Hell? Nah!

I'm going to repeat a blog here from March 29th of last year, put the same bumper sticker on my car and probably get the same limited response from new visitors, for the title of the blog is Hell?  Nah!. What kind of enlightened person actually believes in hell? Are you busy tonight...too busy to consider some thoughts on a topic that, undesirable as the concept is, you had better be right on?

March 29, 2011

An author, described as an Evangelical, writes a book that implies that there is no hell, and a Methodist pastor is fired after he endorses the book on his Facebook page and we have ignition, a news story, or as William Randolph Hearst might say puff the religious guy who doesn't believe in Hell! Hell is the easiest of concepts to accept if one has come to know that they themselves deserved it but were rescued from it, and the hardest concept to even consider if told that they themselves may go there. Great compassion and fairness is drawn out of people as they argue against the existence of Hell, or so they believe it to be compassion and fairness, but it is much deeper than this. If the message of the Gospel was one of simply being a pretty good person, some day to be welcomed by God into Heaven, there would be little if any problem with the concept of Hell, or with Christianity for that matter, for most everyone would consider it highly unlikely that they would ever be sent there, but that isn't the message coming from the Bible. It wouldn't matter if nine out of ten community churches proclaimed salvation through "living a good life," for there would always be that one in ten speaking directly to them with God-breathed Scripture that truly is a two-edged sword. It is often said that a stopped clock is right two times a day but this is not correct, for time never stops, never in this life that is, but time, as we know it now, will stop in eternity. So the grand argument of thousands upon thousands, and millions upon millions of years punishment for 20 years as a rebel are baseless, but on them we have convicted God of unfairness. He hasn't met our strict standards of goodness even though we have no idea of what eternity is like without the creation that we live in called time. So we have installed another god who has been thoroughly vetted and found acceptable. There is no Hell with him and we are comforted, but alas, there is nothing of substance, or value, or joy with him either. Hell is not the only problematic concept of eternity for the concept of Heaven is also problematic. One still has to consider millions upon millions of years. So although Hell is described in Scripture as one of horror, and Heaven is also described, as one of bliss and ecstasy, if we automatically hold them up to the grid of time, both descriptions become overshadowed by that which we have no ability to even conceive of. We wind up either rejecting Hell as unfair or we relegate Heaven to something that may be good but definitely not Hawaii. Although we cannot conceive of, let alone describe eternal damnation, we can conceive of the concept of weeping and gnashing of teeth, a very clear Biblical description of one's reaction to banishment there. There's another problematic area today in the discussion of Hell, that being that the one warning of it implies that he is not going there. Add to that that those saved seem to be very much like those not saved, at least the better ones of those not saved. The audacity of such a warning coming from those who are far from perfect! A few things need to be considered here. Every person born into this world comes in at enmity with God from that first breath and there is no place for them with God in eternity in such a state. No one can change this by their actions. One of the first objections that comes up is why God would create someone that He knew beforehand was going to Hell. Well, there are trillions upon trillions that God potentially could have created but did not create, that escaped this condition and possibility. You are not one of them. you are one of the minuscule, in comparison, number who were created. Have you gone to God and pleaded with Him for mercy? If not, does your original objection not lose its validity for you are no longer innocent, not even by your own standards? Consider this also, if you should come to trust in what was done on Calvary, for you, you will then find that you are still in the same body as the ones who warned you of Hell are, with the same temptations. The difference will be that you will then see yourself as even more vile than you may see us right now for you will be a new creation, one that sees not only the necessity of a Hell, but a place, that by rights, you should go. How do I know this? I know this because  I see that in myself, and because it is the truth. You will want to go to your own friends and warn them and advise them, not of the unfairness of God, but of the amazing grace offered to even the blasphemer. One cannot understand the extreme fairness of being banished until one gets a glimpse of the extreme holiness of the One offended. Once cannot see Hell before one begins to see God. One cannot see a place reserved for the rebel until one sees the rebel in himself. The clearer one sees God the less the issue of Hell dominates and the more the issue of His mercy does. The idea of a Hell will continue to draw our great opposition to the Bible. We...will continue to fall short of what the mercy extended to us should be evidenced in us, but no weak Christian kept me from trusting in Christ prior to 1982 and no strong Christian caused me to believe. Rather, the Word of God, through God's Holy Spirit, became a mirror to me. Objections to a Hell were overwhelmed by objections to my deserving anything good. The topic of Hell needs to be preached and discussed, for even in a perceived enlightened age as today, good is meaningless without bad, law is worthless without punishment, and there cannot be mercy without judgement.

Memorial Day

The following, poorly structured though it may be, is an attempt at poetry which I like to re-publish every Memorial Day. It is a distant and quick reflection of my first two and a half years in the army which began in September of 1969. Our nation began in the midst of war, was often formed in the midst of war, sustained through war, defeated evil and defended the entire world through war, and defends itself once again today through war. How many gave, and continue to give, that last full measure of life in defense of our beloved land! To my international friends... our military is part and parcel of our best, offered to you. If you do not like them, you would never like us. They are not representative of the majority of our college campuses nor are they representative of Wall Street or Hollywood. They are not only fighting for our safety, and yours, but for our way of life. It is harder to see the loss of lives today than it has ever been for the benefactor of our military prowess and the sustainer of our causes is less and less petitioned by the very government blessed as such. My sadness for lives lost extends to the memory of the fierce determination of the British during World War II, to the French Resistance, to the Poles...the Australians, the Filipinos, the Koreans, the Vietnamese, the Canadians, to the Contra rebels, and every ally and every resistance group that has stood alongside us over the years.

B. D.

Good-byes outside the Federal Building, hearts bursting with pride,
new friends, for a day or two anyway.
Where you from?
Meal tickets, cough, sign here, raise your hand, get on the bus,
a few hours to digest what happened.
Here's your bunk, here's your hat. It won't be too small tomorrow.
Lights out...lights on, get up.
Raise your left hand. The foot below that is your left foot.
Milk never tasted so good, nor liver.
Smoke'm if you got em.
Lights out, shut up. Lights on, get up.
"Hey new guy!" Eight weeks is a lot of seniority here.
March, run, push, carry, salute, stomach in, chest out.
Congratulations, pride, get on the bus.
Seven to three and turn the lights out when you want.
Boston ain't bad but a bald head would be normal today.
Home for the weekend, cab driver not impressed.
Here's your test, here's your test, here's your test.
Congratulations, another stripe, get on the bus.
Farewell party, pack light, good-bye.
White building, no windows, no news, no TV, just wait for your name, it could be a couple days.
Get on the plane.
Heat, aroma, concertina wire, dust, sun, water buffalo, silk, Pabst Blue Ribbon,
reel-to reel, abacus, burn detail, pretty Asian girls, 12 hour days...forever,
pills, mail call, piasters, conical hats, nouc mam, Mama San, number 10, dinky dow, tuk tuks,
maps, files, briefings, frequencies, "They're on the move," sleep, maps, files.
Whistle!
Bunkers, jokes, heat, siren.
Sand bags, guard duty, Asian Elvis, Buddha, kids, chocolate, Budweiser.
Whistle,
bunkers, no jokes, heat, siren.
Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter, Fourth of July.
Sydney, Kings Cross, moneys gone, get on the plane.
Monsoons,
maps, files, briefings, frequencies.
Whistle,
bunkers, slop, siren.
Short time calender, "I hear they don't like us?" Protests, daydreams, maybe college.
Whistle
I remember you.

An Eclipse of Christ

From time to time I have to sit back and reassess what I’m doing with this blog. Politics is not and has never been the reason for starting this. I’ve wanted to use my words and my reasoning in presenting the gospel to whoever might stop by. The number is still under ten in how many people I have actually told that I write a blog and then given them the URL. Ninety-five percent of the advertising that I do comes from the magnetic bumper sticker on the back of my car. I change the phrase with the blog; for example, the one on the back of my car right now says Jefferson....Deist...? I can go to the statistics and tell how well the particular phrase did that day. The best day that I ever had came from the phrase The Blob From Pittsburgh (March 29th, 2012) so I have re-published it a few times  The worst days (in numbers) are when I have religious themes, the very reason for this blog. If you notice at the top of the page there is a link called Next Page. This is how my foreign visitors arrive, after clicking onto next page after next  page they eventually come to mine.. I can tell the number of pages visited and what countries they were from. Other Blogspot bloggers of course know this. The most informative statistic is on the My Profile page for it tells me how many stopped by and then where interested enough to go to the profile. I began by writing one “Christian” blog a week hoping that the political, cultural and current events blogs would keep people interested enough to read the only one that really mattered but those current events began to dictate where I would go with the blog. The two always seem to meet as America increasingly rebels against its Christian heritage and increasingly is weakened in its defenses of that heritage and of America itself. In the sixth blog I wrote this on the financial collapse of 2008, “I seem to be hoping that it (the Dow) just stays where it is (yes, recession) long enough to give us, as a people, enough time to get our bearings again and maybe readjust our thinking on what brings happiness and satisfaction in life.” Two days later I wrote about how we evolved into a visual oriented society as opposed to the written word. The next day I wrote on immigration and concluded with these words, “Legal immigration is a blessing. When I see a Latino who by their speech gives the impression that they may have only been here for a short while, I don’t for a second stand in judgment of whether or not they are here illegally. Those who have come here legally honor us by doing so and I won’t dampen that because of the actions of others…” Two days later I commented on the Israel/Iran issue in, “ Israel has a decision to make, and soon.” That was December of 2008. A week later I wrote for the first time about United States Presidents and their Christian faith. I wrote two blogs on that day and the second was on the media. A few days later came this short blog:

May God have mercy on us. The American public has no idea how far we have fallen. This economic collapse occurred , primarily, because politicians wanted to keep their jobs by appearing compassionate and making unsound legislation on home loans. They learned nothing by the collapse and have heavily mortgaged the future of our children. We have the attempted selling of a Senate seat in Illinois (Blago,) the abortion of an election in Minnesota (Al Franken) and the nepotism being considered in New York (Caroline Kennedy). We have a new president coming in whose career has been nourished by the most corrupt political regime in the country. We have labor legislation ( Card Check) that may be passed that sends us back to union thuggery and radio legislation (Fairness Doctrine) that will hamper our truest source of news, both purposely and deceitfully misnamed. A leading evangelical, Rick Warren, will give the invocation at Barack Obama’s inauguration. America will be in a Super Bowl zone after Christmas and then proceed to March Madness followed followed immediately by baseball. Visual and celebrity entertainments will continue to tranquilize us. Yet the Congress today gave itself a raise.

Today, three and a half years later, our military and national defense are routinely weakened; we still think that the stock market can bring happiness and satisfaction in life; the “visual” in life has culminated, as of now, in Facebook...made a twenty-eight year old the 29th richest man in the world, and its new IPO is being touted as a possible financial savior for California. Christianity is still under attack, more than ever; immigration is still a political football; Israel’s decision is still pending; there definitely will not be a Christian president inaugurated in January of 2013 (if the Lord permits us to get that far….a phrase I have often used in this blog,) and…..the Olympics are just ahead. As I write this an annular eclipse is in the western sky. The moon, at its furthest point from earth, blocks the sun, only leaving a ring of fire around the edge. Americans, most of us anyway, are no different than other peoples and cultures that decayed and disappeared. Christ has only been partially blocked from the American public and many look to Him only through a filtered lens. As sure as the moon will quickly pass out of the way, His full-orbed glory will be evident, either in judgment or a glorious awakening. As for now, we have fallen asleep in Delilah's lap while our source of strength is being sheared. There's a book that came into my life many years ago and I read from it just about every day of my life. It’s called Valley of Vision, a Collection of Puritan Prayers and Devotions (isbn 978-0851512280) edited by Arthur Bennett. Every once in a while I put one of those prayers in a blog and the following is the first prayer in that book and the first one that I added to the blog in January of 2009:

Lord, High and Holy, Meek and Lonely,
Thou hast brought me to the valley of vision,
Where I live in the depths but see thee
in the heights;
Hemmed in by mountains of sin I behold
Thy glory.

Let me learn by paradox
That the way down is the way up,
That to be low is to be high,
That the broken heart is the healed heart,
That the contrite spirit is the rejoicing spirit,
That the repenting soul is the victorious soul,
That to have nothing is to possess all,
That to bear the cross is to wear the crown,
That to give is to receive,
That the valley is the place of vision.
Lord, in the daytime stars can be seen from
deepest wells,
And the deeper the wells the brighter
Thy stars shine;

Let me find thy light in my darkness,
Thy life in my death,
Thy joy in my sorrow,
Thy grace in my sin,
Thy riches in my poverty
Thy glory in my valley.

Thomas Jefferson...Deist?

I wrote this blog while visiting Virginia Beach. In the middle of town they have a memorial called Virginia Legends. As you walk the roughly one-hundred yards you can read plaques of famous people that were born in the state. It's a nice little walk but rather odd, for of the thirty-eight people honored they have diverse names such as Thomas Jonathan (Stonewall) Jackson and Katie Couric. Thomas Jefferson, along with seven other presidents were represented.  As a sidebar, we met a nice older couple at the pool (and older than us is old) who were from Missouri. Just to keep the conversation going, I said "By the way, thanks for Rush Limbaugh." Wrong thing to say! The gentleman promised to protest Rush's recent nomination to the Missouri Hall of Fame. I was about to mention the Virginia Legends that honored a very diverse group but thought better of it. There's been a resurgence of interest in the Constitution since the days of Ronald Reagan and in the Declaration of Independence written by Thomas Jefferson. A new round of biographers took up Jefferson's life and thus who he was is clearer today, in many ways, than it has ever been. The same can be said for George Washington and I reviewed and recommended a newer book about his religious beliefs in a November 11th, 2010 blog. That book is Sacred Fire , written by Peter A. Lillback. The book that I would like to recommend in this blog is titled The Jefferson Lies, Exposing the Myths You've Always Believed About Thomas Jefferson by historian, speaker and the founder of the Christian organization Wallbuilders. I've written about David Barton before in a July 11, 2009 blog. I like his writings and appreciate his work with the exception that he often displays the same minimalism on the topic of America as a Christian nation from its founding that he critiques in The Jefferson Lies. Was Jefferson a deist or an atheist? Did he father children of his slave Sally Hemings? Was he a racist? Did he found a secular university, the University of Virginia, to keep out God? Barton attempts to answer these and other questions. He looks first at what the accepted belief is and then examines the origin of these beliefs and the veracity of the truth claims. He adds an important chapter on the trends in political philosophy today that are intellectually corrupt yet dominate our campuses. Barton calls them "modern tools of historical malpractice" and every American interested in the future of our nation should at least be aware of them. They are those of Deconstruction, Poststructuralism, Modernism, Minimalism and Academic Collectivism. There is no new revelation here on why Americans so easily fall for the nonsense coming out of academia and the mainstream news media for these subjects have been tackled again and again by Christian authors but his summations are succinct and a valuable addition. There is plenty of new information on how the accepted beliefs came to be. I would really rather you read the book than give examples of this "malpractice" so I will focus here on the the help Barton has given us on who Thomas Jefferson really was. I had believed that Jefferson was "certainly" a deist but I now don't think that to be the case. Nothing in his life, his letters and his influence point to that. In fact he described himself as "a sect unto himself." Christianity has, from time to time, been plagued from within by some with a sincere but ignorant motive to return the church to the model of the primitive church in the days of the Apostles and shortly thereafter. There has been a resurgence of this even in recent times. These Christians seem not to be able to deal with the work that is involved in growing in the knowledge of their own faith. It's part of our fallen condition and will always be there. They erase all doctrine, good and bad, that they had received and attempt to go back to the simple life of the morality of Jesus. The result can be just a weak denomination with some fundamental errors (the thing that some rebelled against to begin with) or it can result in denominations with serious errors that deny aspects of the very gospel it proclaims to defend. It has also resulted in heretical sects or cults not started by Christians but egos that have found truth or heard directly from God and were instructed to found their own religion, oblivious to or rejecting the thousands of years of Christianity before it. A hotbed of the former, disoriented Christians, originated in Charlottesville, Virgina, near Jefferson's home, in the later period of his life. Thomas Jefferson was the ultimate Renaissance Man, a polymath whose intellect was fundamental in the founding of the United States of America but one whose same intellect kept him from the Gospel. He was driven by his code of honor. This fact, along with an accurate description of the DNA results concerning Sally Hemings children, and the character, or lack of it, of his main accuser, make it an absurd proposition that he fathered any of this young lady's children. Thomas Jefferson lived a long life and his opinions were radically altered a few times. Once, due the death of his beloved wife and again, later in life, as the Christian Primitivism movement established a base near his home. Jefferson's writings throughout his life are clear and forceful. He believed in the Bible but only in what his intellect would allow. There was no Jefferson Bible with the miracles cut out. What there was was writings gathered in book form of biblical concepts of interest to him, much like many books published today. His university was not established secular as we have been led to believe, rather the non-denominational emphasis was such that it is interpreted today as secularism. No, Thomas Jefferson was no deist, but he was  most definitely not a Christian either. Barton's strength has always been in digging beneath the accepted beliefs and constructs of the day to find original intent, the title of a previous book of his on the Constitution, but his weakness had been in defending Christian truth as it pertains to many of our Founders... but not so much in this most recent book. He acknowledges, sort of, Jefferson's errors in his faith and that is what I would ask of any Christian historian. That Jefferson was not a deist is important for he did not just acknowledge a divine source that then stepped away from his creation. That he was not a Christian is also important. It does not take away from his work, in fact it explains some of it and amplifies the extreme precision of his mind to a point that he could not see the forest for the trees.

Zeitgeist As Facebook

         Ask the average Christian if they know who William Carey was and most will probably say "no" even though he has had seven colleges named after him around the world and is considered the Father of Modern Missions. He was a cobbler, a shoemaker, who felt the call to take the Gospel to the world, and his story is one of one discouragement after another. He finally arrived in India and it was seven years before he saw his first Hindu convert.
         Mark Zuckerberg is infinitely smarter than William Carey for it has only been eight years since he founded Facebook and he already has 900 million converts including 45 million, or almost 4%, of the Indian population. Let me segue here; France voted to keep the benefits coming and ignore the warning signs. Local elections in Great Britain were similar and even Greece is balking at the austerity measures it had previously OK'd. One report out today has austerity becoming a "dirty word" in Europe. German philosophy has given us a word, zeitgeist, that somewhat describes what is influencing these decisions. Zeitgeist, the spirit of the times, is an "ambiance...a direction and a mood associated with an era" as Wikipedia describes it.
         My nomination for America's zeitgeist is Facebook, the corporate name for acute narcissism. The American zeitgeist as Facebook...cyberspace gold...Silicon Valley tea. Oh, I've heard the defense...it's a great way for mom to keep up with the pictures of the grandchildren and now Facebook is into organ donations, but what has transpired in the last eight years is nothing less than insidious. There was a comic in the newspaper a couple of months ago ...a funeral home with four or five seats taken out of about a hundred and the funeral director remarks, "I can't understand it. He had a thousand Facebook friends."
         It, the zeitgeist, has become all about us. Facebook finds itself in a predicament. With its new IPO, it must produce to that level. It's telling its advertisers to be patient, that new and innovative ways to advertise are on the way. Who knows what they are going to be but it's definitely not going to be the banner on the top of the page. The world is...well, what's the use of describing it, you either see the decay and imminent collapse or you don't. All the while, we the people, are setting ourselves up for some very unwanted surprises.
         Friends, the voice I hear from Facebook is not that of a friend. Right from the beginning Facebook was built on sand. It has become a veritable monster with ever growing tentacles. One more segue; a new president is not going to make a difference in a land with whatever our zeitgeist is at this time. As an American and a Christian I have failed. How about you? I look back at my life and I have added to the chaos more than contributed to the well-being of our nation. Even my blogging is tinged with pride. The best thing that I can say about my Christian walk is that my redemption must drive the enemy of Christ mad, for he could not even keep someone such as me...!
           Should not our prayer be Humble us Lord. Spare your rod if it be yours to show us mercy? But no...we just want Obama out and a couple of sound Supreme Court Justices and we'll be OK. As desireable as that would be...we would not be OK. I have to reiterate here from many past blogs. If you are at all familiar with this blog you know that I write about politics most of the time. We cannot abandon this essential part of our constitutional republic but at the same time we cannot elevate that duty beyond the call of the Gospel nor elevate that constitutional republic to that of deity for it was a blessing given to us from the only Deity. There is a more pertinent word than zeitgeist and it is outpouring. An outpouring of God's Spirit upon us is not only what we need, it is our only hope. Should not we be praying for this. Maybe this question should be asked..."How much time do we, as a people, spend on Facebook alone as opposed to time spent in God's Word to us?" Would not the answer incriminate us? I have to believe that if every minute spent on Facebook were to be on our knees then mercy might just be given us.

The Harbinger

         Messianic Rabbi and author Jonathan Cahn sees an America that is in dire trouble. So do I. According to his popular book The Harbinger; September 11th, 2001 was a judgment upon America, a judgment with a lot of biblical meanings behind it emanating from Isaiah 9:10. Along with a judgment there is a warning to America to return to God or experience utter destruction.
         In his book, Rabbi Cahn takes what he sees as a very distinct, specific and detailed message for Israel in Isaiah, and applies it every bit as particularly to America. He presents this to us in story form, the story of a man and a modern day prophet. Thus Isaiah's prophesy to Israel, a prophesy of impending catastrophe, is being repeated with us...brick for brick, sycamore for sycamore and cedar for cedar, and will end with total collapse if we do not repent.
          Rabbi Cahn takes the reader step by step from the collapse of the twin towers to the rebuilding efforts since then and even well beyond that national disaster to the 2008 economic collapse and even back to the inauguration of George Washington. He sees us doing exactly the same thing that the Israelites did upon their first defeat at the hands of the Assyrians, that being... arrogantly proclaiming that they will merely rebuild while ignoring the reasons for God's hedge being taken down in the first place.
         The book would not have had the reception that it did if there were not a number of very interesting similarities that make it appear as if America is indeed written into the Isaiah prophesy right next to Israel. Some Evangelicals will believe the thesis of the book on face value. Others will criticize mixing newspaper headlines and Bible prophesy. I'm not concerned here with this aspect, important as it is. My concern is this: it seems as if every year there is one Christian book that consumes the evangelical community, for example, The Shack or Heaven Is For Real. It becomes the Christian's Super Bowl.....the big experience of the year. At best it's a waste of time and at worst, as in the case of these two books, it is unbiblical nonsense.
         The problems with this type of Christian culture vary. To simply read Rabbi Cahn's novel for enjoyment is one thing but we go well beyond that. The novelist, the television evangelist and the user-friendly mega-church become the teachers of pot luck theology and whats more, over time, we have become such that our minds learn mostly from the spectacular and the visual. We no longer analyse or examine. Neither are we learning through experience, rather through enjoyment. Has reading the book changed anyone? Or has it merely fulfilled a need embedded in today's Christian for the sensational? What it might do is prepare the unbeliever to view America's troubles in a different light but at what cost to the Christian.
         There was a wildly popular Christian novel published in 1986 written by Frank Peretti and titled This Present Darkness. Light reading over a few days is one thing but this book actually had Christians circling neighborhoods and praying away territorial spirits. The cover of Rabbi Cahn's book has the subtitle the Ancient Mystery that holds the Secret of America's Future. That America is abandoning God and faces His wrath should hardly be a secret to the Christian. A simple ploughman, if I might use that archaic term, knows that, as might even the flamboyant heretic reaching tens of millions through a television ministry. This book might be an urgent call to dinner but where's the beef? There is no meat in The Harbinger...none. Many Christians, myself included, saw 9/11 as a consequence of our rebellion to God and were sorely disappointed that we all, myself included, so easily and so quickly returned to the business at hand...money and trivialities!
         The Book of 1st Samuel, early on, tells of Israel's defeat at the hands of the Philistines. Along with the prophet Eli's two evil sons, Hophni and Phinehas, Israel calls for the Ark of the Covenant to be brought to the battlefield, for surely the presence of the holiest object in Israel would insure victory. It did...for the Philistines! Here then is another similarity, to me anyway, between Israel of the Old Testament and America; It's as if we are calling for the Ark when we proclaim America to be anything beyond a nation favored with blessings by God, for His purposes. Sometimes it's just presumption and other times it is total blindness on what is happening in America and why we are unravelling. It's possible to call on God in times of distress as if we were putting a talisman around our neck. Evidence of this distortion of prayer can be seen in many high profile teachers who not only totally misconstrue what the state of Israel is today but toss the Gospel of Jesus Christ out the window in attempting to save God's Chosen People. Let me conclude where I began, in agreeing with Rabbi Jonathan Cahn....America is departing from God....God's protection is departing from us.....and we could care less.