Tag: Christian life

Thoughts on the Passing of John MacArthur

John MacArthur was arguably the preeminent voice among Bible-believing evangelicals over the last century. His recent death caused me to reflect on his tremendous influence on my life.

I was a student at a small fundamental Baptist Bible college in the Los Angeles area many years ago. While generally sound in doctrine, the school was lacking in academics. I came to faith and was baptized as a boy in a small church, located in a barely lower middle-class Denver-area town, a church which was sound doctrinally but never was in any sense dynamic. We left that church when I was maybe sixteen and attended first one and then another church that similarly were sound in belief but were otherwise deficient. I was familiar with mediocrity.

One Sunday early in my third year at the college, I and a couple of friends drove across town to John MacArthur’s Grace Community Church. I had read one book by MacArthur but was not very familiar with his ministry. Attending Grace Church that Sunday was perhaps the most transformative event of my Christian experience. This was church. This was the message, the methodology, the New Testament pattern expressed in a modern American setting. Exciting, dynamic, in no way mediocre. We went back once or twice before the end of the school year. Over the years, I have listened to hundreds of recorded sermons by John MacArthur and have read many of his books. Though I live in Colorado, I returned to Grace Church a few times over the years.

John MacArthur was not a great orator. He was not entertaining. He was, rather, captivating for the hearer with any sort of spiritual hunger. He did not appeal to emotion. He used few illustrations or told few personal stories. A couple of years ago, alone on a road trip, I took three CD’s each containing one of his sermons to listen to. I recall hearing one illustration from his own experience, and it tied perfectly to the point he was making. He simply expanded the Bible, explaining scripture with scripture. He was a consistent defender of truth and an outspoken critic of anything that deviated from the truth.

One finds Grace Church very much as it was on my first visit there, unaffected by the various trends that plague American evangelicalism. The music in a service is doctrinal, joyful, and reverent, and the lesson or sermon is rooted directly in scripture. There are and never have been any gimmicks, fads, or entertainment.

One of the early sermon series to which I listened was MacArthur’s series preaching through Ephesians, a series of more than sixty messages. The phrases “equip the saints to do the work of the ministry” and “speak the truth in love” stand out in my memory from those messages. His formula was simple. Absolute fidelity to scripture. Preach and teach the scripture. Expound, interpret, and apply. Equip the saints to do the work of the ministry. Just what the Apostle Paul exhorted.

There is much we should learn from the ministry of John MacArthur, a faithful man who studied to “show himself approved” and who “preach(ed) the Word.”  Pastors would be wise to follow his pattern. Christians who read and listen to his material will surely find themselves “equipped.”  What he accomplished he did not do alone. His voluminous writing required much assistance. Grace Church is what it is because of countless ordinary individuals who faithfully did “the work of the ministry.”  Christians would do well to attach to a faithful ministry and faithfully support it.

Of MAGA, MALA, and MABA – A Conservative Christian Case for Donald Trump

I am a theologically conservative evangelical, a fundamentalist, and a biblicist holding to the inspiration and authority of the Bible.  I wish that there were a presidential candidate in 2024 who shares my faith, who understands salvation by grace through faith, who understands what Jesus has done for us in offering Himself as the atonement for our sin and offers us salvation if we but repent and believe the Gospel.  I lack confidence that Donald Trump has that commitment.  As a political conservative, I wish Mr. Trump held to a conservative political philosophy more in the likeness of Calvin Coolidge or William F. Buckley or Ronald Reagan.  I wish that Mr. Trump’s personal ethical history were more like that of Mike Pence and less like Bill Clinton.  I wish that he did not choose to battle with people in his political party who may disagree with him but whose support he needs.  I wish he were ten years younger, and that he were much more careful not to give soundbites to his critics through unguarded remarks.  It would have been better that on January 6 he had told his supporters to leave Washington a better place than they found it and to express their thanks and respect to law enforcement, in contrast to the BLM rioters months earlier.  Nevertheless, despite these and other areas of disagreement, I am convinced that given the available alternative it is imperative for the nation that Mr. Trump be elected in November.

Americanists vs. Transformationists. John Fonte of the Hudson Institute, in a speech reprinted in “Imprimus,” concluded that “Today’s polarization should be viewed as an existential struggle between Americanists and Transformationists.”  That is an apt description.  He said, “The conflict today is not simply a normal policy argument between conservatives and progressives. It is over the future of the historic American nation, both its creed and its culture.”  Americanists believe in traditional values, believe in the American Republic, its exceptionalism and its founding documents – to some extent, MAGA ideas.  Transformationists like Mr. Trump’s opponents are essentially socialists, collectivists, internationalists, even Marxists, who seek to effectively destroy the Republic.

The presidency is about more than just the president.  The American president is surrounded by a large number of people and appoints a vast number to various positions.  Mr. Trump would be surrounded by and appoint people who are Americanists.  His opponent Ms. Harris would be influenced, even controlled by, transformationists, as is the current president.      

To the transformationists, everything of traditional America is “racist” or some other “ist” or “ism” to be demolished.  The free-market economic system that has brought great prosperity is something to be disdained and destroyed.  There is no ethical barrier to bringing about their desired change; indeed, traditional Judeo-Christian ethics are perceived negatively.  To the far Left, the end always justifies the means. 

The Rite of Abortion.  Celebration vs. Regulation.  It is almost unimaginable that an American political party would present abortion as their signature issue, as do the Democrats.  It is a rite of their secular religion, something to be almost celebrated.  “Safe, legal, and rare” is long gone.  Abortifacients are to be dispensed like aspirin, at taxpayer expense when necessary.  This, as well as late-term surgical infanticide is to be considered an absolute right, a healthcare procedure of no more consequence than a tooth extraction.  Speech against abortion is considered “hate speech” to be opposed, and even presenting alternatives to abortion cannot be tolerated.  The Democrats offer a sort of grand bargain: Let us micromanage every other aspect of your life, and we will guarantee your freedom to fornicate at will as you please, and we’ll make sure there are no inconvenient unintended children as a result.

Most conservative Christians wish that Mr. Trump were more outspoken in opposition to abortion.  But in the absence of a societal consensus on the issue, absolute opposition to abortion is a losing political issue.  A Trump administration, however, would allow and encourage free speech and open debate on the issue.  We will be free to offer alternatives to abortion, to point out the barbaric nature of it, to attempt to educate and persuade and attempt to make opposition to abortion a winning issue. The states will continue to be free to regulate the issue, with some states, like the one where I live, having laws and policies that promote abortion on demand for any reason, with some states effectively banning it.            

MAGA vs. MALA (Make America Latin America).  The current immigration situation is a disaster for the country.  This cannot be overstated.  It is not a “failed border policy,” as some conservative critics call it; the flood of illegal immigrants is intentional on the part of the Left, part of their goal of transforming the country, overwhelming society and overwhelming the welfare state to create conflict.  Multilingualism and multi-culturalism inevitably create division and conflict and weaken society.   A Trump administration will work to stop and hopefully reverse this situation.

MAGA vs. MABA (Make America Broke America).  Elon Musk recently wrote on X (Twitter), “The rise in prices (inflation) is caused by government overspending, which increases the amount of money faster than the increase in goods & services output. That is the vast majority of the problem. Inflation was particularly bad during the Covid years, as there was massive government spending, despite productivity plunging, as people were forced to stay home. This is further exacerbated by excess regulation, which prevents the market from solving an unmet need (e.g. housing in high-demand areas).”  He is correct.  The Left will continue to spend the country into economic ruin.  Free stuff isn’t free; it must somehow be paid for. The immigration disaster guarantees further government overspending on an ever-expanding welfare state.  Price controls and vilifying business as the supposed cause of inflation will bring more economic harm to the country.  A Trump administration will be much less inclined to gross overspending, and the first Trump administration was marked by cutting regulation, likely to be repeated in the second.

“Democracy.”  The Left somehow imagines that Mr. Trump is some sort of threat to traditional democracy. (He IS a threat to democracy as it is defined by the far Left.)  The current bloated administrative state and ever-expanding governmental regulation is anything but democratic.  This is the true threat to democracy that we face, and a Trump administration would be inclined to reverse this situation. “Drain the Swamp.”  Further, there is nothing democratic about weaponizing the justice system against a political opponent, as has been done to Mr. Trump.

Free Speech.  It is hardly democratic to oppose free speech and freedom of expression.  Government has begun to “collude,” a word the Democrats like, with media to control free speech and to amplify falsehoods.  The false Russia collusion narrative, the suppression of the Hunter Biden laptop story, and suppression of COVID information contrary to the official narrative are but three examples.  According to the Left, one must not distribute “misinformation” as defined by Big Government. Speech must be regulated and censored. Expressing Christian truth on issues is being silenced in Europe, and such censorship is a real threat in America.  The Left does this to further their objectives.  A Trump administration will not do this and is likely to facilitate free expression of ideas.

MAGA vs. MABA (Make America Burn Again).  The Democrat vice presidential nominee, governor of Minnesota during the 2020 Minneapolis riots, did nothing to stop those riots, and reportedly he, his wife, and his daughter almost celebrated them.  Kamela Harris also celebrated the 2020 riots even to the extent of raising bail money for the few rioters who were arrested.  She expressed sympathy for the defund the police movement while it was politically expedient to do so.  Crime destabilizes a a country, and the Left uses it to their advantage. Arresting criminals is wrong or “racist.”

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In a sermon preached five years ago, pastor and theologian John MacArthur noted that “God has warned our entire culture.  The election coming up next year is basically a referendum of divine wrath.  All the things that mark wrath—insanity, immorality, and homosexuality—are the very things that the Democratic Party makes a platform out of protecting.”  More recently (reported in an article in “The Christian Post), this pastor expressed that

“when a society “turns to sexual immorality, homosexual immorality, and a reprobate mind, God gives them up,” noting that the current administration is a manifestation of the societal punishment described in Romans 1.  “When He gives them up, it means he gives them up to the consequences of their choices . . .  If you follow that pattern, what you get is Joe Biden, who is the epitome of all those things that I just talked about.”  . . . The pastor did not mince words when discussing the personal and familial aspects of Biden’s life, claiming immorality ran “rampant” at an “epic level.”  He dismissed the notion that political figures like former President Donald Trump could be the solution to the nation’s moral and spiritual decline, although he considered a second Trump presidency a “huge move in the right direction.””

He is correct.

America faces great peril.  The Bible’s book of Leviticus tells us that

‘You shall not make idols for yourselves . . .  ‘If you walk in My statutes and keep My commandments, and perform them, then I will give you rain in its season, the land shall yield its produce, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit. . ..‘But if you do not obey Me, and do not observe all these commandments, and if you despise My statutes, or if your soul abhors My judgments, so that you do not perform all My commandments, but break My covenant, I also will do this to you: I will even appoint terror over you. . ..I will set My face against you, and you shall be defeated by your enemies. . .. I will bring the land to desolation, and your enemies who dwell in it shall be astonished at it.”

This passage was given to the ancient Jewish nation, not to America, nor to the church (and we must never conflate the Jewish nation with America or with the church).  But it reminds us of a principle found in Proverbs 14:34 – “Righteousness exalts a nation, But sin is a reproach to any people.”  The United States, truly an exceptional nation, has been uniquely blessed by God.  It will be preserved as a free and prosperous nation not by any political party nor by any politician.  It will be delivered from destruction by people who commit to live by the principles of scripture, by people who turn to the God of our Founders.    

MAGA.  MARANATHA!

The Easter Extravaganza

Traveling on a freeway while vacationing in another state recently, I noticed a billboard that advertised an “Easter Extravaganza” to occurr on the upcoming Easter weekend. Driving at highway speed, I did not have time to study the sign and did not catch the details at the bottom. Perhaps the sponsor of the event was a municipal or social organization, or maybe a religious organization or large church.  Most of the few thousands of people driving this stretch each day likely would not have even noticed the sign, but among those who did, I wondered, what might they expect of an “Easter Extravaganza?”

If a civic or municipal organization were the sponsor, likely the event would include an Easter egg hunt and candy for kids, maybe presents and costumed bunnies. Lots of spring-themed decorations, flowers, and Easter baskets along with the abundant Easter eggs and candy. If the organizer were a church, along with the eggs and candy, maybe a rock concert featuring songs with undefined references to “Jesus,” “Cross,” “Resurrection,” and themes of affirmation, inspiration, personal renewal and happiness, followed by a talk featuring such themes, somehow tied to the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. After returning home, I noticed a church that I drive past often advertising an Easter egg hunt, and many area churches offer things like a “Community Easter Egg Hunt.”

Biblical Christianity knows nothing of such an Easter extravaganza. Is there any harm in giving Easter candy and coloring eggs and the like? Really, no. We enjoy such cultural traditions with our children. But American societal Easter traditions in truth fall outside of anything we find in the Bible. We can wonder about the idea of a church using cultural Easter traditions as a community outreach and debate the wisdom of using such methods to attempt to communicate the real gospel.

Nevertheless, the Bible does tell us of a real cause for celebration, a real extravaganza. A celebration not featuring eggs and a bunny, but A Lamb.

In 1 Corinthians 15, the Bible tells us,

Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received and in which you stand, 2 by which also you are saved, if you hold fast that word which I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. 3 For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures, 5 and that He was seen by Cephas, then by the twelve . . . 14 And if Christ is not risen, then our preaching is empty and your faith is also empty . . . . 20 But now Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. 21 For since by man came death, by Man also came the resurrection of the dead. 22 For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive.   26 The last enemy that will be destroyed is death . . .. 4 So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.”

In the book of The Revelation, the Apostle John wrote,

(Chapter 6) And I looked, and behold, in the midst of the throne and of the four living creatures, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as though it had been slain . . . 8 Now when He had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each having a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. 9 And they sang a new song, saying:

“You are worthy to take the scroll,
And to open its seals;
For You were slain,
And have redeemed us to God by Your blood
Out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation,
10 And have made us kings and priests to our God;
And we shall reign on the earth.”

11 Then I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne, the living creatures, and the elders; and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands, 12 saying with a loud voice:

“Worthy is the Lamb who was slain
To receive power and riches and wisdom,
And strength and honor and glory and blessing!”

13 And every creature which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, I heard saying:

“Blessing and honor and glory and power
Be to Him who sits on the throne,
And to the Lamb, forever and ever!”

14 Then the four living creatures said, “Amen!” And the twenty-four elders fell down and worshiped Him who lives forever and ever.

(Chapter 7) 15 Therefore they are before the throne of God, and serve Him day and night in His temple. And He who sits on the throne will dwell among them. 16 They shall neither hunger anymore nor thirst anymore; the sun shall not strike them, nor any heat; 17 for the Lamb who is in the midst of the throne will shepherd them and lead them to living fountains of waters. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”

The scriptures do not tell us of a seasonal celebration of Easter, but rather a joyous, eternal celebration of the resurrected Lamb.

Music, Vacations, and Pandemics

Music is a powerful influence in both the life of an individual and of a society, and the music of a culture or subculture is a deep and profound reflection of that culture, its values, its underpinnings, and its perspectives on life.  The music one listens to demonstrates to some degree who that person is.  It is an expression of the soul.  Further, the kind of music one listens to ultimately shapes what that person is becoming; it has a definite effect on people.  We are constantly surrounded by music when we are in public places.  On a recent vacation, we went to play miniature golf at a course near our hotel, and a group of workers were performing maintenance on a small restaurant building near the course.  They were listening, perhaps on a local radio station, to music that was blaring, not quite deafening as we played the holes nearest to them.  I am not sure of the genre, perhaps rap and hip-hop, and it was loud, certainly featuring no pleasing melody or harmony, the lyrics generally indiscernible and when occasionally understandable the words were unsavory at best.  I silently wondered why one would listen to such, and what effect it might have on a person.

Often in stores, restaurants, and places of business, sometimes in public conveyances, certainly in current movies or entertainment, we are confronted by the music of the society and various subcultures.  If one is fortunate, perhaps it is merely “elevator music,” perhaps banal and benign country, or “soft” rock.  Less fortunately, one might be subjected to excessive volume, a driving beat and percussion, noise, and lyrics that are raunchy.  Hollywood, rock, hip-hop, rap, shock radio, and a host of other pop culture obsessions, helped by mainstream media and the general secular academy, have indoctrinated recent generations to encourage depravity and distract from that which is important, worthwhile, and virtuous.  Everywhere it seems we are surrounded by the music that is one of the manifestations of the self-destructive nature of morally deviant pop culture.

__________

When we returned home from the vacation, we went to church on the next Sunday.  As a believer, it was a joy to be assembled with other believers, singing words expressing Christian doctrine, singing the gospel, singing biblical themes with joy and reverence, with music featuring pleasing sounds of melody and harmony.  Singing that proclaimed the gospel, that expressed corporate worship to the Lord, that spoke “to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs.”  Not the music of movie themes, not of a contemporary subculture, but of a profoundly different culture – the body of Christ.

During the early days of the Covid panic, we were of course unable to gather on Sunday with other Christians in church.  Our church was able to go online with the Sunday services from a nearly empty auditorium, but it was not close to the same.  A big part of what was lacking was the experience of reverent, orderly, joyful congregational singing.  The Bible says much about the subject of music, and there are perhaps five hundred references to music in the Bible.  The Creator knows that music has an effect on people’s lives.  He is worshipped when the assembled church sings of who He is and what He has done for us in Christ with mindful, joyful reverence.

In Revelation 5:9, the Bible depicts a scene in heaven for us and tells us, “And they sang a new song, saying: “You are worthy to take the scroll, And to open its seals; For You were slain, And have redeemed us to God by Your blood out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation . . .“  This is not a “new” song merely in chronology; it is “new” in kind and substance, recognizably different in nature from something else of a similar type.  Different than the old songs of the earth.  Just as in heaven, so it can and should be in this life.  The psalmist speaks of a “new song” in, for instance, Psalm 40:3, 96:1, and 98:1, a song that reflects the direction of our heart, a song that reminds us of Who God Is and, now in this age after the cross, what He has done for us in Christ.

“And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord, giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another in the fear of God.  (Ephesians 5:18-21)”

“Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.  And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.  (Colossians 3:16-17)”

Invasive Species

A local media story headlined “Invasive New Zealand mud snails lead to closure,” noted that access to a popular creek area was closed after the discovery of that invasive species in the creek.  The mud snails are about the size of a grain of rice and one can produce a colony of 40 million snails in a year because of their ability to rapidly reproduce through cloning, disrupting aquatic ecosystems, harming fish populations, and displacing native insects.  The species can easily move from one body of water to another by attaching to things like an animal or fishing equipment.  The parks department, struggling with how to manage the presence of the species, urged people to avoid accessing streams or creeks where the snails have been found, to thoroughly clean waders and fishing equipment, and to brush dogs to make sure that they are not carrying any of the snails.  Invasive species like this tiny mud snail can bring great harm.

Our nation is currently in turmoil and in great danger.  Our constitutional republic has seemingly become an oligarchy, ruled by a small Leftist elite.  “Patriot” has become a word considered to be almost hate speech.  Virtue is mocked while immorality is rampant and accepted.  Christianity has largely been abandoned.  This did not happen instantly; it began with small steps that over time grew and ultimately brought about the perilous state in which we find ourselves.

The history of the church is marked by the presence of “invasive species.”  The New Testament writers observed that this was happening and wrote against it.  Theological error was present very early in church history and is addressed in the New Testament.  False teachers and unworthy leaders, full of pride and bad character, were already present before the closing of the writing of the New Testament.  Immorality infected the early church and is denounced by the New Testament writers.  Paul, Peter, and Jude in their writings clearly warned against these “invasive species” and gave instruction to be diligent and to deal with these and other issues.   

This has continued through the centuries.  By the nineteenth century, rationalism and liberalism began to invade many denominations and churches and eventually drove out gospel truth.  In the twentieth century, as theological liberalism continued its destructive path and theological error became widespread, the sins against which the New Testament authors warned became accepted, and by the twenty-first century even unspeakable immorality has become accepted and celebrated.  Slowly at first, in almost imperceptible steps, “invasive species” have infected churches and institutions, diverting them away from truth and true gospel ministry. 

Often there is not much we as individuals can do about these things.  But perhaps more importantly we need to be vigilant about “invasive species” in our own lives, things that distract us, things that will sideline and ultimately do great harm to us.   Anger can become destructive if we nurture it and allow it to grow in our life.  In Ephesians 4:3, Paul instructed, “Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice.”  Fear and anxiety can grow and sometimes paralyze us, especially when we focus on difficult or disagreeable circumstances.  The Psalmist wrote in the 118th Psalm, “I will not fear.  What can man do to me?”  Envy and jealousy can become poisonous.  Immorality may start out in small, almost imperceptible ways and grow into something that brings disaster.  In the Ten Commandments, there is a prohibition against idolatry and having any sort of other god before God, and this is repeated throughout the Bible.  All sorts of attitudes and actions can grow and become idols and take us away from devotion to the Savior.  Further, in the Commandments we are forbidden to murder, commit adultery, steal or even covet, bear false witness, or dishonor parents.  These forbidden things can become introduced into our lives in small ways.

Philippians 4:8 reminds, “Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things.”  The closing of churches in response to the virus disrupted the church life of American believers, and it has become too easy for some to continue to stay away from church and the discipleship and fellowship that is so vital to assist us in the task of “meditate on these things.”  Diligence is required.  Nations – churches – families – individuals – are brought down slowly by the “invasive species” that are everywhere. 

Proverbs 4:3 reminds, “Keep your heart with diligence, For out of it spring the issues of life.”

The Pursuit of Wisdom

Nothing so characterizes post-modern American culture more than a simple lack of good sense and sound judgement.  This seems to become more the case every day.  It can be seen by even a casual observer of current events and trends.  People lack the ability to look beyond the obvious, to look beyond the media narratives, and to critically analyze issues.  Examples abound.

American society was rocked in recent months by a few media-dominating police shootings, mostly of young Black men.  The result was riots and looting, denunciations of the police and even the concept of law enforcement, denunciations of the country and its historical foundations, and cries of “systemic racism.”  But it is easy to see that police shootings almost invariably have one of three factors involved.  In most instances, the victim has either committed a crime or is in the presence of someone who has.  Secondly, often the victim is intoxicated or has taken drugs.  Thirdly and perhaps most importantly, the victim fails to cooperate with the police.  Over and over, at least one of these factors is present. 

The widely reported Minneapolis incident earlier in the summer illustrates this.  A police officer harshly overused a tactic to subdue a suspect, and the horrifying video was widely reported as the officer murdering the victim.  While the case has yet to work its way through the judicial system, what is known is that the suspect likely had committed a crime, he was not cooperating with the officers on scene, and he had a potentially fatal amount of fentanyl in his system.  Absent even one of these three factors, he would still be alive.  Race may or may not have even been a factor.  A widely reported Colorado case involving the death of a young Black man has been the subject of multiple investigations over several months.  There is no indication that the young man committed a crime, nor any indication of drugs.  What seems obvious is that he refused to cooperate with police officers investigating a report of a crime when he happened by.  He became agitated, paramedics were called and administered a sedative, and he tragically died due to the sedative.  He likely would have gone on his way and would still be alive if he had simply exercised better judgement and cooperated with the police.

These and other incidents are used, ironically, as proof that law enforcement cannot be trusted and should be resisted.  This blame shifting only serves to make the problem worse.  Instead of riots and protests, common sense would dictate that efforts would be better directed at reminding youth of all ages and races that their actions have consequences.

The collapse of the traditional home is creating monumental problems throughout society.  It is now the common pattern that a young Black person was born to an unmarried teenage mother who herself was born to an unmarried teenage mother.  Statistics clearly show that this is a disaster.  Children who grow up in such a situation are far more likely to have poor outcomes than children who experience growing up in traditional settings.  Reasoned observation confirms this and has for decades.  In 1965, Daniel Patrick Moynihan published “The Negro Family: The Case for National Action.” At that time, 25% of blacks were born outside of wedlock, a number that Moynihan said was catastrophic to the Black community.  Moynihan, who went on to hold a number of governmental positions including United States senator, wrote: “A community that allows a large number of young men to grow up in broken homes, dominated by women, never acquiring any stable relationship to male authority, never acquiring any rational expectations about the future—that community asks for and gets chaos. Crime, violence, unrest, unrestrained lashing out at the whole social structure—that is not only to be expected, it is very near to inevitable.”  The 25% number in 1965 was far smaller than the number today, and unfortunately not merely among Blacks.

Common sense and science confirm that one’s sex and gender are fixed and unchangeable from the moment of conception.  Media and government may fawn over transgenderism, but in doing so no favor is done to the unfortunate individuals involved.  Transgenderism will not buy long term fulfilment and joy.  It will certainly be to the detriment of the individual’s physical health when they receive harmful hormones and experience physical mutilation.  Moving a child in this direction is nothing short of child abuse.     

The human-caused climate change mantra often shows a lack of reasoned thought and analysis.  The whole argument in its simplest form suggests that industrial production of carbon dioxide (and to a lesser extent a few other gasses) is dooming the planet to an environmental disaster.  The atmosphere contains just over 400 parts per million of carbon dioxide.  While China, India, and the rest of the world continue to increase their production of gasses, the suggested solution is that the United States and Europe virtually eliminate industrial and transportation-related production of carbon dioxide.  By doing this, at enormous cost, disruption to society, and environmental damage, the promise is that a few parts per million can be shaved off of atmospheric greenhouse gas levels, and this will save the planet and introduce a climate utopia.  Climate has indeed modulated throughout Earth’s history due to various causes science only partially understands, even before the industrial era, and climate change has often produced positive results such as increased crop yields.  This is ignored.  Proofs of anthropogenic climate change are offered that often are not proofs at all when thoroughly analyzed.  Yet climate change is accepted as an unquestionable axiom.    

Knowledge as an accumulation of facts grows today at a rapid pace.  The internet brings information and reports of events both trivial and important almost instantly.  But wisdom, the ability to take information, carefully consider facts, and address life situations and needs, is in dangerously short supply.  As Christians, we understand that wisdom and discernment, and common sense, comes through the Lord Jesus Christ – “Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God (1 Corinthians 1:24)” – and through the written Word, the Bible – “the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus (2 Timothy 3:15)”.  James 1:5 reminds us, “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him.”  We must pursue wisdom, not just in matters of faith, but in the general affairs of life as well.  “Wisdom is the principal thing; Therefore get wisdom.  And in all your getting, get understanding (Proverbs 4:7).”

Scripture helps us understand that there is a great metanarrative of history and human existence, the overarching account of ultimate purpose, history, events, and circumstances.  That story teaches us that God created the universe, the disaster of the Fall and sin ruined the world, God has provided for our redemption in Christ, and history will one day end in the great promised consummation of the ages, all within the sovereignty of God and for His ultimate glory and purposes.  Lack of good judgement has plagued human experience since the beginning of time; it is not a phenomenon confined to any particular generation, any one social class, culture, or nation.  Ultimately, for the Christian, one who has come to faith in Christ and the gospel, good judgement in life in large measure derives from biblical wisdom, observing God’s mandates to us, seeing life from God’s perspective, and responding accordingly.  As citizens, we can in some measured ways confront the unwise views of people around us; it is our right and our responsibility.  But our greater responsibility as Christians is to live sensibly and to confront people with the wisdom found in Christ and the Scriptures.  Proverbs 9:10 tells us that “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, And the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.”                   

Not Our Home

An old gospel song begins, “This world is not my home, I’m just a-passing through.”  Perhaps now more than at any time in the history of the United States, Christians can see truth in this sentiment.

The growing disdain that society shows for biblical Christian beliefs and values shouldn’t surprise us, but it is sometimes overwhelming to observe the pace at which western society has rejected and marginalized traditional ideas.  The United States from its founding was profoundly influenced by Christian values, but in the last couple of decades that history has been denounced, marginalized, and swept away in academia, media, entertainment, and government.  Christians and Biblical ideas are now widely rejected and even hated.  Scripture warns us that believers will face such opposition.  In John 3:19-20, Jesus told His disciples, “And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.  For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed.”  Later, in John 15:18-21, Jesus told His disciples, “If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you.  If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.  Remember the word that I said to you, ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you. If they kept My word, they will keep yours also.  But all these things they will do to you for My name’s sake, because they do not know Him who sent Me.”

Absolutes.  The concepts of objective authority and objective truth have been rejected, while personal autonomy and subjectivism rules the day.  Truth is seen as one’s own truth, what one might personally define as truth.  This is held only in a form, for certain ideas are held to be true because, in effect, the social elite say they are true.  Ideas are repeated as truth over and over until they are accepted as true.  Anthropogenic (human-caused) climate change is one example of this.  Media has come to simply assume and state it as fact.  Anyone questioning it in any way is ridiculed and rejected.  Science supposedly proves it, and it must be accepted and not questioned, contrary evidence is never given credence, and anyone who doubts is dismissed.

Sexual expression and morality are central in this postmodern rejection of objective truth.  The freedom to fornicate is today’s most prized and cherished freedom.  At a recent Senate hearing to confirm a Supreme Court justice, the nominee was castigated by a Senator for using the term “sexual preference” rather than “sexual orientation.”  The assertion is that we must not question one’s rejection of traditional heterosexuality, it must be accepted that the individual has every right to be identified however they feel oriented and practice accordingly; we must not think of it as merely a choice.  At a recent televised event, Democrat candidate former Vice President Joe Biden offered his support for children to undergo gender transition.  Responding to a question from a mother of a supposed transgender child, Biden said, “The idea that an eight year-old child or a ten year-old child decides, ‘you know I decided, I want to be transgender, that’s what I think I’d like to be, it’d make my life a lot easier.’  There should be zero discrimination.”  This was a stunning statement.  Eight-year-old children often cannot make good decisions about picking their nose.  The idea that a child should be guided on a path to receive harmful hormones and later be physically mutilated is akin to offering a child on a pagan altar.

The ideas of Karl Marx are becoming widely accepted to the Left.  Marx as an atheist and a materialist rejected morality as irrelevant and contended that power is everything.  Postmoderns seem to agree, at least that morality is irrelevant and the quest for a socialist order is everything.  “My object is to dethrone God and destroy capitalism,” Marx wrote.  “Keep people from their history and they are easily controlled.”  Forget history, and of course ultimately forget God.

Secularism simply has no place for Christianity, at least in a biblical form.  Some within broad Christianity have imagined that Christianity can somehow be made acceptable to the postmoderns.  This is an error and a deception.  We will either need to embrace most aspects of their philosophy, which is completely antithetical to biblical teaching, or we will face their ridicule and anger.  It is becoming more obvious by the day that churches and believers who hold to Christ and His gospel are simply unacceptable in today’s environment.  This growing hostility takes many forms.

Churches and Christian institutions have been tax-exempt throughout American history.  It may be a matter of time before this is threatened.  In a piece published in “The Denver Post” on July 12, 2020, columnist Bruce DeBoskey wrote,

“In 2019, 29% of all U.S. giving, $128.17 billion, went to religious institutions. Those donations were tax-deductible, resulting in billions of dollars of lost federal and state tax revenue. Unlike nearly all other nonprofits, however, religious nonprofits are not required to file annual tax returns revealing how the donations were spent.  Those expenditures may include leaders’ salaries, benefits and other perks, property holdings, investments, sources of revenue and other facets of the nonprofit’s operation and management.  Although most of us believe that the majority of the 300,000 religious institutions in the U.S. follow the law and are doing good work in, and provide value to, their communities, there is no way to factually evaluate that claim.”

He continued,

“Moreover, in most cases, religious institutions are exempt from paying property taxes, depriving local governments of badly needed income to provide essential services such as public education, law enforcement, fire protection, etc.  Studies estimate that American churches own approximately $300 billion-$500 billion in untaxed property.  New York City alone loses nearly $627 million in annual property tax revenue because of exempted churches in the city.  The triple whammy of deductions for contributions, exemption from paying taxes, and no reporting requirements, leaves us all in the dark about why these organizations deserve such favorable tax treatment.”

When a church simply teaches the scripture authoritatively, there is obvious conflict with new social ideas regarding subjects like sexuality, marriage, and gender roles.  Insistence that marriage is solely to be between one man and one woman, and all sexual expression is to be confined to marriage is widely rejected in thought and in practice.  The Bible teaches male leadership in the church and in the home, hardly a popular idea today, and a biblical church must hold to that in practice and teach it.  The wrath of those who reject the teaching of scripture will inevitably lead to demands to end any favored status for such churches or institutions.

Internet censorship most obviously seen in the political sphere is sure to come against Christians and biblical ideas.  Breitbart recently noted that

“Wikipedia users are no longer allowed to include “user boxes” on their profile page that express opposition to gay marriage following a discussion where predominantly left-wing editors argued such a stance was “discriminatory” and against site policy. Most user boxes pre-dated a U.S. Supreme Court decision legalizing gay marriage and were used by hundreds of editors. This included one expressing a personal view favoring traditional marriage, but advocating for states to decide.”

Beyond the internet, Christian broadcasters are likely to come under pressure.  The airwaves simply cannot be used to promulgate speech that offends.

Christians and Christian ministries are now often attacked with labels of hate and intolerance.  One far-left organization, the Southern Poverty Legal Center, claims to “monitor hate groups and other extremists throughout the United States and expose their activities to the public, the media and law enforcement.”  Some of these “hate groups” are well-known for their hateful rhetoric and actions, but others are Christian or nonprofit groups.  The conservative group Liberty Counsel has reported that many Christian or nonprofit groups have been categorized as “hate groups” by SPLC, given this label because each takes a biblical position on marriage.  Simply holding to biblical and historically Christian views, taken from the Bible, is enough to be called a “hate group.”  These groups don’t call for members to express hatred or commit violent acts; they simply hold to a set of beliefs that Christians, and most others in the Western world, have held to for centuries.  The Sunday service at a Bible-preaching church is essentially, to the far Left, a hate group rally, and the sermon “hate speech.”

The Gospel.  In 1 Peter 4:1-5 we read,

“Therefore, since Christ suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same mind, for he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, that he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh for the lusts of men, but for the will of God.  For we have spent enough of our past lifetime in doing the will of the Gentiles – when we walked in lewdness, lusts, drunkenness, revelries, drinking parties, and abominable idolatries.  In regard to these, they think it strange that you do not run with them in the same flood of dissipation, speaking evil of you.  They will give an account to Him who is ready to judge the living and the dead.”

Ultimately, the real issue at the root of the conflict today is the Gospel.  Unbelievers do not want their sin exposed by the message of Christ and his Word.  They prefer to live in a society where their conduct is praised and accepted, rather than accept the truth that they are sinners in need of a Savior and creatures in rebellion against their Creator who need to turn from sin and turn to Him by grace and faith.  The Gospel is at the center of the church, the central theme of the Bible, the very center of Christian teaching.  The Gospel is Christianity; it is the message that the church has been commissioned to proclaim.  The message of the gospel is the good news of God for everyone who believes, but it starts with the bad news that we are all sinners and deserve the wrath of God, and that is a message people do not want to hear.  Throughout Scripture, God is shown to be a God of love and mercy, and many postmoderns are happy to accept this concept.  But He is likewise a God of holiness and justice, and people are less inclined to accept this.  He loves people, but he also calls all to repent of their sin.  Allowing people to remain lost in sin without warning them of the judgment to come is a disservice to them and an affront to God.

American believers are deeply patriotic.  We love our country, love our history, and are deeply appreciative of our prosperity and of our liberty, even as Christians face growing intolerance and hate from the culture.  We are becoming aliens and outcasts from society in our own beloved earthly country.  The last line of the first verse of that old gospel song reminds us, “And I can’t feel at home in this world anymore.”

1 Peter 3:14-17 –  “But even if you should suffer for righteousness’ sake, you are blessed. “And do not be afraid of their threats, nor be troubled.”  But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear; having a good conscience, that when they defame you as evildoers, those who revile your good conduct in Christ may be ashamed. For it is better, if it is the will of God, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil.”

John 14:2 – “In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.”

A place prepared as our home. Our eternal home.

Whose World Is It Anyway?

As we understand that this truly is God’s world, and that He is really in control, we begin to have some sense of understanding our circumstances and the events around us.

My wife and I were unable to have children for reasons that were never diagnosed.  We were able to adopt and have two healthy, happy, now grown children.  We brought home our daughter from the hospital the morning after her birth, and four years later we brought home our son the morning after his birth.  After a couple of years of marriage, our daughter wasn’t yet expecting, and my wife began to despair that she might not ever become a grandma.  But, eventually, our granddaughter was born, beautiful and healthy and happy!

But not all stories in life end well. Why do children become orphans?  What does one say to the person whose child is not healthy, whose business fails, whose spouse is unfaithful or abandons them, or who receives solemn news from their physician?  Why does the crusty old reprobate live to be age ninety, while the kind faithful man dies at age forty?  Why do bad things happen to both good and bad people?  Why is the world full of disaster and plague and poverty and injustice?  We at least sometimes find ourselves answering such questions with an honest “I don’t know.”

An understanding of the teaching of the Bible teaches us that God created the world, the universe around us, and us.  God created all for His own glory, for His own eternal purposes.  He displayed His great wonder, power, and surpassing majesty in creation.  But that was just the beginning.  He allowed sin to enter creation, and disaster followed.  Bad things – catastrophic things.  When humankind sinned, God displayed His nature far beyond what was displayed in creation.  He displayed grace.  He displayed love.  He displayed forgiveness.  He did not destroy creation; instead He began to unfold the eternal plan of redemption.  Christ was the Lamb ordained before the foundation of the world to be the requisite sacrifice.  At the appropriate and predetermined time in history, in Christ God did something so startling that we cannot completely comprehend it.  He Himself atoned for our sin.  He satisfied divine wrath and justice.  He forgave the sins of those who would merely turn to Him in faith and repentance, made possible by Christ.  It is His world, and He has supremely displayed His grace, love, and forgiveness to us when He chose to redeem us.

We must remember this to maintain any sort of perspective on the progression of events in the world as well as the events in our life.  God is – God.  He is Sovereign over all of the affairs of time.  He is never taken by surprise, and nothing that happens is out of the control of His ultimate divine purpose.  The author of Psalm 90 reflected on this concept:

Lord, You have been our dwelling place in all generations. 2 Before the mountains were brought forth, Or ever You had formed the earth and the world, Even from everlasting to everlasting, You are God. 3 You turn man to destruction, And say, “Return, O children of men.” 4 For a thousand years in Your sight Are like yesterday when it is past, And like a watch in the night.

9 For all our days have passed away in Your wrath; We finish our years like a sigh. 10 The days of our lives are seventy years; And if by reason of strength they are eighty years, Yet their boast is only labor and sorrow; For it is soon cut off, and we fly away. 12 So teach us to number our days, That we may gain a heart of wisdom. 13 Return, O Lord! How long? And have compassion on Your servants. 14 Oh, satisfy us early with Your mercy, That we may rejoice and be glad all our days! 15 Make us glad according to the days in which You have afflicted us, The years in which we have seen evil. 16 Let Your work appear to Your servants, And Your glory to their children. 17 And let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us, And establish the work of our hands for us; Yes, establish the work of our hands.

God is above time and not limited by time.  He is the eternal God, not measured or limited as we are.  He sees all of time as one event, and all that happens in time happens ultimately for His divine purposes.

To acknowledge this doesn’t fully solve all of the related philosophic questions we might consider.  The whole concept of good and evil, why God allowed sin and evil, is in some sense impossible for us to comprehend.  Why are some saved and many lost?  What is the divine purpose in allowing many to be eternally lost?  Why have empires arisen and fallen throughout time, disasters and misery occurred throughout history, billions of people been born and died without hearing anything of the gospel?  In truth, we cannot completely fathom the answers to these questions.

In a more personal sense, it is important to remember that all events are under the control of divine providence, and so the events and challenges in our life are ultimately traceable to our Father and His divine purposes.  Sometimes we can see testing in life’s difficulties; the Psalmist wrote in 11:5 that “The Lord tests the righteous,” and this concept is found throughout the pages of Scripture.  Our Lord in His infinite wisdom and superabundant love sets such a high value upon His people’s faith that He will not protect them from the trials by which faith is strengthened.  He knows our tomorrows as well as we know our todays and yesterdays, and thus we can trust Him with what tomorrow will bring.  While we might acknowledge this principle of being strengthened through trials, in truth it is often difficult for us to see any value in the “bad” events that happen to us.  “How can this possibly benefit me or anyone else or bring glory to God?”  Perhaps steadfast faith in acknowledging His grace and sovereignty in such circumstances supremely brings glory to Him.

As we understand that this truly is God’s world, and He is really in control, we begin to have some sense of understanding our circumstances and the events around us.

A recent hymn reminds us,

Our sovereign God by His own word
Sustains this world and reigns as Lord.
No angel, demon, sinful man
Can change His course, restrain His hand.
O sovereign God, we praise Your power;
Your wisdom, goodness we adore.
We bow our hearts before your throne,
Help us O Lord to trust You more.
Help us O Lord to trust You more.

When the fullness of the time had come,
God sent His own beloved Son
To keep God’s law, live in our place,
To bear our sin, guilt, and disgrace.
Dead in our sin, estranged from God,
We fled as rebels from His love.
In sovereign grace He made us sons,
And saved us from the wrath to come.
And saved us from the wrath to come.

Before our birth He planned our days,
Laid out our course, ordained our ways;
The moments of our lives He weaves
So all the glory He receives.
To those He loved before all time,
To all He called in grace renewed,
He cannot lie, His word is true,
He makes all things to work for good.
He makes all things to work for good.

He has written history’s final page,
His Son’s return will end this age.
The Lamb will come in glorious might,
Take back His world and end its night.
How deep the wisdom of our God;
Unknown, unfathomed are His ways.
None counsels Him, or knows His mind;
We bow before Him all our days.
We bow before Him all our days.

O sovereign God, we praise Your power;
Your wisdom, goodness we adore.
We bow our hearts before your throne,
Help us O Lord to trust You more.
Help us O Lord to trust You more.

More Than 700,000 Served

The local suburban weekly newspaper featured the headline, “More Than 700,000 served.”  The opening paragraph noted that the local school district’s food program “will take a break for a week or two next month after a busy spring and summer.”  The accompanying photo caption began, “Cars line up at Northglenn High School July 17 to collect three days worth of meals,” and noted that the school district food service had been providing the meals to students and their families since schools in the area closed due to COVID-19.  The photo showed three late-model SUV’s lined up as they approached the tent to receive the hand-out meals.

“We went from giving out cold sandwiches in March, blended in April and May with hot entrees served daily and now we’ve gone to frozen meals they can finish at home,” said an administrator.  Later, the article noted that “Families line up drive-through style, picking up several meals per person–lunch for two days and breakfast on Mondays and Wednesdays.  They pick up more meals on Fridays, enough to get each student through the weekend.  They’ve even added a mobile option, with a bus leaving each high school headed to more remote areas.”

I was incensed.

A few months earlier, I had a similar reaction as local television featured similar stories, one showing busses heading out to hand out lunches, another a woman and her kids standing at the door of what appeared to be a comfortable home receiving meals.  I might have a different reaction if this were merely for several weeks during the virus shutdown, but that is not the case.  Months earlier, before the virus shutdown, the school district’s “mission creep” had included expansions of their feeding program.  Full-day kindergarten had been mandated by the state and introduced at the beginning of the school year.  Always more taxpayer-funded programs, always a bigger role for the government and the government schools.

The school district never seems to have enough funding, asking for more property taxes almost every election cycle.  Understanding that much or most of the funding for the massive food giveaway is from taxes the Federal government has taken, not just taxes from local property owners, one still must ask why government handouts have to be the source of food for every lower- and middle-economic class family.  When I was growing up, we were far from wealthy, but I took a sack lunch TO school every day.  I ate breakfast and dinner at home, and during the summer there was no school food program.  Dad, and later Dad and Mom went to work to provide for our needs.  They taught my brother and I by example how to be responsible, how to provide for our own needs, how to work and save.  Our children did not go to the government schools, but did not go hungry – my wife and I worked to provide for them.

Children resident in the United States should not go hungry.  America is an exceptional nation, divinely blessed with a favorable climate, almost limitless natural resources, millions of square miles of arable land, and an economic system unequalled in history.  We have the capability to produce far more food than we consume.  But what kind of lesson is being taught to children when the government and school district become their source of every basic need?  Why do productive people bother to work, send increasing amounts of their earnings to government, only to have government redistribute it to others purely at the whim of government?  If one wants more, just riot and demand more; this has become the understood message that is increasingly accepted.

Wealth is productivity – productivity brings wealth.  This is true of individuals, it is true of nations.  People cannot look to government as their source of material goods; it will ultimately bring poverty, loss of freedom, and ruin.  Individuals must use whatever opportunities and advantages that may be available to them and become productive.  The American system offers tremendous opportunity.  This concept has been lost; far too many with a sense of entitlement and aggrievement look to government to provide for their needs.  No need for personal responsibility, no need for marriage and family, no need to work and save, just demand more from government; this has become widely accepted in society.  That philosophy will bring ruin.

The Bible is filled with exhortations as to the responsibility to work, to be productive, to provide for one’s own needs and the needs of family.  Compassionate giving, sharing with those in need – absolutely; that is the spirit of Christianity.  But it is not at all compassionate to facilitate dependence on charity or on government.  It is ruinous – to the individual, and to the nation.

Wealth, Productivity, Riots, and Demands

The Bible has much to say about work, material wealth, and prosperity.  In the Ten Commandments, God clearly affirms personal property rights.  “Thou shalt not steal.”  “Thou shalt not covet.”  What is mine is mine and not yours; what is yours is yours and not mine.  We are reminded repeatedly in Scripture of the importance of hard work and personal industry.  Proverbs 14:23 tells us, “In all toil there is profit, but mere talk tends only to poverty.”  Throughout Proverbs we read of the importance of personal responsibility, work, saving and investing, providing for family, and doing so honestly.  Colossians 3:23 tells us, “Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men.”  Elsewhere Paul reminds, “Let him who stole steal no longer, but rather let him labor, working with his hands what is good, that he may have something to give him who has need (Ephesians 4:28).”

          

My father grew up in poverty.  He was born in a small town in Nebraska, the youngest of four children, and I don’t recall him talking about his childhood much.  His grandfather who homesteaded land in Nebraska was from a line of ethnic Germans who had lived in Russia and eventually migrated to the United States. My grandfather was an alcoholic; he didn’t want to farm and so sold whatever land he inherited, even as other relatives became successful farmers.  My grandmother had mental issues and likely suffered from schizophrenia.  Dad remembered that as a child he had picked up coal along railroad tracks to burn for heat at home, and his family had lost electric service on occasion for failure to pay the bill, and was even evicted a time or two.  Dad didn’t finish high school.

My mother wasn’t much better off.  She grew up on a small farm in the next county north, on land that her grandfather had homesteaded after the Civil War.  My parents met and married when Dad was working with a crew laying brick pavers in the streets of the town where Mom lived.  They married months after Mom finished high school, and Dad worked for a short while at an armaments plant leftover from the Second World War era.  The facility closed, and employment opportunities in the area were limited at best.  Dad’s sister and family had moved to an area just north of Denver, and with some promise of a job from my uncle, my parents moved to that area.  They secured a tiny rental home – better described as a “shack,’ of perhaps 500 square feet.  The hoped-for job didn’t materialize.  Dad got a job in a parking lot in downtown Denver behind a department store, where he worked when I was born.  He eventually secured a position working in a warehouse where he worked for more than two decades, even as physical maladies made it difficult for him to be on his feet all day on a warehouse floor.  The folks were able to buy a better house, all of 750 square feet, shortly after the birth of my brother.  It wasn’t much by today’s standards, but it was theirs.  Dad went to work – every day.  He lived within his means.  We never went hungry.  Mom stayed home with us when we were small, and eventually went to work for J.C. Penney for a number of years.  The family’s standard of living rose, and by the time of their deaths the folks owned their home and left an inheritance for my brother and me.  We sold the little house after Dad died.

My parents inherited – nothing.  They were handed – nothing.  Dad and my aunt paid on an insurance policy for years so that there would be money to bury my grandmother, who they had brought to Colorado.  When the area where they grew up offered limited opportunity, they moved to another area.  They never collected any government assistance.  They never received any charity.  “Welfare” and “food stamps” were epithets, terms of derision in our house when I was growing up.  They worked, saved, and lived within their means.  They married, before I was born, and remained married until death.  Starting from nothing, they provided a good life for themselves and for my brother and me.  They made lemonade out of the circumstance of lemons they had to work with.

A few months ago I participated in a memorial service for an elderly lady.  Her life story is fascinating.  She was born in Silesia, then at the southeast corner of Germany, shortly before the Second World War.  When the war ended, the area was annexed to Poland, and her family was given hours to simply vacate their house.  With only what they could carry, they eventually made it to the western zone of occupied Germany.  She met a young man coincidentally from her home region, who had been drafted into the German army.  They eventually married and came to the United States.  They became successful and raised a family.  They too made lemonade out of lemon circumstances.

A friend of my wife’s mother has a similar story.  A young girl when the war ended, her ethnic German family became refugees.  They came to the United States with nothing, but took advantage of opportunity.  This woman and her husband, also an ethnic German, raised a family and successfully operated a small business.

What are the common threads here?  Seeking opportunity and working to overcome circumstances.  Relocating to a place of greater opportunity when necessary.  Willingness to work.  Personal responsibility.  Marriage and fidelity to marriage and family.  These things produce success.  None of these people viewed themselves as victims.  They didn’t have time to grovel in their circumstances; they were too busy working.  I don’t have confidence that my Dad ever became a Christian, and don’t know that all of the others referenced here did either.  But the life pattern that they followed was rooted in Christian principles and brought them success.

I got a job the summer after my junior year in high school.  It did not require any great genius, but I merely had to get up early, go to work, and do my job.  I was able to return to the job, summers and on Saturdays, throughout the rest of my educational career when I was in-state and at home.  My brother also worked various jobs during his youth.  We both funded much of our own college expenses.  We developed a work ethic that enabled both of us to have successful careers.  Today, too often suburban males spend their adolescence “working with their thumbs” playing video games, watching their cellphones, or watching movies and sporting events.  I have observed that the landscape crew for my HOA is staffed by Spanish-speaking adults, likely Mexican or Central American nationals.  During my youth, those landscape crews were staffed by American high school or college-age youths.  A summer or two, my brother had a brutally hard job for a small concrete contractor, handling large panels assembling and disassembling forms for basement and foundation pours.  Today, those jobs are largely staffed by immigrants.  In many inner city areas, youth are both unemployed and unemployable.  They are too often the children of unmarried teenaged mothers who themselves were born to unmarried teenaged mothers and have no understanding of any sort of a work ethic.  They are easy recruits for those who would incite them to riot and destroy and demand more taxpayer benefits while never actually doing what it might take to secure employment and progressing to a better life.

          

Wealth comes from productivity.  Wealth is not created by governmental redistribution nor is it created by government fiat, by government creating money out of thin air to give away to perceived victims.  American prosperity comes from the fact that Americans are the most productive people on the planet.  The best form of government recognizes personal and property rights, fosters opportunity, and furthers productivity.  Our system of capitalism and free enterprise does that and has done it well.  But for significant portions of society, that work ethic has been lost..

Property rights are absolute and are key to developing personal prosperity and furthering prosperity in a society.  I have no right to destroy the property of others or to destroy community property.  Exodus 22 explains this principle under the Old Testament economy.  We all have a responsibility to work and provide for ourselves and our families.  My ancestors worked brutally hard – farming in the nineteenth and early twentieth century was no picnic.  My Dad performed manual labor.  My career has required me to perform not manual labor but intellectual tasks, and I have saved throughout my career and now have modest savings in various instruments that provide capital to companies that employ people and provide necessary goods and services. Scripture enjoins us to provide for our children, and to teach them a trade, or by extension in our era, to provide for education, to set a positive godly example, and if circumstances allow to provide capital for their use.

          

As Christians, we are above all called to use our means for the honor and glory of God.  We are to seek first His kingdom and His righteousness.  Wealth is not to be hoarded, and we are not to find our satisfaction in amassing material wealth.  We are to give.  We are to consider ourselves as stewards of whatever we may possess and give of our resources in submission to the lordship of Christ.

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said,

“Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?  Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?  Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?  So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?  Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’  For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.  But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.   (Matthew 6:25-33)”

Paul wrote of our proper attitude toward “things.”

“Now godliness with contentment is great gain.  For we brought nothing into this world,  and it is certain we can carry nothing out.  And having food and clothing, with these we shall be content.  But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition.  For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.  (I Timothy 6:6-10)”