We, . . . Having undertaken for the Glory of God, and Advancement of the Christian Faith, and the Honor of our King and Country, a voyage to plant the first colony in the northern parts of Virginia; do . . . solemnly and mutually in the Presence of God and one another, covenant and combine ourselves together into a civil Body Politick…. (Mayflower Compact 1620)

In most of America’s institutions of learning, the Puritans, Calvinists, and Pilgrims are often portrayed only as separatists. But a close examination of the lives and writings of the early American colonists clearly reveal that “their intent was to seek liberty for themselves and their little ones, and to walk with God in a Christian life, for the rules and motives of such a life were revealed to them from God’s Word.”

They were determined to escape the religious persecution of Europe. Bradford made it clear that the Pilgrims’ purpose was to labor to have the right worship of God and discipline of Christ established in the church, according to the simplicity of the gospel, without the mixture of men’s inventions.

The original group of believers in Nottinghamshire, Lincolnshire, and Yorkshire joined themselves by a covenant to the Lord into a church estate, in the fellowship of the gospel, to walk in all ways made known unto them, according to their best endeavors, whatever it cost them, with the Lord assisting them. They had that great hope and inward zeal of laying a good foundation for the propagating and advancing of the gospel of the kingdom of Christ in those remote parts of the world.

According to Bradford, the Pilgrims came into these parts of America with one aim, namely, to advance the kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ and to enjoy the liberties of the gospel in purity and peace. The strong grasp of the intellectual and practical side of his and other Pilgrims’ ideas of religious liberty they owed, no doubt, a deep debt to that splendid apostolic figure, their old pastor at Leydon, John Robinson.

The Farewell Sermon

It was evening, and the place was Delfshaven Holland and the date was July 31, 1620. The beloved pastor looked over the pulpit at his flock of around 120 pilgrims for the final time. He then read his last sermon to them before they set sail the following morning on an adventure that would change all their lives:

We are now ere long to part asunder, and the Lord knoweth whether he [Robinson] should live to see our face again. But whether the Lord had appointed it or not, he charged us before God and His blessed angels, to follow him no further than he followed Christ; and if God should reveal anything to us by any other instrument of His, to be ready to receive it, as ever we were to receive any truth by his ministry; for he was very confident the Lord had more truth and light yet to break forth out of His Holy Word.

He took occasion also miserably to bewail that state and condition of the Reformed churches who had come to a period of [standstill] in religion, and would go no further than the instruments of their reformation [i.e. those who had been leaders in the Reformation]. For example, the Lutherans could not be drawn to go beyond what Luther saw; for whatever part of God’s will He had further imparted and revealed to Calvin, they [the Lutherans] would rather die than embrace it.

And so also, saith he, you see the Calvinists, they stick where he [Calvin] left them, a misery much to be lamented; for though they were precious shining lights in their times, yet God had not revealed His whole will to them; and were they now living, saith he, they would be as ready and willing to embrace further light, as they had received.

Here also he put us in mind of our church covenant, at least that part of it whereby we promise and covenant with God and one another to receive whatsoever light or truth shall be made known to us from His written Word; but withal [he] exhorted us to take heed what we received for truth, and well to examine and compare it and weigh it with other Scriptures of truth before we received it. For saith he, it is not possible [that] the Christian world should come so lately [recently] out of such thick antichristian darkness, and that full perfection of knowledge should break forth at once.

As heirs of their risky and adventurous faith, new believers in the U.S. and around the world still seek to embrace this further light.

The Great Sacrifice

William Bradford wrote:

I do not think many Americans will gaze upon it without a little trembling of the lips and a little gathering of mist in the eyes, as they think of the story of suffering, of sorrow, of peril, of exile, of death and of lofty triumph…..There is nothing like it in human annals since the story of Bethlehem. These English men and women going out from their homes in beautiful Lincoln and York, wife separated from husband and mother from child in that hurried embarkation for Holland, pursued to the beach by English horsemen; the thirteen years of exile; the life at Amsterdam in alley foul and lane obscure; the dwelling at Leyden; the embarkation at Delfthaven; the farewell of Robinson; the terrible voyage across the Atlantic; the compact in the habour; the landing on the rock; the dreadful first winter; the death roll of more than half the number; the days of suffering and of famine; the wakeful night, listening for the yell of the wild beast and the war-whoop of the savage; the building of the State on those sure foundations which no wave nor tempest has ever shaken; the breaking of the new light; the dawning of the new day; the beginning of the new life and the enjoyment of peace with liberty…….

The phrase, Pilgrim Fathers commonly used by Americans, has created a vague impression of  severe old men with long beards wearing long traditional attires similar to what is associated with ministers of religion. But the majority of the Pilgrims at the time of their arrival in America were still young men and women who sacrificed everything:

They had an inward zeal of laying good foundations, or at least of making some way for the propagation and advance of the kingdom of Christ in the remote parts of the world, even thogh they should be but steeping stones to others in the performance of so great a work. 

For instance, William Bradford was thirty-one years old in 1621, when he was first elected to the office of governor. Most of other Pilgrims were about the same age or younger.  Unfortunately, many people, born and raised in the United States have forgotten their history. Yet, we advance our knowledge and understanding of the world we live in by studying history.

History is not about mere memorization of important people, dates, or events. History is about studying cause and effect—what causes civilizations to develop and what causes them to collapse.

Over and over again, as the Israelites prepared to cross the Jordan River to enter the Promised Land, Moses charged them to remember with gratitude where they came from. Moses continued to remind God’s people of the past, taught them how to live in the present, and urged them to look ahead to the future. They were warned not to forget, especially when prosperity and wealth came.

But sadly the lesson was not learned and “they did not understand nor appreciate His miracles…they hastily forgot His works; and did not wait for His plans to develop in the desert” (Psalm 106:7, 13). How does this apply to us today? Paul tells us,

Now these things are examples (warnings and admonitions) for us not to desire or crave or covet or lust after evil and carnal things as they did….

Now these things befell them by way of a figure [as an example and warning to us]; they were written to admonish and fit us for right action by good instruction, we in whose days the ages have reached their climax (their consummation and concluding period)” (1 Corinthians 10:6, 11 AMP).

While on the contrary, William Bradford vividly remembered God’s past acts on behalf of the pilgrims when they sailed from Plymouth and decided to settle in America. “Our fathers,” said Governor Bradford to his fellow Puritans who landed at Plymouth, “were Englishmen who came over this great ocean, and were ready to perish in this wilderness; but they cried unto the Lord, and He heard their voice, and looked on their adversities and the sons and daughters of the Pilgrims then remembered.”

History demonstrates that the Pilgrims were willing to put biblical and Christian principles in government to the test. Both spiritually and politically, they rose up foundations of many generations. Four hundred years later, the people of the United States are still building on this great heritage that the Pilgrims laid.

Below is the video from CBN about Celebrating the First Landing:

Source and description of Image: The Embarkation of the Pilgrims (1857) by the American painter Robert Walter Weir at the Brooklyn Museum in New York City. Wikipedia

One of the biggest problems we have in our society today is thinking because we “know” something that it is “knowledge.” That is what makes it possible for so many psychopaths to publish a plethora of lies on the Internet that is believed by so many people.

This is the information age. Never have people had access to so much information – and it can be accessed while sitting in the comfort of your own living room… on your Smart TV or your laptop.

But information is not knowledge. It is just information… possibly true, possibly false; possibly meaningful, possibly not; possibly helpful, possibly destructive or otherwise worthless.

How does information become knowledge? Experience!

You only KNOW information is accurate when it has been tested. If people understood this there would be far fewer divorces and far fewer wars.

I often ask people for their definition of truth and most have to think before they give a response. They often reply “factual.” Here is my definition: Truth is that which does not change. There is only one thing that never changes. It is God, the only entity that is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow. Jesus Christ told us He is “the way, the truth and the life.”

There is a difference between factual and truthful. One can change; the other cannot. When truth changes it goes without saying that what we thought was the truth before it changed was, indeed, not the truth – so how reliable is updated “truth”? One thing you can always count on in worldly matters is change.

We understand when presented with a list of facts surrounding a specific topic that as we investigate we will find more facts and some will conflict with others. As we learn more, our understanding of the facts changes.

To verify that statement, we can look at the numerous scientific opinions put forth about global warming – all based on scientific facts (or opinions about facts that are presented to the public as facts rather than opinions).

When we get conflicting facts, those who seek knowledge dig more to determine which ones are accurate, which are not. Those who are satisfied with information — those to whom knowledge is unimportant — stop seeking when their comfort level is reached.

The point is, facts may change. Truth does not. We once thought the earth was flat, for example. Our facts were erroneous. Today we believe it to be round, but as we learn more about our universe who knows what facts we may find?

The lesson to be learned? Information is just information, not knowledge. It may or may not be factual. Before making important decisions in your life, it is important to understand that.

Knowledge is information with which you have experience. You have tested it. It, too, may not be factual, however. Look how many people sincerely believe that something for nothing is a good idea – for them, for society.

Bernie Sanders has generated a following of many millions of Americans who think free education and free medical care are really free. They do not understand that they are coveting – putting their hands in their neighbors’ pockets and stealing from them money their neighbors worked hard to earn. They are incapable of digging deeply enough to learn that socialism has failed everywhere it has been tried.

One reason socialism fails is because when the productive are told they must support those who choose to be non-productive they become less productive. Why? Maybe it’s because they have no motivation to pay for your education or that of your children.

Perhaps they resent having the quality of their medical care go down so people who prefer to be unemployed rather than employed can get free care. Those who are truly unable to work need free medical care, but those who prefer the “freedom” of being unemployed? Please!

When people become less productive, government tax revenue goes down because fewer people are employed and fewer people can afford to buy things… from homes to clothing to cars.

Taxes realized by government as a result of lost income tax from jobs and sales tax from purchases go down. Because college is free, more students attend and the quality of instructors goes down and so does the quality of education… college becomes (as it is today) advanced high school.

There are a lot of people who use information to escape rather than find reality.

Those seeking facts are totally different from security-motivated people who manipulate their life experiences so they hear what they want to hear, learn what they want to learn, and confirm the facts they want to confirm so they can keep their heads firmly buried in the sand – or wherever. You may ask: “If they are confirming facts, aren’t they seeking reality?”

Many people stop seeking facts when they reach a point that confirms what they want to believe. They seek no additional facts that may take them into areas of discomfort. That is what we call cognitive dissonance.

Let’s look at the sources we use to gain information today. Let me begin with this quote from Proverbs 26 (24-25): “A malicious man disguises himself with his lips, but in his heart he harbors deceit! Though his speech is charming, believe him not, for seven abominations fill his heart.”

First we have the media. It is hard to believe that people who consider themselves intelligent rely on the mainstream media for information, but they do.

How do we know the mainstream media is not reliable? We know because there is no bigger purveyor of political correctness. We know the primary victim of political correctness is facts.

When an entity that portrays itself to be the provider of news embraces political correctness, you often get opinions rather than facts and the facts that are presented are very selectively chosen.

The people instinctively understand this (which accounts for the popularity of presidential candidate Donald Trump who consistently makes politically incorrect statements; people may dislike his personality but like him for the facts he provides).

We know people who believe political correctness has value are those who have an agenda. Often, they are being paid for pushing a particular agenda… the Food and Drug Administration is a good example of that as are politicians. These people think in terms of “the collective good,” a socialist concept. Or perhaps they think of payoffs. Their agendas cannot be supported with facts.

Second, we have social media.

While in college, a computer programmer, Mark Zuckerberg, decided people needed a computer program that would enable them to communicate with others, stay in touch with family and friends, and create new friends via a Web page reflective of their opinions.

In 2016, Facebook, Zuckerberg’s creation, has 1.1 billion unique visitors monthly. That is close to 1/6th of the world’s population every month.

Born May 14, 1984, Zuckerberg’s Facebook has created him a net worth estimated by Forbes to be $46 billion.

Twitter has 310 million unique visitors monthly and LinkedIn has 255 million. There are many social media outlets. These three merely provide insight into how heavily the social media is used in modern life.

What has social media contributed to our society?

Unfortunately, the result has been to de-personalize communication with family and friends. Rather than a phone call or a personal visit with Mom and Dad on a Sunday afternoon, kids today tell their parents to visit their Facebook page for the latest pictures of the grandkids.

We have an entire generation of people who while walking down the street or driving a car are Tweeting others and reading messages (both of which are dangerous). It has placed libelous material in the marketplace, put there by people who get their jollies by misleading others.

Though the large majority of postings to Facebook are made by normal, healthy and happy people, the social media also provides a reflection of human arrogance and stupidity… the posting of offensive and ugly parts of society including confessions of personal behavior that will stay with the person who posted it for a lifetime… or with a person about whom someone posted libelous information.

Facebook and other imitative social media have become heaven on earth for psychopaths. These mal-wired, usually angry people can say anything they want about anyone, including themselves.

Because mentally ill people often get their jollies by lying, their postings are often designed to be destructive to someone they either envy or hate. ISIS uses social media to attract young men to join their cause and blow themselves and others up.

They recruit young women to become wives to ISIS warriors. Old men who portray themselves as young, dynamic young men entrap girls into relationships which have morphed into personal (and destructive) meetings.

I had an interesting experience last week with one of these degenerates.

This sick person’s Facebook identity will remain anonymous. I try to direct people to factual data and avoid promoting those with sick ideas.

Thanks to Mark Zuckerberg’s creative energy, this man told the world that I was being paid a fee whenever a child is sold to a child trafficking ring. I was appalled to see those words publicly stated in writing. Could there be any worse thing to say about a person?

Does Mr. Zuckerberg monitor Facebook for accuracy or give innocent victims who avoid taking part in his social media experiment a place to complain about this kind of abuse? How can I find out who this person is so I can take him to court?Do I have the opportunity to say “this is a lie and this person is sick and should not have access to the public marketplace of ideas”? Evidently Mr. Zuckerberg overlooked the need for such an alternative.

Understand that I realize anyone who knows me is as shocked by hearing it as I am. I also realize there are far more people in the world who do not know me than who do. It is a comment for which I have absolutely no responsibility and about which I can do nothing. If I had a Facebook account, I could “un-friend” this sick-o.

The Bible tells us there is one unforgivable sin: to blaspheme the Holy Spirit. I believe that anyone who abuses a child blasphemes that child’s Holy Spirit. I believe pedophilia to be a more serious crime than murder because by traumatizing their spirit it kills in childhood the person God intended someone to become.

They are forced to live with the outcome… a fate far worse than death. I know people who were sexually abused as children and they carry the scar of that trauma with them throughout their lives.

Those are just a few of the dangers of Facebook and other social media. The people who read the madness pass it on… it gives them a sense of empowerment. They think they know something no one else does and that makes them appear better informed than they are.

In fairness to Facebook, this happens as a result of telephone conversations, too. People read or hear something, don’t check it out, and pass it on as if it’s a fact… and that’s called gossip, not information – and certainly not knowledge.

When you pass on information about someone with no corroborating evidence (evidence goes beyond “I know this person well and he/she would never lie to me”) you may be defaming someone and may be libeling them. If we don’t take time to verify what’s being said about another person we have no business passing it on.

We as Americans need to ask ourselves some questions. One of them is: Has the quality of life gone up or down since the technology revolution? I also think when we give ourselves an honest answer to that question we need to understand it is what we have done with technology that creates problems rather than the technology, itself.

As for Facebook, please consider yourself “un-friended” (what a stupid expression!).

Copyright © 2016, News With Views, All rights reserved.

The Banquet of Absalom attributed to Niccolò de Simone around 1650

King David’s decline began one afternoon. The army was away fighting against Ammon and David who was supposed to be leading them, is at home relaxing. At home out of his palace window, he notices Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah-his next-door neighbor, bathing on the roof and likes what he sees! As William Blake reminded us, “The naked woman’s body is a portion of eternity too great for the eye of man.”

So David then breaks five of the Ten Commandments within a very short time. He covets his Uriah’s wife, he bears false witness against him, he steals his wife, he commits adultery with her and finally arranges the murder of Uriah. It is a terrible story and from that moment the nation of Israel declines. Over the next 500 years they lost everything that God gave them.

King David had many sons from different wives. Two of these sons were his eldest Amnon, and Absalom his third born son.  Now Absalom had a beautiful and virgin sister named Tamar. And Amnon lustfully and obsessively fell in love in her to the point that he feigned an illness.  After listening to his cousin Jonadab’s advice, he then decided to do a very a wicked thing to his half sister Tamar.

He pretended to be sick and asked his father David to send Tamar to serve him food. When she came, he seduced her but she refused, and when all attempts to seduce her failed, he told his servants to leave and he raped her. Then his desire for her became distasteful and he humiliated her. Why did he loath her?

Whether we admit it or not, we feel a great of amount of guilt after we’ve had immoral sex. Some people even begin to hate their sexual partners, by not wanting to see them anymore. That is why we hear cases where men use other women sexually and then murder them. Our bodies were not made for sexual immorality. When you engage in illegitimate sex, the guilty conscience bothers you that you broke God’s laws and it is then translated into your body.

According to scientists, we have no enzymes or chemicals in the body to handle guilt. It is only the blood of Jesus Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit, that can set us free from this guilt of sin. So maybe that’s why Amnon felt extreme disgust for his half sister after raping her and committing incest. 

Her brother Absalom was outraged by the wickedness of Amnon. He deeply hated his half brother for defiling her sister.  He brought her sister Tamar into his home and provided for her. So Tamar lived as a desolate woman in her brother’s house. She once wore the royal robes reserved for the virgin daughters of the king; now she was living in shame.

Her chances of marriage were destroyed because she was no longer a virgin. Who would want to take her as a wife when she was no longer a virgin? It was very heartbreaking for young girl once esteemed by her people to be living a life of purity; yet the man who had committed this terrible sin was living as if nothing happened.

Absalom tried to comfort her and persuade her not to take this matter to heart. He then waited silently for two years hoping that King David would execute discipline and justice on Amnon but nothing was done through the king; though he was angry with Amnon for raping Tamar, he did not punish him. Absalom was extremely disappointed.

Meanwhile, Absalom was secretly planning to take revenge against Amnon. He went as far as making a feast and inviting all the king’s sons to a feast including the king and his servants but the king declined. Well, then, Absalom said if you cannot come, how about sending my brother Amnon with us?” Why should he go with you? But Absalom urged him, and he let Amnon and all the king’s sons go with him. (2 Samuel 13:26-27)

So Absalom prepared a feast fit for a king and waited until his brother had got drunk and ordered his men to murder him. When he killed him he fled to his grandfather king Talmai in Geshur. His vengeance against his brother was satisfied.

However, the bitterness he harbored against toward his father for not punishing Absalom became stronger while in exile. To add insult to injury, Absolom spent three years in Geshur and wondered why his father hadn’t sent for him. Although King David got reconciled to Amnon’s death, he longed to be re-united with his son Absalom.

When the King ordered Joab to bring back his son, he never wanted his son to come into his presence.  He was only allowed to go to his own house. So Absalom lived in Jerusalem for two years, but he never got to see the King. Then Absolom sent for Joab to ask him to beseech the king for him, but Joab refused to come. And he sent for him the second time, but again Joab refused to come.

All these offences eventually turned to hatred and bitterness towards his father. Eventually, David summoned Absalom who came and bowed low before the king, and the king kissed him. But the bitterness and hatred for his father grew and this hatred began to attract him to those who had similar feelings towards his father.

Absalom’s revenge against Amnon and rebellion against David was the beginning of the final decline of David’s kingdom which Nathan had prophesied in (2 Samuel 12:10-12).  The sword never departed his house. Absalom gained popularity with the people that David is forced to leave Jerusalem and once again he finds himself in exile.

By killing his half brother Amnon, Absalom got revenge for the rape of his sister Tamar, as well as getting rid of the first born son, the one who would have been next in line to the throne.

In accordance with a prophecy made by Nathan, Absalom parades David’s wives on the palace roof and has sex with them in public view. Subsequently, Joab kills Absalom in battle, but David is distraught, wishing that he should have died instead of his son.  Sin has consequences. It seems clear that David’s immoral behavior became a catalyst for all the problems in his family. 

The Main Lessons

So what do we learn from this story? David was guilty of a similar sin in his adultery with Bathsheba. While David was a man after God’s heart, a king and very effective military leader, he lacked skill and sensitivity as a husband and father.

He failed to train or discipline his children. Although he found out and was angry with Amnon’s actions, he did nothing. Amnon just like just the rest of his siblings was a child out of control. Without discipline and direction, his actions led to self-destruction. As parents we contribute good and evil by action or inaction in our children’s lives.

David failed to teach his children God’s ways. Even if our children are raised in church, we must teach and exemplify character and obedience to God. It’s quite possible that David became too preoccupied with governing, his wives and concubines to act appropriately by dealing with evil in his family.

Maybe the guilt of his sin caused him to decline in disciplining his children who were caught in similar sins. The first lesson to learn from this tragedy is that children who have everything often lack purpose and direction in their lives.

If we are to raise our children successfully, we must combine love with discipline. The way to produce unhappy, frustrated children is to spoil them by giving them all they ask for, doing everything they want and succumbing to every demand. 

When raised with kid gloves, children will, when they grow up, expect life to treat them the same way their parents did. But life is pretty tough! I have found that out the hard way, and I have observed the lives of many people whose parents treated them with unscriptural self-indulgence and I would say that, in varying degrees, they have all had difficult lives.

To spoil your children is not kindness or love. The most unhappy and unfulfilled children are the ones with no discipline in their lives.  It was Spurgeon who wrote:

If you want to ruin your children, never let them know hardship. If you want to prevent them from ever being useful, guard them from every kind of work and do not let them struggle. Pity them when they should be punished, supply all their wishes, avert all their disappointments. Prevent all trouble, and you will surely train them to break your heart. If you put them where they must work, expose them to difficulties, purposely throw them into peril, then you will make them mature and ready for life.

Without anyone else to keep David’s children in check, they all probably did whatever they wanted without considering the consequences of their actions. Could Absalom and Tamar’s life have ended differently if their father had punished Amnon of his sin? Certainly.

Fathers are to urge and warn their children to live righteously. Lack of discipline to children brings dishonor and disrespect. It is the father’s responsibility to warn his children of the consequences of disobeying God’s commandments.

The Bible says, He who spares his rod [of discipline] hates his son, but he who loves him disciplines diligently and punishes him early. (Proverbs 13:24)

David’s mistakes were reflected in the lives of his children. All the family turmoil could have been avoided had David honored his children by bringing godly discipline to them. Did David learn anything from all this experience? Absolutely!

When he was instructing his son Solomon after the Lord has chosen him to build the Temple from among all and to be king over Israel, he told Solomon to be completely open with God and dedicated to Him. He gave him principles to guide him through life something he should have done with other children. He said:

Now therefore, in the sight of all Israel, the assembly of the Lord, and in the hearing of our God, keep and seek [to be familiar with] all the commandments of the Lord your God, that you may possess this good land and leave it as an inheritance for your children after you forever.

And you, Solomon my son, know the God of your father [have personal knowledge of Him, be acquainted with, and understand Him; appreciate, heed, and cherish Him] and serve Him with a blameless heart and a willing mind.

For the Lord searches all hearts and minds and understands all the wanderings of the thoughts. If you seek Him [inquiring for and of Him and requiring Him as your first and vital necessity] you will find Him; but if you forsake Him, He will cast you off forever! (1 Chronicles 28:8-10 AMP)

David was telling Solomon all this, but as Solomon grew in power, notoriety and personal greatness, he forgot his fathers’ instructions and he set himself up as privileged to ignore God.

Back to the point of parents dishonoring their children by withholding discipline, I need to emphasize that for me personally, it is real and very painful. I have seen first-hand how my loved ones have experienced many hard times because they didn’t receive godly discipline. Some were rebellious, disrespectful, and their attitude spread over into every area involving authority figures including the parents themselves.

Surprisingly, the response of these children who were “loved” rather than disciplined was to despise their parents. The parents were trying to win their children’s love, but this backfired as the very opposite happened. These children who are now grown-ups made very bad choices that have proved costly to them and the family for many years to come.

Had they received proper discipline and training earlier in their lives as the Bible admonishes, most of these problems would have been avoided. This story also demonstrates the principle that sin, division and strife in any leader’s home leads to decline of the family, nation or the church. Many of us can testify to this sad truth. 

None of us can be a good parent by any stretch of the imagnation. In fact, personally I’ve failed many times to be a father. I’ve sinned again and again and fallen short of the glory of God. As I’ve mentioned previously, parenting is very hard and there no formulas for being a good parent.  There are times when you don’t feel equal at all to the responsibility of being a parent, when you’ve exhausted all your patience and resources. 

It is at these times that you have to depend on the Holy Spirit to do what is otherwise impossible for you. The good news is, the Lord convicts us of our sins, not to condemn us, but to direct us to the remedy He has provided for us through the sacrifce of Jesus Christ on the cross.

Image description: The Banquet of Absalom attributed to Niccolò de Simone around 1650, Source: Wikipedia

A listener named Bruce writes in: “Dear Pastor John, I haven’t read your book, Don’t Waste Your Life. The title is convicting enough. The fact is that I have already wasted it; or at least it feels that way. For decades I tried a variety of different ‘careers.’ None of them worked. I tried starting my own business for over 20 years while my wife worked. I earned a PhD, moved to a country where I didn’t speak the language (for my wife’s job) and had a breakdown. Several years later, my wife and I separated.

I’m now 64, I live in a small mobile home, and I do work that any 18-year-old could do (those are my boss’s words). The company is good to me, my boss is a Christian, and I can earn a living; but each day feels like nothing more than an exercise in waking up in the morning, getting through the day, and going to bed at night. What advice can you give to someone who has already wasted his life?”

Bruce, as I paused to pray over this question when I first heard it, I believe the Lord brought five things to my mind for you that I hope will be of encouragement — and, of course, I don’t know you and I don’t even know if you are a Christian. But I have written and done many podcasts on the dynamics of the spiritual life which maybe you do or you don’t have. So I am just going to assume the best, okay? I am going to assume you are a Christian and that you have really struggled to be a Christian over these years. So that is my big assumption. Now here are my five gifts.

1. Find Evidences of Grace

There have been evidences of grace in your life over the past decades. There have been. And these are important for three reasons, these evidences of grace. One is that they really are evidences that you belong to Jesus. They are the sorts of things you wouldn’t have done if you weren’t a Christian — if you were a merely natural man rather than spiritual, indwelt by the Holy Spirit. Second, they will be acknowledged by the Lord on the last day, these evidences of grace to your joy. And third, as pebbles dropped in the pond of history, they didn’t fall in vain. God turned every one of those evidences of grace in your life. He turned every one of them and, I would even add, your failures for his own wise purposes. All of that to say: Beware of overstating the waste of the past. You might find yourself sounding humble but, in fact, dishonoring grace.

2. Calculate the Future

The thief on the cross wasted his entire life except for the last few hours. He repented, and Christ promised him that in a few hours he would be with him in paradise (Luke 23:43). This thief will face a judgment according to works like all of us. And the only good works that he will have to offer will be the good works of the last three hours, or however many it was, on the cross — the time between his conversion and his death.

Those good works would include, for example, the rebuke that he gave to the other thief. “We deserve this. He doesn’t. Why don’t you wake up?” (see Luke 23:40–41). That is a good work. That is a beautiful act. In other words, there will not be very many works in this man’s life to commend. Everything he did up to that point was sin because he didn’t do it from faith (Romans 14:23). But this handful of works that he did on the cross before he died will be enough to give evidence that he was born again and welcome.

Now the reason I mention that for you is not because any of us would want to be content with a handful of good deeds, but that you are 64-years-old. Perhaps you have, if you average, 15 years of life in front of you. And if my math is correct, you may have 75,000 more hours to do good deeds than the thief on the cross did. Now that is absolutely stunning. In other words, there is a huge segment of your life in front of you. And I don’t say “huge” compared to 64. I know it is small compared to 64. I say “huge” compared to three hours on the cross or millions of people, millions upon millions of people, who have less life to live than you do. It is incalculable what can be achieved for Jesus in 15 years. Jesus served publicly for three years.

3. Forget the Past

So don’t waste the rest of your life by fretting over the past. God has a new dream for you that is not wasteful. Remember what the apostle Paul said in Philippians 3:13–14: “Forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” Surely the reason he said, “forgetting what lies behind” is because the past regularly functions for us as a ball and chain around our feet, either because we failed and we feel hopeless, or because we succeeded and feel proud. Better to forget the past in that way and dream a new dream.

4. Focus on the How, Not the What

In dreaming your new dream for your life, keep in front of you this truth: How you do what you do is vastly more important in the eyes of God than what you do. I understand — I mean, I think I can understand — that having a PhD and doing what any 18-year-old can do probably feels like bad stewardship or failure. But remember, there are thousands of people with PhDs working in universities and displeasing the Lord God almighty more than millions of teenagers who are walking by the Holy Spirit. It is not where you work or what you do that pleases the Lord. It is whether you live by the Spirit, whether you walk by faith, whether you pursue holiness, whether you love people, whether you grow in grace, whether Christ is more precious to you than anything.

So Bruce, when I say, “Dream a new dream,” I don’t know whether the Lord means for you to have a new job. And I don’t care very much. Sorry. But I care enormously that you do what your hand finds to do in the name of the Lord Jesus in love for people for the glory of God flat-out for 15 years. That is what I care about.

5. Surround Yourself

And, finally, Bruce: Gather around you a few friends who love Christ and pour out your heart to them about your sense of failure and ask them to join you in praying earnestly and expectantly that God will open a new chapter of usefulness for you, for joy, for worship, for a new humility that is willing to acknowledge (like you do all the failures of the past) a simplicity in the present and a blood-bought hope for the future. So God bless you, Bruce. I will be eager to hear, if I live long enough, how God has made your last chapter the best. I am surely at 70 praying mine will be.

© Copyright 2016, Desiring God Foundation

In one of the previous posts, we briefly looked at the importance of children honoring their parents. What about parents honoring their children? The Bible says, children are to be obedient to their parents in the Lord that is to accept their guidance and discipline and parents shouldn’t irritate and provoke their chidren’s anger by exasperating them to resentment or wrath, but to treat them tenderly in the training and discipline and the counsel and admonition of the Lord. See (Ephesians 6:1-4)

What is the context in which Paul is saying children are to obey parents in the Lord—to accept their guidance and discipline and not to irritate and provoke their children to anger? Paul’s admonition comes from the Holy Spirit who had already given these instructions to Moses.

To live in peace for generations in the Promised Land, the Israelites would need to teach their children to love the Lord with all their hearts, respect authority and build strong families. The Lord emphasized the importance of parents teaching His Word diligently to their children because He never wanted despair and heartache to be passed from parents to children after the wildnerness experience. (See Deuteronomy 4:40; 6:6-7; 8:5)

Parents and children and have a responsibility to each other. To honor our parents means, we are to respect, esteem and value them as precious and to honor our children means we are to train, discipline, value, treat and guide them in such a way that they will flourish in life.

Parents dishonor their children not only by their harsh and negative words, but also neglecting to discipline, guide teach and encourage them.

Ideally, of course, parents and children will relate to each other with thoughtfulness and love. This will happen if both parents and children put the other’s interests above their own-that is if they submit to one another.

God planned for parents to pour into children. There is something within us that wants to be joined spirit to spirit so that we can grow. So the purpose of parental discipline is to help children grow, not to cause irritation and provoke them to anger or discouragement. We need to exercise restraint and discipline  by combining love with discipline.

The writer of Hebrews tells us that, although Jesus was a Son; He learned active, special obedience through what He suffered. (See Hebrews 5:8) This indicates that obedience needs to be taught. Teaching obedience is what we call discipline. If Jesus needed to submit to discipline, how much more do we as imperfect parents and our imperfect children!

Most of us know one of the toughest jobs on the planet but also the most rewarding is parenting.  Parenting and keeping a family together is one of the most demanding jobs on this planet. It is not easy-it takes lots of patience to raise children in a loving, Christ honouring manner.

That’s why it’s important to find other supporting adults that can enrich your child’s life. There is no parent, or even two parents that can meet the constant needs of a child all the time. The need to be blessed with a parent’s regular attention, approval, and goodwill is real and extremely difficult to fill consistently by most parents.

One of reasons being suggested why couples with children are church going or they join home churches is:  because they find other couples like themselves who are similarly navigating family life, which gives them something in common. Children need a lot of encouragement, positive affirmation and building their self esteem.  

If your children have grandparents, that would be an advantage as a relationship with grandparents is extremely important in the self-esteem and character development of a child. Studies suggest that children who have been raised near their grandparents and spend time with them have a heightened sense of security and well being, most especially when these grandparents pray for and with them.

As a parent or grandparent, you might not realize the strength and effort you are putting in those children by teaching, disciplining, praying or encouraging them, but God sees it.

In fact we must guard against the mistake of looking for answers to our prayers or efforts only on earth and in the present age or dispensation. Only in eternity shall we know the full outworking of our prayers or efforts.   

God has entrusted your children to you for His purposes. You should not be discouraged by the time and effort you are putting in to teach, pray, encourage or disciplining your children. God will use your children to make a difference in this world. They will be men and women who will be serve God in their generation. 

What about a child whose parents are not believers? God in His sovereignty can give special faith and love to people who have no blood relationship with a child. In fact I have seen that again and again and it’s what I’m praying for—a supernatural love and resources for other children who have no parents.

Abraham-The Father of Many Nations

We are reminded that God singled Abraham out so that he would direct his sons and their families to keep the way of the Lord by doing what is right and just. Abraham got the privilege of being chosen out of the hundreds of thousands of men on the earth in that day to head a new race that would bring salvation to all humanity. The Lord said:

For I have known (chosen, acknowledged) him [as My own], so that he may teach and command his children and the sons of his house after him to keep the way of the Lord and to do what is just and righteous, so that the Lord may bring Abraham what He has promised him. (See Genesis 18:17-19 AMP)

Abraham was God’s choice because he could be trusted to command and teach his children in doing what is right and just. In other words, he was a father who accepted and fulfilled his responsibility to rule, teach, and discipline his children, and all of us have benefited from his obedience as he was made a father of all who truly believe. (See Romans 4:11-17)  

An Example of Two Fathers

The High priest Eli and the prophet Samuel shared an inability to discipline their children. Eli was a High priest, judge of Israel, and was responsible for overseeing all the worship in Israel. He came from the ancestry of Aaron who were the Levitical priests that kept charge of the Tabernacle. But in pursuing his call, he neglected the responsibilities in his own home.

He was aware of what his sons were doing to the people. He knew, for instance that, his sons were seducing the young women who assisted at the entrance of the Tabernacle. Eli tried to warn his sons to stop but they wouldn’t listen to their father.

He had a difficult time in trying to handle his rebellious sons. So one day a man of God came to Eli and told him he was guilty of honoring his sons above God by letting them continue in their sinful lifestyle. (See 1 Samuel 2:27-34)

As a result, a curse was placed on the house of Eli that none of his descendants would see old age because of his sins. (See 1 Samuel 3:11-14) The fulfillment of this prediction is found in 1 Kings 2:26-27. Solomon deposed Abiathar from his position as priest of the Lord, thereby fulfilling the prophecy the Lord had given at Shiloh concerning the descendants of Eli.

The Prophet Samuel

You would think Samuel had learned some lessons from Eli’s experience but maybe he didn’t. As he grew old just like Eli, he appointed his sons to be judges over Israel.

Samuel’s sons did not walk in his ways but turned aside after gain, took bribes, and perverted justice. Next came the consequences. The Israelites realized that his sons were not like him and this is when they demanded a king to judge and govern them like all other nations.

Samuel became displeased with their request and went to the Lord for guidance. In making this demand, God told Samuel, “Heed the voice of the people in all that they say to you; for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected Me, that I should not reign over them”(1 Samuel 8:7).

Samuel went to the Israelites and explained all the consequences of being led by a king, but the Israelites refused to listen. They instead demanded a king to judge them like all other nations around them; yet Israel was called to be a holy nation separate from and unique among all the other nations (see Leviticus 20:26).

The choice of security by repenting and turning to God as their Savior, Lord, and Provider was rejected. Instead, they turned to the false security offered to them by a civil government that would subject them to slavery in the name of security.

Instead of turning to God in repentance, people with slave mentalities turned to political rulers for earthly security, even after God warned them of the consequences of their rejection of Him.

The Israelites knew that God was their King but they wanted a king that was visible too. When Samuel came before the Israelites to explain the consequences of establishing a king in Israel, he thought he might persuade them by telling them that the king would want a palace and a standing army, demand a tenth of all their harvest and flocks, so that taxation, corruption, and self-indulgence would follow his coronation (see 1 Samuel 8:10–21).

In spite of all these warnings, the Hebrews refused and insisted that they still wanted a king. God again warned the Israelites would accompany their enthronement of an earthly, human king. (See 1 Samuel 8:11–12) but they would not listen.  

We don’t know if Samuel failed to honor his children by not disciplining them or why his sons turned out to be corrupt.  What is clear is, he was unable to lead his sons into a close relationship with God and his lack of discipline had a ripple effect that affected the rest of Israel as they wanted to be like the nations around them something the Lord didn’t want.

One other lesson we learn from this is, we shouldn’t set our hearts on having a large family or be content if your children are godless. In the past, especially in Old Testament times, large families and old age were considered as marks of prosperity and thus God’s favor.  But sometimes character comes first before number, and thus it is better even to die childless than to have wicked children.

However many they are, do not think yourself successful or happy, unless the fear of the Lord is in them. Do not count on their living to be old or rely on their numbers; for one son or daughter can be better than a thousand; better indeed to be childless than to have godless children.

After ruling Israel for forty years, Eli’s heart was grieved and died in his old age and his sight almost completely lost. He failed to discipline his sons yet he knew of their immorality and greed. After the reign of Saul, King David sat on the throne and another family tragedy happened, as we shall see in our next post.

Part of my role as a Christian journalist the last four decades is to cover what the Holy Spirit is doing around the world. We’ve had many reports on revivals in different parts of the world. One part of the world where there seems to be little activity is Europe. However, a recent guest from England says there are hopeful signs!

His name is Steven Halford from Portsmouth, England. He is married to an American, has lived in America for many years and has worked in various charismatic ministries on both sides of the ocean for a number of years. He also has a passion for evangelism and is gifted in preaching on the streets and winning people to Jesus.

When he spent time in our offices recently, I recorded a podcast with him on the Charisma Podcast Network, which will air next week. I am interested in what is happening in England because I am going there in a couple of weeks to attend Empowered21 in London. I’ll be speaking there and will be involved in some other interesting activities, which I will report later.

Steven reports that Holy Trinity Brompton, an Anglican church that has been connected with the renewal for more than two decades, is having enormous impact. His own mother accepted Christ through their Alpha Program, which was developed there and spread worldwide. I attended services there once and hope to again on Mother’s Day.

The Elim denomination, which celebrated its centennial last year, is also growing. The leading church there is Kensington Temple, and I have attended several times when I’ve been in England. Elam has been able to embrace each move of the Spirit over the decades and has a vibrant freshness.

One of the most hopeful signs is what is beginning to happen in the Church of England, the official church of which Queen Elizabeth II is the titular head. The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, is a Spirit-filled Christian who speaks in tongues. Steven told me that recently he gave an altar call and prayed for each person who came forward for the baptism of Holy Spirit. This is virtually unheard of.

His predecessor was said merely to preach on intellectual subjects from books he read and never from the Bible. He also had himself ordained not only as an Anglican priest but also as a Druid. Can you imagine the head of the Anglican Church cooperating with a pagan religion?

There are of course negative trends in the Anglican Church, including some embracing gay marriage and many churches drying up. But there is also a lot of excitement and a new freshness in that historic denomination.

One of the things that’s happening is the “tent on the green” for three days in mid-May on the grounds in front of Winchester Cathedral, the historic seat of government in England during the days of Alfred the Great. The Anglican Church is cooperating with modern “charismatics” for three days of prayer and praise as well as evangelistic outreaches. When I discovered I would be there during that time, I decided I wanted to attend, and I will be reporting on it.

I am also looking forward to Empowered21, where some of the best Pentecostal preachers will be ministering. I am giving a seminar with Bishop Ken Ulmer of Los Angeles and Pastor Lawrence Khong. It is an honor to be invited to speak, and I will report on that as well.

Each generation must believe God for revival in their generation. While times do seem bleak, this is not the first generation to face these circumstances. Other generations have believed God and seen great things happen. I am encouraged by the report of my friend Steven Halford that the stirrings of revival are taking place in many parts of “the mother country.”

I encourage you to subscribe to my Strang Report” podcast and then you can hear my interview with Steven when it is posted next week.

What do you think about this report? Are you aware of other examples? Send this to your friends in England and ask them to participate in our dialogue on charismamag.com.

Steve Strang is the founder of Charisma and CEO of Charisma Media. Follow him on Twitter or Facebook.

© Copyright 2016 Charisma Media

Recently, Bob Lidfors, the LK10 Coordinator (along with his wife Barb) in Germany, spent two weeks in Uganda teaching 200 church leaders the CO2 (church of two) concept.  In my interview below with Bob, he shares this amazing story.

By way of introduction, Bob said to these leaders that he was going to teach them a tool that they could use to do three things…

1. Develop a deeper relationship with God
2. Develop a deeper relationship to their spouse
3. Start new churches easily

Even though this was a very different environment (rural African) from what Bob was used to, he reports that these Jesus followers immediately understood the concepts and began practicing them.

You can find out more about the “tool” that Bob gave these African leaders here.

Below is the Video that explains Bob’s story…  (Also, please pass this Newsletter on to others you know who are interested in church planting.)

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eZNtXm9IR3c]

© Copyright 2016, LK10 Community

Source of Image: Audience of One

What is a Jezebel spirit? John Paul Jackson describes it as the spirit that is used to destroy whatever God is trying to do. Jezebelic powers operate in conjunction with principalities and powers that torment people. (Ephesians 6:12)

These demonic powers include spirits of religion…manipulation, control, lust, perversion, and the occult. They often work in concert with a Jezebel spirit to build strongholds in a person’s mind.

Qualities of a Jezebel Spirit

1. Draws attention to itself in a seemingly humble way.
2. Has a sense of wanting to communicate the spiritual atmosphere they walk in.
3. Displays a sense of superiority and the need to be in control of all prayer.
4. Controlling, irresponsible, dishonest, will lie without remorse.
5. Provokes others to anger.
6. Inability to love, and put others first – selfish.
7. Never wrong, so never sorry about anything.
8. Gaining power by destroying others. They manage to get in positions of authority, and are difficult to remove once there.
9. They are controlling, intimidating, manipulative and bossy.
10. They are able to fool and recruit others in charges against their victims.
11. Very critical of others and they are never wrong.
12. Lack of remorse after hurting someone. They justify the harm.
13. Playing the role of victim themselves, in order to gain sympathy.
14. While tending to be oversensitive themselves, they have no concern for the feelings of others. They are not sympathetic to their victims.
15. They lie, and they believe their own lie by avoiding the truth, or intentionally acting to withhold truth.

The main cause of major breaches in relationships, lack of communication, misunderstandings, strife torn homes and eventually alienation between children, brothers and sisters, parents and children, and all others who should be walking in love is a Jezebel witchcraft spirit.

We all have a fallen nature that makes us desire to control other people and to impose our will upon them. As I have pointed out here , the desire to control others is the root cause of witchcraft which Paul in the book of Galatians describes first as a work of the flesh, before it manifests itself as outright occult or witchcraft practice. 

Listen to how we practice witchcraft without knowing; when you speak negatively over someone’s life….They will never hold down a job acting like that… Their marriage is bound to fail the way he treats her… The doctors said he is going to die in 2 weeks. Isn’t that too bad…

They will never serve the Lord if they behave like that… Did you know that sister so and so committed adultery with brother so and so…..we need to pray for them…These people are going to have another baby…it seems there are crazy…. And when the baby dies or is miscarried… The Lord knows what happens in their hearts.  

There are many verbal attacks I have received from so called Christians, even though I understood that it was self-hatred turned outward.

The point is, when we utter words like these; we are agreeing with the enemy’s plan and giving him power to destroy others with our tongues. The power of death and life are in the tongue (see Proverbs 18:21).

If you are unconsciously or purposely—releasing witchcraft over people with the words of your mouth, repent and get your mouth back in line with the Spirit of God.

In fact, most of these comments result from people who don’t know that they are really angry with God. Maybe you have been hurt in some way. Everyone has.

Our own individual hurts mask our ability to see clearly what is happening in each others’ personality and lives. Instead of surrendering to the Lord in repentance we resort to controlling and manipulating our situation and others.

We forget the fact that it’s we that lose when we strain and strive and get ourselves into horribly painful situations when all we needed to do is turn to the Lord and surrender wholeheartedly to Him.

So one of the things the enemy of our souls likes to do is to get into the middle of God-ordained relationships and cause them to mis-communicate or disconnect. The enemy knows that once the family is splintered apart, the weaker and more ineffectual they become and the more this Jezebel spirit has control of their lives.

How do we Break the Spirit of Jezebel?

First, we must go after the spiritual force behind it. Secondly, we make sure our hearts and motives are right before God by walking in repentance, prayer, intimacy and carrying our crosses daily to follow Christ.

The day our ministries or whatever call we have become more important than our intimate relationship with the Lord is the time we fall, and start controlling our circumstances and others. It’s a very scary situation to be found wanting.

Someone said that when the devil fails to make you into a Judas he will resort to turning you into a Martha. Wendy Alec writes in her Journal that there is only one way to survive the onslaught of the Jezebel spirit in these last days:

To repent of any lukewarmness and backsliding in your heart and to reignite and maintain zealously your first love for the Father, Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit. Secondly, to keep yourself from all idols and remain fervent in the Spirit which is the result of true fellowship in Spirit and truth with the Lord and of feeding on God’s Word until His Words are Spirit and Life to us.

One of the ways to crucify the flesh is to develop a discipline of fasting. Why should we fast? In Isaiah 58, the Lord tells us what happens when we fast and pray:

Those from among you shall build the old waste places; you shall raise up the foundations of many generations; and you shall be called the repairer of the breach, the restorer of streets to dwell In. (Isaiah 58:12)

There many other reasons why fasting is a good discipline to develop. Pat Brooks in his book, A Call to War with Prayer Power wrote:

Fasting is the golden key that unlocks the life of every over-comer who is sold out Almighty God. Anyone who longs for spiritual victory will, sooner or later, learn to fast…. Fasting precedes or accompanies some of the greatest victories in the Bible… Fasting unlocks the prison gates of bondage. It can be used of God to change hearts, circumstances, or destinies.

With effective prayer, it can lift the torment of a lifetime and even the ancestral bondage of centuries or millennia in a family line….Without the intervention of God’s Holy Spirit, man is powerless to prevail over the spiritual wickedness in high places everywhere strutting and manifesting their satanic power on earth.

There is no battle we can fight and win in the flesh.  Therefore none of us can overcome the Jezebel spirit in our own strength.  The devil, the flesh, and the world are too much for any man or woman! So if you have a close relative, or your own spouse, or come across a person who has a Jezebel spirit, the first thing you must do is to go your secret place and talk to the Father in prayer and get His wisdom and strategy on how to deal with this spirit.

You have to pray and fast that the Lord will supernaturally reveal to them that they have this kind of spirit operating in them. Afterwards, you need to get all the information you can about the person’s past in order to find out what gave the spirit the legitimate rights to enter the person. Once you find out, you have to continue praying for that person to be released and the spirit to be broken off his or her life. We don’t struggle against flesh and blood:

For though we walk in the flesh [as mortal men], we are not carrying on our [spiritual] warfare according to the flesh and using the weapons of man.  The weapons of our warfare are not physical [weapons of flesh and blood]. Our weapons are divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses. We are destroying sophisticated arguments and every exalted and proud thing that sets itself up against the [true] knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought and purpose captive to the obedience of Christ…. (2 Corinthians 10:3-6)

The number one reason for non-stop turmoil in the church or family, through multiple generations, is a charming and frightening menace called the Jezebel spirit and those who have it have no clue it’s using them to cause havoc in families or churches. Knowingly or unknowingly these people will hinder and oppose what the Lord is trying to do.

The Lord wants to restore unity in the churches, to maintain the family bonds in the Lord, and to leave a spiritual inheritance or legacy of solidarity that can last for generations. When you cover your church or your family relationships in prayer and fasting whether it is children, parents, brothers, sisters, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, in laws, husband or wife there will be fewer instances of strained or severed relationships.

Just prior to his death in February 2015, John Paul Jackson talked about the importance of identifying, exposing and destroying the Jezebel Spirit. He wrote a book Unmasking the Jezebel Spirit in 2002, and in this book, he chronicles many stories of people who have battled the spirit of Jezebel.

Image courtesy: Queen Jezebel Being Punished by Jehu, by Andrea Celesti Wikipedia

There has never been a successful and long-lasting atheistic civilization — and there never will be — is the opinion of many astute observers. And it’s also apparently the belief of radio giant Michael Savage, as he issued a dire warning on his Wednesday show.

“Unless Christianity receives a new enthusiasm that sweeps the Western world, and Christianity itself rises up against the forces against it,” he said, “the entire West will collapse in your lifetime.”

Savage, author of numerous best-selling books and host of the award-winning Savage Nation radio program, has long warned that the West is imperiled by “savages” from without and is being savaged by militant secularists within. Now, addressing the crux of the matter, Savage is adamant that the death of Christian belief portends the death of the West, as he said:

I can almost prove it. I can almost feel it. It’s palpable to me.

And I’m not the only who sees it or feels it. Anyone I know with a certain intelligence level above a minimal amount, sees what’s going on in Europe, and they say that we’re not far behind.

Presumably, Savage was referring to secular Europe’s acceptance of waves of unassimilable Muslim migrants — which include some jihadists — the Islamization of the continent, and the rapid moral decay bedeviling the entire West.

It’s plain to many that the erosion of the West’s foundational faith is synonymous with the erosion of her foundation. Our second president, John Adams, issued a warning to this effect, saying in 1798, “Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.” Note that the West could still rightly be called “Christendom” at the time, and the founders generally meant “Christian” when using the term “religious.” Thus, Adams clearly didn’t view Christianity as so many do today — as something to be kept “separate” at all costs lest it become an impediment to our constitutional government — but as a prerequisite for it.

Why? Well, British statesman Edmund Burke wrote in 1791, “Men are qualified for civil liberty in exact proportion to their disposition to put moral chains upon their own appetites.” And George Washington addressed the origin of moral chains five years later when saying, “Let us with caution indulge the supposition that morality can be maintained without religion. Reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle.”

While I won’t delve deeply into the link between religion and morality here (I did so in this piece), I will quote one of the many thinkers who did recognize it, Russian writer Fyodor Dostoevsky. As he wrote in his 1880 work The Brothers Karamazov, “If God does not exist, everything is permitted.” And this isn’t hard to understand: Without acceptance of the eternal, unchanging, divine author of right and wrong, all moral questions (and, in particular, answers) are met with the cynical “Says who?! Those are your values; don’t impose them on me!”

Of course, this explains how a once healthy civilization can collapse into self-imposed tyranny. A mature and moral adult who knows the “rules of life” can safely negotiate the world just as a mature driver acquainted with the rules of the road can safely navigate the highways and byways. But a small, uncivilized child must be watched — and often controlled — by mother or father or nanny.  The overgrown uncivilized child called a barbarian must be subject to the same, except the watchers in his case will be the cops and criminal-justice system. And as it is for individuals so it is for groups, even country-size ones. Only, their nanny is the nanny state.

As for a collapse inviting foreign domination, morality also plays a huge role. After all, an invading force would rather contend with a drug-addled, effete population given to dissolute living than a land of disciplined Spartans. Yet it’s easier still for the conquerors if their target is so out of touch with reality (and immoral living does reflect and encourage this, as it’s a rejection and usually a denial of moral reality) that it’s oblivious to danger.

Enter the modern West. To paraphrase Belgian playwright Émile Cammaerts, “When people cease believing in God, it’s not that they start to believe in nothing. It’s that they’ll believe in anything.” And what do we believe in today?

When the Wall Street Journal’s Bret Stephens wrote last year that the “death of Europe is in sight,” he opined that its people stand “for shallow things, shallowly. Europeans [only] believe in human rights, tolerance, openness, peace, progress, the environment, pleasure.” Yet it’s worse than that.

There is only Truth, and then innumerable lies; disconnected from the former, a people inevitably falls victim to the latter, and we’re embracing lies only the insane could believe. Pseudo-elite dogma currently is that a boy must be considered a girl if he claims he is so “deep down,” even though the claim is made based on nothing but feelings. Moreover, we’re to be considered bigots for not participating in his delusion or for denying him access to the bathrooms of his choice. Then there’s that obsession with using Big Brother to coerce Christian businessmen into servicing faux weddings, which occurs while the Left makes not a peep when Muslim businessmen refuse to be party to them.

And treason is the norm. A former aide to ex-British prime minister Tony Blair admitted that massive Third World immigration into the United Kingdom was orchestrated by the Labour Party in order “to rub the Right’s nose in diversity and render their arguments out of date.”

Swedish Social Democrat politician Mona Sahlin reveled in the Islamization of her nation, saying in 2001 “The Swedes must be integrated into the new Sweden; the old Sweden is never coming back.” Former UK “equality minister” Trevor Phillips — who helped popularize the debate-stifling term “Islamophobia” — just admitted that he “got almost everything wrong” on Muslim immigration in a 1996 report, saying he “should have known better” than to think Muslims would integrate. Now he sings a different politically correct tune, stating that it’s “disrespectful” to expect Muslims to assimilate. And all the while, more patriotic Europeans are punished under “hate speech” law for criticizing homosexuality or Islam.

Of course, there are fewer and fewer Europeans to punish all the time, as fertility rates among all Western peoples are below replacement level. So as religiosity increases most everywhere but the West, sneering, proudly secular Westerners are turning themselves into a dead-end “species.” And none of these problems would be occurring were we still robustly Christian.

Savage also mentions the Crusades and “what happened that saved Christianity,” as he put it. He was referring to how these events were defensive campaigns designed to protect the West from Muslim invasion. And note: The Crusades were proposed and preached by the leader of Europe’s Christians, Pope Urban II.

Of course, this doesn’t mean we must send soldiers to the Holy Land, only that we must become a holier land. We must strive to be today’s Crusaders — meaning “those who are marked with a cross” — as we once again infuse that symbol into our minds and hearts.

© Copyright 2016 The New American

Photo of Michael Savage: AP Images

We recently talked about the book you just wrote Pastor John, back on Thursday of last week. . . . In light of that, Brandon in Charlotte, NC writes in: “Pastor John, thank you for your Christ-centered precision and for the tremendous volume of your ministry output. I’m curious how you produce so much content.

What time do you wake up, or find time to read and write, or eat your cereal? You mention your aversion to TV in Don’t Waste Your Life, but what advice do you have for the daily schedule making to make the most of life for Christ?”

I have ten things to say.

1: Don’t Copy Me

First, beware of wanting to be like me. You don’t know the sins of my life. You don’t know how much I have neglected. You don’t know what the costs have been. The real question is how to be the fullest, most God-centered, Christ-exalting, Bible-saturated, loving, humble mission-advancing, justice-seeking, others-serving person you, you can be. Don’t measure yourself by others. Measure yourself by your potential in Christ. That is the first thing that I felt I had to say, because of the way the question seemed to be posed.

2: Focus on Great Goals

Give 10% of your focus in life to avoiding obstacles to productivity and 90% of your focus to fastening on to great goals and pursuing them with all your might. Very few people become productive by avoiding obstacles to productivity. It is not a good focus. That is not where energy comes from. It is not where vision comes from.

Piper: “Give 10% of your focus in life to avoiding obstacles to productivity and 90% of your focus to fastening on to great goals and pursuing them with all your might.”

Tweet

People write books about that and make a lot of money, but that is not where anybody gets anything worthwhile done. Getting things done that count come from great, glorious, wonderful future possibilities that take you captive and draw your pursuit with all your might. And then all that other stuff about getting obstacles out of your way. That is the 10% of broom work that you have to do.

3: Be Seasonally-Minded

Life comes to us in chapters that are very different from each other. If you are married and have little children, that is a chapter that needs a great deal of focus on the children. If God wills, there may be another chapter for you with different possibilities, different potentials, and different priorities. The Lord will be pleased if you focus on the chapter you are in and live according to the demands of that chapter with all your might.

4: Work from Life Goals

Give serious thought and prayer to what your big, all-consuming life goal is. The biblical expression of mine is found in Philippians 1:20–21, “It is my eager expectation,” — this is John Piper, not just Paul talking — “It is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed, but that with full courage now as always Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” So Christ magnified in living and dying, spreading a passion for that Christ into the lives of others. That is the goal. That is the big, overarching goal. So find yours and make it work in everything you do.

5: Labor Toward the Account You Will Give to God

Get a sense of gospel-rooted accountability before the living God. That is, understand the gospel and the spiritual dynamics of how it works. You don’t labor to get into a right relationship with God. The gospel dynamics don’t work that way. You labor morning to night with all your might because you are in a right relationship with God. Philippians 2:12–13, “Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for” — ground, basis, foundation — “it is God who works in you.” That is the gospel dynamic. “By the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain.

On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I.” The grace of God had already taken up residence in me and was at work in me (see 1 Corinthians 15:10). And if you get that order out of whack, you may accomplish a lot in life and go straight to hell with all your books and all your buildings.

Let the Lord Jesus intensify this sense of accountability on the last day with the parable of the talents (Matthew 25:14–30). He gave to one person five, gave to another person two, and gave to another person one. He came to call account, and the person with one heard those awful words. “You wicked and slothful [lazy] servant” (Matthew 25:26). I don’t want to hear that word. I do not want to hear that word.

I want to experience the opposite, the counterpart to those words from Luke 12:42, “Who then is the faithful and wise manager, whom his manager will set over his household?” I often thought those words when I was a pastor. I was “over [a] household, to give them their portion of food at the proper time” (Luke 12:42). “Blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes” (Luke 12:43).

I would be sitting preparing my messages or writing something or leading the family in devotion and I would say: Come, now, Lord Jesus, and you will find me doing it. That is the opposite of the wicked, lazy servant who buried your talent and didn’t do anything with it. So that is number five.

6: Work Urgently

Add to your sense of accountability before God a sense of urgency. “We must work the works of him who sent [us] while it is day; night is coming, when no one can work” (John 9:4). Or Ephesians 5:15–16, “Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise . . . ” — making, literally redeeming the time — “because the days are evil.” Or Colossians 4:5, “Walk in wisdom toward outsiders, making the best use of the time.” There is urgency in this. The days are evil and night is coming.

7: Kill Half-Heartedness

Do what you do with all your heart. Be done with half-heartedness. O, so many people limp through life doing what they do with a half heart, with half of their energy. If it is worth doing, it is worth doing with your whole soul. Ecclesiastes 9:10, “Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might.” Jonathan Edwards’s resolution probably had more impact on me in the last 30 years than anything else he said — in his resolutions, at least — when he said, “Resolved, to live with all my might, while I do live” (resolution #6). Those words took hold of me a long time ago. I thought: Oh, yes Lord.

The opposite of this — fourteen times in the book of Proverbs the word “sluggard” is used. Isn’t that an ugly word? “Sluggard,” 14 times. And what is a sluggard? Proverbs 20:4, “The sluggard does not plow in the autumn; he will seek at harvest and have nothing.” You don’t want to be a sluggard.

8: Persist, Persist, Persist

Many chops fell a huge tree. Man, this is so crucial because of how quickly we get discouraged after a thousand chops and the tree is not down yet. I just finished listening to Robinson Crusoe. You might say: What in the world? What is John Piper listening to a teenage novel? I had never heard some of these classics, so I am listening to them. Robinson Crusoe, marooned on an island, all by himself, wants to escape, needs a boat. Mainland is 45 miles away.

There might be cannibals over there. He is not sure he wants to go, but he needs a boat. He has got nothing else to do, so he is going to make a boat. He finds a tree. This tree is five feet, ten inches, across at the bottom. He has an axe. It takes him 22 days to chop this tree down, 14 more days to chop the branches off, a year and a half to finish the boat with an axe. I’d chop on a tree for a day, two days. I say: This tree is not coming down. I am done with this tree. I am going to work on some little tree. So there is the key. Many chops fell a big tree. Do you want to do something great? Don’t quit. Keep chopping.

9: Joyfully Embrace Hard Tasks

Be willing to do many things in life cheerfully that at first you don’t want to do. They don’t come naturally to you. There is no worthwhile role in life that does not require you to do things you don’t at first feel like doing or that only let you do what comes naturally. So be cheerful in doing the parts of your life that you do not at first prefer to do.

10: Find Your Calling

Finally, find your niche, that is, find the thing you do love to do with all your weaknesses and all your strengths. Put most of your energies and your love there for Christ and his kingdom.

© Copyright 2016, Desiring God Foundation