When Bad Theology Gets Scary

By Chaplain Mike

MOD NOTE: Folks, this is not a pro- or anti- Israel or Palestinian post. It’s about dispensational theology and the dangerous mixture of such theology with international politics. I’d prefer that you stick to this subject in your comments.

From today’s Jerusalem Post, these strong words from Michael Freund in his column, “Fundamentally Freund”:

IN CRITICAL times such as this, run-of-the mill diplomacy just won’t do. Generating a few press releases, writing a couple of op-eds and mobilizing Jewish organizations won’t be enough to turn the tide that is heading straight for our shores.

Instead, we need to reach deep into our arsenal and harness one of the most powerful, and underutilized, weapons at our disposal: faith-based diplomacy. For far too long, we have relied solely on military, geopolitical and historical arguments when making our case abroad.

Hesitant or even ashamed to invoke our biblical right to this land, many of our spokesmen and diplomats have failed to deploy the moral and theological arguments which are the underpinning of our very presence here.

And just look where that has gotten us.

The fact is that our largest, best-organized and most powerful friends —  namely US Evangelical Christians — stand by us not because of some UN resolution from 1947, but because of what God promised Abraham more than 3,700 years ago. And that is why we need to start quoting Genesis far more often than the League of Nations or the Balfour Declaration.

. . . And that is why it is all the more essential to be cultivating faith-based Christian support, both in the US and elsewhere. Because unlike fair-weather friends, whose backing depends on fluid and constantly-shifting political or economic interests, Bible-believing Christians stand with us out of solid belief. Their friendship is like steel — highly durable and resistant to breakage.

Thankfully, various Jewish and Christian groups are stepping in where the government has failed to act. The Knesset Christian Allies Caucus, for example, is building an extensive network of international parliamentary caucuses which mobilize support and coordinate various pro-Israel activities. From the US to Japan to the European Union, it has forged sister caucuses around the world.

Christian organizations in America are also leading the charge. Pastor John Hagee’s Christians United for Israel has built a nationwide grassroots movement that reaches more people and decision-makers than any communique from the Foreign Ministry ever did.

[In subsequent paragraphs, Freund mentions other Christian groups that support Israel in the way Freund is suggesting — the Christian Broadcasting Network, Rev. Robert Stearns of Eagles’ Wings, the International Christian Embassy, Bridges for Peace and Christian Friends of Israel, Christians for Israel International and their paper, Israel and Christians Today.]

. . . Now more than ever, we need to rally our “Christian base”in America and elsewhere. A few simple steps, such as organizing a Prime Minister’s Conference for Christian Leadership, developing the equivalent of a Birthright program for young churchgoers and establishing “Israel prayer battalions” would serve to reinforce this critical bond.

We should also appoint a roving ambassador whose responsibility would be to fortify and strengthen relations with Christians in America. This should not be an honorary title, but a position with real substance and meaning, manned by a person of faith and not just another political appointee.

With the world increasingly breathing down our neck, it is time that we embrace faith-based diplomacy, and not shy away from it in the heat of debate. As proud Jews who have returned to our land by divine right, we need not be embarrassed to assert our claim to our patrimony by relying on the Book of Books.

Nor should we fear that in doing so, we will stand alone. As recent years have shown, there will be millions of Christians ready to stand with us.

Despite a move away from dispensationalism, the pre-trib rapture, and “Left Behind” theology on the part of most Biblical scholars today, it seems to provide a major voice among those who are advising the decision-makers in the halls of power of the U.S. and Israel. In the process, it seems to me that Christians can easily fall prey to those who want to use them for purely geopolitical ends.

I find this greatly disturbing. How about you?

Epiphany and the Days to Come

Epiphany Times Three, Burleson

No one has ever seen God. But the unique One, who is himself God, is near to the Father’s heart. He has revealed God to us. (John 1:18, NLT)

• • •

Kathrin Burleson’s painting, which accompanies today’s post, portrays three revelatory events traditionally associated with the Feast of Epiphany, which the church marked yesterday. The water pot in the foreground recalls the wedding feast in Cana of Galilee, where Jesus turned water into wine. The star in the distance was followed by magi from the east, who ascertained by it that Israel’s Messiah had been born. And the glorious light outshining the star speaks of the Babe to whom that star pointed.

Epiphany and the season that follows celebrates God making himself known to us through Jesus. It is the season of revelation.

In the movement of the Church Year, Epiphany brings the Christmas cycle to its climax. In Advent, we long for God’s appearing and remember his promises. In Christmastide we celebrate the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem. In Epiphany, we mark various ways that Jesus manifested God’s glory to all people. Though Eastern and Western churches mark the time and days somewhat differently, in both cases we are celebrating the dawning and brilliance of the Light of the World.

Scriptures and emphases in the time after Epiphany include:

  • The baptism of Christ
  • The calling of the disciples
  • The teaching and training of the disciples
  • The ministry and miracles of Jesus
  • The transfiguration of Christ
Baptism of Christ, Giotto

This covers the first major part of the Gospel story. Epiphany is a season in which we reflect on something evangelicals have often placed less emphasis upon — the life and ministry of Jesus — in order to focus on what they perceive as the more propositional, doctrinal teaching of Paul and the other apostles. In contrast, ministers in the historic churches usually preach the Gospel text from the lectionary on most Sundays. I have come to prefer that and find that it helps keep Christ at the center of our worship. I wrote a post arguing that Christians, like Jews, have a “canon within a canon,” and that the Gospels are the most fundamental texts of our faith. What the Torah is to the Hebrew Bible, the Gospel (as recorded in the Gospels/Acts) is to the New Testament.

Here is Matthew’s description of Jesus’ ministry:

Jesus traveled throughout the region of Galilee, teaching in the synagogues and announcing the Good News about the Kingdom. And he healed every kind of disease and illness. News about him spread as far as Syria, and people soon began bringing to him all who were sick. And whatever their sickness or disease, or if they were demon possessed or epileptic or paralyzed — he healed them all. Large crowds followed him wherever he went — people from Galilee, the Ten Towns, Jerusalem, from all over Judea, and from east of the Jordan River. (Matthew 4:23-25)

Epiphany and the days to come will lead us on a journey with Jesus through this ministry and take us to the beginning of Lent. Epiphany ends with a remarkable revelation of Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration (Matthew 17). And that marks a turning point in his ministry: “From then on Jesus began to tell his disciples plainly that it was necessary for him to go to Jerusalem, and that he would suffer many terrible things at the hands of the elders, the leading priests, and the teachers of religious law. He would be killed, but on the third day he would be raised from the dead” (Matt 16:21).

The second major movement of Jesus’ ministry that starts at that point focuses less on the crowds and more on the disciples, teaching them what it means to follow Jesus to the cross. This is the journey we will take in the Lenten season — an ascent to Jerusalem with Jesus, a descent to Golgotha.

But for now, in these days following Epiphany, it is time for one remarkable Jesus-prompted surprise and delight after another! Our minds boggle and heads shake at the insightful words Jesus speaks. Our jaws drop in amazed wonder to see him exercise power over nature, bring wholeness to broken lives, and restore vitality where death once reigned. Fear and dread knot our stomachs as cosmic conflict erupts. But Christ speaks with authority, and all is peace.

These days also remind us that Jesus came to spread the light of love of God to everybody. The visit of the magi begins to answer the prayer of Psalm 72:

Procession of the Queen of Sheba (detail), Francesca

May the king’s rule be refreshing like spring rain on freshly cut grass,
like the showers that water the earth.
May all the godly flourish during his reign.
May there be abundant prosperity until the moon is no more.
May he reign from sea to sea,
and from the Euphrates River to the ends of the earth.
Desert nomads will bow before him;
his enemies will fall before him in the dust.
The western kings of Tarshish and other distant lands
will bring him tribute.
The eastern kings of Sheba and Seba
will bring him gifts.
All kings will bow before him, and all nations will serve him.
He will rescue the poor when they cry to him;
he will help the oppressed, who have no one to defend them.
He feels pity for the weak and the needy,
and he will rescue them.
He will redeem them from oppression and violence,
for their lives are precious to him.
Long live the king!
May the gold of Sheba be given to him.
May the people always pray for him
and bless him all day long.
May there be abundant grain throughout the land,
flourishing even on the hilltops.
May the fruit trees flourish like the trees of Lebanon,
and may the people thrive like grass in a field.
May the king’s name endure forever;
may it continue as long as the sun shines.
May all nations be blessed through him
and bring him praise.

Calling of Peter and Andrew, Buoninsegna

Therefore, Epiphany is a wonderful time for the church to focus in a special way on the Missio Dei: God’s mission in the world. Hearing and seeing our Savior at work, we long that he would call us to join him in bringing salvation and shalom to others. We jump at the chance when we hear him say, “Follow Me, and I will make you become fishers of men” (Mark 1:17).

Leaving the “holy huddle,” we go out into the neighborhoods, towns, and cities where we live to relate, listen, befriend, help, comfort, support, and share Good News with those around us in Jesus’ name, in the authority of his Kingdom, and in the power of his Spirit.

An Encouragement for Epiphany

Gold from Ophir is too slight,
away, away with vain gifts
that you break from the earth!
Jesus wants to have your heart.
Give this, o Christian flock,
to Jesus for the new year!

Text by Paul Gerhardt, from Bach Cantata BWV 65

The Forgotten Deadly Sin

Many of you are probably familiar with C.S. Lewis’s Mere Christianity.  His chapter on “Sexual Morality” has some analogies in it that have struck me for some time.  With your indulgence, I will quote what Lewis has to say then go on to make my point.

Lewis compares our sexual appetite with our appetite for food to show us how disordered the sexual appetite is.  “The biological purpose of sex is children, just as the biological purpose of eating is to repair the body.  Now if we eat whenever we feel inclined, and just as much as we want, it is quite true most of us will eat too much; but not terrifically too much.  One man may eat enough for two, but he does not eat enough for ten.  The appetite goes a little beyond its biological purpose, but not enormously. . . .

“Or take it another way.  You can get a large audience together for a strip-tease act – that is, to watch a girl undress on the stage.  Now suppose you come to a country where you could fill a theatre by simply bringing a covered plate on to the stage and then slowly lifting the cover so as to let everyone see, just before the lights went out, that it contained a mutton chop or a bit of bacon, would you not think that in that country something had gone wrong with the appetite for food?  . . .

“Here is the third point.  You find very few people who want to eat things that really are not food or to do other things with food instead of eating it.  In other words, perversions of the food appetite are rare.”

Continue reading “The Forgotten Deadly Sin”

Great Expectations


“And now, Lord, for what do I wait? My hope is in Thee.” — Psalm 39:7

For some, the time after Christmas is somber and blue – the crash after peaking expectations plummet into a disillusionment of dashed hopes and disappointments. In years past, I reveled in the post-Christmas quiet. The exhaustion of hosting large family gatherings through the holidays made the lull afterwards a welcome respite.

This year I found myself in the somber and blue group. It was a crash all right – akin to jumping off a fast-spinning merry-go-round of work, writing, months of houseguests, and sorrowfully watching as loved ones suffered through illness, grief and towering problems. Definitely, a few hopes dashed.

What were the expectations that weren’t met? Nothing material or easily definable. I didn’t look for more money or better health or world peace. I didn’t even have major expectations from the people in my life. I knew better than to think, If only so-and-so would change in this way or that, I’d be a happier person. No unreasonable expectations there. I put the whole burden on God in 2010.

The previous year had ended with a major disappointment for me, something I reeled from for weeks. “Not to worry,” I told myself. “The new year is here. I’ll pray and soon I’ll know what to do from here.”

That has always been the beauty of a new year. Twelve months of fresh possibilities. Three hundred sixty-five days to start over and find a better outcome. Right?

Continue reading “Great Expectations”

Richard Halverson’s Vision

By Chaplain Mike

“Think of it this way. The program of our church is everything all the members are doing between Sundays. The church keeps house, goes to school, teaches, practices law, medicine and dentistry, runs business and industry, farms, works on construction jobs, researches in many fields, sits on school boards, city councils, county councils, state legislatures and congress. Between Sundays the church is involved in everything productive and constructive that is happening in our community. And it does so as a witness to Christ, to the glory of God, in His love and in the power of the Holy Spirit, sensitive to its accountability to Christ.

“And what of the church work which is done in and for the church organization? Its purpose is to equip each member to do the work for the church Monday through Saturday. All the programs within the church are for the purpose of enabling the church to do the work of ministry between Sundays when she is invisible as a congregation.”

• Richard Halverson, How I Changed My Thinking about the Church, p.106f

What Has Changed?

North Point Community Church

By Chaplain Mike

Today, I want to have us simply compare two statements by pastors of large churches. The contrast between the two was, to me, striking.

The first was made by Richard Halverson a long time ago. In his 1972 book, How I Changed My Thinking about the Church, Halverson, staff pastor in a large church (about 7000 in membership), tells how he was led to consider the difference between what he called “church work” and “the work of the church.” In the process, he asked this question: “How many do we need to really do the work of the organization of this church?” To his surprise, he estimated that, if every person only held one position, it would take 365 people to maintain the program of that large institutional body.

Fast forward to 2010, Christmas weekend. Several American megachurches have decided to cancel Sunday services on the day after Christmas. Why? One of the staff from North Point Community Church in Alpharetta, Ga., explained:

The Sunday between Christmas and New Year’s just gives us a great opportunity to say thank you, prioritize your family, enjoy a week off,” said Bill Willits, director for ministry environments at North Point, which draws 23,000 people across its three campuses on a typical Sunday.

Willits told The Christian Post that the church requires at least 2,000 volunteers every week to pull off one of the Sunday morning services.

In other words, if you do the math, in 2010 it takes about twice as many people, percentage-wise, to staff a congregation and conduct ministry within the church institution as it did forty years ago. I think the number may actually be higher than that, because what Willits said was that it takes 2000 to pull off ONE service, whereas Halverson was talking about the ENTIRE institutional ministry of the congregation.

How does this strike you?

I’m not going to comment at this point. I’d just like to see what people have to say about this.

On Good Works

Paul's Epistle to the Galatians

By Chaplain Mike

Whenever we have a discussion on faith and good works, it is likely that we will go down many side trails, as happened on Monday in our conversations. Today would be a good time, in my estimation, to clarify some fundamental Biblical teachings and to point you to what I think are brilliant Reformation insights into the subject of good works, what they are and what their relationship is to saving faith.

Often considered Martin Luther’s best book, and the clearest exposition of the Christian life he ever wrote, A Treatise on Good Works (1520) was composed for the following purpose:

For at this time I have wished to show how in all good works we should practice and make use of faith, and let faith be the chief work.

Today, we note several important teachings from the first part of Luther’s treatise.

Continue reading “On Good Works”

Paul’s New Law—Or Our Identity In Christ?

Note from JD: In anticipation of many, um, interesting comments that will follow this post, I am donning my Simul Iustus et Peccator (At Once Justified and Sinner) t-shirt sent to me by our friends at New Reformation Press. I highly recommend you get one for yourself before you find me guilty of treason, blasphemy, or just annoyance…

Ok, I am going to pre-empt Chaplain Mike for once because a) as publisher, I can, and b) as publisher, I can. Some of you have taken exception to his post from this morning dealing with works-righteousness. Some of you like to quote Paul in order to prove that we had better straighten up and fly right if we want to get into heaven. And then there is Jesus himself telling the woman caught in adultery to “go and sin no more.”

Paul speaks often of our salvation by faith alone.  The first eight chapters of Romans drips with this. Every one of his epistles, or letters, to the churches he was wanting to speak to deal with sola fide, by faith alone. But he says it no more clearly and succinctly than in Galatians:

Oh, foolish Galatians! Who has cast an evil spell on you? For the meaning of Jesus Christ’s death was made as clear to you as if you had seen a picture of his death on the cross.  Let me ask you this one question: Did you receive the Holy Spirit by obeying the law of Moses? Of course not! You received the Spirit because you believed the message you heard about Christ.  How foolish can you be? After starting your Christian lives in the Spirit, why are you now trying to become perfect by your own human effort? (Galatians 3: 1-3, NLT)

Continue reading “Paul’s New Law—Or Our Identity In Christ?”

Works-Righteousness by any Other Name Still Stinks

By Chaplain Mike

Regret. This is the great demon conjured up by International House of Prayer founder and director Mike Bickle to scare Christians straight. The Christian Post reports that he gave a message on the subject to 27,000 young people at a four-day conference last week in Kansas City, MO.

Bickle’s message was first preached on Jan. 28, 2006, as part of a series on the millennium. (You can access the original by clicking the link.) In dramatic fashion, Bickle testifies about a life-changing “vision” he received from Jesus.

I had a very powerful visitation of the Lord when I was twenty-three years old—a long time ago. I am fifty now, and it was Oct. 1978. I lived in St. Louis, and it was a life-changing radical arresting experience—a trance. I was caught up, and I experienced it in the spirit; yet I was still on the earth, I was kneeling before the Lord. and I did not know what was going on. I did not know where I was, or what was going on, but I was kneeling before the Lord. I went to bed one night and I woke up in this experience. I am kneeling before the Lord, and I am looking into His eyes . . .

The Lord is looking at me eye to eye and says, “Saved, but your life was wasted.”

This shocked Bickle, for he was sure that he was a committed believer, full of zeal for the Lord. The pain he felt on that occasion was the greatest he ever felt in his life—the pain of regret. The vision was so powerful, according to Bickle, that it has molded his thinking ever since. More than anything else, he testified that he does not want to reach the last day and experience that feeling of regret.

That was the feeling and when I looked in His eyes, I was ashamed, and I realized there was no condemnation in the sense of we are forgiven; we will stand in His kingdom forgiven. We will be secure in His kingdom, but I was ashamed of how I lived. I felt the feeling and the emotion of it. It is biblical to have regret in the presence of God.

It is not, however, biblical to manipulate people by destroying their assurance through religious double-talk and by teaching them to trust in their own dedication rather than the Gospel of grace in Jesus Christ.

Works-righteousness by any other name still stinks.

Continue reading “Works-Righteousness by any Other Name Still Stinks”

Relating to Science, Our Neighbor

By Chaplain Mike

Christianity Today’s top ten list of news stories from 2010 included one that prompted a lot of discussion here on Internet Monk:

8. Prominent Old Testament scholar Bruce Waltke resigns from Reformed Theological Seminary under pressure amid debate on the historicity of Adam. “If the data is overwhelmingly in favor of evolution,” he said in a video for BioLogos, “to deny that reality will make us a cult.”

Collin Hansen at The Gospel Coalition also included BioLogos in his “Top Ten Theology and Church Stories from 2010.”

9. BioLogos Stirs Debate Over Evolution
National Institutes of Health director Francis Collins launched BioLogos in late 2007 with money from the John Templeton Foundation. This year BioLogos reignited the evolution debate among Christians in earnest. The controversy began last spring. Venerable Old Testament scholar Bruce Waltke resigned from Reformed Theological Seminary-Orlando after recording a video for BioLogos in which he said Christianity risked becoming a cult if the “data is overwhelmingly in favor of evolution.” Then BioLogos picked a fight with Al Mohler, a young earth creationist. Neither side appears willing to retreat.

On New Year’s Eve, BioLogos noted these acknowledgments and reflected on where we go from here. Their fundamental position is summarized in a paragraph that Christians everywhere would do well to consider:

We live in a scientific age and that is not going to change. For hundreds of years now science has been successfully informing us about the natural world. The Church need not take the entire world of science on, and it must not allow itself to be led by those with enormous rhetorical skill and the keenest of intellects, even though they are sincere and love the Lord with all their hearts, souls and minds. These people, gifted as they are, are taking the Church down a dead end road. Scientific knowledge is not deeply flawed and we cannot allow ourselves to be led down this pathway any longer.

Let me break this paragraph down and paraphrase it in six statements.

  1. We live in a scientific age and that is not going to change—science will continue to take a vital role in leading and shaping the way we think about and live in the world.
  2. Science has proven its worth in accurately informing us about the natural world.
  3. It would be foolish for the Church to take on the whole world of science and simply take opposing positions to their findings.
  4. To do so takes us down a dead end road, leading nowhere good for the Church.
  5. Scientific knowledge, though always developing and being refined, is not deeply flawed.
  6. Christians must find other, better ways of interacting with the scientific community and learning to understand and practice our faith in a world we share with them.

Now it’s your turn.

Is this the position Christians should take? How might you change or refine it? Or, do you strongly disagree? If so, how would you summarize your position?

Let a new year of vibrant, respectful discussion begin!