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“You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You. Trust in the Lord forever, the Lord God is an everlasting Rock” (Isaiah 26:3-4).  

Brothers and Sisters in Christ, don’t we need this good reminder from our God right now?  Presidential elections are settled in heaven.  The winner is ordained of God, who is the Only Sovereign King over all nations.  We’re simply waiting for the will of heaven to unfold and be revealed finally to us.

“The Most High rules the kingdom of men and gives it to whom He will” (Daniel 4:25). 

While I do not want to speak out of turn or make claims that are simply too great for me, it does appear fairly clear that corruption has infected nearly every level of American society and culture.  That comes as no shock to those of us who believe God’s assessment of humanity.

“The human heart is deceitful above all things and desperately sick” (Jeremiah 17:9).  

God’s verdict upon the Northern Kingdom of Israel during the Prophet Hosea’s time sounds exactly like the condition we find ourselves in here in the USA:

“There is no faithfulness or steadfast love, and no knowledge of God in the land; thee is swearing, lying, murder, stealing, and committing adultery; they break all bounds, and bloodshed follows bloodshed. Therefore the land mourns, and all who dwell in it languish” (Hosea 4:1-3).  

Friends, whether or not the outcome of the election turns out like we hoped, every single one of us ought to at least be asking God to expose any legitimate fraud, and to bring justice to those who may have broken election laws or who may have intentionally corrupted the results.  Even non-Christians in America ought to desire genuinely free and fair elections.  If we cannot even hold such an election anymore, then our nation is sunk already.  

And maybe we are.  God has surely been long-suffering with our individual and national sins.  I pray God will keep giving us time. Time as a Church to tell more people of the Christ who saves sinners by His grace.  Time for lost neighbors and co-workers and students to be granted repentance of sin and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.  Time to keep laboring to finally end the scourge of abortion in our land. 

“Have I any pleasure in the death of the wicked? declares the Lord God, and not rather that he should turn from his way and live?” (Ezekiel 18:23)

A glimmer of hope – for those of us who respect life at all stages (womb to tomb), who support God’s design for marriage and sexuality, and who strongly oppose socialism – the Congress may continue to maintain the ability to neutralize or minimize the President, should Joe Biden be the winner.  If so, it would be yet another example of God’s immense mercy upon us. Yet more time for us to turn back to the Creator-Redeemer-Rock who is Jesus Christ our Lord.  

Personally, I think it unlikely that President Trump will be re-elected when all the legal dust finally settles. Yet, President Trump and his legal team are well within their rights to pursue all necessary recourses to ensure the results of the ballots are accurate.  And I am hopeful that at bare minimum any and all fraud will be exposed and rooted out by these legal actions.  Regardless of who wins in the end, I want to have some measure of confidence in the veracity of our election system.  Right now, I have none.  I pray God will use these next few weeks to restore our confidence in free, fair elections.  While these things do not matter most, they do matter, especially for our American form of government.  

May our hearts and minds stay fixed on God who doesn’t change. Who is a God of order. Though chaos swirl all around us, we can smile dear blood-bought saints; for our feet have been planted forever firmly upon the Rock of Ages!  His purposes shall prevail. The world is headed to its rightful end – prostrate at the feet of Jesus.  

And while I know from God’s Word this election outcome is already done in the mind of God, indeed ordained of old by Him, I cannot help from a purely finite human perspective wondering what might have been.  What if President Trump had modeled humility and kindness of spirit for the last four years?  What if he, like Christ, had refused to revile in return?  Refused to seek vengeance?  Pumped the brakes on the Tweet train?  Listened more and talked less?  His policies have been very good for our nation, in general.  But his pomposity has been hard on us.  On all of us. 

My prayer is that President Trump would be given grace by God to humble himself, repent of his sins, and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.  My prayer is that he be born again unto a living hope.  Even powerful Presidents need Jesus, for God is no respecter of persons.  And I pray the same for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris.  One day each one of these persons will stand before God on Judgment Day. And only one thing will matter then . . . 

“The Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son, that all may honor the Son, just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him. Truly, truly I say to you, whoever hears My word and believes Him who sent Me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death unto life” (John 5:22-24). 

Well, it’s Election Eve. 

Who knows when we will actually know the winner? 

One thing I am sure of, Jesus Christ always wins.  Regardless of the outcome of our elections (important though they may be), King Jesus’ throne is forever secure.  And Jesus will continue to build His Church regardless of what kind of political or demonic forces oppose her (Matthew 16:18). 

But there’s usefulness in asking, “Under what system of government does the Church best thrive?” 

I said thrive. Not survive. And by thrive, I mean not just multiplication of disciples within the borders of one’s own nation.  While that’s the starting place, the Church’s mission mandate from our Lord is to “Go therefore and make disciples of all the peoples / nations.”

So I ask the question again, “Under what system of human government does the Church best thrive?” 

To put this in perspective, let’s rephrase the question: “In the past 2000 years, how many missionaries have been launched out into the world from absolute monarchies?  From communist nations?  From tribal forms of government?  From Fascist regimes?”

One struggles to even think of a few instances where the gospel was propagated freely to the world out of these kinds of governmental structures.  Can the Church go underground and survive in Red China?  Yes!  Praise God!  But how many missionaries are being launched into the rest of the world out of China?

As Europe and Australia have become more and more socialistic in their governments, they have sent less and less gospel missionaries to the world.  We Christians here in America need to think seriously on these realities. 

I have many reasons to strongly dislike socialism in all its insidious forms.  The Bible upholds the rights of citizens to own private property. The Bible condemns taking money forcibly from some people and redistributing it to others (it’s called stealing).  But even more important than these principles is the advance of God’s kingdom through the world-wide, free propagation of the good news of Christ. 

Do we think it coincidence that the Sovereign Lord chose to begin to first build His Church in the Roman Republic?  The gospel spread like wild-fire throughout the Roman Empire, and soon thereafter was being launched into Europe, the Far East, and even the New World we now call America.  O yes, there were some rough spots (i.e., Nero).  But make no mistake, the God of all the Earth selected to launch the world-wide mission of His gospel from Rome’s Republic. 

And do we think it coincidence that the United States of America has sent more gospel missionaries to the ends of the earth than any other nation in history? 

Socialism is bad for gospel missions. 

Why are left-leaning politicians and the judges they appoint relentlessly attacking our 1^st and 2^nd Amendments?  Because these basic rights stand squarely in the way of a socialist agenda.  Of course, the Democratic Party Platform feigns support for both of these rights.  But one needs only observe how the blue states are governed in these matters as compared to the red states to draw a quick conclusion!  Anti-2^nd amendment laws in Chicago, for example, have resulted in a crime rate that rivals if not exceeds some of the most dangerous cities of the world.  And where, pray tell, are churches being fined, threatened, and discriminated against all in the name of “pandemic control”?  I tell you, if a church cannot even assemble, it’s going to have a very hard time launching missionaries to the world! 

The votes we cast as American Christians matter, dear brothers and sisters.  But ultimately, “we wrestle not against flesh and blood” (Ephesians 6:12).  Abortion is not first a political issue!  Sexual perversions and gender chaos are not first political issues. Freedom to assemble to worship is not first a political issue.  These are all moral, ethical, spiritual issues first!  God has spoken clearly to them in His Word. 

While we might not be giddy about any of our Presidential candidates’ moral character or personality quirks, their policy positions are distinct in the issues that impact our nation’s morality.  The party platforms and the candidates themselves give us a clear choice.  And I firmly believe our nation’s ability to continue being the world’s foremost propagator of the gospel of Jesus Christ to the world is truly at stake.  And that matters most.

O Lord God, we cry out for mercy on our nation!  Almighty God, please do not give us leaders we deserve. Rather, give us leaders out of Your heart of grace. That the Name of Jesus might go forth from our land to the peoples who have still yet to hear.  Be exalted in all the earth, O God.  We know You do not need America to accomplish Your sovereign will.  But we desire to continue to be Your vessel to tell the world that Jesus saves!  We are seeking Your mercy, confessing our sins and clinging only to the strong Name of Christ, come what may.  Revive Your Church in America O Holy Spirit, and awaken thousands of our neighbors to their need of salvation in Jesus alone as we share the good news with our Jerusalem.  And may You once again use us to turn the world upside down for Jesus. 

Soli Deo Gloria!

“I will flat out change the law.”  

That’s how former Vice-President Joe Biden answered a question regarding transgenderism among elementary aged-children at a recent town hall.  The obvious ignorance of the US Constitution aside (Presidents cannot change laws), Biden believes 8 year olds should be encouraged to make permanently life-altering and physically damaging decisions about their bodies.  Well, because, you know, 8 year olds are completely matured in their mental and emotional development and can be trusted to know what’s best for them over the course of their entire lifetimes.  

What are parents for?  Who needs them at all?

Friends, this is the inevitable result of abandoning any objective standard of marriage and sex.  Throw God’s definition of marriage in the trash heap of history, and it’s an anything-goes-in-the-realm-of-sex-and-gender world.  Europe and Australia preceded us in this moral, relativistic non-sense. They are now legalizing and commending polygamy and polyamory, among other things.  Professors and researchers are now making arguments in various medical, scientific, psychological and sociological journals in favor of pedophilia, polyamory, and bestiality.  And in the realm of gender, it truly is a “whatever suits you” ideology.  

Gender dysphoria is plaguing our nation. It’s being encouraged in our public schools as early as kindergarten!  The voices of those who dare to speak out against it are shamed and silenced.  And those who have suffered the most from this mental illness and sin-sickness, who dare to urge others to please stop this insanity before it destroys more children and young adults, are treated with satanic vitriol.  I strongly encourage all of you to watch the new documentary by the American Family Association, called Made in His Image.   https://inhisimage.movie/                 

No-fault divorce. Fatherlessness. Homosexuality. Gender-confusion. Sexual perversions. Abortion. An epidemic of STDs. Rampant pornography addiction.  Sex slave trafficking.  Suicide rates through the roof, especially in the LGBTQ+ community.  This is what “sexual freedom” looks like.  No, this is what it looks like to hate God, to despise His good will and ways, and to live as our own gods.  O God have mercy!       

We can either have a President and administration who supports obvious child abuse (many courageous pediatricians are calling it by its real name), as well as total sexual chaos.  Or, we can have a President and administration whose policies have proven to be strongly pro-family, as defined by the Bible and good old common sense.  

Nobody has a “right” to change his or her biological sex (gender).  God determines human rights (see my former post https://www.corydonbaptist.org/blog/post/carzy-califormia).  Governments should not codify as “rights” behaviors that our Almighty Creator has forbidden.  Rather, government is established by God’s design to promote good and discourage evil (Romans 13).  But if we allow our society to give up any objective standard of good and evil, then nothing remains for us but chaos and anarchy. 

While we must treat all people with kindness, respect and love, this is no way means we must endorse sinful, destructive lifestyles or choices.  I love my daughter, but I will never support her if she suddenly chooses to saw off her arms.  All the “my body my choice” banter in the world will not convince me to commend or to allow my daughter to mutilate herself.  God gave her those arms!  She must learn to be thankful for them and to employ them in the cause of the advance of His gospel and His kingdom.  

Gender and sexuality were built into the very creational design of God for humanity.  “Male and female God created them. And God said, ‘Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth’” (Genesis 1:27-28).  Jesus affirmed the one man, one woman for life design of marriage (Matthew 19:1-6).  God expects men to be men and women to be women (Deuteronomy 22:5; 1 Corinthians 11:1-16).  

It simply is not loving to commend or encourage sin or distortions of God’s good design for human flourishing.  Endorsing sin is itself a sin (Romans 1:32).  We must not strengthen the hands of evildoers (Jeremiah 23:14).  Rather, we must hold out the hope of forgiveness of sins – all sins, the worst of sins – through repentance and faith in Jesus Christ the Lord.  

“Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God?  Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed! You were made holy! Your were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God!” (1 Corinthians 5:9-11)

So, ask yourselves: Which party platform most strongly supports God’s vision of human flourishing in the matters of marriage, family, sexuality, and gender?  

Every decision, at its core, comes down to this: Will we trust God?  Or ourselves?

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean upon your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight” (Proverbs 3:5-6)

Amy Coney Barrett’s ongoing confirmation hearing in the US Senate highlights the criticality of Presidential elections.  Indeed, many conservative Christians voted for Donald Trump in 2016 based almost entirely on this issue – the appointment of Supreme Court Justices and judges all across this land.

For the past four decades, the phrase “Judicial Tyranny” has come to the forefront.  It’s the idea that instead of adjudicating or interpreting the law, judges at all levels of our society have been making law. Granted, legislating from the bench is often cloaked as “interpreting” or “applying the law.”  But from my perspective, it has surely felt like a tyranny foisted upon our society.  Things that should come from our State Legislatures and our US Congress, now routinely come down to us at the end of a gavel.  

For example, consider how so-called Gay Marriage is now referred to as “the law of the land.”  Why? Because of a Supreme Court decision.  Abortion. Law of the land. Why?  Roe v. Wade. 

And yet courts do not make law!  At least they’re not authorized to according to our Constitution.  

Imagine how a court “discovered” a right to chop up a baby in the mother’s womb imbedded in the words of our US Constitution.  I have read it several times.  There’s not a single word in it that would compel a reasonable, literate person to conclude the Framers and Authors of that document expected our society to give women the right to murder their babies. It’s judicial insanity. Tyranny. The same could easily be said of Gay Marriage.  

Yes, I am an originalist. 

That is, I expect Supreme Court justices to interpret the true “Law of the Land” (US Constitution) in a strict and literal manner. What did the original authors mean by what they wrote?  What did the words mean in their original context?  What they meant then, they mean now. The meaning of a document does not change. Words have objective meaning, else language is pointless. Readers do not determine meaning.  Authors do.  Instead of reading our situation into a text, we should read the original meaning and situation out of the text.  Whatever principles are actually in the text itself, we apply to our own context.  But invent principles that are not in the text itself we should not do.  

My thinking here should not surprise anyone that knows me.  I am, after all, a Reformed Southern Baptist Pastor committed to exegesis (Greek for “to know out of”) of the biblical text in its original context.  The only preaching model I desire to follow is Expository.  The point of the text is the point of the sermon. The structure of text is the structure of the sermon. What God’s words meant then (when they were written) is what they mean now. Objective truth does not change. Implications of the truth for us today may well vary, but authority resides in the text itself, as the Author gave it to us.  

Appointment of judges, and especially Supreme Court Justices, is one of the most significant consequences of a Presidential election.  Lifetime appointments may bless or curse us for many generations. Consider that in my entire lifetime, it has never been illegal for babies to be slaughtered in the womb.  All because of a few Justices appointed by a President.  Imagine an America where 60 million dead babies (the majority of which were precious black babies) are alive and with us today.  

The Democratic Party Platform supports federal funding for Planned Parenthood.  (PP is one of the most ironic business names in history, by the way. It should be called Avoiding Parenthood Responsibilities.)  The party platform cloaks its support of abortion mills in seemingly racially-sensitive language: “We will . . . restore federal funding for Planned Parenthood, which provides vital preventative and reproductive health care for millions of people, especially low-income people, and people of color” (p. 33).  

Well, PP surely doesn’t provide healthcare for millions of black babies in the womb!  

The Democratic Party Platform also explicitly supports appointing judges who “will respect and enforce foundational precedents, including . . . Roe v. Wade” (p. 40).  The platform also supports the Hate Crimes Prevention Act, which has been used as a club to discriminate against Christian business owners all over America.  

The Republican Party platform says, “We oppose the use of public funds to perform or promote abortion, or to fund organizations like Planned Parenthood, so long as they provide or refer for elective abortions or sell fetal body parts rather than to provide healthcare” (p. 13).  The GOP platform also denounces “activist judges” (p. 13).  

The distinction and choice could not be clearer.                             

“Open your mouth, judge righteously, defend the rights of the poor and needy” (Proverbs 31:9).  

Could there be a more volatile time for a presidential election in our nation?  I am forever thankful my hope is not in this world!  

And yet, I may not as a follower of Christ, shirk my responsibilities in this world.  And you may not, either, dear Christian.  We must shine as lights in this crooked and perverse world and hold out the word of life (Phil 2:14-16).  We must seek justice and love mercy, as God defines those terms (Mic 6:8).

One of the ways we are blessed in this country to be able to effect righteous laws, or righteous changes, is by voting in our elections.  If you do not like our current electoral system, feel free to replace it with that of any other nation in the world. But I warn you – you’ll be sorry.  

So, Christians, please vote!  I want to spend the next few weeks of blog posts, leading up to Election Day, examining what I believe are the key issues that should drive how we vote as the chosen, blood-bought people of God in Christ Jesus.  It is not my intent to hyper-analyze each issue. Rather, I simply want to state the issue. Examine the two party platforms on the issue, then ask, “What says the Lord?”  

Issue #1 – Abortion. 

In some ways, we need not go beyond this issue. Yes, I have been for decades and continue to be a “one issue voter.”  While Christians like me have come under criticism from other well-meaning Christians, I ask all Christians to watch this video, and then tell me that voting for any candidate whose party platform supports this is pleasing to our Creator.

https://youtu.be/A16gzm9eaa8 

Abortion is not just murder (the taking of the most defenseless and innocent life).  Abortion is gruesome murder. Abortion is tortuous murder. We would puke if we saw this happening to a kitten or puppy in the womb.  How must God grieve to see His image-bearers carved up like a Christmas turkey?  

For a comparison of party platforms, https://downloads.frcaction.org/EF/EF20I08.pdf  

What the Bible says about this issue is so crystal clear that I sense little need to even try to expound upon it. “Do not murder” (Exodus 20:13).  If a person caused a pregnant women in ancient Israel to miscarry or caused harm to her babies, the punishment was death (Exodus 21:22-25).  God’s view is clear. And how in the name of all things unholy we have tolerated this evil in our nation for 50 years is beyond me.  

I can easily imagine (and dream of) a generation some 50 years from now looking back on us and renouncing our sins or complacency in the matter of abortion.  Asking, “How could they?”  Just as we today have renounced our past sins of chattel slavery, so may future generations rise up and renounce us for allowing our tax money to fund baby slaughter houses. For spending millions of dollars making companies rich that fund abortion genocide mills. 

O God release us from this curse!  Forgive us!  Our only plea is the righteousness of Christ and His atoning death in our place. Bring us as a nation to repent of this evil. Give us leaders who will finally eliminate it from our society.  And grant churches the grace to serve hurting mothers. To hold out the gospel to them. To adopt more babies. And to move with compassion to a lost world in need of the Savior.  Lord, forbid any Christian called by Your name to vote for a candidate who personally, or via his or her party platform, supports abortion in any way.  Heal our land of this bloodguilt.  For Christ’s sake. Amen.

“Be still and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations. I will be exalted in the earth” (Psalm 46:10).

It’s been a really noisy year so far.  It’s bound to get even louder in the next few months.  

So many voices. So many tweets. So many FB posts. So many debates. So many non-stop “breaking news” casts.  So many protests. So many riots. 

And in the midst of it all, it seems the enemy attempted to silence our pulpits.  Or, at least quieten them down or reduce their influence and impact.  

And in the midst of it all we Christians have too often snapped. At one another! The emotional strain of all the voices in our ears driving us to sometimes prioritize policies and preferences over people. To wrongly caricature those in our church family who hold different opinions on tertiary matters.  Forgetting not one of us has all the truth about what in the world is happening to our world.  

We have even at times blocked one another. Silenced one another. And in some cases (gulp!) even unfriended one another. In the same church family!  To the very ones God says we are “one body” with, and simply cannot do without (1 Corinthians 12).  

Preaching through Colossians this year has been enthralling. At least it has for me. I cannot speak for my poor listeners!  Today, as I kick off Labor Day weekend with all my fellow Americans, and my precious church family, I prepare to preach about the great struggle Paul had for the churches of Colossae:

“That their hearts be encouraged, being knit together in love” (Col 2:2).        

This is Paul’s great wish. His great strategy for the Colossians Christians to not be tricked by false doctrine. To live out the faith together in mutual encouragement and love. The Greek text reveals that the same kind of strength and courage given to us by Holy Spirit God is precisely what Paul has in view for the church.  We are to be imitators of God. We are to share the encouragement and comfort He has given us with one another (2 Corinthians 1).  

And what is to be the primary thrust of our mutual encouragement?  

“To reach the riches of full assurance of the understanding and knowledge of God’s mystery, which is Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (Col 2:2-3).  

So, dear Church. I want to strongly encourage you, all of you, all of us, to spend this month intentionally encouraging one another. To pursue Christ for all He’s worth!  To take practical steps to show love to someone, maybe even the very one you blocked or unfriended.  To send that text with a strong, Christ-exalting Bible verse. To point out those evidences of grace. To express gratitude for each other.  

Seriously. Pick your first victim (in a good sense). Now encourage. Do something. Say something. To put the comfort and strength and courage of God into his or her heart. Then pick a second victim. And a third. All month long. 

Shut out the noise. Turn off the news. Turn off your phones for a few hours each day.  Log off all the sites that clamor for your attention. That scurry to be the first to give you some new bit of information. 

Go sit quietly with your Bible. Read a Psalm. Ask God to burden you with someone, a brother or sister in your church family that may need your encouragement. If this sounds overly-mystical, then just start working your way through your church membership directory!  Pray that the Lord would give you a love for the person. To increase your love for him or her.  Find a way to connect via encouragement.    

Then, encourage. Do something encouraging for him or her!  I am not an expert on 1000 ways to encourage others. I am your fellow learner and struggler. But I have found over and over, if I but drown out the noise of life, and turn my heart toward God and His blood-bought people, I will inevitably commit an act of encouragement.  

Let’s make this month one of “September Silence.”  

Silence all the clanging gongs of talking heads. Muffle the noisy cymbals of our culture and our crazy post-modern, robotic existence.  Get with God. Listen to His voice revealed in His Word. 

And from that place of silence and stillness before your Creator-Redeemer, encourage someone else so that you might be knit together in love.  Imagine the difference this might make in this church family!  A month filled with no harsh voices, no retweets, no lofty opinions, no angry debates, no fear-mongering, no latest-greatest data dumps, no nothing. 

Except Word-driven, Christ-exalting, Faith-Fueled Encouragement.       

O, what a powerful, promising month this might be!

Will you join me?  In September Silence?

As a native Kentuckian, with a Wildcat love and Bluegrass in my veins, I never thought I would hear myself say, “I am so glad to live in the Hoosier State!”  

But say it I have. Repeatedly. For several months now.

Our part of Indiana has been quite sheltered from much of the virus madness.  My back porch looking out over my garden and the woods behind it, is a long way from Indianapolis.  Governor Holcomb has gone out of his way to honor churches and our Constitutional freedoms during this COVID-19 crisis.  While we may not agree with his every decision, I still think we can, as Christians, thank God for his leadership and pray for God to keep giving him wisdom and courage.  And if all else fails, remind yourselves it could be worse – you could be living in Kentucky. Or California!  Then pray for them.

I simply cannot imagine what it must be like to be a follower of Christ in California right now.  A pastor in Ventura County has come under intense scrutiny.  You should take 20 minutes right now to listen to his impassioned argument and plea to his community, church, state and nation:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JptA_y86q8c&feature=youtu.be&t=24  

While my own interpretation of the data surrounding this virus closely mirrors this pastor’s, my personal stance on it rests less on the US Constitution, less on fallible and corruptible data, and more on the infallible Word of God.  The State simply has no authority to dictate matters of internal church governance.  Christ rules as Head of the Church and He does so, practically speaking, through elders / pastors who serve as under-shepherds of His flock (Acts 20:28; Eph 4:11-12; 1 Peter 5:1-5).  

While I am grateful our Founders codified the right to religious assemblies in the 1st Amendment to our Constitution, I am even more grateful that they did so as a recognition of our “inalienable rights” that come only from God.  The Pastor in Ventura County rightly pointed to this historical reality.  And this principle is what seems to be lost in our culture; or, if not lost, outright hated.  

If God commands, a human right is established.  If God forbids, no human right exists.  So, if God commands us as Christians to worship Him, to sing to Him, to gather in His name, to show hospitality to one another, and to bear one another’s burdens, for example, then a truly good government will uphold those rights for their citizens.  And if God forbids murder, then a truly good government will outlaw abortion, along with all other forms of murder.  And if God condemns homosexual conduct, then a truly good government must at bare minimum strongly discourage it. If God condemns lying, then a government must encourage truth-telling.  If God says a man must work to provide for his own, then a government must give him that right and strive to provide ample opportunity for him to do so.    

This is how human rights should work. It’s a rather simple concept. Our Founding Fathers grasped it, though like every other human on the planet, they did not live it out perfectly.  But O how far we have fallen!  Our governments, federal and local, all across this land, now promote evil and discourage good.  And even within the church, we cannot seem to stand together on issues that are clearly and explicitly commanded or forbidden by God in Scripture.  And if the Church of Christ in the United States of America loses this basic concept of rights derived from God alone, what hope is there for our sin-loving, Christ-hating culture?  We have only just begun to experience anarchy and lawlessness.

No fancy strategy or attractional church programs can fix it. It’s time to fast and pray.

For over 50 years, Pastor John MacArthur has heralded the gospel of salvation for sinners by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, to the glory of God alone!  And he has done so because, like the Reformers who pre-dated him by 500 years, he believes in the absolute authority of Scripture alone.  

And now, under the tyranny of Governor Gavin Newsom, our brother in Christ and the elders with whom he serves at Grace Community Church of Sun Valley, CA, find themselves forced to make an Acts 5:29 stand.  “We ought to obey God rather than men.”  And in the “Land of the Free” this pastor is now being threatened with arrest by the very government sworn to uphold his freedom to religious assemblies and his free speech rights.  O, dear Christians of America, can you hear our brothers in Chinese “reeducation camps” crying out for us to stand firm?!  Can you hear the desperate pleas of our sisters in North Korean labor camps begging for God to give us grace to resist this tyranny?!  Do you hear the cries of the believers in Pakistan whose churches are routinely burned and whose daughters are often captured and forced to marry Muslim men three times their age?  Are we listening, Church?  Is my own Southern Baptist Convention listening?  As Black Lives Matter now burns Bibles in the streets, whose voice or voices are we going to heed?  

O God, give us grace to realize that right now, if we are born-again followers of Jesus Christ, we are all John MacArthur!  Regardless of whether we agree with every point of doctrine he has taught over the years, we cry out to You, Maker of heaven and earth, to fight for him as your chosen man.  We ask, O Lord, that You would prevent His arrest.  Yet, as our Savior taught us to pray, not our will, but Yours be done.  If You have ordained suffering and even imprisonment for the cause of Christ, give our brother strength.  Use him wherever You send him, to proclaim salvation in no other name other than Jesus!  Bring men and women to submit to the Lordship of Christ Jesus the Lord by the courageous ministry of Pastor MacArthur.  Grant the church he shepherds an extra measure of grace, increased courage, and everlasting hope in the Rock and Redeemer whom they love and serve.  May they stand with their pastor and his family in this trial.  May the fame and name of Jesus be lifted even higher. May You turn the enemy’s schemes back upon his own head. O Almighty God, turn the heart of Governor Newsom.  Bring this earthly ruler to his knees. Humble him and grant him repentance of sin and faith in the one and only Ruler whose kingdom shall not end.  May thousands of sinners in California be born again by a massive move of Your Spirit, as they see Your power and love on display in and through Grace Community Church.  Awaken them to their dire need of the salvation only Jesus gives.  Deliver them from Your righteous wrath by the bloody cross of Christ.  Be merciful to them, O Lord, for Your own sake.  

“Sovereign Lord, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and everything in them, who through the mouth of our father David, Your servant, said by the Holy Spirit, ‘Why did the Gentiles rage, and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers were gathered together, against the Lord and against His Anointed,’ for truly in this city there were gathered together against Your holy servant Jesus, whom You anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, to do whatever Your hand and Your plan had predestined to take place. And now, Lord, look upon their threats and grant to Your servants to continue to speak Your word with all boldness, while You stretch out Your hand to heal, and signs and wonders are performed through the name of Your holy servant Jesus” (Acts 4:24-30).  

Amen.              

“And He is the head of the body, the church” (Colossians 1:18).  

The last three weeks of preaching have been sheer ecstasy for me!  We circled our theological and devotional wagons around Colossians 1:15-20. Any Christian who is not immensely and deeply blessed by drinking up this high Christology may not actually be a Christian.  If God the Father’s eternal purpose is to ensure His Beloved Son has preeminence in all things, then how could our purpose and goal as believers and as churches be otherwise?  

Competitors to King Jesus’ Headship over His Church in America have never been more prevalent.  Back in March, when our governments began insisting churches and everything else shut down due to a virus with a 98% survival rate, I seemed to be in the minority even of my pastor friends when I vehemently protested.  I was, `rank`ly, shocked at how many pastors simply acted as if the government was acting perfectly within its rightful authority.  But I barked then, and am still barking that the government, whether local, state or federal, has no jurisdiction or authority in the Church of Jesus Christ!  Alexis De Tocqueville warned Americans in the early 1800s that whatever rights or freedoms they gave up to government, they would not likely ever get them back.  

Was he right?  As Governors all across this land take steps backwards to lock everything down again, what will churches do?  As Governors and local health departments and mayors tell Christians to stop assembling, to wear masks if they do assemble, to stay six feet apart, to not take communion, to not baptize, to not eat together, to not sing, to not visit the sick, to leave the elderly alone, what will churches do?  Having already caved to this Marxist madness, I am not sure anything we do at this point will make much impact; for we already proved we are more than willing to cede authority that only rightfully belongs to King Jesus to King COVID.  I mourn for the anemic condition of the Church in America. And I pray for churches who are standing firm in obedience to the Lord Jesus to be sustained by the Holy Spirit, and to be willing to pay whatever price is necessary to submit to His Lordship alone.

We are being offered a new gospel.  The State is now offering to rescue us from . . . wait for it . . . the State!  The wrath unleashed upon us by government, literally destroying the livelihoods of millions of Americans, will be alleviated by the government graciously giving us money.  Or, in some circles, medical science will save us from what medical science has done to ruin us.  And in the meantime, we seem to have forgotten the urgency of the only true gospel – that God saves us from His own righteous wrath by the sinless life, the substitute death, and the powerful resurrection of His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.  And unless our neighbors repent of their sin and believe this gospel, all the “safe, socially distant” measures in the world won’t help them in the end!     

Sadly, millions of former church-going Christians (or at least those professing to be so) have taken the bait.  Barna Research recently released a study which surveyed church-goers over the months of April and May https://www.barna.com/research/new-sunday-morning-part-2/?fbclid=IwAR2fS4Q0gyaeCP-NOLjGSb_Gth_O1XYIt_gsvKugIBsplHQrTjVu4yKS9iU.  This study found that 1 in 3 former church-goers did not bother to stream their own church’s or any church’s “online worship” service. For two months!  They just stopped altogether. And they do not seem eager to return to in-person gatherings either.  In other words, they have been in a 4 month long state of disobedience to King Jesus.  It may be possible for a truly born again person to live in sin for four months, but nobody who takes the words of Christ seriously should bank on it (Luke 6:46).      

Some of us saw this coming. And no, you didn’t have to be a prophet or have any special powers to predict this outcome.  There’s a practical side to it. Stop anything for 4 months and it is excruciatingly difficult to `rank` that habit back up again.  But more importantly, I think, there is a theological side to it. The question at the bottom of it all is “Who will be King?”  

Will we continue to follow King COVID?  King Fear?  King Safety?  King Comfort? King Health?  King State?  King Medicine?  

All these surely have their place in society.  But none of them make good Kings.  None of them can ultimately save.  None of them can bear up under the title “Messiah” or “Lord.”  And if we do not decide right now to shake off these idols, we may well pay an everlasting price.  

Though there is much to mourn, I also think it must be a good thing for Americans who profess Jesus as Lord and Savior to finally have to count the cost.  For pastors who have struggled for decades to purge church membership rolls of those half-hearted, non-committed professors of faith, well, God is purging for you.  And when God does something, it’s always done well!  Those left standing shoulder-to-shoulder, and those still visiting the sick, and those sitting in pews singing at the top of their lungs, and those still urging their neighbors to trust Christ, and those still risking something to love people in person, and those still soaking up the preached word from their pastor who is “among them” (1 Peter 5:2), these humble, obedient by grace, faith-fueled warriors may just turn our communities upside down for Jesus once again.  O God make it so!

And to the flock at Corydon Baptist which God has entrusted to me, your faith through these last four months has inspired me, and has brought great glory to King Jesus!  You dear born again believers have been answering the question – who will be King? – for months now with a resounding, “Jesus is Lord!”  What an honor and delight to serve Christ, to serve you, and to serve Christ with you.  The true Head of the Church is worth whatever suffering He has ordained for His body.  Let’s press on in His name!

In the previous two posts, I have argued that the agenda and worldview of Black Lives Matter is not biblical.  It is anti-Bible and anti-gospel.  This is because it is based on Critical Theory, or Critical Race Theory.  The underlying assumptions of CRT ought to disturb any Bible-believing Christian, regardless of skin color.  For a quick overview take a listen:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u_8ub4ziXNA

Now, in some ways, I do think the BLM has allowed (perhaps encouraged?) their movement to be hi-jacked by ANTIFA.  I do not think most Americans who are showing sympathy for the mistreatment of black people support the violent methods of ANITFA (now rightly declared a domestic terrorist organization).  But friends, please hear me.  There has got to be an unmasking of these links, these connections that are fueling violent criminal activity and civil lawlessness and the attempted overthrow of our Constitutional Republic.  If BLM does not support such aggressive tactics or wants to distance itself from the mob attacks, then it should denounce ANTIFA and all violence immediately!  But as it stands, it appears obvious they intend to stay fully connected to (if not funded by) ANTIFA.  I pray that freedom-loving, law abiding Americans, Christian or no, will begin to implore BLM to cut ties to any groups advocating or committing criminal acts of rioting, looting, murder or vandalism.  Denouncing crime is not, and should not be something that is difficult for any of us to do regardless of our skin color or ethnicity.  Listen to what Lt. Col. Allen West has to say in this short clip:        

https://www.frc.org/updatearticle/20200630/destroy-monuments 

If evangelical Christians of all skin colors and all denominations do not wake up to the underlying worldview driving this insanity train, we will all find ourselves marked out as Enemy of the Woke State which ANITFA seeks to establish once our Republic topples or implodes.  For those unfamiliar with the worldview of CRT, let me draw from my notes taken during a lecture given last year by Ryan Fullerton, Pastor of Immanuel Baptist Church in Louisville, KY.  Pastor Fullerton did a superb job of boiling down Critical Theory, in five statements:

1. CT sets itself up as a comprehensive worldview.  

In other words, it wants to be the lens through which people interpret the world and everything in it.  Critical Theorists claim they know what’s wrong with the world and how to fix it.  And in so doing, they set themselves up as rival kings to the One and Only King, the Lord Jesus Christ.  And their theory is bereft of biblical doctrine, biblical categories, and biblical truth.  It really is the age-old battle of man’s word versus God’s word.  Satan’s original strategy of “Did God really say?” has not changed!  

2. CT divides the world into two groups – oppressed and oppressors.

Individualism dies when Critical Theory is embraced.  Now, don’t get me wrong.  I do not think everything about individualism is correct.  As Americans we have idolized individual choice and preference.  For example, the way most Christians view the local church is far too individualistic, so that whenever something doesn’t suit my preferences, I just leave and go to the next purveyor of personalized services (i.e., another local church) rather than obey God and “bear with one another in love” (Eph 4:2).  But what CT does is it subsumes all individual traits and identities into one of the two groups.  So, everyone on the planet, then, is either oppressed or oppressor.  It matters not that you, a white man in America, have a heart that by God’s saving grace in Christ embraces all peoples as worthy of dignity and love.  You must repent of racism simply because of your group identity (all white men are viewed by CT as oppressors).  But is the world really this simple?  Are no white men ever oppressed? Ask the Scottish Covenanters or Irish slaves of yesteryear.  Pastor Fullerton noted that in setting up the world this way, CT teaches a new Doctrine of Original Sin.  That is, your sin is simply being born into an oppressor group and there just is no forgiveness for it, ever.  There is only a requirement for you to perpetually apologize to everyone for your “whiteness” or your “upper-middle-class-ness” or your “maleness” or your “heterosexual-ness.”  And then you must be fired from your job, even if you are truly sorry for your past sins and/or the sins of your oppressor ancestors.      

3. CT says salvation for humanity is solely about liberation from oppression.

If they meant liberation from the oppression of your sinful nature and your soul-deep rebellion against God and His Law, then we Christians could jump on board!  But of course, Critical Theorists define oppression only in terms of the oppressor-oppressed continuum (see above paragraph).  CT proponents often cry out against any attempt to have the ideas of anyone they classify as “oppressor” determine law or become the norm of society.  CT hates hegemony, or the control or dominance of one social group or nation over another.  That is, of course, unless it’s their own ideas or “group” that dominates!  The self-contradiction and hypocrisy is palpable.  And the fact is, all laws reflect some group’s values.  The only question is which group’s values are reflected in our laws, and upon what authority?  In general, CT uses the fact that the United States was originally founded by white men, to then encourage all the laws and definitions that they embraced be cast aside.  An easy example is the definition of marriage as one man and one women, or sex as male or female.  For humanity to be saved, CT claims all use of hegemonic power must be abolished (except their own use of such power).  But Jesus came to set the captives free from sin (Luke 4:18-19; John 8:31-47).  If Christ came to establish or overthrow political oppressors, He failed miserably.  Make no mistake, one day He will return to establish His literal rule and reign over all the earth, but we dare not confuse His first coming with His second.  This is the classic error of the social gospel. “My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom was of this world, my servants would be fighting, that I might not be handed over to the Jews. But My kingdom is not of this world” (John 18:36).  

If Critical Theorists, BLM and ANTIFA truly cared about the oppressed, they would be advocating for the US to use its military might to demolish the regimes of North Korea, China, Iran, Nigeria and Somalia, to name but a few.  Instead, they often support such regimes and seek to overthrow America!  If BLM hates slavery (and who doesn’t?), then why are they not throwing their millions at organizations on the front lines of the sex-trafficking war around the world?  If our American government is toppled, do we seriously think the world will be a better place?  And just what do we think ANTIFA and BLM would put in the place of our Constitutional Republic?  Utopia?  A godless Eden?            

4. CT privileges minority voice.

Now, please do not hear what I am not saying.  Christians have always valued sympathetic and even empathetic listening.  We value the last, the least and the left-out. Because our Savior did.  He touched lepers and was kind to prostitutes.  He healed the outcasts and saved them from their sins, bringing them into the only kingdom that lasts forever (John 9).  God chose Israel, the least of all the nations (Deut 7:7).  We must intentionally serve widows and orphans (James 1:27).  So yes, we need to listen to all the voices represented in our nation.  And our political system is gloriously geared to give all a voice through the ballot box and a representative form of government!  But friends, we must also strive to keep a godly balance as we hear voices.  Is the majority voice always right?  No! But neither are minority voices. Rather, what we need is to seek to bring ourselves under the rule of One Voice – the very voice of God as expressed in His Word.  For only His voice is always right.  Our personal life experiences, valuable and meaningful and worthy of sympathy as they may be, are not ultimate.  CT makes life experiences ultimate truth, which inevitably can only mean relativism rules (what’s right for me may not be right for you). The irony is they reject individualism as it pertains to the two groups / classes of oppressor-oppressed, yet embrace it in ethics!  CT’s brand of ethics is what some call “Ethnic Gnosticism.”  It claims that my group gives me a secret knowledge not available to those outside the group.  How does this lead to mutual understanding, empathy and true care for humanity?  If I as a white man can truly never understand or know anything at all about what it might be like to be in an oppressed class, then what motive do I have to listen or care at all?  Listen to this sermon for more on this topic: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ip3nV6S_fYU

5. CT holds to double standards.

Seriously. Critical Theorists do not even hide it or apologize for it.  They want two standards. One for the oppressed group (as they define it) and one for the oppressor group (as they define it).  We are seeing this overt hypocrisy consume our society and culture at every level.  Do you like what you see and hear all around you?  If not, then you had better get “unwoke” dear Bible-loving, Christ-exalting Christian.  As Pastor Fullerton put it, “Jesus was an equal opportunity Convictor and Savior.”  Well, amen.  

As our great Christmas hymn exclaims, “And in His name all oppression shall cease.”  

And only in His name.