They Even Sacrificed Their Children

“They even sacrificed their sons and their daughters to the demons, and shed innocent blood, the blood of their sons and their daughters, whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan; and the land was polluted with blood.” Psalm 106:37 – 38.

We are a barbaric nation.

Let us not recoil in horror when pondering child sacrifice in other times and places, lest we miss the point that what was once done crudely is now done with scientific, sociological, political, technical, and religious sophistication.

The babes that are spared mutilation in the womb are now mutilated in their souls, and with increasing frequency in their bodies, as they are offered on the altars of this world; and on the high altar of this world, the powerhouse known at the United States of American.

We desecrate the souls of our children by godless entertainment, unbridled sexual images and practices, the worship of fame and money, taking what once was perhaps “sport” and turning it into a god to be worshipped and sacrificed to. On Sundays we teach them that we gather in churches to be entertained and amused rather than to worship the True and Living God and His Son Jesus Christ. We teach our children to feel good rather than to do good.

We train our children to be consumers, and to value money and possessions and the glory of this world above everything else. We manipulate them, and now overtly force them, into rejecting the image of God – pushing them into the abyss of confusion in terms of who they are and who they should be.

We foist on them destructive technology that warps their brains, their critical thinking; deadens their compassion and sympathy.

We often do this because we are cowards. We have not the courage to call insanity “insanity”. We are afraid to say, “Enough is enough”. We do not want to risk our social standing, our jobs, our standard of living. What good is a high standard of material living if we are barbarians in our morality, our ethics, and our religion?

What shall we say of pastors and priests? Are we afraid to lose our jobs or are we really so blind as not to see the havoc in our congregations and society? Is not the essence of Christian discipleship the Cross of Jesus Christ and its self-denial? Are we as drunk on amorality as the rest of society?

And what will history say, should we escape these ruins and there be a history, of the failure of Christian “leaders”, including local pastors and priests, to work together to save their people from godless education, entertainment, manipulation, poverty, sports-worship, and economics? We build our own houses while the House of God lies in ruin (Haggai Chapter One).

The collective church is in a Grand Denial on a par with the Grand Denial of the church in Central Europe between the World Wars. A denial of the insidiousness of theological rot, of the internal rot in our congregations, of the narcissistic economic rot of our society, of the rot in our entertainment, the rot in our education, the rot in government, the rot in technology, the rot in business – yes, we are in a Grant Denial.

We fuel this Grand Denial by sacrificing our sons and daughters on the altars of this world – O what an account we shall all have to give – cowards though we are, we will not find a place to hide on That Day.

Light Arises

“Light arises in darkness for the upright…” (Psalm 112:4a)

“Then Jesus again spoke to them, saying, ‘I am the Light of the world; he who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life.” (John 8:12).

“Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; who substitute [set, consider] darkness for light and light for darkness, who substitute bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter! Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes and clever in their own sight!” (Isaiah 5:20 – 21).

Note the definite article in John 8:12, “the” darkness. Darkness we see around us has its source in “the” darkness. Just Jesus prays in John 17:15 that we will be kept from “the” evil one, and just as Jesus teaches us to pray in Matthew 6:13 that we will be kept from “the” evil one; so in John 8:12 we have the definite article, speaking not of darkness in a general sense but in a specific sense, a definite sense. Let us not forget that the darkness has a source, that it emanates from a foul and loathsome place, from a foul and loathsome person whose goal is to steal, to kill, and to destroy (John 10:10).

We cannot see the darkness for what it is unless we are living in the Light of the world. As we live in the Light our sensitivity to darkness becomes acute, we know it and we sense it when it is in proximity to us. We hear it, we see it – whether over the airwaves, in print, on a screen, or in a personal encounter. As we follow Jesus Christ we do not walk in darkness, darkness is not our biosphere, darkness is not our habitat – for we live in Christ, we breathe in Christ, we see in Christ, we hear in Christ, we think in Christ, we feel in Christ, we sense in Christ.

The upright for whom light arises are those who know Jesus Christ as their righteousness, their wisdom, and their redemption (1 Cor. 1:30). The upright are those who realize that outside of Jesus Christ their righteousness is filthy and toxic and ugly. The upright are those who run to Christ, cling to Christ, embrace Christ, long for Christ; they are those who cannot live without Jesus Christ.

We live in a dark and barbaric world, a society and culture which is popularly and institutionally repudiating the image of God. Those in Christ need not fear the darkness, for Light arises for the upright in heart.

Psalm 112:7 tells us that the upright “will not fear evil tidings.” Those in Christ need not fear what the news outlets tell us, we need not fear what the politicians tell us, we need not fear what false teachers tell us – for when our hearts are steadfast, trusting in Christ, Christ will guard our hearts and souls; Christ is our Rock, our Gibraltar.

Let us not be unaware of “the” darkness, but let us live in the Light; and living in the Light, let us, by the grace and authority of Jesus Christ, rescue others from the prison of “the” darkness.

Malachi (3)

Below is what our small group considered in its third session in Malachi. Maybe there is something here for you. 

Let’s please consider Malachi 2:10 – 16.

Let me say at the outset that this passage is like trying to hit a knuckleball – it moves one way and then another and it can be confusing. Since we can’t just stand at the plate and do nothing, we’ll take our best swings and see what happens. When I consulted an “academic” commentary (a commentary which looks closely at ancient languages, grammar, history, and different ways of looking at a passage) I have on Malachi, I realized that Hoyt Wilhelm (an old knuckleball pitcher) must be descended from Malachi.

Taking a first look at the passage, what do see as its main point(s)?

I think there are two things going on at the same time, and this is one of the things that makes the passage a knuckleball. On the one hand Israel is once again worshiping idols, and on the other hand the men are divorcing their Jewish wives and marrying pagan women who are bringing with them pagan gods; one practice is feeding the other practice. (I’ve pondered this for a few days!)

It is interesting to me that in Hosea, which is the first Minor Prophet, we looked at Israel’s adultery in marrying foreign gods (Hosea chapters 1 – 3). Now in Malachi, the last Minor Prophet, we are dealing with the very same thing.

Hosea took place before the Assyrians destroyed the northern kingdom (Israel) and Babylon destroyed the southern kingdom (Judah); in Malachi the people of Judah have returned from Babylonian captivity and rebuilt Jerusalem and the Temple and now they are back to doing the same thing.

Regarding marrying pagan women, take a look at Ezra 9:1 – 4 and Nehemiah 13:23 – 31. We looked at these passages last May and June. The sequence was:

1.    Judah comes back from captivity.

2.    Ezra, Nehemiah, Haggai, and Zechariah insist that the priests, civil leaders, and people not form alliances with pagans and not marry pagans; and that the pagan women they have married be sent away.

3.    The people obey.

4.    Then after a few years (let’s say within 50 – 100 years) the priests, government leaders, and people go back the worshiping idols, forming alliances with pagans, and marrying pagan women.

5.    God speaks through Malachi – the last Old Testament prophet.

6.    God (in a sense) will not speak prophetically to His people for 450 years; then come John the Baptist and Jesus Christ.

There are a lot of moving parts in all of this, which is a reason reading, reading, and reading the Bible is critical to developing a framework for “seeing” the Bible.

Note the sequence of Malachi; from Malachi 1:6 – 2:9 we see the sins of the priests, then beginning in 2:10 we see the sins of the people. If the leaders are sinful and immoral, the people will follow. If the ministers and priests are wicked, the people will be wicked. Please remind me again why the morality of our leaders doesn’t matter? I seem to have missed that one. If our seminaries are teaching pagan and worldly thinking, and denying the Bible as the Word of God, and not placing the Christ of the Cross above everything else in life – then what can we expect our congregations to do?

Malachi 2:11. I think the “sanctuary” here is the People of God. God’s People are where God lives. When one of us sins we bring sin into the sanctuary, the rest of us are affected by the sin. 1 Peter 2:5; Ephesians 2:19 – 22; 1 Corinthians 5:6 - 8. If an offensive lineman misses his blocking assignment it affects the entire team; if a soldier on the perimeter goes to sleep, the enemy can infiltrate the camp; the weakest link in a band of brothers can lead to the destruction of the unit.

Here is a nice quote from my commentary, “…the mixed marriages were a desecration of the ‘sanctuary of God,” a violation of Israel’s spiritual existence as a covenant people. Through these marriages the frontiers between covenant people and heathen, between church and world were obliterated.”

The idea that sin can be “private” and not affect others is simply not true. If Christians are truly “members of one another” (1 Cor. 12:12; Rom. 12:4; Eph. 4:25), then what one person does affects the entire Body. Here are some more excerpts from the commentary:

“The sinful divorces which they had considered a private affair had not escaped the notice of the Lord. It is because He had acted as witness.” (The Books of Haggai and Malachi, Pieter A. Verhoef, The New International Critical Commentary on the Old Testament, Eerdmans).

“Whatever the reason for the divorces might have been, the fact remains that it was the reason why the communion with God was broken.”

Malachi 2:13: Judah thought that it could sin by practicing unrestrained and wholesale divorce, and by worshiping pagan gods, and that the True and Living God would still accept their worship. They believed that then, and we believe that now. We believe that we can teach whatever we want to, live however we want to, and that our Sugar Daddy God will pat us on our heads and be proud of us and understand that we are well-intentioned.

Do you think about the fact that when you sin it affects us all?

Do you think about the fact that when you are obedient to Christ that it blesses us all?

Is it possible to restore a Biblical view of marriage, divorce, fornication (sex outside of marriage), adultery, and sexual purity within the professing-church in our nation?

What are the challenges to such a restoration?

How might we begin the process?

Why don’t we think sex outside of marriage is sinful?

Considering that the Bible is clear about sexuality and marriage, why is it that a couple can live together without being married, attend church, join a church, and not be held accountable for sexual sin?

How can churches model strong marriages and strengthen all marriages?

How can churches model sexual purity?

A promiscuous society and a promiscuous church (a church that worships the idols of the world) produces promiscuous people, and promiscuous people produce an idolatrous church.

I love you!

Bob

What is Fairness?

A doctor asked me, “What is fairness?” Since he asked the question as I was leaving his office, I’ve been pondering how I should get back to him with a response. During my visit with him, in addition to discussing the medical reason for my visit, we talked about American history, our respective family history in Virginia, and the moral condition of our nation. He also mentioned the crises some religious denominations are facing regarding issues related to God’s Word – though he may see the issues not so much as tied to the authority of the Bible but rather in general moral and sociological contexts.

At least three or four times during my visit he said that we are an immoral nation – and we both agreed that this is the case from the top down – that is, immorality affects every segment of society, including our institutions. I am going to use his perspective that we are an immoral nation to respond to his question, “What is fairness?”

There is a sense in which I don’t think the question can be answered within the context of an immoral nation – nor do I think it can be answered within the context of a professing-church that has pretty much capitulated to the world. Questions such as this can be asked in perhaps any context, but I am not sure that they can be answered in any context. This has ethical, moral, and theological implications – and I think the theological implications are the greatest for I think that all other implications flow from them.

The Biblical view of man, especially of redeemed man, man recreated in the image of God in Christ, is that of an integrated whole – holistic. There have been other systems of thought that have shared this view to one degree or another, there have been philosophies that have viewed truth and life-experience as an integrated whole, which have sought to integrate knowledge and experience holistically. The very idea of a “university” speaks to this ideal; in this sense we no longer have universities for it seems to me that we no longer seek integrated knowledge and experience – it is “every discipline for itself” – academic anarchy.

If everything has been reduced to the pragmatic and utilitarian then the idea of fairness, of equity, has also been reduced to these things, these constructs. In such an environment can we really think in terms of fairness? Once we leave the transcendent, once we reject any notion of reality and truth on a higher plane than materialism, once we reject anything beyond “time plus matter plus chance”, then we reduce all logical concepts to the immediate, to the pragmatic, to the moment – and everything is in free-fall.

Imagine sitting in a sports stadium and looking onto the field and seeing baseball teams, football teams, soccer teams, basketball teams, lacrosse teams, and field hockey teams – all playing their games at the same time. Also imagine that there are no umpires or referees for any of these games. This imaginary scene of confusion is similar to the confusion we have when segments of society; government, education, business, family, church; operate without a sense or ideal of the transcendent – life becomes ad hoc and thinking takes on the life of a mayfly.

One difference between the above illustration and our lives today is that we recognize the situation in the sports stadium for what it is but do not recognize the milieu that we live in, in fact, we accept it and try to adapt to it. The more we attempt to adapt to the confusion around us, the more confused we become and the more we accept the ephemeral nature of society and life. The more we consume the more we are consumed. The more we try to be “relevant” the less relevant we become.

Can we even begin to discuss the notion of fairness within such chaos?

In theology, for the most part, academic learning has been divorced from spirituality. In Christianity, we can explore theology without living lives of devotion to Christ, without needing the Holy Spirit to reveal God’s Word to us, without living lives of spiritual, moral, and ethical integrity. This is contrary to the teaching of the Bible and of the Church Fathers. We produce seminary graduates who may be academically sound, but the academic learning has not been immersed in the life of the Holy Spirit and is not holistically integrated. (Yes, there are certainly exceptions).

The same can be said for our Sunday schools and many of our small groups. How else can we explain the fact that men and women can spend their entire lives in Sunday school and yet are generally unable to meet together around God’s Word without having a “professional”, either in person or via a DVD or written material, to guide them through the Biblical text? Aren’t we supposed to be seeking the Face of God and the Presence of Christ in His Word? Aren’t we supposed to be a royal priesthood and a holy nation?

I believe we need to rediscover Christocentric holistic and sacramental theology; the holistic (in Christ) and sacramental experience of His Word, as His People. Knowing a doctrine without having the experience of the doctrine in Christ falls short of the glory of God, and it likely pulls the glory of the doctrine downward into the natural where it suffers pollution.

When Jerusalem serves Rome (political) and Athens (intellectual) we find Jesus Christ cast out of Jerusalem. When the City of God serves the City of Man we have chaos in the professing-church. In such a world, and in such a church, it is well-nigh impossible to talk of fairness and equity. In fact, it is about impossible to speak of anything that is not focused on the moment and immediate gratification.

Malachi (2)

Below is the material I asked our small group to consider in Malachi Chapter Two. As I have likely pointed out previously, there is often a disconnect between the vividness of God in the Bible and the prim and proper way we engage the Bible on Sundays. Malachi 2:3 is an example of this, Sunday school texts and sermons would typically put a gloss on this verse, cleaning it up for Sunday consideration - but in doing so we lose the thrust of just how disgusting it is when priests, pastors, and teachers depart from the True and Living God and lead people astray - our Father and Lord Jesus do not want us to gloss over the heinousness of this sin - they want us to see it, taste it, smell it. 

Chapter Two is in two parts, the first part (verses 1 – 9) deals with the priests, the balance of the chapter deals with the nation as a whole in its outlook and practice of divorce – we'll work with the first section this week.  

Regarding the first part, verse 3 gives us a fine graphic – Yahweh is going to spread dung, poopy, intestinal product – on the faces of the priests! Can’t you hear the doorbell? “Avon calling!”

It didn’t take long after the city and Temple were rebuilt for the priests to revert to the very ways that contributed to the judgement of God and the destruction of the Temple and the Babylonian Captivity. Do we see a pattern here?

Are there any volunteers to reenact this on stage? Let’s draw straws.

What do you see in Malachi 2:1 – 9?

  

Please keep in mind that the false priests, ministers, pastors, and prophets and teachers that we read about in the Bible, both OT and NT, are often within the Church; in the NT this is nearly always the case. A Biblically illiterate church, such as we have in the West, contributes to this problem.

A lack of accountability within much of the professing-church also contributes to this problem. This lack of accountability can exist within congregations and also within denominations and associations.

When the church adopts what’s popular and trendy – it will nearly always start on a slippery slope and then at some point hit Mach 1 into false teaching. When Christ ceases to be our North Star, when He ceases to be our center of gravity, when we serve ourselves rather than Christ and others – we are on the slippery slope. When we no longer take up our cross daily and follow Christ, denying ourselves – we are on the slippery slope.

Please read Matthew 7:15 – 23; 2 Corinthians 11:13 – 15; 2 Timothy 3:1 – 7; 4:1 – 4 There is a lot more of this, a whole lot more, but you get the idea. We see false teaching and false teachers in most of the NT letters, in Acts, in the Gospels, and of course in Revelation.

When you are listening to a sermon or homily, or reading a book by a Christian teacher, pastor, or leader – how do you think about what you are hearing or reading?

How do you determine if what you are hearing or reading is true or false?

If you were mentoring a new Christian, what five things (or more) would you teach them to look for when hearing or reading “Christian” teaching, to determine whether it is true teaching or false teaching? Here is my own list:

1.    Christ is the center, the focal point

2.    Christ is the transforming agent – we only have lasting change in and through Jesus Christ.

3.    If a rabbi, a philosopher, or a motivational speaker could say essentially the same thing then it isn’t the Gospel and Christ-centered; Christian teaching is unambiguously centered on Christ, pointing to Christ, and calling for obedience to Christ.

4.    Is the teaching explicitly rooted in the Bible; does it appeal to the Bible as its foundation? Is the teaching within the framework of Mere Christianity? Mere Christianity are those truths which all Christians have held as central to our faith throughout all times and places.

5.  Does the teaching promote glory to Christ; encouragement, challenge, transformation and accountability in Christians; a call to the world to repent and follow Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior?

How Do We Know?

There is a sense in which if our epistemology is faulty that our theology will be faulty. If our epistemology is if off-course, our understanding will be off-course.

If Paul, inspired by the Holy Spirit, is correct, then the natural man cannot receive the things of God (see 1 Corinthians chapters 1 and 2). Yet, does our Christian pedagogy assume the opposite? Do we pay but lip-service to the idea that we need the Holy Spirit to enlighten our minds and hearts, the “eyes of our understanding”? Do we functionally assume that in and of ourselves, through rational processes unaided by the Holy Spirit and untethered to a life of obedience to God’s Word in Christ, that we can understand Scripture? Teach and preach the Bible?

Is not communion (koinonia) with Christ, and in Christ with one another, a prerequisite to communion with His Word? Or, certainly it is concomitant and the two cannot be separated because they are One and the Same.

How then have we come to teach theology and the Bible outside the context of koinonia with Christ and obedience to His word? Why do we not have warnings on the first page of our theology and Biblical-studies books, “Let no one turn these pages without first seeking the face of Christ, in obedience to Christ, in dependence upon the Holy Spirit”?

To “see” the Scriptures is to “see” Christ and no one can “see” Christ without the Holy Spirit.

To treat theology and Bible study as primarily an academic endeavor, to teach Sunday school or facilitate small groups the way we would any other class or group – is hardly approaching Sacred Scripture as if we were approaching the Face of God in Christ.

This is not to suggest that we “check our minds at the door”, but it is to say that we present ourselves as living and holy sacrifices acceptable to God – and that we not be conformed to the world, including the world’s pedagogical thinking, but that we be transformed by the renewing of our minds (Romans 12:1 – 2; Ephesians 4:20 – 24).

The City of God is not the city of man, nor should the “academy” of God be thought to be the academy of man…meaning that the pedagogy of God is not the pedagogy of man; the epistemology of God is not the epistemology of man.

           

Malachi (1)

Our men's group is finishing up its exploration of the Minor Prophets by working through Malachi. Below is our first week in this prophet - maybe there is something here for you. 

Next week our passage will be Malachi Chapter 1.

If you read notes in a study Bible or look at a Bible commentary or read articles online, you may see that people who think about such things entertain varying opinions about when Malachi was written. When I thought about these different opinions, I had the image of a dog chasing its tail; while a dog chasing its tail is natural, I can’t quite see a man chasing his tail, that seems a bit strange and unseemly.

Since I don’t want to encourage unseemly behavior among us, I am going to work with the traditional idea that Malachi was written around 450 B.C. If the actual date is that important most of us reading this will find out sooner rather than later – though I kind of doubt it will matter to us once we make the great transition that awaits us all.

Note the similarity between Malachi 1:1 and Zechariah 9:1 and Isaiah 17:1; the “burden” or “oracle”.  God’s Word is coming to Israel and Judah through these men, it is a “burden” in the sense that God’s Word is weighty, it isn’t motivational speaking, it isn’t cotton candy. It is an “oracle” in the sense that their message doesn’t originate within themselves, but from God.

Compare Matthew 7:28 – 29 and 1 Peter 4:10 – 11 with Malachi 1:1. What do you see?

Looking at 1 Peter 4:11 – do you think professing-Christians are aware of what Peter is saying in terms of how we ought to be preaching and teaching?

What does the world tend to see in our preaching and teaching? Gravity or cotton candy? What do you think most Christians gravitate toward? What kind of books do they tend to purchase?

How might things be different if we realized the way we (the Church) ought to be preaching and speaking?

There is an ongoing conversation between God and the priests and people in Malachi. It begins with the question of whether God loves Israel (verses 2 – 5). An indication of God’s love for Israel is that He loved Jacob (whose name became Israel) and hated Esau. Paul works with this passage in Malachi in Romans 9:1 – 16.

Do you remember what I said above about chasing tails? We could chase our tails on some of the questions this raises, but if our group did that we’d burn a hole in the carpet at Bill and Bev’s and Bev would not like that and then we couldn’t come back.

So I’ll just point out some things: all that the Father gives Jesus will come to Jesus (John 6:37), no one can come to Jesus unless the Father draws Him (John 6:44), God is accomplishing His work in those He has drawn to Jesus (Romans 8:28 – 30), and God set this all in motion before the foundation of the world (Ephesians 1:3 – 10).

Since He chose us and we didn’t choose Him (John 15:16) we might as well get with the program and “go and bear fruit” and make a difference in the world and trust in the character of our Father for the things we don’t understand.

In other words, we can chase our tails about the things we don’t know or we can be a blessing to the people around us to our Father’s glory.

What do you see in Malachi 1:6 – 14?

Consider that, for our purposes, the situation in Malachi arises not long after Ezra, Nehemiah, Haggai, and Zechariah have helped to restore the exiles to Jerusalem and Judah, rebuilt the Temple and part of the city, and reinstituted worship. What in the world has happened and how did it happen so quickly?

These rascals in Malachi aren’t giving God the best, they aren’t taking His holiness seriously, and it seems there is no one around who will say, “Enough! This is crazy! Stop it!”

But of course God will be gloried, with our without these rascals (Malachi 1:11).

I could not pass this quotation up, it is from poet James Russell Lowell:

They are slaves who fear to speak for the fallen and the weak; they are slaves who will not choose hatred, scoffing, and abuse, rather than in silence shrink from the truth they needs must think; they are slaves who dare not be in the right with two or three.

The writer of Hebrews says that we ought to go outside the camp (Jerusalem, meaning the religious environment that killed Jesus) bearing the reproach of Christ (Hebrews 13:13).

We can either go with the flow or stand with Malachi. We can either be true to Jesus Christ or be slaves to the society around us.

As I hope we’ll see, Malachi is about giving God our true worship – all that we have and all that we are (Mark 12:29 – 31). It is about God’s holiness and us worshipping Him in holiness. It is about no compromise with sin, with religious toxicity, with anything that would detract from the glory which is God’s alone.

We are not called to be entertainers, we are not called to accommodate the culture around us, we are not called to compromise the Gospel and God’s holiness – we are called to follow Christ and Jesus Christ alone…no matter what.  

I love you!

Bob