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On July 23, 2021 By In Culture

Can my Teenager Decide Where we go to Church?

Dear friend,

I am behind on a host of letters, but this one caught my attention since it’s an issue pastors deal with and that little has been said about this topic. You know who you are, so if I don’t capture the essence of your question, please feel free to correct me privately.

As I understand it, your question can be easily summarized as, “Should I ever listen to my young son/daughter about where to go to church?” In sum, your teenage child wants to go to another church because it offers certain benefits for him.

Let me tackle this in two ways:

First, assuming your child is in his early teens, it’s important to know carefully what his/her intentions are; why are these “benefits” so significant for him? For instance, if your child had someone mistreat, harm, abuse him in any way, I urge you to listen carefully to his concerns. There may be deeper issues involved where other people need to be involved. Perhaps the issue is not so much the church, but concern for his well-being. Therefore, I wouldn’t outright refuse to listen to the desire to attend another church. I would ask questions regarding motivation and dig as deep as possible, especially if the child expressed a normal attitude towards the congregation just some weeks prior. If you are part of a large church with lots of programs, I’d accompany your child to these programs to have a better understanding of his situation. Better yet, I would re-consider the overly programmatic church. But that’s a question for another letter.

Second, we trust our children on lots of things, especially if our hearts have been given to them often in their upbringing. But we do not trust children to make ecclesiastical decisions for us. Parents lead the home. Dad and mom decide things pertaining to theology and doctrine and practice and potlucks.

I will be honest: I have yet to see parents pleased when they allow their children to make ecclesiastical decisions for them. Don’t give them that responsibility. If they have 30 friends in the church next door and only two in your current church, then you need to re-orient his view of friendship to those two. Friendships, at that age, are utterly unstable. It may be that the hard thing is the better thing for your family. It may be that you stay in a more faithful church where your children are not quite fitting in, instead of going to some “happening-hip” congregation where your children fit in quite nicely.

Young teenagers don’t need to fit in at this stage, they need to stay in, so they can mature in, and grow into something greater than themselves. Do not allow young teenagers to determine from whence Christian nurture comes.

Sincerely,
Pastor Brito 

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On July 22, 2021 By In Family and Children, Wisdom

The Wisdom of Youth

If you have been a part of the church in America for years, then you have probably seen a general pattern in the lives of people. At an early age, a child is involved in the church, being baptized as an infant or by profession of faith. As he grows into his mid to late teenage years, he begins to stray, sowing his wild oats through his college years. Somewhere around his late twenties or maybe early thirties he decides to settle down, get married, and have children. Church meant a lot to him when he was young, so he needs to get his family back in church. He becomes involved in church again so that his child can go through the same pattern he did.

Parents of those in the “wild oats” years tend to accept this pattern as axiomatic. This is just the way things are. They will commiserate with one another with one saying, “You know how it is,” and the other giving the melancholy but affirming nod of the head, acknowledging the unalterable pattern of growing up. Both feel some sense of justification.

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On July 21, 2021 By In Culture

Why I am Happily Postmil

Somewhere in the year 2000, I came into contact with a dangerous cargo filled with contrarian literature. I ate it all so quickly that the only questions I had afterward were some variation of “What’s for dinner?” and “May I have more, please?” I still keep eating contrarian literature, and I really hope that the end result is not that I become a curmudgeon, but that I find creative ways to inculcate those blessings into my community.

So, while we are at it, let me undo speculations among some two-kingdom scholars. They consistently claim that while Jesus has authority over all things, his authority does not provide or is intended to provide a tangible change in the cultural milieu. I, as a lovable contrarian, assert the exact opposite: that the kingdom of Jesus is comprehensive, and whatever it touches, it changes.

The kingdom is not limited to one sphere, nor are things heavenly to be severely differentiated from things earthly. And again, not to repeat the obvious, but the earthly city is not Babylon, nor do we live in this perpetual sense of exile and pilgrimage simply existing seeking a city that shall come. We affirm that the people of God are headed somewhere to take something and claim Someone as Lord over the nations (Rom. 4:13) and that the city has come. Our agenda is to get people to see the ads and RSVP ASAP.

While the Reformers affirm the distinct polities of each sphere and even state without equivocation that there are distinct ends for governmental and ecclesiastical spheres, these ends do not end in wildly strange territories. They serve the kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ who has all authority and power in heaven and on earth. Jesus’ earthly authority does not void his heavenly power. They find harmony as one expressive manifestation of Lordship.

So too, you need to notice that when two-kingdom advocates say, “Don’t cause any trouble, let the local officials do their job, because…ya know, Romans 13 and I Peter 4, etc.,” what they are truly implying is that history is static and unmovable. The same texts that state government officials are deacons for righteousness also state that they are under one Ruler who is progressively moving history towards a goal.

Jesus’ overturning the tables was not some act of overt rebellion, it was an act of subversive faithfulness. When the temple does not do what it ought–worship rightly–Jesus has the right to shake things up, and when unfaithfulness endures, he has the right to send armies to tear the whole place down (Lk. 21:24). When Jesus sees a government functioning like a whore, he has the right to tell his people to surround it and sing for seven days and seven nights.

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On July 16, 2021 By In Church

Nine Reasons for Church Membership

Dear friend,

I write out of concern for your soul. You have been outside the authority of a local church for too long. And this may be for a variety of reasons, among them your ignorance about membership in the first place. So, here are nine observations concerning membership I want you to keep in mind:

1) Baptism gives you access to God’s gifts and promises anywhere. To be a member is to be formalized into a particular covenant community somewhere.

2) Membership is kingly citizenship before the Second Coming; one cannot roam alone on earth because earth’s life is to be modeled after heavenly life which is communal (Mat. 6:10).

3) Don’t expect me to listen to your interpretation of the Bible when you don’t listen to the rules of the church for whom Christ died. To take up your cross and follow Jesus is also to follow his Bride.

4) Hebrews 13 says that you are to submit to the leaders over you. When you decide to remain autonomous concerning church membership you are refusing to obey this imperative. You cannot submit to a leader when you despise the church he serves.

5) It is true that finding a church comes with difficulties. One needs to find a place where not only the creed is followed but where praxis lines up with your particular values and vision. However, this is not a reason to “shop” around endlessly.

6) When someone says to me, “I’ve looked for a church & can’t find a place,” they are generally saying, “I don’t want to find a church because it will infringe too much on my liberties,” or “I can’t find a place that holds to every little detail of doctrine I subscribe to.”

7) Membership is testing your obedience to the fifth commandment and your allegiance to a greater society.

8 ) Membership is a sign of a healthy Christian community. Those who refuse to join a local church are acting in accordance with their own creeds and symbols. Those who join are acting in accordance with the church’s historic creeds and symbols.

9) In sum, unless you are in a deserted part of the country where no Trinitarian churches exist or on brief temporary assignment somewhere, it is your Christian duty to join a local Trinitarian congregation whether it lines up with all your distinctives or not.

I pray God leads you speedily to a local body. Your soul depends on it.

~Pastor Brito

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On July 14, 2021 By In Counseling/Piety, Culture

The Uncomfortable Gospel of Elimelech

In God in the Dock, C.S. Lewis’ wrote that he didn’t come to Christianity for its comfort. Instead, he said that a bottle of Port could give him all the happiness and comfort he needed.

I have been thinking of this sentiment in our modern environment. We have lost the sense that the Christian faith is not a religion of comfort and ease but warfare is inherent to our religious convictions. We fight for things because they are needful and because they are worthy of being rescued. When the people of God leave the presence of God in exchange for comfort, they inherit all sorts of bad jujus. In the Bible, it is always a bad thing to leave the good thing.

When Elimelech left Bethlehem in the Book of Ruth,a he left not just a piece of land. He wasn’t attempting to find a better marketplace in Moab. Moab was a place of deep darkness and idolatry. This wasn’t merely an attempt to take the UHAUL down to a better place; instead, Elimelech left God’s presence and God’s people because things were hard. And when things get hard, evangelical Christians decide either a) let’s leave town, or b) let’s find a gentler God.

Now, I am not calling Elimelech a silly man. His very name means “God is King.” He failed to live up to his status as one who serves Israel’s true King. Surely, Naomi was not a foolish wife, either. But sometimes, our human natures choose the easier thing, especially as we look around the world and see so much pain and suffering. It wasn’t that Elimelech said, “Wow, we are being disobedient; how can we fight this problem in Bethlehem?!” The problem was that Elimelech said, “We are being disobedient; how can we run from this?” Like Jonah, he discovered there was no place he could go where his sins wouldn’t follow.

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  1. Some have objected that Elimelech’s departure was not sinful since it mirrors the departure of others in the Bible. A more potent objection goes like this: “Abraham left the land of promise during the time of famine and Jacob did so as well. Why can’t we say Elimelech is just copying the actions of the patriarchs? Isn’t Elimelech just recapitulating the actions of Abraham and Jacob? There seems to be no divine disapproval of the actions of Abraham and Jacob.” But this argument fails to deal with key differences between the situation of the patriarchs and the situation of Elimelech. While the land was promised to Abraham, the land had not yet been conquered when Abraham and Jacob left because of famine. Abraham does not dwell in the land as a permanent resident. He knew he was just a sojourner. And it is the same with Jacob. Both men knew it would be centuries and generations before their descendants came into full possession of the land. The sins of the Canaanites had to fill up to the full measure, and then they would be driven out of the land. Their land would belong to Israel for as long as she was faithful. But that has not yet happened in the time of Abraham and Jacob. They left before the conquest of the land and before God has set his name there. So, for the patriarchs to leave the land does not carry the same significance as when Elimelech leaves the land. But there is something else to note with regard to Abraham. In Genesis 12-13, it is true that Abraham leaves the land because of famine. But he is not blessed until he begins to turn back to the land. Then he leaves Egypt with spoil. It is as if Abraham’s departure from the land was a kind of exile. But when he turns back towards the land, it is an exodus complete with plunder from the Egyptians.  (back)

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On July 12, 2021 By In Culture

Not Weirdness, but Mereness

It’s Monday, so here it goes. Out of my four topics this week, one that I have been wanting to address for some time is the “weird Christianity” impulse of our day. In preparation for this topic, I read a couple of essays, neither of which made the point I am trying to make, so the most likely conclusion is that the writers’ fathers smelt of elderberries, and I want nothing of it.

The first pre-requisite to understanding this discussion is to keep in mind that the American youth, by and large, are fairly fed up with the modern Christian faith as is. Now, this stems from various angles. Among them is that their parents smoked a lot of weed in their day so that whatever faith they desired to pass on to their children was a tainted mustard seed and whatever that seed produced was enough for their children to reject it later on.

Another perspective is that such young adults felt the burn and went the way of all flesh, accepting Bernie into their hearts. They are probably vegetarians now and look down on people like me because of my muscular consumption of high fats. Theologically, I fart in their general direction. And if my Monthy Python quotations make you uncomfortable, you are probably a vegetarian as well and I sit in judgment of you.

Given that this is the general state of our young adults, what then are they doing? Some of them are rejecting the faith by attending your local display of effeminism. They are likely attending a local church whose pastor has a co-pastor who wears a dress. In most cases, it’s his wife. Yikes! To quote “The Life of Bryan,” “Strange women lying in ponds, distributing swords, is no basis for a system of government!”But a whole other group has embraced a somewhat orthodox weird Christianity. This is the group I’d like to address because some of them fall in my camp, or at the very least hover around my camp.

The impulse to be weird is a natural one. Christians do breathe different air. Our ethics are quite strange from the world (Gal. 5:22-23) and our singing tends to bring fire on things indifferent. So, I am not opposed to looking different. In fact, a quick glimpse at what happens in my neck of the woods on Sunday morning will give the modern evangelical lots of topics in the drive home and the next 27 days. What I am seeking to oppose with gracious eyes is the kind of weirdness for weirdness’ sake. Much of our impulse in reaction to what we see as the onslaught of the left is to do things as wildly different than the thing the most conservative Christian is doing. Therefore, we scramble our eggs while singing verses one and nine of the Lorica, we read from one holy translation of the Bible, we put on our legal gloves in judgment of the local family who educates with curriculum A instead of option Z, and we live as if only our idealized agenda fits John’s description of the descending city in Revelation.

What I am arguing for is “Mere Christendom,” not weird Christendom. Christians, in fact, should be the most normal of all people. We should do our jobs each day with a minimal amount of complaining, we should feed our kids each day with a minimal amount of temperamentalism, we should respect our bosses, even when they are pagan imbeciles, we should watch our soccer games without getting drunk, we should go to church with one of three kids wearing something that is not utterly wrinkled, and we should laugh through it all at the end of the day giving thanks to God.

Mere Christendom is not looking for the latest trend to divorce ourselves from culture, but we should be looking for the most biblical way to make a dent in culture with a Christ-centered imprint. One writer put it succinctly when he said that we don’t need to be more weird than Christian.

The faith itself offers plenty of natural ways to be discerning and different. What we don’t need to do is add a shekel or ten to that amount of weirdness. In fact, weirdness never conquered nations. Just look at the Anabaptists of the 16th century. In fact, some of them were anti-trinitarians to the core, and I argue it stemmed from their separationism, which inculcated in them a spirit of ingenuity when it came to theology, and theology does not need ingenuity–hello Arius!”–it needs healthy and normal carriers.~~~~Many, many years ago, a visitor to our congregation came to me asking what I thought about nudist beaches. The fella had a fairly developed biblical view of the topic, arguing from Genesis that the ideal state of man is to be naked and to return to that glorious Edenic state where men walked around naked and were not ashamed. And therefore, attending a nudist beach now and then was not that bad.

Now, remember this was many years ago and our church was small enough that I had some time to give this thing a thought. I did end up responding to his insanity in a five-page paper, which did convince him. If that had happened today, I would have found the two largest guys in our church and escorted him out of the building. Not everything requires an explanation, some things simply require condemnation.

But the fact that he was convinced by my arguments against nudist beaches didn’t mean he stopped seeking after weirdness. It was just one of his many attempts to separate himself from the present culture, but also the present Christian culture, no, the present reformed culture…sorry, the present reformed, sub-culture.

Friends, what the church needs today is not weirdness, but mereness. Mere creeds, mere lives, mere wine, mere merriment, and mere Christendom. And in this, there is much liberty and various ways of growth in the kingdom.

So, three cheers for basic Christian living!

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On July 9, 2021 By In Discipleship

We are Coming for your Children: A Gay Manifesto

Our speaker this Sunday at Providence Church (CREC), Dr. Ben Merkle, recently opined that you may not be postmil and paedobaptist, but the leftists are and they are actively seeking to implement their agenda. The left has a developed view of the future and they are eagerly seeking to catechize our children with their optimistic eschatology. They also have a covenantal view that sees generational faithfulness to their cause at the very heart of all they do.

Many Christians, on the other hand, live as if the future is determined for failure and that children are future disciples; little vipers in diapers waiting to be evangelized for a proper time of discernment–paedos and credos act like this at times. We treat the entire project with triviality and give over the reign of ideological terror to the enemy and let them set the agenda while we sit back with our Veggie Tales catechism.

Take the San Francisco Gay Men’s Choir who has become a national topic these days. Now, they argue that the entire endeavor was tongue-in-cheek humor and that conservatives don’t have a sense of humor. But let’s consider for a moment the heart of their anthem:

“We’ll convert your children. Someone’s gotta teach them not to hate. We’re coming for them. We’re coming for your children. We’re coming for them. We’re coming for them. We’re coming for your children.”

Now, this kind of indoctrination is rather the explicit variety; the stout version. But any sober Christian knows that there are no neutral actions and certainly no neutral lifestyles. The national pushback is not so much pushback to the agenda–for conservatives have been too hesitant to speak out against homosexual activists– but the pushback is a reaction to the overt language. We are generally fine when the argumentation happens at a subtle level because we don’t care much about grasping logical subtleties are arguments. Nevertheless, the best agendas are comedic agendas. That’s how God created us and God has a pattern of haha-ing his way through history, especially when songs like these make the round (Psalm 2).

Of course, we are not naive. These gay men may attempt to apologize for their song, but we know that their song is their anthem and agenda. Their boldness is coming to new levels of obscenity and their postmil and paedo-agenda cards are out in the open now. That’s a good thing for us. We need more testing as Christians to sharpen our discernment skills.

Now, if Christians act as if this is some SNL skit and move on from this without learning any lessons, we are fools for it.

What we do need to see is that unnatural acts and actors of unnatural lifestyles (Rom. 1) would love acceptance and acceptance comes in the form of enculturation to norms. These norms are actualized in the songs of a culture. Even the humor attempts are forms of indoctrination. We should not panic, but we should form even greater circles of postmil and paedo-life disciples who see that Christians are deeply committed to an agenda, a form of godly conspiracy against the prideful schemes of gay men. We don’t narrow our focus on gay men only, but gay men and various other alphabet letters are seeking to build a kingdom, and if we walk around as if this warfare is only left to the halls of public schools in California, we are going to lose the near battles.

This all means that our language to our boys needs to be conspicuously robust; the kind that shows them that sweat is good and that gets them out of the house often to tackle thorns and thistles. They cannot grow up with a diet of praise choruses. They need the “Son of God Goes Forth to War” and “Lion-Hearted” theology that acknowledges that the future belongs to the Lord and our sons and daughters are marked by a divine Catechizer in baptism.

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On July 8, 2021 By In Discipleship, Wisdom

Judge That You Be Not Judged

One way in which the father teaches his son wisdom in Proverbs is through observation of what others are doing and the outcomes of their ways of life. He calls upon his son to look at the skillful man (Pr 22.29) as well as the ways the father himself (Pr 23.26.28). The son is not only to learn from wise examples but also the unwise. The father tells his son of a young man who puts himself in a bad place and is seduced by Harlot Folly. He watched the whole incident, and it didn’t end well for the young man (Pr 7.6-27). He also passed by the field of a sluggard and noticed that his vineyard was in complete disrepair and overgrown with thorns. He looked and considered, “How did it come to this?”

The father calls his son to watch and learn, to judge the way of wisdom from positive and negative examples so that he himself will not fall into judgment. As Christians, we don’t mind looking at the positive examples and noticing for ourselves or pointing out to our children these examples to follow. But we wince when we think about using the bad examples of others to teach others. We don’t want to be “judgy.” The limit of the explanation to our children, for instance, might be “There but for the grace of God go I.” We say that almost as if God’s grace is a magic spell that kept me from being there, but God didn’t perform the same magic on the other person. We want to avoid pride (a good impulse, to be sure), but in order to do so, we practically deny all the choices that were made that put that person in the position in which he now lives.

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On July 7, 2021 By In Culture

The Necessity of Messy Homes

We have had an abundance of children and adults in our house between Saturday and Monday. We probably fed over 40 people combined. Eggs, toast, butter, coffee, whiskey, beer, soups, and none of those things in that exact order. The whole thing was a glorious mess; the kind of mess that makes the kingdom of God glorious. Almost all of them were saints from our congregation who took time out of their holiday weekend to help our family do some heavy lifting, and others were just dear friends who are familiar enough with our tribe to come through our home as they please and others were sweet family members visiting. We loved the entire process, and the process creates a sense of normalcy that is utterly uncomfortable in our culture.

The discomfort stems from a sense of neatness that is unrealistic and also prohibits the world of hospitality that many evangelicals wish they had more of, but does not believe is sustainable if they have a steady number of guests in their home. The reality, however, is that Marie Kondo was made for dinner parties of three (mom, dad, and Tommy), and while practical at some level, it can become easily unhealthy at other levels. Our general policy is that we clean when guests come over, which means we clean often, and with our eager tribe of children, cleaning is much more effective, especially with Sargent Wifey. But the expectation–one I am constantly adjusting to as a Latin man who grew up with impeccable clean homes–that things must be always a certain way and that the home must maintain the correct Asian procedural methods of a certain short lady (how racist of me!) is utterly unrealistic and squashes the culture of hospitality. A home without guests doth not spark joy in the kingdom.

I am not suggesting we forsake those habits of cleanliness, but I do suggest we loosen our commitment to certain habits as pre-requisites for hospitality. How many opportunities have been missed because we assumed that such and such a person would look down on us if they saw our house a certain way, the clothes on the couch, the boys’ room in utter chaos, etc? *And as a sweet little footnote, if dads are not invested in the cleaning, let their steaks burn a thousand deaths.I remember a time many years ago when I was having a conversation with a young family with two little kids. The conversation was about our church’s focus on hospitality, to which the father replied: “One day we will have time for that.” Now, I was quite a young pastor in those days, and my boldness was low in the Richter scale, but today I would simply say, “If you wait for the right time, when the “right” time comes, it will always feel like the wrong time.” That’s the case because hospitality is built on the foundation of crying babies and broken toys. It’s a gift you learn to give others with plenty of practice.

I was having a conversation with three dads last night in the kitchen of a dear friend while 15 kids ran around us and in the middle of a very “important” point I was trying to make, my littlest one interrupted with an urgent call from nature. I made the passing comment that parents have conversations in fragments in such settings. That should be absolutely normal and expected.

The entire stage and adaptation to such scenarios set the stage for even greater hospitality in the future. You can tell that the families that thrive in the hospitality department didn’t simply start to host when their kids turned 12, but that they have learned the art of hospitality when their kids were 12 days old. They did it and they still do it, and their children will continue to do it. In fact, the glorious thing about the messiness of houses and toy rooms and unfinished house projects is that it reflects the ongoing growth of the kingdom of God filled with messy humans, broken rooms, and unfinished discipleship programs for civilization. But we can’t wait until the eschaton comes in order to begin practicing kingdom habits; we practice them as the very means for kingdom growth.

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On July 1, 2021 By In Culture, Discipleship, Wisdom

Friend or Folly

Friendship is vital to our humanity. We desire friendship because we are created in the image of the Triune God who is eternally in friendship as Father, Son, and Spirt, and, like him, our mission can only be completed in a community of friendships. The mission God gave us in the beginning cannot be completed by an individual. We need friendships; from the friendship of marriage (cf. Song 5.16) to same-sex friendships to broader societal connections, we need friendships at various levels to complete what God has given us to do. It is not good for man to be alone. Friendships, therefore, are not an optional accoutrement to our humanity.

The drive to have friends is innate in everyone. We want connections, people with whom we can share life. We are broadly connected to all humans so that every person we meet is a friend. The command to “love your neighbor as yourself” in Leviticus 19.18 can rightly be translated, “love your friend as yourself.” There is a sense in which everyone is a friend with whom we are connected and to whom we owe our love. The Bible not only speaks of friends in this broad sense but also speaks of friendships of various degrees of intimacy. Friends of the king (for example, Job or Jesus in John 15) are his trusted advisors. A husband is the wife’s friend (Song 5.16). There are friends and there are friends.

While we owe a friendly duty to all those with whom we come in contact, we don’t share the same intimacy with all. Indeed, we must take care with whom we become close friends because of the way deep friendships shape us. Friendships involve an “entangling of souls.” The soul is our whole person animated before God and the world. Our lives get wrapped up with someone so that our emotions, will, mind, and heart are connected with the other. Jonathan’s soul was knit to David’s so that he loved him as his own soul (1Sm 18.1). That is a close friendship. In these types of friendships as we “share souls” with one another, we take on the characteristics of the other so that our mannerisms, speech patterns, desires, and the direction of our lives blend with the other person.

The entangling of souls can be good for us or bad for us. Paul proverbially tells the Corinthians, “Bad company corrupts good morals” (1Cor 15.33), recognizing this general principle. This is why Solomon and his wife direct their son to be careful about friendships from the start of his instruction (Pr 1.8-19). His son is to avoid the gang of young men who are unhinged from God’s wisdom. He is not to walk in the way with the wicked; he is to “avoid it; do not go on it; turn away from it and pass on” (Pr 4.14-15). He is to recognize Harlot Folly by the way she speaks and dresses and avoid her as well (Pr 7). Wisdom is to be called his “sister” and insight his close friend (Pr 7.4). He is to seek out Lady Wisdom for his intimate companion. He is to walk with wise men (Pr 13.20).

Some Christians out of misguided love and distortion of mercy might believe that the avoidance of entangling ourselves with the unwise, the rebellious, is selfish. However, Proverbs is quite clear in its directives, and its wisdom is embodied in Jesus himself. Jesus walked the way of wisdom and called others to join him. If they were willing to follow him, to join him in the way of wisdom, he was willing to be patient with them and help them along the way. However, he was willing to cut off relationships with those who did not want to walk or continue to walk with him. The rich young man who appeared to be a hot prospect for the kingdom turned away from Jesus’ call to walk in the way. Jesus didn’t run after him. At one time, after Jesus spoke about being the bread that came down from heaven, many quit following him. He turned to the Twelve and asked them if they would leave him as well. He was not deviating. He was willing to let them go if they didn’t want to continue in the way of wisdom.

As you choose friends, take care. They need to be on the same path of maturing in wisdom. You cannot save the undisciplined, slothful, angry, drunk and glutton, so don’t mix with them (Pr 22.24-25; 23.19-21). The sin magnet that is in you will be drawn toward the atrophy and disorder that characterizes them, and then you will be able to help no one. You will need someone to help you. Find friends who are walking in the way of wisdom and join them, encouraging one another, and so be saved from destruction and be productive in our common mission.

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