Scripture photo: A Tree Planted
The ascendancy of the ancient biblical powers
S. Lewis Johnson was a pastor, teacher, and theologian who lived from 1915 to 2004. He was a wonderful expositor and blessedly, his sermons are archived and available for free at the SLJ Institute from Believers Chapel, the church he pastored for many years.
In 1967 he began a series expositing the text verse-by-verse from Zechariah. In the second sermon of the series, he said something I appreciated. From his own vantage point, having lived through most of the twentieth century and into the 21st, he saw a lot of history. In 1945, Israel was reborn, an astounding prophetic fulfillment. (Isaiah 66:8). In 1967, the year Pastor Johnson preached this prophecy series, Israel was reunited with Jerusalem after their miraculous win of the Six Day War.
In this portion of the Medeba Map (“the Madaba Mosaic Map”), the Greek letters in red above Jerusalem say, “Holy City, Jerusa___”; the final characters are missing. Image by David Bjorgen, from Wikimedia Commons.
Johnson was a young adult when the Second World War broke out. He has seen the ascendancy of Britain and the Allied powers, Europe at its most powerful, and the ancient biblical empires all but forgotten. However after WWII all that changed. Here is Pastor Lewis.
In this particular sermon, Johnson said,
Now, the other astonishing thing, which may have some relation to it, is the reappearance and re-emergence of the ancient biblical powers. I know when I first started studying the Bible twenty-five years ago(in 1942) and read of Egypt, and Ammon, and Moab, and Persia, and Assyria. And noticed the tremendous prominence that they had in the prophetic portions of the word of God, I wondered if it were even conceivable credible if such a thing could really come to pass in our day that these powers should become powers again. And today as we open up the newspapers we read of Syria, of Lebanon; we read of Iran, which is ancient Persia; we read of Iraq, which is more or less Assyria; we read of Jordan, which is more or less Ammon and Moab; we read of Egypt, and of course, now, and perhaps most remarkable of all we read of Israel. Is there a connection between the eclipse of Europe and the re-emergence of the Middle East as significant in world history? … It is remarkable this connection. In other words, God marches on to the consummation of his program and time is his servant.
I don’t have any technical fine points of anything in the discernment department. I don’t have any profound insights for encouraging you. But I hope the mere fact of the pendulum of history marching inexorably toward prophetic fulfillment of all that the great I AM has said and the knowledge that God is supreme master of His own plan encourages you. It does me.
To Your Name Give Glory
1Not to us, O LORD, not to us, but to your name give glory,
for the sake of your steadfast love and your faithfulness!
2Why should the nations say,
“Where is their God?”
3Our God is in the heavens;
he does all that he pleases.
(Psalm 115:1-3)
Ladies, do you seek liver shiver experiences? Yearn for something more?
“I Want My MTV”
Thirty-four years ago, in 1981, MTV was born. The only problem was, few cable companies would carry it. “A 24-hour music station?” they said. “Ridiculous!” Music videos were new and a 24-hour music video channel was unheard of. The MTV creators knew teenagers and youth wanted this station and would watch it. So the creators of the station went around the Cable Company Big Wig gatekeepers and approached their target audience directly. The developed an ad campaign with some musicians on board (comprised of one simple exhortation to the teens they KNEW wanted the channel to stay alive. “Call your cable company and demand it. And the campaign “I Want My MTV” was born.
Along came Dire Straits thirty years ago and unleashed “Money for Nothing”. The opening guitar riff, pounding drum solo, and that falsetto “I Want My MTV” warble came together in a convergence of perfect timing and computer animated in a Grammy winning song & video. These were the golden years of MTV. As for the song “Money For Nothing”,
According to SongFacts, “This song is about rock star excess and the easy life it brings compared with real work. Mark Knopfler wrote it after overhearing delivery men in a New York department store complain about their jobs while watching MTV. He wrote the song in the store sitting at a kitchen display they had set up. Many of the lyrics were things they actually said.”
As the video begins, two moving men who deliver and install refrigerators and ovens, real work, see a video with the big haired pretty boy musicians and comment that they sure have it easy. They complained that everything comes to the musicians, money, chicks, acclaim, and the high life, just for a few hours’ play on stage.
Many would agree that slogging a fridge up a 4-floor walk-up is hard work and playing drums to screaming chicks is easy work.
What does MTV’s Money for Nothing/I Want My MTV campaign have to do with liver shiver experiential Christianity? Read on.
The experiential relationship with Jesus is the new(ish) thing nowadays. Some, like Sarah Young who wrote Jesus Calling 11 years ago, said that she read the Bible but yearned for something more, something tangible. Here is Ms Young–
Sarah Young wrote in her introduction (page xii), “I knew that God communicated with me through the Bible, but I yearned for more.”
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| Edward Steichen, Moonlit Dance Voulangis, 1909, Portland Museum of Art, ME |
She got the “something more.” Young wrote about the feelings and experiences she had with the “Presence” during her devotional and prayer times,
Young wrote: “The air was crisp and dry, piercing to inhale. Suddenly I felt as if a warm mist enveloped me. I became aware of a lovely Presence, and my involuntary response was to whisper, ‘Sweet Jesus.’ “
After a few years, it seemed like the yearning for Presence had caught on. Studying the bible, real work, was being set aside for a more direct, experiential kind of relationship. Piggybacking onto this female yearning for tangible, physical relationship with Jesus is the now 9-year-old DVD Be Still, teaching how to enter into the Presence of God and feel and experience “the Divine.” One of the founders of modern contemplative prayer and Presence-practice is Richard Foster, a mystic. He said of contemplative prayer.
“[W]e began experiencing that ‘sweet sinking into Deity’ Madame Guyon speaks of. It, very honestly, had much the same ‘feel’ and ‘smell’ as the experiences I had been reading about in the Devotional Masters”
Foster was highly influential to some of the more conservative sections of the faith, such as Beth Moore and Priscilla Shirer. You notice once again, the romantic and sensual language to describe the extra-special relationship these people believe they are having with Jesus. However it is a Jesus of their own imagination and the “Presence” – as they like to capitalize it – is something else indeed.
Priscilla Shirer has many studies out and is in a box office hit movie about prayer. Yet here, Priscilla Shirer “explains” the process of being still in your quiet devotional prayer time in this one minute Be Still clip from 2006. She advised putting on some soft Christian music and closing your eyes to screen out any visual stimuli around you. Then,
“allow the music to awaken in you the Spiritual side that we so often ignore. See what God wants to do with you in that time. I think He wants to have a personal experience with each of us. I think it’s kind of like a man and a woman that are intimate with each other. … and with your personal time with the Lord it’s the same thing. He is going to create in you an intimate time that’s going to be so different from anybody else.”
No. The relationship we have with Jesus the Christ is not like a husband and wife having intimate relations. No. But to many women, like Shirer, Young, and Voskamp, it is.
Moving ahead in time, nearly 5 years ago, Ann Voskamp wrote One Thousand Gifts, a book describing her tangible relationship with the ‘Divine”, liver shivers and all. She also wanted something tangible, physical, in her relationship with God.
I long to merge with Beauty, breathe it into lungs, feel it heavy on skin. To beat on the door of the universe, pound the chest of God.
She got it what she yearned for as well, or in the end, more than she bargained for.
She continues with phrases like “the long embrace,” “the entering in,” “God as Husband in sacred wedlock, bound together, body and soul, fed by His body,” and “mystical love union” (213). (source)
This kind of liver-shiver romance language to referring to our relationship with Jesus reminded me of this:
And that seductive laugh, which sets the heart to flutter in my chest For when I glance your way, my words Dissolve unheard. Silence breaks my tongue and subtle fire streams beneath my skin, I can’t see with my eyes, or hear through buzzing ears. Sweat runs down, a shiver shakes Me deep — I feel as pale as grass: As close to death as that, and green, Is how I seem.
It is a lesbian poem by Sappho. She lived around 600 BC on the Island of Lesbos, Greece, literally where and why the island got its name. Sappho was quite famous at the time.
Soooo…. anyway, you see the problem with the current crop of writings using romance language. Jesus Calling, Be Still DVD, One Thousand Gifts and all the jane-come-latelies afterward promote a mystical, tangible union with Jesus during devotions or prayer. This kind of ‘mystical union’ presented as normal is having a drastic effect on today’s Christian woman.
Writer Sam Hendrickson wrote an excellent essay about the phenomenon titled
Liver Shivers, Goosebumps, and “I Have Peace About This Pastor”
Hendrickson said,
Having spent a significant time around charismatics (Assembly of God, and Pentecostals), there was clearly an understanding among many of them (including pastors and leaders) that a physical response (including manifestations like gooseflesh) indicated that “the Holy Spirit was working.”
The rest of the short article is good. Please check it out.
I’m sure you have heard many Christians say things like that. I know I have. Maybe someone somewhere felt the walls of a prayer room shake or bulge as the first century Christians did in Acts when they were praying (Acts 4:31). In those days, as John MacArthur explains in the Commentary note,
“a physical phenomenon indicated the presence of the Holy Spirit. The disciples could not comprehend the significance of the Spirit’s arrival without the Lord sovereignly illustrating what was occurring with a visible phenomenon.”
And that was then, not so much now.
But what are women to think when their idols teachers such as Young, Voskamp, Shirer, Moore and others promote a physical union with Jesus that SHOULD be producing physical, tangible results? You get this from today’s time. Here is a woman on Facebook touting her relationship with Jesus in exactly the same way that the more famous women do. The trickle down effect has led to a devastatingly twisted perspective of our holy relationship with a Kingly Groom. She is discussing what happens to her in her “War Room”:
Plain and simple, nothing fancy. If you don’t have one, I encourage you to find a War Room of your own, even if it’s in the bathroom. I have experienced more goose bumps, felt the presence of the Lord in there, I’ve gone in anxious and have come out filled with peace, I’ve gone in there angry and have come out not. Yes, I pray all day long, but there is just something about going into a small room, no distractions, just you and the Lord and praying.
As for this “peace” one supposedly enjoys after the mystical union and sinking into the Divine, I think that also is a twist. Here, Mr Hendrickson also has good comments:
He opens his article with a quote from Ken Sande in The Peacemaker (2004, 3rd ed., Baker, Ch. 1 endnote, p. 299):
I have found that many Christians rely more on their own ideas and feelings than they do on the Bible, especially when Scripture commands them to do difficult things. In particular, many people seem to believe they can be sure they are doing what is right if they pray and have a sense of ‘inner peace.’ Nowhere does the Bible guarantee that a sense of peace is a sure sign that one is on the right course. Many people experience a sense of relief (‘inner peace’) even when they are on a sinful course, simply because they are getting away from stressful responsibilities.’
I would add that the relief can also come simply because a decision has been made and a direction has been chosen. I am not certain of the root of this false teaching historically, but it likely includes a misunderstanding of Philippians 4:6 – 7.
Mr Hendrickson goes on to remind us that tough decisions, uncertainty, upcoming persecution, or imminent death often does NOT bring about this much spoken of “peace”. The example he gives is Jesus praying in his own “War Room” in the Garden of Gethsemane.
My soul is deeply grieved, to the point of death; (Mt 26:38)
Not so peaceful. And yet no one in history or eternity had a more perfect, physical union with God than Jesus had. Yet He did not emerge from His prayer war room feeling peaceful. Righteous Lot prayed, but was vexed in his spirit (2 Peter 2:7). The entirety of the Book of Galatians demonstrates Paul’s white-hot vexation of spirit because false teaching had polluted his people at Galatia. David was sorely vexed even to his bones. (Psalm 6:2). Did these men not “experience” a true worship and relationship with the Lord? Did they not have close union and even the Spirit in and with them?
My point is three-fold. One is of course that when women describe a relationship with Jesus in such sensual terms, it is insulting, nearly blasphemous, and displays a twisted understanding of who He is. Women, don’t do it.
Secondly, women, if you’re seeking, engaging in, or describing your relationship with Him this way, you’re displaying a monstrous lack of discernment and ignorance of the relationship we already have with Him. Ladies, we have the Holy Spirit inside us. (1 Corinthians 3:16; 1 John 4:16). He is in there, inside our body, our blood, our DNA. Somehow, the sovereign Lord of the universe indwells us as a deposit of the guarantee of our relationship we have with Jesus. How much closer do you want to be?
We know by faith the Spirit is in us. We know by Faith that our Lord listens to everything we say and sees everything we do. (Hebrews 4:13). We know by faith that He already loves us with a perfect, eternal love. (John 3:16). We know by faith that all He does for us is for our own good and His glory. (Romans 8:28). We know by faith He is our Groom, priest, friend, brother, and master.
I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me. (John 17:23)
Look, sisters, at what you already have! And you women want more!?
Third, back to Dire Straits. At root of this sensuous, experiential faith, in my opinion, is laziness. Not only do they seek the sensual, but they are lazy. As the Kendrick Brothers said of how they process out their movie theme, the Lord downloads it to them directly. Beth Moore said she receives whole books by a force that compels her hand across the page. Priscilla Shirer likes to close her eyes and let the Lord have His way with her. It is easy to sit in a room and simply close one’s eyes and veg out to soft music and passively experience whatever you want to experience. I do that in the massage salon. Not when I study to seek the Lord’s face. Peaceful prayer room experiential liver shiver Christianity is not the real slogging work. Ask the refrigerator guys.
Now that ain’t workin’ that’s the way you do it
Lemme tell ya them guys ain’t dumb
Maybe get a blister on your little finger
Maybe get a blister on your thumb.
I gain insights into who my Lord is with my eyes open. I sit in a brightly lit kitchen and I read the Bible. I look at Atlases, commentaries, history books. I take notes. No force delivers insights of who He is. No warm mists appear. I “smell” no experiences. I feel nothing heavy on my skin.
We gotta install microwave ovens custom kitchen deliveries
We gotta move these refrigerators we gotta move these color T.V.’s.
Ladies, if you possess the greatest treasure in the universe yet yearn for something more, you ain’t doing it right. Or maybe you don’t have Him to begin with.
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Contemplatin’ Nothin and your Candles for Free
By Elizabeth Prata. With thanks to Mark Knopfler
I shoulda learned to light them candles
I shoulda learned to breathe the breath prayer
Look at that mama she sittin’ on the pillow
Girl, I should redecorate my chair
And she’s up there, what’s that, mantra noises?
She singing in the moonlight like a wild anointee
Oh that ain’t studyin’, that’s the way you do it
Get your warm mist going, and don’t judge me.
I gotta study Jeremiah, Ruth, Ecclesiastes
I gotta open these books, gotta learn this theology
With open eyes, studyin’ hard,
These liver shivers, they ain’t for me
That’s the way you do it.
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A trip down memory lane-
Dire Straits – Money For Nothing / I want my MTV
And just for fun, the ever-brilliant “Weird” Al Yankovic with
Money For Nothing/Beverly Hillbillies
Soon there will be no fence-sitters
One thing this time of blasphemy and apostasy is doing is outing the hidden haters of Jesus to declare for satan. In the end, nothing will be hidden. (1 Cor 4:5). It seems that great numbers of people are being shifted, inched, nudged, or pushed into one side or another.
After the rapture, during the ensuing Tribulation period, there will be absolutely no hidden Christians and no hidden atheists. All will be forced to declare one way or another. (Rev 13:16). Meanwhile at the present time, we see more and more hared of Jesus on earth.
“it is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but what comes out of the mouth; this defiles a person.” Matthew 15:11
Matthew Henry: “Christ shows that the defilement they ought to fear, was not from what entered their mouths as food, but from what came out of their mouths, which showed the wickedness of their hearts.”
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There is a great gulf that is fixed. (Luke 16:26). In time past, in the present time, and in the end of the end, none will cross from one side to the other. One must declare for Jesus while living. (Romans 10:9). Failure to declare, (Matthew 10:32; 1 John 4:15) or deliberately proclaiming blasphemies against Jesus, (1 Cor 12:3) is the sin unto death. (1 John 5:17).
Nowadays to me, it feels like a parallel to the prophesied time as the Millennial Kingdom is about to come to a close. After the 7-year Tribulation ends, there is a period of 1000 years when Jesus physically rules on earth. (Revelation 20:4). This is known as the millennial kingdom when all the promises Jesus made to His people Israel are fulfilled spiritually and physically with the full lands being given to them and His personal attendance in a renewed Temple (Ezekiel 41). At the end of the 1000 years of Jesus’ kingdom rule on earth, where sin had been subdued and satan had been locked up, but where there still have been mortals born, satan will be let out of his abyss jail and he will deceive the nations. It takes satan but a moment to draw the wicked to himself, immediately exposing the wickedness in their hearts that had been there all along. (Revelation 20:7-9). It feels like that now, with satan accelerating his evil doings to draw more and more people to himself. The cup of heart-poison overflows in many and shows in their words and deeds.
The great shifting of peoples hearts is the movement toward Jesus or away from Jesus. When the rapture occurs, the believers from the beginning at the time from the beginning of the church age (Jesus’ ascension) the very rapturous trumpet call will be resurrected or those who are alive will be lifted up and all will meet in the air to be with Jesus. Those remaining on earth will be those who chose not to believe. There will still be time for some of them to come to faith afterward, but the Church Age ends at the rapture with the last believer filling God’s quota of His church coming to faith. (Romans 11:25).
Then the 1000-year Kingdom, then the new heaven and earth, and the eternal state with the final Judgment of all humans.
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At the end the gulf between those who believe and those who do not will be exposed and settled at the Great White Throne Judgment. (Revelation 20:11-15) when all who have ever lived will give an account and receive their final body and their punishment will begin.
Wicked hearts are surely being shown today in great numbers. The venom that is in them is spilling out of mouths that deliberately or unknowingly proclaim for satan. We see it in their hatred of Kim Davis, the Kentucky clerk who refused to issue homosexual marriage licenses. We see it in their hypocrisy against Christian football player Tim Tebow but worldly acceptance and lauding of Bruce Jenner’s depraved gender switch. We see it in the new Deist/Atheist Declaration of Sinlessness, blasphemies against Jesus, mob anger, violence. All this is in the heart, and is now coming out in torrents. They are storing up their sin for themselves.
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We see it on blogs and comment sections, where hair-trigger anger and hatred is not even buried under a veneer of scoffing and sneering, but immediately boils over into anger and hate. There is no ‘ramping up’ anymore during a discussion. All discussions of Christian things seem to begin with a basis of anger, even among people who claim Christianity. We see venomous hearts exposed more and more and more and more.
Yet…there is One heart that is pure and undefiled, that is Jesus.
“For our heart rejoices in Him, Because we trust in His holy name.” (Psalms 33:21)
Bless His holy name, He is coming soon.
Scripture photo: Our Hope beyond the curtain
"Be saved today"…what are we actually saved from?
I love it when preachers, teachers, theologians talk about the Wrath of God. I do love the wrath of God because it is part of Him and His holy and perfect attributes. I do not love that people will undergo the suffering of His wrath due to the penalty of their sins. The wrath is a serious, serious thing.
I love it when preachers, teachers and theologians speak of the wrath because many others of them who are supposed to teach the full counsel of God do not. I know of churches where a pastor might go into a long, involved altar call, pleading with folks to come forward as music softly plays, and yet never mention wrath, sin, death, or hell. This is not the full counsel of God. Here, Bob DeWaay explains what the full counsel of God actually is.
As I have had people explain it to me: “people don’t go to church to feel worse about themselves.” So, it is deemed irrelevant to discuss the sin nature, and relevant to help people feel better about themselves. What about the glory of God? Are we to hear a powerful, Biblical presentation of God’s glory, His holy nature, our fallen condition, and the necessity of a blood atonement to appease the wrath of God (Romans 3:25)? Again, these matters are not likely to be deemed relevant to many.
Before my own conversion, I heard people say things like ‘the lost need to be saved’. I did not understand what “lost” meant. I joked that those dumb Christians were always going on about being lost but I knew exactly where I was. Har har har. And as for “saved? I had no clue what the threat was that we needed saving from. Yet this is exactly the reason why we should not dilute or on any way water down the message Jesus gave to us, His ambassadors. Ambassadors in real political jobs must convey the message from their superiors exactly as stated. It is not up to the Ambassador to change the message. (2 Corinthians 5:20). We are only witnesses and messengers, and the message has been set. It includes the “unpalatable” doctrines of sin, death, hell, and wrath. There is nothing that keeps wicked men, at any one moment, out of hell, but the mere pleasure of God. ~Jonathan Edwards, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God”.
The fact is, God’s wrath is the threat. And it is very real. Here are some theological thoughts from J.A. Milliken, and E.E. Carpenter, on what God’s wrath is and why we need saving from it.
WRATH, WRATH OF GOD
Used to express several emotions, including anger, indignation, vexation, grief, bitterness, and fury. It is the emotional response to perceived wrong and injustice. Both humans and God express wrath. When used of God, wrath refers to His absolute opposition to sin and evil. When used of humans, however, wrath is one of those evils that is to be avoided.
The OT speaks very frequently of both God’s wrath and human wrath, but the wrath or anger of God is mentioned three times more often than human wrath. There are some 20 different Hebrew words, used approximately 580 times, that refer to God’s wrath in the OT.
the wrath or anger of God is mentioned three times more often than human wrath.
… These anthropopathic terms must not be construed in such a way as to attribute to God the irrational passion we find so frequently in man and which is ascribed to pagan deities. They do, on the other hand, point to the reality and severity of God’s wrath in the OT (Isa. 63:1–6). God’s wrath is not capricious but is always a moral and ethical reaction to sin. Sometimes that sin may be spoken of in general terms (Job 21:20; Jer. 21:12; Ezek. 24:13) and at other times specified as the shedding of blood (Ezek. 8:18; 24:8), adultery (Ezek. 23:25), violence (Ezek. 8:18), covetousness (Jer. 6:11), revenge (Ezek. 25:17), affliction of widows and orphans (Exod. 22:22), taking brethren captive (2 Chron. 28:11–27), and especially idolatry (Ps. 78:56–66). The means by which God expressed His wrath was always some created agency: His angels, His people the Israelites, Gentile nations, and the forces of nature.
God’s wrath is not capricious but is always a moral and ethical reaction to sin.
In the prophetic books the wrath of God is commonly presented as a future judgment. It is usually associated with the concept of “the day of the LORD” (Zeph. 1:14–15), or simply “that day.” That day will be a great and terrible day, a day of darkness and gloominess, day of the vengeance of God (Joel 2:2, 11; Isa. 63:4). While some of these prophetic utterances may have referred to the judgment of God in history, their ultimate fulfillment will come in a final act by which the world and its inhabitants will give account to God (cp. the NT use of the “day of the Lord,” 1 Thess. 5:1–9; 2 Pet. 3:10).
The wrath of God is not mentioned as frequently in the New Testament nor is there the richness of vocabulary that is found in the OT. There are only two primary NT terms for wrath: thumos and orge. Both are used to express a human passion and a divine attribute or action. When used of human passion, wrath is repeatedly named in lists of sins that are to be avoided, and if not, may incite God’s wrath (Eph. 4:31; 5:6; Col. 3:8; Titus 1:7).
Some have seen a distinction in meaning in these synonyms, the difference being that thumos expresses a sudden outburst of anger whereas orge emphasizes more deliberateness. There may be an intentional difference in occasional uses of the terms, but this does not prevent both terms from being condemned as vices when applied to human passion. In addition, both terms are used to describe the character of God, particularly in the book of Revelation.
There is great emphasis in the NT placed on the wrath of God as a future judgment. John the Baptist began his ministry by announcing the wrath of God that is to come, from which men should flee (Matt. 3:8). Jesus, likewise, pronounced a wrath that is to come upon Israel and produce great distress (Luke 21:23). Paul speaks of a day of wrath to come that awaits some, but from which believers are to be delivered (Rom. 2:5; Eph. 2:3; 1 Thess. 2:10). The idea of a future wrath of God is unfolded on a large scale in Revelation. It is described in very graphic terms, as cataclysmic upheavals in the universe (Rev. 6:12–17), “the winepress of the fierce anger of God, the Almighty” (Rev. 19:15 HCSB), and “the cup of His anger” (Rev. 14:10).
John the Baptist began his ministry by announcing the wrath of God that is to come, from which men should flee
In the NT the wrath of God is not only a future judgment, it is a present reality. It does not merely await people at the future judgment. Jesus stated that the wrath of God abides on unbelievers, and consequently they stand presently condemned (John 3:18, 36). For Paul, God’s wrath is revealed against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men (Rom. 1:18), all people in their natural state are “children under wrath” (Eph. 2:3 HCSB).
Theological Considerations: The doctrine of the wrath of God is unpopular in much modern theological discourse. Some deny that there is ever anger with God. Others think of God’s wrath as an impersonal moral cause-and-effect process that results in unpleasant consequences for evil acts. Still others view God’s wrath as His anger against sin but not the sinner.
God’s wrath is real, severe, and personal. The idea that God is not angry with sinners belongs neither to the OT nor to the NT. God is a personal moral being who is unalterably opposed to evil and takes personal actions against it. Wrath is the punitive righteousness of God by which He maintains His moral order, which demands justice and retribution for injustice.
God’s wrath is real, severe, and personal.
Moreover, God’s wrath is inextricably related to the doctrine of salvation. If there is no wrath, there is no salvation. If God does not take action against sinners, there is no danger from which sinners are to be saved. The good news of the gospel is that sinners who justly deserve the wrath of God may be delivered from it. Through the atoning death of Christ, God is propitiated and His anger is turned away from all those who receive Christ (Rom. 3:24–25). Therefore, those who have faith in Christ’s blood are no longer appointed to wrath but are delivered from it and appointed “to obtain salvation” (1 Thess. 1:10; 5:9).
SOURCE: Millikin, J. A. (2003). Wrath, Wrath of God. In C. Brand, C. Draper, A. England, S. Bond, E. R. Clendenen, & T. C. Butler (Eds.), Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary (pp. 1688–1689). Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers.
What do the wrath and salvation have to do with each other?
“Wrath” is a strong term, reserved in the English language almost exclusively for describing “God’s anger” with human beings and their sinful actions. The Greek word orgē expresses the idea of “justifiable anger for unjust actions.” It is used throughout the New Testament to describe God’s anger toward the sins and unbelief of humanity.
The Old Testament and the New Testament both teach that God is storing up His anger for the great and final day of judgment. This day is frequently called the Day of the Lord. The concept of the Day of the Lord was developed by the prophets to warn Israel and the nations that no one can escape the righteous outpouring of God’s wrath (Amos 5:18–20). This day was still spoken about by the New Testament prophets, John the Baptist and John the visionary (Matt. 3:7; Rev. 6:16–17).
Those who do not profess faith in the risen Christ remain in their sins and will be subject to God’s wrath, whereas those who believe in Him are delivered (Eph. 2:3; 1 Thess. 1:10). The good news of the New Testament is that Jesus has come to deliver us from the wrath of God (Rom. 5:9). Those who have been delivered are reconciled with God because they are no longer under condemnation (Rom. 5:10; 8:1).
Those who do not profess faith in the risen Christ remain in their sins and will be subject to God’s wrath, whereas those who believe in Him are delivered
God’s wrath will be poured out on the devil, his angels, and all who rebel against Him. This is graphically portrayed in the book of Revelation, as we see scene after scene of God executing judgment on the ungodly. God’s stored-up wrath will be unleashed in awful ways, as He brings destruction on: the earth, those dwelling on the earth, the merchants of the earth, false religions, the antichrist, and all the enemies of the gospel. Ultimately, God’s wrath will be satisfied when He has put the devil, his angels, and all unbelievers in the lake of fire, to be tormented for eternity in eternal separation from God (Rev. 14:10; 20:10–15).
SOURCE: Carpenter, E. E., & Comfort, P. W. (2000). In Holman treasury of key Bible words: 200 Greek and 200 Hebrew words defined and explained (p. 427). Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman Publishers.
Do we have hope to escape the wrath, then?
Here is how Jonathan Edwards concluded his masterpiece sermon “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God“
And now you have an extraordinary opportunity, a day wherein Christ has flung the door of mercy wide open, and stands in the door calling and crying with a loud voice to poor sinners; a day wherein many are flocking to him, and pressing into the kingdom of God; many are daily coming from the east, west, north and south; many that were very lately in the same miserable condition that you are in, are in now an happy state, with their hearts filled with love to him that has loved them and washed them from their sins in his own blood, and rejoicing in hope of the glory of God.
BE SAVED TODAY
KY Clerk Kim Davis jailed for refusing to issue marriage licenses to homosexual couples
Kentucky Clerk of Courts Kim Davis has been arrested and sent to jail for her consistent failure to perform her official duties, specifically, to issue marriage licenses to homosexual couples. Actually, Kim has refused to issue ANY licenses since the license language has been changed on the license itself to include language covering both heterosexual or homosexual unions.
Left, This Thursday, Aug. 3, 2015 photo made available by the Carter County Detention Center shows Kim Davis.
I applaud her stance all this time as the issue has gone from local to state-wide to national. Did you know Ms Davis has been a believer for only 4 years? As this issue has become more intense, she has not bent under pressure nor changed her mind. She has been reasoned and submissive to all in explaining it. This is Christ-like behavior and I commend her for it.
However for all that, I believe Ms Davis is incorrect to have chosen the course she has chosen, a civil disobedience which now includes fines and jail. Here is my opinion on why.
Ms Davis pursued the issue as high as she could go, then that is as far as she can go. She has her answer from the high court of her state: she must comply. No one is forcing her to deny God or change her beliefs. The issue is her performance of duties in her office, an office she does not have to continue holding. She has an option. The Judge said,
“Neither your oath nor the Supreme Court dictates what you must believe. But as elected officials, they do prescribe how we must act.”
I believe that oaths are serious business. Ms Davis swore an oath, this is it from KY Legislature:
“30A.020 Oath of clerk and deputies. Every clerk and deputy, in addition to the oath prescribed by Section 228 of the Constitution, shall, before entering on the duties of his office, take the following oath in presence of the Circuit Court: “I, ….., do swear that I will well and truly discharge the duties of the office of ………….. County Circuit Court clerk, according to the best of my skill and judgment, making the due entries and records of all orders, judgments, decrees, opinions and proceedings of the court, and carefully filing and preserving in my office all books and papers which come to my possession by virtue of my office; and that I will not knowingly or willingly commit any malfeasance of office, and will faithfully execute the duties of my office without favor, affection or partiality, so help me God.” The fact that the oath has been administered shall be entered on the record of the Circuit Court.”
She swore to GOD that she would perform her duties without partiality, and not commit malfeasance. Oaths are serious business. (James 5:12, Matthew 5:33). When you swear an oath in God’s name it is considered binding.
This Justice of the Peace resigned in the fallout after the Supreme Court’s decision on Obergefell v. Hodges this summer, a decision that made homosexual marriage legal in all of the US.
Wife of the First Baptist Church’s pastor, Gunter described herself as a conservative Christian who believes the Bible defines marriage as being between a man and woman. “I can’t uphold the oath that I swore, which states that I will uphold the laws of this state and of the country,” Gunter said.
Grenada County Circuit Clerk Linda Barnette decided to relinquish the elected position she’s held for 24 years rather than issue a marriage license to a same-sex couple. “I choose to obey God rather than man,” Barnette wrote in a resignation letter Tuesday, attributing her decision to Friday’s Supreme Court pronouncement of the right of all men and women to marry, regardless of sexual orientation. “The Supreme Court’s decision violates my core values as a Christian,” Barnette wrote to the county’s Board of Supervisors. “My final authority is the Bible. I cannot in all good conscience issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples under my name because the Bible clearly teaches that homosexuality is contrary to God’s plan and purpose for marriage and family.”
Yet Ms Davis retains her sworn position, accepts the salary for said position, swore an oath to perform duties without partiality for said position, yet refuses to do so.
For our boast is this, the testimony of our conscience, that we behaved in the world with simplicity and godly sincerity, not by earthly wisdom but by the grace of God, and supremely so toward you. (2 Corinthians 1:12).
If performing a sworn duty violates her Christian conscience, then no one is forcing her to violate it, and she is free to resign and remove herself from the situation that is causing her moral quandary. However if one swore to work for Caesar and accept salary from Caesar, then do as Caesar tells you. One cannot have it both ways.
I am proud of this new Christian taking a stand amid national pressure. I sincerely praise her that, though in my opinion she chose a path that led a little beyond where she should go because of the oath and her not-as-yet implemented option to resign, she is brave and sincere and willing to make a hard sacrifice. We’re all probably going to be faced with that or something like it in the near future. I applaud her public demeanor and also her correct stance that homosexual marriage is not God’s will. We should pray for her and ask the Lord to lead her in this time.
At the same time, let’s remember are not out to change Caesar but to labor for Jesus as His witnesses and Ambassadors in spirit and in truth. A resignation would make a statement. Maybe not as newsily as her current incarceration, but it would speak volumes to Jesus, and He is our only audience of One.
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Further Reading
This article excellently makes the point. Here are three excerpts:
Justice Scalia explained why Kim Davis should issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples or find a new job
Davis has a right to observe and adhere to her religious beliefs, but she does not have a right to her job as county clerk. The latter obligates her to follow federal law, including the applicable judgments of federal courts, and it is now the law of the land that the Constitution bars state governments from refusing to recognize same-sex marriages on equal terms with opposite-sex marriages. If, as Davis claims, her religious convictions bar her from issuing such a marriage license, she should resign.Davis is in a similar position. Her official position obligates her to take part in the state’s licensing and recognition of marriages. Insofar as the state’s definition of an acceptable marriage differs from her own, Davis is obligated to follow the state’s rule so long as she maintains her current office.
Think of it this way. Someone who objects to war due to his religious conscience has a right to be a conscientious objector and not serve in the military, even were there to be a draft. But he does not have the right to serve as a military officer, draw a paycheck from the military and then substitute his own personal views of when war is justified for that of the government. The same applies here.
War Rooms Then and Now. And: What is a prayer closet?
I’m all for prayer. I am all for creating a space to pray, undistracted. However, not everyone in Western Christianity has the luxury of a special room in which to devote one’s self to prayer. PEOPLE, IT’S NOT ABOUT THE ROOM!
Answer: After a short discourse on the follies of trying to appear religious in front of people, Jesus talks about prayer. “And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him” (Matthew 6:5-8). The Greek used here for “room” is tameion, which means “an inner storage chamber or a secret room.” The point being, a public prayer, announced on a street corner, gives the pray-er all the attention he can expect to receive. A quiet prayer, directed at God and not passers-by, will reap spiritual blessings.
Some have taken the admonition literally. They set aside a room or a quiet corner in their homes, furnish it with a comfortable chair, table, Bible, and maybe a notebook, and use that corner for a regular prayer time. That’s certainly appropriate, but the fact that the room Jesus referred to most likely meant a pantry gives us a little more flexibility. A “prayer closet” might be a daily commute, a bench in the back yard, or the kitchen table. John Wesley’s mother is said to have sat in a chair and thrown her apron over her head as a sign to her kids to leave her alone. Jesus usually went to a secluded hillside. The point is that the “closet” is free from interruption, distraction, and listening ears.
Although there are good reasons to have a dedicated space for regular prayer—such as training the family to respect the quiet and keeping prayer-related materials in one place—that was not what Jesus was referring to. The passage in Matthew 6 talks about performing religious acts for the purpose of allowing others to see. Any act, be it praying, giving, or serving, should not be done for the purpose of gaining approval from others. Praying, giving, and serving should be responses to our relationship with God and the mercies He has given us. If a specific, dedicated location encourages prayer, it should by all means be used. If the cab of a pickup or a quiet stretch of beach suffices, that’s perfectly acceptable.
Examples of Prayer Closets.
Jesus in the Garden. Matthew 26:36
The Upper Room Acts 1:13-14
Apostle Paul’s War Room Acts 16:23
Martin Luther’s War Room at Wittenburg
Martyr William Tyndale’s war room, incarcerated at Brussels, 1535
George Muller, Administrator of the Orphanage Built by Prayer.
Kenya Secret Church listening to Pastor David Platt in rudimentary room
Priscilla Shirer Movie War Room
Lady-decorated war room, Western Christianity
My war room is my kitchen table. I have my bible, a lamp, tissues, note paper, pens, and my prayer journal.
It is not about the room. It is about the God who hears prayer
O you who hear prayer, to you shall all flesh come. (Psalm 65:2)
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Further Reading
Why I do not recommend Kendrick Brothers’ new movie, "War Room", part 2
For Christians seeking family friendly faith based movies either as entertainment or as ministry, the Kendrick Brothers movies from Sherwood Pictures have been the go-to series for many. Originally from Athens GA, the Kendrick Brothers are Shannon, Alex and Stephen. Alex and Stephen have been making full-length Christian movies since 2003, initially at Sherwood Baptist and now from their newly formed production company. Their first film was the independent release of Flywheel in 2003. After that came Facing The Giants (2006), Fireproof, (2008), and Courageous, (2011). Movie #5, War Room, came out Aug. 28, 2015. The opening weekend Box Office stunned Hollywood. It brought in 11 million dollars.
The films seem almost universally and uncritically adored, from patrons of them who flock to the screens to church pastors and leaders who show them in their sanctuaries. The films’ showings are often accompanied with attendant paraphernalia such as curricula, studies, sermon outlines, resolutions, books, journals, devotionals and other merchandising. As a side note, translate the fervency and diligence some pastors promote and urge attendance at these movies to their fervency for preaching the Word expositionally and urging worship in their church. I wish.
Whenever anything, and I mean anything, that is promoted from the pulpit it is wise to delve into whether the thing being promoted is consistent with the bible and thus edifying for the sheep. It is also wise to research the people behind writing these movies, books, devotionals, and study guides.
In Part 1, I mentioned that I do not like the movies the Kendrick Brothers have produced so far. I have seen three of them (not Courageous, and not War Room). The films do present a good storyline, engagingly developed. The films are based on biblical themes such as prayer, submission, fatherhood, etc. The films are written by pastors and are prayed over diligently, we hear. They’re emotional and watchable. So what’s not to like?
Discernment is not just looking at the surface. Discernment is not just accepting that a Christian thing is “close enough.” Jesus did not come ‘close enough’ to sinlessness for the Father to accept His sacrifice. The Apostles and Martyrs didn’t preach and die a ‘close enough’ faith. We must be wise as serpents and innocent as doves. Jesus said,
Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves. (Matthew 10:16, commentary on what this means here)
In Part 1 I’d said I’d look more at the Kendrick Brothers’ choice of casting. They had said in this Youtube interview from several months ago that for the movie War Room —
We pray over every single role. We want Christians playing Christians in these movies, we want to know they believe what they are speaking in these roles. We want no hypocrisy, [we hire Christians who show that] we believe what this movie is about then live it out, outside the credits.
So, since they announced the basis for their casting decisions, let’s look at them and compare to scripture to see if they hold up.
Priscilla Shirer dominates the movie, being its main cast member (TC Stallings plays her husband). Since the Kendricks deliberately choose Christians who live what they believe, then what does Shirer believe?
Shirer believes and teaches extra-biblical, personal revelation
Unfortunately, Shirer is a proponent of hearing directly from God. Here in an interview in Charisma Magazine, Shirer explains her basis for launching her “Going Beyond” ministries. Charisma Magazine has the tale (and even being quoted in Charisma is another discernment red flag). In the article it states,
In her case, God was speaking to her about going to “the place of abundant living—an experiential relationship with God.” “He said: ‘Priscilla, you’ve been at this mountain long enough. There is a new place that I want to take you to,’” Shirer says. In light of God’s challenge, Shirer naturally desired to “go beyond” personally.
So God personally speaks to Shirer clearly enough that she can put His words in quotes? This is a problem. When one tells the world that God speaks personally to her (and this isn’t the only instance of her recounting extra-biblical revelation from God) then she denies the sufficiency of the Bible.
Shirer believes in and teaches an experiential faith
Secondly, look at the phrase “she naturally wanted to go beyond…” Go beyond what, exactly? The bible tells us not to go beyond what is written (1 Corinthians 4:6) something Shirer has already done in speaking of direct revelation from God. (Revelation 22:18). Neither do we go beyond our limits by boasting of work done by others, as we’re told in 2 Corinthians 10:15. In Galatians 5:12 Paul cursed the Judaizers, wishing they would “go beyond” their circumcision and excise the entire appendage lol. But Shirer’s basis for a ministry of ‘going beyond’ is really a basis to go beyond what is written and venture into the experiential, something she says all the time should be normal for Christians. For example she said, “A lot of the demonstrative gifts of the Spirit aren’t used all the time in my church—almost never—so I could easily box God in and say because that is not my experience, God must not operate in that way. We need to accept that the body of Christ is full of other believers who have experienced God in equally relevant, equally reliable ways.”
What Shirer is saying here is that if another person who calls themselves a Christian is experiencing the sign gifts, we must accept their experience as valid, or we will be putting God in a box. Notice she didn’t have a biblical stance for her reasoning why she believes the sign gifts continue. Only that if the experience is happening it must be valid.
She says this not because she has come to a concerted biblical conclusion, but because of “other believers who have experienced God in equally relevant, equally reliable ways.” Again, she has come to this belief – and teaches it- because people EXPERIENCE the gifts, not because she has exegeted the text to prove it so.
Shirer believes in and promotes contemplative prayer
Third, in addition to receiving and promoting as normal the extra-biblical revelation from God, experiential approaches to teaching and believing God’s word, Shirer also teaches and promotes Contemplative Prayer. (Also known as Centering Prayer) This is a Catholic/Occult/Mystical practice which is not based on the bible but on inner knowings and experiences that supposedly occur after emptying the mind and experiencing the presence of God. “We are to meditate actively, using our minds, based upon Scripture, not empty nothingness and waiting” as the writer at CARM explains.
Learn more here, and here on why this practice is not biblical.
Back to the Kendricks and their discernment
When the Kendricks say they pray over each role and take time selecting Christians who are sound and non-hypocritical, this is the level of their discernment? Partnering with Word of Faith Oneness Pentecostal pastor and author, T.D. Jakes? Putting front and center a charismatic mystic who promotes extra-biblical revelation and the experiential method as the benchmark of affirming truth? It seems to me the discernment level of those making the decisions at Kendrick Brothers Productions is not what it should be.
In addition, their casting of Beth Moore leaves much to be desired, since Moore engages in occult channeling, receives visions and extra-biblical personal revelation, puts herself out as a prophetess, promotes pop-psychology, mysticism, contemplative prayer, and legalism, poor exegesis, teaches men, lives like a feminist, and much more.
Speaking of associations, the Kendrick Brothers’ discernment on this front also leaves much to be desired. They associate with TD Jakes, an unsaved pastor who denies the Trinity. Back in March of this year, Alex Kendrick was a featured speaker at the “Missions and Marketplace Conference” in Chicago. Also speaking at that conference was Jakes. The #WarRoomMovie twitter stream recently published a thank you to Jakes for his support of the movie. Remember, Jakes produced the film version of the heaven tourism book Heaven is for Real.
This week, the #WarRoomMovie thanked heretic Paula White. Accepting a favorable review from false prophetess Paula White is like a restaurant chef accepting a food review from Jeffrey Dahmer.
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| HT Twitter, Sunny Shell,@Sunny_Shell |
So back to the Kendrick Brothers’ discernment. It seems that each of their movies have promoted some aspects of Christian life that are not biblical. It seems that each movie has gotten a bit more blatant and forward in the departure from biblical discernment and practices. It seems that it got worse after they left the oversight of Sherwood Baptist and began partnering with heretics and hiring false teachers for their movies.
Accepting a favorable review from false prophetess Paula White is like a restaurant chef accepting a food review from Jeffrey Dahmer
Merchandising Merchandising Merchandising Merchandising
And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you: whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not. (2 Peter 2:3 KJV)
Make room, Ephesian silversmiths and idol makers. (Acts 19:19-20). A new merchant is in town. Here are some examples:
Kerusso parthers with Kendrick Brothers for “War Room” film merchandise.
Kerusso, the leader in Christian apparel and gifts, has announced a new partnership with the Kendrick Brothers who recently produced their fifth film titled WAR ROOM releasing August 28, 2015 from Sony Pictures Entertainment’s TriStar Pictures, distributor of Soul Surfer, Courageous and last summer’s faith-based sensation Heaven is For Real. The partnership grants Kerusso rights to produce officially licensed merchandise and apparel for the upcoming film.
Books to accompany new Kendrick Brothers movie
Coming along with it is a line of books, including a novelization of the film, officials from the publishing companies say.
For we are not, like so many, peddlers of God’s word, but as men of sincerity, as commissioned by God, in the sight of God we speak in Christ. (2 Corinthians 2:17).
Don’t forget your Battle Plan Prayer Cards! Buy now!
When Jesus entered the temple courts, he began to drive out those who were selling. (Luke 19:45)
This promotion-poster misuses the verse. I find the use of merchandising along with the word of God crass in the extreme.
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| This photo uses the Psalm verse out of context and incorrectly, Note the ‘Battle Plan you can BUY, combined with the verse. Gross. |
Should I buy the “Battle Plan for Prayer”? If I do, I’ll have to move the Love Dare aside to make room on the shelf…And where will I put my Courageous Resolution?
He said to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer,’ but you make it a den of robbers.” (Matthew 21:13)
Remodeling, AKA the “Doing Something/Experiential” method of Christianity
Most of the Kendrick Brothers movies blame the man. Here is one meme that pokes at this fact.
Let’s all remodel our closets!
This woman remodeled already ! Because it’s the room that does it!
Awww, so sad this lady didn’t have a closet to donate to the cause. She made a nook. Her prayers will be nook sized instead of #powerful.
Spot the missing resource!!
In conclusion…yes I have a heated righteous indignation at the lack of discernment evidenced here. I have a heated anger regarding churches that relentlessly promote these films yet when it comes to sharing the Gospel or even personally shepherding the flock they have they tolerate sin and compromise. I am very upset at all the merchandising. I really am.
I do understand the power of prayer and the wonder of prayers being answered. I am for prayer. I am against Hollywood films showing a pale and shallow Western Christianity where prayer gets you things. Where a remodeled closet is the answer and not the God who sees and hears. Where the woman leads (subtly, because satan is crafty). Where prayers are to satan and not to Jesus. Where, despite all the Kendrick Brothers statements about prayerfully considering each person for each role, in another interview they decided that casting Black actors would be “more heart grabbing.” And here I thought that there was no Greek or Jew, no slave or free, no male or female. (Galatians 3:28). But apparently using Black people in your movie brings the bucks.
CBN News asked the Kendrick brothers about their decision to cast mostly blacks in the film. “When it came to ‘War Room’ there was a passionate flavor we wanted to present that really would have been different any other way,” director Alex Kendrick said. “I felt like the Lord was saying it needs to be told through the African American perspective and the female perspective,” he added. [emphasis mine]
How did we get to this low point, of an undiscerning people buying merchandise at the temple and miss God, His Son and His Spirit so badly? It is all foretold, the time of apostasy, tickled ears, and lack of discernment is upon us. And yet there is a remnant strong and true, praying in whatever room they are, to a strong and mighty God.
Thank you everyone for your comments. I am closing comments at this time.
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Further Reading
Justin Peters reviews War Room.
War Rooms then & now. Also, what is a prayer closet?
The Heresy of Christian Movies: War Room
Lifeway Promoting False Teacher Priscilla Shirer Experiential Event
Why I do not recommend Kendrick Brothers’ new movie, "War Room", part 1
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| Kendricks: L-R: Stephen, Alex, Shannon |
For Christians seeking family friendly faith based movies either as entertainment or as ministry the Kendrick Brothers movies from Sherwood Pictures have been the go-to series for many. Originally from Athens GA, the Kendrick Brothers are Shannon, Alex and Stephen. The latter two attended college, were ordained as ministers. Alex accepted a call to Roswell Baptist Church as staff, then later to Sherwood Baptist Church in Albany GA as associate minister of media. Stephen joined him there two years later. Shannon completed college and accepted a job at IBM.
It has been a lifelong dream of Alex and Stephen to make full-length Christian movies, and at Sherwood Baptist that dream came to fruition in 2003 with the independent production of their first film collaboration, Flywheel. After that came Facing The Giants, a huge hit in 2006, Fireproof in 2008, a bigger hit which starred their first bona fide professional actor Kirk Cameron, and then Courageous in 2011, yet another hit with secular validations of climbing the NY Times Bestseller lists and gate take to the tune of tens of millions of dollars. Movie #5, War Room, is due out Aug. 28, 2015.
After this the brothers split from Sherwood Pictures/Sherwood Baptist as their base for production and formed their own company, Kendrick Brothers Productions. Shannon, the eldest brother who had been working at IBM all this time, resigned to help his siblings with the management of their new company. Along the way much merchandise has been sold under the auspices of each film, notably the Love Dare and the LoveDareTest among LOTS of other merchandise from Fireproof, and the Courageous Resolution from Courageous, among LOTS of other merchandise from the aforementioned film. (2 Peter 2:3)
Many folks are pleased that faith-based honorable movies are being made which they say honor Christ, and are even more pleased that much merchandise is available to re-stock the movie company coffers so that these movies can keep being made. Churches who have been relentlessly pressured hype the films and in their church sanctuaries host previews, events, marital retreats, Courageous ceremonies, and ‘bible’ lessons accompanied by all the paraphernalia and curricula associated with the movies. Marriages are being saved. Fathers are returning to biblical duty. It’s all good.
Isn’t it?
I’d like to offer a different view.
My first introduction to the Kendrick Brothers was as a newbie Christian, hapless bystander of the waves of hype when Facing the Giants was released. The Baptist church I’d been attending at the time heavily promoted the film and everyone was encouraged to attend. No doubt, the movie was a tearjerker, a feel good movie that seemed right with Jesus- on the surface. I was discomfited by the thread throughout that when one submits totally to God is when things begin to work in your earthly life and all your temporal wishes will come true, like winning football games and getting a new truck. It seemed to me a kind of slick Christianity. But I was new to the faith and more to the point, new to church life, and didn’t know for sure.
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| Kendrick Brothers’ “Movie #5” |
Yes, it’s true that when one submits to God, we will be blessed, but the biblical Stephen was ‘blessed’ with a vision of heaven before the last killing stone crushed his head. Paul was ‘blessed’ with a thorn in his side which tormented him God called sufficient grace. Peter was ‘blessed’ with a long career preaching in a persecuting world that ended with martyrdom on a cross. Facing the Giants bought into and promoted every Western Christian cliche imaginable. I would like to have seen the coach get fired even if he had won the championships. Or what would have happened to their faith if they hadn’t won the championships. Or if they never had gotten pregnant. What then? Would THAT kind of faith hold true? But Facing the Giants isn’t that kind of movie.
Then Fireproof came out and I was more discomfited. The hype was louder and tsunami-like this time. I can’t tell you the pressure at churches when a new Kendrick Brothers movie is issued. It’s like the second coming and this movie is gonna solve everything. I am not exaggerating. It was almost as if I would be blaspheming if I said that I didn’t want to watch the movie or if I said that I didn’t like it. There were parts in Fireproof I enjoyed but my discomfort with the doctrine in Fireproof was more coalesced this time.
First, I hated Catherine.
I was aghast at her adultery and more aghast that it was never addressed. I was stunned that her act of filing for divorce with her signature on the decree was never addressed as unbiblical. She was never shown as repenting. Much was made of the male actor’s pornography viewing but not of her flirtatious adultery in lining up the Doctor as husband #2. I was sorry that her withholding of sex from her husband, unbiblical as it is, was never addressed but all the fault lay at the husband’s feet with his porn, anger issues and distancing himself from her. It takes two not to tango, but the woman’s culpability was never seen as an issue.
Worse, it was not clear from the hype, plot synopsis, or posters that Catherine was not a Christian. The husband, Caleb, might not have been but it’s more sure that Catherine wasn’t. The movie took the stance that it was a movie about Christian marriage but if it was, the writers would have to address being unbiblically yoked. If neither was saved when the movie began then it wouldn’t have been a Christian movie. Did you realize that? That one or both marital partners are not Christian in the film for most of the running time?
From the script: at the very end-
This may be the second time they’ve made a commitment to this marriage… …it is the first time they’ve done so on a foundation of faith in Jesus Christ.
So if one or both parties is not of Christ, then we can see that the theme of the movie is how you act (demonstrate unconditional love, and overlook sin) is what brings a marriage together, not Christ. This secular reviewer hit the nail on the head when he wrote:
What about that message? There was really very little, if any, explanation of why Christianity had anything at all to do with the saving of Caleb and Catherine’s marriage. That’s what made the message so weak. All the actions shown from the “love dare” book were secular in nature, except the day where Caleb was supposed to pray for Catherine, which he admitted he didn’t do… which seems to be showing that, even without the religious parts, the marriage was saved.
I enjoyed Dalrock’s review of Fireproof but here is an Internet Movie DataBase reviewer who has the same take as Dalrock (and me) but is more detailed, and funnier.
Caleb is a respected leader of a firefighter squad. His wife works in the hospital and flirts with a married doctor. When Caleb comes home, all he gets from his wife is complaining and disrespect. No wonder he resorts to internet porn and is saving money for a boat, probably so that he can sail away and finally enjoy life outside of his work. His wife wants to intercept all the money he has been saving and make him doing household chores, so she constantly nags and shows disrespect. In the meantime, she is working on her backup option, a rich doctor who would likely give her more money than her blue collar husband. Finally she resorts to a divorce threat to break Caleb’s spirit. The firefighter would be happily free from the greedy witch, but his father begins a series of preaching sessions and is finally successful in persuading Caleb that he is the one to blame for all the marital disorder. The newly brainwashed firefighter smashes his porn loving computer and starts a program in which he sucks up to his wife every day. He even starts doing household chores. She ignores him and continues to work her charms on the doctor, until she makes sure that Caleb is totally obedient to her, and would accept any crap she gives to him. Finally he gives her (actually her mother) all the money he has been saving for his boat.
The only thing that the wife really goes after is money. She did not care that her hubby was doing his best to please her for 40 days. When she was thinking that the Doc was the one who gave her the money, she was falling for him and was ready for a divorce. When she realized that the money was actually given by her husband, she started loving Caleb again. Basically she acts like a super expensive escort, If the married doctor had given her more money than her husband, she would have followed the money, because this movie blatantly shows that this is the main thing which makes her tick.
The movie basically teaches how to emasculate and brainwash your husband, to get all the money and all the control in the relationship. Well, life is brutal. But wait, why is this called Christian?
Now it’s tricky to negatively review Fireproof because it’s true that Jesus needs to be the center of marriage. It is true that unconditional love needs to be the way we act in marriage. Mutual submission is the goal but if one is unequally yoked (Caleb converted first) then one needs to make the first move and continue it, as Jesus did no matter the rejection encountered. But I’m offering these alternate views for food for thought. Most aggravating to me is the lack of repentance on the wife’s part. She accepted the gifts, the attention, and entered into vows at the end, but never humbled herself as Caleb did.
I chose not to watch the Courageous movie, insulted as I was at the merchandising which turned me off from the outset. In addition, given the trajectory of the previous three movies (counting starting from Flywheel) the likelihood that the movie wouldn’t be doctrinally sound was higher. I also did not like the emphasis on the main characters’ faith being demonstrated by a public signing of a resolution. It is my contention that making extra vows and resolutions above and beyond what the bible commands is unnecessary and adds man’s words to God’s. Taking a vow before the LORD is a weighty, weighty matter, not one to be emotionally manipulated into based on peer pressure- which you know happened in churches all across America the months after the movie came out.
“Again you have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not swear falsely, but shall perform to the Lord what you have sworn.’ But I say to you, Do not take an oath at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God, or by the earth, for it is his footstool, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. And do not take an oath by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black. Let what you say be simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; anything more than this comes from evil.” (Matthew 5:33-37)
I am personally highly insulted to be the target of merchandising but I know that is how the world works. But I’m more insulted when churches target me. If I go to a church-led small group session to learn the Bible, if I am given a curriculum from a movie I heatedly resent that.
Now I understand that the intentions of the Kendrick Brothers was to make Jesus-honoring movies that address certain important aspects of Christian life (honesty, faith, marriage, fatherhood, now prayer). And of course fatherhood, faith, prayer and marital commitment are terrific themes for any book, movie, or curriculum. I don’t doubt their motives…but they make it harder for me to trust their motives when the lead writer for the movies resigns his pastorate to follow a new calling, abandoning his flock and failing to fulfill his ministry in order to produce more Hollywood-style movies that have more and more merchandising attached. (2 Timothy 4:5).
Worse, as ordained ministers formerly operating under the oversight of their home church, (but no longer) listen to how the brothers decide to move forward with the themes for each of their movies. It isn’t from the Bible. God tells them.
We go through the better part of a year, saying, ‘Lord what do you want us to focus on, what do you want the plot be?’ It’s usually near the end of that year. It could be eight months, ten months, or a full year… it’s almost like he downloads something to us. … It wasn’t something where we sat in a room and said ‘What do you want to do?’ We’ve never done that.
For the movie Fireproof, Kendrick says his team heard God give them a theme of marriage. For the movie Courageous, fatherhood. And so on. He speculates that upcoming themes may be military faith, motherhood, or teen issues, but says he won’t really know until God downloads. [emphasis mine]
I have previously discussed this approach to decision making. At minimum it is mystical. At maximum it leads to monstrosities like Sarah Young’s Jesus Calling and most things false teacher Beth Moore. Do pastors sit in a prayer closet for 10 months and ask the Lord what to preach on, and wait until He downloads a theme? Hardly. (Hopefully). But this “Ask the Lord and He will tell you” method is all too common today. Is it wrong to seek the Lord in all you do? No. Is it wrong to consult with one another and say, “Let’s do a movie on the importance of prayer”? Of course not. Christians have been making decisions this way for millennia. It’s called “making a decision.” However, attributing the theme of your movie to God because He downloaded it to you or personally revealed it does not inspire my confidence, it diminishes it, because now I’m concerned with their discernment. This concern revolves around three fronts. One, the aforementioned Mystical-Method of Hearing From God. Second, their choice of casting. Third, the Kendrick Brothers associations and partnerships.
In this Youtube interview from several months ago regarding the upcoming release of War Room, the Brothers stated,
- We pray over every single role
- We want Christians playing Christians in these movies, we want to know they believe what they are speaking in these roles
- We want no hypocrisy, [we hire Christians who show that] we believe what this movie is about then live it out, outside the credits
With that in mind, we will look more deeply at the Kendrick Brothers’ fifth move’s main role, Elizabeth Jordan, played by Priscilla Shirer. What does Mrs Shirer believe? How does she approach prayer and decision making and faith? Did you know that the Resolution for Women in the movie Courageous was written by Shirer?
Part 2 discusses Mrs Shirer’s beliefs, approach to Bible study, and then we will return to a discussion of the Kendrick Brothers’ discernment.
Further Reading:
Justin Peters reviews War Room
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Thank you everyone for you comments. I am closing comments at this time.
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