Thursday, September 28, 2017

The Kingdom of God in Contemporary Society: The Earthly Conflict between Babylon and the Kingdom


The Fall of Babylon artist depiction cc 2.0

Calvary by John Martin, cc 2.0
It's all around us though we may not see it.  It's built into our lives though we don't see more than fading glances of it's reality.  It's torn at us for all our lives, our hearts ache against it, but it remains.  It climbs upon our backs, it whispers into our ears of things we ought not do.  It's a kingdom all encompassing, a constant danger to peace, hope, and liberty.  It's the kingdom that rises up in opposition to truth.

It's a self-centered system that exemplifies the ideals of humanism, the idea that humanity will triumph through strenuous effort.  It's cries out "peace, peace!" but it brings war, famine, and disaster.  It builds cities into the heavens, it climbs into the clouds, smoke billows from it's stacks, the gears of the machine turn, and it builds walls around itself.  It cobbles together statues and monuments to it's own greatness.  From it's gates pour forth armies of darkness by the tens of thousands, gathered to make camp about the city of God, and tear it's boundaries down, and lead it's people into captivity.  Yes, this is the kingdom of babylon. And what can we do against it? 

Babylon the great mystery it is, in fact the scriptures call it "mystery babylon" (Rev 17:5).  The mystery of babylon is this: Babylon is the kingdom of human self-exaltation that rises up in consistent battle against the kingdom of God on Earth. 

It was babel in Genesis, then Egypt and the Pharoahs.  It was midian, it was the philistines, and it was Jericho and Ai.  It opposed Israel, the nation of God, and fought Israel, and built up around it.  David and Solomon put babylon to rest, expanding the power and reach of the city of God.  But though Solomon conquered babylon outwardly, inwardly babylon broke into the heart of Solomon. 

Then once again babylon reared it's head as Babylon, led by Nebuchadnezzar, besieging and taking Israel into captivity. Eventually Israel returned, but by this time babylon's expression had grown across most of the civilized world in various expressions of kingdoms and powers. 

Again babylon came as the ancient Roman empire, but little did the kingdom of Satan know, but a secret resistance movement was about to take hold in the tiny nation of Israel.  

John the baptist began proclaiming this message of the coming resistance movement against babylon, and he called it "the kingdom of God."  Jesus Christ was born into the world, hallelujah, and the resistance began with twelve men and a handful of women who began following Jesus and listening to everything he said.  Jesus was God become a man, and soon many began to wonder: What can babylon do against this kingdom of God?  But many misinterpreted the coming of Jesus to be a physical violent overthrow of babylon, expressed in the ancient Roman empire.  This was not the case.  Instead Jesus our resistance leader came to give by dying, to achieve victory by shedding his blood, to conquer by loving, to defeat by being crushed, and to declare victory by offering his life as a gift of righteousness for the world.  So Jesus died and many though the revolution was over.  The great leader had passed away, the world had killed yet another wise teacher, just like it always did... And then the impossible happened.

Jesus appeared after his brutal death nailed to the cross and left to rot, and He came back and He showed himself to be alive.  It was inconcievable, how could Jesus be alive!? Yet there He was, walking and talking with his disciples.  Jesus had declared victory over the kingdom of darkness and death.  Jesus had cancelled out death itself, the worst foe humanity had ever faced.  Jesus paid it all that day, and reclaimed His life with Godly power. 


Christ stayed with His disciples teaching them, resurrected, and then He gave them the great commission: Go into all the world and preach the gospel, the good news, to everyone, everywhere.  Then Jesus returned to the reality in which God exists, in an eternal state, to return again at the end of all time. But Jesus sent a friend to remain with them as an organizer, as one who would lead the resistance against babylon, Jesus called Him the Holy Spirit.  The Spirit would be the General, the resistance leader who would somehow take a few thousand followers of Jesus and conquer all the nations on Earth with love and the transforming new birth in Jesus. 

His disciples, emboldened by their resurrected master boldly launched themselves into the Roman empire, converting it to Christianity. Despite babylon rearing it's head in Nero the insane emperor of Rome who fed hundreds of Christians to the lions, with every pool of blood that the martyred Christian's offered it seemed that from those pools of blood tens and hundreds more would appear, born again, washed in the blood of Christ, amazed by the willingness of these martyrs to pour out their blood for Jesus.  When Rome fell hundreds of years later the Christians seeded throughout the empire spread into the barbarian tribes, launching north, south, east, and west into the whole world.  The revolution had become global, and though it would face dire threats from Islam's brutal invasions of Europe, and Communism's genocidal nightmares in the east, never-the-less nothing could stop the kingdom of God.  It even spread from an increasingly corrupt Europe and blossomed in North America, Central America, and South America.  

From then on there has been a constant battle and struggle between the kingdom of God and it's leader the Holy Spirit and the kingdom of Satan, babylon and it's leader Satan. Today we see little babylons all over the world, probably exemplifying one large expression of babylon, and even America, a country founded in Christian ethics, has become a babylon itself, though there is a remnant of Christian faith in it remaining. 

Jesus said that the good news would have to be preached to every nation, and then the end would come.  The end seems to be a situation where the Holy Spirit departs, or whatever barrier is holding back the darkness departs, some say it's the church itself, and then babylon takes total control.  At that point the final events of Revelation begin to take place, culminating in the return of Christ, at which time everything changes.  

So what is the mystery of babylon?  The mystery of babylon is that it is the kingdom of Satan.  It is the ultimate manifestation of rebellion.  While the church, the Christianity of the world is the exemplification of humanity in righteous cooperation with God in holy acts of sabotage against the kingdom of Satan, babylon exemplifies the consummate rebel humanity, hand in hand with Satan, fruit in hand, building Satan's kingdom with the hope that it will obtain for them man's final realization of self-crowned godhood. 

You see, babylon has two attacks: It has the outward foreign power attack, which is strong and dangerous, and has reared it's head as Nazi Germany and the USSR in recent history, and in Napoleon's France and Marcus Aurelius's ancient Rome.  But babylon's insidious power to destroy comes equally from it's ability to inwardly rot and destroy through insurrection and immorality.  Babylon was the atheistic french revolution.  Babylon was the cultural decay of the Roman empire before it's fall.  Babylon was the pride and rebellion in Solomon's heart as he turned to foreign women, foreign gods, and it ruined Israel's future.  Babylon is the kingdom of man.  And I see it once again growing like a cancer within the United States; It couldn't destroy us as Nazi Germany or the militarized Japanese forces, so it came in another way, through cultural marxism, and secular humanism.  

While we struggle in the west against humanist/naturalist ideologies we'd be wise to remember that any and every earthly kingdom is always headed, like a piano down a steep mountain road, toward babylon.  The lesson seems to be that any Earthly kingdom, no matter how well intentioned, will eventually turn into a babylonian-self exalting kingdom of darkness. Don't we see that rebellion reaching consummation today in America after 60 or so years of cultural revolution?  The kingdom of babylon is once again fighting tooth and nail to overthrow the kingdom of God.  

We see that paradigm emerge one last time in Revelation at the culmination of disaster before the return of Christ. Thus the coming kingdom of God is the only government that will last eternally in righteousness.  Remarkably we see that even in the millennial reign of Christ, the one thousand year intermediary reign of Christ that even in these circumstances of Christ reigning on Earth, Satan is released one last time and once again successfully deceives millions of people to once again lay siege to the kingdom of God.  It is a motif the repeats in the old testament, repeats today, and will repeat one last time even after the return of Christ.  

Yet finally, babylon is defeated, not by man, but by God himself.  All things are made new, new universe, new Earth, and redeemed hearts and glorified bodies for each human being who has chosen to stand with God against the dark kingdom.  Babylon is finally defeated eternally by God, by God making all things new.  Christ reigns, we live eternally, and babylon will never return to attack us again.  Finally, at last, peace.  

So we are at war everyday.  It's true.  We are in spiritual warfare.  We should keep fighting of course.  We should keep praying zealously, praying for our country, praying for the lost, and praying against injustice.  We are the resistance against the kingdom of darkness, and though final victory can only by given by God, we are called each day to advance the kingdom of God, by doing the will of the Holy Spirit as He moves and leads our forces to carry the message of God's atoning grace: Jesus Christ has paid it all, and He is alive today.  He is living, so we can face down the kingdom of darkness, and expect victory.  Expect victory.  


Jerusalem present day CC 2.0

Babylonian captivity CC 2.0

"Live Fire Exercise" CC 2.0

Depiction of Calvary cc 2.0
Photo of the United Nations CC 2.0

Depiction of the babylonian "Hanging Gardens" CC 2.0

Depiction of Adam & Eve hiding from God

The massive city in the desert in Kazakhstan

"Hanging Gardens" CC 2.0
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Sunday, September 24, 2017

Jesus Christ & the Media Narrative: The Tactics of the Media in Subverting Christianity


There is an overarching narrative in our country, the United States, that is projected through media.  The narrative is guided by academic institutions, television shows, newspapers, and of course the world wide web. Narrative is a term that we'll use to describe the overarching framework of ideas, the general mood and worldview of the national public in the United States. And this is certainly true for other nations as well. In some nations this narrative is state run, it's controlled by the government powers.  That would be true in nations like China or North Korea.  But in most free nations in Europe and the United States this narrative is largely controlled and guided by media.  

In the United States there is an interesting paradigm shift that took place at some point in the past 50-60 years.  That is of the media in our country projecting and putting forth a national narrative, a national worldview that tends to not accurately reflect what most average Americans believe.  

While most Americans would hold more traditional views, and tend toward more Judaeo-Christian views on reality, the national media tends to project the assumption that most Americans hold to more progressive views of the world, like evolution, naturalism, multiculturalism, identity politics, abortion, and increased government control over life.  

Why?  Well, it's important to remember that media outlets like NBC, ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, and Fox News are private businesses.  Thus they are subject to the political leanings of those who own those institutions. Thankfully increasingly we've seen that Americans are turning to radio, social media and the internet to find news and comprehend the national mood on their own.  Thus we've seen a counter-narrative emerging.  One is projected by the television news media, and the big newspapers, and a new counter-narrative is projected by more conservative and traditionalist outlets like independent news sites like National Review, Weekly Standard, the Daily Wire, the Daily Caller, The Federalist, Breitbart, and others.  Contributing to this counter-narrative are talk radio hosts like Rush Limbaugh, Mark Levin, Sean Hannity, Michelle Malkin, Laura Ingraham, and others.  So increasingly we see two narratives battling for dominance and authority as the dominant worldview of the country.  

This isn't a bad thing, I don't believe.  For the longest time we've been prisoner to one narrative, the progressive narrative.  Thankfully there is at least somewhat of a counter-narrative that espouses Christian and traditional views on life, history, and everything beginning to emerge.  

It's affected my life, in a profound ways.  I was raised up in public schools that taught profoundly non-Christian views on life.  One could call it indoctrination, and this was before common core and the changes made in that curriculum that is even more blatant in pushing a leftist materialistic worldview.  I was taught post-modernism in college.  These are profoundly anti-Christian views, taught on public dollars.  

This is a profoundly important for Christians today to understand.  The United States is a nation that has been exceedingly Christian in it's worldview since it's founding in 1776, until the 1960s.  And for the last 50-60 years, increasingly the media and academic institutions have labored to create a social climate that is hostile to Christianity.  And especially in young people, they've succeeded.  

According to a broad study conducted by former secretary of education William Bennett between 1960 and 1997, our society saw the following increases:
865% increase in the number of couples living together out of wedlock
511% increase in the percentage of out of wedlock births
280% increase in the rate of violent crime
248% increase in the percentage of single-parent families
215% increase in juvenile violent crime rate
160% increase in total crime rate
33% decrease in the marriage rate
106% in the number of children on welfare
a 59 point decrease in the average SAT score

-statistics taken from "Media Revolution" by Brian E. Fisher, original source of statistics from "The Index of Leading Cultural Indicators by William J. Bennett (New York broadway books, 1999).

It's reasonable to assume that these numbers have continued to increase, not decrease between 1997 and 2017. 

So how can we as Christians understand how the media and academic elites have twisted our worldview and begin to take action in fighting back against lies, disinformation, and smear efforts?  Let's look at some of the tactics that are put forward against us.  

Note: These eight tactics are taken from "Media Revolution" by Brian E. Fisher, but the thoughts on these tactics and their application are my own.

1. "The Name Game"
This tactic is an interesting one, it's the use of terms and words that change the meaning of issues to better suit the narrative of the media.  Thus someone who supports the abortion of unborn babies shouldn't be called "pro-abortion" they are instead referred to as "pro-choice" or "pro-woman."  The slaughter of unborn children in the womb is referred to by the media as "women's health."  Christian views of marriage and family are referred to as "hate speech."  Any conservative outlet or individual is rebranded as a "racist" or "sexist" person.  Anyone who espouses a view that doesn't jive with the media narrative is called " divisive."  Illegal immigrants are referred to as "undocumented foreign workers."  Christian pastors and leaders are commonly referred to in combination with words like "judgmental" "fundamentalist" and other slurs of language that cause negative feelings in the general public.  An interesting one is "tolerance" that has been redefined to mean that if you even disagree with homosexuality or transgenderism or other redefinitions of human nature, then you are being "intolerant" or "hateful."  Global cooling went out of fad in the 1970s, then it became global warming, and when that term was no longer working, it became "climate change."  Terms are changed, instead of socialism, they call it "progressive."  You get the idea.  And you can see how this is a very manipulative way of redefining evils to seem good and goods to seem evil.  

Watch for this in the media, and don't be fooled by it. 

2. "The Blitz"
The blitz refers to the way the media will repeat and repeat untruths, and half-truths until we've heard them so many times that we begin to believe them.  This is often done with commercial advertising.  We find ourselves with a jingle from an advertisement in our head because we've heard it so many times.  

Climate change is given this drumbeat in the media, constantly it's related to everything from hurricanes to hot flashes.  It's repeated so often that people begin to believe it's really true.  The same is true for evolutionary biology.  It's repeated so often that "evolution is fact" that people begin to believe it, and they're afraid to espouse a contrary view.

In the media we see a narrative emerge by this blitz tactic.  Narrative phrases are repeated so often that they become part of the national view of how things are in the country.  It's much like the German blitz tactic in world war II.  The truth is like a wall of fortifications.  The German tanks would blaze past them and take control before the stationary defenses knew what hit them.  The same is true with a false narrative, like "hands up don't shoot" or "Benghazi was caused by an internet video."  The lie is repeated so constantly in the days after the initial breaking story that the truth is left in the shadows and the lie becomes the predominant view.  

Common blitzes include anti-Christmas narrative pushing during that season, media silence on the Planned Parenthood videos (repeating the lie that the videos were "highly edited"), the recent hurricanes due to climate change, the smear against Jeff Sessions calling him racist (even though he'd won an award from the ACLU for his efforts against racists in the south), and any opposition to gay marriage in the cultural being repeatedly called "bigotry and hatred."

Double check what is being said in the media against more centrist and conservative news outlets view the web.  Remember that Google is set up to almost always display liberal and leftist news sites before conservative ones.  You'll have to know which sites to go to, because Google, Facebook, Youtube and Twitter are all going to show you progressive news sites first.  All four work with the Southern Poverty Law Center, which is a wildly anti-Christian activist group.  I know, I'm blowing your mind.  But it's important to know this stuff. Additionally, if you were going to check sites like Snopes, Politifact, or other "fact checkers" you should be aware that "fact checkers" at Snopes and Politifact tend to be far left leaning.  Snopes is great for internet gossip, but when dealing with politics and religion, they are going to swing far left.  I'm sorry, it's just the truth.  

 3. "Say What?"
This tactic takes a half-truth, twists it, and promotes it as an obvious accepted fact.  The "say what" example given by Brian E. Fisher in "Media Revolution" is the mythical "wall of separation between church and state."  This is a lie, something used to attack Christians who dare to speak up about political or social issues of our day.  This tactic is similar to the blitz in that it involves lies or half truths being pushed and repeated.

4. "A Major Rewrite"
This is the tactic known as revisionist history.  It sounds just like it is.  History is rewritten in media, academia, and public education to downplay certain elements and emphasize other elements.  A good book recommended by Fisher is "The Rewriting of America's History" by Catherine Millard. D. James Kennedy ministries talks about this a fair amount.  Additionally Del Tackett in the Truth Project DVD series addresses a few of the revisions of history done in public school textbooks.  He specifically looks at how the Mayflower compact was rewritten to remove references to God from it.  Additionally we see in books like "Icons of Evolution" and "Zombie Science" by Jonathan Wells that fake science is pushed in public school textbooks, things that have been debunked and disproven continue to appear in public school textbooks and science textbooks pushing a false narrative on our children.  

5. "That's Un-American!"
Just like it sounds. A view rejected by the mainstream media is criticized as "Un-American."  Do you appose abortion?  That's un-american, your being anti-woman.  Do you appose gay marriage?  Then your un-american because america is all about equality.  Do you appose men in the women's bathroom?  Well then your being un-american because we reject "bigotry" in America.  Lies are being used to smear viewpoints as Un-American.

6. "Odd Man Out"
Oh they love this one in the media. The deception technique is used to make biblical Christians and more traditional conservatives feel like they are isolated and alone in their beliefs.  Every channel pushes it, every television news outlet repeats the same secular naturalist worldview and pretty soon Christians feel afraid and pressured, like we are alone in our beliefs.  This causes us to feel afraid to speak up because we feel like we're all alone.  It causes people to shut up and even surrender and switch their view to be in line with the false narrative. Don't fall for it!  You are not alone out there, I promise you.  More and more as new media via the internet and talk radio gain listeners and viewers people realize that they aren't alone.  In fact more and more have realized that traditional center right views are actually still the majority in the United States.  But it's not about left or right, it's about our Christian faith and the fact that it's shared by tens of millions of others across the country.  Never forget that: You aren't alone.  Don't be afraid to stand up and speak out! 

7. "Silence of the Lambs"
The mainstream media pushes out a web of false information and false emotional viewpoints of Christians so that we Christians appear to be judgmental, intolerant, and hateful.  Thus Christians are kept silent and afraid, because we don't want to be thought of in such ways.  

Brian E. Fisher cites a study by the Parents Television Council conducted in 2005 and 2006 studying 2,271.5 hours of prime time television.  The results were:
-Religious leaders and beliefs were portrayed as mostly negative.
-Fox was the most anti-religious network, with 49.3% of portrayals being negative.
-NBC was second with 39.3% negative coverage
-Nearly half of religious institutions and denominations were given 47.6% negative coverage, and in contrast only 18% of religious institutions received positive coverage.

A few recent examples I can think are Lucifer on Fox, portraying Satan himself as a playboy who is actually trying to help people, the Daily Show constantly trashing Christians, Bill Nye Saves the World, Impastor - about a gay man who impersonates a pastor, Real Time with Bill Maher, and Dan Savage's show The Real O'Neals.

This is one of the most effective techniques because it scares good men and good women into silence.  Don't be silent, don't be afraid, and stand up for what you believe in!

8. "Didn't Moses Build the Ark?"
Bible illiteracy is a sad state of affairs in the church, and unfortunately we're so bombarded by information in our world that we don't really know what the Bible says.  We don't know what the Bible really teaches.  But this isn't solely the fault of the media pushing non-Christian views, it's the fact that we've allowed the media to distract us from the word of God.  Thankfully more and more Christians are coming to know the word and it's power.  We've got great groups like the Bible Project putting together videos of the books of the Bible, and we have sites like GodTube and Youtube where we can view sermons.  Additionally we can go on sites like Biblegateway.com and listen to audio Bibles or read free commentaries, so it's all at our finger tips today and I do think we're seeing improvements in this area.  

Is the church impacting culture?  Or is the culture impacting the church?  We have to know our Bible and believe our Bible.  Let's look less to the television and to secular news, and let's look more to the word of God and our Christian worldview.  

Here is a video from 2005 of Dr. Stephen Meyer a Christian intelligent design supporter and how he was treated by the media and darwinian academic elites.  See if you can pick out which tactics are used against him.  Click here to view that YouTube. Here's another example of Mark Driscoll interviewed in 2009 regarding his ministry on Nightline.  Click here to view that

We need to understand these tactics of media that leave us wondering why we're losing the culture and why we're losing young people.  This will be a long battle to fight to try and regain the narrative from the media.  But we can do this, and we have to, for the sake of our children and grandchildren, and more so, for the sake of the living gospel and how it saves us.  The door is open, and everyone needs Jesus Christ.  

Jesus Christ is made to appear evil by the mainstream media, and we need to change that. We need to combat the false narrative in the media with the true narrative of America, which is this: America is nation of faith in Jesus Christ.  America is a nation that values liberty and truth.  America is a nation that values morality, decency, and reasonable ethics.  America is not a nation that should be divided up by race, class, wealth or gender. We're one people.  America is a largely liberty-driven society, not a progressive or revolutionary society.  

"In God We Trust" is our national motto, and it's a tragedy that young people are fed lies by academia and the media regarding Christianity, Jesus Christ, and who we are.  We can and will counter these lies with the timeless absolute truth of scripture.  We will reclaim our nation, and the gospel of Jesus Christ will flow freely, without these overwhelming lies that hinder it.  Believe, pray, and take action. Jesus will grant us the victory.  Arm yourself with the truth, and get to work. 


References
Fisher, B. E. (2008). Media Revolution: A Battle Plan to Defeat Mass Deception in America. Fort Lauderdale, FL: Coral Ridge Ministries.

Wormald, B. (2015, November 02). U.S. Public Becoming Less Religious. Retrieved September 24, 2017, from http://www.pewforum.org/2015/11/03/u-s-public-becoming-less-religious/







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Thursday, September 21, 2017

Strategies of the Enemy: How to Counter & Defeat Satan


Do not love this world nor the things it offers you, for when you love the world, you do not have the love of the Father in you. For the world offers only a craving for physical pleasure, a craving for everything we see, and pride in our achievements and possessions. These are not from the Father, but are from this world. And this world is fading away, along with everything that people crave. But anyone who does what pleases God will live forever. -1st John 2:15-17 (NLT)

We know as Christians that we have a friend, his name is Jesus. And we know as Christians that we have an enemy, and his name is Satan.  Jesus is Lord in heaven, all authority has been given to him, and Satan is the prince of the Earth, he won control of it when he successfully tempted Adam and Eve in the garden. 

So we face an ancient, deadly enemy. This enemy is at war with the human race, and seeks to destroy our souls.  Essentially Satan is a suicide bomber. Satan's fate is already sealed because of his rebellion against God.  Satan is going to outer darkness.  So Satan is like the suicide bomber, blowing himself up, and seeking to take as many with him as possible.  There is a malevolence here that staggers the imagination, but there it is. 

The world is at war with Christianity, and seeking to subvert it.  The church is essentially the forward front of Christ's expanding kingdom.  The chief General and strategist of this expansion of the church is the Lord Holy Spirit.  He is the strategist battling our enemy Satan. Our job as Christians is to go about holy sabotage efforts to the kingdom of Satan.  And Satan is attempting to subvert us, diminish us, discredit us, and destroy us.  

Satan has a framework of attacks he levies against us.  None of them are new, there is nothing new under the sun, these are the same attacks he's levied against humanity since the beginning of time.  Satan's chief weapons are temptations and lies.  Temptations essentially are lies, so really, lies, plain and simple, untruths, things that may appear true, but are not true.  

As Christians we must be shrewd, cunning, innocent, and brave.  Because we have an enemy, and he'll take any opening we give him.  Let's look at a few of the enemies tactics to destroy Christians, and Christian leaders, and see how Jesus helps us overcome these attacks, and counter them in His great power. 

1. Affair - Yes, the dreaded extra-marital affair.  That receptionist, that friend, that person on Facebook, and it always begins with tiny, miniscule compromises.  It's a bit exciting, so we toy with it.  We let it go on.  We make tiny little compromises in what we would normally do.  We enjoy how it makes us feel, and pretty soon small compromises give way to larger compromises.  And eventually your in bed with that person, wondering what has happened, and the flood gates of guilt descend.  The affair on husband or wife is of course the cornerstone of destruction.  It destroys trust, it will usually destroy the family, ending in divorce, and the children are crushed.  That of course isn't the end, especially in regard to those in ministry.  Believe me, what you've done in secret Satan will cry out from the roof tops.  Isn't it interesting how high profile Christian leaders think it will never come out, then it does.  And the ministry is ruined, they are forced to leave the church, and the family ends in divorce.  Disaster.  All from a few miniscule compromises, because it felt good to feel attractive.  And we entertained it, and toyed with it, when we should've slammed that door shut and walked away.  

Jesus helps us to counter this enemy attack through prayer, through swift action, and through a firm commitment to covenant with our husband or wife.  The solution is to flee that situation.  The solution is to build those boundaries.  The solution is to pray and ask God for a new revival in the marriage that will return it to normality, that of true love between husband and wife.  Amen. 

2. Pornography - No new tricks indeed.  Our enemy knows us too well I think.  Sex, especially for me as a man, and yes, you as a woman, is our weak point.  Time and again in the New Testament the lists of sins are given, and almost always first listed is: Sexual immorality.  Pornography is so destructive.  It decimates the mind.  Pornography as it's been studied, has a similar effect on the brain to cocaine, heroin and other drugs.  Simply astonishing.  And how destructive it is, because the human memory is quite interesting, those images can often be recalled for years after.  It's a door that once opened, is oh so hard to close.  

Yet Jesus can break every chain.  Yes, Jesus wants to break every chain.  So we must pray, and cry out to him, and beseech him in this area, and then get to work with whatever tools we have available to battle and defeat this sin in our lives.  Pornography destroys us, it destroys marriages, it destroys people and feeds the sex slave industry.  Defeat it in Christ.  

3. Going too Fast - Too much of a good thing? Oh yes, this can happen.  The enemy can get us rushing and rushing doing so many good things that we're beginning to subtly burn out.  Maybe we're doing great, we're living the dream baby, we're a pastor, we're rocking it, we're loving people and Christ is changing lives through ministry.  So Satan sees this, and attacks with a different tactic, he seeks to burn you out.  So many good things begin to pile up that they subtly begin to destroy.  The devotional life vanishes, the family and marriage take a back seat, the prayer life disappears, and pretty soon stress, depression, and exhaustion are piling on our back.  And then the door is open for Satan to bring up the mistress, or the Mr. the man or woman "who understands" everything we're going through.  Affair, end game.  It's really quite insidious.  Too much of too many good things can and will destroy us.  And it will destroy our ministry and our effectivness as well.  Don't be a workaholic. 

Christ saves us from this by giving us freedom to slow down.  Christ invites us to remove things from our schedule, to close down ministries that we can't maintain at our current level.  Christ invites us to slow down, and seek Him, and know peace. 

4. Crushed Devotional Life - If your studying to become a minister, like I am now, or your involved in ministry, and you don't think you need to pray or be engaged in daily devotionals, then you should quit right now and do something else.  I'm serious, you should quit. Because your just wasting everyone's time and money, and your going to burn out, destroy yourself, and have a useless ineffective Spirit-less ministry.  To be a pastor without prayer and devotions is to be nothing. Doubly nothing, nothing to God and nothing to those you serve.  So get real about prayer and devotions, it's 100% necessary or you will fail. Guaranteed.  

Jesus invites us to ask Him for help in this.  I struggled so hard with this because I go so fast, I'm so often on the computer, on the web, and I thought how could I possibly slow down and have enough discipline to read my Bible at night, and pray for an extended period, and pray in the morning and read a devotional book.  So I just prayed to God, look Lord I can't do this, so you'll have to make it possible.  After many petitions, it all became possible, and happens regularly now.  

5. Garbage of the Soul - Would Jesus pour garbage into his soul? I doubt it.  So why do we?  Why do we watch Game of Thrones and the Walking Dead?  Why do we go see movies like 50 Shades of Grey and It?  Why read trashy novels that would strange ideas into our minds?  We're called to purity, and as part of a wesleyan holiness movement I feel that it's doubly important for me to watch what I put into my soul.   

Clear it out!  That's what one of my professors told us about.  Her and her husband trashed the magazines, the music, and the novels, they got rid of the cable TV and got rid of the movies.  Holiness is what Christ calls us to.  I'm not trying to judge you, Christians can get really upset about this topic.  Maybe it's a soft spot for us, but we should address it. Jesus calls us to a higher standard, and if we're Christians in leadership, honestly, let's get real here. 

6. Lording It Over - Glorying in self leadership - A church leader, or a business leader, or any leader can quickly move from a humble biblical servant leader to a lord leader.  We're not called to lord it over those we serve.  Beginning to bully and lord it over our people is a recipe for pride, ego, and eventually the development of a babylonian self-based church.

It can start as a self-less project to glorify Christ, and pretty soon it can be a multi-campus mega church movement with my name plastered all over everything, Justin Steckbauer ministries, Justin Steckbauer's awesome preaching, God forbid, God forbid that I turn any church into a self-exalting babylon Justin worship experience.  What a nightmare!  But we see it all the time don't we?  Yes we do.

Are we building our own name brand?  Or are we building Christ's kingdom?  Are we in charge or is the Holy Spirit guiding our efforts?  Those are important questions to ask.  But Mark Driscoll is a good example of repentance in this area.  He built up his kingdom of churches in the Mars Hill network, and there were many problems, so he broke up the empire, left his role as it's king, and went to pastor a small church elsewhere.  The self-kingdom was dissolved.  Could we do the same in such circumstances? 

7. Pride - Pride comes before the fall. It's a well known proverb, but it also happens to be true.  I think we know this one pretty well. Cultivate humility in submission before God, on your knees, in prayer.  That is a humbling experience, make it daily. 

8. Doubting God's goodness - This is one of Satan's favorite tactics.  He's done it twice with two big names: Eve and Jesus. He dared to suggest to Eve that God was hiding some blessing from them when God had commanded Adam and Eve to not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.  Satan suggested that Eve would become like god if she ate from it.  He put the lie into her mind that God wasn't really good or true.  Eve believed the lie.  When Jesus faced down Satan in the wilderness the third temptation Satan offered was to give the world to Jesus, and in this Satan attempted to call into question God's goodness in sending Jesus to the cross. 

When terrible things happen do we immediately ask: How can a good God allow this to happen?  Or do we dare to trust in God even when we don't understand why?  That is the question isn't it, can we have such radical faith and trust in our Lord that we know his goodness remains even in the face of terrible evil? Yes Jesus calls us to this great trust in God's character. 

9. Worldly Wisdom - We can start to rely on studies, and the latest research, instead of the word of God. We can start to rely on the cultural views more and more so, inch by inch, instead of the Bible.  And it's interesting how we can start educating ourselves into imbecility because we're no longer looking to the word, we're looking to social services research, to experts, to the latest research, and we've made biblical truth secondary.

The word of God is timeless and eternally true.  It doesn't change with the times or trends.  It doesn't need to be updated to please our culture.  It doesn't need to be redefined or added to or subtracted from.  It isn't wrong to seek wisdom in many places, but when the word becomes subservient to studies by experts, scientists, and academics, we're setting ourselves up for problems.  Very often those experts are the very same people who a priori have ruled out the Bible, Christianity, and even the existence of God.  We'd be wise to regard their research and data with a skeptical, discerning eye.  

10. Toying with Old Sins - We've put our old lives behind us, but the enemy will bring back old things we struggled with, and entice us, not to all out jump back in again, but the enemy invites us to begin to just lightly flirt with those old sins.  And that flirtation, as harmless as it may seem, begins to crack that door open, and over time... that old sin starts gaining power in the mind once again.  Keep that door locked, bolted, and if necessary pour cement in the entryway.

Jesus Christ has set us free from all sin.  Sometimes we sit in the prison cell of sin and impure thinking, but maybe we don't realize that though we sit in the cell, the cell door is wide open.  Jesus breaks every chain.  He has set us free. Let us not return to the trough of sin as the dog returns to it's vomit.  So we are called to live in the Spirit, and to not gratify the desires of the flesh.  

In conclusion I'd refer you to Genesis chapter three and Matthew chapter four to read and study how Satan successfully tempted Adam and Eve, and how Satan unsuccessfully tempted Jesus Christ our glorious victorious savior.  Remember that Satan can and will appear as an angel of light, but if you know your Bible you'll be able to counter him.  

And here's a tip for "god-mode" style temptations that occurred when Satan failed to tempt Jesus: Satan will quote the Bible itself out of context to try to deceive.  So know your Bible in and out, cover to cover, understand how each book should be read, if it's history or letter or poetry or wisdom.  And put on the full armor of God that you may stand against every attack of the enemy.  We've got the shield of faith and the sword of the Spirit which is, ding ding, the word of God itself.  Amazing!  We can stand against temptation.  It's a battle, this world is warfare.  But we can do this because Jesus Christ is our Lord and Savior forever.  Amen! 
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Sunday, September 17, 2017

Three Tough Questions to Ask Yourself as a Christian


I often wonder where my fellow believers stand, especially those who I stand along side of in the church. We live in a day and age where there is much compromise and strife within the church. The church as a body of believers is struggling to understand how to deal with culture. Some seek to embrace culture, and others seek to protest culture. There is an important balance to strike here. And it's clear that we need to be in this world, while at the same time we are not truly of this world. 

As Jesus said in John the 17th chapter, in His prayer to the Father for his disciples: "I have given them your word and the world has hated them,for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world. My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world." -John 17:14-18

The whole Bible, cover to cover is the word of God, all of it.  How can I know if my brothers and sisters believe this?  There is a fairly simple litmus test to administer.  I'll preface by saying that you probably won't like it.  I don't like it.  No one enjoys "controversial" topics like these.  But it is a good way of knowing where someone stands; If someone stands more so with the Bible, or if someone stands more so with the cultural views of the world.  Its a pertinent concern of our day and age.  

Love, mercy, and gentleness are important in this process.  Anything good done in the wrong spirit can be become an evil.  If I have all the right views of scripture and have no love, I'm a useless pharisee and a spawn of hell.  Plain and simple.  But if I have only love and all the wrong views of scripture, and I reject God's word for my own opinions, I've become just as much a spawn of hell, if not more so.  Love and truth is in perfect balance in Christianity.  Though I would say that love is truth, and truth is love.  The Christian concept of love is a love baked together with truth, in essence a 'true love.'  The worldly love of the world then, is not love at all, but in fact harmful, veiled in nicety, inclusion, acceptance, and a totalitarian "no one must ever be offended" concept, which is of course not love at all, but something else entirely.  

Yet biblical love is essential, biblical love, mercy, and a pouring out of excessive, scandalous grace.  We have to be so careful to strike that balance.  It's so easy to become a mean spirited dogged judgmental pharisee when we fight for truth and speak truth on important issues of our day.  We have to be so careful that we speak the truth in love (Ephesians 4:15).  Let me say that again, it's the biblical Pauline epistle formula for speaking truth, we are called to speak the truth in love.  And as Peter wrote, we are called to provide an answer, but to do this with gentleness and patience (1st Peter 3:15). 

To be truth speakers in a fallen culture, we must make sure, though in the right hand our sword is truth, in the left hand we carry the love that comes with a gentle spirit.  That is our goal and formula.

So we seek to help our brothers and sisters who have been misled by the viewpoints of the world, to hold biblical positions on key issues. This is a simple litmus test to see where our brothers and sisters are at.  

Question 1: What is your view on the authority of scripture?

Does the believer consider the scriptures as the guide of their opinions, and viewpoints, or do they hold their own viewpoints above the scriptures, and dictate their own views into the scriptures?  Are they willing to change what the Bible says to suit their own viewpoints?  This is the most crucial question, and obviously guides what their answers will be on the next two.

Question 2: Do you consider human life to be sacred, God given, including unborn life in the womb?  

Millions upon millions of unborn child have been slaughtered in our time.  It is a modern day genocide, a modern day child sacrifice, something like 57 million unborn children have died, and gone to Jesus, precious souls, who never had a chance to live, because they were removed for the purpose of convenience, or to prevent "emotional problems."  What a terrible thing!  It is the very inversion of the cross of Jesus Christ, Jesus died for us, abortion says, you die for me, for my convenience.  

But obviously, if the believer does not hold a high view of the scriptures, then the issue of abortion isn't really a biblical issue to them, it's a cultural issue, and the propaganda of the world may have influenced them to think of child sacrifice as women's health.  It's a good question to know where they stand regarding the scriptures.

Question 3: What is your position on marriage and homosexuality?

This is probably the most revealing of all three questions.  The cultural views on this issue are so dominant, so powerful, that only the most firm Christian, holding the highest view of the scriptures, built up within the deepest convictions regarding our faith is willing to stand up and firmly say that marriage as God designed it is between man and woman, and that the practice of homosexuality is sinful (Genesis 19:1-13; Leviticus 18:22; 20:13; Romans 1:26-27; 1 Corinthians 6:91st Timothy 1:10).

Yet we must always include the fact that homosexuality is not a special sin, and a person who practices homosexuality can repent of that sin, turn to Jesus Christ, and be born again, and made new.  Jesus forgives all. Let me repeat that: Jesus forgives all.  He transforms us into new people, though we may struggle with temptations in the world, He grants us the victory.  Repent and believe the good news is what Jesus said (Mark 1:15).  

I think people who struggle with homosexuality, with gender confusion and other issues should be treated with dignity, respect, and compassion.  I believe they should be invited to our churches, invited to receive the gospel of Jesus Christ, and invited to have a change of mind, and embrace God's design for living.  They shouldn't be bombarded with marriage stuff I don't think, but they should know where we stand as the church on this issue.  

I recall early in my Christian walk I participated with a church in a storefront in downtown Wausau where I grew up.  The store front outreach was stationed right next to a gay bar.  And on Saturday nights the church, downtown mission church would be open on Saturday night, with coffee and conversations.  And several people caught in homosexuality would come over, be treated with love and dignity, and would be treated as friends.  They weren't judged, or condemned.  But they did know that the church's view on marriage and homosexuality was biblical.  Many of them began attending the church, and got saved.  Thank the Lord that this church didn't say "come and don't be changed, come and remain homosexual. Jesus wants you to be homosexual."  Instead they said, "Come on in, we love you, and we invite you to be transformed by the work of Jesus Christ."  I became friends with several of these wonderful men, and I know today they would say that they were so thankful that the church encouraged them to be changed by the love of Christ.  So I really worry when Christian leaders change their view on homosexuality, and change what the Bible says about homosexuality.  Because it's destructive to people who are caught in that sin.  I bet those Christian leaders feel really inclusive, tolerant, and "loving" by doing that.  I'm sure it made them popular with the culture.  But it's hurting people caught in very real snares of the world.  It's a tragedy when churches flip on gay marriage, because it hurts those they're trying to help.  

It's a constant issue of our day and age.  It's a constant conversation in our culture. Which is exactly why we should talk about it.  If we ignore such important issues we render ourselves irrelevant.  It's odd when Christians get mad at other Christians for talking about this issue.  It's not about causing controversy.  It's not.  It's about reaching out to the culture and sharing a counter-cultural message that will help people see that the church is a different way of life. We always complain about how much the church looks just like the world.  Well, then we need to engage on difficult issues and show that we offer a different, Jesus-centered way of life.  

So in conclusion, the three key questions of our day and age relate to the authority of the Bible in the life of a believer, the sacredness of human life, and God's design for marriage and family.  Those are the key issues of our day.  

I would just appeal to those who are struggling with these questions: Please friends, we are not trying to be mean or judgmental when raising these questions.  We're trying to rally people to the word of God, and what it truly says.  There is nothing wrong with picking up the Bible, checking out some key verses, and then adjusting our viewpoint on something.  There is no shame in that.  It's a biblical thing to do, that we test everything against the word of God and what it says in our wonderful book. I'd encourage you to take that journey if your struggling with these words.  Thank you.  I could always be wrong, the Bible is right, I could always be off base, test everything by the word of God.  It's above me, it describes things better than I ever could. Thanks, and God bless you today.  


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Thursday, September 14, 2017

Quotations on Atheism: How Should We Answer Atheism?



Atheism is an interesting worldview.  It's absolutely unheard of in the history humanity until the last few hundred years.  But increasingly modern man is identifying as non-religious.  Though most would not consider themselves militant atheists, most would probably fain a lack of interest in religion and/or spirituality while affirming an atheistic material view of reality.  

As Christians, how do we counter atheism?  How do we counter materialism?  Let's look at a few quotations by influential Christian leaders from the past and present. 

"I believe it takes far more faith to be an atheist than to believe in God. Atheists believe that everything that exists (the entire universe with its billions of stars and planets) came from nothing and by nothing. Nobody x Nothing = Everything. That takes a lot of faith!" –Charlie H. Campbell


"Someone once said that if you sat a million monkeys at a million typewriters for a million years, one of them would eventually type out all of Hamlet by chance. But when we find the text of Hamlet, we don't wonder whether it came from chance and monkeys. Why then does the atheist use that incredibly improbable explanation for the universe? Clearly, because it is his only chance of remaining an atheist. At this point we need a psychological explanation of the atheist rather than a logical explanation of the universe." -Peter Kreeft 

"If God were small enough to be understood, He would not be big enough to be worshiped." -Evelyn Underhill

"Atheism is a crutch for those who cannot bear the reality of God." -Tom Stoppard

“I am persuaded that men think there is no God because they wish there were none. They find it hard to believe in God, and to go on in sin, so they try to get an easy conscience by denying his existence.” –Charles Spurgeon

“I can see how it might be possible for a man to look down upon earth and be an atheist, but I cannot conceive how he could look up into the heavens and say that there is no God.”
–Abraham Lincoln

“Everyone worships–even an atheist. He worships himself. When men reject God they worship false gods. That, of course, is what God forbids in the first commandment.” –John MacArthur


“Supposing there was no intelligence behind the universe, no creative mind. In that case, nobody designed my brain for the purpose of thinking. It is merely that when the atoms inside my skull happen, for physical or chemical reasons, to arrange themselves in a certain way, this gives me, as a by-product, the sensation I call thought. But, if so, how can I trust my own thinking to be true? It's like upsetting a milk jug and hoping that the way it splashes itself will give you a map of London. But if I can't trust my own thinking, of course I can't trust the arguments leading to Atheism, and therefore have no reason to be an Atheist, or anything else. Unless I believe in God, I cannot believe in thought: so I can never use thought to disbelieve in God.” –C. S. Lewis


"Still, even the most admirable of atheists is nothing more than a moral parasite, living his life based on borrowed ethics. This is why, when pressed, the atheist will often attempt to hide his lack of conviction in his own beliefs behind some poorly formulated utilitarianism, or argue that he acts out of altruistic self-interest. But this is only post-facto rationalization, not reason or rational behavior." -Vox Day

"Nobody talks so constantly about God as those who insist that there is no God." -Heywood Broun

Much of atheism in western civilization stems from naturalism, naturalism stems from darwinism.  Evolution of course is taught as undisputed fact, yet the theory is full of holes.  We would be wise to reexamine the reliability of this theory.  Yet maybe there is something greater in the backdrop. Perhaps we now live a society that thinks God is no longer necessary.  Or perhaps society thinks that Christianity has been tried, and was found judgmental and wanting.  

Yet I think western man is near a time in history when we may once again realize our need for God.  When the sheer empty meaninglessness of secular atheism has played itself out in the empty bottle, the Rx hangover, the morning breakfast after the one night stand of scientism, and the caving gaping hole in the chest that selfish self seeking living provides, there may yet be a shadow emanating off the wall of the broken trainspotting apartment complex, where a dazed half stupified post-modern man may look through the glass dimly and see... God.