A quick lesson on discerning a meme. I saw this on Facebook. Here is a lesson on how to parse the silly sayings we see on social media. Let;s take it apart phrase by phrase and really think about what it is trying to communicate.
Continue reading “Does God speak in unidentified promptings?”
The natural man knows there is a God. We know this because he suppresses this truth in unrighteousness. (Romans 1:18). There is no such thing as an innocent pagan. Deep down they know there is a God, and if they know there is a God they know they do wrong (sin) and someone has to call them to account for it. (Romans 1:19-22).
I remember before coming to the Lord at age 43, I’d pursued all sorts of lines of questioning. The basic unanswered question that drove me was this:it seemed ridiculous to assume that man’s life ended at death. For man to have ‘evolved’ over millions of years only to life a short life of 40 or 50 or 70 years and then die for good seemed a waste. And if man’s life did not end at death but continued in some sort of afterlife, how was it decided who got in? It seemed equally ridiculous that everyone got in. That would simply replicate life on earth, and so, what would make it heaven? I mean, would Hitler get in? It was logical to think there was some sort of standard. But what? And there my queries ended, because I could not understand the Jesus-blood-resurrection part of it. That seemed ILlogical, so I abandoned the issue. But the issue remained in my heart and mind, like a burr under a horse’s saddle. I had angst about it. Continue reading “The Necessary Angst”
At our school cafeteria the kids (or adults, lol) can purchase ice cream. Cones, Fudgsicles, Pop-Ups, and more, for 75 cents. One of the little kids excitedly told me that “Mom is going to let me get an ice cream every day on Friday!” I said, “Every day on Friday?” “YUP!” He said, his eyes agleam with thoughts of sugar high and forehead freeze.
It got me thinking about time. The child’s sense of time of course is hugely distorted. One hour seems like a day, one day seems like a year, one year seems like a lifetime. As we grow, that refines. We develop a sense of time which is more accurate. But accurate to what? Time is a tool man uses, invented by God, only finalized into the thing we know today during the industrial revolution when they needed the trains to run on time and not crash into each other. The General Time Convention was set up in 1853. Before that, people used sundials, mostly.
In a school your day is segmented almost every hour by bells or schedules, and the clock. It’s rigid. I’ve written before about the Tyranny of the Clock and our release from it, and yet thinking about living in no time, in eternity, is incomprehensible. What will that be like? I don’t know. It might just be like every day on Friday. Continue reading “Prata Potpourri: Relief, Contentment, Evil Suspicions, Slogans, Hillbillies, more”
I haven’t done a natural history essay for a while. Paying attention to the plants, animals, and agricultural processes of the Bible is worthwhile because knowing more about them enhances our understanding of the context in which the particular verse is delivered to us. I’ve written of other natural history topics previously, and the links are below, if you’re interested.
In Matthew 10:29-31 we read that the sparrow is considered the least of birds. The Cornell Ornithology lab describes a sparrow this way,
You can find House Sparrows most places where there are houses (or other buildings), and few places where there aren’t. Along with two other introduced species, the European Starling and the Rock Pigeon, these are some of our most common birds. Their constant presence outside our doors makes them easy to overlook.
Even more specifically, the Bible Encyclopedia describes the sparrows of Israel thus,
The Hebrew tsippor seems to have been a generic name under which were placed all small birds that frequented houses and gardens. The word occurs about 40 times in the Bible, and is indiscriminately translated “bird” “fowl” or “sparrow.” … Sparrows are small brown and gray birds of friendly habit that swarm over the northern part of Israel, and West of the Sea of Galilee, where the hills, plains and fertile fields are scattered over with villages. They build in the vineyards, orchards and bushes of the walled gardens surrounding houses, on the ground or in nooks and crannies of vine-covered walls. They live on seeds, small green buds and tiny insects and worms. Some members of the family sing musically; all are great chatterers when about the business of life. (source)
I watch, and am become like a sparrow That is alone upon the housetop. (Psalm 102:7)
A sparrow is such a friendly bird that if it were on the housetop it would be surrounded by half a dozen of its kind; … In an overwhelmed hour the Psalmist poured out his heart before the Almighty. The reason he said he was like a “sparrow that is alone upon the housetop” was because it is the most unusual thing in the world for a sparrow to sit mourning alone, and therefore it attracted attention and made a forceful comparison. It only happens when the bird’s mate has been killed or its nest and young destroyed, and this most cheerful of birds sitting solitary and dejected made a deep impression on the Psalmist who, when his hour of trouble came, said he was like the mourning sparrow–alone on the housetop. (source)
From Manners & Customs of the Bible by Freeman and Chadwick, we read,
Greek strouthion, (stroo-thee’-on); diminutive of strouthos, (a sparrow); a little sparrow. Sparrows are mentioned among the offerings made by poor. Two sparrows were sold for a farthing, and five for two farthings (Luke 12:6). The Hebrew word thus rendered is tsippor, which properly denotes the whole family of small birds that feed on grain (Leviticus 14:4; Psalms 84:3; 102:7).
From Henry Hart’s The Animals Mentioned in the Bible (1888) we read the following-
The word tsippor has been already dealt with in most of the passages where it occurs, in which it is translated ‘bird’ or ‘fowl.’ In two passages in the Psalms, however, it is rendered ‘sparrow,’ and the term appears perhaps to refer to a particular species. Elsewhere it is generic. In Ps. 84:3 we read, ‘The sparrow hath found an house, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young, even Thine altars, O Lord of Hosts, my King, and my God.’ Here the metaphor is one of rejoicing; and the Psalmist pours forth his heart in glad and beautiful verse, full of the hope that he too may be permitted to dwell in the house of his God.
Canon Tristram considers that the latter ‘sparrow’ may be the ‘blue thrush’ (Monticola cyanus), which is a common and conspicuous bird in Palestine and Southern Europe, solitary in its habits, and fond of sitting on a roof or any conspicuous eminence while uttering a plaintive cry. It breeds in the ruins about the temple at Jerusalem. Other species of sparrow are found in the Jordan Valley, as the marsh sparrow (P. Hispaniolensis) and the Moabitish sparrow of Tristram (P. Moabiticus).
Hart, H. C. (1888). The Animals Mentioned in the Bible (p. 203). London: The Religious Tract Society.
It was common in the Middle East to catch sparrows (and most small birds) and skin them and roast them to sell for a tidbit. Thus we have the mention of them where the Lord says He notices each and every fall of the sparrow and thus we should be comforted because we are much more valuable than these small, commonly sold tidbit birds.
Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. But even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows.
What a gracious and loving God!
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Further Reading
Further Reading
OVERVIEW OF END TIME PROPHECY
In my essay yesterday about Why We Should Value Prophecy, I laid out some reasons why prophecy is just an important kind of biblical literature as other types of biblical literature, such as Law, History, Poetry, Wisdom, or Gospel. I also laid out some thoughts as to the purpose of prophecy.
By now (in 2016) most of the past prophecies have been fulfilled. There is one prophecy that has not been completely fulfilled however, and that is the bundle of prophecies relating to the time of the end of the end. We are in the end time. We have been in the end time since Jesus ascended, and will be until He returns in glory and judges all things, completes his 1000 year reign on earth, and then dissolves the Universe in a fervent heat and makes all things new. The prophecies remaining to be fulfilled describe all things through the end of Revelation 22, which include the Rapture, the Tribulation, the Millennial Kingdom, Satan Released for the Last Battle, and the New Heavens and New Earth.
I’d said a moment ago that the prophecies relating to the end time have not been completely fulfilled. Many of the prophecies are in a state of being fulfilled, while others are definitely not happening yet. Prophecies relating to the end time describe the symptoms of this long stretch of time between the two comings of Jesus. So while the prophecy of Paul in 2 Timothy 3 are describing general conditions during this wide swathe of time, the specific prophecies of certain events have not occurred. That’s the interesting thing about prophecy. One prophecy can have a dual fulfillment, a far fulfillment, a discrete, one-time fulfillment, or a continual fulfillment.
Since it has been a long while since the last fulfilled prophecy, Jesus’ incarnation, death, and resurrection, people may become lulled into a sense of security and mock the end time prophecies and judgments. Even this is prophesied! Peter wrote in 2 Peter 3:3-4,
First of all, you must understand that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires. “Where is the promise of His coming?” they will ask. “Ever since our fathers fell asleep, everything continues as it has from the beginning of creation.”
PSYCHOLOGICAL IMPACT OF THE END TIMES
The nature of sin and the end time are inextricably intertwined. The reason for the prophecies of the end of time are because of sin. Ever since Adam sinned in the Garden and man lost his position of pure fellowship with God, as humans and as a world, we have been in a continual state of devolvement and uncreation. Since the moment Eve bit the fruit and gave some to her husband, who was with her, (Genesis 3:6) all events have been working toward the end of God’s plan. It began with one sin and it will end with all sin.
Sin is the reason for the end time. Because the end time events are about judgment for sin.
We downplay sin. We have respectable sins. We sin and do not repent. As a church we do not regard the spiritual battles with enough fervor. Where is the David tearing his clothes and crying out to God? Where is the city like Nineveh crying out for mercy in sackcloth and ashes from the king down to the lowliest slave? Where are the pray-ers and fast-ers interceding in the battle? Where is the concern for holiness in the church? Not that there aren’t any, but the general trajectory of sin is that it tries with unceasing vigilance to corrupt our hearts and our churches. We already know what unresolved sin does to the human mind of the unsaved person- he is a total slave to it. Their minds are corrupt.
So that is the time of the end. More and more people will be totally corrupted by total sin, and not care.
This will make for an insane society. (Romans 1:28-32, Genesis 6:5, Matthew 24:37). We already see the effects of so much sin on human civilization. It can’t be refuted that civilization of these days has hurtled down the road of libertinism, depravity, murder, and more. Marriage, the first God-given institution, is being dismissed and redefined. Gender itself, a biological absolute from God, is also being corrupted by the doctors’ scalpel and the personal wills of depraved individuals. Life is not valued, ethical restrains are by the wayside, and the age-old cherished values of courage, personal duty, and honor are now old fashioned words, mocked by post-modernists.
And yet today’s depravity and sin-loving condition (Romans 1:32) is nothing, nothing to what is to come.
For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, and slander. (Matthew 15:19).
If all those things are in the heart and come out as we see now, what till the Tribulation be like when there is no restraint at all on mans’ proclivity to seek satan and his evil?! (2 Thessalonians 2:7).
I have tried and failed in past essays to bring to bear the totally depraved and horrific time the Tribulation will be. Because we often cannot or do not understand the nature of sin, we downplay the Tribulation’s evil, ghastly and grotesque condition. However it will be a time when men will simply go mad from what they see.
I’d read somewhere, I’m sorry I forget where, the verse from Deuteronomy 28:34, a section called The Curses of Disobedience, a number of judgments to come upon the People. The the verse states,
so that you are driven mad by the sights that your eyes see.
Men’s behavior will be so depraved that just looking at what is happening will cause a person to go insane. We don’t even know the half of what sin can do. We haven’t even scratched the surface yet. While the Deuteronomy verse describes an event that has already occurred and passed into history, it mirrors the conditions of the Tribulation. Calvin says of the Deuteronomy verse that,
He adds that there shall be no end to their affliction, until the magnitude of their calamities shall stupefy them.
Matthew Henry says of the verse,
To complete their misery, it is threatened that they should be put quite out of the possession of their minds by all these troubles
Walvoord says of the verse,
The afflictions mentioned here result from defeat in battle. The military exemptions mentioned in 20:5–7 would be reversed without God’s protection (28:30). Livestock and children would be lost forever (vv. 31–32). Foreign armies would reap the benefit of the farmers’ hard work (v. 33). These devastating losses would produce insanity (v. 34) and painful boils (v. 35; cf. v. 27).
If men’s minds were not able to apprehend the effects of defeat in battle, what of their mental state when actual hell is loosed on earth? When sin reigns? Jesus foretold the following as regards the Tribulation:
The Tribulation period will be a time of extermination. God will exterminate sinners from the world as cockroaches in disgust and fury. Here is one pastor’s description:
Verse 26, “Men fainting from fear and the expectation of the things which are coming upon the world.”
So we are in the end of the time of the Tribulation when the universe as we know it is being dramatically altered. And first is chaos before there is reconstruction. There’s only one way to deal with all of the things that happen which we went through last time, dismay among nations. The word in the Greek is sunoche and it’s only used one other time in the New Testament, it’s a rare word. It means anguish. It describes a kind of human emotion which is overwhelming and overpowering. It even could be translated severe anxiety. There is…there is a sense of terror and a sense of anxiousness that knows no bounds and no relief. It is compounded by perplexity. The word aporia only here in the New Testament. It’s as if the Holy Spirit uses words that define a time the likes of which has never existed and picks words that are very, very rare for such a rare time. Aporia, perplexity, it simply means confusion in its most severe form.
Shock is so great that we are told that men are fainting from fear. And fainting is a rather benign way to translate another rare word used no where else in the New Testament, aposuche (?). What that word means is to breathe out or to expire. That’s another word for to die. People will be scared to death. People will be scared to death. People all over the world will die of terror because of what is happening and because what is happening they know will lead to further horrors. (Source)
Even with that, there is no way to describe it. No one would really want to, anyway. We often dwell on the depths of God’s love, knowing that we can’t truly comprehend such eternal, perfect, infinite love. Just so, we cannot really understand sin. It also is boundless, eternal, and utterly incomprehensible to its depths. We think we understand sin. We don’t. The Tribulation pagans and the saved will, because they will see it almost fully. Even then, they will not see what the nature of sin can do to its ends, because Jesus said that if He would not cut short the time, no flesh would be saved at all! (Matthew 24:22-23). Sin destroys utterly.
Prophecy isn’t a sphere of study for the prurient intellectual dabbler. It is a serious sphere given to us by the grace of God so we may answer the question Peter asked. He explained the coming end of time judgments and fulfillment of prophetic promises, and asked his flock the following:
Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn! (2 Peter 3:11-12)
Peter made the connection between prophecy and holy living. Prophecy isn’t a distant realm of study for future generations to study. It’s present and it informs us in this day and ever day toward our holy pursuits. Knowing what is coming because we have the blessed advantage of peeking into to the future from God’s word, what sort of people are we to be?
My call is to urge us now, me included, to live in purity. Pursue holiness. Repent often, and in sincerity. Witness of Jesus and His truths. We do not want our best friend left behind. We do not want our worst enemy left behind. We praise Jesus for His soon return in glory and wrath, to render justice for sin. We know that is necessary. But we don’t have to ignore the prophecies, we don’t have to diminish the prophecies, we don’t have to be casual about the prophecies.
Even so, come Lord Jesus. (Revelation 22:20).
With all the prophesying ‘prophets’ these days, and ‘words from the Lord’, and alleged divine revelations, it is easy to dismiss real biblical prophecies. Don’t be tempted to lump in the false revelations with the real ones. We should highly value the prophecy of the Bible. (And only the prophecy of the Bible).
The Bible is not one “book,” it is a “library” of sixty-six books that were written over a period of more than a 1,500 years by many different authors. These authors were “inspired” in their thinking and writing by the Holy Spirit. Thus the Bible is the inspired Word of God without error. It also has the human “touch” from its authors. Paul is different than David, who is different than James or Moses. So their “style and personality comes out to us. … The Bible is Literature, as is any book filled with language. It has: Law, History, Wisdom, Poetry, Gospel, Epistles, Prophecy, and Apocalyptic. Literature. (Source) Continue reading “Why we should value prophecy”
Have you ever sung that song about fire fall down? You know, the one from Hillsong United? You might want to re-think that.
In the excerpt below from the Strange Fire Panel Q&A session, Todd Friel, John MacArthur, and Justin Peters discuss the theological implications of pleading with God to send fire down on us.
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Clip #20: (Singing) Fire fall down, fire fall down on us, we pray… As we seek you, Fire fall down, Fire fall down on us, we pray…
TODD: About 16 thousand kids are in the auditorium right now.
Clip #20: (Singing) Fire fall down, fire fall down on us, we…
TODD: All right. Now that song, by the way, goes on for 17 minutes. The word “fire” calling down fire from heaven is a persistent theme that we hear. Theologically do we want fire to come from heaven? In the context, and Justin can point this out, too, a lot of the conversation is about feeling, a burning, being set on fire, thereby calling the fire down from heaven. Theologically how do we respond to this prayer to call down fire from heaven.
JUSTIN: I can only assume that they’re referencing Acts 2, taking an image that is tied to a larger context. The fire there is defined as, even we were talking about this morning, clear and discernible ways that essentially, ultimately it was representative of the Spirit’s coming and the Spirit’s expression was in the gift of tongues for a specific purpose, to confirm the Apostles, to confirm what He was doing, as R.C. said yesterday, and now bringing out a people for himself, confirming the Jews were, in fact, going to be a part of the church. So it has a context. But instead it’s removed from that context and made to mean something just strictly experiential.
JOHN: Yeah, and again that’s a non-repeatable event, Pentecost, as we heard from R.C. Pentecost and then the subsequent exact same reality occurs I those different people groups to somehow turn Pentecost into this kind of mockery, as if you could literally call down fire from heaven is not only unbiblical, it’s just folly. But it’s more than that, it’s manipulation. It’s all about mind control. Rodney Howard Brown is a mind manipulator.
From a human viewpoint, even more frightening is this is demonic from a supernatural viewpoint. Fire came down from heaven, of course, in Leviticus 10 and consumed the worshipers…consumed the ones who offered the sacrifice. That’s the whole point of this conference. John talked about fire baptism, John the Baptist, and that was judgment. I really don’t…these people are so a-biblical, they’re so acquainted with words, Bible words without Bible sentences, Bible words without Bible context, Bible words without Bible doctrine. They throw the words around and they become means by which they manipulate people’s minds. Fire is obviously an incendiary word. It has all kinds of implications of heat and power and energy and…I mean, that’s a perfect word for them to use to manipulate people. The next time fire comes from heaven, it’s going to engulf the world in judgment. God will not drown the world in water again, but He will end the world in fire. The elements will end with a fervent heat. It’s going to be an atomic implosion, the uncreation when the elements melt with fervent heat, that is fire from heaven.
And I don’t think anybody in his right mind would be calling down fire from heaven, because that’s…that’s…going forward, that is a judgment metaphor after Pentecost. You will be baptized by the Holy Spirit and with fire. That’s another baptism, and that’s a judgment.
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Moral of the story? Lyrics matter.
Kay Cude poetry, Used with permission.
Artist’s statement:
This was the very first Christian piece I ever composed. I began it as a poem of heartbreak about my son, but as I wrote and edited, it moved away from my sorrow about him to my sorrow about my spiritual immaturity and subsequent failures. Then it continued on to the approaching darkness of this age and my inadequacies and weakness relative to my witness for Christ. I still am panged when I read this piece, but determined to continue on and strive against my “self” and honor Christ.
Click to enlarge
So many people, especially women, are hopscotching the globe founding important ministries, establishing orphanages, ’empowering’ native women, or teaching to packed arenas, that it makes the rest of us humdrum ladies feel, ahem, left behind. Should we be doing the big things? Can we do the bigger things? Are we doing enough?
All I do every single day, is go to work. I come home and I study my Bible &pray, I write, and if I have enough energy after that, I read a bit. Then I go to sleep and do it all over again. On the weekends all I do is grocery shopping, laundry, cooking the week’s lunches ahead, and study a lot more and write a lot more. I go to church on Sunday late afternoon. Bed time. Repeat.
I’m not skipping off to host conferences or giving interviews or unashamedly on tour or in Rwanda on a storytelling trip. I wash dishes in obscurity in Comer GA and my job is to help kindergarteners tie their shoes and learn their ABC’s. It’s not glamorous. It doesn’t seem like it’s very much at all of a contribution to the kingdom. I mean, Beth Moore is a nearly 60 year old grandma busy helping her daughter through her unbiblical divorce and interacting with her grandchildren yet keeps a a packed schedule. Younger women also seem to be doing the big things, the glamorous things, like Jennie Allen and Raechel Myers and Kari Jobe. As for me, I’m just plodding.
Well, let’s hear it for the plodders.
First, if you are a mother, you are in a highly esteemed Biblical position. You are doing such wonderful work for the kingdom in being a foundation block in society, in raising pure young women and strong young men for the next generation. I thank Mrs Paton and Mrs Spurgeon and Mrs MacArthur and Mrs Johnson and all the other Missus’ who raised men and women who in turn, impact the kingdom.
Secondly if you think of the life of Paul most often we think of the highlights. His speeches before thousands, his dramatic miracles, his appearances before kings and leaders.
However, Paul also walked. Thousands upon thousands of miles, he plodded. He trudged. He hiked. From one town to another, in all weathers. In addition, Paul sewed tents. (Acts 18:3). He did the mundane. He wrote letter upon letter to friends. He fundraised. The in-between miracle times in his three missionary journeys were rife with the mundane and the insignificant, except nothing about a Christian’s life is insignificant. Not Paul’s and not mine and not yours. The Lord cares for all our concerns. He clothes us and feeds us and He even knows the number of hairs on our heads. To Him, it’s all significant.
As for the women of the New Testament, Dorcas was beloved not because she was on storytelling tours of Rwanda empowering women for great things, but because she sewed. She made clothes for the poor and she “was always doing good”. (Acts 9:36). She lovingly helped, humbly and quietly, within her own sphere.
Mary, mother of God? Do we hear of her going on her book tour, telling about the angel that came to her one day, and the miracle of the three wise men or hyping up audiences with her harrowing tale of narrowly escaping the massacre of the innocents? No. Whether she was in Egypt or in Israel, Mary simply raised her Son. She brought Him up in the faith and managed her household and she raised Jesus’ siblings too. A few times a year she made the pilgimage to the Temple and the rest of the time, she did what women then and onward have done, she lived in her home and she was faithful to the Lord through His word.
Here are two articles about the plodding kind of faith that endures. That kind of faith is cement. It’s bedrock.
The first is by Kevin DeYoung, titled, Stop the Revolution. Join the Plodders.
It’s sexy among young people—my generation—to talk about ditching institutional religion and starting a revolution of real Christ-followers living in real community without the confines of church. Besides being unbiblical, such notions of churchless Christianity are unrealistic. It’s immaturity actually, like the newly engaged couple who think romance preserves the marriage, when the couple celebrating their golden anniversary know it’s the institution of marriage that preserves the romance. Without the God-given habit of corporate worship and the God-given mandate of corporate accountability, we will not prove faithful over the long haul.
This one is one of my favorites. It’s by John MacArthur, titled An Unremarkable Faith
Meet Larry, a thirty-six year old Science teacher. Larry married Cathy 12 years ago. They love each other and enjoy raising their two sons. Larry’s life wouldn’t hold out much interest to the average citizen. His Facebook account doesn’t draw many friends and nobody ever leaves a comment on his blog. In fact, most people would summarize Larry’s life with one word—boring. But not Larry. Teaching osmosis to junior high students, playing Uno with his kids, and working in the yard with Cathy is paradise to him. But the real love of his life is Jesus. Larry’s a Christian. He’s been walking with the Lord for more than 20 years.
Not that founding orphanages isn’t worthwhile or something women or men can’t or shouldn’t do. Not that going on a missionary trip to Africa isn’t something Jesus wants us to do. But the big doers are fewer than we think, despite the hype. Most of the church is populated with plodders. As Kevin DeYoung concluded his article,
Put away the Che Guevara t-shirts, stop the revolution, and join the rest of the plodders. Fifty years from now you’ll be glad you did.
I bow down toward your holy temple and give thanks to your name for your steadfast love and your faithfulness, for you have exalted above all things your name and your word. (Psalm 138:2)
It’s currently fashionable to dismiss the holy Word of God, AKA the Bible. It supposedly proves one’s relevance to say that one desires a closer relationship with Jesus as opposed to studying holy writ. When the heretical novel called The Shack was published in 2008 it swept the Christian world, remaining at a number one bestselling spot for several years. In it, the author never pointed to God’s word as sufficient and infallible. It rather undermined those concepts by insisting on personal revelation and denigrated the Bible as ‘that old dusty King James” thing. The author scoffed at the idea that God has spoken authoritatively and sufficiently through the Bible. He points away from Scripture he points towards subjective promptings and leadings. (source).
The subtle mocking and scoffing of the Word of God, so delicately put in a thinly disguised new age treatise in 2008, is by now in 2016 a full-blown attack by a leading and influential Southern Baptist Minister. The salvos have just kept coming, prompting pastor, author, and podcaster Justin Peters and Pastor Jim Osman to take note. Peters said on his podcast Friday on World View Weekend, that
A friend of mine sent me a video interview of Andy Stanley by Russell Moore. Moore asked Stanley what he would do if he were the “Evangelical Pope.” Stanley had some rather surprising remedies for what ails the Christian church. I’m joined in studio (my office) by my friend and pastor Jim Osman and we play the clip and discuss.
In the clip, Stanley said that he would ask pastors of all kinds (senior, youth, seminarians, etc) to “get the spotlight off the Bible and back on the resurrection. Let’s get people’s attention back on Jesus as soon as possible. To leverage the authority we have in the resurrection, as opposed to scripture.”
Matthew Henry said, of the Psalm 138:2 verse, that the LORD’S name and His Word is above all things-
For thou hast magnified thy word (thy promise, which is truth) above all thy name. God has made himself known to us in many ways in creation and providence, but most clearly by his word. The judgments of his mouth are magnified even above those of his hand, and greater things are done by them. The wonders of grace exceed the wonders of nature; and what is discovered of God by revelation is much greater than what is discovered by reason.
As a practical matter for us today in living our Christian lives, do not compromise on your life and always remember the Lord God Himself magnified His word and His Name above all else. Here is John MacArthur on the fact that our God is an uncompromising God who expects of His disciples, An Uncompromising Life
It might be well to remind ourselves at the very beginning that God is the uncompromising God. God never compromises an absolute. God never compromises a principle. God never sets aside a truth for expediency purposes. God always lives according to His word. In fact, He said, “I have exalted My word above all My name.” In other words, He says, “I Myself, as to My nature, make Myself submissive to My word.”
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Further Reading
June 24, 2015, Is Andy Stanley Ashamed of the Bible?
March 31, 2016, Andy Stanley’s problem with the Bible
Septem 1, 2016, Andy Stanley Sermon Review: The Bible is not infallible, nor needed
Septem 1, 2016, Shocked Andy Stanley learns the New Testament part of the Bible (satire)
Septem 12, 2016: These Words Shall Be On Your Heart, Pastor Gabe on why Stanley is so, so, so wrong
the-end-time.org 