I recently came across this video that is about how people think about abortion, and how they can change their mind about it when they are helped to think about it in new and reasonable ways. It is a powerful presentation of how to talk to people about this difficult subject in convincing ways.

It is rather long (33 minutes), but well worth the time to go through the whole thing. Especially when you consider it as an example of how to witness to people about the person of Jesus, and how everyone should submit to Him in faith. Watch it carefully as an example of how to do evangelism.

This video provides some examples of how to reasonably speak to people about the truth claims of the Bible – in a way that gets them to agree with your assumptions about the world, ethics and the need for God. Talking about ethics is a most effective method of beginning an evangelistic conversation. It often seems difficult to know how to get people to come to grips with their need for salvation from their sinfulness. But if you can get them to agree on some basic ethical principles, it leads to the subject of the ultimate source of ethical standards – God and His word.

““Come now, and let us reason together,” Says the Lord, “Though your sins are like scarlet, They shall be as white as snow; Though they are red like crimson, They shall be as wool.” (Isaiah 1:18, NKJV)

“Then Paul, as his custom was, went in to them, and for three Sabbaths reasoned with them from the Scriptures, explaining and demonstrating that the Christ had to suffer and rise again from the dead, and saying, “This Jesus whom I preach to you is the Christ.” And some of them were persuaded; and a great multitude of the devout Greeks, and not a few of the leading women, joined Paul and Silas. But the Jews who were not persuaded, becoming envious, took some of the evil men from the marketplace, and gathering a mob, set all the city in an uproar and attacked the house of Jason, and sought to bring them out to the people.” (Acts 17:2–5, NKJV)

“Therefore he [Paul] reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and with the Gentile worshipers, and in the marketplace daily with those who happened to be there.” (Acts 17:17, NKJV)

“And he [Paul] reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath, and persuaded both Jews and Greeks. When Silas and Timothy had come from Macedonia, Paul was compelled by the Spirit, and testified to the Jews that Jesus is the Christ. But when they opposed him and blasphemed, he shook his garments and said to them, “Your blood be upon your own heads; I am clean. From now on I will go to the Gentiles.”” (Acts 18:4–6, NKJV)

“But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear;” (1 Peter 3:15, NKJV)

“For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ,” (2 Corinthians 10:4–5, NKJV)

Tags: Abortion, ethics, evangelism, Holocost, Racism, reason

Christ the Conqueror - Christ the Savior

As a follow up to my post on The Gospel In All Its Forms, I wanted to make all seven of my blog followers aware of a great post by Peter Leithart Good news in which he show how the Greek word for “gospel” is use in the Septuagint (the Greek translation of the Hebrew Old Testament). The Gospel takes on new dimensions when the word is studied in its wider Jewish context, dimensions that are helpful to us as we consider what good news we are to announce in our modern world.  I quote it in full:

” The Septuagint uses the word-group euaggel- primarily in military and political contexts to describe the proclamation of victory.    This is not invariable (cf. Jeremiah 20:15).

The Philistines cut off Saul’s head and strip his gear so that they can carry the “good news” to idols and people (1 Samuel 31:9).  In his lament over Saul and Jonathan, David warns Israel not to evangelize Philistia with the news of the fall of Israel’s heroes (2 Samuel 1:20).  When David later describes what he did to the Amalekite who thought that the death of Saul would be “good news” to David, he uses the same term (2 Samuel 4:10).  2 Samuel 18, where David awaits news of the battle with Absalom, is studded with the word (vv. 19, 20, 22, 25, 26, 27, 31).

Adonijah expects Jonathan the son of Abiathar to bring him good news (1 Kings 1:42), but he doesn’t.  The lepers who find the Aramean camp abandoned realize after eating their fill that they shouldn’t keep the “good news” from the rest of the people in the city (2 Kings 7:9).

This meaning is in the background of the more “theological” uses elsewhere in the LXX.  The “new song” of Psalm 96 is the “good news” (v. 2) of Yahweh’s s salvation, which comes when He judges the world in righteousness (v. 13).  Good news comes because Yahweh the Divine Warrior gains His victory.  The same goes for the good news of Yahweh’s reign announced in Isaiah 40:9, 52:7.  The good news that the Spirit-anointed servant brings to the afflicted is good news of rescue and deliverance, liberty to captives and freedom to prisoners (Isaiah 61:1).  The good news is good news of peace (cf. Nahum 1:15; 2:1 in LXX), a peace gained by righteous victory.”

posted by Peter J. Leithart on Tuesday, March 29, 2011 at 4:21 am  http://www.leithart.com/2011/03/29/good-news-2/

What most people conceive of as “the gospel” seldom contains an image of the Lord as Divine Warrior. And yet, the New Testament does (Rev. 19). To truncate the good news to ‘Jesus died to save sinners’ is to so compartmentalize and minimize what God has and will do in the world to make it almost no news at all to the hearts and minds of moderns.

How small has become our view of what Jesus came to do, what He accomplished, and what He has promised to do in our world. Do we have the faith to believe, let alone to announce, that our God, Jesus, is progressively judging the world in righteousness? Is our confidence in God’s word sufficient that we can take for granted as true, and declare openly, that the reign of King Jesus does in fact bring “rescue and deliverance, liberty to captives and freedom to prisoners?” Do we true believe that the only hope and good news for a world in turmoil (you name the turmoil: international finacial meltdown, terrorism, the impact of the collapse of middle-eastern governments, etc) is Jesus?  Or is that just a little too simplistic to say outloud? Isn’t it possible that all of these culamities are in fact part of the work of God to gain the victory on behalf of His people? Is that too much to believe? Is it a bit too religiously edgy to actually tell someone that the good news is that God is using all of these things to bring salvation to the world?

Anything short of this kind of conception of the gospel does an injustice to what God has done through our Lord Jesus.

Tags: evangelism, gospel, LXX, Old Testament, Peter Leithart, Septuagint

In a discussion in a Sunday School class yesterday the question was posed, “How do we explain the fact that God, in the Old Testament, commanded His people to destroy whole cultures down to every man, woman and child?” Or as many moderns might ask, “Doesn’t this show that the ancient religions of the Jews and Christians are inferior to modern humanistic values?”

My answer to this legitimate and interesting query is that there are only three times (as far as I can remember) in the Bible where it was the will of God for whole peoples to be destroyed.

'The Deluge the Ark of Noah Drifting on the Water'

The first of these is with the flood in Genesis 6-7: at the hand of God Himself. God created mankind perfectly suited to rule the earth in righteousness (Gen 1:26-28). However, humanity rebelled against Him was judged in the persons of Adam and Eve. And yet, God saved them by His grace, and promised that one would come to make all things right (Gen. 3:15). Over time the rebellion and sinfulness culminated in God’s terrifying assessment of humanity:

“Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually…The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. So God looked upon the earth, and indeed it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth. And God said to Noah, “The end of all flesh has come before Me, for the earth is filled with violence through them; and behold, I will destroy them with the earth.” (Gen. 6:5, 11-14).

The response of our righteous God was to destroy all life with breath, except for righteous Noah and his family. Our God is so committed to righteousness on the earth that He is not content to allow corruption and violence to continue unabated. God’s judgment was simultaneously a destruction of evil and a salvation of the world. God so loves the world that he saved the righteous by grace through faith (Heb. 11:7; 2 Pet. 2:5).

The Destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, John Martin, 1852.

The second complete destruction of a people, several hundred years later, was also at the hand of God with the comprehensive annihilation of Sodom and Gomorrah (Gen. 18:18-19:29). The Lord God saw and evaluated these appalling cities and their citizens:

“And the Lord said, “Because the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grave, I will go down now and see whether they have done altogether according to the outcry against it that has come to Me; and if not, I will know” (Gen. 18:20-21).

What evil could possibly justify raining down brimstone and fire to exterminate all of the inhabitants of these cities? When two angels (in the form of men) came into Sodom, the old and young men from all parts of the city came to gang rape the visitors. Sodom and her sister city Gomorrah were so wicked that God was not only justified in His scorched earth judgment against them, but also used it as an example throughout the rest of scripture of the intolerable nature of such wickedness (2 Pet. 2:6; Jude 7).

But once again, it was a judgment unto salvation. God delivered righteous Lot (from the city of Sodom), “who was oppressed by the filthy conduct of the wicked (for that righteous man, dwelling among them, tormented his righteous soul from day to day by seeing and hearing their lawless deeds) – then the Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptations and to reserve the unjust under punishment for the day of judgment” (2 Pet. 2:7-9). God so loves the world that He saves the righteous by His grace through faith.

The Fall of Jericho

The third and final time that God called for the utter destruction of a people and their cultures was several hundred years later when He commanded His chosen people Israel to destroy all of the inhabitants of the land of Canaan. God had promised Abraham that through his descendants all of the nations would be blessed (Gen. 12:3). How? By extending the righteousness of God in the world. That means that wickedness must be replaced with righteousness. If mankind is to fulfill the creation mandate to rule the world for God, it means removing immorality and replacing it with righteousness, justice and faithfulness to God. For Israel to begin to bless the world, she would have to first be faithful to God by worshipping Him alone and not living according to the wicked ways of the inhabitants of the land (Deut. 12:2-4, 30). And so, God commanded them utterly destroy all the people of the land of Canaan:

“But of the cities of these peoples which the Lord your God gives you as an inheritance, you shall let nothing that breathes remain alive, but you shall utterly destroy them: the Hittite and the Amorite and the Canaanite and the Perizzite and the Hivite and the Jebusite, just as the Lord your God has commanded you, lest they teach you to do according to all their abominations which they have done for their gods, and you sin against the Lord your God” (Deut. 20:16-18).

What God had done twice before, He now commanded His people to do. Israel was to be a means of God’s judgments in the world – for the salvation of the world. And yet, Israel failed in her mission. She did not utterly destroy them, and within a short time forgot the Lord God and her mission to the world. She compromised and became a new Sodom and Gomorrah, and new Canaanite nation, and was herself deposed from the land.

It was not until several hundred years later, with the coming of Jesus Christ (the new Adam, the new Noah, the new Israel), that the world would see the coming of the true savior of the world. Never again would God send His judgments universally upon any people or culture to destroy them utterly. Jesus Christ slays the nations by the sword that comes out of His mouth, that is by the Word of God (Rev. 19:15-16).  Since the coming of Jesus, righteousness goes forth by the power of the Holy Spirit as men and nations are brought into submission to Jesus through the service of Christians in the world.

"Out of His mouth goes a sharp sword"

We have often heard that mankind has arrived at a true humanitarianism in the world. Modernity has, we are told, thrown off the oppressive and inhumane religions of the past in favor of a fully enlightened humanity. But what has modern humanism given us? It has made the way straight for a purification of humanity at the hands of Hitler, who massacre 6 million Jews in Europe. It has manifested the scientific control of society that enabled Stalin to justify murdering 20 million of his own Soviet Russian citizens. It produced the likes of Pol Pot and the Khmere Rouge with the famous “Killing fields” in Cambodia where more than 2 million people were butchered. What about how the world looked with helpless amazement at Bosnian genocidal atrocities in the former Yugoslavia, or the horrific slaughter of over 800,000 people in Rwanda just a few short years ago?

Neither Israel nor Israel’s God ever committed any wicked genocide. It is not Christianity that inspires genocide. Rather, it is Christians and the Christian church that condemns such godless killing and violence. As mankind turns away from Jesus Christ, humanity itself comes to have little value in the world. Why? Because man is made in the image of God – and the best way to strike a blow against Him is to lash out against His image.

The only hope for this world is for all men and nations to submit in faith to Jesus Christ, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, and seek the salvation of the world through Him. May God use us, His people, to make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them and teaching them all that Christ has commanded so that the genocidal wickedness of humanism would forever cease; so that the righteousness of God may cover the earth as the waters cover the seas.

There shall come forth a Rod from the stem of Jesse,

And a Branch shall grow out of his roots.

The Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him,

The Spirit of wisdom and understanding,

The Spirit of counsel and might,

The Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord.

His delight is in the fear of the Lord,

And He shall not judge by the sight of His eyes,

Nor decide by the hearing of His ears;

But with righteousness He shall judge the poor,

And decide with equity for the meek of the earth;

He shall strike the earth with the rod of His mouth,

And with the breath of His lips He shall slay the wicked.

Righteousness shall be the belt of His loins,

And faithfulness the belt of His waist.

“The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb,

The leopard shall lie down with the young goat,

The calf and the young lion and the fatling together;

And a little child shall lead them.

The cow and the bear shall graze;

Their young ones shall lie down together;

And the lion shall eat straw like the ox.

The nursing child shall play by the cobra’s hole,

And the weaned child shall put his hand in the viper’s den.

They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain,

For the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord

As the waters cover the sea. (Isaiah 11:1-9)

Tags: Genocide

Sheep Calmly Awaiting the Slaughter

I’ve had enough conversations now about the recent news about the policy changes in the TSA that I think it’s time for me to weigh in just a little.  When it first was reported that the TSA would be increasing its security checks at airports I didn’t think much of it. But as the reports became more voluminous and clear about what these changes entailed I became a bit more alarmed. Finally, as it became clear that women and children were being searched bodily in some very inappropriate ways (which are illegal in most other contexts) – I asked myself how I would feel if my wife and daughter were forced into the situations described. My answer to my own question caused me to be moved from alarm to indignation. How is it that it makes sense to people that they should have freedom over other people’s lives like this – and even worse, we have become so fearful of boogie-men that we willingly give over our rights and freedoms without so much as a whimper. We have become so dependent on our Large Male Sibling that we will do whatever he thinks is in our own best interests. We have, as a people, become so accustom to the bureaucratic intrusions of the State that we could find someday that we have been led as sheep to the slaughter.

I now offer the following for your consideration – Since these guys have said it so much better than I ever could.

Doug Wilson

Doug Wilson recently blogged about the issue: Touching Sensitive Areas, or TSA For Short

He says: “Here are some points to keep in mind as the controversy about the TSA wends it way through our various news cycles and perhaps, let us hope, into a bill in the new Congress.

1. It does the old heart good to see people get riled up with government incompetence and . . . what’s the word I am looking for? Nincompoopery, I believe that’s it…”and so forth!

Steve Schlissel

Steve Schlissel also commented on the …. in his online article: America’s Terminal Case
He wrote, in part:

“Brothers, there has not been a more important issue smooshed in our faces in our adult lifetimes. Our government is claiming the RIGHT to feel up our women and daughters (not to mention our selves and sons). It alleges that this is necessary for national security. The first thing to understand-as in deeply, so it is completely absorbed: If this is our means of preserving the republic, it means THE REPUBLIC IS DEAD. It means the enemy has won, has triumphed. For here we behold an America which has fully turned us against ourselves, has turned us into something we never were, which we fought and bled vowing we’d never become, into something we stood with all our being against.”

Gary North

Even Gary North has something to say about the situation (surprised?). He begins his article this way:

As a 40-year student of bureaucracy, beginning with Ludwig von Mises’s great little book, Bureaucracy (1944), I have come to recognize a series of near laws governing bureaucracy. This one is, as far as I can see, unbreakable, comparable to the law of gravity.

Some bureaucrat will enforce a written rule in such a way as to make the rule and the bureaucracy seem either ridiculous, tyrannical, or both.

There is no way to write the rules so that some bonehead in the system will not find a way to become a thorn in someone’s side – a thorn that cries out for removal.

There are corollaries to this iron law of bureaucracy.

1. The bureaucrat in question will not back down unless forced to from above.
2. His superiors will regard any public resistance to the interpretation as an attack on the bureaucracy’s legitimate turf.
3. The bureaucracy’s senior spokesman will defend the policy as both legitimate and necessary.
4. Politicians will be pressured by voters to have the policy changed.
5. The bureaucracy will tell the politicians that disaster will follow any such modification of the policy.
6. The public will finally get used to it.
7. The politicians will switch to some other national crisis.
8. The internal manual will then be rewritten by the senior bureaucrats to make the goof-ball application mandatory.
9. Senior management will increase the budget so as to enforce the new policy.
10. Politicians will acquiesce to this increased budget.

This leads me to North’s law of bureaucratic expansion:

Any outrageous interpretation of a bureaucratic rule, if widely resisted by the public, will lead to an increased appropriation for the bureaucracy within two fiscal years.

There is an exception.

If the enforcement of the interpretation requires major expenditures for new equipment, the process will take only one fiscal year.

“All we like sheep have gone astray; We have turned, every one, to his own way; And the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed and He was afflicted, Yet He opened not His mouth; He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, And as a sheep before its shearers is silent, So He opened not His mouth.”

Isaiah 53: 6-7 tells us that the Lord Jesus was led as a lamb to the slaughter when He willingly laid down His life for us (1 Peter 2:21-25; Acts 8:32-33). We too are called upon to suffer wrong at times for His sake, and for sake of the Kingdom of God. And yet, we are given the privilege of living in a country that assures us the freedom to object to wrongs done against us by our leaders. We do not have to act like sheep to the slaughter because we have a Shepherd that has gone before us, and now sits at the Father’s right hand ruling all things for our sakes. We are not sheep without a Shepherd – we are the sheep of His pasture. And we are given the responsibility to do all in our power to make disciples of the nations. We don’t make disciples by willingly being herded by false shepherds and wicked rulers. We live and speak the words of Christ, who conquers His and our enemies with the sword that comes out of His mouth (Rev. 19). Let us not be silent suffers who have no voice – Let us boldly declare the good news that Jesus, the Prince of Peace, has come to make free to serve Him!

Tags: bureaucracy, Doug Wilson, freedom, Gary North, oppression, Politics, Steve Schlissel, TSA

Since Grace was born I looked forward to giving her a “Hope Chest.”  It seems like something dads should do. But more than that, it is something that I have wanted to do to tell her how proud I am of her as a person, and young woman and someone that I know will be a wonderful wife, mother and grandmother. She has diligently prepared herself for her future as a homemaker, and I have every expectation that she will be a woman of greatness.

Amy suggested that I write a poem for this gift giving event.  What you see below is not so much of a poem as poetic thoughts. I love you grace!

My Treasure

Great as all creation,
Are the treasures of God your Father,
With humanity the crowning glory.
We, His Covenant People, are His special Treasure.
Has He not promised to give us His best?
To open before us His good treasures – This is His pleasure.
Rain from the heavens, blessing on all the works of our hands,
To make us the head of the nations,
Giving us whole salvation and joy,
In love, to judge our sins, and vindicating us before our enemies.
All of these and more are laid up in store for us.
Unsealed are His treasures for those whom He has called sons and daughters.

Let us treasure up the Words of His mouth,
Greater than all other things necessary or desirable.
Let us rejoice at His utterances, His commands and promises,
As those who have found hidden treasures.
By the voice of Him who loves us,
We gain the greatest treasure of all,
God our Father!

Of all the treasures given to me by God your Father,
You, my daughter, are among the greatest!
Of course I treasure many things:
Some are contained only in my heart,
Others live in my home, While others are born to my children.
Some treasures could be put in wooden chests,
Hung on my walls, or worn as badges of pride in my reputation.
But you, my daughter,
Are a treasure so rare and wonderful,
I have nothing that compares to you.
You are a singular treasure,
Exceptional and unique in the world.
Who among the beautiful daughters of proud fathers,
Has such a desire to please with guileless trust,
Displaying rowdy joy and depth of empathy and concern?
You love with loyalty, you stand with truth,
You bring light and joy to me and all!
You, my daughter, are a treasure given by God my Father.

It is time, my dear daughter,
To fill your treasure chest,
With good gifts from God your Father.
To bless those in your world,
In anticipation and hope of the good future,
That is laid out before you by God your Father.
The day will come,
When you will become the greatest of all treasures,
To the one who will be the father of your greatest legacies and treasures.
In anticipation, I call upon you to make preparation,
To make yourself an even greater treasure than you are today!

“Wisdom and knowledge will be the stability of your times,
And the strength of salvation; The fear of the LORD is His treasure” Isaiah 33:6

Christmas Tide, 2009

Tags: Grace, poem