One Flock, One Shepherd

Poland-Bulgaria-Hungary travel blog

2009-08-19T14:32:00.001-07:00

Over the next week and a half, I'm joining two men from a church in Wrocław, Poland, to visit people and churches in Bulgaria and Hungary. At the end of that time I'll be staying in Hungary to do ministry there for a year. For more details on this trip, take a look at my blog "In the East, Give Glory".

Still no gay pastors in PCUSA

2009-04-28T08:43:00.000-07:00

The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) decided in a fairly close vote (final vote tallies are not yet available) not to allow practicing homosexuals to serve as clergy in the denomination.

Last year the PCUSA's General Assembly had voted to delete a constitutional requirement that ministers, elders, and deacons must practice "fidelity within the covenant of marriage between a man and a woman, or chastity in singleness." Now with this recent vote, they delayed taking a further step into sexual chaos.

"The Coming Evangelical Collapse"?

2009-01-28T07:31:00.000-08:00

In this article, the "Internet Monk" gives a chilling prediction (but also heartening, in an odd way) of the collapse of what we have come to know as evangelicalism in America. Before you reject his conclusion, read his reasons carefully.

Faith strengthens sports heroes

2009-01-18T11:06:00.000-08:00

Mark Kriegel, a national columnist for FOX Sports, is no fan of athletes touting their Christian (or other) faith in the context of their sports achievements. But in this article, he's forced to show grudging respect to sports heroes like Kurt Warner whose faith has given them something to live for—and to play for.

The Hungarian Reformed Evangelical Mission

2009-01-12T17:23:00.000-08:00

In October 2007, a young Hungarian named Attila Hajdú came to the United States and visited the CREC Presbytery meetings in Moscow, Idaho, and Cary, North Carolina. He was appealing for a man to go and lead a mission church in his hometown of Diósd, just outside the Hungarian capital city, Budapest.

Over the course of the next year, Attila reached the conviction that he himself was called to lead this mission work in Hungary. He came under the oversight of the Evangelical Reformed Church (CREC) in Wrocław, Poland, which organized a program of pastoral training for him and commissioned him to preach and administer the Sacraments. In November 2008, under Attila's leadership, the Hungarian Reformed Evangelical Mission began holding worship services in Diósd.

Please pray for Attila, his wife Kati, and their two small children as they form the core of this infant church. Pray that the Lord would bring other people to join them, in a town where less than 2% of the people attend church services regularly. Pray for wisdom for the Polish elders who are overseeing the mission, and for Pastor Jack Phelps of Alaska (currently the presiding minister of the CREC Council) who has visited the church in Hungary and is also lending his support. Pray for the theological conference to be held in Budapest later this year, with speakers including James Jordan and Jack Phelps. And please pray for me. I spent a week with Attila in Hungary over New Year's, and I'm now preparing to move to the Budapest area to serve the church through preaching, teaching, and evangelism.

You can find more information about the Hungarian mission work at their website, www.reformalt.hu (in Hungarian and English). For pictures and stories from the Polish elders' visit to this church and another mission in Bulgaria, see Bulgaria2008.

Jan. 20: Public presentation about Hungary trip

2009-01-12T15:00:00.000-08:00

I returned to Moscow (Idaho) last Monday after spending a week in Hungary. I was visiting the CREC mission work near Budapest and considering whether I should go to live and help plant a church there over the next few years. After this visit, much prayer, and talking with a number of people, I've decided that I will be moving to Hungary later this year.

Next Tuesday (January 20) at 7 PM, I'll be giving a presentation at the Nuart Theater about my Hungary trip. I'll show pictures from the trip, talk about the church that is being started there, and explain what I hope my role in all this is going to be. If you're interested, please put the date on your calendar and come with any questions you might have – I'll be looking forward to seeing you there!

Glory to God, peace to mankind!

2008-12-25T18:37:00.000-08:00

…There were some sheepherders living in that same area,
who were staying awake to guard their flocks of sheep overnight.

And then—look!—a Messenger from the Lord
stood over them,
and the Glory of the Lord
blazed all around them
and they were terrified.

But the Messenger told them, “Don’t be afraid!

“I’m here to tell you the good news—
great joy for this whole nation!
He is born for you today—
the Savior, who is Messiah the Lord!—
in David’s town!

“Now this will be your sign:
you will find a baby,
wrapped up tightly,
lying in a feed trough.”

Then all of a sudden there was with that Messenger
a whole legion of the Army of Heaven!
They were praising God and saying,
“Glory to God in the Heights!
And on the earth,
peace to mankind,
and goodwill!”

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Remembering Patriarch Alexy II of Russia (1929-2008)

2008-12-09T19:41:00.000-08:00

Russian Orthodox Patriarch Alexy II died last Friday near his patriarchal see in Moscow. He had served for eighteen and a half years as "Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia"—the last such Patriarch of the Soviet period, and the first of the newly independent Russia.

Alexy was born as Aleksei Ridiger in 1929 in a then-independent Estonia, the son of a German-Estonian father and a Russian mother. Earlier in his church career, he was suspected of collaborating with the Soviet government in the repression of Russian believers. However, in recent decades he had overseen a flourishing of the Russian Orthodox Church while also contributing to Russia's official coldness toward non-Orthodox Christians: Catholics, Baptists, and others. One of his greatest legacies is the 2007 reunion between the Russian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate) and the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia, which had been separated for 80 years.

A BBC retrospective captures some of the contradictions of Alexy's life:

Patriarch Alexiy II, who died on Friday, had an extraordinary career, in which he switched from suppressing the Russian Orthodox Church to being its champion.

A favourite of the KGB, he was promoted rapidly through the Church hierarchy, doing the Kremlin's bidding at a time when dissident priests were thrown into jail.

As the Church's effective foreign minister, he helped cover up the repression of Russian Christians, defending the Soviet system to the outside world.

He rose quickly through the ranks, being elected head of the Russian Orthodox Church at a crucial time, in 1990, with the Soviet Union on the path to collapse.

Surprisingly, perhaps, he seized the moment, and went on to oversee the revival and flowering of the Church, exuding moral authority and inspiring devotion among his followers.

The sacrifice holiday

2008-12-08T11:59:00.000-08:00

Today the world's Muslims are celebrating their biggest holiday of the year: "Eid al-Adha," which means "Festival of the Sacrifice."

On this day they commemorate the story of Abraham and his son which the Bible also records in Genesis 22. God tested Abraham by telling him to offer his son as a sacrifice, and Abraham obediently went to the place of sacrifice and prepared to make the offering. At that moment, God intervened and spared Abraham's son, giving him a ram to offer instead. (In the Bible, the son whose life was spared is identified as Isaac. The Qur'an does not say which son it was, but Islamic tradition names him as "Isma`il" or Ishmael.) To this day, devout Muslims slaughter a sheep or goat on Eid as a reminder of Abraham's obedience and God's mercy. They then share the meat with family, friends, and the poor, and celebrate the day as a joyful festival.

If this story belongs just as much to Christians as to Muslims, why don't we celebrate Eid al-Adha too? The answer is that, in a sense, we do. Jews, Christians, and Muslims all testify that Abraham obeyed God by bringing his son to sacrifice, but God spared the son's life and substituted a ram. Now, this true story was a symbol of something greater than itself; the Christian celebration of Good Friday and Easter commemorates the reality to which this symbol points. Messiah Jesus, the Son of God, was brought like Abraham's son to the hill of sacrifice. However, He was not spared there but killed, the "Lamb of God" offered for the sins of the whole world. And so He substituted for the life of everyone who becomes a "son of Abraham" by throwing themselves on God's mercy through Him. Abraham symbolically received his son back from the dead (Hebrews 11:17-19), but God brought His Son back from death in actual fact. The greatest festival of all is the Resurrection of the Son of God, that glorious watershed of human history which we celebrate on Easter Sunday.

Remembering that we forget

2008-11-20T19:03:00.000-08:00

"There is such a thing as the momentary power to remember that we forget.

"And the most ignorant of humanity know by the very look of the earth that they have forgotten heaven."

—G. K. Chesterton, The Everlasting Man

Троицкое славасловие

2008-11-18T21:19:00.000-08:00

Джеффри Мосс

Благословен Отец Святой,
жизнь моя и хваленье!

Благословен Иисус Господь,
крепость моя и спасенье!

Благословен Всесильный Дух,
животворец Воскресенья!

Слава Отцу, и Сына прославьте,
и Духу хвала, песнопенье!

All Saints and Reformation Day

2008-11-03T08:44:00.000-08:00

The new online journal Basilica comments on the placement of Reformation Day and All Saints' Day next to each other on the calendar, and the implications of each for Reformed Christians.

All Saints' Day

2008-11-01T10:50:00.001-07:00

How appropriate for Protestants that All Saints' Day (Nov. 1) is the day immediately following Reformation Day (Oct. 31)! On Reformation Day we remember the courage of the German monk Martin Luther in speaking out for Truth against the abuses of the church hierarchy. However, the reforming voices of Luther and those like him occasioned a split in the Church that has not been healed to this day. It is good, then, to turn our hearts and minds to the whole Church of the Lord Jesus Christ and think today about all those throughout history whom He has made holy by grace. By His glorious Incarnation, Crucifixion, and Resurrection, Christ is renewing the world. One day "every knee will bow...and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."

"What's Behind the Attacks on Christians in Mosul?"

2008-10-28T10:48:00.000-07:00

Newsweek reports on attacks against Christians that have been going on in Mosul (Nineveh), northern Iraq. At least eight, and as many as 20 or more Christians have been killed, while thousands have fled the city. It's not clear who is behind the attacks.

See also "In memoriam: Father Ragheed Ganni (1972-2007)".

Anti-Christian violence in Orissa: now at seven weeks

2008-10-11T11:42:00.000-07:00

It has now been seven weeks since the outbreak of violence against Christians in Orissa, a state in east-central India. A Hindu priest, Swami Lakshmanananda Saraswati, was killed along with his four assistants on August 23, and although Maoist guerrillas claimed responsibility, Christians have been blamed for the deaths. Since then the area has seen more than 50 Christians killed, dozens of churches burned down, and thousands forced to flee their homes.

Today the archbishop of Orissa, Raphael Cheenath of the ancient Syro-Malabar Church, issued a call for the state government to put an end to the violence. He claimed that the local police have conspired to stand by passively while Christians are targeted by rioters.

At times the violence has seemed to be dying down, only to flare up freshly. New fighting on Thursday spurred by the Hindu celebration of Dussehra left ten people injured, two of them critically. Meanwhile, eight people have been arrested for the August 26 gang-rape of a nun belonging to Mother Teresa's Missionaries of Charity, but the authorities have been very slow about bringing the case to trial.

Sources include "Orissa archbishop wants CBI probe" (The Times of India), "Orissa death toll rises to 52" (Catholic Culture), and "Three more arrested for raping Orissa nun" (Hindustan Times).

A tale of two holidays

2008-10-01T12:14:00.000-07:00

Today Muslims in North America are celebrating “Eid ul-Fitr,” the “Holiday of the Breaking of the Fast” that comes at the end of the month of Ramadan. Because I teach English as a second language and have a lot of Muslim students, I’ve been very much aware of their daytime fasting that has been going on for the last four weeks. During Ramadan, Muslims are required to purify themselves through abstaining from all food and drink, as well as sex, cigarettes, etc., from dawn until dark every day. Then the coming of Eid means three days of feasting and celebration—the biggest holiday of the year for them. This cycle of fasting and feasting was put in place during the life of Muhammad and commemorates his receiving of the Qur’an.

Although Islamic traditions like these may seem strange to us as modern Western Christians, the fast of Ramadan and feast of Eid may have been influenced by Christian practices that go back even further. A forty-day partial fast for Lent, culminating in the celebration of Easter, was observed at least from the fourth century A.D. Writing in the second century, Irenaeus of Lyons describes some different Christian customs for fasting prior to Easter, and then comments, “Such variation in the observance did not originate in our own day, but very much earlier, in the time of our forefathers.” In other words, there were some differences in how Christians fasted before Easter, but the observance itself was already ancient.

It is very clear from the Bible and experience that the Lord has built recurring cycles into all of life. The Flood in Noah’s time brought a great disruption, but God’s promise afterward is, “While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, winter and summer, and day and night shall not cease” (Genesis 8:22). What is true in “nature” is also true in human life: we are awake during the day and sleep at night, we alternate work and other activities with meals and rest, and the arc of our life progresses from birth to youth and maturity, and then the declining years and finally physical death.

These cycles also show up in the life of the Church, as they should. In the Old Testament God gave His people a yearly pattern of holidays, with the great fast occurring at the Day of Atonement and the greatest feast coming at Passover as the Israelites celebrated their deliverance from Egypt. Weekly sabbaths were lesser holidays, but just as important in their own right. Every week the Israelites had a day to rest and worship the Lord as they remembered His completion of the work of creation. Since the time of Christ and the apostles, the Church has developed new holidays that commemorate similar things in the light of the Incarnation of the Son of God. Our weekly day of joy is no longer the seventh-day sabbath, but the first day of week, on which Jesus Christ conquered death and brought life and immortality to light (2 Timothy 1:10). And the Church has traditionally celebrated new annual holidays in place of the great days of the Old-Covenant Jews. The inter-Testamental festival of light, Hanukkah, was replaced by the new winter festival of Christmas to celebrate Messiah’s birth. And the high holy day of Passover has become Easter Sunday, the celebration of the Resurrection of the Lamb which is the greatest of all days of the year.

Although the Bible does not require Christians to observe any kind of fast before Easter or feast on that special Sunday, we have far greater reasons for doing so than the Muslims have for their Ramadan and their Eid. If Muslims fear offending God through their sins, we have far greater reason to fear if we rebel against the God who is not only far away but also very near to us in the Incarnate Christ and in His Spirit. If they grieve and purify themselves during the holy month of the revelation of the Qur’an, we ought to grieve far more because we know our sins required the death of the Son of God, the Perfect Man. And most of all, if they rejoice and feast and congratulate each other at the end of the fast of Ramadan, we ought to have a joy that knows no bounds as we come to our annual bright festival of Easter: the Lord reclaiming Life and re-making the world by His glorious resurrection! They believe they have received a book from God; we know that we have received God Himself. Jesus has come, and He is making all things new.

I Believe in the Communion of Saints

2008-09-03T23:21:00.000-07:00

“Yet she on earth hath union
With God the Three in One,
And mystic sweet communion
With those whose rest is won…”
—Samuel J. Stone, “The Church’s One Foundation”

The confession known as the “Apostles’ Creed” is one of the most ancient statements of faith in Western Christendom. It originated in the first or second century A.D. and developed into its present form by about 700, and it is now held in common by Roman Catholics, Western-Rite Orthodox, Lutherans, Anglicans, Presbyterians and the Continental Reformed, Methodists, many Baptists, and others.

Not only is the Apostles’ Creed itself a signpost to unity among different denominations of Christians, but it also contains a ringing testimony to the unity of Christ’s people. Like most ancient Christian confessions of faith, the Creed is divided into three main sections—one on the Father, one on the Son, and one on the Holy Spirit. The third section begins: “I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic Church, the communion of saints.” Now, we know that the Spirit is the third Person of the Holy Trinity, the breath of God the Father and the gift of the Son. And given our heritage of covenantal theology, the Church is not foreign to our thinking. But what is this “communion of saints,” and what do we mean when we say that we believe in it?

The words that make up this phrase are not hard to grasp. “Communion” is the Greek koinōnia, “having or being in common,” a word that is often translated as “fellowship” or “sharing.” “Saints” are simply “holy ones,” that is, people who are set apart (the root meaning of “holy” or “saint”) as God’s own. Basically, the communion of saints is fellowship with the holy ones, sharing together with all God’s people. A simple concept—but when we understand the true meaning of fellowship and of holiness, the implications are profound, and the consequences stretch to eternity.

Let us begin at the beginning. Having communion or fellowship with the saints must always start with God Himself, the Holy One. What is said about Christ in Hebrews is a true description of the Triune God: He is “holy, innocent, unstained, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens” (Hebrews 7:26). God is glorious, supreme above His creation and absolutely free of all defilement of sin. He is His own being, eternally existing of Himself and not dependent on anyone else. All goodness and rightness are ultimately defined by Him without need for any other standard above or beside Him. He is who He is, an eternally burning flame of love and light that illuminates the whole universe and consumes anything that stands opposed to it. All this is what we mean when we confess that God is holy.

But the attribute of holiness is not limited to God alone. It is His both to have and to give, and He gives it to whom He chooses. He once set free the nation of Israel from slavery in Egypt, in order for them to be “a holy nation” (Exodus 19:6). He told them, “You shall be holy, for I am holy” (Leviticus 11:45). The apostle Peter quotes the same words to the New Testament people of God (1 Peter 1:16), agreeing with the words of Paul that Christians are “called as saints” (Romans 1:7). Being God’s people means being people who love what He loves, who hate what He hates, who seek what He seeks. In this life no Christian is yet completely holy, but every Christian is called to total holiness and is led by God to become what He intends. It is for this reason that we who live the Christian life (with all our remaining weaknesses and doubts) are described in Scripture as “holy.” That is, Christians all over the world—whether old or young, wise or immature, sophisticated or simple, black or white or yellow or brown—are every one of us “saints” in God’s eyes.

Now if Christians who still struggle with the trials of earthly life are saints and holy to the Lord, how much more is this true of those who have completed their work here and gone on into His presence! “He who has died has been freed [literally, ‘justified’] from sin,” writes Paul (Romans 6:7). Whoever dies in the Lord gets the best of all worlds—they are freed from their sins and yet still able to practice righteousness; they rest from their labors and yet the fruit of their good deeds follows them (Revelation 14:13); and best yet, they die to this world only to live with the Lord and await the fulfillment of life in the Resurrection (cf. 2 Corinthians 5:1-10).

For all of the reasons just given, Christians throughout history have given great honor to those who went before us. We know by faith that we are in Christ, but they already see His face and experience gloriously what we still know only dimly and long for. And yet we have the same Lord and the same salvation as they; we share with them the same hope of resurrected glory; and we are joined together with them in the life of God the Trinity. Therefore we know that we belong to them and they to us. Everything they have is already ours by faith and in hope. While their past example points the way for us to follow, we are motivated to righteousness in the present by knowing that they surround us as a “great cloud of witnesses” (Hebrews 12:1).

In fact, it was in just this way that the creedal phrase “communion of saints” was originally understood. The early Christians suffered severe persecutions that included the loss of many of their friends. It was especially important for them to know that those saints who had already finished the race were present with them constantly through their common Lord, Jesus. Christians who faced everything from ridicule to martyrdom for their faith could look to those who had already “fallen asleep” as examples, as forerunners, as fathers and mothers in the Way, as partakers together with them of the constant stream of life that flows from God.

In these more secular and earth-bound times, we need to pay attention to the real fellowship we have with Christians who have finished their earthly life. We are not to worship them, because after all they are still only our fellow servants, and worship is due to God alone (see Revelation 19:10). But we ought to honor and respect them, learn about their lives and seek to imitate them as they imitated Christ. We know that just as we are joined to them in the “communion of saints,” they also are joined to us. The future of the holy Church that they worked to build up during their time on earth is now in our hands. The full fruitfulness of their past labors depends on our faithfulness in the present to carry on their work—and we will pass it on to those who will come after us.

While our communion with all the saints binds us closely to past believers, it also has profound meaning for the present life of Christians. John’s Gospel records the Lord Jesus speaking again and again about the need for unity among His followers on earth. The unity of God’s flock was a key part of Jesus’ own mission: “Other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they will hear My voice; and there will be one flock and one shepherd” (John 10:16). Love for one another would be the essential mark of Christ’s disciples (John 13:35). God has declared that He will not give His glory to another (Isaiah 48:11), but He gave it to His own Son who is the exact representation of Himself—and the Son gave glory to His disciples. Yet He did not lose any glory in giving it away, because the purpose of the gift was to join all of them together with one another and with the Father and the Son, in a perfect unity that would prove to the world that Jesus was sent by God (John 17:22-23).

This divine glory is what we share in here and now—not only with our brothers and sisters who have gone on to their eternal reward, but also with those who struggle together with us in this world. The Apostle Paul (whom we are told to imitate, as he imitated Christ) was one who knew the communion of the saints as a living reality. He wrestled daily and hourly in prayer for the Christian people who were so dear to him. His concern was not only for those he knew, but also for those who had never seen his face in the flesh (Colossians 2:1). His very life was tied up with the Thessalonian believers’ steadfastness in the Lord (1 Thessalonians 3:8). Whenever any Christian was weak, he felt it in himself; any stumble by a fellow believer, and he himself was burning up (2 Corinthians 11:29).

The communion of saints means that no Christian is exempt from fellowship with any other Christian. The public actions of Christian leaders, from the Pope of Rome to charismatic televangelists and from Chinese house-church pastors to the Anglican Archbishop of Nigeria, reflect on all Christians everywhere. On the local level, a well-educated and wealthy church that glories in its own theological attainments but turns up its nose at the simpler brethren down the street is just as much a disgrace to the Gospel as a church that denies the foreknowledge of God or the deity of Christ—perhaps more so, because it adds hypocrisy to all its other sins.

If you truly love the Lord, and know that the church is His body, how can you be detached from the life of all the Lord’s people? Can you be satisfied with anything less than the intense agonies of Paul, in prayer for the churches and in labor with them until they are fully formed in Christ? Can you do anything other than remember the prisoners, as if you yourselves were chained with them (Hebrews 13:3)? Can you ignore the Holy Spirit’s voice telling you to “rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep” (Romans 12:15)? In this age of information, how can you not seek to know about—and uphold with your prayers and resources—your fellow Christians in Africa, in Asia, in Australia and the Pacific islands, in Europe, in Latin America, in the Middle East?

We are in fact joined to all who are in Christ—past and present, near and far, old and young, of all tribes and languages and cultures. Let us devote ourselves wholeheartedly to the communion of saints, to know and honor our fathers in the faith, to love and serve the Christians of today, and so to glorify God in His Church as it expands throughout the world.

The Gift of Suffering

2008-08-27T21:00:00.000-07:00

“Only let your conduct be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of your affairs, that you stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel, and not in any way terrified by your adversaries, which is to them a proof of perdition, but to you of salvation, and that from God. For to you it has been granted on behalf of Christ, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake, having the same conflict which you saw in me and now hear is in me.”
—Philippians 1:27-29

The Apostle Paul’s letter to the Philippian Christians is one of the most profound ironies not only in the Bible, but in the whole history of the human soul. Held fast in a Roman prison, uncertain if he would ever get out alive, Paul penned this letter saturated with peace and joy. He urged his friends not to be afraid of the very real enemies that they faced. Even though persecution and suffering had already come upon the Philippians and could be expected to get worse, they were to rejoice! Why? Because just as their faith in Christ had been granted to them as a gift from God, so also their suffering was a gift. Their choice to receive it from God’s hand, without fear, was a sign that all opposition to them would fail—but that they themselves would be saved.

Christians who lived (like these Philippians) in the first century after Christ could expect to receive severe and very visible persecution for their profession of faith. Many were actually put to death, following in their Lord’s footsteps as they went to execution. The deacon Stephen was stoned to death by enraged Jews in Jerusalem; James, John’s brother, was killed with the sword; and according to ancient Christian tradition, all of the Twelve Apostles except John were eventually martyred for their confessed faith in Christ. The early Church produced too many martyrs to count—men, women, and children who were faithful to the point of death (cf. Revelation 2:10). Alongside these believers who died for their faith, there were many more who were imprisoned, forced out of their homes and livelihoods, and subjected to other kinds of hardships.

Throughout history, there have been many places and times in which Christians have been forced to suffer just like our first-century forefathers. But there have also been times and places where Christians live in relative peace. We Christians of North America who live in the twenty-first century have a life of astonishing ease and comfort, in comparison with many of those who went before us. How should we respond when we read words like Paul’s exhortation to the Philippians quoted above? What should we do when we hear the even more striking words, “All who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution” (2 Timothy 3:12)? Here Paul is making it sound as though every godly Christian is a suffering Christian! And how are we to react to the Apostle Peter’s words in 1 Peter 4:1, “Since Christ suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same mind, for he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin”? Here it sounds as if we are to positively choose suffering and seek it out—that suffering is the preferred way for us both to imitate Christ’s example and to be free from sin.

The words of Scripture are true, of course. However, even though suffering for Christ’s sake is a common experience to godly Christians of all times and places, the appearance of that suffering can be very different. We may consider the history of just one country, Egypt, as an illustration of the great range of persecutions that Christians have suffered over time. John Mark—the writer of the “Gospel according to Mark” and the first Christian bishop of Alexandria—suffered a martyr’s death when worshipers of the old Egyptian gods had him dragged behind horses through the streets of the city. Three centuries later, Mark’s successor Athanasius the Great suffered a lesser but still very real persecution, being exiled five times from Alexandria because he affirmed the deity of Christ against the Arian heretics. Samuel the Confessor, an Egyptian Christian who lived in the seventh century, was tortured for his faith both by agents of the Byzantine emperor and by sun-worshiping Berbers. In recent years, some Coptic Christians living in Islamic Egypt have suffered exile from their homes like Athanasius, physical abuse like Samuel, and in a few cases, even death like Mark. Yet for the most part they have experienced less obvious kinds of persecution: being denied a job because they are Christians, or being subjected to the spite and ridicule of others who think they are inferior. All of these kinds of suffering, from simple annoyance and harassment up to and including martyrdom, are joined together as a testimony to the perseverance and faith of the Church in Egypt throughout history.

We must never deny the importance of those Christian heroes who are called to give up their lives, or at least suffer physical torture, for the sake of the Gospel. And yet the experience of suffering that most of us face as Christians in the West is closer to that of our modern Egyptian brothers than to what the ancient ones experienced. Very few of us are called to lay down our lives or go into exile for the Gospel; many more are called to lose respect or social status, or perhaps a job opportunity with its accompanying income, if we resist compromising our faith.

For any Christian reading this paper, the questions to be asked are simple. Do you ever experience some kind of suffering—ridicule, exclusion from social circles, verbal abuse, loss of opportunity, or other hard circumstances—because of your faithfulness in living as a follower of Christ? If so, how ought you to respond to it? If not, why not? The Bible does not teach that persecution and suffering will be constant for Christians, nor does it tell us some arbitrary level to which a person must be persecuted before he can be regarded as truly godly. But if you never experience suffering of any kind for your faith, is your obedience to God really as consistent as it ought to be? Are you compromising with worldliness in your actions, speech, or even thoughts (which shape the rest of a person) and so avoiding persecution because you’re really not so different from the non-believers around you? Or are you hiding the fact that you’re a Christian, trying to “fly under the radar” rather than face the responsibility of living as a servant of God in the middle of an ungodly workplace, extended family, or social network?

While the questions to be asked are simple and hard-hitting, the choices to be made are not always clear-cut. I once went into a job interview carrying a book with a cross symbol prominently displayed on the cover; it was a copy of St. Augustine’s Confessions that I had brought to read while waiting for the interview to start. The interviewer noticed the book and felt called upon to give me a warning: I would be free to read these kinds of books and practice my faith however I wanted on my own time, but I ought not to bring these things directly into my work or be pushy about them with customers. Christians who face situations like this one need to respond, like Daniel, with wisdom and tact (Daniel 2:14). Employers, relatives, and others who set limitations on our visible practice of our faith may simply be trying to preserve external harmony between us and them. Employers are concerned that we not become deadbeat employees who abuse work hours to advance our own “spiritual” purposes. Likewise, family members who do not share our faith in Christ may prefer to stay away from arguments over religion. We need to find ways to honor their sincere concerns, make a good-faith effort to avoid unprofitable talk and actions in the name of Christ, and still maintain a Christian testimony that is both peaceable and courageous. In other words, if we do eventually find ourselves suffering for what we do and say, that suffering had better be for the right reasons.

The Apostle Peter warns that not all of the suffering of Christians is worthy of praise. Christians may suffer for all the things that people of the world suffer for (murder, theft, unethical actions, meddling in other people’s business) and be worse off after their suffering, not better (1 Peter 4:15). On the other hand, if you are truly suffering for the sake of righteousness, several other factors must be in place. First, you have sanctified the Lord God in your heart, that is, acknowledged Him as holy and devoted yourself to Him. Second, you are ready to answer those who ask you about the source of your hope. (It’s true that Paul predicted persecution for the godly, but this is the other side of the same coin. If you never experience suffering, you have reason to ask whether you are truly living for God as you ought. But you should be asking that same question if you find that you are not filled with an inner hope, one that makes even pagans take notice.) Last but not least—in fact, Peter places this point first—if you are really suffering for righteousness, you are blessed for what you suffer. (1 Peter 3:14-15) If your suffering is for doing wrong, there is no blessing from God in it; but if it is truly for the sake of righteousness, you will know that God is with you and will vindicate you—even if you do not see this triumphant result for a long time.

Now at last we return to the second of the puzzling exhortations about suffering that we considered earlier. This one also comes from Peter: “Therefore, since Christ suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same mind, for he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin” (1 Peter 4:1). We have seen that suffering comes in many different forms, but in one way or another should be expected by every godly Christian. Well, then, a choice to be godly is a choice to suffer; and a choice to suffer for godliness is a choice for what should be every Christian’s greatest desire: to follow in the footsteps of the Lord Jesus. If you set your mind to be godly, you are also placing yourself on the path of suffering. But rejoice! When in this way you choose to suffer for the sake of Christ, you are also putting the greatest distance possible between yourself and sin. Once you are so devoted to righteousness that you suffer for it, what place does the negation of righteousness have any more in your life? And once your mind is set on godliness and your body is imprinted with righteous suffering, you can know for certain that God is at work in you to conform you into the image of His Son.

Mercy Children's Home, and more from Myanmar

2008-08-26T15:23:00.000-07:00

Doug Jones posted some new photos from Myanmar: the Mercy Children's Home, and a look at the kinds of transportation Pastor Naing Thang used to visit churches in the north... Wow!

CREC Friends in Myanmar

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, R.I.P. (1918-2008)

2008-08-03T21:04:00.000-07:00

Aleksandr Isayevich Solzhenitsyn, the courageous Russian writer and intellectual, died today at the age of 89.

Solzhenitsyn was best known for Arkhipelag GULag, in English "The Gulag Archipelago," his exposé of the Russian prison system that was first published in Paris in 1973. He was also awarded the 1970 Nobel Prize for Literature for his One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich and similar writings.

Already banned from the Soviet Union, Solzhenitsyn became increasingly controversial in the West after his 1978 commencement address at Harvard, "A World Split Apart." In this speech he argued that liberty and culture were in decline in the West, and could not be revived unless God was again acknowledged and secular humanism rejected.

Solzhenitsyn's statement of these themes reached its fullest expression in his 1983 Templeton Address, which will serve as a fitting monument to him: "Men Have Forgotten God."

For August: Psalm 47

2008-08-01T19:19:00.001-07:00

(translated from the Hebrew by Jeffrey Moss)

Of the Choir Director. Of the Sons of Korah. A psalm.

All peoples, clap your hands!
Raise a shout to God with a resounding voice!
For Yahweh Most High is feared,
a great king over the whole earth.
He subdues peoples under us,
nations under our feet;
He chooses our inheritance for us,
the majesty of Jacob, whom He loves. selah

God has gone up with shouting,
Yahweh with the sounding of a trumpet!
Sing the praises of God, sing praises!
Sing praises to our King, sing praises!
For the King of the whole earth is God;
sing a song of contemplation.
God has taken up His reign over the Gentiles;
God has taken His seat upon the throne of His holiness.
The nobles of the peoples have gathered,
the people of Abraham’s God.
For to God belong the sovereigns of the earth;
He is greatly exalted!

The church in north Myanmar

2008-07-31T16:09:00.000-07:00

Here are photos from Pastor Naing Thang's visit to several Reformed (CREC) churches in the north of Myanmar (Burma).

What a joy to see the Body of Christ gathered at the ends of the earth!

Beards

2008-07-30T21:16:00.000-07:00

“It is the business of these great masters to produce in every age a general misdirection of what may be called sexual ‘taste’. This they do by working through the small circle of popular artists, dressmakers, actresses and advertisers who determine the fashionable type. The aim is to guide each sex away from those members of the other with whom spiritually helpful, happy, and fertile marriages are most likely. Thus we have now for many centuries triumphed over nature to the extent of making certain secondary characteristics of the male (such as the beard) disagreeable to nearly all the females — and there is more in that than you might suppose….”
—C. S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters

What’s so important about beards? Why do men grow them, why do some men shave them, and does it matter? And why in the world would C. S. Lewis, in his fictional account of the secret life of demons, include some women’s dislike for beards as one of the demonic success stories?

Let us begin at the very beginning. “God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them…. The LORD God formed man [Adam] of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being…. But for Adam there was not found a helper comparable to him. And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall on Adam, and he slept; and He took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh in its place. Then the rib which the LORD God had taken from man He made into a woman, and He brought her to the man. And Adam said:

“‘This is now bone of my bones
And flesh of my flesh;
She shall be called Woman,
Because she was taken out of Man.’

“Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.” (Genesis 1:27; 2:7, 20b-24).

So mankind—both male and female—is created in the image of God. For this reason, men and women are equal in dignity and honor. Yet there are differences also. Adam was created first, from the dust; Eve was formed later out of Adam’s side. Adam was commissioned to work, and Eve to help him in his work. While man and woman are equal before God, they are different in their roles toward each other.

Because men and women were created to hold different positions in human society, God has ordained certain physical and societal differences between them. Obviously, men are distinguished from women by their different body shape and reproductive function. But in addition to this, God prohibited women from wearing what pertains to a man, and men from wearing women’s clothing (Deuteronomy 22:5). He decreed that a man or a woman should not take the position of the other in sexual relations, under penalty of death (Leviticus 20:13; Romans 1:26-32). And by specifying of bishops and elders that such a man should be “the husband of one wife” (1 Timothy 3:2; Titus 1:6), He restricted the leadership of the church to men, even while linking the salvation of women to childbearing (1 Timothy 2:15)—a role that a man cannot perform.

And besides all these things, God gave to men (generally speaking) the ability to grow a beard.

There is no Biblical requirement that men should be bearded, or that they must wear some kind of facial hair. Yet a beard is one of the natural features that God has given men to distinguish themselves as men and not women. In fact, while beards are mentioned infrequently in the Bible, this seems to be only because it was generally assumed that men would wear them. We are told specifically that King David (1 Samuel 21:13), General Amasa (2 Samuel 20:9), Ezekiel the prophet (Ezekiel 5:1), and Ezra the priest (Ezra 9:3) were bearded men. Psalm 133 compares unity among brothers to the precious anointing oil running down into the beard of the high priest Aaron, who is one of the most important Old Testament foreshadowings of Christ. It is noteworthy that the Hebrew word for “beard” (zāqān) is closely related to the word for “elder” (zāqēn), which helps to illustrate the symbolic value of the beard as a mark of honor and wisdom.

On the other hand, there are only ten Biblical references to shaving the beard, and every one of them is related to either disease, idolatry, judgement for sin, or deep mourning. Consider the list that follows:

1. If a man has a skin disease, he is supposed to shave himself as part of the process of quarantining the potential leprosy (Leviticus 13:29-34).

2. A leper who is healed is to shave his entire head as part of the cleansing ritual (Leviticus 14:9), since his hair and beard were associated with the leprosy that he had before.

3. God prohibited cutting off the edges of the beard (Leviticus 19:27), a practice which was connected with idolatrous pagan worship, just like making cuts in the skin (1 Kings 18:28).

4. Priests, because they were holy to the Lord, were especially forbidden to shave the edges of their beards (Leviticus 21:5).

5. The Ammonite king Hanun seized David's messengers and shaved off half of their beards (along with cutting off half of their robes) as a way to especially humiliate them. David graciously told them to stay in Jericho until their beards grew back, so that they would not be exposed to public shame (2 Samuel 10:4-5). In the Greek translation of this passage, it says that the men were “dishonored” (the verb is atimazō), and the Apostle Paul uses the same root word to say in 1 Corinthians 11:14 that long hair is a “dishonor” (atimia, noun) to a man. Comparing these two passages, both a shaven face and long hair are considered to be dishonorable for men, because they go against what is natural to them and obscure the distinction between men and women.

6. Isaiah describes the coming judgement on Israel metaphorically by saying that the king of Assyria would cut off their beards and also shave their heads and their legs (Isaiah 7:20).

7. Isaiah says that in the coming destruction of Moab, the Moabites would shave their heads and cut off their beards—as a sign of either judgement or deep mourning, or both (Isaiah 15:1-2).

8. Eighty men came to Mizpah with their beards shaved off, their clothes torn, and their bodies cut, to show their profound grief over the ruin of Judah by the Babylonians (Jeremiah 41:5).

9. Jeremiah also prophesies that the men of Moab would have bald heads, clipped beards, cuts on their hands, and sackcloth on their bodies, because of the coming judgement (Jeremiah 48:37).

10. Ezekiel was to shave his head and beard as a sign of the destruction of the people of Jerusalem for their wickedness and rebellion (Ezekiel 5:1-5). (Similarly, Ezra pulled out some of his beard and tore his clothes as a sign of deep mourning over apostasy among the Israelites, Ezra 9:3.)

Along with all of these references to beards, there is Isaiah’s prophecy of the sufferings of Jesus. He speaks of three ways in which Christ’s enemies dishonored Him: they beat Him, they spit in His face, and they plucked out His beard (Isaiah 50:6).

Thus a consistent pattern emerges in the Bible’s references to beards: For men, wearing a beard tends to be a mark of honor and even of wisdom. On the other hand, shaving of the beard is mentioned only in connection with malignant diseases, idolatrous rituals that were banned in Israel, destructive judgements, great disgrace, or deep mourning. Whatever we may think of it in our day, in the Bible it was normal for men to have hair on their faces—and whenever they deviated from this pattern, something was deeply wrong.

Throughout the centuries, much Christian writing and tradition has preserved the same positive attitude about beards on men. Only a few examples from the Church Fathers and the time of the Reformation will be given here. St. Clement of Alexandria (c. 150-c. 215) wrote of beards as an important God-given distinction between men and women: “How womanly it is for one who is a man to comb himself and shave himself with a razor, for the sake of fine effect, and to arrange his hair at the mirror, shave his cheeks, pluck hairs out of them, and smooth them!…For God wished women to be smooth and to rejoice in their locks alone growing spontaneously, as a horse in his mane. But He adorned man like the lions, with a beard, and endowed him as an attribute of manhood, with a hairy chest—a sign of strength and rule.” St. Cyprian of Carthage (d. 258) added, “The beard must not be plucked. ‘You shall not deface the figure of your beard,’” citing Leviticus 19:27 as his authority. The fourth-century “Apostolic Constitutions,” which had great authority in the formation of church law, also quotes Leviticus when it urges, “Men may not destroy the hair of their beards and unnaturally change the form of a man. For the Law says, ‘You shall not deface your beards.’ For God the Creator has made this decent for women, but has determined that it is unsuitable for men.”

When the Western or “Catholic” Church split from the Eastern Orthodox Church in 1054, they condemned the East for many things, including having non-celibate clergy who wore beards. The two issues were apparently connected. Roman Catholic clergy took vows of celibacy and also were clean-shaven, rejecting the beard because of its association with male sexuality. On the other hand, many of the leading Protestant Reformers grew long beards at the same time that they rejected clerical celibacy and other church traditions that they viewed as unscriptural. (And although William Shakespeare does not exactly speak for the whole of English Protestantism, he does have Beatrice say in Much Ado about Nothing, “He that hath a beard is more than a youth, and he that hath no beard is less than a man.”)

It would be wrong to say that for men to be clean-shaven is sinful or wicked. However, God has generally designed men’s faces to grow hair. When a society like our own prefers to have men’s facial hair shaved off, it shows that it does not value masculine honor, since it removes one of the natural marks distinguishing men from women. It is as if either idolatry, shame, illness, or judgement—the Biblical situations in which we see men being shaved—has become the norm for our culture.

Some people may object that Christian men ought to have an agreeable appearance, and a beard detracts from that. In part, this objection is based on worldly preferences that are not founded in Biblical teaching; in fact, the desire to conform to secular standards of attractiveness is sometimes condemned in the Bible when it goes against deeper standards of modesty and beauty (see 1 Corinthians 11:3-16; 1 Timothy 2:9-10; 1 Peter 3:3). However, there is some truth in the objection as well. Trimming or shaping one’s beard, choosing to wear different styles of beards or mustaches, or going clean-shaven when there are strong external reasons for it, are all very acceptable style choices for Christian men. But as we make these choices, we ought to remember that godless Western culture has a deep-seated resentment against men who are masculine (along with women who are feminine). Christian men should always be watchful to do what we can to resist that trend, showing by our appearance as well as our behavior that we honor the role God has given to us as men.

Poetry: Rich Mullins, "Calling Out Your Name"

2008-07-25T17:24:00.000-07:00

The American singer-songwriter Rich Mullins (1955-1997) composed a body of songs that were generally contemporary in their style, but often timeless in the depth of their content. His rhapsodies about the praises of God in nature are poetry in their own right, sometimes calling to mind the work of such earlier authors as Gerard Manley Hopkins.

Calling Out Your Name
by Rich Mullins

Psalm 19:1-6, Psalm 65:5-13

Well the moon moved past Nebraska
And spilled laughter on them cold Dakota Hills
And angels danced on Jacob's stairs
Yeah, they danced on Jacob's stairs
There is this silence in the Badlands
And over Kansas the whole universe was stilled
By the whisper of a prayer
The whisper of a prayer

And the single hawk bursts into flight
And in the east the whole horizon is in flames
I feel thunder in the sky
I see the sky about to rain
And I hear the prairies calling out Your name

I can feel the earth tremble
Beneath the rumbling of the buffalo hooves
And the fury in the pheasant's wings
And there's fury in a pheasant's wings
It tells me the Lord is in His temple
And there is still a faith that can make the mountains move
And a love that can make the heavens ring
And I've seen love make heaven ring

Where the sacred rivers meet
Beneath the shadow of the Keeper of the plains
I feel thunder in the sky
I see the sky about to rain
And I hear the prairies calling out Your name

From the place where morning gathers
You can look sometimes forever 'til you see
What time may never know
What time may never know
How the Lord takes by its corners this old world
And shakes us forward and shakes us free
To run wild with the hope
To run wild with the hope

The hope that this thirst will not last long
That it will soon drown in the song not sung in vain
And I feel thunder in the sky
I see the sky about to rain
And I hear the prairies calling out Your name

And I know this thirst will not last long
That it will soon drown in the song not sung in vain
I feel thunder in the sky
I see the sky about to rain
And with the prairies I am calling out Your name

The Trinity and the Bible

2008-07-19T20:57:00.000-07:00

One of several thoughts that arose during a discussion with Patrick (Pak Wa) Yau over his postings on "The Fake Four-God Bible".

The doctrine that God is Trinity, three Persons in one divine Being, helps us both to trust the Bible and have hope that we can understand it.

God the Father is the source of the Bible. He is the Giver of the Word. The trustworthiness of the Bible rests on His authority.

God the Son illuminates the Bible. Without Jesus, it would have been very difficult for us to hear and understand God's Word. But in Him, God has become one of us so that we have a person to match with that Voice. The Bible is illuminated by the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, by the way He lived and talked when He was with us on earth.

God the Spirit interprets the Bible. If it were not for the Holy Spirit, true explanation of the Bible's teachings would be beyond us. But Jesus promised to send His Spirit to be with us, so that we would understand the things that God has spoken to us. The presence of the Spirit in the Church makes it possible for us to know that we are interpreting God's Word rightly, because the Spirit of the same God is with us teaching us how to read it. The right interpretation of the Bible flows from submission to the Spirit of God, who is present among us and lives in us.

Poetry: St. John of the Cross

2008-07-16T18:07:00.000-07:00

San Juan de la Cruz (St. John of the Cross, 1542-1591) composed some of the most beautiful poetry of love for God that has ever been written.

Here is his "Cantar del alma que se huelga de conocer a Dios por fe" (Song of the soul that rejoices in knowing God by faith), in Spanish and with an English translation from Carmelite.com.

Qué bien sé yo la fonte que mane y corre,
aunque es de noche.

1. Aquella eterna fonte está escondida,
que bien sé yo do tiene su manida,
aunque es de noche.

2. Su origen no lo sé, pues no le tiene,
mas sé que todo origen de ella tiene,
aunque es de noche.

3. Sé que no puede ser cosa tan bella,
y que cielos y tierra beben de ella,
aunque es de noche.

4. Bien sé que suelo en ella no se halla,
y que ninguno puede vadealla,
aunque es de noche.

5. Su claridad nunca es oscurecida,
y sé que toda luz de ella es venida,
aunque es de noche.

6. Sé ser tan caudalosos sus corrientes.
que infiernos, cielos riegan y las gentes,
aunque es de noche.

7. El corriente que nace de esta fuente
bien sé que es tan capaz y omnipotente,
aunque es de noche.

8. El corriente que de estas dos procede
sé que ninguna de ellas le precede,
aunque es de noche.

9. Aquesta eterna fonte está escondida
en este vivo pan por darnos vida,
aunque es de noche.

10. Aquí se está llamando a las criaturas,
y de esta agua se hartan, aunque a oscuras
porque es de noche.

11. Aquesta viva fuente que deseo,
en este pan de vida yo la veo,
aunque es de noche.

For I know well the spring that flows and runs,
although it is night.

1. That eternal spring is hidden,
for I know well where it has its rise,
although it is night.

2. I do not know its origin, nor has it one,
but I know that every origin has come from it,
although it is night.

3. I know that nothing else is so beautiful,
and that the heavens and the earth drink there,
although it is night.

4. I know well that it is bottomless
and no one is able to cross it,
although it is night.

5. Its clarity is never darkened,
and I know that every light has come from it,
although it is night.

6. I know that its streams are so brimming
they water the lands of hell, the heavens, and earth,
although it is night.

7. I know well the stream that flows from this spring
is mighty in compass and power,
although it is night.

8. I know the stream proceeding from these two,
that neither of them in fact precedes it,
although it is night.

9. This eternal spring is hidden
in this living bread for our life's sake,
although it is night.

10. It is here calling out to creatures;
and they satisfy their thirst, although in darkness,
because it is night.

11. This living spring that I long for,
I see in this bread of life,
although it is night.

The Blessings of Fasting

2008-07-05T13:59:00.000-07:00

A paper that I wrote recently for Greyfriars' Hall.

“Seeing the crowds, [Jesus] went up on the mountain, and when he sat down, his disciples came to him. And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying: … ‘When you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, that your fasting may not be seen by others but by your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.’ ” (Matthew 5:1-2; 6:16-18, ESV)

In the few years of His earthly ministry, the Lord Jesus Christ gathered a group of disciples and taught them about the Kingdom of God. He knew that He would be with them in body only for a short time, and that the teachings He gave them in those days would lay the foundation for the faith of His disciples throughout all future history. Christ spoke to them about the greatest and most essential things: the need to trust in Him, the progress of the Kingdom in history, blessings and curses, murder and adultery, love and hatred, obedience to God, prayer, and…fasting. But if most of these topics are treated in today’s evangelical church as very weighty and serious matters, why is fasting so widely ignored?

Oddly enough, Jesus’ teaching on fasting (as quoted above) comes right in the middle of His “Sermon on the Mount”—a passage that many present-day Christians take as proof that what they do with their bodies is not so very important. After all, didn’t Jesus just finish saying that the poor and despised of the world are blessed in the spiritual realm, where it really counts (Matthew 5:1-12)? Doesn’t He argue that murder and adultery are committed in the heart long before they work themselves out into physical actions (5:21-28)? Doesn’t He say that there is no need to worry about food and clothes—just seek first God’s kingdom, and you’ll have all that you need (6:25-33)? And finally, doesn’t He warn that even people with all the right words and actions can fall short of truly knowing Him (7:21-23)?

But right in the center of this same foundational sermon, there it is—the teaching on fasting. God the Son came to earth and became man, walked among us on two human feet, endured the weaknesses of hunger and thirst, suffered and died and rose again, in part so that He could give us these teachings about abstaining from food for a time—how we ought not to do this, and how we ought to.

As this passage itself makes obvious, fasting was not a new concept in Jesus’ time. The Old Testament Church practiced many kinds of fasts: national fasts (2 Chronicles 20:1-4), group fasts (2 Samuel 1:11-12), and individual fasts (Nehemiah 1:4); annual fasts (Leviticus 16:29-31) and special occasional fasts (Ezra 8:21-23); public fasts (Ezra 9:3-5) and private fasts (Daniel 9:3); absolute fasts without food or water (Esther 4:16), “normal” fasts by abstaining from food only (2 Samuel 12:16-17), and partial fasts (Daniel 10:2-3); fasts for public concerns (Judges 20:25-26) and for personal ones (1 Samuel 1:6-8). Old Covenant believers were continuing in these practices in Christ’s time (cf. Luke 2:36-37). Just as with His teachings on other aspects of the Law, the Lord was affirming the divinely-ordained practice of fasting by setting it free from hypocritical abuses. If His disciples did not fast while He was with them, it was only because with Him they had a continual wedding feast. But in the future, He said, He would be taken from them, and that would be the time for fasting (Mark 2:18-20). The disciples of Jesus learned this lesson well; several kinds of fasts are clearly illustrated and taught in the remainder of the New Testament (see Acts 10:30; 13:1-3; 14:23; 27:33-38; 1 Corinthians 7:5; 8:13; 2 Corinthians 6:5; 11:27).

How, then, should we fast? A study of Biblical teachings and examples of fasting will illustrate why Christians ought to fast and when we would do well to fast, while also giving us direction about how to fast. First, however, what is fasting? A survey of dictionary definitions for the English verb “fast” gives the common idea of abstaining from all or some foods (and perhaps drinks as well) as a religious observance. The Hebrew and Greek words used in the Bible for fasting can suggest either simply abstaining from food, or else humbling or afflicting oneself through this kind of abstinence (as at the Day of Atonement, Leviticus 16:29, and Ezra’s mourning for the sin of the people, Ezra 9:5). Although abstinence from food is the common thread running through most Biblical examples of “fasting,” the idea of humbling oneself to mourn or to seek the will of God is also prominent, as we will see.

A first reason why to fast, as described in Scripture, is to recognize our dependence on God alone—a lesson that is especially necessary in our current situation. Americans in general are as well fed as any people that the world has ever seen. Even while people in many parts of the world are starving, it is said that the average “poverty-stricken” American is overweight to the point of obesity.

When Jesus “had fasted forty days and forty nights, afterward He was hungry,” and yet He still refused to turn stones to bread. Like the Israelites who ate manna in the desert, He knew that “man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God” (Matthew 4:1-4; Deuteronomy 8:3). We may recognize—in theory—our absolute need for God to provide. But until we abstain from food for a few days and feel the extent of our weakness, do we really know just how much we are in need of Him?

Closely related to this first point is the value of fasting for humbling ourselves. The returning exiles under Ezra (8:21-23), holy David when his adversaries were sick (Psalm 35:13), and even the Gentile Ninevites at a time of repentance (Jonah 3:5-9), all fasted as part of the process of humbling themselves before the Lord and seeking His mercy. Some people might object that regular fasting can fail in this purpose and even become a source of pride, as it did with the Pharisee in Jesus’ parable (Luke 18:11-12). But the Bible recommends fasting as generally useful for humbling ourselves. The chance of hypocritical pride should not stop us from fasting, any more than it should keep us from praying at all!

One of the most obvious purposes of fasting is to help in devoting ourselves to prayer. Not only can fasting aid Christians’ prayer life by humbling us and directing our minds toward God, but it can also reclaim the time that would otherwise be given to preparing and eating meals. Anna the prophetess devoted herself to fasting and prayer night and day (Luke 2:36-37), and Cornelius’s earnest prayers with fasting were the occasion for the Gospel to go out to the Gentiles (Acts 10:30-31). There are times when we should support the intensity of our prayer by fasting not only from food, but also from sexual relations (1 Corinthians 7:3-5) and even sleep (1 Samuel 15:10-12; Luke 6:12-13). However, we need to be especially careful to set limits to these fasts, to keep from harming ourselves or defrauding our families from what is due them.

A final reason for fasting, and probably the one that is most ignored in our day, is to seek God’s face corporately. Over time Jesus’ words about not fasting “before men” have been perverted to make fasting (if it is practiced at all) into an exclusively private and individual exercise. But the Bible often speaks of fasts on the part of whole communities of God’s people—whether that be a household (2 Samuel 1:11-12), or a church as represented by its leaders (Acts 13:1-3), or the whole covenant community in a city or region (Esther 4:3, 16), or an entire godly nation (2 Chronicles 20:1-4). Some might object that a whole church could not fast together sincerely or that the proclamation of a fast for an entire church body would be too controlling or cult-like. But these objections fly in the face of what we see God’s people doing throughout the Bible, and they prove nothing against churchwide fasts that could not be argued equally well against churchwide worship services. When there are occasions that call for it, the American Church must recover the practice of corporate prayer with fasting. This may well be the one thing that can turn back the tide of selfish individualism among American Christians before it completely overwhelms us.

What, then, are the right occasions for fasting? Several different categories can be found in the Bible.

First, there are fasts at times of mourning and repentance. A fast can at once help us express humility as we consider past sins and defeats, and prepare us for a chastened and wiser life in the future (cf. 1 Samuel 31:8-13; 1 Kings 21:27-29).

Second, there are fasts at times of personal or social crisis. On these occasions, fasting helps add intensity to our prayers as we cry out to the Lord for deliverance (cf. Judges 20:25-26; Esther 4:1-3).

Third, there are fasts meant to support any other occasions of earnest, focused prayer. Daniel fasted at the end of Judah’s seventy years of captivity as he prayed for God to honor His promise by returning the exiles to their land (Daniel 9:1-3). Times of special prayer with fasting are the only exception to Paul’s command that husbands and wives not deprive each other of physical relations (1 Corinthians 7:5).

Fourth, there are fasts at major beginnings and commissionings, to devote the work and the people to God. Thus Paul fasted for three days at the beginning of his Christian life (Acts 9:8), the leaders of the Antiochian church fasted twice as Paul and Barnabas were set aside for missionary work (Acts 13:1-3), and the ordination of elders in every new church was accompanied by prayer and fasting (Acts 14:23).

The Word of God gives us several cautions that ought to accompany our fasting. In a culture where the habit of godly fasting has all but disappeared, it is a higher priority for us to recover the practice of fasting than to guard against potential abuses. “It’s hard to steer a parked car,” as the saying goes. However, in the hope that the American Church will soon see a revival of Biblical fasting in both its corporate and individual forms, we may also consider a few warnings. First, of course, we must be on guard against hypocrisy and be sure that our fasting is for the Lord, not merely for men to see (Matthew 6:16-18; cf. Luke 18:11-12). We should protect against the pitfalls of extreme self-denial by concentrating on the rich blessings we receive in fasting: the Word of God (Luke 4:1-4; cf. Job 23:12), the nourishment of obedience (John 4:31-34), and the pleasure of restoring the poor (Isaiah 58). We must be careful to balance fasting with feasting, so that our fasts do not lose their meaning (cf. Zechariah 7:5-6; 8:19). And finally, we need to remember that fasting itself is temporary. It will come to an end with the great Wedding Supper of the Lamb (Revelation 19:6-9), in which all our fasts and all our feasts will be fulfilled in one glorious, never-ending banquet.

Christian Jews attacked in Israel

2008-06-21T18:30:00.000-07:00

An AP article in the Washington Post today describes the sufferings of Messianic Jews (Jews who believe in Jesus as the Messiah) at the hands of their fellow Jews in Israel.

Despite their small numbers (only about 10,000 in Israel), these Jewish followers of Christ have suffered a variety of attacks in recent months. Last October, a church used by Messianic Jews in Jerusalem was damaged in an apparent case of arson, and a month ago Orthodox Jewish zealots set fire to a stockpile of Christian books. But the worst of the attacks came on March 20 of this year. Ami Ortiz (shown above), the 15-year-old son of a prominent Jewish Christian pastor, lost two toes and part of his hearing in the explosion of a booby-trapped gift box sent to his family.

While believers in Jesus are not overtly persecuted in Israel, the government has placed certain limitations on "proselytization" by them (speaking out in the name of Jesus). In some cases Christian synagogues have been closed, and authorities have tried to revoke the Israeli citizenship of some Messianic Jews. And three months after Ami Ortiz was maimed in an attack that police believe was carried out by fellow Jews, no arrests have been made in the case.

Read the full article here.

Canada: Gay rights trump freedom (and truth)

2008-06-11T12:55:00.000-07:00

In June 2002, Canadian pastor Stephen Boissoin wrote a letter to the editor of an Alberta paper, opposing the "homosexual agenda" that (he said) has been targeting children and corrupting North American culture since the 1960's. Rev. Boissoin, who has a ministry to at-risk youth, was chairman of the Concerned Christian Coalition at that time.

An anti-Christian activist (a certain Darren E. Lund) complained to the province's human rights commission. Rev. Boissoin was investigated, and two weeks ago an Alberta "Human Rights Panel" issued its sentence against him.

Judge Lori Andreachuk ruled that both Rev. Boissoin and the Concerned Christian Coalition are prohibited from "publishing in newspapers, by email, on the radio, in public speeches, or on the internet, in future, disparaging remarks about gays and homosexuals," and furthermore, "all disparaging remarks versus homosexuals are directed to be removed from current web sites and publications of Mr. Boissoin and The Concerned Christian Coalition Inc."

Not only that, but they "are prohibited from making disparaging remarks in the future about Dr. Lund or Dr. Lund’s witnesses relating to their involvement in this complaint," and are required to pay $5000 in damages to Lund and also $2000 in expenses to one of his witnesses. What is especially odd here is that the complainant (Lund) did not even claim that he had been harmed by Rev. Boissoin's remarks—only that he had experienced "pain and suffering" while filing and litigating his complaint!

If this ruling is allowed to stand, both religious freedom and freedom of speech are dead in Alberta. Chillingly, the judge's decision explicitly states that "the publication’s exposure of homosexuals to hatred and contempt trumps the freedom of speech afforded in the [Canadian] Charter." In other words, if a single "human rights" judge feels that your comments may expose homosexuals to hatred (no matter how compassionately those comments are expressed, and whatever "exposure...to hatred" might mean)...then to that degree, your freedom of speech no longer exists.

Sources: "The Corner" on National Review Online, Ezra Levant, Decision on Remedy in the Lund case, "Homosexual Agenda Wicked" (Rev. Boissoin's original letter to the editor). HT: Blog and Mablog

On denominationalism, and being a Christian

2008-05-29T10:25:00.000-07:00

An excellent quote from the writings of Samuel Davies (1723-1761). Davies was a Presbyterian pastor in Virginia whose preaching led to many conversions and new church plants in the later stages of the First Great Awakening. He served for a while as Patrick Henry's pastor, and later succeeded Jonathan Edwards as President of the College of New Jersey (now Princeton University).

Please read this quote carefully. It's definitely worth your time.

“What an endless variety of denominations, taken from some men of character, or from some little peculiarities, has prevailed in the Christian world, and crumbled it to pieces, while the Christian name is hardly regarded?... what party-names have been adopted by the Protestant churches, whose religion is substantially the same common Christianity, and who agree in much more important articles than in those they differ. To be a Christian is not enough now-a-days, but a man must also be something more and better; that is, he must be a strenuous bigot to this or that particular church….

“Every man will find that he agrees more fully in lesser as well as more important articles with some particular church than others; and thereupon it is his duty to join in stated communion with that church; and he may, if he pleases, assume the name which that church wears, by way of distinction from others: this is not what I condemn. But for me to glory in the denomination of any particular church, as my highest character; to lay more stress upon the name of a presbyterian or a churchman than on the sacred name of Christian; to make a punctilious agreement with my sentiments in the little peculiarities of a party the test of all religion; to make it the object of my zeal to gain proselytes to some other than the Christian name; to connive at the faults of those of my own party and to be blind to the good qualities of others, or invidiously to represent or diminish them: these are the things which deserve universal condemnation from God and man; these proceed from a spirit of bigotry and faction, directly opposite to the generous catholic spirit of Christianity, and subversive of it. This spirit hinders the progress of serious practical religion, by turning the attention of men from the great concerns of eternity, and the essentials of Christianity, to vain jangling and contest about circumstantials and trifles. Thus the Christian is swallowed up in the partisan, and fundamentals lost in extra-essentials….

“You may, if you please, call yourselves presbyterians and dissenters, and you shall bear without shame or resentment all the names of reproach and contempt which the world may brand you with. But as you should not be mortified on the one side, so neither should you glory on the other. A Christian! a Christian! let that be your highest distinction, let that be the name which you labour to deserve. God forbid that my ministry should be the occasion of diverting your attention to anything else.”

"Is it just Jesus in disguise?" or, Eucharistic Docetism

2008-05-13T13:03:00.000-07:00

The legend tells us of an encounter between the young St. Francis and a leper on the plains outside Assisi. As Francis was riding along, he saw the man, disfigured by such hideous sores that Francis almost turned to flee from him. But the love of God overcame his revulsion. This dignified young man—the son of a wealthy merchant—got down from his horse and embraced the man, and kissed his open sores.

Sometimes the story is told with a postscript. When Francis remounted his horse and turned to say good-bye to the leper, the man had vanished. The leper had been Christ in disguise.

The addition to the story gets something right, but at a deeper level it is very wrong. If the leper was Jesus and no one else, then what about the sores? What about the rags? Were they only for show, so that Jesus could teach a lesson in disguise and then pass on? But what if the leper was really a leper—a poor man suffering from a grotesque disease—and Jesus was present in him in the midst of his leprosy?

Here is the problem with the doctrine of transubstantiation, the teaching that the bread and wine of the Lord's Supper are changed by Divine power into the literal body and blood of the Lord Jesus, and so cease to be bread and wine. If this is true, then this food and drink cannot bring us to Christ, because the moment they begin to do so, they are no longer food and drink. But if we eat real bread and drink real wine, and through them really eat the flesh of the Son of God and drink His blood ... then God is really in the world, in things and in people. Then Francis met a man with a real and horrible disease, and in him he really met the Lord. Then the Word has really become Flesh. Then Christ really is the Savior of the world. Not a "savior" who would take us out of the world, but a Savior who sends us into the world (John 17:15-18). He has not come to annihilate the creation and put Himself in its place. No!—He has come to take His place in the creation, and so make it truly become itself, what He created it to be.

Because His brothers were really there craving your help, because they really were needy and weak—because it was for them that you did it, He says, you did it for Him!
“And the King will answer and say to them, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me’ ” (Matthew 25:40).

Because it is really bread that you break and eat, therefore you receive the Body of Christ. It must be and remain bread so that you, through it, may receive His real body into yours! If bread had to be absent for Christ to be present, then we could never meet Christ in the material things of God's creation. But it is bread, real bread!—wine, real wine! so that in it we may really meet our Lord!
“Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry. I speak as to wise men; judge for yourselves what I say. The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ? For we, though many, are one bread and one body; for we all partake of that one bread.” (1 Corinthians 10:14-17).

Ascension Day

2008-05-01T10:25:00.000-07:00

Today--forty days after Easter, the holiday of Christ's resurrection--the Church celebrates His ascension into Heaven.

The Lord Jesus ascended
to His Father;
He sat down at the right hand
of the Mighty One.
From there He will return in glory
to judge the living and the dead,
and there will be no end to His reign.

"Therefore, when they had come together, they asked Him, saying, 'Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?' And He said to them, 'It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority. But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.'

"Now when He had spoken these things, while they watched, He was taken up, and a cloud received Him out of their sight. And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as He went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel, who also said, 'Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven.'"
--Acts 1:6-11 (NKJV)

History

2008-04-28T07:16:00.001-07:00

"The history of the world should purport to be annals of the government of the supreme King."

--Jean Henri Merle d'Aubigné (1794-1872), Swiss historian and pastor

פסח (Passover)

2008-04-20T22:06:00.000-07:00

Pesach (Passover) began last night at sundown.

Exodus 12:12-14 "'For I will pass through the land of Egypt on that night, and will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment: I am the LORD. Now the blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you; and the plague shall not be on you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt.
So this day shall be to you a memorial; and you shall keep it as a feast to the LORD throughout your generations. You shall keep it as a feast by an everlasting ordinance.'"

Pope speaks out against divorce, abortion

2008-04-07T17:57:00.000-07:00

At a Catholic congress on marriage and family, Pope Benedict XVI reaffirmed the Catholic Church's stand against divorce and abortion. These, he said, "are serious offences... which violate human dignity, inflict deep injustice on human and social relations and offend God himself, guarantor of conjugal peace and origin of life.... They also affect innocent victims, the barely-conceived and unborn infant, the children caught up in divorces."

At the same time, Christians are called to help bring peace to people who have been affected by these tragic events: "The Church has the duty to be close to these people with love and delicacy."

(Source: Breitbart via Right Mind)

CHRIST IS RISEN! Rejoice!

2008-03-23T07:09:00.000-07:00

Christ is risen from the dead,
by death He has trampled Death,
and to those in the tombs
He has granted Life!

Joy has come into the world,
Death and the Devil are vanquished,
Hallelu-Yah, Hallelu-Yah, Hallelu-Yah!

Good Friday: "It is finished!"

2008-03-21T09:16:00.001-07:00

(Night at Golgotha, Vasily Vereshchagin)

"Pray that we may be one"

2008-03-18T13:46:00.000-07:00

Matthew Petersen has some very good thoughts here on the quest for Christian unity, and the dangers of being dismissive or patronizing toward Christians in other communions than our own.

Palm Sunday

2008-03-16T20:56:00.000-07:00

Rejoice greatly,
Daughter of Zion!
Raise a shout,
Daughter of Jerusalem!
Look! Your king
is coming to you,
Righteous, and possessed of
salvation-victory is he,
Lowly, and riding
on a donkey,
On a colt,
the offspring of beasts of burden.

—Zechariah 9:9

Mar Paulos Faraj Rahho, archbishop and martyr (1942-2008)

2008-03-15T13:23:00.000-07:00

We, Christians of Mesopotamia, are used to religious persecution and pressures by those in power. After Constantine, persecution ended only for Western Christians, whereas in the East threats continued. Even today we continue to be a Church of martyrs.
—Mar Paulos, Nov. 26, 2007

Paulos Faraj Rahho, the Chaldean Archbishop of Mosul in northern Iraq, was found dead on Thursday after having been kidnapped two weeks ago by a group of Islamist gunmen. He had served as archbishop of the Chaldean Catholics of Mosul for seven years. (Mosul, the archbishop's hometown, is the Biblical city of Nineveh.)

Three of the archbishop's companions were killed in a gunfight during his kidnapping, as he returned home after Mass on February 29. There are conflicting reports about the cause of death of Mar Paulos himself; there are some suggestions that he died from preexisting health conditions made worse by the circumstances of his captivity, while others claim he was shot.

(Sources: The Times Online, AFP)

May the God who was preached in Nineveh by Jonah the prophet and by Mar Paulos, and Jesus His Son, bring perfect peace to Mosul and to all Iraq and the Middle East. May He reduce His enemies to obedience to Christ, through the testimony that His servants offer in both life and death.

The marks of the true Church

2008-03-12T19:02:00.000-07:00

One of the pressing concerns that resurfaced during the Protestant Reformation was how to distinguish between true and false churches. An answer chosen by the early Reformers was that a true church is one that preaches the Word of God purely and administers the Sacraments properly; these two "marks" are noted in the Augsburg Confession (1530) and in the writings of John Calvin (1509-1564). Later, concern for the continuing purity of the Church led Protestant theologians to add the faithful administration of church discipline as a third necessary "mark of the Church." The resulting "three marks" appear in Article 29 of the Belgic Confession (1561), and a variation on them is suggested in Chapter 25 of the Westminster Confession of Faith (1647).

However, as a means of identifying what is a true church, these "marks" make a somewhat odd and lopsided combination. As pastor Brian McLaughlin points out, the two or three marks have come to represent for many North American Christians the whole essence of the Church, as if the church was a place where you came to hear preaching, eat the Lord's Supper, and (maybe) experience the corrective power of church discipline. For the ordinary Christian, participation in these things tends to be passive, and one's daily life can be largely unaffected.

Shouldn't love be acknowledged as one of the essential elements of any true church? If so, these words of Pope Benedict XVI (from his 2005 encyclical "Deus Caritas Est") provide a better description of the marks of the Church:

The Church's deepest nature is expressed in her three-fold responsibility: of proclaiming the word of God (kerygma-martyria), celebrating the sacraments (leitourgia), and exercising the ministry of charity (diakonia). These duties presuppose each other and are inseparable. For the Church, charity is not a kind of welfare activity which could equally well be left to others, but is a part of her nature, an indispensable expression of her very being.

No matter how correct their preaching and sacraments may be, a church without love is a dead church. If we discuss the essential nature of the Church but ignore the centrality of Christian love and its natural results (which include church discipline, missions, etc.), then we lose everything and gain nothing (1 Corinthians 13:1-3).

Obama as America's new religious hope

2008-02-25T06:45:00.000-08:00

It is impossible for human beings to be truly irreligious. A person who chooses not to belong to one of the "traditional" religions -- Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, etc. -- may not express religious devotion in quite the same way, but it will still be very much a part of their life.

An editorial by Kathleen Parker from The Orlando Sentinel suggests that for many young Americans, this religious fervor is now being directed to Barack Obama's presidential campaign. Parker writes, "[Obama's] rhetoric...drips with hints of resurrection, redemption and second comings.... He's a rock star. A telegenic, ultra-bright redeemer fluent in the planetary language of a cosmic generation. The Force is with him."

She goes on to add with frightening insight, "In post-Judeo-Christian America, the sports club is the new church. Global warming is the new religion. Vegetarianism is the new sacrament. Hooking up, the new prayer. Talk therapy, the new witnessing. Tattooing and piercing, the new sacred symbols and rituals.

"And apparently, Barack Obama is the new messiah."

Who gets the credit?

2008-02-23T20:14:00.000-08:00

In his post "Credit where Credit is Due," pastor Evan Wilson argues that judgment for sins and salvation by faith must work on the same principle. He goes on to propose that this principle must be centered on the work of man, not the work of God. In other words, the argument goes, if mankind can be justly held responsible for his sins, he must also be given full credit for his own saving faith--which therefore cannot be caused by God.

The ensuing discussion/debate in the comments section, between Evan and several others including myself, may be of interest to some.

Exorcisms increasing in Australia

2008-02-21T10:23:00.000-08:00

According to an article in Australia's Sunday Mail, Roman Catholic exorcisms are currently on the rise in the Queensland area. The report suggested that growing interest in satanism and the occult in Australia was connected to an increase in requests for priests to perform the ritual of exorcism -- which involves holy water, the Eucharist, and Scripture readings in a series of actions intended to force demons out of the people that they have possessed. Father Gabriele Amorth, Exorcist-in-Chief for Pope Benedict XVI, said that bishops are increasingly providing special training in exorcism to groups of priests, who can then respond to this need under the church's authorization.

African churches take initiative in evangelism

2008-02-19T10:20:00.000-08:00

Quoted from a Global Prayer Digest report for 2/20/08.

Just as individual West African nations have been organizing umbrella organizations to facilitate the evangelical efforts by local churches and mission agencies, so too has the continent of Africa organized a group to coordinate the efforts of African nations to reach every corner of the continent with the gospel of Jesus Christ. The Movement for African National Initiatives (MANI) is the result.

The 1960s saw a surge for independence among African nations, and there was a parallel shift toward indigenous leadership within the African church. The evangelized were becoming the evangelists! Nationals were organizing efforts to reach both the unreached in their own countries as well as in other countries. The emergence of national movements over the last four decades paved the way for the strategic continental movement. A report from the meeting of MANI 2006 inspired those attending with stories of the progress of Christianity in Africa and the world. Churches are being planted in unprecedented numbers, often in difficult situations. Attendees were captivated by a shared sense of destiny that "this is Africa's hour." Still there remain 1,000 people groups and many unchurched communities on the continent.

Pray for innovative leaders with passion, resilience, and a sacrificial spirit to take the gospel to the remaining unreached people groups of Africa and the world. Pray for unity of purpose for African believers to take Christ's Kingdom to the lost.

Nigeria, a missionary-sending nation

2008-02-07T11:42:00.000-08:00

"For every one missionary who enters Nigeria, five nationals are going out as missionaries to other fields."
--from a Wycliffe Bible Translators report

Mary as a "mirror" of Christ

2008-02-05T23:12:00.000-08:00

Here is an online exchange between myself and Matt Petersen, following up on a conversation we had at church this past Sunday.

The starting point for our discussion: Can we say that Jesus now is enclosed within or dependent on Mary, the woman who became His mother? In what way could this be true?

Pope: Human dignity "shattered" by amoral science

2008-01-31T21:18:00.000-08:00

In a speech to his own former department (the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith), Benedict XVI condemned modern science's intrusions into the creation of human life -- embryonic stem cell research, artificial insemination, freezing of embryos, and the prospect of human cloning. He said that such methods "shattered" basic human dignity.

Pope says some science shatters human dignity, on Reuters.com

I am much more impressed by this Bishop of Rome's statements on science than those of his predecessor, John Paul II. John Paul claimed, for example, that the Darwinist theory of evolution was "more than a hypothesis" and not contrary to Biblical revelation. Benedict seems to be on a much firmer footing with regard to the Church's role as a check on the excesses of modern science.

De facto ecumenism

2008-01-23T10:26:00.000-08:00

I've been reflecting on the fact that some of the goals of the ecumenical movement have already been achieved among many evangelical Protestants, and we don't even realize it.

In my experience, it's a common practice for American evangelicals of different denominations to recognize each other as Christians in the fullest possible sense. We generally feel free to visit each other's churches, receive each other's sacraments, recognize each other's pastors and deacons as validly ordained, and have fellowship with each other without worrying about minor differences of belief or practice. Evangelicals have a core set of beliefs about the Trinity, the Bible, salvation, obedience, and eternal life that is remarkably similar from church to church, and even across what have historically been major dividing lines (the charismatic movement comes to mind). Parachurch organizations have often been helpful here, paradoxically perhaps. Although on the one hand they have caused many people to devalue the institutional Church for the sake of "non-churchly" fellowship and action, on the other hand they have helped Christians from different churches to recognize that we truly belong to one Lord and one body.

It will take a long time for the old mainline churches -- Catholic, Orthodox, Anglican, and so forth -- to achieve formally what we already have informally, in terms of intercommunion and even practical cooperation. In the midst of all our institutional divisions and petty theological squabbles, God has been very merciful to us. He has preserved a unity in Christ that is far greater and deeper than we know.

Episcopal Church tries to purge conservative bishops

2008-01-19T15:54:00.000-08:00

Christianity Today reports that the Episcopal Church's hierarchy, led by Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori, has threatened three bishops with removal from their positions. The bishops affected -- Robert Duncan of Pittsburgh, Jack L. Iker of Fort Worth, and John-David Schofield of Fresno -- had all been taking steps to remove their dioceses' affiliations with the Episcopal Church and join with other branches of the Anglican Communion.

The diocesan leadership of Fort Worth pointed to several of Bishop Jefferts Schori's actions in church leadership as indications that she is promoting a different faith from the historic Christian faith of the Episcopal Church. These actions even included the Christmas card that she sent last month to all of the church's bishops. The card spoke of "wise women throughout time and in every culture [who] know themselves to be seekers and seers of the divine," but had no reference to Jesus.

Lloyd-Jones on the gospel

2008-01-12T21:31:00.000-08:00

“The gospel is not something partial or piecemeal: it takes in the whole life, the whole of history, the whole world. It tells us about the creation and the final judgment and everything in between. It is a complete, whole view of life, and many are unhappy in the Christian life because they have never realized that this way of life caters for the whole of man’s life and covers every eventuality in his experience. There is no aspect of life but that the gospel has something to say about it. The whole of life must come under its influence because it is all-inclusive; the gospel is meant to control and govern everything in our lives.”

—from Spiritual Depression: Its Causes and Its Cure

Christmas

2007-12-25T05:38:00.000-08:00

REJOICE!

Love Himself has become human!
God the Highest has come near to save us!
His name is JESUS.

As the prophet Isaiah said in ancient times,
"For to us a Child is born,
to us a Son is given;
and the government will be upon His shoulder.
And His name will be called
Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Of the increase of His government and peace
There will be no end...."

Merry Christmas!

Ordination with fasting

2007-12-21T08:04:00.000-08:00

In the course of a small study on fasting in the Bible, I realized that the book of Acts has exactly one reference to the ordination of elders (14:21-23) and one to the commissioning of missionaries (13:1-4), and in each of these places prayer with fasting is a prominent part of the ordination ceremonies.

Biblical narrative is not an absolute rule for the Church's practice. But wouldn't it be wise to imitate the apostles' example at least in this momentous act of the Church, by setting aside a period of time for prayer and fasting whenever elders, missionaries, and evangelists are commissioned for their daunting task?

Baptism and the world (Leithart)

2007-12-20T18:24:00.000-08:00

“Baptism is not a merely social event because there is no such thing as a ‘merely social’ event. God is always involved in every act and movement of the creation, and the universe teems with other spiritual beings, beneficent and malevolent, that are also active. The world is not a ‘merely social’ reality because it is dominated by principalities and powers and controlled by sin and death (which are nearly personified in some parts of Paul’s letters). It takes a divine act—a series of divine acts—to extract someone from the world and then plant him in the body of Christ. Baptism is one of those divine acts.”

—Peter Leithart, The Baptized Body, p. 80

Some thoughts on the PCA's Nine Declarations about the Federal Vision

2007-12-14T00:43:00.000-08:00

The post below is an extended response to a question from Grover Gunn, comment #24 on the thread "None of This Is New Under the Sun" on Green Bagginses.

Grover had asked,
Jeff, would you agree that the doctrines which the nine declarations recently adopted by a PCA General Assembly identify as contrary to the fundamentals of the Westminster Standards are indeed contrary to those fundamentals? Would you agree that the nine declarations are not distortions of Westminster theology due to over-reaction?

Grover, I should say that this question is an important one for some to answer, but is not as directly relevant to me. Up to this point, I have not taken vows to uphold any particular set of Reformed doctrinal standards. If and when I am ordained as an elder with teaching responsibility, I would prefer to be held accountable to the Three Forms of Unity than to the Westminster Confession.

Speaking only for myself and not as a reflection on anyone else, I am uncomfortable with the WCF in several ways: generally, for its lack of sensitivity to the historical-narrative character of much of Divine revelation, and specifically, for a few places where the WCF seems to stand in direct opposition to the principles of God's own Word, at least as they appear the Old Testament (e.g., the last line of WCF 21.8, cf. Ex. 31:17; the last sentence of 24.4, cf. Deut. 25:5; the second half of 27.4, cf. Acts 8:38; 9:17-18). If we find something in the Westminster Confession or any other human tradition to run contrary to the Word of God, then shall we make the commandment of God of no effect by our tradition (Matt. 15:6)?

With all that being said, I believe that any true departure by a Reformed pastor from "the fundamentals of the Westminster Standards" is a matter of serious concern. If such a thing is found to have happened, it should be investigated first in the light of Scripture, and then also in light of the Westminster Standards or other confessional documents as appropriate, to the extent that they depend on and accurately represent the teaching of Scripture.

So as for the nine declarations:

1. The view that rejects the bi-covenantal structure of Scripture as represented in the Westminster Standards (i.e., views which do not merely take issue with the terminology, but the essence of the first/second covenant framework) is contrary to those Standards.

First of all, I don't see Scripture as having a bi-covenantal structure. When the Holy Spirit discusses and contrasts the two major covenants among others, they are the "First Covenant" which was enacted through Moses and the "New Covenant" that was mediated by Christ (Hebrews 9:11-22). In the Westminster system, these are merely two different administrations of the "covenant of grace," which also has several other administrations. Meanwhile, the "covenant of works" (the other major covenant according to the WCF), is more often than not described in the Bible with other terms than that of "covenant." So to see the Bible's history as divided up between two great opposing covenants, a covenant of works and a covenant of grace (neither of which is ever called by this name in the Bible) seems quite artificial to me. However, some leaders of the FV including Steve Wilkins have declared that they're happy with the Westminster explanation of the covenants of Scripture (with the caveat, perhaps, that WLC 20's "covenant of life" is a more accurate term than "covenant of works").

To answer your question, then: for declaration #1, the view that the PCA General Assembly pronounced contrary to the Westminster Standards is in fact contrary to those Standards (although not necessarily contrary to Scripture), and in any case Wilkins, Leithart, and Wilson agree with the PCA at this point.

2. The view that an individual is “elect” by virtue of his membership in the visible church; and that this “election” includes justification, adoption and sanctification; but that this individual could lose his “election” if he forsakes the visible church, is contrary to the Westminster Standards.

This declaration adopted by the PCA GA is simply confused, and confusing, in its language. By putting "elect" in quotation marks, it seems to suggest that "elect" may be used here in a different sense than the Westminster Standards use the word. However, the terms justification, adoption, and sanctification appear to be used exclusively in the Westminster sense, and in this sense no FV advocate believes that election can be lost. If the four key terms are defined according to their use in the Standards, then declaration #2 is valid and Steve Wilkins agrees with the PCA in condemning the false teaching of which it speaks. One the other hand, if the four key terms are allowed to be defined differently from how they are used in the Standards, then how can the Standards speak to this usage in one way or the other?

The term "elect" only has meaning, of course, when it is specified to what a person is elected. In one important sense, Jesus Himself says that all of the Twelve were elected (exelexamēn) by Him, including Judas Iscariot who was a devil (John 6:70-71). Other passages speak of a different kind of election which leads unalterably to eternal life. The second declaration adopted by the PCA General Assembly fails to achieve clarity because it does not include definitions of any of the key theological terms it uses -- where the definitions of these terms are precisely the matter in question.

Grover, I could go through all nine declarations in this way, but I think you get the idea by now. If they are taken in one way, every FV advocate would agree with most of them in their condemnation of what is self-evidently false teaching. If taken in another way, what they express appears contrary to how the Bible itself speaks, and of course the FV men would object.

Both Peter Leithart and Steve Wilkins have noted in their responses to the PCA report that declaration #9 actually contradicts WCF 33.1 (which affirms the Biblical teaching that the final judgment will be according to works).

Declaration #9 adopted by the PCA GA: "The view...that the so-called 'final verdict of justification' is based on anything other than the perfect obedience and satisfaction of Christ received through faith alone, is contrary to the Westminster Standards."

WCF 33.1: "God has appointed a day, wherein He will judge the world, in righteousness, by Jesus Christ, to whom all power and judgment is given of the Father. In which day, not only the apostate angels shall be judged, but likewise all persons that have lived upon earth shall appear before the tribunal of Christ, to give an account of their thoughts, words, and deeds; and to receive according to what they have done in the body, whether good or evil."

In closing, let me answer your last question by saying that yes, I believe "the nine declarations are," in part at least, "distortions of Westminster theology due to over-reaction."

The dangers of reaction

2007-12-13T17:47:00.000-08:00

The post below is a comment that I wrote for the thread "None of This Is New Under the Sun" on Green Bagginses. Even if you're not familiar with the "Federal Vision" controversy currently playing itself out in the Reformed and Presbyterian churches of North America, I hope you will find these thoughts to be edifying.

Any movement rooted and grounded in a reaction to something else is subject to great dangers. While modernism was busy rejecting supernaturalism, tradition, and the Sacraments, the nineteenth-century Tractarian movement attempted to save the Church from these ills by emphasizing traditions and rituals. In turn, Bishop Ryle reacted against the excesses of the Tractarians by arguing that "religion is eminently a personal business between yourself and Christ" -- a claim that would have sounded almost bizarre to any of the writers of the New Testament.

My own sympathies lie with the Federal Vision, but I do not see this approach as immune to the dangers that threaten all reactions. The best expressions of "Federal Vision" theology are those that hold tightly to the glorious truths of evangelical and Presbyterian/Reformed theology even while they point out ways in which the Church must continue to be reformed (ecclesia reformata et semper reformanda). To the extent that Federal Vision advocates are doing this, they are following in the footsteps of the original Protestant Reformers. Great men like Luther, Calvin, and Bucer did not reject doctrines or practices merely because they were "Romanist"; rather, they sought to glorify God and build up the Church along the lines of whatever was good, true, and Scriptural. For this, Luther himself and his Wittenberg allies were described as the "new papists" by the likes of Radical Reformer Andreas Karlstadt. (Once again, nothing is new under the sun.)

On the other side, there is great danger in a reaction against the Federal Vision that opposes everything in it except what is already comfortable and familiar. In their fierce opposition to the Federal Vision, some have drifted into what is almost an ecclesiological Docetism. The Docetist heretics taught that the presence of Christ on earth was only an appearance, a phantom, and the real substance of Him was all ethereal and invisible; some are now saying that there is no substance in the visible church, no special benefit in belonging to it -- that this is only a kind of phantom appearance of a church, while the reality is all spiritual, "invisible," and other-worldly.

May all the parties to this discussion seek out the "old paths, the good way," that we may walk in it. And may we all recognize that some of the old paths may be on our opponents' side of the boundary, and be humble enough not to rail at once against their entire position just because we think we see errors at certain points.

On both sides of the Federal Vision debate are disciples of one and the same Lord, members together of the one holy catholic and apostolic Church. Let us not denigrate one aspect of the Truth in our zeal to uphold another. Let us not force our brethren and our children to choose between James and Paul, between the Old Testament and the New, between faith and good works, between membership in the visible church and participation in eternal life, between Christ's righteousness imputed to us and His righteousness performed in us, between the Word and the Sacraments. All of these are ours in Christ (1 Cor. 3:21-23) -- all equally and gloriously ours! -- and only a great fool would claim that participation in some of these makes the others unimportant. Is Christ divided?

Chuck Colson: God sent the drought

2007-12-13T08:08:00.000-08:00

Chuck Colson of Prison Fellowship writes here about the current drought in the American Southeast--his reasons for believing that this is a judgment from God, and what that means.

Which church father are you?

2007-12-12T19:17:00.000-08:00

Interesting, but I think this little test would be much more meaningful if there were more options...

You’re Origen!

You do nothing by half-measures. If you’re going to read the Bible, you want to read it in the original languages. If you’re going to teach, you’re going to reach as many souls as possible, through a proliferation of lectures and books. If you’re a guy and you’re going to fight for purity … well, you’d better hide the kitchen shears.

Find out which Church Father you are at The Way of the Fathers!

A telling quote

2007-12-06T12:01:00.000-08:00

“ ‘Thou shalt not’ might reach the head, but it takes ‘Once upon a time’ to reach the heart.”

—Philip Pullman, atheist and author of the children's novel The Golden Compass, which is being released as a movie tomorrow

Justification, baptism, and faith

2007-11-29T21:27:00.000-08:00

(Below is another comment of mine for Green Bagginses. This is #111 on the same thread as before...under David Gadbois's post Berkhof and Baptismal Efficacy. The bold text is quoted from Jeff Cagle's comment.)

To Jeff Cagle (#89):

(1) What does "objective justification" mean?

It means that Christ is righteous; and if we are included in His Church through baptism, then we are in Him; and if we are in Him, we are both counted righteous for His sake ("justified") and called to live righteously, lest we be cut off.

(2) It seems really clear that baptism is, for the FV position, an instrumental means of securing objective justification. That is to say, all who receive baptism receive OJ, and receive it at the moment of baptism, and receive it *because* they have been baptized.

Not quite. FV people seem to enjoy quoting WCF 28.1 in support of their own position: "Baptism is a sacrament of the New Testament, ordained by Jesus Christ, not only for the solemn admission of the party baptized into the visible Church; but also to be unto him a sign and seal of the covenant of grace, of his ingrafting into Christ..." That is to say, baptism is an instrumental means of solemn admission into the visible Church. As the next logical step, membership in the Church (which is Christ's body) means that the baptized person is incorporated into all that Christ is, including His righteousness. This is what I (somewhat clumsily) described as "objective justification."

This justification is in and through Christ, not in and through baptism. Maybe you think this is a distinction without a difference, but I think it makes all the difference in the world. "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ" (Eph. 1:3). Not "in baptism," but "in Christ." "For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ" (Gal. 3:27).

Baptism is only the door to the house where Christ is the Host. It would be very odd, to say the least, to call a door "the instrumental means of hospitality."

(3) So then, since faith is the instrumental means of receiving the kind of justification that the decretally elect receive, but baptism is the instrumental means of receiving objective justification, it follows that we have two separate kinds of justification going on here. Not one type of justification, which might or might not last, but two types: one, received upon faith; the other, received upon baptism.

Since I've already argued that baptism is NOT the "instrumental means" of receiving justification, even on what I think is a standard FV view, let me answer the rest of this fairly quickly. There are not two kinds of justification, but there are different angles on, and differences of status with regard to, this one reality. What is the difference between baptism and faith, relative to justification? The connection between baptism and justification is indirect: baptism joins us to Christ, and in Him we are righteous. The connection between faith and justification, however, is direct: "For with the heart one believes unto righteousness" (Rom. 10:9). Righteousness--complete and lasting justification that transforms first a man's standing before God, and finally his entire spirit, soul, and body--is made available to us through our union with Christ in baptism; but it is truly claimed and owned by our believing response to what God has already done in our baptism. Baptism is God's doing, faith is ours, but both are equally a gift of His grace, so that no man may boast in His presence. To Him be all glory forever and ever! Amen.

Baptism and faith

2007-11-28T20:02:00.000-08:00

(Copied below is a comment I posted on Green Bagginses. It appears as #85 under David Gadbois's post Berkhof and Baptismal Efficacy.)

After reading through the whole list of comments to this post, I think one of the keys to this set of issues (and to the whole Federal Vision debate) has not yet been mentioned here.

David wrote: “…we should conclude that, likewise, baptism cannot be an instrumental means, alongside of faith, by which we lay hold of Christ’s righteousness unto justification.… Such an idea would be directly contrary to the Reformational doctrine of justification by faith alone (sola fide).” (emphasis mine)

David, I want to ask in all seriousness: Have you ever heard anyone associated with “Federal Vision” theology teach that “baptism [is] an instrumental means, alongside of faith, by which we lay hold of Christ’s righteousness unto justification”? Pastor Wilkins and others say many other things about baptism, but I don’t think you’ll ever find them saying this. Rather, their theological opponents take other things that they say and unsympathetically deduce from them that they must mean this. But it ain’t necessarily so.

It’s just as clear to the FV men as it is to any other Reformed theologian that baptism and faith are two very different things. For you to talk as though even the most ardent FV’er puts them in the same undifferentiated category, as “instrumental means” of justification, is simply misleading.

I understand the FV position to include the following: Baptism joins a person, objectively, to Christ. Since every baptized person is in Christ, then what is true of Christ is true of all baptized people corporately. Christ is righteous, all of Him; thus His body the Church is righteous, with all its members. Christ is holy; thus, Christ’s body is holy, every member of it (in more or less the same way that the children of one believing parent are holy, because they are joined to Christ by covenant, 1 Cor. 7:14). It is for this reason that the Apostles speak to churches as they do–for example, 1 Cor. 1:2, where “the church of God which is at Corinth” equals “those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus” (despite the Corinthians’ obvious personal unholiness!). So everyone who is in Christ objectively (i.e., in the Church through baptism) is just as objectively “justified” and “sanctified,” because they are in Christ, and He is perfectly righteous and holy.

BUT at the same time (and who in the FV would deny this?) the righteousness that we have objectively in Christ has to be taken to heart, lived out and made permanent, or it ultimately becomes worthless. Christ’s justification and sanctification become ours in baptism, but we must still make them ours through faith and good works, both of which are gifts of God’s free grace alone in accordance with His eternal decrees. These are the justification and sanctification that bear fruit for eternal life.

To sum up: Baptism brings us into Christ, the Righteous and Holy One. To belong to Him is to be (covenantally?) justified and sanctified. But we also need to believe on Christ. It is this faith in the heart that leads to justification of the sort that is personally owned by the faithful Christian. Baptism grants us a share in Christ’s justification; faith applies His justification to us. Each one allows us to say that we are “justified,” and legitimately so, but from different perspectives and with different results.

In any case, baptism and faith are alike in this: Both are the good work of God within His people. His grace is everything.

Happy Thanksgiving Day

2007-11-22T10:40:00.000-08:00

The First Thanksgiving by Jean Louis Gerome Ferris (1863-1930)

Out of the Silent Planet

2007-11-20T22:41:00.000-08:00

C. S. Lewis always seems to have amazingly profound things to say and consummate skill in saying them--the two qualities that every good writer needs.

From Out of the Silent Planet, consider this speech by Weston (the interplanetary imperialist) and then Ransom's attempt to translate it for Malacandrian hearers. After reading the second version, how can the ideas of the first seem anything but ludicrous and hypocritical?

Weston: "To you I may seem a vulgar robber, but I bear on my shoulders the destiny of the human race. Your tribal life with its stone-age weapons and bee-hive huts, its primitive coracles and elementary social structure, has nothing to compare with our civilization--with our science, medicine and law, our armies, our architecture, our commerce, and our transport system which is rapidly annihilating space and time. Our right to supersede you is the right of the higher over the lower."

And the "translation" by Ransom: "Among us, Oyarsa, there is a kind of hnau [rational creature] who will take other hnau's food and--and things, when they are not looking. He says he is not an ordinary one of that kind. He says what he does now will make very different things happen to those of our people who are not yet born. He says that, among you, hnau of one kindred all live together and the hrossa have spears like those we used a very long time ago and your huts are small and round and your boats small and light and like our old ones, and you have only one ruler. He says it is different with us. He says we know much. There is a thing happens in our world when the body of a living creature feels pains and becomes weak, and he says we sometimes know how to stop it. He says we have many bent [bad] people and we kill them or shut them in huts and that we have people for settling quarrels between the bent hnau about their huts and mates and things. He says we have many ways for the hnau of one land to kill those of another and some are trained to do it. He says we build very big and strong huts of stones and other things--like the pfifltriggi. And he says we exchange many things among ourselves and can carry heavy weights very quickly a long way. Because of all this, he says it would not be the act of a bent hnau if our people killed all your people."

Every moment

2007-11-03T15:30:00.000-07:00

Let me live every moment
in the light of that Day
when I will see the face of Him
whom my soul loves!

Food for thought: Two quotes from Charles Williams

2007-11-01T20:32:00.000-07:00

“Sir Bernard occasionally alluded to himself as a neo-Christian, ‘meaning,’ he said, ‘like most neos, one who takes the advantages without the disadvantages. As neo-Platonist, neo-Thomist, and neolithic too, for all I know.’”
—Shadows of Ecstasy

“God only gives, and He has only Himself to give, and He, even He, can only give it in those conditions which are Himself.”
—War in Heaven

What, then, is a real (not a "neo-") Christian? What kind of people must we be if we belong to this God?

Brief poem in Russian and English

2007-10-19T18:40:00.000-07:00

Чего ожидал я, не часто бывает,
чего не предвидел, то точно и будет,
от Господа Бога всё это зависит.
-5/30/07

What I thought I expected does not often happen;
what I have not foreseen, it is that which will be;
and all this is the will of the Lord God, my Savior!
-6/11/07

Vatican deals with homosexuality in its ranks

2007-10-18T13:27:00.001-07:00

Newsweek has a story today about allegations of homosexuality among top Roman Catholic officials working in the Vatican. Some conservative leaders who are working to purge the Catholic Church of hypocrisy and hidden sin, particularly in relation to pedophilia and homosexuality, are convinced that these revelations will actually be good for the church. They feel that openness and confrontation in regard to these issues may be just what the church needs, in order to be restored to greater spiritual health.

Russian Orthodox Church walks out of Catholic-Orthodox talks

2007-10-11T14:54:00.000-07:00

Representatives of the Russian Orthodox Church walked out of a joint meeting of Catholic and Orthodox theologians being held in Ravenna, Italy, this week. Their protest was not against anything that had been done or said by the Catholics present; instead, it was against some of their fellow Orthodox.

The Russian Orthodox representatives, Bishop Ilarion of Vienna and Austria and Father Igor Vyzhanin, were protesting the inclusion of a representative of the Estonian Apostolic Church at the talks. Although the Orthodox Patriarch of Constantinople (who claims a "first among equals" relationship with other Orthodox Patriarchs) has given canonical recognition to the Estonian church, the Russian Orthodox Church continues to deny that status and to assert its own authority over the Orthodox Christians of Estonia. Alexy II, the Patriarch of Moscow and spiritual leader of the Russian Orthodox Church, is himself Estonian by birth.

Time will tell how well the various Orthodox churches can adjust to the changed realities of post-Soviet Europe. Unity and consensus among themselves would be a good first step.

Standing for righteousness in the Anglican Communion

2007-10-09T11:33:00.000-07:00

Archbishop of Uganda Henry Luke Orombi has added his voice to those of Anglicans around the world who are unwilling to going along with the continued antics of The Episcopal Church (TEC). In a meeting last month, bishops of TEC--the U.S. branch of the worldwide Anglican Communion--expressed their "passionate desire" to remain full members of the Communion, yet refused to stop outright from consecrating active homosexuals as bishops.

While speaking at Church of the Apostles in Daphne, Alabama, Archbishop Orombi declared that the U.S. bishops had "tossed the faith overboard." In addition, his office issued a statement proclaiming that the Americans "have decided to walk apart" and running through a list of betrayals of the international Anglican body by the U.S. branch.

Michael Nazir-Ali, bishop of Rochester and a leading member of the Church of England, seems to agree. He suggested that he might boycott next year's Lambeth Conference, the once-a-decade worldwide gathering of Anglican bishops, rather than participate in full fellowship with the American bishops who helped ordain practicing homosexual V. Gene Robinson as Bishop of New Hampshire in 2003.

Meanwhile, conservative Episcopal bishops representing more than 600 churches met in Pittsburgh at the end of September to plan for a separate Anglican church structure in North America, one that would remain faithful to Scripture and in line with conservative Anglican churches in other parts of the world.

The coming Chinese Christendom

2007-09-22T17:13:00.000-07:00

John Piper has some amazing comments about the growth of the Church in China. Piper emphasizes the beginnings of Protestant Christianity in China two hundred years ago this month with the arrival of Scottish missionary Robert Morrison.

Actually, Morrison was only one in a stream of missionaries who have labored to give the Word of God a foothold in China. Middle Eastern missionaries from the Assyrian Church of the East (sometimes, and misleadingly, called "Nestorians") established the Gospel in China in the seventh century, as commemorated on the "Nestorian Stele" still visible near Xi'an. Franciscan missionaries arrived in the late thirteenth century, and Jesuits in the sixteenth. In the nineteenth century, Robert Morrison's work was continued by the great Hudson Taylor, who (according to one estimate) was responsible for bringing more people to Christ than anyone else in history since the Apostle Paul.

As encouraging as the growth of the Chinese Church was under the oversight of such men, it was nothing to what followed the rise of Communism and expulsion of the missionaries in 1949. At that time there were just under a million Christians in China; now their numbers may surpass a hundred million. In a provocative article in the Asia Times Online, columnist "Spengler" writes that the massive numbers of conversions in China should make us see the future of Christianity as Chinese:

Ten thousand Chinese become Christians each day, according to a stunning report by the National Catholic Reporter's veteran correspondent John Allen, and 200 million Chinese may comprise the world's largest concentration of Christians by mid-century, and the largest missionary force in history.... Christianity will have become a Sino-centric religion two generations from now. China may be for the 21st century what Europe was during the 8th-11th centuries, and America has been during the past 200 years: the natural ground for mass evangelization. If this occurs, the world will change beyond our capacity to recognize it. Islam might defeat the western Europeans, simply by replacing their diminishing numbers with immigrants, but it will crumble beneath the challenge from the East.

Spengler adds that the spread of the Gospel is the one thing that may actually succeed in bringing political freedom to China: "Freedom of worship is the first precondition for democracy, for it makes possible freedom of conscience. The fearless evangelists at the grassroots of China will, in the fullness of time, do more to bring US-style democracy to the world than all the nation-building bluster of President George W Bush and his advisers."

Refusing money: real integrity?

2007-09-18T13:43:00.000-07:00

I noticed something interesting in a story about a political protest by Buddhist monks in Myanmar. Apparently the monks, disgusted with the country's current military government, are threatening to cut off any contact with the military and refuse to accept alms (charitable donations) from them. According to the New York Times, for a monk to refuse the military's charity would be "a humiliating gesture that would embarrass the junta."

How many Christian organizations, ministers, and missionaries have the courage to protest oppression by refusing to accept money from those who perpetrate injustice? At least according to one interpretation, that is what is happening in 3 John 5-7: "Beloved, you do faithfully whatever you do for the brethren and for strangers, who have borne witness of your love before the church. If you send them forward on their journey in a manner worthy of God, you will do well, because they went forth for His name’s sake, taking nothing from the Gentiles."

The biology of the Kingdom

2007-09-08T15:20:00.000-07:00

Some thoughts I had while walking through a harvested field this morning:

The Kingdom of God is not a machine, but a living thing. Understanding it is a matter for biology, not mechanical engineering.

A machine has no life within itself. It cannot grow, cannot heal itself, cannot take the initiative to "feed" itself with the energy sources that will keep it running. It cannot respond to spontaneous influences from outside--sunlight, voices, physical touch--except in a few ways that are tightly limited by how it has been programmed. It never really lasts very long, and when it fails, it leaves nothing to take its place. Someone needs to build a replacement for it that has no organic connection to the original machine.

Living things have their life within them--a life that is God-given, as opposed to the mere man-made functionality of a machine. Living things have built-in redundancy, so that if part of them dies or fails, the rest can carry on and compensate for what is missing. A machine can be manufactured very quickly, but a mature organism--an oak, say, or an elephant--is the result of a long process of gradual change and growth. In a fallen world, all living things have their death within them. But they also carry the seeds of life for future generations, so that their line will continue despite individual deaths and changing environments. Coconuts float to distant shores, take root, and grow into new coconut palms that live on even if their parent trees are cut down; caterpillars grow up to be the next generation of butterflies, like those that came before them and yet never quite the same; and children carry on the physical and mental characteristics of their parents, but no one is ever exactly like any of his ancestors or siblings.

Don't expect the Kingdom of Heaven to be perfected all in a day, as if it was a car that is functional as soon as it comes off the assembly line. Our Lord compared the Kingdom to seed growing in the ground, to leaven working through a batch of dough, to a dragnet that pulls in all kinds of fish, and to a landowner who hires many laborers for his vineyard at different times and under different circumstances. Be patient with the Lord's Kingdom and with the people in it, just as He is patient with you. And as for yourself, don't expect spiritual growth to come through mere force of will, but through consistently and humbly receiving the gifts He gives you daily: His rain and sun, and the minerals that you draw up from the soil where you are planted, and the others around you who break the force of winds and storms, and His own diligence to tend and prune you so that you will be more fruitful.

Donne: On the beginning and end of Christian life

2007-09-05T18:05:00.000-07:00

“The Church is Catholic, universal, so are all her Actions; All that she does, belongs to all. When she baptizes a child, that action concerns me; for that child is thereby connected to that Head which is my Head too, and engrafted into that body, whereof I am a member. And when she buries a Man, that action concerns me: All mankind is of one Author, and is one volume; when one Man dies, one Chapter is not torn out of the book, but translated into a better language; and every Chapter must be so translated; God employs several translators; some pieces are translated by age, some by sickness, some by war, some by justice; but God’s hand is in every translation; and his hand shall bind up all our scattered leaves again, for that Library where every book shall lie open to one another...”

—John Donne (1572-1631), from Meditation XVII (Nunc lento sonitu dicunt, Morieris/"Never send to know for whom the bell tolls")

Remaining Koreans freed in Afghanistan

2007-08-30T17:47:00.000-07:00

At left: The twelve hostages who were released yesterday

Today at 8:30 PM local time, the last three of the 23 South Korean Christians kidnapped by the Taliban in Afghanistan were released to Red Cross representatives. A total of nineteen hostages were finally set free yesterday and today, after two members of the group had been shot and killed--Pastor Bae Hyung-kyu and Shim Sung-min--and two others had been freed on an earlier occasion.

As part of the conditions for the hostages' release, the South Korean government reiterated its promise to withdraw all Korean soldiers from Afghanistan by the end of the year--and also banned South Korean Christians from doing missionary work in Afghanistan.

(Sources include Chosun Ilbo, International Herald Tribune, and The Christian Science Monitor).

John the Baptizer

2007-08-29T23:35:00.000-07:00

One of the more ancient traditional memorials among Christians is the Beheading of St. John the Baptist, which is commemorated on August 29 in Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Anglican, and Lutheran traditions. This great man of God--the one who, according to Messiah Himself, has never been surpassed among those born of women (Matthew 11:11)--was beheaded at the birthday feast of Herod the tetrarch as the result of petty jealousies and vindictiveness. By convicting a monarch of sin, John lost his head, but gained eternal glory before that Lord whose way he came to prepare.

This John was the man that the archangel Gabriel was talking about when he told Zacharias, "You will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth. For he will be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink. He will also be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother’s womb. And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God. He will also go before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah, ‘to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children,’ and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord" (Luke 1:14-17).

I was born on this date. If the traditional date of John's beheading is correct, this means that I share a birthday with Herod Antipas. But far better, I was born on the same date that John, the great Forerunner of Messiah, was "reborn" through death into an unending life.

On divisions in the Church

2007-08-25T19:19:00.000-07:00

“I was walking across a bridge one day, and I saw a man standing on the edge, about to jump off. So I ran over and said, ‘Stop! Don’t do it!’
“‘Why shouldn’t I?’ he said.
“I said, ‘Well, there’s so much to live for!’
“He said, ‘Like what?’
“I said, ‘Well...are you religious or atheist?’
“He said, ‘Religious.’
“I said, ‘Me too! Are you Christian or Buddhist?’
“He said, ‘Christian.’
“I said, ‘Me too! Are you Catholic or Protestant?’
“He said, ‘Protestant.’
“I said, ‘Me too! Are you Episcopalian or Baptist?’
“He said, ‘Baptist!’
“I said, ‘Wow! Me too! Are you Baptist Church of God or Baptist Church of the Lord?’
“He said, ‘Baptist Church of God!’
“I said, ‘Me too! Are you Original Baptist Church of God, or are you Reformed Baptist Church of God?’
“He said, ‘Reformed Baptist Church of God!’
“I said, ‘Me too! Are you Reformed Baptist Church of God, Reformation of 1879, or Reformed Baptist Church of God, Reformation of 1915?’
“He said, ‘Reformed Baptist Church of God, Reformation of 1915!’
“I said, ‘Die, heretic scum!’, and pushed him off.”
—Emo Philips

"The LORD Always Before Me"

2007-08-22T21:37:00.000-07:00

Notes for another sermon:

"The LORD Always Before Me"
Text: Psalm 16:5-11

Exposition, part 1: David—It doesn’t get any earthier, any more direct, than David’s descriptions of the Lord in this psalm.

- “The portion”: When you divide up food, “here’s your piece”; Yahweh, the Lord, is David’s piece.
- “of my inheritance”: my share, the part that I own, my section, my own possession, what I get, what I choose for myself. David says, “God, You are my section of my land. You are my own portion of my feast.” You are just as much mine as if I didn’t have to share You with anyone else on earth.
- “and my cup”: When you take your cup and fill it up with your drink, and drink it yourself, there’s nothing more yours than that. That is what God is to David—and that is what He becomes for each of you through the symbolized reality of the Lord’s Supper.
- “You [emphatic] maintain my lot”: When it’s time for me to roll the dice to see what happens to me, You, LORD, take them out of my hands and roll them for me. The roll is in Your hands, and so are the results.
- “I will bless the LORD who has given me counsel; my heart [literally, "kidneys"] also instructs me in the night seasons”: When David couldn’t sleep, it was his God who was telling his mind and his body what to say to him.
- “I have set the LORD always before me”: as this podium is in front of me, as that table is before you, David placed God in front of him, facing him.
- “Because He is at my right hand I shall not be moved”: For David, God’s omnipresence was not some abstract doctrine to meditate on; it was as real as the floor he walked on and the food he ate! “God is everywhere” doesn’t just mean “God is in China and in Mexico right now”; it also means, “God is right in front of me, and God is right beside me.” He is at my right hand; I lean on Him. This wall will one day fall or be knocked down. The pillars that Samson leaned on broke apart and took the building down with them. But God is a pillar that will not wobble or fall over—and therefore, neither will David.
- “Therefore my heart is glad”: the part of me that knows, and that makes choices, is happy because it knows what it means to be this close to God!
- “and my glory rejoices”: everything that I have that is worthy anything—money, house, car, skill with my hands, knowledge, the respect my friends have for me, everything in me or around me that is honorable, it all quivers with joy!...because it knows that God is with me.
- “My flesh also will rest in hope”: David’s body feels the gladness of his heart, and it too is comforted and relaxes. It has nothing to be afraid of.

Exposition, part 2: You, and every Christian—So you say, “That was David. He was the king of Israel, he was called a man after God’s own heart, Jesus picked him as one of His ancestors, he got to write half of the biggest book in the Bible! But what about me?”

Do you wonder if any of those things could possibly apply to you? Do you think, “Well, that’s all right for David to say, but I’m just not ‘there’ spiritually?” Are you thinking that right now?

But consider this: David knew these blessings before Jesus came, as a foretaste. But now Jesus is here, and you are in Him, and He is in you—all of Him, the same God whom David knew.

Wherever the Spirit of God is, all of God is. Now David received all these blessings because he had the Spirit, but he was afraid and prayed that God would not take His Spirit from him (Psalm 51:11). But on Pentecost, God poured out His Spirit on every member of His Church, and He has never taken His presence away. You are in that Church and belong to it, which means that the Spirit of God is yours too.

So pray this prayer with David—Psalm 51:10-12—and receive God’s answer right here in this worship service. It’s obvious that He has not cast you away from His presence—He’s talking to you! He’s feeding you! He’s giving you His own body to eat and His own blood to drink! He is saving you, right here, today, and tomorrow, and every day until the last day. He has begun a good work in you, and He will complete it.

So the Psalms are not just David’s song—they’re yours too. Everything that David says about his God here is true for you too, because you belong to the same God. If anything, you can have even greater hope in God than David did. He put his faith in the Lord in the early glimmerings of the sunrise, but now the Sun, Christ, has risen on you, and full daylight has come, to give you hope.

Let’s go through these statements again.

v. 5—The LORD is your portion, your inheritance, your feast, yours to possess, even as you belong (body and soul, in life and in death) to Him.

v. 6—He draws your property lines. He watches over your bank account.

v. 7—He gives you counsel in the daytime, and He speaks to you in sleepless nights.

v. 9—He is a plenty good reason for your heart to be glad, everything you have to rejoice, and your fleshy body to relax in hope.

v. 10—He will take care of your future. You may die, but you won’t stay dead. Because Jesus wasn’t left to rot in the grave, you also (chosen in Him) can be sure that your body won’t be left to rot forever.

v. 11—He will point out the path of life to you—the path that starts with life, that is life, and that leads to life that lasts forever. In His presence are unlimited joys, and in His right hand are unending delights.

Everything good that you always wanted, in its best and purest form, is with Him—and much, much more.

Response: Prayer, and being in His presence—What is left out of the list above? The heart of the whole matter, and the best part of all! Here it is in verse 8:

“I have set the LORD
always before me;
Because He is at my right hand,
I shall not be moved.”

No matter how true all the blessings in all the rest of this psalm may be, how will you ever truly know them unless you do something about them? He is present—so make Him present to you! He is infinite delight—so delight yourself in the LORD! He is all-sufficient for all needs—so let Him be the fulfillment of all that you need!

But there’s a catch: If you set the LORD before you, He will be always before you. You cannot have Him near you so that you can call on Him in hard times, and then dismiss Him like a slave if you don’t feel like having Him nearby any more. He is the kindest of masters to those who love Him, but the hardest of tyrants to those who are stupid enough to get into a power struggle with Him.

So then, set Him always before you as your delight, and He will truly be a delight to you always! Let these Scriptures guide the way you actually live your daily and hourly life:

Psalm 1:1-2 Blessed is the man Who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, Nor stands in the path of sinners, Nor sits in the seat of the scornful; But his delight is in the law of the LORD, And in His law he meditates day and night.
Psalm 25:14-15 The secret of the LORD is with those who fear Him, And He will show them His covenant. My eyes are ever toward the LORD, For He shall pluck my feet out of the net.
Psalm 42:1-2, 8 As the deer pants for the water brooks, So pants my soul for You, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God?.... The LORD will command His lovingkindness in the daytime, And in the night His song shall be with me -- A prayer to the God of my life.
Psalm 63
Psalm 119:147-148, 164 I rise before the dawning of the morning, And cry for help; I hope in Your word. My eyes are awake through the night watches, That I may meditate on Your word…. Seven times a day I praise You, Because of Your righteous judgments.
Ephesians 6:17-18 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God; praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints --
Colossians 4:2 Continue earnestly in prayer, being vigilant in it with thanksgiving;
1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.
1 Peter 4:7 But the end of all things is at hand; therefore be serious and watchful in your prayers.

Let your mind be like a compass that turns toward the north as soon as the needle is released. Every moment that you can, turn your thoughts to your Lord—when you first wake up in the morning, when you are in the shower, while you eat, when you are driving, throughout your day of work, at the moment you finish in the evening, when you are waiting for someone to come or something to happen, during the last moments before you fall asleep at night, and when you wake up during the night. Let God be your mind’s feast at every possible moment. Choose Him, and He will show Himself to be worthy of your choice and more, because He chose you first.

Psalm 16

A Michtam of David.

Preserve me, O God,
for in You I put my trust.
O my soul, you have said to the LORD,
"You are my Lord, my goodness is nothing apart from You."
As for the saints who are on the earth,
"They are the excellent ones, in whom is all my delight."

Their sorrows shall be multiplied who hasten after another god;
their drink offerings of blood I will not offer,
nor take up their names on my lips.
O LORD,You are the portion of my inheritance and my cup;
You maintain my lot.
The lines have fallen to me in pleasant places;
yes, I have a good inheritance.

I will bless the LORD who has given me counsel;
my heart also instructs me in the night seasons.
I have set the LORD always before me;
because He is at my right hand I shall not be moved.

Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoices;
my flesh also will rest in hope.
For You will not leave my soul in Sheol,
nor will You allow Your Holy One to see corruption.
You will show me the path of life;
in Your presence is fullness of joy;
at Your right hand are pleasures forevermore.

Sydney closes doors to apostate U.S. bishop

2007-08-18T12:48:00.000-07:00

The Anglican archbishop of Sydney (Australia) has banned retired Episcopalian bishop John Shelby Spong from preaching in any of the churches of the Sydney diocese. The Rt. Rev. Peter Jensen gave this order in response to another Australian bishop's invitation for Spong to preach in St. John's Cathedral, and to give a public lecture at St. Aidan's Anglican Girls School (both in Brisbane).

Spong is well known for his denial of almost all the essential truths of the Christian faith--including the existence of a transcendent God, the deity of Christ, the fall of man, the Virgin Birth, the miracles of the New Testament, the atoning power of Christ's death, Christ's physical resurrection and ascension, the moral authority of the Bible, the efficacy of prayer, and the hope of life after death. He has also worked to subvert traditional Biblical gender roles in the Church, by (among other things) agitating for the ordination of women and homosexuals as priests. Despite these things, he was permitted to continue serving as bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Newark, New Jersey, until his retirement in 2000. Since then he has maintained an active schedule of speaking and writing and is influential in some Anglican circles.

This latest discord over Spong, between two Australian Anglican archbishops, is the most recent in a series of fractures that have appeared in the Anglican Communion. This denomination numbering almost 80 million members worldwide seems to be headed for a major schism, unless God intervenes to prevent it, over a cluster of disagreements rooted in different views of the authority of Scripture.

(Sources include Christian Post and The Australian.)

The anti-creation and its aftermath

2007-08-12T12:56:00.000-07:00

After the beginning, man deformed the heavens and the earth.

Then the earth was again formless, and void;
and the light became dull over the face of the deep,
because the spirit of man was cowering over the face of the waters.

And man said, "Let there be darkness,"
and there was darkness.
And man saw the darkness, that it was pleasant;
and man loved the darkness rather than the light,
and he separated himself from the light,
and remained in the darkness.
And man called the darkness "Light,"
and the light he called "Darkness."
And the evening and the morning were the first day.

And man said, "Let there be firmaments
between me and the waters,
so that I may gain power over the waters."
And man built his cities
of wood and stone, iron and concrete,
and he seeded the clouds and dammed the rivers,
and took dominion over the waters,
but his heart hated the waters even as he dominated them.
And the evening and the morning were the second day.

And man said, "Let the waters be gathered to serve me,
and let the plants of the earth, and their fruits,
be mine and not another's."
And man fought great wars over earth and water and crops,
and he created great famines,
and many men died in the wars and by the famines,
and yet man when he was victorious thought that it was good.
And the evening and the morning were the third day.

And man said, "Let there be light in the darkness,
and darkness in the midst of the day,
and let the signs and the seasons,
the days and the years,
be confused."
And man made little lights
in imitation of the great lights of heaven,
and he set them throughout the night,
so that his toil might never cease,
and with the smog of his cities
he turned the day into darkness.
And man mingled day and night,
and turned them all into dim and cheerless pallor;
and man thought that it was good.
And the evening and the morning were the fourth day.

And man said, "Let the waters be polluted with toxic wastes,
and let the open firmament of heaven
be choked with noxious fumes."
And man deadened sea and sky
with oil spills and plumes of smoke,
and with the wreckage of ships and planes from his wars,
and with human corpses;
and man thought that it was good.
And the evening and the morning were the fifth day.

And man said, "Let our will be done
upon the living creatures of the earth;
let them exist solely for our pleasure,
and let our hatred be poured out on them."
And man hunted and killed the living creatures
and the beasts of the earth,
not for food, nor for protection,
but only to take away life.
And man cut down forests and made pasturelands barren,
and many animals died for no purpose, and left a void behind,
and man thought that it was good.

Then man said, "Let us make god in our image, after our likeness;
and let god be our servant, and serve us;
and thus let us fulfill our will upon the earth."
So man created god in his own image,
in the image of man he created him;
male and female he created it.
And man cursed the god that he had made, and man said to it,
"Be sterile, and diminish;
and let your name remain in the temples, and on the coins,
and in the mouths of the simple,
but let our will alone have dominion."

And in the name of the god whom man had made,
he turned against the God who had made man,
and nailed Him to a tree stripped of its branches.
Though God took flesh that man might live,
man seized that flesh, that God might die,
and man alone might be exalted in that day!

And man saw everything that he had done,
and behold, though the earth was ruined,
he thought it very good.
And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.

Thus the heavens and the earth were darkened
by the sinfulness of man.
And on the seventh day man sought rest
from all his work which he had done,
but though he had labored and toiled long,
his soul was not satisfied,
and his heart brooded on in the darkness.

And very early on the eighth day,
which was the first day of the week,
some women who still sought after their crucified God
found the stone rolled away from His tomb,
but they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus.
Then two men appeared to them in shining garments,
and said, "Why do you seek the living among the dead?
He is not here, He is risen!"

For God Himself stripped gods and men of strength,
and rose on high, to reign and come again.
Before Him all must bow the knee, in heaven and on earth,
for He it is who says, "Behold,
I am making all things new!"

Early Christian rock

2007-08-07T23:14:00.000-07:00

Slate published an article last week looking into some of the most striking Christian rock musicians of the 1960s and '70s, and those who influenced them.

Both "this present age" and the next, both righteousness and wickedness, show themselves unmistakably in these few paragraphs. The Jesus People movement and Christian rock did much to remake American Christendom in the second half of the twentieth century, both for good and for ill. The Lord God does not accomplish His purposes on earth in a vacuum. People like Lonnie Frisbee--an ex-druggie hippie youth minister, instrumental to the growth of both Calvary Chapel and the Vineyard Movement, but who struggled with homosexuality and eventually died of AIDS--are the kind of people we ought to expect to encounter in the Christian Church. We are, after all, a people still stretched out between sin and righteousness, hoping against hope for a salvation that is as certain as God's promise.

"With All Your Might"

2007-08-06T22:26:00.000-07:00

Notes for another sermon that I preached at a small church fellowship:

"With All Your Might"
Text: Ecclesiastes 9:10-18

Introduction: This world is a complicated place to live in. God told Adam and Eve to have dominion over the earth; but since the Fall, the serpent and the earth often seem to have dominion over mankind. Instead of man mastering his work and the circumstances of his life, work and circumstances threaten to master him.

The Preacher (a.k.a. Solomon "son of David, king in Jerusalem"), in his dry and level-headed way, analyzes the situation with all of its ironies...and points the way to a solution.

I. Work while you still can! (v. 10)

"Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might; for there is no work or device or knowledge or wisdom in Sheol, where you are going."

Might is strength, power, ability, efficiency, capability to produce. Pour yourself and your strength into your work, whatever that may be!--a job, school, marriage, remodeling your home, discipling a younger believer, drawing near to God through worship and Scripture and prayer.

Pour out your energy on what comes to your hand, not what is out of your grasp. It is foolish and useless to spend your time and strength dreaming about what is not yours to have. If it is good, and you have a chance at it, go for it! But if you know that it is unattainable, don't waste time daydreaming about it. Work and speak and think for the glory of God, right there in the position where He has placed you, making the forward progress that is possible from that position. 1 Cor. 7:20-24. It is better to be free than to be a slave; but wherever you are, you are God's, and you ought to act like it!

Proverbs 23:6-8--"as he thinks in his heart, so is he." You will become like whatever you dwell on. If your mind is directed by the Spirit of God, your ways will come to resemble the ways of God. (What are those ways? Love; creativity; service; sacrifice; mission.) If you dwell on what you cannot have, you will become bitter and unfruitful. Phil. 4:8-9. Find out who in your life is like Christ, is worthy of imitation, and then follow the good you see in them! Then do, with all your might, whatever your hand can reach. The caves in Hannibal, Missouri, and the true story behind Tom Sawyer: Injun John gave up trying to get out, and died within feet of the open air. Do not give up, but keep working at whatever task is already within your grasp; if you persevere, you will soon break through to the freedom that you long for.

Work your hardest on whatever you can, as long as you still have opportunity. There is a long sleep ahead of you between your death and the resurrection of the body. Phil. 1:21-26. Even Paul, torn between ministry on earth and being with the Lord in heaven, chose to be on earth a while longer for the sake of those Christians whom he could not help any longer if he was taken into heaven. John 9:1-5. As long as you are in the world, you too are the light of the world as disciples of Jesus (Matt. 5:14-16). Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might!

II. The goodness of wisdom in the midst of futility (vv. 11-15)

When you "turn" and take a good look at the world "under the sun," this is what you see: excellence often doesn't pay. Under the sun, it's often true that nice guys finish last. The fast runners lose, the great warriors die, the wise starve, the intelligent are poor, and even those who are in the know don't get the good breaks (v. 11). Under the sun, the death of man (who is made in God's image) looks just as senseless as the death of animals (v. 12). Because of Adam and his sin, we all have been laboring under a curse (quite literally) ever since that bad beginning (Genesis 3:17-19). In spite of the sun’s brightness, the world it looks down on is a very dark one.

Worse, it can look like even wisdom does no good (vv. 13-15). The poor wise man rescued the town from destruction--bravo! But once the thrill of victory passed, no one remembered him. "Under the sun," wisdom itself can look as worthless and vain as all the rest of the world's tiresome activities.

We are tempted to say, "Well, that's just reality! Deal with it." But this life "under the sun" is not the whole story, as Solomon (the author of Ecclesiastes) himself tells us. Proverbs 4:18--The path of the righteous is like the sunrise, becoming brighter and brighter, until the sun itself will disappear and only righteousness will remain; that will be the true daylight, and not just this temporary life "under the sun." Proverbs 15:24--For the wise, the way of life winds upward, ultimately taking him right out of the reach of Sheol (the grave/hell).

The key is to look higher than the sun, to Him who will shine as brightly as ever when the need for the sun’s light has disappeared forever (Revelation 21:22-27). He alone makes wisdom worthwhile, and work, and strength, and intelligence, and all good things. Without Him, these things are dust and ashes. But if you are in Him, you will outlive both prosperity and ruin and come at last into a kingdom that has no end, beyond the reach of all pains and sorrows and disillusionments.

In that place, even that poor but wise man whom no one remembered will have his just reward—not a bit too little, and not a moment too late.

III. A clear-eyed hymn of praise to wisdom (vv. 16-18)

Wisdom is better than strength. Wisdom saved the city when strength could not--
even though the poor man is despised and no longer listened to. (Cf. Winston Churchill's defeat in the British elections of July 1945--and yet his courageous leadership in the war was still worth the cost!)

The quiet words of the wise are better than the shouts of those who rule over fools--
even though the wise often find few to listen to them! (But those few wise disciples are more powerful than all the fools in the world who oppose them. Just think of the victory that the twelve apostles of Christ and their followers won over all the political, military, and religious power in the world!)

Wisdom is better than the weapons of battle--
even though one sinner can wreck many good beginnings! (If wisdom is necessary for victory in open battle, it is even more necessary when your friends betray you.)

Conclusion: In Solomon's words, Ecclesiastes 12:13-14...God's coming judgment of every work and every secret thing, both good and evil, will cause all things in heaven and on earth to come out right. "Though the mills of God grind slowly, yet they grind exceeding small" (Friedrich von Logau, trans. by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow).

John 21:15-22. In the joys and in the moral outrages of life, the Lord Jesus tests and purifies your love for Him, and through it all He calls you to follow Him. So what if your wisdom leads to dishonor in the eyes of the world? So what if your faithfulness ends in frustration and persecution? So what if you die young, and your brother stays alive until Jesus' return? That is not your concern. Your call is to follow Him. Your task is to seek wisdom and live by it, no matter what the consequences, because at the end of all things you will see that the results are truly "very good." And whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might.

Life and death: Son Jong Nam in North Korea

2007-08-03T22:17:00.000-07:00

On Wednesday of this week, North Korea added its voice to the calls for Taliban forces in Afghanistan to release their 21 remaining South Korean hostages, who were kidnapped while on a Christian charitable mission there. The deputy director general of the North Korean Foreign Ministry was quoted as saying, "We hope that South Koreans kidnapped in Afghanistan could return home safely." He added, "It is the consistent stance that our republic is opposed to all kinds of terrorism."

Also on Wednesday, Crosswalk.com reported (on behalf of Voice of the Martyrs) that former North Korean army officer Son Jong Nam is on death row in North Korea, facing public execution by Kim Jong-il's government for his evangelistic activities. Mr. Son was sentenced to death for being a "national traitor" and "receiving Christianity." (A similar report about Mr. Son's case is available here.)

So I ask you, President Kim: do you really value Koreans' lives? Why should you urge the Taliban to spare South Korean Christians, when you sentence your own citizens to death simply for confessing that same Christ?

If you would like to do something tangible to support our brother Son Jong Nam, you can do so by going to Voice of the Martyrs' prisoner advocacy website to find out how to pray for Mr. Son, how to write to him, or how to write to North Korean officials to ask for his release.

"Put Away the Foreign Gods"

2007-07-30T22:23:00.000-07:00

Notes for a sermon that I preached yesterday at Covenant Reformed Fellowship in Greeley, Colorado:

"Put Away the Foreign Gods"
Text: Joshua 24:14-28

Introduction: The historical situation: the people had come out of Egypt, passed through the wilderness, conquered the land under Joshua, and settled in their territories. Here Joshua gives them a farewell address and renews the covenant between the Lord and the people before his death.

In many ways, you are like the people that Joshua addressed. God has redeemed you from this present evil age and set you apart for Himself as a holy people, just as He ransomed His people from Israel and brought them out to be His own. Just as they were led to conquest and settled triumphantly in a promised land under Joshua, you also have been led to victory and prosperity in a new life under One who also bears Joshua's name--Jesus, "The Lord Is Salvation." So Joshua's message is one that applies to you today, as well. That day Israel heard a message from their commander and captain, but you today are gathered to hear the words of the Commander of the Lord's Army, who is Christ Himself.

Joshua's call to the people: serve the Lord, not the gods your fathers served and not the gods of the pagans in the land where you are living (vv. 14-15). It is hard to serve the Lord, but this is your choice and your duty as the people of God; this is your life!

I. The false gods of the fathers: Proud individualism

The conquest and settlement of America: Strong and hardy individuals, alone or in small groups, pioneers and frontiersmen--John Smith in Jamestown; the Pilgrims; Daniel Boone; Davy Crockett; cf. the myths of Paul Bunyan and Johnny Appleseed. "The American dream"--self-made men rising out of poverty by their own hard work and determination. This is what we honor and seek to imitate. We like to set out on our own, wanting to make a life for ourselves, and thinking that we are right by belonging to our own little subgroup with our own preferences and characteristics, within the great American market of individual preferences.

Even in the Church, we think of the courageous individuals who stand against the current of their time--Abraham setting forth to go to Canaan, Augustine standing against the heretic Pelagius, Martin Luther opposing the evils of the Roman Catholicism of his day, George Whitefield traveling and preaching. We forget that each of them had a household, a group of companions, or a Church body that surrounded them and gave them much of their strength. And we forget those who served God as united groups, which is normally His way—-the children of Israel setting forth in faith from Egypt, six hundred thousand men on foot; the company of the prophets who surrounded Samuel and prophesied together with him; the twelve apostles standing together to preach Christ in the midst of one hundred twenty assembled brothers, and the thousands who soon joined with them; and the churches that gathered together to listen to the preaching of Paul, of Chrysostom, of Ambrose, of John Calvin and the other Reformers. The Lord works through individual people, but He does so not to exalt them in themselves, but to build them together into a united body.

Romans 14:7-8; 1 Corinthians 6:19-20; Romans 12:4-5

Modern families think nothing of living far apart and having independent lives; husband and wife each make a career for themselves, and children (if there are any) recede into the background; people choose the church that best suits their own needs and preferences, even if they have to drive past ten other churches to get to it.

Families, churches, and social gatherings are seen (wrongly!) as assemblies of individuals, rather than cohesive bodies with diverse but interdependent "members."

II. The false gods of the fathers: Legalism

Part of the basic orientation of the proud, sinful human heart: self-salvation through conformity to clearly marked-out rules. But eternal life is knowing God, not doing some thing or following a list of do's and don'ts. John 17:3; Mark 10:17—-like the Pharisees, this young man who approached Jesus had good deeds on the surface, but a heart that was in rebellion against God underneath.

Galatians 2:16--justification is not by works of law, but by trusting in a Person. The life that God has established is not mechanical, but personal; not a system that runs smoothly when its laws are obeyed, but a family held together by bonds of love and trust.

The rules that are established as if to keep you from the slavery of sin, only bring you into a new slavery while having no power to take away sin: Colossians 2:20-23.

Rules that often appear in churches: Don't drink alcohol, don't smoke, don't dance, don't play cards, women don't wear pants, etc. Or the "new legalisms": do you have an automatic negative reaction to a married woman having a job (even part-time) outside the home? Christian parents sending their children to school rather than home-schooling them? Children living at a distance from their parents? (Of course, there is a certain wisdom involved as you make your own choices about these things, but don't make them a club to beat others with. Don't take ways to life and turn them into a way of death!)

Critically compare the standards you use to evaluate others, against the ones you use for yourself. You won't get away with being too easy on yourself, having a double standard! Matthew 7:1-3.

III. The false gods of the land: American nationalism

The prophets warned the people repeatedly that merely living in Israel, or Judah, guaranteed nothing. It is bad enough when people merely trust their membership in the Church for salvation despite the open rebellion that appears in their life. How much worse when a dim memory of America as a "Christian nation" justifies everything done by American rulers and citizens! Jeremiah 7:1-15. If Judah, the holy people of God, had no guarantee of physical security, how much less does America have any such guarantee!

A sign of secular political idolatry in the U.S.: George W. Bush's second inaugural address, which has been said to give a "messianic" role to American political/military power around the world. Consider these quotes:

"There is only one force of history that can break the reign of hatred and resentment, and expose the pretensions of tyrants, and reward the hopes of the decent and tolerant, and that is the force of human freedom."
“We will persistently clarify the choice before every ruler and every nation: The moral choice between oppression, which is always wrong, and freedom, which is eternally right."
"We go forward with complete confidence in the eventual triumph of freedom. Not because history runs on the wheels of inevitability; it is human choices that move events. Not because we consider ourselves a chosen nation; God moves and chooses as He wills. We have confidence because freedom is the permanent hope of mankind, the hunger in dark places, the longing of the soul."

Christ's principle (Luke 20:20-25): Give to Caesar what is Caesar's, and to God what is God's. A penny has an image of Lincoln, and a dollar bill of Washington: presidents of a secular country, in which we still live. But you bear the image of God. Give to Him what is His.

IV. The false gods of the land: Spontaneity

This idol is nourished and built up by the individualism that we have inherited from our fathers. If what matters is myself and my preferences, then my choices at any moment are valid and I do not need to submit myself to any outside discipline.

Hebrews 5:14—-the need to grow to maturity as Christians, not remain infants spiritually!

Jeremiah 6:16—walk in the old paths. In worship, in family life, in theology, in personal holiness, we need to acknowledge the truth that the eternal God builds up good things through the steady growth of many years. Like Jonah's vine, what springs up overnight often withers overnight. Abraham had to wait twenty-five years to receive Isaac, and by then he was justified and renamed, settled in the land, and ready to obtain the long-awaited promise. But he gave in to the temptation to lose patience and bring about the promised good immediately, the result was Ishmael—a plague and a grief to the people of God from that day until the present.

Don't expect yourself, your family, your church, to reach its full glory in a day or a year. Constantly keep building, patiently, in faith, toward the promised outcome.

Conclusion: Serving the Lord (review of Joshua 24:14-28)

It is not easy to serve the Lord. He permits no compromises, no half-hearted efforts. You cannot remain divided between Him and another master.

You have come here today to gather with His people, to confess your sins to Him and receive His pardon, to hear His Word preached, to eat and drink at His table. You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen the Lord, to serve Him! And you are witnesses for one another, as well--not to destroy, but to build up, to encourage and to strengthen one another to continue serving the Lord.

Dead in Afghanistan: Rev. Bae Hyung-kyu (1965-2007)

2007-07-26T12:38:00.000-07:00

Korean and other news sources are reporting that the Korean volunteer worker killed in Afghanistan on Wednesday was Bae Hyung-kyu, a pastor and co-founder of Saemmul Presbyterian Church. Rev. Bae was killed on his forty-second birthday.

A friend, Pastor Park Won-hi, recalled, "I still vividly remember Hyung-kyu saving a life by dissuading a young man from attempting suicide while he was doing volunteer work at a library.... As part of his nature, he liked helping others...and he just could not pass by without helping others in need."

Rev. Bae had been the leader of the group of 23 Koreans who traveled to Afghanistan to provide free medical care and were taken hostage by Taliban rebels. He left behind a wife and a nine-year-old daughter, as well as many grieving parishioners.

"When He opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the testimony which they held. And they cried with a loud voice, saying, 'How long, O Lord, holy and true, until You judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?' Then a white robe was given to each of them; and it was said to them that they should rest a little while longer, until both the number of their fellow servants and their brethren, who would be killed as they were, was completed. " -Revelation 6:9-11

One Korean hostage murdered, eight released

2007-07-25T12:09:00.000-07:00

Earlier today, one of the South Korean Christians being held hostage by the Taliban was found dead with ten bullet holes in his body. Just as throughout much of this ordeal, there were conflicting stories about the reason for his death. Self-proclaimed Taliban spokesman Qari Yousef Ahmadi stated that the man was killed because Taliban demands to release other fighters from prison had not been met. But an anonymous source said the Korean was shot because he was sick and couldn't keep up with the others.

Meanwhile, eight of the hostages--six women and two men--were released to the main U.S. base in Ghazni province. That leaves twelve women and two men still being held captive out of the original group of 23 Koreans kidnapped last Friday.

Pray for courage and peace for these sisters and brothers of ours. They came to Afghanistan to serve the people in the love of Christ, and for this they have been made to suffer. Pray also for a German and five Afghans who are being held hostage in similar circumstances. One German from the original group has already died.

(Source: Bullet-riddled body of S. Korean hostage found [AP/MSNBC].)

23 Korean Christians held hostage in Afghanistan

2007-07-23T14:02:00.000-07:00

Taliban personnel announced on Monday that they will wait until Tuesday evening before they begin killing 23 South Korean hostages in Afghanistan. The Koreans, Christians on a brief visit to Afghanistan to do charitable work, were kidnapped in Ghazni province on Friday.

The hostages are members of Saemmul Community Church in Bundang (just south of Seoul) and had come to Afghanistan intending to volunteer in hospitals and kindergartens from July 13 to July 23. Initial reports said that the Taliban were holding them hostage and would begin killing them if South Korea did not recall the 210 troops it has currently serving in Afghanistan. However, Taliban spokesman Qari Yousuf Ahmadi said on Saturday that the hostages themselves were guilty of carrying out illegal "missionary activities." He added, "Afghanistan is an Islamic republic where conversion from Islam or attempting to convert Muslims is regarded as a serious crime in several areas."

The South Korean government is negotiating with the Taliban to free the hostages. Meanwhile, the Korean newspaper Chosun Ilbo criticized Korean missionary efforts in an editorial, arguing, "It is simply futile for Koreans to engage in missionary or other religious activities in a country like Afghanistan, which has a history of deep hatred toward Christianity and is wracked by gunfights, kidnappings and suicide bombings.... Religious groups should realize once and for all that dangerous missionary and volunteer activities in Islamic countries including Afghanistan not only harm Korea's national objectives, but also put other Koreans under a tremendous amount of duress." But the victims' pastor, Rev. Bang Young-gyun, denied that his parishioners' activities in Afghanistan had been "missionary works." He announced that any of his church's humanitarian projects that were "unwanted" by Afghans would be suspended, and those working in such programs would be returned home to Korea.

Other sources: Taliban extend hostage deadline (Al Jazeera), 18 Koreans kidnapped in Afghanistan (AP), South Korean kidnap victims' church halts some volunteer work in Afghanistan (International Herald Tribune).

The symbols and the Reality

2007-07-21T21:58:00.000-07:00

What do the following sentences mean?

"In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.... That was the true Light which gives light to every man coming into the world." -John 1:4, 9

"Jesus said to them, 'Most assuredly, I say to you, Moses did not give you the bread from heaven, but My Father gives you the true bread from heaven.'" -John 6:32

"I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser." -John 15:1

"Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her... 'For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.' This is a great mystery, but I am speaking concerning Christ and the church." -Ephesians 5:25, 31-32

There are other lights, and there is the true Light. Moses is not the giver of bread from heaven, because the true Bread is the Son of Man, and He is also the true Vine. Becoming one flesh is a great mystery, and the true subject of that mystery is Christ and the church.

He is the true Light; what then, in this world, is light? It is that which is like Him in His brightness.

He is the true Bread. By what right, then, do we call this baked stuff bread? Because it imitates the One who is truly Bread: this comes down from heaven and mingles with that which is on earth, it springs up only to be plucked and crushed, but finally emerges from fire and darkness to become life and strength to the world. (It is "bread" because it always relives the history of the true Bread.)

He is the true Vine. How dare we call these humble plants by His name? Because in their own way they too are His disciples: they pour their own life into fruit and offer it to sustain, to refresh, to make hearts glad.

The "great mystery" of marriage is a mystery about Christ and the church. What do the groom and the bride in each earthbound little wedding have to do with such cosmic glories? He is Christ to her, and she is Church to him. The one true Husband condescends to let this man fill His role, and opposite them both the Church offers Her place to this woman.

Again, He is the true Light. Whatever else is called "light" has its name not of itself, but by His courtesy. To speak of "light" is to use a metaphor--as if the brightness of a lamp, or of the sun, were itself the Eternal! Likewise with bread, vine, husband: we call these things by His names, and it makes sense, because in their various ways they remind us of Him.

But even so, is it really that simple? No! "Light" is not merely a symbol of Him, as we understand symbols. When the sun shines on us, He Himself is shining on us. When we eat and drink, it is His own life in the form of bread and wine that comes into us, that conveys His own strength to our muscles and bones. At the wedding, He (the Head) is Himself in him, and She (the Body) is Herself in her. "In Him all things consist."

All of what we call "light" is nothing other than the shining of the True Light. "Bread," "vine," "marriage": it is He at the center of each of them that makes them what they are.

"Bread" that was not saturated with His presence would not be bread. But then, "bread" that was not saturated with His presence would not even be.

What's wrong with this picture?

2007-07-20T21:22:00.000-07:00

A court in the Romanian city of Timişoara has dismissed a lawsuit against God. The judges decided that God is not subject to civil law and, in addition, does not have an address where the court could locate him.

A prison inmate serving a 20-year sentence for murder had filed suit against "the person known as God, resident in heaven and represented on earth by the Orthodox Church," and charged him with "fraud, breach of trust, corruption, and abuse of power." According to the plaintiff, at his baptism he had made a contract with the defendant by which the latter was required to protect him from any kind of misfortune. However, God had never fulfilled any of his contractual obligations, despite the many offerings and prayers made to him by the plaintiff.

(Source: Lenta.ru News via a friend of a friend in Ukraine.)

Saved from fire

2007-07-19T15:39:00.000-07:00

This morning at my house, we narrowly avoided having the whole kitchen catch on fire. Thanks to God for His protection!

The wiring above one of the ceiling lights shorted out some time after midnight and had steadily been getting hotter and hotter ever since. By the time we called the fire department, already some of the glass in the light bulb was melted, the wiring was blackened for several feet around, and the ceiling was scorched. The small space above that old ceiling was packed with dry wood chips used as insulation; they probably would have already gone up in flames if it hadn't been for the lack of oxygen in that enclosed area.

The top picture shows the kitchen ceiling after the firefighters broke it up and sprayed it to put us out of danger. The one below is the stove and counter after they were done.

"The Power of Unity"

2007-07-17T12:29:00.001-07:00

Here are some good words about the importance of unity among Christians.

Missionary to Russia comes to Moscow

2007-07-17T11:48:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow (Wednesday) evening at 7:30, Blake Purcell will be giving a presentation at the Nuart Theater (Moscow, ID) about his ministry in Russia. Blake is a missionary, pastor, and seminary rector who has been serving in Russia since 1990 along with his wife Cathy and their children. First with The Navigators and later with the Reformed Presbyterian Church of St. Petersburg and the Biblical Theological Seminary, he has been involved in evangelism, church planting, and training of Christian leaders.

If you're in Moscow, come by to hear Blake speak about his ministry and provide further information on it.

Christians and heretics

2007-07-16T13:54:00.000-07:00

A post by Evan Wilson, along with the ensuing discussion on his website, raises several questions about how different "kinds" of professing Christians ought to relate to one another.

Operation World, the excellent guide to praying for the nations of the world, takes a "lowest common denominator" approach to defining a Christian. Because any other approach would involve them in too many complications, they include as "Christians" all groups that call themselves Christians. (They use the same strategy in categorizing Muslims, Buddhists, etc.) This means that Catholics, Orthodox, Lutherans, Pentecostals, Seventh-day Adventists, syncretistic African and South Pacific churches, non-denominationals, and other groups are all lumped in together with Jehovah's Witnesses and Mormons under the umbrella term of "Christian." Detailed information is also given to help sort out all these groups so that readers can determine for themselves just how Christian each subgroup really is.

The opposite approach is taken by some in a variety of different denominational and theological traditions. These people hesitate to call anyone a real Christian except those who agree with them on all the key points of theology, or at least of the "Gospel." But depending on who you ask, the key points may be many: the Trinity, the nature of Christ as God-man, predestination and free will, justification by faith, the authority of the Bible, the weight of tradition, the Sacraments (whether or not by that name), the definition and seriousness of sin, the nature of the covenant(s), eschatology, and the list goes on.

Here's a first step toward resolving this problem: True Christian faith is ultimately defined not by what you believe, but in Whom. The Lord Jesus rejoices to answer the honest prayer, "Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!" (Mark 9:24).

In memoriam: Father Ragheed Ganni (1972-2007)

2007-07-16T12:19:00.000-07:00

"The blood of Christians is seed." --Tertullian (c. 160-230), Apologeticum, ch. 50.

Tertullian's famous words (often repeated in the form "The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church") are as true today as they were when he wrote them eighteen centuries ago. Faithful witnesses for Christ have been forced to water the earth with their blood in every age of history, only for the Church to spring up stronger than ever and triumph over her persecutors.

Ragheed Ganni, a Chaldean Catholic priest, was born in Mosul, Iraq (ancient Nineveh), and educated in Iraq and Italy. After the overthrow of Saddam Hussein, although Father Ganni could have stayed safely in Europe, he chose to return to Mosul (which was by then ranked as the second most dangerous city in Iraq) to become the pastor of Holy Spirit Church. There he set up theology courses for his congregation and devoted himself to working with young people and poor families.

After each terrorist attack, Father Ganni knew it was only a matter of time before the next one came. When bullets were fired into his church during Palm Sunday worship earlier this year, he wrote, "We empathize with Christ, who entered Jerusalem in full knowledge that the consequence of his love for mankind was the cross. Thus while bullets smashed our church windows, we offered our suffering as a sign of love for Christ." He later said, "Christ challenges evil with his infinite love, he keeps us united and through the Eucharist he gives us life, which the terrorists are trying to take away." Father Ganni kept encouraging his people to have hope in God for a better future: "It is our duty not to give in to despair: God will listen to our prayers for peace in Iraq."

On Sunday, June 3, just after he had celebrated an evening Mass, Father Ganni was seized, dragged away, and murdered, together with three of his subdeacons. The killers then surrounded the bodies with explosives to delay those who wanted to retrieve them and give them a proper burial.

Ragheed Ganni is dead, but his blood and the blood of his fellow servants of Christ is the seed from which the Church in Iraq will spring forth to greater life. May all those who love his Lord give thanks for him, and pray that peace and hope will truly come to his beloved Iraq.

(Sources: Sandro Magister in Chiesa, BreakPoint with Chuck Colson.)

Theme

2007-07-15T17:12:00.000-07:00

JOHN 10:7-16
Then Jesus said to them again, "Most assuredly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. All who ever came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them. I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture. The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.

"I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep. But a hireling, he who is not the shepherd, one who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees; and the wolf catches the sheep and scatters them. The hireling flees because he is a hireling and does not care about the sheep. I am the good shepherd; and I know My sheep, and am known by My own. As the Father knows Me, even so I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep. And other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they will hear My voice; and there will be one flock and one shepherd."

The Lord Jesus is the one true Shepherd; all who know Him and are known by Him are His sheep. Christendom is filled with conflicting denominations, theologies, movements, and perspectives, but He is one, and so His flock must be one.

Jesus is at work in the world through His Spirit until this very day--gathering and purifying His flock, healing the broken, retrieving the strays, reconciling the separated, and driving out the wolves. He will continue to do so until the Last Day. At that time His flock will appear in all its glory, visibly and triumphantly one, one flock under one shepherd.

This site is devoted to the one true Shepherd of the sheep, and to His flock which is one, no matter how much it seems to be divided at the present time. I will be considering a wide range of subjects and may write about more personal things at times, but the central theme will continue to be Jesus Christ the Shepherd and the Church, His flock. May the Lord be honored and the Church built up by the things recorded here.