of His own will, freely, and unchangeably ordain whatever comes to pass”

Given the truths that God rules over all things (1 Chron 29:11-12, Ps 29:10) and He is in control of all things (Job 42:2, Dan 4:35) why then is the issue of human free choice often portrayed as a despicable attempt to wrest His sovereignty away? The answer, which sounds odd, is that it cannot be, because the sovereignty of God need not be established and therefore cannot be contested. It simply is. As I stated earlier, it is an essential attribute of who and what He is. Because it [sovereignty] is not contingent upon any action that He takes, God’s sovereignty is not challenged by whether he elects or not, whether he elects some or all, and whether that election is conditional or unconditional. It is not contested by the free will of men nor is it opposed by the belief in limited atonement.

Now, we can begin the discussion without the threat of that canard.

Moderated Comments – Why?

I’ve considered the use of moderated comments on a blog for a long time. I suppose in some cases they are appropriate to filter out inappropriate material but in other cases, the blog authors have used them because they lack the ability to back up their opinions when challenged. I won’t drive any traffic to specific theoblogger sites but, in general, I’ve seen them posting nothing but attacks [written by someone else] on Arminian theology. Comments challenging the position are a waste of time since they go into the black hole of “awaiting moderation” and then disappear completely a day or two later. The appearance is that the author is unable to support his or her position but still wants the secret joy of an assault on something that they believe to be wrong.

I’m reminded of what Paul says in relation to raising oneself above the rest of the Body:

“For by the grace given men I say to everyone of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgement, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you.”  Romans 12:3

After The Rain The Sun

After The Rain The Sun, originally uploaded by wrachele.

These are the last words of David:
“The oracle of David son of Jesse,
the oracle of the man exalted by the Most High,
the man anointed by the God of Jacob,
Israel’s singer of songs:
2 “The Spirit of the Lord spoke through me;
his word was on my tongue.
3 The God of Israel spoke,
the Rock of Israel said to me:
‘When one rules over men in righteousness,
when he rules in the fear of God,
4 he is like the light of morning at sunrise
on a cloudless morning,
like the brightness after rain
that brings the grass from the earth.’

2 Sa 23:1-4

Nothing to Lose by Lee Child

Hope and Despair Lee? Hope and Despair?

The West is riddled with little towns and the remnants of other one-time settlements and they often have interesting names. Many of them point to historical or geographical facets of the community that someone, sometime thought were important. Cripple Creek for example, was said to be named by a rancher whose calf was crippled by an ill-timed jump over a creek as a result of an accidentally discharged six shooter. Bombay Beach was going to lure vacationers from the French Riviera to the edge of the Salton Sea until the salt-in-the-sea combined with torrential rainfall in the 70s overtook man’s ambitions. Given the long, long list of colorful place names that Lee Child could have used to place his latest Jack Reacher thriller in, he settles on the imaginary neighbors Hope and Despair. [CLICHE ALERT…CLICHE ALERT…CLICHE ALERT]

image Reacher and his toothbrush are traversing the country from Maine to San Diego when his hitchhiked ride drops him on the road to a company town named Despair. He makes note of an important marker found where city or county lines meet, the change in the roadway. The road from Hope is smooth, well built, and recently blacktopped. At the expansion joint where Hope relinquishes the thoroughfare, the road becomes pitted, worn out and obviously constructed at minimal expense. Upon walking into town, Jack notices immediately that this was not a town with a huge tourist draw. Sitting in the only cafe he can find, Reacher is pointedly ignored by the waitress until the welcoming committee notices him. As they surround him, not to give him the key to the city but to tell him to leave, their fate is sealed. Those of us who know Jack Reacher know that the fastest way to broken bones and contusions is to tell him to do something without an adequate explanation.

The rest of this fast paced thriller follows Jack as he seeks to discover the reasons why people are so adamant about keeping non-locals out. Utilizing a temporary romance in next door Hope, Reacher learns more than he wants to know about the recycling plant that is the center of life in Despair. In the course of his nosing around we are exposed to Reacher’s/Child’s feelings toward the Iraq war as the snooping intertwines depleted uranium, army deserters, veterans brain injuries, the end-times, and preacher/town hoss. These positions might counter your own but, if you can put that aside, this is a typically good Lee Child effort. Reacher is himself throughout, able to take on and defeat multiple assailants, strangely attractive to women, and tack sharp in his detective skills. Once you are drawn into the story, you won’t stop until you cross the 400 page mark.

I’m hoping that the cliches were simply the result of Child wanting to make his anti-war stand through his hero Jack Reacher and that the next book will return to the generally smart character and fantastic pacing. If you haven’t met Jack yet, I would recommend starting with either Bad Luck and Trouble or The Hard Way to get a better feel for his personae before you draw any conclusions from this effort alone.

Cue Anti-Flag – Depleted Uranium is a War Crime

Sunday Prayer of the Contrite

From The Path of Celtic Prayer, Miller reminds us that ” The self-sufficient, on the other hand, see God as a mere topic of discussion. Therefore, only the needy really have a God.”

Attributed to a ninth-century Welsh poet:

Grant me tears, O Lord, to blot out my sins;

may I not cease from tears, O God, until I have been purified.

May my heart be  burned by the fire of redemption…

Grant me contrition of heart so that I may not be in disgrace:

O Lord, protect me and grant me tears,

O Creator flowing in streams from my eyes.

For my anger, my jealousy, and my pride, a foolish deed, in pools

from my inmost parts bring forth tears.

My falsehood, my lying and my greed, grievous the three,

to banish them all from me…grant me tears.