Billy Joe Shaver told the story of when he was in a crowd of people and someone sneezed, he said “God bless you.” A number of folks turned their heads and gave him weird or angry looks. Remembering that he was in California, he quickly said, “May the god of your choice bless you!”
A metaphor, of course, from that master singer-songwriter who came to Christ late in life but communicated truth, even when his adversities – whether self-induced or by the enemy of our souls – persisted. His testimony was strong in music and in words… and in humor, a legitimate weapon available to us as we share the Gospel. Another person who famously used humor to make points was Abraham Lincoln.
Professional scoffers hold Lincoln up as a skeptic or agnostic, but he merely was someone who did not attend church regularly. His words and actions – indeed, his life – was a testimony, however, to his Biblical knowledge. More, his growing spiritual wisdom. Further, his cleaving to the Savior.
Month by month during his presidency, literally week by week until his martyr’s death, Lincoln’s conversations, letters, and speeches read like sermons as much as they were political views or policy statements. He shared testimonies about his own faith, and admonitions to his fellow citizens.
One of his most profound lessons was delivered not couched in humor as he masterfully and frequently did, but in a direct way. It was a point that transcended the anxiety and desires of people in the midst of a bloody war, although that was its context. We would do well to remember Lincoln’s perspective every time we pray, or feel the need to:
My concern is not whether God is on our side. My greatest concern is to be on God’s side, for God is always right.
This worldview is so comprehensive that I believe it could stand with the greatest of the Bible’s proverbs or commandments; or the Lord’s summation of the Gospel, or the Epistles’ evangelistic messages. The inherent anomaly today in the application of Lincoln’s aphorism “seeking to be on the Lord’s side” is the very concept of seeking God… versus seeking after gods.
How often does the current president, or, indeed, the larger cultural establishment, ever acknowledge “seeking to be on the Lord’s side”? How often (as once was common) do the agencies of government refer to, or base policies on, Biblical standards? When “In God We Trust” is stamped on coins and paper currency, and carved in stone on the Supreme Court building, and emblazoned over the Speaker’s chair in the House of Representatives… why do court decisions deny and restrict Christians’ rights? Why do bureaucratic edicts reverse the standards and traditions of a Christian culture? Why does the president co-opt the role of churches? Why are secular and blasphemous values given priority over the essential beliefs of people of faith?
It would be simpler (though by no means simple!) to address these challenges if this crisis were confined to the agencies of government. In that case, a simple revolution… a rise of the masses… perhaps riots in the streets and storming of courthouses and legislatures… would all make for a good beginning. Count me in. But it is not “simple.” Beyond government, it is the entertainment industry. It is the education establishment. It is the “news” monopoly.
But we cannot stop there in identifying the problem. Rather, we can start in the virtual streets just referred to; in the homes of our nation; sadly, in many of the churches themselves. And in individuals, neighbors, our selves? God forbid. But true.
Never mind “leaders” who violate the essentials of their religions, or secular values in education, or in pop culture that traffics in pornography, violence, and abuse. A more dispositive manner of “taking the pulse” of society’s health and its spiritual essentials, is how often people react to problems by saying “I’ll send good thoughts…” or “You have my good wishes…” These casual phrases routinely are frank evidence of shallow hypocrisy. Empty words, usually: insults to the people being assuaged and to the God Who can otherwise be invoked. “Sending” “thoughts”???
How much more is God’s Name taken in vain than spoken in reverence on TV, or in conversations? How many times do pious people say “I’ll pray for you,” but seldom do? How many people think they acknowledge the Lord by referring to Him as “the man upstairs”? How honoring.
False beliefs, phony value systems, tepid expressions of faith risk yielding, at best, tepid answers to prayer. Should we expect a Holy and Sovereign God to look kindly on a people who embrace apostasy? Has God ever bent His will, changed His ways, to accommodate heresy? Is there an Expiration-Date on His precepts?
May the god of your choice, America, forgive your wicked ways. In the meantime, the God of the Bible, as Abraham Lincoln said, is always right. Let us be on His side… while there might still be time.
Certain phrases catch the public’s attention all the time, appearing and disappearing. Some legitimate ideas have names that fade; some casual terms become part of the language. Among the latter, I was reminded this week as I wrote an essay for RealClearPolitics, is “ticket” – as in a political party’s slate of candidates.
Until 1888, generally, the separate political parties printed the ballots that voters used at polling places. This was less for the sake of convenience than it was to influence and, especially, hold voters under the watchful eyes of party workers at polling places. Those printed “tickets” were large and colorful and could be seen as voters inserted them in glass bowls (further eliminating secrecy) and in some districts voters were obliged to state their preferences aloud!
Times have changed. Coercion and corruption might be as pervasive, only subtler, today.
Anyway, “State Of the Union” is a phrase that is uttered uncountable times around this time every year. The Constitution uses the term, but not capitalized, as it urges but does not require the president to deliver what is, in effect, a corporate report on the government. Article II, Section 3: The president “shall from time to time give to the Congress information of the state of the union, and recommend to their consideration such measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient.”
For more than a century the information was delivered as an “Annual Address,” although it was transmitted only in writing until 1913. Occasionally, presidents skip the report… but recently, of course, it has become an elaborate production with applause-lines, guests to be introduced, and as a prime-time televent.
Routinely the presidents have assured the country that “the state of the union is sound.” But it has morphed into a shopping-list of priorities and legislative wishes. Occasionally, as this year, it is a virtual convention-style rally and an opportunity to scold political rivals.
Since the phrase is bandied about these days, I propose thinking about the state of the union in terms that presidents no longer confront.
The state of the union – let us say the spiritual state of the union; the real state of things; the health and well-being of our society – sucks. I apologize for using that term, but its general acceptance (as you will note unless you don’t watch TV or read newspapers or overhear little children chatting) actually illustrates my point. Our standards have been lowered; our discourse has grown coarse; our self-respect is disappearing. Otherwise I apologize.
But it is almost impossible to use words and phrases or point to shocking news and statistics in order to make my point about the real state of the union. Crime is rampant. Drug use is widespread. Almost half of births are to single mothers. Many school districts are “graduating” students who are functionally illiterate. Half of marriages end in divorce. Neglect, abuse, addiction, suicide, and such malignancies touch almost every family.
Such problems have been trending, if not cascading, in recent years. But newer pathologies are parts of the state of the union. The government’s excessive spending sprees will bankrupt our children. And foreign wars bankrupt our resources. An invasion by hordes of Unknowns is changing the state of the “union” in incalculable ways. A tsunami of drugs kills millions. Smash-and-grab crime and unpunished criminality make daily life a dangerous proposition in cities and towns. Censored thought, a “cancel culture,” inhibits free speech, free association, free thought.
America has always faced challenges and problems, even occasional crises, but by no measure can we claim to live in a Land of the Free anymore. The economy is unstable; daily activities are danger-filled; the future is uncertain. Such is the state of the union.
Oh, yes, a majority of the population no longer believes in God. In this case, we may ask, which is the chicken and which is the egg? No matter: it is a rotten egg.
My weekly essays promise to “put a spiritual song in your heart.” Today, am I committing false advertising? Well, things are rotten; and things s… stink. Neither wishing nor lying about our state of affairs will make them different. Students of Bible prophecies can discern some news about End Times that we might see, as through a glass darkly. The anti-Christ? We see signs. A ten-nation confederation? That might be the European Union. The “Kingdom of Rosh”? Russia, perhaps. But we see no hint of the United States in those scriptures. Will there be an America in the world’s next days?
I am glad that the Bible is ambiguous about certain things. For instance, there will be a period of Great Tribulation, and scholars are unsure at what point Believers will be “raptured” – taken to Heaven, as predicted often throughout the Bible. But it will happen.
Worldly people believe all manner of things, some of them nonsensical. I used to be Editor of Marvel Comics; I know what kids are eager to believe. Adults, too: Many people have “itching ears” for lies and nonsense. But the End Times – the “Midnight Cry” – is not strange in the sense of being un-believable. It is very believable… indeed is to be hoped, and embraced. At midnight there was a cry made… watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh. – Matthew 25:13.
In the meantime, let me say: If you don’t know Jesus, you can go to hell.
Ah. For this phrase I will not apologize. Because you will go to hell. When He comes at the End of Time it will be too late to alter your destiny. The Bible tells us to recognize the “signs of the times.” It is not a difficult thing – look around you, at the state of the union.
As we work to make things right again, whether we succeed or not, it is our calling. And as we work, seeing the Right as God gives us the vision, knowing that we will meet Jesus in the air, we can have a spiritual song in our hearts.
Toe-stepping alert. Some will be offended here; maybe a greater number of you than usually happens. But as they say in legislative debates, I rise on a Point of Personal Privilege. Or, I don’t know… what cats do with hairballs.
Recently I wrote about how Jesus was treated in the days leading to His crucifixion “by us.” What I mean was that there is no reason to think that any of us would have acted any differently in those horrible days than the people who, just days before, welcomed Him with Hosannas, or even His closest friends who abandoned and denied Him despite three years spent in His entourage, seeing miracles, knowing His love.
Yes, we can be fickle. We often revere the most common things in life. And we often are casual or even dismissive of the holiest.
Exhibit A: It is amazing – and to me, personally, annoying – how many people, even nominal Christians, who refer to God Almighty as “the Man Upstairs.”
It is almost like a superstition, a fear of calling the Most Holy God, Creator of the Universe, Love of our souls, by any of His many proper names. It seems like trying to hold two like-poles of a magnet together. But it is, in reality, an insult.
Would it be much different than God referring to us as “Those little fleas down there”?
Except, maybe, as matter of degree – like physical abuse or cruder insults – disrespect is disrespect, we might be dangerously close to acting like those abusive crowds in Jerusalem. Even those of us who have repented of our sins and asked forgiveness were, as it were, virtually among those crowds who despised and rejected Him, when we choose to continue to live in sin; when we choose to show proper respect before Him. Which we always are: before Him; in His presence.
Do I paint an extreme picture, go too far? You don’t think so? Would you have acted differently back then? Are you as resectful of the Savior… as He deserves? Even His disciples mostly scattered like autumn leaves in a windy street when things got rough, before our Savior was mocked, kicked, and spat upon, betrayed, seized, jailed, accused, tortured, and killed. And then “we” hid in fear for three days until He rose from the dead and had to show Himself to us.
You know, sometimes I wonder – if such a thing could be measured – whether “Jesus Christ” is uttered more as a curse than a blessing or in prayer across the United States every day. Possibly so. Shame on us.
The “Man Upstairs” must be awfully disappointed.
When He comes again in Glory it will be humankind’s second chance. Will He be despised and rejected by us again? Take your pulse, as it were – will we hide our faces from Him? Will you “esteem Him not” (as Isaiah predicted 700 years before Jesus was crucified)? When He returns will He be kicked and punched again? Will you spit on Him?
Will He be called names?
Yes. He will.
Will it be “Son of the Man Upstairs”? Will it be “Je-sus Christ” as in some bitter curse? Or… will we call Him King of kings, Lord of lords; Savior of our souls?
“9-11” will never lose its meaning in America; maybe it will have evocations as long as the world lasts. More than a mere “event,” it is one of those moments in history that people will always associate with where they were, what they were doing, when the news of the terror attacks occurred.
It might not lose its meaning, but will it lose its significance?
My son Ted was an intern at one of the major cable news networks at that time. Its studios are across the Hudson from lower Manhattan, and every day – before 9-11 – he could see the Twin Towers from the station’s parking lot. On that day he put in extra hours, working non-stop on the breaking news, correspondents’ feeds, editing video footage, some of which, featuring falling bodies and splattered corpses and collapsing monoliths, have still never been publicly shown.
I frequently have challenged audiences in some of my speeches if anyone could state, even approximately, the number of victims of terrorism there were on 9-11. Hands go up, and the invariable estimates are around 3,000. And my invariable response is this correction:
No. There were approximately 3,000 victims of murder on 9-11. The victims of terrorism are about 330-million… and still growing.
If there were “silver linings” to the clouds of smoke and dust on 9-11 it was that America was briefly united, even unified, in our response, grief, and resolution. Skeptics worried that clarity, patriotism, and some common purposes would be short-lived.
Of course, the skeptics were right. Many young people responded by volunteering for military service. American adventurism, however, has led to ambiguous results if not Pyrrhic victories. A Patriot Act inherently is flawed, perhaps compromising as many rights as it purports to protect. According to elections, surveys, and streets filled with spilled blood and broken glass, our citizenry is more divided than ever.
The terrorists are following an agenda. But who wrote it?
We are in this state not because of a few hijacked planes on 9-11. There were attacks before; many since; and 9-11 only represented the most palpable and perhaps symbolic of the threats America faces. In fact, as with the Roman Empire and all empires and decadent societies throughout history, such attacks are virtual metaphors for the self-destruction that essentially plagues us.
America has invited this situation by our abandonment of core values. Our society – indeed the West in general – is a Post-Christian culture. Among those who might say “I told you so” are the “great cloud of witnesses” described in the Bible (see Hebrews Chapter 11) and, by the totality of His Word and Commandments and Judgments, God Himself.
For further commentary (“Don’t take my word for it!”) I will commend some reflections by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn. He was the Soviet exile, a man who fought Communism and somehow survived persecution and prisons (the gulags) and escaped to the West after his writings were smuggled out of Russia; they won praise and Nobel Prizes.
I will quote him briefly but wish I could share his thousands of pages. Find his books! His analyses – his warnings – are dispositive today. They are not mere critiques of monstrous Communism. They recognize the Bureaucratic State that threatens “democracies” today. They attacked all of the decadent West. They recognized that the Crisis of the Twentieth Century was not confined to the Communist State into which he was born.
The infection, he said, is not Communism per se – although, of course, Marxism is alive in American education, media, and party politics – but secularism. The rejection of God. Therefore he attacked not only Stalin of the past but the Bidens of the present; not only the Soviet apparatchiks but the American Dark State:
If I were asked today to formulate as concisely as possible the main cause of the ruinous revolution that swallowed up some 60 million of our people, I could not put it more accurately than… “Men have forgotten God; that’s why all this has happened.”…The failings of human consciousness, deprived of its divine dimension, have been a determining factor in all the major crimes of this century.
We are witnesses to the devastation of the world, be it imposed or voluntarily undergone. …sucked into the vortex of atheism and self-destruction. This plunge into the abyss has aspects that are unquestionably global, dependent neither on political systems, nor on levels of economic and cultural development, nor yet on national peculiarities.
It was Dostoevsky… who drew from the French Revolution and its seething hatred for the Church the lesson that “revolution must necessarily begin with atheism.” That is absolutely true. But the world had never before known a godlessness as organized, militarized, and tenaciously malevolent as that preached by Marxism…. hatred of God is the principal driving force, more fundamental than all their political and economic pretensions.
Through decades of gradual erosion, the meaning of life in the West ceased to stand for anything more lofty than the pursuit of “happiness”, a goal that has even been solemnly guaranteed by constitutions. The concepts of good and evil have been ridiculed for several centuries; banished from common use, they have been replaced by political or class considerations of short-lived value. It has become embarrassing to appeal to eternal concepts, embarrassing to state that evil makes its home in the individual human heart before it enters a political system.
Atheist teachers in the West are bringing up a younger generation in a spirit of hate for their own society. Amid all the vituperation, it has been forgotten that the defects of capitalism represent the basic flaws of human nature, freed from all limitations just as the various human rights are; that under communism (and communism breathes down the neck of all moderate forms of socialism, which are unstable) — under communism the very same flaws become completely unbridled in any person with the last degree of authority; and that everyone else under that system truly does attain ‘equality’ — the equality of destitute slaves.
Instead of the ill-advised hopes of the last two centuries, which have reduced us to insignificance and brought us to the brink of nuclear and non-nuclear death, we can only reach with determination for the warm hand of God, which we have so rashly and self-confidently pushed away…. If we perish and lose this world, the fault will be ours alone.
From more than 50 years ago Solzhenitsyn speaks to us. Prophesies fulfilled before our eyes. Solutions under our noses.
Several correspondents have written lately to me about so many “gloom and doom” subjects in these messages, when I promise “a song in your hearts.” Well, yes. But I am a reporter of Biblical things and current events – I try to eavesdrop on the Lord. So these messages convey the facts of our situations, not fantasy.
God, however, writes “between the lines”! Turning to Him, repenting and reforming, will heal our land and dispel gloom and doom!
It is not too late – as individuals and as a nation!
For I the Lord will hold your right hand; Fear not! I will help you! (Isaiah 41:13)
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A dear friend has written that this is a song not in our hearts but to our hearts:
Progress. We may conclude after the lessons of history, over uncountable generations, and every civilization that has dedicated itself to the ideal… that Progress is a false god. Perhaps a worthy goal in the abstract, but little more.
The challenge inherent in “progress” is the fact that it is an abstraction. A chimera: literally something honored in the breach, a dream whose precise realization is an illusion; something impossible to define or finally achieve.
If we judge and celebrate Progress by prosperity, we ignore the poverty, starvation, and misery around the world. If we call the triumph of diseases “Progress” we ignore cancers, plagues, epidemics, and self-initiated ways of dying. We think it Progressive that humanity is proving itself more compassionate and welcoming… yet dysfunction, abuse, addictions, suicides, failed marriages, depression, and wars touch every country, family, and household we know.
What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun (Ecclesiastes 1:9).
We think we know better than all of previous humankind – “we” being contemporary, liberal, secular societies – that we have, progressively, learned lessons from previous cultures; we have built on the discoveries of wise people; that science guides us ever upward. Indeed we are aware of many lessons of history – triumphs and disasters – but that does mean we learn from them.
In infantile fashion, we pick and choose from the annals of history, not to learn and see more clearly and improve our ways, but to craft new justifications for our original, base inclinations. The pattern is called Human Nature; the inclination, theological or otherwise, is called Sin. The result is called Self-Destruction.
Of course, it masquerades as “Progress,” so we congratulate ourselves.
What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun.
The West is undergoing a radical transformation of attitudes and codes these days. Under the name of Progress, the roles (and even functions) of the sexes are being redefined. Millennia of foundational spiritual beliefs and attitudes are being denied and even outlawed. Totalitarian practices have permeated national governments and local councils, supplanting authoritarianism, which in its turn had supplanted freedom of thought and expression. Murderous Marxism, tried and failed so often, is being recommended in myriad forms… to be tried one more time. And another, and…
We can look to the French Revolution, among many spasms of Progress, for similar experiments. Discontent led to radicalism so severe that the Church was abolished and its properties confiscated. Members of the monarchy, then the aristocracy, then the middle class, were slaughtered: the revolution “ate its babies” before the factions began slaughtering each other. New governments started foreign wars to distract – and conscript – the public. Fiat currencies were invented; a new calendar was devised; women’s rights were proclaimed and quickly suppressed; and new religions were fabricated to replace Christianity – “The Cult of Reason”; “The Cult of the Supreme Being;” and so forth.
Ultimately, this eruption of Progress, like the Chinese “Cultural Revolution” and myriad others that followed, accumulated its most dispositive statistics by the numbers of people persecuted and slaughtered.
What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun.
The 20th century saw history’s greatest advances in knowledge, discoveries, inventions, medicines… and was by far the bloodiest century of persecution, death, and wars of any century. Innovations dedicated to killing. Progress? We believe ourselves kinder to animals; we no longer kill baby seals or slaughter herds of buffalo. Yet we slaughter babies at rates unprecedented in the history of “humanity.”
As the French say, Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose – The more things change, the more things stay the same. Really, a paraphrase of Ecclesiastes. So perhaps the millions of aborted babies are merely the “new” version of infant sacrifice practiced by “primitive” societies. But in this Age of Progress, we sacrifice to the gods of self-indulgence, convenience, and a “wiser” form of progressive morality. We know better.
In the post-Christian West, our orgy of selfish delusion lives on borrowed time, existing more and more tenuously on the inertia of expired sanity and fleeting prosperity. Our homes were built on solid foundations, but are crumbling. A few people have vague memories, inchoate awareness, of history’s lessons. But… collectively we are different. We know better. If there is a God, He will forgive us; He always has. Right?
I believe the most serious of all sins, theologically and practically, is the Sin of Pride. It precedes all other sins, and enables all other sins. We know better than our consciences. We know better than history’s examples. We know better than God. But…
What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun.
Ultimately the human race and, yes, much of the Christian world, has put itself in this dreadful situation. For individuals, where sin abounds, grace abounds much more; yet surely judgment is coming to this world. I am reminded, if you will indulge an extreme shift of reference, of a 1952 movie, Ma and Pa Kettle At the Fair. It was one of a series of movies about a family of rural nitwits, very popular at the time.
In this movie, Ma and Pa were tossed in the town jail, framed by the village harpy. Even the jailer was sympathetic to their plight, and he repeatedly left the jail cell unlocked or ostentatiously dropped his keys, so that Ma and Pa could escape. More dumb then honest, each time they called, “Oh, Sam! You dropped your keys!”
When Sam sighed in resignation and shuffled away, Pa slowly lamented, “I wish we could figure a way to escape from this old jail…”
We find ourselves in cultural and moral prisons these days. Jesus provides our way to escape; He leaves us the keys; He is the key. And we – deserving the jail cells wherein we find ourselves, often of our own making – nevertheless we wish we could figure a way to escape. The keys are in front of us. But…
There is nothing new under the sun.
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The Contemporary Christian Music singer and songwriter Rich Mullins sang this (caught on amateur video) at the end of a 1992 concert. A few short years later Rich was killed in a highway accident.
The “issue” of crime is in the news these days. In some polls it is the major concern of citizens, at least as troubling as the virtual invasion of millions of illegal migrants and the rotten economy. Unchecked immigration is a literal crime (“il-legal”); and high prices are cursed as virtual “crimes” by every shopper making every tough choice every day…
But across international stages, to our nation, cities, and towns, on sidewalks and in schoolrooms, crimes are on the rise as an epidemic; crimes being ignored and therefore spreading. Ignored… except by the victims. Spreading… because lack of punishment encourages their proliferation.
Crimes and sins are related – maybe in the chicken-and-egg context – but essentially, crimes are legal questions and sins are moral questions. That’s how “legalism” would define the differences. But there are deeper distinctions.
A crime is an act; sin is a tendency. The moment you commit a crime, you are guilty. A guilty act, and formal verdicts of guilt, can be pardoned. Sins, however, often have worse consequences, whether they lead to actual crimes or not. And where crimes can be pardoned, sins cannot.
Sins can only be forgiven.
Weeks before Easter, this still is an Easter message. In fact it is the message of all Scripture, the whole Bible, all of life.
Jesus was condemned by “legalists” who accused Him of crimes, and He was charged, tried, sentenced, tortured, and killed for “crimes.” We know that He was, of course, sinless. His “crimes” were twisted accusations by haters – healing people on the wrong day of the week; showing compassion to the wrong ethnic groups; citing prophecies – and, much like today, the authorities ignored what they should have respected and were upset by things they ought to have ignored. Does this sound like today?
The eighth chapter of John’s Gospel, despite its events chronologically well before Holy Week, addresses the centrality of Easter’s message: Forgiveness. The stark contrast represented by Jesus’s death on the cross was on one hand the crimes imputed by both the state and religion, and the sins of humankind on the other. More so, between the connivance of the malignant forces of state and religion… versus the liberating peace, freedom, and salvation offered by God: Forgiveness.
John chapter 8 begins with the religious hierarchy of Pharisees – Legalists – hauling an adulteress before Jesus, demanding that He approve her imminent stoning as punishment for her sins. Their first priority was to trap Jesus in a legalistic argument. Their second purpose was to scorn, hate, condemn, and kill the woman. Their last thought was to counsel her and lead her to repent. Least of all, Forgiveness.
Scripture tells how Jesus was diffident during their rant, casually writing in the dust; it does not explain what He doodled. My idea was the numbers 1-10, because He then challenged, “Let him who is without sin cast the first stone,” reminding them, perhaps, of the Ten Commandments. In any event, as they dropped their murderous rocks and silently walked away, Jesus said, “Go and sin no more.” The usual interpretation is that He spoke only to the woman, but the message was also to the “Holy” mob… and to us.
Today, too many in the Establishment of media, education, and the state – and, sadly, the Church – want us to confront sin, but find a “welcoming” way to meet it halfway. Jesus spent much time, we read, with sinners. But in the Gospels it was they who went away changed, not Him.
Then John 8 records how the Pharisees engaged in debates with Jesus over His claims about prophecy, and Father Abraham, and fulfilling the Law of Moses, instead of what He taught and how He lived. Legalism was deadly, being a convenient excuse for those who would not see.
And Legalism is no less deadly today, as a crutch for those who wallow in their own sins and errors, rebellion and destruction.
Legalism, so much a component of organized religion, has sent more people on paths of misery straight to hell, than have accumulations of sinning… because it enables sin.
What Jesus taught that day, and spoke through the Message of the Cross, and pleads with us today, is that sin is the problem; not the sinner.
Willingly deaf to His words, the Jews in this chapter did not relent; they peppered Jesus with challenges (“You are not yet 50 years old, and yet you say you have seen Abraham?”) and their logic about the Law of Moses (to which He replied, “I am the Law of Moses”). They found the stones again, to throw at Him… but He disappeared out of the midst of them. His time was not yet come. Holy Week, as we call it, Good Friday, the Cross, and the Resurrection, were yet ahead.
But in the meantime, as we read, when He beheld Jerusalem, Jesus wept.
Surely He weeps today over America and this world of sin and error. He weeps for an apostate Church and a culture that prattles about what is “fair”… but not as much about what is pure, and just, and holy.
Let us weep too. Not to respond and act would be more than a crime. It would be a sin.
The French have a phrase that is memorable and useful, because it is true, not a mere facile epigram. “The more things change, the more they stay the same.”
Its universality, and applications, are so basic that it is often quoted in the original: “Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose.” It was written by Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr in 1849.
The concept can be said, or thought of, as pessimistic or fatalistic. Also it can be considered as merely a statement of fact, even an encouragement to a realistic view of life – a viewpoint from which we might brush the dust off out feet and seek new directions.
The Bible addresses the idea of course in a perfect way, and as often the case with bits of wisdom – proverbs – in the words of King Solomon. We recently visited the first chapter of Ecclesiastes, in which this verse appears:
What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again. There is nothing new under the sun.
This came to mind again this week when I chanced upon a political cartoon I drew (gulp!) half a century ago, almost to the day. Isn’t it amazing how a four-year-old could draw? (I am not good at math, so I might be off by a few years…) But more than the archaeological discovery from my files, I was struck by the issue I addressed in the pages of the Connecticut Herald back then.
This cartoon could have been published this week – only better drawn, I would hope – and it would be just as pertinent, just as impertinent, every detail of my critique and complaints resonating the same way.
I would give my right inkpot if such were not case. For this is not an amusing coincidence; it is evidence of rot in American life. We might acknowledge that there might be nothing new under then sun, but – despite Solomon and Jean-Baptiste – we hope that things can at least vary their colors and flavors, can change or evolve. In 1973, for instance, the Soviet Union was our international threat; now it is China. In 1973 Vietnam was a diplomatic vortex; now it is Ukraine.
But the crises in American schools, as I identified them in this cartoon, are the same today (with, perhaps, the only change being greater degrees of severity). In my drawing I pictured sex “teaching” in the classroom; “new math” (the crazy numbers on the blackboard did not reproduce well here); anti-American teaching and actions; the presence of drugs, violence, and alcohol (I drew a syringe, a knife, and a beer can); the Black Power poster would be BLM today; and a Marxist textbook, which lives today as Critical Race Theory and other propagandistic school books.
Oh. And the assault on Bibles and prayers in schools, and the courts’ malignant interference in public education.
When I drew this cartoon, “thanks” to the Supreme Court, Bible reading and Christian expression in schools had been outlawed for about 10 years. To many people, this seems like the world of centuries ago, but I was in seventh grade; I can remember another America. Until that time, my schools in suburban New York City – and it was no different anywhere in the United States – opened every day with the Pledge of Allegiance. Moments of silence. Every week opened with Bible readings, round-robin with classmates. Out of deference to the Jewish kids in my classes, Bible readings often were Old Testament psalms.
If kids came from households of no faith, or other faiths, they could opt out; no ostracism of any sort. I had no friends who felt persecuted. The Lord’s Prayer was also recited weekly, and the Protestant kids added “For ever and ever, Amen,” nothing odd about it. We had Thanksgiving and Christmas and Easter programs… with the spiritual backgrounds discussed matter-of-factly.
These were aspects of American schools until the early ‘60s. Ten years later… this cartoon was not a fantasy or a warning, but a critique of unfolding situations. Fifty years later… Nothing new under the sun.
I was not too young when Bibles were outlawed, nor when I drew this cartoon, to be unaware of predictions from many quarters. Don’t think citizens did not object. There will be consequences if children are not grounded in an awareness of God’s role in American life… morals will degrade in a generation of young people… If Biblical values are stripped from history and science classes, children will have no standards… We will raise up generations with false values, little respect, and no traditions… and other predictions that are “la même chose.”
Every movement, through many centuries – indeed, back to the Garden – that has attacked God’s Word and orderly societies, has commenced with corrupting children. Of late, in the West, whether it is the questionable Protocols; or the manifestos of Marx and Engels; or the “Progressive Education” of Dewey; or the well-funded subversion of George Soros, corrupting the youth is the tip of the spear.
I wish, today, I could draw a cartoon predicting a better future – American classrooms free of subversion and perversion; shining with patriotism and traditional values; teaching, and learning, the Three Rs; not woke but awakened; outcomes and advancement of students by merit.
A friend recently asked about Messianic Jews and Christians who choose to observe the traditions of the ancient Hebrews. Festivals, dietary laws, customs of holy days. Should Christians, and “fulfilled” People of the Book, feel obligated or be encouraged to observe practices from centuries prior to Christ’s incarnation?
Those ancient traditions pointed toward the Messiah’s coming. Discernment was required with all prophesies, customs, ceremonies, and the most minute elements of observances. Things that inspired people of Old Testament times can provide reminders to Christians of our time: God’s sovereign and eternal plan; the unity of the full Gospel; the confirmation of His miracle workings.
To the extent that awareness of ancient observances can turn into obsessions into substitutions into replacements, we should discourage these things. Anything that takes our eyes from Christ Himself must be resisted. Christ and Him crucified, Christ risen and reigning – all else pales. Customs and prophecies become academic; signs and wonders are confirmations. Luke 12:30 warns us that “these things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers all over the world.” Turn your eyes upon Jesus.
Taking these thoughts further, I remembered one of the most powerful books of warnings, so to speak, in the Bible, and one of its most powerful chapters. Amos the Prophet speaks to us today.
The customs and observances of the Old Testament were for the times in which they were given by God. As I said, they are for our edification still today; all of Scripture is inspired. Laws and commandments are likewise of God, and yet we should remember that Jesus is the fulfillment of the law. However, the books of the Prophets are slightly different, in my view. Many of the prophecies, especially the Jeremiahs, were for people of the day – warnings to repent and return to God. And many of those warnings, as we know, were rejected… resulting in punishment, wrath, and exile.
Yet many prophecies were spoken and written to us, too. For us. About us. Not only in human-nature categories of advice, but specifically to our circumstances – our places is historical dispensation; our situations. The sixth chapter of Amos reads that way, as if Amos looked almost 3000 years into future and knew our society, reading our headlines.
And what he saw is not pretty.
We know things are not pretty today. And the more serious our crises are, contemporary life dresses things up to look pretty… taste sweet… and appear harmless. But don’t we know that these are perilous times? Problems barely beneath the surface? Amos did. God does.
Woe to you who are at ease…
Woe to you who put far off the day of doom, Who cause the seat of violence to come near; Who lie on beds of ivory, Stretch out on your couches, Eat lambs from the flock And calves from the midst of the stall; Who sing idly to the sound of stringed instruments, And invent for yourselves musical instruments like David; Who drink wine from bowls, And anoint yourselves with the best ointments, But are not grieved…
The LORD God of hosts says: “I abhor the pride of Jacob, And hate his palaces; Therefore I will deliver up the city And all that is in it.”
You have turned justice into poison,And the fruit of righteousness into bitterness.
“Behold, I will raise up a nation against you…” says the Lord God of hosts; “And they will afflict you…”
“Woe to the complacent” is the thrust of this prophecy. It is a stark reality – a tragic truth – that America and the “Christian” West have arrived at a point where we are not only diverted by, but we put our trust in, bread and circuses. We look to wealth and armaments for protection. We believe we are privileged and secure. We think that because the world loves our rock ‘n’ roll and blue jeans, others are not jealous and lustful after our resources and blessings. We call good evil and evil good, fooling ourselves that it makes no difference. We have manufactured our own morality – believing that sin has no consequences; that we can exploit and abuse each other; that marriages, babies, and the “inconvenient” among us are expendable. Crimes are not crimes anymore; and substance abuse is assuaged by more and more substance abuse. We have become insensitive to beauty and truth.
We have come, on this mad journey of democratic license and self-indulgent capitalism, to a point of elevating Self – the deity of contemporary life. Human nature reigns supreme, the ultimate force to be trusted, a secular god that believes nothing, forgives everything, and demands our worship and trust.
All of this instead of trusting in the Lord.
How is this working out? How has it ever worked out, three thousand years ago or in any civilization, past or present?
We have turned the fruits of righteousness – to which we delude ourselves into thinking we are dedicated – into bitterness. And justice in contemporary life – whether regarding neighborhood crime, or respect for the sanctity of life, or international relations – we are turning into poison. And poison kills.
Thus spake the Prophet. The words are true, even if we ignore them.
Like the boy who cries wolf, the people behind the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists seldom are noticed anymore, or as much or as often as they once were. In 1947, at the dawn of the Atomic Age, the group’s “Doomsday Clock” was calibrated and publicized, meant to represent how close humankind was to obliterating civilization on earth.
Significantly it was issued at a time when nuclear weapons were a monopoly of the United States, and indeed the USA was the only nation, and remains so, to have unleashed nuclear weapons on people, military or civilian. To me that is a matter of shame, but my purpose is not to discuss wartime strategies.
Peacetime strategies of certain groups also deserve our attention. The “Doomsday Clock” – how close the world supposedly is to annihilating itself, “midnight” being the death-knell – was set at “seven minutes to midnight” as per the Bulletin’s first press release. Two months ago our current death sentence, so to speak, is calculated at 90 seconds away from doom. There are 86,400 seconds in a day, by the way, so we can see what the fuss is about. Since 1947 other nations have joined the “nuclear club.” (The Soviet Union in 1949; the UK in 1952; France, 1960; China, 1964; and at least five other countries.) The Bulletin of “scientists” has widened their list of threats to life on earth include over-population, green concerns, and global warming (or as it is known at the moment, “climate change”).
The United States is always cast as the boogy man in such alarums. I do not doubt the malign effects, both wanton and avoidable, of civilization and its discontents. It might even be the case that Chicken Littles in white lab-coats have inspired reforms. Yet there have been unseen consequences of Doomsday scenarios despite the absence of nuclear bombs being dropped during all the wars since 1947. My generation of schoolkids surely absorbed psychic poison from warnings about our homes being incinerated, and the necessity of hiding our little heads under desks during bombing-raid rehearsals in the ‘50s and ‘60s. Some day soon I believe we also will look back on the futility of two years of societal lockdowns over a relative of the flu.
I suggest that our problems with ticking clocks and last pages of calendars, of big bombs and little viruses, is “not in the stars, but in ourselves, that we are underlings.” That quotation is from Shakespeare, not the Bible; but there is wisdom in it. Another wise man wrote in the Book of Ecclesiastes: “Vanity, vanity, all is vanity.”
In these famous lines, the “Preacher,” acknowledged as the son of David, King Solomon, did not address “vanity” as being conceited or boastful, or chasing after fashion, except in the (much) larger sense – the contrast between substantial things and temporary concerns. The difference between the pertinent and the impertinent. The important things in life, and, yes, the futility of some things we humans chase after.
In that sense, things like atomic bombs and fossil fuels pale in significance to the many things the entire human race is doing in myriad other ways to kill itself. Yes, a bomb’s blast is palpably horrific: ask the many survivors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Yet the moral decay of hatred, prejudice, corruption, deceit, abuse, addiction, exploitation – of sin – is individual, widespread, and, unlike international treaties and federal regulations, within the power of each of us to remedy.
This human condition – vanity; the sense of futility we share in ever-increasing ways – can be addressed by humans. Spiritual crises require spiritual answers
Solomon, thousands of years ago, addressed the same challenges to “human nature” wherewith we contend today:
Says the Preacher, “Vanity, vanities, all is vanity.”
What profit has a man from all his labor In which he toils under the sun? One generation passes away, and another generation comes; But the earth abides forever.
The sun also rises, and the sun goes down, And hastens to the place where it arose. The wind goes toward the south, And turns around to the north; The wind whirls about continually, And comes again on its circuit.
All the rivers run into the sea, Yet the sea is not full; To the place from which the rivers come, There they return again. All things are full of labor; Man cannot express it. The eye is not satisfied with seeing, Nor the ear filled with hearing.
That which has been is what will be, That which is done is what will be done, And there is nothing new under the sun. Is there anything of which it may be said, “See, this is new”? It has already been in ancient times before us.
There is no remembrance of things past, Nor will there be any remembrance of things that are to come By those who will come after.
Does this mean we should do nothing about our manifold problems? No – I have listed the problems I believe ultimately are most important that face our species and our families. If we can solve those, the “larger” crises might sort themselves out, for we will be wiser, more responsible, more loving.
Does this suggest a new form of hyper-individualism, addressing our problems ourselves? To the extent we should rely less on scientists who cry wolf with Bulletins, or governments who intimidate us by claiming to have all answers to all things… yes.
Does it say that life is futile; we are doomed according to a ticking Doomsday Clock?
No. These thoughts remind us that God is in charge. We are not to look to the stars, be scared by clocks, or even rely, solely, on ourselves – but to Him.
Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man sows, that shall he also reap (Galatians 6:7).
There are many names of God in Scripture; and many names of Jesus. Similarly, names of the Holy Ghost.
Casual students of the Bible know these. Some of names are titles; some are descriptive; some are prophetic; some are virtual codes that communicate the attributes of members of the Trinity; some are poetic. Among scores are, for instance, God as “the great ‘I Am’”; Jesus as the “Bright and Morning Star”; the Holy Spirit as the “Comforter.”
One of my names for the Father is God of the If-Thens. It’s an odd phrase, so I will explain. It is based on my recognition that God loves us unconditionally, but many of His promises are conditional. We, His children, do not always recognize this, because we don’t want to.
Many Christians in these days of national turmoil and societal distress quote a passage from II Chronicles, Chapter 7. We hear it in sermons, speeches, and prayers:
If My people, who are called by My name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.
Now, maybe God has many names for His people – us – too. Perhaps, if we think about the number of times Christians invoke this verse, one of those names could be: Lazy.
Lazy? When we hear those prayers often, even in anguish? But start thinking about all the times in the Bible that revival was needed among His people, in their lands, in His promised places. Many times! In fact, the need for spiritual revival is a repeated theme. People who are “called by God,” the blessed chosen who nevertheless exercise human nature, not God’s nature; and who inevitably (as per human nature) stray, rebel, grow apostate, reject God – the Bible record is populated by such people. And they, generally, are like you and me.
Whether God sends prophets who warn; or floods, famines, conquerors, or even a Savior, He provides ways out. He has ways to remind us of His love. He invites us to return. He issues promises. He offers forgiveness. Yet (to cite an aphorism from the Book of Proverbs) “As a dog returns to his vomit, so a fool repeats his folly.”
“Revival!” preachers yell. “Revival!” Christians call down from Heaven. “Revival!” believers pray for.
But in their yelling, calling down, and praying, very few Christians cite the whole passage from II Chronicles, Chapter 7, verses 12-15, when the Lord appeared to Solomon after a Temple had been built to honor God:
I have heard your prayer, and have chosen this place for Myself as a house of sacrifice. If I shut up Heaven that there be no rain, or if I command the locusts to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among My people; if My people, who are called by My name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from Heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land. Now Mine eyes shall be open, and Mine ears attentive unto the prayer that is made in this place.
There’s the God of the If-Then. In language, “if” should always, and logically, be followed by “then.” That is the function of the “if.” And the prerequisite of the “then.” Cause and effect.
God can, but never has, brought revival to a person, a people, or a land – a country – without the prerequisite of repentance. Nor should He, in my view. The plea would be lazy; and the holy answer would be cheap.
America, in so many ways, places, and times, was dedicated to Christ. It has been the land of “Great Awakenings,” evangelistic outreach, learned theology, but has turned into a culture of death, apostasy, secularism, hedonism, and materialism. There was wisdom in a bumper strip I recently saw: “If God does not destroy America, maybe Sodom and Gomorrah deserve an apology.”
Why would God “send” revival if His people do not bother to desire it more earnestly? Why do we merely preach it to each other? How arrogant to think that, amid our manifold sins, we can order God to fix things?
Christians, all moral patriots, need to work for revival ourselves!
Just as we surely deserve God’s holy judgment, so does God deserve our heartfelt repentance. To “humble ourselves and turn from our wicked ways.”
THEN will He will hear the reports ringing through Heaven… and heal our land. But not, I’m afraid, before.
A Friend came around, Tried to clean up this town; His ideas made some people mad. He trusted His crowd, So He spoke right out loud; And they lost the best Friend they had.
+ + +
This popular song from the late 1960s has strong spiritual implications. It was written by the influential Gram Parsons, whose work inspired a generation of singers and groups. It is performed here in the room where he died at age 26, Room 8 of the very humble Joshua Tree Inn motel. I have been there, now a very accessible, informal shrine to Gram Parsons.
There is an old description of untruths or falsehoods – “Lies, damned lies, and statistics.” It is, of course, more of an accusation against statisticians than everyday, garden-variety liars; and my own assessments of that profession is: “Statistics don’t lie, but statisticians do.”
We see this proven most glaringly in politics and public-opinion polling, but it is everywhere, in every sphere, used at every possible opportunity. I will assert that 78 percent of people agree with me.
Having disposed of that, we are left with lies, a subject or at least a practice with which most of us are familiar. But I rather mean for us to think about “damned” lies, and I hope nobody is offended by the word, but it is chosen and should be considered carefully.
To employ the “D” word, as earlier generations liked to politely clothe it, involves one of the most serious matters, with the most serious consequences, of all things. There is a heaven and there is a hell, even if contemporary society denies the existence of both. Even modern – or I should say post-modern – churches tend to deny hell; at the least we can note that many denominations avoid the subject of hell; many churches ignore the consequences of hell; many preachers deny the existence of hell.
And when the Bible, when Jesus Himself, spoke of hell and its reality, the contemporary world in its denials, finds it easy, or in fact, logically incumbent, to dismiss heaven – the desire for heaven, the reality of heaven, the existence of heaven. Besides, contemporary life and paternalistic governments bring us heaven on earth, right? So what’s the need?
When people, much less denominations, say that they know more than the Bible, and better than Jesus, their “faith” is no faith at all.
But damnation is real. It is a severe caution, and it is a literal threat. To state the previous point another way, if there is no hell and no damnation, God had no reason to become incarnate, to have Jesus come to earth, suffer, and die. If there is no hell to be saved from, there is no heaven to hope for, and then God Almighty is flawed, and His Son Jesus was a fool – worse, a liar.
There’s that word – Liar. God cannot lie. It is not in His nature. But one of the Bible’s several names of Satan is “Liar.” Further, his job description, pictured most fully in the Book of Job but elsewhere too, is “Accuser.” We can say it is his job description.
Whether literally true – I believe it is true, but I mean whether every minute or daily or in a physical setting – we are not told and I do not care about such details. God knows all, but nevertheless it is written that Satan accuses the saints (us). As I said, God knows everything anyway, so there must be a point to our being reminded in the Word that our sins are seen in unseen places, known to God and the heavenly host and even the devil… perhaps as Satan’s final effort (his job description again, according to the Scripture) to “steal, kill, and destroy.”
Jesus told us, “If you believe in God, believe also in Me.” So as night follows day, what God said and Jesus taught about heaven and hell should keep us aware. Hell and damnation are not things casually to dismiss, and certainly not things to talk about lightly. “Damn this,” and “damned that,” and “Go to hell!” — when we say such things, we are playing with fire.
There is one more thought about lies, and the devil accusing us before the throne of God. Whether literal or Scripture’s way of helping us picture reality is not as important as this truth:
If Satan is a liar, I don’t care so much about him accusing us, lying about us, to God.
What we should be concerned about – tremble with fear, actually – is that the devil would tell the truth about us.
Why? If we are sinners, we have already condemned ourselves. If we have accepted Jesus, however, our robes are clean.
We must not be concerned with what the devil claims, but Whom our hearts have claimed.
And that’s no lie.
+ + +
Satan, the enemy of our souls, roams about and among us seeking whom to devour, as the Bible says. He might rant and roar against us before God… yet let us remember that softly and tenderly Jesus is calling.
If a poll were to be taken, for instance at ComiCon International, whose annual fest just concluded in San Diego; and let’s say especially in such a control-group sample of geeks and nerds (take it easy, I spent a portion of my career serving them) – and the question was about superheroes…
Let’s say, Who is the greatest superhero of them all? or Who has the greatest powers? Whose conflicts, challenges, victories are the most impactful? Who can endure anything, from bombs to betrayal, and maybe come back stronger? …The answers would be many, and even cosplay attendees might start shoving each other around.
The questions do not arise from preconceived habits or childhood favorites, but rather the intricate premises of the Marvel and DC (etc) “universes,” and the passionate investment that young fans (and older college students) (and adults) make in the worlds of these characters and the consistently maintained cocoons of comics and movies.
When I was an editor at Marvel Comics (and generally regarded as someone who was always bewildered by such things) there were periodic bullpen, or bull, sessions, brainstorming new ideas, directions, stories, and costumes. More than once I proposed a concept and was shot down. “That’s not logical!” “That could never happen!” – as the editors returned to discuss piercing the Sixth Dimension or stealing the appearance of a villain after drugging some interplanetary potion.
“OK, I understand,” I said. But I didn’t. When I left Marvel I spent a few years writing comic-book stories for Disney. Somehow, talking mice and half-naked ducks seemed closer to reality.
Stan Lee used to talk to us about comic books and superheroes being reliant on the “suspension of disbelief.” That basic formula (actually promulgated centuries ago by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, not Stan Lee!) has provided an appeal to young readers since the 1930s. As I wrote last week, it seems to me that the well has been a bit poisoned. In comics and spun-off movies, good versus evil is obsolete, or at least superseded and made somewhat nuanced by political correctness, a desperation for newer premises, and the culture’s general decline in values that I think propels the increase in sex and violence.
All while art imitates life imitates art in society. But in one corner, there is a growing active and fertile group of creators staking a claim – not only for traditional values and wholesome storylines… but for Biblical Christianity. Good guys who are good guys, and who win.
I call this new corps of Christian cartoonists “disciples,” maybe more numerous than Jesus’s original gang, but spreading the Good News nonetheless. Al Nickerson (The Sword Of Eden) is one of the best, and a favorite of mine. Daniel Hancock is part of the creative ferment at Terminus Media (https://www.terminusmedia.com ) where he collaborated with Daryl Peninton and Matt Baker as editor on “Samson: Rise,” and works closely with Dr. Barron Bell as story/scriptwriter of the sci-fantasy graphic novel series Dominion: Fall of the House of Saul. He is also founder and director of Bible Actors Productions, creator of End Of Darkness, a full-cast audio drama on the life of Jesus.
Daniel shared a statement from Terminus: “We want everything we do to honor the Creator who has authored the greatest true story of love and redemption that the world has ever seen. We want to love our neighbors (all our neighbors) by using our gifts and talents to entertain and equip them to live abundant lives.”
Outside the traditional comic-book realm everyone remembers the ubiquitous Veggie Tales, all Bible-based. Tom and Tony Bancroft, Barry Cook, and Jeff Keane, are superb animators and committed Christians. There are groups and studios of creators but probably the largest – a fellowship of very professional business minds – is the Christian Comic Arts Society (https://my.christiancomicarts.com )
This group deserves a careful look, at least at their website with its impressive mission statement; and the roster of member cartoonists, including aspirants. The members produce all sorts of stories – yes, also serving kids who were weaned on gritted-teeth fights and explosions and breathless rescues – but it is refreshing to read the creators’ testimonies and visions; their commitment to Christ; and – my view, speaking from the outside – their efforts to redeem the culture.
I will mention other Christian cartoonists of the day, wanting to give honor to those who honor God through their work. They additionally include Eric Jansen, Chivas Davis, Art Ayris, Doug TenNapel, Scott McDaniel, Steve Crespo, and Paul Castiglia.
Al Nickerson (The Sword Of Eden – www.theswordofeden.com ), was an artist for DC Comics, Archie Comic Publications, Marvel Comics, and Warp Graphics. He has been a designer and animator for Sesame Street, MTV Animation, and Nickelodeon. The Sword Of Eden is an inventive series, arrestingly drawn, and revolving around retrieving the legendary sword used by angels to keep Adam and Eve out of the Garden of Eden. The speculative adventures includes demons (which, of course, do exist in Bible narratives), villains, and a possible detour to locate Noah’s Ark.
“Comics, sequential art, is a powerful literary art form,” Nickerson said; “a wonderful medium through which to share the Gospel message…. I have the opportunity to create Christian comics that Christian readers can enjoy without feeling attacked.
“There is a bias [against Christianity] in entertainment. Modern Western culture promotes a godless woke agenda. The world hates Jesus, Christianity, and Christians. Therefore, it is vital to support true Christian entertainment. Don’t let the liars and people who are filled with hate influence your work or what you have to say. We live in a broken and sinful world in need of the Savior. The message of repentance and belief in Jesus the Messiah unto salvation should always be shared.”
My new best friend, introduced by the amazing facilitator Gordon Pennington, is Jim Krueger. He wrote the story script for Midway Games’ Mortal Kombat Shaolin Monks video game, which won the Satellite Award for Best Action/Adventure Video Game. In the comics field, his main focus, Jim wrote the 12-issue miniseries Justice with Alex Ross for DC Comics. It was a New York Times Bestseller, and won an Eisner Award for Best Graphic Novel. About a decade after I left Marvel, Jim became its Creative Director.
His original works include The Foot Soldiers; Alphabet Supes; The Clock Maker; The Runner; The High Cost of Happily Ever After: and The Last Straw Man. Jim’s other work for Marvel Comics includes the Earth X trilogy with Alex Ross; Avengers; X-Men; and Avengers/Invaders. His comics work for other publishers includes Star Wars; The Matrix Comics; Micronauts; Galactic; and Batman. Jim’s company is “26 Soldiers,” where he serves as president and publisher.
Jim is a committed Christian, even now working on new projects, and will guest on this blog soon.
Good and evil, in mainstream commercial comics and movies, have become tokens, not gems nor compasses. I was invited to write for the animated TV series ThunderCats years ago, and the creator emphasized that there were to be “lessons” at the end of every episode. In fact he called them “morals,” but they were neither (to my emerging conscience) – the template sounded good, but the “story bible” forbade spiritual messages or, certainly, Biblical values even sanitized. Empty clichés: the way of contemporary society.
Christians must realize and act on the premise that any values divorced from Biblical truth are counterfeit. Viewers and readers being presented, say, “New Gods” while the old God was ignored, dismissed, and, most tellingly, disbelieved are enabling evil. Innocent people are encouraged to find comfort in the saying that believing something… is enough. A false choice when Revealed Truth is available to us.
A society with no core beliefs cannot, by definition, operate on any positive standards or values. A culture that does not recognize right and wrong; practices Relativism; and rejects Absolute Truth… will die at the hands of forces that create their own rules. If you doubt me, check out the nightly news.
People who follow horoscopes and read tarot cards usually dismiss the Bible as mumbo-jumbo. Kids who are obsessed with superheroes don’t want to think about the Jesus Who walked on water and through walls, made the blind see and could read minds, and conquered death. Victims of terminal illnesses will grasp at copper bracelets and expensive herbal remedies and the Power of Wishful Thinking… but too often reject documented cases of real miracles by the “Lord Who Healeth Thee.” Tragic.
In the parlance of today’s comics culture, Jesus was the greatest superhero of them all. He was sent to earth; He knew the past of prehistory and could foretell the future; He turned water into wine; He fed a multitude by praying an increase over a basket of fish and bread; He raised people from the dead, and rose Himself despite agonizing torture and putrefaction in a tomb. He changes lives like mine, maybe the grandest miracle I know.
His costume was a simple robe, except for the holy Blood that covered Him in line with uncountable prophesies and predictions. And He did this all for us sinners while we were yet in our sins.
And Jesus was not a fictional character, but indisputably a historical figure.
I knew Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, who invented Superman as teenagers in Cleveland. “It seemed like a fun character, a fun story to think about.” I asked Bob Kane how he came to create Batman. A similar story – at least no high-culture or pop-culture babble about cosmic forces of evil and revenge. “A fun idea,” he claimed.
Christianity is nothing if not about the supernatural. Welcome to Reality, not Fantasy!
It is almost impossible lately, during at least one week in July or August, not be aware of costumed heroes, red-carpet interviews, breathless announcements of new video games, and outrageous prices being paid for ancient, fragile comic books. It is the week of “ComiCon,” the San Diego International Comic Convention.
Even if you are not (in order) a fan of superheroes, celebrities, new movies and games, or collectible comic books… it is difficult to avoid cable-TV coverage, entertainment-show stories, news packages, and internet views of scholars and nerds, 135,000 of them, crowding the aisles of the Convention Center in otherwise placid San Diego.
It holds my interest for several reasons. I was in that world – and of that world – for much of my life. Actually more than one career, for I have been a political cartoonist, scenarist of strips and graphic novels, syndicate comics editor, editor of Marvel Comics magazines, writer for Disney, comics anthologist and historian, etc.
More, I have attended many of the comics festivals around the world, usually as a speaker or guest. Many are larger, and at one time more scholarly, than San Diego. But my first ComiCon was in 1976, and in those days they were small affairs, held in old halls or hotel basements. In fact ComiCon basically was a collectors’ swap meet with celebrity panels. As Editor at Marvel, I arranged for us to be the first major publisher to rent space and display new releases there. (I humbly confess that a strong motivation was to have Stan Lee sign off on 10 fun days with my staff in sunny California…)
Before the Con was largely subsumed by films and games I was kind of tight with board members of SDCC, so I was in its orbit. But these days it takes the James Webb Telescope of the Comics Universe to spot me. My interest in the art form has not waned at all – I am deep in a couple projects about comics history – but, as I said, SDCC is more about movies, games, and toys than strips.
But superheroes still stalk the halls, the representatives of comic books and their Hollywood spin-offs.
I have never fully understood America’s fascination with superheroes – before, during, and after my tenure at Marvel. We are too deep in the forest to see the trees; if the world survives, it will take analysts of the future to explain America’s obsession with violence and sex; protagonists who rely on muscles, weapons, and absurd powers to pursue justice. Other civilizations built the heroes of their myths (commonly agreed standards and values) on integrity, courage, and wisdom. Many of their heroes failed, the source of literal “tragedy,” a term that is, significantly, misused these days. But in contemporary America, every “hero,” every sketch drawn for fans at ComiCon, employs grimaces, knotted brows, bleeding scratches, clenched teeth, and, usually, a ravished buxom woman at his feet.
Why has America developed this conception of a hero, and why has an audience demanded or welcomed such characters, for surely they are synergistic factors.
Having worked in the “forest,” as I said, all my career, I can discern the trees but cannot identify them, nor explain their sustenance. Even my cherished Disney characters, whom I cast in countless scripts as I wrote premises and stories, have been transformed. I no longer recognize the denizens of the Magic Kingdom; No: I do recognize them, and I don’t like them. They don’t like me. Walt must be turning his grave like a rotisserie chicken. (I recently wrote about this for a national magazine.)
There are signs of hope, reasons for optimism, evidence of some redemption. Not only for desperately needed diversity of content, but as push-backs against the troubling vortex of thematic rot. Villains, and even heroes, I knew as a kid and during my time at Marvel, have now engaged in serial excess – demonology, satanism, perversion (“oh, we must give the good guys something to oppose”), rougher violence, and bloodier graphic representations of it all.
But subcultures of Christian cartoonists are creating stories and inventing heroes with positive virtues; self-publishing, when necessary, and with… happy endings. Or, for discerning readers, pointing to the Truth. Among these creators are very talented artists and writers. Many of them are at the ComiCon, and many are exhibiting, offering their work to the public, and… well, evangelizing. Missionaries in a hostile world – America, not only fan conventions.
When I was young I knew Al Hartley, who was permitted to draw a line of Archie comics for the Christian market; Hank Ketcham did the same with a line of Dennis the Menace comic books. Today’s new breed has taken the fight as St Paul did: “all things to all people” — there are series of heroes; fantasy themes; humor; adventure. The creators do not hide their faith, hoping to lure unsuspecting pagans… but rather, they share their witness boldly and cleverly.
Once there was Jack Chick, who published controversial comics as tracts. There was political cartoonist Wayne Stayskal, who also drew for religious publications. There is the Australian pastor Ian Jones, for whose anthology of Christian strips Pearly Gates I wrote an Introduction. I had many conversations with Charles Schulz who, early in his career, evangelized on street corners; he grew weary and wary of organized religions but always discussed Christian faith.
Of the “rising generation” there are many. And many of them are at ComiCon, individually and as members of the Christian Comics Society. This activity might surprise some Christians; but if the work was more widely read and discussed, the whole world might – and should – know of it. In the next blog message I will highlight some of the cartoonists and their work.
In the meantime, I will note that it is inspiring that some cartoonists are working not to impress each other or attract fans by whatever means they can use… but are conscious of the One Reader they seek to please.
Almost all of us know the story of the adulteress brought before Jesus. Almost all of us have not considered the myriad aspects and many lessons, nor asked – much less answered – the questions it presents.
From The Gospel of John, Chapter 8.
Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. Early in the morning, He came again to the temple. All the people came to him, and He sat down and taught them. The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery, and placing her in the midst they said to Him, “Teacher, this woman has been caught in the act of adultery. Now in the Law, Moses commanded us to stone such women. So what do you say?” This they said to test Him, that they might have some charge to bring against Him.
Jesus bent down and wrote with His finger on the ground. And as they continued to ask Him, He stood up and said to them, “Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.” And once more He bent down and wrote on the ground. But when they heard it, they went away one by one, beginning with the older ones, and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before Him.
Jesus stood up and said to her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more.”
And Jesus spoke to the Pharisees, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life”…
I will share some thoughts I have, among many, from this story about that scene. I trust you will have more. Needless to say, I discern messages for our time, and for our lives, my life directly, as always happens when the Bible opens itself.
Jesus did not minimize the woman’s sin. He maximized repentance and forgiveness.
Religious leaders sought tricks to corner and twist and block the righteous. (They still act the same way today.) It is clear that the Pharisees, the professional religious hypocrites, were less concerned with the Law of Moses or even the woman acting justly, than trying to trick and discredit Jesus.
Jesus FULFILLED the law, and did not seize upon it to condemn people. The harsh punishments of Old Testament rules were abolished by the Person and the Ministry of Jesus the Christ. Adherence to those laws was impossible, and righteousness is now found in true fellowship with Jesus.
Jesus was writing in the sand with his finger. What was He writing? The Bible does not say. I believe He was not drawing doodles nor scribbling nonsense. In my mind’s eye He was writing the numbers 1 to 10 for all to see. Why? So the people might begin thinking about the Ten Commandments… and how many of those laws each of them had kept… or broken.
The woman was face-to-face with her Savior. As He freed her, forgiveness flowed. How powerful is God’s forgiveness, and its “reach” into our lives? Jesus forgave before she asked… just as Christ gave His life for us while we were yet sinners! Our response then is to resist the sin nature, working to “sin no more” in life as the Holy Ghost enables.
When He said, “Go and sin no more,” it closely followed the absolution… but the next verse indicates that the hypocritical Pharisees remained close by, and that message was directed to them too. And to us: Go and sin no more.
You might think I will relate this incident and its lessons to events that swirl around us today. You might be right.
I don’t have to do this, because the messages of the Holy Bible, and the Words of Jesus, stand on their own with applications for all people in all places at all times. Yet we are commanded to apply these truths.
Contemporary debates about abortion, and court decisions, and laws, relate to the incident of the woman… as well as to the attitudes of those who condemn her. Deeper is the motivation of the religious hypocrites: they hated Jesus and schemed to silence His message; and they had no compassion for the woman or her situation.
Her dilemma (and many Bible scholars believe that she specifically was unmarried and pregnant) is described as a consequence of her adultery. Jesus did not criticize her past actions, but lovingly sent her back to her home with the admonition to change her ways.
The abortion “debate” today is clothed in everything from cries for freedom to love for babies not yet born. Freedom and love somehow morph into violence and hate. Myself, I am not equating the two sides, like people who say “at least they’re sincere”: I believe abortion is murder.
Yet I see some sort of resolution to the current maelstrom of malice by returning, if we can imagine it, to that spot in the shadow of the Mount of Olives where the religious leaders tried to corner Jesus, and used the woman as a pawn.
Jesus identified the crisis of that confrontation. It was not mere adultery; it was sin. To the crowd, He defused their fury by confronting them with their hypocrisy. After her encounter with the Savior, she could not undo her sin… but she could repent, and she could change her life.
That is all Jesus asks when we accept Him.
And those numbers 1 to 10? If that’s what He wrote, it is significant that they were written in the sand. Irrelevant? No! But written by, explained by, and fulfilled by, Jesus Christ.
This aphorism has been attributed to, and claimed by, by many people. Likely first written by the Greek dramatist Aeschylus (550 BC), it strikes a universal chord. Yet for its wisdom, universally acknowledged, it seldom has guided those who could learn from its application, and routinely is shunned until the ashes of wars are sifted.
“Nine-tenths of wisdom is being wise at the proper time,” Theodore Roosevelt famously said.
So, in the war raging on our TV and internet screens, and in the hearts and minds of the world, no less, the first and frequent casualties are truth once again. I am not referring to the most blatant examples – phony statistics, videos of carnage from a decade ago being presented as breaking news, the pledges of invaders being violated as the words are spoken.
These “casualties” are too predictable, and might be outright propaganda or the result of well-intentioned confusion. In the “fog of war,” since these factors are common, I suggest – unless we are victims ourselves, in the midst of bombs dropping – that we ought to step back. If the issues and images are compelling (and they are), and if we can somehow influence events (as we must attempt), it is better that we exercise objectivity.
How can we be objective when we see hospitals destroyed and grandmothers – and grandchildren – crying? Choosing objectivity and seeking truth do not obviate concern, passion, sympathy, and grief. There is enough hatred playing out on our screens without choosing to filter every development through hatred of our own; to determine winners, losers, victims, aggressors, the past and the future… before the news report is over; and from 5000 miles away.
My advice hardly will change things on the ground in Ukraine. But it might change things in our midst. Wars rage elsewhere; they do not need to rage in our hearts. If we cannot, by ourselves, immediately affect a war in Ukraine, we surely can, by ourselves indeed, affect wars that might rage in our own hearts. As a beginning, that would be nine-tenths of the proper time.
Perspective.
The brilliant Russian-born soprano Anna Netrebko was removed from the title role in the upcoming Turandot production at the Metropolitan Opera; general manager Peter Gelb announced that it was unlikely that she would ever perform at the Met again. Her crime was failing to sign a statement repudiating her association with Vladimir Putin, despite her public announcement, “I am opposed to this senseless war of aggression and I am calling on Russia to end this war right now, to save all of us. We need peace right now.” Nevertheless she was fired from other engagements, or withdrew from many other opera companies around the world.
I noted this situation, and a friend wrote that Anna was “less than a human being.” She did not raise a bazooka; rather raises her beautiful voice, and millions of dollars for charities, yet American haters can claim a victory.
Remaining in her artistic field, I am reminded that violinist Isaac Stern vowed never to perform in Germany – former Nazi Germany, of course – yet Leonard Bernstein conducted in Munich and Vienna; and violinist Itzhak Perlman has performed in Berlin. Are they naive, insensitive, stupid? (Surely they are not secret Nazis!) What is the expiration-date, or other mitigating aspects, on hatred?
Russia seems to be employing cluster-bombs and other instruments of mass destruction: worthy of war-crime prosecution. TV’s red areas on maps of Ukraine spread every hour, like blood on the carpet from a murdered corpse. The scenes we behold make me wonder if we might see incendiary bombs (those that cause widespread fire, sucking the air from peoples’ lungs over wide sections of a city), possibly killing upwards of a hundred thousand people.
… yet that happened, at least once before in history. Two months before World War II ended, the “art city” of Dresden, without defenses because it was a city of museums and no factories or barracks (in fact having become a city of hospital beds for refugees) was ordered fire-bombed by Winston Churchill. If England had lost the war, he would have been regarded as a war criminal, and even so within two decades some his pilots defied their orders never to discuss that atrocity.
Am I playing “Devil’s Advocate”?
Precisely the opposite. What is missing these days – and many of the days when wars rage – is people who will play “God’s Advocate.” Where are those voices? I don’t mean charitable groups like Samaritan’s Purse: God bless the dangerous and heroic and loving work of Christian organizations.
I refer to the consequential players, and, yes, each of us at a distance, if we can pray and act and influence the policymakers. Can we search for perspective first?
There is right and wrong; there is good and bad. There are monsters among us. Some of them might even call themselves Christians. There are reports (I don’t know, yet reports are numerous and long-standing) that Putin, in his public adherence to the Russian Orthodox Church, shares the vision of the Moscow Patriarch that all of “Mother Russia” be restored. No matter the cost?
I (knowing something of history) have a little hope, a little fantasy. In 1905 the forces of the Czar were suppressing protests all throughout Russia. In the port city of Odessa, Ukraine, sailors finally mutinied against their officers in bloody clashes. It was a spark that eventually led to the overthrow of the Czar. There are reports (can we believe the videos?) that anti-war demonstrations are taking place in a hundred Russian cities; that prominent citizens and celebrities have criticized the invasion; that many companies have refused to do conduct any more business with Russia; that Russians overseas have sacrificed some positions and privileges in protest…
Odessa redux? Can we hope? Can we pray? Can we act?
If we see our enemies not as madmen but, perhaps, horribly delusional and even evil human beings, we can find our way to confront this awful world better. We can pray, and seek God, with clarity. We need His wisdom.
God’s wisdom, after all, is reliable ten-tenths of the time.
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Jesus left the temple and was going away, when His disciples came to point out to him the buildings of the temple.
But He answered them, “You see all these, do you not? Truly, I say to you, there will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down.”
As He sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign of Your coming and of the end of the age?”
And Jesus answered them, “See that no one leads you astray.
“For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and they will lead many astray. “And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not alarmed, for this must take place, but the end is not yet.
“For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places.
“All these are but the beginning of the birth pangs. “Then they will cause you to suffer tribulation, even put you to death; and you will be hated by all nations for My name’s sake.
“Many will be offended and betray one another and hate one another.
“Many false prophets will arise and lead many astray.
“And as lawlessness increases, the love of many will grow cold.
“But the one who endures to the end will be saved.
“This Gospel of the Kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations…
“And then the end will come.”
I realize the invitation of this blog is to “start your week with a spiritual song in your heart.” And I further realize that it carries the implication of Uplift; a bright message to commence a positive week.
When we are inspired to be a latter-day Jeremiah – that is, reflecting on troubling signs in contemporary life, or addressing the many crises our culture faces – a realistic message is also a useful, even necessary, way to start our days and weeks, even if “dark.” We should not continuously be “Debbie Downers,” but neither should we be spiritual Pollyannas, thinking everything is rosy, or will be cheery when things soon straighten themselves out.
Jeremiah, as I said, was a prophet whose message was dark and threatening to those who needed to hear it: the whole nation that had gone morally wayward. Noah too. Moses too. Jonah too. In fact… Jesus, too, in many of His sermons.
The sweep of humankind’s history has been marked by the rebellion of individuals, for instance “those to whom much had been given” and much was expected; these notable figures, too often, squandered their gifts and blessings. No less frequently in the world’s history and Biblical accounts we learn of entire peoples – tribes, societies, nations – who strayed.
“Strayed” from what? Generally from the things that had made them great, or successful, or productive – Forgetting their foundational principles. Betraying their inheritance. Losing sight of what was unique to them. Falling out of love with the ideals they once cherished.
Ancient Rome comes to mind. And so does… contemporary America.
This critique is not novel – at least I hope most of you feel the same angst. Recent events brought these thoughts to me. No, not crime nor the drug epidemic nor the runaway economy nor the health scares nor “wars and rumors of war,” despite these news items screaming at us every day.
Sometimes a larger circumstance can be more indicative of our moral crises and spiritual challenges than are passing headlines and statistics. This clarity was apparent when I watched the recent Super Bowl. I don’t mean the game itself – well, yes, I do. Not the brutish contest with strange new rules and blown calls and gladiator-like ferocity, but the “game” behind the game. We now have the nation’s favorite sport (we can still include baseball under this umbrella) where drugs and politics play important roles, in the news and in careers of the players. Fans have come to know as much about salaries and pensions as they do about on-the-field stats.
Salaries spiral ever upward, and… that’s America, right? “Get what you can while you can.” But players increasingly receive contracts worth significant portions of a billion dollars. OK, “if the owners didn’t make it, they couldn’t pay it.” So the owners simply charge more for tickets (multiple thousands of bucks for a seat at the Super Bowl… when the fans in the stands probably watch the action on Jumbotron screens anyway) and charge more for commercial time. ($6-million per minute?) Advertisers pay so much by charging more and more for their products. All of which means the fan gets socked from every angle. Um, for guys playing football and baseball.
We think of Ancient Rome with its “bread and circuses.”
But more troubling to me was the halftime “entertainment,” this year entirely given over to hip hop and rap, which is listened to by only a sliver of the population. An array of performers rolled out their hits, and paid vague homage to Los Angeles, common home to some of the noise and to this year’s Super Bowl. Kendrick Lamar performed “Alright,” famous for its anti-police message… and by the way, that misspelling was his intention; I realize that many performers and song titles and the genre itself is one big typographical error. The one white star, Eminem, took a knee in evident homage to Kaepernick; and the one major female, Mary K Blige, strutted around the stage in the costume of L.A.’s many street-walkers.
An observer, attempting to understand the lyrics, made a list of words and phrases during the halftime show. The unofficial tally: The “N” word, 16 times. The “F-Bomb,” 13 times. The “M-F” phrase, four times. The “B” word (in these days of the Me Too movement), 24 times. Likewise there were obscene gyrations including groping and grabbing of breasts and crotches.
America’s favorite sport. Broadcast in early evening… partly so kids could enjoy the sport. (“Grandma, what’s an igger?”) Overpaid illiterates parading filth, the crowd noise cheering lustily, praised by NBC announcers, paid for by Pepsi. (And you, ultimately.)
Our culture, if such wildly endorsed events are barometers (and they are), is in a Stage Four level of decadence. Among many comparisons I could offer, and really none are necessary as proof, we have arrived at a point where parents are not supposed to have a say in children’s school curricula; where Bible passages are being censored as “hate speech”; but a spectacle like the Super Bowl halftime show is force-fed to 100-million viewers as appropriate.
We have entered a Pentecost of Calamity, and extrication by traditional families and Christian patriots seems daunting. Without God’s help… and a true grassroots revival… and a severe rejection of this Spirit of the Age…
Well… have a nice week.
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I was reminded of the great Gram Parsons song. Written in the late ‘60s by the late enigmatic musical pioneer, Sin City is widely assumed to be not about Las Vegas; not New Orleans; but (appropriately this week) Los Angeles. Or… America and the West as a whole.
Many regular church-goers, pious people, folks who study their Bibles and do devotions, who might belong to prayer circles and church fellowships… a lot of us do not fully understand everything in the Bible.
This is not bad, necessarily. At least regarding theology – literally, the study of God – we can study but not know everything… otherwise we would be as God. Even the angels do not know all, see all, nor can be present everywhere. God is God.
But beyond our comprehension and even spiritual and intellectual curiosity, I think we all accept some sentiments and words and traditions without fully understanding them. We find solace in some things as a result. Sort of spiritual security blankets, or comfort foods of the soul.
I am among such folks. Imagery, allegories, symbols… in some things I let the mystery be, because I trust the meanings of passages and the ways of the Lord. If there are texts whose precise meanings elude me… or prophecies that are “seen through a glass darkly…” well, God has made His will known so often and in so many ways, that I surrender to those occasional things God wants to keep wrapped in His poetry.
Yet we should not always exercise sweet surrender. Surely the Lord wants us to understand as much as possible, especially since every word has been imparted, inspired – literally, “breathed” by the Holy Spirit – for our instruction and for reproof. So… we can always try a little harder. That bread cast upon the waters never comes back void.
I was thinking about such things recently when singing the old hymn Holy, Holy, Holy, which has some verses that we sing perhaps automatically without fully understanding them: and the same for Bible passages from which the lyrics are drawn, in Revelation chapter 4.
The hymn:
Holy, holy, holy! All the saints adore Thee, Casting down their golden crowns around the glassy sea. Cherubim and seraphim are falling down before Thee, Which wert and art and evermore shalt be!
Verses from Revelation 4:
Immediately I was in the spirit: and, behold, a throne was set in heaven, and One sat on the throne… And round about the throne were four and twenty seats: and upon the seats I saw four and twenty elders sitting, clothed in white raiment; and they had on their heads crowns of gold….And before the throne there was a sea of glass like unto crystal: and in the midst of the throne…
The four and twenty elders fell down before Him that sat on the throne, and worship Him that liveth for ever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying,Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power: for Thou hast created all things, and for Thy pleasure they are and were created.
For our attention here I have left out descriptions of beasts and wings and lightning and thunder and lamps, all wondrous – and mysterious – enough. We can study and profit from signs and symbols, and especially numerology and types, in the Bible; particularly in Revelation. And we can discern lessons from these passages, more-than-allusions and symbols as they are.
First, we must realize that, no matter how mysterious they seem, they are descriptions of the Heaven that is, and the Heaven that will be as we see it.
Second, the hymnologist’s use of “Holy” three times is citing the praises of God quoted throughout Scripture: Three always represents holiness. We know that numbers like seven and 40 are repeated in God’s story, all with consistent significance. We will join the angels in singing “Holy, holy, holy…”
Then, I believe the “glassy sea” is to tell us that, contrary to many examples of troubled waters and stormy seas throughout the Bible and in life, before the Throne of God the waters shall be not roiled. Untroubled, placid. A miraculous calm, in His presence. Like a mirror.
The Elders we might correctly assume are the prophets and apostles in Scripture; and perhaps saints and martyrs of the Church. Crowns? The Elders who wear them are worthy – in our eyes, and honored of God – for their service… but are we not told that the least among believers shall be the first? That (conversely, to be sure) that the smallest sin grieves God as much as what we might deem the grossest?
Do we understand that “Elders” earn crowns? Are those the (again) mysterious “treasures” we might store up in Heaven?
I believe the answer is what happens to those crowns at the moment this scene was revealed by Christ to St John. They were thrown down at the feet of God Almighty, the Elders declaring that He is worthy to receive Glory and Honor and Power. In other words, just like our own “robes of righteousness” in which we might cover ourselves, even the treasures and crowns of the most exalted saints are to be cast at the feet of God.
A picture of Heaven? Clearer, to me.
What else will Heaven be like? We have other imagery of shining stones and beauty and mansions and singing and… praising. We will join the angels in forever singing and praising His name. We will not think it boring, even for eternity; for He is worthy. Will we see loved ones? Will our bodies be made whole? Will there be “joy unspeakable and full of glory?”
Yes… but let us remember the “unspeakable” part! Beyond our current ability to understand.
For all the good intentions of believers here, when I hear speculation about how “old” we will be, or being reunited with pets… I find myself wishing that people would be as concerned with getting to Heaven as with what it will be like “over there.”
We can be sure of one thing as we look toward joining that throng of angels – the cherubim and seraphim – before the Throne. The joy we will have cannot be known by them, for they were never graced with life on earth, never able to experience the gifts of repentance and forgiveness, redemption and salvation. Those things are ours!
Warning label; truth-in-packaging: I don’t have the definitive answer to this eternal question about God allowing evil in the world, but I believe I have come the closest I will ever come to being satisfied. It is, of course, a challenge that has confronted every person who ever has drawn breath.
We first must acknowledge that there is an aspect to the question Why does God allow evil in this world? that essentially is a word game. It is similar to the question Can God create a rock so heavy that even He cannot lift it? Those are questions framed, but also limited, by the constraints of logic. Logic is something we think is a tool that will explain all things. But ultimately it is a mere construct on a par with intuition, perceptions, deduction, traditions, and superstitions. Even Science frequently is disproven by Science; facts become fiction. The pertinent quickly can become impertinent.
Regarding questions that are as flimsy as a child’s curiosity about nature or as “profound” as a philosopher’s life-work of deductions – which, in their contexts, are questions of equal validity, substance, and weight – we must be humble. If we question Almighty God, or have questions about His sovereign ways, we can do no other than put on cloaks of humility.
A step toward clarity is to view the sweep of humankind’s history and recognize that life – Creation, the universe, the “in the beginning” – originally was innocent and perfect. And that life – the “New Creation,” the end of time, Heaven – will someday again be peaceful and perfect. Paradise lost and paradise regained. In between, it pleased God to created humankind, and it pleased Him to endow us with intelligence and free will.
You might have noticed that human nature, thus set free to follow its inclinations and choices, invariably has ruined the Plan. All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. When everyone chooses rebellion, we can expect corruption in our world. Sin is a stain that spreads through individuals’ lives, and poisons the well of humanity in every aspect, every time, every place.
“Who is perfect?” and (after the Jesus-answer) people often think of Mother Teresa as a great example. St Paul called himself chief among sinners; as he wrote, “None is righteous, no, not one.” Martin Luther was overwhelmed by the consciousness of the sin nature. And Mother Teresa herself strongly disclaimed any special possession of righteousness as she would stand before God.
So between Creation and Heaven – when God left us in charge, so to speak – we humans messed things up, and still do. The devil only tempts, but does not force anyone to sin. And as God in His dispensation sent Jesus to be the means of redemption and salvation, the promises of humanity’s past and the promises of humanity’s future were manifest. And still, the world rejected Him.
To our original question, some answers include:
Jesus came to us, not to eliminate sin, but to free us from the bondage of sin and its punishment.
The Holy Spirit was given so that we might have the power to resist the devil and all his ways. (I wonder if “evil” is the root of “devil.” I mean in philology.)
Confronting the question directly – and allowing for the technicalities of language and limitations of our “logic” – it is not really the case that God allows evil. God allowed humans to make choices in life… and, by making choices to sin, WE “allow” evil. Again and again we allow it, exercise it, encourage it, perpetuate it.
How dare we blame God? He “allows” evil? He “permits” it? HE created it?
In further examples of impertinence against the Holy God, we invariably tend to judge Him by our puny standards (which is the sad aspect of human history, our pride being the subtext of the Bible’s entire story). By this arrogance we sin and expect no punishment. We permit evil and then blame God.
For misery and death, for disasters and sickness, there are indeed mysteries under a sovereign God… and the consequences of the corruption we ourselves have unleashed on the world. That God is Lord of all does not mean that He is the Master Puppeteer; He lovingly created human children, not robots.
For those of you who are mathematically inclined, think of how many times each day you might sin (“minor” or serious) or permit evil (allowing misconduct or tolerating injustice). It’s not hard to do – Mother Teresa herself calculated such things in her life. Then multiply that number by seven days; then by the weeks in a month; then by the months in a year; then by the years in your life. Those are a lot of sins; that’s a lot of evil.
How quickly will people then continue to maintain that God allows evil?
Not to avoid an answer to our question, but to draw closer to an answer, we should revisit what I mentioned about judging God by our self-righteous and self-delusional standards. We love free will until we need to shift the blame for the sins we commit and the evils we cause.
Let us not ask how God can allow evil in this world… but how we can allow it.
How and why do we allow evil? How and why do we permit the evils of sin, hatred, injustice, abuse, intolerance, unforgiveness? Throughout history a rebellious human race has blamed God, and not ourselves, for these things.
Why does God “allow” suffering in life? Let us think more, and more often and more seriously, how in the world we allow suffering in this life.
Think back on 20 years ago, September 11. How many victims of terrorism were there?
Most people will cite around 3000.
That is wrong. On September 11, 2001, there were approximately 3000 victims of murder at those three American locations.
But there were 300-million victims of terrorism. And still are.
Words are important. They can point to the truth; they also can obscure the truth. They inform us; they deceive us. Humankind is persuaded that words and language elevate us over the rest of animate creation; but in truth, “communication” is only useful according to the character of the user – and the discernment of the hearer – and otherwise camouflages the baser aspects of human nature.
“Terrorism” does not need adjectives and modifiers. Have you noticed TV news reports of, say, a school shooting or a planted bomb exploding, and the reporter says, “Officials have not yet determined whether it is terrorism.” Idiots. People are terrified – that suffices to be Terrorism.
America has been on a war footing – a wartime economy, busied with large and small wars, newer and newer weaponry – since World War II and the Depression it overcame, so we live in an Age of Terror. Afghanistan became boring to many Americans after 20 years, but we forget that history is replete with Hundred Year Wars and Thirty Year Wars. Not only wars: for centuries, people lived under constant threat of Black Plagues, Yellow Plagues, and other mysterious pestilence.
Of course I do not minimize the current waves of Terror, and of course I mourn the murdered and honor the brave rescuers. Searing emotions. But for our nation to lull itself into thinking that 9-11 was a “one-off,” or that life can be “normal” again… invites another shocking news story interrupting our regular programming. We want Terrorism to be a limited series and Terror incidents to be sound bites. Transforming evil into banality is seductive… and ultimately deadly.
I was a boy at the dawn of the “Nuclear Age,” when schools had bombing drills. Herded into hallways by the gym, or taught to kneel with hands over our heads, under desks, in order to protect ourselves, we were told we protected ourselves from a possible thermo-nuclear attack. I had nightmares.
My son was an intern at MSNBC (when it was a different cable-news operation) on 9-11. Its studios are in New Jersey, across from lower Manhattan; its parking lot affords a superb view of the Statue of Liberty, and, on that morning, a clear view of the flaming, smoking, collapsing towers. Working three straight emergency shifts, he edited raw footage of bodies falling and people dying that have not yet been widely seen. My late wife was afraid he would be emotionally scarred; but he, young professional, has not had nightmares.
The truth is we are all scarred, and scared. We all have nightmares – of different sorts, but… the world is different, more dangerous than it was 20 years ago.
We were attacked because we were a Christian nation thriving on freedom and private enterprise. Have we doubled down on those values, or moved away from those values, after 20 years?
Why my doom and gloom on this anniversary? I remember; I do not forget; I honor the brave; I grieve for the lost and their families. We commemorate on the anniversary. But… it is a kind of American trait to seize upon anniversaries so that we may turn the page. And move on. And lie to ourselves about persistent challenges.
We cannot let that happen.
Twenty years ago, would you have thought there would be no “major” Terror attack on our soil for two decades? Answered prayer.
But who would have thought that brave police forces would be cursed and defamed today? Who would have thought that “unity” – so real while the dust was still in the air – would today be a cruel joke and a false slogan? Who would have believed that after thousands of service casualties overseas, and billions spent on arms, today the cursed Terrorists once again would be in control of their vast base, brandishing “Made in USA” weaponry; and an American president cavalier about the situation… a situation that includes dead and abandoned US citizens?
Ah, but words are employed by some people to describe those facts differently. Propagandists at podiums and on cable news engage in “newspeak.” Their training manuals are not so much the writings of Marx and Lenin… but Orwell and Huxley.
This is an essay devoted to Christian encouragement; I have not forgotten. More than Marx, Lenin, Orwell, and Huxley, the training manual we need to be reading is the Holy Bible. The problem with words is not always with the words themselves, but in the deceits of the speakers and the ignorance of the hearers. So we should remember important aspects:
One, that Jesus is the “Word of God.” The world was spoken into existence. We are told in John 1:1, In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
Second, the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart (Hebrews 4:12).
Finally, since I have mentioned the power of words to deceive as well as inform, remember that the Bible tells us that No man can tame the tongue. It is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison…. Out of the same mouth proceed blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be so (James 3:8,10).
Discern things clearly on this anniversary. Those poor 3000 souls were victims of murderers. The rest of us were, and still are, the victims of Terrorism. That fact has not changed. Is our response changing?
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Click: Dido’s Lament
9-6-21
Labor Day Weekend In whatever way you spend the weekend holiday, pause a moment and pray something from your heart.
Like the ancient Roman empire, this world is doomed to fall
And it’s much too big a thing for mortal man.
Just take a look around and see the writing on the wall.
Somehow we’ve got to find a helping hand.
This world has never been in the awful shape it’s in,
And people scorn the things our leaders do.
It’s time a prayer was spoken from the heart of every man.
Jesus, take a hold and lead us through.
The mighty roar of gunfire is now a local sound
And our city streets are filled with angry men.
Law is now a mockery throughout our troubled land
And destruction seems to be the current trend.
This world has never been in the awful shape it’s in.
And our leaders seem in doubt as what to do.
It’s time a prayer was spoken from the heart of every man.
Jesus, take a hold and lead us through.
I have been reading, and re-reading, classic novels and old books lately. I don’t really live in the past, although these days I find myself wishing I could.
But as I get older I realize how much I have missed of life, and in life. Rather than regret this, I make up for that lost time – reading, as I say, the classics. And I discover music of the Renaissance, Baroque, Rococo, and Classical periods of music; and even have been enjoying music of the early Romantic period that I previously disdained. How odd that music of the 1840s can be “new.”
I know that not everyone will have the same tastes that I do, but my point is that we have a vast heritage that most of us never explore and appreciate, much less know. There is an old Italian saying that we cannot move forward without looking back. Truth in irony. “What’s past is prologue.” The greatest application of this view is that it is difficult to know the Savior, and gain Heaven, without a grounding in ancient scripture.
Well. A few of the old books I lately have read have surprised me in startling ways. Two were by Oscar Wilde. In a Christian essay, yes, I will mention them.
First, a true story about him. Near the end of his life, after surviving two brutal years in prison (for morals offenses) he encountered a friend on the sidewalk. The friend knew of Oscar’s impoverished state and the shabby room he rented. He asked how Oscar was doing, and the reply was, “Either that wallpaper goes, or I do.”
Ever ready with an epigram, Wilde suggested that he was near death, and knew it; and the comment was a stereotypical remark of a fastidious homosexual. It was his flouting of Victorian sensibilities in the 1890s, and affairs with famous men, and libel suits, and public scandals, that resulted in his two-year sentence at hard labor.
Some day, here, I shall write more, but pertinent to my topic are the two books he wrote while in prison. The Ballad of Reading Gaol (that is, the Jail near Reading Town) and De Profundis (“From the Depths”) are extremely moving short works. They are introspective confessions, not of his acts, but of larger matters of the soul and God’s loving justice – not what one might expect. He dwells upon the Savior, and understands Scripture, and speaks with clarity through the moral fog and fetid world to which he presumed he justly was consigned.
In his philosophical anguish we finds his lines that Some do the deed with many tears, And some without a sigh: For each man kills the thing he loves, Yet each man does not die.
There are some people yet today who debate whether Oscar Wilde’s last days and last writings were searching for Christ and forgiveness. Yet his earlier fairy tales clearly were Christian allegories; and indeed on his deathbed he had a friend summon clergy that he be baptized, and made confession.
Not the impression history has of Oscar Wilde. Similarly, I have just finished reading three very thick, and fascinating, volumes, the complete letters of Vincent van Gogh. How he produced such an abundance of paintings in his short life, much less the massive amount of letters, is astonishing. History tries to tell us that he was a tortured, odd man, hermit-like and obsessive.
The van Gogh of his letters has constant money troubles, but chats with his brother, encourages other artists, comments on illustrators and cartoonists (!) in England and America, dwells on artistic scenes and painter’s tools… and he talks about God. In his youth he considered becoming a minister; he visited a rescue mission in London; and he was a Christian. Doubters today search for evidence of his occasional doubts, sigh, but once again, history paints a distorted picture.
My theme here is that there was a time not so long ago when Western Civilization – and I mean the arts; not only “common people” – believed in God, belonged to the church, accepted Christ. Of other recent “reads,” probably more than half of Hans Christian Andersen’s many tales have Christian themes. Robinson Crusoe as a character constantly dwells on Christ’s mercy and the ways of God. Mozart’s letters, to his father, and to his wife, frequently referred to God in the most natural way.
And so forth. Not Sunday-School lessons, not religious tracts, but much of popular literature and the arts, and “common” life, revolved around God and the Bible and Jesus Christ. Once upon a time.
Is it like that that today? Remotely? Speaking of “remote,” just take TV, for example. Condense the plots or jokes, the “situations” of situation-comedies, the premises of dramas and… realize how far we have fallen.
We can use another barometer. The man serving as president promised to appoint a cabinet that represents America, but has more transsexuals than professing Christians. An avowed Catholic, on his first day in office he directed that taxpayer funds be used to promote the killing of babies in foreign countries.
And this week’s “National Day of Prayer” proclamation did not mention God once.
We may expect God to respond accordingly.
Even the contemporary culture’s perfunctory “God bless,” uttered as if to say, “Have a nice day,” and unfortunately common with Christians, was not tossed into the proclamation when read to cameras.
In the West, we once devoted ourselves, even in the arts, to seeking, knowing, and explaining God. Today we seem to work hard at avoiding, ignoring, defying, insulting, and denying God. We have crossed the line of even pretending to be Christians any more.
God, You are real. God help us. Forgive us. Help Thou our unbelief.
Grace is an essential component of life, of a well-ordered, just, and joyful life. It is not only a promise or goal. Its alternative is a life of bitterness, defeat, unhappiness, unforgiveness.
Grace is being forgiven, as we forgive those who… you know, that thing, to paraphrase Joseph Biden. No less Biblical are the commands and admonitions to correct and assist brothers and sisters, especially those who lead people astray.
We should not be judges, a saying goes, but we are authorized to be fruit inspectors – that is, recognize when the results of actions are being manifested. And not.
It is by grace we are saved. Not by works, that anyone should boast about their own power to save themselves. Our faith (another paraphrase that I pray is Biblical) is God’s fruit-inspection of our hearts, redemption that He follows with salvation.
Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man sows, that shall he also reap. – Galatians 6:7
Friends: We need to remind ourselves, especially in these perilous days, to remain humble; to avoid self-righteousness; to discern good intentions; to love and forgive.
… to love God and the Truth. To discern between error and evil. To forgive our enemies. But to stand against God’s enemies.
We avoid self-delusion and being judgmental by that standard: God’s Word vs our wills. This was St Paul’s meaning – his warning – about God being mocked. Mocking God? Should God care about such a thing? Yes. God is a jealous God, often displayed and often disclosed in those exact in the Bible. He is Holy, and has provided a means of forgiveness and redemption. But mocking God is, rather, intentional rebellion.
Some have a form of godliness, but deny the power thereof: from such people turn away. – II Timothy 3:5
These matters have consequences. When a man who was inaugurated as president of the United States makes a show of being a good Catholic, who the press follows to his masses, and calls him religiously observant – and who yet abolishes the prohibitions against encouraging abortions; who orders the funding foreign agencies and governments so to practice abortions; whom acts to allow states to proceed with late-term abortions… these things demand more than people of faith to cluck among themselves about apparent contradictions. Or hypocrisy. Or murder. Or mocking God.
For the government to allow these things is offensive enough. To compel people of conscience to support such things by taxpayer dollars is a grievous sin. Planted seeds bear fruit… and the government is forcing us to plant seeds we despise; we shall be judged too for the consequences.
We might “oppose” these sins, but we are being forced to commit them. Unless we resist and set our hearts aright, and redeem the culture. One issue at a time. God does not ask success, but He does require obedience.
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. – 1 John 1:9
Are these personal challenges? Very. Must we confront our friends and neighbors? Yes. Are these political battles? Sometimes. But God equips us in all cases. We must choose sides! We can sometimes deceive ourselves, but we cannot deceive God. He will not be mocked.
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In 1634 Gregorio Allegri was inspired by Psalm 51 to write Miserere mei, Deus – “Have mercy on me, O God.” As we gird ourselves to do battle for the Lord, we cannot do anything at all without first seeking His grace and mercy. The prayer of Miserere:
Have mercy on me, O God, according to Thy great mercy.
According unto the multitude of Thy tender mercies remove my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquities, and cleanse me from my sin.
I knowingly confess my transgressions: and my sin is ever before me. Against Thee only have I sinned, and done evil before Thee: that they may be justified in Thy sayings, and might they overcome when I am judged. …
Create in me a clean heart, O God: and renew a righteous spirit within me. Do not cast me away from Thy presence: and take not Thy Holy Spirit from me. Restore unto me the joy of Your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit. I will teach those who are unjust Thy ways: and sinners shall be converted unto Thee. …
Sacrifices of God are broken spirits: dejected and contrite hearts, O God, Thou wilt not despise.
Let us humbly – but boldly; not a contradiction – remind ourselves to fight not for ourselves only but our family, our nation, our heritage… and for Him. Let not our God be mocked.
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Music Vid: “Miserere Mei, Deus” (For readers with hand-held devices, click or copy and paste: ) https://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=H3v9unphfi0
Regarding the pandemic that has been plaguing the world, many references are made to the Spanish flu of 1918-19. That wave of influenza devastated Europe and North America, overlapping the devastation of history’s bloodiest war to date.
We can note two things. One, as with the Spanish flu, many of the world’s most horrible plagues, epidemics, infections, pandemics, and deadly forms of death, have been accompanied by wars and violent societal dislocations. It is grim logic to suggest that plagues can precipitate disruptions among populations, and just as easy to suppose that, say, the de-populations caused by some wars (more than half of some towns during the Thirty Years’ War in Germany, for instance) brought about changes to arable land, differences in public health, even reforestation and climate change.
Then, some of history’s most famous plagues and diseases (many with bizarre, color-related names like Black Death, Yellow Fever, “Ring Around the Rosy…”) proceeded in some years to kill half the people in Europe.
The other aspect we may note, after the gruesome partnership of malignant effects on physical health and societal health, is the relatively few respites the world has enjoyed from these plagues. When the Spanish flu of a century ago is mentioned, few people realize what a blessing it has been – relatively speaking, of course – for the world to have been spared major health disasters for a century. The swine flu, the bird flu, the Asian flu, and few “Biblical” or Medieval-type epidemics, have been visited upon us for a century.
A very long list of major plagues, mostly in the northern hemisphere, mostly emanating in the Far East and moving westward, can be compiled starting in the 1300s. Some were localized to mere wide swaths of land; some covered entire continents. The effects on people? Obviously, adjustments in migration and living patterns. Clearly, books like Boccaccio’s Decameron and Defoe’s Journal of the Plague Year. Less clear is whether waves of religiosity and piety, or skepticism and humanism, were peoples’ direct reactions.
A history lesson is salubrious, no? There will be no quiz next week, but knowledge is power. I am not a fear-monger, and after almost a millennium we should as desperate for lessons as we are for cures.
On the brink of vaccines whose palliative properties, and side effects, we can in no wise predict, I am persuaded that a look backward, and not only forward, is healthy too. The future is hazy; the past is clear. 2020 vision, I am tempted to invite… except farther back. In fact we may profitably adopt some manners of inquiry that have been considered outré for a long time; regarded as anti-science, even superstitious. But scientists generally ask how something started and how it might be treated; doctors ask how to treat and cure things.
But students of the Bible, believers in God, and theologians ask (or they should ask) why. Many of the judgments of God – I should say the laws and requirements that brought judgments under the Old Testament – were answered by the Person and the work of Jesus at Calvary.
Yet we are not free to sin. Although the law has been fulfilled, the commandments were not made to be broken.
Which mean that I think it is legitimate – no, imperative – for Christians to ask whether God can bring punishments, warnings, lessons, on His children. And the answer is “of course.” The Bible even tell us that God chastises especially those whom He loves.
Uh-oh.
Have we, in the Christian West, plausibly have earned His disappointment, His anger, even His wrath? In this generation, this century, the “advancement” of civilization? Are we serving Him better, are we more faithful… or less so? Has society – has the Church itself – grown closer to the Word; or more secular, more humanist, more relativist?
Do we, perhaps, deserve His chastisement?
Can you picture that a Holy God might grieve over a perverse and lost generation? Wouldn’t you? God has not threatened us, as much as explained to us, that chastisement will come in the case of spiritual infidelity. And as Lincoln quoted and believed to his core, quoting Scripture, “the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.” Can something as horrible as COVID be sent by God as a judgment?
The answer has to be found in another citation by Lincoln that “the Almighty has His own purposes.” And we remember the very plausible fact that humans often bring problems upon ourselves.
Whether we ever find a cure for that tendency… leaves us wondering. We have not learned yet. Have we learned, alternatively, that when such problems come, as they will, that our first tendency should not be to look to governments, or drug laboratories, for help, but upward to our Heavenly Father, for forgiveness?
And inward, to our flawed souls. To this lost and perverse generation.
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A friend came around, Tried to clean up this town; His ideas made some people mad. He trusted his crowd, So he spoke right out loud; And they lost the best friend they had.
After many statues have been yanked down, marble figures broken, bronze artwork twisted, heads of memorialized people broken off, bodies and pedestals spray-painted with obscene words and Communist slogans…
And after so many windows broken it looks like memorials to Kristallnacht; after streets and stores and buildings covered with obscenities and slogans; random cars laid waste by clubs and tire irons; mothers and children terrorized; fires set in stores and dumpsters…
And after sections of cities have been occupied, stores looted of TVs and apparel in the name of civil rights for a dead man, after grocery stores and toy stores, many started by black people struggling to make a living…
And after police are told not to counter the anarchy, after police are killed, and after officials from the White House down to local mayors talk tough – or don’t – and the jungle is thereby encouraged to spread its savagery…
WHAT IF –
What if the Theodore Roosevelt statue at the museum is the next to go?
What if the next target is the Lincoln Memorial, slogans spray-painted all around, paint splashed on the Great Emancipator?
What if the Washington Monument is next, obscenities around the base, and then, maybe by drones, the top of the monument felled?
What if Mount Rushmore is defaced from the top, paint and acid dribbling down over the “evil” faces?
What if the House and Senate are shot up, rushing guards; if the Library of Congress is set afire? What is that long-feared attack on Times Square finally happens? What if the Statue of Liberty is the target by planes or drones, and explosions and fires in its base? What if headstones and memorials are defaced at Arlington National Cemetery?
What if… the targets shift to your town, your city hall, your police station, your schools, the car in your driveway, your front windows…
What if the nihilists continue to deface and burn churches, from across the street from the White House to… your neighborhood?
Or…
WHAT IF –
Those in “authority” sweep the “zones” and arrest the vandals? What if they look at news footage and video tapes and know who to prosecute? What if people who destroy public property pay for their destruction? What if the Department of Justice files amicus briefs on behalf of shop owners, business people, small entrepreneurs, and average citizens, against mayors and governors who prevented law enforcement, and aided and abetted the destroyers?
Further, what if police were allowed to be police again? What if police funding were restored and increased? What if deluded citizens stopped defunding and started defending?
What if Christian “leaders” stopped making excuses for savagery in the streets, and in their basements? What if Christian worshipers started to find preachers who started reading the Bible instead of Marx, who would look for lost souls instead of hiding criminals?
What if God would (in effect) apologize to Sodom and Gomorrah, in any event I mean give America one more chance?
WHAT IF –
America doesn’t deserve it?
In fact, we don’t. We have, as God spoke in II Chronicles, turned away and forsaken My statutes and My commandments which I have set before you; and served other gods, and worshiped them… And God would uproot them from My land which I have given them… And as for this house [which we may see as America, once dedicated to Him] which is exalted, everyone who passes by it will be astonished and say, ‘Why has the Lord done thus to this land and this house?’ Then they will answer, ‘Because they forsook the Lord God of their fathers, who… embraced other gods, and worshiped them and served them; therefore He has brought all this calamity on them.
Many Christians know, and quote, over and over, an earlier passage in II Chronicles: If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.
That is a very big if in there. What if God really wanted Solomon to beware – and for us to be warned – what calamity we may bring up ourselves?
How many ways we have strayed from Him!!!
What if He is a God of justice?
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Please view the music video this week. It is the instrumental version of achingly beautiful Erbarme Dich, Mein Gott (“Have mercy Lord, My God, for the sake of my tears”) by Johann Sebastian Bach. The violinist, Lisa Batiashvili, speaks before her performance about the street violence and downed airplanes, everything in between, in her homeland. The audience, Dutch people on their boats in Amsterdam Harbor, share the intensity of the sacred music.
The words in Bach’s full version ask God for mercy and plead for His forgiveness –
Have mercy, my God, for the sake of my tears!
See here, before you, heart and eyes weep bitterly.
Have mercy, my God.
A recent poll of American citizens revealed surprising percentages of correct answers about basic American civics, as high schools used to call courses in the essentials of government when they taught such things. The results might surprise you:
70 per cent did not know that the Constitution was the supreme law of the land;
44 per cent were unable to define the Bill of Rights;
8 per cent could enumerate the Bill of Rights;
36 per cent did not know how many Supreme Court justices there are;
41 per cent did not know the countries the US fought in World War II;
38 per cent knew how many Representatives and Senators sat in the houses of Congress;
34 per cent knew the lengths of terms of Congressmen and Senators;
… and so forth. I had a high school history teacher who once said, “Statistics don’t lie, but statisticians do.” That might have been the only things really remembered from the year in his class, but he was, mostly, a nitwit. Anyway, this survey might be “off”… but surely not by much. Civics courses on the schedule do not guarantee students being educated in civics.
In a democracy we are supposed to school ourselves, embrace our heritage, protect our freedoms, and advance our liberties. On our own. Even in a constitutional republic – which the United States is; not a democracy, although it leeches into our system – citizens should want to be informed about our “basics,” and not only for final exams, grumble grumble. By the way, citizenship tests for legal immigrants ask the questions above; and applicants, new citizens, know the answers. Hmmm, maybe we should be required to re-apply for citizenship every five or 10 years…
Ask yourself the following questions. And – no snap quiz here – how many basic questions about the Bible, basic questions about the bedrock of Christian doctrine, can you, or friends, answer?
The books of the Bible? The 10 Commandments, in order? The (basic) lineage of Jesus, through Mary and Joseph? The prophesies of the Redeemer? Typology of Salvation and the Savior? The Beatitudes? The nine spiritual gifts? The acts of the Apostles and early-church martyrs? The seven churches of Revelation?
… And what, exactly, we need to do in order to be saved?
When I was young – even now, and I am not young – I could recite the American Dental Association’s endorsement of Crest toothpaste. It is, pun intended, a mouthful, yet I know every word of it. Had I intended to memorize it? No, but as I watched uncountable commercials that once quoted it… it hid itself in my heart. Recently, over dinner, I found that I could repeat the My Pillow pitches of Mike Lindell. And the old guy needing a hearing aid and his son’s love. And those poor little kids in special-needs hospitals. I know all their scripts, and can imitate their voices.
What is wrong in a society where citizens, and “Christians,” do not know the tenets of their citizenship and their faith, yet know by heart things like commercials and pop music lyrics? That is a question we can answer – a lot is wrong.
Contemporary church services are too often entertainment concerts. Church youth programs are too often desperate alternatives for potentially wayward teens. Sunday Schools are too often play dates. Not all – of course – but these are tendencies of the contemporary church. People more in love with the music than with (as Joe Biden recently said), “you know, that Thing.”
God knows I am not a fan of intolerance and the old religious wars, yet I do know why disputes arose – the desire to understand Scripture – and knowledge informs our own views. Roman Catholicism and Lutheranism and Presbyterianism and Methodism and Pentecostalism emerged from cherished views of theologians and followers. Today (again: not all, but many) members of denominations do not know the differences between them, or if they have strayed from the Bible. And worshipers’ ignorance can be partly forgiven because their pulpits do not preach the great truths nor the practical distinctions any more. Political correctness, “acceptance” of sinful differences among us, a relativist view of god, whoever he or she really is.
A lot of our church-going neighbors (whose numbers shrink every year) wind up repeating the things they hear, too, by osmosis – learning those heresies by heart. Creeds? The Lord’s Prayer? Endangered species in a lot of churches.
These abominations are rife these days… but are not new. Throughout history, people have gone astray and become lovers of selves, and with “itching ears,” not merely willing but hungry for lies by which to live. In the past, when humankind sinned, God dealt severely. And when His own people turn their backs, He chastises them – with the justice they deserve.
Jesus Himself prophesied, Peoples’ foes shall be those of their own households (Matt 10:36). Don’t blame others; we must blame ourselves.
God chastises those whom He loves. He loves us. Like the old guy in the hearing-aid commercial, pray to God: “I heard you the first time. I just wanted to hear it again!”
We are deep into the new decade… Well, hardly. Anyway, far enough into the first month of the new year… actually, not so. Um, would you believe almost through the first week?
My question, disregarding the calendar page, becomes easier: how is it going with those New Year’s resolutions?
Let’s have a show of hands: How many of us resolved to give up climbing the Alps in sandals? To cut out all luxuries like miniature pineapples and baby coconuts? To economize by deciding not to purchase luxury boxes for the World Series games?
Easier: How many of us gave up chocolate… or maybe things like broccoli or squid or things we never liked in the first place?
Then we might ask how many of us – being more serious about the “root” of this tradition – how many of us resolved to do positive things, instead of avoiding negative things?
How many of us resolved to pray more, every day? Or to do something “extra” like charity work or sharing foods, intentionally serving our neighbors? To show love… to be love, in the coming year?
All of which makes us think (or should!) about resolutions – things we resolve to do – that we tend to think they should be things we subtract from our lives, when we should rather resolve to add to our lives.
For God’s sake.
And if we become intentional about such things, we can come closer to realizing that God has made resolutions, too. About us. After all, the best promise He made was to send His Son to take the punishment for our sins away… while we were yet sinners.
An amazing promise, that. And from the Giver of Resolutions whose Nature is such that He cannot break His promises.
The questions I asked above have similar answers. Whether we make promises impossible to keep; or about silly ones whose fidelity mean nothing; or even well-intentioned positive resolutions; most of us, being human, have already surrendered. Well, there is always next year.
For our God, however, for Whom a spark is like a thousand years, “next year” is like… eternity. And God’s promises are as from Alpha to Omega. His resolutions cannot be broken. He does not want to: it is not what God does.
On the heavenly scales, our uncountable broken resolutions and promises to God are outweighed by His one resolution: He will remember us.
God is a sovereign God. He is all-powerful; omni-present; omniscient (all-knowing). He is the Creator of all things, the Great “I Am” – present in time before there was time. Regarding things we cannot understand, that’s OK. He understands. That’s part of Him being God, us being mortal, and a perspective-point of our proper relationship with Him.
God’s Word and God’s Will are immutable. That means that His nature is such that He will not, cannot, change His Word. The Bible, therefore, cannot contradict itself. His promises, ordinances – and warnings, threats – are eternal. What about mercy? Mercy never vitiates God’s standards, but rather affirms His love. And His justice. Mercy tends to lead back to the wisdom of His commands.
Examples of God’s loving-kindness, and belief – maybe sometimes a blind trust – in episodes of mercy in the Bible, can lead Christians astray. Closer reading of many acts of God’s mercy should teach us that. Nothing is in a vacuum in the life granted to us.
We can think of times when people yearn for “revival.” Consider the French Revolution vs the American Revolution. The French rebels (to grant some of their higher motives) saw 1800 years of Christianity as having led to corruption and oppression bereft of spiritual purpose; and they followed their desperate hearts.
The American Revolution, also considering its higher motives, trusted the brains and maturity of its rebels: enlightened self-interest. A nation built self-consciously on Biblical principles (also as if by blueprint, harkening to the Old Testament) trusted an educated citizenry that would always make rational choices. Human nature finally had its unfettered path to heaven on earth.
Instead, each system allowed human nature to prevail – the French to passions, the Americans to rationalism – with different results. Each generally opposed and sublimated rules and orders and arbitrary laws, but in my view each led to the worst aspects of human nature’s dark sides. The French Revolution merely arrived at that state after several short years and much misery; and then demanded an Emperor.
The United States took centuries to slide into moral decay, and has virtually demanded dictators, masquerading as crony capitalism, a corrupt political system, subversion of the educational culture, hostility to religion, a media oligarchy, and the epidemic of drugs and illegitimacy and abortion and crime and the dissolution of the family unit. Human nature, triumphant.
Christians (some Christians) more than other groups recognize this slide. They have clarity about the slippery slope down which we have slid. They recognize that God is the source of our deliverance. But too many of us, I am sorry to say, stop short of spiritual consistency and the proper Biblical responses God clearly requires of us.
Many times have I heard Christians pray, “Lord, send a revival to this land.”
In similar (micro-version) pleadings, I have heard Christians pray, “Lord, bring my [son, daughter, spouse] to faith in You.”
I have heard Christians pray, “Lord, hear our prayers for world peace.”
… and a thousand similar prayers. “Lord, hear our prayers.” I know such prayers because I occasionally have prayed them myself. And I remind you that I stipulated at the beginning that I know God is sovereign. He can do anything. But so can we do things!
Even the examples in the Bible where God spared a people, or a city, or an individual, it never came without a “lesson” for then and for us, now – punishment, banishment, exile, scars like thorns in the flesh or a lame leg, scattered diaspora, rejection by friends. Forgiven, yes; but seldom what we would call a “pass.” Should God reward our sins?
Do you want revival in this nation? Pray for it… and work for it.
Do you want a loved one come to a knowledge of Jesus Christ? Pray for it… and work for it.
Do you want world peace? Pray for it… and work for it.
Prayer is not a magic incantation. God hears what we want, but what we need is a different matter. God does not stand up straight and salute, in response to our orders. It should be rather the opposite.
There is a middle ground between Mercy and Vengeance – in humanity’s actions, not only God’s responses. That middle ground is Justice. And God’s Justice, especially in America at this time in our history, is something we should fear!
The only “pass” we can ever receive from a Just and Merciful God is the forgiveness forged at Calvary. Even that was not free – technically not a “pass” – because it was purchased at a fearful price, the death and resurrection of the Messiah. By that pattern, everything we pray for, everything, must be subject to the Will of God, not presuming to write the script for God’s response.
We play a role, after all, in the desires of our own hearts. It is a matter of Justice that we exercise that role; and we should expect Justice, never whining for a “free pass,” from the Lord in response.
God is a sovereign God. He is all-powerful; omni-present; omniscient (all-knowing). He is the Creator of all things, the Great “I Am” – present in time before there was time. Regarding things we cannot understand, that’s OK. He understands. That’s part of Him being God, us being mortal, and a perspective-point of our proper relationship with Him.
God’s Word and God’s Will are immutable. That means that His nature is such that He will not, cannot, change His Word. The Bible, therefore, cannot contradict itself. His promises, ordinances – and warnings, threats – are eternal. What about mercy? Mercy never vitiates God’s standards, but rather affirms His love. And His justice. Mercy tends to lead back to the wisdom of His commands.
Examples of God’s loving-kindness, and belief – maybe sometimes a blind trust – in episodes of mercy in the Bible, can lead Christians astray. Closer reading of many acts of God’s mercy should teach us that. Nothing is in a vacuum in the life grants to us.
We can think of a time when people yearned for “revival.” Consider the French Revolution vs the American Revolution. The French rebels (to grant some of their higher motives) saw 1800 years of Christianity as having led to corruption and oppression bereft of spiritual purpose; and they followed their desperate hearts.
The American Revolution, also considering its higher motives, trusted the brains and maturity of the rebels: enlightened self-interest. A nation built self-consciously on Biblical principles (also as if by blueprint, harkening to the Old Testament) trusted an educated citizenry that would always make rational choices. Human nature finally had its unfettered path to heaven on earth.
Instead, each system allowed human nature to prevail – the French to passions, the Americans to rationalism – with different results. Each generally opposed and sublimated rules and orders and arbitrary laws, but in my view each led to the worst aspects of human nature’s dark sides. The French Revolution merely arrived at that state after several short years and much misery; and then demanded an Emperor.
The United States took centuries to slide into moral decay, and has virtually demanded dictators, masquerading as crony capitalism, a corrupt political system, subversion of the educational culture, hostility to religion, a media oligarchy, and the epidemic of drugs and illegitimacy and abortion and crime and the dissolution of the family unit.
Christians (some Christians) more than other groups recognize this slide. They have clarity about the slippery slope down which we have slid. They recognize that God is the source of our deliverance. But too many of us, I am sorry to say, stop short of spiritual consistency and the proper Biblical responses God clearly requires of us.
Many times have I heard Christians pray, “Lord, send a revival to this land.”
In similar (micro-version) pleadings, I have heard Christians pray, “Lord, bring my [son, daughter, spouse] to faith in You.”
I have heard Christians pray, “Lord, hear our prayers for world peace.”
… and a thousand similar prayers. “Lord, hear our prayers.” I know such prayers because I occasionally have prayed them myself. And I remind you that I stipulated at the beginning that I know God is sovereign. He can do anything. But so can we do things!
Even the examples in the Bible where God spared a people, or a city, or an individual, it never came without a “lesson” for then and for now – punishment, banishment, exile, scars like thorns in the flesh or a lame leg, scattered diaspora, rejection by friends. Forgiven, yes; but seldom what we would call a “pass.” Should God reward our sins?
Do you want revival in this nation? Pray for it… but work for it.
Do you want a loved one come to a knowledge of Jesus Christ? Pray for it… but work for it.
Do you want world peace? Pray for it… but work for it.
Prayer is not a magic incantation. God hears what we want, but what we need is a different matter. God does not stand up straight and salute, in response to our orders. It should be rather the opposite.
There is a middle ground between Mercy and Vengeance – in humanity’s actions, not only God’s responses. It is Justice. And God’s Justice, especially in America at this time in our history, is something we should fear!
The only “pass” we can ever receive from a Just and Merciful God, is the forgiveness forged at Calvary. Even that was not free – technically not a “pass” – because it was purchased at a fearful price, the death and resurrection of the Messiah. By that pattern, everything we pray for, everything, must be subject to the Will of God, not presuming to write the script for His response.
We have a role, after all, in the desires of our own hearts. It is a matter of Justice that we exercise that role; and we should expect Justice, never whining for a “free pass,” from the Lord in response.
Another holiday over. Now we can get back to normal. It’s not as bad as Christmas, with those countless little decorations. Maybe more like Thanksgiving. After that one, it’s “turkey this” and “turkey that” until we’re sick of it. Now, a few Easter decorations, but leftover ham isn’t bad, and, well, deviled eggs and egg salad for a couple weeks will never kill anybody.
I wonder who those new people were at church on Easter. Actually, they didn’t act new; everybody seemed to know them. Maybe they joined since we were last in church… what? Last year?
Such thoughts go through a lot of minds in this land of many churches.
Some churches have nicknames for certain worshipers, or perhaps we can call them audiences. “Chreasters.” Folks who show up in the pews twice a year, Christmas and Easter. Which is better than no weeks per year… isn’t it?
God doesn’t need your fannies in the pews. He wants them… but He does not need them. The same with your offerings: your money, your talents, your resources? He wants your heart, not your pennies. It is about what you want to give, not anything He needs.
The spiritual fervor during Lent and Holy Week and Easter Sunday is good; good for our souls as we contemplate, meditate, hide the meaning in our hearts.
But we cannot deny that for the most part, society and our culture are little changed – as they really ought to be changed – after Easter. This is not totally attributable to human nature, the natural inclination of our wayward hearts. Not in the year of our Lord 2019; not in Western civilization as it has evolved; not in contemporary churches.
I believe the reason that the Resurrection means so little today is that we live in a culture of death.
How can we truly celebrate the victory over death when we have legalized abortion and infanticide; when states vote to allow killing unwanted babies after birth?
Wherever there is a problem in life these days, it seems like the first instinctive response is violence; death-oriented, not life-affirming. Not only on TV and movies (usually produced by anti-gun crusaders!) but from random urban street-corners to countries that oppress and kill their minorities or neighbors.
Why should a Born-Again experience seem desirable when society teaches that what’s right for you is right; when there is no such thing as sin; when there are no standards but what everyone chooses for themselves? When Heaven is generally regarded as a legend?
What is truth? – when the culture rejects Absolute Truth, and operates according to Relativism, “relative truth”? When Jesus said, “I am the Truth and the Life,” and we take it as merely His opinion, the rantings of a Nice Man?
When did we become a Culture of Death? What are the signs? – among many signs are legal abortion and mercy killings (excuse me, “assisted death”) of the elderly; the promotion of homosexuality, which obviously is antithetical to life and procreation; same-sex “marriage,” by the same standard; the ubiquity and toleration of drugs, which is a suicidal tendency; the prevalence of divorce, abuse, and illegitimacy; the de facto abandonment of Christian principles in homes, schools, the public square.
Of the rear-guard battles fought by Christians today, we really ought to surrender “under God” in the Pledge, and “In God We Trust” from the currency. Is America one nation under God? In God we trust – really? Do we?
Easter Day has passed… but is Easter “over”? Did Jesus rise… or not? If He lives, does He live in America? Does He live in your heart? Is this a nation of Life… or a Culture of Death?
Ask yourself, and look into the hearts of loved ones: Do you rejoice over the New Life? Do you return to the old ways? Do you care?
I
am sorry to say that, often, in the same way we generally prepare for
Christmas by buying presents and planning meals; and prepare for
Thanksgiving by buying turkeys and inviting relatives. The arrival of
Easter often is consumed by coloring eggs, dressing well for church,
and deciding between lamb and ham.
Jesus
prepared for Easter, although of course it was not called that in His
day, in ways we know. Before His Incarnation, Father God prepared the
way. The prophet Isaiah described it seven
hundred years before
Jesus’s birth:
Chapter
53: Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the Lord
revealed?
For
he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a
dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see
him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.
He
is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted
with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was
despised, and we esteemed him not.
Surely
he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem
him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.
But
he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our
iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his
stripes we are healed.
All
we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own
way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.
He
was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he
is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her
shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth.
He
was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his
generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the
transgression of my people was he stricken.
And
he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death;
because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth.
Yet
it pleased the Lord to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when
thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed,
he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper
in his hand.
He
shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his
knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear
their iniquities.
Therefore
will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the
spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto
death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the
sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors….
Preparing
for Easter. Seven hundred years earlier (in our own perspective, if
we can imagine, that would be like two hundred years before the birth
of Columbus), a Prophet of God described Jesus, even to whether He
was handsome or not; His persecution and trial; and how He would die.
And why.
But
there was a prophecy that was closer in time to Jesus’s own day. We
do not often connect it with Easter. From Luke chapter 2 –
The
angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings
of great joy, which shall be to all people.
For
unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is
Christ the Lord. And this shall
be a
sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes,
lying in a manger.
And
suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host
praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth
peace, good will toward men….
There
was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was
Simeon;
and the same man was
just
and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel: and the Holy Ghost
was upon him.
And
it was revealed unto him by the Holy Ghost, that he should not see
death, before he had seen the Lord’s Christ.
And
he came by the Spirit into the temple where the parents brought in
the child Jesus, to do for him after the custom of the law, then
Simeon took him up in his arms, and blessed God, and said, Lord, now
lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word:
For
mine eyes have seen thy salvation, Which thou hast prepared before
the face of all people; A light to lighten the Gentiles, and the
glory of thy people Israel….
Simeon
blessed them, and said unto Mary his mother, Behold, this child
is
set for the fall and rising again of many in Israel; and for a sign
which shall be spoken against;
Yea,
a sword shall pierce through thy own soul also, that the thoughts of
many hearts may be revealed.
So.
Isaiah foretold the Person of the Christ, and details of His life and
death; angels announced His birth; the holy man Simeon explained the
holiness and mission of the Messiah, with attendant violence and
sacrifice.
But
let us back up to the angels in the hills above Bethlehem. Tidings
of great joy…
referring to this baby who was certain to be unjustly persecuted,
tortured, and executed? Tidings of great joy about a someone the
Bible also calls a “Man of Great Sorrow”? Tidings of great joy
about the person who will be “despised and rejected”… by God
Himself?
Does
this make sense at all? Especially to call it “joy”?
Praise
God, it
doesn’t make sense.
It
is God’s way, however. He loved us so much – even when we were
yet sinners – that He provided the ultimate pathway to find eternal
life with Him. We cannot earn it ourselves.
We
cannot earn it ourselves. Isaiah knew it; the angels knew it; Mary
knew it; Simeon knew it; Jesus, of course, knew it.
We cannot separate ourselves from this world. No matter how rotten our present circumstances might be, or bleak the future seems, or how passionately we comprehend the glories of Eternity, God does not want us to book swift passage to Heaven. This might seem like a stark theological challenge, but its answer is found in the clear intention of God – He designed us for work on earth; His call is on us to do His will and glorify Him in our works.
But before works is faith. I respect the schools of Christianity that lay emphasis on works, for instance the short book of James; works, sacrifice, suffering, forbearance and other spiritual disciplines that both reflect one’s deep faith and provides “legs” for the exercise of faith in Christ.
Yet without faith, good works are dead. I realize that reverses the argument in that book of James – and is one of the factors why many theologians from the Early church through Luther’s day thought James was not canonical. It can veer toward primarily a word game, but is faith real if not manifested by good works? And is there salvation in good works alone?
To me, the first question is a challenge to our morals and duties of fellowship; the second is almost rhetorical – “no” – for confessional Christians. But I am here to cite, not discuss (and certainly not to solve) the choice.
I do invite thoughts about Faith. Christian faith in the 21st century. We are living in a post-Christian world; cultures that not only challenge but reject many of the truths of previous generations.
Faith largely is regarded by Western Civilization 2.0 – and in fact the world at large, including, for differing reasons, Socialist and Totalitarian societies, as well as those of other faiths – as a relic. Worse than outmoded, faith widely is regarded as a body of lies, superstitions, and vestiges of ignorance.
In the absence of faith, we are encouraged to rely on self, science, and reason.
There are enormously consequential implications in this pursuit of folly. Self-swindling nonsense among whose functions are delusions of serenity and satisfaction. But the implications include reminders that faith animates the human soul toward justice, mercy, charity, good will, and commitments to improve oneself, one’s community, one’s legacy. I emphasize the word toward these things.
Faith in Jesus (because “faith” as abstract word is an absurdity: faith in what? In whom? By what standard?) does not make anyone perfect here on earth. That was never His promise. Faith in Jesus inspires us, and the Holy Spirit responds with gifts of empowerment and wisdom, to strive toward perfection.
That Christian faith has motivated generations believers to great works and, yes, mighty deeds. Betrayal of that faith has resulted, as a clear consequence, in incidents of grief and misery. Denial of that faith is the saddest words of tongue or pen. People with no standards cannot, by definition, have standards on which to act… or to base their worldview.
So we have a world – vast portions of it – where standards, values, practices, rules, and laws are fashioned by human ideas, which can and do change. By political and economic theories, arbitrary and often imposed by force. By inertia and worldly, selfish standards – what feels good; what “doesn’t hurt anybody else,” which, again, is self-swindling disaster waiting to happen.
This is nothing new; certainly the critique of our spiritual crisis is not new. Enemies of faith have been discerned and called out since the first-century church, indeed since the Garden. And it is not only theologians and apologists. I will cite the enemies of faith that have been identified, without Bible verses or works of latter-day Jeremiahs:
The lies of the devil… Anxiety… Obsessions with the petty things of life… Fear (we are reminded how often Jesus greeted people with the phrase “Fear not”)… Lack of love or charity… Doubt… Faulty understanding… Ignorance of Christ’s promises… Rebellion… Rejection of God’s imputed Will… Unforgiveness… Lack of Self-Esteem… Timidity… Insecurity…
Yet I am persuaded that the most serious enemy of our faith is the one cited by Brother Martin Luther, who is referred to above. His analysis and prescription are the least palatable, the least welcome, to post-moderns and post-Christians and contemporary Western societies. He boldly stated:
Reason is a whore, the greatest enemy that faith has; it never comes to the aid of spiritual things, but more frequently than not struggles against the divine Word, treating with contempt all that emanates from God.
Reason.
Reason, the intellectual prize of Thinking People, Rationalists, the Renaissance, the Age of Enlightenment, the Scientific Age. The modern age. The Brave New World.
But I am persuaded by the proposition that Truth does not rely on our opinion of it.
In fact, if it is the truth, persuasion is superfluous. Luther typically made his point by overkill, characterizing Reason as a whore. But a hard fact can compel hard language. Just as a spiritual crisis requires a spiritual solution. And Luther was correct.
There is sin in the world, a fact largely conceded (even under other terms) by atheists. Humanity’s continuous challenge through the ages has been countering the corrosive tendencies of “sin” – traditionally, pride, greed, lust, envy, gluttony, wrath, and sloth – that is, our corrupt natures. If we recognize, as Luther did, that basic human nature grew from original sin; and that neither good works of our own devising, nor “proper thoughts” – Reason – will change the world or ourselves… then Reason must be regarded as a flawed resource.
So. Do we become dumb? Nonsense; knowledge is beneficial, and Luther spoke of deifying Reason. Do we abandon the Scientific Method and other experiments? Of course not. Do we abandon the search for Truth? No: even the major Enlightenment figures were people of faith; many of them believers of the literal Bible. Surprise!
What we should prepare to do is not “delete” Reason from our personal, intellectual screens, so to speak. We should just file it in its proper category – a reliable resource but often unreliable god in our cosmology.
Rather we must recognize Faith. Rediscover what it is to accept His Word and Will. Reacquaint ourselves with utter dependence on God. Respect the Bible as His revealed Word, and as a Resource to light our paths.
Right? Right. Surely God’s own Reasoning is wiser than our own. Tough advice for our times, but Truth does not have an expiration-date.
I am not sure whether the American trait of consumerism has metastasized on the body of our character. Or, as a prime suspect, post-modernism has infected religion. Or, in the latest of history’s inexorable pendulum-swings, heresy rears its ugly head once again.
Of course it is a combination of all three tendencies (and more sociopathologies), the main debate being what factors predominate. A movable feast… or infestation, I reckon.
To me, the causes are easy to spot. And the effects are hard to confront; harder still to ameliorate; virtually impossible to reverse. Regarding the reversal of the crisis in contemporary religion, I look not to the Bible (which assures me that God can bring revival) but to history books (which reminds me that His apostate people seldom seek it).
Christianity in the West largely has become a business of spiritual specialties, no longer a smorgasbord of nuanced beliefs but, virtually, a food fight. Denominations, hundreds of them, are not in themselves the problem. When the church split in two – Roman and Eastern Orthodox – that largely was political and geographic, hardly a schism. When the Roman church grew corrupt, it fostered Reform, thank God, resulting in denominations. Eventually, denominationalism. Sometimes good (Solo Scriptorum) and sometimes bad (self-styled junior popes and contorted creeds).
I think the root of all these evils – of all evil – is the Sin of Pride. Going back to the Garden, it undergirds every other sin we routinely decry: hating, lying, lusting, unforgiveness, the rest. It is why God rebuked and chastised those whom He loved. It is why He codified the Ten Commandments. It is why He sent prophets. It is why Jesus taught. It is the reason that the Holy Ghost was sent. It is why the early Church formulated Creeds.
Pride. The belief that we know better than God; that His rules might be right for others, bit not us; that – frankly – we know better than God.
The human mind has an infinite capacity to fool itself. This dangerous attribute becomes deadly when combined with a society that is encouraging, indifferent, or enabling of these self-destructive impulses, as now.
Churches no longer squabble over whether Christ’s blood is present or symbolic in the Lord’s Supper. Or whether we have free will or are predestinated. Or if the Gifts of the Spirit are for today.
Just see what many, many churches and denominations are advocating in North America and Europe these days; or countenancing under their watch –
Toleration of homosexuality, abortion, adultery, divorce. “Hating the sin, loving the sinner” often has yielded to acceptance, and even enablement.
Doctrinal views of heaven, hell, forgiveness, and sin have been abandoned or have been stretched beyond traditional recognition.
Personal – that is, spiritual – crises seldom are addressed with spiritual answers in today’s churches. Sociological solutions of “acceptance,” and the New Morality (which is no morality at all), are offered instead. One’s problems originate with society or tradition or intolerance or faulty upbringing… never one’s own sinning.
The secular ingredients of these poisonous formulas always include an appeal to Pride, and seldom an acknowledgment of God. It is almost axiomatic, isn’t it, that flouting God’s clearly presented Will is self-destructive? God has sent Commandments and prophets and teachers and inspired scribes and councils, and His Son – out of love, and for our well-being.
Why do we scramble and scratch, confuse and contort, when He has laid out beautiful paths for us?
Christianity is shrinking in North America and Europe. Thank God it is expanding – sometimes by the proverbial leaps abounds – south of the Equator, in Africa and South America, in Southeast Asia, and even in China despite persecution and killings.
And the reaction of the contemporary churches in our countries that are dotted with cathedrals and church spires?
If you don’t like a spiritual belief, ignore it. If rules regarding certain sins are unpleasant, regard 2000 years of Christianity as “backwards” and “mistaken.” If Bible passages and sermons make you uneasy… move on; elsewhere, or to nowhere at all.
In that last option, people choose to move on, but it very possibly is to hell. To those who pick and choose what they should believe, that destination is not theirs to decide. The truth does not depend on your opinion of it.
“Start Your Week With a Song in Your Heart” is the slogan of these essays. I hope always to do that – never failing, that is, to reinforce news of the saving grace of Jesus Christ. Lately, however, the subjects we address point to the many unfortunate tendencies in contemporary life – individual failings we all need to correct; and the crisis in our culture.
Varied examples abound, but all pertinent, especially in recent days. Brutal examples – seemingly trivial things are revealing.
The recent dust-up around Catholic school kids and clashing protesters who tried to intimidate them, is a clear example. The instant interpretation, and the flim-flam of the “Indian” “elder” were hungrily taken up and spread far and wide by the media. When the kids were profiled as kids, indeed; and the nature of the Indians and the black racists exposed, there was a 24-hour period of unusual mea culpas served up by the media.
Then, of course, life went on, the incident virtually disappearing, like Soviets who fell out of Stalin’s favor. Good was called evil… then a reality-check… then good was called evil, hour after hour, all over again.
A news item that is more indicative of the back-story than the actual headlines – horrible as they are – is New York State’s legalization of aborting babies up to the minute before birth. “If its life is in danger,” a ridiculous and cynical addendum; or “the mother’s life,” that tired and never-occurring condition. Babies barely born can be “terminated” too; in the way that lynching “terminated” Black people. What polite terminology.
The nominally Catholic Gov Cuomo of New York praised the passage of this new law. The Empire State Building was lit in pink to celebrate. The worst spectacle was the cheering of crowds at Cuomo’s announcement ceremony. Blood lust by crazed proponents of murder, it seemed to me. I once was in favor of abortion; but thank God, through my shame I see it for what it is.
More than an emblem of our Culture of Death, I see it frankly as even more than mere infanticide. It is cultural Infant Sacrifice. Pagan societies of old sacrificed children to pagan gods. Legalized abortion is sacrifice to the contemporary gods of selfishness, indolence, sloth, hedonism, and convenience.
Old pagan societies sacrificed individual babies at certain ceremonies; even in ancient Rome, babies born with disabilities were left to die outside the city walls. In America, we have killed tens of millions of babies. A death toll surpassing numbers from any other cause. Murdering babies is a “cause” in itself.
The law reportedly allows abortions with “no medical supervision” — that is, possibly by amateurs or hustlers like Dr Gosnell of Philadelphia. He is now in jail, having profited from the assembly-line of death he ran.
What “no medical supervision” means — in effect — all these years after Roe vs Wade, is that those dreaded, red-herring “back alley, coat hanger abortions” have simply become legal, enshrined in law. The law has outlawed shame, not abortions. A neat trick, ushering in infanticide and doing away with conscience all with one legislative vote and one Governor’s signature.
New York State, and much of America, brags that it has abolished the death penalty. So people who have been found guilty of heinous crimes are spared, while innocent babies are sentenced to death. And people not only assent; they cheer.
In truth, abortion is also a death penalty, plain and simple.
The various segments of the Establishment almost unanimously applaud and anoint such things. The masses are deluded… but, frankly, our society has allowed itself to be deluded by such heresy. Our leaders, our teachers, our celebrities (“role models”) and – tragically – many church leaders call good evil and evil good. This was predicted about the End Times… but whether we green-light the End Times, or not, I believe is still in our hands.
As we descend into hell, we step on the wasted patrimony of workers and martyrs who preceded us; step over millions of slaughtered babies; and trample the dreams of the faithful who never imagined this degradation. And yet people cheer.
Hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs – beautiful on the outside but filled on the inside with dead people’s bones and all sorts of impurity (Matthew 23:27, NLT).
Since I first posted this essay, Linda Traitz has shared that New York is not the only state that permits full-term abortions. Also in Hall of Shame:
Oregon
Vermont
Colorado
New Hampshire
District of Columbia
Alaska
New Jersey
New Mexico
Years ago our family worshiped at a neighborhood church in Connecticut. By “neighborhood” I don’t imply small; it was where a lot of our friends spent their Sunday mornings… and Wednesday nights, and Saturday mornings for Bible studies, and many weekend evenings for fellowship and book review groups. A thriving church.
The pastor had been converted to a fervent Christianity in his youth by Billy Graham; and, ironically, when he “graduated” from the church he joined the staff of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association in North Carolina. He was a wonder pastor; more, a great teacher.
One of the adult Sunday School classes was in his office. Changing topics and lessons, but my wife and I were in the sessions about some of the Pauline letters – the Epistles of Paul on his fascinating and varied missionary journeys.
My wife and I had recently, in a different church and under different teaching, become Pentecostals, believing in – accepting – the Gifts of the Spirit as described in the Book of Acts; listed in I Corinthians 13; and elsewhere in the New Testament. We had traveled to crusades held by Jimmy Swaggart, the great R W Schambach, Kenneth Copeland, and others; and some couples in this new fellowship had, with us; and were intrigued by ministries of tongues, healing, wisdom, prophecy, and such.
There are 12 such “Gifts of the Spirit” listed carefully in the first letter to the church at Corinth. Now, this new church of which I speak, was not a Pentecostal church; it was Evangelical Free. And the good pastor was not Pentecostal, evidenced by his answer to the question posed by one of the couples, “What do you think of the 12 Gifts of the Spirit?”
He answered, “Well, they are in the Bible, yes; but I have a problem with several of them.” Wise-guy Rick immediately asked, “Howe many of the 10 Commandments do you have a problem with?”
My timing might have been that of a wise guy, but my point was, and is, serious. I know (believe me; from hundreds of discussions and debates) I know the arguments of the anti-Pentecostals – that the Gifts of the Spirit were specific “ministry gifts” for the First-Century Church; that such miracles were withdrawn by the Giver of the Gifts after the Apostolic Age, after the Apostles were all martyred. And so forth. Of course the Gospels say no such thing; the Books of Acts recorded miracle-gifts throughout; there is no hint of expiration-dates in the Epistles of Paul and other writers; no warnings in the Book of Revelation. In fact John wrote there of the End of Times, not the End of Gifts.
Beyond my spiritual snarkiness just concluded, I do not, here, want to litigate the question that will be solved to our satisfaction when we arrive in Glory.
But I do want us all to consider the manner of Christian religiosity that my tale represents. All of us, me too, and conservative and liberal Christians; Catholics and Protestants; evangelical and Pentecostal and fundamentalist and “seeker” and post-modern and Orthodox; in other words, all human beings… practice at the altar of a Pick-and-Choose belief system.
In a way, of course, that is another way to describe hypocrisy; but few of us intend to be hypocrites, especially in matters of core beliefs. These days, it is explained away as “relativism” in many places, in the way (it seems to me) that skin cancer could be called an itch. Now, I recognize that this dilemma is not restricted to religious beliefs, but political affiliations or even patriotic fervor do not have rules that are strict.
“Strict”? Yes. We – in the 21st-century West – scarcely regard our spiritual affiliations as requiring strict adherence. As recently as a century ago, this would have been regarded as anathema by most of those spiritual affiliations – denominations.
My daughter, a youth pastor, has been hired by churches where she was not required to know denominations’ doctrines, yet was obliged to teach children. Not Luther’s Catechism in a Lutheran church, not Calvin’s Institutes in a Presbyterian. Sort of like joining the Boy Scouts without having to be a boy… oh, wait.
To take to its logical extension, what is the point of systematic theology? God gave humankind the Ten Commandments, not the Ten Suggestions. Jesus taught; He did not propose debates. When He healed and forgave, He said “Go thou and sin no more,” not “Hey, whatever; go for it.” When talked about the necessity to be Born Again, He did not say, “No one gets to Father except through Me… and Buddha and Tuesday Meditation classes and Oprah.”
The culture seduces us; and the double-edged swords of modernism and intellectual vanity, and secularist education. And the mistaken trust that everything in life is either settled democratically… or according to whatever the heck feels right to us.
Think of every challenge that might confront you, or disaster that might threaten you. You might pick a certain reaction, or choose a way to respond… but the serious things in life are not defined – cannot be defined – by a pick-and-choose acceptance or rejection. Life is real; life is earnest, as Longfellow tellingly wrote.
And nothing is more real than the disposition of your soul for eternity, and your respect for the word of God.
There is a story – probably apocryphal, but most good stories are – about W C Fields, the great comedian. In his last days, the man whose comic trademarks were finding humor in drunken turns and misanthropy, was dying of alcoholism and in solitary loneliness.
He was to die on Christmas Day 1946, and shortly before then one of his friends, I believe Gene Fowler, visited Fields in a sanitarium. He was surprised to see him, alone in the corner of a room by the window, leafing through a Bible.
“Bill! This is a first! I’ve never seen you with a Bible! What are you doing?”
Fields looked up and said, “Looking for loopholes.”
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Gather together, gather yourselves together, you shameful nation, before the decree takes effect and that day passes like windblown chaff, before the Lord’s fierce anger comes upon you, before the day of the Lord’s wrath comes upon you. Seek the Lord, all you humble of the land, you who do what he commands. Seek righteousness, seek humility; perhaps you will be sheltered on the day of the Lord’s anger” (Zephaniah 2: 1-3).
Whether a nation or an individual has strayed from the Truth, the results will be the same. In our culture, with our traditions, ignorance of God’s commandments and the teachings of Jesus is no plausible excuse. And willful defiance of God will bring the greater wrath.
Not swifter wrath. God is sovereign, and at times in His-story He has stayed the “terrible swift sword,” and many of us believe that judgment in this land of sinfulness and a culture of death, that we continue along at His sufferance.
The Apostle Paul said, in his time of persecution, “I am not ashamed of the gospel.” Why do so many among us act like we are ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ – even as doing so invites more and more persecution? We often are seduced by enticing lies.
Like a belief that if we all withdraw to our tight circles, we can create the Remnant and be insulated from God’s wrath;
Like a belief that if our fellowships, or denominations, send enough missionaries abroad, or feed enough hungry people, that we counterbalance the sin all around us;
Like a belief that compromising with error will draw sinners to salvation;
Lake a belief that being ashamed of the gospel – when we know the Truth but we do not allow the Truth to set us free – is, for the first time in history, pleasing to God.
Be not deceived: God is not mocked. God is not bribed. God is not fooled. There ARE no loopholes.
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We cannot suppose that God will change His mind about His solemn promises, or His warnings. In fact, He cannot change His nature – although the Post-Christian church acts like it hopes He will.
God, the God of Peace, the heavenly Father, who sent Jesus to be our substitute for sin-punishment… is still a God of Wrath? Didn’t that end with the Old Testament?
The essential nature of God is Holiness. It is impossible for Him to countenance evil, to allow sin to stain the Heavenlies. Like camels passing through the eyes of needles, better that we work to repent; have our families and churches repent; have our neighborhoods and nation repent; and have our leaders and culture repent.
And in the words of Zephaniah’s prophecy, we cannot assume, but we may pray that – after repentance, not instead of repentance – perhaps we “will be sheltered on the day of the Lord’s anger.” May that be our fate, not because of loopholes, but by repentance, forgiveness, and mercy – God’s Grace.
... Rick Marschall is the author of 74 books and hundreds of magazine articles in many fields, from popular culture (Bostonia magazine called him "perhaps America's foremost authority on popular culture") to history and criticism; country music; television history; biography; and children's books. He is a former political cartoonist, editor of Marvel Comics, and writer for Disney comics.
For 20 years he has been active in the Christian field, writing devotionals and magazine articles; he was co-author of "The Secret Revealed" with Dr Jim Garlow. His biography of Johann Sebastian Bach for the “Christian Encounters” series was published by Thomas Nelson. He currently is writing a biography of the Rev Jimmy Swaggart and his cousin Jerry Lee Lewis. Read More
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