And Isaac said to his father Abraham, “My father!” And he said, “Here I am, my son.” He said, “Behold, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?” Abraham said, “God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.” So they went both of them together. (Genesis 22:7-8)
The Sacrifice of Isaac is a familiar chapter to most Christians. We study it in Sunday School, it’s taught in VBS, we read it familiarly as mature Christians, our eyes having passed over the verses many times.
But sometimes the gravity of the moment just grabs you and won’t let go. The Father DID provide the Lamb for the sacrifice. The grandest, most beautiful, most terrible moment in all of history or ever shall be, was the death of Jesus on the Cross at Calvary.
Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. (2 Corinthians 5:20-21)
Ambassadors have all the authority of the sending nation behind them. As Christ’s ambassadors, we have all the authority of heaven behind us!
Sometimes just thinking about how Jesus died for us and absorbed the wrath that was rightfully due me, is overwhelming. Sometimes thinking of how despite my craven sinful nature, God cleaned me and forgave me. Sometimes thinking of the fact that God uses me, a poor clay vessel, for His glory, is just too immense for my mind to absorb.
The Christian journey is sometimes not easy, and it is always demanding, but it is also the most joyous and entrancing life a person could ever imagine. If you have not turned to Jesus for forgiveness of your sins, sins that incur the wrath of a Holy God against you every minute of every day, please do it. The life, death, and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth split history. The event divided the world into two paths. One is narrow and leads to everlasting life. The other path is broad and many find it, and will descend to hell for everlasting wrath.
The Father did provide the Lamb. And He is exalted.
The Lamb Exalted Then I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne and the living creatures and the elders; and the number of them was myriads of myriads, and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice, “Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing.” And every created thing which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all things in them, I heard saying, “To Him who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb, be blessing and honor and glory and dominion forever and ever.” (Revelation 5:11-13)
There is the false wall of fame and the true wall of fame. Many women already have their reward, but if your name is in the Book of Life, you are eternally known
So many people, especially women, are hopscotching the globe founding important ministries, establishing orphanages, ’empowering’ native women, or teaching to packed arenas, that it makes some of the rest of us humdrum ladies feel, ahem, left behind. Should we be doing the big things? Can we do the bigger things? Are we doing enough?
All I do every single day, is go to work. I come home and I study my Bible and pray, I write, and if I have enough energy after that, I read a bit. Then I go to sleep and do it all over again. On the weekends all I do is grocery shopping, laundry, cooking the week’s lunches ahead, and study a lot more and write a lot more. I go to church on Sunday. Bed time. Repeat.
I wash dishes in obscurity in north GA and my job is to help kindergarteners tie their shoes and struggling readers learn their ABC’s. It’s not glamorous. It doesn’t seem like it’s very much at all of a contribution to the kingdom.
I mean, Beth Moore is a nearly 70 year old grandma busy helping her daughter through her unbiblical divorce & remarriage and interacting with her grandchildren yet keeps a packed schedule. Joyce Meyer is 81 and still spouting what she spouts. Younger women also seem to be doing the big things, the glamorous things, like Bianca Olthoff with the charmingly titled book “How To Have Your Life Not Suck” or Dancing with the Stars runner-up Sadie Robertson flitting around from conference to conference. As for me, I’m just trudging along in one small sphere.
Well, let’s hear it for the trudgers.
First, if you are a mother, you are in a highly esteemed Biblical position. You are doing such wonderful work for the kingdom in being a foundation block in society, in raising pure young women and strong young men for the next generation. I thank Lois $ Eunice, Augustine’s mom Monica, Elisabeth Elliot, Mrs John G. Paton, Paton and Mrs Susie Spurgeon and Mrs Patricia MacArthur and all the other Missus’ who raised men and women who in turn, impact the kingdom.
Secondly, mother or not, married or not, if you think of the life of Paul most often we think of the highlights. His speeches before thousands, his dramatic miracles, his appearances before kings and leaders.
However, Paul also walked. Thousands upon thousands of miles, he plodded. He trudged. He hiked. From one town to another, in all weathers. In addition, Paul sewed tents. (Acts 18:3). He did the mundane. He wrote letter upon letter to friends. He fundraised. The in-between miracle times in his three missionary journeys were rife with the mundane and the insignificant, except nothing about a Christian’s life is insignificant. Not Paul’s and not mine and not yours. The Lord cares for all our concerns. He clothes us and feeds us and He even knows the number of hairs on our heads. To Him, it’s all significant.
As for the women of the New Testament, Dorcas was beloved not because she was Raechel Myers on storytelling tours of Rwanda empowering women for great things, but because she sewed. She made clothes for the poor and she “was always doing good”. (Acts 9:36). She lovingly helped, humbly and quietly, within her own sphere.
Mary, mother of God? Do we hear of her going on her book tour, telling about the angel that came to her one day, and the miracle of the three wise men or hyping up audiences with her harrowing tale of narrowly escaping the massacre of the innocents? No. Whether she was in Egypt or in Galilee, Mary simply raised her Son. She brought Him up in the faith and managed her household and she raised Jesus’ siblings too.
A few times a year she made the pilgimage to the Temple and the rest of the time, she did what women then and onward have done, she lived in her home and she was faithful to the Lord through His word.
Here are two articles about the plodding kind of faith that endures. That kind of faith is cement. It’s bedrock.
It’s sexy among young people—my generation—to talk about ditching institutional religion and starting a revolution of real Christ-followers living in real community without the confines of church. Besides being unbiblical, such notions of churchless Christianity are unrealistic. It’s immaturity actually, like the newly engaged couple who think romance preserves the marriage, when the couple celebrating their golden anniversary know it’s the institution of marriage that preserves the romance. Without the God-given habit of corporate worship and the God-given mandate of corporate accountability, we will not prove faithful over the long haul.
This one is one of my favorites. It’s by John MacArthur, titled An Unremarkable Faith
Meet Larry, a thirty-six year old Science teacher. Larry married Cathy 12 years ago. They love each other and enjoy raising their two sons. Larry’s life wouldn’t hold out much interest to the average citizen. His Facebook account doesn’t draw many friends and nobody ever leaves a comment on his blog. In fact, most people would summarize Larry’s life with one word—boring. But not Larry. Teaching osmosis to junior high students, playing Uno with his kids, and working in the yard with Cathy is paradise to him. But the real love of his life is Jesus. Larry’s a Christian. He’s been walking with the Lord for more than 20 years.
Not that founding orphanages isn’t worthwhile or something women or men can’t or shouldn’t do. Not that going on a missionary trip to Africa isn’t something Jesus wants us to do. But the big doers are fewer than we think, despite the hype. Most of the church is populated with plodders. As Kevin DeYoung concluded his article,
Put away the Che Guevara t-shirts, stop the revolution, and join the rest of the plodders. Fifty years from now you’ll be glad you did.
Ladies, keep doing what you are doing, one dish at a time, one child at a time, one year at a time. You are preceded by many magnificent plodders who we will gloriously meet in heaven.
I wasn’t saved by love. The Gospel was not attractive to me. It was not made attractive to me by smiling Christians. I was saved by wrath.
This is NOT my Jesus
Glorious Jesus who was and is and is to come did not woo me to the cross. No one fulfilled my felt needs. No one befriended me and cajoled me into loving Jesus. He battered my head with a 2X4, dragging me kicking and screaming to the cross, where He made me face my sin. Once I saw my sin, I saw His coming wrath for it. Our sin is terrible, it renders us religiously dead. It angers the Holy God.
I repented. Veritably looking at the abyss then looking at heaven, I saw what’s what. But it was Jesus who opened my eyes to see it. Otherwise, we are blinded by our sin and never would appeal to God for relief in our pitiful state.
THEN I loved Him. After He opened my eyes I saw all His loveliness and grace and mercy and long-suffering and patience and grief over sin and sinners. But I was not wooed, nor was I loved onto Mt Moriah. It is not true that “Jesus won’t come where He isn’t welcome”. It is not true that “Jesus won’t force Himself on anybody.” He is sovereign God! He goes where He pleases! (Psalm 24:1). He drop kicked Saul/Paul to the ground AND blinded him! He didn’t ASK Mary if she’d like to become pregnant and an object of ridicule and rumor the rest of her life. No, He sent an angel to TELL her how it was going to be. (Luke 1:30-37)
He isn’t wringing His hands in heaven hoping that Jane or Tom or Mary will believe in Him, and maybe they will, if he just sends the Spirit to soften the pew cushions … or energizes the preacher with a louder “WOO!” … or if the musician plays one more verse of “Just As I Am.” Maybe if He can make church “exciting” then Harry will repent and believe. No.
It was the sovereign wrath that convicted me and convinced me. It is why I love passages like this.
The Great Day of His Wrath, John Martin ~1853
This is evidence of the righteous judgment of God, that you may be considered worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you are also suffering— since indeed God considers it just to repay with affliction those who afflict you, and to grant relief to you who are afflicted as well as to us, when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might, when he comes on that day to be glorified in his saints, and to be marveled at among all who have believed, because our testimony to you was believed. (2 Thessalonians 1:5-10)
Let us begin the marveling now. Marvel at a Savior who saves by His sovereign election, will, purpose, and plan! Marvel at He who is wrath and judgment and holiness and fierce anger! Be afeared of His anger over your sin. Marvel that El Shaddai… El Elyon …sent His Son to take on all anger for sin. Marvel that He is also Jehovah Rapha, and Jehovah Jireh, the LORD that heals, the LORD will provide. Marvel at the wrath. It makes marveling at the grace all the more sweet.
I was recently made aware of a youth conference happening this coming January called the CrossCon. Speakers at this conference aimed at 18-25 year olds include David Platt and Kevin DeYoung.
Kevin DeYoung has been a solid pastor, preaching truth for a long time. David Platt has been on a downward trajectory ever since his seminal book Radical was published, since he affirmed dreams of Isa as a legitimate evangelization method, and is currently outed as a wolf in the recent documentary The Real David Platt:The Hijacking of McLean Bible Church.
What is DeYoung doing partnering with Platt at this conference?
If you ever watch any cooking competitions and a chef contestant mixes cheese and seafood, you know it never goes well. Those two ingredients simply do not mix. They taste terrible. Or like our friends the Brits say, “chalk and cheese”, meaning, two things that are completely different from each other.
The Bible calls it discernment.
It’s the same with conferences. Uniting with speakers or musicians of questionable spiritual doctrine dirties the more solid speaker and reduces their religious credibility. It also disobeys God. Such partnering presents a confusion to the less discerning or new in the faith. Last, such ‘unity’ presents a false unity.
We live in the age of “tolerance”. It’s not the tolerance you and I might have grown up with. The Merriam Webster dictionary defines tolerance as
sympathy or indulgence for beliefs or practices differing from or conflicting with one’s own, or : the allowable deviation from a standard
Christians can have sympathy for people who believe in different gods, but we can never indulge them in their wrong beliefs. And any deviation from the standards set by God’s word is not tolerable either.
There is a throng of false teachers whose fetish in teaching is grace only, usually focusing on “love” to an extreme, and never mentioning sin/repentance/wrath. After a decade or more of love-love-love, people have just as twisted understanding of what love is as they do the new version of tolerance. For women, the ‘love’ teaching even drills further down into weird teaching that Jesus is my romantic boyfriend, a type of eros love the Bible never describes.
That, in combination with a lack of ability or willingness to study and understand scripture, has brought forth a horde of folks ready to squash anyone whose understanding on these matters is biblically based on scripture.
This effect of the false teachers’ teaching was brought home to me as I was having conversations on social media about the need to separate from some professing believers at prescribed times is a matter of command and prescription. When you look at the myriad scriptures, there are actually quite a few situations when brethren are supposed to divide from other brethren.
This fact was met with incredulity, horror, and anger as one after another of these women, and some men, pushed back against this notion. Sharing the scriptures does not resolve anything. It often actually makes them angrier. Many simply ignore the shared scriptures and resort to calling names.
So I thought I’d do a study on what the Bible says about our associations with other people and when to leave a brother alone. This is hopefully to show that as with many other circumstances in our earthly life as humans, the Holy Spirit has given us wisdom and understanding about our associations, friendships, and fellowship.
While it seems “unloving” or dare I say “intolerant” to separate from a brother, there are sometimes good reasons for it, as we’ll see.
Unity at all costs? No.
In many cases, when discerning brethren warn about this or that false teacher, the person will say, “Did you go to him?” meaning, did you have a private conversation with that public teacher before you said anything negative about his or her public teaching? This refers back to Matthew 18. Going to a false teacher prior to critiquing his or her lessons is not necessary, because they are public teachers. They are outside your own church. The Matthew 18 process is church discipline for sinning Christians inside your church. FYI, the Matthew 18 process for sinning church members does end with separation, with an excommunication if the church member is unrepentant and uncorrectable.
It’s baffling to think that naysayers will cling to Matthew 18:15-17 in the first place (‘Did you go to him?’) but avoid the end result of that same process just 3 verses later, which is separation (You’re so mean and intolerant!’).
The individual person’s involvement in this Matthew 18 scenario is in step 1 and 2. When it gets to steps 3 and 4, it is the pastor’s duty to make this judgment call, and the individual sister’s responsibility to submit to the assessment of her leaders in church. The reason for this called-for separation; to prevent sin from spreading.
A little leaven leavens the whole lump of dough. (Galatians 5:9).
Separating from the sinning professing believer is sometimes necessary
In another case of called-for separation, we see in 1 Corinthians 5:9, 11 of Paul that,
I wrote you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people;But now I am writing to you not to associate with anyone who bears the name of brother if he is guilty of sexual immorality or greed, or is an idolater, reviler, drunkard, or swindler—not even to eat with such a one.
Paul expected the Corinthians to disassociate with all who said they were brothers but had a consistent pattern of sin, particularly sexual sin. In the culture of the day eating with someone was a sign of acceptance. Therefore if breaking bread with a homosexual, an adulterer, incestuous person, fornicator etc it was a sign that their behavior was accepted by Christians, who otherwise called for holy living.
Paul said that sexual sin was a sin that brethren were not to tolerate, even to the point of breaking fellowship, because as he explains the verses in 1 Corinthians 6:15-19,
The believer’s body is not only for the Lord here and now (v. 14), but is of the Lord, a part of His body, the church (Eph 1:22,23). The Christian’s body is a spiritual temple in which the Spirit of Christ lives, therefore when a believer commits a sexual sin, it involves Christ with a harlot. All sexual sin is harlotry. (John MacArthur Study Bible note.)
So, that’s pretty obvious why we are to separate.
Here is another example regarding the limits of Christian fellowship.
So when you are assembled and I am with you in spirit, and the power of our Lord Jesus is present, 5 hand this man over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved on the day of the Lord. (1 Corinthians 5:4-5).
This is the famous case of a man sleeping with his father’s wife. The Corinthians were tolerating it. In today’s parlance, were they trying to “be loving”? Would they think it “mean-spirited” to ostracize this man from their fellowship? Paul pulled no punches with what they were to do.
And of course, we know not to associate with false teachers, as Apostle John instructed in 2 John 1:10 where even participating with the unrepentant sinner for the one who gives him a greeting participates in his evil deeds as verse 11 states
Turning a believer over to satan puts him back into the cold world to be on his own, apart from the care and support of Christian fellowship inside the warmth of the church, as John MacArthur explains in his commentary.
That person has forfeited the right to participation in the church of Jesus Christ, which He intends to keep pure at all costs. MacArthur, Commentary
As always, the goal is reconciliation. Making this shocking move would let the believing sinner know the limits of tolerance. It bears repeating, there are LIMITS to our tolerance for false teaching and for sin in professing believers
We have another example of separation in 2 John 1:8-11.
Here in this epistle John is giving limits to Christian hospitality. We are to separate from people who go beyond the teaching of Jesus. Do not even greet those who teach beyond what is written. Back then hospitality was important because there were no hotels, so traveling teachers lodged with believers.
John isn’t prohibiting people from sharing the Gospel with unbelievers, or even those in cults and false religions. We always want to evangelize. But do remain apart from and do not even welcome those false teachers, because welcoming them to your home affirms their teaching and gives them credibility. Housing and welcoming false teachers who labor in the faith (to deceive followers) would confuse people and offer a massive stumbling block.
In-person housing of itinerant o traveling pastors happens today, as we learned about Robert Morris who stayed over at his friend’s house when traveling, or Steve Lawson who lodged with hospitable friends also. But both are now outed rebels who we sadly learned were behaving in monstrous ways.
But most of us do not host traveling teachers any more like in the Bible days. ‘Do not welcome them into your house’ more often means do not simulcast their speeches into your home, or buy their books and bring them to a women’s study, and so forth.
Beth Moore reading the epistle at her church last week. False teachers love to be front and center, don’t they? But separation must occur even if it means declining a speaking invitation to a conference or church
This separation edict applies also to standing on a stage with obvious false teachers, as John Piper did with Beth Moore and Francis Chan at Passion conference 12 years ago. Or as Piper did with Mark Driscoll 2 years later. Despite hundreds of emails and internet concern that Piper was publicly platforming and supporting Driscoll, Piper unabashedly went ahead. Piper later even said he had no regret. Is there anyone that Piper will separate from? Apparently not. Piper said in his ‘no regret’ interview that he only wished he had been a better friend to Driscoll.
Biblically, a good friend is one who will obey God and separate to display the seriousness of the person’s sin and that there are biblical limits to tolerating it, in hoes that grace will come and re-infuse that person’s life with truth.
And now here is Piper scheduled to speak with Platt at CrossCon, where Platt has affirmed Isa dreams as an evangelizing method, and has been outed in a documentary as being a conniving, thieving, CRT loving liberal who excommunicates people who question Platt’s actions which were contrary to their church’s constitution. (More here).
It might seem “unloving” to say that there comes a point where we don’t offer the Gospel to a lost person but there are even limits to associating with the unsaved.
Do not give what is holy to dogs, and do not throw your pearls before swine, or they will trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces. (Matthew 7:6)
Jesus’ point is that certain truths and blessings of our faith are not to be shared with people who are totally antagonistic to the things of God. … Jesus did not give all of his teaching to everyone who happened to be listening. (Matthew 11:25, 11:11-13). … There will be times when the Gospel we present is absolutely rejected and ridiculed and we make the judgment to turn away and speak no more. MacArthur Commentary
We are given the same admonition in Matthew 10:14 where we are told to shake the dust off our feet and move on.
Even Jesus closed His public ministry at a certain point, after He had given sign after sign and miracle after miracle and taught all the days long, and many were still questioning, demanding, and rejecting. So He closed it down and privately taught only the believers and eventual apostles. After His resurrection He only appeared to believers.
One commenter gives a word of caution though,
But while the indiscriminately zealous have need of this caution, let us be on our guard against too readily setting our neighbors down as dogs and swine, and excusing ourselves from endeavoring to do them good on this poor plea. Jamieson Faussett Brown Bible Commentary
We have seen that with love and discernment, there are times to make a judgment call and separate from people who profess Christ but persist in unrepentant sin, and to separate from even the lost who consistently reject. Against the backdrop of the ‘lovey tolerance’ of today, doing so seems harsh and cruel to those who seemingly have no limit to sin. But do we today care more about the feelings of the unrepentant professing believing rebel than the Savior who died to give us power by the Spirit to slay those sins?
Look at Acts 5:13,
But none of the rest dared to associate with them; however, the people held them in high esteem.
The watching pagans respected the followers of Jesus, but feared to join them. Why? Were they scary? No, they were respected, not feared. The fear came because it was obvious that the followers were serious about sin and hypocrisy in the church. Ananias and Sapphira had just been killed dead in front of everyone in the church. The followers were obviously part of something that was holy and pure. Bystanders respected their witness and were counting the cost of joining. Only serious sin-slayers need apply.
Nowadays people are encouraged to follow Jesus and bring their sin with them.
We love our neighbor in the next pew, yes, but loving that believer doesn’t mean overlooking their sin. Sadly there are times and cases when separation from the believers we associate with is called for. With everything, do so cautiously, in love, and after study and prayer. Some of these situations are pretty clear and others are more gray. Err on the side of love, but remain strong in respecting biblical limits of associations and fellowship. We strive to be strong in both doctrine and life.
Poetry by Kay Cude. Used with permission. Right click on image to open larger in new tab. Or read the text below. Artist’s statement:
I keep returning to our (me!!) needing to “remember” God’s promises and provision. GOD THE I AM is the only fortress in Whom we find a righteous protector, defender and provider. He is the only place of eternal refuge from the world’s continuing tragedies and chaos. He is the stronghold Who is and Who will provide peace, wisdom, understanding, instruction and endurance.
FACING FEAR: IN THE MIDST OF GOD’S PROVIDENCE As waves of fear rolled nearer still, as deep its swell approached us nigh; our hearts near failed as we cried out, “O Lord, Your servants rescue now!” And crashed the waves of terror strong, our lives at risk — we knew death’s tide; yet stilled our hearts Your Glorious Word and on we clung and Truth prevailed.
As deep and dark, as depth of brine, we battled ‘gainst the foe’s onslaught; its torrents fierce as bounding main, — with cruelest rage this foe can slay. Yet in Your Will, O Saviour ours, Salvation’s Light’s our mighty Ark; afloat we stay midst evil’s gale, for You prevail within its rage.
Afloat we ride with knowledge sure, we look ahead with strength not ours; Endurance meets us Face-to-face, ’tis You our Strength our sure Bulwark, The fears we face — our spirit’s gain, makes strong we resolute of heart, to live God’s Will through providence — and triumph through His Will’s Intent. ~kay cude, October 1, 2017
OUR FORTRESS PREVAILS Refer to Psalm 46. FEAR NOT, GOD IS OUR ETERNAL REFUGE AND STRENGTH. “We will not fear, for God hath willed His Truth to triumph through us; The body they may kill. God’s Truth abideth still, His Kingdom is FOREVER.” ~Martin Luther
IT IS the grace of God through His unfathomable mercy through the power of His predetermined love that urges us to remain and stand in His will concerning providence! WHAT THEN
IS IT that assails our thoughts with such unrelenting vengeance that can tempt us into overbearing fear when trials overtake us?
IT IS not remembering His Word — that He is Sovereign over all circumstances and issues we will encounter during our lives, during our service to, for and through Him…
Allie Beth Stuckey published a book that’s out this week, called Toxic Empathy: How Progressives Exploit Christian Compassion. The book is making waves and causing a hearty discussion on social media.
That’s good. Stuckey explores the concepts of the current cultural mantras, “love is love”, “trans women are women”, “abortion is health care”, “social justice is justice”, and pointedly, that empathy is not always empathy. Love, justice, empathy are good words, but they can and are appropriated by bad people who use those words to manipulate the people around them, especially Christians. Stuckey wrote in her introduction,
But empathy alone is a terrible guide. It may be part of what inspires us to do good, but it’s just an emotion and, like all emotions, is highly susceptible to manipulation. That’s exactly what’s happening today. Empathy has been hijacked for the purpose of conforming well-intentioned people to particular political agendas. Specifically, it’s been co-opted by the progressive wing of American society to convince people that the progressive position is exclusively the one of kindness and morality. I call it toxic empathy. Source: page xii)
Of course the culture will push back on a Christian re-redefining the words that the progressives have appropriated and redefined. Here we see one reaction-
Mason Mennenga@masonmennenga wrote on Twitter, “if you think empathy is toxic then you’re going to hate this guy named jesus christ“.
According to our own understanding of the word ’empathy’, of course the guy is right. But then again, this is a situation that calls for thought, not knee-jerk reactions such as “Yeah!” then press ‘like’.
The ever wise Ron Henzel @ronhenzel replied to Mennenga, (≠ means ‘does not equal’):
“toxic substance” ≠ “all substances are toxic” “toxic waste” ≠ “all waste is toxic” “toxic relationships” ≠ “all relationships are toxic” “toxic empathy” ≠ “all empathy is toxic“
We must, MUST think things through. Christians are a thinking people, (Philippians 4:8). As Stuckey said, emotions can be manipulated.
Emotions are a part of life. But I bring this to your attention…what were the first emotions seen in the Bible? Shame, guilt, blame. Genesis 3. Satan manipulated Eve’s curiosity into a temptation and we know what happened from there.
Of ‘toxic empathy’, the American writer Flannery O’Connor said,
“If other ages felt less, they saw more, even though they saw with the blind, prophetical, unsentimental eye of faith. In the absence of this faith now, we govern by tenderness. It is a tenderness which, long cut off from the person of Christ, is wrapped in theory. When tenderness is detached from the source of tenderness, its logical outcome is terror. It ends in forced-labor camps and in the fumes of the gas chamber.”
AI explains the quote-
This quote, by Flannery O’Connor, argues that modern society, lacking a strong religious faith, governs itself through a detached “tenderness” that, without the grounding of Christ, ultimately leads to horrific consequences like violence and oppression, symbolized by the gas chambers of concentration camps.
And haven’t we seen that? “Love thy neighbor” was the covid-flu mantra pressuring the populace to ingest untested or unwieldy vaccinations, to close down society against common sense, and to become isolated robots. What happened was the elderly were left to die alone and society’s children were impacted negatively for a generation to come. That’s just one example of how progressives used toxic empathy against the people in their society.
Moving away from toxic empathy to examining toxic zeal, Martyn Lloyd-Jones preached a 2 part series on true zeal versus false zeal.
There IS such a thing as false zeal. False Christians who seem so zealous for God are actually not zealous for God. It’s a manufactured zeal cloaking their zeal for themselves, or for satan. See this verse-
Brothers, my heart’s desire and my prayer to God for them is for their salvation. For I testify about them that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. (Romans 10:1-2).
By this verse we see there is such a thing as a zeal that is not of God. There can be zeal, or fervor, or energy around religious things, but not according to what we know from the Bible. AKA knowledge.
Zeal: great energy or enthusiasm in pursuit of a cause or an objective. Synonyms: passion, fervor, enthusiasm.
They went across the world to make one proselyte, but wound up making him twice the sons of hell they were. (Matthew 23:15). That verse is the example of zeal without knowledge. You can be passionate, you can be busy making disciples, but a false zeal will make disciples who miss the mark completely and will wind up in hell as a son of hell. Zeal, no knowledge.
Beth Moore has been consistently described through the years as “energetic”, “charismatic”, “passionate”. She puts out an energy as zealous for God. But because we know she is a false teacher, her zeal is without knowledge. She is full of emotion but lacks the tether to the Rock via faith.
Question: Can you encourage teachers and preachers, especially in this season when it is hard to speak truth and there is a lot of destructive forces that are trying to take down teachers and preachers?
Answer: “Keep asking the Lord to give you fire in your bones, to teach and preach and communicate the Scriptures so that you can’t keep it to yourself. Ask him for it when it wanes, and it’s going to wane…Nobody just keeps that naturally on their own.“
It’s love for scripture, love for Jesus, that drives the Christian to search the scriptures and then the scriptures fire up that proper zeal.
“Is My word not like fire?” declares the LORD, “and like a hammer which shatters a rock?” (Jeremiah 23:29).
You get a ‘fire in the bones’ when you open up the scriptures!
And they said one to another, Did not our heart burn within us, while he talked with us by the way, and while he opened to us the scriptures?(Luke 24:32).
But Moore said it is important that “we’re not just going to the scriptures to prepare a lesson.“
To be fair, she was talking of the teacher having a right relationship with Jesus as one prepares the lesson. I can intuit that she means not apathetic, in prayerful humility, regular church goer, etc But she didn’t say those things. She just muddily talked of the overflow (whatever that means). Consulting the scriptures is primary. But for the false zealer, it’s secondary. Emotions tops the list.
I was struck by what she said and what she did NOT say. Any thinking Christian must think of both- what is said and what is not said. Moore did not say it was crucial for the leader to pray for perseverance in staying in right doctrine. To ask for moral righteousness. Begging to rightly divide the scriptures. Her reply focused on emotion. ‘Fire in the bones’ (whatever that means) was most important to her because, as we know, she is driven by emotion. Zeal misapplied is false. Zeal untethered from the Rock will lead you nowhere good.
False teachers appear to be doing a religious effort, they look like they are on the right track, and part of that appearance is because of their fervent energy.
The Bible says that satan and his demons masquerade as angels of light. That means behavior, outward appearance. The thinking Christian must look deeper.
Do not fall for toxic empathy. Do not mistake toxic zeal for righteous fervor. Above, all, THINK!
Here in this article What do you think about emotional sensationalism in the modern church? Stephen Nichols of Ligonier says there are valid emotions, but “especially in the American church, we seem to be very susceptible to this. There is a difference between emotion and emotionalism.”
I often take stock. Taking stock is something we do ‘to review or make an overall assessment of a particular situation, typically as a prelude to making a decision‘ as it’s defined.
Sometimes the process is called “personal inventory,” when we go through some self-examination to reflect on one’s thoughts, actions, motivations, and other aspects of yourself. In other words, How’m I doing in life?
People go through a spiritual accounting as well. I used to do that before I was saved, and of course, after I was saved too. But though the process is the same, the outcome is totally different.
The main difference is the pronoun. Before salvation if one takes stock, every item in the spiritual inventory will begin with “I”, as in I did this or I did that. Afterwards, it focuses on “You” as in Jesus, the Redeemer. Let’s take a look at some examples from scripture.
The Rich Young Ruler. First of all, notice his emphasis even in the beginning, his question focused on himself:
“Good Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” (Luke 18:18). Jesus answered, referencing the Commandments, and the Rich Young Ruler replied, And he said, “All these things I have kept since my youth.” (Luke 18:21).
EPrata photo
His was a spiritual accounting that was of no account.
Of course, we are all familiar with the Pharisees, Scribes, and Sadducees. Let’s review the Pharisee at the Temple.
The Pharisee stood and began praying this in regard to himself: ‘God, I thank You that I am not like other people: swindlers, crooked, adulterers, or even like this tax collector.I fast twice a week; I pay tithes of all that I get.’ (Luke 18:11-12)
Did you notice the verse in the NASB says the Pharisee prayed in regard to himself? The focus (and the pronoun) is I-I-I.
Saul before he was Paul, prior to salvation, thought he was earning his way to heaven with all his spiritual deeds,
If anyone else thinks he is confident in the flesh, I have more reason: circumcised the eighth day, of the nation of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the Law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to the righteousness which is in the Law, found blameless. (Philippians 3:4-6).
Before salvation it was all about him, wasn’t it? But Paul found out different, didn’t he? His spiritual accounting was based on wind.
For all of us have become like one who is unclean, And all our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment; (Isaiah 64:6).
Boasting in one’s self displeases God, but relying on God does please Him.
Job’s spiritual accounting changed from the beginning of the book to the end, where Job, though spoken of as a righteous man by God, finally acknowledged his inadequacy.
Therefore I retract, And I repent, sitting on dust and ashes. (Job 42:6).
Humility. Focus is on God. Not self.
The Tax Collector near the Pharisee who was boasting in himself, had a total focus on God and a right view of himself. He knew he was a sinner, he knew he was unworthy.
But the tax collector, standing some distance away, was even unwilling to raise his eyes toward heaven, but was beating his chest, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, the sinner!‘ (Luke 18:13).
In all of Paul’s post-conversion pleadings, his repentance and please were bundled into one word, CHRIST.
In our repentance, in our prayers, when we take stock or do a spiritual accounting, let us (me) be focused on our Good Savior, the only good, the only worthy, the only One who can receive our prayer AND do something about it- Jesus, The Trinitarian Godhead persons who delight in humility and penitence.
There was a woman taking out trash in the early pre-dawn who was hit by an illegal alien. His car knocked out of her socks and her body was a hundred feet from her trash can. The DA decided not to press charges.
We read stories like this all the time these days. I’ve mentioned several times recently that we are living in a culture of death. That culture will climax in the moment when all the world rejoices that the Two Witnesses of the Tribulation are killed and lay putrefying in the street. They celebrate their deaths by giving gifts. As opposed to Christmas when we celebrate the life of Jesus birthed on earth in the flesh to live among us.
The dignity of life is nothing these days. The fact that humans are made in the image of God means nothing to an increasing amount of people.
We have become inured to death. There have been over 63Million abortions since it was legalized in 1973. Abortion is death. It kills a human being.
Movies and televisions shows today routinely show death, and as a culture, we are fascinated with seeing death, watching serial killers, true crime, and horror movies. Even TV show title covers and movie posters are literally dark.
I watch the Aussie TV show City Homicide which started in 2007. They begin every episode with this title card:
In today’s real world, there seems to be rare honor in preserving life, caring about life, bringing justice to a life cut short. Oh, I know it exists, but increasingly what we see in the news is that the loss of a human life just doesn’t have the same punch for people. Children raised on vicious and violent video games laugh when someone gets hurt, shot, or killed. They think it’s funny.
But God! We Christians are released from death to live life and live it abundantly! We have life eternal. We among all people know what Life IS, and what death really is. We can and should display the joy that comes with this sure knowledge.
When we are in Christ, we are In the Person who will never die. In Him was life, and the life was the Light of mankind, (John 1:4).
And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or farms on account of My name, will receive many times as much, and will inherit eternal life. (Matthew 19:29).
These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life. (Matthew 25:46).
You will make known to me the way of life; In Your presence is fullness of joy; In Your right hand there are pleasures forever. (Psalm 16:11)
You have put joy in my heart, More than when their grain and new wine are abundant. (Psalm 4:7).
So therefore let us be joyful, let our faces shine with peace and happiness that we are saved and entered into full life of joy with the savior. In a culture of death, this will stand out to those staggering under weight of sin and specter of death. As death gleefully chokes our culture with its maniacal joy, let true joy of eternal life flow out from us who know the savior.
The biggest topic I used to receive pushback on was naming a false teacher. People got angry when their favorite pet teacher was outed as false, thus, out flowed their invective. But lately the most pushback I receive is when I say that God is not speaking to us audibly or personally in these days. People are REALLY defending that one!
It’s sad how embedded the notion of God still speaking directly and audibly to people has become in such a short time. It’s particularly crushing to see that Celebrity women with large platforms are promoting this, and have been for years. Almost an entire generation now.
Is He whispering? Sending signs or omens? Should we seek intuitions, feelings, nudgings, whispers, small voices, and promptings that we might sense inside of our brain? Or even hear audibly?
Does God give new revelation today? Did He tell Beth Moore to go to a zoo and watch a napping baby koala together or build a snowman with Him? Did He respond to Sarah Young’s yearning “for more” than scripture by giving her so many personal devotions? Did He awaken IF:Gathering’s founder Jennie Allen one night and tell her to gather and equip this generation? Did He walk with HGTV’s Fixer Upper Joanna Gaines in her garden and tell her that He has a calling for her and that one day she will have a platform taking Magnolia further than she ever dreamed? Did Priscilla Shirer write an entire Bible study to teach us how we can prepare to “hear God’s voice and receive wisdom from Him”? These women have all claimed to have heard from God, AND put His alleged words in quotes.
A short history of “God told me”
I mention these particular women because they are (or were) not fringe, not in a cult, and not outside the bounds of orthodoxy when they first began claiming direct revelation. Oh, for years false prophets had been claiming God spoke to them, but they were never taken seriously. From around 90 AD when the canon was completed in the Book of Revelation to the 20th century, it was a given that the mainline church believed God’s new revelations were concluded. His final word was THE Word.
So why is it so rampant now?
top row l-r: Jennie Allen, Priscilla Shirer. Bottom row, Beth Moore, Sarah Young of Jesus Calling
Justin Peters addressed this issue at the Truth Matters conference in 2019 (one of many tmes he has addressed the problem). The title of his talk was “Hearing from Heaven: How to Know the Voice of God” He said-
I would submit to you that the resource, the book that is singularly most responsible for introducing charismatic theology into at least theoretically non-charismatic churches is Experiencing God by Henry Blackaby that came out in 1991. If you go back before 1991, at least in non-charismatic churches, almost everyone would have understood that God speaks to us through the Bible, we speak to Him in prayer. Today hardly anybody understands that; and I believe experiencing God is singularly most responsible for introducing these notions into non-charismatic churches.
I agree with this perspective. I remember when the book came to my former church. There was a huge buzz about it and immediately groups were formed to go through the study. We were told that it was going to change our life, make a huge difference in our walk, and so on.
Southern Baptist Convention member Beth Moore soon latched onto this notion that God speaks to us directly and from her earliest days promoted the idea through constant sharing of anecdotes of what He was supposedly telling her. Her very first “Bible study” called A Woman’s Heart: God’s Dwelling Place was published in 1995. Every page of the 200 page workbook (!) Moore asked the student to write on the blanks the answer to the following 2 questions: [underline mine]-
“At the conclusion of each lesson you will find two questions: 1) How did God speak directly to you today? 2) What is your response to Him?”
“By the conclusion of each lesson you should be able to identify something in particular that you believe He was saying directly to you.”
Due to Moore’s large platform and general respect (back then) for the Southern Baptist Convention’s orthodoxy, her idea grew tentacles among women’s ministries and went everywhere from there.
In 2004 Sarah Young’s book Jesus Calling was published, where young outright said she heard from God. This book also made a huge impact and picking up the baton from Moore, the notion began forging new trails into the heart and mind of conservative women. It was no longer a fringe notion, since Blackaby and Moore were in conservative churches, not Charismatic nor Pentecostal…nor were either of them being chastised for their presumption that Jesus chooses special people to whom he gives special revelation directly and apart from the Bible. Sarah Young’s book became a brand and a cottage industry.
in 2014 Jennie Allen held her first IF:Gathering, in which she related to her audience that God woke her up one night to tell her, or whisper, or both, she couldn’t decide exactly, to gather and equip this generation, something not even Paul was charged with.
And now it’s 2024 and everyone and their sister seems to say, “God told me”. Luke Smallbone of the Christian musical group For King and Country said this month,
From Smallbone’s Instagram reel
It was actually a sweet moment. He was saying he had felt far from God, hadn’t dived into the Word in a while, and was repenting of that. Great. But he continued, “I felt God say to me, ‘Luke’, and I listened, and I felt him say, “I’ve missed you”.
While the sentiment is true, God does love us and wants us close to Him, it is unhelpful for Luke to claim that he heard God personally deliver the comfort. It is just plain wrong to put it in quotes. Even though Luke said ‘I felt God was saying’ it is still wrong. Luke didn’t say “I went to the scripture and the Holy Spirit, through the word, comforted me”. No he alleges he had a conversation. Tellingly, he did not turn to scripture for comfort nor did he advise his followers to do so. He just said “When life gets a little hectic, listen to what God is saying.”
A little leaven leavens the whole lump of dough. (Galatians 5:9).
And “God told me” IS leaven.
In the next part, what direct revelation is (leaven) and isn’t (happening now), and how to respond to people who claim to have heard from Jesus.
FurtherResources
G3 is hosting the Cessationist Conference Oct 3-5, 2024. “Join us in October of 2024 as we carefully consider key biblical arguments for the cessation of the miraculous gifts of the Spirit.”
A very famous married elderly Reformed preacher was forced to confess he had been having a five-year-long affair with a woman almost 50 years younger than he. He was fired from his preaching position, ejected from the ministry he founded, and rejected in his many other ministry positions of authority and prestige.
The shock went around the world. Literally. The ensuing shock is still reverberating. Some insiders have said, “No one saw this coming.” Not that they disbelieved that anyone can sin into adultery, but no one saw it coming from this man in particular.
Al Mohler spoke about this situation, answering a question he’d been asked as to whether pastors falling due to adultery are happening more frequently these days. It seemed so to the questioner.
Moher said that he “doesn’t sense an increase in number but an increase in public damage to the church of Jesus Christ. The effect of the issue upon the church and the ministry of the Gospel of Jesus Christ is so grievous“
Mohler also quoted advice given him by an elder honorable Christian man,
You will never have sex with a woman not your wife, if you are never alone with a woman not your wife.”
In the aftermath of this news, people have been discussing the background of Mohler’s quip, the Billy Graham Rule. (BGR)
The BGR is a rule that 20th century evangelist Bill Graham instituted for himself never to be alone with a woman not his wife. As a traveling evangelist, he was subject to gossip and speculation, particularly in the wake of traveling religious men before him who had been charlatans.
“Graham tells the story of when he was walking along a quiet street with his 18-year-old daughter: the next day, the local paper printed the story that Graham was “again” seen with a beautiful, young woman, insinuating that Graham’s sexual exploits were beginning to be a problem,” explains Kurt Edwards in his dissertation “Billy Graham, Elmer Gantry, and the Performance Of A New American Revivalism“
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In this June 27, 1954 file photo, Evangelist Billy Graham speaks to over 100,000 people at the Olympic Stadium in Berlin, Germany (AP)
Graham himself had said of the issue, “There is always the chance of misunderstanding. I remember walking down the street in New York with my beautiful blond daughter, Bunny. I was holding her hand. I heard somebody behind us say, ‘There goes Billy Graham with one of those blond girls.'” (Source).
These rumors bothered Graham, who wanted to maintain a pure reputation. He had recently read the devastating book Elmer Gantry, about the perseverance, rise, and ultimate success of a corrupt preacher who was in fact a false convert. This book spooked Graham. He was concerned enough with his reputation in light of the Gantry book and subsequent movie, that in 1948 “while in Modesto, California, he [Graham] gathered close advisers, including Grady and T.W. Wilson, Cliff Barrows, and Bev Shea” wrote Edwards, to discuss how to handle this kind of attention.
The issues they were concerned about were money, sexual immorality, discord with local churches, and telling journalists the true numbers of attendees (not inflating the truth when speaking of publicity) – these “rules” were to help squash any issues with these 4 problems and became known as “The Modesto Manifesto”.
The rule Graham had about maintaining sexual purity was that he would never travel alone, nor would he meet with or eat alone with any woman other than his wife. But there is an interesting twist to that Rule many people do not know. More on that below.
It was a purposeful strategy to ignore the Elmer Gantry-ish excesses of the famous American evangelists who’d come before him. And it worked like magic. When scandals destroyed some of his imitators in the 1980s, like Jim and Tammy Bakker, Graham’s operation looked even more like a model of rectitude in comparison. (Rolling Stone, The Soul Crushing Legacy of Billy Graham).
BGR or BGR-ish Can Be Good
I have an issue with the Billy Graham Rule, and it is not what you think. I believe the wisdom behind the Rule is good. It is NOT wise for a man, clergy, pastor, counselor to meet alone with a woman. Not professionally and certainly not personally. Not even in public, as in a restaurant, mall, or park. I also believe it is not a good idea to frequently text or email or phone call a woman who is not his wife, an added caveat since new technology has been invented since Billy Graham was around.
It was not holiness that prompted Graham and his cohorts to formulate this rule. It was not to establish guardrails for the purpose of maintaining discipline so God gets the glory.
It was performance. It was to create an external appearance in order to glorify self.
Some may take issue with what I’m saying here. But I’ve done a lot of thinking about Billy Graham and even more study on his life and ministry. Much. I don’t say these things lightly or without reason or substantiation. I know some won’t like it because some idolize him. That’s fine. Their opinion. I have mine.
As a side note, I’ve read Stephen King’s The Mist, Conrad’s Heart of Darkness, Lovecraft…and Elmer Gantry. Let me say that Elmer Gantry out-horrored them all and was the most chilling, horrific book I ever read. It definitely leaves an impression.
Throughout Billy Graham’s career, the evangelist sought performative manners to ensure that he would not be perceived as another “Elmer Gantry”, or huckster preacher out to win money, fame, and favor. Graham’s intent was to grow a ministry that would form a new performance paradigm for American revivalism. Graham prepared as an actor to use his gifts, train his voice and body, to write a different style of script, to capitalize on celebrity, and to embrace new media forms that would bring his message around the world thus creating a “New” revivalism while at the same time distancing himself from being seen as the character in Sinclair Lewis’ novel Elmer Gantry…” ~Dr. Ronald E. Shields, Bowling Green State University.
Why I am suspicious about the BGR
Graham decided not to sup alone, be seen with, or in any way be tainted by the notion that he was alone with a woman not his wife in public, and this included his daughters.
This is my issue and it’s why I deem it performance, a whitewashed tomb rather than a God-glorifying pursuit of purity.
He sacrificed his girls on the altar of personal reputation. It wasn’t for the glory of God. It was so people would think he was a highly moral person. We see this conceptually in the Modesto discussions, and we see in reality at the abandonment of his daughters for the sake of being well thought of.
“From that point on, Graham would not to travel, meet, or dine alone with any woman other than his wife Ruth — even his very own daughters when they came of age.” ~Edwards
Evangelists were often separated from their families during long periods of time and could be tempted with immorality (at least to do things that were disparate with what they were preaching for or against). The team pledged to avoid even the appearance of compromise. From that day forward, Graham never traveled alone, nor did he meet or eat alone with any woman other than his wife (including his teenage daughters). ~paraphrasing William Martin’s book, “A Prophet with Honor: The Billy Graham Story.
So: the entire point about me cautioning with regard to the Billy Graham Rule is —
MOTIVE
You ask and do not receive, because you ask with the wrong motives, so that you may spend what you request on your pleasures. (James 4:3)
All the ways of a person are clean in his own sight, But the LORD examines the motives. (Proverbs 16:2)
The Pharisees were ALL ABOUT performance. Jesus called them out on it. He said they stand on corners (busy location) so they would be seen They didn’t wash, so they would be seen. They pulled long faces at fasting, so they would be seen. When they tithed they sounded trumpets. They sought the chief seats at banquets. All so they would be praised and glorified.
Then the Lord said, “Because this people approaches Me with their words And honors Me with their lips, But their heart is far away from Me, (Isaiah 29:13).
Practicing righteousness to heap glory onto one’s self is a worthless endeavor.
Take care not to practice your righteousness in the sight of people, to be noticed by them; otherwise you have no reward with your Father who is in heaven. (Matthew 6:1)
CAUTION
As you think about the BGR, ponder your motives. And sin being what it is, even if you’ve instituted such a rule for yourself at the start based on wanting to give glory to God through a holy lifestyle, over time it can become hardened and rigid, and become one of many rules that are void of worship and instead by now are just a performance. A rule for the sake of a rule.
For am I now seeking the favor of people, or of God? Or am I striving to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a bond-servant of Christ. (Galatians 1:10).
That question should always be utmost in our minds. WHY do we do the things we do? Is what I am doing out of love and submission to the Savior? Am I pursuing holiness for the sake of God getting glory, or for myself so as to be well thought of? Has it become rote, and devoid of meaning and worship?
but just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, so we speak, not intending to please people, but to please God, who examines our hearts. (1 Thessalonians 2:4)
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