A Brief Rant

I'm taking a break from theology to get something off my chest. Last week, Major League Baseball started up again with the NHL and NBA not far behind. Less than a week in and 17 players on the Miami Marlins club have tested positive for COVID-19. This has caused a cascade of consequences, with already two of their games cancelled. Additionally - the next team they are slated to play is now saying they don't want to go to Miami.

I'm so sick of the irrationality I'm seeing with COVID-19 and public policy. To whit:

Here is a list of the currently-active American professional athletes who have died from COVID-19:

- No one

I had to look this up. The first website I came across was this one, that lists 62 people who have died of COVID-19 that played pro-sports in their respective countries. Here's the thing - 44 of the 62 people on this list were over 65 years old, and several people who are included on the list were coaches or league administrative officials. The next one was a list of American pro sports players who have tested positive for COVID-19 (as of June 24th). It lists 43 people, but again, lists pro sports players from every era. The only reported death among the group was a kicker from the 1970s, Tom Dempsey, who was 73 years old when he died.

I looked for over 30 minutes, pouring over the myriad of articles about COVID and pro sports. Many current players have tested positive, in all sports - well into the hundreds, if not close to a thousand current pro athletes among the major sports...not a single death. I couldn't find this data, but I would doubt that we have even seen any hospitalizations among that same group of people. To get to my point - what are the people running these teams afraid of? Potential liability? Cancel culture? Certainly it can't be a fear of the virus itself because the numbers have proven that there is nothing to fear there. So you feel sick (maybe?) for a couple of days and then you're good to go? Sounds like a normal occurrence for most people, including athletes, in any given year.

When will the hyperventilation stop? When will we stop the madness of enforcing completely unnecessary measures on the majority of the population that is not vulnerable to this illness? 6 weeks ago, I stopped watching or consuming news of any kind because I can't do this anymore. It is beyond my understanding why news outlets are so focused on cases while most, if not all, don't give us any information about the increased levels of testing. Additionally - why is no one listening to brilliant scientists like Dr. John Ioannidis (Stanford University professor of Public Health and Epidemiology) who has been speaking out for months about how we don't even know if the measures we are taking are helpful? Not only that - there is clearly a sizable portion of COVID-19 cases that are completely asymptomatic. That means, a person could have COVID and literally not know it. It won't show up in a positive test and the person would have no apparent reason to have themselves tested. Dr. Ioannidis estimates that between 25% and 50% of COVID-19 cases could be asymptomatic given serology testing that has been done in various spots around the world.

Unfortunately - it does not stop there. With regards to where this all ends and how life gets back to normal - Anthony Fauci and many governors in the US are saying that we mask requirements and social distancing requirements won't be lifted until there is a viable vaccine. Rarely do we hear about the improbability of a vaccine, much less something 'quickly'. How long will we continue to do this for something that, for people under the age of 50, is on par with the flu in terms of deadliness? What if there is no vaccine by January 2021? What if nothing by June 2021? We will keep on doing what we've been doing? If so, why? To stop what? To accomplish what? What is the magical date at which point we resume normal life?

~2.8 MILLION people died in the U.S. in 2019. ~2.8 MILLION people died in the U.S. in 2018. ~2.8 MILLION people died in the U.S. in 2017. Do you get where I'm going? Consistently, medical issues (cancer, heart disease, stroke, diabetes, flu, etc) account for 8 out of the top 10 causes of death in the U.S. every year. Accidents and suicide are the only non-medical reasons that make the list, and one could make a good argument that poor mental health is a medical issue. Lots of stuff that you can't prevent could end up killing you. COVID, for a person under 65, is not a likely culprit, not even among the possibilities.

Our immune systems have been doing a great job for eons. Buoyed by modern medicine and science (better diets, an emphasis on regular exercise) we've seen life expectancy rates climb significantly in the past 50 years. There is no reason to think that suddenly, our immune systems will fail us - especially those of us who are younger and leading healthy lives. I'm not insensitive to those people who have autoimmune diseases or who have other chronic medical problems (asthma, etc). But why not devote resources to either a) protecting those people or b) coming up with solutions where they can protect themselves? The same could be said of the elderly community within our nation. Why are we crippling the businesses and livelihoods of healthy Americans, but not focusing our resources on protecting nursing homes and people over 65?

I haven't even mentioned the children of this country who had to endure 3 months of 'e-learning' and who may not even go back to school in the Fall. Children, by all statistical measures you would choose to use, are not vulnerable, in any way, to COVID-19. Yet, we are setting them back in school, stunting their social growth as humans and potentially wreaking untold damage on their futures. The CDC Director agrees!

Anyway - like I said, I just needed to get some stuff out of me. Rant over.

Mark 16

I went with my guys last night to see a tent revival service here in the Chicago area that was being hosted by The Last Reformation (TLR). I had only recently learned of this group - founded and led by a guy named Torben Sordergaard, TLR is a group proclaiming the message of Jesus and healing people as they go. You can find plenty about them on their website and they have a myriad of YouTube videos as well. I'll be honest, I went to this meeting HIGHLY skeptical. I've watched a number of their videos, including a longer movie with the title of their organization. The Holy Spirit is clearly working through them, but still, I am not sure about their message.

It was a warm and humid night in Chicago - upper-80s and high humidity, but the service didn't really get going until 7:30 and sitting there, it was plenty comfortable. My favorite part of it was that there were no masks, not even a hint of fear surrounding the virus - men, women, children, all together under a large tent. We opened with about 30 minutes of worship together and it just felt great to be praising God with 300 other people. I haven't experienced that since all of this started and it was wonderful. After a few songs, a few people gave their testimonies, and then Torben spoke for about 45 minutes. The focus verse of his own testimony and of his talk on this night was Mark 16:15-18, which are the words of Jesus describing what signs will accompany those who believe - and this is immediately before Jesus' ascension into Heaven. It reads:

"And He said to them, "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation. He who has believed and has been baptized shall be saved; but he who has disbelieved shall be condemned. These signs will accompany those who have believed: in My name they will cast out demons, they will speak with new tongues; they will pick up serpents, and if they drink any deadly poison, it will not hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover."

He coupled this verse with Luke 13:6-9:

"And He [Jesus] began telling this parable: "A man had a fig tree which had been planted in his vineyard; and he came looking for fruit on it and did not find any. And he said to the vineyard keeper, 'Behold, for three years I have come looking for fruit on this tree without finding any. Cut it down! Why does it even use up the ground?' And he answered and said to him, 'Let it alone, sir, for this year too, until I dig around it and put in fertilizer, and if it bears fruit next year fine, but if not, cut it down.'"

Basically - he came to a point in his life where he could not get around Mark 16 - he had been a believer, but hadn't seen anyone healed, no demons cast out, hadn't led anyone to the Lord and he came to the conclusion that he was bearing no fruit in his life. You can hear the rest of his message here (fast-forward to minute-42 for the beginning of his comments).

I won't provide too much commentary here - but it is thought-provoking, if not just outright provoking. I remain skeptical of TLR after having seen this for myself. I have many questions that remain - but I won't let those questions and my skepticism keep me from hearing the Truth. The call of a disciple of Jesus is to "bear fruit in keeping with repentance" (Matt 3). I need to think about this more - one thing I know for sure is that our faith and discipleship MUST have a practical side to it. Simply knowing and not acting is not discipleship. What exactly that practical part looks like is what I will be thinking about.

Thoughts on Salvation (Part 2)

I was going to completely re-do my previous post on this topic and then I decided I wanted to write something new, and preserve the thought process. I'm not sure that my thoughts have changed all that much, but I feel like I am clearer on the topic of salvation now, than I was a few months ago.

One of the things I've been diving deeply into lately is the concept of 'The Kingdom of God'. The motivational verse for me was Matthew 4:23 (corollary verses in Luke 8:1, Mark 1:14) which reads, "Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, and healing every disease and sickness among the people." Two things occurred to me as I read this recently - a) this is Jesus, preaching THE GOSPEL before he was crucified and b) the Gospel and the Kingdom of God are tied together. To flesh that out just a little more - the Gospel can't simply be, "Jesus died for our sins and that by believing in his sacrificial death, we can have Eternal Life with Him in heaven" (which is a Romans 10 verse taken out of context IMHO). If that was the extent of the Gospel, what was Jesus talking about before he died? For that matter, what was John the Baptist talking about, before Jesus was even officially on the scene, since he was also preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God (Matthew 3)? So that got me thinking about the question, "what is the Gospel", but it also seemed that the Good News was intimately tied to The Kingdom of God (interchangeable in Scripture with the Kingdom of Heaven). After all, news, no matter what kind of news it is, is always about something - that seems self-evident, right?

What I set out to try and understand is what a 1st century Jew would have thought the Kingdom of God is. When John the Baptist and Jesus started going around preaching about the good news of the kingdom of God, no one was saying, "Kingdom of God? What's that? We've never heard of that before!". They all knew and so I wanted to know what their understanding was. I have so far read two books, along with innumerable articles - "The Gospel and the Kingdom" (1955) by George Eldon Ladd (the 'already/not yet' guy) and "The Kingdom of God in History" (1988) by Benedict T. Viviano, a New Testament scholar at the University of Freibourg. Ladd's book, to me, was lacking any real examination of the Old Testament. Though he does cite some old testament passages, and some inter-testamental material - his work seems more like an attempt at bringing together very different views that were held by predecessors in theology. It was Viviano's work which I was really impressed with and he did dive into the OT and into the inter-testamental literature that is available. His definition of 'The Kingdom of God' is the best one I have found so far. He says, "To attempt to define the undefinable, we could say that the Kingdom of God is a future apocalyptic divine gift not built by human beings directly but given as a response to hopeful prayer, longing and hastening struggle. It is the final act of God in visiting and redeeming his people, a comprehensive term for the blessings of salvation, that is, all the blessing secured by that act of God." In the Lord's prayer recorded in Matthew 6, Jesus teaches his disciples to pray, "Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done" - Viviano points out, what is the necessity of praying 'thy Kingdom come' if it is in some way already here? Even up to the very point at which Jesus departs this Earth, he is affirming that The Kingdom is future. Acts 1:3, "...appearing to them [his disciples] over a period of forty days and speaking of the thing concerning the Kingdom of God." Interestingly, the Disciples' recorded question after all that teaching is, "Lord, is it at this time You are restoring the Kingdom to Israel?" (Acts 1:6) Jesus doesn't correct their understanding of the content he has been teaching them - he addresses the time aspect of their question and says, "It is not for you to know the times or epochs which the Father has fixed by His own authority..." (Acts 1:7).

I think it is precisely that focus on the timing of the Kingdom which really colors ones view on whether the Kingdom is in any part 'now', or if it is altogether future. From reading Ladd's book, and some commentaries written by other modern theologians, it is clear what the modern consensus is...but the question everyone needs to ask themselves is, "what is actually true?" Does an interpretation of Scripture, outside of its historical context, mean anything? I'm starting to believe it does not. If one thinks of the Bible as a historical document, not in the sense that it is literal history (though it certainly is at times), but that its contents were directed at a certain people in a certain time and place in history -- or that it was produced by people, under the divine leadership of the Holy Spirit, who had a certain worldview and who had a specific set of things they 'knew' about their faith, then any interpretation of Scripture that does not take a serious effort at examining that context is faulty at best, if not outright wrong. I will not sit here and claim that Ladd didn't 'do his homework' so to speak, in that contextual regard, but I will say, I think he did what a lot of people in modern theological thought have done, and that is relying on the work of others to inform the baselines of the arguments they make. It is my personal opinion that he didn't go back far enough, he didn't take into account that a Hebrew belief system and Hebrew scriptures were essentially translated into a Greco-Roman worldview...and worldview makes a huge difference. There is much more to be said on this specific topic, but that is for another post (or book?) - if you are curious now, read Viviano's book because he dives DEEP into this particular topic.

The bottom-line is that the Apostles had a totally future view of The Kingdom. They would know the Kingdom was here when Jesus was sitting on the throne of David, in Jerusalem, with a fully restored Israel, having been completely vindicated in the eyes of their oppressors and enemies; all of which are Covenant promises. In fact, their view would have included their own involvement in that scene because Jesus says to the Twelve in Matthew 19:28, "Jesus said to them [the Twelve disciples], "Truly I tell you, in the renewal of all things, when the Son of Man sits on His glorious throne, you who have followed Me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel." Put another way, there was no spiritualized or individualized element to the Kingdom of God. It was a literal Kingdom - it's elements were understood as physical, political, and social. If there was an individualized element to it, it was more that it gave an individual's life meaning and purpose, not that there was some element of the Kingdom that was realized within an individual.

Which brings us back around, taking the scenic route, to salvation. If the Kingdom is entirely future - then salvation, which is an aspect of the Kingdom (one is saved when one is IN the Kingdom) also becomes an entirely future hope.

"Just as man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him." (Hebrews 9:27-28)

One can put their hope and trust (faith) in Jesus and His coming Kingdom now, in this life, but salvation is not a thing that we possess on this side of the great and terrible Day of the Lord (aka Judgement). This is a total tangent, but I recently heard a commentary that much of Western Christianity rails against the 'prosperity gospel', but that many of the people railing against that type of gospel preaching believe a very similar thing, but instead of possessing physical prosperity, it's possessing spiritual prosperity (I'm saved now, I can experience the joys of heaven now, etc). Anyway, when you read the words of Jesus and of the Apostles, the continual theme is perseverance and endurance in one's faith, until the End. In this way, the things motivating a Disciple of Jesus never change. Our own internal motivation-level might wax and wane, but the driver is always there - never very far from the mind of a Disciple who is regularly spending time in prayer and in reading Scripture. When our hope is entirely future - suffering is put into proper context. Someone smart I know once said, "Eschatology is the engine of discipleship." Focusing on where this is going gives us an accurate balance of God's goodness and God's wrath - it provides something to strive towards and gives the gift of the Holy Spirit some real significance. It creates urgency within the Disciple and, when treated with a sober mind, causes the Disciple to walk in humility.

I want to touch on the Holy Spirit in a little more detail - because I feel that the Holy Spirit was the thing Ladd was misinterpreting. When you view of The Kingdom of God as entirely future, the purpose of the Holy Spirit becomes so much more clear. The Holy Spirit is the power of God to help you do something you cannot do on your own...to help you take up your cross daily, and to deny yourself - to say 'no' to the flesh and yes to the one who gives Life. Also - in the life of a Disciple, the Holy Spirit is the one who comes to confirm the truth of the Gospel - it is the witness of the truth of the things to come. Rather than the Holy Spirit facilitating the growth of God's Kingdom now as Ladd suggested, it is the thing turning men's hearts, with Jesus, towards the End and the Renewal of all thing - towards the hope of Eternal glory - giving them the ability to be Disciples of Messiah Jesus, to walk and remain on the narrow path that leads to Life (Matthew 7).

I have this heightened sense of urgency lately in my own life. Most of the time, I don't want to work, I just want to read and write and pray. When I'm around people - I want to tell them about this. Partly, I am concerned about the faith of most people I know. I don't want to sound arrogant or judgmental, far from it - no one is as much of a sinner as me - but the reality is, the gift is free, sure, but it requires everything. I was reading in Deuteronomy this morning, Chapter 1, and it's the story of God saving the Israelites from Egypt and it gets to the section about the Israelites being on the cusp of the promised land (you know the story, the 12 spies, 10 were bad and 2 were good), and after the spies came back from scoping things out, the people didn't trust God. Then in verse 34 it reads, "When the Lord heard what you said, he was angry and solemnly swore; "No one from this evil generation shall see the good land I swore to give your ancestors, except Caleb son of Jephunneh. He will see it, and I will give him and his descendants the land he set his feet on, because he followed the Lord wholeheartedly." It was that last line that struck me - ...because he followed the Lord wholeheartedly. There is no such thing as a halfway disciple. What is a disciple? Jesus said many things - but two things that stick out to me are: Luke 9:23 "Then Jesus said to all of them, "If anyone wants to come after Me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me." and also Acts 2:42 - immediately after Peter preaches the Good News, it says how the people who believed responded, "Those who embraced his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to the believers that day. They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer." The Apostles' teaching would have been Scripture, basically - so two of the main things were Scripture and prayer. I would add fasting into that mix as well (Matthew 9:15). I have much work to do in my own life - but I don't feel as though I live under any illusion. I'm not walking around thinking I have secured anything. Hopefully, as the days go by, I am getting more and more serious about emulating the conduct, cares and concerns of Jesus. I know I have the Holy Spirit to help me persevere and endure, the Scriptures to guide me, and brothers and sisters to encourage me. That's all that I need to think about - the rest is just, as they say, details.

As a means of closing - I pray regularly that God would keep my heart soft; that I would always be open to the Truth and not get stuck in theological camps or ideas just because I've decided that I need to make up my mind. Some people find it scary to let go the doctrine of eternal security and I can certainly understand that. But with that being said, I just don't see a backing for it in Scripture. Rather - I see a call to lifelong discipleship and how one lives their life as being the evidence of faith in God and a truly changed heart. I write these posts for myself and to distill my own thinking, but if you're reading this, chances are you probably know me, and if you want to talk this out - by all means, I would absolutely love that.

We Do Not Know Hardship

I saw this today, and couldn't help but share it. I have often thought of what it would have been like to live in the early 1900s. It was a period of so much progress, and yet so much suffering and death. You think about some of the achievements - from the invention of the airplane in 1903, to on the moon in 1969, being just one example, but all also all of the war and evil:

"Imagine you were born in 1900.

When you're 14 years old, World War I begins and it ends when you're 18 with 22 million people dead. Soon after, the Spanish Flu appears, and kills another 50 million people Worldwide. You're still alive when that's over and you're 22.

When you're 29, you survive a global economic crisis with the collapse of the New York Stock Exchange, which causes unprecedented inflation, unemployment and famine for the next several years.

When you're 33, the Nazis come to power in Germany and when you're 39, World War II begins. It ends when you're 45 and 60 million people worldwide have been killed, including 6 million Jews in the Holocaust. The Cold War begins shortly thereafter.

At 50, the Korean War begins, at 64, the Vietnam War begins -- and that war doesn't end until you're 75."

I truly believe that anyone my age (36) or younger has no idea what 'hardship' really means, on a social scale anyway. In fact, we are so far removed from real, world-scale, problems that American society has invented new ways to fight and new enemies to hate. "Cancel culture" and social media are a perfect example of this. Can you even imagine if a popular politician got up today and uttered the words that JFK said years ago, in 1961, "ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country"? This idea is completely foreign now.

The current pandemic is definitely inconvenient for most of us - but I think we all need some perspective. This isn't the end of the world and comparatively, this isn't even a big deal. Whether you agree or disagree with the policies that are being enacted to combat this virus or even whether you're afraid of COVID or not - this is nothing compared to previous times of strife and struggle in this world.

We need to focus on what is important. Paul, in Romans 2 says, "Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is - his good, pleasing and perfect will." The 'renewing of your mind' is devoting yourself to the study of Scripture and to prayer and fasting. It is keeping what is actually important on the forefront of your mind and not letting the concerns and troubles of this world (the weeds) grow up and choke your faith out.

Some food for thought today!

The Storm

Luke 6:46-49 (Blessed Hope Translation - see sidebar for a link)
"Now, how foolish it is for you to address me with, "Lord, Lord," but not do what I command. Anyone who comes to me and hears my teachings and obeys them - I will show you what he is like. He is like a man building a house, who dug down deep and laid the foundations on bedrock. Now when a flood came, the torrent struck that house but was unable to shake it, because it had been built well. If someone hears my teachings and down not obey them, however, he is like a man who built a house right on top of the ground without any foundation. As soon as a torrent struck it, it collapsed. And the ruin of that house was great."

Matthew 7:21-27
"Not just anyone who says to me, "Lord, Lord," will enter the Kingdom of Heaven, but the person who does the will of my Father in the heavens. Many people will say to me in that Day, "Lord, Lord, it was in your name that we prophesied, wasn't it? And it was in your name that we drove out demons, was it not? And yours was the name in which we did many miracles, was it not?" And at that time I will publicly declare to them, "I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!" Given these things, if anyone hears these teachings of mine and obeys them, he may be compared to a wise man, who built his house on bedrock. The rain fell and the floodwaters came and the winds blew and beat against that house, yet it did not fall, because it had been founded on the bedrock. But if someone hears these teachings of mine and does not obey them, he may be compared to a foolish man, who built his house on the sand. The rain fell and the floodwaters came and the winds blew and struck that house, and it fell. And its fall was great."

I've heard many sermons over the years on what we call "The Sermon on the Mount". There are two accounts of it and I have shared the same excerpt from both versions. Typically, when someone is preaching on this section - they refer to the 'flood' or the 'storm' as the "storms of life". That we need to be well-grounded in order that we not lose our Faith in the trials of this life. While that may be one application that can be made, I don't believe it captures the spirit of what Jesus is saying here. First, a couple observations:

a) Jesus' crowd here is his followers, otherwise known as his disciples. Earlier in Luke 6, verse 20, we read that, "Jesus, then, directed his attention to his disciples and said..." Certainly The Twelve would have been there, and these teaching would have been directed at them, but also there was a greater multitude that was following, who were not considered the inner circle, but were nevertheless disciples.

b) The entire tenor and tone of this sermon is eschatological, meaning, it is about a) what Jesus' eternal Kingdom will be like and b) what Jesus will be looking for upon his second coming. From the beatitudes at the beginning, ("blessed are you who are hungry now, for you WILL in due time eat as much as you want"), to the clarifications of the law in the middle section ("truly I tell you, these have received their reward"), to the very clear exhortations to "obey" at the end - all of it is pointing to a future reality.

It seems clear that the flood or storm that Jesus references at the end of this sermon has to do with a coming time of great distress, or 'tribulation' if you want to use a Biblical word. One indication is that the storm strikes everyone - both the one who built on the bedrock and the one who built on the sand...not only that, it is described as the same kind of storm (just 'flood' in the Luke account and 'rain', 'floods' and 'wind' in the Matthew account). The storms that each of us face in this life are very different. Some people tragically lose children, some people lose parents painfully to accidents or sickness, some people go through life with debilitating illnesses or conditions, and some people seem not to have much tragedy at all in their lives. So this can't be talking about the regular 'storms of life' that each of us faces, because those are very different, person to person. Sure - those storms can certainly test our faith in the God of the Universe, but with time, we usually heal, or the pain becomes more bearable.

But what about THE Storm? As someone who has only recently started wading into the waters of the different opinions on what 'the end times' will be like...I can't claim to know much of anything. I know there are pre-millenialists, post-millenialists, pre-tribulation rapturists, post-tribulation rapturists, and a hundred other (seemingly) positions that people take. I don't know much about any of that, but I know what the Bible has to say about The Storm, the great and terrible Day of the Lord:

Matthew 24:21
"For then [at the second coming] there will be great tribulation, such as has not been from the beginning of the world until now, no, and never will be." There is a parallel verse in Mark 13:19, "For in those days there will be such tribulation as has not been from the ginning of the creation that God created until now, and never will be."

This passages above seem to be a reference to Daniel 12:1, which says,
"At that time shall arise Michael, the great prince who has charge of your people. And there shall be a time of trouble, such as never has been since there was a nation till that time."

Joel 2:31
"The sun shall be turned to darkness, and the mood to blood, before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes."

Luke 21:34-36
"But watch yourselves lest your hearts be weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and care of this life, and that day come upon you suddenly like a trap. For it will come upon all who dwell on the face of the whole earth. But stay awake at all times, praying that you may have strength to escape all these things that are going to take place, and to stand before the Son of Man."

Revelation 3-19 has a lot to say about what this period will be like (but again, a reminder, that I do not yet understand much of the nuance of the debate as to the timing of various parts of this such as rapture, resurrection of the dead, etc):

Revelation 6:12-17
"When he opened the sixth seal, I looked, and behold, there was a great earthquake, and the sun became black as sackcloth, the full moon became like blood, and the stars of the sky fell to the earth as the fig tree shreds its winter fruit when shaken by a gale. The sky vanished like a scroll that is being rolled up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place. Then the kings of the earth and the great ones and the generals and the rich and the powerful, and everyone, slave and free, hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains, calling to the mountains and rocks, "Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who is seated on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb..."

Think about this - six million Jews were exterminated in Nazi death camps during WWII. Millions and millions of soldiers died fighting for their countries and millions more civilians were killed as a result of bombings, starvation, etc. AND YET - the Bible promises a period of distress and suffering that will be unparalleled in human history. The Bible says that every human on the face of the earth at that time (and some would argue, anyone who has ever lived) will experience 'it' (Luke 21:34-36 above). The pain and suffering experienced throughout the world during WWI and WWII is incredible - but to think there will be a time worse than that...

I wonder if I'm ready for The Storm. Oftentimes, I doubt that I am. I feel weak in my faith, or I doubt my ability to suffer. It sobers me up - it makes me realize that I have work to do, to prepare myself. The normal storms of life will come, no doubt about it, but will I allow those things to press me in to Jesus and God's promises? Or will I become increasingly focused on myself and my own pain? I talked in a previous blogpost about how we counsel one another through difficulty...and while we certainly need someone, at times, to sit with us in our pain, we also need people who remind us that this isn't all there is. That no matter what happens here in this life, even if death should come for us, it isn't about THIS LIFE. It's about the life to come - it's about faith in Jesus and in the promises of God and about His Kingdom. Paul put it so perfectly in 2 Corinthians 4:16-18 (a verse I have quoted often here): "There we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, yet our inner self is being renewed day by day. For our light and temporary affliction is producing for us an eternal glory that far outweighs our troubles. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal."

Let us, together, fix our eyes on what is to come - and not allow the cares and concerns and troubles and afflictions of this life weigh us down and choke out our faith.

Confronted With Objective Truth

Two words: Objective Truth

In a world that constantly blares the message "YOU DO YOU" and seeks to make truth individualistic, objective truth has gone WAY out of style...unless you are Ben Shapiro. In his case, objective truth is his weapon ("The facts don't care about your feelings")...but I digress. My thought today is, "how many of those of us who call ourselves Christians realize that our message to the world, provided we are consistent in our thinking, is an objective truth?" An objective truth is a truth that is independent of one's beliefs about it. Whether you believe in Jesus or not, He is coming back - He will judge the living and the dead, and He will crush His enemies and throw them into an eternal lake of fire that we call Hell.

I saw a post on Facebook today and it read, "Where did religion go wrong when gay kids grow up fearing God's wrath, but racists don't?" While that may be a provoking line, it seems to me like it is asking the wrong question. What Bible are people reading that would allow them to excuse their own sin, regardless of what that sin is? I've talked about this before - but in order for God to be the embodiment of righteousness, it has to follow that He absolutely cannot co-exist with unrighteousness. Several times in the Scriptures, it says that God loves righteousness but hates wickedness. Jesus says very directly, "he who is not with me is against me, and he who does not gather me scatters." (Matt. 12:30). So whether it is practicing homosexuality, or hating one's neighbor - both are sin. If one does not repent and turn from those sins, they will have the wrath of God on them at the judgement.

In ancient times - when a new king conquered or took power over a new land, typically there was a grace period where non-military citizens of the recently conquered land had an opportunity to declare their fidelity to the new ruler. Your life, the here and now, is your opportunity to bend your knee to Jesus. In his surpassing love and mercy, he has offered this opportunity. The writer in 2 Peter argues the same thing saying, "The Lord is not slow about His promise [Jesus' return, the establishment of his Kingdom], as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance." (2 Peter 3:9) God is love - and yes, He loves you - but the simple, objective truth is that now is the opportunity to embrace His love for you and bend your knee to Him, but there will be a day in which that period of amnesty is over. In that same section of 2 Peter, it says, "but by His word the present heavens and earth are being reserved for fire, kept for the day of judgement and destruction of the ungodly." (2 Peter 3:7) Throughout the Old Testament and the New Testament, there is a warning. Those who are not following Jesus - those who have set themselves against Jesus and his commands, they will be destroyed - thrown into eternal torment in an un-quenchable fire. Christian - do you believe this?

I was thinking the other day about why the early Apostles were persecuted. When you read about them, they went from town to town healing people and sharing "the good news". Why would that offend people? Jesus says that anyone who would follow Him must take up their cross. I would argue that to carry the true message of Scripture is to carry a very confrontational message. In a world that loves subjective truth, it means carrying a message of objective truth that a lot of people aren't going to like. It makes me think about what love is - is it loving to know that someone is headed in the wrong direction but instead of telling them that, you placate them to try and make them feel like everything is going to be ok? Is it loving to see someone headed towards destruction and not tell them? If my 2-year-old ran out into the street and there was a car coming, would it be loving to just stand there? Of course the answer is no...but some segments of the Western Christian Church seem to be more focused on making people feel better about themselves than they are about getting people to take a serious self-inventory about whether they are actually disciples of Jesus or they are simply members of Church club (aka Converts).

I'm not trying to use this stuff as a way to beat people. Jesus obviously had compassion for people who were broken, in both body and spirit, but he didn't hold back from telling the Truth...which ultimately offered Eternal Hope. I think about the Samaritan woman at the well (see the scene from "The Chosen" series below, so powerful) - who Jesus knows is sinful and broken. He doesn't hold back from telling the uncomfortable truth to her, but it is ultimately about offering hope (living water!). Where my heart is in all of this is in looking around me and seeing my brothers and sisters who don't have well-grounded faith. That sounds judgmental, but I know from personal experience - I know how my previous theology was doing a poor job at spurring devoted discipleship - I was wishy-washy at best, confusing acknowledgement of God's ways for actually following them. I always assume I am not unique - that if I'm struggling with something, more than likely there are others struggling with the same thing. I think part of my issue is that I didn't understand how serious this all is. God takes sin very seriously - and we don't get high marks for "doing our best". Jesus makes it very clear what He is and will be looking for: true faith evidenced by being His disciple. He sent the Holy Spirit to help us do what is impossible for us to do on our own...to lay down our lives, to repent and bend our knee in submission to the King of Kings. Without that - we have no hope. Without the Holy Spirit, we will not make it and we are certain to face wrath on That Day.

"For we are to God the sweet aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. To the one, we are an odor of death and demise; to the other, a fragrance that brings life." 2 Corinthians 2:15-16