Jesus promised us trials in this world, but He followed that promise with a reminder, He has overcome the world. (John 16:32-33). There are many reasons we undergo trials. Sometimes it’s to count it all joy that we are participating in the trials Jesus underwent. Sometimes it’s because the testing we receive through a trial helps us discern the will of God. (Romans 12:2). Trials produce endurance (James 1:2-4). Testing and trials prove our faith. (1 Peter 1:6-7).
We live on a battlefield, and it isn’t even our home turf we are fighting for. Our home is in heaven, we are strangers and aliens here. Satan wants to subdue us, break us, entice us into a snare and immobilize us. We are warned to remain vigilant (1 Peter 5:8, Matthew 26:41). So we fight, relentlessly, constantly.
1 Corinthians 16:13 says, Be on the alert, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong.
The Lord didn’t leave us defenseless. He gave us armor. We are outfitted from head to toe, and we hold a mighty sword.
and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, (Ephesians 6:18)
The sword is specifically the word of God. It is the only offensive weapon in the Christian’s armor. The helmet, breastplate, shield, belt, and shoes are defensive.
The sword mentioned in the verse is not a broadsword. It is a sharp dagger, which all soldiers had at hand.
Sword: CC0 Public Domain Free use No attribution required. Grass, EPrata photo
What happens though is that a Christian may be vigilant for a while, and then he lays down his sword (which is the scripture). He is sitting at the campfire, mending his shoes or polishing his breastplate. The vigilant soldier keeps the sword handy for taking up when the battle heats up again. But some lay it down in the grass, and wander a bit away, looking for daisies to pick, or to follow a butterfly. They wander farther and farther, and then suddenly the battle heats up and they are caught without their only offensive weapon! They go back to try and find it but weeds have sprung up and hidden the sword.
Matthew Henry says,
Those who would prove themselves to have true grace, must aim at all grace; and put on the whole armour of God, which he prepares and bestows. The Christian armour is made to be worn; and there is no putting off our armour till we have done our warfare, and finished our course. (Matthew Henry)
Don’t let too many days go by without reading the Word. When Jesus was tempted by the Devil, He countered with the word. And the fact that the Ephesians verse distinguishes between the two types of swords, the broadsword v. the dagger and specifically used the word for dagger in this case, means that the the Christian is to wield it with precision. Jesus knew exactly which scriptures to use in reply to the devil. A Christian who knows some scripture but not many isn’t going to be an effective soldier nor a good witness.
There is no armor specified for the back, but only for the front of the body; implying that we must never turn our back to the foe (Lu 9:62); our only safety is in resisting ceaselessly (Mt 4:11; Jas 4:7). Jamieson Fausset Brown)
Is your Bible in the weeds, metaphorically? Or is it by your side, in your heart, on your mind? Be a good soldier, and have your offensive weapon ready when trials come. They will come. Jesus promised it. And He always keeps His promises.
When Adam sinned, the Lord our God, creator of all, cursed the ground.
“Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, ‘You shall not eat of it,’ cursed is the ground because of you; (Genesis 3:17)
I live in a rural area. Not every place on earth looks like this, I know. But I’m astounded that ANY place looks like this, after the curse.
If God’s earth is THIS beautiful after the ground has been cursed, then imagine the beauty of heaven! Look toward the reward- being in God’s family, perfected in glory, and seeing the face of Jesus, amid inexpressible sounds and sights of beauty of such scope that we cannot even imagine! (2 Corinthians 12:4)
But, as it is written, “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him”— (1 Corinthians 12:9)
Some readers have asked how to start or lead a home group Bible study. This is a great question. There are many reasons why you might want to start a small group study in your home or at work. In these days of rising apostasy, some people are finding they are not receiving good instruction at their church from the pulpit or their Sunday School class. Others have left their church and have not found another one yet, but do not want to leave off fellowship with like-minded believers. Some are in a megachurch and this is the best way to connect with fellow believers for study and prayer. (Acts 2:42). Still others are born leaders with the gift and heart for teaching.
First before starting a group at your home, if you are members of a church, be sure to discuss this with your pastor. You don’t need his permission to start one, but if you want the credibility of your church and his endorsement, you will need to submit to him for pastoral oversight- especially if you’re a woman intending to minister to other women this way. More on that from 9Marks of a Healthy Church folks.
Another note I’d like to stress is that if you’re a woman wanting to start a home group study, you do NOT need to remain in the women’s aisle at the book store when perusing curricula. There is no biblical command to study only from guides written by women, and there are many good reasons not to. Here is one prime example of how or why it might be better to study from a curriculum written by a man.
The IF:gathering is the biggest phenomenon you may never have heard of. That is because it is an organization founded by women who do their work mainly online. Though there are small group gatherings in real life, of course, called IF:table, these come about because of their organizational and promotional work in the largely hidden realm of social media. In other words, if you’re not clued in, you would never know that this is going on:
Every pin on that map, screen shot from last week, is a gathering under the auspices and curriculum of the IF:gathering, called IF:table. IF:table is women meeting up in homes and back yards to discuss the Bible in a fellowship atmosphere with an outlined curriculum. When I first looked at the IF:ladies and their local gatherings a few years ago, there were white spaces on the map where there were still no gatherings being held. You can see how they have gathered steam over the last two years. Now there are no white spaces east of the Mississippi.
The problem is, the IF:curriculum is less than solid. After all, the name IF comes from the women’s foundational premise; “IF God is real, then what?” These women promote a social gospel in lieu of the true Gospel among other issues with their hermeneutic. I’ll link to the biblical reasons why I’ve come to this conclusion below. IF is a liberal, questioning, soft ‘Bible’ study designed exactly for women who are always striving to learn but never able to come to knowledge of the truth. It’s a curriculum designed to feed into women’s vulnerabilities and capture them in a snare. We are the weaker vessel, and sadly, the success of IF:table proves it. (1 Peter 3:7).
For among them are those who enter into households and captivate weak women weighed down with sins, led on by various impulses, 7always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. (2 Timothy 3:6-7).
So aside from the biblical vulnerability we have to following the false, how do the IF: ladies successfully get so many women to gather in back yards? By making it easy. Here is their curriculum explanation outline-
IF:table- A place to gather women and share a simple meal and dive deep with people over real stories and Christ centered conversations. A time for a whole lot of laughter – and maybe a few tears – but time spent that leaves us with glad hearts. Full hearts. Grateful hearts.
We’re inviting you to join us by hosting a dinner with us. Once a month in your local communities
The vision is- 6 women 4 questions 2 hours (Acts 2:46)
Invite your people, prepare a simple meal, and we will provide the conversation cards 2 weeks before each IF:Table.
Therefore the question I was asked, what solid alternatives are there? becomes important. Where can women and/or their husbands turn to find materials that will aid the leader in setting up a consistent, biblical fellowship study in your home?
First let’s look at the reasons to have a small gathering in the first place, and what they are and what they are not.
They are not support or counseling groups, and they are not pure study groups. Rather, they are used to cultivate spiritual fellowship together, a fellowship informed by Scripture and pursued through prayer, study, and interpersonal reflection.
I would go to that link above and read that essay from 9Marks and read any others they have at the site. 9Marks is a website dedicated to helping Christians find resources and answers in today’s practical church life.
From Grace To You here are some short essays on the mechanics of the small group study fellowship:
Small Bible-study groups are great places for Christians both to interact with God’s Word and to share their lives with others. They provide relaxed and informal settings which facilitate growth in grace and understanding. Orlando Saer provides a realistic and practical guide for anyone leading or wanting to lead such a group. This book will give you the tools you need as a leader to see your group thrive.
Now that I have done my duty grounding you and offering resources as to the reasons for and how-tos of leading a small group study in your home, here are a few curricula you may find useful.
The first thing to do is browse for materials at a trusted store. If you’ve decided to go under the auspices of your pastor/church, he/they can direct you. If you are on your own, then you find that the materials offered at various brick and mortar bookstores or online can be wild and woolly. LifeWay offers much, but much of what they offer is heretical. Picking through their offerings would be fraught with time-consuming danger, even for the most discerning. I like Westminster Bookstore which has a Reformed bent to it. Shopping at their online store one would be less likely to come across heretical materials.
Concordia University is a Lutheran University in Portland OR and branches elsewhere which has a pretty good online bookstore attached to it. You can try for materials there. I have not done a ton of business through Concordia so as always, think, pray, and discern for yourselves.
Also, Amazon is helpful for their reviews as well as their recommendations. One thing that is sometimes useful is that as you browse and buy books at Amazon, the logarithm behind the search function begins to “know” what you like and pairs your search with like-books from your browsing history, your purchases, and others’ as well. ‘It’ makes recommendations for you. If all you do is buy Beth Moore and Lisa TerKeurst books then that is the kind of book that will be recommended to you. After a while of browsing and buying solid books you can then begin to trust the recommendations a bit more and explore them. This is a screen shot from my recommended section:
Here are a few leader friendly, seemingly doctrinally solid, and engaging to the participant materials that yielded up when I searched for “small group Bible study curricula” at Westminster Books and elsewhere. I say seemingly not to cast aspersion but to let you know I have not read these books nor done any studies through them. As always, choose wisely.
For women, by women, there are Bible Studies with Lydia Brownback, a recommended writer from both Challies and Leslie Wiggins at Discerning Reader. This synopsis of Brownback was written in 2008
Lydia Brownback is the author of several books. She served as writer-in-residence for Rev. Alistair Begg and as the broadcast media manager for the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals. A regular speaker at women’s conferences, Brownback also blogs at The Purple Cellar. She holds degrees from Syracuse University and Westminster Theological Seminary.
There is Todd Friel’s Drive By series. The Drive By Theology series has a study guide to accompany it. The Drive By title indicates that the theme is developed in numerous short audio lessons one can listen to on a short drive to work, say, no longer than 10-20 minutes. In the case of DB Theology, Steven J. Lawson is the main lecturer. The study guide accompanies the audio series. It is good for small groups because each lecture is short, leaving time for group discussion, and the .pdf curriculum helps the leader facilitate. There are various uses for the curriculum, as mentioned here in the introduction
How much you learn from this curriculum will depend on how much you put into it. You can go all out and turn this into a year-long project or simply use it as a way to look into a few of the things that catch your interest. If you want to understand more about how different denominations within the Church view the ordo salutis, spend some time looking at their teachings. Whether you are using this as a family study at the dinner table, a self-improvement project, a summer project for your kids to study, or a Bible curriculum for your homeschooler, you will find exciting things as you learn about how God has revealed Himself to us in the pages of Scripture
I also recommend Chris Powers, an artist who makes animations and creates doctrinally solid study guides to go with them. His materials are free. You can download The Word of the Cross study guide here. It is also available in Spanish. The Supremacy of Christ is available too, and it also has a Spanish translation.
John MacArthur’s new book Parables is a wonderful read, and a new study guide/workbook will be available on March 1, 2016. The Publisher’s synopsis says,
This workbook has been designed to enhance readers’ experience of reading the book and is intended both for individual use and for study in a small-group setting.
So now that you know of some of the organizations, people and teachers that come recommended with study guides for small groups, and can continue to search on your own, I hope the Lord leads you to a good one and that your small groups thrive. Fellowship is important and I admire anyone with the gift of hospitality and teaching who bring people together under their roof to exalt Jesus and learn more about Him.
Though the IF:ladies make hosting a groups study look inviting and easy, with their softly photographed flower-laden tables and their 4 easy question cards, but hosting a group is not easy nor should it be taken casually. Also, the ladies make hosting a Bible study look at once inviting and impossible-to-achieve.
Sure. My backyard looks like that.
It’s the Lord’s own word you’re gathering to learn more of, after all. So it shouldn’t be casual or easy. But the Holy Spirit gives aid and comfort, leads and directs. HE is in charge of our souls pointing us to Christ, and anyone who wants to lead people to that end will find help from Him. That is a guarantee, because He promised to do so, and His promises never fail.
Yesterday I looked at a popular HGTV personality, Joanna Gaines, and her testimony. She and her husband Chip are stars of a new show that are getting so many huge ratings it has sparked a revolution to find other Christians to put on the HGTV schedule. To this end, both Matthew West and Jen Hatmaker have been given series of their own.
With all the national attention given to folks who claim to be Christians, and have been given a platform to speak it or live it out for all to see, we should examine both their theology and their lifestyle to see if indeed what they are saying lines up with the Bible.
In Ms Gaines’ case, her testimony was not biblical. That’s what we saw in yesterday’s essay. Today we examine the Gaines’s lifestyle.
Some object to looking at how a famous Christian lives. They say, “Let them be! Their lives are private! We have no business looking at their home lives.” Five years ago I received much flak for looking at how Beth Moore lives. More recently I looked at the IF:Gathering ladies to see if their lifestyles are as solidly biblical as they claim. (Answer: no). I learned early on that what a Christian says and what they do are just as important as their theology. (Acts 18:3, 2 Corinthians 5).
If there is a gap between what they say and what they do, this is hypocrisy. Jesus rebuked the Pharisees for their hypocrisy (Matthew 23:1-12) and warning the people not to become like them. “They do their deeds to be seen by others,” He said. (Matthew 23:5)
We must look at whether a leader teaches what is true, and whether they live with spiritual integrity. If you want to be sure that examining the life of a teacher or Christian celebrity is biblical, listen to this sermon, “Why Integrity Matters.”
From this excerpt from GotQuestions’ essay “What does putting God first really mean?”, we read the following,
Jesus’ life was characterized by submission to the Father’s will, service to others, and prayer. It is interesting to note that Jesus never pursued worldly ambition in any way and never pursued the glory of this world. He had every gift, talent, and ability to make Him the most famous and wealthiest man who ever lived. But there was only one goal that He considered worthy of His talents—the glory of the Father.
This should be an example to believers. The time, resources, energy, gifts, and knowledge of God that we’ve been given should be used not to gain influence, make money, or fuel pride, but instead to multiply glory for the Kingdom (Matthew 25:14–30) and to save the souls of the lost (2 Corinthians 5:20)
In my opinion, though the Gaineses say they put Christ first, they don’t. I offer these thoughts for your consideration and meditation and leave the ultimate decision up to you. In other words, I am not making generally dogmatic statements, only that I have done the work of looking at what the Gaineses say and what they do and have come to the personal conclusion that they are hypocrites. The ultimate goal of this essay is a teaching lesson on, firstly, the importance of looking at a Christian’s life as they live it as well as their beliefs as they state them, and secondly, as a lesson on how to discerningly do that.
There are two areas I am looking at in regard to the Gaines’s lifestyle. 1. Their family 2. Their brand
Please note that I am not saying that it isn’t OK to be rich. It is. I am not saying it isn’t OK to be in business. It is. What I’m saying is that it isn’t OK to pursue one thing and pretend to be another at the same time.
———————–Family———————–
Kids visiting mom at work. Joanna: “If I could get a couple hours alone to do this work, that’d be great. Chip: OK, I’ll take the kids
Mom & dad leaving the kids to go to work Joanna: Mommy & daddy are going into town to meet with clients, so Grandma and Grandpa are going to watch you guys, OK? Bye! I love you!
Joanna and child labor Joanna brings the kids at work to do some art projects so she can use them as part of her staging for her client
Birthday party at work It’s Chip’s birthday. Usually said Joanna, they like to go out of town or do something fun, but she was busy staging a house so she made a party for her husband at her workplace instead.
And most telling of all:
The kids are part of my work (not the other way around) I love my kids and I love that this [my work] is such a part our our lives that they don’t walk in and wonder.They know, mommy & daddy are on a deadline, and mommy’s probably going to be here late again tonight.
It is well known that
“Every “Fixer Upper” episode is filmed in or within miles of Waco, mostly so the parents can be close to their 4 small kids,…”
And yet in every episode, Joanna is working late staging the house, and someone, either an extended family member, the dad, or a babysitter, brings the kids in and they get a piece of pizza or a burrito shoved in them, the kids re-arrange a few flowers for their mom, and then they get shuttled off the set with promises from mommy to see them real soon. It doesn’t matter to a 6 year old if the mommy is 20 miles away or 200 miles or 2000, if there is a babysitter on scene because mommy is working late a lot, and fast food, and daddy taking on roles he is not biblically mandated to, then that is not putting Christ first. Christ maintains that the woman’s primary role is oriented to the home. Mrs Gaines is not putting the children first, as even admitted by her husband. He has said many times she is the main part of the show, she’s the draw. The show would not go on without her. So when they had a chance, they signed on for four more years. That means they sacrificed the kids. Period.
Secondly, I have to say that there’s nothing in this world that gets me exercised than a hypocritical mother. Bible twisting saddens me, spiritual extortion and snake oil duplicity makes me shake my head in disgust. But let me see a mother who is trading on her motherhood in the name of Jesus to make money, and you have another whole level of righteous anger from me. I’ve written about the hypocrisy of these women previously, examples are Beth Moore, Diana Stone, Raechel Myers.
We have Joanna Gaines who says she puts Christ first, which means she should put her family first, but we have already seen in her testimony that Mrs Gaines’ dream is to have a big store. That’s her priority. As a matter of fact, when they signed on with HGTV for another four seasons, they were told they WILL have to travel to promote the show. They accepted. So when you see Mrs Gaines on the show, trotting out her children as a Christian trophy, eating a hurried piece of pizza with them and sending them back out into the night with a babysitter, just know that she didn’t HAVE to spend so much time apart from her kids nor use them as set props on a reality television show. That was the parents’ choice.
As long as I can go home at night and be with the babies. It’s worth it just to be able to do that locally. Joanna Gaines #hypocrisy
Magnolia Branding
The second area to look at in terms of lifestyle and whether it matches up with the reality is their conscious, deliberate branding of themselves. They like to put out there that they are just an ole country couple, surprised by all this fame, but that is far from the truth. Joanna has always wanted to be on television, and Chip has always wanted to make money. It is their dedicated, conscious, and planned goal in life for their careers. There is nothing accidental about it.
Joanna has a degree in broadcast journalism, interned locally at KWTX, and interned for Dan Rather in NYC at the show 48 Hours. She returned to Waco and spent ten years filming tire commercials for her father in hopes of getting on TV in a more formal way.
Chip started and sold two businesses while still in college, and after graduating with a business degree, earned enough to buy and flip his first house. He made $30,000. Stating in an interview,
“I made $30,000 on my first house flip that I ever did. It became obvious to me that I could work an entire year and make $30,000, or I could work for three months flipping a house and make the same amount of money,” he explains. “I became very excited about investing in rental property and flipping property.”
Joanna’s goal was to be on TV (fame) and Chip’s goal was to flip houses (money). It’s what drives them. Now, neither of those things are bad. Not at all. But it’s the hypocrisy of the quotes you find where they say, for example,
She appreciates the old ways of living, simple and hard-working with home at the center.
Oh really. Or this one,
Chip and I run a few businesses here in Waco, Texas, but Magnolia Market holds a special place in my heart
Let’s see about the “few businesses” and “simple living” with “home at the center.” These are screen shots from their business and property holdings, which is public information.
Third Street Ranch is owned by the Gaineses. That’s a lot of properties to manage! They are BUSY!
BOSTON–(BUSINESS WIRE)– Wayfair (NYSE:W), one of the world’s largest online destinations for home furnishings and décor, today announced a partnership with Joanna Gaines and Chip Gaines, the stars of HGTV’s hit series “Fixer Upper” and owners of Magnolia Homes. Wayfair will feature the popular renovation duo and their design tips in an upcoming marketing campaign.
What they’ve got going is-
–a television show to which they have committed for 6 years, –home renovations, –a realty office with employees, –4,000-square-foot store with 140 employees, –two vacation rental properties (not B&B’s), –speaking engagements at $62,000 per, –Magnolia Farms and its own apparel line,
“Magnolia Villas, a gated subdivision of 37 garden homes in a pocket neighborhood. Chip’s first house flip earned him $30,000 15 years ago. Today he said he invested seven figures for the ‘risky’ gated community,
–a new partnership with case goods manufacturer and importer Standard Furniture to create a comprehensive furniture collection called Magnolia Home. Joanna is designing the pieces, –a bakery, –Magnolia Market’s online business, ships 700 packages a day, employing 32 people, –an autobiography due out in Fall 2016, –a 600 square foot working garden, –a 40-acre working farm with chickens, goats, cows, turkeys, horses, cats, dogs and bottle calves. Over 60 animals in all, –craft workshop with tickets costing $100 per,
“I don’t know if we’ll ever get used to it because I feel like we’re just so normal,” Joanna said.
Normal?! Aw shucks. Just a small town couple. Who’ve hired an entertainment attorney and an agent.
Their brand is that they want us to believe they are a casual couple riding a wave of popularity thrust upon them and cheerfully acknowledging it’s all a bit bewildering. But no, it’s conscious and planned and exactly what they want. Here is the brand:
To think that my business plans scribbled on scratch paper have turned into this online store is unbelievable to say the least. Joanna Gaines
Here is the reality. Their business plans may at one time have been scribbled on scratch paper but they certainly aren’t now. Chip talks of a seminal business meeting where their brand was hashed out and their future decided.
An August 2007 meeting served as a catalyst for the current Magnolia business model. Joanna was spending more time at home, yet adding in time for business at the office. The couple sought inspiration on possible future directions for the business with Chip calling a meeting with some of his closest friends to seek their advice.
“It wasn’t all top executives invited from all over the country,” Chip jokes. “It was a gathering of friends that God had provided for us. I remember some of the specific bullet-point outcomes–what an asset we had in Joanna and her design style, and her as a human being, her looks and her character. Basically, we established that Joanna had the ‘it’ factor. That meeting was a defining moment. We regularly go back and recall what was discussed at that meeting.”
Like Joanna said, a few notes scribbled on scratchpaper, or a well-thought out tycoon meeting where plans were made to deliberately promote the mother for the power couple’s success?
Let’s go back to family for a second. Is their priority really ‘for the kiddos’? How much is enough? When you have little ones at home and you have plenty of money and a 40-acre working farm, a 600 sf garden, and over 60 animals, anyone who was really putting Christ first would have said, ‘I’m stepping out. I want to focus on my home. Working the garden, the farm, and raising the kids will keep my busy enough.’ THAT is Christ-exalting. That is putting Him first.
When one owns as many diversified holdings as Joanna Gaines does, how much is enough? When do you stop? CAN one be a home-centered mother raising children with multi-million dollar corporations at stake? Are you really biblically child-oriented and putting Christ first when you have the opportunity to stay at home and you choose NOT to? When in fact, you choose to make your life even busier? When you focus on your own dreams and career?
I am not happy to write this kind of essay. Not at all. I do not like to do it. It’s even worse than when I looked at Mrs Gaines’ testimony video and compared it to the Bible. These kind of discernment essays are the worst of all. They’re unsavory, distasteful, and distressing.
It is important because Jesus hated hypocrites. He excoriated them, the men who lengthened their tassels so as to look more religious. Joanna marketing her kids on tv to show what a good mother she is and merchandising them within Christianity as trophies of wifelihood is the same as making her tassels long. I hate it. I absolutely hate it and become very angry over it. Beth Moore did it. Rachael Myers did it. Diana Stone did it. I hate it. Using your children to hypocritically say one thing while doing another IS worthy of a woe.
They do all their deeds to be seen by others. For they make their phylacteries broad and their fringes long and they love the place of honor at feasts and the best seats in the synagogues (Matthew 23:5-7).
I know the woes Jesus pronounced on hypocrites and they were heavy. God said,
You hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy of you, when he said: “‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men'” (Matthew 15:7)
The most I hope for is that I’ve made you think about what you’re seeing and thinking about it a little deeper with some common sense. When you see a teacher or celebrity say one thing, but do another, it’s a problem. It’s hypocrisy. And it is a sin.
Several years ago a Waco business developer/realty/design/construction company generally named Magnolia run by Chip and Joanna Gaines were contacted to star in a HGTV fixer upper show. The first episode aired in April 2014 and has become an instant hit for the network. Ratings in the first season were through the roof. This phenomenon was largely attributed to the couple’s likability and charisma, good looks, and business savvy.
It is also attributed to the couples’ Christian faith. This World Magazine article lays it out, even stating that the reception to the couple in the form of ratings has “launched a Christian revolution at HGTV”:
The difference, at least in all the conversations I’ve had, is that while doing stunning work, the Gaineses consistently reflect an unassuming, recognizable Christianity. … But even these obvious clues don’t quite capture the subtle loving-kindness the Gaineses exemplify in their interactions with each other and their children. When the first episode of Fixer Upper debuted in April 2014, after watching for only a few minutes, with no clear evidence, I had a strong presentiment I was seeing fellow members of the body. A little web searching confirmed it.
The couple seemed genuinely in love. The pair seemed like dependable, loving parents. In its first season the show was just nice.
So why am I writing about them?
One reason is because the show has taken on massive proportions, huge ratings, and as World Mag says, the husband and wife team are the catalyst for more ‘Christian’ programming at HGTV. Since the Gaines’s have a national platform in which to showcase their Christianity, we look at their testimony.
Also, because of hypocrisy. No matter the celebrity, or perhaps because of celebrity status, we want to make sure of who we are touting and promoting. What brand of Christianity do they adhere to? Do they live what they say they live? The Bereans said they would listen to Paul but then go back and examine what Paul taught (Acts 17:11). Paul welcomed transparency to examine his doctrine, and he was the biggest Christian celebrity of his time. Later when Paul’s integrity was attacked, he defended his lifestyle, because integrity in life mattered as much as the doctrine he taught. (2 Corinthians 5:11–15).
Therefore, my examination of the Gaines phenomenon will be two parts. This part 1 will examine Mrs Gaines’ testimony, the doctrine portion. The next part will look at their lifestyle.
I mean them no harm and I’m truly happy the couple who has worked very hard for a long time on their business goals and ambitions, are seeing them come to fruition today. I am glad that they have opportunity in interviews to share about their faith and their church. Their long-term and more recent financial bounty has afforded them opportunities to give and support others in a blessed way, as Chip hinted in one interview. I am grateful that they love each other and are raising their children with good values, from at least what we can see through the lens of what is shown to us on camera. They are attributed with almost single-handedly revitalizing the Waco downtown with business, art, and tourism, something that every small town or city hopes for. Because of the Gaines’ an entire cable channel is looking for more Christians to produce a show around. These are all good things.
That’s what makes raising these issues even harder.
Recently Mrs Gaines’ alma mater, Baylor University in Waco, produced a video which has since gone viral with over 4.5 million views on Youtube alone, in which Mrs Gaines is given over four minutes to testify to the glory of Jesus Christ and her gracious salvation. And here is where it gets troubling. Mrs Gaines used the time to speak not of sin, grace, redemption, and Jesus, though she mentioned Him once at the end. But instead the video is a testimonial to Mrs Gaines’ ambitions, Mrs Gaines’ dreams, Mrs Gaines’ plans, and how God was going to fulfill them by giving her what she wants.
And she knows this because He personally told her so.
We learn in the video that Mrs Gaines always knew God was going to fulfill her business dreams because He directly told her, specifically and clearly. She mentions 4 times in the 4 minute video that God spoke to her. Her story, which remains consistent in interviews as well as the testimony video, is that when her two children were young God spoke to her and said she had to close her store which had been open for two years. In the first two quotes below, in order to salve her disappointment at having her dreams of running a business shattered just so she could perform her biblical function as a mother, God comforted her thus-
“I heard Him specifically say, ‘Joanna, I have a calling for you. You’re going to have a platform one day.'”
I remember hearing God say, ‘Joanna, there’s going to come a time when I’m going to say for you to go, and I’m going to need for you to step out and go.'”
I really felt like God was saying, ‘Hey, I want you home, I want you raising these babies at home at this age.'”
I heard God say very clearly, ‘If you trust me with your dreams, I’m going to take Magnolia further than you even dreamed. Just trust me.’ And I remember hearing that and feeling completely peaceful about it, and I walked away.”
First, God does not personally and audibly speak to us today in the way Mrs Gaines relates. Whatever Mrs Gaines thought she heard is not God. Here is a post by Michael Horton to answer the question “Does God Talk to Us?“
Second, God is not a dream-fulfilling machine. God is not speaking to Joanna Gaines. There is no need to hear the voice of God personally direct a mother to stay home and raise her children when the Bible indicates that her entire orientation should already mainly be to stay home and raise the children anyway. (Titus 2:3-5, 1 Timothy 5:14). God places a priority on the woman’s direct involvement at home.
In addition, though economic necessity sometimes force a couple to make a tough decision for the mom to work outside the home, and the Bible does leave some room for couples to make their decisions, in the Gaines’ case working such long hours outside the home was not necessary. Chip has always been good at making money. He made $30,000 the first year he was out of college, after having started and sold two businesses already while in college. Joanna’s store was also doing well at the time. But more on their lifestyle in the next part.
But please note that Joanna’s dream in the video that God was going to fulfill was the business, not the children. I’m not saying she isn’t a good mother, I don’t know that she is or isn’t. I do know that on the show there is frequent mention of passing the children for child care to an extended family member or a babysitter. I do know that they incessantly showcase the children on the show. I am saying that when you’ve been given 4 minutes to testify to the important things about your salvation, the items one would expect to hear are absent. She chose to focus entirely on God fulfilling her business dream.
After the store closure in 2005, Chip and Joanna Gaines had two more children. They now have four kids, Drake (age 11), Ella (9), Duke (7) and Emmie (6) all as of this coming May. Mrs Gaines continues from the testimony video saying that after a few years at home with the children, working her design business from home too, she says ‘God said’ in 2014 it was OK to re-open her store.
And I felt like God said, ‘Jo, it’s time.’ And I was like, ‘Time for what?’ he said, ‘It’s time to reopen your store.’ I said, I don’t think I can do that.’ And just cool and calm, ‘No, it’s time.’
I find it curious that God told her to stay home with her first two babies when they were young but that it was OK to become a business woman while the second two were young.
From various interviews within the last year or so, Joanna is quoted as saying,
I really felt like God said, ‘You’re gonna have a platform one day with women.’ (source)
I kind of felt like God just kept saying, ‘This is gonna be something that I’m going to take to another level,’ (source)
But I felt like God said, ‘Hey, this is the season to be home, and you need to trust me.’ (source)
But I felt like God said, ‘If you trust me with your dreams, I’m gonna make Magnolia bigger and better than you could have ever dreamed.’ (source)
So God is great because He gave her a big store. That’s her testimony. Not so much about raising her babies, nor about the blessing of marriage and a husband. Her dream, her store, her things.
The ‘key‘ as Joanna said in the video’s conclusion, is to let God speak to you and “let his father heart say this is what I have for you.” Again, an emphasis on self and the things God will give her, not the blessing of knowing Jesus, of being redeemed from sin’s curse, for escaping wrath, of being made holy in sanctification, for the promise of heaven, for the pleasure of enjoying God forever. Nothing of the sort. Just gratitude that He will “take the store further than she ever imagined.”
On a lengthy thread discussing the show Fixer Upper and the Gaines’, two comments caught my attention. Here they are, speaking about the close, intimate, audible relationship Mrs Gaines says she has with God.
But apparently Mrs. Gaines has been giving interviews, especially this past fall, attributing their success to Christian faith. She says specifically that God spoke to her directly and promised earthly riches if she was faithful. Which is interesting because that makes her just one more proponent of the self-serving “prosperity gospel” movement. (I’m episcopalian and many of us regard God speaking directly to an individual as both unlikely and a sign of possible mental health issues or blind ambition.)
Another commenter:
I googled Joanna’s testimony on youtube today. I’ve never had God talk so fluently and directly to me like He does with her. I wish He’d provide me with such specific instructions and reassurances. That’s really something.
They nailed it.
When Jesus spoke to Saul He knocked him flat on the road to Damascus, rebuked him for persecuting Jesus, struck Saul blind and told him he must suffer. When God spoke to John on Patmos it was to have John pen letters of rebuke, condemnation, and warning to several churches in Asia. When God spoke to Jeremiah it was to tell him do not marry or have children because the times are going to get rough, then spent 40 years prophesying so through the weeping prophet. Not that He isn’t tender, he is. (Genesis 16:7-13). But not once did God say to anyone He talked with in the Bible “I am going to fulfill your dreams.” Even to Moses who God said was a friend, in the end God banned Moses from entering the Promised Land because Moses had disobeyed God.
After the Apostolic era, nothing is ever said that indicates God interposes Himself audibly to specifically instruct or reassure people in life. This is because the completed Bible does that. (2 Timothy 3:16-17, Revelation 22:18, Hebrews 1:2).
God wants His people to be people of obedience, honor, integrity, repentance, bearing fruit of the Spirit, making disciples, witnessing to the Gospel, and persevering. Nothing is said about someone’s dreams, platforms, or levels. Self-serving prosperity gospel on display, for sure.
The other problem with Ms Gaines’ testimony is that it normalizes audible conversations when they are not normal at all, nor are they even from God.
Beth Moore, Kim Walker-Smith of Jesus Culture, Christine Caine, Sarah Young of Jesus Calling, and many other women “with a platform” claim to have nearly daily conversations with God, visions, strong impressions of the heart, and other messages that speak of fulfilling their dreams and hopes or otherwise give specific instruction. These are not from God. The kind of Christianity Mrs Gaines puts forth in her testimony video and in interviews is the kind that diminishes God in holiness and stature and exalts the recipient of these messages to an undeserved status. As in, “Wow, she must be special because God talks directly to her just like He did with Moses and Abraham!”
Millions of women who see Mrs Gaines’ seemingly vibrant and healthy relationship with God as expressed frequently and audibly presents itself as the norm – when it is not. And this is a problem when the network goes searching for another person or couple that displays this “recognizable Christianity.” It might be recognizable to the world, but it is not recognizable to God.
In the desert, cacti and thorn bushes mean business. Often, there are impenetrable thickets of rough bushes with spiky thorns that hurt even if you catch a glancing blow. Some cacti don’t even wait for a glancing blow but eject their little hairs to hurl at you as the wind of your passage awakens them. Desert thorns means business.
It wasn’t always that way. When the earth was created and the Garden of Eden planted nothing inside the Garden would hurt man as he passed. Which was good, because he was naked and not ashamed. Soft plants, beauteous flowers, stately trees, and mild animals dotted the landscape.
Then sin entered the world through one man, Adam, and because he listened to the voice of his wife, the ground became cursed. In some places today, the landscape even hurts to look at it.
After the Fall, thorns sprung up everywhere. Thorns hurt, thorns are negative, thorns are because of sin.
And to Adam he said,
“Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, ‘You shall not eat of it,’ cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life; 18thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; (Genesis 3:17-18)
Anytime there was a curse thereafter, thorns are frequently mentioned as part of the curse. (Nu 33:55; Jos 23:12-13; Isa 5:5-6; 7:23-25; 55:8-13; Jer 12:13; Hos 9:6). Jesus used the symbols of “thorns” in his teaching in a negative sense (Matt. 7:16; Mark 4:7, 18; Heb. 6:8).
Thorns came in with sin, and were part of the curse that was the product of sin, Gen. 3:18. Therefore Christ, being made a curse for us, and dying to remove the curse from us, felt the pain and smart of those thorns, nay, and binds them as a crown to him (Job 31:36); for his sufferings for us were his glory. Matthew Henry’s commentary on the whole Bible: complete and unabridged in one volume.
In Matthew 27:29 we read that the soldiers who were crucifying Christ had some mocking fun with Him and placed a crown of thorns over His head.
Source Logos Bible Software
Ye shall go out with joy, and be led forth with peace: the mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands. Instead of the thorn shall come up the fir tree, and instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle tree: and it shall be to the LORD for a name, for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off.’ (Isaiah 55: 12-13)
Trees ‘clapping their hands’ is indicative of the fact that creation will no longer groan (Romans 8:22) but be glad.
In the crown of thorns placed upon His head, it was not only a mocking activity performed by pagans, but symbolic of the Lamb caught in the thorn thicket when Abraham was about to sacrifice Isaac. It is symbolic of the curse of sin that Jesus took upon Himself, so that we may escape it through Him.
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When you see that crown of thorns, and you think about the mockery and pain Jesus endured on our behalf, think about Him the spotless Lamb taking upon Himself the sins you and I do daily.
The Roman soldiers unknowingly took an object of the curse and fashioned it into a crown for the one who would deliver us from that curse. “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree’” (Galatians 3:13). (source)
What a tremendous, loving, wonderful Savior we have in Jesus Christ.
Can you imagine the Wal-Mart floral department offering a bouquet of thorns? Does the Garden Center ever advertise Acacia thorn bushes? Do carpenters choose two-by-fours made of thorn wood? Except for our botanist friends, few people find thorns captivating. They are not beautiful. And they don’t seem very useful, though they do burn extremely well. The negative associations of thorns are what make their appearance in the Bible so intriguing, for God weaves these very thorns into the revelation of His grace. He gives them a star role in the unfolding drama of His judgment and unbelievable mercy.
In the original Eden you didn’t have to have cultivated planned crops, and you didn’t have any weeds. You had the natural flourishing of the earth producing all manner of food without crops, as we know them, that now produce flour and from that we make bread and there was no siach, no weeds which grow profusely now. And it also mentions in chapter 2 verse 5 that the rain contributes to that as we well know. Take a vacant piece of dirt, do nothing to it, just wait and let it rain and you will have a flourishing field full of weeds.
After Jesus’ sham trials and subsequent flogging, and before He was crucified, the Roman soldiers “twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on His head. They put a staff in His right hand and knelt in front of Him and mocked Him. ‘Hail, king of the Jews!’ they said” (Matthew 27:29; see also John 19:2-5). While a crown of thorns would be exceedingly painful, the crown of thorns was more about mockery than it was about pain.
Do not be surprised, brothers, that the world hates you. (1 John 3:13).
The Alexamenos graffito is a piece of Roman graffiti scratched in plaster on the wall of a room near the Palatine Hill in Rome, which has now been removed and is in the Palatine Hill Museum. It may be the earliest surviving depiction of Jesus, and if so is the earliest known pictorial representation of the Crucifixion of Jesus, together with an engraved gem. It is hard to date but has been estimated to have been made c. 200. The image seems to show a young man worshipping a crucified, donkey-headed figure. The Greek inscription reads something like, “Alexamenos worships [his] God.” The graffito was apparently meant to mock Alexamenos, a Christian. (Wikipedia)
The graffiti was first discovered in an excavation in the 1800s near the Roman site of the Circus Maximus.
A tracing of the drawing.
The original drawing
If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. (John 15:18)
If you are being mocked, scoffed at, humiliated, take heart. Christians always have been. This is because those who do not believe cannot think right.
If you are enduring the modern equivalent of graffiti, say, an inter-office email that you have stumbled upon, a crass doodle of you on a napkin left behind in the lunchroom, an overheard conversation scoffing at your faith, do not be troubled.
For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. (1 Corinthians 1:18)
You stand in a long and noble line of those who were scoffed at, including the worshipful Alexamenos, a long-dead, unknown person who loved Christ enough to stand up for Him by kneeling to worship in a crass culture that hated righteousness and truth. Like our culture now. Some things never change! You are never stronger than when you are kneeling at His feet.
Valentine’s Day is a made-up holiday so greeting card, candy, and flower companies can get money.
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One famous quote from Billie Holiday says
“Love is like a faucet, it turns off and on.”
The world does not know love. It expresses kindness and sensitivity and something approximating love, but without Christ, we don’t know what love is. To Billie Holiday and others, love is something that can come on of its own volition, and it can go away again.
God’s love is eternal. This is because God IS love. His love is perfect, pure, holy, eternal, and thorough. He loves His people with a devotion saturated with timelessness and emanates from living waters that flow forever. No faucet in sight, just an everlastingly flowing fountain of perfect love.
In our economy, love is a fleeting feeling based on a deceitful human heart. In God’s economy, love is a permanent state of being.
Wouldn’t you like to know this kind of love? God loves us so much that,
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In return, we love God with all we’ve got in us. And when that isn’t strong enough or faithful enough, in His sanctifying work the Holy Spirit enlivens our soul and pricks our conscience and burns off what hinders us from loving Him as we should and we love Him all the more. Loving Jesus is not romantic. As Bob Dewaay says in his review of romanticist Ann Voskamp’s book 1000 Gifts,
The Bible speaks of the church as the Bride of Christ but does not describe the universal call of the gospel in sensual terms of a lover pursuing His love interest (who may have no interest in return). God is commanding sinners to repent. The gospel calls for repentance and faith, not romantic feelings looking for satisfaction. … When Peter urged Christians to grow in their faith and in Christian virtues, he did not point to a higher order experience based on romantic feelings—he called them to remember:
Therefore, I shall always be ready to remind you of these things, even though you already know them, and have been established in the truth which is present with you. And I consider it right, as long as I am in this earthly dwelling, to stir you up by way of reminder, (2 Peter 1:12, 13)
Instead it is a knowledgeable, singular, focused, pursuing kind of love. There is no room for anything else if we love Him with all our soul, heart, mind, and strength.
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Love God with your everything. Then the love you give to other people will be purer, stronger, and more faithful. And that is way better than a paper heart or a sloppy sentiment or a box of consumable candy. Your faucet will never turn off; because the love of God never stops.
the-end-time.org 