Category Archives: Gospel

February 25, 2024 · 2:49 pm

The man’s man, who pisseth against the wall

It’s a curious expression. I was brought up on the King James Version and I remember giggling to myself whenever the old and venerable preacher would read it.

I would have gotten the tar knocked out of me if I said it. But if it is in the King James, it must be godly, right?

As I got older, I realized that there wasn’t any other English translation that uses that phrase.

Then when I studied Hebrew, I realized that the King James literally translates the Hebrew there. The Word of God does indeed say, “Every man that pisses against the wall.”

I started thinking about this a week or so back. Someone shared a clip of a southern preacher bemoaning the “lack of real men”. He said that the problem in America is that men pee sitting down, unlike what the Bible says. The Bible says that real men piss against the wall.

He was serious, by the way, and there are more problems with that exegesis than can be mentioned in this blog.

But it illustrates a serious problem in the way that the modern bearded dude-bro thinks. There is a worship of manly men. An obsession with authority. A lust for manly power. Pulpits mostly focus on men being men, and many careers have been made with the shaming of “effeminate men” who pee sitting down, and manly men who piss against the wall like men are supposed to.

You all know who I am talking about. A sermon shaming effeminate men and extolling manly men will go viral, if done well. And the manly man is equated with godliness, strength, courage, and power.

The horrible sermon about “pissing against the wall” was simply pandering to the spirit of the evangelical age of Trump, I’m afraid.

But here is the problem.

“Pisseth against the wall” is used 6 times in the Old Testament – all of them in the Age of the Kings.

And each time it is used, it is used as a promise of destruction.

David said that if Abigail hadn’t intervened, not one of Nabal’s men would have been left alive. All who pisseth against the wall would have been destroyed.

And then the curse on the house of Ahab – not one of Ahab would be left. Not one who “pisseth against the wall”.

If you think about it, the preacher was right about one thing. The man who “pisseth against the wall” is the manly man. He is outside the city, protecting the perimeter. He is with the soldiers. He isn’t inside on the couches and with the women. He is outside, pissing against the wall of the city, or the fortress, or the tower.

He is Nimrod, the mighty hunter. Esau, the hairy man of the field.
He is the mighty men of David. The soldiers.

And every time they are mentioned in the scripture, the term is used as a mark of contempt. You mighty men who piss against the wall, so proud of your manly strength. Not one of you will be left when the Lord finished his work.

Your armies can’t protect you. Your strength can’t protect you. Your authority and power can’t protect you.

A careful reading of the prophets shows a very important theme: Woe to all who put their trust in armies, strength, weapons, horses – or in the modern age – guns, tanks, politics, police, armies, patriarchs, men who pee standing up.

This is not where the kingdom of God is. Never has been. Never will be.

Where you find the spirit of God is where you find love and joy, peace and longsuffering.

I mourn when I see the established church lust after war and death. I hate seeing the people of God crying out for blood.

That is not what Christianity is. The kingdom is not advanced by armies and death and destruction.

God takes no pleasure in the legs of a man.

Like any other gift, the gift of strength can and has been used for God’s glory. God uses men of war for many different reasons, and many honorable men and women have served in the armed forces. That isn’t what this is about.

What this is about is trust. The problem with the “manly man” theology in the pews is that it drives the soul from Christ.

It makes us think that with strong resolve and will power, with strength and determination, we can overcome any obstacles and defeat any enemy.

And the bible calls this “pride”. We think that sin is something that can be overcome by strength of will. We think that the armies of evil can be destroyed by manliness and courage. We think that the problem in the country are those “other people”. When I was a kid, it was the hippies. Now, apparently, it is people who pee sitting down. How he got that information is beyond my imagination. But it all boils down to pride.  And God hates it.

God resists the proud.

But he gives strength to the humble. The humble one, in Biblical thought, is the one who is afflicted, without any resources, without any strength, without any hope.’ In the ancient Hebrew, the word for “humble” can also be translated, oppressed, afflicted, crushed, poor, or desperate.

It is the opposite of the one receiving a major award and saying “I’m so humbled by this award….”

Rather, it is the one with leprosy, cast out of the city without a cure.

It is the one who is destitute, begging for scraps at the temple.

It is the woman who reaches out to touch the hem of the garment.

It is the child stripped and dragged away as a captive.

It is the old man crushed under the wagon wheels.

It is the blind beggar that is shouting, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” 

It is the rich ruler whose dearly loved daughter is about to die. He is destitute and his money and position can do nothing.

In other words, the one that God resists is the one who boastfully pisseth against the wall, spits on the ground, says to himself “At least I don’t pee sitting down”.

That has nothing to do with Christ. He didn’t come for those who have strength. When we were without strength, Christ died for the ungodly.

Those who pee sitting down because their legs don’t work.

The one who is so overcome with his sin and misery that he can only cry out, “Lord have mercy”.

Remember the cry of the desperate? “Whoever will call upon the name of the Lord will be saved.”

This is the gospel. The church was called to give that message. To teach who Jesus is so that the desperate know who to call out to.

Whosoever calls on the name of Jesus will be saved.

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January 19, 2024 · 7:27 am

Jesus came for the desperate

If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. (Romans 10:9)

This is a familiar verse. But there tends to be some misunderstandings here that I would like to clarify.

Much of the modern teaching goes something like “You must accept Jesus as your savior, but you also must accept him as Lord…”

The idea is that it isn’t enough to “simply believe”, you also have to do what he says and acknowledge him as your Lord.

Although it is certainly true that if we love Jesus we will seek to do those things which please him, and it is certainly true that he, as our creator and redeemer, is our sovereign king and lord, I don’t believe that is what Paul is getting at in this passage.

Here is the whole thing in context:

Moses writes this about the righteousness that is by the law: “The person who does these things will live by them.” But the righteousness that is by faith says: “Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’ ” (that is, to bring Christ down) “or ‘Who will descend into the deep?’ ” (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead). But what does it say? “The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart,” that is, the message concerning faith that we proclaim: If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved. As Scripture says, “Anyone who believes in him will never be put to shame.” For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile—the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

Paul compares the message of righteousness by faith to the righteousness which comes by the law. The law is anything that teaches “If you do these things, you will live.”

The law teaches that if you do good things, you will be blessed. If you do bad things, you will be cursed. The law is woven in our being, created in our psyche, unavoidable.

It also leaves us all under the curse, for who can say that they have done enough to earn the blessing of God?

The fact is that if we are aware of our condition, we know we are in trouble. We know that God is just and that we are sinners. Our consciences plague us on our beds late at night. This is the doing of the law, whichever law you believe will give you life.

If you believe that life comes from doing the right thing, you will never rest, never be at peace, and live in fear – either of the judge coming for you, or fear that the others are going to mess up God’s blessing for your community.

So you either live in terror and despair, or you live judging others and calling down fire and brimstone on the sinners.

Paul is not contrasting the “law” with the “law”. The problem is NOT that the Jewish people of Paul’s day got the law wrong. They didn’t just need to substitute the law of Moses for the law of Jesus. Paul’s point is different.

Let’s look at the word “lord”. In the Hebrew Scriptures, we read that God gave his personal name to his people (Exodus 3). That name is unique to the one true God, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. It didn’t belong to any other gods, it was the true God’s personal name. It was spelled YHWH. But we forgot how it was pronounced, because centuries before Jesus came into the world, God’s people considered the name too holy to be pronounced.

So whenever they came across that name in their readings, they substituted the Hebrew word “my lord” – adonai. Adonai means my lord, my master, my husband, my sir.

A few centuries before Jesus, scholars in Alexandria translated the Hebrew bible into Greek. It was called the Septuagint (abbreviated LXX). They followed the custom of the Jews, and every time they came across the word “YHWH” they translated it “kyrios”, which is Greek for Lord, mister, sir, owner, or master, just like adonai.

But whenever they came across adonai, they also translated it “Lord”.

When the Bible was translated into English, the translators followed the same pattern, but they used small caps for YHWH and lower case for adonai.

Look, for example, at Psalm 110:

The LORD says to my lord: “Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.”

The first word is the personal name of the One True God, creator and redeemer, maker of all things visible and invisible, who redeemed Israel from Egypt.

The second word is a common title for royalty, husbands, owners, slave-masters, bosses.

Remember here that we are speaking only of the OT scriptures. You can easily tell the difference between YHWH and adonai by the way the translators have spelled it.

But when we come to the New Testament, it is a little different. The inspired writers used “kyrios” for both concepts and the only way to tell which was meant was through the context.

In our familiar passage, is Paul’s point that Jesus is our lord and master to be obeyed (as true as that is), or is his point something else?

If he means what is commonly called “lordship salvation”, then one is hard pressed to find a difference between that and the law of “do this and live”.

But look a bit further down, when Paul quotes the Hebrew scriptures. He quotes Isaiah 28 from the Septuagint, about believing in the heart, and then he quotes Joel 2.

“Whoever will call upon the name of YHWH will be saved”. The difference in the Greek text is hard to spot, but if you look up the quote in Joel it is clear. If you call on the name of YHWH you will be saved (Notice the all-caps of LORD). Paul’s point is that confessing with your mouth is the SAME concept as “Calling upon the name of the YHWH.”

The contrast is between those who seek their salvation through “doing” – “do this and live”, and those who understand their desperate need, and call out in the middle of the storm “Save me, Jesus, YHWH God, creator and sustainer of the universe who conquered death and the power of sin.”

Of course, that cry is when we are lucid. In the middle of the locust storm destroying everything (which is the context of Joel), all we can manage is “hosanna” – “Save us, we beg you”.

And now, here is the point of all of this.

If you, like me, have tried over and over again to live a better life, to love more, to cast off your fears and doubts, to flee the lusts of the flesh, and to do better – you know the agony of the spirit. The person that you long to be and the person that you are seem to be forever separated.

The body of death seems to be winning.

The “lordship salvation” purveyors want you to work harder, feel more guilty, exert more will-power, give more money, get up earlier…

But the Good News is this – Call on the name of Jesus, for he is the creator and sustainer of all, he is the giver of life, eternal and true God, who became flesh and took our grief upon himself, so he knows our pain and struggles. Call upon him. No conditions. Just call.

Jew or Greek, bond or free, male or female…just call. And you will be saved, for his name means “YHWH saves.”

(as a side note, this doctrine is continually under attack, for if Jesus is somehow lesser than YHWH, or a different God, then we are back to attempting to earn salvation by submission, which means that we are back in bondage to fear and misery. It is no coincidence that modern patriarchy and their attempt to keep women in bondage is built on “Eternal subordination.” If even the second person of the eternal trinity is subordinate to YHWH, then he is NOT YHWH (their duplicitous protestations notwithstanding), and salvation is again “do this and live”.  Many of my sisters are living this reality every day. ESS is a monstrous evil, and leads only to bondage).

YHWH is not divided. And Jesus is the One True eternal God, who with the Father and the Spirit is to be worshiped. Call upon him, and be delivered. This is the good news. He delights to hear and delights to save, if only we will call.

 

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September 2, 2023 · 3:36 pm

Why the hierarchy to begin with?

With my latest blog, the question is asked “Why was there a hierarchy in the temple worship to begin with?”

As best I can with stammering tongues, I will attempt to give an answer:

After mankind fell, a curse entered the world. Humans were separated from God. God is holy and cannot dwell in safety with sinful men without destroying them.

After God spoke to them from Mt Sinai, they begged Moses to plead with God to not speak to them again, but to speak through a mediator.

Which God did. Before sin and shame and guilt were taken away, no one could approach God and live. The glory would consume them.

The world was waiting for Jesus.

The temple was temporary. The patriarchy that came into the world in Genesis 3 was part of the curse. It would not be taken away until Jesus took away sin and healed both men and women so that they could love again.

The temple was a pointed pointing to how much was not right in the world yet, and what God was promising at the same time.

The thousands of animals sacrificed at the inauguration would have stunk . The noise and the smell and the sights would have been overpowering – and yet, God still was with his people – in promise and signs,

Already – but not yet. Sin was not yet taken away. The bodies of death not yet removed.

Now Christ has come. The veil is now taken away, because sin is taken away – not just in picture but in reality.

So why aren’t we in heaven yet?

Because these bodies are not fit for an incorruptible world and an incorruptible world is not fit for these bodies. We still long for God’s presence, even though he dwells with us in word and spirit – the day will come when it will be face to face.

The hierarchy and the priesthood and the patriarchy and all of the corruption of the ancient world – including polygamy and slavery – was tolerated by God. Maybe tolerated is not the right word. Maybe “not yet overcome” works better. Jesus had not yet redeemed his people from the slavery of sin and misery – they were still in the bondage to the law, as children are until they come of age. But even then, God was near to everyone who called upon him. He still never turned his mercy away. But the day of salvation had not yet arrived. The curse still held sway.

It still makes us uncomfortable, because a God who is that holy and that pure and that powerful makes us uncomfortable – which is why the temple was necessary in the first place.

But now Christ has come, and we have the Holy Spirit. All the old has been taken away so that the new could flourish. Now we know God in Christ, who descended to us that we might know him. No longer do we know him as people under the curse, or under the bondage of the law, but as heirs to the New Creation.

And the day will come when we will no longer see as through a mirror, but face to face.

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September 1, 2023 · 5:17 pm

Hierarchy, patriarchy and the veil

The centerpiece of worship in the Old Testament was the Temple in Jerusalem.

As you travel to Jerusalem, you are singing the Psalms of Ascents with the other pilgrims. No matter where you are coming from, you are going up. Anywhere towards Jerusalem was considered up.

You walk towards the place where David offered the sacrifice that stopped the God’s angel from destroying any more Israelites. It was in that place that Abraham’s arm was prevented from offering Isaac as a sacrifice.

He lifted up his eyes and saw a ram caught in a bush. “In the Mount of the Lord, It will be Provided”.

And now you are heading towards the Temple. When you arrive, you first enter the court of the Gentiles. This is where anyone could enter. Tourists, gentiles, all who wanted just a quick glance at the Great Temple.

But Gentiles, the unclean, the lepers, the emasculated, those who touched dead bodies – could enter no further. Barriers and signs were up. No Gentiles allowed. No admittance. Unclean.

If you were clean, you could proceed into the court of the women. Here the women and children would gather and pray.

But only the men could go any further. In the outer courts of the temple, the sacrifice was offered, the great basin for cleansing sat waiting for the cleansing of the priests, and the men could watch the priests come and go.

In the temple itself, the outer room was the Holy Place. Only the appointed priests could enter there, and then only if they had business there and were wearing the right garments and had cleansed themselves by water and blood.

And in the center of it all was the Holy of Holies, the most holy place of all. It was here that the pillar of fire and the pillar of cloud representing the presence of God settled, and God dwelt with his people. But only the High Priest could go in there.

And only one time a year. The rest of the time a thick veil separated the Ark of God’s Covenant from the world of sinful man. God’s face was hidden, only to be hinted at by the mediation of priests.

No one just walks into God’s throne room, where he “dwells between the cherubim”.

The whole form of worship was an enforced hierarchy. The way into God’s presence was hinted at by shadows and types, but not yet made clear.

We all long to be part of something great, something beyond ourselves. We naturally long for the exclusive clubs, the inner circles, the greetings in the marketplaces.

No one wants to be kicked out. No one desires to be excluded.

Many of us know the feeling of being on the outside. When large groups gather, like after worship on Sunday Morning, circles form. Friends laugh and joke. And some (like me) would try to join the circle. But it would tighten up. My brother or his friends would move to block my access.

Eventually I gave up and pretended it didn’t matter. But it still hurt and I still feel that hurt, because we all long to be a part of something, to be included.

Admit something to me. When you were reading the description of the temple, did you feel as if it wasn’t fair that the gentiles, the unclean, the women, the children were kept out?

This is the emotional response to your yearning to be in God’s presence, in the holiest place of all. No matter how close you could go, you couldn’t just walk past the veil. Imagine the longing to see, the longing to be where all of mankind longs to be.

When men and women were kicked out of Eden, they were removed from God’s presence. “No one looks upon my face and lives”.

THIS is the longing. And no amount of exclusive clubs, golf resorts, circles of friends, membership cards can ever solve it.

There is only one solution. The way to God’s presence must be revealed to us.

When Jesus died; when he cried out “It is finished”, that veil that separated the Holiest Place from sinful humans was torn in two.

The hierarchy was smashed. The gatekeepers were out of work. Eventually the temple of stones was destroyed because God now dwells in the hearts of his people. YOU are the temple of the living God.

And how do you enter into his presence? Just come. Everyone is invited. The blood of Christ has made that way clear.

Yes, God is still holy. Yes, we are still sinners. But Christ has covered you with his blood and washed you with his spirit, and calls you right into his very presence.

19 Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, 20 by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, 21 and since we have a great priest over the house of God, 22 let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. (The New International Version (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2011), Heb 10:19–22.)

But here is the difficult part for so many people. If all of this is true (and it is) that means that anyone at all who wants to come in may enter. No one will be denied. Everyone has access to Christ, therefore everyone has access to the throne room of God through the way – the blood of Jesus.

Which means that it isn’t exclusive to men. It isn’t exclusive to the rich, the white, the Jew, the ruling class, the righteous, the religious.

It means ANYONE can come.

And so, so many people refuse to truly come to Christ because they see the riff-raff and say, “Nope.”

And they desperately try to build the hierarchy again. The try to sew that veil together so that – even though they can’t really get to God – at least they can get closer than those people who are outside.

So they step over the velvet barricades held up by the stanchions that they erected and say, “See you, suckers”.

Look at all the losers outside.

But if the temple they are entering is exclusive and shuts out the riff raff, then it isn’t the temple of God.

The temple of the living God dwells in the heart by faith, not by position, wealth, genders, status or selective morality. It is Christ’s righteousness or it is none at all.

This is what bothers me so much about the patriarchalism of modern America and the dominionism of “Christian” politics. It is absolutely dependent upon building the curtain to separate us from them.

The sinners, the women, the children (who are to be beaten until they become useful to me), the immigrant, the poor, the ignorant, the foolish, the sinners – no thanks. If that is what this is about, I’m out of here.

Matthew tells us that Judas made the deal with the Sanhedrin when Jesus told him to leave Mary alone. “She is anointing me for my burial”. If that public display of completely inappropriate behavior, that waste of good money, that lowering yourself to the level of a woman who is a sinner – is what this is about, count me out.

And for all who say, “If God’s grace is for the wrong kind of sinners, I’m out” – eventually the door will be shut.

You stayed away from the feast and couldn’t even sit down to eat because there were too many sinners there. So now you are outside, where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Notice that the anger hasn’t diminished. Even outside the feast, the anger continues, the unfairness of it all.

I’ve worked and I’ve slaved for you and you never gave me anything.

But you are going to feast with THAT GUY???

Don’t you know that he doesn’t vote right? Don’t you know that she is a woman and is supposed to wait for her man? Don’t you know that children are vipers in diapers and not worthy of the feast?

If you are tired of the continual jockeying for position, Jesus says, “Come unto me and rest.”

And he also said, “Whoever comes to me, I will never, ever under any circumstances, cast them out.”

Instead of being angry that Jesus eats and drinks with sinners, it should cause us to rejoice greatly. For that means he eats and drinks with you and me.

That is exactly what the gospel is.

Quit trying to sew the veil back together.

The Spirit and the Bride say, “Come”.

Yes. Sinners. Yes. You. Yes, your children.

Yes, you who have been outcast and excluded, who know the pain of being cast out, who know what it is like outside the camp.

Go outside the camp. Inside the camp is where they are frantically trying to keep you out. They are sewing up veils everywhere to block access.

But outside the city there is a cross and an empty sepulcher. And even greater than that, outside the city is Jesus. He is gathering together all of the outcasts and building a new city. And all you need to do to enter that city is come.

And yes, when you get there there will be sinners and other riff-raff there. Just like you. But they have been washed, cleansed, justified, and made beautiful by the Lamb of God – Just like you.

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August 13, 2023 · 7:25 am

National Covenant Blessings?

While I was reading Dr. Valerie Hobbs’ latest excellent book (No Love in War), I was reminded of an aberrant theology that I had heard in my childhood.

(Of course, now might be a good time to plug this book. Please get it. It will help you understand some of what is happening in the Reformed world. So much of what she writes was an echo of my childhood church in the 60s and 70s, with the same damage, the same theological errors and the same teachers. I had left them behind years ago, but this theology was part of what drove me out of my denomination. Like bad milk, it has a way of coming up again and again. Back in the day, it was called postmillennial reconstruction, or theonomy, or both. Today, it is nationalism, or dominionism, or all of the above).

But- moving on. The theology that was impressed on us was that the covenant curses of Deuteronomy 27 have come upon this nation (the United States) because of sin (which they give the fancy name of “covenant disobedience”. The corollary is that if we as a nation want the covenant blessings of Deuteronomy 28, then we need to obey, which is given the fancy name of “Covenant faithfulness”.

I had forgotten this. I know that I had (and still do) frequently hear “We don’t deserve God’s blessing”. The anthem of my childhood is “God Bless America”, which has the connotations in Christian circles of covenant faithfulness.

Covenant faithfulness is generally defined as minorities and women know their place, liberals stay out of everything, white old men rule everything, the poor deserve it anyway, and empathy is sinful. I am not making this stuff up. Please read what the dominionists are writing.

What makes it so powerful is fear. We are afraid that if we are compassionate to the poor, give dignity to the LGBTQ community, listen to the black experience, acknowledge the brutality of slavery and own up to it, allow women to vote, of, God forbid, vote for the other party – then God will curse the nation because of covenant disobedience. The alternative to this is covenant faithfulness, which will be defined by me. Covenant disobedience is communist, feminist, woke, social justice, and socialist. It doesn’t matter what those words mean. We all know it when we see it.

It surprises me that the Reformed world has fallen so quickly for such basic theological errors. I think that there is a strange separation in the minds of those who follow these things. On the one hand, they talk about the gospel, free grace, the person and work of Christ. And on the other hand, they talk about national covenant blessings. But these two things cannot exist together.

This was the same error of the Pharisees. They believed that in order to have God’s covenant blessings, they must put a stop to sinners. The Sabbath breakers and the tax collectors and the prostitutes and everyone who isn’t us. “You were altogether born in sin, and you would teach us??” (John 9)

They knew he was born in sin, because he was born blind. Blind people are not blessed. Therefore, they broke the covenant, otherwise they would be enjoying the blessings of the covenant, and wouldn’t be born blind.

The formula is very simple. Those people, who are not like me – they are minorities, foreigners, women, children, disabled, woke, LGBTQ – they are the ones who are blocking God’s covenant blessings from coming on America like they used to.

In 2016, I was astounded that the whole seeming evangelical world welcomed Donald Trump. A foul mouthed, reviling, abusive, crooked, racist thug – as the savior of America.

But then I remembered that the crowds shouted for Barabbas while crying out for Jesus to be crucified. At least Barabbas tried to do something about all of those Romans getting in the way of God’s covenant blessings.

So let’s look at the very, very basic theological errors.

First, the blessings and cursings of Deuteronomy were given to the nation of Israel, which was the visible church in the world. The nation was where God chose to place his name and reveal himself. But God cannot dwell with sin. Any sin.

Second – the nation of Israel failed. Over and over and over. There was NEVER a time when they were faithful to the covenant. NEVER. Seriously, this is the point of the whole Old Testament. How can you read through Genesis to Malachi and come to the conclusion that America will do better?? Even if they had the option.

If you read the Old Testament and come to the conclusion that you will do better, if only a powerful leader would get rid of the libtards, then all you are doing is adding pride to your multitude of sins.

The Pharisees taught the exact same thing, and God did not tolerate it in them either.

The point of the whole Old Testament is this. God cannot be at peace with anyone who breaks his covenant, any more than a husband can live with an adulterous wife. And after centuries of playing the whore against God, God cast them off (Hosea – the whole book).

The New Covenant (Jeremiah 31:31-34) is different. If God simply established another covenant like the first one, mankind would fail again – because that is what we inherited from Adam. Sin, misery and death.

We need a covenant mediator.

So Jesus, the True Seed of Abraham (Galatians 3:16) , took all of the covenant curses upon himself, as it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree” – Deuteronomy again…

He was crucified so that we might all know that these covenant curses are taken away in him. The old has passed away.

And now, for the new. His righteousness (His covenant faithfulness, his chesed) merited the promises of covenant blessings, for God cannot lie.

Not one nation, not one people, not one congregation, not one person, has ever, ever, ever earned God’s covenant blessings. There is none, no not one.

And the corollary – not one person, not one has escaped the judgment of God by their merit. It is of the Lord’s mercies that we are not consumed.

If Jesus had done what the Pharisees insisted, and brought fire and brimstone down on the sinners, not one person would be left.

Not one.

And so it is today. When we call for God’s judgment on the sinners, how far back will YOU have to stand. Remember that God sees the heart.

To put this practically – has there EVER been a time when the United States earned God’s blessing? Has there ever been a time when justice rolled down like water? Where the poor and the needy were relieved? Where justice was given to men AND women, white AND black, old AND young?

If God came in judgment, none of us would stand.

Except in Christ. By faith we flee to him and cling to him alone. HE is our covenant mediator.

In HIM was have all of the blessings that are possible. EVERY spiritual blessing, Paul tells the Ephesians.

And the curse is taken far from us. There is therefore now NO condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. None.

And no one merited it, except for Jesus. There has never been a covenantally faithful nation. Never. Not one.

There has never been a covenantally faithful person. Not one. No, not even you.

Only Jesus. Only Jesus.

We used to believe “Sola Christus” (Christ alone). I wonder what happened.

Keep proclaiming the gospel. The good news. If we still have to earn covenant blessings, that isn’t good news at all. That is bad, bad news.

The good news is that Jesus has already finished all of that. It is finished. Done.

Now go rest. The day will come when this world, with the remnants of sin and death and misery will be wiped clean, as will my heart, and we will walk with God forever in the New Heavens and the New Earth. No politician can give you that. Don’t aim too low.

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June 4, 2023 · 7:33 am

Thoughts on Gothard

I was introduced in the early 80s to Bill Gothard’s stuff. I saw firsthand the damage done by this insidious cult leader. He is every bit as dangerous as Jim Jones, just with a larger following – but that is another issue.

I did not watch Shiny Happy People yet. I intend to. But this really doesn’t have anything to do with that.

But I was thinking about Gothard, Wilson, Piper, McArthur, etc, etc, and the gospel.

In way of reminder, here is what the Good News is:

God’s love for you is so infinite and unfathomable that the Second Person of the Trinity took on himself the flesh of a man, became obedient to the Father, even to the point of a shameful, hideous death. He did this so that I might know that he will stop at nothing to bring us back to his presence and reconcile the world to himself. He conquered sin and death and bondage to Satan, and is now pouring out His Spirit on all flesh, reconciling the world to himself through faith.

This was foretold by the Prophet Jeremiah:

33 But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. 34 No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.” Jer. 31:33–34.

Let those words sink down into your soul. Because of God’s love for you, because of the death and resurrection of our head, Jesus Christ, because of the Holy Spirit which he sends to us, we have NO NEED of endless control freaks telling us how to live, act, love, dress, recreate, or raise our kids.

We don’t need anyone to tell us how to be married, how to raise kids, how to behave at work, how to love our neighbor, how to earn God’s blessing…

We don’t need anyone to tell us what toys to buy, where to shop, what companies to boycott, what movies to watch, what music to listen to…

WHY? Because Christ has come to set us free and to teach us all we need to know by his word and spirit.

The Holy Spirit teaches us how to love, and when we know how to love, we have everything we need.

That is the gospel. But there are many, many people who have a material interest in keeping you from the love of Christ.

Gothard, Duggar, Wilson, and – you name it, it goes on and on – all make fortunes from telling everyone how to do everything. They leave you broken, fearful, restless – and then you buy more and more and more, hoping that this time you might do enough to be loved by God.

They work through your parents, because after all, you learn love from your parents. And so often the message that parents give is that you don’t do enough to earn their love, so work harder. Purity culture taught that kids must be ever vigilant, ever watchful, ever strong – because if they mess up, even a little, they are spoiled forever and no one will love them.

And then the kids grow up and apply this lesson that they learned to God. I need to do more. Maybe this guy can show me how to quiet my uneasy heart.

But hear me please.

Jesus paid it all. All to him I owe.

It is already all done. God cannot love you any more than he loves you now. Theology 101 teaches what we call the “simplicity” of God. God’s love is not in bits and pieces, to come and go based upon the performance of mankind. But his love is from himself, infinite in scope and active at all times, even when we cannot fathom it.

And THIS is the Spirit that he has poured out upon his people. We learn to love as he loves, not to earn his love, for that cannot be. But because he already loves us.

We love, because he first loved us.

And when we love, we buy teletubbys, and cabbage patch dolls and smurfs and even go to Disneyland if we want to. And if we don’t, we stay home and watch silly TV shows with our kids. And when we don’t want to watch something because it makes us restless or makes us feel dirty, we just turn it off – without EVER consulting an expert on what we should buy or what we should watch or where we should go.

Because the love of God is sufficient.

And because of the love of God, we are taught by God.

9 But concerning brotherly love you have no need that I should write to you, for you yourselves are taught by God to love one another; 10 and indeed you do so toward all the brethren who are in all Macedonia. But we urge you, brethren, that you increase more and more; 11 that you also aspire to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business, and to work with your own hands, as we commanded you, 12 that you may walk properly toward those who are outside, and that you may lack nothing. (1 Th 4:9–12.)

So find someone that tells you about Jesus. The wicked, abusive person wants nothing to do with the gospel, because if the gospel is true, the abusive control freak loses power over you. So find a church that talks about Jesus and about how Jesus loves sinners and calls them to himself.

It will be small, because those who like to exert power run away when they find that they don’t have power over people.

But those who are there will be learning how to love, because that is what God does. He teaches us to love one another.

And that is so much more important than purity balls and houses free from teletubbies, don’t you think?

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May 15, 2023 · 7:09 am

What if they knew what I was really like?

It is the ultimate in imposter syndrome. What if my true nature was exposed to the world? What if I stood before everyone like the Emperor without any clothes?

Have you ever worried about exposure? What if the most shameful acts were exposed to the world? What if your darkest fantasies were displayed on a movie screen for all to see?

And lets keep going. Do you ever just hope that you are “good enough” to stand before God after your death?

And you quickly try to put it out of your mind because there is a part of you deep inside that tells you that there is no way God will accept you.

What if you could have a do-over? If you could live your life again and avoid all of the shame and misery and guilt, how great would that be!

Or Perhaps you could live again and do over all of those times you didn’t act in love or in kindness, where the cruelty of your heart broke through the carefully constructed wall around your soul and wounded the ones you love the most.

But there is a part of you that is afraid that you would simply do the same things and act the same way.

But what if you could have a perfect record, as if you never had nor committed any sin?

If you have never been told that Jesus offers you his own righteousness, then shame on the preachers you have been listening to your whole life.

The fact is that the Christianity is not “do better, and God might accept you.”

It is greater than forgiveness; it is “as if you have never committed nor had any sin”.

That is beyond pardon, beyond forgiveness, beyond God just looking the other way.

It is God looking right at you and seeing his begotten Son, in whom he is well-pleased.
It isn’t tolerance. It is embrace.

In Jesus, you are embraced, welcomed, loved, protected, fed, and a part of something far, far beyond yourself.

If only you accept it with a believing heart. This is the call of the gospel. That is what good news really is.

It isn’t “be a better person.” And it isn’t that God is somehow not holy enough to notice your sins.

It upholds God’s holiness and God’s mercy all at once.

You stand before him in a righteousness that isn’t your own, but the work of another.

As the Heidelberg puts it:

60. How are you righteous before God?

Only by true faith in Jesus Christ: that is, although my conscience accuses me, that I have grievously sinned against all the commandments of God, and have never kept any of them, and am still prone always to all evil; yet God, without any merit of mine, of mere grace, grants and imputes to me the perfect satisfaction, righteousness, and holiness of Christ, as if I had never committed nor had any sins, and had myself accomplished all the obedience which Christ has fulfilled for me; if only I accept such benefit with a believing heart.

There is no “yeah, but…” to that at all.

 

 

 

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February 22, 2023 · 2:23 pm

So much to do….

So much to do….

The legacy of Charles Finney – who taught salvation by moral fortitude, the unofficial religion of America. It is the religion of Ben Franklin and Ralph Waldo Emerson and the McGuffey readers, and it is deadly.

So now when we think of Christianity, we sigh and say, So much to do, so much to keep track of, so much, so much…

Do I shop there, or not. If I shop there I might be accidentally putting money in the wrong pocket.

Is it OK to watch this show? Is it OK to listen to this kind of music? Is there a list somewhere of what music is OK and what music might lead me astray?

If I am a woman, is it OK for me to get a job? Can I speak to a man and keep myself pure? Is it OK to go to dinner with friends?

If I am a man, is it OK to take a woman to the hospital? Is it OK to speak to her? Can I have a conversation with her and still be pure?

How should we raise our kids? Should we home-school? Private School? Charter?

Who should I ask? Should I read this blog or that blog? Can I ask a celebrity preacher to tell me what to wear, where to shop, what to read, what to listen to?

How much am I supposed to desire God? Do I desire him enough? What if I die and miss the mark? What if I am caught in an R rated movie when Jesus comes again.

I’m depressed trying to figure it all out. Should I see a therapist? Should I take a pill? Should I just talk to my pastor and have him pray for me? What if I do it wrong?

What if I make the wrong choices and am not masculine enough? What if I am not feminine enough? What if I die wearing the wrong color shirt or writing a poem?

I read the other day that worry was a sin. I wondered if I worried too much. Then I worried about it. That made me worry about worry, which made me anxious. And then a preacher shouted that anxiety was a sin. So I worried about that.

Worry, anxiety, depression, sin, trouble…

So many shouty people. So many ready to pounce and condemn. So much contempt for the outsiders.

What if they find out what I’m really like and throw me out? What if they already did, I just don’t know about it?

Stop. Rest.

This is why God gave us a Sabbath. That we might rest in him and know that he is the LORD God, and he alone sanctifies his people.

Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you shall be saved.

And rest.

The Jewish sabbath gives way to the everlasting Sabbath, where we learn to rest at the foot of the cross, and meet him outside the city, with the other outcasts. It is a good company. It is the company of those who learned to grieve this dying world and its lusts. So that we might gain Christ, and attain the resurrection of the dead.

Sing praises to our Redeemer and leave Finney’s legacy in the grave where it belongs. it is the old man. Crucify it with Christ and live.

Learn to walk in newness of life, and live!

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July 11, 2022 · 5:34 pm

You’re doing it wrong

Several months ago, a friend who is very near to me asked me this question, “Why are unbelievers generally so much kinder and friendlier than Christians?”

And I thought about it. I gave her a pretty standard mumbling about “common grace”, and I do believe that is true.

I also believe that all humans are created in God’s image and have an understanding of kindness and friendship and love. We should be thankful for that.

But I thought about it.

I know this friend. I know that he was raised in the church, quite similar to my own circles and so his concerns echoed with me. I also have found that in general the people who treated me with the most contempt, rage, anger, and dismissal have been fellow professors of Christ. I have never had an unbeliever treat me as badly as one who broke bread with me at the Lord’s Table.

Why is that? If we are to be known by our love, why is it that we are mostly known by our contempt and anger against everyone?

And once again, you can deny it. I have had many believers try to prove that they aren’t bullies by threatening me, slandering me and cutting off all contact with me for saying that they were bullies.

You know what I am talking about. If you don’t, then maybe it would help you to learn to listen to those who have left the church. So many souls have been trampled on and abused by conservative evangelicals!

So I thought about it.

I think that there are two things that are deeply engrained in our evangelical culture.

First, fear is deeply engrained.  We were raised firmly in the belief that coming into contact with the “world” would destroy us. We were taught throughout the 70s and 80s and beyond that “secular humanists” were out to take away all of our rights, persecute us, change our way of life, and destroy churches.  “Left Behind”, Youth Camps, Bill Gothard – all of them painted quite the horrifying apocalypse if the unbelievers ever get power. If “these people” get their way, we will lose everything this country stands for! We will lose our place and our nation.

It actually was for this very reason that the leaders of the Jews delivered Jesus to be crucified. They thought that if he continued, the Romans would destroy their way of life and their positions of power (John 11:47-48).

So we react with the world through fear. We are terrified of everything. Rock music, Hollywood, Disney, ABC, Starbuck coffee, Harry Potter, women getting out of control! We need to be continually steadfast and vigilant!

We act as if God is just waiting for us to let our guards down and then punish us for not being vigilant enough.

(On a side note, this is why the teaching that Adam sinned by not guarding the garden from the invasion of the serpent bothers me so much. Not only is that nowhere in the text, but it puts an impossible standard on people that no one can meet. How could Adam have been everywhere at once? Should he have built a wall? Trained his sons to be armed border patrol?)

But I digress.

God has not called us to fear. We are complete in Christ and safe in him. God is not waiting for us to mess up so he can gleefully punish us. He delights in us as dear children and nothing can ever take us out of his hand.

2 Timothy 1:7 (NKJV)
For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.

So quit being afraid of everything. If your gay neighbors get married, it won’t damage you or your relationship with God at all. Put the pickets down. Learn to delight in people and stop being afraid of them.

So that’s the first thing.

The second problem is this one – we cannot resist the opportunity to inform someone that they are doing something wrong.

Are you grieving loss? You’re doing it wrong.

Are you trying to come to terms with your childhood? You’re doing it wrong.

Are you living in terror? You’re doing it wrong.

Are you ready to report your sexual assault? You’re doing it wrong.

Are you happy about a promotion? You’re doing it wrong.

Are you having a party to celebrate an accomplishment? You’re doing it wrong.

Are you proud of your family? Raising your children? Pregnant? Breastfeeding? Bottle feeding? educating your children? Disciplining your children?

You’re doing it wrong.

I can’t speak for everyone, but in my circles I know where this tendency comes from.

We have a long, long history of being told that only Christians are knowledgeable on every single subject. Only Christians have the TRUTH and so only Christians can rightly teach history, child-rearing, marriage and family, math, economics, healthcare – and we have found bible verses to prove it all.

We are the experts in trauma, depression, anxiety, discipline, raising children, marriage, ADHD, ADD, gender roles, constitutional law, statute law, common law, race, economics – and it is our sworn duty to explain to the whole world that YOU ARE DOING IT WRONG!

Don’t you know that “There is not a square inch in the whole domain of our human existence over which Christ, who is Sovereign over all, does not cry, Mine!” (Kuyper). And this, of course, gives me the right as a Christian to explain to you again in all Christian love that YOU ARE DOING IT WRONG!!

If we do not explain carefully how everything you are doing is wrong, how on earth can you possibly repent from doing it wrong? And if you don’t repent from doing it wrong, how can you expect God to bless you.

Just quit doing it wrong, do it the other way, and then you will know God’s blessing in your life and all of your problems will disappear.

And then it follows – if you don’t stop doing it wrong, we are going to have to force you somehow.

Whew. And if we miss one opportunity, then the devil gets in the garden, our wife goes out wandering, and next thing you know all hell breaks loose again.

It’s exhausting, isn’t it?

And then we discover that what we thought was right and good wasn’t Christianity at all. In fact, it wasn’t much different than any other autocratic religion.

I wonder what would happen if we just stopped…

What if we just assumed that people who are truly doing it wrong probably already know that and those that don’t are probably just different than you are and that is OK.

Or maybe it’s not OK and they really are doing it wrong.

I’m probably doing it wrong too.

I grieve wrong. I get anxious over things. I forget things. I grumble when I shouldn’t. I don’t love as I ought.

What I am doing is simply trying to make it from one day to the next day the best I can, walking in God’s love and limping along towards the heavenly city.

Or maybe Jesus is carrying me the whole way. Or maybe I’m limping.

What I know for certain is this – he won’t ever let me go, even when I do everything wrong. And he will lead me by his Spirit and gently guide me exactly where I need to go and so I can just stop.

I wonder what would happen if we just sat with the grieving?

I wonder what would happen if we just listened to the one trying to process trauma?

I wonder what would happen if we just rejoiced when our neighbor got married?

I wonder what would happen if we were proud that our friend was proud of their work and cracked a cold one with him in his garage?

I wonder what would happen if we just stopped that impulse to tell everyone that everything that they are doing is wrong?

Maybe then people wouldn’t ask, “Why are unbelievers so much kinder and gentler than believers?”

Maybe we should listen.

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June 24, 2022 · 7:42 am

Same sex attraction and the forgiveness of sins

Yesterday, the PCA general assembly passed the following resolution:

Overture 15: “Men who describe themselves as homosexual, even those who describe themselves as homosexual and claim to practice celibacy by refraining from homosexual conduct, are disqualified from holding office in the Presbyterian Church in America.”

I know that this is a risky blog, but it had been mulling in my mind for many weeks. I waited to see what the PCA would do with it

Of course, we know that it is directed towards Greg Johnson. And I have read his book “Still Time to Care.” There was nothing in that book at all that was outside of the traditions and teachings of Christianity. I don’t know anything about REVOICE. All I know is how things are worded. I’ve read the book. I’ve read the overture. And it is deadly to the faith. I beg the PCA to reconsider while the candlestick is still there.

Notice the overture. It does not say, “Those who practice homosexuality.” Nor does it say, “Those who claim that homosexuality is not sinful.” In both cases, I would have agreed. Those who live unrepentantly in any sin should not serve in the ministry.

But it doesn’t say that.

I do not pretend to know the discussions going on in the PCA. All I know about the debate is that I read Pastor Johnson’s book. He is exclusively same sex attracted. He confesses that it is part of his “sinful nature with which he has to struggle his whole life long.” He has never acted on his desires.

He has also never been attracted to a woman.

If it is a question of terminology – that instead of just confession a lifelong spiritual struggle, he used the term “homosexuality”, then they got the terminology wrong. Most that I know of use the term “gay”. But it is just a word. It seems like disqualifying a man from ministry over a word is a little harsh.

The problem seems to be that the man confessed his struggle with sin.

So here is why I am sad. The PCA has just declared that THIS particular struggle with sin, even though it is never acted on, disqualifies a man from the ministry.

And at the same time, every Sunday, many of these same churches recite the creed together. “I believe in the forgiveness of sins.”

Perhaps at this point, they should, for the sake of consistency, add an addendum. “I believe in the forgiveness of sins except for same sex attraction.”

Which other sins will be excluded from the creed?

In Augustine’s day, there was a debate with a certain sect in the church who taught that those who denied Christ to escape persecution could never be forgiven and restored to fellowship.

The church strongly disagreed. This is why “I believe in the forgiveness of sins” was added to the creed.

The reason that this is a sad day is that a cardinal, basic tenet of Christianity was denied – hopefully unwittingly – in the relentless pursuit of “culture war” victory.

They won the battle in the culture war, but lost the battle for the faith doing so.

The only thing left for Christians is to continue to keep silent about their struggles, never ask for help, never confess sin or our struggle with our sinful nature, and remain alone and isolated in the kingdom of God.

But the result will be that everyone will remain silent, especially if they wish to pastor the church. Perhaps THEIR sinful nature will be next on the chopping block.

It makes me sad that this is where the PCA chose to go.

The Heidelberg Catechism states:

56. What dost thou believe concerning the “forgiveness of sins”?

That God, for the sake of Christ’s satisfaction, will no more remember my sins, nor the sinful nature with which I have to struggle all my life long; but graciously imputes to me the righteousness of Christ, that I may nevermore come into condemnation.

The church is to be known as a place for sinners. Jesus was called a “friend of sinners”.

We cannot be a “hospital for sinners” if we say, “Except for you.”

Either the blood of Christ cleanses us from sin or it does not. To deny the blood of Christ to one particular kind of sin is deadly to the church.

I pray that the PCA will reconsider their stance on this.

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