Would a united Christian church bring us out of this mess?

It’s been suggested before. I don’t see for this time in history.

I was reading Erling Olsen’s meditation on Psalm 124 this morning which begins, “If it had not been the LORD who was on our side . . .” Olsen had a Sunday afternoon radio broadcast in the mid-1930s on the Psalms, which was so popular it was later published and has been through many printings. In 1937 he wrote:

“The entire world is now being swamped by a tidal wave of materialism and the hearts of many are filled with apprehension concerning the future.  The whole earth appears to be in a state of turmoil as some of the nations of the earth seem bent on war, while the unrest in other nations resembles a war scare.  It seems as if all the world is seated upon a keg of dynamite, with everybody playing around the keg with a lighted torch.”

He moves from the Depression era and war threats coming from Europe in 1937  back to ancient Israel and when it did not through its own power make it to the promised land, and that’s what Psalm 124 celebrates.

Than back to 1937.  It seemed, he said, that we had turned the corner, that we were on the road to prosperity (that wasn’t the case—the economy was heading for a recession with the Depression), but he lamented that men hadn’t ceased to be materialists and doubted they had learned any lessons.  One prominent Christian, very wealthy (he didn’t give his name) suggested that only a “united Christian world could stem the rising tide of materialism, of selfishness, of broken traditions and crumbling moral standards and point the way out.”  He lamented the failure of the church visible, with its sects, still clinging to its denominationalism “in a drifting, disillusioned, discouraged world which sees in the church confusion rather than hope.”

That certainly describes the church today, so I’m thinking the proposal of that rich and influential Christian didn’t work. Olsen goes on to say, . .

“I wholeheartedly endorse the comments which that gentleman made and I agree with him that the world is on the brink of disaster as its very foundations are being shaken.  I agree with him that the only thing for the church today is to bear a united testimony, so that she may be a bulwark against the raging storm.  But let me be clear.  There can be no united Christian church except it be founded on a solid rock.. . . I am wholeheartedly for Christian unity if that unity is based on the deity of Christ, on the impregnable rock of Holy Write, on the cardinal truth of the Christian faith revealed at the cross of Jesus Christ which towers ‘o’er the wrecks of time.’ I am for unity of the Christian church in bearing an effectual testimony to a world of moral failure when it invites the individual members of society to come to the ‘fountain filled with blood, drawn from Immanuel’s veins,’ . . . What power the Christian church would have in this world if it would give faithful testimony concerning these verities of our faith.”

The church is no more united now than 80+ years ago. And during our present national and world crisis, it seems to have closed its doors and settled for the title, “non-essential.” Although individual congregations went to court to keep their doors open, most just quietly folded and turned to their technology staff, if they had one. A few used their parking lots and speaker systems.  Various religious voices brightly proclaim the church is moving into the community via technology like Zoom, Facebook, Tik Tok and on-line services, but I hardly think that replaces the hundreds of ministries that have closed which evangelize, feed, clothe, build, educate and visit the millions who need the church.

Olsen suggested that in the 1930s the failure of the church was the responsibility of those that have not been faithful to the Gospel of Christ, who have undermined faith in the scriptures and stripped Jesus of his Glory bringing him down to a life devoted to a principle.  That Jesus can transform lives and is not a mere social message is a message lost in today’s (1937) world, he said. That might be part of it, but I know some Bible-believing, gospel preaching churches that were just too comfortable and lukewarm to Stand up for Jesus. They looked to the government, to science, to social media and the confusing advice of the experts to see them through.   Prayer, worship, fasting, service—well, they can wait on a vaccine, or a new president, or a less virulent mutation while we hunker down in our homes.

10 axioms about the voter count

We all know Joe Biden won the popular vote November 3, 2020, and there are axioms (self-evident truths) we can learn from this.

1. Trump will end up with over 70,000,000 votes. Seventy million. These are American citizens who have been insulted, demeaned, called every name in the book, had their homes vandalized, their careers ruined, losing friends and family, and yet remained loyal and convinced he was the best president in their life times. These are not citizens duped by foreign powers, these are not citizens bought by powerful PACs and backroom deals. These are not citizens represented by the rich and famous of Hollywood.

2. The citizens who voted for Trump in 2016 and 2020 have completely flipped the party labels. The blue collar and less well-educated are now the Republicans. Republicans now represent the little guy being ground down by the oligarchs and big money of the new age of technology. Trump is a wealthy man, but he can't hold up against the onslaught of the money that was pouring in to defeat the down ticket candidates in the South and Southwest.

3. Trump's presidency revealed how badly divided the country is--he didn't divide it--Obama made it worse, but it was a long time coming even before him. I was in academe until 2000, and all the seeds were sprouting. President Trump revealed the coalition of hate and bigotry from members of his own party, mega-wealthy entertainers, smug over rated athletes, Big-Tech CEOs and their overpaid, overeducated workers, narrow specialty medical and science researchers, cancel culture academics, and puffed up pastors.

4. President Trump turned out to be the strongest pro-life president and that issue like none other revealed the moral bankruptcy of both parties. Whereas the Democrats were more revealing about their open animosity for the unborn, their blood lust and glee for letting little ones die dismembered with no medical care, the Republicans really didn't put up much of a fight, leaving it to non-profits and Christian groups to charge the armed bunkers of the abortionists.

5. President Trump has burst open the bubble of what Democrats are about. They have been taken over by the far left, the worst element in our country. Defund the police. Teach hate about our history in schools. Shout down any opposing view. Drag people in to court for exercising their first and second amendment rights. Divide and conquer by creating victim groups rather than supporting wealth creation through work and investment. Make everything about sex and skin rather than empowering the working class to move up and out. Lock the doors on the low income with ever expanding government programs to hang on to their vote.

6. President Trump has embarrassed and shamed the Republicans in power by revealing he could accomplish many of the goals they set for years, yet never fought for. Democrats won the House in 2018 because Republicans retired, dropped out, or threw in the towel. They limped away and joined non-profits and think tanks waiting to return to power. He's exposed their naked inadequacies. He openly ridiculed them by doing what they could only whine about. Making us independent of the Middle East oil cartels, cutting funds for Planned Parenthood and at least attempting to stop the tax drain to "sanctuary cities," plugging the holes at the border for drug pushers and sex trafficking, negotiating better trade deals and forcing European "allies" to grow a pair and stand up to the EU.

7. Trump has awakened blacks to just how badly they've been used by Democrats. In the late 19th century up to the 1960s, the Republicans were the party working for the African Americans. Democrats were the party of the KKK and Jim Crow. Johnson stole that image in the 1960s and locked down the black vote with the "War on Poverty" and over the years black politicians have been rewarded with the keys to some of our largest cities. Trying to be "nice" and bi-partisan, the Republicans went along to get along. Trump comes along and looks at the trillions spent and minorities still struggling to latch on to the American dream. "What have you got to lose?" he asked blacks who were NOT in power. He was winning, too, with low unemployment, prison reform, asking for solutions rather than telling them. How embarrassing for both parties that an outsider with no political palm greasing could get things done just by asking the people who mattered to help him.

8. A 70 million vote for Trump further reveals the terrible divisions in the Christian church. We now see Evangelicals aligning with the Main Line Protestant denominations and the Catholics having more in common with the Fundamentalists, Pentecostals and Independents in the the fight to care of the weakest (the unborn and the elderly) and fighting to hold on to the meaning of a godly marriage and sexuality. Suburban Christians (both black and white) who had been quite comfortable in their chosen enclaves suddenly found themselves after the Memorial day riots accused of systemic racism and microaggression, embarrassed to fly the American flag and fearful of a Trump sign in their yards. Even if Trump had won with a clear majority of popular and electoral votes, only God will be able to restore health to his church.

9. 70,000,000 voters did not believe the constant barrage from Democrats, media, non-profits, and even their own churches that somehow a worldwide pandemic which originated in China was the fault of the American president. With hundreds of cultures, languages, demographic variables, conflicting science, and mixed messages from the White House Task Force, 70,000,000 still believe that the federal government doesn't have the Constitutional right to lock us in our homes, close our churches and libraries, destroy our businesses and live in fear. And that may be a problem for Joe Biden who has used this tragedy as an excuse to hide in his basement and has promised us nationwide mandates.

10. 70,000,000 citizens are not enough to hold back the tsunami of socialism/Communism that is sweeping over the country. And we have 75,000,000 willing to throw aside our freedoms and elect a man with close ties to Communist China.

President addresses UN on religious freedom; a first

“The President will call on the international community to take concrete steps to prevent attacks against people on the basis of their religion or beliefs and to ensure the sanctity of houses of worship and all public spaces for all faiths.” https://www.christianpost.com/news/trump-to-give-historic-religious-freedom-speech-at-united-nations-evangelical-leaders-invited.html.   80% of the world lives under religious oppression.

His address concerns all religions, but this is the worst time in history for Christians. "In 2017 Pew released a report showing that the number of countries where Christians fell victim to government restrictions and social hostilities grew from 108 in 2014 to 128 the following year. In its World Watch Monitor Report, covering 2016, Open Doors, an organization supporting persecuted Christians, found that: “More than 200 million Christians in the 50 countries where it is most difficult to be a Christian experience persecution because of their faith.” Other sources claimed that the true figure for 2016 may be as high as 600 million.. https://www.churchinneed.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/persecution-1-1.pdf

https://www.newsweek.com/christian-persecution-genocide-worse-ever-770462

As thousands gathered last week to protest a climate model that has been proven false or inadequate for decades, real people were being tortured, turned into refugees and killed for their faith.

The church has always been out of step with the culture

The earliest church was seen as too exclusive and a threat to the social order because it would not honor all deities; today Christians are again being seen exclusive and a threat to the social order because we will not honor all identities.  Timothy Keller

https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/what-we-need-to-learn-from-early-church/

Week-end plans?

St. Augustine

“He was a daring, in-your-face iconoclast. A wild fornicator, he had many mistresses and a bastard son. A self-confessed thief who declared “the evil in me was foul, but I loved it.” St. Augustine, A.D. 398.”

https://www.theepochtimes.com/augustines-good-and-evil_2741796.html

Male and female he made them

In yesterday’s seminar on bioethics at Lakeside we heard about CRISPR and growing human ears on the flesh of lab animals, and the trans-human era so we can become the lie the serpent told Adam and Eve.  But the speaker (reformed tradition) also referred to “the church.” Just what is that, I wondered? How did we get here with dozens of Bible studies, feel good self esteem sermons, pot luck dinners and loud rock music, the only “church” people under 50—or maybe under 90—know. Before creating life in the laboratory, let’s look at it the old fashioned way—God’s way.  Male and female.

The so-called Christian church has no one to blame but itself for society’s capitulation to the LBGTQ anti-God, anti-history, anti-tradition agenda.  How did we get from sperm and egg to a personal choice based on feelings or mental illness?

Beginning in 1930, one by one the major Protestant denominations began to accept barrier, chemical and surgical solutions for limiting children, who are blessings from God.  The scariest “climate change” horror stories the Left can throw at us can’t compare to what Christians have accepted as “faith” or “mission” where family planning or women’s health are concerned. Eventually most Christian denominations also accepted abortion. Read your church head quarter’s documents—ELCA (Lutheran) accepts abortion for any reason, even sex selection. Some Protestant denominations use the loophole of disability, incest or rape, as though those little ones are expendable and deserve death because of their parents’ mistakes. Unborn children can distinguish between English and Japanese, but their own parents can’t figure out whether they are human?

Other churches just ignore the problem and stick to safe,  feel good, come to Jesus sermons and adding another "how to" Bible study.  In fact, I’ve been a member of 3 different denominations (Brethren, UCC and Lutheran) and I’ve never known Christianity in any form other than anti-life, anti-family, and anti-reproductive sex.  Not only have I never heard a sermon on the sin of abortion, I’ve never heard a sermon on the joys of marriage (except at the church wedding). Only the Roman Catholic church and perhaps Orthodox, but I haven’t researched that, elevates the role of male and female, marriage and family; and even some liberal European priests and bishops are getting squishy and caving to society’s desire to destroy God’s plan for creation. Most practicing Catholics I know, and their political leaders like Pelosi, Biden and Kerry, support abortion and contraception and ignore their church’s teaching.

https://www.ncbcenter.org/files/8214/6902/2602/MSOB124_The_Mystery_of_Male-Female_Complementarity.pdf

http://steadfastlutherans.org/2015/09/god-made-them-male-and-female/

http://www.umc.org/news-and-media/more-than-50-united-methodist-clergy-show-support-of-marriage-of-gay-couple

https://issues.cune.edu/the-lgbt-disputes-teaching-and-practice-in-the-church-2/the-reformation-and-the-reform-of-marriage-historical-views-and-background-for-todays-disputes/

http://www.ppl.org/index.php/educational-resources/pcusa-members/87-a-short-history-of-the-presbyterian-church-on-abortion-part-I

http://www.ucc.org/clergy_network_facilitated_safe_abortions_years_before_roe_v_wade_05222017

Pentecost, the birth of the church

It's been a party party week-end. Yesterday we celebrated the 70th birthday of a friend at a fabulous surprise event at Hyde Park restaurant carefully planned by her husband and daughters, and today we celebrate the birth of the Christian church. And I would certainly recommend that restaurant--great food and staff.

And today, another birthday party--the church.  We Christians call this day Pentecost (Greek for 50th day) and it's the third of the three big ones--Jesus' birth, his resurrection, and the coming of the Holy Spirit to the apostles to establish the church Jesus had talked about. It is celebrated by Christians all over the world 50 days after Easter, and marks the day that the Holy Spirit descended upon the apostles while they were cowering and hiding behind locked doors following Jesus’ resurrection. It falls on a Jewish feast day because it's virtually impossible to understand Christianity if you don't know the basics.

Jesus said to Peter the apostle whose name means rock, "Upon this rock I will build my church." There are all sorts of interpretations of this, just pick one. It's one of the reasons there are 35,000 protestant denominations, Bible and non-denominational churches. And people who claim to read the Bible literally, jump through hoops to say Jesus didn't mean Peter.

But he did established the church as he promised. So guys and gals, let's stop cowering and hiding and celebrate.