Relentless Expectation

What more could have been done for my vineyard (USA) than I have done for it? When I looked for good grapes, why did it yield only bad? “Now I will tell you what I am going to do to my vineyard: I will take away its hedge.” Isaiah 5:4-5 (NIV)

“Again the anger of the LORD burned against Israel, and He incited David against them, saying, ‘Go and take a census of Israel and Judah.'” 2 Samuel 24:1

“He will be a spirit of justice to him who sits in judgment, a source of strength to those who turn back the battle at the gate.” Isaiah 28:6 (NIV)

I had a crazed raccoon come on my porch this week. He wasn’t foaming at the mouth but he also was not afraid of me. I tried to scare him away but he wouldn’t budge. I took a walking stick and convinced him he had to leave my porch. All the while I was leery of him charging me and so kept up my guard. Finally he slowly went off into the woods. I grabbed my 22 rifle and put him out of his misery.

What just happened there? Something came to my doorway that at first looked innocent. But the reactions and the choices of that raccoon told me that he had rabies. The alarm bells were going off in my mind, “This animal is dangerous to our outdoor cat and other animals.” Now if I had attempted to get in his space and he had headed off, scared and frightened by my actions like any healthy wild animal, I would have done nothing to him.

Consequently, we are living in a spiritual season where demonic forces are prowling around trying to destroy God’s people and the masses. We need to understand these are dangerous forces and not ignore the alarm bells going off.

When medical and governmental tyrants are forcing vaccinations on people saying that they will be fired while people who are getting the vaccine are dying, there is something demonic going on. When an election is stolen and everyone says let’s move on to 2022 and we’ll fix it then, but they ignore that the sitting pseudo President is not legitimate, there is something demonic going on. The rabid demons of tyranny are at the doors of our homes, churches, schools and nation, and we need to be alarmed.

The challenging part of this equation is when people see these symptoms but think everything is normal.

“You have seen many things, but have paid no attention; your ears are open, but you hear nothing.” Isaiah 42:20

Even in the Church, various leaders disagree with whether or not these are the symptoms of rabid tyrannical overreach or just normal government. Some simply quote Romans thirteen as our proper response. To solve this problem, we have to move beyond the surface and get to the root of what is going on.

When we realize God has allowed these rabid forces to usurp and threaten us, we can begin to respond in Spirit-directed warfare and seek His intervening mercy. We can’t just let rabid demonic forces go off into the forest of the world to deal with them later. They are infecting the whole world and we cannot ignore this. Proverbs chapter twenty-four makes this abundantly clear. “Rescue those being led away to death; hold back those staggering toward slaughter. If you say, “But we knew nothing about this,” does not he who weighs the heart perceive it? Does not he who guards your life know it? Will he not repay each person according to what he has done?” Proverbs 24:11-12 (NIV)

To the point, here is a thought I had recently that will make many pastors’ head spin. The majority of Christian leaders do not realize that the zero-probability event of the election of Donald Trump came at the last possible moment of mercy for our wicked nation and world. We had been accelerating toward an anti-Christ system for a while and didn’t know how close we were to the point of no return. Without Donald Trump being elected in 2016, we would have never known how the whole entire elite structure of America has been eaten out with the canker worms and the termites of blind allegiance, globalism, and outright pagan lawlessness. We would have never known that there is a uniparty of democrats and RHINOS that will not abide by the votes cast of its citizens but who will enforce their socialism and globalism on the people whether they want it or not.

This was portrayed before our very eyes in the election of 2020, and people say, “Get over it.” No, we will not get over it. That is like sending a rabid animal back into the forest and hoping it will not infect any others. This attack against our nation is a spiritual revelation that needs to permeate all of our life. We need to pause and realize that the majority of Americans did not choose more abortion; they did not want to abandon Israel; they did not want open borders; and they did not want communism, Marxism, or socialism. And they did not want “wokeism.”

Unfortunately, this has been forced down our throat by an elite rabid cabal that decided to hijack the election and invite the mainstream media and BIG TECH to cue up their delicacies of lies to convince the uniformed American public that Donald Trump lost the election of 2020.

Eric Metaxas has an awesome quote. “People are so hide-bound by what they want to believe that they don’t want to look at the evidence.” The problem with most pastors in America is they don’t even want to pay attention to the evidence that our nation is under the control of Jezebel by a cabal. They just want to preach neutral sermons about love and forgiveness and unity. But they don’t understand that God sovereignly allowed evil to be portrayed before our very eyes to humble us in the dust. God allowed the rabid demons to attack our nation to see what we would do. Would we recognize this visitation of evil and make a stand at the gates of influence or would we passively allow them to roam our communities and hope they would not do more harm?

Regrettably, one of the reasons we got here was because of our weak Christianity that was being boiled along with our nation in the same cauldron of compromise and apathy. We also got here because we played games with Jezebel as believers and then repented on the weekends and hoped that we would be okay to do worship on Sunday morning.

Just as in David’s day, the compromise in God’s people has allowed this judgment to befall us. But yet in judgment there is revelation of truth and that truth is what makes us fight for our nation; fight for our city; and fight for our families.

The pastor that says, “no we’re not in a war as critical as Don Lamb is suggesting. This is just what happens. Kingdom’s come and kingdoms go and it’s time for America to go.” Is sadly blinded to the reality of what is going on. Their spiritual compass has a large iron ore object bending the needle toward “ease in Zion” and it is making their ministry ineffective in this critical hour.

God has allowed things to be portrayed in a dramatic way to illustrate the spiritual reality of what is going on for the souls of men. Satan comes along and he foists himself upon people. He is a tyrant. He demands blind allegiance. He deceives people into thinking that they can eat up the delicacies of fun and games and lies forever if they serve him. But he actually takes their soul and torments it and takes them to an everlasting ruin away from the Creator Redeemer.

So the battle that is portrayed before our very eyes for the soul of this nation is the battle that is for every soul. The anti-Christ spirit over America is tyrannical; it is lawless and it lies and deceives to enslave the masses. God on the other hand is righteous and holy abides by His own law of love and truth and has great mercy on us to deliver us from bondage.

I believe this is why God allowed great duress and everything to go sideways in America over the last twelve months to make us repent of our easy Christianity. He is calling us to take seriously the call that we have to go forward; to live in victory and to live in the power of the Holy Spirit.

 

 

Dear Pastor:

Thank you for the opportunity to share some thoughts with you as an evangelical pastor who is a “Biblicist” that believes an honest interpretation of the Bible is the only foundation for truth. Many would tell you not to waste any of your time and energy listening to me because I don’t embrace any new ideas and I simply push my untenable arguments. Most likely, you have heard all that I will share below, but I felt I had to respond to your movement’s assertions.

As the progressive Doctor Daniel A. Helminiak said, “Conservatives are only a shrinking and marginalized group of spiritually enslaved Bible believers.” This may be true, but I humbly submit that in reading the progressive Church’s doctrinal trajectories I see that they push their arguments just as stubbornly as we do.  Consequently, I realize that our disagreements are somewhat permanent. That is, we conservatives believe in unchanging “outdated doctrines” and progressives “believe that Biblical texts have no inherent meaning but acquire changing meanings from shifting cultural interpretations.” At best, we are stubborn “enslaved Bible believers,” at worst; we are bigoted, anti-gay, judgmental Neanderthals who do not understand the newest techniques of postmodern criticism.

So I will simply highlight the inconsistencies in both of our movements. Oh, yes, conservatives who believe the whole Bible and its historical doctrines are inconsistent. We have a text that teaches us to love and forgive and accept people as Christ would, but many times we judge and push them further from the Gospel. Again, conservatives claim the high-ground that the Word of God is the final authority for doctrine and practice, but many times their lack of Christ-like compassion and character belie this assertion. Hypocrisy comes from within the Evangelical movement as it does from any movement. But we must be honest and repent of these inconsistencies. The end result is that many times progressives are far ahead of conservatives when it comes to “people skills.” Conservatives are too combative about the truth instead of being gentle and winning in their approach.

That being said, I simply want to point out a few inconsistencies in the progressive movement that are never addressed. Before I do, I’m not saying that every progressive pastor emulates these inconsistencies. Some progressive pastors still believe in the unchanging Word of God and many of them have a genuine love for people that outshines most Evangelicals. But, it seems that this movement, being very sure of its “high ground” of inclusiveness, overlooks its own false dichotomies.

The first inconsistency of progressives is that they unconsciously imply that they are one of the primary spiritual movements in the earth “that really cares.” By doing this they imply that the rest of us don’t care. That is really how it comes across. This smacks of a superiority that lives off of stereotypes. For example, even if people experience a conservative church in a negative way and leave feeling “judged” or “rejected” there are a multitude of possibilities of why this happened. Of course, one of the main reasons could be that this church needs a fresh baptism of God’s love. But it doesn’t always mean conservative churches don’t care about people. We shouldn’t build our entire ministry philosophy by branding ourselves as “the people who care more than others.”

To be fair, neither side can say, “You don’t care.” Progressives do care about the marginalized, whether they are homosexual, straight, white, black, poor or rich. Conservatives also care about the marginalized whether they are homosexual, straight, white, black, poor or rich. To say the other side doesn’t care is inconsistent and truly a false narrative. What we can say is that each side differs greatly on how to reach the people they care about. Progressives define care through inclusiveness, conservatives through offering a Gospel of repentance, redemption, and restoration through Biblical love. But to say only one side cares is unfair and emotional self-righteousness.

The second inconsistency is that progressives label conservatives judgmental for challenging people to forsake their sins and follow Christ. This is a “spiritual straw man” which is put in place to make conservatives feel guilty for being true to their conscience. The trigger words “judgmental” and “intolerant” have been weaponized against conservatives since the 1920’s. These words are used to pronounce anathemas against us and give those who don’t want to follow the historical doctrines of the Church a way out of Biblical repentance. As someone said recently, “Progressives come across with an attitude that says. “Why aren’t you for everything we believe in, isn’t it obvious that we are right.”

But really, who are progressives asking people to follow? They are not calling them to follow a Biblical Jesus who preached repentance. They are not calling them to turn away from selfishness and sin (since “a good God” isn’t going to judge based on sin). They are not telling them to turn to Jesus and seek His forgiveness through the cross (since no atonement was effected by Jesus and He didn’t rise from the dead). People are simply affirmed no matter what spiritual condition they are in without ever calling them to follow a Jesus who desires to save and transform.

In this theological stalemate, progressives claim that conservatives are anti-gay, Biblicists. We are not anti-gay. We are for Biblical sexuality which takes place within a covenantal marriage between a man and woman. We love people just as deeply as progressives do but we also call everyone to follow Christ and turn from their sins, (even the judgmental Bible-believing Evangelicals who are cold and nasty) and receive His forgiveness and life-changing grace.

Actually, conservatives receive everyone as they come, and we love them whatever condition they come in, but we also give them the truth from Scripture that renews and changes the heart. This is something that is hopeful, measurable, and attainable. However, to be on a journey where you can do whatever you want, live as you want, and be “affirmed” in whatever lifestyle you choose, so long as it is consenting adults, seems to be a boundary-less pursuit of selfishness without accountability.

One more thought about spiritual accountability. Do progressives realize that through this hyper-focus on inclusiveness they have given away all their authority to bring about any future moral restraint? Inclusiveness, by nature must change with the culture. Every time the culture changes your movement adapts to the moral degeneracy of the culture. Don’t you think this is very scary: When the culture moves the goal posts, your movement moves with them? Instead of being a constant you are only a reflection of the culture. Abortion came along, you went with it. Same-sex unions come along, you went with it. This is doctrinal appeasement not inclusiveness.

Why wasn’t there a doctrine of same-sex unions in the progressive churches in the 1950’s? Why weren’t theologians in the 1950’s finding Scriptural precedent for homosexuality? The progressives did not affirm homosexuality until 1991. Why, because the culture was not pushing for it until then? The progressives are not ahead of the culture, they only follow the culture. In fact, progressive theology is unoriginal; it simply mirrors the trajectory of the culture around it. On the other hand, Biblical theology is original. It remains an unchanging mirror of God’s holiness for mankind to reflect upon and follow. What if our culture suddenly decided homosexuality is wrong again; would the progressives change their position? Furthermore, when polygamy and threesomes become acceptable in the future, it is inevitable that your movement will find a doctrinal basis for these sins.

The third inconsistency is that the progressive movement can’t admit that unconditional inclusiveness is actually unattainable. The progressives are trying to create an “inclusive utopia” that is un-achievable. Furthermore, they cannot grasp that reconciling spiritual opposites is impossible and has never worked. Why is it that those in the inclusive movement speak derisively of conservatives as “judgmental?” That doesn’t sound like an expression of inclusivity.

We are not offended; by the way, as conservatives, when people tell us the truth. We understand there are times when the truth hurts and people can give us constructive criticism. We understand that this is very difficult to achieve in a loving way. Sharing opposing worldviews is extremely problematic and sometimes we all do it wrong.

But when there is a real difference between our worldviews, it must be admitted and stated. This only makes logical sense. You can’t have a church where people believe the Bible is the sole authority and defines same-sex unions as sin, and people who also believe in an evolving cultural interpretation of Scripture that affirms homosexual lifestyles attending together in peaceful bliss. That would be like having a church where you declare that both the “White Supremacists” and the “NAACP” members both have mutually acceptable worldviews and we are going to be an inclusive church that worships peacefully together at “the same table, and drink at the same watering hole, and celebrate God’s wonderful grace at the same wedding banquet.”

At some point you will have to confront which worldview is the true and which is a lie. To prove my point concerning this confusion, a progressive leader recently said, “We don’t really know what to teach our children about sin because we don’t want them bogged down in shame and guilt—yet we also want them to grow up into adults who are moral, ethical and compassionate.” You can’t have it both ways. If a child doesn’t have a clear definition of righteousness and sin they will be confused. Inclusiveness feels like a spiritual mirage painted over a very well-meaning but confused people.

Christian progressives unwittingly become unto themselves a secular governmental entity in their quest to be inclusive. Our constitution in America requires the government to be inclusive; to create space for the “white supremacists” and the “Antifa” groups through the first amendment. Our government leaders may personally dislike both groups but they have to make space and protect their rights. The progressives adopt this same governmental approach when in fact, Jesus told us to be salt and light not the government of nations. Christians are called to influence and engage in government and culture through the light of the Gospel but not make room for and accommodate every worldview as a government has to. Christianity in its original form called all other worldviews to come to its “Light” (Christ) and accept Him as the only way.

As alluded to above, the fourth inconsistency with progressives is that if there is no such thing as a stable definition of “sin.” It is an ever evolving moral target. One progressive leader said, “Sin is not as narrow as sexual behavior; and we know it is not as simple as breaking any of the Ten Commandments.” OK, then what is it? If there’s no such thing as “deviancy” then there is no such thing as hypocrisy. Consequently, your movement can’t legitimately tell anyone they are hypocritical, or judgmental.

If everything is “inclusive” then “conservative judgmental behavior” is simply acceptable to an inclusive people and no one can say otherwise.  Furthermore, conservatives don’t randomly change the definition of the word “sin” so as not to offend a segment of modern culture that has thrust the Word of God behind its back in arrogance and said, “That doesn’t mean that anymore, we were born this way.”

Finally, if conservatives have interpreted Scripture correctly, the progressives will be judged for distorting the Word of God and leading countless millions astray, pouring on their souls the danger of eternal judgment (2 Peter 2:1). But if progressives are right then conservatives lose nothing. They are simply despised as ignorant Pharisees in this life, but the God of the progressives as a “good God who does not see sin, and does not condemn anyone, despite the real wrong they have done,” will allow them into heaven in spite of their intolerance.

Therefore, as conservatives, we have to conclude that to be intolerant, then, is to be true to our conscience according to historical Biblical truth. To be judgmental, then, is to believe in righteousness and sin – to be unwelcoming, then, is to accept as true that people are either saved or unsaved.

Therefore, as progressives, to be loving is to be tolerant of every one’s moral agenda even if you never tell them the truth. To be non-judgmental is to have a theological relativism that is really convinced there is no eternal judgment awaiting anyone. And to be welcoming is to believe that moral appeasement is the highest form of love.