We enter the Year of Our Lord 2020 with political storm clouds gathering. We know, however, The One Whom even the winds and the sea obey.
No matter what the year may bring, remember His words: “Behold, I am making all things new.”
Happiness is fleeting. Hope endures.
I’ve just finished reading a book that really provoked me into a closer examination of Scripture and my understanding of it. It’s humbling to realize that even as I close in on five decades on this earth, there are things I’ve never considered and discussions of which I’ve been ignorant all this time.
The book 
is “A More Merciful God: Truth is Older Than Tradition.” It’s a powerful critique of the common traditional view that those who fail to put their faith in Christ will suffer an eternity of conscious pain and torment. Prior to reading it, I was only aware of two schools of thought about the destiny of the lost: the aforementioned traditional view, and universalism, which posits that even the lost eventually are relieved of their suffering and restored after a period of punishment. The latter view being patently unfounded in Scripture, I’ve held to the traditional view, as horrifying as it is when you really stop and consider it. In “Amazing Grace” we sing of how after 10,000 years of praising God we’ll have “no less days… than when we first begun.” This is rightfully an encouragement to the believer, an anticipation of our future with our Creator. Left between the lines of that great hymn, though, is the thought those same 10,000 years leave “no less days” of agony and torment for the lost in eternity.
What if tradition is not only wrong, but slandering the character of God in the process, making it more difficult for people to come to faith in Him?
There is another viewpoint of which I’ve been unaware till now: conditional immortality. … Continue reading
He is risen! He is risen indeed!
So the Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, “Cursed are you above all livestock and all wild animals! You will crawl on your belly and you will eat dust all the days of your life. And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.”
Hurricane Irma is scheduled to start her run Sunday up the spine of Florida–a State I have many ties to. It’s a unique display of the destructive chaos of a fallen universe. I don’t put much stock in leaders who often jump to declare individual disasters as specific judgments from God for specific failures of a group of people. The Bible certainly confirms He has done so in the past. And we live in an age literally hell-bent on thumbing our nose at God. But I believe in this age of Grace we now live since the sacrifice of Christ, these “acts of God” are less often conscious action on His part than they are inaction to stop the built-in consequences of a creation frustrated under the weight of sin.
There are two things to consider here from God’s view. First, the world increasingly rejects anything to do with Him. Second, times of catastrophe focus us on what’s truly important and necessary far more than do times of calm and comfort. So rather than seeing God as a cosmic killjoy looking for excuses to hurl lightning bolts at wrongdoers, I believe the better analogy is one of a rejected Lover who has sadly granted our world’s desire to leave His presence and prescriptions, and as a consequence lose His protection as well.
But that’s the “big picture,” so to speak. The wondrous part of all this is that God doesn’t just deal with humanity. Or a specific nation. Or a specific city. He treats with each of us individually, desiring a personal relationship based on reciprocal love. This is unlike any “religious” conception on earth: the Creator desiring individual communion with His created. Despite humanity’s sinful nature He cares for us and hears us — our needs, wants, fears, and confessions. Just this week a family I know was stranded far from home with a broken car well after business hours. Yet God answered their pleas for help with an amazing turn of events that brought the right people (including an off-duty mechanic) and provided the resources to get them safely on their way again.
So in the midst of the storm; in the midst of the effects of the rule of this present darkness, we all have the privilege to seek shelter through prayer in the love of the Father, made possible by His Son, Jesus Christ. It’s not simply a “get out of jail free” card, or some kind of magic spell to ward off tragedy. No, this presence He offers provides comfort, perspective, and strength regardless of what happens physically:
(King) Nebuchadnezzar answered and said to them, “Is it true, O Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, that you do not serve my gods or worship the golden image that I have set up? Now if you are ready when you hear the sound of the horn, pipe, lyre, trigon, harp, bagpipe, and every kind of music, to fall down and worship the image that I have made, well and good. But if you do not worship, you shall immediately be cast into a burning fiery furnace. And who is the god who will deliver you out of my hands?”
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered and said to the king, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. If this be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of your hand, O king. But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up.”
That is the comfort and strength I’m talking about: the confidence to trust God, obey Him, and let Him work all things for the good of those who love Him. It may not be the “good” we think we want. “Unfair” things will happen. We may lose our jobs. Our earthly possessions. Even our life. But for those who love God and trust Him, any and all of that pales in comparison to the eternal joy that awaits us when we see Him face to face.
Everyone reading this is facing storms. It may not be a Category 4 hurricane, but we each have pressures that threaten to crush us. Know there is a God who cares for you, who is far more powerful than any storm you could face, and who desires what He knows is the best for you. Ask Him for peace. For calm in the midst of the storm. And *Even If* it seems the storm has taken everything away from you, know that if your trust is in God you already have everything you need. There is nothing that can take that away from you.
Nothing.
May the Lord bless and keep us all, according to His good will.
As we contemplate the events of Good Friday, and celebrate the Resurrection, we should recall the Master’s words:
“Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves. Beware of men, for they will deliver you over to courts and flog you in their synagogues, and you will be dragged before governors and kings for my sake, to bear witness before them and the Gentiles. When they deliver you over, do not be anxious how you are to speak or what you are to say, for what you are to say will be given to you in that hour. For it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you. Brother will deliver brother over to death, and the father his child, and children will rise against parents and have them put to death, and you will be hated by all for my name’s sake. But the one who endures to the end will be saved. When they persecute you in one town, flee to the next, for truly, I say to you, you will not have gone through all the towns of Israel before the Son of Man comes.
“A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master. It is enough for the disciple to be like his teacher, and the servant like his master. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebul, how much more will they malign those of his household.”
In addition to this caution, though, we are given encouragement:
“So have no fear of them (emphasis added), for nothing is covered that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known. What I tell you in the dark, say in the light, and what you hear whispered, proclaim on the housetops. And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul (emphasis added). Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.”
Christians in America have been so comfortable for so long we’ve forgotten it is not the state of things we should expect in a world under the sway of our Enemy. While giving thanks to the Father for the blessings we have been allowed during the time our civilization was largely aligned with the Faith, we should also realize that this time was an exception, and appears to be coming to a close. Many of our brothers and sisters around the world have never enjoyed the freedoms and latitude we’ve known — and their faith is stronger because of it. We need not fear the rise of hostility to Biblical Christianity at home. Rome, the French Revolution, Naziism, communism in Russia and China — none of these succeeded in stamping out the message of the Gospel. With the exception of China (which is itself not immune to the Spirit’s movement) those regimes are in the dustbin of history, but God’s Word will never pass away.
Neither today’s acolytes of aggressive atheism nor the latest surge of violent Islam should expect to succeed any better! How frustrating it must be to the Enemy to realize that no matter how many of Christ’s followers he kills or materially ruins, that the Word of God endures forever! We should not only take comfort in that — it should remind us that we are not here on this earth to wring our hands nervously, play defense or make this world our home. We aren’t supposed to be waiting around to be attacked because we might have let it slip that we take the Bible as authoritative Truth. No, with the power of the Spirit we are supposed to attack the gates of hell itself, in order that as many who will receive Him may have eternal life!
To quote C.S. Lewis yet again:
“If you read history you will find that the Christians who did most for the present world were precisely those who thought most of the next. It is since Christians have largely ceased to think of the other world that they have become so ineffective in this.”
The Master died for us, was raised by the Father, and has gone to prepare a better place for us. What are we doing to spread His invitation? What cost are we willing to pay, that others may know Him? Are we, like Him, prepared to be crushed if that will advance the glory of God and the salvation of others? Do we realize that even if He allows that, we can be assured that one day He will say to us, as He did to His Son, “Arise, my love!”
He is Risen!
A True Progressive 