Lawlessness

"Lawlessness" has come up frequently in my recent study.  First in Matthew 24, Jesus' prophesy of the last days before His return, when He says "Because lawlessness is increased, the love of many will grow cold" (Matthew 24:12).

That sparked my back-of-mind remembrance that the end-time personage we call "anti-Christ" seems to be the one designated "the man of lawlessness" in II Thessalonians 2.

It came up again when I was reading Skye Jethani's chapter "How to Fail the Last Judgement," when Jesus rejects the plea of those who point to their mighty works done in His name, telling them, "...I never knew you; depart from me, you who practice lawlessness" (Matthew 7:23).

With more study, I was reminded that "lawlessness" is I John 3:4's very definition of sin: "Everyone who practices sin also practices lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness" (my emphasis).

And John couldn't be more spot-on.  God gave us "the Law:" the religious commandments to the Jews, but also the Spirit's direction in every man's "innermost being."  Any act, word, or thought contrary His Law is, therefore, by definition, "law-lessness."

Understanding what scripture says about lawlessness seems especially critical for Christians in our time, which many of us consider the "last days" Jesus prophesied, and the time "...that man of lawlessness will be revealed..." (II Thessalonians 2:8).

This is also a time when so-called "Evangelicals" have made themselves a solid political "demographic" for a faction whose ways are entirely "lies" and "murder."  Scripture's test whether we hear and understand its words is manifestly for this very time:  "...what partnership have righteousness and lawlessness, or what fellowship has light with darkness ?" (I Corinthians 6:14).

Amen.

Amen.

Again: What's Jesus Mean His Followers are "Hypocrites !" ?

"And He was also saying to the crowds, 'When you see a cloud rising in the west, immediately you say, "A shower is coming," and so it turns out.  And when you see a south wind blowing, you say, "It will be a hot day," and it turns out that way.  You hypocrites !  You know how to analyze the appearance of the earth and the sky, but why do you not analyze this present time ?' "    --  Luke 12:54-56

If He'd wanted, God could have phrased Romans 2:13 and James 1:22-25 in terms of "hypocrisy."  Those scriptures contrast "hearers" and "doers" of God's word: which would be anyone's definition of "hypocrisy."  It was certainly Jesus' definition of hypocrisy in Matthew 23:3.

And any of Jesus' fallible followers are capable such hypocrisy, at a moment's notice.  At Antioch, Paul had to call out Peter for falling into it: and Barnabas as well, Paul's own fellow missionary (Galatians 2:11-13) !

But Jesus only rebuked His followers once for hypocrisy: and it wasn't for failure to do His word.  He could have dinged any of them, any of us, on that score, at virtually any moment.

His unique use of "hypocrisy" on that occasion was about His followers' failure to Spiritually "analyze" the time in which they were living.

That's significant.

It's especially significant for His followers living in these last days before His return.

Amen.

Skye Jethani: How to Fail The Final Judgement

"Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.’ "

                                                                                                                 --  Matthew 7:22-23

"How could such people--leaders full of power with effective ministries and dynamic preaching, who affirm Jesus' divinity--be excluded from His Kingdom ?  Why would Jesus ever say to such people, 'Away from Me' ?"    --  Skye Jethani, What If Jesus Was Serious ?, p. 163

The Greek word Jesus uses, egnōn, is a tense of γινώσκω, "to know."  Strong's glosses the word as "intimate knowledge."  That's why when the angel tells Mary she's pregnant with The Messiah, she asks how that can possibly be, since she'd never "known a man" (Luke 1:34). 

How does anyone know Jesus (or anyone else, for that matter) ?  Spending time with someone is the only way to intimately know them.

Skye Jethani's doodle for his chapter shows a Christian's check-list.  "Right Theology," "Bold Preaching," "Fights Evil / Injustice," and "Performs Miracles" are all checked "A+."  Only "Communion w/ God" is marked "F."

Jethani titles his check-list "How to Fail The Final Judgement."

We have Met The Enemy, and...

When I was a kid, I loved what I then thought were "patriotic" quotations: the "hooray for us" sayings that (I then thought) defined loving my country.  They all struck the nationalistic "My country, right or wrong" note.  Only later did I understand that "nationalism" is a prideful caricature "love of one's country," and actually destructive to one's country.

One saying I memorized back then was Oliver Hazard Perry's triumphant report of his naval victory in the War of 1812: "We have met the enemy, and he is ours."

By the time I was a young adult, I'd become a fan of Walt Kelly's wonderful newspaper comic-strip, Pogo.  And I had to laugh when Pogo re-worked Perry's quotation for the turbulent Vietnam years: "We have met the enemy, and he is us."

Walt Kelly's proverb stuck in my memory not just because it was clever and funny, but because it was so spot-on relevant to America in that time.  It remains in my memory because it's relevant for human beings, of whatever nation, in every time.

That wisdom almost bears the force of a Biblical teaching.  That's why the inner front-page of my Bible, where I've written the verses that I've kept going back to for a half-century, includes a section of exhotations to self-examination.

Knowing "all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of Him with Whom we have to do" (or "Him to Whom we must give account:" Hebrews 4:13), every disciple is wise to practice the regular discipline of self-examination, "to see if you are in the faith" (II Corinthians 13:5).  How else can we be sure we are walking in God's ways, and not merely satisfying our own caricature of them. ?

When I was a mailman, I substituted  one day on a route in the student ghetto.  There was a run-down old two-story frame house on one block: paint completely weathered off its walls, its porch sagging, and every other sign of long neglect.  But people were living there, maybe very poor students or very poor drug-users: and I had mail for them.

As I stepped onto the porch, I saw a large notice spray-painted on the wall next to the front-door: NO RIFF-RAFF !  Maybe put there by a threatening landlord or the house' residents, I didn't know: but I froze, not sure if I should dare walk across the porch to their mail-box.

At that uncertain instant I had to examine myself, if I might be riff-raff.  If so, I'd very definitely been warned.  And that's undoubtedly the point of scripture's exhortations that we continuously examine ourselves to see if we're "in the faith."

We put our faith in being a follower of Jesus: forgetting that Jesus called out some of His followers as "Hypocrites !" (Luke 12:54-56).  That was His invariable characterization of the Pharisees: so it should sharply catch our attention that the only other time He used it was of a crowd of His Own followers.

We easily convince ourselves that our devoted Biblicism and evangelicism stand us in good stead with Jesus, forgetting that He excoriated the Bible-believing, evangelical Pharisees as hypocrites in those regards (John 5:39, Matthew 23:15).  (Jesus even endorsed the things Pharisees said, telling His listeners to obey their teachings (Matthew 23:2): as prelude to His point-by-point condemnation of the Pharisees' hypocrisy.)

We want ourselves, indeed every follower of Jesus, to be convinced hearers of the Word, and heralding the Kingdom to all people.  More importantly, that's Jesus' desire for us.  His is the one that counts.  Our continual need for self-examination is that we may be satisfied with less than Jesus desires for us, and do His Word only to our own measure.

We have met the enemy, and he is us.

Amen

Let the Others Judge

In I Kings 22, Israel's evil king Ahab was planning to go to war with an enemy-nation.  He invited Jehoshaphat, King of Judah, to visit him, hoping to persuade Jehoshaphat to join in his war.

But when they counseled together, the Godly Jehoshaphat asked Ahab to "Please inquire first for the word of the Lord" (v. 5).

Ahab called together 400 of Israel's prophets, all of whom duly prophesied that God would bless Ahab with victory over his enemies.  But Jehoshaphat evidently suspected those prophets might be agents of Ahab's political "spin," and again asked "Is there not yet a prophet of the Lord here that we may inquire of him ?" (v. 7).

Reluctantly, Ahab admitted "There is yet one man by whom we may inquire of the Lord, but I hate him, because he does not prophesy good concerning me, but evil. He is Micaiah son of Imlah” (v. 8).  But put on the spot, Ahab knew He had to let Micaiah speak, to satisfy Jehoshaphat.

The messenger sent to summon Micaiah warned him that all the other prophets had pronounced God's blessing on Ahab's plans, and begged him not to say otherwise.  But Micaiah told him, "As the Lord lives, what the Lord says to me, that I shall speak" (v. 14).

But when he appeared before the kings, Micaiah also told Ahab to go ahead with his plan, and God would "give it into the hand of the king" (v. 15).  He must have said it in a tone of heavy sarcasm: Ahab could tell Micaiah didn't mean it; and angrily told him "How many times must I adjure you to speak to me nothing but the truth in the name of the Lord ?" (v. 16).

So Micaiah did.  He announced that God said if the kings persisted in their plan, their people would be scattered throughout the mountains, leaderless: so they and their armies should best go home "in peace" (v. 17).

Micaiah's prophecy proved true.  Israel and Judah were defeated in the battle Ahab desired to fight, and Ahab himself was killed.  But my attention was drawn to how Ahab received...or rather, how he refused to receive...God's word.

"Did I not tell you," Ahab said to Jehoshaphat, "that he would not prophesy good concerning me, but evil ?" (v. 18).  Ahab said (publicly, at least) that he wanted to hear "nothing but the truth" of God's word: but he didn't really.  And when God's direction was contrary to his wishes, Ahab rejected God's word.

Ahab rejected God's word in the deadly self-delusion that Micaiah's words weren't really God's words.  Ahab convinced himself that Micaiah's unfavorable prophecy was personal with the prophet, because "he hates me."

It can be impossible, for those entirely certain all their ways are pleasing to God, to ever believe God would contradict them.  For the self-confident, God's correction or warning can only, ever, come from the prophet's opinions, emotions, politics, or personality.

It's mortal error to mistake God's word.  Ahab's deadly mistake was dismissing Micaiah's prophecy as personal animosity.  He'd made the same mistake when he rejected Elijah's warning that God would punish the king's sins with nationwide drought, claiming the prophet only said so because he was an ill-intentioned "troubler of Israel" (I Kings 18:7)

So it's a heavy responsibility God entrusts to all who "...pass judgement" on prophetic utterances (I Corinthians 14:29).

Micaiah showed the true prophetic spirit, entirely determined that "what the Lord says to me, that I shall speak."  Those who "pass judgement" on prophecy...the Church' "official" prophets in Spirit-filled worship, or kings, or we ordinary members of the Church to whom God is speaking...must judge prophecy on no other criteria than is it God's word ?

Today's self-willed and self-assured, like Ahab, who will not believe God's ways and plans can ever be different than their own, can only ever hear God's prophetic warnings as personal attacks by the prophet.   It is a deadly error to mistake God's word, in our time as much as it was in Ahab's.

Amen.

Oh Yeah

Jesus once rebuked His followers VERY harshly for failing to "discern this present time" (Luke 12:56).   It seems a good question, then, for His followers today, if WE "discern" this present time.

It seems Jesus expected His followers to perceive the Spiritual reality and significance of what was taking place in front of them.  Probably the same kind of thing He meant when He admonished those with ears (/eyes) to hear (/see), to hear (/see).

Jesus' point is clear: His followers, then and now, must perceive the "times" the way He does.

A few scriptures help me "discern" how Jesus sees "this present time."

 

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus defined “murder” as angry, hate-filled contempt for others (Matthew 5:21-2).  And it's always a good theological rule of thumb that whatever Jesus says something is, it IS.

His definition is key to understanding what He meant that some of His followers were actually “children of the devil,” doing the lies and "murder" that are satan's desires and very nature (John 8:44).

With that identification of the enemy and his forces, Jesus also grounds us in His view of spiritual warfare.  Is anything more critical in a morally-murky world and time, than knowing where Jesus authoritatively draws the battle-line ?

Matthew 23:15 has long been one of my "HUH !?!" scriptures: those verses or passages that seize your attention because you're not quite sure how to take them.  Most of us probably have a few in our mental grab-bag, waiting for God to put His light on them.

My "HUH !?!" is that we usually hear "evangelism" preached as a Christian absolute, Jesus' command incumbent on every Christian, in every situation, every day.  Indeed, we often hear evangelism preached as Jesus' greatest command...The Great Commission.

But in Matthew 23:15, Jesus proclaims "woe" to "hypocrites" who (He says) "...cross sea and land to make one convert; and make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves."

Clearly Jesus isn't down-grading evangelism per se: rather people (probably not "scribes and Pharisees only) who evangelize from evil motive.  My best guess is that He means those who "win souls to Christ" for their own glory, rather than God's.  Self-glorification (like that of the spiritual personage addressed in Isaiah 14) would certainly be somewhere near the top of the Hit Parade of Sins: and doing so in the pretence of glorifying God is probably correspondingly high on the hypocrisy-scale.

The most we can say for certain is that Jesus didn't consider evangelism inherently, or unquestionably, righteous. (I'd question too that He considered it His premier command to His followers, since He specifically designated another as "first.")

But God brought that scripture back to mind this past week, on a different consideration: that Jesus' calling hypocritical evangelizers "sons of hell" is very similar to His characterization of "murder"-ous liars as "children of the devil."  I have to think Jesus views those two kinds of people alike, as His spiritual enemies. *

Certainly in our "present time” they are allied in a major attack on Christ and His followers.

Self-described “Evangelical Christians” today are the single biggest “demographic” supporting politicians whose manifest, and complete, character is lies and hateful contempt for others (“murder").  In the last two U.S. elections "Evangelicals" overwhelmiingly wanted (voting 81% and 75%) to follow (and want our country to follow) a "child of the devil."

(Those numbers also undoubtedly show that some "Evangelicals" who truly love Jesus, and desire to follow Him.  We know that was similarly true even among the Pharisees whom Jesus denounced so harshly, and so often.)

I consider these words of Jesus tell us how He Spiritually views our "present time," and how His followers must.

If so, the inescapable prophetic question for Christians in our time is this: how long will Jesus allow His Name to be used by false "followers" to endorse the works of satan ?

My guess is "not much longer."  Amen.

* Strengthening that identification, Jesus only ever used a similar phrase one other time, of Judas, a "son of perdition," John 17:12.

What Time Is It ?

In my favored NASB translation of the Bible, the word "hypocrite" is used 18 times, all by Jesus.  The NIV uses the word 18 times, but once is in Proverbs.  The word appears 31 times in the King James Version, with 11 in the Old Testament (8 of those in Job).

In whatever translation, Jesus owns the word "hypocrite."  He uses it a few times in a general sense, describing "hypocrisy" per se: but most often it's how He characterizes some religious leaders of His time, usually the "scribes and Pharisees."

Except once.  In Luke 12:54-56, speaking to "the crowds" who followed to hear His teaching, Jesus said

"Whenever you see a cloud rising in the west, you immediately say, 'A shower is coming,' and so it turns out.  And whenever you feel a south wind blowing, you say, 'It will be a hot day,' and it turns out that way.  You hypocrites !  You know how to analyze the appearance of the earth and sky, but how is it that you do not know how to analyze this present time ?" (my emphasis)

Undoubtedly Jesus knew that calling your audience unflattering names is a sure way to lose them.  Or maybe His point was so important, and "the crowds" so clueless, that He thought it needed to be said ?

The Greek word there translated "analyze" is dokimazo: to test, examine closely, prove what is genuine.  In secular use, Greeks would dokimazo a coin to ascertain if it was actually silver or gold.  Jesus exhorted "the crowds" who followed Him to similarly "analyze" the spiritual time in which they were living.

If Jesus was speaking to us as well, about "this present time," two facts seem extremely relevant:

In Jesus' discourse on His return and "the end of the age" in Matthew 24, He repeatedly warns His followers not to be misled by the many deceivers who target Christians in that time, including "Christian" deceivers.

In 2016, 81% of self-described "Evangelicals" voted that a blatant liar should be America's leader; and 75% of "Evangelicals" again wanted to follow him in 2020.

Are today's crowds of Jesus' supposed "followers" Spiritually analyzing "this present time:" or do they deserve His harsh rebuke, "You hypocrites !"

Amen.

What spiritual time is it for Christians in America ?

What's The Church ?

Studying the gifts of the Spirit (charismata), it struck me long ago that we are exhorted to "...earnestly desire the greater gifts" (I Corinthian 12:31).  Paul explained a few verses later what he meant by a greater gift: "...greater is one who prophesies...so that the church may receive edifying" (I Corinthians 14:5).

In this context, relative "greatness" is nothing about the person to whom the Spirit gives a word of prophecy.  There are certainly some members of the congregation recognized as "prophets:" but Paul's "all may prophesy" (I Corinthians 14:31) may be open-ended, that the Spirit can give His word to anyone among the gathered Church.  That would certainly be consistent with the teaching that The Spirit Sovereignly ",,,distributes [charismata] to each one, just as he determines" (I Corinthians 12:11).

A charismata is "great" relative to its edifying ("building up") the Church, the Bride Jesus loved so much He gave His Life for her (Ephesians 5:25).  The "love chapter" (I Corinthians 13) is literally at the center of scripture's primary teaching on charismata i(n Chapters 12 and 14); and we manifest Jesus' love for the Church when we minister His Life-giving Spirit to build her up.

A charismatic understanding of the Church re-orders our operative view of the church.  It also fundamentally re-orders our view of each other...the Church...that any one of us may, at any time The Spirit chooses, speak out God's word of "...edification or exhortation or consolation" (I Corinthians 14:3).

Amen.

Discerning "Interpretations" of Prophecy

So how do we know if an interpretation of prophecy…our OWN or someone else’s…is valid ?

Scripture says the Spirit ALONE, Who authors prophecy,  is able to interpret its meaning:

“But know this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture is a matter

 of one’s own interpretation, for no prophecy was ever made by an act of

 human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.”  (I Peter 1:20,21)

Jesus gives us these guidelines for recognizing if an interpretation of prophecy is from the Spirit:

     “But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth…

       and He will disclose to you what is to come.  He will glorify Me…”  (John 16:13-14a)

If an interpretation of prophecy is untrue, it is not from the Spirit.  (Under Moses' Law, the penalty was death for saying God prophesied something was going to happen, and it didn’t: Deuteronomy 18:20-22.  Such a law would certainly thin the ranks of today’s “interpreters of Biblical prophecy.")

Likewise, if an interpretation of prophecy glorifies man, man’s thoughts, man’s ways, or man’s works, it is not from the Spirit.   The Spirit will glorify Jesus: He will emphatically NOT glorify any “interpreter of Biblical prophecy.”  Nor will He glorify any nation of men, doctrine of men, culture of men, or political faction of men.

Many of today’s self-proclaimed “interpreters” tell us that Biblical prophecy says the “culture war” doctrines of a current political faction are the only way to “save” America.  The book I noted a few months ago, Letter to the American Church (authored by a “conservative”-media celebrity) is a prime example.

Let me say here, forcefully and firmly, that no such “interpretation” of prophecy is from the Spirit of God.

Amen, and amen !!

What If Jesus Was Serious ?, by Skye Jethani

 Blessed are those who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness…”   Matthew 5:10

“When Jesus spoke about persecution, He made it clear that not all suffering His followers experience is persecution.  He said, ‘Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness…’ and He went on to bless those who are persecuted, ‘on My account.’  It is when we suffer for doing what is right or for being identified with Jesus that we are blessed, but there are plenty of Christians who may claim persecution…are actually suffering due to their own foolishness or unrighteous behavior.  Some suffer for righteousness.  But frankly, some Christians suffer because they are insufferable.

“…A desire to be seen as a ‘genuine’ Christian, however, may cause us to claim persecution where none exists.  This temptation is compounded by two additional realities of our age.  First, the privileged position that the Christian faith and values once enjoyed in our culture is diminishing.  As this occurs—for example, removing Christian prayers or symbols from public spaces—the loss of privilege can be misinterpreted as persecution.

“Second, we live in a strange time when some want to claim the label of ‘victim’ in order to accumulate cultural and political power…there can be a twisted upside to being seen as a persecuted group today.  It may be used as leverage against cultural and political opponents, or to excuse one’s own unrighteous attitudes and behaviors…

“Persecution is never something sought by a Christian.  It is the by-product of seeking first the Kingdom of God rather than the privileges of the world.”

                                                    --  What If Jesus Was Serious ?, by Skye Jethani, pp. 40-41