A conference called Strange Fire, held at John MacArthur’s church last fall and attended by notable keynote Christian pastors, there has been an ongoing fire of its own. The conference was to expose the heresies of the Charismatic movement and to explain biblically why continuationism has a falsely interpreted basis.
Continuationism is the hallmark of the Charismatics and to a degree the word faith believers also. It holds that the first century apostles’ healings, direct prophecies, and other miracles are normative to every Christian’s experience. Cessationism holds that the miracle spiritual gifts were for a foundation only, alive in the first century apostles and designees only and ceased after the foundation of the church was laid the the bible was completed.
A lot of ink has been spilled in the debate prior to and subsequent from the conference. It is still raging. But there was one comment I enjoyed for its succinct biblical explanation of why these miracle gifts have ceased. It is from a blog essay posted this week by John MacArthur, who is following up on some things from the conference regarding John Piper. I encourage you to go to the essay and its follow up and read the piece in its entirety.
The comment I enjoyed is here, #44 by comment moderator Gabriel Powell. He was responding to the people who embrace continuationism by saying that to reject cessationism is to reject the Holy Spirit entirely.
Posted by Gabriel Powell | Tuesday, March 11, 2014at 3:47 PM
It seems like there is some confusion over what cessationism rejects. While there are clear differences between the two theological positions, the reality of miracles and healing is not one of them. Cessationism affirms that God maintains the power to heal and perform miracles. What we deny is that the “gifts” to perform signs and wonders which were so prevalent and normative in the 1st century church are still prevalent and normative today. God’s character remains the same (which is the point of “Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever”), but He deals with His people in unique ways at unique times (Hebrews 1:1).
Post-salvation, do you ever feel any condemnation, or ever struggle with it? A lot of people do, especially new Christians. I don’t want to seem super-spiritual or anything, but I don’t struggle with condemnation. I’ll tell you why, and maybe it would be encouraging.
Accused of being dogmatic all my life, I always saw things in black and white, right and wrong. People said that as I grew up I’d come to know that there are gray areas.
Do you see any gray there?
I mulled that over for a long time but rejected that notion, there is no gray area. There is only right and wrong, dark and light, good and bad, etc. The “seeking” of the rest of my life was to discover a philosophical construct which fit my innate sense of either/ors.
Buddhism seemed excessively complicated. Wicca seemed excessively simple but trying to be complicated. Islam, well, Islam is just crazy. Catholicism had too many rules, and they contradicted each other.
I found my dogmatism, my either-or perspective, satisfied in Jesus.
In Him there is law/grace, broad road/narrow road, condemnation/forgiveness, in Christ/out of Christ, heaven/hell. A great gulf is fixed. Everything with Jesus is clear and simple. Not simplistic, because Christianity is the most complicated and deep philosophy/religion/way of life one can ever study, but simple in its approach. The Gospel is often rejected because ‘it can’t be that simple’.
Let’s take a look at a scene. At the end of the Tribulation, Jesus will have blinked out all the lights in the universe. There will be no moon, no sun, and no stars. Earth will be wrecked so probably no electricity. It will be dark. It will be dark for a while, because Jesus says no one knows the day or time the son of Man is coming. (Matthew 24:36). whoever does not believe is condemned already. John 3:18
Then all of a sudden a blinding light fills the sky. JESUS is coming in wrath, and with condemnation on His lips, and His glory is undimmed, unveiled, and no other light competes with it. It terrifies the inhabitants of the earth! They fall down and hide under the rocks and in caves, crying out
“Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb! For the great day of their wrath has come, and who can withstand it?” (Revelation 6:16-17)
If I think myself condemned, or have done an action that Jesus would condemn, I think of that scene. Am I there? NO. I am not one of those unbelievers hiding under a rock and begging to escape the notice of the Lion of the tribe of Judah? NO!
Well, since Christianity is either-or, and if I’m not there, where am I? HERE:
“More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.” (Romans 5:11)
So I never struggled with condemnation, because it’s either-or. If I think about my sins, former or present, sure, I’d feel condemned. It is a heavy weight to know I fail Jesus even today, with the Spirit in me. But I don’t think about it. If I do, I’d be putting myself on the place of those poor blasphemers in Rev. 6 at the coming of Christ, hiding under the rocks and terrified of His approach. I’m not there, that’s not me. So, who am I? I am forgiven, in the light, embraced by Jesus who knew me before the foundation of the world. It simply isn’t profitable to think of being condemned, and we’re told not to:
“Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.” (Philippians 4:8)
Not that we don’t feel bad when we sin. I certainly do. But the glory of Christ is His intimate relationship with us, and my opportunity to bring my mourning over my sin to Him and ask for forgiveness. He delights in His children and wants to forgive. As for the unnecessary feeling of condemnation?
It’s not complicated.
Jesus went through excruciating pain and agony in order to satisfy God’s wrath. He took our punishment so that we would not be condemned. Therefore I will not diminish His work by adopting an attitude of condemnation.
It’s not complicated.
If we have the faith of a child, we won’t overcomplicate the message. We’re co-heirs with Christ, in us there is no condemnation. (Romans 8:1). Why purposely burden my life with a gray area of endless options for feeling condemned in my sins when Jesus stripped it all down to two? We are either outside Christ and condemned or we are in Christ and forgiven. It’s that simple.
We long for Jesus, don’t we? We want to be in heaven where things are beautiful, and perfect, and where we won’t sweat or toil. We want peaceful rest and perfect fellowship with the saints. We definitely don’t want to sin any more.
But above all, we want JESUS!
We like to picture Him on His throne, reigning with an iron rod, in perfect peace and justice. (Revelation 2:27). We mostly picture this in the Millennium Kingdom because the bible says almost nothing about life after the 1000 year kingdom concludes, our eternal state. Prophetically the order of things to come at this point is
—The Rapture. This is when the saints who believed in the Resurrected Jesus all throughout the Church Age (between Jesus’s ascension/Pentecost and the rapture) will be translated alive or resurrected from the dead into perfect bodies able to withstand gazing upon His glory. We live in New Jerusalem which for the time being is in heaven. We enjoy the Rewards ceremony for the things done in Christ (Bema Rewards) and the marriage supper of the Lamb. Down below, the tribulation is happening, —The Tribulation AKA the Time of Jacob’s Trouble. Jesus will unleash His stored-up wrath upon the sinning inhabitants of the world and also punish Israel. This time of wrath and punishment will last 7 years. It will be a time of hell on earth, the antichrist and false prophet will be allowed a very long leash, many thousands or millions of salvations occur, and just as many martyrdoms. —The Second Coming. Jesus will return from heaven, with us and also the angels, put a stop to the carnage on earth. He will judge the nations. (Sheep and Goats judgment) —Millennium Kingdom. Judgment concluded, those who are saved will be allowed entry into the kingdom. This will be a time of the prophesied 1000 years of Jesus reigning on earth, which will be a renewed earth, and the church age saints living in New Jerusalem which had descended to earth. Satan will be bound in the pit during this time. At the end of the 1000 years, he will be let our for one last, very short battle, and then satan is thrown forever into the lake of fire. —The Eternal State. Earth will be melted. We continue on in eternity with Jesus forever.
Here is a question. Jesus came to live in a body and He was killed in a body and when He was resurrected, He still had that body. He is man AND God but He is in a body. That was the sacrifice.
During the Millennial Kingdom period, when Jesus reigns from His throne in Zion (Isaiah 9:7), will Jesus be in only one place? Will those who live in Egypt or Assyria be able to be with Jesus even though they live far from Mt. Moriah? Do they lose out in being able to petition Jesus or worship Jesus or be with Jesus personally?
And what about us? The Millennium Kingdom will be vast, with all Israel’s originally promised borders finally unmolested and intact, and peoples re-populating the world, and all the Church Age saints living in New Jerusalem…with so many people around worshiping and sacrificing to Jesus, will we be able to be with Jesus personally? Have one-on-one time, in His presence, worshiping Him or just gazing in adoration?
Yes, we absolutely WILL be able to be with Him and personally, too. He is with every person who believes right now, whether they are in Greenland or Australia, Chile or Germany. How? I don’t know. But He is. (Matthew 18:20, 28:20; Hebrews 13:5).
Psalm 55:22 says He sustains us, and this means each one of us. He personally knits together every babe in the womb.
We see that He is personally involved with us now, from womb to death and beyond, and when we get to heaven, He will be personally available to us as well, but even better because He will be bodily there. 1 Corinthians 13:12 says we will see face to face. He will personally wipe each tear from our eyes (Rev 21:4)
If each person who ever lived will stand before Him to be personally judged individually by their deeds, how much more glorious will it be when we share eternal joy with Him, standing with Him at the bema seat to be rewarded! (1 Thessalonians 2:19-20). We will be with Him, with Him, with Him…
He is the creator of all dimensions. How could Paul be in the body on earth but also in the spirit seeing the third heaven, (2 Corinthians 12:2) which is so beautiful no man can say the things that went on there? How can John be both on Patmos but also among the lampstands speaking with Jesus? (Revelation 1:12-13). How can Peter be on the mountain but suddenly out of another dimension he sees Moses and Elijah with them on the mountain, too? (Matthew 17:3). Which reality is real, the one where Elisha’s servant sees only the army coming to conquer them, or the one that Elisha asks God to show, the chariots of fire which were there all along? (2 Kings 6:17). God makes it happen, in heaven there are no space constrictions, and no time worries!
Have no fear, in heaven there is no disappointment, only joy. Therefore since Jesus is our joy, we will be with Him. (Matthew 25:21). He will not forsake us, ever. If he is with us now, He will be with us then, and face to face.
A month ago I wrote about the Music of the Spheres, the ancient concept developed by Pythagoras and promoted by Plato that there is a hidden order and musical harmony behind what we see manifested in the physical universe. Pythagoras believed that numbers were the foundational glue that ordered the worlds, and further, that as the planets and universe went about their business orbiting and just being, that they emitted an actual musical score, thrumming as strings.
If this sounds a lot like string theory, Pythagoras had the initial glimmers. If you’d like to read more, I discussed the concept of the Music of the Spheres into three parts. Part 1 begins here.
Imagine my delight when I came across this from South America. It is from 2009, so it’s not new, but isn’t this just charming:
Birdsong, by Jarbas Agnelli One morning while reading a newspaper, composer Jarbas Agnelli saw a photograph of birds on an electric wire. He cut out the photo and was inspired to make a song using the exact location of the birds as musical notes. He was curious to hear what melody the birds created. He sent the music to the photographer, Paulo Pinto, who told his editor, who told a reporter and the story ended up as an interview in the newspaper. It ended up Winner of the YouTube Play Guggenheim Biennial Festival.
A physics controversy is erupting. It seems that a youtube video is making a splash. According to this article it has been seen by 1.5 million people as of February 4, 2014.
I read several Physics chat rooms and forums and it seems there is a huge debate over this. Two string theory scientists had recently posted in their Youtube video explaining that all the positive integers added up to infinity equals a negative number. Who knew there were that many string theory scientists & geeks. Anyway, there is huge debate over their results. The link above is a good article explaining what the string theory scientists are about.
The article opens this way- “How far should scientists go in simplifying complexity to engage the public imagination?”
Though the scientists say they focus on the infinite, what they’re really focusing on is the eternal.
God is the infinite. Only God can simplify the eternal so that man’s finite brain can understand it. This is why unsaved people cannot understand the bible, and this is why unsaved scientists cannot understand the complex. In fact, the only people who can understand string theory are Christians.
All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. (John 1:3; Colossians 1:16)
One of the scientists saying this positive number equals a negative number thing is Tony Padilla. Padilla says,
“It’s by no means obvious, but this is the only sensible value one can attach to this divergent sum. Infinity is not a sensible value. In my opinion, as a physicist, infinity has no place in physical observables, and therefore no place in Nature.”
No, infinity does not have a sensible value. How can one put a value on the infinite (eternal)? However, if you think about it, numbers in general do not have a sensible value! It is finite man who developed counting systems with values. Though in the US we use base-10, others use base 12. This mathematician wrote,
“Humans, for the most part, count in chunks of 10 — that’s the foundation of the decimal system. Despite its near-universal adoption, however, it’s a completely arbitrary numbering system that emerged for one very simple reason: We have five fingers on each hand.“
Mayans used base 20 and Babylonians used base 60. So scientists who put all their trust (faith?) in a value of
Babylonian numerals
a number forget that assigning a value to a number, (written in what is only a man-made squiggle after all, remember XVII?), is just as arbitrary and at root, have no sensible value, either.
David Hilbert, one of the founding fathers of quantum mechanics, described infinity as “a mathematical abstraction that does not have a physical content.”
That’s because infinity is God (eternal) and God is spirit! God does not have physical content.
Linnaeus: Table of the Animal Kingdom (Regnum Animale) from the 1st edition of Systema Naturæ (1735)
OK, this math positive numbers equal negative numbers thing is a classic example of scientists attempting to classify the unclassifiable. Physics comes extremely close to who God is and one of His infinite qualities, omniscience. The scientists are trying to order and organize something that is impossible to order and organize without knowing God. They are UNspiritual people trying to learn spiritual things- 1 Corinthians 2:13- and with a finite mind, no less.
Some parts of our physical existence can be seen and understood, but even Carl Linnaeus, the father of modern taxonomy, had a difficult time with his hierarchical organization trees because new species kept cropping up that destroyed his finely created “kingdom-class-order-phylum-genus-species hierarchical taxonomy.
And physicists try to do the same, but with math. It works to a degree but just when they get close, like mercury squirting out from under their thumb, their theories collapse. Their pursuit is like Tantalus’, eternally reaching for the fruit and the water that was eternally outside his grasp. It is a classic case of 2 Timothy 3:7!
Hilbert was right, more right than he knew. Infinity IS a mathematical content that has no physical…it’s God. But they will never accept that. I watched the BBC series “Atom” a couple of summers ago, narrated by physicist Jim Al-Khalili. He showed how even this dimension we are living in is likely a hologram, AKA not real – and how right he is! Which is the ‘real’ dimension? This one or the one that appeared before the disciples’ eyes on the mount of Transfiguration, with Moses and Elijah ‘suddenly’ appearing and speaking to each other? The one that Elisha’s servant saw, or the one that Elisha asked God to reveal which was there all along? In physics this hologram universe is called the ‘holographic principle’. PBS Nova describes the holographic principle–
The holographic principle, simply put, is the idea that our three-dimensional reality is a projection of information stored on a distant, two-dimensional surface. Like the emblem on your credit card, the two-dimensional surface holds all the information you need to describe a three-dimensional object—in this case, our universe. Only when it is illuminated does it reveal a three-dimensional image. This raises a number of questions: If our universe is a holographic projection, then where is the two-dimensional surface containing all the information that describes it? What “illuminates” that surface? Is it more or less real than our universe?
So when math guys say that all positive integers added to infinity would result in a sum that is a negative number, why NOT? What is real about anything we know, except for what God revealed to us in His word? all that math is, and physics, is an arbitrary philosophical construct based on man’s interpretation of things outside of the only construct that makes sense- the bible.
Physicists seek the Theory of Everything. “A theory of everything (ToE) or final theory, ultimate theory or master theory refers to the hypothetical presence of a single, all-encompassing, coherent theoretical framework of physics that fully explains and links together all physical aspects of the universe. ToE is one of the major unsolved problems in physics.” (source)
O Timothy, guard the deposit entrusted to you. Avoid the irreverent babble and contradictions of what is falsely called “knowledge,” (1 Timothy 6:20)
We rejoice in the Creator without succumbing to worshiping the creation. We take delight in Who God is, without attempting to overlay scientific theories that explain Him. He is eternal, infinite, expansive, majestic, and above all, holy. The Theory of Everything that scientists constantly seek, is … the bible. Best of all, it’s not a theory. It is fact.
“Praise the Lord! Praise, O servants of the Lord, praise the name of the Lord! Blessed be the name of the Lord from this time forth and forevermore! From the rising of the sun to its setting, the name of the Lord is to be praised! The Lord is high above all nations, and his glory above the heavens! Who is like the Lord our God, who is seated on high,” (Psalm 113:1-9)
I love visuals. Of course, putting Jesus on a visual is always fraught with biblical issues (Second Commandment). Trying to picture the worst horrors of hell or the Tribulaton is unwise. And how does one capture some of the more nuanced concepts that can really only be seen in the Word? It’s called the word for a reason. Not ‘The Picture”. Even the Apostles and Prophets who saw what they saw still struggled with ways to say it in words. “It was like a…” and Daniel simply became ill after several of the visions.
“…He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel.”
Action Jones
Annie Vallotton via ArtBible.net
Go to the link for Chris Koelle to see his work. It’s copyrighted. A couple of years ago he completed illustrations for the Graphic book of Revelation. he also illustrates some of John Piper’s poems, and has recently finished a series of illustrations showing the History of Redemption from Genesis to revelation. his work is available for purchase or for church events at a discounted price. His Revelation illustrations are actually chillingly, spiritually otherworldly for me to look at and so I don’t look too often.
Trying to envision the rapture is one of the hardest concepts to get right. After all, the bible says it will happen in the blink of an eye. (1 Corinthians 15:52). How do you capture that? I see lots of art that depicts Christians with arms outstretched and jet marks under their feet as they’re launched off the ground…kind of literal and corny if you ask me.
I did like this one from a short youtube video showing us a points of glory light zooming off earth into the universe:
Then I came across this one today. It is a free wallpaper. Someone had added the words at the bottom. I liked it because it showed the suddenness of the rapture, via the lightning. The storm clouds bespeak wrath. In my interpretation, the first Horse of the Apocalypse will ride immediately after the rapture or coinciding with it, because once the church is removed, God will unleash His stored-up wrath upon the inhabitants of the earth. So the galloping horse also is going to be part of the event at or immediately after the rapture. See what you think:
The rapture of the church, explained. 14 minutes.
1 Thessalonians 4:13-18. Let’s be encouraged!
But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. Therefore encourage one another with these words.
North Korea is the most closed nation on earth. Extracting any reliable information from that closed dictator-led nation is near impossible. Still, reports leak out. Depending on the source, some of them are more reliable than others.
There is a recent report that the new dictator, Kim Jong Un, son of the old dictator, Kim Jong Il, held a mass public execution last November 3. November you say, and we’re just hearing about it now? That is how slowly real news leaves the closed and mysterious country of North Korea. If the reports are true at all.
The reports say that the executions were held publicly with children forced to watch. There was no clear reason why the executions were held, other than for some infractions such as owning a bible or watching a South Korean film.
There are more recent reports that the dictator has ordered the execution of 33 Christians, for the crime of having had contact with a South Korean Baptist missionary. Those reports seem more reliable. Read more here.
I am extremely saddened by these events. We are told that Christians throughout the Church Age will be persecuted or even killed for the faith. It doesn’t make knowing the fact of them happening in front of our faces any easier to take.
However, something that diminishes the honor due missionaries and martyrs who give their life on earth for the faith in a brutal, lonely death is when undiscerning Christians, well-meaning no doubt, fall for easily discovered ruses. Like this:
Accompanying the recent story about the November executions, often appears this photo of alleged about-to-be killed North Korean Christians-
These are not Christians. These are not believers about to be killed. These are young North Koreans mourning the death of their beloved Kim Jong Il, AKA “Dear Leader”, “Superior Person” and “Father of the People.” The are victims, brainwashed and mind-controlled atheists in a locked country, suddenly bereft of their ‘god.’
How do I know this? A 5 second google search yielded this photo published in Russia Today in December 2011, not March 2014. The headline to the article in which this photo originally appeared states,
And the caption states, “Pyongyang residents react as they mourn over the death of North Korean leader Kim Jong-il in Pyongyang (Kyodo / Reuters)”
Please, if we are to test all things regarding what we are taught by bible teachers and preachers, then let’s extend that to testing Christian news before we pass along information about missionaries and martyrs. Far too often on Facebook, twitter, or other social media and blogs, I find mindlessly repeated hoaxes, false information, and just plain obvious ruses that diminish the credibility of Christians. Let’s stay as pure as we can, on behalf of the One of whom we speak. Check it out before you pass it along. In other words, Google is your friend.
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Now as to some real news about a N. Korean missionary, this is from Voice of the Martyrs-
UPDATE #2 After being detained for two weeks for attempting to distribute gospel tracts in North Korea, John Short, 75, was released by North Korean authorities on March 2. The Australian missionary, who resides in Hong Kong with his wife, had traveled to Pyongyang as part of a regular tour group on Feb. 15. The following day, he was questioned about the gospel tracts and subsequently detained. Upon his release, he was flown to Beijing, where he was met by officials from the Australian embassy. He is expected to return to his home in Hong Kong.
UPDATE #1 Praise God that North Korean officials deported John Short to Beijing on March 2, 2014.
ORIGINAL STORY Australian missionary John Short, 75, was questioned and detained by North Korean authorities on Feb. 16., reportedly after police learned of gospel tracts in his possession.
Short, who has lived in Hong Kong with his wife for the past 50 years, traveled to Pyongyang on Feb. 15 with a tour group, and police questioned him at his hotel the next day about the Korean-language gospel tracts that he was carrying. Officials reportedly asked him who translated the material into Korean, who sent him and to what organization he belongs.
Short’s wife was informed of his detention by a member of the tour group who was allowed to leave on Feb. 18. The tour company has made repeated calls to North Korea, but officials have refused to provide any information.
North Korea is considered the worst persecutor of Christians in the world. Although its constitution provides for freedom of religion, the practice of any non-state-sanctioned religious activity is prohibited. Possessing a Bible, praying to God or Jesus, and meeting with other Christians all are punishable by death.
The Australian government is working on Short’s behalf through its embassy in South Korea and has also requested help from Sweden, which has an embassy in Pyongyang.
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Here is one account of a martyr we will meet in heaven, killed under Diocletian’s persecution beginning in 304AD. From Foxe’s Book of Martyrs
Agrape, Chionia, and Irene, three sisters, were seized upon at Thessalonica, when Diocletian’s persecution reached Greece. They were burnt, and received the crown of martyrdom in the flames, March 25, A.D. 304. The governor, finding that he could make no impression on Irene, ordered her to be exposed naked in the streets, which shameful order having been executed, a fire was kindled near the city wall, amidst whose flames her spirit ascended beyond the reach of man’s cruelty.
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O, for the day when we are all beyond reach of man’s cruelty, under the shelter of the arms of Jesus! When all children will be translated instantly to a place of safety and love. When the aged and infirm receive their resurrected, glorified bodies and can run and leap in joy toward Jesus and kneel without pain at His feet. When persecution is no longer a word in our vocabulary and it has lost all power to instill fear or cause death. That day is coming, brothers and sisters, it is coming.
I’m not for Lent. It has a pagan foundation and is perpetuated by the false Catholic religion. It’s associated with golden calf-Mardi Gras and Pharisaical rituals. In addition it is contrary to the Gospel. I know some say that Lent for them is just a personal time of preparation for the upcoming Resurrection Sunday AKA Easter. But personal preparation is also called for in advance of the Lord’s Table (1 Corinthians 11:28) and to some extent every time we prepare for Sunday worship. (Ezra 7:10, Romans 12:1). Actually we’re supposed to pick up our cross daily, so why set aside a special time once a year for self-examination, obedience, and repentance? Why do we make a display of preparing for just as sacred as an event so publicly? Why smear our faces with ashes and mourn when we have overcome the world, have His peace and have been given His joy?
“Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven.” (Matthew 6:1)
“But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, that your fasting may not be seen by others but by your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you. (Matthew 6:17-18). [underline mine]
Further, the activity of placing a mark on our forehead looked at thorough a biblical lens… The bible shows that the false prophet places a mark on the hand or forehead of those who follow the antichrist. (Revelation 13:16). These will be doomed forever. The Whore of Babylon has a secret name written on her forehead. (Revelation 17:5). Who wants to be associated with THAT?
On the positive side, during the Tribulation, angels mark the foreheads of those who serve Jesus (Revelation 7:3, Revelation 14:1). Finally, gloriously, “They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads.” (Revelation 22:4). The name of Christ will be upon our foreheads, placed there by angels at the behest of God, or by God Himself, so why do I want man to put any mark on my forehead? Can somebody explain that to me? Anyone? Anyone?? No thanks. I’ll wait for God to do it.
I know the pride of my heart. I know that participating in public displays of external worship activities will only go to my head and I’ll end up promoting my own sanctity done on my own steam. No thanks, I don’t need any help in substituting works for grace. Maybe others can withstand the temptation. I know I can’t and I don’t even want to tread one inch over there. Here are some people who feel the same but have expressed it much more eloquently. The first one is by a woman named Amanda-
Counting it all Joy: A Vent About Lent “And here’s where I may be upsetting to the more theologically-minded, but it really isn’t first and foremost about a principle for me. Or a confession. It’s about me thinking this is contrary to the GOSPEL.“
John MacArthur on Lent’s beginnings and how it is nowadays an abuse for sinning as much as possible- Another vent about Lent: “Some even more religious souls feel that you sort of have to work your way up to resurrection Sunday, and so they celebrate what has become known as Lent. Forty days of eating no meat and, supposedly, expressing penitence for sin. I suppose its, in most cases, hypocritical, since penitence for sin is not accomplished by some self-directed abstinence or some self-motivated plea toward God, and its hypocrisy is also seen, I think, in the fact that before Lent, people tend to really pile up the sinning since they have to do without for a while… In fact, there are two words that come to mind when you think of the pre-Lenten season. One is the term Mardi Gras, and the other is carnival. In our country, we’re familiar with Mardi Gras. In other parts of the world, they celebrate carnival. It is a time of unbridled sinning, of drunkenness, rioting, sexual misbehavior, getting ready for penitence…in view of Easter. In fact, Mardi Gras comes from two French words. If you know French, you know that the French word Mardi means Tuesday, and gras means fat. Fat Tuesday is the last day before Lent, and you better get fat now, because you’re gonna go without for a while. Carnival comes from words that we’re familiar with. Carne, we know from chili con carne, means meat. Val, we know from high school days when somebody was the valedictorian and gave a farewell speech, means farewell. Carnival means farewell to meat. So you have a big party before you get spiritual just to make sure you don’t miss anything; and then you hope against hope that it’ll all turn out in the end if you’re penitent enough and abstain from enough, maybe someday God will raise you up. By the way, as a footnote, Lent is not from the Bible. There is no such thing in the Bible. It comes from the mystery religions of the cults of Babylon and was connected with the supposed killing of Baal by a wild boar; and for forty days and forty nights, the priestesses and the followers of Baal mourned his death until, supposedly, he rose from the dead on the 40th day, and that is where Lent came from, and it has been superimposed on Christianity…“
Annnnd, this too, from Jeremy Walker,
This Lent I am giving up….reticence Whether or not it is a vestige of the Emerging/Emergent appetite for a range of ‘spiritualities’ or an enthusiasm for an over-ripe liturgical renewal, I cannot say, but I wonder if it is in part a matter of distance both of time and space. This alleged ‘recovery’ of Lent and Easter is not actually a matter of historical sensitivity and an inheritance regained but of historical unawareness and an inheritance lost. Whether or not it is the high-grade muppetry of entire churches being urged to tattoo one of the stations of the cross on some part of their anatomy, or some gore-drenched re-enactment of the unrepeatable sacrifice, or some spotlit image-fest in which a total insensitivity to physical representations of the Christ – the image of the invisible God – is displayed, or some be-robed priest-figure half a step away from incense and obeisance, it does not come from Scripture and it does not belong in Christ’s church.
So that is my thought on Lent. Why is it making a comeback into Protestant churches? Here are two essays discussing Lent.
In reading 1 and 2 Kings, patterns emerge. In a recent blog essay I’d mentioned that reading the books of the Kings is like watching the tide go in and out. The king was good, the borders enlarged. The king was bad, the borders came in. In and out. Repeat.
Another pattern is seen in the LORD’s declaration of where on the spectrum the king’s goodness or badness was. Sometimes the King was declared by God as outright evil. Very bad. Sometimes not so bad. Sometimes good. Here is an example. In 2 Kings 3:2a this is what is declared of Jehoram the son of Ahab who became king over Israel in Samaria:
“He did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, though not like his father and mother,”
Why wasn’t he as bad as Ahab and Jezebel? After all, “he put away the pillar of Baal that his father had made.” (2 Kings 3:2b). But Jehoram also clung to the sin of Jereboam which had made Israel sin, and this angered the LORD.
The lesson is twofold. Leaders set the example and when they are below reproach, the followers follow suit, also falling below reproach. In addition, you can’t repudiate some sins, you must repudiate ALL sins. There is no picking and choosing.
Now, how about Jehu?
“Thus Jehu wiped out Baal from Israel. But Jehu did not turn aside from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, which he made Israel to sin—that is, the golden calves that were in Bethel and in Dan. And the Lord said to Jehu, “Because you have done well in carrying out what is right in my eyes, and have done to the house of Ahab according to all that was in my heart, your sons of the fourth generation shall sit on the throne of Israel.” But Jehu was not careful to walk in the law of the Lord, the God of Israel, with all his heart. He did not turn from the sins of Jeroboam, which he made Israel to sin.” (2 Kings 10:28-31)
Did you catch that? “All His heart”. King David was a man after God’s own heart. (Acts 13:22). This is a high honor bestowed on a man. Why was David given such an honor in the bible? He loved and feared the Lord. He had absolute faith in God. You might wonder, David was a great sinner, how could he be deemed a man after God’s own heart? He sinned, but he repented, fully. His heart was always pointed toward God.
David loved God’s law. (Psalm 119:47-48) He delighted in it! Yet you note that despite Jehu doing what was in the LORD’S heart, he “was not careful to walk in the law of the LORD.”
David was grateful for God. God was not a means to a kingly end for David, God was the end. (Psalm 26:6-7; Psalm 100:4).
In another case of the LORD deeming a king pretty good, we see Amaziah. “And he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, yet not like David his father.” (2 Kings 14:3). Amaziah did not remove the high places and the people still sacrificed to other gods there. (2 Kings 14:4). However he did follow through on a point of God’s law whereupon ‘he struck down his servants who had struck down the king his father’ but correctly did not kill the children of those, as the Law states. (2 Kings 14:5-6).
As you read through the Kings the recurring theme is worship of other gods on the high places. The First Commandment is to have no other gods before Him. That the King worshiped God wasn’t good enough, he must set the example by destroying the altars of other gods. Leaving them in place is an implicit agreement with them.
This theme is seen in most of the NT books whereupon the Apostles or authors of almost every book decries false teaching. Following false teaching is following another god. Failure to repudiate false teaching is also a sin. See Revelation 2:20,
“But I have this against you, that you tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess and is teaching and seducing my servants to practice sexual immorality and to eat food sacrificed to idols.“
The church at Thyatira knew this woman, a Jezebel-type, was teaching falsely, and they tolerated it. They themselves weren’t following her, which was good, but they did not strike her down from her high place, as it were. The Lord commended them for not following actively (Rev 2:24) but was still against them that they didn’t dig out the cancer of her false teaching and protect the daughters of hell she was making. (Revelation 2:23).
Discernment is active on all fronts. It means relying on the Spirit to open our eyes to false teaching, and actively asking Him to do this. It means practicing discernment by reading the word and testing what teachers teach against it (Acts 17:11). It also means when you see brethren falling under the beguiling sway of false teachers, to do something about it. Don’t tolerate it. If you do, thee Lord has that against you. Do what it right in the sight of the Lord!
“So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.” James 4:17)
This is me, one woman’s plain-language plea for those who read this blog who are unsaved to believe in the Gospel.
We can see God plainly because He has made Himself plain in creation. (Romans 1:19). He has set eternity in our hearts. (Ecclesiastes 3:11). We know it, but we suppress it. Why? We’re sinners.
Because we’re all born sinners and do wrong from even in the womb, (Psalm 51:5), we can’t go to heaven after we die. There IS a heaven, and after-life that lasts forever. So heaven exists but what would make it heaven if we’re all there acting like we are here? It would not be heaven.
Only God is holy, that is, without sin. He does no wrong, He does not lie. He is perfect in righteousness…and we’re not. (1 John 1:18, Ecclesiastes 7:20, Romans 3:10).
Therefore humans have a problem, don’t we? We can’t do right, having a sin nature, and God is righteous and the bridge is so wide. A great gulf is fixed between us and Him…except that Jesus came to be that bridge. He lived a sinless life as a man, in the days of His flesh He was tempted as we are but overcame it all. He died on the cross as a criminal who had done no wrong, and took on all of God’s wrath and punishment for our sins.
It is true, God is angry with you for sinning. God hates sin. Hates it. (Psalm 5:4). He has wrath about it. He was pleased to crush His son (again are you shocked at this language? It came straight from the bible, Isaiah 53:10). Then, pleased with His Son, God raised Jesus from the dead, and brought Him to glory. Now Jesus is not only the bridge, but the door we can go through to get to heaven.
Picture a car wash. The car is put on the tracks and goes through the building with powerful washing, and emerges the other side sparkling clean. Scrubbed from top to bottom. We don’t get out and scrub the car, it is automatically scrubbed while we do not contribute to the work. Jesus’s blood washes our sins away and if we go through Him we emerge clean by His works and we can go on to heaven.
But how do we get to the car wash? How do we get clean?
Repent.
That means hating your sins and asking Jesus to forgive them. He can and He does. He lived the life on earth and resisted performing even one sin, even one thought of sin. He is qualified to forgive us because He has triumphed over sin, and He took your punishment for them.
If you do not seek Jesus and repent of sins, believing He is qualified to forgive you because He is the resurrected Son of God, then God will reject you when you die and come asking to get into heaven. Those who reject Jesus will be rejected in turn. If God was pleased to crush His sinless Son, (Isaiah 53:10) do YOU think you’d fare any better standing before Him pleading your own sinful case?
It might sound shocking to hear of things like God hates sin or being rejected or crushing His Son. The world certainly teaches that God is [only] love and that heaven is open to all. But I go back to the original, if you go to heaven like you are now, and so does everybody, what makes it heaven? Earth is a terrible place, full of murderers and liars and child molesters. Even if you are not those things, you’re a greedy, coveting, lying, cretin who doesn’t do good and has poison in your heart. If you have ever even had one malicious thought, you’re a sinner. So again, what makes heaven, heaven, if YOU’RE there?
I was a sinner too. I still am, but I asked Jesus to forgive me (Romans 10:9) and in His mercy, He did. He sent the Holy Spirit to indwell me so as to help me resist sin. I still have that sin nature but I am a new creation in Christ. I am IN Christ. You see, once we emerge from that car wash, the track leads straight to Jesus’s arms and He enfolds us to Himself and He is in us and we are in Him. There is no better place to be, than in the One who is righteous, sinless, holy, living and perfect. He will never forsake me nor let me go. No one or nothing can snatch me from his hand.
He will give you the desires of your heart. Your desire is to sin. If you reject Him and won’t repent, He will allow you to fulfill your desire to sin, but that disqualifies you from entering heaven. When you die, you will get your wish to be apart from Jesus forever. You will got to hell. Hell is real and at this very second it is full of people who thought they were saved because they were good. Thought they had the right religion. Thought there was no God, or hell, or heaven.
So repent while it is the day and not the night. Your foot shall slide in due time. Jonathan Edwards described the enormity of an eternal hell:
It is everlasting wrath. It would be dreadful to suffer this fierceness and wrath of Almighty God one moment; but you must suffer it to all eternity. There will be no end to this exquisite horrible misery. When you look forward, you shall see a long for ever, a boundless duration before you, which will swallow up your thoughts, and amaze your soul; and you will absolutely despair of ever having any deliverance, any end, any mitigation, any rest at all. You will know certainly that you must wear out long ages, millions of millions of ages, in wrestling and conflicting with this almighty merciless vengeance; and then when you have so done, when so many ages have actually been spent by you in this manner, you will know that all is but a point to what remains. So that your punishment will indeed be infinite. Oh, who can express what the state of a soul in such circumstances is! All that we can possibly say about it, gives but a very feeble, faint representation of it; it is inexpressible and inconceivable: For “who knows the power of God’s anger?”
This is the Gospel from the bible:
The Resurrection of Christ
Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain.
For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me.” (1 Corinthians 15:1-8)
Our flesh is restricted to seeing only in this dimension. Even at that, God created a world that is astounding in variety and beauty. We can view His handiworks every day, no matter where we are.
Sunset. EPrata photo
I often think about the glimpses we are given in the bible of the new dimension to come: heaven. Whose mind isn’t blown in reading Ezekiel’s description of the angels with eyes all around? (Ezekiel 10:12). On the Mount of Transfiguration, the disciples saw that when Jesus prayed,
“And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became white as light.” (Matthew 17:2)
“his clothes became radiant, intensely white, as no one on earth could bleach them.” (Mark 9:3). Imagine seeing a white so bright it wasn’t even earthly!
God painted the sky with a covenant, the rainbow. (Genesis 9:13). He could have made the world monochrome and us colorblind, but He didn’t. I think of this following scene a lot. When I pray I picture it. The emerald rainbow entrances me.
At once I was in the Spirit, and behold, a throne stood in heaven, with one seated on the throne. And he who sat there had the appearance of jasper and carnelian, and around the throne was a rainbow that had the appearance of an emerald. Around the throne were twenty-four thrones, and seated on the thrones were twenty-four elders, clothed in white garments, with golden crowns on their heads. From the throne came flashes of lightning, and rumblings and peals of thunder, and before the throne were burning seven torches of fire, which are the seven spirits of God, and before the throne there was as it were a sea of glass, like crystal. (Revelation 4:2-6)
What colors! What beauty! We know Jesus is beautiful and since heaven will reflect Him, heaven will be inexpressibly beautiful.
“And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb.” (Revelation 21:23)
“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 2:9)
Cornflower blue. EPrata photo
We know that God cares about color because he set the world ablaze with it, and the animals. He is also very specific about color when describing how the Old Testament priests should dress. Colors mean things to God, for symbols and for beauty.
“And the screen for the gate of the court was embroidered with needlework in blue and purple and scarlet yarns and fine twined linen.” (Exodus 38:18).
For example, blue. The color blue. Will it be the same in heaven? Will it look different? Will it be mixed with other colors we can’t even detect now because we are in this dimension and become a totally different hue? We know it will be better, everything in heaven is better. Revelation 21:19 says that the second foundation of the city walls will be sapphire.
Me taking a photo reflected in a blue yard crystal ball. EPrata photo
Variegated blue pattern on a Jay. EPrata photo
Though we live in a fallen and sinful world, cursed actually, and there is so much ugliness, there is beauty too. Much is beautiful. The colors of the planets, a sunset, the changing hues of the sky as a storm drifts in, the colors of the sea, and the fish in it … from above to below God has given us beauty by giving us color.
EPrata photo
The Great City to come, New Jerusalem will sparkle and be glorious in color.
“The wall was built of jasper, while the city was pure gold, like clear glass. The foundations of the wall of the city were adorned with every kind of jewel. The first was jasper, the second sapphire, the third agate, the fourth emerald, the fifth onyx, the sixth carnelian, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprase, the eleventh jacinth, the twelfth amethyst. And the twelve gates were twelve pearls, each of the gates made of a single pearl, and the street of the city was pure gold, like transparent glass.” (Revelation 21:18-21)
Blue Skies above. EPrata photo
I heard Dr. MacArthur say once that he believes the city will be transparent so that God’s glory will be seen by all inhabitants and there will be nothing to inhibit it from permeating everywhere.
When you go about your day and you see vivid colors in nature and man-made, think about the coming deepening coloration of all that we see and all that we are. Maybe even new colors. Charles Spurgeon wrote in his sermon “The Lamb- The Light“
“Light is the cause of beauty. That is obvious to you all, Take the light away, and there is no beauty anywhere. The fairest woman charms the eye no more than a heap of ashes when the sun has departed. Your garden may be gay with many colored flowers, but when the sun goes down you cannot know them from the grass which borders them. You look upon the trees, all fair with the verdure of summer, but when the sun goes down they are all hung in black. Without light no radiance flashes from the sapphire, no peaceful ray proceedeth from the pearl. There is naught of beauty left when light is gone. Light is the mother of beauty.
And Jesus is the Light (John 8:12). The source of all beauty is Jesus because He is the source of light, without Light, there is no beauty.
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