What is The Christian Sabbath?

“Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy." - Exodus 20:8‭-‬11 NIV

"There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; for anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from their works, just as God did from his." - Hebrews 4:9‭-‬10 NIV

Several years ago after my painful divorce, I made a trip to Minnesota to reconnect with my extended family. On the way, I stopped to meet up with a man who has been a mentor to me for more than 20 years. Before I left to continue my journey, I asked him a question: 

"You have been my teacher and mentor for 18+ years. It is possible that we may not see each other again on this side of eternity. What do you want to say to me?"

He thought for a moment and replied,

"Finish well, knowing who you are in Christ and REST. Rest in the work that was completed on your behalf by Jesus Christ on the cross."

In Matthew 11:28-30 Jesus said these words:

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

The Old Covenant Was The Shadow of The New 

The Sabbath command is the one commandment that generates a lot of confusion today. The rest of the Ten Commandments are very straightforward and clear. But somehow we get puzzled with the fourth command. Should we be observing the Sabbath as it was commanded in the old covenant? Did the apostles actually change the Sabbath to Sunday? And if the Sabbath was changed to Sunday, should we completely abstain from work on that day? 

To wrestle with such questions speaks to a deeper issue. Many in the church do not understand what it means that the old covenant was merely the shadow and not the reality. In Hebrews 10:1:

"The law is only a shadow of the good things that are coming—not the realities themselves. For this reason it can never, by the same sacrifices repeated endlessly year after year, make perfect those who draw near to worship."

Jesus Illustrated this on the Sermon on the Mount when he spoke about the commands to not murder and commit adultery. The law could not change the sinful heart, it could only restrain it. Paul repeated this idea in the first few chapters of Romans that the law could only condemn and that justification was through faith.

The writer of Hebrews emphasized that the new covenant REPLACED the old covenant. This was nothing new. Jeremiah prophecied that this would be the case in Jeremiah 31:31-34:

“The days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when I will make a new covenant with the people of Israel and with the people of Judah. It will not be like the covenant I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they broke my covenant, though I was a husband to them,” declares the Lord. “This is the covenant I will make with the people of Israel after that time,” declares the Lord. “I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. No longer will they teach their neighbor, or say to one another, ‘Know the Lord,’ because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest,” declares the Lord. “For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more."

The all important point in verse 31; Jeremiah said this new covenant would NOT be like the old covenant. The old covenant was about rules and regulations. It was actually the constitution that governed the nation of Israel. The new covenant would not be about rules and regulations. It would be about the new heart and the new spirit which would be acoomplished in the rebirth which was prophecied by Ezekiel:

"I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws." - Ezekiel 36:26‭-‬27 NIV

It is important to understand what exactly the old covenant was. Moses explains it in Exodus 34: 28:

"Moses was there with the Lord forty days and forty nights without eating bread or drinking water. And he wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant—the Ten Commandments." - Exodus 34:28 NIV

The Ten Commandments were the foundation of the old covenant. This is what has been replaced by the new covenant. Now some have objected to this by saying, "If the the Ten Commandments are done away with is it OK to murder or cheat on your spouse?" First of all, for someone to seriously ask such a question would cause me to question whether they are truly saved or not because they obvioulsy don't understand what the gospel accomplishes through the rebirth. But it is important to understand that God's moral law is in no way done away with. There is still a standard of righteousness that must be met. The problem with the old covenant is that righteousness could not be achieved by keeping rules and regulations. The writer of Hebrews says in chapter 8:6-7:

"But in fact the ministry Jesus has received is as superior to theirs as the covenant of which he is mediator is superior to the old one, since the new covenant is established on better promises. For if there had been nothing wrong with that first covenant, no place would have been sought for another."

In a nutshell, the Ten Commandments have been replaced by something that is much better.

The Old Covenant Sabbath Observance Was a Shadow of The New.

The old covenant Sabbath was an observance that was repeated every week. It hearkened back to creation where it tells us that after the 6 days of creating God rested on the seventh day and set it apart. God did not rest because he was tired. He rested because his work was finished. In Exodus 31:13 it explains that the Sabbath was a sign to the Israelites.

“Say to the Israelites, ‘You must observe my Sabbaths. This will be a sign between me and you for the generations to come, so you may know that I am the Lord, who makes you holy."

The purpose of this sign was to remind them of who God was and it was HE who made them holy.

The Sabbath in Hebrews 4 has a similar reference to the creation:

"Now we who have believed enter that rest, just as God has said, “So I declared on oath in my anger, ‘They shall never enter my rest.’ ” And yet his works have been finished since the creation of the world. For somewhere he has spoken about the seventh day in these words: “On the seventh day God rested from all his works.” (10)for anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from their works, just as God did from his. Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will perish by following their example of disobedience." - Hebrews 4:3‭-‬4‭, ‬10‭-‬11 NIV

It is important to note that when God rested on the seventh day he didn't go back to work creating on the next day. His work was finished. And we must finish our work just as He did his. Someone once told me that when the new covenant came into reality it wasn't the Sabbath that was done away, it was the other six days. When we are saved we enter His rest. Unlike the Israelites who went back to doing THEIR work on the first day of the week and repeated the cycle, we FINISH our work and rest in Him. 

That is the reality of the Sabbath.

May God richly bless you all and may you enter his rest. 

Modern Revivals Part 1; Are We Fooling Ourselves?

"For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God."

1 Corinthians 1:18 NIV

Many years ago I was attending a church in South Florida. Every Tuesday morning they had a men's prayer meeting that I tried to attend whenever my work schedule allowed. The church was about 6 miles from my house. Along the road to the church I would pass at least half a dozen churches. 

One morning it hit me. With all the churches around why is our country in the mess it is in? It seems that there is a church on every corner and yet the slide toward everything immoral and ungodly seems to be continuing unabated and the 'church' doesn't seem to be making any real impact at all. Today it is far worse than it was 25 years ago when I was driving to the prayer meeting. Abortion on demand, biological males competing in women's sports because they 'identify' as women, and the list goes on. Not only does it seem that the church is not making any impact on the culture, it seems that the laity in the church is as confused about many of these issues as the outside world is. Some believe the problem is that in our discipleship we are not teaching new believers to have a proper Christian worldview. 

I believe the problem is much worse.

In the following paragraphs I am going to do a brief comparison of modern evangelical methods and the first Great Awakening and perhaps we will be able to see where the problems lie.

In the last 50 years or so we have had a number of 'revivals' or apparent moves of the Holy Spirit. You may remember the Jesus Movement of the 70's, the Pensacola revival and the Toronto revival. They all had something in common. While a good number of people did come to saving faith in Jesus Christ they eventually fizzled and made very little impact on society in general. By contrast, the Great Awakening of the early/mid 18th century, while it only lasted for about 3 years, made an incredible impact that lasted into the next century.

What was the differrence?

The main players were very deep theologians

The three main players in the Great Awakening were Jonathon Edwards, George Whitefield, and John Wesley. They all understood the doctrine of total depravity. They understood that unless the Holy Spirit moved in resurrection power in a person's heart that it was impossible for them to be saved. When they preached the gospel to a group of unbelievers they were just like the prophet in Ezekiel 37. They were preaching to the residents of an old cemetary and apart from God performing a miracle nothing was going to happen. 

Music style didn't matter. Preaching style didn't matter. There was no church growth strategy or technique that they could employ to cause the dead to rise. 

DEAD PEOPLE CAN'T HEAR!!

As such these men knew that because they could do nothing to get dead people to hear the gospel they had to depend completely on God for there to be any spiritual harvest. They understood that preaching the gospel and making disciples was simply what God commanded them to do. Nowhere does it tell us to save people. That is strictly the job of the Holy Spirit.

So these men simply did what they had been doing all along, preached sound doctrine:

"You, however, must teach what is appropriate to sound doctrine." Titus 2:1 NIV

Perhaps the most famous sermon ever preached in America was Jonathon Edwards', Sinners in The Hands of an Angry God. In it, Pastor Edwards painted a vivid picture of how detestable our sin is to a perfect, holy God. Let's imagine that 2 people walked into a colonial church one morning where he happened to be preaching that sermon. And let's imagine that God is saving one of them but not the other. To the person not being saved this sermon was simply the mad ravings of a lunatic. To the person being saved it had the deep convicting power of sin and their desperate need for a savior. As it says in 1 Corinthians 1:18:

"For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God."

Here is an excerpt from an evangelical sermon by George Whitefield entitled, The Holy Spirit Convincing The World of Sin, Righteousness and Judgment:

"And did the Comforter, my dear friends ever come with such convincing power as this into your hearts? Were you ever made to see and feel that in your flesh dwelleth no good thing; that you are conceived and born in sin; that you are by nature children of wrath; that God would be just if he damned you, though you never committed an actual sin in your lives? So often as you have been at church and sacrement, did you ever confess that there was no health in you; that the remembrance of your original sin and actual sins was grievous to you, and the burden intolerable? If not, you have been offering to God vain oblations; you have never yet prayed in your lives; the Comforter never yet came effectually into your souls: consequently you are not in the faith properly so called; No, you are at present in a state of death and damnation."

We don't hear such statements from the pulpits today. Is it possible that we have entered the time spoken of by Paul in 2 Timothy 4:3:

"For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear."

Compare Pastor Whitefield's message to the following 'gospel invitation' from Rick Warren's best seller, The Purpose Driven Life (pp. 58-59):

"Right now, God is inviting you to live for his glory by fulfilling the purposes he made you for. It's really the only way to live. Everything else is just existing. Real life begins by committing yourself completely to Jesus Christ. If you are not sure you have done this, all you need to do is receive and believe. The Bible promises, 'To all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.' Will you accept his offer?

First, believe. Believe God loves you and made you for his purposes. Believe you are not an accident. Believe you were made to last forever. Believe God has chosen you to have a relationship with Jesus, who died on the cross for you. Believe that no matter what you have done, God wants to forgive you.

Second, receive. Receive Jesus as your Lord and Savior. Receive his forgiveness for your sins. Receive his Spirit, who will give you the power to fulfill your life purpose. The Bible says, 'Whoever accepts and trusts the Son gets in on everything, life complete and forever!' Wherever you are reading this, I invite you to bow your head and quietly whisper the prayer that will change your eternity: 'Jesus, I believe in you and I receive you." Go ahead.

If you sincerely meant that prayer, congratulations! Welcome to the family of God! You are now ready to discover and start living God's purpose for your life."

Notice that there is nothing about the condemned state of the unsaved. There is nothing about the coming judgment for the unrepentant sinner. While sin and forgiveness are mentioned, they are not defined. There is no conviction of one's inherent sinfulness and there is no call to repent. The fact is, the gospel call in Pastor Warren's book has absolutely no resemblance to what Jesus Christ and the apostles preached. Therefore it is NOT the gospel and it logically follows that if an individual responded to this call it is most likely that they are no more saved than they were before. 

The majority of the church has embraced this type of evengelical message.Often the message focuses on the 'benefits' of accepting Jesus as your personal savior; "Jesus loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life." "He wants to heal your brokenness, your health, your marriages, your finances, etc."  Sin, if it is mentioned at all, is treated as something unfortunate, a mistake, or something that keeps you from finding your true destiny. 

The problem is that this message is very appealing to carnal people, not just those who are being saved. And because of this it only follows logically that a lot of people who are responding to these 'gospel calls' are not truly saved but are pronounced saved because they repeated a prayer and are being welcomed into the body. 

And now there are more goats than sheep in the fold.

That is why the church is making so little of an impact on the culture. It's not that we aren't doing a good job of discipleship, although that is a problem. YOU SIMPLY CANNOT DISCIPLE A GOAT INTO A SHEEP!!

Now some of you may be saying, 'But I got saved at a crusade or revival meeting when I prayed a similar prayer.' That is possible because God is sovereign and he saves those who he has elected regardless of the circumstances. But I would also implore you to follow the admonition in 2 Corinthians 13:5:

"Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you—unless, of course, you fail the test?"

Look at Pastor Whitefield's message again as if it were a mirror. Is that what you see when you look into it? This is not just for those who may have responded to an unbiblical gospel invitation. This is an imperative for all believers. We are to regularly examine ourselves. As it says in 1 Corinthians 10:12:

"So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall!"

 In Part 2 we will look at how salt loses it's flavor.

May God bless each and every one of you and may you all "make every effort to confirm your calling and election. For if you do these things, you will never stumble." (2 Peter 1:10)

True Prophets or Ear Ticklers

"The visions of your prophets were false and worthless; they did not expose your sin to ward off your captivity. The prophecies they gave you were false and misleading."

Lamentations 2:14 NIV

I think most people would agree that 2020 was a very unusual year. We had barely gotten into the second month and we were dealing with 'the virus'. Then we had the election season which was propbably one of the most, if not the most, emotionally charged ever and the stakes were higher than in any past elections.

One of the things we had were the prophets and those who had dreams which were broadcast on the internet. The general message was the same. God had decreed that Donald Trump would be president for 2 terms and in January he, not Joe Biden, would be inaugurated. Many people were hanging on to the words of these prophets as if their decrees were on the same level as the inerrant Scriptures. 

Well we know what happened. On the morning of January 20, we watched as President Trump and his wife, Melania, left the white house to board Marine 1 for the last time. Then he made some brief remarks before boarding Air Force 1 for his final flight.

Many are still believing that something dramatic is going to happen on March 4. Perhaps something will. But there are some interesting things that were pointed out about the prophecies that I believe we should consider.

The prophetic words reminded me of the situation described in 1 Kings 22 where about 400 prophets were making these bold proclamations that the kings of Israel and Judah should go to war against Syria. One of them had even forged horns made out of iron to use as a visual prop:

"...This is what the Lord says: 'With these you will gore the Arameans until they are destroyed.' "

Only the prophet Micaiah said anything contrary. Interestingly in verse 7 of the same chapter King Jehoshaphat asked if there was a 'prophet of the Lord' they could inquire of. It seems that he and Ahab knew that these 400 prophets were not true prophets. Ahab said in verse 8 that there was indeed a prophet of the Lord but he never said anything good about him.

It brings to mind the words the Apostle Paul said in 2 Timothy 4:3:

"For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear."

2 Timothy 4:3 NIV

Because there were so many of these 'prophets' saying virually the same thing, many took it as confirmation. But was it actually that they were all 'speaking as one man' as described in 1 Kings 22:13?

One interesting thing is that none of these prophets said anything about our national sins; the fact that we have rejected God, sanctioned the murder of unborn babies, normalized same-sex relationships, and transgenderism, to name a few. I was shocked to find out that it has become 'trendy' for young people in the public schools to describe themselves as bi-sexual. Are parents aware of this or are they simply burying their heads in the sand? Our universities have become indoctrination systems for virtually any form of immorality you can imagine. Yet parents keep sending their kids (and money) to these universities. 

I believe it was Billy Graham who said that if God withholds judgment on the United States of America he will have some explaining to do regarding Sodom and Gommorah. It is indisputable that our country is ripe for judgment, and those who profess to be followers of Christ have, for the most part, been completely irrelevant.

If God has decided to judge The United States at this time, the only thing we can honestly say is that he has been VERY patient with us.

The internet prophets didn't mention any of that. "They did not expose your sin to ward off your captivity." (Lam. 2:14)

An interesting sidebar that was brought up at a recent meeting at our church is that there were apparently no prophecies warning us about COVID-19. Even in our body we had great visions about what we believed the Lord was going to accomplish through us in 2020. By mid-March those plans were tabled. 

Where were the prophets then? Were they simply telling us what our 'itching ears wanted to hear?

Now we need to be fair:

Some of these prophets have apologized and admitted they got it wrong. They are to be commended for that. 

I have also heard that some have said they should not apologize because they were right; Donald Trump DID win re-election. But that the election was stolen because of fraud. Here are a few problems with that:

1. That makes it a 'misleading' prophecy. The implication of winning meant continuing as our president for a second term. The prophecies never said he would ultimately lose because the opposition stole the election.

2. We don't actually know if he won or not. There is ample evidence of fraud in this past election, but we don't know what the actual legitimate vote count was. Even if we were to make a VERY educated guess, it is still unknown. 

3. The majority of these prophets weren't simply saying President Trump would win, they were emphatically saying that he would be inaugurated on January 20. Even when some wondered if the prophecies didn't necessarily mean two consecutive terms, many dug in with their predictions. 

What do we do now?

"If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land."

2 Chronicles 7:14 NIV

There's no commentary needed on this verse. I would also add what Paul said in verse 5 of 2 Timothy 4:

"But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry."

Regardless of who wins elections or what happenes in our country, we need to be about our Father's business. 

Test the spirits; don't be blown about by every wind of doctrine. Be as the Bereans in Act 17:11 and search the scriptures daily. Don't discount prophetic words but weigh carefully what prophets say. (1 Corinthians 14:29)

May God truly bless all of you and may He heal our land.

Palabra de Dios, nada más

“Bienaventurado el hombre que no anda según el consejo de los impíos ni sedetiene en el camino de los pecadores ni se sienta en la silla de los burladores. Más bien, en la ley del SEÑOR está su delicia, y en ella medita de día y denoche.” Salmos 1:1-2 (RVA-2015)

Hace algunos años, un hermano en Cristo con el que me estaba reuniendo regularmente me puso al corriente de los escritos de los puritanos. Hasta ese momento, siempre tuve una noción preconcebida de que los puritanos eran estas personas súper moralistas 'más santas que tú' que vivían a la altura de un estándar que yo nunca podría cumplir en esta época y probablemente escribieron de maneras que no sería relevante en los tiempos modernos. Lo que descubrí fue que escribieron sobre temas que eran y son muy relevantes y escribieron de una manera muy práctica. También fue clara y rápidamenteobvio para mí que algo faltaba en sus escritos que está demasiado presente enmuchos de los escritos cristianos de hoy.

No hubo influencia de las ciencias sociales; psicología, sociología y antropología. 

En el sermón de Paul Washer, Diez acusaciones contra la iglesia moderna, el Sr. Washer dijo esto: 

"¿Es la Biblia suficiente o tenemos que incorporar todo lo que es conocido como estudios culturales y estudios de ciencias sociales para saber cómo dirigir una iglesia? ¡Ésa es la pregunta principal! Las ciencias sociales, en mi opinión, han tenido prioridad sobre la Palabra de Dios de tal manera que la mayoría de nosotros ni siquiera podemos verlo. Se ha infiltrado tanto en nuestra iglesia, nuestro evangelismo y nuestra misiología que ya casi no se puede llamar “cristiano” a lo que estamos haciendo. La psicología, la antropología y la sociología se han convertido en las principales influencias en las iglesias ". 

En el versículo principal del Salmo 1, la mayoría de versiones en español contiene la frase "andar en consejo". Es decir, aquel que NO se basa en la sabiduría moderna del mundo, pero cuyo deleite está en la ley del Señor, es bendito. En otras palabras, se enfocan completamente en lo que dice la palabra de Dios. 

La Palabra de Dios es el fundamento. No debemos agregarle ni quitarle. (Deuteronomio 4: 2; Apocalipsis 2

Paul Washer dice además: 

"¿Qué tiene que ver Jerusalén con Roma? ¿Y qué tenemos que ver con todas estas ciencias sociales modernas que en realidad fueron creadas como una protesta contra la Palabra de Dios?¿Y por qué el evangelismo, las misiones y el llamado "crecimiento de la iglesia" están más moldeados por el antropólogo, el sociólogo y el estudiante de Wall Street que están al tanto de todas las tendencias culturales? Toda actividad en nuestras iglesias debe estar basadaen la Palabra de Dios. Toda actividad en las misiones debe basarse en laPalabra de Dios ". 

2 Timoteo 3: 16-17 nos dice que la escritura es suficiente: 

”Toda la Escritura es inspirada por Dios, y útil para enseñar, para redargüir, para corregir, para instruir en justicia, a fin de que el hombre de Dios sea perfecto, enteramente preparado para toda buena obra.” 

En el versículo 17 dice que el hombre de Dios estaría COMPLETAMENTE equipado para toda buena obra, no parcialmente equipado. No hay nada en las Escrituras que indique que debamos depender de cualquier otra cosa para estar completamente equipados. 

Ahora, algunos pueden argumentar que las ciencias sociales han sido un gran beneficio para nosotros y nos han ayudado a comprender el comportamiento humano. Puede que sea cierto, pero también han sido desastrosas de muchas otras formas. Han normalizado comportamientos que incluso hace unas décadas se habrían definido correctamente como desviados. Muchos cristianos hoy en día están confundidos por estos temas porque hemos estado escuchando a los 'expertos'. 

Ahí reside el mayor peligro; ¿Cuál es el estándar objetivo que podemos utilizar para juzgar si las ciencias sociales son un verdadero beneficio o un desastre?

La respuesta es que no hay ninguno. Simplemente estamos haciendo lo que se siente mejor. Como en el tiempo de los jueces de Israel: 

"En aquellos días Israel no tenía rey; cada uno hacía lo que le parecía". 

Jueces 17: 6; 21:25

Aquellos de nosotros que nos llamamos seguidores de Cristo haríamos bien en prestar atención a las palabras de Jeremías: 

"Engañoso es el corazón más que todas las cosas y más allá de toda cura. ¿Quién lo entenderá?" Jeremías 17: 9

La palabra de Dios nunca ha cambiado. La naturaleza humana no ha cambiado. La palabra de Dios que era completamente relevante cuando Moisés escribió los primeros cinco libros del Antiguo Testamento es tan relevante hoy como lo fue cuando los escribió. 

Para tomar prestada una expresión; "Difícilmente se puede balancear a un gato muerto en cualquier dirección sin chocar con el campanario de una iglesia". Con tantas iglesias alrededor que afirman levantar el nombre de Cristo y predicar el evangelio, ¿por qué es legal el aborto en los Estados Unidos? ¿Por qué sancionar las relaciones entre personas del mismo sexo y la confusión de género?

No estamos teniendo mucho impacto en nuestra cultura. 

Creo firmemente que es porque hemos perdido la bendición que podría moshaber tenido si nuestro deleite completo estuviera en la Palabra del Señor y meditáramos en eso en lugar del consejo impío de las ciencias sociales y las tendencias culturales modernas. Confiar en la sabiduría mundana ha producido un dualismo que, en el mejor de los casos, ha enturbiado el agua, provocando una gran confusión. En el peor de los casos, nos ha convertido en una iglesia completamente herética. 

Muchos están orando y creyendo que necesitamos avivamiento. Estoy de acuerdo. Necesitamos avivamiento. Pero antes de que pueda haber un verdadero avivamiento, debemos tener una reforma. Necesitamos un reinicio completo a las claras enseñanzas apostólicas del evangelio. Eso significa deshacernos de la sabiduría mundana que se ha infiltrado y penetrado en la iglesia y establecer la Palabra de Dios como el fundamento firme sobre el cual edificamos nuestras doctrinas y nuestras vidas. 

Entonces y solo entonces podremos estar a la altura de nuestro verdadero llamado como la iglesia de Jesucristo y realmente tener un impacto.

God's Word, Nothing More

"Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers,  but whose delight is in the law of the Lord , and who meditates on his law day and night." (Psalms 1:1)

Some years ago a brother in Christ that I was meeting with regularly turned me on to the writings of the Puritans. Up to that time I always had a preconceived notion that the Puritans were these 'holier than thou' super self-righteous people who lived up to a standard that I could never live up to in this day and age and likely wrote in ways that wouldn't be relevant in modern times. What I found out was that they wrote about issues that were and are very relevant and they wrote in a very practical way. It was also clearly obvious to me very quickly that something was missing in their writings that is all too present in much of today's Christian writing.

There was no influence from the social sciences; psychology, sociology, and anthropology.

In the sermon by Paul Washer, Ten Indictments Against The Modern Church, Mr. Washer said this:

"Is the Bible sufficient or do we have to bring in every so-called social science and cultural study in order to know how to run a church? That is the major question! Social sciences, in my opinion, have taken precedent over the Word of God in such a way that most of us can’t even see it. It has so crept into our church, our evangelism, and our missiology that you barely can call what we are doing “Christian” anymore. Psychology, anthropology, and sociology have become primary influences in the churches."

In the leading verse from Psalm 1 some versions translate the phrase "walk in step", as "walk in the counsel." That is to say that the one who does NOT rely on modern worldly wisdom but whose delight is in the law of the Lord is blessed. In other words, they completely focus on what God's word says. 

The Word of God is the foundation. We must not add to it or take away from it. (Deuteronomy 4:2; Revelation 22:18)

Paul Washer further states:

"What does Jerusalem have to do with Rome? And what do we have to do with all these modern day social sciences that were actually created as a protest against the Word of God? And why is it that evangelism, missions, and so-called “church growth” is more shaped by the anthropologist, the sociologist, and the Wall Street student who are up on every cultural trend? All the activity in our churches must be based upon the Word of God. All the activity in missions must be based upon the Word of God."

2 Timothy 3:16-17 tells us that the scripture is sufficient:

"All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equiped for every good work."

In verse 17 it says that the man of God would be THOROUGHLY equiped for every good work, not partly equiped. There is nothing in scripture that gives any indication that we need to depend on anything else in order to be fully equiped.

Now some may argue that the social sciences have been a great benefit to us and has helped us understand human behaviors. This is true and we can learn much from the social sciences. The issue is not whether we can learn from them, it's whether we are relying on them instead of the word of God. While it may be true that there has been some benefit from the social sciences we must understand they have also been disastrous in many other ways. They have normalized behaviors that even a few decades ago would have been rightly defined as deviant. Many Christians today are themselves confused by these issues because we have been listening to the 'experts.'

Therein lies the greatest danger; What is the objective standard we can use to judge whether the social sciences are a true benefit or a disaster. 

The answer is there is none. We are simply doing what feels best. Just like in the time of the judges of Israel:

"In those days Israel had no king; everyone did as they saw fit." Judges 17:6; 21:25

Those of us who call ourselves followers of Christ would do well to heed the words of Jeremiah:

"The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?" Jeremiah 17:9

The word of God has never changed. Human nature hasn't changed. The word of God that was completely relevant when Moses penned the first five books of the Old Testament are just as relevant today as they were when he wrote them.

To borrow an expression; 'You can hardly swing a dead cat in any direction without hitting a church steeple.' With so many churches around claiming to lift up the name of Christ and preach the gospel, why is abortion legal in the United States? Why the sanctioning of same-sex relationships and gender confusion? 

We are not having much of an impact in our culture.

I firmly believe it is because we have lost the blessing we could have had if our complete delight was in the Word of the Lord and we meditated on that instead of the ungodly counsel of the social sciences and the modern cultural trends. Relying on the worldly wisdom has produced a dualism that at best has muddied the water, causing great confusion. At worst it has made us into a completely heretical church.

Many are praying and believing that we need revival. I agree. We do need revival. But before there can be a true revival we must have a reformation. We need a complete reset to the clear apostolic teachings of the gospel. That means ridding ourselves of the worldly wisdom that has crept in and permeated the church and set God's word as the firm foundation upon which we build our doctrines and our lives.

Then and only then can we live up to our true calling as the church of Jesus Christ and truly make an impact.

Ignorance is Bliss,...NOT!!!

"My people are destroyed from lack of knowledge."

Hosea 4:6

One of my favorite scenes from the BBC series, Sherlock (based on Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes) is in the first episode where Dr. Watson meets Mycroft for the first time. This particular line always stood out:

Mycroft, (speaking to Dr. Watson) "Most people blunder around this city and all they see are streets, shops and cars. When you walk with Sherlock Holmes you see the battlefield. You've seen it already, haven't you?"

The battlefield is real!

But like Mycroft said, most people are just 'blundering' along, totally clueless and seemingly willingly so. 

The events of this past year and last week have demonstrated beyond the shadow of a doubt...

We are in a war! 

And much of the battle is being waged in the area of information.

This past year the world economies were crippled by the coronavirus known as COVID-19. Actually it wasn't the coronavirus that crippled the economy and shut down many countries. What shut everything down was the information we were being fed about this virus and the protocols we were told we needed to apply in order to deal with it. I am not going to go into the specifics because that would take up an entire book. Suffice it to say, much of what we were being told was contradictory or made absolutely no sense at all.

Why didn't people realize that we were not being told the truth?

I believe one reason is we've been conditioned to simply believe whatever we are being told by our news media and we simply can't be bothered to do even a little research to verify the information being reported. Often it really doesn't take a lot of research to see that things aren't adding up. But we can't be bothered.

Another reason is spiritual. Proverbs 1:7 says:

"The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction."

If a person has a true and proper fear of the Lord, they have no need to fear anything else. If a person does not have a proper fear of God, then they have every reason to be afraid.

The disinformation we were fed about the virus played on people's fear. Fear makes it impossible to think intelligently. That is why Proverbs 1:7 is so profound. If you have a proper fear of God you won't fear anything else. If you don't fear anything else you can think straight. If you can think straight you can process information in an logical and intelligent way. 

The beginning of Knowledge.

Unfortunately most people, including many professing Christians, simply live by their feelings. Truth to them is based almost entirely on how they feel about something. People who live by their feelings are easily manipulated. If you can make them feel good about something they will believe it. If they feel negative they won't believe it -- entirely based on their feelings. People who live by their feelings are easily controlled by fear. If you tell them that the Chinese released a virus so deadly that if you didn't stay locked in your house, maintain 6 feet of distance and wear a face mask, we were all going to die, they will do exactly what they are told. Never mind there was no science to behind any of these protocols, and there wasn't. But people believed them and did what they were told.

When I was just at the end of my teen years, if a young man wanted to try out for the girls basketball team he would have likely been expelled and possibly committed to a mental facility. Back then we still believed that if a man identified as a woman (and vice versa) that he had lost his connection to reality. That is a defintion of insanity. Today, about 35 years later we actually celebrate such people and treat them as heroes. Why? Because we have been told that transgenderism is a real thing. And we believe what we are told.

And don't get me started with politics.

Too late. (Haha)

Just a few comments:

Most people vote for an appealing personality or someone who says what makes them feel good. The average voter has no understanding of the issues, and political candidates actually count on voter's ignorance. The average middle aged individual never took civics in school. By the time I was in school it had been replaced with Social Studies. Of course it's far worse today. I know of middle school students who have never heard of the Holocaust or Gulag.

"Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it."

"My people are destroyed from lack of knowledge."

Lesson from the example of the Bereans in Acts 17:11:

"Now the Berean Jews were of more noble character than those in Thessalonica, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true."

While the Bereans were excited and eager (emotion) that wasn't sufficient. They had to look up the Scriptures to verify that what Paul was saying was true. Just as it was true then, it is still true today. There is such a thing as absolute truth! There is also such a thing as absolute falsehood!

Some things are absolutely true, whether they feel good or not.

Some things are absolutely false, whether they feel good or not.

It is absolutely imperative to verify.

Ignorance is NOT bliss. In a war of information, lack of knowledge is deadly.

Fear God and you won't have to fear anything else.

Blessings to you all.

The Rapture; Biblical or Wishful Thinking

It may come across that I am being  'Debbie Downer' here but I believe this needs to be said. I firmly believe that the doctrine of the rapture has lulled much of the modern church into complacency because we have blindly accepted the belief that we will be taken into heaven before the Great Tribulation. 

Here in the western world we have had it pretty easy because we enjoy freedom to worship and for the most part, we live in a land that is friendly towards Christianity. But in many parts of the world we have brothers and sisters who are being tortured and murdered because of their faith. God isn't sparing them. Why would He necessarily spare us?

Maybe if we knew that there was no guarantee that we would be spared tribulation we would live our lives differently before God and men.

"Proof Texts" to Support The Rapture

The first text used to support the rapture is found in Matthew 24:40-41:

"Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other left.  Two women will be grinding with a hand mill; one will be taken and the other left."

You may remember the old saying, "A text without a context is a pretext." This certainly applies when attempting to properly interpret scripture. On the surface it does appear to be saying people will be simply going about their day and suddenly, randomly some will be wisked away into the presence of Jesus. But is that really what this passage is saying? Let's back up a few verses. Verse 38-39:

"For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man."

Notice that it says that when the flood came the people were 'taken.' TAKEN IS JUDGMENT! That is the context of verses 40 and 41. The ones who are taken are those who are going to their judgment. You don't want to be taken. You want to be the one that is left behind.

The other point in this passage is that it says this is what will happen at the return of the Son of Man. This is when Jesus returns. There is no mention of the Great Tribulation. 

This passage has nothing to do with the rapture.

The second passage is found in 1 Thessalonians 4:17:

"After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever."

Again it is vital to look at the context of this passage and understand what Paul is actually talking about. Beginning with verse 13 Paul is explaining what happens to those who have passed away and the hope of the resurrection. 

Verse 13-16:

"Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope. For we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. According to the Lord’s word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first."

The real emphasis is that those who have passed away will rise again in glory. It is almost as if he adds that those who are still alive when Jesus returns will then join those who are resurrected. Notice that they are not taken into heaven. They rise up to the clouds. Also notice that it says we will 'meet' him. This is kind of like the welcoming committee going out to meet the king who is returning.

To put it simply, this is not about a rapture. It's about the resurrection.

(It is also worth noting that it says that we who are 'left.' Compare back Matthew 24:40-41) 

Again it is crucial to realize that this 'rising to meet him in the air' occurs when Jesus returns; not at the beginning of the Great Tribulation.

The third support of the premillenial rapture requires a dispensational view of end time prophecy. This is a rather large subject that I don't have time to adequately address here but in a nutshell, dispensational theology/view of history is the idea that God has a separate plan for his church and those who are ethnically Israelite, the nation of Israel. This view interprets the book of Revelation as being strictly about the very end. As such, it makes much of the fact that the 'church' is never mentioned again after chapter 3 and assumes that the church has been raptured.

This view is problematic for a number of reasons:

1. It assumes that because the church is not mentioned as such that it has gone missing. The fact that it is not named doesn't necessarily mean it is not present.

2. It assumes that the book is strictly about the very end times. But we must remember that the book of Revelation is actually a letter that was addressed to the seven churches in Asia Minor. It is not just the individual notes in chapters 2 and 3 that are addressed to these churches but the ENTIRE book. (Chapter 1:4,11) 

An important key rule of interpretation is to understand that the text had an original audience and to discern what it would have meant to that original audience. Almost all of modern interpretation of Revelation is centered on the very end of the age. But it is unlikely that the 7 churches would have understood it that way especially because Chapter 1:1 says, "The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show his servants what must soon take place." The original audience would have understood this to mean that this was the unfolding of history from that point until the end. 

The point is, that even though the church is not specifically mentioned as such after chapter 3, the church has existed for the entire time since then. Much of what is described in Revelation has taken place and is continuing to take place, and the church has been on this earth the entire time. 

The church was not raptured before the events in Revelation took place. And there is no place in this letter that describes the church being raptured. The church will rise at the time of Jesus Christ's return. 

But God Promises that His faithful Ones Would be Spared From The Tribulation

Revelation 3:10:

"Since you have kept my command to endure patiently, I will also keep you from the hour of trial that is going to come on the whole world to test the inhabitants of the earth."

It is important to realize that this verse is specific to the church at Philadelphia. His message to the church in Smyrna was quite different. 

Revelation 2:10:

"Do not be afraid of what you are about to suffer. I tell you, the devil will put some of you in prison to test you, and you will suffer persecution for ten days. Be faithful, even to the point of death, and I will give you life as your victor’s crown."

Not every believer will be spared from hard trials and persecution. Some will be spared and others will be given the grace to endure it.

In the Bible we see examples of people who were spared catastrophe because of their faithfulness. Methuselah died and then the flood came. King Josiah was told he would be spared the calamity that would fall upon Judah. How? He would die first. Daniel was told he would die before the events he described. Even wicked Ahab, because he humbled himself when confronted by Elijah regarding Naboth's murder was allowed to die before the destruction of his house. Even during the church age St. Augustine died and a few months later Hippo was sacked. Martin Luther died before the wars broke out in Germany. Isaiah 57:1-2 explains:

"The righteous perish, and no one takes it to heart; the devout are taken away, and no one understands that the righteous are taken away to be spared from evil. Those who walk uprightly enter into peace; they find rest as they lie in death."

Death for those who are in Christ is completely different than for those who are not. As John Flavel mentions in his book Keeping the Heart, death for the believer simply means you have completed your race and now you receive the victor's crown and hear those coveted words, "Well done, good and faithful servant."

So What is The Point

My point is that many have been lulled into a false sense of security believing that we who follow Christ will not have to endure the tribulation of the end times. But there is nothing in the Bible that suggests that. We who are God's people need to be busy about our Father's business. Matthew 24:46-47:

"It will be good for that servant whose master finds him doing so when he returns.  Truly I tell you, he will put him in charge of all his possessions."

Our hope is in Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. It is not in a pre-tribulation rapture. As followers of Christ we are to be about our Father's business as long as we have breath or until he returns. May it be that when he returns he will find us so doing.

Blessings to you all.