Hope as Darkness Falls

Things are changing in our nation, quickly. The Supreme Court decided homosexuals have a previously undiscovered constitutional right to marry their same sex partners, and within 48 hours articles were published on major political blogs and news sites advocating the extension of the same rights to polygamists and pedophiles. Time even promoted an article online arguing churches should now lose their tax-exempt status. Our government compromised biblical standards long ago, and we have slaughtered over 50 million babies in utero in the last 42 years, but secularism and anti-Christian sentiment is sweeping our public institutions like an avalanche. After the Supreme Court’s decision, companies throughout our nation and the White House were decorated with rainbow-colored light displays, affirming their celebration of what Scripture describes as an abomination and perversity.

Our nation is not any worse than it was before, only more transparent in its God-hating depravity. But as we mourn the advance of secularism and worry about the future for our churches and our children, I am hopeful. I do not relish the thought of what almost certainly lies ahead, but persecution from an openly secular and hostile society may be the best thing that has ever happened to the American church.

The American church is generally soft, carnal, compromised in doctrine and uncommitted in discipleship. Persecution from a secular culture will separate the committed from the crowd. Until now it was easy to be a nominal, American “christian.” You could profess faith, go to church, but remain worldly in your values, habits, and aims. No such compromise is possible when confessing your faith may mean losing your business, your home, or your freedom. Trials and troubles are one way God separates the wheat from the tares and discloses who really trusts in and follows Him.

The contrast between true and false versions of Christianity will become increasingly clear. When I arrived at CCC two years ago, the church’s lending library included pro-Mormon literature and works by Joyce Meyer and T. D. Jakes, both prosperity-gospel, Scripture-denying false teachers. Our members regularly watched Joel Osteen to hear an encouraging sermon. This is fairly common in the broader evangelical church where the lack of doctrinal discernment is at epidemic proportions. But as persecution becomes more prevalent, it will be increasingly obvious who is speaking the words of Scripture and who is not. The contrast between the true gospel and corrupted forms will become more apparent, even as secular churches continue to exist with a message of compromise, tolerance, and submission to society.

American Christians may finally recognize that we are strangers in a strange land, exiles from Eden whose citizenship is in heaven. We do not belong here, at least, not in the fallen world as it is right now. We are seeking a city which has foundations. We belong to an eternal kingdom, whose King has authority over all. We should not retreat into monasteries, nor should we surrender to the secularists around us. But we must see that America is not the world’s last, great hope. Jesus is, and He always has been. Neither is the USA a Christian nation. It is far from it. We do not need American Christians; we need Christians who are Americans, who love their nation and pray for it and work for its peace and good, but who realize their primary citizenship is not here and who feel a greater kinship with believers of any nationality than with those American citizens without faith. We need less patriotic forms of Christianity and more Christians who are truly patriots, committed to the cause of the King, whose allegiance is to Christ, not country.

Persecution provides opportunities for greater gospel witness and gospel fellowship. The darker the environment, the more brilliantly the light of the gospel shines. Likewise, the more opposition from our culture, the less important secondary differences among true Christians will become. Persecution can unite us against a larger enemy, and humility, courage, and faithfulness in the face of opposition can be used by God’s Spirit to break sin-hardened hearts.

We have good news to share with a broken, lost, and hopeless nation. We should not despair as evil rises around us, because the Son of God has already defeated sin and broken its power. His victory is assured, and He is coming again. We face the future not with despair but with hope, because He who is with us is greater than those who are against us. We should not feel defeated but triumphant. Look for the opportunities God is giving us at this momentous time in history, and love not your life even to death. Be faithful to Him who controls all things. The morning has dawned. O Lord come! –JME

Learning the Bible: A Simple Plan for Chapter-by-Chapter Study

Many Christians want to understand the Bible better, but few have an effective plan for doing so. Some people have a plan for daily Bible reading, but they cover the entire canon, at most, once or twice in the year, if even that much. They may read every chapter, but how well do they understand it, and how much do they retain?

A plan to read the Bible once or twice a year is good for devotional reading, but it is inadequate for real Bible study. Rather than reading every book once, personal Bible study should focus on reading each book many times. Every chapter of the book being studied should be read repeatedly, at least three times. As each chapter is read, ask yourself the following questions. (1) What is the main idea of this passage? Summarize it in just a few words. (2) What does this passage teach about God (Father, Son, Holy Spirit)? Write down your observations. (3) What does this passage show me about God’s overall plan to redeem humanity in Christ? Summarize how it relates to the gospel. (4) What does this passage show me about my responsibilities in Christ? Note how you can apply it in your life. (5) How can I pray and give thanks in light of this passage? Speak to the Lord about what you have learned and ask for grace to incorporate it in your life. In this way you can easily study the entire Bible and develop simple notes and a brief summary of every chapter in it.

What might this look like in application? Besides daily devotional reading, you might commit to studying one chapter in this way 3-5 days a week. Read the chapter (at least) three times, and use a notebook to record your answers to the above questions. Be brief. This is personal Bible study, not seminary research. Keep a master list in your notebook of the chapter summaries you create. Limit your chapter summaries to 3-5 words each, and review them several times weekly to aid in eventually memorizing them. Each study session should take no more than 30-45 minutes, and most chapters will only require 20-30 minutes. If you study one chapter of the Bible in this way Monday-Friday, you will study every chapter in the Bible is just over four and a half years. –JME

Baptism is Not Always Immersion

I grew up in churches that practiced baptism by immersion. We did not recognize sprinkling or pouring water on a person’s head as baptism. In fact, we considered sprinkling or pouring to not be baptism at all. Those baptized by sprinkling or pouring had never been baptized, in our judgment, and needed to be baptized for the first time by being dipped in water.

Baptist preachers are quick to point out that Greek lexicons (dictionaries) define baptizo as to immerse, dip or submerge. That is true, but it is not the final word on how baptism ought to be practiced. When we look at how the Greek words for baptism are actually used in the New Testament, we learn some remarkable things. For example, the Israelites were baptized in the Red Sea crossing (1Cor. 10:1-4). But it was not the Israelites who were immersed in the Red Sea. They walked on dry land between two walls of water. The Egyptians, on the other hand, were immersed, but that “baptism” did not save them; it killed them. Similarly in Hebrews baptism (baptismos) is used to describe Old Testament rituals of purification that were administered by sprinkling, not immersion (Heb. 9:6-22). The writer uses baptismos to describe “the blood of goats and bulls, and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer” (9:13; cf. Num. 19) as well as the time when Moses “took the blood of calves and goats, with water and scarlet wool and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book itself and all the people” (9:19; cf. Exod. 24:5-8) and when “in the same way he sprinkled with the blood both the tent and all the vessels used in worship” (9:21; cf. Exod. 40:1-16). This “baptism” was not immersion but a symbolic purifying and setting apart of sacred things by sprinkling them with blood and water. The Gospel of Mark informs us the Jews had a tradition of baptizing their hands, dishes, and dining couches before eating (Mark. 7:4). Just as in Hebrews the Greek word for sprinkling or cleansing (rhantizo) appears in Mark 7:4 alongside the word for baptism or washing to describe these rites of purification and consecration to God.

The Bible does not mandate a specific mode of baptism, whether sprinkling, pouring, or immersion. What is important is not the way one is baptized but the reason for and name in which he is baptized (Matt. 28:19; Acts 19:3-5). We are symbolically washed, purified, and set apart in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in baptism, however it is performed. The importance is the meaning, not the specific method. –JME

See also:

The Proper Mode of Baptism

The One Baptism

Love is a Decision

When most people think about love, they think of a warm feeling in the heart. Americans use the term love in very careless and superficial ways. We “love” movies and sports and…hot dogs? Some other languages and cultures are more circumspect in their use of such terminology, but the term love is almost always, regardless of language or context, used to describe emotional affection and attachment felt in the heart.

The Bible describes a form of love that is other than what we often describe by that name. It is true the Bible sometimes uses love in affectionate ways. We are commanded to “Love one another with brotherly affection” (Rom. 12:10). We are called to a love that provides comfort (Php. 2:1). We ought to genuinely love and long for one another as brethren in God’s family (Php. 1:8; 4:1). But apart from the authentic expressions of affection the Bible associates with brotherly love, the overwhelming majority of the uses of love in the New Testament refer not to an emotion of the heart but to a decision of the mind, a decision to seek the welfare of its object.

Biblical love is more easily described than defined. So what is this love we are commanded to have? “Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful” (1Cor. 13:4-5). Love is laying down one’s life for one’s friends (Jn. 15:13). Love is placing another’s welfare above one’s own (Php. 2:3-4). Love is washing the feet of those too proud to do it themselves (Jn. 13:2-5). Love is forgiving those whose sin has hurt us deeply and who are broken by it (Lk. 15:20-24). Love is blessing those who hate and curse us (Mt. 5:43-48; Rom. 12:14). Love is doing good to those who want only to hurt us (Rom. 12:17-21). Love is treating others the way we want to be treated (Mt. 7:12). Love is showing to others the grace and mercy we have been shown by and in Christ (Eph. 5:1-2).

Biblical love is a decision expressed in action. It may include emotional attachment as in the case of spouses, children, and brethren. In other cases or in specific circumstances, it may not. It is hard to feel love for those who hate us and hurt us, but we can still do good and pray for them. Even when we feel love, our choices and actions should be governed more by the decision to follow Christ than how we feel. We walk by faith, not by sight or by feeling (2Co. 5:7). May God help us to love in this way. –JME

Moving the Landmarks

At the time of this writing, 37 states in the US have legalized same sex marriage (with others in appeals and national protection on the way), abortion during the first two trimesters of pregnancy is a constitutional right, and a male Olympic gold medalist is on the cover of Vanity Fair wearing lingerie and calling himself “Caitlyn.” Things are no better in the visible church. Megachurch pastor Rick Warren recently appeared before Congress with Elton John to advocate on behalf of medical relief for those afflicted with AIDS in Africa. Warren laughed as he held hands with John for the cameras and joked about the consequences if they kissed. The Church of England, which recently ordained three female bishops, has female clerics advocating the inclusion of feminine language to describe God in the church’s official liturgy. And even a conservative like Danny Akin, president of Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, appeared in a promotional video for the group Openly Secular affirming the common ground on which religious conservatives and atheists can join hands in working together for culture change.

The OT prophets carried God’s word to Israel at a time of similar cultural and religious upheaval. Isaiah said, “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!” (5:20) Jeremiah asked of his generation, “Were they ashamed when they committed abomination? No, they were not at all ashamed; they did not know how to blush” (8:12). Hosea described the sin of his nation’s leaders as being “like those who move the landmark,” and God declared, “Upon them I will pour out my wrath like water” (5:10).

Like Israel in the 8^th century B.C. and Judah in the 6^th, our nation has redefined the boundaries of morality, altered the parameters of fellowship, and taken the name of the Holy God in vain. But if you call a dog’s tail a leg, how many legs does the dog have? Only four, because calling a tail a leg does not make it one. Similarly, calling the murder of a child in the womb a constitutional right does not make it any less vile. Calling a same sex union marriage does not make it so. Much of the American church does not, apparently, have the courage to stand up and speak with any clarity or conviction against a culture that is hostile to God and flaunting its rebellion against Him. When those who profess to know God jump into bed with the Devil, it is time for God’s prophetic rebuke to once again be heard.

“Should you help the wicked and love those who hate the LORD?”

(2 Chronicles 19:2)

“Stand by the roads, and look, and ask for the ancient paths, where the good way is; and walk in it, and find rest for your souls.”

(Jeremiah 6:16)

“Sow for yourselves righteousness; reap steadfast love; break up your fallow ground, for it is time to seek the LORD, that he may come and rain righteousness upon you.”

(Hosea 10:12)

“Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered in this way? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.”

(Luke 13:2-3)

            It is easy to point fingers at the culture and blame the godless agents of social change for all the ills in our nation. But the greater danger is from professing believers who with the best of intentions offer to help their unbelieving neighbor move the boundary markers lest they be thought backwards or bigoted. Christian, recognize the times in which we live. Assess the culture biblically, not popularly or politically. Understand the issues that matter, and do not be content with false prophets and religious leaders who announce peace where there is no peace (Jer. 6:13-14). We do ourselves, our children, our churches, and our nation no favors by sticking our heads in the sand and distracting and entertaining ourselves to death as the world goes to Hell in a handbasket. There are no political solutions for sin. The gospel is our only hope. Prayerfully, passionately, and persistently live the gospel, share the gospel, and trust in the gospel before it is too late. –JME