Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to make you stand in the presence of His glory blameless with great joy. (Jude 1:24).
How will we be presented? We shall be presented blameless.
Matthew Henry commentary, Now, our faults fill us with fears, doubts, and sorrows; but the Redeemer has undertaken for his people, that they shall be presented faultless. Where there is no sin, there will be no sorrow; where there is the perfection of holiness, there will be the perfection of joy.
We will not only experience great joy when we are finally glorified and presented to God, but also God will have great joy-
Then shall our hearts know a joy beyond what earth can afford; then shall God also rejoice over us, and the joy of our compassionate Saviour be completed. (MHenry)
We read in Hebrews 12:2a that Jesus is the “originator and perfecter of the faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross”. And what is His joy? To receive a Bride to Himself given by the Father.
Isn’t it astonishing to think the God on high will be joyous over us? Not that we have any internal merit to warrant His joy, but that He redeemed us through His Son, kept us from stumbling, persevered us to the end, and now has a blameless humanity with which to present His Son. His joy is joy for His Son through us.
God promises to present His people to Himself blameless and joyful. Left to ourselves none of us is blameless. Only those who have been washed in the blood of the Lamb will be made to stand blameless on the day of judgment. Though Adam and Eve lost the joy of living in the presence of God when they sinned, Christ has taken away the guilt of our sin and removed the fear of judgment. We will rejoice in that day because we stand clothed in His righteousness and will have been fully set free from sin. Additionally, God personally rejoices to bring us to Himself in glory. The writer of Hebrews tells us that “for the joy that was set before Him” Jesus died to bring us to glory. (12:2). ~HB Charles, Jr. “Blessing and Praise: Benedictions and Doxologies in Scripture” Study Guide
In 1909 a novella was published by EM Forster, he of the novels A Room with a View (1908), Howards End (1910) and A Passage to India (1924). His novella, again reminding the reader it was published in 1909, was called The Machine Stops. It is a view of the long trajectory of humanity that the author envisioned where humans have become totally dependent on The Machine, even worshiping it. They live underground and are suspicious of those who want to go above. Eventually, travel to the surface is banned. His novella explored overreliance on technology, as well as the impacts of perpetual social isolation and separation from the natural world.
The plot of the novella is below containing spoilers, so skip it if you do not want to know, and scroll down to the next part of this essay. Licensing to reproduce the Wikipedia plot recap is here. The novella is incredibly, INCREDIBLY prescient, predicting the internet, video-conferencing, instant messaging, and more.
Plot summary: The Machine Stops
The story describes a world in which most of the human population has lost the ability to live on the surface of the Earth. Each individual now lives in isolation below ground in a standard room, with all bodily and spiritual needs met by the omnipotent, global Machine. Travel is permitted, but is unpopular and rarely necessary. Communication is made via a kind of instant messaging/video conferencing machine with which people conduct their only activity: the sharing of ideas and what passes for knowledge.
The two main characters, Vashti and her son Kuno, live on opposite sides of the world. Vashti is content with her life, which, like most inhabitants of the world, she spends producing and endlessly discussing secondhand ‘ideas’. Her son Kuno, however, is a sensualist and a rebel. He persuades a reluctant Vashti to endure the journey (and the resultant unwelcome personal interaction) to his room. There, he tells her of his disenchantment with the sanitised, mechanical world.
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He confides to her that he has visited the surface of the Earth without permission and that he saw other humans living outside the world of the Machine. However, the Machine recaptures him, and he is threatened with ‘Homelessness’: expulsion from the underground environment and presumed death. Vashti, however, dismisses her son’s concerns as dangerous madness and returns to her part of the world.
As time passes, and Vashti continues the routine of her daily life, there are two important developments. First, individuals are no longer permitted use of the respirators which are needed to visit the Earth’s surface. Most welcome this development, as they are skeptical and fearful of first-hand experience and of those who desire it. Secondly, “Mechanism”, a kind of religion, is established in which the Machine is the object of worship. People forget that humans created the Machine, and treat it as a mystical entity whose needs supersede their own.
Those who do not accept the deity of the Machine are viewed as ‘unmechanical’ and threatened with Homelessness. The Mending Apparatus—the system charged with repairing defects that appear in the Machine proper—has also failed by this time, but concerns about this are dismissed in the context of the supposed omnipotence of the Machine itself.
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During this time, Kuno is transferred to a room near Vashti’s. He comes to believe that the Machine is breaking down, and tells her cryptically “The Machine stops.” Vashti continues with her life, but eventually defects begin to appear in the Machine. At first, humans accept the deteriorations as the whim of the Machine, to which they are now wholly subservient, but the situation continues to deteriorate as the knowledge of how to repair the Machine has been lost.
Finally, the Machine collapses, bringing ‘civilization’ down with it. Kuno comes to Vashti’s ruined room. Before they both perish, they realise that humanity and its connection to the natural world are what truly matters, and that it will fall to the surface-dwellers who still exist to rebuild the human race and to prevent the mistake of the Machine from being repeated.
Here are a few quick reviews of the novella:
“In such a short novel The Machine Stops holds more horror than any number of gothic ghost stories. Everybody should read it, and consider how far we may go ourselves down the road of technological ‘advancement’ and forget what it truly means to be alive;” rating the story as 10 out of 10.” ~The Fantasy Book Review
“‘The Machine Stops’ is not simply prescient; it is a jaw-droppingly, gob-smackingly, breathtakingly accurate literary description of lockdown life in 2020.” ~Will Gompertz, BBC, 2020
“1909: E.M. Forster publishes ‘The Machine Stops,’ a chilling tale of a futuristic information-oriented society that grinds to a bloody halt, literally. Some aspects of the story no longer seem so distant in the future.” ~Randy Alfred, Wired magazine, 2010.
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I read The Machine Stops a few years ago. One thing the plot recap nor the reviews mentioned is the impact of over-reliance on technology on the mind. The inhabitants of the underground world ceaselessly delivered lectures to each other by a vast network akin to our video-conferencing today. But the ideas contained in the lectures were derivative of each other, endlessly recycled and repackaged. New ideas were non-existent. This is because there was no input from external stimuli, neither in-person social conversation nor inspirations from nature and the organic world. Everything was sanitized, pneumatic, and sterile. Soon enough their minds were too dulled to create connections to new ideas and did not produce art, music, literature, science, etc.
Reading this essay below reminded me of The Machine Stops. The author is a Christian professor discussing how AI is impacting his life of teaching, but he also related the overall issue of derivative thinking to our faith, the sin problem, and morality.
He said, and I agree, that technology in and of itself is morally neutral. Immorality stems from an individual’s desire to live a life apart from God. The immoral person disbelieves he is going to be judged by a morally perfect God, and errantly believes that God’s behavioral standards do not apply to him. Autonomy from God is the root of all sin. Two examples are mentioned- climate ‘control’ and transhumanism:
“Like Frankenstein, these technocrats will seek to replace God by altering nature. Silicon Valley leaders seek immortality in transhumanism. Their goal is an unending life apart from God.” ~Owen Anderson
Most technology invented is one that seeks to give humanity a life of ease. Washing machines, smartphones, automobiles… do make our lives easier.
“Work that involves toil and drudgery can be done by technology so that humans can spend their mental efforts on creativity instead.” ~Owen Anderson
Except, they don’t spend their mental efforts on creative endeavors instead. Every time a new invention hits the market it seems that it will be the thing to release us from work-work-work, but then the hours fill in with more work, somehow.
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Many people are unaware of this, but when settlers first came to America, they saw many of the different Native tribes’ leisure time as scandalous. The Native Americans had very little ‘technology.’ Of course, they worked hard for their means, but once accomplished, they actually had copious amounts of time to do as they pleased. They lived lives of leisure with competitive sports, games, gambling, songs, dances. They had much free time and they used it for enjoyment of life.
They viewed the whites’ lives as one of drudgery that was grim and joyless, filled with wealth-building. Benjamin Franklin once said of ‘the savages’, “Having few artificial wants, they have abundance of leisure for improvement by conversation. Our laborious manner of life, compared with theirs, they esteem slavish and base…” “Remarks Concerning the Savages of North America” (1784).
Technology has afforded us in this and the previous generation the ability to proclaim Jesus across the globe. O, how the early missionaries may have envied us this day and age where at the press of a button, an entire whole Bible can be delivered to anyone who wants to receive it, in their language. Where sermons can be heard from a wealth of living and passed on preachers. Church history at the fingertips… and so much more.
But the biggest industry online is porn.
As Mr Anderson said in his essay, “Sinners make tools to sin more effectively. Instead of aiming at the chief end of glorifying God and enjoying him forever, unregenerate humans will seek our own ends.“
And what ARE those ends? Satisfying various lusts. Only and forever.
I’d encourage the reader to read Forster’s novella. It is only 46 pages, and can be bought inexpensively as a paperback, read on Kindle, or read for free online. Then compare with Mr Anderson’s thoughts on AI.
AI and the future of technology is a subject worthy of pondering for the Christian, and to come to a settled conviction of how we each approach it. Daniel 12:4 says
But as for you, Daniel, conceal these words and seal up the book until the time of the end; many will go to and fro, and knowledge will increase.
It is true, knowledge has increased, but has wisdom? Critical thinking? No. It has actually declined. I wrote a bit about that here.
I am personally skeptical of AI. I am leery of anything that does my thinking for me. I am old enough to have seen the invention of many things, wonders of science and positive additions to our lives. But by the grace of God post-salvation I now also know the human tendency to use these things for evil purposes. These things are a boon to our lives but at the same time provide yet another temptation we need to guard against.
For example, social media is great for sharing doctrine but also a platform that tempts us to intemperate speech. Smartphones to communicate at a distance with loved ones, but also time-waster TikTok viewing. Streaming platforms to view edifying material, but also lascivious movies we should avoid.
One day all the machines will stop. Then we will worship God and dwell sinlessly in His kingdom. Any technology present that we see or use will be solely for the glory of God! What a day that will be!
Any day is a good time to ponder who God is. He is worthy of service and worship.
Tim Challies created a visual theology of God’s attributes. Remember, God’s attributes are not parts that make up a whole. Everything good that there is, is 100% contained in God. He is 100% beauty, 100% aseity, 100% omniscient, etc. He is complete in Himself.
A typical classification of God’s attributes divides them into those that are incommunicable (those that he does not share or “communicate” to anyone or anything else) and communicable (those that He shares with other beings). Blue text attributes are incommunicable. For example, humans can seek to be good, but we can never be immutable. We can be wise, but we can never be omniscient.
GOODNESS: Moral attributes: God is the final standard of all good, and all he is and does is worthy of approval.
HOLINESS: Moral attributes: God is separated from sin and he is committed to seeking his own honor.
IMMUTABILITY: Incommunicable attribute: God cannot change in his being, perfections, purposes, and promises.
“And one called to another and said: “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!” (Isaiah 6:3).
Holiness is a quality of perfection, sinlessness, and inability to sin that is possessed by God alone. As Christians we are called to be holy (1 Pet. 1:16). But this does not refer to our nature. Instead, it is a command of our practice and thought. We are to be holy in obedience (1 Pet. 1:15). God has made us holy through his Son Jesus (Eph. 1:4; 1 Pet. 2:9). (source)
Our LORD is holy. We so often focus these days on His friendship with us, His provision to us, His loving-kindness … that we could always use a refresher on His holiness, I think.
“so that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud, for the glory of the LORD filled the house of God. (2 Chronicles 5:14)
“Moses could not enter the Tent of Meeting because the cloud had settled upon it, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle.” (Exodus 40:35)
Our LORD is holy! How wonderful it must have been to be so overcome with His holiness that they could not even stand!
The flip side of His holiness is His wrath. He is angry over sin. On the day of His wrath, which is His anger over sin released, no one will be able to stand, either. His holy fury will overtake the sinful world.
They were “calling to the mountains and rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who is seated on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb, 17for the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?” (Revelation 6:16-27).
His sinless perfection is offended at putrid sin. The following is a 10-minute sermon jam from Paul Washer on the Wrath of God. Remember, the flip side to God’s holiness is wrath over sin.
Wrath “Biblically, wrath is the divine judgment upon sin and sinners. It does not merely mean that it is a casual response by God to ungodliness, but carries the meaning of hatred, revulsion, and indignation. God is by nature love (1 John 4:16), however, in His justice He must punish sin. The punishment is called the wrath of God. It will occur on the final Day of Judgment when those who are unsaved will incur the wrath of God. It is, though, presently being released upon the ungodly (Rom. 1:18-32) in the hardening of their hearts.”
“Wrath is described as God’s anger (Num. 32:10-13), as stored up (Rom. 2:5-8), and as great (Zech. 7:12). The believer’s deliverance from God’s wrath is through the atonement (Rom. 5:8-10). “For God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ,” (1 Thess. 5:9).” (source)
Praise Lord Jesus that He will accept you if you repent, and you shall be cleansed and redeemed to His bosom. No wrath will be upon you. GO HERE if you want to learn how to be saved from the wrath of God.
I am posting a few encouraging essays this week (at least I hope they are encouraging to you), because I think we need to absorb some positivity based on glorious promises from the Bible. It’s a rough week for many people.
There is such inexpressible and perpetual activity in the holy realms, it is breathtaking to think of. All heaven is working under command of our Holy God to ready for the Time. What time? The time when God says to Jesus, “Go get your bride!” And His deposit of our inheritance will be redeemed in full! (Ephesians 1:14; 2 Corinthians 1:22).
All of time, history, prophecy, and Holy Sovereign Decree has been moving toward the time of fulfillment of the promises of Jesus to His Bride and the promises of God to His people the Jews. Everything.
But back to the Bible’s pictures of activity. Didn’t Jesus say, “In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?” (John 14:2).
Things are being prepared, right now. Our lodging in New Jerusalem. Our feast. He is preparing. He is engaged in activity to ready for the moment when a flood of redeemed souls enter glory to dwell with Him forever.
He is also preparing for the moment when His promises to his people the Jews come to fulfillment and the Kingdom Comes. Here is one specific glimpse of that preparation:
A Vision of a Man with a Measuring Line “And I lifted my eyes and saw, and behold, a man with a measuring line in his hand! Then I said, “Where are you going?” And he said to me, “To measure Jerusalem, to see what is its width and what is its length.” (Zechariah 2:1-2).
Zechariah had been awakened and was shown a series of 8 astounding visions all in one night. One of them is that God sent a surveyor (likely The Angel of the LORD, Jesus) to measure the place where the final Jerusalem will be, its exact size and placement! Rejoice O Jerusalem! “Rejoice with Jerusalem, and be glad for her, all you who love her; rejoice with her in joy, all you who mourn over her;” (Isaiah 66:10).
Right now Jerusalem is split and under contention. Later it will be called Egypt and Sodom, (Revelation 11:8), but someday it will be cleansed, and it will become the holy city God intended it to be.
Look! He is so gracious, He showed Ezekiel also! “In the visions God brought me to the land of Israel, set me on a high mountain in which there was a structure like a city on the south. And he brought me there and behold there was a man whose appearance was like the appearance of bronze with a line of flax in his hand and a measuring reed and he stood in the gate.” (Ezekiel 40:2).
Measuring … preparing … So much activity:
William Blake, Jacob’s Ladder
“And he [Jacob] dreamed, and behold, there was a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven. And behold, the angels of God were ascending and descending on it!” (Genesis 28:12).
Going and coming … ascending and descending … Not just in the Old Testament but the activity continues in the New:
“He then added, “I tell you the truth, you shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.” (John 1:51).
The Sovereign God, His Perfect Son, and the Holy Angels are working to bring about the fulfillment of all the glorious promises of the Bible. I know we know the judgment promises will come true. The world and the heavens will be UNcreated in a reverse orderly progression that mirrors the 6 days in the Creation. Mountains will crumble. Rivers will dry up. Sun will blink out. Stars will fall. People will die.
But to the positive, He is also readying His universe for the new heavens and the new earth, for the moment when the Father says, “Son, it is time for you to be married. GO GET YOUR BRIDE!”
Is there any doubt that the preparations will have been completed and the glowing glorious heavens will be inexpressibly beautiful? No, no doubt.
“And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” (Revelation 21:2-4)
Our Savior who saves by grace, our Father, the architect of the earth and the universe, the author of our faith, the redeemer of souls, the Chief of all the Holy Hosts, is preparing…for us.
I focused on the phrase “fix your eyes upon Jesus” from Hebrews 12:2. I looked up the word “fix” and the Strong’s says
872 aphoráō (from 575 /apó, “away from” and 3708 /horáō, “see”) – properly, “looking away from all else, to fix one’s gaze upon” (Abbott-Smith).
How helpful. I should not glance, not peek, not glimpse, but FIX my GAZE upon him, looking away from all else and steadily drinking in all that He is.
Looking away from all else…what does that mean? It means not being attached to the things of this world. Your country, your job, your family, your spouse, your car, your ‘stuff’, your health, is not more important than Jesus. He is the source and the giver of those things. Fix your eyes on Him.
We need to spend more time with Jesus to look more like Him. Moses only got to see God’s ‘back’ and His face after being with God was so bright it had to be veiled. We have the privilege of looking at Jesus’ “face” as it were, through His word. I want my face to be shining, to have my being conformed to Him, to have my mind transformed. But it won’t happen unless I read the Bible. I must look away from all other distractions and FIX my GAZE on Jesus. A Bible skim won’t even do.
Read the book of Revelation. There are some symbols in it, but most of them are already explained elsewhere in the Bible (scripture interprets scripture). Admittedly, there are some symbols that are hard to figure out at first pass. But those don’t diminish the overall majesty and awe-provoking wonder of the book, nor its intended meaning. It takes study, like any Bible book. It’s not harder than Romans…IMO
When the Antichrist, Man of Perdition, appears, it will be a devastating time on earth. Jesus Himself said it will be the worst time on earth there ever has been or ever will be. (Matthew 24:21). Satan will have come to the climax of his eons-long effort to de-throne God and to take over the world. He will indwell the Man of Perdition, and so there will be mostly only sin upon the earth. Sin will prevail- for a time.
In former times, people could not understand how certain things would occur that are described in Revelation. Like, for example, the verse that says all peoples will look upon the bodies of the slain Witnesses in the streets and not allow their bodies to be buried, and they will make merry and exchange gifts.
As a temporary aside, the unsaved HATE Christianity and all it represents. When sin is allowed its full measure on the earth, look how that hate is finally fully expressed: instead of Christmas celebrating the Babe with gift exchange, the world celebrates the Two Witnesses’ deaths and putrefying bodies with gifts. Instead of celebrating life, they will celebrate death.
Never think we can ‘woo the seeker’ with soft words. Only the actual Gospel will serve, and the world will love the Two Witnesses’ deaths because, as the scripture says, the world was ‘tormented’ by their words. (Revelation 11:10-11). The Gospel offends.
Anyway, before television was invented, before even film, radio, telegraph, the old timey people wondered, HOW would the whole world see this spectacle? There is no doubt that it will occur, but the means by which it will be fulfilled was beyond their imaginations.
But now technology has advanced so we say ‘Oh, satellite/cable/cellphones/wifi… THAT’S how.’
And now we come to another technological crossroad. You have heard of AI. AI stands for Artificial Intelligence. AI can generate art or literature based on key word inputs. It can also mimic voices. It is getting better at voice fakes. AI is even about to be able to produce 3D-holograms that can be done on a smartphone.
There is a verse in Revelation that people can’t really decide on how to interpret:
And he makes the earth and those who live on it worship the first beast, whose fatal wound was healed. He performs great signs, so that he even makes fire come down out of the sky to the earth in the presence of people. And he deceives those who live on the earth because of the signs which it was given him to perform in the presence of the beast, telling those who live on the earth to make an image to the beast who *had the wound of the sword and has come to life. And it was given to him to give breath to the image of the beast, so that the image of the beast would even speak and cause all who do not worship the image of the beast to be killed. (Revelation 13:12b-15)
Wut? Is the Antichrist killed? Is he dead? Not dead? Dead but resurrected?
Does it matter? With deep fakes and holograms, and AI that can mimic the person’s voice, any of the above is possible.
I thought about this from Revelation 13 when I came across a news story about a High School Principal who was framed by a staff member under investigation who used AI to make it seem like the principal had engaged in a racist rant. The swift circulation of this supposed clip caused significant disruption to the school and its students, a devastating impact to the man’s reputation, and a huge risk of harm to the principal and his family from others. But it was AI and only a fake from the disgruntled staffer.
The technology person interviewed in the news story said that there were clues in the audio that let police know this was a fake. He said that the person making it seemed a bit rushed, “but, if he had taken a bit more time, it would have been impossible for naked ears to tell the difference” between the fake and the real voice. I was interested to see that the AI voice fake was generated by the staffer who was a PE teacher. He wasn’t an underground shadowy guy like you see on the spy shows using massive technical materials in the ‘deep web’. He was just a regular teacher who created the fake easily. But it fooled people for a time.
AI is causing issues. I hear that scammers have latched onto AI to use voice mimicry to pose as grandchildren to ask Grandma for her banking details in order to ‘help’ her. Below is a quote from New York Department of Consumer Affairs:
As advancements in artificial intelligence and machine learning continue to impact many aspects of our lives, consumers should keep up to date with the newest types of scams that may target them and their loved ones. Scammers may try to impersonate your family and friends using AI voice-cloning technology to ask for money or personal information. Scammers may also use deepfake technology to alter pictures or video to impersonate public figures or loved ones. “Scammers are becoming increasingly more creative and using new technologies, like AI, to prey on consumers,” said DCWP Commissioner Vilda Vera Mayuga.
In January, CNBC reported a faked AI robocall allegedly from President Biden to urge voters not to participate in the New Hampshire primary.
You know the adage, ‘a picture is worth a thousand words’? No more. Anything and everything can be faked. Is it any wonder the Antichrist will easily perform lying signs and wonders at the height of his popularity?
He performs great signs, so that he even makes fire come down out of the sky to the earth in the presence of people. And he deceives those who live on the earth because of the signs which it was given him to perform in the presence of the beast, (Revelation 13:13-14a).
Matthew 24:24 warns that these signs will be so realistic that if it was possible, even the elect would be deceived.
It is more important than ever to cling tightly to Jesus in prayer, in the Word, and in holy living. Work to increase your sanctification. Pray for protection from the deceptions of the day. Jesus is Truth, the source of Truth in His word and the only place these days you can trust 100%.
We should be grateful we do not have to navigate these earthly treacherous waters unaided. The Holy Spirit in us preserves us and daily transforms our mind to the mind of Christ. If I were you, and I’m preaching to myself too, I’d ramp up our walk to a run and strive harder for a closer walk with Him. He is the high ground, the Rock, the safe zone. In Him, we cannot be deceived away from the truth.
Poetry by Kay Cude. Used with permission. Right click on image to open larger in new tab. Artist’s statement below.
I keep returning to our (me!!) needing to “remember” God’s promises and provision. GOD THE I AM is the only fortress in Whom we find a righteous protector, defender and provider. He is the only place of eternal refuge from the world’s continuing tragedies and chaos. He is the stronghold Who is and Who will provide peace, wisdom, understanding, instruction and endurance.
When I was researching for my series on Puritan Wives entry on Margaret Winthrop, I read this in a footnote and followed it up to the source. “In 1640, Margaret Winthrop was deeded 3,000 acres of land at the mouth of the Concord River, which was later sold for establishing Wamesit, an Indian Praying Town.” Source
Wait, wut?! An Indian Praying Town? I need to know more about this please. It all starts with Puritan John Eliot.
“Eliot left England, the land of his birth, in 1631 as a young Puritan pastor. He worked in Boston for a year, then established a church five miles away in Roxbury, where he remained for 58 years, until his death. From the beginning he established an excellent relationship with the Narragansett Indians in the area and gradually also with other peoples speaking related languages.” Source
It seems that shortly after settling in Massachusetts, the Puritans recognized the need to evangelize the Native Americans. The language barrier was a difficulty, though. John Eliot was particularly burdened for these souls, and attempted a sermon in 1646 which was a failure, mainly due to the butchered language. Nevertheless, Eliot continued to meet with the leader (sachem) of the Massachusetts tribe, Cutshamekin, and soon he converted.
But the language barrier bothered Eliot, and he decided to do something about it. The Pequot Cockenoe, who had been captured in the 1637 Pequot War between the colonists and the Indians, served Eliot as translator and teacher. In return, Eliot taught Cockenoe how to write. The first things Eliot transliterated was the Lord’s Prayer and the Ten Commandments, plus some other prayers. By the late 1640s, Eliot was preaching to the Indians in their language. The earliest converts were from Eliot having conducted sermons and visited Native American homes, these were the earliest ways of propagating the gospel. But it was slow and cumbersome, and there was only one of Eliot.
Eliot wrote to England for help. In 1649, the government in England chartered the “Corporation for the Promoting and Propagating the Gospel of Jesus Christ in New England”. The Act endowed the parties with an official Corporation, complete with President and Treasurer. It was allowed to collect and send money to the Puritans in New England for the purpose of missions to the indigenous peoples on this side of the Atlantic. They raised 12,000 English pounds! That is equivalent to 2million dollars in today’s currency (according to one history calculator).
As converts increased, Eliot then set about finding acreage for these newly converted Indians to live, called “praying Indians”. He wanted to separate them from their tribal obligations and mode of dress, and reduce temptations. He also wanted to have the Native Americans and Colonists mix more.
This is where the acreage mentioned at the top of this essay comes in. The Winthrop acreage established an “Indian Praying Town”. It was and to this day is called Natick, Massachusetts. Eliot taught them how to establish a Christian community.
Eliot then ramped up his commitment to translate the Bible into their language, Algonquin. No easy task, there was no Algonquian alphabet! Eliot had to devise one, and thus became a lexicographer and grammarian in their language. He spent the next 14 years doing this but eventually in 1663, published “Mamusse Wunneetupanatamwe Up-Biblum God”.
The Eliot Indian Bible, published in 1663 as the first Bible printed in North America, was published with the support of the Society
Three years later, The Indian Grammar Begun was published also.
Now that it was translated, the Bible needed to be printed. Eliot wrote to the Corporation-
“I shall not trouble you with anything at present save this one business of moment, the printing of the Bible in the Indian language, which business sundry of the elders did petition unto the Commissioners, moving them to further it, as a principal means of promoting religion among them. … [Please send a printer] to New-England at the press in Harvard College, and work under the College printer, in impressing the Bible in the Indian language and with him send a convenient stock of paper“. (Source- The early Massachusetts press, 1638-1711, by George Emery Littlefield)
And the Corporation did just that, sending professional printer Marmaduke Johnson, 100 reams of paper, and 80 pounds of new type for the printer.
“Eliot was the only missionary to devise a new alphabet from an unwritten language for the purpose of teaching and preaching the scriptures“, we read in The American Puritans by Benge and Pickowicz. Eliot helped found the first missionary society in the New World, printed the first Bible in the New World, and was known as ‘Apostle to the Indians.’
Meanwhile, the “Indian Praying Towns” were multiplying. Eliot’s son John Jr. was now helping, then his son-in-law came to serve as well. There were 14 Indian Praying Towns in Massachusetts and 3 in Connecticut at the height. Eliot also established schools for the Christian Indians, established churches, and encouraged commerce between the Natives and the Puritan colonists. All was going well until…
Metacomet (English name: King Philip, 1638 – 1676) was chief of the Wampanoag people. The King Philip War – the most devastating war (1675 – 1676) between the colonists and the Native Americans in New England – is named according to him. Wood engraving, published in 1884. Source
King Philips War ended things abruptly. King Philip was actually a Native American called Metacom who started a war in 1675 until 1676 between a group of Indians and the English Colonists & their Native allies. Metacom’s father was Massasoit, you may remember, the Native American who helped the earliest Pilgrims who landed at Plymouth. Massasoit helped them avoid starvation. After Massasoit passed away, Metacom was not as friendly, claiming violations of the English in the treaties, and encouraged raiding parties. Eventually as tensions increased, war broke out.
Praying Indians offered to aid the Colonists in this war but were rejected. Many were either confined to their towns or relocated to Deer Isle. When the war was concluded relations among any and all Native Americans’ including the Praying Indians, was permanently damaged. It was said that it was a violation to even speak well of an Indian.
In 1675, when Philip’s war broke out, the English inhabitants generally were jealous of the praying Indians, and would have destroyed them, had not General Gookin and Mr Eliot stepped forth in their defence.Source, “History of the town of Natick, Mass. : from the days of the apostolic Eliot, MDCL, to the present time” by William Bigelow, 1830.
Things never got back to the height of the well-thought-of Praying Town. Ten of the original fourteen MA towns were disbanded. A few stragglers filtered back to Natick, the original Praying Indian Town, but it was closely supervised by the colonists.
John Eliot poured out his life for the Native Americans in his sphere. He was earnest for these souls and in return was beloved by the people he helped convert. Tokkohwompait was one of these men. At the end of Eliot’s life, he wrote to John Eliot,
“God hath made you to us and our nation a spiritual father, we are inexpressibly engaged to you for your faithful indefatigable labors, and love, to us and for us, you have always manifested the same to us as well in our adversity or prosperity, for about forty years making known to us the glad tidings of salvation of Jesus Christ.”
What a testimony for the name of Jesus Christ. What a well-done life poured out on behalf of pagan souls. Many do not know of John Eliot’s missionary endeavors, but I encourage you to search further and read up on this inspiring man.
If people would simply stop accepting at face value the proclamations of celebrity pastors and lady ‘Bible’ teachers, that they are Christians, the faith would be stronger.
When a megapastor, such as the types like Mr Furtick, Mr Driscoll, or Mr Stanley, or a lady ‘Bible’ teacher like Beth Moore or Jennie Allen or Joyce Meyer teach something that isn’t in the Bible, or otherwise make an outrageous statement, the thinking goes something like this:
“What?! How could Pastor So-and-So say that? He says s/he’s a Christian, so how can s/he not know that isn’t the truth?! Since s/he says they are a Christian, we have to find out what s/he really meant. It must be a mistake, or s/he said it because s/he must be temporarily under the influence of NyQuil. Of course s/he is a Christian (because Pastor So-and-So says he is) and Christians would know better than to teach that.”
Complex rhetorical pretzel-logic ensues.
You know, most people who say they’re saved, are not saved. Am I pessimistic? Am I “judging the heart”? Am I “judging their motives”? No. Jesus said that many go on the broad way to destruction and few find the way to salvation. (Matthew 7:14). Jesus followed that statement immediately in the next verse, saying
Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. (Matthew 7:15). Further on we read the devastating verses in Matthew 7:21-23 where many are unveiled to not have been a Christian all along. Jesus says ‘Depart from me, yu worker of iniquity, I never knew you.’
In the New Testament ‘false prophets’ are pastors, a word we’re more familiar with today. Or they are teachers.
If someone in real life says to me that they are saved, I don’t dismiss their statement, of course. But I do not accept it at face value, either. I listen to testimony, I watch for fruit, I reserve comment or opinion on their self-proclamation until I see one way or another which way their wind blows. That takes time.
But if someone is a pastor or teacher at the highest levels with a following or influence, and thus a body of work to examine and compare to the Bible (Acts 17:11), and they say something incontrovertibly against a foundational doctrine, (like when Billy Graham says we can go to heaven without knowing Jesus; or the wild abuses against the Spirit of Benny Hinn or Joyce Meyer, or the greed with which a Joel Osteen bows to Mammon), then it’s understood in my mind that someone with the Holy Spirit in them would never teach that or behave that way. Ever.
There are some simple items to help people begin to understand whether to call someone a brother. Here are a few-
1. True believers will understand, confess, and defend the true Gospel of Jesus Christ. (See Corinthians 15:1-5.)
2. Actual Christians will discerningly spot counterfeit gospels and conclusively reject all of them. (See Galatians 1:6-9).
3. Believers, while not morally perfect until glorification, will care about holiness and will strive to live according to God’s commands. If pointed out to be teaching falsity or to be in sin, they will hasten to correct (See I Corinthians 6:9-11).
Remember, the Holy Spirit indwells a true believer. He will not allow decades of falsity to spew from the pastor’s or teacher’s mouth. He will not allow decades of behavioral abuse to continue. If an actual believer teaching something falls into sin, after a short while it will be resolved through repentance, or even in the case of the Corinthians they were disciplined with sickness or even death for abusing the Lord’s Table, or the Thyatirans who followed metaphorical Jezebel, Jesus threatened to kill them. The Spirit’s ministry is to point to Jesus, not allow falsity from one of His sheep to confuse the unwary and pollute the faith. We must see Jesus with clear eyes. Many, believe it or not, do not profess the true Jesus, but sadly, many do not know that the foundation of their faith is sand and not the Rock. (see Matthew 7:21-23).
How goes the Gospel in the world at the end of the twentieth century? There is no way of getting full or accurate statistics (though there are many useful attempts). One can only make educated guesses. Mine is that the vast majority—maybe 90 percent—of professing Christendom does not profess Christianity. Or rather, it does not understand the Christianity it professes.
Most of the people who profess Christ do not believe the essential doctrines that set one apart as a regenerated, saved Christian. I have seen this up close. A Southern Baptist Convention Sunday School Teacher/Director laughingly said to me once, “Oh, I just take most of the Old Testament with a grain of salt.”
Here is John MacArthur with an essay on “What kind of things do and do not prove the genuineness of saving faith?” Do not be caught by the conditions observed in a person that do not prove OR disprove genuine saving faith, such as: Visible Morality, Intellectual Knowledge, Religious Involvement, Active Ministry, Conviction of Sin, The Feeling of Assurance, A Time of Decision. Then MacArthur continues in showing Nine conditions that DO prove genuine saving faith. Here is the link.
Ever since the beginning of my walk with the Lord, I have been concerned with the notion of false professions, false Christians, and polluted faith. I work at not contributing to the problem by examining myself, confessing sin when necessary, and keeping my eyes on “This Same Jesus” who departed in Acts 1:11 and will return the same way.
I dread the day when Matthew 7:21-23 comes true, when many (hopefully not me!) will be unmasked as false believers and sent to hell. However, that will be one way that Jesus’ glory will be shown to be even more glorious than we ever could imagine. These things must be pondered.
the-end-time.org 