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On July 10, 2014 By In Culture

Just Flexing for the Cameras

NFL wide receivers are some of the most disciplined and physically gifted men on the planet. They are in top physical condition. They are big, strong, and fast. They carefully watch what goes into their body. They have certain foods they eat and others they don’t eat. Most have a regular routine of vitamins and supplements they take. These athletes have precise exercise routines that include a variety of workouts. During the off season, which runs from February through July, they refine and hone their receiving skills, spending hours with their quarterback.  But it is not just the physical discipline. They watch hours of film each week as they study their opponents. They study their playbook learning dozens of different plays and variations on those plays so they can make in-game adjustments. They have the courage to catch the football even if they are about to be crushed by a safety.  If you have six minutes, here is a link to some of the best catches by the best receiver in the NFL right now, Calvin Johnson. You should be awed by what he can do.  If you want to see a living, breathing example of discipline, watch these men.

Calvin Johnson

But what is the point of all this discipline? Why do they do it? Of course, there is always the goal of winning. Every athlete wants to win. But again why? Why do they spend hours and hours refining their skills? Why do they want to win the Super Bowl?  The answer for many of these men is simple: self-glorification. Their primary goal for all their hours, all their labor, all their careful attention to detail is so they can flex in front of the camera or thump their chests when they score. (Money might be involved as well!)

Christians look at men like Calvin Johnson (pictured above) and shake our heads in disgust. The arrogance of many pro-athletes is hard to stomach. But the truth is we often do the same thing. We read our Bibles. We pray. We keep our house clean. We work hard. We go to church. We train our children. We evangelize. We read theology. We refine our theology. We watch pastors on the internet. We tithe. We prepare sermons. We become living, breathing examples of Christian discipline. But we don’t do it for God. Often the reason we are disciplined is so people will notice how amazing we are. We are just flexing for the cameras.

I am not encouraging laziness. Lack of zeal in the Christian life is a sin. We need to be disciplined as Christians. We should know our Bibles through and through. We should be prayer warriors. Our worship should be lively and vigorous. We should tithe at least 10% and more if we can. We should bring our children up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord. As a pastor, I should labor hard over the text to make an excellent sermon. Whatever your job is, you should do it with cheer and excellence. But zeal doesn’t eliminate sin. There is a subtle temptation when we work hard to look around for the cameras. We end up wanting praise from men instead of praise from God. Can you be happy to lead a disciplined, God-honoring life if no one notices?  Would you be just as joyful if all your labor was done in the dark with no cameras and no praise? Are you upset when you work hard to help someone and no thanks comes your way? Ladies do you get upset when your labors at home go unnoticed? Men, does it upset you when you dig in at work and someone else gets promoted? Praise from men is gratifying when it comes. But if we are looking for it, longing for it, or upset when we don’t get it then we need to do a motivation check. Instead of seeking God’s praise, we might just be flexing for the cameras.

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On June 27, 2014 By In Culture, Scribblings

The Eschatology of Duck Dynasty

Could anyone have foreseen that the Duck Dynasty would become a cultural phenomenon?  It is one of the most watched shows on cable television. According to Wikipedia advertising sales for the show in 2013 exceeded $80 million and the revenue from merchandising exceeded $400 million. Who would have thought in March 2012, when the show first aired, that millions would watch, it would generate hundreds of millions of dollars of revenue, and that it would become one of the most talked about shows on television?   I watched my first episode of Duck Dynasty about three months ago.  I am now working through the second season.  As I watched I asked myself why is the show so popular? What is about bearded, duck call makers that causes millions of people to tune in? I think there are several reasons people watch. There is the “odd” factor. We love watching people who are not like us, who live in a completely different world.  The draw of reality shows is that we get to watch people do things we will never get to do. Second, Jase, Phil, Si, Miss Kay, Willie, are all “characters.”  I grew up in the South.  I met people like them and enjoyed their company. Men attached to their tea, who butchered frogs and wore camo.  Men who were not pretentious, but knew who they were and didn’t apologize for it. Men who liked to blow things up. Men whose eyes had joy and a sadness that said they had been to dark places. Women who were women and happy to be so. People who still enjoyed playing and didn’t take life too seriously. These “characters” add humor to the show, as well as giving the show a sense of truthfulness. And then there is the family dynamic. Many Americans live in broken homes separated from one of their parents and sometimes both. Extended family is usually just as fractured. Grandparents are distant, if they are involved at all. Aunts and uncles are seen only occasionally.  Family matters on Duck Dynasty. A lot of us look at them and wish we could live (and may even work) around our families even if it means sitting next to our crazy uncle.

Duck Dynasty

But this morning as I sat around the breakfast table celebrating my birthday, I thought of another reason why Duck Dynasty might be so popular. All of us long for a happy ending. Tolkien said, “We all long for Eden, and we are constantly glimpsing it: our whole nature at its best and least corrupted, its gentlest and most humane, is still soaked with a sense of exile.”  We all want to get back to the Garden. In our narcissistic age dark endings are all the rage. Hope is lost. We are the “Walking Dead” and “All Men Must  Die.” “Its a Wonderful Life” is disparaged for its rosy view of life. At the end of our show life just fades to black. But as Nate Wilson said somewhere, there really is a happy ending for those who love God. We really do walk off into the sunset. It really is better than anything we could think or imagine. In the end all things will be put right.  What does this have to do with Duck Dynasty? Every episode finishes with a happy ending, with a miniature picture of Heaven. No matter what happens in the first 21 minutes the last 30 seconds picture the Robertson family around the table joyfully eating together.  There may be bickering, fighting, stupid decisions, harsh words, and laziness but the final scene says, “In the end, all will be well.” For all humans, and especially Christians, this taps into something deep that our dark,  narcissistic age cannot stamp out. Since our first father fell in the Garden our hearts have longed for home.  We hunger for the tree of life, for the table of peace and joy where sin is eradicated. We are restless until we find our rest in Him. Every episode of Duck Dynasty gives us a window, albeit an smudged one, into that final day when our faith will become sight.  It gives us a picture of the final return from exile into the promise land.

Revelation 19:9 “Blessed are those who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb.”

Revelation 21:4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”

Revelations 22:14 Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the tree of life and that they may enter the city by the gates.

People may love Duck Dynasty for its oddness, characters, or its family dynamic, but the reason I like the show is that it points me, in a small way, to that final table when the great family of God gathers to offer praise to the King of Kings. It reminds me that all things do work together for good.  It reminds me that every day I am blessed by my Father and every time I eat with my vine and olive plants I am blessed. Like all things, Duck Dynasty is about eschatology. And they get the ending right.<>seo оптимизация wiki

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On June 21, 2014 By In Culture

Of Course, the Lame Can’t Waltz: Refocusing Current Music Discourse in the Christian Church

Guest post by Jarrod Richey

Asking why the church doesn’t sing hymns or even why men don’t sing in church is a bit like lamenting over the lame man who can’t waltz on the dance floor. While it is a valid question, the more immediate question would seem to be, “why doesn’t the lame man walk?”

There have been a number of blogs and articles of late noting the lack of singing from Christian men in the church today. While there is plenty of commentary on the reasons for this, most of the analysis, I find, skips over the fundamental reason which causes such problems in the first place.

Remembering the basics

I am reminded of the well-known anecdote from hall of fame Green Bay Packers football coach Vince Lombardi. After a demoralizing defeat, he gathered his football team around him and cited the need to get “back to basics.” He then lifted a football he was holding into the air and calmly said, “Gentlemen, this is a football”. Likewise, we shouldn’t get ahead of ourselves when it comes to music in the life of the Christian Church. We must make some similarly rudimentary explanations for music in the church.

Johnny can’t sing hymns because Johnny can’t sing

I’m thankful for the dialogue generated by books like T. David Gordon’s Why Johnny Can’t Sing Hymns. But before we question why Johnny can’t sing hymns or why men don’t sing in churches today, we must simply ask and answer the more fundamental question, “Why Can’t Johnny Sing?” It almost seems too simple to ask, but it is precisely the question we need to answer in our present musical discourse. But it must be addressed if we are going to reverse the modern musical trends in the Church.

The proverbial Johnny has not been trained to see the importance of music and singing in the creation in which he lives. As a result, there is little importance given to the training in music and in making music as a response of praise. I don’t want to start up a debate on music form in hymn styles, etc. Rather, I want us to back up and rethink why we are not training our children to sing at all. When we do have music programs and curricula in our schools, we often miss the mark in training our students to be singers who are able to use their voices skillfully in praise to God. Instead, despite good intentions we are only giving our students a survey of music. They are not given the tools to be music makers themselves. They are only able to speak about composers or significant points in music history. That is not what we want to settle for in the long term. Rather, we want to be able to “sing praises with understanding” as the New King James Version of Psalm 47:7 exhorts. As we grow in our understanding of who we are as children of God, we must grow in our understanding of what it means to better reflect the glory of the Triune God. The God whose glorified speech created the heavens and the earth from nothing is the same God whose glory echoes throughout creation.

God sang creation into existence

It is not adequate enough to say God spoke all things into existence. We would do well to refine that it means that He sang this glorious melody of life, and it continues to echo to His praise and glory in a grand symphony. He set the temperament, tuned the world and is continually tuning the world. Therefore, it is our business to view ourselves as part of this symphony. How we live each day is a part of the gospel harmony on a macro level. But at the micro level we must not miss the opportunity to resound the triune melody in new and more glorious ways. Music making is the tool for that. What a joy to grow in how we reflect the musicality of God. He creates; we go forth and “wee-create”. In singing and making music, we are being like God, and we are better able to exhibit what it means to be filled with the Spirit of God. This is why we must train our students to be such re-creative singers.

The First Steps to Change

To start, we’ve got to put music back in the Christian school and homeschooling co-ops. Beyond that, we must have pastors and elders who exhort their flock to be like God, who joyfully sings and enjoys all of His creation singing back His praise. When we start, we must start small. Instead of viewing music as an artistic aside, we must think of it as language-like, in that it has components and tools that must be studied if proficiency is to be achieved. In other words, we must have students trained in music literacy in such a way that they can read, write, and sing (or think) in terms of music. This doesn’t mean they have to be career musicians. It means that our people will be musicians simply because they are humans made in the image of the Triune God. If the Lord calls them to a vocation in music, then we should value and encourage that. But we should not resist the idea of music training because we have a stereotype of what it means to be a career musician.

So, if you are reading this and think, “we’ve got to do more, but what first?” then you need to have someone help teach your folks to sing. Have your kids in music lessons, find courses on singing and reading music. Have folks who have experience in Kodály or other music philosophies that can give children to adults the sequenced tools that will enable them to grow as singers first and musicians second. That’s where you must begin. Then, if you are older, you must pour your energy and resources into the younger ones in your family and church. Use what provision and means you have to help others come to a better understanding of music than you have currently. This after all is what we are about as Christians. We are seeking to move from glory to glory. We want our children and our children’s children to build upon our strengths and understanding to new and more glorious ways of living and serving their creator.

Do not be discouraged. Do not be grumpy. We must not forget that The Lord is working his purposes out in his own timing and purpose in regards to music and singing. Our job is to be thankful in all things and to press on to see a more faithful generation that will seek to reflect God’s glory through faithful living and praising our Creator in songs and hymns and spiritual songs.

Jarrod Richey currently lives in Monroe, Louisiana with his lovely wife Sarah and their four children. He is both the Director of Choral Activities and Pre-K4 through 12th grade music teacher at Geneva Academy. In addition to this, he has been on staff at Auburn Avenue Presbyterian Church since 2005 handling both church media and choral music responsibilities. Jarrod has recently founded Jubilate Deo Summer Music Camp in Monroe, LA that seeks to train joyful worshippers and young singers with the above goals built in to the very core of the camp. For more information on the camp visit, www.jubilatedeo.org or search Jubilate Deo Summer Music Camp on Facebook.com

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On June 20, 2014 By In Culture, Wisdom

The Center of Breaking Bad

“Sin lives at the center of this show.” Maureen Ryan on Breaking Bad. 

(Spoiler Alert! If you haven’t seen the show and plan on watching you should stop reading.) 

I am not sure I can win with this post. Some will wonder why I spent my time watching such a dark, depressing show that ends with a broken marriage and almost all characters of consequence dead. Others will wonder why I “moralized” the show. Couldn’t I just watch for enjoyment? Some will chide me that the show was not very good to begin with.  Others will find different complaints. Yet I plunge on. Why? Breaking Bad is one of the best depictions of sin’s nature and effects ever put on screen.

Summary: the show is about a high school chemistry teacher who finds out he has cancer and begins cooking meth so that he can leave an inheritance for his family. Throughout the series he becomes a drug kingpin, destroys his family, and ultimately dies. The show covers two years of his life from his 50th to his 52nd birthday.

Content: There is some sexual content throughout the series though it is not frequent. There is quite a bit of profanity. The violence is frequent and when it occurs it is graphic and disturbing. The second episode contains one of the more graphic scenes of violence. And of course, drugs, drug dealers, and druggies play varying roles throughout the series. The drugs are not viewed positively. The tone of the show is dark, tense, with a general foreboding hanging over the series.   Whenever something good happens, you know it is only temporary.

What can we learn about sin from this series?

The unintended consequences of our sins cannot be contained.  Walter White thinks his hands are on the reigns. He believes he is in control. But time again things happen he never wanted to, but do as a  result of the choices he made. Season 2 ends with two passenger jets crashing because he chose to watch a girl die instead of save her. Dealing drugs leads to a vendetta against him and his family. His wife and teenage son end up hating him because of his lies. But the most brutal unintended consequence is the death of his brother-in-law in the last season of the show. Walter never intended for this to happen. He begs for it not to happen. But all his choices from the first episode to this have led inevitably to that point.  For us, it is often the same. We make sinful choices and assume those choices are self-contained. We assume we can manage the consequences. But sin has a life of its own. If we let the snake out of the box why we are surprised when the people we love are bit?

We justify our sins with pious excuses. Throughout the series Walter keeps telling himself that he is doing this for his family so they can have money when he dies and his children will be taken care of.  He repeats this narrative throughout the entire series. Even in the final season he still believes he can save his family. Along the way, he makes meth, lies to his wife and son, steals, poisons a child, bombs a nursing a home, has inmates murdered at prison, kidnaps his own daughter, get his brother-in-law killed, and kills one of his partners. The series ends with him estranged from his wife and children. He does get his son money, but he can’t do it in his own name because his son wouldn’t take it.  The show ends with him dying alone in a meth lab.  How often do we cloak our sins in righteous language? I have to spend 70 hours at work so my children can be taken care of? I wasn’t flirting. I was just being nice. I wasn’t lying. I was protecting my family.  Pious excuses do not turn our sin into righteousness.

Side Note: Breaking the 6th Commandment

Murders are a dime a dozen in modern TV shows. In most of these shows people kill other people and the impact of the killings are minimal. In Breaking Bad the killing that Walter and Jesse do has long term impact. Walter agonizes over his first planned killing carefully making a list of pros and cons as he prepares to kill a drug dealer. By the end of the show, he will kill a man without hesitation for very little reason. After Jesse murders Gale he spends the rest of the series haunted by the murder of a “problem dog” who never did anything wrong. Even when their actions indirectly cause the death of someone, such as the shooting of the boy by Todd, the characters are changed by those deaths. So many modern shows take death lightly. There are places where Breaking Bad does that. But the main characters are forever changed when they take the life of another. Men murder and find part of their soul dead.

Breaking Bad 3

Pride is the great destroyer of men. In the fifth episode of the series, Walter is visiting an old business partner who has become rich while Walter is making pennies as a high school chemistry teacher. Walter’s wife tells this partner about his cancer. The partner offers Walter a way out.  He tells him he will pay his medical bills, give him a good job, and take care of his family. Walter refuses. This was one of Vince Gilligan’s, the creator of the show, key moments in the series. The viewers saw Walter as a “creature of such pride and such damaged ego that he would rather be his own man and endanger his family’s life than take a handout like that.” And so Walter White’s descent into pride begins. Time and again his pride keeps him from escaping, from doing what is right. He believes he is immune to all the things that destroy mortal men. He can escape anything. And for a while he does. No scene demonstrates this like the famous “I am the one who knocks” scene. But of course even as Walter says this he is on the verge of falling. We watch him on the screen and ask, “Can’t he see what his pride is doing to him and his family?” But do we? Do we realize how our soul rots as we nurse our ego along? Do we realize how badly we want to be powerful, feared, and well known? Do we realize how self drives our lives?  Pride comes before the fall. (Proverbs 11:2, 16:18, 29:23) For the proud the closing scene is always the same.

When we are enslaved to sin we use people. One of the saddest parts of the show is the relationship between Jesse and Walter. Jesse is a young, small time drug dealer who Walter recruits to help him make meth. Jesse is looking for a father. Throughout the show we keep hoping that Walter will fill that role. Occasionally he does. But normally Jesse is just another tool to be used by Walter. He uses Jesse, lies to Jesse, and ultimately betrays him to Neo-Nazis for torture. He does rescue him in the very end, but that gesture is hollow by that point.  Walter ends up using his wife, son, baby daughter, brother-in-law, friends, everyone. Sin eats away our love for people. When we are bound by sin people become disposable. When their minutes run out we just throw them away. We see in Walter a piece of ourselves. As sin grows in our lives people get smaller.

Sin blinds us to ourselves. The viewers can see where Walter’s path is taking him. We know where the story ends. But he cannot see it. Throughout most of the show he thinks of himself as a middle aged suburban man who loves his wife and children. He wears nice shirts and khaki pants. He packs a sack lunch to go make meth. He drives a very normal car. Jesse is the scumbag, lowlife drug dealer. It is not until very late in the series that Walter even invites Jesse into his home. But Walter’s view of himself is twisted, like a carnival mirror.  Right before Hank is killed he tells Walt, “You are the smartest guy I ever met and you’re too stupid to see.” He is talking about the fact that a Neo-Nazi is about to kill him (Hank). But he could be talking about Walt’s entire rise to power as a drug lord.  He can see so much. Yet he cannot see himself. All of us live like this to one degree or another. From the outside others can see our sins. They often point them out to us. But we can’t or won’t see them. For those who refuse to look in the mirror of God’s Word the end is the same s; we find out too late that the picture of ourselves in our heads is lie.

Side Note: The Ending

It is very difficult to end a show like Breaking Bad. The expectations were high.  There were so many ways it could have gone, so many loose ends to tie up. I was happy with the ending. Walter paid for his sins with the loss of his family, friends and his “empire.” Jesse went free. Walter takes revenge on the Nazis. Walter dies in a meth lab. Vince Gilligan described it as Gollum being reunited with the ring, his “precious.” I can see that. However, I think an ending where Walter lives, but all he loves is gone or dead would have been more appropriate. I think of the end of The Godfather III, which was not a great movie, where Al Pacino, as an old man, living in exile, and totally alone just slumps over in his chair and dies. Sometimes living with your sins is worse than dying because of them. It was a very good ending, but still Gilligan gave Walter White a better ending than he deserved.<>mobi onlineпродвижение интернет ов оптимизация

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On June 13, 2014 By In Culture, Family and Children

I’ve Stopped Yelling. Can I Stop Scowling?

by Marc Hays

Over a year ago, I stopped yelling at my children. The urge to vent my displeasure became increasingly distasteful until I could hear myself snap at them just before I did it. Whatever the child had done, whatever infraction had occurred, ceased to kindle my ire like the thought of hearing myself lash out at them. Accompanying this conviction, my sin decreased. Go figure. It is encouraging to no end for a man to see that the deeds of his flesh can be mortified as Scripture says they must and for a man, alive in Christ, to experience the Holy Spirit at work, bearing good fruit on formerly dead limbs.

As my desire to shout the fear of God into my children waned, I found an increasing zeal to see my children flourish. Replacing the idle threats about their doom, should they fail to mend their ways, was an increase in instruction concerning righteousness and sin; wisdom and foolishness; repentance and forgiveness. I yell less, if at all, which is good, and instruct more, which is better still, but as with most virtues, too much of a good thing is no longer a good thing.

I’ve found that my new virtue has become my new vice, for at some point a father’s instruction becomes a father’s lecture, which at yet another point becomes a father’s tongue-lashing. I am quick with my mouth and hasty in my heart, therefore my words can in no way be described as “few.” Quick with my mouth—speaking before thinking, and hasty in my heart—not patient enough to raise them over a lifetime, wanting to accomplish it all at once. As I lecture, and lecture, and lecture some more, I can see that they go from being instructed, to being irritated, to being bored—anxious to get back to the life that comes at the end of my soliloquy.

If my verbal instruction merely waxed long, there would be less of a problem than there actually is, because along with this extended scolding comes an explicit scowling. My voice is calmer than it once was; I’ve learned to keep the decibels down, which prevents the veins in my neck from popping out as far, but I know that my face tells the story of a dad who is not remembering his own sin at that moment, a dad who is not treating his children the way he wants to be treated, a dad who is not loving his neighbor as himself.

If Jesus is King over every square inch of creation, which He is, then wouldn’t that include every square inch of my face as well? Can I be serious about sin without scowling about it? Can I handle my children’s sin biblically without acting like they’re the first ones to ever do it? Does it help for me to act like I’m surprised that they don’t do everything right all the time, or that they committed this particular household crime again?

Love is patient. Love is kind. It does not behave itself unseemly. It is not rude.

God is patient. God is kind. He does not behave himself unseemly. He is not rude.

When it comes to raising our children in the fear and admonition of the Lord, are we patient? Are we kind? In disciplining our children, do we behave ourselves in a way that would be embarrassing for anyone else to see? That would be unseemly. Even if we’ve stopped yelling, do we berate them with our words? That would be rude.

Children are to respect and obey their parents; parents are to respect and disciple their children. To put it technically, the economic relationship is different, but the ontological relationship is the same. Parents must correct; parents must instruct. Children must take heed; children must amend their ways. This economic reality is one of complementary difference, but ontologically—in our being—we are exactly the same as our children. We are no more image-bearers of the triune God than they are. We are exactly the same in our being—identical.

It is this identity that makes the whole parenting thing work. Can a wolf raise a Mowgli? Probably. Can a wolf identify with a Mowgli? Barely. Can we identify with our children’s struggles and temptations? Yes, indeed. Can we long for their sanctification as we long for our own? Definitely. Can we stop lecturing long enough to think about how we would like to be treated? Can we remember how it feels to be scolded so that we keep our scolding at a minimum and our patient, kind instruction at a maximum? In Christ, empowered by His Holy Spirit, we can, and we must.

Love is patient. Love is kind. It does not behave itself unseemly. It is not rude.<>как продвигать недвижимости

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On June 11, 2014 By In Culture, Theology

Kill Your Idols

Satan is the master of the bait and switch. It is the old game where someone is led to believe they will receive one thing, usually good, and they receive another, usually bad. An example from a while back is where a young lady thought she had won a Toyota car. However, when she went to get her prize she found that she had won a toy Yoda doll instead.  Satan loves to do this. He promises us something great and tells us to pursue it. We believe him and run after what he has promised.  But right at the end he switches the prize.   Satan tempted Adam and Eve to believe that glory waited if they just ate the fruit. Eat this fruit and you will be like God. But what they got was death, alienation from God, alienation from one another, getting kicked out of the garden, and dead son.

Ezekiel 23 gives a terrifying picture of this exact thing.  Israel longs for help from the nations surrounding her.  Instead of trusting in God, she listens to Satan and runs to Assyria for aid.  Ezekiel says, “She lusted for her lovers, the neighboring Assyrians” (vs. 5, 12).  Like a young woman longing for the arms of a coworker instead of her husband, Israel looked upon the glory of Assyria, all her mighty captains, all her great warriors, all her great power and she left her husband, the Lord, and slept with Assyria.  However, this did not bring her the satisfaction she expected.  Like the young man addicted to pornography, she found herself destroyed by the very thing she lusted for.  Ezekiel says that Assyria slew Israel by the sword (vs. 10) and that God sent those nations that she lusted after to deal furiously with her, take her children, and strip her naked (vs. 25-26).  Like Adam and Eve in the garden, Israel expected to find glory and deliverance, but instead they found death.  So is the end of all who trust in idols. The idols promise bread, but in the end give us stones.

idol 1

We must kill our idols or they will kill us. Nothing outside of Christ will bring peace, satisfaction, or deliverance. Just like Israel, we love setting up idols, things we lust after that we think will satisfy us. These idols can be another man or woman, a new job, more money, more power, more time, control over other people, a bigger church, children that are holier than anyone else’s, a better education, a better sex life, better friends, a new president, a new congress, etc. etc. etc.  The list never ends. However, these things will not fill us. We will not be delivered or satisfied if we get those things. They are cracked pots that hold no water.  If we pursue them in an ungodly fashion, if we long for them instead of longing for Christ, then we are headed for nakedness and the sword. Idols are merciless.

How do we kill our idols?  We bring them to Christ. We seek his mercy. We confess our adultery with the world. We confess our sins. We believe that he forgives. And we believe that by His Spirit and His Word he will slay our idols.  Only when Christ cuts off the heads of idols can we have true life. The idols promise life but give us only death. Christ promises that if we die, and our idols with us, then and only then can we have life eternal. 

 What happens to our friends, jobs, marriages, sex, churches, money, reputation, etc. when we stop making them idols? What happens to these things when Christ slays them with the sword of his mouth? They become what they truly are: gifts of grace given to us by Christ to enjoy and to use to build his Kingdom.  If we put them under Christ they become a joy and we find satisfaction in them.  If we put them in place of Christ,  beside Christ,  or on the throne with Christ they become beasts that devour us.   We must slay our idols or they will slay us.

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On June 6, 2014 By In Culture

Calvin Didn’t Flinch

by Marc Hays

During my childhood years, my family lived in a 12’ x 55’ single-wide mobile home. When we bought it in 1980 it was already about 20 years old. The plan was to live in that home while my dad built a house on our property. Given the economic recession of the early 1980’s, we never built that house. As my brother, my sister, and I got older, and consequently larger, my dad closed in a front porch to create another bedroom. He completely remodeled the inside of the home over the 15 years that we lived there: drywall, trim, carpets–the whole nine yards. The exterior would occasionally get painted, the roof tarred, and the underpinning, which had rotted from ground contact, replaced. It was a lovely home, and I do not remember being particularly envious of my friends who had nicer homes than we did. However, that doesn’t mean that I was not aware that they had nicer homes than we did.

I can remember being 9 or 10 years old when I went to spend the night at a friend’s house from school. He lived with his family in a small brick ranch home. It couldn’t have been over 1000-1100 square feet, i.e., relatively small, but I remember being enamored by the fact that the house went all the way to the ground. This wonderful home had no underpinning; it had bricks. Its roof wasn’t flat; it had a gable-ended roof with shingles on it. It seemed so sturdy. So strong. Once again, I was not beset by the fact that our home sat upon concrete blocks 2 feet above the ground with the resulting void between floor and earth being hidden by plywood, but that doesn’t mean that I didn’t plan on living in a site-built home when I grew up.

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I am now 40 years old, and I own my own house. It is no Taj Mahal, but it is quite lovely. It has a gabled roof with shingles, and the concrete block foundation, sporting a brick veneer, rests upon a couple dozen cubic yards of concrete. It is sturdy. It is strong. And I am blessed to get to live here with my wife and six children.

The other day, my son Calvin and I were making a delivery to some friends who live in a manufactured home community near our house. (Manufactured home community is the new, friendlier way to say “trailer park.”) As we drove away, Calvin saw some children riding their bikes together in the street and exclaimed how much fun it would be live there.

In that trailer park.

In a mobile home.

He saw kids and playtime, while I saw single-wides and underpinning. Instead of possessions, he saw people and didn’t give a second thought to changing from our lovely home in the middle of a 20-acre field to living in a manufactured home community in order to create more opportunities to be with people.

I think Calvin has one-upped me. I truly believe that I could give up everything I have acquired in my life; move back into a single-wide home; and be really, truly happy. But I honestly think that I would flinch when it happened. However, that day–in that trailer park–Calvin didn’t flinch.<>online mobileоптимизация web ов

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On June 4, 2014 By In Culture, Politics

Gay Marriage, Civil Disobedience, and the Christian Future

“Power is in tearing human minds to pieces and putting them together again in new shapes of your own choosing.” George Orwell, 1984

Jack Phillips is a Christian baker in Lakewood, Colorado. In 2012 Jack Phillips refused to make a wedding cake for a gay couple. This couple then reported him to to Civil Rights Commission. A lawsuit followed. The judge ruled against Jack Phillips. The Civil Rights Commission has now come back with its ruling, which consists of three parts.

First, Jack Phillips must change his store policies immediately and begin make wedding cakes for gay couples.

Second, his entire staff must attend training on Colorado’s anti-discrimination laws and agree to abide by them.

Third, for the next two years he must submit quarterly reports to show that he has not discriminated against customers based on their sexual orientation.

Jack Phillips might appeal the decision, but it is hard to see how anything will change.

Here are few quotes.

The Commission chairwoman, “You can have your beliefs, but you can’t hurt people at the same time.”

The ACLU attorney, “Religious freedom is undoubtedly an important American value, but so is the right to be treated equally under the law free from discrimination…Everyone is free to believe what they want, but businesses like Masterpiece Cakeshop cannot treat some customers differently than others based on who they are as people.”

The judge, “At first blush, it may seem reasonable that a private business should be able to refuse service to anyone it chooses. This view, however, fails to take into account the cost to society and the hurt caused to persons who are denied service simply because of who they are.”

Let the tearing begin.

1984

So how should we live in this country where the rejection of God’s created order is law? How should we live when those in power want to reshape our minds in ways contrary to Scripture? Here are a few thoughts in no particular order.

First, we are past the live and let live stage (if one ever existed).  The sodomites are not saying, “We will live this way and you live that way and we can coexist.” They are demanding that we publicly accept their sins. Anyone who believes that we can all just get along will soon wake up to find their position overrun.

Second, they will come for our children. How long before the State demands that home schooled children and children in Christian schools get “sensitivity training?” If they can make a business owner train his employees why not a principle his students and teachers? Why not a parent their children?

Third, Christians in all walks of life should expect more traps. Think of Daniel 6. Pastors should expect homosexuals to visit their congregations to see if they are preaching against homosexuality. Christian business owners should expect homosexuals to come in and see if they get turned away.  Christian politicians should expect homosexuals to try and out them in some way. I am not encouraging hand wringing, just open eyes.

Fourth, human sexuality, including male-female roles, marriage, procreation, female ministers, sodomy, abortion, divorce, rape, pedophilia, sexual abuse, transgender, etc.  is the battle line right now in America. There are other issues, but none as pressing as this one. Therefore this is where we must fight.  I am not saying this is all we talk about. And I understand that there are many ways we fight against this wave of immorality, such as love our wives, worship the living God, evangelize our neighbor, teach our children, live holy lives, and preach the Word. But let’s not miss the obvious: one way we must fight is by saying clearly and without apology what God’s Word teaches on these subjects.

Fifth, any pastor or public Christian leader who refuses to speak against these things is a coward.  Again, I am not saying this is all we to talk about or that we speak with malice . But our stance on sodomy, and issues related to it needs to be clear and public.  It our duty to stand in the line of fire, to preach the Word, and to rally God’s people around the truth. A pastor or public leader whose stance on the above issues is vague or unknown is not being a faithful shepherd.

Sixth, pastors and Christian leaders need to teach their people what godly civil disobedience looks like. There is a lot of freedom in how we resist the State’s growing power.  But the time for abstract theological discussion about civil disobedience is passing quickly. We must study God’s Word, meditate on it, pray through it, and study our fathers in the past to learn from them. Then we must teach our people the proper responses to the State. What can we do as Christians? Is there any place to take up arms?  (Maybe those debates about the Revolutionary War and the Civil War are not so arcane after all.) Should we march? Should we keep our businesses open even if there is the threat of police action? Should a Christian business owner reject a homosexual job applicant? What should we do if they come for our children?  What if they come for our guns? Should Christians accept government money in any situation? What should Christian schools do if they are commanded to teach that homosexuality is fine? How should Christian magistrates function? Should Christian soldiers get out or resist from within?  Pastors and churchmen should be leading the charge in answering these and other questions.

Seventh, Christians should expect to lose money, businesses, tax breaks, jobs, etc. for taking a stand against unbiblical sexual practices. The Church and her members need to be prepared for this. We should think long term in our financial dealings so that we can “have something to give him who has need.” (Ephesians 4:28)

Eighth, churches should pray for leaders in corporate worship. I Timothy 2 is clear on this point. Do we pray for our leaders? Do we pray for new, righteous leaders to rise up? Do we pray that God would cast down those who hate his Church? Do we pray for pagan leaders to repent and turn to Christ? Do we pray for that we may lead a quiet and peaceful life in all godliness (I Timothy 2:2)? Do we pray for our leaders by name?

Ninth, Christians need to be known as a peaceful people. Psalm 120:7 says, “I am for peace, but they are for war.” We should be the ones who long for peace. This does not mean we are quiet about everything. Nor does this mean we compromise the Gospel to be at “peace with all men” (Romans 12:18).  But it does mean we are careful about what battles we fight. Young people, of whom I am one, especially need to hear this.  We tend to think that every sin is worthy of fire bombing.  But we need to make sure we are hitting the big targets and not spending days chasing one lone enemy through the forest.

Tenth, we must not despair. Jesus sits on throne. We should act from faith, not fear.  We should not be anxious, worried, fretful, fearful, depressed, or discouraged. Our Lord told us this would happen. Our Lord told us to rejoice when we are persecuted.  The Church will march on. We have a job to do. Let us do it with joy in the Holy Spirit, faith in Christ, and dependence upon our Father. In the end, all will be well.<>наполнение а текстом

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On June 4, 2014 By In Culture

Not buying what the Vanity Fairians are selling

by Marc Hays

This article was originally published in Every Thought Captive magazine.

1-bunyan-pilgrims-progress-grangerAs Pilgrim and Faithful passed through the town of Vanity Fair, they created a “hubbub.” Pilgrim and Faithful dressed and spoke differently from the townspeople and refused to purchase the fleeting pleasures being peddled there. Upon being asked, “What will ye buy,” the Christians responded, “We buy the truth.” (Proverbs 23:23) At this answer, the people of Vanity Fair railed against the Christians, beat them, caged them, arraigned and tried them, and eventually murdered Faithful.

Why did the people of Vanity Fair react so violently at Faithful’s response? Why all the hubbub? The answer lies in the fact that the assertion for truth necessarily implies an assertion against falsity. The Deceiver is happy with any deception at all, for all lies point away from the single truth, and it is also true that anyone who speaks the truth necessarily condemns all falsities. Truth and lies are as mutually-exclusive as light and darkness.

John Bunyan points this out through three examples as Pilgrim and Faithful walk through Vanity Fair: their garb, their speech, and their refusal to buy what the Vanity Fairians are selling.

Their garb: Christians are clothed in “white garments” in the eternal, justificational sense, but for the moment let’s look at how this spiritual reality is manifest in the here-and-now. We are not to be like the world, but being in the world, we need to wear clothes, just like the world does. I wear my jeans on the lower half of my body and my shirt on the upper half, just like everyone else on earth, whether Christian or not. As America publicly undresses and Christians continue to cover themselves, no one will think twice about Christians wearing modest apparel unless and until some bold Christian asserts the truth that everyone should cover their nakedness. At that point, the Christian will encounter opposition. The “Truth” will be spoken, and the citizens of Vanity Fair will cry foul. While the world around us exults in their freedom from all constraint, the Christian, who loves their neighbor enough to step into their lives, will find that the particular freedom of speaking the truth in love has been vilified and must be constrained. “We’ll have none of that truth-telling here. Thank you very much,” goes the rule for that crowd that has “no rules.” Jesus said there is freedom in truth. The world wants freedom from truth. I doubt there will ever be a law prohibiting modesty, but there are, and will be, plenty denying the fact that modesty even exists.

Their speech: Many words can, and ought, to be spoken regarding coarse jesting, idle words, slander, gossip, etc., but the battle lines are not drawn on any of these minor skirmishes. The enemy will send out the berserkers when the Christian begins asserting that all of the issues of man’s tongue are judged against God’s single, unchanging standard of Truth. The world truly believes that there is no contradiction in imposing their maxim, “What’s true for you is true for you” on everyone, while also maintaining that it is wrong to insist upon one truth for everyone. Whenever they speak, they are implying that there is a meaning behind their utterances, all the while stating that no inherent meaning lies behind their vehement tongue wagging.

Christians in America speak English; secular humanists in America speak English, too. We do not need a new alphabet, new words, or new syntax to be holy; in fact, the vulgar vernacular is the only tongue that will be any use at all. It will not be different words that get us in trouble; it will be the ordinate use of the ones we have, asserting such a thing as an ordinate use that will cause a fuss.

Their investments: Christian and Faithful would not buy what was for sale in the markets of Vanity Fair. In order to be “relevant,” many American Christians are not only saying that we should buy what they’re selling, but we should slap a fish on it and sell it too. The issue at hand is not about silk-screened t-shirts, trendily-embossed Bible covers, bumper stickers, or WWJD bracelets (or whatever the current trends are); the issue is about where Christians go to find the answer to the question, “How can I best keep the two great commandments: to love God and neighbor?” If we seek to faithfully keep these two commandments before the watching world, we will be cities on hills whose lights cannot be hid, no matter what t-shirt we have on. As the world cries, “be yourself,” what they mean is “be trendy.” As the contemporary church around us cries, “be like them for the sake of the gospel,” we should respond, “no thank you, thank you very much.” We should want to be like Jesus for the sake of the gospel, not be like those who look like they’re all about Jesus. Don’t get me wrong—if you want to wear a “Jesus fish” while loving God and loving your neighbor, then go for it, but it will not be the uniform of a “relevant” Christian that makes you relevant. It will be the steady application of the two great commandments. On these hang ALL the law and the prophets. Christian love, exhibited through the keeping of the two great commandments and all subsequent corollaries, is unmistakable. They will know we are Christians by our love: love of God and love of neighbor.

May God preserve us from being “different” by Christianizing the garb, speech, and baubles of American Vanity Fair; may God gives us grace to speak this truth in love.<>уникальность акак продвинуть в поисковиках самому

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On May 26, 2014 By In Books, Culture

Book Review: With the Old Breed

With the Old Breed: At Peleliu and OkinawaWith the Old Breed: At Peleliu and Okinawa by Eugene B. Sledge

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

A great read. Straight forward, not overly sentimental or harsh. Just a man who survived two of the worst battles in the Pacific telling us what happened. I think the HBO series  “The Pacific” was based on this. As I read it two things struck me.

First, the invasion of Japan would have been the most costly battle in the history of mankind. There are problems with dropping the atomic bombs. After Nagasaki and Hiroshima the world was never the same. As a Christian I am adamantly opposed to civilian deaths. But reading this book one begins to realize that the Japanese had no intention of surrending. The toll on American soldiers, Japanese soldiers and Japanese civilians would have been astronomic if America had been forced to invade. So all the armchair generals who think we messed up by dropping the A-Bomb need to read this book and remember that it took more than 80 days and over 110,000 dead Japanese to get a six mile island named Okinawa. My point here is not to justify the dropping of the atomic bombs, but simply to say that the things are never as cut and dry as we want them to be. It is easy for us to look back and say, “We should have done this or should have done that.”  War is hell. Often there are no easy, right, or bloodless answers.

Second, I realized that if our generation (I am thirty-six) was called upon to do what these men had to do there is little doubt we would fail. As a culture we do not have the backbone or courage to fight like those men did. I am not saying there are not brave men in the military. I have family members whom I love and admire who are in the military. So there are individuals and groups, who could do this. But WWII was a sustained effort over many years, by hundreds of thousands of people, that was a huge sacrifice, not just for the soldiers, but for those at home as well. I am not convinced that in our narcissistic, entitled, American culture we could do that again. I am reminded that our generation has not been called upon to sacrifice much.  If the moment came where we had to, would we? Would I?

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