How can a culture move so far from reality? A fascinating verse in the book of judges is found in chapter 21 verse 25  “In those days Israel had no king; all the people did whatever seemed right in their own eyes. Did you catch that?—All the people did whatever seemed right in their own eyes. God’s moral law is the anchor that holds a society together. When God’s law and truth are thrown to the wind we have exactly what Judges 21:25 lays out. We have a society that does whatever seems right to them. The Apostle Paul also gives us a keen insight into a  society that turns away from God—-He says in Roman 1:21 …they become vain in their imaginations and their foolish hearts became darkened. 

We are now living in a time where truth can’t be known. We are living in a time where truth is relative. We are living in a time where there is no absolute truth, thus, 2+2 can = 10. As long as someone “feels” that 10 is the answer for them, then, 10 is the answer. The call for the Christian and the Church of Jesus Christ is to bring out the sword of truth to cut through all the errors and deception of our day. My challenge for the Christian today is dare to be a Daniel. Dare to take a stand. This is not our best life now for sure. In today’s culture standing on God’s truth will certainly cost you something. It could be friends, a job or your reputation. Take some advice from a long standing pastor, Dr John MacArthur “ Love and truth must be maintained in perfect balance. Truth is never to be abandoned in the name of love. But love is not to be deposed in the name of truth... Truth without love has no decency; it's just brutality. On the other hand, love without truth has no character; it's just hypocrisy.“

There is no end in sight how far this insanity will go. The slippery slope argument makes a lot of sense when we see how far our culture has removed itself  from our Judea/Christian heritage. I think of the book of Genesis where it says, God looked down and saw every imagination of man’s heart was continually evil, see Genesis 6:5. 

I’m thankful that this world is not our home. The writer of the book of Hebrews sums it up so perfectly when he says in Hebrews 11:16 “ Instead, they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.”

A Christian world-view must be developed in order to navigate in this spiritually dark culture that we live in. Since I’m a simple man, I’ll give you the “how” on developing a Christian world-view, are your ready? Read your Bibles daily. Take notes. Use good, solid commentaries. Discuss Biblical themes with others in the body of Christ. Get a book on Biblical hermeneutics. Hermeneutics is a must. We have to understand context…the author…the recipients…why the letter written, and the date of the letter.  Manners and customs of the times is of vital importance. 

One can’t go to far in the New Testament without instruction on HOW we should think. The Apostle Paul in the book of Philippians even gives us specific things to think on, like…things that are pure and things that are lovely, see Philippians 4:8. The book of Proverbs personifies wisdom. Proverbs tells us that wisdom calls out to us  to forsake wickedness and run after righteousness.  Godly wisdom is also pure, gentle and full of good fruit, see James 3:17. 

We see in the book of Romans the first chapter that when a culture turns from God’s wisdom their minds become empty and their hearts become foolish. We can see this so clearly in our present culture where it is accepted that a man can be a woman or a woman can be a man. The call of the church to our present culture must be a call to repent and trust in Christ alone. The Christian must keep himself immersed in God’s word. God’s truth must be the only thing that matters, all else is rubbish and waste.

How is the Christian to navigate in today’s Twilight Zone culture.

 

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Most of us older folk remember the 1959 TV series the Twilight Zone crated by Rod Serling. The episodes are in various genres, including fantasy, science fiction, absurdism, dystopian fiction, suspense, horror, supernatural drama, black comedy, and psychological thriller, often concluding with a macabre or unexpected twist. Sounds very familiar to where we are now as a culture. We have fantasy: Men can become women and women can become men. Absurdism: We have over a virus shut down our economy…We have American wearing masks and we have a new vaccine that is being forced on the American people.  Horror: We had last summer our cities burning, cops assaulted and stores pillaged and with all that we had many in our government and all of MSM completely ignoring the chaos while calling it the summer of love. 

There will be no unexpected twist to the Christian. God has revealed Himself to His people through the Holy Scriptures. We find that God’s patience will one day run out on this wicked, dark world and His wrath will be poured out like nothing this world has ever known, see Romans 1:18:“ For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven upon all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, suppressing the truth by unrighteousness”

For God’s people the Lord is a strong tower and we run into it and are safe, see Proverbs 18:10. God is our refuge and the follower of Jesus seeks his safety there, see Psalm 461-2a “God is our refuge and strength, a helper who is always found in times of trouble. Therefore we will not be afraid, …”

So in the middle of all this absolute craziness let us take hope and courage in our Refuge and our strong tower. March on Christian soldiers and keep your armor on and keep look up ^. 

Our Struggle With Sin

The life long struggle for the follower of Jesus:

The Christian will struggle with sin from the day he is saved until he closes his eyes for the last time. We carry around our corrupted flesh...or old man...or sin nature. The Apostle Paul talks about this in chapter seven in his letter to the Romans.  Hear the struggle of the Apostle:

For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate... For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing" (Romans 7:15, 18b-19).

We can pretend that we are outstanding church folks who have done away with sin in our lives. We can walk with our heads high with the Bible under our arm and all the while the sin of pride is written all over our forehead, and we can’t even see it. Blessed is the man that recognizes his own sin and by God’s grace hates it and confesses it to his Lord.

The Christian who does not struggle with sin is in a very dangerous way. The one thing that a Christian should hate in his life is sin…his sin and the sin that is in the world. I believe that those that do not see their sin are those who have never been regenerated by the Holy Spirit. Those who do not feel the weight of their own sin are those who compare themselves to those around them and to the rest of the world. The reasoning goes like this, I’m not that bad, I never killed anyone…I don’t steal...I go to church on Sunday…I help others when I can. This is the thought process that goes through the mind of an unregenerate man.

On the other side, the Christian compares himself to the holiness of God. The Christian looks at the Father and measures himself against His perfection. Here’s a thought: The Bible commands us to love God with all our hearts, minds, bodies and strength. If we are are not loving God like that every second of ever minute of every hour of every day we have fallen short of God’s standard of perfection, and the same would go for loving others all day every day, and yes, even on those days when things are going badly.

The hope for the Christian is the righteousness of Christ.That righteousness is given freely to the believer who has put his faith in Christ’s death, burial and resurrection.  The Christian will stand before God and God will not see his sin, for they have been removed as far as the east is from the west, but the Father will only see the righteousness of his son as he looks at us. I’m always reminded of that great hymn written by Edward Mote:

“My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus’ blood and righteousness…
 On Christ the solid rock I stand all other ground is sinking sand….”

The hope of the Christian is not in our performance. The hope of the Christian is in the atonement of Jesus Christ to cover our sins. When my sin gets me down, I’m always reminded of the saying by Robert Murray McCheyne, “ For every look at self, take ten looks at Christ.”

What to do when your heart is cold

There will be times in the life of a follower of Jesus Christ that he will be spiritually dry. God is sovereign and could fill every moment of our lives with his presence, but for purposes unknown to us He does not. Could it be that God wants us to walk by faith and not feelings? Could it be that God wants His children to trust alone His promises He’s given to us in His revealed will?

What has God given us when He seems so far away and our hearts are cold and lonely? God has given us the promise that He will never leave us or forsake us, see Hebrews 13:5. God has given to the church the marvelous promise that nothing can separate us from His love, see Romans 8: 31. We hide these truths in our hearts and dig down and rest in them when we don’t feel close to God or when He seems so far from us.

God has also given His people the fellowship of the church. God’s people are to be practicing the one another’s of the Bible. Here are just a few:

• Love one another (John 13:34 - This command occurs at least 16 times)

• Be devoted to one another (Romans 12:10)

• Honor one another above yourselves (Romans 12:10)

• Live in harmony with one another (Romans 12:16)

• Build up one another (Romans 14:19; 1 Thessalonians 5:11)

How many times have you lifted up another brother or sister in Christ? How many times has another brother or sister in the body of Christ lifted you up? I don’t believe that God’s workings in the church or in the lives of Christians is something nebulous. I believe that God has ordained means and His means are His word, the fellowship of the saints, worship, and the two observances He’s given to the church. 

Christians must avail themselves to the means that God has ordained. If we are looking for or depending on feelings we will never grow beyond baby Christians who are ever wandering and always looking for an experience, which will leave you out in the cold without any real spiritual footing.  

What is your authority?

What is your authority as a Christian? This question asks on what basis does the church make any spiritual decisions. Many churches and Christians have left the authority of God’s word and have allowed the culture to become their authority.  I feel deeply that unless we allow God’s word to speak we will become just like any secular organization. The church has to be distinguished by the way she worships and by how she stands against the shifting winds of whatever the culture is asking the masses to conform to.

The Bible is not a story book for our amusement, no, the Bible is our daily food and drink. The Bible is God’s revelation to the church. When the church moves away from the authority of God’s word she moves away from God’s revealed will of Himself. The consequences of this departure from God’s word have taken an enormous spiritual impact on the church and in the lives of God’s people.

One reason for this departure from God’s authoritative word is the pride of man. Man wants to do things his way...so the church thinks that they can do church “better” than what God has said. Another reason for this departure from the authority of God’s word is the church wants to be “liked” by the world, so she courts the world and bows to whatever cultural moray is most popular at the present time. In the end what the departing church has become is a spiritual whore, she has left her husband and head to be married to another. The church and the world holding hands dirties the church and makes her unfaithful to her head.

Let the true church rise up and call out this spiritual adultery. Let the true church call out  false  teachers who by their fair speeches and dynamic personalities lead many to that place of destruction.

Every Christian goes through dry periods. Every Christian goes through the valley of despair. Charles Spurgeon would suffer from severe bouts of depression, it was said of Spurgeon  by an artist who once tried to paint his portrait “I can’t paint you. Your face is different every day. You are never the same.” To be sure, the most popular preacher in the Victoria era was also one of the most burdened.

Spurgeon owned more than thirty books on mental health. He read about depression, wrote about depression, and suffered from depression. Spurgeon’s letters contain numerous references to his sinking spirits. He often called himself a “prisoner” and wept without knowing why.

“I pity a dog who has to suffer what I have.”

So, how do we deal with these dry times? These times when the clouds roll in and God seems so very far from us. As a counselor, I always tell others that their feelings can’t be trusted. Feelings are like the leaves blowing in the wind. Those who have no anchor are tossed to and fro by their feelings...feelings lie to us...feelings tell us that we have no worth...feelings tell us God does not care about us...feelings tell us that we will never know joy and peace again. 

What I know is that feelings lie. What I know is the anchor that grounds us is truth, the truth of God’s word is the anchor that will keep us moored to the dock. I’m always amazed at how much the Bible deals with our thinking process, like Philippians 4:8 “ Think on these things....” How about 2 Corinthians 10:5  Casting down human reasoning and all knowledge that is contrary to God’s thoughts.  This is how lying feeling are defeated, God’s truth must replace our old thinking patterns and when old thinking patterns are challenged and changed our feelings follow. 

Fellow Christian keep battling on. Keep fighting the fight. When those dark clouds of depression roll in flee to the one who is true and let his voice through the Scriptures be your anchor.