May 27, 2022

History offers no promise of an answer or a happy ending. There is not even a promise of a happy beginning. -Dominic Green-

As Napoleon said, history is fiction agreed upon. Whether Herodotus, the father of history, or Cicero, the father of lies, or Nicole Hanna-Jones, the myth maker of the “1619 Project,” none of these chroniclers and inventors of history had a biblical perspective. As believers in Jesus Christ, with confidence and conviction in Biblical truth, we have not only a precise history of the past but also a perfect prophecy of the future. This allows us as we live in the present to engage the culture with confidence. There are plenty of reasons and a plethora of evidence to feel concern as we serve Jesus Christ in this cultural context. But we have reasons to believe and reasons for hope. We must always remember, ‘hope’ never means ‘uncertain optimism,’ it means a sure and confident expectation. And the prophecy of Scripture in no uncertain terms declares that the King is coming. We may not know when He comes, but when He comes, He comes for us. And until then, He desires that we continue to make a defense of the hope within us and magnify the name of Jesus. The name of Jesus is going to become publicly offensive and a cultural taboo in future days. The world looks at Bible believing Christians as “the mystic prophets of the absolute” that must be silenced. We are more and more no longer looked at as good people or peculiar people but dangerous people who are rigid, restrictive, and trying to impose moral rules and regulations that restrict the moral freedom of people. Mark it well, our corrupt culture is headed for a collision with our Christian world view and our corresponding moral values. Make no mistake, although this battle manifests itself in our present physical world there is a war also in the unseen world. (Ephesians 6; I Peter 5; I John 5) However, as scripture declares from Genesis 1 through Revelation 22, God is sovereign. He is in control and knows the end from the beginning. And in the end, we win. And so, if we can trust Him for the last hour, we can trust Him for the next minute. Serving Him with you until He comes for us, Fred

May 20, 2022

As a Man Thinks, So He Is.

Christians need to be Spirit controlled and self-controlled in their thinking. Being controlled by the Holy Spirit is a supernatural opportunity. Being self-controlled is an essential necessity. What we do not need is to be controlled by flimsy thinking, faulty reasoning, false assumptions, fragile emotions, or fake news. We must demand the time to think and develop the habit of thought. Unfortunately, when we become weak or weary we give in to simplistic solutions. For some, denial is the easiest choice. Many Christians simply refuse to see the world as it is and sadly desire to hide in their Christian ghetto and play it safe. They hope to sneak into heaven incognito having never left a mark or made a difference for the cause of Christ. For others, despair controls their thinking. They become overwhelmed and overawed, experiencing the paralysis of analysis resulting in fear, frustration, and a failure to engage the culture.  Christians need to move beyond the extremes of denial and despair. Realism demands a response which may include much anger and some angst if we honestly look at and engage the culture in which we live. But we must move beyond outrage at what is, and be optimistic for what is to come. The best way to live in this present world is by realizing the world of the future. I am not talking about the mystical aphorisms found in fortune cookies. I am talking about the future fulfillment of the promise of prophecy. I am speaking of the coming of Christ to restore all of creation for which now we groan but then we shall glory. Jesus gave us the example that should guide us. First, a crown of thorns. Then a crown of Glory. Death to life - Defeat to victory. This may sound radical, but it is reality. Hear the words of sacred scripture expound what I have tried to explain. Romans 8:18-28 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us. For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope that  the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now. And not only this, but also we ourselves, having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body. For in hope we have been saved, but hope that is seen is not hope; for who hopes for what he already sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, with perseverance we wait eagerly for it. In the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for  we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words; and He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. Serving Him with you until He comes for us, Fred

May 13, 2022

Will the cultivation of equality in the form of democracy eventually destroy liberty? -Tocqueville-

Some things cannot be imagined because some things are unimaginable, and yet sometimes impossibilities become inevitabilities. Let’s start with “true anger and end with honest hope.” Is America in trouble? To ask that question is to answer it. On every major front and in many significant ways, we are witnessing the social and spiritual, as well as corporate and individual deterioration, devastation, and demoralization, if not the outright destruction of the American culture and the Christian Church. This is not negativism or naiveness but simply a heightened sense of reality. But the Christian faith has never been dependent upon or determined by cultural environment. What has always been needed is a dependence upon the Holy Spirit, a disciplining of the flesh, and a decision and determination to engage in, as Nietzsche said, “a long obedience in the same direction.” Now is not the time to traffic in the secular and trifle with the sacred. Now is the time to confirm both our confidence and conviction, corroborated in our courage and commitment to the living Word of God as made known to us in the written word of God. (Jo. 1:1-14; Col 1:15-20) I must admit I have a righteous anger as I see the moral devastation in our country and the demoralizing of the church of Jesus. But I have an honest hope in the promises of God and the fact that He cannot lie. (Hebrews 6:17-18) “And this hope we have as an anchor of the soul a hope both sure and steadfast and one which enters within the veil where Jesus has entered as a forerunner for us, having become a high priest forever...” (Hebrews 6:19-20) Jesus is my anchor and my hope in a world that seems so very hopeless. I hope He is your hope as well. Serving Him with you until He comes for us, Fred

May 6, 2022

We Should Always Live Like Someone is Always Watching and Listening ~ Cicero ~

Living under the secular and corrosive rule of Caesar, Cicero understood the cultural reality of censorship. However, from a spiritual viewpoint it is actually very true that someone is always watching and listening. It is not Caesar but the Lord Jesus Christ. But State censorship in any culture working under the name of the Disinformation Governance Board and formed by the Department of Homeland Security will conclude with a collision between the First Amendment’s guarantee of freedom of speech and the guarantee of religious freedom. Christians living in America must become aware of the corrosive control of censorship and how it can cancel a culture. (Have we not seen this in Portland and Seattle lately?) It seems that for most Americans, history has to do with what happened last week or maybe one year ago. But for those who know modern world history, you know what censorship results in and the kind of people who use censorship to control others. It is, of course always presented as a safety precaution that is essential and good and even loving. But as Proverbs 14:12 reminds us, “There is a way that seems right to man but its way leads to death.”   People such as Hitler and Goebbels, Stalin and Khrushchev, Che Guevara and Castro are classic examples of what the prescient mind of George Orwell had in mind with the 'Ministry of Truth.' Stalin coined the term 'disinformation' and Orwell saw the danger in 1948 when he wrote “1984.” The body count was in the multiple millions. Frightfully similar to what happens when your propaganda machine changes a word from baby to fetus or from “unborn person” to “unwanted body part.” As Aldous Huxley reminds us, “That men do not learn very much from the lessons of history is the most important of all the lessons of history.” For those who do not realize the trajectory of where some of these political mandates will lead, Voltaire reminds us; "Those who can make you believe absurdities, can make you commit atrocities." Christianity is founded on the Christ who is the truth. Christianity is framed and formed on what Francis Schaeffer called “True Truth.” Jesus said, “My word is truth. Sanctify them in truth.” The Apostle Paul said the church is to be “the pillar of truth” and “present the word of truth” even as we live in the land of liars.   There is no premium on stupidity in the Christian life. We must demand the time to think and develop the habit of thought. If we do not, then Huxley will be right - People will come to love their oppression and to adore the technologies that undo their capacities to think. Serving Him with you until He comes for us, Fred