The world will know that free men stood against a tyrant, that few stood against many, and before this battle was over, even a god-king can bleed.
- King Leonidas (Spartan King, Battle of Thermopylae)

“The work of many of the greatest men, inspired by duty, has been done amidst suffering and trial and difficulty. They have struggled against the tide, and reached the shore exhausted.”
-  Samuel Smiles

Yesterday I talked about how unpopular it is to tell the truth about Mormonism, that it’s a non Christian cult from beginning to end, and has no place in Christianity. I did that not to be mean, but to use it as an example of how difficult and unpopular it can be to tell the truth.

When you tell difficult truths to our culture today, you can be sure you’ll be criticized. When you point out error, lies, falsehoods and evil, you will be attacked, vilified and demeaned by many.

Count on it.

The “open minded,” the “inclusive,” and the gentle people who want us all to get along and believe that everyone must accept everyone, will not accept you! Instead they’ll call you things like:

bigoted

narrow minded

fundamentalist

divisive

fanatical

foolish

and of course the ever popular exclusive!

If you are going to obey the Scriptures and test everything and stand by what is true (1 Thess. 5:21), you won’t be able to avoid this for long.

You’ll have to stand against the tide of our multi-truth culture and say Jesus is the only way to God, whether anyone likes it or not!  Not because we say so, but because He said so!

People won’t like that, and that’s just too bad.

People will criticize you when you dare to point out that both the LDS and the Watchtower are anti-Christian cults that poison the soul and pave the way straight to hell for those who follow them.

That’s not popular, but it is true.

Christians are called to be men and women of truth. So stand fast, take the hits, turn the other cheek, love and pray for those who assault and insult you, and keep on standing! You will be one of the few who dares to stand against many, and it will cost you much, but in the end it will be worth it.

And having done all – stand! (Eph. 6:13)

[This post is being written in response to some phone calls I've received from friends out of town. The churches of their community are facing a difficult time, and their church in particular is being critized by many Christians because they have taken the stand that the Mormon Church and theology are not Christian. Church unity is being threatened, and many people are very upset.

I'm not naming the town or church or people involved because I want everyone to have their privacy, however if you're involved in this mess I'm sure you'll know I'm talking about you!]

If there was ever a time when most Bible believing people understood fairly clearly that Mormons are not Christians that time has passed. Over the last 30 or 40 years or so, the Mormon church has made a concentrated effort to promote themselves as Christians, and to be accepted as such. This of course is being done as a way to be more accepted in the “mainstream culture.”  They aren’t alone in this, the Jehovah Witness cult is doing the samething.

I’m not going to spend a lot of time debating the issue of whether or not they are Christians – they aren’t – period!  You can buy a cheap copy of Dr. Walter Martin’s old book, The Maze of Mormonism to get a detailed look at the issue, or check his website for some MP3′s to listen too.

How do we know Mormons aren’t Christians?  Here’s a short list of critical doctrines that Mormon’s reject or pervert:

• Is there more than one true God?  Mormons say yes – the Bible says NO!
• Was God once a man like us?  Mormons say yes – the Bible says NO!
• Are Jesus and Lucifer spirit brothers?  Mormons say yes – the Bible says NO!
• Is God a Trinity?  Mormons say no, the Bible says YES!
• Was the fall of Adam & Eve a great evil or great good.  Bible says it was BAD, the Mormons say it was GOOD!
• Can we make ourselves worthy before God?  The Bible says NO, the Mormons say YES!
• Does Christ’s atoning death benefit those who reject him?  Bible says NO, Mormons say YES!
• Is the Bible the unique, final Word of God?  Bible say YES, Mormons say NO!
• Did the early church completely fall into apostasy?  Mormons say YES, there was no Gospel on earth from the death of the Apostles until Joseph Smith.  JESUS said NO – the gates of hades won’t prevail against my church.

Now, if you know your Bible at all, you should understand that little list alone prevents Mormon theology from being considered Christian.

So, am I condemning all Mormons to hell?

No! I’m sure there are many sincere if mislead Christians in the Mormon church, just as there are many members of Christian Churches who aren’t Christian at all.

I have Mormon friends, and by and large you have to admire their morality and commitment to their church. The fact that thousands of Mormon Missionaries are being sent out by their families every year, is one sign that the average Mormon is much more committed to their faith than the average Christian is to his or her faith!

What I’m saying is this: Mormon theology is not Christian theology and MUST NOT be considered as such.

They have a perfect right to believe it, but it’s not Christian.

Having settled that, tomorrow I’ll talk about standing up for the truth, and all the hits you’ll have to take if you do so.

Here’s a fact that you can take to the bank (or as Paul might say, a trustworthy saying): There are many equally effective ways to study the Bible.

When someone tries to tell me there’s only one, I know I’m dealing with someone who’s either a young believer or else has had limited exposure to the rich and varied history of Biblical exposition.  To dogmatically say there’s only one right way, and oh by the way I’ve got it, is born of ignorance and (usually repressed and unknown) pride.

The method I’m going to show you today is an offshoot of the inductive method of Bible Study. In fact you could say it’s an application of an inductive Bible study. So what is it?

Making your own “translation!”

Not that you’d ever use it the way you use the NIV or ESV or (I hope not!) KJV! You aren’t doing this as a pretense of being a Bible scholar, or an expert or even worse, an inspired translator of God’s Word!

No, no, a thousand times no!

Here’s why you do it – because when you actually try and do this it forces you to grapple with the text on a level most of us never do!

To “translate” (paraphrase would probably be a better word) a passage forces me to look at every single word and punctuation point in the passage under consideration. To do this takes a lot of work!

First you have to carefully and accurately inductively study what the text actually says. Not what you think it says to you in your situation – but what it actually says – period!

Then you have to decide how you would word things to clearly and accurately bring that meaning across to a reader (who will probably only be you!).

Finally, when you’ve slaved over the text and the words, and their meanings, and what the punctuation means, you’ve got your version of the text!

But you aren’t done yet! Because now you have to apply it to yourself and decide how you’ll begin living out what the text says today!

Here’s an example from the one books I’ve done all the way through – Galatians 2:10-14. First is my “version” and then the ESV for comparison purposes.

¹⁰They only thing they asked was that we continue to minister to the poor, which of course I’ve diligently tried to do.

¹¹But when Peter came to Antioch I had to oppose him face to face, because he was obviously wrong. ¹²Before certain men from James came he used to eat fellowship meals with the Gentiles. But when they arrived he retreated, gradually drawing back and separating himself from his Gentile brothers, all because he feared the circumcision group. ¹³The rest of the Jews also played the hypocrite with him, things got so bad that even Barnabas was swept up in it.

¹⁴When I saw that they were walking so crookedly that they needed a spiritual orthopedic surgeon I told Peter in front of the whole church, “If you’re a Jew, yet you fellowship with the Gentiles and so violate Jewish custom; why are you pulling away from them and trying to compel them to follow Jewish customs by the power of your example?

* * * * * * * * * *

Only, they asked us to remember the poor, the very thing I was eager to do.
But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned.
For before certain men came from James, he was eating with the Gentiles; but when they came he drew back and separated himself, fearing the circumcision party.
And the rest of the Jews acted hypocritically along with him, so that even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy.
But when I saw that their conduct was not in step with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas before them all, “If you, though a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you force the Gentiles to live like Jews?”  Galatians 2:10-14 (ESV)

If you do decide to try this – I’d love to see some of the fruits of your labor!

This Post In Four Words: Jesus Through The Bible!

The Slightly Longer Version: The question that makes up the title of this post is one everyone ought to ask him or her self with regularity. Churches need to ask this question too. So I thought today would be a great time to answer that question for myself and for KCC as well.

As you might expect I’ve written a lot about the Bible on this blog. If you want to know some of my basic views on the trustworthiness of the Scriptures read these four posts on the top from my Basic Bible Series Category.  Part One. Part Two. Part Three. Part Four.

Having said all that, what should be the ultimate authority in the life of someone who says they follow Christ? What should a church full of Christ followers look to as their ultimate authority?

The Bible.  That might seem like an obvious answer to some of you, but not for most people any more. If Jesus is my Lord, then I need an objective, authoritative source of His teachings. Otherwise I’m left vulnerable to every nutty idea, strange teaching or emotional impulse that comes down the pike!

Everyone has their own ideas of what is right and wrong. Everyone was brought up in different ways, and everyone has an opinion about just about everything. If we rely on those things, or on tradition or some person we’ve placed in authority (whether it’s the Pope, some TV “prophet,” the Pastor of your local church, or anyone else) then we are building our lives on shifting sands.

But the Bible is an objective source of God’s wisdom, and because of that it’s the only reliable authority for churches or individual Christ followers. I know this is true, because not only does all of history support this claim, but the Bible itself makes that claim!

But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, and how from infancy you have known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. 2 Timothy 3:14-17 (NIV)

Paul here makes some things very clear. The Scriptures come directly from God through men that He inspired and guided to write His Words. It is the Scriptures alone that can show us the way to be saved, and can reveal us to the real Jesus! Paul also makes clear that the Bible should be used to teach, rebuke, correct and train people to live righteous lives.

Paul also tells us what the real purpose of the Bible is, and most of us miss it. It’s not teaching, correcting, rebuking or training.  Those four things are means to an end! As the Greek makes clear, the Bible has been given to us “so that” the believer can be completely equipped for every good work!

The purpose of the Bible is make us mature men and women who are like Christ!

Without the Bible that’s just not possible. Because the Bible is God’s Word, inspired, true, without error. Therefore it’s the only authority the Christian needs in his life.

I’ve been in the ministry all of my adult life. For that entire time I’ve looked to the Scriptures and the Scriptures alone as my personal authority and guide for life.  I’m committed to following Jesus and being as true to His Word as I can.

I’m also committed to KCC having one and only one authority! That authority isn’t me, or the Elders, or tradition, or a past, present or future Pastor. That authority isn’t some self-anointed prophet (or should I spell that “profit?”), famous Bible teacher, Mega Church Pastor, or anyone else. And that authority isn’t what you or I or even we as a group think or believe God has said to us!

The Bible is our sole authority – period, end of sentence, finis!

I hope that’s clear to you, it’s clear to me.

Now all I have to do is start living out this belief – and I’ll be doing what the Bible says I should be doing!

Closing question: If I say the Bible is my authority, but don’t obey it, is it really my authority?

No, this isn’t a Super Bowl Post! Read on…

In him and through faith in him we may approach God with freedom and confidence. Ephesians 3:12 (NIV)

Every time I read that verse I cannot help but remember another very similar verse, Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. Hebrews 4:16 (NIV)

One of Paul’s greatest themes in the New Testament is that Christianity is a faith of free access to God! Unlike the Jewish faith with its Temple, priests, sacrifices and myriad of laws, rules and actions that could only be undertaken by an expert, the Christian faith is simple and free enough for a child!

We have free and total access to God! That’s why we can boldly approach God (the throne of grace is a beautiful metaphor for the center of God’s power). We don’t have to go through “professionals” because there’s really only one “professional” needed, and His Name is Jesus Christ!

Of course the church started messing with that almost as soon as it began. It didn’t take long for people to begin to construct all sorts of “spiritual bureaucracies.” By a few centuries after Christ there were bishops, and Arch Bishops etc. And the heart of the faith was being sapped away by infighting and power politics.

Such was never the intent of Christ when He formed His church. Remember what Jesus said? Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” John 8:32 (NIV)

Christ came to set us free from bureaucracies and allow us full and free access to His Father, Himself and the Holy Spirit. Now as fully empowered children of the All Mighty we go straight to Him with all our problems, questions, failures and sins.

Which is not to say that we don’t need Pastors and Teachers because we do—we all do! But they were given (as Paul says in Ephesians 4) to bring us into maturity, not to tie us down.

One sign of maturity is a deep understanding of how much joy you bring to heart of God when you openly run to Him and long to spend time before His throne—the only throne of Grace!

This is second part of my attempt to briefly provide some biblical perspective on this question. I began this in yesterday’s post and will wrap it up today.

ONE:

Because God is love he created us with the ability to love him back. He had to do this because all love is a choice, therefore we had to be given free will if we are to truly love him and not just act that way because he programmed us too.

Obviously anytime free will exists the possibility for evil also exists. For free will to be true, God must allow us to choose evil, otherwise we have no free will at all.

All of us want free will. We all want to be free to choose to sin whenever we want too, and all of us have exercised our God given free will to sin thousands of times (and for me that’s just counting this week!)

But we also want God to stop other people from exercising their free will when they are going to do something we think is particularly evil or objectionable. But because God is just he refuses to do that.

To be authentically free to love we have to be free to do evil as well. Because God loves us, and wants us to live in love, he gives us that freedom without restraint.

TWO:

God has the power to end all evil but refuses to so because he is love.

This too sounds strange, but think about it. To end all evil God would have to destroy evil as an actual and a potential cause. In other words he would have to not just stop all evil in the world now, but make sure it didn’t just start up again later today, tomorrow, etc.

What would happen if he did? I learned this from the late, great Dr. Walter Martin. He tells the story of debating this on the radio years ago with some skeptical people. To point out the results of ending all evil he played out a hypothetical exercise with them. They picked one guy, and made him all powerful. He then made a decree to end all evil! What happened?

Dr. Martin pointed out to him that everyone, everywhere ceased to exist as soon as he made that decree! All of us are capable to incredible evil, so God would either have to annihilate us, or deprive us of our free will so that we are no longer capable of evil!

God refuses to destroy us because He is love, not because he lacks love!

Because of these two things (and other things as well) God allows us to live in a fallen world, where people do evil, and where nature doesn’t work right and people suffer and die because it is a fallen world.

We are called to bring the Gospel into this darkness to push the darkness back with the light of Jesus love and grace. Only when we begin to live out our faith can we begin to see what God would really like to do in our world.

Ultimately of course we’ll never be free of sin or suffering here. Only in heaven, or after Jesus returns will complete and perfect justice and peace reign. Until then all we can do is trust God, work for him, and hopefully make the world a little brighter place because God’s love shines through us.

I received the following e-mail Friday night when I got home from Celebrate Recovery. I’ve removed anything that could ID the writer, but I baptized her when she was a teenager, and still know and love her very much. This issue comes up a lot, so I thought I’d take this occasion to give a brief biblical answer to it.

Hi Louie,

I need your help. I need to know what your answer is to, “why God allows such bad things to happen to children?” My sister called me this evening very upset. Awhile back she was struggling with God and how He allows children in Africa to be raped because some men there believe that it will cure them of AIDS. She told me when she finally came to terms with this. She spoke to a pastor’s wife and the answer she was given was enough to make her be ok… She just saw on the news a story about a 2 year old that was thrown over a freeway overpass and struck by cars over and over again. Once again, she is in need. In fact, I too want to understand how these things are allowed to happen. Why isn’t there some divine intervention? I don’t get it. My faith is a constant struggle and this doesn’t help any.

Dear ________

Thanks so much for writing, the question you asked was just asked tonight in a group I was in. It comes up a lot and I know it’s a difficult one. Here’s my take on it.

First of all, the real question really has nothing to do with children. Think about it. Would it be better or easier to understand if these kind of things only happened to adults or the elderly? Of course not. Rape is a horrific and evil act no matter what the age of the victim is. If the person thrown over that freeway overpass and struck over and over again had been 20 or 62 etc., would that make it better? Obviously not.

The reason we react to these kind of things so strongly when they happen to children is that God made us with a built in drive to protect and watch over children. That’s a good thing, but we can’t let our emotions cloud our judgment either.

Clearly I can’t give you a full or complete answer to your question here. Literally thousands of books have been written about this by some of the most brilliant people who have ever lived. I do not count myself among their exalted company. But I do want to offer you a simple, clear, biblical basis for dealing with all this.

The real issue you and your sister are struggling with is as old as the Bible itself. Why does God allow evil? Why does He allow bad things to happen to innocent people? How can I believe in a God of love, when He could stop all evil at any time – and chooses not too?

My answer is simple: God allows evil to exist because God is Love!

How on earth I arrive at that conclusion? It’s simple really – and I’ll share it with you tomorrow!! (I know, I’m mean!)

When I put together the SNL campaign, I decided to call for two days of fasting and prayer.

Fasting is one of those ancient spiritual disciplines that is a mystery to most modern American Christians. I’m often asked about it. What is it and most important to the modern mind, why should I do it, what do I get out of it?

First of all – what it is.

To fast is to refrain from food and sometimes also liquid, sleep, etc., in order to give priority to spiritual exercises (Exodus 34:28; Deuteronomy 9:18; Acts 27:33). Fasting may be accompanied by prayer (Psalms 35:13) or a vow (1 Samuel 14:24-30). Jesus taught that fasting for mere outward show is spiritually worthless and actually involves the sin of hypocrisy (Matthew 6:16-18).—NASB Topical

So fasting is self denial, usually of food in some way, for a period of time so that you can focus more on God through prayer and other acts of worship.

If you want to know more the best book I’ve ever read on the topic is God’s Chosen Fast by Arthur Wallis. Follow the link to the cheapest copies I could find online!

It’s the question of why that really gets people’s attention. For the most part I think you can translate why into what do I get out of this? To this questions there are many different answers.

You can read tons of books about how fasting, done the right way, will break bonds, induce God to answer prayers, etc. It often presented as some kind of miracle working piece of magic that’s sure to get you what you want from God.

I don’t have to tell you that I don’t buy much of that do I? I didn’t think so!

So why fast? Well Jesus said, “When you fast, do not look somber as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show men they are fasting. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, so that it will not be obvious to men that you are fasting, but only to your Father, who is unseen; and your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. Matthew 6:16-18 (NIV)

When not if. I fast in obedience, but what does it do for me, beyond the obvious health impacts?

Since we have to eat to live, fasting is symbolic of dying to self and living for God. I believe that fasting allows us to stop feeding one very basic need, so that we can focus instead of the most important need of all, God in our lives!

Fasting is a way to put God first, even ahead of something absolutely necessary to survival. It brings us face to face with the invisible, eternal realities we so often miss. Here we can contemplate God and His wonders, and draw nearer to Him in prayer and worship.

Fasting then helps me get rid of me, or at least a little bit of myself, and focus instead on Jesus, Who should always be number one in my life.

Last Friday over at the Evangelical Outpost, Joe posted some thought on his views of Calvinism. Like nearly everything he does it was very thoughtful, well written and struck a chord across the blogesphere (or however you spell it!). Marla Swoffer has also commented on what he wrote.

Below is the somewhat hurried response I put there, followed by a more thoughts that occured to me over the weekend.

Hey Joe,

I wish I had more time today to respond to your post, it was thoughtful as all of yours are, but IMHO way off the mark.

I am mostly Arminian, but like you dislike labels. You said, “Unless a Christian is a universalist, they must admit that Christ’s work on the cross is limited to those who believe.”

On that point you are sooooooo wrong! I am NOT a universalist and firmly, completely and totally deny Christ’s work on the cross is limited to those who believe!

It has been OFFERED to everyone – because God doesn’t want anyone to perish but everyone to come to repentance as Peter tells us. True – it is only effective for those who believe, but it is offered to all.

Whether or not that is God offing things in vain depends on what you call vain. As old Margaret Becker song comes to mind, “It’s never for nothing, when you love with no return, it’s never for nothing.”

If that’s true for us in this life, then it’s even more true of our infinite Creator and Father.

I could go on but don’t have time here, but thanks for the thoughtful post. I may just respond in a fuller way on my blog.

God bless! – Louie

Obviously I’m not going to solve anything here, but as I thought about this, for the millionth time I might add, a few things came to mind. As usual my train of thought is trying to drive straight for a clear and fairly simple point of view.

Read more »

Hey All!

This week’s Christian Carnival is online – check it out!

This is a special week for me – look what how he introduced my entry…

Louie at The Marshian Chronicles blogs about Blogging For Blogging’s Sake – Some thoughts on why believers blog, how and why we should do it, and what it all amounts to anyway. Louie wins the Using the Word Blogging Twice in His Title Award.

“In response to this great award I would like to say that I humbly accept this award and would like to thank my Mom and Dad, my long dead cat Mary Jane, and all those people who told me over and over again that I would never amount to anything.”

“This award is proof that they were indeed right isn’t it??”