Tag Archives: Christianity

Cultures Abhor a Spiritual Vacuum


Babylon had rejected God and his Word. A culture that rejects God on a large scale loses his divine protection against evil. It is like the principle of diffusion that everybody was taught in physics: ‘Nature abhors a vacuum’. We are spiritual beings, and we also cannot stand a vacuum. Cultures have a certain spirituality, be it a good one or a bad one. Cultures cannot stand a spiritual vacuum. When you have the Holy Spirit, he fills the vacuum and prevents a great deal of demonic activity and self-destructive actions among the people. Where the Holy Spirit is strong in a culture, even unbelievers are blessed. They are not saved, but they are kept from many forms of pollution. But when a culture turns its back on God, the Holy Spirit, to some degree, is withdrawn, leaving a vacuum. Guess who rushes in to fill it? The evil one and those fallen created beings, former angels, who now are demons. Thus, Babylon, an important, powerful culture that has rejected the God of the Bible, does not realize how far the demonic realm has taken charge of its activities.

Douglas F. Kelly, Revelation, A Mentor Expository Commentary (Ross-shire, Scotland: Mentor, 2012), 336.

When it comes to the recent controversial topic of Christian Nationalism and what type of government Christians should strive to establish, we read here Douglas Kelly’s conviction that no neutrality can exist when it comes to a philosophy of government. A culture must have convictions and those convictions will inform government policy. What kind of laws should a country full of Christians have? A secular one? Secularism is not neutral. It denies objective reality by rejecting the existence (or at least the involvement) of a divine being working in the affairs of this world. A nation whose God is the Lord will be blessed. A nation built upon Satan’s sand will decay and collapse in due time.

Don’t Be a Nice Guy


Nice isn’t the nice word we were brought up to believe it is. Nice has developed over the years, at least in my mind, into an insult on par with being called a pitiful low-life chump. If you want to hurt my pride and wreck my self-confidence all you have to do is say, “What a nice guy you are.” Aside from the fact that this phrase permanently friend zones a hopeful young man courting a lovely lass, a nice guy is simply a person the so-called complimenter judges as having no discernable virtues other than a kind of generic bland niceness, or Vanilla Nice if you will. So please, don’t do that – to anybody, but especially to me. If a gentleman is handsome, smart, strong, etc. then he’ll be described as either handsome, smart, or strong by those who know him. But in a situation where an average guy with not a lot going for him is described with the sentiment, “Oh, well… he’s kinda nice and all.” Yeah, that’s the kiss of death for your ego right there. Buh-bye.

In a theological sense, Vanilla Nice is even more pernicious. I’m not being hyperbolic; It is a parasitic ideology disguised cleverly in a Christian skinsuit with the doctrinal label, love thy neighbor tattooed all over. Before your eyes roll all the way around your head please let me state my case. Nice is not – I repeat – is NOT synonymous with kindness. Kindness is a Christian virtue. In fact, it is a fruit of the Spirit. Find nice mentioned as a moral or ethical virtue in the Bible – I dare you. It’s not there; Not even in the HDPV – Hippy-Dippy Progressive Version. You might approximate niceness with smooth things in Isaiah 30:10 but even then, smooth things are not cast in a positive light. Unless you think prophesying illusions is ethical conduct. You may ask, “If these words aren’t interchangeable, then what makes them differ?” Let me explain. Nice is what you are to people when you want them to like, respect, or favor you in some way that will benefit your own ego or social standing. Heck, Nice is the middle name for almost every sociopath you meet. Vanilla Nice is self-interested by nature. It is a selfish, narcissistic impulse that utilizes flattery, good manners, charm, and eloquent speech, to gain the favor of individuals, groups, or voting blocks, to receive some societal, personal, professional, or ego-centric benefit.

Kindness, on the other hand, has keenly in mind the needs of others. Kindness seeks the welfare of your neighbor, the highest possible good for their physical, mental, and spiritual well-being. Kindness is rooted in truth. The consistent application of both law and gospel is showing kindness to our neighbors. Demonstrating that all sinners stand condemned before a righteous and holy God isn’t nice in the modern application of the term, but it is most certainly an act of kindness. It may make some angry, others sad, and yet others indifferent, but it is always compassionate to let your neighbor know he is about to walk right into the fire. Kindness is telling your neighbor to flee the wrath to come. It might be uncomfortable. The conversation might lean awkward, the silence may become deafening, and the tension may thicken like a rolling fog, but you can walk away knowing you have fulfilled the law and shown kindness in the most sincere manner possible. You may not gain social clout. You might be called a wet blanket and be disinvited from socialite hobnob functions but kindness cares not a whittle about such things. It is others minded, which is humility. Vanilla Nice is just too vanilla, too bland, too self-seeking to handle authentic biblical kindness. The imp of Vanilla Nice will not allow you to warn others of God’s judgment on sin and wrath toward sinners. It risks the friendships that provide you with benefits. Their eternal welfare is secondary to your status among peers, it risks the treasury of merits you have accumulated for yourself in the form of social capital.

This is not the ethic of the Christian committed to the way of Christ. Proverbs 27:6 says “faithful are the wounds of a friend.” What this means to me as your friend is, “Demonstrate your love for me, pierce my soul with truth that I may live!” It is not easy to forsake community for consecration. The path can be lonely. Scorn and vitriol will be flung at you from many directions. But let your heart be comforted in the knowledge that you have overcome the sinister subversion of Vanilla Nice, and have crossed the threshold into true biblical kindness. This fruit of the Spirit will bear fruit of its own – for fruit always reproduces after its own kind. You will find companions on the path to your celestial home. Some of them will be grateful brethren, who benefitted from the wounds of your kindness. So don’t be nice. Nice is not a virtue. Nice is not the standard for Christian behavior. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you. (Eph 4:32)

What is the Distinction between Fatalism and Predestination?


Predestination is the dirty fourteen-letter word of modern evangelicalism. It is the that-which-must-not-be-named doctrine of the majority who despise it. It is ever only breathed in whispers by those who are convinced of its biblical foundation, lest they roil the placid waters of Lake Kumbaya. It doesn’t need to be this way. We can have a lucid conversation on the matter without a donnybrook breaking out in the church parlor. Perhaps much of the consternation over the concept that God elects a people unto Himself prior even to creating the dust that the first person is formed from comes down to a fundamental misunderstanding of the term.

So often I hear a froth-mouthed opponent of the doctrine say (between spurts of saliva) something like this:

If God predestinates our salvation then nothing we do matters. We’re all just muppets churning out episode after episode of the only show on TV, written, produced, and directed by the Great Jim Henson in the Sky.

Continue reading →

Testimony of Scripture


Blogging The Institutes

Excerpts taken from Institutes of the Christian Religion (1541 Edition) by John Calvin

Translated by Robert White

Chapter 1: The Knowledge of God

Post#11

If we think of how inclined the human mind is to forget God, how easily it is led into error,  by what flights of fancy it dreams up, hour by hour, new and counterfeit religions, we may readily understand how necessary it was for the heavenly doctrine to be couched in written form, lest it perish through forgetfulness, or be lost through error, or be corrupted by the impudence  of men.

So it is that David first of all declares that the heavens proclaim God’s glory and the firmament his handiwork, and that his majesty is revealed in the orderly succession of day and night. He then goes on to celebrate God’s word, saying: ‘The law of the Lord is spotless, converting souls; the testimony of the Lord is true, giving wisdom to the humble; the righteous deeds of the Lord are just, rejoicing the heart; the precepts of the Lord are clear, enlightening the eye’ (Psa 19:7-8). What he means is that the message of God’s creation is universal, for all peoples, but that the teaching of the word is the school peculiar to God’s children.

Calvin asserts the word of God became necessary because while natural revelation reveals God’s power and many of His invisible attributes, in the hands of corrupted man, this knowledge can easily be twisted to suit his own purposes. Historic pagan religions bear witness to this fact. Ancient Greek culture invented deities that controlled particular aspects of nature instead of giving the one true God the glory He is due for His sovereign reign over all the cosmos. Many civilizations of old have followed their own imaginations in defining who or what brushed the blank canvas of space with a full palette of color, beauty and diverse complexity. Continue reading →

Knowability of God


Blogging The Institutes

Excerpts taken from Institutes of the Christian Religion (1541 Edition) by John Calvin

Translated by Robert White

Chapter 1: The Knowledge of God

Post#10 (Note: This post should’ve gone before post#9 but I goofed)

For God is made known to us in his works so that, when we feel their force within us and receive their benefits such knowledge should touch us more keenly than if we conceived of God as some airy being of whom we had no real experience. Accordingly, the proper way to seek God and the best way to proceed is to behold him in his works, for through them he becomes close and familiar to us, and indeed imparts something of himself.

 

This kind of knowledge should not only prompt us to know and serve God, but should also arouse and awaken us to the hope of the future life. For we perceive that the signs which God gives both of his goodness and severity are partial and only half complete: they are samples, as it were,of what will be fully and finally revealed on the appointed day. Moreover, since we see the good and the innocent bowed down with suffering, hurt by insults, wounded by slanders, enduring scorn and shame; and since on the other hand the wicked flourish, prosper, enjoy untroubled ease and esteem, we are led to conclude that there will be another life in which iniquity will be punished and righteousness rewarded.

Notice Calvin’s frequent use of the word should in the above two quotes. The knowledge He gives us in His works and the benefits we receive daily in His gracious provision should touch us deeply. It should motivate us to know and serve Him. It should give us hope for resurrection life. His use of should is intentional. Man should behold what he plainly does not. In the next section Calvin goes on to explain humanity’s blindness to God’s revelation in His works. This flaw is not one of design, meaning, God didn’t create man with an innate deficiency to prevent us from beholding His majesty. No, the failure to behold is ours. It is a moral failure and it is absolute. Sin’s grip never relaxes its hold on our souls. The blind cannot command themselves to see. The help must come from outside ourselves. Only God can restore sight to the sightless (Psalm 146:8).  Continue reading →

Stumbling in the Dark


Blogging The Institutes

Excerpts taken from Institutes of the Christian Religion (1541 Edition) by John Calvin

Translated by Robert White

Chapter 1: The Knowledge of God

Post#9

Nevertheless, whatever light is kindled for us as we behold God’s works, our mind, in attempting to picture both him and his eternal kingdom, is so carnal that these very clear proofs convey no more to us about them than they do to the blind. When it comes to the structure of the whole wide world, how many of us lift our eyes heavenward? Or in surveying every country on earth, how many think to remember the Creator? And how many, ignoring the workman, look no further than the creature? As for what lies outside the ordinary course of nature, how many there are who only see chance at work, as it tosses and tumbles men about, instead of God’s providence which in fact governs them! And if, as inevitably happens to all men, we are sometimes forced to consider God’s role in all of this, we no sooner have a vague inkling of some deity or other than we return to the foolish notions of the flesh, and in our vanity we corrupt God’s pure truth.

This sphere of green and blue in which we exist tells us something about God. But most of the time we aren’t looking for the answers to the questions we aren’t asking. In my pre-conversion mind I thought little about God’s role in creation. Perhaps because that would force me to consider MY role in God’s creation. I didn’t want to be a character in someone else’s play. This is my story and I’ll write my own happy ending thank you very much. On the rare occasion that I would consider God, I imagined Him unconditionally benevolent, always smiling down on my silly antics. Without a deeper, more complete revelation (that I had no interest in discovering) I could not know the whole truth of His nature. Continue reading →

Works of Providence


Blogging the Institutes

Quotes taken from Institutes of the Christian Religion (1541 Edition) by John Calvin

Translated by Robert White

Chapter 1: The Knowledge of God

Post#8

For in ruling over mankind he so orders his providence that, although he is commonly and in every way kind and generous to all, he daily reveals his righteousness to the good whom he guides, and his judgment to the wicked. For the retribution which he metes out for sin is neither secret nor hidden.In the same way he appears as the sure protector and guardian of innocence, for through his blessing he gives prosperity to the good, assists them in time of need, relieves their suffering, remedies their misfortunes, and ever and always provides for their salvation.

Calvin answers a question I think many ask themselves at one time or another: Does God still judge sin? The response Calvin gives is an emphatic “yes!” We see it everyday when justice is served to those who have been caught in their crimes. We know it subconsciously when someone is struck down suddenly in their prime who has reveled in unrepentant immorality.We see his generosity every time we experience a joy of everyday life: the warm embrace of a loved one, the abundance of food on our table, the sturdy shelter over our heads. We feel his kindness when those who’ve been served with injustice are consoled, comforted and supported by those who’ve reached out in compassion for their plight. By providence we mean that God works His will through the everyday course of events and circumstances in the world. God is sovereign and works all things according to the counsel of His will (Eph 1:11-12). If this were not so God would cease being God. He would not then be worthy of our worship. Continue reading →

Reflections of God’s Glory


Blogging the Institutes

Taken from Institutes of the Christian Religion (1541 Edition) by John Calvin

Translated by Robert White

Chapter 1: The Knowledge of God

Post#7

…whichever way we turn our eyes, there is no part of the world, however small, in which at least some spark of God’s glory does not shine. In particular, we cannot gaze upon this beautiful masterpiece of the world, in all its length and breadth, without being completely dazzled, as it were, by an endless flood of light. Accordingly, in Hebrews the apostle aptly calls the world the mirror of things invisible, because the structure of the world serves as a mirror in which we behold God, who otherwise cannot be seen (Heb 11:3).

The whole purpose of the material creation is to reflect the glory of the invisible God. His glory sparkles in the heavens above, through the warm brilliance of the sun, the cold beauty of the moon and the twinkling shimmer of the stars. It shines forth in the world below, from the rolling hills of green to the ubiquitous oceans of blue. It breaks out from the flight of birds in the air to the fleeting beasts of the field to the swarming fish of the sea. His likeness reflects most clearly in the form of man, crafted lovingly by the Maker’s hand to be His image bearer to all creation.

The Fall brought man low, blighting and obscuring God’s glory to the point where it no longer shines brightly as a light in our dim, myopic vision. All of creation mourns the darkness to which man has plunged it (Rom 8:22). Our blindness and intentional ignorance will not stand up in God’s court. He has revealed enough of Himself to condemn the entire human race for refusing to honor His majesty. Continue reading →

This Present Evil Age


Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever. (1 John 2:15-17 ESV)

Any Christian should be quite familiar with this well-worn text of Scripture. We’ve probably all been convicted by its strong words at one time or another during our walk with Christ. Vanity Fair has seduced its fair share of prospective pilgrims throughout history. The question I have now in my 3rd decade on the narrow path isn’t how much love I have for the world, it’s more along the line of How much hate I have for the world, and is it OK to hate the world we live in?

I think I’ve always had a fundamental distaste for the modern age in which we live. From a very young age I’ve always been fascinated with different time periods. I romanticized the various epochs in my vivid imagination growing up. I loved the eras of ancient Greece, the Roman Empire and especially the medieval period in Europe. This fact was confirmed just a few days past when I visited my first Medieval fair. Good times.

I think that’s why I play video games – particularly role-playing games. I’m thoroughly enthralled at the ability to be transported to another time and place. Sometimes people ask why I still play video games at my age. My answer is simple: They take me someplace else. Continue reading →

Permissibility of Polygamy & Adultery


Bible Inquiries & Explanations

Q: Why was adultery and polygamy allowed to happen so freely prior to the 10 commandments?

A: As a start I should begin with what Scripture reveals as God’s plan for human flourishing and how polygamy and adultery don’t conform to said plan.

God created woman from the rib of the first man and presented her to him. Adam proclaimed her to be bone of his bone and the flesh of his flesh and he called her woman because she was taken out of man. The Bible then states:

Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh (Gen 2:24 ESV)

Notice the specific use of the singular nouns – one man shall cleave to one wife and the two become one flesh.

Jesus Christ, the Word made flesh, reiterated this great truth in the gospels:

And Pharisees came up to him and tested him by asking, “Is it lawful to divorce one’s wife for any cause?” He answered, “Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’? So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.” (Matt 19:3-6 ESV)

Continue reading →