Anniversary

Today is the 12^th Anniversary of Danielle and I getting married. In that time we have had 7 zip codes, 2 states, 10 homes, 2 children and 1 phone number (yay for cellphones!). We have twice experienced the terror of being out of work for 6 months where we had to scrape by on savings, tax returns, night-shift entry level jobs, and gifts. Then there were the difficult births and pregnancies, the car engines exploding, the house repairs that cost way more than we thought we could handle, and more.

These are not the kinds of things you are dreaming about while standing in front of your friends and family saying “I do.” Usually you are dreaming of a life where late nights are nothing but laughter, children act just as you expect and desire, and you never leave the upward curve of a better and better life.  But that is not reality. And I am thankful for that fact.

The reason I am thankful for this is the simple fact that without challenge – without effort or difficulty – nothing happens. Bonds are not strengthened, stories are not made, and life becomes very quickly becomes a shallow, bland puddle.

Consider any good movie or book. There is always conflict, difficulty, and pain. There are good times as well, but if the entire story was nothing but one soft, nice thing after another it would be boring and bland. There would be no growth, no depth, and no truth to it.

Consider Scripture itself. In it we find both terror and triumph. Pain and joy. Strength and weakness. From Adam & Eve to Abraham to Sampson to David to Jesus to the Apostles, we find meaning and strength not because everything went smoothly but because it did not. Because it did not we can find truth and help in our time of need. In Hebrews 4:14-16 we read,

Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

Understand, friend, that Jesus Himself was tested and tried just as we are! In doing so He became able to sympathize with and help us. I say this to say that in a different way, we too can help others from the trials and tests that we have encountered in life. Our difficulties in life are not to grind us to nothing, but to build us into those who can perform the works God has prepared for us.

At the beginning I listed many of the difficulties we have faced as a couple. We have also had uncountable joys as well. The long trips full of laughter, the movie nights, the traditions built as a family, the games, the worship, the times everything looked wrong but turned out better than dreamed of and so much more. All these things, good and bad, are what God has used to mold us and grow us as a husband & wife and as a family. Wherever you are in life, God can and will do the same, if you will let Him.

My hope and prayer for both you and I, is that we will always do so.

"Christian Witches"

A real thing, coming this Easter.

Some time back, I read this article about the rise of witchcraft. Two sets of numbers stuck out to me in it. The first is that the number of Wiccans has grown from about 8,000 to 340,000 in the U.S. from 1990-2008. The second is that it currently looks like there are about 1.5 million Americans "identify as Pagan or Wicca," a higher number that mainline Presbyterianism (1.4 million).

I read it, and thought it interesting, but didn't really connect the dots until I read this article about the first "Christian Witches Convention," set for April 2019 in Salem, MA.

Let's just say this right now: there is no such thing as a "Christian Witch."

You might be a Christian who has fallen into witchcraft, or been lured into it by peers or culture, but if you stay there, you no longer be a follower of Christ. It is sin, and just as with all other sin there is a call to reject it and repent. Falling into sin doesn't condemn a follower of Christ automatically, but choosing to stay there and not fight against it will.

I could go through each and every Scripture that warns against it, but in the interest of space and time I will simply list several of them: Deut. 18:10-14; I Chr. 10:13; 2 Chr. 33:6; I Sam. 15:23; Acts 8:9-13; Acts 19:17-20; Gal. 5:19-20, and more.

Notice: the warnings appear in both the Old and New Testaments. It had no place with God's people in the past, and it has no place with God's people today. To live as a witch is to live in sin, Scripture leaves no room for it.

To get on with the main point however, we need to deal with what these people are teaching, namely that Jesus was a sorcerer, the Bible is a grimoire, and the Christianity and Witchcraft are compatible. I hope that last statement has been adequately answered above.

First, to imply that Jesus was a sorcerer is, simply put, blasphemy. To be a sorcerer Jesus would have to break Old Testament law, which would be sin, which would mean He could not die a perfect sacrifice for sin. It is a straight line from one to the other. Furthermore, to claim Jesus as a sorcerer because of His miracles is a fallacy. They broke the laws of nature in order to prove He was the Son of God. The miracles Jesus performed went far beyond what any of the prophets and people God used in the Old Testament did, as a proof of who He was. If you are going to live in agreement with the statement "Jesus was a sorcerer," you are living in blasphemy.

Second, to say the Bible is a grimoire is ludicrous on its face. The Bible is a book of history that shows the path God has taken in order to bring all peoples to Himself. It is the history of the world and the church, and it is the Word of God to bring salvation to all men. To relegate it to the place of a book of magic is to take it from the highest place to the lowest. It is to steal from it its position as God's Word to save all mankind and turn it into a trinket for our own personal aggrandizement, power, and glory.

If you do happen to watch the video at the end of the article about the convention, I encourage you to notice the large number of red flags throughout it. The constant use of "oh my God," the theme of the witches ball (American Horror Story: Apocalypse), her desire to see someone attend dressed as Michael Langdon, literally the spawn of Satan in the show ("however, I like him" she says), or his "witchy mother," who was a "servant of Satan", as she states.

This is something to watch out for in our churches today. Wicca is one of the fastest growing (if not the fastest growing) religion in the United States, and it is likely to only accelerate. It is a perfect match for our postmodern culture, and we need to be prepared for it. Do not take this lightly. It is real and it is growing. Teach yourself and others to stand firm in Christ alone, so we do not fall into the mindset of saying something "isn't a big deal," or that it "won't affect me." Those are traps of the the most dangerous kind. We must know what it means to stand in Christ, or we will find ourselves standing in anything but Him.

10

My oldest boy turned 10 just now,

He's grown big! Can't you see?

It seems so short a while ago,

He sat here on my knee.

For reading books and playing games

And nursery rhymes with glee.

My oldest boy turned 10 just now,

While sleeping silently.

He used to run and play and hide,

And still does to this day.

My oldest boy turned 10 just now,

In bed there where he lay.

Through Kindergarten, Sunday school,

And on throughout the grades,

My oldest boy turned 10 just now,

He's growing, so they say.

And on it goes, it never stops,

He's bigger every year.

One day soon he'll be the pops,

With his own children near.

My oldest boy turned 10 just now,

From all these too fast years.

But now, for now, he's still my boy,

And ever will be here.

Mastering Sin

In Genesis 4:7 God tells Cain, “If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin lies at the door. And its desire is for you, but you should rule over it.” I feel that this translation, while basically accurate, misses the bigger part of what God is warning Cain about.

In fact, it would be better translated “And if you do not do well, sin lies at the door. And its desire is to master you, but you should rule over it.” That sounds a little more urgent. It is more forceful and (at least to me), a little more frightening.

I wonder if we often fail to recognize that sin is not a benign presence. Far too often we seem to treat sin as though it is passive. We say we “fall” into sin, as though it were a hole in the ground that we simply did not see and fell into. God never talks about sin like that. To Him it is something active. It is a hunter who tracks down its prey, waits until the opportune moment, then strikes out to tear it apart and consume it. Sin itself is really spoken of in the same way that Satan is: an active force out to destroy people and separate them from God.

James writes in 1:15 that “sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death.” I don’t know about you, but I have never heard of a passive, benign object “bringing forth” anything. Only that which is active and capable has the ability to “bring forth” something, let alone something as enormous as death itself.

It is to our detriment if we fail to see sin for what it is. It is an active, predatory force on the lives of people. If we are not prepared to fight back against it, it will happily consume and destroy us. How often the Scriptures warn us to be prepared and to resist sin! But resistance is an action, and action will never be taken unless we believe it needs to be. If our view of sin is one of passivity, we will not see the need to mount a resistance until it is already upon us.

This is not something we can do on a whim with no forethought. Paul tells us to run the race like we mean to win it. In Ephesians we are told to put on the full armor of God. Both of these things take training in order to do well. Without proper training you will never get very far in a race. In a similar way without proper training it will be very difficult to wear and move in armor and use shields and swords. In both of these cases the one who refuses to train and prepare becomes a drain on those who do.

This brings us to the fact that fighting sin is not something we do alone. A relay racer who refuses training will cost his team dearly. A warrior who refuses to train could cost the lives of those next to him. One who does train and improve himself, however, becomes a bigger and bigger boon to those around him over time. In the case of sin, God has given us the church to encourage, edify, strengthen, and hold one another accountable.

Let us be a church who takes sin seriously, who trains to fight back against it, and who strengthens each other to live as we are called by the King Above All.

Slowing Down

It is fairly popular today to tell people to "slow down" in order to improve their life. In a world where marketers and culture is saying "Buy more! Do more! Get more! Have more! Be more!" it is only natural that some segment rises up to fight back against it. The "slow down" movement instead says to have less, do less, and that ultimately, "less is more."

Now notice I only said it is popular to tell people to slow down in order to improve their life. I never said it was popular for people to actually do it. You see, it is far easier to talk about  than follow through on, because if we follow through on it then we might get bored or miss out. FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out) is a real thing, and it keeps people from slowing down even when they say they want to. This seems to be especially true in the realm of making decisions.

When was the last time you took a significant amount of time in order to make a decision on something? Now I am not talking about analysis paralysis when choosing whether to buy Cereal A or Cereal B. Rather, when was the last time that you put a decision on hold in order to figure out what was should be done in a given situation?

Often there is a great deal of pressure upon us to make a decision "right now." The pressure says that if we do not decide right now, we will miss the opportunity and be stuck always having wondered what could have been, and we will never get another chance like this one. Its "now or never," and we've got to "strike while the iron is hot," less this one and only chance escapes our grasp forever.

Now to be fair, there are occasional circumstances where we must make a decision quickly. There are moments where time is up and something has to happen. But more and more I am beginning to feel like that is the exception rather than the rule. Where the world around us (especially in marketing) tells us you have to choose now, in reality, we do not. How many times have you seen an email or commercial saying "Last Chance for 20% off!!! Today Only!!! Final Sale for Real this Time!!" only to see another one the following week saying very nearly the same thing? How often have you felt pressured to make a decision about something in life right now when waiting a day or two would make very little difference if any at all?

In those moments when pressure is being applied to decide now, I want to encourage you to take a step back, figure out if it really must be decided on right this instant and if not, take a breather and take some time to move through the process of making the decision.

In the ancient world it looks like this is what people did. There were no cars or planes. There were no phones or emails. If you wanted to do something or get something chances were it would take at least a few days before it would even be possible to get there. Then you had to go through the process of the work without modern technology and get back. Life moved at a slower pace because the environment demanded it. There was no other option.

It is this slower pace of life that (I believe) encouraged and enabled people to take the time to make decisions on important matters. I also believe that this led to a less stressful life with a deeper sense of meaning about what was happening. When we rush through decision after decision based on whim or feeling or a random internet review we might "do" a lot but the decisions are often shallow. When we take our time to think through choices, see what they will cost us, and discover whether or not they are truly worthy of our time we may "do" less, but the decisions carry a good deal more weight and allow us to experience more deeply the things that we actually care about. Furthermore, it allows us to make better decisions and end up with better results.

The book of Acts if full of waiting and taking time to make decisions. In chapter 1 the disciples are praying, fellow-shipping, and waiting for the promised Helper. In chapter 6 they take time to seek out men worthy of the service of widows. In chapter 13 Barnabas and Paul are appointed to be missionaries only after spending time fasting and teaching with the church in Jerusalem, and the list goes on and on. We read it as one thing happening after another, but there are days, weeks, and months between many or most of these events and choices being made. Those down-times are often spent fasting, praying, and seeking God's will. They take time to figure things out and, more importantly, they take time bringing their needs and questions before the only One who can truly give them the answer.

We need to ask ourselves, are we taking the time to do this? With everything going on and the pressure to "get more done," are we relying on the help of our Father and King, or are we relying on our own instincts and desires?

I want to encourage you to take the time needed to slow down and make decisions thoughtfully, slowly, and prayerfully. Let us as a people reject the frantic hamster wheel of decision-making the world desires to place on us, and be a people who seek God's will and take the time the listen for His answer before giving ourselves over to something.

Let us be a people of depth and weight, and allow our God to bring us into that depth and weight on His time, through His plans.

Fashionable Heresy

Fashionable: observant of or conforming to the prevailing custom of style of dress, etiquette, socializing, etc.

Heresy: any belief of theory that is strongly at variance with established beliefs, customs, etc.

Fashionable Heresy: a belief or theory conforming to prevailing popular thought that is strongly at variance with established belief

I wish I did not have to write on this topic. I wish I didn't because it frustrates me and I am not quite sure how exactly I should go about it. But it is something that has been bugging me for a while now and I cannot ignore it any longer. Y'all...this thing I have named Fashionable Heresy is tearing the Christian faith apart at the seams. We have got to get a handle on this. It has been around since The Way of Christ began, it is never, ever stops. Like the lovely image above, it has no brakes.

Who is it that you follow when it comes to spiritual matters? I know there are some people that I do. I like what they say, how they say it, and the conviction behind their words. There are times where I disagree on some relatively minor points, but that's not a problem. I know where they stand and I know where I stand, and if we met somewhere one day I would not be afraid of speaking and discussing both our similarities and differences. I am sure we would both walk away better for it and happy to have met another member of the family of Christ. We even have Biblical evidence for doing so. In I Corinthians 11:1 Paul writes "Imitate me, as I imitate Christ."

So the question that must be asked, the question that must be answered, is this: do you follow someone, or do you follow them as they follow Christ?

It is very fashionable to hold certain positions in our society. Some of that is good, but some of that is bad. Furthermore, some is simply based on poor theology.

Take poverty for example. It is a real and pressing problem. A good position that is also fashionable is that we should take care of the poor around us. That is a Biblical, sound position to hold. No one who has the right idea of what Scripture says is going to argue against it (and they should be arguing for more of it).

A bad position that is also fashionable is that we must force everyone to take care of the poor by taking what they have and giving it to others. That is not a Biblical position to hold. Christians are told to take care of the poor and hurting, but we are not given leave to force others to against their will. Rather, it is our job to do what we can in following Christ the King as we walk through life.

A position that is based on poor theology would be "we can eradicate poverty!" Unfortunately, though it sounds great and wonderful, it is not Biblical. Jesus says explicitly in Matthew 26:11 that "you will always have the poor among you." There will always be those who are marginalized, exploited, and poor, and we must do all we can to help and aid those in that position. It is not a popular idea, but it is a truthful and sound one.

The problem with Fashionable Heresy is that it takes what is Biblical and inserts ideas that are in tune with the times but not with God. In doing so we either get watered down truth, or the truth is drowned out by the lie. Take the above example and put it together:

"God says we should take care of the poor, so we need to create new government programs and raise new taxes so that we can eradicate poverty."

It sounds nice. It is even couched in Biblical language. But it is not a position based in Scripture. The Bible says nothing about government programs, and specifically states we will never eradicate poverty. If you think it is the government's job to help the poor, that is fine, but you can't make the case through Scripture (that is what philosophy, social commentary, and politics are for).

But do you see how easy it is to inject Fashionable Heresy into a topic? You can make it sound nice, and even holy. But if it does not stand to the test of Scripture we need to be able to see that and call it out. Here is another one (this time a real example):

"If the fruit of doctrine regularly and consistently creates shame, self-harm, suicide & broken hearts, families, and churches, we should listen."

Again, we have Fashionable Heresy injected into a Biblical topic. It is laced with both truth and lie. It also makes an assumption by putting doctrine in the place of the failure of people. It is couched in Biblical language by talking about "the fruit of doctrine". It takes what Jesus says about being wary of false prophets by seeing their fruit in Matthew 7 and applies it to theology.

The problem, however, is that this statement places the blame on doctrine when it should be on people. The doctrine in this case (homosexuality is sin), is blamed as the cause of the bad fruit. But doctrine is nothing more than words on its own. People may use it poorly or produce bad fruit by it, but that does not mean the doctrine is wrong, it means the people are. I can take a hammer and use it to build a house for the homeless or kill someone with a quick whack to the head, but that is not the hammer's fault. I am at fault for how I used it, and no one else (not even the person who made the hammer).

And so we have lies mixed with truth that sounds great and wonderful and Biblical, but that cannot hold up to revealed Truth. The Bible states both implicitly and explicitly that homosexuality is sin, as is sex before marriage, cheating on your spouse, and any other type of sex outside of marriage between a man and a woman. It also states that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, and all are invited to come to Jesus, repent of their sins, and be washed in His blood to live a new life, no matter who they were or what they have done. The doctrine is sound and in line with what God has said. It is people who have messed it up from time to time.

Now yes, there is bad doctrine. It exists in spades in the religious world, even among believing Christians. If there were not we would not have to be warned against it in Scripture so often. But there is also good doctrine used badly. The point is we must be able to tell the difference.

You see, every doctrine, every scrap of it, must be parsed through the lens of the Truth. There are doctrinal truths that all of Christianity, regardless of time, place, and denomination (or lack thereof) has agreed upon for the last 2,000 years up until about 50-60 years ago. That should probably warn us that if we are going to change something, we had better be really, really sure of what we are doing and that it is in line with what Jesus, the Word of God, has revealed. If it is not, we need to run, not walk, away from it.

Please. Do not fall for Fashionable Heresy, no matter what the topic is. It shows up in every way and on every subject. It is so, so easy to get caught up in it because someone writes well, or speaks well, or has passion, or is doing so many other great things. But even Fashionable Heresy is still heresy, and it is still dangerous to our life and faith.

So be strong, stay faithful, and keep informed. :-)

Of Mice and Men

I don't know what made me think of it, but for some reason out of the blue I decided to watch the ending to Of Mice and Men. I would have read the the ending of it, but unfortunately I do not have a copy of the book. It was as sad as I remembered it being in high school.

Of Mice and Men has one of the saddest, worst, best endings of any book I have ever read. I would even consider saying of any book ever. It is a hard book in general that forces you to think through its controversial ending. It will not settle for being ignored.

In my senior English class we had to read the book, discussing each part of it during the weeks it was assigned. When we got to the end, there were several camps on if George did the right thing (I am not going into specifics here so as not to spoil it for future readers), and what he could have done differently. I still remember my position, though I continue to wonder if it was the right one or not.

What makes the issue in that book so unclear is the fact that it deals with the reality of man and the situation. Lennie has done a great wrong, people are rightly angry, and he is too simple to know what is going on. In that day and age there were no resources for people like him, so should he be doomed to a life of terror and fear or freed? The author gives no clear-cut answers, nor does he expound over whether George's choice is right or wrong. All we know is George loves his friend Lennie, and wants the best for him. Beyond that we are offered no answers in the book. 

This post is not about whether George was right or not, but about how we as Christians need to take life and deal with it as it is, and not as we wish it were.

Far too often I hear fellow brothers and sisters in Christ speak about the world in terms that either whitewashes or sidelines uncomfortable truths. Some things I hear are:

"Christianity is not in decline, revival is just around the corner!"

"The kids are fine. Everyone has smartphones these days."

"We'll make it to church next time. Scouts/sports/school/etc. is so busy this time of year!"

"What racism?"

"What police brutality?"

"What attacks on police?"

"What war atrocities?"

"What illegal immigrant problem?"

"We both have to work if we're ever going to get ahead."

"If only politician/political part XYZ would win, things would be better."

"This generation is so narcissistic and weak."

"We can't associate with that church, they [fill in the blank]."

"LGBT issues are settled."

"Why are you worried about LGBT stuff? It's never going to affect you."

And on and on the list goes...

Now if I have done what was intended, you found at least one of those to be offensive or something you would rather not think about. I know I found at least a couple of them to be, but that is the point. If we never stop to really consider what is going on around us and what the issues are, we are not grappling with the world as it is in reality, but only as we wish it were. This will never get us anywhere, because unless we deal with reality we will never make any progress in dealing with the world around us.

We as Christians do not get the luxury of ignoring what is going on around us. If we do that we will have no answer besides the standard cut-and-paste rhetoric of a Facebook post. For us to reach the world we have to be ready and willing to face it head-on as it is. That is how Jesus interacted with the world after all.

Consider the things Jesus dealt with without resorting to platitudes and standard, rehearsed lines: prostitution, adultery, disease, politics, poverty, hunger, inheritance, God, marriage, children, purpose, racism, Heaven, Hell, Jerusalem's destruction, death. I could go on for a while here but I think you get the point. Instead of pretending like they did not exist or moving them off to the side, Jesus looked at it straight-on, considered it in the context of God's Will and Plan, and dealt with it accordingly. There was no rhetoric when it came to how Jesus spoke. Each situation was dealt with as it was - an individual situation. There was no one-size-fits-all solution for every issue. He did the hard work of not only dealing with the issue, He also went to those who were involved in it. He empathized with them, then lead them to the truth of God in love.

As followers of Christ, we are called to do the same.

Today's post is a call to put away the rhetoric, put away the self-reinforcing news feeds, put away the talking heads and pundits, and come before God Almighty for the real answers to the real issues in life. Today is a call to reject the wisdom of this world and all those who are not giving their lives over to God in favor of His Word and the wisdom of those who strive with all their hearts to follow Christ wherever He leads. Forget the politicians, the celebrities, the bloggers, the memes, the YouTube videos and the Facebook friends who tell you what the world wants you to hear instead of what God wants you to know.

Come to God. Pray for His Spirit to lead you in His Word. Look for His Will and His Truth to come from what He has provided for us. There is only One who we can look to in order to be refreshed by the water of life and nourished by truth.

Let us face the hard issues straight-on with honesty, empathy, and open eyes. Let us face them as Jesus faced them. Let us face them in the truth and love of God.