Mark Twain quipped that “the most striking difference between a cat and a lie is that the cat has only nine lives.” You’re going to hear a lot of lies coming from the pro-abortion movement in the next few days. Don’t fall for them. Most are recycled nonsense …

“The Supreme Court is hiding in the shadows of silence.” No, the Supreme Court is doing what the Supreme Court does.

“Texas is un-American.” I’m not sure who gets to make that determination, but it’s hard to take this seriously when today’s headline from USA Today was “George Orwell, Meet Greg Abbott.”

“Pro-lifers are America’s Taliban.” That’s the one I find the most dishonest and despicable, but it’s making the rounds as we speak.

Here’s what’s happened in the Lone Star State: Governor Abbott has signed into law a measure that bans all abortions in the state after about six weeks of pregnancy – once a fetal heartbeat is detected. The law also permits private citizens to sue abortion providers. Said another way, Roe v. Wade has been functionally overturned in Texas, and that has caused national alarm among those who seek to prop up the abortion industry. The rancor surrounding the Texas law has grown especially loud because of a Mississippi abortion case which has already made its way to the nation’s high court. In that case, Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, the Mississippi law in question banned abortions after fifteen weeks of pregnancy.

What does all of this mean? In a nutshell, it means that the United States Supreme Court will soon hear what will no doubt become a landmark case, and the case has the bombshell potential to undo a key component of Roe, and that is its pre-viability rule. (The court in Roe held that states can ban abortions only after the point at which a fetus could survive outside the mother.) Simply put, Dobbs has the potential to decimate what is now the legally sanctioned killing of children who are still in their mother’s womb.

Now I don’t have to tell you why Texas has caused such a nationwide panic. Abortion has become perhaps the single most divisive issue in America. Birthed out of the eugenics movement and its desire to rid society of the “undesirables,” Planned Parenthood has roughly doubled both its net assets and government funding since 2006, and funding from private sources has tripled. The abortion giant brings in well over one billion dollars every year (yes, that’s “billion” with a “b”). Abortion is a dark curse on our land. I speak not to the political implications – those are for you to decide – but I speak to the moral implications surrounding the tragedy of elective abortion.

There are a lot of directions in which I could take this conversation today (don’t you like the way that I imagine that you’re in this with me?), but I’ll focus on the two starting points that really matter. When it comes to the rightness or wrongness of abortion, I think that there are two key questions which we must all answer: 1) Is a fetus human? And 2) Is it permissible to kill a human? Once you answer those questions honestly, the rest of the “abortion debate” tends to fall into place from the perspective of a moral framework. I ask each of you to take the time to answer those two questions for yourselves, in light of what God has revealed to us in Scripture. Then you’ll have a solid moral and theological framework from which to build. Without such a framework, I’m not sure how anyone can survive the relentless and heated onslaughts of our current information overload.

Friends, it does us little good to get angry or upset without the ability to reasonably articulate our understanding of right and wrong. Because there’s one thing I can tell you about raging secularism, which is all around us: it never ceases to create more than its share of public fallacies. It has to, in order to survive the light of reasonable inquiry. Lucky for the secularists, most people today don’t want to bother with digging deeply enough to discover the truth on any subject.

But here’s why I’m at least a little bit hopeful today: you and I have the opportunity to bless an unstable and angry culture with a steady and gracious influence. We can live out what we believe, and live it out with conviction, and pray that our Christ-centered convictions stand out like a sore thumb! Some will despise our convictions – no doubt – but others who feel like they’ve been drowning in a sea of slippery subjectivism just may see our gospel – the good news of Jesus – as a life raft.

Life matters. It always matters. A culture of life is worth giving our all to make it happen. The new Texas law may or may not prevail, but our hope should be that “we the people” are moving in the direction of the sanctity of human life. Justice and love demand that we do everything in our power to protect the most innocent and defenseless class of people among us, and that we advocate for public policy that saves lives. “I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore choose life, that you and your offspring may live” (Deuteronomy 30:19).

Choose life.

Pastor Charles

This week I’ve stumbled across a couple of alarming statistics from the national landscape. Both hit me like the proverbial ton of bricks, and upon further review, I’ve decided that the two statistics might be related. I’ll let you decide.

Statistic #1: 60% of Americans who self-identify as “born again Christian” do not believe that Jesus is the only way of salvation.

Statistic #2: 25% of American teenagers are struggling with gender identity.

I’ll just let you think on that for a moment.

There is no doubt in my mind that a clear affirmation of “Jesus is the only way to God” is the most offensive claim that we can make within our present culture. So why would we ever say such a thing? Because Jesus said it! It’s that simple. And it’s not just in John 14:6 that Jesus makes that claim, but He says it in all kinds of other texts and in all kinds of other ways. It’s something that our Lord knows that we must understand if we’re going to survive in this world. It’s something that we must understand if we’re going to survive spiritually. The absolute exclusivity of Christ is foundational to the doctrine of every Christian and foundational to the doctrine of every church. Is it any wonder, then, that such a bedrock claim would fall on such hard times in our contemporary culture? Not really. You and I are living in anti-truth days.

Jesus is the only one who could ever satisfy the demands of a holy God on our behalf. But Christ’s being the only way of salvation will be hard for many of our friends to swallow. Let’s face it: at times we too find it hard to swallow. Can’t we just fit in with everybody else and crack open the possibility for other “ways” to God? It sounds so humble and polite. Problem is: it makes God a liar. If in our “progressive” thinking Mohammed and Buddha and good works are also legitimate routes to God, then – despite how much we may feel that our beliefs are enlightened or self-satisfying – the Bible would conclude that we have wandered into an embrace of the spirit of antiChrist. And I don’t have to tell you that that’s never a good place to be!

But here we are. Most people have caved on this critical truth, even in the church. So the church has grown weak and stale. Tired and feeble. Conforming instead of transforming. Many are wondering who turned out the lights. We did. And, let’s face it: doctrinal error never exists in a vacuum. Wherever we find the erosion of one key doctrine, we can rest assured that other doctrines have been assaulted too. The church is in a mess.

And that mess makes all the difference because we’ve been commissioned by Jesus as “the salt of the earth” and “the light of the world.” So the salt shaker is clogged, and the light switch is operationally hit or miss. And here’s what I’ve been thinking: the church bears the lion’s share of the responsibility for the rampant confusion in the culture. We have, unfortunately and by our neglect, paved the way for a morally confused society. Are we willing to repent?

I’m connecting the dots, friends. So perhaps it’s no surprise that one of the Bible’s first and most foundational claims (Genesis 1:27) would lie at the center of our current cultural meltdown: So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. This is no accidental point of conflict or dispute, but this is a frontal assault on the nature of humankind and the nature of our Creator.

And here’s the deal: only an awakened, revived, and steadfast church can steer us forward! The world has no answer for these present woes, nor is it willing to look in the right place for those answers. So followers of Christ can either join in on the lapse of reason, and that will be the easy way, or we can shine the way that we were designed to reflect the hope of Christ, and that will be the difficult way – but it will be the only way to life.

Your neighbors are hurting. I don’t even know your neighbors, but I know that they’re hurting. And it’s likely that they’re confused and scared. They are at least passively aware that something profound is unraveling around them, but it’s very likely that they do not understand the core of the trouble. That’s where you come in! You know the Way. You know the Truth. You know the Life.

That makes the church the perfect place for young people to question their gender identity. We can wrestle with ourselves in the church. In fact, that’s what every saved sinner does every day. So it’s all the more reason why you and I must do everything within our power to create in the church an atmosphere of open arms. Bring your questions! Bring your doubts! Bring your shame! And we will be for each other a family of faith, living under the banner of love, and spurring each other on to brighter days. And we will explore together – as long as we have breath – what it means to be “fearfully and wonderfully made.” We will delight in each other’s perfect design, and in the fact that our good God makes no mistakes. By God’s grace and for His glory, we’ll connect everybody to Jesus.

We ought to be asking the Lord to forgive our carelessness with the gospel treasure that we’ve been given. I believe that He stands ready to put us back on the right path and fast. That’s just who He is: full of grace and truth.

Pastor Charles

I want to plead with you today to pray for the Afghan church. We’re talking about roughly 2000 people, and all of them are Muslim converts. You might be surprised to learn that the vast majority of them are under 40 years of age. The meetings have been what we would consider to be “house churches,” and the numbers have doubled over the last 20 years. Two thousand people might seem like a small number, but not when you consider the critical importance of a gospel witness within the spiritual darkness that is Afghanistan. When you understand how important the light is, you realize how much the enemy would love to snuff it out.

As the Taliban takes over the nation, all of these sisters and brothers are in harm’s way. Sharia Law is a horrific reality, and many of the house church leaders have already received threatening electronic communications. We know that these threats are not idle, as some members of the Afghan military have already been shot and beheaded. The days are brutal and the stakes are high. We’re talking about the body of Christ facing intense persecution in short order.

When the Taliban last ruled Afghanistan, they tortured and killed the country’s former president and hanged his body for all to see. Unaccompanied women in public could be beaten. One Afghan woman, a helpless mother, was forced to kneel between the goalposts of a stadium, where she was savagely executed. I could go on and on about what women and girls in Afghanistan are now facing, including their being forbidden to be educated and their being cut off from even basic healthcare. These past realities under Taliban rule have been documented by the U.S. Department of State. And I haven’t even mentioned the tragic realities of sex slavery, which are alive and well wherever chaos controls.

We must remember that the Taliban are driven by a version of Islamic doctrine which excludes all study and tradition not directly related to their understanding of the Qur’an. They claim that the “purity” of the Qur’an marked by the practices of Muhammad is the highest and greatest goal for which every society should strive. So their ultimate aim is to create a culture that precisely mirrors the world of the seventh century in which Islam was born. Thus, we always find where they’re in control a disparaging view of women, as well as a bitter hatred for non-Muslims (the “infidels”) and any Muslims who disagree with their exact theological interpretations (the “apostates”). National Geographic points out that Afghanistan is landlocked and surrounded by mountains, deserts, and competing empires. That makes it a perfect place for the Taliban to flourish. We see that in history, and we see that right now.

Twenty years of progress in women’s rights specifically, and in human rights generally, are poised to erode overnight. Here’s what we as Westerners have to wrap our heads around: these Taliban fighters sincerely believe that they’re engaged in a holy war for purity that’s been being waged for a millennium. They’re entirely devoted to the “restoration” of all Islamic lands stretching from Iraq to Spain. In case you’re wondering – yes – that connects Afghanistan to Palestine. These are sobering times, friends. And we can be certain that terror cells around the world will be emboldened by the present fall of Afghanistan. Lord, have mercy.

We ought to imagine ourselves trying desperately to get our small children to the airport in Kabul, only to realize that we won’t make it and that we must “shelter in place” while the Taliban assumes all power in the country. Feeling the gut-wrenching weight of that scenario might help us pray more passionately and fervently for the Afghan church, and for all Afghans. Every Afghan is God’s unique image-bearer.

And I want to remind you that what sets us apart – you and I who bear the name of Christ – is that we “love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us” (Matthew 5:44). That’s a tall order, but it’s ours today. We don’t just pray for the Christ-followers in Afghanistan, but we pray for those who are blinded by the darkness of Islam, and we pray for the leaders of the Taliban. You and I serve a God of miracles, and this is a great day for us to plead with Him to change the hearts of those whom we believed were beyond all possibility of change (Matthew 19:26). We must never forget that the ground is level at the foot of the cross.

All people long for freedom, but Islam – like every other false religion and every irreligious humanistic ideology – enslaves. I’ll get into trouble for saying this, but I’m saying it anyway: Islam, if actually practiced, is incompatible with human rights, democracy, and human flourishing. We can’t expect freedom to prevail without the genuine convictions which are established and upheld by the only belief system on Planet Earth which tells the truth about who God is, and the truth about who we are. And that is the gospel of Jesus (John 14:6). So, while we’re at it, we ought to pray for America too.

You are loved. Deeply, deeply loved.

Pastor Charles

It’s quite the story! A real heart-warmer, just when we needed one.

Allyson Felix surpassed Carl Lewis for the highest number of U.S. Olympic track and field medals. Her Olympic journey began at the 2004 Games in Athens when Allyson was 18. And here’s the deal: no woman has ever run faster at an older age.

I’ll quote from Allyson’s post on Instagram: “It might sound cliché, but getting to that starting line is an incredible victory for me. I’ve experienced the hardest years of my life in this journey and by God’s grace I’m here. With a heart full of gratitude I’m taking space to remember all it took to get here. So when you see me on the track I hope you understand my fight. As an athlete who was told I was too old, as a woman who was told to know my place, as a mother who wasn’t sure I would live to raise my daughter. I hope you see that, for me, it’s about so much more than what the clock says.”

So. Much. More.

The most decorated track star in U.S. history chose to carry and deliver her daughter (now age 2) despite intense pressure to abort her. It was a high-risk pregnancy, and her corporate sponsor Nike cut Felix’s pay by 70% out of fear that the athlete would underperform. To her credit, Felix brought attention to the unfairness of that decision, and Nike has since worked to undo the gender double standard.

Felix has walked with Christ since she was a little girl. As the daughter of a seminary professor and a mom who also loved the Lord, Allyson’s faith has been shaped and strengthened through adversity, but her spirit seems to be marked indelibly by a glass-half-full perspective if ever there were one. I’ll share just a short segment from a 2012 interview: “In the season of life that I am in now, I feel so blessed that God has given me the talent of running. My running is an amazing gift from God and I want to use it to the best of my ability to glorify Him. You have to have this passion and you have to have a reason for doing what you’re doing. And there really has to be a purpose there, I think that’s what drives success. I know my talent is from God. And that’s my purpose: to run to glorify Him. I’m thankful that I have been given this platform so that I can share my faith with the world!”

When we think about glorifying God by the lives we’ve been given, we should remember the Old Testament passage where God put His glory on display for Moses (Exodus 33:18 – 34:8). What we discover there should be highly instructive for us, and worth rehearsing from time to time. What Moses most encounters there is the character of God Himself. I’ll offer a few suggestions stemming from that text …

1. We glorify God by telling the truth, particularly the truth about us. Nothing is as powerful as true confession.
2. We glorify God by extending forgiveness to others. Yes, especially the undeserved kind.
3. We glorify God by stepping out in faith. I know you don’t know all the details yet, but at least you know who does.
4. We glorify God by bearing spiritual fruit. He wants to use us for good purposes, right here and right now.
5. We glorify God by giving thanks. It’s the best natural antidepressant I’ve ever experienced.
6. We glorify God by praying without ceasing. Walking closely with God transforms our uncertainties into adventures.
7. We glorify God by doing whatever we’ve been put here to do. Maybe for you it’s not running – but know that your calling and platform are just as eternally important as those of the woman I’m honoring here today.

At a time when sports, entertainment, academia, and the media are heavily dominated by a worldview that devalues the life of the unborn – and that’s really the tip of the iceberg in this latest round of an anti-life popular culture – I’m so grateful that Allyson Felix stands out like the shining star she is.

Our God is a faithful God, friends. You and I, like Allyson, ought to be “taking space to remember all it took to get here.”

Pastor Charles

Did Jesus laugh?

Of course, Jesus laughed. Let me tell you why I can answer that question so unequivocally. Jesus was fully human. Expounding on the nature of Christ, Christian theologians often speak of the “hypostatic union,” a term that refers to Christ’s human nature being inseparably united forever with His divine nature. Christ’s two natures are distinct, yet Christ is “fully God and fully man.” It’s that “fully man” part which assures me that Jesus laughed.

In fact, the Bible is full of humor. While I have a huge plank stuck in my head, I’m still proud (and dumb) enough to think that I can help you remove the tiny speck from your eyeball. If we don’t laugh at that, we didn’t really get it. Even Solomon affirmed: “There is a time to laugh.” If we’re not careful, we can fall into the mistaken notion that people who are serious about the gospel have to be deadly serious about everything, but nothing could be further from the truth. We were made to laugh. We need to laugh. We ought to laugh. Laughter is good for our souls, and healing for our bodies.

To laugh in 2021 is not to deny some very tough realities which are all around us. Despair is everywhere, friends. Substance abuse is on the rise, as are suicidal thoughts and behaviors. These indicators have soared over the last decade, especially among those under 18 (skyrocketing 287% between 2009 and 2018). Between 2015 and 2017, life expectancy fell in the U.S., and that was the longest sustained decline since 1918. And I haven’t even mentioned the gasoline that’s been poured on this fire by the pandemic.

Only a person who is full of faith in Christ can laugh in the face of future unknowns. I’ve heard it said like this: “I don’t know what tomorrow holds, but I know who holds tomorrow.” That’s some good stuff.

In order for that kind of faith to flourish in and through us, you and I must be driven by a higher perspective of the world, and of our lives. This is central to our spiritual flourishing. Martin Luther penned these words on Christmas morning in 1522: “If you possess faith, your heart cannot do otherwise than laugh for joy in God, and grow free, confident, and courageous. For how can the heart remain sorrowful and dejected when it entertains no doubt of God’s kindness to it, and of His attitude as a good friend with whom it may unreservedly and freely enjoy all things?”

Paul in Ephesians 2:4-5 perhaps captures best our desperate need for a higher perspective, and the whole truth hangs on two short words: “But God.” In the verses preceding, the apostle has already described the downside of the universal human condition: “dead in trespasses and sins” … “following the course of this world” … “sons of disobedience” … “living in the passions of our flesh” … “by nature, children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.” Not a pretty picture, to say the least. “But God.”

But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ – by grace you have been saved!

I’m so grateful for those two words: “But God.”

But God refused to let me remain in lies and darkness.

But God refused to let me destroy myself in my pride and rebellion.

But God refused to let me stay on the wide and wrong road.

But God refused to let me be defined by my past mistakes.

But God refused to let me wallow in self-pity.

But God refused to let me get what I deserve.

But God refused to let me go!

But God. I’m inviting you to join me in the passionate pursuit of this higher perspective. God’s higher perspective. We need it now, and it is ours for the asking and seeking.

And I want to add that I believe that you and I will laugh in the world to come. C.S. Lewis wrote that “joy is the serious business of heaven.” It’s difficult to read about the wedding feast in Revelation 19, where God and His people are likened to a bride and groom who are caught up in the merriment of eternal victory, without imagining a great deal of laughter around the table. It’s a Biblical snapshot of nothing less than an absolutely joyful celebration! We ought to smile just thinking about it.

I don’t know all your struggles, and you don’t know all of mine, but I can tell you that you and I need a good belly laugh today. GOD’S GOT THIS. Let it out! Let it happen! Let it flow!

Pastor Charles

Today’s blog posting may feel more like a rant. I hope not, but I guess it is what it is. I’m feeling very protective toward someone I don’t even know.

The facts are that 24-year-old Simone Biles has withdrawn from the all-around final at Tokyo 2020, citing concerns for her own mental health. The situation is unfolding daily, but my greatest concern is the piling on of critical public opinions regarding a life we know little about. Simone may be the world’s greatest gymnast, but the spotlight of the Olympics is very limited in its ability to show us the person herself. And that’s what Simone is: just a person.

As unsuspecting kids who knew no better, many of us were taught: “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.” Dumbest. Line. Ever. And totally unbiblical. The Bible is replete with warnings against the careless misuse of the tongue, and of the irreparable damage which can be unleashed by an unbridled tongue. Today, of course, the tongue includes the keyboard.

Here’s what Simone says. I’ll employ her exact words here: “Whenever you get in a high-stress situation, you kind of freak out. I have to focus on my mental health and not jeopardize my health or well-being. It just sucks when you’re fighting with your own head.” According to news media, the young woman broke down in tears as she explained her decision. Personally, I choose to take Simone at her word.

I understand that we as Americans have grown accustomed to not just winning but dominating in gymnastics. For nearly a decade this has been our story. Silver feels like a loss. I get it. But we must be really careful not to join in the pile-on of commentary when it comes to issues where we have no business rushing to judgment.

Social media can be incredibly cruel. As Christ-followers, you and I must never forget that, on the other side of our judgmental words, is a person. Not just an Olympian, or a potential winner, or a celebrity, or (worst of all) an object for my entertainment. Simone is a person created in the image of God.

We ought never join in on the shame game. Shaming another is always unfitting for resurrection people. We are the new creations! We are the edifiers! We are the eternally hopeful!

We ought never board the train that leaves from condemnation station. Even when the whole world seems to be getting on board, we must not. That’s not who we are, because we are in Christ.

We ought never hold onto a stone of critique after Jesus has told us to put it down. That’s right. Our first thought toward Simone ought to include vivid memories of all the times when we have “cracked” under pressure.

When it comes to my haughtiness and my mouth, Psalm 19:14 always fits the situation: Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer. O God, may it come to pass among us, even in 2021.

Dial it down a notch, America! We’ve got bigger fish to fry than judging Simone Biles. In fact, we ought to be praying for Simone. She is obviously enduring a very tough season of life.

I don’t know Simone Biles. Not at all. But I do know that she is young, and that she is under more pressure than most of us will ever even begin to fathom. I also know that we’re experiencing a mental health crisis in our nation, and in the church. Methinks this is the time for humble and gracious respect toward a young lady who has represented us well.

A person is a person. (Dr. Seuss was right.) We are not gods. Maybe if we get that straight, we’ll have some room left over for the one who is God.

Pastor Charles

The Norse religion focused on a three-part, pre-Earth world: a land of fire, a great void, and a land of ice. I’m not making this up: a behemothic cow licked the god Bor and his wife into being. And from the dead body of the giant Ymir emerged all of creation. The rest is history.

According to Zoroastrianism, the religion of ancient Persia, everything including human life sprouted from a rhubarb plant.

According to the Babylonian creation myth, the Enuma Elish, the four-eyed and four-eared Marduk created the world from the dead body of a goddess whom he had killed and then created humans to do the drudge work that the gods refused to do. (Too many stimulus payments?)

Egyptian myths started with the swirling waters of the Nu, where the genderless and all-seeing Atum – who had willed himself into being – spat out a son and then vomited up a daughter.

The Aztecs of Mexico looked to the earth mother and her skirt of snakes. Her 400 sons became the stars of the southern sky, and the stories went on from there.

In China, a cosmic egg floated within the timeless world, containing the opposing forces of yin and yang – until the first being Pan-gu emerged after eons of incubation.

Japan’s gods created two divine siblings, the brother Izanagi and the sister Izanami, who stood upon a floating bridge above the primordial ocean. Utilizing the jeweled spear of the gods, they churned up the first island, Onogoro. Izanagi and Izanami married, and produced offspring who were malformed. The gods blamed the whole mess upon a breach of protocol, and I’ll stop the story there for the sake of your time (and your stomach).

The Hindus look back to a gigantic being named Purusha. Purusha had 1000 heads, 1000 eyes, and 1000 feet. (A trip to Foot Locker must have been cost-prohibitive.) When Purusha was sacrificed by the gods, his body produced clarified butter, from which came all the animals and birds. His different body parts served different roles in creating the world’s elements and in birthing the four castes of Hindu society. That was all pre-Brahma, but I’m running out of time so we’ll leave it there, except to say that the current cycle of Hinduism has a couple billion years left.

The earliest Greek poets had a few colorful stories of their own, the best-preserved being Hesiod’s Theogony. Mother Earth was Gaia, and there was a bizarre menagerie of monsters … and Cyclopes … and giants … and thunderbolts hurled by Zeus … along with a plethora of gods. Uranus despised his monstrous children and imprisoned them in the bowels of the earth. And I’ll just leave that right there.

Our Josh has just informed us that he’s learning (at MSU) how Genesis compares to the creation and flood myths from Mesopotamia (Iraq). They’re talking about the Eridu Genesis, the Atrahasis Epic, the Epic of Gilgamesh, and the Enuma Elish (which I mentioned earlier in this blog posting). I get it. I really do. In some respects, these texts look similar to Genesis. But I wanted to say to you today that, in a multitude of very critical ways, they are very different! The Mesopotamian accounts portray a beginningless primordial soup of chaos where the gods can’t stop fighting each other except to procreate, but then somehow it all manages to transform itself into an ordered universe. Hmmm. And that’s only the beginning of the critical distinctions.

In those ancient myths, humans are formed out of a mixture of clay and the blood and spittle of the gods, in order to relieve the workload of the overworked lesser gods – who are having to serve the greater gods. The gods send a flood to deal with overpopulation (or some version of too much noise), but one man (Atrahasis, Utnapishtim, or Ziusudra) is warned in advance and survives the seven-day flood in an ark with his family and animals.

But perhaps the most important distinction is that the Bible portrays THE ONE TRUE GOD, who speaks the entire universe into being out of nothing. Yahweh then fashions Adam and Eve – in His own image – and breathes His own life into them. And then this personal God bestows upon our first parents and their progeny – in fact, the entire human race – the sacred responsibility to rule over His creation on His behalf. Hallelujah!

We know from Acts 7:22 that Moses was exceptionally well-educated when it came to the culture of his Egyptian upbringing, yet God inspired what Moses wrote to oppose every godless worldview. We can rest assured that any apparent similarities between our Book of Genesis and any ancient myth are an example of God’s purposeful inclusion in the Scriptures of evidence against that myth. Genesis reveals to us – God’s people – the true nature of God and His sovereignty over all of human history. Written as historical narrative, plain and simple, Genesis purposefully undermines the false ideologies and idolatries of every culture where He is not worshipped and glorified.

Let’s be clear. Genesis describes no war among the gods. Quite to the contrary, in perfect harmony, the three members of the Godhead set in motion what later become for us our first inklings of the Covenant of Grace – by which our Lord Jesus will overcome Adam’s failure. What good news will be the empty tomb! God is the hero of the Bible and the hero of the gospel. The earliest chapters of Genesis regard every force of nature as entirely inanimate, and absolutely under the absolute control of the one true Creator God. He doesn’t need 1000 eyes. He doesn’t need a Home Depot. He doesn’t need magic or trickery. He doesn’t even need a rhubarb ruse. He is, simply, God.

Friends, most of the supposed “pagan parallels” aren’t nearly as parallel as the liberal critics claim. Upon close scrutiny, the myths have little in common with the Bible. And, even when a parallel is apparent, that in no way minimizes the historical veracity of the Scriptures. What it does is highlight for us the common longings of the human heart. In every culture, people want to know the story of how we got here, why we’re here, and why it matters. Even in cultures that are entirely hostile to the God of the Bible, and that’s our mission field, there are God-given yearnings for meaning and purpose. God “has put eternity into man’s heart” (Ecclesiastes 3:11). Those who are not trusting Christ by faith will always twist that knowledge, as well as those yearnings, into stories which only vaguely resemble the truth.

“In the beginning, God …” I’m sticking with that. What say you?

Pastor Charles

There was a time when church bells were torn down and melted. The public worship of God was strictly forbidden. The “Law of Suspects” was enacted; turning any sense of justice on its head, government suspects had to prove their innocence. And the cult of the “Supreme Being” took center stage.

No, I’m not describing a fictional novel. The year was 1793, and it was the French Revolution in full swing.

“That could never happen here,” we might be tempted to imagine, “as we are the people of liberty and the First Amendment.” But the British-American author Andrew Sullivan raises an interesting idea as he describes what he calls America’s new “successor ideology.” I think it was the essayist Wesley Yang who actually coined that term, and it refers to a new era in America that has superseded true liberalism. Right here in the land of the free and the home of the brave, there is no longer a “liberal” society and a “liberal” democracy – posits Sullivan – where every voice can be heard, but we’ve been left with a place of “no escape, no refuge from the ongoing nightmare of oppression and violence – and you are either fighting this and ‘on the right side of history,’ or you are against it and abetting evil. There is no neutrality. No place for skepticism. No room for debate.”

No room for debate. If it’s true, that’s a scary place to be, friends.

What’s going on around us, right now? I’d be tempted to call it the rising tide of secularism, but I acknowledge that I can’t adequately wrap my mind or my words around every corner of the phenomenon. Please allow me to take a stab at describing what I see.

1. There is a godless philosophy mounting in strength. That’s why I mentioned the French Revolution. It’s a great picture for us of the importance of who occupies the place of royal authority. Do you remember learning about the storming of the Bastille? As Christ followers, our primary concern is not the royal authority in Paris – or in any other center of human government – but our supreme passion should be the royal authority who reigns on high, and who has graciously revealed Himself in His Word. And here’s what we must recognize: the sin-twisted worldview which seems to be carrying the day is simply the latest version of the serpent’s mantra: “Did God really say …?”

2. There is a race for firm control of the history books. A deist state religion – and that’s what I fear is arising – must demand that we learn nothing from past mistakes. By way of example, socialism can be cool again. (Never mind its global death toll.) Herein lie some of the dangers surrounding Critical Race Theory, in my opinion. It oversimplifies human history, and it forces people into false categories which serve to divide us even further. It is my contention that CRT undermines some of the principles of freedom which are absolutely necessary for the flourishing of all people, and that it accomplishes this particularly by distorting American history for its own ends.

3. There is a phony “reason” emerging in influence. I think you will agree with me that people seem to be losing their ability to think, critically and rationally. Emotional heat has supplanted honest dialogue. Quite ironically, “safe spaces” are threatening the healthy marketplace of ideas. France’s “Cult of Reason” recognized no god, but it did worship the goddess of “reason.” Consider the present similarities, if you dare. When I think about the potential dangers of the so-called Equality Act, for example, I can’t help but imagine all the ways in which inequality now masquerades as something noble. It’s as if someone has crept in by night and switched all the price tags! Oh, how you and I need a renewed mind for such a time as this!

4. There is a growing hatred for any dissenting voice. We don’t seem to be witnessing the eradication of every religious worldview (Islam seems strangely but widely unquestioned), but I think that we may be witnessing the attempted eradication of the central tenets of Christianity. I say that because we’re seeing such overt hostility in our society at those places where Biblical values crash into postmodern values: the definition of gender, for example. (One can barely keep up with even the ever-morphing terminology related to the house of cards that’s under construction.) And, because we’re losing the liberal marketplace of ideas, someone has to be silenced in order to avoid the direct conflict. We don’t even have to wonder who that will be.

5. There is a false characterization of the Christian faithful. When I look around and consider current trends, here’s what I observe: Biblical morality is increasingly considered oppressive, discriminatory, and downright dangerous. In the days of the revolution, and in its quest for absolute power and control, the French government attempted to “de-Christianize” everything, literally. I see nearly the same thing happening here and now. (Believe me: I don’t like writing these things any more than you like reading them.) But these are our times. Our God has put us here, and He has put us here now – let’s not shrink back from the grand spiritual opportunity which is today!

6. There is a hostile passion to silence said dissenters. In order for a firm cultural takeover to succeed and to stand, all non-complying doctrines and institutions must be removed and replaced. In light of church history, that really should not surprise us, nor should it terrify us. What most people fail to recognize is that Christ’s gospel will never be silenced – because it is Christ’s gospel! So press on, beloved saints of the Lord!

This present phenomenon is not simply the rising tide of secularism, but it’s really the rise of a powerful secular religion. Because everything I’m describing here is happening all at once, and it’s happening with a passion and zeal which makes an old-fashioned tent revival seem tame by comparison.

Against the backdrop of our current cultural malaise and cult of unreasonableness, I find God’s stern rebuke voiced through the lips of an ancient prophet (Jeremiah 2:11-13) to be quite chilling: “Has a nation changed its gods, even though they are no gods? But my people have changed their glory for that which does not profit. Be appalled, O heavens, at this; be shocked, be utterly desolate, declares the Lord, for my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water.”

Fill my cup, Lord. Please, fill my cup.

Pastor Charles

I had an edifying conversation yesterday with a friend who – I’m guessing – at least on occasion arrives at different political conclusions than I. This man is my brother in Christ, and I know that the Holy Spirit will continue to bear fruit in my own soul as the direct result of our conversation. My friend and I agreed upon the main thing yesterday, and that is that the gospel of Jesus is the main thing! We also compared, at least on some level, our understanding of how much the church should speak into issues of public life and public policy. So the central issue with which I’m left wrestling might be expressed like this: Is there any room for the church to speak into the issues of the world/culture/government/politics in such a way that the church’s gospel witness is not compromised, or relegated to second place?

That’s not such an easy question to answer, because we know that the enemy of the church would love nothing more than to see the gospel of Jesus snuffed out, in whatever way possible. If that can be accomplished by getting church folks all riled up over political issues so that their first love is forsaken, so be it. That would be a tremendous victory for the enemy. We can all fall prey to misguided passions, and we all must remain on high alert in that regard. Can we compromise our gospel witness by hyper-activism? Yes. It’s a real danger. And, just for the record, this can happen on the political right and on the political left. The right can get so caught up in the “culture wars” that we lose the primacy of loving and serving our neighbor. The left can get so caught up in “social justice” that we lose the primacy of objective gospel truth. We have to keep the main thing the main thing. Like our Lord, we want to be “full of grace and truth” (John 1:14).

That being established, I’d like to explain why I do speak out in regard to issues of law and justice, and in regard to moral issues which wield widespread cultural and societal implications, like the current battles over gender redefinition and critical race theory. I speak up because I consider them gospel issues. They’re not gospel issues in the sense that “man is sinful and in need of a Savior” is a gospel issue, but they’re gospel issues in the sense that the gospel message itself is maligned by a wrong (or even incomplete) understanding of those issues. In regard to the two issues I’ve raised here, I would explain it like this: 1) We can’t know God if we don’t understand His preeminence in our lives as the Creator who made us, in His image, male or female – this is foundational to Genesis and to the core of Biblical theology; and 2) We can’t experience the grace of salvation until we admit that our primary problem is sin, not race. As such, gender and CRT become key gospel issues, in my opinion. I would contend that the church must address such issues, and address them clearly.

Have you ever heard of Hannah More? Hannah was a firecracker of a lady who lived in England back in the late 1700s when the abolitionist movement was gaining steam in Great Britain. Hannah lived among the trendy and fashionable in London, and she used her position to share with people a pamphlet that she had created to raise awareness about the evils of slavery. She would ask unsuspecting social elites questions like this: “Have you ever seen the inside of a slave ship?” (Most people had not.) And then Hannah would provide pictures of the horrific conditions which slaves endured, in order to plant haunting images in people’s minds so that she’d leave them bothered – really bothered – by the injustices of slavery.

The faithful life and bold public witness of Hannah More left a huge impact on a man whose name you’ve likely heard before, William Wilberforce. Wilberforce was a devout follower of Christ who is remembered for his life’s work, which was – like that of Hannah More – the abolition of slavery. Wilberforce was dynamic and eloquent, and his antislavery efforts rather astonishingly bore fruit in 1807, when Parliament abolished the slave trade in England. He then worked to ensure that the slave trade laws were fully enforced, and that slavery in the British Empire was entirely abolished. The personal health of Mr. Wilberforce prevented him from leading the final charge of his life’s campaign, but he learned three days before his death that the passage of the emancipation bill was ensured in committee. I don’t have to tell you that this became one of the significant turning points in the history of the world.

William Wilberforce and Hannah More were friends and allies. At least some of the significance of their relationship is captured in the 2006 film, Amazing Grace. Wilberforce, played by Ioan Gruffudd, was struggling profoundly with his vocational calling. As a Christian believer, he sensed a call to the ministry. But he also sensed that God had gifted him with some unique abilities which might be used of the Lord if Wilberforce would commit his energies to serving faithfully in the House of Commons. I want to re-create for you a tiny but pivotal scene from that movie …

(Wilberforce, More, and others – including the abolitionist Thomas Clarkson – are seated at a dinner party.)

Clarkson: “Mr. Wilberforce, we understand you’re having problems choosing whether to do the work of God or the work of a political activist.”

[Pause. Gulp.]

More: “We humbly suggest … that you can do both.”

That moment was a turning point for Mr. Wilberforce. Wilberforce came to understand that the gospel he believed and professed carried with it, intrinsically and by God’s design, implications for every sphere of society – and that the God of the universe was sending him into the bullseye of England’s cultural storm. It wasn’t anything less than gospel ministry. It was gospel ministry. It is gospel ministry.

Perhaps that thought will be a turning point for you as well. Because, friends, we have to be careful never to make an “either/or” out of something which God intended to be a “both/and.” Maybe Abraham Kuyper (1837-1920) – the theologian, journalist, and Prime Minister of the Netherlands – summarized it best: “There is not a square inch in the whole domain of our human existence over which Christ, who is sovereign over all, does not cry, ‘Mine!’”

Pastor Charles

You know that I’m a Spurgeon addict, but the subject of my reading and study has always been the sermons of Charles Haddon Spurgeon. When Moody published this quote from Susannah Spurgeon (1832 – 1892), I knew that I had to learn more.

We may remember Susannah as the wife and encourager of London’s famous preacher, but often overlooked is Susannah’s “Book Fund” which she established so that ministers of the gospel could build at least a small theological library of their own. You have to keep in mind that most ministers back then were not paid enough for such luxuries as books. If my homework is accurate, Susannah’s love for theology started with The Pilgrim’s Progress. The woman who would become Mrs. Spurgeon came to understand that these kinds of resources were desperately needed by those who were filling England’s pulpits, and she did her part to make that happen.

Not only did Charles become a writer of widespread influence in the church, but Susannah had her own literary gifts, and authored several books of her own. She chronicled her spiritual struggles, and the ordinary trials of the Christian life, and I’m so glad that she did. But I particularly love the quote which I’m sharing with you here!

“When the storms come …”

You’ve been there, and so have I. But a spiritual storm doesn’t always look like a storm, does it? Sometimes it just looks like nothing is happening. And that’s the problem, isn’t it? Nothing is happening. We don’t like nothing. (Former English teachers: forgive me.) Nobody enjoys those seasons of seeming emptiness. In fact, sometimes the waiting on God is the hardest part!

“Our trees of delight are bare and leafless.”

Susannah Spurgeon knew personally of what she wrote. Likely you can relate, because there are times when we all feel zapped, spiritually and otherwise. Zapped! Along with her husband, Susannah had to walk through many painful seasons of church life, and many dark nights of the soul. One of her journal entries includes these words of counsel which she offered to herself: “The Lord has strewn the pages of God’s Word with promises of blessedness to those who wait for Him. And remember, His slightest Word stands fast and sure; it can never fail you. So, my soul, see that you have a promise underneath thee, for then your waiting will be resting and a firm foothold for your hope will give you confidence in Him who has said, ‘They shall not be ashamed that wait for Me.’” Friends, I pray that Isaiah 49:23 will be for you, like it was for Mrs. Spurgeon, a promise worth standing on – even when you feel without the energy to stand.

“He strips us of the comforts to which His love has accustomed us.”

In Every Moment Holy – which I highly recommend – Douglas McKelvey includes a prayer that I have found most comforting in times of my own struggles with letting go of my own dreams – those moments when I finally realize that what I’ve been wanting is not at all what God wants. I’ll share a portion of that prayer here: “O Christ, in whom the final fulfillment of all hope is held secure, I bring to you now the weathered fragments of my former dreams, the broken pieces of my expectations, the rent patches of hopes worn thin, the shards of some shattered image of life as I once thought it would be. What I so wanted has not come to pass … You are the sovereign of my sorrow. You apprehend a wider sweep with wiser eyes than mine. My history bears the fingerprints of grace … My dreams are too small. Your bigger purpose has always been for my greatest good … So let this disappointment do its work … Here in the ruins of my wrecked expectation, let me make this best confession: Not my dreams, O Lord, not my dreams, but Yours, be done.” The older I get, the more I need that prayer.

“He leaves us alone in the world, to mourn the absence of the chief desire of our heart.”

It seems to me that God’s “wider sweep with wiser eyes” always includes the work which needs to be done in my own soul. The work that I can’t accomplish in my own strength. The work which I don’t even know needs to be done. It seems to me that, as long as the visible blessings keep rolling in, I am unlikely to keep my eyes fixed upon the lover of my soul – and so my Lord must leave me to taste the emptiness of my own achievements. This is a painful work, but a beautiful work. Maybe you can relate. Maybe you’re there right now.

“… to sing to Him then, to bless and praise and laud His dear name then …”

Then! Will you and I sing in the storm? That’s a really good question. Let’s get real for minute: we generally feel like singing when things are going great. When we can see that things are going our way. But that kind of praise doesn’t require much faith on our part. Friends, the testing of our faith comes in the moment of worshipful surrender that can happen only when you and I have no idea how or what God will provide …

“This is the work of His free grace only.”

Susannah knew something which you and I must never forget. We don’t wait on a God who has forgotten us. We don’t wait on a God who’s powerless to save. We don’t wait on a God whose attention we need to summon frantically because He has forgotten where we live. No, we wait upon none other than the Sovereign King of the universe! He is here. He is able. He is everything we need. By that term “free grace,” Mrs. Spurgeon was reminding us that we did nothing to bring about our salvation except receive it from the open hand of the Lord Jesus. How glorious! How marvelous! How timely for 2021!

By His grace and for His glory,

Pastor Charles