Hermeneutics. It’s not a word you hear often inside of churches. In our watered down state, preachers and pastors rarely use the “big words” any more. If they do, they’re abashed and even apologize for saying theological words like ‘justification’ or ‘inerrancy.’ However hermeneutics is a battleground in our continued spiritual warfare against the schemes of the devil. You must know what it is.
“Were they ashamed because of the abomination they have done? They were not even ashamed at all; They did not even know how to blush. Therefore they shall fall among those who fall; At the time that I punish them, They shall be cast down,” says the LORD.” (Jeremiah 6:15).
Therefore the showers have been withheld, And there has been no spring rain. Yet you had a prostitute’s forehead; You refused to be ashamed. (Jeremiah 3:3).
What is a prostitute’s forehead? When we are ashamed, we blush. The blush shows on the forehead. Those who are deep in unrepentant sin will not blush, like a prostitute, as the Bible asserts. When conscience is seared, sin makes no impression on the heart. Conviction is absent. So is blushing.
The absence of conviction and the pursuit of sin is a concern to God. Forehead occurs many times in the Bible. Revelation mentions forehead 8 times. Believers’ new names will be written on our forehead, says Revelation. Tribulation believers will be marked on their forehead. Tribulation betrayers will be marked by the beast on the hand or forehead. The Great Whore of Babylon will be marked with a name on her forehead. (Revelation 7:3, Revelation 9:4, Revelation 13:16, Revelation 14:1, Revelation 14:9, Revelation 17:5, Revelation 20:4, Revelation 22:4).
Here is an excerpted entry for Forehead from Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary:
Part of the face above the eyes. Because it is so prominent, the appearance of the forehead often determines our opinion of the person.The Bible indicates that a person’s character can be determined by observing the forehead. A set forehead indicates opposition, defiance, and rebellion (Jer. 3:3). Hardness of the forehead indicates determination to persevere (Isa. 48:4; Ezek. 3:8–9). It has been used as a representation of Satan (Rev. 13:16–17). The forehead is used as a very dishonorable word when read of the harlot’s forehead (Jer. 3:3), indicating utter shamelessness.
Like Cain whose countenance fell, or like the prostitutes and other deep sinners who don’t know how to blush, the face shows its sin. Isaiah 3:9 says,
The expression on their face testifies against them, and like Sodom they flaunt their sin; they do not conceal it. Woe to them, for they have brought disaster upon themselves. (Isaiah 3:9).
Puritan Thomas Brooks wrote,
“You have a whore’s forehead — you refuse to be ashamed!” Jeremiah 3:3. Most sinners in these days have brows of brass, and whores’ foreheads — which cannot blush. They are so far from being ashamed of their sins, that they think it a shame and disgrace not to sin, not to swear, and whore, and curse, and be drunk! Yes, there are many who are so far from being ashamed of their abominations — that they even glory in them. They flaunt their sins as Sodom, and make a sport of sinning! “Are they ashamed of their loathsome conduct? No, they have no shame at all; they do not even know how to blush!” Jeremiah 6:15. (Thomas Brooks, “A Cabinet of Choice Jewels” 1669).
The following is from an author I do not recommend, but I thought the statement was concise and thought-provoking. When a society doesn’t even blush over sin anymore, it’s doomed. When a society actively pursues sin, it’s a marker of their lostness. When a society is actually proud of its sin, it will be near collapse, or worse- judgment.
These passages [in Jeremiah above] all have a similar context: They were written just prior to the fall and scattering of either Israel to the north or Judah to the south. Each shows a wealthy people unblinkingly focused on their pleasure. Giving no thought to God, they are casually uninterested in the moral welfare of their nation that is crashing into utter depravity. Shame for sin has disappeared. The Interpreter’s Commentary of the Bible states that the Bible shows that, in the period before these nations fell, their societies show significant breakdowns in two vital areas: in political and business leadership and in family life, with specific blame falling on women.
In these passages, the following characteristics are either directly named or strongly implied: rebellion, obstinacy, betrayal, distrust, shamelessness, and greed, comprising an audacious self-centeredness against God and fellow man. These are not the characteristics of a nation that would bring honor to God. At one time in the history of this nation, the overwhelming majority of people expressed a strong sense of shame when they sinned. Sin was an ugly thing, and due to this sense of shame, they did whatever they could to hide their moral flaws from others.
I look around today and I have to veritably peek between hands over my eyes, the sin is so rampant. It’s utterly amazing to me the pride that non-believers have in the sins they enjoy and promote. I am grieved, but then I think of HOW grieved Jesus must be!
We read the question in the Bible, ‘how long, O Lord?’ and it has passed from many lips. The Psalmist, the martyrs in Revelation, Abel’s blood, Moses…ask when will you avenge for sin, for death, for persecutors, for bloodshed? The state of America now, and also in many other countries like Canada, New Zealand, Australia, many countries, is one that deserves judgment. Sodom…Gomorrah, Admah, Zeboiim all were judged for as much, or even less.
As Ruth Graham said to her husband Billy, “If God doesn’t come soon and bring judgment upon the United States, He’s going to have to apologize to Sodom and Gomorrah!”
The Unrepenting Cities 20 Then He began to reprimand the cities in which most of His miracles were done, because they did not repent. 21 “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the miracles that occurred in you had occurred in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. 22 Nevertheless I say to you, it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon on the day of judgment than for you. 23 And you, Capernaum, will not be exalted to heaven, will you? You will be brought down to Hades! For if the miracles that occurred in you had occurred in Sodom, it would have remained to this day. 24 Nevertheless I say to you that it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom on the day of judgment, than for you.” (Matthew 11:20-24).
Our God is longsuffering, patient, and measured in timing His judgment. He waited 400 years to judge the Amorites.
At the same time, Genesis 15:16 demonstrates God’s love, mercy, and above all His longsuffering and patience with sinful man. Rather than immediately wipe out the Amorites, God chose to wait for over four hundred years to bring judgment upon them. The enemies of God would be displaced as God settled His chosen people in the land He had promised them. Yet God’s enemies did not need to remain enemies. They were given ample time to turn from their wickedness, turn to God, and be forgiven. The Amorites had a chance to repent and be saved, just as the Assyrians in Nineveh did during in the time of Jonah. (GotQuestions).
Will God judge America tomorrow for her sins? Will it be another 200 years? 400? Will He wait till Judgment Day and the Judgment of Nations? (Matthew 25:32). Only God knows when the clock started ticking the countdown to our own judgment. But when a nation wholesale and wholeheartedly begins to perversely absorb, instruct and co-opt young children into terrible sin, we know the time must be near. Matthew 18:6-7 says
but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to sin, it is better for him that a heavy millstone be hung around his neck, and that he be drowned in the depths of the sea. “Woe to the world because of its stumbling blocks! For it is inevitable that stumbling blocks come; but woe to the person through whom the stumbling block comes!
I love prophecy. I love studying the Prophets. In fact, when I became a believer, I had not gone to church or owned a Bible or was familiar with the Bible or Christian Culture. I started studying the Bible after salvation and I went straight to the Major Prophets. I read Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Isaiah, etc, first, not knowing the common way was to read the Gospels first. But then I went right on to the Minor Prophets and enjoyed Zephaniah, Obadiah, and Nahum. It took about 8 years of Old Testament reading intensively and then I turned to the NT. I mean, I heard New Testament preaching when I listened to my pastor on Sundays and the preachers I liked online, but my absorption and focus was prophets.
Sunday Beth Moore preached again, this time at a Baptist Church in Houston. She described her attendance as not preaching but “serving,” which is disingenuous. It is also a sin. (1 Timothy 2:12, 1 Corinthians 14:34)
Secondly, she chose to embarrass her husband in front of her million-plus followers by calling him out for falling asleep during her sermon. This is a disgrace. (Titus 2:5, 1 Peter 3:2).
Third, she chose to boast that the invitation to (sinfully) preach was from a “prestigious” church. We can plainly see where her heart is.
She is receiving flack for her rebellion on social media and on Youtube. I myself denounced this behavior, saying “she belittled her husband for falling asleep during her message. Ladies, this should not be so. Bible is clear women are not to preach. They’re also to respect their husbands, not publicly embarrass them for a social media anecdote. Moore is a scourge & an embarrassment to us all.”
Of the pushback Moore is receiving, she wrote a reply. She cannot resist. Below is her posted reply to the pushback. I’ll insert my comments in at certain points. Below that is an EXCELLENT video. At the end I’ll write why I am so concerned. Do not be deceived by her seemingly soft words.
Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them.For they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly; and by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple. (Romans 16:17-18 KJV)
BETH MOORE:
This is a cheerfully-written, good-will word to my beloved kin in Christ who deeply disapprove of my accepting a handful of invitations a year from pastors
The frequency of her preaching is not at issue. The sin itself, is.
who graciously ask if I would speak on a Sunday to their congregations.
Nobody, and I mean NOBODY is fooled by her use of the word “speaking.” It’s preaching. And she can call it whatever you want, but God isn’t fooled either.
I need you to know that I hear you. I see your deep commitment to your stand on women’s roles & I admire that you never tire of the subject.
I will never tire of warning women about false teachers. Jude says to. (Jude 1:23)
I acknowledge that, at the end of your open-minded & extensive exegesis of all the NT has to say about women, you hang your hat on the verses telling women to be silent in church. I get it.
But she continues to speak in churches.
I’ve read them once or twice or 500X myself. I too love the Bible. I too have studied it & value it so highly,
A person who spits on the gift and tramples it doesn’t value the gift highly.
I’ll spend my life, God willing, calling people into its pages.
And that is an issue, Moore calls people to its pages but by her ignoring verses that don’t suit her, and by her life, shows women that the Bible does not have to be heeded.
And after my own extensive study of women in the NT, I hang my head covering on verses like Acts 2:17-18,
It’s not a matter of ‘hanging our hat’ on one verse or another. It’s that the untaught and the unstable twist and distort verses, to their own destruction. (2 Peter 3:16).
& on those where the same Paul who wrote your final word on women references hosts of women who were obviously colaborers in the gospel work
Co-laboring is not preaching or pastoring.
& among the leaders in their churches.
No woman was ever a leader in the churches.
I also burn alive inside with the call of Christ to the great commission.
I pray she repents before she truly learns what burning is.
I could know more stop than you could. All of this is to this point: if my story about Keith Moore falling fast asleep on the front row of a church in full view of the choir while I was bringing a message does not—at the very least—make you grin at my expense,
It was as Keith’s expense. Not hers.
consider hanging up your sheriff’s badge for a few weeks and taking a vacation. Everybody, including me, knows how you feel about women in church. You’ve done your job. We get it. We hear it. We see your commitment to the cause. But take a break.
No. I will never tire of helping women see that Beth Moore and others like her are a danger to their walk, their spiritual life, and to their souls. She wishes we’d stop. But we won’t.
These are sorrowful times. Have a hearty laugh on me. It’s good medicine.
They are sorrowful times because of the influx of preaching, rebellious women like Beth Moore who continue to pollute the church. It is a grief and a pain to me to see it and to help young women overcome the normalization of sin women like Moore have put on them like a millstone.
Now, is the problem of women preaching really that big of a deal? YES.
In 1962, 2% of clergy were women. Now, in 2022, 27% of pastors across the country are women. Fifty percent of students in Master of Divinity programs (a seminary program preparing the student for pastoral ministry), are women. (Source from video below).
It’s been an explosion. What happened? The Second Wave Feminist Movement, that’s what happened.
Culture has bowed the knee to the power of women as promoted by the feminist philosophy, but God’s word has not changed. Women are increasingly intruding into roles God has not designed for them in the church. So much so, that according to a survey in 2017, 80% of Americans are comfortable with the idea of a female pastor.
Women are not to preach to men and they are not to become pastors or elders. The Bible is crystal clear on this.
John Henry at The Gospel of Christ Youtube channel presents the following video. It is well-done. It contains refutations to the ‘what abouts’ such as “What about Deborah?” “What about Sarah Palin or Kamala Harris?” “What about the gifts of the Spirit, aren’t they given to everyone?” “What if I feel the call of God to teach and preach?”
All those questions are answered from scripture, which is clear. Once again, women are not to teach or preach to men.
Women’s roles in the church are valued and important for the health of the local church and the global church. There is no doubt that God used women for His glory. There is no doubt that God used women in all sorts of ways to advance the church – just not a teachers of men or preachers.
The video is 21 minutes long. John Henry at The Gospel of Christ Youtube Channel did a great job of editing, showing the truth is undeniably clear. Every women striding a stage with a Bible in her hand preaching in church or teaching at a conference to men, every women ‘feeling like’ she has a call from God to teach while her husband sits passively by, every women who insists to be ordained and assumes a position not meant for her, is a rebel. Every. Single. One.
We know they are false teachers because they have been told they are rebelling against God’s word. Joyce Meyer has been told. Beth Moore has been told. I know others have been told. They ignore the scriptures they claim to love. Their continued rebellion in the face of correction is a clear signal these women are desirous of personal glory, filling a lust, or otherwise casting aside the Savior in order to errantly continue in their pursuit of sin.
Please take a few minutes to listen.
I have prayed for Beth Moore to repent. I have prayed for many of these rebels. I pray the Lord gives them grace before they die. I have also prayed over women who have contacted me, confused, upset, unsure, thanks to ‘Bible Studies” like Moore’s and others that distort the scriptures, or present a lifestyle unsuitable for their demographic.
I have prayed to Jesus to stop them.
For there are many rebellious people, empty talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision, who must be silenced because they are upsetting whole families, teaching things they should not teach for the sake of dishonest gain. (Titus 1:10-11).
A women preacher is a woman upsetting whole families. They are empty talkers and deceivers, teaching what they ought not. They confuse the unwary. They draw people away so as to diminish their effectiveness for the kingdom. We cannot ignore these evil people, we must stand opposed to them. We mark them, avoid them, snatch the doubters from the fire, and urge discernment.
PS- Beth Moore is preaching again this Sunday, at Transformation Church. PPS: Her speaking fees range from $20,000 – $30,000 per.
Sunday Beth Moore preached again, this time at a Baptist Church in Houston. She described her attendance as not preaching but “serving,” which is disingenuous. It is also a sin. (1 Timothy 2:12, 1 Corinthians 14:34)
Secondly, she chose to embarrass her husband in front of her million-plus followers by calling him out for falling asleep during her sermon. This is a disgrace. (Titus 2:5, 1 Peter 3:2).
Third, she chose to boast that the invitation to (sinfully) preach was from a “prestigious” church. We can plainly see where her heart is.
She is receiving flack for her rebellion on social media and on Youtube. I myself denounced this behavior, saying “she belittled her husband for falling asleep during her message. Ladies, this should not be so. Bible is clear women are not to preach. They’re also to respect their husbands, not publicly embarrass them for a social media anecdote. Moore is a scourge & an embarrassment to us all.”
Of the pushback Moore is receiving, she wrote a reply. She cannot resist. Below is her posted reply to the pushback. I’ll insert my comments in at certain points. Below that is an EXCELLENT video. At the end I’ll write why I am so concerned. Do not be deceived by her seemingly soft words.
Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them.For they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly; and by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple. (Romans 16:17-18 KJV)
BETH MOORE:
This is a cheerfully-written, good-will word to my beloved kin in Christ who deeply disapprove of my accepting a handful of invitations a year from pastors
The frequency of her preaching is not at issue. The sin itself, is.
who graciously ask if I would speak on a Sunday to their congregations.
Nobody, and I mean NOBODY is fooled by her use of the word “speaking.” It’s preaching. And she can call it whatever you want, but God isn’t fooled either.
I need you to know that I hear you. I see your deep commitment to your stand on women’s roles & I admire that you never tire of the subject.
I will never tire of warning women about false teachers. Jude says to. (Jude 1:23)
I acknowledge that, at the end of your open-minded & extensive exegesis of all the NT has to say about women, you hang your hat on the verses telling women to be silent in church. I get it.
But she continues to speak in churches.
I’ve read them once or twice or 500X myself. I too love the Bible. I too have studied it & value it so highly,
A person who spits on the gift and tramples it doesn’t value the gift highly.
I’ll spend my life, God willing, calling people into its pages.
And that is an issue, Moore calls people to its pages but by her ignoring verses that don’t suit her, and by her life, shows women that the Bible does not have to be heeded.
And after my own extensive study of women in the NT, I hang my head covering on verses like Acts 2:17-18,
It’s not a matter of ‘hanging our hat’ on one verse or another. It’s that the untaught and the unstable twist and distort verses, to their own destruction. (2 Peter 3:16).
& on those where the same Paul who wrote your final word on women references hosts of women who were obviously colaborers in the gospel work
Co-laboring is not preaching or pastoring.
& among the leaders in their churches.
No woman was ever a leader in the churches.
I also burn alive inside with the call of Christ to the great commission.
I pray she repents before she truly learns what burning is.
I could know more stop than you could. All of this is to this point: if my story about Keith Moore falling fast asleep on the front row of a church in full view of the choir while I was bringing a message does not—at the very least—make you grin at my expense,
It was as Keith’s expense. Not hers.
consider hanging up your sheriff’s badge for a few weeks and taking a vacation. Everybody, including me, knows how you feel about women in church. You’ve done your job. We get it. We hear it. We see your commitment to the cause. But take a break.
No. I will never tire of helping women see that Beth Moore and others like her are a danger to their walk, their spiritual life, and to their souls. She wishes we’d stop. But we won’t.
These are sorrowful times. Have a hearty laugh on me. It’s good medicine.
They are sorrowful times because of the influx of preaching, rebellious women like Beth Moore who continue to pollute the church. It is a grief and a pain to me to see it and to help young women overcome the normalization of sin women like Moore have put on them like a millstone.
Now, is the problem of women preaching really that big of a deal? YES.
In 1962, 2% of clergy were women. Now, in 2022, 27% of pastors across the country are women. Fifty percent of students in Master of Divinity programs (a seminary program preparing the student for pastoral ministry), are women. (Source from video below).
It’s been an explosion. What happened? The Second Wave Feminist Movement, that’s what happened.
Culture has bowed the knee to the power of women as promoted by the feminist philosophy, but God’s word has not changed. Women are increasingly intruding into roles God has not designed for them in the church. So much so, that according to a survey in 2017, 80% of Americans are comfortable with the idea of a female pastor.
Women are not to preach to men and they are not to become pastors or elders. The Bible is crystal clear on this.
John Henry at The Gospel of Christ Youtube channel presents the following video. It is well-done. It contains refutations to the ‘what abouts’ such as “What about Deborah?” “What about Sarah Palin or Kamala Harris?” “What about the gifts of the Spirit, aren’t they given to everyone?” “What if I feel the call of God to teach and preach?”
All those questions are answered from scripture, which is clear. Once again, women are not to teach or preach to men.
Women’s roles in the church are valued and important for the health of the local church and the global church. There is no doubt that God used women for His glory. There is no doubt that God used women in all sorts of ways to advance the church – just not a teachers of men or preachers.
The video is 21 minutes long. John Henry at The Gospel of Christ Youtube Channel did a great job of editing, showing the truth is undeniably clear. Every women striding a stage with a Bible in her hand preaching in church or teaching at a conference to men, every women ‘feeling like’ she has a call from God to teach while her husband sits passively by, every women who insists to be ordained and assumes a position not meant for her, is a rebel. Every. Single. One.
We know they are false teachers because they have been told they are rebelling against God’s word. Joyce Meyer has been told. Beth Moore has been told. I know others have been told. They ignore the scriptures they claim to love. Their continued rebellion in the face of correction is a clear signal these women are desirous of personal glory, filling a lust, or otherwise casting aside the Savior in order to errantly continue in their pursuit of sin.
Please take a few minutes to listen.
I have prayed for Beth Moore to repent. I have prayed for many of these rebels. I pray the Lord gives them grace before they die. I have also prayed over women who have contacted me, confused, upset, unsure, thanks to ‘Bible Studies” like Moore’s and others that distort the scriptures, or present a lifestyle unsuitable for their demographic.
I have prayed to Jesus to stop them.
For there are many rebellious people, empty talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision, who must be silenced because they are upsetting whole families, teaching things they should not teach for the sake of dishonest gain. (Titus 1:10-11).
A women preacher is a woman upsetting whole families. They are empty talkers and deceivers, teaching what they ought not. They confuse the unwary. They draw people away so as to diminish their effectiveness for the kingdom. We cannot ignore these evil people, we must stand opposed to them. We mark them, avoid them, snatch the doubters from the fire, and urge discernment.
PS- Beth Moore is preaching again this Sunday, at Transformation Church. PPS: Her speaking fees range from $20,000 – $30,000 per.
“There is no point at which God began. Before God ever made a world, He already existed. And the Scriptures make clear that as He existed from all eternity, there was already in His nature from all eternity the attribute of love. God didn’t become loving at the time of creation, for He has always been a God of love.” ~RC Sproul, The Eternal Love of God
I think of the moving story in the Bible about the Prodigal Son. His arrogance in asking for his inheritance before the Father had died, demonstrating where his heart was…leaving to pursue sin with glee and abandon. His realization that he was in fact worse off than the pigs without the Father, his coming back, resolved to be a lowly servant…the Father running toward His son, who He loves!
It’s me. I wandered in the muck of sin for 4 decades before in His timing, the Father plucked me up. He loved me through all that time, my sin and rebellion he loved me through the ages before I was born. He loved me in infinity before the foundation of the world.
His love is tremendous, expansive, unplumbable to the ends.
Would you love a pig of a person who spit on you and hated your guts? Would you wash him, invite him to your home, a mansion, feed you and take care of your every need? Of course we would not. We don’t. But God does. BUT GOD.
The Nature of God’s Loveby AW Pink
It is eternal. This [is] of necessity. God Himself is eternal, and God is love; therefore, as God Himself had no beginning, His love had none. Granted that such a concept far transcends the grasp of our finite minds, nevertheless, where we cannot comprehend, we can bow in adoring worship. How clear is the testimony of Jeremiah 31:3, “I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee.”
How blessed to know that the great and holy God loved His people before heaven and earth were called into existence, that He had set His heart upon them from all eternity. This is clear proof that His love is spontaneous, for He loved them endless ages before they had any being.
The same precious truth is set forth in Ephesians 1:4-5, “According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: Having predestinated us.” What praise should this evoke from each of His children! How quieting for the heart. Since God’s love toward me had no beginning, it can have no ending! Since it is true that “from everlasting to everlasting” He is God, and since God is love, then it is equally true that “from everlasting to everlasting” He loves His people.
LOVE ETERNAL AND UNCHANGEABLE
By Thomas Reade (1776-1841) GOD is love (1Jo 4:8)! Sweet truth! O my soul, rejoice daily in this blessed revelation, “God is love.” Before all worlds, before any being was formed, “God is love”—love eternal and unchangeable. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. He is love. How inconceivably great is the love of God! All worlds rolling in the infinite expanse, all beings inhabiting those innumerable spheres, which extend far beyond the boundaries of the most excursive imagination, all the myriads of angelic spirits which dwell forever in the bright effulgence of uncreated light, are only the overflowings of that love, which is inexhaustible. The immense fountain loses not one drop, though countless millions are filled by its streams. It is ever flowing, ever full. “Lord, Thou art love. Oh, fill my soul with Thy love! Thou canst not be diminished, and I shall be made everlastingly blessed.”
By this the love of God was revealed in us, that God has sent His only Son into the world so that we may live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. (1 John 4:9-11).
That is just one of many verses in the Bible about the deep and eternal love God has for His people. No matter where you are or what us happening to you, know that if you are a believer, you are loved by God, deeply, thoroughly, eternally.
and I give them eternal life, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand (John 10:28).
In 1 Kings 10:12 we read of the Almug Tree. I enjoy learning about the plants and animals of the Bible, so I was curious about this named tree. I learned that it’s also called the Algum Tree, and that no one is quite sure what type of tree it is. It could be sandalwood. Or not.
For me, the lone tree speaks of God’s wonderful handiwork, not only representing His gift of nature, but brings to mind that His redeemed are not alone, but safely tucked within His Might eternally. And as the brilliance of the sun pierces boldly through the dark-ending of the storm, one thought leads me to another — remembrance of Christ’s death and resurrection. Then speaks to His beloved redeemed: the “things” of this world are now more clearly seen through the light of His Salvation! We must daily pause to remember…
Believers are ordinary. We serve an extraordinary God.
He might use us in extraordinary ways, but we’re all flawed, sinful, ordinary people. He used ordinary grandmother Lois to raise up young Timothy. He took impulsive sons of thunder James and John and made them evangelizing Apostles. He used fishermen, (Peter, Andrew) sellers of purple (Lydia), teenagers (Timothy, Jeremiah, Mary, David), murderers (Paul). He used ordinary people going about whatever they were doing at the time and transformed them into vessels of activity for His glory.
Ordinary life: painting. EPrata photo
Yet there are some who believe that we must be extraordinary in order to make an impact for the kingdom. The movement of a few years ago when the books Radical, Crazy Love, Wild at Heart came out made many people think that they were ineffective unless they made a big and splashy move for the faith. This is not true. Mary and Martha were simply hospitable. Dorcas sewed. Susannah donated. Acts 4:13 says Peter and John were uneducated and untrained.
If you, dear reader or listener, feel marginalized, helpless to DO for God, ordinary, then rejoice. Our persevering faith in ordinary lives is just as valuable to God as a martyr uttering eternally known last words. Just as important as the luminary you read about in the Bible. Just as impactful as the hero in the Bible.
They were continually devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. (Acts 2:42).
Ordinary life: sweeping
What the Spirit inspired Luke to write was not just the extraordinary means of glory we see occasionally in Acts, such as miracles or healings, but the ordinary means of bringing God glory by a consistently faithful church. They devoted themselves to teaching and gathering and prayer. The extraordinary events died away as the miracles ceased, but the faithful never stopped gathering, learning, and praying.
Day by day continuing with one mind in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they were taking their meals together with gladness and sincerity of heart, (Acts 2:46).
Ordinary life: selling. EPrata photo
Note that. ‘Day by day’. The ordinary Christian life is one of persevering in spiritual disciplines day by day, accruing spiritual interest in the bank of heaven. I’m sure your parents taught you that putting 5 dollars a week into savings eventually yields dividends. They did not teach you that putting gluts of startling amounts into your bank account in spurts yields dividends. The way to save is to be consistent over time. It’s the same with the spiritual life. Add to your account day by day.
I’m looking forward to meeting these heroes in heaven but I’m just as eager, if not more, to meet the unknowns who brought God glory with their words or their lives.
Here are a few resources to help quell any anxiety anyone might have that their life doesn’t count, just because they are not running barefoot to Bali getting shot with arrows from cannibals or leading big conferences in arenas filled with thousands of adoring fans.
Here is Michael Horton, who wrote a book called Ordinary: Sustainable Faith in a Radical, Restless World. His book blurb reads as follows:
Radical. Crazy. Transformative and restless. Every word we read these days seems to suggest there’s a “next-best-thing,” if only we would change our comfortable, compromising lives. In fact, the greatest fear most Christians have is boredom—the sense that they are missing out on the radical life Jesus promised. One thing is certain. No one wants to be “ordinary.”Far from a call to low expectations and passivity, Horton invites readers to recover their sense of joy in the ordinary.
Ordinary life: cooking. EPrata photo
If you don’t want to read the entire book, here is Michael Horton with an article on the subject of Ordinary at Ligonier: The Ordinary Christian Life
John MacArthur with a sermon called “The Ordinary Church“. Excerpt: “It was Finney who decided that religion, to be valid, had to have some kind of high impact, high energy emotional element. It was about methods, feelings, experiences, sentimentalism, and it all trumped sound doctrine and theology. Gradual growth, by the normal ordinary means of grace, prayer, the study of the Word, fellowship was exchanged for a radical experience, the anxious bench, and there was introduced into the evangelical world a restlessness of those looking for something extreme.“
Other material that pushes back against the big, splashy, ‘change the world’ mantra are:
Memoirs of an Ordinary Pastor: The Life and Reflections of Tom Carson. D. A. Carson’s father was a pioneering church-planter and pastor in Quebec. But still, an ordinary pastor…
Essay 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.“
Ordinary Christian Work, essay by Tim Challies. “The questions every Christian faces at one time or another are these: Are Christian plumbers, cooks, doctors, and businessmen lesser Christians because they are not in “full-time” ministry? And what of Christian mothers and homemakers? Can they honor God even through very ordinary lives? Can we honor God through ordinary lives without tacitly promoting a dangerous kind of spiritual complacency?“
Saddleback Church pastor Rick Warren made headlines again this past summer 2022 when he opined at the Southern Baptist Convention about how wonderful he is, listing alleged spiritual and ecclesiastical accomplishments for which he took credit, not giving glory to the Lord at all.
In May 2021, he made headlines again, when he, at his church, ordained three women pastors.
I dug this one out of the 2015 archives, when Warren co-preached at a Catholic Conference. The Bible says not to be unequally yoked with false religionists in spiritual pursuits.
We should also not forget that in 2008 Warren prayed the prayer at the US Presidential Inauguration, praying in the name of the Muslims’ false god ‘Isa’, and had been partnering with Muslims in spiritual pursuits, even claiming they worship the same god as our God. Warren has been false for a long time.
the-end-time.org 